RAEFORD – The Hoke County Board of Education held its final meeting of the month, where it established its new officers and took care of a budgetary item.
The board first swore in re-elected member Rosa McAllister-McRae and new member Jessie Brown, who is taking over the seat left by the outgoing Keisha Gill.
The board also re-elected Catherine Blue as board chair and McAllister-McRae as vice chair.
“Thank you for a great year,” Blue said. “Our goal for this year is to move forward and do better for Hoke County Schools.”
Following the swear-ins, the board was also presented with a few of the academic and growth awards awarded by the State Board of Education.
“We are pleased to offer our congratulations to you and your entire district for your school performance during the 2023-24 school year,” said Superintendent Kenneth Spells, reading a letter sent by the State Board of Education. “These certificates showcase the dedication to academic achievement in your school system of both students and educators.”
SandHoke Early College was recognized both for a graduation rate of 98.2% as well as the fact that they exceeded expected academic progress, Sandy Grove Elementary and Hoke County High School were recognized for exceeding academic progress and Don Steeds Elementary, JW McLaughlin Elementary, West Hoke Middle, Scurlock Elementary, J.W. Turlington, Upchurch Elementary and Sandy Grove Middle School were all recognized for meeting expected academic progress.
The board was then given an update on an upcoming need for the replacement of benches and doors within the West Hoke Middle School locker rooms.
“Over the summer of 2024, the West Hoke Middle School locker rooms underwent significant remodeling which included updates to the flooring, shower walls, toilets, paint as well as the lights,” said assistant superintendent Chad Hunt. “However, the existing doors and benches were identified as needing immediate replacement due to their deteriorated conditions.”
The plan is to replace eight benches and 12 doors in the locker room with a total price range of $47,000-$65,000, but the district is still waiting on the bids to come in.
The board was also given an update on a change to the Sandhoke Early College’s schedule.
“SandHoke has an established culture of academic excellence as recognized by NCDPI,” said SandHoke principal Leslie Neal. “We know that there are lots of great things that are happening in the building, however, our new challenge and one of our new school improvement goals is to address our graduation rate from the community college program that we have access to.”
Currently the early college has a 30-minute, Friday morning and afternoon ‘advisory’ time but according to Leslie Neal, the proposal is to move the sessions to Monday and Friday mornings instead.
“We were the recipient of a $25,000 grant through JAKAPA which is an online platform that addresses soft skills for students and staff members,” Neal said. “After polling our staff, we asked if we would like to start our week off with a goal or with a focus on some of these soft skills that are being identified through this program and the feedback we got back from our staff was that they would like to start that off on Monday with a focus for the week.”
The board also approved a lease agreement with American Capital for the financing of a Chromebook refresh.
The loan totals approximately $3.1 million and will be paid out over four years.
The Hoke County Schools Board of Education will next meet Jan. 14.
