When the Clay County Board of Education held its Aug. 24 meeting just one week after school officially went back in session, the meeting began with Chairman Dr. Jason Shook acknowledging the death of Bill Cody, who served Clay County Schools for 23 years.
“He was a bus driver, a valuable member of the school community, as well as the community in general,” Shook said as the group held a moment of silence.
Theresa Waldroup provided the annual Community for Students Report. “I want to share with you what we have done in the 2019-2020 school year,” she said, as her slide presentation started. Statistics included the mentor tutor times listed for 163 individual students served in 11 classrooms; 81 complete backpacks and more than 60 partial ones were filled and crisis services were offered to 47 adults and 49 children. “We had a busy year, but it was cut short,” Waldroup added. “We have had a wonderful year and we expect the same this year.”
Waldroup also announced that she is retiring in July 2021. “I want to tell you how important, what a joy and a blessing to be able to work for and serve our children,” she said. “Even though we are having challenging times, we are going to go out working and doing what’s best for our children. The partnership we have always had with Clay County Schools — I think we are the only ones in the state that has it.”
In another matter, school principals Lindsey Hodnett, Melissa Godfrey, Heather Plemmons and Jim Saltz provided teacher working condition survey reports for their respective schools.
Clay County Schools Superintendent Dale Cole explained the biannual survey is the longest running teacher condition survey in the state related to education.
“It collects information from all of our certified staff members in relation to different parts of the school,” he said. “We use that information for school improvement planning, as well as district improvement planning. In June, I used that opportunity to share some things for improvement and positives from the voices of the staff.”
Hodnett and Godfrey shared information from Hayesville Primary and Hayesville Elementary School. HPS should be ready by mid-October.
In the meantime, the two principals are working together. Since the schools are not yet separated, the same data represents both.
Positives reported include:
• 100 percent of teachers believe what is taught will make a difference in students’ lives.
• 100 percent also think the curriculum aligns with the N.C. Standard Course of Study,
• More than 92 percent of teachers say the schools are a good place to work and learn.
• 96.1 percent of teach- ers have access to reliable communication technology, including phones, faxes and email.
• Teachers are trusted to make sound professional decisions about instruction is 92.7 percent and even more feel they have autonomy with decision-making.
• 90.2 percent of teachers are relied upon to make decisions about educational issues.
Areas of improvement have been identified and interventions are already being instituted. These include:
• Parent involvement in decision-making processes.
• Professional development and follow-up.
• Problem solving among staff with teachers; involve- ment in the decision-making.
• Student conduct.
Plemmons reported Haysville Middle School’s survey results. “The survey reflected how well our teachers work together,” she said. “They definitely feel supported. They are encouraged to share and collaborate.”
She cited other positives and discussed areas of improvement.
“Bullying and cyber-bullying,” Plemmons said. “This is one of the areas we are rated lowest in.” Plemmons said there are some interventions in place to combat the issue, such as a full time counselor to assist administration. Every student will also be taught a social emotional learning curriculum during the first year of middle school.
Students are also trained in digital citizenship, which has a cyberbullying component and they are being trained to use the Say Something App.
Professional learning communities will also have more focus this year. Wednesdays will be an opportunity for more professional development opportunities since there are no children at school, she explained.
Saltz also began the HHS report with positive high- lights including:
• Teachers have an appropriate level of influence in the school.
• Work in a safe school environment.
• School facilities, resourc- es and leadership.
• Community support and involvement are good.
Items below state average were given to the school improvement team who chose eight of them to present to faculty and work to improve.
• Only 68.7 percent of teachers feel they have time to collaborate with other teachers, while the state aver- age is 75.02 percent.
• HHS teachers also felt a lack of professional learning communities, as well as instructional supports.
• Other items chosen for improvement are related to clear student conduct expec- tations.
Saltz’s greatest priority is cyber-bullying because many teachers mentioned it. The school has plans for several programs to address the is- sue.
Custodial program changes were presented by Cole.
“We forget about environmental services in any business,” Cole said. “The fact is, if we don’t do a great job, people are going to get sick, whether it is flu season, cold season or anything else. Environmental services are making sure we have an effective, efficient successful plan for cleaning our building on a day-to-day basis.” Prior to 2020-2021, four full-time custodians worked for Clay County Schools, with two of them assigned to 80,000 square feet at the high school.
One was assigned to the cafeteria which feeds all students Pre-K to high school and is 10,302 square feet. One full time was assigned to Hayesville Elementary School, 32,100 square feet. Five part-time custodians were divided among all other buildings.
New COVID-19 guidelines require cleaning throughout the day. The program being implemented will replace the five part-time custodians with four full time, which will give the schools eight full-time custodians and no part time. One position at HPS was directly funded by the Clay County Board of Commissioners.
The total cost will be about $4,000 less than the previous plan.
Other discussions during the meeting include:
• An update about the Jump Start program by Godfrey and Hodnett. The state-funded math and reading remediation program for students in grades one through four offered special sessions for five weeks during the summer. It was optional, but participation was highest among first and second grade.
• Director of Child Nutrition Jenny Bethel, provided nutrition updates. “Over the summer, we were able to offer all students free meals because of our area eligibility from having more than 50 percent students at free and reduced,” she said. Starting Tuesday, Sept. 1, the schools must return to the lunch program where students are charged based on eligibility status. All free and all reduced lunch kids will be able to eat free because of state funds. Bethel recommended maintaining last year’s lunch prices, if possible. This was $2.40 for elementary and $2.50 for middle and high school students.
• Bethel also reported on the Universal Free Breakfast Program, where CCS provided free breakfasts for all students for the past 10 years. The board approved the program for all grade levels, as budgeted in the school budget.
• Several policies were updated or rescinded.
As has become protocol since March, the meeting was shown virtually via the school’s Facebook page while the board maintained social distancing within the meeting room.
The next Clay County School Board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28.