001Good evening and welcome to the August 5th regularly scheduled board meeting. Um we are going to begin with Mr. Jenkins leading the pledge of allegiance. >> Please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> If you'll remain standing, Reverend Tammy Lee from St. Paul's Episcopal and Board is going to make. >> Let us pray. God of wisdom and understanding, bless this coming year in the school systems of Carter County that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom. Continue to direct the working of your purposes out through the voices of these board members, concerned citizens, and all who faithfully gather for your people.
002Help them all to be mindful and to do their part in making the hearts of your people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous. Be with those who teach, granting them patience in the days ahead. Support in the quiet moments of challenge and endless love for those who have never seen such. And finally, and most importantly, you have blessed us with the joy and care of teaching children. Give all who work with them calm strength and patient wisdom so that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good following in the footsteps of the one whose mission was and is and will always be love. >> Amen. >> Thank you. >> We do not have any public commenting this evening. Um so we'll do before the agenda. Um, we do
003have a correction on the minutes from June 30th, 2025. Miss Pursich abstain from voting on item 4.1, which was to consider the approval. Nope, that's it. Item 4.1. Consider approval of the 2425 final budget revision and the minutes will be corrected to reflect that change. >> Sorry. Oh, a big one. >> Just the biggest one. No problem. The biggest one on the agenda tonight. Let's back up and do the important stuff. Sorry. Um, we're going to welcome M. Um, Dr. Brock Wombo from the North Carolina Center of the Advancement of Teaching, the executive director, Dr. Karen Sumner, the NCAAT Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Perry Harker, NCAAT Board of Trustees member and former member of the Carter County Public School Board of Education, and Mr. John Kirkman, the executive director of the NC Association of Career
004and Technical Education. Um we're going to welcome them all to the podium to present the finalist award for the NCCAT 2026 Burough's Welcome Fund NC Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year award um to Miss Heather Rose. >> Good afternoon or good evening. Um first of all, thank you, Madam Chair. Um thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. Um um thank you board members for the opportunity to present this award and and Superintendent Pal, we really appreciate um you honoring um this outstanding teacher, but also um for the uh for supporting INCAD and and all that we do and supporting teachers throughout the year. Uh at this time, I'd like uh um Heather Rose to come forward at this time along with uh uh Perry Harker, our board of trustee member for
005the uh the North Carolina Center for Advancement Teaching. John Kirkman if y'all would come forward I guess is that his best way uh and John Kirkman um from the NCACTE executive director and I'd also ask the principal um Chris Davis to come forward and the CTE director Allison De's if y'all would come forward for this award because it takes all of us to be able to uh to uh to work together to provide what's best for all all the students in this in the school district. So o on behalf of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching is my privilege to announce that Heather Rose has been selected as a finalist for the INCAT 2026 Burroughs Welcome Fund North Carolina Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year Award. This recognition highlights Mrs.
006Rose's exceptional contribution to CTE instruction and her remarkable impact on the students in in the community here in Carter County. The the CTE teacher of the year award was established to celebrate the innovation, leadership, and dedication of CTE teachers across North Carolina. This award honors teachers who exemplify the highest standard of excellence in preparing students for both college and career pathways. Miss Rose will be attending a week of professional development with her fellow finalists in December. On December 4th, INCAT will celebrate all finalists at a recognition event at the Corey Convention Center in Greensboro. And at that point, we'll name a winner, but we'll celebrate all the finalists there, too. At Encamp, we are committed to advancing teaching is an art and profession. And we are thrilled to celebrate Heather Rose is a shining example
007of this mission. Please join me in congratulating Heather Rose on this outstanding achievement. We are pleased to provide you with this certificate recognizing you as a INCAT 2026 Burners Welcome Fund North Carolina Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year finalist. Please give her a hand at this time. [Applause] >> I'll let them be do it. All right. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you, chair and board and superintendent. Y'all have an excellent school system and we're so proud to be here tonight. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> And I apologize again. Um, so we'll just keep going. No public commenting tonight. Um, we did have the change on the minutes for June 30th that we noted. Um, do we have a motion for the consent agenda? >> We got to change the meeting agenda number
008two. Madame Chair, I move to amend the agenda to add item 4.31 to consider the preposition disaster recovery contract to the consent agenda. >> I second that. >> All in favor? >> I don't know why these are confusing me. >> And uh Madame Chair, I move to amend the agenda to move item 4.27, 27 county health department the health programou me memorandum of understanding from the consent agenda to item 6.2 action items for consideration. >> I will second that. >> Perfect. All in favor. >> Thank you. >> And madame chair I make a motion to approve the agenda as amended. >> Thank you. Mr. Jenkins made the motion. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Miss Chadwick. All in favor. >> All right. Thank you guys for all your help tonight.
009Now to the um consent agenda. Um just to make this easy at this time, we do have a correction to the minutes from 6:3025 in which Miss Courage is abstained from voting on item 4.1 for consider the approval of the 2425 final budget revision and the minutes will be corrected to reflect this change. Um do we have a motion to approve the amended consent agenda? >> I'll make that motion. >> Motion by Miss Chadwick. Do we have a second? I'll second that. >> Second by Miss Kurszich. All in favor? >> Thank you. All right. Don't let me get ahead. All right. To Mr. Pal for bond project update. >> Good evening board members. Um so the the projects are coming down to the the wire as far as getting school started, but they're they're coming
010along nicely. There's a lot of work to be done at West Carter. Um instead of uh having a lot of uh I have some pictures for you tonight that you can see how the projects are coming along. Um so first we'll start with East Carter High School. Uh the two major projects that are going on at East Carter um are still the culinary lab and the art room. Um we've talked about those projects in the past. This is the culinary lab and you see it's getting near completion. Um there's some punch list items. You see they're putting some tables together. um that that room should be ready to go before students come back and and should be a nice addition to East Carter High School. Um they left the so this used to be two
011classrooms which is a foods lab and an art room. They've torn the wall down between them and now this will become one large art room. So there's just a couple of pictures there to show you. Um we knew that project was not going to be done when students come back. I think the pro projected date is early November. So, um, but the the contractor there thinks he might be able to finish it before that. So, he's working to get that done. And then lastly, there's just a, um, at the behind the school, you know, there was an old wooden ramp at that door forever and they they finally got to upgrade it to a a concrete ramp. So, that that was a nice addition there. Um, and then next we're talking about West Carter High
012School. This is their culinary lab. Um, it is actually in better shape than it looks. Um, it should be done. Um, there's just a lot of trash you can see in there now. they had had unloaded some boxes and it looks bad but that project will be done by the time students come back. Um we also have um this was the old band room which will now be the new chorus room. So that room had risers in the back with offices and you can see it's all open now. Um they have formed some storage and some office space in the front of that room which will be complete in the next couple of weeks. Um this is the new band room. You've seen pictures of that before. This is just a reminder of that nice
013addition. Uh locker rooms on the left, the red lockers, that's the new uh girls locker room. And on the right um is the boys locker room. And there's multiple rooms that look like this there. Um so that that's been a nice addition. Um this is the new wing. So this is what they call the 500 building. So this is the new science wing and with the ROC classrooms. Uh the room the the picture on the left is just a typical uh science. It's going to be a chemistry lab. And and the way that building is set up um it has uh four uh chemistry labs. Um two on each side of the hall and it has a storage closet between each of those rooms where they share um equipment. And then at the very end
014of the hallway is the ROC um lab or ROC classroom which you can see on the right um the right hand picture is one large classroom that has a divider that they can pull and and divide it into two classrooms when needed. And then last you can see that's the cafeteria on the left that used to be three different rooms and you see it's opened up into one big room now with restrooms added in the cafeteria which has been a very nice addition. Um, and on the right you can see they're redoing the gym floor. So, any questions about projects. >> That looks fantastic. >> Right. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, Mr. Propes for policies first read. >> Good evening. >> So, uh, the policies for First Street are actually local revisions that we've
015made and they were either requested by the board or they were requested by the administration. Um, since there's just a few policies, I'll go ahead and just highlight all of them. Uh, 2310 is public participation at board meetings. Uh, the board requested that revision and that was basically to make it more efficient for public comments and to still welcome public participation. Uh, 5015 school volunteers administration requested this revision. Uh, Mr. Whitford assisted in defining and providing the legal capacities for volunteer coaches. 6321, which is bus routes. administration requested that revision due to a lack of feasibility for several existing routes to meet the stated threshold and the confusion that it created with the parents 7600 which is salary um administration requested that revision to mirror the actual practice of NCDPI with their supplement payments and
016then additionally you have a uh revised um code of student conduct. The reason that the code of student conduct is before you is because there were some issues with coding um between our code of conduct and what the state manual had and so it created issues in reporting to the state to the state um um certain incidences. So um that is it. Um given that the school starts this month, uh we've asked that you uh temporarily temporarily approve policy 5015, which is the volunteers, which incorporates the volunteer coach piece and the revised code of student conduct. So we ask that you u temporarily approve those on first read uh so that we can have those in place for the start of the school year. So any questions about first read policies? Um yeah, I have
017a a comment about policy 2310 in the one section, not all of it, just the one section where we want to change the um the date deadline for citizen request to add an agenda item from 10 to 20. Um I understand the intent might be to help like administrative planning. Um, I just feel like the current 10-day requirement already provides, you know, a good balance and the subsequent paragraphs of that policy, um, they already grant administrative, uh, discretion at whether a requested agenda item would be added to the agenda. So, I think that safeguards both the current timeline and um, and a administrative response. So, for that one, I would request the board reject that change when it comes to second read. um and leave that as a 10day um time frame for requests. >>
018Any other comments? >> And then I have also another one if there's nothing on that one. Um a comment about the requested change for the bus route policy 6321. Um, I'm opposed to removing that sentence about to the extent practical and economically feasible ride time should be less than 45 minutes one way. Um, I feel like in the interests of our students, you know, it sets a good standard to guide our planning. Um, and it does not impose a rigid mandate to hold us to a 45minute limit. Um, I think it shows good um, effort on our part to meet the needs of students and the families, but it doesn't hold us to a a firm requirement. So, that's one I would request that the board would vote against that change when it comes to
019second reading. >> Anything else? Um, do we have a motion to approve 5015 and the student code of conduct on first read? Make that motion. >> Motion by Miss Kurszich. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mr. White. All in favor? >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, in regards to secondary read policies, these policies come from the school board association spring 2025 packet. Again, these were selected edits to reflect the provisions of the Title 9 policy issued by the Department of Education. Uh, Mr. Whitford reviewed these policies and made some recommendations for the initial uh, read. Um there have been no new changes since the uh first read. So we'd ask that you approve these policies. >> Okay. >> We have a motion to approve. >> Make a motion to approve. >>
020Motion by Mr. White. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Miss Chadwick. All in favor. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Um now we have number 6.2 2, which is the consideration for the Carter County Health Department memorandum of understanding for 2025 2026. Do we have any discussion on that? Madam Chair, I make a motion to oppose this memorandum of understanding um that allows the health department to facilitate the administration of vaccines in our schools. I understand there's a requirement for vaccines um but I believe that this arrangement is unnecessary and beyond the bounds of our school system. Um it's my view that administration of medical procedures should take place with the direct involvement of parents, there are risks to these. Um I feel like if a student has
021not had the required vaccines and they don't meet the exemption requirements that we can refer the family to the health department if they can't get to their doctor in a timely manner. Um, and I feel like if the health department would like to go above and beyond in aiding this situation, maybe they can consider having one or two Saturday openings that families can utilize their services. So, I request that we oppose this memorandum of understanding. >> Um, do we have a second? Is that correct or any discussion? So, I want to say that living down east and representing the folks down east that I think um offering this at the schoolhouse is um convenient for folks that they don't have to try to get their kids out of school and get them to Morehead City
022um to get a get the vaccine. We actually I used this with one of my own kids in middle school when they needed a shot. And so, I'm not for taking that away personally. >> Sure. I'm not going to agree with this one just because if they were if this was forced on parents or students, I feel incredibly different. Um, my own kids haven't utilized this and they were never incentivized to get them at school or pushed to get them at school or even reminded to bring the forms home. Um, we had no push back on not receiving them at school. >> Um, so for that reason, I'm okay with helping the families. >> Um, do we have a second on that motion? Okay. Do we have another motion? Do we have a motion to
023approve theou? >> I'll make that motion. >> A motion by Miss Chadwick. Do we have a second? >> Yes. >> Second by Mr. White. All in favor? >> Member member White has um um asked may he has pointed out that he serves on an advisory committee to the health department, but it's a volunteer role. He is not paid. So, he has no financial interest in this and therefore not a legal conflict of interest. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. Um, all in favor of this. Great. And one opposed. Perfect. Um, over to Mr. Taylor for comments. Good evening, board members. I hope your summer break was restful and enjoyable and not too unbearably hot. Hopefully, those really hot days are behind us. Um, we look forward to having our teachers and staff back in our school
024buildings, uh, prepping for students later in the month. It's always an exciting time when we get ready to greet our students and start a new school year together. As we prepare for the new academic year, I want to acknowledge the contributions also of our maintenance and transportation and our sensor office staff. Their work throughout the summer has been essential for our readiness and we really appreciate their efforts. I'd also like to give another congratulations to Heather Rose who's a finalist for the NCCTTE teacher of the year. here. It's a great honor for Carter County for her to represent us. We're excited to announce our annual stuff the bus school supply drive. Uh community members can drop off donations now through Friday at Coastal Dentistry in Morehead City and also at Safeforts Building Supply located across
025the street. Um additional drop off opportunities will be available this weekend at Walmart and Staples. All donated supplies will go directly to support students in need as they prepare for the new school year. The main distribution event is scheduled for August 13th. Uh be sure to follow us on social media for additional distribution dates, locations, and more details. School staff will return to our schools next week to prepare for a new school year. The official start of school for students is Monday, August 25th. Just like to remind all of our drivers that school buses will be back on the roads on August the 25th. And then please drive carefully and stay alert. Our next regular school uh board meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 2nd. That meeting will start at 6 PM. And Mr.
026Chair, this concludes my remarks. >> Perfect. Um do we have any comments from board members? >> Okay. Um just as he just stated, the next regularly scheduled board meeting is Tuesday, September 2nd at 6 PM and that will be livereamed on YouTube. Um do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make that motion. >> Motion by Miss Chadwick. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> We have a second by Mr. Chambers. All in favor? >> Thank you. >> Oh, good.