OCS Board News | September 2024
News from the Board - September 3, 2024
The Onslow County Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting on September 3 at the Eastern North Carolina Regional Skills Center. Agenda items included an IT presentation on artificial intelligence; instruction updates on accountability, Parent Academy, and Constitution Day; the transfer of BOE property to county government; and the final adoption of policies.
At the start of the meeting, Board member Louis Rogers asked to move item C of the content agenda, “Election of Personnel,” to the agenda for discussion. The item was added as a closed session after Board Member Comments.
Before the meeting’s business began, the Board heard a Good News Spotlight, which highlighted the accomplishments of OCS staff. There was also a public comment period with two speakers.
The first item of general business was a presentation from the OCS Instructional Technology department regarding the use of artificial intelligence.
Chief Technology Officer Jeff Pittman shared with the Board that AI has the potential to be a great tool in education, and that it is a tool that some districts have already implemented. He said that OCS has already introduced some staff-facing AI tools, including MagicSchool AI for certified staff and administrator trial licenses for Microsoft Copilot. The goal of staff-facing tools is to allow artificial intelligence to help teachers with some of their administrative and planning tasks, allowing them more time to focus on instruction and student engagement.
Student-facing solutions are currently being explored by IT and instructional staff. Pittman shared that while OCS aims to stay ahead of the technology curve, it is important that the use of new tools and guidelines are well-thought-out before implementation with students.
The current timeline for AI implementation started in Spring 2024 with the evaluation of staff solutions. Those solutions were implemented in Fall 2024. Next, student solutions will be evaluated this fall and Spring 2025, with a projected deployment in Fall 2025.
Next, instructional staff took to the podium to talk about accountability, school improvement, Parent Academy, and Constitution Day.
Director of Research and Accountability Lisa Thompson shared information about the state accountability model in anticipation of the state release of OCS testing results later in the week. She shared that the “grades” schools receive are based on testing results from the year prior, with 20 percent of the grade based on growth and 80 percent based on achievement.
Dr. Mark Bulris, Executive Director of Elementary Education, presented to the Board information regarding K-3 reading assessment data and school improvement. He said that data shows OCS is doing a great job of helping students catch up to state and national standards, even when they start the school year well below average. Regarding school improvement, Dr. Bulris shared that the district is beginning a new 2-year planning cycle. For this process, schools will conduct new needs assessments, develop new goals, and create new plans.
Next, Dr. Michael Elder, Director of College and Career Readiness, shared information about OCS Parent Academy, which provides families with access to information sessions about college planning, scheduling, IEPs, and more. He shared the program’s plans for the year, including sessions coming up soon.
Instructional Services ended their presentation with information about Constitution Day, which is coming up in mid-September. K-12 Social Studies Coordinator Allie Knox talked about the importance of teaching students about the U.S. Constitution, government, and their own civic duties. She shared examples of the types of activities students may be doing at different grade levels the week of September 17 to celebrate Constitution Day. The Board unanimously passed a resolution in recognition of Constitution Day 2024.
Next to the podium was Dr. Brendan Gartner, chief of operations, who asked the Board to approve the transfer of the property Northwoods Park Middle School sits on to the Onslow County Government. This transfer would be temporary and needs to happen in order to obtain the necessary funding for the school’s ongoing renovation and construction projects. The Board unanimously approved the transfer.
Chief Communications Officer Brent Anderson then came before the Board to ask for the final adoption of a set of policies that had recently been revisited by the Policy Committee. Policies on the list included 1310, 1760, 3420, 3460, 4270, 5071, and 6125. The Board unanimously adopted the policies.
Finally, before the conclusion of the meeting, the Board went into closed session to discuss the election of personnel, which had been moved from the consent agenda. When the Board returned to open session, they passed the personnel report in a 6-1 vote, with Board member Angie Todd casting the dissenting vote.