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Picture courtesy of Rob Peck -
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Clay County's state-of-the-art baseball and softball complex is ready for its first pitch.
The facility will open with a special pregame ceremony at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, May 27 with the Clay County School Board and the county board of commissioners all taking part in the event. Superintendent Dale Cole made the announcement during the school board meeting on Monday, May 24.
Afterward, the Hayesville High baseball team will face Cherokee Central at 4 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader. Admission is free.
"It is a fantastic state-of-the-art facility that our citizens have provided for our students," Cole said. "I can't believe how nice it is. I've been in a lot of places and that's the nicest baseball and softball complex I've ever been a part of in 25 years."
The multi-phase complex has been in development since the board of commissioners approved its construction in January 2020.
Cole said overflow parking for today's event will be available at Hayesville Primary School and at the recreation field complexes.
"I hope everybody in the community comes," he said.
Monday's school meeting also featured award presentations for 2021 Hayesville Primary School Teacher of the year Heather Lovingood and HPS Teacher Assistant of the Year Amanda Logan; Hayesville Elementary Teacher of the Year Missy Johnson and Above and Beyond award winner Savannah Anderson; Hayesville Middle Teacher of the Year Emily Mull and Hayesville High Teacher of the Year Erin McCoy.
Hayesville Elementary School Principal Melissa Godfrey recognized Anderson — a second-year teacher in her first year at HES — for using the Heimlich maneuver to intervene with a student who was choking.
The board also received reading and math data reports for the primary, elementary and middle schools.
For Hayesville Primary School, grades K-2, the school's percentage of students reading on-grade level rose from 32 percent to 69 percent from the middle of the year to the end of the year. The progress was even more dramatic in math, where on-grade-level performance rose from 19 percent to 66 percent.
Hayesville Elementary also posted noticeable gains in grades 3-5, taking its overall reading level from 35 percent at the beginning of the year to 57 percent at the end. Students at risk for Tier 3, considered to be in jeopardy of being retained, decreased from 28 percent to 15 percent. In math, on-grade level performance jumped from just 17 percent at the beginning of the year to 58 percent at the end. Students at risk for Tier 3 dropped from 29 percent to eight percent.
Hayesville Middle School numbers featured mixed results across reading and math. In reading, the school observed a single-digit flux of students slipping back into lesser tiers from the midpoint of the year to the end. According to the results, students at risk for Tier 3 increased from 34 percent to 40 percent in the second half of the year. In math, students performing on-grade-level rose slightly from 33 percent to 35 percent, while the number of students at risk for Tier 3 dropped from 32 percent to 31 percent.
Cole noted that 57 of the middle school's 297 students could not be tested during the process due to remote learning.
"I don't know how accurate this data actually is for our middle school students," Cole said. "We will see from the EOI state exams and see how they compare."
Other notes from the May meeting:
• Cole announced that the school system will be accepting public feedback on both the proposed K-8 social-emotional learning curriculum and the grade 3-8 math curriculum from Tuesday, May 25 to Tuesday, June 8. Both sets of curriculum will be on display in the boardroom.
• The board approved Gear Up sponsored summer field trips for middle school students. Gear Up is a federal grant that exposes students to enrichment opportunities.
• The board approved a resolution in support of myfutureNC Attainment Goal for 2030. The organization is designed to boost North Carolina's number of skilled trade workers to a satisfactory level by the year 2030.
• The board approved a partnership with WNC Driving School.