Board Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good evening. The regular schedule board meeting for February 10th, 2026 has now come to order. It is 5:00. Welcome to you all. We will now have invocation by Reverend Carl Dehaney from Morning Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. Reverend Dehaney, let us pray. Eternal, everlasting and all- wise God, creator of all things visible and invisible. God, we thank you for your grace and we thank you for your mercy. But most of all, God, we thank you for the sacrifice of your son Jesus Christ. Now God, we ask your blessings on these proceedings, on this meeting of our educational leaders, that you would bless them in a mighty way that you would remove all inhibitors, all hurdles, all hindrances that would come against the progress of educating the children of this city. God, we ask your blessings upon every teacher, upon every educator, every administrator, every building leader, our superintendent, our schoolboard officials. Bless each one of us in a mighty way. continue to bless this city. Unless we forget, unless we were remiss in including anyone in this prayer, God, we ask that you charge it to our head and not to our hearts. Keep us, God, and we shall be kept. Bless us and we shall be blessed and we give you all the glory, all the honor, all the praise. But you are worthy of all these things. We praise you, we glorify you, and we honor you. It's in Jesus name we pray. And let us all say together, amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Reverend Dehaney. And now you have a treat. You will be led. We will be led in by the in the pledge of allegiance by BTW scholar Christopher Gardner. Christopher probably won't just say the pledge of allegiance. So after you sit down, he may bless us with something else and we will allow him to do that. Would you please stand? Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I just want to say it is a honor and privilege to be before you all today and I thank you Dr. Bird for inviting me to do the pledge. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh we're in good hands. Christopher is a freshman at BTW and if Christopher is any indication of where we are headed, I am very very proud to have this seat. Next we have establishment of a quorum. We do have a quorum present. Thank you ladies. We will move next to the approval of the agenda. I have a motion to approve the agenda as written.

Madame President, I move that we approve the agenda as written. I second.

I have a motion and a second. Thank you, Dr. Keith and Miss Cloud. May I see a show of hands for the approval of the agenda? It is unanimous. Okay. Board President remarks. These are not really my glasses, so uh I bear with me. During February, the world celebrates Black History Month and continues to bring awareness to the struggles and triumphs of people who were faced with impossible odds. History proves that Black America did not do this alone. There were others that gave great sacrifice to do what was right and said something and did something because it was the right thing to do. One of the greatest powers of those times and the times we are in now is love. And as we celebrate Valentine's Day, I am reminded of the power of love and how it covered so many horrible scars in the past and paved the way for better understanding. Today I ask you, who have you misunderstood lately? Who is looking for love in all the wrong places and you're just watching? Who in your life or circle is hard to love? Well, in three months, we will have seniors walking the stage to realize their first dream, graduation. Our littles moving to new grade levels, and our prek babies off to the big school. families and community members will be proud and love on them for reaching this milestone. I hope all of our students and teachers can recall that they felt loved along the way. While we experience good times and bad in this district, the greatest respect we can give one another is love. Nope,

we don't all have to agree, see eye to eye, or forget our character along the way. But the greatest of these is love. We can all agree that it feels good and the only thing more powerful than hate is love. Homework assignment. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to write an oldfashioned letter to someone you love and then tell them why you love them and actually mail it. Doesn't have to be there by Valentine's Day. Just a sentiment to get a letter in the mail to know they're loved. is powerful. And then I want you to write a second letter to someone that is hard to love. But don't tell them why they are hard to love. Tell them how the power of love has changed you. And if they need you to talk or share that you are available and actually mail it. The greatest of these is love. Now, superintendent remarks by Dr. Bird. Good afternoon, Madame President, vice president, member of the board, members of the board, and our broader community. Before I begin, I want to say how proud I am to have representatives from the Superintendent Student Advisory Council here with us on tonight. I want to say how proud I am to have Christopher Gardner here on tonight and all of our scholars uh who are here on tonight that continue to lead with their most powerful voices. Since we were last together, a great deal has taken place across Montgomery public schools and it all points to the same thing. Students engaged, supported, and thriving. We've seen our students showcase innovation

and teamwork through a district-wide robotics competition. And we celebrated excellence and sportsmanship through our middle school basketball championships. At Starbase Maxwell, we witnessed our students creativity and curio curiosity on full display as they engaged in hands-on STEM learning. Our impact students represented MPS with excellence in the congressional app challenge sponsored by Congressman Shamari Figures. We also celebrated student creativity through the superintendent's art show and Booker T. Washington's 2026 showcase crescendo reminding us that the arts are an essential part of a of a well-rounded education. One especially meaningful moment last month was welcoming our homegrown Academy Award-winning actress and proud MPS alumni Octavia Spencer who returned to Highland Avenue Elementary School to read her book Detective Dale to our kindergarten students. A powerful reminder that dreams can begin right here in Montgomery. Alongside these student experiences, we continue strengthening the systems, strengthening our system through outstanding professional development and alignment via our coherence institute, ensuring co consistency and excellence across Montgomery public schools. At the same time, we are moving forward with our key initiatives, expanding academic pathways, strengthening workforce and post-secondary opportunities, and building systems designed for long-term success. The momentum is real. The work is happening and with your continued support, Montgomery Public Schools is moving forward with purpose and vision. Thank you all.

Thank you so much, Dr. Bird. Now, we will have board recognitions uh with Mrs. Rosanna Brutin. Good evening, Madame President, Dr. Bird, and board members. We want to give a special thanks to Booker T. Washington Magnet High School Scholar Christopher Gardner for leading us in the pledge. Once again, tonight we are recognizing our scholars and staff who are showcasing excellence across MPS. First, we have jobs for Alabama's graduates. Students from Impact competing on the Congressman Shamari Figures team. They actually earned third place in the 2025 Congressional App Challenge. I'd like to welcome to the stage Xavia Yate. She is a senior at JAG High School. Also composing this team, Liliana Adams, Kenia Walker, and Kendall Williams. If you all can join me at the stage along with Miss Phillips and Mr. Britford. And I want to tell you a little bit about the app they created. Their app, Lend a Hand, helps make community service easier to access, organize, and enjoy. The app allows users to find and sign up for local volunteer opportunities in their county. It also includes an incentive system that rewards volunteers with points, recognition, encouraging continued service. And board, if you all would rise and come and you all do not have to move. We're going to have you gather right behind uh Miss Watkins Smith and Cortis for the photo.

Again, Linda Han highlights student innovation, civic responsibility, and realworld impact. All right, the superintendent mentioned the superintendent art show, and we have had four students make it to the Alabama State Superintendent Art Show. It is one of the oldest art shows in our state and each district was granted 20 submissions and a total of submissions across the state was over 1500 and from those submissions we did have four winners. At this time I would like to welcome first place in fifth through sixth grade Eldren Jordan from Dela Elementary. third place in third through fourth grade, Tava Tias from Garrett Elementary. Second place in 11th through 12th grade, Stanley Chin from BTW. Honorable mention in 11th through 12th grade, Angelita Miha from Brew Tech.

And I know some of those students were not able to make it. However, their principles are here. If I could please have BTW and Brute and Garrett Elementary come for a photo. And you can actually take a look on your SC on the screens of this beautiful artwork. We have some talented scholars. Those students will be honored on March 11th at the annual Alabama State Superintendent Art Show reception. Now, we have the following teachers who applied for the Alabama Art Education Initiative grant of over 100 applicants. All our MPS teachers who apply were awarded this grant. A total of seven teachers from various schools were honored with this grant. I'd like to call up Derek Porterfield from Where's Ferry Elementary.

Brandon Evans from Dela Elementary. Tiffany Oram from Chisum Elementary. Jamilia Rainer from Capitol Heights Middle School. Kelly Parvin from Park Crossing High School. Milton Williams from Booker T. Washington High School. Marcus Rackley from Percy Julian High School.

We will now take a group photo. And if there are principles present, we welcome you also for this Shut up. Alexis Shackleford, a Garrett Elementary music teacher, has been accepted into the Rise Orchestra program, where she will gain experience performing music for films, games, and scoring projects. She will travel to participate in a two-day recording session at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles. We welcome Alexis Shackleford.

Dr. Bird also mentioned our middle school championship athletics. And we want to recognize the following middle school championship teams and school leaders. Floyd Middle School 8th grade boys basketball champions. ends. South Lawn Middle School 7th grade boys basketball champions. Par middle school girls basketball champions. hands.

Goodwin Middle School boys wrestling champions. Thanks. Bellingraph Middle School Girls Wrestling Champions That wraps up our recognitions, but I do want to mention our third annual MPS Showcase of the Arts will be held at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival February 19th and 20th and will feature honor band, honor choirs, ensembles of strings and guitars, and performances from many of our scholars in theater. This is an event that has gotten very large. So, we

invite you to come and be a part. Thank you so much.

Okay. Can I talk while you Okay. As they um exit, we will move on with our agenda. We want to congratulate them all. Also, during this month, if you'll look on the website for activities coming up, we have choirs uh in different locations around the city and many things going on. So, make sure you look at the uh website to see what other goodies MPS has. It's a great day when we have to um cut off our uh recognitions, when we have to limit them, we know that we are doing something right. All right. Next on our agenda, we have our public scheduled comments. Uh we still read. All right. Let me read you a few rules and procedures for public participation in board meetings. Requests must be made in advance in writing to the superintendent's office by 4:30 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding the meeting date. Requests must have specified the nature of the business to be taken up with the board and the name of the person who will address the board to be added to the agenda. Communications must be respectful. Discussing spec specific student or employee matters will not be allowed. Individuals who have concerns that are inappropriate to be solved in this venue are welcome to seek a problem-solving meeting with the superintendent. Immediate feedback by the board may not be provided. However, you may be contacted for followup by the superintendent or his designate. Public comments must not exceed three minutes. Must not exceed three minutes. The board

chairman has full authority to terminate the remarks of any person whose comments contain personal attacks, exceed the time limit, or are otherwise inappropriate. A speaker may be considered disruptive who continues to speak when their allotted time has ended when asked to stop speaking by the board chairman or is otherwise inappropriate. If a person fails to comply when asked to terminate comments, he or she will be escorted to their seat out of the auditorium or off of MPS property depending on the level of disruption. We will now have for uh public comments, Miss Candace Anderson, sustaining our educators, addressing burnout to protect instructional excellence. Welcome, Miss Anderson. But thank you. Um, not allowed, but I want us to kind of think about the last time that Montgomery educators were asked, not about compliance and about their lesson plans or test scores, but the last time that they were asked, "How are you doing?" Because what I know as a therapist is that teachers experience a rate of chronic burnout and exhaustion more than any other professionals. And so when they lose their capacity to teach and to give instruction, the system collapses. And when the

system collapses, our communities and our students suffer. I work with high functioning professionals every day and teachers are amongst the most emotionally exhausted. Burnout is reported by over half of educators who were surveyed nationally. But the part that doesn't make the headlines or make the surveys um often has to do with how they don't burn out because they don't love education. They burn out because they are constantly pouring from a cup that is not often refilled. And as you mentioned, I'm C. Anderson. I'm a licensed therapist here in Montgomery. I'm also a wellness consultant and I specialize in uh supporting high responsibility professionals such as educators, helping them regulate stress, prevent burnout and reconnect to their purpose, reconnect to their conviction, reconnect to their why, why they accepted the offer from their state education board. Most recently, I have collaborated with Mon County Schools and also Birmingham City Schools. And some of you may have seen uh the video. has over a million views. But I was doing a workshop in a training with a group of about 40 educators and asking them to reconnect with who they were in school and who they decided to be when they became a teacher has been such a beautiful process to watch unfold. And so I would like the opportunity just as I do with surrounding counties to support and to serve the educators of

Montgomery public schools. Thank you. Thank you so much. And um we will be in contact if someone from the superintendent's office if they uh need support they certainly will reach out to you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next we will have Mr. Alan Bryant Jr. Morale and Organizational Dilemma, personal egos versus public good. Welcome again, Mr. Bryant Jr. Thank you and good evening everyone. The last time I kind of slowed up when I began to speak because I didn't want to go too far to be disrespectful by no means. But um organizational morale, personal egos versus public good. Organizational morale is directly related to employee satisfaction. the educational profession. Teachers are the main stakeholders that determine and instruct which state academic standards will be achieved based on design, state and national curriculum. Therefore, it is essential to understand how and why it is important to truly understand what teacher uh appreciation address. And by no means that I I don't know Miss Anderson, but uh I really like what she was saying. is something that I've been dealing with quite some time. The morale of student of the student population in any setting can be determined by how well students acquies to the changing structure of schools and culture and the school culture and climate which is set by teachers and administrators. With that being said, students will respond favorably when they feel unconditional love in the work environment. They know that teachers and the school cares about them. Students today are the children of the past students that were once MTS students. So the children today, their parents were the ones that were here 20, 30 years ago. On the other hand, teacher morale is

determined by the professional nature and how they are treated in the daily work environment. Teachers are independent workers that must be given the latitude to make decisions that are creative to the extent their behavior motivates their students. There are some benefits that teachers must be given without negotiating because of how things are changing. in that there are many benefits that have been have been put in place and have not changed for 40 or 50 years. One, teachers pay. One of the most frustrating things for teachers is to get paid once a month. We talked about that the last time and I don't know how much you all consider that or will it be in effect based on House Bill 32. Also, sick leave is accumulated. The way teachers accumulate sick leave, they get one day after working 30 days. That is totally outdated. You need to give teachers at least 10 days at the beginning of the school year that they can use because new teachers, they have circumstances that prevail them to do that. Next, bereavement days. teachers to my knowledge I don't know but when my mom died and I was working for the board I thought we had bereavement days teachers do not have bereavement days at least five Mr. Bryant

we have your time is being up and we thank you so much for your comments and hopefully we can hear some more as we partner as we go forward. Thank you so much. Okay and also you said you address things that I talked about. No, not tonight. Not tonight, but in um communication. Yes. Thank you. Yes.

All right. No citizens comments tonight. Uh next we have assistant principal job description presented by Dr. Ford. Good evening madame president, vice president esteemed board and Dr. Bird. Yes, I'm I'm presenting the an updated version of our job description for review and the reason being for the um updated job description in 2024 at um 296 was passed by the legislation requiring that we update the job description for assistant principles because of the demanding change the demands on school leadership and the demanding roles that our assistant principles play in our schools each day. The updated job description um if passed will allow for an opportunity to have coherent leadership in all of our schools to ensure that we have effectiveness being provided um by all of our school leaders and it would clearly define the role and structure of of the assistant principles in our schools. The new job description spells out the role of assistant principles when you look at instructional leadership, school safety, school, student discipline, um school management and evaluation, family and community engagement. Compared to our previous job, our re our current job description, the new job description will outline the roles and

responsibilities and the expectations of our assistant principles going forward. Okay. Thank you. Any comments for um Dr. Ford? Any and Dr. Before I just want to add now this is just to clarify yes the um assignment and the expectation is that correct it's to clarify and to make certain that we are in um compliance with the legislation passed that 296 legislation passed in 2024.

Okay. Thank you. I knew you knew the numbers. Thank you so much. Next we will have Jag High School site improvement sports fields uh project by Mr. Anderson. Good evening Bird, Miss Poris, Miss Watkins Smith, and members of the board. Uh the JAG high school site improvement and field project. We brought that to you last month for approval with the low bidder. The low bidder made an error in calculation on their bid and asked to be respectfully be removed from that. uh we felt like the architects and I felt like at the time you know we had not expended any kind of funds towards the project towards this contractor and felt that it would be good to part amicably uh in that situation and move on to the second lowest bidder and that's what we're doing here tonight. It still falls within the budget that we allotted for the project in our current budgeting with ATF funds and I ask you to respectfully consider that.

Okay. Very well. Any questions or comments for Mr. Anderson on J B hearing? None. We'll move on Mr. Anderson to Forest Avenue roof replacement. The Forest Avenue Elementary roof replacement is the U provided was a certified bid tabulation. Uh and we asked to accept the low bidder for the roof replacement for Forest Avenue.

Okay. Thank you, Miss Anderson. Any questions or comments on that? Hearing none. Thank you. Now we will have our December 2025th financial statement. U Miss Watkins, Madame President, Madame Vice President, Dr. Bert, and board members, before you should have the December 2025 financial statements. This represents the end of the fourth uh first quarter of the fiscal year. In that packet, you will have your um snapshot analysis first, I'm sorry, explanation of financial data from the CSFO, your snapshot analysis, which is a highle overview, general fund balance recap, your monthly budgeted percentages, and your monthly and annual um comparative statement. On the financial snapshot analysis, you will notice that um our ending fund balance is $101.3 million, about $14.9 million less than last year. Why, you may ask is that we are required by House Bill 500 to transfer or to allocate six meals to fund 14. Um in the prior years we have deposited those funds in general fund and did a transfer um at the recommendation of the state. We deposited those funds straight into fund 14 this year. So that is why you see the $14.9 million drop in um fund balance compared to last year. As of um February, you'll see that we've actually satisfied the six mills that should be deposited. But on here you'll see that we've trans started the transfer in December because that's when we received

the majority of our Avalor funds between December and March. Additionally, you will see that the local revenues collected for um fiscal year 25 compared to fiscal year 2026 is approximately five five $6 million less than last year. That is a timing difference in collection. If you'll remember last month in November, it was about five $5.5 million more. This month, it's about five.5 million less. So, that is a timing difference in collection. You'll also know that our payroll expenditures are pretty consistent with what we anticipate. um on the detail of the snapshot analysis or your our detail of our general fund balance. Although our general fund balance is 101 million 101.3 million, you will see that all of those funds are actually obligated to other fund sources or specific fund sources. Meaning that our local general fund revenue or um fund balance is about 75.7 million. Those are our discretionary funds that are available. We'll go over to our general fund balance comparison over the years and I highlight our general fund balance over the last few years. Um has continued to drop just a little bit. Um but you'll see that additionally the month of December represents again the end of the first quarter which means that our revenues and expenditures should be about 25% at which they are. Um, next you have our monthly and annual comparative statement of revenues and expenditures. And the if when you look at that you will notice that our expenditures are approximately seven approximately $5 million more than last year. Um, and we anticipated that

because we no longer receive those ESSER funds. So expenditures that may have been captured or have been um taken care of out of ESSER. This is really last year was the first year but we continue to see increase in expenditures as well. You'll notice um our statement of cash flow which represents our monthto-month um expenditures, current month expenditures and revenues. Um I anticipate or if we budgeted correctly, which it looks like we did, um our revenues are at about 26% which they should be at about 25 and our expenditures are following that trend as well. Salaries and benefits are tracking at about 24%. And then we have the visual of our inflows and our outflows. And you also have the F reports that are produced by the state department. I want to go back to just a couple of things. Um as I mentioned in the monthly and annual comparative statement of revenues, you'll see that we continue to have an increase of goods and services. Those are things that we have to be mindful of um as we make it throughout the year. Additionally, I want to reiterate that while we have 101.3 million in general fund, we have received or will receive the grand majority of our revenues between December and February. So those funds, while they may look high now, those are the revenues that will carry us through the remainder of the fiscal year. Um, one other thing that I had to mention is that um, this week we are CSFOs are in training this week um, in Tuscaloosa. So I have to go back tomorrow. But one of the things that the state department has encouraged us to be mindful of is the leveling of funds that fund the um, education trust fund. The sales tax for the state of Alabama is

down by 1.88% 88% for the first quarter of the fiscal year. That's a large um revenue source for education trust fund. So as we transition throughout the the remainder of the fiscal year, those are things that we will continue to be mindful of, continue to keep an eye on. um as we go into the next fiscal year and we start planning for that, we do have our preliminary numbers um for fiscal year for funding for fiscal year 2027 as it relates to enrollment. Um and so we are pretty we are predicted to lose 14.1 teaching units going into fiscal year 2027. Um one of the other things that um was brought to our attention is the increase in PHIP. PHIP has traditionally ran the district $800 per employee per month over at least the last 10 years. For the first time in many years, that increased to 9004 per month in fiscal year 2026. And the governor is recommending an additional 18% increase for fiscal year 2027. Um, and so those are things that we're keeping an eye on as we transition through fiscal year 2026 and we start planning for fiscal year 2027. Thank you.

U Mrs. Watkins. Yes, sir. Um based on the information that you've been sending to us um in our communication weekly uh I think that um information that you've been sharing um was related to the management fees with Vulker and I wanted to know had those fees been adjusted based on the number of projects projects that we had to eliminate because of, you know, the the inflation.

Yes, ma'am. Those fees when when we um when it was when we realized that we were not going to um be able to complete the number of projects originally recommended, the fee was adjusted at that time. Um and did we do a revision of the list of the projects? Do we do a rerrack of the projects?

That may be a better question for Mr. Anderson. However, from my understanding and what I can observe, all projects are actually still on our construction and progress listing. So, that's the information that is provided to the examiners. That's why I keep it on there as a reminder because those items can only come off when the board votes to remove them. Right now, they are still a part of construction in progress. though any expenditures that we have incurred um in the initial planning of those projects is still they still appear on our construction in progress listing which has been provided to the state to the state examiners.

Okay, hold on just would you do you need Mr. Anderson to complete that? Mr. Anderson, would you come and let's complete that? That's interesting. So you can help us out there. Yes, ma'am. They they took the list and rep prioritized it based on the budget that that was allowed and then what we were looking to do as a board that was presented a while back when we started when the inflation numbers started showing and projects were bidding over it was brought back to you guys to so it was nothing else has changed. No, ma'am. No, ma'am. You're good, Miss Clap. So, basically, those projects, we're not taking them off. They're just in a holding pattern right now.

Yes, ma'am. In case we can eventually pick them back up, it would it would move forward a little bit quicker. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes. Any other questions or comments? Very good. Thank you, Miss Wson. Dr. Third consent agenda. Madam President and board members, superintendent requests your approval of consent items A through E. Madame President, I move that we approve consent agenda. Consent agenda items A through E. I second it.

Okay. It has been moved and second um for consent agenda items A through E. Any discussion on either of those items? Seeing no discussion, may I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? Okay, it is unanimous. Dr. Bird, thank you so much. Superintendent consider for approval. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14A, personnel report certified personnel. Madam President. Yes, ma'am.

I move approval of the personnel report item A, personnel report certified personnel. I second it. Thank you. It has been moved and second to approve personnel report certified personnel. Any questions or comments on that item? Seeing none, may I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? You. Thank you, Dr. Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14B, personnel report, classified personnel.

Madame President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for item 14B, personnel report classified personnel. Very. I second it. Very good. It has been moved and second to accept the superintendent's recommendation for personnel report classified personnel. Any questions or comments on this item? Seeing none, I would like to see a show of hands for all of those in favor. That item is unanimous. Dr. Bird. Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14C, part-time supplemental personnel minutes.

The superintendent has made a recommendation for part-time supplemental personnel minutes. May I see a motion? a motion that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for part-time supplemental personnel uh minutes. minutes. Thank you, Miss CL. May I hear a second? Second.

Thank you, Miss Smith, for seconding that. Any questions or comments on this item? Hearing none, may I see a show of hands of all of those in favor? It is unanimous. Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14D, personnel report, certified personnel addendum. May I hear a motion for this item? Madame President, I move that we accept item 14D, personnel report, certified personnel addendum. A second.

Miss Mitchell second. I heard a motion and a second. Are there any questions or comments for this item? Hearing none. May I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? Is again unanimous. Dr. Bird. Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14E personnel report classifi classified personnel addendum. Superintendent has made a recommendation for personnel report. Classified personnel addendum item E. May I hear a motion? I

Madam President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for item 14E, personnel port classified personnel addendum. I second it.

Thank you, Miss Mitchell and Dr. Keith. It has been moved and second. Is there any question or comments for 14 item 14E? Hearing and seeing none, may I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? It is once again unanimous. Thank you all so much. Um the we have come to the end of our regular board meeting on this day, February the 10th, 2026. Um and we will go right into our work session. So if you're leaving when you hear the gavl run. This meeting is now journed. Dr. King, you run.

Call them out. Called them out. Called them out. Yes, ma'am. All right. Our work session for February 10th, 2026 is now called to order. A st a quorum remains established. Uh may I see our approval of this agenda. Madame President, I move that we approve the uh agenda as is.

Thank you, Dr. Keith. It has been moved and second to approve the agenda as written. May I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? It is unanimous. Thank you so much. Now to receive his information, we have Vulker, my guy, Mr. U. Pat Zar. Payton, I'm sorry.

Good evening, Madame President, Dr. Bird, members of the board. It's my honor and privilege to give you the Vulkar Capital Improvement Program monthly update. Jumping right into Percy Julian. Um, overall project completion percentage is 21%. We're still holding the December 27th completion date. Some of the project progress we've had in the past month. Last week we had our pre-roofing conference with the state inspector. Kind of gets us one step closer to getting the roof on the building, getting everything dried in. Um, our slab on grade is coming down through section D and E. Um, a lot of the foundations are progressing down on the south end of the site in the auditorium and gymnasium area. Um, the football fields and parking lots are coming along on grade. We have started the interior CMU block and have be setting door frames and window frames inside. Um, and then the second floor metal decking has been installed. We had our first slab on grade four for the elevated section of the building last week. Here's some overall aerial photos of the structure. You see the slabs on grade there getting poured. A lot of the steel erection going up. Another aerial photo there showing sections E, F, and G, the foundations and footings continuing. Here's some pictures of uh the interior elevation showing the CMU block being installed and also a look at the front entrance there of all the steel going up.

Some more photos of the interior. You see the uh underground plumbing and electrical coming through the slabs. This is photos from the second floor, section A. Like I mentioned earlier, the metal decking has been installed. And since this photo was taken, this has actually been the slab on grade or slab that was poured last week. Photos of the mockup showing the exterior finishes that will be on the outside of the building once we get some of the block and skin of the structure going up. overall site photo from the north side of the site. This is an aerial photo from where the main entry will be. You can see the main drive is starting to form. Um your big retention pond that'll have few fountain features as you come into the main entry of the building. And this is a photo of the south side of the site. That'll be where your football field is and the drive that kind of gets you to uh your gymnasium auditorium. Next is the Capitol Heights Middle School. We are still holding next Thursday our bid opening for the project. So that's one milestone that we've all been looking forward to for quite some time now. And here's just a preliminary schedule that uh kind of shows you where we're forecasting things if it is favorable and you guys approve. There was no change from our minority participation from last meeting.

Any questions, comments? Yes, I I just have a few just to u clear the air for me to make sure that I'm not blowing smoke on the internet. I'm I've been the internet queen and cheerleader for MPS for a little while. I used to attack, but now that I that we're going in the right direction, we've got a few naysayers that, you know, they've known for years now that we were building it out there at Lagoon. I even brought up your coffee. Okay. that are out there in in my last because I can get I can get uh I can get heated sometimes and overly heated. Um but that's okay. People seem to accept it and they sometimes rather have real when it rains out there when it's just like you know we've had you know tarantula rains whatever. Do we is is there any anticipated flood problems because you know that was a zone a swamp area and what I'm I I just want to feel you know I guess I need that affirmation that we're not going to sink

once we build that we're not going to have flooding and mold problems. I I wanted to just bring it up. I probably should have given the call, but you know, when you're in a heat, you you know, like me, you you forget about that and you just start going and I I took several pictures this time to go, let me show you what we do have. So, I just kind of want to hear from you. Absolutely. Of any anticipated problems, swampwise, rainwise?

Not not at all. We did our due diligence when we acquired the site. We knew that it was a low flood plane. We knew that there was water that pulled across the site. Um we have been working with the civil engineering team GMC um they are more than capable and knowledgeable and we have gone I think above and beyond to install adequate drain measures through our storm drain. Um we have raised our building pads up to a height that What type slab did we do? Did we go into considering a the critical slab or anything like that? So it's your typical slab on grade. Um, but as you saw on the site photos, that large retention pond, that's going to be a main feature of the entrance of the school.

That's where most of your site water is going to drain to. And then we also have a secondary retention pond on the back of So, we have two Yes, ma'am. retention that both are extremely large. Yes, ma'am. I feel much better. That's a good question. I'm going to Miss Cloud because that is I looked it up when we talked about this. That is in the 100redyear or less flood zone. And I I brought that question up and you know they cleared that wouldn't have gone the building. What they cleared that we know we wouldn't be talking about just the building. We're talking about the parking area too in that whole thing. So the building may be raised up but I was just concerned.

Yes ma'am. And still we were very concerned u when we were but thank you for sharing that. So the two retaining ponds is what's going to take care of that. Thank you for that clarification. That's a good thing. I'm I'm happy now. So, to be clear, the school or the parking lot won't flood and the pond won't run over. Is that correct? That is correct. Yes, ma'am. That's an excellent uh point because how do we know how much rain we get? So, but I would think with the amount of money we're spending, that has been looked at. Yes, that was taken account for and addressed throughout the design. Good pay. I won't have to stalk you. All right. Any other questions or concerns?

Because I've gotten questions about that, too. So, everybody heard it. Okay. Thank you. All right. Very good. All right. Oh, one more question for Vulker and Dr. Bird as this goes up. I know we've talked about our CTE children, our construction workers, our HVAC, our Can we figure out a way to get those children out there to see this in real time? Oh, absolutely. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Okay. I want them not just to go into that new building, but to see

what planning does. I was so impressed that you all do an actual wall. They do that on HGTV, by the way. But you do an actual wall to see what it looks like. And I think those children need to think about that. So yeah, we'll be excited. That's an excellent idea. That would be a great spring field trip, you know. Absolutely. That would be wonderful. We would love that. And good. We can coordinate that. Absolutely. Good. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Thank you'all.

All right. Superintendent Student Advisory Council presentation. This is a wonderful group of young people from all over the district. Uh, and we're so proud of them that they want to step into leadership roles and uh we can hear their voice. Please introduce yourself.

Good evening. My name is Zavia Yates and I attend Jack High School. Um we are here representing the superintendent student advisory council. Um we want to to propose a mental health awareness day throughout all of high schools. Throughout my high school experience, I've noticed that many people have allowed their mental health to affect them in negative ways, unfortunately. But this is why we've come up with a day that will encourage students to reinvent and relax their minds during the high school day. Thank you. We will begin with our agenda. Um this includes our purpose, scope and structure, instructional integrity, core student experience, classroom integration, student safety and risk management, equity, consistency and oversight, and continual impact and summary. Our purpose student mental health day directly impacts attendance, academic performance, and school and safety climate. This initiative provides a district-wide equitable instruction preserving approach to mental health awareness. It is designed to be trauma-informed, standards aligned and logistically feasible and costconscious. Good evening. My name is Bailey Braxton. I am a senior and fourth year law magnet student at BTW Magnet High School. Next, we'll be discussing our um scope and structure. Um we will target all eight district high schools and five um middle schools that we determine to be at risk. Um and the format of this day will be a modified instructional day with a 1 to two hour schoolwide programming window and the timeline will be between one to two weeks staggered by each school. Um our men we decide on a mental health

awareness week um to stagger each high school. Each high school and or middle school will select one day within um this 1 to two week period. The district will centrally coordinate shared resources including speakers, clinicians and partners. And the key advantages to this model um is that it ensures equal access to highquality programming. It will reduce cost through rotating speakers and it will minimize staffing strain on the district mental health teams. Next, we will be discussing the instructional integrity and schedule impact. Through this model, the core instruction will remain intact. The schedule adjustment will be limited to slightly condensed class periods with no loss of instructional days of the school calendar year. The programming embedded within the academic day will maximize attendance and avoid framing the event as an extracurricular. Now for core student experience, there are three main parts to our program. The first will be an opening experience which will be about 30 minutes. This will be in a structured assembly and moderate town moderated town hall student panel discussion. Um this will be a moderated podcast style conversation and the panel will include three plus um student representatives and one licensed clinician um for clinical guidance. The topics will include academic burnout, social media anxiety, and student stress and pressure. And the clinician will provide an expert perspective when topics become too complex for the student representatives to handle. And this works because it will be centered around students voices. It will reduce stigma and maintain professional oversight and safety. And the second part of this day will include small group workshops which will take up about 45 to 60 minutes. Students will select two sessions to attend. The curriculum will be district approved and consistent across all high schools and middle schools. It will be facilitated

by school counselors, district clinicians, approved community partners, and trained teachers using provided materials. And the focus areas are as follows: stress management, peer support, social media and mental health, identity and wellness, athletic and performance pressure, creative coping strategies, and lastly, self-care strategies. Um and lastly the um classroom integration. We will also the third part of our program will also integrate this mental health awareness into the classrooms including um such as short district centered mini lessons embedded into each core class. And this will only last about 10 to 15 minutes of their regularly scheduled classes um including English, math, science and social studies. And the benefits of this include reinforcing learning without sacrificing the traditional curriculum and it will require minimal teacher preparation and ensure academic legitimacy on this day.

Good evening. My name is Justin Jenis and I'm representing Pig Julian High School. Student safety and risk management. Licensed counselors and social workers will be available during all events. Clear protocols for students needed immediate support. Designated quiet spaces. Opt out option will supervise alternative programming. Equity equity consistency and oversight. This this day will s will be a centralized district coordination. It will schedule all speakers. It will share. It will be shared materials, branding and messaging, standardized student resources across schools, evaluation and accountability, student feedback survey, staff reflection tool, attendant attendance and engagement metrics. Continued impact and the conclusion. Continuous impact followed up classroom discussion prompts. promotion of counseling services and office hours. Highlighting peer support and student organizations, optional parent resource communication. Our goal is sustainable awareness. It would this will not be a one-time event. This initiative supports student well-being, preserve instructional time, promotes equity across all high schools, demonstrate proactive district leadership, aligns with academic safety and climate priorities. Any questions?

I have one. Go ahead. I would just like to commend each of you for getting up here and making this presentation and I work in corporate America and you all have put together far better uh PowerPoint than I've seen in corporate America. Thank you so much. Thank you.

I'm gonna piggy back off of that. Um I thought that was your presentation was um fantastic. It really was. But I'm going to say this, but um you know, I know some of y'all from BTW and stuff like that. My, you know, I want to encourage you to have something when you when you're taking a two-hour time that you have something engaging, you know, not just somebody lecturing. Um I I was trying to picture it and the the only um question I had to it is the coordination among the eight schools. Do you see what I'm saying? Is you know not we not every school is a BTW. How who is going to be at school B, C, and D to make sure that we know when we come to BTW that it's going to be run well. We know that. Okay. But when you throw it to people that aren't on your committee and say, "Hey, we're going to have a mental illness day, the roll out on that, um, unless it's handled by people that have an agenda that are this this is going to be done, this speaker will be here, I could see for other schools it falling apart." Are y'all following me?

Yeah. Can I can I just speak to that? One of the things with these children being all over the district, they all came up with this idea. Okay, so the young lady at Carver went to Carver and said, "What do you all need?" They say, "A mental health day." So, they're just presenting what the student body has said. Now, they want it, but it's up to us. We're going to have to figure out a way to get in these schools and help them facilitate what they've asked for. And then after they do it, they can come back and say, "Well, you know, that didn't work so good." Or maybe we don't need these people or me. So, uh, don't worry, they'll call you cuz we're all I think we're all going to have to help. Would that not be right?

And I think and they already have a plan for that as well. You want to speak to

um and to your point, Dr. Keys, um we decided to um of course present this, but to have um all of the events at each um high school and middle school coordinated by the district. so that everything is unified and um planned out thoroughly. Um so that yes, we will be in partnership with each school's um administration. We will um it will be more so a partnership between the district and um each school's administration but the district will handle the bulk of um ensuring that speakers are scheduled that each school has a agenda specific to that school. I'm including um what we discussed briefly um the possibility of possibility of like um making each assembly and student panel unique to that specific school. So if one school for example is having a lot of trouble with um social media and that's and its impact there that specific school's assembly will be focused on social media and its impact. another school um may have a different focus. Um and so we want to tailor it to each specific school while making sure that it is all planned out very thoroughly.

Even your answers are impressive. Really, it's not. I'm like, baby, don't come before the board if you've not prepared. I'm impressed. I really am. I'm like, Madam President, I'll come back. Let me say this. I am so impressed with your preliminary work. You have to do the work before you It's not failure. You're just tweaking. When something doesn't work, don't consider it a failure. Consider it an opportunity to change and and make it even better. So, I want y'all to stay focused, embrace what you want to do, and we will be here to support you. Amen. Thank you.

Well, and just to we use that term piggyback. I'm not even sure where that comes from, but um an additional comment related to all the other schools in the district. This is an opportunity for us to recognize that although we do have magnet schools across the district, our traditional schools do have capable, intelligent uh teachers and young people, students who will be able to work cohesively to make sure that this happens. So, we do commend you uh for your work and I'm excited for you. I look forward to uh hearing some of your post results. Thank you.

Thank you. And on your on your resume, put per board member Mitchell, our presentation was the quality of corporate America. That's right. Put that on your resume, babe. Right. I mean, Cassandra, I'm sorry, Cassandra Brown. Get the name right. I am also in agreement with that. It It really was amazing. I am truly proud of the work that we're doing here in MPS. Yeah,

our students are quite capable and it's good that we bring them forward in the real world to see this is what they are going to have to do in the real world. That's right. That's right. You know my philosophy of education, you only go to school for two reasons. That is to learn how to think logically so that you're able to solve problems. That's right. and how to get along with people.

And this is the perfect uh task for them to to use to get those two things done. You're going to have to be thinking thinking on a level because AI is here. That's right. So, you're going to have to be the programmers of that and it takes highlevel thinking and working with others. This is an excellent, excellent project. Thank you young people. Let's give them another hand. I'm so excited.

Also too, I want to say what I just want to say how proud I am of each of you all for the work that you all presented here on tonight. You all spoke with thoughtfulness, with respect, with courage, and you use your voices to advocate for something that really truly matters. And I want to say again by lending your voices to advocate for a topic that is so important such as mental health, you actually showed all of us why student voice matters and the reason why that we're actually here on tonight. So I want you all to know that we heard you, we value you, and we're going to act on what you all shared on tonight. And I just want to thank you all for leading in such a powerful way. Thank you all so much.

Thank you. Thank you. just and you can sit down while I talk because I'm going to be brief. I sat on a mental health board and actually sat on one where we addressed a lot of adolescent issues and I can tell that you all are constantly thinking of the other barriers that could come into place. But just to keep it short and sweet, thank you for your work. All right. Very well. Um facilities update, Mr. Anderson.

Yes, ma'am. Good evening, Dr. Bird, Miss Portoris, Miss Eric, Miss Watkins Smith, and members of the board. Uh if you'll look at your uh capital project spreadsheet with me, we've already discussed the Vulker projects that are they're up and coming. Uh Davis Elementary HVAC uh since I turned this in, they've already uh taken out some of the windows and started replacing some of those. So, if you go by, you'll see on the north side of the school there where the teachers parking lot is, they've started to replace some of those windows there. And that project is is starting to take shape. The Carver High School turf and track, we discussed that earlier. And Forest Avenue roof replacement as well. The South Lawn Elementary roof replacement. We are scheduling the pre-construction meeting with the state uh Department of Construction Management representative that that goes over all those pre-roof conferences. And I'd like to speak just a little bit to that. when you were talking about the drainage and the different things and we're talking about roof replacements. Uh they have those inspectors and department of construction management and has engineers and different people that review all of the plans and things that come into play and they have a much stricter stringent um review of of what is expected more much more so than you'd see at your at a at a like a local or home type construction thing. So like our just for example like our roofs are are held to a much higher wind standard than what a what your home would be and so it's just a much tougher construction. A lot of that came around when if you recall the enterprise situation with a school that happened there uh the tornado that came through um that a lot of those uh projects and and all the the standards of those really stepped up from there. Um, and you've probably heard me mention it along the way, like BDA birectional ampl amplification that's been added to the to the uh schools that you have to test

for. That's something that came about from 911 and the the towers and all that came the twin towers when they came down as well as far as that uh where the firemen couldn't communicate out of the tower. So they're constantly updating those things the what what is required and most definitely the the drainage situation or if any we have any at say Percy Julian is definitely addressed with that. I just want to reassure with you that a lot of people that their careers g uh geotechnical engineers, civil engineers, structural engineers, all the different people that weigh into a project that that have those certifications and degrees that really are important when reviewing those type of things. It's looking at it from all different angles. And like the DCM inspector, uh, one of his things is he's got our good, our best intention at at hand when he's reviewing those. It's about the the kids, the schools, and, uh, making sure that we're protected and and we're in the best situation, best environment as possible. The Jag uh, excuse me, Danley a elementary HVAC renovations, uh, those we we've started selecting colors for those with the the metals that are go that go on the outside. We had the exterior colors uh selected for that. We're still working on some of the interior colors as we've kind of morphed along with the HVAC projects. We've added some things in that we've, you know, had to go back and address internally as we moved along these projects that started back with Goodwin where we tried to wanted to upgrade the the restrooms and those. So, we've taken on some of those things along the way with replacing fixtures, worn out fixtures, and that sort of thing. We wanted to add those into the the contracts as we move forward. So Danley is is that's what we're looking at on the internal side of things. Uh the

restroom upgrades that go with that. So it'll be like a flooring and partition. So we still have to select those internal colors, but we do have the exterior colors. We release that to the contractor to begin that work as well. The JAG painting and floor project and Goodwin painting and floor projects lump those two together. uh reviewed actually the second iteration from the architects on the bid that we'll be putting out for that. We're trying to make sure we get the budget uh numbers correct. Um going in the path that we're going now with with some of these projects is definitely increased the budget through bid the bidding process. Uh something that um the state examiners um moved us towards last year and we're working on that part of it. So, we've had to adjust our budgets a little bit with that, but we'll definitely uh continue to progress on for that and get those uh get those projects underway for this summer. And then the JAG elevator renovation, that's something we wanted to bring back. Uh we had bid that a couple of years ago and the the budget, that was when all of the budget uh inflationary numbers were really coming up and we did not have the budget for that at that time. So, we're we're bringing that back forward. um and dusting it off. We we've kept that project, the the design of it on the shelf, dusting that off, making sure we make the upgrades uh to make that improvement this summer and uh move forward with the JAG elevator renovation. That will also include an upgrade of the fire alarm system with that uh because you have to tie the elevators into the fire alarm system. It's a good time to be doing that. Um it'll it'll be a cost saving not having to go back in and and trying to upgrade beyond that. Uh so doing it all at once will help us uh save a little bit of cost towards upgrading that entire system.

Questions or comments? Hearing none. Thank you Mr. Anderson. Next we will have leading coherence aligning MPS priorities with practices for meaningful impact. Dr. Lashley. Good evening, Madame President, Madame Vice President, esteemed board, Superintendent Dr. Bird. Thank you so much for allowing me to um give just a brief update of the work that's been going on here in Montgomery public schools. Uh Dr. Bird has mentioned earlier on in his remarks as well as in his weekly connections that we have been looking very closely at coherence in terms of our structures and our systems because research shows that when those things are aligned then we are headed toward sustainability and improved student outcome. So, we just want to share what we've been doing and working around the last few weeks. As I stated earlier, Dr. Bird has really set forth this bold initiative, this uh charge by giving us this um voice forward to look at our initiatives. We have our key initiatives as well as um our priorities that have been clearly outlined so that we are headed the idea is that every student has an opportunity to meet with success. So we already have that bold initiative there and we are on the move with it. These key initiatives are bolstered by MPS's um transition

team report of which you all have been apprised of very earlier on in the year. So we just picked right up with that and made sure that we looked into those recommendations that had been outlined in that transition report. Now, in order to move this transition report, it actually and these key initiatives, it calls for the district to move toward coherent leadership. And with that being said, we had to look at ourselves under let me go to these things in that transition report. It really pointed out four pillars within that report. instructional excellence, empowered people, transparent communication, and student belonging. And I'm so glad to hear the students tonight have already begun some of the work, and that fits right into talk about coherence and consistency. It fits right into what we've outlined in that transition report. So, they're they're right there with us. So, we're glad to see that we were able to do that, but we had had to look at the fact that from the district level all the way down to the school level, we had to make sure that we were all aligned through along that whole what we call a vertical spine. We know in your spine, everything has to be aligned. And so, when we think about that, we think of our district. Go to that next one. We want to make sure that our district leaders from the top down that our district leaders are setting the expectation and aligning resources. We want to make sure that school leaders are creating consistent instructional conditions so that success can happen within our students. And then lastly, we want to make sure that coaches are operationalizing this coherence through consistent classroom observations and

immediate feedback. So if all these things are aligned, then we're saying that we're going to be meeting with coherence in looking at putting these recommendations that were outlined in our transition report. In order to put those things to work, we had to take a look at coherence and and get caught up on that. So we looked at the research. In doing so, in December, our cabinet leadership um members took a look at reading the e ex the executive summary from the opportunity myth which outlined schools across the country that had found this trajectory of success by looking at coherence and specifically looking at acceleration of students work especially those students that were furthest away from opportunity. So these schools that have done that actually saw that when they align their systems and structures they saw success. So we took a look at that ourselves. Now we wanted to go further with that and in looking at coherence after we look took a look at the executive summary and I did share that with you as a board uh early on in weekly connection so that you too could see uh what this work is grounded on. It's grounded on research. But before we did that, when we did that, it led us to ask ourselves this question. Do our policies, systems, and structures set educators up to make coherent instructional decisions on behalf of students? That was the question we had to ask ourselves. And in doing so, we had to explore this question. But first of all, before we even explore the question, we had to get reach consensus on do we understand what systems coherence mean? what does coherent mean before especially when we look at Montgomery public schools and so we

looked at the difference between systems coherence and instructional coherence when we're talking about systems coherence we're talking about every single system that it is from bus drivers to transportation to food to all of the entities that you can think of. Those are the things that when we are designing and implementing intentional systems and structures, they empower our educators to do what they need to do to make sure that students meet with success. Now, when we look at instructional coherence, we were thinking of aligning all of our instructional areas from the resources to even the interventions to all of the things that we need to look at to make sure that students are having ongrade level experiences in their learning. That was a big thing for us. We also found as we began to dig deeper in the research that in order for us to be successful, if we want to understand and and be coherent, we have to be coherent at the systems level. We knew that it started with us at the top. So, we needed to become change agents. That's what we need to become as district leaders. And so when we did that, we said that we needed to look at that these are the key elements that we have to have in order to sustain coherence and to be successful. Now if you take a look across the top of this grid in green, those are the components and the key elements. It says that when you have vision, consensus, when you have skills, incentive, resources, action plan, then that's going to equal change. Now, as you look down, if any of those pieces are missing, it's going to call for something else that we're going to get. It it sets us up for those things. For example, if we don't have vision, then there will be confusion. We

know they say where there's no vision, the people will perish. So, and then if we look at if we don't have consensus, then we set ourselves up for sabotage. And so, if you just go down the line and look at all of those things and if any of those elements are missing, we end up and make ourselves susceptible to the things are in black on the far right hand side. So we said, "Oh, we're getting busy on this." And we got moving on that as well. So we knew that as building leaders, as central office leaders, we had to first look at ourselves and start to build capacity within our skills and ourselves in order to make sure that we were given that struct that coherent leadership so that we could set schools up for success. To begin our work, we looked at launching that path forward. We said that we wanted to begin with a retreat. And so we set out on Montgomery public school's first coherent institute where we looked at how coherent we were. We started in January of phase one with our like we said we started with ourselves first started with cabinet members and district leaders. We had all district leaders, as we said, from all of the departments, operations, food and nutrition, technology, you name it, we had everybody in the house that day. So, we wanted to make sure that we led this work. So, we started off with that and we did that retreat at that institute. We launched it on January 28th through 29th. As you can see, we began to build our capacity in how to identify coherent priorities because now we're looking at what do we need to lift up as priorities that we need to see if we're coherent in so that we can better serve our schools.

So, we we began on that work day one of that institute. I'm happy to say that we were glad that Dr. Bird engaged with us throughout this activity. We started out with learning the difference between the coherences. As we said, we walked through looking at the difference between instructional practices and how we lined up those instructional practices with our resources and all the things. We had to define a shared vision of what we thought literacy and mathematical instruction was. So we as a district office, we found that in in the first couple of weeks that I was here and in talking with different ones and doing SWAT analysis and listening in on departments, we admitted that we were not working together. We had a lot of siloed work going on. And so with that going on, we were able to see that ourselves. And so we engaged ourselves in this learning at the top. We were able to understand how these systems and practices needed to work together. Thus is why everyone was in the room. We also defined a shared vision of what literacy and math instruction should look like. We started that conversation and then we wanted to connect this work right away to this classroom. So we headed off into a school that very same day because the best professional development is job embedded professional professional development and that that you can use right away. So once we got into learning the first part of the day to determine the difference between systems coherence and instructional coherence, we took to the streets and so we went over to uh Floyd Magnet School. And I want to commend uh principal Thomas because at the turn of a dime uh they say stay ready, you won't have to get ready. And so he was able to let us come into his

doors. They welcomed us in with that. And I wanted before I leave this slide though, what was most important is that we did take feedback from every one of our sessions. And if you'll take a look at just what was said here uh by one of the participants, our one of our district people, the walkthrough at the school shifted my thinking by showing me that strong intentions alone don't lead to improved outcomes. Without clarity of expectations, shared understanding, and consistent monitoring, desired results are unlikely. As a leader, I will be more intentional about defining success and following through to ensure alignment and impact that came from one of our participants. So, we're off on this field trip. This is what we call our school field trip. Again, Dr. Bird right alongside us. First, we get there and we could immediately see the culture of Floyd uh middle because we were met by student ambassadors. We also were made to feel very welcomed by Principal Thomas as he made us feel welcome, refreshments, everything was lined up. We were able to take a walk there and see what we needed to to see. So setting up for coherence in each classroom someone said helped me uh participate more from it helped us to take it more from abstract learning to actual seeing how it played across those classrooms. We divided ourselves into seven departmental um groups, teams. And you might say, "Oo, that's a lot of people to go into a classroom." But we were organized. We were non-threatening and non-intrusive. There were seven groups. We had two uh we visited two classrooms. We visited

every single ELA, math, and social studies classroom. What we discovered was and and Principal Thomas even appreciated this is that students can have a different experience from classroom to classroom. On a sixth grade level, a student can have a very high performing teacher in ELA and those same students might go to a math class and their experience may be different. So when we talk about instructional coherence, that's what we're after. We want to make sure that each classroom in every classroom across all students are having a great experience no matter what classroom or what teacher they enter into. Day two also we we looked at further day two thinking about how we are ready for coherence and I think that um you have the presentation what's very uh thoughtprovoking are the comments from the participants saying that right now they said instructional coherent systems are essential to improving student outcomes. When I saw these comments, I thought, we are moving closer toward consensus. We're getting there because people are seeing the benefit in the work that we are we're launching on because it's through their comments. Next thing we had to do, we engaged in an activity that allowed us to do just that. We built a shared understanding around readiness to act because you know you can have a great plan but how do you get to act on that plan? So 79% of us reported that we disting we could now distinguish the difference between systems coherence and instructional coherence from the information that we took. 85% of us agreed that we understood the decisions had to be made

in classrooms that we felt we needed to be equipped on all levels and and that we had to be have an actionable coherence plan. At the same time, we were able to identify for ourselves persistent silos and things that may have been blocking us from being as coherent and consistent as we needed to be. So we also agreed that we hadn't been as collaborative as we should have been among departments. Folks talked about how they enjoyed having the opportunity to sit among their peers. Some people had never sat with other departments before or had a conversation. And I got to give a shout out to the maintenance department because I knew that and security because I knew that sometimes when it's instructional people don't see themselves in those in those arenas. But when I tell you they were putting up their post-it notes and they were having discussions and they were leaning in and finding their areas and and that's why we say coherence is not just a word but a framework for alignment because after all the reason why any department or entity any entity exists is because of students. They are our clients and so all of these services wrap around. So we have to make sure things are coherent. When we're doing this thing over here, teachers are being told this by one person and that by another one, we're not going to get the success for with student that students need. So this is what we're looking at. So now we're off and running with that. We were able to go into a self assessment of our own so that we could prioritize our work moving forward. So as you can see, we have federal programs. Again, everyone in the house, we were able to get consensus from the groups, from the post-it notes, but that wasn't enough. We had the dots so that people could then individualize their communication and what they felt because we didn't want to make it feel

seem as if we were making decisions on our own. So, it was a collective effort. Next, we took an assessment. There are six indicators for coherence and we decided to lean in on just three of them because of our time. We leaned in on vision for excellent instruction, high quality instructional resources and evidence-based best practices and the organizational people and management because we need to look at who's on the bus, what seat are they in, and are they in the right seat. We talked about that. So we looked at those things and what we found out is that as you can see from this chart from the participants, they felt that the area that they really wanted to lean in on which you can see was the lowest score is vision for excellent instruction. They felt we weren't quite there yet, that we needed another vision statement, more clearly recognizable, one that we could all agree upon. And then of course the next area they talked about as you can see it's from the lowest that they thought they thought the time and that we have the people and the capacity to be where we need to be but then again we got coaching and collaboration which you see was pretty low here on this on this spectrum. So we know the work that we have cut out for us and we have a now we have a marching order. We know which direction we're going in. We were able to set shortterm priorities, the things that we're going to do in four to six weeks, and then we set long-term priorities, the things that we need to pay attention to in the next four to six months. Again, more comments from the participants at the bottom. MPS needs a new vision statement. It is not written in a way that all stakeholders can understand it, one participant said. And then it says we have all the tools in

this district to make this happen. I believe that myself. It said we need systems and structures in place to consistently practice. So again, words of the participants. Here's more of the short-term vision. And I'm not going to go through these, but you'll be able to see that when all of these are in place, a stated vision, we need to implement that vision. And so now we're well on the way of doing that from the self assessment. We need to put things to action. And so you saw what we did in phase one. We dove into the uh research. And that research led us to the question to see if we were coherent in our policies, in our practices. Phase two, we went into the classrooms and we looked to see what was going on. We had an instructional coherence uh institute. We set that and it will be ongoing as we continue to do our learning together. Now phase three, we want to go deeper and we're going to do an instructional and systems coherence diagnostic and we're going to take this into our 15 CSI and TSI schools because we know that these are our schools that we need to lift up the fastest, right? And so we're going to go in and it is our belief that once we go in with structures and we are able to do model after what we did in Floyd magnet which means that we're going to go in giving folks immediate feedback right away. We're going to decide the professional development we can lift out of this so that we can prepare for the next school year. This will be action research in its own way within these 15 schools. And so we're very excited about it and and the way that what we're going to learn from working with these schools. So what will we do? Some of what we've already said. We're going to examine our practice

across all schools. What type of pedagogy are we seeing in the schools across? Is that is that what we need to get coherence in? What about the materials that teachers are using? Is that a place where we need to start? And then student and educator focus groups will be conducted. We want to hear more voices from the students and we want to hear from the teachers. We will have collaborative site visits and school level reports for which we will be able to present to our superintendent as well as the board in terms of what is this finding what have we found and what is it guiding us to in terms of our next step for becoming better and being on this pathway. We're on the move and we're just getting started. So, we want to take this to the student experience because our whole goal is to make sure that our students have a great experience in every classroom across all schools. And again, I'm just going to show you here. We've planned it out. This is not by happen stance. This is intentional. We have planned from January to June what our actions are going to be and how we're going to get after this work. Because in closing, we can say that coherence is not a destination. It is a process. No district is perfectly coherent. But the ones that foster trajectory change in schools collaborate to create a coherent experience for schools and students. So if we do that, if we pull all of our materials together, all our systems together and our structures, we can depend on getting stronger student outcomes and we can see our teachers are going to grow in practice. Thank you very much. Any questions?

Thank you. Any questions? Um, Miss Cloud? Yes. Um, what's our mission statement right now? our mission statement right now. What is it? I'm not sure the mission. Tell us, Miss CL. No, I She probably doesn't have it. Anybody? Anybody? Does anybody know the mission statement right here? It's on the website. That's my point. We're not embracing it. And thank you for for You know, you have to own it before you can do something about it. Yes. Yes. I haven't committed that to memory, but that's a good point. What is it?

That's a good point. Oh, Rosanna's Rosanna's going to get it for us.

Our purpose and direction. We will engage, educate, and inspire our students to succeed in college, career, and beyond. and our vision. NPS is a place where every student develops a love of learning, cultivates intellectual curiosity, and dreams of a future full of amazing possibilities.

So, in order for those things to happen, as we've said earlier, and and those are the mission statements, but we want to make them more than just the words. So, we know that in order to do that, we're going to have to make sure that all our systems are are coherent. Otherwise, it is just a mission statement that we might not commit to memory. So, we'll have to work on that. But I I think that we're on the way. We're well on the way to making that happen. That's what I was saying, though. You know, we've got to own it before we can start working on it. Absolutely. And it certainly wasn't meant to put you on the spot.

We don't know it uh either by heart. Uh but um I think all of you she reiterated that all that you said flows back to what you all are trying to do. Absolutely. I wasn't there to push. Oh no, I did not take it. You know what? If our if our central office folks need make come up with a new mission statement, something that people can embrace and hold on to. That's absolutely. So I'm in agreement with you. We receive that. Thank you. Any other questions?

I have one more question. Dr. Le, will the in this process will if we're talking about all working together, will classified lunchroom, bus drivers, will all of those be units be included? It is that was the uh communication on that day. We did have every single chief um every person that was there led a group a department from maintenance like we said security was there um and what we have to do is position our leaders that's why we said it starts with us first to be responsible for taking that information down to our downline right

and I was able to talk to uh the cafeteria managers and the workers on the other day and I made sure that they knew what the key initiatives are. This is not just for the classroom. And so we have to be the ones to bring it together and to make sure they understand how they see themselves in these initiatives. And so to answer your question, yes, by all mean bus drivers, custodians, everyone that works in Montgomery public school, we should know how we see ourselves and how we play out in these initiatives. And so that's our goal as a district, as district leaders. We'll keep working with ourselves and our teams to make sure that everyone from the top down understands that.

That's right. Thank you. Because a a hungry baby is a different baby. Absolutely. And I don't care how much planning you do if the lunchroom doesn't get involved. They can't learn. That's right. Absolutely. Miss Smith, Dr. Lashley, this was an excellent presentation and I read the articles and so the vision is now even clearer. Um, one of the things that I wanted to ask was when you mentioned silos, I know most times and thank y'all for this because for a long time it just stayed that way.

And so I think I shared with you um someone said, "Are you a school system or a system of schools?" And this fits right into now we're trying to be a coherent and cohesive system. Yes. I also wanted to ask um you said everybody so our specialists and directors are they're also in there because I know they're really in those schools offering

all of our directors I even pulled in the school improvement specialists which are the newest um probably specialist I I believe to Montgomery public schools. So anyone that that touches schools especially in a core leadership piece all our executive directors, director of professional development, I mean director of assessment and accountability. And the thing that I did because I always also like to position our chiefs. um they know that we've been talking about chiefing up and all this kind of thing and making sure that they were able to select and to choose those folks that who's going to help them push that work. So they had the autonomy of uh building their roster and pulling those folks in for us. And so we were able because of that and I want to thank them again. Uh we had finance, we had attorney Powell set in with us and and she was there right with us learning and so everyone was there and so we had all representatives uh there. So yes, we did I think we touched on just about everyone.

Thank you so much. Um and as Dr. King will come if there's no more questions or comments for Dr. Lashley, this is certainly an opportunity. Um, we often talk about pipelines. This is a pipeline to our paycheck. Yes. Thank you, Dr. King.

Good evening, um, Superintendent Bird, uh, President Porters, Vice President, uh, Smith, and then all the board members. Um, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to present tonight uh this information that is being shared uh I mean it's brought to the board for consideration uh for approval at the next board meeting. Uh specifically tonight we are discussing the reasonzoning uh associated with Carver Elementary School and Dela. Uh and so this would require board approval. So we are presenting it as information and so we do have the team. So if you have questions we'll be able to uh uh answer those questions. Uh the the trans and just to give a little timeline the Carver zoning the transition plan was approved by the board in September of 2025. uh final zoning decisions uh needed for the upcoming 2627 school year and recommendations will develop with education partners consulting and then Chad and we'll be able to speak more to that if this question specific to that and then the proposed uh reasonzoning directs the cover zone students to South South Lawn Elementary School and when you see uh some of the uh the drawing you'll see why that was made and again Chad and team could actually uh speak more further about about that. Uh the final finalizing the recommendation from the education partners consulting firm for Carver and is it was a recommendation that we send all of the students to South Lawn. In this case, we would also suggest altering King's Boundary and the orange, which is to your

your well to my left uh which is the pink and the the orange section there to the new uh zoning which is uh right to your right that will become the new one to your right and so uh the south lawn there no students would be impacted at in terms of the current uh modifi king I'm sorry in terms of king modification this would just be connected to South Lawn in the green area to your uh right Dela reszoning recommendation from educated plan planners consulting firms uh and if you can see to the to the left um all of Dala's current attendance zone will be zoned to Morning View with two exceptions and those uh parcels with direct access to Northeastern Boulevard to West Ferry that currently about 70 students and then the parcels south of Atlanta road highway I mean I'm sorry south of south south of Atlanta highway the flowers currently 35 students and del resoning recommendation from educational partner consulting firms an additional adjust adjustment to one street was suggested uh to the zoning move the students uh in the northwest area flowers to morning view this would then make flowers a direct feed into Gutwin and the students will be closer to their elementary school. And we welcome your questions and support as we work to build a stronger, more inclusive future for our students. And again, these are two key initiatives that also will just enhance the program for our students and our communities. And so this is presented as information. and then at the next March meeting we will ask for approval.

Okay. Um in rel in relation to South Lawn um Carver students that that has not opted in for to remain there as magnet students this would impact them. Correct. Yes. if it if it hasn't. Yes. Okay. So, um and you're saying that all of the the kids from that are impacted from Carver would transition to South Lawn Elementary. That is correct. And the capacity is fine. Yes, we have. Okay.

And in in terms of King, there's no changes at King. No, except for that that little area. It's not it won't impact the currently enroll students but there is a small area that will be impacted I I see the little green shape yes right yeah the little green shape to the the right it's actually uh yeah to the right there and those kids how many would be impacted did nearly none. Okay. In second year

when uh educational planners came in, we started utilizing them when we shut down the Dunar RMR school and we had them look at all of the re of the zoning for the entire district and at the time the administration wanted to look at vertical alignment. So we had we really have two different plans with educational planners right now. one is our current uh zoning and then one has a has a vertical alignment component to it as well. So we have some of those that we're working under currently with that. But we've had them in our district. And I say all that is they have gone to all of our schools. They have visited the sites. They've been through the geography of everything. And that's one of the things they considered when they looked at these two zones was or these two schools was the geography and the proximity of where those students would go to school. and then also building capacity to look at each one of those to make sure that that we had the proper building capacity. I will ensure that we'll we will work with them every year to look at our zoning. That's one of the things that we found was a deficient piece was the zoning was not kept up with on a yearly basis to make sure that if there's any kind of trends that are starting to change that they're recognized soon enough that we can make an adjustment to it. And this current one there is no uh trend that shows us that it would not fit the building capacity and we'll continue to monitor it as we go through the each year.

Okay. And the only other question I have, I know I can't remember whether the communication that went out um when it was first introduced uh did that communication include an indication of the kids that are currently at Carver that will transition if was there an indication that they will be going to South Line or was it just kind of in limbo at that time? Okay. So will there be a firm communication to those parents because you know Yes.

Yes ma'am. Once we can once we approve this and this is for information as Dr. King had mentioned and we welcome all input and again all parties in my area with transportation being the number one looked at this to make sure that uh we can satisfy the transportation component of things. Most of these schools are walking schools and we already have a have a magnet at the Carver site. So, we're used to servicing magnet students to the Carver site. Uh we don't anticipate an issue at Dela either. They looked at each one of the zones to be able to help take care of any kind of transportation needs.

And I'm assuming that there's no plan to like forewarn that there's a a impending vote to uh solidify this change. No ma'am, not at this time. Right. Where does the input come in? How are they going back over the input? I may have missed. Well, departmentally, we we work together with curriculum, instruction, and then also transportation and then we bring it to you to review as well.

Okay. And and we've covered I'm sorry. you and have we covered if a parent moves into that area, where does that baby go? That baby going to Carver or that baby going to South? If they're in the Carver area and they're not part of the magnet, they would go to the South South Elementary. But if they move in August, they didn't get a chance. Well, can they declare magnet at that time? They have until six or they had

Carver because it was approved back in September. They had until September 30th to meet that grandfathered in clause for Dela. They will have until September 26 to do that. Now, I'm concerned about that because our children are fluent. I mean, our they move a lot. If a child needs to go stay with a grandmama that's at Carver in the Carver district, do we not, and I don't know the answer, do we not consider that baby then for Carver or do we tell them if you move over here, Grandma, because they're over here, we're going to transport this baby to Safflon.

Yes. Okay. Yes. Long as they have a clear message. Yes. And I do want to reassure you because when when I spoke with when with Miss Brown when we talked about this, we have already preserved the existing

zoning for for Carver and for Delrada. Okay. And that's been imported and preserved and saved. And for any future magnet applications, those students, because we want to keep it as as close of a community as possible, those students will definitely get priority seating in those as the seats are available. We've preserved those zones and that it's by their address and those students will get first choice of open eligible students will get first choice of those open seats. Very good. And Dr. Keith, do you have a

I have a couple I have a couple questions. Uh first I just want kind of want to I may be showing my ignorance. I just want to you know based on looking at at this chart on Dela what we're saying is you know we may made Dela a magnet. Those that don't make it into the magnet that are currently in the Dela zone are going to Morning View. Right. Okay. So those are current those that are currently in the Dela zone and will attend next year all of them are grandfathered in. They none of them will be displaced. Okay. For next year for but after that after that those that don't make it will be reszoned reszoned to morning be.

Yes. Okay. What is the cap? My next question is do we have the capacity? Those studies were done. Yes they were. Okay. Fine. I just wanted to look at worst case scenario. Now, the next thing when I look over at the at your parcels, you're looking at the the the two exceptions that you've made. Okay. The way I'm reading this, and like I said, I could be showing my ignorance, but when you look at the parcel on the on the northeastern boulevard with fairy, my immediate real estate mind went that is Pecan Grove. I would think that's the I'm not sure. But I was thinking is that the pecan grove area?

Yeah. I'm not sure. Okay. Forget forget the area. That was just my my brain was ticking that but they they did consider the geography and how close it was to the school to make it as convenient as possible. But these people everything that you have your parcel on your northeast uh eastern boulevard where then also your south of Atlanta highway to flowers that that area. Okay. Right now all these are at dela right now. Right. That zone is at dela right now. So here here's my question then.

These parents that we've told that are hey we've got this new we've got this new uh magnet school in Dela. Then right now what they're hearing is there's no chance for them to become in that magnet. Do you see what I'm saying? Because you live here in this exceptional area or this exception. You're not going to you're not even going to be able to to be in our No, that includes them. This is for future enrollment for 2728. So all of these, like I said, we're not displacing any In other words, they're grandfathered in, but anybody that lives over there after next year they cannot even apply because they're not in zone. They can apply.

They can they can apply and because they live in the original Dala zone for forever. Forever. Okay. Because they live in the original Draa zone, they will have priority. I just knew that these kind of question I'm going to tell you Julie Beard will call me by tomorrow and I I want to be able to explain this. Yes, we we did it with the community in mind. We don't want to displace anyone and preserving those zones and anybody that moves into those zone will get priority seating.

And I'm telling you, we've gone to conferences. The thought that board members shouldn't know this is obsolete. If a constituent comes to you, you should know what's going on in this district. You should know, you should understand it well enough to give a good answer. Yeah. I And I think it kind of serves us a big word, but it does not serve us well when we don't know answers. And we're talking about displacing children. So, and it helps Dr. Bird if he has an initiative to do this. Here's seven voices that can get the word out in a clear word because there's so many misconceptions. You know, a lady comment said her baby wasn't gonna be able to go to Percy Jr. Yes, he he'll be able to go. You'll be all right. Percy Junior won't be a magnet this year. That's coming later down the line. I don't know. I just said something.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. You made it a lot more clear.

All right. But I I love I love the um the questions and the because it helps us all to think. All right. Unfinished business. We don't have any because uh Miss Brown satisfied hers. Uh any other unfinished business that I did note. Okay. Very well. New business. New business. We have a couple of things. One of the things the board will have a we'll be having a retreat February 26. We're going to do as much as we can in one day from 8:30 until uh 3 and we'll be having breakfast. You'll be having breakfast and lunch with us. Um also and staff will be coming. You'll be hearing some more. Dr. Bis putting together an agenda. I'm hoping magnet will be on there to have some clear questions. I we have some more things that I'll get with the board members. If you have something that we need to talk about at retreat, would you send that to me, please? Let's get it on the agenda. This about the only time we can have a good discussion because we're not together, nor are we allowed to be. if somebody comes in and it's already uh three of us we have to four of us we have to kick somebody out and hide from people behind bushes and so retreat is a wonderful way all right um also there will be a scheduled parent meeting for family engagement I'll let you all know more than that because Miss Hatch I hope you can make it several other people can make it I think we start a dialogue with these parents we need them to be on board to let them know what's coming. That's anxiety. When I don't know which way my grandbabies are going, that creates a whole different level of anxiety for me. And

um publics, I think, have limited the wine. So, um we are uh we want to be transparent with them. We want them to help us do what we need to do, but we need their babies. And in bringing that up, one of the things that we're going I want to put his new business and we'll start talking about at the retreat is human barrier. I I loved what Dr. Lashley did and it reminded me it is time for us to look at human barriers starting with ourselves. And and let me tell you why I say that. We talk about attendance. We want children to come to school. Well, do we? because we still sending them home because they out of uniform. So, it's time we take an internal look in what we allow and what we don't. I'm not trying to get them to break the rules, but I don't want to be in barrier to somebody's education. Can you imagine one of those children that stood before you them missing academic time for clothing in 20°ree weather? So, it's time we take a look at the human barriers. We take a look at policies. Are we are policies set up for our most from our most vulnerable to those that will excel with or without a teacher? We have some babies teacher. It's just they're in a good environment, but they're going to get it whether there's a teacher there or not. So, do our policies cover all of them? and we're going to take an internal look at that more um so we can we can have a good uh understanding as a board of where we're going if there if the um Dr. Burr, you and your team are going to be cohesive. We'll have to be a part of

that cohesiveness in understanding where we go next and what is out there already. We have some policies on the board that hadn't been looked at since 1935 and those children are gone. So, we need to to it's a lot. It's a lot when you talk about all of the policies, but we need to start with the most recent and and work our way back. And I think the teachers will appreciate that. I think the students will appreciate that. And and this will be a board that they can count on to be their support. Okay. Madame chair. Yes ma'am. Thank you for saying that. You brought it home.

If we are going to be a system that looks at systems thinking then we need everybody when we talk about bringing everybody to the table. This board is a part of that system. Uh and I was going to ask that uh you you asked for items for the retreat

for us to look at understanding systems thinking and how those ideas those ideologies work for all educators. A lot of people they they put systems thinking in medical fields you know engineering and all these we are a system as well. So, you know, if you'll put that on our agenda,

I sure will. I I just wrote that down. Now, make sure I send it to to Dr. Bird because if I'm a brand new teacher and I'm in a building and everybody else knows what they're doing and I have 10 little Johnny's and four little uh somebody suses and Addison that won't be quiet, what do I do? Is there a system in place that assists me? And then if it is, who's responsible for getting it to? And and so I think we have that. I think we've not shared it. And sharing it, you all will see, is going to be the difference. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Let me do it. Um the just a you know not a deep dive into it but kind of like a um a discussion of another community partnership with um possibly tutoring. Just some ideas that are coming up and also um an agricultural conversion. We did some studying on on an agricultural conversion with you know farming cows all that kind of stuff. um it wouldn't it would not really cost the system money but uh as researcher I think um Miss Cloud is the one that actually started looking at this there Alabama doesn't even have one of these but yet most every other state does and if we could just kind of poll it you know get a get a count of on like the interest level

sure would like and I remember when Miss Smith talked about this with her son coming from Alabama agricult you know we've we've got you Some of us have we we may not be here and I want to make sure that we've we've made I want to move on like we're not pressured at all. I you know I think there's just some things that need to need to at least come to the table and I think that community would embrace that. That's what they do. They're good at it. And yes, that's worth looking at. I have put that down. I've done a lot of research on it that I've shared with Dr. King today um helping him get this started. we add with the uh transitional school for that purpose.

I think we need to start with our middle school children. I think that would give them a hook on to maybe they're not they're they're interested in this subject matter and that hands-on

and it would be if you look at our initiatives it's only going to add another init it's going to add because we would be one that houses this type thing and like I said about tutoring I was just looking at our academic scores we actually increased this year to a 75C and y'all know that and we still got that shadow that, you know, people over are saying, "Oh, y'all y'all have all these failing schools." Well, if you take our failing schools and we partner and have a a good deal and some of these programs and grants that are out there right now, there's a $30 million grant out on on some of the conversion schools. There's also there's also grants that are out that we're talking about that could help with tutoring. If you took this and did some pilot programs just on our failing schools and the people that I met with uh today

um with Miss Cloud um they were talking about how they've taken students up just on tutoring 30 hours. We're looking at 30 hours and using our own teachers who do this after school and it's grazed them two letter two grades. if they were in on a fourth grade level then by the end of the 30 hour look at what that's going to do to our 75C if you know even if you did a pilot study of I'm Pam was bigger numbers than I was we were she was looking at 100 I was looking at 25 per school just because what if it didn't work but I'm I was looking at the cost and it's it sounds big at first but when you look at the some of the contracts that we do all the time it's really worth investigating

and and and we for the sake of time we'll save this for the treat retreat and that's wonderful. But long as you ladies stay open to the fact that um we'll we'll listen we'll weigh it. We know it's important. I was at the doctor's office today and one of the nurses

I recognized from being at uh urgent care orthopedic urgent care. I was like aren't you a nurse over at the urgent care but you're over here. She talked about how her she said her family had to have the money and how wonderful it was to find a part-time job that she had to have in her own field. Do you know how many teachers we have that go to Dillards or go to Publix or go to have a part-time job in your own field that you don't have to retrain, you don't have to retest, you don't have that's wonderful. And the other thing I talked just just to throw it in there, we may not have time, but you know, like it is a full day. I had shown uh Dr. Bird and you a couple of of uh books

that were children's books that fit right in with your your little advisor, your student advisory and the mental illness day. It would be something that, you know, if we had the time to tackle it and just at least discuss it and where it would work, um I would like that to also be on there. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. And if you can you email me and those Thank you. Thank you. Um yeah, cuz that that Yeah, that'll be great. Okay, but if you think of anything else because we are done talking for the evening

because we are hungry and ready to go. I cannot say it's Valentine's Day. Let me say happy Valentine's Day. Happy heart day to all of you. Thank you so much to the staff that stay with us every month. And I know it gets long. I know it gets tedious, but I we do thank you. We can't we don't always say it. It doesn't always come to mind. Sometime we think you're doing your job, but the passion and the purpose of doing the job, we thank you for so good night, be safe, and we'll see you here March 10th, 2026. This meeting is now adjourned. There's a moment in every great story when someone decides that things must change. That our children deserve more. Our families deserve more, and our schools deserve better. In Montgomery public schools, serving more than 25,000 students across 50 schools in Alabama's capital city. That moment came with a leader who didn't just bring a plan, he brought a purpose. In his first 100 days, Superintendent Dr. IKEA Spur refused to lead from behind a desk. He walked, he listened, he showed up, school by school, hallway by hallway, looking into the eyes of people who make the system breathe. He sat beside students as they shared their dreams. He talked with teachers, tired, hopeful, committed, who keep showing up anyway. He stood with principles carrying the weight of entire communities. He shook the hands of custodians who keep our building standing tall and thank lunchroom teams who feed bodies and spirits. And at every stop, he said, "I hear you. I see you. And I'm with you." Because at NPS, we are committed to ensuring that every student learns in a safe, engaging

environment that fosters excellence, equity, and empowerment. A commitment like that cannot be written in a conference room. It must be written in the real world. In classrooms, cafeterias, buses, ball fields, and neighborhoods in the heartbeat of Montgomery. This is more than a school system. This is a family, a community, a future rising. Montgomery Public Schools is stepping forward with heart, with purpose, and with an unwavering belief that our children can win. Our staff can thrive and our community can rise together. This 100day plan is not the finish line. It is just the start, the beginning of a new chapter built on service, connection, and a promise that every child in Montgomery will have the opportunity to soar. Because when a leader listens, when a community comes together, when a school system finds its courage, the story changes, the future changes, and the victory belongs