[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.