001All right. Are bus drivers in the room? photograph. Thank you. Next, we're going to recognize a student from Bartlett Yansy High School. At this time, I would like for Urban Ciderfield to come to the podium so I can read something for him. As he's coming up, I'm going to go ahead and read the recognition that was provided by Bartlett Yansy High School. Says, "It is my honor to recognize Bartlett Yansy FFA member Irvin Satderfield and his adviser Harley Denning for their hard work and dedication toward Iran's sheep production proficiency award application. Proficiency awards are designated to recognize FFA members who go above and beyond in their supervised agric agricultural experience. a requirement for all students enrolled in agricultural courses. Iran's SAPE was a true team effort involving students, adviserss, and parents working together to reach
002this achievement. Irvin takes great pride in his family's sheep production business and his lamb showmanship with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Satderfield's expertise with the financial components, Miss Chandler's guidance and verifying requirements and assisting with submission, and Miss Denny's countless hours proofreading, double-checking all components, and providing consistent support. Irvin's application stood out among many. It is also important to note that Miss Denny offered advanced studies to show Irvin the opportunity to be a member of FFA. Irvin has been an active member of FFA since middle school, now marking his seventh year of involvement. He currently serves as the BY FFA chapter vice president where he demonstrates strong leadership and dedication to agricultural education. He also participates in livestock showing, earning multiple titles over the years, including reserve grand champion at the high school level
003and grand champion in the junior division during his middle school years. His continued passion for agricultural and showmanship reflects his commitment to excell excellence in and out of the classroom. We are proud to announce that Irvin has placed in the top three for North Carolina's sheep production proficiency award. He will be recognized on June 24th at the NC State FFA Convention where his final placing will be revealed. If he earns first place, he will move on to represent North Carolina at the 96th National FFA Convention in October. Congratulations, Urban. [Applause] because it's my understanding he was also the prom king. Oh, congratulations. You go get that. Yeah. All right, that's perfect. Thank you. Very good. Thank you very much. Right board members, we have one additional Bartley Any student to recognize. At this time, I'd
004like to Kyra Henderson to come to the podium as well, please. We're excited to recognize Takara this morning. So, we want to talk to you about Governor's School. The Governor's School of North Carolina is the oldest statewide summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students in the nation. The program is administered by the state board of education and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction through the Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education. Each summer, selected students are invited to Governor School to help build a learning community during a four-week residential session. Students are encouraged to explore and ask questions with the purpose of learning for its own sake and discovering new possibilities that complement their high school instruction. The Governor School occurs on two college campuses during our four-week session. The first in
005the east is hosted by Meredith College in Raleigh and the West is hosted by Greensboro College in Greensboro. Mr. Kyra Henderson was this year's nominee from Bartlett Any Senior High School. After an extensive application and selection process, Miss Henderson was selected to attend Governor School West at Greensboro College from June 22nd through July 19th. She was also selected as a recipient of a Governor school foundation scholarship. The Bartley Yansy High School family is extremely proud of Takyra for an outstanding she is an outstanding student and citizen. She excels in the classroom, in athletics, and in various extracurricular endeavors. She will represent our school and community well. Congratulations [Applause] Congratulations. We have one additional presentation at this time. I'd like to ask Sicily Alustin, the president of Ada Adeta Zeta chapter of Zetafi Beta Sorority to
006come to the podium. We'd also love if Paula Bennett came as well. Greetings to the Caswell County School Board and everyone else here. For more than 55 years, the Ada8 Zeta chapter, Zeta Fabeta Sority Incorporated, has proudly served casual county, championed education, leadership, and community empowerment. Since our national founding in 1920, Zeta Paper Sority Incorporated has stood for the elevation of communities through purposeful service and academic excellence. Scholarship to us is more than academic success. It is the light that guides process, unlocks potentials, and fuels a brighter future for generations to come. in honor of Glattis Fowler Graves, a chartered member of our chapter and the inaugural director of the North Carolina teaching fellows program and a ch trail trailblazer in education. Our supporting teachers program honors the profound impact of beginning teachers who in
007early years of their journey bring passion, purpose, and promise of possibility to every classroom they enter. It is with deep pride and heartfelt joy that Zeta FBA sorority incorporated, Ada Adah Zeta chapter announces Bartlett Yansy and Miss Paula Ben as our first recipient of our supporting beginning teachers program with a grant value of $1,000. We believe that when we invest in teachers, we invest in generations and the support of beginning educ educators today ensures inspired learners tomorrow. And with that being said, congratulations to Bonnie. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Keep your stopwatch. [Music] All right. Thank you. [Applause] One final announcement, board members, we would like to recognize the NL Dillard Middle School girls volleyball team for winning the conference championship last week. We will invite um those young ladies to the board meeting in
008May to be recognized. Thank you to all of our um recognitions this morning. [Applause] I have a card to read. Uh, the family of David Ren thanks you for the peace leader given and his members. This is from Lori W and his wife. Is there anyone who signed up did not sign up for comments, public comments that wanted to speak? The sheets were out front. I have two sheets here. Is anybody that wanted to speak that did not sign up? All right. Just to give you a few notes about the public comment section. Each speaker will speak from the podium. Uh begin their remarks by giving their name instead stating whether or not they are residents of the county. Comments will be directed to the full board, not to an individual board member, staff member,
009or the audience. Speaker comments are limited to a maximum of three minutes during the public comment period. At the conclusion of the three minutes, each speaker will shall leave the podium. At the two and a half minute mark, you'll be given a signal that you have 30 seconds left. We have 30 minutes allotted for public comments. Hopefully, we will be able to do that. Speakers may not yield his or her time to another speaker. Speaker must be courteous in their language and presentation. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Speakers may have make speakers may leave written comments and supporting documents if it with the desk with the clerk to the board. The board of education of the administrators will not provide responses during public comments per or in the same meeting. Just to give you
010an example, if you don't complete your comments in the three three minutes, if you want to give a written report, you can do that as well. All right. First speaker we have is Kamika Titan. Thank you for introducing me. Stick to my script so I can stick to my three minutes. So I am Kamika Tatton and I come to you as a lifelong resident and parent of this county to express my extreme disappointment in the Caswell County Board of Education's decision to sever superintendent Joanna's contract. You made this decision. Yet today there's been no official statement from the board to the community explaining it. This silence is not just unacceptable, it's unnecessary, irresponsible, and deeply disrespectful to the community you were elected to serve. It raises serious concerns about the transparency, accountability, and the integrity
011of this board. Meanwhile, our schools are severely underperforming at D and F levels. That failure is not accidental. It is the direct result of the decisions made by this board. Leadership instability, poor communication, and a lack of strategic direction have real consequences for students, teachers, and families. I asked directly, why was the superintendent Gwen terminated? She was visible, approachable, present at school functions, and kept parents well informed. Why? Why has there been no public explanation or acknowledgement from the board? Is this a legal matter or is the board simply choosing to withhold information from the very people it was elected to serve? Is this negligence of this board? You have a duty. Is there something being intentionally hidden from the public? The community has a right to know the reasons behind major leadership changes, especially
012when they affect public trust, student outcomes, school operations, and taxpayer dollars. Your continued failure to communicate only fosters speculation, distrust, and instability. We call on the board to demonstrate real leadership by being transparent, accountable, and forthcoming. Right now, this board is not fulfilling its obligations or duties to the community. And if you are unwilling or unable to do so, then you should step aside from your elected positions. This silence is not leadership. It is avoidance. We expect and demand answers and we will continue to call for accountability until we get it. Kasle County deserves better. We all deserve honest transparency in a board of education with leadership that truly puts his students first. I want to sincerely thank the members of this board who genuinely are committed to serving our students and the community. However,
013for those of you who are unwilling to serve this way or serving your personal interests rather than the needs of the school, again, I respectfully urge you to step aside to be replaced by individuals who will do the job as expected. Our children deserve leaders who are fully invested in their success and nothing less. Foster, good morning. My name is Tori Foster. I am a resident of Caswell County. Today I stand before you disappointed but with a simple request. That request is that you do the right thing. The right thing is to carry out the duty that you are placed in your role to do and serve in the best interest of the students and the employees of this district of Caswell County Schools. You were elected to make policy that would promote student achievement
014and move our district forward. Instead, our schools continue to fail. Our leaders are being treated poorly by some of you right here in these seats and are working in unstable environments due to inconsistent leadership. While I may not be in attendance, I do watch the board meetings online and I've witnessed two of you behaving in a matter that felt hostile and in uncooperative. Dillard has inconsistent leadership. You moved the principal from the high school as we move into the end of the school year and you don't seem to be satisfied with anyone in the superintendent role. Joanna Gwyn is a good leader who has served this district for many years yet she was not given the chance of those for her to lead the district. Thank you for those of you who are advocating for
015our students on this board. Thank you for doing the right thing. And for those of you who don't want to do the right thing, maybe you need to think about the option of not being on this board. Thank you. Alice Robinson. Good morning. I'm Ellis Robinsonville. This is emotional for me today. As I speak to you, I thought of when you were running asking us to vote you in as board of education members. Some of the words that have come to mind, trustworthy, we thought, compassionate, we thought. Committed, we thought. and accountable. Can we trust you not to continue to dismiss superintendent without a cause? If you remember, it was a year ago about the same time that you dismissed Dr. Carver. Now then, Mrs. When can we trust you? Are you compassionate enough to
016think how this affects the children at this time of year? Are you committed to their needs and the needs of their family? We will hold you accountable for your promises. that you shared with us when you were running to be elected. Now that you are elected, I say with emphasis, we will hold you accountable until the next election. [Applause] Thomas Good morning. Thank you for talking to me today. I have been a member of this community since 2010. My son attends the EC schools and has been brought up through your EC education. He was diagnosed with autism in 2010. I want to let you guys know that I'm very disappointed in your system. I'm very disappointed in the accountability that anybody has for these students. Right now, there are 18 kids in my classroom. Each
017and every one of them on a different level. Each and every one of them are expected to read out loud in class. Most of them cannot. My son including one of them. So, my son told tells me he sits in the back of the class and doesn't speak. Can you tell me how that is that is expressing his education that how is that getting him ready for his life? It's not. I want to know who on this board is accountable for each and every student that is in that high school and each and every student that does not have a voice that is asked to clean tables in the dining room each and every day after students have had lunch after they had breaks. Is that an education that you want to put forward to
018our students to my student that he's a janitor? That's all he'll ever be good for. I have asked for two years now for additional help for additional testing. I have not got anything. This year my IEP meeting had somebody else's student on it name on it. How do you make think that makes me feel as a parent? Nobody cares. Nobody cares. I am holding each and every one of you. I see your faces. I know who to vote for. And I am looking for accountability and responsibility for each of you for this to be fixed and be fixed today. Not just for my EC kids, but for every child in that school that deserves an open and honest education. I'm very also disappointed that my son being an EC child was not allowed to go
019to the prom this year as he was told this is not for him. This is not for you. really how is that helping him as a individual to excel in life? How is it to helping the other students to understand that there are people that have disabilities and how to interact with them? Thank [Applause] you Willis. Good morning to each of you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity this morning to formally express deep concern on behalf of myself and many members of our Casper County community regarding what we sincerely believe to be the unjust dismissal of Superintendent Joanna Gwyn from the Casper County school system. Superintendent Gwyn has served Casper County and more specific Casper County schools. with integrity, a positive, compassionate vision, and measurable success. Under Miss Gwen's leadership, Casper County School System
020has made significant progress in areas such as fiscal responsibility, community engagement, and program development. She has been a consistent advocate for our students, for our families, and for our educators, often going above and beyond to foster equity, innovation, and accountability within our schools. The recent decision to terminate Miss Gwen's contract appeared to have been made without proper transparency, without proper public input or evidence of cause. Many in our community believe this decision was politically and personally motivated, lacking in due process and harmful to the stability of our educational system. Casper County board members, your decision to unjustly dismiss our superintendent has not only shaken public trust, but also disrupted the momentum and morale that has been steadily building under Miss Gwyn's leadership. I challenge each of you to ask yourself, what kind of message am
021I sending when good, hardworking, dedicated people are dismissed without reason or without justice? Is fairness part of Council County school systems culture or is it just a part of the handbook? Unfair dismissal hurts more than just the employee. It affects the morale of this entire school system. It sends fear through families and uncertainty through the entire county of Caswell. It tells our young people that loyalty does not matter and that speaking up may cost you your job. Board members, we can do better. As a community, we are calling for greater transparency and employment practices, clear policies, and fair investigation before dismissal. We are not asking for special treatment. We are demanding for equitable treatment to our community. Let us continue to speak together, to stand together, and to fight together. Thank you, Melanie Gibson. Hi,
022I'm Melanie Gibson. I live in Nancyville. Um, I'm a parent of elementary age children in Casle County. I'm an involved community member. I'm a former public high school educator. To begin, I want to express my gratitude to the board members. I appreciate the la the level of sacrifice you and your families have made in order to serve in these roles. So, thank you. The primary reason for my presence today is to show support. I want to show support for our school board, our public school staff, our students, our parents, and our community members. Each of you are passionate about providing a safe, enriched community for our children. I also want to ask for a superintendent that is invested in Casle County. I fear that candidates will use casual as a stepping stone on the path
023to more lucrative positions or as a hiding place when they lack success elsewhere. Joanna Gwyn demonstrated the value of a superintendent that is deeply engaged in bringing residents together. Her listening tours provided stakeholders direct access to her on multiple occasions. She was seen and heard often in the community, which is rare behavior for a superintendent, but vitally important. Although I just like the majority of the people in this room have no details regarding your decision, I realize the reasons for your termination are most likely complicated and multi-layered. If you sought the feedback of administrators, teachers, and staff. If you sought the opinions of parents, grandparents, and other caregivers. If you reached out to community leaders, if you walked the halls of our schools, if you saw the impact of her leadership on the faces of
024the children, if you did those things and decided her termination was in the best interest of our community, then I support you. If you did not, then I challenge you to look at the faces of the people in this room, see their concern for our children, and their passion to identify and support leaders they trust. Listening goes a long way toward building trust and today you are listening to us. Thank you. Thank you. But we can't let the conversation end here. Don't let this be the only school board meeting we attend. Let's keep the conversation going. Thank you, Dr. FT Jones. [Music] Good morning. I appreciate the public service of the educators, administrators, principles, teachers, and especially the parents. The abrupt dismissal of former Superintendent Gwyn is most troubling. It's generating a lot of concern,
025impacting your brand, certainly impacting your reputation. Uh, let me first say I'm a senior pastor at Branch Cap Missionary Baptist Church. I sit on the general board of the county's largest faith-based organization in this county with over 10,000 members and our moderators here today. I will speak pointedly to the quality and relevance of the education we should expect our youth to receive here in this public school district. According to the NCP I the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction towards council county schools is targeted being in need of support to boost the students outcome. This assessment and their perspective are shaped by multiple accountability and support structures. Of the 325 school districts in North Carolina, this county ranks 255th. That's in the bottom 21 percentile. On the North Carolina school report card, only onethird of
026our students score at the level three or higher in reading and only one-third score at the level three or higher in math. Castle's report card shows even highest uh average than the state for absentism and lower participation in advanced courses. The Dillard High School is in need of great attention. You've already heard a statement to that effect. uh will not be labeled a point only to say that the vast majority of the students there scored or below the lowest performing comprehensive support and improvement level as a school in the state of North Carolina for multiple years. I'm indeed confident that these problems didn't come about since Superintendent Gwyn came on board. Much of what I have said was in place before she came. much of what I will continue to say uh was also in
027place due to casual's poor low performing schools. It's essential that the state provides comprehensive needs assessment, diagnostic services, strategic reform assistance with a keen focus on recurring low performance. It is absolutely crucial that parents and key opinion leaders be kept a breast on how thorough and methodical the board of education has gone about putting instruments in place that are calibrated to analyze root causes, set improvement benchmarks, and build capacity for sustainable change. The assessment of additional funding and technical assistance are a must, non-negotiable. The window was open for grant submissions from December the 9th to February the 14th. My question today is was a grant application submitted and if so, how much? Specially concerned about time time is up. And I'm think that we give him extended time. No, we do that at the end.
028The state has already laid out a plan for this county. Let's comply with Thank you. Next. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Holly, a mother of three kids that I'm raising in Caswell County that depends on all of you for their best interest in educa education. I'm coming before you out of being concerned for their education. I'm one who values your dedication, your commitment to our schools and our county. But as for my children, their children, y'all's children, whoever's children, I feel the leadership and the lack of dedication is being placed where it should be placed at. I'm deeply troubled by the Caswell County Board of Education's decision to terminate Superintendent Joanna Gwyn without offering us an explanation. This lack of transparency erodess trust and creates uncertainty at a time when our schools are
029already struggling. The board has a duty to act in the best interest of students and the community. And right now, that duty is not being met. If the board cannot lead with honesty and accountability, then who can? We ask y'all to look out for our kids. Give them the education. Make the best decisions. If that's not in your heart, in your best interest, then why are we here? Our kids come first. Education comes first. We ask you to place that into our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Jet Madden. Greetings to the board of education and everyone here. I am Sheet Madden, resident of Blanch, North Carolina, former employee of Caswell County Schools, a teacher in Durham, North Carolina High School. I stand before you today to express a concern that many have already expressed. Our
030community um has already shared with you that our superintendent's contract was ended without explanation. As voting citizens, we have a right to understand what's happening with our schools and why decisions like this are being made. We elected each of you to represent us and in doing so we trusted you to be transparent with the community. So we deserve to know why Miss Gwyn was dismissed. If you are truly putting our children first, why would you create unnecessary turmoil for the students, families, and the staff of Caswell County Schools. To the board, I say this. If any of you are not acting in the best interests of the students here, perhaps it is time for you to step aside. Was there a crime or an issue? Something so serious that she couldn't at least finish the
031rest of the school year. Miss Gwyn was deeply involved in our schools, attending events, visiting classrooms. She was maintaining clear communication with staff and parents and the community. She was accessible, responsive, and committed to identifying the changes needed to move Caswell County schools in the right direction. Miss Gwyn was data driven and resultsoriented, and her record speaks for itself. We know from the data that before she became superintendent, Caswell County schools were failing our children. In fact, I personally took my daughter to another school district in 2016 because the previous leadership had done little to improve the education system here. Miss Gwyn was actively working to make a real difference and yet the board interrupted that progress without cause. We deserve answers and our children deserve better. And I have one more point. Um, this
032is not concerning, Miss Gwyn, but I'm still concerned with other processes in the district. Um, my church rented the facility and never received the deposit back. No explanation, nothing. There's nothing in the contract stating that the deposit should not be returned. So, I'm concerned with other processes here in Caswell County Schools as well. Thank you so much for your time, M. Just a question. When was the contract? It was July July 24th. Yes, sir. Thank you. I don't want to mess. Is it to Lisa? Jalisa hot. Okay. Good morning to the board. Good morning to each and every one of you. Um good morning. I stand today as a parent of of two children of the Caswell County Public School Board. Uh, my daughter is a student at Oakwood Elementary. My son is a student
033at Barley Yansy High School. I'm a parent, a resident, and also a community leader. I'm deeply saddened today by the termination of Miss Joanne Williams contract. Today, I stand with questions and ask, how did you come to this conclusion and why at this time at the end of the year when the children are about to get out of school? also a lot of other concerns. I was a candidate for a school board, so I ran for a seat on school board. So many of you that are on this panel ran with me and many of you all's slogans were accountability, trustworthy, and a lot of these things that you ran to get a seat on the school board is not being upheld. Amen. So my question is when we were running you told us that
034you we could trust our children with you. So at this point I'm thinking we cannot trust our children with you because if we've had two superintendents within the last year and a half that that fails a lot. So I ask you again, can we trust our children with you? And also we moved a principal into the interim position which he's the principal and now he's going to be the superintendent. So I just want to know how does that work? Are we going to move somebody in his position where he can totally focus on being the superintendent and we can put another person in the principal position. But these are some of the answers that we want to know. We want accountability for why you terminated Miss Joanne Gwyn's contract. At that point, she was at
035the point of where she was holding accountability. And that is some of the things that you all said that you would uphold. So why is it that you terminated her if accountability is something that you wanted? So these are some of the questions that we have. and us the public, we stand together today to uphold what you said that you would do when you wanted our vote to run and be on this board. So I ask you again, if these is not some of the things that you're willing to uphold in 2028, we have some different conversations that need to be talked about. Thank you, Kent Ramford. Good morning board members to all of the public on April the 9th, 2025. A letter was sent to each one of you board members requesting information and
036it said greeting members of the casual county board of education according to GS 153A-98 we the members of Caswell County community are entitled to more detailed information regarding the dismissal of superintendent that was has been provided in and casual message. The board uh of education meeting minutes reflect did not reflect any issues with the superintendent, Miss Quinn. The observation has been made one and shared by many concerned Caswell County residents. We understand that there is a special board meeting scheduled for Friday, April the 11th, 2025 at 8:00. We respectfully request that we be provided the following information to the afor mention of the meeting. Reason for Mrs. Gwen's contract permanently um presented of votes that cast it by each individual board member date of the vacancy which was in the casual message and the board
037minutes that reflect necessary documents for the dismissal of superintendent. We understand the exceptions are confidentiality, attorney client communication, and ongoing investigation. Respectfully yours, Kent Williamson, president of the voters league and Oilia Willis, NAACP representative. again I don't have any uh information that has come back from the board and uh allowing us to know what has happened and we have a state law and if anybody needs a copy of it I have a copy of it that says that we the community we the community should have employee records and it tells what we could have and the exceptions to them. So, I thank the board and thank all of the comments that the community has made. We are going to stay on this. We're not going to give up. You ask us to support you as
038at election time and we're going to hold you accountable for it. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Wilson Jerry Wilson like to say good morning to uh the board and to all of you all. Uh I'm so um grateful to be here with you. But my heart is torn all the pieces. Um, I live in Greensboro, North Carolina, but been serving this community for 34 years. Um, I'm concerned for children. Um, I am a former educator. Um, I'm a parent and I'm here for parents and staff. Um, I want to support all of you as well. Everyone is somebody. The education our children very important to me. Uh and it uh should be about showing concern for them first. We need you to do what you've been called to do. We need um superintendent to be
039held accountable for what they're supposed to do. But um I believe in records and protocol and all of that. There's a question today um that is what's require required of all of us and we'll talk about this about walking justly and love and mercy and walking humbly and that kind of thing. But I want to know is it in our hearts of hearts. I'm here this morning because um I believe that in order to build our school system and take care of our children, we need clear and consistent policies um procedures and then we need to walk in practices and all of us ought to live by some principles. Um so we're just asking for the board of education just to consider those things and uh and help us to understand what has transpired. But
040we are really want to be about strengthening this education system for our children. Uh, I'm I'm not about anybody in particular. I'm about all of us doing what we're supposed to do for our children. Uh, and I'm too old for y'all. I just got to tell you this. I don't care what you think about them. Uh, I want us to be concerned about our children and how we can help them. We need consistency. I want to know what does the B want from the superintendent that we hire? Yes. 30 seconds ago. All right. Thank you. Um I want to know after we hire them, what are the protocols of evaluating what they do so they know how well they're doing it. Most of our jobs, we've had evaluations. So, we're expecting the board to evaluate
041uh the next superintendent. Thank you so very much for what you do. Thank you. [Applause] Blessings. Thank you very much. That ends the public comment section. At this time, we'll take a short fivem minute break before we begin our regular meeting.