001Um, we have majority of the board seated with Mr. Camp on the phone. Mr. Camp, can you hear us? >> Hello. >> All right. Um, board, we have the agenda before us. Um, do we have a motion or do we have any amendments that we need to make? Uh, I've got a community request. I just make a motion to u amend the agenda for the George Hilderbrand community request which Dr. Song will have more about that. >> All right. Did we want to place that after the Chesterfield discussion or before? >> We got before. >> Before. >> All right. So, we'll make that the new number six. Do we have any questions, comments about that amendment? Hearing none. All those in favor of amending the agenda to reflect a new item six which is a
002community request regarding George Elderbrand indicate by saying I. >> I. Those opposed? Nay. >> Eyes have it. All in favor. >> All right. We will now have a moment of silence followed by a board invocation. Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to serve our community and its children. Grant us wisdom, discernment, and unity as we make decisions that will impact students, staff, and families. Help us to listen with open minds, lead with integrity, and always keep the best interests of our children at the center of our work. guide our discussions, bless our district, and strengthen those who serve in our schools each and every day. In your name we pray. Amen. >> All right. Next on the agenda, we have uh Dr. Terry Warup. Thank you. It is my honor to be here with
003you today for a very special announcement and recognition of our superintendent, Dr. Mike Swan. The Northwest Regional Education Service Alliance, which is Northwest Resa, has named Burke County Public School Superintendent Dr. Mike Swan, the 2027 regional superintendent of the year, recognizing his innovative leadership, commitment to student success, and dedication to strengthening public education across Northwestern North Carolina. Known for his collaborative leadership style, Dr. Swan has prioritized leadership development throughout the district by establishing a succession model that supports educators at every stage of their careers, including teacher leaders, aspiring administrators, assistant principles, and new principles. The structure has drawn attention from districts across North Carolina. Dr. Swan also emphasizes the kind of leadership that strengthens public education. His vision, collaborative spirit, and unwavering focus on students have made a meaningful impact not only in Burke County,
004but throughout our region. It is my honor to recognize Dr. M. Mike Swan as our regional 2027 superintendent of the year. Dr. Swan All right. And with that board, um, >> Madam Chair, may I have one second just to thank >> I do want to thank the board um, for supporting me and trusting me with uh, Burke County Public Schools. Uh, your unwavering support with myself, our leadership team. I also want to thank my family. Uh, Sarah and Hadler are here. Uh, Dr. Jack Hoke has been a longtime supporter of my career. Uh, Dr. Terry Warell was my mentor as my first year superintendent. So, thank you guys for being here today to uh recognize me. So, thank you. >> And with that board, um if you may entertain me, I would like to make
005a motion for us to go into recess for 15 minutes. We do have some goodies for Dr. Swan. Um just to give everybody an opportunity to talk to him, take pictures with them, and just let them know how much we support him. Um do I have a second? >> Second by Mr. Johnson. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. Those opposed, nay. Eyes have it. We are now in recess. ended and the meeting will now come back to order. Uh, Vice Chair Wyoff, do we have anyone signed up for public comment? >> No, we don't. >> All right. Next on the agenda is Chesterfield property discussion. >> Oh, I didn't add that. I'm sorry. George Hildabbrand. Dr. Swan. Yes, Madam Chair, members of the board, over the
006weekend, I had an email from a community member um about renaming or or not renaming, but naming a a gymnasium at George Hilder Hilderbrand Elementary School. Uh this was not the first time that this committee member had reached out reached out about a year ago uh during the time when uh the board was committed to revisiting the naming procedure um regarding central office. So, we kind of put a pause on some things uh regarding that uh putting up a uh um I believe we called it a uh refresh my memory madam Taylor uh central office hall of fame wall of fame wall central office um so that's what we discussed >> um so this committee member had re re uh invigorated the discussion um so I wanted to since we weren't meeting until August 3rd
007I thought it was appropriate uh to bring that up to the board for discussion. The the consideration is uh Milton Veron, longtime educator in the George Hilderbrand community across this district, retired uh school principal. Um I personally know the gentleman as well. I know his family very well. Um he discussed naming the gymnasium at George Hildbrand Elementary and putting a plaque on the inside or on the outside as you enter the gym, uh Milton Roadie Gymnasium. He devoted a lot of his career to athletics within the communities uh that he's he served. So that's what I bring to the board today. >> Comments? >> I agree. This isn't just, you know, I I know we had named the gym floor for Coach Crump, you know, a couple couple weeks ago. Well, this for Milton, uh
008it was brought to me as well. And it's been a year or more ago that members of of the George Hillbrand community had brought forth uh to to name the the gym area there at George Hillbr Elementary. And just just the influence and the impact that he had was was substantial and I think it would mean a lot to the community as well as the family. I just want to say that I think it's great that our communities have special people within them within them that meant a lot or mean a lot to the communities as they are. Um, and that they stand recognizable even many years after they've retired or they've left the school system. But we're gonna have to find a we're gonna have to find a lane and stay in it because
009we've had this come up a couple of times. And when somebody has something that's a little bit not what a board member or a or a school system member necessarily likes, then it's like, "Oh, no, no, no. We're not naming anything after anybody." But then when it comes up and it's somebody that everybody does like or doesn't have any kind of um adversity in their past, it's like, yeah, we're going to name I don't care. I I don't I think it's great that we recognize our community members. I feel very strongly about that. But we're either we either need to do it we either need to do it one way or the other way. We either need to stick with the precedents that we have set. And when we have these requests, we handle them
010all the same way as long as it's not, you know, somebody who's an axe murderer. But we need to stick with that request. We need to stick with handling it the same way. We don't need to push it off because somebody has a bad taste in their mouth about somebody or or whatever. or or we need to take them all out and say we have a great wall of fame in our new central office and we will be more than happy to discuss with you how to do that. We're already sort of setting the precedence this board with um the GM floor the other day and if I mean if that's if that's the if that's what we want to do we all just need to remember that that's what the president that we're sitting
011that we are setting because we've had conversations in the past that basically took it off the table for certain people. >> Well, I I mean I just that was just my comment. It wasn't Yeah. >> Well, I I'm I'm I'm kind of the same mindset. um we're going to run out of space. We we are going to run out of space in our county because we do have so many great um individuals who have contributed so much over the years and decades. Um I'm also thinking about the potential future potential um situation if it were were to ever come up where we name something after someone and something happens God forbid, you know, that criminal, not great. What do we do then? You know, um I liked the wall idea. I think it was fair.
012Um last week did did uh kind of tail spin where we were uh with naming the gym floor. Um which is kind of why I would have rather left it to the school to determine if that was something that they wanted to do. Um, but when requests like this come before the board, I mean, it does set a precedent to the community. If we are able to do one, then why can't we do another? You know, what makes one person more important than another or one community more important than another? I agree. We need to figure out a lane, a standard, a process, and stick to it. Madam Chair, we'd be administration would be happy to look at um other surrounding county policies. Uh ours lines up with state board policy. Um but there are
013some that have different criteria. So we could bring that back to you for discussion in August as far as different counties in their naming process. Our policy 9300 I believe um allows that alive. doesn't really delineate between um alive or deceased. Um but some districts do. So that's something else that we could bring up in August at the August third meeting if you'd like. >> This be something we need to actually look into and discuss prior to naming of our new school as well. >> Be a great great conversation topic, Miss Taylor. >> Yeah. So we could we could spend the next month or so looking at different policies around the state and then tweaking our current policy you'd like. >> Yeah, we probably need to look at this this summer and come back in
014August with policy or policy changes, whatever. I'm fine with that. Any objection? Is there a motion on it? >> No, I don't think >> I think Mr. Camp's on the phone. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Did you hear that conversation? >> I I heard not well, but I heard some of it. >> Okay. I had over the weekend I had a community member um email about naming George Elementary after a retired educator. Milton Rooney. Uh that that talk was also discussed about a year ago um by a community member as well and the board tabled it. Uh so that mot that there's not a motion on the table yet um regarding that. So that's that's the process and then we discussed about coming up with a new policy for renaming facilities on the August
0153rd work session. >> Okay. Okay. Yeah. I wonder why why should we rename a facility? But uh yeah, that'll be good to talk about that. >> All right. >> Well, I make a motion that we do that. >> Okay. >> Is that to revisit 93 >> revisit our policy on naming facilities after former educators or people of the community >> or naming facilities. >> The motion is just to revise or revisit the policy, right? To look into the policy. >> I'll second that. >> All right. Okay, we have a motion by Mrs. Rocket, a second by Mr. Johnson. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Nay. Eyes have it. Um, we're will revisit policy 9300. All right. Now, Chesterfield. >> Yeah. Or anything on
016the George Hild brand discussion or is that going to be >> That was the motion just to look at the 9300. >> Gotcha. Okay. So, it's tabled. >> Gotcha. >> Temporarily. >> Um, okay. Chesterfield, it looks like we have uh Mr. Lawson and Mr. Watts. >> Yes. Uh, Mr. Watts will be available uh for any questions uh that you may have after I present what a charter impact would have on Burke County Public Schools. um in preparation or as a prelude to your consideration of how and what to do with that property, Dr. Swan had asked me to put together uh an operational impact uh to the district if if a charter were to happen to uh occupy that that uh campus. So what you have across the first column or first row row 10
017ADM lost uh North Carolina state law requires that for a charter school brick and mortar charter school to open must have at least 80 students. U the charter board typically uses a break even analysis to determine whether or not a charter school opens in a facility. And that break even is usually between 100 to 140 students. But I I chose the lowest baseline to benchmark at 80. Uh I used the average state charter school growth rate of 6% compounded annually. Uh and then I multiplied that times the annual state revenue per student. Uh and that uh at a growth rate of 2% annually. And over the next five years, if we had a charter school open in Burke County, the minimum operational impact to Burke County Public Schools on state revenues alone uh would be
018$3.5 million. >> Any comments, questions? Mr. Do we >> Oh, go ahead. >> Do we have any inkling, any evidence that any charter or private schools are looking into this facility? >> Nobody's reached out directly, but I have had individuals wanting to lease portions of the building and without really going too deep into details about it, like who they are, what what they're with. Uh there's recently a charter school that opened up in the believe the Oakhill community in Caldwell County which is close to that facility that could potentially be um and and I do want to make it very clear regarding charter schools. I'm not opposed to parental choice. um as long as those entities have the same guidelines that we are required to follow per state standards uh calendar law, school hours, teacher
019work days, things like that, testing requirements. >> That was my question. Um, being that I wasn't here for the Rutherford College um, situation, I wanted to know the probability of a private or a charter school showing interest. How long was Rutherford College on the market before it was bought by a private charter school? >> So, the private side, the school that we're speaking of, they they already occupied a facility within a church. Um so they already had their their name established. Um but there again that that's where one entity could slide into another entity uh seamlessly if that were given given the opportunity. >> And I know that um Mr. Lawson, I have had countless conversations um with you in our finance trainings um about the amount of private charter schools around us and the
020amount of money and vouchers that they are um bringing in um at this time surrounding us. How many charter schools, private schools do we have? >> Well, within the county, we only have one brick and mortar charter school. Then we pay for one that's in Avery County, also one in Rutherford County. But between virtual charter schools and brick and mortar, we pay eight different charter schools. And I will also point out that we are one of the six lucky states in the United States to receive federal funding this coming uh year uh for the prol proliferation and expansion of public charter schools within the state. He's being facitious with lucky schools. >> So it is reasonable to assume that with the impending increase in funds for private charter, >> there is a higher probability than
021let's say last year for one to open up within the county for them to begin to expand in our area. I absolutely uh I think the likelihood of that's going to increase significantly when uh when the the the North Carolina Charter School state lobby receives their federal funds. >> And again, just generalities in the event that a charter school did purchase Chesterfield and they opened up their um this will be yet another addition to us having to pay >> Correct. >> pay them. Okay. >> Yes. Correct. That's all I have. Anyone else? >> Um, yeah, I have more I have more comments, but unless I just want to present the realtor's findings myself, um, I need to wait until he presents before I I have my comments if that's okay. regarding the realator's assessment. >>
022Yes. Would you like for Mr. Watts to speak or or do you just have a question for Mr. Watts >> after reviewing his report? >> Okay. So, bear with me. >> Absolutely. >> All of you. Um, the realtor's ASIS estimated sale price for the Hallebertton Chesterfield property and building asis is is $372,000. The realtor's estimated selling price for the vacant lot once we demo the building is $380,400. That's a gross gain of $8,400. But the demo cost that we've been given is $245,000 $620. That is a net difference and a net loss of $237,220. And I absolutely cannot fathom how we can call ourselves good stewards of our school systems capital money, capital funds going into the whole a quarter of a million dollars. There are other ways that we can handle this um this
023month. This does not reflect what >> that we are um listening to our our community, our stakeholders, because I guarantee you if you pulled them, they'd be like, "What? This is a no-brainer. Why would we spend $237,000 to get rid of a property?" Um and how does this expenditure benefit our students? How does it benefit their safety? How does it benefit their educational opportunity? You can make an argument all day long that um we will potentially lose money if a charter or a private school comes into the district. And I'm I'm not advocating for those. I am not. I'm just making a logical point. You can you can talk about the whatifs all day long, but unless you have firm um evidence of it. I I don't see how we can take $237,000 out of
024our coffers and call it a good move and call it a smart move. I know we have a good little bit of capital funds, but does that still make sense? Um, >> well, if I may, >> if we don't have the evidence that a private or a public school or a charter or private school is coming into it and going to want it, I I just don't understand the difference. >> Uh, well, if if I may say, uh, we don't suffer a loss in either scenario. uh what we do is we have a a smaller net gain by demolishing the building uh versus selling asis or offering as is. So our our net gain is smaller uh as a result. But then thus >> can you can you explain that to me? >> Okay. uh
025before demolition cost uh 380 $380,400 would be the estimated uh value of the property and then we would deduct the demolition cost leaving about $135,000 in profit. Uh so it would just lower our net gain on the property. Uh but it would certainly eliminate the possibility of of the operational revenues decreasing over the years due to the loss of students if a charter school were to opt. >> Have we looked into um >> Hold on a second. >> Can I ask a question while you're looking? >> Yes, sir. >> At one point in time, I know Dr. Swan or maybe it was you, Keith, I can't remember, one of y'all had talked about um the county interested in part of that um demolition supplies or whatever remnants left over of it and maybe um assisting
026with any of that. >> They're assisting by opening up the landfill for us. >> Okay. um to to have our materials hauled to the landfill rather than charging a fee. And and it prior to that, as we were discussing building the Chesterfield Community School into community apartments for first responders, educators, we had discussed really high level about maybe the there could be a county park over on that property. Um but that there again through the Dogwood Trust that never came to fruition. >> Okay. knew there was something I just couldn't remember exactly. >> So, have we looked into applying deed restrictions to the sale of this property and not demoing it? Because you can put a deed restriction on on a sale and say you can't purchase this building and put a charter or private
027school or blah blah blah into it. >> Well, we're required by North Carolina state law to make a building available to a charter school if they opt or or express >> that that is a law. >> That's general statute. Mr. Lawson, what is our estimated expense that we're spending out per year on keeping? It was 15,000. I may I may have missed that. 15,000. Thank you. And so we're spending out 15,000 per year uh just to have it there until it I mean even until it was to sell. >> It's about $3,000 a year for lawn care. Insurance is about 5,000 and utilities is about 7,000. Thank you. >> And this is >> You're very welcome. This is zoned um I believe that was in the report. Um I >> think it's industrial office industrial.
028Is that correct, Mr. Watson? >> And can you in layman's terms explain who that encompasses? >> I think I'll defer to Mr. Watson. You can come up use the microphone. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. >> I guess I can sit right here. >> Yes, sir. >> So, in the report that you received, there was a Burke County table of permitted uses for office and industrial and uh that's the guidelines as far as what it can be used for. And as it as it implies, it's for general office uh or types of uh industrial use businesses is the way it's currently zoned. Now, one thing to consider is that with the building, if the building is uh taken away, then there's a possibility of reszoning that for a higher and better use given that location. The
029other thing to consider is if that were to occur, it could increase more interest in that property. Hence, those values may adjust accordingly. So, those are the other factors and that's why I included that suggested list or the list the of uh uh permitted uses under the OIL. >> Thank you. Any other questions, concerns, comments? >> I have another question. Hold on one second. So does that if that redistricting or reszoning is applied for it can because right now it's not zoned as residential. >> It is it is not >> okay. Sorry I don't know what my other question was. If it's if it's not residential, how was the dogwood going to put apartments in? >> We would apply through the county to get it zoned residential through the zoning. >> So, if we sold
030that building, um, if we sold it with the building on it, they could not do the same thing. They couldn't request to the county for it to be reszone. Now, it's I I know county is a little bit different, but when I was on municipal government, we we reszoned businesses and houses and stuff like that to make them instead of residential to be business stuff like that. They have to tear the building down. >> That I can't answer. >> Mr. Watts, do you have a >> I can I can add Excuse me. I can add insight. Uh if it were sold with the building intact, uh there is a process for reszoning, which you could reszone it with the building intact. I know there were discussions about trying to repurpose that for uh housing or
031apartments, that kind of thing. and and I I'm sure the uh the reason for the uh uh response or success with that is the uh retrofit and upfit zoning and requirements as far as uh residential that kind of thing with the existing structure. In a lot of cases, we've seen over the years that in in a repurposing of a structure of that nature, it's actually more cost advantage to demo and start over. Then my final question is there is a clause and I don't have it in front of me on the um demo contract which we have not gotten an update or a validation that that six-month old contract is still valid, have we? >> Yes, we did at our last board meeting. It is valid. We called the day of the board meeting. So,
032it's still valid. >> Okay, cool. Um there is a clause in there that that says this will go up if we incur this that and these other things. Um so what happens if that happens >> Dr. Akre? Uh there was a clause in the contract. Let me pull the contract up. >> I just feel this is going to take us down the same path that we have gone down with central office of oh we're going to save the doors and we're going to save this and we're going to save that. um and it's going to take us down and then it's like, "Oh, you can't put this there. We've got to replace it. So, we need more money." And I feel like this demo is such a bad idea. And on top of that, you've
033got this clause within that um within that uh contract that says if we run into this, we run into that, if we do this, if we have to dispose the any of these things, it's going to be an additional charge. So, how quickly does that eat up whatever we might potentially make on the sale once we demo? >> That's a good question. But here again, as I stated our last meeting, our our team is going to take care of the wire, the cutting the power off, cutting the gas, the electric. Those are the main things that I would say would constitute that language within that. Dr. Akre, do you have any comment on that? We would incur that with our own teams doing that stuff. And um >> it says proposal excludes rerouting, removing, disconnecting
034utilities, new construction or new materials, reclamation, storage or reclamation of any items other than site work, field material, contaminated soil removal, any other asbestous or hazardous materials, and any other work not spec specifically listed above. >> Right. So, they will demo that building. They'll they'll haul it away. They're not digging anything up. They're not constructing any new facilities. We will go in. We use some of the the buildings for storage currently uh over some old desks. We have some uh CTE furniture, CTE equipment in there. Uh we'll put that on Gov deals uh going to to bid out to sell. Uh we won't go into the reclaiming business. We've already discussed that with the builder. uh is there's in is there items to pick through that incurs extra cost for the builders if we wanted
035to get them to reclaim items for us. So it's pretty much we take out what we want, they demo it, they haul it away, they level the land, they put grass seed and straw down and that's it. >> Okay. >> I'm going to say that I agree with Sonia that I think we can call it whatever we want. we're gonna make $237,000 or whatever it is less on a on a what if on a what if a charter school. I mean, that's what this entire conversation I feel like has been about. It's been a there could possibly be a charter school. There could possibly be this. I mean, spending $237,000 on a what if it's kind of crazy to me. I think it's a bad idea. >> We don't know what we would sell it
036for with the building on or off. I mean, I've bought property, two pieces of property for cheaper because um I was willing to tear down the structure only. So, I mean, we don't know what we would get on really, >> which is why we asked the realtor to give us an estimate, >> right? That was that was the purpose of this paper that >> Well, I know we asked last month. >> We don't know what we'd actually get. >> I mean, for that matter, we don't know what we're going to get once we spend the $250,000 to tear the building down. I mean, if we don't trust his estimate, then he wasted his time getting it to us. >> I mean, we don't know how long it sit there on the sale market as is
037for five to 10 more years with more expense to to pay for on upkeep and hazards it may bring to the area. I mean, >> there's unknowns on both sides of it. One more time, Mr. Lawson, sorry. the amount that you gain by keeping it versus the amount of taking it down. What was that one more time? I know you said it wasn't a loss. I just couldn't remember what you said the was. >> The estimate is $380,400 before demolition cost. So demolition costs are estimated I think to be around 245,000. So, the difference between the two be about $135,000 net gain uh versus the selling the property as is at 372. Again, it's not a loss, it's just a smaller profit. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, the deer is $237,000 if we sell
038the property as is versus demoing and then selling it. So, it's $237,000 that we will not make that we will not be able to put in our capital funds. Now, I don't propose that we hold the building forever and ever. When was the last time we tried to actively sell this building, this property? >> Seven. I think seven years ago. >> Four or five, I thought. >> How long was it on the market? >> And it it was it was on the market for several years. Actually, it was five because I was superended. I was acting superintendent at the time. It was five years. They came in a very low offer which typically that's what you'll get. $180,000 my memory holds and it was tax value one 2.2. >> So if somebody offered us $180,000
039now we're still making more money than if we demo it and sell it for 380. >> Not unless it's a charter school. >> And so if memory and that's what we were just talking about. Um, if memory serves me correctly, it was on the market for years. Couldn't sell it. We pulled it off to try to do dogwood. Dogwood didn't go through and we're stuck with it again. >> That's correct. >> Well, it doesn't sound like a couldn't sell it. It sounded like a chose not to if we had an offer. >> If memory serves me correctly, they were trying to we were trying to get a million something. >> No, no, no, no, >> no. That was the tax value >> as listed, >> but we had an offer for 180,000. So, it's not
040really fair to say we couldn't sell it because >> we wouldn't have made anything took >> based on the tax value and what the only offer we had was after >> Well, I get that. That's still more than 135 that we could make off of this 180. >> All right, board. Are we ready to make a decision today on uh whether to move forward with selling the Chesterfield Elementary as is or moving forward with demo? Are we ready for a vote today? >> I would like to make a motion that we sell Chesterfield Elementary as is. >> We have a motion on the table by Mr. Beck to sell Chesterfield Elementary as is. Could I make a suggestion um to amend that just slightly that we try selling it for a time period and if
041it doesn't work then we revisit it? >> Yeah. What would be a fair time? >> I I six months a year >> then >> I mean a year would cost us what did I say $15,000. >> I would make an I make a motion to amend that to try to sell it as is for a year. >> All right. Do we have a second? to have a discussion on that motion. >> Did I hear the exact motion again? >> Well, I believe it's a second. Then we have discussion. Okay. >> So, do we have a second on >> second? The motion is to try to sell property. >> That's the motion. >> Oh, we do. We have a second on that motion. >> A second. >> All right. So, we have a second. Now, do
042we have discussion? >> So, that would null our estimate on demolition at that point and we would be responsible for getting another estimate on the demolition for that later. If they didn't say no, >> not if they honor it in 12 months again. I mean, they're honoring it in six months. Not if they honor it in 12 months. >> We would have to repeat it after a year for sure. >> All right. Right. So, we have a motion, we have a second, we've had discussion. Any further discussion before we move into a vote hearing? None. All those in favor of selling Chesterfield as is um with a time frame of a year, right? Okay. Uh all in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed? Nay. Nay. >> Nay. >> That is
043Mr. Beck and Mrs. Rocket as a yay. Uh the remaining board members a nay. All right, no worries. And with that, do we need to have another motion or did that signify? Okay, we need another motion. All right, do we have a motion? I will make the motion to go ahead and uh demo Chesterfield Elementary. Um do I have a second? >> Second by Mr. Woff. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> You want to do Okay. So, we're A roll call has been a roll call has been requested. Mr. Beck. >> No. >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Miss Taylor. Yes. >> Mr. Johnson? >> Yes. >> Tiana Beachler? Yes. Mr. Wyoff? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rocket? >> No. >> Mr. Camp? And what was the motion
044again? >> To demo Chesterfield Elementary. >> The motion is to demo Chesterfield Elementary >> and proceed with that. >> Yeah, I vote yes. >> It passes. Chesterfield Elementary will be demoed. >> Thank you, Mr. Johnson. >> I'd also like to thank Mr. Watts. He's done a lot of pro bono work over the years for the school systems. A big supporter. Uh so thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Watts. >> All right. Next item on the agenda. Oh, well, I guess we kind of took care of that one with the Chesterfield property. Next, we have the urine resolution 2425 with Mr. Lawson. >> Yes. Now, to the fun stuff. Uh I'll I'll try to be brief. Uh, but I'll certainly entertain any questions you may have and just jump in ask as I go through. Uh,
045what I will say is that we started out uh this fiscal year 2526 with an anticipated uh $4.6 million deficit. If you look uh at the highlighted row, row 17 operations, that consists of our local funds, our fund eight uh special revenue funds, as well as state and federal, which are all uh operations. You'll see in column H that wonderful, beautiful number of 5,575,892. So we not only met and closed our deficit, we exceeded our anticipated deficit. Uh that is uh in large part due to the folks here in the room uh major contributors just as in the meetings that you all were involved with this year uh in preparation for next year's deficits. We went through this same exercise last year uh in preparation. So, uh, you'll see in our local funds, uh, we
046spent $362,527 less. Uh, when I get into the more details of it, you'll see that we didn't contribute that much or spend that much under our funding. We just used that much less fund fund balance. Uh, then, uh, fund eight, you'll see $3.6 million reduction. uh state was just over a million and in federal 600,000. So our plan worked fantastically. Uh and those reductions weren't without pain. U as you can see in the note we are 88.9% payroll and benefits related uh expenses in our budget. So, I would like to thank and I hope I don't leave anybody out, but our exceptional children's program performed phenomenally our advanced and gifted, our language, uh, English learners, CTE department, our custodial programs, maintenance, uh, nurses, transportation, technology, everyone, everyone across the district, the school buildings, everyone contributed,
047uh, to these financial results. In fund one again as compared to our previous year you can see uh in this column uh we spent 97,000 or 97 million 91,000 this year 96 so a reduction of just over a million. You can see a brief summary at the bottom of what that paid for. Uh you you'll see teachers uh 689 down to 643. Uh but at the bottom you'll see 1447 positions in the previous year were paid from state funds versus 1,210. Next, which is really the indicator of our financial condition is fund two because as you all know we spend all funding sources first and fund two uh is an overall barometer of our financial health. We spent $362,527 less this year than last. And we re uh uh received $250,000 more in funding. As
048a result, you can see last year we used $713,000 of fund balance. This year 141. So that speaks volumes uh to what was achieved in the district financially. And here again you can see a a brief summary of what that $20 million was spent on. 3.8 million of that was local supplements. 900,000 extracurricular supplements. Uh charter school tuition and Avery County schools. uh we spent $1.2 million uh maintenance of facilities which is a line share of of the local budget uh was 9 million and so on. I I won't read through each and every line item but you can see the previous year we paid for 85 positions out of the local budget. This year we paid for 92 positions. That being the previous year we paid 18 teachers. As indicated on the state results
049uh slide earlier uh we have fewer teachers. So we were able to slide those 18 teachers back into the state budget uh and we were reduced in low wealth state funding uh by 1.4 million. Thus, we moved 24 office positions, school office positions out of the state budget into local. So, that is the only reason you have an uptick uh in in local funded positions rather than down downward trend. Next, fund eight. Uh that's our special revenue funds. You can see that covers things such as more at forward prek, state athletic grants, gear up, Medicaid, which supports EC services, uh, Helen recovery, etc. We reduced there $3.6 million over the previous year spend. You can see the previous year we paid 66 positions out of fund eight. This year we paid for 55 positions. Next,
050our federal funds. Fund three. We had title one, which serves elementary uh education. Title two, uh, title 6B, which is our EC federal services. Uh, a reduction there in federal spend of 600,000. Previous year, we paid 104 positions from federal. This year, we paid 80. Again, the reason you see the the the downtick in in funded positions, again, we're 88.9% payroll. Uh so, of course, the line share of savings naturally comes from the payroll category. Next, we have capital funds spend was down $1.7 million. Uh and that is primarily the previous year it was up substantially because of auxiliary services finishing out uh Helen recovery uh projects and esser projects. Next we have fund five which is our u school nutrition services. This is an estimate. Uh, school nutrition doesn't close out their year until
051July, unlike the uh, uh, school system itself, but we're estimating at this point uh, a $479,000 increase in child nutrition spend. So, that brief summary, I'll be happy to certainly entertain any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Mr. Lawson. Do we have any questions, comments, concerns? >> I think it's great that our staff came together and found a way to do this, keeping our students at the forefront um of the importance of what we're doing and we found a way to do it. I say we they they found a way to do it um to make sure that we didn't have any shortcomings, any gaps or holes. Um, and I think they should be commended on that. >> All right. Do we have a motion on the table? >> Motion to approve by Mr.
052Wyoff. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mrs. Taylor. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. Those opposed, nay. >> I. Sorry, Brad. All those opposed? Nay. Eyes have it. The uh year end resolution has passed. Mr. Lawson. >> Thank you. Next, we have the personnel board action report. Um and I believe the personnel report was emailed to Mr. Camp. Yeah. All right. Do we have any questions, comments, concerns, or do we have a motion? Motion to approve. All right, we have a motion by Mrs. Rocket to approve. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mr. Wyoff. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of approving the personnel board action report indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Nay. Eyes have
053it. The personnel board action report has been approved. Mr. Johnson. >> Yeah, if I may, real quick. I wanted to when I should have done this before when we were um talking about agenda and that, but you got me thinking about when properties and everything else and the property that it's down at East Burke. I wanted to bring it up to at least um see what the board thought about having Dr. Swan at least come back with some type of proposal on what you know we want to do with that property listing some options stuff like that. I don't know what time frame it needs on that. >> Are you referring to the property >> adjacent to the school high school? >> Oh the high school. Okay >> to get rid of it. >> I
054think it's Cavalier Way. >> Cavalier Way. Okay. just what our options are. >> Is this the property that we were considering briefly for? >> Right. Now that we don't have to anymore. >> Okay. Yes, Dr. Akert, if we can start getting uh some information out. Um, one thing uh Madame Chair, members of the board, I would like to look at possibly getting a little bit of a buffer zone uh and maybe having more of a protection for the school. Uh right now that property butts up against our property. I'd like to kind of expand the wood line so we can get some surveyors and present different options to the board. That way if somebody does purchase that or industry, we're a little further away from that if that's okay with you guys. >> Perfect. >>
055All right, moving on in the agenda. Do we need to make a motion on that? >> No, I'll present it to you guys on the third. >> Thank you. Um, next we have Dr. Swan's uh 2026 contract um adding one-year extension. But before we did um we heard from admin and uh Mrs. Warell um and and their thoughts on Dr. Swan and and his leadership. I wanted to give the board the same opportunity if you so choose um to speak before we go ahead and move into that vote. >> Real quickly, I'll I'll start. I'd just like to say thank you once again. Um, this last year has been a rough year for um you in many ways and you know I thought you you've done a good job. You know lot let that affect
056your um your professionalism, work ethic and everything and I do appreciate everything that you do and I think that a lot of the there's nothing really that I can say more than all your people have already said for you. So, thank you for what you do and have done. >> Yeah. I just want to say I actually said this to Mike before we really started the meeting that I appreciate everything he does. I think that he has our community and our students best interest at heart. Um, and every time I challenge him, every time I come up with a a no, no, no, what if, what if or just a straight up I don't like that or whatever, he always rises to the occasion. He always takes it with the utmost professionalism and we have
057I I feel like we have a great working relationship for that because that's what it takes to have a great working relationship and I appreciate that very much. Um, I appreciate his his um candidness when it's necessary and I also appreciate his um his caring caringness, if that's a word, um when I walked in today, he said with, you know, my my issues here, I wish I had known so I could have checked on you. And I said, I'm okay. But um that's that is Mike in a nutshell and and that along with everything else I greatly appreciate Dr. Swan with a recent grad of Burke County Public Schools. I just want to say thank you. I'm going to give you a parent perspective that um I appreciate your leadership, your commitment to supporting families
058and being available for families um on an individual basis at the school level. Um there's been some challenging times through already through your superintendent tenure even from the start and uh there was no hesitation in working with folks and picking up the phone and and just you know calling who who I would consider myself even just average you know you made sure you made it a point to say hey you know we're working on this we're working through this and this is what we're looking like and this is what the plan is going forward but just communicating that and being available u meant a lot and still does uh your compassion, your dedication, it makes a meaningful difference. It makes meaningful difference for students when you when they cross that graduation stage, you shake their
059hand and you call them by name and they know that you were there. You were supporting them. And um students appreciate that. They remember that. Families appreciate that and remember that. And our board appreciates that. All right, I'll go. I wrote down my thoughts. I'm in the middle of a dissertation, so things get confused and jumbled. Um, Dr. Swan, I do want to recognize you for your outstanding leadership and congratulate you again on being named the Northwest Regional um, Superintendent of the Year. Anyone who has worked closely with Dr. Swan knows that he is not afraid to make the hard decisions. Uh leadership is not about what is doing e what is easy or what's popular. It's about doing what is right. And time and time again, Dr. Swan has shown the courage to make
060those decisions that he believes in that are in the best interest of students, staff, and our district, even when those decisions are difficult. His dedication to Burke County Public Schools is evident in everything that he does. He is thoughtful, data driven, and deeply committed to moving this district forward. Um, I also want to share something that people may not always see. Um, sometimes because Dr. Swan and I work closely together, it may look like we agree on everything. And the truth is we don't. Um, there have been plenty of times where we have disagreed on how to get from point A to point B, but what has always mattered is that we are trying to get to the same destination, and that is doing what's best for our students and what's best for Burke County
061Public Schools. One of the things that I most respect about Dr. one is that he is always willing to have those tough conversations. He doesn't shy away from tough questions. He doesn't get frustrated when board members want to dig deeper. In my case, there have been many of times where I needed to go over data more than once. Um, have him explain it to me like I was too, ask follow-up questions, or look at an issue from several different angles before I felt comfortable. Dr. Swan has always been willing to sit down with me, walk through the information, and make sure that I understood it. He is patient, professional, and generous with his time. He is also uh he also has genuine respect for the board of education and the responsibility that we carry as
062elected officials. He understands that our role is to ask questions, seek understanding, and make informed decisions on behalf of our communities. I also um have felt that he respects that that responsibility and values our role as the board in the process. At the end of the day, Dr. Swan is a strong leader. He is also a great partner to have with this board. He leads with integrity. He works tirelessly for this district and genuinely cares about the student, staff, and families that we serve. His recognition as Northwest Resa Superintendent of the Year is incredibly welldeserved. I am grateful for his leadership, proud of what our district has accomplished under his direction, and fully supportive of extending his contract so that he can continue the important work that he has started here in Burke County. >>
063Yeah. I just want to say something real real quick is not only do we appreciate you, we appreciate the sacrifice that your family goes through. I mean, when you have 11 over, 1100 or 11,000 students and over 1500 employees, we know that you stay pretty busy and so they're willing to to sacrifice, too. And so, we appreciate them, too. All right. Uh, any anything else? If not, do we have a motion to add a one-year extension to Dr. Swan's contract? >> Motion by Mr. Johnson. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mrs. Taylor. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed, nay. Eyes have it. Dr. Swan, your contract has been extended for one year. >> Thank you, members of board. Next, we have
064Dr. Swan's 2026 contract adding three additional bonus days. Do we have a motion? I'd >> like to make the motion. >> I'd like to make the motion to add three bonus uh personal days to Dr. Swan as a as a benefit. You know, we're not always able to do increase based on budget needs and things like that, but I feel like this is a way to say thank you for your time. Thank you to your family's time and we appreciate what you do. >> Thank you. >> All right, we have a motion by Mrs. Taylor. Do we have a second? >> Second. We'll give it to Brett. Second by Mr. Camp. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we're going to go ahead and do a roll call vote. Mr. Beck, >> no. >> Mrs. Taylor, >>
065yes. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes. >> Tiana Beechler is a yes. Mr. Wyoff, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rocket, >> yes. >> Mr. camp. >> Yes. >> All right, Mr. Cheryl, you got that? Awesome. All right, Dr. Swan, you have three additional bonus days. You are to use those within the next 365 days. >> Thank you very much, Gordon. >> Thank you. All right. Do we have a need for close session? >> We do not. >> Okay. >> There we go, Mr. Beck. We have a motion to adjurnn on the table by Mr. Beck. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mrs. Taylor. Any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed. That was a long eye. >> Eyes have it. The meeting is adjourned.