By Miles Layton
COLUMBIA — The Tyrrell County Board of Education opened Tuesday night’s meeting by recognizing students, educators and staff members whose work stood out across academics, career and technical education, nutrition services and school operations, while also hearing public comment from a parent concerned about instructional changes at the elementary level.
Before the recognition portion of the meeting began, Megan DeGraff addressed the board during public comment, speaking on behalf of her sixth-grade son and other students affected by recent instructional shifts.
“I’m here to speak on behalf of my son in the sixth grade,” DeGraff said. “As a parent and a community member, I am very concerned about the constant changes that the students at the elementary school are having to go through, especially the sixth grade.”
DeGraff said she entered the school year concerned about the potential closure of the middle school but was reassured that her son would continue to receive teaching support.
“Going into this year, I was very concerned about middle school shutting down, but were relieved to find out that he would still have two of the very best teachers of math and ELA,” she said.
She explained that her son had previously struggled in math but had made notable progress this year with additional instructional support.
“In the last few years, my son has struggled with math, but this year has been, with the help of three high school math teachers, he has excelled and has begun to enjoy math,” DeGraff said.
DeGraff said she was alarmed to learn that the instructional model would change midway through the school year.
“So, to find out that these teachers will no longer be working with him and the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students will be getting different teachers for the second half of the year and going back to a self-contained classroom is very concerning,” she said.
“All of these changes are not good for my son and/or other students,” she added.
Referring to a letter sent home to parents, DeGraff said she wanted more transparency regarding the decision.
“I saw the bulleted list on the letter that was sent home and all of the reasons why this is the best decision, but I would love to see the research and data to support that this is what is best for our kids,” she said.
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Following public comment, the board moved into a series of presentations recognizing student achievement and staff contributions across the district.
Kristy Christenberry, the district’s chief financial officer and director of career and technical education, technology and auxiliary services, led many of the recognitions.
Christenberry first introduced recognition for the district’s summer nutrition program, calling forward Director of Child Nutrition Myra Shoffner and her staff for their work feeding students during the summer months.
“I want to have my three ladies that really played a major part in this,” Shoffner said. “But we ended up feeding over a thousand, sending out over a thousand meals from July to August.”
Christenberry then recognized the December Career and Technical Education Student of the Month, Marcus Holloway, prompting applause from the audience.
“Congratulations,” Christenberry said.
She shared remarks from Holloway’s instructor, who was unable to attend the meeting.
“He is getting better and better at helping others in the class,” Christenberry read. “He has stepped up and is assisting Mr. (David) Spruill with the teaching of the course and the other students in the class, and is always extremely respectful.”
Holloway briefly described his favorite part of the Adobe Academy program.
“My favorite part was a dance to the beat assignment where you had to listen to each snap of the beat and you had to change the clip, change the sound, and that was pretty fun to do,” Holloway said.
Christenberry thanked Holloway following his remarks.
“Okay, very good. Thank you,” she said.
Christenberry then invited health science teacher Ruth Spencer to assist with recognizing another student.
“At this time, I’m going to call my health science teacher, Ms. Ruth Spencer, up to help with this presentation,” Christenberry said. “She has the November Student of the Month, so I’m going to let her just tell you a little bit about that one.”
Christenberry read a description of the student’s academic performance before announcing the recipient.
“This young lady has taken both Health Science 1 and 2, where she consistently performed at the highest academic level, showed a high level of motivation and was always willing to assist her peers,” Christenberry said. “She has a natural desire to learn and understand health science.”
“Her future goals are to take medical assisting next year and go into the medical field after graduation,” she added.
Christenberry announced Johanna Perez as the November CTE Student of the Month.
The presentation then recognized students participating in a new medical assisting program, which Christenberry said was being piloted by a limited number of districts statewide.
“So when I approached Ms. Spencer about this, she was elated because that is her background,” Christenberry said. “She was very excited, and I’m so excited that the state offered this opportunity to us.”
“And we are one of probably only 10 districts in the entire state that have piloted this as the first year this year,” she said. “We’re so excited.”
Christenberry said six students enrolled in the course, with three successfully completing certification exams.
“We had six students take the course, and I will have to say we’re going to recognize three of those tonight,” she said. “The other three are going to retest, and they were this close.”
She emphasized the rigor of the exam.
“And the test is hard,” Christenberry said, laughing. “Ask Ms. Spencer, it’s hard.”
Spencer addressed the board and audience, reflecting on the challenges of launching a new program.
“This was the first semester that we offered medical assisting,” Spencer said. “I was super happy when she came to me because I am a medical assistant.”
“I had six young ladies who signed up and were brave enough to start with a new program,” she said. “We overcame a lot of obstacles. When you have a new curriculum, there’s a lot that can go wrong, and we had to fix things, add things, and take things away.”
Spencer said she was proud of the students’ perseverance.
“I saw these young ladies overcome a lot of obstacles, and I’m so proud of them all,” she said.
She noted that three students passed the certification exam, while the remaining three narrowly missed passing.
“We had three that passed, but the other three were like two points off,” Spencer said. “So we’re hoping they will be able to retake.”
Spencer described the exam’s difficulty before the pinning ceremony began.
“There’s 180 questions on this test and you’ve got three hours to do it,” she said.
Christenberry called each student forward, beginning with Asia Bailey.
“I want you all to know that these ladies have been out and worked,” Christenberry said. “They’ve helped out at Terrell Hall. They have their beautiful tags on that tell them that they came from Columbia High School and that they were a certified medical assistant.”
Layla Horton was recognized next, prompting lighthearted comments.
“I nicknamed her Miss Apprehensive because when I asked her after she took the test, I said, ‘Did you pass?’ and she said, ‘I don’t want to look,’” Christenberry said.
“And I made her look,” she added.
Christenberry then announced Haley Reynolds.
“And this young lady right here scored the highest,” Christenberry said. “Haley Reynolds.”
“She was a little apprehensive too,” she added. “That day of the exam was tough.”
The board also recognized staff members for professional achievements.
“I am honored to inform you that Ms. Mayo has successfully completed the NC ASBO School Business Management Academy Director Certification,” Christenberry said.
She explained that the certification required completion of 31 courses.
“The curriculum consists of courses in accounting, financial management, law, including legal responsibilities, and business officer operations,” she said.
Christenberry also recognized Charlotte Johnson and Hallie Brooks for their work with the district’s NC Pre-K program.
“We have two ladies tonight that have worked very hard to make sure that we stayed in compliance and everything that we needed to do for our NC pre-K program,” she said.
“They got an outstanding review from the state, and we couldn’t be prouder of them,” she added.
Board Chair Joni Liverman closed the recognition portion by emphasizing the importance of celebrating student success.
“Tonight, especially our students—that’s what we’re here for,” Liverman said. “I commend all of our students that have gotten awarded, especially for doing something that’s brand new.”
“That’s hard, and that’s amazing, and you should pat yourselves on the back,” she said.
Liverman encouraged families to share positive news about the school system.
“I want you to tout your student and tout the school system that your student is at,” she said. “There are a lot of great things happening in Tyrrell County Schools.”
Christenberry concluded by thanking award recipients and inviting attendees to stay for a later presentation.
“So everybody that was awarded, congratulations. We appreciate you,” she said. “Thank you so much for coming.”
Worth noting, the Board was also recognized for its excellence — certificates were presented to BOE members Liverman, Karen Clough, Robin Dunbar, Mike Cole and William Sawyer.
More Tyrrell BOE news about the architectural/design presentations for the new school will appear in a future story.