Hope School Board

The Hope School Board met on April 17th for their regular monthly meeting.   The meeting was held at Hempstead Hall as the district had presented its five-year plan to the public prior to the school board meeting.

A number of students were reconized for their activities.  These students included Marichuey Dominguez,  Ella Lafferty and Wyatt Wilcox. Parents recognized included Britney Stinson-Bostic, Oscar Ruiz, and Angela Cautene as well as several others. A partial list of staff members recognized included Shari Smith, Laurie Mathis, and Carlos Van Hook.

After the extensive recognition of members and organizations of the community such as Diamond Bank,  Farmers Bank and Trust and First Union Methodist Church the meeting moved on to other themes.

The board discussed school safety and security assessments.  Lake Hamilton has provided an outside assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the district. Also discussed was ASIRT – training students and staff what to in the case of an active shooter and active threat. One of the school board members raised the concern of whether there would be active training to shoot, which she wasn’t in favor of, and she was told there were no plans for such training.  . The topic of School Safety and ASIRT were bundled together and School Member Bubba Powers put forth a motion to accept which was seconded and carried.

Clinton Primary library carpet replacement was discussed and approved.  The board discussed the baseball field and a motion was accepted for a bid there.

A large part of the meeting was Whitney Moore’s Unitary Status update. Moore spoke through Zoom starting with the April 7th state motion to separate and end all unitary decrees and the ruling against consent decrees and the release from court supervision.   Moore stated that the county wouldn’t necessarily be in disagreement in all areas but that she takes issue with the the state being the one to decide rather than the Board of Education and District being the ones to present before the court. The Board will make their case in the court  by April 26th then the court will rule on whether the district is unitary or not.  Moore explained the the word unitary comes from the state having the history of having separate schools in the past for whites and African-Americans. With the ending of this separation and the integration of these student bodies and staff into one, the word “unitary” came into being.

Moore stated the schools already participate in school choice. When asked about what consent decrees meant she stated  all parties must agree to the terms. An issue of the decrees that had been put into place was the elimination of school tracking as African-American students were disproportionately put into a work track rather than college.

The state isn’t satisfied the district hadn’t filed their arguments yet. School Board member Viney Johnson asked if they hadn’t talked to both parties how can the state push the issue and Dr. Crossley agreed.  Further discussion ensued on how this will affect grant funding for the district and speculation on how the court will rule.   The time frame for Judge Hickey’s ruling is uncertain and the district is unsure whether they will present their case first or second.   The earliest a ruling will come is late May or early summer.

The next topic of conversation was classified salary change, which is focused on 6%of the base using 2022 rates.  Jimmy Courtney made a motion to accept and the motion was approved.

For the certified salary change, the Personnel Policies Committee  didn’t vote as the legislature has passed new laws setting these salaries.   There is a new salary schedule with the baseline year $48,000 and less increasing to $50,000 and all other salaries increasing by $2,000.   A traditional salary schedule would cost the district an additional $2,000,000 to $2,500,000 which it doesn’t have. This allows the district more flexibility. Dr. Crossley spoke on the need for consistency.

The question was asked how it relates to the surrounding districts with the response that it is pretty similar. Dr. Crossley stated that they will know more if the millage passes and will focus on retention rather than recruitment. He stated that this would allow the district to meet the letter of the law, with everyone getting a salary increase.  For the coming year,  staff with a Masters degree with 15 to 30 years experience wouldn’t earn any more but for 2024-2025  plans are for change in salary schedules.

Personnel matters closed out the meeting.