e e e may we pause for a moment of meditation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance want to uh thank you all for attending our meeting tonight uh this meeting is held in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act the news media has been notified and a copy of the agenda has been made available to the public this meeting is open to the public and then the public is welcome to attend in person all persons wishing to attend the meeting by virtual means may do so via YouTube Suter School District board meetings and Suther School District Facebook page Vision SU school district is committed to educating empowering and enriching the lives of all students to reach their full potential Mission some to school Environ diversity and equip students for local and Global success ladies and gentlemen tonight your board members are yours truly Sean Reagan chairman area 5 Mr Brian Austin area 1 Vice chairman Dr Gloria R Lee area 7 clerk Miss Britany English area 2 Dr rap W area three Miss Tara Johnson area 4 Mr Matthew MC McLoud area 6 our one of our newest members uh Mr Phil lenis area8 welcome Miss Bonnie Disney Esquire area nine Miss Deborah McQueen our Shaw Air Force based representative tonight we have our superintendent Dr William rright uh Miss Shante Scott our administrative manager and certainly to the executive team who's here with us on this evening as well ladies and gentlemen I like to uh welcome you all to our meeting on this evening at this time we have an agenda before us and we will follow it as outline I can get it to full uh item 1.1 opening of the meeting and at this time I would like to call the meeting to order item two we have our oath of office at this time and we do have our solicitor who's here uh who would lead us in that on this evening solicitor finny along with our newest board member of Mr Phil Len so at this time you all may take the center and uh proceed with our oath of office at this time I do Solly swear I do Solly swear that I am dly qualified that I am dly qualified according to the Constitution of this state according to the Constitution of this state exercise the duties of the office exercise the duties of the office which I've been elected which I been El and that I will and that I will to the best of my adults that's of my discharge the duties thereof discharge the duties thereof and preserve and preserve protect protect and defend and defend the constitution of this state of this state and of the United States and of the United States so helpy God so help me congratulations thank you [Applause] all right certainly thank you and uh Mr lenus would you like to give any remarks at this time very briefly Mr chairman thank you uh to the board members and uh wh with whom I'm proud to serve and the staff which I'm delighted that we do have uh it gives me a great honor to be among those who have dedicated their lives to the education of our children uh I wanted to dedicate my service to my wife and my family my children all of whom are products of District of the school district but also to two people who are no longer with us but meant so much to me Dr prep Dr Pap proach a former member of this board and one of my dear friends David weeks both of them showed me in life an example of how you can make a difference in children's lives through example and I hope to have them uh approve from Heaven what I'm doing and uh hope I can add some thank you thank you certainly thank you again and welcome aboard and uh we look forward to working with you on this board thank you all right item number three uh approval of the agenda at this time upon consensus with no objection the agenda step should stand approved hearing none the agenda is not now approv at this time item number four special recognition uh we now have at item 4.1 military recognition for Mr Sam Myers um if you could come forward spe all right at this time ladies and gentlemen item number five public participation we do have members tonight from our public that are here to give public comments but before you come before us I would like to read this brief statement uh the Board of Trustees is pleased to offer time at the regular monthly board meeting each month for public participation both in person and electronically according to our policy the board will allocate 15 minutes at the outset of each regular meeting for public to for the public to address the board the chairman reserves the right to limit discussion of same topic issues in an effort to provide individuals the opportunity to be heard on a variety of topics public participation will not exceed 3 minutes for each individual unless we by a majority vote of this board consideration may be given for a public hearing for gaining input on critical issues speakers may offer objective comments on school operations and programs that concerns them the board will not permit in public session any expressions of personal complaints about individual School Personnel or any other person connected with the school system ladies and gentlemen of the board tonight we have two members of the public that is before us and I will call uh Mr Bryce Beetler okay if you could come forth at this time have a seat at the table for us uh good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak uh my name is Bryce Fiddler and I'm the director of Carolina's academic leadership Network or Kalen uh we are a resource and training Organization for school board members with a focus on parents rights and academic Excellence um I here this evening because we like many parents have concerns about the 50% rule otherwise known as a grading floor which has been discussed as a policy to potentially reinstate in Sumter County Schools I want to start by commending the school board for repealing this policy last year which have been in place since the 2015 2016 school year it's a decision that was uh celebrated by many parents and teachers as well as this organization um when asked last spring more than 82% of district teachers said they opposed the policy these are the professionals we trust to educate our students and who would see and know firsthand the negative outcomes of such a rule um briefly I would like to to share a few concerns we have with the grading floor policies which are not unique to South Carolina um the first is that they don't give an accurate reflection ction of students performance particularly struggling students if there is a student having trouble learning or missing assignments um and based on their work should earn a 30% for the quarter when a parent looks at their quarterly grade they're going to see a 50% that is not the score that their child actually earned as such it can give the illusion that a student is performing better than they are and leave parents puzzled when they see their year in grade another reason is that it lowers our expectations of students and students expectations for themselves what it implies is that students cannot achieve on their own merits and that they need an artificial rule or a floor to provide a back stop this is fundamentally at odds with the notion of a fair and rigorous education we believe as I know the members of this board do that students should be encouraged to re reach their Highest Potential both academically and in life this means we should be raising the bar not lowering it it also means holding students accountable for their performance providing them help when they need it and rewarding hard work and going the extra and reward foring hard work and for going the extra mile and finally it has been less than 7 months since the school board originally repealed this policy which is not enough time to measure the impact of that decision how students are adapting at a minimum we would recommend allowing a year if not more to assess how students are Fairing and then gather data on their performance in The District in lie of this policy other options to help struggling students might include more opportunities to make up missed assignments extra credit opportunities and early and direct intervention to assist those who are at risk of folling behind thank you again for the opportunity to speak and for all the work that you do for students in Sumter thank you thank you all right at this time we have uh Mr Jason Johnson you can come forth at this time to Mr chair uh Mr Vice chair superintendent my name is Jason Johnson and I am here this evening on behalf of uh brothers incorporated uh a local nonprofit organization and on behalf of brothers incorporated I just wanted to thank uh the sub school district for your cooperation uh with past events uh especially the event that we have coming up this week which is a celebration of black history um and it's no longer February but of course black history is American history um uh want to especially thank Dr McLoud and Dr Richard Phillips uh the event that we have on Wednesday is the black history bowl and it is designed for middle school students to uh compete in a trivia style uh game if you will uh that is centered around black history and I'm happy to announce that we have have six of the seven middle schools in the Su School District uh participating and being represented um so this is also uh an invitation for the school board and for the sum Community to join us on um Wednesday at 6 PM we'll be at the Bernie Hope Center 210 South py Street um and we hope to to have you all come out and celebrate black history with us as well as support uh the young scholars uh on the Middle School level in the sum School District thank you so much thank you thank you sir certainly thank you for the invitation all right at this time ladies and gentlemen we're going to move to item number six on our agenda call for board communication uh 6.1 is announcements do we have any announcements at this time Mr chair yes just want to say that I went out this week Wednesday to um Cherryville Elementary Lamyra and to picala Springs to read to their younger folks and U we had a great time had a fantastic time thank you Mr M any other announcements yes Mr chair yes um I had the opportunity to go out to lamara as well and read to three classes a first grade class a third grade class and a fourth grade class and it was a very exciting time and I look forward to uh doing it again thank you thank you Mr chair yes yes on Wednesday I had the opportunity to visit my Primary School Oakland Primary uh to read to two classes there um the first class was Misfortune class um and actually got to interact with them and test their knowledge and see they were actually paying attention to me reading um and missfortune rewarded them for their responses um the second class I visited was Miss boozer's class um and was able to read to that class as well and Miss Boozer class if you're listening um I will be back to make good on my promise to you all for your pizza party all right okay Mr chair yes um I had the opportunity to read to some classes but we had to I had to go Monday instead of Wednesday because I was going to be out of town so the instructionist and the media center persons uh arranged for us to have a a standards based reading and lesson afterwards and it put me right back into the old days when I was in the classroom I absolutely adored these children and I want to commend their teachers these children are progressing and doing very well and it's thanks to their their leadership and to the teachers and everybody involved thank you thank you and any other announcements um I had the opportunity to go to uh chairville chairville Elementary School uh to for R Across America um I also had the opportunity to travel to palala Springs um Elementary School um today in fact and I found some information I'm sure you you all probably get that information don't have it already about their step team they won that that Championship again Reverend Cy I know last year we recognized them and um they did a celebration but they won again and so I'm sure that's going to come before um this District as well um they're doing an awesome job over there and um certainly I travel to uh Ferman today as well and so they're doing uh a job well done over there as well okay any other announcements hearing none we'll move to item 6.2 uh committee reports and recommendations do we have any committee reports at this time Mr chair I do have um a committee report and it is for the finance committee that uh committee met on February 26 here at the district office we had of course board members and attendance a Community member as well as some district office personnel and during this meeting um we had the opportunity to discuss several items Miss Spearman of course gave an update through the January 31st report which was basically a refresh of the February 10th meeting update that she gave we talked about the capital bonds project update by location as well as Bond we talked about the Crestwood High School football field budget updates and um at the time of that meeting the estimate estimated spend was rough L uh $2 million after digging a little deeper and with further review it looks like that actual spin may be higher at around 4.7 million and as requested during this meeting there was uh a request for an additional 3.5 million which was the best estimate to complete the project and uh these numbers would bring that overall project somewhere in the neighborhood of about um 8 million if my figures are accurate so um that was the information that was shared on Crestwood as far as Maywood Middle School is concerned that project is basically complete there were a few outstanding items very small items uh that need to be completed and that budget is coming in under the estimated budget uh somewhere in the neighborhood of uh roughly $100,000 and after discussion of these reports and items the meeting was adjourned by consent okay all right uh thank you Miss Johnson for that report do we have any questions uh relating for finance committee reports at this time any any questions on that okay all right you you did mention uh just for clarification that total of 4.7 million plus an additional so it's a 4.7 allocated already or just including in the total amount that we're going to be asking for at a later time Mr chair I would ask that we direct those questions to our CFO Miss Spearman who could accurately address all of those figures thank you hello board members uh welcome Mr mentes um I wanted to go back to this project um when we prepared the report for the capital projects portion of that finance committee meeting we were focused on the individual projects and so what I did was I went all the way back in my system to every dollar that was coded to the capital projects for Crestwood stadium and we outlined every invoice and the date of that invoice and so that is what I prepared and I would like for you all to review that I do believe that that may have been sent um just finished wrapping it up because I had to reverifying s is that includes the spin as of TW as of February the 28th okay that was a report ran at the end of February and so as you know that project is substantially Complete because we had a substantially complete walkth through um a week or so ago and so that is what um those numbers represent um the the way that this project was done it was in solicitation it it covered the field it covered um some of the Press Box there were certain things that we covered in the original solicitation when we embarked upon this project and so that was what we utilized there were several pots of funding available for it that we utilized and that we notified the board about at those different times um some Bond project proceeds monies came at uh 250,000 here for the Crestwood Stadium um and so it was like peace meal and so we had to put all the projects together and get all the invoices together to get that total and so that is the spend as of 22825 at that finance committee meeting we came with estimates based on what we we communicated with our school and the coach and the 80 on some of those things some of those things that we estimate but we're still waiting on that prioritized list that we were directed to obtain and so we are waiting for that to come in in priority order and so that's where the 3.5 is the remaining cost to date to get the things that were requested as a base minimum and then whatever that prioritized list comes in at that 3.5 may be adjusted is that clear yes okay all right thank you uh any any questions all right thank you thank you so much uh committee reports that's Finance any other committee reports at this time hearing none uh we'll move to 6.3 uh board legislative update Dr candy Mr superintendent the um the budget is now on The Fast Track um it's House Bill 4025 after weeks of subcommittee hearing Ways and Means has approved Bill uh and the debate I think would started on it today okay uh I would simply like to mention that it has the the bill has um a 15 $100 across the board raised for most teachers uh teachers with Bachelors plus 18 are exempt from the $1,500 across the board they are going to get a $1,000 increase but all others uh 1,500 the bill also includes uh 2% raise for uh bus drivers uh another uh there are a number of other issues but uh all important to us but not for discussion at this time all right thank you thank you sir all right at this time we're down to item number seven our superintendent's report and at this time uh Dr Ran I'll turn it over to you uh thank you Mr chair I would like to uh start off by doing our um around the district um ladies and gentlemen of the board we've got some amazing things going on in our district we had a banner unified Champion School congratulations to Sumpter high school for being named a three-time banner United Champion school this prestigious honor is awarded to schools that demonstrate an ongoing commitment to inclusion respect and collaboration by meeting 10 national standards of excellence by Special Olympics sump to high has created an inclusive School climate through Unified sports inclus inclusive youth leadership and whole school engagement ensuring that students with and without disabilities learn train and Lead together earning this recognition three times is a testament to their dedication to a fostering to f uring a welcoming and sustainable culture of inclusion 2025 Blue Ribbon School congratulations are in order to Lamyra Elementary School for being recognized as a 2025 Blue Ribbon School of Beacon status this prestigious honor is awarded by the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence based on a rigorous National assessment lamara excelled in nine key performance areas of high performance schools and they are student focus and support school organization and culture challenging standards and curriculum active teaching and learning technology and integration professional Community leadership and education Vitality School family and Community Partnerships and indicators of success congratulations are in order to principal Greg the dedicated staff students and families for this outstanding achievement your commitment to Excellence continues to shine the love where you live litter poster contest we are proud to celebrate Payton Harvin who's an 11th grader at Lakewood High School and Sydney fattis sixth grade at Allis Drive Middle School for winning the 2025 City of sumpter's Love where you live litter poster contest your creativity and commitment to keeping our community beautiful Inspire us all open enrollment for K through 12th grade is March 3rd through 31st so it's already begun applications will be online only parents and Guardians can access the applications from Sumpter www sumterschools.net please click on the Open Enrollment icon or the Open Enrollment link on our homepage to access the application frequently ask questions for open enrollment and out of Zone quests and open enrollment availability that shows the grade levels are available for open enrollment current Fifth and eighth grade students must reapply before transitioning to their next school and there is a separate application procedure and regulations for pre kindergarten students last Wednesday we we launched the assistant principles Institute a dynamic professional development experience designed to strengthen leadership skills and enhanced School operations from instructional leadership to student discipline staff development school safety and stakeholder engagement our assistant principles are diving into key areas that will Empower them to lead with confidence and impact we're excited for the journey ahead as we invest in the future of school leadership we have an award finalist lamara Elementary actually we have two uh lamara Elementary School and Sumpter High School have both been named for Statewide 2025 award finalists for the dick and Tony Riley award for school Improvement Council Excellence which recognizes the significant contributions made to public education by local school Improvement council members the winner of the 2025 Riley award will be selected from this year's finalist by an independent panel of reviewers and announced during an award ceremony in April way to go and lastly uh Mr chair as you briefly mentioned uh we just learned over the weekend that our uh palla Springs um Crocs stepping team uh went to Raleigh North Carolina and won two more first place Awards and so um with the boys's pleasure we're going to have that group uh really really soon appear in front of us and congratulate them again they they went up to Raleigh this weekend Raleigh North Carolina this weekend and uh and brought brought the awards back I saw a picture of it on on on Facebook so congratulations to them as well and Mr chair members of the Board of Trustees that concludes my um um around the district okay uh at this time uh we're ready for item 7.2 uh the board's pleasure um which will be presented by our chief Finance offer Mrs SA experiment hello again um I sit before you to bring you the general fund activity regarding the um time period of February 2025 for our local Revenue we've collected about 51.41 per of that um amount we've exceeded um some of our uh projection especially for the interest on our investments that we have with the state and so um we have a total collection to date of $18.9 million for our state revenue which we get mostly in chunks of monthly installments 12 installments a year um normally we've collected about uh 49,5 198,00 of our state aid classrooms funding which is the main funding in that section we received some um early amounts of our property tier Rel tier relief fund monies that we normally receive in a lump sum at the end of the year we've received about 5.7 of that already as well as the tier one monies 3.8 and so a total for year to date for our state revenue is 64 m533 270 and that also is a 5128 per Spin and being that we're over half of the year that would be about um typical for our federally impacted Aid impact aid funds we've collected $179,000 of that and again related to our other funds indirect costs which are the funds that we get for housing grants we wanted to show a budget reduced um of that because we knew Esser was leaving but at the timing of the receipt of our funding we've already collected about $2.9 million of that which has exceeded that budget which is a good thing um and that was um largely due to Esser um leaving us so to date we've collected 86,4 6,054 of our 16396 522 budget and that overall represents a 52% collection all right any any questions any questions all right as it relates to expenditures for our expenditures if you look at the 100 um categories those usually house our salaries and so as an overall we're about right at the uh 60 55 to 60% spend on our salaries and so we are just right at at where we need to be um our terminal leave payout we always just do a rounded estimate of $100,000 for this budget line again we never know who is leaving or who is will be do an annual leave payout and so to date we've spent about $40,000 related to that line item um our um our Fringe is usually the 200 codes and we're right there at the 55 60% um spin so that again is typical for us being at February of this year um some other items um as we talked about the 324 property insurance that was an estimate that was done of course all of these numbers are estimates and our actual came in at 1.1 million however I did attend the um scasbo conference in Myrtle Beach last week and our insurance provider was there and he presented me with um about $200,000 close to $200,000 in credits that we may receive for next year he wanted me to make sure that I notified this body about that however I think we can save a little more maybe if we put it out for bid and so even though he's presented those credits I would like to know what we can get uh if we put it out for bid um so that is the plan of our procurement office um to do that but check it off that I notified you um onward with the expenditures um we have uh some items that we um have noted that did not have any budget but that we had to uh provide a funding for some construction related Services building repair uh renovation work so those are items that we've identified already and um as it relates to our transits that we have to pay for students that um other districts serve we spent about 14 .9 $114,900 on that line item and as it relates to our general fund supporting our other funds the only transfer we've made at this time is the 280,000 that we do for our athletic department so to date our total expenditures are at 94,000 94 m319 1846 again most of our revenue is collected near the end of the year and so we are um a different difference of Revenue of about $7 million which is typical during this time of the year and if we were to wrap up operations as of February the 28th with our starting confirmed fund balance of 61 million 191 um we would end with a fund balance of about 59 196 all right board members are there any questions at this time on the uh revenue and expenditure report any questions hearing none thank you thank you m uh Mr chair members of the board uh we're ready now for item number 7.3 uh which is uh titled realignment um in 2022 2023 school year um at the end of the year the Board of Trustees at that time chose to postpone uh the implementation of realignment um it has not been Revisited since then and uh tonight um this item is on to um to have discussion and um determine whether or not we are to proceed with realignment for the 2025 2026 school year uh ladies and gentlemen of the board you have um a plethora of of documents in front of you um that talk about U the history of the district and the merger and uh items that are concerning realignment um additionally um if if I may um there is information that shows um uh some of the conversations and the way committees were formed and things of that nature uh to get us to the point where we uh ended up with a workable plan um if I might just briefly talk about um realignment criteria that were used uh are the following to balance school facility utilization uh account for future growth um uh close proximity uh was considered maximize busting efficiencies and transportation of students establishing clear feeder patterns and continuity allowing for the highest grade in current School uh to be to be Legacy uh leac um if that's such a word in uh minimize the impact on students account for economic cultural and ethnic diversity and make every effort to establish contiguous zones along with using major roads and natural boundaries whenever feasible uh to Define attendance zone so uh we're bringing that uh to the board's attention tonight Mr chair members of the board um primarily because uh the district would the administration would need to know which position uh which direction to take in terms of um getting ready for the 2025 2026 school year all right any discussion any questions at this time concerning item 7.3 question yes Mr chairman do we um do we have maps showing these districts yeah yes sir all of that information is available I I don't I don't think we prepared that tonight but we can get it to you all in short order for you can for you to look at that yes oh she does oh there it is never mind okay on the website but Dr candada they also on the website as well under board communication or board policies or something if if the board would like copies of them that's what I was referring to we can do that as well we get it to you through email there we are that's Elementary was like the Elementary map right there all right any any other questions and yes sir is the plan to try to complete this process in time to let people know what to expect next year and uh if so I'd really love to see the timeline because that's an extraordinary change especially for Rising seniors and others um and the public input on this which is dated um needs to be rolic ited I'm not sure it's timely I'm sure it's timely if we want to start to look at it again certainly but I'm not sure it's timely for um implementation an implementation for the 20526 school year at it seems very very U um high expectations on people being able to wrap their arms around this I think as I recall the proposal said that a high percentage over 30% were going to change and um so that that's my concern and so I'm just asking the leadership if you please give us some of your thoughts on how we proceed all right that information is provided to us I believe the study was already done and so I think that information was forward to all of us so you can read over that if you're requesting a timeline I'm certainly that will come uh for those who would do the implementation process not the members of this board but the administration I'm talking about for the public their timeline for knowing um what they should expect right that I don't know if that will come from the board if that that's what you're asking yeah all right any any other questions Mr chair go ahead Mr chair um my question is one of clarification I do not recall what the enrollment was when we initially did this study or by the end of the study or at the point that the study was done compared to where the enrollment is today and um I guess the simple question is would everything still hold firm based on that information would we still expect the lines to be where they are today and um um the criteria that was involved still stand where we have it at this time okay thank you Mr chair yes um my concern is the public and the people who have invested in homes military who move and and choose to buy a home in a particular District so that their children may go to that school and and I know that some of the the schools will be split in half for example one of those schools would be Alice Drive Elementary it pretty much would lose half of its students and other schools such as Bates those kids grow up thinking they're going to you know go to Su High School um and I think the public needs to have opportunities for input and and perhaps even go as far as to ask for a reference so that uh people who vote in Sumter County can give their input through uh an election uh I feel like it's not just a board's interest I feel like that the people who invest their money and their children into education have a need to have an opportunity to have input into this not just the nine people sitting here okay thank you all right any other discussion any other Mr chair yes um I'm I'm hearing a lot of conversations surrounding realignment and this has been a process that has been if you want to take it back to consolidation I mean before each one of us we have the consolidation committee report that speaks to realignment back in 2010 um the work for realignment be began as the work of the board in 2019 the actual work of this actual study started in 21 I believe or 2020 uh the fall of 2020 or the spring of 21 um and so there's been over that time period and for the members of the board that were there during that time there has been substantial Community input there's been substantial community opportunities to give your input and when the previous board voted to postpone the implementation of this which was February of 2022 23 I'm sorry um it was my thought process that realignment was postponed because at that time work on behalf of the administration had not been completed for implementation we're 2 years out from 22 and we're still having the same conversation regarding is there Community input is there the work done by the administration the work has been done on behalf of the board so I'm I'm almost a little confused as to the comments surrounding about getting Community input I mean it was only postponed so you've had two years that the community could give their input on this matter and move forward there's been two years where the administration could work on the implementation of this project and we're just we're constantly kicking the can further and further down the line but we can sit around here and get a report from transportation that speaks to our kids are still not getting to school on time and if we really are serious about educating our children if we're serious about our children getting to school on time then this is one of the mechanisms to help get our kids to school on time so that they can Excel academically um when you're talking about buses getting to school close to 9:00 and I'll give you one prime example if you were to look at the zoning the current Zoning for Chestnut Oaks those kids that live around Chestnut Oaks are not zoned to go to Crestwood when they're literally maybe 2 or 3 minutes down the road there Zone to go to Su High across town when you talk about in my area of area one there is a bus on 261 that picks up kids starting at the middle of catchall road is split in half the right side of catall road is zone for Oakland sha Heights and high hills a child can look out of their door across the street and that child is zoned to go to rafon Creek when you look at 261 there's a bus that goes to Oakland sh Heights and high hills and another bus that goes to rafon Creek and they're all on the same stretch of road but their travel times are different because there multiple buses on that same road so we have to look beyond that we're moving students at the time I think and Miss Johnson you brought this up about I think it was roughly about 15,000 students in the district at that time now we're down to maybe roughly 13,000 so the number of students impacted will be substantially less at this point when we talk about students that are being Legacy enrolled because they will finish whatever their terminal grade is at that school when we talk about Open Enrollment students will still have access to open enrollment you talk about the military families it's all addressed in the frequently asked questions about realignment we can I mean we spent over $100,000 on this study in having Community meetings to get community input but we can't constantly kick the can down the road because it's going to upset some there was issues even addressed during this whole process about the historic district where the historic district potentially was going to be split the committee went back to the drawing board and kept the entire historic district together so a lot of the questions that we're ask or that's being asked around this day is this evening have already been addressed have already been provided to the community for input I think it's time for us to be bold and move forward to ensure that we can provide the high quality education that our kids deserve and so that we can ensure that our students are making it to school on time thank you thank you uh any any further discussion yes may I ask a clarifying question Mr chair that is uh to something that Mr Austin mentioned around the students who are located in one area close to a particular school but they would be busted to schools that are further away is that something that could potentially be reconsidered if we were to move forward with this or would it not be necessary I I don't feel like it would be the study again has already been done uh and each one of us have a copy of it um and that's what the previous V board voted on the previous board before this this last board and the only thing that we're discussing tonight is whether or not this board is going to take action to move forward um to implement realignment for the upcoming school year okay can I i y what let me address for the public so you asked the question we be moving kids further away from the school the one of the criteria of the study was to move kids closer to the school that they live near so that example I use of chest Oaks those students when they leave the eighth grade at chest Oaks they will be zoned well majority of them will be zoned to go to Crestwood um so IT addresses issues like that even within like the elementary schools there was some issues with the kingsberry Milwood and Wilder split where there was like a pocket that was zoned to go to kingsberry there was a pocket that was zoned to go to kingsberry where they would have to bypass one of the schools to get to kingsbery just because of how they were zoned and it the study actually addressed that to move them to the school closest to them but waser there still sorry yes go ahead Mr wasn't there still some issues with kids who live who were presently walking to something High being were now being bust to one of the other high schools isn't that it's no perfect plan is it well I mean I I don't I don't recall that maybe somebody else can answer about I don't recall that I thought we had some discussion about that about two years ago yeah I don't there no students in the s High area that were actually being would have to be bust to Lakewood when they are now currently pedestrians to something high that could be so Reverend Cy but I I don't remember that this yeah two years ago we decided to put it on hold yes um so I'm not sure anything was done okay yes sir yes Mr chair um I didn't get the report cuz um I was wasn't using my computer correctly um I want to go over it but Does it include extensive uh detailing of what the new bus routes would be I I don't think there's bus routes uh in inside of this report that I'm I I don't think that there's bus drops including but yet the logic is we can get kids to school quicker if we had more drivers could we get kids to school quicker that's just a rhetorical question but um in in uh addressing this issue today with uh one of the board members the notion was put forth and you all have to forgive me I'm very old but trying to find a way through our legislative delegation to identify 18-year-old students who are very responsible and very capable of driving buses and by the way that's how people got to school when I was in school there was a in the previous Millennium I'm sorry but nonetheless I think that the issue raised by Mr auson is extremely significant and I don't think we could even move forward unless we knew that this was going to provide some relief and so I raise that question because it it's you know it's fundamental to the whole purpose as I understand it okay thank you any other discussion any further discussion yes Mr chair remind me how many students would be there there's would be disruptive in this move we don't no because I think it was stated that the actual total number of students two years ago or even more than that um the student enrollment has declined since then um so I'm but at that but at that time how many I don't recall I don't either yeah me neither and I guess all I want to say is moving moving a a large amount of students to me seems pretty Draconian in trying to figure out a way to get kids to school on time I mean there may be if that's one of the driving issues of this we may want to look at another solution okay thank you all right any further discussions before we wrap it up it is on the agenda tonight for an action item um so at this time I'll take any other further discussions at this time hearing none Mr superintendent is that all that you have at this time uh yes sir Mr chair uh that concludes the superintendent's report for March 10th 2025 thank you sir thank you for your report uh at this time we'll now move to item number eight uh executive session do we have a motion to enter into executive session at this time Mr chair yes I'd like to make a motion to enter into executive session for discussion of individual student matters transfers in and out of district and the monthly Personnel report appointment compensation promotion demotion discipline termination and or release of an employee in contractual matters second all right we have a motion in a second to enter into executive session uh for the purpose of discussion of individual student matters transfers in and out of the district and the monthly Personnel report appointment compensation promotion demotion discipline termination and or release of an employee and contractual matters there been a motion and a second at this time any discussion hearing none you may vote your pleasure vote passes at this time ladies and gentlemen of the public thank you so much for joining us tonight we're now entering into executive session uh not sure how long we will be there however uh we will see you when we return if not you all have a restful evening thank you thank you 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 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 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 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 at this time upon consensus with no objections uh we'll move to item number 10 item number 10 requires action required at this time from the board 10.1 uh any actions related to Executive session at this time motion to um release student a through F from the Su school district for the 2025 2026 school year second going a motion in a second to release student a through F from the shter school district for the 25 26 school year any discussion hearing none you may vote your pleasure at this time vote passes vote passes at this time any other motions under 10.1 at this time yes Mr chair I move to allow students a through e to attend school in the Sumter school district for the 2025 26 school year I second that motion there been a motion in a second to allow students a through e to attend schools in the Su school district for the 25 26 school year any discussion hearing none you may vote your pleasure at this time all right 10.2 Personnel report monthly Personnel report do we have a motion yes Mr chair I move to approve the personal report for Monday March 10th 2025 as presented second a motion and a second to approve the monthly Personnel report as of March 10th 2025 any discussion hearing none you may vote your pleasure at this time vot passes vote passes 10.3 realignment we have a motion at this time Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to authorize the superintendent to proceed with realignment second been a motion and a second uh to allow the superintendent to proceed at this time point of order um I don't think the motion is in is uh proper because I don't think proper notice was given concerning concerning this issue um I don't know when it finally came on the agenda but there was no uh and and I don't know what the requirements are but I don't believe there's been proper noticed um the person the folks who spoke for it admitted that there's nothing in the report that was supposed to have have uh been sufficient to consider this school bus uh reduction in school bus transit and uh I just feel like that the notion that uh it's gotten proper consideration is is um out of order because it didn't have enough time on the agenda did you you hear from any folks you had announced it in the newspapers a surprise to me and uh um and of course I I just feel like you need to rule on that so that if we have to take it to um different Authority we can try that okay Mr chair yes uh according to policy beb board agenda uh this item was placed on the agenda um and it was listed as a discussion and action item and it was placed on the agenda more than 24 hours before the agenda before the board meeting so in other words it's Sunday morning is fine is what Sunday morning is f posted on Thursday Thursday yes so it's been posted and for the media to see as well yeah what you're referring to I believe is the article that appeared in the paper according to policy we are in line with our agenda okay um I would ask that the chair rule on the legitimacy of a report that is based on a um attendance that is different in terms of the current enrollment uh residences that may be different in terms of the current enrollment and I really believe we owe it to our friends from Shaw Air Force Bas who will be significantly impacted uh that we uh update all that information before we move to a vote thank you for your com yeah and I comment it's it's request for a ruling from the chair I I I understand that but it was posted in the paper we did this agenda since Thursday and if F we had public participation if it was an issue folks could have came and voiced their opinion today and it it it was clearly out today yes yeserday someone contacted you no today we had publication here today today here I think what this motion actually says is that we're moving forward to prepare it correct correct I heard not we're getting started now we're getting started with preparing it for the future correct correct okay excuse me Mr chairman I heard Implement Am I Wrong well I can read the motion again the motion yes to authorize the superintendent to pursue to proceed with realignment that means implement Implement is not on here yes but how do you proceed with realignment without start the process sirle so be real clear that um that you will outline the process for us before we leave this meeting no we can give the superintendent time to do that work again the work that needs to be done at this point because we're following with the study is on Administration it's not on this for to implement or to move forward because I think you requested a timeline yes I did yeah and I'm I'm sure that we can get that information a timeline because again the motion is as it stand at this particular time and that is just have a simple motion uh to authorize the superintendent and the staff to proceed with real you mean Implement proceed is the language of the of the motion yes M Mr chairman is the and is the timeline for the 2 5 26 school year it yes MH so so this is to take place this fall well it could be for the following year um but the timeline of the implementation process will be during the time frame of 2526 all right there is a motion and a uh second on the floor you may vote your pleasure Mr Mr chairman point of order I think that we should vote by a show of hands so that I know that folks on TV may be able to see it but I can't see it and I would like to see a show of hands please on this one okay at the plure of this board would you like to vote with a show of hands or will you do it electronically how would you like to do it electronically show hands show up hands okay all right hearing the majority show up hands certainly that's not a problem at this time again there's been a motion in a second on the floor the motion is to authorize the superintendent to proceed of with realignment at this time you may vote with a show of hands those who are in favor okay one two three four five there's five votes those who oppose you may show by a raise of hands one two three four okay was uh Mr lenus Miss Disney Dr KY okay and Miss Johnson okay uh the motion passes uh for authorization of the superintendent to proceed with realignment Mr chairman um just a note please uh it was always my understanding that the chair would speak for the board in the media but the chair chose to speak as an individual saying that he supported it and move we should move forward with it in the paper so I hope that this board will not be offended when I speak in the paper about it and ask for public uh participation in this matter you're not the chair I understand that yeah so you but you didn't speak as the chair with what is expected Mr chair you didn't you didn't fall in line because you said you supported it but you weren't speaking as the chair so um I just want to put you on notice I'm not obligated by uh those particular rules and I hope that my decorum will be such that it won't be offensive to anyone that's not the purpose I'm not going to speak about what you said or didn't say because I can't speak for you but I can speak for myself to this issue which I think is very very significant because the utilization of the buildings is not a purpose that the board has to address getting students on time that is uh something that we need to give superintendent Direction on policy that would Implement that I don't see those things here and and so I just wanted to make folks aware because um this is a very significant issue and needs uh a lot more attention than we've got an old report here and so we're going to move ahead because we have the numbers thank you thank you all right at this time item number 11 uh consent agenda uh upon consensus with no objections at this time the consent agenda will stand approved U please explain what a consent agenda is I'm not I'm not sure uh minut if you will look in your um computer you would see under item number 11 and if you click on it you can see the minutes from the previous meeting so that's what we're approving at this time thank you I my because of my fault my computer wasn't updated so I really didn't see any of this stuff Absol no problem no problem we'll make sure you have it for the next meeting though no no I I'll have it because Miss Scott has helped me absolutely when I didn't realize I needed as much El absolutely all right at this time with no objections the consent agenda will stand the approve at this time again that's the minutes from the previous meeting item number 12 closing of the meeting certainly thank you all uh certainly to the board members the executive staff Dr Wright Miss Scott and certainly our public who participated um and gave comments on this evening greatly appreciate you and so at this time our meeting now stands adjourned you all have a restful evening thank you e