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By: Bethany Stephens
The Board of Education met this Monday for their monthly session. After beginning the meeting, Robert Taylor, superintendent, initiated a moment of silence in honor of a second grader that was recently killed in a car accident. Afterwards, the board recognized several different students, teachers, and schools for various accomplishments. The board first recognized Dublin Primary for being named a Title 1 Highest Performing Reward School by the North Carolina Department of Instruction. Schools given this honor are Title 1 schools that have scored in the top ten percent on statewide assessments for multiple years and that have earned the highest scores for the “all students” group and for all of the subgroups.
Donnie Ezzell, a student at Clarkton School of Discovery, was recognized next for his poem called “’Twas the Night Before the Super Bowl” which is about the Carolina Panthers. Ezzell wrote the poem for an assignment given to him by his teacher, Heather Thompson, which required the students to write their own poem (about anything) in the style of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Ezzell and his poem have been featured in several local and regional news outlets, and he read his poem to the board and others present.
Allie Marsh and Matthew Bobby, both students at West Bladen High School, were honored for receiving the Microsoft Office Certification under the direction of their teacher, Camelia Ellis.
Six Career and Technical Education Teachers were recognized for having taught classes that achieved 100% student achievement (scoring 77% or higher) in their courses. The following teachers and their respective classes were recognized for this accomplishment:
* Cedric Mathis – East Bladen High School Carpentry 1
* Mitchell Newirk – East Bladen High School Masonry
* Patti Nance – East Bladen High School Health Science 2
* Kathy Wilkes – East Bladen High School Foods 1
* Debra Kinlaw – West Bladen High School Parenting and Child Development
* Mary Todd – West Bladen High School Nursing Fundamentals
Seventy of Clarkton School of Discovery’s Beta Club members recently attended the North Carolina Junior Beta Club Convention where several different students won awards and participated. The group won third place in Group Talent, second place in T-Shirt Design (by student, Garrett Melvin), and first place in Essay (by student, Jake Evans). The group as a whole also placed in the top 5 for the Songfest Event. Autumn Brisson, Cybil Campbell, Olivia Sholar, and Alyssa Bell performed the National Anthem during the convention’s opening ceremony. One of the club’s advisors, Heather Thompson, also served on the NC State Junior Beta Club Council. Other sponsors included Nancy Clark, Stephanie Ensminger, Allison Kirby, Jennifer Marlowe, Sheila Nance, and April Storms-Britt.
Attendance awards were presented for the month of February. Elizabethtown Primary won in the Elementary School Division; Clarkton School of Discovery won in the Middle School Division, and West Bladen High School won in the High School Division.
Jeff Singletary of the Sheriff’s Department addressed the board regarding a School Safety Coordinator position. The Sheriff’s Department already has a part-time position open for this reason, but they would like to make it a full-time position with the board’s help. If full-time, the job’s salary would be $48,000 per year, and they are asking that the board help fund half of this amount. The coordinator would work in conjunction with all of the county’s schools. Be it part-time or full-time, Gary Turlington will probably be who fills the position. Turlington has worked to educate and train people at the federal level concerning safety measures to have in place in case of an emergency. Singletary spoke of ways that the Sheriff’s Office is patrolling all of the county’s schools daily. The board didn’t vote on the information yet, but they are planning on talking with the County Commissioners to see if it will be a possibility.
Sharon Penny, Finance Director, gave the board a financial summary for informational purposes only. Willa Dean Williams, Director of the CTE Program, gave an update on happenings within the CTE department such as a recent career fair, job shadowing opportunities, Microsoft Certifications earned, and preparations for upcoming WorkKeys Assessments. Williams recognized students who are CTE concentrators for having a 95.7% graduation rate compared to all the other pathways’ 85.6% graduation rate. Post Assessment Data from the Fall was presented and briefly explained. CTE Assessments have recently been changed a considerable amount due to changed state requirements.
Robert Taylor, Superintendent, gave an update on a District Reorganization Study being done by DPI. DPI will visit the county’s sites and consider information such as current class sizes, school layouts, and enrollment to determine their recommendation on the best course of action needed to reorganize and/or possibly open, close, or consolidate different schools.
North Carolina School Board Association Policy updates were postponed until next month’s meeting, and the 2016-17 School Calendar was approved with graduation dates to be determined later. A new Homebound Teacher Contract was approved as well as four fundraiser requests from across the county. Overnight Field trips to attend Beta Club and HOSA conventions, a trip to Fort Myers, a JROTC camp, and a King’s Dominion Trip were all approved. Additionally, an Auditor’s Contract, as recommended by Sharon Penny, Finance Director, was also approved.
The board approved that a resolution be sent to the North Carolina High School Athletic association as recommended by Kim Cain, a Bladen County Coach. The resolution will ask that they reconsider the way that they recently realigned the districts due to how far away the teams are from each other. The increased distances will greatly increase the county’s and its teams’ fans‘ travel costs, cause students to miss more instruction time in their classes, and cut into gate profits which inadvertently help fund other sports that don’t generate their own incomes. Following Cain’s discussion, the board proceeded to go into closed session to discuss personnel, student transfers, and legal issues.
Upon reconvening back into open session, the board approved Personnel Addendum Action Items as recommended by Antonia Beatty, Personnel Director. Robert Taylor, Superintendent, gave an update regarding a recent Principals meeting. Board Members Bonnell Walker, Wilbur Smith, Tim Benton, and Vinston Rozier also attended the meeting. The principals expressed concern about the lack of financial resources and attracting more highly trained and licensed teachers (via completive supplements and the like) that would inadvertently help raise test scores. They were concerned about changes to the Common Core and wanted to find ways to help improve student achievement in math. Some prinicipals wanted more staff development on teacher work days and others wanted less so that teachers would have more time to work in their classrooms. Ways to encourage instruction to cultivate the use of higher level thinking skills in students were discussed, and the principals wanted reading coaches and more teacher assistants added back to the elementary schools. They wanted the board to visit the schools more often and asked for the board’s support on issues between principals and their teachers and staffs.
Taylor spoke about putting together a Foreign Exchange Student policy in the future and gave an update on the School Transformation Team which helps low performing schools. April’s board meeting was changed to the 18th due to a scheduling conflict, and lastly, Ophelia Munn-Goins, Board Member, and others spoke of concerns about leaking gym roofs at East Arcadia and Bladenboro Middle.
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