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Minutes - January 16, 2019

Certified Staff Advisory Meeting

January 16, 2019 

The following individuals were in attendance: Heather Beane, MCEC; Jennifer Nance, PSES; Stefanie Panzer, WMHS; Jaclyn Kennedy, GRES; Nora Beasley (filling in for Ruby Parsons), MLA; Danielle Hurley; Teresa Allred, EMHS; Susan Inman, MGES; Sharon Thompson, CES; and Heather Gulledge, EMS. Members absent: Amy Ellington; TES and Caitlin Batten, WMS.

Dr. Ellis welcomed all in attendance. 

Budget Update

Dr. Ellis feels good about where we are right now with the budget. Unlike last year, the district will not have to spend much more than $100,000 out of the fund balance this year. The district was caught off guard this year with the number of students lost to the charter schools, particularly the new K-4 at Uwharrie, which was a larger hit than anticipated. With the opening of a new charter school in Biscoe in the fall the district is trying to financially prepare for the potential loss of students as we prepare next year’s budget. Legislation will also go into effect next year that will lower class size again. Based upon our numbers the district will have to hire 3 new teachers to meet the new guidelines. However, if we were to lose 20 to 25 kids to the charter schools we would only have to hire 1 teacher. We feel like we’ve done a good job in balancing the budget this year.

Construction Update

The CTE Building is starting to take shape. This year’s significant record rainfall has affected schedule, and construction is roughly 9 weeks behind schedule. Behind the scenes we are working with MCC to develop a plan for what will happen if it is not ready to be open in August. Right now we are talking about acceleration schedules. Hopefully in the next 3 to 4 weeks the building will be under roof and crews are able to make up time. The new high school is also progressing nicely. It is not behind schedule. It must be completed by February 27thto ensure the county does not pay additional interest.   

Merger Update

We have two committees working parallel, to help with the merger. The first committee is looking at ways to merge the student bodies. The other is looking at merging the athletics for next year. The last time the county did this was in the late 1950s. So, this is a learning process. Dr. Ellis asked the committee to think of ways and make suggestions for activities that could be done to bring the staffs and the students together. The following suggestions were made:

  • Online interest survey for freshmen that grouped them so they could pair them as buddies.
  • Joint prom
  • Feed staff – they will come – having a dinner for faculty
  • Parents – feed them to answer what if questions
  • Use polycom systems to do PLCs.
  • Suggestion of being openminded and letting people know that expectations will be different because of a new environment.

Priority number 1 is to select a principal so that expectations can begin to be articulated to staffs. We know we will have an excellent staff. We want to ensure we have the right leader that can take the best from both schools to make the new school shine.

The next committee is working on the consolidation of athletics. The committee will be meeting soon to talk about the logistics about the athletic piece. 

Safety Update

The district has a Safety Advisory Council, comprised of individuals from each of the towns’ police departments along with the sheriff and other local law enforcement representatives, that is meeting. We have worked extensively on a plan to implement – Run, Hide, Fight. We want the focus of this plan to be common sense. If you don’t feel safe – HIDE! If you feel confident and know that you can get you and the kids to safety, then RUN! The district is also working to commission a study with an architect for safety updates for each of our schools. We want to focus on a store front or security vestibule to ensure that when someone walks in the door they are forced to go through the office. The project is estimated to cost $3.5 million. The district is going to push for a K-12 bond referendum to fund this project. 

Questions

  1. If you attended Resilience training in the spring do you need to go again? No, you do not have to.

 

  1. We have teachers who are stressed based on lack of planning time. Is there any way to help with planning time for elementary teachers? Even though it is built into the schedule teachers are still not getting enough time. Could this be looked into for next year’s budget to help? Yes – we had planned to do a technology block unfortunately the loss of funding due to the charter schools prevented that from being able to happen. Next year’s budget has promised more funding for specials. If all goes as planned, and we do not lose a ton of kids we hope to be able to provide that support for next year.