PUBLIC COMMENT APPROVAL OF MINUTES …

Person County Board of Education Regular Session Minutes

Meeting Date and Time: Monday, March 18, 2019 at 9:00 am Location: Southern Middle School, Auditorium, 209 Southern Middle School Road, Roxboro, North Carolina. Board members present: Dr. Kay Allen, Margaret Bradsher, Phillip Gillis, Freda Tillman, and Harriett Tillett.

At 9:02 a.m., Board Chair Dr. Kay Allen called the meeting to order and welcomed the Person High School students who were attending for Local Government Day.

Freda Tillman led the moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance. Administration Present:

Dr. Rodney Peterson Superintendent

Jarrod Dennis Deputy Superintendent

Ron Anthony Executive Director of Student Support Services

Tracy Scruggs Public Information/Teacher Support Coordinator

Julie Masten Chief Finance Officer

Lori Stacey Chief Human Resources Officer

Larry King Chief Operations Officer

Carla Smith Clerk to the BOE

PUBLIC COMMENT

There were no public comments made during this meeting.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion: Moved at 9:04 a.m. by Harriett Tillett and seconded by Margaret Bradsher to approve the

February 12, 2019 Work & Regular Session Meeting Minutes as presented.

Motion carried 5-0.

DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT TO AGENDA

Dr. Peterson requested the item B.1. 2019-2020 PECIL Calendar Revisions be switched from Action to

Information for further review with the possibility of staggered entry of the students by grade level and

in anticipation of the approval of the calendar flexibility bill.

Motion: Moved at 9:05 a.m. by Freda Tillman and seconded by Harriett Tillett to approve the

adjustments to the agenda.

Motion carried 5-0.

3.18.2019 Regular Session Minutes/Page 1 of 47

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

1. Pride in Person

Lori Stacey recognized Christopher Lipscomb from Person High School on his acceptance to North

Carolina’s Governor’s School.

STUDENT QUESTIONS

The board paused to allow the students visiting the opportunity to ask questions. The following are the questions asked with their answers.

1. What is the term of office for Board Members of the school system? ● 4 years

2. What are the duties and responsibilities?

● We are a policy making board and the primary responsibility is find a superintendent. 3. What is the process for electing a Board Member?

● Each member registers at the Board of Elections and campaigns for their position. Our entire board is re-elected every 4 years, as all 5 board members are elected at the same time in a nonpartisan election. This means that we have the potential for a full new board every 4 years.

4. Where does the Person County Board of Education receive money from?

● Receive money from the County Commissioners who appropriate local funds to the school system, state money from the general assembly, Federal funds for Federal programs that the school system has and grants that we can apply for.

5. What are some of the major issues the Board addresses?

● One issues the Board works on is updating the policy manual. Mrs. Tillman, Dr. Peterson and Dr. Allen are working with the County Commissioners and County Manager to figure out how much money the county can afford to update the facilities in this district.

6. What is the role of the Superintendent and who chooses him? ● The only person the Board of Education hires. ● Ultimately the staff of the Person County Schools, the primary goal is to run the day to day operations

of the school system. Also help to plan the budget and facilitate the policy process and future thinking regarding the school system.

● Board is responsible for challenging the Superintendent, making sure that we are giving the best for the students. The Superintendent’s job is to challenge the Board to make sure we replicate.

7. What is the Superintendent’s name?

● Dr. Rodney Peterson. 8. How much money is the Board of Education paid?

● Board members pays $5000 a year. It helps to offset some of the cost we incur while serving on the Board.

9. How often do you have meetings?

● Regular Board Meetings once a month; also have committee meetings as needed and attend some school events.


ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Administrative Services

1. Policies for Information

Mr. Dennis continued the update of the policy manual with information on updates to policies 3000,

3100, 3101,3102, 3110, 3115, 3120, 3130, 3131, 3132, 3135, 3140, 3200, 3210, 3220, 3225-4312,

3226-4205, 3227-7322, 3230-7330, 3300, 3320, 3325, and 3326. He continues to work with NCSBA to

update the policy manual. Policy 3226-4205, the committee recommended deleting the exhibit. Mr.

Dennis noted that there was a request to strike policy 3225 and 3226. The majority of the policies had

minor changes such as grammar and formatting.

Dr. Allen questioned policy 3220, Section D. regarding the collaborative tools that personnel will be

allowed to use. Mr. Dennis said the policy can be modified to specify the type of technology used and

that this is only an issue in secondary schools.

Dr. Peterson addressed the code of conduct and how students should use technology such as

Instagram or blogging, which can be allowed as long as it is not negative to the school. In policy 3227,

the webpage domain name changed and there has been some discussion about changing the domain

name in the email to match the webpage. In policy 3230, the copyright compliance is discussed and

wording was changed from videotape to video streaming. Policy 3320 addresses school trips and the

committee asked that the field trip form be attached. Behavior and/or safety issues on field trips were

a concern and the committee has discussed communicating the discipline policy prior to going on field

trips.

B. Human Resources

1. 2019-2020 PECIL Calendar Revision

PECIL and PCS traditional calendars for 2019-2020 were approved in December. Mrs. Johnson wanted

to have staggered entry by grade level and PCC classes start after the PECIL classes begin. We would

like the opportunity to revisit this later. Just to bring this to your attention that all students may start

on the same date, but we need more time to investigate that. North Carolina Representative

Yarbrough and Senator Woodard both submitted bills on our behalf to have calendar flexibility, and if

approved by the General Assembly the change can occur the 2019-2020 school year. The Board

requested that staff go back and devise an alternative calendar, so we will have it in place so our


parents would know what we are doing.

C. Financial Services

1. Draft Current Expense and Capital Budget Request FY 19-20

Finance presents a budget annually and the Board reviews and approves the budget. Per General

statue, the budgets have to be balanced every year and approved by the Board. These are proposed

budgets because the General Assembly has not started discussing the budget for next year. The

projected ADM for 2019-2020 school year is 4366, which is down about 100 students. So the top line

item you will see that classroom teachers are projected to reduce by 4 teachers. There is talk of a 5-8%

raise for certified staff and 3-5 % for non-certified staff. I have included a 5% increase for certified and

3% increase for non-certified in the budget although this could change. When we come back in April,

we may know more information and we will update at that time. There is also talk about the matching

retirement which is projected to go up to 19.57% from 18.80%, which is 0.77%, which we will also have

to factor in, as well as, health insurance increases. Health insurance is projected to increase by $244

per person this year from $6100 to $6344. PRC 039 has two grants this year for a SRO and a social

worker. If the General Assembly doesn’t make a recommendation to take the grant out, it will stay. If

the state budget is not passed, any non-recurring funds will not recur back for this fiscal year such as

grants because they are not considered non-recurring expenses. We will be looking at ways to cover

funding for PECIL because we will not receive the $275,000 next year. Over the years we have been

able to maintain a fund balance in our state textbooks, but next year we are looking at a shortage of

about $100,000 to continue with our digital resources and learning.

We have used Federal fund balances, such as Title I and EC, to continue operations so there will be

little fund balance to appropriate in any of our federal programs. PRC 108 and 109 are grants that we

are not guaranteed to receive next year. Special grant funds are year to year and I’m anticipating we

will continue with Head Start, Smart Start, NC PreK and the Nurse grant. PRC 112, the Math and

Science partnership,will be ending this year along with GearUp.

School Nutrition and Daycare are self-sustaining programs with budgets that have to be balanced.

USDA funding is down nationwide so we are expecting a $95,000 drop there. Local sales and

supplemental sales are also down so the Child Nutrition budget is projected to decrease. They do have

some fund balance they can budget, but we will look at that in July. Daycare is also losing revenue due


to the decrease in demand. With rising cost of retirement and health insurance any fund balance this

program had has been used. Last year we increased morning daycare from $20 to $25 per week. If it

pleases the Board I would like a motion to increase Summer Daycare rates from $100 to $110 per week

and after school care from $40 to $45 per week in the fall. House Bill 359 was filled for the cost of

living giving State employees a $15 increase, but teacher assistants were left off. A recommendation

was made to wait and see what impact House Bill 359 will have on Child Nutrition and Daycare budgets

in the fall, but we will consider the adjustment to Summer Daycare rates. The Board asked how many

students we have in the summer program originally? Enrollment starts around 250 student, but there

is a significant decrease after the reading camp ends.

Motion: Motion made at 9:52 am by Freda Tillman and seconded by Margaret Bradsher to increase

summer daycare rates from $100 to $110 a week.

Motion carried 5-0

The Board will need to look at the current expense budget and draft a proposal by April. By law we

must have the proposed budget to the County Commissioners by May 15th and they let us know by

June 30th how much we will receive. The County Commissioners give us about $9 million for operating

expenses, which are used to sustain our school system. There is an increase in the Curriculum

expenses, Transportation and Human Resources for the 2019-2020 school year due to the decrease in

fund balances, but a reduction in the custodial contract. Personnel is where the majority of our

increase will be. If the State passes the increase of 5% for certified and 3% for non certified or the $15

minimum, we must be able to afford the raise to all employees. Retirement is also projected to

increase 0.71% and health insurance. This will be $515,000 in just personnel alone. We did receive an

increase in the local funds this year but in the 3 years prior, we were flat funded. During that time our

expenses were increasing $500,000 each year causing us to lose some positions or move them to State

funding due to the increase in mandated raises and benefits. This will take our total budget from $7.6

this year to a request of $8.3 million, which is an increase of $710, 000. Based off our Percentage to

Charter schools, our payment to charter schools would go from $1.9 to $2.1 million. This is the

required per student that we receive and we have to give the charter schools the same per diem,

which takes the Charter school budget to $238,000 increase. This takes the total budget to almost 10.5

million request.

The capital Budget is split into Health and Safety, Construction, and Furniture and Equipment. These

are regular capital items that are generally under $50, 000 per project.This year our technology request


is $200,000 to replace the middle school laptops. We do have CIP plan request this year which

generally are over $50,000 per project. The CIP plan includes raising sidewalks at Woodland, which will

cause you to have to raise the canopy, ADA accessibility at PHS for the Track and Baseball fields,

painting at Earl Bradsher and updating the fire alarm system at SMS. ADA accessibility and safety is a

priority and this has been presented to the County Manager. If we have to absorb the salary impact to

our budget, it will have a direct impact on classrooms.

D. Auxiliary Services

1. Capital Projects Report

Mr. King presented the capital projects report which shows the status of various projects in the district.

Competed projects have an asterisk by them. As a note, summer projects are delayed until summer

because they would affect the staff and students and interrupt instructional time. It’s the best time to

complete these projects.

2. Northern Middle School & Piedmont Community College Secondary Regress Easement

PCC has requested an easement across NMS because PCC has only one entrance and exit to their

campus. In the case of an emergency if something happens to their entrance they want to be able to

get people off their campus. In order to do that they will have to come across NMS to get out. PCC has

put a roadway in already from their property to the property line between PCC and NMS. A gravel drive

has a gate on it and can’t be used on a regular basis by anyone. The gravel road is only to the property

line. They can still come across our property if there was an emergency, unless it’s extremely wet

which would cause a problem for them. Alan Hicks has been contacted regarding this because the

property has been deferred back to the county for debt services. Attorney Hicks is simply asking if you

would approval the scenario for PCC to use our property as a 2nd access. Conversations have been had

with Ashley Warren. In the case that an emergency were to arise, NMS would be placed on a modified

lockdown, where no one would be allowed to go outside until all cars are off the other campus. All

Attorney Hicks need to know, is if you would agree to proceed with the easement so that he can start

having conversations with the county board. We can put restrictions on the easement setting the

parameters for the easement to be approved. What we are asking for today is the tentative approval

for Mr. Hicks to go forward with the County Commissioners.

A concern was expressed regarding what will happen in the event that they had a situation that caused

both campuses to need to be evacuated. Can we place a stipulation in there that we in the event that


that happen NMS would be evacuated first? I think that if the county says they are in agreement to do

this, we can work with Alan Hicks to put the language in for the restrictions. Those are logistics we can

discuss once the approval has been given.

What is your thoughts about them graveling the roadway and it being maintained? They installed the

roadway to the property line, but it would be up to them to maintain it. It would be an extreme case

that they would need to use it.

Motion: Motion made at 10:12 am by Freda Tillman and seconded by Phillip Gillis to approve the

Northern Middle School & Piedmont Community College Secondary Regress Easement as presented.

Motion carried 5-0

E. PCS22 Discussion

We have scheduled our PCS22 discussions. Last year when we developed the strategic plan for the

school district you asked that we have continuous communication with our community and

stakeholder about how we are doing. What I envision these dates being is Dr. Peterson giving them an

update on where we are on the PCS22 plan and for the stakeholders to give me feedback on where we

are at. Also the stakeholders will need to give the Board feedback on what they would want to see as

the next phase so that you can use that information in May and June to develop goals for the 2019-20

school year. I would encourage as many of you to be at the discussions. The dates are as follows: NMS

on April 1, 2019, SMS on April 8, 2019, and PHS on April 29, 2019. These discussions will be at 6 pm.

Carla Smith is to create a documented announcement to announce that we will be having Kitchen table

discussions. If we have the majority in attendance we will need to open up as a meeting then go into

discussion and close it. We can use it as a PD opportunity. The schools are good with these dates. On

April 29th we have invited the Ministerial Association. They will attend the discussion at the high school,

which can accommodate that particular stakeholder group. If there is no objection, I would ask Carla

Smith to go ahead with the announcement and confirm the dates and send out the invitations. Inviting

teacher advisory, SIP teams, PTA officers, School advisory, and for high school band, athletics and

boosters will need to be in attendance.

CLOSED SESSION

Motion: Dr. Peterson recommended the board adjourn to closed session at 10:16 am to consult with

the Board’s attorney and preserve the attorney-client privilege and to consider confidential personnel


information and to consider confidential student information protected under G.S. 143-318.11 (a) (1),

G.S. 143-318.11 (a) (3), and G.S. 143-318.11 (a) (6) and as protected by G.S. 115C-319, G.S. 115C-402,

and the Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act, 20 U.S.C. 1232g, motioned by Harriett Tillett and

seconded by Phillip Gillis.

Motion carried 5-0.

OPEN SESSION

The board returned to open session at 10:52 am.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

F. Superintendent

1. Consent Items

All consent items are approved in one motion.

Motion: Moved at 10:53 a.m. by Freda Tillman and seconded by Harriett TIllett to approve the consent

items A-F (licensed personnel, classified personnel, substitute personnel, employee leave and

volunteers) as presented.

Motion carried 5-0.

On a motion by Phillip Gillis and a second by Harriett Tillett, the Board adjourned at 10:54 a.m. Motion carried 5-0. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Board Chair Dr. Rodney Peterson, Secretary Attachments:




















If you would like full copies of the the policies with their revisions, please contact the Office of the Superintendent at 336-599-2191.






















Documents

PUBLIC COMMENT APPROVAL OF MINUTES …