Swain East & Middle School share improvement plans

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Hannah Styles

hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com

 

The Swain County Board of Education held its monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 14, the last meeting before newly elected members join the board. During the meeting the board recognized a heroic SRO officer and bus driver as well as a student who helped in emergency situations, discussed school improvement, and a recent grant.

The meeting began with September and October Character Awards to the following students: Paisley Strickland (Bright Adventures), Krupa Patel and Delilah Sutton (West), Eliza Bradley (East), Harmony Franklin and Abram Cochran (Middle), and Blake Sain and Bridgette Wyatt (High).

The board also recognized SRP P.D. Hampton and bus driver Aaron Smiley and student Vivian Parks who all responded to emergencies last week.

The next order of business was hearing East Elementary and Swain Middle School’s improvement plans to improve last year’s grades given by the state.

East Elementary presented the school’s plan to improve proficiency since they had already met growth requirements in math and exceeded them in reading last year.

East Principal Amanda Sutton said for a “C” grade, the state required 80% achievement/proficiency and 20% growth. East Elementary was 3% off last year with 77% achievement.

Sutton said the school has NCStar and Smart Goal data teams meeting to discuss standards, student progress, common assessment, and alignment. Also, teachers now have 90 minutes of instruction planning per day to help assess data and help improve student proficiency. The school is still having an issue with student attendance and has had problems with staff and students missing due to lots of illness going around, she noted.

Swain Middle School Principal Tim Kurr and teachers explained the school didn’t meet the growth it needed this year but feels like there are a lot of things to celebrate.

“I am really proud of our Lighthouse status, and we have had an incredible increase in PTO involvement and community involvement this year,” said teacher Jennifer Oetting.

She went on to address the first ever Fall Festival that the school held back in October where they raised over $2,000 for the school.

Teacher Tim Sale said to excel in the classroom, students must also know who they are as a person and learn how to become a leader.

“We are really focusing hard on bullying and mentoring through leadership classes,” Sale said.

The school’s goal is to increase reading proficiency from 47% to 60% over the next couple years and get to 60% in math proficiency in the next year.

Superintendent Mark Sale said before improvement plans began, he looked at competency of principals in all schools and said he doesn’t believe there should be any changes made.

“There is absolutely no need for any adjustment of leadership at these schools,” Superintendent Sale said. “I believe they are all committed and have taken this incredibly seriously.”

 

Instructional supplements

Sale went on to discuss instructional supplements given by the state for this year in the amount of over $822,000, which after retirement and social security comes out to around $622,000.

There are 156 certified instructional staff members in the school who meet criteria, according to Sale. This year, teachers with 0-3 years will receive the minimum amount of $3,374 and teachers with 30+ years will receive the maximum of $4,500 in two installments. The amounts vary between the minimum and maximum depending on experience.

 

Free breakfast, lunch for elementary

Recently, the school applied for the first-ever health grant requesting money for free lunches because almost all elementary students in the county were receiving free lunch except it was leaving just a few out. Dogwood Health provided a $75,000 grant so that the rest of the elementary students could receive free breakfast and lunch.

“I hope we can one day expand this to all schools,” Superintendent Sale said. “I believe there is a push in the federal government for this as well.”

 

Teacher pay and budget

Finance Officer Stephanie Treadway presented the budget resolution and said the state budget, signed back in July, has provided salary increases for public school employees, increase in retirement rate to 24.50, and an increase in health insurance to $7,397 per employee/year. Teachers and instructional support will receive step increases plus increases to salary and beginning teacher pay is now $37,000 with a range of $1,320-$3,350 per 10 months of employment. There are also monthly supplements for psychologists, speech pathologists, audiologists, and school counselors as well as performance bonuses and small and low wealth county sign on bonuses. The overall budget for 2023 is $31,577,717 compared to $29,397,359 in 2022.

The board then went into a short, closed session to discuss personnel and after returning approved the resignation of Deborah Taylor and employed Josh Kirkland. They also approved the 22-23 budget resolution, school improvement plans, and certified instruction supplement plan. There will now be an early dismissal for students on Friday, Dec. 16 at 11 a.m.

 

Thanks to retiring board members

The board said a tearful goodbye to retiring member Kim Carpenter who has served on the board for eight years.

“Students' lives have improved during your time, and it has been a pleasure to serve on the board with you,” chairman Gerald McKinney said.

“I have nothing but thanks and appreciation to you all and to the county, allowing me to serve a school system that served me, that I was raised in and that I raised my kids in,” Carpenter said. “This has been the honor of a lifetime.”

Retiring board member Travis Hyatt was not present at the meeting due to a prior engagement but will be honored at the December meeting where he will say goodbye to the board.

The next board of education meeting will be Monday, Dec. 12 with newly elected board members R.L. Taylor and Lisa Stolztfus Loftis joining the board.