001e e and okay thank you follow my own admonition there at this time I will call the November 25th 2024 meeting of the Kaba County Board of Education to order uh momentarily we will have a moment of silence after the moment of silence we will have the presentation of the Colors by The Bunker Hill uh High School Air Force Jr TC um and then upon posting the colors I will lead in The Pledge of Allegiance so if I could please have everyone stand for a moment of silence you may post the col fre colors in the pledge flag of the United States of America to the for stands one nation godice at this time I'd like to introduce major Ron Jones who is the commander of the Air Force Junior r TC unit at Bunker
002Hill High School uh major Jones tell us about your Cadets thank you colard Ed EAS good evening uh I'm major Ron Jones uh Commander for the uh Bunker Hill jrtc program and I have four distinguished individuals and actually I have one in the back almost forgot you sorry uh these individuals uh have done some amazing things in just the last couple months um I have Cadets uh Jacob Houston Dakota um Martin my apologies Ruby Fox and John Cook so I've got two seniors uh and two two seniors one sophomore and one freshman and also have uh Cadet Samara Chavez in the back there these individuals have been on the color guard and they have recently done color guards uh not just in our football games but also in things like the Charlotte Hornets and the
003Charlotte uh football club so they've had an experience in front of thousands of people at a time um these individuals are also academically uh in the top uh tier of their class so I'm very proud of them uh we have one individual who is currently looking at going into the into the air force that that would be Ruby Fox uh so we're we're working with her uh the others were still undecided at this point but uh they're doing amazing things so I cannot be prouder of these individuals I I truly believe I have the best students in the entire school so uh I want to kind of give these guys a round of [Applause] applause thank you major Jones and we appreciate you and the cets being here this evening thank you at this time
004board members uh you have all received a copy of the minutes of the October 28 2024 uh board meeting in your packet uh I will entertain uh a motion to either approve those or amend those meetings motion to approve as presented thank you Mr ay I'll second and seconded by Miss Richards any discussion hearing none all in favor favor of approval of the minutes from October 28th signify by raising your hand unanimous at this time I'll recognize Dr Stover for the approval of our agenda for this evening thank you chairman Taylor members of the board uh we are uh everything is uh as is on the agenda we do ask at the end of Clos session we come out to open that we add an agenda item uh in um entitled Maiden roof uh so
005we'd like to put that at the end of tonight's agenda with your permission okay thank you Dr Stover uh board you have heard the U request relative to the agenda so um I will entertain any uh motion to the that effect or discussion about that Mr chairman I make the motion that we approve the agenda with the adjustment that Dr stobber mentioned thank you Dr Barnett I second thank you Mr Sigman we've had a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor of approval of the uh agenda with the adjustment mentioned by Dr sober signify by raising your hand and again that is unanimous thank you uh this time I would like to recognize Dr Stover for the superintendent's report thank you chairman Taylor um real quick I just want to mention
006the Christmas cards in front of you uh those uh are the final winners we had over 900 submissions of student artists across the district this the uh picture on the far right is actually a sixth grade drawing uh which is absolutely phenomenal the middle one is a high school student who just did a wonderful job and then the the middle one uh is one of our middle school or pardon me the one on the left is our Middle School student I got to meet with their families um and uh Debbie does a great job and Kim putting cards together they can send them to their loved ones but these cards go to15 School District elected officials and everything else so we're just really proud of our art teachers and our and our students just amazing
007art so I just want to point that out um tonight if you want to join me out front we have four people we're recognizing tonight all right our first uh recognition this evening is um our a student from B's High School you probably read about him in the Hickory Daily Record uh W Jackson Spencer is uh our student at bandies who went out of his way to help the hurricane uh Helen uh victims and so I want to read to you a letter that Dr mayor put together on behalf of his student to governor Cooper to recognize his efforts on behalf of B's high school I'm writing to nominate Wy Jackson Spencer 16-year-old Junior at B high school for governor Cooper student Excellence award recently following the devastation hurricane Helen in Western North Carolina white
008Spencer who was also the junior class president of our Student Government Association traveled with the NC State Highway Patrol to various mountain regions devastated by Hurricane Helen he was in mcdal waga and Mitchell assisted with the Disaster Response efforts according to the Troopers he assisted why has done a great job doing all they ask of him and in uh many areas that were lost and forever changed white Al part part of White's duties was uh being on a four-wheeler to go out and to find uh people who were missing and so why what a what an amazing uh difficult opportunity to have for sure um also too he was was able to uh put projects together back at school uh for the victims to to raise dollars and um uh clothing and those type of
009things that were much needed uh he was uh also recognized at the time uh by uh governor elect or governor candidate uh was uh going to come see him uh Mr Robinson was a will make it but he's been recognized across the state for this effort uh I'm hoping that uh Governor Cooper or someone from his office will recognize you as well with this letter that Dr Manor put together I wouldn't doubt that he would so thank you Dr May uh that being said just another example of our students in Kataba County not only with excellent grades but excellent service to to our fellow North Carolinians let's give him a huge round great job if you hadn't seen the H Daily Record I also had an amazing article too so great job all right tonight
010we are celebrating three of our finest employees we do do have 2,300 of them uh so uh but tonight we'll just choose three so the first one I want to recognize is our classified employee of the month she is our custodian bus driver um from Oxford Elementary um Lisa uh fry is uh amazing so just to tell you a little bit about Lisa she drives her bus she goes home she comes back cleans she drives again and in the middle she's constantly giving of her own self her own dollars and cents for her fifth and sixth grade students for gifts uh praying for them just whatever it takes uh tonight we want to thank Miss Lisa fry let's give her a big round of applause our second employee of the month is Miss Stacy Miller
011is our stem teacher at stown Elementary uh this is Miss Miller's uh first uh year as the stem teacher maybe second year uh but has been a classroom teacher at Star town just amazing uh teacher most recently they did the pumpkin challenge where they were tossing pumpkins through physics and all sorts of great science standards we're just so thankful for Mrs Miller her engaging activities for our students big round of applause for M Stacy Miller last but not least is our administrator of the month now um our administrator of the month is Mr Murphy post he's our Li Greek uh principal uh last year as you may have heard the whole school has worked themselves out of that underperforming category that they we know that they're not in anyhow but because of his leadership uh
012love of kids and love of people uh Lyle Creek uh is doing amazing things I I can remember a picture of Mr post at a uh blackout party for reading was it purple lights wasn't it he dances with kids he uh reads with kids but Mr post is exactly uh what our students and staff need at l Creek let's give him a big round of applause he's taller than me too [Music] middle I can see your face good thank you yep we're good thank youall again thank you and Wyatt before you leave I'd just like to say a word I know a lot of times it's uh fashionable in some circles for people to talk about kids today and uh I when I hear them say that I'm I'm quick to stop them and say
013how many kids today are you really around you can't judge the whole population by the few that maybe live on your street and skateboard up and down your driveway we have amazing young people in this County and why you're just representative of the very best of those and we're proud of you and thank you so much for all that you [Applause] did and uh the completion of the superintendent's report brings us to public comment and I will turn this over to our attorney Crystal Davis app comments and disect Lynn Dorfman do you still need us to spell it I finally learned to spell my name you me okay uh this is Thanksgiving week and I'm came to talk about Thanksgiving and what I'm thankful for uh your slogans are engage Inspire Empower and making education
014better and those are just words on a website possibly unless you're really committed to improving lives of students and making things better for staff I'm here to express my Thanksgiving for the outgoing board members Mr Ron abery Miss Annette Richards and chair Jeff Taylor I'm very thankful for you for your service and I wanted to say so publicly thank you thank you seems like a good theme for the evening Kataba County Schools is definitely the best place I have ever worked and I don't have much longer but I'm still very glad to be working here and I too want to give my thanks to Mr ABY to miss Richards and to Mr Taylor for the years of service that you've given to Kataba County for what you've done for teachers for students for the county
015overall I know all three of you had to endorse some ugliness in this latest campaign and I am so sorry for that but I thank you for your willingness to get up here and to serve and to put up with what you you had to put up with and to make this a place that I enjoy working and that I plan to continue enjoy working for a year and a half and a month thank all three of you oh and thank you Mr Miller who came out and helped with quizbowl last week we could not have done it without your assistance thank you I don't want to sound like a broken record but I'm just here to thank you all too um Jeff Taylor Miss Richards and Mr rathy we appreciate the uh kindness and
016respect that you've shown everybody uh during the last couple years when it's been somewhat contentious in here at times and that you've shown Grace and particularly want to thank you for trusting the process and for trusting the professionals that actually do the jobs of choosing the books uh that go into our libraries they are after all as far as I know they all have to have a M's in library science they do know what they're doing and I appreciate you trusting them and um all the work that you do for the schools I'm very sorry for the outcome of the elections I feel like you all have perhaps some things that were not kind said about you that shouldn't have been um but can't control other people so uh just want to thank you once
017again for all your hard work and that we do appreciate that you have put so much effort into it and um and just appreciate you thank you my name is Kevin Sparks I have a few facts and then a request the books that have been considered in this room for removal are high school books they were held in high school libraries the books according to the laws followed by this board and according to Supreme Court rulings are neither obscene nor pornographic review committees acknowledge that in each case the katapa freedom readers have uniformly respected the recommendations of review committees in a few cases those committees judged that books should be held only in high school libraries not in middle school so be it we say committees are made up of professionals and serious people we
018respect that about 90% of the parents in the school district indicated that they should be in control of what their children reach read the parents should be in control nonetheless a few board members who have sided with the candidate for public office who described himself as a Nazi have elected to oppose committee rulings and remove certain books harm has been done as a result books have been banned that our students have a right to access freely authors have been denied the right to address an important part of Their audience ideas that some consider dangerous have been systematically removed from our libraries and groups such as the katapa freedom readers have had to reallocate resources away from other activities to oppose the measures implemented by a frightened few measures that have served more as political fodder
019used to falsely portray opponents as praying upon children harm has been done to the staff of this beleaguered School District in the face of the harm that has been done I have a simple urgent request undo the harm all it takes is emotion from a member of this board I ask that you reverse this the decisions to remove or restrict these books here tonight replace them on Library shelves and remove restrictions upon them I beseech you to take this simple step I urge you I implore you thank you for your consideration good evening Bor and want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving I want to take a moment to express the Gratitude I have for what I got to experience two weeks ago visiting four schools here in Kataba County and I am somewhat biased
020because two of the schools we went to were our daughters go Fred T Ford and Challenger high school and the other two schools were ben oak and Mountain View and this this board starts a new chapter how I compare those two and connect those two is the vision that I see is the hard workor and commitment that I saw from every staff member from Fred T Ford in their wood shock Wood shopping class to Mountain View Elementary School the commitment and dedication that I see from the staff is unpresidented and the vision that this board must take forward is the focus must remain on academics and that commitment must be stronger than ever but the board the board must rise to the occasion and show leadership and build Partnerships with all the players in place
021whether it's our state legislature our County Commissioners looking at different ways on how we bring those people to show them how great public education is the Investments that we need to make we the board will have to work hard to make those a commitment but I want the children of this school system to continue to be able to think for theirselves and not be taught what to think and I think the focus has got to remain on education and I'm very appreciative of the hard work and dedication that I have saw over the last three years and I think this board realizes the challenges that are ahead and that God places people in places at certain times and things happen in ways that we cannot understand or grasp but I think this board will rise
022to the occasion and display how great this school system is and that it'll be the best of the best in North Carolina thank you for your time thank you Miss Davis um that brings us to the next item on our agenda and that is the consent items and Dr Stover I'll turn that over to you thank you chairman Taylor members of the board in front of you we do have our consent items that we are uh requesting approval uh tonight and board you uh had those in your packet and you see them listed on the agenda tonight um I'll entertain a motion or any comments relative to the consent items motion to approve the consent items as presented to us thank you Mr aathy second second by Mr settle Meer any discussion hearing none all
023those in favor of approval of consent items as listed please signify by raising your hand that is unanimous thank you uh that brings us to our unfinished business and um that will U recognize Dan Moore for construction updates thank you chairman Taylor members of the board we've got a few slides here for our construction project at Maiden e which we'll be able to officially have our ribbon cutting tomorrow at 4 o'clock and we want to invite the public to attend as well but in these couple of photographs you see a a lot of changes there within the cafeteria space it's really working well we're really pleased our next couple of slides are going to be kitchen equipment necessary for the function of that cafeteria and I know the staff there is happy not to be
024transporting meals from the old kitchen down the hill to the new school another slide there and one more I think Marty nice and new and neat and clean and we're very excited in the last photograph the last couple of pH photographs show the flooring installation at uh the in the gym and also the stage area uh with the the new curtains it's just a beautiful facility and we're going to really enjoy it for years to come and look forward to the ribbon cutting tomorrow and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have at this time any questions from the board Mr Moore thank you I was looking back through U some photographs in my uh phone and I came across the groundbreaking photograph from September 2022 which doesn't seem like it's been two
025years ago but I'm sure that you feel like it's been that and more yeah thank you it's been a lot of fun thank you for the job that you've done here at maiden and also just on the incredible job that you and uh all the folks that work under you in operations do on a regular basis thank you so much thank you item number two on our unfinished business um is the update on the proposed attorney evaluation instrument and U when we last left this there were a couple of items that were needed to be tweaked based on recommendations from the state school boards Association so uh Dr Barnett do you have um an update on that Mr chairman I do there before you they are in our electronic files and we were asked to
026clarify items 1.01 1.03 and 1.06 and U Mr Abernathy and I have worked on those and with some input from the North Carolina School boards Association we think we've clarified what we're talking about in those three items and they're before you on the items you can see and so is that instrument now one that we are ready to consider yes uh in fact I need to mention also that thanks to miss Wetzel we did also add the place at the end of each uh section for comments and the rating is there the rating is explained and so thanks to miss Wetzel for making that a more usable instrument I would like to go ahead and make the motion that we accept it as an instrument uh to use in the future okay there is a
027motion on the floor second and a second any discussion on this I know there's been a good deal of work put in I know Mr settle Mr abery M Dr Barnett uh did most of the heavy lifting early and uh got an input from the school boards Association but are any discussion and this instrument if approved would be the instrument going forward that the board would use if it so chooses in the uh evaluation of the School Board attorney uh under conditions that they would U determine at that time so uh there's a motion and second on the floor any further discussion hearing none I will call the question all those in favor of approval of this instrument as prepared signify by raising your hand and that is a unanimous vote thank you uh thank
028you Dr Barnett Mr abery and Mr settl for your work on that to my knowledge we are the first Lea in North Carolina to develop such an instrument am I correct for in our situation where we have an in-house attorney although this doesn't apply at this point uh it's we could not locate one right and uh and I also think that's what information I was given by uh staff at the school boards Association as well so thank you all for that uh that job that uh brings us to our new business section and next on the agenda is Mr J.R Sigman who will um seek approval of collaboration with Kataba County partnership for children and Kataba County Early Head Start Miller yes um not Jr Sig sorry to disappoint Jr I was just reading it
029off the list you're you're exactly right um he is on the agenda but I am standing in for Mr Sigman tonight to ask the board for approval of the Kataba County partnership for children and the Kaba County Schools Early Head Start uh you can see there in your documents that um Early Head Start they're asking for $10,000 for marketing and recruitment a corporate sponsorship for the 21st anniversary celebration the kids readying program is a $110,000 uh expense for consultative services for Dr Gail summer we've used her for a number of years for training the diaper Nest is for supplies $10,000 um Family Services which $2500 in gift cards for our families of Early Head Start and $ 5,849 for triple P parenting and adult Mental Health Training for parents and staff as well early uh
030childhood support team $10,000 for mental health services for our early headart families and children and I think this is something that we have done annually over the last number of years I I would hate this trying to guess how many I think this is anything new we're just seeking approval from the board um Mr Miller remind us what the funding source for this this approval all right so that is out of that budget thank you any other questions from the board Mr Miller is seeking approval for this partnership um I'll entertain a motion to that effect Mr chairman I move that we approve this collaboration as it's been presented for the Kataba County partnership for children with our Early Head Start program thank you Dr Barnette a second thank you Mr sadl there's a motion
031and second any further discussion hearing none all in favor of approval of the collaboration with Kataba County partnership for children and Kataba County Early Head Start signify by raising your hand and that's unanimous thank you board thank you and now miss Carla Aldridge will U present for adoption of the 2024 2025 budget resolution Mr Mr chairman members of the board and Dr Stover tonight I respectfully request that you approve our 2425 budget it is in the amount of m84 621 and 35 and again uh the information relative to this was in the the packet and uh Miss Aldridge and her staff have done a great job putting this budget proposal together so uh she is seeking adoption and I will entertain motion to that effect I make a motion that we accept as presented a
032second there's a motion and second on the floor any discussion or questions about the budget proposal as presented hearing none all in favor of adoption of the 2024 2025 budget resolution signified by ra raing your hand again that is unanimous thank you board and thank you Miss alridge Mr chair I would like to say that Miss Aldridge we appreciate everything that you've done for Kaba County Schools we've been truly blessed to have you manage our finances and make sure we're doing what we're supposed to and putting things where they need to be and where you're dearly going to be missed thank you very much it's been a pleasure thank you you I was GNA I was I was going to say I saw that smile that was her last budget presentation and approval Miss Carla
033we're going to miss you done one more though we got one more we can do it and I was discussing with Miss Aldridge before the meeting began about retirement she's got another Endeavor she'll be going into and she goes you've done that kind of thing what's the what's the best thing about it and I said the 25th of the month so uh thank you Miss Aldridge all right at this time I'll recognize Davis for approval of proposed amendments to the Kataba County Board of Education policies so um three of these policies one two two of these policies are tying up the Loose Ends related to excuse me I forgot something related to don't relate to title mine which is why I removed them from the previous um meeting um so that it you could clearly
034see um how they apply so the first policy that that you have is a deletion of policy 1.71 Z which is the old prohibition against discrimination arrestment and bullying that was required by state law and was used um you know under a lot of circumstances it applies to uh everybody in the school system it applies to employees it applies to students um and so it's but it's required by state law but regardless we deleted that policy 1.71 Z because the other policy or the new policy has combined both the prohibition of discrimination harassment and bullying and the complaint procedures and Reporting process into one policy which I like so much better um although it's rewarded it's substantially the same and it's straight out of North Carolina General statutes and what that requires so any questions
035about the deletion of 1.71 and then the amendment of 1.72 Z4 43501 7.1 512 I will add that to distinguish from the Title Nine I've put in parentheses including North Carol Carolina state law so that we'll know this one is is the state our state law requirement does not relate to title n so something could conceivably violate state law but not rise to the level of Title Nine violation so okay any questions about that one all right the next um grouping I'm going to take even though we I've got them in chronolog chronological order I'm going to take number three under new business number three item number three five and six as one and I'm I may want to um I'm going to explain the purpose of this and Miss aldra just you might have
036to this is about conflicts of interests so we I wanted to make absolutely clear because we have had some challenges over the years um and finance has also faced these challenges with a lack of understanding by employees um that you cannot engage in conflicts of interest with when it relates to um your employment as far as your spouses and your family members um so we wanted to make it I talked with Miss Aldridge Finance some of the people in finance about making this absolutely clear although it's clear in statutes at times and it's clear in um in case law uh we wanted to make it very clear that a conflict of interest um can occur when an employee his or her spouse or a member of his or her immediate family um derives benefits as
037defined in the policies from engaging in business with the school system and then specifically defining what immediate family is and that would include a spouse a parent child brother sister grandparent or grandchild including step half and in-law relationships and that is a standard definition throughout case law and throughout actually some federal laws as well so um so these three policies simply make that absolutely clear the changes in these policies simply make that absolutely clear and drives it home but I I wanted to address them because these are the three policies we have relating to conflicts of interests um any questions about that now there are exceptions I will tell you um as far as the for example the superintendant it's it's in the body of the the actual conflict of interest for example um with
038regard to your spouse there's a statutory exception for the superintendent to be able to recommend to the board his spouse for employment um that's in statute so um I wanted to let you know that because that is a contract don't like to break the law in our family thank you cryistal yeah sorry about that wanted to make sure it's clear you're not engaging in that all right so the final um policy is actually listed as number four on there and this relates to Dr Eisenhower's um prop proposal of the regarding the bylaws for the Career Technical education business advisory Council and I simply wanted to make sure that this policy was amend was amended to make sure that the Kataba County Career Technical education joint ADI advisory Council although it is an advisory um committee
039to the board that it is also governed by its own bylaws so I put that in the body of this policy this is the first time we've had that so I wanted to make that clear it's sort of a cross reference so that's the only change there and then I will let Dr isenhower say what he will about my proposed changes to the to the to the bylaws you okay you ready okay M Davis yes the the committee you just referenced Rel to CTE that like an ad hoc committee that's not a regular committee of the board it it it it is now it is now it it's it's going to be it's required by Statute to have a set of bylaws and to convene and I think yall you can meet more than twice
040but at a minimum of twice a year correct is this the only committee under these yes that's why I made it clear that it's governed by its own set of bylaws yeah and if I remember correctly I think Mr Dr Eisenhower that it specifies who that is I think it's the board chair and the superintendent from each of the districts isn't it if y'all ever want to copy this is actually we looked at it I think last month yeah it's actually set straight out in statute so it's there's no the only thing that got a little bit unclear was the procedures we would follow and I just cleaned that up and made it so that it's consistent with with our board policy that's that was my proposed changes so it's really were really technical matters
041that the statute didn't necessarily address I think they were assumed but you know to me it would be much easier if all the laws were in one one place with regard to each issue but unfortunately they're not you got to hunt around and find them so that's why I tried to put them all in one place here this may not make a difference my number six label number six is actually board committees and Ron Ron's is as well oh I'm sorry I was looking at the expansion I'm sorry I didn't know if that made a difference or not it it doesn't ju if you'll just I'm was doing it for your reference no I'm thank you but I was looking at what Deb printed out you covered all the relevant policies you just did them
042they're all in here but the numbers are kind of I'm sorum around I didn't know if that made a difference when we approve them yeah it doesn't you can just you if you have no issues you can make a motion to approve all of them the changes all any questions about that two superintend on that college principal principal from each School District a minimum of business minri represented have four representes all that set up statute and that's ni do you want to ask yeah well oh first you gotta we got policies all right so uh M Davis thank you for presentation of these proposed amendments to board policies um is there a motion relative to uh her request for approval motion to approve as presented thank you second motion by Mr abery second by Dr
043Barnett any discussion hearing none all in favor of the proposed amendments to Kataba County Board policies as presented by uh Miss signify by raising your hand and board thank you that is unanimous vote M wedel and now Dr Eisen Howard you are up Mr chairman thank you very much members of the board so from the work session earlier in the month we come back to ask approval of the bylaws for forming the joint Career and Technical education business advisor council with new con City Schools uh only minor changes to this which you should have received from Madam attorney on this are those items in red at the very end of the policy or the bylaws rather did you scroll to that please can I scroll hey why don't you do it Marty go to the
044very end if you would please yes sir is the can we get the is there this is not the new document is it there we go thank you so the those changes there uh our minor one addresses uh the Quorum piece um just right above that just a little bit there we go uh which that bullet there voting members are defined as those who are elected or appointed excluding as ex officio members and excluding the CTE director Serv serving as non voting members few minor changes and additions there in rhetoric to the archives and uh holding the minutes of the meeting and then some changes with um voting members in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order and then down at the very bottom the addressing of the fact that this falls under public meetings laws
045and Madam attorney has referenced our Board of Education policy which she just talked about so other than that there are no changes at all from the last work session that you had so tonight we just come and ask approval of these bylaws so that we can begin rolling with this process with with the other district and as I said before we all three CTE directors met meet once a month in this District at a minimum and we also meet with k64 as part of that process so we're all in Partnership seeking the same prize at the end of the day which is connecting young people to work for us and I will say from a partnership standpoint and talking with other folks across the state and I know Dr stobber would second me on this
046I mean from a district working standpoint that three of us work as well together as anybody in the entire country on the goals of the Career and Technical education program thank you uh Dr Eisenhower and especially the I think it's important always the emphasis on open meeting laws and being uh congruent with that statute so thank you for that you have heard Dr Eisenhower's proposal and uh he is seeking approval of that so at this time I will entertain any motions relative to that I just had a quick question yes sir uh below the nomination selection notification of members uh the initial terms in the section D says January 1st 2018 is that from the current guess y'all have a current board already and we're just we do and that's a great question Mr SAR
047we are a little bit behind we've got to we need to have a meeting with both current boards and then make a decision on who we're going to bring back to you guys for that first recommendation on individuals and if you have individuals that you'd like to serve on that I mean we're we serve the way these are written the first approval comes from you folks as a question to the board uh or a statement to the board we would like to ask some of those members who have currently served to to see if they want to continue to serve as that capacity because we are talking about some major industry leaders in the in the area here so but we'll do whatever your wishes are I've seen the second dat it says January 1st
04820125 so that's the section that will be included in yes okay we're a little bit behind we need borrow a phrase it's the same but different it is okay good question thank you for clarifying that any any other questions just wanted to make sure I understood Newton Conover will also approve these same bylaws they they have already approved they appr okay thank back and look at this language to see if they just want to this portion in my opinion is minuscule compared to the general statute piece of how the 15 members and how this works we're required to have an advisory Council regardless we're just bringing the two of us together because we're using actually we're wearing out some of the same industry members on our committees good point okay I will entertain a motion
049relative to Dr Eisenhower's presentation I make a motion we approve uh Dr Eisenhower's presentation second sorry I think Miss Richards at the tape on that one so uh second by m Richards motion by Mr sire uh any further discussion hearing none all members signify by raising your hand if you are in in favor of this presentation and that is unanimous thank you thank you members of the board and Mr Miller is back up seeking uh approval of school Improvement plans for Oxford Elementary Riverbend Middle School St Stevens Elementary School and web a Murray Elementary School uh yes thank you chairman Taylor if you recall last month in the work session all of our schools presented Improvement plans the board approved all but four because by state law we have to present those plans to you
050for low performing schools we have to then give a 30-day period to for feedback and then bring those back to the board for those low performing schools so tonight coming to ask for your approval of those School Improvement plans for Oxford for Murray St Stevens Elementary and River Middle School we did not receive any public feedback in the 30 days that those proposed plans were posted online uh and you've had those plans I think in your packet again they presented to you last month I'll be glad to go back and any questions about those plans I do know Mr C had a question in October about a date on riverbend's plan and that was intentional the 2026 because they felt like to reach that particular goal I think there were two actually in 2026 that
051they would prefer to do that two years out rather than one because they felt like it was lengthy uh and it would require some time yes yes sir thank you Mr Miller for that presentation in the update on it or reminder we saw these in the previous month but U any questions before we call the question uh all those in favor of well excuse me motion make a motion I'm sorry I make a motion we approve the uh School Improvement plans for web Murray Oxford St step Elementary and riverb schools thank you Mr shle was about to get the cart in front of the horse there so appreciate that uh Second I second thank you Mr Sigman any discussion hearing none all in favor of approval of these School Improvement plan plans for the four
052schools please signify by raising your hand and again unanimous Miss W thank you Bor the second thing I would like to seek your approval on tonight is the Arts endorsement for our current senior we brought this to you at the work session in October as well just kind of as an informational piece we're back tonight to ask for your approval the state statute says the local school board must approve the activities that can be counted towards the Arts endorsement if you recall a student H can take four art courses um and they have to have a b average or higher in each of those courses and complete 40 hours of extracurricular activity in the Arts and it can't be for a grade and it can't be paid so we ask our teachers to come up
053with a list of potential activities that they can get those 40 hours in and that's the list that you have in your packet that we're asking for your approval of the actual approval of the endorsement will be done by the principal but the state statute requires the board to approve the list of activities if I look at this there are three different tracks they can have this in yes sir yes sir have to have a b average and these classes are all so they have to have four classes four arts classes it can be variety of Music Visual Art Theater as long as they have a b in each of the four classes then would be eligible assuming they completed the hours as well any other questions thank you for this update and approve uh
054of and the seeking approval Mr Miller um I will entertain motions on this request Mr chairman I make the motion that we approve this list of activities for the Arts proficiency diploma endorsement as presented by Mr Miller thank you Dr varnett a second and thank you Mr sadm any further questions all in favor of approval of the Arts proficiency diploma endorsement guidelines for Kataba County Schools signify by raising your hand that is unanimous thank you thank you Moren and now miss Ray Thompson has information on school calendar options yes sir good evening uh last month at the work session you all asked me to bring a variety of calendars and so I did you have a whole bunch of things and the the thing to remember about these uh six options is that they it
055was not calendar committee I sat down with my pencil and looked at the days and the rules to try and figure out what you what could be and also brought you an option that during County uses for their year round calendar just so that you could see that as well did you do that or did I do that okay nope you're good just as a reminder you've got the calendar law there in front of you for our traditional calendar law we have to have 215 days in the calendar for teachers and they work no more than 195 of those the rest of those are annual leave holiday days students should have 185 student days or a minimum of 1,025 hours covering nine calendar months uh teachers receive 10 annual leave dayss 11 legal holidays and
056at least two protected workdays two optional workdays and they have many more than that in all these calendars no worries um the current calendar law says that we cannot start students in school any earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 which would be August 25th this year and we have to end no later than the Friday closest to June the 11th you also have the remote instruction law and in remote instruction because we don't receive a weather waiver for snow ice those kind of things we are limited to five instructional days delivered remotely that are tied to inclement weather or power outages at the school those types of things so what I have for you is first our current our current calendar what that would look like so as you see that that is
057number one in your packet there are 165 days in the calendar for high school 162 days in the current model calendar for next year for elementary and middle school because they have the three Elementary Middle only workdays to bring us to 171.5 hours so that starts us with two weeks of teacher work days students coming in on the 25th and as we scroll through there students end on May the 22nd and then we have two weeks of teacher workdays there at end so it's exactly what we're doing right now and I just put the work days throughout the year to kind of mirror what we have this year I thought you had said that we wouldn't need the middle the elementary middle days both because Elementary were the ones that that needed it for the
058training and the Middle School people were basically done with that well we we can make whatever Arrangement you all tell me to make I'm not sure where they are exactly with the middle school training literacy training piece at this point wor about that Mol okay so that that could be an easy one to flip back to Elementary only all right the second calendar Marty yeah tell me how to get back there mie okay so the second calendar is actually the early start calendar so students would start on August the 18th that would give us five more days in that first semester and bring our total student days at the high school and potentially Middle School to 171 and Elementary at 168 and give us 1,111 hours for inclement weather issues we would still end in
059May but our work work days would we would only have four work days at the end of the school year rather than the nine we currently have because we would start a week earlier with optional teacher work days in August so that that's what that looks like many of the systems around us have gone to the early start um at this point there's not been a a financial burden put on systems that have started early there are two systems in the state that parents uh local businesses threatened to lawsuit those were both on the coast and they went back to the August 26th start for the school year thoughts about thoughts about this one I mean I like it um we had the hurricane come through this year and that that basically erased a week
060yes sir learning for our our district which started a week earlyer this year in hindsight that have been great we'd like to had those days back I think yes absolutely also comes closer to balancing your semesters right yes sir because that that calendar first semester is 82 days second semester is 89 so it's still a little bit longer second semester but it's closer than the 7788 split we have with our current calendar all right so the next calendar goes to the 175 day calendar I didn't do the 180 uh went 175 so this starts us still on August the 25th and it takes us into exams in January we start second semester January 22nd and would end second semester on June the 5th that gives us a balanced semester 88 to 87 175 days at
061the high school and 1,136 point5 instructional hours for students so students get a lot more instruction there are some bonuses to that there also some difficulties with this calendar Community College starts earlier in January so we would have kids finishing up first semester and trying to start at cbcc with their college courses before they have had their exams for first semester so it does does bring a little bit of give and take there all right ready for the next one nope there we go so then you also asked me to just take a look at the 4day week so four-day week for students giving teachers Friday to be able to work on their stuff the trick with this is trying to get the number of hours that students need so on the 175 day where
062we have extend second first semester into January going every other Friday as a a virtual day or as a planning day for teachers we end up with 1,845 hours and you can see I've kind of sprinkled those they're in the yellow there oh I'm sorry number five yes sorry sorry sorry debie so Mr Miller and I talked a little bit about virtual instruction on those Fridays and in the p in those days we looked at trying to get four hours of instruction in for students um trying to balance what that looks like with planning time for teachers we might be able to pick up some additional hours but it still would we would have to delineate exactly how many hours of instruction they would need to do so I guess this may be for Dr
063Stover but would we be able to supply lunches on those days that are virtual or no unless we did like a community uh feeding at one of the schools in the feeder that would be the only way I think Marty had said that we had parents sometimes pulling up to the schools to get close enough to Wi-Fi out in some of our outlying areas okay okay all right thank you okay and Marty let's go back to the oh you're good so the what that would look like on our current planning model would not give us nearly the hours that we would need to be able to meet the letter of the law so just with not including virtual instruction we would only have 91.5 hours of of face-to-face instruction so that one becomes the even
064a little more difficult but again it's every other Friday so it's laid out so that you can see it there all right and then last one dur public schools has a yearround calendar that's calendar number six and the the year round calendar is specific that students should have three weeks off between periods of instruction so in Durham they start instruction on the 21st of July and students roll through the first nine weeks until September 22nd and they have a three-week period off there and then come back in October and then have that additional break there in December and then the same from January to March and then they end school on the TW uh the 12th of June and so then they get their summer break at that point and then come back in July
065so that and Durham is so large that they run tracks so they have a yearr round school and a traditional School running in the same school building at the same time so it's very it's a complicated schedule but I pulled just the year round so that you could kind of take a look at that and see what that looked like I did talk with our teacher Leadership Council about all the different options and they were they were very vocal about no we cannot have cannot have exams in January that totally messes up our high school students time at cbcc um but they were also very vocal about the four four day a week calendar because they felt like for lower elementary K3 that's not a great piece for them as they are working through all
066of their reading skills so just keeping that in mind from their Viewpoint was not uh not the best fit for lower elementary so what direction I would agree with that and I think you know a lot of times our schools are place where kids can come and get fed yes sir and they get loved and some of them don't get that at home so that losing that day a week kind of worries me that those opportunities there as well yes sir I agree with Mr s I've heard it said that for far too many of our students the seven hours they spend at school are the best seven hours of their day and uh yeah I mean I know that there are President h gr some ways that might 4 day might work be I
067I don't like it for the younger but it's worth so where are we you've laid the options out so what's the timetable Miss yes sir so what what I'm looking for from you tonight is just direction as to which way you want me to go and then I will pull together the calendar committee to pull pull a couple of options for you to flush out completely and I know that Newton has already set and presented their draft calendar in October and it is our current calendar the um starting August 25th and ending at Memorial Day and so I will get with John and then hickory's not started theirs yet talked to uh Tim Sims last week and they have not even thought about it yet so we'll get together and make sure we are aligning
068on workday as much as we can I appreciate the time that you put into the four days so at least the teachers do know that we did look at it oh yes ma'am straight out to whether we could do it or not so is there a direction from the board which way Miss Thompson and her committee need to proceed in the options that they should focus on N maybe it down from six to two or three I I like the calendar starting on the 18th had a lot of storms in the past and I think they're getting worse help us keep those days okay I agree with Tim on that um as far as the calendar for the 18th I think that would be a good option that option two is one and Michelle you're
069speaking of the same one that Tim is yes and that and that is just to make sure that is exams Before Christmas before they get out yes sir I wanted to add and I I appreciate the comment you know about the the comments that were made about the cvcc issue but I'd also like to speak for a lot of the other people out there that were not wanting to do exams after Christmas that had nothing to do with the cbcc thing uh just be able to get them over with and enjoy Christmas yes sir I think Miss Thompson also I I certainly like that one that starts on the 18th and all it offers I think we should also continue to look though at at our current one because our board has always taken the
070stance that we're not willing to go against a state statute as far as a starting date I mean that that could change but I think we should continue to look at that one for that reason okay I can work up both drafts with the committee and solidify the um solidify those drafts and bring them back to you in January so for clarification then that would be options one and two yes sir options one and two any other questions for Miss Thompson B and I'll Echo what uh Miss Richard said thank you so much I know this is a arduous process and I think maybe the most options I've ever seen presented in the first around so job well done thank you sir um we are now up to Mr Marty sharp who is approaching the
071podium for items eight and nine the first one being approval of one-year renewal invoice for learning.com for digital learning literacy subscriptions excuse me all right um board chair Vice chair members of the board uh I've come in front of you today for two different uh ask for approvals uh the first one is a service that uh we've actually been using for a little over a year uh named learning.com uh this service is all about teaching digital literacy uh for our students in grades k through eight uh it also provides uh other uh other services such as keyboarding which is something that um is really not t in elementary middle that much so it does give our kids the opportunity to take keyboarding classes as well within the program um this is actually paid for uh
072through uh the state of North Carolina uh they've already committed uh another year for us uh at a $60,000 price point um just to give you a little insight uh they're doing this for all tier one and tier 2 counties and we now uh as of last year we did qualify uh for this program uh learning.com as being a tier two uh so come in front of you to uh ask for approval um any questions uh and you'll you will see the the participating schools and they are all K8 all right you've heard the request from uh Mr Sharp on approval of the one-year renewal invoice for learning.com for our digital literacy subscriptions are there any questions hearing none I'll entertain motion Mr chairman I make the motion that we approve the one-year renewal invoice
073for learning.com for digital literacy a second thank you Dr Barnett and Miss Teague on the second uh any discussion hearing none all in favor of approval of the one-year renewal invoice for learning.com for digital literacy subscription signify by raising your hand you and that is unan all right so the second uh request I come in front of you today is um more of a hardware request um there's a lot of documents within that we've provided you a lot of technical um jargon possibly I'm going to try to cut it down into about a two-hour presentation if that's possible all right I'm just kidding you don't yeah you don't you don't need me speaking two hours on this table that until January so so this is a request for a replacement of what we deem our
074data core uh which is U the really the core of our network uh for the entire District um you hear you hear it called Data Centers we do have a data center with multiple other servers but this is really about the core uh this is what we kind of determined as the heartbeat of our system uh within technology uh it provides uh pretty much our business class uh processes um anywhere between Finance to HR all the way through our wireless network uh we are currently uh about uh I can't remember but only a few months left in our current warranty left on our equipment uh we have had our uh multiple servers and storage data for a little over right at five years I believe uh and so it's getting ready to become end of
075life uh in technology um so it's actually older than me in technology years um it is H we're starting to see a wear and tear uh starting to see some issues with uh specifically with uh what they call DNS uh which is kind of a lookup Service uh when you type in an URL uh and it's slow or it may it may say U cannot be found it's doing a look up within our DNS servers which is actually part of this core we're starting to see these kind of odd issues uh and we felt like this is a really good time to come in front of the board and ask uh to replace um and uh vendors are are telling us right now they're expecting prices to actually go up within the next few months
076so we we'd like to try to uh put this in front of the board and ask uh you will notice um I promise it wasn't supposed to be two hours um the very first thing I want you to uh to notice is this is actually on state contract uh through uh ncdit um and it uh it links 204x it links to the actual contract that this company uh is from Dale does no does not any longer do direct service or direct purchase through Dell so we have to use this uh vendor uh and again it is on the state contract uh it is for two servers um you see the cost of the two servers here uh and also for a storage uh server now I will say over the past few years we've been
077trying to condense a lot of our storage uh we have been migrating a lot of storage to the cloud uh through one drive uh makes it a lot easier on us a lot cheaper uh if I were to come in front of you last year before we did this we would probably be looking at a little over 200,000 to replace so we've been able to condense what we could condense uh and so um I will say give Mike Brown a shout out as well uh he was able to get this I believe it was 135,000 a little over that and he was able to uh negotiate with them to get it down to 103 before tax I try to make it short and sweet any questions you might have now if you consider all of
078the the data that our servers hold all the emails for the 1600 staff the 16,000 students all the programs we run it is amazing and quite frankly I when I looked at that I figured uh you know before I flipped to the back page and the final one I I was actually pleasantly surprised it wasn't any higher than that and and I will say even at this price this is Enterprise great equipment this is not something that you know we're going to go to Best Buy to pick up for home use this is Enterprise grade we are considered Enterprise in everything that we do with the scale as as Mr Taylor alluded to uh I will say funding uh we have worked with Carla uh Carla's been very gracious in trying to look for funds
079uh to help uh move forward with this uh and I want to make sure I get this right are we looking local local funds uh we have already allocated uh that could be used for this any other questions Mr Sharp I appreciate all you do to educate us on this that always helps thank you no problem I appreciate it any other questions so when it says uh I'm sorry 60 months of pro support is that is that a warranty or is that so that's actually within four hours so uh if if uh if the board doesn't mind let me give you a really quick example of why we uh we really look for pro support uh we had a uh sand which is a storage unit for uh all of our district uh one specifically
080one for elementary schools uh we had a hard drive go down within the sand uh and pretty much thought we lost everything um at the time we didn't have any kind of pro support uh we ended up getting uh extremely lucky uh finding a company down in Charlotte uh to be able to recover one of the drives out of the raid five array um and we were able to actually recover it but it took us two weeks to recovery uh with Pro support if we had it at that time we would have a 4-Hour turnaround time we would have Dale coming in uh with one of their reps uh coming in with the drive coming in with whatever parts that we need uh to actually uh replace and to help good question any any other
081questions hearing none then I will uh uh entertain motions relative to the approval of the quote to purchase a data center hardware and support Mr chair I make the mo motion that we approve the quote to purchase the data uh hardware and support as presented by Mr Sharp I second thank you Mr ABY and a second by Miss T thank you uh any further discussion hearing none all in favor of the purchase for the data center Hardware support signify by raising your hand was unanimous thank you uh board members we have three items from Mr Moore that we're going to hear about and then the one on our evaluation instrument uh I was just going to see what the board you want to Soldier through or do you want to take quick break and five
082minute break would be nice okay uh we will take a five minute break to uh take care of any issues that need to be taken care of and then we will try to go ahead and finish these last four items following that five minute break thank you sit here Taylor I was good I was good said he might have to have two hours [Music] I think I got back res not [Music] your e e e [Laughter] e e e thank you everyone uh for that quick interlude so we will now resume our uh meeting and Mr Moore uh has three items for us thank you chairman Taylor members of the board and Dr Stover our first is approval of telephone system options uh this system has been uh 16 years in the making the phone
083system and over $700,000 invested in that we have roughly 30 Standalone systems that allow us to communicate quickly and effectively between schools uh our provider our equipment provider NEC uh has licensing and software support through December 30th of excuse me December 31st of 2030 so for the next six years we're going to have licensing necessary upgrades and software support it is costly it's $174,600 it is the best opt option uh in our opinion it also runs our front entry camera system as well that's part of our new camera system that allows us to open the door to be able to know who's accessing the campus um it's very technical and I'm very thankful to have Lyn hpth here to answer any technical questions that you may have or Robert Hall our director of construction and
084Main all right you've heard Mr Moore's uh request questions about that system a question about uh I think it was snow Creeks they have a different system is that much more expensive is no doesn't matter it's actually cheaper for them to replace Mr Moore this would be all schools County Office everybody upgraded to comparable level yes sir $175,000 plus bunch of numbers on here that haven't seen to talk about yet right so the base cost is 174,000 what you have is comparisons there if we were to go to a hosted system and if you look at the comparison of the two based over the investment that we've had over the past several years it is much cheaper for us to go in this direction Mr Moore and funding for this comes from where it would
085come from Capital Outlet L uh we get every year approximately $200,000 from the commission for Safety and Security and we feel that this Falls within that realm and we have the funds to be able to purchase that good questions any others hearing none then I will entertain motions relative to Mr Moore's request for telephone system option for Kaba County Schools I'd just like to ask one thing and it might not be anything to do with this uh but it seems like I get a parent Square message from Kataba Elementary about once a week that their phones are down that anything to do with this or is that an no that's our service provider is Spectrum uh We've made a a switch over and and it is a long tale right of the different systems that
086are in Kataba County um we had two copper wire systems uh providers basically we got away from those because the the performance was so poor we went to Spectrum over a couple of years unfortunately with new construction we saw this coming up 16 as well we were having wires cut fairly consistently uh but this is a spectrum issue and we've we've had some growing pains with Spectrum I'll just I'll just be truthful I've seen all the construction they're doing down there and I figured it's probably them cutting lines when they're digging right that's a spectrum issue we still have to have you know we're still going to pay a phone bill right right this is system upgrades software and support and Licensing question thank you Mr sire did you want I think did you want
087to add to that [Music] I thank you Glen all right so I will entertain a motion relative to Mr Moore's request for the telephone system option motion to approve as presented thank you Mr abery we have a second I'm I'm sorry Dr Barnett and a second by Dr Barnett so motion and second any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by raising your hand unanimous thank you thank you our next project is for the CTE Sawmill building at Fred T Ford High School uh when we initially bid this project um unfortunately the amount of funds available uh didn't meet uh that bid number but in conversations with Neil construction we have value engineered this project and are now able to fund the project through U renovation funds from Fred T Ford High School again
088another Capital outlay line item the amount is for $116,000 plus tax to Neil construction to erect this CTE Sawmill building at Fred T Ford High School and I'll be happy to answer or Robert uh any questions that you may have with regard to this project and Dr Eisenhower is here as well we got to see where it will be and what they're doing when we toured for that was very nice to see I I would make the motion that we approve that bid tabulation for The Sawmill building at Fred T Ford High School as Mr Moore has presented a second thank you Dr Barnett for the motion and the second is are there any other questions or discussions hearing none all in favor of the bid tabulation for The Sawmill building at Fred T Ford
089signify by raising your hand em Miss thank you uh and final item from Mr Moore is the approval of the new milk bid and contract for school nutrition thank you chairman Taylor members of the board uh in the spring Miss Barry brought forth several items to bid one of those was our milk our liquid milk provider and unfortunately uh the performance of that vendor has not been to standard uh Miss barrier enacted the appropriate protocols for correction of the issues unfortunately that did not take place and she began to seek the termination of that agreement reaching out to the other bidder who agreed to maintain the price from the spring and so that is the direction we would like to go for the remainder of the school year for pet dairy uh to be able
090to provide milk for Kataba County schools for the rest of the year and that agreement is in front of you and Miss barrier is happy to answer any questions that you may have we discussed this I think briefly last time but uh thank you for the work Mr Mo and Miss barrier any questions from the board about this hearing none then I will entertain motions I'll make a motion we approve the milk bid certification second thank you Mr sire and Miss te have motion is second any further discussion hearing none all in favor of approval of the new milk bid and contract for school nutrition signify by raising your hand and thank you [Music] yeah and thank you again for job job well done the final item on our uh Open Session agenda this evening
091is the approval of the draft action steps and framework for the Kataba County Board of Education self- evaluation instrument uh and you see a copy of that that was in that is a hard copy in your packet there was also an electronic copy sent in the information ahead and I think this reflects the work that U the committee did on this project uh starting back in the spring was it Dr Barnett uh yeah and so we have we have arrived at this and I I think that we have um a very good framework for you know action steps for this board to be uh an effective body to go about the work of the people in kabi county and do it in a you know in a efficient and professional manner and uh so job
092well done so this document is uh out there it is draft and is I guess we're ready for to consider it I'd also like to thank Miss Wetzel for formatting it and making it look so much better and more looking thank you Miss Wetzel yes thank you and to that point I would make the motion that we approve this we've uh now looked at it for several months and that we approve these action steps and Frameworks for the Kataba County Board of Education self- evaluation instrument second I'll yield to miss Richards okay thank you Mr second by m Richards any further discussion I do think it's an excellent step in the board being transparent and working toward continuous Improvement so good job there by the committee all in favor of approval of the uh draft
093action steps for the new self-evaluation instrument signified by raising your hand and unanimous um that brings us to the end of our open session um is there a motion for us to go in to close we talking about the maiden roof is that after closed yes that's after we come out of uh closed back into the Open Session thank you for the clarification okay so again I will entertain a motion to uh go out of closed or open session and into close I make a motion that we go out of Open Session and go into CL a second a motion in second all in favor signify by raising your hand thank you we will go into close session momentarily e e e Contra engine discussion I have her addition of approval of action okay approval
094of personnel recommendations heard them presented nobody need to be can we do theend at the same time to be approve CS CS you thank you any discussion hearing none all in favor hearing no other business I'll entertain Mr Aber motion thank you a second all in favor raise your hand thank you ladies and [Music] gentl thank you all we'll be back in one week Cor