The Vance County Board of Education met Monday night in the Administrative Services Center.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tommy Riddle. Riddle explained that traditionally the board reorganizes at the first meeting in December. Riddle was re-elected chairman and Gloria White was re-elected vice chairwoman.
Debra Horton, he president of the North Carolina PTA, appeared before the board to praise the members for their support of the PTA and for their encouragement of parental involvement in policy-making in Vance County since 1995.
Arnetra Terry, one of the nine national board-certified teachers who attended the State Board Summit in Greensboro, asked the board to endorse the first local policy summit for national board-certified teachers, to be held April 28 in Vance County. The board delivered that endorsement.
Dabney Elementary School was recognized for achieving the highest elementary school attendance in November at 97.07 percent. Eaton-Johnson Middle School was recognized for having 93.31 percent attendance in November.
David Biles, manager of engineering services for Energy Systems Group, presented an updated report of his company’s findings after being contracted to explore possible causes for the drastic increases in electric expenses.
His report created discussion among the board members, especially Robert Duke, who had concerns about just how cost-effective the contract with ESG had been in terms of money saved vs. money paid to the company.
The board decided to review the report in executive session before deciding to accept the findings.
The 2006 school board meeting schedule was reviewed. Except for April, when the meeting will be on the first Monday, the meetings will be on the second Monday of the month. Also, there will be no meeting in July because there will be two meetings in June.
Trixie Brooks and Superintendent Norm Shearin reported on a presentation they made to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee about low-wealth funding and specifically how those funds have been used in Vance County to improve student scores.
Shearin sees improvement in the elementary schools but realizes work must be done to find innovative ways to improve student achievement in the middle and high schools.
Additional schools are badly needed in Vance County, Shearin said. The lottery can help, but Shearin thinks there needs to be a legislative commitment to achieve the desired goals.
Clark Street School is a continuing concern because of the age of the boiler, the mechanical piping in the boiler and the domestic waterline. There are also concerns about the roof and the wiring. Discussion was held regarding where students would be located in case an emergency occurred and repairs had to be done on a large scale.
All members presented their committee reports. Of particular interest was the Finance Committee’s report, presented by Duke, which resulted in a 6-1 vote to approve the budget for the fiscal year ending June30, 2006.
The school board approved changes to the energy conservation guidelines after much discussion. White had concerns that Shearin and Claiborne Woods promised to investigate. The guidelines were approved by a vote of 6-1.
The Curriculum Committee presented a report that showed three honors courses are being added for the 2006-07 school year. A Computerized High School Success Plan is to be implemented. All parents, teachers and coaches are to be made aware of the SAT prep course to be offered in February.
The school board is considering having several of its regular meetings in schools throughout the county during the 2006-07 school year to allow parents to see for themselves that the board wants to meet the needs of their children..
There was no new business, so the school board adjourned to executive session to discuss property, legal and personnel matters.