001Please, it's 6:00 and uh call this meeting to order. Monday, May the 12th. And this is the uh regular session board meeting for May. And u at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. I'll make a motion. We have a motion to approve the agenda by Mr. Schuford and a second by Mr. Barkstdale. Is there any discussion concerning the motion to approve the agenda? With no uh discussion, we'll have a vote. And all those in favor signify by raising your right hand, which is unanimous. We will now have an invocation. At this time, I invite you all to join with us or engage in a moment of silent reflection. And Mr. Abernathy, if you'd lead us in that. Thank you. Let us pray. Lord, grant us faith enough to make real the
002love of God. Grant us hope in your example for hope does not disappoint. We pray for our students, especially those that are graduating. Help them to realize that life's opportunities will often come to them in the guise of challenge or hard work. Help them to be successful. We give thanks to the teachers and staff that made their graduation possible and for a job very well done. Help us to be faithful in prayer and prosper the work of our hands. Amen. Amen. Amen. At this time, uh, Mr. McInness will have you to introduce our, uh, famous McDow High School NJOTC uh, color garden. All right, we're going to go ahead and do the uh pledge of allegiance. You guys want to go ahead and push colors, but please stand. Mark [Music] right of the United States
003of America. to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ready, cut, Ready. Cut post. Arms forward. March. And also, ladies and gentlemen, we're privileged tonight to have First Sergeant Miley here to uh discuss some of the accomplishments and some of the things that are coming up with the ROTC's. Uh so if you'd like to step forward and uh take the podium. Uh good evening members of the board, ladies and gentlemen, everyone else here present. I just want to start off by saying uh thank you very much uh for all the support over this past year. It did not go in vain by any way, shape or form. We recently got certified from our area inspector. Uh we are looking at out of the 51 years
004in Mcdow High School's existence of our unit, 42 of those years we are a distinguished unit. That is a very serious accolade, ladies and gentlemen. We are arguably arguably the most decorated and distinguished unit in North Carolina. Thank you. I'd also like to add we were a little worried as many of our seniors were departing like many seniors in many programs uh with our rifle team moving on. We had to reset our teams. For those who don't know, our rifle team is nationally ranked 17th in the nation across all services. That's approximately around 10,000 programs across the nation. These two cadets you're seeing right here, Cadet Summer Wy, Cadet Nonpin Steiner, they're on our new varsity team. They just placed third in an amateur shootout. So, good to know we still got some great stuff
005to look forward to with our rifle team. If we could please a round of applause. Yeah, we just placed third. Uh Summer White, she's also ranked 14th in the nation as an individual shooter and she uh just took first overall at that recent competition. I'd like to point out something to be proud of in our region. from western North Carolina to eastern Tennessee. We are arguably the toughest competing region in the nation. So, it says accolades of our community and our program. I'd like to digress with this. Please continue to support our great program. We couldn't do it without you. Uh I want to definitely throw a shout out to Miss uh Malora Bennett. Her trust and confidence in our program has been amazing. We couldn't do it without her presence, her ability to enable
006us and our young Americans. And all I simply ask in return is we continue continue to see your faces out there at these events, at these programs. It means a lot to the next generation of leaders. Thank you. Tough act to follow. U Chairman Frank, Vice Chairman Abernathy, ladies and gentlemen of the board, folks out there with us tonight. We've got quite a few things going on that we're excited about. Uh the first one he mentioned Miss Bennett. I will tell you Miss Bennett's not in attendance with us tonight and I I don't want to give away a surprise, but I will tell you where she is. Uh we had some students that are being recognized for the Congressional uh art awards. So they are at Blue Ridge Community College this evening uh receiving that
007award and I do believe we had a finalist that will be flown up to Washington DC uh and be recognized there. So once again, another national rec recognition. I wish I could tell you the name, but I can't yet because I don't want to get ahead of the congressional award. Um, but I did want to just point that out tonight. I'm going to jump right into my uh superintendent remarks. May is a time of milestones and celebrations for our students, staff, and families. Tonight, we are celebrating the success of many of our talented students who who've earned state and national recognitions this spring. We are also proud to announce that our Lady Titan softball team will compete in the third round of the state playoffs tomorrow evening at Weddington High School. I have to say
008if I were Weddington I would be a little concerned. They they've been really really tough this year especially after getting the girls back from the basketball over the weekend. It was Mother's Day and what better gift for a mother than a child's graduation. It's it's funny how those two things tend to go together. you have the universities and community college that often graduate that same weekend. Uh this weekend, many of our students earned their associates degrees. 54 degrees were awarded at MAI and MEC while 10 were awarded at McDow High School. A total of 64 associates degrees were awarded to Mcdow County School students. I always think this is amazing that they earned these before they're presented with their high school diplomas. Just think about that. Let that settle in for just a minute. It's
009such a big deal. Uh, graduation for MAI and MEC will be held May 16th. Uh, and then graduation for the Summit Academy will be June 3rd. Uh, graduation for McDow High School will be June 6th. So, we've got those up and coming. The county office has been very busy working on plans for 25 and 26 school year. uh really since January we really start preparing for the next school year preparing for convocation uh building of schedules and reading and working through budgets. We have heavily empa emphasized our collaboration between uh our district and McDow Tech. We're fortunate to have such great partners who want to help our students earn and achieve at the college level. Just mentioned those associates degrees. Uh we're even striving to be a pilot with the state that would allow our
010traditional high school students as early as ninth grade to receive some college credit. We hope to see the number of graduates with associates degree certificates grow. And I see some eighth graders here in the front row. So if we get that pilot and you're at the traditional high school, you could be one of the first ones that can attend community college classes in the ninth grade at at McDow High School. We're really pushing for that. I'd love to see us be able to do that. We're also incredibly great grateful for our partnership with our county commissioners who've been very open and supportive in our budget meetings. Tonight at the commissioners meeting just about an hour ago, our commissioners agreed to support us regarding land contracts that will allow us to take the next step in
011becoming shovel ready to apply for a state level grant to build a new school board. Thank you for the work which which has brought us to this point. In the grand scheme of things, it's like the first quarter. There's a lot of work to be done and the process can take four, five, or even six years. Regardless of the time, I know we will put in the hard work needed to ensure we can build something that will stand for generations. This is essential work and I am honored to work alongside of each of you throughout this process. Thank you, Dr. Grit. And that is exciting news. look forward to getting further along in that process. Yes, sir. Item number six on the agenda is board proclamation. And I would like to uh read this uh
012proclamation recognizing May the 27th, 2025 as McDow Hero Day. Whereas the strength and spirit of Mcdow County are rooted in the courage, service, and sacrifice of the many heroes who protect, serve, and uplift our community each and every day. And whereas these heroes include law enforcement officers, emergency services, and firefighters who devote themselves to the well-being of others. And whereas the people of McDow County benefit daily from the dedication, bravery, and selflessness of these individuals who often go unrecognized but never unnoticed. And whereas it is fitting and proper that we pause to honor, thank and celebrate those who give so much of themselves for the greater good of our community. And whereas McDow Hero Day will serve as a reminder of the impact our local heroes have on our lives and as an opportunity to
013express our deepest gratitude for their service. Now therefore, I, Terry Frank, chairman of the board of McDow County Schools, do hereby proclaim May 27th, 2025 as McDow Hero Day in the McDow County School System and encourage all students and teachers to join in recognizing and celebrating the many heroes, past and present, who make Mcdow County a safer, stronger, and more compassionate place to live. So, proclaim this the 12th day of May, 2025. And at this time, I will uh entertain a motion to uh to make that proclamation set in our record. I'll make a motion. I'll second. We have a motion by Mr. Baker and a second by Mr. subtles for the board proclamation day, May 27th, 2025. Is there any further discussion? At this time, I'll call for a vote and all those in
014favor signify by raising your right hand, which is unanimous. And Dr. Grit, I'll turn it back over to you, sir. Okay. Before I step up to uh pass out some awards, I want to uh just let the folks know what that proclamation was all about. Uh we had some students who took that upon themselves as part of the Chick-fil-A leadership program. And I know Miss Finley is going to come up and share that information with us, but these students took this proclamation to our county commissioners as well as our city council and had them recognized this day. Um, and we're very proud of the work that you guys have done. We we didn't necessarily want you to come present to us. We wanted to have you come and receive an award for what you've done
015for the community. So, this is our time to really say thank you to the students who did that. And Miss Finley, I'll turn it over to you. Well, thank you. It's always a pleasure to come and recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our students in their school system. I want to give you a little bit about our Chick-fil-A academy and then lead into how McDow Hero came about. Um, we had a new initiative this year in that it's called the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, which is a national high school leadership program focused on impact through action. After learning about this last spring, I asked Miss Kendall Wall to explore how it would benefit our students. Thanks to her hard work, McDow County CTE successfully launched the academy this year, providing students with meaningful opportunities to grow as
016leaders while serving their community. But first, I want to extend a special thank you to Dallas Stenmire, the owner of the Morgan Chick-fil-A, for his incredible support. His commitment to servant leadership has been a driving force behind their program's success. from mentoring students to supporting their projects, Mr. Soundenmeer has made a lasting impact on our students and school and the greater community. While he could not be here tonight because of other commitments, we wanted to publicly recognize him and thank him for his partnership and leadership and for the food that he brought to us every meeting. But as part of the Chick-fil-A academy, students were tasked with creating and executing a community project. After reflecting on the effects of Hurricane Helen and the January 21st lockdown at McDow High School, they felt a strong desire
017to honor and celebrate our local first responders. These events reminded us of the daily sacrifices made by the men and women who serve and protect our community. Their project became known as McDow County Hero Day. And to gain support, the following students presented their proposal to both McDow County Commissioners and the Marian City Council. Garrison Dietrich, Caitlyn Finley, Stella Webb, Reed Wall, and Jeremy Barry. You ladies, following their presentation, the McDow County Commissioners voted to officially recognize May the 27th, 2025 as McDow County Hero Day, and the city council issued a proclamation in its honor. We are incredibly proud of these students for stepping out of their comfort zones and becoming advocates for our community. I'm also going to email you a video that shows all the activities that the Chick-fil-A academy has done throughout
018the school year. Um, I'll send that later tonight. And again, thank you for your proclamation as well. [Applause] Oh my god. [Applause] All right. Yes. Yes. Next, we are proud to recognize two outstanding students from the McDow Early College who competed at the Skills USA North Carolina State Leadership Conference held April the 9th through the 11th at the Greensboro Coliseum. This conference is the largest showcase of career and technical education in North Carolina with over 3,000 students competing in more than 140 leadership development events. Cooper Phillips and Malachi Wilson represented McDow County in the EMT competition where they completed a written exam, demonstrated their skills across four stations, and responded to trauma and medical scenarios. We are proud to share that Cooper and Malachi placed first in the state and will advance to represent North
019Carolina at the Skills USA National Leadership and Skills Conference June the 23rd through the 27th in Atlanta, Georgia. And Mr. Barry Mc Peters is their teacher. Congratulations students. [Applause] Next, I want to recognize two outstanding DECA students. Again, if you recall, they were here last month. Bailey Moss and Rafe Fiddex. In March, they were honored as top qualifiers for the virtual business challenge restaurant event. In April, they traveled to the international DECA conference in Orlando, Florida, where they earned second place internationally. We are incredibly proud of their hard work and dedication, as well as the support of their adviserss, Miss Heather Martin and Mr. Todd Queen, and they have assured me that first place is coming next year. International international international competition. Yes. Second place. [Applause] Now we will turn our attention to the FLA
020state winners from Foothills Community School. Sydney Stafford, Mary Ruth Blake, and Kayn Macarthur placed fourth in the community service project category for their work supporting the Alzheimer's unit at Rose Hill Retirement Home. Their project included Carolyn during the holidays and spending time after school crafting with the residents. The team gave a sevenminute presentation at the state conference showcasing their chapter's impact and they took fourth place. Next, Nathan Tipper took first place in mission and pledge event, reciting the FPLA mission and pledge from memory and sharing a personal reflection on its meaning. All four of these FLA students have qualified to complete compete at the FA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California, June the 28th through July the 3. And their adviserss are Miss Tasha Ramsey and Miss Katie McFarland. [Applause] Next, we will recognize West
021McDow Middle School FA students. After experiencing the effects of Hurricane Helen, Carson Buchanan, Landon Latner, and Lucas Wisman were inspired to help their community recover. Their community service project earned second place in the state and included supporting distribution centers, feeding relief workers, helping displaced families, running raffles to raise money, providing Christmas gifts for flood affected families, and delivering lunch to the Army Corps of Engineers assisting with a cleanup. Logan Reese also placed fourth in the financial literacy competition and he had to demonstrate knowledge around competencies of various financial skills and take an objective test and again these students have qualified for the national leadership conference. Yes, I'm sorry. These students along with FCS's FBA students have qualified for the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California, which will be June the 23rd through July the 3.
022And then the adviserss for West Midtown FBA are Miss Mindy Hutchkins and Miss Sarah Wills. [Applause] Next, we are proud to recognize Miss Gracie Davis, who has been selected as a 2012526 regional FFA officer. To earn this honor, Gracie had to complete a multi-step application process, including an interview at McDow High School, a written application and essay, and a final interview alongside 16 other applicants. She was one of eight selected and will serve as the parliamentarian. In her role, she will ensure that the proper use of Robert's rules of order during meetings are helped and will help lead two leadership conferences for the entire western region. Miss Sophie Boris is her FFA adviser and this marks the fifth time that McDow County has had a regional FFA officer and we it's a proud condition that
023tradition that we hope will continue. So [Applause] congratulations. And finally, Carson Buchanan from West McDow Middle School and Riley Barrier from Foothills Community School were the two winners from our McDow Amazing Shake competition in February and they went on to compete at the global Amazing Shake competition in Atlanta. The Amazing Shake is a live competition that teaches students vital professional skills like communication and leadership, helping them to prepare to become the next generation of leaders. Carson and Riley placed in the top 50 out of 400 competitors based on their performance in the gauntlet and the work the room rounds. As firsttime competitors, this is an outstanding accomplishment and we're very proud of you. [Applause] That is also a national that is a national a global competition. Yes. And Miss Mindy Hutchkins um is in charge
024of our amazing shake along with Miss Tasha Ramsey and Katie McFarland from SCS. All right. So, thank you for selling all of celebrating all of our CT achievements tonight. I appreciate you always putting our students first. Good evening. We are very excited. We were able to honor two um nominees for the governor's school at the last board meeting and recently we received an email and have a third. Um we have a student that will be attending from McDow Early College, Mcdow High School and McDow Academy of Innovation. And so that bird exemplifies excellence in teaching and has consistently made a profound impact on student learning. Mrs. Bird has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to student success throughout her career. Her ability to break down mathematical concepts into accessible lessons has helped countless students build confidence and
025proficiency in mathematics. She creates an engaging classroom environment where students feel encouraged to ask questions, challenge themselves, and develop a deep understanding of mathematical principles. Beyond her instructional expertise, Miss Bird fosters a positive and supportive learning atmosphere. She takes the time to connect with students on a personal level, understanding their unique needs and learning styles. Her patient encouragement and belief in every student having potential have inspired many to overcome academic challenges and to achieve their goals. Colleagues and students alike admire Miss Bird for her professionalism, passion, and dedication to education. She actively contributes to the school community by mentoring fellow teachers, collaborating on curriculum development, and participating in initiatives that enhance student learning expertise. Her leadership and commitment to excellence serve as a role model for all educators. On a personal note, I absolutely adore
026Miss Bird for one, but for two, Miss Bird was the Fellowship of Christian Athlete sponsor when I was in high school and I was honored to be able to spend time with her doing outside projects and um she just is one of the very best even after retirement to come back and continue working because she cares about students and she cares that they grow and to continue to encourage them. So I think there is um this is a very very welldeserved honor, Miss Bird. [Applause] Next up for our classified employee of the month, please welcome Miss Stacy Buchanan as May's employee of the month. Miss Buchanan re routinely goes above and beyond, taking on responsibilities outside of her job scope, stepping up whenever needed, and doing it all with professionalism and team first attitude. Her
027hard work and willingness to support others has made a real difference in the IT department by improving morale and overall efficiency and helping those that desperately need it. When we say Stacy, help please. Miss Buchanan demonstrated exceptional dedication and versatility across multiple support areas. She successfully closed 40 support tickets in April, which represents only a portion of her workload as many of her contributions extend beyond what is recorded within Sherpa. In addition to maintaining her weekly school rotation responsibilities, Miss Buchanan assisted with sever several other roles that are typically assigned to other personnel. This included providing expert oversight and management of the county's website invaluable assistance with the LMS software, critical support of staff with class link asset management and other essential technology systems. Her ability to seamlessly manage and support these varied systems reflects
028on both her technical expertise and commitment to ensuring smooth operations across the district. She is a true professional and a valued team member. I'd also like to add to this to speak to her character is that Miss Buchanan is also a foster parent um within McDow County Schools and has fostered multiple children providing love and support for them. And I can think of no better way to serve others. So, thank you, Miss Buchanan. A very welldeserved honor. Thank you. Okay. Item number nine on the agenda is report from the teacher representative, Mr. Joy Hill. Mr. Hill, I have a question for you. By all means. Uh, we seem to have missed the memo up here on the board, but we notice everybody's in green over here. And you're in green, and some of the folks
029in the back are in green. Did we miss something? Oh, you didn't miss it. We just didn't tell you. Okay, good enough. Did Miss Bird leave? Okay, I just have to say I'm a little relieved because when I realized I was in the same room with Cheryl Bird again, I got all fluttery and um a little teareyed. I was in Miss Bird's class her very first year teaching. This is not the first time I've mentioned her at a board meeting, but I just this is in the presence of greatness and I love that woman. Okay. All right. Sorry. dignified. Okay. So, tonight we're going to hear from Old Fort Elementary and Pleasant Gardens Elementary. Uh I'm quite sure you're aware of why we might have coupled these two schools because they've been coupled all year
030long. Um also, as I've told you before, my mother went to Is it okay? Are we happy? Okay. Well, I'll just keep rambling then. I am quite adept at that. My mother went to Old Fort and my father. Yes, that's right. My father went to PG. So, this is what the coupling looks like. So, so our internet's down, Mr. Hill. So, you'll have to just go off your off your PowerPoint if you can off my rambling. All right. I can talk through it. All right. Well, I see a beautiful P. Okay. So, let's see. All right. So, this is from Old Fort. Uh, in the words of uh the administration at Oldfort, after a season of resilience and growth, we look forward to welcoming students back to the halls of Old Fort Elementary. Uh, where
031our roots run deep and our future is bright. Uh, Old Fort Pride, deep inside, soar. Old for elementary. And they've given us a motto here, which is stronger than the storm. Um the theme for the for Oldford Elementary for the 2024 up for anytime we need, you know, either a new school or a large renovation project. The projected projects we put $2 million in there as budget every year, although not every year do we hit $2 million. Uh that can be uh for uh you know, in the past we've had a really large roofing project. We've had the tennis courts, we've had the high school athletic facilities. as far as um the field things like that were larger projects. In general, we don't hit quite the 2 million, but that gives us a good number
032so that we know that we're covered for anything that could happen to our buildings that might not be covered um either with insurance. Thankfully, we have insurance and FEMA uh for this last disaster, but it gives us a number that we can put in there to make sure we have at least $2 million a year if anything comes up and we have renovations. So, with all of that being said, you can see that we're ending the year this year a little over $10 million in that projected uh balance, and you can see the balance uh through 2039. If nothing else changed other than paying debt payments off and the reserve and the projected projects of $2 million a year, we would be at a like 12.5 million by 2039. Does anybody have any questions on
033that or clarification? I think it's important that we that we remember capital funds can only be used um to to to do buildings. We had a great conversation in building and grounds uh committee today about that and just it's a great reminder to let folks know that we can't use these for salaries. This is a completely separate pot of money. So, when we talk about uh new projects or or new schools like we'll be talking about here in just a few minutes, uh this is the pot of money that's set aside for that and uh it's both local and state dollars that that are in there. And this money is technically housed at the county and it would require us to uh to uh let the county know what we were doing and seek some
034approval there, too. So, this is just another example of why we work so closely with our county commissioners. Um, I think it's it's a really critical piece to to add to this as well. Okay. Do y'all do y'all have any questions for Miss Rampy? Thank you. Thank you. That segus into new business. Am I okay to continue? Um, before before we do, I think Did we want to look at the pictures? Okay, Mr. Barry Hill, if we can, we'll put the uh the slides back up for PG and Old Fort because we're jealous that Mr. Hill was the only one who got to see the pictures. We want to make sure everybody else gets to see them. If you can just kind of walk us through the photos here, Mr. Hill, you probably need to
035go back up there. So, here again is the theme for the year. Look in the mirror. That's your competition. You and this motto has been stronger than the storm, right? And there's old ports. Let's see. All right. This is uh family night and the first day of school. The term was set to be a year full of academic and extracurricular challenges, fun, and community involvement. Within a month, the school proved uh it strength and spirit. Again, family and uh again, adorable pictures. All right. In the middle there, it's there. You see it? I believe that's the storm I was attempting to imitate. All right. Yes. Would you like to tell us about video? Sir, it wasn't a storm. So, I pretended to be a storm for no good reason. All right. Was it during the
036storm? Yeah, it was the water. It was the water. We need to share that with you guys. I'll send that out so you guys can can see that. You can't get it. [Music] This is [Music] It's a good reminder of how bad things were and how much you've overcome we as a community have. Uh so despite the challenges of being displaced by the storm, Old Port has continued to thrive. welcoming old fort. Can you tell us about the the t-shirt? Is that Did you have that made or Oh, that's awesome. Great. There are the autumn care pictures at Christmas time. And this is the uh kindergarten teachers welcoming the new tribe members, the elementary the the incoming, you do mean by that, the incoming elementary, I mean the kindergarten students. Again, you see my concerns.
037I just don't think they've ever met many 100 year olds. Yeah. The the the young man in the red seemed at least he managed a little gray hair. There's Jason Ber, the meteorologist. visited school. And here are those wonderful trip pictures that I described to you with the trip to Charleston. What What is the blue plane? You know exactly what that is. All right. So, did this involve maybe going to the Yorktown or is that is that still there? Oh, the Blue Angels. All right. And the lessons for Earth Day and the CARP students from all three middle schools who came to visit. There we go. And I think another big round of applause is in order for Old and BG. And I want one of those t-shirts. All right. Thank you very much, sir.
038We appreciate that. All right, we'll go ahead and get into our new business tonight. I mentioned to you earlier about uh being at the commissioner's meeting earlier tonight. Uh we did gain approval on our two contracts and I want to talk to you a little bit about uh what that looks like and I just want to step you guys down through very similar what I stepped the commissioners down through. Um, I'm going to uh update on the commissioners as well as give you guys uh the criteria for capital grants. And uh finally, I'd like to offer a recommendation for you guys to consider. Uh so I'll say that to say next month uh we've got quite a bit of things to to really be considering and and uh we'll ask for a vote on some
039things specifically around what we'd like to do school-wise. Um, but I want to start out with just reminding folks where we've where where we've came from. So, two years ago, McDow County Schools did a series of studies. Um, and one of those was prior to me coming here. So, it would actually be two plus years. And that was a study by Dr. Jim Watson to identify the needs in our district facilitywise. The second study you guys will remember was a study that was done by North Carolina State University and that was based on student population and density and growth. And both of the studies recommended uh the idea of consolidating in schools. Um I will point out that uh in Dr. Watson's study, he specifically noted the need for uh potential consolidation on the east
040side um and and referenced Marian Elementary and the Eastfield Elementary. Um, in the North Carolina state study, uh, they too recommended, uh, you know, the possibilities of that, and they took it a step further to say, you really need to focus on, uh, land or some type of building project that would be within one mile and a half radius of East Middle School. Um, so, and of course that leads us up to where we are right now. Um, as you know, the state will award 42, 52, or 62 million in capital grants to build a new school. The stipulations for the grants are, and the rubrics are listed here, is a tier one county, and we are tier one county. Uh, combining two schools, uh, brings you higher up on that rubric. And being shovel
041ready, which we've got to really try to get done between now and December. So, I I would also add the extra piece uh that western North Carolina um is under the spotlight um based on the hurricane and the events that we've dealt with this fall. It's a great opportunity for us to ask um for additional funding. Uh the the bottom line is I believe we're positioned well here. Uh tonight, uh when I went to the board, I presented the two parcels that you guys had already uh voted on the contracts. And keep in mind, I referenced the general statute that that states that the uh board of commissioners are to uh vote on the price of the contract and and the purchase price as well as the location. Those are the two things. And they
042did uh indeed do that. They made a motion on both of those. They did two separate motions just like we did. And I highlighted the point that we're not buying two pieces of property. I think that was the most important thing. And you know, they wanted us to say that, too. Uh, I think it was important tonight that Miss Rampy gave you guys an update because you can see where the money would be coming from uh to purchase that property. That is uh capital uh capital fees and the the board of commissioners also pointed out that that's tax revenue. Um so those are county uh county funding uh as well. So I think that was really important that we did that. Um both of those parcels, as you know, there's a 120day due diligence period.
043Uh we are under that 120 days on both of them. Uh we Mr. Marsh went with me today. We're on a phase one on both of those. Um and I believe if I if I remember correct May the 20 end of 29th. It was the end of the month uh was the date when they were actually going to start uh that work. So they're going to start drilling and doing that the initial work there. Um I shared with them that the board of the board of education had approved that and uh we asked the asked them for that support. Now I want to kind of just go off script a little bit and talk to you a little bit about the things that we have to look at and we did a great job in
044the building and grounds talking about this today. So Mr. Barksdale if I leave anything out or you feel like chiming in please jump in here with me or any members of the building and grounds that were there tonight uh today. My one of the things that I feel like we need to do is really let some things uh marinate a little bit. So over the next month um I want you really to think about some things. Uh one uh that consolidation is key. Um two want you to think about numbers. So we have looked at Eastfield Global Magnet School and we've looked at U Marion Elementary School. If you combine those two schools with Head Start, um you're looking at roughly 650 students. So, you're going to uh reduce your footprint um in the fact
045that one of those both of those schools would then be vacated. And I want to talk to the board a little bit about how this can be a bigger picture for the county. And it was also one of the uh things that I mentioned to the county tonight. Uh just remember that when we vacate a property, uh we off we offer it back to the county. Uh the county is interested in in pursuing some grants to be able to build a new a new DSS. Um there's some other things that they've looked at as well. So these these buildings that we have could be of great value to the county. Um so I would say um for us, we can um combine those two schools. we can potentially vacate the building that you're in right
046now and relocate uh the central office to one of those buildings via Eastfield or Marian. Uh you can also uh vacate the Summit Academy. Mr. Willer, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but y'all are outgrowing it. We know that. We knew that when we were going in as a temporary solution. Um but you could vacate that property as well. Mr. Carson, we saw him in here earlier tonight, too. Uh, we could actually bring uh Mr. Mr. Barry Hill and our exceptional children's under the same roof and for the first time have all of our central office employees under the same roof, be it at uh Marion Elementary or at Eastfield, whichever one that we uh made the decision to do. But I say that to say there's a lot of moving parts uh when
047it comes to this and there's a lot of things for the board to to to consider. But the idea of vacating moving into one school and giving up three properties uh is is pretty smart. Um and I will tell you that you're going to add money back into that capital uh potentially that would help offset the cost of the land. And I know when I mentioned that to the county commissioners tonight, their ears perked up because they are looking to be able to have some space to do some things. Um, as you know, finding land in Marian is not easy right now. And the fact that we have two pieces secured, um, is pretty incredible. And Mr. Abernathy, thank you and the building the grounds for helping us, uh, to secure that. But I say
048all that to say, uh, the first step in this is to deciding um, that that we actually need to consolidate. And I will tell you, we've looked at a number of different things. Um, I've looked and and had numerous conversations with our executive staff about where we could consolidate, particularly in those places. Uh, we even considered um the talking about what would a K8 school look like and we have we have made lots of of not decisions, but we've made we put a lot of thought into um into what some of those might look like. Um, but my recommendation to you tonight after all those thoughts, and this again is not for a vote, but my recommendation for you, and we would vote on this next month, would be that we consolidate Marian Elementary and
049Eastville Global Magnet School into one of those schools. We won't have a name for it. Uh, we we we do have a we will have a site for it. That's the hope. We'll have a site. We'll be shovel ready. we will have shown that we're have two consolidated schools and Mr. Subtles, we are going to have a lot of unanswered questions. Um, I'm just telling you there's more questions unanswered now um because we start spinning the wheels. But I want to take you guys on a little bit of the timeline as well. And I want to talk to you about the importance and I talked to the building and grounds committee about this earlier as we enter into that phase where you are shovel ready and let's say we receive a grant. Okay. When you
050receive a grant, if we if we apply for the grant in December and we receive it in the spring, at that point things get very critical to slow down and get right. And I say that to say this board earned the old fort school because another district lost their grant. And the time when they lose their grant is during that time. And it's often boards change, commission boards change, ideas change, community changes, or it was an unpopular uh thing from the get-go. So, I want to say before we ever go into this that that year where we're doing some serious planning, you don't break ground until you have it right because the other piece that you'll need to do is back up and you'll be doing change orders. You'll be doing things that cost taxpayers
051money. So, my recommendation at that point was we hurry up and get it, but then you slow down and really, really get your ducks in a row. Um, I say all that to say, you know, it's one of those that I wish that this process was, you know, lickety split and you could just jump right into it. But folks, just to be clear, four and a half years to five years if we got the grant this year. You can add a year to that for every time you're delayed on getting the grant. So the the piece that we feel like is going to be the most critical right now is not, you know, what schedule we're going to be on, what are we going to teach, uh, you know, who who's going to be the
052principal. We have five years to figure some of those things out. Who's going to be the mascot, what's the name of the school, what colors, what's their school colors going to be. When you start talking about those things and that is community, everybody wants input input and involvement and we want them to have that. But for purposes of where we are right now, if we want a new school, we have to have one of these parcels locked up. We have to all be on the same page and communicating with our legislators. And here's the thing, I feel like the fact that we've got a win for the county helps. So when when we can go to our legislators and say not only are we advocating for a new school, but our county's been advocating for
053some for some buildings potentially. Could could they get some money in this process to update one of uh one of our facilities to be potentially a DSS building or something of of you know another building that they would like to have. So to me, when you're going to your legislators with solutions and you're not asking for additional funds that aren't already on the table, uh that's a good thing. That's a good way to be going about it. So I feel confident that we've got good partnerships up the road on Main Street. And uh once we uh now at this point, our next thing is really to talk about our partnerships on Jones Street. Uh so making a trip to Raleigh. Mr. Marsh and I had that conversation earlier today and uh really having some conversations
054with our legislators coming up and talking big picture and I think they need to hear big picture. These are visions of what we've got with the county uh in our joint utilities and joint education meetings having these conversations openly now. Um because once you've you've got the land contracts in place and you're not necessarily worried about someone upping the price on you um that's the reason you have to just we had to kind of back into these contracts. Now that we've got all this open, we can start to have some of those very critical conversations with our uh with our legislators as well as our county commissioners. And I know I just went over a whole lot of stuff, but I want to back up and say all I will be asking for uh next
055month is I'm going to be making a recommendation um for you for you to uh to decide if we would combine Eastfield Global Magnet and Marion Elementary. And again, there are a lot of unanswered questions and we know that. But we we have several years to answer some of those questions and I'll certainly open it up open the floor up for any questions that y'all may have tonight or Mr. Bartdale. I know building and grounds we went over a whole lot of things today so uh please feel free to to chime me in there. I'd like to just say real quickly um the one thing that is so important right now and I think Mr. Frank is the only one that's on this board. When we started the process of building Old Fork School and
056the board has to educate the community in the fact that these funds, and I'm so glad Miss Rampy went over that, these funds cannot be diverted into salaries or anything of that nature. And that's what you're going to have as board members. people are going to be, well, why don't you just instead of doing this, put the money towards the teachers. This money is designated for solely this project and and you can't you have to be able to talk to people about that because they're going to be asking those questions and a lot of times they get very frustrated when you tell them we can't use those funds. They don't understand it. So, you have to educate the public on this. And I'd just like to thank uh Chuck Abernathy, Mr. Allison, Mr. Baker, Miss
057Rampy, and Mr. Marsh did an excellent job. We had approximately two-hour meeting today. Went over a ton of information. And um I think you've got the right people in there right now uh that will carry us through this project. And I guess the timeline we have to time is money. September if we in any way possible that's about that would give you what two months to prepare the grant. Is that enough time for you to prepare that grant? No. But that's what I'm saying. We're on a time crunch right now. So, thank you a lot. Yes. It's certain it's certainly not an ideal time. And um I'm I'm glad you mentioned that because one of the other things that we need to do is uh we we're going to need to put out an RFQ
058uh for our architect. And that's something Mr. Frank, you and I had a conversation about. I was able to contact John Henning. Um I do not have that ready for you tonight. Um but we plan on putting the RFQ out and ideally we'd like to be able to get that approved at our next uh board meeting. And what that'll do is allow for some site plans to be being developed. Um because that is also part of I mean when you really start thinking about it that's a lot. They don't have to be finalized but we have to have the footprint of it anyway and and roughly where it would go on the land and positioned and and you know getting some estimates on grading costs and different things like that. Um so we've got a
059lot of work to do between uh now and December to even to even be close. Um, and you know, we're going to be uh building this plane as we fly it a little bit. And I think that's the best way to say it. Um, but I mean, I think that that's, you know, important to say I still feel like we're going to be a really good candidate um for this grant this year. And a lot of it's going to have to do with how well we can present it in in Raleigh. And to be honest with you, who else might need it? Um, because there's a lot of counties out there who'll be advocating for it. Um, but I will tell you, none of them are going to check all the boxes quite as good
060as we do. we check every single box in the rubric. So, they're going to have a hard time saying no. And then when you add on the piece about the county and the possibility of doing something, it it just adds on another layer and talks about how we are all in the same sandbox and willing to work together. Yes, sir. Okay. We have board reports. Uh Mr. Subtles, I'm going to turn it over to you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to pass down uh just a copy of this for each board member and one for the superintendent. The curriculum committee uh got together and discussed something that Miss Baker, I'm going to give her all the credit on this. U Miss Hammy, if that's okay. Miss Baker uh was able to acquire a
061um funding for us. Mcdow County Schools will be funded 67,000 by uh Burough's welcome fund for the 2526 school year for the following expense. Before I get started in explaining what it is um that we're getting funded for, let me tell you a little bit about what we had. The curriculum committee got together and went through with Miss Bell on some mathematical a mathematical philosophy which was help support Eureka our math curriculum. Um it opened up several of our eyes. You know, we were all looking at how we were told to do it to told to do math problems back in the day and we soon figured out there's five other ways that you could have done that and I like two of the other ones which would have helped me out. Uh so it
062was it was eye opening for us and to know that this is um the teaching's available for us and the funding was just unbelievable. So Miss Baker, thank you for for what you've done. But what it's going to allow us to do, it's going to allow coaching two times a month with uh Eastfield and Marin Elementary. So, we're going to bring Mary Elementary and Eastfield uh Global Magnet School in Eastfield Global Magnet will be certifying to be a model site for Western North Carolina and across the whole state of North Carolina for this philosophy. Uh Marin Elementary Marin Elementary will be deeply on board with that. Stipens for the teacher for for teachers for outstanding excuse me for outside the calendar year training will be available. Food expenses, meals, snacks provided during training days. substitutes
063for teachers to work with Miss Kim Bell uh peer observations or attend workshops. They will be available too. Glennwood Elementary School will be added as a tiered implementation site. The teachers at Glenwood Elementary will receive some professional development and and visit uh Eastville Global Magnet. Uh Glennwood will also be given strategies and opportunities for learning, but they will not be a site coaching uh visits this year. Hopefully that's down the road. Substitutes for Glennwood Elementary will be covered by the funding that we have acquired. Uh Miss Elliot, Miss Wilkerson, and Miss Ray, the principles have been updated and they are excited uh to get coaching support with strategies that will strengthen Eureka, which is our curriculum, math curriculum. Principal Wilkerson and Principal Elliott have given initial dates for training with Miss Kim Bell, who is
064over the program, which is July through October 2025. And there's some key strategies that we'll go over and you guys can see it there. But basically what it's going to do, like I said, there's five ways to to solve a math problem. Um, so we are extremely excited. We don't need board approval or anything. We just wanted to be transparent and show you what we're doing for our kids, what Miss Baker was able to do for us, uh, Miss Hamby, uh, to support the teachers and just, you know, let the teachers know this is not some of the past training that they've had to go through. So, so don't panic on us. Uh, I think they will enjoy this as much as we have and I think the kids will will greatly benefit from it.
065Oh, and Dr. Grit was there and he was faster than us on most of the math stuff. So, will that be reoccurring funding for that each year or do we Maker? Can you help us? Thank you. And again, I think maybe we ought to give her a round of applause for doing that. Does anybody have anything else before before I say anything? I'd just like to e echo what he said that it was a great presentation. uh Baker and and Sammy and their group and u I just wish I had some more math problems to work through after we had that demonstration. Where where was that when I needed it? Absolutely. It was a great presentation. Miss it was amazing. It was it was fun. I think it'll make learning. I I want to personally
066thank you, Mr. Subtles, for that presentation. It's I'm excited about it. Miss Baker, especially you, Miss Hamby. Congratulations. And uh I'm glad that we're all working together for the benefit of our students and we can see the attributes that you add to the central office and we appreciate and Mr. Barkdale, do you have anything further for the building and grounds? I believe Mr. Finance pretty well. We can if you got to I'll be happy to talk. Well, u after a lot of uh discussion and hard work, we did were able to uh uh get the support from u our county commission and uh to assist us with the the u fund issue that we had with this year's budget. and u glad to report that um that we are going to be able to to
067move forward with the budget as it was presented uh to us uh last at last meeting which we tabled um with the appropriate well I I think where yeah when we get to the the actual percentage I think that uh they are going to try to have that to us by the 30th uh the end of the month but uh I will tell you that they're doing everything they can um and it's been reiterated to us on several occasions that they're doing everything they can to be able to reach uh that potential uh budget that we requested. They understand where we were. You know, initially we had requested the 3% and they understood where we were uh when we uh lost the low wealth funding that we took the the cut. Um they knew where
068we were and they're they're working with us to try to help meet in the middle. Um, so again, I was able to tonight give the commissioners some incredible um, you know, just give them some great uh, congratulations and and and offer to support us and really just to thank them for the work that they're doing behind the scenes to to try to find a way to make our make ends meet, not only for us, but but for them as well. So, we're uh, we're not quite to that point where they they've said, "Here's exactly what you're getting." Um but they are working towards that goal and we've had positive positive. Well, thank you. Thank you very much Dr. Grip for that clarification and I apologize for any misrepresentation there but we'll hopefully uh we'll be
069able to discuss that further maybe to the next meeting. Thank you sir. Uh excellent report as well. Money's always important. Miss Helms policy and I know you got a lot coming up on that. Do you have an idea when you might Well, thank you so much and I know Miss H will handle that very professional. Mr. Schuford, head start. That's always a good thing. Well, we had a had a good conversation at the last meeting talking about the the audit that we had just gone through for our Head Start group and uh sang Dr. Delaney and our staff's uh praises. But uh actually they were able to receive the actual report uh since that time which it usually takes uh a few months to make that happen and it was an exemplary report. They uh
070it's a lot of uh a lot of things they uh were applauding. I'm not at a lack of the words for the top 10 there that they mentioned, but uh anyway, um the auditor made the comment it was the best audit that they had been present at this year. And our hats off to our great folks at Head Start. And thanks for the board for doing their homework. Okay, the next item under board reports is NJ ROC for Mr. Baker and Mr. McGinness. And I want to say this, I appreciate you guys going over there and staying in close contact because I'm going to tell you something. Those two fellas over there now, they mean business. They they want a top-notch program and I know they're proud that you guys are there with and supporting.
071I'll turn it over to you guys. Okay. So, um we do try to meet with them as frequently as possible. We wish we could get over there more often, but uh the RTC unit now they are just like leading the charge. That's that's the best way I know to say it. Uh he was talking earlier, first sergeant Miley about being a distinguished unit and that is a huge deal in the ROC world in general. Um, we're talking about a unit that I believe, if my numbers might be a little off, but I think it's something like out of 4,000 different units across the United States and they're like top tier. And that is just unheard of because there's so many different criteria they have to meet and they've got to have all their ducks in
072a row and these guys do it. And I've been impressed with both those gentlemen talking to them. Um, they care about the kids. They're they have thinkers. They're developing leaders and it's not just it's a military theme but it's not just military. I mean these are going to go on uh some of them are going to be educators, some of them going to be community leaders, some of them going to be in industry. Uh but they're are learning the core disciplines that uh this for some of them this is the best example of civics and community that they're going to have. Um especially in the kind of climate we have today. But they're just an outstanding unit. They've got a bunch of things coming up. Uh but u my understanding is in the 51 year
073history that we've had I believe the program coming to being in 72 something like that 74 um this is the 42nd time that they've had the distinguished unit uh they recently had their blue and gold banquet um and after that they have a injur picnic that's carton house and they had actually prepared to host about a hundred people um including cadetses And uh they have a contingency plan in place which they had to put to good use because they wound up having the largest dependence in their history. It was something like 200 almost um actually attended. So it's going over very well and they're building a strong community. That's what contributes to their success. They don't sit there and chest thump and say, "Hey, look at us." They'll come up and say, "Hey, how can
074we help?" And they have influence over so many different programs. And we're hearing from different teachers. They love having these kids in class because of the discipline and because of their willingness to contribute to these things. Um, just to give you an example, some of the stuff they've got up in April, they started a fundraiser online and raised over $12,000. Uh, that's going to go toward the leadership uh camp coming up in July. Uh, which is like a weekl long event where they just do all kinds of stuff. I mean, you wouldn't believe. They do repelling, they do archery, they do all kinds of different stuff. physical fitness in the morning. Uh just real character building stuff that is actually going to have yeah direct relation or correlation to real life and they're learning it
075now. They're picking it up. Um they've got um I think they've got 39 cadetses right now already signed up for the uh leadership course and that number is probably still growing and they are inviting schools uh that have actually shut down. They're going to be coming in to do our program uh from all over everywhere. um four cadets are going to a leadership academy in Gainesville, Georgia. And that is really intense stuff. I remember when we done leader lab back in the day, uh when you did that, that was like almost um it's cream of the crop kind of training you get. Um it's a it's a really good experience for these guys to go through. Guys and gals sale academy coming up. We got a billet for that. um Patriots Point and Yorktown. They
076actually get to go down and uh spend a couple nights on a living piece of history, an aircraft carrier that actually was in World War II. Um one thing that I have noted and I would like to mention, the civilian marksmanship program, it's an amazing program that uh people with certain credentials you can actually join up. Um they actually um the program part of it they actually sell like actual uh grand rifles that was used in World War II. They're refurbished and they actually sell the original issues. You can actually bid on them and buy them. But the program itself is to foster uh the same kind of core discipline and leadership, but it's also like marksmanship for civilians. Uh the cadets are going to be able to go. We'll we might bring that up
077a little bit later. I've got some points on that. But, uh, they've got the opportunity to do that and we might talk about that a little bit more at a later meeting. But, uh, all in all, they're just, uh, they're doing everything and anything. They keep their calendar full. Um, never a dull moment. So, any time of the year, they're active in something. So, um, I just like to see us support them every way we can, and I know they appreciate the board for everything that, uh, we've done with them so far. So, Mr. Baker, I want to say this real quickly. My son was in ROC and I worked with him quite extensively, but I've not seen the spark in ROTC like I have in the last year. And I am I am pleasantly
078astounded by these two guys that are in and what they're doing. And I appreciate you guys doing what you do. And I know if they need a cook, Mr. Baker will take care of them. Oh, yeah. Mr. Frank, they they are really reaching out to underprivileged kids also, you know, that don't have a real home life and uh they're getting discipline and training and that's really helping them. They're going back to the parents, you know, and parents are getting trained somewhat, you know, and helped through these today. They're doing a great job. Okay. Does anybody have anything further for the good of the board? All right. Okay. Item number 13 on the agenda is approval of the consent agenda. And u I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. However, I want to bring
079to your attention that any item may be pulled from the consent agenda with the majority vote of the board and discussed and voted on as a separate item. And if no one has anything they want to bring up or bring out of the consent agenda, I will entertain the the motion to approve the consent agenda as it motion to approve. Okay, we have a motion Mr. McGinness and a second by Mr. Allison. Is that correct? Okay. Is there any further discussion on the consent agenda? Okay, with no further discussion, all those in favor signify by raising your right hand, which is a unanimous vote. And this time, item number 14 on the agendas is a request to go into close session. Mr. Frank, before you do that, if I could do something publicly because I
080think it it he deserves it. Mr. Marsh. Uh, he kind of alluded to this man, but let me tell you something about how special this man is. I was approached in the community about holding a college softball tournament that was previously held at NC State, Duke University, and for the last seven years at Lewisburg College. And I was asked if we would consider doing it at big league camp. And so we did. Um, we agreed to it. And I was in panic mode about trying to get things ready. And I completely forgot about the whole IT live streaming. And so I made a phone call to our IT department which was tied up and I said I am in big trouble now. And I called the only other IT guy that I knew right off
081hand or had his number and Mr. Garrett Barry Hill came over on his own time and he absolutely made the tournament a tournament. We had over 5,000 viewers on our Facebook page that we were able to do that from three different camera angles. Um, he actually did too good of a job because the camera picked up me eating a hot dog in the press box and somebody made a comment, is somebody eating in there? Um, so he did too good of a job. But, um, we were also awarded a five-year contract because of how good the tournament went over. And we're hoping to bring in CTE and Miss Finley. I would love to have the kids be commentators on there and do live closeup. We may have the next Harry Kerry and we just don't
082know it right now. Uh so it I think it would be great. But Mr. Barry Hill, we could not have pulled this off in this community without you and we we really appreciate you doing on your own time too. Thanks a lot. Mr. Subtles, also you had mentioned uh about uh Mr. Williams. Would you like to say something on his Sure, I could do that. Mr. Frank Williams, I think a lot of you knew that, passed away. He was a Marian police officer. Uh, super big in our ROC. I know in the 1990s we had the biggest uh class that was your class probably, I'm guessing, the biggest ROC class McDow history um with the different cadets that joined in and Mr. Williams was up there all the time promoting it and promoting it and
083promoting it and he passed away. We lost a really good man, a good friend and uh a great guy in the community. Uh, I appreciate you letting us honor him here here tonight. I'd like to say this on behalf of Mr. Williams. I worked with him many years. He worked for the sheriff's department, McDow Tech. He was a magistrate and I want to say he was also a disabled veteran who paid the sacrifice for his service in Vietnam. So, that's quite an honor for I thank you for bringing that up. Okay, as I said, we're going to go into close session and I'll entertain a motion, but first I'll tell you why we're going into close session. under subsection A1 to prevent the disclosure of privilege or confidential student information pursuant to 20 USC uh
0841232G FURPA and GS 115C 402E include student discipline and student transfers releases under subsection A1 to prevent disclosure privileged or confidential personal information to GS115C 319-321 includes employee matters and under subsection A5 to discuss the terms of contract for employment includes discussing contract terms for new employees. And at this time I will entertain a motion to go into close session. Okay. Uh, we have a motion by Mr. Settles to go into close session and we have a second by Mrs. Helms. Is there any further discussion? Okay, with no further discussion, all those in favor signify by raising your right hand, which is unanimous at uh looks like uh six minutes to wait.