Board Meeting - Regular Meeting

[music] [applause] Our December 11th, 2025 board meeting is now called to order. I am Pamela Portis, president of the board of education. We will start tonight with our invocation by Pastor James Ingram from the Trinity Assembly of God. Welcome. Thank you very much. It's certainly an honor and privilege to be here to lead us to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of life and the opportunities that it brings. Lord, we ask that this Christmas season once again bring the opportunity by the power of Christ to share peace and goodwill. May our dwelling together be good and pleasant, bringing unity, which will command your blessing. Lord, I pray that your blessings upon this board will include wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Help them with every decision. Guide them to every good outcome. Give them courage and strength to move forward and always choose the next right things that will bring success and blessing to Montgomery public schools. Heavenly Father, we pray that your favor will be upon this board of education. By their faithful service, may every child in Montgomery County School be

given the treasure of an outstanding education based upon truth. May Dr. your bird be strengthened and blessed by your almighty hand. Lead us all safely into our future that will bring glory to you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much, Pastor Ingram. Now we will stand for our pledge of allegiance. At this time we will establish a quorum and a quorum has been established and now we will move to the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion to approve the agenda as printed? Madam President,

Madame President, I'm sorry. I move that we approve the agenda. I second it. The agenda has been motioned and approved. All in favor?

It is unanimous. We come to the part of the program for uh board president's remarks. The superintendent is smiling because I have none. Uh I I just spoke, but I will say this. I uh allow me a second to say this. We've had such a great day today. We've heard about dreams. We've heard about students first opportunity. And the pastor just talk about talked about commanding blessings. That struck me in a different way because as our children leave for the holiday. I want our parents to talk to them. I want our children to know every choice you make, your future should be written on. Every ride, every car you get in, every corner you stand on, every tick tock you make, consider your future. The wrong choice won't command blessing. It's going to create havoc for your family and for your dream. So go out, have fun, be safe, make great choices. Parents, you make great choices. Help them be the best they can be. So when they come back in January, all the things that we've set forth for them, they'll be ready for. Those are my remarks. Superintendent, do you have any? [laughter] Thank you so much, Madam President, and greetings to everyone that's here on today. Madam President and board members, if you all don't mind, I'm going to defer to my earlier remarks uh all day uh today. But I truly want to thank you all so much for embracing the key initiatives that we talked about of course earlier today. Thank you all so much for embracing the partnerships that we're moving on. Again, thank you all so much for your support.

Thank you very much. At this time, we will have our board recognitions by Mrs. Rosanna Rutin.

Good evening, Madame President, Dr. Bird, and board members. It is truly an honor to join you this evening. We have a number of recognitions. First off, we're going to start with our 2025 2026 elementary school science fair winners. This evening, Montgomery Public Schools is proud to recognize our elementary science fair winners for the 2025 2026 school year. And we celebrate both our individual student winners and classrooms whose collaboration earned top honors. So board, I would like to welcome you to the front. We are going to have a moment for pictures and we have several who are eager to take photos with you. So, we are going to start off with our individual winners. Third grade, we have first place Trenton Wright Flowers Elementary. [cheering] [applause] Trenton is coming up. and his project was on life cycles, I do believe. Trenton, if you don't mind stepping to the side, we're going to get a group photo after the second and third place winners are announced. So for our second place in the third grade, we have Messiah Hampton Chisum Elementary. [applause]

[applause]

Third place, third grade, Haley Hall, Wil Wilson Elementary. [applause] And now we are going to have our third grade winners take a group photo with the board and Dr. Bird. And parents, I know many of you are in the audience. Make sure you take those photos.

[applause]

Moving along to fourth grade, first place, Christian Adams, Carver Elementary and Arts Magnet. [cheering] [applause]

[applause] Corbin Cunningham, McMillan International Academy. [applause]

[applause]

Third place. Go ahead and clap. I'm sorry. Third place, Eddie Walker, Wilson Elementary. [applause]

[applause] And we'll have you Young men, take a photo all together.

[applause]

Fifth grade, we have Matias Hernandez, Doure Elementary. [applause] And we have Britain Knight from Carver Elementary Arts and Magnet. [applause] and Chloe Rudolph Carver Elementary [cheering and applause] and then we'll do a group photo.

[applause]

Now moving on to our classroom winners. Classroom winners, third grade, first place, Morning View Elementary, Miss Coven's class. [applause] The principal will be accepting the trophy this evening.

[applause] Second place, Bear Exploration Center, Miss Graves class. [applause] Third, third place. McMillan Elementary level team. [applause]

[laughter] [applause]

What happened to you? All right, our fourth grade classroom projects and classroom winners. PS Morris Elementary, Miss Lindsay's class, first place. [applause]

[applause] second place, TS Morris Elementary, Miss Stevenson's class. [applause]

[applause] Third place, Nanaly Elementary, Miss Harris's class. [applause]

[applause]

Then we have fifth grade. Our fifth grade first place, South Lawn Elementary, Miss Jones's class. [applause] second place, Flowers Elementary, Miss Williams class. [cheering] [applause]

[applause]

Third place, Bear Exploration Center, Miss Summer's class. [applause]

[applause]

We congratulate all of our winners for their creativity, hard work, and scientific excellence. At this time, we want to thank them once again. [applause] Now, we'd like to recognize Darien Rice. Tonight, we are proud to recognize Darien Rice, a graduate of Montgomery public schools and a valued member of the MPS technology innovation department. Darien is a 2020 graduate of Park Crossing High School. After high school, Darien participated in several transition and job readiness programs including Project Search, Easterilst Star, and finally Rainbow 66 storehouse. Now, we want to welcome Dr. Pal to talk about briefly how Darien has been a beneficial employee with our technology department. [applause] And we'd like to welcome Darien. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to introduce you to one of our shining stars in the department. His name is Mr. Darien Rice. And we are privileged and honored that he is able to join us because he makes us better. He adds value. He shows how you can persevere. He shows how you can be strong, how you can endure. And every time I interface with him and I interface with his mom, Mrs. Rice, he shows us how we keep to we have to keep moving. We have to keep moving for others. We're servant leaders. And once again, every time that I meet with Garyen or I talk with his mother and I also uh showcase accolades towards uh the Montgomery County Vocab Rehabilitation and Rainbow 66 for helping add value to getting Darien to where he is today to help us help others

as servant leaders so that we can put others who want to be just as successful as Darien every day. teamwork, adding value, selfless uh servant leadership, and just enduring every day for somebody else. But I would also want to introduce you to Darien's mother, and I'd also like to talk for her to talk and speak on Darien's journey, Mrs. Rice.

Good evening everyone. I am Dario Weise. I work for MPS in the technology repair center. [applause] I work on the Chromebooks. I love working here. My mother will tell you more about my journey. Thank you. [applause]

Good evening everyone. Um I they've covered just about everything. Um Dr. Pal welcomed him with open arms. The team welcomed him with open arms. They made him feel very comfortable in his environment. They welcome in the job coaches from Rainbow 66 in vocational rehabilitation. Uh they made them feel comfortable. They worked with them in order to train him on the job. They gave him the opportunity to train on the job. We had some bumps before that. And I just want to emphasize how it is important to allow people like him because I'm an advocate for all children. I'm an employee with MPS. I'm a STEM teacher at Peter Crop Elementary School and I advocate for all children, not just him because there are many of them in this world. We have to live with them. So they are beneficial to us. They are hard dedicated workers when we take the time to train them and give them the opportunity. [applause] We'd like to welcome Darien, uh, Dr. Pal, and his mother to take a photo with you all.

[applause] [applause] He does have a birthday coming up.

And he does have a birthday coming up. We are pleased to share that four MPS teachers have received the WSFA class act award this school year. Tonight we recognize our two most recent honores from Floyd Middle Magnet School. If I can welcome Mrs. Alexis Abless. She's an eighth grade physical science and engineering elective teacher. She came from Alabama from California. [applause] She's known for her energetic, hands-on approach that makes science feel like real life magic. Miss Abless has made a strong impact on her students and school community in just five years and we are proud of her to honor her dedication and passion for teaching. [applause] And Mrs. Ables, if you don't mind, I'm going to have you stay up here for just a moment because we do have another teacher from Floyd, Coach Lewis Jackson. [applause and cheering] He is in his third year at Floyd Middle Magnet serving as the PE teacher, track coach, and eighth grade basketball coach. A Marine Corps veteran and former Hyundai employee, he entered education after earning a degree in sports management. Coach Jackson encourages students to excel both academically and athletically and is widely appreciated for his mentorship, character, and

kindness. And if we could have both of them along with the principal of Floyd come up and take a photo. [applause] Thank you. All right. Tonight we recognize Cricet Drone, an outstanding 11-year-old fifth grader at McMillan International Academy. Cricette recently made her acting debut at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, appearing as Young Elsa. [applause and cheering] [applause] In addition to her work on stage, Cresette is a company dancer with Symphony Q Academy of Dance where she has performed in multiple Nutcracker Productions and school showcases. She is a bright student and with a big personality known for shining both in the classroom and in the arts. [applause]

[cheering]

Now we would like to recognize Thank you again, Cresette. Thank you. Now we would like to recognize Railen Ray Holt, a talented student at Park Crossing High School. [applause] And get this, I have to have everyone's attention on this. She was recently featured on the Jennifer Hudson show.

Rayan is a young entrepreneur behind Array of Sunshine, a growing baking business best known for her delicious pound cakes. She draws inspiration from her family's baking traditions and has turned that passion into an opportunity to mentor other young people who share her interest. I would also like to welcome her principal, Miss Miss Fountain. Railen, if you don't mind, we're going to have you take another photo with Miss Fountain. And again, she is a Park Crossing High School student.

[snorts] [applause]

And that wraps up this evening's recognitions. [applause] um as you all clear out um quietly, we have a special treat for you. Um Dr. Schuford uh from JAG High School, the coral director. She wanted to do something for us for the holidays. Unfortunately, she got sick, but the young men that uh she talked to, they were so anxious to do it. So, we're going to them and their theater teacher uh are going to bless us just uh for a few minutes. We Let's welcome them as they come. We [applause] thank you [cheering] so much young men for thinking about us.

They stole my thought.

[singing]

Every time I find out a moral break Step into [singing] the step for the sake of me. [singing]

[singing]

Step into the best time. [singing] [music] Going to take a ride, [singing] take our song, sing our own [singing]

[music]

break. Open your eyes and trust me. [singing] I was always misunderstood. [singing] Dangerous.

[singing and music]

Take me right [singing] into the best. The Step into the dance. Step into the step. Step into the step. Step into the dance. [applause and cheering]

[applause]

Absolutely amazing. Young men, before you leave, before you all leave. Yeah. Yeah. We We'll need some autograph and t-shirts and things. We just want to thank you. We know how difficult that is. We know you all don't always get the rap. We don't always when we talk about Jag, we don't see this on Facebook. So, thank you for being [cheering] diligent. Thank you. [applause] And we're working on your dreams right now. So, keep on keeping on. Thank you. Yes, [applause]

that was amazing. And I expect ALL OF YOU ALL TO POST TONIGHT THAT. [laughter] All right. Our next uh agenda item is uh schedule public comments with Mrs. Fedra Foster. I will read the rules and procedures uh for public participation in board meetings. Requests must be made in advance in writing to superintendent's office by 4:30 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding the meeting date. request 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 followup by the superintendent or designate. 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 their allotted time has ended when asked to stop speaking by the board chairman or is otherwise inappropriate. If a person fails to comply when asked to terminate comments, he or she will be escorted to their seat or out of the auditorium and or off of NPS property depending on the level of disruption. At this time, we will hear from Mrs. Fedra Foster

of the law. The public should understand this board has three direct reports. The superintendent, the CFO, and the board attorney, and the conduct of those roles along with that of contractors falls fully under your fiduciary responsibility. I've repeatedly raised documented concerns about how grievances and records requests are being handled and the conduct of contractors. These concerns were com were uh submitted through formal cha uh channels. Yet the responses I've received include excuses for non-compliance delays and silence. Let me be clear. Concerns do not become old simply because they've been ignored. Delay is not resolution. Silence is not accountability. A common explanation I've been given is that review of these potential breaches would place the board in day-to-day operations. And I understand why this board has been cautioned to avoid day-to-day operations. But ethical compliance, contractor conduct, and legal obligations are not day-to-day operations. They are governance and oversight. When day-to-day operations drift into your lane and compromise fiduciary responsibility, that requires oversight and corrective action. Your fiduciary responsibility is greater than the routines of central office. You must make certain that central office and all contracted firms are following the law and operating within proper ethical boundaries. Families should not face barriers, misinformation, or confusion created by process failures. Moreover, some of the confusion created by these issues is affecting our broader family engagement efforts across this district.

So, for the third month in a row, I'm requesting a meeting with the appropriate leadership in student support services and this time with board leadership present to address unresolved concerns that continue to impact our shared effort to strengthen family school partnerships. If we want strong family engagement and community trust, we must follow the policies designed to protect both. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Foster. At this time we have no citizens comments and we will now hear from Miss Laura Penn. Change order two for South Lawn Middle School.

Uh good evening, President Portoris, uh Dr. Bird, board members. Hope everyone's doing well tonight. Um, I come before you uh regarding Southon Middle School gym edition and change order number two. Uh, and this is to reconcile. Go ahead, Laura.

Keep going. Uh, this is to reconcile uh Holly Henley's final cost for the project. Um, you should have everything in front of you as far as uh backup information, our letter of recommendation from expert uh and associates, our architect, as well as uh the the letter of recommendation from Vulker. I do want to notate though in cleaning up this project. Um, one thing especially a lot of times we do not come to really tell the board our efforts in regards to change orders and CCRs when we we actually receive it. But for this particular project, um, our team actually comb through over a million dollars worth of contract change requests from this particular, um, GC. And given approval for change order number two tonight, we're looking at only a total of 153,000 that is actually going to be approved and incurred on top of what the GC um, contract was initially. Um, additionally they had requested 684 days. Um, of those days only 129 were found um legitimate for extension. So, just FYI, uh, once you if if contract number two is approved tonight, um, it should show down at the bottom what our total dollar amount would be for the for the gym edition as well as our contract time. Any questions?

Thank you so much and happy holidays. Thank you. Chad, you know what to do. Yes, ma'am. We will now hear from Chad about Danley Elementary uh HVAC.

Yes, ma'am. Good evening, Dr. Bird, Miss Portoris, Miss Smith, and members of the board. Uh we have the Danley HVAC renovations project that uh is coming to you tonight for approval. Again, that's a project we've been explaining along the way and given given the details on that, but it includes a full HVAC renovation, windows renovation, uh drop ceiling and lighting that will be added. We're also going to be renovating the restrooms in the existing building and or the new the older building and then we'll also be adding door access and new external doors around the building as well.

Thank you so much. Any questions for Chad this time? Thank you. We will now hear from Attorney Powell. Uh vape awareness education and prevention policy. Good evening, Madame President, Superintendent Dr. Board, board members. Um I'm standing in the place of Dr. Williamson tonight to discuss the vape policy. Um the legislature passed an act uh 2025-43 which is codified in Alabama code section 28-11-17.2 um and that is to establish vaping awareness education and prevention. Um the act required the state board of education to adopt a model policy for school boards to then um implement within their policy. And so the vape awareness education and prevention policy that you have before you is um the policy that we are proposing for the board to adopt for NPS. It is to address um the use of vaping and tobacco and alternative products on campuses or on school campuses and it provides a comprehensive framework to address those um violations whenever they occur. It requires a complaint form to be filled out and provides certain consequences and steps to address each of those violations. Thank you. Any questions for uh Attorney Power? No questions. Moving right along. We'll move to item 12, 2026 board meeting schedule. Dr. Bird.

Thanks so much, Madam President. As reflected in our MPS follow that specifies that board meetings to be held on the second Tuesday of each month, we provided for you the 2026 board meeting schedule. Thank you so much. We'll move to our next item. Uh Montgomery County Board of Education and Health Services uhou Dr. Bird. Thank you so much, Madam President. Uh, at this time, I'm going to ask uh, Miss Evan Evans and Mr. Gilbert Dorin uh, to come at this time to provide more information regarding theou.

Evening, President Poris, Dr. Bird, and fellow board members. Thank you all for having us this evening, and happy holidays to you all. I'm Ebony Evans, the marketing director for Health Services Incorporated. If you're familiar with the Lester Hill Health Center back in the day on Adams Avenue, that is still Health Services Incorporated. We are now located at our corporate office at the River Region Health Center on on Cherry Street on Jackson Hospital's campus. The goal of our organization is to provide primary care services including specialty services such as dental, optometry, OB and behavioral health services. Our pharmacy is also included as well as lab and radiology and that is a service that is given to those who are insured as well as uninsured, underinsured and homeless. Back in 2019, we came before the board um with theou to provide schoolbased health centers at Bellingrass, Kism, Davis, and Highland Garden Elementary. We were doing that in two models. We had our mobile unit going to Chisum and Davis and we were in established inside the school at Bellingrath and Highland Garden. We began that service in August of 2020. And you have patient numbers in front of you. We saw our highest number in the school year of 2021 through 2022 which was a total of 254 patients. We saw that at that time that the best model to use was to be actually inside of the school and to have the mobile unit as a backup just in case that wasn't available but we saw majority of our students inside of the school. So we're coming back before you today with a newou with servicing um three new schools which will be Percy Julian High School, George Washington Carver High School and Brewbaker Middle School and and have that resource available. I believe our COO Mr. Terry Reed along with Mr. Chad Anderson have met and allocated some space inside of those schools that would be useful for the schoolbased health centers. But we're going to do that with a model. we saw that um we didn't have enough staff to cover each um

schoolbased health center. And so we have a new model which we have medical pods that we'll be able to use inside of those schools and a nurse practitioner will be stationed at one school. An inmate will be available at each school and be seen um as a student can come in or um staff members are welcome to use this schoolbased health center as well. But we are able to see the student have vitals um taken uh through through the pod. there our um technology has definitely increased and we've been able to do some upgrades to have that delivery service to the patient uh right then and there and they're able to collaborate and talk with the provider which will be a nurse practitioner available for the schoolbased health. So we do want to start off with three and hopefully this model will take off. We'll be able to include even more um schoolbased health centers throughout MPS. We do have a dental unit that we want to start rolling out as well once we get the ball rolling um and include that later on. You have anything? I brought my CEO for support but just in case he wanted to say something.

No, you have any questions. Any questions? I have just one um because we certainly want to make sure our parents understand this and uh utilize it. Let's say I have a child at Carver football player. He gets hurt, calls home. Will we offer can we offer the services to see the nurse that's located in that bill or the practitioner? Absolutely. So, as long as we have that application filled out by the parent prior to or consent can be given if they are able to fax or email at that time, we can see that student. Okay.

Yes, ma'am. Very good. Thank you so much. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Um, now item 14, Educational Hub Development Agreement, H Council Trenum State Community College, the Alabama Community College System, and the Montgomery County Board of Education. Dr. Bird.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much, Madam President. It is what it is with much pride and thankfulness after months and months and months of going back and forth. Uh it is with honor and pride that I present to you theou agreement for the partnership between MPS and Tren State Community College. You all have been provided uh with that legalou uh that has been of course critiqued uh from our legal department as well as Tren State Community College. And so I think that now we're ready to go. Very good. Our next item is our financial statement October 2025 from our CSFO, uh, Miss Pamela Watkins.

Good evening, board president, Superintendent Bird, board members. You should have in front of you your financials for the month of October. October represents the first month of our fiscal year 2026. In that package, you will have an explanation of financial data. Um, you also which gives basically a statement of the overview of the district going into the fiscal year. Um, I have a little note here that um, Superintendent Bird has hit the ground running and today was a great example of that. although we're in December but we have hit the ground running for the month for the fiscal year 2026 with his new initiatives to improve overall academic performance across the district. Also in your packet you should have a snapshot analysis. We'll go back to that. The snapshot analysis is a highlevel summary of the district's financial position as of October. Additionally, we have a general fund recap. We'll talk briefly about that. The general fund recap will review our general fund balance as of October, which is the beginning of the fiscal year. Um um and compare it to last year. At the same time, you also have the monthly percentages. Um the monthly percentages for the month of October means that we should be at about 8.33% in expenditures. Um, we also have a monthly and annual comparative statement of revenues and expenditures that compare the current month October year-to- date as well to the prior year to date and the look of the financials in October of last year as well, excuse me. And then finally, you have a statement of cash flow which will show our expenditures for the month of October and the revenues that were received in the month of October as well. We have a visual of that in the form of the um pie charts which provide you your inflows and your outflows for

the month of October. And then the F exhibits which are the combined financial statements from the state department um as a result of our upload to the state department. I'm going to go back to the snapshot analysis for the month of October. On the snapshot analysis, you will see that our beginning fund balance was $98.6 million. I know that seems like a lot. Um, however, only a portion of that is reflective in the general fund that we have free access to. The um we have about $21 million that are completely obligated to other funding sources, meaning that they are state funds that we can only spend on those funding sources that the state allocates. Um you will see that our revenues in the month of October were about $19.5 million with expenditures of $23 million. One might ask why are our expenditures so much more than the revenues? Our revenues um the majority of the district's revenues come in during the month of December, January and February. So you will see very large revenue numbers then and um due to the abilorum. So, the month of October, we only really have our sales tax that comes in during that month. Um, if you look down a little bit further, you'll see a comparison of our total payroll expenditures compared to last year. Um, our re our although there was no 2% increase, our salaries and benefits are higher. However, you will notice throughout the year that they will run higher because of the benefits. If you remember that um PHIP had approximately a 13% increase in the PHIP cost and um as we start planning for fiscal year 2027 there is an anticipated additional increase probably a little bit larger than that for 2027. So those are things that we'll have to keep in mind. Um I think I've already stated

that um our general fund B no I didn't. Our general fund balance compared to last year 88.4 4 million compared to 95 million um this year. And that's our general fund balance as of the end of October, which puts us at about a 3 um 85 in reserve. If we go and we look at our general fund balance recap, although we have a $95 million balance, um we also have you'll see that a lot of those um a lot of that re those funds are actually obligated. And you'll also notice our local general funds balance at 90 76.9 million. So that means those are the revenues or the funds that we have available that are not obligated to a particular funding source. Um, as a note, um, I do want to state that and well, let me just go here as well. This is also a general fund balance recap over the years. You'll see how our balance has trended over the years from, um, the as it relates to the funds that are available in other funding sources as well as our local revenues and how they've trended over the last few years. Um, a couple of things to note as we move through fiscal year 2026. Um, the finance department does have some projects that are in play that we're trying to move along. One of them will be an update of our financial policies and procedures. Um, that hasn't been done in a while and so we're working I have our department's working on that and hopefully my goal is to present that to the board be by the end of the second um quarter of the year. So by the end of March um additionally we have a review of the organizational um structure and salary schedules for the district. That will be a collaborative um um a collaborative assignment between the superintendent's office, human

resources and finance. And so we will work collaboratively with that. And then um a third thing would be possibly a district-wide inventory. We've not done that although we do an annual inventory. Um about five years ago, we brought in an entity to do a district-wide inventory. And so we anticipate um working towards that. If not in this fiscal year, it will definitely need to happen in 2027. And that's it. Are there any questions? Any questions? Thank you, Miss W. I think we are

good. Our next item on the agenda is our consent agenda. Dr. Bird. Thank you so much, Madam President. Madam President, at this time, superintendent recommends approval of consent agenda items A through I. The superintendent has recommended for approval on the consent agenda items A through I. Do I have a motion? Madam Chair, thank you, Madam Chair. I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation for approval of consent agenda items A through I and I second it.

Thank you so much. It has been moved and second. Uh is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, may I see a show of hands for all those in favor? It is unanimous. Consider for approval is our next item. Dr. Bird. Thanks so much, Madam President. At this time, super superintendent recommends approval of personnel report certified personnel. Madam President, I move that we approve certified personnel. I second it.

It has been moved and second to uh for the superintendent's recommendation of personnel report certified personnel. Any discussion? May I see a show of hands for all those in favor? It is unanimous. Dr. Bird. Thank you. At this time, superintendent recommends approval of personnel report classified personnel. May I hear a motion to accept that recommendation? Madam Chair, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for personnel report classified personnel.

A second. It has been moved and second um to accept the superintendent's recommendation for classified personnel hearing. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion. May I see a show of hands for all those in favor? They taking me real fast. They ready to go. U Dr. Bird. Thank you, Madam President. At this time, superintendent recommends approval of personnel report teams. May I hear a motion for the recommendation from the superintendent for the team's report? I move that we set accept the superintendent's recommendation. Second.

It has been moved and second to accept the superintendent's recommendation for the team's report. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion. Um, a show of hands for all those in favor. It is unanimous. Thank you. At this time, superintendent recommends approval of part-time supplemental personnel minutes. May I hear a motion um to approve part-time supplemental personnel minutes? I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation.

Second. It has been moved and second to accept the recommendation of the superintendent for part-time supplemental personnel minute. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, may I see a show of hands for all of those in favor? It is you now. Guess what? It's over. [laughter]

The meeting is adjourned at this time. Uh because the calendar dates were had to be approved. Uh they have not been announced but look for them because they will uh stay except for a holiday the second Tuesday of the month. So you can count on that. This meeting is now adjourned and we'll go directly into our business meeting. I would like to call to order the uh work session. At this time there has the quorum is still established. May I have a motion to approve the agenda as printed?

Madame chair, I move that we approve the agenda.

I second it. It has been motioned and second to approve the agenda as printed. At this time, we will receive this information um vulker update, Miss Laura P. All right, good evening again. going to start right on into um PowerPoint. All right, rolling uh into the new Percy Julian High School project. Uh we're currently uh at 15% overall complete for the project and still holding uh for a December 2027 turnover date. There's our multi Vista fly through video.

All right. So that video was actually shot probably two weeks ago and since then um the contractor has actually uh started doing overhead structural steel in area A. So you'll start really seeing that structure come up vertically. Um we've also got the north side stairwell of area A completely topped out with the CMU block. Um, our concrete was poured for the north end of area B and is scheduled for tomorrow. The contractor scheduled for in the morning to for the remaining portion of that slab area B. Um, we've also had concrete complete for the storm shelter foundation footings uh in area B and uh underground plumbing continues with uh rough ends occurring in area D as well. Moving into our new Capitol Heights Middle School project. Uh the past month, we've actually uh advertised for bid for this project uh and received pre-qualified interested general contractors pre-qualification packets. They were due last week. We had nine GC prime GC submit an interest um and so we're working currently on getting those prime GC's notified that they may proceed on uh to bid the project. We've um we've also got Tia John's with Pathway

Research. She's going to begin working coordinating a MBE DBE forum for this project. We're planning on having that at our office, Vulker's office, uh when we return first of the year on the 8th, January 8th at TPM. And that's to allow any interested subcontractors or even prime GCs who may not have been able to get the bonding uh for this particular size project, they can come in and hopefully specialize in other areas of work. And so, um, our efforts there is to get everyone in the room, get the the pre-qualified GC's, uh, to the table with these other entities who are interested in doing a partnership. We've got that rolling out. And, uh, pre-bid for the project will be the following week, which is on the 19th of January, that Thursday. It'll be an on-site pre- bid at the Percy Julian existing Percy Julian High School site. So, um, we're excited about that. Uh, I wanted to also go into Southon Middle School while we're closing out that project. We did have weight room flooring installed within the past few weeks as well as the owner provided uh, weight room equipment has been installed. And then the installation of the BDA uh system will start next week and we anticipate that being complete by Thursday. Uh rolling into our MBE DBE participation, we're still holding uh for the the board's goal of 35% on professional service contracts. We're doing good there. We're low within the GC's contracts and the MBE DBE partnership. So we are hopeful that with our forum on capital heights as well as some of the furniture um portion of

Percy Julian project we'll be able to increase that that partnership in the GC sector and then I've also just added for your acknowledgement partnership with Vulker and our sub consultant are 30% paid to date for those questions. Any question? I Well, I just want to say thank you. I drove by Percy Julian the new site and I saw the steel beams going up. So, it's exciting development happening.

It's really going to start taking shape. Um especially within the next four, five months will be it's just amazing to see it come out of the ground um and that much closer to having those students, faculty. It's impressive. Very impressive. It's going to be really hard. Well, thank you so much. I guess I can say happy holidays now. Yes, ma'am. Merry Christmas. We hope you each have a wonderful holiday break and a very merry Christmas. Thank you. And thank you for bringing my buddy.

Thank you so much, Chad. We'll hear about a facilities update from you. Yes,

ma'am. Uh good evening, Dr. Bird, Miss Portoris, Mrs. Smith, and members of the board. If you'll look at your spreadsheet with me, uh morning view, I was just uh texting our engineer that um we were granted approval for Danley that also did morning view. They're in the middle of the substantial completion now with the state and it's going along very well. Nothing uh major to report. We should receive substantial completion tonight uh for that project. The Davis Elementary uh we did get an update uh during the last month that the windows have been delayed until February. Those are a pre-fabricated window uh different than what we put up at at Morning View, which is a storefront. Uh I will tell you the contractor for Danley going forward is the same contractor for Morning View. They will be going with a storefront option. uh one it saved us some money and two they were able to kind of prefabricate those on site and uh get those done quicker. So uh that is our delay currently at Davis Elementary. Uh that contractor at Davis is very very well um conditioned for NPS. They did the good one job. Once the windows are on site, I know they'll move quickly and uh get that project moving rapidly. the Carver High School uh turf and track replacement. As if you've driven by, you've seen the turf and the goalpost are up. Those are done. Uh we're waiting for a clear patch of weather and let that track dry out to do the milling. And then there's a couple of spots that we have to fix the subgrade on u in the corners basically of the of a couple of areas of the track. And then they will put the asphalt surface down. Once the asphalt is down, it'll have to cure for 30 days and then we'll be able to place the rubber surface on top of it. The rubber surface is very temperature sensitive. You got to have a certain temperature above when it is being laid and and it's got to be there for so many hours. So, we're going to probably fight

that a little bit once we get to those cooler uh temperatures in the end of January, 1 of February for that. But we're pushing to try to get that done before the track season really gets gets kicking and and we have a full track there for the for the students and the coaches to work on. The Forest Avenue roof replacement, we held the pre-bid on December the 9th. Uh we worked out details with principal there as well for layown. It is a very landlocked site. Uh very difficult to to work through some of those constraints. Uh but I think we have a good plan to to mitigate most of that. would be on the the lay down site would be on the back side of the school. We'll have a couple of rolloff dumpsters that will be on that bus lane that will be involved uh to get the debris off, but the buses will still have clear access around the building. And then we're working through where the contractors will park just with all the the traffic that's back there with the teachers, operations, security, it that park on that back side. And then of course the um construction on the front side with ASU. Uh the South Lawn Elementary roof replacement uh pre- bid was held on December the 2nd. Uh the JAG athletic improvements uh that pre-qualifications were submitted. I believe we had six uh prime GC's submit for that and um accepted four of those um to bid for the project and uh we're coming up on that towards the end of this month. We'll have the the pre- bid and then also the uh the bid will happen on January the 8th is where we have that set for for those that will we broke that up into phases again where we're going to redo the the fields at this point in this phase as funding becomes available then we'll add the fieldhouse like we have at the other sites uh that we're working on we've worked on currently so or completed currently and

uh this will include new track new football field baseball field, new softball field, batting cages and lighting in this area in this phase of the Danley Elementary HVAC contract. We presented that earlier. Uh Garrett Elementary Media Center is complete. Hion Elementary Media Center is complete. Where's Faria Media Center is complete. Morning view, the furniture installation is complete. We're doing a little bit of touchup there with some painting and a little bit of flooring. uh that where we pulled out some of the old furniture and old old items in there to to get that there, but we we'll have that complete uh as the students return um for the start of the second semester. The Jag High School media center uh we had our local architect Barry Robinson uh design help us with that redesign with such a big space. We're currently accepting uh different vendors uh furniture items in just to give us a presentation. We'll take that to the school along Miss Huntley here at the district office to get their input from it and we'll scrub that document of names so that it's a it's a fair apples to apples item and get their get the school's input of which design they like the best and then we'll select the vendor from there and uh tweak and finalize the the furniture package for that. We'll look to do an installation this summer of furniture package for that. That's going to be a major major installation. I know we'll have testing and different things come along that they use the media center for in the spring. So, we really want to push that to the summer to make sure we don't mitigate the the issues that would come with the students. All of our furniture renovations with media centers. Received an email today from the state department. Um somehow they got wind of what we're doing with media centers and we're just really excited about that. What we're trying to do is transforms those large gathering areas into a

greater meeting space for more flexibility. A lot of our media centers are the typical bookshelves and old furniture and you know be quiet in there. We want to make it a place of active learning, flexible furniture where you can do different types of meeting setups and uh just try to give our kids an exciting place to to be at and to learn in with those large gathering spaces. the JAG painting and flooring and Goodwin painting and flooring. Uh walk through those both those sites with the architect with McKe and Associates to help us design that piece of it with the painting and flooring. We're also adding a few items in there, some storefront uh glass and items in like and Jag to give it a more secured vestibule when you walk into the main office area. We're going to also add some of the storefront for the library to give it a more appealing entryway into those areas. And then at Goodwin, looking at doing those items, some of those similar items, replacing some of those external doors and also with the painting, what we want to do is paint the ceiling in that area. Um, we looked at trying to do a drop ceiling in the hallway, but there's too much piping and and different things from over the years to be able to raise all of that. So, what we're going to do, we've done it in the library there, the media center at Goodwin, where we did a dryfall dark ceiling on on the high high part of it, which really helped make that disappear and relit that. So, we're going to be look looking at doing that as well with the painting at Goodwin to try to transform that space. Uh, with everything we've done on the outside of the building, we want to really turn our attention to the inside and finish that as well.

Thank you so much. Are there any questions with that update? Good things going on. We're excited. Thank you. Oh, Miss CL Chad, Miss Cloud has one thing for you. Give us the update on the elevators at Lamp. Uh the elevators at Lamp, we were we received a call on that around November the 14th. At that time, I I notified them. We had about a four to six week lead time to receive the parts. Uh confirmed that today. The elevator will be repaired next week on the 17th. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Very good. Thank you so much. At this time, we will have um schools PL contract amendment. Dr. Chenise William.

Good evening, Madame President, Madame Vice President, Dr. Bird, and members of the board. Thank you. Tonight, I will be uh presenting tonight seeking contract amendment to the school's PLP contract tonight. Thank you. School's PLP, the amended contract, the current contract ends January 15 of 2026. Proposed amendment from January 16 to June 2026. Amended contract amount is between $634,350. Um that is because of the number of teacher vacancy seats at 1,800 seats. School's PLP software for teacher vacancy seats, special education services for students with IEPs, grade courses, credit recovery courses, school staff success package and professional development. So those are the terms of the contract amendment and for the period of extension. Also, we currently have schools PLP current usage data um for um this public forum. The schools are um not shown. However, this is the number of students enrolled, their on track status, behind or far behind status. So, I do have the data um for you all. If you would like to see that, I can um ensure that it is sent to you with these schools identified. Any questions? Are there any questions?

Yes. Just send Would you send it to everyone, please? And that way they can Sure. Sure. Yeah. And you can look at your school. Any other questions, concerns, comment? All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Our next agenda item is principal incentive plan. Uh Miss Jacqueline Jquelyn Campbell on your floor and Miss.

Good evening madam president, madame vice president, Dr. Bird and members of the board. We bring greetings on our behalf of our executive director team this evening as we are working through the implementation phase um and moving into the next phase of Dr. Bird's 100day plan. We are here this evening to present a principal incentive pay plan. This is in alignment with the goal that states that we're going to implement initial improvements, address urgent challenges, and align strategies for student success. One of the things that we are working with our principles and our schools is to have overall school improvement, have schools exit federal status, state priority status, and truly improve our overall grade as a district as we're continuing to move with that's information that has come out. Um, working towards school improvement, we want to propose in an effort to strengthen accountability, reward measurable performance, and accelerate academic growth for NPS, we propose the establishment of a principal incentive plan. This plan directly links financial rewards to improvements based on the Alabama State Department of Education report card. So, under this proposal, principles will receive $500 for every point increase in their school's report card score. This approach um really reinforces NPS's our commitment to results driven and that accountability piece um on leadership while invested in the individuals most responsible in that principal seat for driving student achievement. The purpose of course is the rewarding results and investing in our future. We believe that incentivizing principles um when they increase their school's Alabama report card school that again this aligns with strengthening accountability um motivating our leaders

and always focused on student learning outcomes improvement reinforcing NPS's commitment to our excellence and measurable growth and our summary basically is to motivate reward and retain that retention piece is key for high performing principles by establishing a compens compensation model aligned of course with our district goals of excellence, continuous improvement, and accountability. As we look at the overview for this plan and what this means, because of course an incentive plan comes with money, right? We got to hear the money piece of this. So during the 2526 school year, our proposal is that principles will earn um an academic achievement performance incentive. That again, like I stated um just a minute ago, that's would be a 500 per point increase on the report card and an additional thousand dollars for any school who receives a perfect score of 100. The state department does recognize schools that achieve that perfect score, but we also are proposing within our district that we do something um to reward those schools as well because we do have schools that can achieve that and that's something that we want to promote. Um some caveats that go with this as we look at eligibility in order as we speak about that retention piece of those high performing leaders that we want to retain in our district. Principal's eligibility is based on they have to serve at least 80% of the school year and they return for the 26 27 principal role of the same school. So that's the retention piece there. And of course, all this is verified through the office of assessment and accountability as outlined in our state report cards and federal report cards. We also wanted to make sure this is equitable because we know we have schools that have magnet school where there's an application process. Um, we just have different dynamics across our district. So, what we wanted to do was

leverage that and have a specific criteria for magnet school because we already have some schools that are already high performing, high A's. Okay. But that still doesn't mean there's things that cannot improve at that school. We have subgroups. Um we have things that are specific on report cards that we have to focus on even at the magnet level. So for our magnet school criteria um again they will earn an academic performance incentive aligned with the traditional schools 500 per point increase. That same eligibility there for $1,000 for any school that receives a grade of 100. But I do want to note we didn't want to limit that to magnet schools because there are some traditional schools that we feel that can achieve that 100 score as well, you know. So that's open to all principles. Um and it also an additional so this is where it gets more specific for the magnet schools because majority of them are already high A. We do have a couple schools that are B magnet, but an additional $500 can be earned per per report card indicator for magnet schools if a 100% is earned in each indicator. So for achievement, growth, progress in English language proficiency, college and career readiness, grad rate, and chronic absentism. So again, we even though we have schools that have 99 95, all of those indicators are not at 100% because they're weighted in the way that it's calculated. And again, eligible principles must serve that 80% of the school year and they must return in that same role to be able to receive this incentive. And again, all that will be verified um with the state report card in the office of accountability. Greetings. So, what is this going to cost? What does this look like in dollars? So, the physical impact this

past school year, if this incentive plan was implemented during 2425, principles combined would have earned $51,000. Even if participation triple during this school year 2526, the cost will be between 150,000 to $175,000. Now, that's equivalent to one central office specialist, a director, or another um position at the district level. So that should give you a picture of what that um total cost would look like if it had been implemented this year. So budget request for the 2526 academic year incentive again $150 to $175,000. If all schools receive a 100 on the report card, there would be an additional $51,000 increase. Return on investment. We're going to give the money, but what is going to be the return? So, what we have here is what that return will look like. scenario. Current improvement during 2425 estimated cost $51,000. The projected impact was 10 schools improve their grades this um past school year. The second scenario, triple participation. The estimated cost $150,000.

the district moves closer to a B rating. And the third scenario, potential district B, that cost is priceless. It will increase community confidence, student success, and workforce readiness. Why it matters? It matters because it's important that we empower our principles to lead with urgency and purpose. It creates a culture of excellence and results. It improves morale and retention among leaders and it accelerates district-wide academic growth and success. Good evening, Madame President, Vice President, Dr. Bird, and board members. As we look at next steps, we're asking board members if you would review the incentive plan approval December 2025, which is this one. Implementation is now. and for the first incentives for our principles as a reward. Nice Christmas bonus before leaving. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Next year for 2526 for next year. Sorry, I want to jump ahead. I want to jump ahead. Jump ahead. [laughter] I was looking at faces. Our closing message. Montgomery public schools, we're moving. We're moving forward in the right direction. And guess what? We're just

getting started. Words of our superintendent, Dr. Bird. This is an investment. This is an investment. This is an investment for our faculty and staff, our leaders, our community, our students. We are moving in the right direction. And this is the plan that ensures we keep moving forward in the words of our superintendent Dr. Bird. Thank you. Are there any questions? May. Yes, Miss Craig. Thank you. My question is we're talking about all schools, not just those in school improvement. All schools. Thank you. That's what I wanted to make sure. Thank you. Okay, Miss Smith.

Well, I want to say I'm very excited about this and you're right. We're moving in the right direction. And I was looking at a um board meeting in Houston. What is it? Houston Independent School District. I think they did something similar to this. And the outcome is everything you all just named. The superintendent, and I didn't catch his name, but he said every student should walk into an AMB school. And that's the that's the out that's the main goal at the end of the day. So, I just wanted to say kudos to you all putting this together, and we're excited. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ladies.

All right. Miss Jay Jones, strategic partnerships update, please. Good evening, Madame President. Welcome, Dr. Bird. What a great night tonight. A great day today. And our board a great day, right? And to our board members, happy holidays. It's so good to be up here today. I want to start by saying that today was a day filled with excitement but a lot of hard work, dedication, long conversations, a lot of back and forth uh went into this moment. And Dr. Bird, we thank you so much for your vision, uh your patience, uh your uh your dedication to the district. uh in this office, the office of strategic partnerships, uh we now have a lot of work to do and uh we took this semester to really look at our framework and align our goals with what Dr. Bird has laid out for us today. And I am so excited to share that we have our marching orders to reach out to every business, every nonprofit, every community stakeholder that is interested in supporting all children. So, Dr. Bird, we thank you so much. [applause] And just for a quick update, over the past semester, NPS has made significant progress in activating our strategic partnerships, which is designed to strengthen student support, enhance academic engagement, and increase community involvement. Now, these efforts are aligned with the district's broader priorities of improving student outcomes, reducing chronic chronic absenteeism, excuse me,

and expanding opportunities for enrichment and motivation. I'm excited to share that starting next semester, we will launch a mentorship program and we will do so with our partners, Baptist Health. There will be several professionals from all walks of area in healthc care services that will partner with our students in a mentorship or apprent apprenticeship role. And this is exciting. We're looking at starting at uh 8th grade on up. And our dear friend Mr. Tony McKinnon is has taken this initiative and has run with it. So every month or excuse me every week board members you will receive in your board updates this progress and then at the end of the semester we will come and recognize all of our students in this program and we are working to expand this mentorship program to other businesses and community partners across Montgomery. Next up we're excited to share the MPS speaker series. Now, we have developed a district-wide speaker series to inspire students and broaden their exposure to career pathways, arts, culture, and leadership. Now, to kick off this initiative, NPS has recruited Misty Copelan to come and share her personal journey through the world of ballet. And I have to say, thank you, Dr. Bird, for believing in this initiative. At first, he said, "What in the world?

[laughter]

But he did venture over to ASF and he saw our students performing and he said, "Jade, get to it." Now, our goal here at NPS is to ensure all students are exposed to opportunities and experiences. Miss Poris talks about this all the time, so we made sure to incorporate that into this initiative. And we're working to recruit other guest speakers from all walks of life to share personal journeys that connect motivation, resilience, and academic excellence while offering insight into industry and experience experiences that help students envision future possibilities. Again, local and national partners continue to collaborate with NPS to secure diverse and influential speakers. And now an initiative that is near and dear to me, our be present, be prepare, be prepared and be productive initiative has really taken off. We are so happy with our attendance numbers. We do have room to grow. But that was an initiative that we started last May and I am so proud to have our co-ambassadors to carry this message along. That is DA Oliver and of course uh city council member Arande Mitchell. So, we're working every day to remind students and families every day counts when it comes to school. Last but not least, I am proud to share that we have worked hard to secure over $215,000 in sponsorship dollars to support these initiatives. This is an ongoing effort and this is a true testament to the belief and resilience of this community. When we put these initiatives out that Dr. Bird outlined earlier today, the community quickly joined us in this effort. And again, this is an ongoing uh process and

we're truly truly proud to be able to put more in front of our community so that they can engage with their student board members. We want to thank you all for your support. We'll continue to update you so you can carry on this message for us. And again, we are truly moving forward together. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any questions for Jade? Any comments? That speaker series is going to be amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for supporting it. Thank you. Thank you. That's going to be good, madame president.

Thank you. Uh I will it is a comment. Uh we have traveled around the country looking at other programs and the comment was made today which is going to stand true. Montgomery will be the flagship for others to come and visit and see how this thing should be done. We thank you so so very much for your diligence and hard work. And we thank those of you and you know who you are who have supported our dreams to move forward uh and and helped us to see who we can be. Thank you

so much. That is true. Our next uh agenda item is unfinished business. Let me explain. This is new. And one of the things too uh if Dr. Bird is moving us fast and we're in this new cycle of excellence, so the board has to be excellent too. And one of the things we want to do is put in a series of unfinished business. Sometimes we hear a presentation or we uh hear something that's coming and we don't quite know where we stand with it. This unfinished business allows uh one of the board members or myself to give an update. We've received this, we've looked at it, we've worked through it, and here we are. This is where we are with it. So, we want to make sure we're concluding all of our business and when we scratch it off, it is indeed final. Um, that is not different from new. We still will have new business, but unfinished business will be all of the business that is left out there. So, I just wanted to let you I wanted to put it on tonight so you'll know that it's coming every month. And if you have something that you don't think is finished or we need to look at, please let me know and we'll address it in our work. Easy tonight. Okay. New business. [laughter] New business. I think we have an item, an important item from Dr. Keith. she will address us with her new business.

Okay. Um I didn't know whether to put this under unfinished business or new business. Okay.

Um because uh the last board meeting I we spoke of chronic absences because that's huge whether it's teachers, whether it's students and um you know when I talked to Dr. bird about this. We were both we were both on the same page because, you know, the policy was changed by one word where it was like the students uh may miss or will miss and we've got students with, you know, chronic absences. And I think sometimes we can we can get in front of ourselves. We we can be the problem because I think about it. I'm going to give you an example. My my um my oldest son just had his first child. Of course, I don't really I'll leave it at that because my no my daughter-in-law doesn't watch this. This is a good thing. But I'm not I'll be honest with you. I'm not a real fan. Hopefully, God, I hope she doesn't. But um she'll kill me now. But but I won't. But what I'm saying is I didn't know. Okay, I had babies what 29 years ago was the last child. I didn't know what RSV was and stuff like that. And I know I, you know, I went to kiss the baby and and then I, you know, my my daughter said, "Don't kiss the baby." You know, and I had traveled all the way to Knoxville to see this baby. And of course, I wanted to choke her, but I didn't. We can get in front of ourselves. And with absency, my my husband, she and then she put a Facebook thing on there and and it was like, well, common sense says you don't kiss the baby. Well, here here's this. When we look at chronic absentee, when we look at that, we always have these programs that are going to fix our grade and we're almost like forcing our kids to pass. You know, today we've had such a good day, and I'm not trying to put a damper on it, but some of the things that Dr. Bird has told us, and you can read it and see it, is I see you. I hear you. But do we hear our teachers? See, our teachers are frustrated because we are

making them teach and retach. I've learned this in um Dr. Felton's teacher academy. Talked to I don't know how many teachers that are frustrated because even I I say my own son. I'm learning more sitting behind this end of it where I've said, "Hey, how is everything? This isn't my own son, but this was a teacher. You were there." And he said, "I I loved it, but now I just like it." And of course, I'm that digger. I'm that why? Let's dig deeper. So, what I'm saying, the thing that I've changed from last time to this time is we got to ask this huge question. Why are teachers absent? Why are students absent? Because let's let's face it, one, they could be ill. Two, they may not understand the material. Or three, they might not care. And when we come up programs with MTSS and we are forcing teachers to pass them on and if you don't, hey, do all this paperwork, turn it in. Little Johnny's got to do this. Guess what? We are getting in front of ourselves and we're causing the red flags to come up because some teachers are just passing them. Then they go take a test and they fall. They fail. And we've got to to look at some of the things. It's just like my husband put on Facebook with my daughter-in-law. He said, 'You know what? Kids have been born and been kissed on the face since prehistoric days, and all of a sudden in 2026, we can't kiss a baby. Well, in 2025, now we've got to come up with all this mess like MTSS, retach and teach. Even those kids that don't want to be retaught. And you know who's suffering? Those kids that are making the A's and B's that have to sit there because those kids have walked in 20 minutes late, a day late, two weeks late. It's not that they're absent for a

reason and sometimes that reason may be us and some of the rules that we have made right here because we've got to get best back to the basics. That's that's one of the things that I want to say tonight and I'm ending we let's talk about chronic absenteeism but let's also talk about getting back to the basics of hey everybody doesn't have to pass. We we have to have accountability. Yes, we want that. But on that incentive plan with the principles, hey, amen. When he told me about it, I was I was like almost doing some results in his office. I was like, this is the best thing. But we've also got to give incentives to these teachers and we've got to give incentives to these students. It doesn't have to be $500, but we there's so many systems that are doing this. And I think once we see the good in what it does with our principles, and I'd love to see recognitions when they get that $500. Hey, let's put them up here. Let's take pictures with them, too, because that's what's important. So, I want to, like I said, today, I hope you heard me in that it's not just chronic absenteeism. We have to hear them. We have to see them. Why? Why could it could we be a part of the problem?

Um, Miss Gl,

I'm listening to everything you said, Dr. And I'm in total agreement. But it goes back to the why. We need advisory period so that teachers can connect with children, students other than just academics. We need to know the why they had to stay at home. We need to know the why of they're not engaged anymore. We need to know the why before we can do anything else. Because if we give them the chance to talk to us to a an adult, it's not about grades. It's not about reprimand. It's about tell me about your day. Tell me about your past weekend.

And let me say this. Uh Erica or our our our board member Erica said had lunch with us today. And it's so funny. At lunch, I said, "Hey, did y'all see the news last night? They had this grandma's stand." And and she said, "I saw it, too, Lis. It was great." And it I don't know if y'all saw it last night, but it was a grandma's stand in Houston, Texas. And it was a little fair they had and they had grandma's, three grandmas sitting there that took turns and the kids got they they got on the news and they said, "You know what? These kids came to us about, you know, winning a basketball game or losing a grandmother or losing a pet." That's what you're talking about is we've got to get more than just math. And if we if we take the time to get to know these kids, they're going to want to learn. They're going to have fun learning. And like I said, I know we've got I've got plenty of y'all that are ready to jump on this committee. But like I said, I think we've got to plan some dates. I'm planning on making a PowerPoint, you know, to go step by step to say, "Hey, this is what's going on. Do y'all know this?" Because I think there's things that we don't know that we need to know.

We have to look at the whole child. I think that um too and and then Dr. Bird's staff will know how far to go because you have to be careful talking to children. Everybody doesn't allow their children to talk to strangers about their business at home. You can't ask my grandbabies what you did. Why you want to know?

No, but I I'm I'm just kidding about that. But I do teachers I do understand. But there are some barriers. So you have have to be careful and we want them to to learn and just for clarity I think one of the things Dr. he said was everybody don't have to pass. But she doesn't mean everybody don't does everybody does not have the opportunity to pass. These children are are given a scale. And I think as we get better and as teachers get better, I think there was somebody that talked to us about a room. Was that you Dr. B? It was about in the schools there was a room just to go in and relax. Was it theft care? Yeah, we I think we need some of those where if I'm I'm gonna tell y'all this story and my daughter won't get me, but my daughter had a bad car accident. Airbag broke her wrist, everything. That happened on a Saturday. I was frantic at the emergency room. The girls at home crying. Monday, we couldn't get to school, nor did we think about going to school. What I told Addie, take that uniform off. We have to figure out how to get this hand girl hand working or mama's in pain. She's headed to surgery. We have to be so careful with absenteeism because the letter that you get, if somebody misses a button, you get a letter saying that you're in trouble instead of saying, "What can I do to help? this baby's normally not out or I noticed little Johnny hadn't been at school for 4 days. You know what can we do? I think being more human and concerned about their well-being instead of you didn't come to school so that's going to count against us on the

state report card. Them people don't care about that. They just move from may have moved from one situation to another. They're trying to intact this family. keep these children safe, keep them fed, keep them warm, that's a lot. So, I I absolutely agree with you. And then when you all do this committee, if you'll do some of that kind of thing, find out how we can go the extra mile. Do we need some extra hands in these schools to just relieve a teacher? You know, sometime I'll go into some of my schools and say, "Well, yeah, I'll be here for five minutes or 10 minutes." And then sometime you can't stay that long but you I be trying you know to relieve them for a little while and and you just need they just need a place to so maybe in these schools maybe we can find a partner Jay to get a massage chair uh uh and to get put some candles in there and you know just let them relax for a minute. Yeah. Self-care. Absolutely. But I love that we are going to get busy on that and I hope you all get a schedule. I think you have plenty help. Just ask for it.

Miss Portoris, remember I taught kindergarten at one time. Circle time was very interesting. Children tell you a lot and you and you and you but you're trusted because you're a professional. So they get to talk and you got to keep it confidential. But oh some parents I'd look at them I said I know who you are. M they cut circle time out because [laughter] Oh, no they didn't. No, they didn't. No, they didn't. Well, I remember my child, you wouldn't even have my child for circle time and she was in your classroom missing from her.

Well, I was like, she was, but she was talking circle time with me. [laughter] Well, that brings us to the end of our um revised work session. To every employee we have with Montgomery Public Schools, we just wish you happy holidays. We wish you safe travels. If you're traveling, we ask you to think about your future as you make choices and be be safe. Be safe. Be kind to one another. Love on your folks. spend you some self-c care time where you do nothing. If Dr. Bird text you, you don't have to answer right away. Right away, right away. Answer for the night over though. But uh spend you spend you some time loving on each other. Happy holidays to you. We trust you. We're we're we support you. And in 2026, we'll look at doing all things better for you. And this meeting is now adjourned. It's important that every student goes to [music] school every single day.

That's right. Every single school day. Because face it, if we don't come to school, how will [music] we prepare ourselves for our futures? I want to be prepared for the future. So, I'm making sure I go to school every day. Parents, did you know that if a student misses at least two days of school a month, they've [music] missed at least 20% of classroom instruction? And missing that much of school without a valid reason causes students to fall behind academically. Let's work together to ensure students are present in the classroom. Together, we can do this because it's our [music] future. It's our future. And our future impacts our communities. Let's be present [music] together. No PS.