001begins. [Music] >> We will call this order this meeting to order. Monday, August the 11th of 2025. This being our regularly monthly Alexander County Board of Education meeting. At this time, I would like to turn it over to board member Anthony Mlan to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Attention. Salute. Pledge. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. At this time, I will turn it over to our superintendent, Dr. Bill Griffin. >> Great. Thank you, Chairman Ree. Um members of the of the public in the audience that are here today, uh we've adopted a new mission and vision uh for our school system. I'll go into uh
002the implications of such a little later on in our meeting. Uh but from this point forward, I would like to begin our board meetings uh by reciting that mission and vision. Uh it's just words on the wall if we don't begin to apply them uh to the things that we do. So, I want to remind all of our constituents and and those that are watching our board meetings uh what we're about, what our mission is, what our vision is. And I'd like to begin doing that after we do the pledge of allegiance during each board member or board meeting that we have. So, Chairman Ree, what I what I'd like to do is say something to the fact of in Alexander County Schools, uh, our mission is to be committed to, and then I'd like
003for y'all to repeat as you see our new mission, uh, which is building a legacy of excellence. So this time if you guys repeat with me here uh Alexander County schools uh we're committing committed to building a legacy of excellence. >> Great. And our vision in Alexander County schools is to be the educational choice for every child. >> Uh and again if we begin doing that I hope it becomes something uh that that we live by and something that all of our constituents and parents and community members uh know what we stand for in Alexander County School. So, so thank you very much for that. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Dr. Griffin. Um, board members, um, the agenda is before you. Um, before I get your, um, pleasure, we need to add in a closed
004session. So, what is the pleasure of the board to approve the agenda? >> Motion. >> I've got to make a motion or a motion to approve by board member Oxentine. >> Second. >> A second by board member Arguas. All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? Like manner. Okay. Carries unanimously. At this time, I am going to turn it over to Dr. Denita Da Revvis for our honors and recognition. >> Thank you, Chairman Ree. So, first of all, uh this is our first meeting back uh after the summer and it's August and we're kind of got our mind set on thinking about school ahead, but we have some students and some staff members who have been very busy this summer. And so, we want to first um talk about our Beta Club group. Um
005Beta Club members from Alexander Central High School. They competed at the national convention in Orlando, Florida. This was in June. And Beta Club sponsor Don Reed tells us that the students competed in 21 different competitions and placed in eight. And she says to her knowledge that's the most they've ever won at the nationals. >> Good job. [Applause] >> Some of the winners had to take tests to place. Some had to draw something or design something. Some had to perform. So the first group, we're going to split them up into groups. So, the first group we're going to ask up are Aniston Chapman, Khloe Eckard, Bo Lewis, Aaron Mlan, Carter Payne, and Pierce Pierce Reed. Pierce Reed. >> Way to go, guys. >> Great job. appreciate Mr. Bulls helping us out. So, >> isn't he so
006Anderson Chapman got fifth place in the 12th grade psychology um exam. Khloe Eckard, eighth place in 12th grade health and PE. Bo Lewis, second place in the 11th grade health and PE. Aaron Mlan, seventh place, 11th grade spelling. Carter Payne, eighth place, 10th grade spelling, and Pierce Reed was the champion for 11th grade science. So, give them a hand. >> Congratulations. Hey, Donna. How are you? >> Hide me. Hide me back here. I'm need y'all to squeeze in and angle your body like First and that way that [Laughter] you can everybody looking this way. Do y'all mind if we I know some parents wanted to get some. Y'all want to We don't get to do this kind of stuff very often. >> Do it. [Music] >> All right. Thanks y'all. >> Great job. >> All
007right. Next, we have um a recognition. >> I'll be sure your reminder. Next, we have a recognition for the musiccology team, which is also part of the Beta Club competition, and they take a quiz about music, and that allows them to earn a spot to move on. So, when they moved on, they were competing against 15 other teams, and they had live rounds where they had to answer questions about music from all genres. So, the students who were on our musiccology team are Aaron Mlan, Khloe Eckert, Aniston Chapman, and Pierce Reid. if y'all will come up. And they earned third place nationally. [Applause] Good. Count for me, please. [Applause] [Music] Um, okay. The next I feel like I say this every year, but this is not an unfamiliar face to us. So, we're going to
008ask Carter Payne to come up. And this is the second time that Carter has brought home a national championship in the performing arts, [Applause] baby. >> Um, so Card, I watched the video and what I could discern is that it was a medley of several songs which included When You Wish Upon a Star and You've Got a Friend and Me, any Toy Story fans out there, that's that from that one. and uh several others, but those are the two I picked out. Am I right? >> You're right. >> All right. Did you write that? >> You collected it together. >> It was a teamwork between me and dad. >> Good deal. >> Um >> well, he always has good energy in his performances and he had uh a two minutes to perform and impress the
009judges and again like I said, brought home um the first place award, the championship award for the second year in a row. So, congrats. >> Awesome. [Applause] Good job, man. And lastly, I'd just like to ask um the Beta sponsor um Miss Reed to come up. I understand that she's going to be a state rep for the Beta Club the Beta Club organization. [Applause] She was um chosen to do that. And I think that's like a 4-year position, so that means you got to stick around that long at least. Um, so that's a pretty big deal. That's a pretty big deal. So, we applaud her and um, her work is evident. She sends me stuff on on the regular and post things and so on and we appreciate what she does with the students and
010I know she has help. Um, but thank you. >> Thank you. [Laughter] All right. Look here. >> Mr. Kids. >> Okay. Also busy this summer were several members of the FFA and their teachers. And during the state convention in Raleigh in June, some of the students came away winners. So earning second place in the state was our a mechanics team. And that was made up of June Jude Bumgner, Colt McKe, Lucas Day, and Western Rogers. Y'all [Applause] That's one of these kids here. Dr. Ravish, we got a couple parents trying to get some pictures. >> Oh, yeah. Jump in >> before they leave. [Music] Great job. >> All right. Next, we're going to ask Ally Lackey and Laurel Mitchell to come up. >> I was going to say Laurel has gone away to school. Yes.
011Yes. Okay. So they submitted projects and those um awards were announced at the state convention and they were announced as champions. So Ally was the champion in veterinary science and Laurel Mitchell won for beef entrepreneurship. >> Wow. [Applause] Congrats. [Applause] All right. Next, let's ask our um dairy judging junior team to come up. And that's Daisy Smith, Laurel Mitchell, Joel Payne, and Sadie Rust. Those of you who are here, >> so these students also won first place at the state convention and they had to judge cows based on a set of criteria and then present their reasoning for the scores that they had assigned to the animals. So first place, good job. [Applause] count. >> Yeah. >> Congratulations. [Applause] All right. And finally for the FFA um recognitions, they we have another championship team that's
012composed of Brennan Little, Weston Brown, and Micah Chapman. [Applause] They won what's called the cattle handling competition. They and these students have to know about safety, industry standards, and how to care for the animals. So, this is your cattle handling championship team. One more time, >> fellas. Good job. [Applause] >> All right. And our final recognition for tonight is um we have somebody who's been designated to be a Paul Harris fellow. We'll tell you what that means, but we'll ask Miss Head, Carrie Head, to come on up. >> Good job, Carrie. [Applause] So, Miss Head is a social worker who serves Alexander Central and Alexander Early College and she is this year's Paul Harris Fellow or one of the Paul Harris Fellows. That's a recognition that acknowledges individuals who have had contributions made to the
013Rotary Foundation in their name and it has to be an amount of $1,000 or more. So, in particular, Miss Head is very involved with helping the local Rotary Club collect and distribute food for children who or students who need it in our school communities. And I know she has stayed on um me and other people this summer posting when they've had some food distributions around. Y'all probably have seen those post and so on. Um so rather than taking a summer off, she still had the student and the community's interest in mind. um she just makes sure that their basic needs are met. And I hope I have this right. You're in your ninth year with the district. >> Okay. Ninth or 10th. Okay. So, we appreciate your service to families and and the community. Thank
014you, Miss Head. >> Thank you, [Applause] Okay. All right. Congrats. >> Congratulations. [Applause] >> So, this concludes our honors and recognition and you're welcome to stay for the business portion of the meeting or if you'd like to be excused at this time, you may go. >> Thanks for coming. >> Everybody for coming. >> Congratulations everybody. parent. >> They want to take a picture. >> They're out. >> Seriously, >> they're out. >> How'd it go? >> All right, people, >> man. Stick around and support us. >> Tyler, you need a sun drop, >> buddy. I'll go get you one right now. >> Oh, man. >> Yeah. I just always kind of assume when you hang out there HQ down there running. >> Oh man. >> All right. Forward and upward. [Music] She >> is this the
015Rob fan club? >> Yeah. >> They'll have a special agenda for >> Do they think I'm one of Do they think you're one of the new kids on the vlog or something? >> Yeah. [Music] >> All right. >> See you ladies. >> Congratulations. >> Good job. All right, we are going to get back and realign. That is always a fun time in our agenda is the honors and recognition portion. >> Absolutely. >> Um it is something that we take extremely highly serious especially for these kids, the teachers, the staff, everything >> that is a part of it. And so now as we segue into our next piece, it is time for public comment which I have been instructed that we do not have any. So now we will move on to the approval of our
016consent agenda. Board members, you have your consent agenda before you. What is the pleasure? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. I >> got a motion to approve by uh board member Anthony Mlan. I got a second by Vice Chairman Deanhart. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? Like manner. Carries unanimously. At this time, the next item on our agenda is school board voting districts. So, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Taylor Dinger. >> All right. Thank you very much. That is a very tough act to follow. those award winners was great. I'm going to tell the surrounding counties, they better get on the ball. >> There you go. >> They got they got some work to do. >> Uh but as mentioned by the by chairman, we're going
017to spend a couple minutes talking about the uh board of education uh voting district uh redistricting project. We're going to talk a little bit about the redistricting process, uh why we need to do it. Talk a little bit about some of the data that was needed for the project. We're going to go through some of the maps and the data tables and then we'll finish with a timeline of where we are and uh how things are going to go going forward. So with that, you have a little bit of background information. So what is redistricting? Uh redistricting is actually associated with the census >> and it occurs once every 10 years where every person or resident in the United States gets counted. We've actually been doing that since 1790. >> Wow. So we've been doing
018it for a long long time. Redistricting is a process where we redraw electoral districts to balance population following a national census. And the concept redistricing maintains the principle of one person, one vote and ensures fair representation. And we actually have a lot of of local school districts and cities that actually have to do redistricting. So, an example of that is uh Hickory City Schools, they have to do it. Uh city of Hickory Town of Long View, they have to do uh redistricting. Newton Conover Schools uh does redistricting as well. So, it not everybody has to do it, but we do have several in our uh core county region that do it. Okay. Now, we get to the state statutory requirement part. Um, according to state law now, each of the seven Alexander Board of Education
019voting districts will have one person that lives in that district uh that will be elected to the school board. Eligible voters in each board of education voting district will vote only for their school board member. Uh, by state statute, all newly drawn Alexander uh BOE voting districts must be within 5% of the Alexander County district population average. So this is where the math gets involved. Uh the 2020 Alexander County population was 36,444. When we divide those by the seven districts, we get an average of 5206. That 5206 we have a plus or minus 5%. So they have to range between uh 4,946 and 5466 for the population. These are the current board of election voting districts. Uh they haven't been updated since 2001 and they do not meet statutory standards. So we have to redraw
020them. What was the data used? And again keep in mind the purpose is to ensure that one area in the county doesn't have extra voting power compared to other areas of the county. The voting districts need to be contiguous and compact as we can possibly make them. Uh we did overlay the elementary school districts with the proposed board of education voting districts, but it needs to be stressed that this doesn't impact current elementary or middle school boundaries. Those boundaries are going to remain the same. So this is different than that. So we're not moving elementary boundaries. We're not moving middle school boundaries. Some of the data that we used uh of course it's going to be based on the 2020 census. So, we're going to collect 2020 census block population information from the US Census
021Bureau. We're going to use those block boundaries to make up the boundaries of the voting districts. Uh we're going to use the Alexander County road layer, and that's very important because we want the uh voting districts to follow roads and precinct lines uh for board of elections. And then finally, we overlaid the elementary and middle school district boundaries. Uh we also received input, valuable input from Alexander Board of Elections. Uh they had several recommendations for us and we've taken care of those. They wanted us to remove voter precinct slivers for instance. We've done that. Uh they requested that voting districts follow roads and or voter precinct lines and uh we've done that and board of elections has reviewed the map to make make sure we did that. Uh making this change was a interesting challenge
022because the voting districts have to follow census block lines and many of those census block lines are not not bounded by roads. So many of them were bounded by streams, uh railroad tracks, ridgetops, and even utility lines. Actually, this is typical of a lot of rural counties in the state. And we've even discovered through the process that some of the Alexander precinct lines use streams for boundaries. Okay, so kind of giving you a background some of the data collection. Now we're going to talk about the maps and the data in the analysis. All right, here's some highlights before we show the maps and tables. Again, all the voting districts are bound by roads andor voter precinct lines. That did lead to some changes in the shapes from the previous scenarios. Uh voting districts are aligned
023as close as possible to elementary school districts, but this is important. It needs to be noted that the board of education members, they serve the interest of all students in the county. So, it's not just their primary elementary district, but it's all the elementary students, all the middle school students, all the high school students. And you kind of saw some of that on display a few minutes earlier with the recognition. their supportive of of some of the awards that we just saw. Uh all current board of education members residences are located in their own voting districts and that was a major goal of the redistricing project just from a standpoint of fairness. So we don't want two board members having to run against each other if we didn't have to do that. So we were
024able to accomplish that. And finally, all new drawn uh board of education voting districts are within 5% of the 2020 district population average. We have to do that to meet the state statute, which was told to us by the state legislature. So, we have to follow what the state legislature wants. Okay, here is the voting district map with the population counts. Uh if you notice the table on the slide, all of the voting precincts are within plus or minus 5% of the voting district average. In fact, we actually end up doing a little bit better than that. We ended up within 2 and a.5%. Which is great. We want them to be as equal as possible. Uh as you can see on the map, we have seven districts. And again, each one of the board
025members will serve one of those districts, but they serve all the students in the Alexander County School System. This map overlays the elementary uh district boundaries with the voting district boundaries. So I'm going to go through each of the seven districts and talk about which elementary district they are primary primarily in. So district one is located entirely in the Bethlehem elementary district. District two is located in parts of Bethlehem, Ellen, and a little bit of Wittenberg. District three is located mostly in the Wittenberg Elementary District. There are some small portions in Ellenelle and Taylorville. District four, the light blue color that you see, that is located in Sugarloaf and Taylor'sville elementary districts, just a little bit in the Hidenite district. District five is located in the Ellenell and Sugarloaf districts. There's a small portion in
026the Taylorville district. District six in the green, that's located mostly in the Hidden Knight Elementary District. There's small portions in Sugarloaf, Taylor'sville, and Stony Point. And then finally, district 7 in the purple. That's located mostly in the Stony Point Elementary District, small portion in Hidden Knight and Wittenberg districts. Again, the members serve all the students. It's not just students that are inside their district or one elementary school. So, I wanted to stress that one more time. Uh this map shows the voting precinct maps with the voter district uh boundaries. And again, we wanted to follow uh roads and precinct boundaries. And we've accomplished that. Each board of education voter district is generally located in two or three voter precincts. And that's good for board of elections because they're they've still got a big job ahead
027of them. So hopefully that'll make their life a little bit easier. And if you want a copy of the district map with the voter districts, I've got them on the seat there and I'll leave them in the back if anybody wants a copy, hard copy of that. Of course, we also have a digital copy as well. Okay, so I know that was kind of a quick overview of the map and the data. Let me talk a little bit about the project timeline because the board's actually met several times on this. There's been several work sessions. Uh the first time to me it was like a blur. Maybe this is what happens when you get over 50. It it was kind of like last week, but but it's but it's actually been over several months. So,
028uh we first met in April at the workboard session. Uh we talked about the redistricting process, the requirements, how the process was going to go. We gathered the information. We did our first scenarios. We generated the draft maps and tables. In June, we reviewed those draft maps at the June uh workboard work session. Uh fast forward to July, we made changes based on board of elections uh input. Uh we reviewed the new scenario maps in the data at the July work uh session. Uh board of elections reviewed a little bit more to make sure everything was good. Uh now we get to August. So we any adjustments we had to made, we did those. We presented them at the work session last week which again seems like like five minutes ago in my mind but
029then uh we are at tonight. So the board of education schedules vote to approve the new board of education voting districts during tonight's meeting. If they vote to approve, the next step is any printing of the uh redistricting materials, any of the maps, uh digital copy, hard copy, uh we'll do that. We'll make sure that the information is put on the schoolboard website. Make sure board of elections has everything that they need. Uh make sure everything for the geographic information system, which is the mapping uh segment that Alexander County does, they've got everything that they need. So, and I know she's not here tonight, but Lisa Harrington with Alexander GIS did a great job helping too, as well as board of elections and the staff for Alexander County Schools. So, I want to give a
030big shout out. Thank you to everybody. It was it's really been great great teamwork. So, I won't get into others, but all right. uh what happens going forward August to November uh we're going to complete work uh if the board votes to approve the board of elections they're going to complete work on the candidate filing the canvasing that they need to do if anyone has any questions about how this process works board of election staff will be glad to answer those questions uh they work very diligently behind the scenes that you don't necessarily see when you go to vote but it's a critical thing that they do we get to December That's when filing is going to begin uh for the four-year terms that are up in 2026. This will not immediately impact the uh
031board members whose term is up in 2028. You will be in your voter district in 2028, but you're allowed to finish your term as it is now. Uh then going a little more forward when we get to spring or summer 2031 under again the state la statute that the legislature has passed uh board of education will need to review these districts again and they'll be based on the results of the 2030 census barring any weird COVID stuff. CO messed up a lot. We don't ever want CO again. It's really bad. So assuming we have no COVID 2030 or anything like it the data will come out in 2031. we would re-evaluate it for the 2032 election. So, I know that was a lot of data, tables, and maps in 10 minutes or 10 15 minutes
032or so, but uh be glad to answer any questions. And again, a big thank you to everyone who helped in the process. >> Done a great job what you do. >> Thank you for what you've done helping in this. >> You've been good to work with and you've done a good job. >> Really appreciate it. >> Yes, sir. By the way, saw the football team at the scrimmage on Friday. They're looking pretty good this year. >> I saw several run long runs for touchdowns. So, we like hearing that. >> So, yes, schedule's tough, but but I I was for you guys, I was very encouraged. >> That's awesome. >> By the scrimmage. >> That's good news. >> Yeah. All right, members of the audience and constituents that are out there viewing us online, before we
033make this vote to move forward with this, um, this board would like to let everyone know how transparent we want to be with anything going forward. Um, this as as you have heard from Mr. Ellinger with the Western Pedmont Council of Government. There's a lot that goes into it and you know it's it's like he mentioned earlier, it seems like it has been a blur, but this was first um introduced to the general public during a working session January the 7th of 2025 during our superintendence report. It was then made mention during a working session on February the 4th. The uh current board of elections um chair Patrick Wack presented during the superintendent's report. March the 4th of 2025 once again during our superintendent report. There was um April the 1st, Taylor Dinger, he presented
034during the superintendent's report and then subsequently after that, June the 16th, July the 14th, and August the 5th. The reason that I bring this up is because we want folks to know that you've had opportunities to express any concerns that you have. That's one thing that this board prides itself on is wanting to give our constituents and the general public the opportunity to express themselves. Um some other things that I wanted to make sure that is specifically clarified is if you listen Mr. Dillinger hit on hit on a lot of them. Um one is that this board we are comprised of seven individuals. All the while it is seven districts. We represent every child, every staff person, every intricate piece of this district. We do not want anyone, it is not our intention that anyone
035feel any different. Um there has been a lot of collaboration and whenever I say a lot a lot of collaboration on this on part of the board of elections council of government the county there's a lot that goes into this even at one point things were mentioned to us why are you spending this amount of money when you can do Dave's redistricting app which by the way we had no idea that there was such a thing but Even if we had tried to adventure that there there is no way and and two as a board we chose to go the direction that we did with the council of government so that nothing could be said that we had our hands in on it that it was done by individuals that specify in statistics and they
036do this and you see how everything has been made so seamless. Um, the next thing was this was brought about by the election. This was voted on by our constituents, folks in Alexander County. It was not something that we as a board said, "Hey, let's let's do this." It was brought before the public put on the ballot and it was voted on. And we as a board had the board of elections and our esteemed superintendent look at the bill to make sure that we were following the grounds and what was written in that bill because you have to watch the words shall, herewith, must. There's a lot of different things that goes into that. And that bill said that it had to be seven districts individually represented. So it had to be that way. So
037as the board embarks upon making a motion to move forward with this, we wanted our constituents here and those viewing online to understand and know, you know, where where this is going. And as Taylor mentioned, this is not going to impact where your child goes to school. >> Amen. >> I need that to be understood. >> Thank you. >> It will not impact where your child goes to school. >> Now, does that mean later on down the road we we we may have to, but as of right now, no. That is that is not the case. Um what it does do is it helps aid in there not being um as many potential that would be on the ballot. It you know like at one point in time whenever Josh and I ran there was
038six there was six candidates that was on the ballot for for the district. So it's just it's going to make things it's Yeah. So I wanted the board wanted everyone to understand this. So anyhow and that was input that was also given to me from my esteemed board members. So um board members without further ado Taylor has presented to us as a board um these voting uh districts. What is the pleasure of the board? >> Make a motion to approve it. Got a motion to approve by vice chairman Deenheart. So I've got a second by board member Arguas. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose like manner? >> Carries unanimously. And I did happen to think of something else. The other reason that we wanted to move forward with this was to help our
039board of elections offices. They do a fantastic job >> and we wanted to make sure that we did our part in helping a tough situation not be that much more tougher. So, Cheryl, we appreciate your help and your input very, very much. >> And Taylor, thank you so much. >> Wonderful working with really appreciate it. Taylor, you made a very complicated process look easy. >> Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. And my wife's the stats teacher at North Lincoln, so she's going to make sure I get the numbers right. She's at open house right now. So >> Oh, all right. Next item up on our agenda is the technology report from our esteemed technology coordinator, Kim Bishop. Chairman Ree and board members. Um, we discussed the bids that were available for Whittenberg and Hidnut's paging
040system. So, I would ask tonight that you would uh approve us using Encore for both those projects. >> I make a motion. >> I second it. >> I've got a motion by board member Oxentine. I've got a second by vice chairman Degan Art. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Like manner. Carries unanimously. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Kim. We appreciate it. >> Um, the next item on our agenda is our chief financial officer, Sharon Mafy. >> I don't get to be the esteemed shares. >> I think you're esteemed, Sharon. you are our esteemed hero and leader. >> Uh tonight I just wanted to to um uh say again that um the auditors vis visited our system last week and we had loads of fun with that. um and
041and that Shannon will be here uh in October at the October work session to present the um uh the financial statements and discuss the audit. Um last month I was pleased to report that we did not use any of our current u expense fund balance. Did you get that Rob? >> None. >> I saw it on video and I was tickled. That's huge. >> Good job. >> Great job. >> Good job. >> Great job, Andrea. >> Well, I want to acknowledge the many people who had who made that possible. Yes. >> First of all, for the finance department for their diligence, uh our directors who managed their budgets carefully. And special thank you to transportation and maintenance who finished the year significantly below their budgets. >> Good job. That's great. >> Also to to uh
042Dr. Griffin for his commitment to evaluating every vacant position to help ensure the effective use of our resources. >> Yes, good job. >> One of the um major things that has happened recently is the legislature approved what they call a mini budget. When they have when they cannot reach agreement to approve a full budget, they take parts of the budget and approve that. They improved a new retirement rate of 24.67%. That's up from 24.4.04% last year. And that will increase our expenses by about $50,000 systemwide. Health insurance coverage increased to $8,500 per qualifying employee, up from $8,95. and that will in uh add an increase of $195,000 across all programs. Uh as I mentioned um because that there's increasing ADM in some parts and some school systems across the state and no additional funds have
043been allotted by the legislature. they had to take the funds that they had and divide them among the school systems. So, as I mentioned, we um had in our planning aotments were set to lose 3.5 teaching positions and in our um initial allotments based on that percentage it was five teaching positions. Well, in this mini budget they uh gave additional funds for ADM. So, um, we're back down to our original planning aotment budget. No salary increases were included in the mini budget, but we were given we were going to be allowed to give step increases to teachers and other employees on stepbased salary schedules. One of the fin one of the things that was a major challenge to us last year was the change in DPI software. DPI was using a software that was over
04420 years old and the companies just said they were not going to support it anymore. >> Unfortunately, DPI was unable to effectively coordinate with the school system vendors, our finance vendors. Um, and this affected everything from ordering cash to reconciling staff allotments between our records and DPI record DPI's records. We have a set of books. We transmit them to DPI and then DPI has a set of books and those two have to match. We were assured back last fall in September when these problems started happening that it was a long way to June and all the problems would be solved and then it got to be March, April and almost May and we still had problems but we were able and I think the audit will show this that we were able to effectively close
045out the year and I want to give a special thanks again to the finance office and their perseverance and especially to Andrea. Andrea did a lot of the work >> um that uh just day by day going in and checking things and I appreciate that m that very much. Uh until we get a full budget, we'll or at least the state gives us enough mini budgets for us to do a budget. will continue to operate under our continuing resolution. >> Sharon, if I could comment real quickly on that. Um, grateful for you and your staff's uh continued effort to balance our budget. >> Uh, that was no easy undertaking uh for us to do last year, but we knew we had to. Uh, and I'd also like to to compliment um all of our employees,
046uh, HR, uh, Dr. employe for making sure that we're constantly operating with within our means. Those are no easy tasks to do. Uh but this was a commitment by all of our employees and and it's it certainly wasn't an easy task. Uh we've heard for years now we have to operate and and do more with less and it's just it's just a reality. It's the world we live in right now in public education. But uh just grateful for to our staff here in Alexander County Schools for understanding that continuing to understand that that as our ADM if it decreases or or increases, whatever that may be, we have to adapt to that each and every year. Uh and and that's what we will do to make sure that that we stay um afloat and that
047we're able to to run our schools effectively. So, and thank you to the board for understanding the hard work that that goes in by this staff to make that happen. So, great good job. Great job. >> Great job. Good job, Andrew. Great job. >> Great job, Shar. >> All right. The next item on our agenda is the human resources report from Dr. Alicia Clower. There she is. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um, can I just throw in a quick comment that we had teacher orientation today, the first day of it. Thank you for those of you who could attend. Um, were able to do that, but we had a great turnout, a great day of sessions with those folks. We'll continue tomorrow. And when you look at the agendas that I've given you for
048personnel, you'll see several returning employees and just great compliments for our district. So, >> thank you for that. Um, but you have those before you and those are our usual and customary procedures. Do you have any questions or concerns? >> Okay. >> What is the make a motion? >> Got a motion by Vice Chairman Dan. >> Second by board member Corey Mlan. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Like manner. Carries unanimously. >> Thank you, Dr. >> Good job. >> At this time, I will turn it over to our fearless leader, our superintendent, Dr. Bill Griffin. >> Thank you, Chairman Ree and Vice Chair Dagenheart, members of the board. Um have several items here for us this evening. Uh the first just talking a little bit about our our rebranding. Uh an
049update to where we are with that. uh you will begin to see new logos, of course, our mission and vision uh that we led the meeting with. Um and and I'd like to give an overview of all that next board meeting. And and I want to forgo that this time because ultimately uh during open session this year, I want to talk to our our staff members about what the the meaning is behind that. And and I owe it to them uh to kind of unveil that to them them first until I do it to to the public. Uh so I'm going to forego going over all of that to the general public until I'm have an opportunity to speak with all our staff members. So I'll do that at opening session. Uh we were able
050to have our our uh uh district retreat administrative retreat uh there at the end of July. Three days that we spent together. I just commend our our leadership teams uh for all they bring to the table each and every day. I believe we had three quality days. Uh we ended at the hidden night gym mines. Uh and uh we didn't find any emeralds, so none of us could retire at this point. Uh but I think what we did find was was an atmosphere of collaboration. Uh an atmosphere that we can have a laugh with one another every now and then. Uh and the fact that this staff uh endured uh tripledigit heat uh in in a gym mind together and nobody complained or fussed about anything. That's my kind of people, guys. I I appreciate
051you uh going and and doing that with us. And uh I did see some smiles and some laughter. Uh and we we had a good time. So, I'm grateful for the team that I'm surrounded with there. >> Um next on agenda is House House Bill 959. Uh you guys probably are aware of the new law that's been put in place. Uh that house bill basically states uh that we have a new cell phone policy across the state of North Carolina in our public schools. Um this has made the news. I'm beginning to see across social media and the news channels uh throughout the state of North Carolina. Uh we too here in Alexander County have to adhere to to that policy. Um and it's it's very very simple uh in scope of what that says
052and and I'll just read it here to make sure we get it right. Session law 2025-38. Uh that's House Bill 959 simply states uh that was adopted on July 1, 2025. Uh was created by the North Carolina General Statute 115C-76 uh which provides uh regulation of wireless communication devices in public schools. In particular, it requires that all public school units must adopt a policy by January 1, 2026 uh that says at minimum prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time and establish consequences for violations of this policy which may include confiscation and disciplinary measures. Uh so from from this point the each principal at each of our schools uh will be communicating with all their parents and all of their students about uh the policy uh how
053it is going to be adhered to and reflected in their school. >> I need parents to understand >> that this is law. This is not something that Alexander County Schools came up with. >> I believe it's a good law. I believe it has merit to what we're trying to do. However, uh we didn't establish and create this single-handedly, right? >> Uh and we shall and must uh follow the the laws that are put before us. >> Amen. >> Um so there will be some changes, potential changes, uh in your schools. Uh the number one change and and I'll not speak for every school as to to what this means. U tip typically our elementary school is not that big of a a difference from what we've seen. Uh middle schools, I'd say there's not too
054big of a difference. uh high schools, you have to understand that uh state law basically says uh that you cannot use or have visible or or on uh your wireless device uh without permission from your teacher. So students when you cross the threshold of the door and you go into classroom uh that is to be that phone is to be gone and put away and adhered to the policies by your principal uh in each of those schools. So, um just be aware of that and parents again uh understand that that that is law and we will uh adhere to to what that law says. Um next, uh we have another law that is that is new to us uh this year. Uh we have a law that's put out by the uh North Carolina Center
055for Safer Schools uh that basically says there's a set of said videos that must be shown uh to our students by the fifth day of school this year. Uh I have a letter that I have sent out to each of our schools. That letter has been sent out to parents by those school by each of those schools. Uh and this is associated with grades 6 through 12. So our middle schools and high school students uh will be shown by law uh a series of videos. Uh and these are just videos guided to make sure that that children, our students are are aware uh that sometimes there are individuals that make bad choices and and to watch out for those bad choices. Uh it does not state that we have any anyone within Alexander County schools
056that that is doing and making these choices. Uh however, uh law says that we we watch out these things and and ultimately we want to do anything within our power uh to make sure that our students are safe, >> right? >> Uh so these videos will will go out. Parents, you will get a letter from me. Uh embedded in that letter are the links for these videos. You can watch those at your leisure. You can watch those with your child. Uh and if you choose uh for them not to participate, you can contact your school uh and we'll assist you with that. However, by law, these videos must be shown and they will be shown uh to our students within the first 5 days of school. So, once again, this is not something that we
057came up with that Alexander County School says, "Hey, we're just going to do this willy-nilly." Uh this is a law that's out there that we have to uh to abide by, and we we will abide by it. >> Uh and again, I think it's a good thing because we want our students always safe and we want our adults making good choices. >> Yes, sir. And I will tell our adult our adults during open session, if you don't make good choices, then we will handle that situation. >> Yep. >> Uh so that's just common sense. It's law and that's why we're here. >> Um the next thing that we have are all positives and ultimately uh Alexander Early College started school today. I see Mary Brown in the audience. So uh great to see your staff
058and great to see your students there. Uh those classes being filled with with our students ready to learn uh for the school year. So they started today. Uh we started optional teacher work days today in in the county as well. Uh we have opening session for all of our employees. Uh and that's on the 18th at at 9:00 in the morning at the uh at the U auditorium. I would encourage the board to come. Um again, I said all employees. This is not for teachers. I I I purposely want every single employee in our district to be a part of that. Uh we're all a team. Uh all of our jobs are important and I want us to celebrate together. And I've tried to create a culture here uh that that opening session is not
059something we should dread, but but we get together and we high-five one another and we celebrate a school year and what we do is for career. So very proud of of that. Um the 18th through the 21st are required work days uh for our teachers. On the 20th, our our 9th grade back to school bash will be held. Uh the 21st, we'll be having open houses. Um and and our dates, our calendar is really kind of confined on what we can do. uh and it's open houses are are happening uh for all of our schools uh that same evening. It's it's very difficult for parents. I understand you may have children uh at multiple schools. Uh but we're just kind of confined on when we can have those and and when we can put those
060together with our calendar options. >> Uh so those will be on the 21st the 22nd optional teacher work day. Uh we have our first home football game here versus Newton Con over here at the stadium behind us. So uh grateful for that. Uh we have uh other sports that are starting this week. Uh and they're on the schedule. So glad to see them back in action. The 29th uh early college have optional teacher work day and no students for those no classes for those students. Uh and then on 91 we have a holiday. So times are flying by. Then on the 2nd we have a work session scheduled here. So so things are certainly happen happening in a quick and orderly man manner. Uh, and then finally, the last thing I need to remind our
061public is on the 15th, uh, will be our next board meeting, September 15th, and that was switched from the 8th to the 15th. We back that up a week. Uh, I'll be out of town at a at a conference, and the board was was kind enough to to back that up so that make sure that we're all on the same page. So, I appreciate that and just want the general public to realize of that change. Um, a lot going on. Uh, seeing our audience feel tonight brings me a lot of joy. Uh, I I love the the start of school. I love the fact that our our our faculty and staff are are back here at school and I can't wait to see all of our students. Uh Mary, I hope you had an amazing
062day today uh as you started the school day and look forward to an amazing school year and we will do great things. I can promise you that. Thank you very much. >> Um Dr. Griffin, I want to add um a couple of things. Um, this is our uh last board meeting before school starts coming up. Um, I want our faculty and staff out there to know on behalf of this board, we hope and we pray that you each have a phenomenal first day and we are here to support you thick and thin. Okay. Um, the next thing, you know, members of the audience, constituents out there online, there's been a lot of information that has been shared tonight on behalf of our superintendent. Um, as I was just sitting here, I was just thinking this.
063I would like to challenge parents and those out there in the public, come and attend our board meetings. We as a board, we want to see people here in the audience. Not just when something is going on, but anytime anytime this cell phone policy that's coming out, like Dr. Griffin mentioned, it's not us as a board. This is law. You know, you hear so much stuff on the news, but you know what? Come and get that information firsthand, >> not secondhanded. So as your children start a new school year, start maybe a new process for you as parents, come and attend a board of education meeting. We would welcome you. It it it it sort of kind of I don't know how to put it. Whenever at the end of the honors and recognition, you
064know, to see everybody leave, we laugh and we say stay. We want you to stay. So but anyhow, Dr. Griffin, we appreciate all of the efforts that you have made and that you continue to make and we look forward to a great school year. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is um proposed board of education policy revisions. Um second reading, Dr. Alicia Clover. I had to look at that to make sure that I seen Dr. Alicia Clover and not sharing my hand. the eye doctor. The last time I went, they tried to encourage me to get bif focals, but I'm I'm I'm resisting and so I had to double check. I'm like, okay. >> I've resisted as well. >> I now have contacts that are >> sometimes I
065get them backwards. Sometimes you don't know what I'm see >> or say. >> Okay. So, we do have our second reading. I'm trying to pull it up here. Um since I did not pull it up on the board, I'm going to get better at this part. You got me, Michelle. Here we go. >> Team work. >> I'm gonna start bringing that mouse up here with me. So, we are on our second reading for board policy 6140 about student wellness where we added some items from our shack committee meeting last month. So, uh any questions about that? >> Okay. What is the pleasure of the board? >> Motion to approve. Got a motion to approve by board member Argues, a second by vice chairman Denheart. All in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? Like manner.
066>> Carries unanimously. >> Thank you, Dr. Clover. And then now we are to next item. We have got some board of education policy revisions. First reading, Dr. Clover as well. >> You have some more revisions to put up. So for policy 3620 extracurricular activities and student organizations um they have added a new subsection addressing those items listed there. We have policy 4023/7233 pregnant and parenting students employees added some language in that according to title 9. uh policy 40407310 staff student relations again some more revisions with newly adopted state board of educational rule that's in place now and child abuse and related threats to child safety policy 4240-7312 um revising another section with more adopted state of education >> you want a motion on that one as well >> bring that one back next >> you'll
067bring that one back okay >> take a look at those thank Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Clover. [Music] All right, board members. This concludes the open session of the portion of our meeting. Can I get a motion that we close open session and we enter into close session? >> Motion. >> Got a motion to approve by board member Oxentine, a second by board member Anthony Mlan. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Like manner carries unanimously.