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RCS to consider closing The Virtual Academy by the 2024-25 school year

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ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Schools Board of Education met Monday, May 15, with multiple recognitions and presentations on the agenda.

The board started off the meeting by recognizing the national qualifiers among the different Career and Technical Student Organizations from the local schools.

“Each year, students in Career and Technical Student Organizations, or CTSOs, compete in local, regional, and state events to demonstrate skills that they have acquired through curriculum activities and individual efforts outside of the classroom,” said Public Information Officer Tim Moody. “They compete against students from across our state with the hope of earning a chance to compete at the national level. Each CTSO has specific requirements for qualifying for national competitions based on factors such as the number of competitors in the event and the type of event, but regardless, it is an outstanding accomplishment to qualify for any national CTSO event.”

The national qualifiers include the Providence Grove High School FFA Hunter Safety Team, which finished second overall at the tournament to advance to the national competition for the first time in school history, the Wheatmore High School FFA Hunter Safety Team the team which finished third overall at the tournament to advance to the national competition, the Randleman High School FFA Chapter which finished first in the state out of 100 teams and will represent the North Carolina FFA Association at the National FFA Convention, and the Randleman High School HOSA which had members Parker Sterling, Marian Aguilar, Ava Dillard and Jennifer Mayorga qualify for the HOSA’s International Leadership Conference.

“It’s never an easy conversation when you are dealing with students and staff, but it’s one that needs to be had.”

Superintendent Stephen Gainey

The board was presented with a proposal from the superintendent to discontinue The Virtual Academy at Randolph, stemming from a study RCS had conducted.

The study found that the school received a letter grade of “F,” did not meet school performance growth measures and was identified as a low-performing school by the state. The Virtual Academy also will have a local cost of $1163,355 to fund two positions necessary for the school’s operations once ESSER money runs out in 2024-25 and has seen a steady decline of enrollment, with only 54 students currently enrolled for the 2023-24 school year.

“Due to budget concerns, the expiration of ESSER funds on 9/30/24, the anticipated continued

decline in enrollment at The Virtual Academy at Randolph, and the fact that closure will not cause significant inconvenience or hardship to current students, I recommend that The Virtual Academy at Randolph be closed no later than the conclusion of the 2023-2024 school year,” said Superintendent Dr. Stephen Gainey. “It’s not an easy conversation. It’s never an easy conversation when you are dealing with students and staff, but it’s one that needs to be had.”

The board was also presented with the list of schools operating under the Community Eligibility Provision in order to receive free lunches and breakfasts for the 2023-24 school year.

“The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides an alternative to household applications for free and reduced-price meals for economically disadvantaged students in local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools,” said Executive Director of Operations Dale Brinkley. “Sites that elect this option agree to serve all students free lunches and breakfasts and claim the meals based on a percentage of Identified Students multiplied by a USDA-defined multiplier factor, currently 1.6. Sites which have an Identified Student Percentage (ISP) of 40% or greater are eligible for this option.”

The schools include Archdale Elementary, Coleridge Elementary, Farmer Elementary, Franklinville Elementary, Grays Chapel Elementary, Hopewell Elementary, John Lawrence Elementary, Level Cross Elementary, Liberty Elementary, New Market Elementary, Ramseur Elementary, Randleman Elementary, Seagrove Elementary, Southmont Elementary, Tabernacle Elementary, Trindale Elementary, Trinity Elementary and Southeastern Randolph Middle.

The Randolph County Schools Board of Education will next meet June 5.

RandolphCountySchools

Board of Education approves changes to 2023-24 school calendar

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ASHEBORO — The Randolph Board of Education met Monday, March 20, with a few budgetary updates and items on the agenda.

The board was presented with the outcome of a grant application submitted by New Market Elementary School.

“New Market Elementary School received a Donors Choose Grant in the amount of $224.00 on March 7, 2023,” said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Cathy Waddell. “The grant will provide funding to purchase items for students to prepare and track their running mileage in the school’s Go Far Club.”

The board was also presented with the first draft of the proposed budget for Randolph County Schools’ 2023-24 budget.

“We’ll bring it back next month for approval, and it will be delivered the next day [to the county commissioners],” said Finance Officer Todd Lowe.

In terms of the projected budget for 2023-2024, the proposed increase in local funding is $1,428,000. 

This accounts for a $711,000 increase for continuation costs (matching insurance, retirement, legislative salary, energy, etc. increases and charter school payments), a $173,000 salary increase for lead custodians and school treasurers, a $114,000 increase for additional SROs and a $430,000 increase for a 1.5% supplement increase for classified employees.

There are no additional capital outlay requests with the proposed budget.

The board then approved a fee and application cost for proficient students for the 2023 Summer Reading Camp Fee and Applications for proficient students.

“Local boards of education may request a fee amount to be equal to the per-student program cost of participating in the Reading Camp, not to exceed $825,” Waddell said. “Priority enrollment in the Reading Camp is for students offered a Reading Camp as a literacy intervention. The local board of education shall establish application procedures and enrollment priorities for reading camps for students demonstrating reading proficiency.

“The total cost for the Summer Reading Camps that were held at the end of the 2021-2022 school year was $220,693.38, and 405 students attended one of the reading camps in the school district. Based upon the cost of the 2022 reading camps and the number of students who attended, it is recommended that the Randolph County Board of Education approve an attendance fee of $545 for any second-grade student who has demonstrated appropriate developmental abilities in reading comprehension and for any third-grade student who has demonstrated proficiency on third-grade reading standards.”

According to Superintendent Dr. Stephen Gainey, the fee last year was $629, and the district works hard to keep those costs down.

“Only the students who aren’t proficient get to go for free,” Gainey said. “This is an interesting initiative, and it’s been in many different phases over time starting in 2013-14, where it was really only one grade level, and that was grade three. It’s kind of transitioned a few different ways over the last 10 years. Our fee has always been considerably less than what the state would allow us to charge.”

The board finally approved a recommendation to revise the 2023-24 school calendar in order to add four early release days.

“A revision to the 2023-2024 school calendar is being recommended to allow for the early release of all schools in the school system at 12:30 p.m. on the following dates: October 26, 2023, December 14, 2023, February 15, 2024, March 21, 2024,” said Executive Director of Operations Dale Brinkley. “The release time on the previously-identified days will be used for professional development for staff members at all schools. It will be particularly helpful with the state-required LETRS training for staff members at elementary schools in the school system.”

The Randolph County Schools Board of Education will next meet April 17.

RandolphCountySchools

Board of Education accepts grant to help supply new SROs

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ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Board of Education met Monday, February 20, with mostly financial updates and dealings on the agenda. 

Superintendent Stephen Gainey presented to the board a current expense request to be brought before the Randolph Board of Commissioners in May for a supplement increase for classified employees.

“The new current expense request will be a supplement increase for classified employees by 1.5%,” Gainey said. “The total cost of this additional current expense request will be $430,000, and if approved, it would take our supplement percentage for classified employees from 3.75% to 5.25%.”

“Many times when the state does raises, classified employees get missed. We’ve talked about our 197 locally paid employees. Most of them are classified employees. There are no teachers on local pay. There’s no locally paid assistant principals or locally paid principals. I feel very good about this additional request. We have a lot of workforce needs in the classified employee group.”

The board was also presented with the findings from their 2021-22 audit. 

“I’m pleased to announce that our opinion form for your financial statements is unmodified, which is the best opinion you can get, and in school finance terms, it’s an A+,” said Shannon Dennison, CPA with Anderson Smith & Wike PLLC who did Randolph County Schools audit.

According to the audit, as of June 30, 2022, Randolph County Schools had a general fund balance of $5.2 million and a capital outlay fund of $2.2 million. Dennison also touched on the district’s child nutrition fund.

“Last year, you gained $2.56 million in funds for child nutrition, so you have $6.9 million in cash in the child nutrition program,” Dennison said. “Last year was a little unique in that it was continuing on from COVID, so all the students received free meals, and the federal reimbursement rate was higher than a normal year, so I would not expect that to remain a trend next year.”

However, the sizable savings will allow Randolph County Schools to be able to operate without much disturbance from rising food prices, at least for a little while, according to Dennison.

“I’m just thankful it’s pretty healthy right now because it will probably take a hit,” said board chair Gary Cook. “They’ve done a good job of managing it and keeping it up. I guess planning for a rainy day was pretty smart.”

The board then approved the second reading of the school calendar for the 2024-25 school year.

“The calendar includes 180 student days, 14 teacher workdays, 11 holidays, and 10 annual leave days,” said Executive Director of Operations Dale Brinkley. “The first day for students will be on Monday, August 26, 2024, and the last day for students will be on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. The calendar includes an inclement weather make-up plan where the first five days missed are absorbed, and then days will be made up as scheduled.”

The board also approved the 2023-24 school calendar for Randolph Early College High School, which has the same breakdown of days but will align its start and end time with the Randolph Community College schedule. 

“Early College programs have flexibility with their calendar guidelines that traditional schools do not have,” Brinkley said.

The board then approved the acceptance of a $57,965.95 Local Food for Schools Grant that was awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture through the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Food Distribution Division that will go towards the additional purchase of locally sourced food to be used for school meals.

“A lot of stuff is made from scratch now, and the nutrition staff, there’s not a lot of them working in the school, so for them to go in… they just do so much,” Cook said. “Three at most in most places, and you’re cooking from scratch for that many people, that says a lot. You used to hear complaints a little bit, but overall you don’t hear that now. People talk about how good the food is. We appreciate all of that.”

Finally, the board approved the acceptance of a $176,000 Center for Safer Schools Safety Grant in order to help fund additional SROs for the elementary schools.

“We have to submit a mid-year and end-of-year report, and as long as we submit that documentation, we get the $176,000 again for next school year,” Brinkley said. “Right now, though, it’s just for this year and next year.”

The Randolph County Board of Education will next meet March 20.

RandolphCountySchools

Randolph Early College senior recognized before board of education for United States Presidential Scholar selection

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ASHEBORO – The Randolph County Board of Education met Monday, Jan. 9 with recognitions and quarterly updates the only items on the agenda.

The board recognized the 2023 United States Presidential Scholar Nominee, Toby Cuna Zamora.

“Toby Cuna Zamora, a senior at Randolph Early College High School, has been selected by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) as one of North Carolina’s nominees to apply for the United States Presidential Scholars Program in the General Education category,”  said Public Information Officer Tim Moody. “Nineteen nominees were selected from a pool of submissions through an extensive committee review process. As a result of his selection, Toby has been invited by the NCDPI Presidential Scholars Nomination Committee to move forward in the next round of the scholars program.”

United States Presidential Scholars candidates will go through the application process at the national level and the Commission on Presidential Scholars will notify the semifinalists in April 2023. Scholar finalists will then be announced in May 2023. 

Those selected will receive the Presidential Scholars Medallion at a ceremony in their honor in Washington, D.C. and scholars selected from North Carolina will be honored by the State Board of Education in early June 2023. 

The board also recognized the county’s 2022-23 Lighthouse School nominee.

“The North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development has a prestigious Lighthouse School award that is presented annually to one or more North Carolina schools that are leading the way in innovative programs and practices,” Moody said. “For the 2022-23 school year, the leadership team of Randolph County School System has nominated Archdale Elementary School for the Lighthouse School award.”

Schools selected for the award will be announced at the NCSCD 2023 annual conference in February in Pinehurst.

In its quarterly budget update, the district reported cash balances of $3,511,363 in current expenses, $1,843,158 in capital outlay, $1,849,711 in AT Tax and $4,362,246 in child nutrition funds.

In its quarterly student assignment update, Randolph County Schools saw a net loss in overall enrollments of 82 students. It is also seeing three schools – Archdale Elementary, Hopewell Elementary, and Randleman High – approaching capacity, all currently having enrollment that is over 90% of total capacity for those schools.

The Randolph County Board of Education will next meet Feb. 20.

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Hearing provides chance for sharing educational ideas

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ASHEBORO — Developing the best ideas with students in mind and securing the support to pursue those goals is what Randolph County educators advocated for during a special public hearing Monday.

During a House Select Committee on An Education System for North Carolina’s Future at South Asheboro Middle School in Asheboro, NC on March 7, 2022. PJ WARD-BROWN/NORTH STATE JOURNAL

“Think about where we’re going. Being innovative,” said Aaron Woody, superintendent of Asheboro City Schools.

The House Select Committee held a public hearing on “An Education System for North Carolina’s Future” at South Asheboro Middle School. 

Renee Hayes was one of three speakers who requested to make comments following the formal presentation. The Asheboro woman said state leaders should follow the guidelines in place to make sure there’s proper funding in place.

“Support these teachers who are still in the classroom,” Hayes said. “For more than a decade (schools) have had to do more with less.”

Rhonda Dillingham, who described herself as a career educator, advocates for charter schools as the executive director of the North Carolina Association for Public Charter Schools. She said concerns about the funding structure related to all public schools must be monitored.

Dillingham said decision-makers should assess situations where school districts and charter school collaborations have been successful.

Superintendent of Randolph County Schools Dr. Stephen Gainey presents his model during a House Select Committee on An Education System for North Carolina’s Future at South Asheboro Middle School in Asheboro, NC on March 7, 2022. PJ WARD-BROWN/NORTH STATE JOURNAL

Stephen Gainey, superintendent of the Randolph County Schools System, was the first presenter on the agenda. He pointed out the growth of programs that have made a difference within county schools.

“We need people who are engaged,” Gainey said.

Gainey also emphasized the positive relationship that has been formed for high school students through a connection with Randolph Community College.

Uwharrie Charter Academy superintendent Sharon Castelli said she appreciates how her school fits within the educational structure in Randolph County.

“Not one size does fit all,” Castelli said. “We’re all unique. We all offer different opportunities for our students.”

UCA has operated for about nine years. The school has grown from 181 students to more than 1,700.

Woody said reaching proper goals within schools is an ongoing process. One of the first steps is creating the missions that should be followed.

“Pushing on each other so the very best ideas for young people can rise to the top,” Woody said. “Making sure we’re listening and we’re thinking.”

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Randolph County school board calls special meeting on COVID

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ASHEBORO — With eight schools currently affected by COVID-19 quarantine protocols due to contact tracing, The Randolph County Board of Education has called a special meeting for Sunday, August 29 at 2pm

In an email to the North State Journal, the county’s largest school system said its leaders would meet at the R. Alton Cox Learning Resources Center Auditorium at Randolph Community College, 629 Industrial Park Avenue, Asheboro, for the purpose of discussing the current status of COVID-19 in the Randolph County School System and COVID-19 protocols.

The system said Monday that Southeastern Randolph Middle School, Southwestern Randolph high School, Southwestern Randolph Middle School, Randleman High School, Providence Grove High School, Northeastern Randolph Middle School, Level Cross Elementary School and Grays Chapel Elementary School currently had a staff or student with a reported case of COVID-19 and that other students and staff were quarantine due to close contact.

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Incumbents file in large numbers for municipal elections

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ASHEBORO — Asheboro mayor David Smith, who first elected to that position in 2009, will run unopposed in November’s election, while there are six candidates for four spots on the city council. 

Incumbent council members Clark Bell, Walker Moffitt and Katie Snuggs will have challenges from Kelly Heath, William (Bill) McCaskill and Delilah Perkins Warner. Linda Carter isn’t running for re-election for a board spot.

For the Asheboro City Schools board of education, there will be seven names on the ballot for four open positions. Vice chair Baxter Hammer and Beth Knott are aiming to remain on the board.

Other candidates are Todd Dulaney, Adam Hurley, Hailey Trollinger Lee, Kathryn Thill and Bob Williams. Archie Priest and Art Martinez didn’t file to keep their expiring terms on the 11-member board of education.

In the Town of Franklinville, Perry Conner seeks his fifth term as mayor with a challenge from AC Hurley, who has been a town commissioner for more than 20 years. Conner has been mayor since 2011 after a pair of four-year terms on the town council.

Candidates for the Franklinville town commissioner seats are Ricky J. Collins, William (Billy) Farias, Richard Goodwin, Brandon Hurley, Michael Johnston and Craig Smith. Goodwin is in his third term while Brandon Hurley – AC Hurley’s son — is also an incumbent.

In Liberty, Filmore York will run unopposed for mayor to keep his position. Town commissioner seats will be up for grabs with Terry Caviness challenging incumbents Larry Coble and Chris Compton and mayor pro tempore Tyson Nixon.

In Ramseur, town commissioner candidates are Diana Brower, Wayne Carroll and incumbent Joy Hooker for two seats. Tanya Kenyon isn’t seeking to retain her seat.

On the Town of Seagrove ballot, incumbent David Fernandez is unopposed for mayor. For town commissioner, the candidates are incumbent Ed Walker (6139 Auman Farm Road) and Sandra Walker (P.O Box 236).

The Town of Staley ballot shows only Karen Scotton seeking to remain mayor. Town commissioner spots had a similar pattern, with only incumbents Renee Harrelson, Faye Johnson, Janet Langley Lambert, Lori Lynn Langley-Hankins and Steve Rollins Sr. filing for the five two-year terms.

There are a small number of Randolph County residents living within Thomasville city limits. The mayor’s race in Thomasville consists of Joe Leonard and Raleigh York Jr. Current mayor Greg Hobbs isn’t running, while major pro tem David Hufstetler isn’t on the ballot either.

The Thomasville city council has 12 candidates for two slots. Those candidates are Ronald Bratton, Ronald Fowler, Doug Hunt, JacQuez Johnson, Eric Kuppel, Katrina Milburn, Wendy Bryant Sellars, Lisa Shell, Jeannette Shepherd, Dee Stokes, D. Hunter Thrift and Payton Williams. Fowler and Sellars both live on Memorial Park Drive. Incumbent Todd Mobley, who holds a city-wide at-large spot, isn’t seeking re-election.

The filing period for spots on ballots in Randleman and Trinity runs from July 26 through noon Aug. 13.

Election Day is Nov. 2.

Early voting to be discussed

Some specifics of early voting in Randolph County will be ironed out during the county’s board of elections meeting Aug. 10, Board of Elections director Melissa Johnson said.

Last week’s July meeting was smooth, she said.

“This was mostly very routine,” Johnson said. “The next one might be different.”

The 2021 election with numerous municipal seats up for grabs is generally considered a smaller election.

Johnson said Randolph County usually has just one early voting location – at the board of elections office on North Fayetteville Street in Asheboro.

She said inquiries with officials in towns around the county haven’t generated much interest in setting up other early voting sites.

Also at the July meeting, the five members of the county board of elections were approved to retain their spots on the panel. They are chair Margaret Megerian, Republicans Darren Allen and Mary Jane Pugh and Democrats Tiffany Alston and Chapin Pierre Oldham. Alston is from Archdale, while the others live in Asheboro.