By JONAH LOSSIAH
One Feather Staff
The Cherokee Central Schools (CCS) Board of Education welcomed many guests to their Thursday, Jan. 27 meeting held at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center on campus.
Amongst these guests was Chris Greene, manager of EBCI Project Management, and Travis Sneed, director of EBCI Support Services. They were present to discuss a problem with water damage and leakage that has been brought to the school’s attention.
“There have been areas that have been leaking or have had moisture in them since they built this building 12 years ago. If you talk to people, they’ll tell you where it’s at. [Hilda Queen, Director of Facilities Management] has addressed it and addressed it and addressed it and addressed it. BIE and BIA have looked at mitigating strategies,” said Superintendent Michael Murray. “Bottom line is those knuckles have leaked in areas for a long time. There have been areas in this building that should not have been having water intrusion, and we’ve reacted and done everything we could. But there’s something wrong.”
Murray said there was a recent report of water leakage in one of the kindergarten classrooms, which caused that class to be moved to a new room while the situation is assessed.
“When we started remodeling the old admin offices, we started noticing what appeared to be mold on the drywall. That wasn’t part of the original contract to remove that drywall, but when we saw mold I told them to cut out some pieces in it and see what’s behind there. When we started pulling it out, we realized there was a lot of mold back there,” said Greene.
“Once we started looking at that, it was at that point where we really started looking at hiring a third party to come to really ascertain what’s the root cause of the damage and the extent of the damage,” said Sneed.
They said that they have been in preliminary discussions with Terracon, a consulting engineering firm. Pending Board approval and negotiations, Terracon would be tasked with coming in to fully assess the damage and offer solutions. It would be a two-step process. Phase A would address all of the reported issues, while Phase B would see them sweeping the entire school for further problems.
Following about 15 minutes of conversation, the Board moved into a closed session to discuss specifics of the Terracon deal. The closed session lasted 20 minutes and afterwards the Board voted unanimously to approve the proposal pending negotiations.
The longest conversation of the meeting centered around COVID concerns and policy. January showed Cherokee reporting more cases than any other month of the pandemic, with a total of 655 positives reported in the community. Superintendent Michael Murray insisted that CCS was the safest place for kids at this time.
“It’s a different day. It’s still a COVID-19 thing, but it’s a different day. We have been following PHHS and CDC, and we’re doing everything we can to still keep our children safe. That has not changed. What has changed is it is now in the community, so you’re not going to keep it out of your school. But what you are going to do is control it. Your school is not out of control, COVID is not rampant. What you need to look at, and what I’ve brought you tonight, are the numbers on ‘where are we at’,” said Murray.
Murray and CCS Director of Community Affairs Yona Wade provided an update on the total number of cases at the school. For the High School, seven of 408 students are active positives, and there is one positive staff member. For the Middle School there are 17 active cases among 311 students, with five staff members that have tested positive. Murray said that the Elementary School is the most difficult to accurately gauge, but that the school is reporting 16 cases among 732 students and six positives amongst the staff.
“I’ve already shown you the numbers of where we were at with how well distance learning worked. How well remote learning, especially how well those packets worked. That was dismal at best. You directed me as a Board to stop that. So, the answer to everyone that’s been asking is, we’re not going backward at this point and start offering that. Because we don’t think at all that we have an out-of-control school system with COVID,” said Murray.
Before moving forward, the Board discussed amending the current COVID leave policy to allow for more flexibility for their staff members. They wished to construct the policy with their attorney and HR Director Heather Driver and said that they would be doing a virtual poll some time before the Board’s next meeting.
Superintendent Murray was happy to announce that CCS and Cherokee Boys Club will be receiving the first electric school bus in North Carolina. They are hoping to receive this bus in February, and there are multiple events planned to celebrate the achievement in March. Duke Energy is currently plotting where to put the charging station for this bus, and the company also plans to offer a donation to fund four more buses for CBC and CCS. More details will be posted as they become solidified.
Two other guests to the meeting were Ashford Smith from CBC Finance and Howard Wahnetah to offer a finance update for the school. All budgets are on pace or under projections for this time of the year, and neither Wahnetah nor Smith voiced any major concerns. Smith said that the primary reason for being underbudget was due to salary savings with the inability to hire some positions at this time.
The Board unanimously passed the consent agenda during this meeting, putting forth the following:
- Sarah Pascual approved as a full-time custodian.
- Jason McMillan approved a full-time Middle School PE Teacher Assistant.
- Myra Smith approved as a full-time High School Pathseekers Teacher Assistant
- Lendy Ayers approved as a full-time Special Education Pathseekers Teacher.
- Anne Link approved for a master’s degree level 5 pay increase.
The Thursday, Jan. 27 meeting of the CCS Board of Education was called to order at 4:45 p.m. with Chairperson Jennifer Thompson; Co-Vice Chairs Tara Reed-Cooper and Melanie Lambert; Board member Berdie Toineeta; Superintendent Michael Murray; Assistant Superintendent Beverley Payne; HR Director Heather Driver; School Board Attorney Ashley Leonard from Campbell Shatley, PLLC; and Administrative Assistant Terri Bradley all in attendance. Tribal Council Rep. T.W. Saunooke was late to the meeting and was standing in for Rep. Bo Crowe. Board member Regina Ledford Rosario and Rep. Crowe were excused absences.
The next meeting of the School Board is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 7 at 4:45 p.m. The Board has been meeting in the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center to be able to maintain social distancing. The upcoming session is set to have no closed sessions and is open to the public.
