001e e e and uh let the minutes reflect that uh all members with the exception of Miss Taylor are present and in place Miss uh hovic is on our way in right now and um as we vote today I would remind board members uh to state your name and your vote as every vote that we take will be a a verbal vote and tallied as such now it would be a good time if everyone would if you have cell phone mobile devices please place place them on vibrate or mute so that we're not to interrupted as we go and uh the agenda review and approval members of the board have been um transmitted to suggested agendas will entertain any additions or corrections I actually have one uh addition here and that is let's add to
002um not Swan we we going this is a year in budget amendment we need to that's a separate action item yes SE number seven are consent items are they not yes in between and seven so like number 6A right okay everybody get that Leslie did you hear that yes sir 6A 6A yeah and that's the yearend budget resolution okay any other additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none I move that the minutes be approved as amended is there a second second properly moved and seconded approval of the um agenda any additional discussion uh hearing no discussion Movic we'll start with you head to you [Music] vote this is for the agenda approval as a oh I'm sorry because I Les's joining us by fin agenda approval yes Wendy yes Aaron yes Leslie Leslie yes
003Seth yes Tiana yes Don yes so it's unanimous the motion is carried um Dr Ham Street would you invoke us please bow our heads holy and gracious God and uh you we live and we move and we have our being and we pray that you give this board discernment and wisdom in the decisions it makes concerning the school system May the decisions always be for the common good and within your will let these prayers in your holy name amen amen please join us uh and Rise as we pledge allegiance to the flag I pledge alance to the flag to the flag United States of America America to the Republic for for which it stand one nation under God under godible indivisible Li and for all all right and thank you Dr Swan we have some
004recognitions sir thank you chairman hunt members of the board good to see everyone today um it is my honor to present some student and staff recognitions before you today um my recognition is going to take place um revolving around the President's Cup National concert band invitation for Freedom High School uh as you you appear in the audience you'll see uh we've got a a group of Freedom High School Wind Ensemble students um Mr Malik Harris Anna Griffin Leah kiry and Aiden Czech uh are with us to today to receive the award and Mr Malik after I'm done he has a a little word he'd like to speak to the board as well um so Freedom High School Patriot winds Wind Ensemble was invited to be part of the President's Cup High School concert band invitations
005in Washington DC in April the President's Cup provides in instruction by the worldclass musicians of the United States military Premier bands including the United States Army Band Ping's own this instruction includes sectionals by instrument small Ensemble performance clinics special performances by the military musicians and a full clinic for each group on the main stage with Colonel Timothy Holton US Army Band retired Freedom High School was one of only 10 Elite bands selected from across the country uh to participate at in this so congratulations uh Mr Jonathan chesen Freedom High School band instructor and our students that are with us here Malik come on up for a [Applause] minute so good afternoon I am Malik Harris I'm a senior I play French horn I'm the brass captain of the marching band and I serve as trium
006music Honor Society president for Freedom's music department I'm joined as Dr Swan mentioned before uh Anna Griffin uh senior and Color Guard Captain Leah kiry senior percussionist and co- percussion captain and Aiden Pacho a senior trumpet player and Lead drum major I'm honored to speak with you today on behalf of Mr Jonathan Cheston our band director the Freedom High School band and the booster Board Association uh Mr Cheston does offer his sincerest apologies to the school board working out being here in person he's spending time with his wife who sacrifices her time with and without him during the school year uh in this week uh spending time with her is his priority we are humbled and grateful for the recognition of our students and program for receiving the prestigious honor of participating in the 2024
007President's Cup Invitational concert band Festival we' like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks from the freedoms band to our school board superintendent central office for their unwavering support to our program and all the other high school programs across the district we'd like to take a moment to present a picture to the school board to be displayed in place of their choosing as a reminder of our gratitude for their General's financial support shown to us this enabled us to purchase new uniforms and upgrade much needed and long awaited instrument with these funds we able to purchase 180 uniforms five marching tubas two concert tubers a contra based clarinet and a championship drum line instrument from the 2022 Blue Devils drum and bugle core our students have already begun to maximize the new equipment and
008have shown many successes this past school year and many promises for the future it's important that students see their Administration their superintendent central office staff and School Board support for activities like those Fountain Fine Arts including band choir theater or Visual Arts and it's so exciting to have a school board that realizes this importance uh because it's more than just an elective it teaches discipline it teaches leadership teamwork it gives us skills that last a lifetime and it allows us to experience different cultures periods of time and even fictional realities and I am very confident when I say the music department at Freedom High School and the other schools are a place of home and we sincerely appreciate your supporting us and our craft as we continue to as we seek to continue the tradition
009of Excellence at Freedom High School so thank you board may I invite you down to uh receive the guests and if I would like to add to the crowd in our board that Mr Malik was the one of the leads in The Little Mermaid showing uh at the comma a couple months ago so I took my family to that showing and it was Mr Sebastian so did a great job there as well anyone else in the crowd were you guys in the play no all right and at this time once again Mr Malik Harris Anna Griffin Leah kiry and Aiden PCO congratulations guys please come forward [Applause] oh man you watch yeah how many board members yes you atast absolutely we [Applause] all righty that was nice that was very nice the uh next item
010up is an update from uh Mr Lawson uh and that is it should be fair labor standards act not federal care to make that change on your agenda Mr Lawson good afternoon uh have a little good news to share with you today after last week's in-depth discussion uh concerning uh this new Fair labor standards uh act um directive uh I'm going to read this verbatim as crafted by our attorney uh so I don't don't deviate or or say anything incorrect uh Burke County Public Schools is preparing to implement new federal regulations under the federal uh Fair labor standards act regarding certain exempt employees these new rules from the Department of Labor take effect July 1 and a few employees may be reclassified as non-exempt and move from salary to hourly pay Burke County Public Schools
011will be no notifying any affected employees uh of this change in addition to the new regulations the flsa requires employers to pay for time work during a particular pay period thus rather than paying in advance BCPS employees who are non-exempt under the flsa will need to be paid for time worked in AAR which is unlike our current method going forward these employees will continue to receive compensatory Andor overtime as they always have to all employees time to adj uh to allow employees time to adjust Burke County Public Schools will not implement this change until August of 2025 beginning in August of 2024 we will hold informational sessions regarding this adjustment with the affected employees so they can ready themselves for this change in August of 2025 uh this official release will also contain links to
012the more in-depth documents that we went through at our previous uh work session now what uh what if any action does this require I don't think there's any action required on this particular uh you approved everything technically that needs to be approved uh at our work at our special call meeting last session this is simply a uh delay in the implementation of paying in rear um we will not be doing the bridge Gap either uh chairman hunt hold get my microphone turn on as was discussed in the previous meeting meeting as was discussed in the previous meeting we talked about doing a bridge Gap uh type of a loan we'd give the employees $800 and then take that's actually what we voted on that's what you voted on we will not be doing that in
01325 either um so we will not need to do that because we're going to give information items throughout the course of this year uh for our employees to be better prepared for that so do we have a need to repeal that action then that we took yes I I believe that would be a good practice to repeal that action right now I so move is there a second second second so the motion is to remove the um the decision we previously made at the meeting of the 17th regarding a bridge loan correct that would have been assigned to lock accounts payable for 66,000 so that is correct any questions or comments been move property second any comments I have one what caused the change in this did did speak I'm sorry what caused the change
014in this was it Chris did he find out some more information yes the techn the technicality that allowed us to delay this is the fact that all teacher assistants were the prim which was the group necessitating of of originally the action being taken as quickly as as we were trying to uh accomplish uh they are classified as non-exempt and they are paid based on time worked it's just the methodology that we use to pay in advance so that is technically what we want to correct in the coming year but by all Le legal uh means we are we're we're okay for this year we got a little more time so we have some time yes all right thank you Leslie you have questions Leslie Leslie yes sir do do you have questions yes sir I
015just want to make sure that I'm understanding everything correctly we are repealing our decision from last week because now it is our understanding that there is more time allowed to transition so we're able to give enough heads up notice for it to begin the next school year that's correct that's correct right any other questions or comments all right uh hearing none start to him Street vote how do you vote Tiana yes Seth yes Leslie Leslie yes Aaron yes Wendy yes Jane yes uh the Motions carried unanimously next item uh Mr Lawson the year in budget resolution yes uh these tend to come around the later in my career I get the the quicker it seems to happen uh again it's uh time to present the year end financial report uh to you the board uh
016apologize that it wasn't on the agenda but as is uh always the case this is uh a process that the finance department's working over the weekend and even into the day of of us uh sharing this information with you in order to get this accomplished uh Burke County Public Schools I'll start and I have it up on the screen I've also shared with your you uh in your email a link to this report uh and I'll just start with our local funding uh we have a budget column a previous year actual and then our final uh results for this year uh I'll speak primarily uh final to previous year uh as you can see in our local budget uh we received a 22.6% incre increase uh that's due in large part the action that you
017the board in in in uh um with the County Commissioners took to repeal old legislation in order to allow uh us to uh have a more robust u local operating uh budget this also allowed you the board to approve one of your high priority items which was to restore certified supplements for teachers which had been frozen since 2017 uh I will say that uh to that certified supplement uh that what this accomplished is it resulted in an increase of between $230 and $992 to 534 certified staff and an additional 5 $131 to $846 to 367 certified staff what I found interesting in those numbers was not necessarily the dollars for the teachers but the makeup of our current teaching staff uh which means that 41% of our current teaching staff have been hired since uh
018next fund which is our special re well let me get back to uh to the local local primarily what that pays for are school supplies expenses and supplements facility support family Mentor program Charter Schools the vocational rehabilitation program and our Jonas Ridge kids that attend uh the Avery County School System next we have fund 8 which is refer are called commonly as our special uh Revenue fund uh as you can see there's an increase there of 12.4% this pays for more at four prek we received a State athletic Grant that's our Gear Up program Medicaid uh Local transportation uh the school nutrition program chart Wells Grant and our family Mentor program now next our state fund you'll see is a very very minimal 6% increase as you all are aware we were reduced substantially this
019year in low wealth funding which I'm happy to report for the coming fiscal year has been restored but we reduced substantially so that is why you only see the that nominal increase of 6% in state funds which is our largest and primary source of funding from those funds we pay teachers taas principles assisted principles counselors instructional staff school office staff our custodians transportation department instructional support central office uh and our required by federal law school nutrition match funds next is our federal funding you can see there a 20% decrease which we had anticipated we had prepared for that's the reduction or the the expiration of Esser funds uh so that was anticipated did not create any issues unlike a lot of districts uh around the state uh we committed our err funding to non-recurring expenses
020those expensive expenses have ended uh with the exception at this point of four School nurses which we are continuing to support until September 30th from Esser indirect cost collected by the district next our Capital as you can see increased by 40% that is just a beefing up again with ex erer funds expiring we were we're back to relying more heavily again as it was historically uh the case preco uh to relying on our own local Capital funds for school building projects next is the school nutrition program unlike all of our other funds School nutrition program is not required uh to have their year closed by June 30 uh but miss Fender and the uh School nutrition office they've given me their best estimates at their results uh as you can see it's a very robust
021increase of 24% over the previous year I think you understand from Cheyenne uh report last week uh Cheyenne from chart Wells the increase uh meal participation and this is a direct result of that uh we anticipate that the school nutrition program is going to use about $328,000 in fund balance this year uh that's not a loss to the program program but as you recall we were required by DPI to have a spin down program to to spend some cash uh so Mr wall has invested heavily uh in Capital Improvements uh and things to satisfy those requirements net of equipment and capital investment we're at about a 300,000 plus dollar uh profit I'd like to read through a few bullets points then I'll talk a little more uh specifically about fund two and our fund balance
022which is what everyone wants to know fund balance contribution to or how much did you use uh only $441,000 of this year's uh erer uh money was spent uh leaving a $110,000 balance which we're currently using for uh remediation and tutoring uh we're still Burke County Public School schools ranked third in the state of North Carolina in Esser utilization and as I mentioned earlier we do not face the erra funding Cliff that many districts across the state are facing again what happens there is uh many districts committed those non-recurring eser funds to recurring expenses let's say salaries and now the SRA funds have ended so they're looking at a stop Gap uh and and that either involves Cuts or additional revenues 82.9% of our entire $153 million budget was Labor and employer benefits cost again
023uh as far as the reduction in state funds our Saving Grace was the fact that local funds were able to be uh bumped up uh when we had actually received for the three previous years consecutive uh no increase in local funding all the while we were absorbing wage increases in employer benefits cost uh as as well as uh raging inflation uh a couple of notable departments uh that that performed uh financially performed very well this past year uh are auxiliary Services Department uh led by Dr acard uh they have an annual budget of around $8.7 million out of the $8.7 million budget uh he was $1600 under budget for the year um our EC Department which is one of the operations that has single operations with a a a very large budget their annual budget
024is around 13 million uh Miss Desiree Kirk Patrick under her leadership this year uh of that 13 million budget was $357,000 under budget I always like to recognize the folks in my department and their contribution uh to the operations uh there's Miss Amy Abshire Dana Thomas and Colton Gara that make up our payroll department they've done a phenomenal job this year processing the many payrolls uh making sure everyone gets paid uh there's Mark Buchanan Brook Zimmerman and Penny Smith that make up our accounts payable department uh they've kept the vendors paid uh even given the high volume and influx of uh covid funds and and what that involved as far as uh the volume of the invoices and then Miss Ashley snip and Angela gden both new to their positions uh purchasing manager and asset
025manager uh did a phenomenal job this year uh keeping up getting up to speed getting educated learning their jobs and managing uh these folks along with all of our school bookkeepers uh they're what brings all this together uh an impact and i' I've mentioned this before and it can continues to grow and thank goodness the staff to include bookkeepers to include all the finance staff that I've just mentioned finally can breathe uh over preco our general ledger account system we managed about 18,000 active accounts during the covid era that account uh those active accounts have grown to 65,000 active account codes so we are all so thankful not that we're ungrateful for $45 million in covid funds much appreciated uh and needed during this period but we are so ready to go back to managing
02618,000 accounts versus 65,000 uh also like to mention that overall as a district Dr Swan Dr Alton our entire uh school system I I I participate in a weekly regional finance officer meeting via zoom and then a monthly uh finance officer meeting that's Statewide and I'm proud to say I work in Burke County Public School because we do not face a lot of issues it's just the culture in Burke County Public Schools we don't face a lot of the issues and things that I hear hear about weekly and hear about monthly that other Finance officers deal with and I'm appreciative for that and that also goes for you a supportive board we all thank you now I'll just jump to fun two specifically because there's one number in all of our $153 million of financial
027operations that's an indicator of our overall Financial Health and that is our fund balance or our savings account if we contribute to fund balance we've operated wholly under budget if we use fund balance we of course have spent more than we brought in we had originally this year forecasted to contribute again it's in local but it's indicative of our entire Financial operations we had uh forecasted uh to contribute $28,000 to the savings account uh I'm happy to say that we ended up contributing 58,000 so again we're basically at 153 million doll budget uh we were point I think it's something like 0000 00003 4 17% under budget you really you really should try to do better maybe maybe maybe next year maybe we can get there next year uh but uh that's all I have
028uh but I'm certainly happy to entertain any questions you may have uh sorry it's so brief but as I said uh in order to wrap all of this up in uh in the month of June requires a lot and takes a lot and it's uh it's done thoroughly but hly uh and then this report is prepar prepared uh very quickly and often times not very uh just uh uh just before we meet but thank you you you require action on this sir uh yes sir I say move that we accept the U yearend budget resolution as described by Mr Lawson is there a second second and properly moved and seconded is there any discussion Leslie did you hear all that yes sir I heard no discussion from from mayor I I do have a question
029Mr Lawson you said that out of the eser funds we had four nurses that we paid their salaries out of the SR funds is that correct did I understand that correct During the covid period of course we hired additional nurses yes uh we currently uh through attrition have been get getting that back down to our Target number uh uh but we still have four covid nurs that are set to uh uh uh their employment expires September 30 and although we've exhausted all of our Esser funds we did collect Esser indirect cost which means that's money that we charge in order to facilitate manage and and and implement the programs under Esser and we're using those funds collected to pay their salaries through September okay but will we lose those foreigners yes ma'am that's what and
030they're they're aware of that and when they were originally hired they knew that so it it's not coming as a surprise it's not a reduction in force or a layoff uh they they knew when when they uh joined us that it was through September 30 of 2024 is there a way that we can look at retaining those four positions Dr Swan we have put out the feelers for Dogwood trust uh we've had conversations with the hospital as well financially we're not in this position we're still going to be four nurses above where we were preco right um so our numbers are still increase compared to State numbers um I believe Mr Lawson ran a report and regionally we well off we're better off than most districts our size regionally uh in the nurse student ratio
031um I want to say nurse student ratio I don't see marand in the room is around 1 to 600 is that I I think when we get to our 18 I think I think if I don't hold me to this and and if I'm wrong I'll get back with you and correct it but I think we were 1 to 431 uh when we get to the 1 to 18 uh the recommended State ratio is 1 to 750 although there is an initiative in Drive funds haven't been identified at the state level yet uh to be able to provide a nurse at every school which is what we would love to do but there's going to have to be funding to support that we continue to advate much much better than other school districts that's fantastic
032yes and we continue to advocate for that state level as well absolutely okay thank you sir any other questions or comments hearing none all in favor Jane we'll begin with you yes Jane yes Wendy yes Aaron yes Leslie Leslie yes Seth yes Tiana yes yes Don yes uh motion is carried unanimously thank you thank you thank you and thank your staff for everything that you folks do we certain it's nice to be able to depend on accurate information I think we'll clap for those [Applause] absolutely all right um great job are there any objections to the uh anything on the consent agenda I think I just CLI some on here well I move approval uh of the consent items um any discussion none Dr H Street will'll start the voting with you D yes Tiana
033yes Seth yes lesle yes Aaron yes Wendy yes Jane yes and the consent item motion is carried thank you Mr Recker Personnel Action Report with the addendum board members if you have questions I would remind you to refer by number you have any comments sir no sir looking for um the board's vote for approval please any questions or comments on the board uh hearing none is there a motion for approval motion is there a second second been properly moved and second at approval of the Personnel action report and addendum as uh presented any further discussion hearing no discussion we'll start with H Street all in favor say i d i Tiana I Seth I lesle I Aaron I Wendy I Jane I and motions carried unanimously thank you sir uh righty Dr Swan uh anything
034you want to remind us of on the temporary and permanent easements no sir just as I mentioned last week they're basic easements where we'll still own the property they'll have access to those easements uh nothing will obstruct us we have checked with our attorneys and prepared that easement for the board okay what's the pleasure of the board regards to item number B 7 B I move approval been moved there second second second improperly moved and seconded to authorize the temporary and permanent easements vales Bluffs as has been previously discussed with the board any discussion hearing none uh mov we start the voting with you Jane yes Wendy yes Aon yes Le yes Seth yes TI yes yes motion is carried unanimously onean you have you have the action sir okay um what is the required
035action here Dr Swan on the on the training credits so I I need the board to approve the trading credits that I'm going to submit to the State Board um the workshop the workshop and then some of the credits that have happened at our fall conference for some other board members that attended the fall conference in Greensboro right so yes I say move approval is there a second I'll second properly moved uh and seconded approval for the board of education training credits has been discussed any additional comment or discussion hearing n all those in favor Jame start Jane yes Wendy yes sharen yes Lesley yes Seth yes TI yes done yes and the motion is carried unanimously thank you Dr Aon my resolution my NC resolution yes as presented at the last meeting by Dr
036Kim case who's with us again today um we're looking for the board to approve the resolution for the my future NC uh partnership for postsecondary um credentialing for our um folks After High School and what's the pleasure of the board in regards to this so discussed last week I'll move approval of the resolution is there second second second sorry been moved and properly seconded approval of the resolution indicated future North Carolina is there any discussion or comment hearing none all those in favor Jane we'll start with you Jane yes Wendy yes Aaron yes yes Seth yes Tiana yes done yes motion's carried unanimously thank you Miss case where is Miss case she still thank you for coming and that's carried Dr alen the second reading of certain policies please so these aren't before you for
037a second reading today um any questions or concerns if not I'd ask for approval board members you have those in front of you will take a moment are there any uh questions concerns comments and these are for the second reading everybody looks fairly satisfied is there a motion motion to approve second second properly moved and seconded for approval of the second reading reading of board policies as presented in your packet any additional discussion or comment heing none we'll start the voting Dr Ham Street uh I yes Tiana yes Seth yes Les yes Aaron yes Wendy yes Jane yes and the motion is carried and all those are approved at second reading thank you do for your work the um last item before public comments can we uh go ahead and have the podium begun to
038get moved and put in place um Mike let somebody else do it cuz we're getting ready to talk about you they got it hopefully in a nice sort of way um one of the one of the main responsibilities of a board of education uh is to hire and supervise the superintendent um and uh that is in fact what we uh we do with with Dr Swan and and we do it in in a few ways um obviously uh methodology involves our day-to-day communication our day-to-day observation of what the superintendent does and I think it's fair to say that off S office spend uh quite a deal of time um observing and actually seeing uh what he does community feedback which is obviously a big part of it and and things we do twice a year
039is uh about in December or January we meet just a u we just take a special time in Clos session since it is a Personnel matter to meet with the superintendent and just have a uh a two-way very Frank discussion with his performance uh and quite frankly give and take between um how the board May what he's trying to do and maybe not and uh these discussions um are very very Frank um and uh and and just laid out very very candidly and very honestly and uh I think we've had um pretty good success with with that sort of cander and uh and honest honesty especially certainly with uh with Dr Swan we um in uh in May typically is when we do a final evaluation or an annual evaluation um of his overall performance
040from uh the previous year and that has taking place that actually took place at our our Retreat on May 6th and 7th um and so we have reviewed his performance over the past year and we've conducted a formal evaluation um of him uh each board member completed an evaluation and on the 7th of May the board discussed its final evaluation summary with Dr Swan and identified strengths and areas for Focus uh in the coming year we are extremely pleased with Dr Swan's performance some of Dr Swan's strengths identified by the board include um uh exercising and creating a very open environment with staff hopefully to address pertinent problems that keep popping up and overall how to effectively manage a large and very complex organization which is what we have here you've heard $153 million budget
041and over 1500 employees that's it's pretty dating task and and I think Dr Dr Swan has uh has through his good selection of Staff which I think is another compelling point that I have seen with Dr Swan um you can't do it all by yourself and he actually knows that U and so your strength is going to be seen in the professionalism and the education and experience of staff that you're able to recruit um and and help you do the bidding that you need to do and I think you do that well among among other things what I'd like to do right now is just open the floor for a moment and give each board member an opportunity to um uh discuss for a moment his uh his performance so let's see Dr Ham Street
042let's start with eer well U I think uh Mr huner capsulized it well and I think we're fortunate here to have uh Dr Swan as our chief executive and uh personally you know a lot of things you don't see that we see I've never picked P up the phone that he didn't just call me back and if there was ever a problem and uh and I think that's an important thing in relationship with the the superintendent in the board I find him very open to suggestions and listening to what he has to say I've seen him make some changes in things and turn around and say well maybe I need to think about that and been real responsive to it but we're lucky to have him fortunate to have him and I'm prayerfully thankful we
043keep keep you there all right well to Echo what everyone else said you're amazing you've been amazing since I've been a part of this board um I throw random ideas at you random concerns and you always tackle it with a smile on your face if you don't know the information you're quick to get it um because you're focused on being thorough and correct and I appreciate that especially with the district that we have and the populations that we serve um you have a positive overall demeanor the people in the Schools teacher staff parents parents students all speak highly of you I extremely proud of the work that you do and the work alongside you thank you well everybody took what I was going to say no um you know we've not always seen ey ey
044which and we shouldn't but um just like Don said with the phone calls sometimes it's a phone call or a text and it's early as 5:00 a.m. and as late as midnight but um you're always working and you know we appreciate that I know everybody else does because you're always there and you're always available um you do a great job you're a great person We Appreciate You Les next one I think you know I guess an an all Encompass kind of thing um you are the example of of the culture that our district and our board want to project and so it's known in our community that you have an open door and listen mirr for issues and you're always looking for ways to overcome stigma from the previous administration and I think one of
045your gifts like I've said before is your ability to build relationships and I think that's what helps you and helps our our district as a whole overcome any other stigmas that may have been set prior and uh I just feel like you're you're always goal oriented to leave it better than you found it so I'm I'm so glad that you're with us and um I know there's so many more new things and positive things to come and and we're excited about that we we appreciate you thank you so much thank you Mike what I want to say is what I like about you the most is that you care and that you are very passionate about public education and that shows in everything that you do and um you and I kind of grew up
046in this system together um and it's just been a joy to see that growth in you as a professional and I again I just appreciate the love that you have for Burke County Schools I would say my uh Dr Swan that uh it's been an honor to serve with you um and Dr auton you both make you selected the right person to be your right hand and uh it goes in to say how you deal with everything in the schools and hiring our staff and best Educators that we can get and it's just been truly an honor to work with you I want to still encourage you to take time off because you are always here you're always there for us you never miss a beat when we reach out to you you reach immediately
047back and and I think all of us feel that that has been a tremendous support for us and the love for you that you have for our 12,000 students and our staff um is tremendous to all of us so um caran as you have been and please remember that you have a family too and we want you to continue to take time for your family as well because you take time for all of these families thank you very much it's been an honor sir thank you well and again uh thank you Dr Swan well if you insist I I just I just want to thank the board for the unwavering Support over the last several years uh to give me a chance uh I wake up every day rejuvenated every single day I come in
048work uh work with great students staff um so I'm I'm excited to continue to do what I'm doing so thank you well I the only other thing I was going to say in as I've gotten to know you over the past well eight years really is if uh if Mike Swan told me a rooster could plow I'd hook him up and that's how much confidence uh I I have in m and know we don't always agree with everything heaven forbid we should um but we do work it out yeah and uh and I think that's the spirit in which you can have a healthy organization and I do think you do so thank you again for everything um obviously with discussions with the board too I'm prepared to to uh make a uh to put
049a motion in place here to um effective July the 1st direct a one-year contract extension to Dr Swan and a $220,000 salary increase which Dr Swan can allocate at his discretion to annual salary Andor uh to a retirement contribution from the board and five use it or lose it in annual Personnel lead days which is not unlike what we did this past year and that's spoke to what uh Mr hovic just said and a uh $300 increase to the superintendent of to the the vehical allowance um especially with this the significant amount of traveling you do not only in the county but from necessary meetings around the state um takes wear and tear so that's the motion is there a second second it's been properly moved and and seconded the uh items mentioned in terms
050of increased benefits to the superintendent any additional discussion or comment hearing none all in favor Mr hovic Jane yes Wendy yes Aaron yes lese yes Seth yes Tiana yes Don yes and the motion's carried and so indic indicated thank you Dr Swan now our uh public comments section Mr Johnson thank you Mr chair it's time for our public comment section or today's meeting not tonight's meeting um before we get started read a few rules here 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 for his or her comments at which point the speaker will be politely asked to bring comments to a close followed by thank you School Board policy state law and
051federal law have established separate and distinct procedures and forums for the resolutions of employee grievances employee complaints against individual employees pupil suspensions and appeals and political campaigns to avoid circumvention of these separate proceedings and ensure fairness to all parties concerned no person shall speak regarding a filed grievance pending employee complaint filed with the school district or an outside agency complaint against individual employees employee discipline disciplinary action suspension or termination or pup suspension or appeal which may ultimately reach the Board of Education addition additionally prior to any election no person who is publicly announced or filed as a candidate for public office may speak during public comments concerning his or her candidacy the board chair or designate May terminate any presentation that is not in accordance with any of these criteria except as limited by previous
052Provisions public comments will be allowed during the public comments period on any subject that's within the jurisdiction of the board our first speaker for today is Carla Odum good afternoon good afternoon thank you for allowing us to speak to you today on behalf of the children Miss can you thank you sorry can you hear me now yes ma'am okay thank you for allowing us to speak to you today on behalf of the children concerning the pornographic books in our school libraries we know that what we have had to say is not accepted or rece received by everyone we wanted to address a comment that was made by one of the board members out in the hallway after you ended the meeting on May 13th we saw her run to catch up with the last speaker
053of the evening and we overheard her commending him for what he had said he spoke concerning the country's move toward Banning books and banning books by religious groups in this room and imposing our views on our public schools and saying we are speaking for God we also heard a comment she made to him where she stated that God was her judge and not those of us in this room and we want to say she is absolutely right we are not hers or anyone else's judge we did not come here to judge anyone God is our judge for those of us who have been born again or saved by our faith in Jesus Christ shed Blood on the cross as payment for our sins then our sins were judged at Calvary and we received his forgiveness
054but for those who refused to admit there a sinner and Trust in Christ and reject his way of Salvation they will be held accountable for their sins and receive no forgiveness only an eternity in hell but God said in John 3:16 whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life we as Christians pray no one ever leaves this world without Christ in their hearts heaven is real and hell is real Christians bear the fruit of righteousness and these pornographic books and all who condone them do not our purpose here is to protect our children from the danger of pornographic books in our school libraries we want them to attend in a school safe and healthy environment where they can learn and grow and become productive well-balanced citizens of our society but the pornographic
055books they've been subjected to will not promote that on the de where you sit as a motto igniting learning for a brighter future we are not proposing Banning books we are simply working together to see that all pornographic books are removed from the school libraries and that your motto is carried out in our schools a library or Media Center should excite a child's learning and Imagination and expand their knowledge in a safe and healthy learning environment it should not be to excite a child's libido and confuse them or be detrimental in any way it has already been proven and stated pornography is damaging to a child's mental health and their future well-being if you truly want to ignite learning for a broader future than all point graphic books must be removed there are many good
056caring qualified board members teachers workers or staff and we applaud you all we appreciate all that has been done this past year concerning the policies you have made to protect our children and your efforts at removing certain pornographic books thus far we trust the new year begins with the dedication of all concern to continue to see all pornographic books are removed and policies are enforced we will continue to pray for you James 5:116 says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man Avail as much we love you and we thank those of you dedicated to our children and their CH and their education Jude 22 says and of some have compassion making a difference and that's what we all should be doing have compassion and make a difference thank you thank you Miss OD you're
057good without it I'll end our next speaker is Dr Kim KERO move it up a little bit okay um good afternoon board nice to see you all just before summer forly starts for the school system anyway um as I have said repeatedly in the past I'm totally against any form of sexually explicit material OB sanity uh being in the media centers in Burke County schools now I wish to address two developments one promoted by the North Carolina Department of Public Schools and the second the US Department of Education neither efforts are lawful but both would clearly threaten the education of our children in fact more than porn in the schools because they would in fact bring that to pass now dealing with the North Carolina ENT IAL standards that you all are probably familiar with
058that will they will be developed very soon by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction unless things have changed and they could have a Planned Parenthood style sex education program will be forced into the public middle and high schools compliments of the leftist bureaucrats and the ncdpi over this past year ncdpi oversaw the revisions of these standards that govern sex education as well as other coursework standards set the goals and directives what is to be taught in North Carolina public schools and are revised only every 10 years the third and final draft has been issued by ncdpi and very soon the standards will be up for p final approval the big problem with the draft of the standards is that it violates state law the longstanding NC law enacted in 1995 requires that the instruction
059teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard of behavior not like the Planned Parenthood form of Ed uh sex education now given my time I'm going to shift gears in terms of Title Nine while much could be said today I just wish to state that sex has been redefined to include sexual orientation and gender identity which will have dramatic impact on our students and schools I would allow I would not allow any of my children to attend schools that would allow the violation of the privacy of restrooms and changing rooms by individuals who are not biologically the same my conclusion is this I strongly urge the Board of Education of Burke County to ad adamantly resist stating no to both these efforts and if not I believe that parents will stand
060against the system unfortunately refusing to bring their children and grandchildren how else can we stop this topown effort to destroy our children by corrupting destroy our culture by corrupting our children thank you thank you Mr [Music] Caro our next speaker is Christina starts with a C okay I'm sorry okay hi um first I just wanted to say that I'm kind of new to coming to these meetings but I really appreciate adjust your microphone thank you is that okay okay um I really appreciate all of the respectful dialogue that I see here I've only been to a few of these meetings but all of y'all talk with such respect for each other and that's really nice to see and really Pleasant to be a part of so just want to say that so my name is
061Christina CRM I'm a licensed clinical mental health counselor here in Morganton I work with a lot of kids and teens in the area who deal with mental health challenges like anxiety depression trauma and developmental delays because of this I also have the honor of working with their parents their teachers and their school counselors I'm here today because I truly feel it's an honor to work with them every time I connect with a school counselor or a teacher they are always more than willing to help their students they go above and beyond to help even when they may not have the time the energy or the support to do so their passion and their generosity are obvious I've seen in many situations as I'm sure all of you all have how this can make all the
062difference for a student who is struggling in the classroom and at home I'm also here as a concerned Community member I see the dedication and passion these folks have being called into question at times I see their hard work their training and love for their students being challenged or dismissed and sadly I see the compassion fatigue the overwhelm the frustration and the increasingly common thoughts of leaving the professional together myself and a few other community members have joined a Statewide initiative called Public School strong which is on my shirt this initiative is aimed at supporting an advocating for our public schools and students we believe all children have the fundamental right to Quality education regardless of their socioeconomic status race religion or identity we believe in honest Equitable safe and fully funded public schools and
063we believe that when problems arise within an institution defunds in and or silencing is not the answer rather we believe in respectful dialogue and collaboration which you guys are already doing very well it seems so we look forward to connecting more with y'all in the future and making sure our schools know that their Community has their back thank you all for your efforts in supporting our schools and have a good summer thank you thank you ma'am and our last speaker Sharon Everhart hello my name is Sharon ier everheart I was born and raised in Burke County and graduated from morgington high school and I am delighted after many years of absence to be back in this lovely Community um I've been very much concerned about some of the things that have been happening uh Nationwide
064uh recently Florida has just banned their teachers from saying anything at all about slavery in the interest of looking at Banning books and this sort of thing I want to make sure that we are not Banning real history from our education time has proven that if we don't study history we repeat the mistakes and we have made some bad mistakes in terms of the way we have treated our black and brown Brethren and our women too for that matter and I want to make sure that we continue to teach Real History so that we can see the kinds of things we have done in the past that have not been productive for all of our citizens and that we can make sure that we allow everybody equal opportunities to vote and be productive and be
065uh prosperous um and that's all I have to say thank you for your time and your effort thank you thank you thank you ma'am Mr chairman that concludes our public comments for today's meeting thank you sir uh Mr superintendent we have need for close session motion to adjourn there second second we properly moved in second at adjournment um all in favor Miss sovic Jane yes Wendy yes Aaron yes Leslie yes Seth yes Tiana yes Don yes we shall stand adjourned thank you