Harnett County Board of Education Meeting October 6, 2025

001[Music] Don't worry about it. Wow. Good evening and welcome to the October 6 regular board of education meeting. Uh we got a room full tonight and we're excited to have everyone here. Uh, Miss Gayy, if you would um do our invocation for us, please. >> Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for another opportunity to serve the students of Hornet County Schools. We ask as we meet tonight that we will be on one accord and do what's best for the interests of every student in Hornet County. This is my prayer in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. >> Mr. Godfrey, if you'd lead us in the pledge. >> I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under

002God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I'll entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as read. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Chairman votes I. >> Got your eye. I >> the eyes have it. Um, Mr. Matthews and Miss Thompson, uh, if you would do your special presentations, please. Good evening, Vice Chair Ibate and members of the board. Tonight, we would like to recognize some of our leaders here in Hick County who have devoted themselves to uh expanding and um improving their leadership skills. So this is kind of a culmination of the last few years and we want to recognize folks that have completed some of the uh professional development offered here. Some at the regional level, some

003at the state level and we want to recognize some that are just starting a new uh PD this year. So at this time I will announce the names and as I call your name you can come up and I'm going to maybe Mr. W help me hand these out. um as we want to recognize you. So the first group we're going to recognize are the NC papas or the North Carolina Principal and Assistant Principles Association of Early Career Principles Academy. And this is the 2325 group. This is a pretty big obligation. And our first recipient is Miss Amanda Moore. [Applause] and Miss Daisy McDonald. [Applause] Mr. Jeffrey Booker also attended this academy, but I don't believe he's here tonight. Our next group is the NC Papa Early uh Career Principles Academy and this is the

0042527 group. So, first we'd like to recognize Angel Matt. [Applause] Don Young [Applause] and Tiffany Artist. [Applause] The next PD we want to um recognize is one for new central office leadership and the 2526 school year. Leading with clarity, strategy, and influence. First, we'd like to recognize Dr. Steven Murphy. [Applause] Mr. Ashley Porter [Applause] and Mr. Ryan McNeel. [Applause] The next group is the Sand Hills Regional Executive Leadership Development for A aspiring Principles and this is the 2526 group, Miss Kelly 2. Miss Carolyn McCoy. [Applause] and Miss Christina Clara. If I take a moment of personal privilege, Mr. and Mrs. Claire are with us who long time employees. >> And I have to claim Christina, too, as a former student of mine in the fourth grade. Congratulations, Christina. I knew you were destined for grades.

005This next group we want to recognize is the Sand Hills Principal Learning Series, and this is the 2526 group. Mr. Nick Wigs, [Applause] Miss Jamie West. [Applause] We have some overachievers. Miss Daisy McDonald again. [Applause] >> And this is the Sand Hills Regional Leadership Consortium for the 23 24 school year. Um, near and dear also to my heart, Virginia Taylor. [Applause] Mr. Chris Pearson, [Applause] Miss Allison Castle [Applause] and Dr. Calveta Beard Beard, who I do do not believe is here with us tonight. So, congratulations to her as well. You know, as a former elementary principal, I said I would stand up here and be sure. Now, if I left anyone out, come and tell me right now. I don't want you to go home without your award. But certainly, um, special thanks and recognition

006because anytime you commit to improving yourself, that's a real strength of a leader and we appreciate your commitment to doing that, not only for yourself, but for the students here in Hornet County. So, thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you, Miss Thompson. Uh we have an incredible group of administrators here throughout the county and you know, we can't say thank you enough and thank you so much for for going above and beyond to uh receive that extra training. We really appreciate you. Uh prior to asking for a motion for close session, um I just want to let everyone know we do have a uh a hearing. We're going to go into close session for a few moments for um just bear with us and as soon as we can finish up that hearing, we'll be back

007out for uh public comments as well as the rest of our regularly scheduled meet meeting. So with that said, I will entertain a motion to move into close session. >> Make a motion to move into close session, Mr. Chairman. Second. And is that pursuant to general statute 143 31811 A1 to prevent the disclosure of confidential student records under GS15C 402. >> Mr. Goffrey, >> yes. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion hearing? None. Chairman votes I. >> Gainy I Godfrey I. >> Passes unanimously. We're in close session. All right. After a vote in close session, we've now reconvened into open session and we will move forward with our public comment period. Uh, as we know our established rules, each speaker must complete the signup sheet, which you've done. Uh, each speaker may only speak for

008three minutes. No balance of time may be yielded to another speaker. Maximum 30 minutes allowed for public comments. Um, and we have the signup sheet here. So, Mr. Mitchell, if you will come forward, please. I am forward. Uh, board members, superintendent, uh, and all the, uh, Hick County school employees that are here. Uh, I thank you. Hick county is a beautiful county. I'm a citizen that lives, uh, in district 1. My name's Larry Mitchell. Uh 478 Century Drive. I live in Cameron. U Lexington Plantation is my neighborhood. Um Hornet County schools are very visible to to us citizens and we see that in our school buses that go through the county each and every day of the school year. Uh somebody put my picture up, please. Um I like to show this. I I presented

009this in the in the commissioner's meeting today. Uh this is uh Mr. Ozimpic. Um this is a Doc's Road. Uh I pick up litter as a volunteer for the county. Uh and you notice I have a sign that says veteran volunteers ahead. Um those two words go together pretty good. Veterans and volunteers. We volunteer for a lot of um events in the county and me I spend about six days a week picking up litter. I spend about three four hours a day. Uh it's it's free exercise from the county. Soil and water conservation provides me all the tools I need. And I put Mr. Ozimpic out because this month is Halloween and it slows traffic down. Now, this is Doc's Road and at 7 in the morning, it is heavy traffic and they're mostly going

010to Western Hornet schools. The buses are really going through there heavily in the morning and the afternoon. And I must say, the school buses, as I'm picking up trash in my yellow vest, they're one of the most safest vehicles out there for me. They respect me being out there and and those are good drivers. I wish all the uh private vehicles did the same, but they they travel very fast on that road. But with that said, um this morning the commissioner's meeting, two citizens talked about the schools and for me it's uh citizens participating in these boards. And you can notice how many citizens are here. There's probably more people at a funeral than coming to these board meetings and that's at the commissioner's meeting and and same here. But we need to uh instill

011uh citizenship patriotism into our county and I'm so happy you got a Hornet County flag flying today. Thank you very much. Um so uh who who does attendance in schools? I don't have a child in school. I don't have a grandchild, but is anybody in a as a citizen able to participate in our school board meetings? And I say yes. As taxpayers, uh, >> three minutes goes too fast and have a lot more information to talk about. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Longman. >> Hello. My name is Alan Longman. from 234 Hamilton Road in Bond level. The reason for what I want to talk to you about is that I've talked to my I have grandchildren here in this county and I see what they're learning and I I don't

012understand how this is going to help them too much in the future since the future is going to be changing so drastically. I think we have to get away from teaching memorization and teach them how to understand mathematics, what it means, what everything else means, not so much the memorization because I think that's going to be done by computers and other tools which they should be able to use for their benefit to get things done. It's going to be important for them to be independent more, be more able to take the front lead, to be leaders. Otherwise, there's not going to be any jobs for them if they're going to be going there and working for some boss or something that really doesn't need them anymore. They need to have self-worth. I don't see that

013being taught here because you're teaching the old methods for a way that's going to be gone in 10 years. So I'm just saying to everyone here the teaching profession is a licensed business. It is a a license thing. It is a field of study with responsibility to the people. You have to teach them critical thinking. You have to teach them to believe in themselves and empower them because they have to be empowered in the future otherwise the future is not going to be there for them. It's a different approach to what you're teaching now. And I think that we're so far behind. Other countries are trying to pick up the pace. It's going to be hard to do. It's a new learning situation that everyone has to get used to. We need younger people in

014technology going to explain to everybody what the jobs are going to be in the future because we don't know ourselves because our experience doesn't show anything compared to what's going to be very soon. And the children are going to come out of school. They're not going to be frustrated because they're not going to be able to have self-v valueue. Not going to be able to compete with what's out there. And therefore, they're going to have to learn a different way of being than has been taught before. They have to be the masters. They have to be empowered. They have to believe in themselves. And they have to have things in their mind, creativity to what they want to accomplish and utilize those very things AI, robotics and other things, computers for their advantage so they

015can use them as a tool instead of the tool using them. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Longman. And finally, Mr. Spears. >> Hello, everybody. I followed these two guys earlier this morning and he left me 22 sacks. Oh, y'all didn't let me use them. Um, I came in today one reason last meeting I missed and but I looked at it and before I spoke I talked to you Mr. Goffrey that your uh prayer changed the way I felt that time. But the last time you did prayer and then you did a moment for Charlie Kurt, moment of silence, that kind of rubbed me a little way, but we won't get into that. We'll talk offline on that one. Um, and as he was talking about the flags, I noticed the Hornet County flag, and

016I'm learning that a lot of people want to talk about flags, God, country, and family, but your stuff doesn't line up with what I was told. Now, Horny County taught me, I'm a advocate, and I'm here on what I was told. Yes, sir. No, sir. Thank you and everything else. So there's just so much that I've gone through even working with the board of elections and when you all talked about getting out of the schools and I wanted to say well why not just use all the western Hornet gym before you go trying to find two other places but when you got together and talk about somebody's probably going to shoot it up and you blamed it on the kids everything has been put on the kids because growing up I never understood why at

017the high school level there was a smoking pit We were not even old enough to really be talking about a smoking pit. So I had to steal granddaddy's camel, no filter, and take it to school so I can sneak out and see what goes on in the smoking pit. It don't make any sense. So there's a lot of things we turn around and say that we're saving the kids and helping the kids, but we're hurting them. Television does it all the time. growing up to get a little candy sugar, get that little puff off of it, and then you chew the gum. So, there's just things that to me like like he was talking about, we need to teach them. I wasted three years of French when I should have been taking Spanish cuz when

018I go and sit in the courtroom and I hear them say, "Uh, me no English, me no English." And the judge finally looked at him and said, "Do you know jail?" So that cut out having the translators all the time. But I went there and saw that they was up in um another um part of the courtroom and it seemed like it was just Hispanics or whatever. We're constantly being divided and I just don't know what we need to do to try to pull all this stuff back together. I think we're too far gone, but at the end of the day, somebody's still going to be standing. And I pray that is me and the rest of you all, too. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Spears, and thank you, gentlemen, for coming in and speaking

019to us. Uh, we'll now move on to our superintendent update. Mr. Matthews, vice chairman, members of the board, while there are many exciting things taking place in our school system. I want to just share a few highlights since my last update to you. Uh, and we'll allow our other cabinet members to elaborate on, uh, most of our initiatives tonight. The school systems uh senior leadership conducted interviews for the principal positions at Anderson Creek Primary School and Highland Middle School where we currently have interim principles in place. Finalists were identified for each position and these individuals will be recommended for a final interview with you and the local advisory boards of the particular schools at our scheduled work session on October the 20th. Senior leadership also began holding individual conferences with building principles on September 26th

020to discuss each school's student achievement results from last school year since they uh have recently been released. Uh review their goals for this school year and discuss ways that central office personnel could support them in achieving their goals. Those meetings continued last week with the remaining conferences scheduled to be completed tomorrow. Uh from my perspective, the conversations have been very informative and helped us all to be on the same page with regard to our focus on quality instruction and improve student achievement at each of our sites. I also met with Dr. Lisa Chapman, president of Central Carolina Community College, and Lee County School Superintendent Dr. Chris Dawson last week to discuss our cooperation and collaboration uh of the many programs that we share to meet the needs of our students and their transi in their

021transition to higher education in the workforce. Uh we're blessed to have a good working relationship with CCCCC and I believe our students are the benefactors of that relationship. I was also able to attend the groundbreaking ceremony last Thursday morning with Mr. Bate for the home that is being built in honor of Hornet County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Johnson. Uh, as you probably remember, Deputy Johnson was a resource officer for us and served at Highland Middle School uh, and was tragically killed in an automobile accident on his way home from school in February of 2024. This home is being built by New Home Incorporated in conjunction with the North Carolina Homebuilders Association Charitable Foundation as their first home in their builder honor first responders program. Uh this will be part of their very successful program to build

022new homes for veterans that they've been sponsoring since the late 2000s. All of the materials and workmanship will be donated with the home being sold and 100% of the proceeds going to Deputy Johnson's widow and her family. Uh it was a very touching ceremony and I was privileged to be able to attend along with Mr. Abate to represent our school system in our county. Uh last but certainly not least, I understand that today is board member Hair's birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Hair. I'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate him and wish him a happy birthday. And with that, Mr. Vice Chair, unless there's some specific questions for me, that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Mr. Matthews. Are there any questions? >> All right. Thank you so much. Auxiliary services update, Mr. Pearson. Thank

023you, Vice Chair Bate, members of the board. Um, give you an update on uh what's kind of been I know something you guys had a few questions about with our bus GPS system. Uh those installs are pretty much complete. We have about a half a school that will be complete tomorrow and then we'll be running uh some tests on that system over the next few days. Our goal is that system will be live uh to parents no later than October 20th. And so this is the one that provides the app to parents uh for you know what we've called here comes the bus or other things in the past. Uh so again, we should in the next um 10 days or so have that live and available and we'll do a big uh you know

024public push to to make sure folks know that that is out there right before we hit the time change when it's a little darker and a little colder. So that'll be good timing on that. Also on the transportation front, our additional mini buses that you all approved purchasing have arrived and we are getting the plates on those and they will be get out to schools here very soon. This will put a mini bus at all of our high schools to be used in the attendance area and um across athletics and CTE and a number of our other organizations. These have been very very popular and very well used and the schools are excited to have them. So we appreciate your support in getting those uh participation numbers for our free and reduced lunch continue to

025increase. We expected that to happen as the year went on and more and more students uh you know kind of the fatigue of packing the lunch maybe wear wears a little. Um, so we've continued to see that increase and uh overwhelmingly nothing but positive comments from uh going all C schools and so we're very pleased to be able to offer that to our families and and glad they're taking advantage of it. Schools are working through kind of their fall safety updates and one of the biggest things they're doing now is uh their fall lockdown drills. We do two lockdown drills a year in coordination with law enforcement and so those have some have taken place already, some will be taking place over the next few weeks and they'll be updating their safety plans. Uh, I

026do want to share that a couple of years ago, we rolled out what was called the Rave mobile panic button and it was an app on the phone uh for all of our staff to be able to initiate medical emergencies, lockdowns, and whatnot from their cell phone. We did have that used last week at one of our schools for a medical emergency. Um, and it was amazing how quickly the response was. The principal was thrilled. Uh, she was immediately able to know where to go in the school. Um, in the same time she was being notified, myself and the sheriff's office was being notified to be able to get medical assistance out as quickly as possible. So, very pleased that that app is out there and being used effectively. And then finally for me, believe

027it or not, it is time to form the calendar committee for the 26 27 school year. Uh, so we have the calendar committee meeting set up for October 21st at 10:00 a.m. Would invite any of you who would like to be a part of that to join us. Um, I'll have Miss Kria send an invite out to you uh tomorrow. Again, we'll get together. We'll do a couple of drafts. Our goal would be to come to you in November with a couple of options that we've narrowed it down to. Traditionally, we survey the public. And so, we'll try to do that uh November meeting, have you all approve some drafts, conduct the survey to come back hopefully at December meeting with the results of that survey and adopt the calendar at in the December meeting

028uh for next school year already. Unless you have questions for me, that concludes my update. >> Thank you, Mr. Pearson. Me and Miss Gayy received our invites already. So, >> I know I'll be there. Uh, are there any other questions for Mr. Pearson? >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Curriculum and instruction update, Miss Ferguson. >> Uh, good evening, Vice Chairman Abate and board members. Tonight, I bring to you our Hornet County Schools uh 2425 accountability update. I think Miss Bird's going to put it on for us. Okay. And just like in the years past, the student achievement data for the 2425 school year are based on analysis of all end of grade and end of course test which are aligned to the North Carolina standard course of study in English language arts, reading

029and math and the essential standards in science for all public schools in North Carolina. The data provides the percentage of students who scored at a level three that's considered grade level proficient and above and um at each academic achievement level. Remember this year our science assessments uh new standards were adopted in 2023 and the summer of 2023. So it required the development of new tests. They cut off a year with that that process if you remember and we took the test this year. So, our new science tests for end of grade fifth and eighth and end of course biology, they were implemented this year. They approved the uh cut scores for this year. They are in our data, but they can't be compared to the previous test. Um just I just put some quotes in

030there. Um Superintendent Maurice Greens, he shared that he was proud of our students and educators who have worked hard to improve these metrics. Even as we acknowledge that our students are more than test scores, while the progress and growth shown in these report deserves praise, we must continue our work to promote excellence for all students. Mr. Brooks Matthews, our superintendent, shared, "While we recognize there is still work ahead, this marks a very positive step for student achievement. Our students and educators are showing meaningful progress and we're encouraged by these results. So tonight I'm pleased to share an overview of Hornet County Schools District academic progress based on test results for the 2425 school year. Over the four past four years, we have navigated many challenges from remote learning to the return of face-to-face instruction. Our

031latest results demonstrate what we all knew during this challenges. Hornet County Schools is not a low performing district. We agree with Superintendent Green and Superintendent Matthews that there is still work to do, but we do celebrate the gains made by our students, teachers, and leaders. So, here we go. We've got the Hornet County and state trends, and we always look at those first to see how we are aligning with the state. So, North Carolina scored higher in 12 of the 15 math and reading assessments with only third grade reading, English 2, and NC math, trailing the 23 24 results. In Hornet County, we also scored higher in 12 of the 15 math and reading. We saw a decrease in third grade, math grade 8, and NC math one. So, we did not have the decrease

032in English two. the average composite score for 11th graders taking the ACT a college readiness test rebound rebounded to 18.2 uh for the state hornet county our average composite is 16.9 um but when we looked at the UNCC admission requirement of a composite score of 17 and we went back the state went back to that we increased from 31.9 to 45.4 four uh percent of our students meeting that cutoff. North Carolina students scored higher. Oh, excuse me. My mine did not move because of my finger. I apologize. Hick county schools and state trends in North Carolina. The four-year cohort graduation rate has risen to 87.7. That's the highest for the state in 10 years. The four-year cohort graduation for Hornet County is 89.4%. We are higher than the state level. Fewer schools were designated as

033low performing and seven districts in the state came out of low performing status. In Hornet County also fewer schools were designated as low performing in Hornet County. Six of our schools exceeded growth this year and Hornet County was one of the seven districts to come out of low performing status. In the state, students saw across the state, students saw slight increases in most reading test areas, but experienced declines in fourth and seventh grade reading. Hornet County STO students in grades three through eight, they continue to make steady gr gains in reading and math performance. Students achieving grade level proficiency in reading increased in all grades four through seven. Fourth and seventh saw the most significant increase with a six and an 8.5 percentage increase in math. Overall, math and reading saw gains in grades 3

034through eight with a 2.9 increase in reading proficiency and a 4.3 increase in math proficiency overall. Across the state, the English language learners saw gains. The percentage of students meeting progress targets or exiting English language learner status has steadily increased over the past three years. And if you remember, this is a number in Hornet County that has increased a lot for us. The data this year was very positive. Hornet County also had gains with its eel students. We we tested 1,897 students. Those making progress increased from 19.5% in 2324 to 25.5% in 2425. EL students meeting annual progress increased from 16.8 to 18.3%. Students meeting the exit criteria increased by 2.2%. While students in grades five and eight also take science assessments and high school students take biology assessments, remember there were new tests aligned

035to the new content standards in science and biology. These were implemented in 2425. So we can't compare them to the previous years. What we can look at is our school performance grades um is that in our science fifth grade we saw less than a 1 percentage point decline. That is if for those of you who have been through test realignment, um that is huge. So, a shout out there. And a 5 percentage decrease in biology scores. Now, our eighth graders did see a larger decrease of 11.4%, but that was in line with the state's decrease of 10%. So, we did uh well for our first year in our science test. Overall, district-wide proficiency improved from 42.6% in 2024 to 44.2% in 2025, an increase of 1.6%. While this might seem modest, it reflects a steady

036recovery and is above the state's increase of8%. So, we had double the increase that what the state had this year. We can look at the importance of this increase in a broader context. The slight increase doesn't fully reflect improvements we might see in subgroups or at specific sites. And you're getting ready to see um where some of our sites really performed. We continue to be transparent with our progress and we careful carefully analyze all data and work to support our schools, teachers, and parents. Even a small improvement indicates progress in the right direction. And we remain committed to continued improvement. So when we look at Hick County and our region trends, we are part of the Sand Hills region. There are 13 schools in our region. The this is going to be online for those

037of you who want to go back and look at it closely. And there'll also be links for you also. But I thought it was important to look at our Sand Hills region. There's 13. So in the middle of that, you know, seven, six above, six below. Um, when we look at our EOCC's in high school and we look at biology, we're a little bit we're in the lower part, the lower third of the group. Uh, you can see in um English two to the right over here. I wish this had a pointer on it. English two to the right, we're actually above the middle. And then with our math one, we are in the near the middle. and math three were at the bottom of the region, but we've still made progress. Now, um math

038three across the state, we saw some declines, but again, that's where we fall within our region. And we like to compare to our region a lot of times because of the the demographics, the school size, things that are more similar to us. When we look at the ACT and the ACT work keys, you can see we're in the upper third there in the region. When we go to the EOG reading grade five in reading, third is to the right, fourth is the bottom left, and fifth is the bottom right. You can see for most of those we're very close to the middle. And then we also have our reading 68. Sixth grade is to the right. We're in the lower third there. Uh we're right in the middle for seventh grade reading and then right

039in the middle for eighth grade reading. When we look at math through three through five, I just tell you to follow the green line for our region. We're right in the middle of our region for um basically for third, fourth, and fifth. And for sixth, seventh, and eighth, again, we're right in the middle. And you'll see some of our schools had great gains in math. We had some schools that had as much as 12 and 13% gain proficiency. Now, in the science, even though it's new to us, we held our own there. Also, in the region, in the uh fifth grade, we were about number eight. And then in the eighth grade science, we were right in the middle. Now um when we also look at our proficiency as I shared the composite is up

04044.2% it's up 1.6%. Currently we're 10.8% below the state proficiency but when I look at the green this is all the areas where proficiency grew and the white is science. So very few areas where we did not have a growth in proficiency. To summarize this and again this is on and you have a copy of this printed in front of you. Um this is also on our website. 53.8% of Hornet County schools met or exceeded growth. Six of the 26 exceeded. Eight of the 26 met. 12 of the 26 did not meet. When I break it down by elementary, seven of the 14 met or expect exceeded growth. Five of six of our um uh middle schools met or exceeded and two of six of our high schools met or exceeded growth. We did not

041count HVA in this numbers because HVA uh students were fluid. It changed throughout the year. And last year it was 61 12 with just only a few elementary. This is the one that I would encourage you to look at also is the green. When we do it by school, the proficiency growth is highlighted in green. And 18 of our 26 schools, which is 69.2% have increased proficiency. So almost 70% of our schools have increased proficiency. When we take a deeper dive into our subgroup data, when we look at our economically disadvantaged, these are the areas that we made gains in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade reading. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh grade math, NC math 3 and English 2. Our Hispanic students, they showed gains in fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade reading, third,

042fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh grade math, and NC math 3. Black students showed gains in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade reading, 3rd, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh grade math, fifth grade science, NC math 1, NC math 3, and English 2. Students with disabilities showed gains in third, fourth, seventh, eighth grade reading, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth grade math, science grade 5, and NC math 3. On at the NC Department of Public Education accountability page, there is a link and there's a spreadsheet and you can go in there and do this by school, by district, by subject, by student. But these are the highlights for all of our um subgroups. Now, additional state data that we're very proud of, um, in our CTE, our workforce field, preparing students to, um, leave high school and go to work,

043industry recognized credentials increased from 9,470 in 2324 to 11,345 in 2425. Attainment rate increased from 685 to 805. And this is the percent of credentials earned out of credentials offered in Hornet County Schools. Proficiency rate on state assessments went from 76% to 80%. The total number of concentrators increased from 688 and 2324 to 729 uh in 2425. And as you know, our CTE concentrators increase our graduation rates and increase our um ACT work keys participation. Now, this is how our school performance grades are calculated. School achievement is 80%, I put a example in the box. And then um growth is 20%. Here's the school performance grades A, B, C, D, and F. And there's the link to the accountability framework if you want to look at that. Now, as we go by schools, I'm going

044to be very quick tonight on the schools because each school is uh presenting to you at the board. Um you've already met with some of them and you have some at the next work session. But I do want to point out if you see the um green down the left hand corner, that means that school has had a positive trend across that chart. So, while Andrew Elementary is certainly not where we want them, um they are in a positive trend. If you went looked at last year's achievement um and last year's performance from 34 to 41, that's 7 point gain right there. Ben Haven Elementary. They are a C school and their overall um performance is a 62. Boon Trail there you see a green trend. They're positive across the bottom numbers and their achieve

045for example their achievement went from 36.7 to 41.4 and their overall performance from a 41 to a 45. And we always look at that growth. We want the EVOS growth to be um two to um to a negative two. So the year before was 5.94 and they're down to a minus 3.93. Not where we want them, but a huge improvement. Bush Creek Elementary, they had a performance of 54 this year. I put a star by that because a star means they're one point away from a C um in their overall performance. Coats Elementary, they stayed about the same. They did come down a little bit in their performance, but we know that last year was huge transition year for them and we look forward to what they will do this year. Coats Irwin Middle if

046you will notice their performance from 39 to a 48. And if you look at their the little gold star by their growth, they almost exceeded growth. They were at 81.9 and their positive trend. You can see the green arrows. Dun Elementary again a positive trend. And when you really dig into her numbers, you will see that she is closing the gap. Especially when you compare the students that done elementary to the students that done middle, there was a 3% difference last year in their um achievement. This year it's a 2%. So they're definitely closing the gap. And she brought her growth from a negative 4.76 to a negative 2.85 and a six point gain in school performance. Dun Middle, as you know, is one of our schools that exceeded growth at 99.7 and a positive

047growth index of 9.84. Positive trend across the board. Irwin Elementary, we do have some growth that we're going to look at there as well as proficiency and we have supports and plans in place and for them. Haret Central High School, they are about the same as last year. Their growth is a little bit more in the negative from 4.99 to a negative 5.03. Um, but across the board, their numbers are very similar. And again, for everything that I show you where there's an opportunity for growth, we already have people working with their coach and with their principal and with their PLC's um, targeting data. Haret Central Middle, you can see a positive uh trend there with the green. That means she's a positive across the board there. And she grew from 42 to 45 and

048closed in her growth from a negative 4.02 to a -2.6. Hornet County Early College is another one of our high performers. Again, the green indicates a positive trend across the board and a growth of 6.18, which is tremendous and we're very proud of Haret Virtual Academy. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on them because we're going to have to dig in that look at it differently. But last year, this was a very small group of students that was tested. It will look different this year. Highland Elementary, again, look at the green, the positive trend. And um she's across the board positive. Highland Middle, another gold star there. Um again, 53 55 would have brought them to a C, but a positive trend um in the achievement and the growth. No, the achievement,

049excuse me. Johnsonville Elementary, they are a C school. They are not considered low performing. Lafayette Elementary, they um took their performance from a 53 to a 61, from a D to a C. So they um they did a great job this year and they also have the green positive trend. Lilington Shawtown Elementary. While they are considered a low performing school, I want to um note the positive green trend across the chart. She's at a 50 and remember a 55 would be a C. And her achievement went from a 40 to a 45.4. So 5.4 increase. Northwest Elementary. This is again another one that had great performance this year. They are now a B school. She went from a 66 to a 73. Her growth was index was a minus 1.54. She's now on the positive

050side of that of with a 3.47. Over Hills Elementary, they are a C school and not low performing. Over Hills High School, theirs is very much across the board. There's little tiny like a 0.1 increases, but they're not low performing. Over Hills Middle exceeded growth with a 90.9. They are not low performing because they exceeded growth. And if you notice that star, they're at a 53, very close to 55. South Hornet Elementary, see that star again? They're at 54. And a positive trend. And they also exceeded growth. So um they are not considered low performing. Star Academy is the alternative model. They are not they do not follow the same performance model that we follow for the other schools. Um they are either progressing, maintaining, declining and we are working with them on the declining

051and um it may be it may be something that's linked to sustainability of the students not necessarily test scores. So we are diving into that. Triton High School was one of our schools that exceeded growth. Positive trends across the board. Western Hornet High School had a positive trend across the board. They did have a minus 7.11 uh growth index and brought that down to a negative 5.04 and they did grow their performance from a 55 to a 59. And then finally, Western Hornet Middle School. Um, if you notice, I put a star there because they did not they are low performing, but they are uh in the 50s, 52 I believe, and they will be very close to being a C as well with a little bit of growth. I went through the schools very

052quickly because they're going to present to you and also this will be on the website for you to look at. Now, our needs have improved. We've seen improved attendance, approved in approved um improvement in the discipline. Um and as far as personnel, you're going to see some great numbers there as well. Very quickly, uh this is our school attendance. If you noticed, um when we started really looking at our school attendance, we before COVID, we were at 94.6. We had the all-time low of 86.1 coming out. We're now up to 92.32% 6% increase there and it continues to improve. I highlighted in red for you our teacher retention data because this is huge for the success of our classrooms is to retain those teachers. Um we had an a 20.14% retention in the past two

053years. We have gotten that down to a 13.43%. 43%. I've included the discipline data for you to look at as we continue to focus on that, but those numbers have also improved in the total number of sus long-term suspensions and the total number of um IOSS. our mental health data, our referrals are about the same as they were last year, but as you know, we have the a strong program there to address it and Hazel Health at our schools. So, we know uh this is making a difference as well. Exceptional children's data, I've included the numbers so when you look at our data, you will see that those numbers continue to increase. So, for our subgroups to make the gains that they made, that's very positive. Same thing for our English language learners. When you

054look at those numbers and watch the growth over the past couple of years and the um subgroups did well. I've included our in-class data. This is our K2 literacy assessment. We see positive trends there. Although more kindergarteners entered school needing additional supports beyond core instruction in the beginning of the year last year a larger percentage had had decreased in risk by the um end when you compare that also we had a larger percentage of kindergarters that knew their letter names and sounds and were decoding words in 2425 and in K2 a larger percentage of students decreased in reading risk from the beginning of the year to the end of the year in 24 25 compared to 23 24. So when you look at this data, we continue to strengthen our foundational reading skills and we

055let that continue to be a focus in our K2 classrooms. I've included our I Ready D um data for math. This is last year's data showing the number of students on grade level beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year. And this is all students three through eight. This is our bog to EOG growth on the left hand side and there's huge growth when you look at those numbers. And then um I wanted to put in here our bog compared last year compared to this year's bog. For example, example Andrew Elementary was at 6.95 their bog last year. This is beginning of third grade test. This year it's at 12%. They doubled that. Look at Bush Creek. They were at 4.2%. This year they're at 22.5%. So, we're seeing huge um

056increases in our bog scores. Now, there's a lot of measurements that are not up here tonight, but I want you to just to remember we have advanced placement enrollment. Our AP numbers continue to go up. Our CTE numbers and are continue to go up in a positive trend with performance. our CCP classes as far as the number of students who take advantage of those classes and pass those classes continue to increase. We continue to uh grow our robotics, our fine arts, athletics, our junior artc, and our academically gifted numbers have grown. That was a lot in a short amount of time. I did not go into great detail because the schools are pursuing their concerns and their um growth with you individually. Do you have any questions tonight? I also made you handouts that you

057can look at. It compares the schools. If you like these handouts, we will have them printed on a better quality paper and have them so that you can share them with our community and we'll have them at schools for parents to pick up, things like that. But I want you to look at these first. >> The red handcard infographic sums up everything I just said. >> Miss Ferguson, uh, did you say the comparisons to our U regional will be our region will be posted to our website. >> They're on here and they'll be on the this whole slideshow will be on there so you can see it. Um, so it will be posted and I and if you will notice the green and the gold stars that I had throughout the presentation, I feel like

058I can sit here with you and tell you that we're no longer a low performing district, but next year I know that we will cut our number of low performing schools at the minimum in half because of the trending data and the things that the principles and their instructional coaches and the teachers are doing. Every year that we can have a more experienced teacher in that classroom is another opportunity for us to grow. So, we're in a very positive trend. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions? >> I just have, Mr. Chairman, I just have a concern about uh who are three of the schools up there. I noticed had a constant grade of DD. Uh, you know, don't I mean, I understand every one of them had a little bit of positive growth

059and everything. Yes sir. >> But when you go like four years and you stay at the same grade for four years, uh that's a little bit troubling to me. >> Yes, sir. And the grade is actually a span. So it's from 40 to 54. There's a 15 point span there. So they may be improving and still a D. So I know it's not the approving uh the rate of approval we want or improvement that we want. We want a faster rate of improvement, but just remember like they could be a 40 this year, a 45 the next year, a 50 the next year, 53 the next year. So they are improving in proficiency. So that's what I would look at if when you look down that proficiency and see if that proficiency is increasing. And

060you should see a a 3 to 5% at least at the minimum every year. >> I hope to see them this time get up to that 55. So we'll have >> Yes. and we have so many schools that are right there at it. I agree. I absolutely believe it's doable. Um and I just this is this past year we had a short amount of time made a huge amount of difference and I believe the things that um that all of you as leaders and Mr. Matthews as a leader has put in place that our principles are up to the challenge and they are just rock stars. >> Miss Ferguson, I um the virtual academy. >> What's our enrollment with that right now? I will defer that to Mr. White. >> We are over 115 students

061now to virtual count. >> Okay. >> Is there any So our our achievement went down, our growth index went down and ultimately our letter grade went down at the virtual academy. And I think something we we learned from COVID uh was students tend to do better in that in the classroom setting face to face. you know, is there would we be benefiting to bring those students back in or are these students that ultimately for whatever reason are benefiting from being in that virtual setting as far as health concerns or or what have you. So the there are a couple of things to to look at with the virtual academy and kind of coming into this year and making a reassessment as far as what we need to look at and try to change just a

062little bit to see if we can kind of do some things a bit different with regards to how we handle that. One is um we're doing a lot more in-person instruction in the sense of uh we have our own teachers, Hornet County Schools teachers that are working with those students. In previous years they were on a platform. Okay. um and getting their um learning synchronously and asynchronously. But this year um those students are with Hornet County Schools teachers. There the learning is synchronous in some spaces and asynchronous as well. But the difference is these students have an opportunity to reach out to our teachers and make connections and there are specific office hours that are set up to be able to support those kids. Um I think when you talk about virtual instruction, you have

063to kind of look at it from a multiple lenses there. There are students who need virtual instruction because of medical issues or whatever. There are some families who are just comfortable with their students not being in our schools um and using virtual learning as an opportunity for them to be able to grow. So, what we've tried to do this year um is really take a deep dive into figuring out um who those students are that benefit um from learning at the virtual academy um and who those students are that may benefit from a more concentrated environment meaning star academy where we are able to be able to offer um some virtual opportunities for students as well. And so um what we think we have um going into this school year is a great plan. Um,

064in those principal conversations, um, this past week when we sat down with Miss Young and and and spoke to Miss Young, uh, we were very adamant about taking a deep dive into the data there at the virtual academy to be able to see how we can assess, uh, the best way to move forward, um, with the students that we currently have enrolled. I mean, one thing you find from those parents that are advocating for their students to be in virtual um is that you have anxiety issues, but you just also have that comfortability of being able to know that I can watch and grow with my student. And so, as Miss Ferguson alluded to earlier, um we had some elementary school students there at the virtual academy last year. We have um some elementary students

065there this year. We we are in a K12 situation, but again the difference is with those elementary kids, um they have a teacher that is there that is working with them every morning um on different skills and and those sorts of things. And as you get into 612, we have the same sort of thing. And so what we're hoping is that we'll see some gains this year um in performance because of the fact that we went to utilizing our own teachers versus having a platform that they um that they're utilizing. And also we expanded some of the course offerings there um with the help of Mrs. Fergus and her team on the CTE side. We've got CTE teacher available for um our students to kind of span some to to kind of expand some elective

066type things. Um and so as we make that environment a bit more rich, I think what we have the opportunity to be able to do um is to to grow um tremendously this school year um and what we've done in previous years just because of the consistency that'll be there with our own teachers. Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. I'd like to say I'm a firm believer in face-toface education. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh I don't like virtual. I mean, I understand the medical part of it, but then I think about when COVID came and people got used to working from home and then when they had the companies decided, look, you're going to have to come back to work. CO is no more. Then they a lot of them freaked out. Oh, I got to

067go back into the office, you know, and I I wouldn't want something like this to see this happening, you know, as far as our schools are concerned because face to face, you can't say that it's not the best as far as education is concerned. >> Yes, sir. And I'm I'm confident with, you know, Irwin Elementary um going down by 1.7 in achievement, negative 14 or going down 14.4 in growth, uh going down four in performance, and then minus 4.47 in growth index, as well as Western Middle going down 2.4 in achievement, down 12.2 two in growth, down four in performance, and down 3.79 in growth index. That we are, you know, sending extra resources um to those locations to ensure we're we're doing everything we can to to stabilize and and build. >> Yes, sir.

068We have been we have met with principles. We are doing walkthroughs. We have met we have instructional coaches in the buildings that we work with. Um, now the growth I would not look at it as much this year because of the science impact on it. We're we're that's we're not sure about that. I'd look more at the proficiency and that's where we're digging into is that third graders, how many are going grade level? Fourth, how many's on grade level? And we are digging into that. And I think two of the biggest gains we've got this year is um an additional math coach on the district level that goes out to the schools, right? and we have two in elementary to cover 16 schools and we have um two in middle school and the schools that

069they have been able to work with and they have been receptive of them we have seen huge gains like I can name a fourth and fifth grade school right now where their fourth and fifth grade had 12 and 13% growth in math and so we are going to have those resources available for them to use and take um advantage of >> that's great thank you very Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any further questions for Miss Ferguson? >> Well, Mr. White, um enroll um attendance at the virtual academy, is that pretty much um average out as in the face tof face classes. >> Yeah. And so it really um depends on how you count it, right? And so what we did, what we took a deep dive into doing in the spring and going into

070the summer is looking at what districts around us have done um in that space. Um because the way that virtual instruction works in a lot of spaces is that um I I'll give you an example. Score Academy in in Wake County, right? Score Academy, the way that they um look at attendance is um 100% model. If a kid uh attends Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that's 80% um of the week. And so therefore, they count that as as their attendance for the week, right? If they're not there on Friday or something along those lines. What we try to do is um look at traditional attendance um the way that we count it in our traditional schools and apply that to the virtual setting as best we can with the understanding that there are students who are

071there that have severe medical issues in some spaces. Um there are students there who have some some uh disabilities that may prevent them from being able to be there every day and taking those things into consideration. Um, and so we are are trying to level that out to make it make sense to where we're not, of course, giving anybody anything. Um, but also making it work for the students we need to make it work for. Virtual Academy is a fit. It's not a fix. And so therefore, um, I look at it the same way I look at Early College and some of the other alternative programming that we have. Some of the students that may be in the virtual academy probably don't need to be in that space. they need to be somewhere else. And

072so we've make them we've made the move in the last month or so to be able to say to those families, if your child needs some additional assistance or needs something different, they've got attendance challenges or whatever, let's look at a different space to be able to put them in and not necessarily this space. Does that make sense? So we're working through those things first semester. I'm hoping it'll be better second semester and then going into um 26 27 should it please the board for us to continue with the virtual academy then um we'll hopefully have that thing licked um to where I can have a better answer for that on the attendance side. >> Thank you again Miss Ferguson. Uh human resources update Monica Thompson >> Vice Chairman Abate and members of the board

073this evening to update you on our vacancy report. um still have good news to share there. We only have six classroom vacancies. And I always want to point out that just because there's a vacancy, it doesn't mean there's not a teacher in there. Uh there could be a teacher there waiting that they'll be finished like at the end of the month while and there may be a replacement family. There may be a vacancy, but it doesn't always mean there's a vacancy there. So there's six classroom openings, six enhancement counselor CT openings, and only four EC vacancies, which I'm very proud of. We have uh 35 classified vacancies, but I will tell you last year at this time it was 39 and the year before it was at 50. So that's very promising that we are

074closing this number down some. I'm I'm proud of that and I'm proud of the work that my staff along with the principles has put in to make that happen. We did we have finished up we work closely with Mr. Pearson and his group on the transportation meetings and we've just finished those and the primary concern continues to be the need for subd drivers or our new newly called flex drivers. Uh we've implemented a flex calendar for each attendance area. So that's easy for folks to look for their available drivers. We currently have 27 flex drivers across the district. Most of them drive daily. There's been positive feedback on this and we hope to continue to build that flex pool over the next year. The next bus class began today with 40 employees and and a

075quick overview on that. You know, we pushed really hard to get 50 in the class and but we've backed off of that because what happens is they can't uh that we can't train enough on the individual training for them to for their u probationary kind of their window to get their license. It runs out. So, we've had it back to 40 so they can all be trained and qualify for their license. It really cuts down on that because we only have one trainer. And as you remember, we train two drivers a week. And I always want to keep that at the forefront because everybody thinks we have a driver shortage. We have a training shortage. Just so you can remember that teacher evaluation work is underway. And I mean, you know, sometimes you say you

076need a drum roll. I know Miss Taylor is equally proud of this, but I mean I feel like we need a marching band to celebrate this. So, we compiled the reports throughout the district last week on Friday and there were only 20 outstanding observations to complete all over this district. That is significant because some of those are folks on leaves of absence or you know they may be on a maternity leave, they may be sick. out of 590 observations. That's we only have 20 more to complete. That is like the biggest news ever. The principles have done a phenomenal job. Miss Taylor has done a phenomenal job helping to encourage that and keeping up with that data for our school uh our schools and our principles. And so we're very proud of them. And I

077have to say their names out loud because this means a lot to our principles. So hold on. I'm going to be really fast, but I have to say them. 100% completion. Uh, Ben Haven, Buis Creek, Dun Elementary, Dun Middle, Haret Central High School, HBA or the Star, Lilington, um, Lilington Shawtown, Lafayette, North Haret Primary, Northwest Elementary, Over Hills Elementary, South Hornet, Western Hornet Middle School, and the Early College. So that's 100% complete. 90 to 99% completion rate. Anderson Creek, Andrew, Boon Trail, Coast, Irwin, I mean Coast Elementary, Irwin, Hornet, Central Middle, Highland Elementary, Highland Middle, Johnsonville, Over Hills High, Over Hills Middle, Triton, and Western Haret High School. That is very significant work by our principles. And so I just want to praise them. And what that really means at the real level is they're

078getting in classrooms, seeing teachers, and giving feedback on instruction on a regular basis, which is what it takes to move instruction. So, we're very proud of that. This week, we sent out the 25 year, well, just today because it's just Monday. So, today we sent out the 25-y year invite and we will celebrate our uh staff members who have 25 years in at the next board meeting in November. You know, we've kind of we had so many last year we had to have a separate event, but I think we're back to being able to have our typical reception here and honor them here in this room during the board meeting next week. Cheryl Fuller presented an evaluation instrument to the assistant principles last Friday. The engagement of the APS was commendable and we know that

079our principles are better prepared for their evaluations based on the training of the instrument. So if you remember, we trained principles, we've trained teachers, we've trained APS, we've trained everybody on administering that evaluation instrument more effectively and that work shows in the work our principles have just done. Our advanced leadership institute for September was very successful. We have 10 APs participating in this month's feedback, I mean this month's focus was feedback. We are continuing with our leadership loop each Monday. If you have folks at your house that listen to the uh loop, you might hear at your home as well, but we uh have because we have a leadership and an HR loop. And so both of those are recorded ways that we're getting out information. The RNR team sponsored a paid advertisement or the

080district sponsored and they sponsored the work behind it. A paid advertising campaign on Indeed for teacher assistant and bus driver positions. This attracted 56 applicants. Of those 33 led to screening interviews by the team. Many of those were recommended to the principles. We screen them and then once we feel like they are eligible, we push them out to the principles. And so 10 of those folks have been recommended for employment and onboarding. And we are planning another TA event because that continues to be a a need for our principles. And so that's our best avenue of advertising right now. So we plan to have another one in the upcoming weeks. We had a sub a substitute information session on September 22nd. We had eight people 18 people to attend. Connie Lavor is reaching out to

081applicants to make sure their documents are all uploaded and their application is processing. We do have a pretty robust review process for subs. They have to meet a lot of criteria. So that's great. The RNR sent out care packages in the mail to our growing greatness students in college. You know, we do this in an effort to stay engaged with them while so they don't forget us at college and know they want to come back here to teach with us. We are starting a new branch of our growing greatness program with North Haret Primary. Our plan is to try to start uh we learned about this last year at Cosba about a tutoring program. So we're we're kind of starting out on our primary our pilot group with this at North Haret. So, we're trying

082to recruit folks out of Hornet Central High School who are either in the growing greatness program or think they want to teach and we plan to have them tutoring over at North Haret Primary School later in the fall. And our RNRs continue to reach out. They have to provide uh PD for the mentors as a ongoing part of our grant for that. And they are producing their own video newsletter every month and I will tell you the name. guiding light moments for mentors. We are also the RNRs are conducting one-on-one lure meetings with all the teachers who need course work and testing to clear their license. That's quite a monumental task this time of year. We've about finished those and we plan on having personnel meetings at the end of the month. We have uh

083shared and looked at our exit data. We are trying to take a a long-term look at that and we are reviewing that on a monthly basis out here and as you know one of the primary reasons we still have for folks leaving the district is uh for salary. So there are lots of rumors out there that flood around about things but primarily and I know that both you and the commissioners are working hard to close that gap for our our staff members. That's all I have unless you have any questions for me. One question. Um, are we making any progress with regard to a sixth grade ELA teacher at Co Middle School? >> I believe he had help me, Miss Taylor. I believe he had an international teacher that was coming and she could not

084get her final visa appointment. Miss G, I don't believe she could get her final visa appointment, but I will I will go back and check on that. I do think that uh I can't remember if like we'd let him we do have a few more folks like we are for the first time international teachers can be hired in January and so there there is another chance for us to get more in January which that's not the typical case but we can now so I will check on that in the morning. Yes ma'am. Um, something that that I just thought about and you very well may already be doing it, but whenever you said you were advertising on Indeed and you received multiple um, applications from it, you know, if you haven't, um, Facebook advertising, it's

085relatively cheap for what you get. And you know, I'm getting ready to start a advertising campaign for the airport targeting various general aviation airports up and down the the coast uh or the east coast. And doing that, you could target colleges with education programs and actually just, you know, hover in that general area and we can market, you know, our lower taxes, our lower cost of living and um, you know, the the Hornet County Schools environment, you know. So, I would love to see something like that if we're not already doing. >> Yes, we have done in the past. I think one thing we're leaning heavily on indeed sometimes that brings out the most qualified like they the candidates sometimes are are better qualified and we kind of so we might advertise for TAS to

086be honest but anybody that doesn't qualify like for those positions then we push them out for custodial uh to custodial services or to maintenance if they qualify or for bus driver positions or occasionally there'll be folks in there who qualify for teaching positions. So, we really may advertise for one thing and then but yes, we do both those. We do. Thank you for that. >> Any further questions? >> Thank you, Miss Thompson. Student services update, Mr. White. >> Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. As we get started with our student support services update, I want to thank uh Vice Chairman Abate and the members of the board uh for your support of our student services events and things that we've done so far throughout the year. Inside of your board packet, you'll find

087the district released reassignment reports through late September. Um, and here are few quick updates from student services. The first is the winter graduation ceremony. We have a good problem, which is we probably have over about 300 graduates that are scheduled to participate in our winter graduation ceremony. That might cause us to have to move our ceremony from Triton to somewhere else. Um and so we have reached out um to Campbell University um for the potential of moving our services there. Um so we're kind of waiting to see if we'll be able to do that and and researching other vendors. Uh I will keep you informed regarding that, but we are excited to have over 300 graduates potentially participating um in that winter ceremony. The district has hired Mr. Khalil Shaquille as a new district military

088leaison for Hornet County Schools. Mr. Dr. Shaquille comes to us from Cumberland County schools and is a dedicated Army veteran and accomplished professional with over 22 years of service as a school social worker and dropout prevention specialist in Cumberland County. He's a Fort Bragg Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and a former all army boxer. He brings both discipline and heart to his work with students, especially those from military families. So, he's been with us really about two weeks now, has hit the ground running. So, we're excited to have him on our team. a comprehensive school counseling office to start a school year doing well. These reviews are helping student services elevate our counseling services as an important part of what we address as a school district. And so the goal with those audits as we

089go around to those schools um is to ensure that every student in Hornet County regardless of school or grade level receives the highest standard of support throughout their educational journey. I appreciate the student support leadership team for their work and visiting with our schools during this process. On Tuesday, September the 30th, 2025, our district hosted the annual CCRO College Fair at the Hornet County Early College. It provided an outstanding opportunity for juniors and seniors and their families to explore post-secary options and connect directly with college representatives. You'll hear more about that during Mrs. Frell's report, but I did want to shout out Mrs. Hannah Matthews, Mrs. Tiffany McQueen, and Mrs. Allison Castle for their planning, and Dr. Jasmine Nixon and her staff for allowing us to hold the event at the early college. It was

090great. Vice Chairman Abate, that concludes my student support services report for this evening, sir. Unless you have any questions. >> Thank you, Mr. White. Are there any questions regarding student services? >> All right. Thank you again, >> Mr. Ve. Can I answer that question? She will be here on 10:14. I was mixed up about the wrong person. One person's visa got denied. So our codes are on teacher bill 1014. >> 10:14. >> Yes. Okay. >> I was thinking she was coming. So I was surprised. >> I'm old. >> Mr. Cox, financial services report. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Bate. Members of the board, um, as you are aware, there is a federal government shutdown right now, but what I do want to say is it does not impact our federal funding levels. what it does

091do um in some cases it impacts our ability to access cash for those programs. So there are a few uh things that will be delayed based on that but things such as title one we've been told we'll have access to the cash which that's the largest category of our federal um expenditures there. So just wanted to update you on that. Our impact aid survey is set to go out on October 17th. Mr. White just told you about Mr. Shaquille. we're throwing him into the fire as he's leading that process for us. Um although impact aid office is shut down as well and there is uncertainty about uh whether impact aid funding will continue in the future. Guidance was sent out by the national association of federally impacted schools telling us or instructing school districts to

092continue to move forward this those surveys in hopes that the funding will continue and we will will be able to fill out our application um come January. And historically, we've averaged receiving about a million dollars um through the impact aid uh program each year. A communication was sent out today to all employees reminding them of the open enrollment for the state health plan coverage for 2026. It will take place starting next Monday, October 13th, and will run through October 31st. Um and lastly, we're working on finalizing our initial budget for fiscal year 26 along with the new teacher supplement scale and classified salary scale. Um, depending on we have them finalized, we may be able to bring them back to the October work session. If not, it will be the uh November uh board meeting.

093That concludes my report. Unless you have questions for me. >> Doesn't slow down, does it? >> It does not. >> Any questions for Mr. Cox? All right. Thank you so much, Miss Frell. Public information office update. >> Thank you, Vice Chairman Abate, members of the board and community who's left. Good evening. September was National Attendance Awareness Month and as you know, we talked about um our why I show up campaign, an initiative designed to help students reflect on their why, why they come to school, why attendance matters, and how being present connects to their goals, relationship, and future. On the screen, you will see some of our why I show up winners across the district. For elementary, first place we have Katie Richardson from Northwest Hornet Elementary School. Second place, Heidi Ramirez, North Hornet Primary

094School, and third place Ayana Duke from Coats Elementary School. For middle school, we have first place Zachary Phillips from Coats Irwin Middle School. Second place, Lily Martin, Hornet Central Middle School, third place Kylie Barfield from Dum Middle School. And for our high school winners, first place Haley um Kamachio, I hope I'm saying that right, at Harness Central Early College Dun campus. Second place Ava Topping, Hornet Central Early College, Ben Haven campus. And third place goes to Ashley Van Hook and Ryan Sullivan, both um 11th and 10th graders at Western Hornet High School. National Bullying Prevention and Learning Disabilities Month is in October. Um this month, Hornet County Schools is reinforcing our commitment to safe, inclusive learning environments where every student is known, valued, and supported. Tonight, you will see that our board and cabinet members

095are wearing blue to stand up against bullying. Blue and orange combination is the color there. and in support of our students with learning disabilities. And that, my friends, is the blue and silver you may see or gray. Thanks. So, National Principles Month is also in October, and we are excited to recognize and celebrate the outstanding leadership that our principles provide every day in HCS. To highlight their hard work and dedication, we are featuring a daily principal spotlight on our district social media channels throughout the month. So, um, please check that out, leave a positive comment, and show gratitude and thanks to our principles who lead our schools every day. Happy National Custodian Appreciation Day, which was celebrated October 2nd. We celebrate our hardworking custodians who keep our schools and facilities clean. From classrooms to hallways,

096gymnasiums to offices, and everywhere in between, our custodians do it all. As you see on the pictures here, they're not just cleaning hallways, they are outside and all around. Congratulations to Rebecca Schaefer, um, recipient of this year's excellent and support services award. Rebecca has gone above and beyond in her role and was recognized by her department this year, demonstrating hard work, dedication, and care for our schools each and every day. Her outstanding service makes a difference to our student, staff, and community. So join me in celebrating Rebecca Schaefer and all of our well-deserved custodians across the district. The Carolina's Association of Collegiate Registars and Administration officers college fair. As you just heard, Mr. White talked about how excited we were about the job fair held on Tuesday. And I'm only showing this video to show

097you the attendance that came out for our high schoolers. Um, and it was wonderful. Um, this was held September 30th and it was a wonderful opportunities for students and families to connect with college representatives. I'm seeing a SRO in there with his children. I'm seeing one of our principles in there with her child. So, it was just a wonderful evening. In addition to this, we also offered a session for financial aid tips and college application writing tips. Honoring Deputy Johnson, the NC Homebuilders Association Charitable Charitable Foundation and New Home, Inc. hosted a special groundbreaking ceremony. This ceremony offer honored the late Hornet County Deputy Sheriff Chris Johnson, who served our community as a school resource officer at Hornet at Highland Middle School. In the generous act of kindness, the home being built for Deputy Johnson's

098family is a 100% charitable donation made possible through the Builder Honor First Responders Program. Special thanks to Hornet Central High School, JOTC, led by Lieutenant Colonel Maurice McDougall, and the Hornet Central High School marching band directed by Mr. Ryan Godwin for posting the colors and playing the national anthem. Look at that beautiful home, you guys. It was just a a honor to be there and to see his family be gifted that. Congratulations to our HCAOP office professional of the year, Tracy Johnson. You'll see in a minute. All right. Tracy serves as a payroll manager for Horny County Schools where she leads with integrity, professionalism, and dedication. She has streamlined payroll operations across the district, ensuring accuracy and timeliness while providing support and training to her team and schools. Known for her strong work ethic, Tracy

099goes above and beyond to help her colleagues and is always willing to lend a helping hand. So, shout out to Tracy. Today, you guys is National Instructural Coach Appreciation Day. So, we just went over those test scores and talking about the extra support. You guys, these ladies right here and gentlemen, they do it all. To our school and district instructional coaches, thank you for modeling great lessons, code teaching, analyzing data, and empowering educators within the moment support. Your partnership leads teachers growth and students grow thrive every day. You guys, it's my bedtime. Um, so make sure that you all thank one of our instructional coaches when you see them out um in the schools because they are in and out of our building every day. And vice chairman Abate, this concludes your favorite report, the

100public information report. And thank you for your time. >> Thank you very very much. Any questions or comments for Miss Frell? >> All right, seeing that we're looks like we're saving all of our discussion items for our work session. Uh we'll move on to the consent agenda. Do I hear a motion? >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Mr. Chair second. >> Motion's been made and properly second. Um all those in favor. Um chairman votes I. >> Gainy I for I. >> Motion carries. Onward to action items. Action item one. Mr. Matthews. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board. Uh, staff would like to recommend that we change the November the 10th optional teacher work day to a teller work teacher workday for certified and office classified

101staff. This is already a teacher workday uh that our teacher assistants do not work. So, nothing would change for them. There are a couple of reasons uh we'd like to make this recommendation. The first is that it would allow our folks to participate in our virtual Teach Hornet event uh without having to come into the building. Secondly, uh that Monday, uh since it falls between the weekend and Veterans Day on Tuesday, that would allow them to be able to participate remotely if they happen to be out of town to take advantage of that long weekend. Of course, they would still have the option to take the day off should they desire, but Miss Jennifer Bird and her team have some very exciting and informative sessions planned that we believe our folks will want to participate

102in. There. Therefore, I would recommend approval of the change from an optional teacher workday to an optional teller work teacher workday. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Matthews. I'll entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the calendar change as present. Second. >> Motion has been made and properly second. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none, chairman votes I. Cany >> Godfry. >> Motion carries. Action item two, review and consider approval of international teacher services through participate. Uh, Miss Thompson. >> Vice Chairman Abate, I recommend the approval of the international uh teacher services through participate 2526. >> And this is going to be the the same company that we're currently with. >> Yes, sir. And we're satisfied with the services we receive. >> We are grateful for the services we receive. Yes,

103sir. >> Uh I'll entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chairman, make a motion to approve the international teacher services participant 2526 initial term as presented. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and properly second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, chairman votes I. >> Gainy I >> motion carries. Action item three, review and consider approval of international teacher services through participate relocation loans. Miss Thompson, >> chairman of members of the board, I recommend the approval of the international services through participate relocation loans for the 2526 year. >> Same system we've been doing. Correct. Yes sir. >> Thank you. Is there a motion? >> I move that we approve the international teacher services through participate 25 through 26 initial term as presented. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly second. Is there any discussion? Hearing

104none. Chairman votes I. >> Gainy I. >> Motion carries. Action item four. review and consider approval of additional extension to Duke Energy tolling agreement. Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. Uh members of the board, this is an extension of agreement we have with Duke in regards to the Northwest Hornet pond retention pond that is in Duke Energy's easement. This uh gives us through middle of November to continue to work out a long-term solution. Essentially, this toll agreement states that we will not neither one of us will engage in legal action against the other while we sort out this longer term solution, which we do have uh plans being made for that pond to be moved out of their easement zone. >> Thank you, sir. Is there a motion? >> Mr. Chairman, I'll move that we approve the

105second amendment to the building agreement and to give the superintendent authority to approve and execute any future extensions. The total Have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> A motion has been made and properly second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. Chairman votes I. >> Gy I the eyes have it. Motion carries. Action item five. Review and consider approval of needs-based public school capital fund 2526 grant application. Uh Mr. Pearson again. >> Yes. This is the item that Miss Johnson pled you all about because the application deadline was last Friday. Um we wanted to kind of have a formal vote. Uh this is our simply our application uh to the needsbased lottery grant funding. Uh we did apply this funding for uh CT high school. The construction of that would be completely

106dependent upon this funding. Uh so we have submitting our application and then we then we hurry up and wait. I believe this is an application that was also approved by our commissioners last week if I'm not mistaken. >> Yes, that is correct. Yeah, they the commissioners and us had to approve it to submit that. >> All right. We approve the needs base public school capital fund 2025 through 26 grant application as presented. >> Second. >> Motion has been made and properly second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Chairman votes I. >> Gany, >> God. >> Hearing. No. No votes. The motion carries. Action item six. Review and consider approval of SFFLA Architects PA as the design services consultant for the new Buoys Creek Elementary School and Highland High School. Mr. Pearson. >> So, this is

107our next two schools up regardless of grant funding. Uh, these are the two that have made priority uh across our district. Highland High School uh and Buoys Creek Elementary School. This is for approval of architecture services to begin designing those uh buildings so that we can then begin to get an estimate of cost on those buildings to then go to the commissioners for funding of those buildings. So, this is kind of the starting of that construction process for those two schools. >> Thank you, sir. Do I hear a motion? >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the uh SFL Plus A Architects PA as a design services consultant for the new B Creek Elementary School and Highland High School as presented. >> Second. >> A motion has been made and properly second. Is there

108any further discussion? I'll just add that uh we've been very happy with SFLA as our architects of record um for our previous projects and I believe um Mr. Matthews can attest to that having uh worked with them on numerous occasions throughout the years and um we appreciate our co um their commitment and the cooperation with us. Um is there any further discussion hearing? None. Chairman votes I. >> Kane I hear no votes. The motion carries. I'll entertain a motion for close session. Mr. Chairman, make a motion to go into close session pursuant to general statute 143-318 pointed 11, A1, A3, and A6 to prevent the disclosure of confidential personnel files under GS 115 C-321 to consider matters relating to initial employment of individual employee and to consult with the board's attorney in order to preserve

109the attorney client privilege. Second. >> A motion has been made and properly second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Chairman votes I. >> Gay. I >> hearing no votes. We're now in close session. After a vote in close session, we have returned to open session. Is there any further business before this board? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. >> Motion to adjourn. Motion second. >> Motion was made and properly second. All those in favor say I. Eyes have it.