Coraggio Consulting
Hanover County School Board Meeting, Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Place: Hanover County School Board, Virginia
Length: 3h 42m (video)
Official meeting video (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1513/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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[00:00:00] do you need me to read it no okay madam chair i move that we go into closed session in accordance with code of virginia section 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a 1 personnel review recommendations of the superintendent for resignations appointments transfers assignments promotions terminations salary adjustments and leaves of absence for teachers and other employees section 2.2 dash

[00:00:34] 3 7 1 1 a 2 student disciplinary matters section 2.2 dash 3 1 1 a 7 consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to probable litigation which where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body thank you mr coleman i have a motion on the table do i have a second

[00:00:59] Second. Thank you, Dr. Shroff. Is there any discussion? Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed. All right. We are now in closed session. Good evening. Thank y'all for being patient with us. Especially me. There's a lot of stairs to come down. Thank you for everybody coming. We're going to actually open back our meeting. So do I have a motion to open the session?

[01:14:02] I move to return to open session. Thank you, Mr. Seifert. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Shrove. Do I have any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Okay. We are now in open session. Mr. Coleman, can you certify our closed meeting, please? Yes, Madam Chair. I move the board will certify the following.

[01:14:23] whereas the hanover county school board has convened closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmation recorded vote voted and in accordance with the provisions of the virginia freedom of 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 be it resolved that the hanover county school board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by virginia law were discussed in the executive meeting to

[01:15:01] which this certification applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the executive meeting were heard discussed or considered thank you mr coleman i have a motion on the table do you have a second second uh thank you dr shelpe um is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed okay we have certified the closed meeting um i am giving the invocation and then we have cold harbor students that are here to um lead us in the pledge and i see lots of principals here so thank y'all for being here

[01:15:38] we appreciate y'all and um if you will stand if you are able and i will say our um our prayer and then we'll come to y'all, okay? Okay. Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening with gratitude for the opportunity to serve our community. We ask for your guidance as we carry out the important work before us. Grant us wisdom to make thoughtful decisions and patience to listen

[01:16:12] with open hearts. Help us to remain focused on what is best for our children and to work together with respect and purpose. May our actions reflect integrity, compassion, and a commitment to the future we are shaping together.

[01:16:28] May we keep our students at the heart of all we do with a focus on their growth, their well-being, and their future. Help us work together, always striving to provide the best opportunities for every child. We ask your blessing on this meeting and on all those who are part of our community.

[01:16:48] Amen.

[01:16:49] Okay. Now I need an approval for the meeting minutes. Do we have a motion?

[01:17:30] Madam Chair, I move to approve the minutes for the recently held meetings. Thank you, Dr. Shroff. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Coleman. Is there any discussion? Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed?

[01:17:47] Okay. The motion passes. Now it is Whitley and Co. I will we have a lot of wonderful recognitions tonight it's very exciting we will take a recess after we get through our board announcements and so that everybody that needs to get somewhere else tonight can can do that okay all right thank you thank you madam chair members of the board dr.

[01:18:16] Penny cuff it is always a privilege to bring forth the great news and accomplishments of our students and staff and as you just noticed in the gallery behind me. We have many, and that's a good thing. Our first recognitions of the night go to several talented students who were recipients of the Virginia PTA Reflections Award and placed in the state-level competition within their respective divisions. First from Atlee High School, Carson Gourley in the film production, Award of Merit, and Samara Raj, Visual Arts, Award of Excellence, and as I'm calling your name, feel free to walk forward

[01:18:48] if you're present from bell creek middle school zayden atkins in outstanding interpretation from cool spring elementary isabel sibby visual arts from pole green elementary school korea resk visual arts and last but not least from south anna elementary school amaya santiago congratulations

[01:19:14] do the jeopardy music okay up next our record of the recognition of the evening goes to this

[01:20:19] year's Hanover County Public Schools spelling bee winner, who is a seventh grade student at Bell Creek Middle School and competed with 17 other Hanover County students for the division title. As the division champ, she represented Hanover County Public Schools at the regional spelling bee held in March. Congratulations goes to IRISD apostrophe A-D-A-M-O hyphen D-A-M-E-R-Y which spells Iris. Mr. Whitley can't spell. Well, I can spell. I can't speak. Diodamory.

[01:21:00] Diodamodamory. Diodamodamory. Made it right in the end. Okay. Our next recognitions of the night go to a very talented group of students who are in first place at the state DECA and HOSA, which is the Future Health Professionals of Virginia competition. First up, DECA from Atlee

[01:21:38] high school brayden owen in marketing communication series competition jia patel and malin win in the business solutions project competition and colton turnour in the sports entertainment marketing

[01:21:53] series competitions congratulations and finally from hanover high school in the host of competition

[01:22:37] ethan milleron and allison summer emt competition congratulations they are not here but i do see their principal miss reese oh they're right here going too fast right here perfect

[01:23:16] our next recognitions go to our vhsl class four indoor track and field state champions first up is river smith of hanover high school who is the girls indoor track and field state champ

[01:23:35] in the 3200 meter run congratulations next to the mechanicsville high school girls four by 200 meter relay team who won the state championship. Team members Zoe Curtis, Kendra Jewell, Eva Smith,

[01:24:11] and Camille Williams. Congratulations. Finally from Mechanicsville High School, you've heard

[01:25:08] this name once before, Zoe Curtis won the state title in the triple jump. Congratulations. Madam Chair, unfortunately we're going to have to postpone our next recognition due to an unforeseen conflict, but we look forward to recognizing Ms. Green next month, hopefully. Our next recognition

[01:25:43] of the evening goes to this year's winner of the REB award for distinguished educational leadership. Every year one principal from each school division in Hanover, Henrico, Chesterfield and Richmond are selected for this prestigious award that recognizes principals who go beyond the day-to-day demands of their position to create an exceptional educational environment. This year's recipient, and he already knows who he is, he just couldn't wait, will receive a $30,000 grant from the community foundation 20 000 to be used at the recipient school and 10 000 unrestricted cash

[01:26:18] grant for himself this year's recipient who is already up here is the proud principal of chickahominy middle school mr mark back final recognitions of the night i am pleased to introduce our third senior showcase of the school year we will highlight one senior from each high school

[01:26:56] who models the hanover county public school's values inspire empower and lead we will also highlight one senior from each high school who models their focus on kindness finally we will highlight one senior from the hanover trades center of trades and technology for their excellence in work-based readiness and teamwork our high school principals will introduce each student being recognized first up is atley high school please welcome to the mic dr john wheeler good evening folks members of the board dr penny cuff senior staff thank you for allowing high school principals

[01:27:36] to showcase some outstanding seniors this evening. We always appreciate this. First up, for Attlee High School, I'd like to recognize senior Noah Hagberg, if he was pleased to come forward. Noah Hagberg. Noah is being recognized for Inspire, Empower, and Lead.

[01:27:57] Noah Hagberg may not seek the spotlight, but his impact is undeniable. He embodies the idea that true leadership does not require volume. It requires consistency, character, and a genuine commitment to do what's right. With his calm and steady presence, Noah leads by example in a way that naturally earns the respect of everyone around him. Each day, Noah approaches his responsibilities with focus and determination. He does not need reminders or recognition to do his best. Instead, he holds himself to a high standard and quietly meets and often exceeds expectations. His work ethic and

[01:28:34] integrity set the tone in any environment, showing others what it looks like to take pride in your efforts and remain committed even when no one is watching. What makes Noah especially remarkable is the way he supports those around him. His classmates know they can rely on him, not just for help with schoolwork, but for encouragement and guidance as well. He is always willing to take the time to answer questions, offer insight, or simply be there when someone needs support. His kindness is genuine and unassuming, creating a sense of trust and respect among his peers. Noah's quiet

[01:29:11] confidence inspires others to rise to their very best selves. He doesn't lead with words alone, but through the actions, his attitude, and his unwavering reliability. He shows leadership is about lifting others up, staying grounded, and consistently doing the right thing. We are incredibly fortunate to have Noah as part of the Atlee High School community. He represents the very best of what it means to be thoughtful, dependable, and inspiring leader. And he often leads, and he leaves, rather, a lasting impression on all who have the privilege of knowing it. Senior Noah

[01:29:46] Hagberg. Next up, for kindness, I present to everyone, Senior Natalie Wilkin. Natalie Wilkin

[01:30:24] is the kind of person who makes a lasting impact, not through grand gestures, but through the steady, genuine kindness she brings every single day. She has an incredible ability to notice when someone needs help, and without hesitation, she steps in, whether that means offering support, lending a hand or simply brightening someone's day with a warm smile and a few encouraging words in the hallway. Her compassion isn't occasional. It's a constant presence that defines who she is.

[01:30:53] In the classroom, Natalie exemplifies what it means to be a model student. She is dependable. She is respectful and deeply trustworthy, someone both teachers and peers know they can count on without question. She approaches her responsibilities with quiet confidence and consistency, creating an environment where others feel supported and valued. Her strong character is matched by her academic dedication as seen through her commitment to the culinary arts program, the trade school, where she was now in her second year. Balancing this with her coursework, Natalie has maintained AB honor roll status all year, a reflection of her discipline and drive.

[01:31:30] What truly sets Natalie apart is how she fully invests herself in the school community. At Atlee High School, she's actively involved in the cheer team, the key club, Atlee Theater, Tilt, and the Big Feet Me, each one benefiting from her enthusiasm, positivity, and willingness to contribute. No matter the activity, Natalie shows up ready to give her very best and lift others up along the way. Natalie's steady heart, unwavering work ethic, and genuine care for those around her make her an exceptional role model at Attlee High School. She doesn't just

[01:32:06] talk about kindness, she lives it every day in ways both big and small. For all these reasons and more natalie wilkin is truly deserving of the kindness award here this evening senior natalie

[01:32:17] wilkin this time i would like to pass things off to miss reese principal of hanover high school

[01:32:48] thank you dr wheeler good evening madam chair board dr penny cuff and senior staff thank you so much for giving us this opportunity i echo what dr wheeler was sharing earlier um tonight we're going to start by recognizing jj parker so i'm going to ask him to go ahead and come on up something over here. Okay, often we talk about the legacy that students leave behind in the halls of

[01:33:27] our schools, but it is rare and a moving thing to witness a student who doesn't just walk through the doors, but who fundamentally changes the atmosphere within them. I'm going to try not to get emotional, I'm sorry. Today we recognize a young man who has spent his high school career defining what it means to inspire, to empower, and to lead, and this young man is J.J. Parker.

[01:33:49] To lead is often misunderstood as simply being the loudest voice in the room, but J.J. has shown that true leadership is a discipline of the heart. We saw this when he underwent a grueling process to become one of our football captains, not through a simple vote, but through hours of leadership training and selfless community service.

[01:34:08] We saw this in the quiet moments, when he stayed late to help teammates memorize the playbook, and in the classroom, when he stepped up without hesitation to manage complex statistics projects when a teacher was called away. J.J. leads not because he seeks the spotlight, but because he possesses a grit and a determination that compels him to take ownership in every challenge he faces.

[01:34:32] But J.J.'s leadership is not one that he has taken alone. His greatest strength is his ability to empower those around him. In the rigorous environment of AP literature and in oceanography, J.J. has become the cornerstone for collaborative success. He doesn't just complete his work, he reaches out to his peers, ensuring that they understand the material while remaining humble enough to ask if they have any insights that he may have missed.

[01:34:58] On the basketball court, his coaches describe him as a coach's dream, teaching his teammates to embrace the daily grind and empowering them to be their most authentic selves. He has created a culture where everyone feels that they have a seat at the table, or I guess bench, not table, and that they have a role in the victory.

[01:35:19] Ultimately, J.J. inspires us because he lives his life with a deep and genuine care for others. Whether or not he's welcoming nervous elementary school students on their first day of school or inviting a teammate into his circle for a meal or a Bible study, His influence is rooted in kindness.

[01:35:36] He sees the value of education as something far greater than a grade, and he sees his peers as more than just teammates. He sees them as people who are worthy of his time and of his mentorship. JJ, as you prepare to head to Christopher Newport University in the fall, you will leave a void at Hanover High School that will be very hard to fill, but you will leave a blueprint for every student who follows you.

[01:36:00] I, for one, have enjoyed watching you grow in stature, but also as a person. I will always remember you as the five-year-old flag football player weaving down the field, and I will certainly miss hearing your friends and families cheer you along on the sideline.

[01:36:16] I think we can all agree that your dad's voice carries as he yells, Let's go, JJ! I can't do it justice. As you make every play, you have shown us that you lead with humility and empower with selflessness and inspire through action, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Congratulations, JJ. Your journey as a leader is just beginning. Now I'd like to call up Savannah

[01:36:50] Ford. As educators, every so often a student comes along who reminds us that the most important lessons that are taught in school are not found in a textbook. They are found in the way that we treat one another. Today, we're here to honor Savannah Ford, a young woman whose presence is a gift to our school and whose character serves as a lesson for us all. If you were to walk the halls and ask her teachers about her, you would hear a consistent story. It's a story that begins every

[01:37:28] single morning. And Mr. Wheaton and Mr. Fogg both talk about the Savannah greeting, which I need to experience. It is a ritual of genuine warmth. She doesn't just pass by. She stops. She smiles. she asks how you are, but the thing about Savannah is that she actually waits to hear an answer.

[01:37:47] And in a world that is often so loud, Savannah's ability to listen and care is a rare and beautiful thing. Coach Rice recently noted that Savannah has been recognized as a soaring hawk because she is a protector of our school culture. She possesses the maturity to look around the room and see a student who's struggling or a peer who's invisible, and she doesn't just notice them, she moves towards them. She ensures that inclusion isn't just a word that we say, but a reality that we live. Mr. Sheely recently described her kindness as contagious,

[01:38:22] and it's perhaps the most powerful tribute of all. Savannah is a leader who doesn't need a title to command respect. She leads by example. She carries herself with drive and a sense of responsibility that tells her peers, this is how we treat people. This is how we build a community. She has become a person her teachers can rely on and a person that her classmates look up to beyond the walls miss lizaraga shared that savannah's heart for service extends to her church and her local community and she is reminded she reminds us that we are who we are in the classroom and it is a

[01:38:58] reflection of our souls and her generosity isn't a performance it's her identity savannah there's a very specific kind of strength in being a person who consistently brings the light it takes effort to be positive every day and it takes maturity to put other people first it takes a leader to make kindness contagious you have left a lasting mark on our school you have made our hallways kinder our classrooms warmer and our community stronger and we are better because of you we can't wait to see the light that you will share sorry we're just so

[01:39:37] proud. To turn it over to my colleague Dr. Petroski for Mechanicsville High School.

[01:40:10] Good evening members of the board, Dr. Penikoff, colleagues, families, and lots of students tonight. I'd like to start by recognizing our recipient for Inspire, Empower, and Lead. Avery Pierce is a student that is excelling at MHS in academics, athletics, and leadership. She is a cultural champion. In our rigorous environment in our advanced college academy, Avery Pierce is an academic force, balancing a demanding schedule with unwavering discipline and focus. Her true

[01:40:50] measure is found not in her success that she achieves, but in the drive and resolve she displays when her work falls short of the incredibly high standard that she sets for herself. She goes back, she asks for feedback, she revises, she improves. Perpetual motion machine. Her internal drive is what sets her apart from other students. At the same time, Avery never lets that drive create distance between herself and others. In fact, it seems to do the opposite. In the classroom, Avery is thoughtful, respectful, and intentional in how she treats people. One teacher shared a moment that says a great deal about her character, that Avery just notices students who are not being included,

[01:41:28] walks over, starts a conversation, and offers a genuine compliment just to boost that student's day and get them kind of more engaged in the class. It's simple and quiet. It's kind. It's what matters. Avery has dozens of friends at Mechanicsville House, hundreds of friends at Mechanicsville High School and she still took the time to find this young person and help them out.

[01:41:48] That's just who she is. Her leadership is just as evident outside the classroom. She's been captain of the varsity field hockey team since her sophomore year and is also a leader on the lacrosse team. Her coach describes her as an uncommon leader, someone who sets the standard both physically and emotionally. Her presence helped lead the team to the state tournament, but more importantly it helped shape the culture of the program. Leading by example, following through holding yourself accountable and her teammates respond to that beyond athletics she takes lead on leadership roles that require different kind of responsibility she serves as editor of our yearbook president of the spanish honor society roles that demand organization

[01:42:24] collaboration and attention to detail actively involved in our student council and national honor society consistently contributing to life of our school this year she helped support the return of royal mustang to mhs by helping our very uncoordinated boys with their choreography and talents. You were really the shining star, Avery. Thank you very much. And the winner is behind me, so we'll talk about him later. And then there's the work she does for our future Mustangs.

[01:42:52] Through Soda and Seventh Up, Avery spends time with younger students, leading lessons and serving as a mentor. She shows up not just to lead those activities, but to build those relationships. She gives her time in a way that reflects genuine care. But even with everything on her plate, she remains someone who brings energy into a room. She participates in spirit days, engages in all the school events and finds ways to stay connected to the community around her. She's not playing a sport for us. She's probably cheering for someone who is. What stands out most about her is not what she does, but how she does it. Also, just to throw this out there, she also might be the most polite student I have ever met. So Pierce's keep it up. I'm glad I have another one. All right.

[01:43:30] You're doing that right. Avery, you are the student we aim to develop at MHS. Your constant pursuit of excellence, supporting others, and understanding that success is defined by impact, not just your own personal achievement. We are certain you will continue to lead with purpose and make a meaningful difference at Randolph-Macon next year. It's going to be interesting to see you competing with your sister on the field. We are incredibly proud of you. Thank you. Next, I'd like to welcome Dylan

[01:44:04] Wright. Some students lead with their voices, some with their accomplishments. Other lead in a quieter, more consistent way through how they treat people every single day. Tonight, we're going to recognize Dylan for a quiet form of leadership through just the exceptional kindness he displays to others at Mechanicsville High School day in and day out.

[01:44:34] By every traditional measure, Dylan's an outstanding student, four-year member of the varsity baseball team, active leader in SEA and Beta, and an AP student ranked in the top 10 of his class. But these impressive achievements aren't only to define him. What truly sets him apart is his instinct to put others before himself.

[01:44:51] In the classroom, Dylan is a student every teacher hopes for. This consistently came up when they were asked. He builds genuine relationships, the first to help a struggling classmate, opt for recognition because that's just who he is. Always stopping, always helping. That same character is a powerful force on the baseball field.

[01:45:09] His coaches call him the cornerstone of the team. In the dugout, he's the loudest voice, focused entirely on lifting up his teammates, encouraging them, motivating them, and helping them believe in themselves, especially when they need it most. And I'll tell you, not everything that happens in a dugout is positive, but everything out of that guy's mouth in a dugout is.

[01:45:27] So thank you. I appreciate that tremendously. Thank you. and when the game ends his leadership continues he stays after practice to clean up the field he checks in with the coaches he's ensuring the job is done long after the rest of the team is gone that's leadership not seeking the spotlight but the kind that earns the respect Dylan's reach extends far beyond school for the past three years he has volunteered as a buddy at the unified track meet including today were you there today Dylan oh you broke your streak well we had it today it was excellent, but he builds meaningful connections with our students, and they benefit from his

[01:46:04] support. He also referees our all-star basketball games, consistently volunteering his time, coming back from senior release and times to help create positive experience for others. He's always showing up for others. That's the trend, and you'll notice it immediately. Dylan approaches everything with a smile, approachable, positive, and genuinely kind. A teacher highlighted a moment that speaks volumes, that he's the only male in a class full of spirited women. And I'm not sure if you sought that out ahead of time or not, Dylan, but good on you. But he has managed some of those more awkward moments with grace and humility and respect. And it's that charisma, I think, that led to you winning

[01:46:40] the Royal Mustang this year. So congratulations on that again. Dylan, when we talk about true character and leadership, that's you. That's who I'm going to point to. We are incredibly fortunate to have you, and I have no doubt that whenever you continue, that wherever you go, whether it's Washington College or beyond, that you're going to continue to lead with kindness and grace and make a profound difference in the lives of others. We're happy to have you as a Mustang, Dylan. Thank

[01:47:05] you. Next up is Mr. Chris Martinez from Patrick Henry High School. Good evening, everyone. Again,

[01:47:41] it's definitely a pleasure to be here to recognize so many amazing seniors, and especially two from our family. So first up, I'd like to bring up Ms. Milan Anderson. Anderson is a bright, shining light at Patrick Henry High School, embodying the HCPS model to inspire, empower, and lead

[01:48:17] through extraordinary kindness and dedication. Since transitioning from the virtual learning in ninth grade, Milan has become a cornerstone of the school community, balancing a rigorous academic workload with deep involvement in student life. To inspire others, one must lead with authenticity. Milan does this daily through her beautiful voice and fun-loving spirit in the performing arts department. Her peers' profound respect for her was evident when she was crowned queen of the magical dinner. In the classroom, she inspires a love for deeper thinking. Her English teacher notes that Milan frequently brings fresh perspectives to literature by

[01:48:56] sharing the bigger ideas she discusses with her mother at home. By bridging the gap between school and home, she models for every student the importance of intellectual curiosity. Milan's ability to empower her peers is rooted in her advocacy and humility. As a vital member of the Hope Squad, she promotes inclusion and mental health awareness, ensuring every student feels seen. In the classroom, she is a humble high achiever who empowers others by proactively asking questions when concepts are unclear, creating a safe environment for her classmates to do the same. Her kindness is also practical, whether she is bringing her mother's famous

[01:49:35] macaroni and cheese for step team dinners or ensuring the administration team is included in celebration. Milan empowers her community through intentional acts of service. Finally, Milan is a dedicated leader who manages her responsibilities with grace. For four years, she has been a mainstay of the PH step team, where her coach describes her as smart, hardworking, and exceptionally communicative. She leads by setting high standards for herself and remaining reliable under the pressure of performances and pep rallies. Her teachers characterize her as an inspirational

[01:50:12] organizer who leads with a smile that lights up a room. Milan is more than a student leader. She is a role model who makes everyone around her want to be a better friend. We are incredibly proud of her and certain she will continue to lead with excellence and kindness in all her future endeavors. Congratulations Milan. Next up it's my honor to bring up here Mr. Carter

[01:50:44] Stanley. Carter Stanley's legacy at Patrick Henry High School is defined not just by his titles but by the genuine warmth and integrity he brings to every room.

[01:51:06] As he prepares for graduation, Carter stands as a true embodiment of the HCPS motto to inspire, empower, and lead. To inspire requires a rare blend of talent and humility. Whether excelling in academics or showcasing his real gift for storytelling in the TV production studio, Carter's work goes beyond technical skill.

[01:51:27] His creative enthusiasm is contagious, and as a TV99 intern, his focused presence during live newscasts elevates everyone around him. Beyond the screen, Carter inspires through character. He treats everyone with kindness and acceptance, firmly rooted in his morals without ever judging others.

[01:51:46] Carter's ability to empower his peers is a quiet yet impactful strength. He understands that true success is a team effort. In the media studio, he naturally mentors new students. As a founder and officer of the Hope Squad, he has fostered a culture of kindness and mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

[01:52:06] Through the National Honor Society, Beta Club, and SOTA, he makes others feel seen and appreciated. As Mrs. McGrath noted, Carter lives by the golden rule, ensuring no one ever feels less than. Finally, Carter was born to lead. His leadership is unassuming yet incredibly effective.

[01:52:24] Whether serving as a class treasurer, Hope Squad vice president, or working on his family's dairy farm, Carter is someone who can always be counted on. When a task needs doing, staff and students seek him out because his word is bond.

[01:52:40] He handles pressure with a calm plan of action and an energetic presence that commands respect. Carter Stanley is a rare individual, intelligent, charismatic, and profoundly polite. While Patrick Hanwell misses humor and his habit of checking in on others, we know he is destined to make an incredible impact on our world.

[01:52:59] Congratulations, Carter, for leading with your heart and leaving our community better than you found it. At this time, I will pass it over to Mr. Justin Rourke, principal of the Hanover Center for Trades and Technology.

[01:53:33] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Penny Cuff. so thrilled to be able to recognize tonight Hannah Carlson. As part of the senior showcase, I'm going to ask Hannah to come on up here. Hannah Carlson has consistently exemplified our workplace readiness trait focus of work ethic throughout her time in the Colonial Program at the Hanover Center for Trades and Technology. From the moment she entered the lab, she set

[01:54:09] herself apart through her initiative, determination, and unwavering commitment to excellence. Hannah is never content to simply meet expectations. She actively seeks out additional responsibilities, regularly adding tasks to her list and volunteering for extra catering opportunities. You might have been aware of one tonight. Her willingness to step in and help wherever needed speaks volume about her character and her dedication to the craft. The quality of Hannah's work is nothing short of exceptional. She consistently produces high-level baked and cooked dishes, demonstrating

[01:54:45] both technical skill and a keen eye for detail and presentation. Her results reflect not only her talent, but also the time, effort, and pride she invests in every assignment. She holds herself to an incredibly high standard, often being more critical of her own work than that of her instructors, which drives her continuous growth and improvement. Beyond her individual accomplishments, Hannah is a leader among her peers. She serves as a role model in the classroom, always willing to support others as they develop their own culinary skills. Whether she is guiding a classmate through

[01:55:21] a new technique or helping coordinate the many moving parts of a large-scale catering event, Hannah consistently keeps the bigger picture in mind. Her ability to balance precision with teamwork makes her an invaluable part of the program. Hannah's work ethic extends far beyond the classroom. She successfully balances her academic responsibilities with a job in a restaurant while also generously volunteering her time at Short Pump Animal Hospital.

[01:55:48] These commitments reflect her strong sense of responsibility, compassion, and drive. Recognized by her instructor as one of the strongest students he has ever taught, Hannah embodies what it means to be dedicated, capable, and hardworking. As she prepares to pursue a degree in business after graduation, there is no doubt that her work ethic will continue to propel her toward success.

[01:56:08] Hannah is truly deserving of this recognition, we are proud to celebrate her as part of senior showcase for exemplifying the workplace redness trait of work ethic. Congratulations Hannah. How about one more round of applause for our outstanding

[01:56:43] seniors and Madam Chair, members of the board and Dr. Pennycuff, I have one, I have breaking news. I had an addendum to one of the individuals who was recognized earlier as one of our state level winners in the VTA, let me get this right, the Virginia PTA Reflections Contest is going off to compete in the national tournament congratulations goes to Zayden Atkins

[01:57:10] we wish you the best Zayden we're gonna do our board announcements and then

[01:57:56] we'll take a recess okay okay so we've got board announcements but this is one

[01:58:38] of my favorite recognitions is seeing the senior awards I think these principals do it a fabulous job you know awarding them and and giving them their recognition and it's so nice to see these seniors and be able to put a face to a name when we you know get to hear their name at graduation as well and we're so fortunate in Hanover County we are just so fortunate with our our students I'm sure it's a very tough thing to choose you know several students

[01:59:13] out of the year and so this was our last one for this school year so stay tuned for next year with for our seniors next year so do we have any board announcements? Okay, Ms. Lynn. All right. Ashland Elementary School hosted the gauntlet in March, which is the follow-up competition to the amazing shake we had earlier in the year.

[01:59:34] The gauntlet puts students' tiger values to the test with scenarios that tested their innovation, respectfulness, gratitude, empathy, and kindness. And the top 10 were announced at a school-wide gathering in the afternoon. Thank you, Ms. Lynn. Do I have any more? Okay, Mr. Seifer. Yes, ma'am.

[01:59:55] I'd like to talk about the White House Washington Henry Elementary School ground-making ceremony. We broke ground on the new Washington Henry Elementary School on Thursday, March 12th. I went to Washington Henry, so very special to be there in my first groundbreaking here on the school board.

[02:00:12] Very joyful day, a snowy occasion, marked the beginning of the fourth school constructed in Hanover County since 2008. So that's pretty amazing. And the school is set to open for the 2027-28 school year. and you can definitely see the construction going on. It looks like the playground is going to be a little bigger.

[02:00:29] I see them clearing some extra woods out there, so that's great. I'm happy about that. And one more item, if I could. Virginia 250 Spirit Week, and we have a Hanover County 250 commission also. I'm the school system representative for that, so I'm very, very happy to do that.

[02:00:46] But before spring break, students and staff across HCPS participated in a division-wide Patriotic Spirit Week. This was due to the anniversary of Patrick Henry's Liberty or Death speech, which was March 23rd, 1775, so the 251st anniversary of that.

[02:01:03] It was part of our celebration of the 250th anniversary of America's independence, which has included lessons and activities at our schools. The Spirit Week included a coordinated red, white, and blue unity day, a hat day in honor of Hanover's own Patrick Henry, and a dress for success day in recognition of our county's ties to the revolution, among other days.

[02:01:23] And there's just amazing history here in Hanover County, our historic Hanover County Courthouse. Patrick Henry practiced law there, participated in one of the most historic trials in American history. And I also wanted to thank the school system for their support for the Patrick Henry Oratory Contest, which was put on by the Hanover 250 Commission and the American Legion, along with sponsors from the historic Pilgrim Church and the Veterans of Foreign War in Scotchtown.

[02:01:53] And it was a great event in the historic Hanover Courthouse. Over 40 students took part in that, and it was just a great event. And looking forward to doing it next year. So thank you to the school system for their support, Chris Whitley in particular, getting the word out, and some of the great PR afterwards as some of these students are going to the VFW and American Legion and giving the speeches there, really well received.

[02:02:17] And thank you again, Dr. Petticoff. And Mr. Seifert, there were cash prizes, correct? There were. The high school division, first prize was $500. The runner-up was $250. Middle school, $300 prize, $150 runner-up.

[02:02:32] And then three elementary divisions, $150 for the winners and runner-up. And Cool Spring Elementary won the prize for most participants. They had nine. So we do it. Cool spring. Ms. Pike, great job there.

[02:02:48] So, yeah, really looking forward to next year. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Seifert. Hey, do we have any more? Dr. Schell. All right. So April is Workforce Readiness Month, and as part of the Virginia School Board Association, we're honored to celebrate Workforce Readiness Month, highlighting the many outstanding programs and partnerships and initiatives that connect education to career readiness, as we've heard this evening.

[02:03:20] From career and technical education and apprenticeships to internships and industry collaborations, we're proud of how we are equipping students for the real-world skills, knowledge, and experience they will need. We look forward to celebrating Workforce Readiness Day on Thursday, April 16th.

[02:03:38] That's in two days. Yes, Dr. Schiff. Yes, Madam Chair. Just a shout-out to the Navy JROTC unit at Mechanicsville High School, which is comprised of JV and varsity teams who recently qualified for and competed in the national orienting championship in Florida.

[02:04:08] They also included two eighth grade candidates who qualified to compete in the varsity course. And among other accomplishments, the Navy JROTC varsity air rifle team also placed 10th in the nation at Navy nationals. And just a shout out, I was able to stop by the feet meet today.

[02:04:27] and it was really hot out there, but I was able to talk to some students before I got called away, but it was a wonderful job, and thank you, Dr. Podrowski, for inviting me. Thank you, Dr. Schoef. Yes, Mr. Coleman.

[02:04:43] Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to piggyback on, I wanted to bring my Kleenex. I'm with you, Chris. The idea of just these kids and the emotion that these principals speak with, you know, it's not just something that I think that they just come with, it's they're seeking that input from the teachers. So first off, congratulations to the students again, and congratulations to the parents, and thank you for our school leadership, for paying attention and being very intentional in identifying these students, because I think that's just as important. So thank you very much

[02:05:20] for that. Very, very humbling, very humbling. Another announcement on Monday, March 2nd, At Ashland Elementary School, custodian Michelle Green saved the life of a student. The student was choking on food, and she acted very quickly and saved the child's life.

[02:05:39] We're very grateful for her quick actions. She was unable to make it this evening, but we will be recognizing her again in the near future. Lastly, coming up, just around the corner this weekend, we'll have the 49th Festival of Arts and Sciences at Mechanicsville High School.

[02:05:56] It's a celebration of music, art, and more. The event features exhibits, live performances in the areas of music, theater, fine arts, and physical education. Admission is free. Snacks will be available for purchase. Come out and enjoy the work of the students when we hope to see everyone there.

[02:06:12] Last but not least, but wait, there's more. We will have a free chess tournament again. Bob, I know you're thrilled. We're excited. At the neighboring Bell Creek Middle School from 12 to 4, if you're interested, we strongly encourage you to pre-register. Otherwise, Bob will come get you.

[02:06:28] But wait, there's more. Wait, hold on. We will also have a few amazing historical figures make special appearances, not Bob Seifert, and possibly deliver some incredible speeches to celebrate America's 250th birthday. That's all I got. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Coleman.

[02:06:47] So I have two announcements and then we'll have our recess. So really exciting. We are at Roll Point Elementary School had their 50th anniversary. Well, it's kind of been a celebration all year long. I know Ms. A is probably ready for that to kind of slow down a little bit and move on to 51.

[02:07:08] But the Robleyne Elementary School came together last month for a day full of celebration of the school's 50th birthday, from a quilt dedication and student assemblies in the morning to a community celebration in the afternoon that included a history museum and a teacher dance that was pretty impressive.

[02:07:26] The festivities honored the school's history and community and... Mr. Whitley and I got to find, and I think, did you find yours too, your pictures in the yearbook? Okay. So, and Mr. Seifert, we all found our pictures in the yearbook because we have graduated from there a long time ago.

[02:07:45] And I was the latest graduate from Role Point Elementary School. And then we also had the pleasure this past week of celebrating our seniors in their elementary schools that they graduated from.

[02:08:01] And this touched me so much because this is my second year doing it with a graduate from Hanover High School. And there is not a dry eye from a parent in these schools. It is so hard to watch your senior that will be graduating in a couple months walk down the elementary school hallways very fast and brisk and high-fiving these elementary school students.

[02:08:30] It is just really special, and it's very exciting, and I'm sure some of our seniors and their parents did that, and it is very heartwarming, but I will say the coolest thing is some of the teachers that are still there or that come back for this event and take pictures with these seniors.

[02:08:50] it's just really and principals too so it's just really a great day or a great time that's celebrated they also do it at the middle schools correct I think they also go through the middle schools if they haven't yet they will so very exciting time and special thing that we do for our seniors

[02:09:11] so thank you all very much and we will take a quick recess okay we are back from that little

[02:16:52] recess and we need a motion to approve the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda as presented thank you dr. Shelf I have a motion to have a second second thank you dr. Shroff is there any discussion okay seeing none all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion passes and next up we have our our instructional highlight, the Go Tech, which is very interesting. So welcome back, Mr. Rorick.

[02:17:29] Again, Madam Chair, members of the school board, Dr. Pinnikoff, senior staff. I am excited to join you all again this evening, this time to discuss a regional Go Virginia grant initiative that two of our middle schools are currently involved in with Go Tech, which stands as you see on the screen, for great opportunities in technology and engineering careers. I'm pleased to have a couple GoTek representatives with me here tonight. With me, we have Lauren Seidel. He is the Advanced Manufacturing Education Consultant with the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing,

[02:18:06] and he's the one that's actually leading the regional grant request. In addition, we also have Courtney Massengill, who's the GoTek Training Coordinator from the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. GoTek delivers workforce training and talent development through a collaborative model that involves K-12 school systems as well as higher education and industry.

[02:18:30] Starting in middle school career connections labs and continuing through high school, dual enrollment, and post-secondary programs, GoTek engages students in hands-on learning and high-demand career pathways. As noted on the previous slide, GoTek is focused on creating connections for students in in-demand careers in IT advanced manufacturing and STEM with industry targets in our region. They support this through setting up labs with equipment and resources in middle schools in our region. Each GoTek lab includes modules on automation and robotics,

[02:19:08] electrical engineering, energy, metrology, welding, mechanical engineering, precision machining, IT coding and networking, and manufacturing engineering. There are even a couple other module options available as well.

[02:19:26] A typical lab for a middle school includes the following equipment you see on the screen, such as 3D printers, laser cutter, VEX robotics kits, welding simulators, and even a CNC desktop mill, amongst other items. The typical funding needed to cover the equipment in each lab is around $150,000.

[02:19:46] This varies based on which modules you select and facility infrastructure needs. In our case, the amount was less due to our labs being in good shape. This funding will come from Go Virginia. Also, as noted on the slide, there is typically around $75,000 in-kind match that needs to be identified by school divisions to support the Go Virginia grant request.

[02:20:09] This can include items such as the classroom teacher's salary and benefits. In addition, our school division would pay an $8,000 annual fee for two years to support the IALR team, Courtney, see you tonight, who assists with setting up the labs, as well as supporting teachers and students in using the lab equipment and GoTek resources.

[02:20:30] These funds count towards the in-kind match as well. Including for our two schools, CCAM is pursuing a Go Virginia grant request to cover a total of seven schools in our region, and matches aggregated from all localities over the entire grant request.

[02:20:48] This slide notes the current GoTech labs in our region, to your left there, as well as the new labs that will be outfitted should the grant be approved by GoVirginia at their June meeting. The two pre-engineering course labs we are looking at to pilot this initiative in our division are at Chickahominy Oaknoll Middle Schools.

[02:21:08] Our hope is that this will be a successful pilot, And we would then seek additional grant funding to outfit our two other middle school pre-engineering labs in the near future. This slide outlines the timeline moving forward. Should the grant be approved at the June Go Virginia meeting, Lauren and Courtney's team would proceed at that time in making the equipment purchases and would lead teacher training over the summer as well.

[02:21:34] They will then install the equipment prior to the start of the new school year this fall, where students would begin to utilize the equipment and resources. We thank you for your time and you know, we are hopeful certainly that the regional grant will be approved by go Virginia At their June meeting so that students can access this new equipment and resources And we're certainly here myself as well as our representatives to answer any questions you may have. Thank you very much Mr. Orrink, I will tell you I'm so excited about this program I brought my packet home from the agenda meeting and it's got crumbs all over it because my two middles or my

[02:22:13] upcoming middle schooler a rising middle schooler sixth grader and my sixth grader had their hands all over it because they're very excited about participating and it's crummy um do we have any questions um about this program if i could just ask mr rowing to explain how it was that the two schools were chosen first because as he said we're looking to start with the pilot and then add on the other two schools. Sure. Thank you, Dr. Penny Cuff. So we met as a team. Anytime we're looking at a new initiative, this is something that we meet with our teachers about. We want

[02:22:53] their involvement and buy-in and support through it because they're the content expert in their area. And so we met with the team. The team decided that, hey, they felt like with anything new like this, they felt like a pilot would be a great way to be able to explore that. And the two teachers are most eager you know to do that we're at the two schools we talked about to lead that and we're excited to lead that initiative the other benefit as well is that we talked earlier that the price and the amount of money you may need from the grant can be dependent upon the facility infrastructure and at those two schools as well the infrastructure is already in place that there didn't need to be any infrastructure updates needed should we you know again this has to be

[02:23:31] approved that the June go Virginia meeting but should we get this and everything proceeds the way we're hopeful because we also believe that the students can be excited about these new equipment opportunities then we would have to seek additional grant funding but that amount may need to be a little bit more in terms of amount we're seeking because the classrooms and labs our two schools may need a little more modifications based on how they're currently constructed in order to hold the different equipment so that played a role in the conversation as well okay and and the the meeting is in June and so this timeline reflects that obviously okay okay perfect do we have any other

[02:24:10] questions no okay thank you very much thank you all so much okay and now for information and discussion review of proposed policies miss Leah Hahn thank you madam chair thank you the proposed revision for our policy review this evening is 7-2.6 regarding student immunizations. This is not necessarily new information. This is

[02:24:47] essentially a compilation of information that pieces that were in different areas of our policy manual. And so what we've done, staff has taken it and basically put it all in one place and made it a lot more user-friendly and a lot clearer and gotten rid of some of the unnecessary duplication, essentially. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. You don't need to take any action on this this evening. This is just for first read. It will be back in front of you for action at the

[02:25:23] next board meeting. Thank you, Ms. Hahn. Do we have any questions? Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, we will have our quarterly academic report, Dr. Fisher and team.

[02:25:45] And team, everyone who's left. This is like the beef, right? I know, it's great. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. Penicoff, senior staff. With the third quarter of the year recently ending, We are excited to bring forward a snapshot of student progress across our school division since we were last with you.

[02:26:10] We do appreciate the opportunity to showcase the impact of our teachers' high-quality classroom instruction as outlined in our comprehensive plan. During the third quarter, we continue to measure our students' mastery of skills through a variety of common assessments, and tonight we're planning to share an overview of that student performance data that we've collected since we were here for each of our content areas. As you know, wintry weather posed some challenges during the third quarter. In response to reduced instructional time, the curriculum and instruction team provided all teachers with guidance on how to adjust their

[02:26:49] instructional pacing so that required standards could still be taught prior to the end of the school year. Aware that teachers would also no longer have dedicated weeks prior to SOL testing to review, our team has also offered guidance on how to embed those additional opportunities for students to retrieve previously learned skills and content into new instruction. With shifted pacing and embedded review, we are confident that our teachers have been able to prepare our students for success on their spring assessments. This evening, each specialist will provide an overview of trends noted in elementary and secondary data, as well

[02:27:28] as their identified division level next steps, and we'll pause between each content area so that you can ask questions before we move on to the next specialist. We're going to begin with an update from our literacy team. Here to lead us through the elementary portion is Christina Whitfield, our English and Language Arts Coordinator. Hello, good evening. It's great to be with you this evening to share a literacy update. All right, at the beginning of March, the mid-year

[02:28:03] Val's data window came to a close. Looking at this data table, we want to give you a little kind of lay of the land with the data table here. So looking at the data table, the first row for each grade level shows fall data represented by the letter F, and the second row represents mid-year data showed by the letter M. Each grade level is separated by a bold black line. Begin by drawing your attention to the red rectangle. So here you'll see the number and percentage of the K through third grade students who are at high risk for developing reading difficulties.

[02:28:38] Over the year, we strive for this data to decrease because we want to see more of our students grasping foundational reading skills. Overall, from fall to mid-year, explicit and systematic instruction resulted in 246 students moving out of the high-risk band and intervention services. Overall, our high-risk percentages decreased at every grade level. We're particularly excited about our first grade data. In first grade, students are spending the majority of their literacy time learning to read and spell. Currently, we have only 8.67% of students in the high-risk band across the

[02:29:17] division, signifying that the majority of our new readers are reading and spelling at grade level, and this translates to almost 80% of our students thriving in the low-risk band. The green rectangle on the right side of the table represents the students who are at low risk for developing reading difficulties now or in the future. Ultimately, we want approximately 80% of our students in the low risk band.

[02:29:42] Our mid-year data is particularly exciting because 837 students have moved into the low risk band with explicit and systematic tier one literacy instruction since the fall. Overall, all grade levels have increased in the number of students identified as low risk at mid-year. We continue to celebrate the efforts of both our teachers and building level leadership. We have some specific next steps as we move into quarter four. Our reading specialists continue to provide consistent intervention for students and classroom support where needed to ensure that we are still working

[02:30:22] on moving students out of the high risk band. Literacy leaders continue to utilize this data and weekly progress monitoring data to inform and plan small group instruction in the Tier 1 classroom alongside teachers. Our most recent team leader professional learning highlighted the use of both decodable and authentic text for independent reading opportunities in the classroom.

[02:30:45] Additionally, our literacy leaders are diligently preparing summer UPLC sessions around the increased rigor in Tier 1 literacy instruction that will help to maintain the focus on great evidence-based literacy practices in the coming school year and i will let jan take it over for middle school hello we are also happy to return to share our mid-year middle school vows data as well unlike elementary school the vows assessment is not administered to all students in the middle school we are excited to share that 79 of our sixth through eighth grade students are meeting

[02:31:20] grade level expectations and do not require a student reading plan this means that they also do not participate in vowels testing data within the table on this slide represents students who are identified as needing reading support during fall vowels testing we are excited to report that at mid-year the number of students who require intervention in encoding spelling and decoding reading decreased from fall to mid-year this means that 88 additional students are now encoding at grade level and 83 additional students are now decoding at grade level which is certainly a

[02:31:55] celebration. Based on this data, research, and VLA legislation, we will continue to focus on core instruction for all students using our instructional routines and evidence-based literacy instructional practices. In addition, we will continue to increase student reading volume and stamina through reading a variety of complex grade-level text. Reading and writing will be discussed with students during conferring times. Lastly, we will continue to monitor progress of all intervention students to determine the best next steps in instruction. At our last update we shared 11th grade writing performance

[02:32:34] assessment data with you. Currently we are in the process of scoring and analyzing 9th grade and 10th grade data and we look forward to sharing that information with you soon. Meanwhile in our high schools we will continue to use strategies such as annotation while reading like a reader and reading like a writer using text sets and other wide and varied authentic texts. We will also be emphasizing choice in the high school classroom through book club offerings and continued sacred times for independent reading.

[02:33:02] At this time, are there any literacy questions? Mr. Seifert? Going back to elementary and the high-risk band for these, you know, young students just getting a start, do we do anything special for their parents? You know, what do we do, if anything?

[02:33:20] Sure. So those students who are in the high-risk band receive a student reading plan, and they get notification of that from the beginning of the school year when this fall VALS data is completed. So the reading specialist in collaboration with the classroom teacher communicate that with the parent and are able to kind of explain what that data looks like, explain what intervention, support, and services will look like in the school and what will happen at the classroom level and then how that intervention supports in the classroom as well.

[02:33:49] And that communication stays pretty consistent across those testing windows. Do we provide any information to the parents to make them more helpful to the kids? Because obviously that's... Absolutely. In the student reading plan, we are required to provide resources for parents.

[02:34:06] And so we provide some links with helpful resources that are usually state-provided resources for parents. And then the reading specialist can provide additional resources within the building. Or if parents need things like letters at home or activities to work on, the reading specialists are usually the resources for that as well.

[02:34:26] Okay, thank you. And if a parent has a specific request, we always direct them to the reading specialist because we want to make sure that those parents and families have everything that they need. OK, super. Thank you. I think a lot of questions get answered too at those parent-teacher conferences, and they do a lot of explanation at those on the VALs.

[02:34:47] Any other questions or comments? Oh, yeah. I just want to say it's one of my favorite things reading my time in public school. So kudos to you because this is hard work. I know it is. And I know the middle school and the high school people particularly like when you can teach them all to read when they get to them.

[02:35:03] So congratulations. Thank you so much. We have an entire team of unsung heroes that are working at the building level. Our reading specialists, our literacy coaches, which you've been so gracious to offer us two additional reading specialists at the elementary level next year.

[02:35:20] So we have a team, a large team of about 45 people that really make everything run. And so I know that they would appreciate your support as well. Thank you so much. If there's no other questions, then we're going to turn it over to our math counterparts. Thank you. I'm just going to make a couple comments.

[02:35:36] This data is incredible. I'm very excited about this. And I know it's not just the books. So I know it's all your hard work and your unsung heroes and the teachers that are in the classrooms and the reading specialists and everything.

[02:35:51] But this is so exciting. And I see Ms. Elizabeth back there, and the preschool data is just as exciting. And I think when these kids get to be in middle and high school, like with this, you know, learning, training, education, instruction, it is just going to, you know, carry on, carry through.

[02:36:12] And so that number of high risk is just going to keep trickling down, and it's so exciting. So thank you for all you're doing. Thank you for all your support. Absolutely. Good evening.

[02:36:29] In the third quarter, we gave division-level assessments in all of our SOL mathematics tested courses, and we'll be sharing data from those assessments at this time. Our division-level benchmark assessments were all given in the month of March for grades 3 through 8.

[02:36:47] This is the only benchmark assessment we administer since these students also take the state growth assessment in the fall and then again in the winter. As the only benchmark assessment for these students, we make sure that these assessments are cumulative and prioritize the most important standards from these grade levels and skills that are traditionally more difficult.

[02:37:09] Our high school-tested courses took the third of three division benchmark assessments. This March assessment covered content taught since the previous check-in, which was given in January. We are excited to share that the percentage of students who are scoring at or above the level of proficiency has increased compared to the assessment given in the 24-25 school year.

[02:37:33] As a reminder, the students in Math 5-6 are all 5th grade students taking a compacted curriculum, which includes all of the Math 5 and the Math 6 standards. These students take the Math 6 SOL test in the spring.

[02:37:48] Now Ian's going to share a little bit about secondary data. So we see similar gains when looking at those middle school courses, with each course showing an improvement compared to the 24-25 school year. I do want to point at the relatively lower percentage in Math 8.

[02:38:06] We consider that alongside the very high percentage for Algebra 1 Extended. And as a reminder, our acceleration pathways provide students the opportunity to, after they have completed Math 7, to remain on the grade level pathway in Math 8, or take that compacted algebra one extended course. We have roughly half of our eighth grade students that follow that accelerated pathway. When we take that together, those two courses, we see that cohort of eighth graders performing at about the same level as the cohort of our grade level and of all our other grade levels as well. And then we see that same pattern of improvement when we look at

[02:38:44] our high school courses and two of those three and a very slight decrease in our performance level for Algebra 1. As Amy said, these assessments cover material that was covered since the last benchmark that we gave back in January. I will note that each of these scores that you see here is higher than the performance level that we saw back in January, which in turn was higher than the pass rate that we saw in January of the prior year. So we continue that upward trend in all of our grade levels and in all of our courses. Then as with all of our

[02:39:19] assessments, data gives us information that we want to celebrate as well as reveal areas of improvement. We do start by celebrating the growth that was revealed in all of our grade levels. We credit that growth to several factors, including that this is the second year of full implementation of the new standards of learning for mathematics. The second year of implementation brings a stronger sense of comfort with the material, particularly with content that was added to the standards. At the division level, that second year of full implementation provided us an opportunity to tighten our pacing and curriculum, adding new resources that highlighted

[02:39:56] connections between mathematical concepts to increase student understanding of mathematics. We do recognize that there is always room for improvement, and the data from the assessment shows specific needs that do remain at all grade levels. For this year's students, we support and address those needs through reteaching and appropriate opportunities for preparation for the end of course assessment and then looking ahead to the future we identify new opportunities for resource creation additional curriculum guidance and opportunities for our instructional coaches and I'm happy to answer any questions or clarify any of the information that we shared do we have

[02:40:32] any questions yeah I do have a question so the the if you're in math 5/6 and you're excelling which 99% of them are so I would say most of them are and you would go, your next level course would be Math 7? That's correct. Okay, and then Math 8 or extended, or algebra extended? Correct, yes. Okay, and then they would go into geometry in ninth grade.

[02:41:01] So geometry in ninth grade, for many of our students, some of our students who double accelerate, so the student who was in 5-6 as a fifth grader, they took Math 7 as a sixth grader, Algebra extended as a seventh grader and then they take geometry as an eighth grader. Okay, got it. That's pretty impressive Okay, and it looks like we got over the first part of last year Mean, median and mode being you know the first part of the a little bit frustrated teachers with that we heard about It was it was it was something new and anytime we do something new It's a challenge.

[02:41:38] Our goal for that was recognizing that that new mean-median mode was part of a wider emphasis that the state put on the data cycle and getting the kids to answer and ask questions about their world. And we saw that in opera. What better opportunity to do that than the very first day of school?

[02:41:55] Let's get to know our class and collect data. And that was different because we normally did that in, quite honestly, May, the day before we took the SLO test. That's what I heard. But we saw great gains in that, and I think we'll continue to reap the rewards of that research.

[02:42:11] Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, the numbers show that, you know, it's obviously helped, you know, with the rest of it. So thank you very much. Any other questions? I do have a quick question that came to mind. Is it possible to take geometry and Algebra 2 at the same time?

[02:42:28] It is possible. It's not one of our recommended pathways. Our official structure has geometry as a prerequisite to Algebra 2, although it certainly is possible for students to do that, we try to make sure that we provide the most appropriate level of instruction for all of our students on an individual basis.

[02:42:46] Typically, the situation that you're describing might happen from a student who is a rising senior who needs that one extra math class, and so we'll double them up to make sure that they get the mathematics credits that they need for graduation. I was thinking more of the student who is tracking well and is making room for calculus before they leave high school.

[02:43:08] Geometry and algebra, you can say that one is a prerequisite, but there's not really a mathematical link. Geometry is another world compared to algebra. There's a much longer conversation I'm prepared to have with you about that.

[02:43:25] I will say that your situation, one of the things that we recommend for our students is to take geometry over the summer, as that is a course that's not as foundational. And so if we condense geometry to an eight-week program, we're not doing as much of a disservice to a student's future in mathematics as if they took Algebra I.

[02:43:42] And so we do have students who take geometry over the summer. Some of our students, that puts them two years ahead. And if they're two years ahead, that's where they take Calculus AB as a junior. They take Calculus BC as a senior. They may take a couple of years of IB mathematics in there.

[02:43:58] But we do make sure that we provide the best opportunities for all of our students. I'll let y'all have that later discussion after the meeting if you want to stick around. Thank you very much. Thanks so much.

[02:44:14] And we will turn it over to Mr. Wayne Gilchrist to give updates for science. Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the latest from science this evening. last time I was with you I shared data for what has come out of fourth and fifth grade that is a two-year cumulative exam so what you see here are the five or four of the units that that students have have completed since my last report the ones labeled with a four are our fourth grade review units so

[02:44:52] those are the ones that are fifth graders we reinforce and review those units to prepare them so that they are ready for the two-year cumulative exam that will come in the spring. What you can see are a series of colored bands representing 10-point percentiles, and the biggest trend that we can notice and that I want to celebrate is that as you move from top to bottom, the red decreases and a whole lot more green and blue demonstrating 80%

[02:45:28] percent or higher mastery to show that our students should be well prepared going into the May SOL for fourth and fifth grade. Our next steps for elementary science is we are just completing a textbook adoption process for new curricular materials for our K-5 students.

[02:45:54] The committee will have a recommendation that we will bring to you next month. The books just went out to the Hanover Libraries today for public commentary for the next two weeks. So we will have those data as well for you for our next meeting.

[02:46:13] What will come out of that is we will have professional learning for our teachers to ensure that they are rip rare and ready to go with the new materials, know the ins and outs of how the new materials will differ from the previous materials, all of which is designed around the standards of learning. So they will still be teaching the same standards. They will have some new and additional resources in order to address those. We also have a number of teams of teachers who have excelled and they are bringing forth

[02:46:50] their techniques and things like that to their fellow teachers at July's UPLC sessions. So we're excited to hear teachers speaking to their peers. This represents quarters one through three biology, our high school accreditation course.

[02:47:12] The units that are in gray I previously talked about with you. Those are the first semester courses, and the ones that are white, the bottom four, are what they've done since my last report. And what you can see, again, in the trend is a decrease in red and an increase in blue.

[02:47:36] This is evidence that when teachers plan, now that we're working in PLT groups, When they plan with that end of unit in mind what their goal is, that they are far more successful in aligning the experiences and the instruction to help their students be more successful.

[02:47:58] Our high school bio teams are beginning to embrace this collaborative PLT planning process, and they are definitely seeing results coming out of that. This is especially useful as our experienced teachers are working more closely with a number of new teachers and a number of long-term substitutes that are in our high school buildings, ensuring that everybody is working at the same pace and in the same manner.

[02:48:26] Our next steps in secondary science are to increase resource creation for our middle and high school courses. There will be new materials coming from the state in the form of instructional guides that will give additional resources.

[02:48:43] When those are approved by Board of Ed, we will introduce those to our teachers. We have some new secondary science courses with new SOLs, so those will have revised pacings. We've got a lot of summer PL for all of our SOL courses, K-12.

[02:49:04] Analysis-wise, we will look at how all those red, green, blue bands compare to the SOL tests and use that to revise our common summative assessments that we use for each unit to ensure that we are using the best potential resources and preparing our students for the ultimate success.

[02:49:28] And we will have a committee recommendation for our new environmental science adoption. The course was just adopted, and we will be adopting materials to be able to instruct that beginning in the fall.

[02:49:46] Before I go, do you have any questions for me before I hand it off to Dr. Webb? Dr. Schell? Well, since our last meeting, we had the Artemis II flight around the moon. I'm just curious, was there any noticeable interest or response or effect among students to the Artemis trip?

[02:50:10] It wasn't quite Sputnik. I was hoping for that, but there was definitely interest of students going, what if I could go up there? Now they're starting to think about colonizing the moon, colonizing Mars, whereas before it was just kind of a sci-fi.

[02:50:28] Now we're moving into sci-reality. That is a cool thing. I know Jackson's teacher, Ms. Mallon, she sent out a notice to all the parents, you know, just a reminder that it was going on.

[02:50:44] It was perfect because they had just finished a space unit, or they maybe were starting it or something. But I do have a question on biology. Yes, ma'am. So it looks like we're having – I don't understand the struggle with biology because I love it.

[02:51:00] But do we still do the cell models? Do they still do that? We do. Actually, most of what is now high school biology is probably 50% cellular.

[02:51:17] We do not do a lot of large-scale organism. As you see, the unit terms, it's all small stuff. It's all at the cellular level. It's not until the end of the year that we really get into a whole critter or a whole plant and how all of those things begin to attract.

[02:51:40] We're looking at all the different components and then putting it all together at the end. Yeah, it's interesting that we're kind of struggling in that area because I think it's just fascinating. And I had some incredible biology teachers. Dr. Gilman King was amazing. But anyway, I know you're working hard on that.

[02:51:58] It is fascinating, but it is very small, so it's abstract. So trying to model something that they can't see easily, that's one of the hardest things with biology and chemistry as well, because it's lots of little things and incredible numbers of little things.

[02:52:18] So the math and trying to make that very abstract concept real is a very difficult task. Are we still dissecting and stuff in biology? some. As we move more into the cellular level, it's not even as much as it was back when I was in school and even when I started teaching. In the standards, it's far less. Oceanography has shark and squid dissections. There is some dissection in middle school life science and in high school biology. Anatomy and physiology has the most. A lot, yeah. Okay, thank you very

[02:52:57] much. Any other questions? Oh sorry. That did bring to mind another question. You know, plant biology is a little more visual and real. You know, a seed is a form of cell and you can watch it grow and change and whatnot. So is plant biology involved in any of this? There's a little bit of plant but most of the standards are really geared around animals because we are. Well we are but we eat plants. I eat plants

[02:53:35] on the side. It's a garnish. I just want to give a little bit of context to the board because next month we will be coming before you like Wayne was just sharing with a textbook proposal for environmental science. So to your question about our performance in biology, I just wanted to kind of reiterate when we brought the new course before the board in the fall, one of our reasons for that course is we wanted to propose a course that would support students prior to taking biology.

[02:54:15] So the environmental science course has some earth science within it. It also has biology within it. And what we're proposing is that it become a foundational course that most of our ninth graders will enroll in. So if they're not ready to go straight into that advanced pathway for biology, they'll be able to take that environmental science course first, learn some vocabulary, learn some concepts, build that foundation so that when they get to this content in biology, they're better prepared and able to be more successful.

[02:54:45] Yes, and I do remember that. And I think, and I'm not going to try to date myself, but when I was in school, we had a science prior to biology. And that is now an elective or an option. Is that correct? I'm not sure what the pathway would have been at that point.

[02:55:04] We were in school together. But yes, it has shifted over the years for different things. Right now, a lot of our freshmen are going into earth science. So this course will kind of be like both, the best of both, and then prepare them for that experience a little better.

[02:55:22] I think that's wonderful. Yeah. But that is absolutely in response to what we've noticed in data over the past few years. Perfect. Thank you very much. And because environmental science is whole organisms, whole populations, and ecosystems, it's much more tangible than a single cell and a single organism.

[02:55:44] Yeah, I think it's a good step for those that struggle a little bit. Thank you very much. Of course. Good evening. It's my pleasure to share updates and social studies with you from the third quarter.

[02:56:02] And you might always forget. Fourth grade students completed two units during the third quarter, the New Nation and Civil War and Post-War Era.

[02:56:19] On the slide, you can see the color-coded bar chart that indicates the percentage of students across the division scoring in various score bands. You can also see the overall percentage of students earning a passing score in each assessment. For comparison purposes, the results from Unit 6 are in line with previous assessments given this year, while Unit 7 results are lower.

[02:56:39] This is likely in part due to the realignment of units in Virginia studies to comply with new social studies standards as well as additional content in those standards. In prior years, content from Unit 7 was broken into two units.

[02:56:54] of the new standards this year led to combining that content into a single unit for this particular unit. Common assessments in middle schools are performance assessments framed as DBQs, or document-based questions.

[02:57:14] 6th and 7th grade students each complete three DBQ-type assessments, while 8th grade students complete a mid-year assessment and then take a traditional SOL test at the end of the year. As you can see in the slide, 6th grade U.S. History 1 and 7th grade U.S. History 2 students have taken two performance assessments so far this year.

[02:57:34] The color-coded chart indicates percentage of students earning a passing score in each assessment, and the pass rate for each assessment is indicated in the right-hand column. 8th grade students have completed their mid-year assessment in January, and those results can be seen in the last row of the chart. Overall students perform well on these assessments, and there will be an increased emphasis on this type of assessments in middle schools moving forward as they will help prepare students, prepare rising high school students for this type of assessment that they'll see in high school.

[02:58:07] The transition from traditional end-of-course SOL tests to inquiry-based performance assessments in high school social studies courses continues to go well. As a reminder, these assessments require students to answer compelling historical questions using primary and secondary sources to create and defend arguments and claims. Student written responses are scored using a VDOE rubric. To earn a verified credit in a course, students must successfully complete inquiry-based performance tasks in a majority of historical eras in the course,

[02:58:45] demonstrate proficiency in a majority of the standards in the course on teacher-made summative assessments, and earn a passing grade for the course. You can see in the chart that our students are performing well on the performance assessments. The scores in green are the new scores since the last time I reported these, and I have an update on the scoring in progress. That scoring is no longer in progress. It's completed. Since the slide was created, we've completed scoring for World History II and Modern Global Studies, and I can report a 97% pass rate for students in World History II on their third task and a 94% pass rate for Modern

[02:59:24] younger liberal studies on their third task. For our next steps in social studies, we continue to work on developing resources for elementary social studies classrooms, expanding the role of document-based assessments in middle schools, and integrating inquiry-based instruction and assessment into high school classrooms. I would be happy to try to answer any questions or clarify anything you might have. Do we have any questions? Okay, I do have a question. So you, sorry. So you

[02:59:56] have Unit 7 in the fourth grade Virginia studies class. Unit 7, Civil War and Postwar era used to be two units? Civil War and the content that's in it now used to be sprouted over two units. It used to be called Civil War and Postwar era. Just the Postwar era went longer in the new standards. This is the first year of implementing those standards. Yeah, okay, because it is a lot. That's a lot of there's a lot of material so is there so how are we gonna how what are y'all

[03:00:33] doing to or how what are we doing to get them better up to speed I guess I got you we're providing guidance to teachers on how to for lack of a better word review material that's been taught embedded in into classrooms without without pausing instruction and going back and reteaching embedding key concepts that reoccur and making connections from old material to new material as they move through the course. Okay, okay. And they go on some cool

[03:01:10] field trips too. They do. In fourth grade. Okay, all right. Any other questions? Well that was like, my question was really, we're surrounded by this history, both the New Nation Civil War post, that basically 80 percent of it happened here so the advantage is that you can actually go and visit and stand on the ground and that makes things more real than just an abstract story of the past that seems irrelevant so and in my own involvement in colonial Williamsburg I know they do things for teachers as well as having

[03:01:49] field trips for schools and whatnot so I'm curious about the how we take advantage of the ground that we live on here it's a great question our the majority of our schools, I don't know the exact number, I think it may be 11 other elementary schools, 11 or 14, participated this year in the Hanover Tavern field trip and if you've never experienced that you should. It's an excellent experience for students that connects local history to the standards.

[03:02:16] They visit the courthouse, they visit the tavern, it's a really powerful field trip. Several of our schools also take advantage of the Colonial Virginia, I mean the Colonial Williamsburg opportunity, so I know that schools do dive into those opportunities. You have other places around Monticello, you've got you know various other locations where things happened, Harpers Ferry is not that far away, so I'm just wondering if as you get into high school does this fade away or? Well we are, actually my curriculum team,

[03:02:55] my my middle school curriculum team is working on a plan to try to develop a field trip experience at each grade level that can then extend that into high school a little later on but we're starting hoping to develop that start to build off the success in fourth grade and we've had some success thanks to Mr. Seifert's work getting us into Scotstown in sixth grade trying to expand those opportunities in middle schools that are all of our students do see multiple do you have multiple opportunities to visit historical sites in the county. Thank you, Dr. Shep. I think I heard that right, kind of planning to have like a set

[03:03:32] field trip schedule. That's the plan. That's what we're hoping to do. You know, yes. We can talk more about it offline, but yes, that's what I'm hoping to do. Awesome. Yeah, that sounds wonderful. And I was a military history major in college, so very interested in, yeah, it was just interesting for me to come back, and I didn't realize, you know, the Cold Harbor battlefield, Gaines Mill, Tide Department of Creek, I mean, significant Civil War battles, and to think that we could have the class there, you know, yeah, I feel like we should really work hard to take

[03:04:10] advantage of that, and as much as anything, just the inspiration. I mean, it'll really click for some kids to be on the ground, to see the monuments with people's names, recognizing some of the names because they're relatives, you know, yeah. If it were up to me, we'd take a lot of it.

[03:04:28] I would love that. Sounds great. Thank you. And not that I'm trying to get the Virginia, gosh, what was it called? The Virginia history scrapbook that we used to do, because I'm glad that I don't have fourth graders that I had to do that with, but it was a fabulous project.

[03:04:47] It was a really cool thing that parents got to do with their children. I'm sure Mr. Seifert got to do it as well. But it was a pretty cool thing that happened way back when. And I think I actually still have my Virginia scrapbook. Maybe I'll bring it in for showtime. But we are very rich in history in Virginia and very fortunate.

[03:05:08] So I know it's a fun subject for you. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm sorry, Dr. Penny Cuffins. I just wanted to thank the instructional team. They're kind of like the Avengers all coming down together because they do look to be sure that no one is left without hope and without great assistance and inspiration for their futures.

[03:05:39] And yes, I had already talked to Dr. Reams. One of the field trips for fourth grade will be the Hanover Tavern and the historic courthouse for fourth grade. And I think that my understanding of Scotchtown is one of the sixth grade trips. So those are underway.

[03:05:56] And I just want to thank you for all you do. I know that you have sleepless nights when you see some of the feedback come in and you think, what are we going to do to help support the children? And you come back with great ideas. And it's so much fun to talk with you and to think through things with you and just know how much we appreciate you and all you do for the children.

[03:06:19] Thank you all. We really appreciate the interest that you all have in hearing about the instruction and the data that we're getting back. Our students are doing great things, and I have an amazing team with great ideas, and then we, of course, have all of our teachers and instructional staff in the buildings making it happen, so I don't want to neglect them in the praise because certainly they're the people who are putting it all into place for our students.

[03:06:47] But yes, we have a great team. They talk about unsung heroes, but they are too. Yes, thank you all very much. Thank you for letting us come and share that with you. Yes, and I think Mr. Coleman has one. Well, I've got two things. First, Mr. Gilchrist. You can have one. The second one will be a short story.

[03:07:06] The rate that squirrels get hit in my neighborhood, if you need something to dissect, I could probably pick up two or three a week for you, throw them on ice, and bring them in if you need me. Just let me know. It's very tempting. Thank you. i can't imagine the comments we're going to get tomorrow the uh the second thing is is i've been waiting to tell this story all day long and because i knew what was on tonight's agenda i was running around the short pump area this afternoon and i was wearing my we are family hanover public schools t-shirt i wasn't dressed all that great but the shirt looked good of course

[03:07:42] right and i was leaving the whole foods again i told you a little story i was leaving the whole Foods walking back to my car, and a lady with two kids that were just crawling all over stopped me and said, hey, are you part of the Hanover County Public Schools? I said, well, I've got three kids that are in the school system. And she goes, well, I used to teach in Henrico. I don't teach anymore.

[03:08:05] You can see I'm wrangling kids right now. But she looked at me and she says, y'all have some really good schools up there. And so I'm just kind of looking at her going, if I was thinking quick enough, I would have said, listen, tonight's school board meeting, you're going to hear all of our academic prowess and our academic success. It's all there. So hats off. Congratulations. Well done. Yeah. Thank you. Thank y'all very much. Stop wearing your t-shirt. Okay. So we are moving

[03:08:34] on to our quarterly discipline report. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Mulvey. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. Penny Cuff, and senior staff. I appreciate you letting me come before you tonight. I will get some assistance scrolling through the data, but plan to highlight a number of things that I think are actually very positive developments in the discipline data. So just to start, if you look through the first two rows there, what you'll see compared to 24-25, this year, every single category across the board in elementary is down for the third nine weeks.

[03:09:11] You'll see the total ISS incidents, suspension days, unique students, OSS, suspension days, all of it is down. I love to see that trend. I will tell you as we go throughout the year, there's going to be highs and lows certainly, but right now it's trending down. As we slide a little further down to middle school data, you'll see the exact same thing. The first line of the middle school data, we go past it, a little higher, element, nope, down, sorry, other way, keep coming. There we go. So again, you'll see sort of across the board we're trending down, which is great to see. I want to particularly highlight OSS suspension days and unique

[03:09:49] students, as we move to high school, what I want to focus on is not only kids missing instruction, but missing the school day altogether. And so as those numbers continue to decrease, even if it means more kids in in-school, at least they're in school, so that we're able to get them instruction, supports, whatever additional things they need, hopefully to improve behavior. So if you move down to high school at this point, again, just sort of highlighting those last two columns, what you will again see is those numbers have decreased. And if you actually were to look over the course of the whole year you will see them continuing to decrease over the course of the

[03:10:22] whole year as well so those suspension days most specifically as we went from 695 to 597 like they tend to start high out of the gate frankly often right before spring break they balloon again we didn't see that so much this year there's absolutely still kids coming through my office that make a bulk of those big chunks in those numbers but to continue to see them decline even if it means more ISS days, I'm happy to see those OSS days going down as we keep more kids in school and get them those supports they need. If you wouldn't mind moving down a little bit further.

[03:10:58] Stop right there for just a second. As always, I do want to focus on those students that are removed from instruction or moved from school altogether because of the cell phone violations. Elementary, none. Middle school, a little bit. High school, a little bit higher. But again, compared to last year we are so far down and as we move into the next category where we start looking at elementary data first of all cell phones are not tied into elementary as you just saw it was zero and zero middle school and high school though we'll see that directly so if we're looking very specifically at the elementary data for the third nine weeks what we'll see is it's if you sort of follow the

[03:11:34] pattern of say reckless behavior in the 25 26 first column you'll see it was 31 the second nine weeks is 27 now it's still a highest but again we're starting to see a decrease in that number which is great to see same thing with minor altercations you know the highest codes we're seeing sort of a fluctuation in some cases but those things that are the worst like the reckless behavior that was the highest it's less now than it was the second nine weeks and so I hope to see those patterns continue to decrease as we look at middle school I told you guys last time one of things that I was really excited to see for the first time ever was that BSO 13

[03:12:09] not be the top code and again if you compare it this time to last year it's a third of what it was a year ago actually even less than that the refusal comply though it's still the highest it's lower than it was the second nine weeks this time last year so those codes continue to decrease as well as the cell phone violations and some of those refusals comply as we said in the past related directly to cell phone violations so the less we're having to take the more kids were the less kids we're having arguments with about giving those up in the first place right and so it's great to see those codes decrease if you go down to high school we will see

[03:12:45] once again the violation that bso 13 is the top but compare it to last year again we're talking about almost a 50 cut and so it's great to continue to see that decline again from the second nine weeks 234 to 159 that's a huge decrease refusal to comply even second nine weeks to this nine weeks, 137 to 105. So those potential debates over cell phones that are being escalated to the point of OSS, we're just having less and less of those, which is great. That drives our overall numbers throughout the board, which is the first set of data that you saw. So scrolling down a little bit further, intervention data. So there's something that pops off the page to me that you

[03:13:24] also may have noticed. So if we're looking at quarter one, two, and three, four this year, and if we're looking at that middle school column, that 40 there is an incredibly high number. So I can tell you, I reached out to our interventions specialist and said, hey, could you talk to me about what that looks like? I have seen some of it personally, and though I didn't highlight it, if we were to look at the middle school data that was just a little bit above with the highest categories, for the first time this year, tobacco is one of those categories. So there was over 20 students or 20 incidents where tobacco was taken. Almost all, not all, but almost all, I think like 22 of 24 of the incidents were vape devices, right? So those were taken off of middle school kids.

[03:14:04] I will tell you, I did ask for a more specific breakdown of what those incidents were. It's 24 nicotine vapor, another nicotine or another nicotine device, which device probably, frankly, it was like a cigarette or chewing tobacco. A cannabis vape was a couple, another cannabis, so non-vape, which is generally an edible or a joint.

[03:14:25] A couple of alcohol, and then there was a number of the rest were referrals from parents. that inflated that number but that's actually really good what that means is our intervention specialists are one known as a commodity and two trusted by the community to the point that even when behaviors are not happening in school there's community members reaching out saying my student needs help and so they're reaching out to the schools and to the interventionists to get assistance so the the ones that were it was close to 32 that were school involved all of the rest which was a fifth of the total actually just came from folks reaching out saying can you

[03:15:03] you help me? My student has an issue, which is sad, yes, but I'm excited, A, that we have something in place for folks to reach out to, and B, that they're actually reaching out to take advantage of that. So that number being high, again, it's a lot of tobacco and then a lot of folks reaching out for help. Any questions about that before I move on? So that number jumped out to me when I saw this data and yeah and but you put it into a little bit different perspective for me um and I will

[03:15:38] say that when you when you just said that when we were going to orientation at Oak Knoll Middle School the intervention specialist had a table there and we stopped at the table but it was packed so I think parents are utilizing or wanting to know more and so I think that wherever they can be where parents and students are um is great and that orientation having that the way that they were set up they were right there at the at the end of a hallway um in the front it you know it drew a bunch of parents and they had giveaways to parents i actually found mine the other day in my

[03:16:15] car um it's a pamphlet not a device yeah they're not handing out babies but um it's a pamphlet And I found it, and I thought it reminded me of, you know, I think it's just a wake-up call to me having almost two middle schoolers check their book bags, check their rooms, pull their drawers open, you know, do your duty as a parent, even if you think you have really good kids.

[03:16:47] This stuff is so dangerous and bad for our kids. It is. So I'm so glad to know this is a good thing and not a bad thing, because when you see the higher number, you're like, huh. But no, you put it into a good perspective for me, and I do think the intervention specialists are making a big difference.

[03:17:06] Yeah, so, I mean, a big chunk of it is, first of all, knowledge, the educational component, which they do a great job at. And I can also highlight that we continue to have, for second time, vape offenders. They are accompanied by a parent to an after-school class. Those numbers are thankfully still not huge.

[03:17:23] But what I'm hearing from the intervention specialists is they are spending, you know, 45 minutes to an hour with a student and their family with a nurse. And that that educational component is going a long way. I told you last time there was even an example of a younger brother being brought specifically because the mom wanted that kid to hear the message as well.

[03:17:44] Like, your brother or sister is making some mistakes. You don't have to make them. Let's learn about the dangers of this together. So they did that as a family. I will tell you, even tomorrow, Carla Allen has organized an event with the intervention specialists and a bunch of students who are coming in to problem solve. And I'll be working with them, specifically taking a look at this data.

[03:18:01] I will be talking to them for a few minutes about, hey, tell me what you guys are seeing and how we can better reach students within the schools. So we'll continue to look at this. Sure. If you'd go down a little bit further. Is there a question? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mr. Seifert.

[03:18:16] I'd ask a question or two here. Sure. I just want to make sure with the phones that we're not having the reductions because teachers are more lenient and things that they used to turn the kids in for, they aren't now. Do you have a feel? So I couldn't report that.

[03:18:33] All I have heard, frankly, from schools is that it's made their life easier, that they're just not seeing it as often. And I will tell you, maybe this is a bad example, but I was watching a video earlier today of a fight that happened in a school from the school video camera in the middle of a cafeteria that was full of kids.

[03:18:51] I didn't see a single phone out. And that was during an incident that in previous years would have been recorded by everybody with a phone. And what I take from that is, one, it's just sort of part of the culture of the school that it's not accepted anymore. But two, kids are just getting out of the way for the most part.

[03:19:07] So, again, I'm not hearing from folks that they are just frustrated and ignoring it. I feel like I would hear that, frankly, that, you know, we're just sick of dealing with it. Nobody's doing anything as an administration. But that's just not what I'm hearing at all. Okay, that's great. And I would hope you would stay on that.

[03:19:23] And as numbers get lower, we get even tighter, you know. But another question, I had the impression last year that bathrooms, kind of all the high schools and middle schools were a problem. And I don't hear as much about problems there. Do you have any comments on it? Yeah, so I will tell you, I think Dr. Staley did a lot of problem solving with our administrators in the past year to, one, how we could tighten that up.

[03:19:44] All the schools also work on that pass system now that greatly reduces who can be out and when. So the schools have the ability to say you continually get in trouble with this person and you're always out at the same time I'm blocking that so that student that has to ask permission to leave the room if that other kid is out They don't get to leave right And so there's all kinds of little barriers we can set up to try to help folks not make those mistakes And so again dr. Staley might tell you differently But I have not heard from folks that it's nearly a problem as it was before we a addressed it and be got the past system in place Okay, yeah, because it's just to me a very bad thing when kids are uncomfortable going to the bathroom

[03:20:19] They're having a problem finding bathrooms they can go to, so yeah, and then last thing I noticed in some schools like with the tobacco some great literature up on the walls Which is inspiring to me and you know if I had a problem I'd want to call the number or whatever it is, but then some schools. I don't see it at all Is there any kind of uniform Policy I could speak to that. I'd have to ask Carlisle on the intervention specialist that information all comes from them and the nurses So I imagine they're all given a certain amount to display though that might look different school to school I could certainly follow up on that if you'd like. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. Sure

[03:20:54] Can I see the failure to comply numbers again? Yeah, so for which area high school middle school high school? I think it was. Sure So stop there. Yeah, so the fears will comply to BSO3. So those numbers have I'm trying to see how they move because they're not So if you look at it compared to last year, they're higher.

[03:21:21] If you look at it compared to nine weeks, it's lower. Oh, okay. That's what I was seeing. Thanks. Were there any questions about that? No, I just wondered that that seemed to be one area that was not as clear as the others in terms of that.

[03:21:39] Yeah, interestingly, too, and I've said this to you guys before, but if you looked at our data previous to us putting that rule in a couple of years ago about BSO13, BSO3 was by far the highest code that we had. So if you look at the data before we put the policy in place, that was always our number one. Cell phones took the place of that and then was inflated by that.

[03:22:04] And as we see that cell phone number go down, even though that number was inflated, that's starting to decrease as well. Okay, so a couple other things. Georgetown School, just want to give you an update as we do. Oh, threat assessments, my bad. Another huge, great thing to highlight here.

[03:22:25] So this time last year, we had 18 high or imminent level threats. I would tell you that's huge. Every time there is a high or imminent threat that's done at a school level, it triggers a division level team to meet that will continue to meet until we've resolved that issue.

[03:22:43] For us this year to only have two is frankly pretty incredible. And those are two students that we continue to maintain knowledge of. But I will tell you, they being the schools, are doing some pretty incredible work with schools and with students, with families, to make sure that there is safety plans put in place, that there is outreach to the family, that there's supports and counseling and all the things that we can do introduced into that student's life to try to get them back on track and solve whatever that issue is in the first place.

[03:23:13] There's a huge amount of training that continues to happen with our faculty, with our admin and staff to make folks ready to handle and to identify when they see a problem. And to us, frankly, some of it's just good luck. right? The wrong thing didn't happen at the wrong time. But that being said, I think the relationships that are being developed in the schools and the supports that are in place are largely handling a lot of this, that we're just not having as many kids get to that point where they are so escalated that they think violence is the answer or that speaking or threatening is the route they need to take to resolve it, that there's enough folks in the

[03:23:50] school that are providing that support that they need, that outreach, that if I'm having a trouble, this is if I'm having difficulty this is someone I can go to to speak to I think that's mitigating a lot of these issues and I think that's a fantastic thing to to see these numbers this low I will tell you I did not expect that at all but I'm very pleased to see it so moving on a little further again this is Georgetown school I just want to bring you a nine weeks report about the total number of kids that are going through there what reasons they're going through there Bob Staley myself and Sarah Billups continue to meet with the school fairly regularly to look at applications because they continue all year to be getting rolling

[03:24:29] applications that we're looking to see what kids under what circumstances we can continue to bring them in. You know as we get closer to the end of the year there's a lot of students that it's not so much a discipline issue but an academic one. We're trying to figure out what we can do to recover the most possible credits we can for kids and Georgetown provides that opportunity for alternative learning in a smaller environment where we can really focus on credit recovery for some kids and so I think they're doing a phenomenal job about getting kids in and hopefully getting in that last bit of support they need to get those credits to finish the school year and then the last thing I have here is just a few other highlights about some preventative measures that are happening right now could I ask a Georgetown question I'm sorry back to the slide

[03:25:06] sure maximum capacity 76 total student student serve 79 some of the students have left yeah so that's over the course of the year okay so if you look past maximum capacity there you'll see the current totals in middle school and high so those additional kids have rolled in and out so whether it's for discipline or whether they came there to do some credit recovery finished up and went back to their school whether they came on application for a semester there's a number of reasons kids roll in and out but they have served a total of about 80 kids this year current uh current totals are 47 and that that's changed actually i think there's three or four new kids that started this week but that was through the

[03:25:41] third nine weeks any other questions about that so the last thing uh some preventative measures if you would scroll just a little bit i think there's three bullet points never mind can't do that. Okay, so preventative measures. The behavior coach are using the Virginia tiered system support or the multi-tiered system support 10 effective classroom systems. So they are really getting in and setting goals around how we can create some foundations for our teachers in all of our schools, right? And so some of those listed here you can see what they're doing is these division learning sessions. So for that it's the UPLC school-based learning sessions usually

[03:26:19] at a faculty meeting or after school and then coaching cycles where they're actually spending weeks working with an individual teacher focusing on one of these like classroom management or setting expectations whatever that particular teacher needs that will be identified either by the teacher requesting help or by the admin through observations saying this teacher could use some additional help and so the behavior coaches are really getting in working with those individual teachers so that they are better prepared to handle behavior as they see it also we continue to grow our implementation consistent of tier 2 so that's working with kids at check-in check-out or small group settings where they're meeting for like behavior and problem-solving which is also a bit

[03:26:56] of what our third bullet is very recently Liberty Middle School and there's other schools exploring have created behavior academies which is opportunity for students with again sort of a similar behavior to come together to just problem solve with an adult like what what can we do as an alternative to this behavior that's getting me in trouble what I heard very recently just anecdotally is one of these meetings that I think was scheduled for like 15 or 20 minutes It ended up running at 45, where the kids were just so engaged with the topic about their own behavior, right, that they just wanted to talk it through and continued to dialogue with other students and with the teacher that was leading that session.

[03:27:31] And so that's been a very positive development as well, that I think other students, Liberty was the first one to jump into it, but I think other schools might look to replicate that as well. And so with that, thank you. And are there any other questions? Thank you, Dr. Maltby. Do we have any questions? No?

[03:27:47] I just wanted to share a thank you for Dr. Maltby. I think a couple of things have led to these numbers this year. One, I think, is the kindness initiative that has been happening and the way that our building administrators are talking through things with the children and the way the children are talking to each other.

[03:28:09] Another is that Dr. Maltby has a monthly conversation with each one of our principals about students that we're watching, about their behavior, and students who struggle the most and what we're doing to help them. And if they require a more restrictive placement, if they require a recommendation to go to the Georgetown School from their principal, one of the things that we put in place this year was that if a student had recurring behaviors that were disruptive to the whole school environment that a principal could ask that that student be placed at the Georgetown school.

[03:28:46] So the principal could say, you know, this is your third time you've been suspended this many days, and if this doesn't change, then you can't distract from the learning of the other children. So I think the principals have more ability in their decision-making to have conversations with Dr. Maltby about the behavior of the child.

[03:29:10] And I think that the students are responding. And so I thank you for that, because I feel like you have a very good handle on the children that are having the most difficulties, whether it's something related to their family, it's something related to their learning.

[03:29:28] And I think because of that, the principals feel more empowered to spend longer trying to help that child. But they also know when they need to make a move for the sake of everyone else, that they can. So I thank you for that. Yes, thank you so much. And I think it's very wonderful to see the decrease of the threat assessments. I think that is just really, really, really great to see that. And I'd like to think that our cell phone policy has helped, you know, this data, you know,

[03:30:07] this good this the data that we're seeing um because i do think that they were a distraction to our students um big time and and also i think you see um the correlation of um of this data and the academic data you know our academics can't thrive with you know behavior issues less distraction more time in a classroom better instruction kids are going to do better yeah so it's really great to to see both of these things and see the great work so thank you very much any other questions

[03:30:39] comments thank you very much okay so um we are now on to um our public comment thank you so much for uh being with us tonight um i'm going to pass over to mr coleman thank you madam chair 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 the public comment will not exceed 60 minutes. Speakers who wish to address the school board are

[03:31:16] requested to follow these guidelines. As each speaker is recognized by the chairperson, the speaker is asked to clearly state the speaker's name, magisterial district, and the subject of the speaker's remarks. Speakers are asked to address their comments to the board and not to the audience. 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. Each speaker's elapsed time will appear on the screen. Speakers will also receive notification from the chairperson when time has expired. Although the board does not permit the use of slideshows or other projected materials during this segment, speakers are

[03:31:54] 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. Comments targeting, criticizing, or attacking individuals 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

[03:32:32] expresses its appreciation for the public's input and cooperation during this segment of the meeting. We have two speakers this evening. First up is James Myers, Beaverdam District. Okay. Ms. Holti, you have one hour.

[03:32:55] Thank you. Good evening, Chair Walsh, Vice Chair Coleman, School Board, Dr. Pennycuff, Administration, and Public. I am Kristen Holti of the Cold Harbor District. I only want to say that children just grow up way too fast in this day and age and they must be protected from child predators and influences that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

[03:33:22] There are and will be temptations for the young, whether it be vaping, marijuana pot, or other addictive drugs which do influence how they act and affects their learning. Please just protect the children from outside and dangerous addictions and influences.

[03:33:43] That was just brought up in the previous segment. Just protect the children from outside and dangerous addictions. It seems like this, like I said, this day and age with vape shops around and more and marijuana is more accessible due to Abigail Spanberger's administration that I'm concerned that we will see a rise with illegal drugs being in schools and children affected and their learning affected. I just want to say just please continue to protect the children. Thank you. Okay that will

[03:34:22] conclude our public comment this evening. Now we're on to our action agenda and we have consideration of 25 26 spring clubs extracurricular activities and it's great thank you all right I will take the next two items fairly quickly because I think that they are positive for our school division the first is that we have two new clubs that are being proposed one at Oak Knoll which is an e-sports team this is something that is recognized under VHSL and is becoming more popular there

[03:35:00] are actually scholarships to college related to e-sports, so Oak Knoll would like to take that up, and then if you could open the other for me too. All right, and we see, and I believe this is, yes, Hanover High School, we see a STEM research club, and then also an animal science club, which ties directly into our new course offerings at that school. Okay, thank you very much. So we're looking for approval for these clubs. Do I have a motion? Could I ask a question? Oh, sure. I'm sorry. Yes,

[03:35:35] please. The e-sports and VHSL, does that mean this club is going to be competing against other schools? So let's flip back to the Okanul, please. So it is a middle school sport or a middle school activity. So VHSL is something that is part of our high school experience, but you can see that they are looking to create a pipeline. It is a competitive type of environment, but at the middle school level it's really more about driving that interest okay so they're not competing

[03:36:11] against other schools they may but it's not going to be like part of it's not going to be part of our msac or anything like that gotcha okay okay okay do we have any other questions okay um do i have a motion uh yes ma'am i move to approve the proposed spring 2025 2026 new clubs extracurricular activities as presented by miss grave okay thank you I have a motion to have a second second thank you mr. Coleman is there any discussion okay seeing none all

[03:36:47] those in favor say aye all those opposed motion passes I believe you have the I do I have the next one as well which is our updated selection criteria for our preschools if you go to the not necessarily this if we go to the next one the blurb itself that's on the yes so you can see here the description miss Verlander is is a wonderful asset to our division and she spearheads this with the Head Start Policy Council the reason that this is not on consent but rather

[03:37:23] here for action is because there are a few tweaks that we are looking at this year for the scoring criteria that's in the third paragraph of this and so I will read to you we are looking at recommending that substance abuse be combined with the criteria line item abuse the specific type of abuse will be listed by the Family Services Specialist during the interview and then the Head Start Policy Council is recommending increasing single parent home which formerly was 50 points and active military which was formerly only 10 points to both be increased to a hundred points so that they can have a

[03:38:01] greater impact on how we select students from our community for participation in our preschool uh thank you is there any questions on that no it was a very robust discussion that day so um and thank you um miss rolander for all your support um throughout that process and that that discussion okay um do i have a motion um for approval ms lay yes i move to approve the hanover preschool initiative 2026-2027 selection criteria as presented. Thank you, Ms. Lynn. I have a motion.

[03:38:39] Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Dr. Shrove. Is there any discussion? Okay, seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Ms. Greif. And we are now on to our fiscal status report, which you do have in your packet. Our facility usage report, you also have on your packet, and calendar board-related events, and I will pass it over to Dr. Pennycuff to highlight some of those and our next topics. Thank you very much. As some of you have shared earlier, this Saturday, April the 18th, we have the Festival for the Arts and Sciences

[03:39:17] from 10 to 4 at Mechanicsville High School. We also have the chess tournament from 12 to 4 at Bell Creek. We have a special oratory contest with our Patrick Henry orators who will be sharing their speeches at 1045 to 11 and 315 to 330 in the auditorium at Mechanicsville High School. We also have our next school board meeting will be on May 12th and we have many events for the month of May, and I will ask that Ms. Brown put this on your calendars because

[03:39:56] we have senior awards nights coming up, and those are in your packets, and I will also add that to notes that I send to you. The Trade Center has their awards night on May 19th, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to, Ms. Welsh is going to work with everyone to be sure that for those of you who are able to be at the schools that are in your areas, that you're able to be there for those with us. Then we also have our June 9th school board meeting. We moved to June 2nd, so that will

[03:40:35] be advertised that way and of course graduation is coming up on may 30th so exciting times and it's just right around the corner and we look forward to having you all there with us and we will we generally try to get you to be at least two if you're available to do that so clear your may schedules please so we'll get those on your calendars early thank you dr penny cuff and we have um next topics for or topics for next school board meeting we do

[03:41:13] thank you um for action we'll see the immunizations policy come back for your your consideration and for information and discussion we'll look at the code of student conduct and that will include some recommendations around the dress code that dr staley will be bringing then we will visit the science textbook adoption including the environmental science piece um thank you and i also wanted to um i meant to say this when we had our academic update but miss lynn you you sit on that committee for the um update for the books correct correct okay thank you so much for your

[03:41:52] time on that i know it's a another thing out of your a day but i know i've talked to you about it and i appreciate your support on those um and so that's coming back to us okay wonderful all right Thank you. So there's only one thing left to do tonight. Dr. Shreve, do I have?

[03:42:09] Chair, I move to adjourn our April 14th, 2026 meeting. Thank you. Oh, shoot. There's a motion. There is a motion. And do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Coleman. Is there any discussion?

[03:42:26] Never is. Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, we are now adjourned. Okay.

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