DATE: February 5, 2007 PRESENT: Barbara Owens, Chair

DATE: February 5, 2007 PRESENT: Barbara Owens, Chair Mary Grace Bright Jill Camnitz Betsy Leech TIME: 7:30 P.M. Billy Peaden Roy Peaden Dick Tolmie Delano Wilson PLACE: Pitt County Office Building ABSENT: Michael Dixon Ralph Love, Sr. Sidney Scott Marcy Romary

The Chair, Ms. Barbara D. Owens, called to order the Board of Education in regular session and welcomed everyone. Mr. Billy Peaden led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ms. Heather Mayo, Public Information Officer, offered the recognitions for the evening. She recognized Dr. Bob Dailey who introduced the Amy Carroll-Sherry Little Award and announced that this year’s winner was Ms. Joyce Howard, Physical Education teacher at Creekside Elementary School. Dr. Dailey provided background information on the award and introduced family members of Sherry Little – Samantha and Matt - who were present for the presentation. In the absence of Ms. Carla Frinsko, Principal, who was ill this evening, Mr. Jimmy Bowen, a past recipient, described for the Board the experiences and characteristics of Ms. Howard that earned for her the recognition as this year’s winner. The Vice-Chair, Ms. Mary Grace Bright, presented Ms. Howard with a special Amy Carroll-Sherry Little Award plaque and read the inscription thereon.

The Chair offered an opportunity for adjustments to the agenda. Upon motion by Mr. Dick Tolmie and second by Ms. Betsy Leech, the Board voted unanimously to approve the agenda.

An opportunity for Public Expression was provided. Mr. Steve Hoskins addressed the Board regarding 56 acres of farm property he owns, Parcel #008156, which he believed upon purchase to be in the Chicod School District. Action by the Board last November, he said, placed the parcel in the Grifton Elementary School District. He indicated that the parcel was six miles from Chicod and nine miles from Grifton and he asked the Board to consider rezoning this area to the Chicod School district.

The Consent Agenda Items were offered for consideration. Included were minutes of the meeting held on December 18, 2006 and the Personnel Report for the Month of February. Upon motion by Mr. Billy Peaden and second by Ms. Betsy Leech, the Board unanimously voted to approve the Consent items as presented.

Representing Stokes Elementary School, Principal Joe Nelson, previous half-time Assistant Principal Sheila Frizzell, Guidance Counselor Garrett Lewis, and Teacher Susan Warren, described for the Board the activities implemented this year at Stokes School to model and reinforce RESPECT. They discussed Character Education activities such as “Words for the Month,” the use of “Warm Fuzzies,” and presentations of recognition awards such as the Eagle Effort Award. Examples of Warm Fuzzies were passed out to Board members at the end of the presentation.

Mr. Aaron Beaulieu, Associate Superintendent for Financial and Operational Services, presented for consideration a RESOLUTION APPROVING THE CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN PROPERTY TO THE COUNTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE CONSTRUCTION OF VARIOUS SCHOOL PROJECTS AND THE LEASING SUCH FACILITIES TO THE BOARD, REQUESTING THE COUNTY TO PROVIDE FINANCING FOR SUCH PROJECTS AND AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING A CONSTRUCTION AND ACQUISITION AGREEMENT AND LEASE AGREEMENTS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH. He explained to the Board that approval of this Resolution and the steps it outlined were necessary to allow the County of Pitt to finalize Certificates of Participation for the financing of upcoming construction projects. Upon motion by Mr. Dick Tolmie and second by Ms. Jill Camnitz, the Board unanimously approved the RESOLUTION, as presented.

As Chair of the Policy Review Committee, Ms. Betsy Leech presented the report from that Committee’s meeting held on January 10, 2007. She explained that as a result of discussions at that meeting, two policies were being brought forward for First Reading: Student Transfers Within Pitt County Schools – Policy 10.111 and Travel Expense Reimbursement – Policy 3.506. She noted that for the Travel Expense Reimbursement Policy, the phrase “or designee” was being added to the sentence that specified the Superintendent’s advance approval in writing was required for reimbursable travel outside of the school district. In regard to Policy 3.506, Ms. Leech explained that discussion was held by the committee to clarify whether or not school nurses and school resource officers should be included in the allowable transfers for school employees. She advised that the Committee had concluded that contract employees, such as these two categories of individuals, were technically not school employees and should not be included. The other change in the policy, she noted, required the staff to recommend and the Board to designate schools for open enrollment by April 1 of each year.

Some board members questioned why resource officers would not be included as they are at the school every day and that there is a person at the Central Office who supervises those individuals on a daily basis.

Also in regard to Open Enrollment, Board members discussed that the schools designated for Open Enrollment could change from year to year and that the district would need a mechanism for properly advising parents of the schools approved. Also discussed was that the duration of the approved transfer was covered under number V. in the policy and was different for high school students requesting a transfer for curriculum reasons. A request was made that in the future all changes recommended in a policy be notated with highlights or blocking so as to distinguish the wording that was to be different. As these policies were being offered for First Reading, it was suggested that any additional discussion or recommendations for changes be communicated either to Ms. Leech or to other members of the Policy Committee prior to the next meeting.

As Chair of the Community Relations Committee, Ms. Mary Grace Bright offered the report from that Committee’s meeting held on January 31st. She indicated that the Committee had discussed proposed goals submitted by the Public Information Officer for the year, which included using marketing tools to improve the image of the school district and developing additional avenues for promoting “the positives” and improving communications with the community. Some of those strategies included the use of town meetings, having the Board hold meetings in the schools, having Board members visit schools more often, and holding receptions or informational sessions for the media. Other ideas included ways to highlight “good news” events and recognizing students for academic achievement.

Additionally, Ms. Bright stated that a committee would be designated to recommend a name for the new school to open in the fall of 2008 and she explained how individuals would be selected to serve on that committee. She noted that it would be the intent for the committee to have a recommendation on a proposed name ready for the full Board in June. She indicated that based on the SACS review of the school district, the Mission and Vision statements would be studied to determine if changes were needed. Also discussed, she reported, was the possibility of televising Board of Education meetings, determining what that would cost, and what type of equipment would be required.

Mr. Delano Wilson, representing the Human Resources Committee, presented the 2007-2008 School Calendar for Second Reading. As a part of this report, Ms. Delilah Jackson explained that one change was being recommended that was different from when the calendar was submitted for First Reading with that revision changing an early release day from January 9 to October 11. Upon motion by Mr. Delano Wilson and second by Mr. Dick Tolmie, the Board unanimously approved the 2007-08 Calendar for Second Reading.

Under Superintendent Comments, Dr. Reep explained that in response to the Board’s request for a listing of those programs and activities embraced by the school district to address the needs of schools in School Improvement, a tri-fold brochure was being created that would provide a readable, understandable explanation of those programs and support. She stated it would be the intent to distribute those brochures broadly across the school district. She added that the district was doing a lot to support those schools and that it was important to help as many people as possible understand what was being done.

To assist Board members with understanding one of those tools, Mr. Tim Decresie provided each Board member with “a controller” and gave a demonstration of the Classroom Performance System (CPS). He explained that this computer program allows the teacher in the classroom to pose questions, either verbally or visually to the students and each student responds using a handheld “clicker” that allows for A, B, C, or D responses. The computer program instantly retrieves and processes the students’ answers and gives immediate feedback to the teacher. This interactive teaching strategy makes learning fun for the students and affords teachers an additional way to assess test objectives that need to be re-taught for the entire class, as well as those areas where more work is needed for individual students. Following the presentation, Board members asked questions in regard to the School Improvement Initiatives being used. Included were: (1) how many schools have CPS systems, (2) if different modalities are used for Exceptional Children to adapt for their individual situations, (3) what the benefit is of other programs that are being used such as Edu-Test and Study Island, (4) what work was being done to help the teachers with the “Item Analysis” both in terms of training and tools, (5) to what degree the principals were buying in to the use of CPS systems and successfully encouraging their use by teachers.

Dr. Reep emphasized that she did not understand why the State would not release item analysis information from state tests back to the district, but currently they do not. She said that this program provides teachers with that item analysis information that makes for an immediate method of assessment and that she thought it was a powerful tool.

Ms. Owens discussed the Legislative Agenda created by the North Carolina School Boards Association and listed the issues that group had designated as priorities.

Under Board member comments, Mr. Roy Peaden requested that the Board be provided a regular report on discipline.

Mr. Billy Peaden asked what was being done to track students who were not attending school where they were supposed to attend.

Ms. Mary Grace Bright commented on the presentation by the Ayden-Grifton Kiwanis of the dictionaries presented to every third grade student. She also reminded everyone of the Apple Summit on February 13th at Ayden-Grifton High School.

Ms. Betsy Leech said that she often speaks as an advocate for the school counselors and was pleased to see the Tale of the Warm Fuzzies revisited and to see the values underscored there being brought back to life. She stated that she thought the school counselors and social workers were the unsung heroes and extremely important to the overall equation.

Mr. Dick Tolmie expressed appreciation to Dr. Reep for bringing in Tim Decresie and appreciation to Mr. Decresie for his presentation.

Ms. Jill Camnitz expressed concern with the State Board of Education’s pending action to change the pathway requirements for Vocational Education courses and its intent to do away with all but the College Tech Prep avenue. With this being the most rigorous of the current pathways, she stated she was concerned that there were students who would get lost in this move. She noted that the State Board of Education was holding regional meetings and would be in this area on February 19th. She added that if our folks were not in favor of this change, the regional meeting would be the place to voice that concern and that we needed to be sure our folks were aware.

It was additionally noted that these proposed changes would potentially have a tremendous negative impact on the drop-out rate in a way that we did not want to see happen.

Board members discussed their desire to attend this regional meeting of the State Board of Education to voice concerns for the district. It was agreed to postpone the next regular Board meeting from February 19th to February 26th to allow Board members the opportunity to attend the State Board meeting on February 19th.

Dr. Reep pointed out that at the next regular meeting of the Board, the staff would want to bring forward the results of the survey conducted for a wraparound program at Sadie Saulter, specifically as related to next steps necessary.

Upon motion made by Mr. Roy Peaden and seconded by Mr. Dick Tolmie, the Board voted to adjourn.

Respectfully submitted,

______Ms. Barbara D. Owens, Chair

______Beverly B. Reep, Superintendent