Regular Session

the assistant superintendent for academic services and instructional support. Um, thank you so much for joining us this evening for the 2025 academic awards celebration. We have so much to celebrate here in Chattam County Schools. Our students are competitive. As you can see, we have standing room only. And this is not all of our students who have won this year. These are just ones we have not formally um presented awards to at previous board meetings. This evening we will have over 60 students to recognize. These students are first place winners at the state level event or the regional first place if they do not have a state level competition for that event. These students have already received their awards, plaques, trophies, medals, and all of those types of things. Um but we will have a small momento for you from Chattam County Schools this evening. Before we begin, before we begin calling our students for recognition, please welcome our board chair, Mr. Gary Leonard, for opening [Applause] remarks. I want to w I want to welcome everyone here. If there's any parents or students still out there, if y'all shoe them in the door, we got room. We'll make room. Y'all just slide around. We we want to make sure they're in here before we start. Um and as they move, just thank you so much for being here for our academics and of course our arts awards. Um two or three things. First of all, I want to thank our administrative staff for at each of the schools and and at central services for offering a lot of these programs. Uh many school systems don't offer as many as Chattam County does. That's that's one. I want to thank our students for the high level proficiency that you show to uh be here to get these awards and the work that you put in and also the extra time that you have to put in.

Thank you for that. And of course, I want to thank of course our parents and we have any grandparents here. Anybody that's involved in that process knows that when kids get to a certain age, you've got to run like crazy and move them everywhere. So, thank y'all for taking that time to make sure that they're able to do these programs and get these awards. So, thank you again and we'll go ahead and move on with Dr. Jackson and our program. So, good afternoon everyone and thank you all for being here. Uh what a great showing uh for the work that we do um here in our schools. It's a privilege to stand here uh as we gather to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of these students. Um, I want to make sure that we are crystal clear that our goal here tonight is to recognize um the outstanding uh academic achievements and commitment to growth um that our students have uh not only demonstrated but uh exhibited as they have invested in themselves artistically, athletically and academically. Uh we try to make these opportunities available regularly to our students. Um but we want you to continue to push us to open new doors, to try new things, to have us consider new opportunities for you. You've challenged yourselves, set high standards, and consistently shown what is possible when talent meets hard work and opportunity. Your success is a testament to your discipline, your creativity, your perseverance, and to the power of what we can do when a school system comes together around community and ensures that opportunities are made available to you. We celebrate each of you not only for what you've accomplished, but for

what, excuse me, but for who you are and who you are becoming. You represent the very very best of one Chadam and your success makes us proud. Thank you for inspiring us. Thank you for representing your schools, your families, and this district with excellence, pride, and a competitive spirit. You are the reason we do this work and you are proof that the future is bright here in Chattam County. This year, our district's theme is shine. And tonight, you are shining brilliantly. Keep shining. Because of you, we are one Chadam for all students. Congratulations and thank you. [Applause] Tonight we want to um preview a video for you that really speaks to who we are as a district, our students, and all the wonderful things that we do to make sure that they have opportunities and that every single child in our district has opportunities. Thank you. Enjoy. [Music] [Applause] Heat up here.

Heat. Heat. Heat up here. We truly are one Chadam. And one of the things we like to say in our district is we want every student in our district to have a pathway that they can shine. So you often hear us talk about our three A's. We want students to be able to find a pathway in academics, athletics, or arts or two of those or all three of those. But we want every student to be able to be successful here in Chattam County Schools. This Last year we have celebrated a number of things. You're going to see some of these students um recognized here tonight, but these are

just a few of the highlights for academics that you see here. We have state and national level winners. We have students receiving amazing scholarships, students receiving recognition in the arts, teachers receiving recognition in the arts, and you'll hear about sports a little bit later, but we're going to start this evening with the arts awards. We're going to announce these winners by category and by grade level span. Students, you will come up and you'll shake our board of education members hands. They're going to be standing right here in front of this table. You guys can go ahead and get in place. You'll also receive a small token from us, a one cadam magnet that you can put on anything that you would like. You will then remain standing with the board of education to take a photo for your group category. And then after the photo, you're going to exit out that door. Mr. Poston is over there. He's going to make sure that you get out that door safely. And then you'll also go into the lobby where you can take additional photos. And at the end of our We also have a reception with some light snacks and refreshments for you. Families, you can also take photos. We have a red carpet out there with the Chattam County Schools backdrop. Um, thank you again for being with us this evening. Your continued support of your students and our schools makes all of this possible. Mr. Brian de Christopharo is our arts instructional program facilitator and he will begin calling out our next awards. It is a busy busy time for the arts. Um, this time of year lends itself to the culmination of what your students have been working out on throughout the course of the year. Um, we have some awesome events to uh call out today. Starting with our Yes. Starting with our all state band events. Um, starting with Pard, we

have Hudson Brown, uh, middle school allstate band on trombone. Uh, Hudson, if you'll go ahead and head that way and start shaking some [Applause] hands. Pax Henry, All State Jazz Band on Tener Sachs. Winston Hendris, uh, All State Jazz Band on trombone. Gabriel Tao, uh, All State Jazz Band on trombone as well. And Aphilia Leadford, All State Jazz Band trombone as [Applause] well. Um, in addition to that, uh, the Pard Eighth grade band had the opportunity this year to participate and perform at our state level conference, NCMEA. It's a huge, huge honor. Um, and to represent the entire eighth grade band is Jonah Norris. I may have gone out of order. I apologize. Um, continuing on with our all-state awards, um, from C4th, and I'm not sure if they were able to attend today. Again, it's a very busy time of year. Um, we have Andrew Catsori from C4th High School, 1112 all state band on flute. Jackson Vaughn, uh, 1112 band on clarinet. Ethan Usher, all state, uh, 910 band on tuba. And then moving on to Northwood High School, we have Sabrina Wright, Northwood High School, all state 1112 band on bassoon. [Applause] already mentioned Jonah. Sorry I went out of order. It was just on my list.

Um, moving on to the International Thespian Society state competition. Um, we had several students that participated in this. Um, all the names are up there on the board. However, we have one representative here who uh wrote both adjudicated pieces. Um her name is Abigail Zallen. Um [Applause] yeah, not only did she write both adjudicated pieces, but they earned superiors on both adjudicated pieces, which is the highest markings that you can receive. Um, moving on uh to our DPAC Rising Stars, we have um two schools that uh made it into the finalist categories of our DPAC rising stars. Um, starting with C4th, uh, Larkin Ragland from C4th, uh, was nominated as a top 20 actress for DPACK Rising Stars, which is a huge, huge accomplishment. She's also here to represent C4 uh, Thesbian Society as a whole, where they also earn best costume design um, from August uh, Bazinski and Eli And then moving on to Jordan Matthews High School. Uh they earned best ensemble for Matilda. And here to represent uh all of Jordan Matthews is Delaney Fquay. [Applause] One small additional mention um Larkin along with um Ever Spell and Abigail Swallen uh and Delaney Fquay as well as

David Tabon. They will be performing on May 29th at DPAC um as a result of their honors. Lastly, we have the NC Elementary Honors Chorus. Uh this group of five students here from Chattam Grove Elementary School. Uh again, they got to perform at our state convention. uh NCMEA. Um again a very huge honor. These students are William uh Snagress Hoshaw who is a secondyear participant. Dorothy Sue Young, James Cole, Hannah Hoops, and Alejandro Perez Pales. And if you are a teacher that's here uh with your kids, would you just wave a hand and just be recognized? I know Miss Clemens is here somewhere as well. A testament to their hard work and dedication to the arts. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Carla Murray and I'm the executive director for elementary education and I'm here tonight to present a few elementary um recognitions. Um the first one is for the Carson Scholars Scholarship. The Carson Scholarship Fund awards $1,000 schol college college scholarships to students in grades four through 11 who excel academically and are dedicated to serving their communities. Scholarship winners receive the honor of being named Carson Scholars and are awarded an Olympic size medal and a trophy for their school to celebrate their

accomplishments. We are proud tonight to recognize from Chattam Grove Elementary School, Katherine [Applause] Gwin. and from Perry Harrison Elementary School, Beatatrice Allen. Next, we are going to recognize the North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities Quiz Bowl. Quiz Bowl is an academic competition in which teams compete in a fastpaced format to answer questions. And tonight we're pleased to recognize the North Cadam Elementary School team. And if you see your name when I call it, come on up. Luca Cooiara, Keelin Cochran, go right on up. Congratulations. This team competed together. I called Keelin Cochran. Um, if you'll come on up. Preston Dupri, Ashton Edwards, Christian Hartlo, Logan Heath, Charlie Mounts, and Scarlet Sherwin. Congratulations, guys. Next, the North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities Quill for the Elementary level. Quill teams of students created written products from a prompt and a specific text type. And again, we have a North Cadam Elementary team to recognize. Ella Harris, come on up. Sophie Jazwick, come on up. Nia

Laramore, Scarlet Sherwin, Mo Sto, and Andrew Zwallan. They were all part of that team. Very nice job, guys. We have another recognition for the North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities for Forensics. Students memorized literary works and presented original speeches. And again, we have a North Chattam Elementary Jaguar to congratulate Ella Harris. Come on up. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Leseanda Hester. I'm the executive director of middlegrades here here in our district. Tonight, I will recognize middle school students. Our first winners are our regional science fair winners and the North Carolina Science Fair Foundation host an annual science and engineering fair for students in grades three through 12. This year, more than 1,500 students from across our state participated in this fair. The students that participated represented 10 regions across the state and the following were winners at the regional fair. We have a team of students from Chadam Middle School and these students won a special award the NC1 water and the NC water award and that's Raphael Magana Selenus Natsumi Moran excuse me Natsumi Marian and Aiden Seria Mora congratulations [Applause] And from Margaret Pard Middle School, we had Paxton Shrammik. He was a first he

won first place at the regional fair and he went on to compete at our state fair. Next, we have our NC Beta Club. And this is our National Junior Beta Club, which is a division of the National Beta Club for students in grades six through eight. It's an honor society that promotes academic achievement, character development, leadership skills, and service among middle school students. And our winner in first place from Bennett School is Kylie Beck. Kylie will compete in the national convention later this summer. So, good luck, Kylie. Next we have our NCSA quill winners and this is our association for scholastic activities which promotes academic excellence and success for North Carolina students through scholastic competitions. The quill is a team of four and students create written products based upon a prompt that's given to them at that time. From George Moses Horton Middle School, we have Aia Ben Argie, JD Johnson, Helen Moose, Brenley Ravenous, Ashlin Reed, and Ebony Swehard. [Applause] Congratulations. And last but not least,

again, our NCASA speech competition. We have a student from Georgia Moses Horton. And this competition students had to memorize literary works and then were later presented. They had to present their original speeches and we have Mr. Trey Frasier and Trey was an original orator. He was the champion for that. And he was a state as well as regional winner. Congratulations Trey. [Applause] Welcome. My name is Michael and I'd like to recognize our Governor's School uh invite uh those who received the invitations from Governor School tonight. The North Carolina Governor School is this four-week summer residential program for gifts and talented high schooler. It integrates academic disciplines, the arts, and unique courses on each of its two campuses. And learning focuses on the exploration of the most recent ideas and concepts in each discipline and it does not involve credit or test grades and students are selected through a competitive process after being nominated by their public schools. This year, Chattam County Schools had 11 students selected to go and at this time we'd like to recognize the students who were selected to attend Governor's School. So, if you will please come forward as I call your name. from Chattam Central High School. Payton Douglas, Heidi Vicente Perez from Jordan Matthews High School, Carly Cardman, Grace

Debnham, Jacob Eubanks, and from Northwood High School, Miana Taylor and Adrien Willlet could not be with us. Um, C4th High School, uh, Sarah Hartman, Anderson Kesler, Andrew Costi, and Laura Morgan. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Michelle Burton and I will be recognizing um high school students this evening. So, the first students I would like to recognize received a perfect ACT score. So, a composite score of 36 um is considered a perfect score. Millions of students take the ACT, but only about 3,000 of them achieve a perfect score. So from Jordan Matthews, I'd like to recognize Aiden [Applause] Leith. And from Northwood High School, Henry St. Clair. So, Chattam County Schools has the pleasure of having one of our students be awarded the North Carolina Community College academic excellence award. And only one student is awarded this recognition at each of the community colleges in the state. And so, from Chattam Early College, we'd like to recognize Jack Trigalion. We have a Gates scholar among us. Gates

scholars display outstanding academic records. They must be in the top 10% of their graduating class. They must demonstrate leadership and exceptional personal success. And this scholarship um ensures that students don't leave college with any bills, loans, or debt. And from Jordan Matthews, we'd like to recognize Yasmin Lopez [Applause] Mun. We also have among us a national merit scholarship finalist. Students that are have this designation have high academic standing and the finalists must have consistently high academic record throughout high school including at least one college course. And from C4th High School, we'd like to recognize Paige Vandervine for being a National Merit Scholarship finalist. We also have the pleasure this evening of recognizing students who participate in career and technical student organizations when they reach the high school level. It is um a great honor for them to excuse me participate in competition on the regional, state, and national level. This evening, we would like to recognize some of our winners from Future Farmers of America from Northwood High School in the category of farm business management. We'd like to recognize Adrien Fedra, Jackson

Freeman, Eli Ming, and Zeke Wicker. The next category of winners comes from a unique category called flora culture. Flora culture is the practice of cultivating and managing flowering and ornamental plants for their beauty and use in various contexts including gardens, bouquets, and decorative floral displays. from Northwood High School. We would like to recognize Jana Lurch, Dayton Prder, Carara Thomas, and Holly Lindsay. In addition to Future Farmers of America, we have students who participate in HOSA, which is the future health professionals organization. Tonight, we would like to recognize Payton Collins from Seorthth High School. Payton. Payton was awarded the Barbara James Service Award and this opportunity is for contributing members of their community who perform volunteer service hours related to health. And last but not least, we would like to recognize students who participated in Skills USA in the career pathway showcase. These students develop

a project that will benefit their school, industry, or community with a focus on career preparation. And from Chattam Central High School, we have Elijah Everwine, Giovani Gonzalez Santana, and Evelyn Lopez Pad. Thank you. Thank you again for being here. As you can see, our students are competitive. They are smart. They are driven. And we thank you for all the things that you do to support our students each and every day. Parents, community members, principals, other community members. We thank you again. We have a small reception prior to our board meeting. So, please help yourselves. And thank you again. Have a good evening.

We will call our let's see meeting to order for uh Monday, May the 12, 2025. Do I have a motion to move to close session for the items listed on the agenda? Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you.

ourselves back in open session. Uh my apologies, we had a little delay, but but we're getting there. Thank you'all for your patience and again thank you all for being here as we um do the district's business. Um do I have let's see uh Mr. Ham, you want get started, please. Um not going to have a like I always do. Um let's just remember the end of the school year. U a lot is on our students, maybe more is on our parents, and then maybe even more is on our teachers and principles. So, uh end of the school year is a is a unique time of the year. Everybody's excited and there's a lot to do. So, let's keep our schools and our thoughts and prayers at this time. Let's have a moment of silence. Thank you. I'm going to do something I should have done just a moment ago. Just a uh personal moment just a second. Last week I was unable to be at the U educator awards uh last week and Miss Turner graciously filled in for me. I have thanked her personally but I want to thank her publicly and thank the board for their abilities to work together and try to come the best solution for our children. So um if y'all could give them a hand, I would

appreciate it tremendously. Thank you. Let's all rise for our pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. Uh, do I have a motion to adopt the agenda? Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel agenda? Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. And do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Some move. Got a motion and a second. All in favor with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you. Okay. Dr. Jackson, superintendent's announcements and comments. Yes, sir. Good evening, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to again share the great things that are going on in the district. Uh, with it being educator appreciation, we um we're going to change gears just a little bit. And so I'd like to uh in in your my report is a part of your um packets. Um but we have prepared uh a video um uh for you that would speak to the things that we believe are important and that we celebrate uh in our district. And then we'd like to share with you a second video that will um I believe was created by um one of our schools as a motivational uh opportunity uh at uh one of our schools uh for as we prepare our young

people for the end of the year assessments. Both are examples of what we do, what we believe, and what we honor here uh in Chattam County Schools. So I'm going to defer and let those two items speak. As my report tonight, [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

That's We've worked so hard. We've come so far. sharpened our skills to reach the stars. Science, math, and read. We've learned so much, we know what to do. E, we're on our [Music] way. Yes, he will shine that day. With focus strong and mind so bright, we'll show our skills and win this fight. strategy strong and knowledge wide. We're feeling brave with bulldog pride. Step by step, we'll do our best and let our hard work pass the test. E O G. We're on our [Music] way. S E will shine that

day. With strong and mind so bright, we'll show our skills and win this fight. strategy strong and knowledge wide. We're feeling brave with bulldog pride. We'll do our best and let our hard work pass the test. We're on our way. I see shine that day. When is strong and my so bright? We'll show our skills and win this fight. Show our skills and win this fight [Music] and chair. I'm a musician that has a great hook. A great hook. I was gonna start singing it. Thank you all to our to the staff at Siler City. You want to tell me that teacher's name? Okay. Uh so when you see him uh you

thank him and we'll go on. Next we'll have our academic uh student recognition. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm Dr. Amanda Moran, assistant superintendent for academic services and instructional support. And this evening we recognized over 60 students across a number of our schools for academic and arts excellence and awards. These were first place winners at state and regional um competitions in a number of different areas. Our students are competitive. I think that's the word of the evening. Our students are competitive. The slides um you slip. There you go. Uh the slides are listed here and it has all of the different awards as well as all of the students names for anyone in the public who might want to see that. And again, we just thank all of our teachers and staff and parents for all of the great things you do for our students so that they can shine with these types of scholastic events. Thank you. Good evening. Uh each year in May, we recognize our high school athletic recognitions. And I'm proud to say that all of our schools have quite a bit to be proud of. Uh Mark, if you go to the next slide, this shows you the first three. TAM Central did not actually have any student athletes in attendance this evening, so we'll be skipping them, but that'll show you what they achieved this year. And our first group will be Jordan Matthews. So, Jordan Matthews does not have any students here. Oh, okay. So, Northwood will go first. So, their principal is here and last come to the podium and announce the student athletes that are here.

Good evening. My name is W Young Young Bloodood and I'm the principal of Northwood High School. This evening I would like to recognize our student athletes, Dr. Jackson, Mr. Leonard Ford. Thank you so much for your time today. All right, so first we have swimming with Tumani Sissoko, Jesse [Applause] Sykes, and Jesse Sykes. They were coached by Rebecca Reid. We have women's basketball who was coached by Carrie Stubs, Nia Henry, Michaela Glover, Shayla Glover, wrestling is Elijah Pharaoh. And then next we have our men's 2A state championship runner up. First is Cam Fowler. [Applause] Bo Harvey, Chad Graves, Raj Torres, Josiah Brown,

Grant Lair, Finn Sullivan, Nean Lano, Jordan Holder, [Applause] Asher Brooks and Parker Cardat. Head coach was Matt Brown. Assistant coaches were Ethan Pulis and Demetrius Brown. Next we have Taylor Thompson. Women's golf, Bana Graham. And Anna Grace Zeremba, [Applause] we have Julia Hall for cross country and track. Sarah Wilds for volleyball. And these are our student athletes. And now, Dr. Burkos from Jordan Matthews High School will come to present theirs. Good evening, Dr. Jackson, Mr. Leonard and members of the board, join me in congratulating um our first ever female the first ever Mid Carolina 1A 2A women's wrestler of the year, Alex Alexandra Zumano Garcia.

[Applause] And then our second recognition is our student athletic advisory council represented by Sophia Mkusen and Kelsey Morris. They won the NCHSSA commissioners trophy for community service in region five. All right. And now for C4th High School, we have their principal, Dr. St. Clair. Uh, good evening, Dr. Jackson, members of the board, and Mr. Leonard. Excited to be here with you all to represent C4. As you can see, quite a few athletic recognitions to do tonight. However, we want to do all those tonight because they're not all here. They're still in sport, but there are quite there's a few we do want to do. However, I want to recognize uh tonight and congratulate Duncan Parker. Uh Mr. Parker is a three sport athlete. He's here representing baseball and football and basketball. Um he is representing the baseball team which won the conference regular season and tournament champions. And our baseball team is still competing now. They will be playing tomorrow night. Um hopefully with the rain. Yeah, with the rain tomorrow night. So, congratulations to Duncan and our baseball team. I now want to recognize two another amazing young men, Kenny Thompson and Whan Vos. Both these young men were a part of our allconerence cross country team. Um, our cross country team [Applause] were our men's cross country team were conference champions and state runner-ups. U, both these young men also are part of our men's outdoor track and field team. Wayan Vos was also part of the our first men's indoor state championship team. And so again, we want

to recognize those men for a job well done. And that is all the athletic recognitions for the evening, but you can tell that our teams did quite well at all of our schools and we have quite a bit to be proud of. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm Chris Bon, senior executive director of excellence opportunity. Um, here tonight to honor our student advisory council. Miss Fowl and I had a distinct pleasure of um facilitating our meetings this year. Our student advisory council is composed of students from grades 6 through 12 from our middle and high schools. We met quarterly. Our students provided valuable feedback on topics aligned with our one chap strategic plan. This year's discussion centered around student leadership, community engagement, student safety, and feedback on how we can become even better as a school district. So, as I call their names, please come forward. Um, Lynley Bryant from Bondley [Applause] School, Colin Palmer from Bonley School. From Chadam Early College, we have Sloan Carter. Also from Chadam Early College, Nyla Miller. From Cadam Central, we have Joseé Albera. Also from Cadam Central, we have Aralan Rios [Applause] Francisco. From George Moses Horton Middle School, we have Alexander

Holenwwater from Jordan Matthews High School. We have Kayla Urana Sinsa. Also from Jordan Math News High School, we have Alicia Perez Rodriguez. and representing Jordan Matthews High School, Jacob Eubanks. And from Pard Middle School, we have Emma Heath. Also from Pard, we have Cole Irwin. [Applause] from C4 High School. Um we have Nehemiah Aa and also in our student advisory council from C4th, Whan Vos. That concludes our members of our student advisory council in attendance for tonight. Our next piece of um recognition for tonight um is our dual language program. again, Chris Poston, senior executive director of excellence and opportunity. Um, thank you for this opportunity. We proudly recognize our outstanding student leaders from C4th and Jordan Matthews High School tonight. Um, as our excellence and opportunity champions, these seniors have been a part of Chattam County Schools dual language program since their since their kindergarten days. Um, dual language, as you know, initiated in at Sal Elementary

in 2004 and then we were able to expand the program to North Cadam in 2013. Through years of dedication, these students have exemplified academic excellence, strong leadership, and unwavering commitment to biiteracy. This year, we will have over 65 students in Chhattam County schools schools receive a global language endorsement on their diploma. These four students um are part of that 65 um We're really really proud of them. So I will read a little bit about each student as they come forth. First student is Sophia Marcusen. Tell you a little bit about Sophia. Sophia has been a part of Chattam County School's dual language program for 13 years beginning in kindergarten at Solers Elementary School. Sophia wrote that dual language has impacted her in many ways, opening new doors and opportunities, allowing her to build relationships and develop new perspectives. She plans to utilize her bi literacy seal to obtain further um career opportunities. Um she also plans to attend community college for her first two years and then transfer to UNCC Chapel Hill. That's Marcus. [Applause] Um, Zuri Tomas Cabanas, a senior at Jordan Matthews High School. Read a little bit about Ziri. Ziri has been a part of Chamkai Schools for 13 years. She truly values the impact dual language has had on her ability to help her own immigrant parents. It has allowed her to see the importance of being bilingual and allowed her to be the bridge between two people who cannot communicate. She plans to utilize her beritacy seal to assist her in her future career of medical interpreting. She says that she um would like to this will help her be more advanced and she plans to attend the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and study in language acquisition in

college. So zero we have our two students for C4th Javanni Sierra Rojas. So a little bit about Gavanni. Javanni has been a part of dual language since kindergarten as well at North Chattam. He shared that dual language program has strengthened his communication skills, sharpened his understanding of Spanish grammar, and allowed him to build meaningful connections across many different cultures. These experiences have not only prepared him for academic success, but also shaped him to be a more thoughtful global-minded scholar. We're really proud of Giovanni as we are with all of our students. He's been award awarded the prestigious Odyssey scholarship valued at $120,000 and he plans to attend Elon University. And our final student tonight is Rebecca Sanchez Perez, also a senior at C4. Um, Rebecca started her dual language journey at North Cadam as well. um through the support of the dual language program, Spanish honor society, and OOLP. Um she says she's developed a strong foundation of identity and belonging. These experiences have deepened her appreciation for the Latinx culture and helped her grow both academically and personally. Um being bilingual, um she said to us in her interview, "Is my superpower, I'm inspired to pursue, um our future in criminal law or immigration law at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where she hopes to use her voice to advocate for others." Rebecca Sanchez. Thank you.

Good evening, board members, Superintendent Jackson, and guests. As most of you know, I'm the district's public information officer, Jessica Pion. Uh this evening, I have the privilege of recognizing two incredible members of the Chattam County Schools family. Um our champion of character is unable to be here this evening, but I still want to tell you about her because she's pretty amazing kiddo. Um so, first it's my great pleasure to recognize our April Champion of Character, Clara Jane CJ White. Uh she's from Perry Harrison Elementary School. And I'm going to do one more We don't see her, but if she's here, join me at the podium. Okay. Well, I'm going to tell you about her anyway. Um, so, as many of you know, each month we recognize a student who exemplifies the traits we value most. Um, and for April, this focus was on respect and compassion. These aren't just words on a poster or bulletin board. They're really powerful actions. Treating others with care, listening deeply, noticing when someone's in need, and stepping up um without being asked. CJ did exactly that. uh without prompting or expecting anything in return. She spent months handcrafting Stanley Cups. Um and she gave them for to every staff member at Perry Harrison and it was a heartfelt thanks of appreciation from her. From teachers and support staff to school leaders, CJ made sure that nobody was left out. Her project was creative, thoughtful, and honestly quite remarkable in scope. But as her nominator shared, this was just one example of the ways that CJ shows up in her school and community every day with kindness, inclusivity, and an unwavering sense of respect for others around her. She is a model student, a role model to her peers, and a young person who reminds us what it truly means to leave things better than how we found them. So, congratulations to CJ. We wish she could be here, but we would we thank her anyway for her wonderful contribution to our schools. I do know our Power One recipient is

here. So, at this time, um, I'm also honored to recognize our April Power One winner, Miss Melinda Chase, who is the cafeteria manager at Chattam Central High School. And I invite her to join me at the podium. So, thank you. This award is given to individuals who exemplify the incredible impact one person can make. And you, Miss Chase, are a shining example of that spirit. Every day, Miss Chase brings a warm smile, a can do attitude, and an unwavering commitment to serving students and supporting her team. Whether she's jumping in to serve meals, greeting students by name, or helping train a new staff, she consistently goes above and beyond to make the cafeteria a welcoming space for all students. She doesn't just manage the lunchroom, she cultivates a community. Her flexibility, dedication, and genuine care are felt by everyone who walks through those cafeteria doors. We are so fortunate, Miss Chase, to have you in the district. And tonight, we're proud to celebrate you um and the meaningful differences that you make each and every day. Congratulations. And we have a small small token of our appreciation. Um it's a power of one and power of one pen and then a gift. Thank you so much. And I invite you to shake [Applause] hands report, Mr. Chair. Okay. always a really good part of our meeting, Dr. Jackson. We appreciate all all the people being here uh to do that and all the students being here. So, we'll move now to our uh public comments portion of our meeting. Uh just

remind you come to the podium. Um you have three minutes. Please stick to that three minutes. We appreciate it. If you got extra comments uh that you would like to share, Miss Sloan would take those in particular. They're written form. And um I'll start with let's see uh Dr. Clyde Harris, please. Thank you. I tried to get in touch with Mr. Poston all week to thank him for inviting me to that BSU uh celebration. And I'll be very brief. It's the first time in my lifetime I have seen kids so excited, so exhilarated and laser focused on the presenter and what was being presented. And they were even if you were in a church, you would say they say, "Amen." But they I mean they they were really excited and it sort of excited to me because they seemed to be, you know, not texting. They paying attention to everything that was going on. and it gave me some ideas about the mentoring that I'm doing right now and meeting with the mayor of Sil City and we're trying to do some things to sort of help what we can do out in the community because what I'm learning there's a lot of needs right around here. I've been in Randolph County working for the last several years in mental health and mentoring and whatever and there's a lot to do right here. some sort of focusing uh things, you know, right here in Chattam County. And I just want to tell you publicly that I appreciate it. That message was outstanding. I mean, this lady got up there with three points and she got it and the kids were I mean excited, exhilarated, and it's a message that will resonate with any group of people and that's what you want. I mean that was something you videotaped and showed to every middle and high school student here in Chattam County. I just want to thank you and I appreciate what you're doing and we will meet with that group with the mayor and a few other

people that are really interested in what you're doing. I didn't bother about trying to tell them because I know there's a lot more than what I saw, but what I've seen is a good start for a lot of things here in this county. So, we'll be meeting with you and help all the schools out as much as we can. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we'll move to let's see, our next speaker is uh Josie Quick. My name is Josie Quick. I am a senior at Seaborth High School. Um I don't know if anybody remembers, but I was here at the meeting in September, and I think I said the exact same thing um last time that I am, this is probably the most intimidating thing I've ever done in my life. Um I would like to say now that I'm addressing a very sensitive um subject that is kind of difficult to talk about. So um I'm sorry if I become a little I also took my AP calculus exam today, so I'm a bit brain fried right now. Um, let me start by saying I very much appreciate what this board does for our county and its schools. You all are very uh deliberate with your leadership of students um and their support of their needs and it does not go unnoticed as you can see by the awards and congratulations to so many students tonight. Um, I also finally remember your encouragement of my student advocacy when I came and spoke at the meeting in September. So, thank you so much for that. I would also additionally to express my sincere apologies to you, Mr. Leonard. You received an angry email from me about a month and a half ago about this uh situation and I was not in the best frame of mind at the time. Um I've had more time to gather my thoughts and do more personal research, so I apologize. Um today, I would like to ask for your help or at least the acknowledgement of what I and several other C4 students went through. Um last year we had a very problematic math teacher, Mr. Jonathan Angus, who's um I don't think you can bring that up. That would be a close I'm so sorry. Am I correct on that? That would be close session on personnel. Okay. I I apologize. I did not know that. I'm so sorry about that. But we'll reach out to

you, Jo. Yeah, sure. Yeah, we'll reach out to you. Okay. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to information items. Let's see. Uh NCSBA springs. Uh more updates here coming. Dr. Moran. Thank you. Right, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, as you know, we've been working over a year now to revise our CCS board policy manual. Every single policy will be reviewed and touched. Um, and each month we've been bringing a new series. Congratulations. Tonight, you approve the last official series, the 6000 series in your consent agenda. We're going to clap. I'm I'm sure it's been a lot of work. A lot of work. Tonight, um we do have for you the North Carolina School Boards Association spring updates. Um it's a small set of about 29 policies. Um and then in June, we'll bring to you what we affectionately call bringback policies, a few policies that we missed a few things with. Um so you're not quite done yet. Um tonight's revisions are largely related to title nine changes and so almost all of the policies um that's the main cause of the revision. There are also some small footnote changes and typos in a few of the policies. I'm going to point out a couple um policy 1720 is title nine. Um that what's confusing about it is we just brought this to you I think back in January February. So what it's doing because of the legal changes, it's basically reverting us back to the prior policy. So on one line you'll see that we're adopting this new version and on another line you're going to see some uh repeals. So that's kind of why you're seeing that there. Um another one, um there are a couple

related to remote board participation in board meetings and the voting methods related to that. And the change there is specific to um votes that are happening in a remote meeting during a state declared emergency have to be taken by roll call. Um and so that's both of those two policies 2302 and 2342 and that's specific to board meetings. Um evaluation of student progress 3400. This is a a change um in state policy related to middle school students who are taking high school courses. So, um what it basically requires here is that we follow any high school um legal grading requirements for students in middle school who are taking those high school level courses. And we have a number of our students who take um high school courses in middle school. And there are also a couple of specific changes to um 4040 staff student relations and 4240 child abuse related um threats to child safety. Um the major change here is that we are required um to display in grades six through 12 age appropriate displays related to child abuse and we're also required in the first I believe five days, Miss Fowler, to show a video that is from the Center for Safer Schools to students in grades 6 through 12. So those are kind of two changes there and the rest are mostly footnote type changes or typos. But I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Any questions? Thank you. Be back in June. Item B, proposed academic calendar for 2627. Dr. Okay. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Uh, each year we work through our two-year cycle for a calendar proposal. Um, and again, this slide just really

encapsulates the type of workflow that we use for that. Starting with the general statutes, reviewing our local priorities, and then working on real-time feedback um to bring that to the calendar committee. Uh, that district calendar committee has representatives from each school. Um, we then use all of that information to draft out sample calendars that can then be part of a community calendar survey. So draft A, draft B were two that we worked with for 2026 27. The major difference between the two, there was about a day difference um in total instructional days. There was change in the use of a work date in May as an inclement weather possible makeup date and then just different approaches uh to use in January. So that was the main differences between those two calendars that the community was reviewing overall. Just uh jumping to really the end, then we'll work our way through. Um draft A was the preferred calendar for 2026 27 that includes a start day on Tuesday, August 25th, 2026, aligning spring break with the nine weeks grading period and then maintaining a real targeted use of work days based on feedback that we were seeing. What I'd like to do in our presentation tonight is just break down two themes, two really thematic categories. One was current feedback about this calendar and then some future considerations. So, this really ties into some things that we've been listening to our community about. First, um when we we've included this question on our community survey each year just to get a sense uh what our community's needs are and also that of our employees. There's a lot of variance around when school should start. If you're a parent, it should start the first Monday, the first Monday. Okay, if you're a parent, um but there's there's a lot of mixture in that. So, we continue just to evaluate the start of the school year um based on

some other factors. So, that's a that's a real variable. Um Friday or later in the week shows up as a preference for ending the school year. Again, as a parent, keep them keep them keep them. So, um, so we think that's what that that data really speaks to. But with both of those two factors, keep in mind the state legislation, how it's tied to a particular Monday and then ending by a particular Friday. So, that's I think our community has gotten used to um those factors whether they're familiar with the general assembly requirements or not. Spring break following the nine weeks when we shifted all schools to a nineweek grading period. We are able to align uh an academic break with spring break and that's become very wellreceived over these last two years. And you can see by this data um the three, four, and five categories, meaning it's of greater importance to keep spring break aligned to the nine weeks. When we start thinking about timing, um, this is this is a question we've continued to have on our survey about exams and balanced semesters and it continues to be probably of the second most um talked about item on the survey. You'll see the first most in the next slide, but the second most talked about item, there is strong interest in high school exams before winter break, but you also see balanced school semesters is equally um as valued um under the current opaces of the legislative requirements. This is a true challenge to be able to work out those two things. We are continuing to watch what the general assembly decides as far as calendar flexibility. um this would be a particular area we'd want to come back to. So that's just one you want to

discern. Will we is that going to be a a priority of yours or if you want to come back and say, "Okay, let we can look at a new drawing board and and basically scratch this proposal and go with the new because I I think it's gaining finally after about you know 150 years it's gaining some traction to get the the earlier starts but it's two different versions am I correct has one that's right a week early and then the house has quite a bit different but also did I read it could start this coming school year if it passes right that's correct so I know that changes things too yeah we've we've worked through samples even for 202526 just so we would be prepared um if at the pleasure of the board there was a request to see what that would look like but um Mr. Luner's point is is well taken there's been variance across the two chambers of the house or excuse me the general assembly in terms of what would flexibility look like and we should say flexibility in quotes because it's how they're defining just some different use of the space. The um probably the the the most responded to question is this um and I'll translate for you. Don't touch my spring break. Okay, that's that's what that um that tells you right there. Spring break is not part of the state's calendar requirements. It's a traditional practice across the state and it shall continue in Chattam County. So, so that was that was the current feedback. Um, I want to close out with just some future considerations. So, we have an open-ended um set of questions in the calendar survey where community members, teachers, students can give us some feedback about what would you want

to see. Definitely the first thing keeping a oneweek spring break, keeping it aligned with the nine weeks. So, this helps us in terms of planning future future years, maximizing work days. So there is a balance that's needed in our community. There are not enough options for working families when school is not open. That's just a fact right now. That could change in the future. Um and even our staff have commented just on a real interest in prioritizing the total number of work days. So we've been able to look at a model where we reduce that to to no greater than 10 during the school year. So, this allows us to get our work done as far as professional development and for families. Um, it really minimizes the disruptions for working families in particular all across the county. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for looking. Um, another topic that's come up. There's no specific question on our survey about year round schools. This is now the second year in a row we've heard from participants in the survey. Just an interest. It's a general question. When will they be a year round? where would it be? Um, have you thought about having a year- round school? We're finding from families who are moving from other places coming to Chattam that that provides a a more seamless transfer and connection to other school districts. So, that's of interest when we speak about a calendar. And finally, calendar flexibility because there was more in the news about this when participants completed the survey that you could tell was on their mind. and whether that amounted to having an earlier start um balancing semesters or an earlier ending that was a topic that definitely they definitely spoke to. So those are some things we just wanted to make sure we named as we as we presented that draft A uh is attached um in this agenda item. This is an information item. Um I'll take any questions and we will bring this back to you next month for consideration as an action item. Again,

this is for 27. Anyone have any questions? Thank you. And we'll move to action items. Uh the first one is the BUD Group contract renewal. And believe uh Mr. Bice and Dr. W, you going to let him sit during this? Mr. Pice, make him come up. His name's on the thing. That's the reason I was asking it. Just giving you a hard time. Dr. We'll ask him to come up and join us since he wore our top. There we go. Thank you. Yeah. But, uh, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Jackson, the next item on the agenda is the bud group renewal. Uh, this contract has grown. This is our third year contracting with the Bud Group. Uh, last year we brought this contract to you with, I believe it was, uh, 16 custodians for the summer with a bound a bonus of two on top of that. Uh, and then I think we had 35 total custodians with a total of five more for the to get us through the year to fund or to fill positions that opened up as we've been doing. Uh, that has grown and we're starting the year this year during the summer with u I pulled it up so I could take a look at it with 23 plus two more. Now, we're not adding new positions. What we're doing is we're replacing existing Chattam County Schools positions where people have retired or resigned or no longer working for us, that type of thing. So, we're not adding new positions to our custodial staff. We're just filling the open spots so that our schools have what they need to get through the summer and then to get through the 10 months. And the 10-month number has grown from it would have been overall 40 last year to now it's 45 overalls. So both of those numbers have grown. In addition, the bud group for the first time since we've

been dealing with them have given us a price increase which will be once we start the 10 months in August. And the cleaner rate has gone up 50 cents per hour. Uh that's actually when we took a look at the numbers and the existing pay rates and those types of things, that's actually a reasonable increase. So we're bringing that to you, but the contract has it is because it's 50 cents and then on top of that there was like another 17 or 18 cents I think for the uh for the uh benefits. So yes, that actually will be in there. I move CH County Schools Board of Education approve the bud group contract for July 1, 2025, June 30th, 2026 as presented. And we got an early second, but we got one. I had all the years after I said second. That's all right. We're we're good. Uh, any discussion? Any questions? Now I I've got I guess one I think couple reasons for this one is sometimes there's trouble hiring people in certain areas and the other is um is this a savings over an employee with retire benefits you know retiring benefits or it depends where they are and experience group we pay a flat rate so it depends where they would be in the experience but overall it's very comparable to what we would have been paying the advantage is that bug group is actually able to hire people in times when we were not I knew especially in certain areas of the

county thank you okay any other questions all in favor with an IO like sign thank All right. Uh 20 item B 2025 2026 school nutrition budget. Miss Smith and Miss T. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, board members, Dr. Jackson. I'm excited to be here tonight. We're going to talk about all the good things that's going on in school nutrition. Well, y'all have to tell me. Before you start, can I just I'm I'm gonna just jump the gun. Thank y'all for the lunch and breakfast for everybody this year. That has been a wonderful addition. And I know it's a lot more work, but we just I I'm so appreciative of I know our board is too. It's been fantastic. So, thank you. Yes, it's been wonderful. I've heard so many good things from families and teachers and students and it's just good all around for everybody. Um so we're just going to talk a little bit really about this year um and then we'll go about next year. So tiny. Um let me see. I promise my presentation didn't look like that. Um so of course universal free meals we offered uh breakfast and lunch and just to talk about the breakfast increase in participation which was really um odd because we've already given free breakfast and we have been for a few years but it did increase breakfast and participation by 3.6% 6% but the lunch participation increased of course and that was the most important thing almost 16% uh

districtwide so that was like a really big deal for us but on a side note for participation the highest increase of participation was in our high schools yes um breakfast went up 10% and lunch went up 17% in our high schools yes thank you um yes but as a whole now we are at 42% breakfast participation and our lunch is at almost 66% participation so that's really good um another little side note just per school on increase of participation the highest increase of lunch participation was at Pardon and C4 so thank you for covering the cost of their meals um yeah and then the breakfast was Northwood Horton and So, little side note. Um, let's see. So, for this year, we wanted to our goal for the meals this year was 1.5 million and we as of today, we're at 1.34 million. I don't I quit my countdown of school days, so I'm not sure how many are left, but we're crossing our fingers that we hit the 1.5. If we don't hit it in the regular school year, I don't see why we will not hit it with our summer meeting. We will continue to serve Tadam Charter and Central Carolina Academy next year. And just also, we had our administrative review this year, which we only have every five years, and we had an amazing review. We had no findings in the schools and only two small findings in the office. So, we've That's great. That's it's really unheard of to not have findings in schools on these reviews. Very proud of my staff. Um all the staff, especially the staff in the schools. So they are following the rules. That's a good thing. Um so next

summer feeding, we have a lot going on this summer. I worked with a lady who helped make these flyers for us. We have that in English and in Spanish and Jessica's already been sharing it for us. But we're going to do all the camps that we have in the schools. We've picked back up the Boys and Girls Clubs on both sides of the county. We have the YMCA's Horton Perry Harrison. Um so any camps that are going on and we are also excited to add two more stops in Sol City to our mobile routes. And we got we're able to have one stop in Pittsburgh this year in the Food Line parking lot. So that's new. We'll see how that goes. We hope that the east side takes advantage of that and visits our little car sitting at food line this year. And then of course all the sites that have something going all summer long, they're an open site, so kids can just show up and get breakfast or lunch any day. And we're open five days a week this year. So that's that's new for us, too. So we're excited for this one. Um that's it for this year. For next year, we don't know reimbursement rates, student participation, of course. hopefully will keep increasing. Um, our labor cost and our food cost has been continuously increasing. Um, and we are going to implement second chance breakfast for our middle school grades next year. So, that'll be exciting for the middle schoolers and they'll get a little taste of what it's like to be in high school. Um, so we are asking for an increase to the budget. Just this year alone, we've had a $600,000 increase in our labor from last year to this year. And that is attributed because I don't remember last year when I was here, we didn't have a lot of permanent staff. We had more subs. Well, now it's flipped back the other way. So, we've got more permanent staff, which means more benefits and but that's a good thing, right? We need we want permanent people. So, yeah, looking for a little bit of increase for next year. We're excited. We're going to make a few changes and the menu and the labor and just we're

crossing our fingers and hoping for the best that we can keep for free as long as we can. It was me. Permanent positions are they staying? Yeah, we are. That's the key thing. They are um because I don't necessarily catch it monthto month then when someone resigns or retires or something. We've had a few that we've hired on and I've learned to hire them on as a sub too and then that way if they don't work out it's not quite as hard for them to leave. Um but the ones that have came on as a sub and wanted to stay we've promoted them and and made them permanent. Dr. and got tired of seeing me in HR, but I think I was a little aggressive hiring, but I wasn't sure how the meals were going to go and and how many we were going to feed, and I wanted to make sure we had enough staff. So, um, as they've left, we've just not replaced them or we've shifted around. Um, and I I was told before we started that I only had a few minutes if somebody has a ball game to watch. But that's it. Thank you guys. Um, I appreciate all your support. Dr. Jackson, anybody have anyone have any questions? Of course, the budget is Are you gonna handle that or it's over on the other there, so it's good to go there. Okay. I answered a question from Mr. Ham earlier. He asked um however going to cover that cost. And luckily, we have some more student days next year, so that will help. I think we had a and this year we'll end up with 164 because of this inclement weather, but next year's like 174 or something. So that will help us tremendously. Thank you. Any other questions? I'll entertain a motion. I move that the Chattam County Board of Education

approve the 2025 2026 school nutrition budget as presented. Got a motion and a second, Miss Turner. Any other comments? Oh, by the way, boards, y'all don't have to wait on me to entertain one. Y'all just jump in anytime you got you got that motion. This was we also had school nutrition hero day was May 2nd. So, we took everybody a little bunt cake because we have nothing but love for spoke to one of them yesterday and she said it was fantastic. Said it was really good. Really good. Okay. All in favor of the motion when I I any opposed like Thank you. Thank you. Item C, Miss Smith, 2025 2026 proposed local current expense budget. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Jackson. Um, tonight we present to you our 2526 local current expense budget. Um, our Can we just drive to um operate as a dynamic, high performing organization focused on preparing students for bright and prosperous futures. Um hopefully that shows um our priorities for the coming school year. We presented those in the heads up document, but I'll go over those one more time. Um enhancing the workforce excellent uh excellence, reinstating our master supplement. Um the county was interested in doing that. Um, securing financial stability, um, our fixed benefits, cost, operational expenses, um, all those things that we have no control over. Uh, promoting equity and student achievement. Again, still just talked about our, um, free breakfast and lunch. Um, and we had asked the county for an

increase to be able to continue that um, program. and then strengthening the safety and modernization of the district um with our capital outlay funding and um all of our infrastructure needs um so on and so forth. Um this is a recap just of our funding history through from the past six years um well five years and our request for next year. Um again it's a little bit more than our heads up request. Um and the increase the the big change is an additional 200,000 in our fixed employee benefits cost. Um with the Senate budget, there was a a quite a large increase um especially on hospitalization. Um so the the county we have asked if we could increase that amount. Um so just going through the items again the restoration of master supplement benefits cost um operational ex increases our classified and certified supplement adjustment um in addition to what we are already paying u the free meals with school nutrition in addition to our substitute contract and the unified stipens unified activities stipens And then on top of that is the charter school transfer and we've already had the capital outlay um budget. Mr. Blast has already presented that to you last month. Um but there was an addition of 250,000 to that budget as well. So that brings a total increased cost of 3,178800 to our continuation budget. Are there any questions?

Go ahead. If you want to make the motion, go ahead. I ask my question. I move that the county board of education. Got a motion and a second. Um on the arts education, I see you know it it jumped quite a bit. What what are we looking at and which I'm I'm fine with. I was just wondering in case somebody asked me what are the particular things that we're looking at doing? That's a good great question. So our um the unified activities stipen. Yeah. A big portion of that was was arts. Um, so actually building that into the budget this year and also um the full-time position that was put in place last year as well. Thanks for that explanation because that way I can anybody ask that because they see that big increase. That's a huge increase on that small budget. So So that's that's a good thing. So thank you. All right. The rest of the stipens were within other programs. So any other questions? All in favor of the motion with I any oppos. Okay. Thank you. Excuse me, Miss Smith. Sorry. [Music] Uh you're back again. Item D 2025 2026 have an academic calendar revision. Dr. B. Okay, Mr. Chair, members of the board of our final hour this evening will review. Would that be something? Um, similar to the information we shared when we meet as a calendar committee and begin to look at feedback from the community. Um, what we like is an

opportunity to then make refinements to next year's calendar. And this is part of the benefit of having a two-year cycle, right? It gives it time for these calendars to sit out there. Sometimes we have changes from NCDPI about training requirements as we did a couple years back with letters training. Um, and then other times what we're able to do is to make some recommended changes that would uh reduce the number of work days during the school year. This has several benefits for us. One, it increases our banked instructional time. Most recently in January, had a had a wonderful time visiting one of our neighboring districts because there was an issue with banked instructional time. Um, this also again responds to the questions and concerns that parents particularly working families had shared about trying to strike a balance. Um and our staff our staff supports this as well. So the adjustments as noted here um it takes three days that had originally two years ago we had set out as potential teacher work days. They're now going to be student instructional days. It identifies weather makeup dates so that way families know that in advance. Um, and they also know that if we exhaust all of those dates, this is also important for staff. If we exhausted all of our available weather makeup dates, if the state did take away the idea of remote days, that's that's been talked about that they would remove those. We would then look at um the quite wellprotected and fond spring break and um and then potentially Saturdays. Um, and those of you that have been in it long enough, you may have had a Saturday school day. um you'll never forget it. So, so that that's um pretty important for us to be able to note that. Also, the revised calendar, it also includes the note that anytime staff are not able to report to work, we need to add an

additional day of employment and that's part of the requirements for 215 total employment days for staff. Um this calendar the final thing as noted at the top there it notes um differentiates district required work days where we can plan professional development and then school-based work days where schools can plan out professional development um and or allow teachers time to work in their classrooms. That was that was feedback we received from teachers as well just being able to have some protected time to do that. So we wanted to honor that as well. Got a motion and a second. Any questions for Dr. Patton? All in favor of the motion with an I. I. Any opposed? Like sign. Thank you, Dr. Patton. Before we make the announcement next meeting, China Education Foundation Representative Brittney Sander is here and thank you so much. was able to participate in a couple of the uh book fairs at a couple of schools and I enjoyed it tremendously. Great effort by Chhattam Education Foundation. Kids were ecstatic. Uh they couldn't sit down quick enough to read their books and I just enjoy watching them browse and try to decide and that some were in anguish because they couldn't make maybe that final decision on one. So, so it it was it was a wonderful experience. I just appreciate everything y'all do and our donors do to help make that uh a viable option for our students. All right, next uh regular board of education meeting Monday, June the 2nd, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. We also will also u You want to make tell who's coming on Monday? Yes. Um we the state superintendent Mo Green will be visiting schools in uh Chadam on Monday. Um, so

he will get to experience One Chadam up close and personal. So we're excited to have him and to share with him and uh he'll get to spend time with students, with staff, and with our folk here at this building. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Got a couple of motions. I'll take yours as a second, Miss Turner. And uh all in favor with an I. Thank you all for hanging with us. Appreciate it.