MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION  MINUTES February 5, 2024  The Montgomery County Board of Education convened in a regular monthly meeting on Monday, February 5, 2024, at 6:30 pm in the Montgomery County Schools Boardroom. Board members present were Steve W. DeBerry - Chair, Anne Evans Vice Chair, Tommy Blake, Angela Smith, Lynn Epps, and Bryan Dozier. Cindy Taylor was not present.  Chairman Steve DeBerry called the meeting to order. Mr. DeBerry moved to adopt the agenda as submitted. Tommy Blake made the motion with Lynn Epps seconding. The agenda  was accepted with unanimous approval from the board.  Chairman Steve DeBerry shared an opening devotional from Philippians 4: 11-12, "Not that I was ever ini need, for I have learned how to be content with whateverI have. Iknow how to live on almost nothing or with everything. Ihave learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little." In today's society we think that acquiring more and always replacing what we have with something bigger and better is the only way to find contentment. Contentment is only possible when you start with a grateful heart and the realization that God has blessed you with everything you need. Ifwe approach everything in our lives with an attitude of gratitude it comes: more naturally. A contented life is achieved when  you focus on what God has given you and thank him for those blessings.  Montgomery County Learning Academy student Anjali Hernandez Ibarra and Montgomery County Early College student Kaitlynn Burr led the Pledge of Allegiance to the  Flag oft the United States of America.  No one signed up to speak during the public comments section.  Chairman DeBerry presented a Resolution of Esteem for. James William Ray, Sr. Mr. Ray's son, Jimi Ray was present and accepted the Resolution of Esteem for his father'smore than thirty years ofs service as a teacher and coach with the Montgomery County Schools. Mr.  Ray passed away on December 14, 2023. The Resolution reads as follows:  COUNTYB BOARD OFEDUCATION RESOLUTIONO OFESTEEM FOR James "Jim" William Ray, Sr. WHEREAS. ourt home Heavenly! Jomes" Fother. Smv Wiom inHs Ray.s S. cnDecember) wisdom. 14,  2023. VHEREAS.  Montgomeryd were Countys living Schooistorover ofinis feltnotonlyo  ation. MONIGOMERY COUNIY    Chairman DeBerry then called upon Dr. Ellis for Employee of the Month recognitions. Dr. Ellis called upon Dr. Amy Reynolds to recognize the MLA employee oft the month, Elizabeth Divine, EC Teacher. Dr. Ellis then called upon Dr. Heather Seawell to recognize the MCEC  employee oft the month, April Daywalt, Math Teacher.  Chairman DeBerry then asked the board for approval oft the consent agenda. Bryan Dozier made the motion with Anne Evans seconding. The board approved unanimously. Chairman DeBerry called upon Dr. Amy Reynolds, principal for MLA for their presentation on: What happens when a student is reassigned to MLA? Dr. Reynolds stated that a student is not just placed at MLA, there is a lot oftl thought that goes into what happens when we get that new student. Some students are assigned to MLA to catch up but with the expectation of returning to their traditional school, while others choose to remain and receive their diploma from MLA. Since we are small, one oft the first things we do is to create a personalized education plan by sitting down with the student and their parent/guardian to discuss why the student was sent to MLA, what does this student need to be successful and what are their future plans. We have two forms that we complete to determine the student's course of study/career pathway. The first form lists the plan for the current semester, next semester, and any additional recommendations we have. The second form is a transcript review sO that the student can see where they are towards graduation and what they still need. We offer several programs at MLA tol help students with a variety ofi issues as well as allowing high school students to recover course credits. We offer Life Skills and Strengthening Families which are recommended and/or required for students who were referred due to a discipline or attendance issue and who may also bes struggling with issues in school or at home. We offer Edmentum, which is an online platform for when students with extenuating circumstances may need to work on classwork from home and need a more flexible schedule. We offer Restorative Justice & Social Circles for our students referred to us for substance abuse or discipline issues. The students meet one on one and witha social circle to discuss their choices and how it impacted them and the people around them. We have our school store which has really transformed our discipline issues ini middle school. The students earn points for desired behaviors and then on Fridays they can cash in the points for items in the store for themselves or family members. Our store is supported by donations and grants. Wej provide a program for Social Skills Training. All middle school students are required toc complete daily social skills training. Middle school is a hard time fora a lot of students and this training helps them learn how to make better decisions and prepare for their future whether it be at MLA or returning to their traditional school. We also offer transportation to and from the CTE building for our high school students who want to remain at MLA but also wish to participate in the CTE courses. Wel have several students that are earning certificates, and we also have the first electrical student coming out of MLA. We also had two seniors receive scholarships last school year and hope to have some this year as well. Dr. Reynolds noted that representatives from Anson County will be coming to tour on Thursday to see what we are doing at MLA. We have a lot of exciting things going on and hope to change thej perception ofbeing assigned to  MLA.  Chairman DeBerry called upon Dr. Heather Seawell, principal at MCEC for their presentation on: MCEC Study Night. Ms. Cindy Martin and Ms. April Daywalt then stepped forward to give the presentation. Study Night was implemented last school year and was an idea shared by another school at the RTI Early College Summit to help improve school culture. Our plan is tol host a study night at the end of each semester with a focus on study sessions, test prep, and homework assistance. We also added PreACT Parent Night this fall sO that the sophomores    that took the PreACT could come in with their parents and we could go over the data together. The teachers volunteer to host sessions for study night and have developed a schedule that lists the time, event, grade, and location for each session. Students sign in when they arrive and then participate in the four 45-minute sessions that are listed on the schedule. All subject areas are supported as well as college classes and ACT prep. Study night allows for a safe and open learning environment where the students have time to study with friends in student study groups, one on one time with teachers as well as teacher-led study sessions and allows the students to receive college course assistance. It also allows the student to make up attendance time or to earn volunteer hours on community service projects if needed. We had 117 students attend/participate in study night which is about 40.9% ofour student population. Students are not required toj participate in study night and only attend ifthey choose to. Some ofthe outcomes are that it allows more opportunities for students to build better relationships with teachers and more targeted instruction since it is based on what the students have requested. Some of the highlights were that we were able to finish the semester strong by finishing projects and assignments, students working together to excel, attendance make up, great participation inj parent night and free snacks and pizza. Kaitlynn Burr, an 11th grader at MCEC stated that she was able to receive tutoring and prepare for her final college Math exam as well as complete an English assignment during study night. She said that it just made her feel more prepared. She also stated that she enjoyed the time with her friends and teachers. The teachers just love how eager the students are to come after hours and how they embrace the opportunity to prepare for finals while enjoying  themselves.  Chairman DeBerry called upon Dr. Emily Shaw for the Educational Substitute Staffing System (ESS) presentation. This is the system that Montgomery County Schools use to help supply our substitutes, teacher assistants and various positions throughout our schools. ESS came in about a year before COVID to help eliminate a time-consuming burden on principals and school districts by specializing in placing staffin daily, long-term and permanent K-12 school district positions. For a fee, ESS provides substitute teachers and to offset those fees they employ teacher assistants and long-term substitutes for the district, therefore saving the district the cost ofproviding benefits. MCS entered into a contract with ESS on November 15, 2019, tol help offset our costs. The first two years were successful, but we are currently not experiencing enough attrition with our teacher assistants to offset the costs. Therefore, at this time we: request that Mr. Garner review our contract and explore the possibility of MCS employing our own substitutes and teacher assistants. We are currently operating on ayear-to-year basis with ESS and are required to give 90-day (from the end of school year) non-renewal notice. We would like the opportunity to return back to employing our own teacher assistants and substitute teachers as we did in the past. Chairman DeBerry ask if we return to the way we did this in the past, what kind of burden would this place back on our principals and assistant principals trying to make sure we have substitute teachers? Dr. Shaw stated that a few months back this was discussed with principals at the principals' meeting to get their opinion on the matter. What we learned was that on a daily basis, at some of our schools, principals are still having to find substitutes or go without due to ESS not having enough to staff the positions. Dr. Ellis stated that there are also some people who would rather work for MCS than through a staffing agency, which could be why the number of individuals requesting to be substitutes has declined. We have looked at some cost analysis and when we first entered into the contract it was cost saving. However, now we do not have enough of the teacher assistants leaving MCS for us to fill with the teacher assistants through ESS, sO therefore we are not saving any money, but we are still paying a service fee to ESS for every substitute position they fill. The concern among board members was the additional cost of the benefits if we employ the substitutes. Dr. Ellis stated that the benefits are only for the teacher assistants, but that is where you get the fee to pay to ESS when you do not purchase the    insurance for the teacher assistants. Since we are not having turnover among the teacher assistants iti is not offsetting the cost oft the fee for the substitutes: and with the COVID money coming to an end we: feel that we could manage the cost better ourselves. Dr. Ellis stated that since this was a contract that the board approved, we wanted to present this information to you before we moved forward. The board agreed to move forward with this request.  Chairman DeBerry then called upon Dr. Dale Ellis for the Superintendent's Comments. February is always a very busy month. This week is school guidance counselor week, and we appreciate all the counselors and the hard work they do. This is also CTE month. We continue to promote all our CTE programs and the great job that is going on there. As you heard earlier, we have Early College students, MLA students and Montgomery Central High students that are working on those CTE certificates and doing a tremendous job. Mainly it is Black History month. So, this is a great month with lots ofactivities going on in our schools. You saw just some examples here tonight, but Ijust appreciate all the work that our teachers are doing to promote Black History, CTE and the work of our guidance counselors to keep our students on track to reach that graduation goal. We did receive our dropout percentage last week and it was .49%. Once again, we will have a graduation rate in the mid to upper 90's. It think that is something we can alll be proud of. Education is a thirteen-year process and over those thirteen years we do a great job with kids. We are honored when parents choose us and their children go to MLA, the Early College or just choose to stay with us because we. have some dynamic programs that continue to benefit Montgomery County for years to come.  Chairman DeBerry then asked for a motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel and consult the board attorney. Bryan Dozier made the motion, with Lynn Epps seconding. The  board approved entering into closed session unanimously. The following items were: approved: 1) Board Minutes from. January 8, 2024 2) Personnel and Auxiliary Report    3) Budget Resolution  427  Troy,)    Budget Amendment#5 CounlyA Administrati SIALFUNDS  BudgetA Amendment#5  n  Budget Amendment#5 PITALOU  Budget Amendment# #5  11295  3713  Budget Amendment#5  IMEIRL  1A  Dakli    4) Audit Contract    ZAxg  Nak -  ASW ANDERSONS SMITH& WIKEPLLC    DEANDORTON)  be  tus Sy    5) Candor Flower and Gift Shop MOU  digut dnugsar   Acs Chainas. lesi  Following approval of the consent agenda, Chairman DeBerry asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Bryan Dozier made the motion with Angela Smith seconding; the meeting was duly  adjourned.,  The next regular meeting will be held on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 6:30 pm at the Montgomery  County Central Office.  Ools Dale Ellis, Ed. D., Secretary  Steven  Ares