* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. [00:00:01] CLOSED CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY BEAUFORT COUNTY. GOOD EVENING. [Call to Order] I'D LIKE TO CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER, UH, THE BEAUFORT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS BEING HELD AT HILTON HEAD ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL IN THE MEDIA CENTER, 55 WILBORN ROAD, HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA. IT'S NOVEMBER 4TH, 2025. AND, UH, THE EXECUTIVE SESSION WILL START SOON AFTER WE, UH, GET EVERYBODY START SQUARED AWAY HERE. AND THEN THE MEETING WILL START AT SIX O'CLOCK TO GO TO APPROXIMATELY NINE 15 IN HYBRID VIDEO CONFERENCE CONFERENCING. THIS MEETING WILL BE BROADCAST BY THE COUNTY CHANNEL IN ACCORDANCE WITH NEW SAFETY AND SECURITY GUIDELINES. BAGS, BACKPACKS, AND PURSES ARE PROHIBITED BY THE PUBLIC AT THE BEAUFORT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS. PUBLIC COMMENTS ARE LIMITED TO THREE MINUTES PER SPEAKER ON SCHOOL DISTRICT OR SCHOOL RELATED TOPICS. CITIZENS WISHING TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC COMMENTS CAN DO SO IN PERSON OR VIA PHONE. THERE ARE TWO SCHEDULED PUBLIC COMMENT FORUMS DURING EACH BOARD MEETING. THE FIRST IS A 30 MINUTE SESSION NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE MEETING, LIMITED TO TOPICS ON THE BOARD MEETING AGENDA. THE SECOND IS A 15 MINUTE SESSION, WHICH TAKES PLACE PRIOR TO ADJOURNMENT, BUT NO LATER THAN 9:00 PM. REQUEST TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC COMMENTS VIA PHONE WILL BE ACCEPTED ELECTRONICALLY. YOU CAN FIND THE PUBLIC COMMENT FORM ON OUR WEBSITE. PLEASE SIGN UP USING THE PUBLIC COMMENT FORM 24 HOURS FROM THE DAY OF THE MEETING. REQUESTERS WILL RECEIVE A PHONE CALL DURING THE RESPECTIVE PUBLIC FORUM TIME AND SHOULD BE READY TO SPEAK. CITIZENS DESIRING TO PARTICIPATE IN PERSON MUST FILL OUT A PUBLIC COMMENT CARD THAT CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THE BOARD CLERK UPON ARRIVAL IN THE EVENT THE BOARD HAS NOT FINISHED ADDRESSING ALL ITEMS LISTED ON THE NOVEMBER 4TH, 2025 AGENDA. THE BOARD WILL RECONVENE AT 6:00 PM ON NOVEMBER 5TH, 2025. THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY TO FINISH THE AGENDA ITEMS, MADAM [Executive Session] SECRETARY, UH, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT'S GOING TO, UH, OCCUR IN EXECUTIVE SESSION? I'LL MAKE A MOTION. I MOVE THAT THE BUFORT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MOVE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS. PERSONNEL MATTER REGARDING PERSONNEL RATIFICATION REPORT PURSUANT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE ANNOTATED SECTION 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A ONE RECEIPT OF LEGAL ADVICE RELATING TO THREE PENDING LEGAL CLAIMS COVERED BY THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE PURSUANT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE ANNOTATED SECTION 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A TWO. AND DISCUSSION OF NEGOTIATIONS INCIDENT TO PROPOSE PURCHASE OF PROPERTY IN SOUTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY COVERED BY THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE PURSUANT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE ANNOTATED 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A TWO. DO WE HAVE A SECOND? SECOND. SECOND BY MR. NAY. ANY DISCUSSION MR. SMITH? OF COURSE, I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHO WILL BE ADVISING US ON THESE, UH, ATTORNEY CO UH, EXCUSE ME, ATTORNEY CLIENT PRIVILEGES, UH, IN TERMS IN TERMS TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE, UH, SECTION 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A TWO, THAT IS MS. CARTILAGE AND ALSO, UH OH. UM, AND ALSO IN THE PROPOSED PROPERTY AS WELL. OKAY. SO THAT'D BE TO CHEF AND, UH, SARAH ROBERTSON. SARAH ROBERTSON. THANK YOU. OKAY, THANK YOU. ALRIGHT, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF, UH, PASSING THIS MOTION, PLEASE, UH, RAISE YOUR HAND, SAY AYE. AYE. AYE. AYE. ONLINE, UH, LET'S SEE. WE HAVE MS. GORDON. CAN YOU HEAR THEM? NO, I CANNOT HEAR, I DON'T HEAR ANYTHING EITHER. WHO IS PLEASE MS. FRAZIER? MRS. FRAZIER. RIGHT? THEY CAN'T HEAR US. MM-HMM. MM-HMM . I CAN HEAR YOU, BUT I CAN'T HEAR THE MEETING. I, I HEAR MS. GORDON. HOW ABOUT OKAY. AND PASTOR GORDON? YES. THIS PASTOR GORDON. Y'ALL COME HAVE YES, WE CAN. YEAH, WE, I CAN HEAR. Y'ALL CAN HEAR ME. OH, THEY'RE SAYING THEY CAN HEAR EACH OTHER. OKAY. UH, DID YOU HEAR THE, DID YOU HEAR THE MOTION? NO, NO, NO. NO. ALL RIGHT. DO THEY GET SO THEY CAN HEAR US NOW? CAN YOU, CAN, YOU CAN HEAR US NOW SO WE CAN SAY IT AGAIN? YES. ALL RIGHT. PLEASE LET THE RECORD STATE THAT I MADE NO ERRORS THE FIRST TIME. SO IT'S LIKE, I FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS ARE ICING THE SECRETARY HERE. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. I MOVE THAT THE BUFORT [00:05:01] COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MOVE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS. PERSONNEL MATTER REGARDING PERSONNEL RATIFICATION REPORT PURSUANT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE ANNOTATED SECTION 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A ONE. RECEIPT OF LEGAL ADVICE RELATING TO THREE PENDING LEGAL CLAIMS COVERED BY THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE PURSUANT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE ANNOTATED SECTION 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A TWO. DISCUSSION OF NEGOTIATIONS INCIDENT TO PROPOSED PURCHASE OF PROPERTY IN SOUTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY COVERED BY THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE PURSUANT TO SOUTH CAROLINA CODE ANNOTATED 30 DASH FOUR DASH 70 A TWO AND AGAIN, AND SECOND FROM MR. NA AGAIN, AND THE PEOPLE IN THE ROOM HAVE ALREADY VOTED, UH, AND MR. SMITH HAS ALREADY ASKED WHAT, UH, ATTORNEYS WILL BE ADVISING US, MS. CARTILAGE AND MS. UH, SARAH ROBERTSON. SO, UH, THOSE OF YOU ONLINE, UH, ANY QUESTIONS? NO, NO QUESTION. NO, NO QUESTION. OKAY. THEN, UH, WOULD YOU PLEASE VOTE ON THE MOTION? I'LL CALL THE NAME. UH, PASTOR GORDON. UH, MS. IS THAT MR? WAS THAT PASTOR? GORDON? OKAY. UH, MS. GORDON POLL. GORDON A THANK YOU MA'AM. UH, MR. SMALL A I GOT IT. AND MS. FRAZIER? FRAZIER. OKAY. MOTION CARRIES UNANIMOUSLY. WE'LL NOW GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION. MORNING IN PROGRESS. I'LL CALL THE MEETING BACK TO ORDER. [Action as Necessary or Appropriate Regarding Matters Discussed in Executive Session] MADAM SECRETARY, DO WE HAVE ANY ACTION AS NECESSARY OR APPROPRIATE REGARDING MATTERS DISCUSSED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION? SIR, WE, WE HAVE THREE MOTIONS COMING OUT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION. THE FIRST MOTION I MOVE THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE THE SUPERINTENDENT'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EMPLOYMENT LISTED ON THE OCTOBER 1ST, 2025 TO OCTOBER 31ST, 2025. PERSONNEL RATIFICATION REPORT. SECOND. DR. CARR, ANY DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, SEEING NO, NO. HANDS UP. UH, ALL THOSE IN THE BUILDING, UH, PLEASE, UH, SAY AYE AND RAISE YOUR HAND. AYE. AYE. DID I APPROVE? ALL RIGHT. ONLINE PA, PASTOR GORDON, ASK GORDON. JUST JUMP BACK ON. THAT'S, THAT'S AYE. ALL RIGHT, SIR. UH, MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON? YES. OKAY. YES. UH, MR. SMALL? YES. YES. THANK YOU. AND MS. FRAZIER, IT'S NOT ON. ALL RIGHT. SO MOTION CARRIES. UH, TEN ONE. OKAY. OKAY. OUR NEXT MOTION IS I MOVE THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AUTHORIZE THE SUPERINTENDENT TO FINALIZE THE CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE OF THE PROPERTY AS PRESENTED IN SOUTHERN BUFORT COUNTY. A SECOND, SECOND BY, UH, MS. HAY. ANY DISCUSSION? SMITH? UM, IN TERMS OF THIS PROPERTY, I, I'M STILL NOT HAPPILY LEGALLY, SO I WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING THIS DUE TO THAT. SO, UM, I WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING THIS UNFORTUNATELY TONIGHT. OKAY. ANY OTHER DISCUSSION? UH, SEEING NO HANDS UP OR ONLINE? SO WE WILL GO AHEAD WITH THE VOTE. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF THE MOTION HERE IN THE BUILDING, PLEASE, UH, RAISE YOUR HAND AND SAY AYE. AYE. OKAY. AND ONLINE? UH, PASTOR GORDON. PASTOR GORDON. AYE. AYE. MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON. AYE. AYE, UH, MR. SMALL? AYE. MS. FRAZIER NOT ON? OKAY. ALL THOSE OPPOSED, MR. SMITH? OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES. 10 OR IT'S, UH, 9 1 1. OKAY. THAT CONCLUDES MOTIONS COMING OUT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, BUT WE DO HAVE A REQUEST TO REMOVE THE OCTOBER MEETING MINUTES. THERE'S TWO OF THEM FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AS WELL AS OE 13. ANY OBJECTION? HEARING NONE IS SO, SO MOVED. ALRIGHT. NEXT ITEM [Approval of Agenda] ON THE AGENDA IS THE APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA. DO I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA? SO MOVED. SO MOVED. SECOND BY, UM, MR. DALLAS. ANY DISCUSSION? ANYBODY HERE? ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF THE AGENDA, PLEASE SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. AND RAISE YOUR HAND. AYE. AYE. AYE. AND ONLINE, UH, PASTOR GORDON GORDON. AYE. [00:10:01] AYE. MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON. AYE. AYE, UH, MR. SMALL AYE. AYE. AND MS. FRAZIER NOT ONLINE. OKAY. SO THAT'S, UH, TEN ONE. ALRIGHT. MOTION HAS, UH, THE AGENDA HAS BEEN APPROVED AND NOW HAVE THE, UH, MOMENT [Pledge of Allegiance, Moment of Silence, Statement of Media Notification] OF, UH, OR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, FOLLOWED BY THE MOMENT OF SILENCE. AND PLEASE REMAIN STANDING. 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. LIKE A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR MS. STEPHANIE FREEMAN, AN ESS STAFF MEMBER AT PORT ROYAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WHO WAS WORKING TOWARD HER CERTIFICATION FOR SOUTH CAROLINA AND PASSED AWAY A WEEK AGO. PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR THOUGHTS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. NEXT ITEM IS [Student Performance] A STUDENT PERFORMANCE OUT OF THE, THEY'RE GOING TO COME IN, I, I HOPE. YEAH. THEY'RE WAY, THEY'RE ON THE WAY IN, ON THE WAY IN. WOOHOO. ALL. NICE. NICE. WHOA. A STUDENT PERFORMANCE TONIGHT IS FROM THE HILTON HEAD ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL STRING ORCHESTRA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CATHERINE HARDY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. JUST TO INTRODUCE OUR GROUP FOR TONIGHT, UH, AS YOU ALREADY HEARD, THIS IS THE, UH, HILTON HEAD ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL TRAIN ORCHESTRA UNDER THE PARTY. THEY'RE PERFORMING TWO PIECES FOR YOU THIS EVENING, UH, FIRST OF WHICH IS RUBEN FOR THE FIRST. COULD YOU SAY IT ON THE MICROPHONE? COULD YOU MICROPHONE CLOSE TO YOU SO PEOPLE KNOW? YEAH. THANK YOU. PEOPLE FIRST, THEY, YOU THINK? SURE. I CAN DO THAT. I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU WANT ME TO BE LOUDER, BUT, OKAY. . AH, OKAY. I SEE. YEAH, NOT A PROBLEM. UM, SO, AS I WAS SAYING, UM, THERE, THE GROUP HERE WILL BE PERFORMING TWO PIECES FOR YOU THIS EVENING. UH, THE FIRST OF WHICH IS GROEN FOR THE FIRST TIME ARRANGED BY PHILLIPS. AND THE SECOND IS DRAGON SLAYER BY ROB GRACE. SO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, DR. RODRIGUEZ, I PRESENT TO YOU THE HILTON HEAD ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL STRING ORCHESTRA. [00:17:58] HELLO, EVERYBODY. DO YOU ALL HAVE HOLIDAY CONCERT? UH, OURS IS DECEMBER 15TH. DECEMBER 15TH. THANK YOU. I, MS. CUSHEN BARRY, DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS? NO PUBLIC COMMENTS AT THIS TIME. NEXT ITEM [CLOC Update] ON THE AGENDA IS THE CITIZENS LED OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES REPORT. THANK YOU. MY NAME IS RAY WCO AND I AM THE CHAIR OF THE 2023 REFERENDUM, BUT I WANNA TALK ABOUT BOTH REFERENDUMS THIS EVENING, BECAUSE THE FIRST ONE, 2019 IS 99% PLUS COMPLETE. THAT'S GREAT NEWS. THE OTHER, THE OTHER GOOD PART IS EVERYTHING IS UNDER BUDGET. AND I THINK THAT IS, THAT IS TO BE COMMENDED AND THERE'S REASONS FOR THAT. BUT WHAT, WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THE TAXPAYERS ARE NOT GONNA HAVE TO HOOF UP ANY MORE FUNDS SO THAT THE 2019 REFER BOND REFERENDUM PROJECTS ARE COMPLETE AS THEY WERE INITIALLY ENVISIONED. THE OSF OFFICE OF SCHOOL FACILITIES EXAMINES NOT NECESSARILY EVERY PROJECT, BUT THEY EXAMINE ALL THE NEW PROJECTS AND THEY [00:20:01] DETERMINE THAT THINGS ARE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WAY THEY SHOULD BE. THEY'RE TOUGH PEOPLE, BUT IT GETS DONE. AND THAT'S WHAT WE HEAR. THE OTHER THING IS ON THE 2023 REFERENDUM, THE LARGEST PROJECT IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER HERE. AND THEY, THEY EXPECT TO MOVE NEW STUDENTS INTO THAT FACILITY. THIS, THIS NEXT FALL, UM, WHICH I THINK IS, WAS MARVELOUS. NOW THE PROJECT ISN'T NECESSARILY COMPLETE BECAUSE WHAT THEY'RE GONNA DO IS MOVE THE STUDENTS INTO THAT NEW FACILITY, AND THEN THEY'RE GOING TO START TEARING DOWN THE OLD FACILITY. SO IT'S GONNA BE OVER A FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THE NEW, THE NEXT NEWEST PROJECT, THE NEXT HIGHEST I SHOULD SAY, AND IT'S GONNA BE THE NEXT NEWEST, IS THE LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. AND THAT IS JUST, JUST ABOUT TO GET UNDERWAY. UM, SO THEY HAD A MEETING THE OTHER NIGHT AND, UH, THEY WERE JUST, THE ARCHITECTS WERE REVIEWING JUST EXACTLY HOW IT'S GOING TO WORK. I, WHAT I WANTED TO DO, AND I KNOW YOU'VE SEEN THE, THE PRO THE, THE PROGRESS THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE WITH, WITH EVERY INDIVIDUAL, UH, SCHOOL. BUT WHAT I WANTED TO DO IS TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AT THE MONTHLY MEETINGS. A FEW OF YOU HAVE BEEN AT THOSE MEETINGS, BUT I WANTED TO SHARE WHAT HAPPENS TO, TO, TO THE, THE ENTIRE SCHOOL BOARD AND TO THE STAFF, JUST EXACTLY WHAT WE DO. WE, WE LOOK AT THE STATUS OF EACH OF THE PROJECTS THAT ARE IN PROCESS, AND WE'RE, THEY, WE DEVELOPED THIS SYSTEM OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS, GREEN, YELLOW, OR RED. RIGHT NOW, MOST OF THEM ARE GREEN. THERE MAY BE A COUPLE YELLOW ONES IN THERE FROM ONE DELAY OR ANOTHER, BUT THERE AREN'T ANY, ANYTHING IN THE RED. THEN WE COMPARE OR THERE'S A COMPARISON OR, OR WHAT, WHAT THE, WHAT THEY TELL US AT THE MEETING. THERE'S A COMPARISON OF THE EXPECTED PAYOUTS OF THE CONTRACTS TO, TO ACTUAL, IN OTHER WORDS, WE BORROW MONEY ONCE EVERY YEAR, MAYBE, AND I THINK THAT'S WHAT THE BOND COUNCIL REFEREND REFER WHAT THEY, WHAT THEY RECOMMEND. AND THEN WE DOLE THAT MONEY OUT AS THE BILLS COME IN. AND SO FAR THINGS ARE ROCKING ALONG PRETTY GOOD. WE ALSO TALK ABOUT ANY CHANGES TO THE CONTINGENCIES THAT ARE OUT THERE. SOMETIMES THE CONTINGENCIES GO UP. MOST OF THE TIME IT GOES DOWN. THAT'S WHAT YOU, YOU EXPECT IT TO ALWAYS GO DOWN, BUT NOT NECESSARILY ALL, ALL AT ALL TIMES. AND WE HEAR REPORTS FROM THE GROUP, THE, THE CLOCK COMMITTEE, AND BY THE WAY, THERE ARE EIGHT PEOPLE ON THE CLOCK, AND THEY'RE ALL SPREAD OUT THROUGHOUT THE, THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY. AND THEY ALSO HAVE DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS. SO SOME OF THEM ARE THE FACILITY SUBCOMMITTEE, AND THEY, THEY GO AROUND AND THEY LOOK AT THE PROJECTS AND SEE IT IT BEFORE THEY'RE COMPLETED AND THEY SEE HOW IT'S BEING PUT TOGETHER, HOW IT'S BEING DONE. THEY ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS. THEY GET ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS FROM THE CONSTRUCTION PEOPLE. THE OTHER, THE OTHER, ONE OF THE OTHER COMMITTEES WE HAVE IS THE COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE. AND WHAT THEY HAVE TRADITIONALLY DONE IS JUST TALK ABOUT, UM, WHAT THE CLOCK HAS DONE. UM, THE, THE, THE OTHER COMMITTEE WE HAVE IS THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. AND WHAT THE FINANCE COMMITTEE DOES IS THEY REVIEW THE SCHEDULES THAT ARE PREPARED BY THE DISTRICT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE REFERENDUM AMOUNTS TIE RIGHT BACK TO INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS THAT THEY'VE LAID OUT. NOW, THESE KEEP IN MIND WHEN THE REFERENDUM IS THOUGHT ABOUT, IT'S WE'RE GONNA, THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT SPENDING MONEY OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEAR PERIOD. SO THEY'VE GOTTA PROJECT WHAT THE EXPENDITURES ARE GONNA BE OVER THOSE NEXT FOUR YEARS. THAT'S HARD. THAT'S TOUGH. NOW, WHEN THE, WHEN THE REFERENDUM IS PASSED, PROJECTS ARE STARTED AND THE EARLY PROJECTS ARE FAIRLY CLOSE TO WHAT, WHAT THEY HAVE INDICATED. BUT AS WE GET, AS THEY GET FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD, SOMETIMES THE COST WILL EXCEED WHAT THE BUDGET IS OR THE PROJECTED COST. THAT'S WHEN THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PEOPLE GET WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT PEOPLE AND THEY TRY TO FIGURE OUT, HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS, HOW CAN WE REDUCE THE EXPECTED COST? AND IT'S HARD WORK, BUT THEY, THEY DO IT, AND THEY HAVE CONSISTENTLY DONE IT. THAT'S WHY IN THE 2019 REFERENDUM, EVERYTHING HAS BEEN WITHIN THE BUDGET. AND THAT'S WHAT WE, THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE ANTICIPATED SO FAR IN THE 2023 PROJECT. SOME OF THE THINGS, SOME OF THE ISSUES THAT THEY HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT ARE OUR, [00:25:01] MAYBE INITIALLY, I KNOW IN ONE CASE THERE WAS A SCHOOL WHERE THERE WERE THREE DROPS FOR PLUGINS, AND THEY SAID, WE DON'T NEED THAT MANY, WE ONLY NEED TWO. SO THEY CUT OUT SOME OF THE COSTS AND, AND THERE HAVE BEEN OTHERS. AND THERE, THEY'RE JUST TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION. BUT THAT'S TYPICALLY WHAT OCCURS AT THE CLOCK MEETING, CLOCK COMMITTEE MEETINGS THAT WE HAVE MONTHLY. AND THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO BE AN HOUR AND A HALF. INITIALLY THEY WERE A LITTLE BIT LONGER THAN THAT, SO WE COULD GET OUR FEET ON THE GROUND, FIGURE OUT WHAT WE NEEDED TO DO, AND NOW THEY'RE STARTING TO GET A LITTLE BIT SHORTER. UH, AND NOBODY HAS COMPLAINED ABOUT THAT. SO THAT'S, THAT'S THE PROCESS. THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT WE USE. THAT'S WHAT I'M HERE TO TELL YOU ABOUT. I'M HERE TO TELL YOU THINGS ARE ROCKING ALONG, AND NOW I WILL OPEN IT UP TO ANY QUESTIONS THAT ANYBODY MIGHT HAVE. QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, MR. SMITH? UM, I, I DEFINITELY WANNA SAY I DEFINITELY DO APPRECIATE YOU AND YOUR, UH, COMMITTEE FOR ALL THAT YOU DO. AND LIKE, AS YOU SAYING, UH, NO ONE EVER COMPLAINS. YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. I'VE BEEN GOING TO THOSE MEETINGS FOR YEARS AND WHY THEY GO, UH, NO ONE NEVER COMPLAINED NO MATTER HOW LATE THE MEETINGS WAS. AND YEAH, THAT IS A VOLUNTEER, UH, BASE, UH, COMMITTEE. SO WITH THAT, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER AND, AND, AND THE INTEGRITY THAT THE CLOCK TEAM TAKES. WELL, THANK YOU. SO I DEFINITELY APPRECIATE YOU AND YOUR TEAM FOR THAT TEAM. AND I KNOW YOU'VE SAID THAT BEFORE, AND I HAVE SHARED THAT WITH THE REST OF THE COMMITTEE. AND GUESS WHAT? THEY KEEP COMING BACK. SO THAT'S GOOD TO HEAR. THANK YOU. YES, SIR. UH, AND THEN, BUT THEN ALSO I DO HAVE ONE CONCERN. UM, I KNOW YOU HAD THE SEE HELENA MEETING, THE, UH, I MEAN, I, EXCUSE ME, THE LADIES ISLAND, UH, MIDDLE SCHOOL, UH, MEETING THE OTHER NIGHT. AND I KNOW THAT, UH, AT THAT MEETING, THERE WERE SOME, SOME SHARES OF CONCERN ABOUT NOT BRINGING AUDITORIUM. AND IN TERMS OF THE CLOCK UNDER UNDERSTANDING, I GUESS, THAT, THAT YOU GUYS MONITOR THE MONEY, BUT ALSO GETTING MORE BANG FOR OUR BUCK BECAUSE, UH, I IMAGINE THAT YOU KIND OF, YOU GUYS ARE THE, THE, UM, THE MASTER, SOME OF THE MASTERMIND REFEREES WATCHDOG. THAT'S WHAT WE ARE. THERE YOU GO. THERE YOU GO. THERE YOU GO. UH, WITH, WITH, WITH THAT, WITH THAT BEING, WITH THAT BEING SAID, UM, I'M HOPING THAT YOU WILL DEFINITELY TAKE BACK TO THEM IN TERMS OF, UH, IN, IN TERMS OF DISCUSSING, UH, NOT BUILDING A, A AUDITORIUM, BECAUSE THAT WAS DEFINITELY A CONCERN THERE. AND I'VE HEARD THAT THROUGHOUT THIS, UH, THROUGHOUT, THROUGHOUT THIS, UH, A COUPLE CONVERSATIONS IN THE COMMUNITY SINCE THAT MEETING, THAT BUILDING, THAT BUILDING WITHOUT A, UM, A AUDITORIUM IS DEFINITELY CONCERNING THE COMMUNITY. I WOULD JUST BE WONDERING, UH, IN TERMS OF, UH, W WHAT, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT'S YOUR COLLEAGUES WOULD HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT AS WELL? WELL, IT'S NOT SO MUCH WHAT, WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY, BECAUSE WHAT WE'RE GOING TO MAKE SURE OF IS, OR WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO BE SURE OF, IS THAT THE PROJECT GETS BUILT AS INITIALLY ENVISIONED, AND WITHIN THE BUDGET, IT'S GOING TO BE UP TO PROBABLY THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE AT BEAUFORT COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF CONSTRUCTION TO GET THAT DONE THE WAY THAT YOU, THAT YOU ENVISION. GOTCHA, GOTCHA. GOT YOU. BUT I, I, AND, AND I HEAR IT, I HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, BUT JUST IN, IN TERMS OF, UM, AS MY GRANDMA WOULD SAY, IN TERMS OF BEING THE OVERSIGHT AND IN TERMS OF, MY GRANDMA SAID SOMETHING CALLED, NO, YOU PAY ME NOW. YOU PAY ME LATER IN, IN, IN TERMS OF YOU GUYS HAVING THE SKILLSET BECAUSE YOU JUST NOT, I'M SURE YOU NOT JUST THERE TO WATCH THE MONEY, UH, IN TERMS OF ME UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE CLOCK DOES, BUT YOU'RE MAKING SURE THAT WE ARE ACTUALLY GETTING MORE OF THE, THE CORRECT BANG FOR OUR BUCK IN TERMS OF BUILDING A BUILDING, BUT, BUT NOT HAVING A AUDITORIUM. BECAUSE AT, WELL BRANCH, EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL, WE CAME BACK AND WE BUILT ONE LATER. AND I'M JUST, UH, WONDERING IN TERMS OF WHEN CRUNCHING NUMBERS WILL, WILL IT BE MORE, UH, WILL IT BE MORE, UH, IMPORTANT TO POSSIBLY BUILD THAT NOW VERSUS LATER COMING, COMING BACK LATER? WE WOULD BE BRINGING ANOTHER COMMITTEE BACK TO DO, TO DO, TO DO WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING RIGHT NOW. BUT ALSO IN TERMS OF THAT, UM, WE, WE KEEP SAYING THAT THE PRICES OF, UM, THE, THE PRICE OF MATERIALS AND EVERYTHING IS GOING UP. SO WOULD IT, WOULD IT MAKE SENSE TO BUILD THAT RIGHT NOW VERSUS LATER? BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER THAT, BUT I JUST WANTED TO PUT THAT OUT THERE AS, AS WELL. JUST FOOL, FOOL FOR THOUGHT, BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE KIND OF ADVISING US ON CERTAIN THINGS AND, AND WHAT THAT LOOKED LIKE. AND BECAUSE I, I KNOW THAT, UM, WE, WE DID TALK ABOUT ONE TIME IN THE CLOCK MEETING WHEN WE FIRST BUILT ROBERT SMALL'S, UH, EARLIER ROBERT SMALL'S ACADEMY, THAT THE BUILDING, UH, WAS, WAS LEAKING A LITTLE BIT AND I REMEMBER THE CLOCK TEAM. YEAH, YEAH. DID WE GO BACK AND RE REVISIT THAT OR HAVE A CONVERSATION AROUND WHAT THAT LOOKED LIKE? AND SO THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT'S WHAT PUT ME IN THE THOUGHT, IN THE THOUGHT OF MENTIONING THAT TO YOU TONIGHT, TO JUST TAKE BACK, TO HAVE A AROUND CONVERSATION. I WILL MAKE SURE THAT WE, WE DISCUSS IT WITH THE, WITH THE APPROPRIATE FOLKS. THANK YOU. UH, MR. DALLAS. YEAH. SO, UM, MR. WCO, FOLLOWING UP ON MY COLLEAGUE'S QUESTION AUDITORIUM AND AN AUDITORIUM WOULD PROBABLY BE A SIGNIFICANT ADDITION IN COST AND TIME OF THE PROJECT. CAN WE LEGALLY DO THAT UNDER THE REFERENDUM IF IT WAS NOT PREVIOUSLY SPECIFIED? WELL, IF IT, IT, AS LONG AS IT'S SPECIFIED IN THE BEGINNING AND THAT IT'S BEING BUILT IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHAT THE REFERENDUM INITIALLY INDICATED THAT IT WOULD BE, AND I KNOW THAT WE HAD THAT, THERE [00:30:01] ARE COMMUNITY MEETINGS THAT ARE HELD, SUCH AS WHAT WAS HELD AT LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL THE OTHER NIGHT. UM, AND THE WHOLE PURPOSE IS FOR THE, FOR THE COMMUNITY TO VOICE THEIR CONCERNS ABOUT WHAT THEY'RE GETTING. AND IT, IT'S REALLY UP TO THE CONSTRUCTION PEOPLE TO SAY, HEY, IT FITS. AND I'M TALKING ABOUT WITHIN THE DISTRICT MM-HMM . THE CONSTRUCTION PEOPLE. AND I TO SAY, IS THIS WITHIN OUR SCOPE? CAN WE GET THIS DONE WITH THE, WITH THE DOLLARS THAT WE HAVE? THEY ARE NOT GOING, THEY HAVE TOLD ME CONSISTENTLY THAT THEY WILL NOT, UH, UH, LET ME PUT IT ANOTHER WAY. LET'S SUPPOSE THAT, UM, YOU WANNA BUILD A HOUSE THAT'S 2000 SQUARE FEET AND, AND SOMEBODY COMES ALONG AND SAYS, WE THINK IT SHOULD BE 3,500. YOU'RE GONNA SAY, WELL, WE DON'T HAVE THE BUDGET FOR 3,500, BUT WHAT WE CAN DO WITH THE BUDGET THAT WE HAVE FOR TWO, FOR LET'S SAY 200,000, IS WE CAN DO THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER. AND THAT'S IT. CAN I FOLLOW UP? SO WITH THAT, TO FOLLOW UP ON MY COLLEAGUE'S POINT, AND WHAT YOU JUST CLARIFIED, THERE DOES NOT RESIDE IN THE REFERENDUM TO ALLOW THAT SIZE OF A ADDITION UNDER THE REFERENDUM. HOWEVER, THERE MAY BE OTHER POCKETS OF FUNDING, SUCH AS 8% OR SOMETHING ELSE THAT MAYBE THE SUPERINTENDENT CAN SPEAK WITH MORE CLARITY THAN I CAN THAT WOULD ENABLE US TO TAKE A LOOK AT THAT IN THE FUTURE. BUT WE DON'T WANT TO DAMAGE THE INTEGRITY AND THE EXECUTION DISCIPLINE OF THE REFEREND. I, THE TWO UP UNTIL THIS POINT WOULD BE MY FAULT. YOU'RE EXACTLY RIGHT. I MEAN, AND OUR CHARGE IS ONLY ON THE REFERENDUM, NOT ON THE 8% FUNDS. OKAY. UM, MR. SMITH, AND, AND I DO HEAR, I DO HEAR WHAT, UH, WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, BUT MY, MY, UH, PROBLEM IS ACTUALLY THE REFERENDUM, I BELIEVE IS ON A, IS ON A DOLLAR AMOUNT. AND THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARED. SO NOW THAT WHAT THAT, WHAT THIS WILL DO IS, THIS WILL MAKE, I'M SURE THE TAXPAYERS ASK NOW, OR HOW MUCH FOR, OKAY, IF THIS IS REF, REF, THAT'S A NUMBER. IF THIS, UH, REFERENDUM IS FOR $34 MILLION, THEN HOW MUCH, WHAT WOULD THAT COVER? WHAT, WHAT SPECIFICALLY WILL, WILL IT BE A GYMNASIUM? WILL IT BE A, UH, LECTURE THEATER? WILL IT BE A PRACTICE GYM AS THOUGH WE HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL, WE HAVE A PRACTICE GYM AND A ACTUAL PLAYING GYM. BECAUSE NOW THAT WILL, IT WILL, I THINK THAT WILL MAKE THE VOTERS BEGIN TO QUESTION MORE OF WHAT IT, UH, WHAT THAT DOLLAR AMOUNT REALLY, REALLY, UH, CONSUME OF, OF WHAT IT CONSISTS OF. BECAUSE MY CONS, MY, MY CONSTITUENTS WERE SAYING THAT HOW DO YOU BUILD A MIDDLE SCHOOL WITHOUT, WITHOUT A, UH, AUDITORIUM? AND, AND, AND, AND WE'RE SAYING THAT THE BOARD IS FOCUSING ON ARTS. SO WE'RE FOCUSING ON ARTS. THEN, THEN, THEN, THEN, THEN WHERE WHAT WE WOULD WE PUT THE ARTS? AND HOW, HOW ARE WE PUTTING THE ACTUAL DOLLARS BEHIND WHAT WE'RE SAYING THAT, THAT WE ARE, THAT WE ARE, THAT WE'RE FOCUSING ON? SO, I, I'M JUST TRYING TO CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THAT, BECAUSE I KNOW THE REFERENDUM IS A CERTAIN DOLLAR AMOUNT. I DIDN'T SAY WHAT, BUT WHAT, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT WILL BE IN THERE AND, UH, WHAT WILL BE INDICATED IN THERE OR WHAT PIECES ARE, WILL BE IN THERE. BUT IT IS DEFINITELY, IT HAS, THIS PROJECT HERE HAS DEFINITELY BROUGHT SOME QUESTIONING, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE HADN'T SHORT, THE COMMUNITY SAID WE HADN'T SHORT CHANGED ANYBODY ELSE, SO LET'S NOT MAKE SURE WE SHORTCHANGE, UH, THAT COMMUNITY AS WELL. SO WE, THEY DEFINITELY FEEL SOME TYPE OF WAY IN TERMS OF WHAT'S, WHAT'S GOING ON. I WANTED TO, YOU KNOW, SIX WEEKS SINCE WE ARE GOING THERE. LET'S GO AHEAD AND PUT IT ALL OUT THERE. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS? I, I HAVE A STATEMENT I WANNA MAKE. OUR FINANCIAL OFFICER GOES THROUGH AN ANNUAL AUDIT EVERY YEAR, VERY, VERY RIGOROUS AND DOES VERY, VERY WELL. OUR ACADEMICS GET A REPORT CARD, JUST GOT IT OUTSIDE AGENCY LOOKS, PROVIDES A TEST TEST, AND WE GET THE SCORES. WE HAVE SOMEBODY WHO IS HELPING US AUDIT OUR WORK IN THE CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS. AND THAT'S BEEN INVALUABLE FOR THE SUCCESS OF THIS PROJECT, IS HAVING A SECOND SET OF EYES LOOKING AT THE PROJECTS, LOOKING AT THE DOLLARS, LOOKING AT THE INFLATION, LOOKING AT CONTINGENCY FUNDS AND GIVING US EXPERT ADVICE, NONPOLITICAL, BUT ACTUAL, ACTUAL AUDITABLE NUMBERS. AND FOR THAT, YOUR SERVICE IS INVALUABLE. AND THAT IS WHY WE PASS THE SECOND, UH, REFERENDUM. AND IF WE HAVE ANOTHER REFERENDUM, THAT'LL BE BECAUSE OF, AGAIN, WHAT YOU HELP US ACHIEVE BY YOUR WORK AND YOUR GUIDANCE. AND WE THANK YOU VERY, VERY DEEPLY. WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. AND I'LL PASS THAT ON TO THE, TO THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE. THANK YOU. ANYTHING ELSE? THANK YOU. A WRAP? [00:35:01] YES. ALRIGHT. NEXT [Chair’s Report] ITEM IS THE CHAIR'S REPORT. COUPLE THINGS. UH, I ATTENDED THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS GET TO KNOW YOUR SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. UH, I WAS THE ONLY ONE FROM THE SPORT THAT WAS ABLE TO GO TO THIS FIRST ONE. I HOPE MORE OF YOU GET A CHANCE TO GO TO THE SECOND ONE IN, UH, NOVEMBER. MM-HMM . WHAT'S THE DATE? I THINK IT'S 13TH. 13TH, I BELIEVE. UH, YOU'LL HEAR FROM THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION. AND A LOT OF US WENT TO, UH, HER ADDRESS TO THE COMMUNITY. UH, SHE GIVES A ADDRESS TO BOARD MEMBERS THAT WAS VERY VALUABLE TO HEAR. SO THAT'S, UH, SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. I ALSO SENT OUT, UH, WELL, I'LL GO TO THIS OTHER FOR NUMBER FIRST. UH, I WAS ASKED TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION TO PROVIDE A OA MEETING, OR A, WHAT DO THEY CALL IT? UH, PRESENTATION. WHAT'S A PRESENTATION? A BREAKOUT SESSION. BREAKOUT SESSION ABOUT HOW WE WERE ABLE TO PASS TWO REFERENDUMS, THE LARGEST REFERENDUMS IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, UH, WHEN YOU PUT THE TWO OF 'EM TOGETHER. AND SO, I SUBMITTED THE PROPOSAL AND THE, UH, CHAIR OF THE, OR THE DIRECTOR OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, SENT BACK A LETTER SAYING, THE PROPOSAL ONLY LISTS ONE BOARD MEMBER AS THE PRESENTER. I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE COULD HAVE A, A CAST OF, UH, 11 UP THERE. UH, WE WILL CONFIRM, UH, WE, WE NEED TO CONFIRM THAT THE FULL BOARD HAS APPROVED THIS SUBMISSION. THIS HELPS ASSURE THAT ANY PRESENTATION MADE UNDER THE BOARD'S NAME, REFLECTS THE BOARD'S COLLECTIVE SUPPORT. ONCE WE RECEIVE THAT CONFIRMATION, WE'LL BE HAPPY TO MOVE FORWARD, INCLUDING THE PRESENTATION IN THE CONVENTION PROGRAM. UM, SO, UM, I, I GUESS I COULD ASK FOR A MOTION. YEAH, THAT'S . UH, DO I HAVE A MOTION TO SAY THAT? IT'S ALL RIGHT. THAT, UH, THAT I GIVE THE PRESENTATION AT THE SCHOOL BOARD, UH, ASSOCIATION MEETING. SO MOVED. SECOND. SECOND BY MR. DALLAS. ANY ANY COMMENTS, QUESTIONS? I HAVE ONE. I DO KINDA LIKE THAT THEY DID THAT BECAUSE I'VE BEEN ASKED TO ASKED TO SPEAK, AND I'M ALWAYS NERVOUS ABOUT REPRESENTING THE BOARD. AND I'M ALWAYS LIKE, I WILL COME AS INGRID BOATWRIGHT A TRUSTEE. BUT YOU DO, YOU KNOW, NOT YOU. ALL OF US CAN RUN INTO, IF WE'RE ASKED TO SPEAK TO OUR CONSTITUENTS, TO MAKE CLEAR IF WE ARE ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, WHICH THE CHAIR IS AUTHORIZED TO DO, UM, OR IF WE'RE ACTING AS AN INDIVIDUAL. SO I DO THINK THAT'S THAT. I, I LIKE THAT THEY DID THAT. I, I, I APPROVE IT, BUT I THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA. WELL, ALSO, I WOULD SAY THAT, UH, DURING THE BREAKOUT SESSION, IF ANY OF YOU ARE THERE, I'LL BRING YOU UP IN FRONT AND, AND, UH, LET YOU TAKE THE BLAME. OH, THIS OKAY. MANAM? YES, SIR. I JUST WANT, EXCUSE ME. AS A MEMBER OF THE, UH, DIRECTORSHIP OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION REPRESENTING FOUR COUNTIES, INCLUDING, UM, UH, BEAUFORT COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, IT IS REALLY AN HONOR THAT OUR CHAIR HAS BEEN SELECTED. UM, THE SCHOOL DIS, SOUTH CAROLINA SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION GETS MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST WANTING TO PRO TO PRESENT OR HAVE A BREAKOUT SESSION, AND FOR THEM TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF THE REFERENDA THAT HAS OCCURRED IN BEAUFORT COUNTY AND GO TO OUR CHAIR. I THINK IT'S SIGNATURE REINFORCEMENT THAT THAT WAS A SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND OTHERS WANNA LEARN HOW IT WAS DONE. SO, KUDOS TO THE DISTRICT, TO THE WHOLE BOARDS, THIS ONE AND PRIOR ONES THAT WERE ABLE TO ACHIEVE THAT OUTCOME. AND THE CHAIR. ANY OTHER COMMENTS? OKAY. UH, THERE'S A MOTION ON THE FLOOR. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR HERE IN THE, UH, MEETING ROOM. PLEASE, UH, SAY, AYE. AND RAISE YOUR HAND. AYE. AYE. ONLINE, PASTOR GORDON, THE DEFINITE AYE. OKAY, MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON SAYS A, UH, MR. SMALL. AYE. AYE. AND IS MS. FRAZIER ON MS. FRAZIER? FRAZIER? AYE. AYE. MOTION CARRIES. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. LAST ITEM, UH, FOR THE CHAIR'S REPORT I SENT OUT TO YOU. YOU ALL HAVE IT IN YOUR PACKET HERE. THE BILL OF SALE OR THE, ACTUALLY THE, THE DEED [00:40:02] FOR THE PROPERTY THAT'S, UM, OVER IN LOKO. THAT'S WHERE WE HAVE A LIBRARY. IT'S A COUNTY LIBRARY THERE. UH, THIS DISTRICT PURCHASED THAT PROPERTY OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. IT USED, IT, USED THAT PROPERTY FOR A SMALL SCHOOL AT ONE TIME, AND THEN IT, THEY BUILT THE SCHOOLS AT, UH, WILL BRANCH ELEMENTARY AND JAMES H. DAVIS. AND SO THERE WERE NO MORE CLASSES BY THE DISTRICT HELD AT THAT, UH, SMALL SCHOOL THERE. AND THE HEAD START TOOK IT OVER FOR A WHILE, AND THEN THEY ABANDONED THAT BUILDING AND, AND ACTUALLY MOVED IN WITH THE JAMES H. DAVIS, UH, POLICE. AND SO THERE'S A LIBRARY THERE THAT IS WELL ATTENDED, AND THERE'S A ABANDONED BUILDING THERE THAT REALLY NOT MUCH CAN BE DONE WITHOUT SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY. AND THAT IS OUR PROPERTY. THAT'S LOKO PROPERTY. THE COUNTY'S BEEN INTERESTED IN EXPANDING THEIR PRESENCE THERE. UH, THE COUNTY COUNCILMAN FROM THAT DISTRICT, UH, UH, GERALD DAWKIN DAWSON, UH, IS INTERESTED IN A SMALL COMMUNITY CENTER OR MEETING ROOM. UH, THE OPERATIONS STAFF OF THE COUNTY IS INTERESTED IN THAT PLACE, BEING A, A KIND OF A TRAFFIC CONTROL PLACE AS HURRICANE, UH, PEOPLE COME BACK INTO THE COUNTY, THEY CAN STOP THEM THERE, CHECK TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE ALLOWED TO GO WHERE THEY'RE GOING AND SO ON. AND IT'S BEFORE YOU GET OVER THE FIRST BRIDGE. UH, AND THAT'S WHAT THEY WOULD, THEY THINK IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR. SO I'VE GOT THIS ITEM PUT ON THE ASKED, UM, MR. NAY TO PUT THIS ON THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING FOR A DISCUSSION OF THE, THE BENEFITS. BUT WHEN WE ACCEPTED THE PROPERTY FOR THE LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL, WE WERE, THERE WAS CONCERN ABOUT ACCEPTING LIABILITY, BUT WE HAVE LIABILITY OUT AT LOKO, AND WE HAVE NO PRESENCE THERE AT ALL. AND, UH, IT MIGHT BE A GOOD SWAP OF PROPERTIES. YOU GET SOME LIABILITY, WE GET SOME DIFFERENT LIABILITY. UH, SO THAT'S WHAT THE OPERATIONS COMMITTEE WILL, UH, DELVE INTO AND REPORT BACK. UH, I GAVE A COPY OF THIS, UM, BILL OF SALE, UH, TO THE VICE CHAIR CHAIR OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE, UH, COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR. AND, UH, UH, THEY'RE VERY POSITIVE ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY, BUT IT'S UP TO US AND IT'S UP TO THE OPERATIONS COMMITTEE TO GET INTO THE EACHES AND THEN BRING IT TO THE FULL BOARD. DO WE GO THROUGH STAFF OR IS THIS COUNT? IS, DO WE GO THROUGH STAFF AND ASK THE SUPERINTENDENT TO REVIEW LUKO BEFORE IT GOES TO OPERATIONS OR AFTER? LET'S LET THE, THE STAFF WILL MEET WITH THE COMMITTEE AND THEN GO FROM THERE. OKAY. THAT ENDS THE, UH, CHAIR'S REPORT. [Committee Reports] NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ACADEMIC COMMITTEE. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. UH, ON OCTOBER 23RD, THE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE MET THE AGENDA, INCLUDED ITEMS FROM STUDENT SERVICES AND INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES DIVISIONS. UH, DR. COX, THE CHIEF OFFICER FOR STUDENT SERVICES, FIRST PRESENTED OPERATIONAL EXPECTATIONS 13 ON STUDENT DISCIPLINE. AND THAT IS THE FOLDER THAT YOU HAVE NEXT TO YOU. UH, DR. COX PROVIDED EXAMPLES AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR EACH SUBSECTION OF THE OPERATIONAL EXPECTATIONS. AND A UNANIMOUS VOTE BY THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS WAS MADE TO APPROVE AND PLACED THE OE ON THE NOVEMBER 4TH, UH, CONSENT AGENDA. NOW, WE HAVE SINCE MOVED THAT OFF. UM, UPON COMPLETION OF THE OE INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES PROVIDED UPDATES AND SUPPORT MATERIALS THAT RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING MOTIONS GOING FORWARD. APPROVAL OF THE 20 25, 20 26 LOCAL BOARD APPROVED COURSES, ALGEBRAIC APPLICATIONS FOR USE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS, GRADES NINE THROUGH 12 AS ELECTIVE COURSE FOR ALGEBRAIC READINESS. A MOCK TRIAL COURT SYSTEM FOR USE IN GRADES NINE THROUGH 12. AS ELECTIVE CREDIT, [00:45:02] THIS COURSE OFFERS STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE THE FIELD OF LAW SLASH PUBLIC SPEAKING TO DEEPEN CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THROUGH ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF MOCK TRIALS AND DEBATE COMPETITIONS. THE COURSE ALSO ENLISTS KNOWLEDGE OF LEGAL SYSTEMS, TRIAL PROCEDURES AND COURTROOM ETIQUETTE, WHILE ALSO DEVELOPING SKILLS AND RESEARCH AUGMENTATION AND PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION. DURING THIS PORTION OF THE COMMITTEE MEETING, A SECOND MOTION WAS MADE TO APPROVE THE CONTINUED USE OF EXISTING SCHOOL BOARD APPROVED COURSES FOR THE UPCOMING 20 26, 20 27 ACADEMIC SCHOOL YEAR INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES. ALSO BROUGHT FORWARD TWO CHOICE APPLICATIONS FOR THE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE REVIEWER. ONE WHALE BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ARTS AND MATH STEAM PROGRAM APPLICATION FOR THE 20 26 27 SCHOOL YEAR AND HILTON HEAD ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM. BOTH OF THESE SCHOOLS HAVE PRESENTED THE PROGRAM MODELS TO THEIR SCHOOL INSTRUCTIONAL COUNCIL. THE RESPECTIVE ICS ARE IN SUPPORT OF THE PROGRAM APPLICATIONS AS IN THE AC AS IS THE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE. THE NEXT COMPONENT OF THE MEETING ADDRESSED UPDATED INFORMATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS FROM INSTRUCTIONAL AND STUDENT SERVICES. THE FOLLOWING UPDATES WERE PRESENTED, UH, SS 30 WAS STUDENT CONCERNS, COMPLAINTS, AND GRIEVANCES. SS 32 STUDENT INITIATED NON-SCHOOL SPONSORED EXTRA CLASS ACTIVITIES. SS 33 STUDENT FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES, SS 34 STUDENT ACTIVITIES, FUNDS IS 20, CAREER TRANSITION TO WORK EDUCATION I 20.1. GUIDELINES FOR SOLICITATION OF STUDENTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF EMPLOYMENT. IS 20.2, WORK-BASED LEARNING GUIDELINES FOR CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION I 38.1 PROCEDURE IN HANDLING QUESTIONED OR CHALLENGED LIBRARY MATERIALS AND IS 43 GRADING AND ASSESSMENTS SYSTEMS. FINALLY, THE INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES DIVISION ALSO SHARED AN UPDATE FROM THE HEALTH ADVISORY COUNCIL IN REGARDS TO UPDATING THE HAC BYLAWS. UH, SO IN CLOSING, UH, THE BOARD HAS THE FOLLOWING MOTIONS, UH, THE APPEAL, UH, MOTIONS FOR APPROVAL OF THE NEW LOCAL BOARD APPROVED COURSES FOR ALGEBRAIC APPLICATION AND THE MOCK TRIALS AND COURT SYSTEM. I'LL SECOND THAT. MOTION SECOND BY MR. SMITH. ANY DISCUSSION? MADAM SECRETARY. AND, UM, DAVID, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU OR MR. CARR, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU KNOW THIS, BUT I AM CONFUSED ABOUT, 'CAUSE I, THE, THE PROCESS I KNOW IS ALGEBRA, GEOMETRY, ALGEBRA TWO, I DON'T KNOW GEOMETRY OR STATISTICS. SO CAN YOU JUST CLARIFY, THE ALGEBRAIC GEOMETRY IS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL AT GEOMETRY WITH STATISTICS. SO I JUST WANTED TO GET A LITTLE CLARITY. ARE THEY RETAKING? ALGEBRA ONE? THINK I'M GONNA ASK DR. TO THE GENERAL AND MACKENZIE, YES. I BELIEVE IT'S ALSO, I LOVE MOCK TRIAL. I THINK WE SHOULD REQUIRE IT. I BELIEVE IT'S IN THE CERTIFICATION, BUT GIMME REQUIREMENT. BUT DID A LOCAL BOARD APPROVE COURSE FOR ALGEBRAIC APPLICATIONS AS THE OPPORTUNITY OF TO DEEPEN STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE FOR READINESS FOR ALGEBRA, WHICH IS ALIGNED ALSO FOR EOC. SO THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET MYSELF READY, ALTHOUGH THE PROGRESSION NOW IS GEOMETRY THAN ALGEBRA ONE, THE EOC IS TIED TO ALGEBRA ONE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY PURPOSES. WE ARE FINDING THAT SOME OF THE STUDENTS NEED TO DEEPEN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, SKILLSET FOR ALGEBRA, EVEN FOR, TO BE ABLE TO SIT FOR GEOMETRY FOR CASE IN POINT. PYTHAGORAS THEOREM HAS, HAS ALGEBRAIC ACKNOWLEDGE A PLUS B PLUS C TO THE SECOND POWER EQUALS THAT SIMPLE LINEUP OF ALGEBRAIC CONCEPTS. WE WANNA BE ABLE TO ENSURE THAT OUR STUDENTS ARE READY BEFORE THEY GO FORWARD. NOT ALL OF 'EM. YOU ANSWERED IT, BUT IT COULD BE A HANDFUL. I MEAN, EVERY YEAR MY KIDS WENT THROUGH MATH, THEY WERE CHANGING THE SEQUENCE OF MATH. SO I HAVE NO GROUND. BUT SO ARE WE CURRENTLY SAYING GEOMETRY THEN ALGEBRA? IS THAT OUR CURRENT, THE ANSWER TO THAT IS YES. THAT IS A STATE REQUIREMENT. THE STATE IS REQUIRING GEOMETRY BEFORE ALGEBRA. THE STATE JUST CHANGED THE PATHWAYS. YES, [00:50:01] MA'AM. THIS PAST YEAR, UM, THEY, THEY'VE BEEN GOING THROUGH THIS PROCESS AND, AND THAT IS ONE OF THE THINGS YOU SEE ACROSS THE STATE WITH SOME DECISIONS THAT SOME SCHOOL DISTRICTS MADE IN TERMS OF EITHER GIVING STUDENTS OPPORTUNITIES OR NOT OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THEIR MATH PATHWAYS. FOR US, WE CHOSE TO GIVE OPPORTUNITIES, RIGHT? WE CHOSE TO GIVE STUDENTS OPPORTUNITY ACROSS THE STATE. THEY TESTED 3,500, ABOUT 3,500 FEWER STUDENTS. OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS CHOSE NOT TO DO THAT. RIGHT? SO THIS IS IN THAT TRANSITION PERIOD. RIGHT. AND SO, SO THIS YEAR, THIS YEAR, RIGHT, DR. STRADDLES? YES, SIR. IT'S GEOMETRY. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEY'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS AND WORKING THROUGH THIS FOR SOME TIME, BUT YES. AND IS GEOMETRY DIFFERENT THAN GEOMETRY WITH STATISTICS? 'CAUSE THAT'S A NEW THING I'VE NEVER HEARD OF. THAT IS ACTUALLY THE, THE TITLE OF THE COURSE. SO GEOMETRY IS NOW CALLED GEOMETRY WITH STATISTICS. YES, MA'AM. THERE IS NO JUST GEOMETRY WITHOUT STATISTICS. THE CONCEPT OF STATISTICS WILL, IS ALSO ANOTHER SEPARATE COURSE. IT'S NOT ALL EMBEDDED INTO THAT GEOMETRY COURSE. THANKS. I JUST NEEDED SOME CLARIFICATION ON THAT. THANK YOU. THE PROBABILITY IN STATS STILL EXISTS, MR. NA. THANK YOU MR. CHAIR. SO, UM, AT WHAT LEVELS THIS TAUGHT? IS THIS MIDDLE SCHOOL, IS THIS LIKE EIGHTH GRADE OR IS THIS, UH, HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES? OUR REQUEST IS FOR IT TO BE A HIGH SCHOOL LOCAL BOARD APPROVED COURSE. AS AN ELECTIVE. IT CANNOT EQUATE FOR THE MATH REQUIREMENT FOR GRADUATION. IT'LL EQUATE FOR ONE OF THE EIGHT CREDITS FOR ELECTIVE PURPOSE FOR GRAD YOUR HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. SO GEOMETRY, THEN IF KIDS ARE STILL, ARE PRE, THIS IS PRE GEOMETRY, WHICH IS THIS INTENDED. SO THIS IS LIKE A PRE-ALGEBRA CLASS INTENDED TO TAKE, INTENDED TO TAKE PRIOR TO GEOMETRY. IT COULD ACTUALLY EVEN BE PRIOR TO THE GEOMETRY COURSE, DEPENDING ON THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENT WHEN LEAVING THAT PATHWAY AVAILABLE FOR THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR AS WELL AS THE, THE DEPARTMENT HEADS AT THE SCHOOL WHO KNOW THEIR STUDENTS BETTER THAN WE WE'RE NOT AS CLOSE TO IT, BUT WE'RE GIVING 'EM THAT OPTION FOR UTILIZATION. SO BASICALLY THIS IS, OKAY, COUNSELOR SITS DOWN, IDENTIFIES, UH, MR. NAY, YOU, YOU'RE STRUGGLING WITH MATH. UH, WE'RE GONNA SCHEDULE YOU FOR PRE-ALGEBRA CLASS YOUR FRESHMAN YEAR BEFORE YOU TAKE GEOMETRY. THEY WOULD STILL HAVE TO HAVE A FOUR HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT MATH CLASS DURING THEIR FRESHMAN YEAR IN ORDER TO MEET THE STATE ACCOUNTABILITY. SO IT WOULD BE THEIR, IT COULD BE THEIR FIRST SEMESTER, RIGHT? WHEREAS SECOND SEMESTER THEY COULD SIT FOR EITHER FOR THE GEOMETRY COURSE. AWESOME. ALRIGHT. THANK YOU. YES, SIR. MR. SMITH. OH, I I WAS THINKING THAT, THAT WE SAID THAT, THAT THIS WAS A MANDATORY, A MANDATORY, UM, NEW CLASS A A MANDATORY REQUIREMENT BY THE STATE. I THOUGHT WHAT, WHAT, WHAT WAS, WHAT WE SAID IN THE, UM, IN, IN THE MEETING. IS THAT CORRECT? NO, NO, SIR. I, IT WASN'T THAT THIS LOCAL BOARD OF PROOF COURSE IS NOT A MANDATORY, IT IS A TREND THAT IS HAPPENING WITHIN THE STATE, BUT AN LBA IS NOT A MANDATORY SANCTION BY SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF ED. OKAY, WELL, I APOLOGIZE. I THOUGHT THAT THAT, THAT WE SAID THAT THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS PASSED DOWN FROM THE STATE. NOW, I DO HAVE SOME CONCERNS BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT IF I'M CORRECT, YOU DO NEED FOUR MATH, YOU DO NEED FOUR FORMAT CREDITS, RIGHT? YES, SIR. SO IF YOU NEED FOUR MATH CREDITS, AND THIS WILL BE THE ELECTIVES, THEN WE COULD POSSIBLY BE SETTING STUDENTS UP TO, TO NOT, UH, TO NOT, I SEE PEOPLE SHAKING THEIR HEAD. BUT IF YOU HAVE FOUR YEARS IN HIGH SCHOOL MM-HMM . AND YOU TAKE, AND YOU TAKE, YOU TAKE ONE MATH EVERY YEAR IS IS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING, WAS WHAT I'VE BEEN UNDER BY MY UNDERSTANDING IS IF YOU TAKE ONE MATH EVERY YEAR, THEN NOW YOU ALMOST, YOU'RE DOUBLE TAKING MATHS. AND DEPENDING ON THAT STUDENT RIGOR, UH, ON THAT, ON THAT STUDENT'S, UH, LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING IN, IN, IN A RIGOROUS SCHEDULE, THEN NOW YOU HAVE A STUDENT WHO'S TAKING TWO MATH CLASSES PRETTY MUCH ONE YEAR. OR IF HE MESSES UP ON THAT, HE'S NOT, HE'S POSSIBLY NOT FREE TO GO TAKE THAT OTHER MATH. SO NOW YOU, NOW YOU'RE PUTTING, YOU'RE PUTTING THE, YOU'RE DOUBLING THE WORKLOAD ON A STUDENT. SO I, I KIND OF, I DON'T KNOW HOW, I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT BE BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, YOU MAY HAVE, I MEAN, WHAT'S THE, WHAT'S THE, WHAT'S THE ALTERNATIVE IF WE'RE MAKING THIS MANDATORY STUDENT NEEDS 24 CREDITS TO GRADUATE, RIGHT? BUT HAS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR 32 CREDITS. AND, AND, AND I, AND I GET THAT. BUT MY POINT IS IN TERMS OF YOUR MAIN, YOUR MA YOUR, YOUR MAIN, UH, YOUR, YOUR, YOUR MAIN CREDITS VERSUS YOUR ELECTIVES, BECAUSE THIS WILL BE AN ELECTIVE. YOU ARE DOUBLING THE STUDENTS OR WORKLOAD BY PUTTING THEM UNDER TWO MATHS CLASS ONE YEAR VERSUS OTHER STUDENTS. THEY MAY NOT HAVE TO DO THAT. SO IF, IF WE ARE THAT SERIOUS ABOUT IT, HELL PUT IT, PUT IT AT EIGHTH GRADE LEVEL. SO THEY SHOULD THAT THEREFORE THEY'RE TAKING THIS PRIOR TO THEM GETTING ARISING IN, IN HIGH SCHOOL. SO, SO THEREFORE THEY'RE NOT, THEY'RE NOT PARTAKING IN THIS AT THE, AT, AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL. BECAUSE AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL, IF YOU MESS UP, YOU NORMALLY, IF YOU MESS UP ONE YEAR, YOU CAN GO AND, AND TAKE, UH, YOU CAN DOUBLE UP THE NEXT YEAR. [00:55:01] I, IF I MAY, CHAIRMAN GUYER, GO AHEAD. SO IT, MR. SMITH, IT MAY NOT BE MUCH MORE DIFFERENT THAN A STUDENT A AND STUDENT B. STUDENT A HAS A PREDISPOSITION FOR MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING THAT STUDENT'S GONNA SIT FOR ALL FOR GEOMETRY UNDER THE NEW SEQUENCING. AND I MAY SIT FOR ALGEBRA ONE SECOND SEMESTER. WHY? BECAUSE I'M GONNA DO ALGEBRA TWO AS A SOPHOMORE AND I'M GONNA GO ON TO ANOTHER MATH CLASS SECOND SEMESTER. SO THE FLIP SIDE OF IT IS, WE'RE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY FOR ACCELERATED STUDENTS TO TAKE MULTIPLE MATH CLASSES WITHIN AN ACADEMIC SCHOOL YEAR. THE STUDENT AS STUDENT B, WHO MAY BE MYSELF, I MAY NEED THAT SUPPORT IN ORDER TO HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY TO GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL MORE THAN HAVING ALGEBRA TWO. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO, IS GIVE A A LITTLE EXTRA DURING THE INSTRUCTIONAL YEAR, WHICH IS NO STUDENT DIFFERENT THAN STUDENT A WHO'S EXCELLING IN MULTIPLE MATH CLASSES. AND MYSELF, I MAY JUST NEED A LITTLE MORE SUPPORT IN ORDER TO HAVE THAT ACCELERATED HIGHER LEVEL MATH CLASS THAT I CAN LEAVE HIGH SCHOOL WITH, POSSIBLY PRE-CALC OR, AND AP CALC. WE'RE JUST TRYING TO SET THE STUDENTS UP FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AND SUCCESS. SO, SO WHY NOT DO THAT EARLIER? OH, WHY, WHY, WHY NOT? WHY NOT HAVE THAT STUDENT IN THE EIGHTH GRADE YEAR? THERE'S ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY, OPPORTUNITY OF THAT ALGEBRA TEACHER WHO HAS A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS NEEDED IN REGARDS TO THAT ACADEMIC, UM, EOC AND BUILDING THAT SKILLSET. NOT ALL MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS TEACH ALGEBRA. NOT ALL MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE OF HAVING TAUGHT IN EOC. THEY DON'T. AND, AND I MEAN THAT WITH THE HIGHEST RESPECT. SO I REALLY DO. MR. MR. DALLAS. SO JUST SO I UNDERSTAND, UH, THE SEQUENCING. UH, IS THIS AN EFFORT TO HELP KIDS WHO MAY NOT HAVE THAT NATURAL AFFINITY FOR MATH TO GET A, BASICALLY A MILDER INTRODUCTORY CLASS AND MAYBE BUILD THEIR CONFIDENCE? ONE OF THE THINGS THAT, FROM RESEARCH THAT WE ARE READING IS THAT IF YOU BUILD THE CONFIDENCE OF THE STUDENTS, THEY'RE MORE LIKELY TO PUT EXTRA EFFORT INTO LEARNING. SO IF THIS IS A BRIDGE TO HELP THEM GET TO THAT POINT, I WILL BE ALL IN FAVOR OF IT AS LONG AS WE ARE HELPING A POPULATION THAT MAY NOT HAVE HAD THAT TYPE OF SUPPORT BEFORE. YOU'RE, YOU'RE CITING THE WORK OF ERICA YOUNG AND INCREMENTS OF SUCCESS. RIGHT? AND THAT IS ACTUALLY WHAT THE PRETEXT OF DEVELOPING THIS LBA IS BASED UPON GIVING THOSE STUDENTS INCREMENTS OF SUCCESS SO THAT THEY HAVE THAT CONFIDENCE LEVEL AND BUILD THEIR GRIT IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO HIRE LEVEL MATH CLASSES. THANK YOU, MA'AM. YES, SIR. MR. SMITH. AND I DO, AND I DO GET WHAT MY COLLEAGUE IS SAYING, BUT WHEN YOU TAKE IT UPON A STUDENT WHO MAY, WHO MAY HAVE, WHO MAY HAVE A, A SPED STUDENT OR A STUDENT WHO'S, WHO'S CATCHING HELL WITH, WITH, UH, AC WITH MATH VERSUS YOU POLLING IT UP ON THEM BECAUSE YOUR, YOUR SCHEDULE OR YOUR IGTS ARE VERY, UH, THEY PUT VERY, UM, INTIMATE TIME DOING THAT. THEY PUT A LOT OF TIME IN THERE. SO THEREFORE, IF YOU ARE NOW HAVING TO DOUBLE UP YOUR RIGOR, YOUR RIGOROUS CLASSES, SOMETIMES THAT CAN BE TOUGH ON A STUDENT. AND I'M LOOKING AT IT FROM A STUDENT WHO WAS JUST IN THE CLASSROOM A COUPLE YEARS AGO AND, AND, AND, AND WHAT THAT LOOKED LIKE. AND I CAN SEE IT, I CAN SEE, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE NOT DOING IT AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL, THEY MAY NOT BE THAT MUCH TO PEOPLE. BUT IF IT'S THAT IMPORTANT THAT MAYBE WE AS A DISTRICT MAY NEED TO CHANGE SOME THINGS. BECAUSE ONCE YOU, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A STUDENT WHO IS CATCHING THE DEVIL, TRYING TO BE ABLE TO PASS, GET THROUGH THE CLASSES THAT THEY ARE, THAT THEY'RE CURRENTLY IN, BREAKING IT UP AND, AND BREAKING IT UP SOMETIMES IS, IS A HELP. AND ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU, WHAT YOU'RE REQUIRED OR WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT TAKING THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT THOSE FOUR YEARS ARE ONCE YOU, ONCE YOU GET INTO SCHOOL AND, AND NOW YOU'RE BEING TOLD BECAUSE I, I REMEMBER. AND, AND WHAT, AND WHAT'S, WHAT'S MAKING ME SO ST. STERN IS, I REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE IN SCHOOL, YOU HAD TO TAKE PRE-ALGEBRA BEFORE YOU TAKE ALGEBRA. AND SOME PEOPLE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL TOOK THE PRE-ALGEBRA CLASS. SOME OF US GOING TO HIGH SCHOOL DIDN'T TAKE THAT, SO WE HAD TO TAKE THAT. BUT THEN ALSO THAT PRE-ALGEBRA COUNTED AS THE ACTUAL, AS THE ACTUAL, I BELIEVE, AS THE ACTUAL, UM, MATH CREDIT. BUT THIS ONE IS NOT. SO THAT'S MY CONCERN, BECAUSE THIS ONE IS NOT, THIS WILL BE AN ELECTIVE. SO I'M, I'M JUST, I'M LOOKING AT IT FROM THE EYEBROWS OF SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN TO SCHOOL, PROBABLY, UH, UH, UH, UH, A LITTLE NOT LONGER THAN, THAN THIS, THAN MY COLLEAGUES WHO'S SITTING AT THIS TABLE AND, AND WHO'S, WHO'S ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH IT. SO I AIN'T TALKING, I'M NOT LOOKING IN FROM A A A, A KALEIDOSCOPE. I'M LOOKING AT IT. SOMEONE WHO, WHO'S DAMN DONE IT. MR. CHAIR. GO AHEAD, SIR. YEAH. SO I RESPECT WHAT MY COLLEAGUE IS SAYING. I WANT US TO NOT LOSE FOCUS AT THE, THE PRIMARY REASON YOU CREATE A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IS TO EDUCATE EVERY DEMOGRAPHIC WITHIN THAT POPULATION. AND WHAT I SEE THIS PARTICULAR DISTRICT DOING IS YOU'RE SEGMENTING LEARNING PATHWAYS TO ACCOMMODATE EACH AND EVERY DEMOGRAPHIC [01:00:01] SUBGROUP. MR. SMITH IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT ABOUT, THOUGH THERE WILL BE KIDS WHO WOULD STRUGGLE IN A, THE MAIN LINE AS WE CALL IT, UH, TRAJECTORY. BUT THEN THERE ARE KIDS WHO THIS COURSE MAY BE THEIR SALVATION. I KNOW WHEN I WAS COMING THROUGH, I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED WITH FIFTH GRADE AND 11TH GRADE PARENTS, BUT I WAS VERY GIFTED AND MATH. BUT THERE WERE KIDS WHO WERE IN THE SAME CLASS WHO STRUGGLED, AND THERE WERE COURSES THAT THEY WERE ALLOWED TO TAKE THAT AGAIN, BUILT THEIR CONFIDENCE. AND SO, I'M NOT OPPOSING WHAT MR. SMITH IS SAYING. I THINK WHAT YOU'VE DONE IS YOU'VE SPREAD THE CAPTURE AREA FOR EVERY SUBGROUP. AND I THINK THAT'S VITALLY IMPORTANT TO US. THE SECOND THING IS, I THINK WE HAVE TO HAVE HARD CONVERSATIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT THEIR BIRTH TO FIVE TENURE IS IN HELPING PREPARE THOSE KIDS BEFORE THEY EVEN GET TO US. WE'RE THE, OUT OF THE FOUR ACADEMIC OPTIONS IN THE COUNTRY, IN THE STATE, WE'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT WE WILLINGLY AND HAPPILY ACCEPT EVERY KID IN THIS PARTICULAR COUNTY. AND SO I THINK WE NEED TO HAVE THAT FLEXIBILITY TO HELP THOSE KIDS, JUST AS MR. SMITH IS SAYING, UH, MOVE FORWARD IN A VERY METHODICAL WAY. SO I APPRECIATE WHAT I'M LEARNING, AND THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT ENOUGH TO HELP TEACH ME. OKAY. YES, SIR. YEAH. I'M SORRY. I, I, DID YOU WANT ME TO, UH, HOLD YOU GUYS UP THERE? I THINK I DEFER TO THE EXPERTS ON THIS. LOVE THE MOCK TRIAL, LOVE EXTRA SUPPORT FOR ALGEBRA. I WILL BE VERY INTERESTED TO SEE HOW THESE FIRST COHORTS GO, BECAUSE I THINK THERE'S, THERE'S A LOT OF DISCUSSIONS THAT I'M FASCINATED BY BECAUSE IT GOES, YOU KNOW, WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT IT TODAY, COGNITIVE LOAD AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HOW WE'RE TEACHING KIDS. UM, AND SO I THINK THAT YOU EITHER CAN PERSONALIZE THE CONTENT A LITTLE BIT, OR YOU CAN PERSONALIZE THE SUPPORT. I'VE, I AM AN ADVOCATE FOR USING PERSONALIZED TUTORING TO PERSONALIZE THE SUPPORT I GET WHERE THIS IS COMING FROM. AND I SUPPORT IT BECAUSE I SUPPORT YOUR LEADERSHIP AND YOUR EXPERTISE IN THIS. BUT I DO SAY, I THINK THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS A HOT TOPIC IN TERMS OF HOW WE TEACH MATH. AND SO I WOULD LIKE TO TRY THIS. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF IT HELPS KIDS, BUT I WOULD DEFINITELY WANT TO HAVE, UH, THE DISTRICT CIRCLE BACK AND PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF, OF SUCCESS. SO, I, I APPLAUD YOUR EFFORTS, BUT I DEFINITELY WANNA SEE SOME OUTCOMES AT THE END. OKAY. I THINK MR. NAY. YEAH. UM, I, I, I, MY DAUGHTER JUST GRADUATED, UH, NOT WITH MATH, BUT, UH, SHE HAD A SITUATION WITH, UH, WITH SPANISH WHERE SHE TOOK SPANISH SECOND SEMESTER, AND THEN OVER THE SUMMER SHE FLUSHED IT. AND THEN WHEN SHE WENT BACK IN, UH, IN THE FALL TO TAKE SPANISH, SHE, SHE TOOK A COUPLE STEPS BACK. UM, SO, AND SPEAKING, WHEN MS. BOATWRIGHT WAS SAYING, I, I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN SEEING IF, IF, IF THESE STUDENTS ARE TAKING THIS, UH, ELECTIVE PRE-ALGEBRA IN, UH, IN THE FALL, AND THEN TAKING THEIR GEOMETRY IN THE SPRING, BEING ABLE TO WORK ON THE MOMENTUM OF, UH, THE CONFIDENCE THAT WAS SPOKEN ABOUT EARLIER AND THE MOMENTUM OF, I'M IN IT NOW. KEEP IT ROLLING. INSTEAD OF TAKING A MATH SPRING SEMESTER, NOT TAKING A MATH FALL SEMESTER, THEN FLUSHING EVERYTHING OVER THE FALL AND, UH, OR OVER THE SPRING AND OVER THE SUMMER, AND THEN COMING BACK IN THE FALL, AND THEN HAVING TO TAKE A COUPLE STEPS BACK AND RESTART AGAIN. UM, SO I, I'D BE INTERESTED TO SEE WHAT THE DATA SAYS ABOUT BEING ABLE TO MAINTAIN THE MOMENTUM OF TAKING THE CLASS IN THE SPRING, THE PRE-ALGEBRA, AND THEN TAKING GEOMETRY IN, IN THE, IN THE SPRING. SO SEE WHERE IT GOES. SO, OKAY. I THINK WE'RE READY FOR A VOTE. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF THE MOTION HERE IN THE ROOM, PLEASE, UH, SAY, AYE. AND RAISE YOUR HAND. AYE. AYE. LINE. UH, PASTOR GORDON, A MOTION SAYS A, UH, MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON SAYS HONOR. THANK YOU, UH, MR. SMALL A THANK YOU, SIR. AND MS. FRAZIER. AYE. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY. ALRIGHT. IS THAT YOU GETTING SWORN? I GOT MORE? YES. UH, THE NEXT MOTION IS THE APPROVAL OF THE EXISTING LOCAL BOARD APPROVED COURSES FOR USE, UH, FOR USE FOR 25 26 ACADEMIC SCHOOL YEAR. I'LL SECOND THAT MOTION. OKAY. UH, MR. SMITH, GO AHEAD. OKAY. UH, DISCUSSION. HEARING NONE. ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM THAT, UH, APPROVE THIS MOTION COULD, UH, JUST FOR THE, FOR PUBLIC RECORD, COULD YOU SAY WHAT, WHAT, WHAT THAT, UH, WHAT, WHAT THOSE ARE? IT'S A, IT'S A PRETTY EXTENSIVE LIST. IT'S IN THE, OKAY. YEAH. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. ALRIGHT. ALL THOSE IN, IN THE ROOM. UH, PLEASE, UH, SAY, AYE, IN FAVOR OF IT, RAISE YOUR HAND AND SAY, AYE. AYE. ONLINE PASTOR [01:05:01] GORDON. AYE. MS. GORDON? AYE. THANK YOU. UH, MR. SMALL A THANK YOU. UH, MS. FRAZIER. AYE. MOTION CARRIES UNANIMOUSLY, UH, RECOMMENDED MOTION FOR THE APPROVAL OF CHOICE PROGRAM FOR WHALE BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, STEAM AND HILTON HEAD HIGH, UH, ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL, VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS REQUESTS FOR CHOICE PROGRAMS. SECOND, SECOND BY MS. HAY. SORRY. , UH, DISCUSSION? WE, WE GOOD? YOU GOOD? WE'RE GOOD. WE'RE GOOD. WE'RE GOOD. WE'RE GOOD. I'M GREAT. ALRIGHT. ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM. UH, PLEASE, UH, SIGN THEY'RE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. RAISE YOUR HAND. AYE. AYE. AYE. UH, MS. UH, OR PASTOR GORDON? GOLDEN. AYE. AND MS. GORDON AND MR. SMALL A AND MS. FRAZIER? AYE. MOTION CARRIES UNANIMOUSLY. WE HAVE ONE MORE. GO AHEAD. RECOMMEND THE MOTION FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE HAC BYLAWS UPDATE. SECOND. SECOND COMMON DRAW. ANY DISCUSSION MR. SCHMIDT? UH, YES, SIR. UM, I WANTED TO GIVE THAT, UH, GROUP A, A, UM, A, A A TELL 'EM THAT WE REALLY APPRECIATE THEIR WORK BECAUSE THEY READ BOOKS THAT ARE THICK AND ALL AND THEY COVER A LOT OF INFORMATION WITHIN A LITTLE BIT OF TIME. AND I SAY THAT IS ANOTHER VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE THAT WE HAVE. AND TO SIT IN THOSE MEETINGS AND LISTENING TO HOW MUCH WORK THAT THEY OVERTAKE AND THE TIME, AND THEY NEVER COMPLAINED, UH, THAT, THAT IS, IF THEY, THEY DO BRING SOMETHING, UH, I I THINK THAT WE DEFINITELY HONOR IT AND ALSO, UM, KNOW THAT THEY'VE DEFINITELY WENT BACK AND FORTH ON IT. AND, UM, THE CHAIR, THE CHAIR OF THAT, OF THAT COMMITTEE, I BELIEVE THAT, I THINK SHE WORKS HERE. BUT ANYWAY, BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT EVEN TO HER, THE SAME WAY HOW WE GIVE, UH, MR. UH, UM, UH, THE, UH, THE CHAIR OF THE CLOCK COMMITTEE, HIS, HIS MR. WALKER, WE DEFINITELY NEED TO GIVE HER HER KUDOS IN THAT COMMITTEE BECAUSE THEY WORK, THEY WORK HECKA HARD AND THEY NEVER COMPLAIN. AND THEN THEY'RE ALWAYS THERE. THANK YOU. VERY GOOD. VERY GOOD. MR. NAY, THANK MR. CHAIR. AS FAR AS THE FILLING VACANCIES PORTION GOES, I REMEMBER BACK IN THE SEPTEMBER MEETING WE HAD, UH, SOME VACANCIES. UM, IS THERE, OR FIRST OF ALL, ARE WE STILL SITTING ON VACANCIES? SECOND OF ALL, WHAT ARE WE DOING TO, TO KIND OF ACT ON THE FEELING OF THESE VACANCIES AND ARE WE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH IT? ANY, ANY OF IT BY POLICY? DR. STRATAS IS ON HER WAY. RUNNING OUTTA AREA THERE. I DON'T KNOW WHY. BOARD MEMBER, I DO APOLOGIZE. I DID NOT SEEK TO GET THAT INFORMATION. IF APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN UPDATED SINCE OUR LAST, I WILL GET THAT INFORMATION PULLED FORWARD AND HAVE IT GO. WE HAVE ONE APPLICATION THAT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED, SO AGAIN, WE COULD PUT OUT TO PUBLIC IF THEY ARE INTERESTED. WE WERE LOOKING FOR A MEDICAL PERSON, AN EDUCATOR, AND A PASTOR TO JOIN. AND IT CANNOT BE SOMEONE WHO IS EMPLOYED WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OR TIED TO THE BOARD AT ANY POINT. THANK YOU. AND TWO STUDENTS. AND AN APPLE AND A PEAR TREE . ALRIGHT, IT HAS BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED. UH, ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM, UH, THAT ARE IN FAVOR, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND AND SAY AYE. AYE. ONLINE PASTOR GORDON. AYE. UH, MS. GORDON. MS. GORDON AYE. UH, MR. SMALL, UH, AND MS. FRAZIER? AYE. AYE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MOTION CARRIES UNANIMOUSLY. I BELIEVE THAT IS THE END OF THE, THAT CONCLUDES MY REPORT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SIR. UH, NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS THE AD HOC POLICY COMMITTEE. MS. HAY? YES, MR. CHAIR AND I WILL MAKE THIS BRIEF. THE POLICY AD HOC COMMITTEE MET ON OCTOBER 28TH AT 4:30 PM UH, WE HELD A VOTE FOR CHAIR OF THAT COMMITTEE. THUS, THE REASON I'M SITTING HERE TODAY AS CHAIR AND MR. NAY IS ON THIS COMMITTEE AS WELL AS MS. FRAZIER, PASTOR GORDON AND MR. SMITH. UM, MRS. BOATWRIGHT HAS BEEN ATTENDING AS PARLIAMENTARIAN. THIS AD HOC COMMITTEE WAS BROUGHT ABOUT DUE TO A STATE POLICY DEMAND FOR LIVE STREAMING OF ALL OF OUR MEETINGS, UM, THAT REQUIREMENT NEEDS TO BE MET BY JANUARY 1ST, 2026. [01:10:02] SO WE DECIDED TO RAPIDLY MOVE FORWARD ON THIS. UM, LUCKILY WE ALREADY HAD A POLICY OF SORTS IN PLACE BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN LIVE STREAMING OUR MEETINGS. UM, SO WE HAD GOOD CONTENT TO WORK WITH DURING THIS MEETING. IT WAS ALSO BROUGHT UP THE POSSIBILITY OF BRINGING LIVE STREAMING IN-HOUSE WITH OUR TECH DEPARTMENT AND OUR TECH TEAM. UM, SO MR. JOHAN AND MS. CARTILAGE ARE WORKING ON THAT. AS OF THAT MEETING ON THE 28TH, AND WE DISCUSSED PUTTING THE LIVE STREAMING POLICY UNDER OUR GOVERNING COMMITMENTS AND OUR COHERENT GOVERNANCE. UM, OH, I THOUGHT MS. CARTILAGE STEPPED UP THERE. SORRY. UM, WE ALL DISCUSSED LOOKING AT THE STATE POLICY VERSUS THE POLICY WE ALREADY HAD IN PLACE AND LOOKING FOR ANY GAPS THAT NEEDED TO BE CLOSED. UM, THAT MEETING ENDED WITH MS. CARTILAGE SAYING SHE WAS GOING TO HAVE A MEETING WITH MR. SHOHAN, WHICH DID IN FACT TAKE PLACE LATER THAT WEEK. AND WE JUST HAD A FOLLOWING POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING TODAY, BEFORE THIS MEETING AT 4:00 PM BUT I WON'T ELABORATE ON THAT AT THIS TIME SINCE THAT IS NOT THE MEETING WE ARE DISCUSSING. SO THAT'S THAT IN A NUTSHELL. ANY QUESTIONS? AND MR. SCHMIDT ALSO, UM, I BELIEVE, UH, MR. SMALLS IS A MEMBER OF THIS, OF THIS COMMITTEE AS WELL. UH, BECAUSE I REMEMBER SAYING, I WAS TALKING, TALKING ABOUT IN TERMS OF SIX OF, UH, OF, OF SIX IN THAT, THAT COLONEL GUY OR WOULD, WOULD LEAVE IF MR. SMALLS CAME. SO I BELIEVE HE, I BELIEVE HE WAS, BUT I CAN BE, I CAN BE FACT CHECKED. BUT, UM, I BELIEVE HE'S, HE'S A MEMBER OF THIS COMMITTEE ALL BUT THEN, AND THEN ALSO, UM, MY, MY NEXT THING WAS, UM, SO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS GOING ON AT THE TIME, EVERYBODY TELLING ME, UM, I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS, BUT I, I KNOW IT WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THAT. AND, UM, IT WAS ABOUT, IT WAS ABOUT THAT MEMORY, AND IT WAS, SO, IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE I WAS, I WAS MAKING MENTION OF, BUT AT THIS POINT THAT'S, THAT'S JUST, I JUST FORGOT. I JUST, I JUST FORGOT IT BECAUSE I GOT SO MUCH PEOPLE TALKING TO ME WHILE I'M TRYING TO SAY, UH, SAY MY, SAY MY THOUGHTS. BUT GO AHEAD. SO, MR. SMITH, I DID, UH, CLARIFY WITH COLONEL GUYER TODAY BEFORE THIS MEETING, UM, THAT MR. SMALL WAS NOT ADDED TO THE POLICY COMMITTEE, THE AD HOC COMMITTEE, BECAUSE HE WASN'T PRESENT AT THE MEETING. AND WE DID NEED AN ODD NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS, WHICH WE HAVE AT THIS MOMENT. SO, SO THEREFORE, THERE WAS FOR CLARIFICATION, BUT ON THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT, HE WAS, IF HE HAD BEEN THERE, HE WOULD'VE BEEN, HE, HE, HE, HE WOULD'VE, I DON'T BELIEVE WE HAD AN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT. WE WERE JUST CALLED TO HAVE A MEETING WITH SIX, WITH SIX PEOPLE. AND ONCE WE, AND WHAT WE FIGURED OUT WAS THAT WITH A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF, NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT, THAT, THAT IT WOULD BE A FULL, IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED A FULL BOARD MEETING. AND SO THAT'S WHY WE HAD TO CHANGE THE NUMBER, AMOUNT OF PEOPLE FOR CLARIFICATION. AND MAYBE THAT'S WHY THE CHAIR, UH, AND YA AND YOU CAME UP WITH THAT BECAUSE OF, BECAUSE OF, BECAUSE ALSO, NORMALLY, I ALSO MADE A COMMENT AT THAT MEETING, NORMALLY THE CHAIR WOULD SAY, WHO WOULD BE THE CHAIR OF THAT COMMITTEE? AND I ASKED HIM AT THAT, AT THAT TIME. I ASKED HIM, WELL, WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENT, WHAT WAS THE REASONING FOR HIM NOT TO MAKE A CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE? AND HE SAID HE WANTED TO CHANGE THINGS UP, AND HE WANTED TO GIVE THE, GIVE THE ACTUAL BOARD MEMBERS A OPPORTUNITY TO SELECT WHO THEY WANT TO BE CHAIR. AND SO HE WOULD, SO, AND ALSO AT THAT TIME, AFTER HE DID THAT, HE WAS THERE, BUT HE DIDN'T, HE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE IF WE HAD SIX MEMBERS, IT WOULD'VE BEEN CONSIDERED A FULL BOARD MEETING. BUT THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT COMES WITH, WITH, UH, BEING A, A SEASONED MEMBER TO UNDERSTAND THAT AND TO TAKE THE UNDERSTAND YOU, YOU KIND OF NEW TO IT. BUT YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S THE REALITY OF WHAT HAPPENED. THANK YOU. MR. GUYER. WOULD YOU LIKE TO STEP IN? WE, WE CAN'T HAVE A SIX PERSON COMMITTEE BECAUSE THAT CONSTITUTES A QUORUM FOR THE FULL BOARD. SO, UH, WE DON'T DO A COMMITTEE AS A WHOLE, UH, THAT WAS TRIED IN THIS DISTRICT, AND IT WAS A DISASTER. SO, UH, IT WAS THIS PROCESS OF ELIMINATION. IF, IF MR. SMALL WOULD'VE COME, I WOULD'VE SAID, OKAY, ONE OF YOU HAS TO VOLUNTEER TO AUDIT THE COMMITTEE, BUT NOT AS A MEMBER. UM, HE DID NOT SHOW A, AND FOR WHATEVER REASON. UH, AND SO IT MADE IT VERY EASY TO SAY, WELL, WE HAVE FIVE MEMBERS HERE, SO WE HAVE FIVE MEMBERS ON THE COMMITTEE. AND THAT DID TAKE PLACE. HOWEVER, ALSO, UH, MRS. BOATWRIGHT AND MRS. UH, LEAH ALSO WAS, WAS, WAS ONE, I THINK ONE OF THEM WERE ON THE COMMITTEE TOO. AND, [01:15:01] AND, UH, MS. BOATWRIGHT SAID SHE WOULDN'T BE ON THE COMMITTEE. SHE WOULD LET LEAH, UH, BE ON THE COMMITTEE, UH, ALL VICE VERSA. SO THERE WERE A COUPLE, THERE WERE A COUPLE OF DIFFERENT THINGS THAT TOOK PLACE IN, UH, I, UH, AT THAT MEETING. SO I, I WON'T SAY, I WON'T CALL IT A, UM, UH, A, UH, A MIX UP. BUT I WILL SAY THERE WERE, THERE WERE SEVERAL THINGS THAT WERE IRONED OUT AT THAT, AT THAT, THAT MEETING, UM, IN, IN TERMS OF, UH, COMING UP WITH NEW, UH, INNOVATIVE WAYS TO, ON, ON HOW WE DO THINGS. SO I JUST WANTED TO LET, UH, MAKE THAT CLEAR SINCE WE OKAY. YEAH. UH, YOUR, YOUR OBSERVATIONS ARE NOTED, SIR. YEAH. AND WE'LL GO FROM THERE. OKAY. IT'S NOT, NOT, IT IS JUST, IT'S NOT ABOUT IT BEING NOTED, IT'S JUST FOR, IT'S FOR CLARITY. SO, I MEAN, IAND PEOPLE GET P****D OFF, BUT I'M JUST, I JUST WANNA MAKE IT CLEAR THAT'S THAT'S WHAT I'M, WHAT I MEANT BY NOTED IS IT'S FOR THE RECORD NOW. OKAY. 'CAUSE SOMETIMES NOTED COME ACROSS AS A AGGRESSIVE PASSIVE. NO, NO, NO, NO. THANK YOU. YES, SIR. THANK YOU. ALRIGHT, APPRECIATE THAT. ALRIGHT. I THINK THAT'S, UH, THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPORT. [Superintendent’s Report] AND THE NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS THE SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. THANK YOU, SIR. UM, THE FIRST ITEM IS UNDER STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT. AFTER, UM, ABOUT A MONTH OR SO DELAY THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RELIEVE RELEASED THE, UH, SOUTH CAROLINA, UH, STATE RA RATINGS FOR, FOR SCHOOLS. AND DR. STRATOS IS COMING FORWARD. UH, SHE'S GOT A FEW INDIVIDUALS WITH HER, BUT, UH, IT'S COMING FORWARD TO, UH, DO A QUICK REVIEW. IT WAS RELEASED YESTERDAY MORNING AT ABOUT, UH, 10 O'CLOCK, MAYBE 10 30. GO AHEAD. THANK YOU, DR. RODRIGUEZ. GOOD EVENING, CHAIRMAN GEIER, DR. RODRIGUEZ AND BOARD MEMBERS. THIS EVENING, I BRING FORWARD UPDATES FROM THE UN EMBARGOED STATE ASSESSMENT DATA. MANY OF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE STATE ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM THAT MEASURES AND REPORTS ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN GRADES THREE THROUGH EIGHT FOR MATH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS. AND IN ADDITION FOR FOURTH AND SIXTH GRADE SCIENCE, THE ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM ALSO REPORTS ON HIGH SCHOOL FOR CREDIT COURSES IN THE AREAS OF ALGEBRA ONE, ENGLISH TWO, BIOLOGY, AND US HISTORY AND CONSTITUTION. THESE MEASURES ARE STUDENTS SITTING WHO ARE SCHEDULED IN CLASSES THAT WE KNOW AS CP OR COLLEGE PREPARATORY OR HONORS. THE 2025 SCHOOL RATINGS AND STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY DATA WAS UN EMBARGOED ON MONDAY, AS DR. RODRIGUEZ SHARED. SINCE THAT TIME, A TEAM HAS WORKED TO CONFIRM DATA AND PREPARE TONIGHT'S PRESENTATION. HOWEVER, PRIOR TO THE DATA PRESENTATION, I WANNA REMIND YOU OF THE ONE ITEM OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA STATE ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM THAT IT STARTED ACTUALLY IN 1998 UNDER THE PASSAGE OF THE STATE LAW. THAT WAS THE START OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA'S EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY ACT. SINCE THEN, THERE HAVE BEEN TWO FEDERAL ACTIONS THAT HAVE CHANGED THAT. ONE IS THAT YOU MAY KNOW US AS NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, OR NCLB. AND THE SECOND WAS ACTUALLY IN 2015, EVERY STUDENT SUCCEED ACT. SO, SHARING WITH YOU TONIGHT, I WANNA BRING FORWARD, I HAVE ROBERT, OR AS WE KNOW, NICK FLOWERS, OUR DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTABILITY, AND I HAVE KEY LEADERS IN OUR DISTRICTS HAVING A 91% OF ITS SCHOOLS WITH RATINGS OF AVERAGE. GOOD AND EXCELLENT. WITH ME, WE HAVE PRINCIPAL VICKI GOW OF PORT ROYAL ELEMENTARY, PRINCIPAL CARLOS WILLIAMS OF WHALE BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, AND PRINCIPAL DR. SIOBHAN BROWN OF LADY ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. SO WITH THAT, I WILL DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE PRESENTATION TO SLIDE TWO, TO GIVE YOU A QUICK PREVIEW AND REMINDER OF THE STATE RATING CLASSIFICATIONS, EXCELLENT IS THE HIGHEST. IT DESCENDS TO GOOD, THEN AVERAGE, THEN BELOW AVERAGE AND UNSATISFACTORY. I'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU BOARD MEMBERS TWO YEARS THAT WE DO NOT HAVE ANY SCHOOLS UNDER THE RATING OF UNSATISFACTORY. AND AS I GO FORWARD, ON, AS WE GO FORWARD, I'LL BRING SOME INFORMATION TO YOU TO WHERE THE SCHOOLS LIE WITHIN THE RATINGS. THIS NEXT SLIDE GIVES YOU A QUICK UNDERSTANDING OF THE POINT SYSTEM. I'D LIKE TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO TWO ITEMS ON THIS SLIDE WHERE IT SAYS, PREPARING FOR SUCCESS. THAT IS OUR SCIENCE ASSESSMENT IN GRADES FOUR AND SIX, THERE'S NO COMPARATIVE DATA BECAUSE LAST YEAR, TWO YEARS AGO WAS A FIELD TEST. SO YOU CAN'T COMPARE FROM YEAR TO YEAR ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE. AND I ALSO WANNA BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION UNDER MULTILINGUALS, IF A SCHOOL DOES NOT HAVE A SUBGROUP OF 20 ML STUDENTS, THOSE 10 POINTS ARE RESPECTIVELY BROKEN UP. FIVE POINTS TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND FIVE ADDED POINTS TO STUDENT PROG PROGRESS. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. [01:20:01] I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN WAITING TO SEE THIS INFORMATION, SO I BRING IT FORWARD TO YOU. YOU SHOULD HAVE A COPY AT THIS TIME IN FRONT OF YOU AS OUR SUPERINTENDENT ELLEN WEAVER SHARED ACTUALLY YESTERDAY AFTERNOON. ALL NARRATIVES HAVE GOOD OR NARRATIVES HAVE A BAD, I'LL BRING FORWARD TO YOU THAT THIS YEAR'S RATING IN, IN THE AREA BELOW AVERAGE, WE HAVE THREE SCHOOLS, BATTERY CREEK HIGH SCHOOL, ST. HELENA ELEMENTARY AND WHALE BRANCH ELEMENTARY, I'M SORRY, MIDDLE SCHOOL. SORRY, CARLOS. I FEEL THE LOVE. I DO WANNA BRING FORWARD TO YOU BOARD MEMBERS THAT WE ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT TWO OF THESE SCHOOLS ON THIS LIST HAD, UM, VACANCIES OF AT LEAST EIGHT OR NINE. THOSE VACANCIES ARE MINIMAL AT THIS YEAR. AND IN, AS YOU WOULD UPDATE AN EXECUTIVE SESSION, YOU WERE SHARED BY MS. ALICE WALTON, THE AMOUNT OF VACANCIES THAT ARE IN THOSE SCHOOLS RIGHT NOW. I WANNA DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO AVERAGE. WITH THAT, I WANNA MAKE SURE YOU RECOGNIZE I HAVE TWO OF THE PRINCIPALS BEHIND ME WHO SPOKE TO YOU LAST YEAR. BOTH OF THEM WERE ON LOW AVERAGE STATUS. BOTH OF THEM ARE NO LONGER THERE. ONE OF THOSE PRINCIPLES ACTUALLY TOOK QUANTUM LEAP FORWARD INTO EXCELLENT. AND IN A MOMENT, I'M GONNA HAVE THEM COME FORWARD AND SHARE WITH YOU SOME OF THEIR PATHWAYS THAT THEY'VE TAKEN, BECAUSE I DO WANNA TAKE A MOMENT AND SHARE SOME OF THE EXCELLENT WORK THAT HAS GONE FORWARD BY OUR SCHOOLS, OUR STUDENTS, OUR TEACHERS, AND OUR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP. YOU SEE THE LISTING OF AVERAGE. YOU ALSO NOTE THE LISTING IN GOOD. AND I WANNA DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE AREA OF EXCELLENCE AND NOT THAT GOOD OR AVERAGE. BELIEVE ME, THIS IS ALL WAY AND BEYOND THE WORK OF WHAT OUR EDUCATORS DO. BECAUSE WHEN IT COMES TO THE TIME TO SIT FOR THE TEST, THERE'S ONLY ONE PERSON MAKES A DIFFERENCE. AND THAT IS A STUDENT. BUT I WANT YOU TO RECOGNIZE THAT BLUFFTON ELEMENTARY LAST YEAR WAS GOOD. THE PRINCIPAL IN RETIREMENT, SHE LEFT AND SAID GOODBYE TO AN EXCELLENT SCHOOL. I WANNA BRING FORWARD TO YOU BLUFFTON HIGH. HOW MANY YEARS HAS BLUFFTON HIGH HAD AN EXCELLENT RATING? LA LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT IS OUTSTANDING OKT ELEMENTARY. BRING THAT FORWARD TO YOUR ATTENTION AS WELL. RED CEDAR LAST YEAR WAS AT A GOOD, HAS MOVED TO EXCELLENT. AND I WILL SHARE WITH YOU, AND I GET GOOSEBUMPS WHEN I BRING THIS FORWARD. AND I'M GONNA ASK PRINCIPAL GAL TO COME FORWARD AT THIS TIME. SHE SAID TO YOU, WAS ONE AND DONE. AND THIS YOUNG LADY PROVED THAT ONE YEAR I WILL BE BELOW AVERAGE. I AM DONE WITH IT. WITH THAT, I BRING FORWARD THE PRINCIPAL OF AN EXCELLENT RATED SCHOOL. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. BOARD MEMBERS DR. RODRIGUEZ. I APPRECIATE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE ME A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE THE WORK THAT MY STUDENTS AND STAFF DID THIS PAST YEAR. I'M VERY PROUD OF THEIR DEDICATION. THEY REALLY STARTED WITH A GOAL-DRIVEN MINDSET THAT WE WERE NOT GOING TO REPEAT THAT LESS THAN DESIRABLE REPORT CARD RATING. WE WEREN'T THERE BEFORE THAT YEAR, AND WE DO NOT INTEND TO GO BACK THERE. SO WE HAD A LOT OF WORK WE HAD TO DO. WE MADE A PLAN AND WE SET FORTH TO DO THAT. UM, SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE DID, THERE WERE MANY THINGS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE OVERALL GROWTH. UH, BUT SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE DID INCLUDED, UM, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, GETTING THE STUDENTS TO TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THEIR LEARNING, HAVING THEM TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT THEY WERE DOING WITH THEIR DIAGNOSTIC TESTS AND WHAT THEY WERE DOING WITH THEIR CLASSWORK, HAVING THEM IDENTIFY THEIR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, AND THEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, HELP THEM IDENTIFY WHAT THEY COULD DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR TRAJECTORY. AND HELPING THEM TAKE, UM, OWNERSHIP OF THAT. WE TRACKED PROGRESS CONTINUOUSLY. WE HAD STUDENTS TRACKING THEIR OWN PROGRESS, AND THEN WE HAD TEACHERS CONTINUOUSLY TRACKING. WE WERE USING UNIT ASSESSMENTS, FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS, TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DIDN'T GET OFF TRACK AND SPEND A LOT OF TIME, UM, DOING THAT. AND WHEN WE NOTICED THEY DID GET OFF TRACK, WE HAD TO RESPOND TO THAT, MAKE PLANS AND, UM, HELP STUDENTS GAIN ANY, IN ANY WAYS THAT THEY WERE SHOWING, UM, THAT THEY WERE NOT GETTING THOSE FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS. UM, WE WORKED TIRELESSLY WITH OUR TEACHERS, ESPECIALLY OUR NOVICE TEACHERS. SHE TALKED ABOUT, UM, VACANCIES ACROSS. WE DO HAVE A LOT OF NEW TO THE PROFESSION TEACHERS. SO WE WORKED WITH THEM, WITH OUR INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES, WITH, UM, RESOURCES FROM OUR DISTRICT OFFICE TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND WHAT THOSE LEARNING TARGETS ARE AND TO ENSURE THAT OUR INSTRUCTION MATCHED WHAT THE TARGETS WERE. SO, UM, A LOT OF WORK WENT INTO IT. I CAN'T IMAGINE THE TIME IT WOULD TAKE TO REALLY TELL YOU ALL OF THE THINGS, BUT I'M VERY, VERY PROUD OF THE WORK THAT MY STAFF DID. AND VERY, VERY PROUD OF THE GROWTH THAT MY STUDENTS MADE, AND I HOPE TO KEEP ON KEEPING ON WITH IT. I ALSO WANNA BRING FORWARD, UM, DR. SIOBHAN BROWN, AND I'M GONNA TAKE A MOMENT AND LET YOU KNOW THAT BOTH THESE LADIES TECHNICALLY ARE MY [01:25:01] LANDLORDS. WE HAVE EARLY CHILDHOOD HAS MOVED INTO PART OF THE SECTION OF PORT ROYAL ELEMENTARY. PRINCIPAL GOUT HAS BEEN ABSOLUTELY GRACIOUS GIVING SPACE IN HAVING ASHLEY GOLD WORK WITH THE SCREENING. AND IT HAS BEEN SEAMLESS AND I HAVE TO SAY THANK YOU. AND, UM, ISD IS LOCATED AT LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE. SO WITH THAT, DR. BROWN, GOOD EVENING BOARD MEMBERS, SENIOR STAFF OFFICIALS, I AM, UM, JUST EXCITED TO BE HERE TO SHARE THE TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE SCORES AT LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. I TOO STOOD HERE LAST YEAR AND, UM, WAS, WAS DISAPPOINTED IN THE, THE OVERALL OUTCOME OF OUR SC READY SCORES. UM, AND I WILL STILL SAY THAT I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THOSE SCORES LAST YEAR WERE A TRUE REFLECTION OF OUR STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ABILITIES. AND SO WE WORKED TIRELESSLY LAST YEAR FOR OUR STUDENTS TO COME TO GRIPS TO BE ABLE TO FOCUS ON SHOWING PEOPLE WHAT YOU REALLY KNOW, TAKING, UM, ASSESSMENTS VERY SERIOUSLY, UM, AND ALL THE GROUNDWORK THAT GOES IN WITH THAT AS WELL. UM, I WILL ADD SOME OF THE, THE TOOLS THAT WE EMPLOYED AT LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL LAST YEAR TO FOCUS MORE ON ELA AND MATH ACHIEVEMENT AS WELL AS STUDENT PROGRESS. WE GOT VERY CREATIVE WITH OUR MASTER SCHEDULE. WE ALLOCATED DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF TIME TO ELA CLASSES AND MATH CLASSES. AND YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CREATIVE SO THAT YOU DON'T SHORTCHANGE, UM, ALL THE OTHER IMPORTANT COMPONENTS BECAUSE SCIENCE IS ALSO A TESTED AREA. UM, AND THE ACADEMIC ARTS THAT OUR STUDENTS THOROUGHLY ENJOY. WE DON'T WANNA SHORT CHANGE SHORTCHANGE THEM IN THOSE AREAS AS WELL. UM, BUT OUR MASTER SCHEDULING TEAM WAS ABLE TO PUT SOMETHING TOGETHER THAT WE ALL COULD LIVE WITH, AND WE SEE THE TREMENDOUS RESULT OF THAT, UH, ADDITIONAL DEDICATED TIME. UM, WE ALSO ADDED A SPECIFIC TIER TWO INTERVENTION BLOCK. I'M SURE YOU ALL HAVE HEARD A LOT ABOUT MTSS FROM OUR DISTRICT OFFICIALS. SO SOLIDIFYING TIME BUILT INTO THE MASTER SCHEDULE IS WHERE WE FOUND THE MOST GAINS WITH OUR MOST, UM, AT RISK STUDENTS. SO THE STUDENTS THAT WE TARGETED FOR THE TIER TWO CLASSES WERE AT THE APPROACHES CATEGORY, WHAT WE WOULD NORMALLY CALL BUBBLE KIDS OR KIDS ON THE EDGE THAT COULD VERY EASILY, UM, MOVE UP AND SHOW THEIR ACHIEVEMENT BY MASTERING GRADE LEVEL STANDARDS. SO THAT WAS BUILT INTO THE SCHEDULE AS WELL. UM, WORK WITH TEACHERS IS A CONSTANT PROCESS. LIKE MS. GOUT SAID. UM, WE HAVE ABOUT 48% OF OUR STAFF THAT ARE UNDER FIVE YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE. AND, UM, THEY'RE HARDWORKING, BUT THEY ARE VERY NEEDY. THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS THAT THEY DON'T KNOW. UM, AND THAT COMES WITH EXPERIENCE AND IT COMES WITH TIME. AND SO OUR ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM, ALONG WITH OUR INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES, WE REVAMPED OUR PLC PROCESS SO THAT WE WERE ABLE TO GIVE INDIVIDUAL DEDICATED TIME TO THOSE TEACHERS DURING THE SCHOOL DAY. UM, AND I FEEL LIKE THEY FELT MUCH MORE SUPPORTED, MUCH MORE PREPARED TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER THE HIGH QUALITY INSTRUCTION THAT OUR STUDENTS, UM, ARE NEEDING. TWO OTHER THINGS I'M REALLY PROUD OF. NOT ONLY DO WE FOCUS ON OUR STUDENTS THAT NEED ADDITIONAL SUPPORT, BUT WE ALSO CONTINUE TO ENHANCE AND HELP ADVANCE THE STUDENTS WHO ARE MOVING AND PROGRESSING AT A HIGHER LEVEL. UM, THROUGH THE HELP OF DISTRICT INITIATIVES, WE WERE ABLE TO GET THREE ADDITIONAL TEACHERS, UM, TO EARN THEIR GIFTED AND TALENTED ENDORSEMENT. THAT IS ONLY GOING TO IMPROVE INSTRUCTION FOR EVERYBODY. THOSE, THOSE TEACHERS, NOT ONLY DO THEY TEACH ADVANCED COURSES OR HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT COURSES, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE A SECTION OR TWO OF ON GRADE LEVEL CLASSES. AND SO WITH THEIR NEW KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITY AND SKILLS TO INCREASE ADVANCED LEARNERS, THEY IN UNINTENTIONALLY WERE ALSO DOING THE SAME THING TO THE STUDENTS IN THE ON GRADE LEVEL CLASSES. AND THEN WE WERE ALSO ABLE TO GET FIVE ADDITIONAL TEACHERS, UM, CERTIFIED OR ENDORSED WITH THE S IOP MODEL TO WORK MORE SPECIFICALLY WITH STUDENTS IN OUR ML POPULATION. AND WE DO HAVE, UM, CONTINUINGLY A SUBGROUP OF ML STUDENTS. SO THAT'S 20 OR MORE STUDENTS WHO, UM, WHOSE NATIVE LANGUAGE IS NOT ENGLISH. AND THEY ARE STILL TAKING THE SAME SC READY EXAM AS EVERYONE ELSE. AND SO EQUIPPING AND PREPARING TEACHERS WITH THOSE ADDITIONAL SKILLS WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN OUR SUPPORT. SO I WOULD JUST LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO, UM, SPEAK MY CASE AND SHARE THE, THE HARD WORK THAT THE TEAM AT LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL HAS UNDERGONE. WE ARE STILL WORKING THIS SAME PLAN. WE HAVE MOVED TO THE AVERAGE RATING, BUT WE ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THAT EITHER. AND WE WILL [01:30:01] CONTINUE TO, TO MAKE GREAT STRIDES FOR THE STUDENTS AT LADIES ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. THANK YOU. SO I'M GONNA PAUSE AND NOT HAVE PRINCIPAL WILLIAMS COME FORWARD, 'CAUSE I'M GONNA USE IT FOR THE NEXT SLIDE. MRS. BERRY, I WANNA TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY AND SHARE WITH YOU ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. YOU COULD SEE THE COMPARISON FROM SCHOOL DISTRICT TO THE STATE IN THE AREA OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, AND IN THE AREA OF MATHEMATICS FOR GRADES THREE THROUGH EIGHT. WHAT I WANNA BE ABLE AT THIS POINT IS TO HIGHLIGHT THE WORK THAT WHALE BRANCH ELEMENTARY HAS DONE. SO IN 2024, THEIR ELA SCORE WAS AT 29.2% OF STUDENTS MEETS AND EXCEEDS 20 25, 46 0.4%, 17.2% INCREASE IN MATH RESPECTIVELY WENT FROM 25.6% TO 42.4%, A 16.8%. AND I WOULD BE REMISS AS PRINCIPAL WILLIAMS SHARED WITH ME FROM 2023 TO THE 2025, REMEMBER, 2024, THERE WAS NO MATH. THEY HAD A 24 POINT INCREASE. WITH THAT, I'D LIKE TO BRING FORWARD PRINCIPAL WILLIAMS, GOOD EVENING, BOARD CHAIR, BOARD MEMBERS, AND SUPERINTENDENT AND SENIOR STAFF. SO HOW, WHAT WAS OUR JOURNEY TO GETTING, UM, THIS INCREDIBLE GROWTH? WELL, I HAVE A HARD WORKING TEAM OF TEACHERS AT WELL BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. AND SO LAST YEAR WE JUST EMBRACED THE WORK OF JOHN HATTIE, UM, AND HIS WORK AROUND VISIBLE LEARNING AND BEING CLEAR ABOUT WHAT IT IS WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE TEACHING AND HOW KIDS ARE SUPPOSED TO LEARN IT. SO THE WORK WAS AROUND TEACHER CLARITY. AND SO TEACHERS BEGAN TO UNWRAP STANDARDS, DIGGING INTO THEM AND REALLY UNDERSTANDING THE INTENT OF STANDARDS, USING THE BACKWARDS DESIGN MODEL TO, UM, ENSURE THAT INSTRUCTION, CURRICULUM, AND ASSESSMENT ALL WERE IN ALIGNMENT SO THAT KIDS HAD A QUALITY PRODUCT ON ASSESSMENTS. THEY BEGIN TO DEVELOP LEARNING INTENTIONS AND SUCCESS CRITERIA. SO LEARNING INTENTIONS SIMPLY TELL THE KIDS WHAT THEY'RE LEARNING, THE SUCCESS CRITERIA TALKS ABOUT HOW THEY KNOW THEY WILL LEARN IT. AND SO WE'RE CONTINUING THAT PROCESS THIS YEAR, AND WE'RE MOVING TOWARDS USING THE SUCCESS CRITERIA NOW AS A TOOL FOR FEEDBACK, NOT ONLY FOR TEACHERS, BUT FOR STUDENTS TO, TO SELF-ASSESS THEMSELVES IN TERMS OF WHERE THEY ARE IN THEIR LEARNING JOURNEY. UM, WE ALSO LAST YEAR UTILIZED, UM, OUR, OUR, UM, VALUABLE CURRICULUMS WITH OUR RATED CLASSROOM MATH AND, UM, HMH READING AND, UM, THE CURRICULUM RESOURCES THAT COME ALONG WITH IT. SO WE MONITOR STUDENT PROGRESS ON I-READY, UM, IN READING AND MATH, AND THEN ENSURE THAT TEACHERS KNEW HOW TO ALIGN THE CURRICULUM TO THE INTENT OF THE CURRICULUM STANDARDS. WE ALSO HAD A LOT OF SUPPORT FROM OUR ISD, UM, DEPARTMENT. SO WE WERE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF THAT TO HELPING US, UM, HELP OUR TEACHERS EVEN MORE, ESPECIALLY WITH TEACHING MATH CONCEPTUALLY, UM, THROUGH THE, UM, CRA MODEL. SO BEGINNING WITH A CONCRETE EXPERIENCE SO KIDS UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT THAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO LEARN IN MATH, AND THEN TRANSITION THAT TO BEING ABLE TO DO THAT, UM, JUST WITH AN EQUATION OR ALGORITHM. AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE DEVELOPED SOME IMPROVED SYSTEMS FOR OUR PLC PROCESS AND OUR, AND THEN WE ESTABLISHED, UM, EXTENDED PLANNING FOR OUR TEACHERS, WHICH WE CALL COLLABORATIVE PLANNING. SO LAST YEAR THEY HAD A, THEIR HOUR OF TIME, AND THEN WE ADDED 30 ADDITIONAL MINUTES TO IT. AND THEN THIS YEAR THEY HAVE AN HOUR AND 40 MINUTES TO CONTINUE TO BUILD ON THAT TIME SO THEY CAN WORK WITH INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES AND SCHOOL ADMIN TO CONTINUE TO HELP THEM ALIGN CURRICULUM INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT. AND THEN LASTLY, WE JUST KIND OF, WE HAD A LOT OF CLASSROOM VISITS, SO WE STAYED IN CLASSROOMS ENSURING THAT KIDS WERE ENGAGED, THAT TEACHERS, UM, UH, WERE TEACHING WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TEACHING, AND THEN FOLLOWING UP WITH FEEDBACK CONVERSATIONS AND THEN LISTENING TO SUPPORT THEY NEEDED FROM ADMIN AND INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES. AND SO THAT'S KIND OF BEEN OUR JOURNEY LAST YEAR. AGAIN, WE'RE BUILDING ON THAT THIS YEAR. WE'RE ALSO BRINGING INTO, UM, OUR BUILDING THE IDEA OF COLLECTIVE EFFICACY, KNOWING THAT THERE IS POWER IN MORE THAN JUST ME AND MY OWN CLASSROOM, BUT USING OUR WHOLE ENTIRE TEACHING BODY TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CONTINUE TO MOVE STUDENTS LEARNING FORWARD. SO THANK YOU. THANK YOU. SO AS YOU COULD HEAR SOME OF THE LANGUAGE FROM CIE, RIGHT? WHAT DO I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO AGENCY THAT'S STUDENT OWNING THEIR LEARNING, PROVIDING THE [01:35:01] STUDENTS ADDITIONAL TIME, THE AREA THAT THEY HAVE ACADEMIC GAPS SEEMS TO BE A TREND THAT'S HAPPENING WITH OUR SCHOOLS. AND WE'RE GETTING RE RETURN, ACADEMIC RETURN ON INVESTMENT, PUT A GOAL OF STUDENTS HAVING A LITTLE MORE AS THEY GO FORWARD. SO AS WE GO TO SLIDE SIX, THANK YOU MRS. CERY, PREPARING FOR SUCCESS. I GAVE YOU INFORMATION REGARDING IT. LAST YEAR'S TEST WAS A FIELD TEST, SO WE'RE NOT COMPARISON YEAR TO YEAR. AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE STATISTICS OF IT, ALL RIGHT, WE'RE FEW HAIRS ABOVE THE STATE. 49.7 TO 49.5%, UH, MEETS AND EXCEEDS IN THE AREA OF FOURTH AND SI, UM, SIXTH GRADE SCIENCE STUDENT PROGRESS. SLIDE SEVEN. PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR THE ALGORITHM ON THE ANALYSIS ON THIS. I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE STRONGER ON MATH THAN I AM, BUT I WILL SHARE WITH YOU THERE ARE THREE AREAS THAT THE STATE LOOKS AT. ONE, RELATIVE GROWTH. HOW MUCH HAVE I GROWN? TWO, KEEPING UP THE GROWTH, DO I REMAIN AT THE SAME LEVEL? AND THE THIRD MODEL IS BASICALLY CATCH UP GROWTH OR ASSEMBLE, USE LANGUAGE, MOVE UP GROWTH IN ORDER TO GET TO WHAT THAT TARGET MARK IS. THOSE TARGETS ARE DEFINED OF WHAT MARY AS A FOURTH GRADER OR MARY AS AN EIGHTH GRADER WITHIN THE STATE IS THE AVERAGE WHERE KIDS ARE MOVING AND THEN THEY DO A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS IN THOSE AREAS. THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OUTPERFORMED THE STATE IN THOSE THREE, I'M GONNA SAY THE LANGUAGE, THREE BUCKETS. IF WE GO TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR HIGH SCHOOL. AND I BELIEVE DR. RODRIGUEZ STARTED BUILDING ON THIS LANGUAGE A LITTLE EARLIER TODAY. I WANNA DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE POSITIVE ENGLISH TWO ELA. WE WERE JUST ABOVE THE STATE AREA OF IMPROVEMENT. ALGEBRA ONE. I ALSO WANNA BRING YOUR ATTENTION TO BEAUFORT COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT. WE ACTUALLY HAD 10% MORE STUDENTS SITTING FOR ALGEBRA LAST YEAR. THE STATE HAD 7% LESS STUDENTS SITTING FOR ALGEBRA LAST YEAR. THE QUESTION I POSTURE FOR ALL OF US TO UNDERSTAND OR WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE BRING FORWARD, THAT WE BRING FORWARD FOR STUDENTS AND WE'RE PUTTING IN PLACE ARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN ORDER FOR STUDENTS TO BE SUCCESSFUL. I THINK THE NUMBERS ARE SELF EXPLANATORY. WE ARE PUTTING WORK IN PLACE TO SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS. AND I DO WANNA BRING ATTENTION THAT THE ALIGNMENT OF COURSES OR THE REMOVAL OF A PRE-ALGEBRA COURSE THAT WAS MENTIONED EARLIER BY BOARD, IT IS NO LONGER AN AVAILABLE COURSE THAT WE CAN USE WITHIN THE STATE. THE STATE REMOVED IT. THAT WAS ANOTHER REASON WHY WE HAD TO LOOK FOR ANOTHER AVENUE OF SUPPORTING STUDENTS. IF WE GO TO P UM, SLIDE NINE, RESPECTFULLY IN ALL AREAS, BEAUFORT COUNTY HAS OUTPERFORMED THE STATE IN THE AREAS OF BIOLOGY, US HISTORY AND CONSTITUTION, OUR INCREASE IN BIOLOGY. WE HAD A SLIGHT DECREASE OF 6.3% OVER OVERALL WHEN IN COMPARATIVE DATA. BUT WE STILL OUTPERFORMED THE STATE AND US, US HISTORY. I APOLOGIZE. WE HAD AN INCREASE OF 4.9% FROM LAST YEAR IN OUR AREA OF MULTILINGUAL STUDENTS. WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE ANALYSIS WE ACTUALLY HAVE, AND THAT'D BE SLIDE 10, WE ACTUALLY HAVE 10% ALONG OF STUDENTS WHO ARE CLASSIFIED AS MULTILINGUAL THAN THAT OF THE STATE. I'M NOT SAYING THAT THIS IS A SATISFIED PERFORMANCE. I AM SHARING THAT THERE ARE ITEMS OF TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN WE LOOK TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS MY SCHOOLING AS I COME INTO OUR SCHOOLS, WHAT IS MY EDUCATIONAL LEVEL, WHAT IS MY LANGUAGE, MY NATIVE LANGUAGE LEVEL OF EDUCATION, AS I TRANSFER THOSE SCHOOL, THOSE SKILLS INTO THE TARGET LANGUAGE AREA. AND IN THIS CASE, IT'S ENGLISH. WE RECOGNIZE AGAIN, WE HAVE WORK TO DO FOR IMPROVEMENT. YES, I'LL GET A SLIGHT SMILE HERE. GRADUATION RATE HIGHEST FOR BEAUFORT COUNTY, 89.3%. A SLIGHT INCREASE OF 0.7%. IF YOU WANNA HAVE THE MATH. LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS. AGAIN, THE [01:40:01] HIGHEST FOR BEAUFORT COUNTY, WE OUTPERFORMED THE STATE AND WE HAD AN INCREASE OF 2.5%. ON YOUR NEXT SLIDE, IT GIVES YOU, AS I'VE SHARED WITH YOU IN THE PAST, THESE ARE THE INDICATORS THAT ARE UTILIZED FOR COLLEGE READINESS WILL BE ON YOUR LEFT AND FOR CAREER READINESS ARE ON YOUR RIGHT. ONE ITEM TO NOTE, IF YOU LOOK ON THE RIGHT COLUMN, THE SECOND FROM THE LAST BULLET, ASVAB IS NOW PART OF THE INDICATORS AS IS. OUR J-R-O-T-C FALLS UNDER CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION FROM THE STATE AS WELL AS HERE IN THE DISTRICT. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SUCCESS INDICATOR, AGAIN, WE ARE OUTPERFORMING FROM THE STATE. WE HAD AN INCREASE FROM 2024 OF 2.5%. AND IN OUR SCHOOL CLIMATE OVERALL, WE HAD A 0.08% INCREASE. I DO WANNA MAKE NOTE OF THAT AS WELL. WE'RE A LITTLE LAGGING INDICATOR FROM THE STATE. BUT AGAIN, BRING FORWARD THE INFORMATION AND IDENTIFIES AREAS THAT WE WOULD FOCUS ON. SO, SUMMARY OF THE RATINGS. AND WE HAVE SEVEN SCHOOLS CLASSIFIED AS EXCELLENT. LAST YEAR WE HAD 6, 20, 25. WE HAVE 11 SCHOOLS AS GOOD. 12 IN 2024 AS ONE MOVED UP AVERAGE IN 25. WE HAVE 13. IN 2024 WE HAVE 13 AND BELOW AVERAGE, WE ARE STILL AT THREE AND THREE AND WORK TO MOVE THOSE SCHOOLS OUTTA. THAT CLASSIFICATION HAS ALREADY STARTED AND IS IN PLACE. I DO WANNA SHARE THAT THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2018, THERE ARE NO SCHOOLS AT, AT UNSATISFACTORY LEVEL TWO HIGH SCHOOLS. AND I, I AM, I STAND CORRECT. AT ONE HIGH SCHOOL IS IS IDENTIFIED AS UM, EXCELLENT. AND OVER THE PAST TWO TO THREE YEARS, FIVE SCHOOLS IN INCREASE BY TWO LEVELS. THAT'S JOSEPH SHANKLIN, WHALE BRANCH ELEMENTARY, HILTON HAD ISLAND FOR SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS, BEAUFORT MIDDLE SCHOOL, AND ROBERT SMALLS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY. AND THAT AT THIS POINT CONCLUDES THE PRESENTATION BOARD MEMBERS. QUESTIONS? COMMENTS, MR. NA? THANK YOU MR. CHAIR. AS, AS FAR AS THE, THE SCHOOL CLIMATE INDICATOR, UM, IF WE COULD GO BACK TO, TO SLIDE 15, PLEASE. YEAH. SO, UM, WHEN WE SEE THE, THE ACTUAL, UH, THE BARS, THE ORANGE AND GREEN BAR, WE HAVE A 6.55 OUTTA 10, THAT WOULD IMPLY LESS THAN A 70% AVERAGE. IS THAT, IS, IS THAT WHAT I'M GETTING AT? WHAT, I MEAN, WHAT IS THE DATA WE'RE LOOKING AT? IS IT FROM THE CATEGORIES THAT ARE LISTED BELOW ON THE NUMBER OF STU STUDENTS SURVEYED? YES, IT IS, SIR. IF I'M CORRECT, BUT I'M GONNA ASK MY, I AM GONNA CALL A FRIEND THAT WOULD BE, UM, NICHOLAS BEHIND ME, SIR. SO I RATHER, I'D RATHER HAVE HIM BE VERY MUCH MORE SPECIFIC WITH YOU IF THAT'S PERMISSIBLE. OKAY, SURE. THANK YOU. WHOEVER CAN ANSWER THE QUESTION? YES, SIR. . SO IF, IF WE'RE LOOKING AT A 6.5, OUTTA 10, WHICH WOULD BE, UH, UH, 65%, WHY, WHY ARE THOSE CATEGORIES? WE, IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE RATED 91, 90 0.9, 1.5, 80.0 0.5. NONE OF THOSE ARE BELOW 70%. SO WHY ARE WE AT A 6.5 WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE OUR CATEGORIES ARE ALL IN THE EIGHTIES OR ABOVE? SO THE SURVEY ENCOMPASSES ABOUT 40 ISH QUESTIONS, AND THEN THEY WHITTLE IT DOWN TO ABOUT 14 QUESTIONS THAT THEY COUNT FOR POINTS. SO IT'S ALL COMING DOWN TO THE VARIOUS WEIGHTINGS. AND THEN THE FORMULA ENCOMPASSES ALL TEACHERS THAT, UM, ARE, ARE BASICALLY PROVIDING DIRECT INSTRUCTION TO THE STUDENTS. AND THEN THEY FACTOR IN STUDENT SCORES ALSO. UM, AND IT'S HOW THEY'VE WEIGHTED THE TWO. SO TO BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN EXACTLY THE, THE CALCULATION WITHIN THERE, NOT ABLE TO, BECAUSE THE STATE HASN'T GONE THROUGH IT, UM, COMPLETELY LIKE THAT. BUT, UM, IT'S A COMBINATION OF HOW THEY DO IT AND THEN WAVING IT OUT. OKAY. SO WHAT I'M CONCERNED ABOUT IS WE'RE NOT SHOWING THE ACTUAL STATISTICS THAT ARE GIVING US A 65%, THAT THAT IS WHAT THEY SHOWED. OKAY. THAT'S WHAT THEY, THAT'S WHAT THEY PROVIDE. OKAY. YEAH. SO WHAT I'M CONCERNED ABOUT IS, I MEAN, IF THE STATE SEES US AT A A AT A 65%, WE'RE SHOWING THAT WE'RE SITTING. I MEAN, IF I, I MEAN, I PLAY DRUMS FOR A LIVING, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE AT LEAST BETTER THAN AN 84%. UM, I, I'M NOT REAL SURE. BUT, UH, WHAT I'M CONCERNED ABOUT IS, OKAY, WE, WE, WE ARE ALL, WE ARE UNDER THE STATE AVERAGE ON ONLY TWO CATEGORIES. [01:45:01] MATH AND MULT LEARNER, MULT LEARNER OR MULTILINGUAL LEARNER, EXCUSE ME. UM, SO IF WE'RE DOING GREAT, IF WE'RE EXCEEDING THE AVERAGE AT THE STATE LEVEL OR EXCEEDING THE STATE AVERAGE, AND WE, WE'VE GOT A REALLY GOOD CLIMATE WITHIN OUR SCHOOLS, AT WHAT COST ARE WE DOING IT? UH, IS IT TAKING IT OUT ON THE TEACHERS? UH, ARE ARE, I MEAN, IS IS THE STATE, IS THE STATE SURVEY REVEALING SOMETHING THAT WE ARE NOT SHOWING INTERNALLY? I, I THINK THIS IS, THESE ARE THINGS THAT WE LOOK AT AND WE TALK ABOUT ALL THE TIME. BUT I THINK ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS, I MEAN, IF YOU THINK BACK TO LAST SCHOOL YEAR, RIGHT? WE HAD, UH, UH, OVER 60 CLASSROOMS VACANCIES THAT WE WERE DEALING WITH LAST YEAR. WELL, THAT DOESN'T CREATE A REDUCTION IN NUMBER OF STUDENTS, RIGHT? SO, SO, UH, SO THE, THE STRESS AND THE WORK AROUND MAKING SURE THAT WE GET MORE SUPPORT AND MORE INSTRUCTION AND ALL OF THAT TAKING PLACE FOR, FOR, FOR ALL THE KIDS, UH, DOESN'T GO AWAY. SO SOMETIMES YOU HAVE, UH, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE STAFF THAT WORK THEIR, UH, PLANNING PERIOD SOMETIMES IN ORDER TO TEACH AND INSTRUCT. SOMETIMES YOU HAVE, UH, UH, COACHES OR INTERVENTIONISTS THAT STEP IN AND TAKE OVER, RIGHT? SO THERE'S A, WHEN YOU'RE FACING, UH, UH, SIGNIFICANT VACANCIES, IT CAUSES, UH, ADDITIONAL STRESS IN OTHER AREAS ACROSS THE SYSTEM, I THINK. I THINK THAT'S PART OF WHAT YOU'RE, YOU'RE SEEING HERE. YEAH. YES. AND I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THAT. I GET THAT. BUT HOW DO WE, UH, I MEAN, HOW DO WE ADDRESS THIS MOVING FORWARD? I KNOW THERE ARE A LOT OF VARIABLES THAT GO INTO, UH, A POSITIVE TEACHER CLIMATE, UH, BUT, UH, OUR, I I, I TRUST THAT WE'RE, WE'RE DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE THAT WE CAN AFFECT THAT CLIMATE IN A POSITIVE WAY. 'CAUSE, 'CAUSE I MEAN, AT THE END OF THE, AT THE END OF THE YEAR, OF COURSE, WE WANT THE ACADEMIC, UH, GROWTH IN OUR, IN OUR, BUT AT WHAT COST? IF, IF WE'RE, IF WE'RE RUNNING OUR TEACHER'S RAGGED TO THE POINT WHERE THEY DON'T WANNA STAY IN THE DISTRICT, THAT'S COULD BE PART OF OUR HIGH TURNOVER AND NO MON NO MONEY IS GONNA KEEP THEM. SO I'M JUST, I'M JUST CONCERNED ABOUT SOME OF THE, SOME OF THIS STUFF, THAT'S ALL. SURE. AND WE, AND, AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, UM, UH, WE STAY IN TUNE AND IN TOUCH WITH OUR TEACHERS. UH, WE MEET MONTHLY WITH THE TEACHER FORUM, FOR EXAMPLE. UM, IT'S LED BY DISTRICT TEACHER OF THE YEAR, AND THEN YOU HAVE THE TEACHERS OF THE YEAR IN EACH SCHOOL, AND THEY REPORT OUT ON A LOT OF THINGS. THEY HAVE, UH, CHALLENGES THAT THEY FACE THAT, THAT THEY BRING FORWARD. AND WE TRY TO WORK THROUGH THOSE AND NAVIGATE THOSE TO PROVIDE THAT LEVEL OF SUPPORT FOR THEM AS WELL. SO WE STAY IN TOUCH WITH, WITH THEM. AWESOME. THANK YOU SO MUCH. YEAH. AND CHAIR, CHAIRMAN, GUY, IF I MAY SHARE TWO TO CLASS AREAS FROM TEACHER'S PERSPECTIVE, UM, SATISFACTION WITH THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, WE WENT UP 2%. UM, IN REGARDS TO SATISFIED WITH SCHOOL HOME RELATIONS, WE WENT UP BY 2%. SO WE DID INCREASE IN PRIOR YEAR FROM THE TEACHER PERSPECTIVE, BUT WE'RE NOT BEATING THE STATE MARK YET. I, I HAVE TO SHARE THAT. AND IN THE RESPECT OF, UH, OUR STUDENTS, WE INCREASE IN THE AREA OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENT BY 0.8%, UM, SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT BY 1.1%, AND IN THE AREA OF SCHOOL HOME RELATIONS BY 6%. SO WE'RE, WE'RE SHOWING IMPROVEMENT ON A TREND, BUT WE'RE NOT, WE HAVEN'T EXCEEDED THE STATE YET. AND THAT'S ONE OF OUR MARKS, SIR. THANK YOU, MR. SMITH. UM, I JUST JUMP, UH, RIGHT BACK INTO, UH, PIGGYBACKING THIS OFF OF, UH, 'CAUSE UH, WHAT HE, WHAT HE SAID. I WANNA GO BACK TO THAT, UH, AL ALSO, WHAT THIS DOESN'T INDICATE TOO AS WELL IS THAT THE QUESTION COMES TO AS WELL, IS THAT, UM, IN TERMS OF THIS, UH, AND THEN THOSE NUMBERS, HE WAS TALKING ABOUT HOW MANY TEACHERS AS WELL, DID THE ACTUAL, UH, THAT FILLED OUT THE ACTUAL, UH, SURVEY BECAUSE TEACHERS NOT DOING THE SURVEY, SURVEY FILLED, IT WEIGHS IN, IN TERMS OF WHAT THESE NUMBERS LOOK LIKE. SO THAT MAY NOT BE ON THEIR, HOWEVER, THE TEACHERS GET RID OF, THEY, THEY'VE GIVEN A BAD CLIMATE SURVEY THEN THAT, THEN THAT NUMBER WEIGHS IN ON, ON WHAT, ON WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT. SO LET'S, LET'S ALSO BRING THAT OUT TOO AS WELL. AND IN TERMS OF THE TEACH IS IN TERMS OF THE, THIS, UH, THE SURVEY. SO THERE, THERE, THERE'S ALSO THE, A HOST OF THINGS THAT AS IT WASTED, BUT ALSO HOW, HOW, ANOTHER WAY TO RECEIVE IT TOO, UH, WITH THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY, IS THAT MAYBE THE, THE SURVEYS THAT WERE DONE POSSIBLY WERE, WERE NOT IN THE, IN THE PROBABLY BEST OF, BEST OF BEST INTEREST OR BEST RESULTS FOR THIS DISTRICT. SO, AS HE JUST STATED, WE CAN PAY THE ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY, BUT IT'S NOT GONNA TEACH, IT'S NOT GONNA, IT'S NOT GONNA KEEP HIM. AND, AND, AND SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, I, YOU KNOW, JUST WATCHING SOME OF THESE, SOME OF THE DIFFERENT, UH, CLIMATES AND DIFFERENT THINGS, UH, IN TERMS OF TEACHERS THAT WAY THAT WE WERE, THAT WE WERE BRINGING IN THE DISTRICT, I THINK THIS IS, TO ME, THIS IS WHERE, UH, CULTURALLY, UH, CULTURALLY COULD POSSIBLY BRING SOME CONCERNS IN AS WELL. AND, AND IN [01:50:01] TERMS OF TEACHERS ALSO UNDERSTANDING OUR STUDENTS TO, SO TO SHARE, TO BRING FORWARD THE, THE CLIMATE SURVEY IS MANAGED US AS ANY ASSESSMENT, A STATE LEVEL ASSESSMENT UNDER SECURITY. AND WE ARE HELD BY REGULATION TO HAVE A MINIMUM 95% RESPONSE RATE. I HAVE TO SHARE THAT, THAT THAT IS WHAT TEACHERS AND STUDENTS, SO THAT, THAT'S, I WANT US TO RECOGNIZE AS WELL, NOT PARENTS, BUT TEACHERS AND STUDENTS. AND THIS PAST YEAR WAS THE FIRST YEAR, IF I'M CORRECT, MR. FLOWERS, THAT WE WERE ABLE TO HAVE OUR ML STUDENTS, UM, RECEIVE, UM, ACCOMMODATIONS, UH, AND THE USE OF A HERITAGE DIC DICTIONARY TO HELP THEM READ THROUGH THE SURVEY, WHERE IN THE PAST THAT WAS NOT ALLOWED. SO I DO WANNA SHARE THAT AS WELL. I MEAN, AND I DO HEAR YOU, DR. CRADDLES, BUT I, AND, AND TRANSLATE IT INTO SPANISH AS WELL, RIGHT? I I, I DO HEAR YOU. BUT I, I DO JUST WANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT IN TERMS OF OUR CLIMATE OF OUR DISTRICT, THIS, THIS, TO ME, THIS, THIS IS YELLING OUT SOME OTHER THINGS IN TERMS OF CLIMATE AND IT, THIS, THIS IS VERY CONCERNING AND VERY ALARMING. I'LL JUST SAY THAT TOO. FROM, FROM FROM OUR PERSPECTIVES. THANK YOU. OTHER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS? I HAVE ONE. LEMME SAY THAT, UH, ROBERT SMALLS, UH, LAST WEEK AND IN THE MAIN FOYER, AS YOU COME INTO THE SCHOOL, UP ON THE BALCONY, THERE'S A BIG POSTER. IT SAYS 104 DAYS UNTIL SC READY. I'VE BEEN TO, UH, LADIES OR, OR, UM, PORT ROYAL ELEMENTARY. I SEE THOSE TYPES OF SIGNS UP. GET READY FOR THE TEST. YOU KNOW, THERE'S BIG EMPHASIS ON THAT TEST, AND YET WE GET THE RESULTS IN NOVEMBER. HER, THIS IS SOMETHING THE STATE NEEDS TO TAKE. RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. HOW CAN WE ADJUST RESOURCES? HOW CAN WE SUSTAIN STRENGTHS AND IMPROVE WEAKNESSES WHEN WE GET THE RESULTS IN NOVEMBER? YOU TAKE THE S-A-T-A-C-T, YOU GET IT IN 30 DAYS. THERE IS NO EXCUSE WHY THIS STATE CAN'T GIVE US THESE RESULTS BY THE END OF JUNE. SO WE CAN DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO PROVIDE RESOURCES TO THE SCHOOLS THAT NEED ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. IN NOVEMBER. THESE, THESE TEACHERS, THAT WAS LAST YEAR. I GOT MY, I GOT MY ISSUES THIS YEAR. THEY'RE IN THE MIDST OF IT. THIS IS WRONG. AND THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED, AND THE PUBLIC SHOULD BE ASHAMED. GIVE US THE RESULTS. LET US DO OUR JOB BECAUSE WE HAVE WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO MAKE US, OUR STUDENTS ACHIEVE. AND THAT THIS REALLY JUST FROST ME. THANK YOU, COLONEL GUYER. THANK YOU. BOARD MEMBERS. THANK YOU, DR. RODRIGUEZ. COLONEL GUY, I, I'M NOT DONE. MR. SMITH. YEAH. UM, AL ALSO, ALSO, UH, FIRST OFF, LEMME START BY SAYING, UM, IN, IN, IN TERMS OF THESE SCORES LAST YEAR, REMEMBER BEING, BEING, BEING HERE AND, UH, HAVING THIS CONVERSATION, AND I REMEMBER THERE WAS A SITUATION THAT TOOK PLACE IN BETWEEN, UH, OVER AT LA ISLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. AND I REMEMBER, UH, I MUST, MY MOM SAID, I'M, I MUST ADDRESS IT. I REMEMBER, UM, PEOPLE QUESTIONED LADIES OUT MIDDLE SCHOOL, UM, AND, AND, AND, AND, AND WHAT, AND WHAT WE WOULD DO. AND THERE WAS A LOT. I, UM, I REMEMBER THERE WAS, I THINK THERE WAS A VIDEO OR SOMETHING, BUT WAS, THERE WAS A LOT, A LOT OF STUFF GOING ON. AND I CAN HONESTLY SAY, I CAN APPRECIATE DR. BROWN FOR PUTTING HER BOOTS ON THE GROUND AND PUTTING HER STAFF TO THE TASK DAY IN AND DAY OUT. THIS IS HARD. THIS IS HARD. NOT HARD, BUT THIS IS HARD WORK. YOU HAVE GOT TO HAVE THIS WORK IN YOUR HEART. AND, YOU KNOW, MY COLLEAGUES HERE, AS WE SIT HERE AND WE GO, GO OVER THESE SCORES, I'M ALMOST FLOORED THAT THERE AREN'T MORE QUESTIONS BECAUSE WE DO HAVE THREE SCHOOLS AND ONE, WHICH WAS IN THE SAME BELOW AVERAGE LAST YEAR, AND NO QUESTIONS. LIKE THIS IS REAL. SHE, TO ME, BECAUSE WE TALK ABOUT THE GUN VIOLENCE AND DIFFERENT THINGS GOING ON IN OUR COMMUNITY, HELL, THIS IS A REFLECTION OF IT. THIS IS A REFLECTION OF IT. IF OUR KIDS ARE NOT LEARNING AND OUR KIDS ARE [01:55:01] NOT THERE, THEN, THEN WHAT ELSE IS GOING TO HAPPEN? SO I'M DEFINITELY CONCERNED WITH, WITH, WITH, WITH, WITH THESE SCHOOLS, AND ESPECIALLY WITH THAT, WITH ONE OF, WITH ONE OF OUR SCHOOLS, WITH THIS BEING THE, THE SECOND YEAR THAT HAS BEEN IN THIS, IN THIS COLUMN, UM, WE SH WE HAVE RESOURCES THAT, THAT, THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING. AND I'VE HEARD, UH, UH, UH, ONE OF MY COLLEAGUES SAY THAT WE, WE NEED TO SCORE. AS IN LAST YEAR, I DO AGREE. AND, AND, AND I THINK WE BROUGHT THAT UP TO EVEN TO TAKE THAT TO THE, UM, TO ONE OF OUR COMMITTEES TO BRING THE STATE LEGISLATORS. BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE HAVE TO FIGURE A WAY OUT HOW WE'RE, WE ARE NEVER IN THE, IN THE BELOW AVERAGE COLUMN. AND IN, IN TERMS OF, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ALL YEAR LONG, ABOUT FIGURING IT OUT. UH, IF WE HAVE, IF WE HAVING SCHOOLS WITH 10 AND 12, AND I REMEMBER, AND, AND THE REASON WHY I'M KIND OF IRRITABLE, BECAUSE I REMEMBER COMING BEFORE THE BOARD LAST YEAR, TELLING THE BOARD THAT I HAD ONE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT'S ON THIS LIST THAT DIDN'T HAVE, THAT DIDN'T, THAT DIDN'T HAVE TEACHERS. AND TO SIT HERE AND LOOK AT THIS AND HAVE TO GO BACK AND, AND, AND, AND TALK TO MY COMMUNITY ABOUT THIS IS MIND BOGGLING. THIS, IT'S MIND BOGGLING. BECAUSE WE KNEW THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE TEACHERS. SO MY QUESTION WOULD BE, WHAT WERE THE RESOURCES THAT WE GIVE TO ONE SCHOOL VERSUS OTHER SCHOOLS FOR WHAT RESOURCES THAT WE GIVE TOWARDS BROAD BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, THEN WHAT WE GIVE TOWARDS ST HE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? BECAUSE AT SOME, AT SOME, AT SOME POINT IN TIME, WE JUST CAN'T SAY, OH, WELL, YOU KNOW, ST. HENA WAS ON THE GOOD LIST THAT SAID, THEY, THEY, THEY JUST DROPPED. I, I, I'M, TO ME, THIS IS, THIS IS MIND BALLING. I'M NOT HAPPY BECAUSE THIS REFLECTS WHAT GOES ON IN OUR COMMUNITY RIGHT HERE. IF OUR KIDS ARE NOT GETTING IT, IT'S OUR PROBLEM. WE CAN'T CONTINUE TO SIT THERE AND SAY, WELL, THE PARENTS, WE CAN, WE, WE, WE CAN THROW BLAME GAME ON A WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE, BUT WE MUST OWN OUR OWN NUMBERS AND UNDERSTAND WHAT'S THE DIFF WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEN AND NOW? AND AT WHAT POINT DO YOU GO BACK AND START ANALYZING AND SAY, LOOK HERE, THIS IS WHERE THIS SCHOOL IS AT THIS SCHOOL HERE BECAUSE OF, BECAUSE OF THEIR RESOURCES AND BECAUSE OF THEIR SHORT, THEN IT'S WHAT NEED TO BE DONE. BECAUSE I ALSO REMEMBER AT ONE POINT, TOO, LA LA LAST YEAR IN, WELL, BRANCH MIDDLE SCHOOL, WE TOOK, WE TOOK, UH, TEACHERS FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL, WELL BRANCH, EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL, AND WE MOVED THEM TO THE MIDDLE SCHOOL, AND HELL, THEY STILL ON THIS LIST. SO I, I MEAN, I AIN'T CAME TO TO LAUGHING KIKI TODAY. I'VE COME TO UNDERSTAND, I WANNA KNOW WHAT'S THE RE WHAT'S THE, WHAT'S THE RESULTS AND HOW ARE WE AGGRESSIVELY MOVING ON THIS? BECAUSE WE CAN'T CONTINUE TO SIT HERE AND SAY THAT, OKAY, BELOW AVERAGE IS, IS NOT UNSATISFACTORY. THAT'S OKAY. NO, THESE, THIS IS THE PRODUCT OF BEAVER COUNTY'S ENVIRONMENT. WE HAVE MORE RESOURCES THAN HALF OF THE STATE. SO WHAT WE GONNA DO DIFFERENTLY BESIDES SAY, OH, YOU KNOW, AND I APPRECIATE 'EM COMING UP AND BRINGING ME THEIR GAME PLAN, AND I APPRECIATE, UH, PORT RAW FROM, FROM MOVING THOSE, MOVING A MILESTONE. BUT IF THEY CAN DO IT, THEN YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT IT'S BECAUSE OF PROBABLY, OR BECAUSE KIDS NOT COMING. WHAT ARE WE DOING? BECAUSE THIS IS, ENCOMPASSES ALL OF THIS, ME AND DR. BROWN, WE TALKED ON, ON SEVERAL, ON SEVERAL TIMES LAST YEAR IN TERMS IN TERMS OF BOARD MEMBER, EVEN BOARD, HAVING NO BOARD MEMBER, UH, PRINCIPAL RELATIONSHIP AS THOUGH, UH, MRS. UH, I, I GAVE IT UP TO MS. COLEMAN. THAT'S SOMETHING SHE TAUGHT ME. YOU HAVE TO BE ACTIVE IN YOUR COMMUNITY. YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR COMMUNITY MOVING TOWARDS YOUR SCHOOL, YOUR SCHOOL AND SAY, HEY, LOOK HERE. THIS IS WHAT, THIS IS WHAT THE SCHOOL GOT GOING ON. HOW Y'ALL GONNA GET, HOW Y'ALL GONNA GET INVOLVED? OR THIS IS WHAT'S GOING ON. IF Y'ALL CAN TAKE THOSE KIDS TO THOSE, TO THOSE, THOSE DIFFERENT GAMES AND THOSE DIFFERENT THINGS, AND LOOK HERE, THERE'S EDUCATION, SOMETHING GOING ON LAST NIGHT. THEY HAD AN EDUCATIONAL, UH, A EDUCATIONAL, UH, UM, PARENT, UH, PARENT AND STUDENT INVOLVEMENT, WHATEVER IT IS RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW. LISTEN, I LEARNED ABOUT IT. I WENT THERE. THESE ARE, YOU KNOW, SO IT, IT'S A HOST OF THINGS THAT WHEN YOU SAID YOU DON'T WANT, CERTAIN TIMES, WE DON'T, THEY DON'T WANT BOARD MEMBERS, UH, AND, AND IN SCHOOLS TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP. NO, HELL, YOU NEED TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE YOU NEED TO REACH YOUR COMMUNITY. AND UNTIL WE SIT AND HAVE A REAL SERIOUS CONVERSATION, THEN WE'RE GONNA ALWAYS HAVE PEOPLE IN THE BELOW AVERAGE AND, AND, AND IN THE UNSATISFACTORY, UH, SATISFACTORY, UH, UH, COLUMN UNTIL WE START HAVING A REAL CONVERSATION AND FIGURING OUT HOW WE, HOW, HOW WE GOING TO COLLECTIVELY AS A WHOLE GET THIS DONE. SO THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE TO ME. AND LIKE I SAID, I'M FLOORED TO SIT, SIT, SIT AND SAY, NO ONE GOT NO QUESTIONS. MR. UH, MR. MR. MADAM SECRETARY, MADAM SECRETARY, YES. THANK YOU. FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU GUYS FOR EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING FOR OUR STUDENTS. UM, I GUESS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO, I WOULD AGREE A HUNDRED PERCENT WITH COLONEL ER'S ASSESSMENT, AND TO MY COLLEAGUE'S POINT ABOUT WHY I DON'T HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. I THINK THIS IS A SILLY EXERCISE. I THINK IT'S THE YEAR 2025. I THINK THE FACT THIS WOULD BE THE EQUIVALENT OF YOU GOING TO YOUR DOCTOR. YOU GET, OR BASICALLY A DOCTOR GOES AND TESTS EVERYBODY [02:00:01] IN A CERTAIN RADIUS FOR THEIR CHOLESTEROL, DOESN'T ASK 'EM IF THEY ATE BEFOREHAND, DOESN'T ASK 'EM THEIR AGE, DOESN'T ASK 'EM THEIR OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS, AND THEN ABOUT FIVE YEARS LATER, GIVES YOU THE RESULTS. LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT. I HAVE EVIDENCE FROM MY FIVE YEARS ON THE BOARD AND FROM MY OWN OBSERVATIONS, WHICH I DO ON MY OWN, THAT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IS DOING EVERY DAMN THING THEY CAN DO TO RAISE THOSE SCORES. THERE'S MORE TO BE DONE. ABSOLUTELY. I'M ALL ABOUT INTRODUCING SOME NEW TECHNOLOGY. BUT THIS, YES, SOUTH CAROLINA, WE LOOK SILLY HERE TO SIT HERE AND TALK ABOUT SCORES FROM 12 MONTHS AGO. LIKE WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT 'EM TO NOT TAKE ANY, WE ARE NOT COMPARING APPLES TO APPLES. WE'RE COMPARING IT. IT'S JUST NUTS TO ME. SO, YEAH, I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS. I APPRECIATE YOUR TIME. I'M HAPPY TO LISTEN HERE AS A BOARD MEMBER, I LIKE TO SEE THAT THERE'S SOME MOVEMENT UP, YOU KNOW, CONCERN, SOME MOVEMENT DOWN. ALL THOSE THINGS ARE FINE, BUT IN 2025, WE CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER. AND I WOULD IMPLORE THE STATE THAT THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY. WE HAVE MEMBERS OF OUR OWN LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION WHO ARE ON THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE, WHO ARE ON THE AI TASK FORCE, WHO ARE DOING THINGS. LET'S MAKE SOME MOVEMENT SO THAT THIS ACTUALLY IS A WORTHWHILE ENDEAVOR. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I APPRECIATE THE BRIEFING. THANK YOU, SIR. ALL RIGHT. STATE, STATE, ARMY, YOU CAN'T WAIT ON THIS. NEXT ITEM, UM, ON THE AGENDA IS FEDERAL FUNDING UPDATE. YES. AND MS. CROSBY'S, COMING FORWARD, UH, LAST, UH, UH, WEEK, THERE WERE SOME CONCERNS REGARDING, UH, WHAT WAS HAPPENING, UH, WITH FEDERAL FUNDING IN RESPECTS TO, UH, SHUTDOWN DOWN. UM, AND SO WE JUST WANT TO, UH, CLARIFY FOR EVERYBODY WHAT, UH, WHERE WE ARE TODAY. OKAY, GOOD EVENING. UH, SO, UH, THIS EVENING I HAVE THREE MAJOR CATEGORIES, UH, SORT OF BREAKING THAT DOWN INTO THREE AREAS. UH, FIRST THE IMPACT OF THE SHUTDOWN AND, UM, ON THE, UM, SCHOOL MEAL OPERATIONS. SO SCHOOLS ARE, MEALS ARE FUNDED THROUGH THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM AND SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM, UH, FROM THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE THROUGH THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. SO THE FUNDS FLOW THROUGH THE STATE OFFICE OF HEALTH, HEALTH AND NUTRITION, AND TO THEIR THEN TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS. UM, WE RECEIVED AN EMAIL, UM, FROM OUR STATE OFFICIALS, UH, THIS PAST WEEK THAT SAID, YOU WILL, UH, YOU ARE, WE ARE CONTINUING SCHOOL MEAL OPERATIONS AS NORMAL. UM, SO THERE OFFICIALLY THERE WAS, UH, A NOTIFICATION AT SOME POINT THAT, UH, USDA WOULD STOP FUNDING, UM, AT THE BEGINNING, UH, AS OF OCTOBER 1ST. AND SO THEY HAVE EXTENDED NOW THROUGH THE END OF OCTOBER. THEN WE RECEIVED ANOTHER EMAIL, UH, FROM THE STATE INDICATING WE WOULD BE FUNDED THROUGH THE END OF NOVEMBER. I, SO I THINK THOSE WOULD BE STATE FUNDING, UH, STATE FUNDS AS, AS OPPOSED TO THE FEDERAL FUNDS. UM, USDA IS USING CARRYOVER FUNDS. SO THEY ARE NOT, UH, AUTHORIZED AT, AT THIS POINT TO BE RELEASING FUNDS, BUT THEY'RE, UH, THE ACTIVE NORMAL MONTHLY FUNDS. BUT THEY ARE USING RESERVES, UH, TO FUND, UM, OPERATIONS AS WELL AS SECTION 32 FUNDS, WHICH ARE ACTUALLY, I HAD TO LOOK UP. THOSE ARE COMMODITIES. SO COMMODITIES ARE RAW, UM, RAW, FOR EXAMPLE, RAW CHICKEN. AND WE PAY TO SEND THAT TO A PROCESSOR AND HAVE THAT MADE INTO, SAY, CHICKEN NUGGETS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. SO THOSE ARE TYPES OF THINGS THAT ARE, WE WERE RECEIVING, AND AS WELL AS THE CARRYOVER FUNDING, UM, FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. UM, SO THE, IF THE SHUTDOWN WERE TO OCCUR PAST NOVEMBER AND THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION, THERE IS NOT AN ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION, UM, TO MOVE FORWARD, UH, OR TO PROVIDE CARRY OVER FUNDS FROM EITHER STATE OR FEDERAL, THEN WE COULD HAVE SOME RE REIMBURSEMENT DELAYS. UM, AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, UH, WOULD, OUR BACKUP PLAN WOULD BE THAT WE WOULD TEMPORARILY USE OUR FOOD SERVICE FUND BALANCE IF THE SHUTDOWN EXTENDS INTO DECEMBER OR BEYOND. SO, UH, LONG TERM BASIS, OUR, OUR FOOD SERVICE FUND BALANCE HAS CURRENTLY ABOUT $4.8 MILLION. UM, WE ACCUMULATED IT QUITE A BIT DURING COVID AND HAVE GRADUALLY BROUGHT THAT DOWN AND RE AS WE REINVESTED BACK INTO CAFETERIA, UH, EQUIPMENT AND, UM, KITCHEN EQUIPMENT OVENS AND SO ON. UM, BUT, UH, THAT WOULD, BUT OUR MONTHLY REIMBURSEMENT, UH, USDA REIMBURSEMENT IS APPROXIMATELY A MILLION DOLLARS. SO IF WE COULD CONTINUE ALMOST FIVE MONTHS BEYOND ANY [02:05:01] STOP, UH, CEASE OF FUNDING, UH, WITH OUR CURRENT RESERVES. SO, UM, WE, UH, SO WE FEEL LIKE WE'RE IN A, YOU KNOW, GOOD SPOT, HAVING THAT RESERVE, WHICH IS ABOVE THE NORMAL, UH, REQUIRED AUTHORIZATION. WE'RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE NO MORE THAN, UM, 90 DAYS OF OPERATIONS, WHICH IS THREE MONTHS. AND WE CURRENTLY HAVE JUST A LITTLE, WE HAVE 4.8 OR ALMOST FIVE MONTHS. UH, SO, UH, IT FEELS GOOD TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT, UH, ADDITIONAL RESERVE AT THIS TIME AND SORT OF PRESERVE THAT AND HALT ANY, WE HAVE HALTED ANY, UM, CAPITAL EQUIPMENT PURCHASES FOR THE TIME BEING. SO NO ADDITIONAL, NO NEW ITEMS ARE BEING REQUESTED FOR, UM, REPLENISHMENT. SO THE SECOND MAJOR ITEM IS, UH, THE SNAP REIMBURSEMENT. SNAP IS ALSO MORE COMMONLY REFERRED TO EITHER EBT OR FOOD STAMPS. UM, THOSE ARE SUSPENDED STARTING NOVEMBER 1ST, UM, BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. UM, ALTHOUGH THAT DOESN'T HAVE A DIRECT IMPACT ON US, UH, IT DOES HAVE AN IMPACT, UH, ON, ON STUDENTS IN THE SCHOOLS AND THE NUTRITION, UH, THAT WE PROVIDE. IT DOES, UM, UH, HAVE AN IMPACT ON OUR FAMILIES. USDA HAS DIRECTED, UH, STATES TO PAUSE NOVEMBER DUE TO, UH, DISTRIBUTIONS DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS. BUT, UH, ONE BENEFIT THAT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS BEYOND OUR NORMAL SCHOOL DAY. UM, YOU, YOU MAY HAVE SEEN SOME OF THE, UM, OTHER DISTRICTS, UH, STARTING NEW PROGRAMS. THOSE ARE AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS AND DINNER PROGRAMS. OUR DISTRICT ALREADY HAS 93 SEPARATE, UH, DISTINCT PROGRAMS THAT WE PROVIDE MEALS AND SNACKS AFTER SCHOOL, UH, FOR STUDENTS. SO, UM, WE HAVE A HEALTHY, UH, AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM AND, UH, THAT REACHES ACROSS, UH, ALL OF OUR SCHOOLS AS WELL AS OUR EXTENDED LEARNING PROGRAMS. UH, SO WE HAVE, UH, WE ARE, UH, MAKING THAT EFFORT TO GO BEYOND THE, THE CLASS, UH, THE SCHOOL DAY AND INTO THE EVENINGS, UH, FOR OUR STUDENTS. AND LASTLY, OTHER FEDERAL FUNDS. SO THERE'S THAT QUESTION. IS THERE ANY OTHER FEDERAL, ARE THERE ANY OTHER FEDERAL FUNDS THAT ARE IMPACTED, UM, BY THIS SHUTDOWN? UH, AT THIS TIME? UH, AND I'VE SPOKEN, UH, DENISE MATSON IS OUR, UH, DIRECTOR OF, UH, SPECIAL REVENUE AND FEDERAL PROGRAMS. UH, SHE IS KEENLY IN TUNE WITH, UM, TITLE ONE, TITLE, UH, IDEA, OUR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT. THOSE ARE TWO OF OUR LARGEST FEDERAL FUNDS AS WELL AS THE MSAP GRANT, WHICH IS FEDERAL AND SOME OF THE OTHERS. UM, AND AT THIS TIME, THE ADMINISTRATION HAS RECEIVED NO INDICATION FOR, FROM FEDERAL OR STATE AUTHORITIES OF ANY DELAYS OR, OR DELAYS IN DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDING. SO THAT IS GOOD NEWS. WE HAVEN'T, UH, WE ARE ACTIVELY RECEIVING AUTHORIZATIONS AND OF ALLOCATIONS FOR THE YEAR AND ACTIVELY CLAIMING AND RECEIVING THOSE FUNDS. SO THERE INDI THERE'S NO INDICATION AT THIS TIME OF ANY DELAYS IN OTHER FUNDING SOURCES. WITH THAT, I'LL TAKE ANY QUESTIONS, ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, MR. NAY? THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. SO IN, IN THE EVENT THAT WE HAVE TO START TO DIP INTO THAT $4.8 MILLION, UH, WHEN, WHEN THE GOVERNMENT STARTS, OH, REOPENS, WHATEVER, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT'S REIMBURSED? I BELIEVE SO, BUT UH, THAT IS MY SENSE THAT EV UH, JUST AS THE EMPLOYEES THAT ARE, UM, FURLOUGHED AT THIS TIME, THEY WOULD BE REIMBURSED AS WELL. SO IT'S MY, UH, BELIEF THAT THAT WOULD HAPPEN FOR THESE FUNDS AS WELL. THANK YOU. MM-HMM . WE STILL GOT A PER BOND RATING, RIGHT? I'M PERFECT, BUT IT IS VERY GOODEXCELLENT, SO WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE MONEY WE NEED, RIGHT? WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THE MONEY THAT WE NEED, RIGHT. TO TAKE US THROUGH, RIGHT. IF WE NEED TO BORROW SOME MONEY, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THAT, CORRECT? YEP. YES, I BELIEVE SO. IF WE NEEDED TO DO THAT AND WE HAVE RESERVES IN A FEW DIFFERENT POTS THAT WE COULD, THAT'S WHAT OUR, WHAT OUR FUND BALANCES ARE FOR. SO WE COULD CERTAINLY LOOK AT OTHER AREAS AS WELL. GREAT. I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT'S WHAT I, I KNOW WE CAN BOTTOM ON. THANK YOU. THA THANK THANK YOU MS. CROSBY. NEXT ITEM IS [Board Business Action] BOARD BUSINESS ACTION. UH, WE HAVE A MOTION TO AMEND THE PREVIOUSLY ADOPTED MOTION OF OCTOBER 7TH REGARDING THE PURCHASE OF PROPERTY IN SOUTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY. MADAM SECRETARY, THANK YOU. AND THIS IS, UM, NOT A CHANGE OF THE MOTION. IT IS A CHANGE OF WHERE THE FUNDS ARE GONNA COME FROM. UH, SO I'LL GO AHEAD AND MAKE THAT MOTION. IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS OR CLARIFICATION NEEDED. I MOVE THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AMEND THE PREVIOUSLY ADOPTED MOTION OF OCTOBER 7TH REGARDING THE PURCHASE OF PROPERTY IN SOUTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY. THE AMENDMENT PROPOSES TO SUBSTITUTE THE APPROVED FUNDING SOURCE WITH 2026 8% FUNDS DESIGNATED FOR LAND ACQUISITION FOR A TOTAL OF $6,250,000. [02:10:02] SECOND, SORRY, MR. DALLAS. UH, DISCUSSION, HEARING NONE. ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM, UH, THAT WISH TO VOTE FOR THIS, UH, UH, MOTION, PLEASE SAY AYE AND RAISE YOUR HAND. AYE. AYE. ONLINE, UH, PASTOR GORDON PASTOR GORDON, UM, MS. GORDON, MS. GORDON, AYE. AYE, UH, MR. SMALL AYE, AYE AND MS. FRAZIER FRAZIER. AYE. OKAY. ALL THOSE OPPOSED MR. SMITH. OKAY. SO ONE ABSENT, ONE, UH, OPPOSED THE REST, UH, APPROVED. AND SO THE MOTION CARRIES. NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS A LETTER THAT I RECEIVED FROM THE SOUTH POINT OF ORDER. SORRY, WE HAVE, WE REMOVED OFF THE CONSENT. WE REMOVED OE 13 OFF THE CONSENTS. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT IN BOARD BUSINESS. OH, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT. I, I'M, YES. OKAY, GO AHEAD. SO I'LL GO AHEAD. SINCE I REMOVED IT, I HAVE A COUPLE OF CONCERNS. AND IN ORDER, INCREASING ORDER OF SEVERITY, THE FIRST CONCERN IS WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY MAKE A MOTION AN ACADEMIC COMMITTEE TO APPRO TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL TO THE BOARD. THE ONLY MOTION THAT CAME OUT OF ACADEMIC COMMITTEE WAS TO PUT IT ON THE AGENDA. THE CORRECT PROCEDURE IS TO MAKE A MOTION TO RECOMMEND TO THE BOARD FULL APPROVAL. ONCE THAT'S APPROVED, THEN WE JUST PUT IT ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. IT DOES BELONG ON THE CONSENT AGENDA, SO THAT'S CORRECT. NUMBER TWO, UH, ALWAYS REQUIRE A MONITORING REPORT DOCUMENT SIGNED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, AND THAT DOESN'T, IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS. MY THIRD CONCERN WITH THIS IS, UM, A LITTLE BIT MORE ON THE CONTENT. UM, WE WERE PROVI, FIRST OF ALL, LOVE CHAD COX. HE IS A HERO HERE ON HILTON HEAD ISLAND, AND, UM, THRILLED THAT HE'S GONNA BE THE, UH, UH, THE NEW IN THIS NEW POSITION. BUT THESE SLIDES, IN MY OPINION, NEED A LITTLE MORE WORK. AND THE REASON IS IT OUTLINES THE PROCESSES THAT IS CURRENTLY BEING DONE, BUT DOESN'T PROVIDE ENOUGH ACTUAL DATA THAT THEY'RE BEING DONE. UM, THE FIRST TWO IN PARTICULAR, WHICH TALK ABOUT, UH, STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT, THE FIRST, UH, 13.1, IT IS AN OLD 2023 PDF THAT TALKS ABOUT THE PROCEDURES, WHICH IS FINE. I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE DOING ALL THE WORK, BUT WE NEED A LITTLE MORE, ACTUALLY WHAT'S BEING DONE. AND THEN IN THE SECOND ONE, UH, WHICH IS ANOTHER STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT, WE HAVE THE, UH, MAGIC SCHOOL.AI TRAINING TO DEVELOP BEHAVIORAL, UM, AND NOT SORT OF WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. SO I WOULD REQUEST THAT, UM, DISCIPLINE IS A HUGE ISSUE IN THE DISTRICT. I KNOW A LOT OF BOARD MEMBERS HAVE EXPRESSED INTEREST. I WOULD REQUEST THAT MAYBE AT THE BOARD, THE WORK SESSION THAT WE CAN BRING IT BACK, WHICH IS A LITTLE BIT MORE OF ACTUAL TANGIBLE RESULTS AND DATA THAT WE KNOW THE PROCESSES WHICH LOOK ROBUST AND WELL DESCRIBED, BUT THAT THEY ARE ACTUALLY OCCURRING. OKAY. ANY, ANY OBJECTION TO MOVING THAT TO, UH, TO HAPPY TO BRING IT BACK AT THE WORK SESSION? OKAY. AT THE WORK SESSION, THEREFORE, IN THE FUTURE AGENDA TOPIC. IT'S, IT'S THERE. GOOD, SIR. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. UH, ALSO, UH, IN, IN THE, THE PART TWO SLIDES, I NOTICED, UH, THERE WAS A, UH, SOME SLIDES ON CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM, WHEREAS WE WERE SITTING RIGHT AROUND 23%. SO I, I I, IF THAT'S, IF THAT'S AN ACTUAL PERCENTAGE, UH, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF WE'RE STILL SITTING THERE BECAUSE, UH, WHEN I WENT DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, UH, LAST NIGHT, THE DAY BEFORE, I, I THINK THE STATE AVERAGE IS 10%. SO ARE WE STILL SITTING AT 23? ARE WE STILL SITTING AT ONE IN FOUR? NEARLY ONE IN FOUR KIDS AT, YOU KNOW, MORE THAN 10 ABSENCES A YEAR. SO I, I I WOULD LIKE SOME, UH, I I WOULD LIKE SOME LIKE TO HAVE THAT ADDED TO, UH, FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS. YES. OKAY. COULD I MAKE A SUGGESTION, MR. CHAIR? SURE. I THINK THAT ACTUALLY, WHEN THIS DOES COME BACK, THERE ARE A COUPLE THINGS ON THIS OE THAT MAYBE THE BOARD WOULD WANNA DISCUSS. SO MAYBE WE COULD JUST PUT THIS OE AND HAVING TO DISCUSSION ON THAT IN THE WORK SESSION RATHER THAN JUST, BECAUSE WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE, WE'LL BE VOTING TO APPROVE THE OE AT THAT POINT. OKAY. WE CAN DO THAT. ALL RIGHT. UM, ANYTHING, WELL LET, LET ME GO TO THIS, UH, STATE, UH, LETTER THAT, UH, WE GOT ON OCTOBER 27TH. WE GOT A LETTER FROM, UH, THE, UH, MARITA ALLISON CHAIR OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. I FORWARDED THIS, UH, LETTER TO YOU ALL. MM-HMM . UH, BASICALLY IT'S TALKING ABOUT OUR PROCESS THAT WE EVALUATED, THE BOOKS THAT WERE CHALLENGED, UH, THAT CAME BACK TO US FROM THE STATE. UH, THEY HAVE SEEM TO HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH OUR PROCESS. THEY, THEY DID NOT RECOMMEND ANY CHANGES, BUT THERE ARE FOUR ADDITIONAL BOOKS, 5, 5, 5 [02:15:01] ADDITIONAL BOOKS THAT, UH, THEY WANT US TO EVALUATE. I PROPOSE THAT WE USE THE SAME PROCESS THAT WE USED IN THE LAST TIME AND NOT DOING IT DURING THE WORK SESSION BECAUSE WE WERE CRITICIZED, UH, LAST TIME BECAUSE WE HAD THE WORK SESSIONS DURING THE DAY AND PEOPLE AT WORK COULDN'T PARTICIPATE. ALSO, IT'S KIND OF SHORT NOTICE TO MAKE SURE MRS. SAI IS AVAILABLE. AND, UH, ANY, UH, COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT WISH TO SPEAK IN FAVOR OF THE BOOKS, WE HAVE TO GET THE WORD OUT FOR THAT. SO RECOMMEND THAT THE FIRST MEETING IN DECEMBER, THAT WE INCLUDE THAT AS AN AGENDA TOPIC. AND, UH, WITH FOUR BOOKS, UH, IT SHOULDN'T TAKE AS LONG, UH, FIVE BOOKS. I DON'T KNOW WHY I HAVE FOUR ON MY MIND. FIVE BOOKS. IT SHOULDN'T TAKE AS LONG. AND IF THERE'S NO OBJECTION, UH, WE'LL DO THAT. DO WE KNOW WHAT THE FIVE BOOKS ARE? WE, I DON'T HAVE IT IN THE, IN THE, UH, TBD LATER, SO WE'LL, WE'LL GET THE BOOKS, THE BOOKS OUT I WAS READING. YEAH. OH, MY QUESTION IS, IS IF WE, UH, IF WE DO THAT DURING, DURING THAT TIME AND WE GIVE PEOPLE MORE TIME TO PREPARE IT, I DON'T THINK THAT TIME THEY WILL PREPARE. SO IF THEY, IF THEY DO, I THINK THAT IT WOULD BE MORE, I THINK IT COULD BE MUCH MORE DIFFERENT, UH, IN, IN, IN TERMS OF TIMING. UH, I THINK LAST TIME IT WAS A BREEZE, UH, BECAUSE WE HAD, WE, WE DIDN'T HAVE AS MUCH PEOPLE ON THE, ON THE, ON THE, ON, ON, ON ALIS, ON THE, ON THE OTHER SIDE VERSUS THE, UH, THE, THE FOR. SO I THINK THAT THAT COULD CHANGE THE TIMETABLE. SO I THINK THAT A SPECIAL CALL MEETING. LET, LET, LET, LET ME, LET ME RESPOND TO YOU. OKAY. WE ONLY ALLOWED ONE PERSON TO SPEAK FOR THE BOOK. WE DIDN'T ALLOW EVERYBODY THAT CAME IN THAT WANTED TO SPEAK TO THE BOOK AND THEY WOULD, WE WOULD FOLLOW THAT SAME PROCESS. THE PEOPLE THAT WOULD COME TO THE MEETING, UH, THEY WOULD SAY, OKAY, I WANT TO TALK ABOUT BOOKS SUCH AND SUCH. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. I WANNA TALK, ONE OF YOU'S GONNA TALK ABOUT IT. YOU FIGURE OUT WHO IT IS, BECAUSE WE'RE ONLY GONNA ALLOW ONE, BECAUSE WE HAVE MRS. SALI AS ONE, SO THAT IT WON'T TAKE ANY MORE, LESS, OR MORE TIME PER BOOK THAN IT DID LAST TIME. ALRIGHT? OKAY. THEN WE'LL, WE'LL, UH, DO THAT WITH FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS AS WELL, UH, FOR THE DECEMBER MEETING. IS THAT ALL RIGHT? UH, DR. RODRIGUEZ. OKAY. UH, WE NEED NOW TO, UH, [Consent Agenda] ADDRESS THE CONSENTS AGENDA. DO YOU HAVE A MOTION MOVE? WE APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA SECOND BY MR. DALLAS. ANY DISCUSSION? OKAY. ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM THAT ARE IN FAVOR, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND AND SAY AYE. AYE. ONLINE, UH, MR. UH, PASTOR GORDON? NOTHING, NOTHING HURT. UH, MS. GORDON? MS. GORDON, I THANK YOU. UH, MR. SMALL. AYE. THANK YOU, SIR. AND MS. FRAZIER, RAISE, RAISE YOUR AYE. THANK YOU, MA'AM. ALRIGHT. MOTION CARRIES. UH, ANYBODY OPPOSED? OKAY, I GUESS MOTION CARRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS. [Announcements] EVERYBODY HAVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS? I DO. YES, SIR. UH, JUST WANNA ANNOUNCE, UM, DR. STRADDLES, DO YOU HAVE THE CHOICE BOOKLET? UH, DR. STRADDLES IS GONNA COME AROUND AND HAND YOU EACH A, A COPY OF THE, UH, CHOICE BOOKLET THAT'S HOT OFF THE PRESS. UM, IN ADDITION, JUST WANNA ANNOUNCE THAT ON NOVEMBER 13TH AT THE CULINARY INSTITUTE, WE WILL HAVE A, UH, SHOWCASE, A CHO CHOICE, UH, SHOWCASE. UH, AND OUR SCHOOLS WILL BE THERE. AND, UH, ON NOVEMBER 15TH, THE SHOWCASE WILL BE AT ROBERT SMALLS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY. SO WE'RE DOING TWO ONE, UH, IN SOUTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY, ONE IN NORTHERN BEAUFORT COUNTY. DON'T GIMME ANY OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS, SIR? SEND ME A CUBAN A LINK TO SOMETHING. WHAT TIME? ALL RIGHT, THANK YOU. DR. RADDLE, WHAT'S THE SIX, DR. STRADDLE? SIX O'CLOCK. SIX O'CLOCK. SIX O'CLOCK. OKAY. OKAY. AND THEN THE POSTCARD. OKAY, SO WE HAVE TWO PUBLIC [Second Public Comments] COMMENTS. UH, FIRST PUBLIC COMMENT, UH, IS BY, UH, DID WE DO FUTURE TOPICS ALREADY? YES. WE, WE, WE TALKED TO FUTURE TOPICS. DID YOU HAVE [02:20:01] OTHER FUTURE TOPICS? NO, NO. I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE WE DID IT. YEAH, WE DID. OKAY. I HAVE ONE, IF I MAY. I'M SORRY. OKAY. UH, GO AHEAD. SO ONE, ONE FUTURE TOPIC, UH, POSSIBLY MIGHT BE WORTH OF, UH, SOME DISCUSSION IS WHAT IS THE MOST SENSITIVE, UH, VARIABLE THAT CORRELATES TO ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE? SO WE KNOW THAT FAMILY'S SITUATION IS REALLY BIG. WHAT ABOUT, UH, I LIKE TO HAVE SOME UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMPACT THAT STUDENT TO TEACHER RATIO DOES, BECAUSE IF THAT IS VERY SENSITIVE OR THE SECOND MOST SENSITIVE VARIABLE IN THAT EQUATION, THEN WE MAY TO LONG TERM LOOK AT STRATEGICALLY, HOW DO WE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE STUDENT TO TEACHER RATIO, AND SO THAT KIDS GET MORE, UH, SUPPORT IN EACH CLASS. AND THAT'S IT, SIR, I DO HAVE FUTURE TALKING. GO AHEAD. UM, FIRST OF ALL, UH, HAPPY ELECTION DAY TO EVERYBODY. AND ON THAT VEIN, I AM INTERESTED, I KNOW WE HAVE ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS, UH, AT EACH BOARD MEETING. I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ONE JUST ON WHAT WE'RE DOING WITH CIVICS EDUCATION. UH, K THROUGH 12. OKAY. OKAY. WE GOT THAT. ALL RIGHT. SO, UH, WHERE WE AT? WITH THE RIGHT CHOICES? RIGHT CHOICES? YEAH. ACTUALLY THIS IS A, THIS IS JUST A CHECK IN THIS, IT IS BEEN IN THE QUEUE FOR A WHILE NOW. OKAY, LET'S TURN AND BURN ON THAT. OKAY, I GOT IT. THANK YOU, SIR. ALRIGHT, MR. MILLER, MR. MILLER'S TOPIC IS BANNED FOR A STATE CONTEST. CONTINUED THANK YOU BOARD, AND I APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AND BEARING WITH ME EVERY YEAR OR EVERY COUPLE WEEKS. UH, LAST BOARD MEETING, WE SAID THAT, UH, THE ONE, UH, OUT OF ALL THE HIGH SCHOOLS PARTICIPATED IN THE STATE AND, UH, THAT WAS MAY RIVER. THEY PLACED 15TH OUT OF 20, WHICH WAS UP FROM AN A TIE OF 19TH AND 20TH THE PRIOR YEAR. SO THEY MADE SIGNIFICANT INCREASES. THE, THE CHANCE OF IMPROVING FURTHER, I THINK IS SOMEWHAT LIMITED. THE CHA, IT'S KIND OF LIKE A FOOTBALL GAME. ONCE YOU GET DOWN THE 20TH YARD LINE, IT'S HARD TO MOVE IT MUCH FURTHER. AND PART WHETHER MANY PEOPLE THINK TWO, TWO ELEMENTS GO INTO THE SCORES, HOW WELL YOU PLAY YOUR MUSIC AND HOW WELL YOU MARCH OR HOWEVER YOU ARE SEEN ON THE FIELD. THAT IS NOT THE PRIMARY COMPONENT. THE PRIMARY COMPONENT IS HOW WELL YOU TELL A STORY. IT'S CALLED GENERAL EFFECT THAT YOU SEE. THESE OTHER SCHOOLS, THEY SPEND MONEY, MONEY, MONEY PRESENTING PROPS. FOR EXAMPLE, CARLTON RIVER, THEY'RE THEIR, UH, THEIR PROGRAM WAS ROAD TO SUCCESS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. AND THEY HAD TARPS COMING IN AT A FAR FIVE YARD LINE STRETCHING DOWN THE WHOLE FIELD ON THE BACK AND CURVING AROUND TO THE FRONT. ONCE THEY GOT TO THE GOAL, IT MUST HAVE BEEN F 15, 20 DIFFERENT TARPS THAT THEN WERE PRINTED AS A ROAD. I'M NOT SAYING THE BOARD NEEDS TO, OR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT FUND, THIS KIND OF THING. THIS COMES FROM THE PARENTS AND THE PARENTS NEED TO STEP UP. PART OF THAT IS THE NUMBERS. IF WE HAD MORE STUDENTS, WE WOULD HAVE MORE PARENTS. I SEE THE TIME. THANK YOU MUCH. THANK YOU SIR. NEXT IS MR. ANTHONY CAMBRIA. HIS TOPIC IS STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE. GOOD EVENING BOARD. LET ME START WITH A QUOTE. WE SWALLOW REEDLY, ANY LIE THAT FLATS US, BUT WE SIP ONLY LITTLE BY LITTLE AT A TRUTH WE FIND BITTER. THAT WAS DENNIS AU. MY COMMENTS WILL SUMMARIZE THE DATA THAT I SENT TO YOU WHEN COMPARING THE STATES ALGEBRA TEST SCORES. AND OF OUR AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS WHERE THEY'RE KIND OF IN SIX [02:25:01] SIMILAR DISTRICTS AND THE STATE SIMILAR DISTRICTS, APPLES TO APPLES, OUR STUDENTS RANK SEVENTH OR LAST IN THE PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS THAT PERFORMED AT THE MEET OR EXCEED LEVEL GRADE A, B, OR C. THEY RANK SEVENTH OR LAST IN THE PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS THAT PERFORMED AT A GRADE OF A. THEY RANKED SIXTH OR SECOND TO LAST IN THE PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS THAT OPERATED AT A GRADE OF B. THE STATE OUT PERFORMED BEAUFORT COUNTY ON ALL FOUR ASSESSMENTS CATEGORIES. THE MOST EMBARRASSING STATISTIC, BUFORT COUNTY RANKED FIRST WERE THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS PERFORMING AT THAT DOES NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS AT 71.23. THAT'S ENOUGH SMOKE IN THE ROOM TO CRY OUT FIRE. THE FIRE IS LEARNING INEQUITY. INEQUITY IS A POLICY CHOICE. THE FACTS ARE AMERICAN STUDENTS HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO FACE A HIGHER RATE OF FAILURE COMPARED TO THEIR COUNTERPARTS. THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP IS NOT ABOUT INDIVIDUAL ABILITY, BUT ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS. OUR MINORITY STUDENTS ENCOUNTER SYSTEMIC INEQUALITIES, DISPROPORTIONATE DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS, SOCIAL ECONOMIC DISPARITIES, IMPLICIT BIAS, AND AN UNEQUAL ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION. IN BEAUFORT COUNTY, WE CALL THE CHOICE PROGRAM. COVID CAN NO LONGER BE AN EXCUSE. A LACK OF RESOURCES SHOULD NEVER BE SUGGESTED. EVERY ONE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT'S REQUESTS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED. WHEN WILL THIS BOARD MEET ITS OBLIGATION OF OVERSIGHT AND MANDATE ACCOUNTABILITY TO ADDRESS THE TWO TIER SYSTEM OF ACHIEVEMENT OUTCOMES BEING EXPERIENCED AND AMONG OUR STUDENTS AND WITHIN OUR SCHOOLS. COME OUT OF YOUR OVERSIGHT LIMBO AND MAKE LEARNING INEQUITY A PRIORITY. DEMAND THAT LEARNING INEQUITY BE ON THE AGENDA SETTING, MEETING THE MEETINGS THAT THE CHAIR HAS SAID IS NO LONGER NECESSARY. THERE IS NO ACHIEVEMENT GAP AT BIRTH. THANK YOU. THERE BE NO OBJECTION. WE WILL. YES, SIR. SIR? UH, UH, THERE'S A COUPLE THINGS ALSO, UM, IN THE REPORT, UH, UM, UH, UNDER OUR FUTURE TOPIC, I'D ALWAYS LIKE TO PUT A, UH, A REQUEST IN FOR ATHLETICS. AF FROM THERE, FROM MY A ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, UH, OUR DISTRICT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, WE HADN'T HEARD FROM HIM IN A WHILE. SO WE KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. AND ALSO, I LIKE TO, UH, ENCOMPASS BOTH OF THESE GUYS, UH, BOTH OF THESE, UH, PEOPLE'S COMMENTS AFTER LOOKING AT OUR SCORES TO OUR, TO OUR BOARD MINUTES MEETINGS, BECAUSE THE THESE ARE POINT OF ORDER. WE DON'T RESPOND. DON'T RESPOND. REPUBLIC COMMENTS. AND IF ONE OF US DOESN'T, COMMENTS, WE'RE NOT GOING TO TODAY. THE OTHER ONES CAN'T, WE CAN'T DO IT. I'M NOT, I'M NOT RESPONDING. YES, YOU ARE. YOU POINTED AT THEM AND SAID, I'D LIKE TO RESPOND TOO. WE DON'T DO IT. I DIDN'T SAY RESPOND. I SAID I WOULD LIKE TO ENCOMPASS BOTH OF THEIR, LET ME FINISH. I LIKE TO RE ENCOMPASS BOTH OF THEIR COMMENTS AND, AND, AND OUR BOARD MINUTES. THAT'S, THAT IS WHAT I'M SAYING. I I WANTED BOTH OF, BOTH OF THEIR COMMENTS AND, AND, AND OUR BOARD MEMBERS TO REFLECT. THAT'S WHAT I WAS SAYING. COMMENTS ARE ON TAPE FOR ANYBODY TO SEE, AND THEY WILL REMAIN ON TAPE FOR ANYBODY TO SEE. AND THAT IS ALL WHAT PEOPLE MAY, PEOPLE MAY NOT LOOK AT THE TAPE, THEY MAY LOOK AT OUR DOCUMENTS, AND IF THEY LOOK AT OUR DOCUMENTS, THEN LET THEM READ IT. THAT, THAT, I MEAN, THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT'S, THAT'S A BOARD MEMBER. WE CAN VOTE IT UP OR VOTE IT DOWN POINT BLANK, PERIOD. IF YOU, ARE YOU GONNA MAKE A MOTION? YEAH. THIS TIME I'LL MAKE, I'LL MAKE A MOTION. IF A MOTION OVERTURN THAT CHAIR. THAT'S WHAT YOUR MOTION WILL BE. I'LL MAKE A MOTION TO OVERTURN THE CHAIR. THAT, THAT THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT. IT'S, IT'S SIMPLE. APPEALING THE RULE OF THE CHAIR. I'M, I'M APPEALING THE RULE OF THE CHAIR. OKAY. TO, TO, TO HAVE BOTH OF THOSE, BOTH OF BOTH OF THEM WITH THEIR COMMENTS TO BE NOTED AS WE USED TO HAVE IN UNDER OUR BOARD, UNDER OUR BOARDS. UNDER OUR BOARD. UM, I, I, I OUR BOARD NOTES, HOWEVER YOU WANNA PUT IT. IS THERE A SECOND? IS THERE A SECOND? IS THERE A SECOND? ONLINE? THEY AIN'T GONNA DO IT. I HEAR NO. SECOND, THE MOTION FAILS AND WITHOUT FURTHER, UH, DISCUSSION OR OBJECTION, WE WILL, UH, ADJOURN BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT. YES, SIR. THANK YOU. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.