5-18-26 Board of Education Meeting

001Go to order the uh Kataba County Board of Education regular meeting for May 18th of 2026. Please stand. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for Going well. This Okay, good evening. Thanks for having us back again. the young for me and the program tonight. I've got first class about 24. Um so I take him to our state in about two weeks to go down and about leadership on the other end. Yeah. The last time we were here is junior and leadership next year and what I'm going to But before that last time here my daughter did that and not all about last four years. I'm going to really consider her as well, but the army's

002going to take care of the army. [clears throat] So, not only Thanksgiving. Okay. Next on the agenda is approval of minutes from April 27th, 2026 meeting. Y'all had a chance to preview those. Are there any discussion? Any changes need to be made? Hearing none, I seek a motion to approve the minutes from the April 27th of 2026 meeting. >> Mr. Chairman, I make the motion to approve as presented. >> I hear a motion. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Next up is adjustment approval of the agenda. Members of the board, uh we are asking to add a an agenda item, new business number 17, uh approval of the vendor recommendation and quote for the intercom replacement system and installation at Blackburn Elementary School. Uh we

003were able to get three quotes and um we need to start working on this so we can hopefully get it done before school start. So that's why we put on here late. We would appreciate you all listening to that tonight if you would. All right. If there's no further changes or anything need to be added or removed, I seek a motion to uh approve the agenda with the added new business number 17, approval of vendor recommendation and quote for intercom replacement system and installation at Blackburn Elementary School. >> Mr. Chairman, I make that motion. >> Hearing a motion, is there further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you. Next up, chairman report. Uh myself. Um so our graduation started Friday night at Challenger. They will continue

004out this week. Congratulations all of our graduates. And at the end of the week is Memorial Day. So please remember our brothers who have lost their lives in defense of our country. That's all I have. And next up is the superintendent report by Mr. I'm sorry, Dr. Stove. >> Thank you, chairman. Um yeah, thank you. Challenge of graduation was fantastic. We look forward to our other high school graduations this week. And y'all just pray for no rain, just for one hour. That's all we need. No rain, one hour. All right, we're going to recognize several students tonight. And I got to tell you, amazing, amazing stuff. So, I'm going to ask Mr. West Morland to come up and I'll ask our board to come out and we will start with our archery awards this this

005evening. Is that good with you, Mr. West Mor? All right. Good evening, Chairman Smire, members of the board, Dr. Stove. So, we do have lots of students uh tonight to uh recognize for archery. First, we're going to kick it off with Maiden High School. Where's Madison? So, Madison, come on up. Right here, Madison. So, Madison Bolick. So, this is big time. She's she's a big deal here at Kaba County. So, we've got for high school female division, she was the bullseye state champion and also the national bullseye champion. Um, so how many roughly were in the national competition? >> 15,000 archers. So, first place in that. So, yeah. So, and also Madison, you're going to compete in a world tournament in Florida this June. Good luck and congratulations on everything that you go >> and

006coach by coach Jason Beer. I appreciate all your hard work. >> Don't ask me. You ask. It was good. I know it was good. It's pretty pretty amazing. It's good stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll break it up. >> All right, Professor Brian Ever, thank you've been here as well. Good job, Madison. All right, down to the middle school level here, we got Mil Creek. We got a a couple students. So, Maddie Hole, you come on up. So, Maddie, I'll wait till you get up here before I talk about you. Maddie was first place in uh the state in Bullseye in the middle school girls division. Congratulations. All right. So archery, there's bullseye, which bullseye, there's also 3D competition as well. So there's two different state championships. And so I'm going have to help me

007with this. So Alicia Jurish by close Jer I totally missed it. Jur come on up Alicia. So you were first place in the 3D right? So swept at Mil Creek swept the first place in the state. So nice job. All right. Yeah. Go and get a picture, Mark. Yep. >> All right. Congratulations All right. And elementary. This is Startown Elementary. So Star Town's also pretty well known in the archery world. So um I'm going to ask Oh, I'm sorry. Before we move on, I forgot to introduce the coaches. Mil Creek. I do apologize. So Becky Troop back there said, "Thank you." And Robert Miller, you put a lot of time in. Principal Chad Manor. Thanks for being here, guys. So, Startown Elementary. Um, so this is the seventh year in a row they've won the

008bullseye in the state and then the fifth year in a row for 3D. Is that correct? So, pretty much just cleaning house every year. Uh, which is a standing invitation they have here at the board this time of year. So, I'm going to ask Coach Laura Warren to come up kind of help me with names. Does that work? If you'll introduce and we'll just we'll start the simply line. >> All righty. All right. We're gonna start with uh Jace Beaverson. Uh Jace also got third place in our state 3D. Sorry. Uh we have Tatum Black. He's not here tonight. Uh Lewis Frock. Um, Samuel Burchham, he's not here. Pac Divine, he's not here. Uh, Satie Elliot. Um, Parker Evans, she's not here, but Parker placed second in Bullseye at State and third in 3D at

009State. Um, up next is Mason Fairlock and we have McCoy Fry. Um, Annabelle Hernandez, she is not here. Uh, Carter Kelly, he is not here. Ariel Lemus, she's not here. Ruby Leven is not here. Uh Grayson Lefon Lingerfelt, he is not here. Elizabeth Perez Huerta, she is not here. And we have Corbin Richardson. Or Richards. Richards. All right. JJ Rippy. And we got Scarlett Jojo Ruffy. And we have Victoria Ruffy. Victoria placed third in state at Boulevard and second in 3D. Scarlet Rugles. She is not here. And up next we have Payton Sinclair. Pton placed first for elementary girls um in the 3D competition. And we have Lorenzo Sto Krueger, Eban Bang, Bergen Williams, and last but not least, we have Logan Warren. Logan placed first at state in bullseye for elementary boys. Logan also

010placed first at state in 3D for elementary boys. And Logan placed first at nationals for >> and he's mine. [laughter] >> Thank you. Come on, too. Let's get a perfect picture. She don't simple sit. Get in between. Marty, can we get one, two? >> Yes, coaches too, please. [clears throat] What's the I think we've got >> Yes, we did. All right. So yeah. >> All right. Okay. The last recognition we're going to do is called the lifesaver. So sometimes we have to have in this case it's going to be [clears throat] students as well. We're recognizing but the first one I want to recognize Shannon. Is it Sat or Sat? thorat third times the charm thereat. So teach um day right at uh star town. So had a student at our lunch during lunch started

011choking and uh so kind of jumped right in performed the child maneuver and uh saved the child. So awesome. Okay, then we're going to move to Bandy's High School. So, Miss Andrews, if you come up, I'll let you kind of give just a little bit of a background here. >> Thank you guys so much. I just want to say I've been to every school board meeting this semester and it means a lot to see all these recognitions for athletics and academics and the arts. So, I just want to personally say thank you. Um, so this event occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. We were in our last kind of one of our last rehearsals getting ready for the Spongebob musical and it was about 9:30 at night and we were in our last scene. So, it's

012a two and a half hour show. Kids are tired. We're exhausted. you know, things might not have gone right in the rehearsal, but we were just trying to get through. And we're in our last scene and we start hearing these awful sounds. I'm going to try to be short because I get emotional when I talk about it. Um, these awful sounds on the microphones and we were in the booth trying to figure out who it was so we can mute it and go and figure it out until I heard, "Help, help. He's choking. He's choking." And if you're at Maiden High School, the booth is so far away from backstage and it was the longest distance I could possibly ever um have to run. And I'm just so proud of all the students that were

013involved. We're going to recognize the two main ones tonight. But in that moment, I think every student did exactly what they needed to do. I heard one kid say, "Go in, sit in the seat so we can figure out what's going on." I heard another kid say, "Don't everyone rush back there. Let Miss Andrews get through." So, truly was a team effort. We've got a bunch of cast members, crew members, families here. So, if you'll just give a wave if you were there that night. It was pretty scary. Um, and I'm just I'm so proud of these students. So, um, it ended up to a student named Ryland Turner. He said he couldn't be here tonight because he had to work, but he extends his thank you to you guys for recognizing these students. But,

014um, Amelia Drum is one of our tech technicians backstage, and she was there to help, um, yeah, come, you can stand. Um, there to help Ryland, um, during this moment. Um, she was, you know, doing all the things, hitting him on the back, but couldn't quite get it. And then um by the time I got back there, Ryland was okay and breathing. I got him I got him um back to where he needed to be and I heard more of the story. That's where we find out Gabe Moore um had performed a himlic on him. And um and it's it's really by the grace of God and he told me this. He wasn't supposed to be backstage. He was one of the main characters that's supposed to be on stage in that moment. but he

015forgot a prop, so he had to go back and get it. And that's where he saw Ryland. And I'm just so thankful for you two and thankful for all the cast and crew. Um, and I'm just I'm proud. I've been teaching for 12 years in top county schools and this is my most proud moment. So, you're good. I'm a Next on the agenda is the uh consent agenda. Uh we got this paperwork ahead of time. If you uh have any questions or anything, let me know. If not, I seek a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. that motion. >> Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor show a raise of hand. That isments for the consent agenda. I'm so sorry I have skipped over public comments,

016which we will do now. It's usually not my thing to do, but April cannot be here this evening. The Kataba County Board of Education appreciates and welcomes all public comments. Members of the public who have signed up to speak may address the board members on any topic of concern during the public comment section of a regular meeting. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to address board members. A time clock will be displayed to assist each speaker with their three-minut time limit. Speakers should direct their comments to board members rather than to the audience. Comments by members of the public should be respectful without slander toward any member of the public, community members, or any member of the Kataba County Board of Education. Any displays of approval or disapproval are out of

017order unless otherwise directed by the board chair. Have two people to speak tonight. And first up will be Mr. Lawrence Weedderman. Good evening. In a civilized society, the way the system is supposed to work is we all agree to a set of rules and we honor and obey that set of rules, not because someone forces us to, but because it's the right thing to do. The United States Constitution, the law of the land. States cannot write laws contrary to the Constitution. Cities can't, and your local school board isn't supposed to either. The constitution is a set of rules we are all supposed to follow and everyone here pledges allegiance to the republic where the public where the republic is defined by the constitutional set of rules. If you don't honor those rules, you are violating

018your oath and pledge. The first amendment of the constitution states congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free expression thereof. That's the rule. It's simple and straightforward. No government sanctioned religion. You don't tread on my religious beliefs and I don't tread on yours. That is what the first amendment is all about. If we all follow it, we all get along. Free to follow our own beliefs and we allow others to follow their beliefs as they see fit. When one side decides it's not going to play by the rules anymore because they have the majority power, the system breaks down. It becomes divisive, polarized, and we war amongst ourselves. This is where we are. The board being of a cohesive majority has adopted a policy that is clearly unconstitutional. The

019convocation is illegal. It's not right. It's not legal. But the board does it because they can. Policy 2.315 violates my constitutional right to be free of government imposed religious indoctrination. Now, we all know, I know, I don't have the throw to force the board to resend policy 2.315. I get it. But that doesn't mean I have to roll over and accept it either. If the board persists in violating my civil rights, I will continue to petition my government for red address of grievances. So next month y'all get a lesson on the Supreme Court ruling of Santa Fe Independent School District versus Stowe 530 US 290 2000 where a school board was giving a religious prayer and then they changed it to an invocation to try to sweep it under the rug. Well, the Supreme Court

020didn't buy it and they struck it down. You get that lesson next month. Thanks for your time. >> You Mr. Weider. Our online speaker is Steven Matthews. Hello. It's um my first time being here and I appreciate everything y'all do for the school system and I just wanted to uh uh bring uh something to your attention here. So, my name is Steven Matthews. My wife is Melissa Matthews. We I'm g up in the Veil community and um Brettie Ford graduate. Um we're asking the board to consider uh allowing qualified sixth grade students the opportunity to try out and participate on middle school athletics team under structured guidelines and standards. This proposal is not guar not guaranteeing a roster spots or lowering expectation. every student would still have to earn their spot on the team uh

021through triyouts and through coach evaluations just like every other athlete. The goal is simply to provide an opportunity for students who are academically, physically and emotionally prepared for next level. We believe this can be done and reasonably with and can be done reasonably with clear stipulations in place. Of course, the the students would have to also meet the uh CVMAC standards, which is for Kataba Valley Middle School athletic conference standards of for grades. U parents would be fully responsible for transportation to and from practices and games. So, this would not place additional transportation burdens on school system. And and thirdly, the the coach would have to understand this if students in sixth grade and they're at Banoke or Mount View or any other six uh elementary school that has sixth grade now, they would um

022it'd be the parents responsibility to get them there. If they're going to be late to practice and the coach says, "Hey, I don't want a a player just come in late to practice. I I'm just not going to, you know, let them be on the team." That's their decision, you know. But um if if you do have a coach that is understanding and um there is a good athlete there that can that is mature enough and physically gifted enough to play uh middle school sports. I think the sixth graders should be allowed to play. I know that there's um that you know in 2028 everything will be merged together and right now new Conover North View and Grand View allow sixth graders play every sport except for football and uh which I agree with. Um

023but uh but the um Jacobs Fork, which is where my kids will be going eventually, um does not does not allow sixth graders to play. Um just well as Maiden, AR, Mil Creek, and Riverbend also. So um I just ask that the sixth graders be given a chance to play. be up to the coach to decide whether they want to deal with the players, you know, being in sixth grade, being transferred to and from the middle school. Um, but I think that that extra year of playing sports in sixth grade would actually help them um as student athletes in seventh and eighth grade also. I mean, I think that they would they would stand a lot better chance of and I know my time's my time. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr.

024Matthews. Next on the agenda is new business. Uh first is approval of 2026 2027 school nutrition request for Kataba County Schools presented by Miss Karen Barrier. >> Hey, good evening. So I have a few things. Um I'm seeking approval tonight. I have um the six food and supply rollover bids from 2425 school year. We're planning on rolling those over once again to the 26 27 school year. Um I have them all listed here. Any questions regarding the the bids? The same thing just another year. Um the second thing is excuse me um I'm seeking approval for our sole source procurement for link school nutrition. So link school nutrition they keep our financial information and meal transaction history. So they have our secure data and we they're pretty much the only ones that can do this.

025So we are seeking approval for a sole source um procurement for this software company. And then last is our expansion of our super snack program. We'd like to expand to St. Stevens High, ART, and Bunker Hill High. We're a little excited about that this year. Okay, you've heard Miss uh Barry present. Does anyone have any questions for Miss Brier? If not, I seek a motion for approval of the 2026 2027 school nutrition request for Kataba County Schools, which includes six rollover food bids, soul source procurement for link school nutrition software operations and maintenance fee and expansions of super snack program to St. Stevens Art and Bunker Hill High School. >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion. >> Hearing a motion, is there further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise a hand. Thank

026you. >> Thank you. Next up is approval of the 2026 2027 beginning teacher support plan for Kataba County Schools presented by Mr. Fred Whan. >> Good evening, board chair and Dr. Trevor and the rest of the board. Uh before I get started, I just want to invite you guys formally to the end of year celebration next Thursday uh at 9:00 in the morning. Uh and it's '8s themed, so get your big hair and your fluorescent clothing and whatever else cheesy stuff you want to wear. So look forward to seeing you guys at that celebration. So the beginning teacher support program um this plan uh gets approved whenever we need to make adjustments to it. Um we also have to be audited every 5 years. Um so we've got I think another two more years before

027we get audited. But DPI did request a couple changes that we need to make in here as far as language goes. So we went ahead and made those. But we also while we were in here went ahead did some adjustments based on what we were doing with the program. The first one is this one is just completely a wording thing that DPI has requested uh based on lure type down here. This um reporting to the local board this testing and lure course work. We actually don't do this for you guys. We actually just bring the contract renewals to you guys. So that's how you'll know that they're eligible based on that. So we didn't need to have that wording as well. um the recent graduate survey. Basically, after uh students graduate from a university and

028education prep program, they have to do a survey and this a state requirement. Uh we had people do it this year. Also, the principles of those teachers have to do it as well. So, this is just the wording they wanted as far as that survey goes and it's requirement by the state. And the first the next thing is just a kind of a wording issue. uh we just change it to make it sound a little better. Uh the next two are it had from local dollars and then from state aotted funds. We just took that out of there because most of our stuff comes from title two which federal funding. So we just wanted to keep it open that way if we need to take it from somewhere else we could do that as well.

029And once again just a wording issue there. This is a another DPI request. This is about mentors. So essentially to be a mentor uh which is the you know people that support the BTS, we want them to either be distinguished or accomplished on their evaluation. So this is basically just a reflection of that. If they're not, uh the principal has to have a good reason for it. For example, they're an art teacher. They're the only art teacher in the school. So we we hire or not hire, but we I guess we do hire uh an art teacher from another school to come support that person as a mentor. So, and then once again, this is another DPI thing they asked us to put in there as far as uh keeping a record for if you're

030picking somebody from a different school. Uh this is usually we have quarterly team meetings with the all the lead mentors. So, we just added that language in there that was not in there before. We changed professional learning community to school mentor teams. It is a PLC, but that's basically easier for them to understand. We added the word initial in here because it's the initial PDP that's got to be completed by November of the year, not the overall PDP. And then we also added for the mentor to review the PDP because that's a requirement by the state. And then we just changed the upcoming months to throughout the school year because we want that to be an ongoing thing as well. And this is just a requirement that we want to make sure we had in

031there about having two observations that we want to have two observations done before uh Christmas break for all the BTS. And this long one is definitely a DPI request as well um that we just added the verbiage from their plan, the state plan. And then once again, this just some language things we just tweaked since we were tweaking the document already. and pretty close. Yeah, that's it. Um, and then last thing, we just it says in here through the mail within two weeks. I mean, we do this through email. So, we just completely mark that out because we don't send things to them. Um, so this document since we're making changes, we've got to submit that to the board by August. Um, so we're bringing that to you guys today with the changes and then,

032uh, board chair will sign off and I'll sign off and we'll send it to the state for approval. Any questions? Thank you for walking us through that and thank you for the revisions and uh got to say I think we got a great beginning teacher program here in the county. Anyone have any questions for Fred? Any any other concerns or comments? Hearing none. I seek a uh motion to approve the 2026 2027 beginning teacher support plan for Kataba County Schools. Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. Unanimous. >> Thank you, Mr. Way. >> Thank you very much. >> Next up is approval of the 2026 2027 Quest program price adjustment billing procedure proposal presented by Miss Aaron Gates. >> Hello everyone. Thank you so

033much for having me and thank you for the time. Um, so as you know from the previous time that I spoke with you, we are in the process of updating new licenses through the um, school age childare for all 16 of our Quest sites. The biggest change happening in our new licenses is that our staffto student ratio has changed. Originally our ratio was one adult to every 24 children. With our new license licenses, I'm so sorry. For kids who are ages 6 through 12, it is one adult to every 20 children. And for any 5-year-olds that are in our program, it is now one adult to every 15 children. So, these new ratios have obviously made us need to really look at our staffing and our program as a whole to make sure that we

034can still meet the needs of all the families who want to participate in Quest while also making sure that we have enough staff to meet these new ratios without having to make major reductions to the number of kids that we are taking into Quest at each of our sites. So to help us meet these needs, we have two things that we would like to adjust for this school year. Um so just to kind of show you where things are right now, we currently have two contract options and two price points for our families. So number one is contract pricing. These are the parents who are saying we are going to attend every day. We are coming every day of the week. We're choosing before school, after school, both. We're coming on full days. They get

035a set price. They pay the same price every single week. Everything is the same. We also have a drop in option for our dropin families. They can choose which days they want to attend Quest, but they are only paying for the days that they do attend. So, they're paying different amounts at different times. I used it one day this week. I used it two days this week. So, it can vary and it can be a little different on a weekly basis. So, there's a couple changes we'd like to make. So, number one, for our contract families, we would like to have a modest price increase to help um help us be able to hire the amount of staff that we need to meet our new ratios. Um, with this, the weekly billing for these families

036will still be consistent. It will be the same every week. Parents will have a charge if they choose full days. Um, parents can choose before school, after school, or both with the option to add on the full days. And we are also going to include a small discount for our families that choose both before and after school and give them a small reduction in their price. The larger change we want to make is with dropins. In looking at other school age child care in the western North Carolina area, both within school systems and in private, very few organizations offer drop in the way that we do. Most programs have switched instead to part-time contracts. So, what we would like to do is replace our current drop-in contract with two different options. One is a three-day

037a week contract that parents can choose that they will pick three given days a week that they are going to attend Quest. It will be a lesser price than the 5-day week contract, but it will still give those parents flexibility. In the interest of some of our families with the way new work schedules work now, work from home, going into the office, we do have families that need Quest just one day a week and those are some of our dropin families. So for those families, we would offer a one day a week contract. So instead of having contract and drop in, we would have three separate contracts. Five days a week, 3 days a week or one day a week. So with this, our parents still get flexibility. They still get to choose the contract

038that works for them. They still get to choose this is the way Quest works for my family. But in this case, they get a lot more consistency when it comes to their weekly billing. They are knowing that each week my bill is going to be the same. Each week I know exactly what to expect. So looking at some of the benefits for this for our Quest staff benefits billing is consistent there. Currently, the way it works for our drop-in families, our program coordinators at each site, when they get drop-in kids that come in the morning or come in the afternoon, they have to go through and manually bill in our billing system for every one of those children. And you can imagine that if you're at a site with 55 kids, it can be very,

039very easy to miss some billing when you're having to go through and individually bill for different dropins that have come on a given day. So for that, they no longer need to bill separately. And one of the big things for us, again, going back to the new ratios, this is going to allow us to know with a lot more precision exactly the maximum number of kids that we could have on any given day at one of our Quest sites. Right now, with the nature of dropins, we can estimate pretty well how many kids we're going to have before or after school at a given site. But because of the fluctuating dropins, we do risk going out of our ratio. We risk having a couple surprise dropins arrive and suddenly we are out of the ratio

040that the state has mandated for us. So by going to a part-time contract instead, we will be able to know with precision, as I said, here is the maximum number of kids we could have today. And we will know for certain that we will stay within our ratios. Um, and so for parents, benefits here as well. Again, parents can choose the contract that works for them. Parents will know every single week, this is my charge. There is no, "Oh, I forgot about drop in that day. Oh, I didn't realize that one." The everything is consistent for the parents and it keeps it really straightforward for them. Parents can select the days they're going to attend. So, they can look at their schedule and say, "These are the days that I need Quest." and we know

041what days to expect their kids. And then full days can be added to any of these contracts. So parents can utilize Quest, when we have teacher work days, and when we have holidays. So our proposal right here is for the pricing. So we can see the pricing for a 5-day contract, the pricing for a 3-day contract, and for the one-day contract for those families that do need that. It's going to be a straight price. they can come before, after, or both on that day and it's going to be the same price. And in each case, we're given um a small discount to those families that are choosing both before and after school care. So, the price increase is small, but it will make a difference for us in being able to make sure that we

042are able to staff our sites and we don't have to drastically reduce the number of kids that we can take in Quest at any of our 16 sites. And then also a small very small increase for our CCS employees before school will continue to be free which is a great benefit that we're able to offer staff members and then they will have um $30 for after school for classified and 35 if you are a certified employee. So, keeping the flexibility, keeping what we want to be able to offer parents, but just streamlining some of our processes, and hopefully making this a lot more simple and straightforward for both our Quest staff and our Quest families. So, happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Miss Gates, with the current enrollment that we have in

043this this current year, do we have any idea um how many folks we might have to add if it stayed at the current rate? So, we have um Do you mean by adding staff members? I assume. So, we have been working on gradually increasing our staff. We have been hiring at some of our bigger sites this year. Um so, what we've really been focusing on is making sure we have that staff. With the change to the 3-day contract, we should be able to keep our enrollment about the same. And the biggest thing it's going to change is that I had 27 kids today. I have a bunch of drop in. Suddenly I have 35 kids coming today. So we should be able to enroll really the same amount of families with the staffing increases that

044we've done, but also just be able to keep it a lot simpler and a lot more streamlined for both our families and our staff. Well, I guess my question is the uh the one day contract is is the same price whether they do it before and after school or before or after school. >> Yeah. So, with that one, I really didn't want to make it too complicated in all honesty since these are our families and we do have some that really can say I need to come every Monday and that is it. I just need Monday. So this is I base that 25 on what it would cost a family currently doing drop in to come before and after school on a given day on a Monday because most of our kids that do come

045once a week, chances are they're coming to both of them. So I base that on our current dropin prices and decided to just keep it simple with a flat rate and the parents know exactly what they're going to pay for that one day per week. Any further questions for Miss Gates? If not, I seek a motion for approval of the 2627 Quest program price adjustment billing procedure proposal. Chairman, I make that motion that we approve this. >> Hearing a motion, is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor show raise of hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, Miss Gates. >> Thank you all so much. Uh, next up is approval of the 2026 through 2028 career technical education comprehensive local needs assessment plan presented by Mr. Adam Winham. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman

046and members of the board. I'm thankful for your time tonight as we discuss the results of our comprehensive local needs assessment and our plan for our CT budget moving forward. First, I want to publicly thank Dr. Eisenhower for his eight years of dedicated service as our CT director. uh his vision made a lasting impact on our students, our teachers, our department, and our community as a whole. His leadership uh has grown our CTE program, and I'm honored to be here tonight following in his footsteps. I also want to thank each of you. I I believe that our CTE department is a direct reflection of the strength of our school board and we are in an excellent position because of your dedicated dedication to our students. Um, and it's an exciting time for CT and Kataba

047County schools because of your passion to see our students succeed. With that, we'll jump right in. So, the CLNA is a two-year process um, which guides our local plan that we make. This plan is then vetted and approved by NCDPI so that we can secure our funding for the upcoming year. Uh tonight's goal will be for me to uh give you a synopsis of our budget, our personnel, our areas of focus and then request your approval um for the signatures on our state asurances document that I'll upload into our NCC SIP page. All right. I wanted to first start out with our areas of strength things that we do well currently. Number one is our uh credential attainment rate. Uh this has improving every year since co And from 2023 to the 24 25 school

048year, we actually increased a 24 percentage points, which was uh good enough for a top 10 most improved district in North Carolina. We ended up that school year with an 82% credential attainment rate. So one example of this would be the Surf Safe credential that our foods too and culinary classes take. So these are industry level adult credentials that our students are taking. Next are our internships. We have a robust internship program led by our dedicated and hardworking career development coordinators. Uh this summer we're preparing for our iconic summer experience where students have the opportunity to take part in in a camp and then dive into a more specific summer internship. We're excited to offer Corning as one of our partners this year. So this has been a year-long process to get Corning on board.

049They've partnered with Duke Energy and so our students who are interested in uh engineering have a great head start into that program. Our partnership with CBCC continues to grow this upcoming school year. We're going to offer additional CBCC CCP CTE offerings. Our nursing fundamentals courses are transferring are transferring to nurse aid 1. Uh that will be through CBCC but still taught on our high school campuses. We have industry level equipment in all our classrooms. This has been a major focus point of the last few years. And so this the equipment that our students are learning on are the exact same pieces of equipment that we have in our jobs that they're they're seeking. Our labor market alignment aligns closely with the courses and pathways that we offer. So in a few days when our students

050walk across the stage, uh they're trained and ready to be employed here in our community. Our course catalog continues to be a great source of information and and the first go-to uh for our students, our parents, our teachers, our guidance counselors, and our school administrators. Um that that's a year-long process it takes to upload update that information. Jennifer McCra and Shelley Eisenhower erie did a fantastic job in creating that for this school year. And then lastly, what I'm most proud of is we're a district that has a desire to be innovative. We're not scared of from big ideas. Um we're always looking to do what's best for our students and we see that with some new pathways that we'll be offering next year in robotics as well as aviation. As any CT program, I think

051we're the gold standard, but there's still areas that we can improve on. And and what we found in our CLNA is that we're going to uh first implement robotics at St. Stevens High School as well as a district-wide aviation program. We're in the process of identifying an instructor for aviation. I have a follow-up meeting um with a candidate next week uh that I'm looking forward to that I think is the perfect person that can help grow this program and start the program. Um we'll be starting this as a curriculum only in the spring of 2027. Uh and so we'll be we're still looking for a classroom space for that as well. Next, we want to ensure that all students have a career development plan beginning in grade seven per legislative requirements of the general assembly.

052Um, it's a multi-year plan and our goal is for our students to use this as they register for classes and as they're thinking of what career they they want to pursue. When COVID happened, our CTSOs, our career and technical student organizations all took a hit. And we saw that across the board across the state. This is one area that we have struggled with along with all districts and so we are going to look to expand these offerings. These are FFA which is probably our most our strongest program right now across the district, POSA which is health science, DECA for marketing, FLA business and FCCLA uh for our family consumer sciences. We don't we want to improve our methods of informing students and parents of our CTE opportunities. And we're focusing on the transitions transition from

053elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school and high school to post-secary or to the workforce. We also all we always want to provide professional development opportunities for our teachers. We're looking to partner with our industry uh industry partners um to provide externships for our teachers to go in and especially look at new technology specifically how artificial intelligence has made a difference in our local workforce. And then lastly uh our non we want to increase our non-traditional student participation our CT pathways. So these will be male students in our uh health science classrooms, female students in our carpentry labs. Moving on to our PRC 13 funds. These are our months of employment. So for the 2627 school year, we've been allotted 735 months of employment. To put that in perspective, two years ago,

054our allotment was 761. So we've basically declined by two and a half positions. And so we've needed to get a little bit creative in this. Here are the changes that we're going to see. Aviation is listed on here as five months of employment since it'll be starting January 2027. At Bandy's High School, we're going to be hiring a new health science teacher. This will ensure that all of our high schools are equitable, having two health science teachers at each high school. And at Maiden High School, we had a n we had a natural attrition there, and so we lost our our drone instructor. But in making these changes, um, our schools are very equitable in their months of employment. Bandies, Bunker, um, Ford, and Maiden all have similar enrollments, and they all have a very

055similar months of employment, 104 or 102. And then obviously with St. Stevens being our largest school, and they have a few more months of employment there. We're still uh, we still have months of employment for our STEAM program at Cre and then our middle school programs. Also, we'll also be um adding or hiring a new CDC for Maiden High School uh to fill a vacancy there. Our PRC14 funds are our state allotted funds for the upcoming school year will be $249,464. This is where we pay our office support staff salaries and benefits out of as well. On line item, the object code 311 for contracted services. So last year we budgeted to pay adjuncts um at a few of our high schools, St. Stevens and Bandies. We're gonna I'm going to take this line item

056out. It will be added in to line item item 411, materials and supplies. We don't have to pay for that anymore. CBCC will be paying that bill for any of the adjunks that we need. Um so that's that was uh one way we're able to save a little bit of money there. Our workshops will pay the uh pay the fees for our teachers to to receive their professional development. 319 is another contracted services. Uh most of this comes from TV tests for our students that go on clinicals, our nursing fundamentals, our early childhood u or early child education. Those students need TB test. So that's paid. We pay for that as well. 379 other insurance uh judgments. That's our uh internship insurance materials and supplies are instructional supplies that our teachers need. 422 repairs and

057parts and labor. Uh that's for any of our machines that are broken that we pay to pay to uh fix. And then 461 furniture and equipment are our non non-computers. And so that amount comes up to $249,464. Next is our federal funding. We received this ament on May 7th, $258,991. And you can see a major part of this budget is going to go to our aviation program. And so our 17 funds are federal monies. Um you want to use this money to address the needs of your CLNA. So that's what we're trying to do here. We have the aviation cost. We have clear touch paneling. Uh the clear touch panels for our automotive program and our aviation program. And then we've added or I've added a few more line items on on here since I've

058sent this in. We're also going to upgrade our each of our green houses by adding a backup generator to each of those. Um those cost anywhere from $9,600 to a little bit over $18,000. But the reason we want to invest in those programs because that that comes with a production work. And so our students have an enterprise out of those green houses. And so when a power goes out or there's a power flash, we can lose a whole season worth of our plants in there. and that semester's worth of work that students are planning to sell and make money to pump back the program are gone as well. So, we want to make sure that we protect those um and are always investing especially on our a programs here in Kataba County. And so, with

059that, I'm requesting your approval of our asurances document only at this time. here. Just just requesting approval for the asurances document. >> Yes, sir. Signature page. >> Gotcha. >> This might be off topic, but how are we with the maiden greenhouse? Is that >> uh last I heard we were expecting to break ground this summer. >> Okay. >> And uh have hopefully have that installed early in the fall. Um so any of the classes that require the greenhouse, we're going to try to push those to the spring. Okay. >> So our students can take full advantage of that. >> So is it going to need a >> that one is coming with a backup generator. So that's why that may not listed one of the plan ahead with that one. Okay. Or does anybody have

060any more questions for uh Mr. Windham. If not, I seek a motion for approval of the asurances document only at this time as requested by Adam Windham. Hearing a motion, is there further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Next up is adoption of Kataba County Board of Education financial resolution to close fiscal year 2025 2026 presented by Mr. Privet. Thank you, Chairman Settlemire, members of the board, Ernie Sink, Dr. Stove. Um, this resolution, um, is really in a perfect world something I hope I would not utilize, but I want to ask your permission should the need come through. I'll give you a quick example. Right now, fuel prices are high. It may it may very well become the case where the

061stateates some additional funds for us for diesel fuel, for example. If those funds were to drop into our aotment late in the year, technically we're not supposed to spend those funds without they being approve they were approved part of the budget. So if that were to happen, I am just seeking the ability to go ahead and spend those funds and bring a budget amendment to you after the fact. Don't want to leave any money on the table. More and more I've seen things like that happen over the last few years. So this is precautionary. Um, adoption of this resolution would allow myself, the chief finance officer, to record any state, federal or budget, local budget revisions, continue maximizing funds to the best of my ability, and then balance the budget after the fact. So, it

062would be uh my recommendation that we approve this year amendment resolution. >> Any questions for Mr. Privet? If there are none, I seek a motion to adopt the Kataba County Board of Education financial resolution to close fiscal year 2025 to 2026. >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion. >> Hearing a motion, is there further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise of hand. That is unanimous. Thank you. Again, Mr. Previtt, adoption of Kataba County Board of Education financial resolution for interim budget for the 2026 2027 school year. Yes sir. So going from one budget year to the next, this item is about next year's budget. General statute 115C 434 requires a local board to pass a continuing resolution if there is not an official um budget resolution passed. I know there was a

063lot of talk in the news last week about a state budget, but the reality is it's probably going to be some time before one is officially adopted those aotments disseminated out to us to where we can build our official budget. So I still anticipate even though there's talk right now that it's going to be later into the fall before we get our aotments for next year. So my recommendation tonight is that we pass a continuing resolution to keep spending exactly like it is in this year's budget until such a time when the state passes a new budget and we can true up our um Kataba County Schools 2627 budget to their new year alliance. Any questions I can answer for you on continuing resolution? >> Any questions for Mr. Privet? If there are none, I

064seek a motion for the adoption of the Kaba County Board of Education financial resolution for an interim budget for the 2026 2027 school year. >> I'll make that motion. Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor show a raise of hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Prev. >> Thank you. >> Next up is approval of 2026 2027 licensing renewal quotes for technology department presented by Mr. Marty Sharp. >> Chairman, members of the board, um I stand in front of you today with uh three different quotes, three different services. Uh and if it pleases the board, um would you be okay if I go through each all three of them, then an approval? Yes. Okay. All right. So, we'll start with uh the soft choice um quote to begin

065with. This is a Microsoft uh agreement. Uh this is on the state contract. Um and it's um a total of I believe 16,000 I'm sorry $17,5002. Uh this includes licensing for every Microsoft product that we use. Uh all servers uh remote sessions and so on. Um all of our financial uh processes and businesses run on a SQL server which requires licensing as well. Uh and uh just like any other product requires anyone who touches it or anybody who logs into it to be licensed as well. Uh this is uh pretty well identical to what we've paid in p previous years. Um and u I'll leave it at that. Uh any questions about Microsoft uh with the soft choice quote? Okay. And let me see. And the second one is actually for um another year for

066our Google licensing. Uh as you know uh we've put um probably around 18,000 Chromebooks in the hands of all students and teachers as well. Uh and with that uh with this license uh this actually uh provides us uh huge security advantages uh as opposed to using uh a free version of Google. Uh it also provides us with u a larger amount of storage as well uh which is pretty well required. Uh we are currently at u about 300 terabytes of of storage. Um and uh we would with the free version uh there's no way uh we would have to basically delete pretty much about everything. Um I did um we did request to go down a license level. Uh we were paying for uh Google plus uh which provided a few additional u things in

067the past uh including Google meet uh recording uh some additional uh things within Google classroom uh but those were not really as needed uh and unfortunately Google did uh change their licensing to add another dollar uh to each license and uh this year is requiring us to pay uh staff as well. Uh in previous years, uh we would only pay for students and then we would get staff licensing for free. Uh so if we stayed with our plus uh instead of moving to the standard, we would be at about $92,000. Uh and so uh there was no way within our projected budget uh that we could afford that. Uh so we worked with uh CDW and Google uh and determined that we could really uh deal with the standard version of the licensing. Uh any

068questions in regards to that and that change? Uh this will save us at this is a $52,26 uh request. Uh last year we were at 62,000. So it's actually going to be $10,000 cheaper this year. Uh which does help with our uh budget. Any questions with Google licensing? >> Going down a level doesn't kick us back for any security reasons or anything like that. >> Uh it still provides all the security um capabilities that we currently have. Uh that is one of the things that uh we especially with a lot of the things that have been going on lately. Um you you've probably seen my emails. Um hopefully you've read some of them. Uh, not everybody knows, I'll just tell you. Um, but we have had some fishing attempts uh that have uh encountered we've

069encountered we've had a few of our um staff who've actually been compromised. So, we've been able to utilize the uh security features that are included on standard uh to really mitigate those uh and make a lot of changes uh to try and uh reduce that overall security posture. Any other questions with Google? All right. If no questions, uh the next one is a continuation of our filtering. Uh as uh you probably know, we are required by federal law uh to provide a uh SIPA uh required filter uh for all students. Uh we also provide it on staff devices as well. um with staff, we we really use that as a security another security level. Um and so uh light speeded is uh the filter we've been using uh for for many years. Uh but they've

070also included uh light speeded alert uh which alerts all of our admins uh with any kind of concerning uh messages or concerning uh patterns with students uh if they look up certain things or if they uh use certain terms. Uh it also has human review behind it. Uh this also uh provides uh a classroom management tool which we've been using for at least four or five years. Um that provides staff and teachers the capability of uh viewing screens uh within their classroom of uh what students uh are on. Uh they're also able to send out links to their classroom uh for everyone to be on the same page. that can also uh lock uh screens on any of the student devices that are in their classroom as well. Uh this uh provider is really the

071only sole provider that we could use that provides all of these and uh a product called digital insight which is what we use for all of our analytics of what programs services that we use uh gives us uh a return on investment as well. uh and it all kind of works together uh to provide that uh process. I feel like I've said a whole lot of words. I want to give you give the board a chance uh to ask any questions on uh the light speeded filter or uh any of the other two as well. Uh, and I will say, let me just add, uh, the price on this, we were able to negotiate and we knocked off $11,000 off of our, uh, price from last year by going directly with Lightseed as opposed to

072a CDW or a a third party. So, that does help our budget as well. >> Thank you for that. >> I don't have any questions, Mr. Sharp, but I do, as as Mr. Kevin settlemire said, "I appreciate you're looking out for >> absolutely and we definitely have to. We're we're trying to uh do our due diligence uh and at the same time still provide safety and security for all staff and students. I appreciate that. Thank you." >> And with all the awards you've won this year, this is something that you suggest we do. I'm going to >> Well, I would end of that. I wouldn't that that probably doesn't hold water to my team, but uh my my team is really the only reason I'm up here right now to be honest. >> I appreciate

073that. >> Uh so if if there are no further questions for uh Mr. Sharp, I seek a motion for approval of the 2026 2027 licensing renewal quotes for tech the technology department. >> I make that motion, Mr. Chairman. >> Hear a motion. Is there further discussion? Hearing none. And all those in favor shall a raise of hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, sir. And you still have approval for amendment three to the or to the wide area network communication service agreement for Northstar Academy. >> Yes. So, uh this is an amendment uh and and our apology for kind of getting this a little bit later uh than we wanted. We've had to go through a lot of process with our wide area network provider. Uh what that is is that's what connects all of our

074uh schools to our central office uh which is behind a firewall and then goes out to the internet. So um we uh of course have been providing for Kataba Rosenwald. Uh so we're planning right now uh to make that switch from Kataba Rosenwall to uh the Hickory location for Northstar Academy. Uh and so in order to do that uh we have to have this amendment signed uh by our uh board chair uh in agreement of course with the board as well. Um and so there are no uh there's no finances involved. Uh this is pretty much just kind of a switch over u and um legal documents and in order to do that as well. >> Thank you. Any questions for uh Mr. Mr. Sharp on this uh agreement. Hearing none, I seek approval for

075the amendment three to the wide area network telecommunication service agreement for Northstar Academy. >> Take that motion. >> Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Sharp. Next up is a approval of proposed 2026 2027 career and college promise partnership agreement between Kataba Valley Community College and Kataba County Schools presented by Mr. Lee Miller. >> Thank you chairman Cineayer. Board members, I am seeking your approval of the partnership agreement with Kataba Valley Community College and campus schools. We've had an agreement in place for many years. This agreement is similar to the previous agreements that we've had. I'll hit a few highlights. Be glad to take any questions that you may have. As you probably are aware, we along with

076CBCC, we provide opportunities our students to earn college credit while attending high school in Kataba County. There's se several different ways they can do that. they can go through the college transfer pathway, the CTE pathway and Mr. Windham mentioned nursing aid or nursing fundamentals uh earlier which is certainly one of those ways we do that. Welding is another example that we we have. uh the Crockman Innovative High Schools, which Challenger High School is a part of, and we also have our CBCC Promise Scholars, which is our cohort of students that we have at each high school. We have a junior and a senior cohort with classes that are taught on our campus. And then typically the second semester of their senior year, they'll go fully to CBCC campus. and that cohort, those are students that

077are invited to attend starting their junior year. But we have students that can access these classes, do not be part of that cohort. Uh, and it provides tremendous opportunity for students and their families to earn those credits and save a ton of money in the process. The partnership, the agreement really spells out exactly what each party is responsible for. One of the things that CBCC is responsible for, even they don't have to, they provide us with promise scholars or scholar advisors, excuse me, at each of our high schools, which is a great service to us because they help be the liaison between the community college and our high schools. They help a ton with registration each year and help promote the different programs that are at CBCC and also help advise our students about registration

078timelines if they're struggling. They also help provide assistance with those students as well. One of the things that we worked on over the last year or two is better communication between the community college and our high schools when students are struggling. So, we feel like we've improved in that area. Still want to improve some more, but we are in a better place than we were. That is listed in the agreement uh this year that they have a responsibility to communicate that to us. There's also agreements about providing transcripts both uh both ways from us to them and them to us for our students and our responsibilities are providing adequate classroom facilities for those classes that are taught on our campuses and to meet with CBCC to determine the budgetary allowance for consumable supplies. We also

079meet with them regularly to plan on the courses that we will offer for the upcoming school year. I think Dr. McCree and myself probably have met with them six or seven times this school year. Uh so that's pretty constant with them and they're typically always willing to try new courses that we may want to to implement in our district. The agreement also outlines the students responsibilities and the communication plan for broader access to the program. You'll see in the agreement that um we do have to have the regular meetings that I was talking about to discuss the opportunities for the next academic school year and also the student academic support systems which I mentioned briefly providing the reports to the high schools about students who are struggling. There's also the requirement that students have to

080maintain a 2.0 O GPA to continue taking those college courses. And I would like to add that there is a 2.8 requirement. However, CBCC has been very gracious at allowing students with principal approval to take courses and maybe they do not have a 2.8 GPA. For example, some of our our welding students uh they may not have a 2.8 eight GPA, but they're great with their hands and they want to learn about manufacturing and fabrication. And so, a principal can sign off, give their consent, and they're allowed to take those courses. They just have to maintain that 2.0 GPA in that CVCC course. That has been great for our students. students who sometimes maybe don't know their purpose in school, but you can put them in a program like automotive, welding, and they find that

081purpose and they become successful in that and also in other classes as well because they see uh the connection between school and real life. So, we're um we're glad we have that opportunity with community college to serve our students who maybe don't have the 2.8. also would like to mention Leon's law. Uh in the past sometimes there was um lack of communication because the the college instructors typically do not speak with parents. Uh that's the college campus kind of um mentality. But Leon's law now, if a student is 18 years old, they're a high school student. The expectation is you will contact parents, you can communicate with parents. If parents reach out, you uh can communicate, talk about the student, what their struggles may be, their needs may be. And uh the only thing that

082would not allow that is if the student who is 18 years of age if they explic explicitly deny the parent the opportunity to do that. And as far as I know none of our students have done that. Um so that just gives more access to parents what their child's doing at the community college. We're glad of that. One other thing I'd like to mention is the workforce continuing education career and college promise pathway which now opens up pathways for our ninth and tth graders. Uh we saw this firsthand this year at Maiden High School. We had auto automotive there for a number of years. um our numbers dropped and to keep the program there, we admitted ninth and 10th graders to the program helped us uh with the numbers there at Maine High School in

083the automotive program. So, we're glad we were able to do that and uh happy that Maine was willing to work with us and the community college to do that. Uh there are fees involved. Typically, it's been $40 registration fee for all students. This year was the first year that students were charged a textbook fee of $80 per semester. It didn't matter if you took one class or four classes. Your textbook fee was $80. We do have scholarships in place for those students who maybe have financial struggles and need that assistance. They can apply for a scholarship in between the community college and our district. We will make sure that those textbook fees are paid so that no student should ever be uh denied the opportunity to take a CCP course. When we have delays and

084cancellations, we communicate that with the community college. Depending on where the instructor, if they are based in our high school, or they're a CBCC based instructor, kind of depends on what happens with uh that course or that class. If we have a delay or closing, we've not run into many problems of that late. We've kind of really nailed that down over the last few years and how it will work. We have a weather closing or a delay. Uh there are other things spelled out in the agreement like the instructor absences and other things CBCC has been great to work with us on. Uh they cover those absences now whereas in the past that was sometimes a little bit mixed whether they were going to cover that or not. Uh grading is also described explained in

085the agreement as well. And with that I'll be glad to take any questions if you have them. Are there any questions for Mr. Miller? And it it sounds like this has been something that we've worked on over the years and changed to make it better for both parties and appreciate your work on that. For sure. >> Have a question. >> I was wondering, do you know how many students approximately are taking advantage of this? >> Good question. Um, I can give you an estimate. So we have uh we were looking at those numbers just recently because of high school registration on Kataba. We have and I'm looking at Dr. McCree to correct me if I am wrong. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of about and that's all things included with our promise scholars

086which again those are served in our on our campus and the cohort students that I was referring to earlier and those as I call them all cart who are taking one to two maybe three classes through the community college that they've done on their own. It could be welding it could be automotive. can be something like our appreciation. Any further questions for Mr. Miller? If not, I seek a motion for approval of the proposed 2026 2027 career and college promise partnership between Kataba Valley Community College and Kataba County Schools. Hearing a motion. Is there further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, Mr. >> I will get you those exact numbers that I hate to be approximated. >> Next up, Mr. Dan Moore. Uh, if you

087want to go ahead and end, just go straight to number 17 when you get to to to 15 and then we'll unless you need a break. No, you'll be good. Power on through. >> We can do it. >> All right, let's power on through then. >> Let's do it. >> Next up is approval of the 2026 2027 student transfer availability for Kataba County Schools. >> Thank you, Chairman Selmire, members of the board. In front of you, you have a graph that denotes the number of transfer slots available for each grade level at all 16 elementary schools. You'll note that in kindergarten, we have DBD due to the fact that we really don't know how many kinders will actually show up at our doors. We wait until late July to make the determination for the number

088of slots available in that class level. You'll also note that there aren't a lot of slots available across our school district at the elementary level. Based on board policy, you are required as a board to approve the number of slots available before the transfer window opens. It will open on Monday, June the 1st and run until the end of July. So, I would seek your approval of these transfer slots or I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Anybody have any questions for Mr. more on this subject. If not, I seek a an approval of the 2026 2027 student transfer availability for county schools as pres by Mr. Dan Moore. Chairman, I approve that hearing a motion. Is there further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor shall raise a

089hand. That is unanimous. Thank you. >> Next is uh approval of change order number 001 for Maiden Elementary School. >> Thank you, Chairman Selmire. Members of the board, in front of you, you have the final change order for the new construction at Maiden Elementary School. You'll note that the original contract amount was 29,277,000. The final contract amount is 28,577,587 for a contract sum being decreased by the amount of $699,413. So, we were able to bring that project in under budget and I would be happy to answer any questions you you may have and seek your approval of saying I don't have any questions, but thank you for saving us $699,413. >> I wish I could say that it was [laughter] my uh response. Well, it is ultimately my responsibility, but many people worked on that

090to make sure >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> came under that amount. >> All right. If there are no questions, I seek approval of change order number 001 for Maiden Elementary School as presented by Mr. Dan Moore. >> Chairman, I'll make that motion as presented. >> Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise of hand. That is unanimous. >> Thank you. Next up is approval of bid tabulation for paving projects at L Creek Elementary School, walking track, staff parking, and Bucker Hill High School with the tennis and softball parking area as well. >> Thank you, Chairman Smire, members of the board. Precision paving is the apparent low bidder for the paving resurfacing work at L Creek Elementary School, which involves the base bid, staff parking, the driveway

091in front of the school, as well as the walking track at Bunker Hill High School. We are addressing the student parking lot, that area behind the football stadium, as well as the softball and tennis parking. We were not able to park or excuse me, pave the area that is the bus parking at Bunker Hill High School due to a lack of funds. But I am seeking approval for precision paving in the amount of $656,779 for this project. Thank you and your team for putting this together. Again, are there any questions for Mr. Moore about the paving projects at Lyall Creek and Bucker Hill? Have we used precision paving before? >> Yes, sir. Been well pleased. Yes, sir. All of those vendors used in the pack >> and this will be done before the start of

092school >> sir. >> This will be done before the start of school. >> Yes, sir. >> Good deal. >> All right. If there are no further questions from Mr. Moore, I seek approval of the bid tabulations for the paving projects as presented by Mr. Dan Moore. >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion that we approve as presented. >> Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you. Next is approval of design fee proposal from LS3P architecture firm for Kataba County Schools Middle School additions and renovations projects including HMart Middle School, Jacobs Fork Middle School, Mil Creek Middle School, and Riverbin Middle School. >> Thank you, Chairman Selomire. Members of the board in front of you, you have a fee proposal from

093LS3P Architects with a base amount of $4,365,000 for design services at those four projects. We also have an allowance of $200,000 for wastewater treatment plant design at both Jacobsport and Mil Creek schools. You also have a traffic memorandum for four of those schools in the amount of 11,800 per school. If all of these facets of this fee proposal are utilized, the total amount is $4,624,000, which equates to 6.44% 44% of what is projected to be the entirety of the scope of the project 71,800,000. So I would seek your approval of this fee proposal LS3P and be happy to answer any questions that you may have. It is our hope to bring the actual contract to you in June, either June 8th or June 22nd. We had a conversation today with both attorneys and both parties,

094and we feel like there's just a couple minor details to work out. Are there any further questions for Mr. Moore on this hearing? None. I seek a motion for approval of the design fee proposal from LS3P architectural firm for Kataba County Schools Middle School additions renovation projects Hamart Middle School, Jacobs for Middle School, Mil Creek Middle School and River Bin Middle School. Make a motion hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Next is the approval of architectural engineering design proposal from Holland and Hamri architects for additions, renovations, and alterations for Kataba County Schools Middle School additions and renovations project at Maiden Middle School. >> Thank you, Chairman Somire, members of the board. In front of

095you, you have a proposal from Hullen and Hammock Architects for design services at Maiden Middle School in the amount of $2,470,000. Uh this is 6.25% for the projected cost of the project at $39,500,000. and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have, but I would like your approval for this beef proposal. >> So, after this, I expect Maiden Middle School to look pretty good. We're going to we're going to do the very best we can to modernize that building, to add the additional classroom space, to make it safe, >> to to get a new cafeteria. We're going to make it look what our other middle schools look like. We're going to bring it up to a Kataba County school standard. >> When was it originally built? 53, something like that. >> 53 or

09651? I can't remember. >> Long time ago. 51 [laughter] 51 So we've gotten 75 years of life out of that primary part of the building and we're hoping to extend the life >> Gotcha. >> of the entire campus. >> All right. There are no further questions for Mr. Moore. I seek approval of architectural engineering design proposal from Holland and Ham Associates for additions, renovations, alterations for Taba County Middle Schools additions and renovations project at Maiden Middle School as presented by Mr. Dan Moore. Hearing a motion. Is there further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise of hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, >> man. Next up, approval of pre-construction fee proposal from Hickory Construction Company for middle school additions and renovation projects at H&M Middle School, Jacobs Fork Middle

097School, Maiden Middle School, Mil Creek Middle School, and Riverbin Middle School. Presented again by Mr. Dan Moore. >> Thank you, Chairman Selmire, members of the board. Uh in front of you, you have a proposal from Hickory Construction Company uh in the amount of $1,200,000. This is for preconstruction fees as we work to get these five projects off the ground and get to a guaranteed maximum price hopefully in the spring of 2027. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have, but I seek your approval of this proposal as well. Are there any questions for Mr. Moore? Hearing none. All those I'm sorry. All right. I needed a motion for approval of pre-construction fee proposal from Hickory Construction Company for middle school additions and renovations project at H&Mart Middle School, Jacobs Fort Middle School, Maiden

098Middle School, Mil Creek Middle School, and Riverban Middle School. Mr. Chairman, I make that motion. >> Hearing a motion, is any further discussion hearing? All those in favor shall raise a hand. That's unanimous. Thank you, sir. And if you want to skip down to approval of vendor recommendations for quote for interim, I'm sorry, intercom replacement system and installation at Blackburn Elementary School. Thank you, Chairman Smire, members of the board. We recently lost our intercom system, Blackburn Elementary School. Uh it was at its end of life. Our team was able under the leadership of Lynn Headspith to be able to take a system that we have in reserve off the shelf in an emergency be able to provide intercom for the remainder of the year. Based on the lead time of ordering, receiving and installing an

099intercom, which is roughly eight weeks, I would ask your approval and thank you for allowing us to bring this to your attention tonight uh for BNL Telephone in the amount of $48,1856 for the intercom at Blackburn Elementary School. I know we've always worked with we've worked with B&L pretty good and they've done us a great job over the years. So, >> any further questions for Mr. Moore? What happened to our other one? It just aged out or >> just l I think it just is age unfortunate. >> Is there a warranty with this one coming in one year? >> Always got a year. Unfortunately, it's only a year. stuff. Here we go. All right. If there are no further questions for Mr. Moore, I seek approval for the vendor recommendation and quote for intercom replacement

100system and installation at Blackburn Elementary School as presented. >> Make a motion. >> Hearing a motion. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor shall raise a hand. Before you go, it's been an honor to serve with you. I hear this is your last board meeting. >> Yes, sir. And I would like to publicly thank the board for their trust in me, my colleagues. It's been an honor working in this school district for the past 12 years. And honestly, it is the best place I've been in my 40-year career. So, thank you very much for the opportunity. >> You're going to be you're going to be missed by many. Well, thank you. Especially the person that we've approved all this that have oversee it getting done. [laughter] Next up is uh approval of second

101reading on Kataba County Board of Education proposed policy revisions. 3.6320 school field trips 8.2220 crowd funding and 8.3250 daily deposits presented Mr. Jonathan Sink. >> That's right, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, thank you for the time. Starting out with the first policy, the school trips policy. It's really an alcohol related addition as you members will recall uh prohibiting alcohol use and embodiment uh by volunteers and employees alike who are serving as chaperones in a supervisory capacity over our school children. Uh so so no drinking on school trips is is the gist of that. And even the night before, you can't wow out and go crazy if it's going to affect the health and safety of our school kids. So that's that's the first one. There's consequences as you'll see. Second to last uh paragraph

102or yeah uh where you can be immediately removed uh as a chaperone if you violate this and and also number two revocation of future chaperone uh possibilities for you. And then if it gets you know bad enough as with anybody who uh drinks too much and and goes crazy that it can you can invoke the law. law can come out and there's obviously potential violations of board policy as well. But uh provision in there as you'll see the the third to last paragraph chaperones may possess legally prescribed andor over-the-counter prescriptions. Just got to use them as prescribed. So keep them out of the reach of kids and use them as prescribed. And that's the gist of that policy. The second policy with regard to crowdfunding is just a two-word tweak and that is a tag

103team between Dr. Stove and Seth Privet uh to get some staff help when it comes to employees who say, "Hey, got a great idea. I want to raise some money for this. Let's raise a lot of money in little chunks from a lot of people." They run that idea pass their principal, get that approval in writing, but also get approval in writing from the superintendent is how it's read up until now. If it's the board's pleasure to add or designate, that's what we're doing just to give Dr. Stove a little bit of help through finance to get that done in in a more swift way. Uh and then the third policy we have is again Seth Privet as you'll recall worked with the state legislature who ushered this in several years ago. Uh the law

104that changed all the statutory thresholds with regard to daily deposits. And y'all we're really just keeping up with inflation here among other rising costs of life when it comes to the monies that schools have. Uh the threshold whereby they have to deposit those monies. You'll see cross through is a is an antiquated $250 and in its place is a $1,500 daily deposit threshold. Those are those three policies, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you for uh putting these together and changing them for us for things that we we asked um and getting it back to us in such a timely manner. >> Thank you. >> Are there any questions for Mr. Sink? Hearing none, I seek a motion for approval of the second reading of Kataba County Board of Education's

105proposed policy revisions to 3.6320 school trips, [snorts] 8.2220 crowdfunding, and 8.3250 daily deposits. >> Chairman, I make that motion. >> Hearing a motion, is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Thank you, sir. We're to the point of the meeting where I need to I seek a motion to go into close session under general statute 143-318.11 alpha for purposes to protect confidential or privilege information to consult with an attorney to protect the attorney privilege and personnel matters. Chairman, I make the motion to go into close session. >> Hearing a motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor shall raise a hand. That is unanimous. Let's meet back in here at um 8:00. Thank you.