001I was in today. Good afternoon. I'd like to call this uh November work session Carol County Board of Education to order. First off, we'd like to welcome all of our guests. We got some great guests out in the audience tonight. We're excited to have you. If everybody would just rise with me and let's uh join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. We're going to start tonight off with Dr. Jessica Ainsworth with student achievement. I'll turn over to Dr. Ainsworth. >> Mr. Miller and members of the board, Carol County Schools, we continue to prioritize literacy. Literacy efforts is one of our focus
002priorities this school year as a school system. So, I thought instead of you hearing from me or someone from our teaching learning department, see it from our students and how efforts have impacted our students across schools. This evening, Missilia Brown, our principal at Lakeman Elementary, and Abigail, a third grader, would like to share a little bit more about our literacy efforts, Miss allowing us to speak tonight. I am going to pass it over to the real star of the show, Abigail. Good afternoon. My name is Abigail Seymour. I'm a third grader at Glenheisman Elementary School. I'm here today because I want to talk about the importance of literacy in all of our Carol County schools. In elementary school, we have worked with many programs like Hello literacy and many other reading activities during the day.
003They are all important to me becoming a good reader. This is the most important skill we will learn. Reading helps in every other class and will help us understand the world around us. He is a quick fun warm up we did with our teacher. It's like an ear training for reading. We didn't use books just our hands and our voices. It taught me to hear the individual sounds in words like and the word cat. One of my favorite parts of he was the roller coaster. It was one way we learned to separate sounds and the word like cat. This is called phonamic awareness. When I hear the sounds better, it makes it easier to sound new when I'm reading my chapter book. It's fast, so I didn't get bored and it got my brain ready
004for the rest of our reading lesson. Sax and phonics is a program that taught us the rules for how letters and sounds work together. It's systematic, which means we learn one rule, practice it a lot, and then move on to the next. It taught us how to decode words, which means we sound them out using the rules we learned. This helped me read words in my story that I've never seen before. It also helped with spelling and writing. We learned a coding system like putting a line over a long vowel, which helped us read, but also helped us remember how to spell correctly when we would write. Because the lessons are in small steps, we reviewed old lessons a lot. I felt really sure of myself. I'm not guessing I'm using the rule. This makes
005a much more confident reader. Saxoponics gave me the tools to read any word, which is the key to becoming a fluent reader. My favorite part of Sax was reading the site words as our teacher flashed a card. We always tried to say the words faster than her hand could move. And this is how we knew we won. Hello. Literacy strategies our teacher used helped me go beyond just reading the words on the page. We had small books we read in groups with our teacher. Those small books helped me understand, think, and talk about what I read. We learned how to use reading strategies like visualizing what's happening in the story or connecting the book to my own life. This makes the book more interesting and easier to remember. When my mind isn't stuck trying to
006sound up, thanks to Saxon, I could use my brain power to understand the story, which is the whole point of reading. and phonics and hello are great tools, but the real goal was always to have me reading by myself. The whole system, hearing sounds, learning rules, and using strategies turned me into su turn me into a successful reader. Today I have one of my latest favorite book reads to show you Alice and Wonderland. Thank you for listening. The reading programs we used work because they build all different parts of my reading skills. They gave me the tools, the rules, and the strategies I need to succeed. I am thankful for all the ways my amazing teachers and my parents taught me to read. It is important for me and all of the students in our
007county to be strong, successful, and confident readers. Reading is not just something we do in school. It's the key that opens the door to everything. When you support programs and our teachers, you're not just supporting a lesson, you're supporting my future. You're giving me the power to learn, to dream, and one day use all these skills to become a veterinarian. Thank you for allowing me to share. [applause] Abigail is gonna stand with me while I read in case you have questions for her. Good evening, members of the board, district leaders, and other guests. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the elementary school principles about an issue that is foundational to every child's success, literacy in our elementary schools. Literacy is more than reading words on a page. It's the key that
008unlocks the future, excuse me, key that unlocks every future academic opportunity. When our students can read fluently, confidently, and with comprehension, they can learn anything. And when they cannot, the entire school experience becomes a struggle for them. I want to highlight why early targeted literacy support matters. And I want to do that by sharing a real example, one that reflects experiences across our district. Reading is not just an academic skill. It's the foundation of dignity. It is the difference between a child who walks into school feeling capable and one who walks in already defeated. It's the difference between opportunity and limitation. Last year, we welcomed a fourth grade student into our school after moving Metro District. When he arrived, it became clear that he did not know his letters or sounds. And to be quite
009honest with you, he had a hard time identifying his own name. He could not identify the 26 letters of the alphabet. And he lacked the foundational phmic skills typically mastered by the end of kindergarten. As you can imagine, this academic gap created frustration. And that frustration showed up in the for significant behavior challenges. He avoided work. He acted out in class and he struggled every day to regulate his emotions. One day he finally broke down in anger. Then embarrassment, tears, and then he verbalized what we all in the room already knew. He couldn't read at all. But what happened next? Well, that's the part that matters the most. Our teachers, interventionists, and support staff came together with a plan. But the beauty of this plan is that it can be found in any elementary school
010in Carroll County. It is called differentiated phonics. Abigail spoke to you about some strategies we use in K through2 for literacy. Differentiated phonics takes place for our third, fourth, and fifth graders. It occurs from 7:40 to 8:20 every morning at our school. Our third, fourth, and fifth graders are placed in groups with peers of liability, and they receive reading instruction to move them forward, no matter where their starting point is. Our student began receiving structured phonics instruction every day. Systematic, explicit teaching of letters, sounds, blending, and decoding. The staff provided targeted small groupoup interventions using researchbased materials. They added behavior supports, relationship building strategies, many through capturing kids hearts that is also supported by our county and predictable routines. And every adult who worked with him shared the same belief. He can learn and he
011will grow. He began matching letters to sounds. He blended his first CBC, consonant vowel, consonant word. He read his first decodable sentence out loud. And when he did, he smiled. A really proud I did it smile. The kind that can change a child. The day the day he did that, he also proudly announced to every adult who would listen to him that he was a reader. And indeed, that day, he became one. His progress though isn't accidental. It's the result of intentional instruction, identification as early as possible, and an unwavering commitment of our educators who know that literacy is a right, not a privilege. It takes action. But his story is not isolated. It's happening in every corner of our county. In Berka, in Temple, in Bowen, in Z and in Central across every school,
012every hallway, every classroom, children are arriving with literacy gaps that require early urgent intervention with intentional action. We can't afford to wait until third or fourth grade to discover a a student cannot read. And when a child arrives with significant gaps, such as our student, whether they are in kindergarten or upper grades, it is responsibility to respond with urgency and expertise while they are in our care. In our district, we are proving that when we give students the right tools, they rise. When we invest in literacy, we invest in every future teacher, nurse, electrician, artist, and leader sitting in our classrooms today, including Abigail, our future veterinarian. Literacy is not just a goal. It's a promise and it's one that we must keep. When we teach a child to read, we don't just change their
013school year. We launch them into a future that positively transforms their entire life. Thank you for your continued support. Let us press forward uni united in fulfilling the powerful purpose of positively changing all the lives in Carol County Schools. Thank you Cecilia and Abigail. Board members have any comments or questions? >> The only thing I would like to say is keep it up. You have made us >> 100%. I gotta tell you that was impressive. And uh I see I see you. I think that's proud parents over there. You have every right to be very proud because I know we all are. That was great. And I got to say this, I believe coming off of CO, you know, it's just been a few years ago, I think that was the biggest gap. And every
014time we've had something like this before the board, we see where we're closing the gap because of intentionality and the uniformity across. I love the way you talked about that, Cecilia. The the way we're doing it collaborative across the the whole system is very important. And Abigail, you are a great ambassador for everybody. So well done. >> Yeah. After I heard her read, I thought, what better poster child for literacy than what we heard tonight. >> Wonderful job. >> Thank you all again. We'll take that as our cue that Abigail did a great job and all your questions have been answered. Thank you. >> One more item. This is on the consent agenda. As part of the Georgia Early Literacy Act and Dyslexia Act, we are requesting to place that on the consent agenda. Everybody
015good with that for for Thursday, right? >> Extra money if it's done. >> Kyle, maybe you can answer that. >> I'll be glad to ask. I'm afraid I know what the answer is. >> All right. >> We need to keep asking. >> That's right. >> And to your point, Dr. Brown mentioned this, but thank our board of education your efforts to has made a tremendous difference. >> All right. So, if there's nobody uh everybody's good, we'll put that on the consent agenda. >> Anything else, Dr. Answorth? >> No, sir. >> Okay. Great report. Great great deal tonight. Now, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Scott Ker for stakeholder engagement. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. Want to start with an update from our CCA board directors meeting. Uh I was unable to attend
016because I was introducing our tech fair that morning. Dr. Angels was unable to attend and Miss Knight was unable to attend. So uh Cindy Clanton gave me an update. It sounds like they had a really good meeting. Um it was at the North CCA and we were able to take that group and show them the new computer science lab at Bill High School. Uh and that went over really really well. And so we're very very excited about what they saw and they were very excited about what they saw. And it's just the other step is we continue to try to create new and innovative opportunities through our classrooms for students when it comes to technology. And uh after Christmas, we'll be renovating a space down at the south CCA to replicate that concept down there
017for the students on the south end of the county. The um another thing they talked about was recent business and community day. Both the north and south CCA this year adopted a little bit different way of doing that. Instead of like one day just everybody come shows up, walks around. They're doing it targeted where they're having a couple of their programs will have a day where you come in and see those two programs and then maybe a week or two later you come in and see another two programs. Uh so I will continue to have Miss Gan put that on the I send you information. So if you can go by and see some of those, both both entities do really really well with that. And then u we always ask for the partners in
018the CCA board to share and uh Mr. Gary Thomas had an interesting update from the hospital standpoint relative to their use of artificial intelligence at Tanner and and kind of interfacing it in with what they saw in the computer lab there that we have and some of the work we're doing with our students. So very interesting uh information there, very timely information. It sound like they had a a really good morning there. Um I'll continue on, Mr. if it's okay to talk about the clergy and realtor breakfast, too. Several of you were able to come to those events. Uh, amazing, amazing mornings. Uh, hats off to Miss Charity Aaron and her team for doing a great job of getting it organized, putting it on. Um, you know, one of the things we did different this
019year, in the past, we've done one in the fall and one in January. We decided that we wanted to get both of them in the fall to get kind of more relevant information to them. earlier, so to speak. Uh, and we tried to do it back to back, you know, like on Thursday, Friday, which actually really worked well. Uh, the PAC staff like that. Um, our other overall group seemed to like that. But we had good visits with them. We'll share a little bit more information about some of the pieces that came out of that at our board advance in December. So, two, you couple that with our community conversations back in in September. These, and we've got other things we're planning that we also will share with you advance about some more kind of
020community input type activities after we get past the first of the year. So I'll be glad to answer any questions about either one of those topics, Mr. Chair. >> Any questions for the board? >> I don't have a question about that, but I did see the other night and he's started giving out the money again. So, I'm putting that in your head so that we can get some of the money that's flowed back to Atlanta that >> Yeah, he's been been in contact with me. So, we'll continue to work with you. >> Very good. >> Anything else? >> We do want to thank uh everybody for working on those two breakfast. I know that's that's a really good thing. And then also I think the fact that we have two CCAs and they're thriving and
021the 12 for life and everything is critical. So, I know that we all appreciate uh having that and the great individuals that make it happen. So, good good [clears throat] report there. Anything else, sir? All right. Well, there we'll move on to Mr. Glenn Harding for organizational excellence. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. A little unusual here on the facility construction. I can talk about these in the same vection right now. So, Mountain Middle School and Temple Middle School are our current projects where we're on site. Both projects come the RKR and Mr. Beers has worked with the school to go over all the logistics plans and just how to move around the school while this construction is going on. All the security fencing has been added. Silk fence has been added in both places. A
022lot of trees have been moved and kind of prepping the ground for what's to come demo and a lot of the concrete that's existing on the site there. Also at Mount Zed. So both of them are on track really just getting started. talking to Dr. Beers at Temple and also Mr. Brooks at Mounticked Middle School. >> Any questions from the board? Looks like a lot of progress early. Good stuff. Anything else? >> Yes. Moving to the field trips. You can see attached to eboard and also field trips. Anybody got any issue with adding those two items to the consent agenda? Very good. We'll add >> one final thing, Mr. Chair. You know, last month we brought forth potential new board policy JCD AF use of electronic devices by our students in K through 8 that
023has been on the set on the table for this month. We didn't have any public input on this and we asked that that be reviewed and put on the consent agenda for Thursday night as well. >> Have any questions about that? Any issue? If not, we'll consider it to be put on the consent agenda as well. >> Mr. Chair, that's all for me tonight. >> Thank you, sir. All right. With that, we'll move on to Mr. Delene Wolf with our financials for the The financial report includes the funds revenues and expenditures were 16.4 million fund balance is 25.8 million to the prior year activity to 1.9 million which is a 3.3% increase expenditures in September total 557 with a balance of million projects. And lastly, we have the school activity report. I'd be happy to
024answer any questions. >> Yes, ma'am. >> How do we receive this by monthly monthly or >> monthly? at the end of the month and there answer your question. >> Okay. >> And then the um I had one question on the report the FTE that's not the actual enrollment. Is that the uh on the report is that the number of students or what is it? I get confused on that sometimes. >> Attendance recent count. So it's measured as >> point out that's K. >> Yes. Kenjust. for this for this fiscal year. We will hopefully know by the spring midterm adjustment. The budget that was approved by the board included a small adjustment of00. >> Very good. Anything else? As always, thank you so much. Good report. And if there's nothing else, we'll move to number seven,
025continuous improvement with Mr. Jerry. >> Miller. Good evening, board. I want to thank you for being at the teacher of the year ceremony for helping making it special for our teachers of the year. They always enjoy meeting our board members, spending time with them. I think agree that it was a great Our teachers were honored in a way. Um there are no personnel actions tonight. We'll take care of those on Thursday night. This time of year slow. So we try to bunch them all together so that we only have to do it one time. And so you'll see those on the agenda for Thursday night. Attached to your agenda tonight, you'll find the proposed board meeting calendar for the 202627 school year. It is for your review and will be brought back up for consideration
026in December. That concludes my report, Mr. Chair. Any questions for Mr. Griffith? All right. Very good. Thank you. And and again, it was a great night and I know that was uh I know a lot of people work hard to put that together and really special. You can tell for all the schools and our our champion teacher, so to speak. It's much appreciated. At this time, we're going to go to our public input. Uh if there's anybody here to address the board, seeing none, we'll we'll move on from that. We'll go to any business items we have tonight. >> Mr. Chair, we have no business items tonight. We >> have no business items. So then we'll go to for review of the agenda for the November 20th uh 25 board meeting. We have no recommendations
027for change. >> Okay. All right. That we at this point then we'll we'll look have for a recommendation that the board meet in executive session to discuss the future acquisition of real estate safety and security personnel pending or threaten litigation and recommendations that are exempt from disclosure under the open records act. >> We have a motion. Those in favor, please raise your right hand. I'll consider some executive session. Stay here. >> Okay. Thank you everybody. I'd like to ask if we have a motion to adjourn. We have a second. >> All those in favor raise your hand. There is no action coming out of executive session. So I will go right down to Mr. Chair. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I'd like to report that two county employees, assistant principal, Megan Day at Ra High School
028and assistant principal at Mount Zion High School was recognized at the NAACP. >> Oh, that's fabulous. Thank you so much, Dr. Brooks. That's that's wonderful. Any other comments? I think it's I think it's worth noting we're at that time of the year where there's all kind of things going on for extracurriculars and and I noticed that we had a lot of our cheerleaders, a lot of our different groups, flag football, different ones. I mean, all kind of groups going out to to compete at the region and state level. Friday night, I think may be the first time that all five of our high schools made the playoffs in their respective regions. And actually, four of the five are going on to the second round. And you know, it's not just about the football. I love
029the experience of everything and all the athletes and all the bands and the community that get involved. And I think our our our groups and I know that, you know, thankful for Glenn Harding and all that team for everything that's done to make that premier here. And it's one of those cores and I just thought that was pretty cool Friday night that that that happened. So good luck to the rest of them this next week. >> Anything else? If there's nothing, I'll ask for a motion that we adjourn. >> All in favor, raise your right hand. We'll consider ourselves a journ and we'll see you Thursday.