001good evening and thank you for being here a few comments from the superintendent's office and the curriculum office on Tuesday administrators counselors staff and law enforcement attended the bunkham county schools safe School Symposium held at University of North Carolina Asheville attendees heard from a national speaker on anti-bullying strategy as well as social media abuse and cyber bullying our panel also completed or composed of School Employees and Community agencies shared best practices on how to conduct an emergency if one were to occur so special thank you to our safe schools planning team Mr Joe huff and David Thompson for facilitating this important event board we now believe winter weather is over for this school year as a result of missing only five total school days bunkham County Schools no longer qualifies for the DPI mandated W
002weather waiver that we have been fortunate to receive in past years the waiver allowed us to start school earlier than the mandated Monday closest to August 26 if you recall the calar committee brought two calendars to you in November of which you approved we will be following ing the first academic calendar for 201617 and as a reminder school will start much later this year and it will begin on August 29th for students this calendar will be more compact than in past years due to the Mandate of when to begin school and when to End School Communications will share this calendar as of tomorrow with families staff and students so that they can prepare for next year's calendar this is National Library week and we are celebrating the awesome things that are happening in our school
003media centers these engaging learning spaces have changed from school libraries to really Dynamic learning hubs and we are very proud of the efforts of our 45 School library media coordinators for offering spaces not only to read but for students to create and collaborate congratulations to the bunkham county schools Foundation they have been awarded the Pari prize from Pari Financial Wealth Management in the amount of $15,000 to support leader and me initiatives in some of our schools Park Financial Foundation has shared over $700,000 with nonprofits serving Western North Carolina and the greater Charlotte Area mam County Schools is excited to host the top Scholars banquet on Thursday April 21st this is one of our most favorite activities it's the time that we honor our highest achieving students and their families there will be an important press
004conference on Wednesday April 20th at 10:00 a.m. in nesbet Discovery Academy to promote the awareness of these six legislative priorities developed through the North Carolina Association of school administrators and endorsed by the North Carolina superintendent Association these priorities include increased compens ation for all Educators school performance grades and investment in adequate resources for North Carolina Public Schools accountability and school choice options and Regulatory reform this is one of four press conferences held across the state in closing I would like to ask Mr Campbell to share the impact of House Bill two good Madame chair Miss swanger board members good evening the purpose of tonight's update is to give you an overview of House Bill 2 and primarily as the first slide indicates what is the impact of house bill to specifically on the bunkham County
005Schools I will not be addressing other aspects of house bill to it deals with city ordinance es it deals with State discrimination laws and the ability to bring an action in state court or through an administrative process those are not issues that I'm going to be addressing this evening instead what I wanted to provide this board with is an overview of what is the impact of of House Bill 2 on the operations of the bunkham County schools and particularly with students and employees how does it affect the way that the school district the administration interacts with students and employees this is really in my opinion as your attorney the first step in any new law is for you to have the opportunity to be briefed on the law and to understand what the law says
006so tonight's presentation is not intended for Action or anything else this is my opportunity to brief you on the law so that you can take it under consideration so with that said let's look at how House Bill 2 does affect schools in particularly the bunkham County Schools well first of all what does House Bill 2 actually prohibit or mandate for public schools in North Carolina the first point is the bill says that students employees and visitors must use multiple occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities associated with their biological sex this is the provision of the bill that early on got the most exposure the news reports and other things you may have heard it referred to as the bathroom bill that's because of the Mandate there as to biological sex and identification with bathroom use the
007law says that schools can provide single occupancy facilities we have been doing that for years all of the school districts that we work with have been doing that for years for one reason or another related to a myriad of reasons students have been provided with the opportunity to use single occupancy facilities from time to time and that will continue the law doesn't impact that ability whatsoever the law also says that the school can temporarily designate a facility for use by a different biological sex I believe that is a very straightforward provision that just means that the locker room that is available for the boys soccer team today can be the same locker room that the girls field hockey team can use tomorrow it just means that once you designate a particular facility it's not a
008permanent designation you can change the designation for males and females I think that's what that provision is intended to address it also says specifically that adults can still accompany students needing assistance into a restaurant students that have special needs particularly our most youngest Learners from time to time as the parents in the audience and board members know need assistance in the bathroom and sometimes it's assistance from a male teacher or a female teacher and the the Sexes don't always line up and don't need to so it doesn't prevent our employees from assisting both special needs students and other students that may need help from time to time what does it not do and this is the thing that I don't think there has been a lot of talk in the media and something that the
009Board needs to understand as far as schools first of all it does not apply to anti-bullying anti-discrimination laws and a policies that affect students employees volunteers and visitors to our schools it does not apply to bunkham County School employment policies regarding our own employees so let's break each of those down a little bit more you have board policy 1710 d421 7230 the in that policy has three designations is the 1,000 series of your policy manual is General operations it's board priorities board Guidance the 4,000 section is for students and the 7,000 section is for employees so it covers all three of those categories your policy says that harassment and bullying of students school system employed school system employees excuse me volunteers or visitors that are motivated by any actual or perceived differenti Ching characteristics including
010gender gender identity or sexual orientation is prohibited so that is your policy is regards to harassment and bullying no action can create a hostile environment for a student a hostile environment is defined as two things first of all the student the employee the visitor must subjectively believe that they are being harassed they find the comments they find the actions to be objectionable to them and harassing to them but also the second part of the test is an objective standard where it must be so severe and so pervasive that a reasonable person would also think that it was harassing so a lot of times you get into things such as single comets can a single Comet create a hostile environment yes it can if it meets both of these tests can several comments fail to create
011a hostile environment yes they can if they do not meet the test if what is said does not meet both parts of the test then it's not action able so hostile environment is prohibited and also of course placing a student a visitor and employee in fear of any actual harm to themsel or to their property would also be actionable under our policy as far as our employment policy we have always had this the law does not prevent us from enforcing our employment policies our policy says that we provide all applicants with an equal opportunity for employment with regards to training compensation promotion other benefits of employment without regard to and these are the recognized classes in law at this time race color religion national origin military affiliation genetic information sex age or disability so you
012can see that sex discrimination is part of also the non-discrimination policy of the school board the last sentence is important to keep in mind too that all candidates will be evaluated on the merits and qualifications that they bring for the position so the law in no way impacts what we have been doing I think it is also good to point out for the board that bullying and harassment is the state law and House Bill 2 does not nullify the current state law on harassment and bullying in schools which mirrors our policy you can see that our policy language was taken straight from the general statute this is the general statute that prohibits any kind of bullying harassing activities in schools again it says that any kind of prohibited Behavior should not be motivated by an
013actual or perceived differentiating characteristic again the same list including gender gender identity physical appearance or sexual orientation so those things continue to be enforced continue to be the law this is the law of the state of North Carolina the bill has been passed I've kind of reviewed for you what it does do what it does not do the last piece of the puzzle that all of us are waiting on is federal law and what does federal law say about this issue related to B bathroom use and transgender students gender identity issues right now there is a case pending in the court of appeals that includes the state of North Carolina the fourth Circuit Court of Appeals includes multiple Southern States Virginia South Carolina and North Carolina is one of those there is a case pending
014right now it is GG versus the glaster County Board of Education in that case a transgender male alleged that the school board's bathroom policy violated two things his equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution and violated Title 9 those were the two allegations asserted by the student the board's resolution that was an issue is very short and very sweet and fits on a single slide this was the resolution passed by the board whereas students question gender identity whereas students are encouraged to seek support advice guidance from parents professionals and others where the board seeks to provide a safe learning environment for all students and protect the privacy of all students it is therefore the practice of that school board to provide male and female restroom and Locker facilities in its schools
015and that the use of those facilities shall be limited to the corresponding biological genders and students with gender identity issues shall be provided an alternative appropriate private facility so after the board of education in glower County Virginia passed this resolution GG brought the lawsuit so the first issue is Title Nine most of us are famili famar with Title 9 in the context of equal opportunity for students particularly in sports Title 9 was passed to make sure that there was gender equality in schools especially in sports activities make sure that females had enough opportunities to meet the interest of female students and to also make sure that the equipment the fields the facilities that females were using were on par with what males were offered the question before the court right now that we're waiting for
016a ruling on is does gender discrimination does it equal sex discrimination under Title 9 cuz Title 9 clearly prohibits discrimination based on differences in biological sex biological males versus biological females does it also prohibit gender discrimination well the lower court in Virginia The District Court of the trial court judge did not answer that question instead what the judge did was he pointed to the title 9 regulations and there is a sentence in the title 9 regulations that says that schools May provide separate toilet locker room and shower facilities based on sex so the judge pointed to that provision and said no the federal government has said providing these separate opportunities is legitimate and he denied any kind of preliminary injunction on that basis again what Congress had in mind when they passed that at the
017time they passed it and whether they intended for that to apply to gender identity issues is certainly anybody's guess as to what the intent was at the time some have said this is merely an expression that it was okay to have a boy's locker room and a girl's locker room and the federal government wanted to make sure Congress rather wanted to make sure that there was no misunderstanding as to the scope of Title 9 when it was passed it is good to remember that this case was on a request for an injunction not the trial of this issue and anytime a party goes to a court for an Junction that's called preliminary relief from the court you have to show two things you have to show you will be irreparably harmed if the court doesn't
018step in immediately and you have to show that you have a substantial likelihood of success on the Merit so not just you have a good chance of winning you have a very good chance of winning so it's already a very high standard for courts to Grant this kind of relief prior to a trial the court went on to say that although the office of civil rights has issued some letter rulings regarding transgender students those are not law those are merely the opinion of the administrative office in the executive branch that enforces laws that their their guidance their letters their opinions do not have the force of law so the judge rejected any consideration of that the second claim of course was equal protection we've covered Title Nine there the judge said I just don't have
019what I need to Grant this type of relief there are questions here the first question is the GG apparently used the mail bathroom for 7 weeks the judge said we need to know more about that did anyone complain were there any problems were there any issues what are the facts behind that and then the judge said there is a real legal issue here and I think i' the only editorial comment I'll offer is that people have differences of opinions on this legal question of where do rights of different people begin and end and what is the scope of those rights and the judge said I think correctly that's the Crux of this are there legal rights to having a single gender single biological sex bathroom and privacy that folks share then what are the rights
020of transgender individuals in our community how do those two expectations inter mesh what are the legal rights where do the legal rights of some start the legal rights of others begin and that is the question that the courts are going to be struggling with and I think that's also a question in our society that people are struggling with and having conversations about this as well too so the judge said I just on a preliminary injunction I'm not ready to answer the question about what is the scope of legal rights that needs to be fleshed out a little bit more in a case so that is the posture on which it went up to the fourth circuit the court said that also GG could not show irreparable harm so where are we now the judge's order
021is on appeal and oral arguments were heard in January of this year so we are expecting an opinion in this fourth circuit case literally any day there is nothing left for the courts to do except for the judges to agree on their opinion to write the opinion and to issue it that opinion I want everyone to understand given that we're in the preliminary injunction phase that opinion may take on these Central core legal rights and issues that are the heart of the case that opinion could also simply provide the trial court with some guidance without making any conclusive determines and determination and remand the case back to the trial court so we're waiting for a decision to see what federal law is at this point so state law we know some things that it does
022do we know some things it doesn't do and on the federal law side we're just waiting to to see what the decision of the four circuit is so that's my presentation for you to to take under consideration and advisement Madam chair thank you Mr Campbell at this time we'll have employee recognition thank you madam chair Mrs swanger board members assemble guest we are very fortunate to recognize and very honored actually to recognize three employees for 20 years of service in public schools here in North Carolina and we are going to start but F I always like to go back 20 years 20 years ago this month the number one song anyone want to guess by Seline Dion you don't know Seline song it's not Titanic no that was 97 it was because you love me
023that's right Chicago Bulls won 7 two games in the NBA season now that's a record that'll probably never be broken ever wait it was broken last last night Golden State all right all right so maybe it will be broken I stand corrected but what will not change is that we have 20 years 20-year employees to recognize tonight we begin from the maintenance department Mr Brian Black come on down Brian got some goodies for you Brian and I always ask a question are you ready for a question sure two questions what do you doing M tell us all hbac mechanic meeting and Co you keep us comfortable that's what you say right I attend thank you very much we really appreciate that thank you so how did you get into working in in in the school
024system how'd that happen I came out of high school needed a job with good benefits that's where I start might want to say something like bunam County Schools is a outstanding Place theut re for graduating from Reynolds and continuing on a Reynolds that's much much better thank you Mr P would you come on up please and I'm going to step out because these folks are far better attract more attractive than I am head to the Inca district from San Hill venal Elementary Miss Kathy oo she is a teaching assistant come on at Kathy out to practice I still tripped over come on down happy Leo Kathy obviously the angels are looking down on you our first grade teaching assistant talk about patience and how you're able to maintain it all day just get used to
025it you just block it you just block it Mrs longer you hear that we just block it when you get angry with employees just block it out well listen thank you for your service and come on down m a swanger for the Inca District Max Queen I many I think we've all learned something tonight just block it out just block it out all right and last but certainly not least from the Owen District Owen middle school Walter Moore Walter Walter we're not going to let you get away that easily been education 20 years talk about how you decided to get in it and kind of what you learned I started working with kids on a baseball team and really enjoyed it and walked into the education department at Boon and they said if you go
026into education you're going to always be rewarded and I thought that was going to be something really to look forward to has it been realized it has been rewarding almost every day has been funny oh honestly we love that from the Owen District chip come on up please Mrs swanger it's that it that's all the employee recognitions mad chair okay so now we're ready for good news all right and with our first bit of good news I'm going to welcome up to the podium Mr Robert Waller who's the BCS Cultural Arts specialist and he's going to introduce us to some outstanding and award-winning students from all across bunkham County schools and Western North Carolina Mr Waller come on up please good evening I just want to talk a little bit about our Scholastic art Awards
027and we're going to recognize one student from AC Reynolds High School we give you just a little background since 1923 The Alliance For Young Artists and writers Incorporated has conducted the national Scholastic art Awards to encourage and recognize student achievements in the visual arts the program is conducted on a national Lev level in cooperation with 80 Regional affiliations across the United States the original affiliations for the western North Car Carolina region are the Asheville Art Museum and the Asheville art section of the American Institute of Architects with additional sponsorships provided by the center for craft creativity and design this past year the Asheville Art Museum received 630 entrances from students in 34 schools across our region the judg has carefully viewed each entry in the categories of art portfolio Ceramics and glass comic art design
028digital art drawing and illustration fashion jewelry mixed media painting photography print making and sculp sculpture from those 132 Works from those entries 132 Works have been recognized by the judges as gold key silver key or honorable mention award recipients bunkham County School students receive 53 of the 132 awards given at the ceremony 33 of those 53 were awarded to students from AC Reynolds High School their third year in a row for winning the most Awards I would like to introduce you to Mary Brien who is a visual arts teacher at Reynolds High School along with her daughter Julia come on up please who received 15 of those Awards six gold keys three silver keys six honorable mention and two of her gold keys were also American Visions as well and I'm going to turn it
029over to them they're going to talk to you just a little bit about art industry leaders CEOs from all over the world including the United States have been ask what is it that you're lacking in terms of employment what when you're hiring folks what what what are you seeing and one of the main things that they said they lacked were more people with innovative ideas and creative problem solving and so that is a challenge that all of us face for our 21st century Learners is that we want to encourage that creative problem solving well I feel like of course I'm a little biased but in the Arts I feel that it's a critical component along with the science and the math and all the other curriculum but in particular so in the arts program one
030of the things I like to encourage is not only creative problem solving but also to take the concepts and the struggles that are out there in Real World and be able to express yourself and be able to talk about those tough issues and in the process be able to think about them in a creative way so I'm here tonight to really brag on not only all of our students which again have just continued to make us so proud at Reynolds High School but I have a special privilege to just brag on my daughter a little bit she truly is one of the hardest working kids I've ever had in my classroom in in the 10 years I've been teaching and gosh she wanton a lot of awards but one thing I want to just close
031with before she tells you a little bit about that is that it looks like Illinois tech is going to be the place where she's going to go she wants to to major in mechanical engineering but the reason that she got her full bride there they sent us a letter and said we're so excited to have Julia because one of the main factors was that she had her art ability and her 3D modeling skills that she's learned at Reynolds and that has been a key component is why she's there so I'm very proud of our program at Reynolds High School and I'm very proud of the Arts in general because it is truly the key component to our future so here without further Ado is my daughter Julia bran she's going to tell you just a
032little bit about what of the things that she's been learning and the concepts that she's grew so tremendously in the last four years so come on Julia thank you for that introduction and I'm very honored to be here thank you for well first of all I just like to say that art has helped me in so many ways that are Beyond just creativity I know a lot of people think that art is just about like you take art in high school and then you go into the art field and it's all about you advertising movie making or painting but for me it was more about interdisciplinary skills and creative problem solving and I found that art has helped me in every one of my classes rather than just in the art field I was inspired
033for my concentration actually through my AP world class with Miss hudzik who's amazing she taught me about the cold of Domesticity and that really got me involved in feminism and interested in the women's rights movement and so that was my inspiration for my concentration over these years in art and some of those are outside but I started with the like primordial role of women in society which was initially just to have children pretty much and I mean it has evolved in different cultures and across time periods and what I really wanted to show is the culmination from being pretty much the hom makers to having an opportunity to do anything in society and there's women involved in Steam and stem jobs that would never have the opportunity without their their rights that these women have
034fought for and that's really my goal in making and then transitioning into this year I've been really focusing on 3D modeling and how I can transition my two-dimensional skills into three dimensions and that has been so interesting and it's really helping me with college applications because with being able to 3D print my 3D models I can like create new designs for potential mechanical engineering devices or anything and that was also a big role in my scholarship to Illinois Institute of Technology and so I'm just so honored to be receiving all of the awards and art has helped me in every way possible and I encourage each and every one of you to be inspired and create thank you Julia and if you'll step out here we're going to give you another award that's what you
035call a teacher book that's a teacher bookt got that down Madam chair was brought to my attention that if the postsecondary education doesn't work out perhaps Julia do be the standin for the AT&T commercial girl she looks just like her so keep it in mind don't just brush it aside all right Madame chair from the art world to the wonderful world of science I now welcome up Mr Brian macarelli our BCS science specialist who will now showcase one of our outstanding Elementary School science teachers who has been recognized on the national stage Mr macarelli thank you good evening members of the board Miss swanger I just want to speak for a second about Julia and just say congratulations to her from a science specialist point of view that's just a heartwarming tale to see the
036marriage of science and art together and for her to see that it's such a young age is just a beautiful thing so fantastic and a nice segue into what we're going to do here which is celebrate one of our teachers Miss Sher Ryan Bailey teaches fifth grade at Oakley Elementary and she was recently a recipient of a pretty prestigious award a national award and before I let Miss Carla bips our stem coach speak about the the award itself I just want to express my gratitude to Sherry for the work that she does every day with our students she is a fantastic teacher a quintessential teacher really in terms of her content knowledge her her craft it's exemplary and but most importantly maybe is her ability to keep on learning which I think is the Hallmark
037of a good teacher and I think that should be recognized and I'm glad that verer has recognized her for that right now I want to turn it over to Carla she's going to talk more about the actual Awards so this is Carla Bops our stem coach for bunkham County Schools every year veneer who is a company who makes technology for use in classrooms all the way through college gives Awards with the national science teacher Association they give three in college they give three in high school two in middle school and one Elementary award nationally and so and these awards are based on ideas from the teachers of lessons they've done and trying to incorporate more technology for their students and so this year Mrs Ryan Bailey came up with a really great idea and it
038was submitted and she won the national award from veneer and nsta the only Elementary one in the whole country and so with that award she gets to purchase $3,000 worth of veneer equipment on the veneers Mr and Mrs veneer are very huge supporters of Science Education and they are there shaking hands of all the teachers who won they also paid her way to go to the nsta National Convention in Nashville that occurred over spring break and she was very happy to be able to go even that took part of her spring break and she was awarded during a very nice awards banquet that evening and she also gets $1,000 of personal money for herself from this award so I'm going to let Sherry come up and talk to you a little bit about what she's
039going to be using her veneer equipment for with her students we have a very exciting opportunity at Oakley we are going to be using the money to purchase these small computer type devices that collect data and these devices have ports in them that you can put in sensors or probes to collect to collect data and we're going to buy four different probes for each one of these lab quest two devices one to measure temperature one to measure air pressure one to measure wind speed and one to measure the amount of moisture in the air we can put them in these little shoe boxes and drill some holes so the device is safe and the probes can get the weather and the kids can have a portable weather station and we can have a few of
040them that we can take around our campus and have more ownership of hope hopefully have more ownership of taking data and understanding data and analyzing and interpreting data we hope to have four to six of these and the students can use them to track the variables throughout the day put it out in the morning and see what happens have it collect data all day long the devices themselves can graph or make tables or and help interpret the data in terms of taking an average for the day and as well as looking at how things change through the day we can also look at answering questions like is our weather the same all over our Oakley campus and we could put one of our portable weather stations in maybe our partially enclosed Courtyard one out in
041the middle of our field one near our parking lot and have the kids compare and contrast what variables are stable are the variables stable throughout the day or are there changes and why are there changes which hopefully will lead to inquiry and research and wanting to know more because wanting to know more is important with fifth grade's weather because they have to go from their own intimate experience with weather all the way out to learning about global wind patterns and how hurricanes move and fronts and the westerley and convection currents and El Nino and L so we're hoping that by developing using their senses they're they're collecting data on what are currently experiencing that will be very impactful for them at for in I'll give you one last example if the level of moisture in
042the air goes up are we seeing additional cloud cover are they starting to experience the difference between the moisture in the air on a clear day versus the moisture in the air on a cloudy day and so there's more opportunity for ownership more opportunity for engagement and we feel like it's going to be very exciting for our Oakley students Carla and I are going to be developing lessons for this equipment this summer in July and Brian and Carla have a very strong partnership with a professor of meteorology at UNCA and we plan to have some consultation opportunities with him to make sure that we are writing the strongest science lessons for our kids as possible so it's very exciting and I appreciate all the kind words thank you yeah go on can we protest prot
043we protest thank you madam chair our curriculum feature this evening is called celebrating the pathway to graduation in bunkham County schools and we'll hear from our director of graduation initiative Miss K lamb she comes with a troop yes will this move over we need a minute to rearrange the furniture Madam chair Miss swanger members of the board the graduation initiative team is excited about having this opportunity on the board agenda to number one celebrate the accomplishment of reaching 85.3% 4-year cohort graduation rate and number two to recognize just a few of the wonderful partners that share in that accomplishment with the graduation initiative just a reminder of the numbers when the graduation initiative began its work the four-year rate was 73.4% and buckham County Schools was losing around 450 students each year as dropouts we
044are here to celebrate the achievement of reaching that 85.3% four-year cohort rate and losing only 188 students as dropouts we continue to say that's 188 too many but we love the trend that decreasing Trend we've obviously come a long way but we didn't make that Journey all by ourselves the graduation initiative has been focused on the K12 program that addresses the needs of students and families at whatever grade level the needs surfaces so that the students can be successful in school Emily Jill and Sharon my teammates are going to share the valuable contributions of some of our partners I'm sorry we had a few technical difficulties getting the slideshow together but just real quick to highlight the slides this shows the increase of the four-year graduation rate and the decrease in our dropout rate when
045since we started collecting data as we focus first on the elementary and intermediate grade levels and our important Partners at that level we naturally must recognize Children First and Communities In Schools Allison Jordan executive director and her colleague Coles Natasha adwers and Lisa Barlo are here tonight Children First communities and schools believes that all children should have the opportunity to thrive they surround children with support in school community and work on public policy to reduce the incidents and impact of poverty specifically last year they served over 2,800 children through Direct Services and educational supports this year they expanded their integrated student student Support Program into two more schools SD's Elementary and eblin Inter intermediate which is in addition to their existing programs at Emma and Johnston Elementary their attendance Behavior course plus parent engagement framework
046in conjunction with their three tiered interventions enhance their work they Implement evidence-based integrated student supports by putting the right people in the right place at the right time time with the right interventions all to equal success and keep our elementary and intermediate students in school and all the while helping them be successful having Community Communities In Schools as our partner supports the work of the graduation initiative in a profound way at the elementary level our sincere thanks to Allison and children first communities and schools for all the wonderful things you do at the elementary and intermediate level we're going to wait and do certificates and photos at the very end if that's okay then thank you okay ready middle school students just the mention of this age student since some adults running the other way
047I about the picture but not our dear Partners the YMCA of Asheville and Western North Carolina and the United Way of Asheville and bunkham County Middle School is a key time in a young person's life the YMCA seeks to educate Empower and enrich through their school-based after school program the 21st century Community Learning Centers these are located at Inca Irwin Owen and Reynolds Middle School tonight we have Heather Diel director of 21st century programs for the YMCA with us the 21st century Community Learning Centers provide a safe environment for middle school students outside the traditional academic day in communities characterized by high poverty wi staff and tutors provide additional academic support along with mentoring and coaching lead Hands-On activities and support Community Partnerships the program is designed to improve academic achievement and engage students in
048enrichment experience while building leadership skills and confidence over 200 students are served each year and you can see the impact and results they bring to our middle school students lives the Y is also a partner with the GR graduation initiative in operating the Summer Bridge transition program each summer for upcoming six sixth graders in several of our school districts we couldn't manage this program without you thank you Heather and thank you YMCA for the positive difference you make in our middle schools we have another extrem extremely valuable integral partner at the middle school level the United Way of Asheville and bunkham County they are represented tonight by Laura Laura Elliot director of Middle School Success program of United Way She heads she heads up the Middle grades Network which uses Collective impact approach that brings
049together Asheville City Schools bunkham County schools and Community Partners around in sheer vision of creating success ready nth graders and improving graduation rates they focus on the correlation of poverty and graduation as our other partners do as well in Asheville and bunkham County Children who live in poverty graduate from high school at a rate of 77% while their classmates graduate at a rate of 90% And in 2014 more than 750 children in our Public Schools were homeless the Middle grades network has followed the work and research of Robert balos of of John Hopkins University the ABC indicators of students at risk of not graduating high school attendance behavior and failing cour subjects if a student has one or more of these key indicators they only have a 25% chance of graduating from high school the
050work of the Middle grades Network revolves around the interventions that are key in changing their odds they use three key strategies to accomplish their goals early warning responses the early warning response system that has developed by the network members under L's leadership is the first of its kind in North Carolina connecting City and County schools out of school provid ERS and volunteers through the early warning response systems dashboard which allows all involved to work together to identify when a student is starting to fall apart re resource coordinators are placed on the middle school campuses to Foster and organize strong and impactful Partnerships who got you through the program recruits a second shift of carrying adults to students to stay on track towards towards success thank you Laura and United Way for the Stellar efforts and
051the ongoing support you bring to our community efforts to see all the students graduate from high school our students make it through middle school and that brings us to high school at this age we are facing tremendous challenges to keep students in school that are not necessarily present prior to this time in their lives staying in school is challenged by the need to work to contribute to family support the need to support their own child or just being a single mother trying to birth a child and deal with all the responsibilities of that along with passing math and history classes we are blessed to have a wonderful organization with whom we partner to help students address this challenge mother love this evening we welcome Holly Gillespie who is the director of The Mother Love program
052with the YWCA of Asheville's Mother Love program young mothers and fathers that learn that quickly that they are not alone and that their Futures are still bright mother love will be with them during the pregnancy and as they parent their new baby with the ultimate goal of graduating from high school and pursuing higher education or vocational training Mother Love Takes a multipronged approach to helping pregnant and parenting teens stay in school access postgraduate schooling develop the skills and knowledge they need to become strong parents and parent and prevent another team pregnancy I've had the flu and I'm having a can you can I'm sorry y my voice is getting ready to go that one the program's two full-time staff members and one contact case manager provide one-on-one counseling home visits monthly lunch Gathering and school
053at the school the evening group meetings with guest speakers along with Crisis Intervention Mother Love is making a difference for the past 10 years all participants have graduated from high school or advance to their next grade level and partly because of mother lov's programming bunkham County teen pregnancy rate has dropped from 40 pregnancies for every 1,000 girls in 2010 to 35.4 in 2012 we know that Ed the education level of a mother is the best predictor of their child's future success yet only 36% of pregnant and parenting students graduate from high school in North Carolina so the work and success rate of Mother Love is impressive thank you Holly and YWCA for bringing Mother Love programs to to our teens thereby keeping them in school and helping them learn to deal with their new expanded
054responsibilities Emily we've recognized Partners at the elementary middle and high school levels now to recognize a partner that is truly the partner that spans all grade levels and needs the eblin foundation as the board is aware Bill if you'll come forward Bill Murdoch the Elin and the Elin Foundation was an original partner with Dr Balwin and buckham County schools in the creation of the graduation initiative Bill Murdoch as director of the foundation has been with us working hand inand since the Inception of the graduation initiative and it is fitting that he is with us tonight as we celebrate the accomplishments that have been achieved having having the Elin Foundation as a key partner allows us to do our work every day knowing that whatever obstacle or barrier we come up against when working with our
055students and their families we simply need to call Bill or Susan riddle at eblin and we have the support that we need this slide I hope you can see it shows the number of referrals made to eblin during the first semester of this school year by the graduation initiative team and our school-based colleagues counselors social workers and so forth there were 652 referrals with a monetary value contributed by eblin of almost $65,000 things like school supplies senior project support Gas Shoes clo clothing coats you name it Elin is there for us the next couple of slides reflect the vast number of programs that the Elin Foundation leads each year familiar names like Tools for Schools teeth Sant program the St n Nicholas project joyful home for the holidays last year they served 51,5 56 people
056to the tune of almost $1.5 million of support to our families and students in buckham County if anyone ask me what exactly does the graduation initiative do my short answer is we remove barriers we remove barriers that might prevent students from staying in school and graduating the only way I'm not finished with you Bill we know where you are the only way that we can do this is through our partnership with the eblin foundation Bill we owe you a heartfelt thank you for all you and the eblin foundation has done and continues to do to help students graduate thank you I want to share one story of many that I could share that highlight the work of our are three amazing graduation initiative Specialists but also illustrates how we depend on the eblin foundation every
057day it also illustrates how the smallest thing has the potential to derail the student's opportunity to be successful and how Discovery and attending to the small things make a significant difference these three ladies are the most intuitive people I've ever worked with I swear they must be psychic they have the ability to know something to be the case without any rational evidence to prove that but they're always right one of our graduation Specialists is sitting at an atrisk team meeting one of our high schools when they begin to discuss a female student who has inexplicably began missing lots of days this is uncharacteristic for this young lady the graduation specialist uses her laptop to look up the girl's attendance and points out that she is missing every other day which seems odd then she uses
058power school to see if there are siblings enrolled in buckham County schools and yes there's a younger sister at the middle school the graduation specialist discovers that the sister is absent on the days that the high school student is in school she volunteers to talk with a high school girl after developing a level of trust with this young lady the girl is comfortable enough with her to tell her that she and her sister are sharing one pair of shoes they are doing this so they can be in school as often as possible and try to keep up with the work it seems both parents were without jobs excuse me and they were struggling and as often is the case they were too proud and too embarrassed to seek help our specialist worked with the parents
059and with their approval contacted Susan riddle and Bill at eblin and problem solved shoe vouchers food vouchers and everything they needed to get them through some hard times until they could get back on their feet we remove barriers but as I pointed out earlier we can't do it alone tonight we have recognized our partners that are critical to the work of supporting students and families and helping all students to have the opportunity to stay in school be successful and graduate with a diploma we would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the contributions of so many others in the central office and the schools that support and enhance our work in so many ways the Board of Education obviously for your support Dr Baldwin Suzanne Joe for your leadership the folks in finance and transportation and
060maintenance and Child Nutrition we work with them all David Thompson for the amazing Student Center centered programs that he has brought to buckham County Schools specifically the compassionate schools model our grand Tours The Sisters of Mercy Foundation the buckham County Commissioners and the Asheville Merchants foundation and obviously our principls counselors social workers teachers and School nurses are invaluable Partners to us each and every day tonight we recognize all of our partners and celebrate together the good things happening in in our Community around the importance of Education in the lives of all of our children thank you Partners to please come back up to the center of the stage area floor area and Suzanne and Miss Franklin if you would we have certificates and photo opportunities V and station certificates got hidden thank you feels get
061a your dress bill in the middle world it is now time I just have to say this I was involved with these agencies when these ideas started I won't tell you how many years ago but to I saw the need I had no idea how to work through and make it happen and now all of these people in this wonderful Community have gone together to work for to help these children succe Ed not only in school but in their home and in their personal life and I truly personally appreciate that it's now time for our public comment we have two public comments tonight John Brigham and Lisa Baldwin John briam yes sir yes sir you go to the microphone thank you school board and people in attendance I'm I'm grateful to be here education is
062a messy business you know you got you know like common common core and you got alternative Learners and you got the people in poverty and it's a Nutty business and like principles and like we got to do something about that we got to straighten out Schoolboard say well we need to restructure or something the people that are in the business and the people that count love it I'm of course referring to teachers I want to emphasize that teachers are the center of everything and you can't get away from that and I don't think anybody would argue on that so EMP emphasize that teachers are the center of the whole thing so the two issues are who do we bring into the business and how do we treat the people that we have okay subsidized housing
063for teachers how does this fit into all this I think that this is a I think that this is a really bad idea the one advantage I can see of it is that you could use it to screen your teachers so that for example a teacher comes to you and you know a candidate a candidate teacher comes in and you could you could say you know we have subsidized housing for you we can put you with other teachers and you can live with other teachers and we'll give you break on your rent okay if the person reacts with absolute horror and indignation then that would be a sign of a good teacher okay let's say that let's say that you know we can give you a break on your on your rent you can live
064with other teachers and the guy goes the woman goes oh really I was brought up in Section 8 housing that sounds good free money yeah that's good live with other teachers I don't want to live with anybody else get married and have a family I don't want to do that and then I can see it coming down from Raleigh it's like well we need to give well we need to give people now we give them subsidized housing we don't have to give teachers reasons I think this is a very Insidious and nasty nasty Trend my mother was a teacher she was proud of the life that she led she was proud of the three sons that she raised and she was proud of her career as a teacher and I'm standing up here in in
065defense of my mother and all the teachers in America as far as I'm concerned if you put teachers in subsidized housing you are washing teaching out of the professional Arena I feel very strongly about this I think that I think this is a very bad idea so they say well this is a Band-Aid on a different problem I don't think this is a Band-Aid on a different problem I think this is a bad idea thank you thank you thank you our next person station oh you've already said sorry I'm Lisa Baldwin I'm a parent of a student at Reynolds High School I want to address a resolution on your agenda tonight regarding increasing per pupil funding and fully funding public schools in North Carolina this is a request that you're sending to the North Carolina
066General Assembly however according to the most recent data compiled by the National Education Association North Carolina taxpayers spend over $8,700 on each student per year this is also known as per pupil expenditure New York State spends the most at $118,000 per pupil New Mexico ranks in the middle of the pack at $10,000 and Arizona spends the least at $6,600 per pupil this report puts us puts North Carolina at 45th does that sound terrible it does doesn't it I think that's in your report too North Carolina Public Schools however receive among the highest percentages of their funding from State dollars ranking 11th in the nation and second in the Southeast that was 11th in the nation and second in the Southeast for our state funding of Education in the US K through2 education is funded by
067three sources federal dollars State dollars and local dollars here in North Carolina the Federal government provides only about for 14 to 16% of K through 12 funding with state government picking up most of the tab at 60% local governments contribute less than a quarter of the cost of educating our children yet according to your resolution you feel it would be a burden to ask our County Commissioners for more money for Education state federal and local funds combined North Carolina spends approximately 122 billion on K through2 Ed education every year and that does not include the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on school buildings and the debt used to build and maintain them so my point is I think it's a matter of priorities about where we're spending our money on education here in bunam
068County as you know bunam gets extra money 12 million or more a year from a special sales tax that most counties don't get yet all that money is going into a slush fund for construction even as our enrollment declines down over a th000 students just in the past two years alone this money could easily be converted to the classroom so it's a matter of prioritizing spending the tax dollars on students on teaching and learning rather than on bricks and mortar also you might want to focus your resolution on the way funding the funding formula Works in North Carolina right now principles don't have enough autonom over their own school budget research has found that when principles are allowed 25 to 50% control over their budget thank you can I finish my sentence please your time's
069up thank you next on the agenda is we have a report on the rynolds district family to family presentation we welcome T stoval and Cindy o got for those of you that may not know T and Cindy were both bunkham County School Employees and worked as counselors in the Reynolds District I think that's the reason they're wearing green once a rocket always a rocket good evening I'm Cindy Oak and I retired from Reynolds Middle School and Miss Franklin and board members Miss wer thank you for allowing us to present this evening presenting with me is Miss stoval tin stoval retired renals high school counselor and students who are representing Reynolds High School we give a special thanks to Tammy young who also retired but is from our schools but she's working again so a part-time
070and we appreciate her technical support we also appreciate Miss ers coordinated an activity bus for all of us to get here particularly because we did not have access to a city bus from the school to the central office you can use the URL that you were given to follow along with our presentation or refer to in the future okay is okay we represent the community volunteer organization family to family in the Reynolds District which connects families of Faith to their neighboring schools to help meet the needs of impoverished youth needs not being met by any other agency we have copies of a recent Fairview town crier article written by Cindy McMahan explaining our organization in October of 2013 family family approach the administrators counselors social workers with this question what is your greatest long-term need
071that is impacting the success of your impoverished students their unanimous response was the lack of public transportation to Reynolds middle and high schools at our first meeting with the Asheville Transit projects coordinator we outlined steps to take that resulted in data collection which supported a need for public transportation from the closest bus stop at River Ridge Shopping Center at i240 down highway 74a to the Reynold schools a distance of 1.9 miles we prepared student parent surveys administered on paper and in electronic formats 971 student and parent responses were recorded I am Lexi I am one of the 848 student responses to the online survey I live in Oakley and have not been able to participate in GSA and other after school activities such as football games or tutoring because both my parents work very hard
072and very long hours so they are not able to give me a ride to some advents my name is cat and I live along Highway 74a between riverridge and rolds campus I've been able to participate in clubs school plays and events because I have no mode of transportation my parents currently work 30 minutes away from home and will not get home until like around 5:30 we barely have a car at home to pick me up after school and I've always wanted to do this because people need a way to get to St do stuff more information regarding the survey that we conducted can be found on our link which is located on the left side of the Picto chart the survey data and graphs have been provided to us by the Reynolds AP statistics class
073D'Angelo says I was sick one day at school and wanted to leave but I could not because I had no Transportation at home as the day progressed it got worse and I felt horrible hi I'm Jessica and I wanted to participate in a musical teer Hello Dolly in my school and I couldn't because I didn't have transportation and Donna says I could not stay after school for toring because my mom works at night and I wouldn't have any transportation home from school I am August and after staying for detention due to tardies I had to walk home in the rain about 7 miles because I had no other transportation interviews with Highway 74a business managers highlighted the reality that students wanting to participate in extracurricular activities routinely hang out unsupervised at the nearest businesses until
074the start of the activity which could be anywhere from 1 to 4 hours we learn from from our survey that families believe that the cost of riding the B public bus is very affordable we have also discovered that fewer students are getting their driver's licenses due to the expenses our map indicates that nearly all of our middle school students and over 60% of our high school students live in neighborhoods already served by a city bus they pay City taxes and yet they cannot utilize the bus to get to and from their schools our map shows the Oakley Hall Creek and Bell district lines in blue and their location compared to the middle and high schools the area within the city limits that is also within the Reynolds district is shaded in green the red and
075orange lines indicate the major roads of I40 and i240 and the parkway Rihanna says I live in Shiloh and I use the city bus regularly to go to the mall I'll be comfortable using public transportation Asia says I live in hot Creek and I use the city bus regularly to go to the mall and downtown I would be comfortable utilizing public transportation for staying after school to do sports activities and other extracurricular activities such as RC and just hanging out with my friends I feel like I'm always at home due to my dad always working and not and me not having a way to get to and from now that now that it would be a possibility to do it to do that it makes me feel like I'm not always going to be the
076odd friend out that never gets to do anything here is the location of the schools and the locations of the nearest city bus stops which is a distance of 1.9 miles we want to also thank K Lam bunkham County's graduation initiative coordinator for meeting with us and sharing her research and anecdotal information that support the connection between school Success and failure when lack of Transportation negatively impacts our students Jesse a fifth year student could have graduated if he had attended an Afterschool Credit Recovery opportunity Jesse did not get to participate because he did not have the transportation home each evening both parents worked shifts in a factory Jesse dropped out of school needing only two credits to graduate at the recommendation of the Asheville Transit project coordinator we also gathered data from the community residents
077and business owners affected by the lack of public transportation on Highway 74a our results show that 73.5% of the respondents would use the public bus if available we learned from an Oakley parent that once her child began at the middle school she could not easily pick her child up when he was sick during the school day because of their dependency on public transportation businesses along Highway 74a suffer also two Highway applicants I'm sorry two Highway 74a business managers indicated that the unemployment office limited referrals of job applicants to people who have individual transportation in addition management shared that they encounter the daily dilemma of employees arranging transportation to and from work which affects their work dependability I am Bobby every one of these students come from a different background but they all have something in
078common and it has to do with the restrictions of public transportation after Miss Ward came to me about a group that would be meeting about public transportation I knew I had to have my voice in it because of my own issues and because I've always had to ride the bus the whole night I couldn't sleep because I knew I had to make this change for all the students and myself who have these restrictions I have not been able to go to makeup attendance athletic events because of no transportation to the Reynolds campus I made this petition about providing public bus transportation to the Reynolds campus and in 2 hours I had 216 signatures to fill six Pages this is something I believe will be benefit today's students as well as students tomorrow we will greatly
079appreciate the school board's official support of our project in addition to the specific impact on student lives they cannot access the very programs designed to Aid them in completing High School successfully therefore not only do we ask for your endorsement of our proposal we need our school board to plan and work closely with the County Commissioners and city council to do whatever it takes to remove this Transportation barrier for the rental students and families as a way of supporting our countywide initiative of increasing the student graduation rate thank you for your time and attention if there are no questions then if you don't mind please excuse us so we can return our students to the high school so that they can meet their rides home there is no city bus I person I'm sure all
080board members want to thank you for the work that you've done and particularly for your students and the strength that it took to come and represent their position and to ask us to to help you have certainly called our attention to this problem and we'll certainly see what we can do and you'll be going to the commissioner's meeting next week is that right Tuesday Tuesday gosh it gives me chills you give those Commissioners everything you gave us moving to the action agenda the first item is budget amendment four are there questions for Miss frisbee very straightforward oky dokie then I will entertain a motion to to approve budget amendment four I'll make that motion Madam CH thank you I'll second thank you all those in favor I the next item on the agenda is the
081recommendation for audit firm for years ending in June 30 2016 17 and 18 that's also miss frisbee are there questions in this regard M go ahead go ahead M no you go ahead no go ahead you first ladies first my mother my mother God Rest her soul would not be happy if I jumped in front of you so you go right in well they're arguing is the is it typically a is it is it typically a two or three year commitment that we do I don't remember that in the past board policy says we can com threeyear commitment and then we have the option to extend for two additional years okay and then how long I've read this but it was this morning how how long has it been since we've been with them for
082six for a while with the current 2009 yeah seven okay you want to go you don't me to if you all worked out your differen yeah we've worked it out I have a question when I saw this and read the full fee quotes it reminded me of when I was coaching college basketball I went recruiting one time and I was in a in a gym we'd all heard about a player and Duke was there North Carolina was there and Kentucky was there and I was there from UNCC Asheville and I was in the wrong I was the one that was in the wrong wrong place and when I look at this number it gives me pause that you know I did a little Google search that a reputable firm can be so far under what
083the other two quotes were and I wonder if from a from a legal standpoint Mr Campbell do this just gives me pause I it's not that I want to spend more money than we need to spend but this is a this is half of what Dixon Hugh and Johnson price and sprinkle bid without knowing what although they said I believe was $3,500 they expected to be out of pocket cost in terms of travel yes sir it seems unusual to me help me with that well it could be on the other end that the current auditing firm might have been a little bit higher than than normal I don't know the history but in 2012 the fee was $76,000 and then it went up to $92,000 the next year with the current firm I don't know
084why I don't know there there were more hours tied to the audit but that's basically when we did as this says Anderson Smith white does 40 school system so I compared their fee with systems comparable to our school our school size and they range between 55,000 to 45,000 so they're they're comparable and it's basically based on your student population so and if we if we award that are we locked into that number or are they going to is there is there something in the contract and Andor the document or would that be something that still need to be worked out that here's what I don't want I you hear about this in other places what I don't want to do is vote for a $60,000 bid that's based on such a minimal amount of work
085that when they actually do the audit and the amount of hours it takes to do it for a system our size we're back up at $ 110 $115,000 right now the audit contractor Mr Frisby can speak to this requires a basic level of review and services absolutely as dictated by the state of North Carolina and by auditing standards so that includes a full audit full a in my experience the only time that you could have additional fees under an audit contract is By Request of the school district for them to perform additional Services beyond the Baseline requirement so I'm not concerned about getting a bill or having a request for additional work unless we asked for it I think from there just looking at the prices as to the ultimate quote you competitive bids different
086firms of different sizes and this is not unusual Mr fley would probably tell you in in construction too is sometimes you'll see a pretty good swing with firms and other things so this is a service contract so it's not a straight you cannot it's not a commodity it's a service okay and the prices reflect what the firms think it will take in terms of their time and their expertise to provide you with a sufficient audit right and there is there would probably be a minimal increase each year like 1% the quote just for but we would deal with that whether it was them or Johnson Price sprinkle I with that I do have Mike White with me if you all have any questions with Anderson Smith and Mike so I don't know maybe I shouldn't
087I didn't know you were here we can you just from a from an industry perspective and I'm not questioning I believe me I want to save as much money as I can to to to do other things that go back to kids but yeah I think it's actually public knowledge the audit fees for any of 115 districts throughout the state and if you would perform an analysis of the fees that have been paid versus other districts through other firms not just our firm in the past your fees were probably a little bit out of line to be honest if you would do that analysis and like Mr frisbe had said we audit 41 districts throughout the state we all came from all of our partners came from Dixon odm back in the day and changed
088the Dixon Hughes Goodman we split off with our Focus was governmental and now almost I mean 90% of my business is going to be Schoolboard audits we do not do tax returns it's Schoolboard aits is what we do and if if you would compare the fees based on ADM the quote we gave you is exactly in line with other districts when we met with Miss F that was my main concern I wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that you know probably it's going to be I opening with the number we give versus what we think is fair and like Mr Campbell had said the contract is really a three-party contract it will be with us the Auditors you bunam County schools and the state of North Carolina signs the contract as well so
089there's nothing where we come back and say we need more money we've got three parties in the contract and that's the fee thank you will the not to exceed language that's in this document we have reviewed not to exceed $3,500 per year as far as travel and incidental expenses will that be reflected in the official contract to be signed by your firm yeah we can definitely add that's that's no problem at all that was verbal communication it was yes sir but whenever we do the formal contract there's a line item we can put not to exceed yes sir thank you yes any other questions I didn't have a question I just had a comment just basically I'm very glad we're doing this and I think it's what we've learned is that it's high time and
090it's it's high time both in terms of the fee that we're paying but also it's fin finially healthy to get fresh eyes on on the book so I'm looking forward to to how this turns out and I think this is a good good approach thank you anyone else i' to entertain a motion to accept thank you thank you to approve the contract services with firm Anderson Smith and white pllc I'll make the motion Madam chair thank you is there a second second all those in favor I any opposed what does pllc stand for professional limited liability company limited liability I don't have those letters after mine the same level of protection our firm has that means you have thank you the insurance policy huh than thank you we have several insurance thank you very much
091thank you next item on the agenda is the Owen High and Irwin High synthetic turfield replacement initiative contract do any of you have questions for Mr fley Madam chair I would move that we award the contract as it's been presented tonight for for the synthetic turf fields at these two high schools thank you is there second I'll second all right all those in favor I any oppose I guess we'll be putting down some Turf the next one is North bunkham High School and Ena High School authorization to award contract for Food Lab Renovations that's also Mr fley any questions for Mr fearly I have a question this is a question I asked you earlier but it seems like it might be helpful for the public to hear the answer as well can you talk a
092little bit about the differences between these two projects and why the one at North buam is so much more expensive yes the North Punam project is a prart program which it which Christy cheek can speak to the curriculum of it but it's a commercial program close to culinary very intense program the space involves two rooms whereas at Anka it's a more traditional Foods program it is a mix of commercial and residential it involves one room so there's there's simply less space less intense equipment we're working with we're able to work with the space better at Anka we don't have to tear up the floor and put Utilities in we can work with what we've got thank you does that cover it Miss CH it does anyone else have questions for Mr fley I'd entertain a
093motion that we accept this recommendation I would move to accept the recommendation thank you there second I'll second all those in favor I any opposed motion passes now I will call on Miss Churchill to read the resolution regard ing increasing per pupil funding and fully funding public schools in North Carolina Miss Churchill the resolution of the bunkham County Board of Education regarding increasing per pupil funding and fully funding public schools in North Carolina whereas the North Carolina Constitution includes an obligation to provide a sound basic education to all School AG children in our state acknowledging that local and state officials have an obligation to prepare all students for a productive future whereas we ackowledge that talent and Ingenuity can be found among all our children whereas public education is the Cornerstone of our democracy and
094the economic well-being of our state whereas inflation adjusted per pupil spending is still below pre-recession levels whereas in terms of per pupil spending an Nea report ranks North Carolina 46 in the United States for 20145 whereas in 2008 North Carolina teacher salaries ranked 25th in the nation but had fallen to 46th by 20145 and without highly effective classroom teachers students in North Carolina will not be prepared for Quality well-paying careers and our state state is at risk of enhancing the potential for a globally competitive Workforce whereas research demonstrates the coste effectiveness of prek services whereas approximately 60% of public education funding comes from the state while the remainder is funded by local sources and the federal government and whereas it is not wise or productive to fund public education through a Reliance on increased property
095taxes or by forcing local officials to cut important programs or positions now therefore be it resolved that the bunkham County Board of Education respectfully requests that the North Carolina General Assembly number one fully fund public education in every Lea to reflect growth and student needs to reinstate K12 enrollment growth also know as ADM funding as part of the continuation budget and three utilize existing state revenue streams to maximize educational opportunity for students restore competitive teacher pay and avoid placing an unacceptable financial burden on local governments to provide all students with a sound basic education thank you this is let's see all those in favor of this get a motion to to accept it okay let's have a motion to accept it the resolution I make the motion that we accept the resolution as R thank
096you is there a second I'll second that thank you very much all those in favor of the resolution any opposed thank you so it's read and adopted the 14th day of April 2016 thank you m Churchill at this time time it is time for us to discuss the appointment to the abtech our appointment to the abtech board of trustees and I would like for the people here to know that Mr Richard Hurley has served on the abtech board for over 20 years and he has decided at this time not to apply or continue to his position on the abtech board so at this time we have an applicant Mr Bill Murdoch and let me just digress a minute we set up a procedure last year this board did in accepting applications for the positions on
097the abtech board and Mr Murdoch filled out the application and we have chosen hopefully him to serve on the abtech board so I would entertain a motion that we do just that Madam chair it would be my honor to make this recommendation that we accept the application of Mr Murdoch and that we as a school board appoint him as one of our representatives to the Board of Trustees at abtech is there a second to that I'll second thank you very much all those in favor I well Mr Murdoch now you're on another board and we want to publicly thank Richard for what he has done for us and representing us on the abtech board and I am sure that Mr B Murdoch will continue in that venue now it's time for the consent agenda items
098on the consent agenda are the minutes from the March 3rd Open Session the Personnel report Inca High School use of capital outlay and athletic allotment academic summer school plans and I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second second all those in favor I any opposed all right on the information agenda we have Financial reports notification of informal construction and repair a contracts and change orders and we have several policies for first reading I wanted to ask Miss swanger are these policies changed because we're seeking to align ourselves tell us why we're do looking at these yes ma'am we have made changes based on state policy and best information that we have at the time all right any questions from the board members in this regard all right then I would
099make the announcements of future meetings we have an NCAA and an ncasa legislative priorities press conference that'll be held April the 20th here in our motorum and that is for superintendents and educational leaders in Region 8 and region 7 and then bunkham County Schools top Scholars banquet will be the 21st at 6:00 p.m. at the Renaissance there will be special call meeting of of the board of education on May the 5th at 12:00 in the multi-purpose room here in this facility and I believe that is regarding facilities isn't it's a work session and the board of education has its regular meeting on May the 5th at 6:30 here in the motorum at this time I would entertain a motion to adjourn so moved any a second second a I thought some people wanted to stay
100here a little while longer all those in favor I all any opposed let's go home last