A potential increase in Pre-K tuition rates was among the topics discussed at the Macon County Board of Education retreat on March 20.
Throughout the day department heads gave presentations, including Brooke Keener, who oversees the Pre-K program.
Keener said MCS Pre-K tuition is low for the region at $500 monthly for nine months. Keener said Jackson County Schools charge $650 a month. She said even if MCS matches Jackson County’s Pre-K rates, Macon would still be the cheapest in the region for its value.
Board member Hilary Wilkes asked when MCS last raised tuition. Keener said not since before the pandemic, but this past year, instead of doing $450 monthly for 10 months, they now do $500 monthly for nine months.
“I would think with the cost of everything rising, it would not shock [people],” Wilkes said of Pre-K tuition rising.
Keener did not propose a new Pre-K rate during the retreat but told staff not to promise any 2024-25 rates at this time.
Keener said the upcoming Highlands School Pre-K expansion is exciting as it can alleviate a waiting list.
For future space needs, Keener said if K-4 class sizes continue to grow, Pre-K spaces could become limited. A proposed plan is to convert the current Bartram Academy building into a Pre-K-only space once the new Franklin High is built and Bartram moves there. Keener said the building needs several capital upgrades to comply with Pre-K state licenses.
Health and behavior issues
Macon County Public Health Department members spoke with and answered questions from the school board on the issues nurses face.
Currently, there is a full-time nurse in Highlands, funded by the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation, while the Franklin area schools have two nurses who rotate. There’s funding for six total positions, but MCS and the Macon County Public Health Department have trouble filling them. The Highlands School nurse position funding runs out in December 2024.
The school board will ask the commissioners to fund seven more nurse positions, at an estimated cost of $500,000, to put a full-time nurse in every school.
Clinical Services Administrator Jennifer Garrett said there’s an increase in mental health needs, along with an increase in kids who overdose. Along with the more serious medical events, Garrett said there are still the everyday Band-Aids and tummy aches.
“We keep butts in seats,” Garrett said of school nurses.
Superintendent Josh Lynch said when he started in the school system, the worst health issue they dealt with was asthma, but now it’s stuff like the choking game and suicide attempts.
The requirement for school nurses is a two-year degree, according to Public Health Director Kathy McGaha. Garrett said typically, nurses with four-year degrees have more critical thinking skills than ones with two-year degrees but praised the two-year-degree nurses they have.
Garrett said Franklin High has a heavy demand for nurses, and they are calling health occupations teachers a lot.
Regarding the school system’s telehealth program, Head Nurse Practitioner Julie Rogers told the board that only 120 people in the school system signed up for the program, half students and half staff. Board member Melissa Evans said Nantahala School staff and students have resisted signing up for telehealth, which Rogers agreed with. Rogers noted Highlands School, Iotla Valley and Franklin High as schools where the staff and students utilize telehealth. One possible negative of telehealth is that parents would send their sick kids to school to utilize telehealth instead of keeping them home.
During her exceptional children’s presentation, Keener spoke on the strain on staff and the turnover it creates. Along with struggling to fill those staff roles, Keener said there’s been an “unprecedented amount of very extreme behaviors” this year.
“It’s physically very taxing,” Keener said, noting staff have been concussed and injured to the point of needing surgery this year, caused by extreme student behavior.
Lynch said previously there were isolated cases of violence, but in the last couple of years, it’s more frequent across the board.
“Honestly, it scares me,” Keener said, adding that she feels it’s turning into more of running a psychiatric hospital than a school.
While trying to figure out pathways and incentives for EC staff, Keener said the school is dealing with society’s mental health issues that are bleeding in.
“We’re being asked to fulfill so many roles that are not within our scope,” Keener said.
When asked at what point a child gets taken out of a class, Keener said EC kids have rights where unless there’s serious bodily injury, drugs or weapons involved, the child is allowed back in class the next day.
This coming school year, Garrett said due to the North Carolina “Parent’s Bill of Rights,” a student’s right to see a nurse has to be approved by the parent, rather than just being automatic.
Evans brought up the idea of having a bonus for staff who would get their nurse certification to help with the workload.
MVI lockdown follow-up continues
MCS IT Director Tim Burrell talked about technology upgrades that will be made this summer, including student iPads and expanding WiFi. Burrell said during the Iotla Valley lockdown incident in January, they learned that WiFi didn’t reach the playground, and in some locations, students couldn’t hear the lockdown sound due to regular student noise.
Burrell said they’re integrating the alarm system with strobe lights, including exterior lights facing the playground. The strobe lights will be paid for out of the state security grant the system got earlier this year designed for cameras. Burrell told the board that cameras were useless during the lockdown, so it’s diverted to the strobe lights. Burrell estimated he would come up $50,000 short of fully funding these security upgrades.
This integration was to start at Cartoogechaye last week and will continue at the three schools that already have an intercom-based system. Burrell said staff will finish all systems in September at the latest and maybe by the start of school in August. Due to the upcoming Franklin High project, staff will only add strobe lights to the current buildings.
Board member Stephanie Laseter inquired about Mountain View Intermediate and Macon Middle School counselors following up with students after the January lockdown. Laseter said her son was there hiding in a classroom and since has had nightmares. Board member Diedre Breeden said there are likely kids out there not talking about this. Laseter wants kids to know it’s OK to share and to process these feelings.