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By Bethany Stephens
The Board of Education met this Thursday, November 16th, for their monthly session. Dr. Robert Taylor, Superintendent, was recognized for recently receiving a national award (only presented to himself and seven other superintendents) for his work to promote technology based learning among other merits. Taylor thanked the board and the community for their help as he explained that any advancements in this area are possible due to their support.
The USDA honored West Bladen High School’s School Nutrition Staff with a Best Practices Award for Customer Service. The following employees were recognized for being a part of their nutrition staff: Jerome Burney, Lovella Jacobs, Tiffany Sweat, Misty Thompson, Kristina Wooten, Kim Jones, and Amy Stanley.
Summer Evans, Brittany Landreth, and Christian Ward (all students at West Bladen High School) were recognized for receiving their ServSafe Certifications in conjunction with their Foods 2 class that was taught by Gail Marsh.
The county’s Career and Technical Education Department was recognized for being the number one district in the state for the second year in a row. This recognition is due to the number of students earning various industry recognized certifications and credentials.
Attendance Awards were presented next. Plain View Primary won in the Elementary School Division; East Arcadia won in the Middle School Division, and East Bladen High School won in the High School Division.
Charlotte Smith, a community member and owner of the Bladen Online, addressed the board concerning the fight against opioid abuse in the county. The national epidemic is affecting Bladen County locally as well as nationally, and Smith is helping to lead The Bladen County Opioid Abuse Elimination Task Force which hopes to educate people about the problems surrounding the epidemic to give them support to help them deal with it more effectively. The Task Force’s next meeting will take place January 9th at 2:00 p.m. and is open to everyone interested in finding out more info, getting support, and/or helping support the cause.
A financial summary for information purposes only was presented by Sharon Penny, Finance Director. Penny explained that, due to the charter school’s effect on state allotments, the schools will be losing one and a half more teaching positions, a 12 month CTE employee, plus $100,000 than they had initially hoped.
Lou Nelon, Maintenance Director, gave updates on multiple roofing projects. The roofing projects at both Bladenboro Middle and Bladenboro Primary have begun as well as repairs to an awning at Elizabethtown Primary and pavement repair at the horseshoe turnaround area of Bladenboro Middle School.
East Bladen High School was recognized for receiving a $110,000 grant from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund to build a barn beside of their existing greenhouse. The architect will be chosen soon after more discussion, and they plan to start building around March.
School Improvement Plans as recommended by Tanya Head, Assistant Superintendent, were approved, and school advisory councils were approved for one more year only as their job will be done in conjunction with the School Improvement plans in the future. Following the above, the board proceeded to go into closed session to discuss personnel, student transfers, and legal matters.
Upon reconvening, the board approved Personnel Action Items as recommended by Antonia Beatty, Personnel Director. They also heard notes of interests from various board members and Dr. Taylor. New construction for a possible K-8 school is still being considered, but it is still dependent on the County Commissioners’ decision and, as Taylor explained, grant and state based funding since several of those funding sources are only available for new school structures – not renovations of existing buildings.
Alan West, Board Member, spoke positively about new PA systems at the high schools’ ball games and hoped that their basketball gymnasiums would be done in the future.
Chris Clark, Board Member, asked that a resource officer be sent to Elizabethtown Primary in the mornings due to clustered and unorganized parking in the dropout areas. Following all the above, the proceeded to adjourn the evening.
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