4-28-25 Board of Education Meeting

001County Board of Education regularly. of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Both the colors. All right, sir. Thanks again. We always look forward to the opportunity spring break on Monday. So I'm going to introduce them. I have two juniors on the end that are rivals and seniors in the middle which you probably won't see again ahead of them. So first that first year with me all three of his years a very fisherman. Um he was also on this day that I'm taking to Washington DC but he's got a fly fishing trip. he's not able to go. So we're taking one of our alternates uh first along with first are probably the hardest jobs that we have. So they've done really well

002this year and I look forward to having on the other side. So I can't wait. I actually talked to Mr. I'm sorry today about uh the commander first part and then signed up firefighting program and then plan to do that after graduation. Next is credit cadet that I've got out of. He's been with him all four years. Um I've never heard him yell. He's very very he is what I would consider a master woodworker. Um, I brought one of these with me today. Going to do that after graduation. Last but not least, several last Saturday night with me all four years. uh when he started out I think he made by during uh and now he's only pushing two bills in a lot of his time when it comes to them but that's where it

003stops with extremely intelligent near the top class. I got accepted to a conference waiting online and it's a little bit late this year So we'll get back to that 24. Thank you sir for me and It's just a reminder to make sure you cut your mic so that uh the people online can hear us when we're speaking. add stuff. Next thing on the agenda is the approval of minutes for the March 24th, 2025 Kataba County Board of Education meeting. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I make the motion to approve the minutes from the March 24th, 2025 meeting as presented. I second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, I look for approval by raised hand and that's unanimous. Uh the next item on the agenda is adjustment approval of our

004current agenda. Chairman, we don't have any recommendations for adjustments for this evening. Mr. Chairman, I do have uh one adjustment that I'd like to request. I sent to the um board today an email concerning new or unfinished business item number one regarding the power school letter to attorney general Jeff Jackson from the board of education. I hope everyone got to look at it. It actually was an email showing that as of February 6th nearly three months ago that the attorney general has taken the action we're requesting in this letter. I think for that reason, our letter is now uh no longer relevant. It's untimely, no longer needed. Looks like we're out of touch if we're requesting something he's already uh doing. And I'd like to request that we remove that from the agenda for this

005evening. In fact, I'll state that in the form of a motion that we remove uh the power school letter. There's a motion. I'm looking for a second. A second. Hearing a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? I did not actually see the email that Miss Barnett had um actually sent us about the February 6th and I'm not sure if everything that was uh presented as far as um uh Jackson um I just don't know if that was even if everything was in there as far as what we were requesting in that letter. Maybe you could take time to look at it if you'd like to, Miss Tig. It was emailed to all the board members. I understand, but I did not see that email earlier today. Would you like to take time

006or whenever the chairman would like for you to I just think for us to send a letter asking for him to open an investigation and a possible lawsuit when that's what his uh what he started doing on February 6th. I think it makes us seem like um we're out of the loop on what's happening. I guarantee that we are not out of the loop on some of these things as far as the power school. there were other counties that actually submitted the same letter and they actually sent the same letter or similar letter um after the February um 6 date that you're referring to. But now we're three months out nearly. So everything he did that is in the letter does is mentioned in his basically saying he's investigating power school to determine if they

007broke any laws in the property. Take additional legal action if necessary. to guard our state and data breaches and hold those who properly protect information accountable. We have a motion in the second. We've had a discussion. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of removal of unfinished business number one raised hand for approval. That is myself, Clayton. April and those not approved. Raise Don. Next item on our agenda is the superintendent report. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Approve agenda as adjusted. I make I make a motion that we approve the agenda with the amendment with the removal of new. I'll second I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll ask for a raise of hand for approval of the adjusted agenda. Next thing on our agenda is the

008superintendent report. Thank you, Chairman Stomire, members of the board. We're excited tonight to recognize some students here in Katab County Schools for their incredible artwork and their teachers. We also will be recognizing our employees of the month. So, if you'd like to join me out front, I'd appreciate it. Uh so Miss Jordan's coming up to help hand out our art and uh Miss Jordan and and Dr. Irwood who was with us previously uh was been a huge help in this process. Uh Mr. Whan too in our HR department. Uh but when we repainted things and um uh started I don't know if we remodel is remodeling painting anyhow. Uh this is remodeling for us. We wanted to make it look like a school like uh Kataba County schools. And so what better way of doing

009that than demonstrating some incredible artwork. So we started the uh first ever superintendent artwork. And um we had some incredible selections to choose from. And our first winner this year, our elementary school winner is Athea Yang, fourth grade of Oxford Elementary. Her teacher is Miss Kimberly Fragola and the principal is Miss Jenny Fry. Yeah. Certificate. And then we'll let you go up there and we'll get a picture. Yes. Yeah. Thank Jordan. We're going to be hanging our artwork up. We We stole this idea from several schools, but I see Mr. Hefner standing back there. So, I think we really stole it from Maiden High School, but if anyone school Okay. Thank you, Miss Pac. Uh, we love to steal good ideas. Oh, yeah. That particular piece of art, too, is Miss Gold in her class

010uses recyclables. Uh, just a great demonstration of of uh using recycled items into incredible art. Great job. All right, our next winner is our middle grades. Uh, and this winner comes from Maiden Middle School. Uh, Claire Shery, 8th grade. Teachers Miss Natalie Bernari and our principal is Mrs. Angela Williams. There she is. Okay. Thank you. All right. And our high school winner uh is Miss Ella Burke, 10th grade Maiden High School. Her teacher is Miss Sher Pac. And our principal is Mr. Brian Hefner. Come on up. I have to say again, we have some incredible students with some incredible talent with some incredible teachers. So, thank you all. Well, well done. And we're looking forward to I'd said nine years ago when I got here, I said, "This place looks like a hospital." And here

011we are nine years later, we're catching up. We're catching up. All right. Now to our employees of the month. Uh really excited to honor our folks. Every month we have so many folks who get it's harder and harder every month, but we're thankful for all of our folks get nominated this month. Our administrator of the month uh coming out of uh Tuttle, pardon me, this is last month and we're catching her up uh because she couldn't be here. Let me welcome Chris Getty's too, our sponsor. Thank you, Chris, for all you do. Our administrator of the month for the month of March is Connie Abernathy. Come on up. So, Miss Abernathi has been a wonderful teacher for us, a uh uh instructional coach, and now she's at Tuttle Elementary School uh doing a great job.

012Uh we're thankful to have her in our system and uh as I told her the other day, uh we always knew she was a great teacher, but now we're learning she's a great administrator. So fantastic, Miss Abernathy. All right, on to our certified employee of the month is Miss Erica Carmichael, second grade teacher from Clyde Campbell Elementary. She Yeah, here she is. Okay, come on up. Uh, Miss Carmichael. Uh, I think we discussed the other day, we actually landed here about the same time. Uh, but it was so exciting to go to her class. You know, you've made the right choice when the kids cheer and holler and thank you for choosing their teacher. Uh, just absolutely wonderful. So, Miss Carmichael, congratulations. Let's give her another round of applause. Oh, yeah. And the last one

013in March, uh, and then we'll do, uh, catch up here in April. Last one in March is Amber Waters. She's a teacher assistant, bus driver from Balls Creek, uh, at Miss Waters. If you'd like to come on up, you want me to tell the stories? I won't. Uh, we went to go see Miss Waters at Balls Creek, and we know her kids love her, and uh, we know your staff loves you, too. She does does amazing work with students who are in need and uh we're just thankful for your work. So, let's get a picture with these folks. Let's give them a round of applause. Make sure everybody. I appeared. All right. Now, we're into April, employees of the month. Uh this uh month, April, uh our administrator of the month was also an assistant

014principal. This assistant principal uh hells originally as a PE teacher uh and did a great job as a PE teacher and uh transitioned very nicely into our assistant principal role and has been doing it several years but Mr. Robinson uh does a great job not only in the school but uh has learned from his uh uh mentor Mrs. Garcia that uh being an administrator at Murray doesn't stop at the doors of Murray. they go into the the uh in out into the public and get their kids uh talk to their parents, just do so many amazing things. I know Mr. Robinson is is crucial in that part. So, uh let's give Mr. Ry Robinson a hand round of applause. We're excited uh to have an exceptional children's teacher on our list this month. Um from

015Maiden Middle School, our certified employee of the month is Miss Sonia Church. Come on [Applause] up. We went to go see Miss Church. I'll just tell you real quick. And um you know, again, just a no-brainer to see your heart and what you do with kids and uh your passion. So, thank you. Uh sometimes in EC world we can get bogged down the paperwork, but you take care of kids first and we appreciate that. Well done. All right, last but not least, this this gentleman, Mr. Steve Russell, is our head custodian in Blackburn. Treats it like his home and so of course it's and span. We we're very thankful for all you do, uh Mr. Russell. And uh the other thing he does too, I mentioned this to him the other day, is he's able

016to do some some small routine maintenance. Uh sometimes our air goes out of Blackburn. uh everywhere, but uh he's able to get things going for us. It does a lot of different things that uh maybe sometimes we have to call maintenance at other places, but you do it yourself, Steve. So, we really appreciate that. Come on up. Next item on the agenda is public comments which will be led by uh Clayton Mullis. 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 public comment section of regular meeting. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to address the Kataba County Board of Education members. A time clock will be displayed

017to assist each speaker with their three-minut time limit. Speakers should direct comments to board members rather than to the audience. Comments by members of the public should be respectful without slander towards any other member of the public community member or members or any member of the Kataba County Board of Education. Any displays of approval or disapproval are out of order unless otherwise directed by the board chair. Uh first person uh for public comment tonight is Kimberly Turk. Thank you and good evening. I think I watched my principal age 10 years over the last month because he had to tell three good teachers that they were not going to have a job at my high school next year. As much as I would like to blame the federal government and the potential cuts coming our way,

018that isn't why we lost these positions. These losses, those losses, if they happen, won't hit us until at least next school year. We lost these teachers because we have fewer students enrolling at our school. That might leave you confused because I've heard discussions in here about how we're going to exceed our capacity over the next few years. Why then did we lose three teachers? The only reason I've been able to come up with is that because students are leaving Kataba County schools and moving to private schools. I drive past one of our local private schools every day. They've expanded their footprint over the last few months. They have a large sign out front that says they offer financial aid and scholarships. Those funds are coming from our pockets. Those state tax dollars are going to

019send children to a religious private school thanks to vouchers that do not have to hire licensed teachers. They do not have to teach a state curriculum. They do not participate in state testing. And there is no monitoring by federal or state education entities. They are also not required to take every student that comes through their door. Some of you ran for school board by telling your constituents that Kataba County Schools had porno books in their libraries and teach critical race theory and social and emotional learning. You held up signs that said our math and reading test scores were in the 40s without explaining that that is above the state average proficiency. You were elected because you told your constituents that Kataba County schools were failing while simultaneously indoctrinating their children. It makes sense then that

020people would be taking their kids out of our schools and using our tax dollars to enroll them in private schools that have been endorsed by our state and federal candidates who have pushed for increased use of vouchers while also saying that our schools are failing and our liberal indoctrination centers. You are now in charge and it is on your shoulders that these words now fall. Thank you, Dr. Turk. Uh, next speaker is Kevin Sparks. Good evening. Uh if I could begin just a moment, Miss Yang's artwork is really remarkable and I encourage everyone to take a close look at it. It's actually a meta statement on modern art. Uh the essay underneath refers to several modern schools of art theory of cubism and others. The artwork itself is a very modern school called photo realism.

021Anyway, I think it's really a remarkable piece. It's the first I've seen it, but I cannot take my eyes off of it. It's really a wonderful piece and I congratulate you for promoting such a thing in our schools. I really admire it. I want to talk tonight about intent versus impact. I have no idea what anyone's intent is because it's impossible to know what's really going on in someone else's mind. What becomes concrete and incontrovertible is impact. The problem is we can say our intent is something and that's all fine and good. Impact comes sometimes long after our actions. I couldn't have asked for a better segue than to have Dr. Turk speak just before me. My question for this board is not what is your intent because we've already established this. That's kind of

022a meaningless circular kind of conversation. My question is, will you write down your goals for this school system? I'm going to explain what I mean by that. And I know something about this. I worked in the corporate world for quite a while and I was trained to work with business units to develop scorecards for how they judge themselves. Reading and math tests are not the right metric. What we all want is excellent education. I've heard a number of y'all say this. We want independent thinkers. It says so right in the introductory paragraph of our school charters and our policies. How do we know we're getting there? I have a specific suggestion and I'm making this suggestion as an offer to help. I offer this help knowing that not once uh once I've had a response

023from a board member. I'm willing to meet with anyone and help on this matter. It's called a balanced scorecard. You come down with goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timebased. Smart. See, it's Wall Street marketing. Then when you all meet in your working sessions, you go over the scorecard. How are we doing? What shall we measure? Are we measuring the right things? As I say, I'm happy to help with this and I hope we could work together. Thank you, Mr. Smart. Thank you, Dr. Sparks. Uh our last speaker will be from our online public comments and that'll be uh Mr. David Meields. Good evening. Hi, my name is David Niels and I have 42 years experience of teaching and I've taught literally every age from the age of 2 to 102 and this

024is my second time speaking before the board. So, thank you before your time. Now, when I was a kid, I read Doc Savage books. Most people here probably don't know Doc Savage, but man, I love those books. Here's the secret. I bought them because of the covers. They were so lurid. Doc Savage had a shirt torn and uh you know, there was some Buxom woman with an equally torn shirt and some monster in the background. I ate them up. It was only years later that I realized how terrible those books were. They were not written by one person. They were written by a stable of writers and full of racist and sexist caricatures. But I digress. Now, liberty is a word that gets tossed around a lot these days. I mean, there's both the American

025Civil Liberties Union and Moms for Liberty, and those organizations don't resemble each other at all. And yes, I believe that you are at liberty to decide what book your child checks out of the library. But I also believe that you don't get to decide what my daughter can't read. And that's liberty. Um, and I've heard the argument that taking books out of the library doesn't mean that my daughter can't read what she wants to. And it's true. In my house, I have that option. that if my daughter wants to read Vampire Lesbians from outer space, I can go to Amazon, purchase it, and download it to her Kindle. So that's true. Now during COVID when students went home and accessing school through the internet, it turns out that the 20% of the students where I

026was working did not have internet at home. The solution was to have their parents drive them to the school parking lot and sit there all day long so they could access the, you know, school's Wi-Fi. Some students don't have options. And when you take books out of the library, you're not depriving me of access, but you're depriving somebody of access. And I get it. Things are challenging. We have lockdowns and active shooter drills and clear backpacks and students who come to school hungry. taking a book out of the library is okay, you're gonna laugh relatively easy. There's other problems and you've done something tangible, but the intangible is damage is greater because if a student is interested in something, even if it's crap, then they will learn. And if you take away that interest, then

027they won't. Now, you remember all those Doc Savage books I talked about about how trashy they were? You know what they did to me? They turned me into a reader. Thank you, Mr. Neils. Next item on our agenda are the consent items for this month, which be led by Dr. Stover. Thank you, Chairman Stomire. Uh in front of you are our consent items and we are looking for approval this [Music] evening. I make a motion we approve this consent items. A second. I've heard a motion and a second on approval of all the agenda consent items. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none shall raise hand for approval. That is unanimous for all the consent items. We will now move on to unfinished business. Uh number two, approval of proposed amendment to county board of

028education policy 4.2000 0000 attendance policy guided by Crystal Davis. Yes, Mr. Chairman, members, the um this policy was on our last agenda, but u Dr. Barnett pointed out that I had not included the limitation on the number of uh elementary, middle, and high school as far as uh excuses. So, um everything has remained the same as as was last month. What has been changed is in on page three subsection it's C actually from page two excused absences. So if you look on page three at the beginning, what I inserted in was if the school administrator do not receive your appropriate excuse on the day and I've got in parentheses or within got with three days the student return the absences will be unexcused. Uh that's part of the addition that Mr. Miller wanted. I'll I'll

029go through the rest of it in a second. What I am asking you, I did not get clarification at the last board meeting, is whether the written excuse needs to be turned in on the day the student returns from for an absence or within 3 days after the student returns for an absence. It's always been the day the student returns. But my question to you guys is, do you want to give them the three-day grace period to get the written notice in to the administration? It's up to you. um just e on that one. So that's one change, but I do need your direction on that. And then the next change is just uh in the second paragraph on page three, written excuses prepared and signed by parents. This is the limitation uh or guardians

030will be accepted for only five absences each semester for high school students students and 10 absences for the entire school year for elementary and middle school students. Written documentation from a doctor, dentist or court official must be submitted for absences beyond the limits of five and 10 respectively um in order to officially be coded as excused. that was to give discretion to the administrators to limit uh the number of handwritten excuses doesn't doesn't mean that doctor's excuses I mean chronic absences for due to illness or illnesses due to chronic absences due to chronic illness um are accepted in another section of this. So those are the only changes since last month. Uh, but I do need direction on whether you want the appropriate written excuse by parent to be due on the day the student

031returns or within 3 days after the student returns after an absent. Um, I would like to at least give the parents a grace period of 3 days. I don't know how everyone else feels, but that's my opinion. Would would the three-day grace period be something new or is that something that in the past? We've not had the three-day grace period. Principles may have allowed it uh in their discretion, but it was not in the policy. I have to ask Mr. Miller, has that been a big issue big issue on that or it's typically a common practice to allow three days even though you know principles do So we it sounds like Mr. Miller brought this to us. So that may be must be something that principles are requesting or are in favor of. We'd like

032to do what supports them. Yeah, I think so. I think when you go beyond that three-day period, then it starts coming of a chase. Yeah, I'm sure there are some logistics to it too of keeping up with the dates, but just to date the note even as the teacher receives it. And then of course we've got the date of the absence. But well, and again, that was my my point in bringing up to up to you guys. It's an awful lot of work for them to also keep track of, you know, oh, we've got to technically absences need to be logged in at that moment. So, I mean, when it happens and so, um, if they're excused or not, it I guess you're going to wait three days to determine whether it's excused. So, again,

033that's why I brought it up. I wanted the board to be aware that that is um that's it's your option uh to make. Don't don't mind either way. It's just that it's more work in my opinion on the administrators and you're actually changing a record from one to the other once once the note comes in. The other side of that is if the day that the child returns it, the note's not there, but it comes the next day. I imagine the principal tries to give that some consideration. So either way there may be some record changing involved. Y So either way it sounds to me like you're everybody's majority is saying for the give them free day gives parents three days and if that's the case I would ask for a motion to approve the

034proposed changes to this with uh the added clear change of giving the parents three days to return their own written excuse. I make that motion. I'll second. I have a motion in second uh for approval of proposed amendments to Kab County Board of Education policy 4.2000 to 000 adding in a 3-day period to return once they return to school to have a note that the motion a parents note a parents note for the excuse of being absent there any further discussion could you keep us kind of informed too if that becomes an issue or burdensome for our administrators I think we'd like to keep an eye on I have a motion in a second. Is there further discussion? All those in favor, raise of hand. And that's unanimous. Next item on the agenda is approval

035of the 2025 to 2028 academically or intellectually gifted AIG plan for Kataba County Schools. This will be the second reading by Jonell Eisenhower. Mr. Chair, board members, Dr. Stober, thank you. Last month I provided you with the original copy of the AIG plan so that y'all could read it and then provide any feedback. um or if I can answer any questions about the plan itself seems very well put together and a lot of reading in there for sure. Does anybody have any comments about the AIG plan? Not. I seek a motion for approval of the 2025 to 2028 academically or intellectually gifted plan for Kataba County Schools. Like to make the motion that we approve the AIG plan for 25 to 28 as it's been presented to us on a second reading. I second that.

036Hearing a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, I need to see a raise of hand for approval. That is unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is approval of 2025 2026 rollover dis distributor bids and community eligibility provision for universal free breakfast changes for school nutrition. That's a lot barrier. Hi, good good evening. So, um I am here to seek approval to roll over all of our bids this for next school school year. Um but we do have a couple of things coming up with school nutrition. School nutrition and Quest are partnering together and we're going to offer a super snack at the elementary sites next school year. So, what that means is whenever students get out of school, they can come get a meal. It'll be

037a little bit of mix of a hot and cold on option and right after school. That way parents going to pick up their students aren't starving whenever they pick them up, right? You have fall practice or whatever else is after school. Um and then we have the universal free breakfast program and uh C. So C, we are adding Jacob's Fork to our list. We're going to reestablish our schools. So that will give us four more years for all of those schools listed under C. And then um we are going to I've been piloting two schools this year uh Jacobs Fork and Maiden High School on our universal breakfast program and feel comfortable with adding the schools that are not included in C at least in universal free breakfast program. So, um, if you have any

038questions about any of that, let me know. Ask about the super snack. I thought that sounded, uh, like a an important program for the children. Will that be based on free and reduced or is it free to all children or what will the cost be if not? It will be free to all schools or all Quest sites except Cheryl's board, but it is free reduced paid. Um so it we would not charge students for that. Uh we just would not seek reimbursement for those students. So yeah, you I have a question. Um last time we spoke, we talked about the the 60,000 that you were going to be short in providing the fresh roots. Um have have you been able to figure that out? Have we made any progress on that about how to get

039that worked out? We received a an email from um our representative I think last week and there's no movement on local school foods. So at this point I don't see anything changing receiving that money but we only received that grant for two years and well a year and a half really. So we know how to operate without those funds. It was just a nice little um lump of money that we could use to do few different things that we normally couldn't do. Thank you. Okay. Are there any more questions on the approval of the rollover distrib distributor bids and community eligibility provision? Hearing none, I seek a a motion for approval for the 2025 2026 rollover distributor bids and community eligibility provision DEP universal free breakfast changes for school nutrition. Make a motion that we

040approve the rollover distribution bids for 2020 uh 2526 for our school nutrition department. I second. Got a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, I see raise of hand for approval for 2025 2026 rollers big and that is unanimous. Thank you so much. You Thank you, Chairman Smire, members of the board. I hope to do this as well as Ray Thompson. She is at a paint conference and we miss her tonight. She's probably listening. Hello, Ray. All right. So, the board uh asked us to draft some calendars for the following school year. Which, by the way, in church the other day, four people approached me and said, "I'm so glad y'all are looking at calendars for the year after next. We always plan our vacation." I said, "I will tell them

041that. In fact, I'm doing that presentation." So, there's some feedback. Uh so what we did uh I say we Thompson uh contacted our schools and we ran the four calendars to our BLTs building leadership teams and uh we have draft one the traditional start and spring break draft two the separate spring break draft three uh the early start and then draft four early start separate spring break. So um attached is the feedback um to say it's um well you have 55 about 55% on some and 44% on others. Um, starting with the first one, our staff would prefer to begin school on August 9th had 44, August 24th had 55%. So again, that is coming from each BLT. We asked them to respond one from each school. However, um, some couple of sites um, chose

042to do it differently. Uh and so we had separate feedback from each of those. So we tried to calculate that in but it made it a little misleading because then we had two schools that um follow their own rules. So that being said, uh they all wanted to give feedback. Uh, that being said, you have two schools in there that have um four additional inputs versus the other, but I didn't want to not include that because you asked for feedback and now you got it. So, as things are somewhat complicated, it's like when you give out homework, it all doesn't come back the same, does it? and I can continue to read this, but I don't want to read to y'all my past experience. I've been doing calendars since 2011. Uh, and the bottom line

043is you're not going to please everybody. I I I noticed that elementary kind of rolls together and then you have your middle grades and high schools kind of roll together. It's just different needs. Uh, so it is a difficult task. I would just like to mention to the board, I'm sure the board's kept up with it, too, that there's some movement in the general assembly about a calendar law, changing the calendar law, and giving us a little flexibility. In fact, the uh North Carolina school board's uh uh board of directors, we were surveyed to ask if we already had a 26 27 calendar um how it would fit within the parameters of what the general assembly is looking at. Uh but one of the things that was included that is included in that is that

044they are looking at having some teeth to the law that if you don't follow the parameters that uh there would be some sanctions against our schools. So I think it's wise to take a good look but uh maybe we'll have some parameters maybe there will be some changes in the general assembly. Yeah. I mean, the only thing I didn't like about what they had was the balanced calendar, and I don't know how balanced they wanted to be, if they wanted to be perfectly numbered, right? It was it was not some of the choices were not good choices. Then if you start with a traditional date, they didn't care about how many days you win or that. It just seemed kind of odd the way that they proposed this calendar law that we didn't balance the

045days faster or the other. But they're not saying if there's like a 10% where it falls. Yeah. Standing now we have like 78 in the first and then 87 in the second. Yeah. If we started those three days early, we would have 81 and 87. So still there's six days difference. Yeah. We would still have a discrepancy similar to what we have now. Um I agree Mr. Settle. think we've done a better job uh balancing it than the state plan right now. So, thank you for putting this together. I we don't have to do anything with this tonight, do we? because of this pending House bill thing and and I guess I would like some direction on if they're really going to stand by this exact number if it's going to be the exact number

046of days that it has to balance or within 10 days it has to balance. Uh I guess I would like to them to make that decision and tell us what they're going to do on that end of it. Yeah. Uh before we really put a 26 27 calendar together if if that's with everybody else on this board. I'm hopeful that the uh uh budget bill come through July 1. I think everybody's aiming for that in Raleigh. Um you I've heard that before though. So hopefully though, if it is if if they do come together and make that happen, then um you know, we might be able to have something back to you in July and you're still a year ahead. So, and I know the public would at least four folks that approached me at

047church were thankful. Uh so just table. Thank you, Dr. Stove. Yes, sir. Thank you. Uh next on the agenda is approval of a multi-year contract with parent square including smart sites uh presented by Miss Kim Jordan. Um, we'll talk about the money first. So, it'll be Kim Jordan. Okay. So, it'll be Kim Jordan and uh Miss Davis. Good evening, Chairman Settlemire, members of the board. Um, I come to you this evening with um a proposal for a three or it's a multi-year three-year contract um with Parent Square. Um the agreement would be to um would include um not only parent square which is called engage 2025 um which is what we currently use as our two-way parent communication system and we have a lot of positive feedback um from both our staff and our stakeholders

048about our parent square communication. But it also uh includes moving from final site to smart sites which is underneath the parent square um umbrella and um having our website also be provided in a in a bundle um at a substantial cost savings over what we are currently paying as we're paying final site and and um parent square separately. So I'm trying to find it's not that one. [Music] It's none of those. Is it order form? Ah, here we go. So, um just to share some of the um costs with you, um Smart Sites, which would be um the new website um through Parent Square um has an onboarding total of $5,400. that is a onetime fee to help us with onboarding uh project management, getting our site launched and migrating some of our content from

049our current website to our new website. Um and then um they are prrating the first payment um to start July 1 at $4,600. Then smart sites a lot. Um so then smart sites would be $18,400 a year starting July 1st, 2025 for three consecutive years. That's what um the contract length is. And then the engage 2025 which is our parent square and student square which we currently use for our two-way communication um is based on step pricing over three years but bundled so that we are we would start out paying um 483 um for July 2026 5715 on 2027 and 46,000 on July 1st 2025 in addition to the $18,400 a year. Um that bundling cost um this year for us is $63,652. Um and it is a $35,000 cost savings over three years from

050doing it separately. Believe that our cost um individually um last year was um more than $60,000 just for parent square. So, I'm here seeking approval um for the contract of the parent square engage 2025 and smart sites for our web service provider. And Crystal has all the details of the contract. I'll turn it over to her um proposed contract. I had spoken with Ben Craft. Um, I wanted to use this opportunity to kind of educate you guys on how these contracts come to be. The reason and also wanted you to make sure you saw the actual proposed changes and the rejection of some of them. The primary reason is because there were lots of questions about um the contracts with P school and how are they not responsible and h they were negligent and how

051are how is their liability limited to what it's limited to. Well, first of all, I want to explain that the there is a new way of doing business with software companies, not just related to school systems, but in general. It has to do number first or number first number one with digital agreements. Those agreements look like they're one agreement, but they have links uh to other online policies or terms and those links are throughout the agreement. So it looks like you just have maybe a four or five page agreement, but really when when push comes to shove, you are looking at a total of about four or five agreements. In this case, this agreement that was that is originally proposed, and I'm not saying anything negative about Parent Square. I think they're a great company,

052great deals. I could not I could but I want you guys to understand what you're signing, what I've objected to, and how that shakes out in the real world. Okay? Hopefully, it won't take very long. So, if you'll follow along and Marty, are you looking? Okay. So the first thing is I want to explain one more thing. Um and you can ask Marty, you can talk with Kim. It is the trend. It is the norm now in the law in the world of contracts for software companies to say in the body of the agreement, we reserve the right to make changes to the terms of this contract upon 45 days notice to you guys. Okay, that's shocking to me as an attorney and it should be shocking to anybody who ever wants to sign an

053agreement. But in this day and time, it's sign rails. Okay. So, in this proposal, um, like in so many others, there is a link to additional terms and and conditions of a contract. You sign this, but you're also signing the link that you may not have even read. Um, and that link said or and that and the contract says we reserve the right, the company reserves the right to make changes to the terms and conditions of this contract upon so many days notice to you guys. Period. Don't care if you object or not. All right. I And in the in the world of contract law, that in my opinion is an elucory agreement, which means it's not really an agreement. It's not even agreement to agree. You're giving one person the authority to change the

054It's a unilateral agreement to change the terms and conditions of the agreement at any time. That's just something I want you to be aware of. As far as I mean, as far as your personal lives, I'm sorry. I you can use that, too. But as far as you're representing the school system, be aware of that. So the one thing that I um always do with these companies is actually read the agreement and then determine uh what is what is also attached to this agreement. There were um as we found out there were four different attachments, four different things that could have changed including this agreement. So it's a total of five agreements in one. There were, in other words, there were four additional links to this contract. What I proposed is that we not keep

055those as links. And I'm oldfashioned, getting really grayheaded, showing up since my mom's been sick, so I I hadn't had my haircut. But the um I'm oldfashioned and I believe in attaching th those as an exhibit so that you know what is actually incorporated and attack and made a part of that agreement. So the first thing I did was say the entire agreement consists of and we listed them four different things. School agreement any applicable s specific terms the order of form and any separate written agreement signed by the parties. Okay. And so we have those four and in addition by the way we've also made the the order form a part of it. And then we attach those as exhibits. And as you go down in the definitions, you will see you will see

056that I have asked them to define each of those things that they define as an as as a correlated to an attached exhibit. So you'll see references to exhibit A B. You see on the privacy policy I've stricken out found at https because that's one of the links. uh I have also stricken out on terms of use and then there is a specific term of use that uh is is we've also attached as exhibit D which you have. Um all right so the reason for me doing that is because I want the I want the board to have some control over what they're proposing to change. we now know in in paper form and we can have it digitally too. Although right now I think it's it's easier for you to understand if it's attached

057as as each exhibit and not a um link that's subject to ch a digital link that's subject to change. Um so we now know what the terms of the agreement are as we got all the exhibits in one place. The next proposed change uh is in section 2.3. What I suggested is that um to take out the word because they said during the subscription term parents will parent square will provide district with they said standard support for subscription services at no additional charge. Well, there was no definition anywhere of the word standard. So I simply said to them either define what standard support is or take out the word standard and say you'll supply us with support. Their response was to define and you can see it's underlined there defined standard support includes email chat

058and phone support maintenance updates online help articles and training modules for users. Okay. If the board is okay with that I'm okay. They have now defined it. So, so, so far all of the proposed changes, you can check off. They've agreed to all the ones above now, the A, B, C, and D. They've agreed to 2.3. You see my proposed change, and you see what they've agreed to, which is underlined in red. So, scroll down to the next change. Um the next under section 2.5 as far as safeguards I had um added in the language during the subscription term parent square will keep all and I had just information provided by district parent square confidential and they added district data information which is fine by me. So you can check off that that we are

059in agreement on 2.5 changes. It will include what's in red and what's underlined in red or burgundy. It looks like burgundy to me. Um now under 2.5 you'll see in blue that I have worn the board. That's a note to me. Um, the point of this warning is to tell you that they're not guaranteeing and no nobody can or will in the tech world. They're not guaranteeing 100% protection that they won't be hacked. Okay. 2.5 gives them wiggle room. It says that they will use uh reason um they will comply with will maintain appropriate what's that uh administrative physical and technical safeguards consistent with here's the here's the words that are important generally accepted educational technology practices to protect the security confidentiality and integrity of the subscription services including including reasonable reasonable data backups. Gone

060are the days when you have a brickandmortar building that somebody has to break into to get as access to your data. We are now in the world of hacks. As Marty said at the last board meeting, they get a cyber security threat every day. Am I did I say that correctly? All right. So, I I'm warn I put the warning in there to let you know that I know that they will not agree to any other language. I did add in that they would keep everything confidential. They agreed to that. But I need to warn you that this is not 100% hack proof. Hackp proof. It's not because I haven't done my job. It's not because they're trying to cheat. It's because there are hackers out there. Just like before technology, there were burglars. Okay?

061There are hackers and technology can and digital data can be hacked. All right? So, I'm I've So, I'm You can check off 2.5. They're not going to change anything else, and I've That's all I could get them to agree to. All right. The next are changes to the agreement, which is what we uh focused on. What they originally had in there is what I struck through in red. Excuse me, that's not correct. What they originally had in there is that they they will make they can make uh changes to the agreement by giving you notice within 45 days. And I said they can make they I wanted to reward it to say they may not make any changes to the terms of any parts of the agreement uh unless such changes are approved in writing

062by the district from time to time. whatever that y'all agree to, but that you first had to agree in rough writing. They absolutely, you can see in the comment section, they rejected that and said it's absolutely necessary. We ask that you draw withdraw your changes to this section. Incorporate what I've included back here as modified. They must retain the right to make changes to these documents. However, this provision is written allows the district to remain governed by the terms that it had previously agreed to if the district objects to the changes. So what we agreed upon and this is not exactly saying yet is that parent square may propose changes to the agreement and and if they give us notice to the superintendent and I didn't name this one to the superintendent or his designate

063and if you want to say board attorney or board chair you can do that too. This is one you circle because we're coming back to that. If they give notice of the proposed change and we don't object within 45 days, then the change is made without our written consent. However, if we do object within 45 days, then they won't make the change with regard to us. Now, to me, it's just as easy to do it by consent, but they are banking on not all of us being here. And I say they, I'm not talking about parent square, but not all of us being here and us not catching the notice. That's the bottom line. These companies are So what I'm proposing or not proposing, what I'm telling you is that they are they have compromised,

064but they are also really willing to die on that heel and say we do not agree with this provision and we're not going to sign a contract. And as you said, it's a good deal. But I want you to be aware of the fact that this is giving them the the ability to make changes to the agreement. If superintendent moves, retires, Kim Jordan moves, retires, the board chair changes, and suddenly somebody didn't recognize that parent square sent a message about a proposed change to a contract. It's also important because they also want to retain the right to sell themselves, assign their contracts to another company. So, not only do you have to keep track of the fact that Parent Square is proposing a change to an agreement, but that parent squares beneficiaries or or the

065people they sold themselves to or contracted with or assigned that you have to keep track of their name, too. So, circle that one. That one's That one's still an issue. You've got to decide. The other ones are done. I'm just letting you know the history. Crystal, in on that part, would they have to let us know if they're sold to another company? Yeah. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. Okay. All right. So then the next change that's just me referring to 5.1 is me referring to attached exhibit A which is the quote um that um Miss Jordan went over. Okay. So 5.2 to fee increases. Um, they agree they agree to all those changes. So 5.2 is a check. 5.4 they agreed to that change. So that's check termination by district. I wanted

066to also add in that they we we can terminate at any time upon um certain number of days upon 30 days written notice to parents where we don't have to continue in this contract if we don't and that we will get a refund prat a refund of what we didn't use. And of course they rejected that. And you see the comment which says we must ask you to restore this provision 6.3 as witten w as written. We do not offer refunds for a termination for convenience. So what they're saying is they will agree that we can terminate upon 30 days written notice but anything we've paid in advance pro rata they will not refund. Okay. So, we can leave that in there, but they're going to they're not going to agree to a refund. All

067right. So, that's kind of done. That's check. All right. Um, but they were also agreeing to to strike out the rest of that, which was good. Uh, for go back to 6.4. Warn the board. Did I miss any other warn the boards? Let me see here. Yeah. Okay. Under 61. Just letting you know again, this is a typical provision in a a contract. At the district's request, Parent Square Square will destroy or return all the district data within 60 days. That means if we end our contract with with Parent Square, and just FYI, this isn't the first, nor will it be the last type of company we deal with. We've gone from Blackboard Connect, that was the first one. I mean, there's been a litany of them. This this has changed multiple times. So, at

068the time, we terminate our relationship with Parent Square. Uh they they say they will destroy or return all the data within 60 days of the expiration of the term of the agreement unless otherwise required by law or parent square receives districts requests in writing that parent square retain certain district data for a specific longer period of time and if we do ask them to retain it they're going to charge us money to thousands. Okay. So that is a warning to the board that number one, we've got to ask them within 60 days after we terminate their agreement to return the data to us or keep it and store it. And if we ask them to store it, they're going to charge us more. Again, I did that's that is something that's settled. They're not going

069to change it. I would propose they change it, but they're not going to. It it's never changed. That's the way of doing business now in the digital world. So that's a warning to the board and whoever's in this position. All right. Next is seven. The warranty disclaimer. I added in um because in all the other attachments there was like there's language modifying anything relating to the disclaimer or warranty in the attachments the links. So I I simply say I know they won't change this but except as otherwise provided in this agreement any other terms and provisions in the agreement means that all five of them or all four of them related to warranties are null and void. So this written agreement takes priority. But what I'm warning you about is they're not warranting anything. Everything

070you're you're getting under this contract is asis without warranty of any kind whether express or implied statutory or otherwise to uh and they exclude to the fullest fullest extent permitted by law all other warranties whether express implied statuto or otherwise even fitness for a particular purpose merability title and satisfactory quality. That is the same as saying, "I have a warranty on my car that I just bought, but it's worthless. I'm not promising you it's drivable." That's how extreme that limitation on warranty is. Again, I don't expect them to change it because that's the way business is done now. And it's either sign it or else. But my duty is to warn the board that you cannot expect any warranty from this company and many other companies that you do business with. Next is limitation of

071liability. Same kind of thing. They had conflicting things in the in the attachments. So I limited it to this one. However, it ain't good news because the limitation of liability says in no event and will they be responsible for damages over and above what we've paid. So, you've heard of con you've heard of um direct damages. That's the cost you incurred in the contract. Consequential damages are damages you may have uh you may have suffered as a result of their breach. But remember they're not warranting anything, right? So, so damages you have suffered as a result of their a breach are not included. They are absolute. We are agreeing that we will not pay them for any consequential damages. The only amount recoverable is the amount of what we've paid them. Case in point, power

072school. That's another reason why, well, we'll get into that later, but that was the same language in uh or similar language in other IT contracts. All right, the next one. Same with the liability cap. They had different different things. I just asked for it to be the same for the or excuse me, for this language to be uh what's read. And again, it that's saying it's basically the same thing in a little bit different way. that there is a maximum cap aggregate liability relating to any damages relating to this agreement. Now, um I did in in no event that 8.3 says in no event shall anything in this agreement be construed as requiring this district to indemnify parents. Well, I wanted to point out that that's a good thing. I mean, thank goodness, but um

073but it also there's no assurance that they will indemnify us from anything. For example, if confidential information is hacked and we are sued for contracting with Parent Square and signing this contract that has no warranty and no ability to sue beyond the maximum amount of the contract, then they're not indemnifying us either. So, that's another warning to the board. Again, I'm not trying to scare you all and keep you from signing this. I'm just making sure that you know what you're signing. Uh because these these animals have changed stripes over the years. Contracts used to be say what you mean and mean what you say and now you got all these links and people can modify it without your consent. So again, I'm just warning. Um 10.2 severability. Well, I've added they 10.1 they've agreed

074to that that we would be subject to central district of California. Well, I changed that to North Carolina. 10.2 severability. Um I struck out that um again this is an agreement to agree. If any provision of the agreement is held invalid, that provision will be a will deemed be deemed amended to achieve as nearly as possible the same effect. And that's not typical. It's it's that if any provision is held invalid then the remainder of agreement will be in full full force in effect that that will be deemed invalid. Okay. Next change modification and waiver. Um I did they did keep this in as I put it but um there was no change to it so we're leaving it in there. except as provided in section three which they say they got the 45 days

075notice to us nothing may be modified except upon written approval of the district and then I've added in that so 10.7 is a check we all agree on that 10.8 8 is where they talk about assigning it. Uh selling their selling themselves to some other organization. Um I had proposed that it say what's stricken out in red agreement. This agreement is not assignable by parent square except upon written approval by the district. Okay. And then they wanted to change it to the agreement is not assignable by parent square except to an affiliate or go back go left Marty or in connection with a merger acquisition sale of asset or similar change of control transaction. I'm just letting you know that we've got to keep up with who they become. All right. So that one's a

076check because we agree to their proposs insisting on it. And then they wanted to add ink at the bottom after parent square which is fine. Um they'll notoriize it but the notary will be in California which is fine. The notary doesn't have to be here. Um and I think that's it. I've stricken out all these other references that they see this is how they've they changed things in the past. So that's stricken. So, this will be printed and the exhibits attached. And then the proposed the the request for approval is you've heard um from Miss Jordan about the quotes and then you've heard from me about the proposed changes. The only thing I need approval from is on the language regarding the changes that that we that that language be reflected that you grant authority

077to the chairman to sign the contract with my proposed changes, the changes they agreed upon and the change that any modification they make, they have to give us 45 days notice. And if we object to the change within 45 days, the change is not made. If we don't, the change isn't made. And that that notice must be given to the the super the then superintendent of the school district or the board chair. And I would say and the board chair um and the second change is that they be allowed to assign the document as they proposed with the changes. So that needs to be the motion. if you're if you're wanting to do it. But I did want to take the time to explain to you guys that I mean I know there's a lot

078of talk going on now about Power School and the and breaches and so forth and anybody else who deals with technology, Marty, I mean am I am I crazy or it's the way things are happening now? Yeah. Yeah. We would need a motion to approve it. As I explained, we're not hearing all that. Is there any further discussion or any more questions for either Miss Jordan or Crystal Davis? Not. I seek a motion for approval of proposed multi-year contract with parent square including smart sites uh with all the amendments uh proposed by Miss Davis Crystal Davis on the contract in the language and adding in um superintendent and board chair as to be notified in the Yes, ma'am. I'll make that motion. Second. Hearing a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing

079none. All those in approval show up raised hand. That is unanimous. Uh thank you both. Thank you, Chairman Smire. Board members, I think what I had to present is slightly less complicated than what Miss Davis presented in the contract. First, asking for your approval to revise the summer learning plan. And the only thing we're going to ask you to approve is allowing our elementary schools to do remediation and second administration of EOGs before the end of the school year. We just learned about a month ago that we could do this. This is a change. In the past, we've not been able to do this. We've had to do it after the school year ended. We met with all of our principles and realized that our elementary principles wanted to try to do the remediation and

080second administration before the end of the school year, but our middle and high school principles didn't feel like they could do it uh and do it well because their testing, especially high school, runs longer uh in the school year. Whereas our elementary folks, they start testing really that week before the last week of school. And they felt like they could test, get their scores back, remediate and retest before that last school day. And again, our middle school, uh, it would have been tough for them, and then our high school almost impossible. So, we're asking for your approval to revise that to allow our elementary schools to remediate and do the second admin before the end of the school. You want to take these piece by piece or I mean, I think it's a I think

081it's a good plan. It sounds like you said that elementary guys are all for it. The elementary principles are all for this plan. Yes, sir. You want me to go through the next ones? You want to Okay. No, no, you're fine. So, the the next things that I have involve funding and a request to purchase different things. Uh, first is the request to use learning focused schools again for this coming school year 2526 to pro provide professional development to our principles. uh in the way of closing gaps in our ATSI schools uh add administrator instructor coaching instructional coaching sorry and also provide training in the areas of rigor and engagement which we continue to really focus on in CNI. This funding comes from um our ATSI money that is provided by the state and this

082year we received approximately $185,000 for those ATSI schools. So 37,800 of it uh would go towards that ATSI funding that we've received. Any questions about that? Okay, the next request would be for Letterland materials. This is a continuation of what we started doing this school year. We updated our kindergarten and first grade letterland materials this year. uh they they being letter land I'm sorry they are doing these updates to match the science of reading and the letters training that all of our elementary teachers uh have to complete as they enter the profession. Um um um updates would be paid for by PRC85 money which is state money that has to be used for literacy. And so this would just be used um to help with the letterland purchase for second grade. And ideally we would

083come back to you again next year at this time and ask for updates for third grade. So it kind of follows students as they go up. And then the the last request that we have is funding for Trafera Chromebooks for the EC department. There would be 50 Chromebooks that would be um purchased at a cost of $40,66 and state EC funds will be used to purchase these Chromebooks. They are uh Lenovo 14E Gen 3 Chromebooks again for our EC department. Any questions about any of those things? Are these for the staff and students these Chromebooks or u staff Mr. S? Okay. Is there any further questions for Mr. Miller on number five or number six? items hearing. None. I request a motion for approval for number five for the revised 2025 summer learning plan for

084Cobb County Schools. Number six, approval of curriculum and instruction department purchases for the 2025 2026 school year for those three items. Make a motion accept. A second. Hearing a motion in a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, like I see a raised hands for approval and that is unanimous. Thank you. Next thing on the agenda is approval for a one-year renewal quote from Instructure for Canvas Learning Management System for 2025 2026 school year by Mr. Marty Sharp. uh chairman, members of the board, uh come in front of you today to uh request a continuation of uh our utilization of Canvas, which is our learning management system, uh in grades 6 through 12. Um, this is uh based off of a uh state convenience contract again um with a grand total um with the

085grand total uh 56, uh8384. Um, let me check real quick though if they Yeah, just want to make sure because we have the uh also wanted to look at adding that tier one support. Uh, what that tier one support actually does for us. Uh, it gives our teachers direct access to support um to uh deal with uh a lot of cross enrollment issues that we run into. Um unfortunately we do not have the staff to kind of maintain um all of these cross enrollments. So what we do is ask the teachers who need cross enrollment to occur to uh reach out to their direct support uh and they work through the process. So any additional questions about the learning management system hearing no questions. uh like a a motion to approve the one-year renewal quote

086from Instructure for Canvas Learning Management System for 2025 2026 school year. I'll make that motion. I'll second that. I have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, I look for approval by raised hand. That is unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Got you. Up next is a several items by Mr. Dan Moore. Number 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. 14, 15, and 16. Do you want to do all these at one time, then get approval? Whatever the board would like for me to do, I'll be happy to apply. Is that okay to hear all of Ben? Gotcha. All right, let's do them all. All right, here we go. Um thank you chairman settle by our members of the board Dr. Stove. Our first request each year superintendent shall establish period

087of time which transfers will be accepted. The dates are listed before you. Uh we request that Monday, June 2nd be the beginning of the process, the acceptance date for transfers for the 2526 school year. The first Monday in June has been that date for the past 15 years and the last date being Thursday, July 31st, 2025 as the deadline to accept said transfers. also that tuition for outofcount students would be paid by Monday, August the 11th and that follows board policy and that is 14 days prior to the beginning the 2526 school year and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about this process. Are these requests uh online mail in walk in with an application? Uh we do online primarily and that will be sent out. Kim does a great job

088in getting that information out to our parents and on our website and in the past we've seen that continue to grow. We typically have somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 to 400 requests. Most typically elementary schools getting closer to child care is very much a part of that process. Any other questions? Okay, we'll move on to construction change directive number 12. Uh we had an underground storage tank that we knew that was at the old maiden east site. Uh this was provided for in uh the planning for this school. This change directive is an increase of $31,230. You can see the details there. It was 120,000 g gallon underground storage tank that was removed and disposed of and also the fuel that was within that tank was also disposed of. So, I would seek approval

089or we'd be happy to answer any questions about that as well. Hearing none, moving on uh to our agreement with Mobile Modular Corporation. Uh this specifically is for Balls Creek School, but the next agreement is for St. Stevens Elementary School. Uh we have solicited our board of commissioners and they have graciously agreed to fund these two fourpack modular units both uh one at Balls Creek Elementary, the other at St. Stevens Elementary. This is from the same group that we used last year for the fourpack modular at Cheryl's Ford Elementary School. The agreement is there before you. The primary thing to consider is that the initial estimated invoice is going to be 58,673.32. That's for setup, delivery, and the first month's lease. Uh that agreement will be the same for both schools. And I'd be happy

090to answer any questions that you may have about them. Do you feel these will be set up in time for us to start back? Yes, sir. August. We've been in contact with mobile modular. They are aware. We're in the queue. We're in a better place than we were last year when we had those placed at Charles Ford Elementary. So, we feel confident that those will be in place for the beginning of the school year. That'll be set up with the the power and everything to it. That's not going to be an issue either. Yes, sir. motion. Thank you, Mr. Moore. And uh from using them, the ones at Charlottes Ford just correctly that we've not had any problems with the ones at Sherless Ford. Been good success. No, it's been a learning experience for us.

091Uh but for the most part, they've been very pleased with that product. It's worked very well. Um I feel like we're going to get pretty good at this uh over the next couple of years. To be honest with you, I think we feel more confident in getting it set up and established and using the same company as last year will help as well. Yes, sir. Moving on, our next U approval item is a source well contract through Royal Wood Associates to finish gym floors at all of those schools that are listed in the amount of $35,68.73. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Didn't we just finish the gym at Maiden Elementary? We did. There's something different that's going on there. So, what we do is we typically go back, especially on

092competition floors, is we will finish those every year. That particular floor based on it being as new as it is, uh it's very important that we protect it at the onset. And so, that's why we have that listed. All right. Thank you. That was the only question I have. Well, we just finished this thing in December. It's It's new and uh we want to make sure that it maintains its beauty. Our next item for approval is a agreement through TIPS USA using BPS Southeast flooring for flooring in the media center and in the office area, carpet in the media center. And in the office area, we have been using uh vinyl plank. We've been pretty well pleased with that. In other applications and other schools, the total amount is $72,28262. And we have used Southeast

093Flooring in the past and they've done a good job for any questions. Okay, moving on. three contracts in a row. The first being with Moss Marlo for the prek classroom 400 hallway renovations at Balls Creek Elementary School. I would seek your execution of that document so that we can begin that process. If you remember uh at a previous board meeting, we awarded that bid or acknowledged that bid to Moss Marlo. Our second contract also with Moss Marlo Building Company with a new HVAC systems at Claremont Elementary School. Uh we previously acknowledged that bid and awarded that particular bid in a previous meeting. And lastly with DDI of Hickory for the Maiden Middle School HVAC replacement project and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have with regard to those contracts. Uh I know

094this is the first time you said we'll be using DDI. Yes sir. and hope it goes well. I guess just keep us posted on how that goes. And thank you and Robert for putting all this stuff together. I know it's a big task at times to come up with all these and bring it to the board. So, thank you for that. You're welcome. We we're we're hopeful and uh they're excited and happy to have won the project and we have a very good architect that keeps tabs on on progress. So, I feel confident that we'll be pleased with the end result. Our next item for consideration, I would seek your approval of the recommendation by construction and maintenance staff for REI Engineers, Inc. to be the design consultants for various metal roof projects in Kataba

095County Schools. We sent out an RFQ at the end of the last meeting uh to seek an engineer to help us solve some deficiencies. We were able to get two proposals. We scored those proposals and it would be our recommendation REI engineers be chosen for those services. If that approval is granted, then the next item is a master design consultant services agreement with REI for those services to help us solve some issues with metal roofs throughout the district. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. It will when you actually um when a school board sorry about that when a school board actually engages for example an architect or engineer or a consultant um we are required to follow certain procedures in order to do that and what we've chosen to do

096is send out a request for proposal for information to um so that we can contract and have someone on on board in the event we decide to use them. So this is their outline of their consulting agreement and any individual product uh excuse me individual product that we uh decide to do or need them for will bring another contract to the board. Does that make sense? Yes. So this is the master agreement that they operate under. It does. It doesn't have anything about a specific school in it. Thank you for clarifying that. Well, that's a lot. Yeah. Um, does anyone have any questions for Mr. Moore on item 8 through 16? talk about my Mr. Moore. Get this out so I can leave. All right. I seek approval for new business number eight, number nine,

097number 10. That will be Balls Creek and St. Stevens. Number 11 for all schools. Number 12. Sorry, number on number 11. All schools that that were on the contract 12, number 13, contract one, two, 14, number 15, and number 16. accept those. I second. Hearing a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Not show approval by raised hand. That is a unanimous. Thank you. Next on the agenda, discussion on board of education policy 3.6110 6110 instructional materials led by me. The last uh board meeting we did change a different policy uh that had also stopped at the superintendent. We added an approval of the board of education. Following that policy, we're just bringing this policy with the same language that we approved the other policy for. Look for a motion to approve the

098change that adds the uh approved by the board of education. Make that motion. Second, Mr. Chairman. I think it's listed on the agenda that it's not here for approval but for discussion. All right, we can discuss it and take approval if necessary. I would like to ask was this um uh something that was brought to us by the North Carolina school board. You usually bring us Miss Davis changes of policies to lead the schools. Is this recommended by them as a policy to lead the schools? Yes. Well, I would like to ask um I had a lot of questions when we approved some of the other policies. I had objections at that time because I felt like it's taking away the rights of our professional staff uh to make decisions regarding curriculum. And I just

099I don't see how this is uh how we're going to be able to approve as a board of education um every it says textbook, supplementary textbook, library book, magazine, periodical, software and technology resources. That means everything has to come before the board to be approved. I understand. So what would be the procedure, Dr. Sto? Yes. Um well, what we could do is um bring anything you guys would like to approve to you. Uh well, I think it outlines for us what has to be brought. All instructional materials, it says including supplemental textbooks, library books, periodicals, and technological resources have to be approved by the board. What What was your reason for wanting us to approve all that and take that away from our professional staff? Um my reasoning was that we um were looking to

100incorporate the board decisionm. Um well, it says in the first line that we're the governing board and are legally responsible for the selection of any instructional materials. Yeah. But then you leave that out in a second. You don't you just say it approved by the superintendent and then you leave off anybody else. Well, it says approved by the local school professional staff and of the superintendent or his designate. I assume you designate to our curriculum and instruction people a lot of that approval that Yeah. And our uh principles and teachers of course. Yeah. I just wonder what the procedure now will be to bring every one of those. How are we going to find the time to do all that? Approve and looking at all that plus how are we going to provide for the

101education of this board to be able to make decisions about that depend on our staff and um you know the recommendations right now from the superintendent and um the professionals as it is. So I don't think I don't think there's anything that's changed in that regard. We're saying that that now the board must be that it must be approved by the board of education. That's exactly what's added. I think that's very dangerous especially in light of number four that we have to agree to provide materials on opposing sides of controversial issues so young citizens can develop under guidance the practice of analytical reading and thinking. How is a political board going to provide opposing sides and make decisions about that? Political board in what way? What how are you referring to us as a political

102board? This is a partisan board. We're elected bipartisan. We're a partisan elected board. You're you you're including that it's political. That we are political. I mean, I'm not sure what you're referring to in that regard. Yeah. Yeah, I I just think that it's a dangerous thing for us for everything now suddenly to have to be approved by the board. We haven't done that in the past and we've done fine. In fact, why don't we stop looking at this board approving every piece of curriculum and get on to some of the priorities of our constituents? I would like to table this. I would like to make a motion to table this to to um review um other um policies or other um boards um as they you know some of their policies as well so that

103we can come to a decision on what how we feel and have another discussion and let us also look at what the policies to lead the schools says. I mean that's what we use for every other policy. What was your last? I'd like for us in addition I I mean I don't see the need for us to look at other boards uh what they're doing. I'm not so much interested in what other boards are doing, but I would like to see what our North Carolina School Boards Association says. I mean, every one of our policies are based on their policies to lead the schools. This is not a recommendation they've made. I have a question. Where did the wording for these come from? one through five. It was already in the policy. It had already

104the policy since 2010 and um let's see I started representing the school system 2003. So everything is u sort of aligned with the North Carolina School Boards Association. Well, and getting back to number four, if we look at that, it says to provide materials on opposing sides of controversial issues so that young citizens may develop under guidance the practice of analytical reading and thinking. I mean, is that really our job? I don't feel like we this leaves it wide open that anything could be entered into in the classroom. And I just think that's very broad and dangerous. So now we're going to take out that our students won't be able to be independent thinkers because they're not going to have the other side presented to. That's not what I'm saying. There should be we should

105be able to discuss two sides, but it's just very vague about whatever topic could be brought into the classroom. And I think we need to be careful about that. I agree. And I think really the only proposed change is what's highlighted there to be approved by the board of education. I I really crave transparency on this. Uh Dr. Stover and Mr. Seter, I mean, I when I asked my first question, I saw you two exchange glances. That said a lot to me. Makes me crave transparency on what's behind this and where it's coming from. Uh Dr. Barnett, the the request was made to discuss this tonight. And that's why by who? By the chair. and and so that's why I put it on there for discussion. I I don't that's why I don't have a

106plan. It's just for discussion. Um I'd like to just comment on the controversial topic if I may. So the controversial in this case although given society right now I understand where you're talking from but it's controversial as in two opposing sides. So I think about it from a civic standpoint, right? Just just like as we are in elections, how would the Democrats look at how Republicans, independents, those type of things? And although there are opposing sides, we can teach kids how to learn about all sides and approach that. Um it just about on where to find the information and those type of things. what we do with our teachers and our uh principles is we use the standard course of study. So, as long as we're within that, then we're we're well within the guidelines.

107What we ask everyone to do is stay within that, right? Because it can get fuzzy nowadays, right? And we certainly don't want to offend any uh people, race, religion, etc. But at the same time, we do want to teach our kids to be critical thinkers, and our teachers do a good job with that. But so I know what that looks like. I think in the other regards to Dr. Barnett's point, at some point you do have to trust our CNI team, myself, our teachers, our principles, and like I've been saying over the last couple years. For the most part, we've made really good decisions. We do have a checks and balance system in place. It's not perfect, right? But that is because there is so much brought into the schools because we do give autonomy

108to our folks. Um and that isn't so we can uh corrupt minds. It is so that our teachers and principles have um empowered educational experience to do that with our kids. So, all that to say is I I think we're we've built a trustworthy team and you all know that if we see something that's out of bounds, we certainly will address it. And secondarily, if you all see something that's out of bounds, you ask us to to look into it and then our checks and balance system comes back to you all. But to your point, controversy is a big word right now, right? But our job is not to I again and I could go into a specific example today. I won't do it. But if we see something that is out of bounds, it

109is corrected. And but to police that for the board to really approve every single thing would be really hard. Um I agree with you, Dr. Stover. I think our departments have done our curriculum specialists have done um an outstanding job. I trust you. I trust them. So in other words, why add and approved by the board of education? We were fine the way we were without adding that. I just have to think there's an ulterior motive to adding that to it. I don't have an answer, Dr. Barnett. I just want to kind of speak to you from my educational experience. I think uh that that statement may be relating to the uh first paragraph says as a governing body of the system the board is legally responsible for the selection of instructional material. So as

110a board we are legally responsible. So if it's covered there why add that line? I think why might might be why that line was added because of the first sentence because we are legally responsible. I disagree. I there's no need to add that line if it's covered in that first sentence. I don't think it is. I don't think I don't think I don't think it is anywhere. It's just saying we're legally responsible. Right. Okay. Then I'm I'm reading this that all instructional materials including supplemental textbooks, library books, periodicals, and technological resources shall be selected upon the recommendation of the local school professional staff committee and approved by the superintendent and his or her designate and approved by the board of education. It's saying all materials now must if if we approve this change, all materials

111would have to come to us for approval. I just want to point out to the board now that does not happen now. So there will need to be a process in place. So it's so that will become an issue I think for Dr. Stove to develop a plan if that's the way you guys want to change it. Um I would also point out that unless because you have hired Dr. over as your C uh well CEO. He's the CEO basically, your superintendent. Uh you are responsible for his actions and decisions in all circumstances as long as it's not illegal or negligent or willfully neg or um um recklessly in reckless disregard for someone else's safety. So I mean that's t that's typical language in the very beginning. The last the second section of it is

112the fact that you're delegating it to the administration and the superintendent. But what you want to add back in is that you will see every single piece which is every textbook, every library book. That's a process now right Dr. Staver that is very cumbersome. Can can we put in there that the the board of education authority to Yeah, that's what it already says. Yeah, it it say what it says is that in fact um your de it doesn't say the word delegating but it says all instructional materials, supplemental textbooks and technological resources shall be selected upon the recommendation of the local school professional staff and approved by the superintendent. So that's the built-in language there that that shows y'all are delegating it to the superintendent and and you're saying we shall approve it or we

113are approving it based upon the fact that Dr. Stove has tapped the appropriate school staff to look into it and then he has approved it. So that's what it already says. It really he looks at all these textbooks and no he's he's delegating it to people. So right so we and just to give you an example for that um we have textbook book um task force we have our media specialist with our media materials we also have a director of media as well um then so with books that are brought into classroom libraries that would be through the principal. Okay. So, there is a checks and balance on all of that. That being said, as I've said all along, we're big place, a lot of material. When anything's brought to our attention to inspect, we

114do. You know, I I think that the majority of all our material right now, I can say pretty confidently that it's good stuff, right? Um I think what I guard against when I say that is just verbal. Sometimes we say things we shouldn't and then we have to to correct that. But all that to say is yes, I take responsibility for that and yes, I think I have a great staff to do that and yes, I think we have a great staff in the schools to to execute that. And um but again, I brought it for discussion as we wanted to just talk through it. Um and here I'll try to answer any other questions that I can. All right. So thank you for the discussion. very informative and I think we have another policy

115that if there is challenges to instructional materials we have y that that actually goes through a process and comes to the board that would basically take care of this if we removed and by the board of education leave it like it is now yeah I wasn't I was just highlighting it because that was what was a the con the concept that you wanted to discuss Thank you for that. So, does that mean, Mr. Chairman, that we're not going to bring this back up again? I mean, not forever, but I was I was going to I was going to say that. Yes, Dr. This the way it is. And then we have the policy that if someone does challenge it, you go through the process and can come to the board. Exactly. Need to carry it.

116Ma'am drawing your motion to break. Thank you again for that discussion. Again to to the transparency point, I just want to say this. For example, this morning in cabinet, we had a conversation about a curriculum that we'll be bringing to you all to look at. It's it's our um uh council on adolescence. Again, it's an open curriculum. We're going to be talking about that for an upcoming renewal. We know it's a sensitive topic. We want to make sure you all know what's in there and we want you all to have the ability to inspect it. So, just just so you know, there are sensitive issues that we we not only approve ourselves, but before we make the final approval, we also want to get your input as well because you all represent this community and

117we respect that. So, I just want to say that as well. Appreciate that. And Dr. Stove, I think to your point also, the board does approve a lot of things already. I mean, tonight we heard we approved learning focused schools, we approved student square, we approved letter, we approved several things tonight, our AIG plan, all of that that comes before the board as it is without having to review every piece of instructional material. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Barnett. Uh being done with the part of the open agenda, I need a motion to we can close session. I make a motion to go into close session. I'll make that motion. Second. I've got a motion and a second to go into close session for personnel matters current privilege and property. Any further discussion hearing? None.

118A raise of hand for approval. And that's unanimous. Thank you. I'd like to take a 15minute break and we'll come back into the close session.