001Good evening to a full house. This is wonderful. Standing room only. We thank you so much for being here and being interested in what is happening in Davy County schools. I do understand that most of you here for a special student recognition session. And uh but I want you to know that you're always welcome to come uh keep up with what's going on in the county. We have some regulars that that keep us straight and show up every week and we're appreciative of them as well. So, uh, thank you for being here. Our board has already adopted an agenda for tonight be in the beginning of our open session and the first thing on that uh agenda for the open session is a invocation. So, would you allow me please and please forgive me. I
002wanted to say um we had a student that was seriously injured in an accident during the spring break. Her name is Taylor and I don't know if anybody knows I I don't know very much about it. I only know what I've picked up from uh emails that Dr. Belture and Marie and others have sent. My point being uh some very serious injuries and ask you to uh keep her in your thoughts and and concerns and the family of course along with along with that. I don't know I don't know a lot of details but it's important enough for me to say that to you to you to ask uh keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Okay. God, we thank you for the privilege of coming here and uh taking care of business for Davy
003County Schools and represent our children and staff. And Father, we ask that you would just direct our decisions here this evening. Give us wisdom when we have to uh to to make decisions for our discussions. Help us to uh uh use those kind of things that would uh be a great influence and a great example for our children. Uh we do remember and ask that uh her body be healed very quickly. Uh bless this meeting in Jesus name. Amen. We want to welcome behind me and to my right is Elizabeth Troutman. She uh is substituting is what she called it for Gill Wilson who is our normal attorney. They both work out of the same practice. And if you don't believe it, she knows what's going on. I was so impressed in close session that
004she knew all these issues that uh is going on. And we appreciate you being here. >> I'm just the understudy, but I'm delighted an understudy. All right. Um, next on the agenda is to approve the open session minutes from our last meeting. >> Oh, sorry. I jumped ahead. Pledge of Allegiance is next on the agenda. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Now we'll ask for an approval of the open session minutes from the last meeting. You've received those already. Is there a motion to accept? Michael makes a motion. Did I hear a second from Joe? Any questions or comments about the minutes? Thank you, Carol, for your normal great expertise in writing
005this uh report for us. I'll approve. Motion carry 70. Next, you have on your in your agenda some important dates and remind us that we'll be together again Thursday uh to uh have a special call meeting regarding the uh budget preparation and giving uh our superintendent direction as he will need to take the budget to the county commissioners by May 1st. Is that right? Is that the law? So look forward to to learning from the staff on that meeting. Uh you'll get an opportunity to to uh see a really good challenging academic performance on April the 23rd. If you've opportunity to go to the Battle of the Books, uh it's going to be at Davy High School this year instead of here and starting at five o'clock. a if you get a get an opportunity
006to spend a couple hours away, you'll be impressed. It's a it's a good evening. All the other uh dates, I believe, are enclosed on your agenda and information. And so, at this time, we will turn it over to our superintendent, Dr. Belchure, for his monthly report. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, board. I appreciate again the opportunity just to give you an update about things that have been going on all across our school system over the last month. I will say that today one of the highlights we did have legislators in schools day or week and today was the day that we had some of our federal legislators representatives from Madison McDall's office and from Senator Ted Bud's office were able to come out and visit our CDA prek early childhood education program and then also
007visit the high school where there was a career expo going on. So, it was great for them to be able to see that firsthand. Our state representatives were tied up. They were back in session in Raleigh. So, they were could not make it, but certainly we'll hopefully be able to get an invite to them to be able to see some of the great things that's happening within those programs um sometime in the near future. So, we again just appreciate the opportunity to showcase and share some of the great things that's happening all across our school system. Uh we also want to um acknowledge that we recently participated. Um Miss Haynes and I were able to go to uh Wake Forest and for the ENCAP beginning of the teacher year recognition where Caitlyn Fletcher, who we've
008recognized here previously, um had a great kind of culminating activity where she had been at the truest leadership academy with other beginning teachers of the year um and just a great professional learning experience and then was recognized on the stage there at Wake Forest. Uh Tony Gibbons um has been recognized by the INCAT CTE teacher of the year for our county. He is a CTE teacher at William Ellis Middle School. So certainly congratulations to him. And then of course our HR team, they have been vi busy in the spring making their rounds at all of our spring job fairs recruiting and trying to get the uh reinforcements the new graduates from uh college and hopefully get them here in Davyy with one of our openings um for next school year. Then we've also um spent
009some time with uh curriculum and instruction. And you'll see a picture up here from our March 17th uh character ed day. Always a wonderful opportunity to be able to celebrate students that not only are successful academically, but also are successful, just good character. Um represent the values and and the things that matter. um some of those soft skills that are important and that we're able to recognize them and certainly appreciate that um from back in March. Also, the Davy County Community Foundation have been awarding a lot of grants. If you follow them on social media or if you see that in the enterprise, lots of opportunities. Our our school system, some of our schools at um at the school level and even uh up here at the district level had the opportunity to um be
010awarded and recognized several grants from the community foundation. and just want to make sure that we take time to express our appreciation to them publicly for what they do for the school system with those grants, but really um throughout the school year as well. Several of our administrators were in Raleigh earlier in the month participating in the NC TIS conference, which is a technology conference, just getting um opportunities to learn some of the the latest and greatest ideas that um are around instructional technology and networking and all the things that go in that are involved with um some of the technology you see around you on a and in our classrooms on a regular basis. So um certainly a great opportunity for them. And then April 6th through 10th, we were on spring break, but
011that was assistant principles week. And so just we appreciate our assistant principles and what they are able to do um every day to make sure that our schools are safe and orderly and that the our principles can be successful. So very important role. Certainly appreciate all of our assistant principles and the work that they have done. Um we continue to as uh Mr. Pototts mentioned earlier um look at the budget have conversations around budget. On Thursday we'll be having some more conversations and planning for next year's budget. So business and finance has been very busy um this time of year, not only working with budget but still doing all the other things that they need to do. So we appreciate that team and the work that they've done. Athletics and the arts, y'all. I mean
012MPAs, it's that time of year for um the performing arts where they've done their musical performance assessments and um have upcoming drama and theater presentations or performances. So, a lot of activity going on in the fine arts at the high school. Make sure you get out if you have the opportunity to get out and and see one of those wonderful performances and the hard work that they have done. Just a couple of quick things. Um we're going to hear from Jeremy Mueller who's our director of transportation. And I don't know about y'all, but if you've been if you've had to fill your car up with gas lately, it's um probably hurt a little bit more than what you might be used to. So he um and our our buses travel around um well, they use
013average 500 gallons of diesel fuel per day. And so you can imagine if you look at the diesel pump and can see what that costs, how much that costs every single day just to to fuel our buses. he's going to share just give you an update with some transportation and what that how that's impacting some things. But certainly appreciate um what our transportation department has been doing um to make sure that we still are able to run our yellow buses and our activity buses and do that in a way that that meets the needs of our students. Uh we had some um a couple of opportunities this this past month. I've been um in some classrooms and um been able to talk to some students. I've talked with fourth graders at Cornasser, Savannah and Isabella
014and they were talking about the art show that they're going to be participating in. Arts Smart, that'll be my first Arts Smart coming up. So, they were sharing with what that was like for them at the school level. I met Cash. Cash was a kindergartener. He was telling me all about the Titanic and tractors. Says he really likes playing outside and getting in the mud. And um and then at Pine Brook, I met the mayor of Pine Brook who was Whan. Um had a good conversation. And so lots of things. We were at um Shady Grove and fifth grade museum, a book museum where they were presenting some of the books that they have read. And um Laura and Isa shared that their favorite books. And I don't know some of these. I do know
015one of these. Smile was one of them. Some of y'all out there might know Smile and Juny B. Jones. I do know that one. I am familiar with it. So a lot of opportunities to have some conversations. Um and Mr. pots. I even think at a baseball game I saw you having a good conversation with Emanuel from uh the early college. Yep. >> Followed up on him too. >> Yes. And he was talking about, you know, we talk a lot about academics, but he was sharing um some of the extracurriculars and how that is an important motivator for him. So certainly um we have a lot of opportunities and being able to participate with um those extracurricular activities is always important. And finally, um I certainly want to take a moment and just publicly congratulate
016our chairman, Mr. Pototts. For those of you that have not um saw this in the news, he was recently honored as a 2025 EC Tatum Humanitarian Award from the Davyy Chamber of Commerce. Um that's just a way of say saying thank you for decades of leadership in our schools and our community and have certainly made a lasting impression on the lives of many. And so we certainly want to take a moment and just say thank you and give you a round of applause for receiving that recognition. And there you can see our chairman in action. Um just some of the things that he does. >> Well, I didn't know about the broom picture. >> Yeah, there you go. You never know when there's a camera on you. Board members, I appreciate it. That's all my
017updates. Thank you very much. Any questions for Dr. Belchure? Okay. If not, the next part of our uh agenda is our recognitions. And I want to u make a comment uh take a personal point privilege and then then I'll share a little bit about procedure. Many of the recognitions that we have here this evening, the coach of these students in many cases are coaches that are not full-time staff members in our schools. And I just want to take an opportunity and I'm sure our board would echo how much we appreciate having good and by that I'm talking about morally right uh dependable vol not volunteer coaches they're paid if if we want to call it that they'd probably say it's a it's a travel allowance or whatever but those folks that are not staff members
018are not doing it for the wrong reasons. And I just want to make sure that all of you understand that that we're so fortunate to have good people u who want to do those things because it is a tough job. There's a bunch of hours every week leaving their family and and and it costs a lot of them money and so we just say thank you to you. um those that are that are full-time staff members, we certainly are not saying that to take away from what you're doing. We couldn't do it without you as well. So, thank you to all of those folks. Secondly, we're going to try something a little bit different because of so many people here tonight and most of them are in our high school recognition programs. Once they come
019up and the coach or the person speaks, we typically take a picture and we typically take it right over there. But this evening, we're going to ask after the coach is finished, coach, if you will go out into the hall with your students and Karen, raise your Ray. Karen will be there. Karen Jarvis, I almost called her by her maiden name. uh Karen will be there to organize the pictures and uh then if you want to come back into session that'll be fine if you choose to go on home from there. We understand that. So, okay. So, with that introduction, our first uh presentation is to the men's basketball program. And I'm not sure who's speaking. Ben, come on up. All right. Thank you, Chairman Pototts, Superintendent Belchure for having us here tonight. Uh, the
020men's basketball team wants to come on up here at this time. As they make their way up here, I'll go ahead and start speaking. Uh, men's basketball team finished second in the MPC for the regular season. They reached the conference tournament finals for the first time in seven years. Uh, they won two playoff games for the first time in 14 years and finished the season with at least 17 wins for the fourth season in a row under coach Pitman. The team battled through adversity during the season while enduring a six-game losing streak which in which the team lost three players due to sickness or injury in a span of one week. Players remain focused, coachable, and committed to the goal of playing for each other. Their motto was we before me. They were able to
021turn the season around and go on a wonderful run to end the and have a successful season. The team had two conference players of the year, Noah Doulan and Ethan Driver, who I'll recognize momentarily, and four total allconerence players, Duelan and Driver, plus Cam Knox and Aiden Horton. Congratulations to these gentlemen on a great season. again. Uh, the next person I want to recognize first is Noah Dulan. Noah was voted on by the MPC coaches as the offensive player of the year. Noah averaged 20.4 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 2.2 assist, and 3.4 steals during conference play. He was also selected to the Winston Salem Journals fantastic 15 all area team. Congratulations, Noah, on a fantastic season. And the next person I want to recognize is Ethan Driver. Ethan was voted on by the MPC
022coaches as the defensive player of the year for the conference. Ethan averaged 20.6 points per game, 9.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 4.1 steals during conference play. He was also selected to the Winston Salem Journal's Fantastic 15 all area honorable mention team. And I also want to mention that he was selected to the Winston Salem Journal's all area football team back in the fall as well. So I want to congratulate him on this accomplishment. Good job. The next team I want to recognize is the women's basketball team. The women's basketball team finished uh tied for second in the NPC during the regular season and had an overall record of 16 and 10 on the year. They went 15-7 in their last 22 games. They won a home playoff game for only the third time in the
023last 20 years. Uh, I will say despite losing 70% of last year's scoring due to either injuries or departures, the team still finished the season with the second highest RPI ranking in the last 20 years, which is impressive. The team had two allconerence players as well and Olivia Smith and Emmy Burrus. Please join me in congratulating these ladies on a great season. I'd also like to real quick recognize uh and congratulate coach head coach Jeremy Altry. Coach Altry was selected as the NPC coach of the year for women's basketball. So congratulations coach. The next team we want to recognize is the competition cheer team. The uh competition cheer team which is coached by Angie uh stage on January 9th. These athletes competed in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state cheer competition at the
024Cabaris Arena in Concord. They competed in the small varsity D1 division and finished in second place. The team also had an all region cheerleader in Ellis stage. Please help us congratulate these ladies on their accomplishments. The next team we would like to recognize next teams are the men's and women's indoor track teams. Uh I'll go ahead and start as they come up here. The women's team finished in second place at the NPC championships. Clara Phelps won the pole vault and Alyssa Marian won the high jump and were both all conference. Carrington pitcher finished in second place in the long jump and the triple jump, also earning all conference honors. The men's team finished in third place at the MPC championships. AJ Sweep won the pole vault and finished in second place in the triple jump
025and the 55 meter hurdles, also earning all conference. AJ Hans finished in second place in the shot put and Bryson Lance finished in second in the pole vault to earn all conference as well. Between the two teams, we had 11 athletes qualify for the state championship meet. Both teams had great showings at the state championship meet at JDL Fastrack in Winston Salem. AJU finished in second place in the pole vault. Claire Phelps finished in third place in the pole vault. The boys 4x800 relay team, which is Avery Vanlenti, Jacob Stillman, Jackson Gay, and Ethan Lakey, finished in seventh place. The girls 4x800 relay team, which is Lexi Marion, Adeline Stillman, Reese Ry, and Kristen Starky, finished in seventh place. Kristen Starky placed eighth in the 3200 meters and was the only freshman to qualify. and
026Laya Hazes finished in 11th in the shot put and was only one of two freshman to qualify for that event. Several athletes also traveled to the Adidas indoor nationals at Virginia Beach. They included the boys and girls 4x800 relay teams, Ethan Lakey in the 1600, Alyssa Marion in the high jump, AJ in the pole vault, and Lexi Marion in the 800. Clara Phelps was the national champion in the national elite pole vault competition. Her clearance height was a personal best and a foot higher than at the state meet. Kristen Starky placed second in the freshman 3200 and fifth in the freshman 1600. Please help congratulate both of these teams on their accomplishments. The next teams I'd like to recognize are the men's and women's swim teams. The uh men's and women's swim teams are coached
027by Todd Karada, Chad Zulliger, and Katie Schae. Uh they are the 2026 uh conference champions for both men's and women's teams, which is the first time that we've ever won that. We had the men's swimmer of the year, which was Zach Hara, and the women's swimming swimmer of the year, which was Skyler Zulliger. And then Tatarada was voted the conference coach of the year for both the men's and women's swim teams. Um, we had several uh all-time Davy High records broken this season. Uh, we had four relay records broken, which was the boys 200 yard medley relay swam by Zack Hurata, Logan Zilliger, Zaden Gra, and Josh McBride. The boys 400yard freestyle relay, Zack Hurata, Zaden Gra, Josh McBride, and George Crowley. The girls 200 yard medley relay, which was Emily Emory Butler, Skyler Zilliger,
028Lily Wright, and Olivia Dofer. and the girls 200 yard freestyle relay which was Skyler Zilliger, Olivia Dufurer, Samar McDaniel, and Emory Butler. Also Skyler Zilliger, she broke the 200 yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle records. And Zach Herata broke the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard butterfly, and the 100 yard backstroke record as well. We also had several swimmers who were conference champions in their each event or who placed second which earned all conference honors as well. We had several regional and state participants this year. Uh girls we had Buchanan, Emory Butler, Olivia Dofer, Samar McDaniel, Lily Wright, and Skyler Zulliger. And for the boys we had George Crowley, Ethan Demer, Zayen Gra, Zack Hurata, Josh McBride, Luke Waller, Walner, and Logan Zulliger. And at the regional, Zach Karata, he placed second in the
029100yard backstroke, which was in the 7A West region. And then we also had several placements in the top 16, which was what scored at the state meet this year. Uh Zack Hurata, he scored in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. And then the boys 400 freestyle relay, the boys 200 medley relay, the girls 200 freestyle relay, and also the girls 200 medley relay. All scored at the state meet. So we had a great showing at the regionals and the state meet. Help us congratulate the swim teams once again. The last two teams I'd like to recognize are the men's and women's wrestling teams. Those teams are coached by Josh Stanley, Isaiah Whitley. Those teams are coached by Josh Stanley, Isaiah Whitley, Caleb Sperland, Jordan Nolan, Timmy Allen, Chad Lewis, and Russell Hilton. All right, first
030for women's wrestling. Uh women's wrestling finished in second place and was the 2026 MPC uh runner up for this year. Uh want to recognize especially Cara Henson. Cara was named the MPC lowerweight women's wrestler of the year for the conference. This is very impressive. We had three women's wrestlers who qualified for the individual regional tournament and one wrestler who qualified for the individual state tournament as well. Next, the men's the men's wrestling team was also the 2026 MPC champions. Uh T was the MPC lowerweight men's wrestler of the year. Very impressive. The team was also the 2026 regional champions and the 2026 dual team state champions. We were also the 7A West individual regional champions. We had four champions and one runner up on that day. We had five individual state qualifiers. Uh at the
031state competition, we finished in third place as a team. But individually, we had uh Elliot Gould, who was a state placer. He finished in third at the 157 lb weight class. We had uh Aiden Sephek, who was uh second and finished runner up in the 138 pound weight class. And then we had Andrew Davis who was the state champion at 150 pounds. And we had Carson War who was the state champion at 165 pounds. So congratulate help us congratulate once again for the 2026 North Carolina High School athletication dual team state champions and all these individuals for another outstanding seasons. Three Pete. Thank you once again for allowing me to come and highlight some of these athletes on their accomplishments for this past winter season. We had a lot a lot to be uh proud
032of. I will say one other thing I forgot to mention um and I I do want to mention because I think it's very important. Uh for the fall and winter sports, all but one of our teams were scholar athlete teams. So which I think that is very impressive. That's something we try to try to be uh and get every time. So again, thank you all. That's fantastic. Next will be our uh math fair participant and recognitions. >> Wonderful. This year this year had it first fair competition. It's part of a bigger event throughout the state hosted by North Carolina. So we were excited to bring it here. Participants explore their world through mathematics and then asked to give those world presentations as students move through the district level. This year we had participant from who
033used her love of war to create her own game using the multiplication. Uh from we had he destination Japan and so he shared with us all the costs and all the things you can sightsee while there. And then our last participant is Josie Reeds. Josie reads and she is a Girl Scout herself and took her project very seriously to find out if Thin Mints are really the bestselling cookie. It really depended on markets is what we found out because she could track her Lowe's, her food line, her online sales and Thin Mints was always in the top two but not always the winner. And then for our secondary participant, we had Ian Rarshad who investigated. So as an NBA sports fan, he decided to investigate when two teams played consecutive games. He felt like he
034noticed a trend that on the second game they did worse than on the first. So he compared those percentages and differentials to their regular season and found that they in fact did. And he also, it was interesting, looked back and found that that was a trend that previously had been like had come up. And so those did align even to current trends. So that was really neat. What's really cool is Ian participated talking about you and you're standing back there um in the regional competition and placed second. And so he is also a state qualifier and will represent Davey at our state competition at the end of this month. So we're proud of him. >> Is there any conversation at the Reside House other than math? a little bit some some mathematical family. Next is
035Caleb Thomas with the diesel mechanic program at Davy High. David, are you doing that one? >> Yes. >> Okay. And I've got I've got several folks that are that are joining me tonight. Um first off, I just wanted to say good evening, Dr. Belchure, Chairman Pototts, and fellow board members. First off, I I just want to take a moment all the the recognitions tonight. Aren't we blessed to be in a school district where we have such outstanding students, coaches, um extended staff members, and I just I just want to be grateful and thankful just to be a part of this district uh tonight. So, I just again I just wanted to acknowledge that. It's just kind of overwhelming to to sense the excitement. There were a lot of firsts tonight as well and this is
036one of them. And so, again, it's my pleasure to recognize Mr. Caleb Thomas tonight. Um, he successfully completed a pre-apprenticeship program with our transportation department and there were several folks involved in this. This is, as Mr. Wallace used to say, "This is one of those things that just doesn't happen." Um, and I hate that Miss Voyage was not here tonight. She was very instrumental as a part of this. But I wanted to bring up Jeremy Miller, our transportation director, and Miss Linda Robinson as well, uh, from Apprenticeship NC. And just to tell you a quick I'm trying to keep this short, but this uh, vision for expanding our workbased learning opportunities for our students. We're really big in that with career and technical education because we feel like when students get their hands involved in
037things and experience it firsthand, it really gives them a good idea of whether or not they enjoy something, a profession that they're interested in. And Elise does an outstanding job. She again uh was regretful not to be here tonight. Uh her daughter had a rescheduled volleyball game and she she's where she needs to be supporting her daughter tonight. So uh but I just wanted to compliment on what she did. Her and I attended a session. Believe it was u last fall uh when we actually took another group of students to Raleigh to present about a opportunity they had uh from Will Mr. Will Mars's class and we learned about pre-apprentice uh the pre-apprentice program and then also how districts can become a partner and grow their own talent. And so Caleb again is our first
038uh completer of the pre-apprenticeship program. And I want to invite uh Jeremy up because Caleb completed a summer internship program with our bus garage this past summer which started the conversation about developing a pre-apprenticeship for him to continue that work-based learning journey. And so obviously we partnered uh our school district was the sponsor for that. uh he completed that pre-apprenticeship in January and then like I said became the first pre-apprentice in Davy County Schools. So I'm gonna have Jeremy come up and kind of give you a little how the internship went and talk a little bit brag about uh Caleb. Come on up here. >> Good evening. Um so this all started last spring. Elise called me and said, "Hey, I've got a student who's interested in um being a mechanic." Um, so I said,
039"Let's set up an interview." So we set up like a mock interview. U we brought Caleb in um and interviewed him last spring and um after uh talking with him, I felt real confident. His mom and dad uh raised a fine young man. Um and so I went ahead and offered him a paid summer internship. Um we had lost a couple mechanics to retirement, so we had the funds to pay him, so we're able to do that. That may not always be the case, but um we were able to pay him 40 hours a week all summer. And uh like most of these sports teams, some some players or some employees have the it factor. This kid has the it factor. I mean, you put him whatever he does, whatever task we put him on.
040No complaining. Just jump right in. I said, "Hey, I'm really looking forward to the second semester because he was supposed to work this second semester with us." Um, but you know, the good Lord has plans. I had lost those two uh mechanics. I was a mechanic short and uh Caleb come in as schedule may have got messed up by out of high school, but um um anyway, he only he he was able to do the fall instead of the spring, which was perfect for us. Um he um really excelled um this fall. He's worked really hard. He's taken welding at DDCC first and second period and then he would come in and work with us until about 5:00 each day. So he's just been a joy to work with. I hope I can keep him
041at some point. Um that's my goal. Um but if not, he's going to do great. Um and this is just another opportunity where I think Davy County is really trying to reach all students. I will pick on him just for a second. Um I don't know if she's here or not, but one of the principles who's a principal now who used to be an assistant principal at the high school said, "Man, he was a tough student as a freshman. But you know what? We got him. We got him in the right career path thanks to CTE and and he's just flourishing." So to me, that's what it's all about. And and I would be remiss not to bring up Miss Linda Robinson. We're we such a pleasure to have her with us again tonight. I
042wanted her to speak on Caleb's next step, which is the apprenticeship that he has already started with our bus garage. He's still working with us. We're still growing him. And I wanted I'm uh pleasure to introduce Linda and tell you a little bit about that apprenticeship uh program. So, good evening everybody. Um, thank you so much for the opportunity just to get to work with the school system. It has been amazing. And you know, the program that Caleb participated in, it really came together quickly. And sometimes when you have a student that expresses an interest, you take advantage of that. And Jeremy stepped up and we we knocked out the paperwork with the state very quickly. and Davis and Davey has been an incredible partner as well to let us partner with them in their
043apprenticeship program, which is where Jeremy goes next. What you have not been told so far is that when a student who is in high school or has within 120 days of graduation, when they complete this pre-apprenticeship and they go into an apprenticeship, they qualify for what's called the state tuition waiver. And so that allows them to go to any of the 58 community colleges tuition free. Now there's still fees and books and stuff, but what we were talking about is that wow, we can take this Ignite Davey money and save that towards the next student that we have because hey, the state's going to cover tuition and I'm all about free. And so what Caleb's next steps are is he's doing his apprenticeship program where he's getting his related instruction at Davidson Davyy. He is
044doing his on the job training with you all with Jeremy growing your own talent pipeline right here as a diesel mechanic. He will come out of this with a journey worker credential and that is issued by the state of North Carolina but is recognized nationally and so we hope that he will not leave but this is something that is building his future and I'm so thankful that he is getting to do this right where he went to school. But I would be remiss if I didn't tell you some of the other things that we've been doing. And I'll make it quick because I'm wordy. And those of you who know me know I am wordy. But not only have we done a diesel mechanic apprenticeship, but we also have built an early childhood educator pre-apprenticeship.
045And so I know McKenzie was here and so we're looking to get students into that. Um, we've also built firefighter and our employer partner here is the town of Moxville, but we are also uh going to add the town of Advance as well. So, we're working on that as well. K12 teacher, Jinda, you are amazing. Um, so not only are you growing your own diesel mechanics, you're now working to grow your own teachers. So, we have a K12 teacher apprenticeship as well. We have 11 students in that. And the one of the other most recent ones is CNA. And we have four of those students who are at Trinity Elms. That's our um employer partner there. And this is the partnership that's going to be recognized by the governor at the end of the month
046on April 29th. He will be at Davidson Community College around 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. I don't think I've told you the time yet. Um but the governor will be there to recognize you all's efforts in making this happen. And so we are so excited about that. When we got the email the other day, I was just beaming that this is happening and the good work is being recognized. We're also in the process not only of porting Advanced Fire Department as an employer sponsor, uh we've met with Rice Barrel Company about a CNC machinist and then um earlier this week um I met with Johnson Insurance and they are looking to create a partnership as well. So this program It started less than a year ago and you we started with using a DPI pre-apprentichip for
047EMT to paramedic. You guys heard that at one of the last meetings. Now we have your first completer of your own program. And look, we've grown this by one, two, three, four, five occupations. Five. That's amazing. And then we've got two more in the works. So, thank you so much for this opportunity. Board members, I've placed at your uh table some information on short-term programs too from um Davidson Davyy, which is just a great reminder of some of those short-term programs that we need. And I don't know if any of you have had any work done on a diesel uh engine lately. It's some uh a lucrative profession to say the least. >> Mr. Coons, >> yes, sir. >> Would you come back to the podium? >> Yeah. >> Sorry. Would you make a comment
048about the fair that you had today and what's going on? >> Sure. And and again, I I really wish Miss Wardridge and um and our middle school career development coordinator, Stephanie Morris, they were instrumental in organizing the event today. Um we had uh a tremendous uh showing from anywhere from our our sheriff's department, several programs from Davidson Davyy Community College, uh State Employees Credit Union. I'm not including everybody because I'm I'm going to leave somebody off, but to see our again our students going through talking with potential employers, getting information, seeing things firsthand, just a great opportunity again to get um career exploration activities, uh making connections. Even Miss Haynes and and u her staff was there today trying to recruit students. Um and again, these these things don't just happen. and and we've got
049some great folks. I would put our CDC's I told Miss um I told Miss Stone the other day that I would put our CDC's up against anyone in the state just because of what they're bringing for our students, how they get them plugged in um and and open these opportunities for them to become successful citizens in our in our community. So, um, yeah. >> And finally, would you make a comment about what's going on Saturday >> horiculture >> plant sale? >> Oh, yes. Sorry. >> See, I need my wife here to keep me straight. She >> got something coming up Saturday. Sorry, you had me. Uh, yes. Too many things on your mind. >> Actually, I was talking to they they had a they were on a field trip today. That's why they weren't there.
050They were releasing trout up at Stone Mountain today. That's where they were today. They they grow trout in the uh um greenhouse in the aquaculture thing. And so, but yes, they've got a plant sale that's starting this Saturday. Thank you, Mr. Pots, for reminding me. And uh yeah, just some other great things going on with our our CTE programs. So, yep. >> Thank you. >> All right. Anything else? >> Okay. Okay. >> Dr. Belchure and I were talking today about what it was like when each of us have been principal in the past and how different it was. I'm telling you, the high school was so different. It's it's like you're in a different world than than what it was when Michael when you were in high school. No, not many years ago, right? All
051right. I >> Wesley Turner. One more recognition. I'm sorry to delay that. Miss Fraser, >> good evening board. I been excited to be at Ellis this year and learning all about the great community. And one thing I've been impressed about is our media coordinator really pushes local essay contest amongst our students. And uh recently the W Winston Salem Elks sponsored an essay contest in which students were encouraged to submit an essay at the school to the topic of what does service to your country mean to you? Wesley is a sixth grade student at Ellis. His uh essay was selected as a school winner to move on to the region which has now moved on to the state and he was first place sixth grade in North Carolina for this essay contest and his essay has
052now gone on to the national uh level. So we wish him all the luck as his essay goes on to the next level of competition. >> All right. Thank you board. On their agenda, the next item is consent agenda item number seven. Uh we've had a chance to look over it. There's six different parts to it. Uh are there any questions, discussion about it? If not, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? Mr. Jones makes a motion. Is there a second? Stephanie Hurst makes a second. Any questions? All in favor? Motion passes 70. Then on to our business items and the first one we'll call on Dr. Belchure. >> Thank you. Uh board members, you have before you two resolutions. Um it's budget season and these align nicely with this time
053of year as the general assembly reconvenes to look at budget during um the short session and upcoming long session. One of the things that um superintendents and school districts across the state are working towards is a common message um a a loud voice about the need for a state budget. And so what you have in front of you, and I won't read it just because I know that you can look over that and see what that says, but it's a resolution that's urging um the general assembly to pass a budget. Uh that sounds like a simple task, but if we all can get together and um I just encourage the board and recommend that we do approve this resolution so that we can forward it on to our state representatives, we can forward it to
054our local representatives to let them know that we are doing everything we can to be good stewards of our financial responsibility of our budget and ultimately um advocate for the passage of a budget. So that is the first item um Mr. pots that's before the board uh ur uh urging the the general assembly to pass a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year. >> Okay. Uh and I believe the school board association Marie I'm looking at you the schoolboard association sort of laid the groundwork for this. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Our last meeting at our last meeting um we spoke in depth about this and tried to make sure that we got all as many districts on board as possible. Um to do when I was speaking with Dr. Belchure, he made a great
055point in that this doesn't necessarily force action anywhere, but it does show that we're doing all we can to reach out to our legislators both locally and at the state level to really show how important and dire this is for us and that Davy County is on board for it so that if anyone asks, well, what did you do? This is another tool in our belt that we are doing. So, >> it's another statement of staff support too, I think. >> Absolutely. Yep. >> Is there a motion to accept the resolution? Michael makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Jones second. Now questions. If not, all in favor raise your hand. Motion carries. 70. And I believe you have another. >> I do. The second layer to that urging obviously the passing of the
056budget, but then is also um urging action on funding for our our special needs students, our exceptional children's program. As we've had conversations, you know that um we are not funded adequately for the needs of our our population. We have over 18% of our students that are identified as special needs, but yet we're only funded at 13 and a half percent maybe. um right now 13% but if we could at least possibly get a half percent from the general assembly ideally if there was a weighted formula that held harmless and in other words you would not take a a deduction in what is funded but if it went to a weighted formula could perhaps increase some funding opportunities as well. So, we are urging the the general assembly and the department of public instruction to
057have serious conversations at what those options look like and to really examine the funding aotment and how that is determined for our special needs programs across the state. Obviously, that would impact um some of our classrooms at the at the at the most basic level, the students in the classrooms. And that's what this resolution is intended to do is to kind of layer on top of the first. Now, let's make sure that we advocate at the classroom level and at the student level what those special needs students really need to have on a daily basis in their classroom. And so, that's the second resolution before you. >> Okay. Is is there a motion to accept the resolution as presented? >> Marie makes a motion. Is there a second? >> Uh I almost called you Joe.
058>> He would be close. gone as seconds. Uh, any questions or discussion? >> I just want to say I'm really glad that we're doing this and taking this this step forward. I think we're the seventh county in the entire state that is actually going forward with this resolution. Again, I just think it's so important specifically because in this resolution, if you guys have had the chance to read it, it talks specifically about Davy County and what our funds are and what we need and how it impact impacts us to not have the funding we need for our EC students. And so when this goes to our local officials, they will be able to see, oh wow, we're at 18%. Some other counties may be at 16 or 15% and the and how detrimental it can
059be to our students. So again, another step. So thanks guys and I think it's really important. >> Thank you for attending those board meetings and representing us there. Have a motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries 70. Next, we move to our committee and staff reports item 9.1. Um, David, are you back up? >> David and Ben, David and Ben both, I think, are uh going to give you the board. As you know, we um completed recently a hitting facility. And so, one thing that we have not brought before you is kind of the finished product of what that looks like. And so I asked them just to update you guys on what that looked like and and just to give you some information about that. So appreciate them coming here and sharing
060this information as well. >> Okay. I'm not sure if we'll have any pictures that go along with it or not, but um yeah, so the hitting facility was a major project that we had to get started. Um I know it's been in the in the process and um being talked about for the last at least year or two. Um finally, uh it all came together. Um it started construction towards the end of October, right around the 1st of November when um the batting cage that was in the place that the hitting facility is and now was deconstructed and moved down the right field line at the baseball field. Um once that happened, uh we had several people to start coming in and things started moving pretty quickly. Um the ground was leveled, prepped, um forms
061were made, concrete was poured. Um and then by really the 1st of December, you had uh the building being started to be erected uh towards the end of November. Actually, it was right around Thanksgiving. Um and then the building itself got erected. Um and then HVAC got installed. Once that was installed, um maintenance department, um Jeremy and them, they came in and they did all the electrical in there, installed the lights, um wiring, outlets, and things like that. And then once everything of that passc code and inspection, we was able to get in there and do the interior work um inside the facility. Uh as you can imagine, a metal building, it was literally just the metal frame. And so once we was able to get inside, uh the walls have now been taken care
062of. They were boards were put up. They were painted. Um so you don't just see a bunch of metal frame in there. There was padding put on both ends uh to try to dampen some of those I guess blows that the baseball and softballs could hit the walls um so to speak. Um there was turf put down. Um turf was installed by UDC Sports. Uh they're a very reputable reputable sports uh turf uh business that they do that. Um they put down the turf. The the field for that was put in and so everything was pretty much completed around the second week of January. uh we were able to get in there and actually have some some teams get in there right around that time and start uh utilizing the facility. Um there are also
063three cages inside the facility. There is there are two 55 foot uh cages and one 70 foot cage. And so, uh, we've got it set up to where when you come in the facility, there's a kind of an open area, so teams can meet, uh, they can do kind of some drills right there, hit off the TE's, u, and then we have the 70ft net kind of running down the length of the wall on one side. And so, in that cage, you can actually split it in half, and you can have up to four people hitting in there at one time. You can also keep that 70 foot cage open. you can put a portable mound in there and we've had pitchers using it to throw uh bullpin sessions as well. And so the way
064we've got it set up now is uh baseball and softball at the high school. Each team has kind of utilized certain days and times that they're we've kind of got divvied up so that it's fairly used between the two teams. uh they know who goes first for like an hour and a half and then the the next team goes second and we have a rain schedule and that's been a biggest blessing because obviously when it rains they it's hard to go inside with baseball and softball in the gym. You're just hitting whiffle balls. So this has allowed them to get inside and really utilize that space and uh really just have a normal so to speak practice and not lose any days. Um the project right now um I want to say uh we got
065a brok broken down uh budget report. Uh it's it's sitting at about $113,000 $114,000 that's been spent and paid for. U for the total building and interior cost. Uh that number does not include exterior funding that's still kind of being worked on. Uh the exterior uh surrounding the building and the existing red shed that's there. Uh we've had some rock and drainage stuff put in there as well around the backside to help with the drainage issue. Um and so that's not been factored into the cost, but um you know, the baseball account at the high school uh they donated or they contributed $20,000. The softball account was $5,000. The athletics account was 15,000. We had um a budget line item from the school district for $13,78611. Uh Brack Bailey Foundation, they uh gave 15,000. Uh
066donation from Koi James for his NC Gatorade player of the year last year was $1,000. The Davy Youth Complex first pitch dinner raised and donated and gave $8,000. And then the DC Diamond Baseball Club has contributed $35,21325. So right at $11314,000 have been spent to date on the facility. Um that doesn't include other donations that we've been given to help fund and and make the project possible. U for example, Twin City Rebar, they gave around $3,800 worth of materials. Moxville Concrete, $4,000. Vulcan Materials, Smith Grove site, $11,400.75 worth of materials. Cornet Solutions, which you may have seen some of their pictures up there. Um, the labor and machinery that they have put into it was around 10,000. Topline HBAC, $12,000. Um, a roller to flatten the level surface was donated by Ed Robertson with Sunb
067Belt Reynolds for 1,500. Fuller Welding made two six-foot eagle heads that are going to be put on the outside of the facility which were valued at 5,000. And then all the work that went into the interior uh making it look nice with the the walls, the trim, paint, brackets, cabling, nets, and pitching wall was $13,750 for a total of $61,450 in just extra donations that have been put into the project. So, it has been a a big undertaking. It is been a a quick really process over the last few months and the teams have really been able to utilize it uh and take advantage of it. And so, just thankful to everybody who helped make that project possible. If there's any questions I can answer about it, I'll be glad to or if David wants
068to add anything. I'll just say this again, another example of many, many things and folks and people involved. I I would be I think we'd be remiss. There were others that probably were not mentioned tonight. So, I just want to make that again. Multiple folks u were a part of this. Teams were involved that there was a there was a golf tournament that was put on. Um just a lot of folks that were that made this possible. And again, um it's it's a something that's addressing um you know, providing an indoor space. spring sports there's all of course this year it's been a little dry but u spring sports it is can be a challenge I can attest it used to be a big challenge up in the mountains it was a constant rain or
069snow and so it it is it is a blessing for these two teams to have this space in in case of bad weather and just a a place to to train and prepare. So >> thank you guys. We appreciate that a lot. >> Yeah, Ben and David, thank you so much. What a great school year. I think this meeting has been really a showcase of CTE and some of the athletics over the I don't know we have a couple months left but your work does not go unnoticed and we're so grateful to have both of you in our district and everything you do for our kids and the successes of our department. So, thank you for all you all do. >> Thank you. >> Well, I'd be remiss to say what what you talked about
070coaches. There's there's many people involved. all of our coaches. We had several coaches of the year, our teachers, our our extended staff, they do the they do the grunt work. They they make our they make our life easy um and and doing doing the great things that they're doing. So >> yeah, so credit where credit's due. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> And that kind of stuff doesn't happen without good leadership. So thank you for what you guys do. >> Okay. Jeremy Miller, transportation gas price report. Hello again. Um, so tonight I'm going to talk about fuel prices a little bit. Um, because all of our buses are diesel, we don't want to put any gas in there. Um, but um, I kind of got a breakdown for you for the last five years. Um,
071I'm just going to talk about the average cost per load. And when I'm talking about an average cost per load, I'm ordering about 7500 or 7,500 gallons per load. Um so 2122 was um just under $24,000 a load on average. U 22 23 was um close to $25,000 um a load on average. uh 23 24 um started seeing some decline and went down to $21,000 um a load. Um 24 25 went down to 17 um 174 load. Um and then this year we've been on pretty good pace. The last two loads that we bought um were close to $15,000 over than what we had been paying um previous or right around it. So um for the year we're averaging about $21,000 a load. Um I'm really going to try to stretch it out and maybe
072only buy a couple more loads between now and end of school year if I can. Um, so I'm projecting us to spend right around um um which that'll put us around $22,000 a load if if the prices kind of hold where they're at. I know we're not seeing much relief at the pumps. Uh I saw diesel today $599 some places $579. Our cost right now is about $4. Uh the state contract cost is $410. Um, so I try to shop the contract and and our vendor uh to see who's the cheapest for that week uh or that day. Um, so overall I can just say um right now we're we're um sitting about $30,000 ahead of budget from last year. Um, of course these fuel prices are going to eat into that. Um, so um,
073you know, my main thing I want to share tonight is we've been here before. um fuel prices two, three years ago for the year was a lot more than what we're paying right now. Um we've seen it with hurricanes and different natural disasters. Um so, um if we were sitting at September, I'd be really nervous. Um but going into the end of the school year, I think it's something we can sustain. Um and I think we're in pretty good shape. So, does anybody have any questions? All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jeremy. And McKenzie, >> preschool program is up next. >> Yes, it is. And so I'm going to um McKenzie is going to come up and be available to answer any questions, but I I wanted to just give the board an update.
074I know that um we've had a lot of conversation about um trying to find opportunities to expand expand prek early childhood education services across the district. And part of those has been conversations related to the former Mudpies facility um at the Brock Center in in the the lower level of the Brock and are or right now that the county is updating that space and um preparing that so that it can be used for uh child care or early childhood education. And so that process is ongoing. Um, one thing that so for us some of our next steps right now and and McKenzie has kind of been um, tasked with working with parents and families that are on the wait list for some additional child care or early childhood education for that space if we're able
075to work out an agreement with the county to use that space. So, she's notifying families um that are on the wait list there. we're and I'll let her just talk a little bit about the difference between the current um facility at CDA and what that facility would look like because there is a little bit of difference and with that little bit of difference does come a rate difference as well for families that potentially would would use that um for their their child child child care needs and then of course after that um we'll move forward with having conversations and um Brooks Pierce has been working with us on updating an ano you that we could present to the county and get some some firm details on what that would look like as well. Hopefully, we'll
076have that um before you pretty soon so that we can kind of finalize some of those steps. Obviously, we've got to um get with the county and work through some of those details as well. So, McKenzie, if you want to just share with us a little bit of the difference between the the two opportunities. >> Yeah. So, um, when I spoke with you guys in the few months ago about our program, I talked about the funding and how we have the braided funding at, um, JC where we have EC dollars and we have DSS dollars and we have private pay. Um, and that would be completely different if, um, if we expand into a private childare facility um, that's own owned that's at the Brock. So, all of those families would be private paying families.
077Um, and so what we've been doing as we've been having these conversations is just kind of building some some systems in place of what that would look like. Um, what the calendar would look like, what those job descriptions would look like, what the tuition structure would look like. Um, we did a cost study. We called around to all the places in Davey and worked with Clay. He put some numbers in a spreadsheet that I didn't understand, but um, it all came out to be comparable to what we're offering for families now. But our program at JC is a 10-month program that runs with the school calendar. And our instructional day is from 8 to 2:30. Um, and this program that we're looking at expanding to would run 12 months a year from 7:00 a.m. to
0786:00 p.m. Um, and would not run the school calendar. So like for example, those two weeks in February, we had all these remote days for snow. Preschool was also closed. Um, but that would not be the case um, in the new facility. So with that comes a different tuition rate. Um, and I don't know how detailed you want me to get in talking about that. Um, but that's kind of what we're looking at right now is the 103 people who are sitting on the wait list. Um, when they called and put their name on the wait list, they were expecting um, what our current offering is. And so, we've been actually today sent out an email saying, you know, we'd like to move forward with talking to you about some opportunities for additional classrooms next
079year, but that really is going to have to be like a a a phone conversation. I don't I can't put all these details into email. Not all of it's finalized. I've said the word pending county and state approval like a hundred times today, but we sent the email. I drove to cool to do a classroom observation. I came back to 27 voicemails in an hour and a half. So, um, people are really excited about it and we're just kind of quietly putting those systems in place, explaining to parents what the offerings will be um, and seeing if if we're going to be able to move forward to make sure that we have the enrollment in place. >> Thank you, McKenzie. That's that's important information. But one of the key things that I that I want
080the board to hear and understand is we're we are trying to um address a problem that's bigger than all of us in this room with child care and the availability of child care. And um we don't own this problem necessarily as a school district, but if we have opportunities to where we can, you know, make a small effort to make a difference, I think it's important that we do that. Um and so it's not perfect. In full transparency, there will be a lot of things that we're going to have to work through to make this happen that we're going that the county is going to have to work through. A lot of effort and conversations going to have to take place. The um our um our legal representation is going to have to give us
081some strong guidance on what needs to be in thatou and and so there's a lot of um still steps to go through to make this happen. But I wanted to at least let you know that we are having that conversation with parents. Those are individual conversations based on the weight list so that they can um have some understanding of of what that would look like and we can start um looking towards August and what it could look like to get that facility operational. And of course if y'all have questions and I know you might, we're here to try to answer those the best we can. >> Can I ask a question Mackenzie? So thank this is really exciting. I know the county needs more care like this really badly. So it's really exciting. Will there
082still be kids with special needs like there is at the current facility? Will it be open to them? >> No. So, the Central Davy Developmental Preschool is our developmental day school. And so, that center will stay the same. And then we have a classroom at Canancer that is also licensed developmental day. And we're looking at opening one at Cool Me that's licensed developmental day. But the new license that we're pursuing potentially at the Brock would not be a developmental day license. Okay. And then because it doesn't go with the school schedule, you said, would >> would it still be a curriculum based instruction like you all do, which is amazing, >> which is a a question that I got a lot today. And there'll still be school employees. Um, it will still be run by
083the same admin team um that runs all of our preschool programs on the current seven campuses. We're just expanding to an eighth campus. >> And remind me of the ages. It's starting at ages one to five. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And so the other thing I didn't mention is we're looking at opening with a capacity. We're looking at 53 spots that we feel like we can start. It will build the capacity of that building um for childcare is 89. So it's not very it's not really it still doesn't meet the need. >> Um and but we're going to try to start with four or five classrooms with about 50 kids and kind of build from there. And will there be half I'm sorry for all the questions. Will there be half day opportunities or is
084it just full days? >> Um, probably not. We'll probably be able to fill those spots full time. >> That's great. >> Yeah. >> Thanks for all the work you're doing. >> Yeah. >> Any more questions for McKenzie? >> Thank you. >> Let me add one other thing. when she talks about her fee structure everything just if you have questions she's not making a lot of money in this so the fee structure is will be different than where we are th this is not a cash cow for us I mean the first year we I don't know that we will break even we'll come close but with every thing what that we're doing and everything else this is not a huge money maker for us and and so if you hear conversation in the community. Please
085be an advocate that that we're we're trying to do what we can pay our bills and and still provide the service. >> I think that's important to say that our budget is totally separate. So, we're self-sufficient. So, we pay all of our preschool expenses with our revenue. So, it's not mixed or mingled in any way. We're separate. So, we have to have a tuition rate that will pay our our salaries. Yeah. Thank you, Cliff. As a former superintendent used to say, good stuff. Are there any signings for public address to the board? >> No one has signed up for that. >> Nobody has signed up for public. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. All right. Then with that, I'll accept a motion to adjurnn. Any mighty mo. be fine. Joe second. All in favor, show
086hands. Motion carries. 5 Z 70. Two of them haven't voted yet. >> They're still not listed.