EDENTON — Been at the beach, but back now — let’s get caught up with Edenton-Chowan Schools’ news – sports, homecoming and a few words from Superintendent Tammi Ward.

John A. Holmes’ football team cruised past Gates County 49-22 last Friday, and the win moves the Aces into first place in the Albemarle Athletic Conference.

The Aces (5-1) are 2-0 in conference play. They travel to face longtime rival Bertie at 7 p.m. Friday. The Bertie Falcons are 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the AAC.

In other news, Aces’ homecoming queen is Camira Riddick, with the king being DJ Sutton — congrats!

Aces’ cross country team had a good showing at Camden High School on Wednesday. The conference meet is next week at Camp Cale. Up-and-comer runner Joseph Layton is showing potential as a long distance runner.

Aces’ soccer team kept its strong season rolling Wednesday night, defeating Gates County 6-2 in an Albemarle Athletic Conference 2A matchup. The Aces (14-2-2 overall) sit second in the conference at 5-1.

Meanwhile, the Aces’ volleyball team ran into one of the league’s top teams Tuesday night, falling 3-0 to Manteo in an Albemarle Athletic Conference 2A volleyball match.

The setback is only a small dent in a strong season for the Aces, who sit at 18-6 overall and are third in the conference at 4-4. Holmes has been tough to beat anywhere it plays, going 9-2 at home, 8-3 on the road and 1-1 on neutral courts. The Aces have also won 54 sets this season against just 18 losses, a sign of how consistently they have controlled matches.

In other news: Edenton-Chowan Schools is directing residents to an online platform called Simbli, where they can see what the Board of Education plans to discuss and what it decided, Superintendent Tammi Ward said in an interview with the Albemarle Observer.

Ward described Simbli as “a much more transparent and user friendly platform than the one we were using before.” The district’s board meeting information now lives there, she said, and the public can reach it through the web link Simbli by eBOARDS Solution.

Ward walked the Albemarle Observer through the site during the interview. It works as a gateway, she said. Links on the home page lead to the district website, a district calendar that can be sorted by school, some North Carolina education sites and the board’s meeting schedule.

Residents looking for specifics on a meeting can click the meetings tab, which lists every meeting the district has made public. The Aug. 18 Board of Education meeting was used to demonstrate the site, and Ward pointed out how minutes that have been approved are posted for anyone to read.

Agendas are posted for full board meetings and committee meetings alike. A paperclip icon beside an agenda item opens the document behind it, such as a draft policy the board is about to consider.

“We are working to make sure that we have the documents so that community members can see,” Ward said. “For example, if we’re talking about a policy, it’s nice that you can see the policy and that you can see what it is that we’re discussing.”

Ward said the goal is to let people follow the board’s work even if they cannot attend.

“Enhanced transparency so that you know what’s coming and what the results of that meeting were,” she said. “If you were not able to attend, and of course we want to encourage people to come to our board meetings so that they can be there for themselves. But I know that’s not always possible.”

Board-appointed committees and work sessions are listed on Simbli too, Ward said, so any business the board conducts should appear there.

Using the site does not require an account or a password, Ward said. When asked whether logging on is easy, she answered, “Very easy.”

Ward said she did not mean to suggest the district had fallen short before. She described Simbli as part of an effort to make information easier to find and to increase transparency. The site does not currently offer transcripts of meetings.

Residents who need help using the system can call the board clerk, LaWanda Daughtery, at the district office, Ward said.

Asked about the district’s building project, Ward said construction is finished and the district is now working through the final details.

“So construction itself is completed,” she said. “We are continuing to work through punch lists, and then we have some more landscaping issues that we are following up on.”

Ward said she spent part of the day photographing items that need attention so the punch list can be closed out. Landscaping is the biggest item left, she said, and “timing for that is important.”