SCS board mulls fees, other items

Aug. 20—The Sampson County Schools Board of Education convened for a work session Tuesday morning to hash out a variety issues before the start of school next week. Several items will be decided at the upcoming regular board meeting this Monday night at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Board of Education building on County Complex Road in Clinton.

Superintendent Dr. David Goodin introduced the student fee schedule, which remains essentially unchanged from last year. However, viewing the schedule sparked debate about why some schools charge a $25 technology fee and others don't. The technology fee covers a laptop for all students and a Kajeet, a hotspot, for students without WiFi.

It was determined that several schools use their Title I funds from the U.S. Department of Education to cover the fee for students, while other schools need to use all of their Title I funds on instruction.

Board member Robert Burley pointed out that the student fee schedule policy dictates "that no fee will be charged for required courses or activities." It was confirmed that laptops are essentially required.

Goodin commented that if the students are given the devices outright, then the parent will be responsible for the full cost to fix any damage. Screen damage alone can cost upwards of $100, as noted by Director of Technology Belva Lovitt.

Vice-Chair Sandra Carroll brought up the fact that the fee could become burdensome for families with multiple children.

Board chair Daryll Warren opined that the $25 usage fee acts like "an insurance policy" in case of damage to the devices, such as cracked screens. The first offense is free, except for lost or damaged charges, according to Lovitt. The second time, the students will owe around $30-50 to go toward fixing the laptop. For students that damage the laptop more than three times, they will face heftier charges despite the usage fee. Fines such as these were forgiven for the year of the pandemic, Lovitt said.

"I can tell you these kids are damaging, especially at middle school level," Lovitt stressed. "That $25 actually helped a lot of parents, especially for our frequent flyers who would damage, so this becomes like a pot of money that we're buying the parts from."

Still, the school system is left to bear the rest of the financial burden. Even if everyone paid their fee, it would only put $200,000 into the school system's repair pot, but a chunk of parents refuse to pay, leaving about $150,000 to work with. "Your tech fee would not cover the repairs in a year," Lovitt asserted.

Last year the school system had a lot of grants to help replace damaged items, so the CFO estimates that the cost of repairs will triple this school year.

Assistant superintendent of Instructional Services Dr. Melinda Vickers affirmed that the school board cannot control how schools spend their Title I money. Board member Sonya Powell remarked, "That doesn't make it fair."

Powell suggested that perhaps the school board could cover the fee for the schools who can't afford to. It was noted that some schools might find it unfair that they are covering their own technology fees while others are having the board pay for it. Powell countered that have encountered such imbalances before.

The issue was punted to Monday night's board meeting. The Board addressed a number of other items during their work session.

—Board Attorney Rachel Hitch called into the meeting to discuss the approval of policy revisions related to school suspensions. The board approved all of the changes, including those concerning requests for readmission of students suspended for one year or expelled, as well as student discipline hearing procedures. Board Member Powell noted during the discussion, "We're on the side of the child."

—Program director Mary Stevens presented the five-year Upward Bound Program to the board, noting that Sampson County Schools is the only school district in the country to qualify as in need of $1.5 million grant from the Department of Education that aims to encourage more students to attend and graduate from college. This grant is typically reserved for colleges and universities to help their struggling students complete their studies.

—Nicole Peterson, Director of Pre-K-8 Education, delineated the two stipends under the schools' Academically or Intellectually Gifted programs. The board voted to move the AIG stipend plan to a standalone item for consideration at the regular board meeting on Monday.

—Dr. Vickers announced the approval of the county's application for the Plasma Games Pilot program to be implemented by physical science and chemistry teachers to help students learn science through a first-of-its-kind 3D video game. The county received $45,000 in software licenses.

—Exceptional Child program director Mrs. Andrea Rouse updated the board on Project Activate, which will provide schools with more mental health resources.

—Chief Financial Officer Cyndi Mesimer discussed the budget that is in place before the school year starts with available revenues totalling more than $120 million dollars. In past years, the school board has had to wait until December for the school year budget to come through. More than $25 million of this year's budget comes from ESSER (Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund), a part of the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in March 2021. All Senate Republicans, including North Carolina U.S. senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, voted against the legislation.

—The board voted to approve a seven percent increase in the after-school coaching supplements and band director supplements. Coach Lewis, who had presented the request to the board in last month's work session, was in attendance. Alluding to the Project Activate presentation, Coach Lewis thanked the board, saying "our coaches are counselors, they are social workers, they are school nurses." To which board member Burley replied, "You better preach that, son," sending chuckles around the room.

—Maintenance director Mark Hammond requested to put chiller replacement contracts and window contracts with surprisingly low bids on the consent agenda. Hargrove Elementary, Hobbton High, Roseboro-Salemburg Middle and Union Intermediate will have their windows replaced. The board took quick action since Mr. Hammond emphasized the long wait times.

—Brenda Nordin, Director of Beginning Teachers, Recruitment & Retention and Teacher Support, presented NC New Teacher Support Program Service Agreement starting for new teachers, and the board approved.

—Dr. Alicia Brophy-Dick, director for exceptional children, presented the contract with Sunbelt Staffing LLC to find speech-language pathologists. The general availability appears to be remote learning, but the board will endeavor to find in-person options in tandem with the contract.

—Dr. Vickers requested to continue the current process of paying stipends to the state Multi-Tiered System of Support coordinators, who focus on improving schools for students and providing professional development for teachers and staff. This topic was tabled for further discussion in hopes of finding more effective personnel.

—Peterson presented the NC Pre-K contract and asked for the literacy plan to be placed on the consent agenda for the Monday meeting, both of which were approved.

—Finally, the board approved the Mastery Prep, the boot camp to prepare all SCS high school students for the ACT. Use of the program in the Spring of 2022 showed an improvement in scores. This school year, in light of the minimum passing score being raised from 17 to 19, a fall session will be added to the schedule. ESSER will fully fund the Mastery Prep program.

—Board members Eleanor Bradshaw, Glenn Faison and Kim Schmidlin were also in attendance at the meeting and active.

India K. Autry can be reached at 910-249-4617.