|
October 28, 2002
The Catawba County Board of Education met in regular session on October
28, 2002 at 5:30 p.m. at the County Schools’ Administration Building
with Chairman Betty Blackburn presiding. The following members were
present: Mrs. Sherrill, Mrs. Butler, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Wyant, Mr. McRee
and Mr. Biggerstaff. Also in attendance were Superintendent Ann Hart,
Assistant Superintendent Stephen Hilton, Attorney Walter Currie from
Roberts and Stevens Attorneys at Law, Attorney Terry Taylor from Tate,
Young, Morphis, Bach and Taylor, LLP Attorneys at Law, Finance Director
Sondra Wolfe, Technology Director Terry Bledsoe, Catawba Intermediate
School Principal Cynthia McKee, Oxford Elementary School Principal Jerry
Griffin, Balls Creek Elementary School Principal Jeff Isenhour, Public
Information/Grants Writer Sonya Gordon, Media Supervisor Kathy Kiser,
Systems Engineer Joel Benware and Instructional Tech Coordinator Judy
Ray.
Kim Gilliland represented the Hickory Daily Record and Patrick
Crotty represented the Observer News Enterprise. Al Mainess
represented WNNC.
Superintendent Hart introduced Walter Currie who will be serving as
interim attorney for the Board of Education.
The meeting opened with Chairman Blackburn reading a poem in memory of
the late Attorney Alex Williams followed by a Moment of Silence. The
Pledge of Allegiance was then led by Mrs. Butler. Chairman Blackburn
introduced special guests that were in attendance at the meeting.
Chairman Blackburn declared the minutes of the September 23, 2002
meeting approved. The Consent Agenda was amended by Superintendent Hart
to add one additional field trip. After the amendment, the agenda was
unanimously approved upon a motion by Mrs. Butler and seconded by Mrs.
Sherrill.
Public Hearing:
Attorney Walter Currie conducted the public hearing phase of the meeting
for comments concerning any agenda items. No person present wished to
address the Board on any agenda item.
Superintendent’s Report:
Superintendent Hart
began her report by announcing that Walter Zahler, principal at Clyde
Campbell Elementary School, recently was named the 2003 Wachovia
Principal of the Year locally representing Catawba County Schools.
Principal Zahler will compete at the Northwest Regional level. Eight
regional finalists will be named in May and then compete for the 2003
state principal title.
Other items of
Superintendent Hart’s report were:
·The Tech Prep
Grant was awarded to help fund workforce development training and
education at Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC), Catawba County
Schools (CCS) and other local school districts. The two-year grant
totals $212,000 and was written by CVCC and CCS staff members. The
amount will be shared among Catawba County Schools, Newton-Conover City
Schools, Hickory City Schools, Alexander County Schools and CVCC. Funds
will be used, in part, to create a new computer lab for the Catawba
Valley MagnIT Program and to hire a consultant to design and begin
implementation of a process to ensure students are receiving articulated
credit at the community college level for certain high school courses.
·Marie Bell, a
second-third grade combination teacher at Banoak Elementary School, was
recognized in a recent issue of USA Today as one of sixty
teachers chosen for the newspaper’s All-USA Teacher Team for 2002. Ms.
Bell will be recognized at the November 18, 2002 Board of Education
meeting.
·On November
10th from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., Belks will be
recognizing public school employees. All educators will receive a 15%
discount. Superintendent Hart thanked Belks for this recognition.
·The annual
DARE Golf Tournament, organized by the Catawba County Sheriff’s
Department on behalf of all area DARE law enforcement officers, was held
on October 10th. Officers raised $5,000 for the anti-drug,
anti-alcohol program’s high school scholarships. One student from each
of the area’s five high schools will receive a $1,000 scholarship at the
end of the year.
·Amanda Lail,
a fourth grader at Mt. View Elementary School, was named one of six
national winners of the Fuddruckers Forest Drawing Contest. She was
awarded a $50 Fuddruckers’ gift certificate and presented the school
with $500.
·Congratulations
were extended to Tom Brown for reaching the milestone of 274 wins as a
football coach at Maiden High School. This is the most football wins
for a coach at the same high school.
·In late
September, Fred T. Foard High School’s Tiger Band won an excellent
rating for Class AA bands and an overall third highest score of all
eight competing area school bands regardless of class at Mt. Pleasant
High School’s “Showcase of Champions.” That same weekend, Fred T. Foard
High School’s Tiger Band competed in the Weddington High School’s “Crown
of Champions” and won a superior rating for Class AA and several first
place awards. Earlier in September, Fred T. Foard High School hosted
the Fifth Annual Foard Band Classic. At that event, among the Class
Quadruple A bands, St. Stephens High School Band won an excellent
rating.
·Congratulations
to Lauren Isenhour, from Fred T. Foard High School, for winning the
State 3A singles tennis championship. Rachel Rhoney from St. Stephens
High School was first runner up.
·On October 29th,
Clyde Campbell Elementary School will receive the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction’s School of Excellence Award. Phil
Kirk, chairman of the North Carolina Board of Education, will be the
keynote speaker and will present the school with its award.
·A special
thank you was extended to Alan Collie who organizes the car rider sign
program for our elementary schools. Through donations from area
businesses, Mr. Collie has signs made for parents to display in their
car windows. The signs have the child’s name on one side and the school
calendar on the back.
·The NCSBA
Annual Conference will be on November 19-20th in Greensboro.
·Appreciation
was extended to Sonya Gordon for producing the 2001-2002 Annual Report.
She welcomed any thoughts or suggestions regarding the design and format
for next year’s document. The Annual Report provides a user-friendly
document that highlights the accomplishments of the district for last
school year.
Superintendent Hart
distributed legislation information to members. She also distributed a
new staff organizational chart from Raleigh. She emphasized that this
year’s budget would be a challenge. Additional “No Child Left Behind”
information will be discussed at the January 2003 Retreat.
The following Consent Agenda items were transacted:
Field Trip Requests and Camps:
*Bandys High School FFA to Louisville, Kentucky, October 28-November 1,
2002
*Bandys High School Chorus to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, November
9-10, 2002
*St. Stephens High School Chorus to Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
November 9-10, 2002
*Tuttle Middle School Cheerleaders to Atlanta, Georgia, January 17-19,
2003
*Fred T. Foard High School Band to Toronto, Canada, April 23-27, 2003
*Bunker Hill High School Band to Williamsburg, Virginia, April 25-27,
2003
Personnel Requests:
*employed certified employees Billie Jo Drum, Donna Hartley, Tina
Holler, Terry Myatt, Jean Styron and Hope Valencia;
*employed classified employees Heather Buff, Greg Campbell, Billy Cash,
Stacy Coulter, Steve Goble, Gina Houston, Chaundra Marada, Monica
Phillips, Michelle Riley, Donna Schrum, Michelle Simmons, Lesia Stegall
and Kay Wright;
*granted leave of absence to certified employees Deanna Lee and Heather
Ollis;
*granted leave of absence to classified employees Lori
Phillips and Kelly Womack;
*accepted the resignations of certified employees Kay
Henderson and DeAnna Stewart;
*granted the retirement requests of certified employees
James Hickman, Terry Myatt and Jacqueline Scott; and
*accepted the resignations of classified employees Malissa
Bumgarner, Melissa Sue Greene, Rosetta Johnson, Wendy Secrest and Travis
Walter.
The Board was also furnished a listing of substitute teachers.
The motion was made by Mr. Huffman and seconded by Mrs. Sherrill to
approve the presented field trips and personnel requests. The motion
carried. Mrs. Butler asked that total cost for students for field trips
be added to the information that is mailed to Board members prior to
meetings.
The following item of old business was transacted:
OB#1:
As directed by the Board of Education at the September 23, 2002
meeting, a
brochure was developed and distributed to schools that would be affected
by the realignment for Catawba Intermediate School attendance district.
Assistant Superintendent Hilton informed the Board that all feedback
regarding the realignment was positive. The proposed realignment would
be as follows: all sixth graders from the Oxford Elementary
School attendance district would remain at Oxford Elementary School;
sixth graders from Sherrills Ford Elementary, Claremont Elementary and
those sixth graders from Balls Creek Elementary Schools who are in the
Mill Creek Middle/Bandys High Schools’ attendance area would attend
Catawba Intermediate; and sixth graders from Maiden Elementary and Balls
Creek Elementary Schools who are in the Tuttle Middle/Maiden High
attendance area would attend Tuttle Middle School. Mrs. Butler made the
motion to adopt the proposed realignment for Catawba Intermediate School
attendance district as presented by Assistant Superintendent Hilton.
Mr. Biggerstaff seconded the motion with no opposition. This
realignment will become effective for the 2003-2004 school year.
The following items of new business were then transacted:
NB#1:
Board members received a copy of the initial 2002-2003 Budget
Resolution. Superintendent Hart and Finance Officer Wolfe presented the
budget and welcomed any questions or discussion from the Board.
The resolution included an average 1.86% salary increase for all
teacher, principal and assistant principal salaries and a year of
experience increase for all other positions. The retirement rate
decreased from 5% to 3.03%. The State Budget is based on initial
allotments from the State Department of Public Instruction with
amendments being done as changes occur. The Federal Budget is
based on projects submitted and approved by the State Department of
Public Instruction. The Capital Outlay Budget included carry-over
projects in addition to new funding for buses, roof-work at Catawba, the
addition at Fred T. Foard High School, Ridgeview renovations, the
Startown pump station, bleacher replacement and per capita. These
projects are uncertain at the present time due to funding issues between
the state and the county. The Local Budget does not include the 7%
escrowed by the county. The State Budget included reductions of
$778,281. There was an increase in automobile insurance.
Hospitalization insurance maintained current matching rate. Mrs. Butler
commended Superintendent Hart and Finance Officer Wolfe for their work
with the challenging budget. Mr. Wyant made the motion to approve the
presented Budget Resolution with Mrs. Sherrill seconding the motion.
All members were in favor.
NB#2:
Finance Officer Sondra Wolfe proposed a budget calendar to the Board.
This calendar will be the timeline for building the budget requests for
2003-2004. There being no questions or discussion, Mr. Huffman made the
motion to approve the presented budget calendar. Mrs. Butler seconded
the motion with no opposition.
NB#3:
In November 1999, the Board of Education approved the current technology
plan for the 2000-2005 timeframe. It is the requirement of the State
Department of Public Instruction that each plan be reviewed and updated
every two years. Technology Director Terry Bledsoe, along with other
staff members from his department, revised the current plan to reflect
changes that were required by the State Department of Public
Instruction, changes in the current technology environment, and changes
in the advancement of technology. Mr. Bledsoe presented the revised
technology plan with assistance from staff members in his department,
Kathy Kiser, Joel Benware and Judy Ray. Mr. Bledsoe welcomed any
comments from the members. After the presentation of the revised plan,
Mr. Huffman made the motion to adopt the plan. Mr. Biggerstaff seconded
the motion. All members were in favor. The revised technology plan
will be located at
www.catawba.k12.nc.us/Pages/Techplan2000_revision/ for viewing.
Mrs. Butler asked Mr. Bledsoe if he could check into the availability
and cost of laptop computers for members. The benefit of this would be
that information could be sent and stored electronically instead of
receiving and storing paper copies.
NB#4:
Superintendent Hart asked members for any suggestions of a date for the
Catawba County Advisory Council dinner meeting. After some discussion,
the possible date of January 27, 2003, which would be the first evening
of the January Board Retreat, was agreed upon. Recommendations for
location and caterer will be presented at the December 2, 2002 meeting.
Mrs. Butler made the motion to accept this recommendation and Mrs.
Sherrill seconded the motion. All members were in favor of the motion
except for Mr. McRee.
NB#5:
Catawba County Schools’ students participate in Green Room or Hickory
Community Theatre productions during the school year. After discussion
at a K-12 principals’ meeting, staff recommends to the Board that
student participation be counted present because the student’s
involvement would be considered a field trip. Mr. Biggerstaff made the
motion to approve this proposal with Mrs. Butler seconding the motion.
All members were in favor.
NB#6:
Superintendent Hart received from the schools suggestions regarding the
ABC Celebrations. She recommended to the Board that each feeder
district host a reception. Each feeder district would choose a date and
location. It was also recommended that the Child Nutrition Department
provide the refreshments for the receptions. Mrs. Sherrill made the
motion to accept this recommendation. Mr. Huffman seconded the motion
with no opposition.
Public Comments:
Attorney Walter Currie conducted the public comments section of the
agenda at which time no person present desired to address the Board.
Upon a motion by Mrs. Sherrill and seconded by Mr. Wyant, the Board
unanimously went into closed session for the purpose of discussing
information that is privileged, confidential or not a public record
under federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)
North Carolina G.S.143-318.11 (a)(1) for attorney-client issues.
CLOSED SESSION (Separate minutes for closed session are prepared and
kept confidential.)
The Board returned to open session with a motion by Mrs. Sherrill,
seconded by Mr. Wyant with no opposition.
There being no other items of business to be conducted, Chairman
Blackburn declared the meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
___________________
Betty C. Blackburn, Chairman
__________________________
Ann Y. Hart, Secretary
|
