Harnett County Board of Education Meeting January 12, 2026

001It was ready. The January meeting of the Hornet County Board of Education is now in order. If everyone would please stand, I'd like to ask Miss Sharon Gayy if she would lead us in our invocation. >> Dear heavenly father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for another opportunity to serve the students and the teachers and faculty and staff of Hornet County Schools. Help us to make decisions that will be in the best interest of every student. and we thank you for allowing us to see the year 2026. Help us to be better people to do more things for you in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. Thank you, Miss Gayy. If you'd remain standing, I'd like to ask Mr. Brad Abate if he would lead us in our pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge

002allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And you may be seated. >> Are there any additions or adjustments to our agenda? >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? Hearing none. Chairman votes I. >> Abate I. >> Gay I. >> God. I >> hearing no nay votes. The motion carries and the agenda is approved as presented. We're going to begin tonight with our special presentations. And our first presentation will be to recognize our cross country state champion, consecutive state champion, Mr. Ethan Rich from Western Hornet High School. So, we'll turn it over

003to Mr. Chris Pearson for this presentation. >> Thank Chairman F members of the board. You may remember last year that we celebrated Ethan uh for winning the 3A state uh championship in cross country. U he and his family have have arrived this evening to be recognized again. Um he was able to be the back-to-back state champion which is quite a feat. We haven't had a lot of state champions in Hornet County and so having one backtoback is certainly a great thing. Also point out that uh there was realignment this year of the athletic conferences. So a little bit of different competition as they went to the AA format. Um, and so different some schools moved in and some schools moved out of Ethan's competition and he still was able to come out on top there.

004So Ethan and his family are here and his coach Mr. Lynhout I think is in the crowd back there. So I'll ask them if they want to come forward and I'll ask Mr. Lynhout to share a few words and we'll present him this certificate. Um, yeah, we'll just Well, thank you for having us. Thank you so much for uh recognizing Ethan again. Um it's been uh 25 years since Western Hornet had had a back-to-back state champion and and that was on the women's side. So Ethan is the the first back-to-back male uh or and and he's also the first state champion for us. So um I doubt that we would get anyone at Western Heart High School of the um of Ethan. Um he's been really awesome for our program. He's boosted our program. um

005our athletes have really tried to emulate him and u in some cases gotten themselves injured because they're pushing themselves so hard. Um I want to also recognize that that an athlete like Ethan um he he comes once in a lifetime to a coach and so I I I really doubt that I would get anyone as close to Ethan in the future. But his performance also isn't done in a vacuum. Um there's a there's a whole team of of people behind him that are that are loving him, that are encouraging him, that are motivating him. Um we really appreciate the support from Hana County Schools and and the um and the newspapers. Um I really want to call out Ethan's dad, Mr. Ethan Rich, who uh really is his coach. Uh on paper, I get the

006I get the the accolades that I'm Ethan's coach, but Ethan's coach is really Mr. edge. Um, and he has been without any pushing. Ethan's not an athlete who really needs to be pushed. He just he just does it naturally. And now that really comes from Ethan's dad. He is um he has nurtured this talent from Ethan. Um, encouraged him, motivated him. Um, and I and I see that the partnership between them. Ethan's partnership with me is is going to end. And, um, Ethan's dad is really, I believe, going to take him a lot further. So Ethan, I want you just to just to remember what your dad has done um for where you are today. Um you want to say >> um he downgrades himself way too much. He he has done um a lot

007for me. Um mean talking I mean junior and senior year were the years I won state championship, but that doesn't get rid of freshman and sophomore year. Um and he picked up on me my eighth grade year. So he's worked a lot more with me even be before the state champs. Um before I was even known as you know the athlete I am now. Um he helped shape me into that. Now um you know getting to the next level. My dad has helped me big time with that as well. Um but Mr. Lhow really got to where I am um today. Um but it's not only me. I mean, the past four years of high school so far, um, I have been a part of four different teams that have made it to states in

008both cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. Um, my teammates, they work, like he said, they they have injured themselves in the past cuz they try and, you know, push as hard as me, sometimes a little bit too much. Um but they have all worked extremely hard um to be a part of this this team and to make states. I mean we had guys fighting to make you know the team to get into states. Um and really um I hope you know in the future that these guys they can um race a lot of competition in the state meaning that be going out of state um or you know still competing at these state championships. And I I hope they get these opportunities like some other schools get um to really show off their talents

009um in the future as I will be leaving and some of them will still be here. >> Thank you Ethan and Mr. Lynhoud. And again um a lot of hours that happen behind the scenes, a lot of grinding that no one sees and uh certainly well welld deserved and well achieved. We have a certificate for you Ethan. You want to come up? Thank you, Ethan, and congratulations. Winning one state championship is great. winning consecutive championships is very very special. We greatly appreciate your dedication, your hard work, your motivation and the honor you brought to Hornet County Schools. Thank you. Next, we have uh back to Western Hornet and we have the Western Hornet High School Future Farmers of America presentation and presenting this will be our director of career and technical education, Miss Lindseay Hardy.

010>> Good evening. Tonight, we're going to recognize Western Hornet FFA chapter for three distinctions the members of the chapter were recognized for previously at the 98th National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana in October of 2025. Thank you to our district leaders and this board for the support that you provide CTE to send our students oftentimes across state lines to national conferences and conventions as we believe like you do their life-changing experiences for our students. Tonight we have, and if they'll stand when I call their name to be recognized, Miss Anna Bruner and Miss Emma Clair Carpenter, the agricult two of the agriculture teachers at Western Hornet High School. A third teacher, Miss Haley Patterson, could not be here tonight. I hold them in the highest regard because of their willingness to go beyond normal

011teaching duties to not only educate our students about agriculture, which is a very critical industry for all of us, but to train them for competitive events and their willingness to cross state lines with high school students. We always send amazing students across state lines, but that is remarkable I believe for teachers willingness to do so. The American FFA degree. I'll ask Paceholder and Landon Davis to join me on the floor. These young men were previously recognized on a national uh national stage with tens of thousands of attendees in Indianapolis, Indiana. The American FFA degree is the highest degree achievable in the national FFA organization. The requirements to obtain the American FFA degree is to have received the state FFA degree and been an active member of your chapter for the past 36 months. To have

012satisfactorily completed the equivalent of at least three years or 540 hours of systematic secondary school in an agricultural education program. To have graduated from high school at least 12 months prior to the national convention at which the degree is awarded. to have in operation and have maintained records to substantiate an outstanding supervised agricultural experience program through which the member has exhibited comprehensive planning and managerial and financial expertise. The students must earn at least $10,000 and productively invest at least $7,500 in their supervised agricultural experience or have earned and productively invested $2,000 and work 2,250 hours in excess of scheduled class time. So this is all on top of their regular jobs as well as their community college or um university schedules. Additionally, they must have a record of outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement, having

013achieved a high school scholastic record of C or better as certified by the superintendent. And finally, having participated in at least 50 hours of community service within at least three different community service programs. These hours are in addition to and not duplicated as paid or unpaid supervised agricultural experience hours. Pace Holder started his SAPE as an employee for his agriculture teacher. Mr. Terry Curran was also my agriculture teacher. So that's very near and dear to my heart working for his lawn care company. when he moved on to become self-employed as a high school student working in repair and fabrication of various types of equipment and heavy equipment. He is now working in grading with a local company while attending Central Carolina for business management degree. Landon Davis started out as an employee in lawn care

014with his agriculture teacher, Mr. Terry Curran, who has employed a lot of high school students um in his um side business uh legally obviously if you're listening to him and is now employed with his brother operating their business Premier Premier Lawn Care, which some of you may even utilize for your lawn care services. So, we would like to recognize them tonight. We don't have certificates. They've been awarded an American degree um emblem that goes with their official dress that they're wearing tonight. And guys, if you want to turn around so parents can photograph if they would like. Next, we will call Addison Thomas to the floor. Addison competed at the National FFA Convention and the National Aggra Science Fair, having placed first in the social sciences division 3 at the NC State FFA Convention held

015in June of 2025. She was invited to present her aggra aggracience fair project at the national level. The National Aggracience Fair is an exciting opportunity for students interested in scientific principles and emerging technologies in the agricultural industry. The National Aggra Science Fair provides high school students the opportunity to achieve local, state, and national recognition for their accomplishments in aggra science. This program also gives students a chance to demonstrate and display aggracience projects that are extensions of their coursework in high school. Addison's project was entitled from classroom to community, how agriculture education shapes student life, understanding, and society in the social sciences division. Congratulations to Addison. And finally tonight, we have Leila Ruiz here on behalf of the entire Western Hornet FFA chapter for recognition for the National Chapter Award Program. The National Chapter Award program

016is designed to recognize FFA chapters that actively implement the mission and strategies of the organization. These chapters improve chapter operations using the National Quality Chapter standards and a program of activities which they plan in the summer before their school year starts as an officer team for their members. These activities emphasize growing leaders, building communities, and strengthening agriculture. Chapters are rewarded for providing educational experiences for the entire membership. And because you approved my budget where we pay affiliate dues for CTSOs, every student enrolled in agriculture education in Hornet County is an FFA member and eligible for all opportunities. So Ila, thank you for being here tonight to be recognized on behalf of your chapter. Thank you again for your support of CTE and North Carolina's number one billion dollar industry which is agriculture. That of which

017over 230 million comes from Hick County agriculture. Thank you >> for those in attendance tonight. the uh career development events, I believe is what they're still called, correctly? Correct. >> Um to win a state competition is huge and to be able to move on to the national convention to compete is just a a huge honor. And I never had the opportunity to to compete nationally, but I've competed in my fair share of state events, and it's a time I hold near and dear. Um, as as far as um the awards as the state degree and and the American FFA degree, there's few that go on to get their state degree. There's even fewer that go on to get their na their American degree. And to have folks from Hornet County Schools going on and ultimately

018representing Hornet County Schools is just a complete honor. And we can't say thank you enough for the hard work that you put in. And thank you to our adviserss and to our CT director. Thank you for all that you do. >> Thank you, Mr. Body. And thank you, Miss Hardy. And congratulations to the Western Hornet FFA. I understand that's reaching a gold standard when you get to the national level. So that's really a great accomplishment. Miss Sullivan, you got a lot of good things going on at your school, sounds like. So, keep up the good work. Next, we'll have our national boards recognition, and that'll be presented by Miss Monica Thompson and Miss Alicia Washington. >> Um, it's an honor to stand uh before you tonight to highlight significant achievement in the field of education,

019our educators who have earned the prestigious National Board Certification. This is a remarkable accomplishment as a professional, but more importantly, it has a profound impact on the teaching community and the students they serve. The National Board of Certification is a mark of excellence in teaching. The certification process is rigorous and comprehensive, requiring teachers to demonstrate their proficiency and content knowledge, pedigogy skills, and their ability to engage with students in a way that fosters learning and growth. This process includes a submission of extensive teaching portfolios, assessment, in-depth analysis of their teaching practices, all reviewed by experts in their respective fields. For educators who are committed to continuous improvement, and professional development, achieving this certification represents the pinnacle of their career. It requires dedication, reflection, and unwavering commitment to their students and craft. The journey to national

020board is not an easy one, but it's one that has a profound impact. Tonight we're here to celebrate those who have successfully completed the process. These teachers have gone above and beyond demonstrating their expertise for their passion of making a difference in the lives of students. Their achievement is is reflects not only their personal direction but also our quality of teaching as a whole. We are proud to recognize 10 of our educators who have earned the certification of nationally board certified. I also would like to thank personally each one of our recipients for your hard work, your perseverance, and your commitment in shaping the future of students. Your efforts are truly deserving and this uh of this recognition and we're proud to have you be here home with us in Hernick County. I also want

021to thank the family members who stood by you as you go as you travel through this very rigorous process. They are vital. Their support I know made your success possible. And finally, thank you to the school principles who supported their teachers in this endeavor of earning this national board certification. At this time, I would like to invite Miss Alicia Washington, our RNR and our national board leaison for the district. I know a lot of hard work for Miss Washington goes into this process. These are like her all her children that have earned this process. So, we thank you for that work. and um Miss Kanye will help her be her assistant as we recognize these new newest National Board Certified recipients. All righty. I want to say to you guys, as you celebrate this milestone,

022remember, don't stop here. Continue to grow, lead, and inspire others through your practice. Your journey as an accomplished educator is just the beginning. I know like Miss Thompson said, it has a sacrifice for you, but you persevere through it. Hard work does pay off. Be proud of yourself. Be proud to say, "I am a National Board Certified Teacher." As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and your letter. Simone Brown star. >> Mr. Matthews, will you Maybe. >> All right. Miss Caitlyn Buds, South Hornet Elementary School. Carla Cherry Dun Middle School. Kelly Cruz, Western Hornet Middle. Alicia Ferguson, Western Hornet High. Julia Harrington, Dun Elementary School. Emily Quinn, Littleton Show Elementary. Amy Yman, Ben Haven Elementary. >> Haley Wadell, Boone Trail Elementary. and Miss Crystal Wisnet, Ben Haven Elementary School. Thank

023you. Just to add that to that for folks who might be considering this, you know, this also gives them a 12% increase in their pay. So that's a nice little extra bonus for this process. So again, we want to say congratulations for all your hard work. We are going to be visiting the schools in the next in the coming weeks. We have bought um some emblems for the door to mark all our nationally board certified teachers in Har County. So, we're going to distribute those. We'll visit these classrooms and anyone who is currently nationally board certified to designate their classrooms as well. So, again, congratulations. Thank you, Miss Thompson and Miss Washington, and especially a great big thank you to all of our teachers for your hard work and dedication in obtaining this great honor.

024So, thank you. Okay, next we'll have our Educational Partners International, also known as EPI. That'll be presented by Miss Shelby Ka and Mr. Andrew Spade. Um, Chairman Pal, members of the board tonight, I would like to recognize our our partner there with EPI, our international um, educator partner that we have, and they are going to be making a brief presentation tonight about what they do here in the district. And we are very honored that three members of their team have joined us. So, we would like to say um, welcome to Mr. David Long, owner of the uh, of EPI and Mr. Andrew Spade, who we work with closely, as well as Mr. Joe Miller. So, we'd like to welcome you. And at this time, I think Mr. Spade will take over and do a presentation.

025>> Thank you all so much for having us here tonight. Um, we're really pleased to be here. Uh, EPI works very closely with Haret County. Uh, and we we see you as one of our most valued partner districts uh that we work with. And so to get to come here and and speak to all of you directly about the benefits of EPI, what we do for the district, and what the district does for us, it's just a great opportunity. So, uh, thank you very much for this opportunity. Um, at EPI, we talk a lot about a three-way win. Uh, and what that means essentially is we want to find a situation that is beneficial to the teacher that we're bringing in from another country. We want to find a situation that's beneficial for the district

026and the school at which they're teaching. And we want to find a situation that's beneficial for EPI. So, we're looking to make uh placements for for teachers to be successful for the district and also for EPI. So, everybody wins. That's what we're looking at. So, I want to take you through a little bit of what we do so that you understand what our process looks like. At the top level, we are a J1 program. So, it's a five-year cultural exchange visa. Teachers come from all over the world. They come to Haret County. They teach. They share their culture. They do two cultural exchange activities a year. And then after that 5-year period, they return home for a mandatory two-year period. So, this is a Department of State program at the federal level that's administrated that

027way. Uh, and it is a a program that's very successful throughout the state of North Carolina. There's a few thousand J1 teachers throughout the state. So, um, I wanted to take you few through a few things about what we do. Um, as I said, we are a designated J1 visa sponsor. Um, we place international teachers uh, in five different states in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. At this time, we've been placing teachers since 2008. Uh, a big highlight for us, we talk about the three-way win, is our annual retention rate, which is 96 and a half percent. So, when teachers come here, they stay here for the five-year program. That's that's our goal, and that's a benefit to the schools and to the districts that hire them because, you know, you've

028got them for that 5-year period. We are headquartered in Swan, Noah, North Carolina, which is just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. So, we are also local. I talk about our mission. Uh there's a few different pieces of this, but I think the one that I want to highlight here is to help our schools prepare students for the global economy. The benefit of cultural exchange is exposing students that might not otherwise have a chance to get to know other cultures, expose them to the benefits of cultural exchange and uh understand the global economy. And so that's a big part of what we do. And uh it's also to promote American ideals and values to other countries because these teachers do go back home learning more about how we teach in the United States and about how

029we live in the United States and I think that promotes cultural understanding which is obviously a benefit. We recruit across the globe. Um we bring teachers in from all over the world and we are looking not just for any teacher. We're looking for the world's best teachers. We're looking for teachers that are experienced in their home country that are successful in their home country. not that just, you know, have started to do it, but they they have a track record of success. That's what we're looking for. Not only are we looking to recruit them, but we are also going to screen them actively. So, you can see here on this slide, we're talking about a a lot of different ways in which we're assessing them. We're talking about their teaching experience. We're talking about um

030interviewing them to understand how they teach and and and what their experience is with teaching specifically in the US, right? So, what experience do they have with classroom management because that's obviously very applicable to the US classroom. We're assessing their English language proficiency. We're also assessing that they're able to be licensed in the state of North Carolina. And then finally, we are performing a criminal background check, asking them to receive a criminal background check from a local authority in their home country. Um, and then once uh the placement is made, right, and so now they're coming to Harnet County, that's where our work begins of helping them come here and be successful. So, we want to make sure that they have all of the assistance they need through the visa process, that they have all

031of the assistance they need through the travel process. We bring them to an in-person orientation. A lot of our in-person orientations recently have been in Raleigh, so they're nearby and and they have a short trip down the road to to come to Harnett County. Uh and then once they're here, uh we continue to work with them. Obviously, they're getting support from the district, but they are also receiving support from an onboarding representative on our staff. So, they're meeting and talking with that person three times in the first 30 days to make sure that they get the start that they need. Beyond that, obviously, we're also um providing health insurance. They purchase health insurance through a a partner of ours uh that covers them for uh stuff that would come up in this country. And uh

032I I'll talk more about that in a little bit. Then we also continue professional development, online learning and support. I have a slide here that goes a little bit more into the detail of the onboarding process. What I want to highlight is the relocation assistance. So obviously it's a big change for a teacher from another country to move to the United States. So we are providing up to $750 to help them travel here. We also provide a $3,000 interest free loan so that they have the cash they need to get started their first few months because they won't get a paycheck necessarily the first week. So we want to make sure that they're set up to succeed and that they have the resources that they need to get integrated into the community. We also provide

033legal assistance for their family members if they want to bring we call those J2s. So their their spouse, their children, they are eligible to bring those uh folks as well. Uh as I said we do an on-site orientation. I I think I covered that, but we do presentations with them and and individual conversations with them to help them get adjusted to the US. Uh there's a picture of some of our Ganaian teachers uh and Zimbabwean teachers having a good time at a at a recent orientation. Um we provide Reuben board during the orientation. We provide them with a cell phone that we help them get set up. We help them set up a bank account so obviously then they can get paid and and that's happening very smoothly. uh and then we uh work with

034them as they're leaving to make sure they've got a housing uh setup that's good right after they leave orientation. One of the most important questions is will my teacher be ready to teach when they arrive? And yes, we work with um the teachers to make sure that the visa process goes smoothly and then we make sure that they've got the correct documentation when they arrive here. And so that's a big part of what we do for them as well. Uh I mentioned already the 30 days where we're checking in with them three different times. Uh, we are checking in with them about the district check-in, which happens obviously before they start work. We're checking in with them to make sure that they've reported to work. Getting a social security card is a big part of

035getting paid, taxes, all that sort of stuff. We want to make sure that that gets taken care of as well. The other thing that's worth mentioning is we provide support to our teachers. So, if a principal has an issue with an EPI teacher in the classroom, they can ask our uh support team for a support cycle. And uh I talked about it here in terms of it's a timebound coaching session that lasts for it depends on the the issue but it can be four to six to eight weeks multiple appointments one-on-one instructional coaching to resolve whatever the issue is that the principal or the assistant principal has identified. I mentioned benefits earlier. Uh we provide the insurance is listed for the teachers. Um and it is a specific insurance because there are specific concerns around

036teachers who are living in a different country than their home country and we do subsidize the cost of that insurance so that it is affordable and not uh too much of a burden for them financially. Uh the last thing I wanted to touch on is that we take compliance very seriously. This is a department of state program as I mentioned and so our recordkeeping has to be on point. We have to be very thorough with our documentation. We provide rosters to our school districts to make sure that the school assignments are correct, the degree level is correct, that the years of experience are correct, so they're being paid correctly. We make sure that they're compliant on insurance. We make sure that they're completing their cultural exchange activities, and we make sure that they're staying compliant

037with the immigration piece of this because none of our teachers can stay. They have to return home after that 5-year period. And so, we have had four different audits now with the Department of State. We've never had any sort of a violation in terms of our compliance and our recordkeeping. We're very proud of that. And I if you have any questions, I don't know if that's the format of this, but I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. That's the extent of my presentation. I'm just, as I said at the beginning, so pleased to be here with all of you and want to express again my appreciation for Haret County as a wonderful partner for us. >> Does anyone have a question for Mr. Spade? So, I have some questions, but I

038think it's specific to employment matters. So, it'll be during close session. >> Okay. Sure. >> So, my request would be that y'all stay for close session for questions concerning specific employees. >> I'm happy to do that. >> Thank you. >> Great. Thank you all so much for your time. I appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. And moving along now to the uh grade 6 through 12 district CNI team will have a presentation. That'll be Miss Ferguson and her CNI team. >> Chairman Pal, members of the board, good evening. Um it's my pleasure to introduce the 612 district instructional team. Uh Mr. Ryan McNeel, our 912 director, Dr. Steven Murphy, our 68 director, Mrs. Amy Calder Church, our 612 instructional coordinator. And then we have our two math instructional coaches for 612. Um Danielle Stury

039and Diane Phillips. So this group um is going to present quickly on the work that we do. This is the kind of work just like you saw in K5. It's not out front every day, but it is the work that's done every day that moves our students and our teachers um as far as supporting them. So I'm going to turn it over to them. Thank you very much. Um, first I would like to say good evening and thank you to Mr. Matthews, the cabinet, and our board for allowing us to present to you tonight. Um, you are looking at the the team in 612 CNI that that makes everything run in middle school and high school. Um, Miss Miss Ferguson took my thunder and introduced everybody. So, uh, we're going to go and talk about

040the kind of supports that we give, uh, to all of our principles and staff members, uh, on a day-to-day basis. Um, for our administration, um, we really help plan and find the professional development that goes on every month at our principal meeting. So every month we have a a CNI focus uh and and we are a part of that team that helps create and plan that that development for them to help with that instructional piece. Uh we facilitate monthly PLC's for our APS. Uh we want to make sure that they are becoming instructional leaders in the building and growing as they go because they're going to be our next uh principles. Uh and then we are constantly in the buildings doing walkthroughs, having conversations about data and then helping problem solve any kind of instructional

041needs that specific schools have. Uh we want to do this because if we're not in the building, we don't know what's going on. We can't really give them instructional help if we're not there and seeing what's happening. uh with our instructional coaches. Um we really focus on uh coaching cycles uh co-eing and modeling to make sure that our high number of residency and international teachers have something that they can work with where with our instructional coaches and Miss Carter Church every month works with our uh instructional coaches on their monthly PLC as well. So wanting to make sure that we are consistent in what our message is to all of our schools and all of our staff when it comes to the instructional best practices that should be going on day-to-day. Uh to help with

042our MTSS and our school improvement plans, we give monthly feedback to our principles about their school improvement plan. We want to make sure that we're giving consistent feedback and we're also up todate with what we're trying to help them do to help grow their schools uh instructionally. MTSS is something that uh all schools have to take part in. We've made sure that all of our middle schools and high schools have that uh MTSS time so that there can be some supplemental instruction going on throughout the day, but also use of resources for those students that need that help that aren't getting it uh right off the bat with that core instruction that's going on. And then lastly, we want to make sure that all of our decisions when it comes to all of these things

043are focused on our district instructional framework. So, we want to make sure that there's high in effect effective instruction. We want to make sure that we have standardsbased instruction. We want to have a positive uh environment between our schools and our classrooms to make sure everybody is there ready to learn. Uh and then we also want to make sure that we're using balanced and reliable data when making decisions on how to improve the school. Everybody sees the OC score. Everybody sees the ACT score, but there's a lot of other data that we need to be able to use so that we can make sure that formatively we understand what's going on. We can make those changes before the end of the semester, before the end of the year. Uh, and so that is a a

044quick overview of what you're going to hear about tonight. Uh, other team members are going to go into a little bit more detail on some of those things to kind of give you that good overview of what we do on a day-to-day basis. Thank you. And as Mr. McNeel explained, uh, the walkthroughs is a huge element of what we do as far as being able most specifically to provide feedback for our administrators and teachers. But as you can see, our we support 13 sites and of those we've been present in all those buildings and we've conducted thus far for the first half of the year almost 400 walkthroughs amongst our among our team. So we're very pleased with that and we enjoy getting in the building. We want to look to increase that for the

045second half of the year. Upon completion of our walkthrough, we provide the principles with feedback uh for things we've seen grows and grows uh things that will help them be able to dial down and specifically target and support where they the weaknesses are for their staff. Um and this is just helps with their ongoing instructional and systems discussions. Um also we work in a collaborative effort based on the teachers needs that we see and the comments of the administrators so that we can work as a team in a reflect in a flexible and responsive manner. And then as far as we have data sources um these are if you can see are some are the same and some are different. in mo in a moment uh Miss Stury and Miss Phillips will get into more

046specifics related specifically to our math sources. But these data sources are utilized by our schools uh to utilized by our team to in an effort to make um needed supports for the teams and then also to mentor our site leaders and also as as I mentioned they will get into more specific in just a moment. But these also are utilized for our sites to help build their PLC discussions, their professional development needs and for planning purposes throughout the year as well as coaching efforts uh for the administrators. Okay. As the district math coaches, our roles focus on supporting teachers to strengthen instruction through targeted support at both the district and at the school level. At the district level, um we support district initiatives and goals, but we tailor our support to our individual needs at

047the school level, aligning our support with the administrative's vision for mathematics instruction within their building. At the district level, this work is going to include creating school net progress checks that align to standard and substandards through grades six to eight for teachers to use as they see fit um to support datainformed instructional decisions. And then we also create unit common assessments for teachers to utilize to measure student understanding in grade 68. Our support is also provided through grade level professional development that is aligned to our priority standards in each grade level with an emphasis on vertical alignment and strategies for upcoming content. Additional supports include standard and skill-based teacher support videos that we record to try to align some of our conversations in PD to make it available for teachers afterwards. We curate district instructional

048resources and lesson activities and we head up the creation of our math district pacing guides for grade 6 8th math one combination and our foundations of math one course. We constantly gather ongoing feedback through open Google Meet sessions and surveys with teachers to refine our pacing, our resources and in instructional support. In addition to the district level items that Danielle told you about, we also have a lot of things that we do in the schools. We do walkthroughs. Ours are a little bit different than when the teachers are being observed. We provide feedback to teachers. Um, we're looking at snapshots of different classroom practices and um, sometimes it's classroom management, sometimes it's actual content. Um, we help to identify instructional needs. We usually have conversation with the teacher after we do our walkthroughs uh, about

049things that we saw that were great, things that they and they a lot of times they'll ask us, hey, what how can I do this better? Um, so we're there to do that. Uh, we have data conversations with our teachers. Um, we help them analyze the student learning by looking at the data from EVOS and the check-ins and the progress checks and the unit assessments. Um, we if they ask for us to help them create something to recover what they need to recover because maybe somebody didn't do so well, we also do that. Um, we help them make instructional decisions and we help them set goals. Um, all teachers need goals and so we help them set them and then we help them achieve them. Uh, we support the teachers through being thought partners. We

050answer questions. We get emails, chats, text messages. We have pop-up Google Meets. If a teacher needs us, all they have to do is ask. Um, we provide feedback for the things that we see in the classroom. We, um, sometimes they ask for feedback on ideas that they have. Um and we just give them a lot of indiv individual and grade level support. We um co-plan, co-e and model with our teachers. Co-planning is when we sit down with them and we do an entire lesson or part of a lesson most of the time. Um we also co-e so that there's two adults in the classroom and that we're we can divide the kids up and we can help those that need help the most. modeling is when a teacher doesn't quite understand and they ask us,

051"Hey, come show me how to do this." And so we we do that. Um we introduce them to new instructional strategies. Um we try to exhibit best practices and teach them best practices. We just support teacher growth. For the PLC's we attend, we participate um we work as a team to improve student learning um through looking at the data, analyzing the data, sharing best practices as a grade level team or as a school team um whichever the case may be for that particular school and then we plan instruction that are aligned with the standards and our priority standards. Thank you. Okay. For core supports, we have developed 33 pacing guides and resource guides across our core content areas, which includes our math, ELA, social studies, science, arts, world languages, and health and PE. We have

052our math coaches. Of course, I just told you they created the pacing guides for all our math content areas, but we have asked teams of teachers to collaborate over the summertime to create standardsbased pages and guides with support from our curriculum and instruction team. These are updated annually based on teacher and leadership feedback. Our pacing guides are interactive tools that reduce planning time for teachers and include learning targets, essential questions, instructional activities, videos, among other re resources. We're currently planning for the creation of our new ELA pacing guides that will be aligned to the new state standards for implementation in the 2027 2028 school year. Our professional learning communities play a huge role in our schools as they improve. This year, we provided a district-wide PLC reboot through professional learning to ensure a shared understanding

053of effective PLC practices. Support included training by Dr. Paul go Goldberg on Richard Defor's PLC framework, which we've been using in our district for several years now, and also Dr. Phil Warick on leadership support using Marzano strategies. The CNI team provides ongoing feedback to strengthen PLC practices. And teachers use multiple data points, including district progress checks aligned to priority standards to guide instructional conversations and needed instructional adjustments for professional development. Throughout the year, our PDS based on the needs of our teachers is formed by data and feedback and delivered by our CNI team or external partners. This year we have provided a variety of PD to name a few. NC Science House, who is partnered with NC State University, has provided PD for our middle school and high school science teachers. Syble, which is the

054center for inquiry based learning, has provided PD for our middle school science teachers on the activity packs we were able to purchase to increase the engagement in our science classrooms. Solution tree provided math PD for our middle school to break down standards and to discuss engagement strategies for our teachers. And for the high school, they focus specifically on increasing rigor in the math classroom. And of course, our district math coaches lead PD on a regular basis. Planning is already underway for the 26 27 school year PD that will begin in the summertime and continue throughout the next school year. Instructional walkthroughs, Mr. McNeil and Dr. Murphy have already discussed. We use data on a regular basis daily. So all of our instructional decisions are guided by multiple data sources to identify growth areas and celebrate

055successes at our schools. Okay. So we have are fortunate in Hornet County that we have received some grants to support our curriculum instruction needs. So, in September of 2024, we received a $ 1.5 million grant from DODIA that is titled Fueling Discovery: Igniting Secondary Math and Science Engagement Through Teacher Development. We like to call it Fuel and Discovery for short cuz it's kind of long. Um, that's a 5-year grant. Last year was our planning year. We started full implementation in August of this year. It supports five schools. That's that's based on their 10% or more military connected student population. That's Highland Middle, Over Hills Middle, Western Hornet Middle, Over Hills High, and Western Hornet High. The main focus for this grant is math and science at the middle school and math one at the high

056schools. The funding supports our second math coach that we added this year, Miss Phillips, who works at these five schools, while Miss Durky supports the remaining schools. And this year, we have purchased new iPads for all the teachers involved in this grant. math manipulatives, engagement materials, >> and our golden leaf grant. This impacts our Dun Middle and Haret Central Middle. This is the first year of a five-year initiative. Um, and each every six months both sites receive just over 20,000. And these dispersements are mainly utilized uh for various reasons such as travel to to um professional development opportunities, different conferences they go to um and for those absences that may be necessary, their substitute costs as well as teacher stipens. Um and they're very specific in the u our participant handbook on how we can

057utilize those fund and how we track those. Um and each site has a dedicated uh Marzano coach and the they also they receive embedded coaching opportunities that are both in person and virtual from NCDPI Marzano as well as for Hornet Central, our open up uh representatives. The professional development opportunities are throughout the year. So there's several opportunities that they can choose from that they feel best fit their sight's needs. And currently both teams Dun Middle and Harness Central have um teams at uh a Marzano Summit and they're that's in San Antonio and they're expected to return on Wednesday. So just a wonderful opportunity for both teams to be able to bring back resources and networking opportunities that they receive at this conference. Um also as part of their participation in this um initiative the golden

058green leaf grant the teams leadership teams are able to network with other sites that participate in this golden leaf grant as well. So that's just val valuable opportunities for them to meet and discuss and again these are in person and and virtually throughout the year. Um so just a great opportunity for these um the both these sites. And in closing, we're proud of the work our team has done so far this year and we're looking forward to the second half of the year uh in supporting and planning for our schools. We are honored to be able to present before you all and share our story. And if you have any questions, we'll be glad to support and help answer those questions. But uh if not, we appreciate you all's time. And we thank you and

059it's been an honor to present before you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Are there questions for the CNI team? >> Thank you. Okay, thank you very much. Moving along after our public comment period and each month a period of at least one regularly scheduled board meeting will be set aside for citizens to address the board through public comment. A signup sheet is available for any individual or group to indicate their desire to address the board. The chairman will decide the amount of time. Each speaker must complete each section of the signup sheet. Each speaker may only speak for three minutes. No balance of time may be yielded to another speaker. A maximum of 30 minutes is allotted for public comments allowing for approximately 10 speakers at three minutes per speaker and the speaker signup

060sheet is removed at the beginning of the board meeting. So, we have uh one who has signed up to speak tonight. That's Mr. Ed Simmer. So, Mr. Simmer, the floor is yours for three minutes. Tren es, I hope you are at peace. I come before you tonight with a good mind and a good respect. I'm from the Kohhari community of Indian families in Harik County. We have been here as long as the territory and beyond have been our homelands, even before Har County was formed. We are thankful for our land and our neighbors. Chair, members of the board, superintendent and staff, thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. On behalf of the Kohari tribe and the Hornik County Kohari Indian Association, I want to express our sincere appreciation for the superintendent and

061his board and this board of elected officials for your leadership and willingness to engage in a partnership that will enhance education for Native Americans and benefit all students in Hornet County. Your commitment to collaboration reflects respect, openness, and a shared dedication to the success of all students. We are entering, as I spoke to you before, into a program for Indian education in Har County. The purpose of the program is to serve American Indian students enrolled in the Hornet County Schools as contemplated under title six and Indian education formula grant programs as defined in federal law and regulations. The program activities aim to accomplish the following objectives. Support native students academic success in school. Promote opportunities to strengthen awareness of native culture, language, and traditions. Provide extra help for students academic and personnel needs by encouraging

062family and tribal involvement in education. Promote collaborative opportunities to ensure equal access to learning opportunities and build a productive intercultural exchange and relationship that will follow these students from the classroom to their communities and prepare them for the world they will inherit from all of us and will and will uh prepare them to advance for the benefit of of all people. Education has always been important for our people and we appreciate the fact that we can work together, that we can use our resources, our traditions, our skills, our history in working with our school system. This will open up many opportunities for our students both non-Indian Indian and faculty and families and communities where we be able to share and build a future here in Harney County where we have been and where we love

063our neighbors and we would like to go forward for the next generation. We appreciate the work superintendent and staff and preparing us to get where we are today and we look forward to working even more closely and setting even higher goals for our students. We appreciate that. I came before you tonight. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Simmer. We look forward to hearing more about this program and this collaborative effort. Now, we'll move along to our superintendent update. And Mr. Matthews, >> thank you, Chairman Powell. Uh first of all, I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season that you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends and uh perhaps get a little rest. Uh we we were excited to welcome our teachers back on Monday and

064uh our students of course came back for sec start second semester on Wednesday of last week and uh we seem to get off to a good start for se uh second semester which I'm happy to report. Uh Mr. White and I met last Wednesday morning with the team that is overseeing our community schools grant at Dun Elementary and we're excited to see that initiative get started this semester and Mr. White will have a little bit more to say about that I'm sure in his comments. On Friday, I was uh able to attend the Sand Hills Regional Superintendent Meeting in Fedville and participated in some very good discussion with uh my colleagues rec regarding many of the current issues that uh each of us are facing in our districts. Uh tomorrow uh the cabinet will begin

065having our midyear conferences with our building principles to uh gauge the current progress from first semester uh discuss our goals uh going into second semester and that's always a good time I think for uh the principles and for the cabinet as we get to uh uh share that information which is uh very very informative and helps us be on the same page uh going forward throughout the year. Uh, of course, we're also looking forward to our winter graduation this Sunday at Campbell University and we'll be excited to uh celebrate with our graduating seniors. Uh, we are pleased to have Campbell University President Dr. William DS as our graduation speaker and very appreciative to him for giving of his time to share with our graduates. Uh, we also, as you'll hear and have seen on your

066agenda, uh, are entering into our budget season for next year. Uh, I'll be talking with our Hornet County manager, Mr. Brent Trout, and looking at some opportunities for us to schedule our joint meeting with the county commissioners, uh, in April or May. Uh, Mr. Cox, I have a little bit more to say about that. Um, as he discusses the proposed budget calendar in a bit. And in closing, I'd like to wish Miss Sharon Gay, who has a birthday this month, I believe, a very happy birthday. >> And to recognize all of you for your service to our school system as January is recognized as schoolboard appreciation month. Uh you may have I'm sure you found a small token of appreciation in the gift bags that were in your chair uh when you arrived. Uh, but

067I also personally would like to thank you for your willingness to serve children. The time that you give, the effort it takes to give back to our citizens and our communities is greatly appreciated by all of us who work for Hornet County Schools. Uh, I know well that we fail to say it often enough. So, let me just close by saying thank you. Uh, Mr. Chair, unless there are specific questions for me, that concludes my report this evening. >> Are there questions for Mr. Matthews? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Matthews. Next, we'll have our auxiliary services update with Mr. Pearson. >> Thank you, Chairman Pal, members of the board. Uh, just a couple of brief updates for you. Um, high schools did complete testing prior to the Christmas break. U, we appreciate you all's leadership and

068allowing us to have flexibility to get those exams done before Christmas. We have a lot of districts around us that are getting ready to start exams now. So, we're glad that those are done. Um we are very I would say cautiously optimistic that we had some gains throughout the testing. Um so we you know we've compared it to last fall and this fall we do see a lot of positives. I do want to point out that the retesting that was done that the state allowed us to do this year was extremely successful. We saw several schools with upwards of 40 students coming in to retest and a number of those schools with doubledigit numbers of students who went from not proficient to proficient after that retest. So really thrilled with the work that the schools

069did to try to remediate and retest those students and um you know some of them again saw 25% of the students they remediated pass on that second try. So that was a great thing and uh gives us a lot of momentum and learning to apply to second semester for elementary and middle schools as well as high schools when we begin that testing round in May. So we're looking forward to that. Highland High School continues to move forward. We've had initial meetings with architect and a group from the district of high school principles and other stakeholders to kind of get an idea of what the program should be, what are the what are the dos and don'ts that we want to see in that building, lessons learned in other buildings. Um, so those architect conversations have

070just begun. Uh, you will see later in your agenda tonight, we are working on selecting a CM construction manager to begin conversations with. Transportation updates. Um we are continuing to work on cleaning up um every area we can to make sure we're maximizing our drivers. One of the things that we have come across and realized is that within Infinite Campus, we have a large number of students coded that they need bus transportation who are not riding bus transportation every day. So we have a pretty big discrepancy in who we've routed for versus who is actually riding. So, we've asked the school to spend a couple of weeks here at the beginning of the year really cleaning those numbers up, really getting accurate who how many students were on the bus in the morning, how many

071are on the afternoon, and we're going to reroute with the concept that it should take another 10 or 12, maybe even more buses off the roads and free up drivers to to fill in as flex drivers and supports where we need it. So, uh continuing to navigate that exciting transportation and bus driver issue that we hear about uh frequently. uh child nutrition update. I would just share that um we continue to see success, continue to see improved participation based on um all of our schools being C schools. I I just continue want to stress that that was a great move and has been very successful and uh you know I shared with you when we debated that move that if our participation went up by a certain percentage it would really be a net zero

072for us in a finance component. We wouldn't be expending savings to make that happen and it looks like we're going to hit that target. So, we're really in a good spot with that and uh you know, I think a lot of the students have really begun to know and take advantage of it. So, unless you have questions for me, that concludes my updates. >> Are there any questions for Mr. Pearson? >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Pearson. Next, we'll have our curriculum and instruction update with Miss Ferguson. >> Chairman Pal, members of the board, um as Mr. Pearson was sharing, December was a busy month for us. we were doing EOCC's and also in our 38 we were doing NC check-ins and what we're seeing from the data from the check-ins is that we're very pleased

073with our pacing guides, our resources and progress checks we have in place. We think our teachers are doing a great job. Um we see lots of positive practices and growth in our walkthroughs. We held science PD on December the 8th for third and fourth grade led by the NC State Science House. Every school had a representative that they sent for this training. As you know, we continue to uh train our teachers on the new science practices and NC State science house. They offer um wonderful PD. Our teachers enjoy it. We had the EC lead teacher meeting on December 10th and the preK PLC on December the 11th. As you know, we offer PLC's for our teachers for support and these were two groups that were supported this past month. We want to say thank you

074to Campbell University. They hosted our fifth graders on December the 11th for education day. This is always a great opportunity and a great day for our students. They love going to Campbell and seeing that basketball game and um exploring the campus. It gets them the idea they can go to college, too. We continue to use Bullseye to implement our principal walkthroughs. Our principles use this to give feedback to their teachers. The top five schools for this month are Johnsonville Elementary School, Western Hornet Middle School, Western Hornet High School, Triton High School, and Coats Elementary School. Over Hills Elementary, Over Hills Middle, Boone Trail, Dun Elementary, and Lilington Shawtown round out the top 10. So, we are pleased with the work that our principles are doing being in those classrooms and giving feedback and supporting our

075teachers. We are participating with our Sand Hills regional group to continue to support science training and res resources. We had selected biology teachers, eighth grade teachers, and fifth grade teachers from our district that worked with the team. They were trained and they wrote test bank items for our teachers to use on the new standards. We're also going to participate in a train the trainer model so we can have more science PD next year across our district. As Dr. Murphy shared, the grants at Haret Central Middle School and Dun Middle School are going well. Dr. Murphy has done a wonderful job leading this and working with the schools. This week, teams from each school are participating in a conference for the grant win winners. We recently received news that the state would like a second round

076for additional PCB grants and um it's like the one that Dun Middle School was awarded. Over Hills Middle School is eligible to apply for this grant. I reached out to Dr. Thompson. She is a 100% on board. So, I am in the process of writing the grant and we're going to pursue funding for Over Hills Middle School to have that grant. And then finally, the science fair and awards will be held January 29th in the Star Gym at 6:30. And we invite you to come out and to uh view the award uh projects and watch the awards. It's always an exciting time for the students who have worked so hard. And those are my updates for tonight unless you have any questions. >> And what time was the science fair? >> Uh the awards it

077will open at 6 and you start walking around and the awards are at 6:30. >> Okay. Are there questions from Miss Ferguson? >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Ferguson. >> Next, we'll have our human resources update with Miss Thompson. >> Good evening, Chair Chairman Pal and members of the board. Update on our hiring. Um, we have 10 classroom vacancies tonight. Um, and I think that's a wonderful uh upgrade from last year. At this same time, we had 43. So, we've made great strides in filling our classroom vacancies and uh we have seven in the EC realm. Last year, we had 17 the same time. So, we've made a lot of progress there. We have 32 classified vacancies. It's down from the 35 we had at that time uh la at this time last year. Uh that

078continues to be challenging, but we are continuing to work to recruit in that area. Our teacher evaluation work continues. We look back at observations completed over the first semester and we have lots to celebrate this month again with our schools finishing with a 90 plus uh completion rate. Here is that first round 100% 100% completion rate. Andrew Coat, Dunn, Dun Elementary, Dun Middle, Hornet Central High, Hornet Central Middle, Hornet County Early College, Lafayette year round, Lilington Shawtown, North Hornet Primary, Over Hills Elementary, South Hornet Elementary, Western Harah High, and Western Middle 90 to 99% Anderson Creek, Ben Haven, Boon Trail, Buys Creek, Coast, Irwin Elementary, Highland Elementary, Highland Middle, Johnsonville Elementary, Northwest Hornet Elementary, Over Hills Middle, Star, and the Virtual Academy, Triton High School, and Irwin Elementary. That's quite the list to be that

079far along getting our observations done in a timely manner. So, congratulations those principles for working hard to get that work done. And this week, we've welcomed and oriented 10 new EPI and participate learning teachers this past week. They started in their schools today. So, we're very excited about that. Today, we also had a job fair at Gentry, the um Gentry Educational Center. And uh we I've checked with our folks. I ran over there in between the meetings here and there and they felt like that we had a good steady influx of people and we had some real certified teachers show up today which is quite the accomplishment as always. I want to give you update too on SE our safe schools progress. We're at about 85% on that. And that's really probably a great number

080because, you know, we have new hires all the time and people coming on board. So, I don't ever see that number really being 100% because we're constantly having to pick new people up and train people at different times. So, that I think that's significant. Our principles have really worked hard to help make sure that is done at each site and that makes our school and students safer and we're um very excited about that. We have 14 classified employees scheduled to complete their bus driver training by mid-Marchch and we continue to have employees trained weekly, but our drivers resignations or retirements continue to outpace our training right now. So, we do need more training classes. Our next bus class is scheduled for January 26th through the 30th and we plan to have 40 employees in the

081class and you know, if you remember, we were at one time having 50 to try to maximize the numbers, but they can't get them all trained on the road work. So, we've had to back that that back to 40 so we can get them trained in the so their u permits do not run out. We plan the email intent forms for the 2526 school year next week and you know if you're not familiar with those that um we ask staff what their plans are for the upcoming year so we know how to plan as far as recruitment efforts go. This semester we have about 26 full-time student teachers completing their requirements in the classroom and you know and that's up a little bit. So maybe more people are considering the uh teaching profession as a

082career and that makes my heart happy. And we're in the process of starting our nominations for our teacher of the year educa, you know, now we call it the educator banquet and where we nominate folks in all the areas in our district to recognize them for outstanding work. So, we're beginning that process and our national board cohort sessions will start back up even though we recognized some for tonight. Alicia will start a brand new cohort working on that. We have spring international PD uh for our international teachers scheduled and reminders for all of our um risk management at this time. So, that's uh concludes my report. If you have any questions for me, I'm glad to answer them. >> Other questions for Miss Thompson? Thank you, Miss Thompson. >> Now, we'll have our student services

083update with Mr. White. >> Good evening, Chairman Powell and members of the board. Inside of your board package, you will find the district release reassignment report and star academy reports as well. As Mr. Matthews mentioned earlier, our winter graduation ceremony will take place this Sunday, January the 18th, 2026, at the John W. Pope Convocation Center on the campus of Campbell University. As of today, we anticipate close to 300 students participating. Dr. William DS, the president of Campbell University, will be our guest speaker for this wonderful occasion. As a reminder to the community, this is a ticketed event and seating will be limited. So, all graduates, as of this evening, should have received a link to get their graduation tickets. Each graduate received seven tickets for um the event. And so we'll send some more information

084out to staff and those who want to participate um as well on Sunday so that we can make sure we accommodate everyone who wants to be present. For as far as community schools are concerned, we'd like to congratulate Mrs. Courtney Kersner on her new role as community schools coordinator for Dun Elementary School. Mrs. Kersner will be coordinating community school efforts at Dunn Elementary through our partnership with the Sand Hills Regional Educational Consortium and the North Carolina Community Schools Coalition. Some of her key responsibilities will be developing strong relationships with all members of the school community, including staff, administrators, students, parents, and community partners. She'll also help us recruit and launch a school advisory board and assist with opening a family resource center at Dun Elementary to provide support for families. Each community school receives a

085grant that equals out to be about $100 per student for use at their schools. And so, it's our hope to add a few more community schools in the district during the 26 27th school year. We're very excited about what's taking place at Dun uh and can't wait to see the results of that at the conclusion of this year going into next school year. As far as our service learning program is concerned, Hornet County Schools is formally adopted service learning program starting in the spring semester of the 2526 academic year. Two pilot schools have been selected for the spring. Hard County Early College and Hard Central High School. Full implementation will take place at our other high schools during the 2627 school year. Community service hours for students will be tracked through our new X2V system.

086One key feature for the platform is that the community organizations can advertise their volunteer opportunities on that page to garner more interest and support for their programs. Um so if you are a community organization that's listening and are looking for volunteers, this will be a great way for you to find some quality help. As a reminder, with the launch of this particular program, we'll we'll actually be creating two different um awards for students. One would be a service learning diploma. This will be awarded to students who complete a minimum of 200 hours of approved service learning over four years. Students earn the distinction of wearing a service learning honor at graduation and they will receive a sticker on their diploma. Those hours must align with meaningful full service learning principles and be submitted by the

087semester deadlines. And then there's a service learning distinguish award which will be granted to students who complete 100 to 199 hours of approved service learning recognized during the senior awards ceremonies. It's an encouraged pathway for students beginning service later in high school. So we're excited about those two new additions um to our offerings here in the district. This concludes my student support services report for this evening unless there are any questions. >> And what time is the graduation Sunday? >> Uh we are 4:00 is the start time. 3:00 the doors open to the public. Uh for our board members and and other staff members who'll be attending on Sunday, we'd love for you to be there anywhere between 2:00 and 3:00. So if you'll kind of come to the classroom we normally go to um

088there at Campbell, we'll be there waiting for you with your stuff. >> Okay. >> Are there questions for Mr. White? >> Thank you, Mr. White. >> Thank you. Moving along now to our financial services report with Mr. Cox. >> Thank you, Chairman Pal. Members of the board, um you've heard me talk about the audit before. Um our auditors hope to be done and have approval by the local government commission to present our 2425 audit um at the February 2nd board meeting. If the local government commission has not approved the audit by that time, we'll bring it uh to you for presentation at our March uh board meeting. For the month of January, uh finance is working on our W2s and 1099s. This year, the district's moved to an all electronic format for W2s with the

089exception of those who have left the district or in a temporary role. For example, our substitutes. Um th those folks will receive a hard copy of their W2. All employees can access uh the W2s through Timekeeper um to view and download the W2 if they need to. Um, if someone needs a copy and does not have means to print the W2 from the Timekeeper portal, we're asking their school or their work site to present uh print them a copy um upon request. We hope to have all our 1099s and W2s available prior to January 23rd, but we'll have them no later than uh January 30th. Additional work going on in finance for January is the loading and verifying of the new 2026 IRS uh tax tables. Um, so payroll will be ready for that January

090payroll processing. And we're also validating affordable care act reporting. Um, so 1095 forms will be sent out to those indicating that we provided insurance uh to those employees. And while there's no penalty for not having insurance anymore, um, we still have to comply with the reporting um, of the 1095 forms, which is a cost of the district about $35,000. Um, so it would certainly be great if this requirement would go away since it really has no uh meaning any longer. Um, also in January and wrapping up here on the good net, also in January, there are several bonuses that are scheduled to be paid um for performance measures based on last year's scoring. One of those is third grade reading. We have 21 uh teachers who are eligible for a bonus for being in the

091top 25% state uh or top 25% local or both. Um those that bonus ranges from $3,175 to $6,426. We have 27 teachers who are uh top 25% state, top 25% local or both for fourth, fifth grade reading. Um those bonuses range from $2,000 to $4,000. Uh we have 44 teachers eligible for the fourth through 8th grade math bonus. Um same uh top 25% state, top 25% local or both. Um those bonuses um again range 2,000 to $4,000. Uh we have 26 teachers receiving a bonus for CTE credentials. Those bonuses range from $50 to $3,500. And we have 37 teachers receiving a bonus based on a score above three on AP exams. And those bonuses range from $50 to $2,400. And that concludes my report unless you have any questions for me. Okay. >> Are there

092questions for Mr. Cox? Hey, thank you, Mr. Cox. >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Godfrey. >> Yes, sir. Chair recognizes Mr. Godfrey. >> I've been thinking a lot for the last couple of weeks. Uh, and I'd like to say that I'm so proud to be a part of the Hornet County Board of Education. My colleagues have worked with me. I'm proud of each and every one of them. I think we work together as good as any board that Hornet County has ever had. But mainly tonight, I want to recognize Mr. Matthews and his whole administrative staff. You all are a great bunch of people. And I've never had the pleasure of working with anybody with any more intent, any more drive, and any more heart and love for Hornet County and what you do

093than what the ones sitting here tonight are. You do an excellent job and I thank you so much. And you're so easy to work with and you give it all every day. Every day you give it all. And that goes all the way down to our principles, our assistant principles, our teachers, everybody that's involved. If you go out to the schools, you can see and hear the enthusiasm coming from those folks. It just seems different than it has before. And I just want to recognize you. We're just a small thread, the board, but you're the backbone of everything. and I just want to recognize you and thank you for the tremendous job and work that each and every one of you do every day of the week. That's my comment, Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you,

094Mr. Godfrey, and I agree wholeheartedly with your kind words there. Thank you. Moving along now to our consent agenda items. Uh, I'll entertain a motion. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda items, Mr. Chairman. Second. We have a motion and a second consent agenda. Chairman votes I. >> Abate I. >> Gay I. >> John for >> I. >> Hearing no nay votes. The motion carries. Moving along now to action items. And our first item uh for consideration tonight is review and consider approval of the 2026 2027 budget calendar. Mr. Cox. >> Thank you. Chairman Pal. you have in your packet a copy of the proposed uh budget calendar for the 26th 27th school year. Um obviously today I'm presenting that proposed calendar to you. Um and these dates that I'm going to share and they're

095listed on there are um I'm going to say no later than dates. Uh we'll hopefully have conversations and things before those dates. Um but uh March 16th uh your board work session. We'll have a formal budget discussion. April 20th, 26. Uh the superintendent by that date will have presented his budget to the board of education. Um I believe Mr. Matthews mentioned in his report sometime in April, May, which is still be uh well actually I'm jumping ahead of myself. Uh a date to later be determined depending on how fast we work through the budget and your priorities. Um a budget adopted by the board of education which Mr. Matthews present his superintendent's budget, then when you adopt it, it formally becomes the board of education's budget. Um, uh, no later than May 4th, that the

096board of education's budget will be delivered to the board of commissioners for Hick County. And then, this is what I was alluding to, Mr. Matthews mentioned a to be determined date where we'll have a joint session between the board of education and the board of commissioners to actually have a conversation and formally present um your budget to them and a presentation and then no later than June 30 to 26 uh the board um will adopt a budget resolution whether it's a formal budget or a continual resolutions we've done in the past. Um and I'll I'll mention all like I said these are no later than dates. Um, we encourage you to go ahead and reach out to Mr. Matthews um, uh, to present your priorities to him whether they are individually um, or collective. You

097if you present them as individual, we'll consider them. He'll bring his recommendation back to the board for consensus sub on that. So, please go ahead and reach out to him. that'll help speed up that budget work um to help us start uh getting a budget in place to bring back to you for the 26 uh 27 school year. So that's the uh proposed budget calendar for your review and approval. >> Thank you. I will entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chairman, motion to approve the 2526 budget calendar as presented. Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? Chairman votes I. >> Abots say I. >> Gainy I. >> John I. Hearing no votes, the motion carries. Next, we have review and consider the approval of the construction manager at risk for

098Highland High School. Mr. Pearson. >> Thank you, Chairman Pal, members of the board. Uh over the last several months, we uh put out an RFQ for submissions for uh companies who would like to serve as our construction manager at risk for Highland High School. Had a very good response. narrow that group down to three uh and put them through a scoring rubric which you can see in your packets. You do have that rubric uh with a number of folks uh kind of cons taking things into consideration and at this time I would recommend that you allow us to enter into negotiations with Metcon to serve as our CM for Highland High School. >> Mr. Chairman, pursuant to the recommendations of Mr. Pearson. I move that we approve Metcon as our Seymar and enter negotiations with

099them. >> I'll second that. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? >> I just wanted to point out our history with Metcon and how pleased we've been in the past and look forward to our continued relationship with them. Now, >> I agree. We've had a very good relationship with Metcon. I've been very pleased with their work. They've done what? Three schools first now working on the >> Yes, sir. And >> fourth and >> all three have come in under budget and on time. So that's certainly >> that's big. That's big. >> They're doing an excellent job. >> They do. And not just our schools, but other schools that Metcom have done, I've seen in travels around the state. Very nice. Very well done, state-of-the-art. And as you're saying, come in

100early and under budget and we've not had the worries we've had with some. So I'm very pleased with that. Con >> chairman votes. I >> I gain I >> hear no votes. The motion is approved. >> Next, we have a review and consider approval of the 2026 2027 calendar change. Mr. Pearson, >> thank you again, Chairman Pal. Um, just bringing you a small nuance change to the 2627 calendar. uh based on where our all of our days fell and where specifically where Christmas falls, uh we had coded one day in there as a vacation day that really needed to be coded as a holiday. Um mainly this affects 12-month employees. It was not a student day as it was. It's just December 23rd being coded as a holiday instead of a vacation day, which also

101allows all the 10-month employees who earn the annual leave, especially early in their career, to have enough to cover that. So just a sematic change to the calendar. Happy to answer any questions you have about the details of it. >> Okay. I will entertain a motion. Mr. >> Chairman, I'll move that we approve the 206 27 calendar change as presented. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? >> Hearing none. Chairman. Yes, ma'am. Miss Gy, >> is it December 23rd um 2025 or 2026? >> 2026. This is next. Yeah, next year's. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Oh, I see. Yeah, >> thank you. >> Okay, >> I will correct that. >> Thank you. >> Any other discussion or questions? >> Chairman votes I. >> Abate I. >> Gainy I >>

102hearing an A votes. The motion is approved. Next we have review and consider approval of superintendent attendance at the AASA National Conference on Education. Mr. Matthews. >> Uh Mr. Chair, members of the board, just requesting your approval to attend the American Association of School Administrators National Conference on Education. Uh that would be in February. Uh just would ask for your uh approval of that request. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the request as requested. >> Have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? Chairman votes I. Abate I >> gain a >> non for I >> hearing no votes the motion carries I will entertain a motion >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we go into close session pursuant to general statute 143 3181 11 A1 A3 and A6 to prevent the

103disclosure of confidential personnel files under GS115C 321 to consider matters relating to initial employment of an individual employee and to consult with the board's attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege. >> Have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion? >> Chairman votes I. >> Abate say I. >> Gay I hear no votes. The motion carries. We are now in close session. Following a motion and a second, we have now returned to open session and moving to our action from close session. Uh, Mr. Matthews, do you have anything for us? Uh yes, Chairman Pal, members of the board, I would recommend uh the appointment of Miss Katie Hartzell for assistant principal at Hart Central Middle School. >> I will entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chairman, pursuant to the recommendation by Mr. Matthews,

104I move that we appoint Miss Katie Hartzell, um assistant principal at Hart Central Middle School. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Personnel item, uh Chairman votes I. Abate I >> gay I >> hearing no votes the motion is approved is there anything else >> that does Mr. Anything else from the board hearing? None. I'll entertain a motion. >> Motion to journ. >> Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. Please. >> I. >> We are adjourned. Thank you.