Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Dare County Board of Education voted to switch school board attorneys on June 30, 2022.

Three responses to the Dare County Schools request for proposals included Schwartz Law, Sink Law and Poyner Spruill.

On a 4-2 vote, the board selected Poyner Spruill LLP and its education law group formed in 2021 with nine experienced lawyers. The firm is hired to provide services for two years from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024. Voting no were Joe Tauber and Margaret Lawler.

At the end of the meeting, former board attorney Richard Schwartz said “I just want to tell board as a board and individually how much I’ve enjoyed working with you.”

At this meeting, the board also authorized submitting applications to the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force and Army for establishing a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps at Manteo High School. A board committee make the recommendation to submit applications to all four branches of the United States military. Once before, the system applied but was turned down.

The personnel consent agenda was amended at the start of the meeting to include extending five administrative contracts: four assistant principals from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025 – Grady Edwards at Manteo Middle School; Lela Ingram at First Flight High School; Elizabeth Kenan at Manteo Elementary School; and Denise Stone at Nags Head Elementary School – and the contract for Holly King, director of technology, was also extended to June 30, 2025.

At the June 14 meeting, the board extended the contracts for three principals, including Tami Harper at Manteo Middle School and Chuck Lansing at First Flight High School to June 30, 2025 and Beth Rooks at Cape Hatteras Secondary to June 30, 2026.

A contract with assistant principal Kassie Mount at First Flight Middle was extended to June 30, 2025. Assistant principal contracts were extended to June 30, 2026 with Kristin Dyer at Manteo Elementary and Crissie Weeks at First Flight Elementary.

Also on June 14, the contract with Steve Blackstock was approved to June 30, 2023. Contracts extending to June 30, 2026 included Paul Kinsey as director of testing/accountability and Reida Roberts as director of exceptional children. Contracts extended to June 30, 2024 include Mora Newton as ESL/DLI coordinator and Robert Tripp as assistant principal at First Flight Middle School.

The board also voted to move forward with a superintendent search in house. The board received five proposals for the search job ranging in costs from $14,500 to $29,470.

Chairman David Twiddy has appointed an ad hoc Committee for Superintendent Search. That committee’s first meeting is set for July 12 at 3:30 p.m. at the Nags Head Administrative Offices for Dare County Schools.

At this financial year-end meeting, the board adopted a series of budget amendments to the fiscal year 2022 budget, including:

– Appropriating additional state funds of $115,700.

– Revising purpose budgets to reflect actual expenditures in the local current expense showing $24,600,957 plus $138,688 from fund balance.

­– Adding funds for COVID training bonuses, $2,381.

– Making insurance proceeds local funds, not state funds and revising to reflect actual expenditures in Capital Outlay Fund, $601,222.

– In School Nutrition Fund, adding USDA revenue of $280,000.

– Changing classification of revenues and reflecting actual expenditures in Other Specific Revenue Fund, $1,278,588.41.

The fiscal year 2023 budget resolution is based on projected state and federal allotments. A final budget resolution will be before the board when North Carolina and federal budgets are adopted.

State funds are projected at $36,056,307 and federal funds at $7,484,244.

Local current expense funds show the total county appropriation of $23,178,614, plus teacher supplement funds of $250,000 and a fund balance of $3,213,223 for a total of $26,641,837 in local current expense revenue.

The board adopted the 2023 Dare Learning Academy Accountability Model which includes higher expectations increasing percentage of students earning C or better in all course from 35% to 40%; reducing the number of lost instructional days due to disciplinary issues from 80 to 75 days; increasing to 90% number of students who remained enrolled in school through end of school year; and meeting student growth.

The board approved the carrier of cyber liability insurance as Surry Insurance Company at a total cost for the 2022-23 school year of $18,629.

The board approved child nutrition bids under the umbrella of the North Carolina Child Nutrition Procurement Alliance and regional subgroup in the following categories as SYSCO for food and grocery items, snacks, beverages, supplies and Greenville Produce for fresh produce.

READ ABOUT MORE NEWS HERE.