Johnston County
Board of Education

report from May 11 session

Board members present: Chairman Todd Sutton, Lyn Andrews, Al Byrd,
Kay Carroll, Terri Sessoms, and Mike Wooten
Absent: Ronald Johnson (caring for his hospitalized father)


PROPOSED BUDGET CONTAINS TWO MODIFICATIONS

In approving the school system's annual request for county funding, the board accepted two changes recommended by staff from what was presented at a budget session held April 29:

• $2,154,011 added to employ teacher assistants in all kindergarten through third-grade classes at low-performing schools.

• A refining of the proposed Performance Bonus plan to reward teachers and other employees at low-performing schools that improve their academic standing. Under the revision, teachers would get $1,000 if their school moved from a D or an F to a C on the state's grading system plus another $1,000 if the school "Met Growth" expectations set by the state or $2,000 if the school "Exceeds Growth." Support personnel at those schools would get bonuses half those amounts.

County Commissioners will be asked to make those bonus payments directly from the county's General Fund as needed --- not to be part of the schools' operating budget. The "maximum potential annual amount" would be $3,639,500, the schools' proposal states.

Other elements of the proposed budget's request for an additional $7,927,090 in operating funds from the county include:

• $2,993,991 to cover salary increases of 5% including additional costs of local teacher supplements and other benefits related to salaries. That's assuming the N.C. General Assembly approves raises of that magnitude for state-paid teachers that will be matched for county-paid employees.

• $1,749,634 for an additional 1% in locally paid teacher supplements, which currently range from 10.5% to 13.5% of state-based salaries. That would move local supplements to a new range of 11.5% to 14.5% based on years of experience.

• $641,000 to raise pay for school-bus drivers to a minimum of $15 an hour.

• $387,000 for operating the new Thanksgiving Elementary School opening in August.

The budget also asks the county to increase its annual appropriation for capital outlay from $800,000 this past year to $2,962,000 (this amount does not include major construction projects funded by county bond issues).

Included in that request are boiler and/or chiller replacements at Glendale-Kenly Elementary, Cleveland Elementary, and McGee’s Elementary; HVAC control upgrades at nine schools; rubber-roof replacement at Four Oaks Elementary; football bleacher refurbishing at Smithfield-Selma High, South Johnston High, and Princeton; gym-floor refinishing at North Johnston High and Cleveland Middle; tennis-court repairs at Smithfield-Selma High and Corinth Holders High; new athletic lighting at Clayton High; replacement of activity buses at several schools; property purchases at Princeton High and Facilities Services in Smithfield; technology infrastructure upgrades; classroom furniture; work vans and mowers; and asbestos removal.

Adding the $2,162,000 requested increase for capital projects to the $7,927,090 requested increase for operating expenses, the school board's budget seeks $10,089,090 more from the county in fiscal 2021-22. The county's taxpayers have provided $72,350,000 for Johnston's schools during the current fiscal year.

The State of North Carolina has allocated 261,687,361 for Johnston's public schools this fiscal year; the Federal Government $129,709,141 --- an amount greatly inflated by coronavirus-relief funding (normally, federal aid to Johnston's schools would run close to $34 million).


600 CHROMEBOOKS BOUGHT WITH FEDERAL FUNDS

The board approved the purchase of 6,000 Chromebooks using federal CARES Act II funds to cover the $2,267,400 expense. Chief of Finance Stephen Britt wrote in a memo that the purchase will fulfill the second year of a "Refresh" plan to replace devices that are "not usable or compatible with the current JCPS remote-learning environments, applications, and virtual classrooms." The purchase contract was awarded to low-bidder Trifera, "an approved vendor with the United States Educational Technology Purchasing Alliance," Mr. Britt noted.


ENERGY-MANAGEMENT ENGINEER EMPLOYED

The board approved employment of Weston Hockaday to fill a new position: Engineer of Energy Management. He will perform work previously handled under a contract with Cenergistic, an energy-management firm. School officials said Mr. Hockaday's employment will save the system "more than $700,000 annually." His salary with Johnston's schools is $93,000. A native of Benson, Mr. Hockaday holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from N.C. State University and has more than 10 years' professional experience that includes work at N.C. State as director of central engineering and most recently as interim director of energy management.


EMPLOYMENT OF STAFF ATTORNEY STILL ON HOLD

Lynn Andrews reported to fellow board members that the Legal Services Committee she chairs has decided to re-open the application period for a full-time staff attorney to be hired by Johnston County Public Schools. Initially, the deadline was last October 12, then extended to December 1. In the meantime, legal counsel is being provided to the board and staff by attorneys affiliated with Tharrington Smith of Raleigh. (The law firm's Ken Soo sat with the school board throughout Tuesday's session.)


CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AWARDED

The board approved a number of contracts for "Curriculum, Instruction, and Accountability" services --- many of them renewals, noted Nicholas King, the school system's chief academic officer. Among the contracts for federal programs for exceptional (handicapped) children is $379,453 awarded to Johnston County Industries for vocational training. In addition, the board awarded two curriculum contracts for the Summer Learning Recovery and Enrichment programs ordered by the N.C. General Assembly: $358,152 for Savvas Summer Impact print and digital materials for grades K-8 and $35,000 for the Hagerty Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Program for grades K-3.


CLAYTON HIGH, TOWN SEEK ATHLETIC UPGRADES

Clayton High's Principal Bennett Jones asked the board for a commitment of $500,000 to be matched by the same amount from the Town of Clayton to make major improvements to the school's athletic fields. High on the list of needs he cited are synthetic turf fields for football and soccer that could be used more frequently than grass fields by the school's teams and the town's recreation programs. Board members asked if the schools' contribution to the project could come from 2018 county bond funds already committed to Clayton High (that was recently done at Princeton for a similar project, it was noted). Chairman Sutton asked the board's Finance Committee and staff to explore funding options for Clayton's request.


AWARD-WINNING TEACHERS ACKNOWLEDGED

The board applauded winners of two recent awards to teachers: Brian Jones, Smithfield-Selma High's band director named Johnston County's "Teacher of the Year," and Ally Edwards, teacher of agriculture at North Johnston Middle School named "Outstanding First Year Teacher of the Year." David F. Brown, a business teacher at Smithfield-Selma High, was a runner-up for the "First Year" award.
VIEW a short video prepared by the school system about Brian Jones>