Teachers, residents press board for meet-and-confer and charter funding details

At the public-comment portion of the Dec. 15 Edgecombe County Board of Education meeting, a Stocks Elementary teacher and a neighborhood association leader urged the board to increase staff voice and provide clearer budget transparency.

Ryan Mercedi, a PE teacher at Stocks Elementary, told the board he supports adopting a meet-and-confer process so staff would have a formal outlet for concerns and suggestions. "If we do ever meet, me convert in our schools, it will be to the betterment. So we have more of a voice," he said, citing similar efforts in Durham and Asheville.

Gloria Davis, president of the Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association and a member of Edgecombe United, asked for two items be put in writing: a status update on the North Edgecombe campus capital project and detailed figures on ECPS’s charter-school payments. During her remarks she referenced an ECPS payment of $1,800,000 for the 2024–25 school year and asked the district to provide the number of students funded under those charter payments and the corresponding share of the district budget for 2024–25 and 2025–26.

The chair closed public comment without providing the requested figures on the record; board members and staff said they would follow up. The public requests were not resolved during the meeting and the board asked that written requests and follow-ups be submitted so the information can be shared with the community.

The comments were followed by routine district business and votes; Budget Amendment 1, which includes changes to federal grant and special revenue lines, was later tabled to allow board members additional time for review.