001Austin County Board of Education board meeting to order the stands forever forum this dance we have a quorum all board members are present I'll ask um Terry Tippett to conduct the invocation and Kate Carroll if you'll do the Pledge of Allegiance our school systems that are in their best interest maybe we're not supposed to be able to have your name congratulations to the flag s of America thank you I'll now accept a motion to go into closed session Madam chair this time I make a motion that we enter a closed session pursuant to General statute 143-318-11 A1 3 and 6 to prevent the disclosure of confidential Personnel files under General statute 115-321 to consider matters relating to initial employment of an individual employee and to consort with the board's attorney in order to preserve the
002attorney-client privilege thank you I'll have a motion I'll ask for a second second second by Mr Donovan all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye 7-0 thank you welcome you back to our board meeting we have already had our invocation our Pledge of Allegiance and we have some really neat people in this room right now and we want to get to you just as fast as we can I do have a couple of things that we need to do um as we move through this agenda first I need approval of the minutes I will ask for a motion to approve the minutes of March 14 2023 regular session motion by Mr Carroll I need a second by Mr Tippett all those in any discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye
003aye next would be the approval of the March 14th closed session meetings minutes I ask a motion Mr Wooten I need a second by Mr Carroll all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye then I need approval of the um closed session minutes from February 7th I have a motion have a second Madam chair just as amended as amended yes that would be his motion okay okay the March 14th minutes were amended but approved okay so I have a motion for the previous for the February 7th now need a second second by Mr Donovan all those in favor indicate by saying aye aye 7-0 thank you all right we'll move through the adjustment adjustments to the agenda uh Mr Johnson no adjustments uh Mr Carroll no adjustment Mr Donovan no adjustments Mr Tippett
004no adjustments Mr Wooten I'm Madam chair I'd like to add consent for school nutrition contracted Services if you could add that to 9g4 that'd be on the the last item yeah okay I have a motion to amend do I have any uh Miss Anton okay I need a motion to I'll let that serve as a motion Mr woot do I have a second for that Amendment a second by Mr Carroll any discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye all right so that will be added to the very last item okay I will turn it over to Mr good afternoon Dr Bracey Madam chair Andrews Vice chair Tippett members of the board and Miss Cornetto as you can see we have a packed house we'll do tonight and this is group one
005of five so this is going to be a fun time for us tonight um let me first share with our family who's here with us tonight if your loved one is here being recognized this is your boardroom please feel free to get up move around the room go behind the board take pictures take your phones go up there and see your baby's faces that is A-Okay you can do that if you'd like to at this time and we really mean it please feel free to move all right and so we're going to start tonight with our academic competition recognitions and while these parents take us up on that honor I'm going to have Mr Lisa Johnson cohort come forward and she's going to kick things off thank you Caitlin good evening Dr Bracy and board
006members our CIA department is excited to recognize our JCPS students and coaches for their outstanding achievements and our academic competitions for the 22-23 school year we will begin this evening with recognizing our poetry out loud competition winners and if we have our poetry out loud folks please come forward I do know we have a few that are not here yeah come on terrific thank you so we have our winner for poetry out loud and that was Courtney Lasseter from Smithfield Selma High School and she was coached by Greer Suggs and they are actually out of the country as part of the IB Denmark partnership but if we could give them a big hand [Applause] and then our next winner is here this is Kylie Brooks from Early College Academy she is coached by Amanda Roland
007who also is our competition sponsor and host with Early College Academy let's give her a big hand and you can actually either way our next group that we will be recognizing is our math counts group and this is a middle school competition very excited it was in person this year and our students did a fabulous job at this competition we're going to start with our first place winners Cleveland Middle School team if y'all can come forward for our first place winners and when I call your names um if you will just put your hand up since we're going to have big groups just so our board members and all of our folks can see who you are okay so we're going to go ahead and get started we have Oren lamb Muhammad Alam Josie Parish
008Olivia Tolentino the coaches are Casey Atkinson and Carrie Cooper let's give them a big hand and y'all can walk through and shake the hands and these students should not go far we're going to see them again for second place we have North Johnson Middle School if those students can come forward please and again just put your hand up when I call your name so folks can see exactly who you are we have Aiden Hearst oh Ernst Angelina May Justin Carrillo and Sophia zonobi coaches are Kimberly cuddington and Michael Mauer let's give them a big hand right y'all can go forward and shake hands and our third place winners Cleveland Middle School another team from Cleveland Middle if y'all will come forward as well perfect we have for third place for Cleveland Middle we have Henry
009Blackman Rachel amand RB King and Colin Kroll coaches Casey Atkinson and Carrie Cooper let's give him a big hand in the whole team y'all can shake hands all right we now have our top three overall winners please come forward as I say your name for these students for first place we have Marley Barber with Meadows School we have for second place or in lamb for Cleveland Middle and for third place we have Olivia Tolentino from Cleveland Middle and Oren is also from Cleveland Middle let's give them a big hand and can you all can you all say for one moment because I'm going to be saying many of these names again um longest winning streak this is for the top countdown round mathletes is Mohammed Alam please come forward if you're still here first place
010is Oren lamb second place Marley Barber and third place Olivia Tolentino if you all give up a big hand and you can shake hands and I do want to thank JCC we use their facility for this event and they were so helpful with that so thank you to JCC as well we're going to move on now to spelling bee this is an elementary and middle school competition Elementary School for first place if you all will come forward if you were first place for the elementary school and that's Emily wood come on over Emily Emily is from Meadows school and she's coached by Lisa scholer and yes she can come on forward too let's give her a big hand and then you can shake the hands of everybody all right now second place for spelling bee
011Elementary School Sophia Radford if you're here come on forward from South Smithfield Elementary and she was coached by Charlene Sproul let's give her a big hand and our third place is Cole Johnson Cole if you'll please come forward Cole from Riverwood Elementary and coached by John Foote let's give him a big hand and you can go forward and shake hands okay now we're going to move into our Middle School spelling bee Champions here first place Olivia Tolentino come on forward from Cleveland Middle School she was coached by Sue Miller and do you remember your winning word memes something very very common for our teenagers today and coached by Sue Miller of course and so let's give her a big hand and you go around and shake hands [Applause] yeah and and let me also share
012this about Olivia she will be moving to the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the end of May um she also was chosen from Scripps to be in a promotion video there were only I believe only three students that were selected for this so she's going to represent herself of course in Johnston County public school so we're very excited to see that video uh second place winner uh Connor come on forward here Connor Callaway from Riverwood Middle School coach by Melissa Marin awesome job let's give him a big hand and you can go ahead and shake hands Connor you can shake hands awesome and for third place Carson Loy come on forward from innovation academy coach by Sean connerford let's give him a big hand awesome and you go around and shake hands you can shake
013it it's perfect okay and our teams are going to get bigger here we go our next group is Battle of the books Elementary thank you parents thank you thank you Clint all right if we could have our elementary school winners come on right to the front and for first place we'll put you on this side and this side we can split the two teams up we want to make sure everyone can see your faces totally fine okay we are going to um recognize our elementary Battle of the books winners and I do want to say we literally just had this competition literally right before spring break so in students when I call your name if you could raise your hand so our board members and everybody at home can see who you are as well
014okay okay so here we go this is Pine Level Elementary School and participants are Aniston cheers Ella gray McKinley holder Giovanni Knight Sawyer Murray Avery Scott Audrey Smith Layla Stewart Carter Thornton and Logan Willoughby coaches are Karen Parker and Jennifer bear let's give them a big hand [Applause] foreign we'll switch things up this time oh wow behind the board if you would like to and take pictures and while they're coming in I just want to say about um Battle of the books these kids do read so many novels to be successful with this I was part of the middle school competition I was the scorekeeper and they work very hard there's a lot for them to remember so excellent job to all of these students so our Middle School winners this is North Johnston Middle
015School and here are the participants yamalot abaca Hernandez Madison Brock Michaela Brown Savannah Creech Avery hinnett Bella key Claire kornegay Dalton Langston Zachary Stanley McKenna swam excuse me and JC yarber the coaches Cindy Pettigrew and Tanya Hoy let's give them a big hand and if you guys go ahead McKenna go right ahead goal we'll give them a minute they're still celebrating the team could not be here tonight but of course their pictures are up there and uh they are familiar faces uh they also uh won last year I believe as well um so for clay in high school the participants kalista Campos Sarah duquay Riley Ferguson Avery Falls Elia Gibson Kennedy Knight Ethan Morris saskia parish and Savannah quintus and the coach is Deanne Holcomb so let's give them a big hand and you two
016can go ahead and shake hands [Applause] all right this group that we have right here this is an elementary team and this is for Science Olympiad uh they were Varsity first place overall and this is Polenta Elementary School and students as I say your name if you could raise your hands to our board members and Folks at home can know who you are when I say your name Cyrus mcleave Chloe cavallaro Nolan Smith Nolan Vaughn Bryson Keegan Paige Bradley Corbin de corsi Maeve Eaton Lucas benkin Juliana lampham Clarity Butler Luke Spears Garrett Brown Elena Webb and Waylon Fitzgerald and the coach is Kelly Davis let's give them a big hand and you all can go around and shake hands yeah go right ahead we would also like to thank um we have two people who
017are over at cornholders high school Andy and Wendy saravason they do a lot of work for our Science Olympiad and so we really want to thank them for all the organization and planning as well um there's also several people who make these competitions possible we have that listed on the slide but there's really so many people who are involved in it we'd like to certainly thank all of our students for all their hard work they are so dedicated to the work that they do it is hard work to say the least we would also like to say thank you to our coaches if we didn't have our coaches this would not be possible so we're so thankful for our teacher coaches that we have all of our CIA and community volunteers our Central staff organizers
018they're listed up there Amanda Berg Kayla Boykin Leon Daughtry Stephanie hammont Jennifer Lowry and Mackenzie Yarborough I'd also like to thank our school administrators for all that they do as well and making this possible and then also for our parents and our families for their commitment to their students as well so thank you for that thank you all very much we appreciate it thank you so much Miss Johnson and thank you again to those outstanding students it is very exciting to have all those large groups with us last month it was all Athletics and this month is all academics because we do it both here in Johnson County schools which is wonderful the next group I have before you are the students who have been selected to attend Governor's School and if you have been
019selected to attend Governor school if you want to just come file through right here on this side of me and on this side and if you were a parent of someone who is here to attend Governor's School please feel free to get up and come stand behind the board this is your boardroom you can take pictures however you would like so come on in and get comfortable you can stay on this set baby no problem Governor school still all right the North Carolina Governor's School is a four-week summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students integrating academic disciplines the Arts and unique courses on each of their two campuses learning focuses on the exploration of the most recent ideas and Concepts in each discipline and it does not involve credit tests or grades
020students are selected to attend through a competitive process after being nominated by their school this year we had a record-breaking 18 students selected to attend Governor's School let's give them a round of applause now we almost have all 18 here with us tonight so when I call your name if you will please raise your hand when we're finished we'll give you all a big group Round of Applause and then you'll go through and we'll start with you down here baby and we'll come through and Shake Hands okay all right first up we have Chloe Bossman from Clayton High Sabrina caffero from Clayton High Addison Zucker Clayton High Christian cabascongo Cleveland High Isabella Casanova Lopez Cleveland High Mia Roldan Cleveland High Grace Spivey Cleveland High Jason Espinosa Moreno Court holders High Brianna Garner Corinth holder's High
021Preston James Corinth Holders High Patricia Emery Princeton High oh I don't want to mispronounce your name Abby Smithfield Selma hi please forgive me baby it's important to me to say names correctly say your name for me she said it best thank you so much Sam Bullock Smithfield's Salma hi Denasia Dixon Smithfield Salma High Michael Schmidt Smithfield Selma High Maya Musser West Johnston High Sydney springel West Johnston High congratulations to these outstanding students [Applause] oh I missed one I'm so sorry Natalie Neal you get your own moment Natalie where are you come here Natalie Natalie Neal I don't want to let him finish you don't like this do you okay hold on wait wait y'all don't look at Natalie because she does not like this moment in the Sun but I read so fast I skipped
022over this baby's name and that is my bad Miss Natalie Neal from Corinth Holders high thank you congratulations mama I apologize I won't do it again me and Reagan are friends and not y'all see me being casual with Reagan because Reagan is no stranger to this boardroom if you were here with us last year you know Reagan Williford if you're a new board member you it you are in the presence of an outstanding individual come on up this is Reagan Williford she is a student at South Johnson High School and you name it she does it she's amazing this year we are recognizing her for being a nominee for the U.S presidential Scholars Program was established by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. and since that time the program has honored over 8 000 outstanding High
023School seniors the mission of the program is to recognize and honor outstanding High School seniors and thereby encourage High attainment among all students the NC Department of Public Instruction presidential Scholars nomination committee selected 19 nominees from the entire pool of submissions in the state of North Carolina and Reagan is one of those the nominees came through an extensive committee review process and were invited to apply at the national level for the Department of Education U.S presidential Scholars recognition somebody asked me before they where's Reagan going to school I said she probably gets to make her choice I have no idea so where are you gonna go to school there you go UNC Chapel Hill all right so give a congratulations to miss Reagan Williford [Applause] yeah she also works with Catherine Truett you name it
024she does it I mean it yeah she's she's everywhere and you should see her senior pictures because they are beautiful thank you all so much next we have Mr Dylan Williams okay I don't often to get to do this kind of cool award but Dylan is a student from Clayton Middle School in March he was recognized for receiving The Scouting medal of Merit award at the Boy Scouts Council banquet Dylan was nominated for this award after he helped a friend who was choking with the Heimlich maneuver during lunch the assistant principals at Clayton Middle eagerly wrote references and character letters on his behalf so that he could receive this National Merit the national certificate of Merit recognizes those who have performed significant acts of service that are deserving of special National recognition congratulations Dylan and
025we are certainly proud to call you one of our students [Applause] everything our character education you come on and stand next to us either side works for me do you be on this side as we can be on this side I make friends with these kids but while y'all are in closed session it's like the best part come up here baby you can stand right here I didn't get to meet you yet but I know who you are all right while they're filing in we're gonna get started parents if you're here for character education if you're welcome to come behind the board member come on I know you're gonna get your paper let's do this you got to stand behind the board take a photo make yourself comfortable and go up behind them you can
026go around go right behind them all right so these are our character education students each month the Johnston County Board of Education recognizes students who who have exemplified good character in their school we'll recognize each student then have them come around and shake each of our board members hands at the end first step is Sawyer Perry a third grade student at Princeton Elementary where Miss Melissa hurst's principal Sawyer was nominated by his teacher Miss Stephanie Adams for demonstrating perseverance this school year at the beginning of the year when given an assignment Sawyer would often feel overwhelmed and defeated he would become upset and would say he was unable to complete the work but miss Adams knewed better she would talk with Sawyer individually always assuring him that everything would be okay and she was there
027to help him Sawyer's confidence started to grow and with his hard work and effort he has achieved so much growth he has made significant progress this year and has thrived the growth is due to Sawyer's hard work and effort but without perseverance this would not have been achieved congratulations Sawyer next up is Gerardo orgy as his friends like me call him Hernandez a 10th grade student at Princeton High School where Mr Jarvis Ellis is principal G is being recognized for demonstrating respect he is a good student who cheerfully comes to school each day he demonstrates the character trait of respect in all aspects of his student life including the classroom and athletic field he is seen as a leader by his peers and teachers his teachers report that he is a pleasure to have in
028class and is always supportive of his classmates he looks for the good in others and support others with positive affirmations and a caring attitude Gerardo interacts with others by always looking at different points of view and respecting the differences others may have on a topic congratulations G and that is one proud mama too she is a very proud mama next is uray Alvarado Martinez an 8th grade student at Smithfield Middle where Miss lashunda FaZe and his principal it's being recognized for demonstrating responsibility she maintains a high GPA while being active in the student government Association Avid and other activities she has set goals for her life and has a plan on how to achieve those goals Ura wants to become a middle school teacher in order to reach this goal she has applied to the
029Joko teach program she is always willing to tutor her peers and when they need additional help with an assignment she is a joy to teach and a wonderful friend a positive role model for younger students her positive attitude strong worth ethic and integrity will take her far in life congratulations and I apologize I'm not sure why this photo hasn't loaded but you are here with us today next is asthma alahashi a senior at Smithfield High School where Mr David Allen is principal asthma is being recognized for demonstrating perseverance she is a student who comes to us from Yemen who has learned to speak English at a very fast rate while showing her academic strengths she is so committed to learning a new language that now she is also taking and accelerating at her Spanish courses
030so that she can communicate better with her family and friends asthma earned principles list for quarter two as she excelled in math 3 and will and will earn honor roll for the third quarter this semester while enrolled in honors math 4 and honors Earth and environmental science her teacher's comment that she has a desire to learn and is a pleasure to have in the classroom asthma was nominated by her ESL teacher as a show of Pride for her perseverance and resilience as a newcomer to the United States congratulations asthma and next but not least is Mr Christian Perez Montez a kindergarten student at South Smithfield Elementary where Miss Kim Wellens is an interim principal Christian is being recognized for demonstrating fairness he is able to celebrate the differences of others that make all people unique
031he understands that other people experience the world differently than he does and he is okay with that he looks for opportunities to have personal relationship with others that allow him to see a different perspective he encourages his peers to try new things and treat others the way that he wants to be treated he understands that he is a part of a bigger community of Learners that all Learners should be valued for their diversity and treated fairly he wants to give everyone in the classroom a chance to speak up and to be heard and seen he is respectful of his teachers and peers and he does not judge others let's give these students a round of applause [Applause] anyways hmm oh and I have you guys I knew I was doing something backwards sure thank you
032guys [Applause] all right next up is our new celebration which is our PLC of the month hang on just one second foreign good afternoon everyone always a pleasure to stand before you and recognize wonderful employees we have two such employees today first I'd like to ask Miss Sylvia Taylor many of you know Miss Taylor to join me Miss Taylor is the head custodian here at the Simpson building and you have seen her a lot I'm sure and we get the benefit of sitting in a nice clean environment because of her as well um Miss Sylvia is a treasure to have in the Simpson building as head custodian not only does she complete all of her tasks with high efficiency she does it with a smile our workplaces are kept clean smell wonderfully and maintained safely
033for us to have a great place to work often the workplace is a home away from home so how and what it look like what it looks like matters she is both expedient and efficient in getting work orders submitted to ensure everything functions properly like a well-oiled machine Miss Sylvia always has a smile on her face and an encouraging word for everyone she meets a quick visit or hello from Miss Sylvia brightens the day anyone who enters the Simpson building and comes on the campus knows she maintains high quality standards for appearance safety and the well-being of all who work here most importantly she cares about the people Miss Sylvia thank you so much for what you do congratulations on being our classified employee of the month thank you our certified employee of the month
034is Miss Allison rodenberry this rotenberry is a teacher at Swift Creek middle and they had so many wonderful things to say about you miss rodenberry is such a blessing to have at Swift Creek Middle School for our family and consumer Sciences students she is also our FCCLA chapter advisor as well as helps lead our first priority club at Swift Creek this is her first year at Swift Creek and teaching middle school but wow the impact she has already made on students lives Miss rodenberry is always encouraging and striving to push students to their next level in and out of the classroom she recently took four students to the state FCCLA competition and they all came home with either silver or gold medals without her hard work dedication and countless after school hours the completion and
035the eventual success wouldn't have been possible she is such a great role model to these students demonstrating patience kindness professionalism and teaching them next level skills all while having fun miss rodenberry thank you so much for what you do each and every day for our school system and at Swift Creek Middle School congratulations if you want to walk around [Applause] and some goodies for you too thank you thank you so much appreciate what you do thank you I'm sorry about that hiccup but we weren't hard to get in those pictures so I want you to be able to enjoy them our last celebration is our PLC or professional learning community of the month and our CI team has put this together as a way to recognize outstanding groups of Educators our elementary PLC of the
036month for fifth grade is the team at Dixon Road this for this month is the fifth grade team at Dixon Road Elementary this is a very cohesive and collegial team that supports each other and each other's students they've been together for a few years and worked so well together that even if the school did not have planned plc's they would still collaborate to ensure that they brought their best to their students members of this PLC have also collaborated to create District assessments that have been used in schools across the district one of the strengths of this team is their ability to differentiate and meet the needs of all of their students their data from MVPs also highlights the strength in meeting the needs of their students and closing the learning gaps that some students present
037with it has been an honor to observe and witness such a great 18. the Middle School PLC of the month is the 7th grade social studies team at Clayton Middle this PLC team embodies all of the desired qualities of a social studies team they work together to provide their students with meaningful experiences that extend their students's knowledge and Real World skills they are involved in school-wide efforts to bring students together for causes that benefit local and Global communities in the high school POC of the month is the biology team at West Johnston High this PLC Works collaboratively to identify student strengths and weaknesses in order to individualize instruction during class times as well as during remediation opportunities this team constantly analyzes data putting student scores in front of the individual Learners to encourage their ownership
038of their learning they consistently meet reflect and revise strategies and assignments to maximize student learning and the woman in the middle there was one of my high school teachers and I can say that she is one of the best teachers in the game so let's give all of them a round of applause and the last thing I have for you this evening and you'll see a small font but you've got it in your packet it is a comprehensive list of wonderful things happening in the county this month from students all from schools all across our district from track meets to choral concerts to you name it it's on there we've put it together for you we hope that you can put some of these things on your calendar and get out and support our students
039you've got that in your packets as well as on the agenda and that is all I have for you at this time thank you at this time at this time we'll move into our reports from our board committees but prior to that I just wanted to add a couple of dates uh things that the board has going on I don't believe they're on the save to date um on April that our you know our board is anxious to learn as much as we can to be trained as much as we can to have a clearer understanding every day of what's taking place within our schools so April 19th the board will have a work session training it will be here in the boardroom this will all be posted but um from 9 to 12 we'll
040receive training from our attorneys and then from uh after I take a break for lunch and then after that we will have some discussion about our alternative school on May the second we will have another work session training board meeting as a whole board and in that meeting we will have some presentations and some information shared with us about the panorama so just I want the public to know that we're looking forward to these opportunities to expand our knowledge on these items and I will ask go through the Committees finance committee Mr Wooten yes man we have not met since the last meeting but we plan to meet probably the last week of this month I know that the budget is being worked on by Mr Britt and and departments among the school system I
041know Dr Bracey is supposed to have all his budget initiatives in by the 17th of this month so we plan to meet it would be a public meeting sometime after the 17th when all the initiatives of the budget are put together for at least the first run or a proposal of what the budget would be for next school year because we have to have it in front of the County Commissioners by May 15th so between the 17th of April and May 15th we plan on having a three on three with the County Commissioners to roll out what we plan to do with the budget so we can approve it and get it get it to the County Commissioners by the 15th of of May so we've got a lot to do in the next 30
042days also I'd like to bring up there's a house bill House Bill 219 that's floating around in the house that's going to be a detriment to public school funding uh in the future if it were to to ever pass I would hope that the representatives that represent Johnston County or read this bill thoroughly and it is detrimental to public school funding and but the legislative committee Michelle Anton is going to give us an update on on the bill that's all I have Mr Tippett policy we have Med and again I remind you we meet on Thursdays after the board meeting so we'll meet again Thursday at two o'clock it is an open meeting I invite the public to attend in addition there will be on the website all the policies that are being reviewed for
043our first reading for free to go on this it gives you an opportunity to respond and give your feedback to Dr Pierce he will bring that to the committee so if again if anybody has any questions on that feel free to to go on that website and and take care take care of it there okay I've skipped over you a legal committee Mr Carroll anything no Rapport and I'll stay right there with you on bond committee anyway okay and legislative committee Miss Anton uh the committee Matt we went over all of the house bills on education that would affect our district we look forward to covering the Senate bills at the next meeting we specifically addressed uh House Bill 219 that Mr Wooten just referenced uh it would create expansive funding applications for our schools
044if this is actually passed and it is regarding Awards of funds to Charter Schools Lynn agreed to take a look at it as written the the bulk of the bill is not impactful to us it is the last section of the bill that seeks to move our grant funding and other funds that we specifically acquire for our district over to Charter Schools which would be um inequitable and we are strongly against although one of the bills has the language struck that would be a problem we want to make sure our legislatures understand that Charter Schools deserve funding but they do not deserve the public schools funding the next thing we did we were all committed to drafting a resolution against the pathways to Excellence which is the new teacher credentialing proposal that the DPI has
045forwarded to our legislators all of our members are looking to bring some compelling reason to add to a resolution and hopefully get past this board we all agree that it is going to be a problem for our district if this passes through I drafted the cover to our resolution on calendar flexibility it's going to accompany the resolution that we passed in February and our states our North Carolina Senator bettencory has agreed to deliver it to Senator Berger's office and hopefully it will help add to the bulk of local education agencies that want calendar flexibility we have a legislative breakfast that's going to be happening on April 24th at 8 A.M and we our next legislative committee is going to convene April 27th at 9am and we am we love the public to join us thank
046you thank you Dr bricey Madam chair at this time I asked that the board approved consent items numbers one through ten okay I have a point of order we miss public comment we'll do that at six so we'll go until we get to that yeah remind me okay I'm sorry I have a motion by Mr Carroll do I have a second second by Mr Wooten all those in favor the superintendent's report consent items please indicate by saying I 7-0 we'll keep going until we reach six o'clock Dr King members it's a pleasure to be before you this evening with just uh one information item a few weeks ago I was asked by Miss Antoine to possibly share some information with the community about uh vaping in uh 2019 when I was serving as the Director
047of student services in Albemarle County Virginia the Virginia legislature passed a bill that required Community agencies in the state of Virginia to work collaboratively to address the issue of vaping at that time and so as a result of that bill being passed I was able to learn a good deal about the issue of vaping and so what we'd like to do tonight is just share some brief information about the issue of vaping what it is how it works um and and also share some information about some of the programs initiatives that we have in our district to um address uh the issue of vaping so we start with what is vaping and The Vaping is basically uh the use of electronic cigarettes and electronic cigarettes are these really interesting devices that uh use a variety
048of mechanisms to essentially activate um a number of different kinds of material it can be liquid material sometimes oils sometimes dry materials and they are sold um in our normal stores and particularly troubling around them is that they are very easily readily and and readily available to our children some just some information a recent study suggested that approximately 800 000 young people tried vaping for the first time uh in 2022 alone obviously we are now in 2023 it stands to reason um that that number will again repeat itself um in the next in the next year and we'll continue to do so um if if unabated some additional information for you there 2.5 million high in middle school students currently use these items that's the estimate 2.5 million I would argue that based on some
049information we're going to share with you later any information you get about vaping you should assume that that information those numbers are woefully undercounted right woefully undercounted so that's probably one one in four students actually used these items daily most commonly they use what are called disposables and that is um devices that are so inexpensive and so readily available you use them once and you toss them in the trash and move on and pick up another one and then the really egregious thing about them is that almost 85 percent of them use flavor in them and as you can imagine if you if you have bubble gum flavored um material in an e-cigarette that is not intended for an adult right that's not intended for an adult some information about what's going on in Johnson
050County Public Schools remember I said any information we give you about Vapes you can assume that that number is woefully underreported thus far this year in terms of use of Vapes and tobacco products in our school we've had about 500 incidents in terms of sale or distribution we've had about nine incidents in our schools again I would be very clear with you I promise you that number is woefully underreported so why is vaping so so difficult to address and here's what's really important to understand about it number one when I was a kid well when I was a kid things were very different at my high school down in Wayne County we had what was called a smoking patio I don't know if any of y'all remember that if your Mom and Daddy would sign
051on the dotted line you smoke cigarettes outside um on the patio at my high school certainly that's not something that we do um today but to the benefit of the school administrators that that worked with me if I was using a cigarette I wasn't going to really be able to get away with that because it came with a certain smell one of the first and most significant problems and issues with Vapes is that they do not smell like regular cigarettes in fact they are designed so that any scent if there is a scent related to them very quickly dissipates and so a student an individual frankly could be in this room right now using a vape and we would not be able to detect that use through our normal normal olfactory kind of processes again
052we talked about they come in many many flavors like cotton candy bubble gum mango these are specifically intended really to be attractive to Young people and of course the because of that they are um some e-cigarettes look like traditional cigarettes not very many or cigars or pipes but others look like normal everyday items and I thought I'd share with you all some examples of of what some of them look like and as you as you as you look at these next pictures I want you to think about what this means for our administrators and one of the reasons why I talked about why you can be assured that the number is woefully underreported so this is a what's called a flash drive Vape that is a that is an actual picture of a vape but
053as you can see it looks just like a flash drive that any student would have in their possession for a an appropriate purpose um for use to store materials um in school but that is actually a working a working Vape this is what's called a key fob Vape right so this is again a working Vape but it looks just like the key fob that's in my pocket that I use to start my car uh this this this this afternoon um and then final one I'd like to share with you is this one this is what's called a pen vape um it is a working writing utensil but it is also um a vape so as you can imagine even with the very high tech and effective material and and resources that we've recently put into
054our school to identify uh things that folks aren't supposed to have if a student walked through the metal detector with one of these and it alerted and the principal asked them to let me see what's in your pocket he pulls out what looks like a pin it's not very much that uh that that the principal is going to be able to do because again these items are are really created for the purpose of of concealment and to be um to allow people to use them clandestinely now the one thing that's really important that lots of folks don't know is that the the people that are working doing the work around Vapes obviously they are at this at this time working very significantly to um to share or I should say to sell these materials to
055our young people and they happen to be people that we are quite aware of what most folks don't know is about 10 15 years ago when the idea of vaping first caught wind and first kind of caught on those companies as they began to grow were purchased and they were purchased by some of our some folks that we all know and have had to work with before so most of the vaping companies now are owned by the traditional cigarette companies say so these are the same folks who we worked and had to deal with for you know many years who were frankly selling young people cigarettes telling us over 50 60 100 years that those materials were not harmful to us when they actually were and if you go out and take a look around
056and look at the information about Vapes that's out there they are essentially doing the same thing now they are giving folks the impression that these things are harmless when in fact the research is very clear that it's not harmful it is not harmless one of the things that we know is that Vapes in the material that you use in Vapes now often include nicotine as you may know the law is such that you're only required to report the presence of nicotine if it's in in certain quantities right and so very often the material that you use in a vape has nicotine in it but not necessarily the amount that you need to report and of course sometimes the companies flat out refuse to admit that that material is there the interesting thing one of the
057most interesting things that I learned about Vapes in my study of them is that for a long time people suggested that Vapes were a way to help people wean themselves off cigarettes right off traditional cigarettes and that actually in in most cases in many cases is actually true the interesting thing about that is though is that it has an inverse reaction for our students so while use of Vapes does help folks walk away from the use of cigarettes folks who start out on cigarettes and move to Vapes they can tend to walk away from the use of cigarettes but what we've learned over time is that students who start out using Vapes right often end up using cigarettes right so it it has a reverse kind of effect for young people and in fact young
058people who start out using Vapes um actually are more likely to end up caught up in the use of cigarettes and of course that's a that's a very important issue for us to be thinking about oh I'm missing some slides so at this point that's going to be the end of what I share relative to just some background about Vapes I'm going to ask um our executive director for for SEL for for I'm sorry for student services to come up uh Dr Allen and she's going to talk to us about some of the programs that we've implemented and are in the process of implementing in our district to address this as an issue oh thank you hopefully we can get the slides back to you they were posted online last night so two items to
059to talk through with you about healthful living standards is something that we've always had from the state of North Carolina DPI I've got them linked to the slide deck that was online last night we'll get that corrected for you but those standards have developmentally appropriate stages for when you should introduce information to students for example in kindergarten it's appropriate to talk about what items around the house might be dangerous whereas when you're getting closer to fourth and fifth grade you're starting to introduce the concept of what tobacco is and then what alcohol is and of course to avoid those items as you get later on in school you're talking more specifically about other substances so those are standards that our Educators have always known to follow we have some additional response to vaping we're currently
060finalizing some information that we've sought out from health science students we wanted to go straight to the students because this is not an issue that adults can just decide this is how we'll correct vaping for our students we were able to get responses from 339 students anonymously and those are all high school students and it was a voluntary participation for them to give feedback of those 339 students about 55 percent of them feel like vaping is an issue about 20 percent Phil it's not an issue 25 they're not quite sure and then we have open responses where they have shared why they feel students are vaping and what they feel would support students in in no longer vaping or preventing vaping we have not gone through the what do we do in response closely enough
061to give you a good summary of that but we have at a quick glance looking in why are students vaping a lot of the trends that are coming out is addiction trying to fit in with peers and then also as a coping mechanism so those are all things that we can work with as we think through what additional response can be we have one more thank you okay we have three schools in our district piloting right now an everfi course called vaping know the truth and those three schools are using this as a responsive intervention for students who have been caught vaping as a preventative curriculum we're looking at Catch My Breath we've had 22 Educators trained so far and we're continuing to talk with some of our other curriculum department members to figure out
062what our next steps will be with that curriculum we've just recently had the full training so that we can get perspective on what is actually included in the curriculum and then we work very closely with a lot of community members and we've had an annual event youth tobacco Forum that is in partnership with the Johnson substance use prevention group and the date for this year's is not yet set it's going to be in May so we'll push that out as soon as we have the actual date but along with that event Pro Health has always released a comprehensive guide for families and parents on it previously has been named to tobacco use so we talked about renaming it to make sure that we include vaping or some type of reference to e-cigarettes and pro health
063is in agreement with us having open collaboration with school system employees helping get information and Health Department employees also giving information for collaboration so we have two Health Educators from the Johnston County Public Health Department who are also here I'd like to welcome you both up this is the last slide like come and be with me they are phenomenal and I've worked with them for quite a few years in talking about vaping as well um so that that's the resource that I'm talking about us developing we're also talking about having a resource that lives on our website with all the information that we gather so parents can reference it easily and then we have annual campaigns of course like Red Ribbon Week so do you want to speak about vaping in our community at all
064or just how wonderful the health department is in our partnership with you um so thank you to the Board of Education my name is kametha fullwood I'm the health education supervisor at the Johnston County Public Health Department I've been there 17 years and we have been working closely with the school systems we went into the schools I'd probably say four years ago possibly and we took a lot of information out to the staff to sort of introduce them to what some of the devices look like and also some of the long-term effects the complications we had what's called a toxbox which is actually um actual Vape devices we passed them around so that they know what they would look like because they look like USB drives or key fobs or just any type of contraption
065so we wanted to make sure they knew that what they were looking for it was very well received the staff really enjoyed it but we are very happy to support any efforts that the school system decides to do so board members we see this as a kind of a start to a process to continue to try to provide information and families it's interesting to kind of see how this process plays out because Virginia just like North Carolina of course being a Southern state spent many many years um in in a very difficult position because uh tobacco certainly uh supported much of the state's Revenue um and and so it was very difficult for the state to uh kind of turn away from the support of the tobacco companies uh but Virginia did that and then
066made the next step which North Carolina really haven't hasn't made us as strongly yet which is the shift away from the focus on secession of cigarette smoking to a more broad succession to include vaping Virginia made that that's that step a few years ago when for when folks began to realize that you know kids aren't really smoking cigarettes as much as they used to traditional cigarettes um they're they're vaping right and so it's certainly my hope that over the next few years the the North Carolina legislature will get into this fight with us and and um and and designate some resources that we can use as school districts uh to continue um the work of forming our families about the dangers of vaping and what and what happens with our young folks I'd be glad
067to try to answer any questions or invite our our guests to answer any that you might have relative to this issue at this time do we have a specific policy on vaping so I think our policy right now is more focused on uh tobacco I don't know that we've shifted it all the way have we done that yet okay 50 26. um I I like the idea of I'm sorry what was your name cometha I like the name um I like the idea of sharing with students I guess my question is we need every student to hear this and we need every parent you know it's got to be an effort between the school and the parent what is the possibility of and I know I know um your data is middle and high I'm
068not sure what our elementary principles would tell us if anything is an issue I was at K-12 okay I thought it was milk there was one slide in there it was middle high but that was that was nationally maybe that was nationally okay um I guess my question is what is a possibility of putting this in front of our students at the beginning of a school year or whenever and make sure every middle and high school student sits and attentive to this information so one of the things that we're doing and when I was in Virginia we developed a about a 10-page pamphlet uh that we were able to make available to All Families in our community I've asked my team to go back and look at that information that's about five years old now
069and revise it and making sure that we have new and appropriate up-to-date information in it and we will look at opportunities to share that information in Virginia we we did a um just kind of an information campaign we did a couple of connect dead calls to pull families attention to it as an issue then we shared that document and we posted that document on our website so we start certainly will follow some of those steps as well we see this as a long-term kind of activity but that's that's some of the work that we're working on and hopefully we'll continue to be able to engage with our partners at the health in the health department to support that work as well Dr King you want to go ahead Dr King this is great I'd also
070like to mention that not only does it have nicotine but a lot of these that kids are carrying also have THC and then even more dangerously fentanyl absolutely which is the biggest issue that we're facing absolutely when I when I was a um um student a hearing officer students used these often they have these uh these pins that they use that are a little bit different and it was it's so bad and so definitively easy to spot I would do hearings and I would know immediately from just the description of what the student did what happened and I could tell the parent your child did this and the kid would of course start out denying it and within a few minutes they'd admit yeah that's exactly what happened so you're right um frankly the Vapes
071with just the the the stuff in them the juice in them is what I used to call it is is dangerous but but the ones that use the the liquefied THC that's even a step higher and um even more challenging and dangerous uh for kids so absolutely right I just I want to thank you Dr King for doing such a thorough job and bringing it to us and um I asked you to do it um because I had Parents bringing it to me very concerned with what's happening inside the schools with their own children so you've done a phenomenal job and um to your point the legislative body needs to quit these unfunded mandates so they want us to make sure our kids are healthy but they don't fund it so we need to make
072sure and hopefully at the legislative committee we can bring that up thank you amen any other questions thank you I look forward to you know once once your team's able to put together you know something bring it back to us and let us know I'm just very concerned that our students hear it and our parents hear it and I realized you know that can't mandate parents hearing it but I think I'm sure that many parents cry are not quite aware of what and they want to be and so if we can help with that that would be great and I understand I would imagine that this is a significant problem in our middle schools and our high schools right now I mean it is around the country we're not immune to that and we'd like
073to support the staff and the and the administration in our schools in every way possible to deal with this situation um this is not what's best for students thank you board members only six o'clock okay okay we'll go now to public comments thanks for waiting let me read my thing here it says tonight we have five speakers signed up for public comments citizens who have signed up to address the board during the public comments session will be recognized in the order in which they signed up each speaker will have three minutes to present comments to the board however the public comment session will not exceed 60 minutes total except by majority vote of the board suggests that specific Personnel or student matters be addressed to the school principal the Johnston County Public School System official
074responsible for the program or facility or to the superintendent citizens who address the board shall not use language that is obscene profane threatening containing fighting or inflammatory words are otherwise disrupted to the orderly conduct of this business any person who willfully interrupts disrupts or disturbs in an official meeting and who upon being directed to leave the meeting by the president officer willfully refuses to leave the meeting may be found guilty of a class II misdemeanor pursuant to North Carolina General statute 143-318.17 our first speaker for tonight is Erica Hall hi everyone so uh the following are The Illuminating reasons presented to parents as to why ABA therapists are not permitted to serve as one-on-one AIDS in a classroom setting so the inclusion of ABA therapists would entail a significant amount of paperwork there is no
075readily accessible option or a button to click on the IEP Forum to include outside professionals there are concerns about the potential for an influx of requests for external professionals if permission were granted the responsibility for supplying the therapist would fall in the school adding to the administrative burden of doing their job there would be a requirement to complete additional paperwork and background checks for the therapist and number six although the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction policies do not explicitly prohibit such Arrangements some employees in the JCPS EC Department have told parents otherwise so a current sitting board member has endeavored to relocate to EC students from Clayton High School which the state has classified as a retaliatory Act board of education has established this as a standard for responding to parents who provoke the
076wrong person so regrettably many parents have had to embark on an unyielding journey to collaborate with Johnson County Public Schools those who tirelessly advocate for their children's needs are often perceived as uncooperative and as a result face cancellation of meetings by the administration acknowledging that each EC student has distinct needs and necessitates particular accommodations is crucial disregarding these needs because of a reluctance to adapt by specific individuals in the EC Department JCPS is unprofessional and unacceptable lastly the excuse for canceling meetings with parents of EC students because they want all supportive parties in attendance like a caseworker is shameful announcing you can't provide specific accommodations because there is no button for you to click is ridiculous making excuses for not wanting to do your job is one thing but there is no excuse that EC
077students are getting physically hurt because there are individuals in this public school system who find it easier to do nothing or the very bare minimum I know each EC student is unique has different needs and has various goals to achieve so in May's general meeting I will be interested in to see what the EC executive director Jennifer McClure and her team will present and communicate with the public because these EC students deserve a lot better than what they're getting right now thank you thank you our next speaker is Alan Hall how's it going I'm here today to discuss the dangers abandoned books and the importance of protecting our children's right to read I recently read that a JCPS parent of a child at Dixon Road Elementary felt like newly elected board members had promised what
078they deemed inappropriate would be eliminated from our Public Schools my least favorite board member advised the parent to go after the principal didn't they finish with and I quote I'd be happy to try and address this although I have little belief the other conservative members will take action I share your frustration we've seen a rise in book Banning efforts across the country groups like moms for Liberty are leading the charge they're targeting books they deem inappropriate or harmful to Children what exactly is inappropriate who gets to decide what's harmful it depends on who you ask what's clear is these groups are using their power to elect school board members to censor books they disagree with they're not just targeting books about lgbtq plus issues or the boogeyman critical race Theory they also talk about books
079about history science and even classic literature when we censor books we're not just limiting children's access to information we're also limiting their ability to think critically and form opinions I want to talk about a book called my shadow is purple it's written by Scott Stewart this is the book in our book Banning School Board member are against this book is a heartwarming story about a young boy who learns to embrace his identity as a gender non-conforming boy it has helped countless children feel seen and accepted which is so important when we consider the ongoing American endemic of school shootings in my Shadow's purple Stewart writes my shadow loves playing with all sorts of toys things loved by girls and things loved by boys I'm ready to rock and I'm feeling so cute my mom made
080my skirt and my dad made my suit my shadow it gogs a child walks in the middle looks up and talks there's more than two colors our shadows can be I was too scared before but blue is not me these powerful words speak to Children's hearts and Minds everywhere and there are words that should be heard not silence what's harmful about a book that teaches children about acceptance and love what's dangerous about a book that helps children feel like they belong the answer is absolutely nothing in fact books like my shadow is purple are essential for helping children grow up to be kind compassionate and understanding adults they teach children about diversity and inclusion and they teach children about the importance of being true to themselves it teaches children to not be bullies we hear
081so much about bullying then when books are written that teach children that it's okay to be different we have people want to ban them so I urge you to stand up to book Bannon here in Johnson County as a school board you should protect our children's right to read not limit access to information and the stories they need to grow up to be the best people they can be thank you thank you our next speaker is April Lee good evening chairwoman Andrews Vice chair Tippett Dr Bracey members of the board my name is April Lee and I come to you tonight as a mother a tax paying resident of Johnston County and as a constituent I'm no longer a Johnson County Schools employee however that does not stand in my way as a true advocate
082for public schools for teachers and staff for our communities and for our kids it is imperative that all kids have a voice this includes but is not limited to black kids brown kids white kids straight kids queer kids trans kids Muslim kids Christian kids atheists and agnostic kids yes all of them not just ones who look like me love like me or worship like me I also want to speak about our metal detectors I have some concerns these dictators are great at detecting binder rings and computers but maybe they're not so great at detecting knives they are set up in front of our entrances but about half or more of our kids enter our buildings through the bus entrances they provide a false sense of security and frankly our schools should never feel like prisons
083I truly believe that this is an issue that can't be fixed by our Boe our legislators have failed to protect our children for the last 25 years and last I want to speak about the unethical behaviors of a board member to speak out about a district employee on social media to comment to commit libel is one of the lowest acts you can do it is a desperate attempt to discredit someone when you are eyeballs deep in the controversy yourself focus on our staff focus on our kids and our actual issues in our district do better thank you our next speaker is Jim Davenport good evening board I speak again on school safety but first I demand as a taxpayer and grandparent that the distractions plaguing the board to come to an end that the board
084must move forward and work as elected nine years ago I was asked to run for Sheriff I was a write-in because I wanted to get certain issues changed I ran on a platform of having an SRO in every school and a training school staff and parents to make sure that nothing happened like you what happened in Uvalde against an active shooter instead the sheriff used my platform ideas better pay rifles and cars and tasers but no sros in 2018 I was asked to come before the board and present school security ideas what came from that was sros for middle schools we still have almost no sros in all of our elementary schools had I been elected Sheriff sros who have been in all Joko School six to seven years ago that was still a time
085when police recruiting was strong it is not good now I do not trust the school security Specialists employed by Joco as they have no active experience in mass shootings I have no faith in our sros we don't know if their training background or experience numerous requests for that have gone to the sheriff because the schools aren't allowed to have the information about the sros that is all held by the sheriff these are my training certificates these are most of them I have about 10 that were framed and given to me in frames so I'm not afraid to show mine to anybody I retires and I retired as an advanced uh North Carolina police officer and if um and if schools and sheriffs are proud of the training their people they show it just like you
086show it in your Awards just like it's displayed you know their training you know their background and so we we never see their training records either they're hidden by the Sheriff's Attorney and Personnel laws these are the same non-transparent laws DSS recently hid behind the Charter School in Clayton Etc has hidden behind with taxpayers and parents have a right to know these things the lack of transparency has impeded a report that I promised the board several years ago the fact we have no sros in our schools in the elementary schools is yet another excuse because of Staffing and the lack of qualified police officers I'm tired of excuses excuses aren't going to make it if the kids if kids and teachers are killed we have 146 mass shootings in the United States which is more
087than one per day it is coming here JCC had a lockdown numerous bomb threats have occurring students outside sending students outside and vulnerable a threat was poorly handled by the Clayton charter school again we need complete security measures every school can still be breached do not continue to gamble with the lives of our teachers aides and students thank you Mr Davenport our last speaker is Elisa Pelham ah thanks um good afternoon this is my first time speaking in front of the school board so I appreciate the opportunity as you can see I've got two little ones here with me they've been very good amazingly they are students at Powhatan Elementary and I will say just like most parents nowadays you know when we turn on the news we look at the Nashville shooting we look
088at what happened in Uvalde I grew up I did not have to worry about Mass shooter drills I was 18 maybe 17 when Columbine hit and this is a reality that I have to deal with with my children um I realize and I think you know quite frankly after Sandy Hook and after uvaldean seeing you know in Parkland um that right now our elected officials don't seem to have the wherewithal to do what most Americans really want them to do um you know I am my family is a gun we own guns so you know I do support the Second Amendment but I think that a lot of us do want Common Sense gun reform in the absence of that I can't go into my children's School nowadays and not see soft points I see
089glass entrances I see side doors we recently did in Powhatan we did get the metal Checkers we do have them at the school bus entrance and we have them at the regular entrance and I appreciate that um we have an SRO officer so we we appreciate that as well but you know I look I've got one child at this end of the school the other one at this end of the school they're one classroom outside of a side door and I'm wondering what else can be done to really protect our schools and to really secure those soft access points I hate the idea that my children may have to learn in a prison type environment but the truth is is that those are my children I think we've all probably got children we love children
090grandchildren it's like our heart is walking outside of our bodies and if something were to happen to them I couldn't go on so what I'm asking for each of you or from you all is to you know in the absence of gun reform which Common Sense gun reform what all are you gonna do to make sure that our schools are more secure because they are our most important assets they're our future and we need to make sure that we secure them so thank you thank you so much for coming that concludes our public comments I believe I turn it over to Mr Moore okay I'm sorry they tell me they need a break okay all right I'm sorry that would happen time to be a good leader here okay let's take a can we do
091it in five minutes okay God didn't break back uh Mr Mr Moore man I'm good good evening everyone I do have a few items here for you my first one is uh package one of the HVAC controls upgrades so um as as you know as we've we've been discussing for some some sometime now the design of of these and we have bid our first package um they are the brains of the um the um systems in in our our school and this project will overhaul the controllers the sensors the thermostats the valves the graphics the schedules and Trends and then we will finish out with um balancing and testing of um Commission in the system so um and RFP was that advertised and for re-bid bids were received on March 21st of this year Schneider
092Electric provided by the lowest bid in in the the amount of one million three hundred sixty thousand three hundred and sixty thousand dollars three one million three hundred sixty thousand three hundred dollars and additional owner's contingency of a hundred and thirty thirty thousand is also requested to cover any un unforeseen issues determined during construction and and and I will say that we actually got one under bid this time this is um um it's very very tough these these days with with budgets and all but this one is under bid so we do it is start starting at South Johnston High School and some at West Campus and choice choice plus so be it being the age of those buildings we hope hope to use use that budget for other mechanical items as well so just
093background with that this is a Esser funded project uh for action okay it is an action item I'll entertain a motion motion motion by Mr Donovan do I have a second second by Mr Wooten any discussion no discussion I asked for a vote all those in favor of approving this action item please indicate by saying aye aye all right my next three are continuing with kick kicking off the 2020 2022 Bond um the first one is a CM contract for the high school um we did select um Barnhill con Contracting out of Rocky Mount NC after doing of R RFQ process and interviews um after negotiating with them we got them to a CMV a 3.25 percent of pre-construction fee of three three three 360 000 and the S estimated General conditions of three million
094five hundred fifty seven thousand nine hundred and seventy nine dollars which is for their field Staffing field office insurance bonds Etc um construction is s s estimated and planned to to to take two years starting next spring and we are on track to open that High School in the 2026 school year um this is a 2022 Bond funded project for action this is an action item I entertain a motion motion by Mr Wooten do I have a second second second by Mr Donovan any discussion hearing none I'll ask for the vote all those in favor of this contract with Barnhill please indicate by saying aye aye okay all right and the second of the three is for the new elementary school um we selected Balfour Beatty after that our our RFQ and in interview process
095um the negotiated them to a um construction management fee of 3.5 percent a pre-con fee of 160 000 and general conditions of one million 300 and 8 727 dollars again again for the construction staff and field office solved that that's the um construction is estimated to take about 15 months and we are on track to open this school in the 2025 school year again that is a 2022 Bond funded [Music] um contract for approval hey I'll entertain a motion some moved okay motion by Miss Anton second by Mr Johnson any discussion all those in favor indicate by saying aye aye last one is the last of the 2022 Bond um addition to Cooper Academy again after the RR repq process and in in interviews we selected wimco Corporation out of Washington NC to provide the
096CM services for for that project we negotiated to a fee of four percent a pre-con fee of 125 000 in the estimated um gcp of 4992 dollars for the construction staffing field office insurance and stuff that one is estimated to take about 16 months um and we are shooting for it to be done for the 2025 school year as well again that is a 2022 Bond project I'll entertain a motion it's a Move Motion by Mr Tippett do I have a second second by Mr Dharma I do have one question is this online is this within the what you projected the the money talking about these fees right um it's actually a little less okay that's fine just just wondering I didn't know if you meant that just about the first one or you meant
097it about all the ones that were um we were you don't have to go back but I just okay I'll just say negotiations were very successful and we're within budget okay that's good to hear okay all right Indiana thank you Mr Brooks for going the extra mile and making sure to negotiate um the best possible um outcomes um with these contractors it's not easy they're they're tight on their budgets and for you to get this done is impressive and I want to thank you is it's about one one point five and five million Mr Moore one one question I needed to ask on the HVAC controls does this get rid of all our MS-DOS at at that school yes yes sir there are five five more packages we we just wanted one and to start
098some and keep designing any other discussion the only thing I have to say and you always well known that I think that the model concept is the potential cost savings and I I've supported these three things because that horse is gone but I continue to say there there are some ways that I think over time the model has proven to be a cost savings for this County and I understand things change and this seems to be the construction manager at risk is the way that constructs the industry and The Architects want to go but I do you know and I hope at the end of the process we find that we're not paying more than we should be paid and I want to add in that I don't think it is the way to go
099and here's why because the overall lifespan of these schools is a lot higher to maintain as we've done it so far they are expansive they they use a lot of land they are they the the roof costs we need to replace them is expensive heating and cooling them is expensive getting safety you just heard parents come up here worried about the safety of their kids when you have a sprawling school that's hard to control so I think all the things that Mr Brooks has brought forward to us and the board has done so far has been in the best interest of the taxpayer and the student Mr Carol you're referring to like the Hyatt and Associate model I'm just referring not well our experiences with Hyatt but you know there are model schools out there
100that are two-story you can put them on you know contracted land spaces uh they're pros and cons to what you just said you've got your wings that can be closed off One Wing you know it can be separate uh so you know we use the same four pipe system I believe in all these schools so maintenance is the same we used uh standing seam metal roofs so I don't know that we've had to replace any roof of any school that we built in this model yet is that true replaced no no so you know uh and I'm not I'm not looking to get an argument all I'm saying is you know we've not had a conversation as a board which direction are we going to go we just assume that well model schools are old
101and outdated uh you know I saw the president I wasn't present but you know the model school that I saw looked just like the rest of the schools that these other places presented so you know I'm just saying uh I just am uncomfortable that we're making a change without having a real discussion and look at all right is this the right way to go I'm not saying it's the wrong way to go and I am admitting up front that that's the way the industry seems to be going that but you know is it I I just hope at the end of the day that uh we we're going to be building as inexpensively as anybody historically we have been below the state average I hope we can continue is that all the discussion I'll call
102for a vote all those in favor of the wimco corporation CM proposal for Cooper Academy please indicate by saying I uh thank you thanks that's all good evening again everyone two items both action items the first is an administrative recommendation from superintendent it's for the principal position at Four Oaks Middle School and we're bringing forward uh to you this evening for a two-year contract Miss Lauren Watkins hey that is an action item I'll entertain a motion motion by Mr Carroll do I have a second second second by Mr Donovan any discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye thank you the second item also an action item on behalf of Early College Academy and ctla uh we're presenting their proposed staff calendar for 2023 2024. our office has reviewed their proposed calendar
103to ensure it complies with the legal guidelines as far as developing a School System calendar and this is presented for your consideration and approval okay this is an action item I'll entertain a motion for approval so Move Motion by Mr Wooten do I have a second second by Miss Anton any discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye 7-0 thank you thank you Mr Britt good evening board member Senator Bracey only one item for your consideration tonight and that is our fifth budget amendment of the year uh there are only a few significant uh items or changes in this allotment or this request the first one is that we have budgeted the textbook purchase that was approved by the board and the previous board meeting so using a combination of State funds
104local funds and Esser funds to uh to achieve the the goal there we also received our summer reading Camp allotment of 455 thousand dollars as expected we did get a larger State Transportation allotment than I was anticipating at 694 thousand dollars we should still have at least one more allotment coming for the year so once we get that allotment from the state and we know what that dollar amount is we'll know what amount we're going to need to cover for locals because we will need to make another local adjustment for transportation then we received our allotment for the state funds for a low wealth teacher signing bonuses as a reminder this is a thousand dollar bonus that comes from the state and then another thousand dollar bonus that the board matches for it for a
105total of a two thousand dollar bonus uh this is for all teachers that were hired between July 1st and October 1st of 2022 and so that'll be paid out uh this upcoming month then we didn't lose uh 674 thousand dollars in a reversion back to the state and this is for uh considered what the state calls EC head account transfers this is where a student center enrolled at Johnston County Schools leave and go to other schools such as a charter school or another school district those chart those schools request funding for those students so the the funding follows the child the odd thing is is that our student enrollment is also growing but we don't receive funds to offset that amount so it's a one-way it's a one-way transfer in that regard we are covering
106the loss with answer funds so no local funds will be used to offset that this year uh and then we also received our prc063 allotment of 1.3 million dollars that we've been waiting on from the state and that's a summary of the significant changes okay I'll entertain a motion to accept this budget amendment so move motion by Mr woot do I have a second by Mr Carroll any discussion or questions can you explain a little bit about the reversion and is it was the fund reversion just for exceptional children or was it for all children just for exceptional children so we've already had our version for all other children and this one lagged behind pretty significantly uh you know just just got it in March where the other reversion was I think either November or
107December and so just to expand on a little bit it's uh let's say we get a 100 children that come to Johnston County Schools enrolled this year and next year they leave and go to a charter school so the state doesn't know necessarily at the beginning of the school year that which children are going to the charter school and so they may underfund the charter school of uh you know what their what their head count is or or their per pupil allotment it's because the state doesn't know what that allotment is and so what I'll do is they'll go back in and clear up any discrepancies during the year and say okay well you got a hundred from Johnson County Schools you guys 50 from Wake County Schools you've got 10 from Wilson and say
108we're going to claw back funds from all those districts and put it into the incident allotment for the charter or the other Lea because it doesn't necessarily have to be a charter it could be another school district the the thing about us is that we are we are funded at the cap so we we you know there's there's two models there there's there's a maximum that you can get so you receive 5 000 some odd dollars per per student per EC student or student with IEP up to 13 of your total population of students and so Johnson County schools has greater than 13 percent which means that all the students that are beyond that 16 or that 13 percent Mark we receive absolutely zero dollars per student in extra easy funding so it's an odd
109funding model but it's the one that's in place and what ends up hurting us is that we when that money is called back we never really got the money to begin with so it's kind of a it's kind of an unusual situation that the that the funding situation at the uh that we have for us for EC funding so again we have another unfunded mandate required to meet the needs of these children we don't have the funds to do it and then when part of that 13 revert to a different school they pull the funds back that's right they pulled back money that we never got in the first place yeah and and um yeah because like you said they've taken money from us that we didn't really ever get for those kids but you
110know if you ask DPI if you tell DPI well you're not funding us per child they'll say oh yes we are and they take that uh what is it for a child 6500 6400 we'll just take a round figure six thousand what they do is take 13 and pay you 6 000 per child but they spread it out they'll say well we didn't give you six thousand a child we gave you four thousand a child because they're trying to spread it out over every child but they're taken back from us more than they're giving us right and this year was they even say they're giving it it's it's crazy and this year was exceptionally large because we had we had a charter school last year I think there's always been some reversion but nothing this
111significant right and I think um to be a little bit Fair on the other side um our enrollments dropped during covid and they've been slow to restart but I think this year is built up more quickly so the state always overestimates when they fund us for the year um so well this would have been based on the uh April one child count April 22. that gives you your state funds it's April 1 child calendar the year before it's my point though that up to the April number was a little bit of a slow start and I think we've seen kids coming back in more numbers especially as these subdivisions have opened yes so it and am I right that uh the majority of school systems bust that 13 cap yes I mean it varies District
112days wide pretty much everybody goes over that 13 allotment is that right that's correct yeah a lot a lot of districts do and it varies widely District to District you know like we've got some neighboring districts that don't meet the 13 threshold you know so it you know I'm not sure the state sends those funds to to the counties that really need it right yeah that's right good discussion any more discussion if not I'll call for a vote all is in favor of the budget meant please indicate by saying aye aye 7-0 thank you thank you just want to say Mr the bullet report looks good with your expenditures percentages remaining looks like you're tracking yes sir right where you want to be yes sir On Target we are spending fund balance uh we have
11313 million budgeted but we won't spend that much uh this year we're looking to see now what our final allotments are from the state and then look at our vacancies and inflation and put all that together and we'll have a good good projection here very soon um I don't know about that because remember this time when I have all good news remember this time he's still thinking about the cliff yeah 20 24 2025 it is coming I see a lot of 70s on this report 70 spent which is perfect because we're about to start our fourth quarter that's correct so that's you I just want to commend you with tracking very well on this report and we always spend State funds first and then we spend local dollars last we always protect our our County
114dollars the most so yes sir thank you thank you Miss Furr don't typically have the pleasure of coming before you for anything other than special recognition so I'm excited to do that tonight um I have two action items and one item for information for you the first item I have is our um contract for website Services we are at the end of a three-year contract for our website mobile app Mass notification and two-way communication for teacher at Guardians Services establishment of services is needed at this time to continue improve and improve upon our community current communication practices the office of communication is recommending that we enter a one-year contract agreement with aptigee for all aforementioned communication tools for a total estimated annual cost of two hundred forty thousand dollars and we would also incur a
115one-time cost of sixty five thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars for a custom website build and for mobile app website and two-way communication tool development the office of communication is working is seeking approval for the total cost including one-time fees of 305 750 dollars this is an action item I'll entertain a motion motion motion by Mr Donovan do I have a second second second by Mr Tippett any discussion if not when we pay for this how long will it take to get set up so we um will end services with our current vendor in June we would plan to have everything we're bringing it to you early so that we can have everything ready to go we plan on rolling out some very exciting and new communication tools for our families in August but it'll
116be somewhat of a seamless transition on our website you won't experience you'll hopefully just see upgrades on our website but we'll have new tools to roll out of families at the start of the next school year hopefully that could be a part of the at the beginning of the year okay we plan to have it ready to go by August one for everything that's new if not sooner so that we can just go ahead and start promoting orientation times back to school information have parents update or download our new mobile app and it's just going to be a wealth of information and communication tools for our families I think it's important to point out that changing over from Blackboard is has been carefully thought out yes the current system has not been working well in
117terms of the communication and the staff's ability to navigate we have um I shared with you earlier we have been with Blackboard for a very long time for as long as I've been in this seat and I um Blackboard was recently very recently bought out by another company and things were just they kind of shifted and changed we didn't want to stay stagnant in our services we wanted to make sure that we were getting the best that is out there we put together a committee of folks who are using this product principles folks in our SEO Department our ESL Department those in digital learning those in student information and we gathered feedback and they were part of the informal bid process it was a group effort to decide what is best for all of our
118stakeholders and we're really excited about the things that aptitude is going to be able to offer us yes ma'am thank you for pointing that out any other discussion if not I'll call for a vote all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye aye 7-0 thank you the next thing we have is um for a tip line and can Community communication tool we are seeking to improve upon community and stakeholder engagement on our website and mobile app platforms we're looking to improve customer service for all parties and improve efficiency when any issues arrive by establishing tools on our website in new and updated mobile app that will streamline communication for you guys for our staff for our families and we're recommending that we enter a one-year contract agreement with K-12 insight to implement let's
119talk for a total estimated annual cost of 136 900 dollars okay this is an action item I'll entertain a motion motion by Mr Wooten do I have a second by Mr Carroll any discussion hearing none I'll call for the vote all those in favor um please indicate by saying aye aye 7-0 and the last item I have for you is just for information purposes we have been seeking out ways to improve workflow services and kind of streamline things automate automating processes um you'd be surprised how much of this we have um still around now it's good for a lot but it's also you know can kind of bog things down so we were looking at ways to eliminate um paper to eliminate and improve workflow Services we reached out to a lot of different companies
120got lots of good feedback and are entering a one-year agreement with droplet they are going to provide us with services to streamline processes make workflows a lot easier put beginning of the year registration forms online for parents and really just make it a more efficient process for everyone and we're entering a one-year contract with them we're with an annual cost of 89 000 and that is all I have thank you so much thank you Dr Pierce I I hear the sun's still Shining [Laughter] good evening board members I have uh three original and then the fourth one that you all added in the amendment that I would like to go over so the first one is for the purchase of 400 interactive panels This would be replacing current panels that are no longer working they
121will but the portable panels and it's at a total cost of 905 549.11 this is her action uh I'll entertain a motion second motion by Mr Carroll second by Mr Wooten any discussion yeah just just to update I think the parents and and people at home that may not understand this we have a lot of smart boards that are retiring out and these are going to replace those correct the old ones that are on the wall that have the big long arms for placing and upgrading yes any other discussion if not I'll entertain them no smoke we don't need emotion again all those in favor please indicate by saying aye all right thank you next item on the agenda is for the purchase of 360 CTE desktop and monitors uh this is a request to
122approve this for YNS Technologies they will replace end of life vdi systems and services for the CTE department and it's a sr2 funded project for a total of 393 505 dollars some action on them okay I'll entertain a motion for approval for the technology for these 360 CTE desktops Mr Donovan motion second by Mr Carroll any discussion uh and again CTE is career in technical education these are going to be put into labs for the use of students is that correct yes yes ma'am how many schools does this affect it's middle and high schools I don't know if it's I don't think it's all of them I think it's um is 12 CTE virtual desktop labs in middle and high schools yeah all right thank you all right any other discussion all those in favor
123please indicate by saying aye aye aye and then the last technology purchase is for 1400 charging carts as I've shared with some board members before we put a survey out to our schools when we went to one to one in a rush when covet happened and we were trying to get as many devices as we could into students hands we didn't purchase at the time places to store them and now throughout our schools we either have them as a distraction on the desk as teachers may share with us and they don't have anywhere to put them or we're running into issues that Chargers are getting missed in constantly or they're sitting in milk crates or whoever else knows where they're at and so this is a recommendation based on an RFP to purchase 1400 charging
124carts with sr2 and sr3 funds at a total cost of three million 606 thousand dollars and this is an action item okay I entertain a motion motion by Mr Wooten second by Mr Carroll any discussion I used to go in all the middle and elementary so these uh we will every yes they will all have access to these correct there are some schools that I think it's important to recognize like for instance Thanksgiving Elementary like when they were built they were already built with somewhere to store their devices so some schools may not need them we had a we kind of had a lengthy discussion in the pre-board agenda meeting that was publicly noticed and we talked at length about this because it's a 3.6 million dollar expenditure it's a large amount of money but
125we have um computers that are stored in places they shouldn't be stored they can get damaged they're not being charged properly we have a lot of issues surrounding a lot of the very expensive technology we've purchased and this will get it all in one spot and they have what was the lifespan on these carts 10 years and they are under lot it's secure we can lock them uh the biggest thing is charging ability right now the carts have a rolling charge you can plug them into one 110 outlet versus pulling up a bunch of outlets throughout your home like it's Christmas and trying to plug everything at the same time so well these are also the devices which we have been purchasing here for several years which you know it's good to know that these
126these devices can go right into these cards um it's not any additional expense except the cards and we've also gotten feedback from some of the students that they want a spot to put these computers away so they can get more direct instruction from the teachers as well it says an action item I'll entertain a motion we did have a motion didn't we yeah I'm sorry I get so wrapped up in the discussion any more discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye and the last item before you is the school Nutrition department currently has 52 School nutrition assisted vacancies we contract with a temporary service Mutual Temporary Service Agency to help fuel these positions with Subs we are currently reaching the limit that we can without board action meet to get Temporaries
127and so we are requesting that we get the consent for you all to increase our current purchase order with Mitchell's temporary to 249 thousand dollars to finish out the year so we can have temps from that agency work in our cafeterias Madam chair I need to recuse myself from this food there customer okay well let me have a motion to allow Mr Wooten to be recused and I have a second second any discussion all those in favor Mr Wooten being recused please indicate by saying aye thank you it comes out of school nutrition yes sir financially uh yes sir we are with this many vacancies we are very financially sound right now uh yes sir I entertain a motion so move do I have a second Mr Carroll any discu any further discussion is this
128sort of the max of what you're thinking just to finish out the UPS ma'am right any other discussion do you have any plans on how we're going to hire and retain cafeteria staff for the next year have you thought about that so we're we're hoping to bring to you all uh in May a pretty robust plan for how we do our buses and hopefully that will answer that question at the same time yes ma'am well I was going to ask you about buses but I'll hold off until all I would say is uh get ready we're going to bring you a plan that hopefully eliminates and also rewards those that are driving our buses any other discussion here and then I'll call for a vote all those in favor of this contract for child School
129nutrition services please indicate by saying aye aye aye 7-0 thank you 6-0 that's right I'm sorry 6-0 all right here in with no other business I'll ask for a motion to adjourn I have a second Mr Wooten we are adjourned thank you thank you