ELIZABETHTOWN — Proposed changes to the Bladen County school calendar ground to a halt Tuesday night during a special meeting held at the administration building.

The district, after votes by the one-member-short board deadlocked, will not request a waiver to abandon the state’s Aug. 26 starting date for students. Board member Berry Lewis, as well as attorney Gary Grady, did not attend the meeting; five principals and a handful of business leaders did.

Votes were taken for two modified traditional calendars, meaning starting dates would have been earlier in August. The first ended 4-4 with two attempts made to pass. Glenn McKoy, Gary Rhoda, Cory Singletary and Roger Carrol were for calendar A, which would have students starting Aug. 12. The votes against were Chris Clark, Alan West, Dennis Edwards and Vinston Rozier.

The second modified calendar B, with a start date of Aug. 19, failed five against and three for the calendar. Its supporters were McKoy, Carrol and Rozier.

West’s motion, seconded by McKoy, to accept the traditional calendar passed unanimously.

Goldston Womble Jr., a business owner in White Lake and the town’s mayor, made his second appearance in as many board meetings to express concerns about the impact of changing the calendar. His town board had been scheduled to meet and talk about the next year’s budget Tuesday; that meeting’s postponement was announced after the school board scheduled the calendar meeting at the same time.

“A lot of our staff are teachers,” he said.

At an earlier meeting, he questioned the board on having “already made up their minds” about the situation.

Dr. Robert Taylor, the superintendent, said there would be a loss with the child nutrition program.

“There would also be a $20,000 a day gross loss with child nutrition,” Taylor said of any days that might would have been lost.

The net loss would have been $12,000 a day; however, the board is currently gaining surplus money from the child nutrition program.

“My concern is that we are not putting enough emphasis on education,” McKoy said.

Some members of the board had expressed previously that their desire was to get end of semester testing done before the Christmas break.

Taylor also said there was a “rise in scores” for some subjects, and that he was not sure exactly which ones, in places when the days were more evenly divided in the semesters.

He also shared information on adjacent school districts, and private schools, for beginning the school year. Some are as early as Aug. 5, others aligned with the state’s 2004 law that went into effect in 2005-06.

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
White Lake Mayor Goldston Womble Jr. addressed the board and a handful of attendees who where not school staff during the special meeting Tuesday night.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_crop1-1.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
White Lake Mayor Goldston Womble Jr. addressed the board and a handful of attendees who where not school staff during the special meeting Tuesday night.

Emily M. Williams

Bladen Journal

Emily M. Williams can be reached at 910-247-9133 or ewilliams@bladenjournal.com.