001one person who's going to be running. Are the others in this audience that have signed up to run for the board of education? Kim Mccclure I know is the one. Would you stand up and say your name, please? >> My name is Van Jones. Van Jones, thank you for being here and thank you for for running. And there's another one and I'm uh not sure of the of the name right now, but we thank you guys for wanting to serve staff and and children. Uh also recognize our county manager. We don't get an opportunity to see him in meetings very much because he's in a meeting of his own about every night, I think. So, welcome, Brian. We thank you for coming this evening. Um, in your packet there's some uh dates and and information
002that I would call your attention to. One is, as I just said, welcome to Brian. The county commissioners dates are in our packet and anytime you get an opportunity to go, I'm sure they'll appreciate the support of board of education. If you can go to one of their meetings on a Monday night, u try to do that. Um, I believe it's appropriate to say uh last night the county commissioners took some action on um act on the uh declaring surplus the building that they had gotten from us that old Cherry Street building the 220 Cherry Street. And so, uh, we're glad that they're moving on with their process and, um, glad they moved so quickly once they they got all everything organized. So, thank you, Brian. Tell your commissioners we appreciate it. Next on the
003agenda is the superintendent's report for January. Dr. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and madam vice chair, board members. Um, it's hard to believe that it is 2026. Happy new year to everybody. I know that we're excited about what the year holds and uh what is in store for Davy County Schools in the future. I would like to start off just by recognizing and giving a shout out to Caitlyn Fletcher. She's a finalist for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teachings um 2026 Beginning Teacher of the Year award. And Caitlyn teaches sixth grade at North Davy. She is one of 27 finalists um selected to participate in the beginning teacher of the year program. And of course that will include some some special recognitions on down the road. But it does allow her the
004opportunity to also participate in the truest leadership uh center and some of their training in March which is an outstanding opportunity. So congratulations to Caitlyn on a job well done. Very much deserved. Those the state will announce a winner um at a later date but I did want to just make sure that we took a moment and recognized her. I also have some thanks that I want to give out as we kind of um wrapped up 2025 and came into 2026. the First Presbyterian Church of Moxville. Um they have a community breakfast each month and in December they um supported our student services and some of our student needs with the proceeds that are given um at that breakfast. So we certainly appreciate them. And then RISE um they hosted the first ever reindeer games
005over the break. We had over a 100 elementary age students that were part of that program and so we greatly appreciate them working with us and just giving our students that opportunity um at the start of of Christmas break while they weren't in school. they were able to get some of that energy out in preparation of Santa Claus. So, it was it was great to to be able to see that and to for them to have the foresight to provide that opportunity. I will say, as many of you probably have experienced over the break, there's been a lot of sickness, a lot of um coughing and sneezing and fevers and all of that stuff going around over the break. So, it may have been a little bit of a different break for some families. Um
006they may have been touched by that. If you were not, thank goodness you you were spared this time, but we've seen a little bit of a drop in our attendance throughout December because of some of the illness. Um, and certainly um understand that, but we are continuing to monitor and appreciate um our parents cooperating and understand why you maybe didn't have students in school if they weren't feeling well, but continuing to look at that just a small drop in our December attendance. We um are wrapping up the semester on January 16th. And so, thank you to all of our administrators for um their work the first semester as we start to lean in towards a second semester and um it's always good to reflect and to think back about what went well and what we
007can continue to do to improve and have those conversations. Um of course, we'll be out of school on January 19th in recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. And then January 20 20th, we'll have a professional day for staff, no school for students. It's a good way for us to kind of get started with the second semester. And then finally, I'll just bring you some updates from the North Carolina Department of Instruction Board. And there's obviously been a lot of conversations throughout the fall and leaning into the winter about the general assembly still not passing a state budget. We're continuing to monitor that, get feedback from our legislators and some of our representatives on how that process is working out. Our understanding is, and this um may be new information for some of you,
008but it it's public information, is that the House and Senate right now are really at a stalemate over some of the budget forecasts um that are coming out and re and whether or not they should continue tax cuts or increase tax cuts. So, unfortunately, um there's not been a new full budgets. We've been operating under many budgets which allows us to basically sustain and maintain our current services but no new expenditures. So we're still monitoring that. We don't anticipate that there will be a full state budget until later in the spring if then. So I wanted to give you that update. Continuing to monitor that makes it difficult but it's part of what we are kind of accustomed to this op this year. So we've been making it work. There's also been a lot of
009conversation in the news and the media about the Department of Education and transferring some programs out of the US Department of Ed. And so there have been some programs that have been that have been transferred out. We don't anticipate any funding impacts by that. But just to note that most of those have been transferred to the Department of Labor. That includes titles one, two, three, four, and five. Um impact aid education for homeless children and youth. and then several competitive grants. So, we're continuing to monitor that and um NCDPI naturally is communicating back with school districts about any kinds of impacts that that might have as far as the state level goes. There's also been a lot of conversation about shifting um the allotment formulas from a right now we get our allotments based on
010a formula that's been around for quite a while. There's been some conversations about shifting to a weighted allotment formula. Um, and that right now with 35 states do have a weighted formula. There's been some concern about smaller districts being negatively impacted by a weighted formula. Um, so the superintendent Mo Green has expressed he's he's not necessarily opposed to a weighted formula provided that it provi provides sufficient funding for all school districts, not just those that are larger or those that have um more opportunities. And so he is continuing to to have that conversation and keeping all of us um across the state within public education aware of what of what that conversation looks like. So stay tuned. I'm sure that might be something that you start to hear more about in the coming months. And
011then finally, I will just close by saying that January is schoolboard appreciation month. So, I want to take a moment just to express my appreciation to um our our board and it's an honor to serve with you. I appreciate the time that you put in to make our communities and our schools better. It's not always easy and sometimes the decisions are difficult, but certainly appreciate your advocacy and support as we continue to do what's best for our students all across Davy County. So, thank you and I will um give y'all a round of applause and hopefully that y'all will join in with me to express our appreciation. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks. All right. Thank you very We will begin with Dr. Belchure for the first presentation. Thank you. So in December, I had
012the um honor like and and some of you are very familiar with being um the signature school and the award ceremony. Y'all have participated in that. that's part of our regional recognition for our um our region in Winston Salem. And we have a video that we're going to watch that just gives you a little bit of background about this year's signature school that was recognized for Davy County. Um as we begin to watch that video, I would like to recognize Miss Karen Jarvis and John Marshall who prepared this. There were a lot of videos and y'all this right here is is fantastic. It sums up um what South Davyy is all about and why we recognized them last month. So, let's watch this video. Our kids want to be here. They love school. Um our
013our teachers are champions for them. >> Today I will give my best effort, expect to succeed, >> respect myself and others and show self-control. >> If they say things every day, it it it begins to sink in and they realize I can succeed >> and succeed. They have winning the battle of attendance and exiting low performing status. >> Attendance is has been a huge win that we've got from the house system. how we can increase attendance, you know, how we can get them motivated and get them coming to school. Um, then we started really looking at intentionality. What's your purpose? What's your goal? That became the questions that drove every decision, getting everybody on the same page, digging into standards, making every PLT very purposeful. A kid wants to be loved. They want you to
014see them, hear them, and just respect them. South Davy just has some really, really amazing students. >> And so when we think about that, that kind of success and recognition does not happen automatically. It takes a lot of work, a lot of effort on the part of the staff, the families. And um my understanding is that this has really been about a fouryear in the making recognition. That's how much work and commitment um that uh the teachers and the staff and the administration have given over the past several years. So Miss Moore, I'm going to ask you and your staff to come up so that we can recognize you. Anybody from South Davey um that is here, we want you to come up. We want to get a picture and want to make sure that
015we all recognize and celebrate you as well. So South Davey, come on up. Thank you. Next we have the William Ellis Middle School Tri County Varsity Boys Basketball Champions. And the presenter is Oscar Dixon. Good evening everyone. This evening, we are here to celebrate a feat that is as rare as it is impressive. To the William Ellis boys varsity basketball team, look at each other for a second. You achieved something most athletes only ever dreamed about. You didn't just win, you dominated. You went through the entire conference schedule without a single loss on your record. You are undefeated champions. Success like this doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes a village to power a perfect season. And we need to recognize the people who work tireously behind the scenes. To our administration and athletic director,
016thank you for providing the leadership and the environment where our student athletes can excel. To our bus drivers, you are the unsung heroes of every road win. Thank you for the long hours and for getting our boys home safely. To our bookkeepers and timers, we often overlook the precision required at the table. Thank you for your focus and your time. You make the game possible. To the parents, the trophy belongs to you, too. From the late afternoon practices to being the loudest voices in the stands and the anticipated pregame meals, your sacrifices are the foundation of this championship. Now, every championship machine has a motor that the crowd doesn't always see. I want to specifically recognize Coach Mr. Crowley. Coach, your dedication is the hidden yardage that won us this title. Whether it was staying
017up late at nights to work on game plans, breaking down practice sessions and games, or being the steadying voice when the pressure was at its peak, your your commitment has been absolute. You didn't just coach basketball. You modeled what it means to show up with passion every single day. Mr. Crowley, you are a vital part of this legacy. To the players, being undefeated isn't just about talent. It's about resilience. When you go undefeated, you carry a target on your back every single game. Every opponent gave you their absolute best shot because they wanted to be the ones to break the streak. But guess what? You didn't break. You stay composed. You played to the name on the front of the jersey and you trusted the brother standing next to you. The title is now a
018permanent part of the William Ellis history. Years from now, students will walk past the trophy case scene, undefeated content champions, and they'll wonder, "How did you do it?" The answer is simple. You did it with heart. You did it with brotherhood. And you did it with an unwavering refusal to lose. Soak this in. These are memories you'll keep for the rest of your lives. You have earned the right to be called champions. Congratulations, and thank you. Thank you. Congratulations, guys. And audience, may I say if you'll just wait till uh we've recognized all the groups. Uh we'll give you a 30 second break there so we can uh leave if you need to go do homework and that kind of stuff. Next, Piper Schilling will be recognized by our high school principal, Cindy Stone. >>
019Good evening, board. It is my privilege to announce to you our winner of the Center for Safer Schools Kindness Changes Everything poetry competition and that is Miss Piper Schilling. She actually not only participated in this event but won a Chromebook to take home from the Center of Safer Schools. So, we were excited about that. And I'm going to let her read her poem for you guys. I do not know the burden another carries. I do not know the names of their sorrows, the way some memories may resound, or how silence works when it presses too hard upon their breast. There is too much hidden in the folds of a life. Grief that never learn to speak. Fear that poses as a smile in order to go unannounced. A dream that shatters quietly, unobserve, unobserved by
020everyone. And because I do not know, I am unable to choose cruelty. I cannot sharpen my words into swords that stab what I do not see. I can't take hold of what might already be broken and fragmented. I do not belittle. I do not bully. Because even though I might not see the whispered battles one fights, I do know the choice I have to hurt or to heal. And I want my being to be the reason someone finds this world a little kinder, a little softer, and a little easier to bear. I try to walk lightly through the world, to scatter light in small ways. I'd rather leave warmth marks wherever I am able, opening doors, not just with my hands, but with myself. Remembering the forgotten, bringing gentleness to a world that all often
021is too harsh. No act is too small, even in the tiniest moment. A glance that says, "I see you." A word that says, "You are not alone," can change the shape of a day, maybe even the shape of a life. If you recall last board meeting, I said something about the wind ensemble and their performance on Veterans Day. And so tonight, we're going to have a chance to see some of those and and have them recognized. And so don't know who's going to speak first. Mr. Bruce. Okay, great. Um, good evening everyone. Um, my name is Matthew Persona. I'm the band director at uh the high school. Um, thank you to our school board, Dr. Belchure and our central office staff for this special recognition. Um, in April of 2025, uh, a group of 54
022kids, uh, worked on and performed several pieces of music. Um, they it was a really special group of kids. And when we got to the end of our assessment time, um, I was talking to the other band directors and they said, I think this group of kids could do this. Um and so they were we applied to perform at state conference. There was one there were uh 24 other applicants, high school applicants across the state of North Carolina and there was a blind panel of judges that listened did not know who they were listening to and talking to some of those judges who are my friends. Uh they said we listened to that group and said this group has to play. Um it's one of the best groups we've ever heard and they have to
023play at the conference. Um so performing at our state conference is is a huge accomplishment. Um and so it's a truly special one uh for our program, for our school, and for our school district. And in fact, this is the first ensemble music ensemble that was ever selected to perform at the state music conference from the from Davy County schools. Um so it's a huge accomplishment for these kids. Um, I tell I say this all the time. Davy County is a truly special place. We're recognizing some amazing kids, um, athletes. I was a three sport varsity athlete and I'm a band director right now. Um, so, uh, we I think it's fantastic that we're able to recognize state champions. um that we're able to recognize amazing poetry um and wonderful musicians all in one evening.
024It's a truly special place. Um we have wonderful kids. We have wonderful parents, teachers, and administrators. Um but I think the truly magical thing is the support that this community has for our kids um in our school district. So, thank you to all of that the group of people that make Davy County so special. Um, I do want to introduce some of the kids behind me as well as a couple that are out in the audience right now because they are were also part of this group. Um, these kids are Kate Wilson, Ava Garry, Yasmin Chambers, Zoe Hendricks, and Roman Christensen. You heard from uh from Piper a few minutes ago. She's also a percussionist in the wind ensemble. And then you'll hear you'll see Katie Beth uh in a in a few minutes as
025well in another recognition. But uh these are just seven of the 54 kids that performed uh this past November at the state music conference. And it's only 54 of the 170 plus kids that are in our high school program. Um I couldn't be more proud of the kids. They worked really hard tirelessly for days and days and days uh to prepare for that concert. There were many uh people that were in attendance. It was the highest attended high school concert in the past five years of the state music education conference. Um so it's it's a huge accomplishment for our kids. Uh it's an honor to stand beside these kids um uh to accept this recognition on behalf of the wind ensemble. Thank you all. And if you ever need a public speaker, just look to
026Ava. She got up there and spoke that morning with no notes and just made us all very proud of her. appreciate her leadership. She has a title. What was that title of that? >> Business manager for the wind ensemble. That's pretty cool. My book. Okay. Next recognition will be for the baby players and it will be recogniz uh presented by Chad Edwards. Good evening everyone. My name is Chad Edwards and I'm the theater arts teacher at uh Davy County High School. Um, in this past November, for the first time in school history, our uh Davy Players Theater program advanced to the state of uh the North Carolina Theater Conference uh high school play festival. Um, this was a very special uh treat for us and I could not be prouder of the people behind me.
027Uh both of our plays, we advanced from regional um competition and only two plays uh from each of the eight regions advance to state. Um both of our plays at the regional receive superior ratings which was the highest rating you can get. Um but unfortunately only one of those can go to state and they selected our production of Anatomy of Gray. Our other production of Brian the Comet was very wellreceived as well. Uh you'll see cast members behind me from both shows that wanted to support each other which um shows the uh the support and testament of these wonderful wonderful wonderful students. They make me proud to work at a school where I have support and in a county where we support the arts. So I appreciate that and the recognition as well. Um so
028thank you for that. I would also like to quickly recognize um that um one of our students was recognized for excellence in design and production. One of the the 10 awards that were um uh awarded at at state um that is our stage manager for production. She's in charge of everything that happens on the stage and once I do my job, it's her show. And uh she did an amazing job and they recognized her wonderful work. Um, so for excellence in design and production for the North Carolina Theater Conference High School Play Festival in 2025, um, Angelina Perez. Thank you. We're going to take about a 30 second pause. If any of you feel the need to go do homework and have dinner and those kind of things, we certainly will understand. Dr. Belchure and
029I were just talking during the break and I made the comment about I bet the grade point average of these students were probably better than our average grade point. Of course, he's already been on that. he had already checked it out and uh verified that that was the case. It's it's amazing that kids who are involved in extracurricular activity also do well in the classroom. So, okay, moving right along. The next item on our agenda is the consent agenda. Many of it has to do with our financial reports and human resource reports. Uh is there a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? >> Joe makes the motion. Is there a second? Maria is second. Any questions regarding the uh consent agenda to any of the staff members? If not, all in favor, please
030show hands. Thank you. Motion carries 70. Next, uh call on Mrs. Haynes for the decision and or excuse me, the recommendation for a school calendar. >> Thank you, Chairman Pototts. board members um actually bring to you two calendars tonight. The first calendar is the traditional calendar. If you'll remember the last couple of meetings I've presented to you and in December, I brought to you two options that the calendar committee had developed. And so following that meeting, we sent the two options out to the staff for a vote. And the results um the we we gathered results through December 19th right before the winter break. We had 57 staff members who responded who took that survey and out of those 370 or 73% selected option two. Um so we bring to you option two tonight for
031approval. I did um Carol did find a mistake in in my typing. Um and so notice that has an August 24th start date and a June 3rd end date for students in that attached calendar. But that is option two. Um, I'm also bringing to you tonight the early college calendar and um, Principal Sam Brown worked with his staff to develop that calendar. As you will remember, the early college is a cooperative innovative high school. So, with that designation, they automatically have a calendar waiver that allows them to align to Davidson Davy Community College because all of those students are taking college courses. So, he worked with his staff because they were collaboratively involved in developing that calendar. We don't do a vote the same way. Um, they send that to us as a as a
032recommendation. They did do what they could to align both with the community college and with um the traditional calendar when they could. So, we bring both of those as recommendations for approval tonight. >> Okay. And we're going to get a motion on the floor and separate these two. Can I get a motion to accept the traditional calendar option two as presented by Miss Haynes? Jeff makes the motion. Is there a second? >> Khan makes a second. Now discussion or question for Miss Haynes or questions for Michael and Joe who uh willingly served on the calendar committee and attended the meetings. We appreciate you guys being willing to do that. Uh so are there questions regarding option two or any other question regarding the calendar? Any comments from serving on the committee? Okay. Okay. We have
033a motion and a second. Uh so I will call for the question to adopt option two for the 2627 tradition uh a traditional calendar. All in favor show raising your hand. Motion carries 6. Now with the early college calendar >> 70 >> seven >> sorry y >> uh with the early college calendar uh same consideration. It's the recommended calendar that Mr. Brown and his staff have put together. It's in your package and that was mailed to us. Um, again, the guidelines, Mr. Brown, where Mr. Brown? Oh, I saw him walk in. Guidelines are a little bit different for you guys, I understand, than than it is for the uh traditional K12 school. Okay. Motion to accept the calendar as presented for the Davy County High School Early College calendar. Mr. Hunter makes a motion there.
034Second second by Mr. Cwell. Any questions? Even for Mr. Brown who we appreciate you coordinating all that. Any questions for him? All in favor of the motion. Motion carries 70. Thank you. All right. Next, we'll call on Mr. Harris, our finance officer, for budget timeline presentation. Good evening board. Um nothing really to vote on. A lot of lot of conversation um in the last few months around budget um and kind of where we are, what our plan is and everything else. So what I wanted to provide was just our steps on on where we are, how we build the budget, kind of what what part y'all play in that. And so currently we are in the the first identify and prioritized section. Um so with our principles, we In the principal meeting, I provide for
035them several forms where we ask for personnel request. We ask for capital outlay um and then any projects or anything else that that they see or furniture that furniture needs, that type of thing. So, that's where we are right now as as far as what we're looking for. And that's due by January 31st. Um, when that information comes in, uh, we take a look at that list and start prioritizing kind of where we are, what we think we can do, what we can't do, and then it rolls into the March time frame where HR, myself, maintenance sit down and talk about these are the prioritized list of what we want to go after, what's the cost associated with it, what can we do, what can't we do. Um and then that's how we come up
036with and start that whole proposed budget plan. And we work on that through about midappril. That's where I bring um we we reach out to y'all for y'all to come in. We talk through this is what the budget looks like. This is where we think we're going to be. Um where we compare to previous years. Um we'll we'll highlight areas that um are different or have changed. We'll talk about capital projects that we have out there. um things that we need to we need to work on and um and I'll I'll try and forecast where I think we're going to land from a county perspective uh for for capital money. Um, we're fortunate in the fact that I usually know in December or January where we're going to land from a local perspective. Um, being
037we're on the interlocal agreement. Um, and so that in that April time frame is where we sit down and talk through that, bring that in front of you. And then by May 1st, I have to give you the superintendent's budget. Thank goodness it's his and not mine. So, you get the superintendent's budget. um we we'll vote on it in the first meeting in May. And then by the 15th of May, I have to present or deliver that budget to the county commissioners for them to take a look at it. That includes everything in our local, state, federal where we think we're going to be from a forecast standpoint, including capital. They have to approve it and then we'll move forward um with that that proposed budget, hoping that we will have a state budget by
038July 1st. I've been in this role for quite a while here and in Davidson. I don't believe I've had a budget on July 1 ever. So, um you'll see that. >> So, um we in in the June time frame, we'll we'll roll out a continuation budget so that we can continue to roll forward. That's where we are now as we take a look at that and work through what we have um in the previous year, spending and everything else. um the same way the state does theirs. So, we can move forward with that. And uh and then as the year goes on, such as tonight, you'll see budget amendments. As we have things change, we'll get additional funding, lose funding, or we have to we have a change in priority on where we need to
039spend money that will adjust our budget from that standpoint. All that stuff has to come to you to approve to to see where we are. Uh and and we work through that. From that standpoint, the one hiccup is in the June time frame. Uh in that June meeting again, I I'll give you a document that gives the authority to the superintendent and I to make those changes for year end. And then we'll bring the final ones to you in July. That's typically why our July um meeting is not the the first two. usually this second Tuesday in the month to give me the chance to close the year out with the state then finalize everything and then we're done with the budget at that point. Any questions or thoughts on this or anything a surprise?
040>> Clay, could you share just the interlocal agreement? Tell us what that is exactly and maybe when that is up for renewal. >> Um the interlocal agreement is with is the agreement we have with the county as it relates to property tax. Um in that interlocal agreement it says that um we will get 41.3% of the property tax with a few set set aides uh associated with fire and some other things like that but for the most part it's 43 point 41.3%. Um we're currently in a five-year agreement that ends on June the 30th 2027. So we're we're getting ready to go into our last year. So next year will be the year that we negotiate kind of where we land. After that, it will be on a four-year rotation. We're in five right now
041to get to the reevaluation cycle so that our interlocal agreement coincides with that re-evaluation which is done every four years. We get money in in one year aars. So the money we get in the for this school year was associated with what was collected two years ago. Does that make sense? That way they have to finish their audit um and then they they do the agreement based on what that audit was. And so that's that's the interlocal agreement. I'll put a plug in for that. That that is a great thing. It makes us very makes us um able to forecast where we're going to be early on in the process. I have a lot of finance officers that are very jealous of that when I talk through it because they don't have that and they
042don't when they get to the May time frame and they're trying to build their budget, they're scrouchging and hoping that they can they they'll get enough to cover their cost and everything else. I'm fortunate in the fact that I typically know in January what we're going to have in July going forward. Um, and so I'm thankful for the county to do that that they'll they'll get that information to us, but they have to finish their audit. I don't see Brian here. So, um, but that's something that works very well. And as we go into that negotiation and we work through that, that's something that we need to continue to try and work towards. That is a very valuable tool. Um, when we take a look at it, >> I would attorney nod her head at
043the same time. >> I've had other counties on here. you're one of the few that has maintained it for this long. >> Yeah, I was and that's a unique um relationship um to that point and I just commend the leadership um from this board and previous boards that were able to work with the commissioners to get that in place and certainly um express our appreciation to the commission for um continuing that that effort. It's been valuable. I mean, it just makes it so much easier. we know what we can anticipate what our expenditures could potentially look like and what our revenue might look like instead of having to go and present and just lots of it just makes things so much easier for all of us. So, thank you Clay for um always putting the
044students and um Davy County first and and working through that. >> So, here are the questions. I >> I certainly a agree wholeheartedly with what was just said about the interlocal agreement. In the past, we've gotten some projections by the state uh genders probably gets something that says this is how many positions you can expect and plan on with the absence of a state budget. Are they going to continue to do that and anticipate something? >> Well, we're we're in funding a rears and so um it's based on your ADM from the previous year. Okay. Um, and so that makes it a little bit easier to kind of forecast where we think we're going to be in years going forward. Um, the hard part for us this year is we don't have a budget for
045this year to know what's going to be recurring for next year potentially. Um, and the nonrecurring piece of it is where we get funding for several things. The the nice to haves is what I'll call them. um we don't have that this year. All we have is what was recurring and so that makes it a little bit more difficult when you start talking about funding and everything else um to be able to get to that point. But we we build it around that. So to answer your question, we know what our ADM is going to be. We know what the current formula is, but I mean Dr. Belture talked about weighted formulas. Is that going to change? That makes that makes a big difference in where we go and how we how we operate that
046changes. I'll give you an example. Our EC funding when they talked about weighted average weighted funding for EC students, we were actually going to lose money in our EC funding um with that um if they didn't change anything. It was about $50,000 if I remember correctly. And when you talk about two and a half to$3 million, $50,000 doesn't appear to be a lot. But when you talk about what we fund for EC and the requirements and everything else, we spend every dollar that we get and so $50,000 is impactful um from that standpoint. And so I I'm curious to know where they're going to land with this weighted average, what that's going to look like and um ensure that we're funding appropriately for all of our students across the board. So that's the only weighted
047average that I know right now that I've seen and what that impact has been. I don't know Miss Custer's got anything she wants to add or anything to that, but when we looked at that originally, that's the only one that they had really rolled out. It was actually going to be a loss for us in our funding. >> Wow. >> So, >> and Mr. Chairman, um you're certainly accurate. The personnel is our what is that 80 how much what percent of our budget? >> 84%. >> So, it's by far personnel is where most of our funding goes. And so naturally um HR is constantly looking at aotments and making those adjustments and trying even you know throughout the year um anticipating okay how is budget and personnel and all of that connected. So um certainly
048an important factor to consider. >> You guys have questions for Mr. Harris or Dr. Belure >> Clay. Thank you for that. I was just going to add to being on the legislative committee that is one thing that we were discussed when they were bringing forward the weighted um funding for the students in the larger districts. It makes a lot of sense but they didn't know the impact it would have on the smaller districts which is why it's so important for us as a board to have a voice and and advocate for smaller rural counties for those funds too. So I'm glad to hear that they're they we wouldn't lose money if they went to that but who knows what they're going to do. I just wanted to add that they continue to talk about it
049on those legislative calls too and now making sure that the smaller districts don't in fact lose money from it. It'd be nice to gain money from it. I mean >> it would be nice. >> Yeah. >> Other questions. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Harris. >> Next, Mr. Puit. Michael Puit will share with us about retesting and end of semester testing. All right. Thank you, Chairman Pototts, uh, Dr. Belture, members of the board, and ladies and gentlemen. Um, there we go. Nice when technology works. Um, so I'm here to talk about testing, which is everyone's favorite subject, I know. Um, next to budgets, of course. Um, so just to give you a little little window into where we are right now, um, Davy County Early College High School wrapped up their fall semester testing um, just
050before Christmas um, and the break and um, had did a fantastic job with that. Um, wrapped everything up in two days um, over 12 December 16th and 17th. They got all their math one, math three, biology, and their English two scores in. All of those scores have been returned now and um, and those are in in students and parents hands as of today. So, um, appreciate all that they have done to do that. Davy County High School and CDA will actually, um, get their testing in next week starting on Monday the 12th. Um, at the high school will be teacher made exam day. Um, that's going to be a full day, uh, from 8:15 until 3:25 starting out with um with first period, teacher maid, and um, CTE exams and then finishing up with all
051the other teacher mates throughout the day. um on January 13th, 14th and 15th. Those will be for each one of the tested subject areas. English on Tuesday, math and and um math on Wednesday and Thursday, and then biology and Thursday as well. All of those days they will dismiss at 100 pm. And then the retest day on Friday, which is um any any testers that we've missed and we need to go back and get and also the retesters that we're going to invite this year at the high school. And that's actually um a little bit of a typo. Um that's going to be a 20 12 12 30 12:30 dismissal. Is that right? Stones 12:30 dismissal on that day. Um, a little bit of background to state retesting. I've had several of you ask me
052um individually about the retesting program for last year. So, I did want to update you on uh the impact of the decisions that you made last year about that. But, if you recall um last year, those of you that were were already on the board in the spring of 2024, administrators at several schools inquired about um the the summer program that has been available for for some time to readminister tests to students who were not proficient. We couldn't call it a retest back then. of the state was very adamant that we don't retest in North Carolina. Uh we readminister tests to students who need to be readministered. Um Davy County Schools um then took the advice of those administrators, formed a committee under the leadership of Miss Feeser um and um and that got together
053administrators, teachers, parents u from all of the different schools and created a plan to remediate and readminister over the summer for those students who were not proficient. Um after the committee meeting, members met back with their school leaders, obtained feedback, and then of course um we we were able to brief the board of education and vote on that program in March and April of last year. Um so it's one of those things that has been around a while, but there's not been a whole lot of clear state board of education policy on it. Um however, uh the opportunity to readminister, and now of course we don't have to go with readminister. We can finally just say retest. um that is available to all students who pass the course or subject but scored not proficient on
054the final exam. Um so it gave us two options. We can retest during the legislated testing window which for year round schools is the last 10 days of the school year. For semester schools it's the last five days of each semester. Or we could retest as part of a summer program at the end of the regular school year which of course would come with an additional cost because we would have to transport those students back to school. we would have to feed them after they were supposed to be gone for the summer. Not necessarily a cost for employees because that was still within our work days. Uh but there would have been a cost involved in that. Um last year we did choose the the retest um over the summer. Um and we we had
055some great results with that. Um and so we'll talk about, you know, what that means for this year. uh for retest with administered within the school year. Uh if the retest score is higher than the initial test score, it'll be used for achievement calculations and growth analyses for the school. And that's a little bit of a change from last year. Um so basically there's a little bit more incentive this year for districts to choose the inschool retesting rather than the summer program. Other than just saving money, it also will help our schools more when it comes to the accountability model uh for the state. All EOCC retest scores may be used for the required 20% of a student's final grade, which is another change. Um, last year, uh, we could get them to retest, but
056they couldn't really get any benefit out of it as students. This year, uh, they can keep the higher of the two test scores, uh, the initial or the retest, depending on which one is higher. Um, and that will be used to determine their final grade for the course. Um, another hopeful incentive for students to do their best. Um student participation in retesting has to be voluntary. Um parents make the final decisions. Students are held harmless if they do not participate in the summer program or in the retesting program. Um this year one uh one other change is we cannot go with an opt out sort of scenario like we did last year where if you don't want your child to retest let us know and we won't make them. This year we do have to
057have a positive yes, we want to participate in the retesting program from parents. So it'll change the way that we do that a little. Last year's retesting program, like I said, did have did meet with a lot of success. Um in reading, we had 81 more students proficient after the retest last year. Uh that increased our overall proficiency by 3.5% which was fantastic. Um, in math, 60 more students were proficient after the retest than they were on the initial try. And that's an increase of 2.21%. So, several months ago when we were talking about the great job that our our our students and our staff did last year, um, those numbers were really bolstered by these retesting opportunities in a way that we we hadn't had the opportunity to do before. So, that turned out
058to be a really great decision. Um, obviously, there are pros and hurdles to any kind of plan. Um this does provide a second chance for students especially now um that the 20% up to 20% of their grade could be impacted by this and that's one of the reasons why we have chosen this year um to expand it um to the high school level as well not just our 3 through 8 testing program. um it does have the potential to improve our school accountability in addition to helping students and of course one of the major hurdles would be if we chose the summer program funding for that which is why um we have not. Um so what we've decided to do this year is the retest will be offered to students in grades 3 through 12
059um in reading or grades 3 through 12 in math who one pass the course and are not proficient on the initial administration of the end of course test but they achieve a scale score within five points of proficiency. So they're right there on the on the borderline. um or those students who meet the above criteria but um they they may have scored lower than five points but their school level data sheets including their projections all of those things that teachers are using throughout the year to gauge student uh achievement show that the student was likely to show proficient but for some reason on that day they did not. So we're going to give those students an opportunity to retest as well. Okay. So um again just just to recap this year we are going to
060choose the in in the school year testing and we are going to open that up for the high school as well um to see how that goes. There's been some mixed reviews in districts around us that have tried that in the past but again this is the first year that that score could count for them. So we're hopeful that's going to encourage even our high school students to come back give it another go and try their best. And with that I'll open it up if you have any questions for them. >> Sounds like the SAT you retake it and you get a higher score that's what's recorded. you get a lower score. Previous ones recorded. So that makes a lot of sense to me. >> Mr. Chairman, I'd like to just express my appreciation to
061Mr. Puit and his accountability team. There's a lot of the accountability model as you all know is quite technical and so adding another layer with retesting and readministration makes it even sometimes more difficult. So navigating that, we couldn't do it without his team. And then of course with our instructional services and Miss Lind who um works with the actual programmatic stuff that has to happen. so that students are able to um remediate and be prepared for any kind of readministration. Certainly appreciate their work as well. So, thank you. >> Board members, do you have questions for Mr. Puit or comments? If not, thank you, Mr. Puit. >> Thank you. >> And I believe on the next presentation, we have a handout at our place. Uh Mrs. Haynes for the presentation on the beginning teacher support
062program. >> You will not need to follow along. That is for your reading in the next month, but I we'll come back to that. You do um board members, you do have a beginning teacher support program plan. We're going to be providing an overview of this. Um but this is this is for your reading after the presentation. Okay. So board members um staff and guest it is a little bit unusual for Jen Lind and and I to be presenting together because we don't do that much anymore um between curriculum instruction and human resources. However, the beginning teacher support program is one that really crosses departments. It takes a lot of collaborative effort um not only across departments at the district level but a lot of collaboration and support within schools to support our first year,
063second year and third year teachers, our newest teachers um in the profession. So we're going to do this jointly tonight as we um tag team the BTSP and that's there are a lot of acronyms in this and I' we've tried to include those within the plan for for your overview tonight. We're going to really provide a highlevel overview, a bird's eyee view so to speak of the beginning teacher support program plan. Um, this is a revision that was required for for us to do to um to present to you tonight, but we have you probably have a dozen pages approximately in front of you. We will not go through all of those details high level and then you can you can read and we'll ask that you come back and vote on that at the
064next meeting. This plan is required by the North Carolina State Board of Education as noted in your packet. Um, this is under policy TCED 06 016. Um, so our plan must be revised every five years. It must be approved locally by our board. Then it is sent to the state level where NCDPI, the Department of Public Instruction, reviews our local plan, and then it's approved at the state level. Um, so this is just part of the process. So with this overview, we will we'll go through kind of the purpose of the beginning teacher support program and the plan. We'll discuss the need for revision in this case. We'll provide an overall description of the structure and how we support beginning teachers in Davyy County. Um and then Jen's going to take you kind of on
065a quick tour of the five standards that are mapped out within this plan. So to begin with um when you when we look at the purpose why why do we have a beginning teacher support program and and why it matters um this is really about both support structure um but it's also about a statemandated accountability document and compliance with state requirements. I want to look at the why I really want to point your attention to the graph that's over in the in the bottom right corner of this slide. Um if we look at the state of the teaching profession report um this data comes from HR folks from around the state and each year we are looking at who was with us in March of one year and who was with us in March of
066the following year. So those are our measuring points. So the most recent report that is that is currently out there published is from 2023 24. So we're looking from March of 2023 to March of 2024. and who who did we lose um and who did we retain. So when we look at that um the retention versus the attrition experienced teachers the attrition across the state the average is 9.31%. So that's how many that's that's the percentage of teachers that we lose from the profession um as as average across the state. We know that beginning teachers we lose at a much higher rate. So the that first um pairing of bars that you have, you have experienced teachers in the teal color, 9.31% all beginning teachers we lose across the state at a rate of 12.92%.
067If we look at those who are residency licensed, they're coming in um they've not come through a traditional program. Maybe I majored in biology, but I I've not been through a traditional program. I didn't student teach. Um we lose those folks at an even higher rate. So you see the 15.34%. Then we have those that fall under the category of temporary licensed teachers. So these are those that come in through a pathway that's called permit to teach or an emergency license. So they are even less prepared so to speak walking into the classroom as a new teacher. And you can see that that attrition jumps to 22.28%. So that data in itself shows us the importance of supporting beginning teachers. we know that we're more likely to lose them. Um, so if we have a
068strong beginning teacher support program, number one, it does help us retain teachers. It actually helps us recruit teachers on the front end better. It helps me to be able to go to job fairs or to talk with um potential candidates and talk with them about the support that we provide for beginning teachers. Um, and it it does make our system stronger than others. As we keep these new teachers, we keep them because we're growing them, because they're improving. Um, but that means they're also improving instruction for our students and that and the outcomes that we see in the classroom. This helps students immediately because they're going to become more effective at a faster rate as a new teacher, but this affects years and potentially generations of students that these teachers will teach. Um, again, not
069to mention it's a state board of education requirement. Um, that is part of the why, but for us in Davy County, it's not the real why. All right. So, why the plan was revised. Um, if you went back and looked at our previous plan and you compared it, um, you would see that this is not a complete overhaul. Not at all. Um, it really is a revision or an update. There were a few changes at the state level that we needed to make sure were explicit within our plan. Um, it it also was an opportunity for us to look closely at what we're doing and what has evolved over the last five or so years so that we can better document what we are doing. Um, and we can also tighten up some areas that
070we know still need some work. So, there have been some some minor adjustments at the state level. For example, those temporary licensed teachers or the residency licensed teachers, some districts did not consider them beginning teachers and they did not give them a mentor. So, think about they are the least prepared and they're not identified as BTS and they're on their own. We have not done that in Davy County schools. Um, but we needed to clarify that very explicitly within our plan. Um, so that's just an example of one of the things that changed at the state level that we also needed to reflect. Um, again, it's pushed us to look very closely at what we're doing. It allows us to clarify roles and responsibilities, who's really doing what and how are we making sure that
071it's happening. Um but it is a strength for us to have a lot of people involved and for this to be a collaborative process. Um so we will be continuing to revisit our plan on an annual basis to ensure that compliance and accountability and continue to improve. So again bird's eye view our program structure is a three-year induction model. So you'll see a BT1 a BT2 and a BT3. Generally, this means a first year teacher, a secondyear teacher, and a thirdyear teacher. Um, all beginning teachers in Davy County, regardless of their lensure type or the pathway that they're coming into the profession, are going to be considered or classified as a beginning teacher and have supports put in place for them. I will qualify that to say late hires are a little bit unique. Um,
072so we may have someone who's a be who's a BT1 more than one year. So if we hire them for example and they start in January, if they don't have 120 working days, they may be a BT1 for the spring and then a BT again the following year, but they're going to get a full um three years in this process. The support is differentiated based on their years of experience and their lensure. Um so BT1s have significant onboarding. They have the most intensive mentoring time um with at least an hour of documented support each week. BT2s, a little bit less, but we still have a good bit of professional development and mentoring support. And then by year three, they're starting to transition towards a good bit more independence and teacher leadership. So that's kind of
073big picture. Jen is going to walk you through a little more detail with the BTSP standards. And these are these come to us from the state. Okay, thank you. Good evening. Um, so this plan that Jinda's been talking about is built on the North Carolina's beginning teacher support standards and there are five standards as you see there on the screen. Um, you will see that the plan is written standard by standard. Um, and I'm going to go over each one one by one. So standard one is a systemic support for high quality induction program. Um, so this is a district-wide commitment. So the idea there is that not one person alone is trying to support our beginning teachers by themselves, but instead our beginning teachers are getting layers of support. Um, there the ownership is
074is shared ownership. Um, you as a board must review and approve the plan. HR must have effective processes for clearly identifying all beginning teachers. Um, as Jenda said, HR and curriculum instruction collaborate and we s we provide layers of support for our beginning teachers and of course our principles play a key role in that support as well in implementation and oversight. In standard two um you see there is mentor selection, development and support and this is specific to high quality mentor support. Um, we truly believe that this is one of the most important parts of our BT plan, most one of the most critical components. Um, we do follow the state's eligibility requirements, but we do not leave it to chance. Um, we do actively recruit strong, experienced teachers to mentor, but we also don't
075just want the experienced mentors who they have proven themselves, but we want people who care about and have a heart for supporting new teachers. That's very important. Um, we do work with the principles to match mentors and mentees together. They're a big part of that. Um, right now we do have two what we call our retired rock stars. Um, you may recognize their names. Um, Deb Guffson and Leanne Davis. Um, so they're retired teachers, but they mentor as well. Um, this happens at some of our schools where we have a higher number of beginning teachers. Um, right now Deb is serving uh Davyy High School and South Davyy and then Leanne Davis is serving um William Ellis and Pinebrook as well. So, we're very appreciative to have them come back and support. Um, mentors are
076trained and provided with expectations and resources that are needed. Um, in addition to mentors, we layer support. So, our beginning teachers aren't just getting that support from the mentors, but they're also getting support from lots of people in the profession. Um, they're getting support from our content coaches, um, our instructional coaches, our EC program specialists, our behavior specialist, um, our school administrators, of course. Um, we know that it takes a village to provide all of that support that they need. Um although we cannot pay what they're really worth, um please know that we do pay a stipen um to those mentors that comes out of our title two funds. Um the payment it's not much, but it's at least a token acknowledgement for their investment in new teachers. Um our if they serve a BT1,
077if they work with a BT1, they get a $100 a month stipend. If they work with a BT2, they get a $50 a month stipend. And then BT3 is $25 a month. And and that's because you you the requirement is to work more with the BT1 than the BT2 and three. Um we do have a few mentors who actually have more than one BT that they work with. Um and then standard three is mentoring for instructional excellence. Um this happens through personalized job embedded mentoring as it says there on the screen. Um I did or Jinda may have referenced the time requirements for mentoring previously. Um that's one hour a week for BT1s, one hour every other week for BT2s and then it's one hour per month for BT3s. So those stipens coincide with that
078amount of time. Um we do abide by the state's BT working conditions to protect them from the unusual um or extra duties. For example, teachers or beginning teachers are discouraged from coaching for the first uh three years. We do have a conversation with them about that. Um mentoring is aligned to the North Carolina teaching standards, but mentoring activities can be all kinds of things. So when mentors work with our mentees, they may be going in and observing them, giving them feedback. They may be modeling with them, co-eing with them. um they may suggest that they go see another classroom and go in and observe together and then debrief. Um a lot of times it's sharing resources, developing resources for the with their mentee. There's lots of activities. Um but what they do is they log
079that on a mentor log and so each each mentor has a log that they they record the activities that they've done with their mentee. Um and finally through orientation, professional development and mentoring there is attention to meeting the needs of diverse students and that includes our EC or AIG and our EEL students. And then standard four is our beginning teacher professional development. Um and that happens through orientation and ongoing um professional development. Um the three components of this is our district new hire orientation that occurs, our three-day BT academy um and our NICE training. And that Nissance training ensures that BTS understand the expectations in the evaluation process. Um the 3-day BT academy is quite extensive. Um you may some of you have actually popped into that before to greet our beginning teachers. Um, you
080probably saw the agenda, but there's lots of topics on the agenda, but we include a lot of people. It takes a lot of people to put that BT Academy on each year. Um, our goal is to engage, equip, and empower, which is our mission. Um, we want them to make personal connections, feel welcomed. We want them to be equipped with information and resources they need to be successful. And on the third day, um, they actually have time to be in their classrooms. They go to the school and become familiar with the school. So, we actually give them a sheet that's a scavenger hunt and we put on their key people that they need to go back and make sure that they meet. And of course, that includes even like your custodian, your cafeteria manager, your
081front staff, your principal, of course, your they've already met the principal, assistant principal, um people in the building they need to make sure that they have um touch base with. And then things they need to make sure that they know where to find it. The mailbox, the copier, you know, how to use it. So, there's lots of things on that scavenger hunt. Um, the cohort of BT1s then meets three more times during the year um for ongoing professional development and targeted topics with the beginning teachers. All um BTS are provided with a plethora of professional development opportunities, some prescribed while others are based on their needs and their choices. And of course we are very uh blessed to be a part of PEK the Pedmont Triad Education Consortium that allows for them to um get
082some of that professional development as well. Um one area that we know is an area of growth for us that you'll see there in the plan is onboarding our late hires. So we have increased in the number of beginning teachers that are hired later in the year. um that revised plan you'll see uh documents how we are providing more individualized orientation for those um beginning teachers who are coming on later and that's specific to we also have an abbreviated BT academy that's later in the year and actually we have it coming up this month yeah we have one coming up this month that's for again people who were hired after that August date and our last standard standard five um formative assessment ment of candidates and programs. Um so standard five is about assessment. Um
083this standard ensures that teachers are supported through reflection and feedback and not just evaluation but a focus on teacher growth. Um each BT is required to do a self assessment and we actually begin that self- assessment during their orientation at the beginning of the year. um that's done annually and along with their mentor and their um administrator, the BT creates a professional development plan. So that professional development plan includes goals and strategies um that they review the beginning, middle, and end of the year um to show that they're making progress toward those goals. We do follow the state requirements for the evaluation process um by placing each BT on a comprehensive plan. That means that they get four um evaluations or observations during the year. One of those is done by a peer. So one
084they do get one peer observation during the year. Um each of these is followed with feedback and a conference. Um here in Davey um you may have heard us say clear is kind. It's one agenda's favorite favorite sayings and principles know that importance of giving that honest feedback and helping our BTS grow. And the second part of that standard is um formative again on formative assessment candidates or programs but it's on program evaluation and continuous improvement and compliance. Um each year we Jenna and IT coordinators are required to complete a self assessment and go through a peer review process that's handled regionally um and develop annual goals for improvement. Every five years um NCDPI goes through a very thorough audit of us and our BT program and they go through very finite details very thoroughly
085>> painfully thoroughly. Yeah. >> And technical assistance is provided to correct anything that that we need to correct. Um, finally, as part of the monitoring of our beginning teacher support program, we have to verify that we follow all requirements for documentation and data security, including how we maintain and transfer BT files, personnel files, evaluation data, and this ensures transparency and legal compliance. Jenna's going to summarize. I laugh about um painfully thorough because they literally look at how many minutes was how many minutes were in a teacher every teacher's observation um it is as nitpicky as nitpicky can possibly be so these principles know it. All right as we as we wrap up I want us to focus on some key takeaways because again this plan is a lot. Um, we ask that you review this
086over the over the next month before the next meeting, but we've tried to give you an overview of it. Um, I want to go back to the state attrition data that I started with as far as why why this matters. Um, and I really started digging into this data last night and and got excited about it because I was thinking, okay, well, what what's the board gonna ask us? Um, and so I shared with you earlier that beginning teachers across North Carolina, the average attrition or the average rate that we lose beginning teachers is 12.92%. So I literally went back to our HR data from the attrition reports that we did from March 23 to March 24. And I went back to our beginning teacher records teacher by teacher. Who did we have in March
087of 2023? And who did we have in March of 2024? The state does not give us our BT attrition rate. That's only done at the state level. So I wanted to know, all right, I want to calculate what our BT attrition rate is for comparison. And you will see that ours was 4.26% compared to 12.92%. That is significantly better. And that to me, that is kudos. And that is shout out to folks in this room um for the support that they provide from ad school administrators, principles, assistant principles, from Jen's office, the professional development that's organized districtwide to peers and colleague teachers that literally will take somebody by the arm and share all of their resources and walk them into the profession. Um, >> and HR >> it that's that's big, y'all. I was really
088excited and it was late when I finally reached that calculation. It was too late to text anybody. So, I started typing an email as fast as I could because I had to tell somebody like that was I was I was really proud. So, kudos goes to two goes to you guys. So in summary, I hope that you can see that we have a strong network of support for beginning teachers. That is not to say that David County Schools is perfect and we always have room for improvement and we can always do better. But we are working hard to build the capacity of beginning teachers as they walk in regardless of of what kind of lenture or pathway to help them improve instruction and improve instruction quickly and to support their growth so that we can
089retain them. We do have a lot of built-in accountability um and again a focus on continuous improvement some of that alignment with um HRS that you've heard about before and we are proud to say that we are clearly aligned and going above and beyond what the state's standards and requirements are. So I will close with this um this quote that I use when I actually train peer observers um which is what we want for our students we should want for our teachers learning challenge support and respect and that is absolutely what we want for our beginning teachers and what we hope this um BTSP plan does. So, we we'll be glad to entertain questions um or just leave you the plan to read and let you approve it next month. >> I can attest to
090um Jinda whenever she sends those emails late at night and certainly there's a lot of celebrations, but I want to just emphasize a point that she mentioned and that is that climate is so important and um it takes strong leadership to make that climate happen for our beginning teachers. And when you look at the profession, I mean, there's some challenges with the teaching profession. I know y'all hear it when you're in buildings and and see it um on teachers faces, but that climate is so important. So, thank you, Miss Haynes, Miss Lynn, for that work. That's always great. >> It is a village. >> Scary that I wrote down my question was what is the Davy County Schools beginning teacher beginning teacher retention rate? >> And you knew it. I've known you since 1995. I
091can predict you. >> Thank you so much for that report and we'll take action on that at our February meetings. Is that correct, Miss Hans? Okay. >> Jenna, can I ask a question real quick about the mentors? Do um do we find we have enough mentors that are willing to do that? Is it hard to find people to be mentors? >> We we do actively recruit >> as as you know, teachers plates are full. I know that's what well and the stipend is so low. So that's what I would like to do. >> It is so low. But I will tell you this, there are a lot of districts that offer no stipen at all. >> And so even for us to offer any compensation puts us head and shoulders above many districts, right? >>
092We would love for it to be more, >> but we do have to make sure it's sustainable within our title two budget. >> Absolutely. Um, and I will say Clay is Clay is very supportive and knows that it is a priority to support beginning teachers because the investment does pay off, >> right? >> Um, but we do actively recruit and and you'll see when you read through the plan. Obviously, we're going to be looking for teachers who already proven themselves. They have strong ratings in their own evaluation, strong student outcomes, >> are already demonstrating leadership, and in many cases are already the teachers that are taking others under wing. They just are. They naturally they naturally do that, but we do need to bring in some retirees. Um, we couldn't do it without Deb G
093and and without Leanne Davis. Um, and they can come in and pour into our staff and can do some things and have more flexibility and time. >> Sure. Yeah. Well, it's it was so good to hear because it's something that we can keep in our mind as we're talking about budget and things too because I think these mentors are the key to everything from what it sounds like. they are we're really someone where we can pour into to help our teachers better be poured into and than our students. >> So, thanks for explaining it and hopefully we can keep that in our conversations when budgets and stuff come up too. >> BTS need more support than ever and part of that is because they're coming to us in many cases from a variety of lensure
094and pathways and entry points. >> Right. So, >> awesome. Thank you so much. >> Any more questions? If not, moving along to uh Dr. Belchure, the policy updates for fall of 2025. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we do have um it seems like we're always bringing policy updates. These are the recommended or required um updates from the North Carolina School Board Association from the fall. And I will go through each of these. Some I will spend a little bit more time on. Some of those I will move through relatively quickly. Um but if you have any questions as I work my way through these, certainly feel free to ask. The first is just a local update and that's 9300 the naming of facilities. This particular policy um was quite out of date and so
095there's two um sections that were recommending some changes. One is the structure of the facility naming committee. Um that particular um committee we've was kind of an outofdate group and so we've made some recommendations that would be more up to date with the current structures across our school district and a better representation of our community. So you can see what that looks like. And then the second part at the end of that addresses just some of the funding and and whenever we are looking at naming a facility, any costs that are associated with that, how we would pay for that. So you've got that local recommendation um before you for first reading. >> May I interrupt say thank you to Michael and Jeff for sitting in and helping uh develop some ideas for this policy
096because as Dr. Belchure says it is pretty much local policy. It's not one of those that we get handed down from the schoolboard association and you know we adopt it without changes. So thank you guys. We appreciate you participating. >> And then policy 2125 confidential information. This is required under some statutory language and this does impact um some of just some personal information and the availability of that. And you can see there's a section C with some new information here. Um, and basically that just says that um, employees and board members shall not require any person or nonprofit organization to provide personal information or otherwise compel the release of personal information. the release or the publicize or otherwise publicly disclose personal information of others or request or require current or prospective contractor to provide a
097list of nonprofit organizations to which the current or prospective contractor has provided a financial or non-financial support and for purposes of this section only personal information is defined as any list record register registry roster or other um compilation of data of any kind directly or indirectly identify as a person as a member, supporter, volunteer, donor or financial or non-financial supporter to any nonprofit organization. The term supporter and volunteer do not include the nonprofit organization governing board members, officers, directors or staff may be a part of. So for example, we could not require or HR could not require a teacher candidate or a current employee to disclose if they are member of the NCA or some other kind of organization of that nature. If you're looking to see what does that mean in layman's terms, that's
098kind of an example that comes to mind. Policy 2127. Um this is a policy related to board members and your um use of technology. You can see there is a section um B um over on page four where it talks about how board members should not utilize school system or individual school names, logos, trademarks or person on personal social media. And so whenever you're using your personal social media for your own personal opinions, not to express um connection to the school system or to a particular school that's related to that policy 3101, this is related to career pathways and dual enrollment. So just an update there. Nothing um I don't think that's um too significant with that change. And then some some legal updates with that particular policy. There's some structural changes in 3220 technology
099in the education program. Nothing new, just some um some revisions in the structure of how that policy is written. Technology responsibility use 3225. that policy um just does some add some language related to social media platforms um that are um that can only be used for educational p purposes under the direction of a teacher. So this goes back to some of the wireless communication policies um that were part of that legislative update over the summer 3226 internet um safety. this particular policy here just some again some required changes related back to websites and web applications that um do not protect against the disclosure use or dissemination of students personal information. So providing some clarifying language related to that statutory requirement um for that particular policy 3227. Um this particular policy is an update that um
100has some format changes and then it clarifies that the school system is not responsible for personal websites or web pages that may be created or maintained by members of the board of education or in addition to those of students, employees, parents, groups or organizations. That that is not part of the school district's responsibility. And then the the last several policies are really just some language from state board of education policies. So 3,400 evaluation of student progress. Um that's an update due to language from the state board of ed graduation requirements updates some science requirements for a future course of study. um occupational course of study and then um 4010 student and parent grievance procedures clarifying language um is included in section D2 for that and 4050 children of military families we have now included space
101force um in some of the language as a um as a part of that military families um with that policy and in 4120 we have some required changes um based on some statutory corrections there 4270 concussion and head injuries. Um there's a new requirement that the athletic trainer or first responder attends wrestling matches and tournaments. You can see that that is um required part of that as well. And then we have 6310 organization of student transportation services um adds language to comply with the state board of education requirements. and then 7220 um grievance procedures for employees. We've added some clarifying language um that are required within that due to some legislative requirements as well. >> That was a laundry list, Mr. Chairman. >> And you might as well continue with uh the next part of
102it. So the next section, board members, these are policy updates that are just technical corrections. Um and you can see that we have 2302 remote participation in board meetings, 4130 dis discretionary admissions, um 4150 school assignments, 4152 unsafe school choice transfers, and then 7425 school administrator contracts. Again, those are all just some um cross references and updates that are technical updates. >> Okay. Okay. Questions for Dr. Belchure? hearing. None. We will move on to the facility capacity updating. Dr. Belchure, >> I'm gonna go to the podium for this part just so that I can manage the slideshow. But um I do want to certainly point out um as I go and walk through some of these, I'll move through some of these slides a little bit quicker because it is quite a few slides. But
103wanted to give you just an update on kind of where we're at with some of our facility um and some of the capacity in our schools. we get that as we get that pulled up. I will say that um if you have questions about any of this information or these slides, I will certainly pause and talk through that. that um I'm not a demographer and so some of this information I certainly don't want to claim or present myself as an expert on what that might look like and I don't have it memorized Dr. Blatner. One of the um reasons I'm bringing this to you because six months into my role, a lot of the questions um and comments that come my way have been related to okay, we're we're seeing all this construction across Davy
104County. So, what are the implications for the school system? What does that mean for us? And so that then um allowed me to okay let me go back and do some research. And thankfully there had been some um demography studies and some facility planning studies in the past that have um provided some good insight. And it really is and what it enabled what it enabled me to be able to do is to go back and look at okay 10 15 years ago this is what was projected. Where are we really at now that that time has come? And just to see how accurate were some of those? Are you going to operate it for me? All right. Very good. So, here are the some of the points that we're going to look at. Um, historical
105perspectives currently, what does the landscape look like across the county? have a some conversation about average daily membership and what that looks like. Um, and so that we can then look at just overall capacity within our schools and projected enrollment potential areas of growth. I want to talk a little bit about households and for example when a neighborhood comes online or is approved. I mean about how many students potentially could we could we gain in the school system from that neighborhood? um often what um I refer to as student generation rates, meaning how many uh households generate students that are newly built or constructed and then just some conversation around projected capacity, projected ADM and then what are the implications for the school system moving forward. So a historical perspective um every five years we
106do across all public school units across the state do a school facility needs and you can see over the past gosh 26 years how much we have put um what our costs were associated with some of some of those facility needs. So this is a year that um we'll have some updates with our facility needs. you can see that that those needs oftentimes align with funding initiatives. So on the left side you'll see kind of what those needs are. On the right side, how some funding has come in over the over the years to support some of those needs. I will point out that you can see those three bullet points. There was a 2011 2012 facilities assessment and long range plan that was developed in 2016 and 17. the Legislative Services Commission um actually
107from from the state board um at the request of the legislators produced um a school construction needs survey that was not for um all counties across the state but Davey County was included in that particular survey and then um 23 24 we had a population and enrollment forecast a de demography study um that you all I'm sure are very familiar with. you can see that um local bond issues have um had limited success or about split and I don't think it's any um I think we all understand that oftent times the bond has has been a split vote across the county. You can see historically um that has been captured with that data and what that looks like and then what the amount um of the 2014 bond that led to the construction of the
108high school um and what that looked like. And then we have finally some other funding initiatives over the last 20 years or so. Um qualified zone academy bonds. Um those that were some some money that was released to commissioners and in turn had some school funding attached to that. Um so you can see some of the money that we gained from that certificates of participation. Um commissioners have to put in a request for that. the those are are typically not very favorable um to the citizens simply because it it kind of there does not there's no vote from the citizens if you bring a a certificate of participation and the commissioners have to bring that to the legislature. So, um you can see there has been some funding associated with qualified um school construction bonds
109or the the zone academy bonds, but um and several quite some time ago before we had any certificates of participation. So, now when we look at obviously one of the things you always think about, okay, well, what is our current population? You can see that um we are getting older across Davy County over the last several um years. You can see from 2010 the median age was 42 um roughly and then now we're at 45. And all that that means well that's going to impact um birth rates and some other factors and death rates. And so there's our population by age. The second the next slide as we look at current landscape households. And so whenever we're talking about households, oftentimes when we look at census data, census data, we're thinking about, okay, how many
110persons are per household? You can see it's two and a half. And then how many of those are school age children. So you really start to, and this is where a a demographic study is really helpful, but we have right at 17,000 households um across the county. And so when we're looking at that, then as we begin, and later you'll see this, we begin to try to break that down. Okay. Okay. Well, how many households in this school zone versus this school zone? And how does that household, the students that are school age or the children that are schoolaged, how do they um progress as a cohort from grade level to grade level over time? So, we've got right at 17,000 households. Next slide, please. You can see that there are approximately 19,000 units. And
111so when you look at that, 88% of those units of those housing units are occupied. And so then if you look at okay, well, how many are not occupied? That comes out to right about 16,500. So there's a handful of households that have multi multiple families living in them. But generally when we look at um and what we have to consider oftentimes is just because we see um housing developments being developed or we see lots of of building and construction, there's also a timeline as to okay well how many of those are for sale on the market? How many are occupied? What is the build timeline for some of those? So there's a lot of complicating factors that have to be considered, but you can see 19,000 total units, 88% occupancy across the county. Next
112slide. Now, naturally, as we're talking about households, what is the age of the of those that are occupying that household? And we've already um can determine and look at the data and know that we're getting older, but you can see our fertility rate at 4.8% 8% and that's lower typically than what we see just slightly across the state and across the country. Um and even though it's not like if you're looking at a half a percent that doesn't seem like a lot but when you're talking about okay what does that mean for a school system that can um have an impact and so then you can see what some of those ages across the county look like as well. Next slide. So this is our ADM over time and and we have been really fortunate
113across the county to have had a a strong recovery postcoavid. A lot of school districts have not um after COVID they continue to decline at a sharp rate. You can see here for us as we looked at ours we had that sharp decline then we started to climb back out of that. And I think everybody understands that's not necessarily unique to school systems. That's true for um institutions of faith, churches, a lot of lot of um community- based organizations that have really struggled to bounce back after COVID. Um and we have done a a pretty good job getting back to um some of those precoid or nearing closer to those pre-COVID rates. I will stop here and pause just a moment. We're looking at average daily membership. So, a little bit different than enrollment. A
114lot of forecasts are enrollment and enrollment projections. This is actually students that are in our buildings and takes that into account. This is K12. It does not take into account preK. Um so when we're talking about ADM here, we're looking at with this data K12. All right, next slide. Whenever we're looking at some of the previous studies that we looked at in the 2012 study, um it was determined that we had an overall capacity of 4,625 students. Now, I know that, you know, we had way more than that in 2012. We had more like 6,500 students. That did not include William Ellis or Davy County High School because those were new construction schools. So that was not part of that initial 2012 study because it was I assume I wasn't around then but I assume
115that it was understood well those buildings are going to have plenty of capacity um based on new construction. The 2017 study across the state um determined that there was a capacity of 6541 students in grades K12 across the district but that did not include looking at mobile units and that's that's a good thing. typically want we want to try to house our students in a classroom and not a a mobile unit or a pod. And so that study looked at that. The 2022 study did not include a capacity analysis that was tracking more of student populations. So that was not necessarily explicitly part of that particular study. Next slide. So naturally, what we have to look at and then when we break down overall capacity is now, okay, well, what does that look like as
116cohorts travel throughout their grade levels across the district? And you can see um high school and middle school, we're fairly stable um with how that population tracks. the question and and probably where we anticipate based on the studies some growth is in our K5 and you can see a steady growth there based on the in migration of families versus the out migration of families and then the age of those families that are moving into those households or those where we have occupancy across the county. So you can see that is all based on previous studies and what that has kind of looked like. Next slide. This is what I consider a pretty important slide just because this looks at okay well how accurate were those previous studies that have been conducted. And so if we
117go back and we look at the 2012 study and we think about all right what did it project and where are we actually at and then what does the future capacity studies look like. You can see the orange line is our actual ADM where we were at and what it's predicting for the future. And you can see back in um 20 2020 when you see that drop and as it continues you can see there's a a pretty um even gap between our actual ADM and future enrollment and what was projected out. The question is, okay, that gap starts to widen. When you look at the the gap between the the orange line over time and the blue line over time, we're starting to see a a gap, which indicates, okay, that there might be a
118slight discrepancy between what's actually projected and what's happening. And when you look at the the synopsis down at the bottom, a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that the original prediction of 3.1% of a decline in population, we've actually had a little bit sharper decline of around 4.6%. You can see the number of students, if you're wondering, okay, well, how many students is that? I mean, we're only talking about 40 students. So, that's still pretty pretty good um projection when you're getting down to the nuts and bolts of looking at looking at that those particular studies. Next slide. Now, this is where we start to look at some schools and um we only really with the exception of Shady Grove and William R. Davyy, the student population of most schools have remained
119slightly below the original 10-year projection. Not much. The only kind of outlier with that was Moxville. You can see Moxville was projected to be um have a have quite a bit of a a impact with its population. Now it's it's obviously there's some construction going on um as we know in the city limits in some areas, but um it did it has not actually grown the student population or the ADM has not grown at what was projected. That's really the only one that there's what I would consider between the study and where we're actually at a significant um discrepancy. It's interesting. Um, William R. Davyy, even though we don't see oftentimes the the large developments, we do see oftentimes, you know, plots of land that are being bought and developed and manufactured homes and some
120of that in that community. And so, you can see that it's actually grown. Um, there was some projections that it would see a decline, but it has actually grown. And of course, we know um Shady Grove in that particular attendance area, there's been a lot of development um in and around that particular school. Next slide. So this gives you an idea a little bit about okay well why is that? Um the county has assessed and planned um for potential growth and they have a systematic approach that they've used for decades and um then you look at that the I40 obviously corridor and and the city limits is where you see a lot of that growth. This is actually cap going back and capturing I think two um about 20 years of strategic planning by the
121county and you can see where that growth is happening and how it has really progressed from decade to decade. Um which when you see in just a few moments that's going to be pretty consistent with what um we see with some housing developments that have been approved and then how many students that might generate. So next slide. This is the slide that shows us where the neighborhoods are and you can see those blocks. Um this is this is a map that I had to to create myself. Um I have asked for zoning and planning. Hey, could you like use GIS to get us something a little better than this? Um and from the county and um they have said yeah we could probably work on some of that. So um that's in in progress. But
122I will say you can see here's where those neighborhoods are and we currently have 17 neighborhoods that we are watching. Obviously the largest being um Nelson's Creek which is around Moxville. And so you you'll see that reflected on here. You can see when you look at these I think there's five neighborhoods in in the Pine Brook um school area, five in Shady Grove, um three or so in in William R. Davyy and and three in Moxville. And then you see um so Koolamy Corner some of those areas aren't seeing the developments that are coming up in those particular areas. And so you can see on that right side there's a number of housing units that that has been approved for. Now the key is because that has been approved that doesn't mean that they are
123all going to be built out at that number of units. Um, you know, there's there's still neighborhoods all across the county that maybe were approved for a hundred homes and are only built out right now at, you know, 75 homes or 60 homes. And so, as those continue to come online, um, and and we'll continue to monitor and watch those and try to predict or predict what does it look like if they were built out at 100% in the next 5 to 10 years. And so, you can see some of those. Um, I'm not going to guarantee disclaimer that all of those blocks are exactly accurate where they are at. Um, because I had to zoom in on some roads and make the blocks small enough, which is where like if if GIS could do
124this, it would be much better. But at least it's a a stab in the dark at kind of how we can plan and move forward. So, next slide. This is where we start to talk about student generation rates. And so, and I'll talk what that means technically in just a moment, but we can anticipate if all of these neighborhoods and developments are fully built out, roughly 300 potentially 383 to 428 households could have students in them. And I'll I'll talk to you in a moment about how we get that. But then when you go in and you pull in the housing units for each school and then potentially the number of students or households that could have students in it. And so basically what we're saying is is just because there's a house being built
125doesn't mean children school age children are going to be living in that home. And then that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be attending Davy County schools. And so there's several technical things that we look at when we're taking that into consideration. So you can see how that's broke down and impacts each school. All right, next slide. Then we have to take into account all right so if we have these new housing developments that are being developed how does that compare with then any out migration of students or in migration of families out or in migration of families that are moving in or moving out and just the overall population change of birth rates and death rates. And so census data in this bubble map gives us you'll see as we're looking at um
126the population change on the y ais you can see that there's like cool of me I'll just point it out because it's kind of easy to see um they are actually in according to census data projecting a population increase in that area of around 13%. So you're looking at 13% there. But then when you think about okay but what about um the student generation rate partic possibly not quite as high within that particular area. The size of the bubble just represents the size of the school. And so as you look at that, you can then get it you can as we talk about Moxville and Shady Grove. Those are the two two schools where we're seeing a net gain in population growth and in student generation for new households. So that's why you see them
127falling above that that X and that Y axis of zero. The other schools not too much of an impact. You'll see a lot of the middle schools are clustered together there. Pinebrook and William R. Navy are sort of clustered and then Corner and Koulamy are sort of kind of an outlier. And if you think back, if you'll remember to where those developments were coming online and we looked at that map, a lot of that aligns with where we're seeing the development across the county. So, next slide. All right. This is where I'm going to, if you'll allow me to just kind of get a little um nerd out for a moment and talk about student generation rates. So, um, I've had some experience looking at in a county where there was a lot of growth
128and and we're talking about, you know, three neighborhoods with 300 homes being developed within two miles of each other. And so, we you had to figure out, okay, well, how many children is that going to look at? And so, previously, I have some experience and have used a student generation rate. And what that looks at is a formula that's based on census data. And it simply reports out the number of households that have a population of school-aged children across it within that household. And then it looks at okay what how many what percentage of those are in elementary school? What percentage could be in middle school? What percentage could be in in high school within that particular area? And then it backs out children who are zero to four who are not who are not
129school attending children. So that's at 5%. And then it backs out those based on our current this is based on actual Davy County data that do not attend Davy County schools. So that would be your home school, could be um Christian school, private school, could be out of county because for whatever reason and that's 15%. And so you back out basically out of the households that are coming online, 20% for those that are not schoolaged and those that are not potentially going to attend Davy County. So you try to get it as accurate as you can. And so if you'll see, we've got an example up. I just included an example and I believe this might be for cool just because it was first in the alphabet, but you can see there are 971 households
130that have schoolage children. And out of that, you then back out your 80% that I just shared with you based on, okay, we can anticipate that out of those 971 households, 80% will attend Davy County schools. And then 43.6% based on what is attending in that attendance zone for Kamy or for elementary schools across the county is 43.6. You divide that by the total number of households and you can see that you can anticipate about 13 households for every 100 homes that are developed would have children that would attend Koolami Elementary School. So that's the formula that's used to calculate a student generation rate. Roughly when we're looking at that, how many students is that? you're looking at potentially in any house that comes online or that is developed 21 to 28 children in that
131in in those homes could in those 100 homes could attend Davy County schools. Now then you take that 21 okay well how many are elementary aged how many are middle school how many are high school so that you can try to get it as narrow as possible to how each school is impacted. So next slide and I share that just so that you can say there is some some I guess consistent application of how that number is is derived and looked at. These are the student generation rates um for each of the schools based on that formula which tells us that we can forecast 24 to 28 households for every 100 households will have school age children and then that can range from you know anywhere from um six to 13 households based on per
132grade level or school that might be impacted. So you can see cool me at 13 um per 100 all the way down to some schools that around um six per 100. All right, next slide. This is when you think back to what I showed you earlier that bubble map. And so this is the the raw data behind that. You can see in 2025 the population change for each of the schools based on census data where it's um projected to be at in 25 to 2030. And this was some of this was pulled from the most recent demographic study and what they projected out. And as I shared with you earlier, then when you look at the number of households that are being built and the students that are generated with that, you have your student
133generation rate, which is why when we look at Moxville and Shady Grove, we see that there is a net positive in both the population change and the student generation rate, which is what pushed that to that higher level. And so in the next slide, I just pulled that back up. So that's where you see that raw data now um visually displayed so that you get an idea or an understanding. Okay. Um what does that look like? All right, next slide. So here's where we start to look at over the next 5 to 10 years, what is the potential and projected ADM? And you can see it's really not significantly higher than the current ADM for each school. And so when we look at a school by school breakdown, we're not seeing like outrageous growth at
134individual schools um you can see and really the potential simply means all right if all of the h like when I referenced earlier 100% buildout what does that look like and then we just base the projection based on okay well it's safe to assume that people are going to be attracted to move to Davy County we're going to continue to see some of the um some of the growth in particular school districts across the county. And so then we can project out what that potentially would look like. I point that out because there's nothing on there that is like s cause a significant alarm for me and hopefully for you as a board it helps you understand, okay, when you're having those conversations. We uh we're monitoring that, but there's nothing significant because there's a
135there's a feeling that we're seeing a lot of development and that there should be alarm whenever we're looking at the projections based on our population changes and the build rates of those buildings that we're not pro projecting anything significant. Next slide. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not getting near to capacity in some of our buildings um in some of our facilities. And so when we talk about this, you can see this is our current capacity and what in 2030 where we could potentially be at. Now when I look at this, what's important to remember this is school by school. And so there are some schools that will start to feel some um population pressure in classroom space because you you I mean as you know classrooms are limited in in the number of spaces
136they have. Some kids are bigger, some are smaller. Um, so it's not a perfect science and so there will be some pressure points in in a couple of our schools. But what's important to also remember, however, when we look at a district as a whole, what does that capacity look like? And you can see not a significant change in projection, 76% versus 81%. And then we've got the same information also for our our middle schools. So, next slide. You can see they're start to feel a little bit more pressure um with our projected capacity in our middle schools, particularly at South Davyy. You can see they're already um feeling some of that pressure. I'll point out there's when we're talking about capacity here, there's also some differentiation between program capacity and facility capacity. Um and
137we've looked at like for example program capacity takes into account um your special population services and the spaces that's needed for them. It takes into account um your gymnasium, your common spaces, media centers, cafeterias, and some of that. So we're also I mean this this takes into account um program capacity as well. And the principles kind of help us get a better feel of that and give us feedback on okay, how many vacant classrooms do I have? And so some of that reporting that we continue to monitor helps with that. And then high school capacity. Next slide. You can see here um we've got we're pretty comfortable there. Um obviously, but that doesn't mean that there's still not some things that we have to monitor. the the caveat with high school programs can for example
138um dual enrollment um can impact that now with some of the state requirements with um early grads can impact that um onampus versus off-campus it's becoming increasingly mobile over time in our high schools and so that can sometimes be a little bit more difficult to predict. All right, next slide. these red dots. So, this is probably the part where okay, so at all of this, what are we really can we safely say we could project ourselves to be in in 20 um 33. And so, you can look at 6250 is what all the facility studies and what our demographic studies have kind of looked at as that hinge point. The question, as I referenced earlier, a lot of it depends on does that gap begin to close between the the blue line over time and
139the orange line based on what is projected or does it does it um widen even further based on migration patterns. And so ev the studies over time have pretty much conclusively said, well, we anticipate 6,200 students in, you know, 2030 um across the county. And what does that mean number-wise? You know, that's around 250 more than what we currently have. So again, not huge, but it could impact individual schools that could feel a little bit more pressure than some of those others. So next slide. So future implications and this is probably the part that kind of summarizes and brings all of this to some of those talking points as we engage with community members and to help them understand that previous studies have shown that our population has declined at a slightly greater rate than
140what was originally projected. Not significantly but we have declined at a little bit larger rate than original originally anticipated future projections. Um, and this is consistent with the the most recent study indicate a slow and steady growth of enrollment is the most likely scenario. So when we see the neighborhoods that are being built out, we don't anticipate or expect suddenly we're going to have this large inmigration of families that's going to lead to school age children to where we're going to start to have an immediate capacity issue. Um, instead it's going to be slow and that's where you saw primarily in elementary that slow steady growth over the next decade or so. So facility capacity will continue to remain below historical levels that led to some of the some of the construction needs that we
141had across the the county. And so when you're looking at that, keep in mind, I mean, we were at 6,500 with our ADM um a couple of decades ago. And so we've still got some some room to go before we get back to those levels again. And I don't envision any alarm for getting to those levels. It could happen. You never know. But that's why zoning and planning have some of those conversations at the commissioners and um looking at some of that. Facility capacity will remain manageable at most school sites. You can see that we just have a handful that are forecast to be over 90% capacity. And then future ADM is contingent oftentimes on birth rates um in migration or net migration that we see. And so a lot of that um impacts and
142then of course the occupancy of of any new homes that are built out. And these last couple of bullets I think are probably the bigger challenge for us to think about in the future and as a board to start having some conversations about. Um, probably our greatest need is not so much building a new school, but instead how do we continue to address aging facilities and in infrastructure in our current schools. And so that's probably going to be a larger impact on our capital expenditures when we're looking at um routine repairs and maintenance. Um, that's going to significantly continue to add to the costs associated um and the need of skilled personnel to continue to update and to maintain those facilities. Um when you look at for example just take the take the high school
143for example um state-of-the-art building it's large it's nearing a decade old and so when we're looking at this facility study I mean that's looking out now the high school will be at 20 years potentially and so there will be some some significant maintenance needs that start to take place with roofing HVAC um and technology is always changing so security um access points the infrastructure that we need for technology ology. You think about athletic facilities and athletic fields and maintaining all of those across the county. So, I feel like that's probably where a lot of our attention will be spent in the um in the the coming years and helping um future boards and future administrators um administration plan for routine R&M and how do we get them in a position to be able to have
144um for our families and our students the very best facilities. Next slide. I think that might be here's some of the sources that this came from. So, if you want to really dig in and look at some of those facility studies that was all um shared with previous boards or um it's part of um previous meetings. So, you've got access to that and links to that. And then of course the long range plan and certainly next slide if you have any questions um that concludes sort of a just an update. I know that was a lot, but I wanted to get that information to help guide some of those conversations. Any questions for for me right now? >> Yes, sir. I agree. It's an important point of conversation. >> Yeah. Dr. Belure, thank you for
145doing this at this time because like you said, we're getting a lot of questions about this with all the things coming in and to proactively be looking at this now. It's very appreciative so that we can look in the future and it's good news from what I can see. I mean, I'm really excited because it looks otherwise from what's coming into the county. So, thanks for the time and effort you put in. It was really great. Thank you. >> Any other question or comments for Dr. Belchure? Okay, Miss Wilson, do we have anyone signed up to publicly address the board? >> We do not have anyone signed up to publicly address the board tonight, my friends. >> Okay, with that in mind and the lateness of the hour, should we? A motion to adjurnn is
146in order. Joe makes a motion. Is there a second to adjurnn? Stephanie makes a second. All in favor? Show of hands. Thank you very much. Thank you guys for hanging with us till the very end. Thank you for the good report, staff.