Board Meeting - Regular Meeting

Welcome to all of you that have joined us this afternoon and to all of you online. The July 14, 2026, 5 o'clock regular scheduled board meeting is now in session. We will start this afternoon by welcoming Reverend Fred Gray from First Baptist Church, Prattville, Alabama. Reverend Gray, welcome to give us our prayer, our invocation.

Oh, Lord, our God, I come before you this evening, petition you on behalf of this board and the administration of our school system. Lord, you've been so kind to us. You've been so good to us. Even in tough times, we recognize that we need tough people to make valid decisions for our children and our staff. Lord, you're an awesome God because you said if we need anything, ask. And if we ask in thy name, it shall be given. And we believe that, Lord, we have the faith that you will get us through tough times. We have the faith that you will guide us with the right understanding. We have the faith, oh God, that you will keep us together. and make decisions that will benefit our children and all of the administration and parents alike. Lord, you is a God that said to us that you would never leave us nor forsake us. As we go through times of discouragement in different moments, as we work faithfully trying to build up and educate our children, Lord, we know that you can make a way. because you're a God that make ways out of no way. We pray for this board that the decision they make will be able to strengthen our kids and educate our kids so that they will be able to be champions in our community and throughout our society. Lord, we pray for each one that's been elected to represent us in this county. And we pray, God, that they will keep themselves and keep themselves to understand that if they call you, they will find the right answer. We need the right answer because we're going through times. We're going through times of chaos and we're going through times of discouragement. But we know that you can straighten all things out. Thank you for being the God that you are. We pray that you will keep this board in unity. We pray that you will keep them making wise decisions. You just an awesome God. And we have awesome individuals who represent us. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you so much, Reverend Gray, for those profound words. If it was church, we could go home, but since we got a little business to do, we'll stay a while. Now, if you'll join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. We do have a quorum tonight. Thank you ladies for joining us. We are without Mrs. Smith. She is at an ACT conference learning more about our ACT programs and what the world is doing. We will miss her tonight, but we thank her, um, for her, uh, for going to the conference for us now. Uh, I need a motion to approve the agenda as printed.

Madam President, I move that we approve the agenda as printed.

I second. It has been moved and second to approve the agenda as printed. May I see, is there any discussion on the agenda? Hearing or seeing no discussion, may I see a show of hands of all of those in favor? It is unanimous. Thank you. All right, Board President Remark. I am going to, I know I normally give you all this wonderful prepared presentation, but let me just make it short. Thank you for all that you do. uh thank you for what you continue to do but i am going to forfeit some of those remarks to help our parents get ready for school i am so proud of the uh team uh that has put this together our communications team all of the executive team they have made on the web page a back to school guide to help get our parents ready for school. Please, please, parents, those of you here and those of you that hear me, please go to the website. It has all kind of information. This year, all students are required to register. I know we tell children things twice, but I'm going to exercise that with parents. Parents, before you show up on the first day, all of your babies have to be registered. This information tells you how to register them and the codes that you will get in your emails. There's also a vacation planner that is being proactive to let parents know what vacations are coming. You can plan academically. You can plan around sports. I think that I'm glad to see that. The first day of school is August 10th, and in order for us to get ahead of our attendance our goals please be there on august 10th we don't want our babies to miss anything back to school bash august the 1st 9 to 12 at the multiplex There will be all kind of goodies. You don't want to miss book bags, backpacks. We have all these sponsors that are excited for our babies and want to help get them what they need to have a successful year. There are information about yonder pouches, attendants. the magnet hubs on here if your baby attends a magnet school and you intend for them to ride the school bus please look at this so you will know what time to have them where to get to school on time of course is there any problems or any concerns i would expect that we have people in place to answer all questions student id badges are required So make sure your babies have their ID badges and can get in the school building. Also, MyRide K-12 application. Those of you that have babies that ride buses, you know, you've heard us talk about there is an app where you can track your baby on this bus. that app is up and running go to the website and look at back to school guide and it will give you information that's important if i had a baby on a school bus i would want to know where they're going and when they'll be there so i can govern myself accordingly so you all please use that and um Backpacks, back-to-school things, specific things to your school will come from your school. These are district initiatives. And so everything that's listed on here, we anticipate that happening. If you have trouble, you know you can dial the central number. One of the things I want to do to get out to you, too, is a directory. So you'll know where to go. I know you love to call your board members and we want you to call, but we also need you to follow protocol. We need you to call the right, no need of you telling your story 12 times when we can point you in the right direction. So we'll make sure we get that out to you. We're going to try to have that by the back to school bash and you'll just pick it up at the family engagement table. So that's all for president remarks. Dr. Byrd.

Good evening, Madam President, board members, our leadership team, employees, parents, students and community members. Thank you all for being here on this evening and your and for your continued support of Montgomery Public Schools. As we prepare for the start of another school year, there's a great deal of excitement across our district. Every day, our principals, teachers, and support staff are working diligently to ensure that our schools are ready to welcome students back into environments that are safe, engaging, and focused on learning. I want to take a moment to thank our employees for the tremendous work they have done throughout the summer. While many people think summer is a time when schools slow down, our teams have been hard at work hiring outstanding educators, preparing our facilities, printing instructional programs, and planning meaningful professional learning experiences for all of our staff members. This year marks what I believe is a new era of excellence for Montgomery Public Schools. That excellence will not be defined by slogans or promises. It will be measured by our actions, our accountability, and most important, by improved outcomes for our students. As we move into a new school year, accountability will continue to be one of our highest priorities. We will celebrate successes where we find it, but we will also have honest conversations when improvement is needed. Every member of Team MPS, from the superintendent to our central office staff, principal teachers, and support personnel, must remain focused on continuous improvement. Our students deserve nothing less. To our community partners, Thank you for believing in Montgomery Public Schools and for investing your time, resources and expertise into the success of all of our students. Together, we are creating opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Finally, I want to encourage our families to begin preparing now for the first day of school. Attendance matters. Every day a student is present is another opportunity to learn, grow and to succeed. We all share the responsibility of ensuring our students arrive prepared, engaged, and ready to learn. Together, I believe we are building something special, and I'm excited about what lies ahead for Montgomery Public Schools. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Dr. Berg. Next, we will have board recognitions. Ms. Bruton.

Good evening, Madam President, Dr. Byrd, and board members. Before we begin tonight's recognition, I would like to ask everyone to join us in a moment of silence in memory of Kaylee Taylor, a beloved six-year-old student at Morning View Elementary. Kaylee's bright smile, joyful spirit, and love of learning touched the hearts of her classmates, teachers, and everyone who had the privilege of knowing her. While her time with us was far too brief, her memory will forever remain a part of the Morning View family and the Montgomery Public Schools community. As we pause together, we also lift up Kaylee's family, friends, classmates, teachers, and the entire Morning View Elementary School community during this time. Please join me in a moment of silence.

Thank you.

We will now move into our recognitions for this evening as we honor the achievements and contributions of members of the Montgomery Public School family. Our first recognition, Montgomery Public Schools proudly recognizes Laquana Spriggs, a civics and geography teacher at Johnny Carr Middle School for being named a WSFA Class Act. I believe she is our seventh WSFA Class Act teacher, so that's an accomplishment in and of itself. She wasn't able to join us this evening, But through her passion for teaching civics and geography, she has helped students understand the importance of leadership, citizenship, and their role in building a stronger community. We again congratulate Ms. Spriggs. Moving along, Montgomery Public Schools proudly recognizes Melanie King. She is present this evening, so I do welcome the board members to come to the front so we can take some photos with her. She's a rising junior in the Biomedical Academy at Brubaker Technology Magnet High School. And she has the outstanding achievement as our national STEM leader. Melanie was selected as the 2025-2026 National STEM Ambassador, representing Montgomery Public Schools as the district's only student chosen for this program. She is also only one of three students selected from Alabama and one of 77 students nationwide to earn this prestigious honor. Throughout the year, she's participated in multiple virtual leadership events and then as part of the program, she developed a STEM passion project and she presented at the Inspire Momentum National Conference in Orlando. Again, Melanie, we celebrate you. Last but certainly not least, Montgomery Public Schools proudly recognizes Deanna Ross, I don't know that she was able to join us this evening, but she is a 2026 graduate of Booker T. Washington Magnet High School, and she was selected as the recipient of the Spur Scholarship. Spur created this scholarship to support aspiring educators who are committed to addressing the nation's growing teacher shortage and making a lasting impact in classrooms and communities. We do have representatives with SPUR who joined us here tonight, Miss Vicky Lawrence and Miss Crystal DeFrancesca.

If you all would just stand up, yes please.

Diano will be awarded a $5,000 scholarship in recognition of her commitment to becoming an educator. And she will attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she will major in elementary education as she begins her journey towards a career in teaching. Our SPUR representatives, if you don't mind, we'd love to take a photo. I know she wasn't able to make it, but we will make sure that she gets this achievement. That wraps up our recognitions for this evening. But again, President Portis mentioned it earlier today. Our back to school bash is coming up August 1st, 9 to 12 at the Crampton Bowl Multiplex. You don't want to miss it.

OK, Mrs. Bruton and Mrs. Bruton is looking mighty youthful. With her new hairdo, that's beautiful. And we'll have to keep that baby at Spelman on our docket. Elementary education, we'll have to draw her back when she's finished. All right. We'll move on to scheduled public comments, which I think there are none. If I'm incorrect, correct me. Um, citizen comments. There are none at this time. Now we will move on to our 2025 audit report. Miss Jana White is with us again. She is an examiner of public account. Welcome.

All right.

In accordance with the provisions of Act No. 2006-196, Acts of Alabama, Code of Alabama 1975, Section 1613A-73D, commonly referred to as the School Fiscal Accountability Act, I am here on behalf of the State of Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts to present our audit report on the Montgomery County Board of Education covering the period October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025. We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards for the purpose of rendering an opinion on the financial statements and to determine whether the board complied with applicable laws and regulations. We also conducted an audit on the board's federal financial assistance programs in accordance with those same standards and the requirements of Title II U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, also known as Uniform Guidance. We issued an unmodified opinion on the board's financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. This means that the financial statements are presented fairly and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, we issued an unmodified opinion on the board's major federal financial assistance programs, which for the fiscal year were supporting effective instruction state grants, student support and academic enrichment program, and the child nutrition program. The local school selected for comprehensive testing were South Lawn Middle, Brubaker Intermediate, Davis Elementary, and LAMP High Schools. All other schools were subject to limited testing. We reported the following findings in our report. Finding number 2025-1, LAMP did not follow established procedures related to receipts and deposits. And finding 2025-2, LAMP did not follow the established policies and procedures related to ticket sales. The entire report is available on our website at examiners.alabama.gov. under the audit reports tab. This concludes my presentation. I would like to thank you and your central office staff for your assistance and cooperation through the audit process. We look forward to seeing you all again next year. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Now we will have a response to the audit report by our CSFO, Ms. Watkins.

Good evening, board members, President Portis, Superintendent Byrd. I do have the corrective action response that the board presented to the state examiners. I do think that it is important that the board and the public understand that things have been done and put in place in response to the findings that the examiners presented. The district has established comprehensive training programs for our local school bookkeepers and principals that include an annual financial training covering accounting procedures, cash handling requirements, documentation standards, and compliance expectations. In addition to these annual sessions, there are also monthly refresher trainings that are conducted by our local school accounting department along with our bookkeepers to make sure that if there are any areas of concerns or things that need to be addressed, that those are done at that time. We hold those refresher courses every month. The district also provides individualized training and technical assistance to the schools as needed, including direct support to the school identified in this finding. Additionally, local school personnel are made available to shadow experienced bookkeepers to strengthen their understanding of financial processes and internal controls. The district will continue to utilize these training methods while seeking additional opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of its professional development efforts, ongoing monitoring, communication, and support will be provided to ensure that financial procedures are consistently followed and that all required documentation is maintained and according to the district's policies and audit requirements. As it relates to the second finding, our response was basically the same in that we also included that the district also provides athletic director training to discuss the importance of financial processes with gate receipts. Individualized training and technical assistance again are offered and provided to the schools as needed, including direct support to the school identified in the finding. Additionally, local school personnel again are made available to go out and support the bookkeepers, principals, and athletic directors when there is a need. We will continue to follow those processes as well as review documentation for completeness prior to filing our, well we will review the documentation for completeness that the schools provide to us. Our local school accounting staff actually goes out to the schools at the end of each school year and does a mini audit of their financials at that time. We will continue with those processes as well as seek additional opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of our professional development for our local school accounting staff.

Thank you. Any questions? Thank you so much, Ms. Watkins. Our next item is our post-issuance compliance policy. Attorney Burnett has not been able to make it. And I don't see anyone to represent him. Board members, you received this policy. We have known about it. We knew it was coming. You have written information on it. So he was just coming to verbally say it. You have enough information on the information that you were provided. It is the same information he would have shared had he been able to be here. So we'll move on to item 12, which will be Mrs. Watkins again. and after she does the financial 2026 financial statement she will continue with pentlala elementary school freezer and cooler bed miss watkins don't allow leslie to get you in trouble please

Okay, I'm sorry. Let me just reiterate, as Ms. Portis stated regarding the policy, the issuance policy, compliance policy, it's been provided, I think, to you all. It's just a formality. He didn't make it clear that he was not going to be here. It is just a formality that just needs your board approval. Yes, ma'am. Also, next, in front of you, you should have the financials for the month of May. May represents the eighth month of the fiscal year. In that package, you have a snapshot analysis, which is a high-level overview of our financials for the month of May. You also have a general fund recap of that snapshot analysis. You have the current month budget percentages. During the eighth month, we should be around 66.67%. You also have included the monthly and annual comparative statement of revenues and expenditures. This report represents our May expenditures for 2026 compared to the May expenditures of 2025, as well as a year to date for May 2025 compared to May of 2026. Additionally, you have the cash flow statement, which shows our incomes, our cash inflows for the month of May and the year to date, as well as our cash outflows for the month of May and our year to date there as well. And then you will also notice at the bottom, we break out the salaries and benefits as it relates to general funds. You have next included a visual of that same information. And then we also have our Community donations included. That's a new report that we started including a few months ago. We appreciate the support of our community partners, and you will see the donations that were received in the month of May. You also have the F exhibits. Those are the reports from the State Department, as we are required to upload our financials monthly to the State Department, and these reports generate directly from their websites. I'm going to go back and focus on the snapshot analysis. As you will see, our actual compared to budget revenues for the month of year-to-date as of May and our expenditures, you will see that we've received 76 percent of our budget as of May. We're a little bit further along than that as we look at that through July. You also see our local revenue comparisons. You'll see our county regular ad valorem, our sales tax, gasoline tax, and our district regular ad valorem as compared to last year. Again, those numbers sometimes look a little different from the prior year because the timing of the receipts of those revenues can vary from month to month. We also have our general fund total payroll expenditures compared to May of 2025. and then our general fund balance analysis. You'll notice that the balance as of May 2026 compared to May of 2025 has a drastic decrease. And I will say that the decrease in the fund balance during the month of May is representative of the capital projects that are being covered out of general fund until the bonds are led and that process should be completed in mid-August. Of the $113 million that's in the general fund, you'll notice that the grand majority of those funds are tied up into funding sources that can only be spent according to how they can be. For example, as I always point out, transportation has $7.8 million. Those funds can only be spent on transportation, pre-K, summer school. Our summer learning, our foundation, those funds are specifically geared to certain initiatives. So our actual local general fund balance, you will notice, is $71.4 million. Those are our discretionary funds. And then one other thing I do want to add is that when I present these reports monthly, these are our operating funds. So it doesn't reflect special revenue, which is federal dollars or capital. This is just our operating funds, which we're required to present publicly each month. And that is all I have. Is there any questions? Yes, ma'am.

Dr. King. I just want to be clear on the, you said we had, our general fund had 113 as opposed to 121 and that there was a 7.4 discrepancy. Did that, did I hear you say that that 7.4 went to the capital? Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's our building. Yes, ma'am. Our schools.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. The construction that's going on right now. Yes, ma'am. And that number is compared to where we were last year at the same period in time. Okay. Okay.

So were we playing out less construction last year?

I would say yes. If you notice, we're kind of further along with the Percy Julian. And until that bond is let, those expenditures are being covered by general fund right now.

All right. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. And I know you'll stay so you can do the bid.

I'm sorry, I'm filling in for chat tonight as well. You should also have in front of you the Pentlala freezer cooler bid. Okay, so you have that bid in front of you. The freezer cooler Project that is going on at Pentlala is the result of replacement and upgrade of the freezer and cooler at Pentlala School. I know that CNP has quite a few projects that they're pushing through to improve some of the needs at some of our schools as it relates to our cafeterias. This particular one was required to be bid out, and so you have the tabulation sheet in front of you, and with your approval, it will be awarded to the lowest bidder.

Very good. Any questions on this bid process? Thank you so much, Ms. Watkins. Next, we will have our Ed Farm Service Agreement, Chisholm Elementary School Innovative Lab. Dr. King.

Good afternoon, or good evening. President Portis, Dr. Byrd, all board members. I am coming to request that the board accept this presentation for the Chisholm ED Forms Innovation Lab. I had presented this before initially on May 20th at a board work session, and then it was approved on June 9th at a regular board meeting. But the issue was that the service agreement was different than the documents that I had presented. And so we also had to vet the agreement to make sure the language was consistent with what we had proposed initially. And so all of that has been taken care of with our legal review and our purchasing department process. So I'm just presenting it to you to for not only present it and you do have a copy of it and also approval for later on the consent agenda. This this these I mean, this particular proposal is funded fully by turnaround funds, and it's our whole Once that we get it approved, we can expedite the process to get the labs up and running. And I do apologize for the delay in regarding the actual service agreement in this particular format.

Okay, Dr. King, so am I understanding you to say that this is the same contract except for some legal language that was corrected or changed?

Well, it's actually the service agreement is the contract. The proposal was a proposal when we presented it before. It didn't have any legal language. And then so we had to make sure that it forms when they sent that to us, then we had to vet it. So it was two different forms that they sent us. So we took the time to then look at the service agreement and then make sure that all the legal language was there. and that it really spoke to what the proposal was that we presented previously.

Very good. Thank you, Ms. Clare. So now we're approving the actual contract and not just the proposal?

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Any other questions for Dr. King? Thank you so much, sir. All right. We're moving into our consent agenda. Dr. Byrd.

Thank you, Madam President, board members. At this time, Superintendent requests your approval of the consent agenda action items 15 A through 15 G. Madam President, I move that we approve consent agenda items A

through items 15A through 15G.

And I second it. Very good. It has been moved and seconded to accept the superintendent's recommendation for items 15A through 15G. Are there any discussions on any of those items? Hearing none or seeing none, I move for a vote for all those in favor. It is unanimous. Thank you so much, Dr. Byrd. Consider for approval. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Superintendent requests your approval of action item 16A, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel.

Superintendent has made a recommendation. I need a motion to accept his recommendation for item 16A, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel.

Madam President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation to consider for approval item 16A, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel.

I second. Very well. It has been moved and seconded. Any discussion on this item? Hearing or seeing no discussion, I ask for a vote for item 16A, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel. It is unanimous. Thank you. Dr. Burke?

Thank you. Superintendent requests your approval of action item 16B, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel Addendum.

Superintendent has made a recommendation for item 16B, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel Addendum. May I have a motion?

Madam President, I move that we accept item 16B, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel Addendum.

Very well. May I have a second?

I second.

It has been moved and second to accept Item 16B, Personnel Report, Certified Personnel Addendum. Is there any discussion on this item? Hearing or seeing no discussion, I ask for a vote for Item 16B. That motion passes. Dr. Burke?

Thank you. We would tend to request your approval of Action Item 16C, Personnel Report, Classified Personnel.

A superintendent has made a recommendation. I'll fix it. Superintendent has made a recommendation for item 16C, Personnel Report, Classified Personnel. I have a motion.

Madam President, I move we accept the superintendent's recommendation for item 16C, Personnel Report, Classified Personnel. I second that.

It has been moved and seconded to accept item 16C. 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 16C? It is unanimous. It is unanimous. And as just a point of clarity, the last motion, 16B, was unanimous. I missed a hand. Thank you so much. Dr. Burke?

Thank you. Superintendent requests your approval of action item 16D, Supplemental Personnel Minutes.

Superintendent has made a recommendation to accept item 16D, Supplemental Personnel Minutes. May I have a motion to accept this item?

Madam President, I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation of item 16D, Supplemental Personnel Minutes. I second it.

Thank you. It has been moved and seconded to accept Item 16D, Supplemental Personnel Minutes. Any discussion on that matter? Hearing or seeing no discussion, may I see a show of hands of all of those in favor? That item is unanimous. Thank you. Dr. Byrd.

Thank you. Superintendent requests your approval of Action Item 16E, Personnel Report, Teams.

Superintendent has made a recommendation to accept item 16E, personnel report teams. May I see, hear a motion? to accept this item.

Madam President, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for Item E, Personnel Report Teams. I second it.

It has been moved and seconded to accept Item 16E, Personnel Report Teams. Any discussion on this item? Hearing or seeing no discussion, may I see a show of hands of all of those in favor? It is once again unanimous. Thank you so much, ladies. All hearts and minds that clear this meeting for the July 14th board meeting is now adjourned. For all of those leaving, you are free to go now because in about 30 seconds, we're going to the work session. Thank you, Dr. Reverend Gray, so much. Hope to see you again soon. Our work session is now called to order. We still have an establishment of a quorum. May I see here a motion to accept this agenda as printed?

Madam President, I move to accept the agenda as printed. I second it.

It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda as printed. May I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? Thank you. It is unanimous. We will now receive his information. First, from Volcker, we have our friend Mr. Czar with us to present this afternoon. Welcome, Pate.

Good evening, Dr. Byrd, President Fortas, members of the board. Before I get started, I just wanted to give a shout out to Ms. Bruton. I know the board recognitions month in and month out. I mean, you have some impressive kids in this district. One of three in the state, one of 70 national. That's awesome. So just wanted to give my flowers to her and the kids. Thank you. And I'll get started with our monthly update on the capital improvement program. Jumping straight into Percy Julian. Um, don't know if you've had the opportunity to drive on the boulevard and see the project, but man, is it coming along? We have started our brick installation. So you can see the exterior of the building really starting to come along 44% complete. Um, here, this is the academic wing section. A, like I said, the brick going up, starting to really see the building. A and B academic wings and C, the roof is 90% dried in there. So we're really pushing on the interiors, getting the HVAC systems up and go and installed, starting to see the walls come up, classrooms being formed on the inside, as well as the building really taking shape on the outside. I'm showing you an aerial shot here. Like I said, the sections closest to us on the right side, that is A and B, two-story academic wings. Section C on the left is a one-story academic wing. Both of those roofs are dried in, so we're able to push a lot on the inside. Towards the back of the image is your fine arts section with the gym, auditorium. The auditorium slab on grade was poured last month. That was a huge milestone. We have no more slabs to pour for the entire building. Walls going up, structural still in the storm shelter is starting, which will be a huge milestone for us to get that lid, the state inspections, all that incorporated. Moving to the site progress. We're building the athletic field house. Footings are poured. underground MEP rough in is continuing and we've started curb and gutter. So you can see not only is the building starting to take shape, take shape, but the site is also starting to take shape. So you'll start seeing parking lots and drive areas being formed out there as well. Moving into Capitol Heights, we've had the notice proceed issued with the contractor, held our pre-construction meeting. Contractor has mobilized. Trailer's on site. Site fencing is up. We've broken ground, moving dirt. Project is about 3% complete right now. Here's some aerial shots of the construction progress. You see the existing Percy Julian on the right side. A lot of the site grading is ongoing. Utilities are ongoing. We're working with Citi, Alabama Power, Spire, all the utility companies to start getting the underground utilities moving. As you see on the right side image, a lot of the material for all those utilities that I just mentioned is on site and delivered. So work is progressing and we're moving quick as long as weather allows us. Minority participation, I don't believe there was any changes from last month. You saw the construction contract, MBE, really increase from last month with our partnership with Russell Construction, a MBE company, local company here. Do you have any questions or comments?

Any questions or comments? I think it's so amazing to see Capitol Heights being built behind Percy Julian. That's amazing. I've never really paid attention to a school being built. I think both of them are, y'all have done a fine job.

And to your point, I think it's really cool to see the renderings that we provided early on in design and how the building actually takes shape.

I do want to say we couldn't be in better hands. I've been excited. since y'all came on board for years. And just the thoroughness of everything y'all do, what you tell us, the meetings you have, the books, the pictures, it's just impressive. So thank you.

We love working with y'all.

You all own a helicopter. Is that a drone?

It's a drone.

Thank you so much.

Yes, ma'am. Thank y'all.

All right, Highland Gardens Elementary School Meadow Canopy Bed Tabulation. Once again, Ms. Watkins is covering for Chad tonight. Thank you.

Good afternoon again, President Portis, Superintendent Byrd, board members. We have a project that's being shared as it relates to Highland Gardens and the school metal canopy. This project will replace the current canopy, and then it will add a continuous portion to the front of the building for car riders and for pickup. The bids open June the 25th, and I guess it will come before you next month for board approval.

Thank you so much. Any questions on that? Thank you, Ms. White. I think you may be off duty for now. All right. District English Second Language Bilingual Family Liaison by Ms. Heather Miller. Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Good evening, Madam President, members of the Board, and Superintendent Byrd. I'm not sure, did you all get the rationale for us? Okay, perfect. Just wanted to make sure you have that data kind of in front of you as I go through a few details about it. So, tonight, I'm presenting for two positions that will strengthen Montgomery Public Schools' ability to serve our multilingual students and families. The first position is a district ESL family liaison and interpreter, and our second is a part-time itinerant bilingual paraprofessional, and that one would kind of provide feeder zone support to schools based on need. These positions are designed to improve communication between our schools and families while ensuring compliance with our federal and state language access requirements. Currently in the district, we have over 4,000 students and families that speak another language in their home. And that's not just Spanish. We actually have over 50 different languages represented in our district. So while Spanish is the most predominant, we have families that might speak Maseko, that would be kind of an indigenous language, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, and many, many others. So some of that data in front of you will kind of show the most predominant, but that's not the only one. When we think about our highest population schools, we usually think about Percy Julian, Capitol Heights, but pretty much all of our high schools at this point have over 100 students. And those schools that feed into them, like Chisholm and Highland Gardens, and even some of our magnets like Forest Avenue, have a very high population of families that need that language support. So the goal of these positions is to ensure that those families have meaningful access to school information, enrollment, parent-teacher conferences, MTSS meetings, disciplinary meetings, Title I events, pretty much anything where we want to make sure we communicate and give them information, they have that access in a language that they understand. So with the district ESL family liaison and interpreter position, this is kind of comparable to what other districts of our size with an ESL population would have. So it would be a person who could assist us in the ESL department with the translation of documents, with the student support enrollment needs that we have, It could help us with our parent workshops so that we can better communicate with parents and make sure they understand how they can support their students in the district. It would also make sure that they have that equitable access to all of the educational opportunities that we are providing. I've been working in collaboration with Dr. Ford on this and the human resources team, so we kind of looked at how could we make this to target our needs in the most beneficial way for all of the students. And with the Alabama Raise Act, it kind of provided us some extra funding so that we can expand these services for our multilingual families. With the part-time positions as paraprofessionals, they would be kind of itinerant for feeder zone schools. So the design is that they may be based at one school, but if the high school needs someone to kind of come up and help with translation needs or needs a certain day where they need to help with student support with academic side of things, they can kind of be flow kind of between the schools in a feeder zone pattern. So that flexible staffing model can allow us to kind of best support schools where that need is without having, you know, we don't really have the funds to assign an interpreter to every single school, so we're trying to make it where that person can kind of flow between the schools and have a couple of different paraprofessionals that would serve those feeders in. When we think about these positions, we want to kind of remember that when we think about interpreters, it's more than just really about translating words for our families. It's removing those barriers. that prevent the parents from fully participating in their child's education. So when families understand the school expectations, their academic progress, intervention plans, and all the great resources that we have available in MPS, they're a lot stronger as partners in their student success. So, our goal overall is to continue that commitment to equitable access for all students while ensuring that every family, regardless of that language that they speak, has the opportunity to actively participate in their child's education. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Ms. Miller. We have a question for Ms. Graham. Yes, ma'am.

I just want to say thank you because this is so

So very needed. Well, I appreciate that because, you know, I truly am an advocate for all of our students, but our English learners really have an extra place in my heart. Thank you.

Very good. Doctor? How many are we looking at hiring?

So the district liaison position would be one position that would be able to support all of the things needed here at the district level, whether it's the student support side, the ESL side. The goal with the paraprofessionals is to start with four. So our idea was to have them placed at each of the feeder zones, so the Carver High feeder zone, Percy Julian, Park Crossing, JAG, and then they could kind of float as needed between the elementaries, middle, and high school, really depending on the needs of the schools.

See, I started doing the math here, and I know that we had a problem, you know, a couple years ago. I'm not going to mention the school, but it was one of our main high schools that I taught at and did not realize what a problem it was, how many they had. And I'm looking here at your numbers, and, you know, we're looking at a handful, hiring a handful, and just in Spanish alone, you have almost 3,000. We do.

I don't know that.

I'm not trying to be negative.

I think it is a wonderful program, but I think we've got to take a deeper dive into this. It is problematic because you were asking the teachers to, I mean, one of the, I was going to go, well, you conveniently skipped that one when you said Spanish, Central American, and Korean. I couldn't pronounce the Girardi. Yes, for a lot of our Indian families, yes. And I was like, what is that? Yes. Let me ask you one more question. The main person, Will they be able to speak all those languages?

No. So, and that's kind of where it may be that we, if we can get more than four, we would. And we do have, some of our ESL teachers are bilingual. So, we do have some bilingual support already in the schools. But as you just stated, it's not enough when you just have one or two people in a school, and we don't have them in every school. But our goal is that hopefully some of these people that maybe speak something other than Spanish will be interested, and we can have them also support those feeder schools.

Well, the breakdown of schools, the data on this, I've taken pictures of it. It's interesting. I hope we can expand it.

I have one more question. Ms. Watkins, with this number of EL student population, do we get Title III funding?

We do.

Okay, thank you.

Ms. Miller, what department are you with? I am with Academics of Accountability, but I'm the ESL specialist. So when Ms. Ushery retired, I have been trying to fill her shoes the past year.

I've not had the opportunity to meet you, but I certainly am glad you're in that place.

Yes, ma'am, thank you.

And to answer Lisa, remember now, we have full military. So we can reach out and hopefully some of our partners can help cover them. One of my questions, too, is I know these second language high school students oftentimes advocate for their family. Have we thought about maybe employing some of these high school students to help with the ESL with other families and families? That might be up.

That was kind of floated as an idea. It would have to be looked at, obviously, if it's during school hours and they're in school, how that would work. Right. But that is, you know, I know when we initially kind of floated this idea and kind of got a survey of the interest in the community, we have had several people reach out about part-time positions and contract work of how they could, you know, help with interpreting.

Thank you so much. Thank you. And if we can convince them about dual enrollment, they won't be in school all day. They can come to work, can't they? All right. Thank you so much. All right. Unfinished business. Any board members have any unfinished business? Ms. Clout?

Could we please have an update on the superintendent evaluation? Because we were supposed to either report out June the 30th or tonight, and I want to give the public The updated.

Right. We postpone that to board members, you and public. You will have that review at the special call meeting the last Tuesday in this month. Thank you. So we'll get you out that information in plenty of time and get that review for you. Any other unfinished business? Hearing no more unfinished business, new business. Anyone have any new business? The only new business I have is the board had a retreat in June right before the summer conference. It was a very informative retreat. One of the things that I told the board that I would do is to keep them abreast with what's going on. Dr. Byrd has us moving. You employees think y'all are going fast. But he has us moving and we're enjoying every bit of it. However, we do need to know what's going on because it helps the district when we have this body to advocate for what we're doing. So I want to keep them abreast of that. I will send out an email about that information. Another piece of business that we went over was board protocol. If we give children a guideline to go by and we expect them to do what they're supposed to do, we give staff that same opportunity, then the board should be governed accordingly. So they were given the document. It will be brought up at the special call meeting for a vote and we will put it in place. While we're not going to tar and feather anybody, but we are certainly going to ask all of our districts to govern themselves accordingly. We have the whole world watching. Not this time. Montgomery's been watched for a lot of reasons. This time we are anticipating they're watching for where education will go and what we will provide to our students. These children are moving fast. My seven-year-old grandbaby taught me how to use chat GPT. So if you get something from me and it sounds real good, baby, I am getting to be an expert. I don't even know why I was writing regular stuff. GPT does it. So I thank you all for your continued support. If we can be of any assistance, we're not bosses, we're resources. So reach out to us. We can get our hands dirty too. We are retired. Don't call us often. But we are willing to help. So this meeting with no more new business. This meeting is now adjourned.