All BOE members were present.

The Examples of Excellence fell to CJSHS Principal Zena Madison, who presented a calendar of events for January and February:

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Principal Madison then introduced CJSHS English/Language Arts Teacher Nicholas Canaday who gave a presentation on what teachers at CJSHS have been working on during their early-release Mondays, namely "mapping where we are", identifying gaps, developing course outlines and pacing guides", with a goal of increasing student achievement. (There was much more, but you get the idea.) Initial focus is on Language Arts and Mathematics, but eventually, a comprehensive curriculum will be developed for all subject, aligned with state standards (the Common Core State Standards.) Mr. Canaday emphasized the importance of the release-time Mondays which provide an opportunity for collaboration among faculty members.

I might add:

• Mr. Canaday indicated that he had been working with fellow CJSHS Teacher Carrie Bridges.

• Mr. Canaday can certainly "talk the talk" of today's education reform. If I had not known better, I would have thought he was an "outside consultant", an expert brought to Cairo to lead the lost sheep to the promised land. In short, I was very impressed.

All items under #4 were approved without discussion (except that Superintendent Andrea Evers indicated that the District had received the first of three installments of Alexander County property taxes.)

Under Report of Superintendent/Informational:

• Long discussion of "Student Cell Phone Use" - Students were not required to "hide" cell phones this year, the idea being to acknowledge that they were bringing them to school anyway. The expectation was that students would be "responsible and discreet". Unfortunately, despite "high expectations", students have been using cell phones throughout the building and causing distractions from learning. It seemed to be the consensus of the BOE that steps needed to be taken immediately (as in the return to school in January) to eliminate the problem. A letter is supposed to be drafted to parents (and signed and returned to school) that if a student is caught using a cell phone in class, it will be confiscated from the student, turned into the office, and returned to the student at the end of the day. Upon the second offense (and subsequent offenses), the phone will be confiscated, turned into the office, and the parent will be required to pick up the phone. Stay tuned. (I might add that this discussion focused on CJSHS.)

• As for "Regional ISAT Information" - It's ugly. Cairo, Egyptian, and Meridian ranked near the bottom of the 22 school district in the region in all categories. Egyptian did meet the state average of 52 in Reading Grade 11. Cairo's best showing was Math Grade 8, a 41 compared to a state average of 59.

• Enrollment Figures - Cairo's total student enrollment is 539. A chart was provided that gave an itemization. (See below.) The good news...Superintendent Evers indicated that Cairo has actually added a few students during the past two years, whereas all other district in the area have lost student population.

• Staff Perfect Attendance for November - Cairo Elementary had 12, CJSHS had 11.

The BOE voted to enter closed session at 6:55 p.m. The BOE voted to exit closed session at 7:23 p.m.

All items under "Requiring Action/Decisions By Board of Education" were approved without discussion. (The new date for the Community Forum is January 23rd at 6 p.m. The January 27th IASB Tag Training will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Just prior to adjournment, De De O'Shea asked to be recognized...

...to announce that the Junior High and High School Beta Clubs had sold 300 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The point being that they were trying hard to raise money for their respective conventions. (Folks, that's a lot of doughnuts for a town as small and poor as Cairo!)

The BOE voted to adjourn at 7:39 p.m.