001e s now there are some questions okay it's it's good all right I think we're good the board's back out of closed session into Open session so thanks for everybody coming out to this March 3rd meeting of 2025 for the washing County Board of Education First item under Open Session that we have is the Pledge of Allegiance so if you'll stand we'll repeat the pledge I to the of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for thank you next we've got approval of the agenda on there I think we do have one item to be added uh to that if the board's okay with that it would come under number nine of action um on there that'll be a hold
002harmless principle through 2526 school year on there if you want to refresh it should refresh your um assembly there does anybody have anything else to change or add to the agenda hearing none I'll entertain a motion to approve the amended agenda I move we approve the amended agenda okay thank you Miss Ward do I have a second second thank you Mr Jones any uh anybody have anything else any comments all those in favor raise your hand motion carries next we've got on here comments from the superintendent so I'll just turn those things over to you Dr cson so first of all um thank you for uh all of your time and energy and uh we're finally back in school KN on wood as I look at long range forecast and we have a lot of
003great things going on in our classrooms in our schools extracurricular and I just wanted to highlight that we publish a newsletter about every two weeks uh the board receives that news letter you'll be receiving it tonight after this board meeting and the uh then we publish it online for everybody to see and I just wanted to call your attention to it it includes a lot of the successes that you see um on social media so if you follow us on Facebook and Instagram uh you'll see that we highlight different things going on in schools whether it be uh special day character days like what was happening in Westwood today or successes of our athletic team such as uh we had a wrestler who plays third in the State uh this past weekend um a lot
004of great things that are going on it highlights professional development and it highlights um Awards and grants and scholarships and other things so I just wanted to call everybody's attention you can find it on on our district website at Ash schools.org and you can also follow us on social media on Facebook and on um Instagram uh a little bit on Twitter we don't get on Twitter as much as we do some of the other social medias but you can see all the really good things that are happening we're really proud of our teachers and we're getting ready to highlight a few of those as well so specifically um in that newsletter um we have a recognition of some Gear Up teacher Awards and today we have uh Rachel Nave Lewis um and K Mackie who
005are going to share um the gear up teacher Awards and then we have a grant that was written on behalf of Ash County Schools as well um that they are going to share about too so we're really proud of the great things that are going on this is one of them and gear up is with our wonderful part partnership with Appalachian State University so Rachel hi thank you so much for having me tonight my name is Rachel nais and I'm the assistant director of curriculum and instruction for the gear up Grant at Appalachian State University and I'm a proud prior teacher at Ash County school and so I want to thank you for everything that you ported to me so that I can Port it to others um so we are so excited Curry and
006I to be here tonight to um acknowledge some amazing teachers in your school district so I'm going to my bag I'll help you out oh thanks um so aart of um our G Grant which serves 17 districts across Western North Carolina we offer something called academic Innovation minig grants and what that is is it's an opportunity for our teachers um staff District directors to write a grant application for additional funds to do something extraordinary within their school so like to present Tanya Denny's award for $5,000 and this is for a Tanya's um academic Innovation mini grant for sorry as we're taking pictures uh Criminal Minds which is a cross-curricular schoolwide gr that includes um English forensics criminal science and they're looking at do you want to share or do you want me to continue you're
007doing fabulous they're looking at um almost um criminal literature and forensic science and they're actually going to be hosting a family night um that kind of simulates clue for families and students to come um we're going to have u local forensics investigators um at the school of course this year has been a very um yes an interesting year um we didn't really know what to uh expect from this year so a lot of the field trips that Tanya had initially wanted to do we kind of having to adjust and do some things with that but we're just so excited that Tanya Denny works for Ash County schools and can do these amazing things at her school thank you we love that she works for Ash County in addition we had another teacher from Ash County
008schols um who wrote a grant for their school and that is Jonathan Green Jonathan his Grant was for $5,000 to start a theater Club [Music] uh yes um hello everyone um well uh we had quite the year and we were planning on having our first show actually in April uh we were so pumped that the show was cats uh my dad and I because we weren't able to get the kids on in the snow days my dad and I built walls uh for the stage and everything but unfortunately we had to postpone our show uh so right now it's going to be in November uh so we have plenty of time and be ready for it so we can have an amazing show we're pumped for it and uh even though the students were very
009very disappointed after I gave them the news we had almost two weeks of no school like inperson class so it made a lot of s that's we wouldn't be able to rehearse stuff but we're all really excited um hopefully to have a few more trips and a few more reaching outside to Ash theater and stuff like that so we hope to do a lot with it but we're very look forward to it all sure congratulations please let us know when that is oh absolutely I will um you know as a prior music and theater teacher I loved reading that application it just made my heart so happy um and then we have two very special ladies in the audience Karen Walker and Julie little who work for under our new teacher support program with the
010public school partnership Ash is a part of that program and these two wonderful ladies serve your new teachers um by giving them coaching and being there to help them and so what these two wonderful ages wanted to do was specifically work with Ash County Schools to to offer um a new approach to mathematics and that was based off of the book um building a thinking classroom and it's looking at math in a very conceptual Manner and so Julie and Tanya Julie and Karen my apologies wrote a grant and received $10,000 and part of that went to Ash County and the other part went to alany so um Julie and Karen have this but you as Ash County have one that shows that you are receiving $5,000 for building thinking classrooms and I can I add
011to that I want to give a special thank you to Ash County schools because we wanted to include six through 12th grade and since Gear Up is only what is it8 through 11 through 11th this year yes Ash County schools actually put forward some funding to to buy mathematics materials for the sixth seventh sixth and seventh grade teachers as well as 12th grade so that everybody would have math manipulatives and material for their classroom so that to us to Karen and I is pretty big because it showed us just how much you value your teachers and teaching mathematics so so essentially over $10,000 did go into the math classrooms in asham yes so we we're very appreciative of that and we've been able to hold a couple of sessions already with amazing so and our
012teachers love them yes and they got lots of manipulatives to take back to their classroom so that was another big piece of it so that they could have the materials to take back to their classrooms so thank you for allowing to do that yes good job so one more thing so yes that is our mini grants um this past year we did something a little bit different um and teachers wrote in a short synopsis or Karen and Julie wrote in a short synopsis of what they wanted to do for these grants but we then brought them to the College of Education on Appalachian State campus and they had to pitch the idea in a sharp tank type of setting and so they had to create a presentation they had to walk us through and they
013really had to show their passion um and some of the panelists were um I don't know if you know Freebird mckenny from participate learning we had Dr Kim case for my future andc and then we also had um future pre-service teachers who served on the panel and one of the takeaways was I really want to work for Ash County schools and so it was a way for us to kind of showcase our school systems to our current pre-service teachers um in addition last year we also um started what we are calling the innovator of the Year award you know um we have seen the U deep increase of what teachers have to do in the classroom um it's a lot work um not only that but they're having to juggle you know their own personal
014lives other jobs just to make ends meet there's a lot going on in teachers lives right now and so we really wanted to just showcase teachers who may not necessarily win like teacher of the year but they're doing Innovative things in the classroom and they're making a difference in their schools and so we came up with this innovator of the Year award and each district got to nominate a teacher who they felt like encompassed this and that was Tanya Denny from Tanya's amazing we absolutely love her um honestly one of the very first people is usually Tanya that people bring up who can we pull in who's a teacher who's done a lot of our gear up things T is usually our number one um that we ask to come and speak there is a
015QR code on this Banner it will become live tomorrow and it has testimonials from students faculty and her principal just how amazing T is you know you just come up with a crazy idea that you want to do something and they give you money to do it what more can you ask for we definitely want to give people money that's that's definitely what we want to do and so I just thank you from the bottom of my heart and just let everyone know that our new Mini Grants open uh March 31st so we have new grants that are open and also our innovator of the Year nominations are currently open so we can't wait to honor another teacher matching high schools thank you thank so as you can see we love our partnership with Europe
016and fingers crossed that we have an extension Grant uh what is that we did find out today okay sorry we did find out today um so we submitted a um new $36 million Grant on February the 3 I was part of that rioting team and it was a you know it was a lot it was a lot while all you know everything that's going on right now with Federal funding and the Department of Education we did find out today that they will be funding that application the federal government is fingle ex the federal government is funding this upcoming cycle so we are and I and I'll say this about um not just gear up but our partnership with beginning teachers um that's one of the best investments I think we make is investing in our
017beginning teachers years one through three uh Karen H Walker has been with us since the beginning and then they stld Julie a little but we got her back um so that we have her with our beginning teachers and our beginning teachers get some of the best support of any District that I've ever seen years one through three that's how we spend our title $2 sorry Julian I had a class that started at 6 do you need me to write your so next on the list um as you all know we're excited about our new prek classroom I put the details um in um the uh board agenda as well as you will see when you receive your newsletter there's a flyer um within the newsletter that has all of the information um this prek classroom
018uh that we are so excited about will be at our current prek so in West Jefferson uh children must be four years old honor before August 31st 2025 um or currently four years old and planning to attend kindergarten in the fall uh to move to the classroom right now we do have um hours of 7:30 to 5:30 and uh right now the cost is $800 per month subsidies may be available uh as well and I'm hopeful that at some point in time we can reduce those um funds or the cost to our people um if we can uh do that I think that would be fantastic I would love to have free free prek for everybody I just don't know if the state is going to um and our funding sources will allow us to
019do that but that is that is a goal that is a goal um and of course we want our children to be kindergarten ready um our prek students do find lots of successes and then the advertisement of course is attached in there um so if you call our Early Learning Center that's what the number is for uh they can tell you how to enroll and then we also have upcoming uh leading to our kindergarten our doll screening is upcoming here and another uh two weeks March 17th March 17th starts March 17th that's a Monday and it goes through the end of that week and so we're excited to welcome our new Littles to Ash County Schools so anything else to add for that g just very very excited we're already getting calls um um for
020um enrollment so we're very excited and of course um our uh uh new pre new prek classroom uh again will be at our West Jefferson location in the fall uh we are um working toward a classroom at bluebridge elementary school so very excited to be able to um open uh two new prek classrooms um in the fall or well one now and then the one at Blue Ridge uh this fall so very excited that things are moving in the right direction uh thank you for our partnership with the partnership of app I know that they have partnered with all of the Early Learning Centers across the county um to help them uh uh serve children and so they're they're helping us because we want to serve children too so thank you that's all okay thank
021you Dr cogs um I don't think we have anybody for public comment that I on here so we'll just keep moving through and next we've got the new Middle School update from Miss Al Kim Sullivan I thought you weren't here for a minute but then I found you so there you work board members um so I have been told the news been want here that the grading contractor going to be moving in end probably a couple of weeks and um the goal is that they will start grading weather permitting by April 1st so hopefully by the time we all are back together at our next meeting we will be moving dirt so that's very exciting um that was my question I be you to it thank you try to come prepared um other things that
022are going on um I'm reviewing um got um proposal on the second phase of the commissioning services from facility Dynamics and I'm reviewing that that covers things like um Sidle review um when we get into the um building we have equipment in place that'll be functional testing equipment startup and then ultimately training for our all of our maintenance staff um I'm also working with Blue Ridge Energies um on a possible path for um their power to serve the customers at Mount Jefferson they originally were trying to reroute that power up the mountain a different route that didn't work out they hit rock the second um path they were trying to work it out they couldn't get an easement from a property owner so now they're looking at um excuse me um somewhere near Transformer near
023the one of the I think bus so um it'll all be underground so we're just going to go ahead and um get all the construction staking done so when they it goes in it we we won't hit it so I'm still working through all the details on that but I'll let everybody know and coordinate that with the high school so we don't impact any of their activities um Furniture samples are coming in tomorrow um for the teachers and students to pick the tires and see what they like what they don't like we went to a Furniture Expo goodness it's been a year and a half now Isa almost two yeah um so they're just bringing samples that some of the um folks like just to try out it's not a commitment to anything it's just
024to see what everybody likes so um those pieces will be arriving tomorrow and then um so anybody was interested in can go look at them um and then we'll continue just to work through some metals um shop dos and that kind of thing so lot of work going on in the background anybody have any questions no but I'd really like to see that furniture because uh some of the furniture we have at the Middle School's been there since probably the ark so easily well that means it's very dur righted we so we hope we hope to have zable furniture again that's what I'm my okay well thank you so much next we'll jump in here to action items for the board the first is Personnel so you have that in your board agenda there so
025do I have a motion to approve the Personnel I make a motion we approve the Personnel okay thank you Miss eldis do I have a second second okay which okay well I'll pick Miss Jones I had several so so got a motion in a second any questions comments on those none all those in favor raise your hand motion carries I will say that it looks really brief as to what we have been doing so I think that's a good thing that we're not having so many Place positions to fill this time good there next we've got the consent agenda now the consent agenda will take care of several things including the minutes from the past meetings approval of the summer program plan permission to apply for grants for 4 25 26 school year rollover of
026Child Nutrition bids the Child Nutrition ltp catering contract review and theou with North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University these are all things that we've handled in the past so do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda I move we approve the consent agenda okay thank you Mr Ward do we have a second I'll a second thank you Miss Cal any other questions or comments on these all those in favor raise your hand motion carries can we make comments on the cons agenda there's always at the end of a motion you can if you have anything next next we've got the 2425 state budget amendment for PRC 230 that sounds like Miss cold ir's whe wheelhouse so typically you know we don't bring amendments this early in the year but this one was
027enough that it fed the budget resolution um out of balance so these were funds that were allocated to the hurricane heline they allowed um us to use 70,000 of it for mental health services and then 118,000 for um child fishing salaries for October so they did not receive any reimbursement in October because it were Clos the whole month that is their primary funding source um but we still paid the salaries so that offset those costs okay so we're asking commission to approve this amendment okay do I have a motion to approve this amendment I move we approve the amendment okay thank you m Ward do I have a second I second it okay I've got two seconds thank both of you yeah um now questions or comments do we what guidelines do we have for
028spending those Mental Health Services monies uh because jie on those ter um it said that it could be for positions um it could be for our school social workers or contracted positions um and so we had had some grants that expired that we did not have covered and that's kind of some of those would this be an appropriate time for me to ask that someone review the process for our new referrals for mental health services at another board meeting maybe next month would that be a is that of an appropriate comment to make suggestion sure I I've heard that's changed I'd like to hear how that works yeah that's fine sure thank you any other questions we got a motion in second all those in favor raise your hand okay thank you much next new
029prek contract and Miss Richardson there evening boys I stand before you to ask to be able to enter in a contract with partnership with Ash for two years because of they um they they received a grant for uming and they asked every site um what is something that they needed for um to use as funds well I suggested that if we were opening up our pre-ap program that we needed we needed support for our summer program so um under this contract this is for after school and summer after school if needed but summer for us to hold our summer program so that there's not an interruption with um services and to help Community our community um stakeholders as parents to be able to help them um stay consistent with child care in the summer months
030um the grants for two years there's a space on the um lease agreement that um has this blanked but that's what it is for two-year Grant and during this two-year time frame we hope to be able to um um have extra funds to be able to continue with our summer program after this two-year Grant is up but they they would need um a lease agreement which includes um which includes um insurance and liability and access to um common areas and one classroom at our site for the summertime um this has been um discussed with our board attorney and he is the one that has WR up this document and has send it to us for your approve do I have a motion to approve this prek contract I make a motion to thank you Miss
031calom do I have a second my second thank you Miss Ward all right any questions comments just just curious now does parents have to pay for this one during the summer how does that work yes they they they'll pay just like they do throughout the school year okay but they but um there's there's a little bit of offset funds that need to be occurred so that um that the teachers can get paid their hourly break okay just wondering about that I was a little bit surprised to see the partnership involved because it had not been mentioned before so would you I was wondering we pay the teacher how how does this work that that we are employing a teacher for that classroom could you please explain how this is going to yes work um this
032the um partnership will be paying for the Summer Staff so the fund funds will go to um what they have is their funds on their Grant will pay for every bit of what summer um staff acquires for their salaries throughout the summer that that's why we have to have a lease we will not be um they we'll get a $199 at the end end of um the summer or whenever the tax information goes out because they're in total um they're in total um responsibility of that of those staff in the summer months our staff are only 12 month teachers are 12 or 10 months and this is for the summer months beyond that so the teachers will contract with us during the school year and then they will be part of the contract with the
033partnership for the summer for the summer yes I think would includ okay um there are employees yeah there are employees not Contracting there are employees I'm sorry I use the wrong term um is the partnership not an outside agency um that yes but they had a grant to be able to provide all child care sites which we are a child care site funding for things that they needed and I requested I requested some summer help for for to pay the staff to be able to have summer care uh others may have done playground equipment um I know learn through play all their their 2-year-old program was going to have a whole refab of their um playground equipment some other people asked for other things so that's what I got as far as the plan [Music]
034for so I'm just gonna be very blunt about this the the ad that I saw it made it seem like that we're in competition with other dayc carees and it I thought Our intention was to increase the daycare not be in competition we are we in any kind of competition with uh Ash developmental day or any of those other no competition whatsoever except for um if parents want to come to our site um they'll have an opportunity but they should stay where they where they're at they're happy so I just want to say that we have how many seats on the children in our Ash counties uh in Ash County that are fouryear olds that do not have a place to go and I don't have those latest numbers this is so that we can
035fill those seats um and help provide for child care but we don't do child care we do prek and so this allows us for the prek seats and then um it allows for pre seats it's not intended for it's not intended for competition it's tended to make sure that we are serving more students in Nash County if someone next year wants to come to our site or a parent wants to make that change they will still have we have two over 200 kids on the waiting list that need to be served oh I'm all for improving I just had hope that that was not the case um I I know that we need more we need more than we have now but I do know that there's more money connected with foury olds than there
036are with two and three year old necessarily it cost more to um to to the more money is because you can have more students in a classroom but it costs more for the younger children to be served the price is higher we children but you can have more students the older they get but I'm keeping the ratio 1 to six so it doesn't it's not going to be I won't be in competition there either because they are other slates are 1 to n or 1 to 10 please please don't take my question as being critical I'm just trying to understand how this works because I was surprised to see that the partnership was involved uh with this it's not a bad thing yeah I just want to know involed in the other sites too and
037they could have asked for some of the same things they asked for the exact same thing that I asked for so for two years because it's a grant connected toen have any idea what might happen after two years are we going to have an opportunity to keep this going well well to be honest because they are partnering with us for the summer care the funding that which we get from parents the summer will be banked in order to do it for the next few years so it's going to be like a roll like a rolling snowball well that's a good thing because it might be hard to that child carage you were dependent on it for sure thank you any other questions all right so we've got a motion in a second there so all
038those in favor raise your hand all right thank you so much and I just want to say thank you to the partnership they are and have been involved with prek throughout the county that's largely what they do um is uh birth to prek or six months to prek and so they've been a really good partner with us at our current prek already so thank you all right calendar everybody's waiting to hear I know make it good Mr Penny hey so I'm here on behalf of our calendar committee and uh I just want to take a moment and commend the group we had parents and teachers and representatives administrators board members from all across all of our schools and across the county to uh come in and give us feedback uh we broke it down we
039looked at what was important we looked at the requirements given given to us by General Assembly we took that had a work session here at the NX came up with two Calenders put that out for to the community for feedback and we came back and took that feedback and discussed it and uh tonight we'll bringing you option two or draft two that you have in your board packet um for consideration for approval for next year and it does meet all the requirements as far as hours student student hours um again we don't go with 185 days we it to 1,25 but if if we didn't learn anything from this winter it is um build big kind build the Middle School build big and then you can cut back as as you need to so but
040if we did learn one thing that is try to incorporate as many days in and as hour and hours in as we can so you see that there are two scenarios there there's one that was the one that we went through with the calendar committee but um I think you guys are aware that um we received word from the general assembly following your well uh following your resolution uh that you passed last time uh that requests us to have an additional week waiver um that is was has been written into something that looks like it could be a law it has not been voted on as of yet not that I know of um but would allow us to start um earlier and so what this um start date of 812 would be would be
041a start date of um our teachers would be on a Wednesday which they really requested um through the process um so they would do Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday and then kids would start on a Tuesday so it's the it would be on the 12th um but the Lang anguage said uh you could start the Monday closest to the 12th um which is a week earlier than what the weather waiver currently receives so if that is um if that is accepted we would love to start on the 12th rather than on the 19th um that was what I think the entire calendar committee really shaking their head to was on it um that's what they really wanted in that process and that helps us um have a better chance of getting days in before the weather
042gets bad so when might we hear from that process because it seems sort of uh redundant to to pass one now and then have to do it again can we just wait and see what they do before we so I don't know when they're going to do that I just know that we received that um I received a text that said um here is the does this look good and it was for alagan and waga so it was three uh three different districts um together with language that gives us an additional week weather waiver I don't know when that might be um my guess would be probably March because they are considering all things Helen and this is loosely associated um but because it's already done now um it makes me think that it might
043be sooner than later just because they're trying I know that they're trying to get in um some of the things ped but I can't tell you I have no idea um we go ahead and approve a calendar and if they change it can we redo it oh yes or um could we say um this is our calendar if right this happens I don't know whether you want to do that tonight would that confuse anybody I don't know the intention would be to start on the 12 for kids to start on the 12 um versus the 19th if we receive the if we receive that if we receive that waiver yes and and I I will point out that once you get past the first couple weeks of school the first week of school and nothing
044changes between there and the end of May so what we've approved in draft two will stay and we'll just shift the ending week and the request of the commes and we went through and broke everything down all we did to form draft three was to take and slide those days to start August 12th and again anything you add in August you have to slide away from June so that moves our last day um to the 29th and I would like I'd like to point out that in the first semester of draft two those two nine weeks are shorter by quite a bit than any of the others and the first semester the first nine weeks I believe is the shortest or is the middle one with all those holidays but anyway we can then balance
045out those nine weeks a little better if they'll give us the extra with that approval from the state they would give us four extra days um of student days of student days I'd like to bring since we're talking about the calendar I would like to see us not have school on graduation day um you know if we have to have it all day on Thursday that would be great because it's really going to cause a bunch of hardship to to have the celebration that these kids need and deserve there's lots of people involved in this process and it makes it difficult if we have teachers having to do classes and folks having to have buildings and other things so I'd like to for us to uh in school at on Thursday uh instead of Friday
046and um dra two does that well no I think she's talking about the current calendar because we had said we would decide sure in March and this is March and so well I think well we've got some more weather coming up I I hate to I hate to uh get too far ahead of it this year because I don't think we can get very far ahead of it this year unfortunately um right now um currently the last day could be Monday the um 9th is if we were to keep those days but I don't want kids to go to school on a Monday and then have to wait till the following Friday to graduate or to graduate in the middle of the week I didn't think that was good for family so I've held it
047to the six um instead uh it well until um you know unless we have another week of um inclement weather where we can't hold school because um you know we don't have power like it happened during the ice storm and we had schools without power uh that would have made it really tough to uh go to school on some of those days so um how many hours we have how many hours will we have oh we're under the we're under the we're under under the required hours so we we'll be we be under the required hours by Thursday we're we're already under the required hours we are so if we go to school on that following Monday are we still within the hours or no I mean we're not within the hour we can't it's
048not possible this year we just go ahead and close have last day on that Thursday well one reason I'm suggesting that too is because if you've ever taught elementary school or any other schols that half day is not an instructional day it is a h survival day for our schools and our staff and just to say that you know we have hours is unless we're significantly behind is not a good plan well that has nothing to do with the hours we we're already behind in the hours we're not going to be able to make those hours no we've been out of the hours for for a long time your teacher contract can only go through June 10 so how many hours will we have approximately 995 I don't have I think come prepared to inste
0491025 just came to prare to the draft two and the draft three I didn't have those numbers but I have those numbers and I think it's 995 I believe 159 days 195 it's what's on excuse me it's what's on the uh District website I think it's I think it's 95 and we're supposed to have how many hours 1,000 something minimum and they knew that it wasn't going to I mean after this year there was pretty much no way to be able to make it um as long as we can do our remote days uh remote days count as full school days so as long as we're successful with the remote days we can um do those not count oh they they do count they do count and they count toward the hours both it's just
050like a regular it's like a face yes we have 15 of those that we' utilize or we would be down even further I know this has nothing to do with the calendar this conversation but does it honestly does it really make a difference if we go that Thursday make that the last day compared to Monday for make up exams for exams we'd have to start testing on a Friday that would be the first day of exams not so it it really is better if they can go a full week of testing but the way it's right now it's June 2 through 6 for and that that day for the high school ends up being makeup exams um um typically because you have four days of uh regular testing and then you have to offer a
051makeup Day within that testing window so they have to test on the last five days of school so that's why I didn't want to carry it over to a Monday which the number of days we would have missed would have had us going on a Monday and then of course as I sent to you all in an email I later learned there's a a trip that's going on with about 60 people from the community including about 10 seniors that if excuse me if we push to the end of uh the following week um then that really puts a a hardship on quite a few kids and I don't want them to have to choose between graduation and a trip that they've already paid for so I there's just a lot to consider I think that
052get through next couple of weeks and you know if you guys wish to cut another school day off off um so we could actually do that I mean is how many kids are gonna come on Monday let's be on no I don't have them coming on Monday right now I have them coming on Friday they go Monday through Friday so our last our last day of school is not on a Monday it's on Friday got you okay it's on Friday currently yes of and that's for everybody okay got you policy the board has the last say so I have a question regarding the remote days um is is not 15 remote days no we have 30 this year La so we have 15 on a typical year because we get the weather laer most districts
053get five we get 15 and then this year they made an exception for um hurricane Helen um impacted districts and they were specific ones in there on our own they were they kind of gave threee for the entire State um the most H districts as here that's for 30 days I think other folks got 10 they had five it's just it's all across the board it was in a house build with out currently on the agenda we've got to look at next year's calendar um on I say go with the one that starts to 12 I move that we go with draft two as recommended by the curriculum committee and approve the tentative uh new calendar if we're the state approves an extra week okay all right so miss Ward made that motion I hope
054you got that Dr M all right so to miss Ward's motion do I have a second to that thank you m Jones any other questions or comments on the motion so all those in favor raise your hand you done all right thank you sir and I think you're still up absolutely for GE absolutely so let's change gears literally gear up yep that's it see you you get me I love it so I'm here on behalf of gear up and uh M if I miss anything help me out there but we're looking to um request per mission for three opportunities for our students to be out of the county and do some overnight trips the first is one very similar what we had a couple years ago last year is the summer bus tour all the
055laid out there in your agenda it's open to our current ninth graders we have 12 spots and that's something that we do this is a collaborative effort that we do with alagan and Madison County and I believe Madison's one of the new corts is that correct there with the original Cod change toaga rather than Madison so that's my fault I love that she's here so that's with boa allig school that makes more sense anyway so but um again we we're asking we don't have those students those students haven't been they haven't done the application and we're just asking permission to do that but uh what a great trip to do uh to do a kind of a Pont to Coast College visit tours and you can see that I won't read the itinerary but it's
056a great trip we've done it before I think Miss C loves that she's uh really tired when she gets back up for spending a week traveling all across the state and walking all the campuses in the heat but my hat's off to her and she's more than more than willing to do that the other two is a NASCAR camp and this is this is at appalachin state but students get to get to stay there on campus and this is open to Rising ninth and 10th graders and the other is the design Camp the NASCAR Camp is in June the design Camp is in July all right anything else for good looking for do I have approval for the overnight gear up Summer opportunities so kids can go to this Camp if they're missing school we're
057out of school good mind was that a motion to approve yes I approve it I make a motion to approve it all right so I have a motion for Miss Calhoun to approve do I have a second for all right I got so we're good I do have how many slots will we have Mr Penny how many slots will we ailable I can answer a few of those so for the coastal trip excuse me the the college trip it's 12 spaces it's 12 opportunities there and is there a limit on the others Miss K well all all 10 counties will be able to apply to those other dates so it's just a matter of who who gets registered in time before it fills up so first come first sir you right so in the past
058it's been we've had maybe four to five students average for those sorts of trips more is there any criteria for these students other than they have to be a high school student um no I think we want this year we want to part those students maybe who are not um maybe who need extra encouragement to participate in something like this to maybe have their teachers kind of give them a nudge and encourage them to participate maybe those that don't have um supports to be able to visit college campuses I've been aware of uh the gear up programs for a lot of years and um nothing but good has been said about the summer opportunities for for students thank you any other questions comments all those in favor raise your hand motion carries I guess you're
059not up for the next one er no I see Miss wal coming up from the B so we'll turn it over to miss W good evening Bo so we are about to tie a bow on this ER cycle and send it on its way uh we did with your permission put out an RFQ for bids for uh finalizing our eate funding and we received three bids um there were four of us who did the rubrics and um analyzed each of those bids and we looked at cres our number one we looked at compatibility with our current equipment for number two we looked at um being them being able to come after hours and install equipment so we would not interrupt the instructional day as another one and um we voted we all came out on
060top with the same vendor we used previously uh they did a good job with installation before and um the equipment was fairly priced it's done a really good job so far so uh with your permission we will move forward with awarding that contract to Encore and um I I do want to say that it hurts my heart really badly and I had to get an attitude adjustment of leaving some money on the table and we did we did we were not able to expend all of our e dollars for this cycle there's only certain things you can spend that money on and with um my hope when we first applied five years ago was the new school was going to be um I had saved a lot of dollars for this new school so it
061does pain me to leave some money on the table but as a taxpayer I'm leaving that money maybe there to not be paying you know Fally so but we are we are leaving a little bit of money there and but we just we just could do it to saying within within the guidelines that we given we cannot expend that money do I have a motion to approve the ER rank contract I make a motion okay do I have a second I'll second I heard both of you at the same time so it's a good thing yeah any other questions comments he none all those in favor raise your hand thank you much next we've got the approval of the series policies that took us a little bit to do well there were quite a few
062policies glad anybody have any questions on those if not I'll entertain a motion to approve those we looked at my name I reread all of them it looks it looks good all right old was there so is there a motion I'll make the motion that we approve the 2000 series policies all right thank you Mr Jones do I have a second I will second that yes we don't need a third we'll go ahead and vote all those favor raise your hand all right we're good to go on to 3,000 but not yet um they're on there if you want to start next is the added item that was added uh to the agenda and that is the hold harmless principal pay through 25 26 school year Mr chairman I'd like to make a motion to
063hold our principles um harmless to the 2025 26 school year okay do I have a second to miss Elders motion I'll St the motion thank you m Jones does anybody have any questions or comments on those uh we appreciate the principles and what job they do and um you know we hope that we will always continue to do better but we're very proud of our uh principles and how hard they work and the hours they put in and let's continue to help our students as we go along very good think we all agree with that anything else any other comments all those in favor raise your hand motion carries now we go on into updates discussions and considerations and next we've got our Schoolboard representatives for some feedback all right he's going to speak so
064we have well first of all we have a um uh Wilson who's a senior class president at at Ash Early College who's filling in uh tonight uh we had some um sporting events around the county which sometimes um prevents us so welcome we're glad that you're here and then Carson had emailed me and said that he would like to have a way to get feedback um to and be able to answer some questions um at the board meeting and so Carson would you share the process that you are um looking to seek that feedback and what and tell the board your thoughts um yes um good evening um I said in all the meetings you know me as Carson uh I represent the high school um I've have noticed recently I haven't really been representing
065I've been more passive during the meetings and so I'd like to make a change from that and actually present some student opinions questions comments concerns um so the way I devised that um is a Google form which is hosted by the student council at the high school um this was sent out on social media and will be sent out um during the interim between meetings um through this students and uh parents as well can submit feedback or questions to present to the board um I personally go through I SS um occasionally there me questions that aren't applicable to the board itself um we've had a lot about prom which you guys do do that mean we get to go if you'd like to no I'm good I should wear a bow I have a picture
066of Mr I've been there um and so basically I um like a way to present these questions um to the board specifically I have shared the attached sheet uh the answers are to to Dr Isa Cox um essentially I go through I SI the questions attend them to this Google sheet um so far we only have two responses that have come in um the only issue is some of them to do require some previous um research of sort with one of the questions being about a recent executive order and the other referring to some security questions um not uh I didn't want to Spring those on you guys Research into the legislation itself um so that's essentially the process I've been working on um just to be a better representative for all the students as
067well not just you know the students that quietly sit through all the class so so Carson um I think it would be appropriate to go ahead and ask what those two questions uh are I mean and certainly we're prepared to answer them if you'd like um the board might not but I certainly can um help get the answers across and then after that we'll find a way to get the questions to the board as well and that way um you know if there are ones that they would like to answer uh during the board meeting or some that we just need to answer and have a FAQ put out with the answers that the kids are interested in um so firstly um this question was submitted February 24th um so pretty recently um uh it
068is anonomous form so I don't know who is submitting that student par individual what is the reason for metal detecting students prior to inuring school is this a regional or state requirement will this be standard so the metal detectors uh we do have metal detectors um that we've been uh at the football games for uh what the past two years is that correct Dustin two years and so we've recently um started using them as students inter the high school and um they are it's not a regional or state requirement although most in the region and across the state many places do have metal detectors you go through the courthouse you go through metal detectors you go through a lot of different places you go through outstate you go through metal detectors so there are quite
069a few um schools and districts who have invested in them as a safety measure and um you know we do collect stuff so sometimes it's you know kids forgot that they had something in their Contraband of some type in their pocket or in their book bags and you know hopefully none of it's intentional um but it is an an added safety measure um so a little bit about the form itself so when students or parents first read the form ask them specifically what they would like to say to the board um next is a reminder to be specific and detail the response and then they asked to wrate how relevant this question is to them as an individual and then to them as the school school system as AO and they as well can attach
070any supporting documents they would like for this um this individual said this question is not relevant to them but relevant to the school system as a whole asking if it would be standard um I as well have some com I leave my own comments on the questions themselves specifically getting into this next question uh this was submitted February 4th of this year um with the repeal of Executive Order 11246 what safeguards does Ash Ash County Schools have in place to protect the employment rights of its employees and future employees and I left in the comments exactly what executive order uh 11246 in implies if we want to get into that or if we just want to leave that question as it is and and discuss so so I can answer that for us in in
071board policy um I mean we we have a process that's fair and Equitable to everybody and uh as far as who we interview it's based on who has the best qualifications and so we're going to hire uh we're going to recommend for hire uh the person who we believe is has the best qualifications and fit for that particular position in Ash County schools and then I'm sure that that's the same thing the board is looking at um whenever they approve those hires very good um so that is the last question that I have with me today um do you guys have any question about the forign process for um pertaining at all to this sounds like you've done a lot of work to get that form very very um you been there pretty good on
072relevant leadership can we not attach these like we do other board information we would have an opportunity to think about and and consider these before that Carson does all this wonderful work get to absolutely absolutely so I think we'll be hearing back from you from the sounds of it hope so right well and I appreciate the ability for us to hear from students directly so indirectly through you but yes and congratulations on the hard work you've done appreciate so Caron is this going to be a running list so it's the same form so it'll go to the same responses so I can share this or can you share because I have view only rights right now can you share this form or make it open so I can share it as well and then I'll
073share it with the board members I will definitely do that thank you thank you thank you all right next we've got an update for the new middle keep saying new Middle School the current Middle School roof sorry I'm used to looking forward but now I got to look back a little bit so on our current building it's Middle School Dr cogs so the Middle School roof um well in the last um since we were here before uh we came to you with an RFQ approval and I shared with you that timeline and of course the deadline on that specific timeline was on the 28th which was Friday and uh on Friday we at 2:00 we had eight submissions um for the RFQ for the roof and so we will be uh moving forward uh with
074um on the 11th with uh actually looking at those um submissions uh for people who we could uh work with on this roof and then then of course as a part of that RFQ process they will put it out for bid well first of all they will Design the roof uh they will send that to DPI and DPI still has to go through their process to um approve the design of the roof which um we are understanding is taking between 8 and 12 weeks we hope to be able to call in some favors um to get that expedited pretty quickly um and after that that hopefully we will be able to start after a bidding process so you know when it's as much as a million dollars Le that's it was 1 million something that
075we gave them as a uh uh project Budget on that RFQ um anyway we would put that out for they would put it out to bid for us and that lowest price bid is what would what we would go with we bring that back to you and since we are under a pretty tight timeline um between now and when they would be able to start on June 9th um we' probably have to do a special call meeting if it didn't perfectly align with um with the timeline of our board meetings so we are still hope I'm sure we would um I I think we would all be fine uh with that the sooner we can get this done uh the better so um you we do know that um this roof has needed done for
076many many many many years and so hopefully we'll be able to get this done this summer for uh the teachers and students at Ash County Middle School that's the hope that's the plan I think I think my concern is uh how available are the materials because we've had trouble getting materials for is that part of the the awarding of the contract that they feel confident that they can get the materials on time um I me I want this roof done uh but I did you know that's an area we've had trouble with before and I was just curious as to how that what that looked like that is one of the unknowns unfortunately there's some things that are outside of our control and M material availability um is one of those so of course we'll
077be looking at who do we think can design this thing pretty quickly and get it out to bid pretty quickly um that's you know that's what we're looking for and then of course all of the uh approvals through DPI of their design is going to be the other unknown at this point in time so we are still hopeful that if we get started and are able to um get a contract with um whomever one of these eight people um soon which may mean that um we need to have a special call meeting to approve that contract that Fred will have to do so um that more than likely it'll be one of the AIA documents but there's still still still will be a little bit of work to do and approval for you all since
078it is um it is a large project so when we design this I'm just thinking out loud again people um we have to do drains we have to do the pitch we have to do the materials they're going to take off the roof I'm thinking of the design phase because that has to be done before they'll know how to order materials correct correct am I thinking correct and they have to put it out for bid for somebody to do oh so did this because this this was to choose somebody to do it who could actually design it for us and then they would handle that bid process and we'd have a pretty good idea I me we had a year ago um a company but that had it for specs they gave us an estimate
079before any design um was completed and there is also the issue of it's already been replaced twice I believe and for code you have to take those layers off with the new layer which will be an additional cost I'm concerned the mil will not be sufficient well we were told by the Commissioners to come back should we need be well so and if again um we we do we were after having difficult time for a year of getting anybody to look at the roof we've had eight people we had five people to come out and meet with Greg and Brandon at the middle school itself so um I feel like we would have had eights they didn't think if they didn't think they could do it and one of the inquiries that that I had
080received um specifically asked that question um and I said well you the only thing that's the unknown for us in this process is how long DPI is going to take and um you the rest of it I think they think it can get done if these other things fall in line just let us know if there's any way this board can help I'm sure everybody would yes so yeah okay well it's been moving pretty quickly over the last three weeks so thank Al that next we've got for discussion I don't think we need to do anything right now on it is the 3000s policies we've set to start on those I think for the last meeting in April um to kind of start going through those so you have those and they're uploaded um into
081the Google file um anything else you need to touch on those or any questions on those 3000 know the time you guys chose was 3:30 on the 7th and that's the day that we're going to meet at the Arts Council um so the next uh regular regularly scheduled board meeting will be held at the Arts Council and so um I'll see what we can do to um ensure that you have some space to to look at those policies but the Arts Council on Monday April 7th which we have lots of great Student Art workk to look at so that'll make it a really special special even folks this stuff is tedious at B so very dry work a lot of work well with that anybody have anything else nothing I'll entertain a motion to adjourn
082we adjourn all right thank you M and M G second favor all right e