001[Music] Good evening. We will go ahead and call the meeting to order. This being Monday, June the 16th, 2025, our regularly scheduled board meeting. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to board member Jesse BS for the pledge of allegiance. Attention. Salute. Pledge. I pledge algiance 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. Um board members, at this time I am needing to seek approval of the agenda, but we need to add two things in there. There will be an addin from my future NC with Dr. Kim Casease. She will come in before Sharon Mafy for our financial report. And then I need to add in an update regarding the sharp contract that
002will be after Sharon Mafy. Board members, what is the pleasure of the board? Second. I've got a motion to approve by board member Oxentine, a second by board member Anthony Mlan. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like manner. All right. At this time, I will turn it over to Dr. Denita D Revis for honors and recognitions. Well, good evening. We had to put this honor and recognition off until June because we had so many in May, which was a good thing, but um now we're out of school and so some of the people who we would like to be here are probably living their lives and having fun in the month of June. So, kudos to them. Um so we'll clap vigorously for those who who managed to make it. All right. So
003tonight we are recognizing um some staff members who earned their local endorsement for teaching academically and intellectually gifted students during the school year. These staff members completed an estimated 60 hours of work through the Northwest Resa while they were still doing their regular assignments. That means showing up and teaching their classes and um going about their daily duties. The studies that they participated in included lesson planning and differentiation for high performing students and adding to the number of certified AI AIG teachers is one of the district's goals in the three-year AIG plan. So, in no particular order, but we'll ask them to come up. We have um Dr. Amy BS who's with central office staff. Congratulations, [Applause] Miss Mary Beth Bunger with Alexander Early College. Congratulations. And her husband, Mr. Ashley Bunger, who we are
004especially happy to sing. You're looking good, sir. Congratulations. He's also at the Early College. Miss Jessica Cook at East Alexander Middle School. Miss Christy Krauss at Hidnight Elementary School. Miss Lydia Gualtne at Stony Point Elementary. Jessica, would you like to come receive her certificate? I'll take it back. Very good. And Miss Rebecca Johnson at East Alexander Middle School, Miss Ali Lackey at East Alexander Middle School, and then um myself. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. [Applause] Jessica, I think they got to make a picture. One, three. One, two, three. [Applause] All right. At this time, the next thing is public comment, but I understand there is not any. So, at this time, we will move on to uh get approval for the consent agenda. What is the pleasure of the board? Motion to approve. Got a motion to
005approve by board member Anthony Mlan. Second. Second. Second by board member Rob Argues. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like manner. Carries unanimously. Thank you, gentlemen. At this time, we will turn it over to uh Dr. Kim Casease, regional impact manager for My Future NC. And board members, I'd like to introduce Dr. Casease. Uh she of course is with My Future NC. Uh is going to go over some uh information for us that I think will uh you'll certainly uh be uh keen on and and what she has to say. uh she's also worked with CBCC and and we've had several conversations about the data she's on and my NC I've also had the privilege of working with Dr. Case for many many years and she she's a constant professional I think you'll
006enjoy presentation the way she has for Dr. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you, Chairman Ree, Superintendent Griffin, members of the board. Um, like Superintendent Griffin said, I am Kim Casease with My FutureNC. Um, have any of you heard of my future NC previously? All right, then I will give you the highle overview and I'll tell you up front. There's more data here than I want to get into in any level of depth, but if you'd like for me to come back at a work session and look at the data more, that would be great. So, all right. Let's see if the flicker will point it direction. Now, there's that. There we go. Green is good. All right. So, my future NC is a statewide nonprofit. We were formed out of bipartisan legislation in 2019
007with the specific purpose of lifting up an educational attainment goal for our state. We focus on 25 to 44 year olds holding post-secondary degrees or credentials that lead to family sustaining wages. And so that year we were able to get that bipartisan support which was really interesting to me. Um I came on board in 2022 after 34 years of service with Cowell County Schools. Dr. Griffin said we'd worked together a while and we have. Um so um this goal really looks at lifting the value of education and the value of work and ensuring that North Carolina stays competitive and we know that education is the place where all of that starts. So was based on some data. These are some projections for 2032 that came out of Department of Commerce. Those are numbers that show
008us where the labor market is going and how many more jobs will be needed and how that aligns with where we have folks who are credentialed in degrees today. and want to be sure that I'm clear. Credentials could be short-term credentials. They could be welding. They could be construction trades. They could be anything that leads to family sustaining wages, but u what the predictions show us is that if you have some college and no degree, there just isn't a need for that. Um and maybe it's persistence. I'm not sure. Um non-deree credentials, those short-term credentials that I mentioned, um are rising and bachelor's degrees. Now, associate degrees sit there and it's kind of strange. How could a two-year degree not lead to be needed? But those are transition degrees. And so you probably an associate
009degree won't be quite enough. You'll need more a bachelor's degree. We are led by cross sector uh representation. We have a board that sits at the state level. We say we're stateled but locally owned and driven in the region. And I represent the northwest prosperity zone. So that reaches over to Mcdow up to Yansy kind of wraps around Mataga, Alagany, Ash, Wils, comes back around to Burke, Kataba. So everything in between is my prosperity zone. At the state level, we have um the heads of all our university systems, public private um and community college. We have uh business representation. We have philanthropist. Um our superintendent of schools um as part of that, our department of commerce secretary. So, it truly is a cross- sector group who leads our organization. All right, those are the prosperity
010zones. There's seven more regional impact managers across the state. So, you can get a picture of what we look like statewide. All right, and then um what what we rest in is this belief that a better educated North Carolina means a key to economic prosperity and upward mobility for all our citizens. And I work in three ways. First, we monitor and report progress. I'm going to show you some of that data tonight. We work to accelerate action, and this is one of the ways that we do that is to help folks know about educational attainment, why it matters to our economy and to our schools. And we also identify and advocate for policy solutions, but only in conjunction with partners. We don't have any policy that we lift up independently. Uh we have some areas
011of focus, but nothing that we we we never stand alone. We are collective impact organization. So, we made great gains since 2019. You can see the green arrow pointing upward. We've increased educational attainment by about 15% across the state. If I was here two years ago, the first time that I did this, I would say that we were about 34,000 below where we needed to be, our gap. Now we're about 13,000 behind where we need to be, which is phenomenal. And it is really due to this uh cross- sector collaboration in our counties across the state working with community colleges, K12, EDC, our municipalities and local governments, commissioners uh and chambers kind of heads there. But you see some other partners along the bottom, Lenor Ryan, the College Foundation North Carolina. Like I said, we
012work with almost everyone as long as it is leading to educational attainment. Um that quote in the center comes from Lumina. Aluminina is a national organization that talks about skilled labor and skilled workforce. And so we partner with them as well. We don't necessarily think about recreating a wheel or creating anything new, but how do we lift up what we're doing and how do we work better together given our limited resources. All right. So this is um where I'm going to slide on through some of the data. But every year because we came out of legislation, we produce a JLock report, legislative report, and a piece of that are our attainment profiles. In the beginning, we had a state profile and we had a county profile, and those were the only two. This is where
013your local voice matters so much. Since that time, we've realized that some school districts like Kataba with three districts inside of one need supplemental profiles. So, we have a county profile and three school district profiles. We also needed a prosperity zone profile. We needed a charter school profile because if there's a charter school in a district, then that's going to have different information than the public schools. So, we have added all of those supplemental profiles over time. And as we do this work together, when we look at the profiles, if there's something you need or see or want to know, our organization is well situated to find that information. on those profiles. It has four main transition points. Uh academic readiness, college and career access, post-secary completion, and workforce alignment. Within those, there are 18
014key performance indicators. And even within those, there are a few more data points that are interesting like student to counselor ratio. Um chronic absenteeism is actually one of the profile indicators, but um few others that you'll note on the profile. NC prek is our youngest uh indicator and we think about that in two ways. One, if we don't have a good foundation for our children, we don't have good child care, good education at that level, you're not going to build a future workforce. But also, if you're a parent and there isn't NC prek enrollment or child care available, it's really hard to go to work. We go all the way through age 44. Family sustaining wages, um, opportunity youth, labor market alignment, do our jobs line up with what we're doing in schools, all those
015are in information that we need. All right. So, here's some specific Alexander County data. Uh, one of the pieces of information that we know is that currently there's 3,87 Alexander County residents aged 25 to 44 with those post-secary degrees and credentials. The gray boxes are those who do not yet have those degrees or credentials. So, that's an area where when we work at the county, we want to think about and we can make some really quick work, especially with some college and no degree, but our community college partners and our four-year partners are essential there. Um, small print here, but basically this tells you a little bit about the labor market in Alexander County. And I'm starting at the top end, which for K12 means your parents. So, these are where many of your parents
016are situated in Alexander County. uh family sustaining wages. That's one that I always want to point out. It's 45.7% of um individuals in that age range who are actually earning a sustaining wage. You can check that living wage calculator. Um it's called MIT calculator. But if you're a single adult and you have one child and you want to live without any support, not family, not friends, church, community, public, you need $32 an hour to do that. U if you're two adults and two children. Yeah. Is that this these are always a little bit shocking because when you think about you know how parents help one another your children you forget if if those uh people weren't there you know this is what the need is. So more important than ever that we get people educated
017for these families sustain wages. What's the state standard? Um the state I'd have to look but it's around 30 which I'll tell you Waga. Waga is $35 an hour. Everything in the northwest prosperity zones between 31 and 35. So my guess would be about 36 37. Waga is on the high end because of housing. So and I can get all of that information for you. So that and really I did want to start with labor market alignment because that's what we're working toward. Um fivestar jobs. This is the Hickory Prosperity Zone. And so the Hickory Prosperity Zone actually touches Caldwell, Alexander, Kataba, Burke and McDow. So in this area, nurse practitioners, logisticians, which are supply chain management, so furniture industry, all those folks who are shipping goods and receiving goods and then physicians assistance. So
018healthcare are where most of our high paid jobs are. Crystal shaking her hand. She knows um top industries here, manufacturing, public administration, educational services, and government and schools are in your top three highest employers in the county. All right, this particular piece of data matters a lot, too. Um, opportunity youth are 16 to 24 year olds who are neither enrolled nor in pulled. And so, if you see all across our Kataba Valley region, we're pretty orange. Um, in Alexander County it's increased one percentage point. Um, but it's also dropped. So, it was 16%. In 2019, it went up to 18% back down to 17%. Those numbers come from self-reported data. Comes from a survey called the American Community Survey. And so, I always wonder just a bit if those are numbers that are self-reported if
019that number might be a little low. Yeah. another number that we all have in common and can work on together. Um, then we'll look at post-secary completion. Most Alexander County students go to one of the community colleges nearby. Interesting that you have a pretty high rate of persisting to the second year. 83 84%. But then within six years, and I have adult children and I did want them off the payroll, um, only 63% actually earned that degree within six years. And we put some time limits on that. So, that's a a place to look for some growth. This is called a leaky pipeline. Um, and what that shows you is out of a 100 ninth graders in Alexander County, how many of them make it to that degree or credential within that time frame. So,
020by the time they're 24, um, and this is 21. Uh, state average is 31. And you can see kind of where the dips happen um along the pipeline in red. I'll let you just take a look at that. um didn't enroll in post-secary institution within 12 months is a little high. That's that second drop in the pipeline. So that would be an area uh for some collaboration between the school system and community college and postsecary. You have Lenor Rhine and Appstate in this region as well. All right. um financial aid, FAFSA helps. Um some data tells us that if you complete the FAFSA, if student completes the FAFSA, they're 80% more likely to enroll. And so that one document helps you get there. Um and so that's a piece that we want to look at.
021Alexander County's been doing some great work with FASA completion, and that rate is higher than it was at this time last year. Moving on up, CPC, CCP, and CTE courses also help increase those attainment rates. All right. And then academic readiness, chronic absenteeism. Um, and the chronic absenteeism rate in Alexander County is lower than the state average considerably. Kudos. Um, and then about 40 high school students dropped out. And this was 2023 data. Okay. And then finally, academic readiness. looking at preK and some of the college and career um reading scores and what that looks like. We base that on level four and fives and level three is proficient. So, there's some conversation there as well. So, some challenges, but okay, the good news is um we are all raising these attainment rates in the
022Northwest region, 2.6% in Alexander County, 4.6 percentage points across the Northwest as a whole. Um, and if you look at Alexander, each county has a stretch goal, and that's actually what I'm here to ask you about tonight, signing a resolution to work on this collectively. U, Alexander's stretch goal is 4,842 individuals 25 to 44 by 2030. And K12, although that's not your age group per se, it is your parents. And we also want to think beyond 2030. All right. Question is, um, and there's really two. What are we doing alone that we might do better together? and what can we do together that we cannot do alone as we think through educational attainment. Um these are the easy steps. Endorse that state goal of 2 million by 2030. Adopt your local stretch goal and then
023begin to develop a local action plan. Counties around us are working that way. I threw up um few of the Burke County icons just so you could see some of the partners. Um, Caldwell, Wataga, um, McDow, several have already started to sign resolutions. I was just a little slow getting to Alexander County. Apologies. Kind of waiting on Dr. Griffin to get settled in. All right. They they tell me I'm settled now. And here I am. They can't get away from me. So, these are some of the things that I can do and and help with um data sharing resources, advocating for policy as local voices need to be heard, and then developing local attainment plans. There's some links in here you can check out later. Like I say, there's so much information. Um and that
024is um really the presentation. Some other resource links that you're welcome to peruse and I'm glad to answer questions, but I know time is limited tonight. Appreciate you all listening. Thank you. Lord, have any thoughts or questions about what Dr. Case has presented this evening? So, we have a a resolution here that would basically state that we're supporting trying to increase our attainment goal. Um, and Dr. Case, if I read this, I believe will be appropriate so they know as to what we're trying to to approve this evening. uh ultimately says resolution to support my future NC attainment goal. Uh whereas my future NC is a statewide nonprofit organization focused on educational attainment and is the result of cross- sector collaboration between North Carolina leaders in education, business and government. And whereas North Carolina has
025the goal that two million North Carolinians will have a highquality credentialed or post-secary degree by 2030. And whereas Alexander County Schools is committed to ensuring that 4,842 individuals ages 25 to 44 have a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030. And whereas Alexander County Schools along with other key partners will help advance educational attainment of students North Carolina. And whereas Alexander County Schools agrees that North Carolina faces a gap between the projected needs for citizen while highly quality credentials or post-secary degrees and the attainment of those high quality credentials or post secondary degrees. Now therefore be it resolved that Alexander County School supports and endorses the attainment goal of my future NC that 2 million North Carolinians should have a high quality credential or post secondary degree by 2030. and Alexander County School supports and adopts
026the local education attainment goal of 4,842 individuals with a high quality credential or post-secary degree by 2030 in Alexander County and Alexander County Schools along with leaders in business, education, state and local government and community organizations will continue to foster collaboration to achieve the goal by developing an action plan defining success and measurable outcomes ex uh executing on the action plan and sharing successful practices with my future NCMP. peer communities adopted this day 16th day of June 2025 by Alexander County School. Any concern with with that? Yeah, I if I may. Yeah. Yeah. If we could go to your statistics at the beginning of your presentation showing the number of positions available and growth of positions available versus degrees. Okay. Here. So, you're saying that we have a significant need of high school GED equivalency.
027We have an overabundance of some college degree graduates versus a number of open positions. We have some needed credentials. We have an abundance of candidates and associates degree versus associate degree personnel. We have a big need in bachelors, but we have an abundance of personnel or people available already with degrees and with graduate or post-graduate degrees versus jobs. That is true. So, I don't understand why this resolution is asking that we open up the floodgates and add even more education pedigree to our population when the need isn't quite there other than the bachelor's degree, which I see as the biggest. So, I'm asking for a little bit more clarification exactly what the ask is. Sure. And at the same time, I'm We're we're a rural community. Skills, trades are extremely important and quite honestly, they're
028millionaires of the future in our society. And I think that's for that credential to piece if I'm not wrong in saying that that's what we want people to obtain. Uh to make sure they have a credential or some skill set or that we're we're promoting uh the educational attainment of of whatever it may need for that person to be successful uh in the world. I don't think that this resolution is saying that uh that we're promoting that every person's going to university and I think that's a wonderful track for for some uh but I also believe there there are certainly options for others. However, uh I I do believe attainment and making sure that we're graduating individuals and we're prep preparing individuals for whatever pathway they choose that that they reach whatever success level or
029need that they have to make sure that they can uh hopefully gain that job or career. Is that actually is that kind of where you're going? That is and construction trades those are included in educational attainment. So all anything that leads to a family sustaining wage. So if I go back to the labor market alignment slide, so that's the 3.3 million line item there. And well, the 3.3 million means you must have a high school diploma as an entry. Okay? But it doesn't necessarily mean you'll advance to those family sustaining wages. So that and when you look at the two population sizes, there's some population slides that I shared when we had our community meeting with EDC. Um, population really factors into these two sets of numbers because if you'll notice by 2032, as far
030as North Carolina goes, we're going to have to have a real increase in population, which means right now we have to have every single individual in the workforce. Um, workforce participation rates. And we'll slip back to that labor market alignment slide because that's speaking to your point. Yeah. Because my fear is that through this resolution we'd create a larger population of overqualified, underemployed personnel. And so that's and so I I'm missing the piece of economic development. How are we going to create those high value jobs? They're going to need that post-graduate education, which is what we're pushing for here, or or credential, right? I think we're getting lost in that that that that attainment of a degree that that that credentialed piece that that a person when when they do leave us, number one, they're
031prepared. I hope we're doing a a magnificent job in preparing our our youth for employment, right? Uh and then what they need at that point uh to make sure that that whatever trade or or uh decision they make from that point that they're that they're prepared for. And and I think that's a I hope that that's what we're we we're we're doing as as as a system is making sure that these our students are prepared that whatever that next step may be uh that that they can that they can get there. 100% agree. I I'm not I don't think that my future NC is trying to promote that we out educate the workforce. I think that they're trying to promote that that we have the necessary factors so that they can they can compete with
032other persons in whatever industry that they may be in. And to clarify that I think would be powerful that that we're improving our our guidance and our and our accuracy in terms of skills versus needs in the marketplace. Right. And that's what these data sets show you is where the needs and there are many more pieces and nuances here. But we look and why it's so important that we look locally and then within really the Western Pemont Council of Government region is because we need to know what's available in our area. We also need to know what does this county want? Um what Caldwell wants in its economy and its growth may be different than what Alexander wants. I don't know that. I do know that everybody needs to be able to earn a family
033sustained wage and have you know 100% that's why alignment with the economic development of the specific region to the educational goals is to me an important element adopt the resolution and her slides she had you know chamber of commerce and these other yeah let me I think Dr. cases and and I've been involved and and the board has has not been to those meetings, but I know that I have been involved in and it reads in here um develop action plans with uh other partners uh and and those partners are are EDC and our commissioners and those around us that that take that kind of signify what is the need within our county and how can how can we as the school system support them reaching what may be for that sustainable wage so that
034there so that our county is is successful. I I don't want this proclamation to or resolution or even conversation to to be misconstrued of we're we're forcing and pushing everybody in in a educational attainment that's university track only. Uh that we're not that that's not what this says. Uh, I think this says in other counties that have already signed those proclamations of we're trying to prepare our students, not our students for here is 25 to 44 year olds for those attainments. If if we if we fail to to try to meet those marks, then I think we fall farther and farther and farther and farther behind. And that's not what I don't I don't believe that's what the the wish is of of any of our constituents. But help but help me understand how how
035as a school board we're helping the 25 to 44 year olds. How how how is how are we impacting that families because you have families and you have students. So you actually have really double power. You have the parents who may not have that attainment who are sitting in that 25 to 44 year old age range. So if we build a strong collaborative where the community college is involved particularly um and worked with western not western peont but Kataba Valley pretty in depth um if economic development is involved and they bring their voice and their perspective to the table you can build some really awesome pieces that bring adults together. Um the slide that had the Kataba Valley picture that was a school system involved in a financial aid uh outreach that also involved AppState
036and Lenor Ryan. And so in that outreach they were working on completing FAFSAs, but they were also doing some career counseling. So that labor market alignment, what does a student want to do? What does an adult want to do? Those adults who stopped out some college, no degree, how do we get them plugged back in? what do we need to do at a state level to advocate for those individuals uh to assist because as an adult working taking care of children all of those things get really hectic and difficult. So we know that there's lots of reasons that people stop out wouldn't it be a priority of us to to increase our graduation rate and make sure that people are getting that first level of those attainments and that's graduating high school. So if we
037fail to do that piece then then we're taking them out of the entire system of of getting attainment. So I I think our our part is making sure that that we are graduating our students prepared for that next level to which they at that point can attain whatever that but I'm also thinking about CTE here. That's a part of that that whole piece a no-brainer for us to approve this tonight. Yeah. Yeah. And that one I and I went quickly through that slide because there's lots of information there. But um CTE the top concentrators are human services, agriculture and construction, agriculture, food and natural resources. Those are good. And when we add the business voice to that, what else could we build in the CTE and dual enrollment pathway? And also the CCP courses, the
038college career promise, those are free. So if you know you get more students who are involved in those whether they go shortterm CDLs your CDLs are short-term credentials. Um I was trying to think CNAs short-term credentials all of those don't take a long amount of time to get but they're included when we talk about educational attainment those are included as well. Um and then the reality is folks like me who have a doctorate there aren't that many jobs out there. So, you know, it being thoughtful uh career development plans. I don't know how much you dug into career development plans just yet, but the crystal the career development plans. That's Yep. That's that thoughtful, intentional pathway building. If we can build in 25 to 44 year olds understanding alongside some of those students who are
039building those CDPs, the career development plans, that's another way that K12 can love it. make sense? Any any thoughts? And and and I think by us going through this resolution is is kind of the the the first phase of us, okay, now let's have this discussion. Let's talk with our EDC. Let's talk with our commissioners. Let's talk with our our business partners and what it is that we can at that point begin to propel to make sure that we we are supporting a livable wage for for our citizens. And I think that to me as superintendent, I think that's a a big part of of what's expected of making sure that we we try to do all we can for for our students so that when they reach whatever level that may be that that
040they are as successful as they possibly can be and then I hope they come back. Sure. They're part of our goal. Let us hear that. It goes without saying some of what we're going through as in recent months, you know, we've got to find a way to keep them here, too. Once they get they attain that credential or that degree or something, they tend to leave the community and go to another county and that doesn't benefit us. And we have got to find ways of employing them and and and and encouraging them to build our community back because that's one of our stumbling blocks is our school system. Well, I guess you got to go and talk to the economic development as these numbers start coming up and saying, "Okay, we're getting these numbers up.
041How can you help us?" And if we build that plan together, that's that need for collaboration. if we're building considering all those factors. I'll tell you the other two that come up are housing and child care in most all of our rural communities. I don't know that that's the same in Alexander, but I guess so. Those are not my issues with educational attainment, but I did know Gans pretty small. They had a school psychologist who couldn't move in because they couldn't find housing and highly qualified, so they finally found some those common issues and having those common conversations. It really does help build this momentum. It's a full circle conversation, right? It's economic development. It's magnifying and qualifying the size of the funnel. What are the skills that are needed to fill that funnel? And
042most importantly, how much debt are we asking our kids and our young adults to take on to get this level of accreditation in order to fulfill that funnel? All it all ties together to what level of support and help can they get on top of that, right? So, it's a very complicated equation. And I don't think it's just as simple as saying they need to get more degrees. It's it's it needs to be a very targeted surgical approach because our county is very special and unique on that on that basis, right? And so I think there's a lot of collaboration and I would propose there's a lot of collaboration required with our county leaders, with our economic development leaders, with our with our corporate leaders in the area and and to see how can the
043school system facilitate a solution to that problem to be solved. I don't think we'll solve it ourselves sitting at this desk. I I would 100% agree. Yeah. Y at this point is is is is it the wish of the board that I sign this resolution and and begin to collaborate and work with Dr. Casease and my future NC to try to assist in in some of these needs that we're discussing. Members of the board, can I get that in the I make a motion for a motion. Got a motion by Vice Chairman Dart. A second by who was it was me. Board member BS. All in favor say I. Any oppose? Like manner. Carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. At this time, the next item
044on the agenda is Miss Sharon Mappy, our chief financial officer. Okay, before um we get into the uh um finance report, I'd like to take a a a moment of personal privilege. And uh I was walked out into the reception area the other day and there was this very distinguished looking young man talking to Laura, our receptionist. She had actually gone to school with his father. His name is Preston Lackey and he had been here to talk to Dr. Griffin. So, um, he was standing there and I walked in and he said, "I've seen you. You're on the board video." So, I'm glad somebody That's right. So, I would like to congratulate Preston um on his graduation. He actually gave the benediction at um graduation and also wish him well in his studies at ECU.
045I mean uh WCU Western Carolina and he is going to major in education. Excellent. Phenomenal. Okay. A financial report tonight. I think you have that at either at your place or in your your packet. Um it's the one I have been doing and it's there for you to review. Um start out tonight with budget amendment number 14. state amendment. And this adds um an additional a lotment to behavior support to um school and and it's it's really zeroing out um school connectivity. Uh that's done by project. So if you didn't spend uh all of a project, then it's put back in your rate funds for you to use again. Uh there was an a lotment for uh transportation of homeless and foster children and a um uh an aotment for uh to give people who
046are getting their national board a little help with that. Budget amendment number 15 was capital outlay and this adds um uh a grant from FEMA that we received uh to um repair the damage done uh in the hurricane at Taylor'sville. Budget amendment number 16 um special revenue fund. This added an additional aotment or additional revenue to the auditorium rental and also uh the FEMA money that we received to replace some food that was lost when the electricity was out um for child nutrition. Okay. Okay. And I would um ask for approval on those amendments or if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them. Okay. Board members, can I get a motion to approve budget amendment 14? Make a motion to approve. Second. Okay. I got a motion to approve by board member
047M uh Corey Mlan and a second by board member Arguas. All in favor say I. Any oppose? Like manner. Okay. Okay. I think the next thing that I have on the agenda is uh the school nutrition um um recommendations for approval. Uh Kathy is at uh a meeting tonight and um uh I am doing this report for her. You might have seen also the um the line at the high school for the meal pickup. We have 1,212 students uh signed up for meals and I I think that shows a real need for what they're doing. It is. Okay. The recommendations the following vendors are recommended for milk and dairy roll over to pet dairy. Food delivery will be Cisco. uh supply delivery will be um Randy plus Southeast Paper Group and those two are at
048a very considerable savings over the vendors we had for those uh chemicals to Correction Enterprises, ice cream to Hershey's and pizza to Smartmouth Pizza and that is a rollover bid. She is also asking for uh last month you approved the um meal prices for uh lunch, but um we'll need to approve the breakfast meal price at $2. And of course, elementary schools will be involved in the free lunch and breakfast on the C program. Um and then the the procurement plan for child nutrition was attached for your review. So I'd like to ask um approval for these three items. Okay, board members, you have heard um from our CFO. What is the pleasure of the board? Motion to approve. Got a motion to approve by board member Anthony Mlan. Can I get a second? Second.
049A second by board member Shannon Oxentine. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like manner. Okay. Okay. The next thing is the approval of the copier contract. The copier contract will be with Sharp. It's for 26 new devices. We we have a we are trying to get all of our contracts together. And so we have some um old devices that we were keeping that were still workable. And then we have another U contract that h that uh was from last year, but this one is the major one and it it is for $5,72.75 a month for the 26 machines and that turns out to be $60,873 per year. Okay. And then I think you the there was other information provided. Um there was as a part of the contract there was a reduction in
050the cost of color copy uh the cost of color copies. If there's any questions I'll be glad to answer those. Then um we'll need approval approval for that as well. Okay, board members, what is the pleasure? Motion to approve. Got a motion to approve by board member Anthony Mlan. Can I get a second? Second. Second by Vice Chairman Denhart. All in favor say I. Any oppose? Like manner? Okay. Thank you, Sharon. At this time, the next item on the agenda is a CTE update from Miss Crystal Hope. Thank you, Crystal. Thank you, board chair, board members. Dr. Griffin, thank you for letting me be here tonight. Um, I want to start by saying, um, I'm glad to be giving a CTE update, but also in your board docs, you'll notice that we do have, uh,
051an approval item, and I don't know if she printed all 75 pages of the local needs. Um, we we have the head shaking to the left and the right in the back. So, so I will entertain any questions about this plan, but I I know it is posted for you. Um, I will say a little um for the CTE needs assessment, we actually have to do a comprehensive plan for every two years. So, next year is actually our full assessment. This year, we basically are instructed to continue the goals that we have unless we're just way off track, but we have to monitor and report on the progress. So, that's what you're going to see in these documents. They're not new ratings. Um, they are all carried over. uh and most of the goals as
052well were carried over from last year. So wi with that said um at the end uh of tonight I will or the presentation I will ask for approval of that but um I actually wanted to highlight some things a little bit different from what um I've showcased before for you guys. um started by going through all of our program areas like we've done before, but uh my colleague Emily Fox said, you know, maybe you focus on partnerships and very glad to do that since Kim uh ended up being here tonight. Uh so that worked out and I actually saw Kim last week and uh I want to say the data that she's sharing is not new data uh for me. That is something that's been reflected in our needs assessment. Um and I wanted to
053point out the the data on credentials and that is something that I look at our advisory looks at. Um that number of credentials earned was 2,193 and 2223. Okay. So at that time our credential attainment was 47.8%. Okay. Last year the 2324 again looking at those credentials that you were uh talking about Mr. uh our credentials earned last year were 20 2,318 which was a credential attainment of 62%. Now, I have some rough data that I'm not supposed to share, I'm sure, on what our credential attainment uh looks like after this year. Um, but I I am proud to say that it does look like we will continue to increase. And so, that's what we're looking at is what are the aligned credentials with the courses we're teaching that are aligned to the labor market.
054And that's the kind of discussion that we need to be having with the school system. And that would be prudent of what we were discussing earlier. Correct. Correct. So, so you think that increase is because we're focusing on the right credentials for the area or what? So, I will not say we do not necessarily have local control over what credentials. So, the state tells us if we offer construction core then they tell us that we need to give the aligned credential is NCCER and those are stackable credentials and so that's what the students earn for that. Now in some courses in foods one we have a choice of which credential. So of course I go to the experts the teachers and say okay here's our choice of credentials. Do you want to do one? Do
055you want to do both? So I think there's a the increase um Shannon is because the state has set aside specific funds that can only be used for credentiing. Number one. Okay. Um it used to be part of 014. now is it's a separate PRC one more we have right shared um so that that number has increased and we are actually funded over 100% at for credentials in other words for retakes so we don't have we can offer let's say okay our um public safety students we also allow them to take the um oh goodness it just left me uh basic life support that's not a state aligned credential But it is a state approved credential. So we go ahead and let our students take that, pay for them to take that. It is a
056credential. It's not something that's reported that we that is counted in the numbers. So, um, these are, again, there's some that we feel like are more valuable maybe than others, but, um, nonetheless, we are pushing to try to to for our students to take those, um, and offer more of those. Um, so again, tonight, just want to highlight some of our partnerships. Uh, this is key to making, uh, its collaboration. That's how we have a successful uh CTE program that we can all be proud of. This is just a slide. So, um looking at some of those partnerships, um this year CT students had valuable opportunities to hear from guest speakers at all grade levels. So, um in the high school, I challenged all of our teachers to have at least two guest speakers per
057semester. And so some of the pictures uh up here are from the happy hub which I have not gone to yet. Um so we had some of our local businesses but we also had industry reps like from the universal technical institute who came to Scotty Cook's uh classroom and spoke to those students. We also had employer visits in our career center. So we had the state employees credit union craftmaster uh actually coming to a place during flex where students can sign up and get exposure to local employers. Um and then our middle school has career days. So for our sixth and seventh grade students uh we had several local employers like Acre Richie Taylor'sville Savings Bay um the health department. again, just starting to expose students to these career uh real careers in our community
058and hopefully inspiring future pathways for them. And then the next partnership I wanted to talk about is our career expo. Again, a huge for event for our high school. Our juniors and seniors are invited to take part in this. We had um 30 plus local partners there. Uh places like David E. Blooper, Snyder Mills, Pedmont Composits, and uh also our CBCC partners uh were there as well. And um sharing opportunities uh even taking names for applications if students are interested. So again, just a couple things. We're exposing students to our local employers. Even though some may not be interested right now, we think it's really important that they know what these businesses are and start making, you know, that network of professionals that maybe they're not going to do right after high school, but they've
059heard about these industries and they're available in Alexander or surrounding areas. Moving on, industry tours. We were really able to expand our um industry tours and career exploration this year due to grant funding. Um, so all of our eighth graders at both middle schools uh participated in local industry tours at CF, Paragon, uh, Craftmaster, and then we also were able to target high school students using those career plans. Um, and also just the courses that they're they were in. And so we had our health science students. Um, we took a group that still kind of trying to figure out what they want to do in healthcare. and uh they were able to go to Kataba Medical Center and also the CBCC SIM hospital. So again, some of those students, they know, I don't think I
060want to really do nursing, but let's go see what all the roles uh are um that are there. We had a future u some electrical students and some trade students. We took them to the Energy United lineman camp this year. That was a first for us. Um and then also we visited SARSstead and CBCCC workforce center talking about credentials. Um making sure that students know what's available to them um right here close to us. So uh again just trying to connect students the classroom learning to the real careers um that they'll be hopefully uh that meaningful employment. And then our next uh partnership I wanted to talk about was our workbased learning. And um I know Kim had a slide about our apprenticeships. We um one of our top priorities is to increase our work-based
061learning. Uh rearch research shows that students who participate in work-based learning are more than twice as likely to report feeling prepared for the workforce after graduation. Makes sense, right? So, you know, we're promoting job shadowing internships. This year we had 98 interns on at 88 job sites. So, I know when I started right after COVID in this position, we had eight. Good job. Um, so we've also added an honors internship to our program offerings. We've had interns at the fire department, Taylor'sville, True Value, Anchor Richie, some of our local farms. And then, of course, our uh clinicals, our nursing students go to Kataba Assisted Living, and then we have students from our early childhood and baby cougars and other daycarees around. So really working on that work-based learning as well. And then uh next slide,
062Dr. Glor. Um I would say two of our most impactful partnerships are with our advisory council and our CBCC partnership. Um our advisory our advisory council is made up of local employers, educators, and community leaders. Um again, making sure that we're aligning to our workforce needs. um that their feedback shapes our course offerings and help us to make sure that CTE is relevant and future focused. And then our partnership with CVCC is critical um with clear pathways beyond high school uh through things like articulated credit. So now let's say students take early childhood one that counts as the same course edu I think it's 119 through the community college where students already go in having that credit and there's actually there's been a lot more classes approved next year for articulated credit. So again, we
063try to make sure our high school students know through those courses if that credit will count um through the community college. Of course, our career and college promise courses are huge for us. And again, just these partnerships are the foundation of a strong, responsive CTE program. Um the next slide, um and I know uh Shannon and Corey, I think you saw part of this. Um, but one of my goals, a vision I've had for a couple years, I've been able to visit a lot of our businesses, but I really wanted to get our teachers out. And so, again, with grant funding, we were able to secure subs and do travel and transportation. Um, so that our teachers can go out into these businesses, spend time really learning. Um, so I just want there's a short
064video clip and we can cut it off towards the end. I'll give you a cue, but this just really showed uh it's kind of an overview of the impact of these externship or industry tours that our teachers did. Connect with careers this year. Passionate educators took part in a transformative extership experience partnering with local leaders in technology, manufacturing, engineering, and more. Through collaboration with many local industry partners, these educators gained firsthand experience, gaining valuable insights into the skills and knowledge required in today's workforce. These community partners were key generously sharing their time, expertise, and resources to help connect what's taught in the classroom with what's needed on the job. After touring local industries, teachers returned to their classrooms with fresh ideas and a renewed sense of purpose. Each visit they had meaningful conversations with business
065leaders about workplace environments, job roles, and career pathways. They explored the skills today's workforce demands, discussed hiring and employment trends, and considered how to better prepare students for life beyond graduation. These conversations also open the door to potential partnerships and engagement opportunities that could benefit both students and schools. of this is our teachers and then bringing that information back to the classroom. So when the teacher can say this has a job that would be a great also teachers can tell students how science lesson. This math concept is relevant to life beyond the classroom. Ultimately, these partnerships will benefit the community by ensuring a more informed and prepared workforce. You can stop it there, Dr. Lord. This was created for uh obviously trying to to get more grant funding. Um but wanted to show you kind
066of the highlight of what that community partnership looked like. And um we had a a small but I think mighty group and hopefully we can continue to expand that in the future. Um so that kind of concludes the the part of about community partnerships and then I know can you go back Dr. Flora? I had a couple more slides on that. Um is it down in the PDF? Yeah, the PDF at the bottom. Oh. So again, um just kind of a where we are. Um our fiscal overview. I did want to highlight for our 2526 I don't you know it's it's kind of like how other funding is right now our federal and state funding has decreased uh we also saw a reduction in months of employment. So uh that's around a loss of over
067$80,000 uh in funding for CTE through our state and federal means. However, on a positive note we secured $359,000 over uh $250 in grants this past year. Nice. Um, and you'll see they are listed there. Uh, those are for specific projects though. We've been able to update our kitchens in our foods classroom. Um, update our pole barn, green houses, um, the industry tours, the summer camps that we'll be doing. Uh, those are all grant funded. So, those grants are vital, but they are restricted for particular uses. Um, so our day-to-day operational needs, especially the consumable materials and staffing still require additional funding. We remain focused um on maximizing our grant resources and continuing to seek support for our ongoing needs uh for our programs and our staff. And then the next page is just kind
068of an overview of that 75page document. So in the local needs assessment, you'll see the um where we're doing well, where we can improve, and then our goals moving forward. So when we look at what's not met, um we we've decreased that just a little bit from the prior year. So it's just that math academic proficiency. But I do want to point out that CTE, we are also responsible for those reading, science, and math scores. So, it's critical that we integrate those core skills in our CTE classes and that's part of what our focus has to be as well. Um, and then our goals moving forward, you can see there with employability skills. So, we'll continue to try to align uh the CTE with academic standards and the workforce needs um because we all want
069our students to be successful after graduation. And then I just wanted to end with uh a a thank you to all the community partners uh that we have. There were some of those mentioned there, but also our dedicated CTE staff for a a great year in offering, I think, what is a high quality CTE program that prepares students not just for a job, but for life. And I think together we're creating opportunities and shaping futures we can all be proud of. Um so that's all I have for my presentation. and I'm happy to answer any questions but then also need board approval on the needs assessment. Thank you Crystal. Board members, is there any questions before we um I have just a comment motion my my comment to Crystal is exceptionally well done job. You
070and your team are really doing great things and it's self-evident with the numbers. Yeah. and the morale and the spirit and you see the smiles and the kids at graduation. It's it's wonderful and I I wish that we could do more and provide even more resources to you because I see the value what you and your team are delivering. Thank you. I went to the high school today and and met with uh Nathan Robinson and I walk in and Emily's mix box is there and there's a ton of kids and we have camp med going on and they are actually going to memorial so we don't stop um providing those opportunities and that's rising ninth graders that are getting the opportunity right now. How many showed up today? Um I think we were missing one.
071So we have 14. Yeah, there was a crowd in the hallway when I got there this morning. So, um you know, we've got more camps coming up in July. Uh Melinda will be doing the STEM camp, but um lots of we're trying we're trying to offer the opportunities. I think coming from outside of CTE, I really see the importance of um that early intervention and trying to get students involved um with my own children, trying to figure out where their strengths are going to be and what programs are right for them. And so, uh, that's I I think I've able to we've been able to grow those opportunities. You have touched many children with with the opportunities that you put out there and children that may not have been served in other ways with our
072in our school system and and I I don't I'm just blown away at things you're doing out there. So, keep it up. Well, I have I that's not Crystal. That is CTE staff and teachers. And I can't say that enough because you know I I look at and I' I've told this to other CTE directors like some we're one high school you know and you go to Wilks County and they have a strong drone program at a high school you know they have a strong electrical program at a school in Kajaba County schools but I would put our programs up against any of those and we're offering all of them to the best of our ability. Is there more? Sure. Um but you know I I hope that that's where students are finding a place
073a voice and helping them be successful and I think that's how we lead to that how you know the 16 to 24 opportunity youth. Um we it it's about engagement absolutely I'd be excited to see how do we open up the protocols you have to the children that are homeschooled in our community and such. I think that that could just open doors left and right for for opportunity. Open question. We've discussed that. I I I think CTE is vital not just for Alexander County, but uh we have in my opinion we have lost that that that core group of skills that just drive me absolutely crazy. But, uh, y'all have done a great job and kudos to you for that. So, the last thing and I think we got to move on, but uh, it's
074as I listen to to where we are, the thing that struck me the most is is the, um, the barriers that we hit. Uh, so, so I listen to the board, I listen to community, I listen to our students and the needs that we know that we have that that that we want to promote. But then all of a sudden we get hit with legislation that cuts us $80,000 in the budget this year that was at no cost of Alexander County schools or anything we did. It's just another barrier that we have to trying to attain what we know needs to be happening. So to me, we should have got an $80,000 increase of saying, "Y'all are doing a great job. Continue this program and expand upon where we're going." But yet we get hit
075with another whammy on adjust to what you have. So, those are just the barriers that we deal with that I you know, I want the general public to understand that anything that that we did or that we changed or uh any of those pieces is just legislation that comes down that changes some of those allocation funding streams. Um and and yet we feel the brunt of that. So, I want to be adding, I want to be increasing, I want to be expanding, but yet the reality is we're having to do more with less. So, anyway, kudos to your department. I know we have to go on and I don't want to get bogged down on where we are there, but uh just the realities of of what we work with every day and if we
076didn't have amazing people then then we wouldn't obtain what we do with what we have. And I think Dr. Griffin, just to echo that, I think you're exactly right that um that's what I think the public and the board needs to understand is we we know there's room for growth. However, we have to operate within our means and and and and my challenge would be is don't get bogged down on what you can't control. Let's just move forward on what we can control. And we know what we're dealing with. And I think you folks do a great job with managing what you have. And and uh maybe next year we get 200,000 more. Who knows? I'm ready for that day. I'll just say that every year's a little more. So keep keep pushing. Don't stop
077don't stop praising all the good the significant accomplishments your team is delivering. Okay, board members, we need to get a motion to approve the needs assessment. Make a motion. Second. Got a motion by Vice Chairman Denhard, got a second by Anthony Mlan. All in favor say I. Any oppose? Like manner? Carries unanimously. Thank you, Crystal. Okay. The next item on the agenda is the human resources report from Dr. Clover. Thank you, Dr. Thanks, ma'am. Thank you. to address these proposal changes that is just to go into close session to discuss personnel matters. I think that'd be appropriate. Yeah, I think it'd be appropriate for us to go in close session to discuss personnel matters as as you have your question. Okay. All right. Good evening. I just handed you a correction um just for a
078location correction that was made in comparison to the one in your folder. I would like to ask if we could go into close session for just a bit to discuss what I just gave you. Absolutely. Motion to enter close session. Second. I've got a motion by board member Anthony Mlan. I've got a second by Jesse BS. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like mayor. All right. And the board will return. We do expect action. So we will return momentarily. Thank you. Y'all are welcome to hang out. Dr. Griffin. Great. Thank you so much, uh, Chairman Ree. I appreciate that. Uh, um, at this time, uh, I would like to make the recommendations, uh, for administrative placements. Uh, the first one that I would like to recommend to the board is that uh, Dr.
079Angie Charles uh, be hired as our new coordinator at SSC effective July 1. I'd also like to make the recommendation that we hire Avery Miller as new assistant principal at Alexander Central High School effective July 1. And then I have a couple transfers of administrative appointments that I have discussed with the board. Uh and that would be transferring Heather Houston from assistant principal at West Alexander Middle School to the assistant principal at Alexander Central High School. Uh and then finally that Ashley Jenkins uh be transferred from assistant principal of Bethlehem Hidnight Elementary School to the assistant principal at West Alexander at West Alexander Middle School effective July 1. And those were the only placements that I had this time and I think Dr. K will follow up with the rest of uh the administrative recommendations
080after that. But I do think we would need a vote for those administrative approvals. Make a motion. Got a motion to approve by Vice Chairman Dean Hart. Second. Second by board member Anthony Mlan. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose like manner. And Dr. Cer if you want to go the usual customary. Okay. So you have before you the remainder of the personnel agenda uh which are usual and customary. Do you have any questions? Okay. What is the pleasure of the board to approve the usual and customary? Motion to approve. Got a motion to approve by board member Argues, a second by Anthony Mlan. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Like manner. Carries unanimously. Thank you, Dr. Clover. Thank you, Dr. At this time, I will turn it over to our superintendent,
081Dr. Griffin, for the superintendent report. Okay. Thank you, Chairman Ree. I appreciate that and the appointments of those those leaders. I think they'll do quality work for our school system. Yes, sir. Uh the first thing I have is uh that ultimately we successfully completed uh the the end of the school year. Uh and it marked the uh the end of year one for for me as superintendent. I'm grateful for the support. I'm grateful for the quality work that all of our staff members have done uh over this past year and then our hard work by our students. Uh we we celebrated with our ERGS and our our reward days and our our graduations. Uh on May 22nd uh we celebrated the early college uh graduation. Uh, and then Alexander Central graduated on June 6th. Uh,
082and with that graduation, I'd like to apologize to those that were there. Uh, if if you were in attendance, you would know that it it rained quite hard on us. Um, we we literally walked out of the uh the gymnasium there and I think there was a 6% chance of rain and no more than had we got set down that the uh the heavens opened up and uh we we had rain. But but the thing about it that I have to compliment our staff and our students is is number one, you could see that our students wanted to continue with the uh with the uh the presentation of their certificates of graduation. Uh and they were they really celebrated as the as the night uh continued and and then to our our staff who hung
083in there uh and and sat through a miserable evening uh but really made light of it and celebrated and high-fived one another and had a lot of smiles at the end of the night. And then finally, all of our parents and and people that were in attendance uh that evening, they stuck in there as well. And I was just fortunate that we were able to get that ceremony complete, uh we were get able to get our graduates graduated, uh and not have to go into the gym where half of their family wouldn't be able to go through and attend it. So, uh although it was a miserable evening weatherwise, it was a huge celebration and I just applaud all those involved in making that happen and Mr. Leo and his staff uh for pulling that
084off. So, thank you very much for that. Um, and then finally on June 5th, uh, we recognized 26 retirees at the Red Bird Ridge Estates over at Ellenale community and honored those retirees. Uh, just amazing service that they've given uh, this school system and we're grateful for all that they've done. Uh, we tried to have a little celebration uh, for them just to say thank you and I think it was wellreceived. It was a beautiful venue uh, a beautiful evening uh, for them. uh I don't think it rained as much that night but uh it turn turned out to be a beautiful night for us there and just just want to say thank you for those retirees and the service that they've given. Then the final thing I have are just upcoming events u July
0853rd uh we will be closed for for the holiday of the July 4th uh closed on July 4th itself on the 9th of July we'll have an internet outage be doing some work here on our system so just be aware of that. The 14th, summer reading camp will begin at Teddersville, Whittenberg for three weeks and and four that will be four days per week going to summer camp. And then finally, the 28th through the 30th of July, we'll have our leadership retreat at AppState Hickory campus and all of our directors and administrators and and hopefully the board of education uh will partake in in that professional development on those three days. So anyway, thank you for all your support and everything that goes on. I think we've had a real good school year. Thank you.
086Yes, sir. Thank you, Dr. Griffin. Appreciate it. At this time, we will turn it back over to Miss Sharon Mafy. Tonight, we have eight policies up for second reading. Curriculum Development Policy 3100, Foreign Exchange Students Policy 4140, Fair and Consistent Discipline Administration 4303, Integrity and Civility 4310, Parent Organizations 5010, Crowdfunding on Behalf of the School System, 7360, Federal Grants Administration, 8305, and participation by minority businesses 9125. Uh these have um stood for a month. I've requested um input on them. I got none. So I ask for approval on second reading. What is the pleasure of the board? Motion to approve. A motion to approve by board member Anthony Mlan. Second. Second by board member Rob Argues. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like manner. carries unanimously. We have um eight policies up for
087first reading tonight. I will ask for input on those and bring them back next month. Okay. Thank you, Shar. Thank you, Miss Sharon. Thank you, Sharon. All right. At this time, we do the board does have to go into um close session. Can I get a motion to enter into close session? Motion to enter close session. Got a motion by board member Anthony Mlan. Second by Corey Mlan. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like manner.