board meeting tonight We will follow the agenda Please join us for a moment of silence Thank you Could I get an approval for the minutes of March meeting make a motion approve the March uh meeting agenda Second or minutes All in favor please raise your right Okay Thank you Can I get an a motion for approval of the meeting agenda for tonight i make a motion that we approve the meeting agenda tonight with the addendums Okay All in favor please raise your right hand Okay Thank you Um Dr Bennett have the recognition and announcements yes ma'am Thank you so much And again welcome to everyone here We do have a few recognitions that we would like to make Um Madam Chair if you would join me around the front please We'd like to begin by recognizing a very important group of staff members that we have with us this evening And I'll ask I think Mr Suther uh and anyone Miss Jennings Good evening assistance principal a persistent principal week which is July uh I'm sorry April 7th through the 11th I know is a time to recognize and celebrate the hard work dedication and leadership of assistant principles who play a vital role in our schools these professionals support students teachers and staff ensuring a positive and productive learning environment their efforts in managing school operation erations fostering student success and building strong school communities deserve our deepest appreciation Tonight we honor their commitment to education and thank them for their invaluable contributions to shaping our students futures And to show how much we honor and respect what you do we have a certificate for each of you which read certificate of recognition This certificate goes to your name in recognition of your unwavering dedication exceptional leadership and tireless commitment to the success of our students and staff as an assistant principal April 2025 and is signed by Dr Cindy Bennett and our board chair Miss Dorothy Guch The first name Scott Corin Michelle Edmonds James Owen Orlando Terry Michael Terry Desmond Thompson Paticia Branch Dana Reed Guy Alec Hansen Dr Harold Thompson Jr Le Rasband Deacon Juliet Black Desoo David Cooper Deion Smith Michelle Wells Dan Sandlin Sharita Jones and Chra Phillips Thank you Thank you Aubrey I'd also like to say we have had the wonderful opportunity of working with this very very intelligent talented gifted group of assistant principles in our tailored three program for the last few weeks Our final session is tomorrow evening and they have just done an amazing job Um I will tell you we are in good shape board when we need another principal We are in good shape We have some very very strong assistant principal Miss Alen let's talk a little about volunteers please We um would like to take just a moment to honor our school volunteers During the week of April 20th is National School Volunteer Appreciation Week and we proudly recognize that as a district and are thankful for the individuals who give their time and energy to support our schools and community For some it's reading to students helping in events mentoring and sometimes it's just a friendly smile at the carpool line But we're very grateful for the volunteers and the lasting impact that they make on each of our students Their dedication helped creates a stronger more connected school environment where everyone can thrive and we're grateful for everything that they do We appreciate that they are an essential part of the VCS family We're honored that each of our schools are holding a volunteer appreciation event at their school where they can celebrate and rally around the volunteers that have meant so much to them this year So that will be taking place during um the month of April at all of our schools Thank you And it's amazing the number of volunteers that each of our schools have and um the district's very blessed uh to have those who believe in the work that we are trying to do as a community of learners and they are certainly here to help us from businesses to communities of faith to just retired educators or others who are just simply saying I want something to do and I think that my skills set can be used in your building So we are appreciative We're appreciative of the principles and the assistant principles at the schools who make these volunteers feel very very welcome It's rare It's a rare occasion to visit a school and not see volunteers somewhere in the building So we are very very appreciative Mr Warner good evening Um tonight I would ask that we pause to celebrate and recognize the incredible individuals who keep our schools departments and our offices running smoothly Our amazing administrative professionals Administrative professionals day will be celebrated on April 23rd 2025 Unfortunately most of us will be wrapping up our spring break on that day So we will officially recognize these individuals on the 24th In advance we would like to take time to thank them for their dedication skill and hard work that often happens behind the scenes but is absolutely essential for the success of the district From managing calendars and coordinating meetings to handling countless day-to-day responsibilities you are the ones who keep everything running smoothly You are often the first smiling face people see The impact is usually felt in every corner of our schools and offices So on behalf of the entire team we want to say thank you Thank you for your commitment your patience and your unwavering support of the district We are better because of you and we deeply appreciate all that you do See you on the 24th Thank you Mr Horn Absolutely And I challenge each director each principal please recognize the administrative professionals in your building I know one thing for sure without this lady right here I would be in a heap of trouble And her favorite saying to me and you probably heard me say this before is sometimes when I come out of my office to go meet with someone she'll say "Fix your face." In other words maybe my maybe I need to have a smile when I don't So I appreciate you Diana Thank you for everything you do for me and for this board Thank you And our last recognition for this evening um you know we have recognized assistant principles or aspiring principles as I say often to them And we also want to recognize a couple of folks who have recently completed the aspiring superintendent program And so if Dr Ross Putney and Dr with the third come forward I want to say just a couple of words about these things [Music] Uhhuh This is a wonderful program that is offered by uh it's really a partnership between curriculum associates and the North Carolina School Superintendent Association Just like we need teachers and we need strong principles we also need strong leaders who are willing to go into the superintendent role And so Mr completed this Several others uh have asked and are interested in going through this program You have to be recommended by your superintendent and then uh there actually is it's a little difficult to get into this program because there's so many across the state who are very interested in it and there not a lot uh of participants It's always a small select group But of you were in cohort nine I think of the first eight cohorts over 50 there's about 20 24 each time have already accepted a position as superintendent in the state of North Carolina So often times districts will seek out those who have completed the aspiring superintendent uh cohort We're very pleased and proud of these two and the work that they are doing on a daily basis And we're not looking for either of them to leave or Mr Horner either He's completed it as well But let me just say to the board when you're ready for your next superintendent you have plenty to choose from here who will lead this district Well thank you folks We're very proud Again I want to say thanks to each one of you and let's give them another hand too Any comments from the public we do have someone registered um to speak We could ask our guests to come forward State your name please Good evening chairperson superintendent and members of the board My name is Sharita Jones I want to begin by thanking the superintendent for taking the time to meet with BCAE a few weeks ago It was greatly appreciated I also want to thank the board members who took the time to meet with me Miss Lewis and Mr Oxidon and those who responded to my email this past weekend Miss Gu Mr Perry and Miss White Your time and engagement truly matters As of today our petition calling for an increase in educator pay has received over 350 signatures from staff advance county schools who strongly support our requests VCA was excited to see this afternoon that Dr Bennett has revised the proposed budget to include our recommended pay increase for both certified and classified staff We are now asking the board to vote to in support of this revised budget request We cannot expect the county to fund what we do not ask for This is a step in the right direction and we thank you for listening VCA looks forward to continuing our partnership with VCS forward as well as serve our students and support our educators and we look forward to advocating to the county commissioners for a fully funded budget Thank you And I do have something for all of the board members It is just um a copy of the petition that shows all of the signatures that we have in the district If you guys can pass Thank you Okay Thank you Uh And I want to say that Vance County Schools value the dedication and hard work of our educators and classified staff The Vance County Board of Education recognizes the importance of competitive pay and attracting and retaining top talent to serve our students While pay scales for certified staff and pay ranges for classified staff are determined by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the local supplement is set by Vance County We are committed to advocating for increased support We want to ensure our educators receive the financial support they deserve Our district appreciates the ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders and remains dedicated to finding ways to support our staff Thank you Dr Bennett Superintendent's report Thank you very much We'll begin with fiscal oversight Mr Suther good evening again The accounts have been reconciled through February The local budget request for 202526 has been drafted and will undergo a public comment period per state statute before it goes to the board for approval at the May board meeting Thank you Innovative schools update Yes Good afternoon again Uh we have completed the process of our innovative school applications Um I'm happy to report that at STEM early high school we had 135 applicants Um at Early College we had 97 applicants and at Rollins Steam School which is sort of a different situation They had 13 applicants but as you know at that school whoever applies we uh enroll [Music] Um so after perusing all of the applicants Early High School selected 111 students to attend for next year Early College uh selected 64 students and of course EM Rollins those 13 students will be attending EM Rollins next year Thank you Mr Hero And one of the things about our innovative schools we have many schools who are that are innovative and sometimes we smile when we say innovative schools because all 16 have their uh niche or their um innovative strategies or programming Uh but these three do have an application process as Mr Her said real excited about the students within the district and outside of the district who have applied for our innovative schools and we look forward to continuing to serve at full capacity at these schools There also will be an opportunity early to midsummer for students for some reason who uh at STEM early high seventh graders or eighth graders who might transition out or move if we have vacant positions for students there We oftentimes consider uh allowing other students to join And the same thing at early college If students transfer into the district from another early college they also are welcome to continue with an early college program So thank you very much Dr Ross P if you would uh please share with us our Cogna accreditation report Absolutely Good evening again Our four of our schools underwent the Cogna accreditation process Advance County High School Vance County Early College Advanced Academy and STEM I'm happy to announce that two of our schools our high schools have already received their accreditation that the Advance County High School and Advanced Academy and then STEM went for both accreditation and STEM certification and I'm pleased to say that they too received both of them We are underweaiting um our report on Vance County Early College at this time If you're not familiar with the accreditation process it is truly a rigorous process that goes through and evaluates our educational programming at all of those sites um with the STEM certification add-on that is a globally recognized um mark for STEM early high school So it truly just validates a lot of the hard work and the commitment to the STEM framework in our schools Uh Miss um Lewis will share more about each one of our schools um areas of improvement as well as some of the highlights um in the curriculum uh report later on this evening I would like to pause for just a minute and ask the principles uh to please stand Advanced Academy Brooks County Dr Ste Mr Edward Artega say please his site is in the process as well as as um Dr Cross Pney said this is not an easy thing It's not an easy task and once a school goes through the accreditation process there are things that they must continue to do at a very high level So we're excited about the opportunities for these schools and we'll have a more formal celebration later and as well in curriculum instruction We'll hear some more But I want to personally say to you face to face in front of those here way to go Way to make the family proud Thank you very much Thank you so much And now we'll move to our standing committee personnel Mr Oxidine and M Jennings All right Like to say thank you to Miss Jennings We're fortunate to have you She presided over our personnel committee meeting and uh she gave us a summary of things we'll vote on in a second Projected vacancies we had 32 that was the same as last month 11 other services that's up from two last month 21 instructional staff that's down two from uh last month We also went over lensure renewals We went over the ESS uh substitute system program We had a 88 field rate which is down 18% from last month We had a total absence request of 728 which is up 168 from last month Went over contract renewals We went over recruitment Uh had 50 booth sites 20 resumes collected Um we went over employee intent forms being returned The education of year is uh will be scheduled for June the 11th 2025 uh 6:00 Henderson Country Club Our next meeting is May 6th at 9:00 a.m At this time I'd like to make a motion to approve the personnel summary with the addendum Second All in favor will you please raise your right hand thank you Finance Mrs White and Mr The finance committee met on March 27th Miss White called the meeting to order at 10:30 We had we had budget budget resolution amendment number two to go to the committee The total appropriation uh at this time is 91,646,451 Being no further discussion Miss White motion and Miss Cob second to take the budget amendment two resolution for fiscal year 2425 to the full board for approval U I make a motion that we approve the budget resolution amendment number two Second All in favor please raise your right hand Thank you Next we discuss the supplemental funds for teacher compensation This year the district received 1,653,614 from the state aotment The approximate supplement would be $3,412 uh for this fiscal year for teacher uh compensation The supplements will be paid by June 30th and one lump sum Being no further discussion Miss Cobb motioned and Miss White seconded to take the schedule for payment for the state supplement funds to the full board for approval I make a motion that we approve the schedule of payment of supplemental um funds as all in favor please raise your right hand Thank you And then also was discussed during that time was the ESS substitute staffing and management services And then the district uh also had an initial meeting with the county to discuss the upcoming budget 2526 And uh the next meeting for the finance committee is April 24th and this meeting adjourned at 11:03 Thank you building and grounds Mrs Hardy and Mr Purdue thank you Um capital project update em uh replacement and uh roof replacement and painting are planned to be completed this summer Security upgrades at all elementary schools are planned as well and additional uh cameras door swipes and security desks to be installed pending funding The request for public school renovation and repair funds will be submitted to the DPI before the summer application uh deadline A draft of the submission will be reviewed at the May committee meeting We had uh eight candidates attend and pass the written exam uh for our transportation for our buses and uh they will begin behind the wheel training very soon in the coming week uh we need to get our facilities ready uh for school next year and therefore we will not be renting our schools but we offer this um centers innovation uh for rentals purposes no rentals in August has been the standard in the past get that page turned uh working with Duke Energy to construction additional power feed to the school to help restore outages in a more efficient m time As you know they missed the day of school when in our last storm Scoreboards are in uh installed in both sites with electrical connection that are now being completed We received a very good inspection report from the state fire marshes office insurance renewal has been issued for property coverage replacement in your uh folders You also have the work orders the monthly update Our next schedule meeting will be the 24th at 8:30 in the morning Thank you Thank you U Madam Chair do have a question when we're talking about the um summer um rentals Um did we just do CFI last year or we had some so we just did that only yes ma'am The the thing about CFI here's the large atrium of course the gymnasium So typically the spaces that someone would want to rent we have access to on that singular campus And if I'm correct Kevin that was our only rental last year this week Yes because um h so we talk about over the summer starting when where those um like the schools will not be available and only CFI what dates so I guess we didn't have any complaints or conflicts um last year I'll just say because I know um sometimes you know they have like um class reunions um family reunions and some people like to do it sometimes you know close to their area um you know where they went to elementary school Um so if it's working guess what rock the boat Thank you Okay Thank you Policy Mrs Cobb and Mr Horner The policy committee meeting was called to order at 11:15 and Mr Horner discussed the 7,000 series with the committee However there were no changes to the policy but we did have policy 5150 which was reported to external agencies that was on a 30-day review However during that 30 days we did not have any comment on that policy So therefore my motion to the board is to approve policy 5150 reporting to external agencies Second all in favor please raise your right hand Thank you And our next policy meeting will be April 24th at 11:00 a.m Thank you Curriculum Mrs Lewis and Dr Ross Putney The meeting was called to order by myself and turned over to Dr Ross Putney who gave us an update first on the professional development Um she reported for February 2025 that our PD activities included district-wide PD for all schools internal sessions external continuing education units and self-paced modules A total of 689 staff members earn CEUs for a total of 1,13.5 contact hours Um to add on to what Dr Ross Putney said about our Cognia accreditation Advance Academy received an index of education quality score of 325 while Vance County High School earned a score of 303 and both were above the Cognas network average of 296 She also highlighted that the district STEM program not only received its accreditation but has also been designated as a Cognia STEM global program not only um certification school Bes County Early College still remains in review and will continue its accreditation engagement review through next year Our AVID school data Dr Dr Ross Putney provided an update on Carver Vance County Middle School and Vance County High School At the middle school level Vance County Middle School is in its seventh year of implementation with 182 students participating in AVID including 120 who are in its last um in at least their second year of the program and 65 who are enrolled in at least one high school credit bearing course Finally Vance County High School is in its sixth year and is currently seeking AVID certification This school's the school serves 151 AVID students all of whom are on track for four-year college entrance requirements The Vance County High School restart status Mr Her reported that Vance County High School will continue with its current restart application with a formal review scheduled for next year following this year's test scores Our EOG and EOCC testing updates Mrs Jennifer Smith provided an update on testing and accountability She noted that this is the first year the new science standard will be assessed though um science will not be tested during the summer readaloud is now design a designated feature for math and science assessments Our North Carolina digital learning media Mrs Marshia Abbott reported that the North Carolina Digital Learning Media Inventory is due on June the 30th 2025 The report includes PSU data individual school worksheets and assigned roles for access and completion Um it captures information on devices staff and classroom connectivity cyber security and more The data is used for the state and national reporting including school report cards and compliance with Senate Bill 105 There was no other business The meeting adjourned at 9:40 a.m and our next schedule meeting will be April the 24th at 9:00 a.m Thank you Community and business relations Um Miss Sand good evening We met on March 27th Um Miss Scooch called the meeting to order and turned it over to myself We spoke about upcoming events which included the student spotlight trip bring your leg legislator to school day which took place today Um um ESL virtual family night our women's empowerment event arts palooa arts alive leadership dance education day the top 10% recognition banquet dance cares family festival um the red carpet soray in May um our district-wide field day of course graduations Um so a lot packed into the to the rest of the school year but exciting events um ahead We also talked about insights and analytics The 28 day report for Facebook we had 503,000 views Um content interactions at 8,200 with our followers coming in just under 9,000 Our website visits continue with menus calendars and staff login being the top three um locations that people are visiting We have 159 approved volunteers with 41 pending um at the date of this and of course um the facility rentals which were previously discussed Um the meeting was adjourned Our next meeting is April 24th at 10:00 a.m Thank you New business U Miss White would you like to share the new business that we discussed earlier okay Um and I guess um some of you note noted that we did not vote um on a budget Right now it's in a draft form and u we're going to leave that open and we're going to do some um public comment and um have that open so people can view it and if they have any comments and they can make those comments and we will vote on that at our next meeting the budget at our next meeting So if you're wondering uh why we did not vote tonight it is in a draft form So we leave that open for public comment and um that will close on what date um Mr Sun we will set a date in the future We have not we haven't set a date yet but it will be time for public to review it and then we will vote on the budget um at our next um meeting Thank you Thank you Quick item Dr Bendy Yes ma'am Thank you so much We do have a request for an overnight field trip in August with the Advance County High School Junior ROC traveling to Langley Air Force Base and stopping by back by Busushch Gardens on their return Uh you will see the information listed here Uh again overnight outofstate trip for the Vance County High School ROC The second field trip regress is a day trip but out of um out of state Um actually it looks as if they also will be doing some traveling for um No this one actually is instate My apologies I see the corrected uh copy here Carowind's education day with engineering for Vance County Early College Uh and again this will be uh a day trip The school of course will support with funds And if I may say for both of these trips um the schools and the district we al always make sure that every student who has a desire to attend has the opportunity to attend So these are the two field requests Make a motion to accept the two field trips as presented Second All in favor please raise your right hand Okay thank you And then we have out of school transfers or releases We do have four students requesting release from Vance County Schools That those rel be approved Second All in favor please raise your right hand Okay Thank you I move that we go into close session pursuant to the provision of NCGS 143-318.11 for purposes of discussing legal personnel and property issues pursuant to subsection A of said statute Second All in favor please raise your right hand Okay And um before we adjourn I would like to announce that we have Arts Alive on April 26 at McGregor Hall Talent show starts at 5:00 p.m and is free and open to the public Thank you all for attending See you next month Don't stop