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At its November meeting, the Dare County Board of Education (BOE) recognized three of their current board members in honor of their dedicated service and commitment to improving the quality of education in Dare County Schools (DCS): Carl Woody, December 2020 through December 2024; Susan Bothwell, December 2020 through December 2024; Mary Ellon Ballance, July 2016 through December 2024.

“Being on a school board is not just showing up tonight and preparing for our meeting,” shared Chairman David Twiddy following the plaque presentation. “The words that were on that plaque for the dedication and achievements means a lot because there’s a lot of hours behind the scenes. On behalf of the chairman of this Board of Education, the dedications, hard work and service that you all have done, we do appreciate it for the students and staff at dare county schools.”

Superintendent Steve Basnight then shared several updates with the board. First, the Superintendent Advisory Council meetings have begun for this school year, and Basnight shared that these meetings are “extremely fun” and a “great opportunity to listen, get input from the outside and see it through someone else’s eyes.” He added that each meeting always ends in a conversation.

Basnight then informed the board that fire alarm panels and virtual servers for the school systems are being updated and replaced throughout DCS. He shared that Beverly Hagy, a Cape Hatteras Elementary School teacher, was recognized by the NC Department of Public Instruction as a recipient of the Northeast Regional Science of Reading True Trailblazer Award. Hagy was one of only eight individuals selected across the state for this distinguished award.

Also, the DCS Career and Technical Education Program was recognized by the NC Department of Public Instruction for its dramatic increase in CTE credential attainment. Basnight said DCS ranked eighth out of 115 school districts in NC and number one in northeast NC this year. He also noted that over the past five years, DCS has increased its credential attainment from numbers in the teens to 79.5%, and thanked DCS CTE director Dr. Shannon Castillo for this accomplishment.

For the final announcement, Basnight reported on increases in the number of school nutrition meals currently being served compared to this time last year. There has been an overall average increase across the district of 40% in breakfast meals served and 19% in lunch meals served in 2024. “We’ve not served 1,000 breakfasts since 2006, and we’re at 1,038,” Basnight relayed. “Our highest breakfasts have been 750, lunches increased over 350 per day, and since the early 2000’s when we were serving 2,500 lunches a day that number is at 2,251, closing in on our all times highs for students eating in cafeterias.”

Following Basnight’s updates was a presentation by Tim Oakley from Oakley Collier Architects, who is heading the Dare County Early College project. He shared renderings of the new facility with the board. “The goal was to match as much as we could to the current COA campus,” Oakley shared. The exterior resembles the current COA campus building, while the interior will have a fresh, modern-coastal look. The building will be approximately 25,700 sq. ft., with classrooms, a dining hall, lobby area, welcome desk and coastal murals to “create liveliness and color.”

Director of technology Holly King then came before the board with an Infinite Campus update, the new student information system used by DCS. The system was launched back in August for DCS families, and King was happy to report that of the current 5,000 students, less than 10 are without a parent portal account. “That is a tremendous applause for people at the building level who have worked tirelessly to make sure our students are connected, and that our families have access to valuable resources that are in this tool.”

Phase I included implementation of the front-runner features, such as access to daily assessments, real-time attendance, behavior tracking, communication between teachers, DCS staff and leadership and parents, and analyzing whether student support is needed. Phase II, which is currently being rolled out, includes advanced features such as contact logs, fees, digital check in-out, electronic hall passes, and more.

The board than covered new business on the night’s agenda, including an approval by the board to give authority to the superintendent to approve donations from the Kitty Hawk Elementary School (KHES) PTO for KHES, as received, up to $30,000; an approval which gave the board chair permission to provide a letter of support, on behalf of the BOE, for the Dare Community Housing Task Force’s application to address affordable housing needs in 100 districts across North Carolina; and an approval of the revised school improvement plans for First Flight Elementary School and Manteo Elementary School.

Ian Adams, director of facilities, presented a proposed lease agreement for use of the First Flight High baseball stadium from June 1, 2025 through July 31, 2027 by owners of a baseball team franchise in the Old North State League. No action was taken; the board requested more time to consider the request since their current policy does not allow for facilities use requests to extend beyond one year. The matter was then tabled for further discussion at a special-called meeting on November 22. Adams then presented a quote in the amount of $14,000 from Bourne Appraisal Service for the appraisal of commercial real estate property on Roanoke Island owned by the BOE. After discussion, the board opted not to move forward with the appraisal since there are no plans to do anything with the property at this time.

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