001States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right, board members. At this time, if I can get a motion to approve the agenda with an additional section for technology for Kim Bishop. Make a motion to approve the agenda with the amendment for technology report from Kim Bishop. Excellent. Can I get second? Second. Got a board uh first by board member BS, second by board member Denhart. All in favor say I. Any oppose? clock sign. Just making sure I try to keep everybody in one accord can be a challenge in and of itself. At this time, I will turn the floor over to Dr. Denita Dao Revvice for our honors and recognition. All right, we are loaded with honors
002and recognition. So, we want to thank everybody for being here. So, we got uh we're going to start first with our winners from the Little Reed and they competed in a writing and art contest. So, we'll call them up and tell them tell you a little about them then. McKenzie Iikard from Bethlehem, Lillian Reedi from Stony Point, Janessa Mccoral from Ellen. Y'all come on up. Come on up, guys. Uh Dari Lan from Wittenberg, Natalie Halman from Bethlehem, and Otis McNair from Sugarloaf. Good job, guys. [Applause] This is Natalie. Well, all righty. So, all the second graders in our district this year read a book called La Gardista by Lucky Diaz. And the book, they could tell you probably better than I, but it's about a little girl who perseveres with the help of and encouragement
003of her friends. So, Little Reed, just a little background, is an effort to promote reading, writing, creativity, and fun. And our district along with a couple others participate in a partnership with Lenor Ryan. The kids all got free books from Lenor Ryan this year from for the little read. Great job. So they read, study it with their teachers and then they compete in a writing and an art contest and from the students who win at the school level, their contest entries go to students at Lenor Ry. And the students there in an education class pick our district winners. And so we have two of our district winners tonight. And some of the other ones we had who were able to be with us on Saturday. Dr. BS was there to help recognize them and they
004got to meet the author then on Saturday. So, we congratulate all six of our winners for writing and art categories. [Applause] Get a good time. Just to be clear to me, these are your lens is covered. So these are district winners. We had each school got three nominees, you might call it. They were their school winners and they all moved to the district competition. And so these were the picks by the Lenor Ryan students of the winners for our district. Good job. All right. So, next we're going to honor the members of the West Alexander Middle School Battle of the Books team. And so, we'll ask them and their coach, Aaron Lewis, to come on up. Here comes Aaron. And I would tend to agree that West is best. I don't know if we're supposed
005to say that. Well, you just think it agree. No. All righty. I'm going to read your names and um he's going to get you lined up for a good pick here. But if you'll just kind of raise your hand so folks know who you are. So we have Adrina Arnett, Lane Bumgner, Sophie Black, Owen Crawford, Bryson Grineer, Ava Lleier, Coulter Minton, Aubrey Powell, Maline Wingler, and Allison Barlo. And we want you to know that these students had to be knowledgeable about 20 books for the contest this year. They won the local battle and they finished second at the regional competition um which was a couple weeks ago. Um the students are able to get on the team through teacher recommendations and they have to be experts on at least five of the books. So, we
006are proud of all of our West Alexander Middle School Bow Books champions. Good job. Great job. [Applause] I can't stand it. Bless you. Bless you. Bless you. Good job, guys. Thank you, Miss Rose. Thank you, Aaron. I should say that Bethlehem Elementary won the elementary contest, but a lot of those students are on a field trip that's out of town and so we will recognize them next month during the May meeting. All right, let's move on. Um, our next honores are uh two Alexander Central High School students who have already gotten their summer plans made. Um, Isaac Bowen and Jackson Ruff are headed to Governor's School. Come on up. Isaac is with us. Great job. And they will have four weeks of immersed learning in the natural sciences, which includes chemistry, physics, earth science, and
007more. Governor's School is one of the most um one of North Carolina's proudest education traditions, and it's been around since 1963. It has a rigorous application and selection pro process. And we congratulate Isaac who's with us tonight and Jackson who was the superintendent's choice for this year. Good job. [Applause] Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Next, we'll have Dr. Alicia Clure come on up. Dr. Dr. Cl is our assistant superintendent for human resources and auxiliary services and Dr. Clure recently completed the aspiring superintendent program which is organized by the North Carolina school superintendent association. She was joined by 39 school leaders from across the state for professional development and leadership, self-awareness, budgeting and more. Former Alexander County Superintendent Jack Hope serves as the executive director of the superintendent organization and the goal of the program is to
008help future leaders succeed. Dr. Clue has spent 16 years in Alexander County. Did I get that right? And this is her second stint with us. Prior to her years working in central office, she worked in the district, including serving as a principal at Hidnight Elementary. And we thank her for what she does. Good job. [Applause] contest. Let me backtrack a little bit. Hey, Janessa. Uh Janessa is from Ellenelle. Yeah. and she was one of our um Congratulations. contest winners. Oh gosh, I'm so glad you brought your book. Can you show everybody that beautiful book, Janessa? Yay. Good job. Ain't that the prettiest book, y'all? All right. So, Janessa was a winner at her school level and then moved up to be u potentially a district winner and she was. Yeah. Or um the writing category.
009So, we're proud of her. Great job. All right. Hang tight, Janelle. I'm glad you came. Let's get another picture. I think we should. Yeah, that would be great. That would be phenomenal. Girl power, too. Yeah, I want to see that book. It's a good looking book. Dr. Griffin can hold the book. Yeah. Everybody looking this way. One more time. Good job. Great job, girl. Thank you so much. [Applause] Dr. Dre Revas does a great job of recognizing all of our standouts across the county. Uh at this time I get to recognize her. Uh so Dr. Dow Revvis is being recognized for communications and testing accountability as for director for our district. Um she has received this past Friday two blue ribbon awards from North Carolina School uh public relations association. One was for a special
010project to combat vaping, uh, which featured some videos from Alexander Central principal Jacob Le. The other award was for writing series that included a look at cell phone use among teens and former Attorney General Josh Stein's efforts to combat teen social media addiction. She and Alexander County Schools were part of 35 districts statewide who earned a Blue Ribbon Award this year. So, Dr. D Rivas, we certainly are honored and and certainly the things that you do for our district and we want to honor you this evening, too. So, you get your picture. Congratulations. Great [Applause] job. Take a picture of this. [Music] Be hard to do a selfie with that, huh? It's on. a little bit. We got to get her. She's Yeah. I'm counter. Ready? One, two, three. I'mma count it. You didn't even
011count. You didn't even count the second time. One, two, three. Stuff now. Great job. [Applause] And at that time, that concludes our recognitions and honors. So, unless you are here for the business part of the meeting, you are welcome to be excused. You can stay if you want to. You're welcome to stay in. Thank y'all for coming. Which campus are you going to be in? East. Hey. Hey. Thanks, bro. If you could stay for a little while, I have a something I need to ask you. Sir, I have a story I would like to share with the crowd. 97 piling here. You know, Jacob, you know the principles. They don't want to leave. Yeah, right. Correct. They're like, should we leave or not? So, are we going to watch the video for Mr. B? Jacob,
012now that you've gone, Jacob, now that you've gone Hollywood, are we going to watch the video you're in? Yeah. I think that should have been part of the presentation. I think it should have been part of the presentation. All right. It is it is always a privilege to honor and recognize children's accomplishments and we will never know the impact of what that will have on them, the boost that it provides and offers them. And so I applaud our district for taking this amount of time. I mean it's it's it's not enough. I mean it's just there's there's not enough words. Um, but in the effort of continuing on with our mission, gentlemen, I need to get a motion to approve the consent agenda. What is the pleasure of the board? No public comment. Make a
013motion to approve the consent agenda. Can I get a second? Second. Okay, I got a motion to approve by board member Arguas, second by board member Corey Mlan. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? like sign. Okay, the next item on the agenda is our reports. And at this time, I will turn it over to Kathy Net, Head Start Director. Good evening. Hey. wanted to bring to the board tonight approval for a waiver for our non-federal share for school year 2425. We met 94% of our goal this year. Therefore, we're asking for a waiver of $28,213 towards our non-federal share. I get approval. Sure. We have heard um from uh Miss Kathy Net. What is the pleasure of the board? Make a motion to approve the request. Second. Got a motion to approve the
014request by board member Arguas, second by board member DGEN Hart. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Carries unanimously. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And then I believe at this time we will hear a report from technology from Kim Bishop, Chairman Ree, board members, and Dr. Griffin. uh would like to ask your approval to choose uh CDWG as our vendor for our Chromebook purchase for the 2526 school year. Uh we did an RFP. It was out there for three weeks. We had four bids and they came back with the lowest cost per unit and also lease cost. I make a motion to approve the RFP. I second approval by board member vice chairman Deenheart and board member Oxentine. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose like sign? Carry unanimously. Kim. Thank
015you. The next item on our agenda is our CFO Sharon Mappy. The first item I'd like to discuss um tonight is our supplemental funds for teacher compensation bonus. This is a bonus that we pay in June uh for teachers. Funds for this bonus are provided by the legislature each year. The bonus is permanent but the amount of funds is not guaranteed. The bonus can be paid to certified teachers and instructional support personnel who are coded to a school. Funds cannot be used for assisted principles, principles, or central office. To be eligible for the supplement, employees must be actively employed on May 16th, 2025. The supple supplement amount is determined annually based on the state funding and the number of eligible employees. This year year's allotment is 1,748,686. The amount must cover the supplement and benefits
016and the maximum amount of the supplement is set by the legislature for each school system and our maximum amount is $4,33. The funds were aotted for the first time in the 2021 school year and we established the criteria for the bonus as follows. The teachers and instructional support personnel on the teacher salary schedule on steps 16 through 24 and step 26 or greater will receive the maximum allowed. The salary schedule has incre incremental steps from step 0 to 14. employees on step 15 to 24 and step 25 and above receive the same amount every year. And that is to say that for those steps, so when you reach year 15 until you reach year 24, your salary is the same. Now, you receive a um you know, whatever the state percentage increase is, but until
017you reach step 14, you receive an increment each year plus the state percentage. And we've always felt that it was very unfair for these people in these steps, especially because there are are more veteran teachers um to be stuck like that. So we have used these funds to give them an extra boost. Um the remaining funds will be divided equally among the uh remaining eligible employees. Okay. Are there any questions about this bonus for I just wanted to make you aware that we would be paying this in June and we will post this information on the website so the the teachers will be able to refer to We like it when they make more money. We do. Yeah. Yes, they do too. I'm sure it's time for vacation. Wish we could do that. Sure. Yes.
018Uh we started this um just about the time that we eliminated um uh you know the summer pay where you uh could only uh you couldn't get 12 installments anymore and so June made a nice time to help people adjust. Does that make sense? Absolutely. Okay. The next thing as we discussed in the work session our um expend our spending seems to be pretty much on target. Uh we did receive uh planning aotments last week and in some instances those were a little difficult to wrap our head around. Uh the lowealth aotment but we also lost funds in um PRC 069 um and at risk students and um we'll we'll begin to talk about how we're going to to adjust for that. Okay. Now then, budget amendments. So, I hope I hope I don't get
019so many blank stairs tonight. I hope Why'd you look at me when you said that? You're just in my line of sight. Oh, yeah. Right, right, right. Okay. Budget amendment number nine is to the state public school fund. it is $510,824. Children with disabilities received an additional $122,153. Uh we received school safety grants in the amount of $200,000. Transportation received an additional $195,349. And um we lost we uh the state zeroed out our um hurricane relief funds. They had allotted us uh $7,496 more than we had expenses to cover. This was for uh child nutrition. Uh the state paid for their days that they lost for Hurricane Helen. And then drivers uh training received an an additional $827. And finally, budget amendment number 10 is for a specific revenue fund. And this is the fund
020where we um have um our um programs that generate their own revenues and also any grant programs. And the Head Start grant was uh had received permission to spend some carryover they had from last year, $28,725. And then our um uh before and after school program received an additional $6,300 to pay bonuses to teachers. I will need approval for these minutes. Uh I mean these amendments. If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Okay. Any questions, board members? Okay. We have heard from our CFO. I need a motion to approve amendments nine and 10. Make a motion to approve amendments nine and 10 as presented by our CFL. Okay. Second. Second. Got a motion to approve by board member Argu. Second by vice chairman Denhart. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose?
021Like sign. Carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you Sharon. Now the next item on our um agenda is our human resources report with Dr. Alicia Clower. Hello and good evening. Hello. Hello. Uh so you have before you the usual and customary personnel agenda. Um and this one includes the administrative contracts at the end. Does anyone have any questions? No questions. I I would just like to take a second though and just recognize uh definitely Cam Gant and his contribution to to um Alexander County sports. You know, I just he he's been part of that program for a long time. So, I just wanted to make mention of that. Thank you. Thank you, Coach G. What is the pleasure of the board? Make a motion. Got a motion to approve by by vice chairman DeGenheart.
022Second. Second by board member Oxentine. All in favor say I. Any oppose? Like sign. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is our esteemed superintendent, Dr. Griffin with superintendent report. Thank you, Chairman Reese and Vice Chair Dagart. Members of the board, I have a couple things uh for us. uh some some opportunities that have happened since our last uh board meeting. Uh we hosted Dr. Bill Daget on March 13th and then the 14th that was for uh communities, our parents and community members on the 13th and then on the 14th all of our teachers, we did a district-wide professional development uh to where everyone came to the auditorium and listened to Dr. Daget uh talk about the advancements in AI and and really more about technology and just the changes that
023we've seen uh with our students. uh in in our world that we all live in. And I think it was eye openening some of the uh the data and statistics that that he used and information from his studies that that he does uh constantly and has for years. Uh but I I thought it was real beneficial to us. Um I've gotten really good feedback from from not only our our faculty and staff but from community members. Uh and this work is ongoing. Uh just because we listen to that PD doesn't mean we're going to change things. And I tried to explain to our teachers and staff that doesn't mean we change tomorrow, how we do business, but we have to begin thinking about things a bit differently. Uh technology is is here to stay. Uh
024and it certainly has changed our world that we live in and will continue to change our world to which we adapt to each and every day. But some real good PD there. Uh we followed that up uh with uh we hosted actually Hickory City Schools in Ash County to which the three of our these our counties are working together with Dr. Daget. Um, so we followed that up with a training here in Alexander County with Specialist Thomas Hawkins. Uh, and that was at West Alexander Middle School. Thank you, West, for for having us for today uh for that day. Uh, but another real good PD with other school systems on trying to learn uh some of of the advancements that we're going through. Several of our board members uh were in attendance there and and
025I just think it was very very insightful information that we'll continue to expand upon as we move forward. Um on the uh April 4th uh we had the Cougar Connect kickball tournament. Uh Coach Yant was was was part of that and his classes uh there from Alexander Central. We we hosted South Cwell and their classes here uh for that kickball tournament and just a fabulous day. Uh next year and and uh Jacob Le was out here the principal. Certainly appreciate you and your staff doing what you you do for that event. Uh and Jessica is is in the back, her staff in making that happen. Um probably what 500 people in attendance for that kickball tournament. And just watching our students interact with other students. Uh the two schools uniting uh for for that event,
026it just says a lot about uh our region uh the competition we have. But uh we we certainly want to compete hard hardily in and on the athletic fields, but uh in the in the name of of spirit and and what we do, those schools come together and we're grateful for that. So that's what it's all about. So great job to those that put that that game on. Um on the April 7th and 8th, our school board actually did school visits uh that we've been been doing semesterally. Uh and this year fell on the seventh and 8th. On the 7th, uh we were able to invite some of our uh general assembly members. Uh Senator Eddie Settle and House Representatives member uh Blair Edmonds were able to visit with us that day. Uh we went
027around to several schools. Uh spent around two hours back here at the central office uh having conversation about what we see in public schools and within our schools here in Alexander County. It was just a great day to listen to what the things that they deal with at the general assembly. uh but for them to get to see hands-on some of the wonderful things that are taking place in our school system. So great hats off to those who hosted us. Uh we were able to go to Sugarloaf uh and Alexander Central High School in Taylorville Elementary. Uh and then finally that evening we culminated at Bethlehem Elementary School for their 100th year celebration. Uh principal Stephanie Reef Reef hosted that and it was just a wonderful wonderful day. They spent uh from from around noon
028time with us until 8 or 9 about 8:30 that night when that event was over with. But uh I can't say enough about our representatives just listening uh to what's going on. Uh and they can't say enough about what they saw within your your buildings and within our school system and our county uh from our community members uh to what's going on within our our buildings. So uh extremely proud with that day. We I'm grateful for the board of education for that day. Uh, and then the board got to go into all 12 of our schools and and visit with our teachers and high-five kids. Uh, I we actually played a game of dodgeball at night. And you got me. I won, by the way. Um, it was just great to see our board members
029interact with our students. And and I told them this that I think our constituents got it right because they loved uh being there and interacting with those kids. Uh, their their faces lit up and they just really really love being in those classrooms. So that that's what it's all about and that's why we do the work uh here uh in within our building. So so thank you uh board members for for those two days. I believe it was a a great time for for our school system. And then the last thing I wrote down one more event. Um Friday night we uh we hosted South Cwell uh in a game of softball. And it's not every day that you get to have the number one ranked team in the state of North Carolina and the
030number two ranked team in the state of North Carolina uh at any event. Um so I I know that all of our athletic teams do remarkable things. Uh but it's not very often that those two things collide in a in a regular game. Um we ended up victorious in that game, but that's not what I'm proud of. What I'm what I'm proud of is the competition that took place on both sides of the ball. um from not only our team and how they handled themselves, but South Cwell uh and their coaching staff and their players. Uh those were great student athletes on that field. Uh and it doesn't matter which uniform they they put on, it was remarkable student athletes uh competing against one another and I applaud both schools. So hats off to that
031both programs. Uh to have number one and number two in the state and within our conference says a lot about what's going on and I'm very proud to be part of that. So great job there. um some dates for upcoming events that we have going on. Uh the 17th we have an optional teacher work day. No, don't have a lot of cheers out there and people celebrating. And then the 18th, Good Friday on Friday. So we'll take that day off. That'll be a holiday. And then the following week, next week is our spring break for our traditional schools. Uh in our early college, you get they get off on Monday and then they get to go back to school, but they've had a spring break. Uh so we kind of have to work around those
032those college schedules. But uh I want to to tell our faculty and staff to for the majority of them except for our early college to enjoy uh next week uh and take a little time, take a deep breath. Um I hope it's going to be beautiful weather uh and get out and just relax. When we come back, we've got some a lot of work to get done to close this thing out. Um on May 2nd is our Special Olympics and that'll be hosted here at Alexander Central High School. I would love to see a great participation in that. That's a wonderful, wonderful day. Uh, and then finally on the 9th, we have another optional workday. But, uh, the year is getting close to the end. I think we've accomplished a lot of great things and
033I'm just glad to be a part of it. So, thank you very much. Uh, Dr. Gri, I gave you some kudos on Facebook, but I wanted to do it here tonight. um just your outstanding leadership um in forging these relationships with our general assembly with our you know state representative and senator coming to Alexander County um just tremendous and that's that's on you sir and thank you so much for doing that um and our community needs to know how big of a big deal that is and we appreciate uh you doing that um and and continue to do that build those relationships um in Raleigh. So, thank you very much. That's a, you know, certainly part of what what we uh what we want to achieve. Um, and you know, our general assembly members were
034gracious enough to give us of their time. Um, and and honestly, when I when I try to call or or uh have communications with them that they're open to that, it doesn't necessarily mean that we always have the all the right answers, but it's it's great to have somebody's listening. So, certainly appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. And and I'll add this too, and I think I'm sure that everybody I don't I can't speak for everybody, but I think that I sort of do, is that we had a good time at those school visits, right? Like that was not a chore and I want the public to know and and and our staff and the families, all of that. We had a great time in the schools and we really do care about about what's going
035on there. And those were those were a special couple of days. So I'm just grateful to get to be a part of it. Thank you. And I and I want to add one more thing to that just because this comes from the competitive edge of mine. We went down to East Middle School. Yeah. And they had a rocket competition and I can promise you that this school board will have a rocket next year. Yeah. Okay. And we will compete and we will compete and and look and I I think speaking for all of us anytime this goes to the high school, middle school or elementary, anytime there's a competition, uh put us in it. Put us in it. put us in it because we will build a rocket and and if I have to test
036it every day between now and this time next year, it will win. It will win. I I think there age limits on there may be age limits. There may be age limits, but I I'm just saying that was a great that was a great event down there. Uh a lot of fun. Uh u that that was a good time. So again, any anything that we can get involved in, I just think it's good for the community to see us being involved in that stuff. And honestly, I really think the kids will enjoy us competing against them as well. So, um it was it was a great time. So, thank you very much. That's that's all I had, Chairman. All right. Thank you. All right, gentlemen. We will move on to the next item. Um unfinished
037business with Miss Sharon Mappy, our CFO. Sharon's always popular. These things, you do a good job, Sharon. Don't you get tired. Um, I was going to say, you know, you're talking about being too old. Well, in federal programs, when you want to do something you're not quite supposed to do, but you wanted to convince them you can do it, you call it special circumstances. Special circumstances happens all the time. I love Okay, we have um two policies up for six uh for second reading tonight. Policy 5022, registered sex offenders and policy 5150 uh reporting to external agencies. And um I received no comment or suggestions for these things. Do you need a motion? Yes. All right, board members, what is the pleasure of the board? Motion to approve. Got a motion to approve by board
038member Arguas. Second. Second by board member um BS. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Okay. Carries unanimously. Next item is new business. We have seven policies uh up for um review next month for the coming month. Uh 3130 grouping for instruction 4150 school assignment 6120 excuse me student health services 6140 student wellness 6402 participation by historically underutilized businesses and um 9110 use and selection of architects, engineers, surveyors and construction managers at risk. and 9120 bidding for construction work. I'll get input on these and bring them back next month. Thank you. Thank you, Sharon. [Applause] All right. This concludes our agenda. Can I get a motion that we enter into close session? Make a motion. Got a motion to approve by board member Mlan, second by board member Oxentine. All in favor
039say I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. All right, we are in close session.