001Good evening and welcome to the Morrisville Grade School District Board of Education meeting Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. Um before we begin the meeting, I'd like to start with a moment of silence. Thank you. As we uh honor some pretty uh special folks this week, uh they need to be honored all year round, but as we especially honor them this week, um I came up with a quote from a gentleman named William Yates, and it says, "Education is not the filling of a pale, but the lighting of a fire." And I believe that's a powerful way to think about the work that our teachers do every day, sparking curiosity and confidence and the joy of lifelong learning. At this time, I'd like to uh have the pledge of allegiance. >> Yes, sir. I'd like to invite
002up Caitlyn Lanning, student at Morsel Middle School, to lead us in the pledge. [cough] I aliance 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. Okay. [clears throat] Agenda item number four, approval of the agenda. I'll entertain a motion. >> I move we approve the agenda as published. >> I have a second. A motion and a second to approve the agenda as published. All those in favor vote with the usual signs. >> All those opposed like sign. Motion carries. Approval of the minutes from the April 7, 2026 meeting. I'll entertain a motion at this time. I move we approve the minutes as they stand. >> I have a motion. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >>
003Motion and a second to approve the minutes from the April 7th meeting. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. Student of the month, Dr. Gardner. Good evening. Tonight we have the honor of recognizing our student of the month who is also our pledge leader tonight. Caitlyn Lanning, student at Morsel Middle School. This student was selected by the Morsville Middle School Hurricanes team and the Morsel Middle administrative team. So before I share a little bit about why um she was recommended for this honor, I'd like for her to come back up at this time. Let's give her a round of applause. [applause] Taitlyn is a friendly, kind-hearted friendly, kind-hearted, and always has a positive attitude with her peers, displaying the heart of a red imp in all that she does.
004Academically, she is truly a hard worker who always contributes to the classroom discussions. She's constantly engaged with every day in her lessons, completes her assignments on time, and ask questions when she doesn't understand. Caitlyn's also challenged herself this year, taking an honors math class for the first time. It is going so well that she's chosen to take honors English as well as an eighth grader. Tailen is also a star for our red athletic teams, too. She's been a standout threeseason athlete in both sixth and seventh grade, participating in cross country, basketball, and soccer. Earlier this season, she scored three goals in a single game. She's played a pivotal role in the success of the Morel Middle School girls soccer team the past two years. Most of all, her coaches and teachers rave about her positive
005attitude, a drive to get better, and a welcoming sportsmanship towards everybody. Taitlyn very much exhibits the allheart nature of Moresville Middle School and we are proud to to say that she is a red M. Congratulations Caitlyn. Please join me in congratulating her again as our student of the month for May 2026. [applause] The Morrisville School District Board of Education recognizes you as student of the month and for the pledge of allegiance. [applause] [clears throat] round of applause. [applause] All right, next up is our artist of the month. Tonight, we have the honor of recognizing Na Reed as our artist of the month. Naier was nominated by the Moresville Middle School Fine Arts PLC. And before I share a little bit about why they were nominated, I'd like to ask them to come up front at
006this time. Na, let's give him a round of applause. [applause] Naier comes to school every day with a positive attitude. At the beginning of the theater semester, he asked for two main acting roles, and he just volunteered to acquire a third role after being informed one of his castmates wouldn't be returning. His theater teacher shared that Naara is an excellent actor who is always willing to grow and is an absolute joy to work with. In addition to being a great performer, his Spanish one teacher shared that he is a kind student, a positive influence on others, and is always using his Spanish. Na was also recognized by our multilanguage teacher because he will often remember to greet her in Spanish even though she's not one of his teachers. Nara was seen performing with the eighth
007grade theater culminating show as Dwey the the scarecrow and Bo in the play when bad things happen to good actors. This is the second year in a row that he's had major roles in the Morel Middle School theater performances. He has truly grown as a confident artist and stage performer and we hope he continues to express himself through art in the years to come. Please join me in congratulating Naier as our artist of the month for May 2026. [applause] Morris School District Board of Education recognizes >> [applause] >> Give another round of applause. [applause] Oh, >> yep. Come on. I'm so sorry. Welcome to Kansas. My name is Farmer Ben. I bet a lot of you think nothing ever interesting can happen on a farm in Kansas. And for the most part, you're right. Nothing
008really has. That is until one day a hero stepped into the town and took Mory to a mystical place called us. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me first introduce you to to uh line. I know you said that during a performance we wouldn't be allowed to call for line, but I need a line. I think just giving me my line will be better than holding up the show. So line line. Hello. Is the director even there, guys? Anyone? Does anyone have a copy of the script? Miss Mango, you have a copy of the script, right? What do you mean you don't have a copy of the script? >> But you're the stage manager. How do you not have a copy of the script? >> So, how are you queuing a show? >> Memory.
009But I don't know my lines. Where is the director? >> A date. She Okay. I don't know my lines. You don't have a script. I'm just what supposed to make it up now? >> Yeah. >> About what? >> About anything. Audience for two minutes. >> Fine. Fine. Hi, my name is Na. I'm playing this character called Farmer Band and we're doing the Wizard of Oz. Oh, and also this is the one I vision and our TJ adapted ourselves so we can do in a competition, but it's kind of a mess. I'm not sure this whole short version makes a whole lot of sense. And we never really got through tech and our director was really random much. So yeah, I think this is a mess. I mean, for Pete's sake, I'm playing Farmer Ben, the
010nephew of Dorothy. Who is that? He's not in the movie or the book. He's just a random character. teacher made it to make it easier to follow. But I think if anything, it's even more confusing, especially because I can't remember my lines. I was braing on and on. Oh, and also I have to do this again at the end of the play, which I swear I have my last monologue memorized. I have the whole play to sit back and make sure it's memorized. But for now, I'm sorry. I got nothing. Has it been two minutes? [laughter] Anyone? Does anyone here watch Game of Thrones? [laughter] I'm not allowed to watch it, but I got my cous. I've been watching it. It's awesome. I mean, some of it's really gross, but overall it's awesome. I like
011dragons and dungeons and waka waka. That's a Fuzzy Bear from the Muppets. Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I'm going to go now. I hope you enjoy the Wizard of Oz. And I'm sorry I forgot my monologue. [applause] >> [applause] >> There's a Bloommy in his future. >> That's right. >> All right. Next up, we have our ABCD award. So, each month we have the honor of recognizing a district employee that goes above and beyond demonstrating a core value of our district. This month we recognize Lori Denzel, instructional assistant at Moresville Middle School. Miss Denzel was nominated by the instructional team at Morsville Middle. And before I share a little bit about why she was nominated, we'll ask her to come up front at this time. Let's give her a round
012of applause. [applause] Miss Denzel personifies the allhe heart message of Morsel Middle School. She's fully committed to her work each and every day supporting our students, teachers, and athletes. During the day, Miss Denzel serves as a teacher assistant, helping our EC teachers modify and implement specially designed instruction for learners that may need more time, attention, and support than others. Her patience and consistency are both what makes her a truly valued member of the classroom. Her students sometimes scream and laugh when they see her in the morning, excited for what's going to come that day. After school ends, she then serves as our athletic first responder, closely working with our athletic director and school nurse to ensure that students are medically cleared to participate in sports and they receive the appropriate care if injured during a
013game. Miss Denzel puts in countless hours watching practices, examining physicals from doctors, and providing on the field care for our red athletes. Our Morsel Middle School instructional team nominated Miss Denzel because she doesn't come to us with problems. She brings us solutions on how our school could be better. Also, she isn't afraid to dance and sing when the morning arrival music is playing. About to come check that out. Her dedication to Morsel Middle School and the people within that building is unmatched. She's a beacon of sunshine and fun for our students and staff alike. Thank you, Miss Denzel, for giving an allhe heart attitude towards all you do at Morsel Middle School. Let's congratulate her as our May ABC. [applause] [applause] [laughter] >> You're already done for the day, right? >> The Morsel School District
014recognizes Lorie Denzel for going above and beyond the call of duty. >> [applause] [clears throat] [applause] >> All right. Next up, we have two spotlight on people this month. First off, we're going to start with the Moresville graded birthday card design winner, Leila Tamasovich. Laya, if you can come up. Did I hopefully I got that last name correct. Tomasovich. Close. All right, let's give her a round of applause. [applause] So, in Moresville graded, one of the ways we celebrate our close-knit community is through a long-standing tradition of sharing birthday cards with all of our staff members. This year, we wanted to make this tradition even more special by inviting students from across the district to submit original artwork for the cards design. While we received many incredible submissions, this one truly stood out. We are
015thrilled to announce that we have selected Ila's artwork to be featured on the official Morsville graded birthday card for for the 2026 27 academic year. Ila is a fourth grade student at East Morsville Intermediate School and her art teacher, Miss Corbett, shared that she is really a wonderful artist and so deserving of this honor. Congratulations, Ila. Thank you for sharing your artistic talent with us and helping us to bring a little extra joy to our staff all year long. Let's give Laya a round of applause. [applause] Mhm. Let's give her another. [applause] All right. Next up for our spotlight, we have a special recognition. So, at this time, I'd like to call our K9 officer, Bella, to the front, and we're going to celebrate her retirement this upcoming. Let's give Bella a round of applause.
016[applause] Hey, Bill. In Moresville, graded, our family extends beyond our students and staff to include incredible community partners who help us keep our schools safe and welcoming. Today, we want to take a moment to recognize a beloved member of that extended family, K9 Officer Bella. After years of dedicated service with the Morsel Police Department as one of our school resource canine officers, Bella is officially hanging up her badge and heading into a muchdeserved retirement. Bella has been part of the Morsel Graded School District since December 2019. And at 9 years old, Bella has been a steady and important part of our safety efforts while also being a familiar face to our students and staff across the district. She's been a steadfast protector, a friendly presence in our hallways, and a source of comfort and joy
017for all of our students and staff alike. She showed up every day ready to work, did her job well, and didn't need much supervision unless someone left some snacks or maybe a little bit of lunch left on their desk. We're incredibly grateful for her service, her loyalty, and the paw prints she has left on the hearts of this community. Please join us in thanking Bella and her handler, Sergeant Walther, for their unwavering dedication to morsel graded and help us in wishing Bella a long, happy, and treatfilled retirement. [applause] The Grand School District Board of Education recognizes K9 officer Bella and you're treats. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> Thank you all for funding the program. [applause] >> [applause] >> All right, next up we're going to have our school highlights. So, I'd like to call up uh
018Mr. Kosal, principal of Morsel Middle School, and his team. They'll be um sharing celebrating students of high character. >> First, I just want to say on the record, I think it's a little unfair that we have to follow Bella. >> Yeah. >> But we're going to do our best. Um, good evening, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. I'm here with my assistant principal, Mr. Bost, and Miss Mallister, our SLMC, to share with you some exciting new uh practices we put into place this year at Morrisville Middle School to recognize students of high character. This idea was inspired um through Dr. Gardner's work last year, actually. Um, he came by and did quarterly meetings with students to get some feedback. And I thought, well, if he can do that, I can do that, too.
019And so we incorporated practices of getting feedback from students directly and recognizing recognizing them for being students of high character in the classrooms. And that's what we did this month. Every month we would invite students into our staff development room. We would feed them. We would celebrate them. We would let their parents know how great they're doing. And we'd also ask them what we can do better because we figured what better way to improve as a school than to take students who are already doing so well and using their feedback. So, the first part of the celebration is recognizing who is personifying the heart of a red imp. The heart of a red imp has been around longer than I have at Morsville Middle School and it stands for honorable, engaged, accountable, responsible, and tolerant
020things that we ask our students to be each and every day. So, each month we would nominate teacher teams and those teams of teachers would in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade nominate students within their teams who personify those traits. Who is honorable that they see in the classroom? who is engaged with the learning, who is tolerant of others, and they would celebrate the student and then provide a reason why. Um, I would read those on the announcements once a month and do a shout out for the whole uh school so they could hear which kids are personifying the heart of a red imp. And then they would come to the staff development room and receive their certificates. So, they would come to the impace or the staff development room and I would say, "You've done
021a wonderful job. You each get a certificate of recognition." We would put those in the newsletter each month so parents could see what our kids are doing and that we find it important to celebrate students who are just good people, good students of character. And then we invite them to a principal catered lunch. That lunch would be, you know, about a week out and we would feed them. We would give them salad and cookies and pizza of course and some drinks and they would all invite a friend. So between them and a friend on their grade level, we'd have about 10 to 20 students to get feedback each month. building that in understanding that they they ask for more time outside. Um it's typically built into earning it some type of way. Um not not
022that we're going to do it all the time, but if you earn it, like if we doing testing or different things like that, gives you some time out there to give you some brain breaks. Um they even talked about that the AC in one of the classrooms and it did get fixed. Um and they did notice that it did get fixed. Um one of the big things too was with the M time being shown um with the new TVs and everything, Miss McCall, we're able to push it out now. So long as the TV is on, every classroom will be showing at M time because it get pushed out. Um and then even with the web leaders, they were meeting one time every quarter. So that has changed now that they're meeting once a month.
023I mean once a week now I'm sorry. Um so they are seeing them more. Um and one of the big ones that we kind of laughed about was the they even talked about the prices of the concessions at our dances and it did go down and they did talk about that that Monday when we came >> they don't get to walk to McDonald's in Publix for lunch. >> Well, it's a bummer. >> Not for lunch. No. But just going to show that we are not only having those discussion with the students, but we are trying to take a lot of their responses. you know, the ones that are within reason and put them in place and put them in practice so the students know that they're heard and they can actually see that the stuff
024is being put in place. >> It's so hard to get where you're going when people are like Remind me, does seventh grade have staggered transitions? Like one team goes first, the other team goes second? >> Okay. And so you think that's a little chaotic and crowded? Okay. >> So for me to be like picked for the character award, I feel like proud and honored and like about >> um kind of like what she said. I felt very proud of myself and whenever they were asking me about my feedback, I just felt like I was getting heard and like understanded to make the school better. >> Open the floor. What should we do different? What should be better next year than this year? Go ahead, Chris. [clears throat] >> So, you just don't feel the class
025is long enough >> because you're doing like two skitties in one class basically. skinny glasses. Two small ones. Okay. >> But when we got to miss talk to Mr. um I got to ask to change like a few things like clubs stuff when I got to Mr. Cal and I got to see what everybody else had to say. part where people like went in and um and like listen to you and like give you like grading and stuff. A lot of people just didn't seem to understand that you had to pick up the paper and then kind of bring it to a kid to like listen to them. I feel like being chosen was really cool because I felt like recognized and seen by my teachers which I always love because I look up to
026them a lot and this was just a great experience just kind of stepping away from the normal lunch time and having our own little space. >> I was pretty excited uh when I found out that I was chosen. Um, I feel like this is uh I mean it, you know, it's pretty important for, you know, the the higherups at a school to, you know, hear what the the students have to say. So, I I feel like this is definitely an important process. >> So, we want to always shout out what kids are doing to parents also. So part of this process is me sending individual parent squares to all the parents saying, "Hey, your child was recognized by their teachers for being outstanding people in the classrooms, doing their work, being model students and citizens,
027things like that." So we wanted to really celebrate that to parents. So we get a parent square message to them as well. And then you'll see on the right, uh, we put pictures in the newsletter. Miss Mallister does a fun little backdrop on the green screen to celebrate the kids holding their certificates. And we put why they were recognized um of course without identifying characteristics, but we put that in the newsletter to celebrate them as well. Um just so parents can hear how great their kids are because we see that every day. We want the parents to know they're doing great things as well. This really is a whole school effort. I mean, I'm the face of the project, sitting with the kids, taking notes, talking to them, asking them questions, but you know, Miss
028McGrath, our receptionist, takes care of sending out the nomination forms to each teacher, and she keeps, you know, on the teachers if they don't fill them out in time. And she makes sure they have good explanations for why the kids are celebrated. She makes her certificates. The teacher teams, they collaborate together during kid talk meetings or during planning to nominate those as a team who are honorable, engaged, responsible, and tolerant. um honorable, engaged, accountable, responsible, tolerant, and they give the reasons why. Miss Johnson, our financial data manager, she orders the lunch and she helps to serve and she takes the place of me. If I have to step out for something, she asks the kids questions and keeps them motivated. And then Miss Mallister, our SLMC, takes the photos and she shares with families as
029well for social media, parent square, and the community newsletter. So, we really love this process. We used to do the heart of a red imp recognitions just at end of year awards and now this is built into a monthly practice for each of the teams. Um each team gets once each semester to celebrate kids on their team. So it's about 10 to 20 students that are recognized every single year u from their team. So we really think this is a practice we want to continue and we just love where it's gone this year. And you know some of the ideas are interesting about you know shortening the school day. Some things I don't control. Um, but we love to hear from the kids directly. What do they like about our school and what do they
030think we can change? And that feedback's important for us as well. Are there any questions from uh the board? >> Not a question, but I just want to commend you. I think this is a wonderful thing to do. It's important for kids to learn how to speak up for themselves and for others. I hope you know some of them indicated they kind of feel like they're you know representing um through this process and um it's also important for them to have some agency in in what they're doing at school. And so I would um hope that maybe there's some way that you can let the whole school know that these are what your peers said needs to be changed and look at the changes we've made because we're listening to you the collective you. >>
031It's a great idea. Thank you. >> Yeah. And I really like how you let them invite a friend that that keeps their friends motivated and involved and then lets them share in the experience. So the great job and I love always hearing the feedback. They ask for more web leaders which I think is great. They're craving that >> mentorship and guidance from the older students. So I think that's fantastic. >> And I I would just add I I see it as a motivational factor for other students who may have not gotten it this year what to look forward to next year and years to come. I would also like to see how it parallels with your behaviors. Um, have you seen decline in their behaviors? Have you seen decline? Because kids today, they're they're motivated
032by competition. So, if I'm if I'm in, you know, lunch with Mr. Kos this this quarter or however, um, what can I do to help someone else get to that point next quarter? So, I think it's it's a great program. Um, and as everybody said, anytime students are giving feedback, um, it just visual competition feedback is all a plus. So, thank you for doing it. >> You're welcome. And to answer your question, Mr. Broly, I was just sharing, Mr. Boss, about eighth grade referrals. Uh, we're down a 100 referrals in just eighth grade from last year, and that was a 100 year 100 down from the year before. So, we've really seen um even in just one grade level as an example, that positive PBIS style, you know, looking for the positives rather than dwelling
033on negatives. That's paid off for us. >> Yeah. In in today's society, you got to motivate kids differently. Um it used to be to where you tell a kid to do this or do that and they do it. But today we just have to find uh innovative ways to make it happen. So thank you all for doing that. >> And and you could see that last week in your classrooms. You could see that motivation. You could see that they were eager to learn and to help each other. I mean I watched in three or four classrooms watched a fellow student help another student, you know, and plotting and grafting and all that kind of stuff. I watched and he he was so thankful and actually gave him I I don't remember what it was, but
034gave him a I guess a what I would call a star uh for the classroom for for helping for helping him out. And I thought that was that was really touching and but again they're they're they're accountable for each other and that that's important >> and I I think it's just important for people to understand the amount of time this takes out of your monthly schedule and you're a busy guy. So I think that's great and I want to appreciate that you're doing this and I think the kids appreciate that. They I'm sure they understand this is a big undertaking for you as well and thank you for listening to the kids. >> One thing I would lift up, Miss McClan and I have done various different formats of student advisory, but one thing you
035noted always comes up and it was one of the first things you put. They they know when teachers want to be there >> and I just think that's powerful and that's something that's free that we can do. you know, they're not saying, "I know who's the had the highest GPA or I know who's got all these certifications." They know who wants to be there. >> And I just think we have to always remember that. So, I appreciate you lifting that up. >> A very good point. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. [applause] Well, we get in the middle of the meeting and uh I'm already telling you about when the next meeting is going to be and uh that will be June the 2nd uh at the same time, six o'clock. So, uh be
036duly noted. Staff reports. >> Yes, sir. Um we will start with maximizing opportunity and achievement with Mr. Rivick. >> Good evening, Chairman Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. So, some updates for maximizing opportunity achievement. Our intermediate schools fifth grade students had the opportunity to present their gateway projects. The students did an excellent job researching and sharing information about famous inventors. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and we thank the teachers for helping prepare the students for their presentations. We had a very successful ML celebration and picnic on April 24th. Our ML families were invited to enjoy food, games, and fun. The event was well attended, and special thanks goes to Dr. Wade and our ML staff for coordinating such a wonderful event to celebrate the accomplishments of our ML students. We
037held our second semester AIG advisory meeting on April 27th. The AIG team reviewed progress on their annual SMART goals, updated our current AIG plan to focus on identification pathways for our K2 students, and reviewed the benefits of why we assess all of our second grade students for identification each year. We appreciate the work of Miss Connley, Dr. Wade, Miss Smith, and Miss Fitz Simmons for leading our AIG advisory team. This past Friday, May 1st, was principal appreciation day. We appreciate Dr. Rogers, Miss Campbell, Miss Dorch, Dr. Katone, Miss Pratt Dixon, Mr. Kosal, Mr. Miller, Miss Graham, and Miss Allen for their continued hard work and dedication to their school communities and to the district. So, Chair Whitfield, you alluded to this earlier. This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week. We thank all of our teachers
038for everything they do for their students, families, and school communities. We know they are being celebrated in their schools, and they really deserve that. Morrisville High School will be celebrating the class of 2026 with their annual E3 event this Friday, May 8th. Seniors who are enrolled, enlisted, or employed are invited to attend the event and enjoy activities that celebrate their accomplishments. Additionally, our seniors and their families are looking forward to the graduation ceremony on May 23rd, 8:30 in Coach Joe Pop Stadium. Our students will be taking their end ofear assessments over the next few weeks. So parents would always ask, "What can I do to help my child?" The best thing you can do is make sure your child has plenty of rest the night before and comes to school that morning ready to do
039their best. That's pretty much all we ask them to do. And we are still registering students for the 2026 2027 school year. Parents, please be sure to complete your child's registration as soon as possible. Early registration helps our schools plan effectively by providing accurate employment enrollment numbers, ensuring appropriate staffing, classroom space, and resources for the upcoming year. So, that concludes my updates and see if there's any questions. >> Any questions? >> No, I just want to say that the fifth grade gateways were really fun to see. >> They were. And I love that every year they do inveners and there are new folks and I I learned so much. Um, and then one thing because I know we've had a a change in leadership and I don't know if it still is an issue that
040we need to address, but in the past we've reached out to the different um, youth athletic organizations to remind them when testing begins so that they don't have games scheduled at 8 o'clock and you know, especially for the youngest kids. But that >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. Next up, we have Safe, Happy, and Healthy with Dr. Royal and Dr. Albert. >> All right. Good evening, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. Uh, first for the report, I'm going to give some athletic highlights. Um, we have our spring seasons winding down both at Selberg Middle School, Morsville Middle School, as well as Moresville High School. Selber Burke Middle School's girls track and field team won the conference championship. Morsville Middle School's boys track and field team won the
041conference championship. Morsville Middle School girls soccer won the conference tournament yesterday by a score of 1 to zero over Selma Burke. Morsville Middle School has their JV and varsity volleyball teams in the championship matches this afternoon. From the high school, our Morsville High School baseball team is playing at Weddington tonight in the first round. Softball has a buy in the first round and they'll play later this week. Morsville High School's track and field team, the boys team won the conference. The girls finished second and they're getting ready for regionals this weekend. Morsville High School tennis had two boys qualify for the postseason. Our boys golf team qualified five boys today for the regional match. And then our boys and girls lacrosse and girls soccer start their playoffs next week. So, as you can tell, like
042I said, the spring seasons are winding down. Uh, Friday, May 1st, was also school nutrition employee appreciation day. Miss Birfield celebrated with our employees last week with an ice cream social, as well as our school celebrated their employees as well. Information was sent to families regarding bus transportation requests for the 2026 2027 school year. Just a reminder to families that we need these requests submitted each school year. And this year, this information was shared through Parent Square. Also along the lines of transportation, Mr. Farmer is celebrating with the bus drivers at our annual cookout next week. We'd like to say thank you to Shop and Save for their generous donation to help out with hot dogs and hamburgers this year for the event. And lastly for me, our annual operations lunchin and awards ceremony will
043take place on Friday, May 22nd in the pack. We are excited to honor and recognize our operations employees that morning. Good evening, Dr. Gardner and Mr. Whitfield. Members of the board, we held our last safe, happy, and healthy subcommittee uh last week and wanted to provide a few more updates. All schools have completed training and updates on state and district level behavioral threat assessment processes. Further implementation will now be facilitated at the school level through collaboration with MTSS teams, administrators, SRO's, and our counselors. The discipline subcommittee also reviewed data for the past two years which showed that while aggressive behavior has decreased, inappropriate behavior seems to still be an issue. In response to that, the district is continuing to move towards restorative practices and reflective inschool suspensions to ensure that discipline remains educational and corrective.
044And as you heard from Morsville Middle just a few minutes ago, we continue to focus on increasing positive behaviors and interactions between staff and students and students and students. And that concludes my report. >> Any questions? Thank you. Right. Next up, we have recruit, grow, and retain with Miss Kunam, Miss Davis. Good evening, Dr. Garin, Chairman Whitfield, and members of the board. um this spring um following on the strength of some of the candidates that we have uh been able to meet during uh college recruitment events and also our MGSD career fair, we were able to take a few um teachers to uh visit our our schools for tours and our uh principles and um schools were a great host in that. And so we are working with schools now to get um these hires
045taken care of so that we can gain additional talent and staff to join MGSD as we continue to recruit uh strong talent. Um as far as retention goes, uh this year our efforts um this spring is always a fun time because we uh take time to celebrate and recognize um so many fun things that our staff are doing. Um so our BT celebration took place last April April 23rd. Um and we um were able to recognize those teachers who completed their uh three years of the BT program and they were able to um have fun and connect with colleagues across the district um and with a cup of coffee, a performance coffee and a sweet treat. Um we also next week look forward to uh recognizing our retirees. Um we will have our retiree celebration
046um next Thursday 6 to 8 at um uh a new location, the new Morrisville Christian Mission. And we look forward to honoring all of those uh teachers and educators who have worked in our district for a number of years and are ready to retire. And finally, I'll mention this month we are later um bringing our contract renewals for teachers and administrators who are in uh year one or two or um four um of their contracts. And so we are uh also processing uh license and license renewals for our teachers to make sure that we meet our June 30 deadline. And that concludes my general updates. Chairman Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. Um, so as mentioned in last month's board report, MGSD is currently undergoing an invitation for bid for copier and printing services.
047Uh, the bids were due on Friday, April 17th, and we received an overwhelming response. The copier committee has been working very hard to review the bids and scoring the vendors. We will bring the selected vendor information before the board in June for approval. Um, the finance and operations departments have partnered with P3 cost analysts, an auditing firm, to review and identify savings for district-wide services, including utilities, waste, water, sewer, and telecommunications. So far, the partnership has proven successful, and upon completion, a full report outlining the cost savings will also be presented to the board. Um and on also on Wednesday, April the 22nd, members of the finance department were able to travel to Kataba County and take part in the region 7 finance job alike where a representative from the state health plan spoke about
048upcoming plan changes for employees, employer reporting, and the current RFP taking place to select a thirdparty provider starting in calendar year 2028. We were able to ask questions and receive clarifications on many topics and the state health plan representatives plan to continue traveling to regional meetings to gather feedback from school districts on all the plan areas. So that concludes our report and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Any questions? >> Thank you ladies. >> Right. Next up we have culture relationships with Miss Mlan. >> Good evening Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner and members of the board. I am happy to say we had a successful organ trail event. We had 91 people leave Independence Missouri and all of them made it to Willilament Valley alive and well. I want to thank
049Amy Smith for her work in making the stations fun and interactive and thank you to the district staff and Miss Bender who helped run the different stations. It was a beautiful evening to be enjoying downtown Morrisville. Um just a couple of quotes that I received from parents. quote, "This has been fantastic evening. I want to go home and find my old Oregon Trail game, although it was on a floppy disc." And then another one, um, and I received more than this, but these just I thought were funny. The kids had a blast and so did I. This was for my generation. Um, Saturday we will have a table downtown Morrisville for Morsville Day. Um, if you're out and about between 10 and three, stop by with any questions you might have. Um, and I believe
050I'm going to be joined by a Park View Patriot, also known as Miss Angie. Um, the school nutrition manager at Parkview Elementary School came as the patriot last year and the kids absolutely loved it. So, I'm excited to have her join me. Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 6th, is school nurse appreciation day. Um, sometimes it gets a little lost with it being a a teacher appreciation week and everything else going on, but I think it's extreme that we're so fortunate to have eight phenomenal nurses in our district. Um, from teaching first responder training to our staff, ensuring immunization compliance, administering medications, and responding to emergencies and a lot of communication with parents. They truly do do it all. Last year, they had over 23,000 office visits. I want to make sure they get the appreciation they deserve.
051Are there any questions? >> Um, um, Morsel Day. Um, so what does our setup look like? Y'all have like a QR code for people to scan in if they need to register their kids. Like what do you do to capture that audience there? >> We have um, yes, we have handouts with QR for kindergarten registration. Um, technically we're not yet registering current students for next year because we need this year to kind of close out. Um, so we will have that there. I have on card stock to hand out with the kindergarten registration information. We're going to have some handouts with QR codes for jobs. Um, I'm going to have some giveaways. Um, just different things. We'll have some of our strategic plan information there. And then if they just need to ask questions, >>
052is it is it all that they have to scan in or is it we can take in their information on site? Like is there a I think about when I go places and they have a iPad set up and it's like join our email list. Like do we have something like that? >> I can certainly have my laptop there if they need help. Um it's it's going to be me. So it'd be hard to start actually registering people just because of the time. But like if they need help, I can certainly help them with that. >> I wondered if we could just like set up a link like don't have time to scan it in like give us your name and your email address and we can add you to our list or something. Sure.
053>> Think about when you go to these big events, you can go win a t-shirt by just putting your name in. But no, that's >> you know, but I mean if you're but if they don't have they don't want to hold on to a piece of paper, they could go ahead and say, "Oh, I have a kindergartener, but I don't want to scan right now. Let me put my email address in here." >> Right. >> Rising kinder or something. >> Yeah. No, I can actually get that information because most of our um elementary schools are adding them to a parent square group so they can get communications. >> They like three questions like >> Yep. you know, your address, your name, and your email. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> All right. Good
054evening, board members. Um, as you know, I was recently asked to serve on the governor's blue ribbon commission, a group that was formed with bipartisan support in an effort to craft recommendations around education reform in our state. So this group includes um representation from K12 education, higher education, business partners as well as um several non- voting members of the general assembly. Um our first meeting was last week and it mostly just focused on getting acquainted with each other and we had a lot of rich dialogue as as far as defining um what is needed for public education and just getting clarity on expectations for that group. Um we talked about a lot of variety of positive elements in education and just areas where we see reforms needed. Um as as we tossed around ideas and
055kind of wrestled with that, there was one activity um that one of the members brought forward that that really resonated with me and and stood out. So I' I'd like to ask this group the same question. So um when he stood up, he said, "Raise your hand if you would actively encourage your child to pursue a field of education today." And and if you don't feel comfortable raising your hand, you don't have to. Um but I'd ask you to ponder that question. Um one thing we know for sure, the research is really clear, the best predictor of academic success is when you have a high quality teacher in a classroom. So we know and and we've said that in our strategic plan that our success rests on quality of staff. So what if as a
056state we just focused on what would it take for everybody to raise their hand when that question's asked? So I would just ask you to ponder that we talk about a lot of different things in in reform of education. I had a conversation with somebody today. It it really doesn't matter when you have a high quality teacher in the room. Everything else works out. You think about curriculum for example, you could pick five or six different curriculum. The the best teachers, they make it work. So, um, hopefully that is the direction that we take in the months moving forward because we know if we can get the best and brightest in North Carolina, which we know that we have talent in this state in the field of education, it'll make a difference. So, given that
057this week is teacher appreciation week, let's honor the work of our educators and really push for reform that makes teaching a desirable profession in this state again because it was once before. Thank you. And that concludes my comments. And I'm proud to say that both of my sons are educators and one's married to a teacher as well. >> Um, and I just want to say after he spoke, he won't toot his own horn very often, but I hope we all realize what a huge opportunity it is for him to be on that commission. Um, similar to how Mr. Coastal listens to his students, I hope you all realize you're the equivalent of sitting with him all the time and and he takes that back and and is really giving your feedback at every level. We
058we have a true nonpartisan advocate up here in front of us and we I hope we all appreciate that that he is fighting for us every every step of the way. >> That's very fortunate. Um I was remiss now that the seas have sort of parted. We have uh Mr. Carricker from town of Morsville here. So I'd like to recognize his presence today. So thank you for being here, sir. Uh it's my turn to uh talk about board events. Uh most of these things are um we're already aware of, but we have undergradu uh underassman awards tomorrow evening at the performing arts center. Um Morsville Middle School dance performance on May 8th at the performing arts center. So the performing arts center is going to get a good workout in the next couple of weeks.
059Uh we have spring band concert on May 11th for Morsville High School. Uh Selma Burke and Morsville Middle are going to have a band concert the following evening on the 12th at the Performing Arts Center. And of course we have uh excitement of uh senior scholarship night on the 13th of May be at 6:30. Balora on the 21st which will be at 6:30 both in the pack and uh the the always u u I'm always happy to go and and excited to to go to the uh operations lunchon. Uh these folks just work tirelessly for the children because if uh they're not there, the children aren't there and um their their significance is u immeasurable. Uh that is going to be at 11 a.m. on the 22nd. 23rd of course we have graduation. I know
060we have a lot of excited folks who will be at uh Coach Pop Stadium for that at 8:30 in the morning. And that concludes my portion. Public comment. >> Yes, sir. We have one speaker, Mr. Chairman. Um, Amber Bryant. Uh, Miss Bryant's going to speak about cheerleading ret tryyouts. And Miss Bryant, as you're making your way, you have three minutes to speak. Miss Necamire is going to keep your time on the little three light system there on the corner of the podium. When it's green, that's good. When it's yellow, you got one minute left. When it gets to red, it's time to stop talking. >> Um, yep, that's there. And >> when it turns green, I can tell. And uh you know you're not it's not a question and answer session. You're asked to use
061good rules in the quorum and you just present your information to the board for them to listen to. So you'll state your name and then Miss I'll start the timer. >> Hi my name is Amber Bryant and I'm a very proud former Morsville High School Blue Devil cheerleader. I'm also a former teacher at EMIS and have had the pleasure to return to my fabulous school this past year as a title one tutor. My daughter recently made the JV cheer team and we couldn't be more proud. It has come to my attention that there is a possibility that they will rehold tryyouts or possibly change the outcome to the teams. It is important to respect the original results in the effort everyone put the tri in the tryyouts. Changing it now could create confusion and hurt
062morale. Any concerns with the process should be addressed for the future, not by restarting it now, such as meeting with coaches beforehand to set guidelines and review the rubric to ensure clarity and consistency. I'm concerned that too much outside influence could undermine the integrity of the tryyout process and the coach's authority. Undermining the coach's decisions can impact the integrity of the program and that's some something we need to avoid considering morsel cheerleading has had a lot of turnover in coaching and that can make it difficult to build consistency within the program. If one team redo triyouts after results are announced, it sets a precedence for other sports at Morsville, that could lead to ongoing challenges to coaches decisions across all teams. Other athletes and parents may start expecting the same treatment, which could create instability
063and conflict throughout Morsel's athletics program. Coaches in all sports need to be able to make final decisions or it becomes difficult to run teams effectively and fairly. Thank you for your time and consideration. I truly appreciate the opportunity to share these concerns. >> And that's all the public comment. Mr. Chairman, >> thank you. Uh Dr. Gardner, items for information. >> Yes, sir. Um we will start with our CT local plan. And as a reminder to the board, um this gets approved every two years. Um so Dr. Wade and Mr. Wilson will will share an overview of the plan tonight. Um, and we will bring it back in our June business meeting for approval. And then you guys will have opportunities to ask questions now and then um through the course of the month. >> Good
064evening, Dr. Gardner, Chairman Whitfield, and school board members. Good to see you all this evening. Um, I'm going to do two things tonight. I'm going to do a recap of the 2526 school year and then present to you the local plan for the 2628 school year. Um, celebrations. Let's start out with the good stuff. Um, one of our goals and continue goals in our local plan is to grow our CTSO experiences for our students. Um, when I stood up here last time, we had just started SECLA chapter with a small handful of students. Um, I'm proud to say this year, Miss Clark has qualified three students to attend the national competition in Washington DC this July. And um, we're waiting on school board approval and we'll start booking plane tickets and booking hotel rooms and
065those kinds of things. Um, we had 18 field trips this year for grades six through 12. Um, at the high school level, those field trips are very industry specific, trying to give students a real hands-on look at what it looks like to extend that classroom. Kuran Wheels was very successful. I'm proud to say over 98% of our students, sixth graders, attend that event every year. Um, it continues to grow. This year we had close to 80 vendors, businesses in the county participating. It was a beautiful day at the fairgrounds and we have a scheduled date for October 23rd of next year for career wheels fifth grade. Uh we had excuse me 20 guest speakers over 20 guest speakers between the middle school and the high school this year. Um that's a goal is obviously to
066get people to come into the school building and share their experiences. Um sometimes it's less restrictive than taking a group of students on a bus. So we try to get the people to come in. Um, we've used the lecture halls in the pack to do that. So, we can have a hundred kids present for a guest speaker. So, the impact is not just the classrooms of 20 to 25 students. It's bigger than that. fifth grade career exploration has been kind of a focus um on my desk and we finally were able to implement a pilot this year with EMIS and we used um thanks to Miss Hensler and her efforts we used National Technical Honor Society and then Miss Clark's teaching as a profession class to take hands-on activities into the fifth grade um building
067and give them about an hour and 20 minutes of experiences that they could have at the high school in career and technical education. So, our goal next year is to have that in both schools. For fifth grade, we had a CTE signing day this year at the high school. Um, we have 190 completers, um, senior completers, and we had 120 actually come to receive a certificate, a graduation cord, they signed a poster, and they had their picture taken with their certificate with the Morsel High School backdrop. And we have a MGSD teacher of the year for CTE is Miss Allison Teter. So she had just finished her application. I checked with her today. So it's submitted. So she would we're looking forward to see what she can do at the next step. Other celebrations. Um
068credential attainment is something that is on all our radar. Um our goal this year for the year is 78%. Um you can see the fall numbers are 84 plus percent. Uh it's tracking that we should be 80% or better for this school year. We've had some preliminary numbers come in already and they look great. Um I don't want to put the cart before the horse as they say, but I'm really optimistic. I tell Dr. Gardner all the time. My goal, and I share it with our staff, is that we are in the publication in the top 10 in the state in credential attainment. There's no reason why we can't be there. Fiscal 25, just some highlights. We needed some major updates in our automotive program. Um, so we new alignment machines. We had to do
069an HVAC recycler. Um, some just technology was out of date. And those were the two big purchases that we did for automotive. Um we purchased another 3D printer that we can use across multiple departments um that will be housed in the STEM lab um at the high school. We've spent money on training aids that impact engineering, advanced manufacturing, and electrical trades. We are starting a masonary program next year with two sections um that with so we're starting purchasing um some of those equipment and tools needed for that and then we've made a investment in our health science obvious with training aids and a health science LMS to help those teachers with to grow that program. So moving forward, so we did our comprehensive local needs assessment. Um the components here are listed. So these these
070are the different sections of the CLNA that we complete. And in the packet that you were given, those are the rating sheets that you saw. So it is a self-evaluation. It's not a comparison to where we were last year and we are this year. It's a start over. Where are we today? So, it looks different and I do want to say this that the format is different than what you've seen in the past because the portal that we use became went online today and the data is not yet published for the local application. So, there were some leeway we used and some historical data we used to complete the process. Consultation methods are the most important part of this CLNA. It's the input we get from stakeholders. So we have our CTE advisory board. We
071have our automotive advisory board and they meet twice each year each advisory board. We formatted we created a team for our CLNA this year that consisted of school administrators, counselors, social workers, teachers, students, right? everybody impacted by career and technical education courses. Our CTE leadership, we meet bi-weekly throughout the school year. We had Mitchell Community College meetings early in the fall and the middle meeting in August. We actually took a group of teachers up so they could like align their courses with what Mitchell is offering. So like this the vertical alignment. Uh we have a CT CTE student advisory board that this is the third year of that advisory board where we meet with students twice a year. And then our workforce development board meetings that I we attend somebody from the CTE leadership attends
072monthly. Um and it's Mitchell Community College and Idard already. So, we're constantly getting feedback about our program, sharing our program with stakeholders, and finding out if what we're doing is the right path. These are four screenshots, just clips, and they're probably better to look at in hard copy of the survey that we give students every year. It's fe it's it's a program evaluation. Um, we have close to 400 responses, which is really really a high response rate. Um, so we ask students obviously their grade level. We ask the question, "My teacher seems interested in this subject area. We ask students the class exposed me to potential career opportunities." We ask students, "Do they know what the proof of learning is in this class?" Right? We ask them, "Is there enough rigor? Does this C class
073challenge me?" And then the last question is we throw out some questions about like, "What would you like to see offered at Moresville High School that we don't currently offer? So it's just getting feedback. Um it's feedback that we use in our advisory board meetings. It's feedback feedback that we use with community college and it's feedback we use with leadership. So the areas identified for improvement for the local plan beginning in 26 is we need to continue to market our pathways. There was a rebranding of pathways moving into the 26 school year. We have started that process of aligning our courses and pathways and clusters with the national standards but we need to continue that. We need to market the trades specifically advanced manufacturing, STEM related courses, healthc care, retail and sales because those align
074those areas align to the largest um sectors in the county. We know we have to increase rigor and active learning for all of our CTE students. We have to dig down deeper into our curriculum for our students to be challenged in our courses. Now, we do honor we have roughly 20 honors level courses in CTE now and that helps with their rigor. Um, but we know that all of our courses need to increase there. We need to connect CTE instructions to the EOCC's. um that that is going to help the entire school, help all scores. Um and so that's a huge priority going into the new local plan. Continue to assist students with aligning interest with the career pathways, their career development process. Um so we, you know, our eighth graders are doing the career
075development plans. We're going to we've moved into the ninth and tth grade now. And so now we're going to finish that out with our 11th and 12th graders. They've been touching on it, but it's now we're going to finish that process. So when they graduate, they'll have a digital portfolio. And we need to increase the CTSO participation to give those students those outside of the classroom experiences to develop leadership opportunities and to see other o to find other opportunities in the community. Fiscal budget for 26, who knows? I'm sorry, [laughter] but we know we have 298 um months of employment as our initial aotment and our state funds reflected there. We don't have a federal budget yet. Um it's a 10% less than what we started with last year and our credentials is based on
076the current year's enrollment. I want to just speak to the credential budget. We exhaust every dime of our credential budget. We and then some. we actually go into PRC 14 after we spend that PRC 83. So we exhaust it. We're giving our kids all the opportunities that they need to pass those credentials. So things that we're targeting for fiscal year 26 CTE through PRC14 will fund the Spark Lab facilitator uh which is a 12-month position. Once the approval of the board happens, we're going to upgrade our PC lab that drafting uses. and we use it for certaport testing. We're going to expand the middle school Pax and Patterson um labs. We've been talking with them about that already. New masonary program with a partnership with Gates Construction. And then we're going to expand and develop
077more work-based learning for our students. >> Any questions? >> Yes, I have several. Um first, I'm thrilled about the masonry. And I have been looking for years and finally had a friend in Rowan County who knew an old guy who actually taught masonry here decades ago. Um but it's something that we we need. you know, a lot of the Masons don't want to do small jobs, but um I had the opportunity in March to go to the National School Boards Association [clears throat] conference and I went to a session on um work-based learning opportunities and increasing internships. And um one of the things that the presenters were doing and I believe they were from Wisconsin um they used an instrument and they did it in the seventh grade that they gave to students that measured
078not just their interest but their aptitude for a variety of different um careers. And I thought this was really good because then they could take that it it it made students aware that they may have an aptitude that you know they just didn't didn't know about. Um and it enabled them to um tailor the opportunities that they provided those middle schoolers to experience different kinds of um professions and skills. um and and then um really concentrate that when they get to the high school. A and they worked with local businesses and say, you know, look, we've got some kids over here who really have an aptitude for whatever this business may be and um we're able to match them up in that way and I thought it was really powerful. Um, I know that you
079do some interest types of questions in your surveys, but are you using any um standardized assessments that measure aptitude? >> We do. We um we we subscribe to some a platform called Pathfully assessments, personality assessments, and aptitude assessments. Um, nccareers.org or is something that we will transition to probably the following year because they're rolling that out slowly. Um, and that'll be actually a free service that students could use and it's through CFNC. Um, like if you have your CFNC login and then that gives students access to nccareers.org which then aligns like five-star careers in North Carolina. um they have a reality check where you can put in like if I want to live in the mountains, this how much money I need to make to live in this kind of housing and drive this kind
080of car and those types of things. But yes, we do have multiple surveys our students complete through through the third party provider Pathful and they use those to populate their career development plan. >> Okay, >> they'll do that in >> we start in eighth grade. We start in eighth grade, but we use Pathful at like we use Pathful Assessments in CTE at the high school for our special populations coordinator >> because it gives her back data on like so she helps her her track those kids that fit into the special populations category. >> The the eighth graders don't do it in like an M time or something like that. I think I remember >> they do exam schedules actually. They're very principles have been very generous with their time which is greatly appreciated and they
081have their all buy in. It's great. Yeah. >> And how are we tracking the kinds of um skills that local employers are looking for >> through the economic development and I already those meetings that we attend. Um you know Todd Black with the EDC and Idard already does a presentation at our fall meeting um every year about like where where is growth and where where's where are the where's the job growth in the county specifically. We that's and he gives us that information. >> Um you talked about increasing the rigor. I I think about just from um from feedback received, you know, you always hear the ninth grade children um don't love the modules of of a lot of these CTE classes. And so I think we lose um and it's not our it's not
082the school district's fault, but we lose a lot of interest with our younger students because they think they're big and they're bad and they're going to the high school and they're going to get to cook all day long, but they don't know that they have to do 35 modules before they can make chicken alfredo. [clears throat] And so I think that that I w this is me speaking out loud, right? Like if you could do modules in eighth grade and then they get to ninth grade and they just cook that chicken alfredo, things would be great and they'd be on a pathway to be a chef. later on, but you lose a lot of their a lot of their interest because they're like, "These CT classes aren't fun because I'm just on the computer taking
083modules." But it's you have to get there before you can get there. So, when I think about you talk about increasing rigor, it's just keeping that connection with those younger students before they can get to that hands-on piece they're so longing to get to. They know they have a path forward. They just >> we have to get that first module piece done in almost all of those classes. And it's really tough for those younger students. And I and I believe rigor can happen with the hands-on activities. So it's not behind a screen. >> I just wish we could trash the modules and >> and I'll speak to that a little bit. I think there's one of the courses that has a bad reputation with modules is our construction core. >> Yeah. >> It's going away.
084Last next year is the last year of construction core. So masonry no longer requires it as a prerequisite. Really? >> Electrical trades doesn't require it as a prerec. Carpentry does not require it as a prerec beginning with the incoming freshmen. So we're gonna have ninth graders instead of sitting through construction core for a year are going to jump right into carpentry one telling them that class is miserable. You have to do all the modules. >> We hear it too. And so the only one that's left it's it's still a prerequisite for HVAC. Um and there's it's just because they can't write the books rewrite the books fast. >> That's great news though. That's >> Yeah, that's great news. I think one of the one of the things that you know you touched on it is
085is continuing to keep the same standard without the with the budget. Um because that's something that we definitely want to continue to focus on is is um you know the work workbased learning >> based on the fact of how you know opportunities evolve. I mean we're we're going from you know everybody going to college to now everybody making a mean of living. And so I think when we look at our budget and we look at the impact that this had on education for us to continue to keep this going is is huge. And then I also look at it from a standpoint of you know opportunities when we talk about it you know as as Miss Panell was saying I think the more we can communicate that the families um we heard from MIS on
086how they're getting their students engaged early the the earlier that we can communicate some of these changes I think that'll help us with the impact and keeping everybody in in the program long term. Just some just some thoughts on that. >> I think some of the kids too, I've heard a lot more feedback this year from 9th through 12th grade, families and students that they're understanding how their credentials connect to the job market. And and I've heard some younger students really not say, "I can't wait to go to Mitchell because I they they can't wait to go to Mitchell because they can't wait to be involved in the CTE pathway." They always used to think it was strictly just academic that they couldn't get any hands-on learning. I think we're doing a much better job
087of communicating. Mitchell is not just English and history. Like you can go get some welding certifications. >> That that vertical alignment from middle school all the way up to Mitchell is is huge. I would also um applaud you for getting the the community, the industry involved, building those relationships because those are those are key long term for um these students to have opportunities and for the community to know what these young people are doing in the classroom and the skill set that they're getting that they may not be able to express themselves directly. They know the quality education that they're receiving in our schools and it's informative to sit in those meetings, you know, in at the high school and listen to local industry talk about their needs and the different things that we're getting
088ready to do and the excitement that we have. And I think that relationship that we're building with our community partners to work together is going to pay off immeasurably. But thank you. >> Yeah, the CTE kids will be the ones who can afford to come and stay and and make a living, not our teachers. [laughter] >> Uh before Mr. Wilson leaves. I'll just give a quick shout out. This fall, Mr. Gates came to us with an idea, said, "Hey, we need masons. What can we do?" He brought somebody from the state association and Mr. Wilson sat down, figured out a way to make it happen. And and that's what we want to do. So, we want to respond to industry needs. Um, and I think that's one of the things that makes our program special.
089So, appreciate you guys for doing that. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, we have Miss Mlan with some policy revisions. Good evening, Dr. Gardner, Mr. Whitfield, and members of the board. Um, tonight we bring to you a recommendation for a change to board of education policy 151042007270. This change adds section F, annual safety review, which clarifies annual requirements and timelines for student safety drills, training for staff me members, as well as training for students on the see something, say something reporting platform. District staff is also recommending a change to board of education policy 8350. This change increases the threshold for what constitutes a fixed asset from a value of 5,000 to 10,000 or more. This recommendation is at the advice of our auditors due to increased inflation. We will bring these changes to
090you um again on at the June 2026 board meeting for approval. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out in the meantime. Um, fellow board members, I I asked if we could um look at changing the u policies concerning school safety just to require that we do training and at least one practice within the first 20 days of school. Um, we live in a in a time now where weather events are not predictable. waiting until the spring um when we know that we can have um you know tornadoes and things like that at any time of the year just doesn't make sense. Um so I I hope >> that's good. >> Agree. >> I do have a question on that one though for um have the police department and fire department are
091they aware of this and are they okay with us doing them earlier within the 20 days? They've always worked with us in the past and honestly we we have really instituted this as a practice. I think the only one that is newer for us is the tornado drill within the first 20 days. Again to Dr. Marsh's point, it's always been with um severe weather week in March, but we know from a couple years ago and we had tornado warning an open house one year. Um so we had already been having internal discussions. I I I do think it's the right step to put it in policy um so that that we can really have some teeth to it. >> Okay. Thank you. And as Miss McClean said, as it relates to the policy revision and
092also to the the CTE local plan that we have, you know, this month, if you have questions, further questions or comments to make, you can make those to the appropriate parties. Thank you. All right. Items for approval. Dr. Gardner. >> Yes, sir. We will start with our supplemental tax rate with Miss Davis. >> Chairman Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, and members of the board. Um, so the board evaluates and approves the supplemental tax rate for the school district on an annual basis and the tax rate has actually not been increased since 2012. Now you most of you remember uh for the 2324 school year, you did vote to decrease the supplemental tax rate. So it used to be 18.5 cents uh per 100 and now it's at 15.5 cents per $100 valuation. So, we would just like
093to propose that the current rate stay in place for the upcoming fiscal year. >> All righty. We have a recommendation to um have the supplemental tax rate remain the same, 15.5 cents per $100. Uh that is a recommendation. I'll entertain a motion. >> I move we accept the recommendation as presented. >> Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the um recommendation as presented to allow the or to have the current tax rate remain the same at 15.5 cents per $100. All those in favor. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Exclamation point. We did not raise it. >> Right. Next up, we have Dr. Royal with our annual um approval of our facility use fee schedule for the upcoming year. Good evening again, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner,
094members of the board. Um, in following Miss Davis, in keeping things the same, uh, for our facility use fees for the 26 27 school year under MGSD policy 5030, the community use community use of facilities states that the board will annually approve a fee structure that lists the amount or method of calculating rent and fees to be charged for facility use. We are proposing the MGSD facility use fee structure remain the same for the upcoming 2627 school year. And note the last time that there was an increase was back in June of 2024. So we are proposing to keep the fee structure the same for the next academic year. >> Okay. Okay, we have a recommendation um to [clears throat] or a proposal by Morsel Grade School District to keep the fee schedule structure remaining
095the same for academic year 2026 2027. I'll entertain a motion. >> I move that we pass the uh fee schedule as presented. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the structured fee scheduled to remain actually the same for the academic year 2627. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. Thank you, sir. >> All right. Next up, as Mr. Wilson alluded to [clears throat] a little bit earlier, we have a field trip that is overnight out of state that requires board approval. So, Mr. Rubic will present that at this time. >> Yes. Thank you, Chairman Woodfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. Morsville High School is requesting permission for three students and two chaperones to travel to Washington DC to participate in the FCCLA CTSO for
096family and consumer sciences. These three students competed and placed high enough to be invited to the National Leadership Conference. The only cost for the students will be their meals as the remaining costs will be covered utilizing our CTE funding. So we're asking for your approval for these students to attend in Washington DC. >> Okay. >> Members of the board, we have a recommendation to approve a field trip to Washington DC for three students to chaperones to attend the national leadership conference. Um those funds utilized will be uh from the CTE funding. U the students will be responsible for uh meals. Uh all those >> May I ask a question? >> Yes. Are there any um district fund? Washington's an expensive place to eat. I mean, I'm sure that they won't be going to fine dining,
097but is it typical for students to have to >> I'll have to ask for the I mean >> the CTE. This is a >> is it typical for them? >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> We have that recommendation. I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the field trip as presented. Second. I >> have a motion and a second to approve the field trip to Washington DC leadership to the national leadership conference uh being funds being uh utilized by the from the CTE funding. All those in favor. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. >> Thank you. [snorts] >> All right. I believe the next agenda item is mine. Um board members as you know may Friday May 1st last Friday was modified from a student day to an optional teacher workday
098in response to a significant number of staff members taking leave for that day. Um so we did um put forth uh several days of efforts trying to cover absences with substitute teachers as well as assigning central office employees to substitute but we determined um we were not able to provide a safe classroom setting on that day. Um, so I know that I talked with each individual board member to just kind of keep you updated and informed, but it does require board action to modify the calendar. We did not need to schedule a student makeup day as as um we've been prudent with our days. We still have a few to spare. Um, so the only adjustment is to move that from a student day to an optional teacher workday. And I'll certainly entertain any questions,
099but need board approval. Okay, we have a recommendation to uh change the uh Friday, May 1st date to an optional teacher work day in response to the significant numbers of staff members that were unavailable on that day. Um I'll entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. I have a motion and a second to approve optional teacher workday for May 1st due to the significant number of staff members that had taken leave uh to attend uh a function in Raleigh. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Well, comes that time in the meeting. Okay. >> That the uh board must go into close session uh to discuss um personnel matters and uh discuss matters with the board attorney. I'll entertain a motion. So move >> all those
100second. >> Second. Second. >> And before I say that, uh that's pursuant to NC general statute 143- uh 11. Uh the second. So I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. >> Oh, I have a motion to approve the personnel list as recommended by superintendent. >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay, that's Monica. All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Um, no further business. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I. >> Oops. Wrong. >> Okay. What time? It's 8:30.