David Broyles | The News
Mount Airy City Schools Director of Child Nutrition Elke Boyd talks about Andrew Draughn’s more than 30 years of service with the nutrition program. Draughn has been named to statewide honors with the Heart of The Program award.
David Broyles | The News
Mount Airy City Schools Superintendent Dr. Gregory Little presents Mount Airy Middle School student Madison Wright with a personality profile plaque. Wright has been selected as a Star Student. Copies of the profile will be displayed in all schools in the district.
The Mount Airy Board of Education business meeting on Tuesday at B.H. Tharrington Primary School led off recognizing Child Nutrition worker Andrew Draughn for being named by the North Carolina School Nutrition Program to Heart of The Program honors.
“He (Draughn) is one employee everyone wants to work with,” Boyd told the board. “He is awesome. If any of us have a bad day, he is an inspiration who lifts our spirits.” Boyd said Draughn had been with the program for more than 30 years and stressed this is a statewide honor.
“It takes all of us for this to work,” Draughn told the board. “I couldn’t do it without you all. I shall honor you all as you have honored me when I go to receive the state award.”
Board members also were treated to winning recipes using chicken fajita meat at their dinner break. Boyd explained that the contest was staged to encourage employees to come up with new recipes for commonly purchased foods so variety could be added to school menus. The winning recipes were for chicken fajita pizza, soft shell chicken fajita tacos, chicken fajita stir fry and chicken fajita black bean salad.
Mount Airy Middle School student Madison Wright was honored for being a star student. Little explained that Star Students are nominated at their schools and represent the system’s values. Pictures with Star Student profiles will be displayed in schools in the district.
The board also recognized Dawn Edwards of Tractor Supply in Mount Airy for donating tools and accessories to Mount Airy High School. Little told the board the firm had donated thousands of dollars in support of the school. In other recognitions, the Mount Airy Middle School Improvement Team was recognized for drafting an action plan aligned with the district’s strategic goals. Members of the team present included Principal Eric Riggs, Assistant Principal Susan Bunch and Cathy Hiatt.
During the superintendent’s report, Little told the board the J.J. Jones Intermediate School Talent Show would be an event they would not want to miss and said it was an example of a program supported by the Leader in Me program in the district.
According to Jones School Assistant Librarian Dawn Wilson, the show seemed a fun way of pulling together the program’s goals such as living by principles, responsibility, teamwork and balance. The show is set for May 3 and has more than 20 acts including magic, music and dance. There also will be a book fair and a student art exhibit the night of the event. The art show will be staged inside the entrance of the school. Doors are set to open at 5:30 p.m. with the talent show starting at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments (popcorn and soda) will be available and the cost of admission is by donation only with no set amount.
Assistant Superintendent Bryan Taylor told the board specifications have been given to engineers for the next phase of a proposed track remediation program at Mount Airy High School. He explained one of the options given Joyce Engineering Inc. was to price using Geo-Tech matting or grid material to strengthen the ground under the track which has settled. Taylor said removal of the asphalt at the track could allow engineers to better see what could be done to stabilize the ground of the former landfill site. The tentative schedule, if a bid was accepted on Friday, would mean the asphalt of a new composite track surface could be installed this June.
In previous meetings, Little assured the board the project would not interfere with graduation. Taylor said the total amount budgeted for the project was $127,000, which included site preparation and excavating the track. He said similar projects in other areas had run $67,000.
The board also approved a “progressive social media policy.” A draft of the policy had been put on display by the board 30 days ago to allow time for public comment.
“We wanted to make sure we had a social media policy that didn’t just say no but gave teachers common sense guidelines to strike a balance between acceptable use as well as dos and don’ts,” commented Little. “We feel these updates provide common sense guidelines for our teachers and really let them use this powerful tool to benefit students.”
Reach David Broyles at dbroyles@civitasmedia.com or 719-1952.
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