001Good afternoon. It's so exciting to see so many people here for the right reason. Sometimes when you have public meetings and lots of folks show up doesn't make board members feel good. This makes board members feel really good. So, we do appreciate you so much being here. Um Mr. Shelton will be on his way. Is that what Okay. I hope so. Okay. Um board members, welcome. In order to get going, we need to adopt an agenda. You've had a proposed agenda electronically and you have a hard copy. Do we have a motion to accept the agenda as presented? Stephanie makes the motion. Is there a second? Mr. Jones makes the second. Any questions or discussion? All in favor, raise your hand. Motion carries 6-0. Next on the agenda is an invocation, and I will do
002that if you will bow with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for the privilege of serving Davie County Schools through this Board of Education. As we meet this afternoon, I ask that you give us wisdom to make wise choices for the betterment of this county's public school system. I want to thank you for this great representation here this afternoon. We're thankful for each of these students and each parent, each relative, for the staff, and even the guests that are in attendance. We're thankful that we can celebrate a successful school year. As the students and the 10-month staff take some time away from their professional task, I would ask you to watch over each one and keep them safe this summer, and in a short couple of months, we'll be excited for their refreshed minds and bodies
003as they return to the classrooms. Lastly, I want to remember our senior classes from Davie County High School and from Davie County Early College High School. And I pray as they go away to their next chosen path that they too will be led to areas where they can be successful, areas where they're most needed, and I wish them a lot of happiness along the way. May the seeds that these teachers have planted spring up, and may the students see how much they're cared for and how much they were loved by their teachers. In your loving name, I pray. Amen. Next, we'll have our Pledge of allegiance led by Mr. Joe Caudle. >> Pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under
004God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Yeah. Welcome. Board, you have received a copy of the minutes from the May 5th meeting. I believe that's the only set of minutes that have not been approved by you. So, at this time I'll take a motion to accept the minutes as written by Carol Dr. Bell. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Joe makes a motion. Is there a second? Michael makes a second. Any questions or discussions? We do say thank you for well-prepared minutes. Thank you very much. All in favor? Show of hands. Motion carries 7-0. Uh under the board reports [snorts] and important dates, you've got those and I bet you almost all of you have heard about a an event that's going to take place this coming Saturday. It's
005called Davie County High School graduation. It's an exciting time. And get there early. Uh they the program actually starts the marching at 8:30. We need to be there at >> 7:00. >> He said 7:00. So, get there early. I promise you you'll need it for parking and crowd as well. You'll need to get there for the parking. Uh I would mention that and some other important things that's happened since we last met in May that we did have the uh Davie County Early College High School graduation where we had 28 students to graduate. Um since our last meeting, we've officially closed out on the Cherry Street property and as a matter of fact, I got a letter today and I'll make it available for all of you that's basically from the Davie County Museum Incorporated
006thanking the school system for um doing what we could to keep the process going and that they are looking forward to using this as a teaching uh facility as well as for the community to use and learn about Davie County. So, thank you very much for that. Um scholarship night, some of you were able to attend. Um the Davie Community Foundation >> [clears throat] >> pardon me gave out uh $339,500 worth of scholarships a couple nights later at the auditorium at the high school nearly $1.3 million in high school scholar were in college scholarships were given out. Uh and so uh you obviously feel proud when when we got so many strong academic students that are earning these scholarships and we're very proud of them. In addition, last Thursday night in this very room, we
007uh honored 34 retirees that's going to be leaving our school system who had contributed 829 year years of service. So, that's a lot of experience that's going to be leaving us and we're very appreciative of what they have done over their career. Are there any other announcements of any dates that you need to share? Any of you? If not, we'll move on in in the agenda with Dr. Belcher, our superintendent's report. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, Madam Vice Chair, and the board. I won't repeat a lot of the information that the chairman has shared with you. A lot to be proud of this time of year. It's a great time for our students and our children and families, and I know that they are really excited for summer. So, I will be quite brief in
008my comments so we can get to making some recommend some recognitions. I do want to to point out a couple some graduation stats. Starting with the early college and those 28 graduates, 61% have also earned their Associate in Arts degree. 54% do plan to go on to a four-year university, and another 25% plan to continue post-secondary education at DCCC. And then another 18% will be entering directly into the workforce. So, a lot to be proud of with our early college. And then when we're looking at the 416 graduates that we'll celebrate Saturday from Davie High, 83% of them plan to enroll at a four-year university or community college up on graduation. Another 15% plan to go directly into the workforce. Kudos to our CTE and some of our skills, particularly training and certifications cuz 400
009516 of that that senior class have earned certificates that prepare them for the workforce. And then 2.5% do plan to enlist in the armed services. And a special shout-out to Wyatt Smith, who is already at basic training with the army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. So, wanted to recognize him and all of those that are going on to those three E's to either enroll, employ, or enlist up on graduation. Congratulations to that class. We're excited to celebrate with them on Saturday. Also, I do want to take a moment and just say thank you to our students that took a test this week. There's a thing called the end of grade test and an end of course test. It's kind of a rite of passage as you go through public schools and a couple of things that
010you might not be aware of. We will have administered by the end of this week over nearly 35,000 tests across the district. Another 8,500 will be taking place just at the high school throughout this week and then that takes around 300 test administrators and another 142 proctors to make that possible. Nearly 300 hours of training and planning and coordinating that testing schedule takes place in preparation for that. So, congratulations to our students that have completed those tests and for a job well done. Thank you to our staff and to our accountability depart- department, Michael Pruitt, who coordinates a lot of that work at the district level to get that in place all across our district. It doesn't happen by accident. It takes a lot of work. We appreciate everybody's part in making that happen. I
011will say that in of course, we have a lot of recognitions. Had a real strong closeout to the spring sports season. We had some record breakers and some state champions. We had lacrosse win as deep as they've ever went with the playoffs. So, a lot of things to celebrate with our spring sports. And then I will also those final days walking the the classrooms and the hallways and visiting some of our campuses, it was just really exciting to see that the momentum hasn't faded from the first weeks of school. As we get to the end, everybody's still working hard, still doing all of the the the hard work that makes for a successful school year. So, I certainly appreciate everybody's hard work throughout the school year, especially our students, and mom, dad, grandparents, it takes
012an army to get them there every day, to keep after them day after day. We appreciate you. We hear you and recognize you as well in the hard work that you do. So, thank you for that. We will be continuing some stuff over the summer, though. We do have some summer programs taking place. Child nutrition or our school nutrition will be providing meals for students that need those. All that information is available on our web page. So, if you need to have access to some of that information, certainly you can go to our web page to learn more about the summer opportunities, as well. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate, as always, the opportunities to highlight some things over the last month. >> Thank you. Any questions for our superintendent? If not, we'll continue on with the
013uh agenda, and the next part is the recognitions, which many of you are probably here for. And we will begin [clears throat] by recognizing one of our central staff members, Dr. Belcher. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am honored to be able to recognize Ms. Jennifer Custer. So, Jennifer, I know you're out here in this sea of people somewhere. So, if you could come up here, make your way. >> [applause] [applause] >> Ms. Custer is our EC director and court and director of student services, and after 31 and a half years of service to Davie County Schools, she has announced her retirement. Um I certainly wanted to share a few words that um she has shared with me, and a couple of important things. One of the the things that when I asked Ms. Custer,
014you know, reflect on these last 31 and a half years, and you know, she said that she never dreamed she would go into administration. That she worked at summer camp when she was 16 years old for students with special needs, and that's when she knew that she was going to be a teacher. She never that she would be the mom of two special education teachers. Never dreamed that she would be a district administrator. She loved being a middle school principal. Um and then she made the jump up here to the district level. Uh she was told that she would never go to college and yet she went on and not only went to college, got a master's degree and has had a very successful tenure as a leader in our district. She kept working hard,
015had teachers that believed in her and did it and did it all um while being very active as a mom and um working with her her farm and lots of things that was going on within her her personal life as well. Never dreamed that she would laugh and cry with middle school uh students and experience so many moments of laughter, joy, and tears over the years. So, a lot of dreams and a lot of progress with our EC department while Jennifer was was at the helm. I will say um probably Sally Rouser, who was a cooperating teacher from 1994. And I went in and pulled your original application, Jennifer. >> [laughter] >> And here >> duplicated and stuff. >> I think it it looks like it was on a typewriter. I don't know, but but
016she had this to say all those years ago. Jennifer has been working in our classroom since August. She has done an excellent job. She really has an enthusiasm for teaching. She uses all the resources that are available to her and has a special ability in the way that she is able to communicate her ideas. She certainly has leadership ability and shows a special understanding for managing children. I do feel that whoever employs Jennifer will be very fortunate. And that was back home at Davie County Schools. So, thank you, Jennifer, for 31 and a half years. >> [applause] [applause] >> Okay, we will continue on with our recognitions. Where is Ms. Jarvis? When you students and and staff after they come you come up, you've got instructions about reading their names and so forth. You'll find
017Mrs. Jarvis so we can get a group photo for our um outside, okay? Just Just look for her. She'll be waving and and after the first group goes, everybody will start to understand the the procedure. So, we will begin with the Battle of the Books. Ms. Etter Brandy Cunningham and John Marshall >> Good afternoon and thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh board members, superintendent, and guests. Um today I am honored to recognize some of the students who competed in this year's Elementary Battle of the Books competition. On April 23rd, eight elementary school teams gathered at Davie County High School for an evening of competition. Teams competed head-to-head in four competition rooms across seven rounds with 12 questions for each round. Demonstrating not only their reading comprehension, but also their teamwork. Throughout the school year, these students
018read and studied 10 selected books representing a variety of genres, authors, perspectives, and experiences. Their commitment to reading and preparation was evident throughout the competition. We appreciate everyone who contributed their time and talents to provide this opportunity for our students. It is now my pleasure to recognize this year's top two finishers. First from Cornatzer Elementary School. >> Cool me. >> Um >> Cool me. >> Oh, nope. Second place. First second place from Cornatzer. This team was made up entirely of fourth grade students >> [crying] >> who earned an impressive second place finish. Their achievement speaks to their hard work, preparation, and love of reading, and we are super excited to see what they do as fifth graders. Angelina, will you read off your Come up. >> So I have Caitlin Wooten. >> Woo! >> [applause]
019>> Do I read something? And we have four members that are not here. Amelia Herrera, Hannah Carrs, Rowan May, and River Walters. >> Thank you, Angelina. >> [applause] >> Our first place team comes from Cool me Elementary. >> Woo! >> [cheering] [applause] >> Um This year's championship is special for Cool me cuz this is a milestone championship. It is the first time Cool me Elementary School has captured the Elementary Battle of the Books title. Their >> [applause] >> Their dedication and teamwork and knowledge of the selected books led them to an outstanding performance throughout the competition. So at this time, I will turn it over to Brandy Honeycutt to say just a couple words and introduce her team. >> I'm so proud of these ladies. They have worked so hard all year, and they deserve
020every bit of recognition they get. Um the first certificate, Gracie Freeman. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Michaela Jackson. >> [applause] >> Chloe Hernandez Rodriguez. >> [applause] >> Emerson Stokes. And Ava Lane Whitaker. >> [cheering] >> Congratulations, ladies. >> [applause] >> Next, the Weekly Weekly Talon. Uh Principal Stone. >> [crying] >> Uh thank you, Chairman Potts. Uh board members, Superintendent Belcher, and uh all y'all. Um >> [clears throat] >> Today, it's my privilege to acknowledge the excellent work uh completed by the 2025-2026 editorial board for the Weekly Talon, which is Davie High's official student news source. Uh the students here today have achieved a great honor uh as they're the first to have led our publication to become a SNO Site of Distinction. SNO is Student Newspapers Online. They provide online services for school newspapers uh around
021the country and even internationally. And their distinction program involves student journalists completing a variety of tasks uh that challenge them to produce truly high-quality content, if I do say so myself. Uh from long-form features, broadcast stories, podcasts, and more, uh this team has tackled them all, and they are more than deserving of this recognition. Uh before I acknowledge these guys, I'm going to give a quick shout-out to Rachel Quants, who I just saw when she came in here, too. It's like she was on one of the first uh editorial staffs, and I saw her pop in here. All right. So, uh I have a few names to read. We'll hold applause to the end. Uh so, being honored tonight are the following members of the editorial board: Natalie Quants, Silas Johnson, Olivia Rearshad, Hayden Smith,
022Carden Stroud, Riley McNeal, Riley McNeal, Andrea Keller, and our editors in chief, Grace Carroll and Lila Moore. Please give a hand for them. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Next will be the North Day uh the SkillsUSA starting with North Davie. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, board members, Dr. Belcher. Um my name is Seth James, and I'm one of the advisors at the high school. I just wanted to jump up here real quick and kind of explain to you guys what SkillsUSA is. Um we have three middle schools. All three middle schools finally have a SkillsUSA chapter, which is kudos to you guys as uh advisors. We really appreciate you jumping on board uh and sending us the best and brightest that you have when they get to the high school. But, SkillsUSA is a
023partnership of students, teachers, and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. Um we have quite a few names to uh present. They're I think there's over 130 different contests that we can compete in with SkillsUSA. Uh first up is um North Davie Middle School, Miss Carrie Trivett. Uh one thing if you'll hold the applause until we get done reading the names. Um thank you. >> Good evening. Good evening, board, Dr. Boucher. Uh my name is Carrie Trivette, and I'm the family and consumer science teacher at North Davie Middle. I'm also one of the advisors of our SkillsUSA team. This team met and worked throughout the year uh to get ready for the convention in Greensboro. Uh they competed in various competitions, and at this time I'd like to recognize the winners of
024these competitions. And guys, will you come up here? Just stand over here. We'll hold our applause, and then I'll give you your certificates out in the hallway. Okay, first place for additive manufacturing. This was a team of boys, Mason Yang and James Wallner. >> [applause] >> First place. First place in Creed, Ella Reynolds. >> [applause] >> First place in debate. This was a team, Olivia Stanley and Harper Welch. >> [applause] >> First place in spelling, Peyton Watts. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> Second place in extemporaneous speaking, Caylen Corrin Navarrete. >> [applause] >> Second place in job skill demonstration, Alana Brooks. >> [applause] >> Third place in job skill demonstration, Ava Hamilton. >> [applause] >> Fourth place in job skill demonstration, Brylie Link. >> [applause] >> Fifth place in pin design, Clara Elmore. And this is
025a team of three that got fifth place in promotional bulletin board. It's Nicole Bias, Rue Hunter, and Skyler Monaco. >> [applause] >> Thank you for sharing in their success. >> [applause] [applause] >> And South Davie Middle School, Tracy Carter will be our next presenter. >> I'm Tracy Carter. I'm the family consumer science teacher at South Davie Middle for a couple more days at least. I have with me Miss Rachel Quants who is our business teacher and has stepped in and she and I have spent the year figuring out SkillsUSA and we've we've learned just as much if not more than the kids have. Our first year we had 13 members enrolled. We took eight to state conference and have three award winners to recognize tonight. Unfortunately, Macy O'Brien with her third place promotional skills poster
026is not with us I don't think unless she just came in. Um we do have Miss um Cora Jane McDaniel with her fifth place with the middle school promotional poster contest. >> [applause] >> And Sophia say your name for me. Pinawa? I'm not good with that. I apologize. Fourth place public speaking for the SkillsUSA pledge. So she had to learn a new pledge and say it with meaning and um introduce herself to the judges and such. Thank you all for learning with us this school year. >> [applause] >> William Ellis Middle School, Angela Watson. >> Um all Skills members, y'all can come on up here. Uh those of you that made it, if you will, come stand with me and Mr. Gibbons. Thank you all for having us here um and allowing us to recognize
027our uh students. Um while our CTE courses teach hands-on technical skills, SkillsUSA does take it a step further by helping develop essential workplace and personal skills like teamwork, leadership, and communication. It ensures our middle schoolers are not just book smart, but they're also career ready. And at the recent SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference, students from across the state did compete in intense industry-vetted challenges. Competing at state level takes immense courage and skill, especially for middle schoolers. Please join us in celebrating our incredible students who all placed in the top five in the state. Um we have Carter James and Garrison Hewitt. They competed and placed third in robotics urban search and rescue. Daphne Madreno, Brylie Massey, and Kate Netherland. They placed third in chapter display. Nevin Mab, Landon Murphy, and Will Weaver all placed third for
028promotional bulletin board. Elizabeth Phillips, Nora Nichols, and Katie Green placed second for their chapter display. Sophia Plemmons placed second with her prepared poster. And then we had one first place team in the team engineering challenge. Alex Harada, Liam Shafer, and Oliver Hoyle all placed first. Please help me in congratulating these students. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right. Um, we're going to recognize >> [clears throat] >> we have a pretty good size list, too. So, anybody from the high school that's here, any students, go ahead and make your way up here. Um, we have Jackson Barrett uh placed first in automotive beginner. Addy James second place in promotional bulletin board. Zoe Cannon second place promotional bulletin board. Kylie Mims second place promotional bulletin board. It was a team of three. We have Addy, Zoe, and Kylie
029again, all a team of three placing second for Skills Project Showcase Engineering. We have Lily Trotter third place for early childhood education. Bryson Lance placed first place uh Skills Project Showcase Engineering with his teammate A.J. Sweet first place Skills Project Showcase Engineering. We got everybody here? Awesome. Thank you. two special awards for the first time in Davie County's SkillsUSA chapter history. This is my 16th year being here. We've had a chapter now for about 15 years, a little over 15 years. I competed in what was SkillsUSA beforehand and I don't ever remember us having these particular individuals, but this year we had two two individuals that worked super hard to become our first regional officer team. Um the first one is Addison James. She was our regional president for 25-26. And then we have Mr.
030Nicholas Sutcliffe. He was our regional vice president for 25-26. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> Next we have the North Carolina Patriots Pen Essay Contest. >> Good afternoon. My name is Stephanie O'Brien. I teach eighth grade language arts and social studies at North Davie. Um so each year there are eighth grade students across the country that participate in the Patriots Pen Essay sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This year's prompt asked students, "How are you showing patriotism and support for our country?" So this year North Davie's Ella Reynolds she distinguished herself among hundreds of student writers. Her essay earned first place in Davie County, second place among middle school students in the VFW District 9, which includes 10 different counties, and third place among middle school students in the state of North Carolina. So
031please join me in congratulating Ella Reynolds on her outstanding accomplishment. >> [applause] >> Go right ahead. >> Where is that Where is Mandy? >> Good evening, Dr. Belcher, board members, and guests. Tonight is my honor to recognize someone who's often well too quiet in my school. Um but our band director, Ms. Mandy James, who was recently selected by her peers as the Northwest Region's Award of Excellence recipient. Each year band directors across our region select one bright band director to be the award of um the award of excellence uh recipient and she represents everything this award stands for. It's no surprise under her leadership 43% of our student body is in band and over half of our sixth graders are in band. The level of engagement of her program speaks volumes about the environment that
032she creates. I love going into her classroom. I don't know how she does what she does. I'm a math teacher. I can teach like subtract three from both sides, solve it. Every instrument they they don't they walk in and not know how to play it and for 40 she she teaches seven 42-minute classes back to back to back to back to back. in band. Um and when I walk in, she's got a different instrument playing and directing students and listening and giving feedback and letting them self-assess and stuff. It is 42 minutes of non-stop but they are on it and she inspires them. They go home and they watch videos and they look up things and they they keep teaching themselves. And that just doesn't happen. It happens because of the work and care you
033put into it. Her reach goes beyond Ellis in our district. She often asks if she can go support fellow band members to be at their concert and even at their MPA. Offers her encouragement and expertise to them. Across the state, she's deeply connected with her colleagues, often getting clinicians to come in and work with our band students. She is a collaborator, resource, and a leader in not just the Ellis community, but the broader music education. Ms. James, I'm glad your peers saw your excellence. We see it every day and most importantly, our students feel it. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Now the Tri-County athletic recognition >> our [clears throat] track students to come up here. Our track coach, Sarah Hardwick, is going to recognize these students. I'll hand out your certificates. >> Hi, everyone. Thanks
034for having us tonight. It is actually pretty remarkable what these three student athletes have achieved. This award is Tri-County in our conference and it just so happens that of the four awards, three of them came not only from our county, but from our school. All three of these students have broken school records this year and set conference records and I could not be more proud of all of them. They're all amazing athletes, amazing students, and great people. They've made my job easy and I've absolutely loved every second. Tori Patton is the Tri-County Most Outstanding Female Field Athlete. She won in triple jump and came in second in long jump. >> [applause] >> Charlotte Penry is Tri-County Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete. She was undefeated all season in the mile, 800, 400, and 4 by 400.
035And um will be going to national Adidas Nationals this month. >> [applause] [applause] >> Oliver Hoyle is our Tri-County Most Outstanding Male Field Athlete in Discus, set a conference record and school record, and will also be joining Charlotte at Adidas Outdoor Nationals in June. >> [applause] >> Thanks, guys. >> Track coach is back here just smiling so big, can't wait to get those kids. >> [laughter] >> Next to the North Carolina Career Development Association Poetry and Art Contest, Angela Watson will be making that presentation. >> And if our students, the LS students that are present, if y'all want to come up, I know Haley Ray is here. I don't know if anybody else was able to make Alexia. Awesome. Okay. Thank you again for, um, allowing us to acknowledge these students and their hard work.
036Um, our students participated in the National Career Development Association's Poetry and Art Contest this year. It happens during Career Development Month. Students in my classroom and others research various career paths with a specific focus on the unique job market and industries right here in Davie County. Inspired by this year's national theme, The Evolution of Work, Careers in the Past, Present, and Future, students created original artwork and poetry reflecting on how the workforce has changed over time, and where it might lead them in the future. This contest starts at the state level, but the stakes are high. Students who place at the state level earn the incredible opportunity to move on and compete against talent across our entire nation. Um our school had um five students place at the state level, and we had one student
037that placed at the national level. Um I have um Madison Tucker who placed second in the art one category. I had Alexia Pogue who placed third in the art one category, which would have been hand-drawn art. I had um in art two category, which would be digitally created, um Haley Ray placed first, Jordan Adams placed second, and Cameron Agnoski placed third in that category, all at the state level. Haley Ray went on to She placed first at the state level. She went on and placed second nationally in her category. So, please join me in congratulating these students and their hard work. >> [applause] >> Our next presenters from Davie County High School, Alise Wooldridge and Hannah Hocutt. >> Good afternoon. Um I'm the career development coordinator at Davie County High School, and we also had
038students that participated in the North Carolina uh career development association's contest, as well. I have Hannah Hocutt with me. She is our Adobe Academy teacher, and she's going to present the uh certificates to her students. >> I am so proud of my students for competing in this contest. Um while this is a state-level contest, we took home all three top places for this contest. So, I'm very proud of our Davie High students. Third place for art category two in the senior grades is Isaac Shuping. Second place for art category two in senior grades is Hayden Jamber. And first place for art category two in the senior grades is Tariq Bruce. Give him a round of applause. >> [applause] >> Mr. Rose, you can continue on with the completion of nursing and teaching pre-apprenticeships. >> So,
039we were very excited this semester to add three additional pre-apprenticeships to our program at Davie County High School. We were able to partner with Trinity Elms to add a uh nursing apprenticeship, Mocksville Fire Department and a fire pre-apprenticeship, and then we um with our teaching as a profession course, we were able to create a pre-apprenticeship for Davie County Schools. Uh so, we're going to recognize our nursing students and our teaching uh students tonight. Our fire student is presenting to the Mocksville the town of Mocksville tonight. So, he's going to be recognized later in um August at a board meeting. So, I'll start with our pre-apprentices uh pre-apprentices for our nursing. We have um some representation from Trinity Elms where they were um doing completing their hours. Uh Susie McCoy um is the director there. Um
040and then we also have Linda Robinson from Apprenticeship North Carolina here as well. Uh our first one is Danielle Adame Herrera. Then I have Ruby Benitez Toriblanca. And I will say some of our pre-apprentices had to work tonight, so I have Cameron Bullard and then Stacy Hinds. Madison McMaster Savannah Stanley Maggie Smith Emily Watts and then Olivia Williams. If you'll give our nursing students a round of applause. >> [applause] >> And then we will also recognize our teaching students and I have Miss Castine Steinauer that will recognize her students. >> So I had 10 students who completed their internship hours or field experience and pre-apprenticeship program at our elementary and middle schools. So we'll just call them up. First is Katie Beaver who was at South Davie. Second is Chesney Keaton who is at William
041R. Davie. Next is Alyssa Marion who is at North Davie Middle School. Eloise Tool who is at Pine Brook Elementary School. Grace Ratledge who is also at Pine Brook. Alice Rucker who is at Mocksville Elementary School. Alva Self who is at Pine Brook Elementary School. Dallas Sims he's not here with us tonight. He was at South Davie Middle School. Ada Wallace at William R. Davie. And Luke Wayne who was at William Ellis Middle School. I am excited to say that several of these students upon finishing the program and reading their reflections at the end of the semester, will hopefully plan on continuing with the steps to continue and become teachers. And we hope to see them back in Davie County schools later on. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> If I could have Annelise. I knew I
042saw you. Good evening again. Tonight I am here this time I'm here to celebrate Annelise Stefan. So this year in February we were our Junior Beta Club had been practicing in January and December getting ready for convention and then we had the two weeks of snow and ice. And so their convention was moved virtually. Annelise and many other students overcame that hurdle and still competed their competitions virtually and I am proud to recognize Annelise for placing fifth in on-site painting which qualified her for nationals. So out of all of our students that that participated she is our only one to qualify for nationals. So congratulations. >> [applause] >> Next we have our athletic director, Ben Bailey, from Davie County High School Athletic Department. >> Good afternoon, Dr. Belcher, Chairman Potts, and other members of the
043board. Thank you for having us here tonight. Allow me to come in here and recognize a few of our spring sport athletes and their accomplishments and making Davie County High School proud. The first athlete I would like to recognize is Brandon Forrest. Brandon is a member of the baseball team and was selected as the North Piedmont Conference Player of the Year by other league coaches. Brandon finished the season with an overall 448 batting average, four home runs, and 31 RBIs batted in. In conference play, he bettered those numbers with a 551 average and 14 RBIs over conference, which led both of those categories in our conference. He had outstanding field play as well and that goes to show you just how good of an athlete he is on the baseball field. So, help us congratulate
044Brandon Forrest. >> [applause] [applause] >> The next athlete I would like to recognize is Jack Peshota. Jack is a member of the men's lacrosse team at Davie County High School and was selected as the conference player of the year by other league coaches. Jack just racked up an amazing career at Davie County High School by setting many school and state records. For the year, Jack finished with 123 goals, which was first in North Carolina and second nationally. 81 assists, first in North Carolina and fourth nationally, and 204 total points, first in North Carolina and first nationally. For his career, Jack finished with 347 goals, which was a North Carolina record, 239 assists, ranking sixth all time in North Carolina and 586 total points, which was a North Carolina record and ranks 11th nationally of all
045time. Jack has signed to play lacrosse in college at VMI. Help us congratulate Jack. >> [applause] >> The next team I would like to recognize is the men's tennis team. The men's tennis team, which is coached by head coach Shane Nixon and assistant coach Terry Eanes, just finished one of the best seasons in Davie High history. The men's tennis team came into the season only having won one playoff match in in ever, but uh this year they won two playoff matches and reached the Elite Eight in the dual team. They finished the year with an impressive 15 and three overall record and two of those losses having come to the eventual state champion in Grimsley. This was only the fourth time ever that the team uh men's team had won 15 plus matches in a
046season. They were undefeated in conference play and were the MPC regular season conference champions. And on April 16th, they competed at the MPC conference tournament and at the end of the day, they walked away with the MPC conference tournament championship as well. Help congratulate coach Nixon and coach Eanes and the entire men's men's tennis team on a fantastic season. >> [applause] >> The next two athletes I would recognize are from the track and field team, Clara Phelps and AJ Sweet. Both are pole vaulters on the team and both have just finished off impressive careers and ended up as school record holders. Both competed in the 7A Midwest Regional coming up just short of winning, but as I talked with coach Raisbeck, we said and he said, "It's survive and advance and see what happens at
047the state meet." Well, at the state meet, they both walked away as the 7A NCHSAA state champion in pole vault. Clara finished the season as conference champion, regional placer, and state champion. She currently ranks 37th in the US and is 6 in away from cracking the top 10. She will attend UNC Wilmington next year where she will continue her track and field career. AJ was also the conference champion, regional placer, and state champion. AJ will attend UNC Charlotte next year where he will continue his track and field career. We believe this is the first time in the state history that the men's and women's state champion in pole vault has come from the same school in the same year. Please help me congratulate both Clara and AJ on an outstanding season. >> [applause] >> Thank
048you. I don't remember ever having so many players of the year throughout the whole year that we've had this year and I know some of you like like I have followed Davie County High School athletics for a long, long time, but we had two sophomores that were players of the year as and maybe more than two that I know of and that's just unheard of. So, we're very grateful. Moving on to in the agenda, the next portion is our consent agenda. You've received a copy of of the um supporting documents with these eight items. And we need a motion to approve as presented. >> Chairman Potts, I've given you guys a break from having an addendum to the personnel report for the last few months, but tonight we have an important addendum that's at your
049desk. [clears throat] So, just want to remind folks that as you approve the consent agenda, it does include this addendum. >> Okay. Thank you very much, Ms. Hayes. Is there a motion to approve these as presented for the consent agenda? Stephanie Stephanie approve makes a motion. Mr. Jones makes the second. Are there any questions to any of the staff or other people regarding the consent agenda? Not, I'll need to show your hands. Motion carries. >> Chairman Potts, I will interrupt once more. >> Please do. >> That addendum had some important names um that we need to recognize tonight in the audience. So, I'm going to start by asking Taylor Vestal to stand up. I think she has some family members with her husband Joseph um and children Jack and Joanna. Did they slip out? Oh,
050needed a restroom break. I understand it's a long meeting. All right, Taylor um has been named as our new director of exceptional children's programs. And she comes to us from Yadkin County, where she has most recently served as EC coordinator and student services coordinator. Um after Taylor earned her bachelor's degree from Catawba College, she actually began her career as an EC teacher and eventually EC department chair, I think at Star Mount High School, if I remember correctly. Um she also earned a Master of Executive Leadership from Gardner-Webb, and she has served as an EC compliance specialist as well as EC program specialist. 14 years of EC expertise and experience. Um Taylor is passionate about ensuring students have the support and the opportunities necessary to develop academically, socially, and independently for whatever they are planning um
051as far as post-secondary goals. She enjoys spending time with her family, that hopefully will return in a few moments you can see them. Um and they are actively involved in their church as well as on the ball field. So, welcome Taylor and congratulations. >> And to her family. >> [applause] >> Okay, recognition number two. At William R. Davie Elementary, Ms. Tracy Welch will be moving from assistant principal to principal. So, please stand, Tracy. >> [cheering] [applause] >> With her tonight, she has her husband Jimmy who also works in the school system, their daughters Camden and Harper who are students here, her parents, and also a special fellow um Xavier who's in the audience supporting her. Um Tracy earned her bachelor's degree from Appalachian and began her teaching career at Pine Brook Elementary School. And first
052at first and second? That's what I was thinking. Um she later earned her master's in elementary ed from Winston-Salem State and she has served as an instructional coach at Mocksville Elementary before moving into administration. She is currently finishing her doctorate through High Point University. So, she's quite a busy lady. So, we'll call her Dr. Welch a little bit later. Um Tracy prioritizes relationships and she is excited to take on this role. She looks forward to supporting and celebrating the hard work, growth, and success of the children and educators who make the William R. our community so special. Um she also enjoys spending time with her family, going to church, exercising, and she said drinking lots of coffee, and you need it. So, congratulations, Tracy. >> [applause] >> Now, with Tracy moving into the principalship role
053at William R. Davie, Joey Davis will be moving into the assistant principal role. [cheering] >> [applause] >> Joey earned his bachelor's and his master's in teaching from Liberty University, and he began his teaching career at Tyro Middle, I believe in Davidson County. We won't hold that against you, um, before returning to Davie to teach at the Early College High School, where he took on lots and lots of leadership roles. Um, he went through a rigorous selection process as a North Carolina Principal Fellow through the PEERS program and UNCG, and he's completed a full-time year-long internship at Cool Spring Elementary with Angie Burgess. So, thanks to Angie for helping train him up. Um, Joey has several years of experience also working at the YMCA and at Cognition Davie. Joey says that he is grateful for the
054opportunity to give back to the community that's helped shape him. Um, William R. Davie was his home elementary school, and he looks forward to working with the amazing staff and student body at William R. And his wife, Haley, is here with him, and I'm sure that the two little ones and the grandparents or Joey's parents for watching the live stream at home cuz they definitely could not get through this meeting. Congratulations, Joey. >> [applause] >> Okay, two more. Katherine Shepherd. Also selected as a North Carolina Principal Fellow through the PEERS UNCG partnership, Katherine Shepherd will be an assistant principal at Davie County High School this coming school year. >> [applause] >> Katherine earned her bachelor's from Appalachian State before returning to Davie to start her career as a teacher at Cool Meadow Elementary School. As
055she finished her master's in school administration, she served as a full-time year-long intern at William Ellis Middle School with Valerie Feaser. So, thanks to Valerie for helping train her up, as well as Caroline. Katherine has embraced leadership roles both as a classroom teacher and as an intern, and that is from instruction to discipline and everything in between. Katherine is excited to continue building relationships with students, staff, and families at Davie High and to support the great things that are already happening there. She is really passionate about building a positive school culture where students feel supported, connected, and encouraged to grow, and we know she will be successful. Outside of school, she loves spending time with her husband Jason, who's here with her tonight. And she enjoys staying active, traveling, reading, and finding a good coffee
056shop. So, she might do that with Tracy. I think the key theme is when you move into administration, you better find your source of caffeine, whether it's coffee or a Dr. Pepper for me. All right, last and certainly but not least, where is Mary Foster in the house? There she is. Finally, as part of the recommendations, Mary Foster, principal at Central Davie Academy, will be taking on the coordination of student services. Recently, Mary has taken on student safety, which is closely related, and she has done a fabulous job with that. Um as a graduate of Wake Forest University and UNCG, Mary started her career um in Davie County in 2009. She actually started in 2000 2000 2002. 2000. Okay. Started her career in 2000 before before into as a teacher before moving into administration. Uh
057but here in Davie she has been at Shady Grove, Ellis, North Davie, Mocksville Elementary, and now Central Davie. Um and in these positions I will say that she has certainly seen the critical roles that support personnel play in ensuring student success. So she looks forward to working with our counselors, our social workers, and our school nurses. Congratulations and thank you for taking that on, Mary. >> [applause] >> Thank you and congratulations to each of these that have been appointed new positions. Next we will hear uh some committee and staff reports beginning with Mr. Pruitt regarding student fees. Oh, did I skip one? I'm sorry. Sorry, I turned the page too quickly, guys. My fault. Uh business items. George Selecky. >> Good evening, board members, Chairman Potts, Dr. Belcher, and staff. Uh the school nutrition department
058is requesting a modest price increase for students in pre-K through 12th grade effective the 2026-2027 school year. Uh the reasoning or rationale behind this request is pretty simple to me. Um everybody's been to the grocery store, everybody's seen the gas pumps. Our food and supply costs remain elevated due to inflation and just about every area of food from dairy to proteins and packaging. And at the same time most of our kitchen equipment is aging out or parts have become obsolete or increasingly expensive. So this proposed adjustment will help maintain program sustainability and preserve milk quality and variety. The the The proposed increases are as follows: pre-K from 240 to 250, K through fifth from 265 to 275, and sixth through 12th from 290 to $3. With that being said, I'll open it up for any
059questions. >> Okay, you've heard Mr. Selecky's uh proposal, his request. It's basically it's 10 cents per plate. >> 10 cents per plate. >> Increase over current year prices. Is there a motion to approve the request as presented? Mr. Jones makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Mr. Hunter makes the second. >> [snorts] >> Okay, questions for for Mr. Selecky. >> I just want to say something George. I No one likes paying higher prices. Put me at the top of the list. But I can tell that you really put a lot of thought in this, and I appreciate you keeping the cost down for our parents and our folks. >> Absolutely. >> appreciated. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? If not, all in favor, show of hands. Motion carries 7-0. >> Thank you. Next, the
060preschool facility shared use, presented by Dr. Belcher. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair Board. We do have um as you know, have been working with the county commissioners and working on a shared use agreement with the county for the former Mud Pie space. And so, I have shared um a draft copy of that with you by email um for reference. Uh just a couple of points of emphasis with that agreement. Um that is set at a rate of $12,000 per year for rent of that facility space. That is for 3 years with the option to renew. The general maintenance and repairs and upkeep for the internal space, that falls upon the responsibility of us, the school system, then any exterior work, HVAC, parking lots, um anything exterior would fall to the county within that shared use
061agreement. That is still in draft form, so I am bringing to you just a a recommendation of approval of the agreement contingent upon final review by legal counsel for both the board and for the county commissioners so that we can get that in their hands for final review and approval. So that is my recommendation regarding the expansion of the pre-K facility. >> So is there a motion to approve Dr. Belcher's recommendation? Stephanie. With a second from Joe. Questions for Dr. Belcher. Now this is Is this for August 1 deadline? >> This would be McKenzie, I think our start date was >> This year. August 24th. >> Yeah. So it would actually start on July 1, but it would not start serving children until August 24th. I do want to point out as well that this
062is a and this will be up in the next item on the agenda as well, but for a 12-month operating calendar, different from the school system calendar, and it also has expanded hours as well. So that's part of that that that service that we would provide. And >> Staff, have we Are we prepared with staffing already? >> We will be. Okay. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Working on it. >> Staffing. >> Will we be prepared with staffing? McKenzie said we will be. >> Okay. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Any more questions? All in favor? Motion carries 7-0. Okay, next is the tuition structure. >> So, board members, and I do have McKenzie that can talk through a little bit more, but this gets into the first step was to find the facility.
063The second part is some of the operational parts of that with staff and different things. So, with that facility and the expansion, McKenzie's going to talk about about the tuition structure for that cuz it is a little bit different than what we have had with our current preschool offerings at CDA. >> So, you should have a sheet that looks like this, and it's color coded. This is probably very confusing and not very This is not a public-facing document. So, this is not what we share with families. Um and this is the tuition for the entire county. So, all of our different programs that have different budget funding and all this stuff, it's all compiled in this document. The only thing that is different for next year is the purple tier, and that's the Eagle's Nest,
064which is the name for the facility at the Brock. Um and like Dr. Belcher mentioned, it's a 12-month facility instead of 10. It will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We aren't going to close Um it has a different calendar. So, we won't be closed for 2 weeks for Christmas break, a week for spring break. Um and so, that is reflected in the in the increase in tuition that you see there. Serving children ages 1 and up, whereas at our other facilities, um primarily ages 3 and up. Um it does cost more to provide care for the younger children. The The ratios are reduced, so the staffing costs are higher. Um and the market rate is listed. So, like if you look at um all of the rates in purple are broken out monthly.
065It's also um advertised put weekly because in the early education field that is typically how people um advertise their rates as weekly. Um but the uh market rate is also listed below and we are either at or below the market rate for a five-star center in Davie County. Happy to answer any questions about the tuition. >> Market rate varies throughout the county. Is that correct? >> Mhm. No, the state sets the market rate for every all 100 counties and then it's divided by age and by star rating. So, there's a document online that has all the counties and then it has the ages on one side and then the star rating across. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Questions for McKenzie or Dr. Belcher, please? Okay, then we need a motion to approve the
066uh tuition structure as presented. The motion? Mr. Jones [clears throat] motions. There's a second? Stephanie seconds. Any questions for McKenzie or Dr. Belcher? All in favor of the fee structure? Motion carries 7-0. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Summer maintenance projects, Jeremy Whitaker. >> Good evening, Chairman Potts, board members, Superintendent Belcher, staff and guests. I get the honor of speaking of a couple of our bigger summer projects that we are going to do this summer. Davie County Schools, the first one is the LED lighting upgrade for Cooleemee Elementary School. Davie County Schools would like to purchase the materials and hire CW Electric for the LED lighting upgrade at Clemmons Chapel Elementary School during the summer of 2026. This will be the last of our elementary schools for the lighting upgrade. The board approved $145,000 in
067capital outlay budget on May 5th, 2026 for this project. You can see the bid tab for the different lighting prices from the vendors I've got prices from. Any questions on this part? No. Next is the the track. So, our our tracks at our schools are getting older and getting in bad shape. This summer, what we would like to do is resurface the track at Davie County High School and William Ellis Middle School. The board has also approved resurfacing of the track for Davie High School and William Ellis. After talking to a few of the different vendors in some surrounding counties, Davie County School would like to hire Geo Services for the two track projects this summer. And then you can see the the bid sheet on yet how it's broke down. And that process is
068going to take about 8 weeks, weather depending. And then we've got the irrigation project also going on at the high school that should start the Monday after graduation, this coming Monday, on the main football field. They're about to finish the practice field right now. So, any questions? >> So, did you see them able to work together as far as doing the irrigation and >> Yes. Yes, we're going to try. During the breakdown of the track, they can be going Zach Johnson can be going back and forth with the irrigation. When it comes time to actually put the adhesive down, they can't be out there. So, we're going I'm going to work with both of them on working out the time and to get that done not hold either one of them up. >> Yeah. Thank
069you. >> Did you share other bids >> for the track? >> Yeah. >> No, I've called a couple other companies and what I found is is really hard to get different other companies to do a track as far as painting the lines. So, it's tracks are very much of a detailed project and out of the three companies I called, this is the only bid that came back. But, I talked to some surrounding counties and they've used this same company and they were very highly recommended. >> Are we okay? Mr. Council board this one we just have one bid. >> So, we need two other bids? >> No. >> We have to try to >> We'll talk about what we'll talk about. You have to If you If you didn't get enough bids, you can't open
070>> Okay. Okay. >> I'm sorry. >> I I don't >> I would recommend tabling that till Yeah, table that till next meeting. >> I mean, if you could How about this? Just so you I I Are you on a time crunch? >> Yes. >> Yep. >> All right. So, why don't you authorize the superintendent to sign any appropriate contract that is received within the next month that's within your budget. >> That's within our budget as we've already established. >> Yeah. >> I'll be hearing Mr. Wilson's recommendation since we don't have three bids and it's over the the threshold required with wiring three bids. Her recommendation was that we have a motion to allow the superintendent to proceed. State your State what you you would how you would state the motion. >> I move to authorize
071the superintendent to enter into a contract subject to following appropriate bidding laws for the resurfacing of the whatever the uh >> Middle school >> two two two tracks >> Yeah, middle school two tracks. >> Right. >> Would somebody make that motion? >> I'll make that motion. >> I I don't I couldn't get an agenda. You had such a full group. They took all the agendas. >> Okay, we got a motion. Now we need a second before we discuss any more. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> We got a second from Ms. Helms. Okay, so once we just for clarification, if he gets some more bids >> So if he receives following bidding laws so if you're authorizing him if he follows the bidding laws to enter into a contract signed by the superintendent
072authorized. >> You good? >> Yes. >> Okay. All in favor I'm sorry, there's another Hold on. Michael has a question or comment. >> I do have one question. Um over past several years, it seemed like there's been a lot of water puddling on the sidelines of the Davie High football field. Like some of the drainage wasn't working like it should. Has that been looked into before we resurface this track? Clay may be able to answer this. >> We have gone around and dug out some of that because some of the sand from the irrigation and stuff has went into those. We have dug some of those out and I think the new irrigation is going to help with that because a lot of the puddling was from the heads not working appropriately. So, I hope
073this is going to fix multiple issues. >> Okay. I mean, I was just my my brain was going if we're going to resurface the track and some of that stuff needs to be piped off, now's the time to do it while the track if we're tearing up the track, now's the time to do it. That's all I was thinking about. >> Right. The two end zones in particular are where our issues were. Those were uh leaks from the heads that weren't uh popping up. They were leaking out right there. So, you know, the two end zones are what flooded the worst. And right there, the uh is it the long dri- long jump track that's is right there where it flooded um from that perspective. Is that what Is that answer your question? So, it
074has a whole lot to do with heads not working on the irrigation system. >> Okay. I'm in favor I'm sorry. I'm in favor of the motion as stated. Okay. Motion carries 7-0. Now, we'll move to committee and staff reports starting with Michael Pruitt regarding student fees. >> Afternoon, Chairman Potts Dr. Belcher members of the board. Um so, every year the the state of North Carolina requires that we discuss student fees that are going to be upcoming. We want to do that a little bit earlier this year so that parents had the maximum amount of time to get those ready. So, um if uh you guys should have a a packet with some of this information in it, but um for uh Davie County Schools, we basically have a couple of different fee structures. Uh one's
075going to be our mandated fees. Um that's going to be included in our student fees, which is a $20 fee. Um that can be waived for students with free and reduced lunch. Um we also have a technology fee that fee that was instituted a couple years ago of $25. So, those are our two district mandated fees. Anything else is going to be added above and beyond with our Here we go. So, you can see those district mandated fees. Everything else is going to be added above and beyond by the different schools. So, I've broken down our fee structures just to give you kind of an idea about what some of those common fees are. So, at our elementary schools, really the only common fee that is added in addition to the district mandated fees, um
076a couple of our schools do charge for car tags. Those car tags the fees that we are charging for those are between one and two dollars. You don't have to get those unless you are a car rider. Three of our schools do assess that fee. I did want to point out that our tags actually cost more than that. So, on Half Ridge those are about five dollars a piece. More expensive if you get the bigger ones with the the writing that you can put on there and stuff like that. So, our schools are actually taking a little bit of a loss on there and paying for that out of their own funds rather than charging and passing that along to our parents. So, I'm trying to be responsible stewards of their money. We also have
077secondary schools. We have a couple of common fees that are within those secondary range. Our band fees at our middle school and our high school, all of the middle schools do charge a $10 fee for students that are taking band. $30 at the high school for students that are taking that. That's to help offset some of the cost of running that program. I do also want to point out there that $10 and $30 is well below the state what the state is actually normally charging for those which is between $10 and $35. Some of them were well in addition to that. So, feel like that is a pretty comfortable fee structure for us. We do charge a $5 PE fee at the secondary level. That's middle school and high school for any student who is
078enrolled in PE. The other major common things were the PE uniforms, which we charge $8 $18 for the set or $9 for the shorts, $9 for the shirt. That is can be a one-time fee depending on how fast your child grows. So if they are about the same size in ninth grade that they were in sixth grade, then you're going to get a one-time use out of that. But most people do end up having to to buy one or two more as they're going through that. Outer Banks deposit was our only other common secondary fee that you'll see on the list that I've provided and that is grade eight for all of our students going to the Outer Banks. That is an optional fee for those students that want to do that and that ranges
079from $50 to $75 for the deposit and then they have to pay the bulk of the the payment later on. As we are continuing, we do have I did want to just share sort of the average fees of what a parent might be paying if they were if they had a child in in our school district. So elementary, the average fee structure or the average fee that would be charged there would be about $22.50. Middle school, the average total fees and that's if they they include the band fee if they're if they're in on the Outer Banks trip, that's going to be $101. And then our high school average is about $131 and that also does include things like if your student takes advantage of parking and if they take advantage of the uh the
080the band fees and those sort of things as well. So there's a kind of all in comes. It could be a little bit more, could be a little bit less, but those are about the averages for that. And at that time, I will open that up for any questions if you guys have any questions about our anticipated school fees for next year. Any questions? If none. Hearing none, we thank you. Thank you. If you would like to continue on with the uh testing plan, please. talked >> fees. That's everyone's favorite topic. Next topic in everyone's list when you're talking about favorites is always testing. Um so, we are finishing up with our testing season for this year. So, we thought it was appropriate to go ahead and talk about next year. Every 2 years um
081the board um has to be briefed on our local testing plan. Um so, this is our year to do that. Um we do have a couple of different Thank you. Um we do have four basic test plans or four basic testing structures we're looking at it. Um the first and the one that most people are aware of is going to be our state-mandated testing. Um in that you can see the different things that we include there from uh Read to Achieve in our elementary schools. Uh we do have terminal exams, that's our EOCs, our EOGs. Um and then of course our CTE proofs of learning. Um we have periodic exams that we do um give to our students and that would include things mainly at the high school level um such as the pre-ACT, the
082ACT, and then other college readiness exams um for our OCS and our ECS students. Um so, the other one would be student-specific exams. Those are exams that the state has targeted towards specific clientele within our schools. Um we give the WIDA screener for all new students who do not speak English as their primary language. Um and then we also give um the ACCESS to all of our multilingual learners. And then the WorkKeys assessment, which is to our grade 12 CTE concentrators. So, all everything that you see on there are things that the state has mandated um that we do on a yearly basis. Um there are also another sort of what I call quasi-state mandated tests. Um those are tests that the state doesn't come out and say you have to give these, but they
083say you have to give screeners. So, we have to decide what screener to give. So, those aren't ones that they come out and they say you have to take this test on this day, but they do say you have to give these tests so that you can inform your practice and and see where students are. And that includes things like um class and dibbles, which is RTA read to achieve alternative to the read to achieve test. We give math summative to our K through two students to see where they are in terms of their math proficiencies. We do have a couple of universal screeners, the cogat, which is an aptitude screener. We give that now starting this year in second grade and moving forward that will be second graders. This year we actually did test
084second and third grade as we wind up our AIG plan and go into a new plan. We are focused on second graders and then as needed after that so that we can catch our AIG students a little bit earlier going into their third grade year. And then of course we do opt into the North Carolina check-ins, which are practice tests for the EOGs and EOCs. Those tests allow our teachers and students to figure out where they are on different standards throughout the course of the year and they do actually inform EOGs and some of our EOG tested subjects. So the better you do on the check-ins, it changes the kind of questions that you're going to get on the EOGs. So again, while they're not state mandated, they're quasi state mandated. The next sort of
085things are would be our local option testing and you can see that above and beyond what the state really is wanting us to do, we don't choose to do a whole lot of extra testing for our students. So you can see in K through five ELA, three through five math, we do give screeners and test from I ready, IXL, easyCBM. And again, those are going to be to help teachers and students and parents figure out where they are in advance of the the final test that they're going to be taking. And then finally we have our federal and national testing program. Those are ones that the federal government either asked us to take part in or we take part in as part of a national program. The NAEP is a federal test that sort of
086gauges our students against students around the country and around the world in various subjects. Those are given on a rotational basis. Um, schools are chosen at random to give those tests. This year we did have one school chosen, um, Cornett School Elementary School. Um, next year um, it's supposed to be grade eight science. We have not heard yet if any of our schools have been chosen for that, but as soon as we do, we will of course make them aware um, that that is coming. Um, AP testing or advanced placement testing is an optional test that our students can opt in to take if they had taken an AP course and they want to get college credit for that course. Uh, we also give the pre-ACT as part of the National Merit Scholarship Program and
087that is free to um, free to our sophomores um, and other people can take it as well. Um, and of course for um, the ASVAB which is an optional test that we give every year um, for our JROTC and military um, for the preparedness job skills, those sort of things um, that fit where you you may fit if you want to go into the services. Um, giving you a small picture there. Don't squint too much. You have a copy of that in your packet. Um, but that is if you take all of our tests that we give and put them on a yearly basis, you could see sort of what all of those look like. Again, I will reference back to our state mandated tests versus our local option test and you'll see that uh,
088most of those are going to be state mandated or quasi-state mandated things that we we don't have to do, but we have to do. Um, I'm going to I've given you a couple of links and resources there. Um, you do have those in your packet as well. And with that being said, I will open that up for any questions that you may have about our testing plan for 2026-2027. >> If a student's in an AP course and they opt to not take the college credit, so they're opting not to take the test, do we require a teacher made test for those students? >> The teacher made test is required um, according to our exam exemption policy. So board policy mandates that at the high school level all in of course all all tests or all
089classes must administer a written end of course test. So they would have to take that no matter whether they take the AP test or not if they don't meet exam exemption requirements which is an A or B with less than eight absences. >> Okay, any other questions guys? If not, thank you sir. >> Thank you. >> And board members, excuse my interruption but I believe if the amount is correct that I saw on the little handwritten notation that you may be able to accept those bids as is. I'm just making sure your policy doesn't contradict that but the state law as Mr. Pruitt has has correctly stated is 500,000. It looks like those bids are under 500,000. >> Okay. >> So it may be a go already. I just need to make sure your policy
090Yeah. For the track. I just want to make sure that the policy doesn't contradict it. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I'm not giving you $500,000. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> That is a new threshold. I don't know how long it's been in effect but >> Okay. >> So we will come back to that in just a minute cuz we can we can vote on that tonight. But we're going to finish this committee and staff reports and then we'll come back. >> I don't think you do. You've already given the authority. >> We don't need to come back? >> No. You can't. >> If we don't need to unless somebody wants to discuss it further. If we're legally okay, we'll we'll ride on. Everybody okay? Okay. All right, then we'll hear from Dr. Belcher the William R.
091William Ellis fire update. Board member Board members, as you recall uh going on 4 weeks now um since we had the uh fire at Ellis, we'll give you an update on kind of where things are at. I would like to take a moment and just recognize our fire our fire marshal, Mr. Cameron Webb, who is with us today. So, thank you for being here. We appreciate the support that you and your team have provided, particularly that Mother's Day. Sorry it was interrupted. Um but appreciate all that y'all done to to help us get to this point with that inspection. With that said, I'm going to turn it over to Clay, who's going to share just some information about where we are at with things at Ellis. >> Good evening. As he said, Mother's Day uh
092May the 10th at about 3:45 um we got a phone call from Security Central um that the water pressure had dropped at Ellis Middle School. That's usually a dead giveaway that sprinklers probably gone off. Um and so, with that, we got a I think Jeremy, we got a phone call from Advance Fire that they were headed there. Um I think fire marshal, you may have called me as well. I don't remember. So, I say that to say, our partnership in the county with our first responders is second to none. Something happens, we find out about it, we know it. And so, within 15 minutes, the fire department was there. They taken a look taken a look at what had happened. Um and they came in water canisters, put the rest of the fire out. So,
093we're talking about probably 25, maybe 30 minutes tops from the moment we were notified to the time the fire was out. Um So, with that said, Jeremy uh shows up, Valerie shows up from a principal perspective to kind of assess what's going on. Um and then uh Genda, Heath, uh and Landon Potts, uh along with I think Carolyn Becker may have been there as well um shortly thereafter to start the process of trying to figure out what's going on. How do we get water cleaned up? Cuz you can imagine we had quite a bit of water, Uh soot and everything else. So that afternoon they continued trying to clean up. Fire Marshall showed showed up, took some time to try and understand what happened. Took some lights down as it as it appears that it
094was related to some of our stage lighting. And they took some of that down, collected that information to do a little bit more work to try and figure out and make sure kind of exactly what had happened. We had a table impacted. We had a computer that was impacted by it. Floor hole in the floor. And so there there was quite a bit of time around collecting evidence so that they could do their investigation. Once they finish their investigation and the sprinklers are activated, you have to have new sprinklers put in. So took us a little while to find somebody that was open on Mother's Day to be able to come out and do that. Twin City Sprinklers came out, prepared the two that had gone off so we could recharge the system be packing
095be compliant with our fire our fire requirements. In the process we had also reached out to Servepro. Then we come in and help us clean up, make sure that we had done all the media remediation we could do that day to kind of get started. They came in with equipment to to help us get started cleaning water up that afternoon. The next day the Fire Marshall's office called us and said hey we'd like to spend a little bit of time. So Keith, Jeremy, myself went by his office to take a look at kind of what was going on. He said this is what appears happened. And so again that partnership very quickly they jumped on it to figure out what was going on so that we could understand what it was. Their recommendation was if
096you've got any more of these lights I'd go get them. And so we we've since taken all those lights down. They're boxed up and should we should we have a need for anything else. They also asked for one that had not been burned up um and they took a look at that, took it apart to try and figure out exactly why that happened. Um and that was the recommendation when they took a look at it. Then on the 12th, we invited this group as well as the commissioners to come out and take a tour of the uh the building just to have an opportunity to see kind of what happened. We had some some that joined us um as we took a look at that. Um the fire marshal's office has not finished their investigation,
097but the the area is still under investigation from the insurance. Uh so they're they're due to be there Monday the 8th to take a look at kind of what's going on, collect what they need um in their process. Hopefully the stage will be released on Tuesday the 9th. Uh everything else has been has been released and we've been doing some work in cleaning up and and some demolition in that area. Um Like I said, we hope to have it on Tuesday, have everything released so that we can start our finish up everything we need to do. What we've determined so far that's required, uh we're going to have to have a new gym floor. We're going to have to have a new cafeteria floor. We're going to have to new have to have new stage
098curtains. Part of those were burnt. Um some can be cleaned, we'll have to have some replaced. Um there'll be extensive cleaning that needs to be done in the cafeteria, the stage, and the gym. Um that process um began this week um and uh we'll have to have new ceiling tiles in the cafeteria. Um and then students' personal items that were in the gym, we weren't sure exactly what was going to happen with them. We have since bagged them up and returned them to the students for them to take a look and understand kind of where they are um from their equipment their their personal items. Um Ms. Wilson has asked us to to give a vehicle for them to be able to file a claim if something was damaged, whatever, but we've inventoried what's in
099there, what were in those lockers, what was bagged up with their name on it, as we work through that. They'll have to be repairs to the stage as I said it's not been released yet. Hope to have it released so we don't know exactly what damage. We know the floor is going to have to come up. Ceiling tiles will have to be done. Insurance, I mean insulation will need to be replaced. There are few things that we're waiting on. The final fire marshal report. They're waiting on final damages, kind of an estimate on what the damages are so they can finish up their report. Our final insurance estimates of the damages and the repair cost. We've got some some of their estimates but getting a little closer on what it's going to be. The insurance
100investigation notes and release the actual site. And then we'll need a full estimate of kind of the stage repairs once it's released. Those are kind of the things that that that we need right now. Steps we've taken since the fire. We've removed all the lights. All three middle schools had these same stage lights. There were 66 of them between the three schools. There were also 20 bar lights and few um off-road trucks, you know, they got the straight bars. That that's the kind of light that was on there. There were 20 of those in those three schools and they've all been removed. They're boxed up so we have them if something else comes up. We've not discarded them. We'll need to assess what we've got to do to replace them because I mean our stages,
101our theaters are really crippled right now because we have no lights in there. So we'll need to figure out what that what that message is and how we move that forward because our art is still a program that we want to participate in so we'll need to make that assessment. We've also asked for a quote to put in smoke detectors in um in the area at Ellis where where they are, the stage and the gym. We didn't have to have them per per code. They weren't there as well as smoke detectors in the theater areas at North and South. Um in my conversation with the fire marshal, that smoke would have would have queued us much quicker than the than the sprinkler would have. And so we've got a quote to to put those in
102to assess what we need to do as well as look at other schools that we may need to to to do the same thing with. So we won't get in the same situation hopefully again. Um and then That's that's about my update. Are there any questions? I will say thank you to um I said Valerie was there. Um Carolyn was there, Gentry Heath, um Jeremy Whitaker. Ca- Do I Catherine Shepherd, thank you. You were there as well. I happen to be out of town, so I I was not there. What a day to be gone. >> [laughter] >> A lot of time on the phone, but you know how that goes. Um so thank you fire marshal's office, Advent fire, and then everybody that's been involved um since it happened. It's been a month. We
103We've had a lot going on in the last month to try and figure out what we need to do, how we move forward. >> And And you may have said how much of this work can be done this summer prior to school starting back. >> How much will be done? >> Yeah. >> My hope is that we will have the cafeteria finished as it stands right now. There's only a walkway into the cafeteria because the kitchen was still functional, the cafeteria part was not. So they went in and built a an enclosure to be able to go from the outside of the building into the kitchen to get their lunch and then go back to their classroom and eat. >> Yeah, that was pretty neat. >> What's that? >> That was pretty neat as fast
104as that thing went up. >> Yeah. >> I was I was amazed to walk through there. >> I don't think the cafeteria is going to be a problem. It It will be finished before school starts. Um the gym floor I will probably probably be um mid-July I think was the last thing we heard. Mid-July they'll start. That's a six or eight-week process to be able to get that floor in. So we will probably start the year without a gym floor in or without a finished gym floor there. Um the locker rooms, the laundry room, and everything is the last thing that they're going to clean just because kind of how we're making sure that we've got everything kind of staged out. And then the stage I I don't have any idea what the timing is
105going to be on the stage cuz it's not been released. They've done no no work in trying to figure out what's going to have to be done there. But it will be an overhaul of of that whole area because as you can imagine the smoke, the water, and everything else, everything in there is going to have to come out. So. >> Board, I'll add as well that you know, the million-dollar question is how how much is it damaged? What's the price tag on all of that? We don't know that yet. We're still working with Servpro who's doing the mitigation and some of the demolition. And then of course with our insurance adjuster and a consultant there that they're working with. So you've got multiple parties that are working through some of that that pricing and
106I was hoping we'd have a report or at least some idea of what those numbers would look like. Um seen some initial pricing but I don't want to share that just cuz I'm not sure how accurate that might be just yet. So as soon as I get that information, I'll be sure to pass that along as well so you can stay informed kind of where that's at. >> All right. >> I have a question. >> Yes, sir. >> Do you think we have adequate insurance to cover the cost? >> We do. I mean Jill's going through our policies as well. We had a we had a meeting with Servpro today and kind of talked through different pieces. I had a conversation with Zach that day about where we were and where I how things were
107going. The way our policy is written, it's not about building, it's a blanket policy for all of our buildings. Um and so we should have ample coverage. Now the question is whether we get nickel-and-dimed to death on >> It all depends on how they value your loss versus what replacement cost is. There's there's a lot of nuance in that. Luckily for you, Eastern Guilford gave me a great lesson in how to do this. So, um and several tornadoes in Guilford as well. But, there there's a lot of fine art to working through. As you know, if you've lost anything um that's covered by insurance. There's a lot of fine art to the details, like getting making sure kids are getting their materials back and and are restored. Lot Lots of details. >> So, as the
108policy is written, yes. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Other questions? Okay. Thank you so much. We appreciate all that everyone has done, starting with the principal and central office people. You It's no way to plan for it, you know, and to uh to to live a flexible life is necessary. And we thank you. Okay. Next on the um committee reports, Dr. Belcher, board attorney services. >> Before we get to that, I do have um the North Carolina state budget update, Mr. Chairman, as a staff report as well. As you know, um there has been a lot of conversation over the last year about the status of a state budget, and um we do have some understanding of a general framework from the state. They're still obviously right now a lot of the is in conference
109and committee working through some of the details. What we do know about the the framework for the state budget is that um there is an agreement for average teacher pay raises of 8%. Um there's a $1,000 bonus for teachers with more than 16 years of experience and $500 for those with fewer years of service. Early career teachers, um and I've shared in there as an attachment the conference teacher schedule, draft schedule, and you can see what that, um, how that salary schedule could play out just for teachers at this point. You can see it's kind of compressed. Um, early career teachers have the the most significant pay increase. Later career teachers, um, have a less or not as large pay increase based on that particular draft. Um, whether that will be what is actually passed
110in the budget, um, that that remains to be seen. Um, with that said, we do have, um, up to 17% um, for a pay increase for those early career teachers, and then it gets down to around 5.5% for those later, um, in their career. There's also an average, um, 3% state employees pay increase, um, as part of the initial framework. Those employees at the state level making less than $65,000 a year would receive a bonus of $1,750, and then a $1,000 bonus for those making more than that threshold. State retirees, they would receive a one-time 2.5% bonus. Um, details are underway to develop a comprehensive budget package. Um, we've heard that it might be released mid-June for final votes to the from the General Assembly. Naturally, I'll keep you informed on that as well. Um,
111see how that plays out. I will say we're still watching some some bill action. Um, there's a lot of a lot of conversation around screen time, a lot of conversation around social media. That seems to be where a lot of the bills right now are are focusing on. Um, we still see a lot of conversation around calendar flexibility, particularly local control of the calendar, so still watching that very carefully. I know that Julia Howard had previously um, presented a bill that provides some local flexibility for for Yadkin and Davie, so we're hoping that we'll get some traction again with calendar flexibility as we continue to look at um those start and end dates on the calendar. Um other than that, if there's any questions or comments related to the budget, I certainly um can entertain
112those at this time. >> Do you want to make any more comments about the House Bill 33? >> No, that was the um the House Bill 33 was the bill in reference to Julia Howard for yet local control um local flexibility with the calendar. Um we'll see how that plays out. There's a lot of those local bills. I think ideally um we'll just see some some leverage at the state level for all school systems across the state with calendar flexibility. >> Has Has the school board association sent any information out that might be updated that you're aware of? >> No, not yet. We're actually meeting next Friday. So, hopefully I'll have some more information after that. >> Okay. All right. Now we're ready for the 7.5 board attorney services, Dr. Belcher. >> Yes, sir. Thank
113you, Mr. Chair. Board members, um at the request of Mr. Cottle, I added this item on the agenda for discussion and further consideration of any potential action. And so, as you know, the board has utilized the services of Brooks Pierce for over a decade and have benefited from their expertise provided um by the firm. So, I've gathered some general information um about a from a variety of firms that provide legal services to school systems and shared that with you um by email for reference and for your review. I do think it's important to note that um your board attorney represents the board and not any individual on the board. They don't rep- represent single the the chair, the superintendent, or any individual, but instead the body as a whole. So, given that I don't think
114it's appropriate that from that I make a recommendation, but instead just provide the board with information and an opportunity for you as a board to determine what to do with that information. So, you can choose to request additional or more detailed information from any of the other firms. Happy to help coordinate that or provide that. Go through a bidding process if you so choose to or do nothing at all. That's certainly at the at the preference of the board. So, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to answer any questions or provide provide any additional information or on how to move forward, however the board feels appropriate. >> Okay. Board, is there any further comments regarding uh what Dr. Belcher has shared with us regarding the update on uh services for school attorney? >> Mr. Chairman, I would
115like to recommend that the board review the information provided by the superintendent. I'll also like to make a motion to accept applications for board council to be submitted to the chairman with a deadline of August the 3rd, 2026. With the board being responsible for reviewing, interviewing, and selection. >> Do you have that in writing? Seriously, do you have it in writing? >> Right here. >> Um that's a long motion to make sure we get it correct. >> Would you like for me to read it again? >> Please. >> I will make a motion to accept applications for board council to be submitted to the chairman of the board with a deadline of August the 3rd, 2026. The board will be responsible for reviewing, interviewing, and selection. >> Were you wanting to say something? >> No,
116I was just I was just confirming that Carol got it. Yeah. >> And so your motion is not that the boards have one selected by the third, but they will have the information by the third. Am I interpreting correctly? Am I interpreting that interpreting that correctly? Okay. Okay, then we will need a second for that action if there's a second to that. >> I want to make sure I understand this correctly. So Sorry, Chairman Potts. I just want to I just want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. In layman's terms, we're looking at taking RFPs or quotes. And having that turned in for review to you for review by August 3rd, 2026. >> Yeah, we didn't say whether it's RFQ or RF RFP or proposals or qualifications. We You did your work included the
117qualifications. Is that correct? >> So yes, my general just information includes some level of qualifications. The the board you could determine what all you want to include within that that bid that bidding process. Personally, I would recommend if you're going to do if you're going to do a bidding public bidding process, then it would be a an RFQ. Um just so it can be based on qualifications. Mr. Hunter, I don't know if that answers that question or not. >> My question was I mean you've given this the spreadsheet or the that you gave us. Um I didn't wasn't sure if that's something official or if that's just some or just some research you did just to give us some information. >> Those were initial conversations just to determine within those that provide services to public
118school units. Are you accepting clients? You know, what kind of average fees are you looking at? Just general inquiry. Um just so you can kind of have an idea of of what's out there. >> All right. What we're talking about is an official quote. I'm going to call it a quote cuz that's what I use when I do business as a quote. An official quote by August 3rd. Is that what we're talking about? >> Uh that was the point of his motion. >> Okay. All right. I'll second it. >> Okay. Then we have a second by Mr. Hunter. Now, questions regarding the motion. Are there any? Now, we have a motion and a second and no other discussion. All in favor of the motion. Motion is 5-2. Okay. Motion passes 5-2. Next are there any
119names signed up for the to publicly address the board? >> There are no names signed up for I think everybody in the county was already in the room, but there nobody has signed up to talk to you. >> We're ready for spring break. Summer break. Okay. Next item is to have a motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel matters and discuss student matters made confidential by General Statutes 143-318.11A. Is there a motion to that effect? Motion by Mr. Ricardo, a second. Mr. Shelton has a second. All in favor? Consider we're in closed session. Thank you so much. We will be coming back out with no uh business to take care of. Except agenda.