001Good evening and welcome to the regular board of education meeting for May 2026. We appreciate all this outstanding attendance. I know a lot of you here for recognition portion of our agenda and that's a great thing. We not only recognize uh athletics, we recognize arts and we recognize academics and you are part of that. Uh, and so we appreciate you being here. Thank you parents for taking the night out to come and uh we we this is just something that's important to us. I'll just say it that way. So, thank you so much for being here. Uh, the board has already approved the agenda for tonight and it begins with a an invocation. So, would you bow with me, please? Dear God, we just thank you for a beautiful spring day that we had today.
002And as we anxiously await for the rain, we know that your timing will be perfect and our dry lands will be u nourished again. Uh we're so happy for each staff member, each student, each supporting citizen that makes this system, the Davy County Schools, a wonderful, caring, safe place to send our children each day. to be with us in this meeting to give us wisdom, guide us in our deliberations, and may we do all the things that are right for our children and our staff. In your name I pray. Amen. Next on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. So, would you stand and join us, please? Go. Pledge >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice
003for all. board, you received a copy of our minutes from the uh last meeting as well as the budget work session that we had since the last regular schedule meeting. So, unless there's some changes that need to be made, I'm going to ask for um one motion to approve both sets of minutes. Is there a motion? Jeff makes the motion. Second, Stephanie is second. Now, any questions or comments regarding the minutes? All in favor? Show of hands. Motion carries. 70. Sort of like back in the old days when I flip got to flip paper to stay on the on the right portion. Um we do have a number of things board that uh are celebrations in the month of May and uh many of them that are at our schools. But I do want to
004ask you to uh keep the uh retirement dinner on your calendar. It's May the 28th. It will be in this facility right here. And so we're looking forward to that. It's always a a happy time to to celebrate with retirements. And in some ways, it's always a sad time as well because we see so many great educators who have reached that time that they want to to to leave and go on to to higher ground. And so, it's a it's a mixed feeling that those evenings. Um, you also have a listing of the proposed board of education meetings for the next uh fiscal year starting July. uh put those on your calendar and if you see any conflicts there if you'll bring those back to our attention we can make an adjustment in our next
005meeting. So with that announcement uh we turn it over to the superintendent to start our reports. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you board members for another great uh celebration of all the great things happening across Davy County schools. And just a couple of things I want to make note of. I'll move quickly because we do have a lot of recognitions. So, I'll just hit the highlights. But one thing I do want to say is thank you to our teachers. This is teacher appreciation week and so there'll be a lot of activities going on all across our schools to celebrate our teachers, parents, students. I know that you are part of that and recognizing the good work that our teachers do every day. So, thank you for celebrating with us this week. We've had a busy
006April and um there's certainly a lot of things that I could point out. We've got we had the Battle of the Books competition in elementary school. That was exciting. We've had uh our eighth graders, some of our eighth graders have went to the Outer Banks and got to experience that. That's an annual pilgrimage in some cases across the state, but certainly um we're excited for them. And we've had our some CTE students and their parent parents that were at the uh DDCC campus for a machining night um with the high school and got to see firsthand some of that equipment which was um just really neat to see. We see some pictures up here of the leadership leadership showcase at Koulam Elementary School and lots of celebrations and great things happening there and of course
007Special Olympics. You have that um image up there as well. And then we were able to partner with DDCC and a visit from the governor who came and recognized some of our students and a pre-apprenticeship program with our partners at Trinity Elms um for eight of our students that are in that pre-apprenticeship program. So, there's been a lot of just really great things happening all across the district. I know that y'all probably seen and heard some of that and certainly worthy of of acknowledging and celebrating. Couple of other things just to point out from human resources. Our team there, they have been um busy day in and day out just processing retirements, processing new hires, trying to turn over um the end of the year to get ready for the next school year. Um that
008starts really started in March, but now is when it's really hot and heavy in human resources. So, we just appreciate that team and all that they do um to make that happen. our curriculum um and instruction department um always as we get to the end of the year things start to ramp up. Um they start to I was in a classroom today and they were it was crunch time and talking about how it's getting those last few weeks for that final push of review and lots of activities going on. Part of what we're still still having conversations about are the need for um pre or some preschool expansion and we've been working actively working to expand that and to um look for and partner with some other community partners to maybe use some uh the
009Brock facility um with the county and hoping we can get some some activity there for our ch our early education uh developments and some things working on with that. Advanced placement exams be coming up. some of our high school students are participating in that, earning college credit. Uh we have, of course, um starting at the end of this month, we'll have our early college participating in their graduation commencement on May 22nd. So, lots of things um as we get to the end of the year to to recognize and celebrate. You can look all around the halls and in this room and see the art of our students, amazing artwork. It's so impressive what they're able to do. I don't even know how they how they are able to accomplish that, but hopefully if you have
010an opportunity on Saturday, you can come out and experience Arts Smart firsthand. We appreciate um Mr. Marshall and his team, all of our all of our arts uh teachers for helping plan and prepare for that. Um this is just my first time experiencing it and I'm already impressed. So looking forward to that this Saturday. We also want to acknowledge and if you have something else, one of the the best things you could do this weekend for a a date night or just a family outing is to go to the high school and see Guys and Dolls. Mr. Edwards and his volunteers have been working diligently to get that show, that theatrical performance prepared and ready. So, we're excited to see that um coming up as well this weekend. So, hopefully you'll get out and be
011able to experience that. And then we're wrapping up spring sports. It's hard to believe that we're saying that, but a full slate of regional and um state competitions through the high school athletic association. So, um certainly appreciate the work of our coaches and our student athletes from the general assembly side of things in Raleigh. As you know, they have been um meeting or they're back in session. And so, over the next several weeks, they'll be um having some votes on the floor or scheduled to have votes. Now, whether that or not they get anything to the floor or not, that'll be we'll wait and see how that goes. but they are scheduled to have some votes. A couple of the priorities that have been identified and continue to be part of the conversation, expanding or
012fully funding our exceptional children's programs. We've had some conversations about that board and the need for that. We're continuing to to watch that closely. Obviously, teacher pay, um principal pay structure reform are a couple of key items that we're watching closely. looking at um the performance grading system. You know, it's it's been around for a long time and so are there going to be any updates with the performance grading system. Still looking for opportunities to expand support for student mental health. Um and then of course one that um probably all of us are interested in and watching is calendar flexibility to where we can give back to our local school board the authority to um set the set the local calendar for the school systems. There are lots of local bills. In fact, Representative Howard
013has a local bill for Dave and Yadkin that allows for flex calendar flexibility. So, we're still really closely watching that and we'll continue to to kind of stay in tune with how things progress on that side of things. If you are a local business and are interested in participating in careers on wheels, we have that coming up. That's an opportunity for our fifth grade students to experience firsthand some of the careers that just as it sounds that are on wheels. So, if you would like to participate in that, we can get you some more information. But that'll be taking place May 19th from 8:00 a.m. to noon just right outside here at our community park. So, looking forward to that opportunity for our fifth grade students as well. Mr. Chairman, that's all I have for
014this month. >> Thank you. Any questions for our superintendent? >> We appreciate that. Appreciate all you're doing. Uh, as we get into our recognition portion of our agenda, I do see that we have a our county manager, Brian Barnett. Thank you for coming. Uh, involvement in in the all aspects of the county and education is a big one. So, we thank you for being here this evening. Um, the first part of our student recognition will be our all district and all state bands. Uh, so I'd ask Andrew Hicks to come forward with that presentation. Good evening, Superintendent Belchure, Chairman Pots, and members of the board, parents, and families. Uh, my name is Emily Moore. I'm the principal at South Davy Middle School, and I'm here tonight to brag on our band. Um, our band has
015grown tremendously in the last two or three years under the leadership of this man right here, Andrew Hicks. And um while I enjoy listening to the band and um interacting with them, it is just so neat to walk in his classroom and see him interacting with the students on a daily basis. Um so he has um some wonderful recognitions for um for our students tonight. And um I'm going to brag a little bit on him too because under his leadership, we have got a superior rating three years in a row at NPA. So that is that is really cool to see. Um, so I'm gonna let him come up and introduce himself and then I'll pass out his awards. If all the South A students being recognized tonight will come up and stand back here
016so you can get your certificates. Thank you'all. As we're doing that, uh, good evening, Superintendent Dr. Belchure, Chairman Pon, and members of the board, families, and guests that are joining us this evening. And thank you, Miss Moore, for the wonderful introduction. Um, as said, my name is Andrew Hicks and I have the privilege of serving as the band director at South Davy Middle School. Um, it is an honor to be before you tonight to celebrate the dedication and artistry of these uh, young musicians behind me. These students are the embodiment of the hard work and persistence that we try to teach in our band rooms day in and day out. They spend countless hours practicing not just at school, but at home and maybe even outside if their parents can't handle the noise after a
017couple hours. They hold the pursuit of excellence close to their hearts and they have aimed for the moon. My first recognition tonight is for placement uh into the Northwest North Carolina all district band. These students competed against over 2,000 other students across 17 counties for a spot in this prestigious ensemble. Not only that, but with six students earning a spot, this marks the highest number of participating students from South Davies since 2018. We are extremely proud of these kids and feel the pride that they've brought not brought not just themselves but their families, their school and their greater community. First up, I'd recognize Aubrey Karns, Kenny Argetta Arm, Eli Demer, Kai Taylor, Russell Pryin, and Stella Brock. Not only that, but we have another achievement from the South Davy band. Uh the next recognition is
018for our superior rating at the North Carolina Music Performance Adjudication. This is a event where the eighth grade band uh prepares selected music to play in front of three judges. These judges generally have a combined band director experience uh of about 90 years. They rate the band on multiple categories and give an overall rating based on these specific categories. Not only this, but the students then must go in front of a fourth judge in a different room to site readad a piece of music they've never seen before with only a few minutes of preparation. I'm proud to say that the South Davy eighth grade band received a superior rating, which is the highest possible. And this is the first time in South Davy history that we have had three consecutive years of superior ratings at
019North Carolina Music Performance Adjudication. This is in no small part because of the time these students were willing to put in front or put in for a pursuit a pursuit of excellence, extra rehearsals, pass offs on their music, practice expectations, and more. This group of 53 students worked towards a unified common goal. They carried themselves with pride and they supported each other every step of the way. Uh I want to thank the board for your continued support of our flourishing and growing band programs. Of course, my amazing administration for their support as well. Um these programs that help find their uh help students find their place of belonging, help find a voice and build confidence that they carry with them well beyond the band room. And of course, I want to thank the students as
020well for their hard work and their persistence. They represent our band program with dignity and excellence. and they have made so many of us so unext or so extremely and unbelievably proud. Thank you so much, >> Mr. Hicks. If you guys would go out in the hallway, they have a a photo op out there for you. >> Thank you. Next is Mandy James at William Ellis Middle School. Good evening, members of the board of education administrators and guests. I'm honored uh to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the William Ellis students during the spring semester. These students have demonstrated a high level of dedication, preparation, and musical growth. Uh, this is going to be a little redundant, but that's okay. First, I'd like to highlight our Northwest all district band participants. These students prepared an audition
021solo, seven scales, and completed a site reading component performing music that they have never seen before for a judge. They completed this against competed against over 2,000 students from across our Northwestern band district, which includes 16 different counties. The following students scored high enough to earn a place in the middle school Northwest all district bands. We had Carter James, fourth chair, clarinet Symphonic Band. Miles Barnett, second chair, Mallet Symphonic Band. Logan Barnett, fourth chair, alto saxophone symphonic band. Taylor White, 10th chair trumpet concert band, and Carson Moer, 16 chair clarinet concert band. Of these students, Carter James and Miles Barnett scored higher enough in the top ensemble to be eligible to audition for the North Carolina Allstate Honors Band. While they did not ultimately earn a spot, being able to audition at excuse me at
022that level is an honor itself and we're very proud of their achieve. I'd also like to recognize our eighth grade band for their outstanding performance at NPA this year, music performance assessment. The students standing behind me are part of that eighth grade band. Uh at NPA, students perform three prepared pieces in front of the panel of judges and complete site reading of music that they have never seen. The music is selected from a grade graded list ranging from levels one through six with increasing difficulty. For the first time, a middle school from Davy County performed a program at NPA in grade three four. Not only that, they were the only middle school in the entire Northwestern District to perform I'm very proud of them. Even more impressive, they earned a superior rating, the highest possible
023rating from every judge. Please join me in congratulating these students for their hard work. Now, the Davy County High School band. >> So, I am not going to repeat all the things that my colleagues uh said just about the different things. So, all the high school folks, if you could come up uh and just stand back here. Um, as you can see, the high school had a large number of kids who made all district. Um, and as Miss James was talking about, 2,000 kids came to Davy County High School. And I do need to do a shout out to the admin at the high school as well as Miss Haynes as uh as well as Mr. Harris over here because they ran uh uh they ran OpenGate the entire day. And that's a lot of
024people because 2,000 kids plus parents. So, thank you. Um, so, uh, we had 120 kids out of 170, uh, students in the high school band program audition for all district. And we had 27, uh, that made all district. Um, and then we had several that were called up at the last second going, "Hey, someone's sick. We need you to come." So, really that number is at 29. And then we had two students that had a conflict um, and they weren't able to attend. Uh but they are not listed here. One was Tyler Oldm and he's here. I saw him. Where are you at? There's Tyler. Uh and then the other is actually over at rehearsal for uh Guys and Dolls, Jonah Hullbrook. Uh so they are not listed on this sheet here. Uh but they
025are there and as you can see uh the Brusso on duty is handing out uh handing out the certificates uh to the kids. Um, out of all of those kids, we had nine students, which is actually a record for the high school band program. Nine students qualify for All State. Um, and we actually had three kids after that audition that were awarded a spot in the All State bands, and they actually were at All State this past weekend. Um, and I do I am going to give them and call out their names and recognize them. Uh, and these students are Ethan Demer, Eric Pope, and Silus Johnson. Um, we also had students two weekends ago. It's all ensemble people. >> Yes. >> Two weekends ago. Sorry, it all runs together. Um, it is that time
026of the year, Dr. Belchure. Um uh we had seven students that participated in Northwest District Solen Ensemble, which is very similar to MPA. However, it's not a big group. It's small groups. It's solos, which to be honest is more intimidating. Uh and these kids, these seven uh kids uh went and performed and all see received straight superior ratings from their judges. Um and Cara's handing those out. Uh but you can see the list there. We had several that were Mima duets, uh, Zach Roland and Ryan Richardson, and then Katie Beth Carter and Gavin Hullbrook. And then we had three solo uh, performances which were Zach Roland, uh, Katie Beth Carter and Will Helms. So, if you could we could give them a round of applause. And like my colleague said before, we all we went
027to all three bands from the high school uh went to music performance adjudication. Um it is our state testing. That's that's what we can uh compare it to. It's uh and board if you would reference I actually brought this is something we've not done before, but I think it's useful. Um I brought you a copy of what the judges see. Um and you can see the categories there. And if you need more specifics, you can flip over onto the back. And those are all of the things that the judges are listening for. It's a lot. There's a lot of detail that goes into preparing pieces at the level that our kids, not just here at the high school, but at the middle school level, can perform at. The level of detail and precision that they're
028asked to perform with is off the charts. And you can see the rate the the ratings they can give are anywhere from a one to a five. It's backwards. I'm sorry. One is the highest rating. Five is is the is the worst rating. Um at the high school it's very difficult with three groups. And as a as the freshman group, they're coming from three different programs and have three different ways that those directors have been teaching all to the same end. Um, and when they get to the high school, it's learning a whole new language, especially for me. Sorry. But, uh, when we get when when they all come together, it's it's always a challenge to get the music to that level. And this year, for the first time since 2017, all three groups received
029straight superior ratings at MPA. That includes from the three judges on the stage, as well as the site reading judges. The thing I'm most proud of with this is their site reading scores. Judges every year that we've gone are so impressed by the fact that our kids can take something they have not seen before, take anywhere from five to seven minutes and go through and assess the rhythm, the math behind the music. They can uh they have to assess the physics behind it of balance and blend and making sure they're on right notes and sound waves are lining up intonation there and the the the language behind it of making sure that you're putting all those pieces together and reading in sentences and phrases instead of just note by note by note by note by
030note. Um, in addition to they have text and words that they have to translate as they're going to make sure they understand what's happening in the music to be able to execute it at the level it needs to be to receive a superior. Um, and that's the thing I'm most proud of is our kids are musically literate kids that can go and just read it and do it. Uh, and that's truly an amazing task. it's merging neuropathways in their brain at such a high level that it's firing crazy uh in in crazy speeds. Um so like I said, all three of our bands receive superior ratings this year at NPA uh in addition to the middle school groups uh receiving superiors as well. And uh so if we could give these kids a round of
031applause for their hard work and the the last thing I'll say, and I've said it every time I come here and and get to brag on these kids behind me, we live in a special place. I've taught in big counties, I've taught in small counties. Um and by far Davey is the one that's most special. We have kids here that are varsity athletes. We have kids here that are great musicians. We have kids that are wonderful academic children uh that achieve at extremely high levels. And I think it's amazing that in our county they can do all of it and be very successful at it and we support them in anything they choose to do. So thank you and thank you for all the things that you do uh to support these kids. And on
032on behalf of the board, Matthew, on behalf of the board, we want to recognize that what you're doing, your enthusiasm. Uh gosh, if every every teacher had the enthusiasm about their program that you have, it would be wonderful. Uh but so thank you. And secondly, you've you know how to put together a team. You don't wait till they get to the high school to be nurturing these folks in the band program. And the way you guys have worked together with the middle schools and high schools, it's just incredible. And I appreciate that. And so does this board. So thank you very much. Go right ahead. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to now take a moment and ask our finance team to come up, Mr. Clay Harris and his team. And um
033you know, it it is budget season and they have a lot of things that they are responsible for. And so the opportunity just to recognize the work that they've done. Um they have received once again the certificate of excellence in financial reporting and that is presented by the association of school business officials international. And so I would like to take a moment just acknowledge the hard work that our finance team does. They really behind the scenes uh make it work. And so the things they do certainly is appreciated. But one thing that I'm probably more proud of even than this certificate, y'all, is they are just loving, good people to work with. They just take care of each other, take care of our schools and our children. So just overall, this is a certificate that
034we want to acknowledge, but really just as people, you don't see see a team that's much better than this behind me. So thank you for what you do every day. Mr. Copelan. >> Yes, sir. Uh, Mr. Chairman, board members, Dr. Belchure, and district staff, I'd just like to take a moment to recognize some outstanding students who represented our school, North Davey, at the Global Amazing Shake in Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, Georgia. Uh, the invasion shake is an international competition that challenges students in a real world professional skills competition on communication, etiquette, critical thinking, and composure under pressure through a series of interactive scenarios. Um, our students competed at the school level with over 200 kids at our school through four different rounds and our top three got to move on to the uh global amazing
035shake in Atlanta. This year over 500 students competed from across the country and around the world. Um I'm especially proud that in our first year of going we had a student reach the uh uh the third round which was our top 50 of those 500. Um all of our students represented our school so well with professional professionalism, confidence, and pride. And we're incredibly proud of their accomplishment on the global stage. So we're going to recognize our three students today. Um, eighth grader, uh, Ella Reynolds, who's not able to be here. Then eighth grader Ally Berg, come up, please. And then, um, Harper Welch was our representative in the top 50 and she was also our North Davy winner for this year. So, let's hear it for Harper. Um, thank you to those who have come
036to our event over the past couple years. It truly means a lot to our students and staff when they see you guys um, supporting them in all that they do. So, thank you so much. >> Next is Mr. Thrott Morton from William Ellis Middle. Yeah, Mr. Thrott Morton ended up having another um he double booked himself tonight, so he asked me to be here on his behalf. But good evening board, uh superintendent, Dr. Belchure, and community. I am here tonight to recognize our math counts team. And I can't help but recognize that Mr. Rarshot is in the audience tonight. Um, who started this tradition at Ellis and when I was named principal and he was announcing retirement, it was one of the first thing community members asked me over and over is math counts going
037to continue. And I do believe in addition to Mr. Thoughtorton helping support our kids. I think he's been behind the scenes a little bit too still, just a little. So, I do appreciate you starting this tradition at Ellis. But I am here tonight to recognize the efforts of our uh Ells team. We did um take third place in the region and our third place team was Alex Herda, uh Will Weaver, Wesley Turner, and Luke Henens. So, I'm going to recognize them for being the third place team. In addition, we also had some other people competing that day, which was Sam Moral, Oliver Hull, Carter James, Garrison Hewitt, and Carson Chapman. So, if you'll just join me in recognizing our Math Counts overall team. So in addition to team competition, we did have two members that
038placed in our region. Alex Harata placed 11th overall and um Will Weaver placed sixth place overall qualifying him for states. So congratulations to these two. >> Thank you. Thank you. And last but not least, the North Carolina ENT state math qualifying contest. Miss Shore, Miss Jackson. >> Good evening. My name is Ashley Jackson. I'm here with Leah Shore. And we would like to honor several of our students who participated in several math contests we had over the last couple of months. Um we'd like to thank the board. We'd like to thank our superintendent and our community members, our teachers, our staff, our administration. Um because without all of you, these opportunities would not be available to our students. So, I would like to give a little bit of a backstory just because I think it's
039helpful to understand the true dedication of these students. Um, so the end of February, beginning of March, I received an email from an eager student interested in starting a math club at the high school. And of course, the teacher that I am is like, "Sure, let's do it. I'm all for it, but y'all are going to have to help me because I'm learning, too." Right? So, we had our first meeting and they decided they wanted to compete. And little did I know we were going to compete in March. So they've come together and they're like, "We've got this. We can do this." Um we originally had planned to go on March 26 to um ANT of course and compete in the level one and the level two competition. Level one of course would be math
040one. Level two of course would be math two. And then we were going to compete in April for our level threes so that they would have more time to comp to prepare. Well, the week of the competition in March, um I got an email from Winston Salem State saying that they had cancelled the competition in April for our level three students. So, I pulled together an email with all my level three students and I said, "Okay, here's your options. We cannot compete or we can go on Thursday." And they were like, "Let's go on Thursday." So, we got together another county vehicle. We, Miss Jackson Johnson and I, we went together and we took four level three students and we took five level two students to the ANT competition and we weren't super prepared. They
041had worked, you know, individually, but we didn't have a lot of time to prep. Um, so I wasn't my expectations, you know, I was like, we're just going to go. We're going to try our best. We're going to give it our all and we're going to see how it turns out. And little did we know, we won the level three. um group. So, I was super proud of them. Um it just shows how much work and dedication they put in outside of the school day because we didn't have a lot of time to prepare. And these competition um questions are totally different from what they get in their day-to-day class. Um so, it's a whole another level. Um and I didn't really see that until after we did our state um region competition and they
042sent the test home with them. um how the questions were formatted and you know all the prep work that they put into it. So I'm just really really proud of them. So we had three students. You want to call them up here? >> Yep. >> So earning first place at the NC& level three state math qualifying contest was Miss Olivia Rshide. Earning fourth pre fourth place at the NC& level three state math qualifying contest was Ian Rashid. And earning fourth place at the NC& level two state math qualifying contest was Aaron Clarkfelter. So once these students qualified, then they got if they were top 10 in their qualifying group, they got to travel to states um within our region. So we went to UNCCG and these three students, they put in some more prep work
043and they worked hard to kind of get where they needed to get get and we went there were 32 level um three students and 28 level two students that competed on that day. It was a an 80 minute test, 40 questions, no calculator, five choices. Um, the scoring is a little different than a typical test. They get one point if they leave the question blank. They get four points if they get the correct answer. So, it's also kind of a numbers game, you know, answering what you know versus guessing versus do I leave it blank. Um, and these kids work really, really hard and we were waiting eagerly for the scores to be released. I just logged on this morning and the scores were were were released if I can get my words out. And
044we had two people that placed top 10 in our level three. So So earning seventh place um at the NCCTM level three state math contest was Ian Marshide. And ninth place at the NCCTM level three state math contest was Olivia Rshad. you can just thank everybody. >> Yeah, we want to thank you all again for providing these opportunities for our students. Um we're excited to see our math club grow over the next several years. Um and none of this will be possible without the support of our community >> and they're they're ready to start in fall. So, we're going to start prepping ahead of time. All right, that's a lot of recognitions and we're always proud to to have that as a part of our agenda. Next on the agenda is their consent agenda. U
045I would ask for a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented. >> Joe makes a motion. Is there a second? Stephanie is second. And any questions or to any of the staff members regarding anything on the consent agenda? If not, all in favor raise your hand. Motion carries 70. Mr. Harris, we have a business item. Few weeks ago, we did the work session on the budget. Um there no real changes from what I presented y'all with the exception of two items. Uh, one of the items was the uh um, sorry, the the gym project at Cool to Me. We got the final quote on that. Came in at $27,000, a little bit less than what I forecasted. And the second item was the addition of the LED light project at Krenner. That's our last
046elementary school that we needed to do. Um, and so that's that's in that list. But those only only two things that we had to change in that budget that I presented to y'all at the work session. So, I'll ask that we move forward with this resolution so that we can then um get the county to approve it and uh try to move forward for next year hoping that we have a state budget. So, okay. Go ahead. >> Okay. Is there a motion to accept uh Mr. Harris recommendation? Move with Joe. Second, Stephanie. All right. Now, questions for Mr. Harris regarding the budget. If not, all in favor? Motion carries. 70. Move now to committee and staff reports. Uh, Mr. Coun might have to go get him. Don't bump your head. >> Sorry, I was multitasking.
047We had one of our band students who also is a winner, national winner for HOSA. And so we're trying to figure out some logistics on him traveling to Indianapolis in June. So, um, apologies for being a little late to the game here. So um good evening Dr. Belchure, Chairman Pototts, board members and guests and and fellow colleagues. Tonight I will be presenting to you uh our CTE local application plan for your approval in June. Um first I want to provide some updates um about our CT program as a whole. Um and in your packet I did include a couple of attachments. Um this is I think the second time that I have done this uh during my my tenure as a CTE director. Uh first time um was was a learning experience. I was drinking
048from a fire hose literally. Uh this time um I I'm not saying I'm an expert but um hopefully this is going to go smooth and and I I really want to kind of um talk through a narrative and explain a lot of things of how this works. So, but first the updates that I wanted to talk through and I think I would be um remiss to say that um with our mission statement for CTE is uh we're engaging, equipping, and empowering all of our students to be successful citizens, employees, and leaders in a global economy through career awareness, engagement, and preparedness. And the picture that you see there is actually from last week. Um Dr. Belchure had mentioned this during his opening remarks about our students in our nursing pre-apprenticeship who were recognized actually they
049were selected by the governor's office uh to be recognized for uh completing that. And the the young ladies to his left are ones that were actually had completed the pre-apprenticeship for nursing at Trinity Elms. um they they had received their CNA and then the young ladies to the right in the blue scrubs, they're all in blue scrubs. We we were able to get that coordinated um are actually in cohort 2. And so it was really exciting uh to have that recognition down at Davidson Davy Community College. And I think the the one thing I wanted to to hit on is that starting as early as fifth grade is when our career awareness activities begin. In fact, uh here in the next couple of days, we've got our career on wheels event over here in the
050parking lot uh at the Davy Parks and Recreation. And that is the really the the starting point for our students. And then that continues on in middle school where we have programs for technology education, business, and then uh family consumer science. And then obviously once they move on to the high school, we're focusing in on that preparedness level. And I think these students are a really good testament as to they're in that phase now. They are um they are completing that pre-apprenticeship which is actually doing the work and learning how that job uh how that job relates. So some organizational data just to look at and and I need to put a um a note and thank you to Mr. Puit. um I I leaned on him a little bit for these numbers and I
051actually got a phone call uh just after I left your office about there's a little bit of this data that um is still um um being worked on. But at any rate, our student participation numbers uh at the high school have gone up um with the the number you see there, we had 1668 student participants. The middle school number over to the left is actually not correct. Um, when we first viewed that and I I leaned on Michael for this, the number was a little bit lower because when we started looking at that, truthfully, all of our middle school students do take a CTE course. So, we knew that number was a little bit higher. Um, there has been a delay on getting our data. So, I apologize for that number, but it's it's probably
052closer to,300 students that participate in a CT course at the middle school level. Um, we also have 28 teachers u across all three of our middle schools and our high school and then we have three support personnel with our our two uh career development coordinators. one that serves all of our middle schools, one at our high school, um, and then our CIMC uh, that does our instructional management and and coaching for our our our teachers. So, our next slide is talking about our CT programs and pathways. And recently um actually it was last school year the national career clusters framework was updated to where we have six cluster groupings which those are those columns there in the different colors and um that started kind of a change for us uh because there used to be
053I believe it was 16 uh different areas and so with those six clusters now it's uh broken into 14 categories that are underneath there. And this is a list or really a comprehensive list of all the different CT courses that we're offering at the uh in Davy County schools. We have over 50. Um and then there's 30 different pathways that are offered at Davy County High School. And a couple other notes I wanted to mention is that many of these courses are inherently honors, which means that the course is advanced level and that the rigor is already built into the standards. And then one note uh our robotics and mechatronics courses are not on that um on that um sheet there or on that slide. Uh but those are considered local course offerings. Uh robotics
054is actually getting ready to go into the computer science pathway and then mechatronics is more into the the building and moving with our credentials. Our program area credentials. So what are credentials? they're industry aligned uh to help students do the work, receive higher pay, and then hopefully provide that initial entry into the field. And what I did here is I took those groupings and then listed some of the different credentials that are offered in those areas uh for those courses. And uh we're really proud to say that this past school year uh we had or we earned over 2,000 uh different cred credentials. Actually, a total of 2,271. And that was a a potential rate of 75.1%. And you can see those numbers have steadily increased since 2021. And and really that's due to the
055work that our teachers, our staff are doing. Uh Miss Hinkle, who is our CIMC, does a lot of work with that as far as uh doing proctors uh for different sessions. But again, our goal with credentials is uh number one offering these to our students free of charge, but then also uh for them to try to earn at least one uh before they graduate from high school. And we're really proud of where we're at as far as those numbers go. And that d uh data came from the credential attainment report from um DPI. So now we're getting down to the the nitty-gritty uh if you will and the local application plan and what is it? So, I thought I'd start out by just kind of explaining to you all uh what the application is. Um
056to say that uh it's a lot of work would be an understatement. Uh this began uh it actually is a two-year process. Um and this year is the renewal year uh to where we go through our team um does a lot of work as far as including stakeholders, getting feedback uh to develop goals and strategies. And so where this all began or actually the the um the purpose of it is related to Perkins 5 which is the strengthening career and technical education for the 21st century. And so that requires any recipient like us uh Davy County Schools where we have to conduct a comprehensive local needs assessment or normally what we call in the CT world the CLNA and update it every two years and that is the foundation for implementing Perkins 5 at the
057local level and then it drives our local application and then in that CLNA um the sections that we're going to uh that I'm presenting to you tonight uh includes an evaluation of performance which is our concentrator data. Uh it includes uh five other sections that resound around the uh labor market alignment, size, scope and quality of the programs, career pathway implementation, recruitment, retention and training of CTE educators and then equal access to high quality CTE programs of study. So I mentioned the stakeholders a few minute a few seconds ago there. Um so these are the required stakeholders that are involved in our team getting feedback for these sections. Um and that includes our program representatives not only at our level the secondary but then postsecary. So that's that's including folks at our our Davidson Davyy
058community college their faculty administrators. Uh I have a monthly meeting with Davidson Davyy uh to talk through things. Uh also includes our workforce development board representatives. So um those folks are involved. We have conversations with them. Uh business and industry representatives. Um some of you have attended our business advisory council meetings. Uh we do those in the fall and the spring. We also rely on information from our parents, our students, uh representatives of our special populations. uh representatives from agencies that serve at risk homeless or out of school youth and then where applicable and that doesn't necessarily apply to Davy County but um in counties where there are Indian tribes those are all uh that's also a required stakeholder to reach out to. So going into these uh performance indicators and um to be uh
059completely honest, I had to when when this first u when we started looking at this data or the first time I ever looked at this data, I really had no clue what all it was was measuring and what all it meant. And so that's why in your attachments I gave you some some information to review and look at. But I want to give you the cliffnotes version tonight uh and explain what that means. But first and foremost, what is a CTE concentrator? Well, it's a student that has earned two or more credits in one of those pathways that we were looking at on that color column U slide just a couple minutes ago. And they've completed that and became a concentrator. And once they become a concentrator, their data is what is is fed into
060this report and how we pull our information. So, there's eight different performance indicators. Um, and you can see the list there. Um, couple of notes on this. And, uh, with the graduation rate, what that's based on, it's it's for, uh, the students that, um, have graduated within their four-year cohort, um, and earning that diploma at the end of their four years of high school. um the the three ones that are um in regards to the academic proficiency. So what that's measuring is in the reading language arts it's it's measuring the student or a concentrator's performance on English 2 EOC. Um, and then the mathematics can be measured on math 1 or math 3 depending on what track a student's on because some of our students take math one is in middle school. Um, so they
061would be measured at math 3. Science is based on their performance in biology. And then with the post-secondary placement um the one key point I wanted to make about that is that with the um with the concentrators u from the previous reporting year um when they exit or grad after they graduate I should say is they've reported a positive placement in either advanced training military service national or community service the Peace Corps they have employment or they are moving on to post-secary education, the non-traditional program uh concentration. So, what that's measuring is it's students that um have gone into a pathway that's not traditional to their gender. So, for example, uh for our female students that have gone into carpentry or automotive, those would be identified as a non-traditional student or concentrator. And then for
062our male students, those students that go into teaching as a profession or early childhood education or our foods classes and completed that pathway, they would be u non-traditional. The quality attained recognized postsec postsecary credential is again measuring that credential level. And then the last one uh which is the program quality other that's measuring our um performance on our CTE state assessments and um uh performance-based measurements which are kind of like our intercourse tests. So that's what those are measuring and looking at those. So we've got some areas for celebration. Um I want to report that um we did meet um our our um meaningful progress on all eight of the indicators. And what that means is um we met at least the and that was on one of the attachments that you um had in
063your packet. But um the goal of that is in the previous two years which in this case it would have been for from 24 to 26 uh we either met um or within 90% of the different benchmarks whether it's the local benchmark and the state goal um in either one of the two years and so we did meet those in all eight. Um, one thing I wanted to note here, um, you look at the, uh, graduation rate. Again, the data is still coming out. I don't have the actual number yet. Uh, we just got some numbers Friday of last week. Talk about um, there at the last minute, but uh, um, right now we're sitting at at least 95%. Um, it's important to note last year we were at 98.2%. Uh, so very outstanding rate.
064Again, that's how many students our concentrators graduated with their four-year uh four-year cohort. Um, for the academic proficiencies, I wanted to note that, and I didn't mention this earlier, but that those percentages are based on the students that uh obtained a college and career ready score on those EOCC's. So, they had to score a four or five on those EOCC's. And looking at those proficiencies um with the one for English two um that attainment rate the 41.1 that both exceeded the local our local benchmark and then our state goal. Uh in math we did exceed our local benchmark and met the state goal. And then in science we uh met our local benchmark and then exceeded our state goal. And again, the reason I have that star is because that data for the graduation is
065still yet to be released, but we know it's above 95. And then that same star is on post-secary placement. We're above 95%. Um, and that's outstanding. We exceeded our local benchmark. We met the state goal. Um, and one thing I noted on that was the um we were again above 95%. We're waiting on that unmasked data to arrive, but that exceeded our local benchmark and it has it met the state goal if not exceeded. And so that's a that's an outstanding accomplishment for our students. Um the program quality you can see there uh for the credentials uh we're at 91.8%. So that means that percentage of our our CTE concentrators had at least one credential when they uh after they graduated. and that number exceeded both local and state goals. And then our P proficiency
066um number is at 85.22% and that again exceeded both both of those goals. So really proud of those numbers. Um areas for growth. Um I know I mentioned that we did meet meaningful progress on all eight. However, this last year with non-traditional program enrollment, uh we were at 17.7 uh percent or 76%. Uh one thing I wanted to note there um is that with that number, um over the past four years, we have averaged around 19.5%. Um I feel pretty good about some of the goals and things that we have talked through on ways to recruit students into those pathways. Um, I just will say that um, in my previous experience, previous previous uh, district that number has traditionally been low. Sometimes it's a challenge to get female students into traditionally male courses and vice
067versa. Um, and so we've talked through some strategies there to try to address that, but that is an area for growth. And I'm going to stop for a minute because I want to see if you have any questions so far before I go to the next part because I know I've gone through a lot. ask a quick question. So for the non-traditional, I know you had said an example is like a female in one of the male dominated. >> Yes. >> Is there any other things that fall into this nontraditional bucket other than >> So So there's there's it's funny. There's actually more for female students, more pathways to go through. There's the architecture pathway to drafting. There's the automotive, there's carpentry, masonry. um I think there's only like two or three for for the
068male students. And so again, it's kind of Yeah, that's why that number kind of fluctuates. Um and so and and it's also broken down by um your different special population categories as well. So that's that was kind of interesting. I didn't want to go too far into the weeds tonight, >> but but yeah, that >> it's just interesting, huh? >> Yeah. Yeah. And then the non-traditional programming, I know you we start early with talking to kids about their CTE and and things like that. I assume when the girls are in middle school, they're not as tuned to want to go into those spec specific areas. Just a thought. I don't know. But it's just an interesting how that one's low like that. >> Well, we've actually talked about once we know um so Stephanie Morris
069and Elise have done a really good job of getting some information from our career development plans so that we can try to group those students. like if we have let's say three or four females that are wanting to do one of those said classes, we could try to hopefully group them together and it just would kind of make them more comfortable and it's they're not singled out so to speak. So, um that's that's a strategy that we're that we've talked through. So, I appreciate that question by the way. Any others? Yep. Yes, sir. Just a note, um, just living in the construction world, you're really starting to see a lot more females, um, driving trucks, >> um, being project managers, really big projects, see them on the HVAC, uh, companies. So, it's something really good
070to be open-minded about because it's happening right now. So, we appreciate all you're doing there to make that happen. >> Thank you. All right, we're good to move on. We're almost to the end, y'all. Okay, so the next couple of slides are our local needs assessment results. And I could have probably spent a whole lot more time on this, but I tried to sum it up um as far as the overall goal. But one thing I wanted to reiterate when we write these goals for all of these sections, we have to not only say the who, the how, the what, and then also have an action plan and steps of when these things are going to take place. Uh that's part of that whole application process. But the first one is labor market alignment. And
071so with the labor market alignment, uh we really rely on our business advisory council meetings, our teacher summer in externships, just to name a few of ways of collecting feedback from our business and industry partners. Um and through that we complete a review of our our goal that we've developed is we want to complete a review of all of our pathways in Davyy County and making sure that there is an alignment with the industry needs. Um, one thing that we do is we rely on those trends and data to make sure our programs align with those needs. And just to mention a couple of changes that have been made prior when I got uh arrived back in Davy County was we added our early childhood education program and then identified that need for advanced manufacturing.
072So that's that's some of the results from this spec specific uh section. And so again, we're just trying to maintain consistency in reviewing those programs while at the same time determining emergency emerging occupations. So that's the first goal. The second one, um actually that's that's section two. This is section three is size, scope, and quality. I would say this one's by far the largest of the six. Um and probably by the name because it says size, scope, and quality. But our goal summary um after reviewing multiple stakeholder feedbacks, this included um sessions with our teachers, our business partners, our parents, our students because we're talking about like things like CTSOs um what types of um um just multiple things um that we offer for our community. But through those feedback sessions and and information that
073we got, we ultimately landed on there is a there was a need to update our district CTE section of the website with information uh that's listed there. Um obviously with the different pathway um clusters being changed, we wanted to make sure our course guide is updated. We want to make sure all of our work-based learning opportunities are are u available and information that's provided for those credential information that not only includes what we offer but then what students can do with it after they earn it. Uh we also want to have information about our all of our CCP pathways which was also an attachment in your um uh information tonight and then how articulation credit works and then the business advisory council information because we're always inviting business members uh to join us and be
074a part of that group. So, um, and then the why, again, all of that information is so important. And then what we've learned is the more familiar our community is with what CTE has to offer, the more uh likely they're going to take advantage of it because we've have found that a lot of people think, and probably when I said family consumer science, some of you probably remember home economics. That's what that course used to be called and and it's not that anymore. And so there's been a lot of changes and and and that will be really helpful information for our stakeholders. We know that's a tall task. That's why it's over a span of two years because putting all that information together is going to take time to make sure it's accurate and up
075to-date. But again, it's the perfect time to do it with these pathway changes. All right, next one. Pathway program of study. Um, so with this one, our goal here, this one's really related with our career development plans, but our goal is is that our pathways will provide our families with a roadmap on how to best prepare their child for their career interest. So, this may include things like this requires a certain um degree or requires a certain credential or it requires there's a CCP program at Davidson Davy Community College. So, with those updated pathway programs of study, students will know what courses can articulate credit at the community college uh so that they're taking as much advantage during their high school time to get them ready for that next step. And Dr. Belchure mentioned uh
076an event we had I believe it was two weeks ago over at Davidson Davyy where Mr. Mars took some of his students over Davidson Davyy introduced them to um an engineering program with machining and it was just a great opportunity for those students to see it. He invited their parents and it was it was really a really a great night and great event. Section five is recruitment, retention and training. This one's really special to me because we're always um we're not always filling positions, but we're always trying to make sure our teachers are taken care of. Um and so with this u we really relied on our staff to get the feedback for this particular goal. Uh but really we're utilizing data to drive professional development for staff. One thing we want to look at
077is our student data, how our students are performing, how we can improve. Uh but then also uh relying on things like exit surveys and feedback from our teachers on the types of professional development that would support uh them um as they go through their career. Uh and then again along with the guidance on how to support their students. That was the goal for that section. And then the final section was equal access to high quality CTE programs. I will say that the feedback session we did for this was by far my favorite. We had folks from our EC department and student services department in the same room. We were having great conversations about how we were uh recruiting students, how we were making sure to include all of our students um in in these programs.
078And so our goal was um we felt like not everybody is aware of all the different special population groups. Um, so increasing that awareness and then uh coming up with those developing those strategies and I mentioned a few of them tonight about how to recruit more students into our C uh CTE programs because we really believe that students are going to be successful if they're in these programs and then I'll stop before I the last thing about funding the fun part. Any questions about those goals for those um for those sections? I don't have a question, David, but I appreciate the um last part about trying to include more including our EC kiddos, which would regardless of the level of disability. That's one of the things we struggle with the most is finding what they're
079going to do after high school and just being able to implement them into even getting the certificate or something is a huge opportunity. So, thank you >> for expanding that. >> Well, I think the thanks goes to our our staff at the high school. you know, we had we had our we we created that um um I think we had a presentation last year where our some of our OCS students came and show showed what they were accomplished and did and so they were basically visiting or had a rotation of where they visited our CT classes and even though they weren't actually on a roster so to speak, they still were able to experience and get that um that um that feeling of what it's of what those classes do and actually partic participate. So
080that that's part of that conversation and and again I think that was probably my favorite session for going through because it was I really appreciated the feedback from our student services and EC department. It was that was some good stuff. So um CT funding. So um Clay knows all about this. I should get him up to talk through. But uh with there's four main pots of funding. And the reason I want to go through this tonight is just to make you aware of how it all works, how it all goes together. Our 013 is state funding for our months of employment. So we we fund all of our salaries for teachers, CDC's and CIMC's. Um our 014 money is our state funding for program support. So we purchase a lot of our CT specific supplies.
081That's key right there. It's got to be CT specific. U materials, travel reimbursements, uh field trips for our our classes or CTSO. and then also CTSO support. Um 07 is our federal funding which is part of the reason I'm doing this tonight. But that is um we mainly use a that most of that funding for our professional development registration costs, large CTE equipment, CTSO advisor stipens because we do uh we do like to set aside we are allowed to to uh pay our teachers who are CTSO adviserss a stipen of up to $1,000 depending on some requirements and so forth. There's some scales on on the different levels of that, but it can be up to $1,000 depending on how much the the club does and how large the club does. And then the credential
082funding um is also state funding, but it goes to those credential opportunities, supplies, and materials. That's why we expect or we offer those free of charge to students because we receive funding for that based on the aotment. So, I just wanted to talk through you with those and then also tell you about how we spent the money. So this year um and and again I'll I'll pick on Clay a little bit. We're wrapping things up. I will talk a little bit about some challenges that we've had this year, but we've spent money this year on updating our robotics kits and actually uh increasing that capacity because of the upcoming computer science requirement. uh obviously CT instructional materials uh student support materials uh credentials, the stipens as I mentioned earlier, travel and registration. So we pay
083for uh the majority of our travel costs for CTSO and their registrations, uh professional development for our teachers and myself uh and my staff. And then some innovation items which most of this came out of that federal pot but we have some advanced laser printers that have provided some crosscurricular activities. Um, we also have updated an electrical trainer in our automotive program. And then we've updated or increased our capacity for digital cameras because our Adobe pathway is growing by leaps and bounds and they were in need uh of providing additional equipment for our students to to use. And then next year, as of right now, we're still in the planning stages because our aotments are not a set amount yet. It's a percentage. Uh hopefully that state budget comes in uh sooner than later, but
084uh right now the plan's some of the same things. Uh the the industry aligned equipment with some of the pathway changes. We may be adding some equipment that we're looking at. We've got some options there, but a lot of times I'll ask teachers for wishlist items that are based on their equipment guides uh because sometimes there's some recommended equipment that we can consider depending on funding availability. questions about budgets. >> No, you can you can so with 17 money um we try to buy things that we wouldn't be able to buy with state. Um now this year was a little and I'll get to that in just a minute. But now depending on an amount now would uh it's coded differently like if it's a a item that's going to get tagged or have an
085asset tag on it. So it kind of depends on what it is but it's things that we wouldn't normally buy. It would be like something new a program improvement or a new item or something innovative that we're getting ready to start if that makes sense. Yeah. other questions about the budget items. Okay. And then um so I wanted to give some updates. This slide I called it new adventures uh because they're literally new adventures for us. So I don't know if you all know this or not, but JOTC has joined the CT family. Uh they are now considered a part of our our department. And so in fact we're actually offering a credential for our ROC students. And so students that have completed level at least level three are now considered concentrators. So that's a
086new pathway and an endeavor for us. Now the one caveat to them. Their funding u still comes from the the military. And so really the only funding we're required to support them is in that credential. So I wanted to make a quick note about that. As you all know our pre-apprenticeships we've been uh celebrating those. This has been a completely new adventure for our team and our teachers. Uh we are trying to grow our own talent within um we've we've got pre-apprenticeships or have been doing some pre-apprenticeships in early childhood education where our teach our students are actually working in some of our preschools to get some valuable experience there. Uh our teaching is a profession course. We've got some teachers hopefully getting that experience and then hopefully will come back to us and teach
087here in Davy County. Um, you remember last month we recognized uh Caleb for with our transportation department uh working here locally. Uh we've also recognized uh a student that had done a pre-apprenticeship at the EMS um at the fire department and then I mentioned earlier tonight about our students in nursing. So those are some new adventures for us. And then with the career development plans. So it's not necessarily new, but now it's that first group of eighth graders last year that we completed and we're that's a continuing phase, but now that group that cohort is now going to be uh sophomores. It's hard to believe. Um and we're going to be revising those career development plans. So, we're we actually have a meeting this week to talk through that because we're making some changes with
088the platform that we're using and hopefully that'll be a success for our families and for our students. And then, uh, opportunities and challenges. So, um, one thing that we want to try to do and and we we were really off to a great start is making sure that we've got some pathway partners for all these programs because, um, when we have a business partner that's the expert, they're so important to knowing the the latest, getting some good critical feedback. Um, so that's one goal uh, and challenge. Again, as I mentioned, the purposeful professional development and making sure that we're meeting those needs of our staff, the computer science graduation requirement. Um, so that that's going to be a challenge um because now students have to earn at least one credit before they graduate. And so,
089you know, we've made some adjustments there and we'll continue to adjust, but the challenge is the months of employment um isn't uh right now being increased to to meet that opportunity. So, when we're talking about four over 400 students each year when they starting with this upcoming ninth grade class, that's going to be that's going to be a challenge. But, we we've got some plans in place um closing opportunity gaps for all students. Um our team went to an opportunity gap workshop to get more familiar with those special population uh numbers and data. So, that's a goal of ours. We're always trying to increase that credential attainment rate uh because we feel like that sets up students for success. U and then finally I mentioned about securing some additional grants for our advanced manufacturing building
090and then the education and workforce innovation will which will actually provide some additional funding for our middle school career development coordinator uh to do some additional projects and work in our middle school. So, um, those are those are some opportunities for us and things that we're working on. Um, and I I'd be failed remiss to mention my staff who are outstanding. I would put them up. I say this all the time, but they are they are truly the best in the state at what they do. Um, and I I just applaud them because a lot of the things they were a part of this whole application. They met with me every month and we spent hours uh going through this. So kudos to them. Thank you. And wanted to know if you have any questions.
091Again, you you all will approve this plan next month, but I appreciate your time. I know it was a little long, but it was really important to me to share our story and just kind of explain how all these these things work. >> David, if you could go back, I think two slides to the challenges and opportunities. And so, a couple of thoughts and if y'all have any questions, certainly we can entertain those, but you'll have again action on this next month. I'll give you time if you have additional questions or thoughts to to connect with with David or our team up here to to help answer some of that. But when you look at this, there's a high school, particularly CTE programming, and and David talked about this some is very different than probably
092what we often think of or are used to when it um came to vocational education or some of those opportunities. But to me it can be summed up with the three E and I know you have heard about the three E. Um we want our students and our graduates to have an opportunity to enlist. And so when you think about now with the JREC pathway CTE helps us put some action behind what that looks like. And so then when you think about if it if if it's not enlist in the in the armed services then um it could be that we want them to be employable and ideally with a skill or a trade or a certificate or something that is gainful to our population. Again CTE helps us address and meet some of that.
093And then the third would be to enroll. And that could be enroll in a community college program. It could be enroll in a four-year university. And um there's obviously avenues for that enrollment process, but CTE again helps address that and address some of those those pathways. The critical part are the partners that are around in the room um that are at the table having those conversations. And um I know that some of you that have been on visits, I know Joe was at the DDC and saw the advance the machining night there and you see some of that and some of the partners with the community college, but then some of the businesses that were listed. That's a critical part of this which kind of leads me into my second comment and that's just an
094update on the advanced manufacturing building. partners in our county that recognize a workforce need and can contribute to that is critical. And we've had a lot of conversations with partners. And one of the things most recently that we've looked at is how do we get some some private funding for that and really exploring several grant opportunities. We had a meeting recently um Mr. couns and and some of some of our CTE team to see okay how what grant opportunities are out there um that we had learned of through the chamber and have started exploring some of those um having a conversation with the community foundation to see okay if we don't qualify as a school system perhaps we could go through the community foundation for some of these other big donors like the Lowe's grant
095I know that you've seen there's been I think I don't remember exact amount but lots of money that Lowe's has put up to some of that and so if we don't qualify as a school system, then how can we partner with a nonprofit like the community foundation or a business? And so, as you're out and about, um I just recommend if if you hear of opportunities or see a need and um a point of contact that you can direct me or David or somebody to reach out to that we could explore some of those avenues, we would love to know that because that's going to be critical to continue to move forward, particularly with that that last bullet, secure additional grants. Um, and obviously the advanced manufacturing facility is part of that, but then there's
096going to be needs in the years to come as we continue to evolve as a county. Um, you know, there's a lot of conversation and you just look and see data centers, logistics, all of the things that how our our society is advancing and the workforce innovation is advancing and we've got to prepare our graduates for that kind of environment. So, just wanted to to kind of elevate that conversation, point that out, and of course answer any questions that that you all might have as well. >> Any questions for Mr. Coons? David, thank you so much. Appreciate it. It's very informative. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay, Elizabeth, there's anyone signed up? >> There's no one signed up for public comment. >> Okay. Thank you very much. And with that, we'll take a motion to adjurnn.
097hesitation. Second, Michael is second. Any questions? All in favor, please rise. Thank you very much. Thank you guys.