Board Meeting - Regular Meeting

Hey there NPS students. I'm meteorologist Nick Gunnar from the [music] WSFA First Alert weather team and this is your First Alert testing forecast. The outlook I've got for you, success. Just like I prepare for storms, [music] you can prepare for your test. Here are some tips to help you. You need to get a good night's sleep. I wake up very early in the morning. 4:30 a.m. is when we go on today [music] in Alabama on the news weekdays, and I have to get a great night's sleep to be prepared for that. So, you should, too. As you get ready for test time, eat a [music] strong breakfast. It's the most important and filling meal of the day and really helps you out as you [music] get close to test time. Of course, show up on time. I can't be late for the news, which starts at 4:30, so you should be at school on time. And review those notes. I look back at notes [music] all the time to help me navigate the various conditions in the atmosphere to help give the most accurate forecast daily. So, make sure you do the same when it comes to test time. And when it's go time, shine bright. Take your time, read carefully, and stay confident. You are ready for this. I know it. And [music] remember, storms pass, but your hard work, it'll last forever. [music] And as MPS says, let's prepare, perform, rise, [music] and let's level up.

[applause] [applause] [music]

Good evening everyone. Today is March 10th, 2026. The time is now 5:00 p.m. We thank those of you that have joined us in person and those of you that are watching. Uh uh Reverend McMillan uh had a conflict and could not be with us today, but uh as you all know or if you didn't know, this month is women's uh history month. So, and women can pray. So, I'm going to do just that. If you all would join me in invocation. Dear heavenly father, almighty and gracious God, we just thank you Lord God for the assembly of strong people, the assembly of strong women, strong men, strong children, those that will make decisions that will guide the minds and the hearts that you've already put in place. We ask that you guide our superintendent, oh father, that you guide every board member, that the decisions that we make will be in perfect alignment with your will in your way for your children. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the days to come. We ask you for protection, for peace, and for prosperity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Now we will have um the pledge of allegiance. Alian flagis.

All right, we have the establishment of a quorum. May I have a [clears throat] motion to approve the agenda as written? Madame President, I move that we approve the agenda as written. [clears throat]

I second. It has been moved and second to approve the agenda as written. If there is no um discussion or comment, may I see a show of hands for those in favor? It is unanimous. Thank you. Okay. President remarks. Um last month, as uh most of you know, I challenge you all to write a love letter um to someone you love and send it to them. Uh and also write a letter to someone that's hard to love and encourage them that love is worth the effort. This month, I want to offer you another challenge. And the reason why I want to offer it is because as we celebrate uh women's history month, we do it for many reasons. One is to honor uh significant women who are most times overlooked. We want to honor their contributions to history and culture and society. We want to recognize their struggles for equality. We want to celebrate achievements and inspire and inspire future generations to continue breaking barriers for a more inclusive future. Your challenge for this month is to write a letter honoring a woman. When I thought about this challenge, I thought about my mom. I had a wonderful mama. Um she was tough, but she was fair. Uh but I had a awesome grandmother. And even though they're gone on, I took the time to write a letter. I just I did it for me to remind me of what they put in me. So I challenge you all to do the same thing. To write a letter honoring a woman who has had a profound impact on your life and assisting you to become the person

you are today. Now, this challenge is both for male and female, young and old. I encourage you to pull pull your journals out and and if you can if this person is still living and I'll give you a break since uh spring break is next week. You can email this one. You can text this one. The other one I wanted to go through the mail, but if you could, you have no idea what it means to a person to know that the person that they cared about, the person they nurtured, the person they poured into is safe and secure, that is they're prospering and they're growing and they're still learning. I also encourage all of the women within the sound of my voice and those you will tell to take on a young lady, mentor them, nurture them, guide them along the way so they too can become of honorable behavior, have an honorable life and a prosperity like they never dreamed of. So that is your challenge and those are the president's remarks. Okay, [laughter]

superintendent, do you have any remarks?

Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much, Madam President. Good afternoon, Madam President, vice president, board members, and members of the Montgomery Public Schools community. I would like to begin by thanking the board for your continued leadership and commitment to the students, families, and employees of Montgomery public schools. Your partnership is critical as we continue working together to strengthen our district and expand opportunities for our students and families. Over the past several weeks, our team has remained focused on our key priorities, strengthening academic opportunities for students, improving district operations, and building partnerships that move Montgomery public schools forward. We also continue to expand opportunities for students through innovative programs and partnerships. Strengthening college and career pathways remains a key priority, including expanding dual enrollment opportunities, workforce development programs, and career pathways that help ensure that every students graduate graduates prepared for college, career, military service, and beyond. Another important focus has been strengthening communication and engagement with our community. We are continuing to improve how we share information with our parents, families, and stakeholders to ensure our community remains informed and connected to the work that's happening across our schools every single day. Internally, we are also working to improve operational efficiency and strengthen accountability across all departments of Montgomery public schools and to ensure resources are used effectively to support schools and students. As we move forward, our focus remains clear. Strengthening our schools, expanding opportunities for students, and ensuring Montgomery public schools continues to move in a positive direction. I remain incredibly proud of the work being done by our teachers,

principals, staff, and students across our great district. Their dedication is what their dedication is what makes Montgomery public schools a place where students can learn, grow, and succeed. Thank you all so much.

Thank you, Dr. Bird, for those uh wonderful words. Next on our agenda is uh board recognitions, Miss Brutin. As Miss Brutin comes, we have a very special recognition in the house tonight. And I'm sure as he comes forward, you all will know exactly who he is. On behalf of Montgomery Public Schools Board of Education, it is my honor to recognize and congratulate Sheriff Derek Cunningham. [applause]

[applause] [applause]

Sheriff Cunningham has been named the 2026 National Sheriff Association Sheriff of the Year. This prestigious recognition reflects Sheriff Cunningham's outstanding leadership, unwavering dedication to public service, and his deep commitment to the safety and well-being of our community. His partnership with Montgomery public schools has played an important role in helping ensure that our students, staff, and families feel safe and supported each day. Sheriff Cunningham, your leadership, your professionalism, and your service to Montgomery County make us all proud. We are grateful for your continued partnership and the example you set for others through your commitment to protecting and serving our community. On behalf of Montgomery public schools, it is our privilege and our pleasure to present you with that plaque in recognition of this remarkable achievement. Congratulations and thank you for your service. [applause]

We're going to have Dr. Bird, President Poris, and the rest of our esteemed board members to come to the front so we can take a photo with the sheriff. Thank you.

[applause]

You all can stay in place as we go through our recognitions. Good evening, Madame President, Dr. Bird, and our wonderful board members. Tonight we are recognizing our scholars and staff who are showcasing excellence in MPS. We are proud to recognize our child nutrition program director, Miss Janna Beard, who has been selected to serve as a region 6 director for the Alabama School Nutrition Association. She was also named the 2024 Alabama School Nutrition Association Director of the Year and she will now represent several surrounding districts to provide regional leadership and help facilitate meetings and initiatives for the association. This honor reflects her outstanding leadership and the continued excellence of our child nutrition program. We honor her. [applause]

[applause]

We are proud to recognize Miss Tama Woreram for being named the 2026 Alabama School Nutrition Association Manager of the Year. [applause] This prestigious honor recognizes her outstanding leadership, dedication, and commitment to serving students through school nutrition at Percy Julian. Please join us in congratulating her on this welldeserved recognition. [applause]

Students from MPS showcase creativity, innovation, and problem solving skills at the Alabama Invention Convention, presenting original inventions designed to address realworld challenges. Montgomery's Bear Exploration Center proudly represented the city with strong performance. And Michael Kraton earned second place in grade five. We welcome him up. [applause] [applause] We also welcome his principal as well for a photo.

[applause]

I also want to point out he designed the aqua cleanup. That was his invention. That name is spectacular. We also like to recognize Amaya Snell and Purity Yumay Omeay and they received honorable mention for Zap Sharp X3. [applause]

[applause]

All three students will advance to the Invention Convention Alabama 2026 state convention on Saturday, April 18th. [applause] We are proud to recognize Montgomery public schools overall winners in the Alabama Governor's App Challenge, a statewide computer programming competition celebrating student innovation and design. Our K through five gradspan winner was Los Pies, Forest Avenue academic magnet. We welcome their team to join us for a photo. Los Pies is a creative. [applause] [cheering] [applause]

[applause] And to give you some impressive information on this group, they created a Swift UI app that allows users to design and order custom footwear with a vision of turning digital designs into realworld products. The team demonstrated perseverance and problem solving to bring their prototype to life. Just a couple of hours ago, we received news that Los Pies has advanced to the state finals. [applause] [applause]

Now we move on to sixth through 8th grade span winner in Angst Bellingrath Middle School. [applause] [applause]

Come on. One, two.

[applause]

To give you a little background behind what they created, inks is a for students by students app designed to address social anxiety and youth mental health. The app provides socioeotional resources, journaling tools, and safe peer connection and features within a secure student login system. Let's congratulate both groups. [applause] [applause] This this evening we are proud to recognize our lady Thunderbirds. [cheering and applause] We will go ahead and have Smith, Principal Fountain, one of their players who I believe is their captain along with the other coaching staff to join us. They had an outstanding season. [laughter]

[applause] This team showed incredible determination, resilience, and heart throughout their journey to the 6A state championship, finishing as state runner up. These young ladies represented their school, our community with pride, class, and teamwork. [applause]

Montgomery Public Schools is proud to recognize several outstanding robotics teams. Yes, you hear it. [applause] They have qualified for the VEX V5 High School Robotics World Championship. It will be held April 20th through the 25th in St. Louis, Missouri. And this prestigious event brings together top teams from around the world. And only the highest performers at regional and state competitions earn the opportunity to even compete. from Brute Baker Technology Magnet High School. Team 4828X qualified. [applause] They qualified as the state robotic skills champion, earning the highest combined score in driver controlled programming challenges. [applause] One more.

[applause]

We also recognize team 4828A. [applause]

They advance to the quarterfinals in the state tournament to earn their place at the World Championship. [applause] [applause] from Loveless Academic Magnet Program Team 81218V. They qualified by earning the excellence award, the highest overall honor in VEX robotics.

[applause] [cheering] We also recognize team 81218G who qualified by earning the design award for their outstanding engineering design process. [applause] Woo!

[applause] [applause]

We also O want to thank the dedicated coaches who supported these teams, Joseph Pro Lamp and Christy Hatch at Brew Baker Technology Magnet High School. Um, Miss Hatch actually stepped in this year to serve as the robotics coach after the program's longtime coach retired. [applause] Just a couple of announcements. March is Arts and Education Month, a time to celebrate the powerful role the arts play in our schools and the lives of our students. Also, Montgomery Public Schools joins districts across the country in celebrating National School Social Work Month. And last, but certainly not least, this Friday we will host the MPS Special Olympics. And we invite everyone who is watching on live stream as well as everyone in this room to come and support our scholar athletes. And we want to cheer them on as they showcase their abilities. That will be this Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Park Crossing High School. You don't want to miss it. [applause] Yes. You want to do that new business or you want to do it now?

Okay. All right. Thank you so much, Miss Brutin, for doing such a fine job all the time. We're going to give you some love and some flowers. Just as soon as we get some, [laughter] you going to give them both. Okay, there are no uh scheduled public comments tonight. There are no citizen comments. So, we will move into uh the rest of our agenda. Uh Capitol Heights new school bid. Uh Mr. Anderson, [laughter]

no such look. It's okay. we'll handle it. Um, we uh received the low bids for or the bids for uh Capitol Heights last week and what you see before you is the recommendation from the architect, the Vulkar and then of course the certified bid tabulations. Okay. Are there any questions or comments um for this item hearing? None. Mr. Anderson, if you'll continue with HVAC service contract, please. And I will say, um, just a little caveat with the Percy Julian, we're really excited that is a a local contractor,

also MBE, DBE own contractor, so that will definitely help our percentages with those things. And then also, we um we're about $100 a square foot less than Percy Julian uh this time last year when we bid that out. So, we're excited about those those prices coming under budget. That's good news. Yes, thank you for that.

The uh HVAC service contract uh we were currently operating with train under a uh cooperative which is a more of the competitive bid law side of things. Uh we were asked uh this past year from the examiners to move this towards a public works um part of the bid law and that's what this is. is this is a public works bid uh service contract that's based on an hourly rate for that and you see those those low bid tabulations involved in that. Uh we feel really strong with with our HVAC supervisor being as skilled as he is uh coming to us from train couple of years ago as their lead technician. He was the guy that worked on all of the big units like Carver and Park Crossing and he's very skilled. So managing that vendor, we we feel very uh very good moving forward. We just we just need the manpower with only two HVAC technicians in house uh to make sure we can maintain and keep up.

Sorry. Any questions or comment? So this is the HVAC bid. Yes, ma'am. Um one of the things I would like for you to do, uh you'd have to get your supervisor's permission. Mhm. Um I I want these uh the CTE children to see this to see this kind of kind of bid and and what these companies put into it and what they get out of it. I I think it would be real interesting to know to help them understand these uh career fields.

I think what we can do too is uh have our engineer, our mechanical engineer that does that design. I mean, he does it across the state and uh who ran this bid for us. Uh we can have him come over and speak to the CTE program as well. And then of course Nathan will be happy. I think he actually does some stuff for Trenum after hours or did do uh teaching with Trenum [clears throat] after hours. I think we keep him pretty busy now. So that's good. I I think the more exposure they get, the more we inundate them with information, then they can make some good choices and they'll have all the information. fantastic career. I mean, it really is. Well, I see that. And the commercial, I pick wrong perhaps

when you're talking on the commercial side of things. It It's a fantastic career. Uh, and the hard part is is getting the labor force. I know working with train over the last several years, they were they struggled to find technicians that would qualify on the commercial side of things. And then a lot of them came in so inexperienced guys like uh Mr. Finch, our our HVAC supervisor had to help kind of groom and grow those those individuals. So, yeah, it it's a fantastic field.

Also, Madam President, I'd like to add that uh we do have a scheduled field trip or we are finalizing a field trip for uh impact and some other uh CTE uh students to be able to visit the new Percy Junior site within the next couple of weeks. And so, we have that planned. Yeah, Mr. Mr. Zar that'll be up in a little bit. uh he'll be he he can speak towards that. He's working and coordinating that for us with the contractor there to to get them on site. Yeah, that's going to be great. Um Dr. Bird, because I think one of the things that I this generation lacks is where does this come from? They they like fast and final, but they don't see the bill.

So that's I appreciate your your assistance and all of that. All right, Jag Epoxy Florida. Any questions or com? Okay. Jag epoxy flooring, please.

Yeah, this was this is um to complete the hallways. We're going to go over the old quarry tile with epoxy uh to cover that up and clean that up. And then also work on painting the uh the hallways, pulling out the old lockers that are no longer used and covering those up. And it'll cover all your all your hallways, your main areas, your kitchen, uh those big areas, the the cafeteria as well. So, a lot of square footage uh throughout that building. And uh we feel good about this about this bid with McKe and Associates. They they've ran the numbers for us and ready to move forward and get continue to work on JAG and and get it in good shape.

That's excellent. Thank you. Any questions or comments for uh Mr. Anderson? Thank you so much, sir. Next, we will have uh Miss Watkins with our January 2026 financial statement. January. That's right. Yes, ma'am.

Good afternoon, Dr. Bird, board president, and board members. You should have before you the financial report for the month of January. Um January represents the beginning of the second quarter of the fiscal year. In that package, you will have an explanation of the financial data um from the CSFO, a snapshot analysis, which is a highle summary of the district's financial position. Um you also have um the general fund B balance recap in your package. um which also goes into detail about what makes up our general fund balance, the monthly percentages for the month of February or January, I'm sorry, for the month of January, expenditures should hit around 33%. You should also have the monthly and annual comparative statement of revenues and expenditures that provides you an overview of our revenues and expenditures as of January 2026 compared to January of 2025. You also have a statement of cash flow that provides you the actual revenues that were come that came in in the month of January compared to the actual expenditures for the month of January. And then finally, you have a visual of that information as well. And then the F exhibits which are the reports from the state department that's based on the information that we're required to upload on um each month. Um with we'll go back to the snapshot. Go back. Okay. So with the snapshot analysis, you'll see just an overview of the district. you'll see our local revenue comparisons um as it relates to the revenues, local revenues received in January or to date for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal year 2025. Those amounts um are usually a little bit off. You'll see that 2026

is a little bit higher, but that is usually related to timing differences to when those revenues come in. You also see our general fund B um recap of our payroll expenditures that are trending right along where they should be. They're a little bit higher um in fiscal year 2026, but that would reflect the fact that our benefits also increase for fiscal year 2026. And then you see our general fund balance um as of January 2026 as well. As I remind us each month, as it relates to the general fund balance, that is our general fund balance, but it's not our discretionary balance. We have various funding sources that are restricted to those line items and can only be expended um by the way the state tells us to expend those. So, they are not discretionary. Any questions?

Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. All right. We are down to our consent agenda. Superintendent asks for board's permission or ask for board board's approval for consent agenda items 13A through 13G discussion. Oh, I'm sorry. Motion.

I move to accept the recommendation of the superintendent for a second through G. Okay. You all let them get it out then second. [clears throat] Okay. She trigger [laughter] happy tonight. Okay. It has Thank you. Yes. It has been moved and second to accept the consent agenda. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion? Discussion. Uh I will now call for a vote. All those in favor. It is unanimous. Dr. Bird. Thank you. for approval. Consider for approval.

Thank you, Superintendent. Ask for your permission or your approval of action item 14A, personnel report certified personnel. Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation for personnel report certified personnel? Madam President, I move we accept the superintendent's recommendation for personnel report certified personnel. Second.

Thank you, Miss Mitchell and Miss Smith. It has been um moved and second to accept the recommendation of the superintendent for personnel report certified personnel. Any discussion for this item? Hearing no discussion. I would like to see a show of hands for all of those in favor. It is unanimous. Dr. B. Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14B personnel report certified personnel addendum. [clears throat] May I hear a motion for uh for the personnel report for the superintendent's recommendation of the personnel report certified personnel addendum?

Madame chair, I move that we accept the [clears throat] superintendent's recommendation for personnel report certified personnel addendum. It has been moved. May I hear a second for that? Second it. Thank you. It has been moved and second to accept the the superintendent's recommendation. Any discussion on the item? Hearing no discussion, may I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? It is unanimous. Dr. Bird.

Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14 C personnel report classified personnel. May I see hear a motion um to accept the superintendent's recommendation for personnel report classified personnel. Madame President, I move that we appro um approve item 14C. Thank you, Dr. Keith. It has been moved. May I hear a second? I second it.

Thank you. It has been moved and second to accept the superintendent's recommendation for personnel report classified personnel. 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, Dr. Bird. Thank you. Superintendent requests your approval of action item 14D, personnel report teams. Superintendent has made a recommendation to approve personnel report teams. May I hear a motion? Yes. I uh move to accept the superintendent's recommendation for item 14 C D personnel report teams. Thank you, Miss Cloud. May I hear a second?

I second. Thank you, Miss Mitch. Has been moved and second to accept the um superintendent's recommendation for the team's report. May I see a show of hands? Is there any discussion on this item? I'm sorry. May I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? It it is unanimous. Last item, Dr. Bird. Thank you. Superintendent request your approval of action item 14E, part-time supplemental personnel minutes.

Superintendent has made a recommendation to approve part-time supplemental personnel minutes. May I hear a motion? Madame President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for part-time supplemental personnel minutes. Thank you so much, Miss Mitchell. May I hear a second? I second it.

Thank you, Miss Cloud. It has been moved and second to accept the superintendent's uh recommendation for item 14E. There is no discussion. May I see a show of hands for those in favor? It is unanimous. Thank you so much. I had to slow myself down not to break break a record, but you certainly can. Okay.

It should have been located in your documents. Uh should be in your Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Okay. Um for those of you that don't know, Miss Brown was just uh clarifying an item in our documentation that we approved. It's always a good question when we approve, we need to know, make sure we know what we're approving. So, hearing no other questions or comments for this business meeting, uh this meeting is now adjourned. Our next meeting will be April 14th at five o'clock. Same place. Uh immediately following will be um work session. I got I'd like to call to order the work session for March 10th, 2026. [laughter] Listen, uh, a lady told me, she said, "I watch you all on board meeting, Miss Porters, but after the regular meeting, you let everybody leave and I be tired. So, can you get right to it?" So, I'm getting right to it. We are now in work session. This is a call to order. The quorum has been established. May I hear an approval to accept the agenda as printed? Madam President, I move that we approve the agenda as printed.

May I hear a second? A second.

It has been moved and second to accept the approve the agenda as printed. Any hearing? No discussion. May I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? It is unanimous. Thank you so much. We will receive his information this afternoon. Um, from Vulker, Laura Pin. Oh my, my guy is up. Pay is up. Thank you. You got me again today. Good evening, Madam President, Dr. Bird, members of the board. It's my privilege to give you the uh Vulkar capital improvement monthly update. Jumping right into Percy Julian. And as Dr. Bird said, "I have been in communication with Miss Bizu and Dr. Arnold. Um, we're tentative on the second week of April. I'm letting them decide which date and time works best, and I'll relay that information to you guys as well. Um, so overall project completion is at 24%. Um, there was three days added to the schedule due to rain days, higher than the Noah average in February. Um, some of the project progress past month. Um, second floor slab areas A and B have been poured. Our interior CMU walls are going up, moving from area A into area B. Metal stud installation is ongoing, also continuing that path from A to B. So, the front facade is uh starting to get its walls and taking shape. The structural steel erection is continuing area C and we'll be moving into area D. Um, second floor metal decking is also being complete at area C and should be wrapped up in the next week. Um, MEP roughin is continuing at the kitchen and auditorium areas as well as those foundations that are moving along the south side of the site. And,

uh, a milestone that we actually hit this week was our second floor steel for the areas A and C has arrived on site. There's some progress photos. The photo on the right, you can see the metal stud framing, the windows, and exterior walls taking shape. As I mentioned, photo on the left is from the corner of the north of area A. Here's area A and B, second floor slabs that were poured in the past month. Um the yellow that you see on the slab is actually floor protection for our polished concrete areas. Trying to make sure that throughout the duration of construction we maintain those slabs as good as we can. Interior views from inside the building. You can see the MEP rough in on the right for our bathrooms. And on the left, we actually have our uni strut, which will be the uh support and hangers for our duct work in the HVAC system. Here's the structural steel and metal decking that's wrapping up at area C. Back inside the building, our interior block moving along through area A into B and the admin area. Here's the uh MEP rough end that's going on the left side. That is your kitchen. Lots of electrical and plumbing in there. And then on the right side is the storm shelter. And we are scheduled to have both of those slabs poured by the end of next week. I wanted to include these aerial shots here on the left. That is the retention pond towards the east side of the site.

Um you can see just how massive it really is compared to some of those vehicles parked next to it. And then on the right side, that is the retention pond. That'll be at the front entrance. And you can also see how large that is compared to the boulevard right next to it. That's where all of our uh rain's going to go. No flooding. Moving into Capitol Heights Middle School. You heard Mr. Anderson uh discuss the bid from last week. Really favorable results with below budget which we're really happy for. And that includes the demolition of the existing Percy Julian High School as well as the two alternates of the softball and football field and track. You can see we had three competitive bids come in. Um, a budget we announced was 47 million. Russell Construction being a woman-owned MBDB local contractor was the lowest bidder. Um, their base bid was the 43.4 million and that included the demolition of Percy Julian and the alternates one and two bumped it up to 46.6 which is still below our announced budget. We didn't have any changes from last month's MBE participation, but uh as we begin the contract process for Capital Heights, as Mr. Anderson said, we have a 100% MBDB general contractor. So that total amount for the construction MBDB side of things should increase or will increase uh for next month's meeting. Any questions, comments?

This is impressive. When you go ride by there time after time to see it, it's going to be really nice to have a state of the art building. I'm always impressed when we go to conference down in Orange Beach. You pass through all of those cities with all those really, really nice schools. You don't go that direction. [laughter] Dr. is looking at me like what's but there are there are some really yeah there there are some nice buildings so this this is impressive any question I will point out too WSFA reached out to Mr. Anderson and we met them on site today. So they should be [clears throat] running a story from the actual construction job site that you should see soon.

Okay. Very good. Very good. And we're in planning to do a groundbreaking uh out there soon. So um soon as we can get schedules together with you all and Dr. Bird, we'll we'll move on to the next. Great. Let us know. All right. Thank you so much. All right, Mr. Anderson, facilities update.

Good evening, Dr. Bird Poris, Miss Watkins Smith, and members of the board. Uh, we've already heard from Vulker on their updates with Percy Julian and Capitol Heights. Uh, the Davis Elementary HVAC job. We've completed the first phase of windows on that. Uh, if you look at the north side of the building there, you'll see those windows complete. They're on top of the roof uh running the duck work through and getting ready to set equipment and curbs uh for the top piece of that. It'll it'll go slowly until we get to the summertime. We'll get the students out of the building. I just want to try to minimize disruption as much as we can on that. The Carver High School turf and track replacement, we've completed the subbase. They're going to be finishing up around the edge of the curbing there. And we should see the uh the binder material go down, the first layer of asphalt go down and then the finished layer shortly thereafter. Hopefully uh we don't get too much of a rain this Thursday. If we if we do, it may push it to first of next week for that piece of it. And then of course, we'll be in that waiting period. But they've already scheduled the uh the track people with a rubber surface to come down and review the paving as soon as it's completed there. But we'll have to wait for that curing process to to be complete before we put the rubber surface on it. The Forest Avenue roof replacement and South Lawn Elementary roof replacement. We have a pre-construction meeting scheduled for March the 25th uh to begin those. And again, we'll be working around the the schedules around the schools because we'll be heavily into testing during that time with the elementary schools during the month of uh of April for sure. With that, the JAG athletic improvements, we'll have the pre-construction meeting for that next week on the 16th. The uh D and that includes of course going over that again. The turf, the track, lighting, baseball, and softball fields. With that, we want to be able to come forward again on the next phase as funds are are

available to work on the fieldhouse, which that would complete all of the traditional schools with a new athletic fieldhouse to be able to operate out of. Uh it'd be a really great addition for that area to also coordinate home softball games and possibly home baseball games in that area. We're working on that piece as well. The Danley Elementary HVAC renovations is underway. It's it's a little bit that school's a little has a little more u students involved in it. So, it's a little bit smaller move with that. Right now, we're working on two classrooms. Uh we're working on also um working on some of the portables in the back to kind of allow us to shift more classes out while we work on those phases. Again, this was a contractor that completed Morning View and their plan is to ramp up heavily in the summer and try to complete that job this summer uh with just little touch-ups as we go into next school year. So, that's that's their goal for those pieces. Uh the JAG painting and flooring, we heard from that tonight. We'll begin the contract process for that and uh we'll be working through parts of the summer. We'll have to phase that in, of course, with summer school working around that, but we'll we there's that school is large enough that we can take chunks and sections of it at a time until we get all the students out of the building and then finish that, complete that in July, early July. The uh Goodwin and painting and flooring project, we're now going to start looking at how much budget we have left uh as far as flooring and and painting budget to be able to work on that uh completing that project as well. want to do the same thing that we've are doing there at JAG with the hallways and the and painting and the flooring, the epoxy there, and taking out some of those old lockers that aren't in use and covering those up and and making that completing that renovation where we started with a roof and HVAC. The uh JAG elevator renovation, uh we're reviving that. We

bid that a couple of years ago, as I mentioned before, uh came back over over budget. Um it is time to to replace those. So, we're reviving that and uh working on that piece. It will also include an upgrade of the fire alarm there because the fire alarm has to tie into elevators. The HVAC services contract, you you heard from that tonight. We're excited to get some manpower back into the district. Uh we've been operating with a with a skeleton crew waiting on this contract to come into place and excited to get those people back in involved, a contractor back involved so we can get back on it. Our our response time has lagged a little bit. We're where we were within 24 hours. We're usually somewhere within 48 hours now in in a initial response. Uh we are looking forward to get back to that within within the day to responding to HVAC calls. Hearing no questions. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Next, we will hear from Attorney Powell. Attorney Powell will discuss with us a draft of this staff conduct policy and the social media policy.

Good evening, Madame President, board members, Dr. Bird. I have been requested to review the policy in regards to the staff conduct policy as well as the social media policy. Um, speaking first about the staff conduct policy. Um currently the policy in five or 5.01 um it is proposed that we um address employee qualifications, duties, conduct, professional standards and mandatory reporting. Um the proposed addition will address employees um obligation to comply with applicable federal law, Alabama law board policy and the Alabama educator code of ethics. Um, it further goes on to add a section that would be subsection L um to address prohibited employee conduct to address activities such or or inappropriate activity such as harassing, intimidating, discriminating, bullying, physical abuse of um children and so forth and so on. I would like to point out that this is a a draft of this policy and in the copies that you guys have received there are highlighted portions. Those highlighted portions are additions to what's currently written in our policy. There's not been anything that has at this time been changed in terms of the previous language. There is just an addition of those subsections and that's regarding the staff conduct policy. Again, this is a draft and any further updates will be provided to you by Dr. Burr in your routine board update. Are there any questions regarding the staff conduct policy?

So, this was our original uh this was our original policy on 131 2000 I mean 2019. That is correct. And then we're going to add L. We haven't taken anything away, but we've added some strength to the policy. That is correct. That will be updated when when we when we decide to vote on the draft.

That is correct. Now, and I let me go back and say so the title in section 5.01 is different than what it currently reads. So that is that is a um a change in the language regarding the title. But in terms of the body of the language under the policy, there's only been an addition. And in your updates, you'll be provided with a red line version so that you'll be able to see what changes are are made as opposed to the highlight. And in that first section, there's highlighted um there's a little sentence down at the very end of that paragraph that's been added. That's correct. Okay. Thank you.

Are there any other questions regarding staff conduct policy? Hearing no other questions, we will move into the uh social media policy.

Yes. So currently um the policy there is there is not a section that speaks specifically to social media um in detailed um in policy 5.01 that we just discussed. There is a mention of social media that discuss um just briefly mentioning social media in the subsection. However, it is proposed to add a specific section that directly addresses social media conduct and that would be an added 5.01.3 and that language is all additional. This is a draft of what's being proposed. There is some additional edits needed and that those edits will be provided to you um in redline versions as well.

Yes, ma'am. Who came up with that additional who wrote that? So the the additional language was provided to me by the superintendent to review and make sure that it is compliant with Alabama law and policy as written. So this isn't added to the first one. We're just making a separate policy. That is correct. And when we say separate policy, it would be a another section under section five, an an addendum, right? Okay. Thank you. Are there any questions regarding the social media policy? Any other questions? No. Thank you so much.

All right. Next, job descriptions. Um Dr. Ford, Dr. Ford will be presenting um 21st century coordinator site facilitator project director and extended day teacher job descriptions.

Yes. Good afternoon madame president vice president Dr. Bird. Yes. um our federal programs director and his team is are in the process of writing a 21st century grant to benefit our middle school middle middle school students and in elementary school and the job descriptions are required entities a part of the grant and so to ensure that we have the facilitator coordinator and teachers positions outlined as as stated in the grant and stipulated by the grant. We've developed those job descriptions.

Very good. Those descriptions were u part of your attachment. You want to go back and familiarize yourself with it. They're in your board connection. They were added also to because we're under a tight deadline with the submission of the grant as well.

Okay. So the tight deadline being explain that it good afternoon everyone um I will be coming up in April actually I'll be in the work session where I announce that we have applied we're applying for seven um schools for this year and we will actually be hitting the button to submit it by the end of this week. So, we're going to take the draft version of the job description and once it's final, board approved, we will then make sure the state department knows that has gone from draft to final. So, we are on a time crunch because we want to submit have the most updated documents. However, we know with timelines and schedules and the state department's fine with that.

Okay. So your your crunch we won't meet again until April. So is that going to be satisfactory for It will. Okay. Very good. Yes ma'am. Okay. This is for cohort 27. And these job descriptions will be paid for through the 21st century grant. And it's cohort 27. Is that correct? That is correct. All positions will be and it's a fiveyear it's a fiveyear grant. It's a a competitive grant. It's for five years. So these these actual positions will be paid for through 21st century.

They will um cohort 27 for this one is actually a fouryear, but then they will go back to fiveyear after cohort 27. Okay. Thank you for correcting me on that. Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. I'm sorry, Dr. Cole. I apologize. Not a problem. Thank you, Madam President. I'm so excited about these grants and I was happy to hear we have at least seven that we're going to try and get in uh soon. Uh we didn't see job descriptions for AIDS. Do we not have to uh describe those or will they be described in the grants? Hopefully.

There's one more job description front a clerical person which for the time being we're just using the district one and not a specific 21st century one. Out of the 21st century grant, we are only funding teachers. If aids are needed to supplement the grant, we would use under, you know, conversation with the schools or title one funding

as a supplemental fund source because just of the pure amount of money that needed to go to enforce our student to faculty ratio and make sure that we had enough for supplies and other things that would be innovative to that program. we just didn't have the funding to include that personnel type. But if a school wanted to do it, they always have options to supplement with other fund sources. Okay. You you just answered the question because usually the aids are there and I do recall now that you can uh find other agencies who like to help fund those. So,

absolutely. And that's school that's usually schoolbased not included in the but in the grant we will talk about the fact that we will be reaching out for you know uh

we have to do a sustainability plan in the grants. So we have to not just talk about what happens if the funding disappears but we also have to talk about other potential partnerships and other community outreach efforts that we're doing. So, we'll we'll make sure that when those programs get funded or when they get funded, that's right. Um that we um are doing that outreach to make sure that's the most effective program and know that we're applying for seven this year, but there will be future cohorts and our plans are to continue the process with other schools. Thank you and congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Excellent question. Troubles in this district don't disappear as quick as funding does. Does it? [laughter] All right. Dr. Ford, do you have anything else? That's it for the 21st century grant uh positions. We do also have one for the purchaser

purchasing controller position for CN. That position is being updated to match the current needs of today. the pos the person who had been in the position recently retired and upon her retirement we realized that the position was written for a secretary three position and technically over a number of years she's been doing work outside of that um job description and so what we're proposing now is to update the job description to align with the work Um, any questions? Okay. Comment.

I'm glad y'all are doing that. I think every ever since we did the curriculum audit um and that was when uh Miss Cloud came on the board, which I was, you know, pleased because she kind of helped with that. And um it kind of to me what it's done for the whole you know system meaning that you know the um people at top you know we we've found out you know we you've got to you got to match the curriculum. So I'm just pleased that you're sticking with that. I just wanted to make a comment on it. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. My only comment um and I guess it could be a concern when I looked at the qualifications and I I know there are many of them and I looked at the education and then I looked at the pay. Are we um in line with um I I guess is this in align with all of the jobs that all of our 12 month jobs that require these qualifications and this um I guess these qualifications.

Yes, ma'am. We are in alignment. We looked at um that position as well as other positions across the district that utilizes that same salary schedule and made certain that there's alignment across the board and the work that's being performed as I mentioned today is more so accounting of all school budgets um their CMP it's an auditing position as well so basically it's very much aligned

very Okay, thank you. And the only reason I asked, I know that there's been times we've written them for people instead of position. I want to make sure that we are still headed in the direction of writing positing descriptions for position to put the right people. Yes. Yes, ma'am. We're writing them for the work that we're looking to be um perform. Thank you. Hold on. Dr. report. Miss Smith, just one quick question for this was a and I may have written this down wrong. Level three or class three, I can't remember what level three secretary and for all level threes those adjustments are being made.

That's what this position is at that person was in the well that person was performing the position the work. However, the job itself had changed multiple years ago and we just she just remained in that position doing the work. So that particular position um was considered at that time and the salary schedule was adjusted accordingly at that particular time. But the do the job title was as Dr. for stated um Secretary 3 classified.

It aligns with the salary schedule that the person will be on and the work that's being done for that position.

Any other concerns, comments? Okay. Hearing none. Um, unfinished business. I have So, does anybody else have any unfinished business? Um, and I'm putting this under unfinished business um to let the public know we had a retreat um couple of weeks ago, a very good retreat. I thought we received information about the uh state of our district uh academically um CTE uh we have we discussed system barriers uh scheduling magnet just a whole host of things. Um so at this retreat the reason why it's unfinished is because we will come back. We will normally our retreats have two days. We've done one day. We'll reschedu the other day in June to be at to be announced. And so um we there was some great things that came out. We thank Dr. Bird and his staff. Um this was one of the best presentations I have seen. It was put together intentional and there was an urgency about the work. um surrounding it. So, we were very well pleased with that. Heard some really good things uh at the end of that retreat. So, we're looking forward to to day two um and to finish our business. Yes, ma'am. Miss Mitchell.

Yes, I do have a question. I was just wondering what is the status of our contract with Oracle and AI?

Okay. Yes, ma'am. So, of course, there are two contracts. The Oracle Academy contract um remember when we last discussed um NPS had sent our redline versions over to the Oracle representative and today that representative did respond and provide their um their redline versions. And then in regards to the Oracle SDI, the representative with Oracle had been out of the office for a while and so he has not provided the response regarding their red line edits on that just yet. But that's what we're waiting on and once we get those we'll review them and um hopefully the terms are u mutually agreeable at that point regarding the SDI and then we can move forward.

Okay. the one that we got the red line revision on. So, it's our turn, right, to review and get that finalized. That is correct. That was received today. Okay. Very good. Yes, ma'am. And I want to say at the retreat, thank you for considering opening up. I know it's an incubator stage, the new the Dumbar RMR uh Agra Science Forestry School for um our children to have other opportunities that I'm looking forward for them to have. So, I'm really excited about that.

Okay. Thank you so much. Um new business. Any other unfinished business? I don't want to get ahead of that. new business. I'm not sure exact. Well, yes, I'm going to use this as a uh take your comments as an offshoot. Uh I really wanted to say this at the top of the hour. Uh last Friday, we attended a conference in Auburn, Alabama,

the Alabama Association of School Boards, and I was extremely proud to sit in a meeting. And one of the featured speakers was our own Rosanna Brutin. Uh [applause] she did a remarkable job uh representing Montgomery public schools and I'm sitting there. I actually moved my seat to sit on the front row so that everybody could know that she belonged to us. Um, and uh, one of the things that I wanted to say as I sat and listened to her is that as far as new business goes, when we get ready to have part two, it would be awesome if we could give her an hour, hour and a half to make that presentation to this full board because she is teaching people across the state and the nation about communication and branding. And it would be great if we were uh not just recipients of her her talent and uh you know her interventions but when she presents it to us then we know who we are how we're to communicate with the media and on social media. Uh we will be truly the models for the state and the nation. But she was wonderful. Thank you so very much. [applause]

Very good. Thank you so much for bringing that to our attention. Um, Dr. Coleman. So, let me get this straight. At our next retreat date, you would like her to attend or she's going to be ecstatic when she finds out where it is, but I won't tell it yet. Okay. But that that is wonderful because Yeah. So many times we take our people, they present and other districts get the benefit of it and we don't because we don't know what's going on. So very good. We thank you. Any other new business? Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, Madame President. I wanted to at this time talk about having a special call meeting um embedded on our board calendar. We meet once a month and we do our regular board meeting and work um session but oftentimes especially as we near the end of the year there you know we have to hire teachers and other staff and I know it would help the uh HR in having a set day and the superintendent if we will embed that in our calendar. I'm look I'm hoping and this is just a throw out but every third Tuesday since we're used to meeting on Tuesdays that we um reserve that for special call meetings um so that the superintendent will have us on call and the public will know um that those meetings are to be anticipated and we will only use them if we need to because there will be times that we may not necessarily have a need for a special call meeting but it will be on on the calendar. That's my new business.

Okay. Same time, same place. Would it be okay? So, we'll give um board members time to digest that and uh think about it and come back. Um other new business. Oh, I'm sorry. With that, I was just wondering, you know, there may be a time when there is something that's an emergency.

Yeah. that may come up and the the third Tuesday. So, as we embed it, as we think about writing it up, we just want to make sure that we're, you know, that is a a a flex, we want to make it flexible. So, if it's an emergency special call meeting, we want to be able to get that date. Okay. And you're right. And the reason um it was even proposed to be the third Tuesday is because we Yeah. need to know. So if we have something going on, we can, you know, adjust accordingly and like you said, make it flexible because we may have to go from a Tuesday to a Thursday. Yeah.

Just for an emergency, [clears throat] you know, we have the special call meeting and then maybe and you know, we'll label it as an emergency. Special call meeting, but not if that or another word, I [laughter] think you have to say special call. I researched it and most of the districts that's how they have it worded, just special call meeting. Okay. Okay. So, we'll keep that in mind. That's a good point, especially with personnel as we move forward. But I'm sure the superintendent can give us a a further enough heads up. Yes, ma'am. Miss

um I think it's wonderful that we're seeing Roseanne, Miss Brewer, go out and speak and direct. We also have have other people in this district going to out of counties that could possibly come and tell us what they're doing outside of here. We're growing our own, but we're not seeing our own how they're growing. So, let's talk about doing that, too, because there's a lot of educators, a lot of other personnel that's doing wonderful things that's presenting at other venues that we're not getting the chance to hear ourselves. So, that may be something we can look into also. Okay.

Welled. Um, I also want to note, um, while we haven't done I haven't done traditional committees because I wanted all of the committees to affect uh, the work we're doing now. We're on a good pace. We we're fulfilling the goals that we set and so um, but there are some that have been out there. Uh, Dr. Coleman will be and and when we make these designations, they are for the board's um they're the board's assistance. They don't replace staff. They don't tell staff what to do. The only thing they do is they're the liaison that helps the board understand the initiatives that the superintendent has set forth. So, Dr. Coleman's going to help with finance. Dr. Coleman, uh, Miss Smith, Miss Mitchell, and myself, we attended, uh, matter of fact, we have diploma covers from Howard University, uh, on finance. It's just like, you ever heard the preacher say, if somebody look in your checkbook, uh, people can tell what your priorities are. Our our checkbook should look the same. And so I think we will be safe in along with Miss Watkins um to communicate uh with Dr. Coleman on that and help the board keep uh a better understanding. Also on that note, uh Miss Brown has uh wonderfully she can't go back on the word now because I'm making public. Uh she is going to be our policy person during the retreat. I thought that's Miss Brown's expertise business. She sits on that side. She supervises and she shared with us things that they do

in the world that we're just not doing. So, she's going to be that um liaison for policy. We just had uh a couple of policies. So, she's going to help us understand what that means in layman terms. Not that Dr. power. Don't tell us in layman terms, but uh but she's going I I feel really good about that. I know you ladies will too. Um as she helps them comb through that and they get her assistance on it, um she can come back and if there's a question, she can help guide us there. Okay. So, that is there any more new business? Yes, ma'am. And

I just wanted to, you know, noted um on what uh Miss Cloud said. She said we, you know, use some of our homegrown speakers because some of us at at this uh meeting, nothing against Rosanne, I loved it. I love her, but you got to understand some of us have already seen that we were at that that if you were at that convention, um it would be like a almost a third time. You know what I'm saying? We we we've we felt like we had seen it once before on our retreat. And I know I had brought up some speakers and before we hear something a third time I just wanted to be just noted that some of the board members have already seen know what what some of the suggestions are.

Yeah. If you if the way our conferences are set up there's a lot of different just like your conferences are there's a lot of different if you went to that particular room then you heard it. I have not heard that one. I don't Yeah, it was it was like if you went to the convention, you heard it. You had to sign up. We paid to go to that. You see what I'm saying? It was one of the thing. It wasn't a breakout session. Oh, okay. Probably wasn't paying attention maybe. But um yeah, we all could have gone. We we you know, some three of us I saw two other board members there. And and and we will of four of us went so only three of y'all.

Yeah. We will keep that in mind as we um as we go forward and some of the things we need to be refreshed on anyway. Uh we'll do a a refresher and for those that are speaking or attending something or know of a speaker. We can't always have a uh so many things because we want to stay within what we're doing. But we certainly would would welcome that especially if we have people going out. I think people that leave our district and go out and speak, I think we covered this before, we need to know what they're speaking about anyway. So, if we know you're going out and we know you're you're speaking, if you would um let us know, we you know, we'll be glad to support you and and coming in, you know, we we'll we'll do we'll plan something special around some speakers coming in um to tell us some things. All right. All minds and hearts are clear. It's daylight. You sure y'all ready to go? All right. This meeting is now a Well, our next meeting is April 14th. I told you at 5:00 be regular meeting. Immediately follow will be work session. This meeting is now adjourned.

Hey there NPS students. I'm meteorologist Nick Gunnar from the WSFA First Alert weather team and this is your First Alert testing forecast. The outlook I've got for you success. Just like I prepare for storms, [music] you can prepare for your test. Here are some tips to help you. You need to get a good night's sleep. I wake up very early in the morning. 4:30 a.m. is when we go on today in Alabama on [music] the news weekdays and I have to get a great night's sleep to be prepared for that. So, you should [music] too. As you get ready for test time, eat a strong breakfast. It's the most important and [music] filling meal of the day and really helps you out as you get close to test time. Of course, show up on time. I can't be late for the news, which starts at 4:30, so you should be at school on time. And review those notes. I look back at notes all the time to help me navigate the various conditions in the atmosphere to help give the most accurate forecast daily. So, make sure you do the same when it comes to test time. [music] And when it's go time, shine bright, take your time, read carefully, and stay confident. You are ready for this. I know it. And remember, storms pass, but your hard work, [music] it'll last forever. And as MPS says, let's prepare, perform, rise, and let's level up.