001e e e the time is now 6:00 um the whole County Board of Education meeting start March 11th 2025 at 6: p.m. thank youall so much for coming at this time we're going to have evocation from board member Ruben cast thank you madam shair if you would join me in prayer heavenly father I We Gather here today again to uh do your will and to do the people's business I ask that you put your powerful hand over us today so we can uh make wise decisions for our students parents staff and everybody else involved in our school district in Jesus name amen amen thank you so much at this time can I get a motion to approve the agenda for March 11 2025 so Mo can I get a second okay it's been moved and
002second that we approve the agenda for March 11 20125 all in favor say I I any oppos okay thank you at this time is the chair's report and I just want to say that uh good evening to everyone and I am thankful that you here with us on today I know we may be in the midst of some troubling times but we're here for the students um the staff and the community and parents so um regardless of whatever's going on we're not going to put the kids on the back therefore we're going to move forward um at this time I would like to have uh time for any board member that would like to share uh any events that they attended um or events they participated in okay if not I want to say uh
003thank you up Church Elementary School for inviting me to be part of your read Across America I really enjoyed last week reading to a first grade class Miss G Class it was just a joy um and a woman environment up Church Elementary school at this time we're going to move on and we have Spotlight on success the first uh Spotlight on success is custodian team of the month westo [Applause] Elementary good evening everyone good evening it's a joy and a PR to be here tonight yall know like Miss BL say it's a trying time we got a lot of sick people out in this world I mean heal wise just a honor just to be here tonight and I just thank God for allowing me to be here tonight I've been with my mom today
004I first treat my chemo I mean uh cancer and y'all tell y I've been in the hospital all day and it was sad to see all these sick people matter of fact we had one my son's CL today but again it's an honor to be here and West Hope Elementary they did hard work they did a great job this month I went there I got on about the budget they've been doing good I keep get about the budg I said yall spending too much money spending too much money but y'all they did good this month so all for the Patrick Brown come on [Applause] up prier coron come on up came from girl Elementary and I'm tell you a joy to have he work extra hard make sure everything is good get on prel make
005sure prel stay stra but again y'all they school could have been it also every month B got little spinning problem we working on that so again y'all I appreciate y'all y do y shirt would be by the week she one of so it would be by shirt again thank [Applause] y'all so at this time we have Hope County High School girls wrestling team [Applause] go ahead [Music] girl good evening thank you board members guests members of our community for coming out tonight we are thrilled to have your two time State dual team champion hard work we Curr have approximately 19 girls on the active roster we know that within the girls wrestling team we have 12 valuable weight classes so sometimes you'll see some girls be able to step up at a weight class or
006have to sit out a weight class and collectively they come together and earn these wins throughout the season um we were able to defeat four teams for the state dual team title this year taking out Franklinton 63 to6 then moving on to milbrook 72 to0 Swainsboro 50-9 and then finally taking first over Jack Brit 48-6 unfortunately our head coach loer for ler was not able to be here tonight so we'll accept this award on his behalf for our women's team thank you all for having [Applause] us thank you presented to the ladies Buck wrestling team first place NC WCA girls dual team Invitational state champions presented by The Hope County Board of Education March 11 [Applause] 202 all right [Laughter] all right that is awesome at this time we GNA move right along with Ryan
007Ryan Glover outstanding playright award hello I'm ad deer I am the theater director here at Hope County high school and the North Carolina young playwrights Festival is a yearly contest given through the North Carolina Theater Arts Educators Association and this year uh my lovely senior Ryan Glover was chosen as the best play in North Carolina as a part of his reward he will have the privilege of seeing his work performed by professional Act at the Carolina Theater on Saturday March 22nd at 2 p.m in Greensboro so if you're up there and you would like to support Ryan in this awesome awesome achievement then we will see you [Applause] there presented to Ryan Glover for his play at what cost being recognized as the outstanding play of the North Carolina young Prof play rights festival and
008this is presented to To You by The Hope County Board of Education [Applause] congratulations I just want to say thank you all so much for the support this has been a dream come true um I also wanted to take this time to uh put a spotlight on something that has been in my heart um you all are adults right um so I just when you look at me you see well I hope that I have worked hard enough to earn the vision of a creative of a person who is going to advocate for himself um as a person who is going to fight for what is right and what he believes in um and so with that I hope that you guys continue to have the Arts and the art Department in your hearts because
009I will not be here today if it was not for and her lovely coaching and everything that she does for me and I just feel like without the Arts we would not be where we are today as a society as a school as a humanity and I think that to continue to have success within hook County we need to put the Arts on top of our list of things to motivate and continue to grow and expand all [Applause] right at this time we have Amber Maxwell NC cat beginning teacher of the year final [Applause] good evening I'm Bridget parel Hayes a proud member of the HR team we're super excited to have Dr W here he is our executive director of the incat program for North Carolina to make a very special presentation to one
010of our very finest beginning teachers thank you very much um good evening members of The Hope County Board of Education superintendent thank you uh would Amber Maxwell please come forward at this [Applause] time on behalf of the North Carolina Center for the advancement of teaching is my privilege to announce that Amber Maxwell has been selected as a finalist for the incat 2025 Bros welcome fund North Carolina beginning teacher the Year award this recognition highlights Miss Maxwell's exceptional contributions to the teaching profession and her remarkable impact on the students and Community here in Hope County the beginning teacher of the year award was established to celebrate the creativity resilience and dedication of first year teachers across North Carolina each year more than 7,000 new Educators inter classrooms Statewide this award honors those who exemplify the best
011of the profession while addressing the unique challenges of beginning teacher Amber Maxwell will be attending a week of professional development with her fellow finalists in March on March 27th incat will celebrate All finalist at a recognition event on the campus of the University North Carolina at Greensboro at incat we are committed to advancing in teaching as an art and a profession and we are thrilled to celebrate Maxwell is a shining example of this Mission please join me in congratulating Amber Maxwell on this outstanding achievement we're pleased to provide her with a c a certificate recognizing you as the incat 2025 burs welcome fund North Carolina beginning teach you your finalist good job appreciate you in addition super if you don't mind hold this we on behalf of empower come on now we would like to
012present Amber Maxwell with a check for $250 empow supports North Carolina Educators and your retirement investment plans I am thankful for EMP power support of Education in North Carolina thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight to celebrate this outstanding educator we appreciate the Hope County Schools the Board of Education superintendent and Amber Maxwell for supporting the incap beginning teacher year program thank you very much I just have to say that I had a great first year in h County and it wasn't for Miss Atkinson Miss Baker and Miss O'Brien I probably wouldn't be here still teaching so I'm grateful for Hope County every day so thank youall thank at this time I'm going to turn this over to attorney Grace for public comment we have no public comment this evening okay we have
013no public comment at this time um can I get a motion to um approve the consent agenda uh the first item is the minutes for February 11 2025 School Board policy second read a policy 1010 board authority and duties policy 1100 governing principles it's been moved in second to approve the consent agenda all in favor say I I any oppos okay thank you at this time we're going to move to the information um and the first one is the graduation endorsement [Music] good evening members of the board Dr spells and members of the community thank you for the opportunity to share uh some exciting news about our new diploma endorsements that will be available to this year's senior and future graduating classes so starting with this class of 2025 North Carolina High School students will
014have the opportunity to earn two new endorsements on their high school diploma the first one being the art proficiency endorsement and the second the North Carolina citizenship proficiency endorsement these endorsements are part of the State Board of Education policy grad z07 and they're available to students in North Carolina public and charter schools these endorsements are not required for graduation but they do recognize students uh for their academic achievement and their engagement Beyond on to the standard graduation requirements so they provide students with opportunities to Showcase their skills and knowledge and areas that support both College and Career Readiness so I'll just take a few moments to just talk about each of the endorsements the first one again being the art proficiency endorsement and it's designed for students who have demonstrated strong commitment to the Arts
015and to earn this endorsement students must complete at least four Arts courses aligned with North Carina standard course of study they have to have an unweighted GPA of 3.0 or higher in each of those courses and they have to complete a minimum of 40 hours of Arts related extracurricular activities um being that they have just uh given us this new endorsement those students who are seniors can go back and retroactively count those past activities from their high school years as long as they provide the proper documentation and so we have a documentation form that they can bill out so these be things like participating in school or Community Theater Productions it could be participating in band chorus or dance recital um engaging in Community Arts programs all of those count toward their hours um as
016long as the students don't receive course credit for those things so um they just document their hours and they would receive credit for that toward the endorsement so the next endorsement is the North Carolina citizenship proficiency endorsement and this is a way to recognize students for their understanding of the US government and Civics and this endorsement ensures that any graduate um has a foundational understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship so to earn this endorsement students have to take a 10 question test based on the US citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization test they have to correctly answer at least six of those 10 questions to demonstrate proficiency and then they um would take that test during their senior year if they're interested so each of our high schools have already in our district has
017developed a plan to ensure that all of our students have access to that test and that they will be given the opportunity to prepare for it so um that endorsement reflects the commitment to civic education and ensures that students graduate with a strong understanding of their role as informed citizens so both of those endorsements um provide our students with additional ways to Showcase their achievements and prepare for Success Beyond High School whether it's arts or CICS those recogn those recognitions will be recognized by a seal on the students diploma so we look forward to seeing our students take advantage of these opportunities and we appreciate your support in implementing those thank you anybody got any questions thank you um next we have the board of educ Board of Education m good evening Madam chair superintendent
018and board members tonight I provide an overview of the current status of the Board of Education van and present options for addressing the issue at hand before before we begin I'd like to apologize for the update that's been conducted to the presentation if you looked at it earlier uh over the course of the weekend or today you'll notice that the current presentation is different uh so I did have to make some updates to that and I would like to thank Miss blue for pointing that out to me for those mistakes next all right this is a picture of the current band that we have um that's on by Hope County Schools it's a 2016 Ford Transit van and it is a 15 passenger van next slide please the vehicle has sustained significant engine damage as
019shown in the image to the left the primary issue is the engine rod that's protruding through the engine block the cause has not being diagnosed other than a mechanical M function to the engine at this time um but however we did correspond with a local dealership uh to get a quote on the price to repair that and what they gave us was $1,000 72125 to repair the engine actually to replace the engine so given this repair cost we also explored whether uh to repair this or replace the van um and trying to decide which one is a more valuable option next slide please if replacement is preferred we've identified several different options um we worked with one dealership to get a quote for 2024 Ford Transit uh trim level is XL it's also a 15
020passenger van and it's at the cost of 56535 a second dealership was contacted they provided us with a quote of a 2025 for Transit van all of these are identical bands um and it was at a cost of $56,500 59 and then a third dealership provided a quote at $ 53,6 4144 and all of the warrant that you see on the screen are identical and that came from all three dealerships next slide please and then just to explore one more option just to see what the cost difference would be we looked at a 2025 Chevrolet Express LS and that one is priced at $ 48,5 4055 um like the Ford Transit is is also a 15 passenger van there only two differences between the vans is the seats um what we were accustomed to in
021the for Transit van that we have or more bucket seats that are in the back where on the Chevrolet they're all um bench seats and the warranty information that they provided this afternoon matches or lines with the same warranty that the four dealerships also [Music] provided and uh so in conclusion uh just basically looking to determine the most of cost cost effective and practical approach for the school system and that's whether to receive with repairs or invest in a new vehicle um and we appreciate the board members input on the desired course of action moving forward with this thank you any questions yeah what what are the um you know knowledge on the vans that you um look that I can get that for you and S to you I have it tomorrow and oh
022um so the ones that we looked at from the dealerships those were all new I think the 2024 vanand had 250 miles on it but other than that everything's brain so um Dr Hunt who was using this thing one of the directors in the school system was using it when the um M function occurred like normally you what is it used for Life generally that's the van that has been used in the past to transport um board members to the airport for if there's a the professional development opportunities for board members um same thing has been conducted with staff members throughout the school district those are the primary uses of the B is for um transporting staff members mam chair yes some question would be if we could do some resarch to uh determine which
023land uh requires less uh um maintenance butless uh which one's going to last the longest with the least amount of u um repairs other than oil change rotation stuff like that I'm pretty sure there's something on the Internet they can dictate which is a better van either the Chevy or the for that one I can't answer but we can work to find that out we did discuss what would happen with the van that we currently own and um so we do know that we have the Board of Education um policy about Surplus property that we could sell the van but of course it would have to be at the um board members' um approval to do so so we could sell that to a um Community member or or we could take it across to
024um OmniSource and scrap it and get money that way from the van but either way it goes I don't think it's going to be a very large return in investment you're welome any more questions okay thank you you're welcome U next we have open gate weapons detection system good evening again so presenting on Open Gate weapons detections um open gate before we get started just to give you a little bit of information is a walk through weapons detection system um that we are considering for implementation at Hope County schools and this presentation will outline open gate and its functionality as well as discuss a demonstration that was held here on campus and the proposed location and budget considerations next slide please so what is oate oate is a state-ofthe-art security system developed by the way
025you pronounce that is chia um and it is a leading provider of security detection systems and it is a worldwide organization basically so it's a walkthrough weapons detection system and you can think of this similar to a metal detector power however um metal detectors require more work whenever individuals walk to because they have to empty everything out of their pockets remove bags from them and then somebody's got to look through the bags and and that kind of things so basically the open gate weapons detection system uses Advanced sensors and artificial intelligence to distinguish weapons from personal items ensuring a faster and more accurate screening process for the individuals the system does not require individuals to remove their bags or personal items from their body or from their pockets making it more efficient for high traffic
026areas an open gate can be implemented as a security protocol for daily school activities such as arrivals on campus if there were um spot checks taking place or random searches athletic events graduation ceremonies and other school functions next SL please this weapon detection system consists of two freestanding pillars that function as an open active detection system it does not require mechanical or electrical connections and can operate using lithium ion batteries or a standard wall output the system is designed for portability allowing for easy setup and relocation both indoors and Outdoors the system can be moved by one to two staff members because it weighs approximately 25 pounds essentially you just pick pick up one pillar and you can move that pillar by yourself it's very lightweight and it can be set up in less than
027one to two minutes so in a moments notice it can be active and ready for implementation however for Effective operation at least three employees are required you need one employee to monitor the system so whenever it alerts that there is a weapon present or does not alert one to escort the individual so ideally you would have one monitoring You' have the other one standing with nearby so that if it does detect that employee can ESC escort that individual to a third employee who would conduct the search that way they're not emping anything out of their pockets out of their bags Etc they're supervising in other words and then the system is capable of detecting a variety of weapons including collapsible rifles handguns or smaller weapons such as knives next slide please open gate also features
028a mobile application available on Android or iOS devices and this app allows administrators to set detection and signaling parameters enabling customization based on security needs in other words we use the app to set the levels of what we're looking for whether it's a long rifle a handgun or some smaller weapon such as a knife or it could be narrowed down to something as small as Vape devices the level security screening can be adjusted in this um application and the um permissions are based on um security settings within the within that application of who needs access to it next slide please on January 9 2025 a demonstration of the open gate system was conducted here at Hope County High School the demonstration was led by Mr Bruce Hoffman who is the national channel manager for the
029company he shipped the equipment here he provided the demonstration and then once the demonstration was completed he sent the equipment back to his company and those in attendance was uh Miss Pam Mr Covington two of the custodians here at Hope County high school three of the SRO officers and myself and the feedback that was gathered from everybody in ATT in attendance was positive and they also knowed the um systems ease of use efficiency and potential to enhance school security next slide please so the budget information and the location um at this time we're proposing to implement open gate at Hope County high school as an initial location for deployment the funding for this system is to come from the center for safer schools safe schools grant that we've already been awarded and is carryover funds
030from last year because they give up with funds last year year they gave us a percentage last year and a percentage this year so we do have that in the Grant and in the funs just so that you would know one system costs approximately $199,000 um but we're not looking at purchasing one of the open Gates we're looking at purchasing three because this is a large campus and with 1,00 students and the number of people who attend various athletic events it would be more beneficial to have more than one on campus so a total for three systems and this includes calibration training batteries base plates and shipping is a total of $ 61,7 15 and we believe that this investment would enhance security for students and staff are maintaining a sing screening process at large
031EVS next slide please and thank you for your time and consideration any questions mam chair yes how durable are these than I I I key on something you said that um they're they're going to be put in place so that means they going be be moved on a regular basis from whatever location to another location so how durable are these things that is correct um they are that they're designed to be mobile um and according to Mr Hoffman that day is that they are designed to last um they are built to the stand the movement on a daily basis and they're also lit proof and the other questions is there any radiation is committed by these uh po I can contact Mr Bruce to ask him and get that information for you and the distance
032between each individual the I'm think the reason why I'm asking this question is you got the gy and you got 300 people coming in and I know that all these contractions that are uh deployed to prevent people from coming in on weapons there's a distance or or time between each individual before it can um reset itself a lack of words so it doesn't pick up on somebody else right um I don't know about the time the distance in between each individual person um it's a few seconds to go in between I can get that exact time for you um but I do know that the pillars are to be I think it was 36 to 40 in apart at a [Music] minimum thank you m I like to say that um they are pretty good
033they do use them at hospital yes ma'am so um I am famar with those so they are pretty good I have a question do they come with a warranty they do come with a warranty i' have to look back through the information that was shared from the sales rep to get that information but I can pull it sh with everybody and the to's question they have like walk through one at a time they just can't come CR and do they have to let one person at a time right um cuz at the football games know that we have many five or six or so um metal detectors set up and the lines get very long same thing with the basketball games or the volleyball games games are taking place in the gym so that was
034one of the considerations that we had in mind when we were speaking or going through the demonstration and having conversations with Mr Clon too okay thank you thank you at this time we have a vacancy report [Applause] [Music] Madam chair board members superintendent SPS good evening yes I'm here to present our vacancy report I just want to say before I present this report uh 11 months ago the HR team we received the challenge that we need to try to fill as many vacancies as we can for the 2425 school year um so 11 months ago we had 231 vacancies and as of tonight we're not completely filled but we have a total of 77 from 23 and I do have to give thanks to the entire team the HR team um board members principles assistant
035principles directors it was an entire Village to help fill these vacancies it was not a one person's job it was everybody in our community even parents calling can you know can look into this I have this person that you need to hire so we want to thank everyone um for reaching out and recruiting for this recruitment effort to help fill our vacancies and you can see the report [Music] here thank you any questions thank you at this time we going down to our action items the first action item is s hope um Early College 2025 26 school calendar year um Dr Ram presented that to us on I think last month and uh I just need someone to um make a motion to approve the 2025 26 School C so Mo ch okay can I
036get a second okay it's been moved in second to approve um The sanho Early College 2025 26 school calendar all in favor say I I any opposers okay thank you so much next we have the state budget amendment number four great gretings everyone um Madam chair board members and Dr spells and guests I'm before you to ask that you are will approve our state amendment number four if you will um look at your document you'll see our previous balance from the last amendment was $ 77,4 se16 $471,500 and our amended budget 77,78 75424 the affected accounts if you move to the middle of your page are classroom teachers driver training children with disabilities literacy intervention and health career promotion to those accounts classroom teachers there was a an allotment adjustment reduction driver training there was
037an adjustment of an increase our children with disabilities there was an adjusted allotment it was an increase literacy intervention allotment adjustment adjustment which was an increase for twice retain students funding for those that special group and increase um health career promotion it was our fisal year 25 award allocation and it was an increase at at the bottom you will see from the beginning our resolution our budget resolution from the first one we presented throughout the present which is the Fourth Amendment and it equals our our amended budget amount which is77 m745 $745 75424 do you have any [Music] questions I that the board would approve this Amendment state number four can I get a motion to approve the state amendment number four I make a motion to approve the budget can I get a second
038okay it's been moved in second to approve this state amendment number four all in favor say I I any opposers okay thank you so much thank you at this time we'll have the Hope County High School mascot uh Dr Hunt presented that to us last month so right now we need a motion to approve the whole County High School mascot Madam chair yes I move to approve the whole County High School mascot okay the motion has been made to approve can I give a second thank okay the motion has been made it's been second to approve the Hope County High School mascot all in favor say I I opposers okay and last but not least it's the 2024 2025 summer program plan good evening Madame chair superintendent spells board members and the Hope County Schools
039Community for districts to participate at in the summer program a plan has to be reviewed and approved by the board so we would like to participate in the summer program with Summer EOG and EOC administrations so during the summer school program schools will remediate students that pass the course or subject but were not proficient on the EOG or EOC during the school year remediation will occur on teacher work days and and students will retest in the areas of grade levels in areas of fourth through e8th grade reading third through seventh grade math math one in the middle and high schools and then math three and English two at the high schools and then uh proficient scores during the summer testing will be used in the accountability results for the 2425 school year so at this
040time I can take any question questions that you may have about the summer testing program um we've done this before correct yes ma'am we have right do you know the data from that I mean how many students did well after the second um testing the grades so I have that data from last year for the elementary and middle school students we had 942 tests and um 287 of those tests were proficient so about 30% more test that adds to the school performance grade okay any more questions okay can I get a motion to approve the 2425 summer program plan Madam chair yes I move to approve the 2024 2025 summer program plan okay second okay the motion has been made to approve the 2024 25 summer program plan it's been second all in favor so
041I I any opposers okay thank you so much thank you for your support get Bo at this time can I get a motion to go into close session please Madam chair I move to go to close session uh the general States 143 381 uh A1 3 and six to prevent the disclosure of confidential personnel and student matters to consider matters related to um the initial employment of individual employes and to consult with the board's attorney Mr Grace here right here uh to reserve the attorney cly inut okay second okay the motion has been made to go into close session it's been second all in favor s any opposers okay thank you