001Richmond County Schools in the June 10th board of education meeting. The chair declares there is a quorum present for the June 10th, 2025 Richmond County Board of Education meeting. Will the board please come to order? Everybody please stand for a moment of silence and a pledge of allegiance. We'll do our moment of silence first, please. Thank you. Everybody, please stand. Put your hand over your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Board members, you have the minutes from our May 13th meeting in front of you. Are there any changes needed to those minutes? Make the motion. Mr. Est makes a motion to approve the minutes. Have a second. Second. Any discussion?
002All in favor by saying I. All opposed. Thank you. Mr. Superintendent, are there any changes to the agenda? No, sir. Then we will adopt the agenda by consent of the board. And it's Miss Whitley's time. We're going to rock and roll through this. Good evening, Chairman Satderfield, Dr. Frell, members of the board. I'm excited to introduce our final month of Inspiring Excellence winners for this school year. And we will start with Washington Street School and Miss Rebecca. Good evening, board chair Satderfield, Dr. Frell, and board members. It is my pleasure to celebrate two of our incredible staff members tonight. Our first inspiring excellence award goes to Miss D. Dockery. Miss Dockery is a true team player and always rated to lend a hand no matter the task. She builds meaningful relationships with students and staff
003alike. She has a way of brightening even the cloudiest day with her kindness, thoughtfulness, and warm smile. Washington Street is a better place because she is there. [Applause] two. [Applause] Our next inspiring excellence award is presented to Miss Katie Jinx. Miss Jinx has a heart for service and a natural gift for leadership. She inspires our school community daily by being solution centered, comical, and being relentless in her pursuit for student success. From organizing the holiday market at our school to founding the beautifification club, her positive energy and deep connections with students have a lasting impact on our entire community. [Applause] Yes. All right. One, two, three. Perfect. Congratulations. All right. And our next school is Monroe Avenue and Melanie K. Miss Melanie Lee. Good evening, Chairman Siderfield, Dr. Frell, and members of the board. It's
004my pleasure to be here tonight to recognize two outstanding Monroe Avenue Elementary School employees with the Inspiring Excellence Award. When I began working at Monroe Avenue, Latoya Bird was employed as a nurse extender. I quickly noticed how efficient, professional, and helpful she was. When the grant for nurse extenders ended, there was no doubt that I wanted to keep her on board as a Monroe Avenue Tiger. She transitioned into a teacher assistant role, but she serves as so much more than an assistant. Besides being an amazing hands-on instructional assistant in a first grade classroom, Miss Bird is a bus driver, substitute school nurse, photographer for special events, spur-of-the- moment substitute for upper grades, and the list goes on and on. There has never been a time that we have asked Miss Bird to assist that she
005did not jump right in and help with a smile and a positive attitude. We are so thankful for the relationship she has fostered with students throughout the building to help them learn and succeed in the classroom. Miss Bird truly does inspire excellence in our students and staff at Monroe Avenue and we are so thankful that she is a part of our Tiger team. [Applause] All right. One, two, three. [Applause] Hope serves as our instructional coach and mentor to beginning teachers. Affectionately known as Mama Hope to our beginning teachers, Miss Oldm goes above and beyond her role to meet the needs of all teachers, but especially beginning teachers. Our beginning teachers seek her out for everything from a curriculum resources to boyfriend advice. With many of our beginning teachers moving here from out of state, she
006understands their need to have a work family connection here and meets those needs beautifully. She hosts mentee Monday each week to assist with curriculum development or just provide support for beginning teachers. She has spent countless hours in classrooms modeling lessons and reflecting with teachers on how they can improve instructional delivery, finding resources for individual student needs and helping to understand data and what it means. Miss Odum is a leader and a fierce advocate for teachers and students in our school and is focused on meeting the needs of students and helping them reach their full potential. Miss Odum always gives her best and holds herself to very high standards. For this reason and so many more, she is so deserving of the Inspiring Excellence Award. [Applause] She is One, two, three. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you so
007much. And we have a very special third award tonight and Arthur Kllum is gonna come up. Um, good evening to chair, Miss Satderfield, Dr. Frell, board. Good evening y'all. Um, I am honored to present the this inspiring excellence award to Miss Jacobson who is an English teacher at Richmond Senior High School. um whose dedication as a mentor this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. After completing the mentor training at the beginning of the year, Miss Jacobson fully embraced the role. Her mentee and student faced an incredibly challenging academic load this year that included his regular eight classes, seven credit recovery classes, and CCRG requirements. So basically he was fulfilling two years worth of work in one year and he completed every bit of it. That Yes. Thank you. Um that's huge. Um that achievement
008would not have been possible without Miss Jacobson's relentless support, encouragement, and advocacy. Having taught her mentor mentee previously, she built a strong rapport with him and stayed in constant communication with his father, providing updates and ensuring everyone, his teachers and I were aligned on his progress. Her mentee and his family have faced significant hardships um this year, challenges that could have caused anyone to give up, but Miss Jacobson never let him. She ensured he received all of his accommodations as an EC student and stood by him every step of the way. Just a few weeks before graduation, her mentee hit a rough patch. Family issues and the stress of finishing credit recovery classes caused him to fall behind quite a bit in one of his required classes. At that point, we feared he might not
009graduate. Summer school was not an option because his family did not have transportation. and he told Miss Jacobson that if he wasn't going to walk a graduation, he was going to give up entirely. So, she stepped in. Miss Jacobson began pulling him from his electives and sitting with him to help complete his classwork in his core classes while she was teaching and doing her work. It is because of her dedication to her student success and her powerful relationship building that we were able to witness her mentee overcome insurmount insurmountable odds and graduate last Friday. Miss Jacobson embodies everything a mentor should be and so much more. Her impact on her menty's life is the reason we proudly honor her today with this inspiring excellence award. And even though she won't be with us next year,
010um I felt like this was so important that she be recognized for what she did this year. Thank you. This won't be your appropriate person. [Applause] Good evening, Chairman Statfield, Dr. Farrell, and all board members. Um, I just want to take a few minutes tonight to recognize someone who quietly demonstrated a lot of compassion and leadership in a difficult situation. A few weeks ago, we had a bus accident. Luckily, no one of our students was involved in the accident, but thankfully um Dr. Carter was there. He just happened to be coming by and it's a very sweet. Anyway, thankfully he was there and in a moment that could have been chaotic and traumatic to these kids, Dr. Carter stepped in and comforted these kids, offered them water. Um, he done everything he could do to
011keep these children safe. um while the mother was being attended to. Um he didn't do it for recognition. Um he it was just something he did. Um he did it because it was the right thing to do. He said with those children, he offered them water. He did everything he could. But more importantly, he offered them calm and sense of safe when they needed it most. And tonight, our department would just like to take a minute and recognize Dr. Clark. These guys, they they honored me, but they don't need to honor me. They need to these guys are the ones that were heroes that day. You guys get your picture made too. Now we got proof. Oh my gosh. All right, let's go. Okay. One, two, three. Perfect. [Applause] Um, I don't need to write
012the second, but just All right. Um, good evening, Chairman Satderfield, Dr. Frell, and members of the board. Um, I have the honor and privilege tonight to recognize some of our outstanding students that have received some special recognition over the school year. So, come on up here with me. Okay. So, today I'm pleased to share the recent achievements that demonstrate the exceptional caliber of students and the strength of our education program. Our district continues to produce outstanding scholars who earn admission to North Carolina's most prestigious and academic programs. And I'll start with our five students that we had this year selected for Governor's School. This is the highest number we've had in several years. So, we're super proud of this honor in these students. The North Carolina Governor's School is um the state's premier summer residential
013program for academically talented high school students. It brings together the most gifted students statewide for advanced learning and collaboration. These five students have been selected for this prestigious program. An exceptional number from a single school. They all came from REACH. So these um we'll start with the these three students um Diana, Tamia, and Ken. Kenzie step forward. There you are. They are going to be um participating in Governor's School West at Greensboro College this summer. Diana's going to do visual arts and then Tam will do English and so will Kinsey. So we want to recognize them. All right. And then we have Andrew and Alyssa. And um they will attend Governor's School East at Meredith College. So Andrew is going to explore natural science and Alyssa's also going to focus on English. So we are
014super proud. I'm going to give them. Um, we also had some acceptances into the school of math and science, which is another huge honor. And, um, this is a world-class public residential high school specializing in STEM education, and it embraces fine arts and humanities. And, um, the interesting thing I think about this school is that it ranks number one among um, North Carolina's public high schools and the top two nationally. So, it's a huge honor to be accepted. Um, we're going to start with Emma. This is Emma Hume. And, um, she's actually already there, so we had a chance to recognize her last year because she was a late acceptance, but we were really excited that she got a chance to go. We wanted to take the opportunity to recognize her in front of you
015all and her family. Um, and we also have Ella Edwards and she'll be going this year, but she's not here, don't think. And um, but we're proud of her accomplishment as well because she was selected from over um, 1,700 applicants. So, that was pretty exciting. Um, so when we're looking for these achievements showcase these exceptional talents within our district and the effectiveness of our educational approach and as Miss Joy Harelson noted, this is a unique experience that will challenge them in new ways and allow them to grow both academically and professionally. One more round of applause for a picture. Got to get a picture. Yeah, scoot in a little bit. Okay. One, two, three. Perfect. Yeah. Do you want to do like two? Congratulations. Governor school. Let's do school. Yeah. Hold tight. One second. Squeeze
016in. Squeeze in. Squeeze in. Don't hide in the back. There we go. There we go. Yeah, that's a good one. One, two, three. Perfect. Thank you. There we go. One, two, three. Perfect. Thank you. Good. It's nice when people leave. Haley, I think you're up again for the plan. Me again. Okay. Um, so it is that time again for us to rewrite and rethink our AIG plan. And um I want to first start by saying that I inherited a beautifully written plan from Nicole Pay and my specialists from multiple year from three years ago. So this was not the heavy lift that I was concerned it was going to be. Um there the effort and plans that they put into it. We got very little feedback from DPI about improvements and I hope that's going
017to be the same for this year too. Um, so the main work of this centers around this state legislation and basically it requires public schools to identify and serve academically or intellectually gifted K12 students through locally developed programs that must comply with state legislation and use the the NC AIG program standards as a framework. and it um allows each district to tailor services to the specific student population while maintaining statewide quality standards which is I think is really important because we have a completely different population than if you look at like Chapel Hill schools and that kind of thing. So it's important to honor what we have here. So what is the purpose and the focus of this local AIG plan revision? It really just boils down to the main goal of the AIG plan
018for this year to help students thrive by simultaneously focusing on expanding excellence, increasing access and opportunities, and increasing achievement and growth. And so tonight, I'm just going to present a few of the main changes that we went through. If you you have access to the slides, and at the end, it details it. It goes into lots of details for each standard, but I'm just going to point out the main ones that you may found of interest. Okay. So, we'll start with standard one. And this standard addresses student identification, what our process looks like, how we cultivate our screening pools in our testing. And so, some of the main changes that we had this year is we tried to pull in a more structured early intervention process. Um, due to staffing changes and just budget, we
019had to kind of revamp how we do our K3 talent development, but I really think we had some success with that this year. Um, and we make sure that we have our goals all aligned with making sure that we have numerical targets for increasing our identification and underrepresentative groups. Um, and we also try to make sure that we have some really clear parent communication and have all that short up to of what the process looks like and what they can do to advocate for their students. Okay. Um, in standard two, this standard addresses um, your basically your programming and making sure that we're not in a silo by ourselves, that we're including as many people as we can to educate our gifted population. So, some things that we did was we did change up our
020K3 talent development delivery. Um, due to again to staffing changes, we previous years were pushing into K2 classrooms and doing some whole group instruction. Um, but we just weren't allowed to we just didn't have the resources to do that now. But they're able to pull more students now from this population. So they started the year with first and second pulling the pull in the groups and then we pushed in that we pulled again in kindergarten but it was at second semester once kindergarters they kind of learned how to kindergarten. Um we made sure that we have social and emotional support. Oftent times uh gifted students are kind of just oh they'll be fine. They'll be fine. They're they're the smart kids. They'll be fine. But what we found is that they have a lot more
021um mental health issues than your average population just due to just that higher intelligence. So, we're really focusing on that. In fact, we're doing a book study this year with my specialist to make sure that we touch on that because we didn't have anything specific to grab on to and it was um brought to attention by one of my specialists. So, we're excited about that. Um we also really strengthen our high school support. Um this was something that we really wanted to work on this year. And so, um, due to some things that have to start happening in eighth grade with them having a career plan and path, we're really strengthening that as far as making sure that our gifted, um, identified students meet with our specialists and have that clear path and plan when
022they head on to high school. Um, we also uh make sure that with our um bringing in help from Arthur, if he's still here, um, we make sure that they uh have access to the systems of support and mentor me if it's needed at the high school. Okay. Standard three is um about um making sure that our curriculum is differentiated and um so the only thing that really needed to be addressed with here was a couple of terminology updates. We did update the resources that we use in the classroom. Um like we're now using um not actively learn but we use common lit and we got rid of some other things that we're not using anymore just in now having um curriculums in each grade level that we use um and trying to make sure
023that we're staying up with the times with our digital infrastructure too. And we um also have we do that by having our digital walkthrough that we use in curriculum. All right. Standard four is professional development. Um, again, I wanted to address our staffing changes that we had to um adjust to for this last year. We now are um working with three full-time AIG specialists and three part-time AIG specialists. Um, but after looking at the budget this year, I think we're going to be able to give our part-time people at least two to four more hours to work with next year, which I think will really help because they are stretched thin and they're trying to cover everything. And um thankfully we have a lot more teachers advocating this year for their students. So they're reaching
024out more to our specialists to come in and help and pull where they can. Um you still take parent request? Yes, ma'am. Yep. You can do a parent referral, a peer referral, or a self-referral and teacher. Yes, ma'am. I'm sure. And that goes out early in the school year, I gather. Yes. It's Well, and that's another goal with this standard for professional development. Last year um one of our specialists did a whole PD on our February PD day for her school about identifying gifted what was offered and all that and it was so real received. They were so excited to hear from her and what our supports are in place. So that's going to try to be our goal towards the beginning of the school year this year. Yes. And all that information is available
025on the website on our gifted page as well. Um Yep. Same thing. And then that's what I just said about the professional development. I also am taking it upon myself to do sort of mini snippets throughout the year with principles because I think there's a lot of things they don't know too about again what does gifted look like, the traits of giftedness, and what we can offer in the gifted department. Okay, and we're almost there. Standard five, this is on partnerships. We're so lucky to live in Richmond County and the people that are willing to partner and give our students an ample amount of opportunities. Um, some of those things are making sure they have opportunities to attend STEM camp or CTE camp, all the things that they're able to be a part of because
026of the grants and things that they get to do through STEM with robotics and all that kind of stuff. Um, there's a full list again in the plan, but it's um just numerous numerous amounts of partnerships and anybody's willing to help when we reach out. So, we're so appreciative of that. Okay, standard six, last one. Um, making sure that we're accountable in our program. The most significant difference here was some structural changes. There was that they rewrote the standards this year. They were a revision. So there were standards moved around and put in places. They tried to take away some redundancies. So that's really what this standard focused on and making sure that we had a clear communication that safeguards students rights and um making sure that parents could get a hold of anything they
027needed to get a hold. So that was the goal there. Um this is the most important part to me though. I know we know the standards. We have the the things behind it that have to to identify our kids. But I just wanted to give youall a snapshot of some of the wonderful things that go on in our classrooms and some of the field trips our students have been able to be a part of because of the hard work of my specialists. Um here's some elementary kids as cute as they can be. They love to get to go be pulled out of their class these things because they get to do all kinds of hands-on STEM. You can see them um doing these things with Peeps. They were like the Peeps and they get to
028do like these little biome things they were making and all of it. And it's just a chance for them to have that creative outlet. And it's um they my specialists come to me just about every other week. Can we get this? We have this idea and we have this idea. And they they will go above and beyond to make sure these kids have this experience that's just something different outside of their every day. Um this is the secondary slides. You can see again they're getting to do some hands-on STEM here in the middle and on the outsides. They um been How many is this the second year? Yes, this is the second year in a row we've gotten to go to Juneberry Ridge and the kids love it. They get to experience what that aggra
029tourism looks like. And last but not least, this is again some kids. This is some kids when they got to go um to Beta Club Nationals. And um some of the top pictures are some of our um high school kids that got to do an internship with Jerry Ridge. So that was again another really important partnership. Okay. Well, one more. We'll do the governor school slide, too. And these are some of our kids that got to visit and decided to go to Governor's School and the School of Math and Science. So, we're super proud. I couldn't do it without my specialists. They're definitely the experts. I defer to them on everything and just try to be there for support. So, any questions at this time? Thank you for what you do. Thank you very much.
030Do we need to approve this plan? Yes, it's in the documents in the form that y'all need to fill out. Okay. So we need a motion to approve the AIG plan for the 2526 school year as presented. One by Scotty Ball and a second by any discussion all by saying I all opposed your plan is passed. Thank you. Miss Priest, child nutrition grocery bids. Um, good evening. Um, board chair, board members, and Dr. Frell, superintendent. Would y'all like for me to get her to pull the up on I give everybody a folder? Um, do y'all want her to pull it up for you or follow? You tell us what we're looking at. It's It's probably easier to follow her by the follow. Um, I'm here tonight to present my 2526 child nutrition bids to you.
031Um, my first one is my main grocery bid. They were sent out to Cisco of Raleigh, Gordon Food, and US Food. Cisco Foods and US Food were the only two that sent me back a bid. And so I'm recommending that Cisco as my lowest bidder. Um my supply bids went which is my paper goods, my cups, forks, and that kind of stuff. um went out to Cisco of Raleigh, Southeastern Paper, Gordon Foods, US Food Service, Riverside Paper Supplies, and I got a bid back from all of them except for Gordon Foods. And so I won't recommend Southern Paper Group as my lower bidder. Um, my fresh produce bid, they were sent out to RH Produce, J&H, Honeyut, Wards, and Foster Cabinets. Everyone sent back a bid except for Wards. And with the produce, um, Honeyut,
032JH, Honeyut were the ones that want the lowest bid. But after I got my audit back and I in that packet I shared the um NC Alliance audit paper for Honeyut and for RH. It it was they've had so many different bid problems and in the past we had J&H produce. They overcharged us several different times and brought us bad produce. We got a lot of bad produce from them. And so by the audit report, the NC Alliance said that we could go with the next highest bidder being that there were so much. So I recommend R&H because it's better fresher produce. Um beverage bids were sent out to Cisco, Pepsi, US food, and Coca-Cola. I recommend a CI Cisco for line items to 65152 and 652 200 to and through 65205 because they were
033lower biders on these lines and then Pepsi will get the rest of my bid as lower bids. my milk bid. Um, after talking to the milk companies, milk prices has went up from last year school year and, um, pet has agreed to keep my milk price the same if I rolled over. So, I chose to roll over so we won't have to increase in price. Um, bread bids was sent out to Flowers and Bimbo Bakery. I recommend flowers because they were my only biders and the lowest bid. My pest bid was sent out to Carolina Pest, Ferguson Pest, and Brown's Pest Control. Brown's Pest Control did not send out send me a bid. Carolina P sent in a bid after the time of the bid opening through email and they were supposed to send it
034to me in a closed bid. Um and two they were a little bit higher. So I choose Ferguson Pest for my pest. The chemical bid was sent to Sapphale Correction Enterprise Imaging Supplies and Santec. And my re recommendation is a fail because they were the lowest biders. And my ice cream bids were sent to Cisco and Hers Hershey. My recommendation is Hershey with the lowest bid. And at this time, I would like to give you all an opportunity to look over the bid docs. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If there is no questions, may I please ask your approval for the 2526 bids? The only question I have is can we bid on all of it? Can we make a motion on all the entire bid package? Yes. Mr. Chairman,
035I make a motion that we approve the 2526 child nutrition grocery bids as presented. Have a motion by Mr. Ting as presented. Second by Missby. Are there any discussion? So vote all in favor by saying I. All opposed. So, you have approved the entire bid process for your department. Thank you all for the approval. Y'all have a good night. Who's doing the pest control this year? Who who had um this past year? Carolina Pest does it right now, but Ferguson won it and they're new this year. I've never heard of Yeah, he's local. He's right in front of the Knicks here in Hamlet and he actually worked with Carolina So he's very familiar with the school. He worked with Carolina um past and they they sold out last year and they're they're more of a
036bigger company that bought bought them out and he didn't like the everything that was going on. So he I was wondering the same thing. I just never heard Yeah. So he he's very familiar with he knew local and he knew everybody he told he said I know Miss Lori, Miss Lisa, Miss Hood and all of them. So he knew everybody you can to save every penny you can get. That's what I'm trying. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. King construction updates. Good evening sir. Satfield members of the board. So, our uh Mineral Springs and Fabia Heights projects are all but finished. Just a couple handful of final punch list items. We're just waiting on closeout documents and warranties. The asbuilt drawings on those two projects. Uh the high school um all the electrical, HVAC, plumbing, sprinkler,
037fire alarm, all those trades are finishing up. Uh they're doing testing and balancing on the heat and air systems. Um the murals are being painted. Um the final coat of paint being applied. Uh ceiling tiles are being the final number of ceiling tiles are being installed. The bleachers are being installed. Um the corridors between the new gym and the old gym and the new gym and ebuilding, they're they're being worked on now. The courtyard out front's being worked on. Uh the gym divider uh is installed. The uh wrestling wrestling mat lifts are installed. Uh cabinets and countertops are about 90% complete. Uh the front sidewalks u in the courtyard are scheduled. The footings are scheduled to go in this Wednesday and then they'll follow with the the sidewalks. Uh the gym floor paint and refinish
038is going to start the end of this week. Um punch list for the second floor and the alternate one space. That's the space down in the existing uh gym. uh basement uh that's scheduled for the 16th um first floor and the fire alarm test um is scheduled for the 26th and 27th. So I do have some photos I'll show you here. Um any question on any of the three construction projects. Would you say fire alarm test on on June what? Uh 26 and 27th. So we'll have to touch getting close, sir. When you get the fire alarm test and the punch list. True. Yeah. So the engineers will be there, myself, contractors, the building inspector. We have to test alli all new devices and 10% of the existing devices in the school. So that that'll
039that'll take at least a day. We've scheduled two days for that just in case we run into problems. Steve, when I was principal out there ages ago, I don't know if y'all know this, Jerry Jerry would know this and Darl would know this. There were two different fire fire alarm systems, meaning pull downs. So, we had keys for it was crazy. I g they still have that out there somewhat. They do. But is the new fire alarm is it something similar to what one of the one of the choices they have at the existing store? Yes, it they'll they'll the two the new and the existing will be integrated and you'll be be able to control everything from the front office. Same key or different key? Uh same key. Wow. They're going to integrate the
040two the new panel and the old Stephen, the punch list items between Mineral Springs and Fairview Heights, is that on par for what the time frame it nor? Yeah, I I agree. I was up at Mineral Springs today and um just some of the grading around some of the storm inlets still to me are not what they need to be and we keep going back and forth with them. They'll come back and do a little something and I'm just not satisfied. So I I I leave it on the punch list. So So it's more or less some of new discoveries. stuff that's been hanging out for. That's correct. Yeah. Any questions? All right. Just show you a couple of the photos. This is the front front of the new existing gym. You see they're they're
041grading out the sidewalk. Um going to put a footing in that lower level. It kind of goes from that blue ladder down um past the green box. That'll that'll be a seat wall. So there's a footing there. There'll be a seat wall and it's back lit. So you have a upper level and a lower level. There'll be some se u some stairs uh right there behind the the ladder, the blue ladder. That's another view from it looking back towards the existing gym canopy is in they got to put um the defus or the on the bottom side of where that yellow material is. It's like a stucco type product. U just another view that same shot. So sidewalks will be going in. Seat wall, grading, seating. Um this is a view. There'll be a sidewalk
042here. To the left is the new new gym. To the right is E building. That's looking towards E building there. That's at E building. Look looking back towards the woods like where the radio tower's at. That's where the sidewalk will be between the two buildings. This is at the EB building entrance at the bottom there. Kind of looking back towards the cafeteria. All that get concreted there. This is behind the new gym where sidewalk goes around. They they've done the final grading. Putting some uh top soil and sod in there. That's straight ahead and to your left. That's a back door to the existing gym. keep that water because it does look nice right now. Yeah. Canopy. Uh there's two canopies. One on the this corner, one on the back far corner of the new
043gyms are being installed. First floor, that's the uh riser room for the fire alarm or the fire the sprinkler system. That's going to be the laundry room. Um the uh washers and dryers uh will be delivered on the 17th. So there'll be gas um dryers um electrical room. That's equipment storage room. Um right off the gym for you know whatever type of athletic equipment we may have. That's a janitor's closet. backflow pre IDF room technology that's their their equipment this is a typical classroom on the on the this is the only classroom on the first floor uh this is in the gym lobby um so see the guy installing the mural there he's he's standing on a there'll be a seat the bench there um and then the three doors going into gym. This is
044looking at the concession stand. Um, looking in through there, you see the the mural or the stained concrete um raider diamond on the floor there and the polished concrete. That's just a closeup of the concession stand. There'll be pretty Yeah, there'll be rolling doors that come down and close that off. They have not been installed yet. That's inside looking out of the concession stand. So you got open shelving cabinets there. The opposite side of that there's a little hand sink. There'll be a ice maker to the right there in that corner. Uh just a picture in the gym. All the basketball six basketball goals have been installed. That bar hanging in the far in the ceiling at the far end there that's that that's the wrestling lat wrestling mat lift. It will come down. You
045can load the the mats and raise them. There's one of those on each end. So, each lift will hold, I think it's seven wrestling mats. So, there'll be enough for two events. And in the middle, there'll be a a divider that comes all the way down to the floor to divide the gym in two spaces. You see the bleachers being installed. This is they went ahead and put first coat of thing on the floor underneath where the new bleachers are going to be going. This is a opening that they cut between the new gym and the old gym. It'll allow access kind of back of house for coaches or whatever to access during games or or during class. They've got to put the door in in on that. This is a corridor in standing in
046the new uh gym lobby looking into the existing gym um hallway. That'll be the connector there. They're working on that. Have to finish out that, get it painted, get the ceiling put in. This is on the first floor uh corridor that goes to the back where the the one classroom is. They're starting on the mural there. Locker room. You see the lockers are in. There's a bench around the edge there. The epoxy floor is installed. They just got some protectant over the flooring there. exposed ceiling, all the duck work, all the structures painted. This is one of the restroom in in the back of the locker room. See the sinks are in, the toilet partitions are in, flooring's in, tiles in. Uh, this is a st a typical staff toilet. There's one on the first
047floor and one on the second floor. Uh this is a typical gang restroom. See the counters are in the toilets are in. Everything's in except accessories for like toilet paper mirrors. Second floor. This uh Raider logo is is on the the wall. It's an open space between the second uh first floor. You can see the handrail there. Just a view looking over down in the gym from the balcony on the second floor. That's the U railing there and the wood rail on the top. See the polished concrete on the the right there. Um second floor, another typical classroom. This is a classroom on the second floor that actually has a divider. It's two classrooms or you can move it and make it one larger room. We did add a sink in this uh per Greg
048Norton's request for CTE lab, they required a sink. We added that. It's just the other side of that same room there. Uh this is the second floor connector between the old gym and new gym. We got to finish the floor painting and install the ceiling. This is the mural on the second floor. This is the one that you can see from the gym up above through the balcony. This is the space down in the existing uh basement of the existing gym. This is standing at um Mr. Densson's office looking back u toward towards the front of the building. I'm sorry. Where the gentleman in the yellow is is where Mr. Benson's office is. This is at the back looking towards that way. This is looking towards the new weight room and and classrooms. JV locker
049rooms right there on the right. Band rooms on the left. Uh this is the new girls restroom down there right outside of Coach Dson's office. There's there was an existing men's restroom. We added the women's restroom. So they got to the ceiling, put accessories in. This is a Those are the ones that we'll be able to use when we at the old gym. Lots of basketball games. No, ma'am. These are downstairs um in the locker room. Ma'am, you'll have them on first. Those on the first floor? Yes, ma'am. In the new gym. Yes. I'm sorry. I meant to ask that. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. And that was important the way we've got it laid out that we'll be able to utilize the new uh public restrooms for the existing gym or the new gym. Um this
050is just the hallway outside of class two new classrooms in this basement area on the right. Straight ahead there is the weight room. This is one of those classrooms. And the these two classrooms also have the divider in the middle so you can make it two spaces or open it up make it one space. This is just the other side of that same space. And then this is the wait room. So, we've got the mirrors left to put in there. We did get I met with the building inspector last Friday to get permission to um let Mr. Dson start using this. They actually started today weight training. So, we weren't complete uh with all the inspections, but you know, we worked out a plan and and he was agreeable to let us use that space.
051Any questions on that? Just the big one. Do we expect to have any certific? Yes. Now, I don't I wouldn't want to at this time give a specific date, but yes. I I don't see any reason why we can't have that before school. Now, you know, there it's going to be a big push to get things moved and set up and all, but we're um and that's where I was going to move into is, you know, we're moving teachers and rooms within the high school. Some some are just relocating in there. We're moving the James building to to the ninth grade academy this summer. We're moving nth grade academy to the high school. So, two weeks ago, we gave out boxes and packing supplies and all that. So, teachers started with all that. So, we
052um Dr. Carter put a thing together to advertise for employees to to sign up to work a week in July. I think it's the 21st to the 24th. So, with our team and and some of those employees, you know, it's going to be it's going to be a very busy summer, but I I don't see any reason why we can't do it. We just have to, you know, we can't move until they get CO, but we we can do all the moving. We can do the James building move. We can do the uh moving within the existing building. We can do all the moving we can and we'll just have to occupy the the newest space last. Did you have a lot of people sign up? Employees sign up to help move. I did any
053questions on this? I see progress. Yeah, I like it. We haven't seen progress in a while. So, kudos. I did want to give a quick update. So, the Rocket Middle School roofing project is is wrapping up. They're doing trim work now. So, that that it's coming along. We're going to be installing a new playground at Middle Springs this summer. Um Miss May got a grant up there for that. Um we're doing a lot of exterior painting at the high school. Um that that should start in next week or so. Jumbotron is to be delivered the 16th. Um we got site visits with Mosley at LJ Bell and Feb Heights on the 23rd. Uh the washers and dryers for that laundry room and in uh the new gym will be delivered on the 17th. uh the
054new classrooms, three new classrooms in the media center, one in the the back part of the existing gym, a new guidance office, some work in uh a room in E101 that's going to be a new art room. All the materials were delivered Friday and work started Monday. So, they're they're framing up those walls. All that's going on now. Um, so last week we had the bid opening for the baseball uh project, baseball renovation, baseball field renovation project. Unfortunately, we only received one bid. So, we're not able to open those bids. So, we put it back out for bid and Thursday we're going to um we're having a rebid for it. So, it's my understanding we only have to have one bid on the rebid. So, hopefully we'll we'll get a good number on that. Uh,
055also the running track, we bid it a few month a few few weeks ago and it came in significantly higher than what we were anticipating. So, I talked to our attorney and we um were contacted lowest bidder. We only had two people to bid. So, we contacted the lowest bidder and we're going to meet Thursday as well at the track and just try to talk through some things and maybe clarify some things and see if they can see if we can negotiate a better price with them. And if not, we may have to go back and change the scope of work, lessen that sum, and put it out back out for bid. Questions? Just one. Um, I know as we look down the road, we're taking next year to paint and get the ninth grade
056academy ready for I guess. When will you start that process of finding out who's going to paint? When are you going to do all that? I know you got moving parts right now. But yeah, um we don't want to get too far gone. I agree. Yeah, I mean there's there's a lot to be done there. Signage and playgrounds and fencing, sidewalks, painting. Uh we got to do some plumbing work, you know, change some fixtures, change some cabinets. So, just as soon as these projects kick off, I would say, you know, I I'll move on to doing that. Um, we're working on a process to get somebody to help me kind of manage the projects as they get going and let me move on to to looking at focusing on getting the next projects scheduled lined
057up. So, because that'll be sometime around September, wouldn't you think? Yes, sir. Yeah. I mean, I I don't want to wait because, you know, some things are long lead time items and it'll be here before you know it for sure. Moving parts track. I know we had thought about trying to have it done by I guess sometime this summer. So I guess we're going to be off or you said we're going to be off schedule from what we originally had planned. Yes, sir. Um I think at this point, you know, it not not knowing that we even, you know, have somebody that we can go with it. It's it's an unknown. So, um I mean we ideally would have, you know, already been under contract with somebody, but I mean, you know, we we're doing
058the best we can. Any questions? It's looking good. And I'm sorry I missed the tour. I still want to tour because I have several questions that I'm sure everybody else doesn't have. But let me know anytime. Yeah. I got I got to get to that weight room. The wait room. Okay. Wait till we get the mirror. Raider students calling. Yeah. Wait till we get the mirrors in there and it'll really look bigger. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Stephen. Can we take a two or three minute break right now? Take care of some business. Sorry, Trace. I know you want to get it over with, don't you? Dr. Frell and members of the board. Um, you have before you on board docs budget amendment request 27 through29. Budget amendment 27 is an increase in
059state funds in the amount of $39,224.88. Budget amendment number 28 is an inter fund transfer in federal funds and budget amendment 29 is an increase in other local funds in the amount of 31,69989. We are seeking board approval for budget amendment requests 2728 and 29. So I need a motion to approve 27 28 and 29. I make a motion to approve the budget. Motion by Miss Hornsby, a second by Mr. Ethridge. Is there any discussion? All in favor by saying I. All done. Thank you. And just, you know, just I don't know if anybody knows, but just to try to keep Don Jordan's family in your prayers. Don lost her mom this week and that's why she's not here. But I think funeral is tomorrow. So keeping dawning our prayers Mr. Ingram good evening sir
060evening chairman Satderfield Dr. Ferrell members of the board doc you have a list of policies presented last month for review. This being the conclusion of the 30-day review period, I would like to present a policy for adoption of 7700 governing principle removal of barriers 1710 4020 7230 discrimination and harassment prohibited by federal law 1720 4030 7235 title 9 non-discrimination on the basis of sex 1725 4035 70 7236 title 9 sexual harassment prohibited conduct and reporting process. 1726 40 36 72 37 Title 9 um sexual harassment agreement process 1742 5060 responded to complaints in 43 297311 bullying and harassing behavior prohibited. Did you say that one more time? I know that is like a tongue twister. I don't know if I could do it. [Laughter] So, we need a motion on what Melvin said. Yes. Have
061a motion by Miss Schuler. Second. Second by Mr. Mason. Is there any discussion on these big policies? All in favor by saying I. All opposed. Thank you, Mr. Anger. You need to use some oxygen now. Yeah, I know. Um Chairman Satfield, we also have and Dr. Ferrell and members of the board, we have policies for review. Um 1300 um governing principal uh parent involvement parental involvement 1310 parent parental involvement 1500 governing principal safe orderly and inviting um environ environment 1510 4200 7270 school safety 50 1510 4200 7270R school safety 1600 governing principal professional development 2302 2, remote participation in board meetings. 20 2310 public participation at board meetings um 2342 voting methods 325 43127320 techn technology responsible use and 4316 student dress code. Um and they're in board docs and you have the list of
062the policies and just want you to review them for 30 days and also the field trips are in board. Yeah. I think you know we changed probably in February because the court of appeals hadn't remotely well recently und They did it in sort of a technical way just saying we could go back to the old system where you are allowed to have to meet remotely or to meet virtually. Um and was the standard before open law has always said that the majority of the board may gather through electronic So if that is something you are interested in, I would suggest that we pull this one and edit it to change it from a state of emergency. Sometimes it's handy if you just need to like last minute contract or something. So let me ask you
063this on the under eight subsection B where it goes to number nine all votes will be taken by roll call. Does that mean if one person is meeting remotely that the entire board is by roll if that person is going to be voting? Yes. at a minimum you need that person not to just say I with everyone else but to like say their name. So that person is the only one that that says their name. So we don't have a great rule about that because the law sort of thinks either you're having a remote meeting in person meeting. But I think the purpose of that was so you could identify the votes because it's hard to hear them. So I think if everyone else is here you don't have a concern but you should have
064that person state their name state. Understood. Thank you. Does anybody have a feeling one way or the other about remote participation? This is more like speaking to a forum remotely, not an individual. Right. Right. So the way it reads now, you can't have you have to have a forum in person in order to have a vote or to have a meeting. Um and because you know the decision was We couldn't count someone who's on remote as for a quorum. We weren't counting their votes either, but it is now clear that that you don't have to be that strict about it that someone could vote remotely. It's still the same rule we had, which is like you have to be able to be heard by everyone. You have to be able to hear everyone. Um but
065but you could have a meeting where your was I guess me I just kind of like to look at look at old policy our old policy and I give you some feedback. I I don't like the idea unless we're under a state of emergency by the governor that we can have a a quorum by by uh virtual. I think they need to be present and now if one or two of them have to be gone I don't have a problem with that and they want to join virtually because everybody has their own dayto-day operations they have to fulfill but if we I think we need to have at least four here we've never had a situation like that not saying that we can't because if we do the policy then we have to abide by
066the policy that would ever happen that's the only thing again everybody has I'm not wrong. I think we need to compare. Okay. Can you do that for us either? So once it's if this is amended to suit what we're talking about now, can we forgo the 30-day review if we all sit here and agree next month that we like it? Yes, you could um make a motion to wave the 30-day review. That's not the policy. That's right. Okay. Any other questions on that? Question for you real quick. And this is what you might not know, but on the field trips, our JROTC usually goes to South Carolina every year. Did we miss one last month? Did they already put that one in? Are they going away? I know there's been a change in JRTC. So,
067I don't know. Are they going to South Carolina on that camp still? Yes, they are still going. Next week. Yeah. So, it was probably last month and I just Okay, that's it. Thanks. So, Miss Dubes, you are up. Yes, sir. Board members in front of you. residation extension for funding. Board members are aware of the background here, but for the public, the board was granted and approved federal funding that was being used for certain infrastructure projects including the high school renovation. Um, and due to construction delays, we're not able to by the end of last year. The deadline was they were granted we were granted an extension in January by the department of education to finish utilizing the funds along with three other districts in North and then in March the department abruptly changed their
068mind and essentially took it back and they took it back immediately. And so even though the school system was almost finished with the project, there was 1.3 million that we were expecting that was sort of unexpectedly pulled back without notice. Um and so we have filed an appeal in a couple of different manners, but the purpose of this is merely for to have a written expression from the board and written request from the board that can then go to our elected officials to assist them in advocating for you. And I will note that Congressman Harris and Congress and another Congress from North Carolina have already written a letter on behalf of Richmond and three other districts and it secretary questions about the resolution but once you are comfortable with just a motion to approve it
069and then um we'll have it signed by the chair and superintendent and distribute it. Has Josh Stein the new governor is he has he weighed in on this at all? Um I don't think there's been any sort of public statement, but the attorney general's office has been assisting us in the appeals and in preparing we might need and they also encourage this because if our legislators are supportive that can help them. Well, definitely you know definitely we need to do this without a doubt. Thank you for the work you put in on this. So we need a motion to adopt um this resolution. Second motion by Mr. Bwin, second by Mr. T. Any further discussion about the resolution? All in favor by saying I. All opposed. So either the resolution is adopted. Comments from board
070members. I had the opportunity uh to go to Middle Springs to speak to four different kindergarten classes in my buttkin outfit that I probably made 30 years ago out of eight deer hides that I had harvested instead of saying the word killed. And uh it's neat to be able to take antlers and turtle shells and hog heads and all that kind of stuff and on a conversation with kids. Uh it was real good. All of us here went to two graduations. We we were able to go to different awards things. We went to different band concerts. And uh I think this is the first year that we've had our chorus concert in a church. And I wanted to say thank you to First Baptist Church for allowing that happen. uh because we had a a
071pretty packed uh house there at the church for that and u they also were kind enough to make refreshments for everybody that came. So I just think it's a real good thing. It might be something that we want to start doing in the future with the cost of uh some of the things that we have to pay for using a facility. Thank you. If I could, Mr. I just want to kind of share a few. I know, you know, like many of us, we went to a lot of end of year activities. Um, but a couple things that stood out to me with the events that we went to. Um, uh, went to um, Special Olympics. I kind of helped and assisted with that. I was really impressed. You exceptional education department, children's department did
072awesome job um, with that. Um also uh the reach graduation um thought it was really really really good. Um have some special kids as you all know. Um I did attend u a memorial memorial service memorial day program at Diamond Heights and we had a speaker um from our JRTC department um his name Sergeant Major Derek Chambers was the guest speaker. did a great job um speaking um at that event. I mean then as the chapel the graduation something that stuck with me was um with uh Miss Robinson talked about although it was a small class you know 12 kids but she so delicately talked about the number 12 and the significance of it. I just that just stuck with me, you know what I'm saying? And I just thought she did a great job
073with summarizing those those kids and the graduates that they had there. Um, and then just um with uh the graduation, you had a large graduation class at Richmond. I just want to say we I think it was like 447 that graduated. just thank you to all the folks that work behind the scenes to make sure that that night was successful and you know I know a lot of hard work goes into that. So just kind of wanted to um kind of give kudos to those folks. And then lastly I just want to make a suggestion um because I've had u something for the board to consider. I had a couple people um reach out to me with community centers. Um, is there any way kind of like what we did with the NAACP where we
074went to a couple of their meetings and kind of talked about uh the state of the school system and just trying to work on building continue to build relationships. I know I had a person from as a chapel center is the direct someone from ask chapel center had asked if I could come out school board me school board superintendent can come out and just kind of at their monthly meetings just come out and kind of share what's going on in the school system. Um so what I told him I said well I can't come me person I have to you know go through the chain of command. So I told that I would bring it to the board and see if we can't try to start doing some start doing some maybe going to some
075of the community centers and just kind of sharing what the good things that we're doing in school system. Um some folks yeah some folks are not able to see it on TV if it's on TV or come to meetings but I think we got to do continue to tell our story. You know what I'm saying? And we're doing a lot of amazing things and I think that would be a great opportunity for us to continue to build on those relationships. You know, it's funny you said that, Ron, because somebody had come up to me about three weeks ago, and I think I said something to Joe about it just in passing that on cable Spectrum channel, his channel 21, we can we can advertise or show our meetings live on that channel for free. And
076if that's something the board wants to do, because right now all we're doing is I think we're doing YouTube uh through them. So, but we could actually put it on cable TV for free. Something we might want to look at, something to investigate. Maybe super investigate, see what it is, come back. it would go out to more people, you know, but also to your point, the senior citizen center maybe going there, going to DA center, going somewhere maybe three or four, maybe do a quarterly or meetings are still out there. They're just not on that cable channel. on channel 21 21 they did but educational access channel but but Ronald I think getting the message out to to like John's Heights like I know we just take groups to the RA club and all I
077don't know what other kind of clubs we have now in Richmond County but you know word of mouth is always good in showing our presence and I know in the past we've even done it at some churches you know churches couple board members and superintendent going. I just think it it's we have a lot of great things going on in our school system and I think only way that we can get the word out we got to continue get that message out to folks so they know what they told us at state any other board members well I'm not going to be repetitive because I think I've been as busy as I could beum since the last board meeting and um with it being the end of the school year, I just I just think
078we had a great year and I think um hats off to everybody that that had anything to do with our um year this year, but I just wanted to say thank you to I don't know if it was Dr. Frell. I'm assuming it was, but um you know, we always want to do give money for to our teachers and we and I do anything give them and everybody else a raise. But um I just appreciated those. I know of two small things you did and I thought you'd never know how much teachers appreciate just spontaneously. I think you let them go home early one day an hour early. And um what was the other thing you Oh, anytime you would think they were riding on cloud when you tell them every once in a while
079they wear blue jersey. I thought it's just a little the blue. Well, I don't know. You know, I just I appreciate that very much because as soon as I saw that, I thought, "Oh, I can see the smiles on those teachers. They got their pocketbooks in their hand at one minute to two or three, whatever time they an hour early. But anyhow, I do think we've had a good year and I I my hats off to everybody that had anything to do with making making our year successful." But anyhow, I do appreciate the teachers. This is your third closing school. It is already three years already. Time flies. But yeah, but Bobby Sue is right. Just like on the week that teachers go home for Christmas, you say just when the last bus leaves, y'all
080get out of there. Oh, they just cannot wait. It means a lot. It does cost a thing. N I'm with Bobby. Thank you very much and thank you staff for all that they do. Anybody else? I agree with everything that everyone here has said. But we were blessed with wonderful faculty staff everywhere. Well, one thing I did hear this year a lot and I'm sure everyone probably caught this, but the academic accolades I I consistently hear this is the highest number we've had in a long time or this is the highest number we've ever had. That's something to sing a song about. I mean that's that's a big deal. And since we're giving accolades out, I also want to thank Eva. Eva being up here on with us up here. She has really really just
081helped us out. Thought you to you as well, Eva, because it's been a help a lot of help. Yeah. Minton. Well, I was going to say thank you to everyone for another great year. Um I think Scotty is right there where you know often times we are hearing well this is the highest number of government school this is the highest number of school of math and science this is the highest of that and I think that um I would not be able to speak intelligently about this but I I think that what Dr. Smith will be sharing with us at some point is that um we continue to grow in academics in a lot of areas. Um so I'm hoping for some really good news where that is concerned. Um student achievement and all that
082as the school year um comes to a close and you know it's it takes it takes everyone and um so I'm I'm just grateful for the opportunity to uh work alongside these folks and you know all of them out in our schools here at the central office. Um we have a we have a really good team. So thank you all for that. And then I just wanted to remind you all that uh summer hours start June 20th and we'll be closed on Fridays for a little while. I I am a little happy about that. Yeah. Three-day weekends are a beautiful thing. So I need a motion to enter close session pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 143318 111A 3 and 6 to prevent the Disclosure of confidential information as protected by law to consult with
083the board attorney to discuss personnel matters. Motion by Mr. Second. Second by Miss Orange discussion. All by saying I all opposed. We are now in close session now. Joe action on session matters. Yes. That's that's next. But yes. Okay. So, chairman Satderfield, Dr. Pharaoh, members of the board. on board docs is a personnel report and addendum. I'm asking for approval at this time. Make a motion. Motion by Mr. Esters to approve this month's personnel report. I second second. Second by Mr. Mwin. Any discussion? Mr. Ting. All in favor by saying I. I. All opposed. So we had Six eyes and one state. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else for the good and cause folks? Y'all have I need a motion to move. One by one, two by Orange. Y'all have a great night. Thank you.