001It will stand and join me for our first annual recognition. Heavenly Father, guide us as we seek your will. In all that we do, may we our decisions always reflect your priorities of righteousness, purity, and truth. In all things, great and small, we rejoice in you, gracious Lord. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You have before you the minutes that have been presented to you in your packets. Are there any additions or corrections? Hearing none, the chair requests a motion to approve the minutes for the March 16th, 2026 meeting. I'll make a motion to approve the March minutes. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second.
002Discussion. Hearing none, all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, motion carries. Also [clears throat] before you is the stated agenda that was presented to you in your packet. Are there any additions or corrections to the standing agenda as you as you see it? Hearing none, all those in uh the chair makes a motion requesting that you approve the board agenda for the April meeting. I'll make a motion to approve the April board agenda. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Second. Is there discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, motion carries. Hearing no public input or seeing no indication of public input, the chair defers to Dr. Crockett to recognize the heart of the Hornet. Great, great, great. And I think Dr. Taylor went out to get our first
003our first group that's coming in. I'm I'm excited to to kind of showcase some some awards that our district has recently received and in fact this past month Werchouls Middle School was actually recognized as a Palmetto Silver Award winners. So here comes some of our middle school teachers are here and our staff support STAFF ARE HERE. >> [applause] [applause] >> YEAH, DR. CROCKETT, YOU GOT TO BE IN THERE, TOO. All right. There we go. All right, everybody smile. Here we go. GOT IT. >> [applause] >> AND JUST IF I IF I COULD, I MEAN what's what is the Palmetto Silver Award? Like what's what's it mean? It's Well, it's a it's a set of criteria that the state has set. There's certain criteria that have to be met and either you can have an excellent
004on your report card and you can have average growth or like in our situation you can have a good report card and you can have good student growth. And so we had met that criteria. It is very very difficult to meet. And it's not something that they just give away. You earn it. You earn it. And so come on in. Come on in, it's your Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. >> [applause] >> Thankful because this takes work. This takes a commitment. This takes a selfless actions to put the needs of our kids above our own. And and time and time again our middle school is coming through. They said it they they set the pace for for a lot of schools and I have a great staff. Great great teachers but great people. And I'm just
005really really proud of what they're accomplishing and we should be I'm very very proud of them and so should all of us. So thank you, Werchouls Middle. You make us look good and I'm very very proud of you. So well done. And they're ALL COMING BACK. >> [applause] [laughter] >> THANK YOU, EVERYONE. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO do tonight's board meeting as well and for allowing us to recognize you as well. So thank you. Well done. You can go home now. That's good. And so our second recognition that I'd like to kind of put forward tonight is also our junior scholars. And so we have we have three. So we have three of our eighth graders have earned the opportunity to uh to show high performance and be considered at the top honor of being
006a junior scholar. Dr. Taylor, you want to fill us in a little bit on the criteria? Did I put you on the spot? >> [laughter] >> SC Junior Scholars is a program that began in the school year 1985-86 and it was in a way to empower and also provide opportunities for academics academic excellence with individual students. And so since then the program has grown and offers multiple summer opportunities for our students to participate in as well as future scholarship opportunities. And so to be a junior scholar, first of all you have to score excellent on SC Ready in seventh grade. And then you take the PSAT as an eighth grader which is quite a feat because that's normally a 10th grade assessment given. So you take that and then you must score over a 550
007on either the reading or the math. >> Woah. Yes. So these students are excelling academically and the two that are here tonight also are volunteers within our community and they work within our schools to make our group a better place to be and we're very thankful for them and all that they do. Not just academically but they're some smart cookies for sure. Very very impressive. Dr. Taylor, thank you and thanks for heading up our testing as well for and coordinating that with the schools. So tonight we have two we have we have three students all together. We have Emily Salter, we have Noah Franklin, and we have Landon Rosado. And I see Landon and Emily here so we'll get you to come on up as well. And Rodney Free will be representing the board. Thank
008you, Rodney. >> [applause] >> Congratulations, Emily. Well done. Come on. All right, we're going to get one. We'll get one right here first. And here we go. There we go. All right, congratulations. Going up there, Mom. The two moms ought to be up there. You want to take one with her? Yes, here. Get in there. I'm going to take a couple, Mandy, so you just in case. >> [laughter] >> You all ready? Okay. All right. All right. >> [applause] >> Stranger than fiction. Stranger than fiction. Bless her. Make sure they look good, Mandy, please. I'll take like three or four. Thank you all for honoring them. Aw. You see it as a normal day and and you know as parents we just do what we need to do. I just like his secretary but it's
009amazing [laughter] they're doing great work. Um just because they don't want any accolades or anything like that. They just want to be good people. It's just amazing but thank you, Werchouls Academy. >> [applause] >> The chair defers to Dr. Crockett for his superintendent update. Okay, it's great. So, we are now into well into April and close to the close of the close of April and things are now at a rapid pace as we start getting down to the end of the year. We're locking in but the question that I have for myself and also especially our minute administrative team is, you know, how will we finish? Okay, and that's that is that is the question. How will we finish? Are we going to coast or are we going to sprint to the finish? And so,
010we are dialed in. We're we're we understand that we do have end of the year testing taking place on May the 5th. So, that's going to be right around the corner. We're kind of in this this this time where we are almost in the playoff season, you know, where we are all systems go. We're we've planned, we've worked and now it's time to to cash in on the hard work that we've done all year long. So, that's that's our challenge going into the end of this year is how how will we finish? And and and we are sprinting now to the finish. Prom was wonderful. And so, a lot of things that I'm going to share with you here that have occurred since since since our last meeting. It they're they're really big concepts. They're
011big opportunities. They have big ideas and it comes from people who put in work, put in effort and and all of this for is for for kids enjoyment, for kids enrichment, for kids academic growth. And so, prom was fantastic. The kids were so well behaved. They were they were excellent. They had a great time. The place looked great. Julie Madden and and and and also Miss Carey Pratt did an incredible job prepping for that strong junior class as well that poured themselves into decorating the place and it was a lot of fun and and all our kids made it home safe that night and that was just just just a huge blessing. And so, but that's the kickoff. It means that the end of the year is quickly approaching. And so, it's been a great
012it's been a great month. We have lots of things taking place. We of course we had senior rush. We actually have more kids enrolled in Piedmont Tech right now than we originally anticipated. Some of the folks that were considering not actually going to to to a two-year school after graduation. Savannah Campbell's doing an outstanding job mentoring these students and say, "Hey, this is an opportunity for you. You sure you don't want to take advantage of it?" And and some kids flipped and so, now they're they're committed. We took them there. They enjoyed the campus. They saw themselves being successful in the courses that they're enrolled in and we'll we will have a stronger community because of it. We'll have a we'll have a much better and educated community. Our neighbors are going to have two-year
013degrees because of that effort and that's so very very important in when when supporting these kids and making these types of decisions. So, Piedmont Tech's been wonderful to work with. Lander University's been wonderful to work with. Greenwood Promise has been great, you know, supporting these opportunities for kids that may not always have that chance of being a tuition-free pathway. So, it's it's it's been wonderful. For the first time we had Self Regional came out and invested their time and their resources into our high school making sure that we knew of the vast opportunities to to work with in Self Regional Health Care. All the fields that are related with with that and so, it was an extreme success. They were very very pleased with our engagement of our students. We had close to 70 students,
014a little more than 70 students that participated in that event and had their eyes open. We also had interview opportunities for students to be able to prepare for their careers and for for their interview skills and that took place at the Career Center. Last week I was a part of that as well and interviewed some wonderful students in helping them build those sets of skills. We have forklift training that's going to be taking place this Friday. Don't park near the library. And and just a word of advice. We'll get them we'll get them certified and and and they'll be they'll they'll be great. So, we're we're looking forward to to that as well. So, lots of great things happening and we're talking about careers. We're talking about skill development and of course we have the
015focus on academics but those skills development piece is always so so very very important as well. I want to share with you is about senior Sunday that's coming up. It's hard to believe but I won't see you until after this event takes place and so, I want to make sure that our public is aware of this. And so, the way it works is on senior Sunday on May 17th our graduates will come to the high school at 4:00. There's a photo shoot that that takes place. Some of our kids don't take get the packages with their graduation gown. So, we have a photographer that we pay that make sure that every kid every every child has an opportunity to capture that special moment. We'll have copies of we'll put those in the diplomas for kids
016so they can have that keepsake. I think that's very very important for all our kids to have that opportunity. And then there'll be a senior supper and staff meet and greet that will take place in the cafeteria of the high school. And then sharp right right at 5:30 sharp, we are going to walk from the cafeteria and again the sidewalks will be filled with our with our community members, with our local churches, as many people as we can to to watch over and to cheer on, to pray pray over as our kids as they walk from the cafeteria to First Baptist for the baccalaureate service. And then all of our community as they walk through are encouraged to get in line and to to fill that venue as well and have a great student-led student-led
017service which is also it really exciting to me to see kids step up and to take on that responsibility. Afterwards, there'll be Sunday Sunday. So, they will walk continue walking to the town square and out by Catherine Hall and we'll have Sundays that will be served for them. And and so, I just want to make sure that we invite you. You're welcome to participate and cheer us on, meet us for ice cream, all those types of things like that. And it's just a a special event and want to encourage folks to come out and show support to our our graduates. Capital improvements this past month, lots of things taking place. We got our floors are nearing completion. They're supposed to come this this upcoming weekend put treads on the stairwell and some of things like
018that but the majority of that project has been complete and we're very pleased with that. Code base will go in on the weekend as well. Our goats farm has expanded as well. We have a goat shed that's now behind the district office and just cutting away kudzu, eating eating it and it's disappearing and using the nature of those goats and kids are learning it's it's it's fun to watch them. And so, kids are doing a great job with them. Had a power panel replacement at the primary school. That was an unexpected um situation. We've been down for for a little while. It was it was down a leg and we kind of doctored it all the way through but it just it it failed on us. And so, we're working with the Office of School
019Facilities, working with engineers, electrical engineers as well. We got that project through. It's just about in its final phase of third-party inspection so that that's all installed and I think we're we're back online. So, that was a project that has taken place since we since we met last. I want to make sure that we also recognize that this coming Friday we'll have an employee appreciation. Just some but many of the employees that you just saw, all the employees in the district play a very important role in the success that we've been experiencing. And so, we'll recognize them at our softball game that's coming up this Friday at 6:00 on the softball field. We'll be down there about 5:45. We'll recognize the teachers pre-game. I think we might even ask the the teacher of the year
020maybe throw the first pitch. That's an opportunity that's out there for us. And and there'll be hot dogs for their for their families as well. So, this is it's I know we have a a district family but our district family has a family life as well. So, bring in their their kids and their their families. They'll have free tickets to the game. There'll be hot dogs and drinks and just a just a show our appreciation as much as we can for the great staff that we have. And I'm sure they'll they'll enjoy that opportunity. Upcoming dates, of course the appreciation that that's coming up on the 24th. SC Ready begins May 5th with our writing. We have senior day and that's going to be May 8th, the program at the school. We have baccalaureate senior
021Sunday, May 17th. Graduation, May 29th at 7:00 p.m. And if that can't get you fired up, I don't know what will. We it's it's that time of year and lots of exciting things taking place. So, if there's any questions about the things that were presented, I'm glad to answer them at this time. Wow, it's wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. The chair now recognizes the Ware Shoals athletic director, Coach Dotson. If you will take the podium. I got the sheet. I'm going to give y'all I'll hit the high points. I want to assault y'all with reading. Thanks. you. So Doc asked me to kind of hit the spring update for our athletics. So I'll start with soccer. Uh they're actually at a soccer meet right now. They're down two to one when I come up. But if we
022win it, uh it's probably going to put us in pretty good position to uh get a playoff spot and maybe even host one for the playoffs. Uh from what I understand with talking to the the soccer committee for cuz we've won more this year than what we did last year and that's going to put us up the ladder to to host one. I don't know how long it's been since we hosted a a soccer uh match in the playoffs here. JV soccer did real well with uh coach Burdette. Uh they didn't win a match, but all their matches they lost this year were by one or two goals, which has been a change from the past. And we actually tied Dixie this year, which is you know, Dixie's kind of the the the uh the
023aiming point for soccer in our region. And uh you know, going back to the varsity coach Breeze doing a good job with them. Just it we're we're we're getting better. It's just slowly coming. And but but you can see it. And uh I don't think we got mercy ruled at all in uh uh JV this year, which was big. And I think we only had one or two in varsity this year. And and that was reaching out to the bigger schools cuz I think she played Saluda and then somebody else this year that were a little bit bigger. Uh the competition kind of kind of got us in the second half. But then going from there in track and field, uh track and field just went to the Lakelands Invitational Friday. There were 10 schools
024there. Uh Of the 10 schools, everybody in our region was there with the exception of uh Thornwell. And then you had Greenwood, uh Strom Thurmond, Emerald, uh Greenwood Christian. Uh I can't remember who all, but there were 10 and some pretty good schools [clears throat] there. But in boys, we took uh we got 17 on the team. We ended up taking 14 because of sickness or people doing prom stuff and they couldn't make it because prom was Saturday. But of the 14 that went, uh nine of them were boys and then five were girls. So uh we finished fifth overall in the boys, a half point behind Abbeville who had 40 boys there. And we had nine. And then Dixie was five points ahead of us and they had 40 boys there and we had
025nine. So uh region is set up for us next Friday. So we'll see how well that goes when we get down there. Now the girls, like I said, they only took five girls. And uh multiple girls in uh with all the 1A schools, but we actually had in that uh Sarah Vincent won the overall javelin of all classifications and set a school record there that night. So she's doing really well with us in uh in the javelin. So we'll know Friday or not Friday. I'm sorry. I keep saying Friday, but it's next Thursday. Is uh when the region meet is and it's in McCormick. And then based off who qualifies for that, it'll be May 9th, Saturday, May 9th for the qualifier. And then the next Saturday will be the state. So if they qualify
026the region, whoever the top five, six are in region go to the qualifier. And then whoever are your top eight at qualifier move on to state. So that's kind of how that's set up to move on. Golf right now is in Abbeville playing uh tonight. And if they beat Abbeville tonight, uh they would have beat everybody in 1A that they have played this year with the exception of Dixie. And Dixie's kind of the bar in golf, too, because Dixie won the state championship in golf last year in 1A. So what coach Bryant's got going on now, he's got 11 uh guys out there and three girls. And uh you take five and then the top four scores come in and they count. And their region meet is May 4th, Monday, May 4th. And the big
027deal about that is, you know, I I would be completely ashamed of myself if I didn't mention what Mr. Pitts and them at the golf course do for us. Uh y'all probably aren't aware of it, but anytime that you have a region tournament or a state tournament uh for golf, you have to pay a fee to get in cuz the golf courses charge you. And they're anywhere from 400 to 600 per team. They're pretty exorbitant. Mis- Mr. Pitts doesn't charge us a dime. He doesn't charge us a dime all year to use it. He lets coach Bryant use it whenever he wants for home matches and doesn't charge a dime. So we're able to host and bring people into our great town and let them see what we got going on. And we charge them
028like 10 or 12 dollars per golfer because we go up to uh Urban Bryson up in town and he gets us a bunch of wings. He'll make us like 300 wings. And we'll feed the kids and get them drinks. And we just ask, you know, we charge 10 to 12 dollars per kid to cover the food. So, you know, and the thing that we do, uh most tournaments you're only allowed to take five and score four. If you got 20 on your team, everybody gets to come to our shows and play. Cuz you know, them kids, they practice all the time, too. And then when they go to a match, they're not allowed to play because only five can travel. Well, at ours, since we got flexibility, we tell them if you bring everybody, everybody's
029going to get to play. So they get to play. It's 18 holes. I mean, we'll be out there. It's It starts at 9:00. So if y'all are around on Monday, May 4th, it starts at 9:00 and it'll probably be over about 2:33. And we'll feed them afterwards. We have plenty of food if you want to come out there, but it's a pretty good thing. And you know, as many people that can tell them thank you, we need it because I mean, that I cannot tell you how much money they save us. They're named Sherb's golf clubs and so forth. So moving on to softball, uh softball right now, we've got to play Whitmire this week and next week. And I don't think we have Thornwell. So we got Whitmire twice, Thornwell left. And then everything
030else is non-region. Based on them three games, we pretty much have fourth locked up, but we could take third. If we get third, there's a possibility that we could host. We're not real sure. It depends on how that bracket works out. But we're sitting at third We're sitting at a third or fourth seed for softball. And uh we've had a up and down year, but we've been battling injuries a little bit. And honestly, I think with us getting over the injury bug, we're kind of peaking at the right time because we're getting better where everybody else is starting to get beat up and getting nagging injuries. So maybe it'll carry us into having a a good little run. And uh So so we'll see, but coach Mills done really well this year. JV softball, I
031think at the time I wrote this, I thought we had lost two, but Friday night I think we lost our third game. But our JV team has been playing all seventh graders with the exception of one 10th grader maybe helping because we don't have enough to play. So we'll have to throw a 10th grader out there to help. But they've been all seventh graders that's been playing JV versus eighth, ninth, and 10th graders. So our future is really good in softball uh coming up. We going to baseball. Uh Coach Wooten is doing a phenomenal job out there. I know y'all probably think I'm crazy, but we are so young. I mean, we're a middle school team out there competing at a varsity level. And everybody saw this coming. I mean, we're in a place where
032we have 190 kids in our school. And we're up and down. You know how it's ebb and flow. We lost eight seniors last year. I mean, and we played for the uh up state championship and lost one to nothing. I mean, most of those kids out there starting right now are seventh graders and eighth graders. In a couple years, we're going to be back to that type program. But we're we're taking, you know, we're we're getting taken to the proverbial woodshed right now because we're young. But that's fine. You know, we we learn from it. We just lost a heartbreaker Wednesday night. We were we were up, I think, eight to three in the bottom of the seventh and the floodgates opened up and we couldn't stop it and they ended up beating us nine
033to eight. But we're as crazy as it sounds, we're closing the gap and losing one by one run or two runs, whereas at the beginning of the year, it was just the floodgates were there. But we're getting better and and it's it's trending that way. And I mean, everything that we got is a trend. I mean, it's But you know, we we're getting the worst behind us and the best is to come. Academically, I put that in there and you can kind of go through it. I'll send y'all an email out whenever we do it at the end of the nine weeks every every uh nine week period, but track had the highest GPA and for girls track and then boys track had the lowest GPA. But with all that being said, everybody was a
0343.0 or higher, which is a B or higher. And the overall GPA for all the kids out there was a 3.25. So, that's pretty impressive. The kids are doing you know, we it's important and and it shows. But anybody got any questions about anything? Just tell all your coaches thanks appreciate what they're doing. Absolutely. I tell them every day. It makes it easy though because everybody does everything, so I'm glad our seventh graders are playing baseball. Yeah, it's >> get there. Yeah, we're we're uh it's it's been a it's been rough on them this year, but I think the kids have matured a lot through it, you know what I mean? We we've seen some things this year that I don't know that I've ever seen sometimes, but you know from for all I mean,
035I've seen somebody get hit in the face that turned into a ball instead of turning away and just didn't know to somebody getting hit in the back of the head because they the ball got thrown at them and they thought they were to cut off and they were from me to dog. I mean just You got to learn. You got [clears throat] to learn. Sometimes it hurts. Learning hurts. Like getting thrown from a horse, you just got to get back on. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am, but anybody else got anything? Coach, you you didn't mention this, but I think it's important to address. I know you're coaching track this year. That wasn't the original that wasn't the original plan. But there was a need there, you stepped into that with all the athletic duties that you
036have going on. I think that was you you steadied that ship, you got them through. Those kids are are thriving. We got Yeah. Javelin school records, all sorts of things because we're we're giving kids an opportunity. And and so you you stepped in instead of uh not having that event, you you made sure that we did. So, I want to make sure you I I bring attention to that and say thank you for for your efforts there. And I also am very very thankful that um we have new CDL drivers with our coaches. We have several of them that are in the pipeline as well. So, there's strength um in in our our coaches who are stepping up and and taking those roles, and it's it's reducing our budget as well. And and so I
037just want to make sure I I bring attention to that as well. Yeah, right now you have myself, Coach Bryant, and Coach Webb cuz Coach Webb completed his What? March? Maybe I don't know. I February my days run together. February. February, and then Coach Burdette >> [cough] >> is >> [clears throat] >> going I think next week he wants to go take his permit test, but he's been [clears throat] working hard on Coach Burdette got married, so it kind of delayed a little bit over his time period, but he's going to take his permit test. I think he said he wants to do it next week. And I'll have to talk to Coach Smith and see where she's at, but where those are the two that's closest right now. So, we're just about [clears throat]
038everybody's going to be there, but track's been easy. We got a good young in, so it's not hard to have to step in and help places, so Thank you, coach. Yeah. Appreciate y'all. I'm going back to the soccer meet or match. Thankful for what you do, coach. I appreciate y'all. Let us know the score. I will. Will. The chair now recognizes Ms. Sharon Mann for food service update. Good evening. As well, Dr. Crockett asked me to come and give an update on food service. Oh, I'll start by letting you know Elaine Edens, which is the manager at the primary school, will be retiring after 30 years of service to our district. So, um got big shoes to fill, and we've begun interviews this week. And hopefully we will find a qualified person to fill her
039position. And she also agreed to come back at the beginning of the school of this coming school year to help train if necessary. Um our district will continue to participate in the community eligibility provision program, which you know, provides our students to receive breakfast and lunch at no cost. And food service will continue to receive free reimbursement at 100% for each meal. So, that's a good that's a plus. We did see a decrease of participation at the primary school for both breakfast and lunch this year. But as I looked at it it's hard competing with Lunchables, chips fruit roll-ups, uh and Little Debbie cakes. I know that firsthand because my grandson fixes his lunch every morning, and he has those some of those items if not all of them. So, I do try to encourage
040him to put a fruit [laughter] or vegetable in there, you know, make it look good. Uh we did see an increase in participation for the middle school and high school as well for both lunch and breakfast, so that was a plus. Oh, so going forward, our plans to increase student participation are include new food items. I went back in January to Charleston, and we ta- food taste tasted and um had some, you know, new items that we can bring in. So, hopefully that'll help. Plus, we're going to conduct more food taste testing with our students throughout the school year as well, so What kind of things did you take? I mean, what's what's on that? >> Oh, there were empanadas. Uh yeah, so that's something different. Oh, trying to think what else. It was a
041it was a variety. >> yeah. Not I guess what we serve, well, which you know, what kids pizza and chicken. You give them hornet cakes. You give them hornet cakes. >> [laughter] >> No, maybe one day we'll get that back. I told I told Dr. Crockett I was going to do that, and we never did for the football team being successful this year, and we never got to do it, so um but also as a part of our K5 K through 5 nutrition standards for elementary schools, managers with primary and middle school will meet twice a year with some students from fourth and fifth grade to cover nutrition material and encourage input regarding selection of food items that kids would like to try or see on our menu. So, hopefully we'll get some good input
042from that. Um some issues we may face with the new dietary guidelines though include strict limits on added sugar, lower sodium, maintaining strict calories, saturated fat, and trans fat standards. Um this could have some impact on our participation and as well as manufacturer production, um they've got to go back and recalculate all this, and then vendor availability of food items as well. So, could have an effect on operations and staff in our kitchens. Um We've talked and I've talked with Dr. Crockett about this uh upgrades [clears throat] to our middle school cafeteria starting with the serving line, which is going to cost us somewhere around 70,000. Just for a serving line, so but this is a needed item because our kids what we have now is a standard height for primary students, not middle middle
043school students. So, and plus be less laboring on staff and when serving the students and stocking the serving line. So, no more of the bad backs. Got to keep them healthy. Uh and then I spoke with Amy Crockett Amy Crockett, listen to me. Amy Stabler. Uh Dr. Crockett had talked to me about going and visiting some of their schools cuz they came had the company come in and did wall graphics, table design graphics. Something to, you know, make our kids I guess more inviting to our students to come into the cafeteria. So, I'll get with you on that cuz I just had talked to her about that. I think when we discussed it that was when all this bad weather came and we just never got to go down there. Oh, I met with Ali
044Cammack and to discuss the possibility of a vegetable products being grown at the high school and purchased from the lunch rooms, which she happily agreed to. But I will still need to talk with the Department of Ag and South Carolina Farm School with State Department for more information on how to proceed with this project, so and then possibly we have talked with you as well about opening up to schools. I know some schools have done like sweet potatoes grown, you know, kids have grown sweet potatoes, so and then eat, you know, lunch room cooked them and they got to eat them, so just something for them to say, "Hey, I grew that." >> [laughter] >> So, and that's all my updates. Does anybody got any questions? That's wonderful. All right. Thanks for what you do,
045Michelle. Okay, thank you. you very much. Thank you. >> great job. I mean, you you're well invested into the the the health of our of our students. I mean, there's if we think about it, how important this is, we're talking if we want to look at at potentially addressing behavior issues, um then you take a look at breakfast. And if and you know, if we take want to take a look at uh making sure the kids are are are engaged in in in in their uh academic work, then having a strong meal is obviously going to play a big role in that. So, super thankful for Sharon. She's she's uh she's the one that turns the lights off in the evening. She's there and uh she she's well invested in making sure we're up-to-date and
046compliant with all of our food nutrition standards. So, well well done, Sharon. Real proud of you. Thank you, Sharon. Okay. I'm going to head on and go fry chicken. >> [laughter] >> The chair again will defer to Dr. Crockett as he talks uh begins a financial review talking about budget preparations. Okay, great. Thank Thank you very much. Uh we're just I'm just going to give a really quick overview. Uh next month we we intend to uh start diving into the first reading of our budget, but I think it's always really important for us to take a look at what our priorities need to be and then start to focus a budget around those priorities instead of seeing what we have and then trying to uh say what can we do with what we have. So,
047there's there's a there's there's a fine line there. There's a balancing act. Um and and so, I think it's always important for us to say, "Okay, what what are our needs?" And what what are the things that we're going to try to be focusing in on. But, I want to share with you that we've worked really diligently in putting ourselves in a position uh of uh uh to succeed and a position of a position to to be successful down the road. I want to just quickly share this with you. You know, um as we begin drafting our budget, we'll be prioritizing these key objectives. Okay, the first one is we need to increase safety across our district. I think all of us would agree. So, that's going to be something that's we're you should be
048able to see in our budget. Ensuring complex structures are in place to support the needs of our early learners. We're seeing some really unique um uh needs uh especially in our early grades uh that we're that that is there's got to be some extra support in place to kind of help those teachers. Um and and also some some unique unique needs across the district that we need to be uh uh in position to help and support. And so, uh we'll be looking at at ways to to try to address that. Always going to be trying to expand student opportunities and support all of our valued employees. I want you to note that we didn't we didn't say that um our our certified staff. Um we said we said that our valued employees. Um cuz we
049we do feel that all of our employees play a very very critical role um in our success. And so, um that's just a just a little bit of a highlight as to where where we're going. And we're we're close watching very closely what's taking place at at the state level. Uh we're we're starting to get uh an idea of what's what our revenues will be and what we're going to be working with. And um I feel I feel confident we're in a position uh to be successful down the road. And so, um uh but we have to be uh calculated have to be intentional and and uh forward focused as we as we go through these next couple months here. So, um with that, that's kind of a little bit of an overview of what
050to expect coming next month. I'll I'll be sharing some more information with you throughout the month as well. Uh try try to let you know of of trends that as soon as I get those trend trend data from the Senate our our final budget, so we can make some decisions accordingly. Do you have any idea how long that will take before they I I I I at least by May 14th, I believe. Yeah, I think that's that that I think most most of those bills are are are passed by May 14th. I knew it was May 14th. All right. Any Any questions about that? Okay. All right. I'll I'll be in touch as as things develop. Under tab one, you will see that we have two requests for a field trip um possibilities. The first
051is from Miss Ally Caymax for the FFA summer camp in North Myrtle Beach, which has always been something everyone looks forward to. June 1st, returning June 5th. And Coach Bryan is requesting a overnight stay for a golf tournament in Myrtle Beach [clears throat] and out May 10th and returning May 11th. The chair is requesting that we uh approve both of these requests as so presented. I'd like a motion to approve the two field trip form requested. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, sir. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. The chair will now defer again to Dr. Crockett to discuss the asphalt project as well as the South Carolina Department of Education dis- uh strategic compensation pilot. Okay, uh we'll start with tab two. So, that's going
052to be the the asphalt project. We do know that there's some potholes that are starting to develop in a few areas on the horseshoe. And so, we had conducted a a sealed bid. We put that out for procurement on the state procurement site. Um we reached out to um and personally reached out to at least seven vendors to make sure that they were aware of the project just to make sure that we get the most competitive bid that's that was be available out there. Um that this project will go all the way around the horseshoe and then kind of loop back around the the library side parking lot that's just right right out here. Um and that will also include being re-striped. And um and so, uh the procurement process ended today. The sealed bid
053pro- uh pro- pro- uh process uh um the bids were due at 2:00. We opened those bids at 2:15 today. And so, uh we had three peop- three individuals apply. Um what I would like to do just so we can go cuz so so neat, I'd like to to ask that um we approve the project not to exceed uh 372,000 to complete that project. Uh I expect it to be well under that, okay, based upon our bids. I don't want to make a formal um proposal at this moment cuz we need to go through those bid tra- uh bid proposal proposals. Make sure we have all of our con- contractor licenses. Make sure we have all this work comp uh worker compensation forms, all those things in place. And so, we have [clears throat] if
054we approve it at 372 not to exceed 372, I feel confident we can get it uh at that price and under. Dr. Crockett, how quickly would they begin working on that? They assured me everyone who had and part of the bid process was if the work was to be completed in June. Okay. >> So, everyone had assured me that would be completed in June and that their calendars already are available for that project to be completed. And I followed up today with those three vendors and said, "June project?" All three nodded yes. Completed in June. I think this is well needed and it's um the uh thank you. And thank you for going to the the extent you did for the uh variety of bids that you received. You've heard the recommendation from the superintendent.
055And the chair is asking for approval for the asphalt project to be completed by June not to exceed 372. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the pave- paving project presented to exceed no more than $372,000. Thank you, sir. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? Did they all give a similar time frame of when it would be completed? With- within June. Just sometime within June. >> Within June, yes. So, okay. Yeah, and and so, cuz that here's the the situation with that is um one, we don't want it to interfere with school start date of school, you know, mid- mid-July. But, we also have summer school going on. And we have all these um projects that are taking place. And so, um Mr. Rice already today
056and and the principals have met on plans for summer school. And we believe that we could host summer school here in the PD room and have back entrance from the library parking. And so, those accommodations uh can be made. But, if we start getting to July, those those accommodations they they they start to shrink. They have band band practice, all sorts of things that's going to take place out there. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. The next um Dr. Crockett. Sure. Um and so, in tab three, uh I want to present tonight uh a a unique opportunity. This is this is something that uh our state legislators have proposed um that there would be a a pilot program uh for the schools across South Carolina uh that
057potentially could be eligible to participate in and and uh in a compensation pilot. Um, it's it's, uh, not something that we designed. Okay? This is just something that's out there. Uh, we don't we don't frame it how it should work or who's eligible to participate. There's just a it's simple pilot program for math and ELA teachers um, to be the schools to be entered into the pilot and they would look and focus entirely on student growth on end of year assessments. Okay? Uh, and so looking at this, um, where Shoals Middle School was selected. Okay? In full transparency, um, we could suggest the school to go in. And so the when looking at that, we have, I think, four EOC teachers at the high school. We have um, we have uh, just a few teachers
058at the primary school for SC ready. But we have the majority of uh, applicants for this pilot at the middle school. Okay? And so we said if we're going to go in, let's see how many folks could be possibly impacted by this. And so, uh, looking at this, I said before we go any further, before before we start going down this road, um, I think it's important that we recognize uh, what impact it could potentially have on a school. And so, uh, I said, okay, Ware Shoals Middle we just recognize them. I mean, Shoals has a great thing going on. And so, we wouldn't never want to try to uh, jeopardize the things that that they've established and their their track record of success and the culture that they have put in place there. And
059so, we worry when those compensation pilots start coming in, could that could take away from what's already been established. So, we got to walk through this very very cautiously. And so, the first thing we did was we said, let's let's reach out to our teachers. Okay? These are the people who have established this culture. Uh, let's see what their opinions are. And so, as of um, as [clears throat] of the I I surveyed those teachers, I made myself available after school to answer any questions that they may have. And uh, there was overwhelming support for it. Uh, to a point where it was about 67% was the final final number. We had 40% We had about 33% uh, that shared some caution for it. So, the overwhelming majority of those uh, teachers were in favor
060of of that pilot. The ones who said no and even the ones who had had indicated yes, but proceed with caution, really were concerned about um, the recognition piece. Where are you saying, well, you know, cuz some of these awards can go from $500 and in some cases we've seen in some districts where it was up to $30,000 for, you know, top of the line growth for in some of these areas. And so, to to say to a teacher, you have a value of $500 and you have a value of $10,000 or you have a value of whatever that compensation whatever whatever's earned in this pilot, um, that's that's I would say, in my opinion, a culture buster. You know, that's that's that's going to kind of take away from you you know, that's that's
061how you have hard feelings uh, pretty quick um, because you knew you work hard, um, but your group of students might be unique, all sorts of factors that could come into play. So, looking at this, it comes down to a point of saying, hey, do we want to um, say, hey, we're we're not going to touch this and deny those teachers an opportunity to be successful and in this pilot? Um, or do we want them to have that opportunity and and proceed in a way that could be done discreetly? For example, I would propose that um, if we enter into this program, which is my recommendation, which is the support of the majority of the teachers that are there, um, that we do it in a way where we do not take big pictures. We
062don't have big checks. We don't have anything along those lines where no one would recognize and no one know who earned what. And so, at the end of the year, when the pilot comes in, we have a teacher who has $500. There's a small little envelope. I would tell them, thank you for your hard work. That's it. There's a teacher who has extremely strong growth. Then we would take the position of saying, hey, Great job, look. And um, that way there's not we're not having this compensation cause a division in our school. The pilot is intended to award um, teachers who demonstrate strength, but not it's not intended to split split the school. So, I think if done well, if done well, we um, and the way that we've thought this through, we could do
063it in a scenario in which um, we we follow the nature of the pilot, but not to take away from um, the hard working individuals in all subjects. Um, and that those who may have a unique year. Um, they could they might be on maternity leave. They may have have sickness and be out three weeks. That could impact those things. So, those are those are lots of variables to work through. But this is the the best way that I know how to kind of walk through this and be able to allow those teachers to have opportunity to earn additional compensation in this pilot. Can I uh, Dr. Crockett, is there any indication from the state department this time that they will expand that pilot or to to what degree is that a possibility? >> Well,
064I think uh, this is the second year of the pilot. Okay. And so, it's it's um, a continuing on. I'm very fortunate. I'm I'm very thankful uh, that we were able to see pockets of excellence, who have individuals who who have who have uh, done have done this well. I've seen other situations that I've learned from as well to say, hey, you know, this is we might be able to do it a little bit different. And so, um, this is the the best way that I know how to to if, you know, proceeding with this that we could uh, still reward those teachers. Um, I hope that it would expand. The answer is yes. I would I I would like to see it expand on all subject levels. Uh, I would like to see it
065personally. There's a whole bunch of things I would like to see change. I would like to see it more of a school based initiative cuz you get wonderful wonderful art teachers and music teachers and school librarians and all those computer teachers that are not included in this pilot. So, somehow I would love to see it more of a school initiative where everyone would in that school would be supportive of it and um, could benefit from that pilot. >> It looks like it has the potential to do that. >> And so, it would also include uh, high school teachers and middle school or just middle school? Uh, this year is just just the middle. Just the middle. But I know they're doing conducting pilots in the younger grades as well and looking [clears throat] at more
066of formative assessments, things like where like MAP testing um, and those types of things like So, there's a lot of pilots that are they're going through. This is just >> Yeah, they're trying to to to kind of figure out what works. Exactly. Yeah. I think you're right. That's a good way of putting it. I think you're right. You've heard the recommendation of the superintendent to participate in the South Carolina Department of Education's Strategic Compensation Pilot. The chair asks for a motion to approve. I'll make a motion to approve the strategic compensation pilot program as presented by Dr. Crockett this evening. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, sir. Any discussion? Further discussion? >> [clears throat] >> Um, I I want to say that I'm I'm just so pleased with how you
067have framed it and how you want to work with it and um, the sensitivity that you have for everyone there. Uh, and uh, I think that makes it successful. It's not a dog and pony show. It is far more important than that. So, I wish the middle school um, it's just great. I hope it expands to all three schools. Wonderful faculty we have. Any other comments? Then all those in favor say, "Aye." Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries, sir. Thank you for your support. Certainly. Now, monthly finance review. I think you've covered the important part, Dr. Crockett, with um, giving us what you're going to prepare your budget on. And what I would like to ask is my um, general questions and I'm is that are there any questions as you look through your packet
068concerning the activity budget of the high school? I just I'm really impressed with these figures and I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into breaking those down and especially in terms of revenue and what they sell and what how that folds in. I don't believe anybody would have um, a question about Sharon Mann's budget, but I always ask. Um, she is a wonder woman and the love of my heart. But, it sounds like a lot of good things are happening there. And when we get the overall general fund balance statement, I do hope you look through that last page. And you watch where we are in our budget. Um, we're in the we're in the the groove, as they say. And a budget's not Well, my checkbook is total uh proof of this.
069A budget is a guess. At best, a guess based on everything working. And it's working, sir. And I uh I really appreciate it. We uh when we talked about the asphalt program, we're budget prepared to to pay for that. And that that doesn't happen by accident. And there's a lot more things that are going to help benefit everyone in our district. Does anyone have any questions concerning the general fund balance? I I would like to bring to the the board's attention as well that we we are we had a meeting last week with a commercial bank bank in town to uh begin looking within the next 90 days of transitioning some of our smaller accounts over. Uh we want to make sure that we're supporting our business in Ware Shoals. And so, um we're trying
070to take a look at some of our smaller accounts, go through that transition, look at our pain points if there's any that exist, and and potentially start working uh through through some of that. Um I also had a meeting last last week with with uh Department of Revenue. Uh and uh what incredible support that we have from uh the Greenwood County. Yeah. Uh they they are um from everyone from their their auditors to their to their team uh supporting us with our monthly uh finance um bills. So, everyone's on the same page. We're going through a reassessment in Greenwood County, and so that's has some impacts on us as well. That we're trying to make some forecast, some decisions based upon that. So, lots of things happening behind the scenes, but lots of great people
071in Greenwood County supporting us along the way. Absolutely. No question about it. If there is or no further comments from the group, the chair has a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, ma'am. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Everyone can go home. Um just just something else, too, I want to share with you. There's the South Carolina School of Association. They they've sent us this um Yes. >> bulletin like the like yard marker, and they asked that we would get a a photo of it, and and um and so that's okay. I thought maybe we could put it at the on the floor of the high school near the Hornet, and maybe just kind of showcase that as well.
072So, we can run over there really quickly. I know you guys are talking, I'm sure you're really interested in how it's going