MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION  MINUTES August 7,2023  The Montgomery County Board of Education convened in a regular monthly meeting on Monday, August 7,2023, at 6:30 pm in the Montgomery County Schools Boardroom. Board members present were Tommy Blake - Vice Chair, Angela Smith, Lynn Epps, Anne Evans, and Bryan Dozier. Steve DeBerry - Chairman and Cindy Taylor were not present.  Vice Chairman Tommy Blake called the meeting to order. Mr. Blake moved to adopt the agenda as submitted. Lynn Epps made the motion with Anne Evans seconding. The agenda was  accepted with unanimous approval from the board.  Vice Chairman Tommy Blake read aj passage from Matthew 15:16. "Let your light shine before others sO that you may see your good work and give glory to your father who is in  heaven." America.  Vice Chairman Blake led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag oft the United States of  No one signed up to speak during the public comments section.  Vice Chairman Blake called upon Dr. Dale Ellis for recognitions. Dr. Ellis called upon Casey Galloway to speak on behalfo of Billy Hart, winner oft the SkillsUSA National Firefighting Championship. This award is not only the first national award for the Montgomery County Schools, but this is also the first national award for the State ofNorth Carolina.  Vice Chairman Blake then requested the family of Ms. Ann Simmons Long to please step forward to accept a Resolution of Esteem for her nineteen years of service with the Board of Education for Montgomery County Schools. Ms. Long passed away in May. As a Point of Personal Privilege Dr. Ellis would like the record to reflect what a wonderful person she was and the great job she did as a board member. We speak ofaj person being a great board member, but she was an even better person. We really appreciate her son, Rudy Bruton, being present here  tonight. The resolution reads as follows:    MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OFE EDUCATION RESOLUTION OFE ESTEEM FOR Ann. Simmons Long  WHEREAS, our HeavenlyF Father, inHisinfinitele lovec andwisdom, saw! lilto callhomeA Anns Longo onN May3 30.2 2023and yearsasaboardn WHEREAS. herc memberv dedication! were tON Montgomery aliving lestlamento Counly ofheri Schools! integrily forr nineteen ands skill, served. WHEREAS, butc also! herlossv throughoul wilbec here deeply enlire fell communilyo noto onlyby! ando thosey county. wilhy whoms she Educationg NOW, THEREFORE, goeso onr recordine beit expressingas thatl thew sensed Montgomery ofreall loss CounlyB and regretin Boardof hers indicationofo passing: thata ouro deep: acopy sympathy: of! thisre resoluliont and! thate bec copy: conveyed! ofthes loher same lamily bef fledas asan aparto oft thep permanentr minulesc oflheB BoardofE Educalion.  and  COUNTY BOARDO OFE EDUCATION BeuRc Ed.D.Secretay 2023  J0eke Biaka, ViceChaiman SteveDeBery. Annefvans- Chdr- tynnEpps- Cindylaylor AngolaSmith  Vice Chairman Blake stated the next item is the consent agenda. Dr. Ellis has requested tol hold the consent agenda until after closed session. The board approved unanimously. Vice Chairman Blake called upon Emily Shaw for the CTE Highlights 2022-2023 presentation. Ms. Shaw started by again congratulating Billy Hart for being selected as the SkillsUSA National Champion inl Firefighting. She also congratulated all the students who participated in the SkillsUSA competition and who also won State and Regional awards. Ms. Shaw began her presentation by introducing everyone to the new mobile CTE lab. We were able to purchase and outfit the mobile career lab with a Modernization Ancillary grant. The purpose oft the grant was to find an innovative way to engage fifth through eighth grade students in different career pathways. With this mobile lab we can be more equitable, and we can allow more students to have some engagement with the career pathways we offer at the middle and high school level. The mobile lab is equipped with Career Exploration VR headset goggles which can be set to a variety ofcareers that will allow the student to participate and feel like they actually completing the task selected. Two other aspects oft the mobile lab are the Forklift and Firefighting simulators. These simulators give the student the chance to experience what it feels like to operate a forklift or use a fire extinguisher while in the safety oft the mobile CTE lab. We are planning to take the mobile lab to community events to allow everyone to see the wonderful real-life experiences we are providing for our students. Ms. Shaw also presented and explained the importance of credentials for our high school students. Our earned credential totals have significantly improved from only 57 in 2020-2021 to 1163 in 2022-2023. Through the career pathways we offer, students can earn industry recognized credentials which will help them to secure employment once they graduate. We are SO proud ofall the hard work our teachers are    doing to prepare our students for these credentials and proud of our students for being motivated  to earn these credentials.  Vice Chairman Blake called upon Dr. Dale Ellis for his Superintendent's Remarks. Dr. Ellis stated that we did present a Resolution of Esteem here tonight for Ms. Ann Long. This is something that we stopped doing during Covid, but we are now planning to bring back. To the best extent possible we are going to try to get together and go back through the obituaries during that three-year period to seei if there were other employees to be acknowledged. Unfortunately, we will not be able to bring them all in, but we would like to at least send a letter to the family on behalfof the board acknowledging the loss. I do regret that we have not brought this back before now, but it was a member of the community that asked about the resolution for Ms. Long that reminded me that Covid no longer impacts us as negatively as it once did in the past. Ia am looking forward to bringing this back so that we can recognize our former employees and thank the families for their service. Also, next month we will begin inviting our students back tol lead the pledge of allegiance which is something that had also been put on hold due to Covid.I am very excited to bring this back because there is nothing more exciting than watching a five-year-old lead the pledge of allegiance. Unfortunately, my comments will kind of end on a sour note for me because it was reported late this afternoon that house speaker Tim Moore has stated that he does not see ab budget being passed by September 1. Ultimately that is very disappointing to the point that there are talks about doing mini budget bills and I would encourage them to do that. This becomes very problematic when our first paycheck for all ten-month employees will be August 25th. Therefore, they will get one amount in a paycheck in August, ifit is passed after August, they will get another amount in their September check, but it will not be until October until they know exactly what they will make with the State raise. Ifit is after September, it could be November and when you speak about someone who makes 527,000-528,000 per year $40-$50 a month could be life changing. I feel like they need to look at the mini budget bills and Iv will communicate that on behalf oft the board to our legislators. This has become problematic for our finance staff as they have everything entered now but will have to adjust for two months in ai row. This also leads to confusion for the staff. The house already has a number but they are arguing over things that do not impact state employees so I would support going ahead with the mini  budgets SO that our state employees can be paid, and we can move forward.  Upon completion of the Superintendents remarks Mr. Dozier asked ifv we could partner with the sheriff's office to perform some active shooter scenarios in the schools SO that we can be proactive. Dr. Ellis stated that wel have done that in years past. He stated that he would be sitting down with stafflater this week to set up a meeting with the sheriffand his stafft to discuss the coming year, the new SRO's, etc. Matthew Woodard was present and stated that we completed the last one in 2021. He stated that the county receives an Emergency Management grant every year and the funds are to be used for these exercises. This process is run through the Emergency Management services, Robby Smith, which includes First Health, fire, law enforcement, etc. The school staffmembers are trained in the proper procedures and upon completion oft the exercises each school is evaluated, interior and exterior, by the Emergency Management team. Once the evaluation is completed the results are reviewed and any issues addressed. The board members requested that they would like to invite someone from the Montgomery Herald to one oft the future scenarios to take pictures and write an article on the process SO that the public  could see our schools be proactive.  Vice Chairman Blake 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 closed session unanimously.    Upon the return to open session, Dr. Ellis requested that the Board make a motion to grant him the limited ability to remove certain documents from a single employee's personnel file. Upon a motion by Bryan Dozier and a second by Anne Evans, the motion was approved unanimously.  Mr. Blake called for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Upon a motion by Bryan Dozier  and a second by Angela Smith the consent agenda was approved. After closed session the following items were approved: 1) Board Minutes from July 10, 2023 2) Personnel and Auxiliary Reports:  pprovalo Toby Melaurin  Aupustl 203andenling 2033a esources kck Renlacing  PERSONNELR COENTVS Keinla August7. 2023 Direct  22013 212023 241023  120  Ve    AUXILARYE AUGUST7 REPORT 7.2023  l'penr year. approvalofrdeaef: Montgomery Countys Schoobr requntelforthe  Thef followingen overnight ficuipsa arereyuestel: Montgomery County Farly Callege TravdlT Trickeri4 4572-Greaty WalfLodge-Concunt." NC TipDates: Montgomery Countys Schoolsto Moere County Schoak Montgomery Countys SchoolstoStanly County's Schools Montgomery County Schoolsto RandolphCountys School  Following approval oft the consent agenda, Vice Chairman Blake asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Anne Evans made the motion with Bryan Dozier seconding; the meeting  was duly adjourned.  The next regular meeting will be held on Monday, September 11, 2023, at 6:30 pm at the  Montgomery County Central Office.  Oarui Dale Ellis, Ed. D., Secretary  Steven W. DeBerry,