03/18/2024

Jaamal Dunham, new Elizabethtown Middle School Principal

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By Charlotte Smith

The Bladen County Board of Education met on Thursday, June 27 at 6 p.m. in Elizabethtown. After adjourning, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Administration, Dr. Antonia Beatty, confirmed the board has approved Jamaal Dunham as the new principal of Elizabethtown Middle School.

Mr. Dunham comes to Bladen County Schools from Scotland County Schools, according to Dr. Beatty, and he has a master’s degree from Grand Canyon University with a bachelor’s degree from Fayetteville State.

Jaamal Dunham, new Elizabethtown Middle School Principal

According to Mr. Dunham’s LinkedIn account he is currently an assistant principal, life coach, motivational speaker, vocal coach and more. Dr. Beatty explained some paperwork other official matters will need to be addressed, but the hope is Mr. Dunham will start in July. 

At the beginning of the meeting, after the agenda was approved by the board members, Chairman of the Board, Roger Carroll addressed Mrs. Sharon Penny about the four budget amendments on the agenda. No board members expressed any questions and the board approved the four budget amendments unanimously. 

A continuation budget resolution was the next item on the list. Ms. Sharon said, “We need to have the continuation budget resolution approved so we can operate after July first, so that we can get necessary expenses and salaries paid until we can get a final budget approved.” 

The board then went into close session for the purpose of discussing personnel, as per NCGS 143.318.11, (a) (1),to consult with an attorney, if needed, as per NCGS 143.318.11 (a) (3), and to discuss student reassignment/discipline, per the 1974 Family Rights and Privacy Act, according to Chairman Carroll.

When the board reconvened after the brief closed session, Dr. Beatty asked the board to approve the personnel action items. The motion was approved unanimously.

Board member, Mr. Dennis Edwards made a motion to table the Bladen Community College Trustee nominations, item 7.02, until the next meeting held on July 15. The board passed the motion unanimously.

Dr. Robert Taylor, Bladen County Schools Superintendent gave a report. He said, “I have two quick things. We know that the General Assembly approved the budget. We are just waiting to see if the governor is going to veto it. The indication is that he might, or that he probably will.”

He added, “That means we may not get a budget until mid-August, so we just have to let them fight it out in Raleigh and then see what the deal is.”

“The other thing is, there is a big controversy going on with “Read to Achieve” legislation where there is a new program we are supposed to implement called Istation and the training is supposed to start in July,” Dr. Taylor said.

The Read to Achieve program is a program where third-grade students receive extra attention in North Carolina because of the state’s Read to Achieve legislative initiative, a part of the Excellent Public Schools Act. Under this state law, third-grade students who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade will receive special help, including summer reading camp and other interventions to make sure that they can read well enough to be able to do fourth-grade work, according to the state’s website.

Istation was selected by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to support the Read to Achieve (RtA) diagnostic. North Carolina State Superintendent Mark Johnson sent out a letter earlier this month to North Carolina Schools stating, “On behalf of DPI and with the support of the State Board of Education, I am pleased to announce that the K-3 reading diagnostic tool will be Istation, a blended-learning tool designed to monitor student progress while minimizing instructional disruption.” (See www.istation.com)

“We are asking them to postpone this for a year because we haven’t had time to prepare for that,” Dr. Taylor continued.

The letter from Superintendent Johnson addressed the delay, but expressed dedication to have teachers and staff members trained for the Istation in all districts.

The letter stated, “Again, we sincerely apologize for the delay. We know the ideal timing of this announcement would have been sooner. While certain circumstances were out of our control, we will be able to work together to ensure a successful, positive implementation.

Our K-3 Literacy team and Istation will soon be contacting you to schedule flexible in-person and virtual trainings to accommodate districts’ needs. In addition, other District & Regional Support staff will be working with the K-3 Literacy Team to support districts and charter schools in this effort. Helping districts and schools with a successful launch is a top priority for all of DPI.”

Dr. Taylor said he would be sending letters out to the State Superintendent and others requesting a year delay of the new program and alluded to teachers being upset if the General Assembly enforced the program training this year.

Before adjourning Chairman Carroll asked Dr. Taylor, “Are we seeing anything about the Senior Project?”

“Yeah, we are not doing it,” Dr. Taylor said.

Scotland County is the only county that is required to do it and the other counties are not participating in the program, according to Dr. Taylor.

The Senior Project similar to the Graduation Project is a multi-disciplinary performance-based assessment completed over time, according to the state’s website.  It provides students the opportunity to connect content knowledge, acquired skills and work habits to real world situations and issues.

Board members in attendance at the meeting were Mr. Roger Carroll, Board Chair, Mr. Glenn McKoy, Board Vice-chair, Mr. Dennis Edwards, Mr. Gary Rhoda, Mr. Cory Singletary, and Mr. Alan West. The board members absent were Mr. Chris Clark, Mr. Berry Lewis, and Mr. Vinston Rozier. Excused absences were not mentioned. 

Related video and other documents:

NC_MarkJohnsonLetter about istation

Graduation Project

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