ASHEBORO – The Randolph County Schools Board of Education met Monday, April 17, with recognitions as well as budgetary matters as the central parts of the agenda.
The board started the meeting by recognizing the two students from Randolph County who were selected for the North Carolina Governor’s School.
“The North Carolina Governor’s School is a four-week summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students, integrating academic disciplines, the arts, and unique courses on each of two campuses,” said Public Information Officer Tim Moody. “The program is administered by the Public Schools of North Carolina, the State Board of Education, and the Department of Public Instruction through the Division of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education. Students are selected to attend the North Carolina Governor’s School through a competitive process after being nominated by their public school unit or non-public school.”
The program, which is open to rising seniors, with exceptions made for rising juniors in selected performing/visual arts areas, is located on two campuses, Salem College in Winston-Salem and Meredith College in Raleigh, and has a maximum of 335 students at each location. Each student is also selected for a primary course of study that they will focus on while at the school.
The two students who were selected were Noelle Swaim from Providence Grove High School for the primary course of study of Natural Science and Jaiden Collins-Russell from Trinity High School for the primary course of study of Visual Arts.
The board then went over the RCS proposed budget for the 2023-24 school year.
The proposed budget includes a request for a $1,428,000 increase – 6.39% – in local funding, making the total budgetary request $24,762,040.
Those additional costs include continuation costs totaling $711,000, salary increases for lead custodians and school treasurers totaling $173,000, funding for additional SROs totaling $114,000, and a 1.5% supplement increase for classified employees totaling $430,000.
“We’ve spent quite a bit of time this afternoon discussing this and going over it,” said Board Chair Gary Cook. “If you notice, Todd’s voice is weak. His voice was as deep as Johnny Cash earlier in the day, but he’s kind of lost his voice going over it.”
The board approved the proposed budget, and the next step is for it to be presented to the County Commission.
The final action the board took was the approval and acceptance of a grant.
“Wheatmore High School received an NRA Foundation Grant in the amount of $1,536.00,” said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Cathy Waddell. “This grant was received on March 9, 2023, and will provide funding for clay targets for the Hunter Safety team.
The Randolph County Schools Board of Education will next meet May 15.
