Tara Stewart - physician cited declining cases, vaccination rates, declining hospitalizations as reasoning to make masking optional  

Julie Daniels - epidemiologist at UNC. Cites data that shows that masking data is effective. ABC Collaborative data 

Jacqui Barker - Stated that child has experienced negative symptoms with masking and would like the decision left with the parent

Crista Creedle - concern with continued masking, wants mask optional to be considered, learning to live with covid-19

Ashley Briggs - concerned with mental health effects from continued masking 

Daniel Yarborough - Would like to see more robust recycling options at the school, feels we need more bins and signage 

Melinda Keaton - registered nurse. Feels masks used at school are not effective as they are not n95 fit tested

Kameron White - would like to know what will impact the decision making

Cierra Mitchell - concerned about health effects from masking

Congratulations to Mary Shanahan who won a pair of events on her way to being named the 1A/2A Women’s Meets Most Outstanding Swimmer. Mary won the 100 Butterfly in 55.22 seconds and knocked out her other win in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 55.73. Her times also made All American Considerations. Eno River Ladies Team finished 12th in the state.  Guys finished 13th in the state.

Congratulations to Mrs. Briles and Mrs. Hughes on their Frozen, Jr. performance. It was great having parents in the building and the students did a fantastic job.

Our lottery closed on Friday the 18th. We had over 1040 applicants this year. This is the largest number of applications to date. In addition, we had almost a 100% retention rate with current students. The lottery drawing will be held on February 25th. 

We held our annual investor call which is a requirement of our bond. 

The ACT is scheduled for March 1st. Seniors will be completing their CPR requirements on this day as well.

We are starting a Girls on the Run club for 3rd-5th graders. Thank you to Mrs. Gallegly and Mrs. Apelgren for working on this for us. 

Future Visions continues to meet to discuss goals for next year. Diversity and Inclusion is working with Dr. Sheldon Lanier on D&I goals to bring to the board.

We are continuing to operate in a surplus for this year. Every employee received a bonus as determined by NC legislation. 

Thank you to all families for completing the survey. 

The board discussed the results and comments submitted by families.

It was nice to see that the overwhelming majority of families are happy with ERA. 

Communication improvement is something to work on, teacher retention, what can we do to make this a great place to work, boost teacher morale, etc.

Board communication - working on getting board meeting information to be more accessible 

Administration is already addressing some of the items that were found within the comments.

School mask survey results: 48% of families and staff would prefer mandatory masks and 52% of families and staff would prefer optional masking. 

The board discussed the survey results and updated toolkit guidelines for covid exposures and quarantine guidelines.

Our requirement to vote monthly on masking in schools would remain until it is changed in state legislation.

Out of closed session at 8:24

Next board meeting 5:30 3/29 location TBD, in person with hybrid option