Synopsis of April 15, 2024 TC School Board Meeting

The public is encouraged to attend all School Board meetings but, if unable, coverage is available during and after, on-line at https://www.youtube.com/@tcsnc

The following represents, what I believe were the most important items discussed at the last meeting.

Removal of sexually explicit books from school libraries.

During the Covid lock-downs parents became more aware of what our children were being taught in school. The NC General Assembly passed the Parents’ Bill of Rights to help address parents’ concerns.  Recently, several TC parents have made formal requests that the school administration remove books from the library they deem sexually inappropriate; thus far these requests have been rejected. To bring this issue to the public’s attention, during the “public comment” section of the meeting, one of the speakers planned to read sexually explicit excerpts directly from a book currently available in our school libraries for students as young as 10 but was prevented from doing so by the School Board President (Kimsey Jackson). The book in question is titled Me, Earl and the Dying Girl. You can read specific excerpts on-line at: 

https://booklooks.org/data/files/Book%20Looks%20Reports/M/Me%20and%20earl%20and%20the%20dying%20girl.pdf and decide for yourself if you think this type of material should be available to our young children while at school. This will continue to be a hot topic at future School Board Meetings. If you have a strong opinion, you should contact your elected School Board members and make your feelings known.

Expanded Pre-K program.

The School Board has requested that the county-funded portion of their FY2025 budget be increased by 19% over the previous year. The proposed budget request includes an additional $589k in funding for the Pre-K program. The increased funding is intended to replace expiring federal COVID subsidies, previously used to expand the program from four classrooms to six, and a desire to further expand the program to nine classrooms. If approved, the Pre-K program would grow from approximately 1.5% to 5% of the county-funded school budget for FY25. Advocates for the additional funding request stressed the need to provide and expand what they described as “day-care services” for county residents. Pending final approval of the FY2025 budget from the County Commissioners, the School Board unanimously approved beginning enrollment for Pre-K at the pre-Covid level of four classrooms.  The ultimate size of the program will depend on the final approved school budget, which will be determined by the County Commissioners. Considering the budget challenges facing our county and schools do you think the public school system should pay for and prioritize providing day-care services? Let our School Board members know what you think.

The next School Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 6th at 6 pm at the Morris Education Center, 225 Rosenwald Lane, Brevard.