001Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming to be with us today. The meeting is called to order. the whole county board of education monthly um meeting. Um today is May 13, 2025. The time now is 6:00 p.m. At this time, I'm going to ask Dr. Rosa Mallister and pray if she would give us our invocation. We bow our heads. Father God, we want to take this opportunity to thank you. We thank you for this day. This is the day that you have made and we choose to rejoice and be glad and thank you in this day. We want to thank you for this board of education, the whole county school board of education, uh, to do the work that they're here to do with diligence. We thank you for the superintendent and his cabinet. We
002thank you for our military men and women. God, we thank you for the president in the name of Jesus. continue to uh give him strategies and to give to continue to give our governor and our county commissioner strategies on how to move forward in this country. Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. At this time, can I get a motion to approve the agenda for um May um 13, 2025? [Music] Okay, it's been moved and second to approve the agenda for the whole county board of education for May 13, 2025. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Okay. Thank you. At this time, we now down to the chair's report. I first want to thank everyone for coming out um this evening, taking your time out to come and view with us
003as we move forward to make the district a better place. I want to thank uh Dr. spells, his cabinet, and the board members for all of their hard work. We know that this month, um, and last month, we celebrated our teachers, our custodians, uh, TAs, bus drivers, but even though it's once a month, we want to appreciate them all year. We thank them for everything that they do. Actually, if we had the world, we would give it to them. So, we so grateful for them being part of whole county um, schools. So, at this time, I'm going to ask board members if they have uh anything that they would like to say, any highlights of the place that you've been. I would like to do the two-minute drop for board members if anyone have anything
004to say. Madam Chair, yes, I would like I'm going talk loud. This thing's not working. I would like to say that um when we went on our Atlanta trip uh we had met other board members from all different areas and um we had um um Dr. spells and um let me see it was Rosa Rosa McCrae she was a part of that and also was commissioners a part of that and I just want to say that I really appreciate the relationship that we have with the our county commissioners cuz um other school districts don't have that support and I just want to say that I really thank them for supporting us in that way because they it asks us questions like how did we get how did we gain support from our county commission things
005done in our district for our students. So, I just want to say I want to thank them and let everyone know that we appreciate our county commission. Thank you so much. Anyone else? Okay. If not, then u thank you for that. We now have the superintendent report. Dr. Stales. Thank you, Mrs. B. A few things I wanted wanted to go over tonight. Uh we're so happy that it is the month of May and the month of May for a superintendent is just a great time. It's an exciting time and you just feel like a proud papa going to all the different um awards ceremonies and just socializing with the students. I've been to a couple um middle school they I think they call them social, but it really is a pro middle school prom and
006the excitement that the students have. And then we got the big Super Bowl coming up and that's our graduations. And I'm very excited about that. It's nothing like when those students walk across the stages. Um our first graduation is going to be May 16th, the Sanho graduation at Oakai. It'll be at 6:00 p.m. 12 students around 112 students will be graduating. So very excited about that. And then Saturday we'll have our um Sand Hill Community College graduation with about 70 of our students receiving associate degrees. So our students are doing great things. And then on the 20th we got a we have our senior awards at Poke High. I always enjoy that. you know, anytime you're recognizing students. President's awards going to be on May 22nd at West Oak Middle 6 p.m. that's led by
007Dr. Owens. Then we have our middle eighth grade graduations. Sandy Sandy Grove will be May 28th at 10:00. West Hope Middle will be May 29th at 900 a.m. and East Hope May 29th at 10:30. Hokai the Super Bowl will be May 30th 6L [Applause] 55. So we're very excited about that. I don't know who's smiling the most, me or Miss [Music] Peg. So lot of excitement with that. on the 31st we're going to be um yours truly is going to participate trying to put a team together. I think I have me Dr. Balden and um another principal somebody with a lot of height the Sand Hills basketball tournament. Yeah. So we probably get Dr. McNeel I mean Mr. McNeel Mr. Bowen. I'll be the shortest for my team, but we hope to have a great
00830 on three team. So, we're looking we're looking forward to that. Can't dunk but still for school. Um, also as you know, as we support the staff and supporting our students, retirement lunch is going to be June 2nd at noon in the media center. And then we have our summer school coming up on June 9th. So, a lot of great events that we're just so happy about. Again, anytime that you can support students, you know, that that journey from August to May and you get to May just so exciting. I think celebrations our own Jacob French. Jacob, certified educational technology leader and consortium of for school network. He was also um featured in the Fedville Business Journal. So, um Jacob French who's hiding up over there. He's very shy about those kinds of things. So,
009we want to make sure he's recognized. Also want to recognize a couple of our assistant principles who work so hard. Um, I have a a big space in my heart for assistant principles because they do a lot of the leg work, the grunt work that we don't see, talking with parents, um, buses, books. So, they do all the they do the little things to make sure that the school operates. So, future ready leadership by North Carolina principal and assist principal association, Christina Campbell from West Folk Middle. All right. and Ashley Lleier from Hawkeye. Definitely very excited about those those three people, the things that they're doing. Also excited about some of the accomplishments from this year. Very excited about it. I know my cabinet's excited about it. very excited that we are we're really working
010with parents. We have our parent group. We think it's going to be so much better next year. Um got that started off. We want parents to know that you are part of the team and and we do want to hear you. So I was so happy about that. And the teacher portion too and we're working on our student portion of that. So, we'll have that stakeholder group with our parents, our teachers, and our students. So, make sure that we're hearing um hearing our staff and making sure that everybody know that they're a valued member of this team. And that's very important for the board. It's very important for the superintendent that people know that Pulk County School District, we want to be good neighbors. And what being good neighbors, what does that mean? That means
011that we're out in the community. We're supporting kids. We're supporting Wford. We're supporting surrounding areas of Hope County. Um, and we're doing that um from Monday through Saturday. And also we do it on Sunday when we go to the different churches to talk to going definitely want to get out and see our students. Every chance we get, we're marketing and great things that are going on in our district, telling our story. teachers are telling our story. We're telling our story. We want people to know that there are great things happening in Hope County and they're not just happening in Dallas, Texas and places like that. They're happening right here. A lot of times we think everything 50 miles away is better. And you know, I was in the Navy been all over the world from
012Australia to Bl County. Let me tell you, there's some great things going on right here in Poke County last season. And I'm very proud of that. Very proud of our new principles and the things that they're doing. The way that they just stepped in this year and accepted the challenge and again they know that we're we're active in the community and the principles that we've hired, they are student centered and they support kids. That's the number one thing we look for when we're interviewing for students. I mean interview and for principles um student center and support kids. So very important to us that that's that's happening. We had a very successful back school bash last year and we're going to make sure well starting off this year it was in August and we're going to
013make sure that we have another one and the community support and the attendance at that we want to continue to have that. We also want to have that at the other events that we have. Um, uh, superintendent night out. We're going to cut it from four nights to three, but we're going to make sure that those nights are what the community wants. And so tell us what you want to see at the superintendent night out and we'll make sure that those things happen. So just proud of that. Proud of Mr. Davis for what he did with dropout prevention. He was recognized um on Positively Carolina channel 17. So we have great things going on. Volleyball team is his first year and thank you to the board of education for making that happen. Thank you for
014Mr. Cington for bringing that to us. First year they in the playoffs. That's right. That's got that's a testament to what we have here in P County and we need to um celebrate those things. We won the regional battle of the books. Very excited about that call the battle of the books and the battle of the books is very important to us. So, a lot of great things. Um, I won't go over all of them, but there's a lot of great things happen this year and just so excited and we think that the best is yet to come. So, I think that's going to be our theme next year. We're going to get better and better and the best is yet to come. That career uh job fair, I was very happy with that. Very
015happy with that. And I think that's going to get better and better. Um, thank you to all the vendors and I want to thank all the vendors of this district and the supporters of this district make things they make things happen. They make it happen for us and we're so excited for that. We we're getting there when we're working as a team to support these kids. Everybody is on team hope. So that's that's what we need. San Hope told me and I just think this is just a great thing. San Hope scholarship total for this year 6.7 million and growing. 6.7 million 6.7 million growing and I don't want to take um thunder. She'll tell you about the high school portion but that that's just excellence excellence. uh first ceremony to honor American Indian graduates.
016It was a great ceremony. I was there. Board members were there. It's an excellent program. We want to continue to do do those types of things. And last but not least, Up Church Elementary won second place in the region battle the books. All right. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, the only great eagles are not just the Philadelphia Eagles, the unchurched eagles are great, too. They're great, too. Again, just a proud of some of the things that are going on. And we realize there are some areas that we're going to we need to work on and we're working on those areas every day. And some listening opinion of the staff. make sure that those things happen. But as I said before, and this will be our model when we come back, the best is yet to come.
017Okay. [Applause] All right, y'all. Let's give him a hand. All right. So, at this time, we're going to uh actually Thank you, Dr. Sp. We're going to get ready for Spotlight on success. Mr. Purcell. [Applause] Good evening. Good evening everybody. Good evening. On the eth of May appreciation we had a great time. I like to thank all y'all for support brown all the principles in the district and all department in the district. Couldn't get it without you. Thank y'all. Um, today I'm getting out clean school of the month for April and Don Steve. Come on. Don [Applause] Steve Do came back from China and they came and made silver in the relay team. Okay. Yes. M. [Applause] Michael. All right. I went through all the schools during the Easter break. It could have been a
018sever school, but they just had the hump. When you went day school, they had that hump. But a lot of other schools could have deserved it, too. But I just like they had that ump. That's all right. [Applause] Thank God. And uh go Cowboys. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Second, but we got public comment. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. Okay. Oh yes, Purple Star award. Purple Star Award. We went to this Purple Star ceremony last week, last Friday matter of fact, and we received a Purple Star award for being a military friendly district. And we were one of the top 15 in the state, one of 15 in the state to receive this. And we're very excited about that. But the best part of that was not receiving an award. our students,
019three of our high school students, they got to sing the Star family. Let me tell you, they were fabulous. So, I hope I don't butcher the names. Zia Mack, Brian Alexander, and Michaela [Applause] Collins. But they did an excellent job. They weren't nervous and they really made us proud and being a veteran myself, they really made me proud. All right. They brought it home for me. All right. Thank you. Thank you, kids. All right. At this time, we have public comment. Um, we have two individuals signed up for public comment. You'll have three minutes. I will let you know your time. The first is Angela Commtock. [Music] Hello. Good evening. Um, I'd like to speak on the subject of exceptional children. Um, in in regards to our experience with Hope County Schools. As the school
020year comes to an end, I wanted to share some positivity and give some thanks to some of the people in the EC program. I know that's probably not the norm, but that's what I would like to do tonight. Um, our journey started four years ago, around four years ago, and has gone from therapy sessions in the buildings behind Turlington to the Child Development Center and now on to Sandy Grove Elementary. At each point, we've encountered wonderful, supportive people who have gone out of their way to support and guide us. While there are too many people to name, I'd like to call out two in particular and give thank and thank them for what they have done for us. The first is Miss Melanie Nun, who was one of our first points of contact in the
021EC program. Miss Melanie has been our guide at every step of the way and al although her position within the school system has changed since we first met, she is still always available to help and provide guidance as needed. The other is our current EC teacher, Miss Toana Branch, who is here tonight. Uh we've been with her for the last year and a half, and she has not only provided support and guidance to our student, but also to us, his his family. She advocated for our student when she believed it was time to start transition transitioning him to general ed class and based on her experience and discussions with her. We trust her opinions and have total confidence in the suggestions she provides. Our student is currently scoring on grade level in almost all of
022his subjects and spends part of his day in a general education class. I do feel based on personal experiences and conversations as though some people within the school system perhaps have reservations about moving EC children into mainstream education. I do not know if this is because of possible effects on test scores or an idea that they should not be integrated into regular classrooms or perhaps an effect on funding. And I will admit before being involved in this process myself as a parent, I had reservations about the process as well. However, now that I'm on the opposite side of the coin, I see how EC teachers like Miss Branch look at each child individually and advocate for their inclusion as they feel they are able and ready to move forward and to succeed. In discussions with
023his general ed teacher, our student may need a little more time uh attention during times, but is not to the detriment of anyone else in the class. Each EC child is different and it takes experienced, talented people to work with them and encourage their success. I do not think you can advocate too much for this population of students. And with the current climate in the country, especially regarding education and the uncertainty uh of funding and various programs, I ask you to continue to support and and encourage not only the students, but the teachers and the staff that work hard every day towards their success. They say it takes a village. When we had open house this year, our student had eight people that came with him, eight family members. So, he has his own village
024that comes with him. Miss Contock time. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you so much. Jennifer Thomas [Music] Hello everyone. My name is Jennifer Thomas. I was here at a meeting uh if it wasn't the last one, it was the one before that in reference to my grandchild who was a student at um Sandy Grove Elementary. Uh my grandson has got he is an exceptional child. He's in the exceptional child program. Um he has had a very good experience this year for the most part. Um I had some concerns at the last meeting. I voiced them. I um spoke with uh some princip some staff at the school. I've spoken with my uh grandson's teacher and I have emailed correspondents to people um that work for the school system. My concerns have not been addressed. Um
025I'm very happy with the way my child is, my grandson who is my child because his mother is disabled and his father is dead. So, I am the person that comes to stand for him and I'm going to continue to do that. But my grandson needs more. He needs for people that are that are dealing with him to be accountable when they make a mistake. They need to acknowledge. That's the first part. I'm very happy that we have uh come to the school district, but I would just like to let it be known that until adults can be accountable when they make a mistake, they cannot expect a child to. And I want my grandson to continue to thrive at this school and I want him to continue to have the teachers that teach him
026including the general ed teachers and his exceptional child teacher. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. At this time we are down to the consent agenda. Can I get an approval for the consent agenda? On the consent agenda is the minutes for April 8th and April 30, 2025. Second board policy. Second read. Madam chair. Yes. Move to approve the consent agenda. Second. It's been approved and second. Um the consent agenda for April 8th, April 30, 2025 in the school board. Second read. All in favor say I. I. Any opposers? Thank you so much. At this time we'll move down to information. And the first information is the 2324 audit. [Applause] [Music] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, Dr. Spels, all you are doing well. Uh, we've completed the audit of the board's
027June 30th uh, 2024 financial statements. And, uh, each of you should have a hard copy of the report there in front of you. And, uh, the report's kind of lengthy. So, what I'll be planning to do this evening is go over just a few pages from the report uh that I think are of the most importance to you all in overseeing the finances of the school district. Um the financial statements cover two main areas that we're required to audit and issue reports on. Uh the financial section covers the first 59 pages of the report and is followed by the compliance section that starts on page 60. And for the compliance section or for the financial section rather u on pages one through three uh you have our financial statement opinion letter and just want to
028quickly point out that that is a clean unqualified opinion uh on pages one through three and this simply means that we feel as though all of the amounts and disclosures in the report are reliable and that the financial statements are free from any sort of material misstatements or errors. Okay, if you would, let's turn to page 13 and we'll look at the general fund fund balance as of June 30th, [Applause] 2024. And page 13 shows a balance sheet of the governmental funds as of June 30th, 2024. And we'll be focusing on the first column, which is the general fund. And if you look up at the top of that first column, uh you can see cash and cash equivalents in the general fund were 3,ion295675 and that made up the majority of the total assets
029which were 3,30713 and there in the middle uh the fund had liabilities of 2,13349. And if you take the assets minus the liabilities, you get the general funds fund balance at June 30th, which is the next to last number in that first column of a million 174 364. And this amount represents an increase of approximately 21,000 over the fund balance that was reported at June 30th uh 2023. And in the previous year, the year ended June 30th, 2023, uh fund balance uh decreased that year by about $143,000. Now, the um fund balance at June 30th, that million1 174 364, we do consider that unassigned fund balance to be at an adequate level for the district. Um, you know, it's still a little low compared to to most districts we audit that are about this size,
030but you know, y'all are one of the lowest funded districts in the state, and I think we've always talked about that in the past. U, but, you know, we would recommend that uh that you all try to maintain uh your fund balance at this level. I would, you know, try to keep it from going any lower if you can. Jesus. Um, you know, it's good to maintain fund balance reserves uh for, you know, you need it for cash flow purposes for one thing, to be able to pay your your bills that come in. And, uh, then you also need to maintain uh, fund balance for unforeseen emergencies that may come up, floods, hurricanes, uh, pension spiking liabilities, just things of that nature that you don't anticipate happening, uh, that you might need to, uh, come
031up with with money for. So, we do recommend if possible, try to not let your fund balance go below the level that it's at right now. Did anyone have any questions on this page before we move on? Okay. All right. Let's go to page 58 and we'll look at the child nutrition fund. [Applause] [Music] And page 58 shows the revenues and the expenditures of the child nutrition program for the year ended June 30th, 2024. And if you look about threequarters of the way down, you've got a line uh that says net change in fund balance. It's the last line that actually has three columns to it. And there in the middle, you've got the actual results for the year. You can see the program reported uh a loss for the year of 247,264. Um, now
032in the previous year, the 2023 year, uh, the program reported a profit of about 518,000. So, it had a little bit of a change this past year, but most most districts we audit, they did have a change. They went from, you know, maybe having a profit down to a loss. I think the USDA reimbursement rates uh changed some last year uh due to COVID expiring and uh so a lot of districts did have a a change downward in their profitability of the child nutrition program. Um, now the program did pay 170,000 of indirect costs last year and uh those funds go directly from the uh child nutrition bank account into your local bank account and uh it goes to cover overhead costs um incurred by the district and operating the various child nutrition sites within
033the schools. And uh even with the reported loss this past year, the program still has very good cash balance reserves at year end uh of over 5.9 million at June 30th, 2024. So the program is actually in very good financial condition as of June 30th, 2024. Anyone have any questions before we move on? Okay. All right. And starting on page 60, as I mentioned earlier, is the um start of the compliance section. And uh page 60 is the first of three letters that we issue that relate to the compliance portion of the audit. And we're required each year to perform compliance audits on the state and federal grants that are received by the district. And we're also required to do uh testing of the district's internal controls uh over the u uh the finances of
034the district. And as part of the audit, we test a significant amount of payroll and general dispersement transactions as well as other various uh uh grant specific requirements. And we're happy to report that there were no uh findings or question costs reported uh that relate to the state or federal funding that the district received last year. So there's no items in the report that would require you guys to pay money back to the state or or to to the federal government. Um now we did however report uh four internal control related findings um that we'll go over and those items start on page 67 and go through page 70. So if everyone would let's turn over to page 67 and we'll look at those for a moment. Okay. And down at the bottom you can
035see there's finding 24-01 and it refers to uh account reconciliations. And this finding discusses that we noted various general ledger accounts that were not properly uh reconciled in a timely manner during the year. And as part of the audit uh various journal entries had to be made in order to adjust the general ledger uh to the proper year end balances. and a uh listing of the significant audit adjustments made is included in a separate letter uh that we'll be going over shortly. Y'all had a couple of letters in the front of your booklet and we'll talk about those after we go over these findings. And uh and the most significant uh reconciliation issue noted related to the Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance liability account. Um, not reconciling this account in a timely manner during the
036year resulted in a failure to request uh, state and federal grant funds for August of 2023 uh, employer health insurance premiums uh, that were paid to Blue Cross Blue Shield. And uh, these premiums were uh, in excess of about 400,000 and had to be paid from local funds uh, due to the funds not being requested uh, from DPI within the time frame allowed. Um at the top of page 67 is our recommendation uh regarding this finding and uh it states that we recommend that management uh implement controls and procedures to ensure that all GL accounts are reconciled in a timely manner each month. And I know you've had a lot of turnover, you know, in finance staff. U and you know, a problem that we see statewide is that when when when you get new
037folks in finance and and especially school system finance, you know, it's it's it's very complicated. I mean, a lot of people don't realize that and you're you're you're not you're not granted any any kind of uh leniency by the state if you forget to do anything. There there's a very hard cut off on June 30th. So if you forget to do anything, they're not going to let you go back and and fix uh a mistake after the fact. So, you know, we uh we always recommend that when you have have new new folks in finance, that you you know, you always try to have somebody uh helping uh the finance officer, the finance team, especially at year end to make sure that nothing gets missed because there's just so much that can go wrong. And
038uh you know we we do recommend that for this this year end that y'all are about to to embark on is uh you know have somebody kind of looking over everything because you know one mistake can like it can cost $400,000. I mean, it can happen so easily and we've seen this happen at other districts and you know, again, we do recommend that you, you know, you have someone that that's experienced that's that's checking the general ledger accounts, making sure everything's properly reconciled so that y'all don't have any kind of issues uh with year and close out. Anyone have any questions about that [Music] finding? Okay, the next finding is uh is on page 68 uh finding 2402 and it's um titled violations of the school budget fiscal control act relating to purchase v purchasing
039violations and um we noted several instances in our audit of expenditures that were made during the year for which a purchase order uh was either not completed or the purchase order uh was not completed until after the goods or services were received. Um and the PO provides documentation that the pre- audit function has been performed by the finance officer in accordance with the school budget fiscal control act. And the purpose of the finance officer performing the pre- audit function is to verify that sufficient unencumbered funds are available in the budget uh to pay for an expenditure before requesting uh the goods or services. So not properly performing the pre- audit function is what can directly lead to the district incurring budget violations uh like what we're going to talk about and finding 2403 in just
040a moment. Um so these purchasing guidelines set forth by the state are in place uh within the state law to help prevent districts from spending funds that haven't been approved by the by the board in advance. So that you you you you approve the budgets and when the finance officer sees that purchase order, they check the budget, make sure funds are, you know, unencumbered and then they approve the purchase order. But if a purchase order isn't first submitted to the finance department and and directors or whoever's got purchasing authority just goes out and initiates a purchase without first, you know, submitting a purchase order, you know, there there cannot be funds in the budget to cover that purchase. So the district could be obligating itself and not have the funds available to cover that expenditure.
041So that's why, you know, following uh the purchase order process is so important. So you know, we we do recommend that that get looked at and discussed with everyone uh within the district that has purchasing authority and just ensure everybody's on board with uh submitting purchase orders to finance so that they can uh properly uh review to make sure that funds are available for that purchase before the district is obligated. Does anyone have any questions on that item? Okay. The next item is on page 69 at the top. Uh finding 2403. And as I mentioned, this one relates to uh to budget violations that were noted in the audit. And the specific dollar amount of the violations by fund and function are uh they're listed back on page 32. And the findings relate to budgets
042of the other special revenue fund, the school food service fund, and the child care fund. And the total of these budget violations is about 432,000 uh between the three funds. Um and as noted on page 69, this is a repeat finding from the previous year's audit. So I think as part of the June 30th, 2023 audit, I think there were about eight budget violations that were noted in that audit. Um so as mentioned earlier you know the the budget process needs to be uh you know monitored on an ongoing basis throughout the year so that the budget can be adjusted uh to account for any um you know anticipated uh uh spending changes you know between functions purpose codes uh you know as the as the board has uh approved the budget resolution. Has anyone
043got any questions about about this item? Okay. And then the last finding there on the bottom, page 69, relates to the timeliness of the audit. Um, and this finding discusses that the audit was not submitted to the North Carolina Local Government Commission uh by the required November 30th, 2024 due date. And this was due to staff turnover uh that we talked about earlier that resulted in management not having the general ledger uh properly adjusted and reconciled in a timely manner. And we again we talked about that in in finding 2401 a few moments ago. And at the top of page 70 is our recommendation regarding this item. Uh and it discusses that the board will need to ensure that adequate staffing and resources are dedicated uh to financial reporting and the yearending closeout process uh
044to make sure that general ledgers properly adjust in a timely manner uh to allow for the audit to be completed uh by the required u date. Okay. Anyone have any questions on that item? as a as I mentioned earlier, there were a couple of letters in the front of the booklet that you had. Um, and both letters are on our letterhead. The one that we're going to talk about first is the u the two-page letter. And the first item in bold on that page, it says individual schools. Y'all see that one? Okay. This letter um has uh recommendations for improvements and controls pertaining to uh several other finance related areas including our audits of the individual schools during the year. And we provided a detailed u listing of the individual school comments um to Miss
045Holmes. And u the items in this letter, they're not considered to be as significant as the the findings that we just talked about. So, I didn't plan to go into detail uh on these items with you, but they do want the attention uh of management and uh should be addressed as soon as possible and and we have already gone over all these items with management and discussed them. And it is our understanding that uh that management's working on plans to address these items so that they're not going to be an issue uh for the current year-end audit. But did anyone have any questions on any of the items in that in that letter? Okay. And then the other letter that uh that you had there in the front of your booklet is what we call
046a require communications letter. And uh it discusses that there were no difficulties or disagreements encountered in dealing with management during the audit. Um there were no uncorrected misstatements noted during the audit and that there were no significant reportable issues noted other than the findings uh that we just talked about. Um, and the letter also makes a reference to the significant journal entries that were proposed as part of the audit. And a listing of those entries is attached uh at the back of this letter. And that was pretty much all I planned to go over uh you know with the board. Was there anything that uh that I didn't cover that you wanted me to uh to talk about? Anybody questions? [Music] Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. All right. At this time,
047we have school school fe Good evening to our board chair, board vice chair, and members of the board and our superintendent. Thank you for the opportunity to present the proposed Ho County school fee schedule for the 2526 school year. As outlined in board policy 4600, we continue our commitment to holding student fees to a minimum. No fees are charged for required courses or activities. The fees presented tonight are primarily tied to elective courses, extracurricular activities, clubs, athletics, uh where supplies, uniforms, or competition related costs are incurred. Data club. The fee schedule is organized by school level. There's an elementary page, middle, and high, which includes a separate section for the high school athletics. Each school's list reflects the actual or anticipated costs associated with optional participation in clubs, organizations, and events such as Beta Club,
048robotics, yearbook, and various honor societies. In some cases, fees also help cover materials for field trip, competitions, or performance related expenses such as those associated with band, cheer, or drama productions. It's important to note that while these fees are listed and posted publicly as required, there is a shared understanding across all of our schools that no student will be penalized, excluded, or denied participation due to financial hardship. In accordance with the board policy, any family experiencing economic difficulty may request a fee waiver or reduction and principles will be able to communicate that option clearly to all families. This ensures that there's fairness um that it remains central to our practices and that all students have access to enriching student excuse me enriching school experiences. Um so we have added some e uh some explanation uh
049where applicable for instance where fees vary by school site or may be subject to change based on vendor pricing or national organization rates. We've also provided clarity for items designated with asterisks um such as clubs that may not be offered at every school or fees that are subject to some type of external pricing. The proposed fee schedule has been submitted um by each principal group met together and they reviewed that and for consistency and transparency and upon your approval the final schedule will be posted by each school and communicated to families ahead of the new school year. We already at 450. Anybody have any questions about school fees? If not, thank you, Dr. Ram. At this time, we will have child nutrition bidding information. [Music] Good evening, Madam Chair and board members and Dr. Spills.
050Tonight, I'll be presenting an overview of the child nutrition bid process for Hope County Schools. This includes our participation in North Carolina Procurement Alliance or NCPa and this process supports the efficiency, compliance, and quality of our child nutrition program. The North Carolina Procurement Alliance or NCPa is a voluntary group purchasing organization formed in 2008 by child nutrition services section of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The alliance was created to help school districts streamline the procurement of food and nutrition related supplies by leveraging statewide purchasing power. Miss Carpenter, Miss Massie at NCDPI today and tomorrow participating in the NCPA bid opening process. If I'm not mistaken, that opened today. But next month, Miss Carpenter will come before you to present the names of companies and the recommended awards for your consideration. And that code
051it for the child nutrition. Thank you, Dr. H. At this time, we will have open gate weapons detection detection system. [Music] Good evening again. So this presentation will be about the open gate weapons detection system. Similar information was presented at the March 2025 board meeting. Therefore, I'll keep this presentation very brief. Next slide, please. Open Gate, as we discussed before, is a walkthrough weapons detection system that utilizes advanced um sensors and artificial intelligence to distinguish weapons from personal items. Next slide, please. This system consists of two freestanding pillars that function as an open active detection system. The system is designed for faster screening processes versus traditional metal detectors. And the system is capable of detecting a a variety of weapons including collapsible firearms, handgun, and smaller weapons such as knives. Next slide, please. The system
052features a mobile application available on Android and iOS or Apple devices. This app allows administrators to set the detection level and signaling parameters, enabling customization based on security needs. Other words, you can set it to search for or detect for the type of items that you want it to be as small or as large. Next slide, please. So during the month of March, the request was made to approve the funds to purchase three systems that will be located on the campus of Hope County High School. This request tonight is to approve the funds to purchase seven additional systems and those systems would be located one at each middle school, one at Turlington Alternative School, and three additional systems at Hope County High School. Additional systems at Hope County High School will be placed there due
053to the school's population, the open campus, and the campus size itself. The funds will be used from the 2024 2025 school safety grant funds. And these items were included in the grant narrative that was submitted at the beginning of the school year. And these seven systems will cost $145,46412. [Music] Thank you, Dr. Hunt. Yes, ma'am. How How long do we have to spend those grant funds? We received the award in March. In April, we were notified that it had to be spent by June. June 30th. [Music] Yes. Are we going to do the along with that? No, ma'am. That doesn't come with the wands. It's just the system itself, but it does come with the batteries and the base plates for car. So we can check for vapes. Yes, ma'am. So one thing that we
054do have to take into consideration when we're doing that, um the smaller the item that we're searching for, the more items it will pick up when students or faculty and staff or spectators walk through there. So it could take longer whenever we're doing that part. So we're not going to check. No, we could. It just depends on what administration wants to look for on that particular day. Any more questions? Yes. So, do we have to vote on this? It's up on the information items. So, my question was um if we voted on it tonight, it should have been up on the action items cuz he did bring some information to us and allow us to ask questions before today. So, I'm not sure as to why. Are you asking us to No, it was for
055information tonight unless you feel want to vote on it. So we still will have time in June to put it up on action night. Yes, ma'am. I just heard in your uh presentation tonight was asking. So I think that's where we can pick that up from. But thank you. Any more questions? Okay, madam chair. So just to make sure. So we are going to be able to meet the deadline. We don't we don't meet again till June, right? uh that that will still give us time to place the order and have those funds secured for that. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Hunt. So, at this time, we are actually at the part for the construction project environmental graphics. Is that me then? Before you start, can you is Dr. Graph he's out the country? Is he
056is in he's out of the country for his daughter's wedding. Okay. So, can you relate to him that the board members would like for him to definitely be here in person and Yes, ma'am. Cuz I think this the third um time that he has not been here. in the contract they kind of say he gonna be showing up more often than none. So we we as board members expect for him to be here in June. I will thank you environmental graphics for the building project. So good evening again. Tonight this will be an overview of the proposed environmental graphics for the new building that is being constructed for Hope County High School. The design work developed in partnership with SFLA architects and loaded for bear aims to unify the school's visual identity and create an
057engaging student centered environment that reflects the spirit and pride of P County High School. And you can leave on this slide. It was important that the visuals consistently reflect the values and the culture of the school reinforcing a sense of pride, tradition, and community. Next slide, please. [Music] And the typography is a core element of the graphic identity. The selected fonts are bold, clear, and easily legible. Ideal for signage, wayfinding, and motivational messaging throughout the school. This typography style supports both function and school spirit. Next slide, please. On slides five and six, the companies are incorporating the Newton logo that was approved in March of 2025. While the logo may be new, we are ensuring that we adhere to the tradition of Hope County High School by emphasizing the mascot, the fighting book, and continuing
058to incorporating the word fighting. Next slide, please. On the next slide, you will view uh the proposed concepts for the monument signage at the front of the campus. [Music] Madam Chair, yes. Um Dr. Han, so we had an issue before with the logo. This is 100% ours. Yes, sir. We're not going to come back 10 years from now with something. So that that one was designed by Log. Um so the monument sign will establish a bold and welcoming welcoming presence for visitors and the community. This slide provides a 3D view of the sign that will be on display. Next slide, please. So, this is just an image of how the sign would look from the front with Hope County being larger than the high school on the end, but high school is highlighted in a
059different color to make it stand out to know that it is a representation of a high school with a district high school. Next slide, please. This one's kind of hard to see because it's coming from an angle, but over on the left hand side, you can see the word um Hope County where you can see the sign there, but I think the next slide shows it a little bit better. So, looking on the left side, you can see it. Um, and it's placed at the front of the entrance of the school. Uh, this way it is visible for faculty and staff, students, visitors as soon as they drive on campus. And it's designed to be both functional and inspirational, clearly marking the entrance of the school. Next slide, please. Effective way finding is essential in
060large and modern school facilities such as this one. These examples show how hallway and directional signage will be a guide for student, staff, and guests clearly throughout the campus. And the design is easy to follow. is ADA compliant and align with the school's color and branding system. Next slide, please. The next several slides will show how environmental graphics will be used to elevate the dining experience and reinforcing school spirit. Okay, that's even though these two patterns shown or even though there are two patterns shown, only one pattern will be incorporated into the gym or the dining areas. So on the left side is a diagonal design. It's incorporating sharp angles and lines. It's a bold design. On the right hand side or on the right hand side is camouflage hoof prints and this pays homage
061to the military families in the community. Next slide please. This picture provides an oversight of the two patterns where the banners or or vinyl covers in the cafeteria or the dining area will be on display. Personally, I recommend incorporating the letters HCHS for Hope County High School over on the smaller banner because it will fit there and the word books on the right hand banner. And on slide 17 and slide 18, that's just a closeup um of the smaller signs that you just saw. Next slide, please. Slides 19 through 22 will provide images of graphics of the gym area. In the gym, you'll see bold applications of the uploaded mascot with the updated mascot logo. is displayed in the center court. Next slide. Standing in the center court view, facing the wall as you would
062enter into the gym. This wall will display the words Hope County High. All spectators will know that they are in the home of the books as they enter through the doors. Home of the fighting books will be displayed on the wall above the stage. The graphics in the gym are designed to be to energize athletic events and school assemblies while fostering a strong sense of pride and belonging. The gym will be a place where both students and community members will feel the culture of Hope County High School come to life. The learning common graphics are focused on academic achievement, collaboration, and inspiration. The goal is to create a space that supports learning and exploration while continuing to reflect the school's identity. These three slides provide designs that are to be motivational messaging and calming academic
063focus imagery to support productive atmosphere. The red book image is flat. Think of it as a vinyl sticker or a painted image on the wall. The wood or gold book is three-dimensional. Come on. Providing depth to the image. While it is a blue or golden color in the image, we do have the ability to change the color to either by black, white or red to make it stand out and align with the school colors. And um last year whenever we presented this information, there was a third option and it was several or it was a it was a collection of books that had a book head painted or drew on it. I didn't include that tonight because after further research of that particular product, we found out that that would be it would cost more
064in order to do that because they would have to change some structure to the wall. Um so therefore we presented these two options as to go to slide 27. But on slide 27, um, thank you. These environmental graphics represent more than just a decoration. They're about the student and the school identity, the culture, and reinforcing pride in Cook County High School. Thank you for that. Thank you. At this time, we have EC contracts. There was a requested one of our locals, correct? Yes. While So, I'll go ahead and elaborate on that one. Um, Mr. Bruce, who was the or is the owner of Highway 55 restaurant. Um, you know, it had a fire about a year or two ago and since then has not reopened, but he is reopening the restaurant under a new title.
065I think it's called book. Um, and he has made a request to be able to use the logo that we approved and are now using for Hope County High School. So, I wanted to share that information with the board members. Okay. if you can just uh cuz I think we received that in email. You'll be all I received that in an email. If you could just uh kind of like put this on information next month, then would that be too late for what he's trying to do? I don't think so, but um I can do that and ask him to Yeah, because it's not on the agenda, so I ain't really want to Yeah. throw it out there. Thank you so much. EC contracts [Music] Good evening, board chair, vice chair, and all of the
066board members and all of the guests. Tonight I'm presenting to you the EC um contracts for renewal for the 2526 school year. You've been given six contracts. The first one is emerges. Then you have the developmental delay speech therapy of the sand hills. We have a bilingual contract, envision contract, and speech in progress. Anybody have any questions? [Music] And what you have with the the insert that I just gave you, that goes with the emergency contract that you already have. And it just shows you what's in green is the services that's expected to be used for the 2526 school year. And what's in blue are the services that are will be available if needed. So it's emergency. No. That one's [Applause] not It's not okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're down now to the
067vacancy report. Madame Chair, board members, superintendent Dr. Spels. Yes. Good evening. I come to you this evening to present our vacancy report for the 2526 school year. Uh we're no longer under freeze. We are hiring again. All right. Yes, I am excited. Last year, a year ago, um I came here uh my first board meeting and so tonight I do have that comparison from last May 2024 to 2025. Uh you can see on our first vacancy report for 2025 going into the 2526 school year, we have a total vacancies of 63. Of those, 59 for certified and four classified. Last year for 2024, our certified positions in May was 88 and our classified was 49 had a total of 137. So again, I would like to thank everyone for their support and ensuring that we
068get our school and our district staff with qualified [Applause] individuals. Thank you, Dr. Fort Perry. You're doing an awesome job. Uh at this time we will have our what today financial report. Good evening everyone madam chair vice chair superintendent Smith I'm before you to present the um monthto date. If you look at your um report before you, our state funds, the total budget is [Music] 78,388,189.16. Once we um consider our budget adjustments, year-to- date activity, and incumbrances, the unencumbered balance is 15,599,36623. Our next page are our uh local funds fund two and I forgot to mention um it's again by purpose um as it normally is instructional services systemwide support non-program support and selerine services. Back to fund two, our total budget is 7,275,000. Once we consider our budget judgement, budget adjustments and year-to- date
069activity and outside encumbrance is the unencumbered balance 376,343.65. Our next fund is federal. The total budget 11,867,041.3. Once we consider our budget adjustments, year-to- date activity and outstanding encumbrances, an unumbered balance is 2,560,874.77. Next is our capital outlay fund. Total budget 70,379,221.72 once we consider our budget adjustments year-to- date and incumbrances 44,689,529.15. Next page is our child nutrition total budget $7,300,000 budget adjustments year-to- date and um outstanding accompanes once we consider those the balance is $261,22040. Next is our child care fund 6 total budget $175,000. Once we consider the activities encumbrances $39,83854 finally is our restricted funds local total budget 7,177,6489. Once we consider our budget adjustments, we have a an unencumbered balance of 2,476,9282. Final page, our total budget 182,00 182,562,56.80. Once we consider all of our adjustments, our unencumbered balance is 66,4756. Any
070questions? I have a question with with the um federal funds with the federal funds and and um the nutritional funds um that is year to date. So yes, we don't we we need to go ahead and spend that money. Yeah. For the federal for well spend it as we have been. Yes, ma'am. As far as we know, we're operating um is that what you're asking? Yeah. Yeah. As far as we've been told, you know, we're continue to operate um as usual, but of course, we're being careful in our expenditures. Right. Will money go back if we don't for federal for federal? No, we should not be well, we should not be in danger of anything like that. It carried most of that carried over. Okay. And we're still working on um with federal programs on
071those budgets as well. Okay. But yes, most federal funds carry over. Madam Chair, can we go back to page seven? Yes. [Music] Oh, I Yes. I forgot to tell you about you said seven. Oh, those are budget adjustments. That's the total of adjustments that we've had thus far for the rest for the other restricted funds. We did that amendment on um we did one on last month as well as where we were um shoring up our revenue from projections to better match what we actually collected thus far. So just starting the negative no that's where we're moving funds or moving funds or reducing revenue based on what we see actually instead of what we're collecting. So you're moving them from this from which one? The 5,000 instructional services which is reduced the revenues we were
072based on last year's so and we were projecting and we were showing up the revenues to match what we actually collected. We're not we don't have ES anymore. So we're not collecting as much um indirect cost off of purchases. So, we adjusted the budget to uh we didn't see anything like that back. We just adjusted the budget to um shore up the revenue to from projection to more realistic actuals. 5,000. What is that? That's instructional services. answer your question. [Music] Okay. Anyone else have questions? Okay. Thank you, Miss. Next, we have the action items. We have Reading Horizon, um, driver's education, CTE computer lab purchase. We have canvas and then um we actually had a 2526 local budget request and the 26 budget along with the restricted fund amendment number two local school nutrition capital
073outlay federal fund amendment number three. So those are all the action items for tonight. Did all the board members get an opportunity to look at everything that's under the action items? If so, I'm going to ask a board member for a motion to approve action items. Madam Chair, yes. Um, I know we got brief last month regarding the uh the driver's education. Uh I want to come back around that one question to make sure we have the f flexibility for the high school to be able to control um who is going to be able to attend first not just first come first basis because that's I think that's as we talked before that seniors should take number one priority and so on and so on and so I just want to make sure we we
074get a u that the high school's able to control that and not the uh the company itself. Okay. I think was that the question you had last month? So I think Dr. Hunt get back with him to answer that question. Well, Miss Hang and I did talk after the board meeting um on that particular day about how we would roll that out beginning this summer if that company is the chosen company to move forward with. And Mr. need to contact their driving school has also verified that is what we can do is to implement how we want to allow students to thank Miss Blue um because these are individual action items and not on the consent and agenda we will have to approve them individually as we go down the line that's fine so the
075first one is reading horizon and I get a motion to approve reading horizon Horizon. Second. Okay. The motion has been made to approve reading horizons. Then second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Okay. The driver education. Madam chair, I move to approve the drugs education. Second. Okay. It's been moved and second to approve driver education. Can I get um All in favor say I. I any opposers? CTE computer lab purchase. Madam chair, I move to approve the CTE update computer labs purchase. Second. Okay, it's been moved and second to approve CTE computer lab purchase. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Canvas LMS chair motion that we approve cannabis LMS. Second. Okay. It's been moved and second to approve canvas LMS. All in favor say I. Any opposers the 2526 local budget request? Madam
076chair. Yes. I would like for us to let the public know what our itemized budget request is before we approve it. [Music] I don't see that it's available online. [Music] Okay. Do we have it available somewhere else or the public? Yes. But if the public wanted to review it as it is a public item I thought they put it up before I mean after we approved it. Is that correct? Yes. Miss Richard said yes. We can we can post it after it's approved. If um you guys don't then the commission is going through it. [Music] And we had a budget meeting. We had a special called budget meeting April 30th. Was that available then? We had it already. Okay. So, yes. M madam chair I mean we have this on hard copy. Is there a
077reason why we can't do a quick upload on the system? Do we not have access to digital copy? Madam chair we can post if that's what you all want but it has to be approved before it has to be online. So I need somebody to make a motion to approve it and afterwards then they will upload it to the public. Madam Chair, yes. I think the concern is to make sure that the public sees what we are approving. And so my question stands again, is there a reason why we could not upload this uh digitally so the public can see what we're looking at? Obviously, it if we upload it and they see it and then it don't get approved, then what? Then we got to go back and redo it. got to be approved.
078So, it need to be approved first. I understand what they saying that part has to be approved first. If we put it out there and then what what are we saying to the public? We going to have to go back and change it. you going to be going back to and then we as madam chair if I may add what's in the budget right now local budget is what we're asking for what we're hoping to get right so we go meet with commissioners and they say well this is what you're asking for but this is not what we're going to give you this is what we're going to give you so if you would like to once it's approved by both parties if you would like to say what this we asked for it and
079what they actually gave us. We can do that. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the 2526 local? Madam Chair, yes. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the 2025 2026. Excuse me. Can I get a second? Second. Okay, it's been u the motion has been made to approve the 2526 local budget request. Um it's been second. All in favor say I. Any opposers? I oppose. Thank you. The eyes have it. Uh next we will have school nutrition. Can I get a motion to approve the school nutrition? Madam chair. Yes. Move to approve school nutrition. [Music] That's it. Nutrition. Second. Okay, it's been approved and um the motion has been made and been second for school nutrition. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Thank you. Next, we have capital outlay.
080Can I get a motion to approve the capital outlay? Madam Chair, I would like to um approve make a motion to approve the capital outlay. Okay. Second. Okay. It's been u the motion has been made to approve the capital outlay. It's been second. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Thank you. Last uh is the federal fund amendment number three. Madam chair funds amendment. Second. Okay. The motion has been made to approve the federal fund amendment number three has been second. All in favor sign. Any opposers? Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Did we forget B restricted fund 8 amendment? Okay. I was kind of thinking it would go with the 2526 local budget. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. You're welcome. At this time, can I get a motion to go into close session? Can I
081get a second? Oh, yes. Please state that you're entering close session. Madam chair, I move to uh go into a close session. Uh that that we go into a close session under North Carolina General Statute 143 31811. uh to uh prevent the disclosure of confidential personnel and students matters to consider matters relating to initial employment of individual employees and to consult with the board of attorney to preserve the attorney client privilege. Okay. Okay. Motion has been made.