Swain County Board approves budget amendments, accepts resignations and confirms multiple hires including transportation director

The Swain County Board of Education approved final budget amendments and a series of personnel actions at a special called meeting that ran from 05:40 to 05:51. The board voted to accept four resignations and confirmed multiple new hires and extracurricular staff rosters; a late personnel addition appointed Dennis Jones as safety and transportation director with a start date to be determined.

An unidentified presenter (Speaker 4, role not specified) summarized the budget changes, saying, “The overall increase to the budget is $214,424.69.” The presenter described $200,194.93 of that increase as funding to cover guaranteed allotments such as noncontributory benefits and longevity pay. The presenter also reported a $9,679.76 allocation for paid parental-leave substitute costs and a local current-expense increase of $24,319.69, driven in part by a $16,749 increase for charter-school allocations and $10,131.59 in longevity/annual payouts.

Speaker 4 also described adjustments that balanced local funds, including a $2,077.73 reduction to timber-receipt estimates and a $26,382.84 transfer from special revenue to local current expense. The presenter said federal grant revenue reflected an overall decrease of $122,040 because some state-managed 21st Century funds are being reverted; a special-revenue increase of $1,834.23 was noted for a State History Day travel/meal grant.

On personnel, Speaker 2 recommended the board accept the resignations of Jamie, Greg, Clark and Tierra Howard; a motion and second were recorded and the board approved the resignations by show of hands. The board then approved multiple hires and role assignments, with the transcript recording motions, seconds and approvals for each item by voice or show of hands:

- Hannah Dixon — hired as a middle-school teacher beginning 08/07/2025. - Joshua Howell — hired as an activity bus driver. - Rebecca Stevenson — hired as a reading intervention teacher assistant beginning 08/07/2025. - Paula DeHart — hired as an EC teacher assistant at the high school beginning 08/07/2025. - Year-long extracurricular staff — approved (middle school AD, high school associate AD, drama director, band positions as listed). - Fall extracurricular staff — approved (middle school, JV and varsity football, volleyball, cross country, cheerleading, golf, soccer). - Winter extracurricular staff — approved (middle school, JV, varsity basketball, wrestling, indoor track, cheerleading, shooting teams). - Spring extracurricular staff — approved (middle school, JV, varsity baseball, softball, track, soccer, golf).

Speaker 2 presented a late-added personnel item and recommended, “Dennis Jones be employed as the safety and transportation director with a starting date to be determined.” The motion, second and approval were recorded by show of hands.

Board action on the budget amendments followed the personnel votes. Speaker 2 moved to approve the budget amendments as presented by Miss Treadway; after a second the board approved the amendments unanimously by show of hands. The transcript attributes the budget numbers to the presenter (Speaker 4) and records Miss Treadway as the staff member whose work produced the packet presented to the board; the transcript does not specify Miss Treadway’s official title.

The meeting record shows motions, seconds and voice/show-of-hands approvals for each action item, but it does not include a roll-call vote tally or named vote counts in the transcript. Where start dates or counts were given in the meeting, they are reported above; where the transcript did not provide a precise numeric vote tally or start date, the item is reported as “approved” or with the start date verbatim as recorded (for example, 08/07/2025 for new teachers). The board also adopted policy 43‑16 during this segment.

The board’s actions move personnel and budget items forward for implementation; Dennis Jones’s start date and any additional onboarding details were not specified in the meeting record.