Samantha Feathers Recognized For Becoming a National Board-Certified Teacher

At the December 16^th Pocahontas County BOE Meeting, Dr. Leatha Williams offered recognition to Samantha Feathers for becoming a National Board-Certified Teacher. She added that this is a mark of excellence in the teaching profession, which shows Feather’s exceptional commitment to student learning

Dr. Williams said that as part of the next phase in dealing with the state of emergency in Special Education, every staff member has been provided with a copy of Policy 2419 to insure they have a complete understanding of it. She said that to address the state of emergency, there will also be training sessions held on specially designed instruction, co-teaching and classroom management, and principals will report on how these are being implemented in the classrooms.

The members then approved the minutes of their prior meeting and this meeting’s agenda, then approved routine financial reports, budget transfers, and a school fundraiser.

After discussing it in Executive Session, the members approved the recommended personnel agenda.

Superintendent Williams said when she first arrived here, it was brought to her attention that many policies have no administrative procedures and guidelines attached to them, and she is changing that. She then provided the administrative guidelines being developed for the procurement, payroll, and travel policies. She also described some improvements that have been made to the school website

Under old business, there was a discussion about the cost of the School Safety Officer positions. Dr. Williams said there will be two positions and the starting pay will be $38,500 per year, which is based on $24.00 per hour. Additional costs will include insurance, lie detector charges, $2,500 travel pay for initial training, and uniforms. When asked by Board President Emery Grimes about how the cost of these positions will affect the school budget, Treasurer Sarah Hamilton said these will be paid for out of the local board general fund.

Member Sam Gibson announced that he is not sold on having these positions, since we are an institution of education, not a law enforcement institution, and that he disagrees spending any money that doesn’t go to student education. Grimes and Dr. Williams both responded, saying that these officers will do a lot more than just safeguard the schools, they will also help develop safety protocols, be mentors to troubled students, and help out with vaping and other discipline issues. When Gibson said Randolph county uses Deputy Sheriffs to protect their schools, Dr. Williams said the Sheriff’s Department here can’t hire enough deputies to do their own jobs, and if they could, reimbursing the cost of a Deputy would be much more expensive. Member Frosty McNabb added that you can’t put a price on safety. It was explained that one of the officers will work at the high school and Green Bank school, while the other one will work at the three lower-end schools.

Under new business, they approved school fundraisers, field trips, a mutual agreement between Superintendent Williams and Janesa Henderson for an administrative modification from full-days to half-time days, and the first reading of policies 5223- Absences for Religious Ordinances and Instruction, and policy 7540.02 -Digital Content and Accessibility.

Because Mr. Gibson wanted a separate discussion about approving the first reading of Policy 3122, -Board and Staff Communications, that item was not voted on until after the discussion. The policy basically says that staff members should not bring their work issues directly to the Board of Education members, but go through their chain of command. Gibson felt this closes off communication for teachers. Williams and Grimes explained that the board is not in a teacher’s chain of command and if the Board were to be required to vote on a personnel action, they cannot have already discussed this with the involved staff member. All five members then voted to approve the first reading of that policy.

During Board member remarks, each member wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and complemented the work done to beautify the schools and the new PCHS gym floor. They also praised the job Dr. Williams has been doing since becoming Superintendent.