001Good evening everyone. Welcome to our February 23rd work session meeting. Um, first item on the agenda is to determine that there is a quorum. As all board members are seated, a quorum has been determined. Next, we have agenda review and approval. And um, I am going to make a point of order really quick that um, we respectfully move to amend the agenda to include a brief prayer in memory of Superintendent Mark Bird of Wilks County who has passed away. Though we serve in different districts, we are part of the same educational community. When one of our own passes, it impacts us all. I ask that following the prayer, we observe a moment of silence in his memory. and in support of his family and the Wilks County schools community. Prior to the motion, I did
002want to share Jack Hoke, executive director of the North Carolina School Superintendent Association, said of Superintendent Bird. Mark Bird was a champion for the Wils County Schools and loved serving as their superintendent. Having been a graduate of the school system, he provided great support for the students, staff, and community. and his leadership, vision, and passion for the Wilks County Schools will be greatly missed. Mark also made an impact statewide. He served on the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors, where his calming presence made a difference with his fellow board members, serving as chairman of the Appalachin State University Public School Partnership. His advocacy reflected his love of ASU and the importance of that university partnership in K12 education. Mark served three years as a member of the executive board of the North
003Carolina School Superintendent Association who always contributed to the conversation about educational issues. The Northwest Regional Education Service Alliance meets at the Wilks County Board of Education office monthly and having served as superintendent for 10 years, his voice was important to the success of the Northwest Resa. I he attended Jack Hulk their meeting on Wednesday, February 18th, and it was a time to share good news. He was the first to speak up and share his congratulations to a Wilks County wrestling team finishing second in the state. Mark was well respected and admired by his fellow superintendent. Is there a second to the motion to amend the agenda to include a prayer for Superintendent Mark Burke? Second by Mrs. Taylor. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed name. I will proceed
004with the prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight with heavy hearts as we remember Superintendent Mark Bird of Wils County. Lord, you tell us in Psalms 34:18 that you are close to the brokenhearted. We ask that you draw near to his family, his friends, his colleagues, and the entire Wilks County Schools community during this time of grief. Wrap them in your comfort and give them a peace that surpasses understanding. We thank you for his life and for his willingness to serve in a role that carries great responsibility and weight. Leadership in public education is not easy. It requires sacrifice, courage, and perseverance. We are grateful for the years he dedicated to students and to his community. Father, remind us that in our days they are in your hands. Help us to lead with humility,
005compassion, and wisdom. teach us to care for one another, to check on one another, and to extend grace freely. May we honor his memory, not only through our words tonight, but in how we serve those entrusted to us. We place his loved ones into your care and trust you as the God of all comfort. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. >> At this time, I ask that we observe a moment of silence in Superintendent Mark Bird's memory. Thank you. With that, we have superintendent updates. Dr. Swan. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh thank you for um doing the prayer and moment of silence. Mark was a a very near and dear friend of mine. Uh it was a very tough weekend for um not only myself but our colleagues across the Northwest and across
006the state. So very sad. So all right. Um so 100th day of school. Uh hard to believe uh last Friday um February 13th we had uh the 100th day of school. I'm sorry. Um February we had 11 more weeks of instruction left for our students. Uh it's hard to wrap our head around 11 more weeks before uh we have completed another school year. So as you see um in as tradition holds um I didn't have my cane today but my daughter said look you we could take a picture of you walking around with your cane for the hundth day of school. So um I had to I had to leave it at the house today for her. Um so also um something an initiative that we started several years ago with the Sandy Hook Promise.
007Um uh all schools participated. So basically at lunchtime all the as you see up here they had little placards on the table. Uh it was no one eats alone. Uh it's just an initiative that we have started here in Burke County Public Schools where uh students will go in and just try to sit with somebody. Often times as we we see people sitting alone, especially students, it's hard for them. You don't know what they're dealing with. Um it's always good just to have a conversation with somebody. uh that may change the whole trajectory of that person's day. Um so it's very important as you see the smiling faces here and that was just one snapshot throughout the day of our our campuses that participated. Also, um Eastburg High School state archery champs. Um correct me
008if I'm wrong, Miss Taylor, but this was our first group that started in second grade at George Hilderbrand. Um, no. As actually, uh, Ray Childers Aker. Okay. In third grade. Well, they got to practice in third grade, but they got to compete in fourth grade. >> Okay. >> And that was the the seniors from this year, the first group to have the opportunity to shoot archery from fourth grade till their senior year. >> Okay. So, just a couple schools back in the day that were part of that program. And now many of our almost every one of our elementary schools has archery, middle school, and it's even made its way up into our high school. Uh so here again just a phenomenal experience for our students. Um East Park High School team number one uh
009place second and the George Hilderbrand team place second uh in individual events. Several first place winners representing our schools that we'd like to get them here next week if possible were the following uh to recognize them. Luke Duncan, uh, high school boys, Josh Whiteside, eighth grade boys, Isaac Hubler, sixth grade boys, Bailey Bartlett, and elementary girls, and uh, several teams and individuals qualified for the nationals as well. So, just a phenomenal um, outlet for our students to participate in. So, we thank our students for participating, thank our coaches for doing the the extra time away from their own families to do something like that as well. >> Dr. Just one, as a parent, I'd like to thank Burke County Public Schools for just allowing the NASP program into our schools and giving these students this
010opportunity. Great. Thank you. >> It took a took a team effort, group effort, and we very thankful, very appreciative for the opportunity they have. >> It's got a good steam ahead of steam and it's going strong. Um, also like to recognize um a national turkey calling um student that we have here in Burke County Public Schools. Um, so a Salem student, Boon Miller, placed fourth in the P pulse turkey calling competition for youth 10 and younger at the National Wild Turkey Federation competition. Um, so he's he's doing on um a turkey call on his his little wooden box right now. Um, I do turkey hunts, so it's just a little you scrape it and it makes the the the weirdest sound, but if you listen carefully enough, if you're lucky enough, you can hear a
011turkey on the other end uh trying to get closer to you. So, uh, congratulations to Mr. Boon. So, hopefully maybe he can show up with his turkey call and and we can hear that. >> That would be great. >> Yes, absolutely. Also, this is our second year that we have done Valentine deliveries. Um, our students did 2,000 more than 2,000 handmade Valentine cards um from BCF BCPS students, delivered delivered them to Jverson, Riddle, Brotten, Grace Heights, College Pines, the Berkeleys, and Carolina Rehab. Uh, so there again, it's just spreading a little bit of joy with our our student future shows >> for yourself >> what we can do. >> So there again it says visit the comma for tickets but there again we are sold out so hope you guys can make it for that
012night. Um, and Madam Chair, that concludes my superintendent updates. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Swan. Uh, board, do we have any questions, comments? >> No. All right. Hearing none, we're going to go ahead and move on to staff updates. We have school count counselor updates with Mrs. Connie Thompson. Well, thank you. was Yes. >> All right. So, um, my name is Connie Thompson. I am a school counselor here in Burke County and have been for quite a while. Um, I started in Burke County in 2004 as a school counselor at Drexel Primary School, which then became Drexel Elementary. And then I had the privilege to go to Eastburg High School and become a school counselor in the position of my high school counselor, Lean Gendry, when she retired. And then I became the
013school counselor for the virtual academy. And now I'm the school counselor for Burke Middle College. And I'm also the CCP liaison between Burke County Public Schools and Western Pedmont Community College. So just a few years of experience in school counseling. Um I am here tonight because well for several reasons but um the main reason that I asked to come in February is because the first week of February is National School Counseling Week. And so I wanted to come and talk about um school counselors and make sure that um you know you guys are aware of what we do and how we become school counselors and um you know advocate for our profession. I am a product of Burke County Public Schools, graduate of East High School. Keep going. Okay. All right. Um, also just so
014you know, um, our other um, brothers and sisters in the social work world, their support, um, I mean their their, um, national social work week is March 1st to 7th. So, just so you're aware of that. Um, my one of my slides I was going to start with is just about Burke Middle College. I was just going to tell you a little bit about um, us. We are a cooperative innovative high school. I know you guys know who we are. We have around 126 students right now. And um the pictures in in the in the presentation, here we go. The pictures in the presentation show um some of the first Friday events we do. So I don't know if you ever get a chance on the first Friday of each month, we have a time
015for the students to come together between 10 and 12 for, you know, just get together. Their schedules are all different and we want to make sure they have some time to actually um get to know each other. So we do fun activities. It might be making s'mores outside. It might be they're doing karaoke. Um anyway, all kinds of different activities. So you guys come and visit us on our first Friday so you can see them um interact and you know have a good time. >> M and I were over there. >> Did you come for and and Mike promised the next time that he come that he would he would do Just Dance. >> Oh, you're going to do Just Dance. Okay. >> I just got a new hit, so I'm out for a while.
016>> All right. You can do karaoke then. Okay. All right. That sounds good. Um, so I wanted to share with you a little bit about um, and then the other pictures are community participation. You can see here we're in the Jay Irish parade and um, I think we were also making some Valentine cards up there um, for Jay Irish residents. Um, but anyway um, since I've been at Burke Middle College, um, you know, we we've revamped a few things. Um, me and Miss Jandry, the principal, uh, we revamped check-ins. Um, sometimes when our students are struggling, we want to, you know, check in on them more. Um sometimes we assign study hall and uh or they have to go on academic plan. But for the fall um we had our passing rate of Western Pemont
017classes, this is a D or better now was 98% and our success rate which was a C or better in the fall this fall was 95%. Also I just checked and we are currently at a 62% FAFSA completion rate. So um that's changed a little bit since this slide. And again, we have 126 students. Okay. So, this is another reason why I'm here. Um, I have been a longtime member of the North Carolina School Counselor Association and a longtime board member um of the association. I was president last year, so this year I'm serving as immediate past president. Um it is important that we advocate for and you know um talk about our association be involved in our associations and um so that is one reason why I'm here. Another reason is um I don't
018know if you guys are aware that we have our our own school counselor um rubric and evaluation tool just like teachers and in order to ever meet any of the distinguished parts of that rubric um or that tool you have to be sure that you are doing things at the um district, state, or national level. So, that's another reason to be involved. Um, these are a couple of pictures of um a couple of exciting things. Last year during my presidency of the North Carolina School Counselor Association, we got to attend um ASA. So, I don't know if you're aware of what ASA is, but ASCA is the American School Counselor Association. So, I will be referring to that as ASCA. Um I got to attend several of the ASA conferences. They're always in the summer.
019Um last year's was in Long Beach, California. We had a great time. Um the picture on the left is me with the current president, president-elect and Dr. Kesha Bryant, the NCDPI school counseling consultant. And then on the right, last January um one of our North Carolina school counselors of the year actually was a finalist in um as far as the ASCA school counselor of the year. She was a finalist and so I got to represent North Carolina and go to Washington DC. So that was fabulous. a little bit about the history of school counseling. School counseling is actually over a hundred years old. Um it started in the 1900s um as a vocational guidance uh occupation and is kind of where that word guidance came from and then it transitioned into more of a um
020working with students and personal adjustment. Um then it continued to transition in 1952. Um ASCA, the American School Counselor Association was formed and the North Carolina School Counselor Association was actually formed in 1960. And then um it began to really take roots in the 60s and 70s in um elementary schools and then on into secondary schools. And just so you know, in 2001, federal legislation did acknowledge the change and the shift from the word guidance counselor to um the word school counselor because we actually have a masters in school counseling. Um just so you know, when people say the word guidance counselor, it's kind of like somebody scratching their fingernails down a chalkboard. Um so anyway um and then um in 2003 until now we use or we try to use the ASKA national model
021as part of our school counseling programs. So to be a school counselor you have to hold a minimum of a master's degree in school counseling. Um you have to meet state certification and lure standards to become a school counselor. You also have to part um pass a a portion of the practice and um obviously we always have to fulfill our continuing ed requirements and we have to uphold the ASA ethical and professional standards. So last fall when I was at the North Carolina School Counselor Association conference um we um being on the board I was at the what we call our delegate assembly and um Dr. Dr. Kesha Bryant, she spoke about um Superintendent Green's eight pillars of achieving educ educational excellence and about his top 20 recommendations on enhancing um mental health support. And
022um part of that would be to um possibly increase maybe positions like school counselors and psychologists um obviously to address the growing mental health needs of students across the state. Um so I wanted to share with you exactly some of the things that a school counselor does. We are certified licensed educators. We work to improve student success and um that is for all students and we uh work to try to implement that comprehensive school counseling program that I talked about that we use part of the ask a national model. Um school counselors help students by applying academic and achievement strategies. Um you guys know we work to manage emotions and help them learn interpersonal skills and help them um be successful and plan for their post-secary options and um career goals. Um this is a
023list of some appropriate school counseling duties. I did want to point out that um with our ratio to student, we are not a long-term counseling. Um this would be something where we do we do individual and group counseling but only on a short shortterm basis. um for a longer term support, we would definitely refer out for that. Um you may not also be aware that we really are supposed to be looking at and working to analyze data and and seeing where our students are lag, you know, lagging and where we can help them close achievement gaps. So, North Carolina recently um adopted a new um school counseling standard. It used to be called the NCK12 guidance essential standards, but they adopted the ASCA mindsets and behaviors and that is something that is now called the
024NC student success standards. So, we have our standards that we are to be implementing and um it's been a three-year roll out. Um I believe this 2627 school year is the full implementation of our um NC student success standards. Um this slide we made just to how school counselors um roles and um kind of align with the Burke County Public Schools strategic plan that we are also part of the allin promise. I'm not going to read all that. Um so um Burke County Public Schools we um currently employ 35 school counselors um or social workers. Um this year we have 27 school counselors and we have eight social workers. Um I did change this slide but this must be an older one. Um uh I think we had approximately 11,000 students I was told in
025Burke County. So um that would be a school counselor and social worker ratio of about 314 to1 actually. And um which is not bad which is not bad. Um yeah I think this was a slideshow from another time >> from the last time. Yeah. Let me get to the current that's okay. So I also had another slide about some statistics related to youth mental health, but y'all I think I've shared the new one. Y'all can read over that. Um so yeah, so um the school counselor to social worker ratio is about 314 to1, which is pretty good. Um the ASCA uh the American School Counselor Association recommends that there be one school counselor for every 250 students. And I know that that is a goal. That is a lofty goal to reach. Um but I
026do feel like um it is important to have a master's level mental health professional school counselor in each school. Um and ask that in some way and somehow that would be a goal a goal for us to have. Um I don't think I have the next slide at all. Yeah. Obviously our ultimate goal would to be have a school counselor, social worker and school nurse in each school, you know. Um and I think it's important that you know as we are making difficult budget decisions and everything that I just ask that we consider um the mental health needs of our students um you know we've had a lot of mental health needs with our students and we've had some losses in the last few years and I just ask that um you know you you
027keep these things in consideration as we talk about positions and y'all have any questions that um the Burke County the Burke Middle College that first Friday. When is a good time to visit, hang out there? >> All right. You come visit us. It's every first Friday from 10 to 12. >> 10 to 12. >> Yes. >> Oh, you're welcome. We love to see you. >> U Mrs. Thompson, really quick, um for clarity, >> um do all schools currently have school counselor, school social worker on campus? All schools do have either a school counselor or a school social worker. >> Yes. >> And then second question, because I know that we've seen a decrease, but still I think it's fairly important in student crisis um such as suicide risk assessments or threat assessments. Are social workers
028trained and authorized to complete those assessments? >> That I am not sure of. I can only speak about school counselors. >> Okay. >> Um which So short answer yes they are trained in both. >> Okay. >> And do they follow the same protocol as school counselors? >> Yes. We we train on them both on SRAAS suicide assessment and the behavior threat assessment. We train those for both. Yes. >> Thank you. >> I think the biggest thing that I I ask is that it not be one or the other. It's two different positions. It's not the same >> role. It's not the same >> profession. And you know if sometime we could get to man a school counselor and a social worker would that not be >> right. >> Yes it would. >> Now I was
029just going to just kind of add on that a little bit in in as we've hired for positions the human capital as we all know as far as the amount of social workers even and even school counselors. We don't have the human capital. If we had if we posted 10 counseling positions tomorrow, we may not get 10 school counselors to apply for the positions. I would love to say that we could, but it's very difficult. I think Appalachin State just graduated 11 school social workers last year. I'm not mistaken. >> School counselors, sorry, school counselors last year alone. So, it's tough. Sorry, Miss Rocket. >> First of all, thank you. Thank you for the information. Um, and I don't your slideshow that you were presenting or the real one that you were Yeah. If you
030would wouldn't mind sharing that. I think we would all like to be able to read the the little slides that have lots of stuff on it. If you could share that, that would be great. >> Absolutely. >> But I have a question and I'm going to ask you to go back on your slides because I'm going to have to look at the slide to ask my question. So go back. I'll tell you where. Um, keep going. Next one. Wait, >> go forward. I think Nope. Back there. Stop. >> Data analysis to identify student issues, needs, and challenges. The last bullet point on this um you you made a statement, and forgive me if I if I if I don't say this exactly the way you said it, but you made a statement that we should
031or we ought to be or we are capable of whatever um doing evaluations of our schools to see where we are with with what our needs are and that sort of thing. Do we do that now? Do we currently do that? >> I'm not sure what every school counselor does, but I know um as part of um last year and the year before, I was part of a cohort between um Gear Up and AppState. And it was part of um really learning to actually implement the ASKA national model. And um part of that was learning how to review your data and actually um see where students were um you know identifying needs and seeing where we could actually implement um either small groups or or just something to help close those achievement gaps and so
032that that was part of the training and a lot of um our school counselors did um participate in that. >> Some of the data we've looked at every year are um behavior attendance, social emotional needs that come about in MTSS meetings. Um but we've had a mental health screener we've done a few years ago. We taken a break on that because of parents bill of rights because some things are violate the parents bill of rights policy. But um in the past there was a mental health screener. Every kid did but that's been taken a pause for now. But really most of that comes out conversation because the staff knows our students. MTSS meetings comes out as far as we have bonds with our kids so we know stuff that's happening at home. Um maybe the
033DSS referrals taking place. Maybe there's a an issue with attendance because of home life. um situation. So taking all the information kind of anecdotal data as well as data that's um numeric look at those and kind of build a case to help each student individually because everybody's got different issues that we deal with. >> Yeah. I mean I think I would just like to maybe challenge challenge the group itself to to maybe pull together some of those numbers and present us to us. I would love to see some of that um if if that's something that that we think we can do. Certainly. >> I have so many more questions, but this can be handled offline. I'm gonna keep you. Thank you so much, M. >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much. >>
034All right. Next. Uh, Mr. Wyoff, do we have anyone signed up for public comment? >> Yes, we do. Call these people up here. Let me read something real quick. U persons will speak in the order in which they have signed up to speak. Each speaker during the public comment section of board meeting shall have a maximum of three minutes. Just making sure for his or her comments at which point the speaker will be politely asked to bring their comments to a close followed by thank you. uh schoolboard policy, state law and federal law have established separate and distinct procedures uh and uh forums for the resolution of employee grievances, employee complaints against individual employees, pupil suspensions and appeals and political campaigns to avoid circumvention of those separate proceedings and ensure fairness to all parties concerned.
035No person shall speak regarding one a filed a grievance, two pending employee filed complaint with the school district or outside agency, three complaint against individual employee, four employee disciplinary action suspension or termination or five pupil suspension or appeal which may ultimately reach the board of education. Additionally, prior to elections, no persons who has publicly announced or filed as a candidate for public office may speak during public comments concerning his or her candidacy. The board chair designate may terminate any presentation that is not in accordance with these criteria except as limited by the previous provisions. Public comments will be allowed during the public comments period on any subject that is within the jurisdiction of the board. Madam Chair, our presenters this evening are uh for public comment are students of ours who are completing a homework
036assignment. And in light of that, I'd like to make the motion that we lift the three minute uh time limit for these students so that they have a more ease of delivery for their presentations for us. >> I like that motion. Do we have a second? >> Second by Sonia, Miss Rocky. All right. Um, being that that is a motion, do we need to make a official vote on that? All right. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. Those opposed, nay. Eyes have it. Students, the floor is yours. >> Uh, first person I have is is Ja Ja Thor. >> And let us know if we mispronounced your name. >> And I probably did. Hi, my name is Ja Thor and I am a sophomore at East High School. I am here today
037today to complete my first quest in the Gear Up lead program which targets youth to develop leadership and invokes other positive skills and traits. Today I want to briefly advocate for the topic of stress on students. As a student myself, I've gone through my fair share of stress, especially from school. And while I do have a strong support system of friends and family, I want to advocate for those who may not. Some of you here may be students yourself or parents of students, it's important to know that no matter what age you are, everyone deals with stress, some good and some bad. For me, stress was something that would consume my life and when it involved my grades. Despite my parents constant reminder of how proud they are of me, I've never felt like it
038was enough. This caused me stressful nights and made me want to isolate myself from the real world. But as I've grown up and learned my from and learned from my mistakes, I've also learned how to deal with my stress. Stress is something that everyone experiences. Stress can even go as low as affecting elementary school children. It's disheartening to know that many of these kids would be overlooked and have to deal with stress on their own. But the truth is is that when a student acts out, especially at home, stress can often be the root of the problem. Studies have shown that many students who experience stress often exhibit behavioral problems such as feeling irritable or anxious. Among these students, 61% of students admit to feeling stressed, especially over the production of good grades. As of
039now, many students feel stress from many things, especially school. I want to point out that the average stress level for adults is a 3.8 on a 10point scale. While students rate their average stress at a 5.8, there can be many reasons. One being that most teens don't know how to deal with stress in their lives, especially with the effects of adolescence and puberty. Recently, I've talked with some of my peers and new students I've met through the lead Gear Up program. And although we may have differences, we as students all related to the problem of how overwhelming school can be, especially when it came to other extracurricular activities such as jobs and sports. Stress is universal and can be a topic that everyone can relate to. When teens experience stress, many factors right now can
040play into this situation, such as political problems as of now, along with today's economical issues or even problems at home, which can add to the pressure of stress to do well in school. It's important to know that you may never know what someone is dealing with when it comes to stress. But the best thing to help a student is a listening ear and a helping hand. Something I would not recommend is comparing your stress as parents to your children because it can seem very belittling or cause other emotions that can majorly affect how they try to deal with stress. Most important, and the only thing that I do hope that sticks with you today is that students handle stress differently than most adults do nowadays. It's important to know that as a student or as
041a parent of a student, students can undergo many stressful situations. But finding that one support system and finding healthy ways to deal with your stress can help you tremendously. Give kids the benefit of the doubt because in the end, maybe all they needed was a healthy way to deal with stress. Thank you for listening and have a good evening. Thank you, Jia. >> Juliana. >> Is it Juliana or Juliana? >> Juliana. >> Hi, my name is Juliana Underwood and I'm a sophomore at East High School. This year I had the amazing opportunity of applying and joining the lead student coalition through gear up. You might be wondering what that is. LEAD is actually an AC acronym that stands for leadership, empowerment, advocacy, and discovery. This year's lead cohort has 48 students from six different counties,
04230 of them being fellow Burke County students. So far this year, we have had the opportunity to connect with other students in the LEAP program, learn about the election process, and speak with the North Carolina Department of Administration Secretary Gabriel J. Esparza. During our first in-person meeting on December 6th, we got to hear from Doc Henley, who is the founder of Wine to Water, which is a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing clean drinking water to people all around the world. He led us in building water filtration systems that were going to be sent to Jamaica to help with recovery efforts from Hurricane Melissa. The goal of lead is to help build up the next generation of leaders. We do this by making connections with each other, but also going out into our communities to
043see leadership in action. That's why I'm here today. One of our challenges was to go speak to a board and be a part of our community. By doing things like this and speaking with leaders, we are practicing and building up the leadership skills to become more confident in using these skills for our futures. I wanted to come and tell everyone about LEAD so that the board knows about the amazing opportunities that Burke County Public School students get from Gear Up. LEAD is just one of those opportunities that I have been a part of through Gear Up. Some of the other opportunities that I have had through Gear Up including getting to tour many college campuses, some on just day trips and others over a five-day trip. Last summer, I got to go on the college
044bus tour where we went to eight colleges across North Carolina. It was amazing opportunity. At NC State and UNC Wilmington, we got to stay on campus, take tours of campus, eat from the dining hall, and get a taste of the college life. We got to tour some of the labs and try on biohazard suits at Duke. And we also even got to visit the beach. It was really cool to get to do a lot of different things at all a bunch of different colleges. We I I learned a lot about the college opportunities within North Carolina. Gearup also offers summer camps at AppState like cosmetology and design camps and has done many programs with Burke County Public Schools. We also have access to tutor me through Gear Up which gives us access to teachers who
045can help us with our homework problems whenever we get stuck when your parents may not be able to help you. I think that it is really important for the board to see what a positive impact GearUP is having on the students within Burke County Public Schools. Without Gear Up, I would never have the opportunity to connect with students from all over Western North Carolina and learn from so many amazing leaders. I would not be the person I am today without the opportunities and experiences I have had through LEAD and Gear Up. Thank you for allowing me the time to share this evening. >> Thank you, Juliana. Jennifer. >> Jennifer, did we get that right? >> All right. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, thank you for allowing me to speak. I will also be speaking
046about lead and gear up. Uh I just want to thank the programs here provided by Burke County like Gear Up and Talent Church to give opportunities to students like me who are low income. They give us free trips and we get to learn many much about the college around North Carolina. lead promotes youth leadership and to be involved in our community and promote the peers around us to also do the same and step up and talk to to people around us. Right now, LEAD has a quest where we have to advocate for something and speak up to our elders. So today I'm here speaking and promoting um about the youth and how we should stand up and speak about what what are our problems in our community. I have many friends that I've connected with
047and it wouldn't be without the programs around North Carolina. I met a lot of people across many colleges. I learned many new things and I never thought I would do so without per county providing this all for us. I'm really thankful and that's all I want to talk about. >> Thank you, Jennifer. Jennifer, Jia, Julia, Anna, did I get it right? >> All right, Anna. Dang it, I still messed it up. See, look, we all make mistakes, but you guys did amazing. We thank you for taking the opportunity to come and speak to us, to advocate for issues that you think are important and for programs that you see as supporting and helpful. Lord, do you have anything you want to say to the girls to come back? >> Another round of applause. >> Come
048and talk to us anytime. >> I have some questions for them if I could. >> Oh, absolutely. So, are you all 10th graders this program? >> 10th and 11th. Okay. And is it offered at at every high school here? >> Okay. I want to know. Thank you. >> Well done. All right. Next on the agenda, we have potential consent agenda items. We have the open session minutes from February 9th and the close session minutes from February 9th. Um, are we okay with adding those consent items to the March 2nd agenda? >> Yes. >> All right. Next, we have uh board discussion, the Burke County Public Schools finance audit results with Mr. Lawson. Well, hello everybody. >> Hello. >> We're pleased to be here to present your report today. And we're just going to be a
049little bit brief with it, but we can answer any questions you might have. Um, one thing I'm going to do, um, I'm Jim Lauder Milk. This is Rick Hammer. And, um, talking about the individual schools. They're they're keeping excellent records in these schools. They are we went up, we audit every single school. We found very few problems. Very few. You you probably have a list of this in your paperwork, but I I was impressed. I actually worked on part of this myself and I was impressed about how the records of school, individual schools work. Uh what we're going to do, Rick is going to go over the highlights of the audit and then we'll answer any questions anyone might have. >> Okay. Good evening. Uh before I get started, a couple things I'll mention before
050I go over the highlight sheet. Uh the report was submitted to the local government commission in December on when it was due December 31st. It was submitted in early December and reviewed by the local government commission and approved. They had no issues with anything in the audit. Um we did do uh a compliance audit based on your funding, your federal and state funings as we do every year and had no issues with any of the items that we tested. Uh we tested title one for your federal programs this year and then we also tested state public school funds and voced funds this year and had no issues with any of the items we tested. Um as far as the audit report itself, we gave you an unmodified opinion which isn't means in our opinion everything's
051fairly stated in the financial reports and it's the opinion you've always had. Um, and it's the opinions required. If you didn't have unmodified, uh, LGC would contact you and we'd have some things to answer for. But anyways, everything went well with the audit. So, I think you have the highlight sheet in your packet. So, I'm going to go over that um, as we've done in prior years and then take any questions. Um, you can see from the highlight sheet, it's comparative. So, the 20 2025 is the June 3025 audit that we're going over tonight. And then there's a June uh or 2024 column which is the prior year and then a change column just to give you an idea of the change from one year to the next. The top portion is your general fund
052which is the general operating fund of the school system. Uh you can see the first number there. We always start out with cash and investments. You had 3,413,91 at the end of June in that fund and total assets of $3,445,328. You also had some accounts payable and other liabilities that total 614,6969. So that gives you you take your assets less your liabilities to get your fund balance or your equity of the school system. Um the total fund balance uh listed there $2,830,359. The actual unassigned part of that fund balance was $2,261,875. So that's the part that's unassigned or unrestricted at the end of June. uh total revenues uh for that fund 20,586,597 and total expenditures of about $21.3 million. So the uh expenditures over revenues for the year was $713,175 in the general fund. The
053next section is the other special revenue funds. These are um grant monies that aren't assigned to federal or state funds and also some reimbursement type monies. You had cash and investments in that fund. 3,965,428. Total assets of just under $4 million in that particular fund. Liabilities at the end of June were $332,427. So your uh total fund balance in that fund was $3,665,563 and the unassigned portion of that fund balance at the end of June was about $2.2 million. Uh total revenues for the year $6,832,719 and total expenditures of just under $9 million. So, your expenditures exceeded revenues in that particular fund by 2,888,200. The next uh fund that we'll go over is the child nutrition fund, which is your school lunch and breakfast uh programs. Um cash and investment in that fund 2,326,691. And
054the total assets which includes uh your equipment uh in those particular school system or schools uh that total asset number was $3,883,477. Uh the total liabilities uh was just over 6 million and a lot of that is the uh OPED and pension uh liability that has to be included in that particular fund. So that was about 5.7 million of that $6 million uh amount. So for the year ending June 30th, you had a deficit in that fund of $629,682. Operating revenues, which is basically the sales, the actual sales of the lunch and breakfast was 397,468. And then you had operating expenses of just about $10.3 million. So, um, you have an operating loss that you normally have before the federal grant money comes into play. You had 9,878,688. And then under nonoperating revenue, that's where
055the state or where the federal lunch and school monies comes in. Under nonoperating, it was just over $9 million. So for that particular fund this year you had a net loss of $870,992. And then the just for someformational purposes, the last three numbers, this is for all the uh funds of the school combined for the year at the end of June, you had $14,81,921 of cash and investments. And total assets, including all your buildings, equipment, buses, vehicles, and such, $118,599,846. And then that last number is your net position or your equity which includes all the liabilities for the pension and OPAD monies and such. You had 31,338,849 deficit at the end of June. >> That's a lot to understand in a few minutes, but you look through report and see what backs up all these
056figures. Anyone have any questions? >> I do. Um, and I think thank you first off for that. I know that's a lot of work. It takes quite a while. I believe yes, Mr. Lawson. Um, these questions are most likely going to be for you. Um one as we have just received uh the highle overview of our financial audit. Can you clarify whether any material issues or irregularities would have been identified during this audit process? >> If there were some they would have been identified. Correct. >> That's correct. Yes. They would been reported as findings or compliance or uh statutory findings or anything like that. >> That's correct. Second question, if there had been any mismanagement of funds or irresponsible or reckless spending, would that have been detected and flagged as part of this audit? >>
057Yes. >> Thank you. Has the entire Burke County Public Schools budget been included within the scope of this audit? And were all funds and accounts fully examined as a part of this review process? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Last question, I promise. I understand there have been questions about whether anything may have been hidden within our financial planning or budget. Can you clarify whether this audit would have identified any such issues? >> Yes. >> Thank you. That concludes my questions. >> We ask a lot of questions. >> We appreciate it. >> We do appreciate it. >> Any further questions for it? >> Um, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, are we good to add this as a action item on the March 2nd questions? >> All right, Mr. Lawson, just to let you
058know ahead of time, I will be asking those questions again March 2nd in the same order. Thank you, sir. All right. Next on the agenda, we have the personnel board action report with Mr. Recker. Good evening, Madam Chair, board. Any questions in regards to the action for personnel? And if none, I ask that it be added as an action item for next week. >> Any questions or objections? >> Thank you, Mr. Recorder. >> Plain cut. >> All right. Next, we have the discussion item of CalN board CEU credits. Mr. camp, I think that's on you. >> Um, yeah, I was I'm aware that North Carolina Schoolboard Association offers different kinds of trainings and things for credit and we are required to do some as schoolboard members. Um, I've also been involved in CALN, um, Carolina
059Learning Network and, um, and they're also offering uh board training uh for credit and uh I just want to make sure that that was not a problem having that uh being able to get training from that association. >> So according to the reason why we're here is according to the policy um any new provider of board training correct me if I'm wrong has to be approved by the full board as an approved provider. I don't know much about CALN. Um, so my ask a discussion is we have a May retreat coming up. Um, if this individual% >> That's what I was thinking. >> Would it be what do you think about having Cal representatives come to present to us during the May retreat so that we can hear from them about how much the cost
060is, if there is a cost associated, what their credentials are, things like that. >> Sounds good. They're not able to come in person, a Zoom meeting with >> Yeah, as long as they're able I don't have questions. So, as long as they're able to communicate back and forth, I'm good with it. >> We'll do. >> Now, I know you did have a question about the academy, too. >> And there's another there's another group. You know why they all contact me? Um Yeah, there's a schoolboard academy put out by the um the Family Policy Alliance Foundation and um I don't know that much about them, but I'm I'm curious about that too. So perhaps the same time I could look into them and talk to them and get representatives to speak to set that up too.
061>> Sweet board, we're good with that. >> Awesome. Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Camp. All right. Next, we have the EC resolution with Mrs. Grall. Hi, Jesse. >> Good evening, board. Thank you for the opportunity to to speak with you this evening. Um, you all are always a champion for all students and that includes all the precious students in the EC department and we're so appreciative of that. Um, I'm going to present a resolution for your consideration for a vote at the next board meeting and it has to do with supporting all students because every child belongs. So, if you'll just listen. Whereas the Burke County Board of Education believes that every child in Burke County deserves a safe, supportive, and accessible learning environment that allows them to grow academically, socially, and emotionally. And whereas
062students with physical, cognitive, developmental, and emotional disabilities are valued members of our Burke County Public Schools family and their success streng strengthens our classrooms, our schools, and our community as a whole. Whereas the board acknowledges its responsibility to ensure that all students, regardless of ability, have meaningful access to high quality instruction, necessary supports, appropriate accommodations, and opportunities to participate fully in all aspects of school life. And whereas families, educators, and community partners across Burke County play a vital role in supporting students with disabilities, and the district is committed to strengthening these partnerships through transparency and communication. And whereas federal and state laws establish important protections for students with disabilities, but the board seeks to go beyond minimum requirements by fostering learning environments that honor dignity, independence, and opportunities for every child. And whereas Burke County
063Public Schools proudly welcomes and serves students with disabilities and affirms its commitment to educating and supporting every child who comes through our doors as an essential part of our mission to serve the entire community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Burke County Board of Education affirms its unwavering commitment to providing accessible and supportive schools for students with special needs and disabilities. And be it further resolved that Burke County Public Schools will promote a culture of inclusion where students of all abilities are valued, respected, and provided opportunities to participate in academic, athletic, arts, and extracurricular programs. Engage families and as partners, ensuring that parents and guardians have a meaningful voice in decisions that impact their children's learning and well-being. Educate the general student population about the diverse types of disabilities their peers may experience using
064age appropriate approaches that build empathy, understanding, and respect and equip students to support, encourage, and include peers of all abilities and regularly review progress toward these goals and communicate updates to families, staff, and the Burke County community to ensure accountability and continuous improvement. Be it further resolved that the Burke County Board of Education reaffirms its promise to the families of Burke County that every child, regardless of ability, will be welcomed, supported, and empowered to achieve their fullest potential in Burke County Public Schools. And we did this timing to align well with our disabilities awareness week, which is March 9th through 13th. And as Dr. Swan said earlier, um we are um working fast and furiously every day on making the second annual inclusive talent show even bigger and better than last year. We're so proud
065that we sold out and can't wait to um show this off to to our to you all, but most importantly to our community coming up on March 13th. So, um we present this resolution for consideration to be voted on at the next board meeting. All right. >> All right. >> Yeah, we got vote on it next week, but we're good. You want it on the agenda? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, we have uh the arts in schools resolution. >> Good evening. Um much like um Miss Grale shared, we also have a resolution for youth art month being that March is recognized at as youth in art. And so the theme for this resolution is the world needs art. So whereas youth art month is a national annual celebration recognizing the vital
066role of visual arts education in a student's overall success and encouraging strong community support for quality arts programs in our schools. And whereas the visual arts n nurture essential life skills including imagination, creative expression, collaboration, innovation, problem solving, and adaptability. And whereas arts education is a key component of whole child development, fostering critical thinking, cultural awareness, empathy, and personal identity, and affirming that a well-rounded education includes rich creative learning experiences within Burke County Public Schools. And whereas the 2026 Youth Art Month theme, the world needs art, highlights the power of art to connect communities, inspire hope, tell stories, and shape a better future. And whereas Burke County Public Schools is proud to provide exceptional art opportunities for students through dedicated, passionate art educators in our classrooms across all grade levels. And whereas Burke County Public
067Schools is strengthened through meaningful partnerships that expand student creativity, including our collaboration with Toss Art Studio and the many artists, organizations, and cultural resources within our community. And whereas Burke County is home to vibrant public art that inspires learners of all ages, including community murals and the inter internationally recognized Ben Long Fresco at the city of Morington municipal auditorium, as well as active arts councils in Morgan and Valdis. And whereas youth art month encourages students and community members alike to reconnect with their young uninhibited artist self and to celebrate creativity in its purest form. And whereas Youth Art Month seeks to increase public awareness and appreciation for arts education through exhibits, student showcases, workshops, and community involvement. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Burke County Board of Education hereby proclaims March 2026 as Youth
068Art Month in Burke County Public Schools and proudly encourages students, staff, families, and the entire community to celebrate, support, and champion the visual arts. And be it further resolved that Burke County Public Schools commends our art educators, community partners, and student artists for their incredible contributions and for reminding us that the world truly needs art. >> Thank you. >> Are we good to add that to the May 2nd? >> March 2nd. >> March. >> Already in the summertime on March 2nd agenda. >> Yes. Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Utton. >> Thank you. >> Next, we have the second reading of board policies. So this evening you have policies that were brought to you for a first reading at our March I'm sorry February 9th meeting. Um these are the same policies. There weren't any changes but
069we want to bring them for a second reading. Um then we will also bring them before you for a third reading and approval um at next week's meeting. So if there are any questions or changes >> I have one. >> Okay. for policy 2325. >> Can we look at merging that policy with 5040? >> Look at that. >> Thank you. Anybody >> there? Two. So the reasoning here's here's my reasoning. >> Maybe maybe it's the media policy. And so what we have right now is two media two policies talking about media. So I'm saying can we just merge those two so that we have one media policy. >> I'll work with you on that. >> Awesome. And then being that we're okay with the language as you guys are reviewing this, okay with the language,
070would we wouldn't need to bring that back as another policy for reading, would we? Or >> um I think if we merge, it would probably need to go back to a first reading. >> It would go back. Okay. >> Yeah, that's fine. Well, we probably have to maybe look at the title. I don't know. >> And the number may change. I don't know. >> We just have a lot of duplicative policies. >> Absolutely. I'm just saying it'd be easier if we have a media policy instead of looking here, there, and everywhere else. It's just one. >> Okay, that was my only >> I'll be happy to look at that. >> That was my only thing. Any other questions, concerns about the second reading board policies? We good to add that to the March 2nd agenda?
071>> Yes. And I'll I'll move 2325 to a first reading ending a merge with 5040 and then the rest can get to a third reading. That's fine. Okay. >> First yeah, first reading will be >> so end of March. >> Oh, I can get it done by then. >> Awesome. >> Do we have need for close session? >> I make a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Second. We'll give it to Mr. Beck. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. Those opposed, nay. Eyes have it. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone.