Elizabeth City-Pasquotank board approves package of curriculum, safety and capital contracts; EC agreements cleared subject to attorney review

The Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools Board of Education on Aug. 26 approved a slate of contracts to buy curriculum, technology and safety equipment and to move forward on several capital projects.

Dr. Parker, the district superintendent, told the board the county commissioners on Aug. 19 approved $2,600,000 in capital requests the district had submitted, on top of $2,000,000 already in the county budget, and said that combination of county support and partial grant funding would allow planned improvements to proceed. "Our county commissioners voted to approve $2,600,000 in capital request that we made, and that's in addition to the $2,000,000 that the county has already funded us in our budget package for this year," Dr. Parker said.

Staff presented specific contract figures: an I-Ready diagnostic and toolkit for one year at $155,583.31 and a five-year commitment for the dual-language immersion curriculum at $81,098.08 (the one-year option was presented as about $45,000). The district also cited a combined $250,000 quote to resurface high-school tennis courts and elementary basketball courts as part of capital outlay work approved by the county.

Candy Tilly (district staff) summarized facilities and renovation work that would be submitted to the state Department of Public Instruction for reimbursement of DPI-eligible repairs, and she described plans for the J.C. Sawyer kindergarten-wing renovation following a fire-damaged open-air design.

Board members questioned details of Exceptional Children (EC) contracts before final approval. Tilly said the EC department had reduced contracted services by approximately $150,000 compared with the prior year but that a small budget gap remained and staff planned to offset contracts with lapsed salaries or hire internal staff (for example, a speech-language pathologist) to drop a contract when possible. "They have worked to reduce those contracts by approximately $150,000," Tilly said.

Board discussion flagged missing contract addenda and one contract (Aviana Healthcare, an LPN contract) that was not yet active in the packet. A district staff member said the Aviana Healthcare contract was still being processed and that an Atlantic Progressive Rehab agreement had just been received by staff for review.

Legal counsel Mr. Lottie recommended the board approve three EC contracts (AMN Healthcare, Atlantic Progressive Rehab and Stepping Stones) subject to final approval by the board attorney; the motion passed unanimously. The board then voted to approve the remaining new-business contracts (excluding EC) and later approved the remaining EC contracts; all recorded votes on the floor were unanimous by show of hands.

The board also reviewed a weapons-detection proposal for secondary schools. Dr. Parker described the district's selection of systems that flag weapon-shaped objects (rather than standard metal detectors) and said the systems are intended to speed entry and reduce unnecessary bag checks; the district had received roughly half the school-safety grant it requested and intends to cover remaining costs with county capital funds.

The board moved into closed session after completing public business to discuss confidential personnel matters.

What happened next: the board approved the contracts shown in the meeting packet, with three EC contracts explicitly approved contingent upon board attorney sign-off; the public portion of the meeting closed before personnel matters were discussed in private session.