001I would like to call this May meeting of board of education to order. First on our agenda tonight is the adoption of the agenda. Mr. Tonight for our um opening devotion, many of you know I am a former school teacher. So I'm going to reference a children's book called Thank You, Mr. Fauler. And I'm going to tell you the story through another story. So a long time ago in a very small town surrounded by whispering pines lived a little girl named Willie. From time to time, um, she was enchanted and loved books. She loved their covers. She loved their pictures. She even love the smell of books. But reading them, that was something different. The words danced on the page. Letters flipped upside down. No matter how hard she tried, Lily couldn't make sense of
002them. Her classmates zipped through stories while she stumbled through the same sentence again and again. Whispers began to follow her down the hall. She's dumb, they'd say. She's lazy. Even Lily began to believe them. That all changed in fifth grade when Mr. Harris became her teacher. He noticed things like how Lily's eyes would fill with frustration when she was asked to read aloud, or how she'd linger near the bookshelf but never take a book home. One afternoon after class ended, he asked her gently to stay behind with him. "Lily," he said, pulling a chair beside her. "I don't think you're lazy. I don't think you're dumb either. I think you're brilliant, and I think you just learn differently." Day after day, Mr. Harris worked with Lily after school. They clapped out syllables. They traced letters
003with their fingers. They read stories, one slow, steady word at a time. He never raised his voice, never gave up, even when Lily did. You'll get it, he'd say. You're growing just like a seed. Some flowers take longer to bloom, but when they do, they're unforgettable. Weeds turned into months, and one spring afternoon, something changed. Lily opened a book and read a paragraph slowly, carefully, all by herself. When she looked up at Mr. Ferris. He had tears in his eyes. "You did it," he said. "You bloomed." Years later, Lily returned to that little school, but this time not as a student, but as a teacher. She decorated her classroom with bright colors, filled the shelves with books, and paid extra attention to the kids who sat quietly in the back. The ones whose eyes didn't
004light up when she read a story aloud. She remembered how one teacher had changed her life and now it was her turn. Because that's what great teachers do. They see what others miss. They believe when others doubt and they light a path when the road is dark. And every year when one of her students felt like giving up, she'd kneel beside them and smile gently and say, "You're a good seed full of potential." Sometimes it just takes the right care and patience to bloom. So during teacher appreciation week, Lily would always write a note to her favorite teacher, Mr. Harris, and simply say, "Thank you for seeing me when I couldn't see myself. Because of you, I blossomed into who I was meant to be." Every teacher has many Lily stories. And hopefully, every Lily
005has many Mr. Harris stories. So you yourself must be an example by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. So I challenge each of you in this room tonight to write a note, text a teacher and thank them. Now we will have our pledge of allegiance to of the flag of the United States of America. And I call on four students from um Cander Elementary. We have Alejandro, Pedro, and come forward, please. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Good job. Thank you so much. [Applause] Thank you. Next on our agenda is um public comment. And with no one signing up to speak, we'll
006move on to recognitions. And the first recognition tonight is a resolution to state public Her family's here comes bless her. If she were here, she'd be like, I'll tell you guys that Miss was my daughter's second grade teacher. That's wonderful. Montgomery County Board of Education resolution of estate for I'm a Sophia Snug. Whereas our heavenly father in his infinite love and wisdom saw faullene Sophia Snoke on January 20th, 2025. And whereas her dedication to McGomery County Schools for 36 years as a teacher was a living testament of her integrity and skill. And whereas her loss will be deeply felt not only by those with whom she served, but also throughout her entire community and county. Now therefore, be it resolved that the McGomery County Board of Education goes on record in expressing a sense of
007real loss and regret in her passing, and that a copy of this resolution be conveyed to her family as an indication of our deep sympathy, and that a copy of the same be filed as a part of the permanent minutes of the board of education. Thank you so much. She was such a sweet. Thank you. In all of those 36 years, she was a second teacher at Mount Gilly. She went to Highland Highland and then to Yeah. Yeah. And one thing she used to tell me was that she had a choice between our mom school system and Montgomery. She chose Montgomery and she's never [Music] regrett and here we have uh her niece Dr. Shandra Smith. She's a teacher in Charles Swaren. Yeah. Nice to meet you. Thank y'all so much for coming. And his
008wife Candy. So nice of y'all to come. Thank you. Thank you so much for Yes. Thank you. Make it so hard on me. And now, oh, this one will be tough, too. Um now if um the family of Georgia thank you so proud. Oh me and and um I know the board is fairly tired of being given personal stories, but I when I taught in Stanley County and then I interviewed to come to McGomery County to teach, I interviewed with Dr. Adams and uh we were just best buddies forever. McGomery County Board of Education resolution of esteem for Georgia Bonus Adams. Whereas our heavenly father in his infinite love and wisdom saw fit to call home Georgia bonus Adams on February 23rd, 2023. And whereas her dedication to McGomery County Schools for 23 years, ending
009her career as an assistant superintendent of curriculum were a living testament to her integrity and skill. and whereas her loss would be deeply felt not only by those with whom she served but also throughout her entire community and county. Now therefore be it resolved that the McGomery County Board of Education is on record in expressing a sense of real loss and regret in her passing that a copy of this resolution be conveyed to her family as an indication of our deep sympathy and that a copy of the same be filed as a part of the permanent minutes of the board of education. Thank you so much. She loved this system. She loved the people in it. She sure did. And after she retired, she kept tutoring and working after. She did. She did. And I
010taught for McGomery County schools. My son teaches for McGomery County schools. My brother taught for McGomery County schools. And I was a speech pathologist for McGomery County Schools. That's right. Thank you. I have to leave now. Have a great wife and sister. You got more resol and Mr. Almond and Mr. Matthew. So, we're going to do our staff members of the month and Cander is our school for this month. So, if I could get Miss Effie Arcus to come forward. Miss Arcus was selected as the certified staff member of the month for Cander. And I'll ask Mr. Matthews to say a few words about this young lady. Well, first off, I'm gonna say one thing. Uh, Eie is an inspiration. She's an international teacher. And I will say one thing. I think it's long. She
011is not eligible to be represented for teacher of the year. And that she deserves this honor. I cannot tell you how inspirational coming from the Philippines, a four-year journey, being with us here in McGomery County, being an amazing ELA teacher, fourth grade, you're going to see in my presentation later tonight, is leading the charge at AR points. Right. Rushing it. Uh but part of that is because of who Eie is and relationships that she builds with her students and the care she puts into it. She is a valued member of the candid. [Applause] Um and our uh classified staff member of the month is Miss Crystal Crystal Cessins. So, it is my pleasure to have Miss Cess here with Miss Cess is a teacher assistant in Miss uh Little's kindergarten penguins class. Heck, just one
012of the best classrooms you've ever going to be in. Miss Cess and Miss Little are an unbelievable team that reaching their kindergarten students to their potential, but also she's one of the best bus drivers I've ever seen. She never misses. And when I ask her to step up, maybe we need coverage in a prek classroom, she's in there. When I ask her, I need assistance to drive for our after school program, which runs five days a week with transportation every single day. Miss Cesman said, "Let me take Monday and Tuesday. I'm going provide support there." So, morning, afternoon route, and then another evening route in addition to be a fantastic TA, ultimate team player elementary, ultimate teacher assistant at our school, Miss Crystal. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. Three, two, one. Perfect. Congratulations. Thank
013you. All right. So, our next recognitions are our winners for our math Olympics competition. Uh we've been doing math Olympics at the early college for I believe four years now. Um, so if we can, uh, if Miss, uh, Julia Dawn will come forward. She was our first place winner from West Middle. Mr. Oba, if you'll come up here as well. Congratulations. was Miss Lydia Batton, also from West Middle. Congratulations. Congratulations. And our third place winner from Pain Street is Miss Riley Parker. Congratulations. Good job. Come on in. Yes. Uh, so our next set of recognitions is our Skills USA competition winners. Um, if I could get Mr. Swain to come up and help me with this. You got two firefighting here. He's not here. So, just Hunter. Hunter's not either. Okay. All right. So, our
014firefighting winners, they did not they they were all working is what I was told. So, they're not here tonight. Uh we did have two woodworking um winners, u Mr. Kern and Mr. uh Swain. If y'all will come up, we will recognize these two individuals. So, in third place in the state, we had Mr. Trey Martin, two good job. And in fifth place Oh, I didn't I'm sorry. Did you get a picture, Jay? Okay. And in fifth place in the state, we have Mr. Carson Christ. Three, two, one. Perfect. We have one more winner. Uh, we had a state champion in HBAC, uh, Mr. Richard Ste. And HPSC is actually one of our career college promise classes through the community college. So he did all that work at the community college, but because of his grade
015level competed as a secondary student. So that's that's our partnership there that we can brag on. So three, two, one. Great. And thank you to the instructor who bring it home every time with these great student. Congratulations. Yes, sir. Thank you. Mr. Matthew. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Good evening, y'all. Evans, school board. Appreciate your time tonight. Um, one thing I'm really excited this year at Cander Elementary School. I know you guys came last Thursday and this year we got a walking tour, but I wanted to talk about our our theme this year and our theme was an open book of endless opportunities. And one of the things I decided to do with our presentation is to kind of highlight all the positives that are taking place at Cander. So the mission at Cander is
016to build lifelong learners, leaders, and champions. And so that's one of the things that we kind of focus every day with our school motto. And when we flip over, one thing I want to look at, 24 licensed educators, typo there, teacher effectiveness. I want to look at that and focus on that. 100% last year at Kender Elementary School in our EVO data, 100% of the teachers on staff met growth. That is a big deal when we're trying to move the school forward to move it up from this report curve. We'll talk about that later today. But that means in K5, everybody met growth. Maybe not all exceeded but net growth which meant they're they're meeting what the state is asking us to do. We have 1% one national board teacher 74% are experienced teachers and
01725% are beginning. One number that I did not have mentioned in there though is we have a strong international group of teachers on our campus. Miss Arcus was was one of that contingent. We have Miss Arcus, Miss Balin, Miss Fisher Roberts. We also have Miss Almanor. We have four teachers on the third through fifth grade hallway that are all international. Three are from the Philippines and one is from Jamaica. And they have had a major impact at Kendra Elementary over the last four years. Helping to fill a void where we cannot recruit and retain local educators to be honest with you. And they come in highly qualified and they don't miss. One of the things I appreciate is their diligence to the job. The next one uh a little bit more about our family. 375
018students. Roughly 358 of those are K5. The other portion of that is prek. We had two prek classrooms there. I want to look at a chart of our growth. Uh, one thing that excites me when I came when I came to Cander, I went back and looked at historical data since coer has historically met growth every year. Uh, they are considered a low performing school which is a derated. However, their growth especially during postcoid it has been 84.2 in growth. To be to come out of low performing you need to hit 85. they have knocked on the door within percentage points twice in two out of the last three years. So these are some things they're in a trend upward and I'm I'm hopeful that by the end of this year we're going to hit
019that 85 mark and come out of low performing when you see some of the trend things we put in uh 84% free and reduced lunch. We are a school of high poverty. Our kids come from high poverty situations. That's what our reality is and we'll talk about some of those services as we're moving forward. A goal of ours this year. On the next slide, AR go back one. Accelerated reader has been has really taken off at Kry School. I really want to pay tribute to this to Miss Thompson, our instructional facilitator. She cannot be with us tonight. Sharon right now is going through some cancer treatments at Durham being a trooper, but has really led this. And I want to focus our school goal on words read is 60 million. We're right now at 52
020million. We're actually that number will update after this week. But if you look through even through kindergarten through fifth grade, we're getting high participation with AR tests, books being read. And notice at fourth grade, 35 million words. I can attribute that to Miss Eie Harris who is who was recognized tonight. Just a leader in getting kids to independently read and find joy. One thing in this process that I love is that when kids come in to check out books, they're looking for books at their Lexile level. When I I was an English teacher, when I ask a child, "What's your level?" Mr. Matthews, I got to be between 700 and 800. There we go. They're not just coming in checking out diarrhea of a winky kid. Same book over and over. They're checking out things
021to challenge them to grow them in their reading. All right, next one. Millionword readers. I just wanted to focus these. These are all our million. Andrew Salazar is our first guy to the left. Then we have Marco Alvarez right next one coming over we have Mariana Sanchez Gonzalez then we have Christian Talatino in the top right Rodrigo Perez down in the bottom left he's at two million words okay Benitz next one down Jaylen Riza and then Landon White now one person we didn't get his picture up here Rodick Pratt I'm really disappointed this we lost Rodri to Ashboro City schools two days ago was sitting at 2.5 million birds. So all of them fourth graders, this has been a big push for us at our school and there's a joy. They love seeing their numbers
022being moved at the module. All right. Now, the next thing I'm really proud of that I want to talk about this year is high impact tutors. Now, I've been in the business a long time. I've never been able to hire part-time tutors the way we've been able to this year. We have been gifted. Something fallen from the sky in some ways. Miss Lee Wright, Miss Carrie Fisk, and Miss Marie Parley, if you notice, they all have asterisks by their names because they are certified North Carolina teachers. Miss Lee Wright, Miss Fisk are both retired North Carolina educators. Miss Marie Farllo wanted to dip her toes back in to education. I had an opportunity said, "Come dip your toes into it here at Cander." And she did. And then we have a hopefully a future teacher,
023Miss Jasmine Harris, that we'll be able to have. So we have two groups of tutors here. We have our NC Ed Core tutors which are I think provided by our Ellis grant funded through that. We've had them since the fall and they provide strong support in ELA. They're helping to improve reading fluency and overall comprehension skills. Miss Lee Wright serves grades four through five. She pulls small group every day. Miss Jasmine Harris pulls grades two through three and so she's pulling that small group in there as well every day. All right. in February. Actually, you know, I hired him in January. We hired Miss Fisk and Miss Marlo to come in and be math tutors. They are pulling small group in math every day. Miss Barlo is pulling grades two through three. And then Miss
024Fisk is pulling grades four through five. We're serving a total of 100 boys and 95 girls through our total, which is 195 students, which is 58% of our overall student body. getting additional high impact tutoring. They do get pulled some during their core instruction, but that enables our core teachers to also pull small group in that. So, they're looking forward to it and we're hoping to see really big gains and they're helping to close all the skills as we head into EOG prep. They're pushing through on those EOG skills right now, too. I'm hoping we have all of them coming back. Clubs, groups, and activities. This is another thing we talk about opportunities that um typically I'm used to seeing a lot of groups at secondary level. We look at you know in work skills
025everything. I'm really impressed with what we're able to offer for all students at elementary level. Math and STEM Olympics that was sponsored this year by Miss Caitlyn Singleton, one of our fourth grade teachers. Battle of the Books, that was Miss Saunders. We have our flag team who actually tonight did the pledge and I'm really excited. That was actually Miss Nicole Bennett who was here sitting on the edge with him. She's our communities and schools student support specialist sponsored by the Ellis Grant. She's fulltime with us. She coordinated getting the high school to come down and train our flag team so they put the flag up and down and fold it properly every single day. So it was a nice unifying thing. Um and they were excited to be here tonight. A little nervous but another
026group we have is the leaders of the pack. This is a group that we work with with Miss Bennett, Deb Sykes, our guidance counselor, and a and a sponsor from Eer Connect out of Cander. This is a group of our second and third grade boys that just have an opportunity to help tighten some behavioral skills. And it's not just behavior, it's also to enrich. We have some other kids that are above grade level in that group to kind of grow them in their leadership skills. Girls on the Run uh was led by Ureli Oliver Leon this year, a product of the hometown program. She's a TA that's finished in that this year and been on our campus the last two years. Probably one of my favorite events to watch the girls at Star Elementary participate
027that tremendous success. Communities and schools again also sponsors our morning announcements. I love hearing a variety of age groups do the pledge and read announcements every day at our school and take the adult voice out to the kid who is present. Uh students of the month that is sponsored by Montgomery Insurance, another local group. He sponsors that. We actually recognized our kids this morning. We also have an all-star club. Uh this was partnered with Miss Clarrett before she transferred over to West Middle to support. She got in touch with Felicia Chambers and Mr. Earl Lee and they came over to help pull the All-Star Club. We saw a need with some of our fourth and fifth grade boys and so we've been working with that every third Thursday of every month. in addition to the
028gap girls that Miss Porrett had going on which is another after school group that the girls participate in for leadership development. And then our other group that we have here is the Pokemon club. Now I'm going to tell you I don't know a lot about Pokemon but the kids at Cander do and that Mr. Templeton sponsors that and it is great for create for problem solving for building connections building those things. So, one of the things I do like about is that we have an opportunity for everybody to be a part of something on our campus. That's one of the things. Uh, the other thing I want kind of our last thing I want to hit on tonight, we have had an afterchool program serving 109 plus students Monday through Friday 3 to 5 with
029bus transportation and a snack every day after school. This has been sponsored by the Ellis grant from the year. It's been um something that and we also are serving preK through fifth. So one of the other things here is we don't have just kindergarten students. We've got four year olds in this program too. But this has helped to provide a major assist to the families in Cander giving them guaranteed afterchool supervision of their children but also giving them guaranteed transportation home every day. And I have to praise all the bus drivers on our staff for running not only one route in the morning, a route in the afternoon, but picking up the slack and running these routes because we've run two routes and it's really just been a positive thing. It's a lot to manage,
030but it is a positive thing for the school. And so in doing that tonight, I wanted you guys to see that Cander really offers an endless open book of opportunities for everybody. Another thing that's not highlighted, but I want to highlight it is we have a memorandum of agreement with Montgomery Community College and we have two adult classes taking place on our we have an adult ESL class that meets on Monday and Wednesdays and we also have on Tuesdays and Thursdays a GED skills class that is being taught. So Cander really is a hub for the Cander community. So that's my presentation tonight and I thank you for your time. moving on down to two. We have Mr. Um so board members, there is a proclamation in your packet. This is uh National Teacher Appreciation
031Week. I'm not going to read the proclamation to you guys, but just know that this is something that we would like for you guys to approve to put in the permanent minutes recognizing uh National Teacher Appreciation Week as May 5th through 9th in McGomery County Schools. Second, Mr. Second. Thank you. We'll move on down to Dr. Shaw running number five. Looks a little wimpy, doesn't it? So, good evening, uh, board members. U, there are, uh, numerous policies up for first read. Um, these policies represent the schoolboard association's recommendations and they represent changes aligned with the new Title 9 regulations and other required changes. So, again, just to summarize, there are there are two reasons why we have so many. one um as members of the schoolboard association, we get the updates that they recommend. We
032talked about that last well about two months ago. Um they do two huge overhauls, one in April and another one in September. So this is the huge overhaul that they do uh by yearly. So all of the new updates that they have combed over are included in here as well as the new Title N regulations. Um, if you remember back in August, we changed the Title N regulations from what they were to the administration we were under then to align and stay in compliance. Well, now that we're under um a a new president, we have to have them back because he changed a lot of the the wording and the different regulations that are associated with Title N. So, we're going back to how it was before we voted in August and September. Well, I
033believe it was first read in August, second read for the vote in September. So, we're going back to how it was prior to that vote. So, nothing new in terms of what we've done. We just were one way, we changed, and now we're back the other way. So, these are up for first read. I'll be glad to answer any questions about these policies, and we'll just need action next month. Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks again too for giving us a synopsis. Yes. Oh, I can talk you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving on to Roman numeral six. Mr. Almond. Um I'll I'll be brief tonight. Um, as you've already heard through the proclamation and then also um, Miss Evans devotion this morning or this evening, I'm sorry. Um, this is teacher appreciation week. So, um,
034as we celebrate teacher appreciation week, I just want to take a moment to accept my sincere gratitude to our dedicated educators who serve the students and families of McGomery County. As you saw in uh, Mr. Matthew's presentation from Cander and the previous presentations from our other schools. Our teachers are the heart of our schools. U they show up each day and demonstrate passion, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to our students. Um in every classroom and hallway in our buildings, our teachers inspire learning, nurture growth, and build the foundation for a stronger future. They adapt, lead, and go above and beyond to ensure that every child feels seen, valued, and empowered. Their work often extends far beyond the school day and yet they show up every morning ready to give their best. And then to our
035teachers, I just want to say thank you. Your work matters. Uh and it does not go unnoticed. Our community is stronger because of you and we are very fortunate to have such talented, dedicated professionals leading our classrooms and educating our students. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, thank you so much again. Um, thank you to our teachers. So much closer. Second, all in favor. I need a motion to add to tonight's agenda. We're back in open session. We did that in. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah. Uh we need I need a motion to um add to the agenda to um have a vote for hiring a new superintendent. I'll make that motion. I say okay made the motion to add to the agenda to hire a new um vote for hiring new superintendent. Miss Taylor
036seconded. All in favor? Well, I just want to say something. This is just the motion to just the motion. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay, no problem. All right. So, all in favor next. Um, do I have a motion to consent? Yeah. I need a motion um to accept the consent agenda. So, move second. Mr. Blake, Mr. Doer. All in favor? Thank you. Now motion about hiring the new superintendent. I just want to say we had some good candidates in house and out of house for this position. No, I thought he was just making a statement. He was just putting in a statement. [Music] I'd like to offer a motion that we hire um that we employ Dr. Karen Roseboro based on um contract negotiations. If I can obtain a second. We have a motion to
037hire Dr. Ken Rose by um Miss Smith, second Miss Taylor. And we're going to call for a vote. Show of hands in favor. And then I just want to go on the record is saying I am not voting against her at all, but I am voting against the way contract because it does not in my opinion protect us because we can be on the hook for up to $300,000. Any more discussion? We have a motion and a second and we voted and passed. Just to address uh Mr. Doer's concern, there was um conversation on that and we did receive legal counsel. We feel that there are um some things in that contract that does protect us. So, and I I I know we each have our opinions. I disagree with that. So, we just want
038to make sure that we don't think that I want a copy of it. It's It's public record. Let me get Oh, well, I'm going with it Wednesday. So, I thought you going to sign it tonight anyway. And they got to approve form as well. Is there anything else? I would like to make a statement. I don't know if I can do it. I would just like to say that I feel like the employees of McGomery County Schools, specifically Dr. Shaw, Mr. Almond, have worked so hard these last several months to keep our school system afloat, protected, and moving forward. And I would be remiss if I did not thank them wholeheartedly for the hard work they have done and I hope for the hard work they will continue to do for the children of McGomery
039County Schools. here. Amen. And I have full confidence that we will be moving forward um in a in a positive light to help Dr. Rose. And I just I cannot I cannot thank you guys enough for the hard work you've done. And with that, you need a motion. Need a motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor? I