Board Notes - Regular Meeting for March 10, 2025

View all the business items below here

Watch the March 10, 2025, meeting here

The Board posts all meeting materials to Simbli and also displays a calendar of Board and committee meetings on the OCS website. Visit the Board’s page on Simbli for agendas and minutes. Minutes are attached to each meeting, after approval by the Board at a future meeting.
 

RECOGNITIONS

School Year 2024-2025 Spelling Bee Winners

Each year, all OCS students in grades 3 through 8 have an opportunity to participate in the Spelling Bee with the potential for attending the national competition. All OCS 3rd-8th grade ELA teachers conducted classroom-level Spelling Bees in November and December, and winners advanced to school-level Bees in January. Ten school winners were invited to represent their school at the Duke Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday, February 22, 2025. 
 

Congratulations to two OCS students who finished in the top five at the Duke Regional Spelling Bee: A.L. Stanback Middle School’s Cora McKinney who took fourth place, and Rosalia Panek from Orange Middle who came in third!
 

Click here to see all the 2024-2025 Spelling Bee winners
 

OCS Disability Acceptance Week & Disability Awareness Month

Disability Acceptance Week and Disability Awareness Month provide meaningful opportunities to deepen our awareness and acceptance of people with disabilities. It’s a time to listen, learn, and embrace each person's unique abilities and perspectives. March 13 through 17 will feature “spirit week” activities to be shared with schools and families, to raise awareness and acceptance for the individual abilities of every student.

National School Social Work Week ( March 2-8)

National School Social Work Week is an annual event held during the first full calendar week of March (Sunday-Saturday), to honor and recognize the tireless efforts of school social workers, whose commitment to fostering positive school environments directly impacts students, administrators, teachers, educators, parents and the community at large. The 2025 National Theme is: "Unite to Ignite: Celebrating Our Impact."
 

March is Arts in Education Month

March is Arts in Education Month and allows schools the opportunity to celebrate the work of arts education in North Carolina. In Orange County Schools, we offer three distinct disciplines of arts education: music (instrumental and vocal), theater arts, and visual arts.  

All students participating in arts education courses benefit from the skills and processes developed through the arts and apply those skills in a variety of disciplines and settings no matter their intended career path.

Orange County Schools offers arts education classes K-12:

• K-6 - music and arts,
• 6-8 - band, chorus, and visual arts,
• 9-12 - band, chorus, visual arts, and theater arts. 

See Governor Josh Stein's Proclamation here

CONSENT AGENDA

The Board approved Consent Agenda items including meeting minutes, personnel report, contracts, operations updates, and policies referred by committee for approval by the full Board. To learn how the Board considers and adopts new and updated Board Policies, see Board Policy 2410.
 

DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

Update to Strategic Plan Priority 3

Jeffrey Koweek, Chief Human Resources Officer, provided an update on Strategic Plan Priority 3, Exemplary Staff. Following a summary report on key performance metrics from the existing plan, proposed goals were discussed with the Board to align with the work now being done to support exemplary staff in OCS.

View the presentation on Strategic Plan Priority 3

 

WORK SESSION (INFORMATION) ITEMS

Staffing Update

Jeffrey Koweek, Chief Human Resources Officer, reviewed Spring 2025 staffing updates to highlight current staffing levels and vacancies, alongside recruitment and retention efforts for all staff, particularly support for Beginning Teachers and candidates for National Board Certification. 

View the Staffing Update presentation

Ombuds Quarterly Report (Q3)

Franklin McCune, Board Specialist and Staff Ombuds, provided an update to the Board about trends in use of the Office of the Ombuds available to Orange County Schools staff. For more details:

view the Ombuds Quarterly Report presentation

Bond Update

This presentation by Fredrick Davis, Chief Operations Officer, focused on the district’s ongoing efforts to "right size" its property and facility portfolio, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently to support excellence in education and optimize operational effectiveness.

The decision on the first project under the 2024 bond is critical to ensuring that the time, scope, and budget outlined in the bond referendum are met effectively. By leveraging the insights from the Woolpert Report alongside staff input, this presentation will provide the Board with a comprehensive overview of potential project scopes. Click here for the complete agenda item.

View the Bond Update presentation