05-26-26 JCPS Board Meeting

001Can you like listen to it on session? Heat. Come on. I killed him. for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve tonight's agenda? >> I make a motion that we approve tonight's agenda. >> That motion. >> All in favor? All right. At this time, we have a special presentation from Jackson Community School. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, chairman, members of the door of the board, Dr. Ays, and community members. Tonight, I would like to take a few moments to share some of the positive things that are happening at JCS and highlight the incredible growth, support, and opportunities our students are experiencing each day. Um later you'll see a presentation from um Jasmine

002Baylor who is one of our partners at Western and she's going to talk about our new library. Um at JCS we believe that every student deserves a second chance, a fresh start in a school community that sees their potential. Our school is more than an alternative setting. It's a place where students are valued, encouraged, and empowered to succeed both academically and personally. And I think that um Miss Woody and Dr. Dillard could vouch for that at our graduation that they attended. One of the greatest strengths of JCS is the caring and supportive staff who work tirelessly to build relationships with students. Our teachers, counselors, and support personnel go above and beyond every single day to create an environment where students feel safe, respected, and loved. We are extremely grateful for the strong community partners that

003continue to support our school and students. Local organizations, businesses, agencies, and volunteers have stepped forward to provide resources, mentoring, incentives, and opportunities that make a meaningful impact. These partnerships help our students see that their community believes in them and wants them to succeed. We truly appreciate everyone who invests their time, resources, and encouragement into the students of JCS. just to name a few. WCU, Uncomplicated Kitchen, Heights, the Red Club, Salvation Army, Army, um the Bethany class at East Silva Baptist Church, and the list could go on and on. Another exciting accomplishment is that we have um dual enrollment with SEC. And thank you to Karen Orchuk, our school counselor, and to Laura Allen, the liaison at SEC. We will have seven students who will be dual enrolled in the fall to take classes there at

004SEC. Um they'll so they'll be earning college credits while completing their high school education which opens doors for future careers and continued education. These students are proving that circumstances do not define their future and that with support and determination they can achieve great things. We're incredibly proud of their dedication and the example that they set for others. One of the students who will be taking classes at SEC in the fall will be taking some culinary classes and I really want to attribute that to his participation in the weekly culinary club that is provided to us by uncomplicated kitchen. His interests were built and now he wants to take culinary classes at SEC. In addition to academic success, we continue to focus on helping students develop confidence, responsibility, and hope for the future. Every credit recovered,

005every improved attendance record, every diploma earned, which four of our students came to us um the spring semester, and we were able to graduate them um this May. So, just goes to show we make sure that we are there for every personal victory and it's something to celebrate. JCS is about meeting students where they are and helping them move forward. We are proud of the progress our students are making and thankful for the staff, families, community partners, and board members who continue to support our mission. Thank you for believing in our students, for recognizing the important work that's being done at JCS, and we are excited about the future and looking forward to continuing to provide opportunities that help every single student succeed. So, I'm going to at this time I'm going ask um Jasmine

006Baylor to come up. Angie Walker, who also has a large hand in um revitalizing our library, is here tonight. But Jasmine Baylor has come with a presentation for you. >> Hey, so my name is Jasmine Baylor. I am the education librarian at Western Carolina University and I'm excited to talk to you all this evening about the SUTEP grant that we applied for. I'm guessing this works for this. Perfect. So um some foundational background information here. Western Carolina um University's College of Education and Allied Professions um has a grant called the SUTEP grant. We love acronyms. So, SUTEP stands for school university teacher education partnership partnership grant. And the purpose of the grant is to support initiatives um that Western Carolina University, our local western North Carolina school systems can partnership together and create um initiatives

007which inevitably brought to us um this library revitalization. The core of the seat mission is to actively engage in our region as teacher scholars through collaboration, consultation, direct services, and scholarly endeavors in a variety of environments. This aligns with Western Carolina's mission as well to be um we're a regional comprehensive college. So, making sure that we give back to the community. So on this page here, it talks about the project that we applied for um which is the revitalization of the Library of Jackson Community School. And what we what we applied for was to purchase new books and updating the furniture um for the school. And the goal was for it to take place from November 2025 to April 2026. But due to things outside of our um our controls such as the um IRB

008process, it was extended to May 2026. So originally we a we were awarded um $2,500 in the College of Education ally pre profession se they matched our grant which gave us $5,000 and we hope to split that. So 2500 for books, 2500 to furniture. Um, I'm gonna be honest and say that I was a little bit naive because anybody working, if you own a home, if you work in restaurants, 2500 cannot buy you furniture. So, I put um on the last dot due to the contributions of Mary Carter, who is the AIS um representative, and that's a furniture um vendor, she was able to um secure us donated furniture. So, we that 2500 went towards books. So, we use all $5,000 to purchase new books for the school. >> That's awesome. >> All right. So,

009here are some before images of what the space looked like. Um, Angie Walker and if you could raise your head just who was again very involved in this. Um, she went to the school, took pictures of the space to see what we were working with. As you can see, there's this um blue wall doesn't necessarily match the school colors. Um, the books um are dated and worn, which I have images of that on the net slide. Um, there's also that shelf here that have a bunch of their games. So, the furniture is mismatched. So, it's a it's a cute space, but we our hope was to make it make it a little bit better for them. So, um here's images of the book conditions. Um the mountain, I think it's a great book for a

010coffee table. Um for a high school library, maybe not. And if you can look at the edges there is deteriorating, but that was just these are just examples of what type of material they had in the library. Um the books, the pages were brown. Um, as a librarian, I love a warned book, but again, I think our our children deserve more than that. So, again, these are just some of the images of the book conditions. That middle image at the bottom is um those are the books that we weeded. So, we found books that had insects in them, books that were old, they were dusty. So, we probably weeded about 90% of the books that were in the library space. Here is just more images. Um, that table there, all books that we end up

011weeding. There's um the middle image is principal wiznot with students who are loading up bins of books into Angie's car so that they can come to um Western Carolina University so we can sort through any of the books that we thought we could savage. We tried to um send them to different um organizations so that we can get funding for the library but either they were in such bad conditions or um the organizations had so many copies of them there was nothing we can do about them. So, we end up giving them away to whoever was interested or having to throw them away due to the conditions of the books. All right. I wanted to throw this image up there because a lot of community support went into this. Um, we painted walls, we painted

012doors, um, people had donated their time and services to help us bring um, furniture to the space um, to purchase the books. in the middle um the image with me and the woman who has furniture nerd that is Mary Carter who's the one who um secured the donations for us for for the furniture. So I did want to acknowledge her and everybody within this space. So after here's what we're really here for. We want to see the pictures of what the new space looks like. Right. So there we go. This is the new um Jackson Community School library space. These pictures does not do it justice. I do encourage each and every single person to stop by this library space and um look at it. Um it's full of life. It's full of opportunity. I'm

013really excited. We still have 13 boxes of new books still coming throughout the summer. And our hope is to not let this end here, but to continue this partnership um and help maintain this library space because we truly believe that the Jackson Community School deserves it. Every school system deserves a nice library space that they're proud of that they can use. And this here is just a thank you page. Um I do want to thank you um principal not for allowing us to do this with you. The Jackson Community School, the students are amazing. A lot of the books they would come up to us and tell us what they want. So the library I would like to say is a reflection of them. Um Western Carolina University's College of Education Allied Professions. If it

014wasn't for them, we would not have had the funding to do this. Um Dr. Myra Watson, Angie because she poured so much love and thought and support in it. Um cannot we this would not have happened without her. Erica Barnett, Christa Smith, Tim Tweed, Mary Carter, Crystal and Santiago who are the owners of Ildas. During the open house which took place two weeks ago, they donated um shakuderie boards and nice snacks for the students to be able to enjoy the food while also engaging in with engaging with this space. Um the Jackson County um friends of the library, they donated puzzles and things. so that the students can have something to um engage with and just community members. Um like I mentioned before, so many people poured into this project. It was a labor of

015love and um I'm was truly grateful to be a part of it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Lost my place after that presentation. Let's see. Uh, do I have a motion for uh to approve the open session minutes of the regular meeting on April 28th? >> I make a motion that we approve the open session minutes from the April meeting. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor. All right. On to information with the superintendence report. >> Good evening, chair and board members. Also, I would like to welcome Representative Anna Ferguson as well. Uh, after seeing her, I realized we've met before. So, I'm glad you're here supporting public education. We made it. JCPS has concluded the 2526 school year with promotion ceremonies and graduations last week. I appreciate our board members attending

016these events. It's so rewarding to watch our students walk across the stage and be cheered on by all those who love and support them. I'm also eager to see what's next for them because I got the number that JCPS students, the graduating class of 2026, earn more than $2.3 million in scholarship funds across the district. And that's pretty outstanding. Um, so whether they're journeying on to uh college or employment or enrolled or going to uh into the workforce right away, we're just happy to see them celebrate. This week in the summer brings a steady pace of planning for our central office team. While many believe summer is a time to relax, so much happens during the summer to ensure our students and staff return in August to safe, clean buildings and wellplanned lessons. Our offices

017also move to four 10-hour work days beginning June 1st through July 31st. All JCPS campuses and offices are closed on Fridays. There's also been an enormous amount of progress on the Smoky Mountain High School track and field complex and I have an image up there for you to take a look at. So, um, we are about week six into this project and they have not gotten a lot of work done in the last four days because of the monsoon like rain we've had. But if you look closely, you'll begin to see that there is gravel poured on that far left corner and we're starting to see a real track take shape. So, I'm super excited about that. And this week, today they have begun to mobilize for the Fair View cafeteria and kitchen project. And

018that is weather pending um with whatever will occur today. But I know that Mr. Francis made sure our buses were moved out of the parking lot and so soon there'll be u true action happening at Fair View. Our projects are continuing to move for move forward and more details will continue to come regarding our bus garage, Blue Ridge, and Smoky Mountain Middle School. An exciting announcement was made last week, too. Miss Becca Mulligan, who is the current assistant principal at Koi Valley School, has been named the incoming principal at Fairview. While we are extremely sad to see Mr. Kerr depart, Fairview will be in great hands with Miss Mulligan leading. And finally, I want to share the date for our annual back to school bash. And so, collectively, there's a groan out there thinking about

019the back to school bash, and we've not even been out of school but a day. Um, so the back to school bash will be held on Saturday, August 1st from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We are currently accepting donations and organizing groups to participate. We are really fortunate to be able to work alongside Jackson County Recck Department because Mr. Hopkins is always willing to partner with us for this event. We hope to have our largest participation ever. Thanks for a great year with gratitude. >> Thank you, Dr. S. Up next on the information section, it's Smoky Mountain High School and JCEC Athletics. There were some questions surrounding um financing funding. Uh so I had sent our athletic director an email requesting some additional information. Some of the questions I asked were approximately how much revenue

020is generated by each sport. What is the approximate cost of sending a team to an away playoff game with or without a charter bus? What level of revenue could typically be expected from hosting a home playoff game? And from a financial standpoint, are there any other major considerations, positive or negative, that you believe should be taken into account as these discussions continue? and uh Tom is here tonight to present some of this information to the board. >> May I share just one comment first? >> Yes. >> Um so about two weeks ago after speaking with Principal Granny and um Principal Robinson, I recommended that the the two of them meet. And so I want you all publicly to know that the two of them had a really good meeting about um how to move forward

021regardless of the decision that this board me makes. um whenever that decision is made. But I want you to know that they had really good fruitful um conversation and positive conversation. So I think it's important to know that sometimes this can feel very divisive. Um but the two of them both want what's best for our kids. You should know that. >> Go ahead, Tom. Sorry. >> Good evening. Um I also just want to mention I've talked with Miss Granny as well and I wouldn't be here without her. um she hired me originally um to be at Smoky Mountain High School as a teacher and then moved me up to be a basketball coach and then also an AD. So um I'm very thankful for her and we we've talked also about how this can all

022work um one way or another, however it it works out. Um just to address some of the questions that uh Mr. Jameson um had sent over. So approximately how much revenue is generated by each sport. Um there are nine sports that generate revenue. Um and then there's 10 sports that do not generate any revenue. The nine sports are varsity football, men's and women's basketball, JV football, volleyball, men's soccer, baseball, women's soccer, wrestling, and softball. Those are the nine that generate revenue. Varsity football would be at the top there. It's $38,000 roughly. Now, these are rough approximate numbers. Obviously, we've just finished up the year. We've been auditing through our reports to make sure um what's in and what's out. And remember, this is just revenue, so not talking about operating expenses for each sport. Uh

023men's and women's basketball follows that up with $32,43. Um and then JV football is around 17,000. So, if you just look at those top three, it starts dropping pretty significantly after that. Volleyball um had a fantastic year and they were at 12,000 $73. Men's soccer was 9,028. Um, baseball was at 4,952. And I just want to note some of these sports, the interesting part, especially around maybe baseball and softball, what ends up happening is we don't have a great gate system >> set up. So, in my opinion, that number is low on baseball, but only because we can't capture the true audience that's attending to watch that. Um, women's soccer is 3,677. Wrestling is 2,694 and then softball is 2,223 and then after that all the other sports do not take in a gate or

024they do not generate revenue. Um, now it's not to say that you could not. So, for instance, we held some swimming events this year. One of the ones I'm sure that some people are aware of is we hosted the Mountain A conference tournament. Um, one of the unique things about anytime we host a conference tournament, we take in revenue, that money actually goes back to the conference. Um, so we had the Mountain 8 basketball tournament, that money also went back to the conference. So that's not included in the amount I listed for men's and women's basketball. Um, and I just to note on that, you know, the revenue generating sports, they do help support the overall athletics program. Um, really helps us in terms of looking at needs and wants for the overall athletic program.

025So, if a program that does not generate revenue asks for something, you know, we hope to be able to provide that um by looking at our numbers for all these sports and at the end of the year, you know, it kind of really evens out for the most part. And that's how a lot of athletic programs work. So, by the time you get through your spring sports, um you're kind of able to see that you're, you know, either at even or a little bit above. Um the thing that's not included in here obviously expenses are mileage, officiating, um and then general cost like to operate a sport. So for instance, I think people always bring up there's money spent on football, but that's really a state requirement when you think about helmets, >> padding, uh

026safety equipment. So there are there are certain aspects like that that we have to think about. Um but that that answered Mr. Jameson's first question. Um, his second one was, uh, what is the approximate cost of sending a team to an away playoff game? There's not really a hard and fast rate approximate number on this only because depending on the distance and the team um, that we're sending. That can vary. Now, I can say average transportation costs range between $200 to $500 if we take a white bus or a van. Um, those are our county ones. Now, I will say that's based on us paying a dollar a mile um and then paying for a driver to go. Um sometimes, and it depends on the distance, like if they're driving three plus hours, we try

027not to have a coach drive that that bus. The main reason is because it's really hard to ask a coach to drive three and a half hours and then coach a game. >> Um so then we have to and then then drive back at night. Um so we try to make sure that we provide a driver for them. Um, and as you guys know, CDL drivers are hard to find, but that's one of those costs associated. A lot of, you know, a lot of kids and parents though want our our kids to take a charter bus. Um, and so we were very fortunate this year. Um, parents stepped up big time, but those charter buses range between $1,500 and $1,800. So, away playoff games can be expensive. Um, and I will say that as an

028athletic department, we try to spend between $200 and $400 um, in meal cost. So, we try to make sure that we cover meals. Now, obviously, that can change if they have to stay overnight. You know, we try to provide more than one meal. Um, but we try to have a balance between all of this to make sure that we can work um work everything out. I will say having a home game matters. Um, and I think that's kind of where we're looking at hosting a playoff game, you can generate a lot of money. And so if you look at football, the range for a typical football game is somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000 in revenue. Now 5,000 is on the low end. That would be like if we played someone from extremely far away that

029didn't travel well. Um, but on the on the high end, if we were to host someone depending on that level and there's more like if we somehow hosted Franklin or Pisga, which those matchups sometimes happen in a playoff um game, then you can you can generate close to 10,000 or more. Um, and then basketball playoff revenue would be another one. It's between 2,000 to 3500 per game. Um, depending on that's close to what we made um when we hosted the first round playoff game this year for men's and women's. um we were able to pair those together. The other part around this is concession impact and I think that's important to note um when you're looking at hosting a playoff game. So athletic concessions typically generate between $900 to $1,500 and that's just the athletic

030one that we run. So, we have something new in the last two years that we've run at football games, but we have a small away um athletic concession stand that we've set up to try and one provide easy access for away fans, but also to generate some small revenue for athletics. Um but I think if you looked at our band program and you were ask any of those family members or parents how much money that would generate for them, it's significant what they make in a night um at a Friday night football game. So, having home home playoff games matter. Um, and I think I think what Mr. Jameson was probably, you know, alluding to in this question is just if you know the higher our seed, the more likely we are to host more

031playoff games, right? So, if you're a top eight seed, you have a higher chance to host more than one playoff game, meaning that you'd be the higher seed for each round going forward. Um, if you looked at men's basketball, there's a good example of that. As a 5A this year, they base it off RPI. So your RPI is your ranking um from the state, we were 12th in the state for 5A, but if you looked at us in the 4A level, we were fifth overall. And that ranking is the same either way. So like you can slide your RPI 8A all the way down to 1A, it doesn't matter. They they rank you based on your strength of schedule and your wins. Um but it's something to note that obviously that would have gave us

032a significant advantage in hosting maybe more than one playoff game. Um and so that's just the importance of seating and then the money re that's generated through that revenue. I think the other question um the last one was just from a financial standpoint are there any other u major considerations positive or negative that should be taken into account and I think the only one that I I could think of that's not you know if you if you look at us in the county we're kind of suns setting the K8 programs and I say that in that a middle school's coming which is exciting for everybody I think we're all excited about that but we already currently have district sports Um, so that money is already in in my opinion is a some kind like we've

033already invested money into that. We have money that reoccurs every year that we spend on district athletics with the KA programs potentially going away. If you just looked at coaching costs roughly, I mean, you're you're talking a little over $30,000 that goes into that program. Um, if you just look at the cost of coaches that we set aside in this county. Now granted, that amount of money would be every coaching slot being filled and they're all happening. So that doesn't always happen every year at all the K programs because if you don't have a soccer program that year for SME, then that means that that money is allotted here in the county, but in essence, we have it. Um, and so I only bring that up to say that that money would potentially be available

034to support a JCEC athletic program. I'm not saying that full amount, but there would be options there that the county would have as we continue to move forward. Um that I think there would be a potential pocket of money um that you could look at. And I that's me saying that without being the guy behind the numbers and I would obviously always defer to Jake or um Christy McWalker on that. Um I think that they know where those pockets of money actually um fit into. But just looking at it from a bird's eye view of could there be potential money out there that we could allocate to support a strong um program that we could build at JC? I think you could. Um that was really the was the bulk of the questions and try

035to try to do my best to answer them. Um >> yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody have any questions or is there >> Thank you. >> I think so. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Next in the information session is mental health awareness with Megan Cruz. >> Hello. Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk with you this evening, members of the board. Dr. Ears, um I always look forward to the month of May because the month of May is mental health awareness month. And for anyone watching or if you don't know who I am, I get to be the mental health director for Jackson County Public Schools, which is the coolest job. I think when I go to conferences and introduce myself to people, they say, "Oh, your school system

036has that." And I say, "Yes, we do." And it's so exciting. Um, and the month of May is mental health awareness month. And so I've put a green ribbon at each of your places. Um, and I know that we're kind of at the end of month of May, but we can recognize mental health awareness and um, work on talking about these issues and reducing stigma all year long, right? Um, and so I wanted to share with you a little bit about what some of our school teams have been doing this month. Um, we provided them with some materials and some ideas and they took those ideas and ran with them. Um, some of our schools had heights therapy dogs come to visit. Um especially that's especially sweet during exam time before exams. Um people were

037giving out stickers and tattoos. Blige students went on a beautiful mental health walk. Um there were all kinds of really wonderful things happening this month. And um and as we talk about these things, we talk about why it's important too. Um, it's so important, especially now, because I've shared this stat with you before, but one in five children has potentially a diagnosible mental health disorder. That doesn't mean that they're diagnosed, but it means that they're exhibiting symptoms. And I bet that if we had teachers in here to raise their hands about the number of students that they think in their classroom need additional support, I bet that it's greater than one in five. um or feels that way especially. And so having these supports in our school is so critically important. I get to along

038with some of the amazing directors in this room support our school counselors and our school social workers and I get to support and supervise our mental health team. And that is a thing that is unique to Jackson County and was unique to Jackson County before we received a Project Aare grant. We were already investing in mental health in our schools. So we were already front runners in our region and in our state. And then if you remember five years ago we received the project aware grant. So that was in 2021. And if you're good at math, you know that that five-year grant we're at the end, right? Um and so I wanted to share a little bit about what we accomplished. So the goal of that grant was to connect youth and families with mental

039health services and to increase access um increase mental health literacy. So reducing that stigma and seeking help. um and getting services. And we know that we have amazing community partners and sometimes there are barriers to our families accessing those community partners, right? Like if a parent has to take off from work and physically pick their child up from school, they're missing instruction. They're driving that child to an appointment and then after that appointment, there may be taking them back to school, maybe not. There there's a significant cost to families there and not all of our families can incur that cost. And so having mental health services, so having therapy available for students in our schools has been a gamecher for so many of our students. And so we are holding strong with six clinicians serving

040nine schools. I am one of those clinicians. I get to serve students at Jackson Community School that we heard about earlier tonight. Um we provide suicide screeners along with our counselors and social workers and crisis interventions, school-based therapy services. We do a lot of case management and referrals. So sometimes we're not the right fit for a student and we really help them find the community agency or another resource that is the right fit. Um sometimes they need things happening in their home. They need more specific support. We partner with student support teams to provide universal preventions and think about like what does our school population need as a whole? What trends are we seeing here? We provide training to JCPS staff and community members. Um this year we have really worked hard to provide youth

041mental health first aid training to our beginning teachers. Um and we have provided Reconnect for Resilience for several of our teachers and really partnered with them to expand their presence in some of our schools. So there's more exciting stuff to come hopefully with Reconnect for Resilience. And where do we go from here? So, we have the great fortune to have ended our grant right around the same time that the state is adopting the state plan amendment, the spa. I hope I'm saying that right. Um, which means, you know, a whole bunch of gobbledegook about Medicaid. They're changing Medicaid in North Carolina and how all of that works. And so that means that our team is working on enrolling as providers so that we will be ready as soon as all those things are adopted in

042July so that we can be seeking reimbursement starting in August. Um which means a fun summer ahead of lots of Medicaid and um lots of complicated things that we're really leaning into. But we're also really strengthening our community partnerships. We knew when our grant was ending that um that we would need to make sure that we had strong partnerships in our community. So, Blue Ridge Health historically the last couple of years we've grown to them having two school-based clinicians and now they're increasing to four. They created new positions for us because our partnership was so effective. So, they'll be in more of our schools. Um, Heights is also continuing to provide inside out programming, substance use assessments and treatment, substance use prevention education in some of our schools. Um, they give us interns and PATH

043services. That's one of their great therapy dogs that comes. Um, we're really working on growing these partnerships with community providers because we recognize that we need school-based services and community providers. It's not a one-sizefits-all for all of our families, right? We're going to continue providing professional development both internally and with community providers. Um, someone from a community organization called me the other day and said, "Hey, when are you offering youth mental health for state again? I want to get make sure all of my summer camp counselors are enrolled." Um, and I said, "Well, hold your horses. I'll do it in August. But um so people are actively seeing us as a resource and are seeking out things from us. Um we're continuing to collect data and outcome data on our students. Um not just anecdotal

044stories about a student who previously couldn't get out from under their desk and now are completely functional in their classroom, but but broader outcome data to see what happens when students have access to resources. And we're sharing with our region. This is one thing that I'm most proud of and I'm um going to be doing an interview tomorrow with someone from Ed and C about how we are supporting our neighboring counties as they grow their programs because everyone is looking to us as a model for how to get it done. Um and so we are looking to support them. We hosted with Haywood County earlier this month, maybe last month. Um we hosted the Medicaid learning collaborative to make sure everyone in the west knew about the changes coming to Medicaid and would be prepared

045to seek reimbursement so that they could support programs. Um and we're going to keep providing youth mental health first aid and reconnect for resilience for our community and staff members. And that is all I have for you this evening. If you have any questions, I would love to answer them. Um, I do. Um, and thank you so much, Miss Cruz, for what you're doing. I feel it's so essential um that our students get this kind of support and we know that um it has a far greater impact just than their education. It can be lifelong um when they have those skills. Um those four people from Blige Health do are do we pay them or they they bill for Medicare for >> they do they do we do not pay them anything. This is a

046we have a memorandum of understanding where we provide therapy spaces for them. Um and so we can refer students to them and then the parent and the student both have to consent to that and they do all the Blueridge Health paperwork and sign a release of information to make sure that they can get those services at school. Great. >> Yeah. >> Good question. >> And then um as far as you said that you're able to bill some >> with Medicaid, >> right? >> Do you have to do those forms yourself or is there >> Oh, >> somebody else staff that talk to you all day long. >> I've asked the >> Yeah. >> bad question. >> No, it's good. So, we have we have been prepared for this for a long time. So, we have

047all of our clinicians have been documenting in an electronic medical record that is HIPPA and FURPA compliant, okay, for a long time. And we've been using CPT codes and all kinds of fun Medicaid things pretending to bill all this time waiting for the gate to open for it to make sense for us to start. And so, all of us, we should be ready to go and all of our people are already trained up. We just have to, you know, >> jump through all the hoops. Yeah. Hurry up and wait. Hurry up and wait. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That that helps. I appreciate it. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Uh Megan, I just wanted to shout out recently Megan was um honored with the Southeastern School Behavioral Health Science Conference as the

048school behavioral health champion of the year. >> So, I'm really proud of the work she's done. when she talks ABOUT when she talks about being a model, it's not just here in western North Carolina, but it's across North Carolina and South Carolina because there's a good collaborative. So, um I was pulling up that photo of your trophy in there so I can make sure I shout it out. So, congratulations. Welld deserved. >> I appreciate it. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much. And one thing I would like us as a board to keep on our radar, I know that we've lost some um clinicians. Miss Cruz and I had a conversation about that and I would like us to make a commitment that if there's ever any extra money from the legislature

049or anywhere the county commissioners um that we target some of that money for those positions because they are so essential for our students well-being. >> Thank you. Up next, we have uh the transition of district mobile phone carrier to T-Mobile with Greg Stewart. >> Good evening, board. Um I'm here tonight to discuss and share with you about our transition to T-Mobile. So JCPS provides cell phones for uh certain positions um that have specific purposes or need continuous connectivity or that kind of role uh needs a cell phone. Um and we are currently transitioning from Verizon to T-Mobile. Uh there's several key reasons that we're doing that. Firstly is because um it's going to be a significant costsaving for the district. um calculating our plans as they are with the phones that we have, it'll be

050around $8,000 a year um in savings, which is significant. And then if we have more lines in the future, it could actually be even more. So um secondly though, it's uh part of applying the lessons learned from Hurricane Helen. So as we know, we had a lot of difficulty uh communicating with each other and getting connected during that time period. Um, T-Mobile uh has several features and things that they offer to government accounts, including public education, including priority service. So, when their cell signal is still up, um during an emergency, in a regional emergency, we get priority service so that our calls and texts go through um and uh at a higher priority and make sure that they're at the highest priority, I should say. And then secondly, they all come equipped with T- satellite,

051which is part of Starlink's um collaboration with T-Mobile. And so that means even if cell networks go down, they can still text and receive data um via satellite communication. So um as would have been wonderful to have during Hurricane Helen, and we hope we don't ever need it again, but we're trying to be prepared um and save the district some money. So, um, the final reason is is that it's going to be a zero, um, net cost for the district and for the users. So, each person, it won't cost anything with the government benefits and incentives that T-Mobile has. And then our tradeins, um, we're actually going to have a substantial savings on our first year of contract and be able to afford all new phones for everybody. Um, and provide the upgrades that may

052need be needed for certain lines. Um, as you know, this is information only. So, it happened to be under the threshold for expenditures. Um, so it doesn't need board approval, but uh I still wanted y'all to be informed and know about the transition and let the uh school and the public know why and when we're doing it. So, we'll try to get all this done um this summer so it doesn't impact school and uh we should be able to be done by July. So now all be on our new contract. So >> does everybody get to keep their phone numbers? >> Do what? >> Does everybody get to keep their phone? >> Everybody will keep their phones. Yeah. Their phone numbers. Yeah. And those phones that need to be upgraded will be upgraded. The ones

053that have been upgraded recently and have the newest phones. They'll be able to take those phones uh with their phone number, but no phone numbers will change. So yeah, >> I think what Greg has done that's going to be helpful for those of us who are um technology challenged is there will be a team that comes in that helps reset all the principles, directors, and >> all the phones. So it's not just Greg and his team who do a fantastic job, but T-Mobile will provide a team. So thank you for um >> making that happen for us. >> Absolutely. That's a big help if anybody I mean just personally we know uh what an ordeal it is to change cell phones. A lot of people uh avoid that as long as they can. Um but

054as Dr. Ays pointed out, T-Mobile's going to send staff and they're going to be here on site to help us port those numbers and to transition to those new devices. So >> is there also an option to get partially reimbursed for the use of your personal phone instead of having a school supplied phone or No, >> we don't currently offer that. No. No. No. >> Any other questions? Um when when a person is assigned a schoolowned phone? >> Yes. >> Is there the is the youth limited to school um issues or do they just use that phone like they would their personal phone? >> It's under the understanding that it is business phone. They do sign a document that they're being issued a JCPS owned phone and that it's for the purpose of business. Okay.

055>> But there are no filters or restrictions. um to prevent that. Yeah. Um so yeah. >> Okay. Thanks. >> All right. Well, that was it. Greg, >> up next we have Christy Walker with the unudited financial summary. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Dr. Ays. Um in your packets, you have a copy of the report, the unudited financial statements. It has the requested comparison data for last year and it continues to be within our 2026 budget resolution. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer those. >> Um, I did have a question about um there were um because I know it's getting toward the end of the year, the federal grant fund, we've spent 68.6%. Will that will that be a problem to spend the rest of that before June 30th?

056>> Well, we do not have to spend the rest of our federal grants. A lot of them allow for a up to 15% carryover and it just varies grant to grant and restrictions. Okay. >> State will be the only one that we will zero out to 100% spent. >> Are we going to be able to zero it out? >> Oh, yes, ma'am. We do not leave money on the table. >> Well, I know that you're very committed to that. So, that's good. And then the other specific revenue fund was the only other one that was and that can be carried over at 65. Okay. Yes. Thank you. >> The federal funds for the school system go by the state fiscal year or the federal fiscal year? >> No, they go by the federal fiscal year,

057but we do have like um it will end June 30th and you will have carryover. The new allotment will not come out till about Octoberish. >> Okay. >> 27 months. Any other questions? All good questions. >> Thank you, Christie. Open session for public comments. Corum. >> Yes, sir. Mr. >> Chair, uh we have um we received three written comments. Unfortunately, they were all received after the cutoff for reading at the board member, but at the board meeting, but you have been provided copies of those. I'd like to read the instructions. We do have four speakers with us this evening and so I address the speakers. Um each month during part of the regularly scheduled board meeting, time is set aside for citizens to address the board through public comment. Each speaker will receive three minutes

058to present comments. However, the public comment session will not exceed 30 minutes total except by majority vote of the board. I think we're well within that tonight. Um, a signup sheet will be available 30 minutes before the meeting begins for any individual or group to indicate their desire to address the board. During the public comment period, we will recognize speakers in the order in which they signed in. Sub substitute speakers will not be permitted and speakers may not donate any portion of their time to another speaker. If a speaker is unable to present all of his or her information within the specified time limit, the speaker may provide the board with the additional information in written form. If an unusually large number of people request to speak, a majority of the board may decide to

059reduce the time for each individual or to require the designation of a spokesperson for each group of persons supporting or opposing the same positions. At any time, the board may establish additional procedures to ensure that that public comment sessions proceed in an efficient and orderly manner. Written public comments may be sent in advance of the board meeting and will be shared with the board during the meeting. All written public comments must be received by 4 p.m. the day prior to the board meeting to be read during the board meeting. Public comments are designed for the school board to listen. The board will not engage in dialogue or answer questions and complaints about individual employees or student or students are prohibited. Our first speaker is Brody Crawford and he would like to speak about the JC

060Smoky Mountain High School um athletics. You have three minutes. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about this possible separation of Jackson County Early College and Smoky Mountain High School athletics. My name is Brody Crawford. I grew up here. I attended Smoky Mountain High School. I currently have two children that attend Smoky Mountain High School and participate in multiple sports. I would like to begin with a different approach than we heard in the last meeting. I'd like to acknowledge that there's valid perspectives on both sides of this issue. This is an emotional topic that has potential to divide our community. My goal is not to dismiss any dismiss anyone's opinion or suggest that I do not understand the reasoning of the opposing viewpoints. I truly believe that Jackson County Early College provides

061students with an excellent educational opportunity and valuable experience for students and parents that choose that path. With that being said, I believe the decision, the right decision is to separate with the understanding that the early college student athletes will still have the opportunity to form and compete in their athletics at a 1A classification. From my understanding, the number of early college students currently participating you in sports, team sports, Smoky Mountain is too small to justify the 5A classification that we currently hold. I understand the decision would affect some early college student athletes and I do not minimize that concern. However, the larger issue for long-term impacts Monkey Mountain High School. As Mr. Robson mentioned in the last meeting, there's a real possibility in the future that we could be grouped in a 5A6A conference. This

062would put us against larger Bunkham County schools such as AC Reynolds, Irwins, and TC Robbertson. Depending on the year, these schools could have as much enrollment as 1,600 students, whereas Smoky Mountain's current enrollment is just over 800 students. The participation from the early college students in major teen sports such as football, baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball do not come close to bridging that gap. At the last meeting, I heard the statement that we simply need to rise to the level of competition. I respectfully disagree with this perspective for senior sports because it heavily depends on overall student population and participation numbers. If classifications did not matter, then the North Carolina high school athletics would not separate schools by size. Using the same logic, Western Carolina University would compete in football against teams such as Alabama,

063LSU, and Georgia. And I think most of us know how difficult this would be. This brings me to what I believe is the most important point, the impact on every student at Smoky Mountain High School, not just the athletes. I'll use football for example. Due to my occupation, I've spent time in many counties across western North Carolina, and I' I've seen schools being competitive to losing badly week after week because of decisions made by the administration. Eventually, the student session disappears. You go to a football game on Friday night and you may only see 10 or 15 students in the stands. If you ask why does this matter? It's because the atmosphere, culture, pride, and overall student experience has been lost. >> Can I keep going? >> Right now, when you attend a football game

064at Smoky Mountain High School, you see large crowds of students laughing, cheering, and enjoying their high school experience together. The sense of school's pride and community can disappear much faster than people realize. This is a difficult and complex issue and regardless of the outcome, some people are going to be pleased and some people are going to be disappointed. I go back to the point made in the last meeting by Mr. Young, uh, where he said that life is ultimately about choices. Parents and students have the choice to attend Jackson County Early College, which is an excellent option for those who believe this best fits their educational goals and experience. I just simply believe that that choice should not negatively impact the experience of the students and athletes who choose Smoky Mountain High School. Thank you

065for your time. >> Mr. Chair, our second speaker is Julia Hogan and she would like to speak about JC Smoky Mountain High School athletics. >> Good evening. My name is Julia Hogan. I just finished my freshman year at JCEC and I played women's varsity soccer at Smokeoky. I came here last time and I'm back here again because I want to speak for something that would drastically change my future and because I want to keep fighting for the chance to keep both my educational path and my sport. Since the last time I spoke here, our soccer team made it to the second round of state playoffs, something Smokeoky has not done in nine years. And then we finished the season off strong. On the school side, I kept my grades high and continue to thrive academically.

066I learned how to balance everything and how much both school and soccer make up who I am. JCEC challenges me in the classroom. Soccer challenges me on the field. together. They make me feel focused and steady. Through this year, I have realized something important. If I lived a hundred different lifetimes, I would choose JC every time and I would choose soccer every time. But I should not have to choose between. This season also showed me how much early college students make up Smokeoky's teams. Even if we are actually small in numbers, when we are part of a team, we show up, we work hard, and we help the team grow. My soccer team would not have been the same without the JC players, and it would not have been for the better. I mean, we

067would not have had one of our captains and multiple starters, and our lineup would look nothing like it was. Our season would have looked very different. Taking athletics away from us does not make things any more fair. It just takes away students who helped the team succeed. Athletics give students a place to belong and a reason to push themselves. They teach us how to handle pressure, to work with others, and to stay disciplined. These are things that help us in school, not things that take away from it. Removing early college students from athletics does not solve a problem. it creates an even bigger one. I am here because I want to keep doing what I've already shown I can do and love. Work hard in school, work hard in my sport, and grow in both

068places. This matters a lot to me, and it matters to every student who shouldn't have to choose between their educational path and the sport that makes them feel like themselves. Thank you. Our next speaker is Skyler Crisp. She would like to speak about JC Smoky Mountain High School athletics. >> He I'm sorry. Doesn't say male or female. My apologies. >> Board members. I am a student at JCC and I'm here to speak about athletics. One concern I have if the split of JC and Smokeoky has passed is building a barrier between students. Sports can help build bonds between students. Sports can create relationships. As a student athlete, I made many new friends at Smoky Mountain. I'm pretty close with them. This barrier could also prevent people from seeing one another. Another concern I have is,

069do we have the resources to go with this plan? We, as JC, we don't have a place to practice. The only thing we have is a basketball hoop and a volleyball um court. We would have to go to the rec center to practice. That's all I have. Thank you for your time. Our final speaker is Representative Anna Ferguson. She'd like to make an introduction. >> Well, I want to thank you. You've already given me a warm welcome, so that that got that out of the way. But yes, I just want to formally introduce myself. I'm Anna Ferguson. I'm your new representative for North Carolina. Education is a top priority for me, if not the top priority. Uh my mother was a teacher in Jackson County and she always said you get out of education exactly

070what you invest in it. And I think that's 100% true. So with that said, this budget that we're just on the cusp of getting signed and sent to the governor has some pretty significant teacher raises in it. And I'm really happy when u they throw some stats out and they said that this will bring North Carolina starting teacher pay to the number one in the southeast. So that's a good start. But that being said, I am here just to listen, learn. Um I try to make as many of these meetings as I can. If I'm not here, no, I'll probably be watching the live feed. But I am also here to take my cue from you all. So I need to keep an open line of communication with all of you. and I'll make sure

071you have my contact information. Um, this isn't for me to tell you what you need. This is for you to tell me what you need and we we need to work that because you're the boots on the ground and you know what you need. I don't need to be here to tell you. So, nice to meet you all. Thank you and look forward to talking to y'all soon. >> And that's it. >> All right. On to our action agenda. Up first we have Christy Walker with budget amendments. >> Oh yeah the same way. You want to go ahead. >> Could I just make one comment real quick? I wanted to thank everyone. Um last time I brought up about the reading camp at Western Carolina University. I know several of the principles and staff followed

072up with that. They filled the reading camp. In fact they even have enough to maybe have a second session. So, thank you so much for responding. Before we put this word out, they had four participants. So, it really made a difference and I wanted to thank you all for doing that for our kids' sake. >> Thank you. Um Ashley, I have a question for you. So, last um last meeting I asked could we vote on this um Smoky Mountain Jackson County Early College Athletics and about four members shook their head, but I also said, "Do I need to make a motion?" And you said, "No, we can just put it on the action list, but it's not on the action list. Can I amend the action list so that we can possibly vote tonight?" >>

073Yes. >> Yeah. Oh, >> but um >> yep, you're right. >> Okay. And I want to just state that the reason I want to do that is because in front of a lot of parents, in front of a lot of teachers, I asked that and so a lot of them thought that we were going to vote tonight. And so they're making I feel like we're putting an undo burden on them for the decisions they're going to make about their kids' future. And I think I think we have heard from both sides. Like we've heard two sides, but I'm just going to make a motion. And if you don't want to do it tonight, board, that's up to you. But I make a motion that we um amend the action the action agenda and add the

074Smoky Mountain High School and Jackson County Early College Athletics to the agenda for tonight. >> The action agenda. Yes. And do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. >> I'll discussion. >> Would you like me to add it now or at the end of the action? >> The end. >> Well, I think if if you're going to if we're going to vote to add it, just go ahead and do it now and get it over with. But I would like to have more time to consider additional information that's been presented. But >> well, here's here's my thing and the reason I asked for it and we can always pull it back up on the agenda for next year, but it came so late into the end of the school year that we did

075this to the Catamount School and I didn't like that and I didn't like the backlash that we got because it was and we needed that backlash because we waited so long before we made a decision. whether the decision is a good decision or a bad decision, it can come back up on the table, but I think we need to make a decision for parents tonight and every and I had agreement at the last meeting by nod of head and I was told not to make, you know, a motion about it by the attorney that was here. I didn't have to, but I do want to um make that motion that we add it tonight and then if we want to bring it back up on the table, that's fine. >> All right. So, we got

076a motion. We got a second. >> You want to talk? I'm sorry. >> Yes. I just have a question. Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Um, do we have a time to ask questions if we have further questions beyond what we already know? >> That would be discussion >> part of the action. >> Okay. Appropriate after the motions have been made. Okay. >> Right now. >> Like right now. >> Okay. I would like to know what the enrollment of Smoky Mountain High School is right now and um what the uh cut off line for high school athletics is as far as they're being placed in a 5A category. >> Like if we pulled the Jackson County Earl College athletics out, would we automatically become a 4A? Is that the question? >> No. the 4A would

077be if >> right now's enrollment I don't think is what you would be looking at would it be >> so a couple of point I'm pulling up that's why I'm looking at my phone I'm pulling up the numbers so a couple of points to remember that the classifications through North Carolina High School Athletic Association are not the par parameters are not set in stone so they're fluid based off the number of schools in the association which currently is 446 >> dear >> and then the um the rule that they don't want more than 32 schools in a classification. So, we don't have a clue what's going to happen. >> Like, we could separate them and we and still >> be in the same division that we're in. >> I got it. >> So, we could

078we included them. Would it upgrade? >> They're already included. >> They are currently being counted and including right now. Our numbers are reported to DPI on the after the 20th day of school, which is in September. And then the North Carolina High School Athletic Association pulls the number from DPI. So we don't go directly to NCHSA. And so when those numbers are pulled, it's not for the year you're living in. It's for the upcoming year because it'd be too late to be pulling numbers in September. So the next look at numbers will be in September and that will be uh addressing what will happen in the following year. >> Okay. What is the number? So, oh, go ahead. >> Um, what is the number that has to be reached to increase Pokey Mountain to a

0795A category? >> So, that's one of those fluid numbers because it all depends on the enrollment of all the other schools across the state of North Carolina. >> Right now, we're at the very bottom of the 5A category with 900 and something >> for it right now. >> Kids with the early college kids included. So whatever we decide whenever we decide it the numbers from this last year are going our categories already been set. >> Next year >> we're already the schedule's already out there for football and basketball and everything. So nothing would change >> that's not going to change for next year. Correct. next year wouldn't be impacted either way that >> regardless of the decision you make JC student high school either way even if you decide to separate them >> next school

080year is set we will all participate together and then we have an opportunity in October to submit >> obviously there there's two time frames there's April and October where you could submit paperwork for like 1A Does that make sense to where we would then have a runway to get to a 1A level for JCDC? So the numbers right now if you look at them um if you subtract out the 126 the 29 I've heard heard both numbers but the last number I'd heard was 126 I think currently >> oh it's so 131 so it's actually higher um but 131 if you subtracted that away from our numbers we would fall into the 4A range that even though it's fluid and that's what Dr. is saying that is correct. We will be safely inside of it.

081We'd probably be on the opposite end. We'd be in the top, you know, 10 biggest 4As, if that makes sense, instead of the smallest 5A. Stuart Kramer, for instance, will jump into 5A. They've got they've crossed a thousand students. They were a 4A. They've jumped significantly. So, we're going to have schools that are in that 4A category that also fluctuate and grow. Um, and that's what Dr. is saying. They're trying to keep those same numbers in each area. So that's there is some balance there between the state. There's a little bit of fluidity. >> So I've got the numbers that um were reported to DPI and then the high school athletic association last fall. So our current ADM being used right now putting us clearly in a 5A classification is 964. That's 835 from Smoky

082Mountain High School and 129 from the early college. So we are looking at a number of 964 right right now. The range for 4A is currently 795 to 954. The range for 5A is 955 to 1,25. >> And you said we're we're right where >> we are at 964. right now with both schools together. >> Okay, I have a question. >> I'm sorry. No, just give me a second to formulate this question. If we table this discussion until we got our numbers in September, is it are we too late to impact the following year? >> No, we are not. >> Thank you. So if we made a decision then that would give parents a whole extra a lot more time and not make a really fast decision right now. We would still be able to

083and then we would have time to come up with the resources possibly to form a 1A schools 1A sports. >> Yes. I think what's clearest is to think about whatever you all as a board decide right now today if you put this on the action item nothing is going to change for the 2627 school year nothing. >> But if we vote on this in October like September after we get new numbers if we vote on this in October and we still have a chance to to change the 2728 school year. But remember that the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, there's a process to become a member school. So they take applications. The deadline is April 1 and October 1. So if this the board decided right now to split for the following year, you

084still have to wait and be accepted by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association um into the membership. Now that acceptance would has already happened for the spring and now it would be in the fall. So deadline is I think October 1 or November one. I should have that memorized off the top of my head. >> Right now the 27 28 school year is the what we're actually talking about effective. >> Yes. >> Right now. >> Yes. >> I'm just saying like does is it urgent for this to happen during the summer? That's what I'm trying to get at is if that if this decision was to be made in the fall, I can't even get through all the phone calls and emails. >> I think it gives them less time. Am I right, Miss

085Granny? If you put it off till the fall to decide. >> I was just going to volunteer. We open up our application in October. The application process is open and I closed it at the end of February. Um, and this past year I had over 100 applicants. This decision, however you decide whether or not people decide to apply. And again, that process starts in October and it's not done until February. That's why I was That's why I was thinking a June vote would be give plenty of time for >> October applicants to know what's going on. >> Has our enrollment at Smoky Mountain High School increased or declined in the recent past? >> Do you know what the incoming freshman class looks like? >> It's still going down a little bit. I want to say

086that we're looking around 211, but we don't know if we're going to get all those students. And you know, >> you had as many graduate this year. >> I was going to say we had 217 graduate. >> We're we're anticipating going down, but obviously you can have people come in and I don't want the numbers you anticipate to be down a little bit. >> I think that's a good question, Dr. Miller. I think all schools have decreased. I mean, not just Smoky Mountain High School. Um, I think across the state and nation, you're seeing public school enrollments decrease. Mhm. And you know, this is something that I think our legislature needs to be aware of as well is that the amount of money going for vouchers has really increased private school enrollment to the detriment

087of our per capita that we get as a public school here in Jackson County. So, it does affect that. and a new uh middle school, the Journey School's opening. And um it's it's a real concern that that we need to recognize. But it's not just us that's facing this. I mean, I've talked to people in Haywood County and they they even have several more private schools and it's been a real issue for them as well, that enrollment. One thing I would like to bring up as just a a comment and this will um age me and that's fine in this community but I was um I had children in school when we had Koi High School and Silver Webster High School and the um I see some people here who um also went to color.

088Anyway, at that time we lived in colored but there was very heated and divisive discussions during that time and there was a lot of division and one of the things that I loved about teaching at Smoky Mountain High School was the community support that we had. There was such unity of having this one school in the silver colorway area. Now, of course, Blige has always been separate because of the distance, but that I feel for my own children who all graduated from Smoky Mountain High School, there was a real sense of pride and unity in that in that community and I feel we still have that and I am concerned that that having a different uh um designation color was 1A Hey, but when the Katro boys played 1A and went went on to the

089state and uh did very well, there was a lot of people from Silva that were quite upset that they didn't transfer and play for Silva Webster. I mean Kathy Katro was a dear friend of mine but that's that goes to into a lot of detail. Uh but that's the kind of thing when there you're competing for athletes within a community. I think that can be divisive and it concerns me. >> I don't think this is about competing for athletes. This is about different educational opportunities. So early college you have an application process. So, it's not really equal access to all Smoky Mountain High School students. >> You have to apply, interview, be >> admitted. They do, but I from what I have heard from some folks, I do think it is kind of competing for

090athletes because I have heard that some are being recruited one way or the other. >> Whether or not that's true, I don't know. Yeah, I think it affects these the football teams and the the top five teams like you said for money, but >> it's like I remember when I first got on this board >> and I came on this board as a businesswoman and every time I would look at numbers and money and stuff, that's what would sway me. And um and I'm embarrassed by that now. I I I'm when I see students come up here like these students came up here begging us to give them the opportunity to play their sport. I just want to say bye-bye numbers go away because these kids deserve to play and they they were told when

091they started at Jackson County Community School that they could play their sport and that that student that stood up here was a freshman. So that means by their junior year or their senior year, they won't have access to soccer because I know Jackson County Early College don't have enough people. >> Is there an option to grandfather existing students in if you were to split? that has occurred before, predates my tenure, but I think the last time, and y'all were probably not on the board, that this board talked about this, that was an option to grandfather in current students, like starting at this freshman class and um going through the rest of their JCE, >> even students that had already been accepted right now. That >> That's what I think she's saying. >> Yeah. >> So,

092yes, that's an option. I learned that today when Jake and I had a conversation about this that um the last time this board considered and made a change, they permitted that to happen. If that were to occur, um at the last time, the high school athletic association did not require uh reporting of both schools entire population. So it was just Smoky Mountain High School's numbers and those few kids that were playing were counted singly correct instead of the entire school. >> Now I serve >> but it's not guaranteed that >> I serve on the North Carolina Association board and in my two years that I've been on that board, we have not had any kind of conversation about that. Um, and I would certainly look to investigate if that's what you guys directed me to

093do. If that would be the compromise that you want to make, I'm happy to do whatever you direct me to do. >> That is a compromise I'm willing to look into because I can't I can't feel good about making a decision tonight to separate Jackson County Community School students from the sport that they started playing when they started as freshmen. But if we can grandfather that in then yes, I am willing to wait until June. >> I will investigate and find out if we can um grandfather incoming freshmen through the senior class at JCC. That's what you'd like me to do >> and investigate whether they're going to the whole population. >> Absolutely. I will do that. >> Thank you. I'm willing to wait until June because at least the students know that we're working

094to try hard to make sure that they can play their sport. >> Is everybody okay with that? >> We're working hard, Gail. >> Well, it would help me if the North Carolina Athletic Association would if it wasn't so fluent. >> Well, that's not going to happen. >> I know. Why don't >> as long as enrollments are changing across the state of North Carolina designations are going to change too. So >> yeah, but we're not talking about being on the bridge. We're talking about like solidly dropping into >> I mean if it was like going to be on the edge then you might be >> well what's the point? >> Based off those numbers that I provided >> well right now it's >> we're like nine kids different. >> Nine students. It reminds me, it's as

095not humorous as this is right now, but it reminds me of a real where Key and Peele, they're they're asking this guy, "Give $5 to save a child." $5 to save a child. He's like, "Please leave me alone." No. $5 to save a child. Okay, here's $10. And a van pulls up and they got all these kids in the back of this van. And they pull two kids out and they SAY, "ALL RIGHT, GET OUR KIDS. ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY BACK IN." AND IT'S LIKE THEY DRIVE OFF with them. And it's like I should HAVE GAVE $100 AND got all the kids out. It all the kids deserve to play. Even the nine extra kids. Sorry, that's just me. >> I will get an answer to you as quickly as possible. >> I'll put it off

096till June. >> Remove the amendment at this point. >> We never pass. >> We did not vote. >> We didn't vote to withdraw it. Yes. >> Withdraw. >> I vote to withdraw the agenda. The >> the motion that I made. >> Yes. >> All right. Then the first item on the action agenda is Christy Walker with budget amendments. >> How do you follow that, Christie? >> No comment. Um, I have for you tonight an amendment number seven that I'm requesting approval for to be made to our budget resolution the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026. The following funds are in that amendment. Your state public school funds and your federal funds. If you have any questions about those two amendments, I'm happy to answer them at this time. I make a motion that we approve

097budget amendment number seven. I second that motion. >> All in favor? >> Thank you. >> Up next, the proposed 2627 board of education meeting schedule. Dr. Ay. >> Yes, sir. You have um had emailed to you a proposed meeting schedule. I want to point out a couple of things that I do every year, and that is that the uh all of our board meetings are typically on the fourth Tuesday of the month. However, in November and December, we moved those up to the third as a result of Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. Um, in the proposed one I have sent to you, the March meeting one is also moved up because we do not want to be meeting during spring break. Um, which would have been March 23rd. Um, but I I really want to point

098out the June meeting. And so, um, all the others follow that same fourth Tuesday schedule except for June. And the June meeting, um, would have fallen on June the or I thought maybe it was June the 30th. Is it June 20? It would have been on June 22nd. However, remember uh June is the favorite time of month for Christy in the finance department as we're closing everything out for our fiscal year. So, I would ask that that meeting be moved to the fifth Tuesday, which is June 29th. We had a similar conversation last year. However, last year that fell in the week for July 4th, but for next year, July 4th is on a Sunday, and the um state will be recognizing that on the following Monday, July 5th. So, I uh am happy to

099have conversation or answer questions you may have about the proposed schedule, but otherwise, I would ask for you um to take action on this. Um, I don't know the dates, but um, I have four grandchildren graduating in May next year. Three from high school and one from college. Now, that just affects me, but I don't know the dates and um, I doubt that it would be on a Tuesday, but >> we can always adjust it closer to time. >> Is that something we could look at? Okay. >> We usually do like a month ahead of time, >> right? Okay, >> that would be fine if needed. >> Um, that is the Tuesday after Memorial Day again for the 27th school year. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> So, I would ask for action. >> I make

100a motion that we approve the meeting schedule for the board of education for the 20 26 2027 school year. >> Um, I'll second that motion. >> All in favor? All right. Up next, Laura deals with the I Ready Supplemental Program. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Ays. In your board packet this evening, you have a quote provided by Curriculum Associates. They are the sole source vendor for the program I Ready that we use. That's something we use with our K8 students. Um, three times a year. We do a diagnostic assessment with those students using the program. It lets us know how they're doing in their reading and math skills. Then it also gives some individualized support that teachers can uh work on with them individually or the students can work on

101and practice. Um that's synchronized to the level of support that they need. So it does exceed our $30,000 threshold. So I do need your approval for that. Uh we have been using this for a couple of years. It is a supplemental program and we do use federal funds for that. So it's not taking away from state um or local funds. But I do um would like to see if you have any questions this evening or I would seek your approval for that so we could get that all lined up and taken care of for August. >> You still feel good about this yourself? >> I think it gives our students or I think it gives our teachers good data points about students. This last year our teachers have really increased in the way of doing

102student goals. So, it's not just about becoming proficient or becoming at the top level of success, but what's adequate growth from where I'm at right now. And so, that incremental growth for every student because sometimes if a student um is a little bit behind, it can seem intimidating in life that you're not going to have the opportunity to catch up to your peers. But by setting those small goals of, well, I need to get here at, you know, a little faster than I was going and then here a little faster than I was going that I can catch up to my peers. So, our teachers have been doing a really good job with that. So, I'd like for us I would recommend that we utilize it for at least another year or two so that

103we can see what outcomes that's able to give to the students and teachers. Um, it also has a predictor score for students who are in grades third through 8th grade. So, we do use it with K2 students for math, but in third through 8th grade, it also gives predictor scores for principles and teachers to be analyzed uh or to analyze the probability that the students would pass their EOGS. It of course um it's not a brain scientist. doesn't know for sure, but that gives those students um a predictor score so that teachers can know who they need to support more so that we can ultimately have student success. So, I think there are a lot of strengths to the program. >> That's awesome. Any other questions? >> Have a motion. >> I make a motion

104that we approve the I Ready purchase approval. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? Thank you. >> All right. Up next, Angie Dills with the CTE local application for approval. >> Good evening, chair, members of board, and Dr. Ayes. Tonight, I bring to you the North Carolina CTE application for state and federal funding. This funding provides um funding uh professional development, teacher salaries, uh product support, equipment, supplies for all areas of CTE and they include business marketing, information technology, health science, early childhood education, culinary arts, carpentry, woodworking, horiculture, animal science, natural resource management, agricultural mechanics, and STEM. um providing lots of different quality credentiing and certification opportunities. Um and new this year, I'm really excited to add, we'll be adding medical assisting into the certifications that we're offering. So, we're we're really excited

105to get that off of the ground at Smoky Mountain High School this year. At this time, I would like to ask if you have any questions about the CTE programming in Jackson County schools and ask your approval for the 2027 CTE local application for state and federal funding. >> Um, go ahead. >> What is the difference between medical assisting and c uh the CNA certification? >> So, it is very similar. Okay. >> The CNA essentially prepares students for a career inside a long range um like a a nursing home facility type those kinds of things. >> Medical assisting is more the route to prepare students to work in doctor's offices, do the triaging and that kind of thing. Okay. And so by diversifying what we can do is give students both of those arenas. Technically,

106a student can graduate with their CNA, their pharmacy tech, and their medical assisting licenses to give them a leg up into nursing school. This is a little different for the students who want more of the medical office type of profession more than the long-term skilled facility profession. >> Thank you. >> That's a great question. That's a great >> question. Um, I just really hate to see Blige get left out on CTE so many times. Is there any uh indication that you're going to allow Blige to have some additional CTE courses? >> So, currently we have Mr. Presler up there who teaches six different courses in agriculture, which is our widest range of courses that you can offer. Um, and then we have SEC courses in career and technical areas that also the kids have available.

107And I think Dr. Friselle can help me here. I think he's got some plans to add some business courses in through SEC next fall. If if that's correct to face with SEC and meeting our space and everything ready for it. It's just a matter of them working out the details. >> Yeah. Well, you know, we have so many things that were used a long time ago, like we had the the commercial kitchen. Um, and I don't know where all those things are now, but it wouldn't be any problem to get something like that working again. And I think that Bluidge could give you some financial support. Um, >> we can look into that. We are just we are strapped for funding. Like adding this is going to strap that the medical assisting is going to

108strap up the other courses because we're having to give up something to get something because we don't have any more funds to expand with our state and federal aotments. But we certainly can look into what we can add within the scope of Blue Ridge would have some funds to help. I mean >> is there the student interest? I mean have we >> looked at other schools and like Blige and figured out what the interest of the students is? Is there enough for future when there is funds? Well, so currently the enrollment at Blueidge Early College is kind of what is uh challenging >> to um look at overall programming to make sure that the students get everything. So then you're mixing all their high school core, then you're adding in the SEC coursework with what

109we also can offer as far as uh courses in the business and some of the health courses that SEC offers along with they have a uh band, music teacher, PE, those kinds of electives as well. So, um, but but right now, I mean, our current population of students, >> uh, where we're sitting, um, they're spread among that. The class sizes are not >> okay. I personally don't think that enough attention is being given to Blige because our community is so um technical and hands-on in nature and um you know it's fine to train these kids to go off to college and this year we only gave out three scholarships out of the entire senior class but I look at all those kids who have such mechanical ability and that kind of thing and and it

110just bothers me that we are so left out when it comes to CTE courses. We can certainly look into that. >> And I will say that during um Dr. Friselle's tenure um he has done surveys a couple different times about what students are interested in and that's where we have the drum class and the other interests that they have. There are currently about uh less than 120 students on the Blige early college side and remember that that includes the seventh and eighth grade students. So um I'm looking at Dr. Friselle around 100 >> um high school only grades 9 through 12. So when you're thinking about um opportunities for them to have with the CTE funds, they're allocated based off interest a and enrollment there too. So it would be very difficult to put another

111teacher up there when only two students might be interested in a pathway. One of the schools we visited for middle school had a CTE program that basically had four or five courses with one instructor and the kid kind of was self-guided through those courses. Is that >> has that been looked at for Blue Ridge maybe or >> I can't remember the name of that. You know, they have it in Bunkham County in Asheville City. It name escapes me right now. Highly expensive. Um project lead the way >> project. um highly expensive, but you have you can't just pay per pupil either. You just buy the course. So again, if you only have two kids that are interested in that course, >> then it's not >> fiscally responsible to buy an entire course for two students.

112Not to say that those students aren't important and their desires aren't. I think Dr. Brazelle's done a good job of bringing in like career exploration and guest speakers and opportunities for them to take field trips so that it doesn't take away from the current CTE funding that um and Nick's providing six courses over an entire year. We don't want to lose that and he is very diverse in what he's teaching. But that's why we're looking at adding some business pieces of that because there hasn't been an interest in >> fire safety, culinary arts, some of those things that when the school was larger, >> um there was more interest in some of those more diverse programs. I didn't mean to speak for you, Angie. We did have an interest in CNA, the CNA program, but

113we just never got, you know, and there was a lot of support there, financial support from the community. Um, but we just never brought it to fruition. >> I think the problem with CNA, the students have to go through health science one and health science 2 and then do their CNA, which is two courses, and we didn't have enough students to go all the way through the course sequence. So that's where SEC does offer that option and we can get the students um enrolled in that and it's also completely free to them. Um but it's incredibly expensive to offer when you would only have one or two students >> and we also had the transportation issue >> very much so. Yes. >> Well, I just believe that we are not meeting the individual needs of

114a lot of our students. you know, we're cramming them into these courses. And one of the biggest learning experiences that I had was um to find out that um if the kids coming from the eighth grade to the high school did not um make themselves known that they were thrown in, even the ones with most severe disabilities were thrown into Algebra One, American History, and I said, "These kids can't do that." Um, I mean, maybe one of them could have I mean, I'm I'm not going to subtract an opportunity from anybody. But the thing is, we've got to start addressing students needs one by one and say, "Well, we can't afford to fix this classroom or to get another teacher." We used to get interns from Western Carolina um who loved to have the extra

115money um you know, so there's a way to do it if people just ease up. I think that we also um have been complicated by the fact that we are mandated by the state of North Carolina to allow students to graduate with a 22 credit diploma. And before when we had a local board policy when local boards had the control to do that then it offered students six more courses in ways that they can access career and technical needs uh certifications and credentiing. That was very very important. And now we have students graduating at the end of their junior year and going on without any defined career and technical education credentiing support. Um some of them are going into the world of work. They're not really ready to go to college. But that's also something

116that we're facing in terms of student interest and having those kids stick around for senior year in order for us to be able to help that when they're going on. And um um it is it is a real concern. um for the past two or three years now that students are doing that. So, >> okay. I just don't want to see Blidge continue to get left out. I mean, surely there's something that we can do to interest several students at a time. Even if we have to go do a sales job or whatever, >> we can have a work meeting to discuss it. >> That would be great. >> Yeah. >> Yep. We should call a work meeting, but we can't call that now. And let's make a motion on the CTE local application if

117you can. >> Did anyone have other questions? >> Make a motion that we approve the CTE local application for the 2627 school year. >> Uh second that motion. >> All in favor. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you. Up next, we have Josh Francis with the request to authorize the superintendent to approve purchase of fuel in excess of $30,000. >> Good evening, uh board chair, members of the board, Dr. Ays, I'm coming before you tonight, um to request the authorization of the superintendent to approve purchase of fuel in the excess of $30,000. this a one time thing or >> no it's it's how long can we stretch that out? >> Two years ago we did this and it was for the entire year and so that means when Josh comes and says hey

118fuel's going up next week because he sometimes has an inside ear on that >> we can go ahead and fill our tank. So that's kind of where we landed right now. Um we need to make a purchase but also so as not to have to wait and bring this to you every month. You can do that for an entire year. Oh yeah. >> Thank you for watching out. >> It's like playing the stock market. >> He's good at it, too. >> Well, I have good helpers. >> I make a motion that we approve the request to authorize the superintendent to purchase fuel in excess of $30,000. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Um, up next we have Adam Holt with alternative school modified accountability

119model option B approval. >> Good evening members of the board. Dr. Ays, I come again asking for your approval tonight for Jackson Community School to continue using the alternative accountability model. We've been using this model for I would say almost 10 years now. Um, it's something that all alternative schools have the option to. puts more of their weight on growth and students staying enrolled in school than just their academic performance on their EOGs and EOCC's. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have though. >> Um, yeah, I want to just throw something out there because we have a lot of parents who once we've gotten to this athletic thing were like, well, what about Jackson Community School? in Jackson Community School and unlike Jackson Early College and you might not be able

120to answer this question, Miss Gaining and I don't know but because Jackson we we vote that that is an alternative learning model. They don't have to hold to the same academic rigor and standards as our other schools. Is that correct or not? >> So they still have the same graduation requirements. So they're still required to have the same course structure that every other school is. It's just how their model is. So all our other schools have the ABCDF criteria that uses 80% based on their test scores and 20% based on growth. >> Okay. >> This model uses 60% growth, 20% achievement, which is their test scores and 20% on persistence is what they call, but it's staying in staying enrolled in school. >> It's how the school's graded. >> Yeah. Okay. I would like to

121say too, I said this to the the governor's uh education commission several years ago. The standard course of study addresses content. It does not address methodology. >> Something to think about. >> Okay. So, but we've been using this model though for a while. >> Yes. >> But you can use that model and do hands-on hands-on hands-on extended learning experiences and that kind of thing. You don't have to be read the chapter and answer the questions at the end of the year review. >> Sure. Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to know. >> You're welcome. >> Other questions? >> I have a motion. >> I make a motion that we approve the alternative school modified accountability model option B. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? >> Thank you. Greg

122Stewart request for student Chromebook replacement. >> Big spender. >> I was waiting for you to save some money earlier. >> Yeah, he saved a lot. >> Now he's spending it. >> I'd like to point out I did save money. Yeah. >> Not quite as much as you're No, I didn't. No, I didn't. But I am here tonight uh looking for approval or seeking approval to uh purchase Chromebooks. um 60 Lenovo Chromebooks. They'll be um specifically for Jackson Community School. Um they've uh we were able to transition them to Chromebooks earlier than all of our other high schools. Um and they've been had those Chromebooks since then since 2021. And it's time to refresh those and give them brand new devices to learn on. Um so I'm seeking approval for $35,229.75 to purchase from YNS Technologies.

123Uh, you should have the quote in your um packet, but do you have any questions? >> I do have a question. Um, actually not about the um >> Oh, no, no, I know. I got a question, you know, the cost. Um, this is probably to u Mrs. stills. But do we do we have a policy about the amount of time that young children are on a device? >> We don't have a policy. The school board does not have a defined policy. we have protocol of what we recommend >> because we all know every research shows that the more time they're on that and my concern is that with children when and I know because being a teacher when you have you're working with one group and kids have maybe downtime because their group's already done

124something are they on those devices >> I would say know these are mostly used for centers. In fact, um when we're talking about Chromebooks, we're talking about grade 6, 12. >> Well, this says kindergarten. >> That's the next item. Next one. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I jumped ahead. I jumped ahead. >> But still, a lot of those are centerbased when they're accessing that. They do have some whole group instruction. Sometimes it's very interactive with lots of apps, but most of the time they are not sitting and looking at it. Greg and Laura and I have really been looking at a lot of articles of educational jour, you know, just small groups of devices. We still are obligated by the state of North Carolina to use them for impact breeding assessments. >> Yes. >> So we

125do have school for that. Um but we are fully aware and respectful of the fact that there's no substitute for that direct instruction happening with that teacher with those children. >> Well, and even play, we know that play is a very important part of learning. And if they're on a device, they're not interacting with other children, interacting with centers in the classrooms and those kind of things. Maybe that's something that we as a board should come up with as a policy after you all do your research. Could you bring that back to us and we could consider having a policy about especially K? The next one I had a question that same question >> that would more fall under our instructional expectations. >> Okay. >> Um more than a board policy in terms of responsible

126use. We already do have an acceptable and responsible use policy but it would fall under the instructional >> instructional. Okay. Could you share that with us at some point when you Thank you. >> Yeah. Absolutely. And my goal >> I'm sorry I jumped. >> No, no, no. Absolutely. Um and as uh Michelle said, I did uh recently when jumping ahead to the K2 um iPads, we pulled all K2 um teachers and principles asking them how often they use the devices, what they use the devices for, what's most important, what type of device, um the things that uh it contributes to and stuff. Trying to get that feedback from them. But my goal is always to have the tools and the connectivity and the access to those resources so that when those professionals and those teachers

127make the decision that it is going to benefit the students education, that tool is there for them and it's ready to be used and accessible. So, >> and unlike the Chromebooks, they don't go home with the kids. >> Not it. Uh some I believe uh Holly, you do have to help some >> this this is just >> right. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> I was thinking more about the iPads because she she jumped ahead. So, I know you're gonna >> The iPads do not. Yeah, >> you should just lump them both together. >> I should I should uh >> Okay, >> well, we'll try to vote back to back to get it out of the way now. >> No worries. Yeah. Do you have any more questions about Chromebooks? And then we'll not uh

128I seek approval to make the purchase. >> I make a motion that we approve the student Chromebook replacement for Jackson Community School. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? I think I'm still here. >> Further discussion on the iPads. >> Anybody want to talk about iPads? >> No. >> So I I am seeking approval for for iPads for kindergarten. This is kindergarten only. Um and it'll be a rotation. We do iPads for K through um second grade. So kindergarten, first and second grade. They have classroom sets. This will replace all of kindergarten across the district at all schools. and it's part of our seven-year staggered um cycle for refresh on those devices. So every seven years those devices will be refreshed to make sure that the apps and resources that they have are

129accessible on those devices and they're secure. So >> I make a motion that we approve the request for student iPad replacement districtwide for kindergarten. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? >> All right. Thank you. Up next, we've got Jake Buchanan with more expensive requests. >> Mr. Chair, Dr. Members of the board, how are y'all doing tonight? >> It's been kind of quiet tonight. >> Snap back. Y'all are doing >> Let's see if I can jump ahead. >> Y'all are doing great. Yeah, just whatever you want. Whatever you want to do. >> So, uh, we'll try and wrap us up here for this party meeting tonight. So, uh, the first item that I'd like to talk to the board about is, uh, funding a lights replacement at the stadium at Smoky Mountain High

130School. Um, this project will be funded from DOT rideaway funds. So, as a reminder, um, with the 107 project, um, DOT purchased, um, a good chunk of property, um, in a long 107 that belongs to that was attached to Smoky Mountain High School, but also Jackson County owns Smoky Mountain High School and so those funds went to them. So, they're holding those funds for us and so those funds have to go towards a project at Smoky Mountain High School. So, we have we have gotten approval from the county to utilize those funds for a lights project at Smoky Mountain High School. We went through the the bid process. We had Reese Nolan Mlearath um as our electrical engineers to design an updated system. We went out for bid. We got good bids for it. Um

131and the lowest bid was from Camp Electric, which is in your uh packet for $148,300. Um, and so it is our recommendation that that we approve this. These will be modern LED lights. It'll be much brighter. It'll also in the scope of this, we're upgrading some of the pedestrian lighting. Um, that'll be on even when the stadium lighting's not on, which will be nice for the stadium. Be happy to answer any questions you have. >> You won me when you said you were going to pay for it. So, yep. >> Yeah. I'm taking it easy. Um, we you're paying. >> That's right. >> Empty your pockets out on the table, Wes. >> I'll I'll lay out of this vote. >> Yeah. There you go. >> But if no questions, I seek your approval for this

132purchase. >> I make a motion that we approve the stadium lights replacement at Smoky Mountain High School. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? >> All right. >> Very good. The next item I have is uh window replacement at Ky Valley. I saw Miss Cats here earlier. I'm sure she's so excited about this because we've been struggling with those windows for a while at Ky Valley. So, we did go through the process of uh bidding out this. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough biders the first time around. So, we had to go through a second round of bidding. Um we did have we opened those actually today. We had two um solid bids and the low bid was MSJ Construction which is out of Guilford County, North Carolina with a bid of $88,900. Um

133again, these plans were uh drawn up by our architect. He's reviewed the bid and recommends that we go with this company. This will be funds from this will be capital funds coming from the county to us. So, if you have any questions, be happy to answer them about that. But they are long needed replacement. um of these windows and we're excited to finally get it done >> and timeline. >> So, uh by approving it tonight, I'm gonna give them a notice to proceed tomorrow if you so approve. They said it would take them about 21 days to secure the materials and about 30 days to install. So, we still by by meeting it >> tonight um our hope is being and done before school year starts. >> That's great. Okay, >> I make a motion

134that we approve the window replacement at Ky Valley. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? >> Policy updates. >> Yeah, very good. Just have a couple of policies for you there. I will uh point out the first two there. Core caught those and those are just corrections and Ashley can weigh in. Um Core can weigh in to align um our policies. doesn't substantively change our policies, but it aligns it with the calendar of the election of board members that was ratified by the by the general assembly. So, this just trus that up so that our board policy matches >> the decision of the general assembly. And then the third policy is a very simple uh mostly technical changes to our board policy on lure and Dr. better reviewed that it was also recommended

135by your schoolboard association and your attorney and no no consequential changes in that policy. So if you don't have any questions about those three, I'd ask for your approval of all three. >> I make a motion that we approve polity policy updates one through three. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor? And then field trips. >> I thought I was going to get away from field trips. Um, so this is actually a um a summer trip and it is for grades six through nine. It's a very small group of students. I believe there are 12 going and this is with our gear up grant and funding. So they are traveling to the Knoxville Zoo on June the 30th and they have the appropriate amount of chaperones um and again it is funded through

136the gear up grant. So >> for 30 students >> 30 students. I ask your approval for those students to travel. I make a motion that we approve the field trip for gear up grades 6 through9 to the Knoxville Zoo. >> I second that motion. >> All in favor. >> All right. At this time, we board finds it necessary to go into close session pursuant to general statute 14318.11 for the following purposes under subsection A1 to prevent the disclosure of privilege or confidential personnel information pursuant to GS115C-319-321 and A3 to discuss matters protected by the attorney client privilege. Do I have a motion to go into close session? >> I make a motion that we go into close session. >> I'll second. All in favor? I told him to send. >> All right. There was no

137action taken during close session. At this time, Dr. S, do you have personnel action items to present? >> Yes, sir. I am requesting approval of the personnel action uh agenda as presented. >> I make a motion that we approve the personnel action agenda as presented. I second that motion. >> All in favor? I All right. Next regularly scheduled business meeting of the board of education is Thursday, June 25th. That is Thursday, June 25th, 2025 at 6 p.m. at the board of education administrative office at 398 Hospital Road in Sil, North Carolina. At this time, do I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? >> I make a motion that we adjourn. >> I second. >> All in favor? My