001e for at this time I would like to call the regular meeting of the of Education into session uh for Monday March 25th 2024 we will have a moment of silence after that moment of Sil we will have the presentation of Colors by The Bunker Hill Air Force Junior Roc program under the direction of major Ron Jones and then following the posting of colors uh Miss Michelle Teague will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance you would please stand join me in a moment of silence post United States IND this time I'll recognize major Jones to uh introduce his good evening uh ladies and gentlemen and board members uh this is my pride and joy our killer guard for Bunker Hill High School I want to point out a couple individuals um that uh we're
002very proud of first up is going to be uh the one in the American flag this is our Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Chavez he is going to be graduating this year he's a senior and he's going to be going to cbcc uh to go into a nursing program so not everybody goes in the military uh on his right is Jacob Houston he is a junior he is actually going to apply for the Air Force Academy next year so we're hoping uh that we'll see great things out of him and and to Carlos's uh left I have my most Junior member Emily Foster she is a sophomore and to her left is Landon Mitchell uh and so uh I expect great things in the in the near future out of uh the three that are going
003to be staying with us next year so uh we're excited about our program we've managed to double our enrollment just this year so we're uh we expect another instructor to be coming on board into help us out so it's going to be good things for Bunker Hill so we're proud of our program thank you very much and again thank you major Jones and members of that color guard uh board members you have received copies of the uh February 26 20124 and March 11 204 um meeting minutes in your packet uh at this time I will entertain either a motion to accept or any corrections that we need to uh consider chairman March the 11th noted that on page page one uh while I was not president states that chairman abery voted in favor of the
004motion and on page six uh chairman abery voted in favor of the motion uh and again I was not there nor the chair thank you for those clarifications um I realize there's always a lot to keep up with just W to make that just making sure debie gets those so then uh are there other corrections to either of the minutes that we need to consider hearing none then I would entertain a motion to approve the uh minutes as corrected by Mr AB Abernathy at this time Mr chairman I move that we accept the minutes with the corrections that have been noted thank you we have a motion is there a second a second motion and a second any discuss all in favor of approval of those minutes please signify by raising your hand and that
005appears to be unanimous thank you uh at this time then we uh come to the adjustment and approval of the agenda Dr Stoger thank you chairman Taylor members of the board with the administration is asking for a few changes tonight uh we we would like in addition to consent three for an overnight out of state field trip for Challenger high school for skills USA um we'd also like to amend new business number six uh the three items uh would be the classified Personnel suspension dismissal policy the non-school employment policy and the leave of absence policy we'd like to remove the second two that I mentioned okay we have um also is there a need to add the closed session at the end yes chairman Taylor thank you we'd like to also add Clos session at
006the end of the meeting so we have those U adjustments to the agenda that have been presented uh is there questions or a motion to those effects for new business number six could we also remove number 11 and 12 since they didn't make it into the folder this first time we're getting a look at them Mr s would you like to uh move that those and that is 61 uh okay Mr T is requesting that uh new business 11 and 12 be removed any other I was gonna second that if he made a motion um I don't know that that takes a motion does it Council okay so we're asking that that be removed um and in accordance with Mr seler's wish the motion then would cover that so any other adjustments so hearing none
007I will entertain motions I make a motion that we accept the agenda with the noted changes a second there's a motion and second any discussion hearing none all in favor signify by raise hand and that is unanimous uh at this time we come to the superintendent's report so I'd like to invite the members of the board to come out we've got uh several recognitions this evening like to start with our heroes employees of the month so thank you Mett for being here this evening our first employee of the month is our principal from stown elementary school would' like to recognize Miss STD and her family Miss STD come on up this SC has been an incredible teacher assistant teacher administrator in this district and we're thankful for her and all she does thank you our
008next certified employee of the month is from Fredy Ford High School like to recognize Miss Miss husband for being here thank you Mr Trey the principal and so Miss Smith please come on up to be recognized represents a very strong coun Department our next uh employee of the month is our classifi employe of the month who's Miss Cindy Brittain from B's High School let's get her big round tell this story went out to see her and it was in the middle of lunch and Dr mayor his staff Mr harson were there and all the kids from danies just cheered for her got that award I just thought that was first class congratulations thank you three of you in the middle right here you can see me here count good than all right so Mr West
009is our uh High School director and athletic director and he's going to announce the very special students we have with us tonight more state champions from County um so we're gonna start on B's is school um and so quite recognize here few folks so first up cage hefer cage come on up cage is a senior from B's High School um he was the indoor track pole volving two-way state champion thank you the head coach Jason Barnes for being here supporting him I believe about 16 feet I believe was and that's a that's a County record second place 15 right soot congratulations incredible next from bny's high school is in Moore 12th grader was a two-way 175 pound State wrestling champion okay great job and also want to recognize his coach coach Justin Adams so Mr
010or coach Adams who the wrestling 2A coach of the year for the en State also the the whole administrative them's here from bny Side School whole Brain Trust thank last want to recognize fret for high school they're wrestling uh Mr Braden Mahia come on up Sir 3 165 and I believe this is his third title a three I believe head coach um back here as well coach thank you for your hard work and um lastly it's not here coach Mike G was former head coach of4 wrestling do that is they they kind of go off the last year's stat so he was also the 3A congratulations everybody up here count there like to again congrat congratulate all of those uh employees the a student athletes and coaches for a job well done uh momentarily we
011will begin the public comment section of our meeting um and given the events of recent past I just wanted to give a few clarifications on procedures and policies tonight's meeting is a public excuse me a regularly scheduled meeting so we're having public comment not public hearing uh that means that any member of the public who has signed up may address the board uh on any topic uh which they have concern about uh we invite and we welcome those comments um again as Miss uh Davis often uh cautions those comments are uh asked to be uh respectful uh also not to either uh slander or malign any member of the public this board or the um community um we I think afford more opportunity for public comment and public hearing than any elected board in the
012unior area so we do invite your comment we ask that members of the audience during this time be [Music] respectful that we can have this and get the input from everyone uh in an orderly civil and respectful Manner and with that I will turn it over to our Council it's fine as you recall the amount of time you have for each public is three three minutes I'm trying to make this so that it it I can yes just barely okay just barely do it apparently is the trick um so you have each of you have three minutes there are 10 people who have signed up each of you have three as you can see on the corner of the screens um there's your timer for three minutes so you can see it there from the
013podium we ask you not to mess with the mics when you do come up to the podium if you don't mind speak clearly state your name um I believe that we can see each person's name as it's spelled but if we have a question I'll ask you and so that Miss uh Wetzel can take that down accurately sometimes an e looks like an I an I looks like an e uh and then I I know I Trail off the end of my last name so the first person who has signed up to speak is Kimberly Turk Miss Turk if you'll come up good evening I'm sorry I missed the last regularly scheduled board meeting I'm the coach for my high school's quiz Bowl team and they were competing and doing an amazing job against 11
014other high schools in our neighboring counties one of them has even qualified for the national tournament in Chicago three Kataba County high schools participated this year that is down from five a decade ago when my children were competing 15 years ago the Kataba Elementary Science Olympiad competition included 20 teams from 15 different Kataba County Schools last year one Elementary School in Kataba County brought two teams this year we did not have an elementary tournament in Kataba County because of this lack of Interest as fewer elementary schools have competed in Science Olympiad the number of middle and high schools has also decreased a decade ago half the schools competing at the Hickory Regional Tournament were from Kataba County this year one Kataba County Middle School and two Kataba County high schools participated this is a drastic
015decrease in our representation in these academic competitions I stay after school once a week for an hour and a half to work with my quizbowl team I traveled with them for three competitions getting home after my normal bedtime and I took them to Duke University one weekend for a competition I buy snacks for our weekly meeting because hungry teenagers are much less Pleasant to be around than sugared teenagers in order to pay for our registration fees and the pizza that we ate before the competitions the kids sold slim gyms this year that fundraiser did not cover all of our costs and has left us in the hole the time I spend with quizbowl is all volunteer time I received no compensation no comp time and no continuing education credit even though leading this team is
016related to my curriculum I'm lucky that my own children are grown and I have the time to volunteer I'm also happy to use some of the money that I earn at my second job to support this effort however teachers should not be expected to donate their time and money to make sure kids have extracurricular opportunities over the last year the school board has spent an excess of $20,000 on book bands while teachers from across the county have spent unpaid hours with clubs and Academic Teams they have used their own money to buy treats and classroom supplies teachers are going to be less interested in staying after school for no compensation while watching money being wasted subtraction does not result in growth a negative mindset and a goal of taking things away will not build our
017community please help Kataba County Schools grow ly Dorfman uh good evening thank you for this opportunity um usually I come and I talk about a one of the many excellent books I've read thanks to the book baning effort I've read a lot of good books while I'm here tonight just to say it's so nice to see a robust agenda that's about education and students and Educators and I want to thank you for what you do to engage Inspire and Empower our students thank you thank you Miss Dorfman wava dri I want to talk about what happened here last week because we witnessed a coordinated spectacle the hijacking of the Kataba school board by a busload of Burke Church religious extremists after taking up about half the room making it impossible for some Kataba citizens to
018attend their own school board meeting they proceeded to use our board as a Revival Festival ignoring that this is a school board with rules to be followed the congregation had to shout amen after each speech they agreed with unchecked by their leaders the speeches were another Gem of Christian extremist One Pastor spent his time pedling his religious beliefs instead of addressing the book we had a hearing for and made sure to repeat they were not Banning books when by definition that's exactly what's being done another Pastor better known for comparing gay people to maggots and murderers cited the 1645 old Satan deluder act um as if it were relevant to a 2024 debate on books this actually 1647 Act was created by Puritans to ensure everybody would read the Bible and children's Minds would be
019filled with scripture he went on to say those who passed the law would never think such garbage meaning the book like 19 minutes would be in children's hands no they never did they also never thought that slavery would end because they thought it was right they never thought that women would be able to vote because they thought women were inferior they never thought that Christians wouldn't be allowed to burn people who disagreed with them they never thought thought there would be a constitution separating Church from State and guaranteeing freedom of speech and freedom of religion finally he had no words of his own about the book but read from the moms for Liberty booklook website the spectacle continued with another Pastor being removed from the premises after multiple warnings disrupting the proceedings I hope everyone
020watches the recording of that board meeting that show gives us a Flav Flor of what this board will turn into when dominated by religious zealots who think they can decide for everybody who think that because they were elected they can ban any books they want trample the rights of parents who disagree with them and turn the kabwa school board into an intolerant Church ironically one speaker who wanted the book to be banned warned us about Nazi Germany maybe she didn't know that in 1933 Nazis burned all the books from the The Institute of sexology an academic institution that among other things supported gay rights because the Nazis considered it filth makes it quite clear which side of History you're on when you even use the same words thank you I'd like to make a point
021of clarification for the last speaker uh would you address that to me and I will uh communicate that to her yes um I wanted to see okay so she referred to I guess she was referring to Pastor Paul deal um that he is actually from Burke County um he does not cross county lines he's actually um from Kataba County and I just wanted to clarify that um or find out where she had heard that he was from Burke County again the point of order was made by Miss stand is Kaba County resident U so that you want me to refer the question as well M I thank you that's incorrect again I I don't have a GIS map so I can't speak to that but um the objection is noted by Miss te next speaker
022is Todd buff good evening my name is Todd buff uh I'm a very concerned parent with child that's in our school system matter of fact he's in the middle school right now soon to be in high school now I've looked at the policies that that the school board has put in place and you know some are very impressive they really are the the focus on students it's about you know having a safe clean and in inviting enir environment I mean you even got Pol policies for homeless students God forbid we have any uh for unsafe School transfers even for lockdowns you know and so forth and so on but with but how all this apply to our students it's their physical well-being that I'm seeing what what steps do we have in place uh to
023help protect their mind we are the only ones that can Safeguard our children's Minds okay now I'm sure you got maybe uh mental health training programs uh maybe you've got suicide risk protocols in place most kids have laptops they got cell phones and I know there's safeguards on them probably particularly close to their usage but when I found out about what happened in here the last board meeting when y'all voted to keep a t particular book in high school library I'm living I'm outraged you know my son is soon going to be in the high school and there's a potential for him to be exposed to this filth now I know you got a PA in place where I can sit and censor what he's going to read okay I know how to do that
024but that's not 100% protection for my boy what keeps another student from checking it out and sharing it with my boy they already bring schools into books like this I mean in the school like this you know I realize that our world is not a perfect place I understand that you know your goals along with my support is to educate academics to our kids period ending objective is to prepare these childr to enter careers you know I said all is to say this you know we have opened up a Pandora's Box the Dam's leaking if we don't fix it well it's going to come crashing down and there's going to be Havoc going behind it these kids are called dependence for reason why can't our kids just be kids and enjoy their school years with
025us trying to make them being an adult so fast I don't I don't get it now that this stuff is in the library and the foots in the door it's a precursor to things to come what's going to be The Next Step they're going to be in class I mean what's next in future meetings changing the sex head class to who you identify as in Middle School let's throw some critical race theory in the schools you know I appreciate what all y'all do but I see a lack of Common Sense on some some of these folks in this board thank you thank you Mr buff Teresa rard hello thank you once again for letting us speak tonight um I do want to talk a little bit about the last meeting too uh the pastor that
026got removed um he didn't follow the rules simple as that he he got removed he was warned several times every single meeting you guys have you tell us about how we need to act how we need to behave and some people just can't seem to do that and there's consequences as it should be so I applaud the chair for actually doing what needed to be done last last time and the fact that he's a pastor doesn't give him a free pass to not follow the rules everybody was uh so outraged over that but again don't follow the rules you pay the consequences there's also a lady here talking about atheists being in the room as if that was the most horrible thing that could ever happen I do want you to remember as board members
027that in our County we also have Jewish students Catholic Hindus Mong Muslims all different types of people the school must serve all of these people not just the religious right we have separation of church and state in this country I feel like that is a very important distinction that should be made and we shouldn't be worrying about what's in the Bible or whatever book you want to go by it should have more to do with what is right for the children regardless of their religion um okay and I also want to thank the board for doing the right thing last week by keeping that book in the library again can also be blocked by anybody that doesn't want their child to read it um but I hope this will end this chapter of the book
028banding in this County it's gone on for two years it's wasted so much time and money and it really hasn't changed much of anything um and it is Banning the books no matter what anybody wants to say you can call it whatever you want it's Banning them from our schools not Banning from everywhere we realize that but it is still Banning but I do want to just to remind they're working for everybody all the students of this County and as we've said numerous times Edie parent can block that book if they don't want their CH child to read it um then and by having that policy in place is how we're truly honoring parents' rights and not just one person's opinion thank you thank you Aaron Sherm so Erin Sharm e r i n s
029c h u r m y e r the school board has an important job to make sure Kataba County Schools is the best possible school system for all students faculty and staff that means lgbtq students students who are Christian Jewish Muslim Buddhist and other religions or no religion you aren't just representing conservative Christians you are representing a range of faiths of socioeconomic backgrounds of sexual orientations of gender identities and races it's a lot of different things to to balance and to have to juggle some like to argue you should support a Conservative Christian worldview because we are a Christian Nation our founder ERS didn't start us as one many of them would were deists and would likely balk at the claim that we're a Christian Nation people cite the pledge and In God We Trust
030being on our money as to us being a Christian Nation but it's not as simple as that In God We Trust was first added to all money in 1964 and I'm sorry in 1864 in response to the Civil War that was actually just coins it was added to all money in 1955 in response to the second Red Scare as was it being added to our pledge under God it was not in there before the 50s if our Founders had intended us to be a Christian Nation wouldn't all of these have been done soon early when we first started having official money and when the pledge was first written so as a school board member sometimes you're going to have to make hard unpopular decisions sometimes you're going to have to vote against your personal beliefs
031in order to best support everyone involved in our schools for those of you who have put your egos aside to do that thank you it it takes a lot of humbleness to be able to do that and a lot of Integrity for those of you that don't perhaps some self-reflection is in order are you doing this for the benefit of all of our students and leading with the love that I've requested you lead with multiple times or are you acting with fear and self-interest instead thank you thank you Kevin Sparks I'm just waiting to see if I wait to talk if the clock won't start until I actually annunciate and there you go nice job Marty the premise of civil discourse is based on trust trust that we all have the same goals trust that
032we are members of the society in good faith trust that we're being transparent in our desires our views and our goals my goal has never changed I am a fanatic for public education for one simple reason it has been shown throughout time that public education is the greatest Force for leveling op opportunities in society whether you measure it by number of job opportunities the disparity and income levels from highest earners to lowest levels Come What May public education is it and I'm a fanatic for it we argue here and have been arguing for two years over the status of a couple of dozen books are we we demonstrating to our children how to have disagreements I think not I was called a pedophile in the local newspaper that caused my daughters to Roar with laughter
033they have a robust sense of humor and irony but G whiz is that how y'all were raised Flyers were passed out accusing two members of this board of promoting in pedopilia is this serious discourse show me a student from this school that has been hurt by the presence of a book on the shelves we're told that we're not Banning books horeshit I know what comes next we get books out of the schools and this has been shown time and again in this country and others where do we go next public libraries tell me it's not true if I'm off base or are you g to say pornography is okay in public libraries I'm not making a joke this is deadly serious to me I'm a fanatic for public education and I'm a fanatic for the
034first amendment by the way I have no problem with any group whatsoever coming here and speaking their mind I think that's what the first amendment is all about people I'm okay if people come from Cumberland Tennessee and speak about public schools it's the first amendment y'all but let's be honest about our goals and live with them thank you Lawrence wman Weedman wman good evening um first off thank you very much for live streaming your board meetings um I was unable to attend La last week and I very much appreciate having firsthand data versus Media reporting um now I mean no slate to miss Banks report in the Hickory Daily Record I thought it was spot on and well written so um anyway um I was surprised disappointed that you disallowed reading of jod PT's letter
035I thought it was pertinent um in her letter she specifically discredited one of the arguments that Miss Teague made against the book so anyway um I know I have quoted scripture in these meetings um I'm likely to quote the Constitution there is a line from Field of Dreams that I've toyed with quoting um but I'd like to know where I can read the rules of what can cannot be read or quoted so if y'all can forward that to me send me a reference that'd be swell um secondly Miss Moss last week made some comments that were grossly inappropriate and out of line if I were Muslim or perhaps Jewish and I made a similar attack on Christian people I'm sure that I would have been met with outrage and censure um okay back to rules
036if you could point me to the rules governing what is allowed is not allowed in that genre of content that would be swell too um lastly I still find it hard to believe Miss te is allowed to be both plaintiff and judge inter petitions now I know Miss Teague read the refusal rules for us a few weeks back or a few months back um I feel that there's a disqualifying element in there somewhere so if y'all could forward me the rules so I can read them and at least convince myself that verily it is in there or it's not in there that too be swell um if you share the rules with me I'll do my best to play by them I hope others will show comparable compliance and respect thank you we did allow
037her to read that whole letter it was at the end when we said that you could bring in had been written the point of order uh half of it was read Mr settle and again uh exactly and uh and I'll be hon with you that policy which I think was recently adopted escaped me she I think half of it was read but uh your point of order is correct um and uh Mr Weidman if you will make sure that someone has your email uh we will endeavor to get you those U those policies that you requested all right John just says Hickory no topic John Smith I guess that's not a person or they're not here okay Clayton Mullis uh good evening board uh thank you for your time and the topic that that I
038wanted to speak about is conservative leadership and to hear it be here in Kataba County and the rumors and the attacks that I have heard of what a Kataba County Board would look like if certain individuals would be on the board that happened Associated as conservative are these far white radical Christians that only think the Bible should be here and we should protest the Ten Commandments on the walls to to hear it is is kind of ludicrous so I'm here tonight to let you know that some of those individuals that ran for the Board of Education didn't run for a book ban that just happens to particularly be an issue and you have to take a stance on it but I'm here to tell you what I think conservative leadership looks like and stands for
039in public education I think as conservatives I think public education the number one priority what has a big impact on that for a student is Parental involvement not always but majority of the time it does I think conservative leadership recognizes that and would work hard to make sure that that happens I think also conservative leadership would look at all ideas whether it's artificial intelligence or having more teachers in the classroom but I think as conservative leadership as myself I'm more focused on putting teachers in the classroom working with State leaders on not just hollering about we won't teacher pay I think as conservatives you look at the realistic issue yes we would like to give teachers pay raises and for example say it was a 10 or 15% raise you look at the question of
040not just asking for it but how do we get there it's working with State leaders who control the state budget North Carolina's budget over 60% of the budget is on public education it's not always about making more Investments with money that will make public education great it's working hard to see where we're wasting money and looking where we can work hard to make better Investments so I just want to clarify tonight that conservatives are not here to attack public education conservatives believe majority I personally believe number one it's a family's decision on how that child is educated whether it's private school Public School charter school we personally chose to send our children through the public school and we're grateful and we're blessed our two kids do great but I want it to be known in
041this community that conservatives will fight hard every day to make public education the best it can be and yes there are more issues to worry about than just book Banning and conservatives will fight fight hard for that thank you chairman that concludes our public comment section of the board meeting thank you misss Davis uh we now turn to consent items and Dr Stover if you could speak to those for us please thank you chairman Taylor members of the board in your packet are consent items and we do ask for your approval this evening and again we those were adjusted uh at the start along with the whole agenda to include I think the Challenger field trip yes uh and I just want to comment on that is skills USA uh congratulations to Challenger for making
042that and it was last minute that they made that competition too so thank you all for uh just taking time to consider that I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda or questions relative to it I'll make a motion that we can vote on the consent that been for board motion is on the floor to approve the consent agenda a second and a second any further discussion hearing none all in favor of approval of the consent items please signify by raising your hand and that's a unanimous vote um next we will proceed to unfinished business Mr Dan Moore thank you chairman Taylor members of the board construction updates from our project at Maiden Elementary School uh we're into the phase where we're begin to do a lot of finishes with inside that building
043as you can see from that first photo uh a lot of work has been completed on the outside now we begin to focus on the inside the building is dried in that second photo to the right is a photograph of a couple of hot water heaters that have been delivered um the framing on the 600 hallway is shown on that left hand photograph on the right hand you see more work uh being constructed over the top of what is a hallway that's where a lot of our mechanical piping uh is located we have a mechanical mezzanine that will allow for us to work on the HB without disturbing the classroom and it's located down that hallway and those units serve those individual classrooms uh FRP um doors installed at the entrance to one of our
044Commons you see there on that right hand side that picture is from the cafeteria toward the gym so we have in many of our schools in Kataba County we have that common stage or platform and so we can present both to the cafeteria side and to the gym side and you're beginning to see that framing uh on that particular platform grading uh we are going to seed if it hasn't already been done the last time we had a construction meeting was a couple of weeks ago seeding grass seeding for those areas to make sure that uh we give ample time for the grass to grow and it will help with erosion but most of the basic site work has been completed around the school Jim C ceiling has been painted in that right hand picture
045uh that is the media center there on the left hand side looking out tour um the cemetery side of the project and the right hand side you're beginning to see some kitchen work uh the hood is being installed so from this point forward there'll be a lot of work that'll be completed on the inside that you'll be able to view on F excuse me Wednesday of this week uh remember that we have an opportunity to visit the site at 4:00 on Wednesday faculty and staff are going to get a little refresher of course you're invited Greg will be there to help deliver that tour and we're looking forward to you and the faculty and staff seeing the progress at that particular facility and I'll be happy to answer any questions that the board may have
046at this time good job Mr Mo we're looking forward to that uh presentation on Wednesday thank you Mr Moore one question where do you want us to meet at best uh I think the best place for us is for us to park toward the recreation department I think that's Bob smire that that road that comes down by the wreck and toward the fields then we'll be able to walk right across the street there and go in the main office area that would be best yep thank you again thank you Mr Moore for your continued efforts in that Maiden project um the second item on unfinished business was just an update on where we are uh self-study I think it was in our January work session that we had uh Ramona powers from here presentation uh
047for us the second phase of that is a u survey being done by principals and Senior office uh central office uh administrative staff which I think will be completed by the end of this week Dr St yeah uh end of business Thursday and then uh we will ask the uh School boards Association to have it to you guys uh mid mid April once we receive that information we will have U kind of a uh a survey of our stakeholders staff um and we can use that uh some sort of plan as far as our board efforts board and microphone I can't I can't seem to find spot the lighter you touch it the better okay all right well not none needed sir all right any uh other comments or questions about the Board of Education
048uh self assessment Mr chairman I'd like to ask uh was it in what format was it sent out if it was sent in just this format I hope there was some explanation as to what it was about or how they're to respond because this in this formats directed to us as board members to answer we we received the other one from the school boards Association that wasn't um like yours and it was sent out via email so they can uh answer those questions I asked them to uh uh let them know that uh they're Anonymous and that the board was seeking input so they can further your vision and Mission and see how you can serve this this County and so uh but it's not the same one format yes ma'am thank you yeah and
049sorry I should had that clarified I apologize good question uh any others okay we will uh now move toward new business items number one is the approval of the 2023 24 summer learning plan for Kataba County Schools Mr Miller uh good evening thank you I am seeking your approval for our summer uh learning program there really three different parts to this the first part is remediation and second Administration for eogs uh third grade uh through our High School courses the state mandates that we have one day of remediation before we have second Administration and just so you know last year with second Administration our elementary and middle schools gained about four to 6% uh in per efficiency duee to Second Administration so it's pretty important we do offer transportation for remediation and second Administration and
050that is paid for with at risk funds uh that we receive from the state transportation is a a big cost there I think we've we've got a good plan in place where we can pay for transportation also take care of our staff members who are involved with this as well well so if you want to it's okay we'll take this kind of in segments and any questions about remediation and second Administration before we move to reading Camp okay good right so the second part of our summer learning program is reading Camp it's required by the state of North Carolina and we do get funded by the state of North Carolina to the tune of about $250,000 we do pay our our teachers and Tas and bus drivers who are involved in this three-week Camp you
051can see the dates there June 10th through the 27th we are required to have 72 hours of instruction during the summer reading camp and this for third graders and we also allow some second graders who we know are struggling but it's for those students who have not shown Proficiency in reading and the state mandates this so hopefully we can get those third graders as they trans transition in the fourth grade up to grade level with reading skills we use mclass data a lot to kind of pinpoint where they're deficient and put them in a specific groups to try to Target those areas of deficiency during reading Camp any questions about reading Camp um Mr Miller lunch will be provided I'm quite certain as is that paid for from those same funds or is that from
052our funds uh that is from we do not have to pay for that and the and the students do not either so um we start talking about I just know that this barrier who's not here any longer was taken care of through the state um it's thank you it's a it's a summer feeding Grant and the state pays for that thank you for that that includes the breakfast as well the breakfast is breakfast and lunch is in there okay glad that I'm glad somebody else is paying for it thank you yeah that's what that's what I know so um so any questions about reading Camp again it's three weeks Monday through Thursday 72 hours required by the state and we need to provide transportation for that as well and then um me back up for
053a second we also have high school credit recovery and we do that during the two weeks of work days right after the school year ends and we use ad minum to help provide that content for those high school students who need that credit recovery and then the third piece to our summer learning program is Jump we started this two years ago and it's really to help those students who are transitioning to a new school for example our Rising seventh graders and our Rising ninth graders and so we have because funding has been cut uh we no longer have that PRC money for jump start or Esser money we have cut jump start to one day but we still feel like it can be beneficial and what we realized from surveying our ninth graders and our
054seventh graders two years ago when we did this program what they really want at a jump start is just just to know the layout of the school because they do not want to come that first day and get lost and look dumb and so that's what we'll work on that half day that we have them in August is really getting them familiar with the layout of the school letting them go to their different classes see their schedule and move around the building and try to get familiar with some of their teachers again that's a half day in August and um we are not able to provide transportation for this like we were the last or the previous two years we just do not have no funding Transportation just so you know is about when you
055have to use yellow buses it runs us about $250 a mile that adds up quickly uh if you're trying to to do five feeders so any questions about jump storage I do have one I love the jump start I'm trying to remember last year when we had p uh PRC money or Esser money was Kindergarten also included that's always been big yes Dr Marette it was and we talked to our elementary principles about this and because we have the staggered entry we felt like it probably wasn't as needed as our Rising seventh and ninth graders so we just decided not to do kindergarten because St entry yes ma'am good question are there others and again thank you for the presentation Mr Miller at this time we've heard the presentation on the summer learning plan um
056is there a motion or are there questions Mr chairman I make the motion that we approve the I second uh there's a motion and second on the floor further discussion hearing none um all those in favor of approval of the please raise your hand that is unanimous thank you uh now miss Aldridge uh will bring us quotes for Sharp copers and paper cut software Mr chairman members of the board and Dr staver I cannot believe it has been five years since we did a massive RFP for our printing um devices but it has time flies especially when three covid years are involved tonight I am here to U recommend that we renew our paper cut software and our um copier program with sharp Business Systems um these programs go hand inand our paper cut software
057and I've asked Marty to help me um if I get stuck our paper cut software provides follow me printing which means that I can release a print job here drive to Fred T Ford and print it at Ford it I can I can release a print job here while to HR and print it there it it allows my print jobs to follow me everywhere and then the other really neat thing about our paper cut software is that we have actually saved more than the program costs over the last five years because when I send a print job to a printer if I don't go print it in four hours that print job is deleted um and so over the fiveyear period just from not printing print jobs that have been neglected we've saved 66,9 three
058so far um so the it it saves when we did our initial RFP and walk through the schools one of the amazing things that we saw were stacks of paper that had been printed and nobody ever came back for them so this eliminates that if you happens to me occasionally if I forget to print something and it's been four hours I have to have to go back and rerun it but that's a minor inconvenience compared to pages and pages of wasted paper so in conjunction um with our paper cut software which you have the um proposal for it's $ 56,59 for five years um you also have our preferred proposal and when I say hour Shannon Nicholson is the technology representative who does a whole lot of work at researching devices we also recommend re
059um renewing with sharp for five more years using option one the partial replacement we have 158 multifunction printers in our schools and Central offices and they propose replacing 58 of those the ones that would be left the 43 devices that would be left have less than 200,000 copies over uh on them over the fiveyear period so they haven't been used much at all and um the sharp support team feels like they won't cause any problems with that replacement and by doing so um doing the partial replacement option that actually brings BRS our cost per copy which all we pay for is the cost per copy we um we do not pay for supplies toners any of that um that those supplies for the printers we do have to buy staples for the machines and um
060pay Co pay a cost for coffee so this is just our average monthly cost in the summer we don't spend $30,000 a month on cop in during the school year we we do um probably spend a little more than that but we have it's about a 99% uptime with these devices and the response I I called in the other day ours um was was working very slowly for some reason and I thought well I'm just G to call the 800 number and see how my experience is and when I talked to the lady it was in the afternoon and she said we'll try to get somebody out and I said oh no it's not urgent it it's just running really slow somebody was here the next morning at 8 o'clock they put a KNE hard
061drive in and we were good to go so the the service texts are very courteous the response is fast and honest to goodness over the five years I haven't had any complaints about the devices or the service trips which is a little different from our former provider that we had um before we switched the machines phone home and and tail sharp when they need toner the toner gets shipped directly to the school um it just really is seems to be a good program and it's working well for us so if you have any questions I'll be glad to try to answer them how many pages a year are we printing I seen this this sheet here with the unreleased jobs environmental impact study uh where it talks about sheets and printed total printed pages and
062all that that we project that we will print 20 million black and white copies a minimum of 20 million over the next five years and we haven't had any problem except for when we were home during Co um we haven't had any problem Meeting those commitments so we get a as you can see on the um quote we get a cost break once we hit 16 million that 16 million is per year that's what we're paying for you're projecting 20 million over five years right yes we we have seen a steady increase each year with with printing we don't limit our teachers um the schools do have to provide their own paper that we don't limit anyone on their number of copies that that can make as a former building L principal I can say
063that um with textbook funds being reduced at the state level like they have been consistently for over a decade the need for copies has has risen so used to what we would have been spending on the other end would have been textbook funding um and so it's sort of an equal out but uh yeah I seen I've seen that under this commitment we're paying for 90 million copies we pay if you do 16 million over or yeah over five years is it's per year but we pay for the number of copies that we actually make we if we don't automatically pay for 20 they bill is each month for the number of copies that we make Mr chairman based on this glowing review I make I move that we approve the contract for the renewal
064of the sharp copiers and paper cut including option one for the partial replacement okay there's a motion on the floor a second it's the it's the one that says March 20th revision shanon and I cross tackled a little bit after the first off so everyone is is clear about the the option that we are voting on it's the one dated March 20 I can say also as a former educator other than a lawn more that won't start a printer or copy of machine that won't work in the school might be the most frustrating thing uh that you can encounter so it's good to hear that we are getting good service for our money uh I second the motion that Dr Barnett made uh well actually u m uh yeah M Richard said that but thank
065you also and um so any other discussion all those in favor of the motion please signify by raised hand and that is unanimous vote Mr give us updates on the general contingency for maen elementary school thank you chairman Taylor members of the board dror Stover you see the general contingency spreadsheet and the six items that have previously well excuse me the three items previously brought I'll bring to you three more tonight one that was rejected but two uh that thus far have been approved one a credit and the other one an additional expense uh does anyone have any questions at this point in time this is for information only is not uh for approval we started this project with $850,000 in General contingency at this point we still have 763,000 remaining which I think puts
066us in pretty good a pretty good spot considering that we've got the building dried in and most of the major functions have been completed thank you for that update and again uh if you follow consistently almost every one of our projects are coming in with a surplus in that contingency thank you for good stewardship there Mr Moore also uh you will now give us a a request for approval of a change directives four five and six are for your approval they've been approved by Dr Stover as you've given us the permission to do that uh number four is in the amount of $31,000 8 $ 31,8 66 um and it was tied to the provision and installation of framed openings for roof penetrations um that had been omitted previously and needed to be as part
067of this project uh number five is in relation to the color of the tile the color of the tile that we previously had chosen was Armstrong uh VCT uh the product that was presented was Target VCT and we feel that based on the color palette and meeting the needs of the school that we need to use or upgrade if you will Armstrong VCT for this purpose that was an additional expense of $923 uh and lastly number six is 40 additional marker boards U that the faculty and staff has asked that we include uh within this project in each classroom and that is in the amount of $ 31,6 and12 and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have with regard to these change directives those come from the contingency fund yes sir thank
068you in regard to the marker boards when we talk about the request though was it in the initial plan that they wouldn't get a board how did that no sir what we had was two marker boards a projector and a screen and our teachers asked that a an additional marker board be placed behind each screen and that's individual preference that's teacher preference and rather than moving or offsetting or adding basically using the same number we felt that it would be best just add those yes sir Mr Moore on change directive number five with the tile was it more than color you mentioned color is quality more than I think it's quite honestly it's the shade of color more or less the blue isn't the blue that we want it's close but it's not quite there
069uh and that being the amount we felt that that was certainly something that we felt our contingency funds could be used for is to ensure that we get what we want uh and make sure that Maiden blue is uh adequately displayed in the building are there other questions you have um heard the presentation for this request is there a motion I make a motion we approve the construction change directive presented by Mr Moore for both of those items a second three items all right and we we do have the motion and second for change directives number four five and six uh any other comment or questions hearing none all in favor of this motion please signify by raise hand and that is unanimous thank you you uh Miss Davis approval second Miss te Miss teue
070yes thank you uh approval of a resolution for the Bandy feeder area proposed redistricting plan yes Mr uh chairman the um you have before you a resolution a proposed resolution approving the redistricting plan for the bandy's feeder area it is based on all the information that was presented at the March 11th um meeting including the attachments that were used by Mr Moore and the actual resolution references those attachments as the basis for your approval if the board would like to add any other information you're welcome to do that I'll be happy to make changes but um it was all encapsulated in Mr Moore's um exhibits including two of the maps two of the three maps that he presented um and so this would satisfy once this is done then he can Mr Moore can submit
071this to the County GIS department and also to the state if need be so we would ask for your approval of the resolution as presented also want to piggyback off that um during the meeting we had several questions Mr Moore was able to answer all of them but one and we're trying to figure out clarification there was a question about redistricting around Claremont we're we're asking the uh the the the the staff member who asked that question because we'd like to clarify but we're we're struggling getting clarification on that I know a couple of you asked us to be able to respond to that and as soon as we know what that question was we do plan on responding and I'll send it to the whole board too when we when we have further clarification
072because we certainly want to answer those questions also just a a point of order even though this is technically a redistricting resolution there are no students being changed there nobody actually lives in the area that we are addressing at this point um and I was surprised to learn Mr Moore that geographically uh large preponderance of that track actually sits in the Kataba U Elementary attendance area as it now exists so any uh hearing none I'll entertain a motion on approval of that resolution I make the motion I second we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor please signify by raiseed hand and that is unanimous uh Miss Davis will now uh go over approval of proposed amendments to our Board of Education policies and this is a continuation of
073the efforts we've been under for low these many months thank you Mr chairman the first two um were presented to the board uh in February in my absence actually before that and um there are minimal changes there but I wanted to make sure we divided those so you know that those were the two that were carried over from February um the plans for growth and Improvement of licensed employees there were minimal changes in that uh some changes were made to highlight reference to a particular stat excuse me a particular other policy professional and staff development there were um there were some changes to make it flexible so that when you refer to principal you also refer to or supervisor um there were um ju some rearrangement of words that really was just a matter of
074preference for for the author of the North Carolina School boards Association um and we're trying to be consistent with them uh the next on page four um to make it clear uh even though and to make it consistent with state law we added the provision that if an employee is within the final year of his or her contract the re-evaluation must occur prior to the statutory deadline for notice of contact contract non-renewal so that something that we need that that uh was added that's substantive um adding also on page six and 3B the and all this is in Red so you can see it easily the board will strive to limit the list to to administrators and teachers who have excellent reputations uh for competence and fairness this is regarding teachers in schools not identified
075as low performing and then uh another substantive change that um is not that substantive because it's in based in the law it's just to clarify um reassessment in subparagraph A and B adding the language or that employee be immediately dispensed for conduct or performance that causes sub substantial harm to the educational environment that again is uh aligned with licensed employees in low performing schools and teachers in schools not identified is low performing any questions about that policy uh plans for growth and Improvement of licensed employees all right the next policy is criminal background checks that's proposed for deletion Don't Panic it was included in a previous um uh policy that was approved at the last board meeting uh so but this this was absorbed into another policy there's just no need to have to so
076um that we're proposing that for deletion and again where that says February 26th and on the first one I presented we're asking that be changed to today March 25th the next um policy career status 7.31 that also is proposed for deletion the re the significance of career status um gosh it was the the phrase of the centur of the century I think and then all of a sudden that was eliminated gradually um and all of those terms that are relevant were absorbed into the next policy teacher contract 7.41 so we're proposing for deletion career status policy 7.3 one10 again that being absorbed into teacher contracts um so teacher contracts policy again that has been placed we chose years ago the model of there are several proposals for um modeling the type of contracts that that
077um we offer years ago the board and HR and administration recommended to the board that we offer one-year contracts two-year contracts and then four-year contracts and um the only real substantive changes basically this the proposed changes here uh on the first page uh is a clarification there's and rewarding of language that's already been there the most significant section is in sub paragraph C which talks about the determining a teachers years of employment and that has changed um by the board a year is at least 120 work days performed as a teacher in a full-time permanent position um then it goes on to say that if a teacher in a full-time permanent position I did not work at least 120 work days as a teacher in a year for any reason and and then it talks
078about in the situations that may exist for family medical leave or granted uh leave with pay those types of things so it goes in uh on to describe the circumstances and what applies in uh the determination of contract length before it was just a simple line that says one on page one for some reason reason it says page three on on the first page but uh that the term onee con one contract year shall be from July 1 through June 30th that's been further defined there are no other significant changes any questions about that policy uh the next is professional employees dismissal uh and demotion 7.44 um there have been some additional cross references in that anytime you find a CR cross references are there for convenience really it's not an absolute mandate but anytime
079you find another policy that may reference this you want to add it to it so that's been done I had a question about uh the line that starts off any professionally blanked out any professionally licensed employee is unable or or unwilling where which paragraph is that here at the bottom of that that paragraph there any professionally licensed employee who is who is unable who is word who would go there you're right there is a word missing it's missing something yeah who we are required upon inquiry from a North Carolina Board of Education charter school or Regional School as to the re when we are when inquiry is is made from one of those schools we're required as to the reason for an employees dismissal uh we are we are required to indicate if the employees
080criminal history was relevant and the same is uh then we also resignation by a teacher who has been recommended for dismissal under applicable state law is subject to the provisions of 7.45 which has always been the law this was just added as another clarification um next is classified Personnel suspension and dismissal um that relates to um to that relates to our atwill employees um the same uh paragraph at the very end of that is is required upon inquiry from another local Board of Education charter school or Regional School if they ask for the reasons um we have to disclose whether it was because of a criminal history which is a good thing we've talked about the significance of that before all the other things are just sort of expounding on the policy as it stated
081making it clear with references and um any questions on that one okay next is payroll deductions just to align with our um state law and actual federal law with regard to I don't know if there's yeah IRS actually federal income tax requirements with regard to uh payroll deductions to make it clear um there's some rewarding of child child support uh payments and to add other court ordered pay payments tax shelter annuities was expounded upon North Carolina 457 plans was um expounded upon instead of just included in supplemental uh retirement income plans um 12-month pay was added even though that was considered an other thing we just those were just spelled out we've actually always been doing that even the recruitment of advancement or overpayment of wages was also added um but that's something state law
082allowed anyway way um any questions on payroll deductions the next is permitted salary deductions for absences and discipline of exemp employee exempt employees again some of the language was expounded upon to make it clear um clearly one of the things that was added was um subsection A1 uh the board will make partial full de full day deductions from the pay of an exempt employee if the employee Acres paid leave the employee is absent for personal reasons or because of illness or injury again this is in the bill benefits manual in state law but they added it into this policy and the employee does not use accured leave because of the following reasons and they outline permission for its use has not been sought or has been sought and denied AC Creed leave has been exhausted
083or the employee chooses to leave leave to use leave without pay in addition another um reason for taking partial day or full day deductions um was added to offset amounts the employee received as jury fees witness fees or military pay that's always been the case it's just spelled out here to make it clear for unpaid disciplinary suspension of one or more of full days imposed in good faith for infractions or workplace conduct rules again we that's always always been allowed it's just spelled out here more clearly so those are all the ones that are on the agenda since the other two were removed and I want to apologize for that I did send those at the same time uh and it's just a mistake that they didn't get to the board so um any questions
084about those policies and the changes other than the one change um suggested by Mr or pointed out by Mr settl adding the word who in in 7.44 in the first paragraph third line from the bottom uh any other changes that the board is proposing I think the date on the first two would have to be changed mentioned also yeah exactly the date on the 1 two to March 25th 2024 and as stated uh number 11 and 12 will be on our next agenda uh so at this time I'll entertain motions on approval of proposed amendments uh I won give you the actual number of the Amendments because that would take a while but as numbered in your uh agenda 1 through 10 we are moving numbers 11 and 12 to next month per the change
085in our agenda I'll entertain motion considering those 10 changes make the motion we accept the policies as presented second we have a motion by Mr sett second by Miss TIG any further discussion hearing none all in favor of that motion please raise your hand and that is uh our final item before we get to the inserted closed session uh is approval of proposed schedule for Kataba County Board of Education School visits we've been talking about this for a while and I know someone else forgive me for my abysmal uh memory have been oh Ms Richards pardon me been working on this so Dr Barnett I'll let you speak to that last regular board meeting we looked at two options that were presented by the committee of Mr abery Miss Richards and myself uh there would
086have to be a little updating to to it of course the board can make any changes they want these were only proposals but looking at the ones that are in our Drive option one you will see actually would have had the first visit uh we did a visit on February 22nd to two schools but we did not get to see St town that day so we would have to uh revive in fact I sent Mr Taylor a revised a copy of this adding a St town to the end um to the end of the schedule and we would actually have to start option one on we could start it on um April 11th because March 14th's already passed and we would just move the schools up one one date if that makes any sense or
087you have those revised ones if you want to send those Mr Taylor to the board okay so we're looking at Option One yes that's that was the one of the options we looked at we would have to update it just because March 14th's already passed uh looking at option two uh it could remain the same we could still begin on April the 11th if we chose that and run through September of 2025 we would still need to add St town in at the end uh on a revised one that I sent you are proposed revisal I just dropped on September 11th 2025 I dropped the bus garage in the cni building and put startown Elementary in there instead so we could get to those schools not that we wouldn't want to get to the bus
088garage in the cni building but we would just have to do that at a different time okay uh any uh input from the board on which one you prefer and one of the major differences is that option one gets us to all schools within a year's time option two just spreads it out a little longer and takes us until I think September of 2025 to get all schools in okay thank you for that uh presentation and also so for your subcommittee's work um is that may I ask or um when our board has come out to our schools it's been great and we want to thank you for that we want to continue that uh uh I think for our sake uh being thorough rather than surfac it might be good for the board to
089look at option two and spread those out I know it might be a little longer but I know when I go to schools I say I'm going to be there an hour and a half in next you know it's three hours and then so we end up having to cancel or something so that might be something the board would want to take into consideration understand what you're saying Dr Stover it doesn't give any more time at the schools it just spreads out the time on the school on the school calendar as to how long it takes us to get to get through all schools on the school calendar I remov my last comments thank you do Barnett all I personally prefer the second option I know it um I think even though it doesn't get
090them all in one year I like that option better that's just my that's not a motion that's input option two is especially good for those people who do work during the day and you wouldn't have to get off from work as often or as much it spreads it out over a year's time other questions or comments all right y'all throw one out let's see if it flies I'll make the motion that we go with option two um for reasons uh stated and uh the way that it's laid out there is a motion on the floor I second the motion we have a motion and a second to go with option two on the uh School visits for our meetings moving forward any discussion or questions hearing none I will call the question all in favor
091of option two raise your hand and that is unanimous uh that brings us to the end of our Open Session agenda uh with the uh adjustment to our agenda at start of the meeting we will um entertain a motion to go out of Open Session and into close session and I propose that we uh take a 10-minute break ahead of that I'll make a motion we go into close session okay A second we have a motion a second all in favor of uh joury Open Session and that is unanimous we will reconvene and close session at 10 till 8 thank you members of the public for your attendance tonight e motion to approve as presented e