By Marcia Barnes
Staff Writer
The Board of Education meeting on Monday, Feb. 26 moved right along. Two members of the board were absent from the Monday night meeting, but a quorum was present to conduct business and Superintendent Melissa Godfrey gave an update on the Hayesville Intermediate School. “We are currently out to bid on the project. We held a pre-bid meeting for interested general contractors on Wednesday, Feb. 14. We had two general contractors attend that, one locally here and one out of Arden, N.C. and we are scheduled to open the bids this Friday, March 1,” Godfrey said. “We have to have three bids in order to open those on Friday. I’m not sure if we’ll get three. If not, we’ll have to put it back out for a second round.” Godfrey said that the Supplimental Grant has been applied for. The $12 million grant, if awarded would be used to defray rising costs of building materials for the new school. Godfrey said that they hoped to know something before June on the grant.
Hayesville schools have been awarded a Safety Grant of $25,000 from the State of North Carolina which Godfrey said would provide cameras for five buses. The superintendent’s report also included news that Hayesville High School has completed the accreditation portfolio. “Although we don’t have an answer yet, it was quite well done. We won’t have an official report until summer, but our initial interview was very positive,” Godfrey said.
Board member Kelly Crawford commented on the enormous number of hours of work by Hayesville High School Principal Stacey Overlin and his team to make the application possible.
Recognitions given at the meeting went to Godfrey who received the Trailblazer Award; Heather Carpenter at Hayesville Primary School received the Beginning Teacher Award and Caden Gordon was recognized by Coach Donovan Byers for performance in wrestling. Gordon placed 7th out of 65.
A fourth recognition was given to the Hayesville Elementary School therapy dog named Crouton. The four-legged addition to the school started training in October 2023. Berkleigh Chastain, Hayesville Elementary School Counselor said that Crouton had to have six weeks of training before being tested for certification. With Crouton present, Chastain presented a video of how the therapy dog helps greet students each morning at school and how the dog’s interaction with students is a benefit.
Middle of the year progress reports on Hayesville Primary School were based using three different test measures: iReady, mClass and NCENSI. Both first and second grades show significant growth in reading and math.
Overlin said that 86 high school students would celebrate graduation at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 25. Plan A is to hold the graduation ceremony outdoors if weather permits. Plan B will be to provide for the ceremony indoors and each student will have 15 tickets for families and friends.
Revonda Palmer reported that there are 320 students enrolled in Career and Technology Education.
No action was taken on the school calendar presented at the meeting, however, a motion was made to draw up a second option for the school calendar year and that was approved.
Closed session of the board followed the open meeting. The next regular board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 25.