Regular Session

Okay. Hey there. How are you?

Doing good. All right. We will call our regular schedule meeting for Monday, November the 3rd, 2025 to order. Do I have a motion to go into close session for the items listed on the agenda?

Second.

Got a motion. A couple of seconds also. So, all in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you. Sorry.

[snorts] [clears throat]

Now bear with us. We'll get started in just a minute. Thank you for your patience, too. Okay.

We'll go ahead and cons consider ourselves back in open session. Thank you all for being here. Uh seats are a premium. Thank y'all. We got several principles here tonight, too. I believe probably all of them, I guess. All right. Thank y'all for taking the time, too. Uh Mr. Ham, I'll turn it over to you. Um once again we embark into another election season believe it or not hear that from here to the next two years and I hope people make wise decisions. That's all I can say. And uh As always, we'll put our students first. And that's one thing I think our board really tries to do. We uh we try to stay out of all the other

uh Merc that's out there and focus on um our students, our schools, our principles. and um have a recognition tonight that uh for all the schools and the school system that that's what our focus is. It it it's on making the opportunities for our students the best that we can do. So at this time let's have a moment of silence. Thank you.

Let's all stand for our pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge

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.

All right. Do we have a motion to adopt the agenda?

So moved.

Second.

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

I. Any oppose? Like sign. Do we have a motion to approve the personnel agenda?

Got a motion, a second. All in favor? With an I.

I.

Any opposed? Like son. And do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

So moved.

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

I. Any opposed like sign? Okay. Uh Dr. Jackson, please.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, and thank you.

Uh tonight, we'll we're going to move pretty quickly. Uh we'll start with our power of connection, communication, and uh community uh video. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N.

There's a couple things worth noting in the video. Um, and I want to thank this was the 50th year of our Halloween uh uh walk through Pittsboro. And uh I'd like to take the o opportunity to honor uh the mother of one of our board members who actually started that tradition 50 years ago. Make sure tell me your mom's first name.

Betty.

It's Betty. Um Wilson uh is started that in 19

75

75. And this year the kids from Pittsburgh Elementary School got to uh continue that tradition. So if you will let's just give uh Miss Wilson a hand.

[applause]

Thank you. I wish she was here. I'll tell her that you all clapped. [laughter]

She's 94 now.

Um, and I promise you the kids enjoy that. And the second thing was you saw us receiving a check from the sheriff's office. I think it's the first in my uh career. Uh, apparently some people uh abandoned sheep uh in the community and they were sold. And so when those things are sold, we the school system benefits from it. So, uh, we got money for lost sheep, finding lost sheep, I guess. Um, so that was an amazing thing. So, thank you. Uh, our next opportunity uh to celebrate is our exceptional children's educator of excellence. And so, we'll have uh science mater.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, and superintendent Jackson. I'm Leslie Signs Mater and I serve as the EC director for Chattam County Schools. I am honored to present this year's representative for office of exceptional children educator of excellence recognition to Britney Cadell. [applause]

As indicated by her nomination from Principal Robinson, Britney has an unwavering commitment to student success that is evident in her selfless approach to education. She serves as an EC chair through exemplary leadership, facilitating ECLC's, professional learning communities, and ensuring consistency and exceeding standards in serving all of our students as well. Miss Cadell ser is recognized um the importance of a holistic student. She has developed such and founded and leads the George Moses step team. Um she provides students with creative outlets and opportunities to build confidence and teamwork in her skills. She's not just an educator, she's a champion for every child she served. [applause] Right over there. Next we will have our Cogna recognition. Good evening Mr. Chairman, Dr. Jackson, members of the board. I'm Chris Poston, inram assistant superintendent for academic services. Cham County Schools is honored to be recognized as a cognous system of distinction joining a very select cohort of school districts worldwide. In 2024, Cognner reviewed approximately 1,952 institutions and awarded only 35 school districts this distinction. We are credibly proud of our schools, our staff, our and our leaders who collectively who collective dedication to excellence made this achievement possible. We would like to present our schools with a certificate of accreditation signifying they have met the highest standard of educational

quality, continuous improvement as defined by Cogna. Principles, when I call your school's name, please receive your certificate of accreditation from Dr. Jackson or Miss Sloan and be greeted by our board of education. We'll start with Bennett School, [applause] Chattam Central.

[applause]

Chadam Early College, Chattam Grove Elementary School, George Moses Horton, Chattam middle school.

Jordan Matthysse. Jordan Matthews High School. [applause] JS Water School, [applause]

Margaret B. Pollard Middle School, Monure School,

North Chattam Elementary School,

Northwood High School,

One Academy P Harrison Elementary School, [applause] Pittsburgh Elementary School. C4th High School, [applause]

Solar City Elementary School, [applause]

Silk Hope School.

[applause]

and Virginia Cross Elementary School. [applause]

Congratulations. Let's give all of our schools a hand clap for their hard work and dedication. Also would like to recognize our excellence and opportunity champion for

this month. Like to congratulate Miss Marsha O'Hare. Miss Marshall O'Hare was nominated by her fearless leader, Miss Melanie Dark. Mr. O'Hare, will you join me at the podium, please? Miss Dark wrote, "It is my honor to recommend Marshia as a excellence and opportunity champion. Her outstanding dedication to ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to excel is commendable. She constantly goes above and beyond to meet the diverse needs of our scholars. Through personalized one-on-one support, she ensures that every scholar understands course content, feels confident navigating their learning journey. Her lessons are developed thoughtfully to accommodate a wide variety of learning styles, and she makes science both memorable and relevant by incorporating incorporating engaging hands-on activities. Be beyond the classroom, Mr. O'Hare demonstrates a deep commitment to success for all of our students by reaching out to their families when absences occur. Building strong partnerships that support consistent engagement. She's kind, welcoming, and fostering an inclusive environment is what she does each day. She gives our students um in the AVID elective AVID strategies, providing scaffolding assignments that are tailored to their individual needs and ensuring that every student can grow and achieve. Her leadership extends to her colleagues as well as she willingly collaborates with staff to implement advent and strategies and explore best practices to elevate teaching and learning at one academy. Miss O'Hare, we appreciate you. [applause]

Thank you. No, they need to be here.

No, I didn't. That's okay. Well, good evening board members, Superintendent Jackson, and audience members. Um, I'm Jessica Pasio, the public information officer for the district. Uh, this evening, I have the privilege of recognizing two incredible members of our Chattam County Schools family. First, it's my honor tonight to recognize a student whose sense of purpose, discipline, and integrity exemplify October's character word, responsibility. Please join me in congratulating Miss Cammy Shields of Chattam Early College, our October champion of character. [applause] [cheering] I got goosebumps. All right. Um, Cammy demonstrates responsibility in every aspect of her academic and personal life. She takes ownership of her learning, staying two steps ahead on assignments, maintaining exceptional grades, and setting a standard of excellence for her peers. Her teachers describe her as impeccable in both words and action. Someone who not only strives for her own success, but encourages those around her to do the same. Beyond the classroom, Cammy's commitment extends into the community. She regularly volunteers at the PTA thrift store, works nights, giving her time and energy to serve others with the same care and focus she brings to her studies. Cammy, you dedicate your dedication, integrity, and leadership reflect the very best of Chattam Early College and Chattam County Schools. You remind us that responsibility is not just about meeting expectations. It's about exceeding them with grace, purpose, and heart. Congratulations again on being our

October champion of character and we have um a certificate for you and just a small token of appreciation for what you do for our district. Thank you so much. [applause] Secondly, it's my honor to now recognize our October Power of One award recipient. Someone whose compassion Did I go the right way? I did. uh whose compassion, teamwork, and steady leadership make Virginia Cross Elementary a brighter place every single day. I ask Mr. Robert Hicks, EC teacher at Virginia Cross, to please join me at the podium. [applause] Now, I get to gush it at you. Robert is one of the rare those rare educators who instantly makes a difference. his students, his colleagues, and his school community. Known for his kindness and humility, he's the first to lend a hand, share a smile, or offer encouragement to someone who needs it. His nominator described him as the kind of teacher we wish we could multiply. And it's easy to see why. In his classroom, every student feels safe, valued, and loved. Among his peers, he builds bridges, welcoming new teachers, sharing his knowledge, and creating a true spirit of collaboration that strengthen the strengthens the entire school. Robert, thank you so much for what you do and showing us what it means to lead with heart. You remind us that one person's care and commitment can lift up the entire community. Congratulations on being our October Power of One. And we have a small appreciation token for you in there. So, thank you very much. Congratulations. [applause] Congratulations.

I knew him when he was just [laughter] Thank you, Mr. Chair.

All right, we'll move on to our next uh to public comments. Um I think we have 10 signed up. I think that's right. Last time. Yep, 10 signed up. just remind you uh three minutes and of course it'll be uh you you'll see the the yellow and then the the the red there particularly. But uh if you could hold them if you've got you know if you were to run over if you want to leave the what you have with uh Miss Loan she'll make sure we get those. Um just we'll start with let's see Dr. Zach Wills. Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Jackson, everyone else that's here tonight. Uh, I'm here as an advocate and in good faith to repair what many of us seem to think is a broken relationship between our senior leaders and our arts educators. As you're probably aware, arts stipens uh changed in the middle of this nine weeks. And I've received no less than 20 uh human toll letters from my peers telling me about how this impacts their lives, their children's lives, and more importantly, I think the lives of the students that we're tasked with teaching. So, spouses and significant others are going to have to work more to make up the difference in these stipens that were expected for the year. Arts educators may have to take a second job over the summer or even a third to make ends meet to pay rent in Chattam County. When our arts educators applied here, they did so at the cost of other potential jobs which without the arts stipen might have been more lucrative, especially if they had received M's pay.

They moved families and lives to teach our students right here. And due to the stipened change, many of our students will not get us at our best anymore. As we have moved from self-actualizing to the bottom of Maslo's hierarchy, many of us can't pay the rent without a second job. Here's what we're asking. We would very much like a transparent accounting of our financial situation and how we got from the beginning of summer to a reduction or elimination of our arts stipens for our arts educators for your arts educators. Many of our educators are going to experience a 10% change in their income. We're asking for transparency because if there have been steps taken to mitigate this, for example, if our senior leaders have taken a 10% cut so that we don't have to, it might be more palatable. We also ask for the opportunity to help repair this relationship between our leadership and our arts educators. Let us come to the table and offer suggestions, offer help, offer ways that we can make this right for the people who come here every day to do the work to serve our students in our county. Thank you very much for your time. [applause] Uh, next up, our speaker will be Michelle Stack. Am I pronouncing that right? Okay. Thank you, Good evening all members of the board and Superintendent Jackson and thank you for allowing me to speak and the opportunity to come before you tonight. Um, as you said, my name is Michelle Stick. I'm a veterinarian. I'm a business owner. Um, I'm also the vice president of the Northwood band boosters, but tonight I come to you as a proud parent of Northwood band student. Uh, and I wish to express my concern about the recent stipen cuts um and the

handling of master's pay and how the decisions are adversely affecting our arts teachers and students. My child counted among them. The summer before the academic school year started, music teachers across Chattam County volunteered along with their students, our children, their time to rehearse and perform at convocation, the event welcoming every teacher back to school. They spent their summer hours own hour own summer hours excuse me unpaid to make the day special. The music was the highlight of the event and everyone remarked how show showed how strong arts programs we have in Chattam County. That day the district spoke about the three A's academics, athletics and arts as equal pathways to success. However, since that day it seems the message to all members of the arts staff is actually unbalanced against any and all arts programs. Stipens for teachers, which help cover the hundreds of extra hours they spend outside of the school day, including camps and lessons before school has even started, have been cut much so much that some of the teachers now earn what breaks down to a few dollars an hour for their extra dedication, knowledge, and time commitment. A child in their family shouldn't have to beg for money for basic needs to enable the child to participate in activities which ultimately benefit and beautify this community such as parades, concerts, and art shows. Without their teachers forging these activities, these events would not happen. Full stop. Anything for her students comes from band parents' own pockets and there's not enough money to cover even basics such as pricing music, purchasing music or tissues. Every year our bands require an average of $100,000 in order to have marching competitions, concerts, parades, etc. And yet we still lack basics such as the ability to repair or purchase instruments. Our uniforms are used and parents often pay

for items that should be standard fair. Simple math, no money means no activities and no involvement with our Chattam neighbors and friends. And I assure you that our community would be poorer for this absence. I'm appalled further that a contract for employment would not contain a statement for salary. It seems rather convenient to be able to withdraw the promised offer without legal repercussions. There was a time when negotiations were honored and your given word was solid and true. As parents, we see how hard these teachers work. They give their evenings, weekends, and energies to our children. But thank you. Um but please think about helping our kids. [applause] Uh next up will be Rachel Andrews. Good evening members of the board and Dr. Jackson. My name is Rachel Horowitz Andrews and this is my sixth year as an educator in your district and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. I chose Chattam County to teach in after seeing our area's growing need for quality theater and arts education. Since then, our theater program has earned superior ratings, regional accolades, and invitations to lead statewide professional development. Since then, I have worked my way to a master's degree so that I can elevate opportunities for our students. Your 50 other arts educators, many of whom are here tonight, have similar stories and programs that you proudly showcase, such as in the video shown to us earlier. And that's why I was blindsided by the county's mid-year decision to cut down stipens for the very people who go above and beyond for these programs. So now here we are and here is the real state of our schools. Your arts educators are burning a candle at both ends and this decision just poured gas on that flame. You might say we teach for the outcome,

not the income. So let's look at the outcome. What lesson are we teaching our students when they see us unable to support our families, visibly burning out while serving a system that doesn't value our time, effort, and well-being? And if that outcome troubles you, then let's talk about the income. After competing after completing my master's degree, I will earn less money than I did when I left my previous year uh career to come to teach in Chattam County Schools. Sorry, I'm a little nervous. Um I will also be working hundreds of additional hours for a program that now pays me and others literal pennies for that time. And the most important thing that I wanted to tell you is that my story is not a unique one. It reflects the reality of many of your dedicated, highly qualified teachers that are now facing a really painful choice. Do we stay in a district that celebrates the arts publicly while quietly devaluing the educators behind them? And I also know that you were not the ones to come up with this decision, but you were the ones to sign off without asking for input from those most affected. So, we are asking what you will do to remedy this situation so that Chattam County Schools can keep the people that it values. Thank you. [applause] Uh, next speaker is, and my apologies, Noel, and I'm not sure on the last name. Oh, I'm I got you now. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, and Superintendent Jackson. Uh my name is Noali Mel. I'm the new band director at Northwood High School, and I thank you for allowing me the time to speak tonight. Um I want to speak tonight about the recent stipen cuts in the handling of M's pay and what these decisions communicate to those of you who dedicate our lives to this profession. This summer, before the school year began, our county's music teachers collectively volunteered our time to prepare and perform live music for convocation. As you previously heard, the event that welcomes every

teacher back to school. We rehearsed with our students, arranged music, and gave up summer hours because we believed in celebrating this profession and this community. The feedback we heard over and over again was that the music was the best part of the event and that it made people proud to have such a flourishing arts program in Chattam County. The district had such a passionate presentation of the three A's, academics, athletics, and the arts as equal pathways to student success. Yet since then, the message to the arts staff has been quite the opposite. Our stipens meant to compensate us for the hundreds of hours each semester we work outside of the school day has been cut so drastically that I myself calculated it and I make $2 an hour uh for that extra marching band time. When I was recruited to Chattam County, I was told that my master's degree would be honored and that the stipen programs represented a growing investment in the arts. That was the final reason that made me accept this position. Um, it represented nearly an $8,000 salary increase that made it possible for me to afford to live here and move here. I frankly would not have left my previous position if I knew that those promises would be walked back. To provide additional context, I moved here from Wilson County where the average rent was $1,221 a month. And now I I could not find a place in Pittsburgh or Chattam County that even matched that. So I live in Carboro where my rent is around 1,600 a month. And when it comes to buying a home, the median sales price here in Chattam County is around 664,000. Astronomically higher than five years ago. So, I'm struggling to see how I can afford to continue working in this job. Uh, last week to read a memo that cap that describes the capping of M's pay as a success story was honestly insulting. Um, teachers were misinformed, misled, and then told to celebrate the outcome of this victory. When you say you value

the arts, we need to see that reflected in action, not just in words at convocation. Because behind every concert, play, art show, musical, and competition win, our teachers spending their nights and evenings giving everything that we have to our students. And we deserve more than a polite applause and congratulations. I urge you to revisit these decisions. Talk to arts educators and the families we serve. Bring us to the room before changes are made that directly affect our livelihoods. Thank you. [applause] Our next speaker is Rose Payton. Good evening, board members and Dr. Jackson. Um, my name is Rose Pate and do I need to start the thing? Oh, good. Um, and before and since my retirement in 2022 from 40 years as the 42 years as the librarian at JM, I've been actively involved in supporting arts education there as the president of JM Arts, the Jordan Matthews Arts Foundation. Last week, I met with three JM students and representatives of a community organization that wants to know more about JM Arts and our programs. When I asked these young women how JM Arts has impacted their lives, their responses almost had me in tears. When I came to high school, I was really shy and felt alone. I didn't have any confidence in myself. Now I know I can try new things. I have a group of friends I care about. I feel accepted and free to be my true self. In another conversation with a young actor on the challenge of learning lines for a show, he said, "Man, I feel like I'm using all of my brain right now. This is what we're after. The integration of social, emotional, and intellectual learning with a tangible,

meaningful product in the real world with other human beings. Building skills for a lifetime of artistic expression and appreciation. And lots of this happens in the classroom, but even more happens outside the classroom. And none of it happens without trained, dedicated teachers who put children first. We're lucky at JM and at Cadam overall because we have these incredible people. And it's great we're finally taking steps to recognize and compensate for the time, expertise, and mental and emotional energy our teachers give so our children can have experiences like marching band competition, musicals, and so much more. But I know numbers drive decisions in schools, way more than emotional appeals. So here's my estimate for the program I know most about, the spring musical. A quick count comes up with a close total of close to 200 hours of teacher time outside the school day. That's five 40hour weeks and most for most of them there are three or more teachers present. And all of our arts teachers have extracurricular responsibilities beyond the musical. My point is this. Please don't send our arts teachers the message that what they do for children isn't valued. That's not the heritage of the Chattam County I devoted my entire professional life to serving. And in the course of that service, I saw a lot of lean, uncertain budget years. So I understand the heartache and headache of trying to at the bottom line save jobs. But I urge the board to make a public plan to bring the art stipens back to their original amounts and tie those stipens to years of experience similar to what you've done for athletic compensation. Thank you very much. [applause] [applause] Our next speaker is Viva Tulasi.

Hello. Um, thank you very much for having me, members of the board and Superintendent Jackson. I am a parent of two students at Northwood High School. In addition, I volunteer my time at Northwood um, Perry Harrison and Chadam Central. So I have seen the impact of what the wonderful education and the focus of having a whole child education in our district all across the board. There has been a huge focus of allowing students to be able to express themselves. However, when you ask a teacher to dedicate 260 hours during the marching band season to practice outside of the school day and then cut the pay so much so that they have to take extra jobs. When do they even have time to do that? The marching band will be at every single home football game. All of the parents pay admissions to the games. All of the parents involve and the kids need to eat. So, we purchase things through concessions. None of that money gets filtered into marching band. It all goes to athletics. So the teachers that support that, they might be at the school until 11 p.m. on a Friday night only to return back to school 7:30 on a Saturday just for either more practice or an all day marching band competition. We really do deserve fair, equitable pay for all across. And I want to remind everyone that all of education cannot happen unless there is a school culture that is positive and inclusive. And one of the ways is always mentioned at every single beginning of the year at Northwood is to attend clubs, to be

involved, to do things. These arts teachers are the ones who bridge that gap and allow our students to engage their creativity which makes them more engaged in class, show up to school more often, work harder, find group of community, are able to graduate earlier and have overall positive um higher increased test scores. And this is all researchbased is that when you invest in school culture, you get better performance. And we started this meeting with that, honoring all the amazing things that we do. And this board even honored and recognized all the teachers or sorry not the teachers, you honored the students and the principles and left out the teachers that you're expecting to do more with less. So, thank you very much. [applause]

Our next speaker is Liz Davis.

Uh, good evening, Dr. Jackson. Members of the board, my name is Liz Davis, and I'm an eighth grade social studies teacher at Pard Middle School. I've had the honor of attending many of these board meetings, three last year. My boys basketball team won the county championship. I won our May excellence and opportunity award and I am our current 2025 2026 pard teacher of the year. Unfortunately, I am here for a much less joyous occasion. In August of 2025, Chadam County Schools sent out a payroll memo captioned local funded masters pay. Finally, I've had my masters of arts in teaching middle-grade social studies for over five years now. I've used my expertise to lead numerous free professional development sessions at the school and for the county. And I co-wrote our eighth grade social studies curriculum for the district. And it was

finally time to be compensated appropriately for being a highly qualified specialist in my field. A moment many of us in this room have been waiting for. With absolutely no mention of a cap or the possibility that this funding might run out, I reached out to central services in September, letting them know I completed the proper paperwork and had paid to have my license upgraded. I attached a screenshot where it clearly stated degree level masters and pleaded with our payroll specialist and our county lure specialist to consider this as documentation. While waiting for DPA DPI to upgrade my license, over a month later, Dr. Batton sent me an email stating Mast's pay had been a great addition of support from our local officials, but that that fund capped had been reached. Obviously upsetting to hear I wouldn't be getting paid. I mean, between the official transcript I ordered and the lensure upgrade, I was now $70 in the hole for getting my master's degree to try and get a tiny letter M to match my degree. But I can't quite put into words what it felt like to have to read the words local masters pay success story the very next day in our payroll memo. In a county that boasts a unified message of one chatham. I've never felt like less a part of this team. As teachers, we are wildly familiar with being overqualified and underpaid. In fact, it's one of the only guarantees in education today. But that's not what pushes many of us out of this classroom. It is the lack of dignity and respect. It is the broken promises. It is the false hope. And it's the messaging of less wine, more shine to a room full of professionals that give everything they have to this job. And it's one thing when it's coming from the United States Department of Ed or Raleigh, but right now it's coming from you. We have to recognize and compensate our teachers, especially those that have sought out higher education to become the best teachers they can possibly be. We are treated as disposable when the harsh reality of a teaching shortage shows we are the educational equivalent of

precious gems and should be treated as such. The families of Chadam County deserve the best and the brightest and many of Chadam's best and brightest are going to leave if something doesn't change. Thank you. [applause] Our next speaker is Wendy Glosski. Did I I get it right?

You did. I'm very impressed.

All right. Superintendent Jackson, members of the board, thanks for having me. Um, my name is Wendy Lagowski. I am not an educator in the area. Um, we moved to North Carolina about four years ago, but I do have an adult son that was a teacher in Florida who taught drama and was laid off in May. Um, and I was a six-year member of the drama board at his high school and a four-year member of the board for band at my other with my other son. Um, everything they're saying is true. These teachers work more hours than any other teachers that are in the school based on what I've seen. The other thing I will say is that the students in these programs, some of them, it is the lifeblood reason that they show up to school. It is the group of people that they connect with and it teaches them life skills. I work in technology. So math, English, all of it is important. But I will tell you that the skills that they learn in these programs are cooperation, working with a team, critical thinking. It is it is things that they cannot learn in other classrooms that they're in. So, I would urge you guys to listen to your teachers and come up with solutions to allow them to be paid properly and to make sure that these students are getting the education that they deserve. Thank you. [applause]

Uh, our next speaker is uh Dana Gish Winter, I guess.

How bad did I hurt that?

Pretty bad. Uh, Gwetner. Um, thank you, Dr. Jackson. Thank you, board. I really didn't want to be here tonight, um, ever, to have this conversation. I live in Chattam County. I teach in Chattam County. I have a son at Margaret Pard and I have a child who's a senior at C4th. My senior uh, just had a perfect ACC score. But I am not here to talk about those teachers. I'm here to talk about her theater and her arts teachers. Um, I have always been very proud to teach in Chadam County. I teach dual language kids. I've taught at Siler City and I teach at North Chattam because I always believed that Chattam County when they said we educate all children, it really meant all children. When we went to convocation, I was so proud to see those kids that I had known worked in the theater program. When Larkin sang I had tears because I know how hard that program has worked to build and grow and my child has loved every moment of it. Um, I believed when we talked about athletics, arts, and academics that we were talking about three equal paths. And so, when my child came home and was discussing this with me, she asked me to come. She couldn't be here tonight. Um, she had an emergency. She could not come. So, I am here. Um, she gave me her words. She said that tonight I'm talking to you as a taxpayer. I'm talking to you as a parent. I'm talking to you as an employee. I have every level of school in this district in my house right now. elementary, middle, and high school. I am very upset as a taxpayer that there's been zero transparency on my end about this process. I have gotten nothing, no communication from the school district at any level about these cuts, about where that's going. There's there's been zero public discussion and maybe that's not appropriate, but I also would like to know where my money goes as a taxpayer and why we're making cuts and where we stand with the budget. Um, I

also as an employee truly feel for people who signed a contract and are now having to take a nine $10,000 pay cut. I don't know how you make rent in Chadam County taking that kind of pay cut. As a parent, I am absolutely heartbroken that we are going to lose these staff who have made my child's experience what it has been. When my fi child first enrolled at C4th, the theater program did not exist. There were no microphones. The theater teacher and the community found a way to organize and fundra to resolve the issue. Uh the band can't have marching band competitions to raise money at Seforth because we don't have enough land. So asking them to self-fund and then cutting off their ability to self-fund is not okay. They would have to combine with Northwood and that money would be really hard to split. I just am here only to say please support the arts teachers. It has made my children's experience. My son was in the polar play last year. He absolutely loved it. My child is going to be involved in theater in college because of this program. The opportunities offered to her have extended into the community. She works for Bluebox Theater in Chapel Hill now through our arts teacher. Please treat these teachers fairly. Thank you. [applause] And our last speaker is Justine Hilbert.

Good evening, Superintendent Jackson and members of the board. My name is Justine Hilbert. I'm a dual licensed special education teacher at Jordan Matthews High School. I'm the band booster president at Northwood and most importantly I'm a single mother of three children in Chattam County schools. I'm deeply invested in this district from every angle. I hold a master's of education in learning and technology. I

was promised that it would be honored when I returned to teaching this year and that promise was broken. When you decide to take that payway, it wasn't just a number on a check. It's my rent. It's groceries. It's keeping the lights on for my children. Without that promised income, I still qualify for food stamps. I'm a full-time educator with an advanced degree serving some of the most vulnerable students in our schools. And I am forced to live in poverty. It is demeaning to pour my heart into my students every day, yet struggle to provide for my own family. It is embarrassing that this county, which claims to value education and the arts, continues to devalue its most qualified educators. As BAM booster president, I see our band directors working endless nights and weekends, all for our students. To cut their already minuscule stipens in half is not just unfair, it's dehumanizing. You are telling them that their time, talent, and love for our students don't matter. If you don't rectify these issues, Chattam County will lose its most qualified and dedicated teachers. Not because we want to leave, but because we'll have to. As you know, surrounding districts honor masters pay for educators. Why would great teachers stay where they told where they're told that they matter but shown that they don't? I'm asking you to make this right. Follow through on your promise to compensate every educator with a master's degree. Restore and increase the arts stipens to match your demonstrated value of athletics. And finally, show through your actions that you truly value the educators and children of this county. Thank you.

[applause] Okay, we'll move on to information items. Uh let's see. First up, NCSBA um fall 2025 PLS update and Dr. B. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I'm Dr. Kelly Batten, assistant superintendent for human resources. And this um item for first reading is part of our continued effort to participate with the North Carolina Schoolboard Association for routine policy updates. This particular set of updates includes 24 policies that are either uh maintaining current recommendations for legal updates, legal references. Of those 24, 21 of the 24 are routine updates. There are three policies noted in the attachment to tonight's agenda that are under further review and this item is for information only. Anybody have any questions on those policies?

I noticed when I was going through them, it'll tell me when I've looked at them and what I haven't. So, have to make sure I do very much. So, okay. Thank you. Uh, you're still up for item B, NCSBA, board policy manual update, first reading.

Yes. Good evening. I'm still Dr. Kelly Batton and uh this this item um is just a correction that we're bringing to the board as we go through and make updates. We periodically find where there have been um older policies. In this case, like many districts around us, we had a

previous return to work policy. many places. This is also as a regulation or a policy just depending on the location. Ours was from January 2014. Uh the schoolboard association has now issued a full separate standalone return to work policy that is 7635. So this is for information. We'll bring it back to you um for action at a future meeting.

Okay. Item C. No questions. I'm sorry. [clears throat]

Uh you're okay, Dr. Samberg. Come on. Uh that was my fault, not yours. Um House Bill 805 implementation.

Good evening. Uh my name is Mark Samberg, uh chief of technology and school accountability. Uh give you an update today on our implementation of House Bill 805. So House Bill 805 was enacted at the end of July. Uh and it focuses on a number of things. One of them is parent access to library books. uh specifically that uh the public should have access to a library uh to a searchable web-based catalog and a parent or guardian should be able to identify any library books that may not be borrowed by a student. Uh so where we are right now uh is we have an online catalog for our school libraries that parents can go online and search and they can plug in their email address uh from as long as it matches the one in infinite campus. It will email them a code. Once they get the code, they can log in. They can see the books that a student uh that their students currently have checked out. They can search the catalog and then they can say, "Do not allow my student to check out this book." And then when they go to the library and the student tries to check out that book, it'll pop up a message on the on the screen that says, "The parent has requested that the student not check out this book." So, libraries are done. The next step uh is around classroom libraries because there is a provision in the in the bill that says library uh libraries are books library books may be held in a formal library or a school or

in a classroom. Uh so that also matches our policy 3210 as modified to support the implementation of this bill. So how do we do that? Um so some of the goals we obviously we want to comply with this law. Uh, and then I'm going to skip around a little bit and but then also learn from other districts. You may have read reports in the media about how other districts are implementing. Uh, so we want to learn from them. We talk a lot with other districts about what they're doing. Uh, we want to continue to offer autonomy to teachers to build robust classroom libraries that are relevant for their students. Uh we want to make this experience as easy as possible for the teachers uh to implement um and create a process that recognizes the many ways books end up in classrooms that some books are donated, some books are personal, some books are are the schools. So that creates a challenge in implementation in that we can't just slap a barcode on them, put them in the library system and and and call it a day because uh they're not necessarily our books. Um but then also the biggest challenge is the time it's going to take to create these inventories of books in each classroom. Uh so the process will happen in four phases over really the remainder of the school year. Uh phase one is going to be inventory. So uh the goal is to make implementation as easy as possible. So what we've got is um barcode a couple of barcode scanners that teachers can go and scan the backs of the books. it and then it will look up automatically the um the title and author so that we can post it. Uh we also are have an AI tool where a teacher can just take a video of the book. So they can just with their phone take a video and then that will um from AI pull out the title and author or if they prefer to manually type it in they can they can choose to do that. Our goal is by the end of the second quarter to have this mostly done. Um, and then by the end of of that, we'll publish these lists to the library website. Uh,

on the on the on the district website, we'll list them by grade level or subject area, but we're not going to identify individual classrooms. We'll put them together as a group. Uh, as as teachers update their spreadsheets, it will automatically update on the website. And then we'll have a form on the website for a parent to request that a classroom book be made unavailable to a student. Um, and then after that will be maintenance mode, just keeping that up to date as new books come in. Uh, we do have some subscriptions to ebook resources and we've been looking how to make those accessible uh, under this provision and we don't have the same searchability and opt out provisions because those are services that we procure. Uh, so we have parents uh, will have the ability to to opt their child out of those resources completely.

With that any questions? a question, you know, for for some of our students that get go to the community college and there's also the library, the public library that interfaces with the community college. Do does does the statute I don't remember reading this that there involves any interfacing? It's just strictly books in our school grounds.

This is strictly the school we have uh for parents uh for the public libraries, parents can opt their child out of a library card,

right? Um, I guess I'm venting a little. Um, this is a law, so we got to do what we got to do. Um, over the years, I know some teachers that have personal um, libraries, whether PTA money bought them or what, classroom libraries, whatever terminology you want to use, but the the little paperback books that are in the room, inventorying Library books is a whole another ball game. You have a purchase order to back it up and blah. These come in, parents go to the book fair and buy 10 and say, "Here, take them." Um,

I've known teachers to have four, five, six thousand and they rotate them out. They they don't necessarily have them out all the time and all, but we're talking about time for the arts educators. Where's the time for that classroom teacher to barcode all these books? I'm I'm not asking an answer. I'm not putting you on the spot. Not putting doc I'm just making a statement that this this is a pretty tall task. Uh, once again, I'm not sure Raleigh understands. I understand the premise behind it, but um, you know, for that first year teacher that's trying to get tomorrow's lesson lined up, that's where they put their time because they don't have a thousand books in their room necessarily. Uh it's it's the u the teachers that have been around and have collected and collected and taken donations and all it just um this is this is going to be tough on the teachers. It really is.

Yes, it is.

And and I just I just um I'm just kind of surprised that there hadn't been a little more feedback about it.

I have a question about class So you indicated I think on the previous slide that we wouldn't be identifying was I think the one before you wouldn't be identifying individual classrooms. So if a parent wanted to identify a book in their child's classroom, how would that work? So they'll have the list and they'll be able to to look at the list and and get um and get in in right K4 for example or or all fourth grade classrooms and then they can they can communicate that. Um right the assumption being that that teachers are sharing those books and and uh we want to make sure that that that message if

if

and then it says that it will go to the library. So then the librarian has to manage

has to manage that list. Yes.

Yes. If Gary was still teaching, he'd be scrambling to get these books in his classroom listed. So I I hate it for our teachers, but again, that's something as David said, it's the law. And when someone videotapes uh like if they were to like lay out all their books like I'm thinking like a kindergarten teacher that has like extra books in the classroom, you know, lay out all those books. The videotape uh goes over the barcodes at once and then AI you're saying can now just extract it. Not it doesn't have to be an individual video for each book.

Correct.

Yeah. So maybe there's a way to help guide them into that time that would that would take up less time. So hopefully the librarians can guide some of the teachers into doing it that faster way. and other districts um have encouraged some parent volunteers to help with with those types of things as well and and and as we have but it's going to take

I'm not trying to prolong

Raleigh's decision but yeah

Mr.

I'm not trying to prolong this conversation but I want to ask a question about parent requests to have a book made unavailable to their student accomplished by email to the librarian or by form on the website. Okay. So that statement parent requests to have a book made unavailable to their students. Suppose that book that they want to make unavailable is a integral part of that teacher's lesson.

So one thing um specific to the specific to this law um this is only uh applicable to books that are outside of the curriculum. Right. So

okay,

library books mean electronic print resources excluding textbooks um for independent use uh by students and school personnel outside of the standard course of study for any grade level or course. So so this particular

law would not apply there.

Go ahead and touch on the other direction with that too.

Have other processes in place for that uh for those types of issues.

They have to get an alternative assignment. Am I correct on that? When it is a curriculum, that's what I thought. And then I just had one last question and you'll you'll have to it's it's stupid question amnesty which means you have to be nice to me when I ask you the same question. [laughter] Um and you might have to get the big crayons and the small words but when we're talking about quarters for the milestone plans that's school quarters or is that

school quarters and and this is probably optimistic but I think that we'll we'll um we'll revisit and look at how we go and and certainly there there's room to be responsive to how the process is going. And then my final question is if we miss those milestones, is there like are individual teachers going to be penalized in any way or told, hey, you got to take all your books?

Thank you, Dr. Samberg.

Scared.

Got something else.

Okay. Uh item D. And you're still there. No. Uh NC College Connect. Dr. Samberg and Mr. Poston.

Poston's gonna join. Uh so I want to share some good some good news uh about a program called NC College Connect. Uh this is a streamlined college admission process for students meeting specific GPA and academic criteria. So if a student meets these criteria basically uh in the summer between their 11th and 12th grade year, they get a letter saying congratulations, you're admitted to this list of colleges automatically. They don't have to do anything. They don't have to apply. It just comes in the mail that you can go on. You can go and and see that that you're admitted. So students are admitted. It's it's a number of and I'll show a full list in a minute. It's it's every community college, a number of public uh universities, and a good number of private universities, too. Uh so they get the they get the the letter at the fall of their 12th grade year. They don't have to complete the Common App. They don't have to do any application fees. All they have to do is accept their admission. Uh some of the some of the schools do require a fee when they

accept, but you don't have to pay to apply. Um, some institutions may require additional information like a test score and I have a list of the the schools that do that in a minute. Um, but some but most don't and and you're just admitted. Um, so these are the schools that have uh that have uh part that are participating. It's all 58 community colleges, a number of our UNCC system schools, and then a number of the um independent colleges and universities. There's a diversity of of schools there. There's engineering schools and liberal arts schools. We have all four of the NC Promise $500 semester schools. Uh we have, I think, four of the five H.B.CU. We have um just a really good mix of schools. Now, students are not guaranteed admission to all of these. It's based on criteria around your GPA courses. Um but you at least will get into a subset of these schools based on based on your academic criteria.

Can I bother you on that slide? Just a second. What are the asterisks at the end on some

the asterisks? Those are the ones. Excuse me. The asterisks were the ones who have additional requirements.

That's what I I wondered if it wasn't. Okay, thank you.

From academic services, we just want to highlight and celebrate our students and our principles for all of their work and um this is a huge milestone. So, out of our 714 seniors this year um in our graduating class, 450 of those seniors or 63% of our students have already gained early acceptance. So, we just wanted to highlight that. our high school principles, our AVID coordinators and counselors, they are working to support these students um just to make sure they understand the process and that their families understand the process um and so they can um make the next step for college. And then our next slide just has some dates. Um students must indicate their intention to participate by January 2nd. Um students may already have submitted their applications, the abbreviated application that Dr. Samberg mentioned. Um and then they have between January 15th and July 15th to notify the college of their choice. Um we're extremely

excited and proud of our students and this opportunity. Um and we're just here to celebrate their hard work um through um K12 education.

And another program that we're watching is this new one that was just announced last week is a partnership between NC State and the community college system. So along the same lines, NC State does not participate in College Connect, but they do have their own program where students who earn an associate of arts or an associates of science degree from a community college are automatically eligible for admission to NC State in certain degree programs. Um they must declare their intent to participate before they earn 30 credit hours at their community college. So for our early college students, that would typically be in their junior year. And then for our CCP and and traditional high school students that would either be in their uh senior year of high school if they're CCP or their first year at the community college.

Any questions?

Sounds like it makes the process a whole lot better. Less nailbiting too. And yeah,

those application costs can be

pardon.

But application cost

Yeah, it's like 50.

I know. Okay. Uh thank you. Uh item E, Mr. Blise 202526 CCS clean schools recognition for the first quarter.

Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Jackson. U for several years, we did this every quarter and when we hit COVID, uh we stopped because we weren't doing things in a normal way, but we've had the opportunity to bring it back and we wanted to start this evening with the first quarter for the current school year. So, Safelle, who is our um provider for our custodial supplies, um provides these inspections for us. And I'm happy to report to you that things came out quite well. Uh Dr. Samberg, are you able to click on the link where it says inspections? And the data will show you that we had 14 14 of our 19 schools were 95% or

higher, which means that they were in the highest category. We'll show you a sheet for that in just a second. Sorry.

Access denied, man.

Sorry about that.

That's a hallway, right? Yeah. Yeah,

it's on the other one. My apologies. Yeah, that that rock we worked really hard on it.

Very clean now.

Gotcha. Let me get to it then. My apologies. Um, but 14 of our 19 schools were 95% or higher. The top five schools were in fifth place Perry Harrison with a 98.1, Syler City Elementary with a 98.3, North Chadam with a 98.5, Silope with a 99.3, and the clean school for the first quarter, Chattam Grove Elementary with a score of 99.5. And I'm gonna ask [applause] and their lead custodian. She's here. She

Okay. So, thank you very much and congratulations. And

why don't you go down the line?

She get to shake her hands. Thank you. She does it for everybody.

Good. Pretty good. Thank you, sir.

Uh, was Dr. Linker coming, too? I know she jumped on up over there. [laughter]

I didn't know if they were pushing you or pulling you back. I I wasn't sure on that one. All right. Uh, okay. We're moving to action items. We got Mr. Poston running here.

Yes, sir. Um, good evening again. Um, Dr. Jackson, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. just here to share with Miss Little information about our school improvement plan process. School improvement plan aligns with our strategic plan, priority one, curriculum innovation. Um after reviewing the plans, um here's a quick overview of the

process we use to develop them. Our principles and their leadership team assist the full pictures of their schools, their student performance, student achievement, and school culture. Um they work with their school teams to identify the highest priorities areas that would make the greatest impact for students. Lastly, um they turned those priority areas into action steps with clear goals, proven strategies and progress check progress checkpoints along the way to assure accountability and results that align with our district's goals and guard rails. I want to thank and acknowledge our principles and their school teams for their hard work and also our executive directors and Miss Little for their commitment to this process. Here's Miss Little to give um more details about how we kind of went through the process. Um, Mr. Chair, board, Dr. Jackson, thank you for having me here. I'm I'm working with school improvement plans. Again, long time no see. Um, I want I just want to quickly go through the process because I think there are some new folks and um, new public that would like to see what we do. First thing we're going to talk about is what is Indar? You will also hear it called NCAAR. Um, I guess I need to control this, don't I? There we go. It's just our online platform where it keeps all the information in regards to our school improvement plan. As Mr. Poston mentioned, every school works with their school improvement team. Those teams include administrators, classified staff, and certified staff. Bless you. Um so as many stakeholders um in addition to parents um are also on their teams. So in collaboration they review their data, they review what they did last year, review what they need to accomplish for the coming year and they do all of that through that uh platform. So what you can see here is they will set direction first. They'll look at their data. They're going to set goals and set performance measures what they want to see happen by the end of that school year as well as subsequent years.

This will show you how to access um the NC Star platform. You should be able to go into every school's um website and look for their school improvement plan. When you click on that, you'll see the next section. It'll take you to a login for Indar. Every school has a guest login and that should be posted on their website as well. So, everyone can anyone can see what their school improvement is throughout the year. And it's a living document so things will change. They will post their meeting minutes just like we post the minutes of these meetings. Okay. What you will see is they will have goals with performance indicators. So I wanted to show you this. This is new this year. We've kind of we brought in DPI. They worked with all of our principles to work on their goals and set their performance indicators. I know it's a little small, but the goals are very short and succinct and they uh for example improve student outcomes. Okay. Well, what are the performance measures for those student outcomes? So, you can see this example here. They're going to be looking at grades three through eight and they're going to look at overall growth and proficiency that is reported by the state. And you will see this school set a baseline was this past year was I think that says 60. It's a little far for me to read. Um, and then they set target dates for the next three school years. So, at the end of this school year, they will put their actual in. If that actual is higher than their next target, then they'll go in and they'll modify their targets for the next two years. But this is just a way for them to stay focused on the final outcome. You got to give a few years to make sure you get to where you want to be because you can't jump 50 percentage points in a year. You can, but that's a heavy task. Are you guys up to that? In addition, you will see the indicators that they're going to be working on. So it's an objective. So under that objective, you will have action steps. So this is what the team will be looking at each month and will be monitoring

throughout the year. In addition to their own team reviewing and monitoring their plans each month, we at the district will also do the same. We do have schools that are what we call targeted support and improvement schools. So DPI, the folks at DPI will also be looking at their plans and giving feedback on their plans in addition to the directors and staff here at central services. Any questions on the school improvement plans? These wonderful people right here are asking that you approve their school improvement plans for this year.

I move CHM County Board of Education approve the 2025 2026 school improvement plan as presented.

Second. And thank you so much. I know y'all had to stay. We apologize for starting your Mondays or your week off on Monday night with this, but I know you were asked to. So, thank you again. Thank you for all you're doing. Did have a second. Correct.

Got a motion in a second. Any other discussion? All in favor with an I.

I.

Mr. Ham, go ahead.

I usually ask one of the new principles. [laughter]

He does.

I was waiting for that. Thank you.

Thank y'all for being here. Okay. Item E, excuse me. B, I'm sorry. 2025 2026 budget amendment number one. And we got uh Miss Smith. Looked like you got backup over there, too. Go ahead.

Uh, good evening, chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Jackson. Um, tonight I bring forward to you but the first budget amendment for the 2526 school year. [clears throat] And so this amendment um it reconciles all of our budgets across all funds, state, federal, and local. Um, and it

ensures that we have a balanced and compliant budget. Um, that is per law. Uh, this is just a quick fun summary. um just an overall picture and we'll go into each fund um in a little more detail, but the total amended budget tonight is 137,67,289.89. Um so first the state public school there's an increase of $58,334 and that includes um digital learning aotments that were received principal bonuses um that some of these lovely people got to partake in last year or last month, excuse me. and then AP intern salaries, um literacy intervention grants, intera international faculty conversion and um some of our a little more at risk and central services support funding.

Will you be real clear that those funds have to be used for those purposes that we don't have just flexibility to

Yes.

take those dollars and do whatever. I I I'm going to be very intentional.

Yeah. So each of these um different things that I listed they are in their own PRC um program report code and that

thank you for that

can only be used yes that can only be used for specific things um

and I'll just piggy back on Dr. Jackson that's mandated by Raleigh.

Yes sir. [clears throat] And they check it very well too. Um, so that's our state public school fund. Um, we should get some more. We should, that key word is should, we should get a little bit more funding. Um, but to date, we have received the majority of our state funds for this current school year. Our local current expense fund. Um, so

you'll see a decrease of 1.7 million. Uh this is reflecting our actual county appropriations, not just what we requested in our heads up. Um this is the actual and we also um incorporated into that 1.7 million some strategic reductions um to different areas all across the board, but some bigger um reductions to utilities, maintenance, and instructional supplies. Um, this supports to help our fund balance restoration and it protects classroom staffing and supplements that will be paid out in November and in June. Um, just a quick kind of fund balance utilization overview for the past couple years. Um we've used approximately six and a half million in fund balance to sustain um staffing is the biggest portion of it. Um expanding certain programs and we'll go into a little more detail on that and um protecting instructional quality, protecting those classrooms and um the staff that are in those classrooms. Um so this is just kind of a chart of over the past four years. Uh the amount of fund balance that was used in those years. Um these are investments that have been approved and were were paid out. Um this chart shows a little bit more. I know it's a little hard to read, but the majority except for the blue um that quarter of blue, the majority of that went to staff. It was um program incentives for different areas, arts, AVID, athletic, um ESS sub program, um the arts

expansion, recruitment and signing incentives. Um and we'll go into a little bit more. This slide, this slide back. Yeah,

you mentioned the blue

the blue

and of course that's meals. That is also what was used for last year. I'm guessing

that was used for

want speak to that Dr. Jackson.

Yeah, we um again and I'm going to have some comments at the very end of this, but

I'm beating you.

Okay. I I will say that uh that section represents growth in our charter school enrollment. Uh and as I've shared multiple times, uh we had a surprise at the end of last year with approximately a hundred more charter school students than we anticipated, which was approximately $700,000 that had to come from our fund balance. That was not money that was budgeted in our and we are required to pay the charter school. Uh, and so that is not an option that we have to say, "Nope, we're going to sit this over to the side and we'll pay it when we get it." Or, "No, you can't you won't get it." They will get their money. We are a pass through.

The more the more money that the county gives us, we have to give to them.

Right. That's right. So, I want to I want to be be be clear about that. As well as the $600,000 that we used for the free meals for our students. Um, this was not just a willy-nilly. It was we made a commitment, we did it, and we realized we couldn't continue that. So, we had to actually uh not do that again. So,

that was for those three schools.

Absolutely. Yes, sir. So, we'll we'll go we'll get more detailed in just a second.

Thank you.

And again, that just that blue quarter is just in this past school year. Um, this slide right here, it kind of breaks it down by year, so I know it's fairly small. Um, but a big portion right off the top was employee retention

bonuses that were given in the 22 school year. um all full-time staff received those bonuses and it was a very hefty bonus. Um that you agreed to use some fund balance to pay all staff and make sure all staff received that um ESS contract like I like I spoke to before um that was a hefty undertaking. Um, but great outcome of that is all of our classes are filled with subs a lot more now than they were before when we were not using that contracted service

and teachers were having to fill those spots.

Correct.

Correct. Um, and again some of those next areas.

May I?

Yes, please. Or maybe I should clarify. Teachers that were already teaching that day had to take their plan period whatever to do that. So make sure I'm I'm clear on that. Correct. I see a lot of nods on this side.

I think our our principles will tell you that ESS was a good investment

um in terms of providing support. But I also want to make sure I hit a couple of these other things and and be very intentional here. Um, we increased our arts allocation in 22 23 by four teachers. We added dance, drama, arts, and a arts supervisor.

Move it louder, please.

We added Can you turn this up, Tom, or do I have the screen? Okay. We we added um in increased allocations for our arts in 2223. Four teachers uh that year. um a dance teacher, a drama teacher, arts supervisor, uh and additional arts uh and we've sustained that. But those are the types of things we have used fund balance for. We gave a teacher bonus in

22 23 for those teachers. Remember the state did not cover uh those teachers was 16 plus years

and there was a gap. We utilized our fund balance to to uh Thank you.

Thank you.

to uh pay uh those teachers. Um we had a 4 hours uh if you remember the four Rs retention uh bonus uh that we provided during I think during COVID everybody wanted to get to a place where we felt like we were getting uh uh employees to uh choose Chattam and we made very very direct appeals to our staff to help us recruit. We they got retention bonuses. They got uh uh bonuses for recognition. They got bonuses for uh recruitment and referral. If you remember, there were some individuals who got referral. We did that two years in a row. I remind you of that. Um we had hard staff signing bonuses for areas that our principal said we can't find teachers and we were able to EC was one of those areas that we worked very hard. Each of these years, I want you to notice that we had to pay a gap in the charter school funding. uh we don't know at the beginning of the year how many students are going to come. We make a good projection and then we have to clear that up the next year. Um and so with that we've had to cover that over the years. If you remember we used our fund balance for AVID program expansion when we expanded to our K8 schools uh and uh we provided letters bonuses for those teachers who were not covered in the state section of that where the state gave us resources to pay. We always made out made it so that all of our teachers received the benefit, not just a few. So when the state gave us money for state bonuses, we were then able to say we came to this board and said, "Hey, we'd like to use our fund balance to support

uh those teachers, those locally paid teachers uh and those federally paid teachers with with those resources as well. Um, and again, uh, the unified stipen, uh, piece and the masters, um, we did not use money for M's pay. We'll get to that in just a minute, but I want you to just kind of look at the investments that we made coming out of COVID, uh, and stabilizing our district, but also moving our district forward. Every single one of these, 80, just about 70 75% of these dollars went into the pockets of our teachers and our staff. Um, I'll just I'll stay there and I'll I'll come back to this in just a minute. Go ahead.

Is there any questions on that slide?

All right. So, like Dr. Jackson just said, um, predominantly these investments have been focused on our workforce. um they've went above and beyond our annual budget and um provided us the flexibility to do things and move initiatives forward. Um so using our fund balance allowed us to say yes more often than no, but um and so in the past four years, we've rarely said no. But as conditions change in the state and the federal government um we have to change as well. So that's that was our local.

Okay. So Bernie, could you please um make it clear that fund balance doesn't mean that that's discretionary money for us.

Correct.

Law requires us to have a fund balance of x amount of dollars.

No. No, ma'am. We're not required to have a fund balance, but it gives us flexibility when we do.

And I think our auditor,

it's recommended.

What percentage is it?

They tried three months. They tried.

Yeah. Operating expenses for

months. Yeah.

Okay.

Any other questions?

I think that I mean I'm wondering if this analogy works because I realize this is a lot of material for the public to try to make sense of. It's so helpful to have this um this chart and I really with from year to year and how much is that some people are you know listening in on YouTube trying to make sense of something that we're used to looking at and maybe other people aren't used to looking at.

So I guess it occurs to me that one analogy is kind of like having your checking account and having your savings account.

Correct. and um and that we've been using our savings account because we we felt like we had a nice cushion in savings to do some extra things that we really deeply wanted to do,

but but we we're our savings account is looking less full.

Well, then we then we got a surprise with the charter. Yeah. Correct.

Which is why we have you know for me personally that some of us that live pretty close to paycheck to paycheck which is true for a lot of our teachers and that is heard tonight. um that but that you know sometimes you have savings for when you have a crisis and then you also have savings for when you might be able to splurge and do extra

and I think that that's like we were trying our best to make up for the absences in state and federal funding on the local level by dipping into our savings account so to speak. So that's an analogy that I thought might be

it's it's perfect. It's actually perfect. And so um and that we've we overdone we've overdone dipping into a savings account when given the charter schools are our surprise. That's like your car breaking down. That's like you know you got to replace the roof in a sense. So the charter schools have been a surprise expense and um and so what do we do about that? Because savings account no one's coming to fill our savings account but us. So this is really tricky

and that should really shouldn't fall back on us. that charter school in the county. And so, as you all know, this

board, and I've said this before, we have made the request to the county to reimburse us for those dollars. We've not gotten a response yet, but we've made that request.

So, if we get that request, what happens?

That money goes into our savings. It restores what was what we paid out is what it should do.

One thing I wish that people would start emphasizing is that the state is resp responsible thank you

for funding teachers salaries. The state is responsible for mass pay all that kind of stuff. Anything that we give we it's a courtesy it's a courtesy thing and if we don't have it can't give it you know you see most of the money is spent for the kids. So for people to ask us to accommodate something other than the kids, they don't know that they're affecting the kids, but we know. So, you know, to to me it's like people are not connecting the dots. We're here for the children. We're here for the teachers. We're here for the leaders of the teachers. You know, that's our main concern that they're able to function and do what they want. what they have to do, you know, which is educate our kids. Anything other than that is excess. And if we can do it, we're happy to do it. We want everybody to be happy. But if we can't do it, I I kind of resent saying that promise has been broken to me because by me because it's it's like apples and oranges. Master's pay doesn't have anything to do with arts teachers. Even if a arts teacher has a degree that her pay is state's business, not mine.

Are you talking about the state formula?

Are you talking about a state formula? I'm not sure I follow that part.

The um whatever formula they have for

the masters, but I mean we I'm saying we're not responsible for giving pay for advanced degrees. If we do do it, it's something that we want to do.

I move that the chad done yet?

No, you're not. [laughter]

We're [snorts] really not. We're really not done yet.

Yeah.

All right, Britney, go ahead.

Yeah, you're good.

You're good. So, I'll speed it up. Of the federal grants fund, that is an increase of 2.9 million. Um, and that is uh a CTE addition. um our title one consolidated programs, title two teacher quality, title three language acquisition, IDA targeted assistance and student support and academic enrichment grants. Um we are still waiting on our migrant funds. Um that is one of our last bigger pots of federal money and we're waiting on it to drop.

Um

when does it normally drop? I know this year is different. So, I did get some communication today that hopefully in the next week

and we usually see it ahead of time before this.

We've usually seen it a little bit earlier than this. Usually, it's about the same.

I knew it' been delayed because that was one of the thing, but but I didn't know. Okay. Thank you.

Um, so the other funds in this amendment, there was no change to capital outlay. It's still the 2.6 million and no change to child nutrition, still the 6.5 million. Um there was an a 10,000 um adjustment to the scholarship account and that's just for estimated payouts throughout the end of the school year. Um and no change to the other local current expense. Any questions on those other funds?

Maybe. Okay. Um want to capture something.

And so I guess we're going to talk more about how like going back to that chart we were looking at with the the things that we wanted to do and we tried to do with our with our savings so to speak.

Um

those are the those are the things we did.

Yeah. Yes. I know.

Yeah. And I know that we tried we we hope to be able to sustain those things, but but we didn't know the charter schools were going to be this way.

Well, no no no. Let me be clear. Those are one-time expenditures that reduced that the charter school. So everything on that list was a one-time expenditure that we have moved into our budgetary cycle.

Um but what I'm saying is that though that's what we used to to do that we had to do that upfront. A lot of those spendings were upfront for year one while we maybe went and requested additional dollars to support continuation. None of those things on there are recurring and recurring from fund balance.

And I think that's important for people to

Yes.

Yeah. Okay.

Um

that's Yeah. And that's the budget amendment, but I also wanted to if you want to take action on the budget amendment, I'd like to have some time afterwards, Mr. Chair, to maybe address those other items that maybe came up tonight. Anyone have any questions for Britney before we move on?

Possibly. I mean, I think some of my questions might be asked answered by Dr. Batten. So, I would like to wait till the end of the presentation to vote.

Stay right here.

Well, the this is the

we have to vote on the budget.

We got a budget amendment and then other unless there's this is the end of the budget amendment. And so, if there are questions about some of the other things, then I would ask that maybe we we shift this.

With regard to the stipens,

we're going to we're going to deal with that separately. If you don't that's not a part of this budget amendment.

I move CH County Board of Education approve the 2025 2026 budget amendment number one as presented.

Second.

Got a motion. A couple of seconds. Any

other questions before we vote?

All in favor with an I.

I. Any opposed? Like thank you.

And so

and so Mr. chair. What I would ask is that I'd like to use as an illustration tonight this room. And for the sake of the moment, I would ask that uh because I I I somewhat I'm being very careful about words. Some things that I I I try very hard to do is is be very clear. I also try to be very transparent with people. So I would ask that this board tell me when I surprise you or if any of the things that I say to you are a surprise that you've heard from me multiple times since May that there's that the state budget was going to be challenged that we were going to have challenges with our our our fiscal position this year. that the federal budget was slow and that I was concerned about money coming to us potentially being clawed back, that our local challenges, including charter enrollment and other things were creating challenges for us and that we needed to do some things to uh protect ourselves. one because we didn't know there was so much uncertainty around budgeting this year. Um, and that with that we had so many opportunities for things to go south that we were not prepared to to manage that we implemented a 7525 um a 75% budget release 25% hold to just watch the year this year because we didn't know. Again, tell me when I surprise you or I say something that I've not said before. um you're good so far

that that we cut 10 positions at this central office this year. I I dare say there are people sitting out there that will tell you there were 10 positions

that are vacant right now that we had a year ago. Um that the meals program was cut. It's a half a million dollars of resource that was cut. That the letters bonuses are not being given this year. I see Carla Murray nodding as she advocated very hard difficult for those that our prek programs were cut this year. 54 slots by the state that our health insurance has gone up and that our operational costs continue to go up that this superintendent did not take his bonus is gave back uh five or 10 I don't know how much it is 5%. that yes, I did that. And so I believe that at some point we have to be honest enough and then to come into this room and disappear before you can get the answers to your questions I find disingenuous. I find unprofessional and I find disrespectful. We have been working on this since May. Nobody is sitting around h uh twiddling their fingers trying to figure out what not to do for teachers. I was a fine arts teacher. Trust and believe I did it and I did it well. I worked in Wake County as a fine arts teacher at Inlow High School and never got a statement. So I respect the fact that we were able to do this is one of those where no good deed goes unpunished because prior to last year there were no stipens. And I want us to understand that there are three terms that we need to understand here. Salary, supplement and stipens. Those are three separate things. Your salary and your supplement are guaranteed to you. A stipen you earn yearly. We have some coaches who coach this

year, but they don't coach next year. So, that's not salary. That's a stipend that we give them for that responsibility. There are some uh coaches that coach one year and they're volunteer the next year. So I would say to you, let's make sure that we're talking about the same things um more importantly because all of this can be I can solve and I can I will say that this matter can be solved very easily. This board can direct this superintendent to reduce staff to make the money available immediately. Otherwise, what we have to then do is exercise some level of fiscal discipline. And I hate that people came in and said their say and walked out the door because I believe that there are times when we all have to just be a I can't control what the federal government does. I can't control what the state does. I do know that I have to make sure that we pay insurance for every employee. our children have a teacher standing in front of them. and to question whether I support the arts struggle with that. I struggle. We are doing the best we can in a situation that we cannot control on a day-to-day basis, but we nobody understands anything until the knock comes at their door and then it's a crisis. We have been dealing with the my principles. Have I been talking about this since probably May June?

You did a presentation on PowerPoint.

Absolutely. So I'm trying to understand

where, why, and how anyone could say they didn't know what we're up against. I've asked Kelly to quickly put together we put together some uh information on the stipen so you'll understand what happened here. Principles will tell you within immediately of school opening. We told them do not make commitments on stipens. We found a problem within the first 10 days of school. We told them that it's my responsibility as a CEO. I can't spend money I don't have. The second thing is we'll talk about the master's pay because we had to do some work there to calculate what we would ask for and he'll tell you how we did that. There was no ill intent here. But we're running a 130 140 million business. You can't run that on emotion. Dr. That was a great introduction. [laughter] Uh related to our budget amendment, we understand there are questions for two of our newest locally funded initiatives. So we did prepare in advance an implementation update for the board regarding our unified stipens and masters pay. The unified stipen program first implemented during the spring semester last year. It was presented to the board during the January 13th meeting and district staff anticipated spending $612,000 for this new program inclusive of academics, arts, and athletics. To support the expansion of the new stipen categories and account for the preexisting structure used for athletics, a request of 250,000 additional dollars from the local fund balance was approved to cover the anticipated additional cost of the spring semester implementation. Specific to extra duties for academics

and arts, district staff estimated the proposed flat categorical model would result in a total cost of $144,000 out of the overall 612. However, during the close out of the financial year and our annual budget reconciliation in July, district staff determined the actual total stipen expenditure for academics and arts exceeded $262,000. This was a nonbudgeted expense of $118,000 above the planning projection of 144. The cause of the increase was a mistake in the payout of arts and academic stipens using years of experience instead of the approved flat rate model. Following the discovery of the overpayments, it naturally led to more analysis throughout July and then August. Teachers were not at fault during the first year administration of the unified stipens and the provisions of board of education policy 7620 which allows for the recruitment of overpayment are not being used with impacted staff. Still, the funding deficit of $118,000 for year one of the program is not sustainable going into year two since this is all locally funded. To sustain this local effort while resolving the program deficit, we stabilize the overexpense and stipens by revising the totality of the program with fewer overall paid categories and a recalibrated base point to launch the extra duty stipens this October. Some of the academic categories have been discontinued for this year to preserve overall stipen funding. This action allowed for 100% of our 51 arts teachers to retain an extra duty stipen category at a reconfigured and reduced flat rate. This

reduction keeps our funding plan within the available budget for this year. It brings our stipen payment structure for academics and arts into alignment across teacher-based instructional leadership roles. Principles and supervisors were initially alerted by district staff at day 10 of the school year and as a result no extra duty stipen agreements for academics or arts have been collected from teachers at this time. With regards to our spring semester program implementation for the new program, please keep in mind that during the 2024 2025 school year, we included an increase in locally funded arts staffing by four and a half positions in order to reduce shared teaching loads and provide full-time non-shared teaching positions in visual arts, vocal music and band to each elementary, middle, K8, and high school. Retaining full-time teacher positions this school year was prioritized and making the current adjustments to the secondyear implementation of the unified stipen plan. These technical corrections have now been shared directly with all employees and supervisors. As first devised in the fall semester, then presented to the board in January of this year, we sought to create a unified stipen program that was based on our existing volunteer coaching payment formula. This came with inherent philosophical challenges. Specifically, the extra duty stipen for teachers is not and cannot be an extension, addition, or supplement to regular employee salary or job descriptionbased responsibilities. An extra duty stipen is a standalone annual agreement for additional

Instructing students remains the primary mission of the school system. Teachers and other employees may also at times be required to perform certain non-instructional and extracurricular duties. Still, a stipen acknowledges the demands of a specific set of designated extra duties beyond the employees job description and assigned responsibilities. Through this year's stabilization of the program, we have a revised framework and a resolidified financial foundation for future program development and expansion as our school system grows. With regards to our M's program,

pause.

Can you make it clear stipen is not a before the fact thing. It is for something performed. You know, we need to be clear on that. It's not I'm not giving it to you for you to do it. I'm giving it to you because you did it.

Correct.

Yes. If you could provide a a summary more in layman's terms for the listening public and also for me on this just because sometimes I think I have all of it solidified and then other times I listen and I hear it a different way. So, I'm just wondering if you could also just for the mainly for the listening public and any also any teachers who might have left the meeting but still be listening in remotely perhaps on their laptops um or you know are at home now watching some of the people in the room may be watching at home um just you know what if you could kind of summarize a lot of that in in layman's terms for people to understand.

Yeah.

And I know it's technical so that's hard to do. I'm giving you a hard

No, I think that we have a board policy that actually speaks to um job responsibilities. We have board policy that speaks to extracurricular duties and responsibilities. Yes.

I think I would just underscore um really and I'll pull I'll draw this actually directly from our policy.

Teachers and employees may at times be required to perform certain non-instructional and extracurricular duties as part of running a high functioning school system and it is without additional pay and compensation. [clears throat]

I don't think this has changed. It's been there forever. Um when you look at the duties of a teacher list about this long on the piece of paper. And it used to be, correct me if I'm wrong, the last item on there states, I'm paraphrasing, and any other responsibilities deemed by the principal.

And I also have a question that um to get answered right now. But you know, we took a stab at this last year. Um, how many other systems of the 114 additional systems pay out stipens for this type of activity that that's something because I can guarantee you it's just a handful. We we thought we were doing the right thing. I think I think a handful that's a a good accurate phrase, but the examples we've seen, it can vary from some that are very much um are a years of experience-based. Um but then there are others that pay less than what we're currently using this year. And then there are many beyond that where it is zero. And that's based on it's a locally funded effort. And to to Miss Wilson's point, I think

one of the things that we desire to do with the revision of this program is to really think about our philosophy around arts, academics, and athletics and keeping students at the center that we want to look for ways we can support programs that do support students. And one way is by involving teachers and other staff in building that out. We're not able to do an extra duty stipen for every single extra responsibility,

but

gate duty

gate duty got flushed out because of that.

Oh yeah, that's that's that's one in particular. when we raised that issue of sports, you know, that got raised tonight and that we it's not a new uh conversation, but when it comes to sports because I know a number of us, you know, a couple of years ago, you know, and and the superintendent included, you know, we're concerned about the fact that many teachers work long hours in theater programs and band that um are out, you know, that are separate from the classroom day. So, how does that work with arts outside the classroom day and the arts outside the classroom day. I mean, I think it's a question that a number of people in the public have.

You know, I think it's helpful to articulate if there is a difference what that is and that it's if it's is it a

you know, so that you know, people have asked, well, is this a preferential difference or is this, you know, something in the policy that's different? Is it the way in the funding source and the way they're paid that's different? Can you clarify for everybody or inform us like how that distinction works so that people can wrap their heads around the sort of inner workings that are normal for you all but maybe not to the listening public?

Sure. We we do not employ a women's volleyball teacher.

Yes, sir.

We do not employ a varsity men's soccer coach teacher. uh these are paid often non-faculty and sometimes faculty volunteers and is for

a specific role a coaching role as opposed to we have a social studies teacher who may be advising student government extracurricular student activity. We may have a theater teacher who as part of their job description for Chattam County Schools. It does say will support and encourage students in the presentation. Um that's part of the curriculum, right? It's actually part of that curriculum. So, I think what uh Cadam currently, if you think about what we're trying to do, it's the same challenge other districts have had is being able to quantify, but what does that extra look like? If we brought in English teachers from a high school, they may say, "Well, I grade 90 or more essays and I need additional time and compensation because I'm being asked as part of my curriculum to support the development of student writing.

Yeah.

But but staying late till 11 o'clock at night at a theater production is is assumed, you know." So I just I just kind of

So So with with are there people have the impression that there are coaches that are also paid. So can you just kind of differentiate that too for the community?

I'm not sure I understand the question.

Well, just when a lot of comments were made about what they want the arts to be treated the same as sports and I wanted you to be able to address that in the logistics of how payment happens and

what our pol, you know, in context of our policy so that you know I know that we don't get the chance to answer when people speak but I think it's a question that's coming up in the community

and I think it would be beneficial to people listening in to

clarify something that's fairly straightforward to you because you're used to it but but for people that you

know are trying to navigate what this all means I think it would be helpful to articulate that

I I I think that's a challenging question because and I've been in the system, if you will, of education, 27 years. And for when we interview new talent interested in the arts,

then they appear to have an inherent understanding about being able to showcase the work that they're doing with students, often through a presentation to parents. That becomes one of the first things they want to be able to do is showcase the student talent. So it it is difficult to make this distinction because if you are a coach then the the time and the hours there it's it's not equivalent for a coach either. So I'm not I don't know that I can compare the apples and oranges in this particular case. The way I look at it is that make it really simple for me to understand. Um the dance teacher has that class first period and they're in that class working on that production. football coach doesn't have first period running backs and he goes out and works on running back plays

that you know that's that's how I look at it. It's a huge distinction

difference earned it too much. Most of our coaches are not employees.

Well,

that's a whole this a whole trying to mix apples and all right.

Can I can I just say something that I know for a fact that that was not a part of the the conversation around this. We we really did not try to

um assess value of the two ro of the three different roles. I want to again walk us through some parents came to this dis and said our teachers are doing things outside of school. Can we recognize them and provide some support for them um via a stipent of some sort for the time that they put in outside of school? That was our intent to try to do that. We knew that we could not implement a second model exactly like the current coaching model we had. um we we financially we just couldn't do that at that moment, but we thought that if we got something going, we could build that model over time and get it there. What I think we continue to miss in this conversation is that a mistake was made. We have to own that. We we do own that and we've said that upfront. A mistake was made in terms of how they were calculated. We bought you all a plan that said a flat stipen. We That's what we brought to you all. We never came to you and said that they would do that that we would do it as as a so we weren't we weren't trying to equate the two as one immediately. Could we get there? Ideally, I would have loved to have gotten there. But my goal was we're giving them nothing right now. I want you all to remember that we were giving them other than the marching band director. We were giving them nothing.

You want to clarify that too. Marching band director

and the marching band director was all was was had always gotten even schools where we didn't have marching band. They got the stipen. And so that was not let's let's I think we've got to just be clear about that.

That was not We bought you a plan that said a flat stipent. When that stipen got calculated, it was incorrect.

It was paid out.

Yes.

And we had and and so people got the money.

Correct.

More than they were supposed to have gotten.

Correct. Based on their plan and no and because I just felt that for the as as a as the right it was our full mistake. there were some other issues that went into that and so we tried to address that um as clearly as we could. Um and so I want to just be clear, we weren't really trying to compare the arch people to the athletic people to that was never our goal was to get something and grow it. That was the real goal. it was not to this.

I think that that goes back to and to Miss Wilson, I'd encourage listeners to look at our January 13th board meeting presentation. So that has the original um unified stipen proposal and that really speaks to I think some of your questions about that valuation. Again, we're not trying with this revision to recalibrate um the valuation. It's just to right side that budget.

I I guess I do think it would be helpful for people to go back and review our presentation most definitely if they have concerns because there was a lot of valuable information at that meeting and of course we've all seen that. Um and the public sometimes comes to one meeting or not the other and it's very valuable to have a historical perspective and and not necessarily just what meeting you missed um with with the information that was provided and I agree to that. So please understand that my questions about the difference in the

arts and sports is not my necessarily challenging you just just trying to help people understand the sort of nomenclature of how we pay and some things are volunteers and some things are related to salary some things are you know coaches that come from you know that aren't teachers

so that the public understands that system that that's what I was trying to do I was just trying to have you articulate the structure of how that works for people that are, you know, have heard about this may have some emotions. They also want to support all teachers. They want to support arts teachers. They want to support coaches too, you know, because these are all valuable to our kids. And so I think I'm just wanting that kind of structural

conveyance so that people as they try to figure out where they are with this with everything they're hearing, how it even works. You know,

I would I'm going to oversimplify it.

Yes. Thank you. I guess that's what I'm asking. oversimplify it at the at the risk of oversimplification.

Yes,

the coaching is a separate job.

And our coaches are paid for that separate job. Some are non-faculty, some are faculty, but it's a separate job. They're on the board agenda separately people in a separate category. Okay. for our programming within schools. Club advisors, these are often, as Mr. Ham pointed out, there's connections within the school day and they are faculty-based and these are aligned responsibilities to the teaching assignment. Some some of those do have these extensions and there's cases where it's fantastic opportunities. I wasn't the French teacher so I didn't get to do the summer trip to France but that was that became this extension right but coaches I think that's a it's definitely oversimplification to say but I think for a public maybe that helps

yes thank you and that that was what I was seeking um because I think having um I mean people want to make informed decisions and I think that fundamental element um is something that maybe people didn't realize

and so when some of our arts teachers, you know, and all their huge dedication stay later. It's not that they're coming to for perform a separate job and some of the coaches are coming to perform a separate job, a separate hire with a with a salary or you know payment attached for that separate job which makes it different from a statement.

Correct. And so I think that that nomenclature helps the public grasp, you know, better some of these details that we're delving into that we are all discussing because that fundamental baseline is slightly different. Not making a judgment call about that right at this particular moment, but just wanting the public to understand that we're talking about different positions.

Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you. And I wanted that to be so thank you for [laughter] oversimplifying if you will. Sometimes the basics help understand the more complex.

Thank you.

Another point because we have some principles that were coaches. Gary coached, I coached and um if you calculated the amount of time coach puts in to the check that they received, it's not worth it.

Yeah. You get to work with the kids.

You get to work. I'm talking about monetary standoint

because I know the joke was when I I was an assistant football coach at Northwood it worked out to about 50 cents an hour

and and you know it but it wasn't because that 50 cents an hour helped out

but um you know it good for the kids like Gary said

and and it's I think another thing that might be helpful is that some people and

this is because you were a paid teacher and you were also a coach. So is that because it was an extension of your position or because you took on a separate job as a

separate job

separate job. So that is again that is again the difference that might help people understand that currently it's not a separate job to

to hold a play that takes place at 8 o'clock at night on Friday and Saturday night and rehearse for that. It's not it's not considered a separate job as far as the way the payment system works,

but it's not disrespecting the fact that we recognize that there's a lot of time that goes I've done musicals.

I I I've done musicals. I've been there on Friday night, Saturday nights, you know, five hour. I've been there. I I know exactly what they're talking about.

That's not I I I think this this this line is going down a space where we are just trying to get back to trying to make equal equal. That's not how this thing was designed. We had a group of individuals who were doing additional requirements or additional things for kids. We wanted to honor that work somehow some way that that's what we tried to do. And with the idea and understand it would grow. You know, I I I may have hatched a chicken too soon to try and we may should should have waited until we had a better plan. Um

I don't think it was too

was but that was the goal there. And so I wanted to at least try to clarify that. Um I you know that that there was no you will no nefarious we don't support um out of that. And I'm sorry that people feel that way, but I I can say to you that that was never the intent. And so to assign that intent um is is tough. I would also say too

and and and I will say this just to be I' I've not received one phone call. I've not been given the courtesy of one conversation about this. So I will I will leave it there. I want to finish up if you don't mind, Mr. Chair, with the M's pay and then we can go home and

I have three more minutes. the local funded masters initiative um implemented at the start of this current school year. During the budget heads up presentation to the board of education, subsequently approved as part of this year's local budget, the district allocated a full $250,000 budget request. This will go toward verified eligible employees based on the North Carolina Department of Public Construction lensure data. Each recipient must hold a qualifying level M license or a related advanced degree directly tied to their teaching or support role. Our budget request encompassed all known certified staff and accounted for a financially aggressive targeted increase of 38% in the number of master's license holders. This would include newly hired staff or existing employees currently completing graduate degrees. This 38% increase was derived from retention and recruitment data over the last three years. The budget cap helps us control overall cost because we must stay mindful. $250,000 is equivalent to four locally paid teacher positions. So, this is a choice we're making in this budget. The initial implementation resulted in 29 eligible employees receiving the master's pay beginning with the August payroll through additional lensure applications to NCDPI. 11 additional employees have been added to the local funded masters. This school year, we

have eight total employees who did not initially have the level M certificate issued by the state, but they have since opened applications between September and October to receive this license upgrade. We must note that not all M's programs are approved by the state. As an example, from 2017 to the spring of 2025, the UNC MAT program was not recognized by the state of North Carolina for level M graduate lensure. This has since been changed and we're working with UNCC directly to assist any of these graduates from 2017 to 2024 who work with us who may now be applying for the license. This is an issue between UNCC and DPI. However, they do their accreditations for that process. Um, still this last thing noted about denied applications. During the August to October time frame, we've seen less than five um denied applications. These are denied by the state um where they say it doesn't meet one of the graduate program factors that they have included in that. We're going to use this year's data to help build out a possible projection so we can have an expansion and use a similar format where we look for an aggressive increase such as this 38%.

And this was money that we included in our

budget ass from from the county. So I don't you know if you go much above they're going to start asking you know they'll start asking questions

where your figures come or numbers come from. I understand that too.

We we had in there some overage again based on that 34% based on each year what we would normally see as new. I think the problem came. We had some employees who had the masters but had

never put it on their license and so there was no way we could account for them in our calculation and they were employees who were with us. Um and so you have to also look at the other part if DPI remember the state in their budget had also said that they were going to give masters pay if if the house budget had been approved. these individuals would not have qualified had that gone through either. So, it's just a matter of we go we exhausted the the funds and and again, if we want to go, you know, again, continue and and spend out, we can, but we set a budget target and got the money. We told them how many people we we had plus we put in a space for growth. We exceeded that. Um, and so we learned some things through that that there were pe we have people who got their masters and for whatever reason they never put it on their license probably because they knew they wouldn't get paid for it. I can they're not going to pay that. I think the the the teacher was right. You have to pay a fee to get it added to your license.

65 or 70.

So why would Yeah. Was it 70? Is it 70? Yeah. And so why would you add that if you know the state wasn't going to pay you for it? So I get that. Um and so that's where we're running into those individual go back to I mean it's you know uh somewhere the the 11 like 29 we accounted for more than that so we had people who left

and so that's where that space of 11 plus the additional eight again it was just making sure that we we are uh we exhausted the resources to provide the the stipend uh to those eligible teachers the ones who are in the pipeline right now or who came after the fact. We didn't I don't think there was any whether you were here before or not here before. It was go ahead and get your stuff in. We encouraged them. We work with DPI to help them get it done.

We wanted we want this was some this was again another good thing where we were trying to provide uh our our employees with um you know uh I think some messaging got kind of mixed up here. Um because I think some people thought if I just have a masters and I say I have a m but there has to be you have to have the M on your license. That's always been the case. It's always been the case. And so um I think we're we we are in a good position to add this as an expansion for our next uh next year and and move this forward. And that's what we want we really um had planned to do all along. Ideally, this was what the board got um when we came to you saying, "Here's where the state didn't honor again, Miss M. Turner. The state didn't honor their uh responsibility to us to pay them. We're going to try to fill that gap

means we have to go to commissioners and in our budget."

Yes.

And I'm what I'm afraid of is that commissioners have been overly generous.

I agree. They got a county to run. And if they have to raise taxes for us to be able to accommodate people, don't they understand that they're going to pay for it on the other end? Because the taxes are going to be raised if they're Chatt County residents.

They're not. I guess they don't care,

right?

But if they're Chatt County residents, they're they're paying they're getting pennies and they're having to pay those pennies. I don't know.

And and I get that, Miss Turner. My my job is always to bring you the best recommendation and then we take it forward. You all could say no, but that's what I was hoping to do to provide that. We wanted to provide that to employees. So

I just wish people would go and take all these crowds to Raleigh, knock on that door because that's the proper building,

not

they're not there right now.

[laughter]

True. True. We'll wait till they come back in.

Sorry, Dr. M. You can go ahead. So, let me

I'll wrap up.

Um, we do want to point out, and this was important to be able to share in this forum, this all began with the North Carolina General Assembly statutory changes in the 20134 school year. Specifically, that graduate programs had to have started by the individual by August the 1st, 2013 in order for the state to place the employee on the master salary schedule. Important to note is that at no time did NCDPI cease processing updates to lensure for certified staff. Much like Dr. Jackson pointed out, many staff just said, "Why bother? Uh the state's not honoring it." Okay. So, our communication to staff will continue to first and foremost be as follows. If you have a masters in education or education related master's endorsement, update your professional educator's license issued by NCDPI to include the master's degree. This provides assurance and security for future general assembly appropriations related to the reinstatement of master's pay. It's not a guarantee that the state would not devise new rules for implementation. But at least the assurance you've done all you can to be eligible for consideration. For staff with non-education related masters, we'll continue to work directly with them and just help them determine eligibility. Really sum summing up in a lot of what you've heard tonight. Our stipen model now stable, aligned, sustainable for year two. The M's pay initiative still reflects a strategic investment in recruitment and retention for year one with a plan to develop an expansion for

year two. And with these revisions and monitoring both programs demonstrate our local commitment to staff and students while ensuring fiscal responsibility. So, you know, the the the big piece here for all of us, I think, is um we can um if if this board wishes to direct this superintendent to do otherwise, I'm ears are wide open. But otherwise, we really believe that we are working very hard to operate in the this new environment that we find ourselves. All right. Um, apologize to y'all. Thank y'all for staying very much. I know it's long night.

I love y'all being here.

Who are you going to ask them to be here every time?

No. Okay. But I just I enjoy looking at them. [laughter]

All right. Our next schedule board of education meeting is Monday, December the 8th, 2025 at 5:30m. Do I have a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. Second.

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

I oppose like sign. Thank you.

Thank you everybody for being here. Thank you staying with us. Appreciate that very much. I was asking

question.