Hello, BCS Staff and Families.
Here’s a look at the BCS Board Briefing for May 2, 2024. The full broadcast is on YouTube, and photos are posted in this Google Drive folder.
In our Good News segment, we recognized:
· Buncombe County Students Selected for NC Governor’s School
· High School Chorus Section Chair for NC Music Educators Association – Aleisa Baker, TC Roberson Choral Director
· Lighthouse Award – Janet Roberts, Exceptional Children Administrator/Curriculum Manager
Curriculum Feature
Action Agenda
· Approval of 2024-2027 Strategic Plan
· Approval of Funding Request for Current Expense and Capital Appropriation and Submission of the 2024-2025 Preliminary Budget to County Commissioners
· Approval of Lottery Funding for Continuation of the Security Hardware Upfit and for North Buncombe High School Tennis Courts
· AB Technical Community College Lease Agreement Addendum
· Buncombe County Schools Board of Education Legislative Agenda
· RESOLUTION OF THE BUNCOMBE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVING CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY
· Multi-District Level Lawsuit Against Social Media Companies
Consent Agenda
· Minutes: April 11, 2024 – Regular Meeting Open Session
· Minutes: April 11, 2024 – Special Called Work Session
· Personnel Report
· 2023-2024 Budget Amendment #5
· Approval of the 2023-2024 Enrollment & Facilities Needs Report
Policies for Second Reading
· Policy 5001 Advisory Councils to the Board
· Policy 7520 Family and Medical Leave
Information Agenda
Announcements/Future Meetings
· The next Board of Education Regular Meeting is June 6, 2024. Work session updates and Closed Session beginning at 4:00 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room, and the Open Session beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Minitorium at 175 Bingham Road, Asheville, NC 28806.
Superintendent's Comments
Good evening Parents, Members of the Community, Board Members, and Teammates,
Welcome to the month of May and the final 26 days of school. This is the season where we have many opportunities to celebrate our students’ academic, artistic, and athletic accomplishments this year. During this same time our students and faculty are hard at work maximizing every available instructional moment to ensure our students get the very most out of this year possible. I am so very proud of the work ethic I see in our classrooms across the school system. I remain convinced that we are in the midst of our finest year ever.
High School Musical season continues this weekend with Alice by Heart at Enka High School and Mamma Mia at Owen High School next weekend. The dates and times for all these shows are available on the Arts Calendar on our system website. Next Tuesday night, May 7th from 5-7pm is our Annual Family Night at the Asheville Mall for the opening of our High School All-County Visual Art Show. I can’t wait to celebrate our amazing artists. I’m so very appreciative of the priority Buncombe County Schools places on the arts, and the opportunities given to students to share and grow their talents.
During the month of March, the state anonymously surveyed teachers and certified staff in all 115 school systems using the North Carolina Teachers Working Conditions Survey. I could not be more proud of our Response Rate of 95.73%, our highest response rate in the history of the survey. We have received the results and will be using the feedback from our teachers to guide our efforts and commitment to continuous improvement. An immediate takeaway and a point of pride is 91.25% of our teachers stating that “Overall, my school is a good place to work and learn.” This is higher than the state average.
As you know, we are committed to reaching Greater Heights. This survey demonstrates that we are absolutely on the right pathway. The overall satisfaction score of 91.25% is 11 percentage points higher than the overall satisfaction score in 2022 of 80.14% and 5.6 percentage points higher than the overall satisfaction score prior to the pandemic in 2020. We look forward to continuing to grow in all areas.
During the Board’s last Work Session on the budget, I stated that you can tell what a person or organization values through two documents, their calendar and their checkbook. Where we spend our time and how we spend the financial resources entrusted to us definitively illustrate our values and who Buncombe County Schools is and aspires to be.
I am proud of all of the work that has gone into the Local Budget Request the Board will consider tonight and appreciate all of the many people who have been involved in creating it. I am also very proud of the new BCS Strategic Plan the Board will consider as well. In both cases, we have many, many people involved in sharing their feedback and ideas. Thousands of survey responses and dozens and dozens of conversations in our 13 Community Town Halls and school staff meetings in every school have been distilled into these two documents that will guide our work in the coming years.
I do want to publicly thank Representative Lindsey Prather who has introduced legislation in the General Assembly to reimburse our school system for the tremendous expense of creating the new electoral districts required by the state. I also want to thank Representative Eric Ager who has co-sponsored this legislation. Tonight’s Legislative Agenda includes our request that this bill be approved so that the funding that went into redistricting electoral lines might be used to support students and staff.
We know that we still have much work to do and that we can and must continue to improve. We will give our all because our students are worthy of our very best efforts. I just want you to know that I could not be prouder of all I continue to experience in our classrooms and schools.
To our team and to our Board Members, Thank you for all that you do for the students, families, teachers, and staff of Buncombe County Schools.
Madam Chair, this concludes my comments.