The Board of Education of the Wilkes County Administrative Unit conducted a regular meeting in the Arnold and Becky Lakey Boardroom on Monday, February 6, 2023, at 5:30 PM at 613 Cherry Street, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina 28659.
Present for the meeting were Chairman Mr. Randall "Rudy" Holbrook, Vice-Chairman Mr. Hardin Kennedy III, and Board Members Mr. Kirk Walker, Mrs. Joan Caudill, and Mrs. Jammie Jolly. Also attending were Superintendent Mr. D. Mark Byrd, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Westley Wood, Chief Academic Officer Mrs. Callie Grubb, Chief Finance Officer Mr. Seth Prevette, Chief Technology Officer Mrs. Julie Triplett, Director of Child Nutrition Mr. Marty Johnson, Executive Director of Federal Programs and Career & Technical Education Dr. Joe Bullis, Director of Secondary Education, Athletics, and School Safety Mr. David Johnson, Director of Student Services Mrs. April Marr, Director of Testing and Accountability, Cultural Arts, 504, and Title I Dr. Dion Stocks, Director of Transportation Mr. Eric Barker, Director of Exceptional Children Mrs. Jennifer Blankenship, Director of Pre-K and Elementary Education Mr. Jeffery Johnson, EL Coordinator Mrs. Lori Holguin, Public Information Officer Mrs. Morgan Mathis, and Executive Administrative Assistant Mrs. Carolyn Triplett. Also in attendance were Mr. Keith Lyall and Dr. Jim Brooks.
Chairman Mr. Randall “Rudy” Holbrook called the meeting to order.
On a motion by Mr. Kennedy, seconded by Mrs. Caudill and duly carried, the agenda was approved as presented.
Chairman Mr. Randall "Rudy" Holbrook recognized Superintendent Mr. Mark Byrd for the Superintendent's Welcome and Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Byrd stated, "It is hard to believe that it is already February, and I mentioned last month that even though this is the shortest month of the year, people often think of it as a long month due to the weather. February is a very exciting time for schools, as we recognize Black History Month, CTE Month, National School Counselors Week, and Bus Driver Appreciation Week. We have National FFA Week at the end of the month, and you had certainly better not forget Valentine's Day! I share all of this to remind us that even though the groundhog saw his shadow last week, February should still remain a very exciting and fun time for us all."
"I do want to share a communication breakthrough that I was reminded of last week and encourage all of you to take advantage of it sometime. I had a friend reach out a few days back and ask if we could take a few minutes to talk about some things they had on their mind concerning schools. We sat down together, put our phones down, and just talked about some of the things that we needed to talk about. We didn’t text, email, use social media, or call on a cell phone to have this conversation, and the tv wasn't on when we talked. We actually paid attention to what the other person had to say. As we got ready to leave, I believe we both felt better about the topics we discussed. We spoke by phone later in the day and both of us talked about how much the earlier conversation helped us. I would encourage each of you to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with someone sometime during the month of February, especially if something is bothering you. It seems that a lot of our world has forgotten how to have the simplest form of communication and the most productive one, which is a face-to-face conversation. So, even though February is a very short month, find time for a productive conversation and I assure you it will make your entire month go even better! If we do have six more weeks of bad weather, we need to take advantage of it and make time to sit down and talk to someone!"