MGSD Board of Education Meeting December 3, 2025

001Good evening and welcome to the Morsel Grade School District Board of Education School Board meeting here in town hall at 6 pm. At this time, I would like to have a moment of silence. Thank you. Okay. Uh we need to uh guess move to administration of the oath of office pledge first. >> Pledge of Yeah. So >> pledge of allegiance. >> At this time, I'd like to call Nariah McKe. She's going to um lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Thank you. Yep. >> Defer. >> We'll defer. We'll wait until >> Okay. We'll go ahead. We'll go ahead and try. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Oh, wait. She see her. All right, >> just stand up here. Just right up here. >> Perfect timing. >> So, Nia's going to lead us in the

002pledge of allegiance as soon as she walks in. Right. All right. Whenever you're ready, we're ready. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Administration of the oath of office for looks like myself and Mr. Broly. At this time, I'd like to ask the Honorable Troy J. Stafford to attend uh the front up here. And uh he is the uh the superior court judge here in this district and uh a wonderful uh role model for for the legal community and uh anybody in this room. Just a joy to know and I appreciate and am honored that he is a part of this evening. We'll do >> separate. Left

003hand right. I do and I will support the United States faithful in their true state of North Carolina and the powers which are or thereof. and that I will endeavor to support maintainitution of state and ability. I favor swear that I will and truly the duties of the office of trustees of education district law. What's that? All right. Where is she? >> Yep. Thank you. I agree with you. >> I will support the United States and authority establish. I will endeavor to support maintain defend state of my knowledge and ability. I swear that I will truly execute. I will duties of the Board of Education. School district. Okie dokie. It is now time on the agenda to elect the uh chairperson of the board of education. >> All right. Um members of the board, the

004next item on our agenda is to elect a chair of the board of education for the upcoming year. At this time, I'll entertain nominations for board chair. >> I nominate Greg Whitfield to continue his service as chair of this board. >> I second it. >> All right. Are there any other nominations? Hearing none, all those in favor of Greg Whitfield as board chair, please respond by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Congratulations, Mr. Whitfield, on your election as board chair. >> Thank you. >> Honor honored to serve again. Looking forward to it. >> All right. The next item on our agenda is to elect a vice chair. At this time, I will entertain nominations for vice chair. >> I nominate Rake Bryley as vice chair of the morsel graded school district board of

005education. >> Okay. Um, any other nominations? >> Is there a second? >> Oh, we do need a second. I apologize. >> Second. >> All right. Any other nominations? >> I nominate Debbie Marsh. >> All right, we have a second nomination. Um, do we have a second for that? All right. Are there any other nominations? So, we've had two nominations, one without a second. Do we have another nomination? All right, hearing none. All those in favor of Rake Broly as board vice chair, please respond by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Cong congratulations Rake Broly on your election as board vice chair. Thank you. All right. At this time, I will turn the meeting back over to our board chair, Mr. Whitfield. >> Thank you, sir. Congratulations, Mr. Broly. >> Thank you. Approval

006of the agenda. >> Uh before we approve the agenda, I would like to ask for consideration for a movement of one item. Um, I would request that we move item 17 C, which is the shared use of facilities with the town, from an item for information to 18D, which would be an item for approval. Um, we would like to have that in place before the start of next year. So, that's why we would like to move that from information to approval. >> We have a recommendation to amend the uh agenda. Do I hear a second? I second >> and that is to you'll restate that Mr. >> um the amended so the agenda as presented with the exception of moving item 17 C to 18D. >> Okay, >> Mr. Chair, you'll need a a motion.

007I don't think anybody made a motion to approve that. Just >> I make a motion to approve the amended agenda as presented. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? Motion carries. Approval of the minutes of the November 3rd board meeting. I'll entertain a motion. >> Some moved. >> I have a motion to approved. I hear a second. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. All right. Even though we just got into this meeting, I'm letting you know that the next board meeting will be January the 6th here in town hall at 6 pm. So, please be duly

008uh duly noted and aware of that. Student of the month, Dr. Gardner. >> Yes, sir. All right, good evening everyone. Tonight we have the honor of recognizing our student of the month and pledge leader tonight, Nariah McKe, student at Moresville High School. Nariah was selected by the Moresville High School administrative team. I'm going to share a little bit about why they selected her, but first we want to ask her to come up front at this time. Let's give her a ROUND OF APPLAUSE. NIAH NARIAH McKe began her ninth grade year strong and throughout her time at Moresville High School, she has continued to grow in remarkable ways. Although she's faced challenges and worked through adversity early on, Nariah's transformation has been inspiring. She now leads with confidence, compassion, and maturity. As a student leader, Nariah

009helps guide campus tours and serves as a positive role model for both her peers and students who follow behind her. Athletically, she excels as both a standout player in flag football as well as the captain of the girls um varsity basketball team. Her dedication, resilience, and commitment to excellence shines both on and off the court. Nariah consistently upholds the core values of Morrisville High School with grace and integrity. She has become a true beacon of positivity on our campus and we are proud to recognize her as this month's student of the month. Please join me in congratulating Nariah is our student of the month for December. Mariah the Morsville School District Board of Education recognizes Mariah as the student of the month for leading the pledge of allegiance on this day. Let's give her another

010round. All right. All right, next we have our artist of the month. Tonight we have the honor of recognizing Ava Day, student at Moresville High School as our artist of the month. Ava was nominated by the fine arts team at Moresville High School. And before I share a little bit about her, like to ask her to come up front at this time. Ava has demonstrated consistent excellence in every fine arts discipline. She's a strong, accomplished member of the band. She's a solid actress and takes leadership roles. In the play Night Witches for NCTC, Ava researched the style of Soviet music that fit the time period of the show. She wrote, arranged, and taught the music to other members of the class to just to enhance the play. Though she's currently not in chorus this semester,

011she will be in the spring. She asked if she could audition for the Mars Hill Coral Festival. She auditioned and was one of three students from Morsaw High School recognized with this honor. That event will be held in February at their campus. Ava was also instrumental in starting and organizing the Tri Music Honor Society for students who want to do more in the arts and build their skills. Ava is vice president and she has been amazing at creating spreadsheets, keeping track of who's joined and she helps with the coral selection, choosing music, teaching parts, take overall taking a strong leadership role. She's she is actively looking for places to perform and plans to share her love of music, not only with the community, but also with younger students here in the district to help encourage

012them to continue studying music when they get to high school. Please join me in congratulating Ava as our December artist of the month. The Mors Grad School District Board of Education recognizes you artist of the month. I do break is shepherd. overused. She tried Super bright. for shepherd. Jesus. All right. Next up, we have our ABCD award. Each month, we have the honor of recognizing a district employee who goes above and beyond demonstrating a core value of our district. This month we will recognize Miss Sandy Verley, financial data manager at Moresville High School. Miss Verley was nominated by the Morwell High School administrative team. And before I share a little bit about why they nominated her, like to ask her to come up front at this time. Let's give her a round of applause. Miss

013Verley was selected for this award because of her work demonstrating the core values of of authentic relationships and integrity in her day-to-day work. Miss Verley is a key asset to the Morsville High School team. She consistently goes above and beyond for our staff and students every day. Her efforts are crucial, ranging from ensuring that all of our classes are covered every day to keeping our school finances in order. Miss Verley also genuinely loves having conversations with staff members, ensuring everyone in the building feels supported and checked in on. Morrisville High School is truly blessed to have Miss Verley as part of the team. Please join me in congratulating Miss Verley as our December ABCD award winner. The Morsville School District recognizes Sandy Burley for going above and beyond the call of duty. All right. Next,

014we have several athletic teams that we're going to recognize as part of our spotlight on people. And we are going to start with our Moresville High School women's JV volleyball team co-conference champions. So, if you're a member of Morsville High School's JV volleyball team, we'll ask you to come up front at this time. Let's give them a round of applause. All right. The Morsville JV volleyball team has proudly earned the title of co-conference champions. This exceptional achievement is the culmination of a fantastic season marked by hard work, dedication, and incredible teamwork. The Blue Devils executed strategic plays, showcased dominant defense, and displayed relentless competitive spirit throughout their challenging conference schedule. Congratulations to every player and the coaching staff on this welldeserved championship title. Morswwell is proud of your success. Please join me in congratulating the

015Morrisville High School women's JV volleyball team. >> Short girl problems. Congratulations. All right. Next up for our spotlight on people, we will invite the women's varsity volleyball team who is also co-conference champions. Invite them up front at this time. Let's give them a round of applause. All right, the Morsville women's varsity volleyball team finished the 2526 season with a 20 and seven record and a North Pedmont Conference regular season championship. They also made it to the fourth round of the 7A state playoffs, the furthest that the program has made it in over 20 years. ON this team, several of our players earned recognition for their achievements as well. We had six all-conference selections, including offensive player of the year, GLO, and defensive player of the year Reagan Young, along with three first team all-conference picks.

016A few of the athletes on the team as well led the conference in major stat categories, including Kelsey Fliss, who finished second in the entire state in total blocks. Gia was also selected to the all region team, a national award given by AVCA, and she was also selected to represent Morsville in the NCV VBA All-Star game on December 6th. We're incredibly proud of everything this team accomplished, but even more proud of the growth we saw in the team. Thank you to our school and the Moresville community for the consistent support. We are looking forward to building on this season of success. Let's give the Morrisville High School volleyball team another round of applause. >> Oh yeah. Good job. Congratulations. >> All right. Next up, we're going to recognize the men's JV soccer team who was

017also conference champion. So, I'd like to ask them to come up front at this time. Let's give them a round of applause. Tonight we are proud to recognize the Moresville High School JV boys soccer team as conference champions. Overall the team's record was 126 and two, but the most important numbers were 71 and one. That record helped them earn the North Pedmont Conference crown as champions. An accomplishment that has not happened for the high school in the last 10 years. This team showed determination, passion, compassion, caring, and most of all, heart. This season, they understood what it takes to not give up and to set goals and accomplish them. On Fridays, when they didn't usually have a regular practice, you could find them in the wait room, determined to be stronger, faster, and smarter. Players

018kept each other accountable at practice, making sure that they maintained focus, and everyone was committed to achieving the goal. These boys learned a valuable lesson on resilience, determination, and brotherhood. Please join me in congratulating the Moresville High School men's JV soccer team. Let's give another round of applause. Congratulations, guys. All right. At this time, we are going to prepare to transition to our next agenda item, which will be our school highlight with Moresville High School. >> Oh. Good evening, Dr. Gardner, Chairman Whitfield, and members of the board. Um, we come before you tonight. My name is Simone Graham. I am the proud principal of Morsville High School. And how can I be with such awesome students? As you can see, um we have a group of amazing students at Moresville High School and staff. Um

019if we can give them a round of applause just for my school. I also represent an awesome amazing administrative team. Um we do a great job um of making sure that our students once they cross the stage of Moro High School, we're not done with them. We want to make sure that they go into whether it's enrollment into a four-year two-year college employment into um the workforce or into enlistment in the military. So, we work really hard along with our counselors to make sure that we ensure that we're preparing students for the future um and to make sure that they're well prepared when they walk across that stage. Last year, we decided that we were going to do something to help um in the field of education. As you all know, in North Carolina, we

020have a lot of vacancies in that area of teachers. Um, mental health um is is we can't get enough um in that. And we wanted to see what could we do in order to help more as a greatest school district and every school district around us. So, we put our heads together as a team. Um we came together with our counselors, um a couple CTE teachers, and we went around and see what we could do. we came up with we're going to start two new courses um in that field of education. One of them was teaching as a profession and the other was counsel and mental health. Um and so we said let's let's try it. Let's see how it works. So tonight I brought my teachers and my students here to let you know

021how that's going for us. Um I also wanted to highlight a program that I will say Miss Karen Martin you can hear talk about it today. She's retired in December, so I want to give her a shout out. But she has done an excellent program, had an excellent program in our early childhood. And so we've been doing what we are now trying to do, but now we're just taking it to an advanced level. Um, currently we have in the early childhood pathway 172 students. In our counseling and mental health pathway, we have 155 students. And in teaching and um as a profession pathway, we have 28 students. So, we are very proud that this is our first year for those two cohorts and I definitely know that it is going to grow um next year

022because students um are already asking how do I sign up for that and it's because of the amazing staff members that we have and I'll let you um speak on that. I'm going turn over to Mrs. Clark. >> Hello. Uh I'm Jessica Clark and I have the amazing privilege of teaching uh teaching as a profession. Um, I don't know what I did to get so lucky to have these students, but um, I just need to keep doing it because they are like the highlight of my life. Um, so these are some of my students. I have two classes right now. Um, my first block has 12 students. My my third block has 16 students. Um, so there is a GPA requirement to get into my class. You have to have a 2.5 GPA. And that's

023because we have articulation agreements with colleges across North Carolina. So when they take my class, they can get college credit at Western Carolina University, North Carolina ENT, UNC uh Wilmington, UNCC Greensboro, UNCC Charlotte, Meredith College, and I think I'm missing a couple. I think there are nine total. Um but if they get um if they keep a B in the class, they um can get college credit for their education courses, not just general studies. Um so if you'll go to the next slide. Um so in tap one we shorten teaching as a profession and we just call it tap. Uh in tap one we talk about the advantages and challenges of being a teacher so that they can go in w eyes wide open um to what they should expect when they walk into this

024field and we are honest about all of the education how we got to where we are um in the public education field. We look at laws and court cases things like that. We also look at instructional strategies, how to actually be a teacher, strategies that um that teachers employ in their classrooms. We look at classroom management styles. We look at techniques and classroom management strategies. Uh we talk about different uh differentiation in the classroom and why that's important. We talk about inclusiveness and diversity. Um all of those things. And we are starting, we just ended tap one uh curriculum with looking at lesson planning techniques and and strategies. And they will pick that up again in tap two and three. So in the spring tap 2 and three we have a twob block class. So

025for second and third block um they'll be with me uh for the whole time. So on Mondays and Fridays we'll be in our classrooms learning our tap 2 curriculum and Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays they'll be in a classroom setting across the district. So thank you to all of the principles and assistant principles and that have let me come into your schools because that has been amazing. Um so thank you for that. Um and for people who have come and spoken to my classes as guest speakers. Thank you so much. Um, and I'll be reaching out again next year. Um, let's do the next one. Um, so we went to the aspiring educator summit uh at UNC Charlotte in September and that's where this program the idea of it was birthed last year. So uh teachers

026went there and people in our department and found out that this was a program that was happening and so we implemented it. So thank you uh to those people who went and did that. Uh we have have had weekly guest speakers. We had Dr. gardener today um as our final one for the semester. Uh we've done school observations at all grade levels um and in tap 2 and three will continue those guest speakers and they'll have a 120 hour internship in a K8 school. Okay. Hi, my name is Karen Martin and this is my 20th year, hard to believe, um with Forsville Graded School District teaching early childhood education. Um this course is also a double block class. So I have students second and third block each semester. And our focus is more on birth

027to age eight. So we can go from um child care centers up to third grade. And our main focus is on development and how do we help children through those domains of development and how children learn best through play. So our focus is a little different than the academic focus once they get to kindergarten. But children um in this program um are able to uh spend time with me in the classroom to learn a curriculum and then they take that curriculum knowledge and information and skills and they actually apply it in an early learning environment. For our um internship, we have two parts. The first part we visit various preschools and elementary school classrooms in our district. And this gives children the opportunity or my students the opportunity to work with children to see how

028things change drastically from one year to the next. We currently visit four different local half-day preschool programs where students spend two days with two different age groups. We visit Rocky River Elementary School and then we rotate through the pre-K, kindergarten, first and second grade classroom. So again, students get as broad a perspective as they can on development from the youngest of the young until our our age limit of about age eight. The second part of the internship, students pick one cooperating teacher in class to work with at one of the sites that we have visited and they usually spend eight to nine weeks depending on how the semester goes working four days a week with that classroom, the teacher and the students and helping students again learn and grow. I have been super lucky um

029that several of my former early childhood education student interns are now actually teachers in district health. Miss Teter is actually the um teacher of the class, but she could not be here tonight. Um the kids have really signed up and are loving this class. We have six sections of this right now and next year we will also have counseling and mental health too. Um so kids can become a completer, have another pathway that they can um complete as a CT completer. Um and at the end of this you will also they also do a PBM. So it's not a state test. They will do a project and show what they have learned. Um and this is helping our students um for those careers in counseling, mental health, social work, which there is a great need

030for. And Brooklyn is going to who is in the class is going to tell you a little bit more about it. >> Hi everyone. So um um I find the class to be extremely helpful. So not only does it help with your daily life, but it helps with your future too as a student. So an example for my daily life was we learned about empathetic responses, eye statements, which are saying like I feel this way and I'd like to do this like finding a solution. And so my example was we learned about primary and secondary emotions. So your primary emotion is like how you feel and your secondary emotion is how you express how you feel. So, in real life, I had a friend who I distanced myself from, and they felt the need to

031almost like attack me for it. So, I explained to them that I understood their primary emotion and why they felt that way, but their secondary emotion was coming off as anger when that's not really how they wanted to express themselves. And like, believe it or not, but um they uh they changed their mindset after that. They were like, um, okay, I see what you're saying. Um, I didn't mean to come off that way. I see your point of view. Um, other things besides empathetic response. I feel like everybody should leave with an empathetic mindset, but it teaches us better examples of how to be empathetic and how to put yourself in other people's shoes. Um, I think that's it. >> Well, I want to thank the staff and the students um for them sharing. As

032you can tell from the young lady speaking, they're getting a lot of handson um experience um with the classes and learning and even taking it to their friends and seeing that. And so um when they go into the class, like I spoke to a student today in in lunch and she said when she goes into the class, she can now see cues that um teachers are doing for transitions that they're learning um in some of the classes. But we're not done with um trying to get the new classes and trying to um build into the future and prepare our students for tomorrow. So I want to bring Kevin Wilson up and he's going to tell you about a new course coming up at Morso High School next year. >> Good evening, Chairman Whitfield, Dr. Gardner

033School Board. So you can see all the great things that are going on with intentionality. Um and that's really the focus of this is intentionality. So we have begun um that with a masonary program. We're trying to bring it back to Morsville High School. Um so we have met with district leadership. Gates Construction has graciously signed on to partner with us and North Carolina Masonary Foundation. Um we have taken students to the masonary field day which um this fall. So we took 8th 8th through 10th graders because that's our future going to be our future cohort. Um we are intentionally like pro putting it out in social media so you're going to see it if you haven't already. Um there was a post today acknowledging Gates construction partnership but I just miss Graham asked me

034to speak to this because really the goal is to find those pathways that lead to employment right so we have employment enlistment and enrollment sorry so we're trying to cover all three bases all the time right so we're always looking for those programs you'll hear more about it >> and I want to it's not time for comments but I want to jump in that graphic you guys did um I think I had mentioned it to a couple people here. The graphic you did about the masonry, how clear it was for a child, um, you know, a high schooler to really see the end goal of it was what we need for every single one of our CTE classes, right? Because they get lost in translation. They don't know how they can take this class and

035what it translates into. But that graphic y'all did for masonry, it laid it out and it was so easy and so eye-catching. I wish we had one for every single CTE class we took. >> And we are working on that. Thank you. And I'm appropriate for me to say that Mary Royal does all of those and I can't. >> Well, it was great. I mean, it was clear. I mean, they could look at it and go, "Oh, if I take this class, this is where I could be at the very end." So, it was very easy, just like the other three classes we've talked about. They understand where they can be at the end. There's no question. So, we always haven't done a great job of translating these classes turn into this employment opportunity, but

036that graphic is amazing. And I love to see that we're developing pro programs that are going to enable us to keep our our best resources, our kids, our people here in our community. And it took me years to find someone who would redo my brick steps because there aren't that many masons out there and they don't want to do these little jobs. Um, and of course we know the the need that we have for teachers and it's always fulfilling to me to see our students come back and want to teach in our district and now we're growing our own and I'm excited to see how many more come back >> and understanding that you can get community college and college credit for those classes. Sometimes full CCP classes are intimidating for our students. So, if

037they've got an in-house right there, they're more willing to take that up chance and and get that credit and it's worth a ton. >> Well, thank you so much. And we do want to give a shout out to our community partners. We could not do this without community partners allowing our students to go out and intern um come in. We have career fairs. Um I will tell every parent um and guardian, there is nothing at Morzo High School that we will not stop at to make sure that your child is successful once they graduate from Moro High School. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> Well done. >> I I would like to say um to uh Miss Graham that uh that excitement from those students and the demonstrated learning opportunities is uh that's that's

038all you need to see. >> Yeah. Yeah, we're our future's strong here and and the masonry program that's just with the Gates leadership and uh Oh, I'm just I'm I'm overwhelmed. But thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh we are now at the point of staff reports. Dr. Gardner. >> Thank you, sir. Um we will start staff reports with Mr. Rick giving an update on maximizing opportunity and achievement. Okay. >> Thank you. Chairman Whitfield, board members, Dr. Gardner have some exciting updates to share. So first on November 10th, a team from Morsville graded which included CTE curriculum instruction and technology went to visit a North Carolina Spark classroom in a neighboring district. It was exciting to see students engaged in learning based on their interests and learning at their own pace. The goal of this program

039is to develop student interest in technology related careers. We are currently planning to bring a spark lab to Morzel graded and we will keep you updated on our progress and we just found out yesterday. Very exciting. We were receiving a $10,000 grant to start building up the lab and we thank Dr. Wade for working on that. So, we're very excited to get that start up. Uh, Morsville graded is part of the skills for the future pilot program which focuses on building durable skills in our 9th through 12th grade students aligned to the portrait of a graduate. Our team has participated in professional development centered on unpacking and aligning 9th through 12th grade lessons with opportunities for student collaboration. Teachers are currently collecting and submitting artifacts, demonstrating students ability to collaborate to solve problems. Our hope

040is that this pilot will lead to changes in how our state assesses our students. We held our first multi-tiered system of support meeting with members of EC and curriculum instruction departments on November 17th. This team will focus on meeting the needs of students who require additional support in behavior and academics. Our initial focus area will be supporting our teachers with effective behavior strategies in the classroom. On November 18th, we held a middle school dual immersion information meeting for families interested in having their children continue Spanish speaking opportunities in the middle schools. Students will have the opportunity to take a daily Spanish elective to continue their acquisition of the Spanish language. They will also have opportunities to use Spanish during their intervention and remediation block. Families were asked to provide feedback which will be used for

041future planning. We have special thanks to Dr. Wade for planning and leading the session and to Miss Connley for her planning and support. We held our second MOA committee meeting on November 18th where the team continued developing and implementing plans in three key areas. One is implementing effective datadriven interventions, remediation and enrichment blocks across all of our schools. Two is reviewing reviewing grading practices and three enhancing our innovative schools model. Teams will continue to implement these strategic plans throughout the year. Data meetings have been conducted with the elementary and high school leadership teams. School teams were able to share their first quarter data report celebrations and opportunities for improvement. District and school leadership then collaborated on next steps for improvement based on this data. Special thanks to Miss Connley and Dr. Wade for coordinating these

042meetings. And finally, and I can't believe we're already talking about this, but kindergarten registration for next year will be on Monday, January 12th from 5 to 7 o'clock at Parkview Elementary School, but we're also going to have a K through 5 STEM events held on that evening and kindergarten activities for our future students. Parents are reminded to bring their registration materials, which can all be found on our district website. So, those are our updates and now is there any questions? >> You said that there will be you're looking at daily Spanish electives for the middle school for the um DI students. Will that run year long or >> Yes. Okay. >> Yep, that'll be year long. >> Yeah, we're we're excited to continue to have the Spanish opportunities for our dual emergency students as they

043move on. >> And were the initial responses from parents favorable for that? >> They were favorable. Yes, we we wanted to be sure that they were aware and we also asked for their feedback during that meeting. All the parents got a chance to tell us some other opportunities they may think their children may be interested in. So maybe some clubs or other areas that they'll be able to participate in. It makes sense once you get to that level that >> and it's more focused so the dual immersion part is more focused on the you know the curriculum the vocabulary but the middle school is going to be more focused on conversational and learning about the culture. >> So the probably getting a little bit ahead or I'd just like to see some more information about

044how that looks with um sixth seventh grade and then once you get to eighth of course we offer Spanish but we're not there yet because that first cohort will just be in the sixth grade. >> Sixth grade, but we have a plan through the route and then even starting in high school, we're starting to look at what will it look like when they go to high school. >> Okay, great. Okay. >> We want to be sure those students continue on. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> And then both of the uh the kindergarten registration and the park the K5 event, the curriculum night is both they're both at Park View. Correct. >> That is correct. On January 12th from 5 to 7. >> Thank you. All right. Next, we have safe, happy, and healthy with Dr. Albert

045and Dr. Royal. >> Good evening, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. Um, I'll start our report this evening for our safe, happy, and healthy goal with a few athletic updates from our secondary schools. As you know, we honored three of our conference championship teams from the fall from Moresville High School here this evening. In addition to these teams, we will be honoring the varsity football team next month uh for also winning the conference championship and advancing to the third round of the state playoffs. In discussing that with Miss Graham and Mr. Busel, we figured that the town hall could only hold a certain number of athletes and coaches. So, uh we agreed that we'll honor the football team in January. At Moresville High School, we would also like to congratulate Coach Susie Hudson.

046You saw her this evening. She was named the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association 7A assistant men's soccer coach of the year. As many of you know, Coach Kitka uh suffered an injury and was out most of the season. So, Coach Hudson stepped up. She's a valuable member of our coaching staff and our uh teaching staff at Morsville High School. So, congratulations to Coach Hudson. Our winter sports seasons are well underway at both our middle schools and Moresville High School. Our middle school, a couple highlights from our middle schools. Um, our middle school, Moro Middle School varsity basketball team, um, is undefeated for the girls right now. Uh, Selma Burke, congratulations to our Selma Burke cheerleading team who won the NCAA NDA regional championship last month. Um, and also at our high school level, again, off

047to a great start for our winter athletic programs. Our men's varsity basketball team is currently 4- one. Swimming has had a few meets and the girls came home uh victorious in a conference try meet and competition cheer. Uh they were supposed to participate in the state competition this coming weekend uh but due to a fire at the venue that event has been postponed. So our cheerleaders at the high school are getting ready for nationals in February. On to some safe, happy, and healthy updates. Morville Graded has a new K9. Continuing our partnership with the Moro Police Department. We'd like to welcome Duke to our team as Bella. I knew that that was coming. I actually knew that. I'm sorry. Uh >> why do we name him? >> Go Bears. >> Uh but Duke is joining

048Officer Spearman. They will be partners as you may have known or if not, Officer Walther and Bella will be retiring after the spring semester. So again, we're excited to have this partnership continue with MOSA Police Department. Mr. Neil and I, our director of maintenance, we have met with all of our principles and directors in the district to hear their capital outlay requests for the 2026 2027 school year. We're finalizing this list with cost estimates for each project and then Mr. Neil and myself will meet with Miss Davis and Dr. Gardner to review that list before we present those items to the school board in the January work session. And lastly for me, my monthly uh stop arm violation updates. Last year on November 12th, we had approximately 150 violations of stop arm uh you know,

049running the stop arm on our school buses. As of November 12th this year, so the same date, we had 268. So again, in 2024, we were at 150 violations. And at the same time in 2025, we're at 268. Right now, met with Mr. Farmer this morning, we're in the ballpark of 300 violations at this time. Um, so again, we we plead every month, uh, we put out PSAs, but again, folks, when you see the stop arm out, those red lights are flashing for a reason. We plead with you to stop for those stop school buses. >> Are there places where it seems to be happening more often where we could ask law enforcement to be there? So I I asked Mr. Farmer that um there are some hot areas um and the partnership that we

050have with Officer Dingler and Morsville Police Department, they are doing that with us, but it's not consistently the same. You know, at times it'll be one certain road or one certain neighborhood. So they do um they heighten their uh um availability there, their awareness, uh but it's still continuing. I saw a video and it was in another state where um bus drivers were doing their stops in a way where they made it virtually impossible for a car to come around them. I don't know if that's that's practice, but >> it seems like an easy solution to just stop. >> I do have a request maybe we could start tracking. I'd like to look at um I would like and I don't know how possible it is. I would like for somebody to start noticing how

051many questionable violations or or things that are happening around the high school crosswalks um when our crossing guard is trying to stop traffic. I' I'd like for us to look at how many times a day she feels like somebody doesn't want to follow her instructions. >> It's interesting you bring that up. Miss Graham and I were talking about that this morning or this afternoon. seen a couple in the past few days where people don't want to watch her and listen to her where those kids are trying to cross the crosswalk. So, I want to start looking at that number. I want to start having a a serious discussion about some of that >> noted. >> Have you do you know what the bus arm violations? Are they mainly in the morning or the afternoon? Is

052it even? >> It's both. It's both. Um I can get a concrete number, but I get a notification in my email every single time it it happens. Um, and I would say just an initial reaction is there's probably more in the morning, but it's not far off in the afternoon. >> Did you notice in the conversation were there a lot that were happening near the high school crossing bus? >> The school stop arm violations? >> No, no, no. I'm talking about the just the crossing car. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, there's there's some folks uh Miss Graham actually had a we'll say a conversation um with a civilian who uh was not necessarily yielding. So yes, that is definitely a concern. H >> Have you had discussion with the police department with regard to

053why they're unable to enforce? It's my understanding in talking to some of them that it's an identification issue. It's not a matter of identifying the car. The license plate is identifying the actual driver with enough certainty to criminally prosecute him. >> So Mr. Farmer's had quite a few conversations with Officer Dingler. He's the kind of our lead contact with the police department. Um, and so we've also got legal involved uh with some of that as far as advice. But the we're very fortunate that we do have the camera systems on the bus both internally and externally that when that button is pressed, um, our drivers have been doing a good job with that. So they that we can capture that evidence that we need. But to your point, that's probably part of the reason why

054there's a delay right now. U, but yes, we've had those conversations and and again, we're providing all the evidence that we have uh at our fingertips to those folks who need it. Have we addressed any of this with local representatives? >> This is seems to be a seems to be a a state issue, not just >> Yeah. One of >> town of town of Morsell police department issue. >> Well, one of the things that the state passed in I believe 2017 is that you are allowed to pursue civil charges against a stop arm violation and then the burden of proof is not as intense. So the positive identification isn't necessarily needed. you don't need to see the the face of the driver and be able to identify them. So, we've had conversations with um the

055county around that and their attorney. Actually, Mr. Shatley and I talked today or yesterday via email and so he's following up with them that that isn't necessarily going to solve the problem, but it is a quicker way to provide a consequence to those folks that are doing it because right now it's learned behavior that people are doing it, nothing's happening, so they continue to do it. So, >> yeah. And and I'll say Mr. farmer has reiterated that that we have the support of Morsville Police Department. We have a good partnership with them in this in this endeavor. >> So the county has to be the one to enforce it. >> They have to pass the ordinance. So the c once the county passes an ordinance um saying that we can pursue civil charges then we

056can work through that. Um which uh myself and Dr. James presented to the county last year around that. They are definitely interested in it. Um we are just going to be one of the first districts in North Carolina to do it. So they're they're working through legal channels and things like that. I believe there's one maybe two districts in North Carolina that are presently doing this. So we'll be an early adopter. >> I mean between us and ISS it's that we have a lot of kids that are in danger and we do not want to get to the point where someone has to die for something to happen. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> It just seems to me if identification is an issue, you know whose car it is. I would assume that they would

057know who has their car. So you either hold the owner of the car responsible or they turn in who was driving that car. >> Right. >> Yeah. So my understanding is you can do that with a civil um pursuing civil charges, but um I guess I'll defer to Mr. Whitfield if he wants to elaborate on that, but c you know a criminal charge. Yeah. The burden of proof is higher. So yeah, beyond a reasonable doubt, you have to identify you have to identify the driver and the action as being criminal with a civil matter. You just have to show by greater weight of the evidence, you know, and that's a lot easier. You got to drive just like you said, you got a driver's license or a registration and you have some identification of the

058driver and that's sufficient enough to meet the burden. But even though we've got cameras, those cameras are still it's difficult to get particulars enough to be a reasonable doubt as to who that driver is. on a lot of occasions, not all, but a lot of occasions. Right. >> So, there's no way you can con connect the the license plate with a pretty much a constitutional a constitutional fee as far as like with the ticket or anything because it's almost similar to like tolls and a speeding ticket that like they have trap zones where they get you. Well, the problem is and they and they ran into the same thing with regard to that and like in Charlotte 20 years ago when they started doing that is identifying the driver in a criminal or traffic case

059as opposed to a civil matter >> is identifying the driver beyond a reasonable doubt. And that's where that's where the problem comes from law enforcement to be able to show that portion even though it might be that driver. A driver is never going to, well, not never, but unlikely to ever admit to a criminal act like that, knowing what the repercussions are. And therefore, you're never you're going to be very, it's going to be very difficult to get them to admit, oh, yeah, it was me that was driving. I'm sorry. I I ran that uh that red light on that on that stop stop sign on that bus. You know, it's so practically speaking, it doesn't work that way. Yeah. Theoretically, you would hope that people would be responsible >> because if if a car

060is registered to me and I get a ticket for $250 three or four times, I'm going to make sure that you know that's taken care of. But also, it's most importantly, you're going to start stopping for the stop arm. So, >> just start sharing a picture of it every day on our >> Well, hopefully the civil the civil part will be one of those things that we can maybe start enforcing that. And there's there possibilities that repeat vehicles that have, you know, could ramp up their fine each time they get, you know, $200 first time, 400 the next, you know, 800 the next, and at some point in time, somebody's gonna go, >> "Yeah, cut it off." >> Yeah. Let's start posting pictures. >> What What What is the What is is there a fee

061or a a fee associated with this? >> As of right now, I don't think anything's been determined as far as the penalty. >> Gotcha. >> I think bottom line is if you're listening or you're here in person, tell your friends and everyone you know, if you are running the stop arm, we are looking at ways to get you. We're going to put it on more >> because these kids these kids need to be safe and this is just ridiculous. >> Firewall policy issue >> and I will say u Mr. Farmer Dr. Royal have been relentless in working with the county working with Morsel Police Department doing whatever we can. I I know that Mr. Farmer presently is spending a lot of his time processing paperwork related to this >> downloading video. >> He does not

062set anything to the side. If somebody runs a stop arm, he's doing all the steps, which is consuming a lot of his time, >> right? We're doing what we're supposed to do. We need everybody else to help us out. >> Yep. Because >> shame on our community if we wait until there's a tragedy. >> Because when you think about it, if it does happen, it's going to come back on us. >> You know, I get it that the drivers going to be responsible, but they're going to look at Mo's graded school district for what the actual incident that happened. You know, what do we do? How did we work with the PD or whoever it need to be? Um, and even though we are doing what we supposed to do at this point, it's still

063one of those things to where I feel like we can do more. >> Before I hand it over to Dr. Albert, I would like to say I'm not sure if she's watching, but as you know, uh, my partner's board meetings is not here this evening. So, keep Miss Atwell in your your prayers and and wishes. She's from healthwise not doing well. So, if she's watching, hey, Grandma, we miss you. >> Grandma. >> Good evening, Dr. Gardner, Mr. Whifffield. Members of the board, I will continue with our safe, happy, and healthy updates. Um, we held our committee meeting yesterday and the team's insightful focuses on these key areas, refining clear and consistent expectations for classroom and office managed behaviors, which will then be used to identify professional development for all staff. Collecting and sharing effective practices

064for fostering positive staff and student environments. across all schools and departments and strengthening attendance interventions and protocols. We are also in the process of finalizing our EC child count submission which is currently projected at 824 students. All students included in this count must have an active IEP as of December 1st. And for context, last year at this time we had 819 students. So fairly consistent. And finally, I am excited to share that our EC department is fully staffed and they have completed additional professional development since last summer's EC boot camp. Training and training topics included so far have been on high leverage practices, instructional strategies for learning disabilities and autism, adapting instruction for preschoolers, effective idea evaluation and identification and deescalation strategies, all designed to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. And at this time,

065that concludes my part of the report. Any questions for me? >> No, not so much a question, but it's a blessing to have our AC department fully staffed. So, yes, it is. That's a huge blessing. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, we have recruit, grow, entertain with Miss Kuna, Miss Davis. >> Good evening, Mr. Chairman. Um, Dr. Gardner and members of the board of education. Miss Davis and I are going to be a little shorter with our comments as um so for HR our um busiest events season comes up in the spring and so we are right now um doing a lot of planning. We have some events that we are finalizing and one of those that we will start off um in January will be a midyear orientation for

066um teachers. We are working on one uh plan for a midyear orientation for employees who were hired after our summer um event. And so um our midyear one for teachers is set for January 5th as soon as we return from break. Um and we continue to look for ways to, you know, leverage opportunities to engage our staff. And so um several um leadership u leaders will be engaged in that event and will um share information about Morris graded schools as they did in the in at at NEO in the summer. Um this week um our teachers and certified staff who completed their national board um certification process will receive notices. Uh I think the day notification day is December 6th and so um we will uh be able to share more with you in January

067or February about um those teachers accomplishments. Um so we look forward to that and I think that is that's all I have for my comments this evening. Do you have any questions? >> Thank you. Um Mr. Whitfield, Dr. regarding members of the board. From the finance perspective, um although we are now in the month of December, we uh continue to receive aotments from the state and federal governments. Um we are always happy about receiving money. So we will not complain about that. Um and these will be presented later um in amendments um to the budget that was adopted uh by you all last month. >> Um also in January, the finance department is looking forward to starting back up the monthly financial data manager meetings. So um I don't know if you remember but these

068monthly meetings provide professional development for our school and department financial data managers in a small targeted setting. So the goal of this professional development is to harness and refine existing skills while diving deeper to develop a broader understanding of the big picture. Um and this does align with our priority area of growing and retaining talent in Morville graded. So I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Any questions? >> Thank you ladies. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up, we have culture of relationships with Miss Mlan. >> Good evening, Chairman Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. Um yesterday, our Panorama parent survey went out to the households in our district, each parent and guardian with an email address on file um received a survey for each school that

069they have a child attending. And while the content we are we are gathering is the same, we did try to trim it down a bit this year to hopefully get a better response rate. Um so hopefully the the doing that will help with people taking the time to fill it out. It doesn't take any time at all. Um so we are asking that um everyone fill this survey out. Right now um and it's only been 24 hours. We are at 3.2%. So 263 people have filled it out. And we really need to stress how important it is that this is a chance for our parents and guardians to make their voices heard. Whether it's to say, "We love that you're doing this, but we think you need to improve here because that's how we grow

070and get better as a district." So, um again, we urge everyone to f to um fill out the survey and we will continue to send out reminders. It will be open through the 12th unless we feel like we need to push it further. Also, each year, MGSD leadership holds its legislative breakfast. This breakfast is an opportunity for MGSD to collaborate with local and state government officials, as well as amplify both amazing things happening in our schools and the pressing needs we face in public education right here in NC. This year's breakfast will be held next Friday, December 12th, and we look forward to hosting this tradition and discussing ways that we can all work together to support our public schools. Any questions? No, but if it's not if it's possible to do, I always think

071it's good if you can let um the people you're surveying know, okay, in the past x number of years based on suggestions from these surveys, these are actions that the district has taken or these are are things that, you know, we have implemented because of feedback from these surveys and and that might help folks to see that yes, they are something that we depend on. It's a great idea. Thank you. >> Anybody that's out streaming or watching this at a later date, please, please participate. It's so helpful to our district. >> Can you can you do a QR code and put it up at like sporting events where they can take it on their cell phone? Is that something that we can possibly do with this? >> Well, the I'm sorry. the to help um

072also with school data. Each parent receives a specific code so that they're filling out based on their knowledge of their child's school. >> But yeah, >> gotcha. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> All right. Good evening, board members. Um, for my report, the month of December, as you know, provides numerous opportunities to see our students in action, which started yesterday with our annual high school winter band concert. Uh, tomorrow, the high school course will join Morsel Middle School course for a holiday performance. Other performances this month include um the color guard this Friday as well as the Sberg dance team. Next Tuesday, Selberg Middle and Morsel Middle bands will both hold their holiday concerts at the performing arts center. Then next Thursday and Friday, Selma Burke Middle School's theater team will

073be performing at the Performing Arts Center. Um, and then we'll wrap up the holiday season, the third week in December, with a variety of activities and performances in our elementary and intermediate schools. December also brings the end of the first semester. So, we want to wish all of our high school students best of luck as they wrap up first semester with our end of course exams. And then last, but certainly not least, Mr. Bob Gates, longtime local business owner and supporter of public education, was recently recognized at the annual North Carolina Schoolboard Association conference as their statewide champion of public education. Mr. Gates usually prefers to do his work behind the scenes. Doesn't like a lot of recognition, but we were excited to see him receive this recognition at the state level, and we absolutely

074appreciate all he's done and will continue to do for our students and staff. Um thank you and this concludes my comments. >> Thank you sir. Um most of the things that Dr. Gardner shared and Miss McClean shared with regard to uh the activities are coming up in the next month. Uh we already started off or kicked off the festive holiday season last night. Dr. Marsh, myself and Miss Bender were able to attend the winter concert and that was absolutely fabulous as it always seems to be. And there are obviously a lot of other holiday band concerts, chorus uh concerts in the next several weeks uh leading up to the uh uh Christmas um celebration. I would obviously ask you guys to attend as many of those as you can because they're so uplifting and uh

075and exciting to see the joy in the young folks eyes. Um, also mentioned by Miss McClean, we will have our legislative breakfast, which is critical for us to make sure that we get the information to our area leaders as to what we are interested in, our priorities, the things that are important to our district that are helpful to our children in this district. And we want to make sure that we attend that next Friday on the 12th at begins at 9:00 a.m. at East Warsville Intermediate. I know the children are early are are excited about the early release for winter break on the 19th. And uh we as we suggested or indicated earlier tonight will uh have a new uh board meeting for the new year on January 6th here at the town hall at

0766 pm. So look forward to seeing everybody enjoying the holiday season and uh be back here in a month. That concludes the uh board events. Public comment. No public comment. Items for information. Dr. Gardner. >> Yes, sir. Um we will start with our end of course, end of grade exam retesting information with Mr. Oral and Mr. Rick. >> Good evening, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Garner, members of the board. On the eve of fall testing, we are here to give you exciting updates with regard to retesting. As in previous years, students who are not proficient on their EOC or EOG uh assessments have the opportunity to retest. However, this year, that opportunity is extended to fifth and eighth grade science, biology, and also third grade reading. It is also now available in the fall testing window, which

077means that our students who are currently taking fall EOCC's do not have to wait until the spring to retest like they did last year, which I think is beneficial to those students. English two, due to the amount of time that it takes to get those scores back, from the time that we get the last score, we have four days to complete that retesting. So, that will probably take take place after break when our students return. The higher the two scores will be used for district and school proficiency and growth and will also be counted for the student exam grade which accounts for 20% of their overall grade. Unfortunately, the duration of the testing window was not changed. So that creates a complicated time frame, but Mrs. Graham and her staff have done an an outstanding

078job of making sure that initial testing remediation which is not required by the state and the retesting will be done within that five-day window that they have at the end of the month in uh along with the CTE and teacher made exams. However, unlike last year, um it has been made clear to us that retesting is an optin process, not an opt out process like it was last year. For that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Rivet. Parents and guardians of students who are in our EOCC courses this fall have been notified of this opportunity of the retakes and we are presently working on gaining permission for those students to retest if needed. It is imperative that parents do complete this opt-in form if they want their student to have an opportunity to retest and

079we are continuously reminding parents of this and we will continue to do so because we want to have as many as possible retest because it doesn't hurt the student. We take the best grade, we take the best score. It only helps the students, it only helps our schools and it only helps our district. So any parents that may be listening, please be sure to complete that. if you have a student who's in an EOCC course to please complete the form to opt in to retest in case it's needed for your child because the more we have now we don't have to scramble once the assessments have been given. We'll just know ahead of time and it's easier to plan as well for the schools for how many students will be retesting. >> Are these just

080paper forms that the student then has to turn in? >> No, we have it onlineic. >> Yes. >> Yeah. We want to make it as easy as possible. Can can you where can they find it at just pretty much >> it's been I know some people streaming always have questions with you know websites and different things. >> Yeah, it's been sent out to them. >> Okay. >> And we're going to continue to do so. >> I I got it on Parent Square. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Gotcha. >> And we're going to continue each day and try to get as many as possible. >> Gotcha. And one of the things I would reinforce that makes this so important is so we're asking everyone whether you know no matter how you feel like your student's

081going to perform if we know this now we can really plan. There was a lot of um push back. I know I voiced my concern when you have a five-day window >> to give an initial exam to find out who didn't pass to get in touch with that family and tell them you did not pass you can come back in and test. That is a lot of work. Um and our high school has tak you know they're all in with everything. So they have taken on that challenge and they want to make sure that every student that wants that opportunity has it. Um but that that definitely complicates things and which is why we're asking that question now. The sooner that we have that information from each family then we're ready to execute once we

082get that data. >> So is this optin going just to the parents? What if a student wants to retake the test and the parent hasn't filled it out? has to come from a parent or guardian. >> That's the state. >> We're gonna continue to advocate that our concerns related to that. Um that was voices a concern by several superintendent um when this information was shared. Um but this is the opportunity we've been handed for now and we'll continue to voice that. >> So is there a possibility going forward in second semester that we can send those out like the first day back of second semester? Like hey, you're taking this class in May. you may be able to retest at the end. I mean, can we start then? Because I mean, I know right now

083like, forget it. I'm not reading parent square because there's a million messages in there for things to do. >> Yeah, we can start early. Yeah, we can look into that. >> Terms. >> Yeah. Part part of this was, you know, finding this out middle of, right? So, you don't have any other opportunity, but thinking ahead like >> Yeah. And and and hopefully too parents will get used to this is the way hopefully the state will continue this and parents will know ahead of that's something that they'll just do >> and maybe we can put it in our >> we can >> forms when we sign up like >> that's been a point of discussion for us. We might just build that into our forms. Um >> but for this first time we felt we were

084a little worried that if we asked too early it's like well I I'll worry about that when it gets there. So we felt like we had to have a a time that was somewhat close. Um, but I do think long term what we'll do is build that into all the questions we ask parents. >> Yeah. And if you're handing it to me in January when my child starting a new class, I'm >> right >> more likely to read it. >> It's a good point. >> Thank you. >> Right. Next up, we have Miss Mlan who will be sharing. It is time to already start thinking about this. The 2026 2027 Morrisville graded school calendar. Good evening again, Chairman Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, and members of members of the board. So, um, we spent multiple meetings in

085the month of, um, October, end of October, beginning of November working on a calendar. Um, just to remind everyone, there are certain qualifications when you're working on the calendar, um, such as the amount of holidays that have to be included, annual leave days, etc. But our calendar committee is comprised of staff, members, parents, and administrators. Each school was represented by committee members. And the committee, as I said, held three meetings to develop the draft calendar being presented this evening. So, some of the considerations that the committee had to look at was the calendar needs 215 total days in the in the 10-month calendar, and this includes instructional, annual leave, holiday, and work days. And all of those together must equal 215. Those instructional days are the days students would be in school. Um there must

086have at least 10 annual leave days and nine work days and two work days must be optional. This calendar that we are presenting tonight contains 174 instructional days or 154.4 instructional hours. The state requires us to have 125 instructional hours per year. Any questions about that part? So, the proposed calendar that I'm going to show you here in a moment, the start date for staff would be July 29th, 2026. The start date for students would be August 5th, 2026. First semester has 86 days. Second semester has 88 days. Fall break and spring break align with Mitchell Community College. And the last day for students would be May 20th, 2027 with a graduation of May 22nd, 2027. Now, I want to um point out with this that this would be a graduation a week earlier than

087Memorial Weekend. Um Memorial Day falls this year on the last day of the month and it just made it extremely difficult to to make all of it work. So, we had some challenges this year with committee. So, um, as you can see from the calendar, we and I just just like I said, the teachers would come back with required work days on the 29th. They would have five at the beginning of the year. Um, and then students would start on the 5th. And of course, we would have the September Labor Day holiday. Um, DPD is district protected. So, that would be a required workday, but it's district protected for district um, PD. Our fall break would be um the 12th through the 16th of October and then we would have a required workday on the

08830th of October. Um and that is something that was requested to help with conferences etc. And then of course November always looks pretty similar each year. We have Veterans Day which is um required holiday by the state and we have the Thanksgiving break. Um one thing I'm also going to point out you will notice is the only early release day we have in this calendar this year is going into that Thanksgiving break with the holiday parade. Um, this was something that teachers and parents all felt like they could do away with that early release going into Christmas because this year Christmas is starts a little bit later than, you know, um, that last day we we have. So, we took that early release release and we will go a full day. Also, the high school

089thought that would help with some testing. Um, then in December, we would start Christmas break on Monday, December 21st. um that would be an optional workday and it would go through uh Monday, January 4th with students coming back on Tuesday, January 5th to start second semester. We would of course have the Martin Luther King holiday there in January on the 18th and then another district protected PD day on February 15th. Spring break would run from March 8th through the 12th. And then we would also have um right there around that Easter uh the 26th which is a holiday and then on the 29th uh that Monday after Easter would be an optional work day. We would finish up our work days on April 19th. That would be a required workday. And we would finish the

090year on May 20th with the 21st being required workday, graduation occurring on the 22nd. And then there's two optional work days for those that feeled on the 24th break and spring breaks would line up. >> Thank you. >> So, if there aren't any more questions, I'm happy to answer more. Um, you will of course set on this for this month and then, you know, hopefully vote in January. You are welcome to reach out to me with questions. um and any you know if you if you see something you have a question about you can reach out to me and then we'll be back in January and hopefully vote and have our our calendar for next year. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh Miss Mlan, I believe you are staying up at the mic since

091we made the revision to the agenda and you will have the first item for approval, our cell phone policy. So last month we brought you the um cell phone policy uh that was went along with the NCGA House Bill 959, also known as a cell phone bill. Um at that time I believe that there was some um desire to combine two different aspects of it for upper grades and lower grades. So I worked on a bill that did that. I sent it to NCSBA to make sure it was in line with the law and that is what you were you have in your packet. Um and in that it has all of the requirements. Um for grades K8 it would be a complete ban on electronic device use from the start to the end of

092the school day. And for grades 91 12, it would be a complete ban on electronic device use during instructional time, but would allow use between classes and during lunch. Um, are there any questions? >> The reasoning for the change for 9th to 12th is a complete. >> Yeah. So, it's one of the things that we discussed um with high school administration as far as just developmentally appropriate to and and some of them have, you know, a lot of our kids are on and off campus with CCP jobs, things like that. So, giving them the chance to still have that communication during non-instructional times. We can certainly revisit it um you know, if that's the board's pleasure now or down the road. Um but our initial sentiment was as long as they have it away during

093the instructional block. Um we felt good about that. >> It's unrealistic to enforce that with an open campus. >> Yeah. >> Since you're one of the things we discussed as well is >> Yeah. You couldn't enforce a complete ban if you're able to leave the building. >> Yeah. >> I mean they have internships and jobs and you know lot some kids are helping with child care for their younger siblings. So we need >> however I do support complete ban during instructional time means complete ban during instructional time. >> And and my point was is that there were recommendations at the annual conference that you have a complete ban from >> sixth grade all the way through 12th grade. But we have that's why I asked that rhetorical question was that we have special circumstances with

094the open open school. We also have Mitchell close by. We have kids that are, you know, doing internships, that are working, that are getting ready to graduate, that have need access to their phones. So, I just wanted to make sure and >> I I think it's it's good for us to be able to look at it uh from a first line of defense with this policy and then if we need to revisit it and come back to the drawing board, it's always good because again, you don't want to put the staff in a tough situation of, you know, taking phones or just, you know, doing anything or just going back and forth with students. So, um, you know, it's always good for us to be able to revisit. >> Well, they're still going to be

095in that position because this is not going to work if they're not willing to enforce it. So, you know, there will be students who will try to access their phones during instructional time and the staff is going to have to enforce that. >> Yeah. And I I think we you can be creative with different different uh opportunities. You know, I've seen some stuff where, you know, you have pockets, lockers, different things to wear when they walk in. And it's just kind of one of those, you know, I look at it from a personality standpoint. You have to build a relationship with the student. And I think once you build a relationship, you know, and just set the standard like you said, you know, from day one, it'll it'll it'll kind of help with the with

096the relationship and the opportunities. >> There there was a one of the meetings I went to at the conference and one teacher commented, "I like the kids not having their phones because I see their faces again." >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> And the focus level, I mean, when you think about it, the focus level, one of the things that you see is if something happens in the classroom, the first thing you hear is phones come out and they're recording. So, I think, you know, coming up with some kind of, you know, strategized um opportunities where that can be taken at the beginning of class will help us with that as well. >> Thank you though. I'll have a recommendation by the staff to uh approve a cell phone policy in which K through 8

097has a complete ban of electronic devices from the start to the end of the school day and a grade 9 through 12 a complete ban of electronic devices. devices to be banned during instructional time specifically, but would allow use between classes and during lunch for our specific um needs here in our district. Um I will entertain a motion to approve said recommendation by the administrative staff. >> So moved. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the cell phone usage policy >> for 2020 20 that 6 through 7. >> Um >> starting January one January I did not put that in there. I will make sure that that's okay to put January one. >> Um all those in favor >> I >> all those opposed? >> Motion carries. I think this is a

098wonderful idea and I look forward to seeing uh attention spans improve and faces seen. So that's good. >> I just want to clarify very quickly on that date because technically it can be adopted now and so I need to know what to tell NCSBA as far as publishing. So you're saying that you don't want it to go into effect until January 1. I mean, I think you personally, I think we got to get the parents and students. >> We have lots of cute graphics to put out between >> give them give them fair warning. I think that would be fair. Fair fair enough. I think, you know, >> if we're good, if the board is good with that, I think it's >> So, do we have a a >> Wait a minute. What are we

099saying then by date? >> I think from now until January 1, we start to just make parents aware. Yeah. Make parents aware of what we're going to do as of January 1, 2026. And then when we have that roll up that roll out, they can't say they haven't, you know, got notification. >> So January one, >> start the year fresh. >> Thank you, Mr. Fine. >> All right. Next up, we have some budget amendments as Miss Davis uh referenced earlier with Miss Davis. >> Hey, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. It's the most exciting part of the meeting, the budget amendments. Um so I will just kind of go through those really quickly. In our fund one state public school fund, we have um some developmental day money that we have received. Uh

100Dr. Albert and her team have been busy writing grants and applying for funding and um so that is in there. We also received some money for CTE credentials. Um we had already received an an initial aotment. So this is the remaining aotment for the rest of the year. We have early literacy funds and then also um our special state reserve also with Dr. for Albert Ni. In our capital outlay, which is our fund for from the county, we have a $1.2 million revision. Now, part of that is actually our carryover from last year. So, that's about $675,000 of that. And then the other $617,000 is just a true up that the county does every year once the actual receipts come in. And then they true up with us and with um with Ardol Statesville as

101well. Um and then in our fund eight, our other local current expense, um we have received our um year two SRO funding. Um typically that was received in our state public school fund through the department of public instruction. That is no longer under the department of public instruction. It's actually under the um state bureau of investigation now. So that's who the center for safer schools is working with. So that's why it is now under fund 8. And then we also received some funding from the Carolina Panthers um foundation for flag football initiative. Um so if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer those. If not, um these are just proposed amendments to be made um for our budget resolution for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026. >> It's the

102true up numbers. Are those based on end of fiscal year July 1st this past year? >> It would have been correct. July 1st, uh 2024 through June 30th, 2025. Um there is a um it's it's a lot it's a huge process that um those revenues come through the state and then flow back through the county. So it takes that long to actually true true up >> um the the sales tax um and and what we get for our capital funding. So >> and just for the general public, we still do not have a state budget. The funds that we are talking about are based on last year's funding numbers. So that's why we have some money to operate with, but we have yet to receive a state budget. >> Correct. Yes, we're still operating under

103like a continuing bud budget resolution. Basically, anything that was recurring, we received. Anything that was non-recurring, we do not. >> Okay. Any other questions? If not, we have a recommendation to approve the budget amendments as presented. I'll entertain a motion. >> So move. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second to approve the budget amendments as presented. All those in favor. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. >> Thank you, Miss Davis. Next up, we have a field trip opportunity that Mr. Rick will share. >> Okay. >> Chairman Whitfield, board members, Dr. Gardner. As Dr. Royal alluded to in his report, the Morrisville High School cheer team did qualify for the national competition, which will be held in Orlando, Florida from February 5th through February 9th. Approximately 25 students will attend this trip with

104a cost of uh $1,500 to $1,800 per student. The cheer team did have to earn this bid to enter this competition and they will be fundraising to assist with the cost. But since this is a out ofstate and overnight field trip, it does require board approval. So we are asking you to approve this so the girls could attend this competition. >> Okay. Any questions? If not, we have uh a recommendation to approve an overnight out of state field trip outlined above, which is the high school cheer national competition in Orlando, Florida from February 5th to February 9th, 2026 with approximately 25 students, attend the trip at a cost of 15 to $1,800 per student. They have earned this uh bid and will assist in fundraising. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. >> Second. >> Have

105a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. Next up, we have the agenda item that we moved um the shared use facility agreement with town of Morsville with Dr. Royal. >> Good evening again, Mr. Whitfield, Dr. Gardner, members of the board. Um tonight I bring to you um anou between Morville Greater School District and the town of Moresville. We have a long history of a partnership when it comes to facility use. Leadership from both organizations have worked over the last several months to update our agreement, ensuring that a strong and stable partnership continues. You've received a copy of the proposedou in your board packets. We are asking for approval uh for theou this evening. I will highlight uh

106this involves mainly the parks and wreck department from the town of Moresville um as well as the citizen center uh which for so for Moresville graded we would benefit by theou of having a facility use agreement with the Charlesmax citizen center Edgemore Park tennis courts for Morsville High School uh Morsville Golf Club for our golf team men's and women's golf team um Selma Burke recreational center the multi-purpose room park picnic shelter for our uh community events. We would also have access to the mobile recreation unit and corresponding staff throughout the calendar year. Um, and from the town's perspective, they would gain or continue to have access to our gymnasiums at Rocky River Elementary, Moresville Intermediate, and East Moresville Intermediate for their wreck basketball program, as well as they would have access to the multi-purpose fields

107at Moresville Intermediate and Rocky River that we share for youth football and some other activities like lacrosse. um as well as uh the use of Moresville High School's football stadium uh with Moresville Youth Athletics for their youth football in the fall and spring. So that's kind of an overview of the uh facilities that are in the agreement and we would ask for approval this evening. Any any question? Okay, we have a recommendation uh to approve memor memorandum of understanding for shared use of facilities with the town of Morville and the department of recreation primarily uh for purposes of uh our partnership with them. Uh I will entertain a motion at this time. >> So move >> second. >> I have a motion and a second to approve memor the memorandum of understanding for shared use

108of facilities. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. >> Okie dokie. It uh now comes the time in the meeting that uh the board uh must enter close session uh for purposes to discuss personnel and consult with the board attorney. I will entertain a motion to go into close session. >> So moved. Second. >> I have a motion and a second. All those in favor. >> Motion carries. Thank you. I'll entertain a motion to approve the personnel report as recommended by the superintendent. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Uh all those opposed? Motion carries. Uh no further business. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Uh, all those in favor? >> I.