e e e e e e e e e you e testing one two testing one two that testing one two testing one two e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I took my we'll just let anybody come to our meetings see Cloud I wasn't sure without your hat on without your hat on see I had to check it out well that just that just shows that your mama raised you you walk in the building you take your hat [Music] off like a demonstration this is exciting oh yeah than how many three four three or four six I didn't know who that was hunched down to look do I have to look official safety numbers there is that kind of hang together is that what it is probably the only time you get to talk right yeah I understand now remember you two that's a high school principal so you have to you know they're they're different too so well they were over there and then Kevin walks in and they just move over I think I'm still yeah I've got six o'clock we'll call our meeting back to order um thank you all for being here we appreciate it glad you didn't have to wait two hours for us to come out of close session so we we appreciate the patience there and uh thank you all for being here and taking the time to be here um and Mr ham can I turn it over to you for the next item over the past few months has uh the momentan of Silence have been centered around natural disasters um both North Carolina California Florida and all that and then um individual family situations and all and um I guess I guess our next disaster is that we need to pray for all the people that are in charge of of money and that's from Washington to Raleigh to us because there's some big decisions that have to be made in the coming months and um I've told people from the first year I was on the board I said you know I'm I'm I'm prejudice in a sense in that I'm fighting for the kids the kids are the reason then employees but kids are first and um I remember back in 2009 when the bottom dropped out of the economy we had to make some tough decisions then so um that that type of uh future is staring at us right now so um keep all those in in your prayers and thoughts as we move forward at this time let's have a moment of silence thank you let's all stand for our Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and to back up where I should have while I go uh Miss Turner and Miss Wilson are both under the weather and won't be able to attend tonight so we'll go ahead and do the business we have a quorum here so we can do the school's business right now uh do I have a motion to adopt the agenda they moved second got a motion and second all in favor with an i i i uh do I have a motion to approve the Personnel agenda second got a motion and a second all in favor with an i i i any opposed like sign and do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move second got a motion in a second all in favor with an i i any opposed like sign thank you uh Dr Jackson superintendent announcements and comments good evening Mr chair and thank you so much for uh the opportunity it is uh these are interesting times uh I will um uh share with you our report um and I think I had the yeah um and so the last uh month has just been an amazing again opportunity to celebrate and share with our school system uh the great things that go on uh in our schools in spite of some of the things you may or may not hear public schools are doing a great job every day all day for kids and so I wanted to share a few of the options and opportunities that we are focused on here in chattam County Schools uh in um uh we have at our love the bus month where our bus drivers were were celebrated in February we had our school counselors that were celebrated uh in the month and and a lot of people really I want to go back to our bus drivers for a minute for a lot of uh individuals we've had snow days and things like that our bus drivers are the first individuals who meet kids in the mornings and so I want to just say I I thank them for just being so very uh focused and so very um uh diligent about getting about safety um I don't think we travel nearly a million miles a year and very rarely do we have uh incidents and so I want to thank them personally for the work they do our school counselors for making our kids feel safe at school uh for helping our our our kids grow uh we celebrated them last month um our we celebrated uh FFA uh week uh and uh National ffla FFA uh week um and our students who are growing in the agriculture field are doing a great job there um our sro's we celebrated them uh yeah they're having a little too much fun there but but I do I do believe that relationships matter and and our SRO is do a really really good job of building strong relationships with our kids and our schools and being not only law enforcement but also um uh growing relationships to help build stronger communities and so we thank them for that work and that crew protects our kids absolutely they do um if you missed it we had a great this year George Moses Horton day uh at the school they have grown that program uh in the time that I've been here and even before uh to celebrate an an amazing celebration of the namesake of that school and really making it realistic for our kids and making those connections they had um uh the Poetry was read this year by uh Mike Wy uh they their chorus performed uh and the student MC's were just amazing they even debuted their new step team at the school that was pretty amazing to see those students do a great job um we're going slow here so all right alrighty all right there we go uh chatt midle had a excellent Black History Month art celebration there uh where they were in fact uh demonstrated good work by all of the students the blackbox dance blackbox uh dance uh the artist and artist uh in schools initiative uh was held at uh chatt midle uh as well um and dii uh I'm gonna say this Soka at I practiced it so I had to take my time to say it right yeah and uh George mzes Horton again their artistan schools we are so very very fortunate to have a vibrant artist in schools and artist and residence program I'm told we are one of the only school districts in the state that still offers that and we work with our artist our Arts Council to make that happen for our kids every year and I'm I'm just really pleased not just because I'm a former arts teacher but because it's good for kids um then our our one chatam uh day of dance uh we've had our one chatam uh band All County band our one chatam All County Chorus and this year we launched into a new space one one ch Adam uh day of dance at C4 for where we bought our dance programs together to celebrate and to grow uh with their uh different choreography and different choreographers because that grows the experience and makes them stronger uh performers uh and then Arts means everything Exposition at North chadam I didn't get to actually attend this but I was there as they were rehearsing for it this is big deal you this is like Broadway comes to North chadam they were it was amazing to see all of the kids preparing and getting ready for this uh and then as you all know we have two graduations each year our one chadam uh one academy uh held a graduation uh and it was delayed because of weather but we to have those kids come in February and and receive their diplomas and to see the families just absolutely love on them and celebrate that Milestone our goal is to get them to the Launchpad get them to the Launchpad they can do they they now have the credal poal to do other things and that's important uh for our kids so we're excited about that um and then we had 86 of our teachers that we recognized uh last month for um uh student growth and national board certification they were recognized at at at the board meeting in February the dis uh conference um they had on some outfits I'm just going to say and um but really a great day of learning a great day of fun I learned an awful lot about Ai and the tools that could help make life a lot um uh more efficient for us uh AI will never replace anyone because to use AI appropriately you need smart people and so I'm encouraging us all to take risk and try very hard to use that and um the chadam uh school's Middle School basketball tournament wow um and so congrat ulations to our winners I believe is Mary par Margaret Pard and chattam middle um boys and girls I'm sorry Horton my my I knew I'd get it wrong sorry uh but they uh congratulations to them that's some serious competition uh when they begin battling it out and then the last thing I'll share with you is that we have another state championship under our belt here and it's at se forth uh High School where we have our first place was Gabe Rogers Lane Armstrong and Jordan Miller we had second place um Ethan cabali and cabel I'm sorry and um third place was Harrison Compton and we even bought him a fifth place with Judge Lynn um for a school that's less than 5 years old I think this is pretty big deal for them to uh be bringing home state champion uh ship wins in in areas already so in wrestling uh they are the state champ championships 2A I believe and and no actually they were they runner up in the Dual team the in this was the individual Championship so each one as they win or where they place they get extra they get points so they were the individual Champion is how that worked which means they're winners Y correct it's almost like me trying to explain swimming I can't do it either but they are winners and our kids are doing well it has to be explained to me too don't worry they they thank you um Mr lard but they are our kids are are still so very very competitive and Mr um Mr chair we'll we'll move this on but but I wanted to share these things with you I think our kids are doing well uh and our school system continues to prepare them to compete not only in chadam County but outside of chadam County and we thank all of you for your support okay our next item on the agenda will be our art recognition Dr Marin good evening Mr chairman members of the board I'm Dr Amanda Moran the assistant superintendent for academic services and instructional support and this item aligns with Priority One curriculum and Innovation as well as priority five communication and information sharing um it is youth art month um and in honor of that this item recognizes chadam students who were selected as first place winners in the ncasa art showcase this year this is the first year that chadam had submissions from every single school k12 across our district at this time I'll have Mr Brian De christofaro who is our Arts instructional program facilitator come and recognize our students thank you Dr Moran good evening chairman and members of the board my name is Brian De christofaro and I serve as the uh instructional program facilitator for the Arts for chadam County Schools it's an honor to be here this evening to share with you the outstanding accomplishments of our students and teachers in the a ncasa art showcase uh I first want to express my gratitude for your continued support of the Arts in chadam County your commitment allows our students to engage in meaningful artistic experiences that enrich their education and Foster creative expression uh the ncasa art showcase is a prestigious Vis visual art competition for elementary middle and high school students across North Carolina many of which are um uh private and um Charter Schools however there are some public schools that uh participate as well um and in order to participate teachers submit an application for their school and then students create artwork based on a prompt given this year's theme was particularly thought-provoking which was what does The Sound of Silence look like create an art a work of art inspired by the songs the uh the song The Sound of Silence written by Paul Simon and they could either use the version released in 1965 by Simon and Garfunkle or the version released by Disturbed in 2015 as you can imagine this was a challenging prompt requiring students to translate sound or lack thereof into visual form I'm incredibly proud as Dr Moren shared to say that we had 100% of our schools uh register for this competition um and as a result we have many placements um uh before I recognize our winners I do want to take a moment to acknowledge our dedicated art teachers while this competition can be uh integrated into curriculum participating in this particular competition often requires additional time and effort to be etched out of their regular instructional and curriculum pacing while still also delivering the full spring curriculum their dedication to their students uh and craft is truly commendable and I would be remiss if we didn't start by celebrating our Visual Arts teachers so thank you Visual Arts teachers that are here and also those who are not present with us today um while recognizing all of our regional winners uh in person uh would extend our evening considerably um we are just going to rec um recognize our first place and we will be recognizing our second and third place at the local level um with an award starting with our High School Division um se44th High School uh came in third place this year they had eight students participating those that uh program is led by Mr Mike White and Miss Elizabeth Wood here with us tonight our first place winners was Northwood High School led by uh Miss Leslie Burwell and uh the students that you can see them on the board here I'm only going to uh announce the ones that are here with us today um for collage we had Miana Taylor if she wants to come up and she can uh they brought their artwork with them too so they can show you what they what they work on for sculpture we had uh Savannah stovak uh was Marina canesi and she also earned first place as an [Applause] individual oh you got this for mixed media uh was Taylor Thompson and also uh first placees in idual Northwood also the state runner up so they came in second place at the state level [Applause] competition read every book congratulations very nice moving on to our Middle School Division um Margaret B Pard came in third place in the east region they had five students participate that program is led by miss Savannah bass silop school had one student uh one individual that made uh that qualified for the state um and that program is led by Miss Sarah Jones and then here with us tonight is our first place for the central region uh chattam Middle School uh led by Michelle pinto and the students here tonight to represent them are car caralina Beasley wing better than your dad would have done good job the speed Lookers say it did a great job thank you lastly is our Elementary School Division and I would like to take a quick moment to pause and remind you that elementary students were working with the exact same challenging prompt as middle school and high school students the ability of our youngest artist to not only comprehend The Prompt but also create meaningful work from this concept speaks volumes about the exceptional guidance of their teachers we had three um elementary schools that uh placed um chadam Grove Elementary School placed third in the East Division and they had 10 students that program was led uh by Miss Jennifer Silver North chadam Elementary School um placed second in the east region and they had six students participate that program was led by Sharon to hovak um who was the mother of Savannah that just walked up here and then Virginia cross uh who placed first in the central region uh this program is led by Miss Michelle Sorry by Miss Gladis Chavez Rodriguez um and tonight we have uh Kai Jones Messiah Harris [Applause] and Joselyn magana [Applause] Selenas and again for those that could not join us tonight for their first place placements their names are up on the screen this year's our ncasa art showcase was an extraordinary extraordinary display of talent perseverance and artistic expression across all grade levels our students Rose to the challenge producing thought-provoking highquality artwork that reflects the incredible depth of their creativity and I would like to point out that a majority again uh of these schools that participate in this event are Charter and um and private schools um so the fact that we are competing at a high level along with them is uh is speaks volumes about our public school system I want to once again thank the board for your support of the Arts our teachers um for their dedication and our students for their inspiring work congratulations to all of our winners thank you very much thank you [Applause] yes good evening Mr chairman members of the board and superintendent Dr Jackson I am Chris Poston senior executive director for excellence opportunity and tonight I have the privilege of recognizing Miss Britney Petty as our Excellence opportunity champion our ex's opportunity and champions aligned with strategic plan Priority One curriculum Innovation and also priority three faculty and staff um Miss Petty was nominated by her principal um she wrote this is Miss Petty's first year as a EC resource teacher and she has found her Niche the majority of her students that she serves require modifications to support their behavior including lots of trial and error as well as extreme patience she always treats her students like they have her last name and that stood out in the nomin she gives them her last name she's quick to deescalate students because of the great relationship that she creates and cultivates every minute for each student in her classroom becomes a new opportunity for them to shine so we salute you we appreciate all that you do every day and thank you for being our excess opportunity and champion thank you come on thank you so Miss P it's getting harder good evening chair board members superintendent and community members as many of you know I'm Jessica Pion a public information officer as reflected in the chadam county schools code of civility we are committed to fostering a culture of respect integrity and positive character development among our students each month we invite students staff and Community stakeholders to nominate students who exemplify the champion of character word of the month these character traits outlined like I said in our code of Civility serve as a guiding principle for our students to develop as leaders in their schools and communities at this time I invite Miss Amelia Rodriguez to join me at the podium [Applause] excuse me this evening we are proud to recognize our very first High School champion of character recipient Miss Amelia Rodriguez from chadam Central High School Amelia has been selected as February's Honore for empathy a trait that reflects kindness compassion and commitment to understanding others Amelia demonstrates empathy through her unwavering support of underclassmen in the Band program whether by actively listening offering words of encouragement or uplifting those around her she consistently Fosters a positive and inclusive School environment her ability to respect and affirm these feelings of others makes a meaningful impact on her peers and school community and if I could share one more point of Pride about miss m Miss Rodriguez she will be joining the Air Force upon graduation and we'd like to thank you and advance for your service please join me in celebrating Amelia Rodriguez for her outstanding care and [Applause] Leadership great great fit in the C that's right tonight I also have um the privilege uh and we have the privilege of honoring um our and recognizing an inid individual whose dedication and commitment to our students truly embody the spirit of our power of one award this recognition is given to those who make a profound impact on the lives of others and this month's recipient Miss Haley Smith exemplifies that I now invite Miss Smith to join me at the podium okay so I'd like to share what your nominator wrote about Miss Smith about you um Haley is an EC instructional assistant at Bennett School not only does she help support all of our EC K12 students she's also a one-on-one support for a high need Student she helps to support many different EC students with safety goals and she takes on additional duties such as coordinating staff outings attending PTA meetings as a school e aison participating in students after school activities and community events and helps with organizing fundraisers to raise money for E EC students to attend field trips and purchase adaptive supplies she's patient and empathetic to all students individualized needs she's on call Via walkie-talkie all day during the school day and and to attend to students when they are displaying unsafe behaviors she attends trainings to maintain her CPI certification to respond appropriately and safely when students with students during escalated incidents and she has literally taken off her shoes to chase students um employing excuse me students employing into unsafe environments to keep students safe she creates a safe space and inclusive environment for all of our students Haley is a true Testament to the power of one um and how one person can impact others we want to thank you very much for all you do please join me in congratulating Miss Smith the party girl you playing the parties at the school see you're the party girl not that way congratulations you playing the parties just just ignore Mr ham right now let's just keep walking you're okay sorry oh my thank you Mr chair that concludes my report okay thank you love to see those just have to reain in Mr ham once in a while she plans the part she's the party girl oh okay here we go uh we'll move on now to our public comment period just remind each speaker you get three minutes of course you'll do it right here if you have them written if you want to share them with uh Miss slan um she'll take care of it so that we get a copy of that if you need to and we'll start with uh let's see Randy Varner please if y'all hold your applause till they get through that's okay please if you will thank you all we'll move quicker that way hello um come before you plenty of times last month I came before you as a grateful and hopeful parent and I'm here um I guess in all my capacities as a union leader as a teacher as a parent um because seems like in the world today we are seeing new new ways that our country and our state possibly are changing for the worst we're having to look at the news and wonder if we'll have funding for certain educational programs there's somehow a possibility we might not have a Department of Education how is that real um so as the world arounds us around us seems to stop caring about our kids we're here to we're here to be the voice that tells you in chatam we always want to care about all our kids we want to make sure that every single child our EC students our ml students have all the support and safety that they need in order to thrive we know in order to do this you have to have highly qualified staff and competent staff and staff who will give their unwavering dedication to their kids every day like all a staff members here so we've come to ask that in addition to in reinstating Master's pay which is amazing it's going to be wonderful to see some of my colleagues finally get the Master's pay they deserve and you've helped them get one step closer we're also asking as you move into your budget before you present it to County Commissioners and as you think of Pol or consider policies for next year to provide extra support for those EC staff and the staff who are bilingual to support our multilingual families because it seems like those kids are about to be left behind by the nation and possibly by the state of North Carolina and in chatam we don't want that to be our world every child in chatam gets everything they need that's what we believe leave and that's what we want to see happen so this year our petition we've asked for incentive pay for EC staff specially support staff and for a bilingual office staff to help communicate with families so that those kids continue to get everything we need thank you for your time thank you all right let's see second on the list would be Jennifer Keener good evening chairman and members of the board we all know that there is a Statewide teacher shortage especially EC teachers EC teachers are the shield that protects our County from lawsuits let's be honest our neighboring County Wake County has had several law suits regarding EC students that they have lost and now they will owe compensatory services to those students Northwood has lost two amazing EC teachers this year alone during the school year because of pay one was the current department chair and one was the former department chair the current department chair was the teacher in the extended content classroom a position very hard to fill North wood currently has 50% of their EC teachers fully licensed if we as chadam County want to attract EC teachers we're going to have to give something and let's be honest in this economy Money Talks so please consider that um I also want to say thank you for including in the budget Masters based pay I just earned my masters in December and am now even more qualified to work with those EC students I am choosing happiness in chadam County because I know full well how amazing chadam County schools are Mr ham you were my principal at bonley a few years ago needed me it was just a few years ago Mr Leonard I remember you coaching basketball at Bennett Chad County schools has always been near and dear to my heart as it raised me and my children please consider all of the things that are being asked of you so that chadam County Schools can continue to bring excellent students forward thank you thank you let's see uh I think third on the list is if I'm reading right Laura Gerard am I correct okay as you said my name is Laura Gerard um I did have prepared statement but my my phone died so um I have three children uh that attend chadam County Schools my two older children are at Northwood and my youngest is in the fourth grade at Perry Harrison we moved here in 2017 from Durham County in large part because of the school systems here we wanted our kids to have the highest education that we could get them as well as safe schools and I think that what the teachers are asking for with the reinstatement of the Master's pay is more than reasonable um I think a lot of people have forgotten what it was like in 2020 when it was remote learning and I had to try and teach my then kindergarten how to read um it was not going well these teachers deserve so much more credit than they get and they deserve everything they ask for um I looked it up to see what teachers are paid in North Carolina um on average it's $48,000 that's the median pay $48,000 a year is certainly not enough to live on by yourself maybe they all have benef factories or wealthy spouses I don't know um it I it it upset me to learn that that's the median pay for people who are so important and vital to our communities and our future and our children um when they could easily choose a different path that is more lucrative and requires less education on their port so so less of an investment the fact that they've put in all these years and money to pay for their education just to further our own children's education and help with our build our community is amazing and I don't think that they're asking for too much in fact they might be asking for too little so please consider what they're asking for and what the impact would be and honestly I would really love to see that thank you thank you thank you and my apologies to cica Heywood because I flipped Pages here and missed you so you're next no it's been a while since I've told so my shuffling papers is not good so just bear with me all right good evening fellow Educators my name is Sona Haywood I am a proud teacher at Jordan Matthews High School I lead one of the ECS classes my class is labeled severe and profound that I consider them not to be that they are my Elite Squad my crew participates as much as we can in high school activities such as pep rallies Unified sports bowling trips to the zoo and the Special Olympics torch run we took a trip to the Ashboro Mall working on money and social skills and etiquette at chickfila people in the community were happy to see us venturing out and we receive Smiles Hells and compliments I don't teach ECS because it's easy I teach because I care I can say our good days outweigh our bad days my students th dve and have shown tremendous growth in the two years I have been their teacher um higher pay for ECS teachers in North Carolina is crucial it will directly impact the quality of care our students receive by attracting and retaining more qualified and caring Educators such as myself low pay leads to high turnover and students suffer from the lack of consistent leadership in the classroom large class sizes and lack of resources higher pay will will lead to better quality of care Workforce stability attracting Talent professional development and economic impact we implore you to consider the $2,500 incentive pay for all hardworking ECS teachers and assistance in the upcoming budget I look forward to continuing to impact the lives of students without worry about my own economic hardships the job is not easy but it is worth it thank you thank you and that's your crew right there let see next on our list is b bs please hi I want to First express how much I appreciate this board and Dr Jackson for your ongoing work to protect educate and care for our children I'm here tonight in support of ccae and their petition I want to tell you a story from just last week about a conversation that happened at my daughter's Girl Scouts meeting while the girls work on their badges the adults sit together and talk about the price of Girl Scout vests very high cookie sales booming and also about our kids schools about half the moms I talked to last week or four moms out of eight had chosen private or non- chatam County Schools over our public schools for their kindergarteners and first graders one girl Girl Scout was in a charter school one was in a private homeschool dayare situation and two kids were at the's Academy were the families completely satisfied with their choices no particularly the thy moms they were unhappy with the heavy homework load the high cost of school lunch which I could tell you about it's mind-blowing the overuse of textbooks even the political leadings of the leadership but then one the's mom mentioned that she loved the teachers and another agreed that her daughter's Educators were excellent clearly perceptions about educator quality uh were driving their choices you know and I know and we all know that the teachers in chadam County schools are excellent better trained actually certified and better paid than thees or Charter School teachers I told both the's moms and The Homeschool mom who happens to be a former student of mine that our school board is committed to hiring and retaining the best of the best another mom whose kids go to Pittsboro Elementary minor at Perry Harrison agreed we talked about the Innovative lessons Innovative lessons our kids get the progress our children have made our incredible specials teachers but I don't think that my enthusiasm counted until I told them what our school board and Board of Commissioners did last year increasing teacher pay by $2,000 for every teacher in the district that was the argument that made an impact and by the end of of the hour the two thees parents and The Homeschool parent were planning to enroll their kids in chadam County Public Schools I think what your action said to them is that our district is unwilling to lose our best teachers to other districts either to overwork or uncompetitive pay our EC and IIA teachers do so much good for our school as you've heard tonight serving all students by helping us offer an accessible and inclusive School Community our bilingual staff are also called on to provide translation for families a crucial point of welcome and communication looking at our teacher vacancies posted on the website I can see that the EC and IIA positions are the toughest jobs to fill I believe ccae when they say we risk losing the teachers we have if we don't pay them more but I want to add that if we lose these teachers we risk losing something else just as crucial our students and families thank you so much thank you thanks for the recruiting too we appreciate that very much that's that's a good one we like that thank you and let's see Laura Newman please all right thank you my name is Laura Newman um I work at Jordan Matthews high school as an art teacher um and I just wanted to start with saying thank you thank you Dr Jackson for um putting the reinstatement of Master's pay on the proposed budget for next year and thank you to all of you guys for listening to our comments and seeing us wear red uh we all have love in our heart here um I want to talk about the importance of the Master's pay and I want to do that by telling you a story and um this story is a personal story it's about me I was in Lee County working there and there had been a freeze in Teachers Pay for quite a few years quite a few years so needless to say that Frozen pay budget um had caused me to really think about the future and in order to prepare and to help with my family and um our future I decided that I wanted to get my masters in art education so um I took that leap it was a it was a big sleep for me um I remember that I had to find a testing center and get a special time to show up and take the test so I could even enter into um being accepted just to get into my master's program at the University of North Carolina in pimbrook um so to fill out all the paperwork to make everything happen um it was something and I I remember I remember remember very much how excited I was just to be accepted I worked really hard on this degree I worked on it um for quite a few you know like it was three years really but it seemed like eternity because I took Summer Schools I I was driving to uncp whenever I needed to be there I I was taking all these um classes plus holding down my job I really worked hard for this degree and I received it in 2016 um I got so much out of it I won awards for my artwork I wrote a really large thesis created a body of work that I exhibited I went on to have a onew woman um show that I was really proud of I just work so hard to learn more to better myself to educate others even with about art education and the impact it's had on the world um and when I got that degree I was super excited but what made me even more excited was that I got to work at chadam County schools and that's what I did I just hope you all will consider it thank you thank you okay thank you all appreciate very much um we'll move along to information items and I think Dr Moran ncsba board policy manual updates 3000 Series first reading all right so as you know we are conducting a full audit and review of our board policies and this month we have for first reading the 3000 Series um there is a small typo that I will apologize for making it says we have 27 policies for review this evening it's actually 34 um there are nine know yeah we know there are nine that are up for um repeal and 25 revisions um there are a couple of these that are more substantial and then the vast majority of these are actually um small revisions such as footnote updates that type of thing you will notice um in your packet the items that are in green are policies that we have already updated in Prior um fall or spring updates so we actually were in pretty good shape with uh this part of the 3000 Series a couple um that I will mention that have more substantial changes policy 3300s the school calendar and time for learning um that one you'll see the note there it had some extensive revision to reflect current calendar um legal requirements so that one had quite a few revisions also uh 3430 which is school Improvement plans um this one had the most revisions if you see all the bullets um that are listed in that section um it really is to capture and be more specific about the things that are required in school Improvement plans for schools the other one that I will call your attention to we have marked in Orange and it says hold that is the policy 3228 7328 which is the use of personal technology to conduct School business um we put a hold on this one um that's our recommendation because we would like to dig into this a little bit more um it becomes kind of tricky um with this particular one so we wanted to give that a little more review and I think those are the main ones that I needed to discuss the section that you will see in red towards the end these are the policies that are not a part of the school boards Association manual and as we've been bringing to you prior um we had a lot of policies in our manual that were chatam created but what um the school boards Association has done is shown us where these policies are located within other existing policies so um we feel confident the ones that we are recommending for repeal here that they are um the premise of the policies we had in the past are covered in other policies that are in our manual currently so um you'll see a I think there are nine there that we are recommending to repeal and I'm happy to answer any questions but that's kind of the quick overview of this series we're we're we're getting good at reading these anyway so we appreciate you know we need to do this hadn't I'm trying to think prior to covid what was it 20 probably 2018 last time we've you know they kind of got left for a little while so that's good of course things are changing anyway so I'm glad hearing the Finish Line pardon we're getting close to the Finish Line it's very rare in this um this world of uh legalities that we're able to take something out make it shorter our policy manual is like you know you put it all together it's it's we're probably adding it somewhere else though so you know it's it's there but I mean but you know that's it's very unusual thank you there is a section there that you'll see as well where it says new to chadam so there are some that are being recommended that would be new to us as well okay thank you thank you very much okay we'll move to action items um RTI International sub award agreement and Miss Fowler um good evening Mr chair members of the board Dr Jackson name is Tracy Fowler I'm the senior executive director of student services I'm bringing to you tonight a sub award uh Grant from RTI International this was following strategic plan goal two for student health and safety um RTI International is Seeking a collaborative partnership with chadam County Schools looking to develop plans and looking at systems for adopting and implementing what works in schools aligned strategies many of which we already have in place the goal be to work with chadam County to identify specific activities related to health education health services and safe and supportive environments they want to focus on family school and Community engagement they would collaborate with us to analyze the things that we already have in place like I said any programs that we have existing interventions available resources contexual factors to guide evidence-based strategies so we would look at our outcomes together they would provide us some technical support the amount awarded will be $40,000 provided annually over the next five years fing as funding allows to be a flexible use for staff training and community events and more this any questions about the particular Grant sounds real positive I think you know looking for ways to get better so I like the idea um I don't have any questions so we're ready to move um go ahead y I would move then that we the chadam County Board of Education would approve the RTI International sub award agreement as written second motion second any discussion all in favor with an i i i thank you very much uh Yonder pilot pilot update Miss F your STP put and Mr Poston evening Mr chairman members of the board Dr Jackson um Chris Pon senior executive director for excellence opportunity Miss Fallen are here to share an update regarding our Yonder pouch implementation pallet um Yonder pouch aligns with priority number two in our strategic plan student health and safety chadam County Schools acknowledges the significant impact of cell phone distractions and the harmful effects of social media on teenagers learning and mental health to address these challenges we are committed to exploring effective solutions that enhance student Focus promote classroom engagement and ensure a safe School environment as a reminder we um implement the pilot at Chad middle George mes Horton Margaret B par one Academy Jordan Matthews and C forth High School we also did a survey recently um just to get feedback and information in regards to Y pouch um we sent out the survey to principes asked them to share it with their students um their staff members and their parents as you can see we had over 900 responses around 600 from students 200 from our parents and also about 70 from our staff members our survey focused on um three areas in particular um thinking about um Improvement student engage improving student engagement academics climate and student Behavior we um put some graphs in here just so you can um just to share with you um the feedback from our parents overall our parent um feedback was pretty positive in regards to those three areas of improved engagement improved academics and also improved School climate around 65 to 70% of our parents felt either agreed or strongly agreed that um y College had had an impact upon student engagement and academics in school climate um our largest percentage of um strongly agree um or agree came from our staff members we had 85% of our staff members who commented that they felt like the Y pouch improved student engagement in classroom improved academics and also overall improved School climate we I was waiting for that when I I knew that was coming yeah if you go back and Flash through the three it's you know the the staff really and then students it goes the opposite real quickly yeah for students our students shared their surve um they gave us lots of written feedback um and they gave us um feedback similar to what we heard when we did the student focus groups um last semester um so I andan that's their data there um sharing um sharing in regards to the under pouch some something that wasn't in your survey but I I learned this recently my grandson that's in eighth grade at Pard he just quit taking his phone he said I didn't want to mess with the dog on thing so he just left it he said I can't use it so absolutely that's a win absolutely Miss fer and I have also and Dr Jackson have heard from several neighboring communities in regards to the Yonder pouch um several counties Ash Franklin Roberson lexon City Warren Montgomery County all reached out in regard to our implementation so we've been able to share our results to our survey and also information in regards to implementation with other districts there are two bills as we understand that are moving EI through the house of the Senate right now looking at a solution I think that everybody's kind of across the country are looking at different solutions to cell phones and we have continued to not want to look at a ban we're wanting to look for our distraction free so we put here some different things that you know through conversations our students definitely by far you know said the a lot of the things in the agree and um strongly disagree but in the conversations things like I am able to concentrate more in class my grades are actually higher so we did put some other information for you in here around the student engagement when we interviewed kids from Jordan Moses Horton and Jordan Matthews same what they did share was that they were able to focus um more teachers responding that their students are collaborating more in class that they're more focused dur instructional time this was one of the most exciting things so c4th high school this year they have tracked kind of the number of students who have D's and Fs um each semester or each quarter and this time last year or after the end of the first semester they had 241 Fs in classes and this past time it was 59 that is a huge success they felt really good about that it stayed around 20% like we had before we um at the board retreat um for the D's and Fs but that was a really big success doctor St Clair was excited about that um the kids are self-reporting their grades are higher administrators noting that students are more connected to school activities participating more with their peers interacting more with each other um administrators reporting that teachers seem more satisfied with their classroom environment and at this point point in this year tried to share the discipline data as we've gone the schools are implementing the pouches the suspensions are down by 31% from the last year or at the end of February this last year so there any questions that you have for us about Yonder Pou just you don't have to share it right now because you probably don't have the the feedback right in front of you but one of the things I noticed that was a a big difference between in an area that I'm interested in is the teachers report rep in that they strongly agree and agree that um these have added to a positive School climate and the students obviously strongly disagreeing and so when we're talking about I'm personally very kind of concerned about social media and all of that and bullying so it's interesting to me that you've got the two disperate ideas do do you have any feedback on what students were saying about why it maybe isn't producing a positive environment um if there's any of that feedback the large majority of the students for from from one school and I think that there may have been just a choice to try to say they weren't really happy with putting their phones in the couches every day um I think when we have spoken to kids um I think that what they have reported to us in conversation is that they are not they don't have to worry about someone videoing them taking pictures of them so they're not being bullied um I don't know that it's always as easy to separate out um things like that you know this to put an objective measurement on a subjective right um so I think that I think that wanting to have your phone with you and during the day and be able to talk to your friends and do the things that you do with that cell phone um sometimes are outweighing what they may be experiencing otherwise Mak sense yes thank you I have I guess a couple and and You' Pro you've answered them in the process um I know we've had questions about um teachers us like cell phones in the classroom Chromebooks our students can do pretty much the same thing in reporting back to their teachers and you know if they're they're answering questions like that or taking pictures or whatever am I correct on that okay yes sir even we had the focus group and um at JM um students talked about hey wanting to take pictures um and so we said hey you can take a video you can take a picture on your Chromebook and they were like really and so we said try it and they did um and so yes sir so they um absolutely thank we might need to make sure that's out there for some people because I think some still question that theory there of course they said hey my iPhone um p is better I know I know I I understand that also the the second question um and I know and I don't like to Bri him as a former teacher because you know just are we consistent from school to school you know in enforcing and I've I've encountered one or two that say well we don't enforce it quite as well as maybe they do over there actually I had one over the weekend tell me that uh using Jordan Matthew's example said they were doing really really good job of the kids knew uh what you know the det detriment was when they had them out those type of things and maybe in another school not quite so much and I just wondered if if we were consistent there with our follow through maybe from Administration I guess and maybe from teachers P perspective too so I didn't know on that that was maybe that's just one to leave out there and maybe ask some questions particularly because I I did hear that but again I've also learned that somebody doesn't want something they can find things that are wrong anyway so well I I would only say that they all have the same expectations were laid out for everyone and and again um what we're hearing from our principles and I like um Mr Robinson says this all the time that if they're not following the expectations then it's now a violation of the code of conduct and then we deal with it that way the expectation is pretty clear um so when we see the reduction in the disciplinary infractions particularly when not having um issues around cell phones very few and so it tells me that either we're get we're breaking through some wall it may not be perfect but we're getting there um uh with that so that's something we we were constantly talking about but I can I've been real pleased with just how in sync the principles at the pilot schools have been in terms of and we've made space for them to have those conversations during our monthly opportunities to meet with them thank you any other questions well I just I want to make a an observ ation and a in a statement I'm not necessarily saying this is going to be a recommendation but I'd like to see if it go in the direction of adding the other schools and um do you want me to make that a recommendation it's a there's a motion there there's a motion in there um I think I think it it has to be uh kind of like some of our policies that were in yellow it we let's move forward but let's move at a cautious PA Pace because Riley's working on something whatever they create and um see I read that last Wednesday I forgot uh but yeah move forward with this and and don't um I was I was telling Gary uh earlier that the uh I'm sure in some situations there's some fifth graders out there we're talking about middle school and up I'm sure there's some fifth grade situations whether it be a an entire School fifth grade or individuals or something but let that kind of work out with the principls and teachers and see what we need to do with that uh because I'm I might be as as naive as the ostrich with his head in the ground but I don't think the majority of our fifth graders are walking around with cell phones so some are but you know not the majority but if if they can handle keeping those things suppressed and in the book bag and all then let them let them do that but I I mean the numbers are there and and it's anything to improve their focus and I was thinking with the um the the teacher making a comment that the students uh work better in class and all well I guess so you can you can now have more group work and work on what the assignment is instead of sitting there clicking and Ticking and doing your thing and you're supposed to be working on your assignment so yeah that creates more uh um positive learning for the kids and again that's that's what we're here trying to do and uh I think we we need to move forward I moov CH County Board of Education approve the addition of North wooden Chown Central High Schools to the Y Yonder program as presented second got a motion a second any discussion all in favor with an i i i any oppos like sign thank you Mr BL you've already moved up in the seats there triangle United memorandum of agreement please sir all right so uh Mr chairman members of the board Dr Jackson the next two items uh relate to Priority two student health and safety and priority four facilities and infrastructure first is the triangle United memorandum of agreement this is a soccer group uh who would like to have the opportunity to use the soccer fields at Northwood High School this agreement has been approved by both principal and the athletic director they're not here this evening not because they would not have come they're not here this evening because I failed to invite them so I'm going to own that I apologies for that well you put in your stuff that they had they were they were okay with it I yeah that's usually our question anyway so I moved the CH County Board of Education approved the triang United memorandum of agreement as presented second got a couple of seconds then and Mr BL think before we vote thank you very much for and and and our principles too and making our facilities available as much as possible for groups that that work with us so I I really personally I I like that idea I grew up across the street at been in school so I you know uh I understand how that is that that that's a great opportunity so we got a motion a second all in favor with an i i i any oppos Light Signs Mr BL item d benett Recreation Department memorandum of agreement so somewhat similar um the Benet parks and wreck would like benett Recreation rather would like to use uh begin using School athletic facilities as part of their program and they would like to U support what's going on at the school I'm happy to report that the principal Dr Neil is here she has spoken out in favor of this as well thank you for that too uh I'm move that the chattam County Board of Education approve the Bennett Recreation Department memorandum of agreement as presented second and a motion and second any discussion any questions all in favor with an i i any oppos like sign go ahead I'm good thank you Mr Vice I'm M Mr chair just um if you all will look for I'll be sharing with you a complete list of all of the M moas for athletics so at least you get a picture of how many where they're all at and we put together a list of that so be looking for that and we'll we'll post that in with um with the minutes if with your um approval but I'll be sending that out to you with all of the ones so that you can really see across the district the many ways we are trying to work with our community I appreciate Athletics area our kids because we were a little surprised to see how inclusive the list was uh and how many opportunities are provided on School uh on school grounds um before and after school and and programs like that so we'll be sending that to you it's great PR plus it's good public relations for working with the community too so I I I I just think it's a win-win for us and if it's not then you always cut off the agreement I you know that that's that's a easy one there so normally it's really really good before we announce the next one Mr blce catch me up uh make sure I'm right on this I think I'm right uh c4th girls are in the final four for the 2A basketball playoffs that be L Joel on thurs this Thursday at 2 pm and then the Northwood boys are the at 4:00 with the 2A boys and this is the Eastern uh quarter or finals semi-finals in finals yeah yeah Saturday right okay sounds great all right our next congratulations to them so far anyway to get that far is just wonderful um next regular Board of Education meeting is Monday April the 14th 2025 at 5:30 p.m here do I have oh thank you all for being here too by the way uh do I have a motion to adjourn mov got a motion and a second all in favor with an i i i any oppos like sign thank y'all thank you very much CL thank you hope you're doing well you're doing well no problem I have a point of clarity pches you're speechless I had a question ask can I answer you can it was just the financial being 50,000 that's 50,000 for both tells me it's my understanding that's how I read I read it that way that's a total harder down they like5 bucks a piece I don't know I think that's what I've heard