001Good evening everyone. Good evening. The time now is 6:00 p.m. and the Hope County Board of Education calls the meeting to order on Tuesday, April 8th, 2025. I want to thank everyone for being here with us on today. And at this time, I'm going to ask board member Angela Son if she would give us our invocation. [Music] Father, I thank you on this day. Lord, I thank you for bringing us together one more time in the formal of the education program, but the education of our children. Lord, I'm asking you that we continue to keep our children first. God, I'm asking you that you would continue to watch over us, watch over this board meeting, watch over our community as we come together. Again, God, we just want to thank you in your son Jesus
002name. Amen. Thank you so much. Uh can I get a motion to approve the agenda for today? Second. The motion has been made and second to approve the Hope County Board of Education meeting on April 8th, 2025. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. Um, next is the chair's report. Once again, I do want to thank everyone for coming out to be with us on today. I want to thank um the Hope County um schools and staff for working through such a trying time. It's like it's getting now to the end of the year and I know there's a lot to be done, but I want to thank you for everything you do for the students, the parents, and the community in Hope County. I just want to thank you for
003how you embrace the kids every day and show your love and concerning dedication to this community. And um if you would join me in having a moment of silence for the family of the baby that um transitioned from Sandy Grove Middle School. Thank you. Uh we're going to ask that you keep his family, friends, and teachers uh lifted up in prayer. Um I do want to recognize one of our board members last the last meeting she had got her doctorate and that's Dr. Rosa Mallister McCrae. We want to congratulate her on her accomplishments and um that leaves the board with two uh two members that have a doctorate degree. That's uh Rosa and Southern. So, we're excited about that and we just want to uh continue to grow as board members, continue to do what
004uh we can to make a difference in this community. Also, Dr. uh Mloud and uh the executive director of federal programs and one of our former board members uh received an award on last Saturday for women of excellence. So, I want to thank those ladies for everything that they do in the community and for the students and staff in Hope County. We have so many different people that are uh embracing and doing a lot for Hope County. So, I want to end my report with thank you once again for your hard work staff. Uh I know you out there. We see you. We hear you. Although we get complaints, we know you're working hard to do the best that you can for these students. And we're going to have your your back. Once again, thank
005you. And now we'll move on to spotlight on success. And the first one is custodian team of the month. [Music] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Great to be a part. On tonight, we celebrate the uh school of the month is St. early college. I'mma tell y'all something. I went there three months ago. I kept going and going going. I said, "Dang, this place ain't looking right. It's about 8:30 something. We don't get here till 10, 11." So I said, "This time for anybody for any kids. I got about 7:10 about a couple students." But y'all, it look real good. I mean, the whole school was clean. So, will y'all come up and stand for St. Per [Applause] college, y'all doing a great job. I appreciate everything y'all do for county school, for the custodian
006staff. I appreciate y'all. I know y'all don't hear enough, but I really do. Y'all make my job a lot easier. Thank y'all again. [Applause] Thank you so much. Amen. That is good. I'm telling you, the custodians um they the first one that keep the school clean and know the kids can't learn in a nasty environment. So, we want to thank them. They got a hard job and it's they not at the bottom of the poll, they're at the top. So, it starts with them. Thank y'all so much. At this time, we go we have the North Carolina Governor's School Scholars. Good evening. I am here tonight to tell you about North Carolina Governor's School and the scholars we've chosen from Hope County Schools. The North Carolina Governor's School is the oldest statewide summer residential program
007for gifted and talented high school students in the nation. The program is administered by the state board of education and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction through the office of advanced learning and gifted education. It is a 4-week summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students where learning focuses on the exploration of the most recent ideas and concepts in each discipline. Students have to really have a passion about their chosen discipline and we've chosen well this evening. The Governor's School program occurs at two campuses. There is one at Meredith College in Raleigh that's called Governor's School East and there's another campus at Governor's School West and Greensboro College in Greensboro. Two of our Hope County School students have been accepted into the program and they are both juniors at San Hulk Early College
008High School. They are led by Miss Leslie Neil, the principal at San Hulk Early College High School, and she's there. And an interesting note, Miss Neil was also a Governor's School Scholar for her home state in New Jersey. Both of our scholars are here this evening, and I'd like that they come forward as I call their name. So, Haley Benson and David [Applause] Let me tell you about these two scholars. North Carolina Governor School Scholar Haley Benson. Haley was chosen to attend North Carolina Governor School at Greensboro College to study English. As an avid reader, Haley is thrilled to attend North Carolina Governor School to build upon her literacy strengths and explore the various aspects of the humanities. While she attends Greensboro College this summer, Haley will study advanced canonical literature and the literature of
009the canon. She will study advanced composition and script writing. When I asked Haley about her favorite quote or her favorite book, she said, "Let me give you a quote." So, here it is. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. Indeed, Haley will have the opportunity become to become quite a thinker as she studies the humanities, ethics, and philosophy philosophy all bound in the history of literature of our nation and the concepts of English. So, she's quite thrilled about about it. Haley is a junior at San Hoke and she's dy enrolled there because it is our early college high school. So she's taken college courses with San Hills Community College and Haley has a weighted GPA of 3.5 and she is consistently on the
010AB honor role in addition to her academic achievements. Yes, she is also an active member of Hulk High's cheerleading team where Haley represents the Bucks with poise and grace. Haley is considering colleges in North Carolina including Winston Salem State University, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina State University to pursue clinical psychology. She wants to support individuals and their mental health. Haley's parents are here this evening. I'd like to recognize them as well. If you'll please stand, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Benson. We know that you poured into Haley. Thank you so much for your support of your student. Let me tell you about our second scholar. We know that both will represent us very well. North Carolina Governor School Scholar Gabriel Kabazoo. Gabriel is also a junior at Sanh Hope Early College. He is dually enrolled at San
011Hills Community College and he will be attending Greensboro College to study mathematics. Currently, yes, currently he's excelling in all subjects. Gabe, as we call him, has a 4.4 GPA. He loves school. He is an active member of the North Car of the National Honor Society, the National Beta Club, MOU Alpha Theta, which is the mathematics honor society, and he's also a part of the AIG program. Gabe is ranked among the top 10 students in his class and he earned a 27 on the ACT and a 28 in mathematics. [Applause] Let me tell you a little bit more about Gabriella is a passionate student athlete. He serves as captain of the high school wrestling team and is a threetime state qualifier. All right. He also plays as the starting setter for the Hope County men's volleyball
012team. He has committed to significant time in volunteering. He has volunteered for Read Across America campus cleanups. He has helped manage and referee youth wrestling tournaments. And he enjoys serving his community. So, it's no wonder that Gabe when he was asked about attending college, he wants to apply to North Carolina State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, and he also wants to apply to the United States Air Force Academy. He plans to pursue aerospace engineering. All right. Dave's ultimate goal is to work for NASA. He wants to design and engineer innovative space technology that he believes will shape the future. Gabe is supported this evening by his mother and I'd like to recognize her at this time, Miss Nicole Torres. [Applause] Thank you for your support of your students. So, North Carolina Governor School
013is this summer in four weeks, June 22nd through July 19th. I'm sure you'll agree with me that they are excellent representatives for our district. We wanted to be here tonight to to present ourselves or for them to be presented and to thank our board members for your support of this program. Thank you to the board. Thank you to Dr. spells and to our community. [Applause] Awesome. Awesome. [Music] All right. So, at this time, we um are down now to the public comment and I'll turn this over to attorney Rice. Great. Um, we have three individuals signed up for public comment this evening. Um, I will call you in the order you signed up and you'll have three minutes to speak. Um, so Cassie Pala Harela Harela. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Some of
014you might remember me from the last time I was up here speaking about the Small Necessities Law here in North Carolina. It's North Carolina General Statute 95-28.3 and it states that employers are required to give their employees up to four hours of unpaid leave per year to be able to be active in their children's education. I'm still continuing to work to improve that law, but I also wanted to make sure that we give um stay-at-home parents a chance to be involved as well. As a previous PTO leader, one of the biggest reasons that parents told me they couldn't come in and volunteer was because they didn't have child care for their younger children that they couldn't bring with them. And hourly child care previously has not existed in Hope County. So, I started partnering with
015local childare providers to see if they'd be willing to offer hourly child care free of charge through my nonprofit to be able to help parents out. So, we created Volunteer Village Company and we currently have three childcare provider options. One is Little People's Child Care. It's a um inhome daycare center here in Hook County. A new hourly child care center that's opening up called 1910 Village. And Sand Hills Nanny Company, which is a referral service that actually uh matches families to the perfect nannying center. And that's geared more towards our families that don't have the option to bring their children to um a place to where it's hourly care. So, children with special needs or even our English as second language families. So, we have all these options available for our families now here in
016Hope County. I would really like to request that the school board really urged the principles here to start pushing this out to the parents, letting them know that it's a resource available to them, inviting them back into the schools. Recently, after starting all this, I had multiple parents reach out to me and say that there were many of them that didn't feel welcomed in the schools and many of them have been flat out denied to be able to come into the school and help out for whatever reason. That's not something that I feel like parents should be denied. If they're there to help, specifically if teachers are requesting help from parents, the principal shouldn't be denying that right. So, I wanted to bring awareness to that that that's something that is happening here and I'd
017be happy to speak to any of the board members about it more specifically at your convenience if that's something that you'd like to talk about. But in the meantime, I just want to make sure everybody's aware that Volunteer Village Company is here. We're um here to help parents. We're here to help teachers. We're here to help administrators and community organizations as well. And if anybody would like a brochure or a business card, I have them available for you. Thank you. Uh Crystal Robinson. Good evening everyone. My name is Crystal Robinson. I'm a parent. I'm a um current CPS investigator for Hope County and I'm also a former school social worker in Carmela County Schools. I'm here today on behalf of my six-year-old son who has been suspended twice. This year since 2025 has begun. Prior
018to this, I reached out to the school. I asked for a meeting with the teacher. The teacher told me that she had other obligations on her planning period and could not meet with me. After that, I asked to do a classroom observation. The school also denied me the ability to do a classroom observation. Also, the teacher told me that she could not meet with me during school hours, that it would have to be after school. My son since my attempts have been suspended twice. The second time being today. I reached out to the board of education on several occasions when my son was suspended. No one got back to me. I was told that the reason why the person did not respond was because they were told by the principal that the situation was being
019handled. Now I will be fair and I will say that there were was a meeting scheduled during the time that bad weather occurred and me and the school could not meet. I will also say that after speaking with the principal, the school social worker, the counselor and the assistant principal as well as the superintendent in that area school area. When they finally came to a conclusion to me, which was two weeks ago, I felt that the meeting would be un unbeneficial. So, I did not attend. At this point, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse and I have no help and nowhere to turn in regards to help for my son. I was told by the principal today that he did not care what I said. I was not going to speak negatively about
020his teacher. I'm here asking for help from the school. We've got to get ahead of these issues. The school sliding their feet and making it an emergency for the parent when they can't take anymore with the student is unacceptable, especially for parents who have other children in school. I have deleted the dojo app off my phone because it is no longer a sense of notification. It is a sense of anxiety for me. That's how much I am contacted about my son. And if I'm going to be contacted every day about my son, I might as well homeschool him. M Robinson time. Thank you. Jennifer Thomas. Good afternoon. My name is Jennifer Thomas. I am the grandmother of two children that attend school here at Sandy Grove in uh Hope County. this is their first year
021going to school here. Um, I'm very thankful that they are here and I've been most for the most part very pleased with what has been going on with my two grandchildren at this school. I have custody of those two grandchildren. Um, one of the children is named Justice. Justice is a um EC student at Sandy Grove. This is the very first year that he's been in the in in an EC program and I'm extremely thankful for that also. Um, and the the team that met with me to work on his IEP and his teachers, I love them all. Um, but I do have a complaint and I just want to say I'm not here to bash anyone else, but I would like to let you all know that my son, my grandson, was suspended from
022school a couple of weeks ago for the very first time this year. Um, it was a situation where I believe that there may have been an altercation on the playground. Um, I was contacted by the school social worker about what happened with my grandson and what was what I was told was that my grandson was suspended for heading back. That told me that my grandson was not the aggressor in the situation and that um he was defending himself. Um, and and and I my first question was, well, is the other child okay? Want to make sure nobody's hurt. Um, I I find out in speaking with my grandson that he had a very red mark across his cheek. Um, the principal did not notify me. The assistant principal did not notify me. And I called
023several times to speak to them. Um, I called three times total. Um, the suspension started on a Wednesday, it ended on a Friday. Um, I went in, No, it started he he got suspended. He was out Wednesday and Thursday and then he went back on Friday. I called Wednesday, didn't get a call back. I called Friday twice, got a call back, missed the call, and then I called back myself and the phone call was never returned and to this day has not been returned. Um, but I did speak with the principal and the assistant principal briefly last Friday and um, I'm just I'm very disappointed that administrators have not called me back about a suspension that is related to a child, particularly a child that's in the EC program. Uh, with that being said, I
024would like to let everyone know that my um, grandson's teacher, Miss Branch, I'm I'm very happy with her. I have never ever had a teacher that communicates, sends pictures, does everything she can to keep me informed about what is going on with him at that school. Um, and I I don't think she had anything to do with what was going on. I think he was in another class when his his issue arose with this other child, but I just wanted to to let you all know I'm here. I want to be involved and I'm very concerned about a child that's been suspended that has problems and is in a EC class 2 helping line. Thank you. Uh that's all the public comment. Okay. Thank you. At this time we down to the consent agenda um
025minutes for March 11th and 26, 2025 school board policy first read. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? Can I get a second? It's been moved and second to approve the consent agenda. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Okay. Thank you. At this time, we down to information and we'll begin with construction updates. Good afternoon board members, madam chair, vice chair. With the construction updates, Mr. John Barrett will be sharing those and he is virtual this evening. Um but he does have his presentation ready for you. So at this time we turn it over to Mr. Barrett. Thank you Dr. Hunt. Uh good evening everybody. Apologize uh under the weather. Didn't want to be there in person and spread anything. So I'm going to review the update as we do each
026and every month uh with everybody. Uh next slide please. The progress, as you've seen as you drive by the site very often and look out your windows, is progressing along rather well. Here you can see a view from the east of the building. Uh notable in this is that the roof planks are on around the entire classroom area. In the middle where it's raised up, that is the commons area. And you can see the metal roofing deck is down over about 90% of that at this time. Excuse me. Next slide, please. On the end by the gymnasium, that roof is not on yet. That is the last part to be completed for the structure as they are finishing all their bearing points around it to support the steel frame and the foreground. You can see
027the large canopy of the main entry into the building. Next slide, please. inside the building in the commons area where the wood beams are up for the roof support. And you can see the framing for the clear story windows and the classroom is uh about 90% along the way getting ready for the electrical and data to be run in them. Next slide please. Another view, a closer up so you can see where the hallway is, where the classrooms are on the left. And then another view on the right looking back down the main hallway, a pathy elevator, uh, future elevator. Next slide, please. This is the last area that received its roof deck. This is your science labs area. Uh you can see they got the spray apply fireproofing on the steel going in and
028they just started putting the utilities for the data cabling and plumbing in at that area hanging from the roof structure as that work continues to get ready for the metal stud framing. Next slide please. Up on the roof the mechanical equipment room that serves the gymnasium is having its walls uh brought up to bearing height. That'll be the last area to receive a roofing. And you can see in the bottom that last section of the gymnasium getting all the masonry up so they could be prepared to bring in those long span steel trusses. Next slide, please. One moment. The schedule, as you recall, we have two phases. We have one to complete the building and the second phase is the demolition of the buildings that are being vacated which allows for the construction of the
029tennis courts, the bus lots and additional parking. The building completion we're looking for substantial on February 27th of next year and the contractor to date has used 60 just over 62% of the construction days for the project and then for staff to occupy the building at the summer interval and then phase two will begin as soon as uh the buildings have been vacated. The project is tracking the schedule and maintaining the schedule to date. Next slide, please. As far as the budget, uh, currently the contractor is just over 42% paid on the contract, which is consistent with the progress of the work. Uh, you'll recall I just moment ago mentioned how the project has used 62% of the construction time. So, it's not uncommon to see the percent paid lagging behind on construction time. That
030is common. For contingencies, you'll recall there were three contingencies that the board approved in the contract. One was a contractor contingency. The other is a design contingency and the third is an owner contingency. The project has used 44% of the contractor contingency to date, 134% of the design contingency, and that's for various errors and emissions. and the project has gained money in the owner contingency. Uh your contingency am uh category has grown actually instead of decreased and that's by just over 28%. Putting the numbers all together to give you a a better understanding. The original contract contingency at the beginning of the project was just over $2.4 million. Right now, remaining contingencies are just over 1.7 million. To date, there are a couple of potential impacts that we are evaluating with the design team and
031the contractors. Uh could be as much as $982,000. Should that full amount uh be the final cost, that'll bring your remaining contingency amount down to just over $792,000. Still a healthy amount of contingency there. uh that uh to address any other unforeseen. We believe that a large majority of the large cost items of unforeseen that have been encountered in the project have been identified and addressed and we do not foresee any other large ones at this time until we get into the demolition of the existing buildings and to make sure there aren't any additional unknown asbestous containing materials or conditions out there. That is the update. The next uh slide is just the summary of your expenditures to date for the entire project. Um this format is consistent with each month where the categories remain
032unchanged. Uh however, I highlight the areas where expenditures have been made since a previous update. So for example, the general contractor has had a payment So their expenditures have gone up. Uh remaining you have still on their contract over 36 million and we just summarize the three contingency areas. The designer team uh has uh been paid for their services. So that amount has changed as well as material testing and special inspection. Uh we have in here a placeholder for commissioning of the project which is a code requirement of $250,000. Working with Dr. Hunt and staff, we have issued a request for qualifications that are due to Dr. Hunt uh on the 10th this Thursday by 4:00 after he receives them in collaboration with the design team and the construction team and uh Hope County School
033staff. We will review all the submissions and then with the top ranked one enter into a negotiations to determine uh their fee and cost with the goal being at your next board meeting we be able to bring the results of the RFQ along with a recommendation to the board to consider. So that is the update. I also want to extend to the board been talking with Dr. hunt about this. The building, as you can see from the photos, the stage of where it's at, is a great interval and opportunity to invite the board to uh uh come out and we can find a day and time that works with everybody to come and tour the uh building as it's under construction there. Uh no one's going to have to wear muck boots to get around.
034It's uh pretty clean on the inside. So, we will extend that invitation and allow uh Dr. Dr. Spells and everyone to coordinate an opportunity uh for you all to come out and see it firsthand. At this time, I'll stop talking and try to stop coughing and answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Anyone have any questions? Okay, no questions. Thank you. We we look forward to the visit. Thank you. Have a great evening. Next we have Travelers Education. Good evening, Madam Chair, vice chair, superintendent, and board members. Tonight, I will be sharing information that relates to the current driver education contract and the request for price for a new contract in the open school year. This information is being presented as information only tonight and next month, the information should go before the board
035as an action item. Next slide, please. The goal of the process was to follow the board of education policy 6450 which is the purchase of services and also to adhere to the state board policy DRI-00001 which states that um we should be awarding contracts for driver's education purposes by competitively awarding the contract via um a request for proposal or in other words a formal bid uh bidding process. Next slide, please. The current contract that we are in expires on June 30th, 2025. The current vendor within the contract provides services to all eligible students in Hope County. So, North Carolina students who are at least 14 and a half years old, enrolled in a public, private, charter, or home scheme can receive driver's education through the district as long as they do in the county. They
036also provide all equipment and supplies including vehicles, fuel and maintenance. All the staff members are certified for both classroom and behind the wheel instruction. And uh in the contract the company manages registration, monthly invoices and completes all state required reporting. Next slide please. The request for price timeline was March 18 through April 2nd, which was when the RFP was released and open for submissions. In other words, it was advertised. The due date was April 2nd by 3 p.m. On April the 3, we opened the contracts and reviewed them and evaluated them. On April 8th, which is today, we are presenting the information to you as information items. on May the 13th which is next month. That's the final recommendation to the board members and for an action item and then the new contract will be
037begin in July. Next slide please. So continuing um this is really the purpose of the contract. The title is not the timeline. it shouldn't be the purpose. But with that, uh, the contractor should be licensed by the North Carolina DMV, provide instruction aligned to the American Driver and Traffic Safety Association 3.0 or higher, and include six hours on DWI and 1 hour on motorcycle awareness, and provide classroom and behind the wheel instruction must meet the state requirements. Next slide, please. Within the RFP, we did put required information that the contractor was to adhere to and submit. And these requirements include they were to submit a detailed curriculum plan for at least 200 classroom and 200 driving students. The 200 number is a minimal requirement um because we have provided access to classroom instruction and behind
038the rule instruction to over 200 students. They're also to include a training program for special education or handicapped students, provide all equipment, maintenance, inspections, and insurance. And the instructor must hold a valid North Carolina driver's license, have acceptable driving records, and be certified in driver education by the state board of education. Next slide, please. The operational requirements that they were also to adhere to is to submit class schedules um or at least a temporary schedule outlined of what it could look like for the upcoming school year. Outline the student registration process. Ensure background and drug check drug checks for all staff per county school's policies. And instructors must al also supervise students at least 15 minutes before the class begins. and then supervise all students after the class ends until all students are kicked up
039from campuses. Next slide, please. Next slide. All right. So the responses, we did receive two companies that responded back to the RFP and the first one is the Major League Driving School and the second one was the North Carolina Driving School. A rubric was used to evaluate the RFPs that were received. And the rubrics did cover all the information from slides 5 through seven that was submitted with the RFPs. And we use three evaluators to evaluate um the information that was received. Next slide, please. The North Carolina Driving School is the recommended company based on the following information. They were the only vendor to meet all insurance requirements. They identified the ability to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. They currently contract with 40 other North Carolina school units or public school units or
040school districts. They have 36 years of experience and they uh they are also based off of their bid packages identified as the lowest responsible bidder. And once the evaluator scored the rubrics or use the rubrics to score the information that was received, they also had the highest average score by all three evaluators. And next slide, please. And that is it for the driver's education information. Thank you. Anybody have any questions? Madam Chair. Yes. If you can go back to page six. Is 200 students for a class? No sir. Uh they've been averaging somewhere around 30 students per class. Um this year the highest class that we've had has been 56 students, but that could have been two classes that were taking place at one time. Um but generally it's somewhere around 30 students for a
041face toface class and the school that is currently in the contract when they do the driving portion is usually two students in the car. [Music] The reason why I say this um madam chair is u on my own personal account u when uh my daughter was a student at hook high um I was just wondering if the system was ever corrected to um I brought this question if you remember back when uh interm register was uh the interimm and my question that I asked her Should we not have a merit to make sure that the people closest the students closest to graduating have the opportunity? The issue is I see it is that kids that are 14 and a half years old are eligible to this and the way the system was designed or is
042designed is that you have to register online and it's first come first um basis and so um my wife myself and my uh my student we were all trying to register the student we never did that's how fast the the slots So, so I was just wondering if it would be practical to make sure that the senior students or the ones that are closer to graduating, I believe that those students should take precedence over somebody that's 14 and a half years old. Uh, as it is the case in my situation, my child graduated from high school without having the ability to do this. Clearly there was other um factors such as CO and all this stuff but still I think that the system has more room for improvement to make sure that uh I believe
043that we should have some type of a a merit uh specifically also uh you know those students that are close to graduating should be afforded the opportunity to be able to have u um uh this training done. So to address that, Mr. Castalon, is that um over at Sanhook Early College, we kind of piloted, if you will, um we removed the first come, first serve registration process that Hope County High School is currently still using. Um and the way that we did that over at Sanho Curly College with this particular company is that we did it in the form of a Google form. So that's and we push it out through Canvas and um email as well as the parents so that students could sign up for it and then the principal as well as
044the data manager or guidance counselor reviewed that information and offered it to the students who were the oldest first to ensure that the type of scenario that you were describing didn't take place. So what about the high school? with Miss Pabroom, this being her first year here, she and I have had conversations about moving towards that. Okay. But I can say that previously once I was made aware of those situations, I had conversations with the contact person at that company to inform them of the students name and age and inquired about getting them into a class and that company was always willing to make those accommodations for students. Thank you. Wonderful. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Dr. Hunt. I think this is you next to board of education meeting. Yes, ma'am. Okay.
045Uh, so they were telling me that the slides aren't uploaded, but just to give you a rundown on, we don't need them. Everybody is aware or the board members are aware of the band situation. I had some thoughts after I walked away last month about financing options of the ban which we did not cover. So I wanted to make sure to share that information with the board members tonight as an information item. Also um and we'll make sure to get you this information through an email so that you can you can see the information that the dealership provided. Um we did reach out to all dealerships to ask about how to purchase the vehicle. In other words, what are the financing terms of purchasing a vehicle with each individual dealership? We only had one dealership
046to respond and that dealership was a Ford dealership. And um these are the options that they provide us provided us essentially is that um Ford offers multiple financing and public schools quality. So essentially what that means is they offer several terms. you can purchase the van and make payments across two, three or four years. Um, and those include monthly payments. They can be quarterly payments, semianual payments or annual payments. So, in other words, you pay for one time a year and one month sum or twice a year in two lump sums etc. It would be fixed rate financing and it does not require a down payment or security deposit. And then at the end of the term um you basically pay $1 and the title was handed over at the end of that information. Um
047but they did not provide any information about what the current cost is for purchasing. So finance charges if you will. Um but they said that um they could get us that information so that it could also be shared out with you in a time but that was it. Okay. You going to share that information with the board? Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. At this time we got breathing horizon. [Music] Good evening, board chair, board vice chair, superintendent spells, board members, and members of the executive cabinet. I'm here on behalf of Miss Hammond to provide anformational update on Reading Horizon, um, which is our foundational reading program that we currently use in grades K through three across our district. So, just a little bit about Reading Horizons, what it is. Um, it's a
048research-based uh reading program grounded in the science of reading. It provides explicit, sequential, direct, and multi-ensory instruction to support early literacy development for all of our students, including those who are receiving core instruction. We also use it for intervention, small group, and individualized support. So, some key points um with uh Reading Horizons is it really is just a phonics program for lack of a better word. It's really to help students decode. Uh it uses engaging age appropriate digital tools and materials for students. Um there are skill checks, there's lots of assessments along the way to make sure students are performing and there's also some professional learning and coaching uh for for teachers. So, a little bit about our journey. We've used Reading Horizons since 2019. We began it in 2019 and by 2022 it became
049fully implement implemented in all of our K3 classrooms across the district. So a little bit about just you know why this matters. It really is about building a strong foundation for our students in literacy. And so we have a number of assessments that we do um and those assessments are um inclass discovery usage uh reading horizons assessments that give us an indication of where students are. Um again those instructional practices from reading from um reading horizon are aligned with the science of reading. So, if you just look some of the um we have the measurements of success. We've got some graphs to show um where students are um and so there's the discovery usage. Again, just kind of looking at our data. So, we do get really rich data from reading horizons. Uh and I
050think there's one more for maybe end class discovery skill check. That's also part of the reading reading horizons and the progress monitoring making sure that our students are are are progressing. So it's a really great tool. they have uh actually reading horizons has come to us and um maybe two years ago uh used our teachers to really drive the work that they've done and the changes they've made and really we've seen some some um improvements to the better just making it more of a useful uh tool for teachers. The proposed renewal cost is 56,000 um dollars which supports um continued implementation across all eight elementary schools in the district. Since this amount of course exceeds the $30,000 threshold, we bring this we will bring this item again back to the board uh next month for
051um hopeful action. So really again, this just for information and we appreciate um your consideration as we share that information about reading horizons. Do anyone have any questions as it relates to reading? Okay. Next we have Canvas. So uh the other uh software that I am bringing or program that I'm bringing to you is Canvas. Um it really is we're using Canvas as our LMS which is our learning management system and um this is anticipation of a future renewal. So currently we do have a contract with uh Canvas and we actually do this through the state of North Carolina. They have secured the pricing for everyone in the state which is why we're able to get it for the cost that we do get it for. Um it is um developed by Instructure which is
052the parent company. It serves as our comprehensive digital platform to support teaching and learning both during the school day and beyond the school day. So, how do we use it? In our district, Canvas provides an extension of learning for students. It allows them to access their assignments 247, their course materials, any feedback from teachers, they can see that. Um, it is seamless communication between teachers, the students, and their families. And it is a consistent platform that we're using from grade three all the way through grade 12. Um and it we think about it in terms of family engagement. Uh parents can have visibility over the assignments all of the uh instruction um that's being given. Uh also uh and we are looking at and this year we did have Canvas Studio. Um we are looking
053at possibly including that again this year. It's an integrated solution. It's a video component. Um, it's a built-in video learning that allows teachers to record, share lessons, embed questions to promote engagement, um, and monitor student interaction within the content. So, our current subscription with Canvas ends on June 30. The anticipated renewal cost would be $45,848, which of course would require for approval because it exceeds the $30,000 threshold. Again, this is again for information when it comes to bringing it back next month for action. Madam Chair, can you can you go back from the beginning controlling the policies? Oh, one down the next page, right? You just passed. Yeah. I want to look at that page right there. The whole page. [Music] that page. I mean, what am I missing? [Music] Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Um,
054Dr. I'm sure. Can we go back to I found my notes on my reading horizon. Just for a second and um on page eight in parentheses for the reference data, compare these results against the wider population. Can you um kind of tell me what it tells the white [Music] population? Oh, I see. All right. I'm sorry. I was trying to see that. I don't have a glass on. I apologize. Uh so the reference data is looking at the this um data is looking at the entire Hope County schools. Um so it's simply saying that we are looking at how those students perform across the entire district right the entire this is the entire district now we can look at uh for a reference point but it's not on this slide we can look at how
055they perform against the state but right now for this slide it is simply hook county school oh okay that's what I was that was one of my questions and then my second question was um with phones being cut and I know teachers have to be trained or read and harass me because I was part of that. How do you plan on doing the training with funds that teacher training or is this going to directly affect? Yes, ma'am. So, we will do in-house training for reading horizon. So, for the past year several years, that is something that we built into uh that first week of school. We do that with anyone who is new to the district and anyone who's new to a grade level where they're going to have to use it. So if they
056move from fourth grade to second or third um then we have to do that uh training if they're going to be teaching reading. So we will do that inhouse. Doesn't require us to go out our coaches, our teachers, our um support staff in the district. They already have training and are able to train in house. So it does not cost us any money to do that. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. So now we're on the vacancy report. Madame chair, board members, superintendent spells, guest. Good evening. [Music] You can see the vacancy report is the same as last month because we are on a hiring freeze to ensure that we do not overbudget for the remaining of this school year. In addition to that to ensure um that we utilize all our funds and to sure
057that our budgets and positions are aligned to not go over. So you can see we are in the same spot we were last month due to that high freeze as far as a total of seven 77 vacancies. Okay, I have one question. Um, with the hiring freeze, do that mean substitute teachers too? No, that does not mean substitute teachers. So, if a person is qualified to be a substitute, they can't still keep on going busy. They can Yes, because we need subs every day. Okay. Thank you so much. That was one of the questions that has been brought to my attention by a couple of people that was told that they could not. Just wanted to put it out here so they can hear you say it. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much. Month today
058financial reporting. [Music] Good evening everyone. um here before you to present the month to date for child nutrition and capital outlay. If you will turn your attention to our child nutrition attachment, we have appropriated a million dollars in fund balance and anticipating fi um receiving final revenue. But right now we saw that our unencumbered balance was $952,162.72. So, we wanted to ensure operations until our final revenue reimbursements were allotted. As the budget changes, as things change with this budget, we will be sure to bring those before the board. If you'll now turn your attention to our capital [Music] outlay, we had to do a modified accounting entry in order to reflect the cost of our Chromebook refresh. Although that amount [Music] 2,93,69789 has not been paid out in full this year, it's it's will be
059done through installments. We wanted to reflect that and when we do the adjusting entry to that, we will also bring that up to the board for approval as well. Any questions? Yes. Do you have an estimated date when that be? next board. Hopefully, it will. Yes, ma'am. We're looking to come before you again next month with additional amendments. Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. You're welcome. All right. Number one, and I'm before you tonight to ask that these amendments be approved. The first is our local budget amendments restricted fund 8. We have revised the projections, the revenue expense projection so that they're better aligned with our expenditures and revenues received for this fiscal year. The original ones were aligned closely to last year's, but as we delve deeper into the books, we have updated according
060to what we've received and expenditures that have been outgoing. As you can see, the unencumbered balance is [Music] 3,287,635.39. And we'll be before you again as these amendments arise as well. Then next is our state amendment that we're used to. We're on number five for this one. Madam chair, yes. Should we not be voting for these individuals? Do we want to vote for one by one or do we want to wait and do state and federal but your motion will need to name that you are approving those? Yeah, let's let her do it and then we'll um the first two wereformational. These three will be um the approvals. This is revision number five for state. Um our uncovered balance is 21,810,9.70. The adjusted the beginning previous balance was [Music] 77,745,75424. The net adjusted amount which
061was our revisions and various changes was $642,434.92. The affected PRC's are listed below in your red font. And as you can see our from our budget resolution and our adjusted amounts, we come right back at the bottom to our revised um total amendment which is our amended aotment 78388,18916. Have any questions? Y yes. Move to approve the local, state, and federal um budget amendments. I've got one more. She got one more. She needed that's what I was waiting the family. Okay. Our federal aotment, the previous balance was $1,357,1662. our net adjusted amounts. It affected various PRC's through 85 revisions. We um several of them and we have journal transactions for all of them. uh report if you'd like to see how each PRC in each account was affected. But the net adjusted amount is [Music]
06257,54041 leaving our unencumbered balance at [Music] 3,191,31085. And as you'll see from our resolution through our our first and second amendment, we're back at our balance at [Music] 11,864,55703. Do you have any questions? Any questions? [Music] Okay, you can make a motion now. I have a question now. Um, in what ways did it affect it? I know you said many. Can you give one example? Yes. Um, we have additional allocations late in the year, fiscal allocations. Um, several days and well, not not quite invoices, but we had additional allocations and revisions to aotments. Um, it pages and pages of items that but I have them all if you like. Yeah, we're revision 85. Yes. I move to approve the local state and federal budget amendments. Okay. Can I get a second? Second. Okay. This the
063motion has been made to approve local budget amendment number one. State budget amendment number five. Federal budget amendment number one. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have open gate weapons detection system. It's the same information. Did you guys get a chance to look at this over here? I mean he talked about it last night. So can I get a motion to um approve the open gate weapons detection assistance? I make a motion to approve the open gate weapons system. Second. Okay. A motion has been made to approve the open gate weapons detection system. It's been second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposers? Okay. Thank you so much. Uh at this time, can I get a motion to go into close session? I may be going
064to session under statute person. personnel and student matters to consider matters related to initial employment of individual employees and to myself attorney to preserve attorney. Thank you. Second. Okay. The motion has been made and second to go into close session. All in favor say I. Any opposers? Okay. Thank you.