School Board Meeting Summary - February 9, 2026

A Photo of Hardin Parks Hester Claire Linville receiving her NCCAT 2026 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Beginning Teacher of the Year Finalist Award. This recognition is an extreme honor, and Ms. Linville will continue to interview for the opportunity to be named the NCCAT 2026 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Beginning Teacher of the Year. This award was presented by NCCAT Deputy Executive Director Karen Sumner, Terry Worrell, NCCAT Board of Trustees member. Ms. Linville is also surrounded by Hardin Parks principal Travis Gillespie and Dr. Alexander Watauga Counties Superintendent. Photo Creds: The Watauga Democrat

Roz Rabinowitz, Junior Editor of The Powderhorn and Student School Board Representative

The monthly school board meeting was Monday, February 9. These meetings often cover accomplishments of students and staff throughout the County, and the Board passes policies that directly affect the Watauga County school system. After the normal opening session, call to order, and moment of silence, the meeting began with Dr. Leslie Alexander presenting her Superintendent's report.

In this month's report Dr. Leslie Alexander addressed the weather we have experienced the past two weeks and how this affected school. She also thanked all of the students, teachers, and staff for holding on during this rough time.  Dr. Alexander reminded those present that Watauga County experienced so much snow one year that 30 days of school were missed, helicopters had to bring in supplies, and students did their lessons through the radio. While remote days may be difficult, radio school was a whole different story. Dr. Childers and many other community members who attended the meeting mentioned remembering this time bringing together the community, and reminding everyone how snow days are certainly nothing new to this county. 

Dr. Alexander also made a special shoutout to Dr. Wayne Eberle who is retiring. She thanked him for all of his work in the county, work that goes from being a bus driver and afterschool teacher to being the director. 

A couple other special things about this month were recognized before Dr. Alexander ended her report such as it being Black History month, Love the Bus month, and Career and Technical Development month. 

As the Student Board of Education Representative alongside senior Athena Elliot, we are responsible for presenting a student report. For the student report this month, we covered our work with the Watauga's administration and band students to get the classes that work best for them, our student publication and yearbook, 8th grade tours, and sports delays and rescheduling due to winter weather. We also presented our new Instagram account that will have Board meeting recaps, general important information for students, and opportunities to contact and connect with us on any issues students see as prevalent.

For the special recognition section of the meeting Hester Claire Linville was recognized for being a NCCAT 2026 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Beginning Teacher of the Year Finalist. Ms. Linville began her first year of teaching at Hardin Park and will go on to interview further for the NCCAT 2026 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. The special recognition section of the meeting continued by recognizing teachers around the county for receiving the “Bright Ideas” Grant. 

The recipients of this grant include:

Haylee Bare (Watauga High School): $1,000 for “Watauga Orchard and Gardens”

Jennifer Brown (Blowing Rock): $500 for “Soft Starts Are the Right Start!”

Susan Irving (Watauga High School): $1,000 for “Sewing Skills for Sustainability and Service”

Emma Kate Jones (Valle Crucis): $245 for “Middle School Makers Cart”

Jennifer Lambert (Cove Creek): $580 for “Lego Bricks for Fractions”

Allyson McFalls (Blowing Rock): $357 for “The Heat is ON!: Using Solar Ovens to Explore Inquiry-Based Principles of Thermodynamics"

Alexandra Miller (Hardin Park): $850 for “Little Learners Toolkits”

Laurie Nelson-Gill (Blowing Rock): $1,139 for “Following the Science of Reading: Getting Decodable Books Into Students’ Homes”

While usually the Public Comment section of the meeting is brushed by due to no one signing up at this months meeting, Mr. Coleman, a dad with 4 children in the school system, signed up. The general guidelines for public comment include being able to speak for three minutes, being courteous, addressing the entire board and not a specific member, and also not bringing up a specific situation with a student or staff member. Mr. Coleman acknowledged these rules and followed them when presenting. Mr. Coleman was concerned about the amount of school days that had been missed due to snow and was wondering if he could do anything to facilitate getting students to school easier. He suggested solutions such as putting chains on buses, doing community bus stops, and having 4 wheel drive buses. 

While the Board does not normally address the speaker after public comment Dr. Childers mentioned the FAQ document on Watauga's Website specific to snow days, and Dr. Alexander followed up with Mr. Coleman after. 

After Public Comment the Board moved into the Consent Agenda, which was moved by  Charlotte Mizelle Lloyd and seconded by Alison Idol. With a quick passing of the consent agenda the Board moved into a presentation by Ms. Tara Brossa and Mr. Joe Furman about a new program called RISE.

RISE stands for Regional Initiative for Skilled Employment and has recently been launched by Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. This program works to partner with Watauga and Caldwell County to provide students with work based and experiential learning opportunities. This initiative is working to eliminate barriers that prevent high school students and adult learners from attaining workforce credentials and postsecondary education. It does so by providing students with a job in the field they are interested in while they are actively working towards their credentials for that field. This program also targets students who want to go into healthcare, hospitality, trades, education, manufacturing, banking, and criminal justice. Over the past couple of months RISE has had as many as 60 students apply and 30+ businesses engaged. In Watauga County, 11 students have taken advantage of the opportunity and started their own journey with RISE. 

Moving into the policy section of the night a new face stood before the board to present the policies, this was Dr. Tierra Stark. With Dr. Eberle retiring Dr. Stark has taken over the most tedious and interesting part of every board meeting. The batch of policies up for a second read was the fall batch. When policies go up for second reading, the Board is required to take action on them. All of these policies were passed quickly and altogether. These policies included:

3400: Evaluation of Student Progress

3460: Graduation Requirements

3101: Dual Enrollment

4050: Children of Military Families

4120: Domicile or Residence Requirements

4240/7312: Child Abuse and Related Threats to Child Safety

5150/7313: Reporting to External Agencies

4010: Student and Parent Grievance Procedure

7210: Grievance Procedure for Employees

1325/7215: Confidential Information

There were only two small phrasing and grammar changes to these policies. The next batch of policies were also substantive for first reading. These policies included:

3220: Technology in the Educational Program

3225/4312/7320: Technology Responsible Use

3226/4205: Internet Safety

3227/7322: Web Page Development

4270/6145: Concussion and Head Injury

6310: Organization of Student Transportation Services

7910: Retirement

All of these policies had language and legal changes to them, with very little new information. 

Moving into Board operations, the Board is considering moving the winter board meetings a bit earlier so that people in attendance can get home safe, and so that the people at Central Office who drive roads early and make snow day calls can get a little bit more rest. 

After these operations, and Board comments the February school board meeting was adjourned.