During its July 19, 2021, regular monthly meeting, the Bladen County Board of Education opened its meeting with the following members in attendance: Chris Clark, Dennis Edwards, Tim Benton, Gary Rhoda, Vinston Rozier, Cory Singletary (virtual), Alan West, Glenn McKoy, and Roger Carroll and Board attorney, Gary Grady. The Board took the following action:
Approval of minutes from June Board meetings – June 7, 2021 – June 14, 2021 – June 28, 2021
The Board approved all minutes with one abstention from Dennis Edwards.
Citizen Participation –
Two individuals addressed the following topics with the Board during its Public Comment period. Board Chairman Roger Carroll read the following statement aloud before public comment participation: According to Board Policy 2310 (adopted October 1, 1988), the first part of at least one regularly scheduled board meeting will be set aside for citizens to address the board through public comment. Each speaker will receive three (3) minutes to present comments; however, the public comment session will not exceed thirty (30) minutes total except by a majority vote of the board. During the public comment period, the board chair will recognize speakers in the order in which they signed in. Substitute speakers will not be permitted and speakers may not donate any portion of their time to another speaker. Board members will not respond to individuals who address the board except to request clarification of points made by the presenter.
- Student performance data, equity training for staff, MTSS, and alternative learning program (Donell Goins, Counselor at East Bladen High School)
- Support for Students Desiring to Dual Enroll in College Classes with BCC, keeping and/or increasing teaching positions, and smaller class sizes (Elizabeth Ruffin-Cox, Counselor at East Bladen High School)
BladenOnline staff has reached out to Bladen County Schools to ask the following questions. On Monday, July 26, 2021 Valerie Newton with Bladen County School responded by email stating, “Dr. Atkinson and I have received your questions and will review them to provide answers to your questions.”
As soon as BladenOnline receives more information regarding these questions we will publish the information.
1. What are your plans for the curriculum coaches that have been placed at each school? Were other positions taken away in order to accommodate these new positions?2. Do counselors have special plans to help students who are struggling with the return to in-person learning after the troubles of last school year — emotionally, mentally, and academically? If so, what are those plans?3. What are the mask requirements for students in school? Will temperature checking and COVID screening still take place, or have we passed that point? Is this a decision of the county or the state?4. Are there still a lot of positions to be filled? Will this be taken care of before school begins, or is there a chance of many long-term substitute teachers?5. Are there any new resources or plans being implemented in the classroom? If so, please explain and describe.6. Did summer school show improvement in students? If not, what is plan B for those students?
Information Items –
- Summer Learning Plan Update – Cheryl White-Smith, Chief Academic Officer, shared with the Board for information only (not requiring action)
- Maintenance Update – Rusty Worley, Maintenance director, shared with the Board for information only (not requiring action) an update on work being done by the maintenance department.
Consent Agenda – The Board approved all consent agenda items.
- 2021-2022 Pay Dates – dates of pay for BCS employees
- Surplus Property Declaration – three vehicles will be sold by sealed bid
- EC Contracts – to contract with a consultant to provide BCS career, education, and psychological evaluations of students; to contract with seven individuals to provide BCS students with homebound services.
- Child Nutrition Contract – to contract with a registered dietitian to provide consulting as needed to BCS.
Action Items
New Tar Heel School spec designs:
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- Approval of Schematic Design for New Tar Heel School Project – Rusty Worly, Maintenance director presented to the Board architect renderings of the school’s exterior. The Board approved unanimously.
- Approval of CM at Risk Contract – Rusty Worley, Maintenance director presented to the Board a negotiated contract with Bordeaux Construction to perform the following services related to the new Tar Heel school project. The Board approved unanimously.
- Work with SFL+a to design and value engineering the new School at Tar Heel
- Prepare Bid Package and Bid Specifications
- Present a GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price) for financing
- Total Fee not to exceed 3.75% of Final Cost excluding Bond
- Approval of Emergency Consent to Purchase from Bid for Replacement Chiller at West Bladen HS – Rusty Worley, Maintenance director presented a verbal request to the Board for approval; The Board approved unanimously.
- Approval to Purchase Replacement Bleachers for Condemned Sets at Bladenboro Middle and Elizabethtown Middle – Rusty Worley, Maintenance director presented to the Board a cost estimate to replace the outdoor home side bleachers at Bladenboro Middle school and the outdoor home and visitor sides bleachers at Elizabethtown Middle school. Bleachers have been condemned by the inspector. Included is an estimate to also consider replacing the indoor bleachers and backboards in the middle and high schools. The Board approved unanimously.
- Proposed Classified Employee Experience Credit and Supplemental Pay for Certifications – Dr. Antonia Beatty, Assistant Superintendent presented to the Board a proposed salary scale to pay classified employees, in addition to the local salary pay grade, a salary also based on experience credit and supplemental pay based on degree, certification, and/or license. The Board approved unanimously.
- Spring Custom Board Policy Updates overview and details here – Dr. Jason Atkinson, Superintendent presented to the Board 48 policies in the update – 23 with substantive updates and 25 with only minor changes (technical updates to statutory citations). There are no new policies in this update. Per standard procedure with custom policy updates, the Board voted to table the updates until next month to allow the members time to review the updates.
Closed Session – To go into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel, as per NCGS 143.318.11(a), to consult with an attorney, if needed, as per NCGS 143.318.11(a)(3), and to discuss student reassignment and student discipline as per the 1974 Family Rights and Privacy Act.
- Classified Employee Experience Credit and Supplemental Pay for Certifications PayScale – presented by Dr. Antonia Beatty, Assistant Superintendent of Administration for Board approval. The Board approved unanimously.
- Certified / Classified Personnel – presented by Dr. Antonia Beatty, Assistant Superintendent of Administration for Board approval. The Board approved unanimously.
Superintendent’s Report
- COVID Vaccines – we are working with our Health Department to share information and encourage families to take advantage of the COVID-19 vaccines for students age 12 and up. It is expected that the vaccine will be made available for younger children soon.
- The state will be releasing a new K12Toolkit for Schools for COVID. This guidance will include requirements concerning masks, quarantines, and other COVID-19 related information.
- Science of Reading has been approved as the research platform and instructional focus for literacy for Grades K-3. Bladen County will be in the first cohort of the training. The assessment instrument used by the state will be mCLASS, which was used previously by the state approximately 4 years ago.
- Pending Legislation:
- HB 324: Ensuring Dignity and Nondiscrimination – would prohibit public school units from promoting certain concepts, such as racism, sexism, oppression, etc. (pursuant to Critical Race Theory), which are deemed contrary to the equality and rights of all people.
- SB 652: K-12 COVID-19 Provisions – Allows public school units to use 5 days or 30 hours of remote instruction in 2021-22 to address weather or other emergencies:
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- Allows public school units to shift individual schools or classrooms to remote instruction in 2021-22 to address COVID-19 issues.
- Delays implementation of new social studies standards until 2022-2023
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- SB 173: Free the Smiles Act – Governing boards of K-12 schools would have the authority to determine the use of face coverings in schools for 2021-2022, subject to the following exceptions:
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- Mandatory face-covering policies applying in the first instructional month of the school year must be voted on no later than August 1, 2021.
- If a mandatory face-covering policy is adopted at any time in the 2021-22 school year, the local board must vote on whether to repeal or modify the policy monthly while it remains in effect.
- The Governor would have the authority to require the use of face coverings in individual schools during a state of emergency to reduce the transmission of airborne communicable diseases.
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After no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:20 pm.
The next regular Board of Education monthly meeting will be held on
August 9, 2021, at 6:00 pm.
Bladen County Board of Education Representatives
District 1: Mr. Glenn McKoy, (Vice-Chair) – gcmckoy@bladen.k12.nc.us
District 1: Mr. Gary Rhoda – gnrhoda@bladen.k12.nc.us
District 2: Mr. Roger Carroll (Board Chair) – rcarroll@bladen.k12.nc.us
District 2: Mr. Tim Benton – ctbenton@bladen.k12.nc.us
District 3: Mr. Chris Clark – cvclark@bladen.k12.nc.us
District 3: Mr. Alan West – atwest@bladen.k12.nc.us
District County-wide: Mr. Dennis Edwards – dredwards@bladen.k12.nc.us
District County-wide: Mr. Vinston Rozier, Sr., – vrozier@bladen.k12.nc.us
District County-wide: Mr. Cory Singletary – clsingletary@bladen.k12.nc.us
*This is not the official minutes of the meeting, only a recap summary of the meeting. Official minutes of a board meeting are approved by the Board at the next regularly scheduled board meeting.
Copy of the July Agenda
participants per session.
- August 14, 2021 – 9:00 am to 11:00 am
- August 18, 2021 – 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
- August 18, 2021 – 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
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