Board Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. The time is now 5 p.m. The regular board meeting for Montgomery Public Schools has now been called to order. Today we have with us Pastor Troy Towne from Next Level Ministries to offer our invocations.

Oh, I'm sorry.

First of all, I'd like to thank Pamela Cloud for asking me to come and say a few words and to pray for all of you. It is a privilege and an honor to be a part of our education of our children, even if it's in this small way. Pamela, as soon as you asked me to come and do the convocation, the Lord dropped this verse into my spirit. I would like to read this verse before you today. Philippians 4 and 8. I'm going to read it right out of my Bible. It says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Now, you are all educators or have been educators or represent educators. You all know the hearts and minds of children is like silly putty. You can shape it and mold it to what you desire. They trust your words, the things you say. Whatever is taught will shape their perspective for a lifetime. So God has gifted you. Yes, teaching is a gift. And he has entrusted you with the minds and development of our most precious commodity, our children. So let's look at this verse of scripture closely because tonight this verse is for you. Whatsoever things are true, God starts with the most important of all things, truth. We all know that God is the absolute truth. The Bible says he cannot lie. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We know that this word is true. Let's start there. I know the times we live in, and we can no longer teach from the basis of this truth. But when you can, and as often as you can, Bring these principles when you teach and what this book exposes. But not only that, make sure you know that you go the extra mile, that you do teach the truth. Just don't teach a curriculum, but do your own research to make sure that something is true. For example, evolution. Everything came from nothing. Right. Evolution is merely a theory, not truth. And I don't have a PhD, but I can tell you this truth myself. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The verse goes on to say, whatsoever things are honest. Honesty is different than truth. The Greek word means and denotes having dignity and being honorable. In other words, you are dignified and honorable enough to take the truth, stand for the truth, and teach the truth. It is not enough to know the truth, but you have to have the courage and honor to stand for the truth. Whatsoever things are just, this word means righteous, justice, or equitable in character or action. With this one, I have nothing to say to you. You must judge your own heart. Whatsoever things are pure. Now this word in the Greek means chaste, clean, innocent from sin. Years ago, my daughter was in 11th grade right here at BTW when it was BTW, and she had a required book to read. Her being raised in a Christian home, she brought this book to my attention. This required reading was absolute filth, full of sexual acts throughout. I called it porn in written form. Needless to say, by the time I got through complaining to the principal, my daughter was the only one in her class that was assigned another book to read that I approved of. The sad thing is that the other 24 students in her class had to read such filth. I want you to remember this one, whatsoever things are pure. Then it goes on to say, whatsoever things are lovely. This Greek word is a compound of two Greek words, pros, P-R-O-S, which means toward or in direction of, the direction of, and phileo, which means friendly to or brotherly love. So what is it saying to you as an educator? Teach them toward or in the direction of brotherly love. I think I can get an amen on that one. And it says, whatsoever things are of good report. This one is self-explanatory. We live in a fallen world and there is much evil. But when you can, take the time to notice when someone has done well. Accentuate the good things that are going on. When someone does well, tell them and tell others also. Then it says, if there be any virtue. Virtue is the trait or quality of excellence and moral behavior and goodness of character. Proverbs 31 and 10 says, who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. But what of you, the educator? Let's make sure we are teaching and shaping virtue, moral goodness, and character. And finally, it says, if there is any praise, So you guys, when you stop to smell the roses, when you stop to reflect your life, the Bible says every good and perfect gift is from above. Give him praise. Did you wake up this morning? Give him praise. He's giving you an opportunity to shape the hearts and minds of children. Give him praise. I want to read this verse one more time, and when we end here, I want to concentrate on the last four words, and then I'm going to pray. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, here's the last four words. Think on these things. The Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So if you think on these things, if you think on this verse, you will teach the children these things as well. Let us pray. Father God, we come before you right now in the mighty name of Jesus. Father, as I come, Lord, we come, Lord, on behalf of these children, Father. Father, they are precious in your sight. Jesus says, suffer the children to come unto me. Forbid them not, for such is the kingdom. Father, we know that the evil one, the wicked one, is after our children as well. So, Father, I pray that this verse that I accentuated this evening, Father, Lord, would permeate in the hearts of these educators, Father, that it would give them courage and wisdom, Father, when it comes to our children. Father, I pray tonight in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor. for sharing those words of truth and power with us. Now, if you will join us and stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic

All right, we have established a quorum tonight, although we are missing Ms. Mitchell.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Although we are missing Ms. Mitchell, we want her to know that we do miss her, but we still have a quorum tonight. Now, if I can get an approval for the agenda as it is printed,

Madam President, I move that we approve the present agenda.

I second it. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda as written. We will now move to the Board President's remarks. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. As we meet tonight, our schools are quieter than usual, the hallways are empty, classrooms are still, and students and staff are enjoying a well-earned summer break. Yet even during those summer months, the work of education continues. Across our district, plans are being made, buildings are being prepared, and dedicated employees are working behind the scenes to ensure that we are ready to welcome our students back for another successful school year. Summer provides an opportunity for reflection. We can look with pride on the accomplishments of the past year, THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS, ATHLETIC SUCCESSES, ARTISTIC PERFORMANCES, AND THE COUNTLESS MOMENTS OF GROWTH THAT MAY NEVER MAKE HEADLINES BUT HAVE CHANGED THE LIVES OF OUR STUDENTS AND OUR ADULTS ACROSS THE DISTRICT. EVERY SUCCESS REPRESENTS THE COMMITMENT OF TEACHERS, STAFF, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF EDUCATION. As a board, we understand that our decisions today help create the foundation for tomorrow. The investments we make, the goals we set, the support we provide, all are centered on one purpose, helping every student discover their potential and achieve success. As we prepare for the coming school year, let us remain focused on what unites us, Our belief that every child deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and succeed. Together we can continue building schools that inspire excellence, encourage opportunity and prepare students for a bright future. Okay, while that was inspiring, I have left off something very important. We didn't vote on the agenda. So I won't read it again, but we will go back if you will adjust that for me. Thank you. I told you, there's some powerful ladies up here, and they helped me. I'm thankful for them. If now we had a motion and a second, can I now take the vote for all of those in favor of approving the agenda? Thank you, ladies, so much. All right, Dr. Bird. All right. Don't mess up.

I'll try not to. Good evening, Madam President, members of the board, our dedicated employees, parents, students, and community stakeholders. As always, I want to begin by thanking our Board of Education for your continued leadership and commitment to the students of Montgomery Public Schools. Together, we are making meaningful progress as we work to build a district of excellence. Over the past several weeks, our district has been extremely busy. While summer often represents a break for our students, it is one of the busiest times of the year for our staff as we prepare for another successful school year. Across every department, our team is working diligently to ensure that our students return to safe schools, outstanding programs, and exceptional learning opportunities. I would like to take a moment to congratulate our Department of Communications for recently receiving the national recognition through the 2026 INSPRA Publication and Digital Media Awards for their outstanding work showcasing the talents of our wonderful students. This honor reflects the incredible stories taking place throughout Montgomery Public Schools and our commitment to sharing those stories with our community. I would also want to thank everyone who helped make our inaugural MPS Serve Academy Awards Gala such a tremendous success. It was truly a special evening as we celebrated employees who exemplify service, excellence, respect, vision, and engagement. The overwhelming response from our employees and community confirms something we have believed for a long time, that recognizing great people helps build great culture. This was only our first year, and I can assure you that we are already looking forward to making next year's celebration even better. As we move through the summer, our focus remains on recruitment, retention, strategic planning, facility improvements, and ensuring we are fully prepared for opening the school. We know that there is still much work to do, but I am proud of the direction we are headed and the commitment demonstrated by our employees each and every day. I often remind our team that transformation does not happen overnight. It happens through consistent effort. courageous decision, and a shared vision. We will continue making decisions based on what is best for our students across Montgomery Public Schools while keeping our eyes focused on long-term success. Finally, I want to thank our employees, families, community partners, and board members for your continued support. Together, we are building a new era of excellence for Montgomery Public Schools. As I often say, We are just getting started and the best is yet to come. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr. Bird. And now one of the speaking of national award winners. Here she come. Ms. Rosanna Bruton with our board recognition.

Good evening, everyone. Madam President, Dr. Bird, and board members, we are here to celebrate the dedication, achievements, and contributions of our MPS community members. And tonight, we will recognize many individuals, and it is a privilege to highlight the incredible work happening across our district. I'm going to have the board members, if you will please stand and come to the front. We are going to gear up for pictures. It is a packed house in here, and we have our overflow room, so our team is working diligently to make sure no one misses the moment as we go through these recognitions. So our very first recognition tonight as our board and Dr. Byrd make their way to the front. We are incredibly proud to celebrate the brilliant scholars of Floyd Middle Magnet School. They are the first place overall winners of this year's Creative Innovator Celebration of Learning. I'd like to welcome those members of the team, their coach, principals, and Ed Farm representatives. NPS partnered with Ed Farm and HMMA. Our students spent weeks diving into real-world engineering design and advanced mobility solutions. Out of the teams from across the entire district, Floyd Student Fellows advanced to the top five, earning an invitation to the prestigious Future of Mobility Awards Night. There, they got on the big stage, presented their Nexus EcoBus, which you can see right behind there. And they won first place. Let's give them a round of applause. They have proven that the future of innovation isn't ahead of us. It is right here, right now in Montgomery. Congratulations. Next, we have the Board Recognition for Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix Initiative, H2GP. All right, Montgomery Public Schools is proud to be the only school district in Alabama to participate in the Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix, H2GP, a global STEM program in partnership with HMMA and Horizon Educational. The program engages students in grades 7 through 12 in designing, building, and racing hydrogen-powered vehicles powered by renewable energy technologies. This year, 10 teams representing Goodwin Middle, Johnny Carr Middle, Carver High, Lamp High School, and Percy Julian participated in the program. And throughout the year, students received technical support and mentorship from Horizon Educational through virtual sessions on site. We want to recognize... It looks like we have multiple teams up here. Keep that in mind. This is the top three. I'm going to announce those. We have first place, Hydrogen Hollers from LAMP. That was Ryan Allen, Ethan Kesser, and Katie New. Second place, we have the Gaslighters from the Lamp. He's Sean Singh and coaches Emily Castillo and Dr. Joseph Profio. And third place, the Jessup Charger, Carver High. Errol Carraway, Keyshawn Gomez, Azilah Elliott, and Azariah Gibson coaches Keisha Williams and Tashara Russell.

Let's give them another round of applause. Now we have multiple groups coming up for this one.

And this is our VEX Elementary Robotics Competition. Mission accomplished, celebrating our Mars Math Expedition robotic stars. Out of this world, our students recently took on the ultimate cosmic challenge, the VEX Go Mars Math Expedition. And this competition tasked students with navigating specialized fields, solving complex math problems, and coding their way through a simulated alien terrain. To score points, our young engineers and programmers had to execute a series of highly technical Martian missions. It takes teamwork, critical thinking, and stellar engineering. Our first group, we had Dana Lee. We have our first group. Blunt, they're already up there and ready to go to take on the mission.

They were second place.

Our first place winners in this competition was Dana Lee. And I was just told they are the two-time first place winners. Oh, we have one more photo. Then we had Highland Avenue.

Let's give them a round of applause as they make their way to the front.

In fourth place, we had Dozier. They were unable to make it. Then we had Forest Avenue in fifth place and Wilson in sixth place. And again, that was a top six robotics teams and a massive congratulations to them. Now, you may not know this, but a robot is only as good as the logic behind it. So we had some elite programmers, our top coders. We had Ava Mixon, Changmin Gan, and Tanay Patel. If they are here, we'd love for you to join us at the front. None of them were able to make it this evening, but again, behind every successful robot is a team of students who weren't afraid to fail and they were ready to try again each time. So congratulations to all of our participants, coaches, and our very supportive families. Now we have a time to recognize an outstanding educator. Recently, Alabama State University proudly honored Adrienne Nicole Stovall as a 2026 Distinguished Alumni. She is a devoted educator and mentor with 27 years of service in Montgomery Public Schools. Mrs. Stovall continues to inspire through leadership, advocacy, and her commitment to empowering students and educators nationwide. And that was our last recognition. I know, Dr. Bird, you mentioned it already. Our team is above the moon to be able to have secured that honorable mention where we were able to highlight our Carver Culinary Arts in a special video that we did and secured that 2026 INSPRA. I do not take all of the credit because I have an amazing team. We have Mr. Larkin, who is our digital media specialist. They would like for y'all to come on up. Mr. Larkin, he may peek his head out. Y'all said they want you to come on out. And we have Mr. Orem. He is our communications assistant. And we have Ms. Stevens. Ms. Bass is actually still working away in the office. But again, our team is absolutely phenomenal. And they are going to get a picture of us. That wraps up our recognitions for this evening. Thank you again.

Thank you so much for our awards. Congratulations to everyone who was highlighted and those that were not able to be with us. Schedule public comment. Is Mr. Mitchell here? He is. Let me read our public comment rules before we get started. 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 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 follow-up by the superintendent or designee. Public comments may 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 the 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 comment, he or she will be escorted to their seat out of the auditorium or off of NPS property, depending on the level of disruption. We now have with us this evening Mr. Arunde Mitchell. You all know him well. For those that don't, this is Mr. Mitchell. He will talk with us about a one-time retention and recruitment bonus for teachers. Welcome, Mr. Mitchell.

Thank you for having me, Dr. Byrd and Board President and rest of the board members. Good evening. I CAME HERE LAST YEAR RIGHT BEFORE BUDGET TIME AND WE TALKED ABOUT A ONE-TIME RETENTION BONUS OR A BONUS FOR TEACHERS AND STAFF. THE CITY OF MONTGOMERY PASSED A $353 million budget for the 2026 fiscal year. But what we did is something different. We gave our police department a $15,000 one-time bonus. And we did not raise any taxes. We took that money out of, we allocated for 400 police officers. I think everybody knows those numbers was down. So we was able to take that pay raise out of the employees that we were supposed to have in the police department. So with that $15,000 we did across the entire police department. Only stipulations, you could be there one year, you could be there six months. Only stipulation was that you had to stay with the department for three years. And the only thing I'm asking for consideration, I did come last year and it was outside of budget time. And the only thing I'm asking if you consider, I'm not asking that we do, the only thing I'm asking is consider. Because I know everything needs a line of revenue. And we did with the city, we came up with a line of revenue. And that line of revenue came in the last quarter, did not come in the budget. We did have to find that $15,000 for each police officer that wanted to sign up. Not only did we do that, but we also helped Jackson Hospital. We made sure that we found that money for Jackson Hospital. We are still in the process of making sure that Jackson Hospital do not close down. So we are very aggressive when it comes to the city of Montgomery to make sure that our employees have the morale that they need. And also, we reward them for being with the city of Montgomery. The only thing I ask is you consider a one-time bonus for teachers and staff. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Mitchell. All right, at this time, there are no citizen comments. At this time on our agenda, there is executive session.

Madam Chair, before we move on the agenda, may I have a point of personal privilege?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. I'll try not to take too long. This point, Madam Chair and fellow board members, is in regard to the personnel report from our previous board meeting, specifically my decision to second a motion regarding the personnel report. Because I believe our communities deserves transparency about our intent. I believe this board also deserves an opportunity for a conversation that did not happen in that meeting. On the second, I want to be clear that a second is not an endorsement. Parliamentary procedure makes this distinction for an important reason. A motion requires a second simply to establish that more than one person believes the matter is worthy of deliberation. I seconded that motion precisely because I was aware that concerns and questions existed. Questions that I believe warranted discussion on the floor rather than silence by default. The second was an act of governance, not an act of approval. What I did not anticipate was that the second would be heard as validation and that the discussion I hoped to invite did not materialize during that meeting. That gap between intent and outcome is a part of why I have asked for the point of personal privilege. Regarding that community response that we got, Madam President and fellow board members, after that meeting, our community spoke and spoke very loudly. very thoughtfully and I would argue very legitimately. I want our board and our community to hear me say very clearly that those concerns are valid that the volume and the passion of our public response was not noise, it was not disturbance, it was good information. And as a board, we have a responsibility to receive that information with seriousness, the seriousness that it does deserve. The concerns raised fell into at least two distinct categories, and I'm not going to go into a lot of detail in that. But it had to do with honest engagement among our citizens. Madam President, I am not asking my fellow board members to reverse a vote. I am asking that we create the space for the conversations that our community is calling for and that our meeting did not provide. I am asking that our administration be given the opportunity to address the concerns in a format that's transparent and responsive. I'm also asking my colleagues to consider whether our silence during that meeting, including my own, served the public that trust us that we were elected to uphold their needs and their concerns. They showed up, they spoke, Now it's our turn to respond, not adversely, not defensively, but deliberately and with integrity. Madam President, thank you for the time.

You're very welcome. At this time, the board will go into executive session to hold a personnel conference. We should be in executive session approximately one hour.

Madam President, I move that we go into the executive session.

Good. May I hear a second to go into executive session? I second it. It has been moved and second to go into executive session. During the executive session, no votes will be taken.

Madam President, you have to take a vote for the motion.

I'm sorry. May I see a show of hands of all of those in favor of going into executive session? The motion has passed. We will now convene for executive session.

I think I need my.

Let the games begin! It's so important to spotlight our children who have special abilities because they have an opportunity with the Special Olympics to showcase their talents and to prove that they have athletic abilities just like their peers. And it's a really great opportunity for them. They want to feel included. They want to be highlighted and celebrated just like any other student.

It is just a great joy to me to be able to see all of our students come together to celebrate our most dedicated students.

I'm in the 12th grade, I'm a senior, and I'm the head drum major of the marching band here, Purple Rain Marching Band. And I participate in drama, I participate in choir, and I'm an AB honor roll student. Well, they change the way I look at my own future just by specifically being an example. Every single day they come in and they set the tone in the classroom and that's something that every student is seeing. Every student is looking at that. They're also, they act like mentors for us. My school is very welcoming and they're supportive of the things that us as students have going on. They're always helping us. If you're like me, I'm always in the counselor's face, so whatever I've got going on, they're trying to help us. You know, they're helping us start off in ninth grade and graduate and get through and complete it. And academically, the teachers are always here to make sure that you're passing their classes and that you're moving successfully throughout the school year to make sure that you have everything that you need to graduate. One great experience I had was when I was able to go to New York on a trip with the Dream Initiative program with Mr. Philip Insler. And there we did business meetings and, you know, explored the city. And I was even awarded a scholarship there. So if it wasn't for my counselors hooking me up with that and, you know, you sending me emails telling me apply for this, apply for that, then that would not have happened. And I would not have even got the experience to be on a plane.

So I teach kindergarten at Forest Avenue Magnet School and I have been teaching 24 years total but in MPS I've been teaching 16 years and my students have always been my pride and joy. That is they are my babies. I tell them I have one child and 20 kindergartners. I have always wanted to be a teacher since I was six. It was a calling in Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains And I just always knew and God brought me down here in Montgomery to be with my husband and his family and we applied. I applied in 2008 and it has helped me grow as a person and a teacher and has truly helped me be a better person. So MPS is a great place to work because you can truly grow with them and help the children grow and become successful adults. You can start all the way from the bottom, all the way move to the top. It is a wonderful place to just grow and learn and become an amazing educator that every educator should have that passion and MPS just inspires that to help us grow. Shape the future, start with yours, join our team.

I've been employed with MPS maybe like past six months. Growing up in Ohio, I've done security for numerous companies, and it's been like 35 years since I've been doing security. I chose MPS because, first and foremost, I love kids. You know what I mean? I love working with kids. And I knew being around kids is what I wanted to do. And MPS is a family. I wanted to work with someone that was family-oriented. To see myself as more of a security guard here, it's like, you know, when I see the kids, you know, kind of like veering off here, I try to put them back on that right path. You see what I'm saying? Because I see past, you know what I'm saying, where they are now. So I want to try to give them that push. I have a great team I work for. There's Chief Cutts. There's Chief Forte. And then I have Sergeant Gilder, Sergeant Bennett. And then I have Ms. Lewis, which is our security coordinator. Great, great team, man. Family oriented. This is the place to be because a lot of things has been said about this place and it has come up and it's grown great bounds, leaps and bounds. So I'm saying this is the place to be because it's growing every day.

My musicianship is a gift that God gave me and the fact that I was able to use it for 36 years to inspire young people to be better citizens, to be global minded about their lives and to want to aspire to be better individuals in this world that we live in. It has really shaped my life and values because music is so inspirational and it's such a force that if you use it right, it can really take you places. And my music has taken me places. It's introduced me to some wonderful students. It's shown me that music can lift, can just bring about unity across the various Ethnicities, because we live in a global society and music has to reach. It's the one subject I know that reaches around the world. You know, I love you as I love you anywhere you go. And so to be able to convey that through music, that means so much to me.

We will now convene the regular board meeting. No votes were taken during the executive session. Our next agenda item, who is ready to go, is Mr. Chad Anderson, change order for re-roofing of Davis Elementary.

Good evening, Dr. Byrd, Ms. Portis, Ms. Watkins-Smith, and members of the board. Bring before you the change order for the re-roofing of Davis Elementary. This was discovered when we were placing the rooftop units for the HVAC project. We had water underneath the underlayment, and this will replace that roof. This is one of the few roofs we have in the district that has not been replaced, and it is past its time. We've just not had anything present itself to us as a leak inside the building. But with this, while they're there, while they're doing this, it is going to be the best. option to move forward and do a change order for this and have the roof replaced at this time. It'll also help with the insulation and all on top of the roof. The new TPO roofs are much more efficient, so it'll help that as well with the new heating and air that we're putting in place.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Um, Pantlala.

Yes, ma'am. The Pentlala awning bid, this bid is also going to cover the facade of the front of the building, the original main building, something we want to repair the stucco in that area, place some gutters and downspouts to direct the water better. We're also going to do some fixing of some of the concrete sidewalks and the handrails to meet a better ADA code for that as well. So we felt like it was most prudent to do that at this time instead of just putting a Awning out front and then you have this this older building behind it that needs some work done to it So we we added much more to the scope of this bid to make sure we take care of this at one time We were there and so this was a special line item in the ATF fund and this will complete that piece and portion of it Very good any questions for mr. Anderson on either of those Thank you so much

Next, we will have our April 2026 financial statement, our CSFO, Ms. Walker.

Good evening, Dr. Byrd, Ms. Portis, Ms. Smith, board members. You should have in front of you your April financials. April represents the first month of the third quarter of the fiscal year. In that package, you will have your explanation of financial data of the general fund provided by myself, a snapshot analysis, which is a high-level view of our financials. We'll talk through that a little bit. You'll have the general fund balance recap. which compares the current month and the year-to-date to the same period in time in the prior year. You also have the monthly budgeted percentages. Being that this is the seventh month of the fiscal year, we should be at about 58.33%. You also have your, this one, the monthly comparative, and then the statement of cash flow. and then we have a visual of that same information. We go back to the snapshot analysis. You will see our actual fund balance, general fund balance, as of April 2026 compared to April of 2025. The amounts are very close, $124,636,000. Again, remember that we have collected pretty much all of our local revenues for the fiscal year, so this balance will slowly decrease as we go from now until September 30th. You also have our local revenues comparison from 25 to 26, and then you also have the payroll expenditures comparison for 25 through 26 as well. Couple of things to recap. Also in your packet, something that we added last month is the community donations. That's in Section 9 of your packet. That represents all of the community donations that were received in the month of April from our either county commissioners, city council, legislatures, and other community partners. And we sure appreciate their support of our schools. As we move into the budget process of this upcoming fiscal year, things that we're kind of monitoring is the reduction in foundation based on reduction in enrollment. We also have increase in personnel expenditures. There will be a 2% raise for fiscal year 2027, but with that also will be an increase in the PHIP for the district as well. We, of our general fund budget recap, although the balance is 124.6, our local revenues are actually at 82.8. That means that the remaining of those funds are actually obligated to specific state funding sources that can only be spent on those particular items. So, for example, you'll see transportation, OSR, the balances in those funding sources can only be expended on those funding sources. Are there any questions? Madam President. I'm sorry.

I just have a comment. Yes, ma'am. You're going to think this is a silly comment, but the nerd in me, I keep up with this stuff, especially the general funds, and I'm always like, it's sort of like a competitive thing for me. I'm like, where were we this time last year? And we're always like, I'm always going, how did we lose that much? It's like, it's little, it's close, but this is the closest I've ever seen it.

Yes, ma'am.

So a year ago, every number is like, Almost identical, which has to mean that budget-wise, we're doing really good. Yes, ma'am. Because think about it. We do get new people. Somewhere we're saving enough that we're coming out. I'm impressed. Yes, ma'am. I'm very impressed.

Yes, ma'am. And I do look at that very thoroughly each month to track and see exactly how the expenditures are tracking from the prior year. So I appreciate that.

I'm like, I'm not as quite of a nerd as Lisa. I do pay attention to it and I learn and grow as I study it more. But I did have one thing and this did kind of pop out at me. It was the sales tax, the fluctuation with that. And I know with the economy, you know, everybody getting a little tighter on their purse strings. I was wondering, what are we probably looking at to address some of that? Because obviously, the decline, if this economy does not get better, we could probably see more dips. So, is there something in the works innovative-wise to help us, you know, kind of offset some of that?

So I notice our county sales tax collections compared to last year are actually a little bit higher. However, I will note that the sales tax statewide, which funds our ETF, that's actually down statewide by about 1.8% from the information that I pulled.

So we're still good as far as... Yes, ma'am. I did notice that that just stuck out. That was my only question.

Yes, ma'am.

All right. Any other questions? All right, Ms. Watkins, if you would take us into the amended budget.

Yes, ma'am. You also have the amended budget for fiscal year 2026. So as you know, each year a school district is allowed the opportunity to submit an amended budget, and this is done to officially adjust the originally approved budget to reflect any changes or adjustments that may have happened since that budget was originally approved. A lot of times the adjustments are being made based on funding sources that were not available to us until after the original budget was approved. As it relates to general fund, we had some turnaround funds that were not allocated to us until after the original budget was approved. We received some state grants after the approval of the original budget. And then also, as I analyzed our local funds related to what we had received and how we budgeted, there was an adjustment made on that line item as well. We received some other state grants that were tied to arts, robotics, and cybersecurity. There are quite a few small grants and allocations that we received after that original budget is submitted September the 15th. Our original budget was actually approved September the 25th. So quite a bit happens between that time and the time that we can submit an amended budget, which is due by June the 15th. As it relates to our federal line items, the adjustments there are usually tied to carryover. We don't budget carryover in the original budget because usually we don't realize what the carryover will be at that time since the budget is due before we actually close out the fiscal year. So there's some carryover tied to IDA, Title I, Title I CSI, Title II, Title III, and Title IV. Additionally, there are adjustments to our original allocations from the State Department. Those are kind of small, but there are in the first... part of the calendar year, we will sometimes receive adjustments in our original allocation from the State Department and we go back and make adjustments for that as well. So what you see is a reflection of changes that are occurring due to allocations received afterwards as well as carryover funds and adjustments in our federal dollars as well.

Hearing no questions, thank you, Ms. Watkins. Yes, ma'am. We will now move on to our consent agenda. Dr. Burke.

Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, Superintendent, and Madam President and Board Members, Superintendent asked for your approval of our consent agenda, action items 14A through 14F.

Superintendent has recommended approval for consent agenda items 14A through 14F.

Madam President, I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation and approve the consent agenda items 14A through 14F. I second.

It has been moved and seconded to accept the superintendent's recommendation for the consent agenda. May I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. Any discussion on that item? Good. One. show of hands again. So, unless we can count, please, thank you. It is unanimous. All right. Consider for approval. Dr. Byrd.

Thank you, Madam President and Board members. Superintendent recommends, Superintendent asks for your approval of action item 15A, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel.

Madam President, I move that we approve item 15A of consider for approval.

I second. It has been moved and seconded to consider or approve the personnel report, certified personnel. Any discussion on that item? Hearing or seeing no discussion, may I see a show of hands of all of those in favor for item 15A.

Show of hands for all of those not in favor. And all of those abstain. You failed. Okay. That I am failed.

Do we want to take anything out, any numbers out? Because what we're doing, guys, is we're not approving all these people. We're not approving that whole list.

Right. You just let... I'm not even sure I can say that, but... POINT OF PREFERENCE, THIS IS AN ENTIRE PERSONNEL REPORT FOR THE ENTIRE DISTRICT. SO I DON'T KNOW, DO YOU WANT TO RECONSIDER THE MOTION, OR WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO STAND AS YOU SAY? ON THE 30th. All right. Dr. Byrd.

Superintendent requests your approval of action item 15B, Personnel Report, Classified Personnel.

Madam President, I move that we approve item 15B, Personnel Report, Classified Personnel.

I second it.

It has been moved and seconded. to accept the Superintendent's recommendation for Personnel Report Classified Personnel. Any discussion on that item? All those in favor?

Dr. Burke.

Superintendent requests your approval of Action Item 15C, Supplemental Personnel Minutes.

Superintendent has made a recommendation to approve Supplemental Personnel Minutes

I move that we accept the recommendation of the superintendent for supplemental personnel minutes. I second it.

It has been moved and seconded to accept item 15c, supplemental personnel minutes. May I see any discussion on that item? May I see a show of hands for all those in favor? It is unanimous.

Superintendent requests your approval of action item 15D, Personnel Report Teams.

Superintendent has made a recommendation to approve item 15D, Personnel Report Teams. Is there a motion and a second?

I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for Personnel Report Teams. I second it.

It has been Moved and second to accept the superintendent's recommendation, personal report. Teams, any discussion on that item? May I see a show of hands, all those in favor? All right, at this time, all of the business of the district has taken place in our regular board meeting. This meeting is now adjourned.

In two minutes, we will go to revised work session. All right.

Work session for June 9, 2026, 6 PM, now in order. We still have a quorum. May I hear a motion to approve the agenda as printed?

I make the motion, Madam President, to accept the agenda for the work session, revised work session for 6-9-26. Thank you, Ms.

Cloud. A second? There's been motion and second to approve the agenda. As printed, any discussion on this item? Hearing or seeing none, may I see a show of hands of all those in favor? It is unanimous. We will now receive his information. Volkert, Ms. Penn.

Ms. Good evening, President Portis, board members, Dr. Byrd. Tonight, I'm bringing to you our June presentation project update for Percy Julian in Capitol Heights. Starting off with Persegulian High School, we're currently tracking at 40% overall project complete, and we are still hitting on that 1st of January, 2028 anticipated substantial completion date. Just to give a quick overview for our progress to report for the month, our prior month, I do want to make comment that next week marks our one-year anniversary of when the notice to proceed was actually given to the contractor for this project. So, this is how much work has been done within the past year, which has been pretty substantial. We've got the exterior brick started at the north end of the campus, which is area A at the media center location. And so if you actually drive by the campus and turn onto Todd Road, you'll be able to see the brick being laid there on the northern end of the campus. We've got vertical waterproofing that's being applied at areas A and B in preparation for the brick to be laid next. We've got metal roof decking completed at area A and decking being installed at area B. We've got the TPO roof roughly 50% complete in area C, which is that back academic wing. The storm shelter CMU walls are topped out at area E. with the concrete roof membrane scheduled to be poured next month. Our biggest item happening in the morning is Area G. And there's a lot that has actually taken place since this picture was taken last week. But Area G, it is prepped and ready for a slab on grade pour in the morning. So once that is complete, it'll conclude all of our slab pours on grade for the main campus footprint. I do want to notate, though, on Friday of this week, the sloped area of that auditorium will be poured. So by the end of the week, we will have all slab on grade complete. Let's see, going into area E and F, which is your athletic wing, we've got overhead steel complete for area F, and the crews are beginning to work towards once that slab's poured into area G. And rolling into overhead area H, which is the athletic field house, they've got 90% complete with underground mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, and the GC is targeting a slab pour by the end of the month. Another big thing that we should see starting this week going into the first of next week is the site curb will actually start, the ribbon curb will start to be laid in our first binder, the first binder of asphalt will actually be laid. So you'll really start seeing the drives come together for the campus. Moving into Capitol Heights Middle School, right now, I've just got project complete at zero percent. We just recently received the first pay application since the contractor has mobilized to the site, and so I'm, again, for this month, just saying zero percent. However, the contractor is on site, and we have, we've gotten the job trailer delivered to the site. The crews have begun working. mark the underground existing utilities. The ground boring or drilling started this week and it's to install that temporary shore wall in an effort to separate the back hitch and drive from the limits of construction. The northern portion of the project, we've got a substantial amount of site cut that's got to happen. Contractors got to dig down roughly 14 feet down to get to finish or actually subfloor for the campus. And so that temporary wall is what's going to help keep an active campus separated from the job site. Again, just two quick pictures of contractor mobilization. We've got site work going on. And that's about all I've got to report at the moment for Capitol Heights. Overall program minority participation, Ms. Brown, I know last month you had asked for some information concerning our NBE-DBE participation, and so that was passed along. Ma'am? OK. OK. So we're still tracking 36% on our total percentage for professional services and 21% for total construction services. Any questions?

All right. Any questions for Ms. Penn? So you're saying that the information was given?

Yes, ma'am. I have sent it on, and I guess it just needs to be shared with you. I typically just don't send this information directly. Right. Yes, ma'am.

No, but I have received it.

I'll make sure to get you another copy.

Any other questions? Okay. Any other questions?

Hearing no questions, thank you, Ms. Penn. Okay. Mr. Anderson, facilities update.

Yes, ma'am. Good evening, Dr. Byrd, Ms. Portis, Mrs. Watkins-Smith, and members of the board. Going through our list of capital, current capital projects and future in there as well, starting with Davis Elementary, we're definitely into phase two. Phase two for both Davis and Danley is really to complete the project this summer. So it is a major undertaking with both of these two jobs to try to get that much work completed in a summertime. So if you've been by Danley for sure, you see how much they've completed in a little over a week with replacing all of the upstairs windows and they're moving into finishes on the inside of that as well. So they're down on the bottom floor now doing those windows as well. So Davis is currently under that construction as well. They've completed, fully completed their first phase, which was a section right there on the side of the school. next to the drive and moving into the front area of that as well. So it is moving really well. Again, this is more than just HVAC. It covers windows, HVAC, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, drop ceiling, lighting. We're also doing renovations in the bathrooms as well with upgrading those and doing some interior painting as well while we're in the building doing those things. So it is It's a major undertaking with what we're doing in both of these buildings. It's just going to transform the space for our students and staff. The South Lawn Elementary roof replacement is at approximately 35% complete. That'll move along very well as long as we can continue to have some dry weather. We did run into some issues coming in with those storms that we had that luckily we had not uncovered too much at that time, so we didn't sustain any damage to grade in both of those areas. The JAG, the Forest Avenue roof replacement is approximately 30% complete. JAG athletic improvements, we've had some delays there on the fields. We've jumped out ahead pretty good, but with the rain that we had and the soil conditions behind there with the prairie soil that's there, it's kind of slowed things down a little bit. But the Contractor, we're still on track to finish that on time. Contractors kind of move to the front where they are making their connections with the water systems and sewage and drainage there and getting ready to pour the curve, the new curve that will go in front of that. So it is still tracking on schedule with that. We've made the main water connections as of this past Friday with that. The JAG painting and flooring project, That is moving well. We did have some hiccups when we started on Monday with summer school. We had to shift some things around. We've moved our people in those places, and they're making some great headway with that. We plan on continuing jumping in ahead of that. We've gotten all the lockers out of the walls and have those all patched over so we're able to complete the painting. That's really what the flooring people were kind of waiting on is for the the painting to be completed so that they could get into the flooring aspect of things. So we've got the that fully underway throughout most of the building and they're completing pretty large sections of it i would imagine by the end of this weekend will be somewhere between 50 and 60 percent complete with that project as well we will have some areas that we'll have to wait until summer school is over with when the students are out of the building such as the kitchen area to go into we want to make sure our kitchen staff can continue to serve the students while they're while they're in the building so we'll have to wait on some of those areas until they are out of the building so that we can complete that in July. The Goodwin painting and flooring project, we're working on finalizing the signatures to add that and get that underway. Again, we're going to try to complete that this summer. We can get the materials ordered and shipped in in time to work those, so we're just waiting those signatures for that. The JAG elevator renovation is, we have the bid set for June 12th. It actually moved up just a little bit, so it'll be this Friday. We'll have that going in there. That will include the upgrade of the fire alarm. All the elevators are required to be tied into the fire alarm system, and then to make sure that we comply with the new codes, we're upgrading the fire alarm as we go with that as well. The entire building will be now covered with a fire alarm. At this present moment, the original building is grandfathered in, and we only have what they call the ninth grade building, the three-story building. It's covered with a portion of a fire alarm, so this will upgrade the entire building with that and also redo the, renovate the two elevators that are in the building as well. The JAG Fieldhouse has a tentative bid date schedule for the end of July. All of the information, the plans have been sent through DCM and we've received preliminary approval on that. The architect is working on pre-qualifications for those as well to make sure that we have qualified bidders coming into that project. The Flowers and Bear HVAC renovations are currently under design. We plan to try to bid those out towards the end of the summer. Again, we're staging those bids so that we can make sure that we have all of our contractors that typically bid on, like the two that are currently working on Davis and Danley. We're wanting to give them time to get enough ahead so that we can make sure that we allow them to be able to bid as well to get us the most competitive pricing with those two projects. The Baldwin roof replacement, we have the bid opening on June the 11th, this Thursday, and we'll be bringing that to the board for approval after that. And then the transportation renovation, it's currently being advertised. I don't have a bid date for that exactly yet. That'll come out shortly here, and that will include putting a new roof and foam insulation over the current roof. bays work area where the mechanics work a new roof for the existing office area and then we're also going to be adding a auditorium of sort like a training room that's large enough to host most of our drivers in in that area as well we typically do training there for the state in different areas out of a small portable. This will allow us to be able to host our drivers on site at that location for various trainings. Also, the state is excited about that as well, to be able to utilize the facility as well. And they're actually allowing us to use some of our carryover funds to be able to fund that. It will not impact the general fund.

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Any questions for Mr. Anderson? Hearing no questions. Thank you. I think you have another item.

Yes, ma'am. We have the Phoenix Rehabilitation Health Services contract that we're currently contracted with them for our athletic trainers. It hasn't been updated since 2018. And, you know, when we hit COVID in that time, they just kind of let it go. Of course, with adding Brutec football, especially those contact sports. We want to make sure we have trainers on site for that. So this amendment to that one, the update of that, would add a trainer for the Brutex site as well and also add a supervisor that is also a certified athletic trainer that we can utilize as well. So it will go from having five trainers to seven trainers. with a new contract, and then also allow us better coverage for our middle school sports as well.

Any questions? Ms. Cloud?

That includes the flag football also, right?

Any kind of contract, yes, ma'am. They're going to...

I wanted to make sure of that.

We schedule them to be able to work all of those things, but they work at our discretion of where they go, and we try to make sure we have them in the areas where we're going to have the most contact for those things, but any kind of competition, yes, ma'am.

Thank you. All right, hearing no other questions. Mr. Anderson, one more item.

I just want to go back over the Johnson-Abernathy-Gratz elevator project. We would like to approach the board once we have the bids this Friday. I'm anticipating a possible special call board meeting with that. We would like to go on and seek approval at that special call meeting just with lead time for elevators and trying to get some of that fire alarm like the conduit and things in we'd really like to try to jump on that this summer instead of pushing it into the school year and if we wait until the the next the July board meeting for that and then we wait on getting the contract signed and then we wait on getting the pre-construction meeting set up it'll push us all the way pretty much to August with that and then we're in the middle of the school year so We'd love to bring that to the next, if we have a special call board meeting for approval so that we can try to jump on that as quickly as possible when the students are out of the building to get as much done as we can and try to create, make sure we don't have, we minimize the disruption as much as we can.

Very good. Any questions or comments, Ms. Clowes?

I understand you're anxious to get this done because isn't the elevator company like only one or two and you have to get in line?

There's pretty much three that utilize it that we see, like TKE, Otis, and there's one other one. But those are your three big manufacturers. Kone is another one that we, that's who does our service. But yes, ma'am, it's, they're pretty proprietary on all of their stuff. And then it takes, I think when we met with them on the pre-bid meeting last week, I think they said 10 weeks was the lead time once we placed the order for the elevator. So we're going to, We want to try to jump on the fire alarm piece as much as we can to try to get that going with running the conduit and the halls and things like that so that we can try to stay out of the school's way as much as we can.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

All right, next we have our NOLA contract, McIntyre Comprehensive Academy, Dr. Williamson.

Good evening, Dr. Byrd. Board Chair, Board Vice Chair, we're seeking to, I'm bringing to you the NOLA contract. We're seeking a renewal. NOLA is the company that the district partners with for our overage academy that is hosted out of McIntyre. NOLA works with us so that we can ensure that students, middle school age students who have fallen behind in their courses of study are able to achieve two academic years within one. NOLA focuses on grades seven and eight. It's a blended model. We have all of those classrooms outfitted for us by the company, and they work with our specialists to customize the lessons that are utilized with students. And again, it is a blended model with the teachers providing face-to-face instruction in addition to interactive lessons that are provided by the company.

Questions about the NOLA contract? Renewal, right?

Yes, ma'am.

Renewal. Hearing no questions, thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Dr. Williams. Progressive Learning, LLC.

There we go. Good evening, Madam President. Dr. Byrd, members of the board, I will be presenting to you tonight the progress learning renewal contract. So what is progress learning? In Montgomery Public Schools, it is what we use for the, well, upcoming school year. We have used it for several years, and we would like to renew the contract for 26-27 school year to serve as our district's required assessment platform designated for standards-based assessments, and I will explain exactly what progress learning is over the next few slides. It is a standards-based assessment. It is not adaptive. And so what that means specifically is if an eighth-grade student takes an assessment and they're reading on a second-grade level, it will not drop it down. So progress learning is what we use for our standards-based assessments for many reasons. It provides immediate feedback to teachers and staff. It standards align questions, data-driven instructional planning, and progress monitoring throughout the school year. So data review for beginning, middle, and end of the year is what I'm going to discuss for the 25-26 school year. And so I'm not going to go into each category, but I've highlighted ELA fifth grade specifically and math ninth grade specifically. So at the beginning of the year for ELA fifth grade specifically, we had 7,149 students in usage and 57% mastery at the beginning of the year for ELA. Let me go back.

Excuse me.

For ninth grade, as I stated, I would highlight the ninth grade math. For ninth grade beginning of the year, we had 110 students that used it with 85% mastery. So by the middle of the year for ELA, specifically fifth grade, we went from 7,000 to 30,610 usage and 64% from 57 to 64% mastery. Ninth grade went from the 110 usage to 2,572% mastery. So by the end of the school year, with our end of the year report for fifth grade ELA, it went from 7,000, 30,000 to 134,000 with 64% mastery. And then for math, I believe it was 110, 2,500 to 11,000 usage and 76% mastery. So I didn't want to get into each grade level, but I wanted to highlight those particular grade levels. Now, the quarterly benchmark assessments, what we use progress learning for. So we use progress learning specifically for our standards-based assessments for on-grade level benchmarks. So that's grade level, content area, and courses. The purpose is for students' mastery taught on grade level. And we have quarter one, two, three, four benchmarks for K-12 that we use progress learning for. More specifically with grade recovery, and I'm not going to read each slide to you, but we get a lot of students from outside of the district that come with no grades, that may come on a block schedule, and we are modified block this year for speaking high school. We have students that come from out of the district that... have been homeless, have not been in school at all. And so we have to assess students to see where those students are on grade level so we can place them in a either age appropriate or grade appropriate grade. And we use progress learning as that tool. And as I just stated, student placement. If students transfer into the district, it's limited or unavailable academic records where I work closely with the Office of Student Support Services. If they're missing courses or grades, incomplete transcripts, this is the tool that we use as a district to ensure that the children are placed in their age-appropriate grade or grade-appropriate grade after we assess them. If students returning to school have extended absences from an educational setting, need for academic placement data, as I stated, determination of instructional support needs, we use progress learning. For the district expectations for 26-27, in previous years, the district recommended the usage of progress learning as the instructional assessment tool. And the reason why I stated recommended is because, as you know, we have K-8 I-Ready. That's by the State Department. We have other tools. And our department in the Office of Academics and Accountability did a... curriculum audit specifically to eliminate the duplication of several resources. And so progress learning was one that we did not want to eliminate for multiple reasons as I stated because it is grade level specific and it's not adaptive. So we have in our office eliminated at least six resources that we have used previously in the district because they were duplications. With that being said, the upcoming school year, we've already created quarterly assessments, standards-based assessments by standard, and we've looked at our 4x4 block to create a mid-point one and mid-point two for our 4x4 block high schools that will be using it to assess on grade level. So it will not be recommended next year. It will be required for all of us to have common assessments, and that way we can track the data specifically. So progress learning implementation will be required for all schools. Standards-based assessment, as I stated, quarterly and mid-point, four-by-four block. Benchmark assessments, district assessment window. So it will be on our assessment calendar, with benchmark calendar, rather. Data analysis and review and instructional planning based on results. Data to action, as we know, using assessments results effectively. And so when we say effectively, not waiting until the end of the quarter or the end of the nine weeks or semester, if we're talking about high school, to reteach, differentiate instruction, or do small group. This is right in line with our MTSS supports, targeted remediation, progress monitoring. NPS commitment, high-quality instruction, data-informed decision-making, consistency across schools. More specifically, is the consistency across schools, since we have so many students that are transient within Montgomery Public Schools. Progress learning products for renewal for one year, $173,881,030 for renewal. Questions?

Thank you, Dr. Williams. Any questions? Ms. Smith? Yes, ma'am.

I just want to make a comment. Yes, ma'am. I'm happy to see the consolidation and the effort and the thoughtfulness that went behind this decision, and I'm just happy.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

Ms. Smith? All right, and it is good to see the consolidation. That was one of my questions about, you know, and I learned that there was an audit being done. I did have a question. You said that progress learning is not adapted, but I think as I was listening, I may have gotten the answer to my question. I just want to make sure.

Okay.

You said that it's not adaptive, so I was going to ask what about the kids that are below grade level, but I did see in here that there'll be MTSS support targeted remediation, so it did answer.

Yes, ma'am, and with the elementary component, they have a component called lift-off, but you have to set it that way, and if we're going to set it that way for it to be adaptive, I would rather set it from Our office, I don't want that to be the standard because when they take state assessments, they're assessed on grade level. So we want to move away from, we understand we have students that need intervention, but move away from staying in that lower grade level. The instruction and the assessment has to be on grade level so we can increase our student achievement.

Dr. Williams, I have one question. If you look at first grade for ELA.

Let me go back.

Yeah.

Yes, ma'am.

They might not let you in. Okay, it's okay. It's 771 with 45% mastery. Okay, then we move to what happens at middle of the year if they have been taught all this time and then we get to it's 10,000 first graders?

So, at the beginning of the year, I'm going to place you in the mindset of, I'm first grade, I'm coming back to school, or I'm elementary. I have to take Beginning of the year, I already benchmark. I have to take, you know, other assessments and screeners. And so I think just the overload of assessment that the usage for progress learning doesn't usually lift off the ground. Because remember I said it was recommended prior, but it will be required for the upcoming school year. And so once they get into the thick of it after school has started, they begin using the program. And that's why you see a jump from beginning of the year numbers to middle of the year to end of the year.

Yes, ma'am.

Exactly what I wanted to know.

All right, any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right, Dr. Williamson, Student Code of Conduct.

Good evening again.

I'm waiting on the presentation to be loaded.

Okay, I'll go ahead and walk you through it while they are pulling that up. So it is time for us to have the review of our student conduct manual in preparation for it being prepared for the upcoming school year. The process for the student conduct manual through student support under the leadership of Ms. Sophia Johnson, a task force is pulled together to review the current student manual. the current student manual. And that task force includes principals from all grade spans. It includes members from central office, from curriculum, nursing department, from social work department, behavior. All of our specialty areas are represented in that task force. And as you're available, board members are also invited to hear that discussion. They review the current conduct manual in order to determine where there is a need for us to make adjustments for the upcoming school year. So what I bring before you tonight are the recommendations from that team for our 2627 conduct manual. Do you have the PowerPoint in front of you? Okay, so I'll keep on going for the sake of time. And the way that the PowerPoint is organized, you have the sections where we had edits and the rationale for those edits being made. So the first section that edits were recommended in are under the rights and responsibilities section. This is actually a new edition with feedback from the Title I office so that it includes all of the language that is housed in the parent-student compact. Next section that was highlighted in the manual that was given to you is under the school visitor policy. And in this section, we expanded what actually occurs when a visitor comes on campus so that they understand that ID will be scanned for the purpose of safety purposes and that if any red flag is alerted, that that person may not be able to continue onto campus for the purpose within which they came. We also added in that section that a parent must be present when a parent conference is requested. In other words, when we've had more instances where a family relative or a family friend would like to come and have a conference on behalf of the parent, but we must have the parent present in order for that conference to take place. The last thing that was added in that section is to address meta glasses. We have to keep up with the technology and we don't like for any of our children, our staff to be recorded in with the new meta capabilities. We needed to add that to our conduct management. The next section, student dress code. reiterating for our parents that we are a clear backpack district and that we will not allow any oversized belt buckles or buckles that have bikes or anything that can be used as any potential weapon. Under truancy intervention, we expanded this So that it further outlines how we currently communicate with parents. If you remember at the top of this school year with our increasing the power school update opportunity, we now use email as a communication vehicle, a successful communication vehicle with our parents from everything to attendance to disciplinary actions. So we added that language to the conduct manual. We also removed the... Thank you. We also removed the requirement for students in grade 6-12 to participate in those attendance meetings with parents because that's counterintuitive to what we're trying to do in our attendance efforts. Lastly, under the truancy intervention component, We updated the prior approval process. If you remember, in our district, we have a practice. If a parent has the need for their child to be absent for a reason that is not accepted by the district, there is a prior approval process. That process is being pushed back to the school level so that families can work directly with the school team around those needed absences. In the section of checkouts, We merely updated that definition to match the state definition that a student now, when they check out or in, if it is more than 51% of the class, that that will be considered an absent. We added a new section, multi... The multi-tiered support system, we had a small blurb about the MTSS process in the Student Conduct Manual. It was requested that we really expand this section of the manual to further detail what the MTSS process is within our district and how those supports look for children and what the responsibility is on all sides from the school team, what parents can expect to happen with their child. and the opportunities for children to receive supports across many areas. The next section under Code 16, Unauthorized Communication Device, that was a simple addition with addressing the meta classes.

Code 59,

On Code 59, we expanded the technology inappropriate use definition so that it addresses the fact that NPS monitors all NPS-issued devices, and we added academic dishonesty as a violation under that code. Under Codes 32, 33, 34, which address the use of tobacco, we added with the input of security that law enforcement may be called. Code 60, 61, 62, in the area of vape, we clarify that if you have a vape on campus, that vape device will be confiscated and not returned to the student or family. Same thing with e-cigarettes. Anytime a student is caught with contraband, it is collected and destroyed at the end of the school year. Code 24, larceny. It was asked that we add a sentence to make sure that families understand that this applies to students who are participating in selling items as well as students who are participating in receiving any item that they know to be stolen. Post 1222, inciting a disturbance, language was added so that we could address the use of technology for inciting such incidents, such as texting, airdropping, et cetera. Code 17, fighting among students. There was language added so that you would see that the consequence applies both to the students who are participating in the fight as well as those who instigated the fight. Next section that we had, there it is, the next section that we had a small edit to, who do I call, which is a section at the end of the student conduct manual. Language was added from transportation to address our use of the MyRide K-12 app to help parents further understand how that app is helpful for them and how they access that app so that they can follow the transportation of their student while they're on a bus. Under bus rules, we added language that includes altercations can be disciplined if it occurs at the bus stop. Under reporting misconduct, security has worked with us. They have added additional opportunities for families to anonymously report if they have knowledge of any potential danger to happen within a school, and that can be through email, through text, or through a hotline that has been developed by the security team. School sponsored activities. Language was added to reinforce that when a student is suspended or in any type of alternative placement, including our virtual alternative placement, they are not permitted to participate in any of those school sponsored events. And this section is where security also worked with us to add language to make sure that parents understand that we are monitoring all district issued devices at all times. Those were the major edits that were included in the student conduct manual for the 26-27 school year. And if you approve, then when we come through the next meeting, we will move forward with printing and translation of the manual. Do you have any questions for any of the recommendations that came from the team?

Madam President. I do. I have a question and then a comment. Would you clarify what you said about the online virtual or if they're put into online virtual, then they're not going to be able to participate in events? What are these? These are kids that we put into virtual. is an outside event, football and all that kind of stuff. Yes, ma'am. How are you going to stop that when they show up at a football game? How do you know that they've been put out?

Well, our students enter in from the side that they would typically attend. So if I'm going to a car game, I'm going through the car team, and there are building administrators and teachers who know students who should not be on site. And they also communicate that with our security team. And so this is not, just keep in mind that these are for students who have been assigned because of an infraction, not students who are assigned because we're working with them for some other reason.

All right. And the other thing I just wanted to say, I was glad when you brought up the check-in and check-out and the attention to detail. on the 51, if they met 51% of the classroom, that it counted as an absent. Because that is, I think that's the number one complaint of some of the teachers that I've talked to is they, you know, you've got to teach and reteach and reteach, and they're coming in late. Well, you know, I think I'm just saying this at the board tonight so that when we meet at the retreat on this attendance thing, I know I'm going to come back to this and say this is why that's going to work only if we go and change the may not and the will not stuff and set a number of days. I do know, and I put into my proposal, I don't want to take away from the graduation rate in any way. There has to be a component in that that when we move them to the virtual online, that they move to that, but they're out of the classroom. And they're also, by the time we deter them and say, you're not going to this football game, you're not going to this, You're doing virtual. I think we will get their attention. It may take us six months. It may take us a year. But you're going to take our chronic absenteeism from 25,000, or excuse me, 25%, 30% almost. That's what it is right now. And the average state is 12. And if we step on it now, guys, I'm telling you, we can change that. I'm glad y'all did your part. I hope we can do our part on policy.

Let me ask you a question then. If we have concerns or questions, who do we send that? Who are we emailing that to before this document is seen? To you?

Okay.

So you all, so send her your concerns so she'll have them right and can take it back to the committee. Okay? Very good. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Thank you. Dr. Lashley. Family engagement facilitator.

Good evening, Madam President, board members, Dr. Byrd. I come before you tonight to recommend the transition from communities and schools I coordinate a position to the family engagement facilitator and this is necessary to strengthen Montgomery Public Schools district-wide student and family support system. This position would also report to the family and the family Director the family and community solutions team director which was presented to you on last month So this is a school-based position and it does replace the site-based positions for communities in schools this would be funded by the raise funds that we have and there to also support family support, SEL, the same business that we talked about with the director's position, which would lead that, but this is the arm that would carry out that framework for that team, that proactive team that was mentioned on last meeting.

Any questions? Thank you so much. Any questions?

Thank you, Dr. Lansford.

All right, unfinished business. We do have some unfinished business for the superintendent's evaluation. Ms. Clout, would you share that with us?

Yes, thank you. First, I want to say thank you for allowing me to develop the MPS superintendent evaluation for this uniquely evaluation for MPS systems and that meets the MPS board goals for 2526. We have a protocol, please, that I'd like to adhere to. Number one, an electronic copy of the superintendent's evaluation was sent at noon today to all board members. Dr. Byrd's responses to include supporting evidence to the evaluation questions was sent to each board member. Please be reminded that this information is embargoed. That means, again, it's not to be shared with anyone. Number two, the preferred method of completion and submission for the evaluation document is electronic via email. For further assistance, please contact Attorney Erica Powell or myself via email. And as always, you can contact President Portis to assist in any way if needed. The evaluation tool should be turned in via email no later than 4.30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16, 2026, and should be emailed to ericapowell at mps.k12.al.us. And that's Erica, E-R-I-C-K-A dot P-O-W-E-L-L. Number five, again, this information is embargoed. That means confidential for those that are not quite sure of that terminology until such time as the board releases this information. As to make sure the board is transparent and accountable, the results will be shared with the public as soon as June the 30th at the special call board meeting, but no later than our regular scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, July the 14th. Again, thank you for taking the time to complete this very important evaluation. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. And again, that was emailed to you FOR CLARITY. YES, DR. COLE.

JUST TO NOTE, WEDNESDAY IS THE 17TH.

SO TODAY IS TUESDAY, SO THE 16TH.

16TH, YES.

THANK YOU. I MISSED IT. I will put Wednesday. It's going to be Tuesday. Let me read that again. Evaluation tools should be turned in via email no later than 4.30 p.m. Tuesday, June the 16th, and emailed to ericapowell at mps.k12.al.us.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Any questions? Any comments? All right, new business. Yes, go ahead. I'm just going to say this. Can you, I know what you want to say. Can we just do this and then I'm going to bring you in right after the retreat. Would you please? I will.

I don't know that you know what I'm going to say, but that's okay.

The, well, maybe not, but this is the retreat agenda. I will get that out to you. You know, we will travel to conference and we will be, having our retreat there. I think we have some things planned that will, I hope, that will assist us as we try to go forward. But I'll get that out to you before you travel next week. All right. I have a challenge, but I want Dr. Keith to go first.

Okay. I'm going to say this, and I hope, Madam President, you let me say this. You know, it served old business. Tonight is the first time we have never approved a certified list. We went to an executive session. We come out, and we don't have a person here. We have one abstention. We have 177 names. We have a teacher shortage. We will not meet again unless we have a special session. I've done the numbers. If we look, I'm telling you, I've done how we're going to do it. I don't understand why we didn't pull whatever was bothering you women. Pull those names out. Don't vote on them. but to let 177 people out there right now that are wondering, do I have a job, especially during a principal shuffle with new principals? I had people call me going with this new principal over there. You know, I'm on your list. Am I going to be approved? Well, now they get the new principal. How many teachers will we lose because of y'all's decision to not vote tonight? I'm begging you to reconsider.

Thank you, Dr. Keith. My challenge kind of, and I guess I wouldn't be in this position if I didn't say this, I would challenge board members. We have got to be more creative. I understand the stance that everybody has afforded the opportunity to take, but I agree. I mean, there are some good people On that list, HR has been over backwards. They've been all over this state and beyond trying to draw people to our district. We can't afford this. If we are going to claim that it is children that we support, how do we spend millions of dollars, let these professionals tell us about programs with no teachers? We have really, I just challenge you to be creative in your stance and in your, you don't have to agree, but let's just be creative to make sure our workforce work and that we can have students that have someone there to care about them and see about them. And I'm going to, I really want to end it there. Do you have something?

I have a parliamentary inquiry. You have a what now? A parliamentary question. Okay. The vote was three to two. I'm not sure why it was announced as a failed vote.

Abstentions don't count. It's not a vote.

I don't know. We'd have to ask. I tried to make an inquiry, but I don't have an answer yet.

Okay. Yes, Madam President. Pursuant to Robert's rules, if the bylaws are silent regarding what is actually calculated when it comes to abstentions, which ours are, then it means that only the actual number of members who voted is what counts, so the abstention is silent. which then means that if out of six members there were five voting members, then a majority of that five voting members would determine whether or not the vote passes.

Well, so that record is wrong then. Say that again.

So what Dr. Coleman is referring to is that if there were five members voting and three of the five voted in favor of the motion, then it would pass. Correct.

Okay.

Hold on. Hold on one minute. Did you inquire? Okay, but you made the inquiry. Hey, can I, let's, I don't know if you can leave here with that.

Well, the vote has been taken, Madam President. And so what could happen is we could go back and take a look at it, review the Robert's Rules to ensure what we're saying is accurate, which I've taken a quick glance at just now. But regardless, the vote has already taken place. And so that action would stand. So as of right now, that is my understanding. of the robber's rules. However, I can go back and do a check to double check that to make sure that that is accurate.

So, and, and you presidents or vice or they have held position, tell me if I'm wrong. So could we make a motion for review For clarity or do I?

Not at this time, Madam President, because the action has already taken place during the regular board meeting. And so what we will simply be doing now is to go back and review what the rules require in terms of what the vote was.

Okay. And you would have that information by what time in the morning?

I will have it to you before noon tomorrow.

Thank you. All right. I think it deserves a review. I was not told that. I was told something different, which I called it like I called it. And Dr. Coleman is going to reassert that with a parliamentarian. She's made the request, and we'll hear from her as well.

Okay, let me ask this, please. Okay. Let's move forward. It is correct. We're letting teachers sit and wait. If we need to, then why don't we call a special call board meeting at ASAP to review this if something is not correct.

Let's keep it like we just said it. We're going to stay with this. We'll review it and see. We'll get clarity on it. And we have a special call meeting on June the 30th We have not determined the time. We will be getting with the time to see if we could do it daytime or evening. That's our next thing coming up. So we will make announcement. As it turns out, and I'll say it publicly, as it turns out, it was my impression that the abstention counted. Attorney Powell has made it clear that only the voting, the abstention does not count. The voting population, the majority is determined by the voting population count. which was a three yes, two no, and one abstain. So I called it as a failed vote. Because I called it wrong, it would not be a failed vote. It would be a passed vote.

Is that correct, for the record? Okay. All right.

All right. Thank you so much. It is business, so sometimes it takes a little readjusting. My challenge still stands. I think that we make difficult decisions all the time. It is my constant prayer that we don't, it's not personal, it's professional. It's what we do because we have to include the entire district, whether it's the little girl or little boy at the bus stop, the one walking in the rain, or it's the one being dropped off. All of these children matter and we have to treat it as such, treat their business as such. Our next meeting day is July 14th. Our next call meeting is June 30th. Our next regular meeting is July 14th, 5 o'clock, regular board meeting. July immediately following will be our work session. This meeting is now adjourned.