001I would like to ask members of the board, staff, and guests to join us in a moment of silence. And for those who wish to participate in a time of prayer, followed by those who plan or who can uh to please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for this day, for this moment in time. Thank you for another calendar year. We thank you tonight for our board, our superintendent, our clerk, our staff, our principles, our students, and our parents that are here tonight. Ask Father that you continue to watch over us and guide us and allow us to continue to make the right decisions for our Nawway County schools. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen. >> Amen. I aliance to the flag
002of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [cough and clears throat] >> Item C on the on your agenda there, approval of the agenda for January 8th. Members of the board, do I have a motion to approve the agenda for January 8th, 2026? >> Is there a second? >> Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Are there any opposed? The motion passes. Next item on the agenda, reorganization of the school board. Number or letter A, election of the board chair. Members of the board, do I have a motion for a school board chair? By the code of Virginia, the school board is required to reorganize at its first meeting of each
003year, including electing one of its members as the chairman. >> So move second. >> Nominate Damian. >> They need to do that first. Keep going. It >> is there a second? >> There was >> Damen. Yes. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Are there any opposed? The motion passes. Here you go, Mr. Ro. [laughter] Thank you very much. >> You're very happily passing it on. >> Passing this right on off. >> Very happily passing it on. >> We have to hear your um documents. >> All right. [laughter] All right, Charles is here. >> Good evening. Good evening, sir. >> We elected Damian to the chair while you were absent. >> All right. Under reorganization of school board item letter B, the election of the board vice
004chair. As state code of Virginia, the school board is required to reorganize the first meeting of each year, including electing one of his members as the vice chairman. Is there a motion for a member to serve as vice chair? >> I would like to nominate Mr. Abbott. >> Is there a second for Mr. Sunny Abbott to serve as school board vice chair? I will second it. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. Mr. Sunny Abbott is elected as school board vice chair. Item C, the appointment of the clerk. By the state code of Virginia, the school board is required to reorgan reorganize at its first meeting of each year, including appointment of the school board clerk. It is recommended that Charlotte Wood, executive administrative assistant to the superintendent,
005be appointed as clerk at set current salary of $4,000. >> Okay. Is there a motion to appoint Charlotte Wood as school board uh clerk? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I I Wood is appointed as clerk. Item D, the appointment of the deputy clerk. By the state code, the school board is required to be organized at its first meeting of each year and may appoint a deputy clerk. It is recommended that Heather Meer, director of finance and operations, be appointed as deputy clerk and set current salary. Is there a motion for Heather Meyer to serve as deputy clerk of the school board? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I >> All right. Item E is the setting of the schoolboard meetings for 2026. By
006the state code, school board is required to reorganize at its first meeting each year, including setting the dates, times, and places for the schoolboard meetings. The school board has met on the second Thursday in the past. If the school board choose to meet on the second Thursday of each month for the 2026 year, the meeting dates would be as follows. It would be January 8th, February 12th, March 12th, April 9th, May 14th, June 11th. Uh in July, we are requesting that the meeting be held on July 2nd instead of July 9th 9th due to scheduling conflicts. August 13th, September 10th, October 8th, November 12th, and December 10th. It is also being recommended that the school meeting school board meeting time for the regular session would change to 6:00 p.m. This is a change from the
007previous regular meeting start time of 700 p.m. And the school board meeting location is in the minute auditorium at Nway High School, 5267 old Nawway Road at Crew Virginia. That's otherwise noted. Is there a motion to set the school board meetings for 2026? >> Some moved. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> I have one question about the uh July date. That's a couple of days before July the 4th. >> Mhm. >> And I just wonder I I don't know what we're doing right now. Uh you know, early for us to plan that, but uh I wonder if that might be better served if we moved it to the third Thursday. I think that probably conflicts with the board of supervisors, but uh just a thought. [cough] >> We have any problem
008moving it to the third Thursday in July? >> Thank Marsha. Did you send us an email that you would be out of the country? >> That was the request. However, um Dr. Lewis would be able to serve if I am not here. There's a high likelihood that I'll be out of the country. third or the fourth for at least a week and a half of July. But if you move it to the 16th, I will do my best to be back here by then. Or if not, Dr. Lewis will serve unless she's going on vacation with me. [laughter] Um I actually I'm a member of the state SEAK committee and I have a state seak meeting that day in Richmond on the 16th of on the 16th of July. So, I would not be able
009to attend the meeting if we held it on the 16th. Okay. >> That would run over until at least 6:00. >> It runs until 5:00 in Richmond, downtown Richmond. At least five. >> Mr. Chairman, if you leave at the the normal date, it's fine, too. I mean, Dr. Lewis, the board understands that would serve in my capacity for that meeting. All right. I'm not sure how we'd have to modify the motion then because there's been a motion and it's been seconded. >> So vote it down and >> let's >> Yeah. So there's a motion and a second >> or amend the motion. >> We can amend >> amend can amend the motion to to change July. >> Okay. All right. So, I make um is there is there a motion to have it amended that
010we will leave the July date as July 9th, 2026 for the regular meeting? >> We need a motion. >> She is available. She's >> I'll approve me uh second or I'll make that motion that we change from July 2nd to July 9. All other dates being consistent starting at 6 p.m. >> All right. I'll second it. >> All right. So, all in favor >> I I All right. All right. Item F, authorization of the superintendent and designated to take certain actions during the 2026 year. Uh the superintendent uh to approve administrative, supervisory, professional, and support personnel to attend conferences and meetings. The superintendent to accept resignations prior to schoolboard action in accordance to policy GCP. The superintendent to reassign teachers, principles, and assistant principles to any school within the division provided no change or reassignment
011during the period shall affect the salary of such teacher, principal, or assistant principal. the superintendent to make line item transfers in the school budget and report the actions to the school board. The superintendent as his agent and the designate as deputy agent to act in his or her absence for inability to perform this duty to examine and approve claims and when approved by the superintendent to order or authorize the payment thereof. the superintendent as his agent and the designate as deputy agent to act in his or her absence for inability to perform this duty to issue and sign payroll warrants drawn on the county treasurer payable from county funds in payment of compensation for all professional employees all of the regular employees and school bus drivers under a written contract and to pay all incidental
012labor from school funds on the first and 15th day of each month on receive vouchers certified by the persons authorized by the school board supervised as the work for which compensation is claimed. The design need to attend meetings of the school board in the absence or inability of the superintendent to attend and the designates of the superintendent to sign official documents in the absence of the superintendent. All right. Do I have a motion to authorize the superintendent and designate to take these actions? >> So move second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I oppose. All right. Item G, the bonding of the superintendent clerk, deputy clerk, and the payroll clerk. By the state code of Virginia, the school board is required to bond certain employees. And this will be the superintendent, the clerk,
013the deputy clerk, and the payroll clerk. Is there a motion to bond these individuals? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Have a question. >> Uh on the next page, approval of bonding of the superintendent, clerk, deputy clerk, and payroll clerk in an amount not less than 15,000. How much are we voting for? What amount? 15,000 or it says not less than. >> It typically has been the 15,000. Okay. >> So, change the wording on that to an amount of >> Yeah. >> out of 15,000 each. >> Can we ask Heather for clarification on that? [cough] Typically the 15 or does it does ituate every year? >> No, we're all bonded at 15,000. >> Bonded at 15. >> 15,000. [clears throat] Any more discussion? >> All in favor? Sign of I. Any opposed? All
014right. That is it for reorganization of school board >> Currently [laughter] now we shall move towards awards and recognition school highlights. Dr. Martin. >> Good evening Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um so this evening our school highlights are coming from Nawway Middle School. But before I turn it over to um principal Miss Saunders to share, I did want to share this with the board first and foremost this evening. So um as you're aware, we asked for an appeal regarding the school accreditation status of Nawway Middle School. Our appeal was granted. So all five schools and NOT [applause] the official letter. They did tell me it would come later on, but I did hear from the state superintendent last night. Um, so that's exciting that all of our schools have met full. >> All right.
015Update the website. >> Oh, I already told I I sent a response email. Will you let me know when you update your school quality, when will it be done, the official letter being? So, um, so with that though, it was fitting because they are >> presenting school highlights this evening. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Saunders and um her team, and they are going to highlight this evening about the seventh grade unit they recently completed on immigration and industrialization, I believe. And she's got students and teachers here to present. So, I'll turn it over to them. >> Good evening, Mr. Chairman, board members. I'm very proud to be here tonight, especially after that announcement. Indeed. Um, we are very encouraged and will continue to do the hard work that we
016have been working on constantly. I have here tonight with me Miss Kristen Wilson and Mr. Robert Smith are two of our history department teachers from Nawway Middle School and several of our seventh grade US history students who are rock stars for being here and stepping up and they are going to talk with you and present to you a project that they did. They are constantly looking for ways to provide student engagement and interactive experiences in the history department. And so the students are going to present to you a project they did on immigration and their experiences with coming to our country in Alice Island. So I think um I will turn it over to them. >> All right. We'll just stand right up where we are. You guys want to just stand right up. Right
017beside Jordan, sweetie. Right beside Jordan. All right, you guys. All right. So, I just wanted to introduce all of our awesome people to you all. Um, just to give a name to a face. So, this is Claire Miles. We have Basisley Dean, Katia uh Aguiler, Aguilera Campos, sorry, Chelsea Skinner, Abigail Spencer, Christian Ward, Kelsey Smith, Neil Wilson, Khalil Lucy, George Atinson, [clears throat] and I he has a hyphenated name, and I have asked what he would request, and Mario Cruz. So, these are I am at 100% showing tonight. So, I want to acknowledge you all. They did it and they made it happen. So, and thank you to the parents. >> Yes, indeed. >> Oh, can you read it? All right. We have a narrator for our first part. Go for it. >> Today, you
018will just learn about history. As soon as you enter the room, you will take on the role of an immigrant arriving in the United States through the early 1900s. your goal. Successfully pass through a series of inspection stations to earn your entry to America. You will be asked to complete several steps including signing your name and sharing key information about your journey, explaining who is traveling with you, stating your father's occupation, undergoing a brief medical check, completing a quick test, racing to see who can make it through the immigration process first. Some stations will be simple, others may be challenge you. All of them will help you understand what millions of immigrants experienced as they came to America with hope and determination. But first, today with excitement, curiosity, and an open mind. This is your
019chance to walk in someone else's shoes and discover a meaningful part of your nation's story. Take a deep breath, step inside, and let your journey begin. >> Welcome to the United States. >> And she said, "Don't cut me off. the speaker. Thank you. Uh so this is how the students were welcomed into our classroom for their lesson for immigration. Um we gave them a welcome um welcome into Ellis Island before they entered and kind of gave them a preview of what they were looking for. And before we start because I want to talk as least as possible because this is about them. Um when they came in, they came in and they received their immigration cards. And so you will see each step that they went through in our video we created. So you could
020see that they went through each step that an immigrant would go through coming into the United States. And you'll get to really witness um the excitement and engagement in this act of learning. And then after the video, it's just 2 minutes. Uh we are going to allow them to share with you some of their immigration cards and some of their writings because what we did on our second day is we did a writing activity where they pretended they had been in the United States for a while and they wrote letters back home about their experience in the United States and their first bit of time here. Okay. Um whoever is in charge of our video, would you please start? And if you feel a little anxious guys, you can sit down during the video. [music]
021Serenity, where did you decide you're going? >> Cincinnati. Cincinnati, Ohio. Why did you choose that? Because um the rest of them is like $25 per ticket, $35 per ticket. This one is $18 per ticket. So you were looking at cost effectiveness. >> [music] [music] >> These people have been sitting here a while. We weren't really quite sure who they were, but they they're ready to redeem themselves and try [music] to immigrate into the United States. Let's see if they know who they are. >> [music] >> Good. Ready. [music] >> What is your reason for being here? >> To get a better job for my family. everything [music] that I like. Okay, you have passed. [music] Go ahead, step back up, guys. We don't want to block their view. They kind of came to see your
022video and to see us. Um so at this time if you all just share what you have if you would like your um your letters home and your immigration cards please keep the things that we are going to read. All right. So go ahead and step up and hand those. Yep. All right. Share them. Go ahead. Share. Sorry. Go ahead. Chelsea read the one we're going to read to you. Christian. Go ahead guys. Everyone step up. They'll they'll pass them around if they want to look at them. We just wanted to make sure they could really see what you had done. Right. So, what you're receiving are their letters that they wrote home. And then the packet that you're receiving is what the process they went through in their immigration, their immigration card, the places
023they were able to choose to live. They chose their occupation. Um, so there was obviously a lot of different things that were brought into this lesson, including economy, but um, and at this time we're going to do a little bit of share. I'm going to let them give you some feedback about their experience with this lesson. That's what we met and we decided on as a group that we wanted to share. All right, go for it. Basis, >> I learned about the immigration process. We had to go through multiple tests to enter US. The testicle and >> well done. >> All right. >> I personally had so much fun with this activity since I not only learned but I got to experience the life. >> When we made our immigration cards, I thought it made
024it fun because we got to pick all of our own information. The activity was fun and enjoyable because I love to learn about the immigration process while getting to experience what they go through. >> I like the fact that we had to wait in line and have to do mind games and a medical exam. That felt very accurate and I felt like I was really an immigrant in the early 1990s. >> What I really liked is how much freedom Miss Wilson gave us right with writing the letters. We could really write anything as long as we followed the timeline and the topic. My favorite part about learning the history of writing the home, writing the letter home to my family to the US. I learned that the experience immigrants coming into the US was very
025hard, but it was fun. [cough] >> I really enjoyed making my letter because it showed what they really went through from the start of their journey to the end. And I and I really didn't know it was like that. Of course, we learned about it in our lessons, but the physical experience was very helpful in allowing me to go through much of what early immigrants had to do. >> The health check was fun because we had to actually think and not just guess. I didn't realize immigrating was so difficult until >> I like how Miss Wilson gave us freedom and fun about the station and the letters. The station were fun. We had to choose a post card that says our first name and age and we're we going and will give us a or
026red dot. If you remember, if if you do remember we go to a medication, if we pass our medic [clears throat] test, we got to go our intelligent test. I did I didn't just get to very early immigration. I had fun doing it. >> All right. Are there any questions? >> Any questions? >> You did amazing. >> Yes, sir. >> Are you glad to be Americans? [laughter] >> Happy to have you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> For a letter. Would you all >> go ahead? Okay. Thank you. I made my journey to the US. The boat ride was quite nice. I of course was in the higher decks, so it wasn't a bad trip. But with >> you don't give a damn to giggles. >> I
027couldn't do MUCH [laughter] in the US. I have a >> Do you need a step in, Claire? [laughter] Oh, I have a house. My mom and dad, I may or may not send money [laughter] for you to come. I may or may not send my mom. She [cough] may or may not send money for them to come to the United States because she needs her money to buy her food and a cane. Love you lot. [laughter] We can count on Claire to keep this accurate though and that's why we I actually didn't want to exclude her because most of the letters the students chose to be in the lower deck of the ship where it was not so nice and Claire true to Claire decided she was going to have the money and be up
028top and be comfortable in that room. Thank you all so much. No, no, no. We're good. I can just get them later. Do you want to hold on to this now? >> All right. So, um I want to get a great picture. Claire. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Thank you very much. All right. Thank you very much. Um, also under awards and recognitions, we have the Virginia Principal Appreciation Week, Dr. Martin. >> Good evening again. Uh, Mr. Row, I think your, um, presence is going to be recorded up front. >> Oh, okay. >> So, I'll give you time to get up there. So, next week we join school divisions across the Commonwealth in recognizing Virginia Principal Appreciation Week. And I would like to take a moment to formally
029honor the exceptional leaders of Nawway County Public Schools. Our principles and our assistant principles are the instructional and operational leaders of our schools. They set the vision. They establish high expectations. They support teachers [clears throat] and staff. They partner with families [laughter] and ensure that every student has access to a safe, structured, and academically focused learning environment. And I might add, they deal with me on a daily basis. So that's, you know, that's enough there probably. [laughter] Their work often begins long before the first bell rings and it continues well after the last student leaves every day. They balance instructional leadership with accountability, compassion, and high expectations, as well as daily problem solving with long-term school improvement. Through challenges and successes alike, they remain steadfast in their commitment to their students and their staff. Each
030day, our principles and our assistant principles embody what it means to be we are not committed to excellence. Their leadership, dedication, and service [clears throat] reflect our shared values and our focus on student success. Governor Yncan has issued a certificate of recognition for Virginia School Principles week. And I'm going to read that aloud. Certificate of recognition, Virginia School Principles is appreciation week. Whereas school principles work cooperatively to direct, develop, and inspire all members of the school staff and student body and to communicate effectively with parents to engage them in the learning process. And whereas school principles serve as educational leaders managing the policies, regulations, and procedures necessary to ensure a safe and effective learning environment for all students in Virginia's public and private schools. And whereas school principles serve as instructional leaders, equipping teachers with
031training and resources and delivering personalized innovative student programs to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed. And whereas school principles are entrusted with the opportunity and responsibility of guiding, directing, nurturing, mentoring, and imparting knowledge to our children while they are at school. And whereas school principles work collaboratively with teachers, staff, students, parents, and the community at large to proactively prepare students to be productive members of the of our economy, inform citizens in our democracy and engaged neighbors in our communities. And whereas Virginia school principal appreciation week is an opportunity to recognize the hard work of Virginia school principles and to recognize the importance of school leaders in ensuring that every child has access to a quality education that prepares them for life there. Now therefore I Glenn Lunk Yncan do hereby recognize January 12th
032through the 16th 2026 as Virginia school principal appreciation week in our Commonwealth of Virginia. And I call this observance to the attention of our citizens. And with that, I would like to recognize our principles and our assistant principles. And we have a little just token of appreciation for them this evening. At Blackstone Primary School, Amanda Painter as the principal and Nicole for as the assistant principal. [applause] Poor. What you got in here? Now, [laughter] if you don't want any of this, just send something back. I'll liberate you of it right away. >> Thank you very much. >> Yes, indeed. [laughter] >> Same goes you, Miss P. >> All right. [laughter] >> At Crew Primary, Lloyd Paige and Leslie Clark. [applause] THANK YOU. Thank you. Thank you. [laughter] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> There
033you go. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much for your hard work >> at Nawway Intermediate School. Dr. Maurice Smith and Dr. Devin Foster. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Dr. Foster. >> Thank you, sir. All right. >> Yes, INDEED. >> At Nway Middle School, Amy Saunders and Shelanda Watkins. [applause] All right, Miss Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your hard work. >> At Nway High School, Reggie Wilson and Meredith HUDGENS [applause] WILSON. Thank you, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you very last but certainly not least at the Million Ottawa Technical Center, Lawrence Ledzinski. [applause] >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now, we'd like to have all the assistant principles and principles please come back up. I'm
034going to take a group picture. [laughter] >> A man after my own [laughter] would like you to stand up behind She did not. >> She want y'all to stand up. >> Okay. Stand up. >> You're refusing to stand up. [laughter] YOU'RE >> ON my naughty list. >> Stand up. [laughter] >> That means you too. >> She said, [cough] >> "You tell her. behave yourself. Get up here. [laughter] >> How about come over a little bit? >> Find a window to look through. [laughter] >> The short person. Our >> student liaison. If you can stand and get between pudgens. And there you go. There you go. Okay. And we're going to do this on three. Ready? Everybody look at me. One, two, three. One, two, and three. Thank you. >> All right. [laughter] All right. Thank
035you very much. >> Four languages. >> Uh now we have uh delegation public comment. Do we have anyone signed up for delegation from the public? Please not to do a state the statement first and then the presentation. >> The board will not respond to comments made during the meeting. The regular board meeting is a meeting before the public and not a public forum meeting. Now we have part B is the budget hearing for 2026 2027 community input. Maya going to give the county. [laughter] [laughter] >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. This evening, that's okay. Um [laughter] this evening I'm I'm here before you um part of the public hearing just to give everybody an update as to where we're at in the budget process and to give you the information that we
036currently know. Um so the governor's budget um Governor Yncan presented his budget on December 17th. The state released their capital [cough] school divisions [clears throat] on December 19th. Um so we have been hard at work um already starting the process of digging through those numbers and what they mean and how they're going to affect us. Um so the state budget, the governor's budget that he um proposed, this is kind of the breakdown of the SOQ programs, the incentive, the categorical, the lottery funded, and they've now moved VPI into its own category of early childhood education programs. Um so right now, and I've broke it down to what the state share is to what the local share is because I know there's going to be a lot of conversation over the next few months about the
037local share. Um so the state share of the budget at right now a planned ADM of 1675 that may be adjusted um puts us a total state revenue of $22 million. The local share that will be required is 7.3 million and yes this is quite a big increase over what they are currently paying this year. Um and I'll go into a little bit further detail about that here in a minute. Um but this is based off the governor's budget. Now, I want to note we have an outgoing governor and we have an incoming governor and the incoming governor has a lot of different priorities than the outgoing governor. So, I foresee some changes [clears throat] to this as the the process goes along. Um, so what's in the proposed governor's budget and I kind of
038just hit some of the highlights. So every two years with a new bienium BOE has to do rebenchmarking and rebenchmarking is where they look at cost of living, inflation, they look at all these different numbers and they change their budget variables. Um normally that has not been fully funded and this year they fully funded it. That is one reason why there's such a large increase on the county's share um because the per pupil amounts just went up tremendously. Um there's also increased funding for special education. Um the governor has a 2% salary increase planned in the budget and then there's also the recommendation for a um BRS rate reduction. Now granted, they did that two years ago and that did not pass. So we'll see what happens um during the general assembly seat. So rebenchmarking.
039Um I wanted to make sure that I kind of brought this out because I knew there was such a large increase with the the um local budget to really kind of show some of the differences of the rebenchmarking and the per pupil amounts that went up. And these are just a few. These are the ones that had the biggest impact. Um, so like the basic aid approval amount increased [clears throat] $921 per student. Um, that's significant. Um, you see some of the other ones may not be as much, but it still makes a very significant impact with in all of their funding formulas and I don't understand all their funding formulas. I haven't tried because they are sometimes cumbersome to get through. Um, but these are the ones that really make the biggest impact on
040the budget because they were the highest increase. um a little bit of a comparison between current FY26 and FY27 budget so that you can kind of see the difference and there is a large difference even at a lower ADM um from this year to next year. This year's budget was around $23 million and that's with including the the local requirement. Next year's budget's looking around 29 million. That's a $6 million increase. Now, as I said, General Assembly hasn't even gone into session yet. So, this is all really preliminary information and is highly subject to change. So, here's some budget assumptions that we we we do some of them. We know um the local composite index, the LCI, increased to 28.2% for these next two um fiscal years from 26.96%. Um, and more than likely in
041two more years it will, if I had to guess, will go up to probably 30%. Um, just because part of that number is the value of real property. Now, the LCI for this bienium is based off of 2023 data in 2 years. When they redo it, it'll be based off of 2025. So, I firmly anticipate that going up in another two years. Um so that means I said again the ant anticipated required local contribution is going to be around $7.3 million. Um student enrollment like this year we budgeted at 1,700. Um next year anticipating budgeting at 1675. Now that's not set in stone. Still got to play around with the numbers to determine if that's truly where we want to be at but that's where we're planning at right now. [clears throat] Um, and then
042just putting it out there because um of the fact that we have a Democratic governor coming in and we have Democratic controlled House and Senate, more than likely they're going to try to get back onto the path of getting us up to a minimum wage of $15 an hour. So, I firmly feel that there will be probably a sizable minimum wage increase in January of 27. There is a minimal one this year, but I do foresee there potentially being a a pretty sizable one next year. What that's going to be, probably know a little bit more as a general assembly session goes into to play and we can really kind of estimate that a little bit better. Um, as the salary increases, the governor did increase uh include a 2% increase. Um, however, I want
043to remind everybody that our focus this year is on teacher pay and trying to get that starting pay up so that we can be competitive with our um surrounding counties. Um, right now we have an anticipated umc funding need of about $285,000. Now, there again, that's still preliminary and we're still working on fine details, but that's kind of where we're at currently. um capital improvement needs. You all heard last month that we have about $40 million in capital improvement needs. Now, you know, all those don't have to happen at once, but we do have one crucial one at Crew Primary that is really top priority that is about a $4 million um investment and that is a high critical need. So, we want to look at the potential for applying for the the state school
044construction um assistance program, which is a grant. they provide up to 30% of a project cost. And I want to remind you that even if we apply for it and we are granted, it doesn't mean we actually have to use it. Um, so it's a situation where it would be beneficial if we at least apply and see what we get and then we can try to work out some of the other details. We still would have to come up with 70% of the remaining project. Um, but that's some some things that we can kind of talk through as we go through some of our budget work sessions and and all of that. The one thing that that con that construction assistance program requires is that we have an approved um capital improvement plan or at
045least the project has been approved by the board. So that will probably something we will be talking very hard and heavy about within the next um work session and into the next board meeting so that we can have everything prepped and planned for that um to go because that application opens in March. I don't know the date in March, but it opens in March. >> And that approvement uh from the board, [clears throat] approval from the board would be just the current uh the $4 million at Crew Primary. >> Yeah, it would just be to approve us to basically do the project and look for the funding for the project and all of that thing. And we'll figure out all the wording and verbiage for that, but >> it would be confined to the that
046first immediate need >> more than likely. Yes. Um, and then just some notes and reminders. Um, General Assembly does not convene until next Tuesday the 14th. It is a 60-day long session. So, they are expected to journ on April 13th. Um, we do have a hopefully a joint meeting of the board of supervisors and school board um potentially around January 26th, but I don't think that's been quite confirmed yet. Um, and then >> tomorrow. Well, no, tomorrow. Um, so we'll we'll hopefully have confirmation of that soon. You do have another um budget public hearing on February 12th at the school board meeting, which hopefully at that point we'll be able to talk a little bit more about what revenues and expenditures are going to look like. Um, and then just want to remind everybody, those
047who are watching at home, um, that Dr. Martin did send out um an email and I believe it's on the Facebook page that there is a [snorts] link to a NCPS budget survey and this is open to families to staff and to the community at large. Um we really would like to have some input from um our stakeholders about our budget, what they would like to see, you know, different things just so that we can have some input as we build this budget and future budgets going down the road. Um, and I'd also like to remind you that we have already started trying to do this year some very strategic cost-saving me measures. Um, we were able, you know, to fund our behavior specialists by not filling other positions that were no longer needed. Uh,
048really trying to be intentional about what we're doing with our budget, how we're spending, looking very deeply at all of our our positions, making sure that we have what we need and that we're funding what we need. and we're going to continue that with this budget um cycle. Really trying to make sure that we are being good stewards of the money that we receive um and doing what we need to do for the kids of Nawway County. That was all that. >> Thank you for all your hard work. >> Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Huge task. >> What is our current ADM? >> Mr. Chairman, I have one comment. the survey that was on the internet. >> Mhm. >> 1 to 12, [cough and clears throat] that's uh a unique way to try to rank things.
049Usually [clears throat] usually now this is just the Sunny Abbott theory. When somebody says rate 1 to 10, you know, one not being good, 10 being really good, you only got to use the number once. So if you had a one one item, you never got to use that one again. You had to use two, three, four, you had to use the rest of them. So it was a little more difficult to, in my opinion, appropriately select where you think those 12 items should be. That's just me. >> We appreciate the feedback. >> Haven't had a chance to look at it yet. >> Can we participate? Yes, >> there's there's another box and I filled it out and said board members. So, you'll know if no one else has done it, it was me. ADM
050I think is it 16 50 something [clears throat] 1650 something is the current ADM >> 165 I think but I can tell you >> 1658 >> um it's uh sorry it's 1649 >> 1649 >> 89 if you want to >> figure out the 89 of >> 1649 but I will tell you Um, we had 15 students in enrollment school sitting there waiting on January 5th that were in the process of enrolling now. >> Okay. And then >> three more since we've been back this week that we've been in communication about. We tend to see a little spike at the first of the year. So hopefully that will matter because it's the March 31 number that matters the most for us for payments. >> What was the projection for this year? back, >> right? >> 1,700
051is what >> 1700675 for next year. >> Um, so we'll start adjusting spending based upon, you know, the lower ADM. So, >> and I know as board members, you're very much aware of this that school finance works completely different than any other, but our community often doesn't understand how school finance works. um and the the share from the state versus the county and the county doesn't fund our full budget. That's as you know that's when it comes into the 28% versus what we're getting from the state and eventually it's going to go up because of that real property. So you know roughly 70%. The county only funds that 28% of the budget. It's not like they have $40 million in their budget that they receive and oh, I'm giving that to the school division. No,
052they're funding the 28% of that budget because oftentimes we hear people say, well, they get $40 million from the county. But we don't get $40 million from the county. We get six point, which is the minimum that has to be given. So the next thing that we often hear told is we'll make the school system cut their budget. But if we cut, we're not making the required amount, which then means we don't receive our state >> shares and the county has to then pick up >> the state >> shares of division doesn't have any fat. >> We don't have any fat in our budget um and to trim off. And so that's the disconnect that sometimes is not understood until you get involved in the school finance work. And not everything it's it's just not
053here's your money. >> Put it wherever you need it. There's strings attached to a lot of it. It can only be here and it can only be there. And and that's the piece and I say this because I know people are watching and listening is to educate our community and [clears throat] individuals about how school finance actually operates and where those figures and those numbers come from and the effect on the number of positions we would have to cut because at the end of the day our focus is on kids and we can't make positive student outcomes if we don't have qualified staff which is also as Heather said is why our our focus is on ensuring that we have the best staff in front of our students and our focus is on staff salaries
054this year in particular teacher to get them up to the level where we [snorts] are actively being able to recruit the best teachers and retain >> because it's not just about recruiting it's about retaining the staff that we have here um to have that continuity and learning with our students and then of course as Heather said the biggest thing in our budget Um, our budget focus needs to be on Crew Primary School and this HVAC system. As you were well aware, we had another leak over uh two days before uh Christmas was it was there I think it was that Monday of winter break and um we were lucky it was caught. There were people in the building. Um and every time that happens, it's not just oh we go and clean it up. That's
055time, that's energy, that's money to pay people to come in and fix it. That's damaging to materials. This time we have to file an insurance claim because we've had to replace a lot of different things in those rooms. Um, and then on top of that, the issue that we haven't gotten to that we've talked about before, and we are up for indoor air quality this year, is we clean it up in the immediate, >> but the water that seeps, >> mold, >> the mold, whatever it is that gets into underneath the walls and what what other damage is there underneath the floors. Um, no, this time the way it sat it actually cuz we took turns checking. I know Mr. Paige went and checked, Carrie, Dr. Lewis, uh, Robbie, Heather, myself over the entire winter
056break continuously went in every day to check to make sure we weren't surprised by anything else. But one day that I went in, I messaged Heather after. I said, "They're going to have to really strip off everything because it had gotten into the um wax that was on it and it was all crackly on top." So, they basically had to to push it all off. So, the HVAC crew is [cough and clears throat] it's an emergency need that we have got to focus on because if not, we're continuously fixing brakes and different things and you don't ever know. I mean, it just pops up, you know, and especially when it gets hot and it gets cold and things expand and contract and it's old pieces and new pieces, you know. We did un poor Robbie.
057We did uh we have a sensor that's on it now that notifies you if um it senses any bit >> of a leak now. And we have set it to the highest >> Sensitivity, which means when you do that, >> it's going off all the time. whether it's just a ounce of condensation, it's going to go off and alert him. But I would rather it >> be going off than for us to come into a mess because all I mean I I could have I checked it on Christmas day, but by the time I left on Christmas Day, I didn't mean that nothing happened after I left between the next morning, you know. So, um it is a concern. It is a concern for our staff and to ensure that they're in the best atmospheres
058to work. So that is out of everything other than staff salaries, the next highest priority we have is this HVAC system that we're dealing with at Crew Primary. Mhm. >> Looking forward and I went online and you can you can do this and [cough] [clears throat] uh how different counties uh fund their share, how much do they fund? Uh not pretty much does the bare minimum. There are many school divisions out there. Granted, some of them are in very populated areas that have a much higher tax base than we do, but they fund much much much more than the minimum required. >> Yeah. >> And that is an important thing to note. That is the absolute minimum. >> That's the bare minimum. >> We have to remember we're investing in our future. >> Absolutely. [snorts]
059Okay. >> The one thing I I don't think Heather mentioned, but we've talked about too. Um Heather, please jump in and correct me where I'm wrong in it. Um last year the House and the Senate both passed the one uh cent sales tax increase, but it didn't go all the way through. Um you know, and a lot of school divisions are funding their and it's for strictly school construction. That is where a lot of school divisions are funding. Uh the ones that have who do we talk about? Halifax. >> Halifax and Prince Edward. >> Prince Edward. A lot of them seem to have funded their school construction, their additions that they've put on their new high schools because their counties have gone and asked for permission even though it wasn't passed as a blanket opportunity.
060They have asked permission to increase the sales tax which generates the revenue for the school construction. Um, so they're just we we have to think outside the box and how funding occurs and and but again at the end of the day as you said Mr. Outlaw, we're investing in our future in our children and at right now we're at the bare minimum investment. >> What is our future all about if not our kids? >> Exactly. And it is my understanding that that 1 cent sales tax is going back through the general assembly this year and they do anticipate that the governor will sign that um into law. So that would be of great help for us. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Thank you M. All right. I don't believe we have anyone signed
061up for delegation from the public. Next on your agenda, the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve consent agendas items A, B, C, D, and E. Is there a second? >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I >> Any oppose? All right. Under action items, letter A, the appointment of a school board member to the governor's school joint board. Dr. Martin. >> Uh, Mr. Chairman, the school board needs to appoint a member to serve on the governor's school joint board. Uh, Miss Duncan previously served on the governor school joint board. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we appoint our representative Michelle Duncan as the board member to the governor's school. Is there a second? >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Sign
062of I. >> I. Any oppose? All right. and Miss Duncan is appointed to the school board and school board member to the governor school joint board. All right. Letter B, the appointment of school board member career technical center joint board. Dr. Martin, >> the school board needs to appoint two members to serve on the Career Technical Center joint board. One member for a 2-year term from January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2027. and one member for the same term, January 1st to December 31st, 2027. The status of members uh currently serving on the board is as follows. Um Mr. Outlaw's term expired on December 31st, 2025. Mr. Abbott's term expired on December 31st, 2025. And so the current active person is Mr. Wilson and his term is from January 25 1st, 2025 to December 31st,
0632026. say you will need to appoint two members to serve on the joint board. >> All right. Do we have a motion to appoint two members to the career technical center joint board? >> Mr. Chairman, I'll move to uh approve the appointment of Mr. Bill Outlaw for uh the two-year term Jan 126 through December 3127. And I likewise would move that uh we appoint Mr. Abbott for that same period. >> There's been motion to approve Mr. Sunny Abbott for 2-year term on the joint board January 1 26 to December 31st 27th. >> Do that one first. >> All right. >> Second on that one. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> All right. Any opposed? All right. And we have a another motion to approve. Who
064did I call out first? I forgot that. >> Outlaw. [laughter] Outlaw made the motion that Mr. Abbott. [clears throat] >> You're going to approve Sunny. >> So now we're doing Sunny. >> Yes. >> I make a We had a motion and a second to approve. Mr. Sunny Abbott. >> We need a second. >> A motion. We didn't have a second yet. >> I'll second. [laughter] I second you. >> All right. We have a motion. And now we have a second to approve Mr. Mr. Board for a two-year term. Any [snorts] discussion? All in favor? >> I. All right. Let us see what [clears throat] happened. >> You haven't yet, but you're about to hear your name. So [laughter] let's see the appointment of school board member to serve as VSBA delegate for 2026. Dr. Martin
065>> Mr. Chairman the school board needs to appoint a member to serve as delegate to the VSBA assembly for 2026. You Mr. Row previously served as delegate to the VSBA assembly for 2025. >> Thank you. I move that we appoint to serve a round of >> applause for it. >> As the delegate to the VSBA 2026 conference and I second that >> it's been properly moved and second to to appoint somebody named Damian Ro is the [laughter] SBA delegate. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> say I there Damian as well. >> [laughter] >> get used to me up there because >> your term is already not up. [laughter] >> You cannot you cannot resign not up till end of this year. >> All right. Letter D. The appointment of schoolboard member to serve as
066a VSBA alternate delegate for 2026. Dr. Martin. >> Mr. Chairman, the school board needs to appoint a member to serve as the alternate delegate to the VSBA assembly. Mr. Abbott previously served as the alternate delegate to the VSBA assembly. >> All right. Is there a motion for a member to serve as VSBA alternate delegate? You good? >> So moved it. >> All right. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and second for Mr. Sunny Abbott to serve as VSB alternate for 2026. Um any discussion? All in favor? I Damian's twin. >> Yes, indeed. We're twins. You know that. Letter E. The appointment of a schoolboard member to the special education advisory committee. Dr. Martin. Mr. Chairman. Miss Duncan was approved by the board to serve on the special education
067advisory committee as a parent. So, the appointment is being requested for Miss Duncan to continue on the SEAK board uh but SEAK but as a school board member. >> Mr. Chairman, I will move to appoint Michelle Duncan as the SEAK board representative, school board representative. >> All right. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Excuse me. The seat save. >> All in favor? >> All right. Letter F, the adoption of the VSBA code of conduct for schoolboard members. Dr. Martin. >> Mr. chairman and board members, in your packet this evening, the VSBA has asked all school board members participate in the VSBA code of conduct for school board members. Previous boards have adopted the code of conduct and you have a copy of the code of conduct within your packet this
068evening. >> Move to approve. >> I have a motion to approve the adoption of ESBA code of conduct for schoolboard members. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I abstain. >> All right, we have four eyes and one abstension. Uh, letter G, the renewal of the VSBA policy contract. Dr. Martin, >> Mr. Chairman and members of the board, the Virginia School Board Association's VSBA policy service department services department offers school divisions in Virginia the latest policy updates according to law revisions within the Commonwealth. The agreement is in full force in effect for one year, one term effective February 1st, 2026 and terminating on January 31st, 2027. The board's eligibility for policy services is conditions conditioned on the board remaining a member of VSBA. So there is a recommendation for
069you to continue with VSBA policy services. >> Move that we continue with the VSBA policy services. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? I got a couple of questions. How much in total do we pay the VSBA annually? >> I have to look that up. >> Any rough >> estimate? To be honest, no, because we haven't paid a VSBA bill other than like a registration for a conference since the spring. So, I do not remember that number off the top of my head. So, I don't want to guess and get totally wrong. And this is for membership uh dues and so forth. This is in total a member cannot opt out of uh being a member. Is that correct? A school board member cannot opt out of >> Do you know >>
070I would have to research that and give you a response to that. >> Talking about the membership. >> Can he opt out? >> You said as an individual member >> it's a board. It's a board. >> Yeah. It's an all or none and that's what you need to research. >> It's the board's eligibility. >> Well, no, I don't because it's actually your the BSBA would be the board as a whole, not as an individual member. >> Okay. >> Well, if you could get me that figure on how much we did pay uh >> Yes. >> Uh ask for clarification just on that, not just dues. You wanted if we've paid it for professional development, all of those things, >> Whatever we've paid everything >> in total in total. Okay. >> All right. All right. Any
071further discussion. All in favor? >> I >> No. All right. Letter H. The Literacy Improvement Network Grant and the budget adjustment. Dr. Martin. >> Mr. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Nawway Middle School has received notification that we were awarded the literacy improvement network grant for Nawway Middle School um for PDOE in the amount of $39,500. This was a competitive grant process. Not all school divisions were awarded grants. Uh funding will support highquality literacy instructional implementation, any travel cost associated with attending any sessions, and the materials to support family awareness and engagement with literacy. Our focus is literacy and it's also ensuring that our students with disabilities, which is one of our achievement groups that we want to focus on, um are receiving highquality instructional practices in the classroom. So, I'm asking this evening for
072you to accept that grant. There is no match. >> No local match. >> No, sir. >> Mr. Chairman, I will move to approve the literacy improvement network grant for the Nawway Middle School, $39,500 and the associated budget amendment. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? [clears throat] All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Letter I. Calendar revision 202627 school year. Dr. Greger. Good evening, school board members, Dr. Martin, Nawway, employees and guests. Tonight, I'm presenting a request to revise the graduation date on the 2026 student calendar. Through reflection and discussion, we recognize that some seniors who participate in late spring athletics have been impacted by the current graduation date. In some cases, students have missed their own graduation ceremony due to playoff schedules or other postseason athletic uh commitments.
073To address this concern, several alternative dates were reviewed. After careful consideration, Thursday, June 3rd, 2027 was identified as the most appropriate option. A Thursday evening cere ceremony would help avoid conflicts with VHSL events and allow student athletes the opportunity to fully participate in their academic commitments and their graduation. We are bringing this request forward at this time to provide families with ample notice more than a year in [clears throat] advance and accordingly. And again, this is for June 2027. And I have uh copies of the 2026 27 current calendar for you to review. >> I already have I have a question was just used this year. It's if you look down on June it should be >> okay. Currently be June Mr. Chairman June 27th. >> Clarify too. >> So as Dr. Groger said we
074are not moving anything this year. Nothing is changing. This is for the next year. >> 27. Correct. >> Yes. 27. Um and the other thing was the this was requested by um the high school and their team. Um we did [clears throat] with them and it is supported by the administrators and the athletic director at the high school. >> So that would make Wednesday the 2nd the last day of school. >> Not the fourth. >> So >> let me let let me clarify the calendar for you. So, we always build in possible makeup days into the calendar. So, the last day of school would stay the same no matter what. That would still be um what it is listed. So, it's only changing the date of graduation, which is typically always or 27. Yeah. 27.
075>> Yeah. >> Not affecting any Avery, you're good. You're still going to graduate on [laughter] But it's it's three days earlier. >> Not complain. Well, I I'm a little I I graduation. >> Help me understand. If Friday the 4th is the last day of school, but you're graduating on the 3rd, they're going to come to school on the fourth. >> No, sir. Seniors always seniors have a um different obligation because we have to certify all of their grades and their records in advance of graduation. So, typically seniors finish before. We've always historically finished almost a week before. >> Yeah. And they >> to the seniors >> except seniors. It doesn't affect them. Um we have flexibility in how we can do their attendance and their obligations and satis you know satisfying all of those things.
076So everybody else historically everybody else comes back to school after graduation except for the seniors which finish up early. I guess it's their senior gift. I didn't want I just wanted >> I didn't want the singers to come back again and finish up say bye to everybody [laughter] are they missing a little >> the athletes would be missing their state playoffs >> state playoffs if they qualify and what we have found in the past if there's two that fall on the first week and even if you went later for the next week there's something else that like softball or something falls the next week but historically we have had somebody that qualifies for state track. Most definitely. Um and we have had that issue. This request has come up multiple times over the last few
077years to consider changing it. Um for whatever reason, it calendar committee never really got that information. uh wasn't passed that way, but it did come directly to us this year, which is the reason why we sat down and met about it to make that adjustment. And then of course moving forward because we we approve we're trying to approve calendars two years in advance for families. So last year they got this year's and the next year. So we'll start working on the following 27 28 and 2829 calendar will be the next ones we work on and that will automatically be taken into consideration when you see those calendars moving forward and it also will be in the evening on that day and not the morning which prior to um I don't know how many years back
078when it changed but I know a lot of us that gradu graduated in the >> I would say even >> we graduated in the evening. Um I think one of the reasons it may have changed was because of thunderstorms but I can tell you the last few years we've been holding our breath >> in the morning because of thunderstorms too. Yeah. >> Yes. Um so it it was historically before it was changed in the evening. graduated in the 1800s. And >> when they have when they have these events, is it like the full weekend >> on Friday travel involved with them? >> I leave on Fridays, compete on Saturday. >> That's that's kind of the ideal thing with it being Thursday. Then we would have they'd be able to do both cuz they' be traveling
079the next day at the event on Saturday. >> Yeah. Um and I think I don't remember who asked when was graduation. This year, graduation is on June 6th. >> June 6. >> I didn't even have to look it up. I don't know why. I just didn't ask Avery to tell us the date. [laughter] >> June the 6th. >> If you wait another year, Avery, you can >> I've got the share. [laughter] >> All right. Is there Mr. >> Chairman? I will move to change the calendar [cough] for graduation to June 3rd, 2027. >> Second. Uh any discussion? [clears throat] All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Dr. Gregor. >> Thank you. >> All right. There are no non-action items. >> Informational items. The school progress reports. Dr. Martin. I'm going to turn
080this [clears throat] evening over to the presentation this evening over to our principles um to highlight the progress that they've made in their school improvement plans this year and to give you an update on that. Um it also provides them with an update to or opportunity to practice some of the things that we have worked on over the course of this month. Um so just so you know and they're laughing about it because [clears throat] Miss can tell you what her skill is that she has worked on and that is clapping her hands. Um, so they are all laughing about it because we typically count how many times Miss Painter claps her hands during a presentation. Um, she talks with her hands, which is what most teachers do is talk with her hands, except hers
081make noise when she's doing. So, we're [laughter and clears throat] >> most superintendents talk with their hands, too. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. [laughter] And as you just see, I was doing this and I even clap. So the problem is all clapping when we present. So I'm actually excited for them to share with you the progress of their schools and their school improvement plan and their own personal professional work that they have uh been doing. And they also because it's on YouTube, they will get to use this as a critique session after for themselves. So >> now I get to add that to it. [laughter] >> So with that, I'm going to turn it over to um [laughter] >> you are now the official clapping coordinator. I didn't know that. [laughter] >> I know. Are you
082a cheerleader? >> I just like she said, I love to my hands. I'm very >> All right. expressive. [laughter] Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and school board. So, my name is Amanda Painter and I am here to introduce all of our principles and APS tonight and we are going to highlight four areas for school progress. And I will start with Lexon. Oh, shoot. Hear the clap. [laughter] Bring the clamp back [cough] under the old rail thing. >> Turn it on. You can't see. >> I can't see. [clears throat] Thank you. >> It's not working. See there? >> You have to walk towards it. [laughter] >> Yeah. I'll tell you when >> that just so you know that was not a skill that we practiced. We're not going to write them down on clicking with the tractor
083thing. Protector thing. So for school progress we have four areas to highlight. Academic supports, staffing supports, professional learning and school climate. So at the PS we work very hard in our PLC meetings weekly to work on alignment of our lesson lesson plans. We look at student data to ensure that we are meeting our students needs and targeting areas for improvement. Um and we individualize student reading plans. Um, for our staffing support, [cough] we do lots and lots of formal and informal and walkthrough observations so that we can provide our teachers with coaching and feedback on their instructional practices. We also provide a lot of professional development. We do many PDs in our PLC's as well as the county provides professional development to meet our teachers needs and help them with their instructional practices as well.
084We acknowledge our staff's leadership and growth and we celebrate them every opportunity we can. We also provide supports with our professional learning with weekly communication to our faculty and staff as well as families. And at BPS, we have something called a BPS hub which houses every protocol, procedure that and forms that teachers would need. So, it's a one-stop shop and they don't have to go looking for it. Um, we also work on school climate, family engagement activities. At Blackstone Primary, we have been have 17 family engagement activities on schedule. Um, we recognize our students for academics, behavior, and attendance. We have students of the month. Each nine weeks, we provide academic and attendance awards and certificates. We do positive referrals, kindness, counts, recognition, and we also have a student success team that meets frequently to
085go over student data, student academics, student behavior, and attendance. So, some of our progress for Blackstone Primary is our teachers have been doing an exceptional job using the VDOE standards of learning to ensure that they are aligning their lessons for tier one instructional practices. Some of our highlights you heard tonight, Dr. Martin said we are all fully accredited now, including Blackstone. And that is from some we had growth of 24.79% which gave us a total of 76.2%. So we're very very close to our goal and we're going to continue to make those improvements to make our 80% goal. Our average attendance to this point this year is 94.52%. So we are going to continue with a lot of attendance initiatives and challenges to keep that average high. our staffing supports. We provide meaningful tools for
086our teachers and strategies through our coaching, through our reading specialist and math specialist. And again, we implement professional development and provide our teachers with the strategies they need to be able to provide high quality instruction in the classroom. Um our teachers are getting comfortable with all these strategies and tools and again they are on our hub for them to utilize daily. We give clear and concise communication in our PLC's in our weekly announcements and our communication to our teachers and families. And for school climate supports again we've had 17 family engagement activities. We typically have at least two a month. We have an active PTA. We have engagements outside of the school. We had one at C Park for a title one reading night which was very successful. We just had our winter concert presentation
087which was also very successful. All of our students got to perform for their families. Um, we provide a lot of awards and certificates to celebrate all of our staff and students. And some of our next steps for these four areas for academic supports, we are going to continue to meet weekly reviewing student data because data drives instruction. We're going to continue to target the areas we need for instructional growth through our coaching, through our observations, utilizing all of our coaches to help that. We also want to recruit highly and retain highly qualified teachers and we would appreciate the support with increasing our pay scale so we can be competitive [laughter] with our surrounding counties here in region 8. Um for our professional learning we are constantly updating um our communication. We have weekly communication through
088thrillshare to our families, emails and also working on [cough] um our VPS website and updating that regularly for our families. Um, we do have a focus to continue to build relationships with our families, to encourage our families to not only focus on the fun activities we provide, but also coming out toformational and academic nights that we will be providing moving forward. So we have planned two so information nights for our families to participate in so that they can be involved in preparing their students for SOS and we also have a survey that is on our title one flyer for parents to give input and feedback so that we can use their suggestions to grow. So we are going to continue to be part of not and we are committed to excellence at Blackstone Primary School.
089So, I'm now gonna turn it over to Lloyd Paige, the principal at Crew Primary. >> Thank you very much. [clears throat] [applause] >> So, uh, we're Crew Primary. Uh, Miss Leslie Clark, wave. She's the assistant principal there. Um, second year. [laughter] >> I'm sorry. It's >> Miss the, uh, principal Blackstone. Then Miss Painter was too worried about clapping and forgot. >> [laughter] >> All right. So, uh CPS the uh basics uh very similar to uh the other schools we're going to talk about. We do our weekly PLC's which are our planning and data meetings. Um and what we're very successful at crew is we maximize our teacher we maximize the resources we have and uh there are outside resource like TTAC and VLP uh so it is a lot of internally and external supports there
090and then lesson plan and review uh staffing supports uh observations and coaching and feedback recruiting [clears throat] and and uh Miss Painter talked about but uh recruiting is attracting new staff members it's also recruiting and retaining our staff staff members. Uh we're very fortunate that we have awesome staff members. We want to keep them. So, not only do we need to uh recruit new people, we got to recruit the in-house people, make sure they stay. And and if it's a uh long-term sub or sub, try to get the long term long-term sub, try to get them instructional position, a position, and then kind of work [cough] [clears throat] with that uh model. uh regular communication with staff, uh professional learning, faculty meetings, PLC, uh professional development, divisionwide professional development, uh school climate, the MTSS matrix
091as multiple tiers of student support, uh giving students what they need at their level in terms of behavior and expectations. Uh, one of the things that we're focused on right now, um, crew, a couple crew maintenance workers, the town of crew, uh, fussed at me because, uh, there's a pump station behind us and there's random objects that don't deserve to be in there. Uh, so every day this week, I've been announcing to the students and staff not to flush stuff down the toilet because it's it ruins the the system. And when we had that power outage that uh, Dr. Dr. Martin mentioned a couple weeks ago, right before break, um, and they went in trying to work on it and they noticed a lot of issues and a couple times over break, they had to
092go back over there. So, uh, stuff like that. Also, uh, we're on the verge of our tennis was awesome this week, but we're on the verge of people getting sick. Uh, a couple staff members are sick, so we're really really worried about every morning I talk about, uh, don't touch your face, you know, we're out. So safety stuff uh with that school climate you know with that pause referrals um Miss Clark loves pause referrals um she she literally runs up to when I'm doing my announcement 7:55 in the morning she'll run up from car rider uh when we have pause referral so she grab the kids and give them their their free book and uh make sure they feel special at that uh kindness recognition and parent communication uh we do weekly and as needed.
093Um where we are currently uh I'm comfortable that we're near full use of highquality structural materials by all staff members in all subjects. We're not 100% yet. Uh but we will get there and I'm happy where we are. Uh proved live at SOS. Uh the walkthroughs we did uh in our system is uh talent ed performs a specific program for this. Uh we are at three as of Monday we are at 337 completed informal observations and about 40 formal observations. uh every teacher's had one formal and then the ones that are on uh I guess continuing is that the right term the continuing evaluation they've uh received to the ones that needed it. Uh so as we come out I think uh fe middle of February middle of March they'll need to be completed the
094two or three of them. Uh staff sports again we we continue to look at our schedule. Uh we have around uh testing going on right now that started Monday. Uh, and some kids are going to come into services and go out of services with our reading program. So, we'll look at the schedule once that's finished and try to maximize that. Uh, professional learning. Uh, we do a great job of sending out our weekly emails to staff. Uh, I I think Miss Clark that you guys look forward to on Sunday nights, right? >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. So, uh, we do that every week and then midweek I send something out usually. Uh, then we we see a constant improvement in data. uh school climate or chronically chronic absenteeism. This is hard for people
095to understand. If a student misses school for any reason, suspension, excused absence, unexcused absence, um parent note, doctor's note, it goes against the school. And if they're over 10%. Uh so right now we're about 80 days. I think if they're at 8 days or more, they're consider considered chronically absent. And parents don't understand that. They think they have the doctors out that it's okay and it is okay to an extent in terms of truency in terms of uh the legal aspect in terms of promptly absent uh it's it's a it's an issue. So we're on par with last year. Overall our attendance is 94.5. Um and then referrals are a little bit higher but there's less student offenders. So our total number is higher but the number of students that are participating in the referrals
096is is lower if that makes sense. All right. where we're going. Uh we're going to continue to monitor the high quality structural material use. Uh we're going to ensure timeliness of coaching and feedback discussion, uh lesson plan review, and then we're going to use the data to drive instruction. And right now, like I said, we do have the valve screening coming up. We have SGAAS and and the uh benchmarks coming off for a couple of subjects. We're going to use that data to improve our instruction. Uh same thing like I talked about earlier, continue to work to retain current staff and recruit new staff. Um, and one thing I'm pretty excited about, um, well, I'm not excited about her retiring, but we have a third grade teacher that's retiring after many years in education. She's
097been with us four years now, but she's recruiting her replacement, trying to recruit her replacement, one of her old student teachers. And then I have uh, my music teacher. She's recruiting people. So, it's cool to see our staff members recruiting other staff me or, you know, potential staff members. So, I love to see that. Um, then continue scheduling support staff to best address the gaps. And uh one of the improvements we want to do uh is improve our um use of faculty meetings, make it more relevant to the teachers, make it more relevant to our staff. So it's beneficial to them. We do it monthly and leverage TTAC support uh training and technical assistance center. What training? Okay. Um uh so we have several people that come in across the division and um we're going
098to we're going to use utilize them more, leverage them more. and then school climate. Uh we have a contendum sentence coming up and then um we'd like to do the MTSS push as well. That's the expectations review. So that is crew. Next up is Dr. uh Smith Intermediate School. And I think he's going to be uh respectful enough to introduce Dr. F. Throw me under. [laughter] Sorry. >> All right. Good evening. I'm Dr. Smith, very proud principal of NIS. Emil acknowledge my assistant principal. >> I acknowledge it all. chairman is not recognized. [laughter] >> And so like everyone else talked about, we have four areas that we're going to talk about which makes, you know, just kind of talking about NIS academic supports, the staffing supports, professional learning, and school climate reports. Academically, um, weekly
099PLC meetings, we all do it weekly PLC meetings. We about six a week. Uh, we, uh, do English, math, science, and social studies. We have a lot of informal walkthroughs. to three times a day which lends up to around 200. Um for us um individual reading plans we're about 80 80% of our reading plans and vows. Um again we want to make sure we're aligning our lesson plans um alignment and making sure that we have the the the assessment the written and the taught and we want to make sure we're pushing that in our our school. Uh and staff support. going to support us by, you know, our team or our our teachers by making sure we're having them oppos observations and we do a lot of observations and that coaching feedback is very important
100and we continue to do that uh with our coaching questions and coaching um responses and feedback to our teachers. Uh this is very important. And then our teacher of the month, we we do a teacher of the month every month, but we do something a little different. We actually for our attendance for our teachers, we give award for that. So, and each quarter if our teachers here, hey, we're going to buy them lunch. So, that's what you know that's a little different. Um, and we're pushing that and then keep pushing it for next quarter as well. And obviously for weekly staff emails, u we have a monthly message that I send out that talks about um information about our school, about any PDs that are coming up, uh anything from Dr. Martin. So these Monday
101messages are very important that we push out. Um and again our staffing events, you know, we have our duty-free lunch. Uh we have um a lot of food trucks that come. Deon does a good job of bringing them in. Um but those are things that are very important just to uh get the morale of our our teachers. And then obviously professional learning, faculty meetings. Um they're very important. We actually had a a faculty meeting that we did with TAC uh which talked about the first 21 days. Um and then we had a a PD that talks about this data just bringing the data because it's very important to try to improve on that so we can move our school and then PLC's PDS talking about looking at lesson plan review um looking at data in
102our PLC's and then our division wide PDS miss Dr. does a great job of having those quarterly and we can look at different areas as far as classroom management, looking at history and social science, you know, alignment. So all these things are very important [clears throat] about teachers movement and then school uh student teacher of the month that newsletter bring that out uh monthly communication our tennis support team we have every Friday uh we meet with our attendance team with guidance counselors uh with the assistant principal uh um with our with our um guidance counselor just to make sure that we are doing and looking at attendance improving our attendance in our chronic athletes And then uh learn excuse me Lexi and Zern initiative. We have put that in place that our our classes are
103fighting each other trying to get numbers up for Lexia and Zern. Um and we have a big event in end in January that we're going to have a big ice cream um event for the winter. And so every day I get on get on there and talk about how we can push and get our scores up with Lexi and Z. Then our family engagement. Uh we just had our Veterans Day program um in November and we just had our charity hoops which are our students brought canned goods in um each to help with a charitable organization. So, we're donating that and we had a big basketball game and um I got I got a few points but um um we uh we we did beat the middle school um team but um next up we
104also coming up when I we talk about our students for our behavior we have coming up our February dance which going to be tied to our PBIS and attendance and behavior and again we're going to have our sneaker ball in uh May. So we're really pushing that and some of the good things that happen in us. Now next up is what we're going to what we doing for our progress. Our current academic progress um last year uh our biggest score was issue was science. Uh it was at 33%. Right now with our unit test we're pushing up to 65 and so our obviously our target is going to be 85 and so we can get those scores. Um math at 60 um 68 right now and last year 57. So, we're right in the middle.
105We have our benchmarks coming up. Uh we have our um our student growth assessments coming up as well. So, we're going to push that. And then our English scores or last year at 57, just raw score. Right now, we're at 67. I can suggest again, you know, we're going to push to get to that 85%. Uh so, we can move the school. Uh we're going to continue to do our high quality instructional materials, making sure we're looking at HMH, looking at Hampton, looking at math space, and then again, we want to make sure we're we're evolving our intervention with our lecture and zone. And we have a a class that has all our students run through Lexi and Zern. Um and that's very important that also our sixth grade team every every morning, Monday through
106Friday, we're doing Lexia. And so this is another intervention that's going to help our math and English scores. Again, as far as support, we want to get the best to come to NIS. And so we'll continue to to recruit and do that. And then professional learning, we want to have our collaboration with TTAC. Um again, like we had just talked about having u our last five meeting having the first 21 days uh introduction. Um school climate current attendance, we're about at 95%. Um, last year was 92%. So, we're we're way on our way to being successful in that. Um, Lloyd talked about chronic aptism. We are at 16 and last year was 17. So, we're improving on that. We got to get down to 10%. That's what our mark is. And again, uh, we'll continue
107to do our behavior expectations. We're going to do a reset in mid January when I talk about uh all expectations in our our school as far as our classroom, our hallways, our our bathroom. So, we're going to go over that and talk to our fifth and sixth graders. Um and make sure we have uh an assembly comes out. So, that kickback for that is going to be our February dance that we're going to push and then our sneaker ball in in May. And again, we already talked about all our great events we had just previously, our Veterans Day event and our charity hoops. So, what's next for us? Uh, academic support, our next steps, acting support. We're going to continue to do what we're doing now, which is have those observations, getting those classrooms three
108times a day, having feedback, having those coaching questions, and making sure we're doing uh focus on our high quality instructional materials. And again, far as data, data needs really going to drive. We have our our CFAs coming up in in January. We have our um SGAAS, our winter growth assessments. We have our benchmarks coming up which is put in place which is really gives a nice snapshot of where we are. And we're going to use that our teachers going to use that to to drive instruction. >> Again, we want to get we want to be the best. We want to get our staff and is up to par so we can we can achieve and run and do things and then continue that collaboration with TTAC. um they've been very helpful and we want to
109make sure we can move that because one of the areas that we need to improve on which is our spit population and also our gener and again we want to continue our attendance incentives and our school buy incentives um like we talked about charity hoops we got our coming up in February our dance that's tied into um behavior and attendance and then also our sneaker ball and then in May our year up for SLS so we're moving forward for NI and I'm I'm happy. And next up is Miss Saunders from the middle school. [applause] >> Good evening. Um, I want to introduce my assistant principal, Shelanda Watkins. [laughter] So, I want to make sure I I let you know that everything we do, we do together. So, there's nothing that I'm going to point out
110that she's not a huge part of. Um, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm seeing some trends and what you're hearing. So, I'm not going to spend a ton of time going back through some of the same things because divisionwide, we're doing some amazing things in our buildings and not Middle School is no different than that. Um, as far as our academic supports, we too are doing PLC meetings. We have actually invited TTAC to come in and do trainings with us during our PLC. They have been a wonderful asset to us and provided us with some instructional strategies that we are currently implementing. Um we too do formal and informal observations and are providing feedback for those and we're using our highquality instructional materials Hampton and we have used HMH this year
111for our English department. So that's been quite successful. Staffing wise we do recognitions for our teachers each month. We send out weekly emails. We do communications. We have also organized monthly staff events where we are trying to get our staff together outside of school one afternoon every month. Um, and those have been very very successful. We've gotten to know each other on a whole different level and the staff seems to very much enjoy those opportunities to try to create that family atmosphere that we want to have in our building. Professionally, we're doing our faculty meetings and we're doing professional development in them. We're also doing our division PD and using PLC's to do training. As I stated before, climate wise, student of the month, this the kids get very excited about it. Um, many are
112embarrassed when we ask to take pictures, but they like it. Some have asked to call home and let parents know before the the postings even happen. So, that's been quite successful. We do our weekly parent newsletter and we have our student success team meetings every Friday where we go over things like attendance and who needs some extra help and who needs to be on our radar. Okay. As far as our school improvements, we have uh added math space. So, we are starting that's our new math textbook series. The teachers are getting used to it. It's not in full implementation, but so far the reviews have been quite good. they are using particularly the online resources they found to be very useful. We've also implemented our vowels testing which is helping our English department quite a
113bit because we have targeted reading supports now. It's given us a lot of information that we're using to really get to the root of the problems that we have with kids and reading. So that's been very eye openening I think for all of us across our content areas. Um staffing supports. We continue to work on recruiting and retaining. We're trying to create that family atmosphere and that helps teachers want to stay with us. If they feel heard and they feel like they are part of a family, they are more likely to stay with us and remain at Nawway Middle School. Professional learning. We continue our collaboration with TAC and outside sources and continue to do our division PD opportunities. We're going to keep our climate with our clear communication. One of our focus areas has
114been consistency in communicating particularly with parents and students regarding behavior and consequences. And I think we've had a huge impact in that. Our building has been much much different this year in the hallways with student behaviors and the discipline that we're seeing. Very very different from last year. Okay. next steps. Um, two that I'm particularly excited about. We are putting two schoolwide initiatives into place. One is a writing goal and one is a reading goal. And we are working with every class and every teacher to implement writing and reading every day. [clears throat] So, we've had to do a little bit of training because some of our electives aren't used to doing writing every day or reading, but we're working on teaching them and showing them how they can incorporate something as simple as writing
115a paragraph at the end of a lesson. What did I learn? How did I learn it? What do I know? How can I prove it? Um, so I'm very excited to get reading and writing in our entire building all day, every day. Staffing, we are working with our staff to get feedback from them. what's working, what's not working, [gasps] what is most beneficial to our students so that we can start working things to cover those instructional gaps and to use our personnel to the best of our abilities. Professional learning, we're going to continue to train, continue to work with our partners. We'll be implementing math space even more as the year continues, and I'm excited about that. And as far as school climate supports, we're working on attendance incentives for our faculty and staff as
116well as our students. And we're working on the development of more family engagement activities to try to get more of our middle school parents into our building. That's usually the time where it shifts for parent support. Elementary gets a lot and they start not showing up as much in that middle school, high school range. So, we're going to try to see if we can't get them back into our building and let the kids know that parents really are an important part of what needs to happen. All right, I will turn it over to Mr. Wilson, the high school. Right. Good evening. Um, I will introduce myself. [laughter] Um and kind of like uh Miss said, a lot of what we are doing is is kind of uh uh in line throughout the district. So I
117won't I won't move through these things with our academic supports. We also have our weekly PLC meetings. Um we have success classes which we started last year and these classes are specifically designed to help some students who have had trouble passing the SOL test and that's something we've implemented this year that we've had some success with. and look forward to continuing to do it. Um, we also develop individual plans for students to prepare for those tests, whether it be tutoring after school or um, sometimes they'll get pulled from certain activities to prepare them to retake the test. So, we we try to be very uh, strategic with that. We do our formal observations and and and we're working hard to improve on the feedback we give to our teachers. Our staff supports uh our observation
118feedback. Well, we try to make sure they they have what they need. And we we work hard at trying to recognize our teachers through uh with their attendance on their birthdays or different things. We we try to recognize them, make sure they are appreciated. [clears throat] uh professional learning um have weekly communication with the staff during our PLC meetings. Uh from time to time we include some PD in there. Um and then again with our formal observations and our informals where we try to really make sure they have what they need. and our climate. We have our student success team uh like some of the other schools where they focus on um discipline, attendance and um the degrees of certain students have individual meetings and something that I take pride of at high school that
119we we work on doing some community events um cuz I like to include all of the schools like we've done our trunk or treat which is annual event and Christmas we just did a Polar Express movie that I think was very successful. So, we invited a lot of the uh elementary students and and and it went well. All right. Some uh improving progress. Um like everyone else, we're using the high quality instructional materials that's provided by the district. Um we are currently looking at restructuring our PLC's. Not that anything that it weren't going well, but we want to get more out of it. So, we're going to restructure our PLC's slightly. um providing opportunities for the staff to voice their suggestions uh through monthly surveys. Um we take advantage of the division PDS and again
120like I said we try to offer some schoolbased PDs for our school clients. We focus on consistency and enforcing the school rules. Um and and another emphasis we've had this year is our communication. We uh send out a weekly newsletter just communicating with the teachers weekly and try to stay on top of that and and now we're scheduling individual meetings with some of the students as well as contact the parents that have poor attendance, discipline or academics to try to get them back on track before it's too late. All right, next steps for us at Nawway High School. We're really focusing on CTE credentiing for students. We're working on increasing the number of students that taking the ASVAB test. And most people think the ASVAB test is military, but it's actually one of the most
121comprehensive career exploration assessments tools that students have at no cost. And that's something we're trying to change their mindset because ASVAB is not just military. Uh we're trying to increase the number of students enrolled in dual enrollment career and technical education programs and through the partnership with Southside we have a lot of new classes that we are offering this year and we're trying to get the word out about those classes. Uh we are going to be hosting a college and career fair in the spring and we did a career fair in the fall and uh we are working on launching a credit recovery initiative similar to what I'm saying where kids are having trouble. We try to get the credit recovery as quick as possible until so it's not late in their career where they're
122trying to catch up on credits. All right. Thank you all. And now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Lawrence Slesinski. [laughter] >> Okay. I'd like to uh [laughter] introduce my assistant principal, Lawrence Linsky. MEMBERS OF the board, Dr. Barber, thank you guys for having me here today. >> That's why you're so hard working the two of you. >> I've cloned myself. Um Y and TC. Uh I'm a lot of our stuff is very similar to what you've already heard tonight. So, I'm just going to briefly go through some of this. Um one of the great things about us is that we get to do real world applications. Our students are taking the knowledge they're learning and they're applying it and starting to work on actual things for the community. Um, you may or
123may not be getting something next month to kind of get that. I can't confirm or deny, but somebody already spilled the beans. [clears throat] Um, so, uh, that's one of the things. Um, also our formal and informal observations and stuff. Um, I want to thank Dr. Martin for allowing me to come to the principal meetings and getting the training as well to help, um, myself to improve that and, uh, for the principles and assistant principles here who have also helped me out. Um, for our staffing and supports, uh, we do have coaching and feedback. One thing we started this year, or I say we, one thing I started this year was the one-on-one with our new teachers. Many of my teachers come straight from industry. So, we really want to get them that uh, kind
124of acclimated to the school system and to the school environment before they uh, are able to get into their classroom management classes and things like that. So, we're there to support them as well. Recognizing our teachers of course through birthdays and our CTE month which is February just that which is next month and of course our accreditations. Uh I have on the next slide you'll see something very exciting. I haven't got that yet [laughter] for our professional learning. I do put out a weekly roundup um is what we call for teachers so they kind of know what's coming up next and have some things like that. We're also providing opportunity for our teachers to take professional development. Again I want to thank Dr. Martin and Ottawa County Public Schools for allowing our teachers to come
125over and participate in your professional development. Uh our teachers also have the ability to collaborate with other teachers if they choose and uh to attend some of their summer conferences and the oneonone I already mentioned. School climate student provided services. If you are lucky enough to stop by on a Friday and I will open this up to any principal or assistant principal, uh you may or may not get a treat. our culinary classes. We have some other fun projects coming up uh that you may want to bid on eventually coming up. Throw that out there right now. Uh as well as our auto body is out there doing um getting ready to work on the cars. And we also have I'm very excited to announce we have six students. I'm sorry, seven students that will
126be attending the Skills USA District 12 competition for cosmetology aesthetics, fantasy mannequin, fantasy makeover, which is a team of three, and they have to do everything including making the outfit, applying the makeup for the theme, and doing of course the hair. Uh, and that will take place on January 25th, which I believe is Monday. Uh, it was rescheduled because of the snow, unfortunately. So, we we have that coming up. Otherwise, I would have had Now I'm ready. Yes, now I'm ready. Thank you. [laughter] For school improvement progress, we have teachers that are of course using our VDOA approved curriculum. We've paired all of our curriculums to make sure the students are uh getting their three credits for the amount of hours they are with us. And I'm excited to announce we just received earlier this
127week our board of nursing accreditation. Uh that is something we have to go through every two years. So that was all Miss Neller. I cannot take any of Miss Neller sorry I cannot take any of the credit for that. Miss Neller did an amazing job putting everything together and it is a lot. It is the board of nursing is with us for 8 hours and they go through every little thing and it is a binder. So I'm very excited and proud of her. uh staffing supports again, PD sessions, one-on-one for new teachers, professional learning. Uh we instituted way ground across the board this year for our teachers and they're using that to drive their data to see where they need to uh improve instruction or maybe if the students are what they're grasping, what they're
128not grasping, and how we can uh you know really use that data driven instruction. And they have their summer conferences coming up. We'll be starting to register for those. As far as our climate school climate goes, I would like to report that we have a 37% decrease in absences this year from this time. All right. So, from last year, yes, very excited. I attribute that a lot to my teachers, uh, really um, contacting parents, uh, talking with the students, making the classes interesting, but also with a lot of the stuff we did over the summer with the letters going home, our highly suggested parent, uh, uh, open house that they attend. So they really understood what the commitment was their children were were making particularly when it comes around cosmetology with the 840 hours nursing
129with their commanded clinical hours and things like that and very very excited to say that we had a 49.96% increase in our first year student enrollment this year. >> So compared to last year we almost doubled our student enrollments for our first year students. So where is this going to lead us? Well we're going to continue our BOE competencies. We're preparing for our credentials this year. Uh we are continuing to work to uh really strive for the excellence that had not county public schools has demonstrated for us. Uh so we're very excited with that. We've continuing our 101's professional learning summer conferences. Really want to increase our student enrollment for the 26 27 year and of course increase our visibility with NTC. And at this time, I'm going to invite all of the principles back
130up here to answer any questions that the board may have. [laughter] I was going to take back the she has renewed her support for you. [laughter] >> Anyone have any questions for you? >> Any of them. [laughter] Any of them. Other than asking why Miss Painter didn't introduce MY SISTER WAS >> LET ME GO. [laughter] You will be on report for the rest of the year. [laughter] >> We're a painter. >> Any questions? [laughter] >> Well, thank you guys. >> Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. [applause] Right. >> Next is the special education progress report from Dr. Grave. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Martin. >> Hopefully that will be up soon. But I am excited to be here tonight to share the progress that the special education department
131has been working on so far this school year. So, we just complete maybe once we get to present. >> Can't see it. >> Huh? >> Can't see it. There we go. the dark back. [cough] [clears throat] >> So, we just completed our December one child count. Thanks, Mr. Paige. Um, and we are currently serving 900 297 students with disabilities. 297. Let's clarify that. 297 students with disabilities. And that include that is inclusive of all the settings that we serve our students. So they could be in homebound, they could be in um private day placements, they could be private school um place students um that we serve for speech. So in all capacities 297 students. So Dr. Lewis um had shared with you previously the areas of concern that came out from our um monitoring that
132occurred last spring. So the areas of progress that I'm going to share are specific to those areas that we were tasked with making improvements um in. So those as a reminder were extended school year processes um inclusion at the elementary level providing post-graduate opportunities to increase those documented procedures for providing assisted technology common planning time for co-eing teams academic and career plans and working collaboratively with VDOE and TEAC. So extended school year um training has been provided through the monthly special education meetings at each school. So it was targeted specific at each school through the months of November and December. And during those trainings, we focused on understanding what the purpose of extended school year is to make sure everybody has the same understanding. understanding what it is not. Understanding the eligibility criteria for determining
133the extended school year services, understanding those key vocabulary terms so everybody understands what the terminology means and procedures for determining ESY and the documentation that is needed to justify whether yes, it's needed or why it's not and what that service delivery model looks like. So, it could be a lot of different things. So that way everybody all the teachers have a clearer understanding and it's documented in a in a document so everybody has the same information inclusion opportunities at the elementary school. We have worked um with TEAC to provide that support um specifically in our early childhood special education classrooms as well as our K through four support. We have offered um numerous um since the school year um began professional development opportunities on inclusion and what special education is and what it is not.
134Um monthly TTAC meetings um are held with the central office staff to look at needs and area focus for professional development [clears throat] opportunities. schools are currently they were working on their self assessment to reflect on their own inclusive practices and that includes we sent out a survey to staff to complete to be able to kind of measure where each individual school thinks they are and then we are completing a document that I will submit um in February. So they are currently in process of doing that and we just worked with TEC yesterday yesterday in our principal and AP meeting um to help them have a better understanding on what the phases look like of where we are. This one's a lot. I'm not going to read it to you, but all the work that
135um the high school is working um to provide our post-graduate opportunities. Um they have been working collaboratively with our maintenance department to help provide opportunities for our students to assist with projects around the school. They've been working on interview skills and working on resumeumés. Um we do have the education for employment class at the high school. Um they hosted a coffee and chat back in October where parents and students could attend and receive information um from different agencies such as DAR, Pizzy, um CTI. The Cougar Cafe gives our students hands-on opportunities um and the upcoming events which are probably the the most important because all the other things are things that have already happened. They um students in the um start on success program will be starting their paid internships in January. They are planning
136to do a career fair in March. Planning on attending the transi the transition fair in the spring. They are working on planning a virtual session to link families with outside agencies. Planning more events in the spring to link Oh, I just [cough] sorry. There are plan more events to offer. um families access to those outside agencies and students will be attending per at Woodro Wilson in the spring which per is that post-secary education rehabilitation transition program at Woodro Wilson assisted technology was an area and so I have worked collaboratively with Sharon Taylor Haggot um with TAC to we had an existing plan um but we have updated it and revised it so it is current. Um and we have also been working collaboratively with TAC to complete at assessments as they come up as a
137need. So we are working in the right direction for our assist of technology determinations. Common planning. This was already in the works um last year as we were working on the master schedule for the current school year. But the work is already started as we are moving into the 2627 school year to make sure to the greatest extent possible that co-teers have common planning with their co-teers. Um so it started last year but scheduling is already in the process for this year. So trying to make sure that that is a a focus. Career plans. Again, we've had lots of professional development opportunities that have happened, but Lata Wright and Jennifer Ascu Collins with TEAC um held a professional development training on October 8th to address career and academic plan alignment with school counselors and our
138special education teachers. So um they are currently working on that. And we do lots of work with TEK um lots of different capacities. Um but Lata Wright has been specifically working with our transition um with providing professional development coaching for special education staff to connect with agencies to address student outcomes. Mary Tobin has been working specifically with our early childhood special education classrooms to increase our opportunities for inclusive practices. Suzanne Crowdale has been focusing on our high lever practices and instructional strategies and um specially designed instruction that arises out of um those instruct those tier one implementation of those high quality instructional materials. And then Sharon Taylor Haggot has been working specifically in the areas of um assist of technology compliance. compliance was a big um issue and that's why we are working on our
139corrective action plan. Um but just so you know I submitted our corrective action plan and it was approved to the department of ed. I also along with um Miss Meyer we completed the corrective action plan for the special education fiscal monitoring um and we submitted that to the department of ed for approval and I am currently revising and updating the current special education procedural manual. Um, it has been a labor of love. I am finally at the point that other people I'm asking to read it for um because I've looked at it for so long that I I need other people to share in share in it. But it we are much closer to being able to to share it um than we were a couple months ago. So that's going to make a lot
140of difference because everything's in one place to be able to refer to um CCIS. Um, of course, special education has lots of these acronyms. Um, but it is the comprehensive coordinated um, early intervening services which we were identified as being significant having significant disproportionality based on race and ethnicity and identifying students specifically for intellectual disabilities. So, we are required to set aside 15% of our funding to um address how we're going to correct that. So, it was for this current year, which that plan just got approved in November, November 6th, and I have to submit the plan for next school year um in May. So, that will be brought to you when I do the annual plan. Additional items. So we have increased the number of members of our local local SEAK which you have
141heard in previous meetings. We have advertised and identified several individuals that have expressed interest and apply [clears throat] to serve as our surrogate parents if the need should arise. So we do have a list of individuals um that are willing to serve in that capacity. We have provided professional development training to special education staff in coordination with the Virginia Department of Education and TAC, such supports as transition, deescalation strategies, assisted technology, explicit instruction, math and high level leverage practices, IEP writing, IEP goal writing and progress monitoring. provided PD to to staff on understanding special education and ensuring implementation of IEPs. Um learning strategy toolkits with TTAC. We have done specific PD for our early childhood special education classrooms. As far as um curriculum um and how to align that to meet the needs of their
142students with Frog Street training for all staff of confidentiality of student records. So Dr. Lewis and I um went around to each school and provided that training and documentation has been um received that that training has been done and I'm creating in um with help from TTAC and Mary Tobin um a procedural manual for inclusive opportunities for our preschool students. So we will have everything covered manuals for everything. [laughter] questions. >> The state loves manuals for things. >> They do because if it's not written down, then it's not it's not happening. >> Yep. >> Right. It didn't happen. >> Thank you for the opportunity to share what we are doing. >> Yes, indeed. Thank you for doing >> Yes, INDEED. All right. Is there an ENTC report? >> I believe Miss Sledinski covered that rather
143well. >> He covered it all. Thank you. >> All right. Is there a governor school report? >> No, not at this time. >> Not at this time. Is there a SEAK report? >> No, sir. >> All right. Is there a student lesson on report? >> There is. [laughter] So, good evening. We don't have much because we've been on break for a really long time. [laughter] You >> enjoyed, didn't you? >> I did. I wouldn't mind another week. All right. So, the high school is before we left, we had to move clubs because we had a lot of testing going on. So, starting tomorrow, our clubs are finally back and we'll have them every single Friday for January and February. So, the last time we had it was October 24th. So, we are very excited. >>
144Yes, indeed. >> We only have one college trip coming up right now, and that's the VCU senior field trip on January 23rd. On Tuesday, January 6th, the fire science class took a trip to the Petersburg Fire Department and the students met with their chief. They took a tour of the fire department and they had the opportunity to ask questions about the day-to-day life there and so they fully understand what they're going into. For juniors and seniors, we're so excited. But we're marking our calendars and saving the day for prom of 2026. And that's for April 25th. And the location is still being determined right now. In athletics, there's not much at all because of our big break. So, right now, Anton Carter did receive all state for football. And on January 28th, Naway will be
145hosting the James River District Championship for wrestling. So, that's all that we have right now. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now, we're down to the superintendent. >> Yes. Uh, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. So, I'll start with this. Mr. Outlaw, you requested the VSBA expenses and I can tell you we are Johnny on the spot. I have those numbers for you. Heather will [laughter] be back there fiercely working to get them out. So for fiscal year 25, the total amount expended to VSBA was $31,58.37. >> 3106837 >> 3105837. >> Thank you. And for current up to date is $3,725. >> Thank you very much. >> So therefore, I don't have to send it to you [laughter] later. >> I was just curious. >> Significant. >> Well, not just
146a significant change, but you know what? And what was $31,000 that we spent? >> Well, last year we had superintendent search. you did have superintendent search in last year. And then of course remember that takes into consideration any >> any trainings that are attended by any board member or superintendent. So for the rest of my report, I just wanted to give that to you and that way I don't have to email it to you later on this evening since I mean they they weren't quick back there. [laughter] >> Um >> thank you. >> So I do have to say I say this often. And I know people hear me say it, but I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it and that we didn't have excellent staff in Ottawa County Public Schools that we're
147very fortunate. So again, I want to recognize the continued dedication and commitment of our staff across the school division. Um, this is really a busy time of year for us when you get into January and all the things that are going on in the second semester. But our teachers, our custodians, our cafeteria workers, our administrators, maintenance, support staff, they continue to show up each and every day focused on student learning, the well-being of our students, and ultimately our student success. Um, and they're amazing, and we are very fortunate to have them um across every school, every department in the school division. they are really working for we are not away and I cannot say that enough because um you don't go into education for the money that goes along with it. You go into it
148for the success of students and I have to say they're extremely dedicated across the board. >> Yes indeed. >> Um and like I said this is busy a time of year because it's budget season for us. We are fully engaged in this budget season. We started it months ago at the central office uh level working and trying to figure out, you know, once you get one budget passed, you're already working on the next budget and what do you need? Um and those type of things. And so we are really still examining the alignment of our resources, our priorities, our student needs to stay focused on the outcomes and not just outcomes, but sustainability because we don't want to add something to the budget that we're not going to be able to sustain long term. So
149really looking at all of those aspects to ensure that we build the best budget possible that really focuses on outcomes for our students and what our students need in order to be successful. Uh the division participated in the active shooter and reunification drill before break or well actually I guess it was the first day of break for students and teachers but admin and we had people that volunteered to participate with us uh with local law enforcement and emergency management. Um, it was an opportunity for us to assess our preparedness and response. And so, it helped us identify what we need to work on, where we have gaps, where we need to come together and have additional conversations. And we're having a debriefing next week. We had a mini debriefing that day, but we're having a
150debriefing with our partners next week as part of our quarterly safety review. So, we do meet quarterly with our SRO's, um, the sheriff, if he's available, or his captain, one of the two will come. our emergency coordinators, uh, local, uh, rescue squads and stuff. They all come and we come together to see what are our needs and where do we need to focus. So, we're going to continue to make those adjustments and address them as the process. What we really need to un people to understand is what if there was an emergency situation, which none of us want, but we need to prepare and we need to plan so that we have all these things in place. Where is our UN reunification sites? where do our parents go in those processes because we don't ever
151want anybody flooding the school or those type of things because we need to work to get our building secure as soon as possible. Um that is also the reason why we take a lot of pre safety measures in place. We don't want to be reactionary in anything. We want to be proactive in what we're doing and ensuring that our buildings are safe and secure upfront so we don't get into these situations. However, we do want people to know what to do in an emergency situation or if you get into a situation even outside of a school setting, it's always personal, too. You know, you never know in this day and time what would happen or where it may happen and and what steps you need to take in order to ensure your safety in those
152areas. Um, so we recognize that. We're committed to that continuous improvement to make sure that our staff and our students are safe in our buildings at all times. Uh Heather did talk to you about the budget development process and we've shared that survey out with people. So we encourage people to fill it out to give us the feedback. Um and that feedback will continuously inform um that needsbased budget grounded in student learning outcomes and the priorities of the school division. Our central office team actually started quarterly progress reviews with school staff today. Um, this gives us an opportunity to go as a team out to each of the schools to give them updates right from us as to what's going on in departments to hear concerns, um, areas of focus and to celebrate our staff
153in our building and the good work that they are doing. Um, and it really allows us to ensure consistent communication and alignment across the division. So instead of just one person hearing something and reporting it back to the school and we know how that happens, you hear it one way. We're there as a team. We they give us questions in advance so we can try to find some answers up front and it's an open conversation. Um like I said, we started today at Crew Primary. I think Monday we move to the high school maybe and bus shop and maintenance. Um, we have a couple on Monday throughout the day, but every department, not just every school, every department we go to and have a conversation about what are our strengths, what's happening that's going on
154really well, what are some concerns, what do we need to look at as we move forward. Um, so they're very open conversations and and I think they go very very well with the feedback. Um, I have to say too, I truly appreciate the continued support of the school board as we move through this important season. I thank you for always being open um to communication and and getting that information and giving feedback and things like that. So, that's appre I really [laughter] appreciate it. And ultimately, I remain grateful for the dedication of our entire school community um to that committed goal that we say that we are not committed to excellence. I shared with the principles and APS yesterday when we were doing our our monthly meeting that that is not just a shirt that
155says we are not away committed to excellence. It's not just a slogan. It is a promise. It is a promise that we make to our students, our staffs, our families, our community, and our board. That we are truly committed to excellence, high expectations and accountability across the school division. So, um and that we're just not going to settle. So, that's my report for this evening. Thank you very much. Uh under matters of schoolboard interest, uh this um time is not 100% confirmed and uh for the joint board meeting work session, but it's tenatively scheduled for January 26. Confirmation of hearing was expected tomorrow. Uh January 26 27 is the 2026 BSBA Capital Conference in person or virtually. that's at the Richmond Marriott. January 27th, uh they have a VSBA schoolboard chair and vice chair orientation.
156That's also at the Richmond Marriott. On January 28th, 2026, we have a scheduled schoolboard work session, 6 p.m. at the school board office. [cough] Uh February 12th is our second budget public hearing. March 24th, 2026 is the VSBA regional spring network forum. this year is in Greensville County. And under other, Miss Duncan, do you have anything under other? >> Um, I do. Um, one of the things is, um, we do have on file an evaluation of schoolboard operational procedures, policy, AFA. I'd like for the board to take into consideration that at work session we discuss how we're going to move forward with evaluating ourselves. Um, in [snorts] addition to that, I would like the board to start thinking and considering that our work sessions be moved to this location so that way it can be
157also publicized. Same as what our schoolboard meetings are in a move of transparency. I know that, you know, if people are interested, they can come, [clears throat] but some people are unable to come and yet they're still interested. So, and move. So, I'd like y'all to consider that and start thinking about that as well. Other than that, um I wanted to applaud the division. If I remember correctly, Dr. Martin did share it last um session. Um, I'd like to give a shout out to not away um for the work that they have been doing for the increasing of our students abilities for the increasing of staff commitment to the staff for you know committing even at a higher level to our students for committing at a higher level. um and the board as well um
158that we have not away high school is labeled as I think as you shared last time distinguished and also and I don't think this was brought up or not um last time but it's measured when they do the distinguished and um on track etc. They break it down into many areas and I don't think it was brought out that crew primary was in the top five for region 8 for math mastery. So I don't know if you did or not but anyway I just wanted to throw that out to them as well for that accolation. And that's all. >> Thank you very much Mr. Wilson. >> Yeah. First, I'd like to [cough] I'm very proud of our principles coming up with the the information that you guys shared with us and I'm I'm really really
159excited about you guys and with what you uh with the information that you uh came up with that you presented to us. So, I I thank you for that. Number two, okay, we're getting ready to have this budget meeting. Uh there's been a lot of talk about money and this here's your chance public. >> Here's your chance to see exactly what we're doing, how we are doing it, how Dr. Martin and her staff is moving this money around trying to make sure that these that this this school system stay together. So, uh we implore you to help us. We are human. We can use ideas. So, you know, and I and I'm grateful that you come up here and you talk to us about the different things. So, let's put your money where your mouth
160is. Come up come to these budget meetings. >> Yes, indeed. Thank you very much, Mr. Abbott. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes. I have a few items. Uh I would strongly suggest or recommend that each of us as board members reach out to the superintendent and have a verbal discussion with her on performance evaluation. It is part of a contractual obligation that we meet with her. Now if necessary I can put that into a form of a motion but I don't think it needs to be. Second uh I think we need to change policy GCPB. was mentioned tonight. Uh the third paragraph which uh begins with every two and ends with a res to res to resign. Basically that paragraph was to have the superintendent notify the chair and the vice chair on any resignation.
161And since we're not doing anything when they do that, we might as well eliminate that paragraph. [snorts] Uh personally I'm signed up for foyer training in January if uh anybody wants to come along. Uh I've passed out some material uh for the work session discussion. I won't mention it any more than that. Uh it is to give me the ability to accurately respond to a constituent. Uh I have turned in my economic interest uh material and I know that all has to be in by the end of January. [snorts] Uh personally I want to thank each and every one of you. Uh I have gone through some medical issues >> and if it wasn't for a superintendent and the clerk who kept me informed of everything that was going on. >> Yes indeed. and to
162have friends on this board that reached out, their thoughts and prayers meant a great deal to me and my family. >> Yes, [snorts] indeed. >> I also want to say that the last 6 months of calendar year 25 have been absolutely phenomenal. >> Yes, indeed. >> From July to December, and it happens because of you folks sitting right out there. >> Yes, indeed. If it wasn't for you folks and the staff and our superintendent, would we ever be able to say all five schools are accredited? >> Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. >> You need to give yourself a hug. >> Yes, indeed. [laughter] >> Yes, indeed. >> And I thank you personally and professionally. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you, Mr. Abbott. I would like to do a double dittos on what Sunny said
163about what all has happened in six months. I mean 6 months is not very long but the progress that Nawway County Public Schools has made is nothing short of phenomenal and thank each and every one of you. Uh please pass that out to your staffs. Uh we really appreciate your efforts. We really do. >> Definitely do. >> Uh I would also Mr. chair uh asked if you could put on the agenda for next month a discussion of policy BHDR or BHD-R school board member compensation and benefits. >> All right. Thank you, Malo. All right. Is there a >> How about the chair? There's a chair. >> Oh, chair doesn't have anything at this moment. Everything's been [laughter] everything. Got to cover it all. Covet it all. Well, [laughter] >> all right. Is there a closed
164meeting resolution? >> Mr. Chairman, pursuant to section 2.2 37A or 3711A of the code of Virginia, I moved that the board convene a closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following specific matters. A1 the consideration of personnel 4 six appointments one gear up Virginia state coordinator one school nurse one gear up Virginia data coordinator one gear up Virginia family liaison one assistant softball coach and one assistant boys basketball coach and information on one resignation >> all right is there a Second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor sign I. I. We are in closer