001Mhm. >> I call the March 2nd meeting of the Pitt County Schools Board of Education to order. All board members are present except for Justin Eastwood representing District 4 who is excused. At this time I would invite Dr. Amanda Cline to please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment in a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please join us in a moment of silence. Thank you Dr. Cline. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? I move to approve the agenda. Okay, it's been seconded. Moved by Amy and seconded by Jennifer. Any discussion? All in favor, please raise your right hand. Then uh the
002motion carries. Now I invite Ms. Sarah English to um for our spotlight on teaching and learning this evening. Good evening to Board Chair Weaver, board members, Dr. Lassiter, those who are with us in attendance in person and online. We're very excited to be back in person for spotlight since for the first time since January. Tonight we're proud to continue our spotlight on teaching and learning where we celebrate the people and programs that make our district exceptional. At this time I'd like to invite Mr. Paul Cornwell, our director of athletics for Pitt County Schools to introduce state champion athletes from three of our high schools starting with Farmville Central, then Ayden-Grifton, and then J.H. Rose. Good evening everybody. It's my distinct pleasure to introduce a young lady who has achieved greatness already at a very young
003age. Aleia Grotini is the 2026 3A indoor track 500-meter state state champion. And she is also has the distinct or distinction of being the first female indoor track state champion in Farmville Central athletics history. >> [applause] [applause] >> And now we have another young lady who has also achieved a great honor this year. Abigail Mitty of Ayden-Grifton High School is the 2026 indoor track state champion in the long jump. She is also the very first female indoor track state champion in Ayden-Grifton athletics history. >> [applause] >> Abigail, we are so proud of you. Keep jumping and keep jumping. >> [laughter] >> Appreciate you also. And appreciate the parents because it took everybody working together for you to be where you are. And especially your initiative. And I'm I'm proud of you. I pray that the
004Lord bless you abundantly. >> [applause] >> Abigail also was a part of the 4 by 400 state track championship team at Ayden-Grifton last spring. So she's looking forward to a great outdoor season as well. Our next group We have the J.H. Rose 200-meter or the 6A North Carolina High School Athletic Association 6A 200 medley relay state champions. We have Claire Pierce Smith who swam the backstroke. We have Hadley Kulas who swam the breaststroke. Iris Eldridge swam the butterfly. And Riley Brown swam the freestyle. And this was the Was this the first relay state champions in J.H. Rose swimming history? >> [applause] >> As you can see I have a partner here with me that wanted to be here to congratulate you all. Young ladies on behalf of the Pitt County Board of Education, Dr. Lassiter
005and his team, we want to say congratulations and we're so proud of you. When I call your name please reach out your hand. Hadley Hadley Claire Iris and Riley. Y'all know how to do a handshake. >> [applause] >> And just to point out the amazing women athletes we have going on these days. But Claire Pierce I have known her for many years. Her when she swam when my one my middle who's now 18 was little and they were still holding the Gaston record for the relay. So swimming is an important life skill. I think every child should learn how to swim but not every child can excel. So congratulations and to the parents who support them in all of that. >> [snorts] >> All right. Congratulations. And to the coaches, thank you all. >> [applause]
006>> So and we out of this group we also have a young lady who achieved some huge achievements on her own. Hadley Kulas is a back-to-back state North Carolina High School Athletic Association 100-meter champion in the breaststroke. So two-time state champion. She won the 3A state title last year and the 6A state title this year. So congratulations. >> [applause] >> I know she had Claire Pierce in the kindergarten. So anyway, thank you so much. We appreciate everything. Thank you Mr. Cornwell and congratulations to all those tremendous student athletes. At this time I would like to welcome Amity Key, our kindergarten through 12th grade social studies specialist and high school facilitator who will present an honor to the administrative team at J.H. Rose High School. Good evening. Since 2023 College Board has honored schools with the
007AP Honor Roll that recognizes schools for their commitment to academic achievement specifically by providing opportunities for advanced placement and achieving exceptional student participation and performance. Based on the 2025 graduating cohort at J.H. Rose, they have been awarded the bronze designation. They have done this based on three qualifications. The first is that they have cultivated a college culture within their school with 49% of their graduating cohort taking at least one AP exam during high school. Additionally, they have had a high rate of achievement in college credit with 34% of the cohort scoring at least one one exam of a three or higher. Furthermore, they demonstrated a strong commitment to maximizing AP offer opportunities with 23% of the cohort taking at least five or more exams and at least one of those exams in ninth or 10th
008grade. This designation reflects the school's dedication to fostering an enriching educational environment where students are encouraged to excel and prepared for future academic challenges. Dr. Jones and AP teachers, please come forward to be recognized. Thank you. We have with us tonight Dr. Jones, principal at J.H. Rose. We have Ms. Liza Knight who teaches AP Government and Comparative Government. Ms. Ashley Hutchinson who teaches AP Lang and AP Seminar. Ms. Battingly who teaches AP Pre-Cal and Pre-Cal. Pre-Cal for right now. Okay. I'm putting it up there for you later. Um Mr. Garner who teaches AP Computer Science Principles and AP Cyber Security. Um Ms. Berry who teaches AP Research. Mr. Medlin who teaches AP Macro. Um Dr. S who teaches AP Calculus, AP Pre-Cal, and AP Stats. And then Ms. Haynes who teaches AP I'm sorry, not
009Computer Science, AP Spanish Language. Thank y'all. >> [applause] >> Congratulations. [applause] That was recognized. Yes, South Central should be there. Next, I would like to invite Dr. Lori Collins, our Director of Student Access and Services to recognize our school counselors. Good evening to Dr. Lassiter and our Board of Education. Tonight it gives me great honor to share with you our first inaugural um school counselor of the year, Ms. Zulena Staton was who was nominated by her peers and this honor came on behalf of all of our school counselors who attended the state convention and said, "Hey, we don't do that here in Pitt County. Why not?" So, of course Pitt County wants to be a leader and in so doing we took on the task of naming our Counselor of the Year. Ms. Staton has
010been a counselor for Pitt County Schools since 2009 and currently serves at Pitt Academy which saw its highest graduation rate in 2025. Ms. Staton is a graduate of ECU, holds a Bachelor's of Social Work with a minor in Business Administration, and a Master of School of Sciences in Counseling Education. Her accomplishments include being a published author and licensed clinical mental health counselor which also allowed her to provide outpatient therapy to clients with mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders while assisting in the achievement of mental health and promoting emotional wellness. Ms. Staton also is also a college board counselor recognized counselor through honorary in 2020. Ms. Zulena Staton. >> [applause] >> MS. STATON, WE ARE SO PROUD OF THE work that you do and what our counselors do across across our schools and you are an example
011of excellence for all of us. model for our so thank you for all you do and what you do at Pitt Academy. We are so proud of you. As a school as a therapist, what you do is you are an angel. So, thank thank you so much. We heard about that. 3 2 1 1 more 3 2 Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Dr. Collins, and congratulations to Ms. Staton. I'd like to point out that that celebration was part of our National School Counselor Week Appreciation Week which got interrupted. They did it in the snow. Um so, I want to make sure we recognize them and I'd also like to point out that this week is School Social Worker Week and we will be celebrating them all month and we'll honor them at the April
012Board meeting. Next, please allow me to invite Mr. Rich Hutchinson, Director of Transportation, to share how PCS showed love to our bus drivers and transportation department during Love the Bus Week. Dr. Lassiter, Madam Chair, honorable members of the Board, thank you for allowing us time to recognize Love the Bus Week and Month even though we're a month behind. Uh tonight we have two bus drivers a safety assistant and a mechanic representing the over 300 personnel who work daily to transport the the 14,000 students signed up for transportation across Pitt County. Um I call I I'm turning things over to Ms. Bailey and she said, "I'm not reading that." And I'm I probably wrote this first line at about 8:00 at night one night, but starting in the east like the rising sun, we are going
013to G.R. Whitfield where we'd like to recognize on behalf of the drivers of Pitt County Schools Ms. Norma Smith. I would have read that. Ms. Norma Smith exemplifies dedication and service through her dual role as both a classroom instructional support professional and a bus driver for G.R. Whitfield and Hope Middle School. She reliably drives both morning and afternoon routes, always approaching her work with a positive, friendly attitude, and a strong commitment to student safety. Watch her cry. Her willingness to do whatever is needed to ensure students arrive at school and return home safely combined with the meaningful relationships she builds with students on her bus makes her an invaluable member of our school community. >> [applause] >> All right. Um the second person we'd like to recognize on behalf of the drivers of Pitt County
014Schools is Mr. Lester Gay. >> [applause] >> I have Ms. Conwell from Sub Bundy here and she's going to read a little bit about Mr. Gay. Mr. Gay is far more than a bus driver. He is an integral part of Farmville of area attendance area. He consistently goes above and beyond in his role and as a dependable presence and a team player who is exceptionally hard working and dedicated. Showing up each day with a servant's heart and a selfless attitude Mr. Gay takes pride in ensuring that the buses are warmed up and ready for fellow drivers, supporting transportation teams as a whole. He makes it a priority to know multiple bus routes allowing him to assist seamlessly sorry, when coverage is or flexibility is required. Most importantly, Mr. Gay genuinely cares about the students he
015serves. From elementary through middle and high, he builds positive relationships with students and treats each one with presence, patience, respect, and kindness. His reliability, compassion, and commitment to serve others makes a meaningful difference for students, staff, and the Farmville community every single day. >> [applause] >> Um the next person I would like to bring up is Ms. Kathy Sharp on behalf of the safety assistants of Pitt County. Ms. Sharp serves in one of the 39 safety assistant positions with the special transportation section of Pitt County Schools. This year she is assigned a bus that helps meet the special needs of students at Eastern Elementary and C.M. Epps Middle School. Like many of our dual employees, she has her CDL and unfortunately is often pulled to drive a bus when we need her as a substitute.
016Fortunately Ms. Sharp is a willing servant dedicated to our students and community who's glad to drive the bus. She is an inspiration to our leadership team sharing spiritual memes and keeping us in her prayers at church. Students who don't know her see the light and love with which she executes her daily duties and we are very thankful for her. >> [applause] >> Um lastly, I'm going to turn things over to Mr. Justin Crozier. He's our inspection supervisor uh who's going to talk about one of our wonderful mechanics. Uh before I do that, I need to highlight him and the efforts of our mechanical team. This year Pitt County Schools received the best score on state inspection last in the 13 years I have records for. A large portion of that credit goes to Mr. Crozier
017for always seeking to better each year evaluating where we did well and where we need to improve. So, thank you, Justin, and it's yours. Good evening. Good evening. Thanks, man. How am I going to cover that? Uh I'm here to introduce uh Richard Robuck. Uh he's one of our six road mechanics. Um he's currently assigned to inspect and maintain the buses at Pactolus, Stokes, Bethel, North Pitt, Welcome, Belvoir, Northwest. Uh in the three years Richard has been with us, he has met and exceeded the uh state's annual average inspection score for the uh eastern counties. Uh he has had no buses parked for safety violations thus far. He can drive the wrecker, the fuel truck, and uh serve as a substitute uh school bus driver as needed. Um he comes to work on time, rarely
018calls out sick, and is well-liked by everybody in our transportation department. And in closing, my only complaint with Richard is I don't have five more of them. >> [applause] >> All right, folks. You coming? Oh, that's okay. Thank you all. >> [snorts] [snorts] >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> FINALLY, I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE OUR SCHOOL resource officers here here with us tonight to join me. I have Officer Dildy who works at Stokes and Officer Vines who works at Chicod. They're very enthusiastically joining us tonight. Um well, February 15th marks School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. We know the impact that our SROs make on a daily basis. You're mentors, role models, and trusted adults who help create a safe environment where students can thrive. On behalf of Pitt County Schools and our entire community, we
019thank our school resource officers for your dedication and care for our students and staff all year long. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Chair Weaver. >> [laughter] [snorts] >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you um Ms. English, and it's so good to be back to be able to um hear together and celebrate all the good things and um all the incredible people we have across Pitt County Schools. Now, we'll move on to our um our consent agenda, our regular business. Um the following items have been listed on our consent agenda. I am so sorry. Thank you. We have four as of 6:15, we have four public expressions um to share, so we're going to do that first, and I will um hand it over to Vice Chair Nobles Nobles-Maltbie. Good evening. This evening,
020we have four individuals offering public expression. Public expression is an opportunity to share issues or concerns that are relevant to the business of the board. The board will listen to your comments respectfully, and our chair may offer some direction if if our rules are not followed, but the board will not respond to your comments. Only speakers who have signed up for public expression may address the board. When a speaker's time expires, you must end your remarks and step away from the podium. If a speaker is not present when he is or her name is called, the opportunity to speak will be considered waived. During this time during this time spirit period, excuse me, you may hear someone share a viewpoint with with the board that you do not agree with. We do not censor speech
021by viewpoint, and we do not permit our audience to express approval or disapproval for a viewpoint expressed. This time is for an the individual speaking to address the full board. The board does not permit speakers to name a staff member or student when offering praise or criticism. We also do not permit comments that are irrelevant to our business, which includes attack on individuals or something in their personal lives or the discussion of board members' family members. Again, the board member will listen to your comments respectfully, and our chair may offer some direction if our rules are not followed, but we will not respond to your comments. At this time, I invite Ms. Latoya Nixon-Vine to come forth. Latanya. Latanya Nixon-Vine, thank you. My my apologies. And I know her well, she's my sister. >> [laughter]
022>> Good evening. My name is Latanya Nixon-Vine. I serve as the school representative for the Pitt County Association of Educators. I'm also the instructional coach at Farmville Middle School, and this is my 25th year in public education. I'm here tonight to ask for your support of the Kids Over Corporations campaign. North Carolina currently ranks last in the nation in public school funding. At the same time, educators are facing rising healthcare costs, higher co-pays, while teacher pay stagnates after the 15 and 20-year 25th-year marks, precisely when veteran educators are mentoring new teachers, leading initiatives, and serving as instructional anchors within our schools. Simply put, our legislators need to do more. Educators are tired, but more importantly, our students cannot afford for us to remain silent. The time has come for bold action to protect and strengthen
023public education before it is slowly dismantled. Our teachers and our students deserve better. I want to share a brief story that reflects the heart of public education. One of my teachers recently told me about an eighth-grade student who experienced broken pipes during the snowstorm. Because her parents could not uh had to pay for repairs, um she she could not afford to go on a field trip, but her teacher quietly offered to cover the cost. But do do you know what that student said? She asked if the teacher would instead pay for her little brother in sixth grade because he really wanted to go. That moment, y'all, touched my heart. A child choosing others before herself. You all know stories like this happen every day in our public schools. They remind us that our schools are
024filled with compassion, sacrifice, and hope, but goodwill alone cannot sustain a system that lacks adequate investment. I want to thank Pitt County Schools senior leadership leadership and you all for inviting us one staff member from each school to attend the legislative luncheon on February 16th. It was encouraging to hear the recommendations shared with our lawmakers. Um many of those concerns educators are raising in our build- raising in our building, and I shared afterward how reassuring it was to see district leadership and educators aligned in advocating for our schools. However, I must be honest, many educators are not convinced lawmakers will listen. Some believe speaking up will not make a difference. History tells us otherwise. Am I out of time? Okay. Thank you. Um I am certain Susan B. Anthony heard those same doubts during the
025women's suffrage movement, just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. One of my colleagues often says, "A closed mouth doesn't get fed." So, tonight I'm asking all of us to open our mouths to speak loudly and clearly that enough is enough. Fund our public schools, respect educators, put children first. And we have um want to invite you for to join our campaign. Thank you. Thank you. Julie [snorts] Anderson. Good evening. This is a proposal for a school policy for AI and a proclamation. The request is for the school board to adopt the proclamation. Thank you for your service to our students and families. Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept. It is here in our classrooms. It has extraordinary potential to enhance learning, improve efficiency, and expand access to information
026in which we could not have imagined even a few years ago. Used wisely, AI can be a powerful educational tool. But with that opportunity comes serious responsibility. We have already seen what happens when technology outpaces guardrails. Smartphones and social media were introduced without fully understanding their long-term impact on our children. Today, we see rising anxiety, depression, and addiction. With AI, the stakes are even higher. That is why I'm asking you to adopt our AI proclamation. This proclamation, which I already provided to the administration, you can see it at your your leisure, does not reject innovation. It embraces it with boundaries. It affirms that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. It ensures transparency about what data is collected and how algorithms are used. It protects It protects student
027data from commercial exploitation and profiling. It requires meaningful parental consent and oversight. Most importantly, it makes clear that AI remain a tool to support learning and that the keys to the AI toolbox belongs to the parents. No algorithm should replace a teacher's judgment. No platform should shape a child's worldview. No AI system should conduct or monitor social emotional learning or provide mental health services to students. And no AI tool should operate without clear safeguards and accountability. This is about the balance of innovation and responsibility, [clears throat] progress with protection. By adopting this proclamation, you are sending a clear message. Technology will serve families in this district, not the other way around. You are affirming that transparency, study or excuse me, student safety, and parental rights are non-negotiable. Our children deserve opportunity, and they also deserve
028protection. AI can help strengthen education, but only if we put the proper guardrails in place now. I respectfully urge you to adopt this proclamation and lead with clarity, courage, and commitment to the families you serve. And with that, I just want y'all to be aware that um this is through Moms for Liberty nationally. It'll be going out throughout the nation, of course. It also has a state legislative bill that will be introduced this year. It's already been in South Carolina, and it's gone through their legal department without one change, which is phenomenal. So, you guys here with all everything that you have, you have an opportunity to adopt this policy before it's presented to North Carolina legislature. And thank you. Tricia Worrall Hall. >> [snorts] >> Good evening, friends. I'm here tonight to continue my
029ongoing theme of requesting transparency from you guys regarding [snorts] the policies and procedures you are making for families, employees, staff, children, students in the district. DPI recently released data showing that the districts in the state at large have a serious struggle with discriminating against students with disabilities, specifically regarding disciplinary actions and excessive um use of them or punitively using them. So, when I say like we could look at the transparency of policies and procedures, given it's shown that the entire state has an issue with this, that might be a great place to start and see if PCS maybe also has issues with that. I know that at the end of the last academic school year, I [snorts] came before you guys and asked you guys to not comply in advance with the national with the
030executive order about DEI policies. I said that a lot of them had been come come down as unlawful and were not going to ultimately be upheld, and we should not comply in advance. The board complied in advance. The Department of Education recently stopped aggressively pursuing districts that rescinded their DEI policies. And so, the >> [snorts] >> in our attempt to be in alignment with federal policies, we didn't serve anyone other than harming students here in PCS. So, at the first meeting of this year, I came before you guys because I was very upset, and I called for a moment of silence for all of the children that were going to be harmed by that [snorts] policy being rescinded. And I'm here tonight because I'm still upset about that policy being rescinded and it no longer
031being something that needed to happen. So, I am calling for a moment of silence tonight for the students that have been harmed by that policy being rescinded 6 months ago. I know I show up Thank you for that, you guys. >> [snorts] >> I know I show up each month here with my strongly worded opinions, and I hope you guys know it's because I care as much as you guys care. And I know my approach, it can be difficult to receive. Can be difficult to hear. It's rarely popular, and it leaves me disliked by a lot of people. I want to leave you guys, though, there is another guy that went around irritating politicians, merchants, and bankers because they didn't like the way they asked him to be kind, either. He was so disliked for
032how he tried doing that, the Romans crucified him. Thank you for your time. Have a good evening. Ann Rosa Ruiz. Don't look so concerned, guys. This is supposed to be fun. Well, maybe not every board meeting, and maybe not every part of the educational journey, but the best educators understand that meaningful learning engages the mind and honors the student. One powerful example of honoring students' voices is the artwork displayed in PCS buildings like this one. This goes beyond decorating our walls. It tells students we value them beyond academics, that we see who they are, and that we respect their perspective. Just outside these doors hangs a piece I encourage you to really see and feel. It honestly moved me, and it is what led me to comment this tonight. It's a piece created by a
033PCS high school student, and it is titled This is supposed to be fun. Just in the description, the student shares something that was far from fun. They write about being interrogated for hours by customs agents. They share, quote, I felt like a criminal being judged for a crime, and I tried to convey the emotions of fear, frustration, and tiredness through this piece. This student was able to turn fear into art that now hangs in our halls. But not every student has the tools to process that way. Some miss school. Others sit in class distracted, anxious, or withdrawn. Those students need access to mental health services and tools that help them navigate difficult situations. In a previous comment, I asked this board to create and provide clear procedures for how schools would be expected to respond
034should enforcement actions directly impact students. I still stand by that. But this tonight is not about hypothetical situations or headlines. It's about what this student put into words and how it reflects something many of our students are experiencing. If we listen, we can hear it. We can see it because it is literally hanging on our walls. Now, this doesn't mean fixing every problem or creating a bubble around our students. It means looking carefully at how we fund and prioritize student mental health services by doing things like examining counselor workloads and social worker caseloads. We celebrate school counselor and school social worker weeks because we know that they work daily to ensure that vulnerable students, including those from immigrant families, are not carrying burdens alone. So, tonight, as a parent of two PCS students who may
035one day need these services, I want to be clear in my ask. Please consider ways to continue strengthening student access to mental health support within our district. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who came and shared this evening. Now, we'll move on to our consent agenda for tonight. Honestly, this time. Um the following items have been listed for our um on the consent agenda for approval this evening, including minutes from the February 6th, 2026 special called meeting, the February 16th, 2026 legislative lunch, and the February 16th, 2026 work session. The purchase for work space for Google Education Plus, the purchase of a modular unit for Elmhurst Elementary School, the personnel report for March 2nd, 2026, and minutes from the February 6th and February 16th closed sessions. Is there a motion to approve items
036on the consent agenda? >> Motion to approve. Motion to approve by Worth. Second. Second James. So there's motion to approve by Worth and seconded by James. Any discussion? Um all who Excuse me. All in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. Um And new business this evening. Um the North Carolina School Board Association sent an announcement seeking nominations um for an at-large member of their legislative committee. Vice Chair Nobles-Maltby has expressed interest in this position. Um I haven't heard of any other members of our board who are interested, but if you are, please let me know. Um is there a motion to nominate? Go ahead. We can have more than one that we can send. This isn't a we have to choose. Okay, is there a motion to nominate Vice Chair Nobles-Maltby to serve
037as a at-large member of the legislative committee? I move that we nominate Vice Chair Maltby. Is there No, you're the one who did it. Motion by Amanda and seconded by James. Is there any discussion? Seconded by Amy. I mean Amy. I'm so sorry. It's been a long day. Yeah, start again. Motion by Amanda and seconded by Amy. All in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carries. All right. So we will send that, Mary. We know that you will represent us well there. Thank you. Um other new business, there are some settlement announcements for from our board. Um at this time, the board will announce several settlements, [clears throat] including the pre-legis Excuse me, pre-litigation settlement of claims with a professional services provider in exchange for non-monetary terms and payments to the provider in the
038amount of $525,710.36. The pre-litigation settlement of claims with a professional services provider in exchange for non-monetary terms and payment to the board in the amount of $125,000. And the settlement of JH versus the Pitt County Board of Education 25 EDC 04685 in exchange for confidential non-monetary terms and payment of attorney's fees in the amount of $15,000. Okay. At this time, we'll have closing comments. Um and following Dr. Lassiter's closing comments, we will um have each board member have time for to share their 3 minutes. So I now recognize you, Dr. Lassiter. Thank you, uh Madam Chair. And uh good evening to everyone. First and foremost, I want to just say that Mr. Jabour's Whitehurst close, we keep him, his family, and the North Pitt High School family in our thoughts and prayers. Um You know,
039I go back and look at my notes that I write to the board. And in my year and a half as superintendent, I believe this is our fifth or sixth student that we've lost in a year and a half. And as I've said before, it's never easy to lose a loved one, someone that you love. And I know that his family um loved him. And thank you to the North Pitt family for taking good care of them. And you know, we as a district continue to be supportive of that family in the time of their need. Um I also want to just thank Miss Sarah English uh who is doing double duty uh for a few months. She is not only working in the area of student services, so she's the first person that our
040principals and school staff see when when tragedy strikes, but she's also now our interim public information officer. And so I want to tell her thank you for taking on that challenge. She's She's so excited about it. And so thank you, Miss English, soon to be Dr. English, for taking on that challenge. Uh the past couple weeks, we've had great time working together with the board at the legislative luncheon. Got a lot of feedback about the luncheon. Teachers were very pleased. You heard those comments tonight about being involved in that process. And a lot of times, you know, we have those meetings and you automatically think about what is the result going to be. But those are the times when it's about voice, letting your voice being be heard that you do have input. And so
041thank you to all the teachers and the administrators who were there and to our board who was so engaged at our legislative luncheon. Few districts have asked for our template in terms of the recommendations that we've used. And so we're happy to share that share that out. Thank you to the board today for your time, a great workshop today. So thank you, Madam Chair and Madam Vice Chair and the board, this was a great workshop today. You've been here since 2:00. And so some great conversations and discussions. Um And I want to thank our our our students, particularly during Women's History Month. Um you know, those lady athletes, I'm so proud. Um school counselors, Selena Staten. Um you know, it is we are where we are, you know, largely as a nation because of a
042lot of things that um women have done. And so I acknowledge that and want to say thank you to all of our leaders, female leaders, and those who continue to help move our district, our nation forward. So thank you for that. We have 3 months of school left. Uh believe it or not, we have 3 months of school left. And we're going to push forward and get to the end. And I'm excited about what the end will show in terms of the hard work of our teachers, our staff, and our district staff because our district staff works very hard. And so I'm grateful for them. So Madam Chair, this concludes my comments. Thank you, Dr. Lassiter. We're going to start with you, Bishop Tillery. Oh, really? Oh. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um We enjoyed our
043retreat today. Uh I raised my hand earlier not for the nomination of that position, but to nominate Miss Mary. Want to make sure that was clear. Let the record show I would nominate Mary. I I do want to say I got a chance to visit Stokes and Bethel schools on last week. Uh thank you, Dr. Lassiter, for speaking about the Whitehurst close family. I do ask that we keep uh Principal Harris and the staff and the students in our prayers. Mr. Harris has really been going through losing two students within a year. And in the middle of that, losing his mother. So I ask that we continue to pray for them. On Thursday and Friday, I'll be in Raleigh. Uh I'll be in orientation for the state board of directors on Thursday. Will not be
044here Thursday night. And on Friday, we'll be in our meeting. Uh going to congratulate all those state champions this week. Uh thank our bus drivers, our school resource officers for all that they're doing and for everyone that came before us tonight to be presented. We We have a blessed community. And we're doing some out think outstanding things in our community. I do want to say to the parents, continue to be engaged in the children's education. Continue to be engaged in visiting the schools and learning and seeing what your students are doing. Thank you, Bishop. Jennifer. Um thank you. James, you covered a lot of really important things. So I think the only thing I'll add is is just counselors and mental health. And um and grief comes a lot along with that. You know, grief
045is really messy. It doesn't always make sense. Um just being there for each other. And I think it's going to be really important these months, especially around some of the events coming up like graduation. So just really want to hold out to all of our students and families and teachers and staff and um to let them know that the board cares about them and that we're we're here to support them and heal with them and honor with them. Grateful for our counselors. I Not enough of them. Um Miss English for all you do to respond to the needs as we can. Our public comments have clearly loudly said we need to be paying attention to the needs of the mental health needs of our kids. Um it looks different in each child. And I always
046tell parents, teachers, friends, trust your gut. If somebody seems a little different, if they're just behaving a little happier than usual or sad or withdrawn, lean in and just ask. Just hold space, spend time. Um cuz depression does not always look sad. Sometimes it's irritability. Sometimes, you know, people go through things in silence and they're not going to talk about it, but just having somebody ask. So just really appreciate all the things our teachers do in the spirit of teaching. Um and we'll continue to advocate for for policies and supports for mental health. So thank you. All right. You gave me permission. Absolutely. Um I will say this about the Whitehurst family. I mean, all of us are around this take these tables and in the audience. And if we got children, we need to
047make sure that we love them every single day because even though a kid doesn't do anything wrong, that still doesn't guarantee that they're going to be here the next day. As a pastor, one of the hardest things that I have to do is preach a uh to a parent their child's funeral. And the big question that I always get is why did this happen? And really, I can't explain why it happened. It's just not the order of thing natural order of things. Parents are supposed to go before their children. But we still we have got to pray for this family because they will struggle for a long time. And as well as maybe the uh kid's siblings or whatever. And the community. There's a lot of uh a lot of his friends, you know, at
048North Pitt as well as the staff. Uh so, we need to keep them in mind. Another thing that I would say as I was going to say, we have 3 months left. And I'm going to ask our superintendent to be sure that he >> [laughter] >> be sure that he communicates to the principals that they need to um be um screening field trips. Do they really have a purpose? And movies. You know, a lot of times when we have half days, I ask certain first hand children that I deal with, "What did you do today?" "Well, we watched a movie." So, as far as I'm concerned, as close as we're getting into the end of the year and testing, it would have to be a great movie before I sign off on it as a
049principal. And as a principal, I always sign off on movies. There were no movies shown in the school that I didn't know about. As well as these field trips. Cuz you know, towards the end of the year things like that happen. We got great principals, but sometimes, you know, we just got to remind folks of uh what we need. And of course, the legislative luncheon, that was great. But I think we need to follow up with the three that we talked with cuz we hear that story every year. I've been hearing it for uh 15 years. I got a lot of years. But I do think we need to follow up. And not only follow up, we need to speak up. Thank you. I'll be quiet Thank you. Um first off, I want to congratulate
050our amazing athletes, Clarissa Hadley, Isis Raleigh, Riley, Abigail, Aleah. Absolutely phenomenal, and it doesn't hurt that it is Women's History Month. Um and it makes a difference. It makes a difference for young girls to see older girls succeeding with medals on, all of that stuff. So, it it all matters. You need to see it out there. Um I also want to thank our counselors, our bus drivers and mechanics, and our counselors. Um when we think of schools, we tend to think of principals and teachers who are obviously so important, but we don't always think about all the other people who make our schools run, get our kids there, uh pay attention to their mental health. Um so, thank you. Uh obviously, 1 week is not enough to thank you, but we are very grateful. Um
051I also wanted to say to our speakers, um we are always very happy to have you guys come speak. Uh it is not a burden. It is not too much. Um please, your voices are so important. That lets us know what we need to be thinking about and talking about and working on. So, um it's so great to have public expression and to have, you know, a line of people who who want to talk to us. Um and then I I think that's all. Oh, did I talk about our Oh, our school resource officers. I don't know if I said that. Yes, thank you to our school resource officers. All right. Um and I think that concludes my remarks. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um I don't know why it is, but it seems like the
052older I get, the longer it takes me to say some things. But uh that's okay. I just want to make sure they're said properly in the right order. Tomorrow, I will constitution and our founding fathers gave us an opportunity to do something a lot of countries don't have the opportunity to do. And that is to get out and vote. And I would encourage everybody that if you have not uh done so during the early voting period, which was 17 days this year, I would encourage you to make sure that you go out and that you vote tomorrow. And um vote because it's very, very important and vital. If you have um complaints, don't unless you vote. Okay? Because that's important. That's very important, and I hope that we'll all do that. Um it's been a
053long day. We had a board retreat, but I think it was a very well conducted, Madam Chairman, and uh I appreciate everything you have done to to put that in order, and I thought we had accomplished a lot of things today. And in closing, yeah, in closing, >> [laughter] >> there's there's one other thing that kept kept creeping up in board kept creeping up in in the board workshop, and that is visiting schools. Well, I I've been at this this game now a long time, and I thoroughly enjoy visiting schools, all the schools, but particularly those schools that that I am privileged to be able to represent and the families and the students and the the parents that that uh are part of those schools. And on uh Wednesday of this week, uh doctor, um
054we we're going to have um we're going to have some reading to be done at G.R. Whitfield. And they have uh asked me again this year to be a part of that, so I look forward to that. And I look forward to working with those people out in the Grimesland community. They have a wonderful school at G.R. Whitfield, and it's very well supported. And um it continues to do wonderful things in that area of Pitt County. I'm very proud of it. Thank you, Benji. I also want to note that G.R. Whitfield did win Battle of the Books today, just so you know. Uh oh. I'm so sorry. Amy, please. I'm sorry. Everything has pretty much been said, so toward the end there, but um I do want to mention, like James, I will not be
055at on the road again on Thursday night, and I'm very disappointed with that. I was so disappointed to see the makeup day cuz I will be attending a conference for work in Wilmington. I know I'm It is a work conference. I will be in a in sessions all day, so um but I do want to say I will very much miss that because that's one of my one of my favorite things to do last time was going to those sessions. I will plan to be at the other two. Um and also thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Whitehurst close and anyone all of our past families who have tragically lost loved ones, especially as worth mention, losing a child. I can't even imagine or fathom the pain that that entails, nor do
056I ever want to. Um so, my my heart aches for them and their families. Um and I know, like you mentioned, it's a it's a battle faced for a very long time. So, I just pray for all those families. And um I too so excited about all the young ladies we saw tonight and all their awards. I'm just it's just lovely to see all that. We we love to have those recognitions and see all the good stuff that's going on in Pitt County schools. And thank you, of course, to our school counselors. We obviously do not have enough of those at all. We definitely need more help with mental health issue with mental health, for sure. Um it's definitely an issue that is close to a lot of our hearts and something that we always
057advocate for. And um it's definitely worth letting people know that we we see and we hear the need for that as well. And thank you for our school resource officers. We can't can't forget that. We definitely have school safety being up front in our minds all the time as well. So, we just thank you for all the people that do stuff around our schools and our bus drivers and our cafeteria workers and all of our staff. Like Amanda said, we can't do anything without everyone involved, and it takes a village to help raise our children. So, thank you. Okay. I would like to say congratulations to all who received recognition this evening. A special recognition to J.H. Rose High for being the the only Pitt County school to receive AP Honors recognition. Congratulations to Ridgewood
058Elementary School for winning the Battle of the Books on the elementary level. Parents, family, and friends, we're about it again. We're looking ahead to our Road Ahead listening tour. We invite everyone, even though we're having the J.H. Rose North Pitt area, we want anybody to come out if you can't attend your particular one, and to um be there to listen to Dr. Lassiter and his team share our vision. Um it will be at the um location of the Pitt County Office Park, 415 Government Circle, right here in Greenville. So, we would love to see you there. Continue to keep the Jabouris Whitehurst close family in your prayers. And I'd like them to know that I wasn't there because I was out of town. And the North Pitt family as well. Dr. Lassiter, thank you for
059our treat from Wells. He brought us all back a treat, y'all. And I also want to thank Dr. Lassiter for the Board of Education Hall of Fame, along with Mr. Hines, Carol, and all who took place. That is a good-looking Board of Education County Board of Education Hall of Fame, right, Bishop? Bishop wanted that last year, and he didn't get it, so he was sad. Dr. Lassiter, I guess he's happy now. That wall of fame out there. Did y'all see it? Did y'all see our wall of fame out there? Didn't it look good? And the last thing I would like to say is, please get out and vote tomorrow. Just because it's a primary, don't think it's not important. It's very important. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I love the wall of fame. Yes, um
060it's been a it's been a good day today. Um thank you everybody for um being here for our retreat today, and for um engaging in some really good conversation. Uh I really appreciate that. Um I I think it was a really great time, and I'm looking forward to continuing our conversations. I think this happened at the end of January-ish, but NSPRA recognized um Dr. Lassiter as one of the 30 superintendents to watch across the nation. And we have not been able to celebrate that. I've had it written down, and the snow came, and um he is the only superintendent from the state of North Carolina that was recognized. Um And we um whether uh I'm I'm grateful that NSPRA recognized him, we already knew that we had one of the best superintendents that everybody else
061is watching, but we're keeping We'll keep him. >> go anywhere, y'all. Um >> [laughter] >> but I want to celebrate him and all the work that he does, and how um how he is continuing to lead us um and lead Pitt County Schools. Um So, I know it's been mentioned, I want to uh acknowledge again that On the Road Again starts this Thursday, March the 5th, at um the Pitt County Office Park Community Center at 6:00 p.m. Um then on Thurs- Tuesday, excuse me, Tuesday, March 24th, right? Isn't that a Tuesday? Um it's going to be at Alice Keene Park at 6:00 p.m., and then on April the 9th, it will be at the Eddie and Jo Allison Smith Center at Pitt Community College, also at 6:00 p.m. Um so, we do have them broken
062up by attendance areas, but please come. The same information will be shared, and we want everyone to have an opportunity to to listen, and to also be heard. So, please please come to those. Um We've got a lot of great things happening. This is a busy busy time of year. Um so, please keep showing up at your schools, keep supporting the work that they're doing, the fundraisers, the events. There's a lot happening. Um so, please keep showing up, supporting your students, supporting your teachers, um and your and your leaders. So, um there's always so much more we could say, but we will leave it there tonight. Is there a motion to adjourn today's meeting? I'll share. Yes, sir. Yeah, I'm going to we adjourn. I second it. Motion moved by um Benji, and seconded by
063Mary. All in favor, please raise your right hand. Okay. Motion carries. Thank you, everybody.