[0:00] Just watch I'm watching the countdown.

[0:49] I call this meeting to order of the

[0:51] Tazewell County School Board and the

[0:52] Tazewell County Board of Supervisors.

[1:00] Uh if we if you would mind if we stood

[1:02] for a moment of silence and then did the

[1:04] pledge of allegiance. The flag is

[1:17] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[1:20] United States of America

[1:22] and to the republic for which it stands,

[1:25] one nation under God, indivisible, with

[1:29] liberty and justice for all.

[1:41] Uh any motion for approving the agenda?

[1:48] Do I have a second?

[1:50] All those in favor?

[1:53] Do you guys have to do anything with the

[1:54] agenda?

[2:01] Okay.

[2:02] Um overview of the meeting of the

[2:04] uh meeting purpose.

[2:05] Uh

[2:06] Chair Presley and I have been working on

[2:08] this uh put this meeting together for

[2:10] quite a while cuz we know the importance

[2:11] of these two boards working together. We

[2:13] are two boards that deal with every

[2:16] aspect of Tazewell County life from uh

[2:19] from Richlands to Bluefield, uh whether

[2:21] you're a student, a parent, or a a

[2:24] citizen.

[2:25] We have something to do with and we are

[2:28] trying to work towards a positive future

[2:30] with everybody. And by working together

[2:32] with open communication and with working

[2:35] together, then we can get a lot done.

[2:37] I'll I'll give you an example a short

[2:40] quick example.

[2:42] When uh Curtis came to us uh regarding

[2:45] uh doing a cross country meet at

[2:48] uh Cavitt's Creek,

[2:50] um

[2:51] he had he had already been talking to

[2:52] the Richlands uh coach. What he'd been

[2:54] doing doing with that, talking about how

[2:56] Richlands didn't have a cross country

[2:58] meet, but Tazewell did, Graham had one,

[3:01] but uh but Richlands did not have one.

[3:03] Uh wanted to put it in Cavitt's Creek,

[3:05] came to us, we worked what we did it in

[3:08] the meeting before. Uh just us working

[3:11] together, uh Tazewell County would be

[3:13] able to do the the amount of the the the

[3:15] distance. I'm not sure if you call it

[3:17] the track or whatever you call it the

[3:18] cross country, but whatever the The

[3:20] course. The course. Thank you. Thank you. I'm just I'm just upset

[3:24] this wasn't done sooner so Abigail could

[3:26] have won that Well,

[3:30] she probably would.

[3:33] Well, it but also he was talking about

[3:35] how how Cavitt's Creek is one of the

[3:37] jewels of Tazewell County. And where

[3:39] Graham already has a meet, Tazewell

[3:41] already has a meet, Richlands didn't

[3:42] have one, and for us and we were able to

[3:45] take care of it right then. The schools

[3:47] are going to be able to work together.

[3:48] Uh

[3:49] I said the the county will try to

[3:51] uh Curtis and them will try to set up

[3:53] the the track or the the course, but um

[3:57] able to work together and get that going

[3:59] and we're able to do it quickly before I

[4:01] mean without any of the mess. We didn't

[4:03] even have to do a uh bring it to this

[4:05] meeting. It was taken care of in the

[4:06] previous meeting. And to have more

[4:09] people with his idea of Brick having

[4:11] more people go to Cat Street and see it

[4:13] cuz it is truly one of the jewels of Cat

[4:15] Square County. And not a lot of people

[4:17] see it. So, to have that track meet

[4:18] there even though it's not in Richland.

[4:20] really didn't have some place

[4:21] to do a cross country meet, but to be

[4:24] able to have it there

[4:26] we're able to work on that and get that

[4:27] done immediately. That's a small

[4:29] example, but that's an example of what

[4:32] of we can do to help

[4:34] positively impact our communities. We

[4:36] are two entities. We have we employ more

[4:39] people than anybody else in Cat Square

[4:41] County but us together. And we have we

[4:44] can have the biggest impact. So, I think

[4:46] it's important that we all work together

[4:48] and we look forward to the positive

[4:50] future for Cat Square County.

[4:52] And I think I'll just reiterate over

[4:53] here. So, we've been meeting a lot and I

[4:55] told myself and my girlfriend we've been

[4:56] meeting a lot actually. You know what

[4:57] Eric again I'm kidding.

[4:59] And I think we've uh I think we both

[5:01] understand

[5:03] whatever happened before before a long

[5:05] time ago we both start working together.

[5:07] Cat Square County will do the same

[5:08] thing.

[5:09] 8 years, 12 years.

[5:12] So, we just want to come together. We

[5:14] had a good 303 meeting last week. I

[5:15] think we accomplished a lot. Mhm. And I

[5:17] think we need to start having that

[5:19] probably another 2 weeks. We should get

[5:20] all this stuff to hammer out and have a

[5:21] notice

[5:22] frequently then once a year Eric and I

[5:24] we spoke about it in October having a

[5:27] joint meeting again with everybody.

[5:29] And then we can either do it at our

[5:30] place that next time or at his place and

[5:32] then show everybody hey we're working

[5:34] towards common goals.

[5:35] We don't want the county to and the

[5:37] school board to know that. It's not a

[5:39] good look for our people and our

[5:40] citizens and kids and the county and the

[5:42] board.

[5:43] I think this right now is a huge start

[5:44] tonight to have everybody together and

[5:46] start working on the same goals. And we

[5:48] appreciate all of you guys coming out

[5:49] just because this isn't a normal

[5:51] meeting. This is a time that you could

[5:52] be with your family at sporting events,

[5:55] wherever. But, we do appreciate

[5:57] everybody coming out to work on this.

[5:59] So, um

[6:01] Mr. Matheny. Uh

[6:05] We're going to talk about the budget.

[6:20] Good evening, board members.

[6:23] Nice to see everybody.

[6:25] Um I think I'm up here to give you a

[6:27] quick snapshot of the budget that we

[6:29] have uh

[6:30] approved as of this point

[6:32] and a little detail behind it. Um

[6:35] basically, um the state has a

[6:38] calculation tool that they they've uh

[6:41] put out on December the 17th.

[6:43] And uh based on that calculation tool

[6:45] and our enrollment,

[6:47] uh they pretty much mandate what they're

[6:48] given and what our uh county's going to

[6:51] provide us.

[6:52] So, right now um

[6:54] the number is uh the state's going to

[6:56] give us 57.9 million.

[6:59] And uh they've mandated the local share

[7:01] from the county to be 18.1 million.

[7:04] Of course, this is based on uh current enrollment numbers and a few

[7:08] little uh

[7:10] extra curricular things on site that uh

[7:13] primarily enrollment numbers.

[7:16] There is a current uh budget said to be

[7:18] passed anytime now.

[7:21] And uh that's the word inside. There

[7:23] will be a Hopefully, they'll um they'll

[7:25] probably be a new calculation tool done

[7:27] within the next near future, a couple

[7:28] weeks. So, we'll adjust as it comes out.

[7:32] But, um

[7:34] primarily, our budget is made up of

[7:37] this calculation tool that they have for

[7:39] us and uh

[7:41] the mandate of what they consider the

[7:43] county to get us and then uh the uh what uh ex- our experience on what we

[7:48] get from federal funds.

[7:50] Uh so you get all those together, that's

[7:52] pretty much our outlay for the year.

[7:56] So, I mean that's basically it. If

[7:58] anybody has any

[8:00] questions or comments.

[8:04] Anything? Mhm.

[8:06] I I would go in and ask a question

[8:08] yesterday

[8:09] with the governor. There

[8:10] and she spoke

[8:12] that they're making progress but she did

[8:14] not provide a timeline.

[8:17] And

[8:18] but she did not

[8:20] She When I was speaking at the talk with

[8:22] her, she said that the new

[8:24] administration could not change the

[8:25] formula about the counties paying for

[8:28] it. Have you heard anything else about

[8:29] that?

[8:30] They But I would say this, there's been

[8:31] talk in the school board meeting

[8:33] the formula for the last couple of

[8:34] years.

[8:35] And I think some of the confusion is

[8:37] that the formula benefits small rural

[8:39] counties like ours now.

[8:41] And it hurts the larger counties like

[8:42] us.

[8:44] Both of us guys. But yes, it has been

[8:47] It's been debated. Okay.

[8:51] One thing I would add is that he said

[8:54] that number

[8:55] and two and a half million

[8:58] and he said

[9:00] that means that it's number one

[9:03] mandated mass county city hall property

[9:06] tax

[9:09] So, where does

[9:10] all of our property tax money

[9:12] go also like

[9:14] So, that is the

[9:16] difference.

[9:19] So, that makes

[9:21] But probably the next everything cuts.

[9:24] We probably cut everything

[9:27] with that number.

[9:28] And that number will go up.

[9:31] And that's what I mean. I mean

[9:34] 50%

[9:37] What What the two

[9:39] I mean we saw that we discussed it at

[9:40] the 2.7 maybe a reimbursement type of

[9:43] thing or

[9:45] So how how's that work? Tom Lester runs

[9:47] off of the budget he sent in to the

[9:48] state of the house budget. I don't know

[9:51] if you guys are familiar with this they

[9:52] were supposed to refund $2

[9:56] 2.1 you're still getting funded 18.1 so

[9:58] that's the new minimum but they'll give

[10:00] us 2 million back so we'll have to take

[10:02] out technically

[10:03] 2.1 that would be

[10:05] It'd be worth it yeah. You know this

[10:06] hard for us to allocate that but that's

[10:08] a discussion for another time.

[10:10] And that's

[10:11] I I think it's the point that I'm just

[10:12] trying to show

[10:13] that our LC budget

[10:15] Um that includes the 2 million plus

[10:20] Yeah so it wasn't it wasn't because of

[10:21] the money allocated so

[10:22] It's because of the state gap. Does that

[10:24] number get changed up and down some in

[10:26] the real budget to pass?

[10:28] Well and and I'll just add that 2

[10:30] million that's only in the house budget.

[10:33] That's not in the They had like I think

[10:35] 400 million allocated in there is what

[10:37] Will told me. It's not in the Senate

[10:39] budget.

[10:40] So

[10:42] Hopefully we'll get that.

[10:50] Right. Thank you ma'am.

[10:53] Thank you.

[10:58] Uh new school construction and current

[11:00] renovations Dr. Stacy. Yes sir. Um

[11:03] board had asked board had asked to give

[11:04] an update. Thank you Mike. So I will

[11:06] start with the boiler project at

[11:08] Tazewell Middle School. Of the three

[11:10] projects that I'll discuss tonight it's

[11:11] the closest to being coming to fruition.

[11:14] Uh I'll just read what Train has sent

[11:16] me. So far they have decommissioned

[11:18] disconnected and removed the oldest

[11:19] coal-fired boiler and its control panel.

[11:22] Poured housekeeping pads to install the

[11:23] new boilers on.

[11:25] Poured a concrete pad behind the

[11:26] building and beside the baseball field

[11:28] for placement of six 1,000 gallon

[11:30] propane fuel tanks and vaporizers.

[11:32] Installed the tanks on the concrete pad.

[11:34] Delivered to site prefab piping for new

[11:37] hydronic heating water system. Delivered

[11:39] all new hydronic heating heating boilers

[11:41] and auxiliaries consisting of but not

[11:44] limited to boilers, pumps, expansion

[11:45] tanks, valves, air separators,

[11:47] strainers, etc. Placed the new boilers

[11:50] on the housekeeping pads. Updated the

[11:52] lighting in the boiler room to LED

[11:53] lighting for safety due to due to

[11:55] existing low light status and added a

[11:57] 208/230

[11:59] VAC transformer and 200 amp panel for

[12:02] pumps in the new boiler electrical

[12:03] system. This this project is really 6

[12:06] weeks away from from coming to to being

[12:09] completed. What has kind of slowed it up

[12:11] is we kept the boiler at Castlewood

[12:13] since we had a cold spell here lately.

[12:15] So, we usually would have the boilers

[12:16] turned off by now, but with the chilly

[12:18] nights and stuff we've left this boiler

[12:19] in operation. So, once we we think we're

[12:22] through the cold weather we disconnect

[12:24] it.

[12:25] They'll They'll be done in about 6

[12:26] weeks. So, hopefully in the next week or

[12:28] two we'll be able to to stop that. And

[12:31] just as a reminder, this is a 1.1

[12:33] million 317,650

[12:36] dollar project.

[12:42] For our high school bathroom project,

[12:44] the update from Thompson and Litton is

[12:46] that uh

[12:48] the the project is out to bid right now.

[12:50] Uh there was a pre-bid meeting on April

[12:52] the 8th. We'll have bid openings on May

[12:54] the 6th and then we'll go from there.

[12:56] And the estimate on this project is 1.4

[12:59] million.

[13:01] And again, that's the male and female

[13:03] bathrooms, four bathrooms at each of the

[13:05] high schools.

[13:06] How many How many contractors came to

[13:08] the pre-bid meeting?

[13:10] I don't that's not on my minute.

[13:21] For the Tazewell High School wall

[13:22] project, uh

[13:24] the issue with bid was April the 21st.

[13:27] Uh there'll be a mandatory pre-bid

[13:28] meeting on May the 4th. Bid openings

[13:30] will be May the 21st.

[13:33] Estimated uh

[13:35] financing for this or estimate of cost

[13:36] for this one is between 800,000 to a

[13:38] million dollars.

[13:43] And just as a reminder to everyone,

[13:45] these projects have been approved by the

[13:46] school board and the board of

[13:47] supervisors to use the sequestered funds

[13:50] that the school board is or excuse me,

[13:52] board of supervisors are maintaining.

[13:54] Um

[13:55] Any questions about any of those

[13:57] projects?

[14:02] Okay.

[14:03] Uh moving on, it's uh

[14:05] this one is exciting. Uh I keep saying

[14:08] progress being made. If we could you I

[14:11] think all the board members have

[14:12] drawings at their seats and then they're

[14:15] also on the screens behind you.

[14:18] And what I'd just kind of like to show

[14:20] tonight, I think Mr. Young has already

[14:21] shown the board of supervisors and I've

[14:23] shown the school board, but again is is

[14:25] talking to uh RRMM and Chris Phillips

[14:28] had wanted to be here tonight. At the

[14:30] last second he had something come up, he

[14:32] couldn't be here. But the the exciting

[14:34] part I think from when this process

[14:36] started, when we just started talking

[14:38] about it, was where could we put a new

[14:40] school?

[14:41] And I think

[14:42] between myself and Mr. Young and all of

[14:44] the Richland area board members and

[14:46] other committee members, we've scoured

[14:48] that area uh pretty well. And we've

[14:50] looked at the treetops and the and the

[14:52] ridges and the and the valleys as well.

[14:55] But excitingly, through RRMM's work and

[14:57] expertise, it looks like the new school

[15:00] could be adjacent to Richland High

[15:02] School. So we can use existing

[15:05] uh campus space without having to go out

[15:07] and acquire new land, um

[15:10] which I think is going to be a big cost

[15:12] savings for all of us. Um as we know

[15:14] we've been approved for a a grant from

[15:16] the Department of Ed for school

[15:18] construction for 13.5 million. And I

[15:20] think some of the sites we looked at

[15:22] originally we were afraid that maybe

[15:24] land acquisition and and getting the

[15:26] land ready made up a large portion of

[15:28] that. So, uh

[15:31] to have something that's that's feasible

[15:32] on our existing campus I think is is

[15:34] exciting. Allows the students in

[15:36] Richland to again keep on that campus

[15:39] uh adjacent facilities to be utilized by

[15:41] all the kids. So, that's uh that's what

[15:44] I wanted to show you tonight. If you're

[15:45] looking at and this is not a uh you

[15:47] know, again this is the 50,000-ft view,

[15:50] but some of the orange and purple uh

[15:53] lines that you see over there are

[15:54] traffic flows. And what those of us who

[15:57] were in the meetings

[15:58] we talked about parent drop-off, bus

[16:00] drop-off, and those things. So, that's what those different colors are denoting there. And again,

[16:06] if this comes to fruition Richland

[16:08] Middle School would be demolished and

[16:11] that would be a uh opened up for a large

[16:12] parking area and tennis courts on that

[16:15] far side of the campus.

[16:21] And again, what we have been talking

[16:22] about we we started again originally

[16:25] looking at maybe a pre-K through seven

[16:27] school and and through working with RRMM

[16:31] uh the cost for a school that size was

[16:33] probably going to be out of our budget.

[16:34] And so, we looked at making it a sixth

[16:36] through seven. Again, not set in stone,

[16:39] but that's kind of the area that we're

[16:40] looking at. I think that would fall

[16:42] probably within the board of supervisors

[16:44] budget that they could handle and would

[16:46] also allow allow us to uh

[16:48] adjust our grade configurations in that

[16:50] middle school.

[16:52] And there's a way to get in and get out

[16:53] of that area and not have to go through

[16:54] the campus.

[16:55] Absolutely.

[16:57] It'd be better to have all those

[16:58] students

[16:59] To be able to keep it right there, uh I

[17:01] think that's huge.

[17:02] For all of you Richland community. I'm

[17:04] excited about the

[17:05] traffic patterns. It doesn't look like

[17:08] there's going to be any

[17:10] On paper it works very well. You know,

[17:11] you It looks great. Hopefully it works

[17:13] as well. Uh I will say this, RRMM and

[17:16] talking to them, there really wasn't

[17:18] Miss Hill was with us on on the meeting.

[17:21] Not a lot of scenarios that you could

[17:22] throw out that they haven't seen before

[17:24] or they haven't worked with. So, talking

[17:26] about traffic flow and even building a

[17:28] building connected to an existing

[17:30] building,

[17:31] um doesn't scare them. They've done it

[17:32] in other places. And the exciting part,

[17:34] too, is they do this work while we're

[17:36] still in school. So, there may be a

[17:38] section of the school that top limits

[17:39] for a minute, but it it still allows us

[17:42] to have school while this construction's

[17:43] going on.

[17:44] What do you think your time table would

[17:46] be to finish up in 2 years?

[17:48] I asked the man yesterday. I said, "If I

[17:50] had all the money in the world today,"

[17:52] he said, "You're probably still looking

[17:53] at a spring uh '29 or fall '30."

[17:57] Um

[17:58] excuse me.

[17:59] Fall of '29 if if everything would fall

[18:02] in place. Looking at 8 8 to 12 months of

[18:05] engineering design and then 2 years of

[18:09] construction.

[18:11] And again,

[18:12] you know, you know, everybody's built

[18:14] stuff. You know, things can happen, but

[18:15] we feel better about this than some plan

[18:18] that we don't know anything about that

[18:20] we could acquire or maybe acquire. And

[18:22] the the unknowns, I think, outweigh us

[18:24] being able to put it on our own campus.

[18:27] So, just to follow up on something you

[18:28] were saying earlier, you said you have a

[18:30] plan and

[18:31] you have an existing line that you're

[18:33] prepared to

[18:34] start the new school on.

[18:36] I think it's going to take some time to

[18:38] You're giving it

[18:39] Yeah. Thanks, Dr. Graham.

[18:41] Mhm.

[18:42] Yeah. We get Graham.

[18:44] Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, what what

[18:47] Would the Do you have to add another

[18:49] auditorium Yes, ma'am. If If you're

[18:52] looking at this, and I know it's it's

[18:54] just a kind of a black blob right now,

[18:56] but if you look at where the existing

[18:57] field house is, if you come directly to

[19:00] the left, that would be a competition

[19:02] gymnasium, like what Mitchell Middle

[19:03] School has now. Okay. But, you would not

[19:06] tear down the existing high school gym.

[19:08] So, it it would benefit those kids to

[19:09] have the two gyms. Yeah. Uh

[19:11] we originally had had really hoped Mr.

[19:14] Young and I had talked about this for a

[19:16] couple of years, maybe keeping the

[19:17] existing gym at Renaissance Middle

[19:19] School. And then talking to the

[19:21] architects and everybody that comes in,

[19:22] they can't believe that the gym's in

[19:25] this good of shape as it is because the

[19:27] outlying locker rooms and hallways have

[19:29] sunk. While the shower walls had fallen

[19:32] in, and so they said, "If

[19:35] it's working right now, but once we

[19:37] start demolishing the rest of it, that

[19:39] water issue's going to be just going to

[19:40] rear its head again." And they couldn't

[19:42] verify that it would be a safe

[19:43] structure. So, I think in our

[19:45] discussions that we've had recently, it

[19:47] would be

[19:48] demoed as well. Is there any that like

[19:51] would you be able to reutilize the

[19:53] gymnasium floor cuz it's a pretty nice

[19:56] at least it was.

[19:57] >> I'm sure I'm sure, yeah.

[20:00] It'll need replaced but

[20:02] Probably. I I don't know, but anything

[20:04] that we can

[20:05] save, yes ma'am, we will.

[20:08] Yeah.

[20:09] So, the chances of the floor

[20:11] like

[20:12] the bleachers or whatever being able to

[20:13] be repurposed Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

[20:15] Yeah. I just don't want us to lose the

[20:17] granite.

[20:20] Yeah, and I think the last year Mr.

[20:21] Young and I worked together to kind of

[20:24] devise a plan. I won't say that we we

[20:27] fast on that plan, but we had a plan as

[20:29] far as utilizing the granite.

[20:57] The one thing I suggest is this is all

[21:00] building a school or something old.

[21:03] Yeah.

[21:08] Um

[21:09] So, I'm I'm impressed with this.

[21:13] Uh price tag is healthy.

[21:16] Um

[21:17] You know, we had planned to take this

[21:20] recommendation from 4 Rivers.

[21:22] So,

[21:24] I think it would be a good advice to

[21:25] revisit 4 Rivers

[21:27] and bring them at the same time

[21:29] and see what their volume projections

[21:30] are and what their projections are.

[21:32] And take those numbers back to Davenport

[21:34] and you know, do the original study once

[21:37] and see exactly how much we can afford

[21:40] with the projections 4 Rivers and

[21:43] was to contain this expense within that

[21:46] new revenue stream so we wouldn't have

[21:48] to tax existing revenue streams

[21:51] to

[21:51] cover the cost. So, I think we can

[21:53] revisit that

[21:55] and see where we are now that we have a

[21:56] ballpark number here.

[21:58] Uh

[21:59] that's a significant number of client

[22:01] offices savings and other offices.

[22:07] I got

[22:08] There's something I wanted to ask you. I

[22:09] know the governor spoke about a 1% sales

[22:11] tax for school construction. Has she

[22:13] mentioned anything about that to you

[22:14] guys or to the superintendent? Not yet,

[22:16] no, sir. Okay.

[22:21] Does anybody else have any other

[22:22] comments?

[22:24] Uh we need to uh do a vote for approval

[22:27] of the drawing.

[22:29] Do I have a motion? I make a motion to

[22:31] approve the drawing as

[22:33] Do I have a second?

[22:35] All those in favor? Aye.

[22:38] Thank you.

[22:41] Is there anything that you guys need to

[22:43] do right now, Chuck, or does that take

[22:44] care of No, we're

[22:46] That sounds good. Uh next is the

[22:47] comprehensive study of the Career

[22:49] Technical Center.

[22:50] Um

[22:51] H.J. Robinson found uh a grant that

[22:53] would pay for a comprehensive study of

[22:55] the Career Technical Center. And this is

[22:57] a fantastic program where they're going

[22:59] to come in and they're going to study

[23:01] what what classes are being offered

[23:04] right now and then what possibly needs

[23:07] to be offered so that we would be able

[23:08] to work better with our communities so

[23:11] that our kids would have a better

[23:12] opportunity to have success once they

[23:14] leave high school with certifications.

[23:16] And this is a program that comes in and

[23:18] does a complete study on every aspect of

[23:21] our CTE program to be able to help our

[23:23] kids and help our community to work

[23:25] better together.

[23:27] And so I'm I'm very very excited about

[23:32] And one thing

[23:33] you know Jordan Dylan she was talking to

[23:35] me last year about a after school

[23:38] vocational student. That's something

[23:39] that I've been talking about for a long

[23:40] time. I don't know if you've heard about

[23:42] this type of program. I think it would

[23:44] be good if we could support them and we

[23:45] have I think a lot of people

[23:48] For me when I was in high school I was

[23:50] thinking about vocational but now that

[23:52] I'm older I wish I would have gone to

[23:53] vocational all those years. Yeah, I

[23:55] would have loved to. You know and I

[23:56] think that sometimes you get stuck in

[23:57] I'm going to college I need a four year

[23:59] degree.

[24:00] I wish I had some vocational school.

[24:02] So I think we can offer more for people

[24:04] that are out of school too.

[24:09] So we'll just explore make it happen.

[24:13] Yeah, didn't we already have that

[24:14] program that was being offered down

[24:16] there that was it mechatronics or it was

[24:19] chemical engineering? The night classes

[24:21] yeah.

[24:25] But no

[24:26] I just think it's that is so important

[24:29] to put classes and to make sure that

[24:31] we're offering what needs to be offered

[24:33] so that these kids have more success

[24:35] after they leave high school.

[24:36] And also to be able to get jobs within

[24:38] our community we working better with the companies that are already here in

[24:41] our community. So cuz if a kid can get a

[24:44] job here they're going to stay here.

[24:46] And then if they can't get a job they're

[24:47] going to move someplace else. So that

[24:49] just helps us all around. So hopefully

[24:52] this study will be able to come in and

[24:54] be able to do that and that would be

[24:56] wonderful. So one thing we talked about,

[24:58] I know Phil and Walter talked about it.

[25:00] If you graduate from Graham High School,

[25:02] so if you go into a trade and you come

[25:04] out of a trade school, you have a trade

[25:07] or a votech and you go work for a local

[25:08] employer, we would give a rebate to the

[25:10] machinery and equipment tax.

[25:12] Find ways to be creative cuz we always

[25:15] we give kids money to go to college

[25:16] sometimes.

[25:18] I think it'd be good to get them to stay

[25:19] here and work. A cut in their employer

[25:22] cut in their state account.

[25:24] So, I think that's something we need to

[25:25] explore but people would love it. Like,

[25:26] "Hey, you saved our county. You're going

[25:28] to get a rebate maybe personal property

[25:29] or

[25:30] something like that." Or we need to come

[25:32] up with some creative ways to stop this

[25:34] to say, "Hey, you're going to college,

[25:35] let's give you some money." Everybody

[25:37] that comes out of high school

[25:38] gets to pick their account that they can

[25:39] take.

[25:40] You know, it's it's kind of like a

[25:41] scholarship but it's just basically

[25:43] getting your money back in your account

[25:45] cuz you're going to go right into the

[25:45] workforce.

[25:46] I think it'd be good to get them

[25:47] something from the school. Well, I just

[25:48] think our our program does such a good

[25:50] job with all the the awards and stuff

[25:52] they're able to get throughout the

[25:53] Commonwealth. And just a great the

[25:56] teachers have done a fantastic job and

[25:58] uh to try and prepare these kids. So, we

[26:00] want to make sure we're preparing them for the right jobs uh

[26:04] within our communities.

[26:07] Um

[26:09] Board comments. What we're going to do

[26:10] is we'll go from we'll do a board of

[26:12] supervisors, school board, we'll kind of

[26:14] go back and forth.

[26:16] Kyle, you want to start us off? Uh

[26:19] Hm. Uh I I don't have any at this

[26:21] moment. Okay.

[26:24] I don't.

[26:27] I just I just want to say that I'm very

[26:29] excited by this meeting. I think this is

[26:31] a great step in the right direction. I

[26:33] think we all

[26:35] want what's best for Tazewell County and

[26:37] we want what's best for our students. I absolutely love Tazewell County. I

[26:42] went to Richlands schools. Um my kids

[26:45] all went to Richlands schools and I just

[26:47] want to say I'm very proud of our school

[26:49] system and and what you all accomplish.

[26:52] Um and my daughter went to MGA a couple

[26:55] of years ago and she was on the

[26:57] leadership she was attorney general and

[26:59] she was the only public school in

[27:02] leadership and I thought that made me so

[27:04] proud to be from where we're from and I know that y'all have probably

[27:08] continued that with

[27:11] your students but um

[27:13] but I'm just really happy that we're

[27:14] able to work together and and and

[27:17] do a similar goals.

[27:21] Thank you.

[27:24] Um I'm glad that that we are finally

[27:27] getting to one place to meet together

[27:30] and start working together. Um I've got

[27:32] two concerns. One is

[27:34] we need to start speeding up a little

[27:37] bit on the school construction not just

[27:39] for the grant that has already expired

[27:41] and we got a

[27:42] an indefinite extension on um but

[27:45] because that fall 29 if we don't start

[27:49] moving this it'll be a fall 30

[27:51] and then it'll be a fall 31 and

[27:54] then it'll just never get done. The

[27:56] other thing is

[27:59] we worked together some years ago to get

[28:01] the mechatronics program in. Um

[28:04] I think it's been successful on our end

[28:08] but we we see kids going back to metals

[28:11] from that program but

[28:13] uh the time to talk about this is right

[28:15] now. We're going to lose that program

[28:18] this summer if we don't find a qualified

[28:20] instructor. I think we need to start

[28:23] talking across the street to find ways

[28:26] to get a qualified instructor in here

[28:30] that program though.

[28:31] Right now it's not going to happen this

[28:33] fall.

[28:34] Hm. And maybe I'm the first one to say

[28:36] that publicly but it needs to just

[28:38] that discussion needs to start

[28:40] happening. He's leaving. It's the job is

[28:42] supposed to be he's leaving.

[28:44] It's going to be a special person that

[28:46] we're going to find out. person.

[28:48] It's small heart, big time.

[28:50] Yeah, this is something we can discuss

[28:51] in 2 weeks or

[28:53] That'd be very sound.

[28:55] That sounds real good to me.

[28:59] Excited to be here, obviously.

[29:03] Excited to see this happening and

[29:06] build on the foundation

[29:08] a lot of success with our programs.

[29:11] You know, the the one that's going to

[29:13] benefit is the kids, you know. We're going to be gone

[29:16] somewhere down the road, but every every

[29:18] highway we leave our footprints is on

[29:20] the ones that's going to follow us.

[29:22] Do we want to leave clear footprints or

[29:25] do we just want to leave something in

[29:26] the sand that will run away? So, I'm for

[29:30] all leaving something

[29:31] uh

[29:32] you know, that that we build on.

[29:35] We can it could be be great for

[29:37] everybody and who knows, you know.

[29:39] We may we may have an another president

[29:42] come in.

[29:44] Good night.

[29:46] I was just happy to be here, Curtis.

[29:48] Thank Thank you, brother. And I was

[29:49] We're happy to have you, Curtis. I was

[29:51] worried he had a list 20

[29:54] Listen, I knew I was going to throw

[29:55] Chuck off when I started

[29:57] I knew this was short, sweet, and

[29:59] perfect. I'm proud of you.

[30:03] I'm just excited that we are together

[30:06] and can get on the same page.

[30:09] This school in the Richland area has

[30:11] been needed for so long because that

[30:14] building is a help for our children.

[30:17] And we really need to get this going so

[30:20] we can get it in in as soon as possible.

[30:25] I appreciate the cooperation from the

[30:28] Board of Supervisors. I Yeah, I went to

[30:30] Richland schools, too. Started my

[30:33] teaching career there. Have always

[30:34] taught, been involved in the school

[30:36] system in Tazewell County. This is home.

[30:39] And you want to see that progress that

[30:43] we've made continue on beyond when we're

[30:46] here. And I think we are on the right

[30:49] track to doing that.

[30:53] Uh

[30:54] the only thing I would wanted to to

[30:56] bring up is when we were talking about

[30:58] vocational center. I encourage everybody

[31:01] to take a tour of the one in Mercer

[31:02] County. I agree. I agree. It Yeah, you It's phenomenal.

[31:06] >> I'd like to do that. Yeah, uh

[31:09] I know the principal and I took a

[31:11] Kurt and I took a quick and dirty one

[31:13] afternoon before she had

[31:15] my daughter's soccer practice, but it's

[31:17] she took a she turned a program from 200

[31:20] students turned it around in a few years

[31:21] to 700 with a waiting list.

[31:24] And she's got some really progressive

[31:26] programs.

[31:27] >> Amazing. And I think we could do it. I'd

[31:29] love to see it. We need We need it. We

[31:31] need it for our kids.

[31:33] Um

[31:34] uh you know, I've got two at at nice colleges, but

[31:38] the oldest one I was so pleasantly

[31:41] surprised when his mother told him, you

[31:43] know, you don't have to go to college.

[31:46] And and he did. I mean, he had a he had

[31:48] a job at uh CGI, a nice job.

[31:51] And to to know that our kids have those

[31:54] options, you know, I don't I don't like

[31:56] the the only route is college and I

[31:57] don't like the the the new fad is the

[32:00] only route is trades. We've got to have

[32:02] both.

[32:03] man, but I I'd

[32:05] love to see us work together and get get

[32:07] something done there cuz I'm

[32:10] I'd love to see some updated programs

[32:12] and and y'all y'all both heard me

[32:14] shout from the rooftops how we need a

[32:16] culinary arts program and I'd love to

[32:18] see

[32:19] a way to incorporate that in our

[32:21] agricultural program in the future, but

[32:23] We're hoping this course of study can

[32:25] get us in the right direction. Yeah, I

[32:26] think it will, too. I I mean, that's really good It's good news.

[32:32] I agree with your presentation. I'm I'm

[32:34] glad we're putting things together and

[32:35] things are going in a good direction

[32:37] with boards and that's something that

[32:38] has been needed for a while.

[32:41] So, I hope we can continue to work

[32:42] together and certainly agree with you on

[32:44] subjects and if Mercer County could do it, I

[32:47] don't doubt that we could do it.

[32:49] And they're top they're one of the top

[32:50] five in their state. And we've lost a

[32:52] few kids out of Graham to go to Mercer

[32:55] County because of the subject system

[32:56] there. If you If you go up there, you

[32:58] will understand. They get dual

[32:59] enrollment, too. That's I mean, there's

[33:01] a lot of options there.

[33:03] It's just going to take some work. And

[33:05] some of those parents would certainly

[33:07] not keep their kids here, too. Yeah.

[33:09] >> They could open their own businesses and

[33:12] take care of things that we need. It's

[33:14] hard to get people to do in your labor

[33:16] here like plumbers and stuff like

[33:18] electricians.

[33:19] Do we um

[33:20] I don't mean to interrupt, but do we Do

[33:22] the vocational teachers track their

[33:24] former students and see how many of them

[33:25] actually go into their chosen field?

[33:28] There's a completer survey that's done

[33:30] not only for the trades, but also CTE

[33:32] courses, which include ag and business

[33:34] classes. Yes, there's There's a

[33:36] follow-up completer survey done each

[33:37] year. Yeah, that'd be great to to get

[33:39] that out to the public and show just how

[33:41] many people because I know Mr. Girl told

[33:43] me, you know, about

[33:44] giving him a hard time about him not

[33:46] running his service truck anymore and he

[33:48] said, "Well, I got five former

[33:49] students."

[33:51] And I said, "Well, you know, get their

[33:52] names and numbers out there to the

[33:53] public. That's That's awesome."

[33:58] Uh I think this is

[34:00] like everybody said, this meeting's been

[34:01] successful.

[34:03] I think both boards need to get their

[34:05] chair and their administrator and their

[34:06] superintendent. When we have our next

[34:08] get-together meeting, we

[34:10] call them to service for both boards,

[34:11] things we need to work on, ideas like

[34:13] Dave was talking about

[34:15] and John was talking about and Irene was

[34:17] talking about getting together and just

[34:18] let's start going at this and by the

[34:20] time we get to October, we can show a

[34:22] lot of massive movement forward between

[34:24] both boards and stuff. So,

[34:26] we need to have the three of three of

[34:27] us. I think this month tomorrow.

[34:29] I think it's a

[34:30] Uh for me, uh we all ran because we care

[34:33] about our respective communities. Um

[34:36] that was the main reason we did it

[34:37] because we care. And by working

[34:40] together, we can do some really good

[34:41] things for our communities, all the

[34:43] communities of the community of Tazewell

[34:45] County.

[34:46] So,

[34:47] thank you guys for being willing to come

[34:49] here today

[34:50] and uh I look forward to us working

[34:52] together, having a a better pipeline of

[34:54] information, and and just talking

[34:56] together. Uh I'm very excited about it.

[34:59] I'll make a motion like a motion to

[35:01] adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn.

[35:03] So, moved.

[35:04] All those in favor for us? Yeah.

[35:07] Make a motion to adjourn.

[35:09] All those in favor? So, moved.

[35:11] I'll second it. Second motion, second

[35:13] first session.

[35:15] I'll make

[35:17] Thank you, guys.

[35:22] Hey.

TCPS Board Joint Meeting with TCBS

Transcript