001May of 20 25. Thank you, Miss Haynes, for turning my microphone on. As you probably know, tonight is the first night for Miss Haynes to be in the position of interim superintendent. So, uh, she gets free reign. If she makes any mistakes, it's going to be okay. We're just so glad she's here and, uh, so willing to to step in as an interim superintendent. Um, first thing on our agenda in the open session is an invocation. Lord, we're so grateful to be here this evening and Father, we're so appreciative of a large number of parents and uh other relatives that are here. And we're so appreciative for the opportunity to recognize these students for their accomplishments. And uh we just uh say thank you for a school system and a school board that's willing to
002spend time to recognize the accomplishments of our students. Uh we need wisdom here this evening and we ask your wisdom to be imparted to us so that we can make good decisions and that our decisions would be honored by you. Your name I pray. Amen. Would you stand for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible. Thank you. Next item on our agenda is the approval of minutes for open sessions. Uh I'm going to ask for a board vote or board motion to accept all six of these sets of minutes. You've had them in advance. You've had an opportunity to read and unless there are there is a concern, I'm going to ask for all six to come
003under one motion. Is there a motion to approve all six set of minutes? Stephanie makes the motion. Is there a second? JF makes the second. Any questions or discussion regarding the minutes? If not, all in favor? Show of hands. Motion carries. 6. Thank you very much. 70. I got to count myself, don't I? Sorry about that. Okay. U board, as typical, you have several important dates that are pointed out on your calendar. uh I won't take the time to go over those, but uh I want to also say thank you for the many times that you've uh spent a little extra time over the past five to six weeks, both in formal meetings where we've selected a superintendent and uh in visitations to schools and all the other things that you've been involved with. Thank
004you so much for your time to do that. That's that's special when people see that you're willing to spend more than just the hour, hour and a half on a Monday night on a Tuesday night every once in a while. So, thank you very much. We also have a listing of our board of education meetings for the uh the 12 months starting July 1. Is there any questions about those under item 4.2? Those are very standard meeting dates. Okay, Miss Haynes, again, we do thank you and mean that very sincerely. It's time for your report. Thank you. I do appreciate your trust and support um as I stand in as interim and and look forward to Dr. Belure coming and taking the reigns in July. Um unfortunately, I begin the report today with sad news.
005Um we have experienced great loss again since our last school board meeting. Um Amy Smith, who was a school nutrition assistant and a van monitor at Ellis Middle School, passed away unexpectedly over spring break. Um in addition, we've had several staff members and students um who have lost family members or parents and over the last few weeks. So, a lot of tragic losses and and it's been heavy. So, I'd like to ask you to join me in a moment of silence to remember Amy Smith, an employee, and to lift up all those who have lost loved ones. Thank you. On a positive note, um we have lots of recognitions and so it's wonderful to see the house full tonight. Um there are a couple other rec recognitions I'd like to mention. First is Caswell Moore.
006He is a student at Davy High. He has been selected to serve as a student adviser to our state superintendent, which is a really big deal. Um unfortunately, he couldn't be with us here tonight, but we will recognize him in June and hear more about that that experience. I also want to recognize David Coun and he's not expecting this so um David can wave in the back shaking his head instead. Um David recently completed the CTE administration and program supervision course and that course provides leadership training and development in a variety of areas related to CTE from finance to community engagement. And so I just want to commend David for completing that process. that is that is above and beyond the normal workday and we appreciate all he's doing to continue growing as a leader.
007Speaking of recognitions, um one really important recognition is teacher appreciation week. This week we celebrated school principal month and love the bus and lots of support staff days. Um but this week is the most recognized because it represents our largest percentage of employees. Um all the research shows that when we look at the most important factor in learning, it's the teacher. It's always the teacher in that equation. So we want to say thank you to the teachers for all that they do both inside the workday as well as the many hours that they put put in beyond the school day. Whether that's grading, um reflecting, planning, Stephanie, you know, you're still living that life. Um so we are grateful for all that they do. There's lots of special treats and plans going on this week,
008but I want to encourage everyone in the room, particularly students and parents, to pause and take a moment to say thank you. Um, it really does matter. Whether that's a comment, a message, an email, a social media post, however you would choose to do that, please don't forget to say thank you. So, speaking of teacher appreciation, this is the month that teachers will receive the low welt supplement. Everyone wants to perk up for that, right? Um, these will be paid out again in tiers based on years of experience and these are approximate thanks to Clay Harris. So, I'm going to give you ballpark. Tier one will be approximately $2,780. Tier two approximately $3,92 and tier three approximately $3,342. And that will be paid out the end of this month. So that's a huge appreciation for
009teachers. Thank you. Um attendance report I know is something that Mr. Wallace always included in his report to the board. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a month seven attendance rate there. We there's a needed correction and that cannot be made until Infinite Campus has an update. So we will we will come back to that at the next meeting. We do have early college graduation coming up as noted in your calendar. Davy High's graduation will follow not not long beyond that. And as you know, we have implemented open gate weapons detections in on all of our campuses at this point. After our last meeting, we implemented at the elementary schools. Um, so we are in all grade spans and all schools. But as graduation approaches, we are already beginning to communicate with families about increased security measures
010for graduation. Those are the largest mass gatherings that we host. And so we will be utilizing the clear bag policy and and using the open gate weapons detection at the at the entrances for our attendees. So Karen Jarvis has been working on lots of district communications and schools are already getting the word out as well. As we wrap up this school year and are already planning for next, um I'm pleased to report that we have very few teacher vacancies remaining and we are shifting gears to focus on recruiting classified employees. So, we will be posting local job fair dates and continuing to recruit those folks throughout the summer. Um, recently, in fact, last week, the Davyy Community Foundation hosted its red carpet event. And I want to say we are blessed in Davy County. Almost
011$350,000 in college scholarships awarded to our students. And I have to say, attending an event like that as an adult, I'm not sure that students always realize it or appreciate it. Um, but to attend event like that as an adult is to realize the investment that our community makes in our youth and it is tremendous. Um, it doesn't just happen everywhere and it's something that makes us special. So really appreciate that overwhelming show of of support that we value education and we support our students. So, I want to say thanks to Jane Simpson, to her board, and to everyone who contributes to those scholarships. As far as calendar topics, I know you referenced dates. May is especially busy with lots of year-end events. Um, I will point out our district-wide arts smart event is here
012on this campus on Saturday and it will include performances. You already see some art displays that are that are started. um lots of activities and vendors and it is a great way to for families to come out and celebrate Mother's Day weekend. So, we encourage folks to come out. Um other other news as far as calendars, remember that the June meeting starts at 4 and that will continue in July and August and we will all be also be shifting in June to 4day work weeks. We'll work four tens for 12-month employees. So, that will begin um after 10-month employees go home. And finally, in closing, since our last meeting, um students and staff have enjoyed spring break, and hopefully that gave them some RNR and they're rested up and ready to work hard and finish
013strong. I sent out a message earlier this week um just as a reminder. It is natural for folks to begin counting days, counting down to that summer blastoff, as I call it. And we may see those countdowns on whiteboards and bulletin boards and school signs and and all of those sorts of things. But my challenge to everyone to for students, for employees, for parents is to try to flip that mindset as as tired as we may feel. and we've got that countdown going, I want you to flip that mindset to making every day count. Um, if you think about it, whether we're talking about a sporting event, some kind of game or competition, or um a race, sometimes it's the final minutes. It's the final yards that we really have to dig in and show
014our grit, and that's what makes the difference. So, I want to encourage folks to to keep the focus and the determination and and put forth that final effort so that we can fin finish strong. That's all I have. Chairman Pototts. Thank you very much, Miss Haynes. Any questions for Miss Haynes? Okay, the next part of our agenda is probably the reason that many of you here, which is for our student recognitions. And it's interesting that almost all of the uh recognitions tonight are in the arts program. Lots of band recognitions and then the other part of it is vocational recognition. No sports that I can recall. Hope I'm not forgetting one. Uh but that is great that that you guys will appreciate enough time to to recognize our art uh students and uh it's just
015an exciting time. So the first one will be the Northgave Middle School band. The presenters Mr. Copelan and Dylan Jones. Uh, good evening. Uh, good evening members of the board, administrators, uh, families, and guests. My name is Mr. Dylan Jones, and I have the privilege of serving as the band director at North Davy Middle School. Um, it is an honor to be here tonight to recognize one of our outstanding students, Mr. Ryan Knuckles. Um, Ryan is a dedicated and talented member of our band program who was selected to perform with the Northwest District All District Band this past January. Um, this is a very significant and prestigious achievement. Uh, the all district band features the top student musicians from across 17 different counties and selection is based on a very rigorous audition process. Um, Ryan
016managed to earn the third highest score in the district among all middle school euphonium players, which secured him a place in the top ensemble, the symphonic band. Uh, this accomplishment reflects not only his musical talent, but also his exceptional discipline, maturity, and passion for music. Although the clinic was unfortunately canled due to weather, Orion's achievements still remain a source of immense pride for our school and our community. He exemplifies the values of our music program and our broader school culture, which is excellence. Oops, excuse me. Which is excellent, striving for excellence, demonstrating leadership, and pursuing his passion in music with integrity. Um, thank you, Miss Haynes, and the Davy County School Board of Education for taking time to honor Ryan's achievement. And everyone, please join me in congratulating Mr. Ryan Knuckles on his outstanding achievement.
017[Applause] Congratulations. Next, we have the South Davy Middle School band and Cindy Stone, principal there. and Andrew Hicks, band director. Good evening, board members and guests, and thank you uh for having me here this evening to recognize these wonderful students. My name is Andrew Hicks, and I am the band director here at South Davy Middle School. Uh I have the privilege tonight to honor some amazing, talented, wonderful students uh that need more recognition and I'm glad we can give it to them tonight. Uh the first thing that I get to recognize them for is the whole of South Davey 8th grade band went to our music performance adjudication event uh in March and received the highest rating possible of a superior performance. Uh, a lot of these students in this eighth grade band were also
018a part of the ensemble last year when they did the same thing and received a superior rating. That is the highest rating possible they can get at MPA and they did it not just for one year but two years in a row. So, I would like to welcome those students that come up here and please give them a round of applause for all their hard work and dedication for that rating. [Applause] Next, I get to recognize uh some of these name students for some individual uh musical achievement. Uh I get to recognize them for their placement into the Northwest North Carolina Band Masters all district band. These students prepared scales, solos, and home their audition skills to compete against students all across Northwest North Carolina to earn one of few coveted spots uh on each
019of these instruments. uh they had to stand in long lines uh be kind of intimidated with large warm-up rooms with all these people playing around them. But they uh along with all the other students that made it this evening uh they held strong. They uh honed their craft and they made sure to keep their head on right while auditioning. They didn't get to participate like Mr. Jones said. The event sadly got cancelled due to weather. But that does not take away their achievement and how proud I am and all of South Davia is and all all that we are of their amazing musical achievement. The first one I get to recognize is I get to recognize uh Miss Irish Marion. Miss Irish Marian uh worked worked worked and auditioned on flute and she got placed
020fifth chair in the symphonic band and that top ensemble in all district this year. Can we give it a round of applause for Miss Irish Marion? Uh, next I get to recognize Miss Amelia Ellich. Miss uh, Ellich here. Ameilia is actually kind of a special case here. She did not start playing this instrument that she made it on our district uh, this year until over the summer. She took it home. She worked real hard. I gave her a packet and she almost completely independently worked by herself to be able to play this instrument and has continued to work all year. I'm extremely proud of her for only a years of work and really at the time she auditioned six months of work to being able to audition against many of the other bassoon players in
021Northwest District and not only make all district but also qualify to be auditioned for all states. So can we please give it up for Amelia and her hard work. Uh next up I get to recognize Clara Parsley. Uh Clara auditioned on Alto saxophone. Alto saxophone in all district is extremely competitive. Extremely competitive. There are usually dozens if not hundreds, I'm exaggerating, uh students there auditioning for all district. And she not only made all district, but she was second chair in the district. So with that, she was able to again audition for state. This is a very high honor and she had to work very very hard to be able to get this amazing placement. So, can we please give it up for Claire Parsley? And then last and certainly not least for recognition for all
022district tonight for South Davyy is Ruby Marion. Ruby Marion uh placed first on trombone in the all district concert band. She became basically a leader in that ensemble being the first trombone player in the concert band. She worked very hard this year. uh she didn't quite make it last year and said, "I'm going to make it this year." She worked very hard on her scales, was asking me for help very uh pretty pretty constantly uh making sure that she was able to make it this year. And she kept her hold on right. She honed her nerves and she went into that room and not only made it, but made first chair on the concert band. So, can we please give it up for her as well? Thank you so much for being here and for
023congratulating these students. I know it means the world to them. It means the world to me as well and all the South Davy band for the support that you are showing us this evening and support of our performing arts. Thank you so [Applause] much. Next will be the William Ellis Middle School Band recognition by Mrs. Morrison and Mandy James. Good evening board members and guests. My name is Mandy James and I am the band director at William Ellis Middle School. Uh tonight it is my honor to recognize an outstanding group of student musicians whose talent, dedication, and hard work help continue the tradition of excellence in the William Ellis Middle School band program. The first recognition I have tonight is our eighth grade band. We've received a superior rating at the music performance assessment, MPA,
024in grade three literature. This is the highest possible rating. This achievement reflects months of preparation, focus, and teamwork. I have some eighth grade students here tonight accepting the award upon our band, and I'd like to congratulate not just these students, but the entire band as well. Uh, if you are in eighth grade band tonight, if you'll please come and accept the award. if we could give them a round of applause for their achievement and then I'm going to ask them to stay standing for a little bit for the next couple of recognitions. Uh the second recognition I'd like to do is for the Northwest All District Band. Several students earned placement in this uh prestigious allstate all district band which represents the best young musicians across our region. These students auditioned against hundreds of peers
025and earned chairs in competitive ensembles. Uh at William Ellis Middle School, we had 10 students uh make the concert and symphonic bands. These are the following students. Uh if you will come up when your name is called and we will wait to applaud at the end. Um, we have Grace Turner, second chair, flute symphonic band. Aaron Claude Felter, third chair trumpet symphonic band. Lily Tronson, sixth chair flute symphonic band. Amaris Brown, sixth chair trombone symphonic band. Carter James, 14th chair clarinet symphonic band. Miles Barnett, second chair snare concert band. Emily Nelson, third chair snare concert band. Logan Barnett, third chair alto saxophone concert band. Daniela George Perez, 15th chair clarinet concert band. And Carson Moger, 16th chair clarinet concert band. If we could give these students a round of applause. Miss James, I'm sorry. I'm
026going to put you on the spot. Sure. I want to interrupt just a moment. It registered to me as the other schools were also recognizing all district band students. That folks in the audience who are not familiar with band may think that district means Davy County School District. Can you just take a moment to clarify what all district means because it's not just Davy County? Sure. Absolutely. So our state is split up into seven different districts in the band world and our portion of the district is the northwestern of the state and it consists 16 counties in our area. So these students are auditioning against hundreds of students of top students in their band programs and they come and perform scales and a solo that they've worked really hard on for judges in a room
027by themsel and um it's it's a lot of pressure for middle schoolmen just not within our county. Um I have a couple more recognitions. Um, when you place high enough in district band, uh, you were able to then audition for all state band, which is an even bigger accomplishment to just be able to audition. Um, we had two students who were able to audition, uh, Grace Turner and Aaron Claude Filter, and they placed both in the All-State band and performed this past weekend at UNCG with, uh, other students from across the state. Grace Turner made third chair flute and Aaron Claudefelter made fourth chair trumpet. If we could give them a round of applause. We also had students um that auditioned for the North Carolina Western Region Jazz Band. Uh and this region is actually
028even bigger because it's only split up within three parts of our state. Um, and these two students auditioned and made the bands. Aaron Claudefelter made second chair trumpet in the A band and Zach Roland made first chair vibrophone in the B band. Uh, this is the first year that we've had two students um, be selected for the group. Um, and Aaron, because he was in the A band, got to then audition for all state b uh, jazz band. uh and he was able to earn fourth chair trumpet in the North Carolina Allstate Jazz Band. If we could give them a round of applause. Uh it's it's my honor in congratulating all of these students and the eighth grade band uh their families and um the people who make it possible including other teachers, administration, and
029our county. Um, thank you for helping me recognize these students tonight. [Applause] And I'm sure the high school band folks are salivating because they're looking forward to all these great musicians that are coming up. So, we'll hear from the high school band. Uh, Mr. Puit is going to be the first presenter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Vice Chair, um interim superintendent Haynes. Um thank you all for for allowing us to be here to recognize an extraordinary group of people um at the high school. It really does uh we we are so proud of all of our programs. Um you're going to hear from the CTE program later on, but our arts programs, uh we believe we're building something that is second to none, and our band is a huge part of that. Um it takes a
030true village and a lot of different people to make that happen. So I just want to take a moment to thank on behalf of Mr. Brusso, all of our middle school band directors. Um they are at my school so often I often you forget that they're not one of my employees, but um appreciate all of their help. Uh Mr. James, uh Derek James is here as well. He's one of our CTE teachers. Um former band director in a past life and he um helps out with our band as well. And we also have a great group of adults behind them in our parents and our band boosters. And so Anne Wilson, who is the president of our band boosters, um is here with us tonight to help recognize these students. Unfortunately, Mr. Brusso could not
031be here. He is in the throws of preparing for our musical, which will start um this Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and a Sunday matinea. Um if anyone is interested in that, u we would love to see you come. will be the first time in Davy County history we will have a live pit uh orchestra playing along with the musical. So that's where he is tonight preparing for that and several of our students as well. Um so we are very fortunate to have three great band programs at Davy County High School in addition to our marching band. Um our concert bands um we have our concert band, our wind ensemble, and then less last last but not least um we have our symphonic band. And so we're here tonight to recognize any members of our concert
032band. If you're a member of our concert band and you were here, if you would just stand. So we'll probably be calling you up individually. Concert band members. Okay. Um but they went this year to MPA and they earned superior ratings. Um our concert band is mostly freshman and so that coming straight up from um our middle schools and they earn the top ratings that you can get. So um we are very very proud of them. Our wind ensemble is our highest orchestra and they also received straight superiors and an A or A+ in every one of their marks. Um so uh please give our concert band and win ensemble a round of applause. With that I will turn it over to Miss Wilson who will recognize our all district and all state participants. All
033right. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Uh, like you said, I'm Anne Wilson. I'm the president of the Davy Band boosters. Work closely with the bands and Mr. Brusso. Um, and he apologizes for not being here. Tech week for the musical is very busy and I hope you all go check it out. So, it will be great. Um, I am going to recognize our all district uh students first. Uh, the Davy County High School band is thrilled to celebrate the incredible achievements of its musicians who auditioned and earned a spot in the prestigious Northwest District All District bands out of a competitive pool of over 2,000 students from our North Carolina region. These talented individuals showcase their skill, dedication, and passion for music, securing their place among the best. Call your names up. uh
034come up here and accept your uh award and we'll hold applause to the end. Uh, congratulations to Katie Beth Carter, Luke Cranfield, Ethan Demer, Ariana Fletcher, Paul Lynch, Brad Vendoza, Lena Parsley, Eric Pope, Olivia Rashad, Bailey Schultz, Carson Snyder, Silus Johnson, Wesley Davis, and Carson Yunt for their remarkable accomplishment. Uh, participating in this audition uh, process requires perseverance, technical mastery, and a commitment to musical excellence. These students rose to the occasion, demonstrating the hard work and determination that defines the Davy band program. We could not be more proud of their successes, and we know that they will continue to inspire through their artistry and dedication. [Applause] and several of these students are uh that I named are performing with the musical. So, please come out and support them Thursday through Sunday this week. Um and
035last but not least are the all state recognitions. Uh, the Davy County High School band is beyond proud to recognize Ethan Demer and Eric Pope for their incredible achievement in auditioning and earning a spot in the 2025 North Carolina Allstate Bands out of hundreds of talented musicians from across our state. Eric and Ethan demonstrated remarkable skill, dedication, and artistry, securing their place among North Carolina's finest. Their commitment to musical excellence Hours of preparation and passion for performance have set them apart, and this prestigious honor is a testament to their hard work. Earning a place in the All State bands is a tremendous accomplishment, and we could not be more excited to celebrate these outstanding musicians. Congratulations, Eric and Ethan. Your dedication and talent continue to inspire, and we commend you for representing Davy County with
036pride this past weekend. [Applause] Okay. Now, on the vocational side of things, the first recognition there will be North Davy Middle School with their Skills USA program. All right. Good evening, uh, board members, uh, parents, and students. Uh, just wanted to real quick explain what Skills USA is for those of you that don't know. Uh, switching over to the vocational side. So, Skills USA is the number one workforce development organization for students uh, in a high school or club setting. Uh our mission is to empower students to become skilled professionals, career ready leaders, and responsible community members. This organization builds the future skilled workforce our nation so depends on. Uh we are 413,000 student and teacher members nationwide strong. Uh my name is Seth James. I am a adviser at the high school. Uh but
037again, I just wanted to get up here in front of you and make sure that everybody understood what Skills was. I'm going to introduce uh the first middle school. We have Skills USA at two of the three middle schools in the county. We'll be working on our third next year hopefully. Um and these students do these students like the uh the band, they definitely need this recognition. Um they work really hard all year to compete. Uh and they do some amazing things. They do some really amazing things. So with that said, I want to introduce Carrie Triet. She is from North Davy Middle School. Um and she's got a couple things to say and get it rolling. Good evening. Uh first of all, I'd like to thank the board, Miss Haynes, uh for taking the
038time to recognize these hardworking Skills USA winners. My name is Carrie Trivet and I am the family and consumer science teacher at North Davy Middle School. I'm also one of the adviserss for our Skills USA team. This was the first year that North Davy put together a Skills USA team. Uh it was a lot of fun and we had a lot of success. In April, the students went to Greensboro uh to compete in the North Carolina State Skills USA uh convention and they uh competed against other middle schoolers across the state. Uh and I'm happy to uh report that every one of them placed in their chosen competition. Uh, so without further ado, I would like to recognize our North Carolina State Skills USA winners from North Davy Middle School. Uh, if you could come
039up when I call your name. In first place for the Creed, we have Ella Reynolds. Ella memorized a six paragraph creed, the Skills USA creed, and had to recite it by memory in front of judges. Uh, second place, North Carolina Skills USA automotive tool identification goes to Jaden Jebson. Jaden memorized over 100 automotive tools and then had to participate in a timed competition. We have second place for the skills demonstration and that goes to uh Alonzo Rosas. Alonzo taught a group of judges how to properly make flatbread. Yes. Uh we also have a second place for the North Carolina Skills USA t-shirt design and that goes to Miss Olivia Stanley. Olivia designed a t-shirt for the North Carolina Skills USA and then had to defend her design uh to a group of judges. Uh we
040have second place North Carolina Skills USA Skills Demonstration uh for Clay Dinkens. [Applause] Clay actually taught a group of judges how to properly install a car battery. They were very impressed. And then we have third place, uh, North Carolina Skills USA skills demonstration for Miss Ava Hamilton. [Applause] and Ava taught a group of judges all of the basics of a flute and how to play Hot Cross Buns. They enjoyed it. Thank you all for your support. [Applause] Okay, Mr. James, if you will continue with the William Ellis Middle School Skills USA. All right. Uh, so North A was their first year uh competing in Skills uh first year having a chapter, but this is William Ellis's second year and uh Mr. Mr. Given is going to be doing the awards. Good evening. Uh thank you
041board for letting us be here this evening. Um as Mr. James said, this is our second year uh having a team at Ellis uh for skills. Um this year, sorry my notes got messed up. Um we uh this year we had students ranging from all kinds of uh events such as promotion bulletin board pin design engineering design and um some graphic design um contest. Miss Watson who is our other co-advisor is unfortunately not able to be here this evening. Um she is dealing with some family issues that or family concerns and was not able to make it. But we also incorporated our art teacher this year, Mr. Mowers. he helped um come in and demonstrate to our students how to properly use uh graphic design and other artistic effects for some of their events. Um
042as Mr. James said, this is our second year. Last year we had 12 students. Um this year our numbers went up to 19 and I would like to intro or rep or recognize their success this year at the state competition. Uh for first place, which is um in this partic for first place in promotional bulletin board, we have Addie James, Zoe Cannon, and Reese Harris. if you guys could come up. And this is actually the second year that this group has won. Um, and for promotional bulletin board by coming in first, they're able to uh uh they are able to go to nationals, but unfortunately this year with some uh in Atlanta, but due to some uh team members not being able to be there the week of nationals, they're not able to compete, but
043they did get reg or did get to um go to nationals or they did get recognized to be somebody that could go to nationals uh for uh poster Or for our poster design, we have Suzanne Robinson, first place, and Will Weaver, third place. Second place team engineering challenge, we have Daniellea Morales, Brennan Mabe, and Zach Roland. The engine the engineering challenge is an interesting event. Um these students they arrived at 10 o'clock at the convention center and were given a prompt and they had four hours to come up with a car that would be able to go I believe 10 feet or 10 feet and so they had to compete on or just get it all done compete and they did a very good job and they came in second this year. And our last
044group is a chapter display and that's Meredith Gibbons, Narat Patel, and Daniela George Perez. Once again, it has been a real honor to be able to work with these students uh as uh starting last year and then this year that our chapter is growing uh thanks to Mr. James and the high school giving us the support. Um hopefully next year we'll have 25 26 students, but we do appreciate you guys taking your time this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Now, Mr. James, we'll move to the high school level of Skills USA State Conference. Sorry. Okay, I'm gonna save a little bit of time. Uh, I'm going to call, excuse me, I'm going to call the regional winners and state winners uh up at the same time. Uh, and I'll I'll let you know who placed
045in regionals, who placed in states. Um but this is our this is our high school Skills USA chapter. Um we typically have anywhere from it depends on the years 35 to 55 members uh with usually about 35 active members that we take to um Skills USA to the state or national or excuse me to regionals and states. Uh we've been to nationals now for I think it's the last four to five years in a row. Um we've had a bunch of uh bunch of success. Uh we pride ourselves if Davey shows up we show out. So with the middle schools coming on board, we'll get to see you guys at the high school next and then you know so forth and so on. So let's get started. Uh Ty Carter see here. Ty Ty Carter
046uh placed in second place in additive manufacturing uh at regionals and um second place in additive manufacturing at the state conference as well. Uh Caleb Cobalt see. All right. So Caleb uh second place in additive manufacturing in regionals and second place in additive manufacturing at states as well. That was a team. Those two guys were a team. Uh Jaden Leonard is here. Jaden uh received first place in additive manufacturing at regionals and first place in additive manufacturing at the Skills USA state conference. And Ben Stanley see here. Okay. So Ben is Jaden's teammate again. First place in additive manufacturing in regionals. first place it states to which they are the national contestants. They'll be headed to nationals uh here at the end of June. All right. Uh Austin Sweet is he was third place engineering
047technology and design uh Skills USA state conference. And Bryson Lance here uh he was third place engineering technology and design uh in state conference. and Cody White also again third place engineering technology and design state conference. This is a [Applause] team. All right. Uh first place in robotics urban search and rescue at regionals uh was a team of Chris uh Marcelino and Matthew Dwarte. And then they also placed first in urban search and rescue at the state conference to which they are our next national team that will be headed to nationals in Atlanta uh later on this year or this school year in June. Uh and either one of them here here. All right. And Levi Taylor, he's here. Levi plays first in technical drafting at the North Carolina Regional [Applause] Conference. Um, I know
048Caswell couldn't be here. You mentioned Caswell earlier uh with that prestigious award, but Caswell placed third in extemporaneous speaking at the regional conference. Uh Jackson Barrett Jackson placed first uh in automotive one at the North Carolina USA regional conference for automotive for automotive one. And then Jackson switched it up a little bit for states where he placed fifth for uh skills project showcase in transportation uh for the state conference. All right. And that's all I have. Okay, And now we have the Davy County High School North Carolina HOSA state leadership conference, Mrs. Sparks. Good evening everyone who's still here. Y um my name is Melissa Sparks. I am the host of future health professionals advisor at Davy County High School and I'm gonna go ahead and have Jamie and Eric come up. We went to
049the state leadership conference at the end of March this year and last year we took eight students to the state leadership conference. This year we took 28 students to the state leadership conference. So we grew a lot and all the students did really well. They had an amazing time and represented Davey in the best possible way. But the students I have behind me went a little bit above and beyond all the rest. So, first I would like to recognize Jamie Brown. She competed in the healthcare issues exam at the North Carolina Hosta State Leadership Conference and won first place. And Eric Pope competed in the patient care tech event. So, he had to not only pass a test, but he also had to demonstrate skills. I believe his skill was he had to measure and
050weigh an infant. And the the funniest thing that came out of that because the judges talked to me. Funniest thing that came out of that is he wasn't sure how to put the diaper back on after he weighed the child. So that was a little bit of of comedy he brought into us, but he got third place. Both of these students will be traveling with me to Nashville, Tennessee at the in the third week in June. The last teacher workday. We'll be we'll be hitting the road to to Nashville and they will compete at the International Leadership Conference. So, thank you so much. And we certainly hope that our high school will be well represented at the state uh excuse me at the national levels. I'm sure they'll be wanting to come back and share
051some uh winners with us a little later in the summer. So, thank you very much and thank you for being here. Next board uh is our consent agenda. Is there a motion to accept the agenda as presented? Just a friendly reminder that you do have an addendum with a couple of names added. Thank you. That's under um resale re human resources. Okay. So, I see a motion. Mr. Hunter's motion. Is there a second? Stephanie has a second. Any questions or concerns? If not, I'll approve the consent agenda. Show of hands. Motion carries 70. Next are our business items. And the first, Mr. Harris, our budget resolution. I present tonight to you the budget resolution, the draft resolution as well as the superintendent's message and then the capital um outlay list that we talked through. Um
052that's there. There's no real change from when we had our work session. There a couple projects that came off of the capital list that um included some track work and a piece of equipment in in maintenance that we won't be purchasing, but other than that, it's exactly what we talked about in the uh in the work session. I ask for approval so that we can move this on to the county commissioners. It has to be to them by the 15th. So, they'll approve it and I'll bring back the actual capital resolution um so we can start our summer projects in June. Um and then we can start on any projects in July. Heard the recommendation of Mr. Harris. Is there a motion to accept his recommendation for the U budget resolution? Con makes a motion.
053Is there a second? Stephanie has second. Okay. Questions for Mr. Harris. I don't have a question, Clay. I just want to say thank you again for all the time in the budget and um that goes into it and also the um superintendent the message that you all are delivering I thought was excellent um and laid out not only the goals but what's been going on and what we're looking for and how we hope to improve and how great our school system has been and again the um financial aspect and how healthy how financially healthy our district is did not does not go unnoticed and so I just greatly appreciate y'all. Thank you. Anyone else? If not, uh, all approved. Motion carry 70. Next, Jeremy Whitaker has a presentation and a recommendation. Good evening, Chairman Pototts,
054board members, Superintendent Haynes, staff, and guests. Davy County Schools would like to hire CW Electric for the LED lighting upgrade during the summer of 2025. The project will impact two schools, Koulami Elementary and William Rar Davyy. The board has approved $200,000 in the capital outlay budget last year for one school this summer. We have asked the vendor if we could move forward with the additional school this summer to speed up the conversion of the LED lighting projects at the elementary schools. The labor price for both schools is $22,44 which will be a part of the 2526 capital outlay budget. Mr. Harris, you have a recommendation or comment about that? No, I'd like for us to move forward. Um, we we've done one school at a time. We'd like to go ahead and do two this
055year. Um, so we can go ahead and move that project forward um with the LEDs. That's the reason we're asking for it and kind of split it up between materials last month, labor this month. Okay. To be part of the uh capital that we will spend next year to cover the labor part of it. Motion to accept Mr. Whitaker's recommendation. Mr. Jones makes a motion and a second. Mr. makes a second. Okay. Questions for Mr. Whitaker. Hearing none. All in favor? Show of hands. Motion carries. 70. Continue on. Mr. Whitaker with the HVAC recommendations. All right. Davy County Schools would like to hire web heating air for the replacement of the HVAC equipment during the summer of 2025. This project will impact three schools, North Davy, South Davy, and William R Davyy Elementary School. The
056HVAC units at these three schools. There's one in one at each school. cafeteria unit at North Davy and then a couple classroom units have been condemned due to their age and the expense to fix. We are recommending to replace them for a total of $105,420 which includes labor and materials. Three quotes were received for this project. You can see the bid tab and then way of heat and air came in at the best price. Okay. Of course, it's always good if we approve uh a low bid. That's u a local company puts people to work, keeps people working. Uh so, you have a recommendation for Mr. Whitaker to accept the low bid of web heating and air conditioning. Is there a motion to that effect? Joe has a motion. Khan has a second. Questions for
057Mr. Whitaker? If not, all in favor? Show of hands. Motion carries. 70. And I believe that all the ones you have, Mr. Whitty. Thank you. All right. Thanks for the job that you're doing. And next business item is Dr. Blatner. Thank you. Uh before you, you have a two contracts that I'm looking at today. Uh they're both they're separate. They're the same company. They are being funded through what's called the -ate program. The -ate program is a federal program that helps schools with connectivity uh both and it's divided into two parts. Category one is our internet that comes to the buildings and our connection between all the buildings. Category two is everything within the buildings or Wi-Fi and things like that. So uh with these programs we uh we get subsidized by the federal government
058based upon our free reduced lunch and our subsidy comes 80% where they will pay for 80% of the projects. North Carolina has put together the North Carolina school uh connectivity program which actually will pay the other 20% of that. So it has no impact on our local budget when we do that. The two contracts that we have is in category one is for some upgrading the switch we have here. we're starting to reach the limits of what we're doing. We want to get ahead of that. So, as we get more equipment and more uh activity, we are not uh falling behind on that. That and category two, we have uh some modules that go with that which are inside. Like I said, that's WAN versus our local area. And then we're also upgrading all of
059the battery backups in all the wiring closets at the school. So if we have power outages or anything like that that that equipment can stay up till we can get things uh squared away with that. So you have the contracts before you. The category one contract is for excuse me is for $94,24.32 to ANC group and the category 2 is for $92,955.39. I'm bringing this to you actually before the federal government has given their stamp of approval on it. Um, so this is contingent upon their approval. We just want once they say it, we can get going on this project and not have to wait uh for the board meetings that might happen and get it over in the summer, try to get this done. So my recommendation for you is to please approve these
060two contracts. Okay, you've heard his recommendation. Is there a motion to that effect? Stephanie has a motion and second. Khan has a second. Okay, questions to Dr. Blatner or or the budget part of it. Either one. Hearing none, we ask for your approval. Motion carries 70. Thank you. Okay. Staff report from uh the social workers update from Miss Kuster and Aubrey Drone. What? Good evening board members, Chairman Pot, Miss Haynes. Thank y'all and special guest and staff. We appreciate the time this evening. um the social workers and I have um we meet throughout the year and one of the things that I'm always amount amazed with is their numbers and facts and all that they accomplish. So this evening I have with me Aubrey Drum who is our lead social worker and Hannah Douglas who
061is one of our newest social workers that we're excited to have back again and also have to recognize Ally Fruits that we're thankful to have her as a part-time social worker through a grant. So, we're thankful for each of these these ladies and all that they do. Um, what we're going to share with you a little bit or they're going to share with you this evening because it's their work is um one of the things that the state identifies as what we call a CISP team. And that is specialized instructional support personnel. And so, as you look at that, you'll see that consists of our school counselors, our school social workers, our school psychologists, and our school nursing teams. So, it's just um we just wanted to share with you a little update. We'll have
062see some comparison of some numbers from years past to today as we hit some highlights of their roles and some of the numbers around Mckini Vento and a variety of things. So, we hope you find this informative. So, I'll let them take over. Good evening. Hannah and I are excited to share a little bit with you all about our school social work department. So for the 2425 school year, we currently have four full-time school social workers and one part-time grant-f funded social worker who provide support within our district two to three days a week. It's important to note that the numbers we're going to share with you all this evening reflect last school year's numbers and we did have one additional full-time school social work position at that time due to esser funds. We currently
063have a one school social worker to about,300 students and each social worker has anywhere from two to four schools based on enrollment numbers, historical data, needs, and other duties and social work responsibilities. In addition to our four and a half school social workers, we also are fortunate to have, thanks to our partnership with our local DHS and our health department, um, Summer Scardino, who is our substance use educator and resource navigator. She provides support four days a week at the secondary level in the district. She provides substance use education to parents, staff, community members, and also leads substance use groups at Davy High School, Central Davy Academy, and our middle schools for students who are struggling with addiction and or have been caught under the influence of substances or with substances on campus. While this
064position is not a typical school social work position, summer is absolutely part of our team social work role. It is our job to do everything we can to help eliminate and remove barriers to learning by addressing the students social, academic, emotional and physical needs. School social workers really are that positive connection and liaison between the school homes and our community. We provide services like crisis assessment and intervention. We do a lot of advocacy work, case management and collaboration, consultation, parent education, family support, staff development, counseling and mediation and conflict resolution. Crisis assessment interventions can include but is not limited to things like threat assessments, suicide screeners, safety planning, and security alerts, case management, parent education, and family support. They can all fall under many of our related attendance duties that we work on each day.
065We monitor attendance each week, check in with students, and reach out to families to inquire about their absences and what we can do as school social workers to help improve their overall attendance and remove barriers. Research tells us that effective school social work practices help increase academic achievement, mental and behavioral health outcomes, attendance and graduation rates, social emotional skills, safety and well-being, and family and community involvement. As the lead school social worker, I'm also the district McKenna Vento liaison and oversee the federal home our federal homeless education program. So the McKenna Vento education of homeless and children and youth assistant act is the primary piece of federal legislation dealing with education of children and youth specifically experiencing homelessness. So McKenna Vento's definition of homelessness includes individuals who lack a fixed regular and adequate nighttime residence.
066Examples can include children and youth who are sharing housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason. We like to refer to this one as doubled up. Um if they're living in motel, hotels, or campgrounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations and if they're living in emergency or transitional shelters. So during the 232 24 school year, so last school year we identified 124 students under McKenna Vento, so far year to date for this school year, we have identified 117 students as homeless. So, the reason it's important to identify them, not only is it federal law, and we have to, but once a a student is identified as homeless, they are eligible for services for the remainder of the school year regardless of whether or not they move into permanent
067housing. Eligibility ensures that homeless students are immediately enrolled in school, and they're also allowed to stay in their school of origin, receive free and reduced lunch, assistance with transportation to and from their school of origin. So, examples of some services that can be provided to our homeless students include things like referrals to local resources, coordinating transportation, and purchasing school clothes if that's needed, shoes, supplies, hygiene items, and assisting with emergency housing or hotel stays. And usually that's used by our atrisisk fund, which you'll hear about in just a minute. So, as school social workers, we wanted to talk about um foster care as well and our kind of role in that. Um within the school social workers, we do have a foster care point of contact, someone that foster care can directly go to. Um
068and in that with the point of contact, they usually schedule our bid meetings, which is also known as best interest determination meetings. Um, we also implement and advocate for students to stay in their school of origin. This just means if a student is in school and they are put into foster care while they're at that school, if it is in their best interest, we advocate for them to stay at their school of origin, even if they may not live in this county. Um, we also advocate for immediate enrollment when it comes to students even at other schools or especially our schools. If we have someone coming in, an student coming in from another school system, um we do again advocate for immediate enrollment so we can go ahead and get them in a school to
069help with um the transitional time. And one thing our point of contact also does is helps with the to try to smooth the transition for the student. If a student is in foster care, a lot of the times they are going through a lot of transition. Um and we from the school side, we want to make that transition as smooth as possible. Um and we also collaborate with foster families along with birth families and um DSS to ensure that the child's needs are being met within the school. Um kids in foster care that have been adopted after their 12th birthday or kids that have aged out of care, so 18 years or older, um are eligible for free college, which means in the instate or community college. Um, in North Carolina, there is a box
070on the FASA application that asks if they have been or are a ward of the state. So, we also wanted to touch on our community collaborations a little bit. Um, this is a list of our agencies that we regularly work with. Um, but we do have a lot of other agencies that we also work with. Um, these are just a few. Um, we work with the Advocacy Center of Davy County. We also work with Family Promise, Just Hope, and also the Dragonfly House, which is a children's advocacy center. Um, and in the top right corner, you'll see a picture of some food that was giving given from serving our neighbors um that the school social workers helped deliver to a family. So when we talk about helping our families, we wanted to highlight the our
071at risk fund. During the 2022 or 2023 2024 school year, um school social workers provided assistance to 83 students and families. This year so far, we have um helped 69 students and families. Our student services at risk fund is a small fund that is solely funded by donations and fundraisers from our community. Um, this fund helps school social workers meet the basic needs for students and families in time of crisis and hardship. Some of the things that we'll assist with when we're able is clothing. We utilize Goodwill, um, Walmart. We also utilize Just Hope. Um, some other things that we'll help provide is food for families when they need food. We'll partner with local grocery stores, utilize Serving Our Neighbors, as the slide showed before, um, and Storehouse for Jesus. And if a family has
072a disconnection notice in terms of utilities, we can sometimes use our atrisisk fund to help prevent the disconnection from that. I think that's really good to point out that we're not just paying power bills. You have to have a disconnection notice or the service has already been disconnected. Um, so how does that risk fund work? So many times a teacher or another school staff member may learn that a kid is without power or water or there is a need. Um, the teacher will typically notify someone in student services who then shares it with the social worker. From there, the school social worker assesses that need, gathers any and all relevant information, partners with outside agencies if necessary. We're not always able to pay a whole bill, but we may be able to partner with DSS
073and Family Promise or the Advocy Center to all come together and get it paid. Um, we communicate with the family, of course, and we staff the request for approval and then use the atrisisk fund to make the payment. And most times when these needs come up, it's not on a Monday morning at 8:30 when we have plenty of time to get it paid and to work out all the details with other agencies. Just about always, an urgent need like power, water, or emergency housing will happen right before 5:00 when everything in the community is about to close or on a Saturday night when we aren't at work. But our school social worker team, school social work team truly is amazing. We're not going to let a family, you know, sleep in their car until Monday
074morning if it's a Friday night. We're going to get it done, pay out of our own pocket if we have to and then just get reimbursed on Monday. Um, if it's what's best for kids, the school social work team truly does make it happen. Um, so part of our job of course is our attendance. Um, one of the many things that we do. So we just wanted to go over some highlights from that from the previous school year. So, in comparing last year's chronic absenteeism to the previous year, um, in elementary schools, we saw a 27.7 decrease in students with 10 plus unexcused absences. In the middle schools, we saw nearly a 14% decrease from 2022 2023. And the high school, we saw a 5.4 decrease um in day in daily attendance with 10 plus
075unexcused absences. Every contact school social workers make, every resource we provide, we track it. And at the end of each school year, we work on compiling what is called our school social work end of year report. So the numbers pictured here are from our last year end of year report. So as you can see, 657 times a school social worker responded to a crisis child welfare safety incident. We provided 856 resources to families. We provided SEB behavior support 670 times. We provided support to teachers and staff 668 times. As a team, we made a total of 181 home visits. We had 877 occurrences of either participating in court or participating in a court related activity. We made,469 attendance related contacts and 1444 parent contacts. that would be separate from attendance. I just want to add
076right there that one of the things about this this is also part of the mandatory reporting that we have to give to the state. Uh that will be placed in a little bit different. We're just submitting it through different forms or Google forms mostly but next year more than likely it will be an infinite campus and all of these questions are basic things that they have to in addition to their job track everything that they do. So they do a great job of that and it's been a consistent process. So, I just wanted to point that out that that is a requirement of the state now also. And I really like numbers and data and charts. I'm a visual person. So, if you look here, 181 home visits sounds like a lot. But then when
077we break down our time, which is what we did in our end of year report, if you'll see at the top, that tiny green sliver is our home visits. So, while 181 home visits sounds like a lot of home visits, when you look at the percent of time that social workers spent actually making them, it's much smaller. Um, last year, school social work school social workers spent the largest amount of time um making attendance related contacts. I don't think that's surprising to anyone. Um, 14.2% of our time. So, attendance related contacts can include check-ins with students, teachers, and staff, reaching out to families, and outside agencies about about matters related to a student's attendance. Um, the next largest chunk of time was parent contacts. We spend just about as much time contacting parents about separate
078things outside of attendance. This can be when a social worker contacts parents about their child for any reason. It can include phone contacts, email, face toface, in person to discuss concerns, offer support, um refer to outside agencies, or just see how we can help. Um the next largest amount of time was staffing and collaboration. This can include staffing cases and situations with administrators, counselors, nurses, school sites, teachers, really anyone, and also includes collaborating with outside agencies that are currently working with families. And then the next category is student contacts. As you'll see there in the purple, 10.5%. And this includes any school social work direct contact with a student. Can be lunch groups, just a one-on-one check-in, um, SEB interventions. Many times people think of truency court when they think about school social workers. What
079I like about this visual and what you can see here on this chart is school social workers spend a small amount of time overall within truency court on that green slice up there. But we spend so much more time on the proactive interventions and more upstream solutions in turn to help us improve attendance and to keep us out of court and to keep families out of court. While we've seen many positive changes through truency court, we are really proud to see a visual like this that shows that we are putting in the hard work proactively to try to prevent court court involvement whenever possible. Speaking of court, North Carolina school attendance law does require that children attend school once they turn the age of seven until 16. School social workers monitor attendance and are responsible
080for filing truency charges when Other options have been exhausted. Last school year, we filed eight parent charges, five new juvenile petitions, and reviewed a total of 77 truency cases um last school year. So, those would be cases that were continued or were on for review. And we also use agencies like Pedmont Mediation um to see if there's anything we're missing or anything else we can do to try to prevent court involvement. and the trcy judges really like to see that we've tried everything. So, we do try to use them whenever possible. So, we kind of wanted to show also the behind the scenes of some things that we do. Um, and some of those include, and we do collaborate with our school counselors on this, but something that is included in the pictures is we
081do lunch groups or um seal groups. Um, this just kind of helps us hold groups with students that based on their behavioral, social, emotional needs. We will meet with them. We try to meet with them during their lunch or um we collaborate with teachers to see when the best time is so that they're not missing instruction. Um, however, we do work very closely with our school counselors on that. Um, another picture, especially in the bottom right, is our part-time social worker, Ally. She is doing some community outreach. Um, we also like to participate in fun events that um, Davy County Schools host and our trunk or treat for our EC self-contained classrooms. That was a a ton of fun. Um, so much fun if you especially if you were there. Um, we also have um,
082a picture of Aubrey um, helping with a student. um we do meet with students not only outside of the classroom but also inside of the classroom so that they're able to listen and able to um maybe while it doesn't look like they're listening sometimes they they are able to get that and we're able to work with them and keep them in their place of instruction. Um, we also, we had talked about before, but securely, um, our school staff does a really really great job. Um, our school counselors, our admin does a really great job at responding to these, um, especially when school social workers are not in our building. Um, but we we often have to work together um, even outside of hours and that includes calling communication um, after work or even on the
083weekends. Um, and we also at the top shows the food bags as well that go home with families. Again, our school counselors do a great job. Um, but we also we collaborate um on a lot of things and those go home with families and we wanted to be really intentional about trying to figure out a way to give you all an even closer look behind the scenes and this was the best way I could figure out how to do that um while also adhering to confidentiality. So, when parents make contact with us as social workers, it's usually not ever going to be on a good day at all. It's usually going to be when things aren't going well. And it's usually going to be during the hard times, the times of desperation, and when they
084need help the most. So, what you'll see here pictured on the left is communication with the parent whose housing situation abruptly changed due to circumstances beyond the parents control. This parent absolutely loves her child more than anything in the world. She worked several jobs and she was committed to doing whatever it took to secure safe housing for her family. You can see there the white part. It's the last page of the housing resource that we shared with her. And then you can see that the mom texted the social worker on Monday morning that they secured an apartment and they'd be moving in on Monday. Not pictured there is the communicated communication back and forth for about two weeks assisting with temporary hotel stays, paperwork, and coordination of resources. Pictured here on the right, we have
085a parent that reached out to the social worker who was growing weary and trying to motivate her teenager to go to school. Notice she says, "It's becoming impossible." to a social worker. When we hear those words, we know that we need to approach the situation with compassion and do whatever we can to offer to help. And that's what we did. The other parent met us at the door, invited us inside where we were able to give teenager a quick pep talk, and then off we went to school. The teenager was frustrated, irritated, eyes were rolling upon arrival. But by the time we made it to the school, they were in better spirits and ready to take on their school day. These are just two of many behind the-scenes moments that we've shared here. And as
086school social workers, we are here for the kids, but we're also here for their families. Building trust and connecting with not just the kids, but parents and families, too. Even the ones that initially are the hardest to connect with is truly an honor that we do not take for granted. And it is how we are best able to meet the needs of our kids, families, and our community. Thank you. [Applause] I just um I just want to say that we're truly blessed to have the social workers that we have here in the county. Um and thank you guys for all that you do. You do so much a lot of people don't know about. Um and you're probably the most caring, compassionate group that that that I know. Um, but we appreciate you a lot.
087You do so much behind the scenes and that's what really stuck out to me. I have a couple of questions, not to put anybody on the spot, but the McKini Vento money is that originated through the Department of Energy. No, excuse me. Department I can explain that to you. The McKitty Vento Act is a federal law that protects the rights of homeless students and it requires a team and I'm sure we're probably looking at the team to meet and discuss the best interests of the child and if the best interest of the child are to remain in their homeschool while they are um in transition then we make arrangements to make sure that happens. So, if their transitional home is that they have to move in with cousin Margaret and cousin Margaret lives in Ardell
088County, we make arrangements with Ardell County to get those kids to their original school until their transitional housing has been resolved and that's a federal law and um there's a whole federal process and I'm sure they're very familiar with it. there are very similar state laws regarding foster children now that follow a lot of the same McKini Vento like um requirements and so I'm sure you are also probably the people in charge of that would be my guess um and so these are all things to protect kids who are in transition to give them some stability in their school life and who has oversight in the federal level is what I'm trying to figure out department of education okay so who knows eventually but right now that department is if that department is wiped out.
089That's my concern. It's a federal law. So the only um particular issue with regard to the department of education is where it's housed and supervised. It could be in health and human services. It could be moved to any department. Um it the fact that the that Congress has uh approved the McKenna Vento law wouldn't change because somebody else is supervising it. The law still exists. Okay. I just hope we don't lose the the financing of it is the point. And those are all congressionally approved laws. So those don't those cannot be subject to an executive order or closing of a department. And Jennifer, what is your what is the pool like for social workers? Is there are there people available? Okay. other things. That's why I really encourage folks like before she started here with
090her father and we talked about options for her internship. So that's another thing that our system does a wonderful job with is those internships. So Hannah actually came with that was part of her social work requirement to do that with us and then we move them and They come and they stay and they see the great things and the great things. That's what her team and her schools her principal dedicated to her learning and growing. That that's what keeps keeps our people here. They do a wonderful job as Jeff has already said, especially behind the scenes where nobody would ever see what's going on. It's interesting sometimes and I do have to give a shout out to he does that he avoids text messages from time to time but he's also shared with me how
091much he's learned to understand more about this law and how to make things work with other counties and he does a phenomenal job with all of that. We're so appreciative for him and continuing to work with us, especially with that. The social workers are really on call 247 because that's where their hearts are. We had a situation a couple months ago and I was texting with one of them at 8:30. So, it is truly about the kids. And my last question, what's going on with your relationship with the school from the western North Carolina? So, I'd still text with that principal and that program specialist there and They're doing pretty well. They're doing pretty well up there. So, you know, just still little things. Um, we did have a situation. It's been almost a month
092ago now. Um, Mr. Wallace and the superintendent across the state after that incident worked together and came together to say, "What can we do with superintendent if situations like this happen again?" So, they worked with the state social workers, that group, and um, they got them, we they were able to select from each district, I think based on size, but we selected one school counselor for to participate and she was able to go to receive what's called prepare training and that's training to participate in with how to handle emergencies such as that and other things or mass shootings or you know things like that if other schools and other districts um from outside of their county are needed. And so she actually went um to I believe it was Yansy and she was able to
093spend a week there at a school where they were still seeing a lot of trauma and effects and um homes that literally lost three out of five of their family members. So, she went in for a week and we released her for that week, of course, to offer that extra counseling and that extra breath of fresh air for that school counselor to be able just to focus on a few other things, but felt like they were leaving these other children and families behind. So, that's been another great resource that we've been able to add across the state and we're very thankful for our counselor that's participating in that. Other questions, comments? I had something I I noticed one of the um hot button topics and Jinda, you probably hear this a lot around the state
094right now is absenteeism. When you talk to some of these board meetings I'm on with chairs, vice chairs, superintendents, the number one challenge is absenteeism. And I noticed that absenteeism has improved over the last year. And in the following slide or two, um when Aubrey was doing the pie chart and the most time spent is attendance related contacts. So I have to think that that is in relation to that. So that is excellent. I mean the amount of challenges I hear regarding absenteeism and how it's going down in districts is really great across the state. So we I hear that. I see that and thank you. I think one of the things that's really helped with that also is that our what we call cisip team meetings and that's a time that admin sits down
095when all folks can be there or when it's just a few of them to intentionally talk about the children and some of their needs and absenteeism is definitely a part of those conversations and what can they do as a group. So, it may be that the nurse is helping with this situation because it may be something medically involved or the social workers are helping to tackle certain things as well so that they can make that phone call to that parent or that home visit um or that email or whatever needed to help support the admin because admin's plates are full. So, they try to help with all of that with that extra communication and it does go a long way and make a difference as you can see from those text messages. Any other questions
096or Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. U Miss Wilson, uh public address to the board. Is anyone signed up to speak? You do not have anyone signed up today, but I imagine you're going to greet lots of your citizens very soon at graduation. Okay. Comments from the board. You have something you want to share? No. Okay. Okay. Any comments? Anything to share? All right. Then if not, we've come to the end of the agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn? And is there a second? Marie seconds. All in favor? Show of hand. Thank you everyone for being here this evening. Thank you board.