Regular Session

Okay. Amen. Hallelujah. They probably have a You can tell that Check your mic out. All set. I think our mics are working. So, we'll go ahead and I guess I'm supposed to gave this. So, uh, thank y'all for being here and welcome. Um, we'll call our meeting to order. Do I have a motion to go into close session for the items listed on the agenda? So moved. Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you.

That's good. If I get you mic All right, we'll consider ourselves Y'all can hear. Okay. Right. Yeah. Okay. Uh consider ourselves back in open session. Thank you for your patience. Um we've got a crowd again tonight. So, thank y'all for being here. We appreciate that. And got a lot of students in the crowd. That's always always the the good part of our job in particular is getting to recognize our young people. Um, and we'll move on to our uh Mr. Ham's feeling under the weather, so I think he's he he will not be here tonight. So, we'll excuse him, of course, and we'll move to our moment of silence. Um, you know, it's it's the time of year when um people, excuse me, if they can get to the DMV on time and not have to wait in line, they're getting their license. And it's spring, a lot of people are moving, traveling more. And of course, just a lot of things going on in our school. And um if we could just take a moment to remember all those and how careful we need to be and just take a moment of silence if we will. Thank you. Let's all rise for our pledge of allegiance, please. 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. All

thank you very much. Um, do I have a motion to adopt the agenda? So moved. Got a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Got a second. All in favor with an I. I. I.................... Any opposed like sign. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel agenda? So moved. Got a motion. Second. All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? like sun and do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I'll move. Second. Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like son. Thank you. All right. Dr. Jackson, superintendent announcements and comments, please. Thank you. Um, Mr. Chair, um, um, I'm going to defer my, um, power of connections report and make it a part of your station. I would like to just go to the first uh slides there where we've had multiple recognitions uh this month and I do want to speak specifically about our national school social work week where we recognized our school social workers um and we've celebrated our national school breakfast week. Uh uh here we are so very fortunate to be able to provide a free um nutritious meal for uh kids at breakfast and lunch this year for all of our students. Um and um and then we have celebrated our maintenance teams uh this month. Um we have one of the best maintenance teams in the district I mean in the state I would say. Not to mention we had a conference, our PEK organization just had a auxiliary services conference where our um our our auxiliary folk, our maintenance workers and programs, our safety uh they were featured prominently um doing that. But we celebrated our maintenance workers um recently uh with that. I'm going to leave the rest for you to uh digest as

you as you will at your own time. Uh, and what I'd like to do is then have the awards and then I'm going to come back and I do have um, uh, something I'd like to share at the end if that's okay. Um, so we will go on to the ramp award. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Jackson. I'm Tracy Fowler. I'm senior executive director of student services and we're here tonight to recognize um Miss Leanne Munes and her school counseling program at Perry Harrison. Miss Munes, if you'd come up here. This award aligns with our strategic plan goal number two, priority two, student health and safety. Um, Miss Munes is a school counselor at Perry Harrison and her program is being recognized this year. It's one of 18 programs in the state of North Carolina to receive the recognized American School Counseling Association model program um, designation and RAMP recognizes the school's commitment to delivering school counseling program that aligns with the American School Counseling Association standard model framework. This is a very lengthy process. She's worked really hard on this. Um, it's a designation that demonstrates to us, the community, administrators, families at large, that she's not only committed to our goals and missions, but those to the program and the the models to the school counselor association. Um, she'll be recognized here today. She'll be recognized at the state level and she'll also be recognized at the school counselor association conference, the national one, this summer in Long Beach, California. So, thank you for all you do and thank you for what you do for your student. All [Music]

right. Our next recognition is for middle school athletics and we're going to be recognizing student athletes cheerleaders uh who are part of our two middle school championships which were for cross country which was in the fall and then for our countywide middle school basketball tournament which was of course during the winter. And we have principles and different coaches that are here and I'm going to call them forward and they'll announce their students that are actually here. We gave you a list of what these were in your in your agenda item. Um, but we're just going to be recognizing the students and the coaches that are actually here. We're going to begin with JS Waters. I'm going to ask Mr. Wilkins if he'll come to the microphone and introduce his student and why he's here. Good evening. Once again, my name is Matt Wilkins. I'm principal at JS Waters, and I'm here tonight to introduce to you Ian Turner, who finished sixth place overall in cross country. Congratulations. All right. And next we have students from Per Middle School. And we'll start with Aaron Kibit. As Mr. BL said, I'm Aaron Kibit. I was a coach for the cross country team. Both of our boys and girls teams finished in first place in the county. So, I'll start with our girls team first. Uh, finishing in seventh place, Amanda [Applause] Vanale. Finishing in fourth place, Shallow Teta. Finishing in third place, Khloe

Freeman. Finishing in second place, Madison Putinham. And our first place finisher and Chattam County champion, Amaya Milikin. And now for our boys, Colton Godwin, finishing in seventh place. Our fifth place finisher, Brady [Applause] Cantrell. Our third place finisher, Nikki Silman. Thank you. Now to present the rest of the Pard athletes from the basketball team will be Liz Davis. And I would be remiss not to recognize that the Pard principal, Miss Dodie, is here as well. She's assisting with getting the kids up here. So, Miss Davis, u my name is Liz Davis and I had the pleasure of being our head boys basketball coach this year. Uh we finished out undefeated and uh it's a great group of boys. Yeah. So, I'd love to introduce you to them. This is Reef Freeman. Pender Fairqu Walton Colton

Godwin, Finn O'Daniel, Davis Parker, Anderson Ham, Dan Gatimu, Mason Walton, Cole Irvin, Tlsson [Applause] O'Daniel, Nathan Jerkovich, Brilan Walton, Liam Walton, and Dex Owens. Yeah, I'm also going to introduce some of our cheerleaders who traveled with us to all of our games, but we have Gabby Sugg, Emma Lloyd, Addison Williams, Adeline Beckler, Amanda Vandel, and Jacqueline Lovegrove. Congratulations. [Applause] And now for George Moses Horton Middle School, we're going to ask Mr. Braden Robinson, the principal, to come to the microphone. Good evening all board. I have the honor to recognize our cross country. Our right now and our girls individual in fifth place was Ava

Vernon. In the boys individual, placing fourth place was Coleman Wy. And in first place, the overall Chattam County champion was Mr. Drew Yell. And I'd like Coach Wanda Bland to come introduce our girls basketball team, please. Good evening everyone. And I'd like to introduce you to George Moses Horton, champions of middle school [Applause] basketball, Aria Cadell, Nina Jackson, Ava Vernon, Naziah Brim, CC Delgado, Cameron Lux, Jada Watson, Ruby Parks, Kylie Moore, our manager, Sky Skyler, Sky Sky Tillery, Logan Thompson, And we have two of our cheerleaders here. What's her name? Aia Banerjee. Banerjee Kennedy Perry. And I would like to um also introduce my coaches Leon Frasier and Christian Little.

and our cheerleader coach Zakiria [Applause] Austin. Good to see you. I'm happy. [Music] Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Jackson. I am Chris Poston, senior executive director for excellence and opportunity, and I'm here tonight with Dr. Jamie McFadder to help us recognize four of our AVID students from Chattam Central, Jordan Matthews, Northwood High School, and Seforth High School. We also would like to take the moment to celebrate our AVID coordinators who are with us tonight and our principles for their support of AVIT in their schools. The district AVIT program aligns with our one Chadam strategic plan, priority one, curriculum innovation. And now I'll ask Dr. Jamie McFed to come forth and tell us about those students who are here tonight that we will recognize for their accomplishments. Dr. McFadder. Good evening. It is my pleasure to

recognize four of our AVID students who are featured in the Chattam Magazine spring 2025 issue. The first student, Jacob Eubanks, who I'd like to join me at the podium, is a junior at Jordan Matthews High School. He was inspired to join the AVID program by his older brother Timothy Eubanks who is a Jordan Matthews graduate and a current student at North Carolina Ant State University. Through AVID, Jacob has grown in his organizational skills and discovered new strategies for effective note takingaking. He is especially um he has especially enjoyed the opportunity to visit college campuses such as ECU, NC State, and Winston Salem State. And looking ahead, Jacob hopes to attend UNCC or NC State and pursue a degree in business administration. Jacob will also be attending Governor's School this summer. We're very proud of him. All right. The next student, David Morales Hernandez, who I'd like to join me at the podium. David is a senior at Cadam Central High School. David was inspired to join the AVID program by his brother, Francisco Morales Hernandez, who is a Chattam Central graduate and former AVID student. He credits the program for helping him develop essential planning and time management skills. And as David explains, planning ahead gives you stability and organization, not just in life, not just in school, but also in life. With guidance from his AVID coordinator, Miss Paige, David has learned to track deadlines and map out his assignments, a habit that continues to benefit him both academically and personally. David is a Carolina Covenant scholar and a Dale Scholar and he will

be attending UNCC in the fall. We're very proud of [Applause] him. Our next student is unable to attend this evening. She is on the baseball field at Northwood High School, but her name is Jasmine Wakowski. Uh she is a senior at Northwood High School. Jasmine first learned of the AVID program as a student at George Moses Horton Middle School and knew early on that she wanted to join with the goal of strengthening her public speaking and organizational skills in preparation for college. Reflecting on her experience, Jasmine shares that if I could describe AVID in one word, it would be supportive. She especially values the program's focus on collaboration and the encouragement it fosters among students. Jasmine has applied to 18 colleges and received 10 acceptance letters and she hopes to attend UNCC in the [Applause] fall. All right, our last student is Gel Gdoy um Basabis. He is a senior at Seforth High School and I'd like for him to join me at the podium. Gyel was encouraged to join the AVID program by his English teacher and AVID coordinator, Miss Sarah Harris, who is here this evening. Reflecting on his journey, Guyel shares that AVID really focuses on helping to excel and grow as a person. It opened up options that he didn't even know about. Guyel is determined to be the first in his family to attend college. Gel approaches the application process with purpose and confidence and he is proud to share that he will be attending UNCCG in the

fall. We are so proud of these students and the successes they have had in our AVID program. Thank you. You want to cry? Good evening board members and superintendent Dr. Jackson. As most of you know, I am the public information officer for the district, Jessica Pacion. This evening, I have the privilege of recognizing two incredible members of our Chattam County Schools family. As reflected in the Chattam County Schools Code of Civility, we encourage students, staff, and community members to nominate scholars who exemplify our champion of character word of the month. These core values are brought to life through our daily actions. March's characteristic is integrity. Students who de demonstrate integrity do what is right even when it's difficult. They stay true to their values, follow through on commitments, speak the truth, and stand up when they witness unfairness or injustice. At this time, I invite Chattam Grove Elementary School fifth grade student Katherine Guinop to join me. Katherine, Katherine, we are, excuse me, Katherine, we are very proud to recognize you as the March Champion of Character. I'm going to read what your nominator wrote. Uh, Katherine's nominator shared that Katherine is a compassionate and engaged student who shines in her empathy and kindness towards others. She believes in giving back to her community and regularly does so without seeking recognition. She simply acts because it's right and because she values making a positive impact. Katherine takes her work seriously and treats everyone she encounters with respect. She is a student athlete, a Carson scholarship recipient, and a well-rounded scholar. We are so proud she's a Gator. Katherine, I want to give you a small token of appreciation for your incredible strength and character um

that you bring to our district. And right now, I invite you to shake the hands of the board members. And Dr. Jackson, here's your certificate. All right. You're welcome. Each month, Chattam County Schools also honors a staff member or community member who has made a meaningful and lasting difference in the lives of others. Someone who truly embodies the power of one. These individuals go above and beyond in their roles, shaping future, shaping futures through their dedication, compassion, and leadership. At this time, I ask Miss Janette Horton to join me. I know you're here. Miss Horton, we are thrilled uh to recognize you as our March Power of One recipient. Miss Janette Horton is the exceptional children program facilitator here at central office. Janette's nominators shared, "Janette always goes above and beyond to support, advocate, and assist in creating empowering classrooms for our most vulnerable students. She is diligent and fearless in her advocacy for them, seeing possibilities where others may see only frustration. Janette does always does what is best for students even when it requires extra effort and she supports teachers with the same unwavering dedication. Her work has helped countless students and families access critical services and supports. Janette is a true example of the power of one. Congratulations and thank you for all you do. So, Mr. Chair, I would say to you that what we observe tonight is not an

accident. It's not an accident because all of our work is intentionally rooted in doing what's right for children. And so, um, I've received several calls in the past, uh, week about, um, the Title Six certification that we are being asked to sign as a school district. And I wanted to um because I've had those questions, I wanted to publicly share my position and decision regarding the directive from the US Department of Education requesting that school districts um reaffirm their compliance to title six, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Um, and so Chattam County Schools, I want to be clear, has always operated in full compliance with federal law. I want to be clear that I've also um signed the certification as required affirming our legal obligation not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. However, I believe it's essential to go further to clarify not just what we are doing, but why. While I respect the legal process, I'm deeply concerned about the implication uh that diversity, equity, and inclusion, commonly referred to as DEI, is unlawful. It is not. Let me be clear. DEI is not illegal. Nothing in current law prohibits schools from working to ensure that all students are valued, supported, and positioned to succeed. Chattam County Schools proudly serves a diverse and vibrant community. We do not just tolerate that diversity diversity. We

celebrate it through our one channel framework. We remain fully committed to creating schools where every student feels safe. Every student feels safe, seen, and connected. Our efforts are never and have been or our efforts are not about preference. They're about fairness. They're about ensuring that every student has a chance to thrive. As superintendent, I will not compromise on that commitment to our kids. We will continue to comply fully with the law. But make no mistake, we will also continue to lead with our values. We will respect and affirm every child's identity, every family's voice, and every educator's mission to uplift those they served. This is our moral obligation. It's our

ethical charge. And in Chattam County Schools, as long as I sit in this chair, it remains my unapologetic promise. Thank you to this board for your continued support. Thank you to this community. Thank you to these parents for your partnership as we build a school system where all students belong and all students can thrive. Thank you. [Applause] The final piece is we have some students here. I believe Amy King, I like you weren't planning on doing this, but can you introduce those students you have with you? Good evening. My name is Amy King. I teach American history, EPF, and now teaching as a profession course at Chattam Central High School. And my students are here tonight. We were not planning for this. So, this is very exciting. Oh, I warned you. Well, we we had a chat, but I didn't take it. So, um, my students are here. Y'all want to walk up? I think you should. So, why don't y'all come up and I'll introduce you to them. uh we decided to attend a board meeting so we would learn about what it's like to um how the impact of the school board on our schools and uh hear the superintendent's report and they are diligently writing because they're going to be graded on this of course so they're excited really excited about that um I'll start with Landon Johnson so Landon's right here to my left and then Cassidy Bray and then I

couldn't see you Payton um Payton Douglas, Eri Santana, and Bale Douglas, and Payton Mashburn. Thank you for having us tonight. Thank you. Member, remember now we're hiring in Cham County now. So, y'all remember that. I know we got a teaching uh one of our teacher couple of teacher cadets in there, too. Am I correct? That's what I was thinking. So, yeah. Thank y'all for being here. Thank you for doing that too. I think it's a wonderful And now believe I understand y'all were going to a school or two and doing some working with the students. Correct. Yes. Every Friday they do observations. Okay. Okay. I heard that through Well, you had told me that, but my granddaughters told me that also. So, yeah. Yeah. I think they're the hit of the school. They like the high school kids. My understanding they were. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Thank y'all for that. All right. Thank you, Doc. Dr. Jackson too very much. So that's hard hard to follow. Um okay, we'll move along to our public comments portion of this and we have one speaker signed up tonight. Remind you that you have three minutes and of course she'll be right here. Uh Dr. Clyde Harris, please come on up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Jackson follow such a emotional speech. It is. That's very good. I I appreciate that. I appreciate the opportunity to come to you today. Um obvious today you see Cham Central is still doing the job. I graduated 55 years ago and it did a job allowed me to go to college to North Carolina ENT State University to get a bachelor degree, two master's degree, ended up getting a doctorate degree. My children went to college. Uh, one of the mental health therapists and one has his own business. Now, my grandchildren went to they

didn't go to ENT. How they could do that to me? But Chattam County Schools, educated them. They're doing well. Now, Dr. Jackson, I should have brought this picture here. I got a second grader at Virginia Cross. Guess what she has on? You know it. cry. And I tell you, and speaking of Virginia Cross, I have a a deeper island that I get to what I'm supposed to talk about. Um, she moved here from a charter school and first week a teacher left, then they had a sub, then they got a teacher there that I started getting some questions about. Oh god, it was a long year. She came here to Chattam County and after I did some research and found out the school was way down the bottom of the list in terms of English and math proficiency, I said, "No, we got to make some changes." So, I talked to the principal at Virginia Cross and her teacher and that teacher, I mean, just talking to her just assured me that this child is going to be all right. And in one year, she got up to where she was supposed to be. So, I have a deep appreciation for that school and and those teachers there and they're still doing a great job. So, had to throw that that bit in there. My thing is Sandy Hook changed the whole landscape of how we look at schools in terms of school safety and it's left all of us thinking and in terms when I go pick her up and take her to school, I just automatically look for safety things. that particular that particular school, but when I was in Randolph County outside the school is Highway 220 and kid sucker balls down there. Well, there's a wooded area between there. And I told the principal, I said, "The kids going, they can get missing cuz cars do stop along there." And he said, "Well, we've asked for a long time to have a

fence. There's no fence there at all. So someone could stop along the road and get a kid and be gone before you could turn around. So when my greatg grandanddaughter started the school and uh and this is not a criticism that school that's why I preface that with my admiration and appreciation for what's going on but I do look at that particular school and it's not only to crit not to criticize but to look at a safety thing. Okay, this right here can be manufactured by anybody. You put it on your windshield and you go pick your child up. Who's to say that some sick person wouldn't make this same thing, put on their windshield and you know during the school day in the afternoon they'll open the door and stick a child in there. My thing will be one safety thing is to have this match the car that's picking the child up somehow or another. So if the person when the person comes out and put this on in the computer that it'll automatically show the car that's being picked picked, you know, that's going to pick the child up just get under any any vehicle that car could be flagged if something suspicious was going on. That's just one thing that I would mention to them. Like I said, it's not a criticism. I'm looking at safety. People not going to look at things different way you look at your child or grandchild. You're going to look at every little thing that you can look at. Dr. Time's up. We're gonna have to stop you there, but uh Dr. Walson's right here and he's our safety expert. So, we'll we'll he's he's waiting to talk to you. So, there just an observation, you know, and I've been looking at some other things around the kinds that I've talked to Dr. Jackson about and I'll get away. I know I'm a little longwind with it sometimes, but my thing is is that this school educated me. I want to make sure that all the generations of children that came before me and as well as mine um have a safe uh it's hard to hard to learn if you not you don't feel safe and I think for the most part we do that but it don't hurt to look at every little angle and that

was one thing I thought about when I picked my child up somebody can manufacture this and you know child a kindergarten kid not going to look they're going to jump right in the car and go on so that was just my Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to information items. And first of all, Dr. Batton, the ESS partnership report. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I'm Dr. Kelly Battton, assistant superintendent for human resources, and I believe in one chat for all students. Uh Kayla Gardner from ESS was going to join us this evening. She had a family emergency. So you have me uh instead. I want to go over just a few of the high points from the presentation. We met with ESS earlier this semester just to review these details. And I think first and foremost, you have to zoom in on your copy of the report. One of the things they want to emphasize is the continual success ESS has had in recruiting substitutes and then placing them. So we're now at a 99% fill rate for when a substitute is needed. So what this has allowed is our teachers, our instructional assistants, our other office staff, they are not having to suspend their own duties and responsibilities in order to cover another class. So that has been beneficial for morale, beneficial just in terms of people being able to complete their regular duties as assigned. So that's significant. And um when we first started, if we go back post pandemic, we were in the 70s as far as a fill rate that steadily increased. So the 99% is definitely worth celebrating. A couple things I'll point out. That's their overall charts. Very easy to make a chart when it's 99%. Um when we look at absences, this is something we're pleased with as well. ESS continues to monitor any trends. And

this sort of uh bell-shaped curve, this is what we see routinely with school systems is by October um people either have obtained the flu vaccine or they're going to get it the natural way. And so you see this increase in absences when we get through to October. Um and that's across across all schools across all grade levels. As I go forward, I think there's some that would think that there are more absences on Fridays. It's actually not the case. Um there could be some that that argue that well that's because we have a lot of work days on Fridays. Um that depends on the year. So Fridays um as it turns out we actually have fewer staff absences but ESS does have a greater challenge finding substitutes who can work on Fridays. So our fill rate now it's at 97%. That's still nothing to sneeze at, but that's actually what we see in the data. So that's just an important point to share with that across schools. We do study absences across schools. It's important to note on this professional development activities are also included in these absence counts. So when you see a school that has what appears to be a significant number of absences, our title one schools, our restart schools, um these were all working directly with our instructional services department to have professional development activities and we use ESS subs to cover those classes. So that's why you see that data there. When we think about um overall with the partnership, I'm just going to skip down to their partnership overview slide. Uh again emphasizing the 99% fill rate. They have a standard pool of about 145 ESS substitutes. At this point, what's been able to happen over these four years with ESS is they've been able to refine the pool of ESS staff. So these are people who are certified in another state. They've moved to North Carolina and they have an interest in working in the schools, but they're not

interested in going back to school for add-on lensure. this allows them to get into the schools and become involved. A new area, this final bullet point on there, um permanent IAS, I think that's one we have to be, we have to be straightforward in terms of monitoring our cost when we think about using subs. ESS has had success in being able to find individuals who would work as a permanent instructional assistance substitute with ESS while also driving a bus for Chattam County Schools. So this is a unique um a unique concept that we'll continue to talk about with them. ESS is not able to directly recruit bus drivers because they cannot um cover the insurance for the transportation. So that's been the one limiting factor that um is is our key point with ESS. They included some photos from the year. Sandy Collins is a former substitute with Chattam County Schools who is the local recruiter for ESS and so people often see her at events and activities um as she continues to recruit um willing substitutes. Any questions? Anybody? Thank you. And item B, revision to uh board policy 2230 board committees first reading. I take it you're presenting again, aren't you? Go ahead, Dr. Hey, I'm still Dr. Batten and I'm still here. So, what we wanted to note um and accommodation to the board of education for continuing to review our full suite of board policies by the time we finish this academic year um you will have obtained the um the yman's work in terms of reviewing every single one of those policies so that we're up to date. one particular case with board policy

2230 that was inadvertently included in the set for approvals back when we did the 2000 series and what we're providing to you is for first reading we want to revert back to the original board policy the Chattam County policy because that allowed for as noted here the existence of periodic standing committees or ad hoc committees so we did not need to use the new schoolboard association language and we'll take care of that in a second. It comes through. Okay. And you're still there. So item C, NorCal School Board Association Board Policy Manual Updates 6000 series. You still going. So uh final final item from me tonight. So with this this evening the 6000 series this deals with student services and related items be it from transportation technology financial services. So anything related to the operations of the school system to support student health, student wellness um and and related acts. Um the two charts are included in there. I can't activate them from this button, but we have the same sequence where our staff have gone through and they've noted policies that we want to accept as written. Any policies where we need to take time to review the language that's been recommended, those we have held back and then we'll come back to the board later this academic year um and present those individually for approval. I have questions. Okay, we'll move along to action items. Accountability accountability model for one academy for 2526 and Miss uh Reed Closty, please. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Jackson. I'm Darlene Ree Plasty, director of accountability

to um share some information about one academy because that is our alternative school. Department of Public Instruction allows for us to opt into an alternative model for the school performance grade. And so um there are three options that the state gives us. There is an option where we can just uh participate in the regular school grade performance that all the other schools participate in. There is a modified system which is option B which I'll share with you in a minute. And then there is also the option for us to create our own and request approval from department of public instruction. What we are asking for approval tonight is to go with option V B which um creates a school performance grade based on student persistence which makes up 20%. It's defined as students who remain enrolled in school. So it's like preventing dropout. 20% would be school achievement data that's collected over three years. And um and 60% is calculated on growth. they put all of those um elements together and give a rating of either progressing, maintaining or declining. So um so additionally the federal department of public instruction requires that we participate in an option of what to do with student scores. So, we have an option that we can um when there aren't enough students within a certain grade or that are being tested under certain with certain state assessments, those scores can actually go back to the home school of the student that participates or we would collect that data over three-year period to assume um participation in the litter grade. So what we are suggesting is that we allow the three years of data to be collected so that the data does not return to the the home schools of those

students. Any questions? I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve the recommendation for option B, alternative accountability model, and option B for calculation of the school grade for the one academy program for the 2025 2026 school year. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Got a couple of seconds. That's good. Any discussion? Any questions? If I'm not mistaken, this is We've done this in the past. The same option. That's what I was thinking. Yes, sir. Uh all in favor with an I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Thank you. And you're staying there anyway. I know. summer program part B and school year administration for 2024 2025 academic year. Good evening. Um I'm still Darling Rublasty. Um so this year the state of North Carolina the department of um of public instruction has recently changed the way that EOC and EOG readministrations are readministered. And we received news about 10 days ago that they are allowing schools to readminister EOG and EOCC's for students who do not receive a proficient score within the school year. In the past, it always had to happen over the summer. And I think last month or the month before you all approved a plan that allowed for us to offer readministration opportunities during the summer months. We are now asking to amend that plan so that we can allow schools to offer that second opportunity within the normal school year before June 6th, the last day of school. And because of that, the state is asking that we get re receive board approval for that. So, it's like amended, it's an amended policy to allow EOG and EOCC readministration to occur during the school year. I move the town county

board of education approve the changes in the 2024 2025 summer program and EOGOC readadministration plan as presented. Second. Got a motion and a second. Um and of course remember this is just uh the state has mandated that we change our date. So this is amending that. So all in favor with an I. I oppose like sign. Thank you Miss R. Thank you so much. Item C, capital outlay budget. Mr. Bliss, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Jackson, my name is Chris Bliss. I'm here to present the capital outlay budget presentation. Um, so in the notes that we sent you, we gave you two documents. One breaks down the categories, and we've grouped it a little bit differently this year than we have in the past. Uh, and we've lumped it into categories versus listing all the individual items. But if you go to the second document that we gave you, it breaks it down by schools and you can see how each school uh received or or got something out of this year's budget. Uh primarily for the benefit of the folks that are here, capital outlay uh is funded by the county cadam county board of commissioners. Categories are projects are listed into three groupings. First of all, building projects. furniture and equipment technology is the second category and the third category is vehicles. Uh, and we work hard on this budget each year. I'm happy to say that last year we received, I believe it was an extra $115,000 to this and we've asked in our expansion budget for an additional $250,000. And in what we sent you, we separated that out so you can see that if we get that funding, uh, then here are the projects that we'll do for that. If not, we'll go back to plan B and we'll figure out how to get back to them. Any questions? What's a telescopic vacuum? That's is that a built-in with a

long hose or something different? It is actually a vacuum that is made so that you can stand on the ground and and the schools that are getting them. If you look at their main entrances, like Pard Middle is one of them. That big glass that goes way up there into the sky. Uh we've got to have something that will get up there. It's either that or it's bring a lift over there. Every time we want to clean those clean that up and get rid of the cobwebs up there. And we found this product earlier this year. Chris Seafll brought it for us to look at and I think it's really going to fit the bill. Well, sounds great. U track at C4th, how often what's what's our schedule on those now? Typically, we do tracks about every 10 10 to 15 years. Uh this one in the original construction, the top layers were not done correctly and after the warranty had expired, they started coming off. Imagine that. Uh so we've had an expert not from the same company. We've had an expert who has done our latest work at uh Chattam Central JM and Northwood to come and give us a quote on what we're going to do. And we're actually going to take those top layers off that did not adhere. It appears that the bottom layers are So we're going to take those top layers off, replace them, and then seal uh the whole thing up again. So good. I'm sorry. The tennis court is good. Oh yes, sir. Right. because I know they a lot of times they're done the same time or close to the same time. I was just sure and gym floor renovation Jordan Matthews. They got some bucking going on. Yes, sir. There's some some things there that we we found out early on when we were doing some uh refinishing that we're going to need to address. Understand? Yes, sir. I move Cham County Board of Education approve the 2025 2026 capital outlay budget as presented. Got a second. Any questions? This is always a big list. And in in addition to this list, we got HVAC going

on at some of our gymnasiums, too, or will be. So, yeah, that's great. We're we're very blessed. Yes, we really are. Our county does a really good job for us on this. Okay. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Like, thank you. Thank you. All right. Item D, Miss Fowler, school safety grant. Good evening again. I'm Tracy Fowlers, senior executive director of student services. Um I am presenting and we did receive um an award of $150,000 from the center for safer schools for one piece of this for the 150,000 was this um safety equipment. Dr. Samberg will be sharing some information with you about that. We also received 75,000 for students in crisis. Um so those were two pieces of our student safety grant that we had submitted back before I think probably in December. Um and so just asking for those us to receive those funds and then um we'll break those two pieces down and share how we're going to be spending those that money. Do we have a motion? I move that Chattam County Board of Education approve receipt of the school safety grant from the Centers for Safety for Safer Schools. I'll second. It's always nice for grants. Anybody have any questions? All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like so. Thank you. Item E, Miss Fowler, Daybreak Health Services update. Yes. So, because we're receiving this um the money for students in crisis, it will allow us to continue our um partnership that we've had in place for the since January of 2024 with Daybreak Health Services. So, just wanted to provide you kind of an update of how we have um what what that's looked like with us for the past it's almost year and a half now. Um I feel like it's been a successful opportunity

that we've had with them. Um, and we're going to be able to continue that with this grant opportunity. Um, what we're able to do is kind of is continue to offer teleaotherapy for every student in Chattam County Schools. 12 sessions. They're able to receive that. And if there is a need to be go beyond that, they can extend that to 12 additional services. They do help them to find other um another agency should that be something that there that is needed. um they're able to help match them with multil- language support if that's a need for the family. Um they're able to provide parent education. This is something we were not able to put in place before. There's a there's a whole package that they're going to be able to do this time for us. Care coordination services um for the onboarding and for exiting. So just some information, some data points. We have now had 218 students who've been referred since January of 2024. Um the majority of those were within that first year. Some of the kids drifted over into the next school year to continue to be served. Um 17 of our campuses have referred students. 21 staff members, most of the staff members, there's usually just one person at at the school that will do those referrals. 20% of those were parent referrals. So that's a really good positive thing that parents are reaching out themselves. 93% of the referrals were then students were able to go on to therapy. Reasons that they might not be able to do that. If there is a need that is really beyond a something that we need to address with teleaotherapy, they will say, "Hey, we need to get you to someone in person, we need to send you to something more maybe even to a hospital setting." If it's something that needs a more acute session, they will go ahead and say that and help a parent find something that's more um that would serve a more a need that might be greater than what they can serve through teleaotherapy. Um 87% of the students demonstrated improvement with their

clinical assessments. 100% agreed or strongly agreed that they had a good relationship with the therapist and this is data that they collect throughout the time. They were able to connect them within 2.6 six days of having their paperwork turned in. That is not something we're able to do. When we do that with um kind of agencies within the community and with with 30 different clinicians, they were able to help gather those folks to be able to see our students. And that's not, you know, that's that's hard to do. Um, otherwise, one of the things that I've really, this last data point I think was really noteworthy, um, most of the kids were seen between 4 and 7 p.m. And I think that's great because 60% they don't, they didn't give me this data point here, but they've been told this multiple times, 60% of our kids are under the age of 11. That means that they're doing these sessions with a parent. So that means that in the evening they're sitting down with their parent and with this therapist and they're having this time together which I feel like is a really impactful thing because I feel like that anytime that we can involve a parent in these sessions we're going to get more out of that. I have a question about that because I I agree that sounds really good and I and I think it is because this is great that you have 100% um satisfaction with the services and all that. My mother used to be an elementary school guidance counselor and she talked about how sometimes children um would reveal things um in sessions um when there was a a situation at home that was problematic for their safety and well-being. And I just wondered if there if kids still get an opportunity um you know it wasn't a situation where a teacher said, "Oh, I think this kid's being abused. I want this kid to come to But sometimes the kids revealed child abuse or child sexual abuse and things like that. And if a parent's there, would they still be able to do that? So, how do you navigate those kind of situations? Because parent involvement is a good thing, want that. But what

about those situations where they might be um facing a you an abusive situation? I think that because we also do those the the the sessions where we have Ann Chapman come in to with the classes and we do have those opportunities with our school counselors with our social workers. Students do have those opportunities to talk to someone at school. Yes. I'm not saying that that's not a point that you're making a point is I mean it's valid but I do think that we do have opportunities at school where there is a trusted adult the kids are that are available to students. And so I think that we just continue to make sure that that person is available to them at the school site. And these a lot of times what we're doing when we're putting these referrals in um with this we are doing so within collaboration with a family with the parent and so you're talking with a parent about a need for for therapy. So I think that that's something that we're kind of balancing as well, right? So you're really wanting to work with this parent in a collaborative way. Um, so I'm really hoping that the things that we're dealing with um that those might not be issues that are that are there within that particular situation. Very good. Thank you. So this is the project proposal and it it goes through what we've looked at before the unlimited teleotherapy for any student, the 12 weeks um sessions. Um, then also we're going to be adding in a parent piece that we did not have before. And then a parent resource and outreach. I'm not going to walk through all these things. I wanted to show you the um toolkit. So, there's going to be monthly mental health classes for parents. These will be available to every parent in Chattam County schools. These won't just be available to parents who are receiving these services. We will make these available to everyone. They will be available one night in English and one night in Spanish. So, they'll be available to all of our families in a language um at least in English and in Spanish. And then there's

also going to be a um resource library for our families as well. So, I think this could be a really nice addition to what we've had before. They did these um before and this was an added cost. This is now something free because they're they were trying to do live sessions where there was um interaction specifically with our school district, but these will be kind of held. They still will be live, but they'll be out to a broader community, but there'll be ways that that they can still ask questions and interact still with a therapist, but then kind of a broader and then this is the schedule. And you'll see that the only month that they take off is in um July. So they'll be gone almost 11 months of the year and hitting some really important topics for parents. So I'm excited about this. I think it's something that could be really helpful for our families. Um yeah. So are the tea therapy services available through the summer too? They are. Yeah. This is great. Yeah. You have a crisis line? Um there is a that's a different not through this but there is there's different ways that we can set that stuff up too. So yeah any questions? Do we have a motion? And this is about the contract. There's a contract that was attached and so the motion would be to go have the for the contract for day for Daybreak Health. I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve the Daybreak Health contract as presented. that motion a second. All any questions? All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you, Tracy. Appreciate that. Excuse me, Miss Fowler. Uh, item F, school safety grant, purchase of security cameras. Uh, Dr. Samberg, please. Good evening. Uh, my name is Dr. Mark Samberg, chief technology officer. I have four items for you this evening. Uh, so the first one is the purchase of the security cameras. Uh so as Miss uh Fowler

mentioned, we did receive this school safety grant uh for security cameras uh up to $150,000. The grant we received it in March and the funds revert in June. So we are on a pretty tight timeline, but we are still working to get the vendors to quote and walk through all the schools and do what we need to do. So I'm requesting from the board authorization to proceed with the project to complete um as many as we can. and we have a list of 183 security camera uh projects. We will not finish them all. Uh the goal is to address gaps in coverage first, then move on to areas where the camera quality is poor and we can't see what's going on and then to upgrade some of our oldest cameras. And and we're still working on pricing. I don't know how far down the list of 183 projects we'll be able to get. Uh, but I'm what I'm requesting from the board is authorization to proceed with the project as far down as we can go within the funds that we have from the grant. I have a question for you and I know we don't want to talk about the specifics of security necessarily in great detail, but did do security cameras now have the ability to interface with other security measures or platforms that we might be using. So, we're beginning that. So, uh, for example, the vape detectors that are in the buildings, they do record the closest security cameras do record when those cameras are triggered. Uh, and then we have some other things that are connected to to door controls and things of that nature. Thank you. I move CH County Board of Education approve the purchase of security camera upgrades to the extent allowed by funding within the school safety grant. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any other questions for Dr. Samberg? All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like all right, Dr. Samberg. Item G, purchase of video camera servers. Along the same lines, we actually did receive a school safety grant last year. So, we were working on expending that as well. And this is to upgrade the servers that those cameras record to. Uh we we are

looking to replace seven this year within the funding that we have. Uh last year we replaced 12. The servers that we're replacing are between 10 and 15 years old. They have outlived their lifespan. Uh the goal moving forward is to start to then replace three servers every year moving forward. Do we have a motion? I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve the purchase of video camera servers as presented. Second. Got a motion and second. Any questions? All in favor with an I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Okay. Dr. Samberg, technology Chromebook purchase item H. Yes, this is our annual purchase for student Chromebooks. There are some changes this year. So the the the summary is the purchase this year is going to be 1500 Dell Chromebooks at $392 per unit. Uh this funds the replacement of the old outdated uh Chromebooks as part of the one to1 devices program. Um there are some pretty significant changes this year I want to walk through for a moment. Uh right now we're replacing laptops in grades 2, six, and nine. So when we replace the laptops at those three cycles, they're seven years old in second grade, uh four years old in sixth grade and three years old in in ninth grade. We get very generous funding from the county to do to do this. However, uh the funding that were provided for our onetoone program doesn't cover that cost to replace the laptops at that cadence. And then it also means that we don't have funding available for replacing the the video displays and things like that which I'll talk about in a moment. Um also Chromebooks had been previously supported for 5 years to Google that has been moved up to eight. So we get eight years of software support on these. So the recommendation is uh to shift that um replacement cycle from grades 2, six, and nine to grades three and nine and get a couple of extra years out of those laptops. Um, for next year we'll be replacing laptops in grades six and nine to even that out.

Um, and then from that from from 26 27 forward it'll be in grades three and nine. Uh, we'll use the reclaimed funds to support other areas of the 1:1 initiative. Um, and then also as Chromebook prices change, we'll have some buffer. As we grow, we'll have some buffer. Um, this is very hard to see, but this is kind of what that schedule will look like. Um, I'll point out that Dell, we did evaluate several different models from different vendors. Uh, the Dell laptop was not the cheapest um, but it's been the one that we had been with for 10 years, and the replacement um, parts cost for the Dell was significantly cheaper. Uh so in the fall we may ask the board to revisit the repair schedule fees uh so that we can um better better adjust that. So with that are there any questions? I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve the Chromebook computer purchase as presented. Second. Any questions? All in favor with an I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Thank you. Okay. Dr. Samberg, item I, purchase of classroom display technologies. Okay, so this is for the purchase uh uh using the funds that we did not use to purchase laptops this year. Uh the purchase of 30 new line interactive whiteboards and 127 uh televisions with air tane TVs. Uh this will ensure that every K5 classroom has a new line interactive panel. Every 612 classroom has a TV with an air tame. Uh this has been traditionally a school funded or a grant funded activity. Uh but but what I'm looking to do here is to to get this um consistent across the district and make sure that every teacher has these resources in their classroom and then to to get them on a on a cycle to be replaced regularly. Uh so this is the breakdown uh by school. Again, it's a little bit hard to see uh

but basically the elementary schools are more or less in good shape. Um it is the uh they've they've been able to go after some grant funding, PTA funding, things like that. Uh the middle and high schools uh are where the bulk of this work will be. I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve the purchase of classroom presentation systems as presented. Second. Um, also this is one chatum totally. So one teacher won't have it, one will. I appreciate that tremendously. Can I just ask one quick question? Yes, please. So just and I know you mentioned that that part of this is going to be starting to get into a regular cadence of replacing these. What's the current not only tech uh technological lifespan of these but also the relevant lifespan meaning that the tech hasn't been might still be working but it's up. So that is so TVs and and wireless projection, right? The the air tames probably will will live their lifespan before the TVs, right? Uh and that wireless projection technology, but that's a relatively inexpensive plug-in box. Um generally the lifespan of the of the equipment itself is 8 to 10 years. Um and then the primarily they are a function of what you connect to it, right? So, so as long as we're keeping the teacher devices up and having things like document cameras and and laptops and things like that available for teachers to plug into these, uh they won't necessarily uh we don't have to worry about irrelevancy in in in that respect. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, have a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I oppose like sign. Thank you, Dr. Samberg. Uh, our next regular board of education meeting is Monday, May the 12th at 5:30. Uh, Dr. Jackson, you have anything else? Nothing. Okay. Uh, thank y'all for

being here. And do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Got a motion to second. All in favor with an I. I. Thank you. Thank y'all for being here. We appreciate y'all. And they're writing still. What a task match.