001[laughter] Good evening. I'd like to call the meeting to order tonight. Um board members, you have um a business meeting agenda before you. What is the pleasure of the board as far as approving the agenda states? >> I make a motion that we approve the agenda. >> We have a motion. Do I have a second? >> We have a motion and a second. All those signify by saying I. >> Motion carries. >> [clears throat] >> the ethics statement. Um the board members are reminded that it's our duty to avoid conflict of interest and appearance of conflicts of interest as we handle the work of this board. Does [clears throat] any member of the board tonight have any conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to any matters coming before us at this meeting
002tonight? If so, please state them for the record. If during the course of the meeting tonight you become aware of an actual or apparent conflict of interest, please bring it to matter to the attention of the chair. It will [clears throat] then be the duty to abstain from participating in discussion on the matter from voting on this matter tonight. Um this is an open sessionformational information uh meeting tonight. Uh there will be no decisions that will be made tonight. Um it is strictly information to educate um TS Cooper school system also for um people who children attend the TS Ka area to come out and voice their opinions and how they feel about consolidation um and show their appreciation. We're here to listen to you and we will take your concerns carefully in our decision.
003A decision will not be made tonight, nor will it be made tomorrow night at the Buckland um conference. We're going to go ahead tonight. Um I hope everyone had an opportunity to sign up for public comment. The public comment is in the hallway. Um you will be limited to three minutes um for your comment but every person who signs up for comment tonight will be heard by this board. So we're not using a policy standard in this case. Also um the manner in which the meeting is going to go tonight is that we're going to have presentation Dr. wheels and come forward with his team and present information, educational information to you as far as what came out with the consolidation study with Dr. Watson. Um, I will let you know that we received a
004Freedom of Information Act request and reference [clears throat] to the consolidation studies and we will be responding to that as soon as the last meeting um is um done and then we'll go to the person that requested the information too. Um we're going to have that team to come forward. Then we're going to ask the principles and their staff if they want to come forward and do anything comments they would like to say. Also, then we're going to have um public comment. We're going to open the floor for public comment. So, if you didn't sign up for public comment, please do so. It's in the desk in the hallway as you come in. And Miss Rick has re written a scenario speaking from her heart as far as consolidation. And I'm gonna ask Miss Riddick
005if she will um perform her version, a consolidation study, her her feelings. >> I'm glad to see everybody out tonight. It's quite refreshing from the fact last two nights of seeing community members coming out and being involved and and seeking information about this. So, it is refreshing to have comments from the um public. And I would like to say that some people are not don't want to stand up and talk in front of people and that's okay. If you have concerns or comments, please feel free to email us or call us. Um board members, staff members, we'll be glad to to take all feedback and insight that we can get. And this is something that I wrote. It is not something that came from all of the board, but I feel like I speak for
006all four of us in this statement. The decision to explore consolidation of Gates County's three elementary schools is one of finance, not just saving funds, but to be able to better utilize the funds provided by the state, local, and federal sources. There is absolutely no personal agenda in this consolidation process. What a lot of people do not understand is how our funding comes to us. The state is the largest contributor to our school systems budget. We are allotted funding based on district enrollment numbers. For example, we are allotted teacher salaries for first grade teachers based on the number of first grade students in the whole district, not the number of students in a particular school. So, hypothetically, you can have one school that has 25 students in first grade. Another school has 23 students and
007the third school has 36 students in the first grade. That is a total of 84 students in the first grade in all of Gates County. The state would say that we need five teachers. The classroom numbers are not to hypothetically exceed 18. We're only going to get funding for those five teachers, but we need six teachers to meet the class size restrictions. Having to divide our limited funds over three schools has become unsustainable. It seems more manageable to divide these resources between two schools. It is my hope that being able to better manage these resources will allow us to have the resources to be able to better serve our students. Utilizing resources is not just money. It is our human resources, our teachers, staff, transportation and maintenance. This process is not a competition between the
008three elementary schools. We as a board must look at a lot of factors that go into this decision. I think our schools I think of our schools sort of like the church. The church itself is its people. Where these people gather is just a building. It's bricks and mortar. People are what makes the church just as the people are what makes our schools. If we close a building, it does not change these people. We will have the same students and the same teachers. They may just be in different buildings, but they are the same people. Change is never easy, whether it is good or bad. [clears throat] Will there be bumps along the road? Of course, there will be. But if we are all keeping the focus on what is important, which is our students,
009we can work those bumps out for the best. This consolidation is not something that has never been done before. There are numerous neighboring county school districts that have recently gone through this process. And although many of you may not remember, some years ago, Gates County Schools had to restructure their elementary education when Sunbury School had to close. Students had to change schools and the community had to adapt to that change. Rest assured that we as the board will consider all of the information and input from the community and make the best decision possible for our students and staff to be able to give our students the best educational opportunities that we can. >> Thank you, Miss Ricky. Also, if you don't feel like that you can come to Fort Podium and speak, feel free to
010address each one of us. U mailing uh email addresses are stated and we have had numerous emails so far in reference to consolidation. Um and I think uh but most every one of us have replied to every one of them as of um today. Again, welcome to the Gates County Schools consolidation study. It is anformational session for TS Cooper School tonight and the community. [clears throat] Dr. Williams and his team are here tonight to share with you the information gathered at this point and to educate you, too. More importantly, we are here tonight to hear from you, the school, the parents, the staff, and the community to get your views of consolidation study and help us educate us as to decide which is the best decision to be made if a decision is going to
011be made. But we're here for the one common goal and that is for our students. That will be our focus, students first. [clears throat] The process tonight will be we will share the information with you that we have gathered. We'll hear from the school principal and any school personnel and then we will open up the floor to the public for community members to come out and speak. Please remember that this is anformational session. No decision tonight will be made and we as a board are here to share and listen to your ideas, your concerns and you are here to educate us too as well. No decision will be made tonight or any time has there been a decision made so far as this um consolidation has gone on. [clears throat] In the last several years,
012um, last 15 years, Gates County, um, the population started at 12,197, um, people that were registered in, um, Gates County as citizens. As of today, there are 10,289 um, citizens that are registered. Uh, three elementary schools serve a total of 611 students. Um if you visit any of the schools, you will see that some of the schools have unused classrooms in the elementary level. This consolidation study was directed to be conducted to see if there would be any cost savings to the Gates County schools but closing at least one school. Now I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Williams. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. If you wasn't at the meal pond uh back in November, it might have been November the 10th. I don't exactly noted the date. U but Dr. Jim Watson, he
013was asked to do a consolidation study. And the consolidation indicated his study indicated that Buffan Elementary School would be the school that you would close for two reasons. First reason is class size uh the number of classroom space and the second was cafeteria not enough uh space for and it's the size of the cafeteria. Uh so the cost savings for closing one school would be approximately $52,000 and some change. Now that number is going to come down just because of the grant that we wrote. And the grant that we wrote, we put in energy efficient windows. We got a new roof. We got H back. That cost is going to come down from 52,000 to a little bit lower. The cost savings from personnel would approximately be 668,000. Now, that number is going to go
014up because Dr. Watson didn't account for things like retirement and other things that Mr. Harold will share with you here briefly. uh and to see these cost savings what we would have to do is we would have to go into something called a riff. Now RIFF that stands for a reduction in force and so you know we hope and I say hope I got all caps right there that attrition would be something that would take place where we would you know not have to cut so many people. However, that's not a guarantee. most definitely that's not more than likely that's not a guarantee and that's that probably would not happen. So in summary it's approximately 92.7% of savings is going to come from personnel cuts. Now to talk a little bit about transportation and and
015our lines that we would have to draw uh my director of student services Mr. Jeremy Wright will explain that for you. Here you go Mr. H. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Good evening everybody. The board has heard this many times already. Um the two things I want to talk about today like Dr. said is the school capacity. So we can look at what the numbers would be and what each school could hold. And then I'm going to talk a little bit in the next slide about boundary lines and attendance zones. Uh up here you're going to see two numbers for Gatesville Elementary School. 360 is what the capacity would be at 90%. Uh at Gatesville Elementary School and 90% is what they recommend for your school to be at and not anything over that.
016So you can see that Gatesville is 360, TS Cooper is 360, and then Buckland Elementary School is about 340. These numbers only take into account the number of rooms that are in the building. Okay? It does not look at the cafeteria size. It does not look at the gym size. It looks at uh the classrooms that you have and how many students you can hold in those. You can see that we currently have 611 students enrolled and that number changes just about every day, but it's it's stays pretty close to that and has been for several weeks now. Um so as you can see from the capacity each all three of these elementary schools would be able to hold um what we would need to split that number into two new attendance zones. Of course
017common sense would tell you if we go from three to two you're going to have to redraw boundary lines. There's going to have to be uh some new attendance zones created and you really only have two options to do that. Okay, depending on what school [clears throat] will be consolidated, you go north or south or east or west. Okay, the and I know this map is very hard to see and I'm sorry, but the colors up here are our current zones. So the the yellow portion up there is Buckland. The the purple section is Gatesville and then TS Cooper is the pink se uh section. Um, I'm just what I'm going to talk about right now is I'm just going to give an example. Okay, I cannot give 100% numbers right now. We can do
018our best to get it into our TIMS program which is a transportation system that we use across the state and it allows us to kind of highlight some numbers that we would get if we go for example I'm going to say east or west. Okay. If Cooper was to stay open and either Buckland or Diesel, it doesn't really matter because we're going east to west was to close, there's going to be a line. All right. Um, medical center page ric all the way down is probably about where that line would be if we went east west. Okay. which with 611 students that would put about 304 over here. You're trying to you're trying to equal out to 6 611. Okay. So, you're to get it as close as possible. And we've already done the numbers,
019prelim numbers to see what it would look like. And again, that line right there would be about the area that new zones would be in for east and west. All right. Again, that puts 300 on one side, 300 some change on the other side for whichever schools stay open east west. North south's a little more complicated, but your line is just dividing the district in half. As you can see, when you do that, there's going to be students that are in one school that are probably going to have to go to another, even if that school does not close, if you understand what I'm saying. Uh, that is just what's going to happen when you do when you try to get both schools as close as possible to divide net 611 in half. Okay. Um
020or any questions for me in regards to capacity or attendance zones? >> I do. >> Um do you have a point on that? >> Yes. >> Can you point out um where CS Cooper is um on that map [clears throat] so that the audience can >> we're somewhere right over here. I'm sorry I keep on moving. >> I think that's loop. I think we're Cooper Loop over here. Somewhere right there. And can [clears throat] you show us where Gates want to have? >> Uh Buckland, >> I mean Buckland and >> Yeah, >> Gates. >> Buckland is over in this area right here. Sorry, I can't see the road. [laughter] And then Gil is over in this area right here. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Mr. Ryan. >> You're welcome. >> Again, we won't know exact
021numbers. I can't I can't really say what route times on buses would be yet uh until we get the numbers into the system. All I can do is give you an approximate. You know what we would want to do is make sure that each school is equal as best as possible. And to do that, we would do distance to school and travel time are a consideration. Of course, school capacity to make sure we we're as even as possible. Uh we want to do the best to maintain diversity at each school and then we you got to make sure you have balanced grade levels. [snorts] Splitting the county in two I think you'll be somewhere close to that but again we won't know 100% until we get everything into the system. >> Mr. Right. And the
022numbers that you gave is that taken into account prek too >> 611 does count prek. Okay. Any other questions? >> All right, Mr. Roundtree. [clears throat] >> Good evening. >> Okay. Um I'm here to give demographics as to what it would look like to the students if we cut we um actually consolidate to two schools and like I've expressed to the room before until a decision is made as to what school is actually closing down and what students will be actually at at each school. There's no way we can really give you numbers as to how many students will as to how many the demographics of the students, how many blacks, how many whites, how many first graders, second graders, third graders and things like that. So once the decision is made as to what
023school was closed down and we actually are able to go in and and they draw the line and put those students in the system, then we'll be able to take it into Infinite Campus and be able to tell you exactly the demographics. But until then, we can't. >> Mr. Arrey, I have um a quick question. I guess just kind of verification. If you have a student that's having to go to a different school, all of their testing information and everything, it's all computerized and everything transfers very seamlessly. Yes. >> With that and to the teachers and the principles and everything. Just wanted everybody to know that. >> Yep. everything transfer easily. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. [clears throat] Warden. [snorts] [clears throat] >> Good evening. Um just as Dr. Williams, Dr. Williams began to
024share the um impact for staff the staffing impacts would be as follows. In closing one school, we would eliminate approximately 10 personnel positions. And those positions would be some [laughter] whether that's resignations or retirements, but others may be having to look at um different positions across the district. So with a reduction in for reduction in force, impacts may occur throughout the school district and not only the three elementary schools. So we may be looking at certifications and license areas across um K12 or all five of our schools and not just the three elementary schools that are being considered. The um personnel positions that would be um considered would be five teaching positions, one media specialist, one counselor, one cafeteria manager, one lead teacher, and one part-time facility. Again, we would hope that um many of
025these could be addressed through attrition or retirements and resignations, but if not, we would have to consider positions across the district and not just those three elementary schools. But those decisions of course can't be made until the time to look at where you have positions and where the needs and needs are. >> Okay, thank you. Any any question? >> I do I thought I'm the last finish. How many Oh, sorry. How many elementary school long-term subs do we have now? >> Ballpark. >> No, you're fine. Um I know we have >> two I think ballpark about two. Yeah, ballpark about two that we have right now. Um and they will continue that through the rest of the year. Um, and some things that we're doing now to even prepare or be in place if we
026have if we do get to a point of consolidation or to be more resourceful with the money and things that we have right now is we do have long-term subs in positions rather than filling some of those where we've had retirements and resignations even throughout the year. So, we have positions right now that have not been filled as permanent positions and we have um people certified to do the job there um as temporary positions until we see where this is going to go so that we don't um disrupt or you know have to change someone [clears throat] position. >> Thank you. >> You are welcome. Any other questions? >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Thank you Casper. >> Good evening everyone. So, I'm here just to talk about a little a little bit about the
027um educational benefits and the potential drawbacks that would happen if we did consolidate to two schools. Um certainly one of the benefits would be more consistent curriculum um implementation because right now we have our teachers spread out across three schools. To have them in two, having the opportunity to meet more often and collaborate regularly would certainly lead to um more implementation that is on task with fidelity. It also increases um leads to increases in our instructional quality in terms of our teachers would be able to have PD on a more regular basis. We certainly would have professional learning communities that would meet more regularly. Right now, our district teams only meet once a month in order to plan [laughter] [clears throat] on their um through Zoom or at another time. But there's only one mandated
028district meeting at the moment. But we certainly would see um you know as a teacher I had hallway conversations with my colleagues that allowed me then to go and have the ability to try something new. So we know that will be beneficial. Um it would allow us to distribute our teacher expertise in terms of looking at who has mentor training, who has u reading um you know literacy training, who might have other skill sets like academically and intellectually gifted training and allow that to be distributed more equally across our elementary schools. And it does lead to the potential for reduced or expanded curriculum resources because right now when we buy site license for curriculum, we're buying three. Um certainly if we can go down to buying two, it does allow us to look at other
029intervention programs we might be able to purchase and put in place. Or it might mean that we could expand curriculum to our middle and high school, which right now um rely on materials that they mostly um create for themselves, not a structured [clears throat] curriculum that we purchase as a district. There are some of course some potential drawbacks, but that's going to happen with any transition. It would lead to some transitional disruption for both our teachers and our students. We understand they're invested in a school community right now and that would lead to having to kind of build that capacity to work together as a team at your school. Um it would lead to potentially some larger class sizes but we have small class sizes for the most part across our district. There are some
030areas where we do have and some schools where we have some larger class sizes but we would be able to distribute that as well. Certainly, it has the opportunity to have a social and emotional impact on our students, but we know that students are also very resilient. So, it just requires that we would put some mitigation plans in place to make it so that we build that identity before students come into the new building. And then, of course, um there would be some scheduling challenges for our connect classes, which are our health and PE, our technology time, our art. Um, but that would, you know, we would look at whether or not we need to add some things into the rotation in order to service all of our students for that. >> Okay. Any questions
031for members? >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mrs. Ma'am. [clears throat] [laughter] Good evening. Hope you all are doing well. Uh I'm going to talk to you a little bit about the technology uh and how that would be affected by a consolidation. Um when we look at the classroom technology, the Chromebooks and iPads that we currently have uh could certainly be redistributed um to the other schools because we want to make sure we do that equitably. um you know so the a good mix of old and new equipment. Uh of course teacher laptops and any other equipment they may have would go with them. Uh smart panels you know a couple years ago we got smart panels in every classroom. So, uh, they would be that would be an issue at all because they're all outfitted
032with smart panels, but we would have potentially some extra ones that we would have to, you know, store somewhere for backup. Additional phone equipment would of course would be kept for repair. Um, and intercom intercom systems and our schools are old, but they're they still work and they're pretty resilient. So, we would we would keep some of those parts because those boards and those are very expensive and you can't find them anymore. They don't make them anymore. So, keep [clears throat] those. Also, access points um would be could be redistributed as well. Um, we just got new access points this past year from, you know, is a federal program that pays a lot of our uh internet, wide area network, network network infrastructure and wireless connectivity. So, that would be too uh same with network
033equipment. I just mentioned that um the wide area network [clears throat and cough] is also partially funded by rate. They pay 80% of it. Um and then internet service is automatically adjusted as needed needed. So that would go up or down. Actually [laughter] it never goes down. It would go up if we needed more. Um and the so basically we're don't see any major you know issues with the technology. Uh we would certainly make it work. The biggest challenge I think would be you know some of the storage issues which I think we'll discuss a little later but that's the major thing I see. And of course, I've been in contact last week with our DPI coordinator who will also assist us with any moves because anytime you move equipment, federal equipment, you have to
034you keep records of us. So, she would help us with all that too if that's what we decide to do. Are any questions? Board members. Thank you. [clears throat] [laughter] Good evening everyone. Um these are just some factors that should be considered um if the board decides to close the school um for our school breakfast and lunch program. Um we just need to make sure that enough time is allotted into the schedule to serve a larger population. We also need to make sure enough time is allotted to replenish the serving line after each um meal. We also need to make sure that students are able to move through the serving line and be seated within the lot of time that is provided. We also need to stagger the meal time so that students will be
035able to sit down, enjoy their meals without feeling that they're being rushed. Um we also need to make sure that the seating capacity um is enough for the students that we'll be serving during each meal period. For our kitchen and cafeteria needs, we just need to make sure that we have adequate equipment such as our warmers, our refrigerators, our ovens. um for our freezer that is a concern because um especially at Gatesville the freezer is very small and we need to um consider where would additional food go because right now during our deliveries at times we have to transport food to our maintenance freezer because it cannot accommodate you know the delivery that we're receiving. It's a possibility that we probably could um relocate the freezer at the closing school to the receiving school, but
036I'm not sure where it would go and what would the cost be associated with that move. That's something that we will have to look into and be evaluated by the maintenance department. Um we will need additional warmers to maintain um the quality of the food and the food temperature. And other factors to consider is just to make sure that the dining capacity does not exceed state regulations. And for the staffing adjustments [clears throat] we need to determine whether we need to reassign, reduce or just provide additional [clears throat] training for the new meal structure. >> Are there any questions? You have any questions? >> How many lines do they have? >> They have one cashier to serve us. >> Okay. And capacity wise, seating wise, do they have room for expansion? >> It all depends
037on how many students is trans. >> We're looking to put in there. >> Yes. [snorts] >> But there is room potential. I mean, we're not maxed out now. >> No. And this cafeteria, I think it's the I don't know between this one and gau which one is the largest, but it is larger than above. >> Okay. >> Definitely because the cafeteria is small. The kitchens are because all the serving lines sit in the kitchen >> in the side of the Okay. >> Thank you. Mr. Green [clears throat] [cough] >> wanted to talk a little bit about uh uh the wastewater plants first of all in the county. As you all know, uh Gates County is a very rural rural area. Uh we're we're very close to one stop light that exists in Gates County. Um
038as you as uh waste water plants work within the school district each of the three elementary schools have what's called recirculate well TS Cooper and Gates will have what's called recirculating sand filter bed systems. When you look in the back of the school here you probably see a greenhouse and you go hm I wonder what that's for. Um that's waste work plant for this school. Uh and behind Gatesville, there's one very similar. Uh but the greenhouse was damaged back in 2022 from a storm and that hadn't been replaced uh due to the issues with not being able to get another greenhouse to fit that exact u system. Uh Buckland has has what's called a constructed wetland wetland system. Um, we've been very fortunate in the county to get grants uh to put in pump stations
039at here at TS for school as well as at Buckland School. You all probably have seen in the area green trucks by Green Engineering riding around down the road doing some painting and different things. And what they're doing is surveying for for a line that's going to um a pump station that's going to transfer waste water to our collection site on Will Lane uh in the center of the county. and Buckland will have the same type of pump station. Uh at Gatesville, there is capacity there. Um I believe for uh for it if if it is, you know, chosen to stay open for consolidation, there would most likely need to be a green some type of a structure reestablished over top of that plant to prevent rain water from entering that system and affecting the
040uh flow gallons per minute that that system has to treat. Uh as we talked about uh yesterday uh Gatesville Elementary School, some challenges there are the is the age of the equipment as far as HVAC replacement. Uh we have a um back in 1998 the decision was made to put a geothermal system in Gates County in Gatesville Elementary School. Um if you all not familiar with the geothermal system uh when you arrive behind Gates school there tremendous number of vertical wells in the ground and there's piping all throughout the building and there's 25 horsepower pumps that transfer that water all day long continuously through that loop. Uh it's a very efficient system. However, um it is it's a requires a tremendous amount of maintenance to maintain. Uh and majority of that system is 27 years
041old. So there are some concerns there. As I told the board, you know, my concerns are always from a maintenance standpoint, what we call a showstopper, which is when there's a major problem when we have to call and say we have to shut down school for whatever reason. So you know, as we discussed Gatesville, that was one of the things that that I discussed with the um parents and faculty and staff there Gatesville yesterday is some concerns with the age of the geothermal system and it need replacement. Um makeup equipment as well. There's some old equipment there on the roof that needs to be replaced for that purpose. Uh when the system was installed at Gatesville Elementary School back in 1998 um or originally in 1996, there was a work deck uh designed up above
042that area to service the 40 heat pumps that exist throughout the hallway and it was cut out of the project due to for budget reasons. So pretty much all that equipment has to be serviced from a 10-ft lab. So it it makes it here again uh pretty service difficult to to service and maintain. Uh if we are to go in and make these renovations at Gatesville Elementary School, most likely hallways and uh cafeteria uh ceilings would have to be removed for access to to the equipment in there. Again, uh we would most likely replace 27 year old lighting that exists in that school. And uh not that there's anything wrong with it, but LED is more efficient. And when you when you got it ripped out, there's no sense in putting something back that age.
043So those products like that tend to snowball a little bit, it just it makes good sense to go ahead and uh replace that that things of that age when you have the opportunity such as the lighting uh in those hallways and cafeteria areas. Uh roofing uh just like here at some at u TS Cooper, there is still some 27 year old we replaced a lot of roofing at all three elementary schools. There is some 27y old uh roofing here at TS Cooper. Uh some on the red hall as well as over top of this administration piece. For those of you all that may not be aware, there was very little air conditioning in Gates County up until 1998. Kind of all happened at one time, [laughter] which is fortunate that is unfortunate because it all
044you know and I say you'll hear the name hear 27 a lot because that's kind of um the age a lot of it was put in. Uh there is some here. We've been able upgrade quite a bit here. Um one thing one benefit at uh service school is that it's all air equipment. So it's not interconnected in a way when uh a water system goes down that you know you lose the whole system. You lose individual pieces of equipment. And that's kind of the direction we've gone over the last 10 years. And that's what we did this year at the high school as we got away from the chiller and boiler system. We went to more individual heat pump type systems. Next slide, please. Welcome elementary school as Dr. Simpson mentioned in the cafeteria areas
045here at TS Cooper. Back in I believe it was 2008, um the green hall was added on the back. At the same time, an addition was made to the cafeteria. So, um there is additional cafeteria space here. Buckland and TS were pretty much the same age. uh but and and a small addition a classroom addition occurred the same year at Buffin but the cafeteria was not in uh the size of the cafeteria was not expanded at all. Uh I am looking at uh the only way I can see there that um to increase the cafeteria space at Buckland would be to possibly take in the existing boiler room which is no longer used. There was a door that communicated between the um existing cafeteria and and the boiler room. So, I'm I'm looking at that
046u to see if you know what what the cost would be to utilize that space which is is really now not used at all. Um and you know get some numbers there for board to evaluate. Um classroom space as well. I think some concerns that uh Buckland were were capacity uh more or less as far as as classroom space. Uh the trailers, we do have some mobile units in the back there as uh we had back years ago, I think there were I believe there were six six wing classrooms here before the addition. Uh we had four at at uh Buckland that were not removed. The reason the ones were removed here is because the building kind of went back in that area. We kept one for storage. We kept three originally. Other two of
047them have been removed. There just one left for storage. Laughlin still has their original forward. They're about 30 years old. Uh but a new addition occurred on the other end of the building. So, you know, that potentially could be used for additional classroom space. I'm not not sure if that was evaluated through the study or not. Uh as I as I say, it's not ideal for long term, but you know, um that is there is the possibility there. It could be used for additional classroom space. Um sanitary sewer pipe and wastewater plans. mentioned earlier, Buckland and Cobra both are getting pump stations. Those wastewater plants will be taken offline. And you say, "Well, that really doesn't make a lot of difference." But, uh, the wastewater plants really, it's a lot to it. We have a
048wastewater operator on staff. Those systems have to be tested weekly. Uh, every other week it has to go to a lab and the results uh come back that we have to submit to the state on a monthly basis. So, it's a lot lot to maintain a wastewater plant. So, it's uh it's very fortunate that the county was able to receive those grants and school and the school uh moving forward won't be responsible for maintaining his wastewater plants at Butler to your school to school. Um I think regardless of the decision that's made, as you all know, the afternoons get to be pretty busy at every school. they are here. Uh trying to get people out of the roadway, parents out of the roadway stage for school to to let out in the afternoon is always
049challenging. You know, it creates uh safety concerns and possibilities for wrecks when vehicles back out and effective traffic flow out on the highways. Um so regardless of what decision is made, uh there'll have to be more more than likely either some type of a staggered pickup times. We use that at the middle school when we are in the process of demoing the existing eighth grade building and replacement. Uh or additional asphalt will need to be added or some other processes to account for larger numbers if if you know there's consolidation and a different an additional number of students here. Um that's probably going to affect there again situation that's already kind of difficult in the afternoons and getting cars out of the highway. I think the school does just like every all the other elementary
050schools, the principles do a tremendous job of trying to u use the campus to the best of their ability to to stage cars and get them off the highway, but it is something that'll have to be, you know, considered if the decision is made to consolidate. >> Mr. green. Is there [clears throat] room here that you can expand and park it or driveways or [clears throat] well there um that's a good question here. Um there is drainage out front as well. Um I don't see any reason why at any of the three elementary schools that um there couldn't be additional asphalt added. you know there again that comes with the cost but I believe at each one of the schools there's room some room out front and I think there's some additional room to the
051side at Buckland you know over uh I think school owns a lot of land over on the side of the building there but here at Cooper and at Gatesville as well there's grass area in front of both schools I think that could be utilized >> the area that's back behind the cafeteria kind over that way here is that something that can be used as parking or made into parking, staff parking or or something >> uh potentially. Um we do have the uh which you know we have the basketball court back in that area and I think that have to be considered want to talk with faculty and staff to see how it would affect the day-to-day operations. I think that's used during recess and and you know I don't want it wouldn't want to >>
052not saying it couldn't be used but I think there'd want to be that discussion. It would help some you know as well with the wastewater plant being removed that frees up some additional space there behind the school. There's actually a pump station directly behind the school and then the wastewater plant is a little further back. So if they were removed that would provide some additional space behind school as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any questions? [clears throat] [laughter] >> If a school closure happens, the rep the repurpose of the closed school can be used for the following. Um, if the consolidation occurs, central office is is very packed as as you all know that that work there on a daily basis. uh there it could be considered for to expand or move move into
053a larger building allow additional space for a central office [clears throat] uh support programs offices that Mr. Smith mentioned earlier, there's never enough never enough storage. Maintenance department stayed pretty pretty full of for you know receiving um different things from the schools that come in. Uh but it additional building could be used for maintenance, transportation, technology, storage, uh our support programs there, support offices, um technology supplies, instructional custodial, all the custodial supplies uh pretty much come to the maintenance shop. probably store them on site there and deliver them out to the schools. Uh that could be used to help assist with some room there as well. Uh meeting space that can be used for by the school board for or other uh other needs for conferences or parent meetings. Uh educational programs uh alternative education
054uh early college you all know back some years ago back in early 2000 we had alternative education program here the old Sunbury school. uh it was shut down due to I think some cost related to u repairing roofs and on the facilities there uh but that could be you know considered for that purpose early college as well uh I think COA they have a very good relationship with the high school uh our kids do a lot of traveling to go back and forth to Elizabeth City for classes maybe we can move some of that to Giggs County uh to save with some driving um would be a big would be a big benefit bit as well as testing centers. It's just um usually I'm not sure testing centers if we got in mind for integrate
055testing or exactly what that I you know what what the plan would be there but it could also be used for additional testing uh room uh savings eliminating the the current central office building if that was no longer needed. I think that may would be an option there. Um so um you know that would be you know some ways we could utilize the the school that we moved out of. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. Mr. >> Good evening. up until about 2010. Uh we have in Gates County School maintained a student population of around 2,000 students. Um the next 10 years has been a slow was a slow decline up till co and then co kind of snowball even more than the previous decade. Um my first year we were at 1,466 students.
056Um we lost 55 kids my first year here. Uh and uh this year we've lost 38 more. Like Mr. Rick said, student population um and the revenue stream that the state funds um send our way or they're intertwined. last two years, our revenue uh per student has been around $9,800 for an average. So, if you're losing uh that many kids, it it is a it's a budgeted nightmare when it comes to your revenue stream. Uh DPI did preliminary estimates for us coming up for next year. They said we're estimated to lose 50 more kids for a total of 143 kids in three years. And you can do the math on that $800 per kid. The uh like Dr. Williams has said, my numbers are a little bit higher than Dr. Watson. Dr. Watson didn't have
057the retirement hospitalization and current up to-date numbers. So, mine are a little higher. Uh, for the certified staff, I'm looking at a total for $80,262. Media specialist at $87,91. Guidance counselor did the same, $87,91. Uh, treasurer 69,964. Cafeteria manager, $55,12. Elite staff 37,08, custodial staff 29,871, and then you have your utilities to round out that number around $52,000 for a total of $822,000. And that kind of coincides with our deficit that we that we've encountered with the loss of students in the past two years since I have been in these kind of schools. Uh we basically we need to level off. We need to get kids back in school somehow someway just just to maintain our revenue stream. [clears throat] Next slide, please. This is a pie chart just to give you some idea of
058where we are um funding wise, but that the bulk of that funding uh is made up of staffing. Dr. Williams said earlier a small fraction of it is utilities for the curtain on one of the buildings. Um do you have any questions for >> Okay. To say to reiterate what Mr. Harold was stating is that um he came up with a larger number of savings than Dr. Watson in his um study that he um prepared for us. Um he came up with $824,000. And of that $824,000, $776,000 of that represents um salaries and benefits, which is 94% of the pie. So 6% of the savings would be for utilities, water, and electricity. Unless I did my math real quickly, but I did something about here. That sound about right? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. So
059it would just be a small pie of the utilities up there that are in the left section on the pie at the top um that are listed there. There are four categories they are listed uh telephone, electricity, water and fuel. >> Any other questions? Um, as I asked or mentioned last night, I like for everybody to to hear to know that when we say the word savings, um, we tend to think that that's money that's going to be stuck in the bank, that that's going to be what, you know, what we're going to say, we're going to tuck it in the bank. But that's not necessarily how it all will work. purpes. We're hoping to be able to pull this break even and be able to free up some resources that we can use in
060other places. We can, you know, maybe be able to replace some positions that we haven't been able to do or be able to have, you know, technology or curriculum and things like that. So, it's not that we're just this money is just going to we're going to take it and put it in our our little, you know, kitty over here. um it's it's money that can be utilized and used somewhere else. So, it's not just a you know these dollars that are coming to us. It allows us to be able to better utilize what we do get from the state, local, and the federal pots. >> Correct. >> I think what um Mr. Rick is saying is that um in in a layman's term is that it's a reduction in the cost for the school
061system that we would have and that would be the total cost um at this point not before anything else is u in there and a little later on you're going to see Dr. Jordan come up and talk about some things. And I'm going to reiterate that because I listened last night and maybe help the public understand maybe a different language um so that everybody can understand it. Um I'm not putting that off on Dr. Jordan, but everybody learns in a different way and [clears throat] I know our students do. >> Hey, no other questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Jordan. Thank you. I don't know if I got I get stuck. I got some help. So, I appreciate it. But, um, a lot of the presentation has been about cost savings in a possible consolidation where
062we could say what we do could reduce. But, I also want to share some hidden costs, maybe some one-time costs that may be things that we would have to do up front to prepare for consolidation that would kind of subtract from that savings balance that we've been talking about. Um some possible hidden costs could be possible reinstatement of two front office positions. Right now um about two two or three years ago um we had a reduction what a rift but we did um reduce the number of staff that we had in our front offices at our schools. Um so right now our elementary schools operate with one front office personnel versus two. So where there used to be a bookkeeper and a secretary at our elementary schools right now we only have a bookkeeper up
063there who perform other duties as needed um in the front offices. So, but if we look at um consolidating, increasing the number of students and builders and traffic in the front office and needs and things that come along with the growing number of students, we may look at having to re um reinstate those positions and they would be more than onetime calls because they would be positions that salaries that would have be maintained each year. U possible addition to bus drivers. Um right now we know that um we always need bus drivers, always need bus drivers, but in consolidating we may be looking at our attendance zones being further out than they are now, which would mean increase bus routes for some students. So to prevent students from having to be on buses even longer
064than they are now to reduce some of those things, maybe to add routes to schools so that we can shorten the routes with the increased number of students. So that would be possible addition of bus drivers. Possible increase cafeteria staff um staff hours. Same thing, Dr. Simpson talked about being able to have students come in and get through the lines in a reasonable amount of time without feeling rushed to um move for another group to come in. That takes staff, that takes people, that takes hands to be able to move those students through the line in a um safe and orderly manner, especially increasing the number of students that's coming through and still trying to do it in a reasonable time. Um additional cafeteria equipment, uh warmers, freezers, dishwashers with more traffic becomes a need
065for more dishwashers. you know, more warmers, you're going to have more food. Need to have more food on hand. You need to have, you know, freezes. Again, more food on hand. So, these are things that may be caused to help support the additional number of students that may be at one of the um two or three elementary schools in large parking lots at two schools. Again, I think Mr. Gray talked about some of that, but again, we're looking at the parent traffic right now. U we know how it is um sometimes in the morning, but especially in the afternoons, especially when you have assemblies and programs and things like that. I mean, you all pack the house. We invite that. We welcome that. We want that to continue. But when you're looking at increasing student
066population by 40 50 to 70 students possibly, then you look at that many more parents and families coming and being present when there are events and things going on at the schools. Additional work days for teachers and trans um transition to classrooms. Um it will take time to move things from one location to the other, from one building to the other, one school to the other, for teachers to set up, for teachers to be able to, you know, to get stuck in their rooms to move their equipments to transition. And right now, you know, the summers or when we have um work days and things, we may have two or three days, but you're looking at a transition like this where we're packing up and we're moving everything. It's almost like you're moving from one
067home to the next. You need data, you need time, you need to be able to do that. Um additional work days for teachers to transition classroom, additional work time from maintenance and to transition furniture. I mean, it takes everybody. Um this transition will take everybody. It takes the maintenance department, custodial department, teachers, you know, staff, everybody. So it will be we will need time for everybody to be able to support in the transition and additional work time for technology. Again the same thing Mr. Smith has a very small department but they'll also need to transition things. Every classroom has a smartboard you know there other things teachers have computers their student computers their labs things like that have to be transition and have to be set up in the new locations wherever they're going to
068be. So that has to be taken into consideration and when you ask people come in to work and do more you have to compensate more and the time they're there. So that would be again another hidden cost that may come into play with um consolidation. So again, some of these are onetime costs, but some of these things are things that would have to be maintained even um in years to follow, especially if we're looking at adding this back. >> Any questions? Okay, I'm um I listen to the public and I've also um received several emails and I'm going to change the wording from hidden cost to two word two words reoccurring and unknown. Reoccurring would be the first three bullets of the eight bullets that Dr. Jordan gave you. Reoccurring would be um an expense
069that will take place one year and then follow the second year and then follow the third year and follow the fourth year. It' be a constant thing. Actually, that would be where um Miss Riddick was referring to as you would reduce that amount that you're saying we are saving because that is a recurring cost. We have some unknown costs and we as a board when we met at Merchants Meond just before Christmas um we had a lot of questions for Mr. Green and some of those questions were is how much would it cost to um take the boiler space and increase the cafeteria and rearrange the cafeteria at Buckland? the heating and air and lights at Gatesville Elementary as well as the wastewater, the cost that would um take to increase the parking lot at
070all three schools and any other improvements that need to be made as well as additional improvements in lighting and roofing and things like that done at Gatesville Elementary School. at this point because of the holidays he was not able to give us that information because people were out for the holidays but that information will come back to the public and the public we will inform the public of what the total cost is so that's why I say that is an unknown cost at this point but we will know what that cost will be a projected amount for just like a crutch you use a crutch to help you walk. That's going to help us make a decision on which is the best as far as consolidation. Okay. Um kind of recap all of everything that
071was said tonight. Um I feel very comfortable that our staff will run the demographics and scenarios on whether which is best to go north, south, east or west. I have faith in our bus director that he will give us some excellent runs um as far as the division whether it be north sight, east or west. And also I believe that our testing director will give us information um as far as diversity and the demographics of what is white and what is black represented in the zoning of it. Um I think pretty much um that's all of it. Um but you know there are other options that are going to come back to us and all of those unknown cost instead of hitting cost will be presented as well when we meet with commissioners before we
072make a decision. So um I hope that kind of helped you. Um that just comes from me. I was naturally trained to do that because um I work with the tax and turn revenue service and it was my job to um make it more layman's term of the general um code of the IRS and um I guess I kind of went back last night and re-evaluated um what was going on and I listened to the public and I was willing to listen to you as well as the other three that are here with us. Now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Ryan. If anybody else has any questions, >> I think Mr. Bear did a pretty good summary for you. You have heard tonight a great I know I never do it. You
073have [clears throat] you have heard a great deal of information. Uh to me, every time I hear that information, it's almost overwhelming again. And I'm sure if I were one of you sitting here thinking about a possibility of my school being the one that was closed in consolidation, it would have been very difficult for me to take in everything. That is one reason why we want you to be sure go to your principal, have your principal call us or you call us. But if you have questions, don't hesitate to go ahead and voice those um questions and and get an answer to them. As you heard Mr. Baron say, there's a lot more information that we'll be getting, but you have gotten the basics tonight. All right, key takeaways for you tonight. How much can
074be saved? who's going to benefit from the savings and how will the hidden cost impact the savings. Mr. Bear took care of that for you just a minute ago and the potential benefits we just had down there stronger collaboration and resource efficacy but I can guarantee you there are many more and even you can probably sit there and count some on your fingers and just think if we were all together or we were divided up two ways what would be some of the good things that we could see happening. Um, please know they're also the same. You also have concerns, but please know that whatever is done is going to be done based on what is best for all the students, not just some of the students, not just some of the staff, but for
075everyone involved and for the community. Um, our students and what they need is why we are here. our students becoming the best they can be is why they're here. And I can assure you that there will be no decisions made that do not have our students at the top of the list as resources to attend to. So I think that may be it now. >> Are we going to take a are we going to take a break like we did last night or we want to go straight into it? U Miss Rosco, that's your call. Okay. >> Okay. So, >> thank you. >> We're going to take a short break here and then we're going to come back. Mosco is going to do a presentation and then we're going to open up the floor. If
076you have not signed up for public comment, please do sign because we want to hear your voices. And we do have refreshments out in the Thank you. [laughter] [clears throat] >> [snorts] >> Good evening. I'm going to present a little bit about TS Puffer. I was tasked with um just giving some information about our school and some different about our school and how we would have this consolidation or without consolidation. So, So, the history of TS Cooper Elementary School, uh, TS Cooker Elementary School is named in honor of Thomas Settle Cooper, who was a highly respected African-American educator who made a lasting impact on education in Gates County. Cooper helped establish an industrial school in Sunbury in 1912 and later served as principal of Gates County Training School beginning in 1919. Under his leadership, the
077school became the first accredited high school for African-American students in the county. And Annie [clears throat] Wealthy Holland played a key role at CPR overseeing industrial training at the school and she also at other Rosen schools in Gates County. In recognition of his decades of service and influence, the school was renamed TS Cooper School after he retired in 1948. Over the years, TS Cooper has continued to serve the Sunbury community, carrying forward a reputation of excellence rooted in its history of educational opportunity and empowerment. Both Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Annie Holland have been honored with highway markers in front of the school campus. And the school, the building that we are in now was built in 1951, I believe. And then there were some additions of course made in the '9s. Um, so what are
078some of our accomplishments? So our academic and instructional practice um accomplishments at TS Cooper, we have increased reading and math proficiency on state and district assessments. And according to North Carolina student achievement data, TS Cooper Elementary School has met growth for the past five consecutive years. We have been successfully implementing um intervention programs with documented student growth. We have increased accel accelerated reader participation and comprehension scores. We [clears throat] are one to a onetoone school which means that every student in our school has a device, a technology device. So as a result, we are able to have increased student use of educational technology and we use title one money of course to help to get us to that point of being a muscle. We also have improved lesson planning alignment and this goes with our
079instructional practices. We've improved lesson planning alignment to state standards. Um we've increased use of datadriven instruction and progress monitoring. We have a strong collabor collaboration through PLC's and vertical team meetings. Our grow growth in teacher effectiveness through teacher coaching cycles. We have strong collaboration among staff and through the use of title one funding. At least 50% of our K through five teachers are provided the opportunity to attend math or reading conferences at the state or regional level. for the past two years. Um, our school culture, student support and family engagement accomplishments are recognition of students for academic growth, character and citizenship, positive school culture with stu strong student teacher relationships, increased attendance and decreased chronic absentism. um strong collaboration among staff, our PTA and community organizations. We have Cooper Cub school mentoring program. So every
080staff member in our school is assigned to a student or a group of students in our school and they are mentors of that student until they leave here elementary school and we meet um basically we do seal type things or if it's um like around the holiday or something we talk about those things and that's pretty much what we do and we meet for 45 55 minutes and we were meeting once a month but we've had to kind of scale it back a little bit this is more of our focus on instruction. Um we provide two school enrichment days each school year for all of our students. So we provide for every student in the school um they sign up for sessions we do twice a year, one in the fall, one in the spring
081and there are enrichment enrichment activities or special interest activities that students may be interested in. It has nothing really to do I won't say it doesn't have anything to do with education but just something that can spark their interest. you know what they we do like woodworking, painting, arts and crafts, just different things. Teachers um sign up for workshops. We have people in the community that sign up for workshops. Um we collaborate with the high school horicultural and woodworking group. Um those students come to our school and they also help with those sessions. And um the kids usually they they take they sign up for two sessions and we try to make it so they at least have one takeaway from that day of the two sessions. One of the two they have something they
082can take home with them. Um all students participate in social emotional learning activities each nine weeks and that's through our guidance counselor um that she's on the wheel as we talked about last night. They call on the wheel. So um because the key is she's included in our connect classes then students automatically they get those social emotional activities um each nine weeks to her and so impact and consolidation. So TS come for student enrollment would almost double like if we were to get like um 300 students because we are a small school and we have like 151 students right now. So it would pretty much double like getting a whole new school of kids with us. And so of course that would be some type of impact you know when we would consolidate bus routes
083may be longer if we get more drivers it may not be longer. Um there would be an average and I just did this based on if we were to have 300 students we would have an average of 50 students per grade level give or take a few just depending on you know the number and with three teachers in each grade level that would give us an average of 16 to 18 students per class. And um consolidation would also impact the current school culture of course because we would have new students and we would have new staff. And in conclusion, um school consolidation it presents us with both challenges and opportunities. As we move forward is essential that every decision we make is guided by what is best for our students. By collaborating with educators, families,
084and the community, we can ensure that our schools remain places where all students thrive. [clears throat] Let us commit to an open dialogue and a focus on innovation so we can create a brighter future for our children. [cough] Thank you for your attention and for working together towards a united approach in education. [cough] Thank you, Miss Rosco. You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Rosco. Um, Miss Doctor told me that no one had signed up for public comment. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak at this time? >> Yes, ma'am. [clears throat] will come to the to the podium. >> So we can have a even though I know you [snorts] >> Hello everyone. My name is Men Ross. Some of y'all know me, some of you don't. Um the school consolidation
085is very scary. I've had three children come through TS Cooper. My fourth one is here now. She's going to be in fifth grade next year. Um, I've worked in all three elementary schools as a school nutrition employee. And I can say that TS Cooper, out of all the schools I've worked in, out of anyone I've ever talked to, this school is a family. And when I moved here 14 years ago, and I told everyone this story, I cry and I'm sorry, but I walked in the school with my boys and Miss Joe looked at us and she said, "You guys must be the Rosses." She's like, "Welcome to the county." And I knew I knew my kids were going to be safe. I knew they were going to be cared for. I've had Mr. Wright
086as a principal. I've had Miss Hobs as a teacher. I've had Miss Rosco as a teacher. They're all amazing people. And this is an amazing school. And I know all three of them are amazing schools, but this one's special. It's really special. So, just please think about that when y'all. And I know y'all heard that from everybody, but this one really is. is we're a family and we're wrong guys. We're a family. I mean, Mr. Moors retired last year and he was here flipping pancakes with me for Santa breakfast and he's been here every year for Santa breakfast. And our Santa breakfast, if you don't know what that is, it was something we created so the kids in the county could come out and see Santa and their parents didn't have to take them to
087the mall and spend $50 because it's expensive, especially when you have more than one kid. So, if you could come and you could get a picture with Santa for $2, it was amazing, you know, and it's so much fun every year to see the kids light up to see Santa every year because it's always [clears throat] the same Santa. It's Santa, you know what I mean? So, this is just a special place in my heart and I just felt like I had to say that or I would have been mad at myself when I went home. But yes, very special place, very special school and very, very special staff and I thank all of you from the bottom of my hearts for being here. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is anybody else
088that would like to address the podium? If [clears throat] not, um, tonight I truly want to thank each and every one of you that came tonight. I want to thank Miss Rosco and her team that's here representing the TSA school tonight. and for her excellent presentation. I would like to thank also Dr. Weas and his team that he has with us. And I think I left out Mr. Stra last night and I'm very sorry, Mr. But you're truly important to us. So, but um I think this um kind of concludes the meeting. Board members, I'm going to ask if we have a motion to adjourn. If there's no other business, >> if there's no other business, I'll make a motion to adjourn. I have a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? >> Second.
089>> I have a motion for a first and second. Um all those that are for um journ please signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. Thank y'all all for coming. Be safe and look forward to seeing some of you tomorrow.