Regular Session

If y'all cut your mics on, we'll go ahead and get started. I'll fix it for you a minute. You want it down, right? On my way out. I'll I'll sit down in it. See if I can. I think I can. All right. We'll go ahead and call our meeting for uh June the 2nd, 2025 to order. Uh do I have a motion to go into close session for the items on the agenda? Move. Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Thank you. Hop up. Let's see if I can. You just want to go down, right? Yeah. See, is that low enough? That's better. Yeah. Yeah. You got I guess take the pressure off the Amen.

[Music] How many do we have? Tell me this. Is that an I think it's Thank y'all for getting quiet. We're We still We don't want to start before 6, so I got about half a minute. and the front row over here. We have to watch anyway. They they get a little loud. So, well, I was keep an eye on them. So, thank y'all for being here, too. We appreciate they It's just this miss. It's just this side. You sat down in the wrong place. Thank you for But they requested that I amend the agenda and just let the Tammy talk tonight. Yeah. All right. Okay. We're good to go. Thank y'all all for being here. We'll call our meeting to order. Uh looks like we've got a good crowd and got a lot of students here. So, thank you uh for being here. Um Mr. Ham, would you do the next part of our agenda, please? Um it's hard to believe that we are um at the end of the year. It seems like uh with a blink of an eye uh Kyle was just a freshman. Now look at him. So um we are um coming up I think in the last few days in the last week um stress has been at a higher level maybe at the schools for some students and uh maybe teachers

and um but the end of the year is the end of the year and everybody is uh anticipating uh um a very uh glorious end. Some parents are uh happy that maybe um their child is moving on. So um uh just think of all the schools and the principles and the teachers and the students with the with all that goes on at the end of the year. It's a it's a busy time uh and busier than a lot of the rest of the year. So, uh, at this time, let's have a moment of silence. Thank you. Let's all rise for our pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Okay, Ky Dr. St. Clair sitting behind you just like in school. He's keeping an eye on you right there. Yeah, thank you for doing that, Dr. Sinclair. All right, we do I have a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. Got a motion, a second. All in favor with an I. I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Do I have a motion to approve the person personnel agenda? So moved. favor with an I. I. And do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Got a motion and a

second. All in favor with an I. I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. Thank you. All right. Dr. Jackson, superintendent announcements and comments, please. Good a good evening, Mr. Chair, and thank you. Um, thank you to everyone who's here tonight. We want to uh take some opportunities and uh celebrate uh just a few of the things that have been going on in our district over the last uh month or so. Um, I've had the opportunity to spend time out in buildings and spend time with staff and want to just say and thank you first uh to all of them for the work that's happening in our schools. I want to thank our parents for their work. We've had great celebrations here at the end of the year with our top 10 with our retirees with many awards celebrations, but there have been lots that have lots of things that have gone on uh throughout the the month of May. and our school lunch heroes. We celebrate those ladies who make sure that every one of our our students get a nutritious meal every day and they give it to them with a smile. Uh and uh as well as our school nurses uh who take care of uh our students who are uh in need sometimes of a bandage but sometimes just a good hug. Uh they take care of them all. We celebrated our beginning teachers uh at the uh uh in a celebration where our BT3s were finishing their support. uh and our BT1s and twos were uh given some encouragement to just keep it going and keep doing the work. Um in our our academic area um we we want to uh really speak to the uh BCE fourth and fifth graders uh who were who had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with an award-winning author uh Pam Muno's uh Ryan. Uh we really do believe our kids should have authentic opportunities uh to spend time with people who love literacy. Uh and hopefully that will transfer and they will they too will love literacy. Uh we had a standing room only for our young authors celebration

here. Uh it was a great evening red carpet. Our students came and uh they are in fact authors. Uh we we're excited about those students. Um we had s um C channel metal uh students complete their spring college visits. Uh AVID is a an award-winning program and a marquee program for us that really does support our students uh by giving them a picture of what they can be. Uh before that time uh we had our dual language program the graduates at at uh JM High School 42 seniors finished the dual language program. That's an amazing feat. I I think sometimes we take it for granted that it's just a program, but this is an award-winning program where our students, we're opening doors for students beyond school. These students leave here uh with a certificate that says they are in fact biliterate. That's important. Uh particularly now uh our SEO celebrated their dual language program graduates as well. Uh and so again, we're celebrating those students who are coming around. May 1st was college uh commitment day. uh and you see all the college uh acceptances, but this particular um group at uh Chattam uh Central High School, every last one of those students in the in the AVID cohort uh were accepted into their um college acceptances before Christmas. Uh that speaks well of their competitiveness and what they're doing there as as well. the arts. You'll hear more about us tonight, but we're excited about the Chattam Grove kids who got to perform the national anthem at the Bulls game. Uh who can say they've done that. So, we encourage you to uh I it's just great to they'll never forget that. Uh and if a picture speaks a thousand words, that those thousand words would begin and end with wow. Um and so Bennett's uh band performed for the first time uh in uh in recent history. So, we're excited about uh them. I'm really excited about this next one, the

West Cadam uh concert band uh which is a comprised of students uh at Chattam Central uh JM Bennett Silk Hope and Chattam Middle Schools. Uh and those students have done an amazing job of of showing what happens when you have collective impact uh and pulling all of them together and one that we should be very very proud of. Uh I'm not sure I don't want to steal thunder. Will we be talking about this weekend later? So, don't steal the thunder, sit tight. Okay, thanks. I won't do that. See, uh, North Chadam, uh, performed Finding Nemo. Uh, did they find Nemo? I'm not sure. Um, but again, providing those great opportunities where I think our our kids, we help them connect the arts with uh, real life and literacy and literature and uh, and then they bring it to life. It was an amazing performance. Pard performed the Wizard of Oz uh and did a great job. Look at those costumes, y'all. That's just pretty amazing uh for them. Um Northwood held its spring dance concert. Uh and really one of the things I'm really excited about is that we are able to offer dance to all of our kids across this county. And so we're excited about that. JM celebrated uh creativity and we had our EC arts festival. If you've never gone to that, it's an amazing opportunity. uh where our students celebrate art and we make sure that art is available and accessible to all of our kids. Uh in athletics, uh the C4th men's uh uh track team secured a first ever outdoor state title um just months after winning the indoor. So then you have the indoor and the outdoor uh uh title. So we're excited about uh their work. There's a lot going on and we're super super excited about the work that we do. Again, the arts, athletics, and academics will provide the pathway for every student to be successful in Chattam County Schools.

Thank you all for allowing me to share. I'm I'm not going to put you on the spot, but maybe Mr. Bliss um or Dr. Sinclair, how many state championships is, uh C4th have in just four years? Six. Six. Wow. Six in four years. That's pretty amazing. So, thank you. So, that's my report, sir. And we'll move to um the next item is I'd like to go to the podium with your um permission and ask Dr. Amanda Moran to join me there. Sure, please do. I'm in trouble. I don't want to bring my whole computer, so she may have to help me. Mr. Chair, we were alerted a couple of weeks ago that the um NCASA um that they were in fact um had selected uh their administrator of the year for the work that's done with getting our students engaged in competitive activities uh that are making sure that our district was uh recognized in many of those uh activities from scholastic uh many of the scholastic activities across the state and and for her work with being a leader in that space with being a champion for our kids. Uh they selected as their administrator of the year Dr. Amanda Moran and I want to thank her too. And while while we're up tonight, I

believe tonight is your very last schoolboard meeting with Chattam County Schools after 11 12 11 11 years as our assistant superintendent as my partner for the last five um four and three days. I appreciate all that you do for that you've done for our children that you've done for our schools and that you've done for Chattam County. Um we won't miss you but because we know you're going to be back to help us out in other ways. So thank you so much and let's give her another round of applause for her service. Okay. Good evening. I'm Dr. Kelly Batten, assistant superintendent for human resources. We're taking a moment this evening to show gratitude for our advisory councils. Um starting off with our educator advisory group. These groups started, this goes back to the launch of our one Cadam strategic plan with the educator advisory. They meet quarterly. Um there are representatives from each of our schools including a classified staff member and a certified staff member including Tammy Troder who's here this evening. Um along with Tammy Charter, would any educator advisory members from this year please stand? We got some thank you to Beth Vaughn came from back from vacation already from the early college and Kim Vickers back there with Chattam Grove. Kim Palmer was that's right she was

here. We've had some dedicated VCEers over here this evening. Go Cubs. Uh we appreciate the work that this group does. They provide feedback um and engage in discussion for everything from budget to professional learning. So we appreciate them being here this evening. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Jackson. I have the pleasure of recognizing this evening the members of our superintendent's parent advisory council. Um, again, this started back in 2022. Um, the parents from each of the schools served in a leadership capacity. They attend bimonthly meetings throughout the year. They've been provided the opportunity to engage with our senior staff and learn about various district initiatives. We put them to work. They had to complete budgets. They had to decide where new schools should be built and write inclement weather messaging for families. So, we put them to the test to see how we do things behind the scenes. But they have been instrumental in giving thoughtful suggestions generated from feedback from each of their schools. And we could not have made these decisions this year without them. So, at this time, if you are a parent advisory representative, if you could please stand. Thank you for all of the work that you do back at each of your schools. We appreciate you. You stand back up again. All right. So, we are excited to share a few arts recognitions with you this evening. And to start off, I'm going to share a little bit of research with you. So, we know that research tells us that music

education continues to demonstrate over and over again that it provides cognitive and social benefits for our students who make music. In fact, research tells us that after only two years of music education, students are more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to have college acceptance. They have higher academic gains and they have decreases in discipline referrals and a host of other benefits. So we know that music matters. So we are excited tonight to share with you a little bit about our most recent recognition. We have been selected again this year as a best communities for music. This is not an easy award to receive. In fact, there are only two in the state of North Carolina. Chattam County Schools and Guilford County Schools. In order to receive this, we have to share detailed information about our school district, how we fund arts, graduation requirements, music class participation rates, instructional time, facilities, support for music programs, and community music making programs. The responses are then verified by school officials and they're reviewed by the music research institute at the University of Kansas. I want to say a big thank you to Mr. Brian Dristopharo who is our arts lead or instructional program facilitator in the district. This was his first year attempting at this award and he brought it home for us again. So he's going to tell you a little bit more about that and share a few other music recognitions tonight. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm really glad that Dr. Moran was able to remember all the details about the uh the application because it's kind of a blur for me. This is 138 questions and a lot of detail that went into it. So um uh today uh it's my pleasure uh this

evening to again recognize that we were awarded for the seventh year in a row the best communities for music education recognition. Every single one of our music educators has challenged and pushed themselves and their students to go beyond what is comfortable. As a result, many of our programs have grown and risen to new heights. The latest example of this is what Dr. Jackson was talking about earlier uh with our West Cadam Concert Band which is comprised of five schools. Chattam Central, Jordan Matthews, Chattam Middle, Bennett, and Silk Coat. These schools combined uh combined members of their individual bands together, rehearsed several times after school in preparation to perform in adjudication at Carowinds this past Saturday. I'm pleased to report that they earned a superior rating, which is the uh highest rating that you can earn at uh an adjudication. Um, and while this is the latest occurrence, it certainly is not all-incclusive of the remarkable job that all of our music educ educators have done this year. Um, so if any of our music educators are here with us today, would you please stand and be recognized for the award? [Applause] Um, it's also my distinct honor and privilege to recognize the Margaret B. Pard band director, Miss Rebecca Clemens. A couple weeks ago, Miss Clemens was honored as the 2025 Central District Band Masters Association Band Director of the Year. The Central District is composed of band directors from 13 counties stretching from Guilford County to Warren County. Uh the Margaret Pard band uh program has had a great year with one of their biggest accomplishments as a program coming um this year as a featured ensemble at the NCMEA music conference where they gave a fantastic performance in November. And then in March uh the eighth grade band also performed uh at concert band MPA and earned a superior rating straight ones. And in May uh the jazz band gave an incredible performance at the Jim

Catch Jazz Festival. And finally, dozens of students from Pard Middle School throughout the year at various honor uh band events, including all county band, all district band, all region jazz, all state jazz, and NC honor band. This is a testament to Miss Clemens uh outstanding teaching, hard work, dedication to her students. Miss Clemens has also been an active member of the CDBA organization for many years, serving as the board serving on the board as member at large and now as the jazz chair for the central region. Congratulations, Miss Clemens. While I'm up here, it's my hope that you have recognized an increased presence of the arts this year in terms of recognition and growth. Uh before the board meeting, teachers uh teachers and students from every school had the opportunity to participate in our first district art show. Um and the the task was to fill the halls of the county office with uh with artwork and all of them rose for one final event. those. Thank you to all the art teachers if any of them are still here. And then lastly, if you have not seen the uh I know, I'm sorry, I'm getting a little longwinded here. If you have not seen the um inaugural One Chadam Day of Dance that was playing in the lobby earlier, I encourage you to watch it once it comes out publicly. Uh it was a huge milestone for our dance programs this year. Is there any way that we can um question or ask not question ask the NM Foundation to change the award to the Chattam County? Um I mean we own it. I can make that recommendation for sure. Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Superintendent Dr. Jackson. I'm Chris Poston, senior director of excellence and opportunity, and I'm here tonight to honor some impressive student leadership in our district. Um, this aligns to our strategic plan priority one, um, curriculum and innovation. Um, the North Carolina Association of Student Councils Hall of Fame is a prestigious honor established to recognize and celebrate outstanding student council members across the state. This accolade is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated distinct service, outstanding leadership, and a steadfast commitment to their school student council. We would like to recognize two award recipients tonight who have served as phenomenal student leaders in their school um and in our state. So, I would like to ask um Cal Stinson um and Miss Elizabeth um Hall to join me at the podium, please. along with him um if Mr. Henry FA um could join us as well. So, a little bit about Cal Stinson, a senior at C4th High School and Elizabeth Hall, a senior at Northwood High School, have demonstrated exceptional leadership throughout their high school years. Both have served as student body presidents this year and have led numerous workshops and um leadership opportunities within their school and across our district and state. Um, we proudly honor Cal and Elizabeth for their induction into the National North Carolina Association of Student Councils Hall of Fame. Again, a prestigious recognition celebrating their outstanding contributions, their dedication, and their impact on student leadership across Chadam County Schools in North Carolina. A little bit about each of these wonderful seniors. Um, Cal um, as you see, is a senior at C4th. We mentioned he was a class liaison for new officers student body by president 24-25. He also served as the central district um western district and state convention um delegate. He was a junior

council at Mars Hill in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and also he attended the national student council conference. In addition, um he led workshops on time management, um finding your thing, the state convention, and he also served as a staff member, um engaging emerging leadership workshop, um and also a staff member at Mars Hill, um Cal Stinson, Mr. posting. I like to make a point that the shirt he's wearing tonight is better than the one in the picture. Oh, I love that Kyle will be attending North Carolina um State University next year. Oh gosh, I knew it. I knew it. I thought that red you had on Mr. Hams kind of matched and so um and Elizabeth Hall um of course Northwood High School student body president um for this year. She also served as a student body representative before she too attended Mars Hill leadership workshop North Carolina um state um student council convention and I was able to attend her session this summer and Graham that she led. It was a powerful session um that she led um with other students um across our state. Her other leadership roles include um the acting um drama club president, pitch please um president and also the vice president of the Spanish honor society, Elizabeth Hall. While we have Mr. Henry FA here, I want to say um student council um is close to me. I was student body president um a long long time ago and Mr. Mr. Henry F was my student body um um president adviser. Um Mr. FA is a retired um Chattam County Schools teacher. He um taught and worked at Northwood High School for 36 years. Also served as a student council adviser for

35 years. And he currently serves as outreach and partnership director for the North Carolina Association of Student Councils and their curriculum coordinator for summer workshops. Mr. F. We appreciate all that you've done over the decades and we appreciate your commitment um your continued commitment to China County Schools. Now, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I'm wearing red. [Music] We also want to take a second to honor Miss Greenley, um the student council adviser at Northwood High School, and Miss Megan, um Dadinsky, if she's here. and they are representative of of the honor council. And I'll give you a little information about the student council honor council. The honor council program of North Carolina association of student councils is designed to recognize those student councils who um present evidence of having an effective and progressive council in many areas. The student council compi complies and submits a portfolio showing evidence of their group accomplishments on the school level and beyond. Um, high schools that meet honor council standards um are recognized at the state convention and will be um designated as a Louise Hunter Honor Council. Northwood has been designated as a honor council for more than 30 years. Miss Greenley serves as advisor and Megan serves as historian and they have coordinated the portfolio. Congratulations and we appreciate all of your hard work. Thank you.

Next, we would like to recognize our excellence and opportunity champion um which again aligns to priority one um curriculum and innovation. And I will ask Miss Davis, Miss Davis to come to the podium, please. Miss Davis was nominated by um another staff member at Mar Margaret Per and she wrote, "Miss Davis has been working intensively with their affinity group. Through the past two years, she has created a strong and powerful bond with some of our eighth grade Latino boys. This relationship has allowed these students to express themselves in a safe space and provide them with opportunity to share their experiences at school. She has spent time getting parent volunteers to help help with instruction and various digital, written, and in-person forms of communication. Miss Davis has also coordinated mentoring opportunities with her students and students from Perry Harrison School. She coordinates reading buddies between the two schools, allowing them to meet together to build pride and allowing the students from Pard to serve as role models. She is a professional who's passionate and often goes the extra mile for all students. Miss Davis works work has path paved the way for students to have leadership opportunities at pard for this year and for future students in the years to come. Congratulations Miss Davis for being our excellence and opportunity champion. Thank you. I hadn't gotten to hear it yet. Good evening, board members, Superintendent Jackson, and guests. As most of you know, I'm the district's public information officer, Jessica Pione. This evening, I have the privilege of recognizing two incredible

members of the Chattam County Schools families. First, it's my honor tonight to recognize an exceptional young leader who has truly embodied the character traits of citizenship and service to the community, which are our May champion of character um characteristics. At this time, I ask um Jean Carlo Nolasco uh from Jordan Matthew Jordan Matthews High School to please join me at the podium. And I know you're here. I saw you. Hey. Hey, sir. Uh Giani Carlos leadership, passion, and sense of responsibility shine through in everything you do. He's not just involved, he's engaged at the highest levels. From leading student government to serving over 200 hours in the community, Gian uh Gian Carlo has demonstrated what it means to be an active citizen, one who sees and needs uh sees the needs and steps up and meets it. Um your impact isn't just local. I'm sure you know he's used his voice to advocate for equitable education funding at the state level, showing that leadership has no age limit uh when it's rooted in purpose and service. So, thank you. Um, your commitment is a perfect reflection of what we strive to cultivate in our schools. Young people who take initiative, who act with agency, and give generously of their time and talents to lift others up. You remind us all that service doesn't require a title or a position, just heart, determination, and the willingness to act. Um, at Chattam County Schools, we believe our core values come to life through our habits of character. And you, my friend, uh, live those values daily, and we are so proud to celebrate you tonight. So, please join me again in in celebrating Mr. Nolasco, um, our May champion of character. And we have a certificate for you and just some swag so you don't forget us because he's a senior. Thank you, sir. And please feel free to shake everyone's hand.

Well, it's also my pleasure to recognize our May Power of One recipient. Uh someone whose dedication and heart have also made a remarkable difference in the lives of both students and staff at Siler City Elementary. I ask Miss Maya Carr, behavioral support specialist at Satam, excuse me, Siler City Elementary to join me at the podium. I thought I was like I know I saw you. How are you? Thank you. Uh, Miss Carr's work this year has truly transformed what behavioral support looks like in our schools. She's been more than a resource. She's been a steady presence, a collaborator, and a champion for students. Whether it's helping teachers implement meaningful interventions, collecting and analyzing behavioral data, or calmly and compassionately responding to crisis, Miss Carr shows up and you show up fully. Her nominator shared that Miss Carr responds to any and all needs thoughtfully and promptly, always seeking to grow in her own professional knowledge along the way. She treats everyone with dignity, respect, and without judgment. And in doing so, you model that the very best of who we can be for our students. That is who the very best of who we can be. Excuse me. What makes Miss Carr's contribution so powerful is not just her skill. It's her energy and humanity she brings in every interaction. Her presence lifts others up and creates space for real change to take root. Miss Carr, thank you for showing us the impact one person can have. Your work is not only appreciated, it's deeply valued. Congratulations again. And we have a small token of appreciation. Thank you, Miss Carr. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for all that. Thank you all for being here too. We appreciate all you do. Uh especially this time of year after testing. So, uh or during testing, too. I guess

that's that's part of it, too. All right. We'll move to our next part of the program. Uh public comments. And of course, just a reminder, you'll be here at the podium. you have uh three minutes to present your comments. Uh please hold it to that. If they run longer than that, we'll stop you or ask you to stop. And of course, if you have it in paper form or uh on your computer, if you'll just send it to our um Miss Sloan there, she'll take care of it for you. Um and of course, just remind you um that it is three minutes again. Okay. Uh, first up for us is Selena Lopez. [Applause] Uh, good evening members of the board, Superintendent Dr. Jackson, and everyone present here today. My name is Helina Lopez. I am the youth leadership program director at the Hispanic Leazison. Um, I'm here with some of our go latinex pride students. If they can please stand. So, we're just here to say thank you for renewing ourou with Chattam County Schools uh for the upcoming year. Uh we are so grateful to have your support this weekend. Not only did we celebrate 30 years of uh the Hispanic liaison's um existence, um but also we celebrated our 8th annual class of senior graduates from our program. Um, and I'm happy to report that 100% of our seniors will continue to pursue a higher education at either a 4-year university or community college. Uh, we are excited to see these students take the next step in pursuing a higher education. That this keeps our 100% um graduation rate strong. Um, this year we have an another Odyssey scholar who will be attending Elon University debt-free. Uh we have a winner of the Felicia Brewer Scholarship through the Triangle Community Foundation. Um an

Edward Hill Friends Meeting and Mitchell and Maca Curley scholarship recipient. And finally, drum roll please. We like to announce that we have our first ever Gates Scholar for the first time in our program history. Um she will be going to UNC Chapel Hill in the fall. So we're really excited for her. Um and as of now, our seniors have won over $450,000 in scholarship. um and they'll be going to either a 4-year university or community college. Um but all of these accomplishments wouldn't have been possible without your partnership. So, we'd like to really thank you for your support. Next up will be Giovani Sierra Roas, I think. Am I correct on that? Gotcha. Okay. Hello. Um, sorry I had to check if the microphone was on or not. Um, hi everyone. My name is Joanni Sierra Roas. I am a senior at C4th High School and am a proud member of the EVH youth program at OOP. Without the support of OOLP, I wouldn't have had help with my scholarships and essays for colleges and I wouldn't have also had my interviewing practice. Thanks to OP, I am proud to say I am recipient to the Odyssey scholarship at Elon University. This scholarship gives me a full ride to college and I am the first in my family to have to be able to have the opportunity to go to college and being able to go debtree is really remarkable for me and a blessing to me and my family. Thank you so much for continuing to support programs like OP. I am a living proof that the that programs like this work. I hope to come back and see how this program has grown after my graduation. Thank you. Thank you. And next up is Kyle

Stinson. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Jackson. I'd like to briefly highlight um some of the accomplishments because I feel like the more and more awards um students get, we sometimes forget about the work that was led to get there. And I'd also like to give some thanks for the experiences of teaching in the county that I've already had this year. So, as you know, my name is Kyle. I'm a senior at Seforth. I previously attended Pittsburgh Elementary as a panda. I'm a proud panda having Miss Estes and Mr. Poston as my principal and assistant principal and I was a former um George Moses Horton Middle School Wildcat. And then that led me to become a C4th Hawk where I'm thankful for Dr. St. Clair and all of our previous administrators and admin support throughout the past years. Over the past three years, I've had the opportunity to implement the leadership programs at Pittsville Elementary and North Chadam, having educated over 40 current fifth graders at North Chadam, as well as 30 fourth graders at Pittsville Elementary. Um, this experience has led us to implement more student leadership programs in our county um through a $600 grant that I received from Bold Construction Company three years ago. Um, throughout my experience in Chattam County, I've had the opportunity to meet with um leaders like uh Mr. Jack Hoke with the North Carolina Superintendent Association. Um serve on our student advisory council with Mr. Poston. Um have special opportunities like touring legislators um and other county officials and then having the immense opportunity to tour um the superintendent of uh North Carolina, Mr. Mo Green this past year. All of these have also led me to experience what it's like and what what education as a whole is like as I um in previous in the agenda you'll see with the teach Chattam scholarship. I'd like to give thanks to Dr. Maran um Dr. Burton uh Dr. Jackson um and Dr. Sinclair for all of the work that's gone into helping implement more student voice into the county and that's all thanks to you as well. I'd also like to highlight some of the programs that we have in our county. We have teaching cadet programs that you might have heard about back in January. I know at Chattam Central they have a great teaching um

prep program there and at C4 this past year we were able to offer teaching cadet. This opportunity allowed me to go into a fourth grade classroom throughout this year um with a teacher who needed some extra support as she couldn't speak for a little bit um due to some medical issues. So, I was able to go in there for an hour and a half, three days a week. Um, work with the kids, get to experience what it's like to be a teacher, the struggles, the the amazing sides, more amazing sides of it than there are struggles. Um, but it was amazing just to get to experience that as a high schooler. And as I look to come back in four years and become a teacher, if you all approve the um the scholarship, I'm excited to see what Chadam County is like in four years because I know it will only be amazing and continue to be amazing. So, I appreciate you all um for the experience and I look forward to continuing my education at NC State, not Carolina. And um go go Wolfpack. Have a good one, y'all. Thank you. Okay. Uh we'll move along now to information items. Uh policies for review following NCSBA policy manual update, first reading. Uh Dr. All right. Tonight we bring for you the first reading um of the final set in our board policy overhaul endeavor. We clap on that one there, too. Thank you. I think I may have found my postretirement job. I mean, I I could go around from district to district doing this at this rate. Um the policy update we have tonight for you um contains 20 policies that were either missed or put on hold in prior updates that we brought to you in each of the series reviews. Some of these policies have minor changes or slight wording shifts. Um you'll see the items that are um listed in red are items that we want to be repealed from our policy manual. Items in orange we're requesting to be held for further

review. And the items in white are policies that we're recommending for approval. So, it's kind of the same structure we've used before. I do want to point out just a couple of ones that might be a little um questionable or confusing. Um one is policy 4140. That is the foreign exchange student policy. Um you may recall in our uh previous meeting we repealed that. Um this is because we had two different policies. So this is the actual um policy that is aligned with the um school birds association policy. Dropout prevention is one that we are repealing, but we don't want you to think that's not important to us. Um, this is actually covered now in policy 3405 and promotion uh requirements policy. The use of wireless communication devices 4318. We know that that's something that's really important. Um, but there's also pending legislation in this area. So instead of bringing it right back to you with another change, we're putting this one on hold until we receive that further guidance. Criminal records check. We also wanted just to point out on this one um we're certainly going to continue doing criminal record checks, but that is now covered in other policies. So we didn't want you to think that we were no longer um still conducting those. And the use of technology to conduct school business is in white, but it's one that we're actually not wanting to adopt at this point in time. That will be one that we'll want to bring back to you at a later time. Um, because technology is used to conduct school business in pretty much every department. We felt like this needed further review and additional clarity for Cadam and our own security purposes. Um, so again, while it's important, we wanted to give it a little more attention. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Anybody have any questions, please? Thank you, Dr. Moran. All right. Thank you. Your continuing uh Cogni Cogna accreditation update. So, we are excited tonight to share the results of our Cogna accreditation review. Um,

as you know, this has been a year-long pro process for us. Um, our review was held on May 2nd. Um, thank you to Mr. Leonard and Miss Turner who were both present for that. Um, we had over 10,000 stakeholders that were involved in this process. We did receive our final report today, so it is hot off the presses. Um, it has not been approved by the board of Cognia, but we were allowed to share that this evening, but it will not be official until June 25th when they do the final approval. Our schools will receive um certificates um this summer that they'll be able to put up in their offices showing that they are accredited schools. And if you can pull up the slides real quick. Thank you. Um I'm going to just slide through this really quickly, but just wanted to show you some of the information that we shared um during our visit, our virtual visit. This is going to move really slow. Maybe I don't want to do this. We shared with them a little bit about the process. So we talked about the stakeholders that were involved. We shared highlights. This is going to take too long. Mark, if you want to pull it down. It is there, however, for the public and for the board to to see. Um, a lot of the slides that you'll see in our accreditation update just really highlight many of the things that we're proud of in our district. Promising practices that we have across our district. A lot of our um data for accountability is shared there. Um, and then we went through each section of the review process um to be able to show them the areas that we identified for improvement. If you'll go back one, there we go. Um, one more. Sorry. And if you'll click on the draft report, this is the exciting part. Do want to just um, if you could blow it up just a little bit, you'll see in the report there's a whole laundry list of research and why this process of continuous improvement is important. But

the way that these tables work, you'll see in the black that is Chattam County Schools score. Um, the scores are a level one, two, three, or four. And then the items that are in red, the bar in red is showing the network average. And if you just kind of scan through these, you'll see we have a lot of fours. And every single bar is above um the national network average. But you can peruse the 40page document at any time you would like. But the exciting part up here for you um is just how well we we scored. Um we're in the top 5% in the nation. Um the score that you see there, the score that you see there is an IEQ score. And that is your um score that rates you across all of the schools and districts um in not only just the country but across um the globe. um because more than just the United States are included in this process. You'll see that our score is a 383 out of 400 and the national network average is 296. So we are considerably above. This is also a 10% increase from our previous process which was in 2017. You'll also note on this page um in each of the review areas, we scored either level threes or four. In fact, 77% of our results were level fours and 23% were level threes. This these types of scores came from feedback from stakeholders, feedback from our reviewers, and our own self- assessment um results. And I think that covers just about everything on here. Um, but again, we appreciate all of your support in this process. Um, it pretty much was a team effort at the district level. Every

department was involved. Our school leaders, teachers, parents, community members also participated. So, it's a lot to celebrate. And I think one of the things our reviewer said specifically time and time again during our review um is just how the one chattam theme resonated throughout all of our work, all of our artifacts and our presentation. So I think it was very evident to an outside eye that is something that we truly do believe in and also live each and every day. So thank you. Is this four or five years? So it is now a six-year process. So it used to be every three years I believe and then during COVID that process changed. So um we will have a review in three years which is just a quick check-in to see how we're doing. We really had no major findings. So there's nothing that we're required to complete within a year. Um which you might be familiar those of you that have been on the board a while. In years past we had things that we had to report back on annually. We don't have any of those kinds of findings this time. Um, and then the next full review will be in 2030. Great, Dr. Moran. Thank you for all the work on that. That is fantastic news. I think all of y'all need another round of applause from us. I think that is big time and we will certainly um put this out for the community in a larger press release as soon as it is approved by Cognia, June uh 25th. Thank you. Okay, we'll move to action items. Uh, part A, AIG plan for 2025 through 2028. Dr. Moran and Mr. Triplet. All right. So, this item is aligned with priority one, curriculum and innovation of our strategic plan. Article 9B of state statute 115 C150 requires all districts to develop and approve and submit a plan for our academically and intellectually gifted students. These plans must be approved every three years. Um after it is approved here at

the local level, it will also go to the state board of education in July. U Mr. Michael Triplet is our IPF for AIG and he'll share with you a little bit more about the process and the specific changes of our plan, but I did want to recognize him and thank him for all of his work behind the scenes. So, a lot goes into this um similar to our other process. Um and his plan in the past year, our plan um this past process was actually highlighted at the state level um and sent out to other districts as a promising practice specifically for the for the work that we've done um for equity and excellence for all students to try to identify u many of our students that might be unrepresented unrepresentative unrepresented in our AIG plan. Sorry, that was a tongue twister. Um, so he'll share with you a little bit more about the process and the changes specifically to our plan. [Music] Uh, Mr. Leonard, members of the board, and Dr. Jackson, um, you received an executive summary, and in that summary, it Whoops. Sorry. Try not to get right up in it. um you received um an executive summary that had the that noted the changes in red were the new content we had. One of the requests from the parents is that they wanted us to edit for clarity and conciseness. So the plan looks a lot different than it did from last year mainly because it went through and did a line by line rewrite of everything so that way it flowed better and it made more sense to the community. um if there was a new process in place or new wording that wasn't there previously completely new I put that in red but for the most part um we didn't have a lot of changes we just made a few adjustments um slideshow so I'm going to go ahead and jump to slide number two which would be our mission and vision statement when we get there just to give you an overview how that works um we reviewed that with our students our parents our teachers our administrators our AIG specialist

and went through the AIG mission and vision statement to make sure it reflected our the goals of our program to also make sure it aligned to the Chattam County strategic plan, article 9B, which is the state law that governs AIG and also the excellence and opportunity initiatives in the district. Uh following that, uh this is article 9B that Dr. Ram mentioned where it states that um every school district has um a requirement to make a plan have it due every three years and to state how they're going to plan to survey I kids and how to identify potential and support those students. Okay. So each plan in this plan it has standards and the standards articulate the expectations related to article 9B. the practices are aligned to the standards and guide strong programs and we must um address each standard through these practices. So part of the review for this process uh started whenever we did our last AIG plan the NCDPI they reviewed our plan provided feedback and that feedback goes to Dr. Jackson then comes out to um our EC our ECID director and to me and then we review the feedback from the state starting the plan rewrite this cycle. We go back and review the plan feedback. We analyze their feedback and we also deliver surveys to students to parents to principles to other school staff and to district members. We take all that feedback in and then we analyze it for trends. So that process is completed about by about by about October, November. And then we start leading into our parent advisory boards. I say parent, but it's really students come to that, teachers come to that, AIG specialists come to that. We had a principal, uh, family members and, um, some district level people and we go through the plan line by line and make comments as we go. So after we get through all that process, we take all that feedback, we review the data that they gave us from their feedback. We go back through the

data in our program, that's achievement data, how the kids are doing, um our test scores, uh our populations and how well represented they are depending on the demographic. And then we pull all that together and start rewriting. Okay. And during this process, we're attending regional meetings that are focused on things like identification, underrepresentation, uh addressing community feedback and partnerships and differentiate education. And through this process, the we have DPI supported materials. Um and then we start drafting and then each draft will go to um this time with Sarah Self when she was here as a CC director. Uh Mr. Thomas was supporting me in analyzing some of the data because someone deals with psychological testing and that I'm not too familiar with. and then it will go to Dr. Moran and then to you guys for your for your review. Okay. So once it's reviewed by the stakeholders, it is it will be uploaded to the NC SIP system which is the system the state uses and um we'll get you guys to sign a document saying that you approve it and then it will go to them for feedback. Once you sign off on it, it is considered our AIG program for the 2528 cycle and that DPI unless there's no major issues will just provide feedback on our new standards. Okay. So, uh we made some updates to further promote equity and excellence in AIG. So, we proposed using district norms and national norms. Previously, we just used national norms and now we're saying let's use district norms so that way we can um widen the net just a bit more. We also wanted to start including the beginning of grade test, the end of grade test and in the course test uh to align better with Senate Bill 500 which is the advanced math law. It says any kid who makes level five on their math EOG or EOC gets put in the highest uh math available. So we wanted to take that and use that as part of our identification criteria to align ourselves with the state. Uh we also removed the non-verbal battery from the math identification and wanted to create an intellectually gifted pathway. This

pathway be focusing on things like critical thinking, um problem solving and be mainly served for things like STEM and STEAM. Uh so that way we can use those abilities to help build their reading and math skills. Uh let's see here. We also retired the use of the AJ specialist inventory for typical atypical. it had um fallen out of use and there's better peer-reviewed research things out there. So, we're retiring that implementing in uh either the Renulli scales for gifted characteristics or the use tops forms which is specifically for underrepresented populations. So, the new AIG plan calls for a focus on datadriven decision- making and uh and professional development, professional learning communities and instruction for gifted learners. Uh we're going to focus on data analysis for program improvement throughout this next cycle to promote student achievement. And we aligned our identification pathways better to serve our students by moving the non-verbal section off to its own intellectually gifted pathway. And we want to continue promoting access and opportunity with the incorporation of um the CCS district norms. Okay. So we are going to uh continue discussions as we implement the CI plan to focus on single subject acceleration and look at our a lotment of the specialist and their roles and get AIG specialists to work with our ELA teachers as they implement high level instruction for reading just similar like we have in math so that those kids can also receive high level instruction there and the talent development program support students and move them toward identification and to continue to create a culture of opting in. So uh you can review this. It has these are some general thoughts our kids have and these are some of the feedback that we get from our surveys. They enjoy being with our AIG teachers. They enjoy the um homogeneous culture. I mean you see the homogeneous grouping and again these are the documents you have. executive summary which is the one pager that's two pages and uh these are our glossery which we align the glossery to

better reflect uh the definitions in the field and to align with current research and then our county school's policy or grade acceleration early entry into kindergarten any questions the opting in basically you're looking at not only in AIG but as far as classroom room instruction itself and all the different things there. What do you Yes, sir. So, um kind of like with Senate Bill 500, if a student makes level five, they are automatically put into a high level course and they require um written permission from the parent to be withdrawn from that course. So, we want to create that culture because, you know, kids need to be challenged. Understand? Yes, sir. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you for your time. You ready? So, we're seeking your approval. I move CH County Board of Education approve the AIG plan for 2025 through 2028 as presented. Second. Got a motion, a second. Any questions? Any discussion? Go ahead. You said 28. It's 26 on here. on where should be. Oh, but on the thing here is 28. So, typo on there. It's a threeyear plan. Um, but I think probably if something got printed, it had not been changed at that point in time. I just want to make sure. Good catch. I love the three years. You love the three years. So, any other questions, comments? All in favor with I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you. Thank you for all your work too, Dr. Moran also. Okay, they just made this your night, didn't they? Teach CH uh Chadam scholarship agreement. Dr. Moran and Dr. Burton. So, we are really excited tonight to share a brief update on our

Teach Cadam program. As you know, this is aligned with priority one instruction and innovation as well. And I would argue it probably would align with our um staff uh strategic plan item as well since we're recruiting uh future educators. Um, this program began officially in 2022. Um, and it really started prior to COVID. I believe Dr. Batton and I, it was kind of a conversation and a little bit of dreaming and visioning. Um, and it's, uh, finally coming to full fruition with our first group of scholarship participants. So, tonight we're going to be seeking your approval on the Teach Cadam scholarship contract document itself. Um, this is in an effort to attract our students starting in 10th grade who have an interest in becoming future teachers and educators. um we want to bring those students back home to teach here in Chadam County. Um Dr. Burton, our secondary executive director, will share more with you about the Teach Cadam scholarship and the program. Um and then she'll also be introducing you uh to our scholarship participants or recipients this evening and their families. So Dr. So, thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chair, Dr. Jackson, board members. Um, as you heard, Teach Cadam is a grassroots grow your own teacher program right here for Chattam County Schools. Um the goal obviously is to provide students an opportunity who are interested in becoming educ educators to begin coursework while they're still in high school. Um as well as participate in a number of educational careerbuilding opportunities throughout the district and even now the full community of Chattam. So each student is required to apply and they provide us general information, their parent information, and then they have to answer essay questions about why they're interested in teaching and returning to Chattam County Schools. We look at their attendance records, um their discipline

records, their school transcripts, um and then they have to have recommendation letters. um and one of their recommendation letters has to be from a current teacher or a teacher that had they have most recently worked with. And so this is a partnership between Chattam County Schools, Central Carolina Community College, UNC, and most recently the North Carolina Teaching Fellows. Um, and so this is just a flowchart that shows you the pathway that students can take if this is um the their profession of choice. And so in the fall, we introduced you to three cohort members who are rocking and rolling. Um, Payton and Landon are in teaching as a profession at Chattam Central High School and they have been able to do tutoring all semester at Bennett. And last year we had three graduates in the Teach Cadam cohort. So there are variety of activities that are listed that students are able to participate in. We do have students applying to work at the Y since our summer scholars program will be housed at the YMCA which is this this is an opportunity for them to get paid employment. Um but they also have a variety of activities that they participate in throughout the year and these are our additional partners. So we have um secured a partnership with the Chattam County Partnership for Children. Obviously, the Chattam Education Foundation, new to the to our partnership is the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club of America, and then the UNCC system overall because that's where the North Carolina Teaching Fellows is housed. So during the planning, it was the idea that these students would be eligible for a scholarship and the scholarship would be up to $10,000.

Funds would be awarded through the Chattam Education Foundation and passed through to the students. Students would be eligible for $2,500 a year for four years. Students would be required to return to Chattam County Schools and teach for four years if they receive the scholarship funds. The district will remain in contact with the TADAM students throughout their coursework and we will call up the recipients of the at this time if you approve the scholarship I will introduce to you the recipients of our inaugural Teach Cadam scholarship. I move Cham County Board of Education approve the Teach Chadam scholarship agreement as presented. Second got a couple of seconds. Any questions? All in favor with an I. I. Any oppose like sign. So, first I would like to introduce to you Miss Callie Fogelman and her parents will be graduating from Jordan Matthews High School and she is actually a teaching fellow and she too will be attending North Carolina State University. Um, so Cali, if you'll you can You didn't tell them you didn't tell them the five minute dissertation they have to speak. No, sir. No, sir. Kyle can I'm sure. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. No doubt about that. Congratulations. Look forward to having you back. And last but not least, we would like to reintroduce to you Mr. Kyle Stinson, who is also an inaugural scholarship recipient. [Applause]

Good luck. Thank you. So, we are going to slip out because they will get to have their own signing day outside in the hallway where they will sign to return to work for us in four years. Thank you. That's great. One more quick thing. We also wanted to say um a quick thank you to um the Cadam Education Foundation. Miss Sandifer is here. Um they have agreed to be the pass through for this scholarship. So um other organizations could donate um to this endeavor. Um and they also were very generous to give us one of the first $2500 installments to help out with the first year for our students. So thank you to the Chattam Education Foundation. Yay. Thank you, Dr. Moran, for all your work, too. Very much. So, any other quick reminders? Graduation starts rolling in Wednesday. Wednesday, Thursday, two Friday, and one Saturday. So, yeah. All right. our next uh board of education meeting personnel session on Thursday, June 26 at 12:00 p.m. And then the next regular board of education meeting is Monday, July 14th at 5:30. Uh do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Got a motion in a second. All in favor with an I. I. Thank you all. Appreciate very much. Thank y'all for being here. I missed it by seven. Michael, you don't mind? [Music] Remember, she's in charge of my buses, too.

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