001Good evening and thank you for joining us. At the November 3 board work session. Before we begin, I would like to ask Ms. Melanie. Wellens to give an invocation and a pledge of allegiance. Let us pray. Our most gracious and loving God, we come to you tonight to thank you for all of your many blessings that you have bestowed upon each and every one of us represented here. I humbly ask that you open our minds and our ears and our hearts to see and. Hear that your will be done in all that we intend to do tonight. I pray that each of us would be good stewards for you in and out of this. Boardroom, and I thank you for all that you are doing, and we'll continue to do in each of our lives.
002Please continue to provide the hedge of protection over our teachers, our schools and our students. And as we approach this holiday season, lord, I just pray that we all. Pause, give thanks and praise you in all that we do. For it is you that makes all things possible. I ask all of these things in your most precious son, Jesus name. Amen. Amen. To the Republic. Which stands one passion under God. Individual with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Thank you, Miss Wellens. Now, we need an approval of the agenda. Second. All in favor, say aye. Those like sign that's passed. Next will be approval of the minutes for October 20. Second, Mr. Chairman. Oh, you second. Okay. All in favor, say aye. Opposed like son. We're done. Now we're into discussion, Mr. Barnard. You give
003us an update on the human Resources Committee meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had. A great. Discussion this afternoon. Mr. Gardner and Mrs. Anderson and her staff. Gave us quite a few information briefings. Which should provide the superintendent nipple measure as he goes through the budget process. Some of the items we looked at were cost increase, assistant principal salaries. Costing them with additional assistant principal. Cost. Of the additional position. At each school for an acting assistant principal. Allocation formula for kindergarten. Addition of a teacher position. For testing coordinator and the in depth look at the hiring process. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Barner. Next, I'd ask Mr. Johnson to give us an update on Polly policy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had a great policy committee meeting this afternoon. It was very productive. And
004I want to commend the committee members for their hard work and commitment to becoming extremely well prepared. Today, I appreciate that and the other board members who participated in our productive conversations. We approved our October. Six minutes and we reviewed the draft of the following policies on BSR two. We decided to forward to the full board with a recommendation to approve. On BSR three. We discussed it thoroughly and asked the superintendent to go back and incorporate some changes in the language. We began our review of BSR four and decided. That we needed some further clarification and simplification so that will come back to us again in January with BSR three, then. We also. Began our work on GC six, which is a survey form. It's only a portion. Of the requirements in GC six, and
005we have a little more work to do on that. That we will take up again in January. Please be aware that. On the 25 26 annual work plan adopted by the board. There are twelve policies that are scheduled to be reviewed in January. That is not feasible, considering. The rolling forward of the other policies that we have. So I would beg the board's indulgence, our committee members. Indulgence? I think we are displaying a good faith effort. To make progress. And I believe we've decided not to make amendments to the work plan, but just be more diligent in our schedule and going forward for the next year's work plan. That completes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dawson. Very well said, Mr. Generet. Communicating with the board. Good evening, Chairman Cox, Vice chair Wellens, board
006members of Mr. Jones. I stand before you in reference to. Operational expectation eight, which is communicating with the board. Is the superintendent's way to make sure that you're in to know what's. Going on in reference to being fully inadequately informed about various things involving the system. Also making sure that we present to you our oe expectation. Operational expectations and also inform you of any other information in a timely manner and that we gather information from our stakeholders through the various captain meetings that we have periodically throughout the year. So in reference to oe eight communicating with the board. This is the information that we will have for you to confirm and vote for at your next board meeting. Any questions? I don't hear seeing these, so go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Lee James,
007our one literacy, please. Front and center. Good evening. Chairman Cox, vice chair Wellens, board members and Mr. Jones. I want to start by thanking you for another opportunity to come before you and discuss some of our students most outstanding work. And that is, of course, in the area of literacy. Included in your agenda packet tonight is a copy of the r one monitoring report. This. Report outlines results from our literacy assessments and the key inputs, processes, and strategies that we use to generate these reports tonight. I'll walk you through several charts included in the report. While many of these may have been shared in previous updates, curriculum meetings, and board meetings. They certainly are worth repeating, and there are a few additional. Insights into our students literacy performance that we'll be covering tonight. And so,
008without further ado we will start with our youngest learners, those in child development. The individualized growth and development indicators assessment is administered to child development students at the end of their pre k year. This assessment helps inform kindergarten placement by identifying students developmental progress based on their performance. Students are placed in one of four tiers across five skill areas. Student scoring in. Tier one demonstrate appropriate progress that are not expected to need intervention in kindergarten. Those in the cut range category require further review to determine whether intervention may be necessary or not, and will use a variety of sources of information to triangulate their skills. Student scoring in tiers two and three are likely to need additional targeted support during their kindergarten. Year to reach their literacy goals. Overall, the majority of students exiting the
009child development program. Last year demonstrated sufficient progress and will not require intervention during this year. The kindergarten readiness assessment, or KRA, is a statewide assessment required by the department of Education. Is administered to kindergarten students at the beginning of their school year. Scores for the current academic year not yet available because this is a comprehensive assessment requiring. A large window of time to administer. Actually, the window just closed last week. The results displayed in this report reflect last year's kindergarten cohort. Those students are now in first grade. It is important to note that these scores. Represent each child's starting point and do not capture the growth that occurs throughout the kindergarten. Year. As a result of intensive literacy instructions. Last year, 28.5% of kindergarten students demonstrated foundational skills and behaviors, indicating their readiness for school.
010An additional 37.6%. Of students were approaching readiness, while 34% of students showed emerging readiness. Results on the 2025 KRA assessment will be shared with teachers and school leaders and will inform instruction and intervention during the kindergarten year. Bibble's assessment. The dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills, or dibbles, the set of assessments designed to measure. Students to measure development of key early literacy skills. This assessment is administered three times each year in the fall, the winter, and the spring to kindergarten students through second grade. These results help teachers monitor literacy growth and guide instructional decisions throughout the year. The chart displays results from last school year. This chart displays result. Results from last school year. At the beginning of the year, 51% of kindergarten students in kindergarten through second grade scored at or above benchmark.
011By the end of the year, that number increased. To 80%, representing a gain of 30%. This chart shows the performance of kindergarten through second grade students at the start of the current school. Year. The beginning of the year results are similar to those from last year and reflect a very similar starting point with our continued focus on literacy and the dedicated efforts of both teachers and students. To strengthen literacy skills. We anticipate. This year's growth to exceed those seen last year. Our next formative assessment is the Map test. The measures of academic progress reading test is administered. Three times each year to students in grades three through five. For students in grades six through eight. The I ready reading diagnostics serves as their formative reading assessment and is also administered three times each year. Both
012assessments result in a lexile measures for each student, allowing us to make comparisons between different assessments. This chart displays results from last year. Students in grades three through five increased their median lexile by 115 points, while students in grades six through eight increased their lexile by 90 points. This graph shows the beginning of the year reading performance for students in grades three through eight. Students in three through five are starting the year with the same median Lexile as last year. While students in the middle school are beginning the year with 25 more Lexile points. This is a testament to the work that's done in our earliest years and is certainly going to help our students moving forward throughout the year. The Access for L's 2.0 is an assessment administered annually to multilingual learners who have
013not yet demonstrated english language proficiency to be considered proficient. And exit direct services in the SOL, students must earn a composite of 4.4 beginning in the 23 24 school year. The definition of proficiency was updated to remove the requirements for individual indicator scores prior to that year, students had to have an overall composite of 4.4 and a score of four. Higher in four, Dom. Domains. As a result, students who are close to meeting readiness criteria were able to exit the ESL program. Last year, we did see a decline in the percent of students showing proficiency to 16%, which could be expected after a change like that. However, the 16% is more than double the number. The percentage of students exiting the program. And the two and three years prior. Next we will look at the
014sd. Ready ela results. SC ready. ELA Test is a summative assessment that measures students proficiency in South Carolina English language art standards, students receive one of four designations. Does not meet approaches, meets or exceeds. This chart displays the percentage students percent of elementary and middle school students who meet or exceed the standard, indicating they have demonstrated proficiency on grade level standards. Last year elementary students showed a notable improvement with a 5.1% increase in the percent meeting. Or exceeding. Expectation 5.1% in one year is outstanding, in my opinion. Middle school students also demonstrated growth with nearly 60% scoring meek to exceeds on the end of your assessment. Our final assessment is the English two end of course exam. This assessment is also state creative. It is state created. It is a summative assessment that is administered
015to high school students at the end of their English two course. This assessment produces a numerical score between zero and 100, which counts to the student's final exam grade and ultimately. 20% of their final course average. These scores are converted to letter grades a through f and the charts here demonstrate the percent of students passing the assessment and those earning a c or higher last year, nearly 90% of students in the past English, two EOC and 75% earned a score of c or. Higher, and both of those numbers represent about a 2% increase from the previous year. I'd like to conclude tonight by highing some of these outstanding success. Successes shown in this report. Last year, students demonstrated higher performance on both formative and summative assessment in nearly every area measure. Lexile scores increased on
016the map test and the I ready test double scores improved, and we saw an increased proficiency on the SD. Ready, ela and EOC exams. The gains shown here are direct result of hard work from teachers, parents, students and school leaders. But they're not alone in this effort. This also reflects your hard work as well. You have given us the resources you've laid the path, set the goals that have allowed us. And laid the foundation for us to excel. So I want to encourage you to join in with us. These are not simply our results. They're yours as well. And just want to say. Thank you for your continued support of our students literacy. And at this time I'll entertain any questions, chat. Any questions? Hearing, none. Thank you for a job well done, Lee. You
017may see Mr. Gardner if. You would, please. Financial administration. Good evening. Chairman Cogs. Vice Chairman Wellens. Board members. Mr. Jones. We're going to talk about the days oe six is according to your quarterly financial report. You should have received a copy of it about two weeks ago, and I'm here. To answer any questions that you may have. Everything looks good. We're right on target. Questions. Thank you, Mr. Gordon. Mr. Birch, baseball and sophomore funding request, if you please. Mr. Chairman, Ms. Vice Chairman, members of the board. Mr. Judge, as we discussed at the last facilities committee meeting. We have worked diligently to maintain the scope, quality and necessary code upgrades. The baseball softball modernization project. But we've been unable to fit the improvements into the original allocations established in 2023. We are requesting a reallocation
018of $8,600,000 from existing residual funds. For use in the overall five year project. The residual funds requested come from the 2021 24 building program. The 2024 to 2029 major construction fund. And the 2024 to 2029 residual sales tax. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have about that. We've confirmed all the funds with Mr. Gardner and the money is available. Mr. Cook and then Mr. Barner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Joe, do you remember? So nothing in these plans have changed. This is really just the same plan we had back in 2023, I guess. Yes, sir. When? We first came up with this. We didn't add anything or do anything. We didn't. Really add anything. We value engineered a few things out and tried to save some funds. We knew we were going to
019have that. Yes, sir. Okay. Do you have? In your. Do you remember what the total would have been for this project? Yes, sir. And I may get the number a little bit off, but. The one we presented to the board. In March of 2023 was, I believe, 43 or $44 million. For baseball softball. Okay. That was also part of the larger $197,000,000. Right, just for that. No more cost. Thank you, Joe. Mr. Barner. Thank you, Mr. De barge. When. You originally put these numbers together? Did you think you had enough money to use and spoke? We were doing everything we could to get it into the $25 million allocation that was given. To us in 2023. We got to the point where. We were going to have to significantly cut the scope and quality to
020get it in there, so. When I realized that, that's when we started bringing information back to you. Mr jones. Sucks. The high school has waited a long time. For. Slow fall and baseball facility. The problem I have is. We could have done. This scheduling better. We could have extended it another year. And made it a six year program. As opposed to five. I told you before, this has an appearance of bait and switch. You put those of us to live on the east side of the waterway between a rock and. A hard place. Because it's our schools that are on the end of the five year plan. And you force us to have to go through this even though we knew we didn't. Have the money to do it. That disappoints. Miss Edmunds. Thank you.
021Please help me. I believe I read that we paid a consultant to come in and help us. Formulate this plan. Was that? $70,000? Approximately. Okay. What is included in your current plan with the $8 million ask that was not included. In the plan that the consultant proposed. The only major changes originally, and some of them honestly, Were. Well, I go through a few of them with you. One of them was we did increase the seating a little bit in the stadium bleachers from the original 2022 master plan. So those went up a little bit. We had originally funded or planned to replace every field. Just completely destroy the sod. Put a brand new sod in. We realized that was not going to fit in this budget. So we've backed up. That effort and are doing
022drainage and irrigation and improving the fields, but. We're not completely stripping them out. The other things that were in that original plan. That weren't where. There were two high schools, I believe. Where? The baseball and softball fields are slightly facing the wrong direction. And to get them correct for the sun orientation, we would literally have to demo the entire field. And build it up from scratch. Those were included in the original budgets of the $44 million so. We had four or five fields we were going to completely destroy, rebuild from the ground up, which is about two to $3 million a field. So we decided that was not cost efficient, and that's the way we've been. Able to get it down below that. So we've backed off some things that were in the original plan.
023To be quite honest, we haven't really added much. We backed away from a few things. But we're still $8 million, almost 9 million. 86. In need for. Basic field construction. Basic. Seating Basic. Just to make it just be okay. Well, and I'll say there's a couple. Of things in this first round. And each round of schools is going to be a little more. Different. They're going to be nuances to each one of them. But in this first round. What we found was that in order to do the stadium style seating at Conway, And I think I went over this facilities committee meeting. We had to demo their existing concession stand. That was never in the original plan. So we had to build them a new concession stand to make that work. And then Ayner, we
024had to do the same. With their press box. To make all that work there, they had to be demoed. What? That. Required us to build a new concession stand and additional restrooms. So we had a couple of things. That kind of bloomed on us. When we realized these things weren't going to work. So that's some of the cost, and then some of it is inflation. As well as things like some tariff impacts and some other things we're experiencing. Thank you. Mr. Birch. You're welcome. Any more questions, Mr. Chair? Yes. Mr. Birch. Thank you. I know you've labored long and hard, and you hate to. Come ask us for more money. Yes, ma'am, that is correct. And I appreciate that. I would just like us to be cognizant of the fact as Mr. Barnard so rightly
025points out. Those of us east of the waterway are waiting until the very end of this project for our schools to see. The results. Hopefully, there will not be substantial increases between now and then that will require you to come and ask for more money. But more than just the money that's being requested, this 8.6 million out of the capital budget. There's also opportunity cost. I believe I asked the question. How much? An additional. Capital sales tax is available. From which we're funding partially this project, and I was given a number. When we're looking at that residual capital sales tax money that. Is currently remaining, I would just ask that this board be cognizant of the fact that there are other requirements in this district beyond athletics, such as performing arts, science labs, robotics labs,
026other academic facilities and needs. We have special education facilities that need to be upgraded. In a number of schools in my district in particular. So I would ask that when we are weighing out what is most important and prioritizing, how we spend our capital money that we first of all recognize our primary purpose is academic needs. Of our students. Also understanding that we have a number of students who participate in a lot of different activities not just athletics. So I will support this because my schools need these. Stills. But please, in the future. I would like to see a more equitable distribution. Of our capital funds to meet all the needs of all of our students. Thank you. Any more questions. Thank you, Mr. Birch. And you say up there for selection awarded by PD
027construction contract for. Elementary. I'd be happy to. So this next item on the agenda, HCS has selected the architectural firm of SMHA to perform the professional services required to construct a new St. James elementary replacement facility on the existing site. As part of the overall effort, we have also solicited proposals from general contractors to perform the construction activities. We received three submittals from general contractors, and through our selection committee, we interviewed all three. Firms. I'm pleased tonight to bring you the recommendation from the selection committee to hire Thompson turner. Construction to provide the construction services. I also want to note that with the help and oversight of procurement, we have followed all district policies and procurement codes in the process of reaching this recommendation, be happy to answer any questions you may have. Questions, hearing
028none. I'll thank you, Mr. Bert. You may be seated. Mr. Neil James for the renaming of Rivertown Complex. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At our last facilities committee, we received a request from the Conway Area advisory board. A recommendation from them that we rename the gymnasium at the Rivertown complex to the willy. Chocolate great gym. Mr. Great was born in 1947 in Georgetown, but he attended school in the Conway. Area, graduating from Whittemore High School. He later went on to play at South Carolina. State University, where he. Played both football and basketball. He was drafted to play for the Buffalo Bills from 1969 and 1970. He later went to the Florida Sharks, where he played football until 1974. Mr. Great passed away in 1980 at the age of 33. He has been inducted into the South
029Carolina State University hall of Fame in 2008 and. He's really thought well of within the Conway community. And upon their request, facilities committee approved. This and are now bringing them forward to the full board for consideration. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Mr. James, for bringing this forward. I was not able to be present at the last meeting. I had over scheduled myself and I had to go on business. Out of town. But thank you so much for doing such a fantastic job, and thank the board. For considering this most worthy individual, who is indeed. A stellar athlete in two sports and has been recognized on. A state and a national level. So I feel it only proper that we be able to recognize and honor him on his hometown level. So
030I think this is something that we can do. We're talking about money. This. Will cost basically nothing. There's basically no cost associated with this, but we will reap tremendous returns in our community. And everybody in the community that I've spoken to is behind this. The advisory board met. And the persons that were present. We had seven out of our eight advisory board members there. They unanimously voted for this, and they're very much looking forward to it. And if you have any questions now and going forward, please feel free to ask. Thank you. Questions. Hearing? No. I'll turn it over to Mr. Jones. Good evening, board members. Chairman Cox, Vice chair Wellan community members. There's been breaking news today. I'm not sure if you've heard. I don't have all the things, but let me just give
031you some highlights. Ore county schools. Had stellar state report card results. It's a powerful representation of what our students and staff are doing together as they rise. During this time. Across South Carolina, fewer than half of the schools earned a rating of excellence or good. But here in ore county schools, 38 of our 57 achieve those top distinctions. That means nearly two thirds of our schools are leading the way in our state and importantly, not one Orie county school received an unsatisfactory. Rating. This doesn't happen by chance. This is a result of the dedication, the skill, the heart of our teachers, our staff, our principals. Our district team and our board. Our graduation rate. Is also something that I need to make sure I highlight. It climbed to 89.6%. Here. That's rare air here. It's
032the highest the system has ever seen. It's higher than the state average. More than 82% of our graduates who walked across the stage were deemed college and career ready and prepared to step in the next chapter of life. With purpose and skill. And let's celebrate one extraordinary accomplishment. It's tough to be one. There's a lot of numbers that follow, and scholars academy. They're number one. They earn 99.7 out of 100 points, making it the number one school in the entire state of South Carolina. Across every grade level. That is excellence defined. But these numbers reflect more than performance. They reflect a belief. The belief that a teacher has who stays and tutors a child after school. It's the belief that a bus driver has when they greet a student with warmth and by name. It's
033the belief a principle has who builds a culture with purpose and stands at the door, greeting all students every morning. It's the belief a parent has in their child when they read at night. Just 22 pages and they log it in Beanstack. It's the belief that a student has in themselves. When they step through the fact that they define themselves as not a math person, but Ace and math test. To every staff member in Orie county schools, I want to say thank you. Your work matters. Your belief in children matters and changes lives. And because of you, our collective future is brighter tonight. We celebrate. And tomorrow we're going to keep climbing because things are rising here in Oregon. County schools. And at this time, the next thing I need to rise is John washburn
034as he gets to the. Lectern and talks us through three to four slides, just briefly, to show. Us this accomplishment, John. Well, good evening, Chairman Cox, Vice Chairman Wellens, board members and thank you, Mr. Jones. Tonight, I am very delighted to be able to present a summary of the ore county school's performance. For 24 25 school year on the South Carolina school report cards. According to state legislation, each fall of South Carolina Education Oversight Committee publishes annual report cards for schools and districts. Schools receive a rating and scores on specific indicators that aim to inform parents and community members about the overall performance within the schools. I do want to note that district report cards do not receive overall ratings. In summary, we'll discuss tonight. What we will discuss tonight serves an essential tool for
035understanding how our schools are performing and where we need to focus our efforts moving forward. Remember, these report cards, as Mr. Jones said, are not just numbers. They represent the dedication and hard work of our students, our teachers and our staff. Now, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be able to share some really wonderful news with you tonight. Looking at our overall performance for 24 25. As Mr. Jones stated, 38 of our. Schools received a good or excellent rating. Notably, 28% of HCS schools achieved an excellent rating. This is a fantastic accomplishment, reflecting the dedication to providing a high quality education. Additionally, 71% of our schools earned either a good or average rating, showing a strong performance overall across the district. Lastly I'm happy to share that. Nine schools improved their overall rating from
036the. Previous year. This progress highlights our commitment to continuous improvement. And excellence in education. And as Mr. Jones alluded to, I too am thrilled to be able to share with us as a former high school principal, I'm very thrilled to be able to share with you some incredible news regarding our on time graduation rate. First and foremost, HCS has achieved its highest on time graduation rate ever, hitting an impressive 89.6%. This remarkable milestone showcases the incredible work of our educators and our students and the entire community at large. Furthermore, seven high schools exceeded the 90% mark. For on time graduation rates. This accomplishment highlights the commitment to educational excellence for every student. Lastly, we must celebrate the progress made by students with disabilities and english language learners whose graduation rates have increased by ten percentage
037points. From the previous year. This outstanding growth reflects the inclusive and supportive environment fostered by our exceptional teachers and administrators. These achievements are a true testament to our collective efforts in helping every student reach their full potential. As I have shared some tremendous accomplishments tonight, it is important that I also share some key improvement. Opportunities for our schools based on individual report card indicator results. Two stand out as areas of focus, student progress or growth at the elementary and middle levels and multilingual learner progress. These areas significantly affected overall scores for a number of our schools the first major point is the need to continue to support and provide effective interventions and to enhance academic growth for elementary and. Middle level students in English language arts and math, particularly those students performing in the lowest
038quartile. This is crucial for lifting our overall student performance. Additionally, we must prioritize supporting our multilingual learners, ensuring that they continue progressing towards English proficiency. by concentrating on these areas we can make meaningful strides in our school ratings and better serve all of our students and that concludes my presentation and i'll be happy to answer any questions you may have I don't have a question, but I would really like to see this board rise for a stand innovation for our teachers. Excellent. Thank you. And next tonight, board members, I've got some more recognitions. I'd. Like to call Jason Cox to the podium to go over some athletic accomplishments. Mr. Cox? Good evening. That's excellent news. Student athletes are working hard as well. Last week was a great week for athletics. Our girls golf teams. They
039were all represented in the state championships. Our Conway girls golf team was the class five. A runner up, division two runner up, Cassie Peters. Who is a 7th grader from St. James High School. She finished tide for second as an individual in the class five, a division two. Aner's girls golf team finished in second place for the class three a state championship. And senior from eightr high school. Ella Kate Barnett. She was the class three, a individual champion. She also won it last year. Ella Kate shot a four over 76 in the first round. Six over 78. The final day to win the state championship by four strokes. She plans to study and play golf at Anderson University next year. So congratulations allocate Barnett. Two of our boys varsity. Excuse me? Two of our boys
040volleyball teams also competed for a state. Championship over the weekend in Colombia, Carolina Forest played dormant. Panthers came up a little short, but they are the class five, a division one runner up, Sakisti High School. Defeated Kataba Ridge three to one to claim the class five a division two state championship. The Members of the Braves boys volleyball team are Keon Johnson, Chase Weatherton Jackson, Martin, Gavin Hoffman Gary zoo writer Rigsy. Tate nelson preston widener bryson smith ivan nye torn dirks ethan mitchell josh kaiser max duke, wyatt lane. They're coached by marshall welch, abby henson, and the head coach is gracie. Henson. So congratulations to the soccer Steve boys braze volleyball team tonight. The North Myrtle beach girls volleyball team is hosting the Conway girls volleyball team for the lower state class five, a division two
041state lower state championship. The winner of that game will go on and play Thursday for the class five, a state championship in Columbia. Tomorrow night, Myrtle beach is girls tennis team will travel to West Florence and they will compete for the lower state, class five, a division. Two championship. We have eight teams competing in the playoffs this year for football, the first round is this Friday night, two of those teams have a buy. Our cross country teams will be competing in their state qualifier this Friday and Saturday at Newbury College and just want to say good luck to all of our student athletes. Still competing. And again, congratulations to our state champions. Thank you. Couple more recognitions to bill. Just keep it rolling here in 2025, the South Carolina Council for social studies, civil rights
042and civil liberties Excellence and Teaching Award was given to Tracy Todd, Carolina Forest High School teacher. This award is given annually to his social studies teacher who inspires students. To be fully informed about their. Civil rights and civil liberties assured by the constitution to take informed action when they see injustices. And to be responsible, contributing members of our democracy. Congratulations to Ms. Todd. And next, we have our first annual. Warrior county schools jrotc veterans day ceremony. I want to encourage everybody to come out. And in honor of all of our veterans who have served, who are currently serving in our armed forces. All of our JROTC departments who are coming together. At Conway High School football Stadium at 1030 on Saturday, November 8. Let me just repeat that Conway High School 10:30 a.m. saturday, November
0438 come and see and be inspired by the greatness that's going on in here, in Orie county schools and see what servant leadership is all about. Finally. I got to attend. A community opening just down the road. Orie county schools welcomes the county's first parker's kitchen. A gas station, a convenience store, which held its ribbon cutting ceremony. Its new location in Conway on Monday, October 27. At the ceremony, Parker's kitchen presented Orie county schools with a $5,000 check as part of its fueling community program, which began in 2011 to give back to local public. Schools and support education in a meaningful way. I'd like to personally thank Greg Parker and his team and their dedication to their community. And if other people would like to be recognized. At this board meeting. $5,000 is what it
044takes. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Bora. Okay, so next, we need to adjourn this work session and. Convene a special co meeting. I need a motion. Motion to adjourn. Second. Favor, say aye. Negative. New. Okay, so now we're moving into business. Mr. Lee James utilization of General Fund balance for the Rise with Reading initiative. Good evening again, Chairman Cox, vice chairwell and board members of Mr. Jones. I want to reiterate. What I was saying earlier, the growth we've seen in our students reading scores simply is not possible without your support. You've shown how you can designate dedicate resources. To specific programs that have proven to be. Effective to help our students improve their literacy. Skills. Tonight I come before you to make another request for you to continue to support our students. Literacy growth. Tonight's
045request is for two and a half million dollars from general fund balance unassigned. Funds to support the rise of the reading initiative. With these funds, we will purchase a high school assessment that results in a lexile measure provide professional development for teachers. Provide resources for parents through a parent resource center in our school's library so parents can extend that reading learning into the home and provide some instructional resources that teachers can use in our classrooms to support students reading growth. Again, the federal request is two and a half million dollars to support the rise of the reading. Plan. Second. Can you please. On behalf of all students in our district and all teachers who will use these resources, I want to thank you for your support. Thank you, Mr. James. Next. Mr. Washer. Perception of
046stakeholders. Good evening again. At your last meeting, we presented information related to the r eight monitoring report. Perception. Of stakeholders. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try and entertain those now. Any questions? Need a motion. Move to approve, Mr. Chairman. Second. Okay. Please vote. That was unanimous. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Birch selection award of ipd construction contract. Thank you, Mr. Cox. As we mentioned earlier this evening, We have recommended to the board that Thompson Turner construction. Be hired to construct the new St. James elementary replacement School. We'd like to bring that to your decision tonight. Second. That was quick. Okay, please vote. Thank you. You may sit. Thank you. That was great. Okay. Are there any more advisory board seats that need filling? Are we all good? Okay, that's fine, Mr. Chairman.
047I moved to approve the consent agenda. All the favors say aye. Those like son, hearing none, move to adjourn.