001foreign [Music] we'll call the meeting of the Cleveland County Board of Education for Monday July 26 2021 to order first item on the agenda we have an invocation this evening by Minister Ricky Olson of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church Minister Olsen let us pray God we are so grateful for this moment and allowing us to come together on this evening God as we have this meeting we ask that you be with us even now God I pray for our school board members that you will continue to give them knowledge wisdom and allow them to do your will through doing what is best for our students and for our County or for our staff here in Cleveland County got to pray for every teacher every administrator care for another school year God that you will continue
002to give us peace and that you will make sure that we have everything we need in order to have another successful school year starting next month God also pray for every student in our County I pray God that this year our students will lack nothing that every physical need will be met every social need will be met every educational need will be met and God it is my prayer that as we go forth with this meeting tonight and we prepare for another school year God that you will continue to allow us to grow from this past year that this year will be our best year to come now God we ask that you blessed our time together and God even though he pause in this moment of prayer we know that prayer is not to
003express our needs because you already know our needs but it is a sign for us to express our faith and dependence on you so God we put our trust and our hope in your hands ultimately to lead us and guide us for all of these things we ask and we thank you in Jesus name amen thank you Mr Austin next we have our Pledge of Allegiance Mr Hunt if you believe us to the Republicans next we have some special recognition Dr Fisher foreign members for the opportunity to recognize uh one of the best in the state of North Carolina in terms of PowerSchool and student data many of you know Mark Mark Southard is has been with Cleveland County Schools for for many years and when I say the best and when I talk about
004a power school student information Guru this is the man across the state there are times where uh we will call Mark and say Mark can we do this this and this and Mark says PowerSchool doesn't do that and then an hour later Mark says well I got this and I figured something out and he'll we'll tell the state how PowerSchool runs and and does that Mark is a jewel for our district uh just recently Mark was awarded at the PowerSchool conference the innovator award for 2021. um and as I read through the comments there from from PowerSchool um Mark was recognized by his PowerSchool peers when you recognized by your peers that's and nominated by your peers that says a lot the information from PowerSchool was that Mark was recommended by 59 of his peers
005and so you know how many districts there are in North Carolina and for 59 people in the state to recognize Mark Southern as as what he does in the work he does with PowerSchool is exceptional uh Mark a couple of the highlights Mark was was uh has been a mentor to numerous coordinators he troubleshoots shoots solves problems advocates for his counterparts at the regional and state level is always willing to test products uh and and give feedback across the state and there's not a thing in terms of student information that Mark can't pull Mark can't do Mark is very deserving uh of the state award is very deserving of our recognition Mark is one of those folks that as great as he is at his job and the things that he does he's an even
006better person he's a great member of Team CCS he believes in this group he believes in this organization Mark is extremely uh smart and talented so Mark was recognized again at the state level as the innovator award and for the student information coordinators I'd like the opportunity to recognize Mark tonight mark thank you for what you do for Cleveland County Schools thank you for being a leader in our district and thank you for being the the wonderful person that you are we appreciate it [Applause] three we're going to get the opportunity for you stand up here and get your picture made nice Dr Honnold if maybe Dr Hunt will join us up here and get get picture and uh not sure to make all right here we go one two three all right congratulations okay
007I see we're switching out speakers come on up Mr Funderburk good evening chairman Queen members of the board Dr Fisher I'm so honored tonight to have the opportunity to recognize three individuals state champions in athletics and one team state champion um and what's special about this year each one of our Traditional High Schools all four had a state champion as you know Cleveland County Schools has a rich history of producing state champions and it looks like this tradition continues um let me just check is Titus Phillips here we um the three individual winners are not able to be with us either because they're on vacation or they had a schedule and conflict conflict and we hope at a later date to recognize those and I'll mention their names from Crest High School we have a
008wrestling state champion his name is Rex Howard from Burns High School we have a three-peat wrestler Ella bean and women's wrestling this is her third year in a row winning state championship and then we had Titus Phillips from Kings Mountain High School in track and field he won the long jump state championship but we are fortunate to have the team or some of the team with us and their coach athletic director and principal would you guys come forward um this is the Shelby High School oh we got more coming I like it Shelby High School lady lions and their coach um coach Lawrence is their head coach David Allen principal at Shelby High School Mike Wilbanks the athletic director at Shelby high school and I've um I've asked coach Lawrence if he would just say
009a few words all right nice to meet you guys uh school board thank you guys Dr Fisher Dr Funderburk there's a lot of people in here that uh I've probably looked up to my whole life so to to be able to come up here and uh to be able to be in front of you guys tonight is uh a tremendous honor for us uh for our girls uh starting with how covet started the whole process uh not knowing if we were gonna get to play to knowing we're going to get to play and didn't happen to wear masks while we were playing uh put a lot of a lot of different uh twists on kind of what we were trying to do we got really close to winning it last year but we were really
010young last year at the same time we're ninth and 10th grade for the most part this year we felt really good coming into it and uh we were able to capitalize on a lot of different things that happened for us so uh for us to be able to do it be the first in the county first in schools as far as the girls side is concerned uh was a big deal some things just they're happening now I'm not really sure I was I was ready for all the stuff that came with it but uh it's been good so far so um I'll just introduce everybody uh this is Malaysia pass she was uh the engine for our whole entire team she was the MVP of the conference uh MVP of the district uh first team
011Allstate and she was the MVP of the state championship game uh and she'll be a junior next year uh we have yarya peeler she's a starter she'll be a senior this year uh and then these are three other coaches here we have mandarius black miles Lawrence and Fort Lawrence um D.A or uh coach Ruben yeah that's it all right well thank you guys [Applause] right back up there and take a picture yeah congratulations [Applause] we'd like to recognize any guests that we have do we have any principles or system principles I think Mr Allen's already scooted out any North Carolina Association a teacher of a teacher assistant any other teachers or ncae Representatives and I don't see any elected officials okay next item is adoption of the agenda it's been on your board docs for
012a few days what's the pleasure of the board motion by Mr Fitch second by Mr Hunt any questions or discussion all those in favor of the agendas presented if you'd raise your hand and that passes next item is public participation we do have three speakers this evening the first is Nanette leonhardt yes ma'am foreign okay hello School Board hello and Dr Fisher hey um I'm Nanette Lynn Hart a parent of three kids who graduated Crest High School Cleveland County Schools grandparent of eight in Cleveland County Schools so and I'm going to run through the list that you've got you know I just kind of picked in chose some of the things so first things first no mask personal choice individual choice Governor Cooper said should K-8 should wear a mask but districts can decide if
013they must excuse me and foothold a situation in which someone has obtained the power or influence needed to get what is wanted in other words transformative social emotional learning SEL to CRT Cleveland County Schools Trojan Horse a trojan horse is anything that looks innocent but once accepted has power to harm or destroy TSL transformative social emotional learning to CRT the cat is out of the bag some secret or surprise has been revealed or exposed I'm about to lose my voice by a pig and a poke to buy something without inspecting it thoroughly often with negative consequences so go ahead get on the train the Nazi Germans final solution for six million Jews killed and then let's see I'm gonna go on to the second page um this big word in cold cake to impress something
014upon the mind of another by infrequent instruction or repetition to teach others by frequent instruction or repetition indoctrinate and Education First Alliance in North Carolina sent a petition June 21st 2020 that said basically get Cassell and social emotional learning and Panorama education surveys pilot out of North Carolina I've got copies of the surveys thank you Dr Fisher and um what Authority grants our government the right to establish approved mindsets to being inculcated in children what Authority is given to the DPI to use them to set up children to be over diagnosed and over medicated with psychiatric drugs and that's in your SEL thank you thank you second speaker is Miss Marjorie Hooper good evening everyone what is equity Equity is not equality Equity equality was the rule of Oppression amongst the individuals groups regardless of
015race religion ethnicity or place of original origin quality is thrown into the dumpster Equity is anti-equality it is a Marxist idea and Marxism leads to socialism and socialism leads to communism Equity goes against everything Martin Luther King stood for the Panorama education Blog the best of back to school 2021-2022 list of books 11 books for educators to use to enhance your own SEL coaching for Equity by Alina aquilar inspires us to commit to transforming our classroom hidden obstacles to equity and helps us to see how to overcome these obstacles coaching for Equity offers extensive strategies for talking about race power and systems of oppressions so this is what your teachers are reading real good real good those who Embrace critical race Theory populate it with terms like Equity social injustice along with diversity and inclusion
016equality means equal opportunity equity stries for equal outcome so what does that mean how can I put that in something that someone can understand let's say Johnny is a a student and Bobby is a failing slug so you're going to slow down Johnny and give him bees maybe a few Seas throughout the year and you're going to bring up Bobby and give him chance after chance after chance and maybe even giving him the answers to the question so it looks like he's improving so that he becomes what a c student so and eventually the playing field will be leveled out and you will have just your B students you won't have any excellent students you won't have any failing students so that's all I have to say thank you oh um See No Evil Hear
017no evil speak no evil if you can't or won't or shouldn't couldn't wouldn't whatever ban critical race Theory from being taught in the Cleveland schools then at least ban Equity thank you our third speaker is Miss Susan Paris as all of you do know I have a 15 year old son who has severe autism and he went to North Shelby school but tonight I'm going to talk to you about transparency I voted for four new school board members on this board and one of the reasons that I did so was for more transparency I am seeing some of that but not a lot of it I love the fact that you folks have these subcommittees like the Safety Committee and that sort of thing what I don't like is not knowing how and why you
018come up with the decisions that you're coming up with I would like for those subcommittee meetings to be videotaped and put on the internet that way I can see what you're doing um y'all have reduced the number of school board meetings down some and I have to agree with the longest standing School Board member it feels to me like you folks have done that just so you would not hear people like me speak doing public participation I want to remind all of you folks you work for me I voted you in you should want in and a need to hear my voice Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools has had numerous meetings this month alone this is your first meeting this month it's many things that are going wrong in Cleveland County Schools instead of having less meetings
019I think you folks need to have more meetings the other thing I like about Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools not only do they put their video tapes on the website but they Facebook it live and they give you notification that they're Facebooking it live that's transparency I would like to see this school system do the same thing the other reason I came to you folks today is because of this policy that you folks have for first read it is 4304 and I'm just going to call it the restrain policy my son having severe autism he is a child that is being restrained for his own safety and the safety of others the harsh reality is kids like mine who have severe autism are seriously injured and killed all across this nation by school officials by not restraining
020kids properly what bothers me about this policy and correct me if I'm wrong but I'm going to quote the last page where it says North Carolina prohibits the use of unreasonable restraint seclusion in an adverse procedures violation of General statute 115c 391 does not create a private cause of action against the Cleveland County Board of Education its agents or employees and does not create a criminal offense now correct me if I'm wrong but I'm reading that saying that if somebody restrains my child to the point that you're hurting my kid or you kill my kid there's not going to be any criminal charges against that person no one's going to be held liable for that I have a problem with that so I think you folks need to look at this policy seriously think about
021it and pray about it because when I say the kids lives are at stake I truly mean that that's not an overstatement thank you thank you her next item is approval of the minutes of previous meetings first on the list is the business session June 14th what's the pleasure of the board move to approve motion by Mr Humphries is there a second Mr Hunt any questions or comments on the minutes yes Mr Blaine uh I would like to excuse I will not be voting on this because I was not allowed to to participate on my zoom meeting I was out of town and I was on Zoom but when it came to the closed session I was allowed not to participate so I will not be voting this first section is for the Open Session
022part that you participated in but that's up to you well let's split it then it is split uh 502 is the closed part the the the closed part of 501 is a general account okay all right I'll I'll go with that one and then when we get to 502 I'll make my statement okay any other questions or comments on the June 14th minutes for the Open Session those in favor if you raise your hand second set of minutes are the closed session minutes of the June 14th meeting what's the pleasure of the board motion by Mr Fitch second by Mr Hunt any questions or comments yes this is the one that I was allowed not to participate in and I was on zoom and uh I wanted it understood that I have nothing to do
023with that but okay any other questions or comments and in the past in the past uh in our closed meetings a per person a board member has been allowed to be on the phone in the past by my by my understanding well I can't speak to that but I can't quit the policy off the top of my head but our policies do not allow for uh remote participation in a closed session any other questions or comments all right those in favor of the closed session minutes for June 14th if you'd raise your hand and it's a any opposed I just don't because I know vote is a yes but so I'm showing that I'm not uh right I got you eight to one okay the next set of minutes are for the special called session
024on June 29th 2021 well it's a pleasure board I think it hurt Mr Taylor motion by Mr Taylor second by Mr Fitch any questions or comments all right those in favor of the minutes for June 29th if you'd raise your hand none to zero all right we're on to committee reports first is finance and Personnel Mr Shores thank you Mr chairman finance and Personnel Community met on Friday June 25th at 10 30. excuse me I'll repeat that the finance and Personnel committee mail on Friday June 25th at 10 30. uh Mr karpinski provided the finance update for the committee highlighted Mr kopinski's report was budget amendment four this amendment will need to be approved by the board and the board has scheduled a special call meeting on Tuesday June 29th at 11 30 to approve
025Mr karpinski highlighted the Amendments included in the proposals Mr kopinski and the finance team have worked hard to prepare for the end of the fiscal year and included the amendments are needed adjustments to maximize the use of State dollars and ensure that the district doesn't overspend in the state's budget codes the committee discussed the proposed budget amendment and all board members gave amendment number four a favorable review if the proposed amendment didn't change prior to the called meeting the amendment would come as a recommendation from the finance committee if it needed to be tweaked prior to Tuesday then the Mr karpinski will explain those changes and we've already had that special call meeting and he went it did change a little bit so he presented it at the last meeting Mr kopinski provided an update
026on the state budget the governor released his version of the budget back in the spring earliest this week the Senate released and approved their version of the budget the process now waits in the house version Mr Kapinski indicated that most likely the budget process will end up with firms from the house and the Senate working out the budget details Mr karpinski read through some of the highlights of the Senate budget included but not limited to raises for teachers a set minimum of 13 dollars per hour salary for classified staff and various bonuses Cleveland County School staff will continue to monitor the budget process and keep the committee and board informative State budgets updates along the way Dr Fisher provided an update on the challenges the district is facing and finding candidates for classified positions this
027is a growing concern in all areas but especially in the areas of teacher assistance and custodial positions Miss markwell noted that other districts are having the same problems and the committee discuss the challenges all employers were facing and recruiting employees it was mentioned to highlight that Cleveland County Schools was actively searching for employees at the next board meeting so anyone watching we are actively searching for positions in Cleveland County Schools Miss wandler shared some good news regarding the district's teacher turnover rate Cleveland County Schools is in the top five of the state for the lowest teacher turnover rate Ms Wampler it was Abberly explained reasons that teachers leave the district including retirement specific information about the Cleveland County school teacher Turner to all school board members Dr fisherman excuse me Dr Fisher mentioned that this
028is something that the entire District should be proud of and was a sign of the strong systems that we have Dr Fisher presented two ndpi contracts for approval CCS has approved hosting these two ncdpi contracts for several years the man the money passes through the school system to pay for the NC DPI contract employees the district does not spend any money however is able to charge indirect cost of approximately 4 500 per contract given the amount of the contract board approval is needed the committee supported the continued practice of Hosting these two contracts and this is a recommendation from the committee for tonight's meeting no other business was brought before the community meeting was adjourned thank you Mr Shores there's two action items first is a Personnel report what's the pleasure of the board Solution
029by Mr Hunt second by Mr Glover any questions or comments on Personnel report those in favor if you would raise your hand any opposed all right second are the EC contracts these are pass-through contracts from North Carolina DPI these have been reviewed from by committee and come as a recommendation from committee any questions or comments okay those in favor of approving the contracts if you raise your hand and that's none hey all right next committee is educational programs that's Mr Humphries thank you chairman um so we met on July the 2nd we began the meeting with Dr Fisher presented the communities and school contract to the board Dr Fisher went through this specification specifics of the contract explaining down monetary amounts in section one and section 2. Dr Fisher also highlighted some of the work
030done by communities in school especially with graduation coaches Mrs Bridges Moore executive director of CIS spoke about the role of CIS within the school system and community included in that discussion was the Teen Court program hosted by CIS the committee supported the CIS contract proposal and the contract and should be on board agenda tonight comes as a recommendation it does come as a recommendation for the educational programs committee too Dr huntle provided a committee with a testing update the committee looked at 2021 testing data compared to 2019 testing data there was an obvious dip in data from grades three through eight from 2019 to 21. this was completely expected due to the impact of covid the high school will end a course data did show a covid dip that it was not as significant as
031the elementary and the middle school day Dr Hunt will also highlighted the district's graduation rate but explained that we have some seniors that will have by now have graduated this was on July the second so they should have graduated by now over this summer with the summer of course I just went blank on what you call it but uh Credit Recovery thank you so much yes so we expect the district's graduation rate to end up between 89 and 90 percent and that's that's where we're at very good thing uh Dr huntle also went through with the result enrollment data for Cleveland innovation and provided an update on summer school uh honestly I'm going to skip over this part because summer school is over now and it really uh the committee then discussed the difference in
032standards and curriculum essentially the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in the North Carolina State Board of Education said standards for pk-12 instruction in North Carolina local school districts and Boards can select curriculum that will help ensure the standards are met along with standards that are set DPI establishes related documents that assist teachers to understand and impact the standards the community discussed the district's SEL and mental health plan and use of survey data Dr Fisher and Wendy Fitch discussed the district's current challenges in finding exceptional children's teachers which Joel Just referred to um we do now offer the retention bonus which is 2018 1800 so that's already been passed committee man and we did support that concept uh so our next committee meeting will be this Friday 10 30. all right thank you there's one
033action item from the educational programs that is the communities and school contract for 2021 and coming from comedian needs in their second is there are there any questions or discussion all right all those in favor of the community and schools contract if you raise your hand was that a yes or no Mr Blue yes okay that's none to zero all right next is operations committee uh Mr blunt yes uh we had a meeting Miss waltner and Mr Childress provided operations update uh for the school committee uh Miss waltner gave an update on the auditoriums at Burns and Crest High School Mr Childers updated the committee on several summer summer projects including the gymnasians and burns and Crest High School the floors are in and in in the finished process and we'll soon begin to complete
034the bleachers the committee discussed the brick colors inside the gyms districts that the staff and the work with the schools on the options including potential of painting them Tim Wiese then brought uh four uh dub deals several items switch routers technology department had determined Surplus on requesting board approvals to declare a surplus and proceeding with selling on Dove deals the committee supported the recommendation and the items will be presented to the board as Surplus tonight at the meeting and with no and no more other business and we adjourned additionally with the operations committee the Burns High School football coach coach Devine and a committee Community supporter Mr Patrick Mooney attended the committee meeting and presented a proposal for an addition to the Burns High School field house the proposed building would be a separate addition
035to the current field house and would include meeting rooms for players and coaches as well as a kitchen area the proposed building would be funded by private donations and be built to the school systems and DPI specifications the committee members asked coach Devine and Mr Mooney several questions related to their plans for funding and use of the building Dr Fisher explained that this process involved two main steps first the board would need to approve the committee's proposed plan and give permission for the community group to start raising funds and planning the project the Second Step would be for a detailed plan including architectural drawings to be presented to the board for final approval after discussion with Coach Devine and Mr Mooney the computer the committee supported the proposal for the building and the item is
036on tonight's agenda so we have two action items for operations committee the first is Surplus equipment that's a lot of technical stuff switches and routers that I can't explain but uh you've got the list there and that comes from committee as a recommendation are there any questions or discussion all right those in favor of approving this equipment as Surplus if you raise your hand and that's unanimous second item is the Burns High School athletic project again this comes from committee as a recommendation any questions or comments on the Athletic Facility those are in favor of approving this first step so that they can start fundraising and planning if you'd raise your hand and that's unanimous next is our policy committee Mr Hunters policy committee mayor on Tuesday July the 20th at noon Jennifer Wampler shared
037the revised copy of policy 5121 which is disposal of confiscated weapons drugs and alcohol this policy was revised by the Safety Committee everyone was in agreement with the changes that the Safety Committee recommended and the policies being sent to the full board for first grade tonight Mr Wampler also provided an update to committee members on policy 4200 management of student Behavior this policy has already been replaced by new policies and will be retired as noted on the new policies 4302. in addition it is recommended that student code of conduct 4220 for all School levels and the old manual be moved to the new manual then reviewed for updates Leah sync will review the student code of conduct and make recommendations of legal updates if needed there was a discussion of expectation related to uh student
038use of cell phones comments were made by all intendees and Dr Fisher is reviewing the cell phone exceptions of accident excuse me expectations with the principles for further discussion by the committee finally the committee discussed policy 70 77-30 employee conflict of interest with specific attention to section c and secondary employment by employees Mr Singh shared a draft Edition to the policy related to secondary employment and education where's the sink will tweak further based on discussion and the revisions will be presented to the full board for a first degree tonight in addition an online employee self-reporting form of secondary employment will be created for use when applicable and it was there and our next meeting is August the 17th at night Mr Humphries it's a board you have several policies or on board docs for first
039read just read those into the record those are policies 3160 3460-e 4304-e 6430-r 2130 and 7426 if everyone would take note of those and be prepared for the next meeting we do have two policies for approval that's policy 3205 academic freedom and policy 2315 opening invocations before board meetings those come from committee as a recommendation are there is there any objection to taking those two policies together any questions about either one of those I uh question number six uh on that policy uh I think that we need to have a little revise on that uh through our attorney on which one number six on the the prayer and the uh amputation uh and it's uh down at number six uh the question is line six in the policy okay the the changes to the policy
040we're taking taking out the uh board meeting date it had a line in there about meeting on the second and fourth uh where one that part was removed okay well I think that was the only change that's that's correct and I think that we need to look at number six on that policy okay but we can go ahead and go with that but and have them look back into that okay any other questions or comments so that's coming from committee recommending approval of 3205 and 2315 we're taking those together in one vote so all those in favor of those two policies if you raise your hand and that's unanimous next section is policies for retirement there are several 45 of 30 is student Publications and Productions 5300 is retention and non-renewal 5410 is assignment 5520
041as school administrator con contracts 60 30 specifications 6220 is facility construction and repair as it relates to Ada policy 7000 is use of funds and 7630 is board authority to override the finance officer any that's coming from committee recommending retirement of all those policies any questions on any of those and if there's no objection we'll take all of those together all right all in favor of retiring the policies mentioned if you'd raise your hand and that's unanimous next is our Safety Committee report Mr Fitch thank you Mr chairman the Safety Committee met on June 30th at 12 o'clock Dr Fisher highlighted the mental health initiative training that was put together by Sandy Hamrick and the district's student services team including the highlights was information about the district's threat assessment and student safety protocols the committee
042spoke about the district's process and student attendance each Committee Member had a copy of the presentation with links to the district's plan Dr Fisher also called me uh Dr Fisher in the committee also discussed some updates in the district school safety plans and the NC DPI school safety grant program Rodney borders updated the committee on this year's Grant closeout and Dr fish discussed next year's grant opportunities Lieutenant Craig from the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office was present at the meeting to discuss some grant opportunities that was he was aware of and that may interest the committee one of the grants is currently open and other will open this coming spring Lieutenant Craig highlighted both grants and the opportunities that each presented the committee discussed excuse me the importance of continuing to search for funding as well
043as the need to continue to upgrade and train employees Dr Fisher will incorporate some of the district Specialists to review the Grant and give the committee some feedback no other information nothing about it on with you all right thank you sir next we have our speech therapy contracts we've got Dr Fisher that's that's yours thank you Mr chair members of the board we have two uh Speech Therapy contracts recommended tonight doing the do it due to his contracts they need more timing of the contracts uh we need to go ahead and get those approved and did not meet the committee meeting that's why we're doing that as a special approval be glad to try to answer any questions that you have those are to provide speech of our students motion by Mr Blanton second by
044Mr Shores any questions all right all those in favor of the speech therapy contracts as presented if you raise your hand and that's unanimous next we have our strategic plan yes Mr chairman members of the board I gave you uh provided a draft of our strategic plan um at our June meeting I know I've talked to a couple of you about things about that strategic plan just just for the benefit of everybody kind of uh kind of going back and highlighting uh how we created this strategic plan we began this conversation back uh really in January um with uh the committee groups and with the entire board and District leaders each committee really went through at their committee meetings in the late winter early spring to to identify goals we had a retreat and spent
045several hours working through goals Mission Vision to get to where we are now each committee reviewed their individual goals and we've submitted that into a a strategic plan this plan uh is is a combination of the vision Mission slogan and then three to four goals for for each uh committee area if approved we will take this strategic plan and we will put that into a a dressier format put it on our website uh we'll actually have a really a one-pager where when you go to different places you'll have access to that you can present the district's strategic plan as we've discussed the Strategic plan is not something that that you put on the shelf and wait five years and go back to 2025 and pull it out and said well let's see what that strategic
046plan says this should should be a living breathing document although the dates are 2021 to 2025 I fully anticipate as we work through some of this we will need to update this plan in 12 to 18 months because uh the goals and objectives of the board changes there are some of these things that we'll meet some of the things that we need to uh to um to work through so I can go through that strategic plan uh it's on our website uh the draft we've been through that we can get some put that up on the main screen doctor I'm sure you know I think that the the a lot of work in our retreat was spent on the mission and vision uh Cleveland County Schools mission is to cultivate Excellence by providing student-centered exceptional
047educational experiences by challenging all students to perform at their Highest Potential the vision Cleveland County Schools vision is to cultivate excellence in Student Success Through exceptional educational experiences and we really get down to the slogan which I think everybody really um you know really liked and really stuck was was cultivating excellence and we've had that conversation that conversation has already been kind of permeated through our organization and that really meets everything that we do we want to cultivate excellence and the academics and our facilities and our operations and our policies and extracurricular activities we want to make sure we're cultivating excellence in our students and throughout our community you have a little bit of cultivating Excellence I put put some thing in your chairs to go ahead and start promoting that uh that slogan there
048our goals for our from the educational program uh to have 90 of all third graders reading at or above grade level by the end of the decade to increase Mass Proficiency in K-12 by three percentage Points each year to have all students meet or exceed growth each year to have at least 90 percent of all Cleveland County School students graduate from high school in four years or less and to increase act proficiency to meet or exceed the state average from the policy committee we had three goals to complete the transition to the new policy manual and updating the policy hosting site to be customer and user friendly and if you look at our policy site recently you can see that the vast majority of our policies are already you know complete in the new manual
049we just have a few things and and then we'll switch those over it's remain current and compliant with all local state and federal laws policies and procedures and to use the board's policy manual to set high expectations and cultivate excellence in all areas including student and staff performance communication and customer service from the finance and Personnel committee to increase teacher classified and other supplements to meet or exceed the state average again while we're not there the board already has taken a big step to that this spring by increasing teacher and classified supplements to study the classified salary schedule and make appropriate adjustments develop a system to provide experienced credit for prior relevant work experience in the North Carolina school district for classified employees and a recruit employee and retain a high qualified diverse and high
050performing Workforce again some of the things that are already happening to do that is looking at our EC teachers the the recruitment bonus the retention bonus for EC teachers is already a part of that and then to create a performance-based bonus system uh and we've still got some work to begin on that on the operations committee address four goals to conduct a thorough facilities assessment for the district in order to evaluate facility needs and future growth opportunities that is ongoing we've that process has started to maximize the Effectiveness and efficiency of our facilities and operations to address the HVAC needs at the four traditional high schools in our district and to complete the auditorium projects at Burns and Crest High School yeah I got a good question yeah yeah okay on that operations committee I
051I feel on that operations report there and I like the strategy and everything but I feel that we need to have our some our employees in our meetings with our Architects because they know what's wrong in our schools and uh and they might help that architect find something that they're having to go look for and they're charging this by the minute and by the second by the hour uh if we've got somebody hearing what they're having to say versus they're not there and then we got somebody translating it like me back to back to somebody or one of the staff here translating it back to the maintenance department I feel that we need them supervisors intact especially since we did not hire a project manager that we need our supervisors uh intact with our meetings
052so that uh they're hearing what's going on and then if they hear something they could come back and say hey I can help you out right there with this right here that could save us thousands of dollars uh so I feel like that they they were coming in our meetings at the beginning but for the last two meetings I've not seen uh some of our HVAC or project managers or whatever I've not seen them at our meetings and I've been there they've not been out of committee meetings Mr Blanton but they've been meeting with the groups from uh that doing our facility assessment a matter of fact in one of the in the visits that we've already started with facilities assessment we had somebody from a maintenance department there but I understand but a board
053member might like to hear what uh what our people is saying versus that the architect too uh I think I feel like they they need to be present when we're at me because that's my opinion though I've got one person all right thanks sir and then um for our safety uh from the Safety Committee to endorse a system of collaboration with Community Resources including parents service providers organizations medical experts law enforcement and local businesses to enhance every area of health and safety for our students and staff to create promote a healthy and safe learning environment for each school by establishing and educating students and staff on safety processes procedures protocols and practices and to systematically evaluate safety procedures protocols and practices at all of our school campus and buildings and ensure the documentation of building
054safety plans and and some of that really rolls into some of the stuff we're doing with operations as well so members and then the last one I'm sorry I I forgot this one to endorse character education and promote good citizenship for all students and staff so I present to you uh the Strategic plan again this was this originated in the committee meetings uh with uh from the five committees come to you tonight for your approval uh once if this is approved then we'll begin to uh push this out Market this and work through uh meeting these goals all right board members we kind of took the first read process with this and it was presented at our last meeting uh we can treat this as a second read are there any questions or discussion before
055we entertain a motion I I got one I I would like our main to screw to be involved with us uh uh on that uh operations and stuff so is is that a goal for the Strategic plan I think it's a a very precious goal uh that we're putting that in so uh but I'm I'm ready to go forward to get with it term if I could because uh because I'll recommend that y'all discuss that in your next operation that'll be fine yeah okay all right what's the pleasure of the board regarding the Strategic plan make a second call Mr Fitch or Mr Bland any further discussion all right those in favor of the Strategic plan as presented if you'd raise your hand and that's unanimous Dr Fisher superintendent update yes thank you Mr chair
056members of the board want to provide us a superintendent's update especially as it relates to coven returning to school and and recent uh interactions of um the release of the North Carolina strong schools toolkit just to kind of go back and and summarize uh kind of where we've been really over the last uh five to six months beginning February 22nd 2021 um if you're a member Cleveland County schools begin to transition students to plan a for full in-person learning five days a week we began the 2020 2020 2021 school year in Plan B um and and implemented Plan B until the end of February will begin the transition of plan a at that time remember we had a phase-in approach and over the next several weeks plan a was phased in for all grade levels
057the 2020-2021 school year was successfully completed at the end of May in plan a with all students going to school five days a week we had a great graduation at all of our high schools uh and and ended the year on a good high note remote instruction was still an option for some students but the majority of our students across our district ended up being about 85 percent participating in plan a again with in-person learning five days a week so we ended the school year there um and and that kind of stopped you know really gave us the the springboard as we move into the start of school this August uh but I'll get there in just a second this summer Cleveland County Schools successfully hosted summer camp Mr trumpers mentioned that in his educational
058report for students and and all grade levels summer school was in person at our school sites we had a good turnout for summer camp we had lots of high school students to give credit recovery a lot of elementary students that was successful in our district Graham Elementary is off to a great start today was the start of their second week year round school they started last week had a great first week of school and got off to a good start this week Graham is implant a full in-person learning and they are following the protocols that were still in place or left over from the 2020 2021 school year as we prepare to return to in-person learning I think our students and staff are excited about returning to school I had the opportunity for different functions
059today to talk to three or four of our teachers and they were all expressed their excitement about returning to school I'm sure if you talk to some of our students they may say they they're not ready for school to start by for the summer but I really believe that majority of our students are ready to get back uh into our schools although plans the plans a b and c we talked a lot about that last year and and I think you know you you guys were part of many of that conversation they do not exist in the most recent recent edition of the North Carolina strong schools toolkit students enrolled in one of our 29 traditional schools will experience a full in-person five days per week instruction Cleveland Innovations is the current option for students
060that desire full remote instructions so a little bit different for our plans for this coming year than they were last year if you remember last year in our traditional 29 schools we had both the in-person option and a remote option this year at our traditional schools in-person instruction will be the only option at those schools our remote option will be through Cleveland Innovations my current enrollment in Cleveland Innovations is about 105 students and again that was presented at our last educational programs meeting getting to a little current data as you're well aware uh some information I've sent you and you've received from different organizations effective July 30th at five o'clock the current North Carolina Mass mandate ends according to the most recent edition of the Northline strong schools toolkit Master no longer required in our
061schools I stand a toolkit masks are suggested for anyone unvaccinated and in grades K-8 regardless of vaccination in the fine in making final preparations for the 21-22 school year which is hard to believe but it is uh just a short time away as we near the end of July our District's leaders will be working through district and school protocols including but not limited to health screenings applicable and appropriate distancing and cleaning procedures given the fact that the mass mandate ends at the end of this week the requirements students the staff to wear masks inside buildings and on-school property will need to be discussed Mr chairman I'll pause right here at that time to entertain questions or conversation about the next steps and related to the wearing of Mast or face coverings in Cleveland County Schools
062any questions or discussion for Dr Fisher I have it's kind of concerning Mass some will wipe the way this board goes with that when's the deadline to register Cleveland innovation we will tank we will entertain applications for Cleveland Innovations we've tried to encourage and send information out because of scheduling to do that in advance Mr Shores we understand the complexity of covid and and what's going on we want to be sensitive to those needs so we will still have an application process to Cleveland Innovations um you know ideally again that's already happened but we understand we may have additional students that are interested in enrolling Cleveland Innovation so we'll look at that we'll meet with that family work through that application process with that do we have a maximum number that we can handle not
063at this time it's been part of some legislation proposed the capacity of that but we're we're fine with that again we've only have Dr Arnold I can't remember the number last but about 105 105 110 students at that so we've got room obviously we'll have to adjust Staffing if if that number can you know increases but we're in a good place to handle that Dr Ware has done a great job with Cleveland Innovations throughout this process well uh with my little research that I've been doing that you know the house approved gave us gave it to us our decision the standing to prove that was a couple months ago the Senate approved it a couple weeks ago the governor come up and said what he said but he recommended you know that well I feel
064like it ought to be a a parent and a teacher's Choice uh if [Applause] if we have to come back if the covet picks up we have to come back we step back in uh uh we cut our meetings to one a month we can go to two a month uh you know and have another meeting but I feel that as many calls as I've got and I know every one of us has received lots of calls uh about this so I feel that we need to leave it to our staff and our parents Choice thank you thank you Mr Hunt uh Dr Fisher you gave a good report on how we finished up the school year and some updates on before we started and where we ended up uh you know we were all
065wanting to get students back in school we were able to get them back in school with plan a by using masks and you know some listen to CDC you know and Consulting with my health officials yeah they uh the governor left it up to the board to approve but also you know we've got uh we've got to use good Common Sense also you know it's up to the board to make sure that the people that can't make a decision to be vaccinated or protected and you know I'm talking about these elementary kids that are under 12 years of age that don't have a choice and when we we say and let's leave it up to the individuals the parents and whatnot what happens there is you know you you uh if you make masks optional
066you put it on the administrators and teachers to enforce whether they vaccinated or they're not vaccinated I think that as a board we need to err on the side of caution start the school year the way we finished last school year and look at it again in nine weeks to see you know if we need to make adjustments you know I don't think we need to take the mask away and monitor I think we need to keep the mask and monitor at the nine weeks [Music] keep your mind Mr chairman uh I happen to run across an article where where some parents in Florida took their mask off with children and took it and had it tested and the results were unbelievable that some of the diseases germs and things that were on the mask
067foreign I wished I'd brought that article with me uh tonight because it laid out some very serious very serious issues with the types of diseases and stuff that were on the Mass uh in my opinion it's not the government to tell people what to do it's a People's Choice [Applause] we're in a governing body and uh I think it's if the parent wants the child to wear a mask they can wear a mask if they don't want their child to wear a mask they don't wear a mask because I think we went through all this history before about how covet does not affect young kids the way it affects older kids and I'm not going to Hash that out again uh because you know and I'm not for asking are you vaccinated you're not vaccinated
068to each your own if they want to be vaccinated they vaccinated if they're not they're not but here's the question that I have if you're not vaccinated by now you're probably not going to get vaccinated so if we're going to say we're going to make kids wear masks when does it stop when does it ever stop this isn't going away when does it ever stop we're at the point now where the vaccines are out there know the children's vaccine didn't come hadn't here yet but it's coming but still it don't affect them the same way so this disease or whatever is here and I got a feeling it's here to stay so you know a decision we make tonight you know where we just saying as long as it's here we're going to keep kids
069at mass in just my opinion I I just believe it should be a choice and that's that's my opinion Mr Humphries so Mr chairman if I could um I trust the parents I trust our teachers to make good decisions so I'm definitely in favor of it being optional as far as asking kids whether or not you're vaccinated that's never going to happen that violates HIPAA laws um now I will share I have been vaccinated and didn't have any bad effects on me but I'm definitely not going to sit here and tell anybody else what to do because that's why people die for this flight back here and so we can all make our own decisions so I will say I'm in favor of it one question is if if we have people that do want
070to get vaccinated have you looked in with the health department about doing some more clinics in case we do have older students or parents who would like to be vaccinated yes and and they have uh the health department is planning to use some of our campuses for vaccination sites and as we get back with with students and staff on our campus we can definitely do that again if you remember at the end of the school year in the spring we had some vaccination sites even during the school day obviously students have to have parent permission you had to have all the documentation there but we would encourage our students and staff to the extent possible to be vaccinated because there's lots of benefits from from us from quarantine all those kind of perspectives Mr chairman
071would it be appropriate at this point in time to make a motion yes okay yeah we can go ahead Mr chairman um earlier today I had conversations with several different folks they looked they looked at it both sides I've been vaccinated my wife's been vaccinated my kids have had the luxury of getting vaccinated they've had that choice um we've got we've got kids that are uh they're available to have the vaccine and they choose not to that is their choice grades you know the younger kids studies show that they don't they can't contract the virus we don't know that we don't know what the new what the new variants are coming in my opinion is safety comes first we're responsible for the safety of the kids and if parents don't have the choice to get
072their kids vaccinated then that's on us if we if they get sick something something happens to a kid it's our responsibility if we if we go in a little out optional man I don't mean if it's optional it's optional but if parents have that choice and they choose not to then it's on the parent but if we're going to if we're going to put kids back in school their safety is about most importance so at this point I would not I would I would go through that I don't know what I'm gonna do yet I appreciate your honesty Mr Green aye Mr chairman um what I'm going to say may not be popular or uh the favorite decision but what I am going to say is going to be factual and um the math mandate
073being um taken away now is kind of to me it's really bad timing I'm just going to read off some facts to you over the last 14 days North Carolina has increased their rate over 200 percent contact traces are now working six days a week just to keep up with the new contacts region four is um is increasing we're in a surge we have a couple outbreaks in camps right now um I don't push the shot for anybody to get it I am vaccinated my family is vaccinated but that's a personal choice and I will not tell anyone to get vaccinated but what I would tell tell you is for your personal self to look at it weigh the benefits and the risk if the benefits outweigh the risk go ahead and get vaccinated but
074as Greg said um right now our responsibility as a school board is to have our children safe and the new Delta variants they do show studies that it spreads more rapidly and kids are getting it more than older adults now now I'm not going to sit here and say vaccinated people do not get the new variant because we are seeing now within the past week the vaccinated people are becoming positive but the upside to that is they are less sick they're not having a bad time with it a couple of people that I know personally that's been vaccinated that have it they say they feel like a common cold um now I I'm gonna be biased because my husband's uh 18 year old cousin just gotta I got out of ICU last week on a
075ventilator I almost lost her life to covet so I first hand see a lot of people that are being affected by it there's a lot of misinformation out there there's a lot of good information I just ask that you read and kind of decipher between the two because children are getting this variant and we are rising every day our numbers we are at the worst that we have been since February um so I just asked that I wish we could proceed with caution I would like to would like to see people wear a mask if they are not vaccinated but we can't police that and we can't enforce that but I just think as a school board we need to proceed with caution because we do have teachers that we need to take care of
076and one of my concerns as always as it was last year is going to be our quarantine guidelines if because if I'm not mistaken if you are mad if you are vaccinated and within a certain period of time you do not have to quarantine at all or if you're wearing masks um the quarantine is going to be less than if you do not have a math phone if you do not have a math and are not vaccinated you are going to still have to do a full 14 days now and if you're ongoing contact you may do 28 days so I'm just afraid that we're going to lose a lot of kids uh being out of school more by not wearing a mask and not getting vaccinated so everybody just please look at the benefits
077and the risks make the decisions that's best for you and if you do feel like a mask is appropriate I just ask that you wear it and protect others around you but if you do not I respect everybody's decision Mr Glover Mr Fitz thank Mr chair um let me tell you I've done a lot of thinking on this I I didn't think we'd have to have this discussion again to be honest with you um I was hoping we wouldn't I mean I'll be honest I did not I thought we had made the term I thought we were going in the direction that we needed to go by looking at our numbers down they're alarming um so and you know I don't disagree with anybody up here right now everybody has good points the number of
078emails that I have when I read those emails I'm like man that's an excellent point I'm with you then I have another email or a phone call that goes the other direction I'm like man that that really makes sense what they're saying so you know we're all kind of in the same boat but I don't think there's any right or wrong we just you know my number one priority is safety of our students that's that's what I've always said I want our students to be when they go to school that is their safe haven that is the safest place that they've ever been other than under Mama's arms so I want them to be safe there what the right thing to do whether they have a mask or not I don't know I don't know
079I want to trust our parents that they're right making the right decision for their kids but sometimes parents make wrong decisions too but I don't know if it's you know if wearing the mask is the decision that we that we need to make for them so I'm I'm split on it to be honest with you uh it's according who I thought to last sometimes by the way that I feel on here um I feel for the teachers that um did you know months ago that they the image was if you get vaccinated out here The Masks are gone teaching with a mask on is difficult I I teach every day and it is difficult when I was wearing a mask it is it is I'm I was exhausted and I don't feel like I'm getting
080a message across to students when I wear not masked sometimes and uh and and we have asked a lot of our teachers but I also want them to be safe and uh and and my other priority is and I hope there's the goal for this old entire School Board is we want school back to be normal again what's some kind of normal we want it to be where our kids are going five days a week and if we don't wear a mask I'm afraid we're in Jeopardy of losing a class here or a class there and a class here and and how does that benefit that child if we're if we're if we're gone for two weeks and then they come back and then maybe another case and off they go again so that bothers
081me but it also it's like okay if we make them wear a mask then they're going to leave the school and go to Friday Night Football and I'll be there together without a mask on too so it's kind of like the covert don't stay away from okay we're not going to go to Friday Night Football but we're only going to go through the school so I'm torn I'm kind of like Mr Taylor I'm gonna I'm not sure and and we I could ramble on and on and on but this is a very hard decision and a lot I've put a lot of thought with I'm reading I'm looking at one of the emails now that one of the teachers were written and you know I know there's some teachers I talk to that's like we
082don't want to wear a mask anymore and I got emails here that there's teachers that want to wear a mask so but we got to give maybe another choice I don't I don't know what the answer is but I'm torn I just I want School to go the entire time without anybody missing any classroom time and I don't know to be honest with I don't know what the best thing to do is to keep those kids in our classroom because that's what I want and I've rambled and I don't know if any of that makes sense but you know pass out quarters before the vote man man yes it's difficult so Mr Fitch I think you the only one that hasn't smoked yes sir Mr chairman uh there's not a whole lot else I can
083say that's that's not been said so I just like to go ahead and move uh to make a motion that we moved to the board and move to empower the superintendent to implement a layered mitigation strategy including physical distance and hygiene adequate access to a diagnostic and Screen intestine and closely monitor for the increase of covid-19 cases these measures should be implemented to the greatest extent possible without excluding students from full-time in-person learning and make my ass completely optional throughout the Cleveland County School System yeah okay we have that in the form of emotion second I think Mr Humphrey's beats you too the punch there any further questions or discussion Mr chair if we had any input from our health department our director with the health department to give us any guidance have you had
084anything Dr Fisher I have had some discussion with um with our health department today in terms of follow-up with uh the toolkit the protocols our conversation was was was really focused today on what happens if we go this direction what happens if we go in this direction to continue to monitor as you said you know they're concerned about increased cases and the increased number of cases with uh with covid did not our conversation was really focused around if the board decides to move forward with mask optional things we need to put in place things that that we need to put in place if the board moves forward with mass being or mass mandatory in Cleveland Innovation is what grades can go to that K-12 it is great so there is an option for the parents
085out here it is full 12 and again we we tried to um mark it as we finish school year and beginning of the summer with enrollment if you're interested in a full remote option um but but as I said we understand that times are different things change um the data is different from where we were as school ended uh in terms of the number of cases and percent positive uh so we're not going to we'll look at continue to have that as an option it's not too late for students to move into Cleveland Innovations just to clarify on Mr Fitch's emotions I understand it it's empowering you to put what process is in place to keep our kids as safe as possible we do there's four weeks until school starts our next meeting will be
086in two weeks um then so we've got a meeting that we can readdress it if we need to and then again we can we can call a special meeting anytime if something changes I'm sorry Mr chair Dr Fisher or do have you have you been given any data that of the folks that have been vaccinated and have contracted to cover vaccine after vaccination are there is there statistical data that percentage of so many people do they carry the virus can they can they pass it on to someone else as I had the vaccine and as everyone's know I missed I missed our July first of July meeting because I had covered after getting both vaccinations um now so are is there statistical data on that and that's my question yeah Miss Taylor I don't have
087that data the information I do have which was which was a little bit dated is the last presentation that the North Pine Department of Health and Human Services did to the State Board of Education which showed a high percentage of of the positives were from unvaccinated people and I think we've continued to hear that that was their data again that data was was really through the month of June um in that time period was was the May and June so um but but to answer your question I really don't have that piece of information the screen yeah Mr Fisher um Dr Fisher I have a question um did they discuss the quarantine guidelines um about 14 full days and going back to Mr Glover's question really that was the conversation that we had with the
088health department about you know really the quarantine guidelines in in the event that the decision was made to make masks optional what what did that mean for the quarantine guidelines because the quarantine guidelines are different uh in terms of um vaccinated versus non-vaccinated and then those with masks without masks and so those things you know it's pretty the toolkit lays that out pretty well we do uh we'll we'll be continuing to have ongoing conversations with the health department to plan exactly what those things are again as you know and you and I've had those conversations from from even from last spring that each individual situation is is different because of the specifics of that individual person or child and so you know we'll be in that same boat to be able to interpret that but
089as We Know the quarantine guidelines for non-mask individuals are more stringent than they are for masks and then they're different from vaccinating unvaccinated well with that being said I have a question um and if the situation arises and we have a non-massed student that has a quarantine and maybe it's an ongoing because of his apparent it's positive for something if they end up being out of school for 28 days I know we don't want to ask our teachers to teach remotely and in class like we did last year that was a lot on them and we appreciate them for doing it but do we have something in place that a student is missing 14 or maybe 28 days of school that we are not going to let them get behind or how will we handle
090that I don't think this green we will be able to totally abandon um remote instruction what we won't have in our traditional schools is a situation where we have plan a and plan C you know at the end of last year we had plan a and plan C going on at the same time we'll have plan a going on but we understand um regardless it could be an out of school issue that a student is quarantined and we obviously don't want students to miss that much instruction so we will continue to have some semblance of remote instruction uh ongoing and we have students that are you know present remotely that whether they participate you know in a synchronous or asynchronous instruction that is where we do have advantage of Cleveland Innovations to be able to
091step in and assist do some some other things with that but we obviously if a child's out for 14 days either with covet or as a contact we just not would not want to leave that student out Dr Ronald and I actually had that conversation today uh going back to one of your conversations Mr clever you thought maybe okay when you finish the Year this was going to be over and we thought okay the the Blended remote instruction is going to be maybe that's going to be a thing of the past but we know that that's not and actually you know what what Cove had really told us from an instructional perspective is how we can do that even if it's non-coveted is he dealing with the flu you're dealing with things and you have
092students out for extended period of time now we have resources that we've tried to be able to continue to allow students to make academic progress while they're out of school for whatever reason any other questions what just I don't want to overstep but I just have one more but I caught you first so our region here locally around us what are their school boards what kind of decisions have they made or have they even brought that up I know I mean we we we're responsible for Cleveland County but just curious um I think that there's a lot of meetings ongoing um I think in our region there are four or five school districts that have already decided they're going to a a choice option a mass Choice a couple districts had announced that prior to
093the release of the toolkit obviously a conversation with several of you we wanted to see what the tool gets said look at those things before we made that I think there was one District that had a call meeting yesterday and and said masks were optional so those that have made decisions seeming to be Mass optional I think there's several districts with meetings tonight and tomorrow and probably the rest of this week okay and as Mr Queen said I don't want to read just you know just to kind of emphasize that that you know you do have future meetings obviously we have four weeks till we start school and in some ways four weeks is seems like a long time and the four weeks will be gone here before we know it but I do think
094it's important that we continue regardless of decision of the board we really continue to monitor that data you know closer look at that because if you know I mean the data from the end of June to the end of July has changed pretty dramatically and so we need to continue to monitor that moving forward well I've had the shot and uh my doctor advised me to take the shot due to my health issues but it also triggered something of my immune system too probably most likely and so I'll fight my rheumatoid arthritis now do and they feel like that that shot could have triggered it off because your immune system could be effective by by taking the shot but I took it I thought that was my best choice with my situation and and I
095just I just like for the people to know uh their their choices out there and I feel like I don't like to wear a mask but I did wear it when we had to wear it and uh I don't do now and I don't want to make somebody so I feel like that it should be a person's choice I just have one of the questions when you bring those that data to us from the health department I would like to see it up to age 12 because there's so many people get hung up on who tests positive and if you're 12 and above you have the right to go get the vaccine so I want to know from those kids that are up to age 12 because there's nothing we can do about 12 and
096over so and I want data shows those who don't have the vaccine when you bring that back when you say the number of positive cases that are okay yes look at weekend um we definitely know that when we were in school because I was with track that but I believe from the health department we should be able to get that kind of data from them and I would say you know Ms Shores thank you for that you know question any other data when we come back at our meeting um in two weeks any other data that you would like if you let me know we'll make sure that we that we have that data available I'm going to ask Mr Fitch to repeat his motion because I didn't get it all written down just so
097everybody's clear ly I move that the board and power the superintendent to implement a layered mitigation strategy include physical distancing hand hygiene right with access to a diagnostic and screening and testing and closely monitoring for increase in covid-19 cases this measure should be implemented to the greatest extent possible without excluding students from full-time in-person learning and mass will be completely optional throughout the Cleveland County School System so we have a motion on the floor in a second any further discussion all right it's that time if you if you haven't decided by now it's time so all those in favor of the motion as presented if you would raise your hand I get six any opposed three six to three and I I do appreciate the board's discussion the emails I know everyone's gotten phone calls
098and emails and I know it's it is a decision that weighs heavy and it's uh it's not an easy one to make so I do appreciate the board taking the time to discuss it Dr Fisher just a few more updates uh Mr chairman uh just so you're aware and your calendar looking forward School extracurricular activities began in in Earnest Monday August 2nd in terms of practices and those type of things I know lots of our folks have been doing volunteer workouts and that so the activities in our school will start to ramp up quickly uh Cleveland I mentioned Graham they were in the first day of the second week Cleveland Early College High School their first day of school is Monday August 4th just around the corner the first teacher work day is August the
09912th uh and then a first day for school first first day of school for students that are in a traditional calendar is Monday August 23rd so we do have a busy next couple four weeks in our school calendar so in as we move forward if you have any questions feel free to let me know with those those events okay thank you Dr Fisher thank you next thing on the agenda is student transfer request was a pleasure board automation by Mr Hunt second by Mr Blanton since we can't discuss this these are employees those in favor of the transfer request has presented if you raise your hand that's unanimous next on the agenda's board member comments I don't remember where I started last time Mr Big you have anything Mr Hunt yeah just for a second
100I just I just wanted to give a a thumbs up to a group I actually had a teacher call me the other day and and um and said you know the administrators do a good job promoting the the teachers and bragging on them and and the teacher said I want to brag on the administrators and she had a very good point and uh and I'm sorry that I don't recognize that as much this has been a challenging year we've asked a lot of our administrators from our principals and administrators here with the challenges that we've had with covid of all that they've done and especially our principles this summer um not saying that they didn't do don't you normally do a lot during the summer they're very busy in the summer getting schedules ready for
101the upcoming school year this year they had that on their plate also had on their plate summer school going on in their schools and it makes it very very difficult for them to juggle all that and I just want to give them a thumbs up and a big thank you for making it happen they made it happen they made summer school go off really well and they've done an excellent job coming up with this schedule and a lot more planning to do on with the cover numbers coming up on some challenges so I just want to applaud our principles and administrative staff thank you sure got one thing uh I had a phone call about a month ago there was a lady she was born in 1923. and a staff member here they was a
102family brought her diploma in she graduated it showed on the diploma in 1945 but she actually graduated from Shelby High School in 1943. and I went to the person called me and said can you find them well there ain't much I can't find so I went to work she got married in 1952 and moved to Boone stayed up there for many years she moved her husband died they buried him in Boone and she came back to live with her mother that put her about 94 95 years old she come back to live with her mother and she had a couple children and uh I kept digging and so I called uh Mr Cash he goes back in history and stuff like that and we got to running and tracking things down and she died in
1032018 she she is buried up here at Ross's Grove Church and uh but come to find out I haven't called any names yet but I'm fixing to call out to one of Mr umphress's friends was Leonard Fletcher his wife it was a her aunt who it was and uh we got that diploma that had been lost or non-found and the family didn't know anything about it and we got that back into hands uh of that family of that diploma of 1943 well diploma said 45 but she actually graduated in 43. uh at Shelby High School Mr Taylor I just wanted to add one thing real quick I forgot in the operations report I just wanted to let everyone know we did close on the sale of North Shelby school back on uh the 16th or
104the 19th some the 16th and uh Mr karpinski picked up the check personally and has that deposited in our account and we found out Mr karpinsky's price for half a million he'll he'll ride out and pick up a check anything less than that staff analy right so we're excited for Mount Calvary and appreciate what they're doing North Shelby has a a long Legacy of doing some special things for wonderful people and I think it's just fitting that a church like Mount Calvary get that so that they can carry on that Legacy and the things that they'll be able to do for the community and I'm not usually an excitable person but I'm ready for school to get started you can just hear it in the voice of our administrators again like Dr Fisher said some
105of the kids are not too excited but I think their parents are and our teachers and administrators so I'm looking forward to a good year lots of good things happening and it sounds like I'm getting ready to finish but we still have a closed session to go don't we do I have a motion to go into closed session I'll make that motion I'll make that motion if we go into closed sessions all right I like person man that motion let us just to stay the movie with 143-318.11 subsection A1 to discuss the Personnel matter yes sir we just murdered Robert's Rules of Order right there but uh we're going to count that as a motion should we uh do we have a second by Mr Taylor all in favor of entering into closed session all
106right all right that's unanimous and we'll enter into closed session in our whole meeting place foreign all right do we have a motion to re-enter Open Session call Mr Taylor and seconded by Mr showers those in favor of returning to open session raise a hand and that's unanimous to report from closed session the board did make a decision on a confidential Personnel matter and no other action was taken during Flu session do we have a motion to adjourn second I call Mr Blanton those in favor have a good evening