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Votes at a glance: Craven County Board approves appointment, donation, bonuses, calendars and several procedural items
Summary
At the work session the board recorded votes on an appointment, an equipment donation, a tiered teacher bonus, calendar changes, a summer remediation plan and other procedural items; several votes were unanimous and the board tabled a public-input policy revision to refine language.
The Craven County Board of Education recorded a set of formal actions during its work session. Below is a concise summary of motions and outcomes taken during the meeting.
Votes at a glance
- Appointment: O. B. "Lee" Kirkman Jr. to District 2 — approved (roll call unanimous). Motion moved and seconded; roll call recorded seven "yes" votes.
- Donation acceptance: West Craven Eagle Club donation of a John Deere Gator TX Turf and a John Deere 2000 1200A Bunker and Field Rake (total donor cost $33,378.89) — approved (roll call unanimous). The board accepted the gift; the donor pays the full purchase amount and the equipment will be delivered following approval.
- Declaration of surplus property: Forfeited 2014 Dodge Challenger — approved (roll call unanimous). Board authorized disposal via public auction (give.gov) with proceeds to transportation.
- Tiered teacher bonus (state allotment): Board approved Option 2, a tiered one-time supplemental bonus for eligible teachers and instructional support staff; example amounts presented were about $18.80 to $19.40 per eligible employee in the tiering scheme — approved (roll call unanimous). Several trustees noted the bonus must follow state rules and cannot be used to supplant local supplements.
- School calendar amendments (2024-25 & 2025-26 early college): Board amended the 2024-25 calendars to designate Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 as a "no day" and add optional workdays for staff at the end of the calendar; the board also approved an optional workday on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 for early college students to align with Craven Community College — both amendments approved (roll call unanimous).
- EOG/EOC summer remediation and "try again" testing plan: Board approved a district plan to offer remediation and a post-assessment "try again" opportunity after the last day of instruction for eligible students (not a state retest program) — approved (roll call unanimous). The plan includes windowed work days and limited student hours for remediation and testing.
- Out-of-county field trips: New Bern High School and Havelock High School FFA trips to the North Carolina FFA Center in Elizabethtown (June; fundraising completed; safety plans on file) — approved (roll call unanimous).
- Policy actions: - Remote participation in board meetings (Policy 2302): Adopted on first reading as presented. Legal counsel advised that under current North Carolina law remote participants may take part in discussion but should not be counted toward quorum or vote except under a state-declared emergency; the board adopted the policy language on first reading and will monitor forthcoming state guidance. - Tuition for out-of-county students (Policy 41.35): Approved as presented (first reading). The policy directs collection of the local portion of funding from out-of-county students except for qualifying employee waivers and other limited exceptions. - Public-input policy: Board voted to table policy language revisions to allow staff to return with clearer draft language; no final change adopted at the work session.
- Human resources report: Approved as presented.
How votes were recorded: Most of the formal votes during the work session were taken by roll call, with the clerk reading board member names into the public record and recording individual "yes" votes. Several items were unanimous. Where a motion mattered for budgeting (for example the bonus), trustees discussed the state allotment rules that govern one-time payments.
Ending: Trustees approved the items above during the work session and directed staff to develop additional procurement and budget details for items requiring follow up. Several long-form presentations also generated requests for further analysis rather than immediate votes.
