Roanoke Rapids Graded School District experienced another productive and enjoyable week.

In this week's “The Yellow Jacket Report,” I want to highlight some of the exciting developments happening across our district.

Board of Trustees

Our Board of Trustees are hard at work ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of our students and community. 

Last week, our four board committees met, and tonight the entire board meets to discuss these areas as well as welcome new board member Jeff Kloss. 

The Finance and Personnel Committee considered recurring items including the monthly financial reports, school funds reports, budget amendments, contracts, purchases, gifts, and donations. 

They discussed the Manning Elementary School debt payment, examined RRGSDs 2024-25 employee pay tables, and continued to delve into the salary study. The Policy Committee reviewed policies related to social media use (7335-R, 5030-R, 7335, and 7300), graduation requirements (3460), gifts and bequests (8220), collections and solicitations (5220), crowdfunding (7360/8225), and workday and overtime (7500). 

The Curriculum Committee heard updates on the 2023-24 school performance grades and school accountability and upcoming field trips. 

The Facilities and Safety Committee reviewed proposals for a new fully accessible, ADA playground at Belmont Elementary School.

There was in-depth discussion on the school traffic situation at Belmont Elementary School, Manning Elementary School, and Chaloner Middle School in both the Finance and Personnel Committee and the Facilities and Safety Committee. 

Both committees preferred that RRGSD continue with the current arrangement of RRGSD paying off-duty Roanoke Rapids Police Department officers for school traffic control (with a current rate is $45/hour) with two hours of coverage each day at each school. 

Both committees also hoped that on-duty RRPD officers could cover when off-duty officers were unavailable. 

Both committees agreed that the Cross Safe proposal for crossing guards was their second option if RRPD officers were unavailable. 

Board members shared they like the RRPDs presence because it is the safest option for our students. 

Examples from the discussion included that the RRPD officers have their police cars with the bright flashing blue lights, the authority of the police officers is widely recognized, and RRPD officers' salaries are supplemented by RRGSD paying them to do the school traffic.

During the special called board meeting last week, the board of trustees collectively discussed the proposal to split-fund the cost of crossing guards provided through Cross Safe (a third-party entity) with the Roanoke Rapids City Council. 

After a brief explanation of the situation by board Chair Dr. Michael Williams and some discussion,board member Cathy Keeter made the following motion, which was seconded by board member Steven Ellis: "Motion to approve entering into a contract with Cross Safe for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year for a total amount not to exceed $56,052, subject to final review of contract by board attorney and contingent upon agreement by the Roanoke Rapids City Council to reimburse RRGSD for 50% of the total contract cost." 

The vote was approved 5 to 1. The Roanoke Rapids City Council is expected to consider this proposal again at their next meeting, which is tonight.

Strengthening Educational Partnerships

This week, I had the privilege of joining our area superintendents for a meeting with myFutureNC and some of our economic development and community leaders at Halifax Community College, where we discussed strengthening partnerships for student success. We discussed issues that impact all of our students such as chronic absenteeism and ways that we can increase the number of young adults with degrees or

industry-recognized certifications. We plan to continue our meetings monthly and thankful for the continued support of our community.

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 Friday Night Lights

On the athletic front, congratulations to our Roanoke Rapids High School varsity football team on their thrilling Friday night victory against the previously undefeated American Leadership Academy. 

This decisive win (51-16) pushed our record to an impressive 4-0! Whether we are winning or losing, I am grateful for the coaches, trainers, first responders, and others who invest so much time and dedication into teaching not only football skills but also life lessons to our young men. Please mark your calendars for Homecoming 2024, which will be on October 11, 2024. Come out to honor our marching band alumni who will perform with our Marching Yellow jackets, cheer loudly for our football team, and also help me get out of Project Graduation’s “Jail” by donating my “Bail” money to support our seniors for their after graduation fun.

School Visits

This week, I also had the pleasure of visiting our elementary schools, where I saw firsthand the incredible learning happening in our classrooms and had the opportunity to talk with some of our students during their lunchtime. I thoroughly enjoy these lunch time visits with our sweet students. I talked with some of our kindergarten students who shared with me about losing their baby teeth and some of our first graders who were very proud of their performance on either spelling tests or math assignments.

As we move forward into the new week, I am filled with pride and gratitude for the hard work and dedication shown by our staff, students, and community partners. Whether it's through strategic discussions in our Board committees, building relationships with local leaders, celebrating athletic achievements, or nurturing our youngest learners, we are all contributing to the success of our Roanoke Rapids Graded School District.

Let’s continue working together to make this school year our best one yet. Thank you for your ongoing support, and go Yellow Jackets!