001time. I'd like to ask if we have any amendments to the agenda. I do have one amendment. Um I'd like to add the McKenna Vento application for the 2026 2029 cycle. Are there any other amendments? Uh Dr. Williams, >> I know it was mentioned about just having a discussion around the um the inclement weather days. um not necessarily the board approving anything, but just having a chat. I know uh Miss Buck has some numbers she wanted to share. So, I was hoping that the board would allow um for that discussion to happen. All right. And at this time, thank you, Dr. Williams. At this time, um there's been changes and a request for approval of the edited meeting agenda. I'd like to receive a motion for approval for the edited meeting agenda. >> I make
002a motion that we approve the agenda um with the ed edits that have been asked. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Sers. Um I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> And I'm sorry I I should have covered this before. when we make motions now that we're all remote. Um please state your name before stating the motion and then obviously when we do roll call vote uh you'll need uh Dr. Dao you'll go around and ask each board member how they vote. I apologize for not covering that earlier. >> Thank you, Attorney Hunt. That motion was made by Miss Sers. Miss Sellers, would you like to restate your motion? >> Yes. This is Wendy Sellers and I make a motion that we approve the agenda with the edits that have
003been um requested. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Malcolm Rich Bur second that motion. >> At this time, we'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Dayton. >> We'll come back to Mrs. Dayton. Mr. Taylor, >> yes. >> Mr. Richberg, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sellers, >> yes. >> And I, Dr. Dao, also vote yes. Mrs. Dayton. That motion carries. Next on our agenda is special recognitions. Mrs. Jennifer Buck. Good afternoon board. We wanted to make you aware of a few special things this happening this month. We are excited that February is career and technical education month and our um our CTE director Diane Roberts and uh Miss Ingram at the high school have got some really great activities planned for students and staff all month long. We also wanted to say
004a big shout out to our school counselors. February 2nd through the 6th is also school counselor week and we know that they um offer invaluable services to our students. Next week, February 9th through the 13th, is school bus driver appreciation week. The month of February is love the bus month. So, we want to say a big thank you to our bus drivers. February 15th is also school uh resource officers day and we want to thank our SRO's, Officer Belle and Officer Gerald for their service to our students and our staff every day. February is also, of course, Black History Month, commemorating a 100red years. And that concludes our special recognitions for the month. Thank you very much, Mrs. Buck. Next on our agenda is our public forum. Mrs. Bug, do we have anyone signed up
005at this time? >> We did not have any uh sign up for public forum tonight. Thank you. Next then on our agenda is our superintendent update. Dr. Williams. >> Thank you Dr. Dao. Thank you board members. Um so just good evening everyone. Just happy to be a part of the living on today. Excited about the opportunity. Um especially with all the cold weather. It's it's good to see everyone. Um hopefully everybody is safe as warm. I'm going to be very brief tonight because I know we have some other things on the agenda that we really need to get to. I just want to say a thank you to um leaders and staff um for their hard work on last Friday. Um I I it was a 2:00 in the morning idea to really push out
006the the mindset of trying to get our our students fed along with the packets. And um that morning I met with our staff and our staff jumped right in. I want a a super um thank you to Miss Palmer and Miss Amy who really just uh stepped up to make sure that the things that needed to happen. We got some testimonies from our families. Emails that came in saying thank you. We fed over 425 students on Friday. Um I had another superintendent call me and say we got to get our vans out in the community community. That's big. Um and so um it was very important um to make sure that happened along with making sure the work got out there. So, I just want to say thank you to the leaders. Um, a job
007well done. That hard work really matters. Um, and we appreciate all the work you've done. Um, as we um move into optional teacher work day tomorrow, we will be feeding on tomorrow. A message will be going out. Um, and so at ths at at the high school and at TPS, we will be feeding again. Um, so we'll have our doors open so that our families can come out as need um to make sure if students need to be fed, they can be fed. Um, that's all I have. Dr. Dao, back in your hands. Thank you so much, Dr. Williams. Next on our agenda are updates andformational items. 9.1 academic services, Mrs. Carmen Conception. Good evening, Dr. Dell. Um, members of the board and Superintendent Williams. Today I'm going to provide you with an update on
008the EOCC testing results, instructional focus areas and supports that we are doing and the dual language immersion program. So to begin with um I do want to inform you and make you aware that before we review these EOCC results I want to clarify that they are preliminary fall EOCC results um are composed of only students who completed the courses during the first semester. Therefore, students enrolled in those same courses during the spring semester will test in June and then all of those results are calculated together to come up with our final results in June. And so, as a result, these um performance levels might shift. In fact, they will shift um depending on the composition of those spring semester classes. So, as you can see here, these are our preliminary results. In biology we uh
009I won't read you the whole table but we have 25% proficient and we have a 97% um participation rate. Um in English 15% we have 98 and in um NC math 3 we have 65. So, I do want to note as well that during um because of EOCC testing and the way that it is, English two scores are always backed up because they have um different components to score. So, DPI has allowed for schools to have a 4-day retesting window after receiving the complete score file. So, because results were still pending when all of this weather came up, um we have not reached those four days. So um students will retest upon return on that second day upon their return. So these these results are preliminary without retesting um for English 2. Biology and math
0103 are with retesting included for this fall semester. So biology these last three years um we wanted to give you an overview of what it looked like. And I do want to note that biology standards were revised during the 2425 school year. So because of that revision that we can't compare them to the 23 24 results because they're different um standards and expectations. So we've only given you two years um to look at there. So as you can see we are showing an increase in proficiency. I do also want to note of particular importance how much better that fall participation rate is. Um our high school worked really really hard with student services in order to ensure that our students were coming in to get tested and we made sure to have makeups. So we
011reached that um 95% threshold this year and actually surpassed it by two. So that's a a a significant increase from the 84% that we had last year. Here we show our English two results and it's also an increase in the participation rate as you can see again these these results do not um include our retest results from English um and then these are our math three results as you can see um we continue to improve in our math 3 results and we did hit 95% um proficiency as well Um the this 65 is actually higher than um where we ended up last year. Um only 16% were projected to pass and as you can see 65% um passed. So that was very significant. Of course we do have to combine these with our spring results.
012So that number can go up or down um depending on those results. Okay. for mid-year diagnostic data. Due to the weather and everything, we still um had those windows open for the K5 um and K8 data for MClass for Dibbles and for I Ready reading and math. So that will be forthcoming and will be shared with the board in a future update. So instructional supports um and focus as we respond to the data that we have so far. Um we can go on to the next slide, Miss Buck. Thank you. As we respond to the data specifically at the high school because that's where we have um these results. I do want to note that um uh the high school is implementing several targeted strategies and these include a universal screening with MAP for all
013of the EOCC courses. We revised the pacing guides um specifically in biology um so that we can increase those results and regular standardbased assessments and very intentional data dives. We are continuing to do um what we have put in place at a deeper level. Um class sizes have been reduced in math one. uh RISE implementation is underway and we will be adjusting that somewhat for it to be more effective and targeted tutoring will begin on February 9th to support those students most in need. Um for all schools in all schools we have intervention blocks um during the day and this is besides the small group instruction that happens during their core language arts block or their core math block. Besides that, there is an extra intervention time in the schedule for each school um that
014they where they have targeted uh support for students tutoring during the day. Besides the tutoring during the day, there is also after school um tutoring that has been scheduled using title one funds as well as some Saturday for select schools. Small group instruction is um based on formative data and targeted gaps and occurs during um core instruction and that intervention block. Additionally um of note is that we have MCL support in all four schools now which is um a really great improvement. In um Thomasville Primary we have support in first and third grades. In Liberty, we have support in fourth and fifth grades for math and ELA. For Thomasville um middle, we have sixth and eighth grade ELA MCL. And for Thomasville High School, we have math and biology m um MCL support with one
015one MCL as well as tiered coaching. We continue to do um tiered coaching with the get better faster scope and sequence. And those um coaching cycles are differentiated based on teacher needs. Our curriculum specialists are supporting all the schools through um PLC's, coaching, MCL's, data meetings. They attend all of those data dives to help um with input and any support needed and they are also providing differentiated professional development for our schools. What questions can I answer for you in regards to those two um updates? >> Thank you. Thus far, Miss Karma Conception, I'd like to uh go around the the table to uh ask each of my board members if they have any questions. Um at this time, Miss Day Stton, do you have any questions? Moving along, Mr. Taylor, >> I do have a
016question. Dr. D, just to help you out, if if everyone would just raise their uh virtual hand, that would help you out a lot. I'll have my hand raised if you see it. >> Thank you. Um I'm looking at multiple screens. Miss Buck, if you could let me know if someone's hand is raised. Um if I by chance miss that, I would appreciate it. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Taylor, you can proceed with your questions. >> Uh, just for documentation purposes, I'm going to state my name. Jacquz, board member. Uh, Miss Conception, thank you for presenting. Um, I do have a question. So, you presented the preliminary data from the EOCC for the students at the high school. So could you walk us through what the 25% uh prof proficiency um means and what
017the 97 participation rate mean for those that don't understand what the data piece is. That's for the biology and then for 15% proficiency for English 2 and then the 98% uh participation. >> Okay. So um uh the percent proficient means those students that are scoring at or above grade level. Um we also have to focus on growth. This year the state has allowed that retesting will include not only proficiency but growth of each student. So um as we uh look at data we're looking at two things how what the percent proficient is and then those results that lag unfortunately are the ones um of growth. But we are um continuing to focus hyperfocus on that. The participation rate means that um of a 100% of the students that needed to take the test that were
018enrolled in biology, for example, um 95% of them or 97% this year are the ones that took the test. Sometimes if they're absent, if uh if they haven't if they have to make up the test, sometimes it's hard to get them back in to to get them within the window to retest. As you can see, last school year it was 84% and that counts against us. Anything that we don't um reach 95%. Whatever is between that will count as not proficient. So the fact that we reach 97% is very significant. It'll help with the um with the end results. >> Thank you. And then I know I asked this before, what does the push in um model look like at the elementary level for our students that are receiving um the tutoring? Um I know
019that the last time no one could explain what the pushin model look like um for our students. >> So the pushin model at uh at TPS is called Bulldog Blitz and they have it at certain they have an intervention time where all um hands are on deck. For example, when a particular grade level is getting their tutoring intervention block, then the ESL teacher goes in there, the MCL teacher goes in there. They just um all go in and have groups assigned to them based on the skills and the gaps that they're missing. So, it is all pushing at um Liberty Drive. That time is called climb time and the same thing happens as well. there is a designated time for that intervention that is aside from core instruction small group and again all hands are
020on deck MCL's um support teachers support staff RAS reach associates are all in there um doing skills groups and u targeted instruction based on data >> okay and then my last question do we um see a potential gain in our um data when it comes to testing the testing. >> So we we definitely see um I mean even where we ended at the end of the year with both biology and math 3 were higher than what we ended at at the end of the year. Of course this has um we have to keep this in mind that for example whatever cohorts of of students tested or took the course this um semester will be different from the one. So there are I I know um a couple of cohorts of AIG students and honors students
021that are going to take in the second semester for English too. And so that can vary the scores. So it's hard to tell right now. Um as I shared both biology biology at at last year ended at 14.5 as you can see from that table or actually 13 is what it says and so it's 12 points higher. And then um math 3 is significantly higher um as it ended at um actually it ended a little bit higher than that 32%. That was for fall that was just for fall but at the end of the year um the EO EOG math 3 I mean EOCC math 3 was at about 56. So we're trending to to go up um several points. >> Thank you. That's all the questions I hear. >> Okay, >> Mr. Richberg, do
022you have any questions? >> No questions at this time. >> Mrs. Sellers, do you have any questions? >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Dr. Dao. Um, so I wanted a little bit more clarity on the intervention block, but I heard you speaking of the pushin. So, is that the same thing? Is that similar? Can you just give me a little bit more clarity about the intervention block? So um for example for um Thomasville Primary I'll share with you that during the intervention block they share students. So a first grade teachers there might be students there might be some teachers that are stronger with some skills or or some group of children. So they'll share those kids and they will um rotate to where then they will be some will be working with um a different teacher
023that's not their um classroom teacher but that can specifically grow them in the area that they are um weakest in. So um the students are still with their first grade teachers in some instances at Liberty Drive. it's with their classroom teacher, but um people come in that support. The reach associates come in to support, the ESL teacher comes in to support, and the MCL comes in to support as well, which means that they're each going to have a small group. So, instruction is um is at a a a lower ratio. So, that's really good for kids and they're actually getting exactly what it is that our data is telling them that their gap is on. Does that answer your question? >> Yes, ma'am. Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> And for me, I want
024to thank you very much uh Miss Conception because I will just explaining it in the beginning um and looking at the data and the timing, it clearly was not um communicating the full population of our enrolled students. So that's where, you know, my concerns were coming from. And so I will say with the growth in biology and math, um I and with all the interventions that's going on, I certainly would love uh and don't have to tell you all this, but to see that same type going into English because although we're looking for uh these test results, English right now looks like a significant decline. Um, but I am thankful that it doesn't truly um, look at performance shifts for our students just yet. So, still too early. And then also, um, I wanted to
025just make certain that I'm clear. I'm I'm clear on when we're looking when we're looking at proficiency and you're saying we're expecting to see some increase uh, based off of the interventions. When should we expect to get this? Would it be u early May? Like what time frame should we because you said you'll report back. So I just wanted to get an idea. Would that be next month? Would that be the following month? >> So it depends on what data you're speaking of. The midyear data that includes those diagnostics and screenings for um K8, that will be at next month's meeting if um if Dr. Williams is okay with that. And so that will be at next week's meetings. the final results of the EOG. Unfortunately, that's lagging and it won't be until like September
026or October of the next year because growth takes a long time to calculate. So, we're always lagging on that, but but we keep an eye on it with our comprehensive assessment plan and our diagnostic screeners. >> Thank you very much. I have no further questions. I do want to go back to Miss Stton and maybe I she's on the call. Um, I want to make certain I see her. All right, moving on. >> Dr. Dao, I I think she is listed as an attendee as opposed to a panelist. >> And the panelists are those that have the ability to to talk. So, I see her as an attendee as opposed to a panelist. Thank you very much, Attorney Hunt. >> Thank you, Attorney Hunt for catching that. I have just promoted her back to panelist.
027Miss Stton, can we >> We can see you now back in the panelist screen. Can you speak >> Miss >> I'm back. It kicked me out. Yes. >> Good evening, Miss >> Thank you so much, Miss Dayton. We're at uh 9.1 academic services and wanted to give you the floor to see if you have any questions for Miss Conception regarding the academic update. >> I had a concern about English too, but the question was answered by Mr. T. >> I can also give a little bit more context for English 2. um in English too actually the projection the percent proficient in Ebos they give us a projection of of who they think will um be proficient and in this cohort of students that just took English too it was actually less that were projected to
028be proficient it was 10.7 so that tells you a little bit about the makeup of those students the honor students were not in that group so we're actually performing higher than what the EVOS projection is asking so just wanted to Make a note of that as well that that although English 2 is looking low, it actually is higher than what what was projected based on ELOS proficiency. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. So, um now I am uh eager to give you an update on our dual language immersion program and um I will um invite Miss Coons also to join us. But first I just want to give you a little overview of um the updates on it. So, we had a very successful launch August 2025 at Thomasville Primary. Um, we have one
029kindergarten DLI class in in this year 1 and out of the 20 students that enrolled for it. Um, only one student withdrew, which that is very um significant for our first year because parents tend to be scared. My child is not learning any English and so only one student withdrew. But since we had a weight list of several students, we were able to pull in a student from our weight list. So we've retained that enrollment of 20 out of 20 students in our first year. So that is definitely something to celebrate and we are looking forward to the addition of our first grade class in 2627. So I will invite um Miss Coun to uh take the floor and tell you all about our program so far. >> Thank you Miss Conpsion. Good evening, members
030of the board. Good evening, everyone. I'm grateful to be able to uh have a chance to speak to you tonight about our new dual language immersion program. Just a refresher, dual language immersion is a model where students learn academic content both in English and in Spanish. And the goal is for students to develop strong literacy and academic skills while becoming bilingual and biliterate over time. In this first year, we're already seeing encouraging indicators of growth. Students are showing strong beginning of the year to middle of the year progress in Spanish foundational literacy and numeracy. We've seen notable gains in early decoding, word reading, and counting skills. And then beyond academics, students are confident, highly engaged in class, collaborative, and the classroom culture when you go into the room is joyful and hands-on and languagerich. Here
031are some quotes that reflect what we're seeing daily in the classroom. Students who are excited about learning and families who are grateful for the opportunity that the program provides. The parent feedback has been very positive um especially in how quickly students are picking up on Spanish and um how much they understand and are able to recognize Spanish words and use the words that they're learning. So our next steps um focus on sustainability and growth. Um, this includes continued student recruitment, which we'll be focusing on in this spring semester through district communication within the community. Um, as Miss Conpsion said, we'll be adding on a first grade classroom, a first grade DLI teacher. We'll be increasing our visibility through information sessions, offering classroom tours for families to to get a little sneak peek about what's going
032on in the classroom, and family engagement events. Um, this first year has been about establishing a very strong foundation and what we're seeing aligns with what is to be expected in year one of a dual language immersion program. And we're really excited about continuing this work and uh we look forward to adding on first grade next year. And at this time, I'll turn it back over to Miss Conception. Thank you. >> Um, again, I want to take an opportunity to thank Miss Coons and Miss Talent for being DLI champions. They have done a great job of implementation this first year and of really um wanting to understand the program. What questions can I answer for the board? >> Thank you. I'll go around to each board member. Miss Day Stton, do you have any questions?
033>> Are there opportunities for parent engagement and the board to come and observe a session? Um, yes, we would love for you to come and and um witness the magic that Miss Archila has in her classroom. It really is a pleasure to um visit that classroom. Um, we also want to include some um student showcases when we're doing our recruitment nights. Last year, we had some parent uh pre um prekinder um invitations as we invited our our incoming kindergarten uh students to hear about the program and their parents. But this year, we're going to be able to have some parent ambassadors there and as well showcase some of what our students are doing in Spanish. Um, I would love to extend an invitation to the board as those events come up. >> Okay. Thank you,
034>> Mr. Taylor. >> No questions for me, >> Mr. Richberg. >> I don't have a question, but I would like to say thank you for um this update. this is a program that is needed and um we want to continue to you know keep our students engaged so that with these programs that they can sell in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you >> Mrs. Sellers. >> Thank you Dr. Da. Um I don't have a a particular question um but I just wanted to know where do we find the dual language immersion teachers? Is is that a position that we already have in our schools or is that something that we have to recruit for? And if we have to recruit for it, how difficult is it to find uh teachers with those l licenses?
035>> So, usually it's not very um it's not very easy. It's actually difficult. But um fortunately we have a network of of teachers that actually right now I have three candidates that are interested in our position for next year and that just happens to be from the DLI programs um that I've known of um and by word of mouth. So right now we're we're in a good place with candidates. Um we haven't had to uh um uh really worry so much about that. And Miss Archila is um an experienced DLI teacher that uh just heard about the program that we were starting last year and reached out. So, she has been an excellent addition. And the three candidates that are on um are actually interested in this in this incoming year are also experienced DLI
036teachers. So, that's a win-win for sure. >> Okay. Thank you. And then for me um I wanted to know how many students can our program actually what's the capacity that we have for our program. >> So for each classroom it would be about between 20 um 19 and 21 students I would say. So this year we had our class with um 20 students. So those 20 students will go up into the first grade. So that already fills our first grade class. And now the um incoming kindergarteners, we'd have to build another class. And so that's where the interest comes in. They get on a list. It's first come first serve. And then once the class fills up, then we have a wait list like we did this year, which was very um helpful when one
037student dropped out. And then my last question would be from a reporting standpoint to the state uh with the subgroups participation who's who's actually um at our district level um or if it's a school level managing that and making sure we stay compliant. C >> can you clarify your question? I'm I'm not sure exactly what it is that that you're >> with the dual language and immersion program. what information do we have to report at the state annually um specific to maybe student enrollment uh subgroups participation the models that we're using etc. Oh, so we go into um a dual language immersion um database. So we're listed on there at the DPI site already as having a dual language program. Um as far as the enrollment and the subgroups and all of that, they fall
038into there. There's not a specific DLI subgroup. They just fall into whatever subgroup they belong to, whether they're African-American, Hispanic, white, um or whether they're EC. That that just falls normal. There's no specific DLI group. Okay. And then I think that well I wondered if and you don't have to answer this but I just wonder with us bringing in teachers that might be on visas um if that's even an option that may be of interest. Um you know if that's something that our district is looking at trying to support to fill those DI uh slots that we have available. Um so I'm not sure how we are marketing um or trying to recruit. I guess that's the better way of stating that, trying to recruit those teachers. >> Uh uh yes. And so I'm working
039with our finance department and our HR department on that. Right now um the teachers that we have that are candidates are actually still here in the United States but would be um interested in sponsorship. So that's something that we're looking at. >> Dr. D. Mr. Taylor has his hand raised. >> Thank you so much, Mrs. Bug. Mr. Taylor. >> Uh, yes. I just want to go back to your statement about the dual um, language teachers. Be mindful that the state is changing that requirement for some of the state. So, please look into that. I can be able to send you some information on that. Um, they are um, nailing down on us sponsoring teachers with visas. >> Okay. I'll be sure to to follow up on that. Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Concept,
040Mrs. Conception. Next on our agenda, 9.2, our human resources update, Dr. Kelly Hails. >> Good evening, Dr. Dao, board members, and Dr. Williams. We're excited to provide an update for you this evening. We'll share with you our vacancies um as of January 29th and we'll also describe the HR and school efforts in the areas of recruitment, retention um and our culture of belonging. All of our work supports priority um strategic plan, priority goal one, but it also has an influence within our other strategic plan areas. We are very excited to share with you that we have two schools that have zero vacancies. That is TPS and Liberty Drive. They have all certified and classified positions filled. And also we've had some progress in our middle school and our high school. Um there are only two
041vacancies at the middle school and three vacancies at the high school. Um so a focus on retention from our schools. We can tell the efforts are in place um because we do not see and are not experiencing a lot of vacancies um at this time and we will share with you um some of our um strategies that we are using to recruit our licensed teachers. Um, as we've shared before, networking with our alumni, with our current TCS employees is a wonderful network that we use. Many of our incoming employees, and even candidates have said they've been referred by someone who works in Thomasville or for other people, they want to come back to Thomasville because they went to school here. So, that is a huge area in which we um try to capitalize. Another piece
042that has changed I shared with you earlier is that we have partnered with a company to provide some supplemental recruiting support specifically for our middle school and high school. Our vacancies are in our hearts of staff areas which is math and science and and we have vacancy in ELA um as well at the middle school. But we are excited with this partnership because we have been um working with them for a little over two weeks. We received weekly updates um from them. Um Miss Everett and I met with them last Friday. They had um three to four candidates that they had already identified. We worked with them in terms of answering some questions specifically lensure um and they have already moved one candidate on and our principal will be um interviewing very soon. So we're
043excited with the progress of this supplemental support. their reach is a little larger than ours. Um and so we are hopeful that at next meeting we will be able um to bring forward some recommendations to you. We also have our recruiting schedule. Um we will be visiting um the institutes of higher ed that you see. Um we will also be having another hire event. We had one last year. Um we provided invites um to those who we may have met at a career fair or a hiring fair. Um, it was also publicized, so we appreciate the media outlets promoting our event. Um, it's a smaller event. We're also able to give some one-on-one support when it comes to lensure. Um, the hiring event will also be for other positions we have available. Um, all of
044our departments are there with representation and so we're excited for another successful event in May. So, our recruiting season has kicked off next week. Um, we're excited to to to meet individuals who'd like to join us in Thomasville. So, what we would like to share here is the numbers we have as individuals are on a pathway to a continuing professional license. Um, we've spoken before about how we have a lot of individuals who are on an alternative license. And so this gives an overview of where um our teachers um fall within areas um of a pathway. So the first one is permit to teach. This is actually not a teaching license. This is simply um DPI allowing us when we requested as a school district to say we have a candidate has a bachelor's degree.
045We we'd like them to be able to teach. it is only good for for one year. Another area is our emergency license. This is issued by DPI due to staffing shortages and we've shared with um you applicant polls. We know the statewide and national data and so this is an area that we we use occasionally um and it allows us to have again a candidate that has the content background to be able to to join us. And then they must enroll in an educator prep program next. And that brings them to a residency license. And a residency license is a one-year license. And it is renewable for up to three years. And during this time, they have to be enrolled in that educator prep program or EP. You may hear it um referenced. So when
046you look across those three numbers, you see that we do have a large amount within their residency license. So they're taking classes, they're meeting their requirements. And then we also have um permit to teach an emergency. The provisional license, this is when an individual already holds a continuing professional license and they are adding on an area. It could be because they have an interest to teach another subject area. It may be in the event that um a principal may ask a teacher are they interested in teaching another subject and if so we'll have to add on their license. Um they do have um some time to to pass their tests. Um but that is another type of license. And then our initial professional license, those are for individuals who h are in the process of
047completing um their residency license or they came directly from a university meeting all those requirements. It is their first license. Um, Miss Everard and I have been meeting with our beginning teachers and anybody on an alternative license both last week and this week, um, including today. And we are really happy to to say we have several of our teachers that are they're finishing their requirements under their per their residency license and they will be applying for their initial professional license um, in the spring. And so we'll begin to increase our numbers in that area. We do think this paints a picture of about 115 teachers in the district in all content areas um with our numbers of almost 50 in a um alternative pathway. But that's to give some context. And so we are absolutely
048working on um recruiting um those who already have a continuing professional license or maybe their initial professional license. We've talked about strengthening the retention um of our staff. I've shared with you that we are having our meetings with beginning teachers. Um we are also administering our middle of the year survey to our beginning teachers and mentors again to inform our programmatic and fiscal planning um for the remainder of this year and even next year as we've started that work. Um as well we have also administered our second quarter positive p um perspectives. It's our climate and culture survey. We extended it because of the weather and so we are just starting to look at that data for us to have a comparison to first quarter um and also sets of question that give us insight
049including we call them stay questions. what are factors um that people consider in staying with us in Thomasville? If we know that information, we know what to do more of, what to continue, and then also what to consider as we move through the year and as we enter recruitment. We're also holding meetings with principles, reviewing schedules. Miss Conception spoke about this in the high school, some movement of some classes to reduce class size. to our principles um and Miss Conception and HR have worked to make adjustments or pivots as we move into second semester to support our students. Our staff advisory committee um has met twice this year. So once since our last update definitely um building our culture of belonging and growth and we also will begin our second semester um HR mobile HR
050um this month once we're back in our buildings and we can modify our schedule. We'll do that um to go where our staff members are and we'll get to every department um to finish out the school year in the spring. And lastly, we hosted our second quarter positive pause um right after winter break. Um it was cold um but it was a nice welcome back to our staff members. um it was right when we got back from break the first two weeks and so a lot of appreciation um from staff members um that their work is recognized and so those events are always fun for us in HR um and just seeing individuals and letting them know all the hard work that they are doing is appreciated. So that rounds out our update for this
051quarter. Are there any questions that I can answer? We will go around the table uh go around to each board member. Miss Stton. Yes. If you go back to the permit to teach the one year, what happens after one year? Do um those candidates start taking classes and apply for a teaching license? >> Absolutely. that's where we encourage their next step to be is to enroll in an educator prep program and apply for their residency license. Um and so yes, that's the direction we're going. Um that again that emergency license step that is really a last kind of a last resort if it in in in those circumstances. So we absolutely support them moving into their residency license. So in our meetings we share with them what universities in the state um they can enroll.
052We talk to them about what models are used. Some are online, some are in person um and then connect them with those institutes of higher ed to help them on those next steps. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Taylor. >> I do. Thank you, Dr. Hills. Um I you answered my question. You must have been in my notes. Uh I was my question was for you to explain like each uh license and what does it mean for um a teacher in our district. Um but I do have a question. Um what does support look like when you all go out to the schools because I'm hearing different things from different staff members when you all are going out into the schools. Um, and I can also follow up with you offline um, what that looks
053like. But can you please um, elaborate to the group what does that support look like when you all you and Miss Everett I shouldn't say you all you and Miss Everett because I know you you all's name. What does that support look like when you all are in the schools um, supporting educators? Just you know walk me through what that look like because I'm hearing otherwise. >> Certainly. I appreciate the opportunity to to share some of what we do. If it's mobile HR, we work with the principal to schedule a time. Um, if we're meeting with teachers, um, and it's really, if you think about kind of open um, office hours, there's not necessarily a set agenda. We are there to answer any questions that staff members may have. Um, we will also, anytime we're
054at a school, and as you know, I do federal programs as well. So, if I'm at a school for um a federal programs meeting, I'm still going to visit um not to interrupt instruction, but to stop by, even if it's to wave um at one of our be beginning teachers um so that they know somebody is there. Um we will also meet um upon request. So, we have had teachers um to reach out and to just say, "Do you have any time available? Want to share with you my experience?" Um and we give them the choice. they can come to us or we can come to them. I will say the support that's provided or the purpose of our visits at schools um are are different based on need and our approaches could also be
055differentiated. So we are able to to get to know our staff members and to know how is best to um work with them. We will also I would say information liaison maybe a lot of times we will get questions that aren't directly related to HR but we're able to connect employees to a department where they may need me may need support anything from a mention of a curriculum support then I share that information with Miss Conception it may be something in the finance and so we'll refer um and connect individuals that way. >> Thank you. And then when will we be launching the next um I call it a culture amp. That's what I'm used to calling it um for our staff. I know we are in the spring semester, but when will we when
056will we launch that survey for our stu uh our teachers? And also I had a question um adding up to the survey. Do our students participate in a survey as well um when their culture experience in our district? >> Certainly appreciate the questions. The first one is we just concluded our second quarter survey. So we will administer our third quarter at the end of third quarter. Um so we we plot out that looking at the calendar and that's when the next administration will be. Um we have not included students within the climate and culture. I think that's something that that we can absolutely discuss to ensure that there are ways that we do capture student voices. I think that is something that Miss uh Concept showing you and the administrators, the principles of the building
057should look into that. Um we do want to hear how our students are feeling throughout the school year because their voices are um their voice voices matter as well. Um we in the business for children, not adults. Um although we do appreciate our adults, but we are in the business for children. So, I would love for us to hear their feedback and how they have been serviced and been educated throughout their um time in our school district. And then my last question, are we still offering um incentives um once our educators um pass their practice or edpa? >> Yes, thank you for for asking about that. um we are able this year to continue the reimbursement for um our beginning teachers um or who are on an alternative license that still have testing requirements including
058FTPA. So upon sus successful completion of that required test um they'll submit their receipt their their test scores and then we work with finance to be able to reimburse them. Um so thank you for asking that question. Um and also in terms of testing um it it is a support for those that you see re on our lensure pathways is it is an internal um requirement that we do ask our educators to test by April of each year. There are some reasons behind that. One being is keeping people on track. Um we have had this situations where individuals will wait until the end of their three years to take their tests. Um and sometimes the outcome is not what they would like it to be for lots of different reasons including test taking and anxiety
059things like that. And so every time we meet with beginning teachers like we have been in our individual meetings um we we talk with to them remind them about that deadline and ask them when will you be taking when will you be um signing up for that test and we have the incentive when you pass we'll be able to reimburse you for those fees. And then I want to go back to the slide uh where you had the lensure path pathway. Um the permit to teach I see the number is 12 and I know the state only all lot one year for that. Um out of that 12 that number of 12 how many um do you foresee going into a preparation program and how are we steering them into staying so that they can
060uh get that BTA on their um their experience? >> Absolutely. I do think it is the individual meetings we're having with them. We did some group meetings to go over information about lensure and then the followup was individual meetings with um pardon me individual meetings with each teacher. Um and many of the teachers are in unique situations and so we we go over exactly what tests um we send them links as followup so they know that they're going to take the right test. Um, and then we also share with them, we will touch base with them. So, we've had a couple to say, "I'm I'm registered. I'm going to take the exam on this day." Um, we ask them to to keep us up to date. Um, we also share with them if things don't
061go according to plan, please let us know so that we can adjust. But we do keep almost like a running record um of where each teacher is within this pathway of making progress to eventually get their initial professional license. When you say a couple, are you saying two or more than two? >> It is our desire that everybody who has a permit to teach this year moves to an EP or in on a residency license. Um, that is what we talk about with them. I will say nobody is coming to mind in this moment, but I don't have all my notes with me to say here is someone we don't think that's going to move that direction. Um, and so I think we will have a better idea as we move into the spring. Um,
062and looking to see um when those residency license forms have to be signed by the Institute of Higher Ed than we know definitively. Um, so it is it is our hope and our expectation that all who have a permit to teach will move to a residency license. >> So take an educated guess at the number of out of the 12. What do you foresee? >> I will honestly say this. I don't have those numbers in front of me. I think it's something that Miss Everett and I can go back and give an educated guess based on the meetings we have and and follow up. >> Okay. Can you please do that for me, please? >> Certainly. >> Thank you. No questions further. Mr. Richberg, I see Miss Stton's hand. Wanted to let you know. >>
063Oh, I do apologize. Excuse me. Um, I I've already called for Mr. Richberg. Can I just see if he has, please, Mr. Richberg? >> No questions at the time. >> Okay, I'll come back to you, Miss Stton. Miss Sers. >> No, I don't have any questions, Dr. D. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Mrs. Stton is a question about opportunities for coaching. Are there opportunities to for these candidates to have practice tests along the way before they take the actual uh test? >> Um yes, some of their EPS um build it within their programs. Um we actually learned today of supports supports that DDC offers. Um one of our beginning teachers shared this resource and asked us to share with others that are enrolled there where they're actually um they take a practice test. um it's
064analyzed and they're given feedback. Um we are also exploring um to continue some resources from last year to this year um where um beginning teachers can enroll. They will then have their um practice test as well and they go through questions even on why is an answer what it is similar to when we taught. It's not just the answer is B, it's why is the answer B. Um and so we actually have a meeting tomorrow with that vendor to see what other supports we can offer the teachers as they prepare to take these state um tests. >> Okay. Thank you. Certainly >> I will say that um that's a very large group uh of teachers that we have and on the pathway and so I only I look at our mentoring system and the actual
065evaluation capacity um that we that you and Miss Hbert have and given the level of support. So something that I, you know, certainly would also like to see is a mitigation plan because at any point um and it has happened with our districts, teachers become overwhelmed. They cannot finish the program um and then they can't even define what support looks like for them. And so, um, you know, when we look at all of this, I just want to make sure we don't as a district fall into any non-compliance, um, when looking at lensure timelines and everything for our teachers. But that's a very large number. Um, at least in my eyes, it is. However, I know that, uh, North Carolina, there's a lot of, uh, schools having to do the same thing just because of
066the non-certified teacher pool that we have to pull from. And so, um, thank you. Um, that wasn't a question. I just wanted to make that comment. My question, um, is not along the BTS or even the pathway, but, uh, how many of our employees currently that are in our district, uh, can you say have or excuse me, are currently eligible for retirement? >> I will have to get back to you on that one. I don't have those numbers. Um, but I I can follow up with you afterwards. >> Okay, that'll be great. And my reasoning, my rationale for asking that is, you know, things that we can control re-engaging our retirees. I know you said alumni. So, I was hoping that's what you meant, but I didn't want to make that assumption. Um, but you
067know, looking at, you know, how proactively we can we can engage them, get them involved, because that's going to still be a potential loss of experience in our district. Um, and then being proactive about that. I mean, if if it's time for retirement, it's time. And I would encourage anyone, you know, to to move forward, um, and enjoy their life the way that they, you know, certainly uh, see fit, but being proactive and being ready to fill, uh, those roles would be very important. And so, um, but you've already answered a lot about, uh, the supports that we have based off of, uh, our board members questions. So, thank you very much, Dr. Yeah, absolutely. Dr. D, may I add something to what you were speaking? Um, so in the spring, as we've done in
068the past, we will do letters of intent. Um, so that will go out to staff members. Um, and at that time, if they are exploring, um, retirement or they know that they are moving, anything like that. So, we do begin gathering that data. we know it's their intention, may not follow through on something, but it does, to your point, give us some information um to know what situation might we be in as we move through the spring um and prepare for the next school year. >> And then do we have um have we at all looked at hiring from within any classified uh staff that might be seeking advancement? Um absolutely. What support do we have around that? >> Yes, we absolutely do. So we we do know in the district um we we've we've
069looked at this um really uh last school year summer time frame who in the district does have bachelor's degrees and may not already be teaching um and to have conversations with them. I will share that that is how we have filled a couple of vacancies in the district um by looking within um who meets those requirements of a bachelor's degree and has the desire to move whether it's a TA moving into a teacher position. So we will continue to explore that and then also working with Miss Conception with the advanced teacher roles. There are some opportunities there as well um to tap into individuals experiences building towards and move moving towards a teaching position. um and having those supports in place with coaching um on the academic coaching side as well. So we'll continue um
070to look at our look inward and then what supports can be in place to um almost a teacher pipeline. >> Thank you. I you know building those internal pipelines are are very critical and I will say you know we're a small town but you do have some very dedicated staff members and if they meet that criteria >> uh they're not they're not looking anywhere else. they want to uh you know stay with us and so thank you very much. I have no further questions. Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> No, certainly. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Next on our agenda is 9.3 budget amendment update. Mrs. Wanda Lanecus. >> Thank you. And good evening, Thomasville City School Board of Education Superintendent Dr. Williams and Attorney Hunt. I bring you our budget amendment number three. This budget
071amendment, you can go to the next slide. This budget amendment is Oh, no. Go back to the explanation. This budget amendment is funds that were received for our state funding in economically disadvantaged public school support funds and feminine hygiene grant program. the state funds in the amount of $510,000766. We have additional federal funding received in title one school improvement and title three. You can go to the resolution. You can go up. Scrolling up, you're going to see in section five, that is our public school funds and the amount of the 510,766. As you move down, you also will see grant funding for 5,000s and grant funding from 8,000 in the total amount that I stated 28,665. I respect respectfully submit approval and acceptance of this budget amendment and resolution. Are there additional questions? >> Thank
072you very much. Um, I will ask each board member. Mrs. Stton, >> no question. >> Mr. Taylor, >> I do have a question. It is more so for the board. Um, but Miss Wanda, you can answer it, I'm sure. So we amended the budget and so according to the budget I know DPI have released some funds to us because of Liberty Drive being a um performing school we have reached um numbers how much is that particular number or do you have that by chance >> 55,766 >> and so could you explain to us how DPR has um listed that listed that for us to um allocate that to our district or to specifically to Liberty Drive. >> Yes, that is PRC 251. And looking at the chart of accounts and what we will go over
073is how the money can be allotted. It can be staff development, it could be bonus pay, it could be contract services, field trips, supplies and materials, other textbooks, computer equipment. Those are the PRC's that are allotted on of our chart of accounts on the PRC 251 that we can be able to use those funds. >> PRC51 >> 251. >> Yes. >> And so with that being stated, I know DI gave us those uh funds. How how long are those fund allocated to us as a district? Is it for the remainder of this last six months of the school year or it's going to 27 school year? >> Yes. >> So remainder of this school year >> this school year fiscal year 26 ending June 30th >> have to be liquidated. Yes sir. >> So we
074so you won't foresee us adding any positions with that money because we will be >> well we don't have a PRC. We don't have a purpose for positions. >> Okay. actually those seven that I named and I can go over them again which would be staff development, >> bonus pay, contracted services, >> field trips, supplies and materials, other textbooks >> and comput >> computer equipment. >> Okay. I just wanted to make that clear. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you. and and what what you were saying was with securing staff since this is just one time >> um >> they're allotted on those purpose codes. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you, >> Mr. Richberg. >> Yes. I have a question with the funds that um were received. Is it just a one-time thing
075or is it just reoccurring? >> Well, this is our first time receiving it. So based on we have to spend it for this year, we're using it for this year. We will cross our fingers. Hopefully this is something that we will be be able to get in the future. >> Okay, >> Mrs. Sers. >> No, I don't have any questions, Dr. D. Thank you. >> And I do I don't have any questions. Thank you very much. Next on our agenda is actually our board member selection for NCSBA legislative committee. At this time, I'd like to open the floor for any nominations for the legislative committee. >> Dr. Dao, point of order. I believe 10.1 on the agenda I'm showing is that budget amendment needs to be approved. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much,
076um, Attorney Hunt. >> So, going back up to 10.1 for action items to be approved as our budget amendment at this time. Um, do I have a motion? >> I'm not going to defer. So, moved. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Miss St. Second. >> I have a motion and a second. We'll do a roll call. Miss Stton. >> Yay. Mr. Taylor, >> yay. >> Mr. Richberg, >> yay. >> Mrs. Sers, >> yay. >> I also, Dr. Dao, vote yay. That motion passes. Next on our agenda is 10.2, board member selection for the NCSBA Legislative Committee. At this time, I'll open the floor for nominations. All right, I will uh nominate myself for the legislative committee. We do need a to take a roll call um and vote as we
077can only have one board member to serve on this legislative committee. Miss Stton. Yay. >> Mr. Taylor, I mean, yes, Mr. Taylor. >> What are we nighing and yaying on? >> We're ning. Yay. We're voting yes or no on the North Carolina School Board Association Legislative Committee. There was an email that went out that detailed what? >> Yeah. So we nominating you or that's what I'm that sorry I wasn't clear. So are we nominating you because you just nominated yourself. >> That would be correct. Unless we have any other nominations out and no one spoke up we can go back. Um if we have anyone else interested >> in Yay for you. Thanks for clarification. >> You're welcome. Mr. Richberg. >> Yay. >> Mrs. Sellers. Yay. >> I also vote yay. Next on our agenda
078is our consent agenda request to approve the meeting minutes from January 6, 2026. I hope we've all had an opportunity to look at those minutes. At this time, I will open the floor for a motion. I make a motion that we approve the meeting minutes from January 6, 2026. >> And could you state your name for >> I'm sorry, Wendy Sellers. >> Thank you. I have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Nancy second. >> I have a motion and a second. Roll call. Miss Stton. >> Yay. >> Mr. Taylor, >> yay. Mr. Richberg, >> Mr. Sers, >> yay. >> And Dr. Dao, I also vote yay. That motion carries. So before we go into board member comments, um, and attorney Hunt, we did have an amendment uh, amended to the agenda. And so,
079um, is this appropriate time to go over or to go back up to what was spoken about which was specific to we had two amendments before we do board member comments. >> Yes, this would be an appropriate time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, I brought the McKenna Vento application up. Um this is the purpose was to present the board with the status update confirming readiness for the CCIP submission. Also um if we have any discussion points on the CCIP timeline. I know that uh we the application open January 5th. This is the next three-year cycle. So 2026 to 2029 and the application closes February 20th. This meeting would have been uh the opportunity for if this application is done for the board to approve for Dr. Williams to submit the application. And so Dr.
080Williams, do we have a status on the McKenna Vento application? >> Yeah. Um our student services department is currently um working on um the McKenna Vento um application. um it is not done and completed. Um based on the um information that we received um I didn't see a status where the board had to approve. So I apologize to you um that we based on we saw from the DPI report from our regional support. It just needed to be uh presented um in reference to the application status. But um I didn't see anywhere in the application. Mrs. Casspion, did we miss a step? I just want to make sure we're clear so that we we can always go back um and make sure that we we have a um a special call if necessary. >> But
081it's being it's actually being she's working on it right now. I know she's working on it because we met a week ago to make sure that uh she was actually engaged in completing the application. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarity. Uh so I know that um there are some administrative roles there as well as a post-submission monitoring plan that we as a board uh certainly would like to see this and uh you know if I stand corrected please let me know but a board action would be to confirm for us to confirm the readiness for the CCIP submission and as well as authorize you or designate to submit the application uh by the the due date February 20th. So, if you can just please follow back up with us. And then also and and
082certainly like I stated if it does not require that. Um I will say that last year uh we miss or the last cycle, excuse me, >> you did >> uh we missed the opportunity. And so we certainly uh I would like to see that information reported back to the board. Uh that we uh number one are certainly planning to submit it. And then not just that you know there are some uh additional questions once we have submitted because there's an annual reporting out in a structure um up until the 2029 uh that requires the annual program reports out in expenditures. So this is very important uh at least you know for me to be able to see that we certainly can secure these funds for our homeless population. Um and so submitting that and then
083a fully itemized three-year budget that aligns to the allowable use of the funds. So we do have and this specifically I know that our uh interim chief financial officers on the phone um excuse me on the call but specific to PRC026 and so um I certainly again would like to get that information and if a specially called meeting um is necessary um please let us know. If not, um, still update us and it can be if it's not necessary for us to do any type of action or approval, at least update it into your weekly uh, updates, please. >> Yeah, that that was the plan, Dr. Da for us to update you in the bi-weekly actually this Friday. Um, because again, we met two weeks ago. Um, and we had a conversation with Mrs. Coleman.
084Miss Coleman has been working on that. um that and we wanted to make sure that we met the deadline when it came out for in our regional update. We immediately make sure we made sure we had a conversation. So that was the plan to make sure it was updated this Friday in the bi-weekly. But again, I will go back and review the the information that we were we received from our regional person. Um I don't recall as we go through our runner show seeing anything that needed to be um approved, but if it is, we missed it and we'll come back and make sure that we schedule a special call meeting. Thank you. >> Absolutely. But we're working on it. We I can guarantee you it's a top priority. We It's It's even on our
085agenda for the last two weeks. So, she's working on it. >> Thank you. Next. Then on our amended agenda, Dr. Williams, regarding our uh the time that our students have been out and so the plan that we have to make up the snow days. >> I think I think Mr. Taylor have a question. Oh, sorry. Excuse me, Mr. Taylor. >> Yes. Thank you, Miss Book. I was trying to get your attention because I had raised my virtual hand. Um, so we are at the time where we are reapplying for the McKini Ven. So, this is the first that I'm hearing about this because I know two years ago we missed that opportunity with that grant. Um, this was a a transition from two boards coming on. So, we missed that. So, are we >> Yes.
086>> the renewal for the application? >> Yes, absolutely. She's currently working on the application right now. >> Okay. >> Um and again, we met two weeks ago when we we received we received regional updates weekly um from our PEK regional person from DPI and they had the wrong date inside the update. So, we called ourselves to make sure we understood what the date was. And when we called, they told us it was February the 20th and then the next week it came back out. We met with Miss Coleman herself and she is currently making sure we're Miss Cassion met with her even this week to follow up to go through where we are with the application. Again, it was due to be put into the bi-weekly as part of Mrs. Conception update this this upcoming
087Friday to inform the board that we were in process and on target. Again, I apologize as Dr. Da has mentioned that there may be an a part of the process that need to come before the board. We did not see that in the running show that was presented to us. However, we will go back and review that information and make sure that we didn't miss anything. If that's the case, I'll follow back up with the board and make sure that's included on Friday. >> Thank you for that clarification. I just didn't want us to miss the opportunity again we had previous years. Thank you. >> Yeah, I I heard the board loud and clear when I first got here that we missed it. >> Thank you. So, we jumped on top of it to make
088sure that we we're making sure the application is in and and we'll follow up Dr. Da with the budget as well to make sure the board sees the outline the itemized budget as well. >> Thank you very much. There are um you know multiple opportunities for grant application um you know pass this one up moving into to March. There's several and so um you know just uh keeping us informed please uh as we seek alternative funds uh to support our students um in any way certainly uh that information would be greatly appreciated. Um if there's no are and I will go around again just to see if we have any other uh comments or questions regarding uh the McKenna Vento missten. When will we know their decision? Before the end of the school year. >>
089Yeah, that I don't miss that wasn't in our report on when the dead they just gave us the deadline on when it was due. We we could request that information to find out when we could get that information back from them. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And Mr. Taylor, I know you had already asked questions, but um at this time, do you have any further questions? >> No, thank you. >> Mr. Richberg. >> No, ma'am. >> Mrs. Sers? >> No, ma'am. No questions. >> And I have no further questions. Next on our agenda is um Dr. Williams to give us an update on our plan to make up um our winter weather days that we've had to be out of school. >> Miss Buck is going to do that. Dr. D. >> Okay. Thank you.
090>> Good evening again, >> Mrs. Buck. >> Good evening again, board. I wanted to share a a few key pieces of um legislation and procedural pieces so that our public um and our staff are and our families are aware. The North Carolina law limits five remote learning days for the school year. Um today was the fifth and final remote learning day that we were able to use for this school year. Um, at this time, if we have to have additional closures after this week, we will need to be making up the time that is required to meet the legislated 1,025 hours of instructional time. As we have talked um our our staff and cabinet have talked through this. Um, potentially recommendations include extending our school day by 30 minutes. Also, we could recoup some additional
091hours um by eliminating the early dismissal days, the early release that is scheduled for February 18th and March 11th. Those would extend into just regular school days. And that would help recoup some of those hours as well. And what that looks like is I've got a at the at the bottom of this pa this slide, we've got kind of three options giving you when you extend the school day by 30 minutes for different designated periods of time. For example, if we were to start um kind of scenario A, if we were to start on March 2nd and we were to go through May 1st for an extra 30 minutes per day, that would give us three instructional days back. Um if we were to go from February 16th, which would be soon, uh through May
0921st, that would give us four days back. and then February 16th to May 22nd, um that's going to be more like 13 weeks worth of time, but that would give us five instructional days back. So, the takeaways here are um we are out of remote learning days like many of our sister districts across the state. Um they've used all of their days. We are um okay with our buffer this week, but if we were to have additional closures starting next week, we would have to consider doing that um school day extension by 30 minutes. Do you have any questions or consideration for the team? So, oh yeah, I did >> and I didn't see your hand. Um, >> no. I I was about to put it up. I'm sorry. >> Okay, let me go then
093around for each board member. Miss Stton, do you have any questions? >> Uh, do you think the spring break uh might be affected? Making up time, Miss B. um our team looked at that and I know that in the past um that spring break is really critical to um kind of a reset right before we get to testing. And so um if if that were the pleasure of the board for us to to look at that um we we certainly could, but that we we felt like the least disruptive option would be to extend the school day by 30 minutes. Um, of course I'm sure you know folks have got plans for spring break and you know things like that. Um, and in the past sometimes our our attendance when we've used some of those
094days the attendance on those days has not been great. Um, but we can certainly um take that back if you desire. >> Okay, Mr. Taylor. >> Yes. Uh, thank you. Um, Miss, I don't think that taking spring break days that that's that's that that's that's going to go over well with our staff and our parents in the district. Um, I will say we should look at as a board looking at early release um days, taking those days back and even looking at um required teacher work days where the students can come in on those days. This is suggestion to the board. >> Mr. Richberg. >> No questions. >> Mrs. Sellers. >> Thank you, Dr. Dao. Yeah, I'm I'm kind of more partial to um taking those early release dates um in February and March versus
095spring break or anything like that. So, yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> And I see Mr. Hunt has raised his hand. >> Attorney Hunt. >> Yes. Thank you. Just a a question for clarification. Uh Miss Buck, you're not asking for approval of this tonight. Are you We're thinking that we're fine right now, but if we miss some more, this may require a called meeting to get a vote pretty quickly from the board. Is that correct? >> I think um and and Dr. Williams, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what we wanted to do was present the board with a thoughtout plan for what happens if um and so we wanted to be ready with with those recommendations. Um I I defer to the to the board on making any decisions in the timing of
096that. >> Correct. So we we if we're out the next three days, we're all our buffers are gone in reference to the,025. So that means that we we definitely in order to not go not to be to meet the requirement that we have we have to have some some extra days and we're saying we agree that early release days would probably be the most feasible those hours and then the extending the school day by 30 minutes. We don't really want to take any teacher work days because really they're very limited. Um there's only one in March. um and that's the time for staff to be able to do third quarter grades and all those things. And so we're we're trying to do the most feasible um less impactful um method that we possibly can, but
097we're not asking we we wanted to kind of put it out there just so that we could get your feedback and then bring it back to you um within the next two weeks. We're trying to see what we what the weather looks like the next week or two. >> Thank you. Um I have no no questions. I I will say a comment though, thank you for uh proactively looking at opport or options for us because we you know we we also don't want um as a board to uh delay anything. So, if there was um and this would be more so a comment towards for doc or excuse me, Attorney Hunt once this comes back to us, you know, is it an option to consider approving for Dr. Williams um to make that decision knowing
098that at the very, you know, at the very least it will extend 30 minutes on any time frame that that's that's been presented. Well, I think the ultimate decision on how these hours are recouped or or how the board gets to 1,025 hours has to be made by the board. >> Thank you for that. and and and and currently, as we know, as we sit here today in our remote virtual meeting, because we're under a state of emergency, um while we're not anticipating any additional weather into next week, these states of emergencies usually last for 30 days. So, in the event the board does need to make a quick decision on this, assuming we're still under a state of emergency, say next week, you could do a called virtual meeting similar to this, but it
099ultimately has to be a board vote in decision. >> Thank you for that clarification, Attorney Hunt. >> All right. So if there are uh no further discussions, thank you uh doc or Mrs. Buck and Dr. Williams for that information. Next on our agenda is number 12, board member comments. Um we ask that uh this is new for us, so if we can uh treat it like we would if we had public comments and keep your uh comments to three minutes or less. Mrs. Dayton. Well, I just like to say happy school counselor um week to all of our counselors this week. And it's unfortunate that they can't walk the red carpet tonight, but thank them for their work with our students, our staff, and our Thomasville community. That's all I have to say, >> Mr.
100Taylor. >> Yes, thank you. Love this idea. Um I do have comments. It was great to spend some time at the middle school being back in North Carolina. I got to see some of our students participate in the basketball games. Um so that was that's been a joy. Um also happy school counselor week to all of our amazing counselors and even our director of student services. Thank you for your service to our students and our families and our community and even our social workers. Thank them as well because they they do counseling work as well. So thank you. Um, our bus drivers, we appreciate each and every one of our bus drivers. Thank you. I cannot thank you enough. You are the first people that our students come in contact as they are traveling to
101school and you are the last people that they see ending their day in the K12 environment. Um, I also want to say happy Black History Month. Um, go out and learn something new about Black History. Um, I encourage that as a history major and a H.B.CU alumni. That's all I have to say. Mr. Richbart. >> Yes. Um I just want to thank our staff, our educators, um and our admin administration um for for being proactive during this recent winter weather that has occurred. I really appreciate the work that went into making sure that our children um were fed and also the educational package that went out. And also I want to recognize the school counselors um appreciation week and thank our counselors um for their support for our students. >> That's it. >> Mrs. Sellers.
102>> Thank you, Dr. Dao. Uh just as um board member Taylor said, I just want to tell everybody happy Black History Month. Um, I do host a Thomasville Black History program every year and this year it will be on February 19th at Ballpark Recreation Center starting at 6:00 p.m. Uh we will have um a lot of our Thomasville Black History on display uh for the community to come out and view. And then we will have a Black History Month program along with our Black Excellence Awards where we recognize the great work that African-Americans do in our community every single day. So I >> Miss Sers, we can't hear you. You went away from the mic. Mrs. Sellers, >> she might have froze >> black history. So, I'm looking forward to that and um maybe you
103guys can come out and see that also. Thank you, Dr. Dao. >> You are very welcome. You cut out um uh Mrs. Sellers kind of right after you mentioned that you were going to do the awards uh at your u your event. And so if you want to go back and say something else. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Dao. Yeah, what I was saying is that we do um along with our Black History Month program, we recognize uh black comm African-American uh community members for the great work that they do in our community every single day. Um and we call that the Black Excellence Awards, and those will be presented uh to several of our community members on that night. Um, and then also I was saying that I've been invited to Thomasville Primary
104School on February 9 19th also uh to do a Black History Month uh presentation to our kindergarteners and first grade students. That's it. Thank you, Dr. D. >> You are very welcome. For me, you know, I'm I'm going to go back a little bit in time. You know, January was school board appreciation month. um as well as our mentoring month. And I can't thank my school board members enough uh for your tireless hours. You know, this is truly a volunteer service. You could choose to do something else. We could, but we choose to serve our community um and serve our students and our families. So, I just want to go back and say thank you. Of course, thank you to administration for the bags. Um did not know what it was for. I thought I
105was just special, you know, but it was very very nice. Um, so thank you. Um, also I want to highlight our volunteers. You know, back in even though mentoring month is January, if it wasn't for our volunteers coming into our school systems, partnering with us, they're the ones that help us and give our students those success stories. So, thank you to all our volunteers, our business partners that pour invaluable time into our students. you are greatly appreciated and we couldn't do this work without you and you certainly make that difference. So, thank you. Thank you. Uh February, yes, school counselor appreciation week, CTE month. Um the programs, you know, we have a a very uh strong health science pathway. Our culinary arts department is just really rocking it out. Our students get these hand-on experiences
106and I'm just ever so thankful. Um, I would encourage everyone to look at the entrepreneurship pathways we have out there, our CCP promise programs and our CTE department has actually posted our industry tour trips and there is a stand on business like professional day. So very excited about that. Um, I am proud to report that Thomasville City Schools has been financially in the black for the last two audits, not in the red. And so this is a positive uh physical standing um and a direct direct result of the collaborative efforts of our board of education, our district administration who continue to prioritize their responsible stewardship and sound financial practices. We will continue working together to strengthen both our academic outcomes, our financial health for the benefit of our students and our community. This is a
107significant achievement and a point of pride for our district. Thomasville City Schools continues to face academic challenges as reflected in the statewide rankings and performance indicators. However, our district remains committed to improvement through targeted instructional support, datadriven decision making and strategic leadership. So at the same time, our district, we do have a very strong financial health and it demonstrates our responsible governance and a shared commitment to sustaining resources needed to support our student success. That concludes our comments, our board comments. Next on our agenda is 13. request to enter into close session to consult with an attorney retained by the board to preserve the attorney client privilege pursuant to general statute 143-318.11 A3. also to discuss personal matters that are confidential under general statute 143-318.11 A6 and general statute 115C-319 at this time. Do I
108have a >> I had I had my hand raised so no >> I do apologize. Let me go back. Mr. Taylor, >> thank you. Miss Buck, I had a question for you. So, the people that were supposed to walk the red carpet this month, will we invite them back for next month? >> Yes, we will. >> Okay. >> Well, we want them to have their time to shine on the red carpet. So, they they'll be invited next month. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Do I need to restate that, Attorney Hunt? >> No, ma'am. I do not think so. >> Okay. Thank you. So, at this time, um, I'll open the floor for a motion to enter into close session. >> Malcolm Bridge. So moved. >> I have a motion. Do I have a second?
109>> Nancy Sten second. >> Next, we'll do a roll call vote. Mrs. Stton, >> yay. >> Mr. Taylor, >> yay. >> Mr. Richberg, >> yay. Mrs. Sers, >> yay. >> And I also vote yay. We are now in close session. As a point of logistics board, I would ask you to uh give me a moment.