001on the agenda is to approve the agenda so I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda make a motion to approve the agenda second okay we have a motion by uh Mr okay Mr shufford and we have a second by Mr Barksdale is there any further discussion all those in favor signify by raising your right hand which is [Music] unanimous okay this time uh we normally have our moment of silence and and we'll do that but before we do as most of you know last meeting we uh there was a motion made for us to open our can you hear okay open our meetings with invocation and uh I received a uh an email and of course followed by a letter from the freedom from religion Foundation out of Wisconsin and uh so I contacted
002uh our superintendent and the superintendent contacted our board attorney jne and after looking at it um uh I I want to give you an update of of what he and I and Dr grit talked about but uh this this is what he tells me I recommend a little more description based on the letter received from the freedom from religion Foundation as follows board members I review the possibility of adding prayer to the start of our meetings with our board attorney and for our for this to be constitutional such prayer cannot be secretary or prizing and a board member prayer cannot favor or disparage a particular religion with these legal rulings in mind we will have additional conversation about this in the January board work session we're going to have our attorney down and he's going
003to go over the things we can do and we can't do and after we talked to him and I told everybody on the board I wanted them all to hear from him and we we'd go from that point now with that being said we're going to have a moment of silence but one thing that I want to remind you of that uh our North Star is Guided by our children here in this County and we need to keep that our priority as board is our children in this County now there's a lot of things going on in the weather hasn't really helped a lot we've still got children displaced we've got children still haven't you know recovered their homes and that sort of thing and so when we have a moment of silence let's think
004about the things that we really need to be concerned with especially our board meetings are our children okay so let's take a moment of silence at this time thank you very much at this time we normally have the presentation presentation of colors from the mcdal high school Naval Junior Roc however because school is out today they're not able to travel and be here but we do have a very distinguished board member with military background of course we got uh Mr Carson here too as well so Mr Carson and Mr Baker would you two stand up here and lead us in the pledge i al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all than you you
005know talking about uh the presentation of colors in our njrotc I am so happy that uh on our committees tonight we'll go over those committees as part of our agenda but I had two board members that wanted to represent the njrtc of course that's Mr Baker and all you guys think that all he can do is sell tires he he was a Drilling instructor in the army during the Vietnam era so he you know he might be tough from woodpecker lips I don't know but also uh Mr mcginness from the sheriff's department he was actually a member of our OTC and he said man I I want to be that so we got two great people that are gon to chair that committee and and bring us back a report every month and I'm I'm
006proud of you guys and I I know they're going to be proud because they haven't had a lot of representation in the past but they're going to definitely have it now but thank you gentlemen very much okay Mr grit Dr grit all right thank you so um just just a couple of I guess everybody's just used to hearing me on the telephone here lately as I'm calling to dismiss school or maybe tell you it's a two-hour delay but I hope to say that that was the last call that you got today at about 4:00 um we had to get back on a regular schedule uh we are on a 2-hour delay tomorrow so I will just let y'all know that up front so uh last week we welcomed our students back and ushered in 2025
007with some positive momentum and a little chilly weather I'm sure everyone enjoyed the day at home in the snow last Friday and again today it was fun to see the kids out in the snow I know in my neighborhood they were out there watching them make snowmen and snowballs and all that stuff it's good we need a good snow day I'm glad the weather cooperated with our plans and everyone was safe over the break uh now as much as the kids don't want to hear this let's hope that we've had the last of the weather uh for the 24 25 school year I think we've had just about enough weather with between a hurricane and some snow um over the Christmas break our women's and men's basketball teams and our wrestling teams as well as
008our njrc rifle and drill teams competed successfully uh we've got some things to be really proud of um our lady Titans basketball team represent one of only two undefeated teams in the State uh at the 4A state level so they're really on a roll I know our boys are right behind them with only one loss and the wrestling team's just really having a fantastic year we're very proud of our students also keeping on the theme of teams I'm proud of our leadership team who earned another Grant just before the break they'll be talking about this grant tonight a special thank you to Suzanne rampy Crystal hamy and Ashley McArthur for their work in securing roughly $ 6.86 million in the school-based mental health Grant this is the third grant that we've received over the last
009year and a half and I'm very proud of this team's effort to put our students needs first and actively find ways to support and improve our Schools board the clock is ticking on earning a significant State grant for school construction we are firmly positioned for this especially with the completion of our studies with your support we have something to really sink our teeth into to in 2025 as 2025 begins on Main Street we must remember that it also starts on Jones Street in Raleigh with many of the new faces sworn in last week over the next few months we have several opportunities to work with our state elected officials to share our needs and express our gratitude as they begin work on the state's next banian budget in addition to our local legislative events I
010have scheduled one in Raleigh on January 25th and plan to attend one in Tryon on January 27th these meetings are expected before the beginning of the general assembly's long session which will be in March we also plan to meet with our Representatives again and Riley on the education days and that comes at the end of March 2025 also allows us to continue working on our book review over the past number of months our district has had has used a community involved process to review book challenges based on our and based on our exper experiences the numbers of books under review and the desire of the board to bring Clarity to this process especially within with regard to educational suitability I have decided to modify modify the procedures by exp Expediting the review of certain materials
011administratively I will also report the results of our modified process to the board in the coming weeks finally tonight I'm excited to announce that we have several recognitions for students and and staff and I want to remind everyone that January is board appreciation month thank you Sor Daniel all right for our student recognitions I'll would ask Miss Amy D to come up good evening Mr Frank Mr abery Dr grit members of the board and Este guests I'm delighted to share with you the outstanding artistic talents of our McDow County School students through our annual Christmas card contest each School in our district selected one exceptional Young artist whose work captured the spirit of the holiday season Once selected these cards were sent to the central office where they were put together to create a presentation
012and District card that was sent out to all school districts in North Carolina our 2024 Christmas card contest winners are as follows and boys and girls and young men and women if you'll walk up here we have a certificate for you and we're going to ask you to stand up here so that we can celebrate you from Eastville Global Magnet School in third grade we have Daisy iara [Applause] East mcdown Middle School in 8th grade we have Alan [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ramirez from fit Hills Community School in seventh grade we have Charlie dah hold from Glenn Elementary School in fourth grade we have may [Music] [Applause] Kip from Mar Elementary School in the fourth grade we have Noah [Music] Grooms from The mcdal Academy of innovation in ninth grade Alejandra [Music] [Applause] [Music] Boos from
013McDow Early College in ninth grade we have Ariel [Music] [Applause] Moore from McDow High School in 11th grade we we have Christina [Music] [Applause] cannon from Neo Elementary School in fifth grade we have Tilly [Music] [Applause] noblet from North Cove Elementary School fourth grade Adeline Hall [Applause] from o for elementary school in fifth grade we have Addison [Applause] Walden Pleasant Gardens Elementary School in fifth grade we have Jana [Music] [Applause] Haley from The Summit Academy in ninth grade we have Kaden riddle [Music] from West Maran Elementary School in fifth grade we have Michaela [Music] Lewis and last but certainly not least from West mcdown Middle School in 8th grade we have Olia Le [Applause] better these young talented artists remind us of the creativity joy and spirit of the holiday season their artwork not only
014showcases individual talent but also reflects their own School community and if you'll look around at the screens that is the Christmas card that was sent out from our district to other districts ac across the state of North Carolina and if you'll notice each of their cards has something that represents their own School whether that be their mascot or their motto and so not only are they representing their old old school but when we put it together it truly represents um the spirit of McDow County school so congratulations to each of them and let's give them another big round of [Applause] applause yeah now the mama and me is going to tell you guys they want pictures so you got to get uh all together up there so moms and and dads and grandparents can come
015take pictures [Music] [Applause] and if you'll turn those around guys if you want to turn them around and show them there's your actual Christmas cards on the back so you can see how amazing um these young artists truly [Music] [Applause] [Music] are thank you all so much you can have a seat [Music] now our second recognition for students um this evening um is for students who participated in the North Carolina School boards Association um annual poster contest the annual poster contest is open to elementary students throughout the 116 member districts the 2024 theme was my classroom is a time machine ncsba encouraged students to draw a picture of themselves in the future achieving their dreams and making a positive impact on the world thanks to their education the top posters as determined by the judges
016are displayed during the annual North Carolina School boards Association conference in November McDow County Schools were thrilled to have four um of our students selected um as winners so our first one is Haley Bishop she is in fifth grade at Glennwood elementary school and she received honorable mention our second student was Jessica escalara Ortega she's in fourth grade at Glennwood ele and she received honorable mention as [Applause] well next we have Journey English in second grade at West Marion Elementary who received honorable mention as [Applause] well and next we have TAA Harmon for third grade at West Maran Elementary who received honorable mention so again I just want to point out that these posters were hung up for all of the school board members who went to the Schoolboard conference to see and we shouldn't
017be more proud of our McDow County School students let's give them one more round of [Applause] applause yes Miss Ray they would like for you to come up for your picture as well ladies hold on just one second [Applause] you're not done with me yet I got two more um I am um excited tonight to honor one of our principals who was selected as the 2024 25 principal of this of the Year and that is Miss Angela Wilkerson so miss erson if you could come on up I'd like to share a little bit with you about our process for choosing the principal of the year the process for choosing the principal of the year begins with a nomination from McDow County Schools leadership team directors and principls Miss Wilkerson you guys stay up here directors
018and principls have the opportunity to nominate a principal they believe creat a climate of inquiry that challenges the school Community to continually repurpose Itself by building on its core values and beliefs principles from around the district then vote on someone who was deserving of the honor Miss Wilkerson was very gracious when she accepted um this nomination she was honored to be named principal of the year and the recognition is a reflection of the students and staff that she has the privilege to work with every day she's so blessed to be a part of the supportive McDow County Schools administration team let me tell you a little bit about more about Miss Wilkerson Miss Wilkerson is a McDow High graduate of the class in 1987 she attended appalachin State University and graduated with her degree in
019elementary education in 1991 she began her career as a teacher at Nebo Elementary where she taught fifth grade and combinations class in second grade over the next 5 Years miss Wilkerson then transferred to Eastfield and Elementary where she spent 17 years of her career teaching first second fifth and sixth grade in 2016 Miss Wilkerson earned her masters of school administration from appalachin State University and in 2013 Miss Wilkerson transition from teaching to become the director of federal programs for McDow County schools in 2016 Miss Wilkerson took the position of assistant principal at West Maran Elementary where Mr Carson and I had the honor of being the principes that worked with her over the next couple of years and then um she moved into her principal ship at Maran Elementary in 2021 so we could not
020be more proud of you miss Wilkerson and what a very deserving honor let's give her one full round of applause she's also joined tonight by her husband Ron Wilkerson who tried to take some of the credit credit but we'll give it all to her no I'm just teasing our last recognition this evening is for Miss Crystal hamy so miss hamy if you'll come on up it is my great uh pleasure this evening to recognize and celebrate Miss Crystal hamy for being the president-elect for the North Carolina Association of federal education program administrators this achievement not only reflects Miss Ham's exceptional leadership abilities but also the impact that Miss am's experience and knowledge has on the students of North Carolina the North Carolina Association of federal education program administrators ncfa for short plays a vital role
021in supporting Federal program directors across the state fostering collaboration between season veterans and newcomers to ensure the effective implementation of federal education initiatives under Miss Ham's leadership this organization will continue its mission of providing essential guidance professional development and networking opportunities for Education administrators throughout North Carolina Miss hamy brings to this position a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of federal education programs her commitment to mentorship and professional development aligns perfectly with nca's core mission of supporting both new and experienced um Federal program directors their VIs vision for facilitating knowledge transfers between veteran directors and new administrators will undoubtedly strengthen our Educational Systems capacity to serve North Carolina students I'm confident that under Miss Ham's Guidance the ncfa will continue to grow as a vital resource for Education administrators across our state her election
022to this position is not just a personal achievement but a win for our entire educational Community please join me and congratulating Miss Hami on this well deserve recognition [Music] all right I think I'm next up yes sir Mr Frank uh tonight is also board Appreciation Night we've got a special Spotlight on the on the board there um I'm going to go to you just with the one of the things that I like to do is um is is do a little research before you start to start to speak uh so with board appreciation month in full swing I I thought I would do some research and share some information with you my favorite research tool happens to be Google y'all heard of it Google AI now as much as we know that AI can't replace
023a school board or a superintendent it can surely help answer a quick question when I ask Google what it means to be a Schoolboard member this is what it was said a Schoolboard member is an elected official who sets the vision and goals for public schools in their Community they are responsible for representing the values and needs of their constituents responsibilities I'm not going to read all the verbiage but I will tell you it it consists of policymaking advocacy communication advising goal setting and education philosophy how's it doing so far pretty good roles in the community the Schoolboard members are valuable assets to their Community they are essential in in catalyzing change now I would say that Google was 95% accurate I think Mr Frank you said something at the beginning of this that Google
024left out the most critical aspect of being a board member is to make every decision with students interest in mind I believe this board has been led to do this work they've been elected to their positions because they are known for demonstrating a student first mentality and want to see the very best for the students of McDow County I am honored to work with this team and look forward to continuing a tradition of success with each of you Bor I'm grateful for what you do for our students and family on behalf of the staff of McDow County Schools I sincerely thank you for all that you do to keep our students at the center of each decision you make uh beside your chair tonight we placed a small token of our appreciation uh just just
025there beside you should have a little bag with a few few little gifts in there but we really appreciate you folks if you will join me let's give this board a round of applause I uh I thank you sir and I know everybody here thanks them as well okay our next item on the agenda is item number nine and I feel it an honor that we get to hear from Mr Joy hill our teacher representative Mr Hill I really appreciate your uh monthly uh contribution and I love that was coming from Mary Elementary tonight yes this is well timed yes indeed I'm proud to say that I went to kindergarten at Marian Elementary um and then escaped to PG I'm kidding all right so yes tonight we are going to hear about Maran Elementary which
026is of course our principal of the year's stomping grounds so that we are Spotlight tonight all right let see there are some great pictures uh so this is a picture of the fifth grade field trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway now if we' done that when I was in Maran Elementary I might have stayed anyway uh at zMAX Dragway on the 6th of December these are fifth grade Bulldogs who just took their study of force and motion to the fast Lan at the Charlotte Motor Speedway zMAX Dragway at the zMAX Dragway the students worked in to build model cars and participate in racing events the Victorious team were rewarded a race driver bobblehead as a prize afterwards the students were given a tour of the real race cars and taken on a lap around the speedway
027in a van providing the students with a real life experience of the speed and banking the Bulldogs also enjoyed visiting the Press area and the Winners Circle oh let's go back one there we go thank you this is uh Caleb Butler who is a fifth grader at mer Elementary and he reports as follows a couple weeks ago I went on a field trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway we got to build propeller cars and learn about friction we also got to take a modified van around the track so we could experience what it feels like to go on the 36 degree angle track I have to say that is amazing EXP experiential applied learning that's phenomenal all right um and Thanksgiving uh uh Mar elementary families uh came to school and ate with their children
028so have some pictures of that looking happy and thankful all right all right here we are uh this is uh Mar Elementary at Old Fort strong event on the 7th of December uh Mrs woren is that correct Miss werson yes M wor a third grade teacher and Brantley a fourth grade student proudly represented Maran Elementary at the Old Fort strong event on the 7th of December they showcased the student created Trail guides which were published last year through the root Ed Grant awarded to Maran Elementary here we see uh the kindergarten Bulldogs who visited the I'm sorry there are a lot of these pictures and they're so cute I can't stand it all right I I teach students who are significantly bigger than I am so these images of these we ones reaching up to
029mail their letters to Santa just I don't know my my heart goes pitter patter all right our kindergarten Bulldogs visited the local post office to send a super special letter to Santa huge thanks to Maran Police Department SRO fry for coming along and keeping our Bulldogs Safe and Sound on their walking Adventure through town did any of them have to be lifted up to the to the Mbox or they all they all made it all right all right so all right all right so there's progress that's great all right and then finally we have um the maintenance staff installing uh an additional water bot bottle Filling Station because as we all know hydrate or die all right so all right thank you so much and thank you Miss werson for for helping with that it's
030[Applause] great Mr Hill I I especially appreciate that the letters to Santa Claus my daughter is a kindergarten teacher at Mar elementary and and Santa Claus got my letter as well so thank you very much got a little elf help you yeah yeah okay Miss Smith do we having correspondents we do have a request to address the board and uh it's from M house you'll come up to this thing thank you so much actually I think you'll find that um apping on microphon my voice is uh a mistake [Laughter] [Music] um I was just so proud of you folks this morning this after this evening when I came in because when I watched your December board meeting I could see you taking a step at the end of the meeting where those of you who
031were newly elected ma'am before you get too far could I I need to go over some ground rules with you if you don't mind you've already got a few minutes we won't counted against you but uh I I need to go over some ground rules with you okay okay you mind okay thank first of all I want to thank you so much for coming and I want to thank you so much for speaking but public comment is a time for the board to hear from folks regarding issues related to the mdow county school district we ask that folks be mindful that we encourage families of small children children to attend our meetings and watch our meetings online we respect the right of speakers to give us their viewpoints on any issues related to the schools
032however we do balance those rights with the rights of families of young children when it comes to public comment we ask that speakers make their points without making explicit comments it is not appropriate or permissible for teachers in our schools to read explicit material to young children and doing so in public comment is not appropriate either in addition to uh public comment the public is welcome to send the board emails through the superintendent and U all speakers okay all speakers are reminded that these different rules that we ask you honor and of course we got a three minute Rule and that lady behind you is keeping the clock and like I said we're not counting that against you what you've already said but she'll let you know when it's time if if you don't finish
033but ma'am I apologize for interrupting you but go ahead thank you no problem uh I'm uh I practiced law for some 25 years and I had to change my speech absolutely on the minute because when I came in here I thought I was going to be begging you not to break your oath to uh to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and what I found out when I got here was that y'all had realized that if you had a prayer that you would be breaking that oath and furthermore you would be going against those of you who haven't be Christian The Vow you made when you started being a Christian uh that you would would not be out like a Pharisee and pray on the street corner and that you would remember
034to uh Render unto Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to God what belong to God and I came in here and I saw you have a moment of silence where the point of the moment of silence was exactly what I was going to ask you to make it be which was to put the students first and I just thank you for surprising me and making and the you the example you set when somebody starts to take a wrong step and then realizes wait a minute maybe I better think about that you could not possibly set a better example for every student in the school system and every person in the entire Community thank you thank you for seeing that you were about to take a wrong step and going back to consider how to take
035the right step thank you finish business sir all right next up we've got our unfinished business um and and we are going to be giving a a brief maintenance update uh there's quite a few questions going along with what's going on at Old Fort what's going on at Pleasant Gardens and we hope to be able to give you guys an update on that uh this week the maintenance crew has been very busy working hard uh clearing our school parking lots and bus Lots uh those folks wereth Saturday and Sunday preparing our schools so we could return our staff to school uh today and then return our students to school tomorrow so just letting folks know a little bit of what they've been up to we also had the Transportation uh Department out checking roads this
036weekend as well as again uh today that's something we do take very seriously and folks I want to also uh while I have the opportunity to do that uh to really thank our uh will Keller our uh Emergency Services director because he also uh is is really a valuable asset when we start looking at road conditions and different things as well as the highway patrol and the and the Department of Transportation um they have been really good uh particularly working with us on this uh this latest storm as we found roads today uh that needed that needed a little extra attention and folks there were very very few uh roads out there by the end of the day that needed a little attention um but we were able to reach out to do uh put
037those on their radar and they're going to put a plow on it and some salt on it today so we should be in good shape tomorrow um the biggest issues we've been having um since the Christmas break has been HVAC uh we've been having a few more issues with our HVAC AC as a matter of fact we had to reset the one here this morning it was about 52 degre when we came in so uh sometimes those things trip during the night and they got to get reset just like the ones at home do um but uh I'll say that to say uh particularly at Maran elementary school if you guys remember not too long ago we uh had to cancel practices the afternoon at Maran Elementary School we had a power surge that came
038in through Duke power um that actually fried about three of our Motors we we got those fixed back up uh here recently um and then we've had an issue uh at PG I know Miss Rayfield will be happy to know that we we were able to get that one repaired today we ended up having to uh spend a little bit of money to buy those portable heaters for classrooms there for a couple of days um this time of the year you're going to have some hbac issues um and I'm and I'm proud of the team for their quick work and getting getting those things addressed as quickly as possible um the as far as what what's going on with Pleasant Gardens and old Ford I want to go ahead and pull up the photos there
039Garrett if we can and we'll start with that very first one uh this is the mobile unit uh that has been placed out on the tennis courts at Pleasant Gardens um this is not the mobile unit of the past uh this has been it has 2x6 exterior uh walls it's very solid when you walk in it um there's plenty of space there you can see the uh right on the exterior each each of those classrooms having having um you know the HVAC right there on the right there on the building uh these buildings are nice it's unfortunate that we only going to have them for a temporary period but these are to help us with overcrowding um there at the school this is not something you can make happen as quickly as we'd like to
040but we are proud that we've got those out there uh the there are four classrooms all contained Under One Roof and there's a men's and or girls and boys I should say we're talking about uh kindergarten through uh fifth grade there boys and girls bathrooms that are there um and there's uh I think there was like three urals and um three uh toilets there too so I mean on each side so there's plenty of space in them I was actually pleasantly surprised by what what what I saw we'll go on to the next uh picture this is a picture it seems kind of odd that this would be in there but to me that was the best news that I'd seen since Christmas break and that is that is the power pole that's that's Des
041designated to become a new power pole which means Duke power is going to be bringing in our power to that unit at this point um that's what we're waiting on we've passed our inspection from from the county uh we we have power to to get put in and uh we're hooking up the water and sewer um tomorrow so we should be if we can get knocking on wood here if we can get Duke power out there uh this week we should be able to to start housing our students in there next week okay Garrett and again that's the power supply where uh where the Duke power power will go into next picture and this is inside this is the uh boys restroom next picture this inside one of the classrooms uh you can see that
042area in the middle um that is an area where the you see a little different color colorization on the tile um as soon as we can get the heat on we'll actually wax that so it will match the rest of the tiles um but that's where they put the units together that's the middle of the section so that's one classroom all right that's a picture from the other side as you can see they're they're good siiz classrooms all right Garrett next up we have a progress being made at Old Fort uh this is kind of an odd picture but what I wanted to show here is the gym floor uh has been replaced uh that is all new uh flooring there and in order to do uh the last little bit of it they had
043to remove the bleachers so that what you see in the front of that picture is the bleachers and they've pushed them forward they had to get dis uh disconnected from the wall and if you will Garrett go to the next picture and then they put a water-based uh polyurethane coat over that area and they'll they'll Slide the bleachers back in the next thing that they'll do there is they will sand and they're beginning to sand hopefully tomorrow uh and then they will paint the lines and put the uh put put back the Old Fort emblem that was there before and then go back with a water-based polyurethane over that uh so I'm proud of the progress that we're making there uh we still have a long way to go um but this is definitely steps
044in the right direction uh we were in talks with the uh company that's that's doing this work uh they're also supposed to be doing the flooring for us um so uh we hope to see some of that coming uh and we'd like to be able to have the board um out there to be able to do a walk through by the end of Fe February that's the goal um so flooring and doors uh that's the next thing to go uh and and that'll be for the uh entire school we are I am proud of the progress that's going on outside of the school as you know that wasn't that wasn't priority initially um but that has since then taken some priority uh the Army Corps of Engineers has been doing quite a bit of debris
045removal there and that's through our partners with the county uh they've they've done a a good job um transporting a whole lot of dirt and a whole lot of seal out of there and continuing to uh restore the stream bed there uh so we're happy happy to report that uh we are down to two Heating units uh there that are that need repair um and we had Parts ordered on those and then the the units that were exterior to the building those were those mini splint units there were about 12 of those uh we have a contract with Patt and they're supposed to be uh beginning work on that in the in the uh soon enough but with that um those are the those are more for spaces like some of the closets in the
046back of the library I mean they're kind of the odd little places so I'm not as uh as I I guess I'm just saying that's not one of those that is as pressing so the heat is heat is on the heat is working uh we're making some progress there uh flooring next and followed by flooring will be the doors and um we hope we're still hoping that we are right back in that school uh next fall I would love to say Miss Ward that we would like to see you guys be moving in after the school year in June I know that's what you want to hear and I think that that's very very possible still at this point um so making some progress not as fast as everybody like but at the same time
047I'm I'm proud of where we are with it and and just more more importantly I'm proud of Miss Ward and Miss Rayfield for the work that you guys are doing um holding it together this year at Pleasant Fort I think it's what they call Pleasant Gardens Fort Pleasant Fort how do you say Fort Pleasant there you go we go through this every time it's an inside joke but no I'm proud of them and the work that they've done and their staff um you guys have really endured a lot this year and we we are very grateful for it thank you and next up we've got uh miss ramp's going to give us an update we did have a meeting with FEMA and I think I'm G to have a seat good evening uh if the
048board remembers we had our exploratory call with FEMA back in November and that was basically just to tell us we are approved for FEMA assistance and start the process last week on January 8th we had what is called the recovery scoping meeting and that starts our timeline we have 90 days from that date which would get us to April 11th to identify any loss that we have for a claim that doesn't mean it has to be completed doesn't have to be paid for we just have to create this disaster inventory list by April 11th that says we have Old Fort school we have a fencing at North Cove you know whatever the damages are we have to make sure that we have those listed we have really gotten a a long ways in that process
049of getting that list but we are going to meet with our state representative uh next week that's the representative between us and FEMA uh it's a liaison uh for us to go back through the list and make sure we're identifying anything even if insurance is going to pay for it and that is our hope that insurance will pay for most everything we still have to identify that because just in case um there's a portion or a deductible or anything like that that comes up if it is on that list then we can get FEMA assistance for it so we have to list anything we can possibly think of whether like I said be fencing uh debris removal staff time Old Fort school has obviously a lot of Damages um and so we will begin that
050process uh to identify that as far as timing after that um after April limit then we have identified that they will use that list for us to um communicate out and back as far as when insurance covers things or does not cover things we'll use that list U as far as uh when it's completed the percentage completion the um estimated cost and things like that so we are beginning the process but FEMA is a reimbursement um system and they do not pay you ahead of time so at we will not settle with FEMA for quite a while it'll be after Insurance Pace for everything any other funding that we have then we will settle with feema and see uh where our assistance is I will say right now our insurance we have uh significant uh
051insurance for these type of claims and it has been very beneficial so we should have very minimal FEMA coverage but we do have that to keep our out- of pocket very minimal so I feel pretty good at about where we're at right now any questions on FEMA M Mr Ry if I can just uh remind the group also Chris Campbell has been uh in there with us during those meetings and uh the the benefit of having Chris be in there for us and that's our board attorney is not only is he in McDow County um he's been in numerous other counties so if there was anything to see there he's going to catch it throughout that he's been incredibly helpful Miss rampy has done a tremendous amount of work there um I don't think folks
052really May completely understand the amount of work that goes into uh she made that sound really simple but there's been an incredible amount of work going on there uh between she and uh Mr trinks and um the team that we've got here at the office too so we I appreciate the work that you guys are doing and um I I know that when we talk about FEMA um that's not something that we're going to talk about getting in a hurry to to to get any kind of check by any means um you know I know that there's um some some districts um neighboring districts that are still dealing with with damages from 2017 and 18 um so we're we're grateful that our insurance we know is a little different um the insurance has already came
053through and it will continue to come through for us FEMA is really like it comes through on the back end and we're really in good shape here and just want to thank you for your work thank you can I ask one quick question um Neo Elementary we had a a large project up there for erosion in front of the school is FEMA going to help us with that or are we going to be able to correct that um in later date or is that something it's even been considered uh anything like that I will make a note on that one specifically they can they will bring us back to where we were to make us whole where we were they will not make it better than it than it was so but if we can
054get to where we were then we can definitely not that and they will look at that um there's a little bit of mitigation you can do as far as some other things as far as like old Ford if we need to live something to prevent if we were flooded again some damage but generally it is just to get you back to the status that you were before before the storm hit so I will make a note on that just to make sure that we've at least put that on that list because that is what's very very important is that we get that on that list by April 11th so that if we do have any claims after the fact so I I will get that in thank you Mr Ry I also think you know
055once we've got that list we can kind of go over that with building and grounds at some as well go ahead all right uh I'm on the agenda for the next is a a budget and finance update obviously the biggest thing going on right now is the FEMA and insurance claim and working with the um our insurance um representative as far as getting approvals for that but also we did get notice uh last week that the audit was approved by the LGC that a little bit later than normal I don't know if you guys remember but generally in January is when we start actually have the meeting and have with the finance committee um but we did get that approval last week so what our process is is that we schedule with the finance committee
056a detailed review of the audit with the with the Auditors and then after that we will send the entire report to the board obviously if the Board needs any other information we will do that but our first step will be scheduling that with um the finance committee to review the audit report so we should do that in the next couple weeks um and SP and speaking with Mr shord will'll get that scheduled soon um also uh just a reminder that the financial statements are on the web under the transparency page they're there every month um before the audit before the board meeting every month and it just shows where we're at year to date by pot of money by source of money and it shows we're about 50% spent this year which through December 31st
057is 50% of the year so that is on there for the public it's also there for the board at any moment can see what that is by month so right now they report this through December 31st so that's just a reminder that that is out there if you guys are interested and again if there's anything else that you guys need from me just let me know are there any questions from M Ry anything anybody wants what about the budget process so the budget and with the county so the budget process will start next month um in full swing we have a DPI conference generally that's where we start getting our planning numbers um basically where they expect our um student uh number should be the thing that is good this year is that we're now
058in AAR which means we know how many students are going to fund us on because they fund us on last year's which is this current Year's number of enrollment where before I don't know if you guys are familiar if we went down 100 students then they would adjust our funding after the second month um so now we do have that step which is a little bit more concrete uh but as far as the actual pots of money we will get that in February we will also start our allotment meetings and that will be in about four weeks or so we'll do that with the principes and talking about uh Staffing allotments and then we will bring that to the finance committee as well before we bring that to the full board generally we do that
059in a work session first uh so we can discuss any priorities things like that that and then we'll bring that to the full board um unfortunately the state budget is generally not as timely as the county budget um the county stays on track and gets up a budget before the end of the school year but a lot of times the state budget is not and so we are estimating a lot of State numbers and then as you can you know see throughout the year we have adjustments throughout the year um which are also harder to manage because they're changing our budgets up or down throughout the whole year uh but you should see some budget discussions we will start that next month specifically with the finance committee we will probably with the um when the
060Auditors come to talk with the finance committee we'll also do a beginning stages of budget talks then during that finance committee when when you present the audit in February is it um I'm trying to remember what we did we didn't have have the Auditors come in you presented it right we do not have the a they are available if that's what the board would prefer um in general um there's no findings and so it's just financial information and so we can just report that but we can easily have the Auditors come that's no problem to have them come as well it's whatever the board prefers good thank you m rank Mr Frank if I could uh sure I want to go back to Dr gr what he said uh about the parking lots and stuff
061I know some principles were out there shoveling snowing also I want to just thank you for for all the extra stuff that you guys do with your spouses I saw the pictures miss wilon my my tractor was on a job I apologize but I will get you in two weeks um when the snow comes back that I'm praying for uh it always happens when you're out of school so I figured it' be around the 20th that time again but uh and also uh answering a lot of text and and calls today from teachers uh once the the 2hour delay come out and and regular time for staff um I talked to Dr grit in length about that what teachers aren't privileged to hear is the row conditions and a lot of times on how they
062are around the whole County and he made me aware of of of the most of the streets on how clear they are but he also uh he he also reiterated that if there's anyone out there teacher- wise that feels danger or threatened by any kind of conditions driveway stuff like that to reach out to your principle uh and make that uh adjustment as needed it's not worth putting your life in danger uh to to try to hurry and get there when you're having a delay anyway so I wanted to reiterate that it was another way for me to get all these teachers to listen to the board meetings so you're hear me now uh to do that but I wanted to pass it on if I could absolutely thank you okay item number 13 on
063the agenda is new business and first item on that new business is the 20 25 board committee appointments and uh those appointments have been made and uh I have contacted each board member personally and I feel like that they've been placed in positions that's going to help us charge forward with great things during 2025 and as uh Dr grit mentioned in his uh remarks there's a lot of things going on uh real excited about the $7 million Grant we got uh we're EXC excited about about the possibility of starting to uh work on building a new school and uh we've got the folks in the right positions that that the board's not going to slow us down we're going to we're going to push very hard and uh there's a there's a lot of things
064coming up and I appreciate everybody willing to step up to the plate and accept their positions and and most of them based or what they wanted to do anyway and at this time I am asking for u a motion to accept the board committee appointments yes we have a motion to accept the uh 2025 board committee appointments from Mr Baker we have the second by m Helms and uh is there any further discussion on those with no further discussion all those in favor signify by raising your right hand which is unanimous and U I thank you all and and I'm I'm looking forward to a great year getting things done hopefully I know we will okay Miss Miss H if you want to step up and give us an update on the school based mental
065health Grant miss mccartha this team has worked hard with Miss rampy on securing These funds and they're excited to tell you a little bit about it absolutely Mr Frank Dr gret members of the board thank you for allowing us to share tonight it is with great excitement that I have this opportunity to share this wonderful news about a recent grant that we received as well as the impactful work that Miss mccartha has been doing in the area of school-based mental health uh I do want to take this opportunity to brag on her for just a few minutes miss m Miss mccartha is dedicated and a committed director who works tirelessly to ensure our students are happy healthy and thriving in their educational setting and I think as you uh listen about the grant tonight you
066will hear the works and the efforts that she has been putting forth on our most recent Grant during uh Dr grit's opening he briefly shared with you about the United States Department of Education School based mental health grant that we titled help heal which stands for helping everyone achieve in life uh we received approximately 6.8 million I want to say that again $6.8 million and this is to begin here in January of 2025 and will be uh implemented over the next 5 years the purpose of this grant is to increase access to school-based mental health services at all of the district's 15 schools the district currently has only one credential school-based mental health provider and we want to improve that the grant will improve access to credential providers and providers to student ratio by hiring
067a new credential professional including one licensed professional counselor who will serve as the Project Director one LPC clinical supervisor four social workers and one school psychologist it will also uh uh Implement and engaging and growing our own initiative that will support the credentialing of five school counselors and six social workers good evening um as she was saying I'm Ashley mccartha and I'm the student services director for McDow County Schools um uh a large part of this grant is opportunities for Recruitment and Retention of school-based mental health professionals and um this has always been somewhat of a challenge for us so we are very very uh thankful and grateful for this opportunity to be able to extend some Recruitment and Retention strategies um to help us get the best for our kids in the county and
068so some of the things that were written into the grant would include some signing bonuses some relocation bonuses some annual stop-in to maintain certifications because um a lot of the very um clinical Specialties can be uh quite costly to maintain and get enough hours to support that certification so this would help um take care of that um some student internships and that could also mean some folks who um as part of our your own initiative who would need to complete some internship hours this would allow for that to be some paid intern internship times we also worked in collaboration with McDow Tech and appstate to help work in some Partnerships to help get some of our folks credentialed we've also talked about some uh retention strategies which would be retention bonuses um really trying to
069tailor professional development to the needs of the uh provider or the clinician or the social worker whoever that mental health professional might be uh also tailor to the needs of our kids because different ages have different needs and um we want to make sure that we are providing the best people with the best training um we also are talking about um some induction support like bringing them on to our district and getting them ready um to serve kids how do we make sure that that is a helpful and a useful process uh we're also talking about some paid clinical supervision hours so if you do go back and maintain and add on additional um credentials a lot of times that requires um some supervisory hours from someone who already has that certification and has the
070supervisory uh certification in addition to that and that can be costly and oftentimes that has to come out of a person's own pocket so this would allow those folks to uh keep their money and be able to utilize the grant funds to expand their skills we uh throughout the grant writing process we met with several different Community organizations to help uh see if they would be on board with us and so we are excited to uh collaborate not only with App State not only with McDow Tech but we also hope to collaborate with um with uh Kola YMCA the McDow County partnership for substance abuse our law enforcement partners and various Community Counseling and mental health agencies uh we have expected outcomes for our kids and we really want to see improvements in our student
071attendance um an increase in our positive behaviors decrease in our out of school suspension rates an increase in access to Mental Health Services as well as increased certification retention and knowledge of our providers and ultimately what we want over the next 5 years is to improve student mental health and well-being for all of McDow County and we are open to any questions that you might have congratulations easy question when we hire a social worker let's use that as an example uh that's a School employee not a DSS employee and they collaborate with DSS but DSS isn't not in the school system no we currently have have social workers they are what's called School social workers and they maintain the North Carolina School social work license which is very similar to like a teaching certification there's
072specific coursework and A license they have to obtain and they do not work with DS they collaborate of course to make sure that our kids are supported but they work in a whole separate capacity they're really about um working to improve attendance and working to improve fam's access to resources in order to help remove barriers and so we can be proactive so students can come to school ready to learn um so they can soak in all the knowledge that we have to give them so their Futures can be brighter and so yes these social workers would not be from DSS these would be school social workers and then and then with something like mental health which is much more specialized um can you contract that out or are those employees also that we hire uh
073under this grant we cannot contract these would be direct hires is this sort of a sounds like it's almost a recruitment program possibly uh that's a portion of it um but you know with 6.8 million over the next five years that's a a small portion of it the majority of it is going to be to actually get additional folks in front of our kids to work with them and to really work with their families too yeah but one of the barriers that we've had as a district when it comes to um finding folks in that realm is that the whole Community needs them and so uh you know if they work for a private entity or a private agency you know uh we are you know based on a state scale and we have you
074know we just don't have the um access to some of the incentives incentives that private organizations and private businesses can provide to those folks and so this is going to be a real game changer for us in terms of getting the best folks in front of our kids is being able to help them relocate um get the certifications that they need maintain their certifications that's what we're most excited about I'll tell you what money for uh anytime you get money it's great but money for mental health is even greater uh we we've definitely got the need here and uh just our hats off to you both for what you've done and and I know everybody here is very appreciative of it thank you both thank you thank [Applause] you the next item on the agenda
075item 14 is approval consent agenda and of course uh any of those items that are on the consent agenda can be pulled and voted on individually or we can vote on them as a whole and at this time I'll entertain a motion to approve the the consent agenda as it is printed or if anyone has an item they won't pull it now the time to have a motion on it I'll make a motion we approve as printed second we have a motion by Mr subtles to approve the consent agenda and we have a second by Mr shufford at this time is there any further discussion on the consent agenda okay did I second well you both did we both did it's your it's okay you got it I'm already talking I got it you take
076it yeah okay all those in favor signify by raising your right hand which is unanimous we appreciate it okay at at this time uh item number 15 on the agenda is a closed session request and we will request to go into Clos session just a second let me get reasons okay okay this time we're requesting a closed session and under subsection A1 to prevent disclosure of privileged or confidential student information pursuant to 20 USC 1232g furpa and gs1 15 C 402e includes student discipline and student transfer releases under subsection a uh one to prevent disclosure of privilege or confidential personal information pursuant to General statute 115c 319-321 includes employee matters and at this time I'll entertain a motion to go into close session I'll make a motion to go in close session second okay we
077have a motion to go into close session from Mr shord and the second by Mr Baker is there any further discussion all those in favor signify by raising your right hand at 7:12 p.m. that's unanimous e