Regular Session

a mic on. Okay, we'll call our Monday, August 11th board meeting to order. Um, do we have a motion to go into close session for the items listed on the agenda?

Second.

Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I.

I.

Any opposed? Life signs. Thank you. Okay. [Music]

We'll consider ourselves back in open session. Uh thank you all for being here. We we know we're um gearing up uh for the school year to start. Let's see. Convocation is what? Next Tuesday, believe that's right. Yeah. beginning the their teachers new to us were here today, too. So, thank y'all for being here. Thank you for your interest in our public school system, Chattam County Schools. Um, as we get ready to start, of course, uh, I think a lot of extracurriculars have started already between athletics, uh, band, whole lot of travel going on with our, uh, young people on the road and parents, too. So, um, as we get ready to have our moment of silence, let's remember everyone traveling and safety and of course, you know, with the hot weather with athletics, that's always tough. And for band, too, because they do a lot of marching in the heat. So, um, for those type of things and just in general, um, I always think of parents, uh, getting ready to take their children. These are graduates of ours that take our ch their children. A lot of them are going this week to their colleges. That's a different uh moment at home, too. So, if we can remember all those and I just ask if you would uh join us in a in a moment of silence, please. Thank you. Thank you. Let's all stand and for our pledge of allegiance, please.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

justice for all. Thank you. Um, do I have a motion to adopt the agenda?

So moved. Second.

Got a motion, a couple of seconds. All in favor with an I.

I. Any opposed like sign?

Do I have a motion to approve the personnel agenda?

So moved.

Second.

Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I.

I. Any oppose? Like sign? Thank you. And do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move.

I excuse me. I'm ahead of myself. Got a motion. Second. All in favor with an I.

I. Any opposed like sign? At least I'm not behind. Thank you. All right. All right. In case y'all are wondering, we've got a new superintendent with us today. U but I think he's recovering well. Seems to be. Dr. Jackson.

Sir, good evening, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Um, I will say that in my I guess 18 years as superintendent, it's the first time I've not had a tie on in years. And it's not because I didn't try to tie one. I just It's just hard to do with one.

Um, uh, tonight I want to, uh, share just a few things as we prepare for the opening of school. uh and I'll defer the um the other uh report to you for your reading and make it a part of the the because I'll share a lot of the things that'll be getting us ready for the opening of schools um tonight. If you'll bring up that presentation, please take these off. Yeah. And so, um, as we get ready for the 252, uh, six school year, um, as I shared before, we have set very clear goals as we do each year, um, for our our our schools. We had our leadership retreat, uh, earlier, and each year we set goals. Now, some of this will uh, I will be giving you a

precursor to some data that you don't have yet. So, you'll hear it as we move um, forward. Um, and Miss Burton, her eyes are already wide because I've moved that number. Uh, but that that's actually a typo, Miss Burton. So, just relax. All schools will earn a C or above on a on the SPG. We're going to increase in composits by 3 to five points, and you're going to see that we have more than exceeded that. Uh, and I told them this is the last year that C will be on there. After this year, we will be all schools B or above. Uh, so this is our last year to begin. And if you'll notice over the last five years, we've set these goals and guard rails for our schools because we've been incrementally removed. This is coming out of the pandemic, uh, addressing learning loss, addressing all of those concerns, but now still pushing the district to do better and to move forward. Um, all schools that should be 92% graduation rate. Um, and 90 I was thinking about next year, Dr. Burton, she was she was getting a little nervous over there. That was a slip of the finger. All schools will meet or exceed EVOS. and you're we're going to share some great news with you shortly about that. Uh retesting uh processes must be in place at our school throughout the year. The state has now um completely revamped the retesting opportunities and it is to our benefit to take advantage of that for our our our our students. Um reduce our our turnover uh at the district level again by 15% and increase parent and community engagement um by 25%. Um so uh you know at this time of the year we always share that we want to make sure that schools are ready for staff and for students and we are pretty confident as of today that we'll be ready to receive our our teachers um well we received our new new staff today but our the entire staff will be back next week with schools and buildings are ready and we feel really good but it's been a challenging summer um as I've shared with you with funding legislative and operational uncertainty

some things just resolving, some things still aren't resolved, some things we thought were resolved that are now unresolved. Uh and so we're working on that, but we're going to do so with a smile. Um we will have six new principles um operating in the district this year. Uh Dr. Burko at the early college, uh Mr. Letterlo at Jordan Matthews, uh Mr. Sudall will be at Chattam Middle, Miss Bennett Wells will be at Bonley. Uh Miss Mkansen will is a new principal at North Chattam. and Miss Harris u uh will be the new principal at Monure. All of these are internal uh promotions and so we're really really happy about that. Uh and that speaks I think volumes to the work that we've done over the past uh several years of just trying to make sure that when those opportunities become available, we're able uh to look internally. And so we we've done so. Uh teacher vacancies remain low. I think we're at the lowest we have been in several years. How many total vacancies? teacher vacancies,

23 um at this time and we anticipate filling some of those uh as with every year. We will have a few that are not uh filled um but we will our folk are continuing to adjust those. Enrollment um is overall steady. Um we're we're monitoring our charter school enrollment closely. Um uh we're planning to go back and request uh some some funding for some unanticipated uh charter school growth that we did not ask for this past year, but we'll be doing so. Um we ask for their money uh through the county, but we don't fund charter schools, so we have to go back and ask for that funding. Um and then uh we had a many of you may have been engaged with the prek question around Bennett prek. uh they have been able to fill the class which is a great um a great thing for them to have to do. We cannot offer classes that are not fully funded because it means that we're subsidizing those classes with local money and we cannot do that. I want to go back to the enrollment

piece and just make sure that everybody understands we're shifting from power schools to um uh infinite campus. Uh and so as you make those shifts, we have to make sure that our data is clean, which we're working really hard to do. Uh but uh if you know of anyone who has not uh uh uh gone on and registered or gotten their kindergarten student enrolled or made sure that their uh child is uh uh um enrolled in their specific school and that their records are rolled over, please do that. That would be very helpful for us and get the word out uh for us. Um and uh the parent portal is live for schedules and grades. Is that correct? Uh so we want everyone to do that. Uh the board also for technology the board has also authorized us to um uh hold students accountable for full pay for repairs. Um we've had a lot of repair costs that have come up and we want to make sure that we're able to keep those devices well and it's just good stewardship of the resources. Uh and that families are now responsible for replacing the lost and damaged chargers. Uh we have a link that they can go to, but we just it's just so much cheaper. They can go to the gas station and get that charger a lot cheaper than we can order them and have them in on stock. Um our school bus transportation routes are being finalized. Family communication underway. If you plan to ride the bus and you've not let their school know that, please make sure that you do that. Um we want to I would say expect the typical uh first week uh adjustments that we'll have to make. Um there are kids who show up that didn't sign up and we're not going to leave them at bus stops. Um but we that also makes it a little different for those who we have made a plan for that we did. Uh and I always tell parents give us about 10 to 15 days to get that worked out. Please um Infinite Campus uh may create some challenges if if people don't go on and get on the parent portal and click the right buttons and all of

that stuff. So please encourage people to do so. Uh we got some key events you heard about. New teacher orientation is um um was today and this week. Um convocation is on the 19th at um 9:00. Um but I have 8:30. If you want to get in there, I'd suggest you get there by 8:30 uh at um uh Seforth High School. Our theme this year is Elevate Chatam. Open houses are the 20th and 21st. You see your school's website. And then I will be riding for the 18th year uh with my kindergartenner. I think this year I am at

Chattam Grow. Uh we'll have a Chattam Grow. We might walk the school. I don't depend on where they are

which is fine. Uh our programs serve yonder pouch expansion uh will be expanding to Northwood and Chattam Central High School. Um the state has implemented a cell phone uh ban. That's the word they're using. We didn't use that word. U but we have been ahead of this game. We took proactive actions last year. Uh we got ahead of the game and so we're bringing on uh the final two traditional um high schools. And um so all of our traditional 6 through 12 schools will be using yonder pouch this coming year. And the new law is that you cannot have a cell phone out or on in a school. Um, and so, uh, we have a tool to help us with that so that our teachers aren't having to be cell phone police nor, um, cell phone wardens. So, they they can actually teach. A big change that I want to make sure, and I'm sharing some of these changes that are going to be challenges for us financially, so you understand that these aren't just willy-nilly decisions. AP fees will not be covered by the state this year. That is a decision made by the general assembly. So we have a lot of kids who take advanced placement courses. Now they will fund those students who are designated in need. Um and u we would probably have to work through our standard process to identify those kids who are uh economically disadvantaged. U

but those other students will have to pay. The fee is approximately $98 per test. Yes. So, we have some students who take three and four AP courses and if they to get the credit for it to count at the college, they have to take the exam and so now we're charging them to take the exam. The state no longer covers that. So, we and we can't pick that up. So, they will um we will have to pass that cost on to families. Um C meals the 17 schools are eligible. three schools uh now um that we were able to cover last year. As I said at uh two meetings ago, we won't be able to. However, if there's students at those schools who believe they qualify, they can fill out the application. Please make sure that's clear to families at those schools. Uh they just need to apply. And then our ESS substitute system, uh we won't be providing substitutes for instructional assistance this year. We will be continue to um provide them for classroom teachers um when they're out, but we we can't we can't we can no longer provide it for an instructional assistant. Um and um and we but we will provide them for certain special ed and and prek classes that you can't have you got to by law you have to have that two adults in onetoone situations. Our budget and funding the state has passed finally a stop gap budget but that budget has some challenges. Uh there are no raises and no step increases for anyone. I mean uh there are only step increases. What what does that really mean? Um that if you're at the year where you would move up to the next step, you'll get the step increase. If you're not, then you you don't everything above year 16 is flat. So there is no increase after year 16. So those teachers will have a flat. Retirement and health costs have increased. We've gotten those numbers. And so, but which really means, and I want to say this out loud, it's a net negative. It's a net negative. Um, and that's not

a Chattam County Schoolboard decision. That is a decision that has been made based on uh the budget that's been passed for our state. Um, so we need to be really clear um that we recognize that and we're going to do our very best to find other ways to make people feel valuable, valued, and uh and and let them know that we honor their work here. The federal budget um reduced funding in in most of the titles, but um there are few um uh we we've learned some things today we're looking into. We'll we'll get more information around that. uh fewer pre-K slots are available to us this year. Um is that we lost 51 preK slots uh due to state cuts to the um NC preK program. Again, I'm going to say those are not cuts that this board made. They're looking at me like Jackson. It is what it is and we just have to be so very honest about it. So, um you know, we we got our our local did increase us. Um actually, it should be 2.8. Um but the charter schools, um uh were underfunded and so that ate up a lot of the increase that we have to have. So, we have to have a conversation with the county about that. Points of pride, we're going to have some really, really good news for you guys at convocation. Really, really good news. I'm looking forward to sharing it. Um, I try not to let the the let the rabbit out beforehand, but this year is going to be a great year for us. Um, graduation rate will be great. Increased AP and dual enrollment, you'll see those numbers. Um, the school's awards and more to come at convocation. Um, despite challenges, we are ready for the start of school. We had happy people out here today. You should have seen those new staff. you were you were there and they were very um enthusiastic about coming to work for us. Uh I still believe that we have a strong brand. I still believe

that we are one of the premier places to work in North Carolina and uh we will continue to work very very hard uh to ensure that we're doing what's right for kids. Uh but this will not be a year if you're looking for a a year that's um a typical this won't be it. this really won't be it. Um, and so that means that we're going to have to come together, grab hands, and and really find ways to keep us keep each other lifted up. Uh, keep each other um uh focused on the right things, our kids, and not get caught up in the drama. Uh, we're Chattam County Schools and we we're going to make this thing work for our kids. I'm confident of that. Uh, but I do believe that we have to be honest and transparent about where we are and what's going on. So, I only promise you that if you're mad at anybody, be mad at me. Um, but if you if you have great things to say, say them about our kids, about our teachers, and about our our our school programs. Um, with that, I'm going to close. U, we've had some great um getting ready. I want to thank my team. I've been out for about eight days, seven, eight, five. I've been gone and and they have held it all together. Um and so I'm I'm really I want to thank them publicly for for for for doing that and um we appreciate that. That's what we got. I'm going to leave the next one to you all for your for your record since I took up so much time on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um at our last meeting and personnel meeting we were able to in open session um we the board has evaluated of course we we do this yearly with our superintendent and of course we evaluated uh Dr. Jackson's performance and of course our school performance. Um and the board was very pleased with the

job that he's doing. As a matter of fact, his um we we also know that there's some money issues going on uh federally and state also. Uh and he knows that too. But the board felt like according to his contract um he has a 5% bonus based on performance and the board felt that he was deserving of the 5% bonus. Um Dr. Jackson asked that we wave that bonus for this year because of um the financial issues that are going on everywhere. Uh thought that was awfully graceful. The board was very appreciative of that and we wanted to make that known publicly that he turned down the uh opportunity for a bonus. But the board did um in consensus uh add uh would you know have added an extra year to his contract to make it four again. So I think Dr. Jackson that'll push you to June of 2029. So um just wanted to make that known publicly right now so that uh we know that and thought it was awful gracious of Dr. Jackson to turn down the bonus too. So uh just wanted the public to know that too. Thank you very much.

Thank you all for the opportunity. Thank you.

And Adam, you will add to the addendum to the contract, right?

Thank you. Okay. All right. So, um, we'll move on to public comments and, uh, no one signed up tonight, so we'll go ahead and move into information items. And Dr. Jackson's mentioned the Yonder update and Miss Fowler, please. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Dr. Jackson. I'm Tracy Fowler, senior director of student services. And

tonight, I bring you an update on Yonder Pouches. In the spring, you remember that we expanded our pilot to include um Northwood High School and Chattam Central. So, we're going to kind of look through just to remind you of some of the successes that we had from this past year and the timeline that we're looking at for the expansion of the program. These are the schools that we included from last year. And then we are expanding to the two new schools this year. And then you know one of the greatest I think ways that we looked at this information was through our staff surveys. That was something that was really impressive. Um I think our staff were the ones who really mostly appreciated having that distraction-free classroom.

My bad.

End up with a 30% reduction in suspensions at our pilot schools. Um, and then they noted increased engagement, increased academic performance, and then a positive school climate. And I just think that's a really nice look there with that that survey. I wanted to put that back out to the public. And that is the staff survey. Um, as Dr. Jackson mentioned before, there is a a House bill that has now becomes um session law that talks about not only cell phones, but a couple of other things that will go into place that we will also be looking at, but one is not having a cell phone interrupting instructional time. We will also be looking at um how the looking at social media and the harmful effects of that. there will be some curriculum changes that will be added and then also having some ways that we are protecting continue to protecting our students around internet safety. So all of that will be inclusive within this bill. I did um Miss Lassen is serving on um Governor Stein's committee and she pointed out to me that in his best practices that Chattam County is listed as the policy that for the state that that our ours is the best practice policy for cell phones. So I thought that was really nice. Um, I had not

realized that that was listed that way.

Send them a bill.

Right. Exactly.

Make some money on this thing.

Believe me, we've had lots of conversations with with Yonder about how we've spread the word.

They cut us a break on the price, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly.

I think that's a great good advertisement.

So, with the expansion, this is the communication plan. It is identical to the communication plan that we had last year. Um, we have sent out communications weekly. um over the summer starting as of July the 25th. The conversation didn't start on July the 25th. As soon as this was kind of expanded by the board, the schools started having those conversations with students and parents. But this information has gone out with our communications um process and then we had our parent nights last Thursday at both schools. Um Northwoods was at 5:00, Chattam Centrals was at 6:30 gave the opportunities for us to share the information with families. We'll continue to send out information and then we will also have the yonder pouches available at open house for them to have um to look at those. Folks who did not make it out to the parent night can see them then. And then we'll hand out yonder pouches for the first day of school for the students on those for uh those two schools. And we'll continue along same process. Um we'll have a a fresh start at all the other schools who are participating as well. Um just like a fresh new year like we do everything else. So, just kind of wanted to give you an update where we are. Feel like we're in a good spot. Um, and we'll just continue on. Yes, sir.

Out of curiosity, we're talking about um what we did last meeting with the computer damages. How many pouches did we lose that students actually paid for? I'm sure we lo I'm sure the ones we lost

does not match how many how much money we've collected. We we ended up about 700 pouches that we had some kind of damage or some kind of loss to. So we we did we collected less money than that,

but we did have some damage to those there.

Yeah, we collected about $3,000 of that. So um and some of it is just us looking at you know what what we'll look at is um some different kinds of ways that we'll be checking through. We did learn some things though. Some of that is the little pins are they do bend easy. Those can be straightened out a little easier than we thought. We we learned one of those today. Had some conversation about hey that just some pliers that straightens that back out. Um so there's some ways we can that

is that a 700 seems like an awful lot that kind of normal I mean is that normal wear and tear for the original roll out of other school systems?

I they they yonder even suggest and I think Mr. Poston when we first looked at that how what was the percentage do you remember it was like a an additional three or 400 that they said every year kind of replacing just having above that. So it was like a 10% 15% that they initially said that they we should look at. Um so some of it is around just loss. Some of it is around more so than damage. Some of it is around that.

So we don't have a concern that the that the pouch itself is

No, I don't think that the No, I don't think so.

Any other questions?

Okay.

Thank you. And we'll move to item B, student code of civility. and Tracy, you're still up.

So, as far as the changes this year or the um additions or for the code of civility, there's just three main areas. One of them is around cell phones. Um and what we did with this particular area, we still have it listed. It's on page 23. You have um you have that within your packet. It just on the chart what we looked at is listing it still under cell phone violations. And we last year identified yonder pouch schools. We will have every traditional middle

school and high school will have yonder pouches. So we have that listed there with the guidelines, but every elementary and K8 school. What we're going to ask is that they put cell phones and earbuds in their backpacks and have those put away for the duration of the school day. Um that's not been something that's been spelled out in that way um prior to this and so we will ask them to do that starting this year. Um on page 30, the technology violation in the past um would have maybe not considered um maybe a loss of a device or or uh misuse of a device, but this is now looking more specifically at bypassing content filters, hacking, um just really kind of malicious or illegal activities that's been added on there. And so we also had that in in uh also in searching for or viewing possession of pornography. So that's a kind of a much uh broader um violation of technology we would have had in the past. And then on page 33, this is under the technology use and responsibility. This really just spells out what we talked about last um board meeting about the financial responsibility for the for the items that we would be asking for the repair cost as opposed to just a fraction of that cost to be and then um any damage uh loss or neglect for those and then chargers would need to be replaced should those be lost. So those are the three major main items. Um we did add in board policies um to the different areas. So those would just make sure that people can very easily access those things as well. So those are the main things there. Any questions?

Okay.

Thank you.

Let's see. North AP partnership services update. Dr. Burton, Mr. Poston.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, board members, Dr. Jackson. You've already heard Dr. Jackson speak about the reduction of AP funds, and so I just wanted to bring you some additional information. Um, as you know, we offer AP courses at all of our traditional high schools here in Chattam County. and students are expected to take the AP exam in May as a completion of the course. Um, you also know that these courses can afford our students the opportunity to earn college credit or have less courses to take when they attend college. So, in the spring, the North Carolina Senate proposed the reduction of $14 million from the next budget cycle. And this funding covers the North Carolina AP partnership. This partnership not only covers AP exams, but it also allows us to get scholarships to have more teachers trained in a variety of AP courses. On August 1st, Dr. Jackson received a memo stating that the state funding had not yet been allocated. And when we dig back and look at how many courses historically some of our students have taken, sometimes they're taking four or five courses um during any given year and that would equate to almost $500 in exam fees. Um, and so I wanted you to have a perspective of exactly how much money we're talking about as well as um the total number of exams that were taken. So last year um students were able to access,485 exams and that equated to over $145,000. Now, students are eligible for waiverss if they qualify for free or reduced

lunch and then they can petition for additional hardship waivers through um the college board. However, none of the waivers cover the full cost of the exam. If they qualify for both waivers, it would reduce their test to around $36. Um but no um zero fee is eligible based on the waiverss that I have been able to find. Yes sir.

So when they qualify for a waiver and say they get to the $36 who takes care of that

the rest of the fee is the $36 would be the student's responsibility. The other AP would take care of they would complete a waiver. the waiver goes to college board and it would reduce the price automatically.

And and that's per class, per AP class, $36. So if they've taking four,

that's quite a bit for some, uh,amilies

that may not qualify for free and reduced lunch. But so um, yeah. And so how long does it take that the waiver application process and to receive word back? So when do they need to start applying? I'm worried families that are getting ready to send their kids back to school this time especially may not have time and I just wonder how we're addressing that.

Well, no, they will have plenty of time because they would it would be when they would register for the exam. Yes, ma'am. So, historically, we try to have people register in March,

right?

Um, however, the caveat is we normally are required to order exams from College Board in November. Now we are not charged in November but we are required to order. College Board um the AP partnership is now at a standstill to determine when we can actually order those and if we order too many they will not charge us and they will take the codes or the test back.

Um so we do have a window of time um

before final decisions have to be made. An interesting part about AP, which I I I don't like this, but if they take the course first semester, they have to wait till

May to take the exam. So, they finish the course in January, but they got to So, they've got, you know, there there's ample time for them to know they're going to be taking that. But I've never understood why

why they don't offer them.

I know. I know.

Makes it tough on the kids. These have been funds that have been covered at the state and at the AP partnership level, not not at the local level.

No, sir.

So, this is a pass through that that's $145,000 worth of um funding that has been removed from

we no longer budget. This board has worked very hard to increase AP engagement over the years. And so I wanted you all to be aware of this because yet again, this is one of those things where it's a decision that's been made outside of your purview.

Uh that now we have to figure out in years past we probably could have just found resources somewhere else. But we've been doing that year after year after year after year and we just can't do that this year.

Any other questions from the board?

Anybody? Thank you, Dr. Burton.

Thank you. Okay, we'll move to again that's a the state cutting back and of course the locals having to figure out how to deal with it. Um action items consolidated federal grants for 25 26 and let's see Miss Little Mr. posting.

Oh, I know he I know, but he's way all he's going to do is be nice. I know.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman. No. Um um members of the board of education, Dr. Jackson Chris Post, an interim assistant superintendent for academic services,

and I'm here with Miss Little. I'm executive director of Title One Multilingual Education and PreK. This action item aligns to priority one, curriculum innovation. Each year, Traum County Schools submits a consolidated grant application for federal funding and preparation of the 2025 2026 application. We conducted a comprehensive need survey beginning in the spring of 2024. Feedback was gathered from teachers, students, parents, administrators through um title one and federal program surveys. Our district and school leadership along with our federal programs and academic services team reviewed the findings to ensure the most effective use of federal dollars aligning with our priorities. Miss Little is here to share additional information and details including the specifics about the funding for our consolidated build grants. Miss Little

Wonderful.

I get to control this tonight. Good evening.

Evening.

All right. Here we go. So the the title grants that are a part of this consolidated review are title one part A, title one part C, title two, title three um which is two areas and title four. You will notice uh title one part C is our migrant education program. We have not received that aotment. That was the one uh he was referring to a little bit earlier. We are getting that. It is it has been sent to DPI. I I'm polyiana. I kn I was all going to work out, right? Dr. Jackson did believe me, but

I'm Eeyore.

Um, and we we were supposed to get that Friday. It has not been uploaded yet. So, I actually talked to my um counterpart at DPI. He gave me an approximate amount, but it until we get it in writing, it's not here yet. Um and then title three, the second one, the um significant increase that won't happen until after the October headcount. So we won't get that till later anyway. But you will see our total planning budget. We did receive Friday all of our

aotments. Um we had received them earlier if you'd been watching the news. Um and then many of them were rescended. Only one that we received initially was title one. Um so we had that ready sent to Diane on Wednesday and then Friday we updated very quickly. Um and so we now have all of those for around 2.5 million. You do see that there's a decrease of around 116,000 um from the previous year. So Title One Part A um is given as a supplement to our schools with very low income um families. And so you can see that these will be our title one schools for the 2526 school year with their um C percentages. That's the community eligibility provision percentages for each of those schools um and the total amount that they'll be allotted um right now for this year. Um title one part A. So we do have some set aides at the district level. We do set aside a good deal for preK so that we serve um seven different sites with prek and part of that part of those funds come from title one. We also have to do a set aside for homeless education. So, we do have that um in there as well. And then as the schools, there's also uh class size reduction positions, interventionist, uh library books, avid materials. Some actually do professional development um with those funds as well. Title one part C, that's the migrant. The majority of that goes to our migrant recruiter. Um and we will we do try to contract with basic services for some of those families. they don't have health um support. So, oftentimes we will contract with outside healthc care providers, but really depending on the amount that's coming this year, we're not quite sure what that will look like um as we will support our migrant recruiter who actually goes and visits with families um whenever they come into the to the system. Title two, that's where we have our

teacher and principal um training and we this has been a decrease over two years. We actually received over 400,000 two years ago and then it's just steadily gone down. And so what we'll be doing with those funds is a train the trainer model. We will actually support some curriculum coach salaries that are in the schools. Title three, that's our language instruction for English learners. Um we receive 127,000. That's gone down um each year as well. Not significantly uh but enough that it starts to make a difference. We do actually support district EL instructional staff um as well as our ESL data manager to keep up with almost 1300 um ESL students. If we have other funds available, we will put that towards family engagement. We've actually started some parentmies about three a year uh across the county. We do usually one in Siler area and one here or the northeast uh part of the county. Title four is just supporting student and academic enrichment. So for the whole student, we actually have some lead counselor stipens in there, some mental health supports, and professional development, digital teaching and learning. And actually, this one actually went up. It's the only one that went up, not significantly, but we were happy to see a little bit more in one of the budgets. So really, that's there you go. Those are our consolidated budgets. We're just very excited that we were able to receive those this year. Again, it was a little bit of a decrease. Um, but one that, you know, right now we can live with. It's better than zero.

This is not meant to be a gotcha question.

Sure.

Mr. Poston and I only taught first grade, so this is above our math level. Um the 116,000 reduction is

mainly

a very small p I would think a very small percentage number um of the two and a half million.

Oh, it is 102,000 of that was a reduction in title one part A.

Oh

yeah. So most of that was title one and actually they're required to give us at least 85% of what we received the year before and we're well within that. So, but that was all most of that was title one. So, all the other ones saw very little and then a little increase in title four, but most of that was part A, the ones that go to the schools.

That was my question, too.

I guess my point is is that we never want a reduction, but that's really

it's that minimal.

That wasn't shutting doors.

No, it was not. And actually, I was surprised at the amount we received the year before. We received over two million. So, I was very excited about that. Um, so 1.9 million I was very happy with. I thought we'd see a bigger decrease.

Yeah. Carrie, can you go to the slide, the title one part A slide?

Yeah. I can learn how to use this.

That one or this one?

This one.

I'm really I encourage the board to take a look at the allocations that schools um receive. I know you you get sometimes we get um accused sometimes of underfunding schools in certain parts of our our county. Um but I want you to see the additional resources that are provided to our neediest schools

and it is a rank order. We are required to serve the most needy with the most per pupil amount. Um, and this year and as well as we did last year, Chattam Middle School because it's kind of an anomaly, it's the only true middle school, we're allowed to rank that first even though they rank third um within our rankings. Uh, but because they're separate and they're not K8 or K5, we were allowed to um rank them first. But other than that, everybody's got to go in rank order. We can't give we can't

give a mon a higher per pupil amount than we do Bennett or Bley.

Does that make sense?

I guess I shouldn't say Bennett, I should say Bley.

Schools in the western part of the county actually get more

Yes.

Yes. I just wanted to highlight that just for your because I think we've all heard that conversation

and it's very difficult sometimes to to maybe explain but this is a huge um portion of additional resources that other schools don't don't get.

Any other questions?

Thank you for highlighting that.

Okay, we're ready for a motion then. Um,

I'll do it. I move the CH County Board of Education approve the 2025 2026 consolidated application for federal grants as presented.

Second.

Got a motion to second. All in favor or any discussion?

All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you, Miss Little. We appreciate. And Mr. Poston, too. Thank you. And you're back again, Mr. Poston. if my computer will roll through here. Uh JM Arts Memorandum of Agreement 2025 2026. It popped up now. Yep.

Yes, sir. Um happy to bring um Chris Poston. Um this item for your review. Um it's aligned to priority one, curriculum and innovation. Um Chhattam County Schools is proud to partner with JM Arts, the Jordan Matthews High School's Art Foundation for the 2526 school year. This collaboration truly does expand access to high quality arts programs and opportunities for all of our students um in our district, particularly our students at Jordan Matthews High School. They offer wonderful culturally responsive programming that really

reflects the diverse student body at Jordan Matthews and it engages the entire community. U we're committed to providing a safe and student centered opportunities for our students through the arts. Um and this min umou memorandum of understanding will support that

and do a wonderful job with a lot of volunteers and and they get after it too.

Really do. Miss P leads the work there um in con conjunction with the principal and the leadership of the school and they do a phenomenal job.

I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve the JM Arts memorandum of agreement for 2025 2026 as presented.

Second.

Got a motion and second. Any discussion other than thank them for all they do. That's for sure. Okay. All in favor with an I, please. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you.

And Mr. Bliss has already moved into the position over here. He's ready. He even got Mr. Drum Heler coming up here. That's good. Good to see you, Mr. Drum Heler. Uh, I figure you're busy even in the rain. Architect selection for three new gymnasiums. Go ahead, Mr. Blice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Dr. Jackson, my name is Chris Blice. I'm the assistant superintendent for operations and we have two items on the agenda this evening. The first is the architect selection for the three new gymnasiums. If you'll recall uh in the approved CIP, we have a project to build new gymnasiums at Bennett, Bonley, and Silope schools. Um money is there. Uh our first task was to select the architect. Uh Mr. Drum Hiller sent out a request for uh qualifications uh which were reviewed. We actually had five firms and I listed them in the assembly agenda item for you. Uh I can read them real quick. Cory Redfoot, Davis Kaine, ADW Hobbs, Perkins Eastman, and Smith Senate. And those were the five firms that responded. We had a panel that reviewed the RFQ documents

and narrowed that down to two which were Corley Redfoot and ADW Hobbs. Uh we gave those two firms an opportunity to come in and do in-person presentations. Uh we had a panel of six individuals to assess those presentations. I'm happy to say that one of the folks was actually Brian Thompson who is the county manager served on that panel for us and we were very happy to have him as a part of that. Uh the results were unanimous uh both score-wise as well as in our discussion afterwards and it was that the panel recommended us uh pursuing a contract with uh Corley Redfoot for the design of the three new gymnasiums. So we are here this evening asking you to give us permission to move forward with contract negotiations with Corley Redfoot.

I move that CH County Board I wasn't going to let you slow down on that one. Board of Education approved. Been waiting on this a long time. Contract negotiations corly redoot architects for architectural services for new gymnasiums at Bennett School Bane School and Silk School as presented. Second

got a motion and several seconds. Any discussion? Thank y'all for this. They've been communities have waited a while. Uh now comes the hard part situating them and doing all that. Okay. All in favor with an I please. I any oppose like sign and I think you're still on that contractor selection. Well other gymnasiums now for gymnasium HVAC installations. Yes sir.

Can I maybe say one thing? Can you maybe refresh and remind people how long these gymnasiums have been on the CIP? Um,

as long as can I

move to a

can I use one of our age people? Uh, Miss Smith over there, I'm guessing. Let's see. Miss Smith, you would have been in second grade or first grade, the first year the school opened. Do you remember

second grade? Okay. second grade when the school opened and the they they renovated Bennett Bonley so or built new schools, gymnasiums were left and uh they were uh my understanding is well from long memory uh was that they would replace the gymnasiums and that would have been gosh several years ago 30 let's see u I'm not going to age her

not going to tell her age. I can I can say it's about 32 years ago or so, somewhere in that ballpark. So, it's been a long time coming and and uh definitely we're we're tickled with that.

This I I only say that because I think it's been a long time coming and again, we've worked very hard to get it to this place and a lot of people have questioned whether it we've been working towards it, but I tonight is a big milestone.

Oh, yeah. for getting this to this place because it's it will move now. Um we'll see a gym in two two years somewhere along there.

Speak to those architects.

It's probably too early.

Wait a minute, Mr. Ham. Hold up.

The hometown. I know. Isn't Hobbs and Chadam?

It is.

Hobbs is now Hobbs was partnering with ADW for this project. They're actually based out of Raleigh. Okay.

So, it was a partnership between the two and they were one of the two groups that we brought in for the interviews for the final interviews and they all did a good job, but the the panel unanimously felt like CRA had a better presentation and was able to give us a better product.

Fine. I'm just looking out for local business.

It was my question too, but hearing that it was unanimous is

um helpful to know.

Yeah,

Mr. H. um might be too early, but are are the three gyms going to be

too early

similar in look or they going to have

some unique style for each community?

Too early.

Too early. Okay.

Well, colors will be different. We know. And so you you know colors make them unique.

Yeah. You say you do save money if they're a lot alike in the architectural.

I know. And that's what I'm saying. It's, you know, um,

but you had that unique word in there and that changes things there.

Sil Cop had the columns on the old school and Sil Cop has columns now. So, it's, um,

it'll be, let's see, that's Carolina blue and let's see. Bonnie is that dragon green and Bennett's going to be black and gold, I guess, whatever they're particular. So, yeah. Yeah. So, will, but thank y'all for that item D. And glad to see this one, too. contract selections for gymnasium HVAC installations. Go ahead.

So, we have uh six gymnasiums uh that currently and these are of course not the three.

They'll have air whenever they get done. Correct. Yeah.

Different project. Uh but we have six gymnasiums that currently do not have uh air conditioning. Of course, they have heat, but they do not have air conditioning. They're located at George Moses Horton, Monure School, JS Waters, Chattam Middle School, North Chattam, and Perry Harrison. And this project and again an approved CIP project through the county. Uh that is now we're at the point we need to move forward with the project. And we're not requesting the design. That's that's not what this is about. This is actually about the contractors. Now the project was split into two parts.

Two packages.

Yeah. It was package on one side, package on the other side. We've got that listed in here. Package one, group one with George Moses Horton, Monure, and JS Waters. And that will we're awarding or we'd like to begin contract negotiations for that one with Herod and Associates. Uh for the group two, which is Chattam Middle, North Cadam, and Perry Harrison, we'd like to begin those contract negotiations with Matthews

Mechanical. and we went through a bid process and these were the the winning bids.

I'd like to make a motion that the Chattam County Board of Education um cool down these gyms.

Got a motion in a second. Any discussion?

Wait, wait. We might need to actually make the word motion.

I I move that the Chattam County Board of Education approve contract negotiations with Herod and Associates and Matthews Mechanical for the Gymnasium HVAC installation project as presented to make the gymnasiums cool.

All right, we have a second.

Second.

Okay, now discussion. Will they I know the high schools have the sock thing or whatever, you know. Is this what they're looking at, Mr. Tom?

I have the sock. That's what they'll do then.

And you got people's minds spinning right now if they've not been in one of those high school gyms.

Giant diameter wraps around the interior of the gym tube.

It's but it's cloth,

but it's fabric. We'll remove the infrared heaters in there and the associated piping. We'll pull that out. We'll put this uh package unit in which runs on gas for heat and a a condenser for the cooling. Uh we'll also cool the locker rooms and put in ventilation for those two on all three of those schools. Uh Perry Harrison and uh North Cadam

uh will do on the same thing almost identical except their locker rooms are already taken care of.

Okay. by the central service system that's already in there. Chattam middle, it will be a heat pump. Uh the biggest reason for the heat pump is because based on where the gym is located

um uh putting a package unit there is

just as you come in the front door on the right if I remember correctly that John met right package unit there is I think it's going to take away from the aesthetics of the school because it's going to have that exterior

D. I got you. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, I went for a heat pump, which will be around the corner kind of in that little area that's off the dining room.

Uh, and then we'll put the air handler up in the mechanical room, second floor.

Yep.

Uh, that also the locker rooms are also cooled by the school's existences.

The neat thing about u middles is that I was within the budget. was able to squeeze in a new chiller for the entire school, which has the that's the chiller that's been there since the school was built. So, we're going to try to get that changed up. Also,

you done good.

Yep. And you want to mention the funding again. It came from I know the county

was able to

What was it, Mr. BL? Now, I can't remember.

You're talking about the gears. This is not gears. This is CIP.

CIP.

Different. Yes, sir.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, this isn't part of that then. Okay. Okay.

10 million thing.

Okay.

I thought you going to take you that this is funding from the county.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, we're good.

All right. Got a motion to second. All in favor with an I.

I.

I. Any opposed? Like signs. Thank y'all very much.

Um, let's see.

We sell those big infrared heaters to some system. I'll leave them outside

in a marketplace.

I can pick them up.

At the very least, I'll go with the metal recycling bin.

There you go.

Okay. Our next board of education meeting is a personnel session on Wednesday, August the 20th, 2025. Next Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. First day of school for students is Tuesday, August the 26. And the next regular meeting of

the board of education is Monday, September the 8th, 2025 at 5:30. Everything gears up next week, convocation and all. So, um, do I have a motion to adjurnn?

So, moved.

Second.

Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I.

I. The opposed like sign. Thank y'all very much.

Honor.