School Board determines capital needs and reviews course catalogue 

By WILLIAM PAINE

Patriot Publishing

The Pulaski County School Board began this month’s meeting with a work session focusing on capital improvements within the school system.

The capital improvement project list includes replacing the lights at Kenneth J Dobson Stadium at  PCHS ($1.5 million), the installation of a rubberized track at the stadium ($1.2 million), replacing the rooftop heating unit at the fieldhouse ($35,000) and upgrading the weights and flooring of the fieldhouse ($206,000).

Roof replacement, fiber optic installation and asbestos removal at the Northwood Elementary School building, which is slated to become the central office for PCPS in 2025, is estimated to cost $800,000.

Other priorities include replacing the plumbing in the old section of Dublin Elementary School ($500,000), which will require the removal and replacement of asbestos floor tiles ($60,000). The parking lot of DES will be entirely paved at a cost of $300,000.

Supervisor of Gifted Programs Elizabeth Webb gave an instructional presentation to the board about the PCPS Gifted Program, explaining that there are three gifted resource teachers, two for the elementary schools and one for PCMS. According to Webb, more than 100 elementary school children, 85 students at PCMS and 118 students at PCHS have been identified as gifted and she believes that number will increase as the school year progresses.

Currently 11 Pulaski County High School students are attending the SWVA Governor’s School and 12 students are listed as Cougar Scholars, meaning they will have enough credits to graduate with an associate’s degree. Webb also made mention of the New River Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, which is being created by Pulaski County and other school divisions along with Radford University.

Lastly, Webb announced that a Gifted Advisory Committee would be reformed after having been dormant for the last few years. The committee will consist of three teachers (one from each grade level, elementary, middle and high school), three Gifted Resource Teachers, a Gifted Supervisor, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, one principal and one student.

Superintendent Rob Graham asked if any school board members would be interested in serving on the Gifted Advisory Committee and Vice Chair Gina Paine volunteered to serve on this committee.

Director of Career and Technical Education Megan Atkinson spoke about expanding options for the Pharmacy Tech courses at PCHS. Adkinson noted that the PCPS Pharmacy Tech program is one of only ten in Virginia that is nationally accredited, which gives students nationally recognized certification. Pharmacy Tech students must earn 130 clinical hours of supervision under the watch of a pharmacist. Pulaski County High School is the only school that allows students to earn these credits during the school day, which allows them to participate in extracurricular activities. Students earn these credits by working at local pharmacies, which sometimes hire these same students.

The PCHS Course Catalogue was presented to the board for discussion prompting Vice Chair Gina Paine to inquire about the course description of the Multi-Cultural Literature course at PCHS.

“We’re using the term Latinx, which to my knowledge was made a word maybe a couple of years ago … that doesn’t make sense to me … We should be using proper words.”

According to Paine’s research, the vast majority of people of Spanish or Latin American descent prefer the terms Latino or Hispanic when referencing their culture.

Paine also asked that parents be informed about dual enrollment psychology classes that involve discussions about sexuality and gender identity. Board member Billy Williams mentioned that he’d heard complaints from parents of students who were unaware of this aspect of the curriculum.

“In my personal experience, I was a little taken aback when my son came home and told me he was taught to refer to me as his birthing person and not his mother,” said Paine. “That didn’t last long in my house but if that’s part of the curriculum, I understand psychology and where they’ve gone but I’d like to see more transparency for the students and parents regarding what’s going on in these classes.”

Pulaski County High School Principal Jennifer Bolling agreed to make the changes requested by Paine and Williams and to present the amended course catalog to the board for their approval at the December meeting.

Assistant Superintendent Sarah Polcha talked about the importance of hiring an Educational Diagnostician to replace Dr. Benson, the school psychologist who retired after more than 30 years in the school system. Polcha explained that an Educational Diagnostician would work under the direction of the school psychologist and would perform assessments to determine the grade level of students relative to the curriculum.

As Polcha explained, the school system’s one remaining psychologist couldn’t process the nearly 400 student assessments on his own and the school system was forced to hire an outside contractor costing $359,000 to help with the workload.

According to Polcha, hiring an Educational Diagnostician would cost the school system about $100,000 and would better serve the students. She asked the board for permission to hire an Educational Diagnostician and the board agreed to put the matter on the action agenda.

Greg Natvig of All Points Broadband asked the board to allow his company to build a fiberoptic cabinet on the property of Pulaski County Middle School.

“Our mission is to bring fiberoptic to the unserved and underserved addresses that we have been given in specific counties,” Natvig explained.

According to Natvig, All Points Broadband is installing 300 miles of fiber optic cable to provide high speed internet to underserved areas in Pulaski County. Pulaski County Middle School is the ideal location to place one of six “active” fiber optic cabinets, which make the system work. Because the location is ideal, All Points Broadband wants to rent an 8 X 8 piece of property near the entrance to Pulaski County Middle School for a period of 15 years to place one of these fiber optic “active” cabinets on that property. All Points Broadband offered to pay PCPS $300 monthly as a rental fee, with the caveat that the company could service the unit on occasion.

The school board seemed inclined to allow for this and Natvig agreed to send a lease contract to the PCPS administration in the coming days.

The Pulaski County School Board passed four action items at Tuesday’s meeting. The board voted to designate Tuesday Dec. 10 and Wed. Dec. 11 as tester only days at Pulaski County High School for Standards of Learning (SOL) End of Course (EOC) testing. Students who are not required to take these tests will take virtual courses on these days.

The school board also passed a request declaring Dec. 12 as a virtual day for Pulaski County Middle School. Only 7^th and 8^th graders taking the SOL test will report to school that day.

The school board voted to approve the applications of Regina Szerokman, Rachel Simmers and Melissa Delph to serve on the PCPS Special Education Advisory Committee.

Additionally, the board voted to approve the 2024 – 2025 Title III Consortium Grant Application, which funds the English Learner programs at PCPS. English Learner Specialist Dana Card gave a short presentation before this motion passed, saying that currently there are 66 students taking English Learning classes in PCPS with half of those in primary and half in secondary schools.

Of the 66 students, 60 are Spanish speakers, two speak Gujarati (Indian), two speak Arabic, one speaks Mandarin Chinese and one speaks Czech.

Finally, the board passed a motion to put out the call to hire an Educational Diagnostician for PCPS.