Macon County School board members are grappling with ways to get more local funding for the 2023-24 budget, as discussed during its Feb. 15 board retreat.
During the morning of the day-long retreat at the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching in Cullowhee, the board talked about the current funding issues the system faces as it relates to staffing or lack thereof.
Macon County Schools Superintendent Chris Baldwin talked about how Macon County hasn’t had enough funding for teacher assistants. MCS currently provides a teacher assistant in every kindergarten and first grade class, many of them being part-time at 29.5 hours with no benefits, according to Baldwin.
Additionally, MCS is 5.5 administrators short of what’s needed and there are two assistant principals who work 10 months out of the year, Baldwin said. Another big expense is retirement, which Baldwin said used to be 8% of salaries but is now 24%.
Baldwin said MCS doesn’t qualify for low wealth or small school supplemental funding. Macon County had 4,436 students, more than the 3,300 threshold for small school supplemental funding.
After hearing a number of these types of funding issues, the board brainstormed ideas to help communicate these issues.
The board talked sitting down with the county commissioners to discuss some of the constant budget issues that they say comes from lack of local funding. Funding for schools comes from state and local allotments.
However, MCS leaders weren’t enthusiastic about such a meeting working.
“We can share this information, and they learn from it, they go out the door and go to the grocery store and someone starts telling them how bad their EC teacher is; everything that we just discussed is gone, and that’s what happens,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin noted that in 2017-18, Macon County raised property taxes under the idea of giving more funding to the schools, but said they got one payout and then saw the county’s fund balance start to go up.
Additionally, Baldwin said it’s hard to get teaching applicants. MCS Personnel Director Todd Gibbs said every time they ask Western Carolina University about filling a math teacher position, the response is that if MCS finds one, send them our way.
The all-day event included multiple presentations from department heads about how their own budgets worked. The meeting didn’t include any action votes besides to adjourn and call a 40-minute closed session in the afternoon.
New safety software coming to MCS
In an IT update, MCS Technology Director Tim Burrell told the board about the new Raptor Alert Emergency Management System, which he said MCS is in the process of implementing.
Designed for teachers, staff and administrators, the Raptor Alert system will include a panic button for active shooter lockdowns, fires and weather emergencies, student check out and visitor management, a reunification system for after emergency events that syncs with visitor management and schedules drill management.
Burrell said the Raptor Alert system will be on teachers’ phones, accessible by face ID or a four-digit code. Burrell hopes to have the software finished by the end of March and for training to take place on the teacher workdays schedule around that time.
Baldwin said the reunification system will be huge in case there’s an event that has a crime scene. Breedlove said he wants to get the information about the Raptor Alert system out to the public.
Another software system currently being developed by implementation is Apptegy. Burrell said Apptegy will be a content and communication platform that will help MCS manage websites, include a mobile app, have parent alerts and a communication system, push notifications and will monitor social media posting and social media archiving. Burrell said principals like Apptegy because everything is in one place.
There was a brief discussion about ChatGPT, an AI-based program that people can use to write papers or essays, and how teachers are concerned about students using it. Baldwin said since ChatGPT is being integrated with Bing and Microsoft’s software programs, it can’t be blocked.
Going forward, MCS will look to form a tech committee to look at those issues.
Union Academy consolidation and facilities updates
During a facilities update by Gibbs, Baldwin said his phone has been ringing since the news broke about the proposal to consolidate Union Academy into the new Franklin High School. Board members Hilary Wilkes and Deidre Breeden said the consolidation talks came out of a Jan. 30 liaison meeting, saying the idea was suggested, but not recommended. The Board of Commissioners voted during a Feb. 9 budget workshop to move forward with the FHS plans, which include applying for grant funding for school construction and consolidating Union Academy into FHS.
Breedlove said the school board wasn’t involved in those discussions between the architects and county commissioners, saying they were “on the outside looking in.”
In another facilities update, Gibbs said the projected cost for adding six classrooms to East Franklin is now $4 million, up from $3.75 million. The increased cost could mean scrapping the conversion of two rooms into a Pre-K classroom, Gibbs said, but the hope is that the MCS maintenance staff could probably handle converting the Pre-K classroom if needed. The project is scheduled to start this summer and finish by the end of 2023.
The Highlands soccer field hasn’t had a request for proposal bid yet, but one is expected to come in.
A hydrogen sulfide meter from the county didn’t pick up any reading when used at the Macon Middle School, which has dislodged vent pipes, which has caused a “rotten eggs” smell at times. MCS had installed backflow preventers after finding the source of the smell, which reduced the smell quite a bit.
A bid to replace the dilapidated track at Macon Middle School came in at $560,000 for eight lanes. Gibbs said this bid was a lot less than anticipated and should be covered by leftover MMS renovation contingency funds plus a state grant MCS previously received.
The day also included the following: a STEM/STEAM update from coordinator Jennifer Love about the various programs, an Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) funding update by Curriculum Director Josh Lynch, a School Nutrition Department update by director David Lightner, a Human Resources/Auxiliary Services update by Gibbs and an Exceptional Children’s update by Brooke Keener. A scheduled school safety and security update by the MCS safety and security coordinator Robert Holland did not take place.
More coverage from the retreat and program updates will be in the March 1 edition of The Franklin Press.