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At a special called meeting, five members of the Dare County Board of Education listened as Dare Schools Superintendent Steve Basnight presented a listing of all the times that Dare school and advisory boards had talked about setting up a Dare County early college.

After the presentation, the June 5 meeting was quickly adjourned.

At the mid-May meeting of the Board of Education, four people spoke during public comment. All speakers raised questions about the board’s Dare County early college proposal, like “why is this the number one priority?” How about “catch up” with maintenance items in existing schools?

Numerous announcements and recognitions preceded the work of the school board.

– Recognized were the first ever three student advisors to the Dare County Board of Education. Serving this year were seniors Anna Tynch from First Flight High, Sherlyn Medieta-Lozano from Cape Hatteras Secondary and Isabella Alexander from Manteo High.

– Saluted were three Cape Hatteras Secondary students who competed at the International DECA Conference with their project for community giving category. The three young women put together Coastal Care Packages for three age groups of foster children in Dare County. The team finished in the top 20 out of 180 teams competing in the category. Students are Emma Riggs, Ann Lord and Kristin Bennett.

– Recognized was the 2023-2024 Manteo Middle School undefeated basketball team. The school’s last undefeated team was in 2000.

The consent agenda was approved. Under the personnel report were three and a quarter pages of employees whose contracts were renewed. Three sets of minutes were approved, including minutes from April 15 both special meeting and regular meeting and April 30 budget workshop.

Also under the consent agenda were budget amendments with this explanation:

“Capital Outlay Fund – Appropriate funds from fund balance to provide a PreK playground at KHES – $15,000, reimburse FEMA for proceeds received for Hurricane Dorian repairs that were not made in the window of time allowed (repairs had to be complete by December 2021 and an extension was not requested) – $17,404, and State Capital funds awarded in FY22 for improvements to the MHS track – $59,347. Dare County has allotted funds for MHS track repairs in the Capital Improvements Plan so we recommend asking them to redirect an equal amount of the funds for MHS tennis court repairs.

“Other Local Funds – Recognize an additional $325,000 received in Medicaid reimbursements for services provided.”

The board adopted a revised capital improvement plan. The revision was to move $400,000 to be used for the field house at Manteo High School to fiscal year 2025 rather than later.

The operating budget was adopted with $1,631,841 received from Dare County for supplements for school staff.

Two Trailblazer Grants were received by the board from the North Carolina Youth Outdoor Engagement Commission:

Cape Hatteras Secondary School was awarded $10,000 to help fund the CHSS Sailing Club. Students participating in this club will learn about seamanship, weather and safety on the water. Students will also work on obtaining Boater’s Safety Certification.
First Flight Middle School was awarded $10,000 to fund the FFMS Right Flight Club, where students will take hang gliding lessons through Kitty Hawk Kites and participate in field trips to the Wright Brothers Museum, the Virginia Air and Space Museum, and the Currituck Regional Airport to see the Elizabeth City State University Aviation Program.

At the May 13, 2024 meeting, Dare County Board of Education adopted the following policy manual updates on second reading:
– Policy Code 2010: Board and Superintendent Relations

– Policy Code 2125/7315: Confidential Information

– Policy Code 2130: Board Member Compensation and Expenses

– Policy Code 2300: Board Meetings

At that same meeting, the board received on first reading the following policy manual updates:

– Policy 1310/4002: Parental Involvement

– Policy 2127: Board Technology Use

– Policy 4040/7310: Staff-Student Relations

– Policy 4240/7312: Child Abuse and Related Threats to Child Safety

– Policy 4270/6145: Concussion and Head Injury

– NEW Policy 7232: Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace

– Rescind Policy 1712: Equal Employment Opportunity

The next regular meeting of the Dare County Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, June 10, 2024, at 5 p.m. at the Dare County Commissioners Meeting Room, 954 Marshall C. Collins Dr. in Manteo.

The board has also announced a special meeting for 3:30 p.m. on June 10, 2024 for the following reasons: to consult with the Board of Education attorney to preserve the attorney-client privilege; to consider confidential personnel matters; and to consider confidential student matters.

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