001[Music] for good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the January 22 2024 meeting of katab County Board of Education um we'll call the meeting and our Pledge of Allegiance we would like to welcome Boy Scout Troop 771 and Girl Scout Troop 1771 1771 and and their Scout leaders here with us tonight uh they are from Bethlehem Lutheran and uh they attend school in the Fred T Ford District so welcome and we're glad you're with us this time if I could have everyone stand for a moment of silence it'll be followed by the posting of colors from the St Stevens Navy Roc and then Mr settle will lead us in the pledge the right carry color Ready Cut forward March [Music] Ready Cut resent col please the Pledge of Allegiance Ali to the flag of
002the United States America and to the rep for it stands one nation indivisible liy and justice for all this time I'll recognize me uh excuse me gunary Sergeant Pratt from St Stevens Navy jrc to uh introduce his trp and you may be SE order call Ready Cut evening I appreciate y'all uh thank y'all for giving me a moment to speak about these Cadets in our program uh we're having an outstanding run with our cadetes this year we've qualified for Nationals for the third time in a row top 35 teams in the nation get to go compet this and the Navy actually selected us to be the host of this event in March so our our we one out there competing they finished 17th of the nation last year and we're hoping to do a little
003bit better this year um currently I've got Miss anel Chavez here uh she's a sophomore in our program she is uh seeking to become a dental hygienist I have Hunter kite he wants to become a history teacher we still got those for education then we've got uh Alex uh tro over here he wants to become a real estate agent and following at the end here I have alicio Chavez um he's wanting to pursue becoming a diesel mechanic so all these individuals are are looking at Future potential careers that make them happy and and can take care of them and provide for them I appreciate the the opportunity to come down here and speak in front of y'all and and to Showcase some of our Cadets these are amazing kids and I think I thank the
004world for letting me work that's all I got thank y'all very [Applause] much ready cut forward March again we would like to uh thank Gunner Sergeant Pratt and his color guard for their service here tonight we would also like to thank uh maiden high school students for the artwork that you see displayed in the boardroom here tonight U the that artwork is provided by students under the direction of Miss sh pesur and Miss Elizabeth Taylor so get a chance at some point in the evening check that out uh members of the board you have um been given copies of the minutes from our December 11 2023 meeting at this time I will entertain a motion to approve those minutes I make I make that motion second uh we have a motion and second U any
005discussion all those in favor of approval of December minutes raise your hand thank you any opposed um also moving forward we have the adjustment and approval of our tenative agenda uh for this evening um there are a number of items uh coming from our work session um that need to be uh added to the adjustment of that agenda and they are and they'll just run down this you can see it in the extended U minute or the extended agenda that you have uh add to consent number three overnight uh field trips uh Fred T Ford High School band um consent agenda number six quarterly fundraisers you see the two one from St town and one from Bunker Hill removing new business number 10 which are the approval of proposed amendments that Miss Davis went over
006with us earlier today uh adding new business item number 12 12 which should be a discussion on input from administrators on our Board of Education selfs survey number five adding new business number 13 which is a discussion on teacher lure fee reimbursements uh six thing is to add new business item number 14 uh approval of certificate of substantial completion and inspection report for the St Stevens High School Renovations and finally add new business number 15 which would be the approval of an amended quote for new furniture at Maiden Elementary uh you've heard those additions to the agenda uh are there others hearing none then I would entertain a motion to approve the adjusted agenda as uh just described make a motion a second I have a motion and a second uh all those in favor
007of approval of that agenda signif a raise hand and that is unanimous this time that brings us to the superintendent's report and I'll recognize Dr stobber thank thank you chairman Taylor members of the board uh thank you public for being here excited to have our troops here tonight and our leaders thank you uh tonight we've got some uh extremely intelligent employees to recognize and not only that only better than hopefully better than me at the mic but uh not only intelligent but just super great to work with so uh Carl Aldridge if you would meet us at the front we've got some recognitions in the board as well yeah sorry that's okay sor do you me to go ahead go ahead so tonight we have um some graduates to honor and I'm so excited about
008that the North Carolina Association of school business officials offers a school treasurers Academy and um we have four School treasurers to honor tonight who have completed the academy it's 44 hours of instruction it's 11 half day classes but they usually take two classes in one day and they've done a lot of traveling to Morganton to take those classes um and I'm just really proud of these folks the first person we'd like to honor is Sherry Lee Burton from Claremont [Applause] Elementary our next school treasur is Amber Lee little from Oxford [Applause] Elementary and we have Robin mower from Snow Creek [Applause] Elementary and last but not least we have Alexandra Parker Burton from web Murray [Applause] Elementary [Music] and from the finance department we have two folks who have completed the North Carolina Association of
009school business officials School business managers Academy they have actually taken 21 courses that's the equivalent of 84 hours and they had to travel to Raleigh to take these classes and I'm so appreciative of them being willing to take time away from their family to go to Raleigh and take these classes the first person I'd like to call up is Ying Lee She's our purchasing [Applause] specialist and we have Sydney pal our accounts payable specialist [Applause] St conratulations [Applause] would also just uh for information purposes for the audience and those joining us by live stream this is our first meeting that we've live streamed uh this is also our first meeting with these new fangled microphones so if you see us fumbling around up here uh it could be our natural tendencies or it could be
010we're trying to uh get familiarized with this new technology uh now recognize Miss Thompson for human resources updates quick update on our hiring at this point so right now we have 17 licensed positions open 11 of those are in our exceptional children's Department including multiple teachers five teachers so on your consent agenda this evening for uh Personnel you'll see where we have moved some folks around and looked at how we can better utilize our current staff to make sure students are getting that coverage um we also have 28 classified positions open right now we've got 12 teacher assistants seven cafeteria staff four custodians and then a couple of other folks interpreters and um school psychologist just internships those kind of things so that that's our quick update uh thank you Miss Thompson at this point
011we are coming to the um portion of our agenda for public comment uh we do invite and appreciate the comments that uh members of the public come and bring to us we would ask that as you come and give your comments that uh those in attendance be respectful whether you are in agreement or disagreement we also ask that those giving the comments uh would uh make sure that you refrain from anything that is uh slanderous or inappropriate for the the setting that we are in and I will now turn that over to our attorney Miss Davis to conduct that meeting thank you Mr chairman um at this time we'll convene the public comment section of the board meeting this will be for matters that are on the agenda and matters that are not on the
012agenda uh we have seven people that have signed up we look for the red light uh as we have asked and we will continue to in the future that you uh approach the U Podium that you state your name and that you also State the chat the topic that you want to speak about um again I will remind you that each of you have three minutes minutes Mr Sharp will put as you can see there's a little timer up there so you can glance at it while you're at the podium try not to adjust the microphone it's important that it stays where it is so that um the people who are watching via live stream can hear uh Mr Sharp has fixed that so uh we trust it'll pick up your voice if not I'm
013sure he'll be running in here so three minutes you have the the clock is there and the first person is Lyn Dorfman I am Lynn Dorfman and we'll address the book challenge issue thank you for this opportunity to speak I am a Kataba County taxpayer every time I speak here I try to open with I'm a Kataba County taxpayer to me the fact that my tax dollars support the school system is the price of admission to these meetings or at least the price to make public comment and be heard I would never think of going to say Ash or Burke or Caldwell counties to address their school school boards I of course care about public education across the state and Nation but if I were to take air time in Ash or Burke or Caldwell
014well I don't think it's appropriate I have less standing there yet at a recent meeting of this school board there was a busload a busload of people from other counties who felt impelled to tell our County how to run our schools these individuals spoke up and were loudly applauded by many I must note that my fellow Kataba County taxpayers who believe the trained professionals Educators should be the ones deciding what goes onto Library shelves sat quietly and listened to Outsiders tell us what to do in our schools and they got rockus Applause I will continue to sit quietly I will keep paying taxes and I will continue to advocate for this board to focus on supporting Educators improving student achievement and leaving decisions on what is available on bookshelves to train professionals and leave the
015ultimate decision on what children read to their parents and Guardians we all know there is an established process to address parent and guardian concerns however some of you campaigned lost my place some of you campaigned on protecting our children it helped you get elected the election is over you've graduated from the sloganeering of campaigning to the realities of governing you want to protect our children your finite time would be better spent protecting students by improving School Bus safety reducing vaping and providing healthy meals for the disadvantaged and protecting our children's future by better preparing them for the workforce and to be informed and thoughtful citizens leave the theatrics to the drama Department this book Banning Sideshow is a colossal waste of time and money and a disservice to students Educators and taxpayers thank you Miss
016Dorfman the next person to sign up is Flavia Dietrich Flavia Dri from Terell the topic is religious freedom in schools I'm here to say that it's not the job of this board to uphold and be misguided by anyone's religious agenda all elected officials have to respect the Constitution and it's first amendment is very clear about the separation of church and state President ulyses Grant who was himself never baptized said keep the church and state separate forever it doesn't matter how many votes someone received because they ran as a Christian conservative they may want to bring back prayers in school of course only Christian prayers but that would be a violation of the spirit and letter of the law and those who stand up here and scream if you're a Christian have to ban this book
017are also proposing to violate the constitution article six says no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States to hear them speak you would think everyone is a Christian conservative but what about liberal Christians what about other religions what about the non-religious I am an atheist I am a citizen with exactly the same right as Christian conservatives I am part of a large community of freethinkers who have been bullied into silence I don't believe in the Christian God just as you don't believe in Zeus Vishnu Thor the evidence for those thousands of gods is the same as the evidence for the Christian God which is none it requires indoctrination from an early age to convince anyone of the veracity the literal veracity of what's
018in the Bible higher education usually correlates with less religious beliefs so no wonder the religious right attacks colleges and wants to use public money to fund religious schools and what are the moral values that Christians conservatives championed historically they have been consistently on the wrong side of History they supported slavery they were against women's suffrage they defended segregation and they sure don't like us to remind them of all the atrocities committed in the name of their God and the hundreds of thousands burned as witches the agenda of Christian conservatives has not changed over the centuries anything they don't like is obscene or in words of today porn and the scientific facts that contradict the Bible are especially threatening they can't burn denters at the stake anymore but they can ban books and they will try
019very hard to replace scientific knowledge with indoctrination let me be clear what we fight is not the religion with the explicit and unconstitutional agenda that a minority ofr Christians want to impose on everyone and I would like to see more agnostics atheists humanists freethinkers secularists raising their voice the time for speaking up is long overdue thank you thank you Miss dri Charlie [Music] Shepard um I'm Charlie Shepard and uh my topic is uh item 11 later on in the meeting uh approval of Kataba County Board of Education nominee for North Carolina School boards Association legislative committee I'm concerned that our County may not be represented uh with a conservative Viewpoint um I believe we have a conservative County and we should be represented in that that that way um the North Carolina School Board Association
020is very liberal we know that it's and it's undisputable um and I know we've worked really hard in this County to comply with the law when it comes to the parents Bill of Rights let last Thursday Chapel Hill caror School Board defied state law by not requiring it schools to notify parents when their students asked to be identified by different name or pronoun at school the district's new policy also does not prohibit classroom instruction about gender identity sexual or sexual activity sexuality or sexual activity in kind kindergarten through fourth grade the Chapel Hill carbo School Board has continued to speak out against the parents Bill of Rights and first considered draft policy updates in November based on suggestions from the North Carolina Schoolboard Association so the North Carolina Schoolboard Association suggested for them how to
021break the law and write their policy okay uh we know that the North Carolina School Board Association endorses candidat for Schoolboard in most counties um I want to make sure that none of our our nominee has not been endorsed by the North Carolina School Board Association supported them or donated to the North Carolina School Board Association I think that would present a conflict of interest if someone doesn't come from well you know well I'm at a loss for words now you know well I'm I'm looking for a conservative nominee and I hope we get that I thank you for that thank you Mr Shephard Mr chairman may I ask for a point of clarification from the speaker uh if the speaker is willing to give that clarification that's not something we nor normally do but
022I believe by policy I'm allowed to ask for a point of clarification I I just wanted to ask Mr shepher Shephard if he would to direct that to the chair Mr chair I'd just like as a point of clarification to find out Mr Shephard source for saying that Chapel Hill carb broke state law uh Mr shepher you've heard the question again just looking for the source of that um I don't use Google that much but uh it's there um but just the news is a reliable news source and uh I'll get that for you on my phone I'll give to you the article and thank you yeah thank you Mr sh you're welcome Michael mclam members of the board my name is Michael mclam and I'm here to speak about reading later this evening you
023will decide on a date for a special Cod meeting on later gator and the carnival at Bray having been at all special C meetings it's clear to me several members of this board have not read all the books that have come into question for the upcoming special called meeting I am requesting that all board members explicitly verify they have read later Gator and the carnival at Bray and their entirety all members of all review committees have read each challenged book the same should be expected of you as has been pointed out previously board members have a constitutional duty to conduct semi judicial hearings in an unbiased manner taking into account the greatest good for the most people the concerns from the complaintant may be honest and entirely valid however the complainant has not conducted themselves
024in a credible manner throughout this process process the concerns and the issues at large are deserving of a professional and meticulous approach and having demonstrated no real understanding of the works the complainant is evidently motivated by ideological concerns rather than a rational focus on what material students ought to be able to access if that is the case fine but it but have the Integrity to say so and tell us what is the ideology if it is a Christian if it is a belief that Christian ity ought to be the main basis for our Public Schools then again say so thank you thank you Mr mlam um Josh Nixon good evening my name is Josh Nixon and I'm going to be speaking about a new year at kotaba County Schools um chairman Taylor and members of
025the board as I mentioned my name is Josh Nixon I'm a Kataba County Schools teacher I'm a member of the North Carol ol in association of Educators and I'm also part of the public school strong movement in North Carolina I've sent letters to um you over the past year about various things State legislation book challenges and other concerns and I will continue to do so however tonight I simply want to put a question to the school board what do you want Kataba County Schools to be known for in the year 2024 North Carolina education made many state and National headlines last year some were for low school funding discri atory legislation and public undermining of schools and teachers Kataba County Schools made some of its own State and National headlines last year I would suggest
026that at least some of these headlines are not what we want our schools to be known for however a new year is often a time for new resolutions so I have a few resolutions to suggest first resolve to ensure that this school system is a place where the best Educators and employees want to work because they know they will be respected Ed and supported as professionals and will be well compensated for what they do next resolve that this school system will provide an environment where families of all backgrounds beliefs incomes ethnicities and needs know that their children will be welcomed affirmed represented and given the preparation for life that they require finally resolve as a board and as individuals to endorse local and state policies that fully fund and improve our schools and to only
027support political candidates and leaders who Champion rather than denigrate public education New Year's resolutions are famously difficult to keep but I ask these of you because they are what the students the families and the employees of Kataba County Schools deserve thank you thank you Mr Nixon Clayton mollis good evening board I want to thank you for your time and I'll try to wrap up what I got to say in three minutes which is quite a bit but my topic is commitment but I I do want to make a point of clarification one thing that was mentioned tonight the Civil Rights Act in the 60s was passed on a 71 to 27 vote and how that vote broke down was 44 Democrats to 27 Republicans making the 71 the NOS were 21 Democrats to six Republicans
028so if it wouldn't been for the champion work of conservatives the Civil Rights Act would never passed but the commitment I want to bring to you and it does involve the books and as reading and studying the other night of of my scriptures that I do in my free time and how people continue to bash people that are concerned conservatives I I have fought a long fight was a member of the ELCA Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the attacks that people in that organization received when we disagreed was hurtful and wrong but we were able to form a new organization the North American Lutheran Church of America and we have thrived because we're on the Christian faith and scripture Le but it brings me to this I read a saying from former Alabama coach
029Nick Sabin in life we have essentially five choices we can be bad at what we do we can be average at what we do we can be good at what we do in life and maybe that's God's expectation or we can be excellent and we can be elite and I think that's what the people of this County want to see in their Schoolboard and what does that take to get there it takes a special kind of commitment a special type of Integrity a special type of intensity to get there and I will continue to push that the far issues that's going to affect public education it's far more than the books we've seen it in our churches and our community and I want to share a quote with you and I know not everybody in
030this room is going to agree with me and that's fine I respect their opinion but Conformity to worldly Customs converts the church to the world it never converts the word to the world to Christ familiarity with sin will inevitably cause us to appear less repulsive he who chooses associate with the certains of Satan will soon cease to fear their master we're not all going to agree on issues never will but I do disagree with people that say conservatives are hateful and mean I've never interrupted any speaker in this room I will respect their opinion and we can just agree to disagree but I think the people of this County want to see a commitment that does make this school system the best in the state we've got great Educators and we can do it but
031the people this Comm outed deserve to see a commitment like none other thank you for your time thank you Mr M Aaron [Music] Shire so I'm Erin Sherm I'm here tonight to speak about the um book challenges in book baining issue y'all know me normally I have a very eloquent well prepared speech ready to go but I was originally scheduled to work until 8 tonight and only found out at 4:00 that oh somebody else needs set to be off early Thursday so you do get to leave early tonight so we're going off the cuff um so I do identify myself as a very strong Christian I have been nominated for vest at my church I help teach Sunday school I'm on the altar Guild I am very involved I grew up in the Missouri Senate
032Lutheran Church when I told my parents I was leaving it for the Episcopal Church I was told I was going to go to hell I'm going to let that sink in a second a Conservative Christian told me because I did not go to the church they believed I should that I was going to go to hell and I don't want that kind of for lack of better word hate that can come from some conservative Christians to influence and impact our school board and our schools it's a disservice to our students I mean that was told to me by my father and it has taken me years to repair that relationship we can't let that type of vitriol against anything that is different and doesn't fit within that box impact our students we want our students
033to be open-minded loving caring individuals and one of the the things that I think has given me how much of that loving caring deep understanding of people that I have is I read band books as a kid there are books I vividly remember reading in elementary school when I was on Battle of the books that some members of the school board would see pulled out of schools books that dealt with child abuse that dealt with the eradication of Native Americans when settlers moved in that dealt with racism those books allowed me to see the world how it is not a world through the blinders of my Conservative Christian upbringing and one thing that I want to charge this board with that this year is an election year for some of you some of you are
034up for election again please do not let the pressure from either side saying especially those saying if you're a real Christian you'll vote like this influence how you vote on the books lead with love lead with our students at heart thank you thank you m Sher Meer uh that concludes Mr chairman the public comment section of the board meeting thank you Miss Davis and again thank you to all of the citizens who came and addressed we appreciate your input uh at this time I will recognize Dr Sto for consent items on our agenda thank you chairman Taylor members of the board uh in front of you do have the consent items uh again I want to thank you all for adjusting your agenda uh as I've spoken to our directors and and teachers we uh
035we strive to be perfect but we never are and that's uh you guys are wonderful for allowing our students to be put first so thank you and I apologize that they are on there a little later so thank you for taking that in consideration uh you've all had a chance hopefully to look over the items on the cons uh consent item list um are there questions if not was anybody entertain a motion to accept the consent items as presented I'll make a motion to add the consent items as presented I'll second that motion okay we have a motion and a second is there a discussion on any of the consent items um I have a question um um some of these um let me find it the Athletics where they're having like an alumni game
036and they're doing a youth basketball camp at one of the schools my question is if if someone gets hurt during that are they going to be covered by our school insurance or are they going to have to sign a release form the reason I'm saying this is I've seen an adult get hurt in a um a um wreck game it was the coaches playing he he got his knee hurt it's been several years back but then he tried to sue the school for being liable for that so I just want to make sure the insurance will cover us if somebody gets hurt if there's a release form tell you that we have general liability insurance which means that in the event the school system is negligent than our insurance could possibly cover that's something I'd
037rather discuss in close session um however there isn't in to my knowledge an individual release agreement with regard to this particular activity but our our general liability insurance would cover negligence on the part of the school system if we're not negligence we wouldn't negligent we would not be liable good question are there others uh we have a motion and a second on the floor all those in favor of accepting the consent items please signify by raising your hand and that is unanimous thank you at this time we will move uh on our agenda item to unfinished business uh recognize Mr Dan Moore for construction updates thank you chairman Taylor members of the board and Dr Stover we have a a short presentation of our construction updates at Maiden Elementary School Great photographs for the most
038part we've had good weather although we've had a little rough weather of late and it will slow us down some that photograph on the left hand side is a good depiction of progress to this point you can see on the right hand side the mechanical is being installed and I'm going to try to scroll down there Roofing being installed and to the left of that photo you can sort of see what we're dealing with now we've had a lot of water as of lake so it's muddy outside hopefully we can get the inside dried in with windows with framing once we're able to have some type of temporary heat it will allow us to move forward with the project top of the walls there spray painted on the right hand side to provide an insulation
039barrier working again there on the leftand side duct work being installed in the cafeteria the right hand side the framing be installed above the media center for a required firewall you can see the point up of the masonry walls after we've done an initial application of uh a coating to make sure that the walls are smooth and we'll go back the Mason will go back back then and correct any deficiencies in that wall you see another picture to the right hand side of framing those are actually freezer panels and refrigerator panels those are the way large scale freezers and refrigerators are actually constructed on site in panels they are here at Maiden e and then a photograph of the storefront windows ongoing so the project is progressing well uh we hope that we can gain
040our switch gear that will give us full-time uh electricity with inside the building permanent electricity um but I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have with regard to this project are there any questions for Mr Moore it's really amazing to see how far that come and I know folks down there are getting excited I'll refrain from asking you what day they're going to be finished but I know that folks in Maiden would love to know that thank you um also under unfinished business uh we have selection of the dates for board hearings on book challenges and specifically the book later gator by Lauren Mell and uh carnival at Bray by Jesse and FY Miss Davis yes um Mr chairman I would also add that just today um Mr Miller sent out an
041email um regarding the appeal of the book 19 minutes that decis that District level decision to the board also and I believe he calculated that the date for that hearing before the board will need to be by March 6 of 2024 unless there is an agreement to an extension of time by the titioner so um as you know with regard to later gator and the carnival at Bray um last year in I think it was November um Miss Teague agreed to um delay the hearing on those two until uh a time that we in February that we could decide tonight at this meeting so we need to do that in addition I I think it's imperative that we consider um 19 minutes hearing as well so those are it's really up to the board to
042set the time but um again the limit or the agreement was that later gator and carnival at Bray would be set for hearing sometime in February of 2024 and then we have the deadline of 19 minutes uh needing to be set um for hearing by the board before owner before March I would like to say something um I would like to go ahead and add if if everybody's in um agreement the 19 minutes to be able to do all three books if that's if that's okay with everyone else just this clarification you mean that one hearing yes like have three three book hearings at one hearing yes okay yes I would like to combine all three and that'll be up to the board to make someone to make a motion or I only comment on
043that would be in that that's a lot that's pretty good load to do three we've done two before uh and those meetings have gone four or five hours uh so my concern uh with adding I understand the time uh Crunch and saying March uh the 6 but you know my my feel on it is that three is a bit much I would like to say that we've already had the first two books the carnival Bray and um we've had the other the books already we've been given to already read um later gator and they're short books they're not very long at all Mr aberth is referring to the time for the hearing rather than for the book U also I just wondered what would be the reason for doing three at once we wouldn't have
044to have two meetings combine it and make it one meeting instead of two okay with the two well we've obviously have two different different perspectives on this so I guess at this point um you we we have to decide which way so uh you we can discuss it further or motions can be entertained do we are legally required for later gator and carnival at Bray though in February so that's first order of business I guess Mr chairman the question the additional question that I would have a comment would be um if it was limited to uh the two then would there be an agreement to extend uh the March 6 deadline out as we did before that would be Miss te's uh prerogative there since she is the one petitioning that uh challenge I guess
045my question is why would we want to um extend that to the March 6 deadline because of the length of the meeting even with one or two books and then to add another extends the length of that meeting okay so would you want to do it at the end of March looking at the calendar I think um again I had it up and excuse me but in March I'm sorry okay we have February obviously we have to get the two in February and then in March uh typically we meet Mondays we not required to but those uh Mondays would be 41182 25 is a regular meeting or no it's the8 March is the 18th I think 26 February March is 25th 25th 25th okay so it could be any Monday in March other than the
04625th or it could be you know if you if the group of majority chose to they could have three in one time in February that would but again they would have motions to that effect Mr chairman I think U Mr Ron's uh Ron has got a good point but I think the reason that the meetings go so long because we appreciate all the input from our communities and uh that is probably the main reason our our meetings are that because we have a lot of input so you're going to have both on both nights that's so it's not you know we discuss the books we' read the books that is not all the meeting you know that's just probably about a 30 minutes or so of the meeting I'd like to know that we did
047have enough time for the input and for us to thoroughly discuss the books and I'm not sure we can do a good job again the floor is open if anyone wants to suggest a a course of action make a motion that if the board's available that we hear later gator and okay there's a motion to hear the two books Carnival BR and later gator on February 12th is is there a second to that motion second that there is a motion and a second that Carnival Bray and later gator be heard on the 12th of February um any discussion further on that motion hearing none um I would ask that all those members in favor of hearing later gator and carnival at Bray on February 12th uh signify by raising your hand okay any opposed very
048good so we will hear those two on the 12th of February um do we need now to entertain a motion about and this would technically fall under new business about the 19 minutes we just got that yes we just got that today we just we need to set that as well unless unless there's right so it's it would technically fall under new bsiness business but since we are discussing book challenges I would ask the group's Indulgence that we entertain a suggestion for a date for that challenge so do we need then to make a motion to amend uh the agenda to to do that and new business you can do it by consent and make you can set a hearing at any day you can actually set a hearing by telephone but we we are
049here tonight and I'm you can do it as well tonight you don't need to add a new item of business if it has to be done by March the 6 by our original dates doesn't miss TIG decide if she will yes ma'am 6 or March 16th I'm I'm open to extending so for clarification you do agree to extend it to sometime later in March yes uh is there a motion or U suggestion for a date to hear Challenge on 19 minutes the regular meeting in March is on the 25th can we wait and uh schedule that meeting at our next meeting um yeah if you want if you would like to do that if that I would prefer if because then I'll have a better idea of what night and I won't have to reschedule
050in case I have a conflict that's fine as long as you make it clear that you agree to schedule that You' agree to extend the time for the hearing Board hearing of 19 minutes through the end of March uh 2024 and that we you also agree that we schedule that date at the February 26 board meeting we will table the action on 19 minutes until our meeting in February uh where it'll be on the agenda and that'll give Miss Teague time to look at your schedule and then we can then uh you know determine a date in March for that here he in okay thank you um I think that I think that covers our items under the unfinished business uh moving forward into new business we now recognize Mr J.R Sigman for approval of
051amended Early Head Start policies and procedures Mr Sigman thank you chair good evening board um I would just like to begin with um an explanation of the approval for um why we had to amend Early Head Start policies and procedures and I had an attachment Kim are you are you doing oh okay Marty behind the scenes bring that up okay um the addition to the policy um had to do when we had our last audit back in it's been so long now in July the end of July of 2023 um we for all of our employees we have them do an additional background check that the Kataba County Schools does theirs but then we have to do an additional one through DHHS and we have to have them fingerprinted all of that was done the
052part that we didn't know about and wasn't aware of was every five years they have to have that DHHS background and fingerprints redone every five years so that's the part that was not in our policies and procedures and that was the part that we had failed to do so um we have added this um into our policies and procedures as you see here the only thing I wanted to mention was because of the fiveyear renewal was left out and we failed to do that and that is now in our policies and procedures um that we will do every five years for all employees associated with Early Head Start any questions you've heard the report by Mr Sigman on the approval requested approval of the amended Early Head Start policies and procedures um is there a
053motion motion uh to approve the amended Early Head Start policies and procedures as presented I'll second that motion there's a motion and second on the floor uh any discussion hearing none I would ask that all in favor of the motion to approve the amended early hit start policies and procedures uh raise your hand uh I think that was unanimous also Mr Sigman uh will now request approval of the 2324 Early Head Start corrective action plan yes this also has to do with our audit that was um done at the end of July in 2023 they found two findings one of which was the fingerprints that we just talked about um we did not have those redone after after five years so um that has been taken care of all the employees got um received another
054background check with HR through DHHS and they went to the Sheriff's Department for their fingerprint so we and we have received the um the qualifying letter so that is taken care of and that was done um by the 1 of November of um 2023 so um on this corrective action plan that's not the first Target area identifies the fingerprinting and then I have listed all the steps I took to correct that which is basically what um I just shared with you and then I linked evidence of completion to all that and the way we're going to ensure this doesn't happen again is now we are included in the HR spreadsheet where all the other um employees are and um HR and myself will send um reminder emails the year before um it expires the qualifying
055letter expires as we do with prepay employees so that's the first Target the second finding that they um wanted us to correct was our School Readiness goals for um Early Head Start Early Head Start has always had School Readiness goals to prepare our children for kindergarten um and entering school um there's hundreds of School Readiness goals that we um we address from birth until three years old we've always done that it's just that the team who came this time did not like the format in which we were doing it so um we had to change the format and they wanted them tracked and measured but then when they found out that we had so many they wanted us to just pick the specific ones for each of the age ranges so we um divided the
056age range into um babies and infants and toddlers and we took the five domains which you will see in one of these steps listed the five domains um approaches to learning cognitive language health and physical and social emotional and we picked main goals in each of those age ranges for each of those five areas we put that on a document and now we're going to track those specific goals in other words we are going to see when they Master it re um several times not just one time but after the Educators see that the the the students have mastered those goals they will date it at that time and that will um allow us to have a tracking document that the office of headart wanted to see with how we tracked and evaluated and assessed
057our School Readiness goals so um we've always done School Readiness goals and we've always tracked them but we've tracked them three times a year through our assessment in Benchmark called the lap BK but that's not exactly what they wanted to see they wanted to see specific School Readiness goals and that we were tracking them more often than three times a year so that's how we decided to do that um not going to go through that here but you have all five of these I will show you one of what um I was um talking about this is approaches to learning infant to 18 months here are two of um the example goals that we selected for that age range and the indicators so when Educators see the indicators repetitively when they're out in the homes
058that will be their indication that those indicators have been mastered and that goal has been mastered so all five of the areas are in this format this column aligns it to all the curricular um systems we use and this column aligns it to our lat BK assessment Benchmark that we do three times a year so now everything is interlocked and hopefully this will um suffice of what the office of Headstart would like like to see and then our tracking document that the educators will use to ensure when the students have mastered is simply the same thing you just saw divided into the areas and all they're going to have to do is put a date of when they have um they decide that the child has mastered it we wanted to keep it as simple
059as possible since we were already doing this it's kind of a hoop we had to jump through any questions and then again these are all my steps that I had to list for the corrective action plan okay you've heard Mr segment's uh presentation on that are there any questions of him hearing none I'll entertain a motion on approval of the 2324 Early Head Start corrective action plan uh I make a motion that we approve the Early Head Start uh corrective action plan Mr chairman I would second that motion we have a motion and second on the floor any discussion any discussion at this time then I would ask that all in favor of that corrective action plan approval signify by raising your hand and that is unanimous thank you thank you Mr Sigman uh we
060will now our U Human Resources uh assistant superintendent Ray Thompson for one of the most popular things every year approval of a new school calendar yes sir uh during the work session you were able to review the traditional calendar uh for next year with a school start date for uh staff on August 12th and for students on August 26th and I bring this to you tonight for your re approval and we did see those presentations this morning um both of an early start and the traditional start so the one that uh Miss Thompson is presenting is the traditional is there a discussion or questions of her before we entertain a motion if not uh I will entertain a motion on that calendar uh request I make a motion I make a motion that we accept
061as presented a second there is a motion and a second on the floor to approve the 2425 Traditional School uh draft calendar as presented uh all in favor of that well excuse me any discussion all in favor raise your hand please and that is everybody thank you and the second calendar that we reviewed earlier in the day was for Challenger early college and and we made some changes to that one uh so teachers will begin on July 29th for their calendar students will begin on August the 13th because they have the um Early College waiver and we moved uh September 27th teacher work day to December the 20th to um for their request to have that additional work day right before Christmas and then again they end School for students on May the 16th thank
062you m hson uh there you have heard the uh you know request for approval for the Challenger Early College uh calendar for 2425 any questions I will entertain a motion to to uh pass that calendar request I'll make a motion to um do the Challenger Early College calendar for this year there's a motion on the floor I second that motion and a second any discussion about the Challenger calendar hearing none all those in favor of approval of the 2425 Challenger Early College calendar signify by raising your hand and again that is unanimous thank you thank you and Mr Moore I think will be standing in for Mr Ho uh on approval of bid tabulation for bandy's high school multi-purpose building thank you chairman Taylor members of the board Dr Stover you have within your packet
063a certified bid tabulation form for the Bandy High School multi-purpose building project the apparent low bidder is moss Marlo Building Company at $318,400 th000 of this will be from our directed grant that we received from the North Carolina legislature the remainder of these funds will be from bandy's high school renovation grant funds and I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have you have heard Mr Moore's request for approval on that action for the bandy's Multipurpose Building any questions or motions to that effect I make a motion Mr chairman for the approval of the bid tabulation for bandy's high school multi-purpose building as presented I second that motion thank you gentlemen we have a motion and a second on the floor uh for the bandies project any discussion before I call up for
064a vote hearing none all in favor of approval for the bid tabulation for the band's multi-purpose building please signify by raising your hand and again that is a unanimous approval thank you thank you um now Mr Moore will present our Capital outlay request thank you chairman Taylor members of the board and Dr Stover you have within your packet a corrected copy of the 2425 construction and capital outlay requests for Kataba County Schools this is part of our budget process and I would seek your approval of this document at this time and uh Mrs Aldridge did give us updated and corrected uh sheet with those figures that we discussed this morning in the work session uh on the uh capital L request so is there any questions of Mr Moore or misss Aldridge hearing none I'll
065entertain a motion relative to Capital outl request I'll make a motion to approve the budget outlay request as presented capital outlay I will second that there is a motion and a second that we approve the 20242 Capital outlay request as presented um any discussion hearing none all in favor of that motion to approve the outlay capital outlay requests signified by raising your hand thank you and again that is unanimous thank you [Music] and long range facilities plan all right thank you chairman Taylor members of the board Dr Stover you have a corrected copy of the 2024 2033 long range facilities plan for Kataba County schools and again it's part of our budget process and I would seek your approval at this time uh I make a motion that we uh have Dr Stover his design
066enter into negotiations uh with um mck kissi for our long range plan is am I thinking the wrong thing here okay Mr sett I think yeah that the thing that you're um I think speaking of is going to be at the at the very end my apologies I'll go with the uh I'll make the recommendations that we go with the the blue sheet you gave us earlier with the uh yes sir yes sir on it for the schools in order yes sir this is the corrected copy I went back to my office and corrected it and I second up and uh Mr s those order confusing I had to go back and double check that myself but uh so what we are a motion and second on the floor is to approve the 2024 through
0672033 long range facilities plan uh that was presented earlier today by Mr Moore uh that motion second is on the floor any discussion hearing none I will uh entertain a vote all those in favor of the long range plan as presented signifi by raised hand and that is unanimous thank you thank you Miss Aldridge will now bring us a budget calendar approval request Mr chairman members of the board and Dr stabber I feel like I need to explain the budget calendar just a second because it makes it look like we're way behind because you're approving our budget requests tonight but the reason that we always bring them at or bring the calendar at the end of January is because we don't get the due dates from the county in time to have it at an
068earlier board meeting so um even though we're almost finished I respectfully request that you guys approve our 2425 budget calendar again that information was presented in detail earlier today Mr chairman I would move that we approve the 2425 budget calendar as presented by Miss Aldridge I'll second that thank you motion and uh second are on the floor uh for the approval of the 2024 2025 budget calendar any discussion hearing none all in favor uh signify by raised hand unanimous again thank you current expense budget request so I before the meeting I placed hard copies of my um adjusted local supplement projections I added a column to increase our local supplements by two and a half% and that would be at a cost of $2.8 million I added um line 6A to new business number nine
069our local current expense budget request that adds the 2.8 million so uh I respectfully request that you approve our requests to the county for our 25 2425 local budget thank you and M J correct that that if approved that part of the uh request would raise our local supplement ment to 10.5% 10.5% for certified and 6.5% for noncertified and that was one line item in the larger uh budget yes sir any questions hearing none I'll entertain motions I'll make a motion that we approve the current expense uh budget request by Miss alridge second all right we have a motion and second on the floor um any discussion hearing none all those in favor of approval of the 2024 2025 current expense budget request please signify by raised hand again uh that's a unanimous vote thank
070thank you very much uh the next item on our agenda is approval of Kataba County Board of Education nominee for North Carolina School Board Association legislative committee Mr chairman uh on behalf of Dr Stover the um at this point in time the North Carolina School boards Association has requested that each board or has asked each board to make a nomination to the North Carolina uh School boards Association legislative committee that would entail um whoever the board nominates uh if they not if you nominate someone you don't have to but if you not do nominate someone from this board then that person would have to complete an application and that application will then be submitted to the North Carolina School boards uh board of directors and they will select from among their applicants the members of
071the legislative committee um again I don't know if anybody on the current board has served on the legislative committee M Miss Dr Barney has and I don't know if you want to share a little bit about what it entails but one of the questions is would you be able to give examples of participation in legislative process what do you wish to serve why do you wish to serve on the legislative committee have you completed your 12 hours of training and can you commit to both in-person legislative committee meeting dates barring an unforeseen emergency so I'll let Miss Dr Barnett explain it's certainly very informative because you get to learn a lot about the education legislative program there's usually two meetings and one's usually virtual the other when you have to travel to Raleigh for a
072meeting Dr Barnett if I'm not mistaken this legislative committee also works with uh the uh lobbyist for the ncsba uh on legislation it would benefit you know not only uh schools but School boards across the state yes uh it's actually their legal representation yes so uh is there a nomination anyone want uh want to do this or I guess we're at that point I would like to nominate Michelle Teague okay will you have a nomination on the floor any further I second uh well just sitting if we had any further um hearing no other nominations all those uh who would be in favor of nominating Miss Tig to be a part of that process on the legislative committee signify by raising your hand and that is six uh six Mr Taylor uh Miss Richards Miss
073TIG Mr Sigman Miss Barnett and Mr SAR yeah and I'll oppos and that would be Mr AB all right um the next item on our agenda number 11 is approval of the revised Board of Education schedule and I would just point out that the committee excuse me not the committee the board uh did not make any revisions I think we table that um we didn't make any the board didn't make any re re revisions to the Board of Education schedule that was already approved back last year that uh our action there that we discussed in the work session was uh a committee that I think Miss Dr Barnett uh Miss Richards and who else was it was going to be part of that Mr abany uh look at dates to move part of our work
074sessions to uh School side for this issue you can table this to possibly the next board meeting or March so is wouldn't need a motion to table that though is there a motion to table uh that action until we actually hear their report I motion I'll motion to table and approve that motion very good we have a motion on the floor is there a second I second all right motion on the floor is to uh table the approval of the revised schedule until the March meeting when we will hear from the committee on school visits and sites so uh any discussion hearing none all those in favor of the motion signified by the raiseed hand and that is in Mr chairman I did have one one question though about the committee that was formed you
075said it's to move work sessions to the schools but I thought it was more to explore school visits and not just to thank you for that um yeah we discussed so much so it's these are visits to school sites stand uh separate from our work sessions and it could include work sessions yes thank you for that point of clarification we have a discussion item number 12 and this was one of the addition discussion on input from administrators on the board of education self survey study so I think the item that was uh presented I think Dr Barnett was that the uh cabinet administrative team be part of a 360 evaluation of the board so yes back in in the fall the board voted to participate in the self evaluation and we did that and received
076those results today in in our work session uh we had the results showed that out of the seven members of the board six people responded and and one of those skipped most of the questions on the survey so it was very limited in what information we received but we do have the opportunity to involve our cabinet our superintendent's cabinet and our School principles in that survey if uh if the board would choose to do that so that we can have more information on not only what do we think of ourselves as a self- evaluation but to have the opinions of people that we serve thank you for that uh clarification so U is there a motion on the table or questions regarding this topic I would just point out Mr Taylor that if there is
077a motion I think it needs to be clear um the definition of administrator is does that include just central office administrators directors to to what extent because when we have surveys when we say administrators sometimes that can include principles i' like to make I'd like to make the motion that uh we extend the the self- evaluation that we just did to include the superintendent's cabinet and directors and principles okay there's a motion on the floor I second the motion motion and a second any discussion on this before we call for vote hearing none all those in favor of uh the motion to include superintendent's cabinet directors and school principls as part of the survey of the board um signify by raised hand uh that is Ms Richards Mr Taylor um I can't see uh M
078Dr Barnett Mr abery and Mr sadel all those opposed uh Mr Sigman and Miss te our next item is discussion on teacher licensure fee reimburse ments and I know that um we had this discussion earlier today uh Miss Thompson your name is beside that item but I don't know that necessarily it was placed on there in the event any uh one wanted to make a motion uh to for the board to agreed to cover the teacher license or fee reimbursements as was presented by Miss toson okay thank you and U yeah so any discussion of this or motions that we need to entertain do we need to talk about the specifics of this like the amount of money the things like that or we could just make the motion to go ahead and can make
079the motion that was done in open or today in the work session talked about doing it in two parts correct uh I move beginning with the 2425 school year uh Kaba County Schools reimburse each beginning teacher employed with Kaba County schools for their initial license fee in the amount specified in the State Board of Education Poli policy l n c008 license years fees reimbursement will occur in the month following the issuance of the license during the school year with which the lur was obtained and paid by the beginning teacher thank you Mr sire very well said uh is there a second second there's a motion and second any discussion I just had a question I I know it included initial was it also renewal Mr settle no that was just move for initial right now
080what okay I want to make sure I understood the motion so there is a motion a second we had a clarification thank you for that Dr Barnett any further discussion all those in favor of the amendment read so eloquently by Mr settl which I will not attempt to repeat please signify by the raised hand and that is unanimous thank you uh you want to now speak to the second part of that okay I move that beginning with the 24 25 school year uh except for beginning teachers kabag count schools reimburse each teacher for license renewal in the amount specified in the State Board of Education policy l i n c008 lur fees reimbursement will occur by October 31st each year after the license is renewed and paid by the teacher thank you Miss sire there's
081a motion on the floor second and a second any further discussion I would say that uh if approved this will be two steps to help us further attract and entertain high quality staff and hopefully value our teachers for the hard work that they do um so um all those in favor of the second part of the motion read by Mr settl Meer please signify by the raised hand again that is unanimous thank you for that item number 14 uh Mr Moore you want to speak seek approval of the certificate of substantial completion and inspection report for St Stevens High School's Renovations um chairman Taylor members of the board Dr Stover um you have a certificate of substantial completion uh produced by our architect for St Stevens High School and I would seek your approval and
082signature on that document basically it certifies that the building is done there are some punch list items that have to be completed but it is a certificate of occupancy and allowing us to uh continue to have school at St Stevens High School so I would seek your approval or be happy to answer any questions you may have you have heard Mr request any questions or um motions relative to that motion to approve the certificate as substantial completion inspection report for St Stevens High School Renovations I'd second that motion motion and second any discussion hearing none I would ask that we seek approval all those in favor of the certificate of substantial completion and inspection for St Stevens High School Renovations please signify by raiseed hand thank you and again that is unanimous uh thank you
083Mr Moore also we have already uh had our closed session ahead of this at the end of our work day so uh the remaining items on our list uh Dr Stover approval of a minut qu should the new business number 50 thank you and I appreciate you keeping me inbounds there counselor new business item number 15 approval of amended quote for new furniture at Maiden Elementary and again that would probably be much appreciated so thank you for correcting me thank you Mr Taylor members of the board Dr Stover you um on December the 5th we approved a quote from indicot group for new furniture at Maiden Elementary School tax was not included it still remains that this group is the low bidder but we need to approve the quote adding the tax of 51,4 60
084for a total of 78,3 14.33 so I would seek your approval of that amended quote with tax added and that was December 11th not the fifth oh I'm sorry forgive me thank you uh Mr Moore so we have heard the request for an amended uh quote for new furniture at Maiden e including the tax for th those items um any questions of Mr Moore hearing none um I will entertain a motion I make a motion we uh approve the amended quote that includes the tax of the amount of $78,400 yes sir thank you and thank you for that clarification Mr aathy um at this time I'll call the question all those in favor of the approval of the amended quote for new furniture at Maiden Elementary please signify by your raised hand any and there
085are none opposed thank you that was unanimous thank you already uh dispense with closed session um there are several items or a couple of items remaining Dr Stover approval of personnel recommendations and addendums thank you Mr Taylor we've uh uh ask that you approve those tonight you have all received a copy of the Personnel uh recommendations and the addendum are there question questions or motions to that request uh can we make a motion to do both at one time is that all right I make a motion that we approve both the Personnel recommendations and the amend them to the Personnel recommendations a second there is a motion and second on the floor any discussion hearing none all in favor of the Personnel recommendations and the addendum as presented please signify by your raiseed hand and
086again that is unanimous um and then the final item on our list we had presentations by three groups earlier today um facilities studies looking at the long range needs for Kataba County Schools uh and this is the one that uh Mr settle was referring to a few moments ago uh we had presentations from um uh the first group Escapes Me W Wolford we had mckissic architecture and MGT education so uh any a discussion or recommendations or just conversation about those presentations that we saw Mr Moore also gave us the price uh for each of those vendors and there was a substantial difference in the three so for my part I uh I liked mckisic for a couple of reasons they are uh regionally local um one group's price I think was driven up by the
087fact that uh as he you know sort of jovy said that there uh headquarters was Terminal B in the Columbus airport I think we're playing for a lot of airplane time there and then the group from Florida I just noted uh incorrectly identified a fville County North Carolina and aen County North Carolina so um if they don't know us I'm a little turned off on that that's just my two cents uh Mr chair I also um like the fact that uh mckisic has done work in cwell County Burke County uh I've even been uh uh at those facilities uh it was good work that they've done so um I say that they gave a really good presentation too and their um their quoted prices I correct me if I'm wrong Mr Moore $179,300 th000 for
088the other one so um I don't know if there's further discussion needed but I will entertain motions um on that I would just point out that any motion I believe uh should be made uh in this way that if if the board if a board member has a motion to approve uh one of these particular uh firms then they do so uh on the condition that U you grant to Dr Stover the authority to um negotiate a contract in other words you're not you're not making a motion to approve the price that they quoted um just wanted to make that clear all right since I've practiced this already I make the motion that uh Dr Stover or his design uh enter into contract negotiations with the mckisic architecture group on on our uh facilities assessment
089study uh for Kataba County Schools thank you there is a motion and a second on the floor uh to approve to uh Empower Dr Stover or his designate to enter into negotiations with mckisic um any discussion about that hearing none I would ask that all in favor of that motion signify by the raised hand again that is unanimous and uh that brings me to the end of our agenda unless I'm missing something um I would now either entertain a motion to adjourn or if a member has any we've not addressed now would be the time motion to adjourn second we have motion to adjourn and a second all in favor signified by the race hand thank you and we will see you in February