Coraggio Consulting
Hanover County School Board Meeting, Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Place: Hanover County School Board, Virginia
Length: 2h 23m (video)
Official meeting video (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1506/media

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-24. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:05] Good evening. I think it goes without saying that I state the obvious that Ms. Welch is not here this evening. So I will be taking over her role, as everyone knows. Some of us may not have known. What I would like to do first is call this meeting to open this September 9th, 2025, Hanover County School Board meeting.

[00:00:28] And with that, I would like to take a motion to approve the agenda as presented. I move we approve the agenda as presented. I have a second for Mr. Martin. Apologies, Mr. Schropp, Dr. Schropp. Any discussion?

[00:00:45] All in favor, say aye. Those say no. Agenda approved. Mr. Martin, will you please make a motion to get us into closed session?

[00:01:02] Yes, sir. I move to intercession in accordance with Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3711A1, personnel review recommendations of the superintendent for resignations, appointments, transfers, assignments, promotions, terminations, salary adjustments, and leave of absence for teachers and other employees.

[00:01:22] Section 2.2-3711A2, consideration of requests for a religious exemption from compulsory school attendance. And 2.2-3711A3, discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body, Washington Henry Elementary Construction. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Do we have a second? Thank you, Dr. Shrove. Any discussion?

[00:01:56] No discussion. All those in favor say aye. Those in favor say no. We are in closed session

[00:02:05] Good evening and welcome. Thank you everyone for being here this evening your time and consideration

[01:00:25] Your eyes aren't fooling you. Ms. Welsh is not here this evening So I am filling in for her and Mr. Martin will be the acting vice chair this evening so bear with us and please be patient thank you and with that uh dr strofe i would like a motion to come back into open session mr chairman i move to return to open session thank you do we have a

[01:00:49] second thank you miss lynn all in those in favor say aye aye opposed motion moved okay mr martin can you please uh make a motion to certify the meeting yes sir the board will certify the following whereas the hanover county school board has convened closed meeting on this date pursuant to the affirmation recorded voted and in accordance with the provisions of the virginia freedom of

[01:01:22] information act and whereas section 2.2-3712d of the code of virginia requires a certification by the school board that such executive meeting was conducted in conformity with virginia law now therefore it be resolved that the hanover county school board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the executive meeting to which this certification applies, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion

[01:01:58] convening the executive meeting were heard, discussed, or considered. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Do I have a second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion moved. Next up, we'll do Dr.

[01:02:20] Schroff will do the invocation. And after that, we'll have Cameron Concepcion say the Pledge of Allegiance. Dr. Schroff. Bauerheads. Gracious and loving God, we lift before you our schools, places meant to be havens of learning, growth, and friendship. Surround every student, teacher, staff member, and family with your protection and peace. We remember with heavy hearts the victims of school shootings, children whose laughter was silenced too soon, educators who gave their lives and families left with grief beyond words. Hold them in your eternal light

[01:02:56] and may their memories inspire us to seek a safer and kinder world. Lord, we confess the weight of fear that shadows our schools. We ask for courage to confront violence, wisdom for leaders, and communities to act with compassion and justice, and strength for all of us to overcome despair with hope. Bless our students with curiosity and joy. Bless our teachers with patience and perseverance. Bless our schools with safety, belonging, and love. May every classroom be a place where our hearts are nurtured, our minds are expanded, and peace takes root. We pray for the day when violence no longer enters our schools, when children's dreams grow freely without fear,

[01:03:34] and when communities rise together in unity, determined to protect the most precious among us.

[01:03:39] In your mercy, hear our prayer. Okay, we're going to move on here, get a motion to get approval of

[01:04:17] meeting minutes. Mr. Chairman, I move to approve minutes for the recently held meetings. Thank you, Mr. Seifert. Do we have a second? Thank you, Mr. Martin. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion moved. All right, next up is Dr. Penny Cuff, report on the 25-26 school

[01:04:48] opening. Good evening again, school board members, Mrs. Hahn and Mrs. Brown. Each year at the school board meeting in September, I have the wonderful opportunity to present a report to you on behalf of the school division on the opening of the school year. I am excited to share that we have had a Hanover Strong start filled with energy, optimism, and as always, a deep commitment to our

[01:05:25] students' success. From the time our teachers returned to our We Are Family convocation and into the first few weeks of school, our schools have been buzzing with excitement and enthusiasm. While I will share with you some data regarding our first few weeks of school, I'd also like to share that the start of the school year has been filled with moments that remind us why we do this important work.

[01:05:51] Students making new friends, teachers igniting curiosity, and even our high school students giving back to their elementary schools by helping us welcome new students on the first day of school. Care is at the heart of what we do, and it is at the heart of our Hanover County Public Schools family.

[01:06:12] We are so proud of what we've already seen this school year, and I am glad to walk with you through what has been a great start. First, let's take a look at the successful opening that we will build on in the months ahead. Approximately 16,700 students in preschool through 12th grade have arrived in our schools.

[01:06:36] Our elementary schools provide more than 1,650 minutes of instruction every week. Our middle school students attend more than 15,500 blocks every day, and our high school teachers instruct more than 2,000 unique classes.

[01:07:01] Approximately 64,300 meals were served in the first two weeks of school. Our school buses travel 10,620 miles every day. And to put that in perspective, that's like driving from Hanover County to Los Angeles and back twice every day.

[01:07:20] Approximately 2.4 million people have been cumulatively reached on our social media during our back-to-school campaign. The expanded mass communications platform, ParentSquare, automatically reaches 99.6% of our families.

[01:07:38] And as of this afternoon, we are recruiting for only one teacher vacancy. and I have to share with you in in that position we have a retired teacher from Hanover who's serving as the long-term substitute in that content area until we find a permanent teacher to replace and I think that's part of Hanover Strong is that our teachers who've retired come back to help us to be sure we don't have any gaps and that's a blessing. I also have to share with you that our teacher attrition data for this year shows that we are down from 11.58% to 9.65%

[01:08:18] and we haven't been that low here in Hanover since the 2019-20 school year. We are very very proud of our teachers and staff that are here in Hanover to serve our children. As we highlighted during convocation, from teachers to cafeteria staff to our counselors to our bus drivers and so many others, we are blessed with a tremendous close-knit family that makes the magic happen for our

[01:08:51] students each and every day. Our students continue to excel at the highest levels with test scores that place us among the highest performing school divisions in the Commonwealth. You can see that our students continue to outperform state averages in all four content areas, reading, math, science, and history. Hanover County leads the region in all of those content areas. And once again,

[01:09:23] we have the highest pass rates in math among Virginia's 15 largest school divisions. When schools are performing at such an exceptional level, every step forward represents extraordinary dedication and hard work, making these last improvements truly exceptional. The scores increased in three of the four content areas, including a two-point gain in reading. These gains are the direct result of the collective effort of our students, teachers, staff, families, and

[01:09:58] community. Together, we have faithfully implemented the Virginia Literacy Act and utilized the high quality instructional materials adopted by our school board last school year. This success reflects the intentional work and collaboration of our school board, of our administrators, our teachers, and our families in putting the Virginia Literacy Act and the science of reading into practice. We are proud of the progress being made and confident that this momentum

[01:10:30] will carry us towards even greater accomplishments. During the 25-26 school year, our focus areas will include a kindness and anti-bullying campaign. This will have a division-wide emphasis that includes kindness-themed activities, lessons, and celebrations. We will continue to provide engaging learning environments that remain free of mobile devices. We also have three schools under construction or in the design phase. Beaverdam Elementary School and Battlefield Park

[01:11:10] Elementary School are scheduled to open in the fall of 26, and Washington Henry will follow close behind and open in the fall of 27. While academic growth and achievement remain at the heart of our mission, we know that it is kindness that creates the foundation for safe, supportive, and thriving schools. Whether it's in welcoming a new student, lending a hand to a classmate, or offering a word of encouragement, these simple acts have a profound impact on the lives of others.

[01:11:45] There has been great excitement and optimism during the start of this school year as we have welcomed our students back to school. Now we'd like to share a look at some of the back-to-school

[01:11:56] joy that we have seen. Oh, it's got sound, so let's see. Are we able to get the sound to, not from

[01:12:28] there, Justin? Thank you. We may get to watch it again with sound. Our students are our why. We have

[01:15:00] the honor of serving our community's most precious resource, the children. We are eager each day to be excellent in teaching, in learning, and in leadership, as we recognize that by doing so, we are empowering confident, productive, lifelong learners and our children. It has been a great and energetic start to the school year, and we are looking forward to the continued success of our students and staff. Thank you all for your support of our schools. We appreciate you.

[01:15:33] Thank you, Dr. Pennecoff. Are you taking questions or comments or anything? Yes. Anybody have any comments questions yeah but um the attrition data on the teachers is fantastic um for for any probably type of sector but but for teachers i dr parker and your team should be very proud of that i doubt there's many public school systems that are back to pre-pandemic levels with their attrition um but i i think we have to recognize that it's beyond just central office i think the principals and the leadership within the buildings are the ones that create and set the culture and they deserve a heck of a lot of credit for for those retention numbers i know a lot of

[01:16:12] principals are here so thank you to you guys because y'all really do you set the culture you drive that and it's just fantastic to see mr martin i think if they're here we should have the principals stand up and we should give them a round of applause for those retention absolutely dr smith thank you i did cringe at the 64k and the number of the dollars and meals because i feel like a third of that came out of my checking account. Thank you, Dr. Pettico. Okay, without

[01:16:50] further ado, next up is Mr. Chris Whitley with recognition. Oh yeah, school board members, let's all hop up and go down to the front, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board. I will

[01:17:09] pause while you all come to the front. Right. Our first recognition of the night goes to an exceptional athlete from Raider Nation who earned the distinction of being named as the 2025 VHSL class four baseball player of the year. Please join me in welcoming Atlee baseball head coach Mike Morris, who will introduce and share a few words about this special baseball player.

[01:17:48] Coach Morris, please come forward. Dr. Penny Cuff, acting chairman Coleman, thank you for the time tonight and the recognition of the outstanding athlete. Unfortunately, I'm not here tonight recognizing that we won another state title, but you can't win them all every year. For the second year in a row, we are, however, recognizing someone from the Attlee baseball program that got an individual state award. Barrett Buckholz's junior-senior season was one for the ages. The

[01:18:23] spark plug for the Attlee Raider baseball team was consecutive years all-region, all-state, and all-metro. His 2025 campaign, he was, however, unanimous all-region outfielder, unanimous region player of the year, all-metro selection, unanimous all-state outfielder, and unanimous state player of the year.

[01:18:42] Statistically, Barrett hit .492 with a .584 on base percentage, a .1283 OPS. He had 31 hits, four doubles, three home runs, 16 RBIs, 31 runs scored, 13 walks, 12 stolen bases, and led the Raiders to a back-to-back regional championships as well as the state semifinal berth.

[01:19:01] Dr. Penny Cuff, Acting Chairman Coleman, and the distinguished members of the board, I'd like to present to you 2025 region and state player of the year, Atleys and Hanover Zone, Barrett Buchholz and if we could have all those representing Raider Nation, please come forward. I know that the student Activities director and one of the assistant principals is here

[01:20:01] Okay, and our tonight's final recognitions go to three schools that earned the distinction of being named as a national PTA schools of excellence These Hanover schools are three of only 330 schools and PTAs in the United States to achieve this prestigious status this year

[01:20:34] In addition, they make up three of only 24 Virginia schools to earn this coveted designation which recognizes the commitment of schools and PTAs in building partnerships between families and their schools that are enriching the educational experiences and overall well-being for all students.

[01:20:52] Congratulations goes to Beaverdam Elementary School, Chickahominy Middle School, and Elmont Elementary School. Will all representatives from each school please come forward to be recognized?

[01:21:02] Mr. Chairman members of the board that concludes this portion of our recognitions. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Whaley

[01:22:57] Next up we're going to do a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. No. Oh, that's right. Thank you, Mr. Martin Yep, any board member announcements at this time? Mr. Seifert. Yes, sir. Thank you I would just like to recognize the administrators and principals and teachers who have done such an amazing job with the rollout of the recess I've heard or the increased risk recess. I've heard nothing but a Great things from the parents and talking to principals.

[01:23:26] The flexibility has been great. Two 20-minute periods, 33 minutes plus 7, 10, 30. So super impressed with all the work that went into making that happen. And then also wanted to recognize a citizen and parent who came here to a school board meeting and spoke so eloquently.

[01:23:44] I really believe provided the spark to get the process rolling with the increased recess. And that's Michael Burdan, and actually came and spoke twice about it. So just the power of citizens in our county, in our country, and just want to thank him. And again, all the principals, administrators, and teachers for making it so successful.

[01:24:04] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Seibert. Anybody else? Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you as a father to a first grader, to all the student athletes that welcome the kindergartners and first graders on the first day from our high schools.

[01:24:21] I don't know whose idea it was. Nobody's been able to take credit for it yet, but it's really cool to see dropping off anxious kids that young to be greeted by people they think are heroes because they're in a uniform and they go to a high school. And it's just an awesome partnership between our oldest learners and our youngest learners who are quite anxious probably on the first day.

[01:24:40] And those high school kids could have slept in because they didn't have to go to school that day. So pretty cool that they opted to come do that. So I just want to say thank you to them and whoever's responsible for it because it's a really cool thing that we do. thank you thank you mr martin i think that'll do it uh we're going to move on to the motion to approve the consent agenda as presented i move we approve the agenda as presented thank you dr shelpe do we have a second thank you mr martin any discussion all those in favor say aye aye

[01:25:17] opposed motion is moved i've been looking forward to this one um miss greif or would you like to introduce or do we want to oh here we go all right this evening we're going to uh hear an instructional highlight, Plant the Moon NASA Regional Space Program or Space Grant Expansion Project. Thank you. Mr. Vice Chair, board members, Dr. Panikoff, senior staff, I have the privilege

[01:25:53] tonight of introducing the instructional highlight of the brilliant award-winning future astronauts and engineers from Oknole Middle School. I'm sorry? You know what? Honestly, it's whatever

[01:26:23] y'all want to do. I think I have that right. I can do that. Yeah. If someone does speak, just speak loudly so everybody can hear you. Thank you guys so much for this opportunity. We are thrilled to represent Hanover County Public Schools. This is the second year that Oak Knoll has participated in this challenge and actually the second year that we've won a state award.

[01:26:51] These guys really took it home. Without further ado, I am Kara Zedeker, physical science teacher this year. This is Chelsea DeMille, life science teacher, and Ms. Catherine Chucci, gifted teacher. And here we go. - So what is the Plant the Moon Challenge?

[01:27:09] This challenge is inspired by one question, can lunar soil support plant growth? Taking inspiration from NASA's lunar exploration program, Artemis, it is a perfect marriage of these studies of agriculture and aerospace.

[01:27:27] - So how did we do this? Step one, we needed to assemble the team. So students had to apply to participate and we selected them, it was a rigorous process. And they took this on willingly extracurricular after school and we worked this in during our flex time built into the day as well. We had seventh grade participants at the time and eighth grade mentors, and they did a wonderful job.

[01:27:50] - Then it came time to make the plan. For this step, the students independently researched and selected the plants that they used for their experiment. For this project, they had to use at least 50% of the moon simulant soil in each of the pots.

[01:28:05] So they had to plan for the portions of the regolith and soil. - Planting day was next. This was the most exciting, yes. Safety was absolutely critical. This particulate matter is really fine, so they had to wear N95 masks.

[01:28:22] We had to wear goggles, gloves. We got safety coats because we looked extra scientific. And they did an excellent job. They executed their plans, and we got rolling. So this started for the entire competition on February 4th, and it kicked off our eight-week growth period.

[01:28:40] After planting day, the real work began. This is a student-led research project. And so for three months, students were in charge of watering the plants, collecting growth data, and writing their own reports. And finally, in their own words, we have here the international award-winning Biocosmos crew.

[01:29:02] Hello, we're the Biocosmos crew. What is our spark? Our spark was basically all about man's greatest accomplishment, which is, as we all know, going to space. We all were curious about the Artemis space mission, which is said to take astronauts back to the moon.

[01:29:19] Our guiding question throughout this experiment was, what if this time we could find a way to grow food on the moon so that astronauts could actually live there. Our logistics included weight and soil to regloid ratios. This is the BioCosmos Crew's logo.

[01:29:36] We put a lot of time and effort into designing it with a lot of meaning. But today I'm going to summarize it for you. It displays the plant we planted in the lunar regolith, which was kale, and our team name. You can also see the glowing moon behind the plant.

[01:29:55] Our hypothesis was if we use various amendments and change the amount of supplements we add to the lunar regolith, then we will be able to decide which component will work best to grow the kale.

[01:30:10] This will allow us to see which nutrients kale needs and what they don't need. This will help scientists to save both money and space. Our planting process, our independent variable, was the amount of additive we included to the base lunar soil.

[01:30:27] Our control was 100% lunar regolith, and our pots 1 to 9, we added 25, 35, and 45% compost. You could see the ratios from compost to lunar soil in the table below.

[01:30:47] Below are tables that have the data average of each experimental group at the end of the growth period. This is our data for this experimental group, pots 7, 8, and 9.

[01:31:05] the sprouts were quite healthy, but their progress wasn't as high compared to the compost group. These were our fertilizer MMI results. These results really shocked us because in the fertilizer pots, not even one seed sprouted. We treated each experimental group the same exact way.

[01:31:25] The only difference about these pots was that we added fertilizer. However, we believe that the nitrogen and phosphorus that was in the fertilizer could not combine as well in the lunar soil, which caused the plants to not grow. Our hypothesis was supported by our experiment results. We can conclude that using 35% or more of composted lunar soil allows plants to receive the essential nutrients they need. Even though discovering the best supplement was our primary goal, this experiment also talks about extraterrestrial conditions and how plants need to be nurtured in certain ways for them to truly flourish. We had to devise methods like using pipettes to get

[01:32:02] the water all around the pots so that plants could germinate without trouble. How does our experiment help NASA. The outcome of our experiment helps scientists determine what amendment is best for plant growth in lunar conditions. This will allow scientists to better understand what challenges can be taken on by what types of plants to know what conditions they can survive in on the moon.

[01:32:28] Our team won state, regional, and international awards for the spring 2025 season. This past June, we went to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to present our work and receive our awards. Here are some photos from our trip a smaller message from me the project manager We would all like to thank our team members our coaches miss miss Etiker miss Chuchi and Miss Millie and NASA ICS and the Virginia space grant for acknowledging the passions like the kids of us and supporting our dreams

[01:33:03] We would also like to thank hand overboard for inviting us today and allowing us to be present Thank you real quick real quick hold on we might have some questions up here never know i've got one but does anybody have anything or questions comments dr show i just have to ask how much lunar regolith did you have or were you given so we received from nasa i believe how

[01:33:38] much was it it was it was a big plastic bag yeah it was about like three liters and we had to divide that yeah yeah so there's a lab in florida that makes this simulant using all sorts of prior knowledge. And the grant was funded by NASA, so they were able to support the research for their questions. Anybody else? Dr. Schroff? Yeah, Mr. Chair, I just want to say, as somebody who's

[01:34:14] fascinated with the space industry, all the way back to the Gemini astronauts, and I just want to say how impressed I am with all of you. It's really just fascinating to see, and congratulations to each of you thank you absolutely how did we choose kale so for us particularly we found that kale it was easy to grow it took the least amount of time to like sprout and germinate and it was already resistant to hard challenges here on earth so we thought that since these hard challenges included lack of sunlight and like high pressured winds we thought that it would be best suited on

[01:34:53] moon conditions very nice and it's healthy right yes very healthy and not to put anybody on the spot, but who wants to work for NASA or be an astronaut one day? There we go. A very big dream of mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. Best of luck. I think you're on your way. Thank you. Thank y'all. We're into the information and discussion section. First up is the VA 250 anniversary follow-up.

[01:35:29] Mr. Coleman, school board members, Dr. Penny Cuff, senior staff, good evening. Dr. Reams and I are glad to provide an update on the activities our schools are planning to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Please note that we are sharing a sampling, not all of the activities. I think we'd be here for several hours. The 250th anniversary of American Independence provides an opportunity to educate our students about American history, value, and beliefs.

[01:36:08] Principals and their teams are reviewing resources provided by the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia 250 Commission and are planning activities and programs that teach students about our history, foundational values, and beliefs.

[01:36:27] Examples may include lessons, assemblies, performances, guest speakers, field trips, and more. A few school-specific examples include the following. Battlefield Park Elementary School will host a stream night for families and incorporate activities to recognize the 250th anniversary.

[01:36:49] Cold Harbor Elementary School students will participate in a scavenger hunt about the history of Virginia. Second grade students at Kersey Creek Elementary School will learn about the revolutionaries who fought for America's freedom in the founding of the nation unit. Fourth graders at Mechanicsville Elementary will represent important Virginians in their living wax museum.

[01:37:09] Pearsons Corner Elementary School is planning a Reading Revolution Week. South Anna Elementary students will visit Jamestown and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Sixth graders at Liberty Middle School will visit Historic Scotchtown, home place of Patrick Henry, for a two-hour tour and on-site activity.

[01:37:30] Bell Creek Middle School students will engage in Constitution lessons during their civics classes. Students at Adley High School will learn about prominent African Americans who have made an impact on our country during daily morning announcements. Hanover High School will have a VA 250 Spirit Week in March.

[01:37:49] Students at Mechanicsville High School will visit the Hanover Tavern for a historic immersion experience. Patrick Henry High School will host their annual Veterans Program and Luncheon. And Hanover County will conduct the 10th annual Hanover Salutes event in May to honor students making a commitment to serve in the United States Armed Services after graduation from high school.

[01:38:10] Several principals have also applied to bring the 250th Mobile Museum, a hands-on, interactive, and immersive museum on wheels, to their school. The Mobile Museum brings key stories of Virginia's rich history and highlights every region of the state.

[01:38:27] We are also excited to host the Traveling Love Sign at each school. Schools will be provided with five facts to share during announcements when the love sign is at their school. Additionally, we will plan a division-wide VA 250 Spirit Week, likely during the week of March 23rd, to commemorate Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty speech.

[01:38:46] More information and details to follow soon. We are also glad to share that author and Bell Creek Middle School history teacher Joe Gorman has published a book that celebrates the rich history and proud heritage of Hanover County African Americans. Mr. Gorman will present an overview of his book at a variety of organizations and locations throughout Hanover in 2026. Dr. Reams and I are also collaborating with Dr. Fisher and the curriculum and instruction team to plan and support Virginia 250 activities

[01:39:23] in classrooms, schools, corridors, and the community. As you can see, our schools are planning a plethora of activities and programs to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence.

[01:39:39] And we are glad to answer any questions. Thank you. It sounds like we've made a lot of progress, which is awesome. Yes, sir. Does anybody have any comments, questions? Mr. Seiber? I do, and when I read the agenda beforehand, just super excited to see all these activities.

[01:39:56] I appreciate all the work and effort that's going into this. I was going to ask, I heard one school, a middle school, going to Scotchtown. I thought all of them went to Scotchtown. Is that still correct? Yes, all of our sixth graders will go to Scotchtown. Again, we wanted to provide a sampling from all of our schools.

[01:40:14] We have some programs that will be at all of our schools, the veterans programs and so on. And you're absolutely correct. Scotchtown will be visited by all sixth graders. Super. That's awesome to hear. Yes, sir. And it was just such a great idea. I think the Spirit Week.

[01:40:31] Yeah, just seeing what that becomes or whatever at each of the schools. Super excited to see how that plays out. So thank you. And I would assume that Mr. Whitley and his crew will be doing lots of pictures and posts and all that good stuff. Absolutely. Great. Thank you. Thank you.

[01:40:47] Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on to review of proposed revised policies with Ms. Leah Hopp. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. We have provided a summary of each of these policies for first read.

[01:41:07] Most of them are on here because they have some sort of substantive change from the General Assembly that I wanted you to have an opportunity to see and have it brought to your attention. The most notable one is likely going to be the change to 7-6.1.

[01:41:26] This one requires, and this is from the General Assembly, this is not unique to Hanover. All of the schools are tasked with adopting a policy that provides parental notification within 24 hours, and this is parents in the affected school, within 24 hours of a school-related overdose.

[01:41:48] Now, this can be done with confirmation from law enforcement or EMS, or if the principal otherwise has knowledge that this is, in fact, an overdose. So this gives our families an opportunity to know what's going on, check in with their children, and essentially have more information. And as I said, this is a requirement from the General Assembly. The other changes, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have or talk more about any of them that you are

[01:42:23] particularly interested in, but otherwise the descriptions that have been provided cover what has been included. Thank you, Ms. Hahn. Questions, comments, discussion? Great job. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next up, I see some folks moving. Here we go. New course proposals for 26-27. You're up.

[01:42:56] Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. Penikoff, and senior staff. Each fall, the curriculum and instruction team has the opportunity to recommend courses that curriculum specialists believe will enhance the educational opportunities that we offer to the students of Hanover County Public Schools.

[01:43:17] In order to make these recommendations, our team maintains an awareness of courses that have been approved by the Board of Education, considers student interest, and identifies how the coursework will prepare students for their post-secondary experiences. Tonight, three specialists are present to introduce three high school courses, Automotive Entrepreneurship, Data Science, and Environmental Science.

[01:43:42] Each specialist will share with you a brief overview of the course content and our rationale for recommending that we include this course in our program of studies for the upcoming school year. If these courses are approved, students will be able to register for them this spring for enrollment beginning in the 2026-27 school year.

[01:44:00] Mr. Justin Roerink, Coordinator of Career and Technical Education and Workforce Development, will introduce our first course proposal this evening. Good evening, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. Penikoff, and senior staff.

[01:44:16] I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss a new course proposal with you all. Tonight, we're proposing a new automotive entrepreneurship course. This course will help students understand the steps to create, own, and launch their own business in the automotive industry and related fields.

[01:44:32] students will learn concepts and techniques for planning an entrepreneurial venture using design thinking and business model development. This new course would be available for auto tech students at the Hanover Center for Trades and Technology. Currently students complete auto tech one and two in their first year three block course and if they come back the next year to the Hanover Center they can take a two block auto tech three course and during the final block they can either take an automotive internship or take part in this new course. Thank you for your considerations for this request and I'm happy to answer any questions you may

[01:45:05] have. Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Seifert? Mr. Rourke, I really appreciate a great brief. This is for all the courses, big picture. Do these courses kind of come off the shelf from somewhere or is this a course that you envisioned and created?

[01:45:23] So entrepreneurship is a course that exists at the state level, a general entrepreneurship course. But this was one that we were looking at for automotive, specifically, number one, because we love the idea of giving kids this kind of interest. We have kids in automotive that are seeking to open their own businesses and small engine type experiences.

[01:45:44] And it also helps alleviate an issue with a current course that doesn't have a CT endorsement area anymore. Okay. Yeah. Are there other schools that offer this exact same course? No, not in Hanover. We're utilizing the entrepreneurship curriculum, just putting basically an automotive slant to it.

[01:46:02] So our instructor will just be utilizing a curriculum, but giving kind of automotive content. So that way, you know, students are in automotive already, and now they're able to look for opportunities that they're wishing to open some sort of business in the future related to this content. Okay, I think that's great.

[01:46:18] Super, thank you. Are there any perceptorships or shadow programs that they do or things that the students go out in the community and visit local businesses to try and gather information, learn, observe? That certainly can be included as a component of the course.

[01:46:35] Work-based learning is a part of all of our CTE program areas as opportunities, so certainly those kind of experiences can be things we can explore. And I appreciate the small engine direction because I've got a bit of a boneyard behind my shed with tillers, so it'd be awesome if I could just drop them off.

[01:46:51] So our first client is what I hear, right? I can drop them both off. Thank you. You're welcome. Anybody else? All right.

[01:47:08] Thanks for your time. Hi, good evening, Mr. Vice Chair, Dr. Penicuff, members of the board, senior staff. I'm Ian Shank, Mathematics Curriculum Specialist for Hanover County, here to talk to you about a course proposal for data science. So in today's data-driven world, understanding how to collect, analyze, and interpret data is a critical skill.

[01:47:26] To help address this reality, the Virginia Department of Education created the Data Science Standards of Learning for school divisions to implement in a data science course. After looking into these standards, exploring the instructional resources that were provided, and learning from other school divisions who have implemented this course, we are now proposing that Hanover County add data science as a year-long mathematics elective.

[01:47:49] Data science would be taught through a project-based lens, providing students the opportunity to learn the principles of data science through investigating and analyzing real-world data, applying statistical methods to make informed decisions, using programming languages to visualize data.

[01:48:06] understand the ethical implications of data use. We anticipate this course being of interest to a large number of high school students, potentially serving as a fourth math class for students who may not have otherwise taken four years of mathematics, or providing a course that may be more relevant to their interest and career pathways. Happy to answer any questions that you may have. Mr. Seifert, anticipating one that you may have. I'm sorry, but I don't have one. I just I I think this is great, though, and, you know, coming up with a course that, you know, that you can put into action more than theory so much.

[01:48:42] So, yeah, great. Absolutely. And to Mr. Seifert's point, the idea of the direction, do they have respective job descriptions that would fit this type of curriculum? So very many. So the original standards of learning were developed in 2022 by a team of college professors, of mathematics educators, and by practicing data scientists.

[01:49:06] And they looked into the data science that our students would need to be able to be successful. I'm recognizing the data science as one of the fastest growing fields, projected to grow at about 30% of the current rate. Is this in the CRM and Salesforce worlds?

[01:49:23] It could be just about everything. But absolutely, that would be connected. It's really the combination of mathematics and statistics and computer science, along with real-world business and economic, any type of data that you could come up with.

[01:49:38] Very nice, yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? All right, thank you. Mr. Vice Chair, board members, senior staff, Dr. Panikoff, thank you for allowing me to speak.

[01:49:55] Wayne Gilchrist, I am the science specialist for Hanover County. Thank you for allowing me to present this new proposal. We are proposing the adoption of the new Department of Education's high school environmental science course as a year-long elective.

[01:50:14] This new course was designed to use the high-interest topic of the environment to provide a foundational, very big-picture view of all the interconnections within the sciences of biology, chemistry, and earth science, and all the interactions between organisms in the ecosystem to engage students, to investigate all those connections in the classroom, lab, and field, so that we can build a strong foundation for their future biology and other science courses, which will allow them to achieve a standard or advanced diploma, ultimately create scientifically literate graduates to fulfill the Hanover promise.

[01:50:53] Any questions? Thank you. Any questions? Would this fall in the realm of environmental engineering, things like that, approaches? This is... Or more on the biology, science side of things.

[01:51:08] This is kind of a foundational look at the big picture of how studying the environment is the interaction of biology, chemistry, and all that. Engineering would be the application down the line. We're taking the high-interest environmental elective, semester elective of middle school, and giving them a chance to do a deeper dive.

[01:51:29] Very nice. All right. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next up, dual enrollment.

[01:51:52] Mr. Holman, member of the members of the school board, Dr. Penny Cuff and senior staff. Good evening. I'm Andrea Herndon. I'm the coordinator of gifted education and advanced studies. And I'm excited to be back talking a little bit more about dual enrollment and where we're going next. You may remember from last time that I was here, I shared with you our current landscape of dual enrollment. Currently in Hanover County, dual enrollment is offered to seniors through College Composition, English 111 and 112, and then also through our Advanced College Academy, a 61-credit

[01:52:27] program where students earn their associate's degree while working towards high school graduation. We talked last time about the College and Career Ready Virginia. Virginia has made dual enrollment a priority. It places an emphasis on the Virginia Passport, which is a 15-credit program, and the Uniform Certificate of General Studies, which is 30 credits. Importantly, this legislation calls for these opportunities to be of no cost to our students and their families. So I wanted to share

[01:53:01] with you, this is our current Advanced College Academy pathway. It's of note to understand that students who earn the associate's degree at the Advanced College Academy also complete the requirements for the UCGS, the Uniform Certificate of General Studies. Working with our partners at Reynolds Community College and using our current ACA pathway as a starting point, we have built the UCGS pathway, which is the equivalent of one year of college credit for students who wish to

[01:53:38] pursue the whole pathway. So students would be able to complete the first year of college while they are still enrolled as a high school student. Some recommendations. To complete graduation requirements, let me go back to this slide so you can see as I talk about this, students also need courses like History 122, English 246, the Complementary Political Science 136, and Biology 102.

[01:54:07] these courses while they're not part of the formal ucgs pathway they are required to complete the graduation requirements for high school so for example biology 101 is only necessary for ucgs but students need a full year of biology as high school students so we partner with biology one and two because these classes are not part of that pathway there is a cost associated with them from reynolds community college so our recommendations are to maintain a no-cost

[01:54:42] pathway to the uniform certificate of general studies meaning that to meet graduation requirements those courses i just talked about that fall outside of the pathway would be free to preserve that free pathway for families to complete the ucgs passport or the ucgs pathway another Another recommendation is currently our Advanced College Academy begins a cohort experience in 9th grade, so 8th graders apply for the Advanced College Academy.

[01:55:12] We recommend shifting the ACA application and access point to 11th grade. This provides students time in 9th and 10th grade to grow and explore and choose the best pathway. It's kind of challenging as an 8th grader to understand the difference between the UCGS some dual enrollment or the advanced college academy. So instead of having students needing to make that decision as eighth graders, we would like to extend that to a 10th grade application with the program to start in 11th grade. And that would align with the dual enrollment coursework.

[01:55:47] Advanced college academy coursework that is dual enrollment begins in 11th grade. There are some implementation challenges. I always like to remind everyone of the why of this legislation is to connect kids and families to a free first year of college.

[01:56:04] There are some obstacles. We have a limited number currently of credentialed dual enrollment students across schools, so we're going to have to put some creative thinking hats on and use some varied instructional models such as synchronous online learning. We need to work with our human Resources Department to prioritize hiring of dual enrollment credentialed staff. We've been focused in that direction. We're always excited when someone applies to Hanover County Public Schools who meets those requirements. And also the consideration of compensation through the budget process for dual enrollment instructors given additional expectations. So as a dual

[01:56:44] enrollment instructor, you are concurrently employed by Reynolds Community College and Hanover County Public Schools and have to meet expectation and requirements for both. We're not moving forward. Oh, because it just ended. All right. I do want to say that while there are some challenges, like I said, we are very excited about this opportunity. And by examining dual enrollment opportunities and maintaining the free pathway, we can ensure families have multiple pathways

[01:57:20] for advanced coursework. I'm glad to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions, comments? Exciting opportunities for the students. And if I could take a brief moment and just congratulate you on your recent doctorate, Dr. Herndon. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[01:57:40] Thank you. And I am also, before our next presenter, I am going to take the opportunity because I am a little remiss and missed out on this. But we have a new director of finance, and she is in the audience this evening. And if I could have you stand up, Ms. Angela Melton. First time on the job. So we're working through it. Next up, social studies. You're up. And the

[01:58:16] locally awarded verified credit. Did I say that correctly? You did. Excellent. Well done. Thank you, Mr. Whitley. Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. Pennycuff, senior staff. Good evening. My name is Rob Williams, and I am the social studies curriculum specialist, K-12 for Hanover County. I'm here to share some exciting news with you about social studies. As you know, in 2023, the Virginia Board of Education adopted new standards for social studies courses kindergarten through 12th grade, which are being implemented for the first time this school year.

[01:58:52] In conjunction with the new standards, the Virginia Department of Education has released instructional guides for each course that are rooted in an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning social studies. This approach teaches students to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating. In short, An inquiry approach requires students to pursue historical questions by analyzing evidence to make a claim, take a position, or defend an argument.

[01:59:22] I'm trying. Thank you. Social studies instruction based on inquiry is about historical investigation. Units and lessons are framed around questions.

[01:59:38] It's a subtle yet important instructional shift, whereas a traditional social studies lesson is framed around a collection of information. An inquiry lesson leads with a question and uses historical information to pursue the question.

[01:59:54] traditional classroom, teachers provide the information. And although our teachers will remain content experts in the classroom, their goal is to guide students to discover information in documents and sources to create arguments using evidence from those sources. The Virginia Department of Education offers divisions the option of assessing students in high school social studies courses using a series of performance assessments in place of traditional multiple-choice SOL tests. These locally awarded verified credit assessments, commonly referred to

[02:00:34] as LAVC, are performance assessments that require students to create a written argument based on evidence from provided sources and documents. This year, Hanover County Public Schools will join approximately 50 other school divisions across the Commonwealth in selecting the LAVC for History process to assess students' knowledge and skills in high school social studies courses. What you see on the screen is an example of the format of one of these assessments. It is not an actual assessment. At the top of the screen, you'll see a compelling

[02:01:10] question. In this example, the compelling question is, was the New Deal a good deal? This is the question that students would ultimately answer after they have reviewed the sources and completed the associated formative tasks. Answering the compelling question is the piece of the assessment that gets scored and used as evidence to help determine if a student earns verified credit.

[02:01:35] Below the compelling question are a series of supporting questions, formative tasks, and featured sources. During class, students will work through the featured sources to complete the formative tasks. In the case of this example of the first supporting question, they will use the information from sources A, B, and C to make a list of conditions that existed at the beginning of the Great Depression.

[02:02:01] Students may work collaboratively to analyze sources, and teachers may offer support to students in this phase of the assessment process. Once students have worked through all of the supporting questions, reviewed the documents and sources, and completed the formative tasks, they will construct a written response to the compelling question.

[02:02:22] Students may use the work they did in the formative portion of the assessment as they construct their response. Students' written responses will be scored by HCPS teachers using a VDOE-created rubric.

[02:02:39] To earn verified credit, a student must be successful on a majority of these state-developed performance assessments, demonstrate mastery on the standards not assessed on these state performance assessments, and pass the course.

[02:02:54] Fundamentally, we know that instructional strategies and assessment strategies should be aligned. Assessing our high school students in a way that requires them to analyze information, make a claim or take a position, and construct a written response based on evidence necessitates a shift in instructional practice.

[02:03:12] I'm excited for our students that they will experience social studies instruction that teaches them these important skills. Thank you. Do we have any comments, questions? Anybody?

[02:03:28] I'm just curious with one quick question. This is one area of personal interest that, over the course of my observing life, has taken, you know, sharp turns. And behind all that, I think, is the risk or the challenge of internal bias, that we We all carry biases, and biases lead us in what we collect, what we're drawn to, and the assumptions that we bring to that.

[02:03:59] And then the counter to that is a very critical null hypothesis approach of the scientific method, trying, once you think you've concluded something, to then put all your effort into proving yourself wrong. Is anything like that included in what you're doing?

[02:04:19] In the state performance assessments, the state provides the assessments for us. They provide the sources for us. Part of the process, one of the skills we teach students, and we'll be teaching them more since they'll be assessed this way, is to check the credibility of sources, to weigh sources against each other, to corroborate information, an important part of that.

[02:04:46] Essentially, we want students to be able to tackle compelling questions and take a position, defending that position with evidence from credible sources. As long as it's defending it with evidence and not just passion.

[02:05:08] Yes, absolutely. I understand what you're saying. The state provides a rubric for us to score these, and the rubric demands that students use evidence from sources and not just their feelings. Part of the rubric, it will say, you know, provided an answer that wasn't supported by evidence.

[02:05:28] And to earn a higher score, you have to provide evidence that is, provide a claim that is supported by evidence. Thank you. Mr. Seibert? I was just going to say, great briefing, and that's exciting. I'm usually a little suspect of, you know, new ways of teaching.

[02:05:44] But this seems spot on with just making better critical thinkers and understanding and just having more of a foundation of knowledge also. So it sounds great to me. I'm excited about it too. Do the students get access to AI or chat GBT, anything like that?

[02:06:02] How does that play in all this? We, working with our technology folks, we're attempting to lock down the browsers while they're taking these assessments. During class time, students are savvy, but we are working to make sure that As they create these responses, they're not going back and forth between screens.

[02:06:23] Excellent. We appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next up, we're going to move right on into public comment. We've got a Mr. Martin, if you could take control.

[02:06:41] Yes, sir. I'm going to read our procedures for public comment. The school board conducts the public comment segment of its meetings to receive information from the general public on matters related to Hanover County public schools. Per board policy, the total time allotted for public comment will not exceed 60 minutes.

[02:06:58] Speakers who wish to address the school board are requested to follow these guidelines. As each speaker is recognized by the chairperson, the speaker is asked to clearly state their name, their magisterial district, and the subject of their remarks. Speakers are asked to address their comments to the board and not to the audience.

[02:07:16] The board requests that the audience refrain from responding to speakers' comments with applause or other audible expressions of approval or disapproval. Speakers are allotted three minutes to address the board, and I will give a 30-second warning. Each speaker's elated time will appear on the screen.

[02:07:35] Speakers will also receive notification when their time has expired. Although the board does not permit the use of slideshows or other projected materials during this segment, speakers are invited to provide printed copies of such materials to the board. The board requests any person with a complaint about a school division employee to first address the concern to the division superintendent in accordance with board policy.

[02:08:00] Comments targeting, criticizing, or attacking individual students are not permitted during this segment, and speakers should refrain from using personally identifiable information in connection with an individual student. Speakers should be aware that while the board allows speakers to address any matter within the board's purview, speakers may be held legally responsible if they make statements that violate the legal rights of others including threatening or defamatory statements made against staff members students or parents the board expresses its appreciation for the public's input and cooperation during this segment of the meeting i will read our first speaker and then

[02:08:39] ask the next speaker to come to our on deck circle here next to the podium so we can move through this our first speaker is cindy bell and our second speaker is kristin holte hi my name is Cindy Bell. Good evening, Vice Chairman, Dr. Penning Cuff, and senior staff. I am from temporarily from Crowleyville Heights in that Magisterio District, but this matter is relating to my son who is here in Hanover County. I would like to recognize that the education program here is clearly and fabulously displayed. Y'all are wonderful, but before I get into my experiences,

[02:09:16] I want to explain who I am. I have 10 years of experience as an educator. I am a university supervisor for art education at Virginia Commonwealth University and a PhD student. I also worked for the Virginia Department of Education for fine arts leadership and I'm very passionate about what I do. So with that being said, I'm here tonight to state that your district may possibly not be in compliance with the McKinney-Vento law for homelessness and here's why. Recently, due to my personal matters and an eviction process and financial hardship, I lost my housing. My son is temporarily living here with my brother in the county and I asked for just a bus

[02:09:52] from Hanover County to Code RVA, something that was already currently possibly in place and provided by the district. He just needed a seat. I wasn't asking for anything special, any extra services from your county, just a place for him to ride from one place to another. With that being said, my request was denied. And for the record, Richmond City Public Schools did approve me for this under the law. They read the same information that was given here to Hanover County and applied it to the same practices. So with that being said, I believe that you may have not complied with the law under these reasons. Families must be directed to the McKinney-Vento liaison, and I was spoken to

[02:10:31] by a person for legal paperwork that had to do with an administrative assistant as opposed to the actual liaison. Parents must receive immediate written notice with denial reasons and given the appeal rights. However, I waited for days for that legal paperwork to be given to me. With that being said, children must be enrolled in or provided transportation by the local county while appeals and disputes are impending, but my son was left without both of those things. Doubled up housing due to economic hardship is counted on as homelessness under federal law. Hanover County dismissed that fact and ignored other legal um and things pertaining to my eviction process

[02:11:09] and they created barriers instead of removed barriers in my case i was directed to the law under kinship care which requires me to you know give up a little bit of my parental rights and involve the department of social services as opposed to just providing my son with a bus in the temporary intermediate 30 seconds these are under the laws title 42 section 11 434 a subsection 2b1 in virginia code section 22.1 dash 3.1 and again i argue that hannifer county public schools may not be in compliance with the law i didn't request any special treatment here i just asked for rights that were under the federal and state law that already guarantees stability in my son's

[02:11:48] education if richmond city public schools can follow the mckinney-vento law immediately i think that your district can too it's hard for me as an educator to do this so imagine what it feels like for families with english language learners or families that are chronically in poverty please understand that i'm here just to protect my son and other people's rights thank you thank you so much next up we have kristin holte uh that it was charlie hoag i don't see charlie charlie not going on not here uh patricia hunter jordan you're on deck all right good evening chair vice

[02:12:27] Chair, Dr. Penny Cuff School Board Administration and Public. I am Kristen Holti of the Cold Harbor District. I'm glad I'm not by myself speaking tonight. I want to say that I am so proud to live in Hanover County. I watched the Fairfax County School Board meeting last week via YouTube. They had a special event going on up there and was dismayed as to what the school board up there is doing, that there's no transparency. To me, parental rights is vital.

[02:13:08] And I know as far as Fairfax, they have a lack of transparency and responsibility. But I'm proud of Hanover County Public Schools. I would not want to live in Northern Virginia, that is for sure, because Laudan County and Fairfax County have just had some outrageous actions going on up there. But that's mainly what I wanted to say. I'm glad that the overdose situation, as according to the general said, really, that they have to be reported within 24 hours.

[02:13:43] And I just want to reiterate that I'm glad that Hanover County believes in the parental right and that a parent has a full right to know what is going on with their child. And they should be kept in a know of what their child is going through at school.

[02:14:02] Excuse me. Thank you for all that you do and keep going the path that you are going and keep parental rights first and foremost with our children. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next up is Patricia Hunter-Jordan followed by Janani Selvin.

[02:14:21] Good evening. My name is Patricia Hunter-Jordan from Cole Harbor District. Thank you all for allowing us this opportunity. I come here this evening because, and I am very happy about the reports I've heard, because it is teaching our children critical thinking in everything that I heard.

[02:14:45] And so I think we're moving in a better path now, and I appreciate that. I also would like to say that we say, Hanover, we're going to work on kindness. Well, I'd like us to really work on being more kind.

[02:15:04] to each other. And for me, that means being more inclusive, teaching the history of everyone here. And so as we look at Virginia 250 and the history that is taking place, I heard a couple of things that involved lessons or statements in the morning about African Americans. And I did hear that Dr. Gorman would be presenting, but not in Hanover schools. I have offered this to Dr.

[02:15:39] Penny Cuff. Gabriel was born in 1776 so that we can be more inclusive of everybody in our cultures and to make sure that there's a play that is going to be held right across the street, the production of Gabriel. And the author, the person who wrote that play, is a Hanover, a Hanover resident, Gerald Solomon. He's in our school system as well. He works there.

[02:16:16] And so we would like to see, because you see, the more people understand about each other, the better we treat each other. And some people say, well, we don't want that shown or out kids to be exposed because it'll hurt our kids. Well, what about the other side of that coin?

[02:16:42] What about the kids that were hurt by these actions? So if we make others aware, make all of us aware of each other's plight, of the things that are going on, I think we will get to that 30 seconds model and i'd like to encourage us to look at having our high school students see that play gabriel that will start actually actually i think it's already started no starts at the end of this month thank you so much thank you very much mr chair that concludes our list

[02:17:21] excellent thank you okay uh next up we are headed into our action agenda uh first up is a motion to approved proposed revised policy 7-2.3 school admissions. Ms. Leah Hahn. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. As you recall, this was brought to you for first read at the previous meeting. We have identified some situations with our families that needed to be addressed to make registering

[02:17:54] for school in Hanover County more accessible. And one of the ways that the board has sought to do this is to include a provision within the policy that allows someone, let's say a grandparent that has at least 50% legal custody, can now register a student without needing to go through the same process as we would typically require for someone who is either not a biological parent or someone who does not have full custody of a child.

[02:18:30] This is a way that I think is going to assist both staff and our families to respond to these needs in a much easier and quicker manner. I'm happy to answer any questions you have, but I am asking that you adopt this this evening.

[02:18:49] Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? Not to put you on the spot, Masan, the frequency at which we see these types of cases where the 50-50 is going to be beneficial. We are seeing this more and more. As all of us know, what families look like is changing.

[02:19:11] We have all sorts of families that live in our community, not just here in all other divisions. We're seeing this in other school divisions as well. This is not unique to Hanover. What this does is it recognizes that sometimes kids don't live with two people who both share custody. They may live with one parent who, or excuse me, a grandparent that shares custody with another biological parent or maybe sets of grandparents that share custody of a child

[02:19:43] for whatever reason. And so this will help our staff to respond to those needs and it will cut down on a significant amount of time that I spend discussing this policy with staff when this comes up. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, do I have a motion to approve the revised policy 7-2.3 school admissions? Mr. Vice Chair, I move to approve the proposed revised policy 7-2.3 school admissions.

[02:20:16] Thank you, Mr. Martin. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Shroff. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion approved. Thank you. All right, good evening, Mr. Vice Chair, board members dr penny cuff we are back we presented last month the proposed budget calendar and we are suggesting one amendment to that calendar what i presented last month indicated that budget requests from schools and departments would be due on september 12th as you know our

[02:20:56] finance director position is vacant and so we're allowing another week for departments and schools to work with us. Sometimes they're working with us to estimate costs. So we push that date to September 9th. There are no other changes since we presented to you last month. And if we can scroll up a bit, it will actually include all of your board meetings. Well, down a bit. I said the wrong way. I apologize. That also includes all of your board meetings. And so tonight we're seeking approval of the fiscal year 2027 budget development calendar as amended. Any questions?

[02:21:34] Do I have a motion? I move to adopt the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget development calendar. Thank you, Dr. Schultz. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Schroff. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye.

[02:21:53] Opposed? Motion approved. Thank you. Hey, we're at the very end here, aren't we? Is this typical? Let's see here.

[02:22:10] We've got our standard fiscal status report in the back for y'all's review. In addition to that, Dr. Pennycuff, we have a working list. next meeting topics going sorry you will see the new course proposals again for action you'll see the revised proposed policies that you saw this evening for action you'll see the the social studies and LA VC miss crap I believe that was

[02:22:50] information only this evening okay so we will only see two for action new course proposals and review of proposed revised policies I think that'll do it at this point right yes sir all right do i have a motion to adjourn yes sir mr vice chair move to adjourn our september 9th 2025 meeting thank you mr martin do i have a second second thank you dr strofe any discussion all in favor say aye aye opposed thank you

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