The Asheville City Board of Education was able to conduct its February meeting on Monday, a day that saw schools closed for a fourth day during this persistent winter. Board members did miss the lunch visit to Ira B. Jones Elementary, and hope to make that up on a later date.
The 4:00 PM work session opened with a presentation from Buncombe County Health Center officials about planned budget-driven reductions in Student Health Center services as soon as the 2010-2011 school year. Their proposals met with concern from both Board members and school/district administrators, who pointed out that for some students, the health centers were their only option.
AHS junior Wilson Parker presented a case for modifying the cell phone policy at AHS and SILSA. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported the story on February 2. You can also view Parker’s PowerPoint presentation.
District CFO Donna Watson then reviewed Goal 5 from the district’s 5-year Strategic Plan.
The 6:30 PM Board meeting featured an abbreviated Good News segment, no public comment, a presentation on the nuts and bolts of Asheville City Schools’ $175,000 Dropout Prevention Grant, approval of four budget amendments, first reading of Policy Codes 1760, 2123, 3540 and 7500 (all can be accessed at the “Board” portal on this site) and the approval of Policy Code 7320, Professional Duties and Non-instructional and Extracurricular Duties of Teachers and Policy Code 7931, Professional Standards of Conduct and Performance for Teachers.
Dr. Robert McGrattan wrapped up the 1-hour meeting with the monthly personnel report, that included the formal recognition of two new “appointments”: Travis Durham, Director of Student Services and Dewayne Taylor, Director of General Facilities Management.