You're watching Cable 2. Good evening and welcome to the November 10th, 2025 Winston Salem for Scythe County Schools Board of Education meeting. I am Deanna Kaplan, board chair. I appreciate your attendance and I say good evening to our viewers on cable 2. Please rise as we start the meeting with the pledge of allegiance and remain standing as you are able for the invocation given by board member Susan Miller. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Our inspirational quote for tonight is in honor of Veterans Day. To our men and women in uniform, past, present, and future. God bless you and thank you. May we now have a moment of silence in remembrance of a lead custodian from Piney Grove Elementary and an 11th grade student from East Forcy High School. Thank you. Thank you, board member Miller. And yes, um I'd like to also acknowledge the veterans that are in our on our board and in our audience and in our community. Thank you for your service. Our first order of business tonight is the agenda review. Do I have a motion to amend the agenda to include an action item to consider approval of policy 3435, the audit advisory committee? So move. So I have a motion by board member Miller. I have a second by board member Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Thank you. That is unanimous. We are now going to move to our student performance. Please welcome the Reagan High School Theater. Greetings everyone. This evening, the Raven High School Theater will be represented by Cleo Angelkins, Lachlan Pizzette, and Violet Sang under the direction of Miss Jen Janice, who also directs our summer enrichment theater program. Their performance is a selection entitled The Fragley Song from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. You can see the entire performance on January 8th and 9th, 2026 at Reagan High School in addition to a performance of Juny B. Jones is not a crook. Ladies and gentlemen, the friendly song. Would you like to come inside? Would you like to come indoors? There are paintings in the halls. There are cobwebs on the walls. Did I mention there are floors? From the moment you're inside, Greg, the party has begun. See, the door is open wide, so I hope you come inside. That'd be fun. Would you like to meet my mom? Greg, she's the best at giving hugs. I'm so glad that found someone warm to have around. All his other friends are poor. Would you please enjoy our place? Only stay out of the basement. Sweet dreams. Honey, want to see my room or pick at my list? No, please. I haven't got sister, just a long blonde wig. I feel glue. There's not much to do here. But now I've got you here for an entire night with me. Frankly led me upstairs. And no matter how much I wanted to leave, Rally was outside. Want to have a tickle bite. Greg, that's a favorite. Can we play some video games? Sorry, Greg. My mother claims videoing makes me aggressive. Here's quizz. Here's a ninja. Here's a nut. How's about that tickle fight? Okay, I do not bite. Sometimes I bite. Sorry, I'm done. I give me my loneliness that I shred now. Oh, Greg me and you be best friends. They'll feel all the fear turning. He jelly beans. Well, yeah, but they're from last Valentine's Day. So, my mom won't let me have sugar because it makes me go hyperactive. But I think it just makes me a little sweeter inside. M. Oh, that hits the spot. We should have a tickle bite. It's about to survive. It's exactly as I fear. Franklin's getting extra weird. I finally feel alive. It will always be together. I'm your family number one. Frankly, listen to my plea. Would you stay away from me? Tickle tickle tickle. Tickle tickle tickle. Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle me. Also, any family members of these incredible stars, if you all are here, can you please Stand so we can acknowledge you as well. Before we move on to special recognitions, I need to go back to amending the agenda to include one more action item. Um, I need a motion to consider approval to request authorization from the Forcy County Commissioners to utilize excess privately raised funds to pay our ESS debt. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. So, I have a motion by board member Bar. I have a I have a second by board member Crowley. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Thank you. We have amended the agenda. Moving on to special recognitions, Latita Smith, who is the president of the Winston Salem Foundation, and Marne Eisner, who is the executive director of the Education Foundation, will give us an all-in for our schools update. Good evening everyone. Um we are very excited to be here today with some good news. Um we were meeting earlier today um reminiscing on the last eight weeks. Only been eight weeks. Feels like a lot longer I'm sure for all of you as well. Um we announced the all-in for our schools campaign on September 17th which is I know not even a full two months ago and we have some exciting updates for you this evening. Good evening. I'm Let Smith, president of the Winston Salem Foundation. Marne and I represent a coalition of foundations, nonprofits, faith communities, and community advocates who have come together to mobilize community support for our school district at this really critical time. And as Marne indicated, we started just a couple short months ago um where we announced three funds that we were establishing to help support immediate needs for teachers and students in our school district. Through our allin for our schools campaign, we announced a classroom supply fund, a student success fund, and an every book every student book drive. The classroom supply fund specifically supporting needs for teachers in classrooms. the student success fund supporting district-wide programming specific for students and then every shelf every student to support books in school libraries. Um eventually we also recognize the importance of establishing an additional opportunity where community members might come together to help support the school district's debt directly. And so we established the WSFCs futures fund to raise money toward the district's debt. And we started off with $900,000 in seed funding from the Winston Salem Foundation and from Twin Cities Foundation. As of last week, we are happy to share that we have raised $5.8 million Thank you. And we really do accept those congratulations on behalf of over 330 donors, members of our community who share a deep commitment to our schools, to our students, to our educators. Um, and that has resulted in over $1.8 million to our immediate needs fund and over $4 million to our futures fund to help support um, erasing the school district's debt. Um, everyone has been able to play a role in this initiative. We have gotten gifts of all sizes. No gift is too small. And we are so thankful for the businesses, the individuals, and the foundations who have all come forward. I think as a community, everyone has just been so incredibly generous. And we are so thankful for that support from all across the county. And so many people, I hope that those of you who are educators and teachers and principles just feel the love from the community because people have been calling and showing up in so many different ways. And we also um want to ensure that you realize that we are um just getting started. Certainly, we have a goal of not only meeting the match that the county commissioners have set for forgiveness of over $5 million, but doing all that we have the capacity to do in our community to help meet immediate needs in our schools and also to help the district um tackle the debt so that we can move on to continuing the work of supporting our schools and our students. Thank you so much. We are honored to have the opportunity to work on your behalf. Thank you so so much. That is great news. Yes. Ward member Wood. Oh, next. Um Laura Tiana and is Marilyn Parkerim. Sorry. Oh, Kim Jackson. Okay. Uh from the Education Foundation will recognize the Winston Salem for Scythe County Schools Education Foundation fall grant recipients. Good evening. I'm Laura Tiano, retired principal from Winston Sale for Scythe County Schools. And now uh you can't get away. You can't get away. Now now I I have the privilege of serving on the education foundation board. Thank you so much for giving us time on the schedule to honor the people who make the difference and that's our teachers and staff that are boots on the ground in the schools. Uh Dr. Moore, thank you for everything that you've done and all the time that you've taken with us to to help out all of our efforts with all the other nonprofits. We do really appreciate all that you've meant to us in your time here. Thank you so much and thank you board for allowing us to be here tonight. So we have many many board members here tonight. So if you are on the education foundation board, I would like for you to stand so you guys can see everyone. These are my peeps. Neil Neil Tuckerberry is our chair. Beside him is Christine Bland on our board. Marne Eisner you've met. She's our executive director. She won't stand up. She's already been up. Uh Kristen Zach is with us tonight. She is our secretary. Marilyn is on injured reserve. Uh so she's not here and she called to tell me that she missed us greatly. And with me I have Kimberly Jackson who is the chair of the grant committee. So those are the board members that are with us tonight. We uh opened this grant cycle in in September and are awarding tonight $24,51550 in teacher grants to 19 teachers at 11 different schools in what's county. 10 elementary, two middle, and seven high school teachers and staff. 40 schools so far have taken advantage of the foundation grants to date. And if you don't see your school on here, get on them. The next grant cycle starts in February of 2026. We do two a year now. This one runs from February to March and they're awarded in April. And then our second one will be at the same time as this one in the upcoming year. There, here are the ways that you can support us. encourage your staff, your teachers, assistant principles. We have our first time assistant principal on the on the winners list this this time. So, encourage them to apply. And if you would like to donate, you can donate on our website or by check mailed to our PO box as you see there. And if you would like for us to present to your school, your staff, your community organization, or any group, or you have any questions for us, please reach out. Contact any of us. You can contact us at that email address that you see on the screen. But what we're all here for is to acknowledge these 19 people and we're going to call them out. If you are here to support those people, will you please stand when their name is called? Because I know that as a teacher myself, you don't do that by yourself. That's a whole family sign up for life thing. So, uh, if you're here from their school or from their family or support, please stand up with them. Shawn Bird, PE teacher from Flat Rock Middle School. Vivian Chavez, Mineral Springs Elementary School, second grade teacher. And I think her principal, Miss Johnson, is here. Christine Dipmars could not be with us tonight, but Christine Dipmar from Morgan Elementary in third grade. Jeffrey Edson Rogers from Atkins High School. He's a CTE teacher and his magnet coordinator, Monte Irvin, is here to support him. Heather Gerbas, media coordinator from East Easter Middle School. And Shawana Bingham, her principal, is here to accept on her behalf. Sierra Harry from Petri Elementary School, fourth grade teacher. Bradley Howard, science teacher from Atkins High School. Principal Tesha Gabriel is here with him tonight. I know. Donald Lamont, PE teacher from Griffith Elementary School. Arthia Hunter is here with him tonight. Carla Owen, EC teacher from Reagan High School. And I think she has a colleague here, Jordan Mercer and principal Brent Atkinson are here to support. Jalisia Patterson, third grade teacher from Petri Elementary School. Richard Platt, engineering teacher, Reagan High School. About the fan club. Katie Prusco, assistant principal from Metallark Elementary School. Mr. Rymer, Logan Reynolds, music teacher, Petri Elementary School. Tara Sadler, assistant principal, Petri Elementary School. Miss Sadler is also accepting for Lorie Tiner from Petri, who's a first grade teacher who got an award from there as well. Jenna Simmons, fifth grade teacher from Sherwood Forest Elementary School. Samantha Fitzgerald, her principal, is here with her. Deborah Troxel, social studies teacher, West for Scythe High School. And Ayanna Sutton Chaplain is her principal. Stephanie Wallace, English teacher from East Versid High School. And Katie Wooten, English teacher from Reagan High School. On behalf of the education foundation, we appreciate everything that you all have done to go above and beyond to make sure that our kids in West Sight County Schools have amazing experiences that they might not otherwise have gotten to have. We appreciate everything you did to make this happen for our kids. Thank you so much. Thanks for all of you. Excuse me, Madam Chair. Is there any way possible we can get a summary of the great work in the grants or that have been given tonight as a like a summary of each recipient of what they're doing with the grant money? I think that would be great. Thank you. Let's get one. All right. Thank you. We'll put it together. Little brief. Okay. Thank you. Next, Dr. Tamisha Barnes Jones, our chief of schools, and Kim Paluzo, our executive director of human resources, staffing, and benefits, will recognize the principles whose schools were in the top 50% in growth in North Carolina in 2024 and through 2025. Good evening, board members. I am excited to be here to recognize our amazing leaders. Our state recognizes those schools that are in the top 50% ranking in growth. um as long as the leader has been there leading the school for at least six months and are still in the position. And so I'm excited to say that we have 23 leaders that we are going to be recognizing tonight. And um before I start with the top 5%, I do want to let you know that we do have two schools that um ended in the top 1%. Um those principles res um retired last year, but uh Atkins uh high school and Reagan in the top 1%. So that's exciting. Okay, finishing in the top 5% we have um Miss Deborah Gladstone Forest Park. In the top 15% we have Trent Watkins at Kono Elementary School. In the top 20% we have SGE Garden Elementary School with Angela Reeves. JF Kennedy High School, Dr. Alfreda Smith and Morgan Elementary School with Lisa Davis. In the top 50% we have Smith Farm Elementary School with Zachary Baker. Whitaker Elementary School with Brian Brookshshire. Walkertown Middle School. Monica K. Hallwood Elementary School. Dr. Sheila Bernett. She can't be here tonight. Uh Diggs Laam Elementary School. Cassandra Dobson. Bolton Elementary School. Cheryl Frasier Kimberly Park Elementary School. Diamond Gwyn at Ashley Elementary School. Anita Hooker Parkland High School. Walter Johnson and Jonathan Sydney. Our Early College High School, Kenny Jordan. Byana Elementary School, we have Lee Cook. Here tonight representing Byana is Christina Hall. Jefferson Elementary School. Katie McGregor, Kimmel Farm Elementary School. Angela Moriddle, Kernersville Middle School. Rachel Sanchez, West Foresight High School. Ayanna Sutton Chaplain Cook Elementary School, Selena Triby and Ward Elementary School, Colin Triby. Give it up for these amazing leaders. Thank you leaders for all you do for our schools. Awesome. There we go. I'm so happy all day. Thank you very much. I will say that is incredible. We are now moving to our superintendent's update. Thank you, Chair Kaplan, board members. I have a few items of update this evening. So, first um we just completed National School Psychology Week. The National Association of School Psychologist promotes National School Psychology Week during the week of November 3rd through 7th, celebrating the contributions of our psychologists and the important role that they play in schools and communities. They were celebrated in schools last week, but I wanted to make sure that we got this in in front of you this evening since we didn't have a meeting last week and make sure that we celebrate all the folks that are working in our schools. We also had a proclamation uh uh naming national the national career development association declared November 2025 national career development month and specifically November 19th, 2025 as national career development day. So, we will be bringing later in the I think maybe February, we'll be bringing our CDC's to here to recognize them at the board meeting. Um, but we wanted to go ahead and shout out this proclamation since it was just adopted um a week or so ago. I'd like to take a moment to just say thank you. This is my last board meeting with you folks. I do have a um board workshop coming up on the 18th, but this will be the last opportunity publicly. and and I just want to say thank you for a couple things to the board for an invitation that was a little different when the invitation was issued than when I got here. Um but um thank you for the opportunity and the invitation to come and support the district um in the work that's needed moving forward. I want to thank the staff for being open-minded, for sharing even when it was hard and they didn't want to, for teaching me the things that I needed to know to try to contemplate the different options that might be before us. So, thank you all for that. I want to thank the community for pushing, demanding at times, speaking out, telling us where you are and what you think, what you believe, and what needs to be fixed and and and giving and sharing your experiences and the impact of everything that's going on. It is farreaching and deep. Um, but I honor it because it makes us better. So, thank you for that to our stakeholders overall in the community. It's been a long road from I think the way um one person said it this morning that you know three months ago this individual stakeholder in the community couldn't get anybody to return her calls to talk about how to help the district. That's where we that's where we've been. some of us may still be there right now. Um to to where we are now where there's a little bit more thoughtful discussion about what schools can and can't do about figuring out what it takes to move past this ridiculous debt that we got into last year and move forward into a place where we can focus on the work that we need to do for students without the spectre of that incredible debt hanging over us. It's been incredibly hard work. There are many people, schools, individuals who have borne the brunt of decisions that had to be made at the district level to move us past where we've been. Our biggest um issue over the last few years was staffing beyond our means. There was no way to um non-personnel our way out of those changes. We had to touch people. That was the root of the problem. more folks than what we had funds for. Um that is not easy work and um that in addition to um the other reductions that were made, resources, all kinds of things that had to happen in the district in order to move forward. Those were all very difficult decisions. But the way that the community has stepped up to really take on um what is needed to move beyond this crisis knowing that the school district has no way to raise revenue and we either we somebody either gives or loans us the funding or we make additional reductions. Those are the only options that we really have. Um, it's been important to see how the community has really rallied around what's necessary here. And that's not an easy thing to do because, you know, the folks that are a part of the contributions and the good news that you saw this evening were very squarely in the camp of you got yourself in this mess, you figure it out. Good luck. In fact, I I remember somebody specifically saying good luck. Um, so so it's just been a it's been a long road and um we've made a lot of progress. I'll talk about that a little bit more in the superintendent's update tonight um when I do the budget update. But I do think that um we are in a place where it it is better. There is still work that has to be done. Um I am very hopeful as you enter a new phase with a new superintendent. Um as I spoke with principles just this morning, um Dr. Fipps is a going to be a wonderful addition to this community. Uh, one of the things that I know of him everywhere that he has worked is that he has um the the skill, the talent, really the com the the the ethic around building strong community and strong culture where he is. And I know that there is continued healing and reparation that needs to happen in this community as we move forward. And I know that he will focus on that. So, thank you again for the opportunity. I'll tell you that I have learned a lot. Um I I I'm sort of a I and I started as a teacher. I'll always be a teacher. When I when I give presentations, I want people to understand even if they don't agree. Um but I have learned a lot. So I'm I'm taking with myself a whole head full of knowledge about all kinds of things that I didn't have before I got here. So thank you for that. This concludes my update. Well, last one last thing. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. Find something. I know that we all have something to be thankful about every single day. So, let's focus on that as we move forward. It's a a needed break for a few days at least. Um, enjoy your Thanksgiving. Thank you. And and I just want to also echo u thanks to Catty. Um, she joined our district on June 1st and her leadership, her experience, and her steady presence has been exactly what we needed during a time of great challenge. Caddyy, thank you for being an exceptional educator, a thoughtful leader, and a source of calm and clarity. You are the right person at the right time, and we are deeply grateful with sincere appreciation. Thank you. We are now going to move on to the public hearings. We have three public hearings. The first one is the public hearing to name the R.J. Reynolds wait room. This is a public hearing on the request to name the wait room at R.J. Reynolds High School, the Wilson family room, who was donated 135,000 for the wait room improvements. This is a significant contribution that serves all students at R.J. Reynolds High School. So, the request for naming is the Wilson wait room. And at this time, we're going to hear public comments on this naming request. And our first speaker is Tom Lrod. Good evening. I'm uh Tom Elrod. I'm the parent of three kids in the district and also been a volunteer for their R.J. Reynolds Booster Club for the last four years. I just want to give you tonight a little bit of context around the project and the donation itself. Uh if you've not been over to our wait room, it is located in our gym across the street where all of our students uh take PE classes. Uh it is a building that dates back a hundred years and it has a lot of character. It has a historical designation, but it also has a lot of needs that a 100-y old building has. Uh it had gone into a state of disrepair uh in terms of the equipment itself and the needs that we had. And so we looked about a year ago uh with the former county ad Sullivan, John Sullivan, to inquire about upgrading that facility. And we are using a group that advantage sports and fitness that several other projects have been used for in the district. Uh the scope of the project is that we will replace the flooring uh and replace it with flooring that can handle modern equipment. Uh all the current equipment which has gone into disrepair. We don't have matching dumbbells. We've actually had several instances in the spring where the equipment broke while PE kids and and athletes were using it that we had to put out of service. Uh and so we have going to remove all that equipment. new equipment comes in and it should require it should result in a functional space for our kids and our athletes to use. Uh we have 500 kids that come through that gym every day. Uh 200 of whom are not athletes. Uh but for the the rest of the kids that are involved in our athletic programs, they use it year round. So when we're on Thanksgiving break, there's a good chance you'll see basketball players in there. When we're in holiday break, there's a good chance you'll see wrestlers and basketball players in the air. you see football players in there and fall sports, uh, field hockey, volleyball, others all summer, every day helps to provide structure for them, helps to provide, um, you know, place for them to be during the summer months. Um, we had a donor step forward and we were really looking at this project being a phase project over a number of years just due to the the nature of the cost. Uh, that was not ideal because it would cost more money in the end and it would be more difficult to do over a threeear span. uh donor came forward with a large donation. It's a donor that has ties to this area. Uh has a daughter that graduated in 2024 and 2026. Uh a daughter that plays field hockey and lacrosse at the school with a very generous donation. It's a family foundation that's done done work all up the east coast. Uh we sent some pictures. I engaged him and he immediately uh committed to the project. So we're excited about it. We think it gives our kids a safe place, a functional place, and a wait room that they'll be proud of. And we hope that you'll give consideration to approve it. Uh we we plan on putting a small plaque in there to honor the the Wilson family wait room. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next, Brad Fiser. Good evening, Chairperson Kaplan, to the members of the board, and Superintendent Moore. I appreciate the opportunity to have a chance to speak tonight on behalf of Reynolds High School and request your approval for the name of the school's weight room in honor of the Wilson family and their foundation. The Wilson Family Foundation has made a generous financial commitment to fund the renovation and upgrade of our existing weight room at no cost to the district. This project is collaborative effort between their foundation and our booster club, ensuring that all expenses are covered privately. The renovated space will not only serve our athletic teams, but also function as an instructional classroom for over 150 students each day. The upgrades will modernize the space, create a safer and more effective learning environment, and bring Reynolds on par with our peer schools that have made similar improvements in recent years. The Wilson Family Foundation support represents an investment in student wellness, education, and opportunity. Their generosity directly aligns with our district's mission to provide equitable facilities, and experiences for all students. On behalf of the students, staff, and families, I respectfully ask that the board's approval to recognize this extraordinary contribution by naming the Reynolds High School weight room in honor of the Wilson family and their foundation. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Moving on to our second public hearing to name the field at Thompson Stadium the Lambeath Family Field. Parkland High School is requested to name the field at Thompson Stadium the Lambeath Family Field. For more than 60 years, the Lambeath family has profoundly impacted the lives of countless Parkland students. Over the past three decades, they have become an inseparable part of the Mustang community. Their impact is immeasurable and their influence will be felt for generations to come. This time we will hear the public comments on the name ring request and we have one speaker Clayton Richter. Good evening members of the board, superintendent and guests. Tonight I'm here on behalf of Parkland. I have the privilege of speaking about a family whose name has become synonymous with Parkland High School. A family whose love, dedication, and service have shaped the community for more than 60 years. The Lambbeath family. The Lambis connection to Parkland runs deep across generations, classrooms, and playing fields. Between Donnie, his wife Pam, his sister Janice, and their extended family, 11 Parkland graduates proudly carry the Mustang spirit. Four daughters, Katie, Carrie, Carly, and Kristen. Two nephews, Jeremy, and Jonathan, and two son-in-laws, David and Robert. But their legacy is not measured in diplomas. It's found in the countless lives they've touched. Pam and Donnie served together as PTSA presidents for 12 years, leading with love and a heart for every student. Donnie continued his service as school board chairman for 18 years, always keeping students at the center of every decision. Their daughter Carrie taught and coached at Parkland for 14 years and nephew Jeremy did the same. Both carrying forward the family's commitment to education and mentorship. Pam and Janice each devoted their careers to Winonell and forcy county schools, teaching many of the very students who later walked the halls at Parkland to continue the cycle of connection and care the Lambeath family helped create. For more than five decades, the Lambbeis have been a heartbeat of Parkland. They've mentored students, supported teachers, and quietly given of themselves through acts of kindness that changed lives. The kind of moments that don't make headlines but live forever in memory. One former student, Lee Koba, said it best. After a winding road, I was able to find my way thanks to the Lambeath family. They supported me, never gave up on me, and when I made mistakes, they were still there. I owe my football career to the family. To the Lambeath family. Lee's words could be spoken by many others. Students who found guidance and hope because this family believed in them. Even after their children graduated, the Lambis never stopped giving. Much of that spirit comes from Pam, whose kindness, faithfulness, and joy still live on through her family and through every life she touched. This is why tonight we ask that the football field at Homer Thompson Stadium be named the Lambeath Family Field. Not just to re in recognition of service, but as a living tribute to a legacy of love, devotion, and selflessness that has carried Parkland for generations. The Lambeath name stands for what we hope every student at Parkland learns. That greatness isn't measured in titles or trophies, but in how much you give of yourself to others. By naming our field Lambeath Family Field, we ensure that every student, every athlete, and every community member who steps onto that field will will be reminded of what true commitment and love for Parkland really looks like. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to our public comments on agenda items only. If you've signed up to speak, we ask that you sit near the aisle seats closest to the podium. The protocols that we have in place for public comments are to ensure orderly and efficient board meetings. Pursuant to the district's policy, civility policy 1170, the board does not tolerate disorderly conduct or disorderly or disrespectful behavior. Please direct your comments only to me as board chair and not to anyone in the audience. We cannot talk about sensitive and private student or personnel information in this public setting. You have three minutes to speak and if you have more to share, always know you can email us directly. So when you come to the podium, please state your name and the agenda item you would like to speak on. Our first speaker is Alan Daniel. Good evening, Chair Kaplan. I have just a couple of questions on personnel and also uh the budget update that I hope will be answered later in the meeting. Um, it was shared on social media this week that one of our middle schools will not have any licensed EC teachers effective at the end of this month due to the resignation of all four of those teachers. My question is why we decimated the EC department when EC department was not the source of the overspending. Also in conversation uh with folks who are trying to do donations to schools, I have learned that the word as I say and people criticize this but it's the way I say people tell me the word on the street is that the schools will not receive the other 50% of their supply budget for this year. I'd like to know if that's true and if it is uh how they are expected to do education. Thank you. Thank you Stephanie Wallace. Good evening board. Stephanie Wallace with Sanite County 26 year veteran. I hear all the time different iterations. It's either student learning conditions or teachers teaching conditions or teachers teaching conditions or student learning conditions, however you want to roll it. In yet another issue with outsourcing, I have discovered that our HVAC people that actually stand folks that can come to our school have very limited things that they can do to help with our HVAC issues because it's outsourced to another company. And when you go into my construction pod, which is a temporary structure and is going to be demoed at the end of this construction because it's not in good enough shape to even be moved to another school to be used again. So when they set it up knowing that they didn't put in insulation, any that kind of stuff, but my numbers are set the same as some of the buildings on that campus. My unoccupied numbers, they have my heat to come on at 61 and my AC at 83. Tell me who can work in that. And the hours that those numbers are in place are not my working hours. They come on 30 minutes before the kids get there, which is not enough time to warm that room up. My first and second block kids are sitting there wrapped up in blankets. They're going to their friends in other buildings with working HVAC and barring sweatshirts to get them through the first two classes because they're too cold to learn. And then in the afternoon, by the time fourth block starts, the AC turns off 30 minutes before the end of the student day because the people who set the hours think it'll hold. Not when you have 28 butts in seats and all those people are also talking. And as I've shared multiple times, that is one of my EC classes where there's a lot of movement out of necessity to try as the one person left in there most days to meet all the needs of the kids in that room. So by the time we get to the end of fourth block, they're begging me for an opportunity to go get water or to open doors or something else because it's too hot in there. And as someone with an autoimmune, it's not just an inconvenience for me, it's a work hazard because I have lupus and heat makes lupus flare, which is one of the reasons I'm leaving as soon as I finish talking because it's ridiculously hot in here tonight. I don't understand why do we outsource it to people to do the job when we are employing people who are perfectly capable of doing the job, but they don't even have codes to get into certain parts of the things to be able to fix what needs to be fixed. I do not know how many HVAC work orders my secretary has put in in the past two weeks because every time they come out there and try to fix it, the people above them switch it right back. It's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. Either you trust the Winston Salem Precise County employees that you hire to do the jobs that you hired them to do or you don't. And the fact that you continue to outsource the HVAC, the custodians, the only reason we're not outsourcing subs anymore is because we can't y'all can't figure out how to pay for it. That's part of the mess that we're in. You either trust the people that you hire to do the job or you don't stop giving the power that our employees need to do our jobs to people who do not work for Winston Salem for South County Schools. Shame on you. Thank you, Marcy Baker. Good evening board members and superintendent Moore. I'm speaking on the budget the EC department furlows. My name is Marcy Baker. I am an EC facilitator at three large school high schools and a middle school in this district. I support 29 EC teacher positions and 662 EC students. In late August, the board voted to furlow all central office employees 5 to 12 days based on salary. Since then, we have had two EC facilitators resign and h and have had to absorb that workload. I'm requesting that those salaries which were accounted for in the budget be used to pay for the furlow days of the facilitators, process specialist, transition coordinator, and data specialist that the board and that the board make a motion to overturn their previous decision. I'm not sure if you know this, but EC facilitators are school-based employees. We do not have offices at central office. We serve multiple schools and support hundreds of students. When there are teacher vacancies, we step in and do the work. When there are inexperienced teachers, we coach, model, write, observe, and sometimes are even student pacing in the classroom. We fill the gaps wherever we are needed, often doing the work of EC teachers and beyond. Currently in the EC department, we have over 10 now more teacher vacancies or people on leave and over 34 beginning or alternatively licensed teachers. Process specialists are also working overtime to help manage vacancies and compliance issues. Across the district, there is only one transition coordinator and one EC data specialist. Despite limited staffing, EC facilitators are the glue holding the exceptional children's department together. We are in the trenches every day, ensuring that students receive the support and services they are entitled to under federal and state law. If EC facilitators and specialists are required to take furlow days in addition to the recent reduction in contract terms, we will earn less than a classroom teacher. Despite our expanded responsibilities and district-wide impact, this is not fair and it sends a discouraging message that the critical work we do is not recognized or valued. We respectfully ask district leadership to reconsider these decisions. Invest in the people who are keeping the EC department stable, compliant, and student centered. EC facilitators and specialists are not asking for recognition. We are asking for equity. To save on paper, I'm emailing each of you a petition that has been signed by multiple parties requesting the board overturn its vote to furlow the EC specialists and use the salaries of resigned EC facilitators to do it. I'm also providing a copy of the EC facilitators duties and responsibilities. I also have specific information on the numbers I provided if requested. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Lee Childris. Good evening, board. I'm speaking on the budget and the EC folks as well. Um, I'm speaking in support of our EC facilitators and our EC process folks. I understand we all have to make sacrifices and we have made sacrifices. But every day, every time we do a petition, the ask is please provide support for our teachers because we can't do this paperwork. Every time it's on the last petition, it's going to be on this petition. I'm sorry. The number one issue, please help us. And each year it's pushed off to the side. Pushed off to the side. There's people here. Our process people, we used to have eight process people. We have three now. One person in charge of all secondary IEPS, thousands. If we don't have the right people in place, we're going to get sued. Our people are going to leave. I'm worried. Four of our teachers at Southeast Middle School are leaving at the month's end. Who's going to take that job? That facilitator and that process person who just got furled eight days? who just got their months and their time reduced. We had used to have four transition coordinators. Now we have one who went from 12 months to 10 months. Summertime legally obligated to do task. We have one data person that does all of our EC stuff. Used to have two full-time. That person also got reduced. I understand this is a really tough time, but our people are struggling and you're going to see what's happened at Southeast happen all over this county and we do not need that to happen. I want to finish tonight by thanking super and interim superintendent more. I commend you. I have not agreed with every decision you have made, but I commend you for starting the process of getting our finances together, but the cost has been dear. We have lost hundreds and hundreds of people. We have got people the mistrust of our district and our board and everyone else is high right now. I want that turned around. I want to be where we were where I could stand up here and cheer for this district. I can't do that right now. I want to do that. I want to be able to say this is a good district to work in. That has to change. We have to stop. We have to think about what we're doing. We have to think about these people that are dying trying to make sure our EC kids get what they need and do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, Melissa Price. Good evening, board. Um I'm not sure how I can follow Lee or Marcy, but I'm going to give it a shot. Um I'm Melissa Price. Um I am on a very small team of three process specialists within the EC department. My team supports all the things policy practices procedures paperwork and new as of this year uh private and homeschool evaluation request. I also support the um all the secondary school facilitators and the EC teachers. It's no secret that the number of EC teachers who serve our students with disabilities is shrinking drastically. Those teachers will be replaced with substitute teachers who have limited knowledge of special education in general. Our facilitators, our coaches, and our specialists will fill the gap. Okay. Um with supporting instruction, progress monitoring, scheduling and holding meetings and all the things. There's just simply not enough not enough of us to do that work and support that those schools and even less when we have to collectively furlow about 240 days. All facilitators and specialists are paid on the teacher salary scale. Just last month I signed my new contract that reflects my demotion from 10 months 19 days to 10 months. I also have to furlow eight days based on my total salary which was calculated before I lost my extended term. I am certain that the board did not realize that this means that EC facilitators, process specialists, and our transition coordinator and data software specialists now make less than what is reflected in the teacher salary scale. I am requesting that the board revisit the furlow requirement for all EC facilitator and specialists to ensure that we are compensated at the same schedule as teachers. Thank you. Thank you. We are now moving on to discussion items. We have three tonight. First, Kevin Cheryl, our chief technology officer, will discuss the FY2026 budget amendment and transfer number six. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Kaplan, board members, and Superintendent Moore. I'm going do my best to take us through the six transfer budget amendment and transfer process for uh this this fiscal year. Uh so if you remember amendments are new appropriations of money or reductions of money that need need to be then reflected in a budget. So we actually have a little bit of both of those in this presentation tonight. So I'm going to go through these pretty quickly. I've taken your what you had in your board materials, the PDF of all the amendments and transfers. I'll throw them into a slide deck so they'll be easy to go through. So quickly we had a some some funds come in from our participants of the teacher residency program. Those funds are being budgeted into a salaries purpose code to pay for salaries of the folks that run that program. Uh we've had some carryover, had three buckets of carryover from last year, driver training, reading warrior grant, and the Golden Leaf Foundation. All this carryover is an amendment into this year's budget to to go into uh to support those programs. And you can see how they've been u allocated across those programs carryover from last year. a reduction. So, we had a reduction in a fostering diverse schools grant. We've had some printing costs that were part of last year. So, we took that out to of this grant to pay for last year's printing costs that that happened late in the in the fiscal year. Therefore, a reduction of this year's appropriation for for that grant. If you recall, the W Sam Foundation helped us fund a superintendent search process. the $40,000 uh donation, 10,000 of which we used as part of the initial startup of that search. And with Dr. Fibs coming on in a few weeks, we are now ready to return those funds, 30,000 of those funds. So, this is a reduction uh process for that budget. And that second that last bullet there, so the net of all of that is a an increase of restricted funds of $88,000 on the amendments transfers. Uh so transfers are existing funds that move between purpose codes and when when you move funds between purpose codes those are required to come to board for approval. So we've got a small one here for instructional supplies. Our schools get instructional supplies allotted to a 51,000 purpose code. Uh and then those are then transferred out for other things such as administrative things like shredding and postage and office supplies. So this 2900 is moved between uh those two purpose codes. Our arts department is moving $800 out of a core instructional funding source to a more district level funding source to buy art supplies for district level development. Sam's Club. We have a Sam's Club membership. I didn't know that till I signed up to do the the budget amendment and transfer briefing here. Um that is used to live currently lives in operational purpose code. We're moving it over to finance. They have they control the accounts. We're moving that to a financial services an account. Our summer school transportation, you know, we don't we can't really account for the cost of summer school transportation until pretty much the first week of summer school. You don't know how many kids are actually going to come. So, an estimate was made about what we needed for summer school transportation. And as that enrollment was actually finalized, we needed some more funds there. So, we're moving some some funds out of some operational support um some leadership and school support codes into an operational support to true up the summer school transportation. On the federal grant, CTE allows us to use CTE operational and capital outlay funds to cover indirect cost of running CTE programs. And this transfer here represents moving funds from capital and purchase services into an 810 or 81,000 uh which is for indirect cost for the district. Our uh MSAP grant for for our um project revitalization that needed to purchase some software for that program. So moving some things into the appropriate software supplies and materials code for that software purchase with the 0374 purpose uh PRC for the magnet school grant and that should say 6A right there. So actually chair Kaplan that's all for that agenda item that is transfer number six and I know there's a 6A and I've just kind of tagged it on to the tail end of this one. So if there's any questions about six we can take those now then I'll do the last couple. Okay. Vice Chair Bohannan, thank you. So, um, I want to go back to the state under the state public school fund with the summer school transportation expenses. So, the I guess the question is generally speaking, should is it's possible for expenses to happen and then the transfer happen later after or should it have been done before that? And this might not be a this may be a question for the superintendent. Yeah, I think so. I think the the funds are there. The funds were always there. You just need to put them in the correct code where they are going to be or have been expended. So, and in this case, this is summer school transportation. Is that right? And that's this year's funds or the summer school funds? What? Is it 2425 funds or 2526 funds? It would have been 2425 in my opinion. It would have been for the past summer summer session. We'll have to get back to you. I don't I don't know if we can answer that properly. Uh Chair Bo, we may have to get back to you. I I think the genesis of the question is ensuring that the timeliness of when the transfers come align with the expectations of when the funds are spent or appropriated. Right? That is that is the genesis of the question. But also based on this, it would look like that these funds are from this fiscal year. No, it I think so, but because I summer school starts, it doesn't end until we're in July. It bleeds over between fiscal years. Yeah. board member Crowley. Um I think so let me just let me just finish. So I think generally what we're saying here also if this is what Kevin said is that the final cost for summer school exceeded what was budgeted for summer school. The funds were there. They were in the wrong code. So they're being moved to the proper code because you don't know until well after summer school is over what the actual cost is on the transportation. But but the but the general question you're asking it got to figure out the timing of all of it. But the expenses in terms of just the way that it worked the expenses came out of the summer school the summer school budget. And then what we've done, what we're doing here is we're moving money from a different place that was the wrong place where the money was to the right place. I believe that would be correct. Okay. Not not in the wrong place, but a place where there were funds available to pay for the overage. They were all in the same fund. They were just in different purposes underneath that fund and they needed to be moved to the to account for them properly under the correct purpose within that fund that funds summer school is the best way I know to to explain your I think what you're asking there. So the funding was there just under the the wrong purpose code to support transportation but it was still in the same funding source which was I'm sure was a local code wrong. Got it. All right. Any other questions? Um, yes. Yeah, my question's around the Sam's Club membership. Who who has access to that membership? Because I I just know multiple booster clubs and PTAs pay for these memberships and if there's we can do it under one membership that could save a lot of money for individual schools. I pretty much knew when I decided I said I would do that. I would not be able to answer all your questions. I didn't even know we had a Sam's Club card in the district till a few weeks ago. So, I I can find out for you. I mean, we'll just have to find out how it's used. Okay, that's a good question. Um, so now moving on to budget amendment and transfer 6A. Thank you. Yeah, we we added a 6A to the to the agenda here. Uh, just two other points. They all in for schools which you you heard a presentation earlier. So this is recognizing the the efforts of the all-in for schools campaign to move this new appropriation, this amendment of incoming funds into the areas where needed for prek snacks, custodial supplies, EC supplies, and so on. All the things that they committed to help us fund. So bringing that in under PRC 762 and then budgeted across those purpose codes that you see there to receive those funds. What you see here is a $663,500 donation from the Winston Salem Foundation from their fundraising that they have already conducted to support some specific school-based activities. And you see down there, snacks for prek, some custodial supplies, EC supplies, Project Dream, um transportation for Project Dream, the expenses associated with I think it's our fourth graders going to the symphony, um some afterchool programming, background checks that were uh paused in HR, and a second grade swimming event. So, there's just a bunch of things they asked us what are things that they could help us with. We provided them a list of some different kinds of things and so that's where these funds will be going. Thank you. And lastly, a capital outlay amendment for the sale of the parcel of land that's connected to the new Ashley site uh to purchase that piece of land. So that u the sale of uh purchasing the property, the $50,000 so we can purchase that parcel of land that basically uh prevents us having to build that retaining wall. also spend this money is going to save us money in the long run. So budgeting that that $50,000 is the last one we have there. And by way of an update for the board on this, the board approved um this in closed session as a real property acquisition at a a higher price. So this is uh was it was actually obtained at a lower price. There was a couple of presentations at the county commissioners where some additional information was shared and asked some questions. Um the reason that both the uh foundation's $663,000 contribution and this item 6A are coming to you for both discussion and approval this evening is around the timing of going ahead and getting the funds distributed to the programs for the foundations. They want to try to get that done before the Thanksgiving break and we don't have another board meeting till December. And then similarly with the $50,000 real property acquisition, we are currently under contract and if we don't complete the work before the end of the month, then we have to renegotiate that contract and we don't want to do that. So that's those two items. Budget amendment six that you heard first will come again to board approval in December. 6A is coming for discussion and approval this evening. So any final questions? I probably didn't do that. the justice that it needed. But any final questions about all those move moving parts there. I think you did a great job. Thank you. Thanks. So now and next Caddy Moore, our interim superintendent, will give us a budget update. So um this is a little bit of a state of the state in terms of where we are. Um I'm doing a little bit of you know covering ground that we've already talked about setting the context all the way back to the beginning and coming back to where we are right now. Um we are hopeful that this presentation kind of serves as a summary a high level summary of where we've been and what we've done and where we are right now. Um that can sit perhaps on our website for a bit for folks who may have questions still as we come on in. um and uh really allow us to perhaps focus as we move forward with different kinds of budget updates that are more forward forward thinking. So two things that that became clear that we were working on as we sort of waited through everything that was going on. They are two separate but related issues. The last six months has been about number one the 2425 budget deficit. the funds that were overspent in 2425. We spent beyond our available funds by about 45 and a half million dollars. That's 6.4% of our budget. The source of this is the four of us Mazar's preliminary numbers or I reported on at the last board meeting. Those are independent audit figures. We also um had the office of state auditor conduct an investigative review of what happened. How did this overspending of $45.5 million occur that resulted in a report that included seven findings and recommendations and an additional piece. Um the board will be receiving an update on the work of those findings at your November 18th work session. And then of in the budget deficit non-personnel cost savings and central office enforce were initiated those things started back in April I believe it was those were all things that came from and looking at the 2425 overspending under budgeting. The second parallel issue that goes with this is balancing and bringing a balanced budget for 2526. So we made reductions and some changes to some things in order to make sure that we did not overspend again this year. So two issues dealing with the debt from last year and balancing the budget moving forward. The board adopted an interim budget resolution at the end of June that is required to be done because effective July 1, we do begin having obligations for the new year. But we didn't have a final budget from the general assembly on July 1. So all districts adopt an interim budget which allows us to continue to do business at the required levels based on prior year's funding while we wait for the state to finalize its budget. And I would just say we are still waiting. However, they did adopt a mini budget sometime in the summer that did clarify some things and then our state superintendent did some work with the legislature to ensure that we actually knew what we could budget for moving forward for the remainder of this year. We did, as a part of balancing this year's budget, need to make some additional reductions in both district and school-based personnel and non-personnel in order to avoid another deficit. For this year, we held spending at schools and at central services at 50 to 75%. So, the simple answers around how we got here, we overspent and we underbudgeted. Both of those were true. We spent for things that were not in the budget and we didn't budget for things that we spent on. poor practices, not reconciling our budgets, not correcting audit report findings from previous years. This goes all the way back to 2017. This was in the Office of the State Auditor's report. We did not reduce staff as our student population declined. We were down about 5,000 students from four or five years ago, but our staffing went up. You'll see that in a slide in just a moment. We did not reduce expenses appropriately after temporary pandemic relief funds expired. Um during ESSER, this district and every district in this country received a lot of money, hundreds of millions of dollars to help provide support as we were going through that crisis. Um, many districts, Winston Salem is not alone, put things that were recurring, continuing expenses on ESSER and the planning for coming off of those temporary dollars came with paying here in this district for things that um, you know, one perfect example would be that substitute contract that was $12 million that was paid for with ESSER funds while those were available, but we continued the contract after the ESSER funds were gone. And then we have had um both turnover and long vacant positions in finance and human resources. The findings in the auditor's report that go all the way back to 2017 cut across three different boards of education, four different finance officers, um and a number of other uh staff and vacancies uh during the course of those years. things that were not a factor and this was clear in the office of the state auditor report. There was not any malfeasants, theft, fraud, misappropriation. There is no missing money. Um we know exactly where it went. It went into people and stuff for schools. Um and it was important for the third party independent auditor to say that the funds were school expenses, things or people. We just spent more than we had available. the things that we've done to address it in terms of the debt reduction for 2425. Remember I mentioned 45 and a half or 46.5 million dollars of overspending. So the things that we've did done to uh re rectify that overspending um and pay back vendor debt and people that we owed. We repurposed some Winston Salem foresight county funds with foresight county support. These were capital funds or bond interest that would have gone to capital needs, but we asked for and requested from the commissioners that they allow us to use those district funds for paying debt and they agreed. So we were able to pay of our 13 well actually 11.3 million debt to DPI for overalled positions. um pay that first installment of 7.9 million with these repurposed county funds. We have requested some legislative support for a loan or a special appropriation if it is needed. We had that meeting right here in this room with our local delegation. More to come on that. Um there has been a foundation-led private fundraising campaign as you heard this evening. 4 million has been raised and additional months uh there additional amounts that have been pledged beyond that four million but four million I'm sticking with what they're messaging um right now uh we know that four million has been raised they have not stopped that fundraising I do anticipate that it will go beyond that and I think they said this evening they anticipate it going beyond even the 5 million that will be needed to fully um get forgiveness from the county for the amount that that we owe them. That is the next piece. The foresight county commissioners adopted a debt forgiveness resolution. For every dollar raised privately in the community, they would forgive a dollar of the five million that we owe them. We've already we're four million into that now. Um we do expect that other million to come in based on what the foundation has been talking to us about. So we do expect that the full $5 million debt to the county will be forgiven. We did reduce expenses um in 2526 to make sure that we had funds for vendor repayment. The state board of education requested that our board present them with a debt repayment plan. How are we going to take care of the vendors that we still owe. We made that presentation at the board of education, state board of education last week and we do have funds set aside in our budget this year for vendor debt repayment. some figures here. So when we look at our 2425 debt, you will recall I spoke earlier about our overspending was around 46 or 47 million. That was in an early slide. However, our debt for last year is around 33.5 million. The reason it's 33.5 is because the debt was reduced by the application of $13.5 million of fund balance. 12.7 I think in general fund balance and about 800,000 in capital fund balance. So it is basically the savings accounts in capital and the savings account for the district that are wiped out as a part of the budget process. So the 4647 million becomes 33.5 that is our debt that we owe for 2425. I mentioned already 7.9 of that is re and let me just also say that 33.5 is a June 30th 2025 number payments made towards debt or vendors after June 30th 2025 are not part of that 33 million. So these next set of numbers that I am going through is everything that you can subtract from that 33.5 that has been paid or obligated since June 30th. Starting with the $7.9 million in flexibility that the commissioners gave us with our funds to make the initial payment to DPI and then the second payment to DPI, $3.4 million just made about a week or so ago that came that $3.4 $4 million check to DPI came from futures fund private donations and it cleared our state debt so that we no longer owe DPI any funds for the 11.3 million that we overspent in staff last year it the contract approved by the board at the last meeting for SSC uh the signing bonus of 4.2 2 million will eliminate the debt from SSC so that they are not part of the vendor debt repayment. That is a reduction to the 33 million that we owe. The ESS that you see here, we owe them 6.1 million, but we're going to be able to reduce that by 600,000. That comes really from the line below the 4 million that's been raised privately. 3.4 of that 4 million went to the DPI payment. the additional 600,000 can go towards ESS and then that will also mean that that four million is the reduction in the county so far. We are hoping of course that that will go to 5 million. If the private fundraising does hit 5 million and the entire county debt can be forgiven that additional 1 million would go towards pro towards ESS because that's our other vendor that we owe. So the revised total in terms of what we owe is 13.3 million. So that would be our our negative fund balance and where we've dropped from the 33. 1 million of that is what we still owe the county that we expect will come through with the additional donations from the community. There's 5.5 million that we still owe ESS. the 6.1 minus the 600,000 you see earlier in the chart that ESS if we pay the additional 1 million to the county will come down by another 1 million to 4.5. So that would mean that our debt to vendors is at 4.5 million. There is an additional two million that is from this year 2526 that is the child nutrition funds that would make the total debt 6.5. The remainder once you remove that one and 5.5 from the 3.3 this would be the funds that we overspent in capital and local fund balance. It's what ate up our savings account. We are not required to pay ourselves back with a debt repayment plan, but we will show a negative fund balance until it zeros out. And that might take a year, two years, five years. Just depends on how conservative we are in our spending in budgeting over the next few years. And that negative will slowly be chipped away at until it zeros out. Once it zeros out, we will go back to earning positive fund balance that we will re will sort of like replenish that savings account. We will need to remain vigilant in our budgeting and spending for the next few years until we zero out that negative fund balance. The debt repayment plan that is was presented to the state board of education for ESS, we owe 6.1 million. We are planning to begin making payments towards debt in December. And from December to June, we have set aside in the budget 3.5 million for debt repayment. Right now, that looks like it'll be 375,000 per month through the end of this year for ESS. And we're going to go ahead and start paying towards our child nutrition $2 million debt at 125,000 per month. That would mean that we would pay in 2526 that 3.5 million 2.6 would go to ESS and 875,000 would go to child nutrition. This is based on the full debt to ESS. If we already know that that number is probably more like 5.5. If the full contributions come from a futures fund, that number will actually be more like 4.5. So, um, we will still likely have a balance depending on what happens with the contributions from the community and the fundraising. Uh, we could very well have a balance at the end of this year. That's important to note because the 3.5 million that is set aside in the budget this year is continu continuing funds. Those are continuing funds. So, they will be available in future years if they are needed for debt repayment. ESS is charging us 1% interest per month as well as a $25 per month late payment fee. Um the child nutrition loan also has an interest against it. You see that current balance right now the interest for the child nutrition loan is 0.4% per month. Uh 0.04% per month. So it's less than the ESS interest. And the child nutrition interest is a variable rate. So it's not the same every month. It is around $7,000 a month that's acrewing there in interest. The reason it's a variable rate is because the contract requires that we pay in that our interest charge be equivalent to what they would have earned if it was still just sitting in like a money market account. And that changes monthto monthth. So that's why the interest changes monthto monthth and but it is also why both of these are part of the debt repayment plan moving forward. That will be what we owe. Whatever is left for ESS and whatever happens with child nutrition. All of the other vendor debt is taken care of. And in foresight county you see all those as TBDs because we're waiting to see what happens with the community fundraising. That number of 1.6 six as of tonight is actually down to 1 million. So I feel it is responsible to look to the future beyond even just next year to 26 to 28 in the event that we do not pay off everything within the shorter period of time. We need to contemplate what does that look like for future years. The 3.5 million that is currently in the budget is being spent between December and June. In future years, if we need to continue to use that 3.5 million for debt repayment, it will need to be spread out from July to June. And so from July to June, what we're looking at is more like um a payment of 250,000 to ESS per month. 75,000 per month for child nutrition. We are leaving Foresight County as TBD there. Um there could be an additional 25,000 per month that could be available for repayment if we needed to for either Foresight County or to add to the other two. If you multiply these numbers, you get more than 3.5. It comes out to more like 4.2, I think. So the reason it's 4.2 million is that we have the 3.5 that's built into the budget. You may recall that the budget adopted by the board also included a $2.1 million unbudgeted reserve. That's was those were funds that are set aside in the budget for things that may come up that we didn't anticipate like paying an audit firm $99,770 to conduct an internal controls review. That's going to happen. um or other things that may come up. Of that 2.1 million, 1.4 million will be returned to schools uh in the following year and will not be available for either an unbudgeted reserve or debt repayment. The other $600 700,000 would be available and is continuing funds and could be used to add to the 3.5 for debt repayment that would likely need to continue. It'd be great if we didn't have to have keep paying debt 26 through 28, but we we need to put it in there so that we know what stands before us in the event that we do. So, the things we did to fix and get to a balanced budget now going aside from debt repayment now to the balanced budget. The largest portion of the savings that we created in the balanced budget was due to reductions in personnel. We had the rift that started in April with central services and then moved into August and October. We had school aotment realignments that happened in June and in September. We eliminated things like building based um TA subs. We have no December bonus this year on the books for staff that we've historically had in years past and was also an audit finding from the office of the state auditor that we were paying bonuses that we weren't budgeting for and they are correct. The largest non-personnel reductions included the decision to end choice bus transportation to end the district funded dental plan and to end the ESS contract. Some new revenue really is the stuff that is coming in from the all-in for our schools private fundraising. You saw some of those dollars added tonight to the budget in a budget amendment to provide some resources to our schools. I alluded to this earlier. This is what's been happening to our average daily membership and positions over the years. So you will see the blue line is our ADM. This is our student enrollment. The black line is our total positions in the district. You will note that for the last three or four years, our enrollment and students has been declining, but the number number of positions in in the district went up. This is schools and central office combined overall. The last two dots that you see is where we are as of October 2025. Um, in October 2024, we had 6,783 district employees. In October 2025, we had 6,198, which is a reduction of about 600 staff members. In the balanced budget that was adopted by the board a couple of weeks ago, 75% of our budget is now in salary and benefits for staff. um in uh that was above 80% before it is now about 75%. Our purchase services are at 66 million at 9% supplies and materials u 26 million at 4%. Capital outlay is 10% at 74 million and our charter schools obligation is 15.6 million 2% of the overall budget but closer to 8% of our local budget. So this is for the overall budget, our overall budget for the district stands at $77 million. So moving forward, there's some things around accountability that continue to stay on our radar and need to continue to stay there as we move forward. We need to continue to make sure that we are taking the corrective actions and implementing the recommendations from the office of the state auditor. As I mentioned earlier, the board will receive an update on that work at your November 18th budget work, no board workshop. The internal review control, I had my first phone call with Malden and Jenkins just last week to talk a little bit about the scope of work and how I was going to connect them with a team at the district around the requests that they're going to make for information. Um, Molden and Jenkins review, the one that the state board of education has requested, is due to be completed by December 31st. they will be here before you know it and will be on site to be collecting information and and talking to folks. Um the focus of the Malden and Jenkins report is they have read the office of the state auditors report so they know the things that got us here. Um they have looked at previous financial statement audits from our auditors that happen on a yearly basis. They will be in communication with our auditors now about the work that's happening now to complete our financial statements audit. But their focus at Malden and Jenkins will be to ensure that the changes that we have made in the last six months um the the new ERP system, the changes to our internal workflow and processes and systems are sufficient to keep us from making the kinds of mistakes and errors that we've made in the past. Um, just in looking at the list of things that they have requested, I I already see a couple of things that I don't think we have. So, we can't give it to them. So, I know we'll have recommendations and findings around things that we need to do beyond what we've already done to make sure that this never happens again. A timely annual audit from four of us and Mazars. You got a sneak peek at those numbers two weeks ago when they presented. um they should be done with most of their work by the end of December, but they are going to have to wait on the Malden and Jenkins final report before they can finalize their report. Um the board had asked some questions about um the the items and materials that our four of us Mazar's auditors have asked for, the things that are outstanding that they have not yet received. Some of those things are things that staff have to comb through and create and give them. Some of them are things that other parties have to give them like our dental provider has to give them a report and that's not been done yet. Um, we cleared a lot of those items in the last couple of weeks and then we received another request for another set of 30 things from them just this past week. So, it is a fluid process. any given day there are things that are outstanding and there are things that they just asked for. Um this is not uncommon, but um you know we had hoped to get them everything that they asked for by October in order to make sure that we could meet the previous deadline. Um once we knew that we could not meet that October deadline and we were going to have to wait until this other audit happened, um we have continued to um work with them, but we know we have more time to get them the documents that they need. We do we did we did want to make sure that they had everything they needed to give us the preliminary numbers on the negative fund balances and that is what was reported at the last board meeting. We will continue the work around our monthly budget to actuals and finance committee with the board so that you can see how much we've budgeted, how much we've spent, how much we've obligated, and track our spending during the course of the year to make sure that we are on track. This evening, the board um is moving forward with an a um advisory audit committee policy that will set in uh policy the expectation of how we bring together groups of external stakeholders with financial backgrounds to support the work of the district. And we expanded the policy from when we initially wrote it. It's not just the four of us mazar's yearly audit that we're looking for support with. We're going to need to ask the folks who are going to be volunteers on this committee to also look at the office of the state auditor's findings to look at the findings that will come from the internal controls work that's happening in the next two months. Um so that all of the engagements that we have that could produce findings or recommendations, we have some folks um that are external that are helping support our work to make sure that we're getting that right. continued budget communications to our community stakeholders and groups. I think that um it'd be nice if we get to a point where nobody wants to hear it anymore because everything's kumbaya, but we're not there yet. Um and so we need to make sure that we continue to provide reports and updates to our community around where we are. Some things that are still next to move, we do still have the IRS stuff hanging out there in the corridor. Um, we continue to make progress with understanding. I am confident that I can say that we've paid them what we needed to pay them. We just need to reconcile the reports and potentially late payments that have fees and penalties associated with that. I've mentioned already the Malden and Jenkins internal controls review first phone call last week. Um, we've I have asked them I didn't mention this early, but I have asked them to join the board at your November 18th board workshop. so they can present directly to you on their scope of work and timeline as well. We need to fill vacant finance department roles. That includes the CFO, the executive director of finance. We have a couple of folks that we are incredibly grateful for that work part-time with the district that are retirees, but we have full-time positions that need to be filled. We will continue to work with the office of the state auditor on their findings and recommendations. I spoke with them just last week about some things that they asked for. So, they have not gone away and we need to continue the the implementation of our new ERP system in Tyler. Over the next one to two years, we need to make sure that we've paid back our debt. We need to continue to make adjustments for ADM. Whether our student numbers go up or they go down, we need to continue to make those adjustments on a regular basis every year. We need to do a central office position audit. That audit needs to be an organizational audit to to take a look at how we are organized at central services, the names and titles of positions, the duties and responsibilities um to try to make sure that our organizationally we make sense and that organ organizationally we are staffed properly in the right places for the work that we're asking essential services to do. There's been a lot of layering over the years. Um, and and and and right on the other side of these reductions and force is a good time to do that work. That costs money, by the way. So, uh, we need to continue to revise our policies and procedures for better internal controls. We've started that work already to contemplate how we need to be better, but I do believe that the Molden and Jenkins review will give us more recommendations on how to do that. Our staffing, our capacity building and succession planning and finance and budget needs to be ongoing. There are lots of places I think at central services where we could do better work around intentionally building staff's capacity and working on succession planning so that one person doesn't leave and all that institutional knowledge goes out the door and then we struggle for the next six months to a year to figure some things out. So we need to work on that all over central services but particularly in our finance department where we have a lot of people that are really good at the pieces of the work that they do but the big picture work and leadership is not there. So um we also need to continue to enhance our efficiency efforts moving forward whether the board continues to look at school consolidation or closure or the boundaries discussion that happened today. how we continue to make operational improvements to make sure that we are appropriately lean and investing where we need to over the next two to five years. We have got to rebuild our fund balance. We cannot continue to operate on a zero savings account. We have got to rebuild our fund balance. Until we begin to rebuild our fund balance, I do believe that we will need to continue to put some level of unbudgeted reserve in our budgets every year for unanticipated expenditures or expenses that come up so that we reserve funds in our budget not just for debt repayment if we need to, but that we have an unbudgeted reserve for expenses that come up. Normally you would use fund balance for that sort of thing, but since we do not have fund balance, I think we need to create that space in our budget every year like we did this year. Happy to answer any questions. It's been a long journey. Board member K. Um, can we flip back to where it started at the 33 million and then goes down? Okay, so these are all the 33 million is where we started and these are all the things that have been paid down right now. So we should only owe the 13 million at this time. Yep. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that Y okay. And I mean and those numbers are actually different than that already based on the presentation this evening. They're a little lower, but I I anticipate that number to continue to go down as the donations are coming into the futures fund. Any other questions? Yep. Vice Chair Bohannana. So for and again you explained this already, but for people who are like that's not 45 like what happened to the other amount like what what's the answer to that? Just there's the there's the there's the 45.5. Okay. So that is what we overspent last year. We overspent 45.5. This is what we owe for last year because 13.5 million of what we overspent was in our savings and was applied towards that debt. Yeah, you subtract the 13.5 the the savings that disappeared goes towards the debt from last year and it's an accounting thing. It'll it reduces that number. Board member bar. So that includes the money that we owe ourselves. Correct. Okay. Gotcha. Yes. And that So when you take out the 5.5 and the one million to that's at the bottom there, that's six and a half million. Do the math with me? That's 6.8. Eight. No. What is that? Somewhere between six and seven million is the amount that we overspent in capital or potentially uh from grants and that sort of thing. Because those are our own funds. We're not required to repay them with debt repayment strategies. It'll just be a negative finding for our audit and it'll be a negative fund balance until it works itself out. Every year, most districts find additional dollars. Could be a few hundred thousand, could be a few million depending on your size based on things like vacancies that that are don't get filled and you have some savings there. um figuring out at the end of the year that there's some additional folks that you might need to move to the state and others that you move off in order to maximize because that work is happening every month. So at the end of every year, you usually districts usually have some savings as opposed to overspending. Those savings always go into fund balance. They go into your savings account. We we don't have anything in our savings account right now. So at the but at the end of this year it is possible that we will have some pieces and parts left over in different places that could go towards a fund balance. However, our fund balance is going to show a negative $67 million number. So whatever those savings are will reduce that number until eventually it's at zero and you start gaining positive fund balance. Any other questions? Okay, thank you very much for that update. Moving on to consent agenda. We have four items to consider tonight. First, consider approval of the school improvement plans briefed at the October 28th, 2025 board of education meeting. Next, consider approval of the FY2026 budget amendments and transfer number five briefed at the October 28th, 2025 finance committee meeting. Next, consider approval of appropriation of NA National Science Foundation grant funds for the Career Center drone technology program briefed at the full board meeting on September 23rd, 2025 and consider approval of the general personnel report. Do I have a motion to approve the slate? Move to approve. Second. So, I have a motion by board member We do not need a second. All in favor? Thank you. That is unanimous. Moving on to action items. First, consider approval to name the R.J. Reynolds wait room the Wilson wait room. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. Second. So, I have a motion by board member Crowley. I have a second by board member Watts. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Thank you. That passes unanimously. Next, consider approval to name the field at Thompson Stadium the Lambeath Family Field. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. Second. So, I have a motion by board member Miller and I have a second by board member Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor. Thank you. That passes unanimously, Madame Chair. Point of pleasure, please. Yes. Yes. Board member Miller. I would like for the Lambbeath family to please stand and be recognized. The Lambbeath family dedication and commit commitment to Winston Salem for Scythe County Schools is truly inspiring and their consistent effort in going above and beyond for our students is exceptional. Representative Lambeath was in the first 10th grade class when Parkland opened, graduating in the class of 1968. The entire Lambeath family attended Parkland and have been dedicated alumni throughout the years. The family continues to provide meals for the faculty, football team, basketball team along with mentoring students and proctoring. Representative Lambeath also served on the Winston Salem for Scythe County Board of Education from 1994 until 2012. His fellow board members elected him board chair during each of his 18 years of service. In 2008, Lambbeath was named to the North Carolina Allstate School Board. And in two 2012, Lambbeath was elected to the NC House of Representatives, serving our state's 75th district. Please let me say thank you for always striving for excellence and setting a high standard for all of us, a legacy to be proud of. We are humbled and honored to name the Lambeath Family Field in recognition of the entire Lambeath family. Thank you. Um, next action item is consider approval of the FY2026 budget amendment and transfer number 6A. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. So I have a motion by Vice Chair Bohan and I have a second by board member Crowley. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? Thank you. That passes unanimously. Next, consider approval of tutoring RFQ. Do I have a motion? Second. So I have a motion by board member I have a second by board member Watts. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Thank you. That is unanimous. So our our two additional action items. E consider approval of policy 3435, the audit advisory committee. Do I have a motion? Move to approve. Second. So I have a motion by board member Crowley. I have a second by Vice Chair Bohannan. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Thank you. That passes unanimously. And lastly, consider approval to request authorization from the Force County Commissioners to utilize excess privately raised funds to pay the ESS debt. Do I have a motion? So move. So I have a motion by Vice Chair Bohannan. I have a second by board member Any discussion? Yes. Yes. Thank you. So I just wanted to to provide a little overview here. Um, in the resolution that the commissioners adopted for the debt forgiveness with the dollar fordoll match with private fundraising, they included in their resolution that any funds that were part of the private donations that exceeded the amount that was due to DPI would be collaboratively sort of determined between the board, board of education, and the board of commissioners around how it should be applied to debt. Given where we are with the slide you saw earlier of what's left to pay, the only debtor that we can apply those additional funds to really is ESS. But because the resolution was written prior to all of this, it is in their resolution that it requires that this board approve that ESS be the vendor that receive the ex the excess sort of private donation funds and then the commissioners will need to do the same. So that's where this is coming from. Any other discussion? So we have a motion, we have a second, we've had discussion. All in favor? Thank you. That is unanimous. That concludes our action items. December 9th will be our next regular meeting of the board of education. Before we begin our public comment, let me say to our cable viewers, thank you for watching. This will conclude our broadcast and happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for joining us on your school channel cable 2. Coming to address the board. Thank you for joining us on your school channel cable 2.