Bethany Stephens
The Board of Education met Monday night for their monthly session where they first recognized Tar Heel Middle School’s Beta Club for attending the State Junior Beta Club Convention in February. One of Tar Heel’s eight graders, Justus Belle, won second place at the convention in the Watercolor Event.
East Bladen High School took a group of students to to the State Senior Beta Club Convention. The club brought home two medals from the event. Twelfth grader, Adonis Johnson won first place in the U.S. History event, and the club as a whole won third place in the Campaign Skit.
Tar Heel Middle School took 36 students to the Regional Science Olympiad Competition. Out of 17 schools, their Varsity Team came in 7th place overall, and their Junior Varsity Team came in 2nd. The following students, won as part of the Varsity Team:
Atzel Salvador and Daniel Zalava – 5th in the Crave the Wave Event
Gerado Cristibol – 3rd in the Wind Power Event
Roxana Campos and Claudia Reyes – 2nd in the Food Science Event
Tristin Sadler and Samaria Grant – 2nd in the Fossils Even
Edgardo Lara and Daniel Zalava – 1st in the Green Generation Event
Placing for the Junior Varsity team was:
Mayra Vazquez and Serenity Flakes – 2nd in Bridge Building Event
Caroline Brisson and Shelby Tatum – 2nd in the Elastic Glider Event
Ashanti Rozier and Haley Lewis – 2nd in the Food Science Event
Madison Taylor and Taylor Caulder -2nd in the Invasive Species Event
Mayra Vazquez and Serenity Flakes – 2nd in the Reach for the Stars Event
Shelby Tatum and Ashanti Rozier – 1st in the Dynamic Planet Event
Olivia Allen and Haleigh Fields – 1st in the Scrambler Event
Additionally, Alexis Ray, Bridgette Munoz Elizalde, Cheyenne Lewis, Christina Jimenez, Claudia Cuc Reyes, Daniel Sanchez, Justus Belle, Miguel Aguilar, Sandra Maldanaldo Ortiz, Saul Ayala-Martinez, Zachary Everitte, Alejandro Cruz Rodriguez, Alexander Brisson, Andrew Sessoms, Antonia Candelaria Rentas, Cory Clanton, Diego Inestroza Lara, Ellania Hendricks, and Karla Dimas-Lopez competed as part of the school’s team.
The Following Bladenboro Middle School Junior Beta Club members won events at the State Junior Beta Club Convention:
Alexis Allen – 2nd in Handmade Jewelry
Kailey Gause – 2nd in Oil Pastels
Katie Guyton, Kasee Singletary, and Joshua Benson – 1st in T-shirt Design
Cadee Bryan – 1st in Sculpture
The team as a whole also won 3rd place in the Arts and Crafts Sweepstakes and 1st in Scrapbook.
Attendance Awards were presented, and Booker T. Washington Primary won in the Elementary School Division; Elizabethtown Middle won in the Middle School Division, and East Bladen High School won in the High School Division.
Jan Holt presented the School Nutrition NCDA Administrative review. The purpose of the review is to ensure that USDA Foods are effectively used by the program. Holt visited East Bladen High School, Bladen Lakes Primary, East Arcadia, and Elizabethtown Middle as part of the review. She commended the county’s Food Service program and its director, Amy Stanley, for going above and beyond in general, for implementing a fresh fruit and vegetable program, having well trained staff, and for earning very good sanitation scores. Additionally, Holt recognized Stanley for serving as the NC School Nutrition Association’s treasurer this year and as their Vice President during the upcoming year.
Sharon Penny, Finance Director, gave financial summary for information purposes. Penny explained that the capital outlay funds are temporarily in the negative until funds are reimbursed.
Robert Taylor, Superintendent, and the board discussed dress code concerns. Some parents and students complained that teachers could wear their pants inside their boots when students aren’t allowed to. The board agreed that teachers and students have different codes of dress, and that, as long as the teacher is dressed professionally according to the current teacher dress code, they should be allowed to wear what they like.
N.C. School Board Association Custom Policy Updates, a Foreign Exchange Student Policy, an updated School Nutrition appraisal, application for lottery funds, a budget amendment, several fundraiser requests, and an E-Rate Category 2 Contract for 2016-2017 were all approved.
The board also approved a second chance summer program opportunity as recommended by Anthony Hinson, Testing Coordinator. Hinson explained that the program would be available for students that didn’t perform well on their End of Course Testing originally to attend 40 hours of study and instruction with the Apex Learning Facility before taking the test again. The state will accept whichever test score the student scored the best on. Following this, the board proceeded to go into a closed session to discuss legal matters and personnel.
Upon reconvening open session, the board approved Personnel Addendum Action Items as recommended by Antonia Beatty, Personnel Director.
Robert Taylor, Superintendent, shared various notes of interest with the board. Due to FCC Regulations the board is only allowed to contact parents in the case of an emergency until consent forms are signed and returned by the parents. Taylor also reminded the board that Spring break begins March 25th.
Tim Benton, Board Member, requested that the board look into ABC Store revenue that legally has to go towards education. He had read that this year’s funds had been given to someone else. Benton explained that he had seen an article on our site that he thought said that the ABC Store gave these funds to another educational source because they didn’t like the way that the schools were using the money. The board agreed to look into the matter.
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