Minutes - October 16, 2019
Certified Staff Advisory Minutes
October 16, 2019
Members of the Certified Staff Advisory Committee met on Wednesday, October 16, 2019. The following members were in attendance: Megan Hall, Troy Elementary; Erin Leach, Green Ridge Elementary; Melissa Shields, Mt. Gilead Elementary; Lisa Wood, Candor Elementary; Kirk Watts, Montgomery County Early College; Adriana Persin, West Montgomery; Nancy McLendon, Page Street Elementary; Sonya Chavez, East Montgomery; and Kim Simmons, East Middle School. Not present: Jaimie Russell, Star Elementary; Lee Waln, West Middle School; and Du Lo, MLA.
Welcome/Celebrations
Dr. Ellis welcomed all in attendance. He reviewed the goal of the committee, to share information from the meeting with other certified staff, and to share information with us. Questions will always be taken prior to the meeting, and there will always be a question and answer session during the meeting. This would include those sent in prior to the meeting and any that arise before or during the meeting. Answers will also be honest. He hopes to bring an understanding on issues that may arise. He also thanked everyone for serving on the committee.
Page Street Elementary expressed how excited they are to have the STEM classes, and for exceeding growth this year.
West Montgomery is excited about homecoming on Friday. They are excited to have the students from East Montgomery come and participate in the prep rally on Friday.
Early College is having a parade on Halloween for homecoming and participating in the Town of Troy Trunk or Treat.
Enrollment Numbers
There was a charter school opened this year. At one time the numbers for that school were in the 70s. When they opened they had 49 students. We have gotten 6 or 7 students back. Had this school not opened, MCS would have shown growth. However, our numbers are down. One factor contributing to that was the fact that we graduated a large class from East Montgomery and had a small entering kindergarten class. This indicates that the marketing that we have been doing over the course of the year is paying off, as well as the things we are doing with the Early College. These are victories over time that will help. Please continue to share the great things we have going on. If you look at the data, and compare MCS to the charter schools, we continue to outperform them. Students at Uwharrie Charter had a -14 growth, meaning that students are regressing significantly. We do a great job in pushing our students to grow!
The issue arises that our budget is set based on the count of students on the 10th day. So, when students return after the 10th day the previous school they came from keeps the money. Money is only given back if the student is an EC student. This results in about $8000 lost per student. It does impact our budget.
Supplements
In the spring of this past year Dr. Ellis brought a plan to the board to increase teacher supplements. The plan was to increase the supplement by 25% over a two-year period. Thanks to a private donation from Sarah Jordan and the county commissioners’ contributions we were able to increase the supplements this year by 25%. We will continue to make these raises competitive with our surrounding counties. Classified supplements are $100. The goal is to double that in the spring of next year to $200, for the 2020-21 school year. Our goal is to give money that we are saving, due to the consolidation, back to the staff and those who have been loyal to MCS.
Consolidation Update
From the construction side there are some concerns. The CTE building was scheduled to open in August. It still is not complete. It is supposed to open now in January. We are told it is on schedule. The bigger concern is that the high school is scheduled to be done in March, and with one building being behind 4 months it is of great concern that the high school may also be behind. The school must be opened in August. Our main goal is to provide the best education we can for our students, and second to have the best possible facility for our students and taxpayers for the next 50 years. We are calling out the contractors on anything that does meet the best quality and standards. Time is definitely a concern, but quality is not!
Tracy Grit addressed the group to discuss the transition work that has taken place this year. The vision and goal to put the athletic teams together has been great. We developed a committee that includes students, parents, teachers and principals from East, West, and the Early College. The goal of the committee is to bring the schools together. We have been able to restructure the curriculum at the middle schools to offer additional CTE offerings. The goal there is to give those students an opportunity to see what is going on in those curriculum areas. This will help get them in a community college class as soon as possible once they enter high school. We have presented to the board of education a policy that all students must take at least one community college class prior to graduating. Last year we had 10 students graduate with an associate degree prior to graduating high school. This year we will have 42 from the early college that will graduate along with those from the traditional high schools.
In addition, we have been able to negotiate 2 plus 2 agreements meaning all of the community college classes taken would transfer to the university. From a parent’s perspective this would help create a major cost savings for their student to attend college. We have the possibility for 13 agreements this year. Pfeiffer – teacher cadet and early childhood, NCSU – forestry, and NC A&T with agriculture. Another goal of the transition committee is to educate the community on all of these curriculum changes. We have been doing this by sharing information through football programs and at other sporting events. We’ve held a Parent Café event to share information.
Lots of great things are happening in our school system and we are very progressive in our actions. Our goal is to continue to graduate more students with an associate degree and their high school diploma, thus producing higher quality graduates. There has to be business investment for growth and our goal is to help with developing an educated workforce to promote growth and economic development.
Montgomery Central, when it opens, will be an “early college” for everyone. Students will be able to take CTE classes starting in the 9th grade. There is no single high school that serves as the flagship high school for a county that is located on a community college campus. We are on the cutting edge of education. It’s something that everyone should be proud of!
Questions
Will the supplement increase we are seeing this year stay in place since the increase was funded partly by donations? Yes, and we hope to be able to do more next year. When things like this are done please know that careful planning has gone into it to make sure that it is sustainable.
When can we tour the school? We plan to schedule the next meeting at the school location. There will be other opportunities as well. There will be an open house for the CTE building on January 16th. The next Parent Café will be on February 4th and that will also be hosted at the new CTE building.
Teacher raises? Everyone in the state has received a raise except for K-12, community college, and universities. They claim because there is a disagreement over what the raise should be. The point is trying to be made just pass the raise. The Senate is talking about going home on a mini break soon. Dr. Ellis has never seen anything like this before. So, unfortunately, he has no clear answer. He believes they will get a raise, but the question remains when.
Someone has heard that they are talking about passing the raise in January but not making it retroactive. Dr. Ellis will research this.
Do you know when teacher level EVAS will be available? There is still no answer yet.
Have any decisions been made on staffing at the new high school? No, we are still working on it. No one will lose a job with the consolidation. It may be that moves have to be made, etc. Any cuts will be made through attrition. We are currently working on bell schedules.
The calendar committee is currently looking at developing 2 versions of the calendar for next year. One of which will align with the community college. We believe this is also better for students and test scores to have the semester end prior to Christmas vacation.