The Union County Board of Education agreed to purchase a Visitor Management System as a component of the Raptor System that is already in place. Josh Williams, Supervisor of Safety, explained to school board members that the Raptor System manages and tracks the data for all fire drills, disaster drills and all real-life emergencies that may require a lockdown or evacuation.
It also links emergency responders to whatever situation may be occurring. During a drill or real emergency, the system allows teachers and office personnel to track students from their phones as well as on their computers since it is compatible with Skyward, the Student Data Management System.
The Visitor Management System will have parents or any visitor to the school sign in with their phones. The system will then check to verify that the person is not on the sex offender registry and is approved to check out a student during the school day. The system also works to reunify students and parents in an emergency.
“Time in an emergency is extremely important, and this system allows school personnel to retrieve information in seconds and get emergency personnel on the scene within minutes,” stated Williams.
Roofs and HVAC units continue to be issues for school maintenance. The “new” high school is now 25 years old. Mike Johnson, maintenance supervisor, informed the school board that units in the vocational wing, the second floor classrooms and UCHS guidance/office area had failed.
He noted that these units have received numerous repairs and need to be replaced. Johnson recommended that the units in CTE and the second floor receive a priority since those affected students and the largest number of personnel.
In addition, the next step to replace the UCHS roof needed approval. The roof is being replaced in phases to make the job cost effective. The school board agreed with the recommendations and approved for Johnson to work with central finance to fix the HVAC and complete the next phase of the UCHS roof project.
Policy revisions on 6.300 Code of Conduct, 6.315 Detention, 6.317 Student Disciplinary Hearing Authority, and 6.319 Alternative Education were recommended by Roxanne Patterson, Supervisor of Student Services. All were approved except for detention.
Rebecca Lock, 7th District board member, disagreed with the maximum time of three hours added to the regular school for detention. Lock commented that three more hours, even if the time included tutoring, would cause some students to have a school day that was more than 10 hours. She also noted that parents’ rights should be considered in the scheduling of the day and allow for some flexibility regarding parents work hours or obligations.
UC Director of Schools Greg Clay requested that she and other board members email their concerns so he could discuss them with Patterson, who was unable to attend the meeting.
Carolyn Murr, President of Union County Education Association, asked about the effect of the Third Grade Retention Law and the number of students who would need repeat third grade. Clay responded that only a handful of students across the county would repeat third grade. All of these retentions received parent agreement.
He also noted that some students would have tutoring throughout fourth grade, but most had made an acceptable grade after retaking the test at the end of summer school.
During the discussion of the policy revision on 3.600 Insurance Management and 5.302 Sick Leave, Clay commented that the system had the funds to pay a stipend toward the individual medical insurance for retired non-certified employees who had not reached Medicare age and had 30 years of service.
He also expressed concern for the number of teacher absences and stated that 64 teachers were absent over 18 days which happens to be the number of days that determines a student to be a “chronic absentee.” He explained that some of these teachers were on a medical leave but many were not. He further noted that teacher absences as well as the shortage of substitutes affect student learning. He plans to bring an absentee policy regarding sick leave to the next board meeting in August. The board approved the insurance policy revision.
The next board of education meeting is August 10 at UCHS Auditorium.