Dr. Denita Dowell-Reavis
The Alexander County Board of Education held its regularly scheduled meeting for September on the 10th. The meeting opened with the pledge led by board member Joshua Dagenhart.
Honors and Recognitions
Communications and Testing Director Dr. Denita Dowell-Reavis recognized on behalf of the district three schools for exceeding growth expectations as designated by the state. Alexander Early College earned a 2.78 in growth and the school was listed as an “A” school. This is the third year in a row AEC has exceeded growth. Stony Point students and staff earned a “C” but exceeded expectations with this past year’s scores. The school’s growth index was 2.38 points and anything over two points is considered to have exceeded. Finally, West Alexander Middle School’s growth index was 3.35, which means they exceeded. The scores gave the school a “B” and West has exceeded for the past five years (with the exception of 2020 and 2021 when the state did not issue scores).
Curriculum and Instruction Report
Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Amy Bowles updated the board on state test scores released last week at the State Board of Education’s monthly meeting. She told members that Alexander County Schools slightly outpaced schools in the region and the state for proficiency. Still, the district has four low-performing schools: East Alexander Middle, Hiddenite Elementary, Sugar Loaf Elementary, and Wittenburg Elementary. In particular, Bowles noted that Biology and Math scores are up this year compared to 2022-2023. For the graduation rate, Alexander Central is 81.2 percent and Alexander Early College is more than 95%. Together, they combine for an 83% graduation rate while the state average is nearly 87%.
Bowles said that the district will partner with state and regional experts for professional development and support. She also plans to have teachers and administrators visit schools in other districts to see what is helping them succeed. Bowles says the goal will be to determine what needs to be targeted for improvement and what needs to continue because it is successful.
Transportation Report
Transportation Director Jami Trojanowski told the board the department has been able to cut routes this year which saves miles, money, and time. The transportation office also updated routes making the guides easier for drivers to understand. The buses now have a place onboard for drivers to clock in and out saving them time from having to go into the buildings to clock in. The department has also improved the among and types of cameras on several of the buses. This includes buses with illuminated stop arms. The drivers have been trained on restraining wheelchairs. The schools have also completed bus evacuations with all students. Even if students are car riders, they must know the bus evacuation routines in case they are on a bus on a field trip that has to be evacuated. The department is publishing the bus class set for October 15-17 for potential drivers. Finally, Trojanowski reported that 1805 students are riding morning buses and 2209 on the average afternoon.
Financial Report
Chief Finance Officer Sharon Mehaffey reported in a finance update that she hopes to bring a budget to the board for approval at next month’s meeting. She says that the board had approved spending part of the district’s fund balance last year. With some personnel cuts the board spent less than originally thought using $809,404 of the fund balance. Mehaffey believes the district can maintain about a million dollars in fund balance moving forward. She also pointed out enrollment continues to affect the amount of money the district has.
Superintendent’s Report
Dr. Bill Griffin reported that the beginning of the school year is off to a great start. He says student average daily membership is down about 100 students from last year. He went on to say in the past five years, the district has lost more than 500 students. The number of students affects how much money the district gets from the state, which is nearly eight-thousand dollars per pupil.
He then tackled an issue that’s been affecting the county and the school system for a while. He and the board signed a resolution in hopes of promoting growth in residential communities in Alexander County.
In September of last year, a demographer with the Western Piedmont Council of Governments told school board members that the county’s population had gone down since 2010 and had especially gone down seven to twenty percent for school-aged children. The numbers vary depending on the age span of the children. What’s more the report last year said based on projections through 2040, the only school aged group growing in Alexander County will be those younger than nine; many of those children would not yet be old enough for school.
The expert said in Alexander options for new housing are down, there is limited rental space and rent costs have gone up. According to census data, Alexander County experienced a boom in the 1990s for housing growth but has since dropped off.
The resolution says the schools open in the district now are not at capacity and could be filled with more school-aged children from an influx of growth in the county. The resolution adopted unanimously by the Board of Education supports controlled growth of residential communities in Alexander County to aid in creating more taxable property and bringing more school aged children to the county. Board member Josh Dagenhart commended Dr. Griffin for his relationship he’s building with the county commissioners.
Griffin also reported that the district plans to offer all employees a $2,500 life insurance policy that is part of the Mark III benefits for staff.
School Board Policies
The board unanimously approved the following policy revisions presented by Chief Financial Officer Ms. Sharon Mehaffey after second reading.
Policy No. 8340 – Insurance
Policy No. 8510 – School Finance Officer
Mehaffey also presented a first reading for several policies including one about public participation at the school board meetings. The revision says if someone wants to speak in the public comment section of the meeting, they must sign up by noon of the meeting day. Anyone with a physical limitation must also submit their written comments for the meeting by noon of the same day.
This policy for the school board falls more in line with a similar policy in place at the Alexander County Board of Commissioners meetings.
Policy No. 2310 – Public Participation at Board Meetings
Policy No. 3220- Technology in Educational Program
Policy No. 3225/4312/7320 – Technology Responsible Use with attached PDF
Policy No. 3420 – Student Promotion and Accountability
Policy No. 3460 – Graduation Requirements
Policy No. 3620 – Extracurricular Activities and Student Organizations