Bladen County Board of Education welcomed new members to the Board and public comments from Bladen County Schools’ counselor, Mr. D. Goins, on December 12, 2022. Goins encouraged the Board members to work together in a non-bias way for the needs and rights of Bladen County students.
Listen to Mr. Goins’ comments and the rest of the Board meeting on YouTube, linked below.
The new Board of Education members were elected during the General Election in November this year. The new Bladen County Board of Education members are Harvel Davis, Keith Locklear, Steve Kwiatkowski, and Mackie Singletary. Dennis Edwards and Gary Rhoda were also re-elected to the Board during the General Election.
Tim Benton was appointed as the new Chairman of the Board of Education.
With the approved consent agenda, the Board approved a contract for psychological services with Barbara B. Bell. According to the agreement, the professional services will be administered during the spring of the 2022-2023 school year with the Exceptional Children’s Department of Bladen County Schools. Bell will conduct evaluations for Bladen County Schools, supply protocols, and pay for mileage, printing, and postage. Bell’s assessment results will be presented to the Board in a written report within 14 days after testing.
According to the contract, Barbara Bowers Bell is a Licensed Psychological Associate and the President of Barbaras B. Bell Psychological Services, Inc.
During the meeting, the Board members also received an update on the new school construction in Tar Heel. Mr. Mike Burriss stated engineer is still working on the final plans for the change order that was approved at the last meeting for the needed fire tank. The general contractor still needs to finish the pricing on the new change order. The Board approved another change order for lighting in the amount of $179,467. According to Burriss, the Tar Heel School construction should potentially be completed in August or September of 2023, and then the students can attend the new school.
The Board went into a closed session. When the Board reconvened, they unanimously approved a personnel action item before adjourning.
The Board plans to meet on the following dates during the new year:
January 9, 2023
February 13, 2023
March 13, 2023
April 17, 2023
May 8, 2023
June 12, 2023
Bladen County Schools Superintendent Jason Atkinson said he would like to have a workshop in January for the Board of Education. The date for the workshop is to be determined and will be after the regularly scheduled Board meeting.
About Author
