BY DEBBIE PAGE
Mooresville Graded School District Chief Operations Officer Scott Smith on Tuesday pleaded with drivers to stop when school buses have engaged their red lights and stop arm.
MGSD bus drivers encountered 19 stop-arm violations in the first five days of school, Smith reported during the school board meeting, and the district is reporting these violators to law enforcement. The district is also working to institute a process to levy civil penalties on violators.
Smith said the number one goal this year for buses is to be at school on time, and the district continues to tweak schedules to ensure that this goal is achieved.
He also recommended that parents download the “Here Comes the Bus” app to be alerted when their child’s bus is nearby. The district has installed new GPS systems on all buses to ensure the app works more accurately this year.
Smith also urged all parents to complete Infinite Campus registration as soon as possible, regardless of whether their students are new or have been in the system for their entire school career.
Infinite Campus is the new student information system that feeds data into all of the other programs like Parentsquare and Canvas, which are essential for parent access to things like students’ bus schedules, grades, upcoming events, important information, technology requests, and attendance records.
All these crucial services depend on updated and correct information in Infinite Campus for every student.
Even though Infinite Campus registration prompts parents to download the app, this is not necessary. Parentsquare and Campus are parents’ sources to all information about their students and system activities.
Smith noted several other safety measures in place. The system contracted to hire traffic control personnel for Selma Burke Middle School on Highway 115 until the traffic light is installed. Mooresville High School’s Blue Devil Boulevard and Parkview also has traffic control personnel on duty to ensure student and traffic safety.
He noted that all safety lockdown drills at schools have been completed. One lockdown drill will be completed each quarter throughout the year. The system has also instituted the Rave app to quickly notify staff of any emergency situation.
All district schools also have a Mooresville Police Department school resource officer.
Additionally, MGSD has used safety funds to purchase walkie-talkies and repeaters for each school. These devices can help staff communicate within the school as well as between schools and with Central Office.
Smith also reminded parents to fill out free and reduced lunch forms to see if the children qualify for this program.
STUDENT WELLNESS INTERVENTION PROPOSAL
Chief Student Services Officer Sandy Albert reported that the district has created a student wellness intervention program and presented it to Iredell County commissioners, asking for it to be funded through the county’s opioid settlement funds.
This program will support at-risk secondary students students with substance use disorders, challenging mental health issues, and attendance problems.
Albert said the funds would add an additional social worker as well as a clinical licensed student wellness interventionist. The county commissioners were supportive of the plan, and the district is working with partners to establish next steps for this proposed three-year program.
The commissioners have not given final approval but did support further developing the plan, which will hopefully move forward quickly, Albert added.
OTHER UPDATES
♦ Chief Human Resources Officer April Kuhn reported that the district is staffed in most classrooms, except for a few open EC, science, and automotive positions.
♦ Director of Communications Tanae McLean presented some statistics compiled by lead nurse Ashley Clinard about nursing services in the district. Clinard reported that 23,751 student visits during the 2024-2025 school year, with 92.7 percent returning to class after their visit to preserve crucial instructional time. This number is an improvement over last year’s 90.3% return-to-class statistic and well above the 89% rate in North Carolina. Nurses also help treat 146 students with chronic illness and dispense medicine to 94 students at least once per day. They also manage emergency medications for 230 students in the district.
♦ McLean invited parents and students to the district’s Picnic in the Park event on Thursday, August 28, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Liberty Park.
♦ Superintendent Jason Gardner congratulated John Howard (Selma Burke Middle) as Teacher of the Year, Chris Eyer (Mooresville High) as Beginning Teacher of the Year, Katie Calloway (Mooresville Intermediate) as Assistant Principal of the Year, and Cheryl Dortch (South Elementary) as Principal of the Year.
PARENT GROUP AND STUDENT TUTORING OPPORTUNITIES
During public comment, Gary Smith, a South Elementary parent, invited parents with students in the district’s K-5 dual immersion programs to join the DLI Familia parent group. Last year the group provided 200 Spanish language supplemental reading books to classroom teachers in dual language classrooms.
The group will have a Spirit Night on Monday, August 18, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Pelicans on Main Street If parents would like to get involved. They can join the Facebook group for more information.
Mooresville Middle student Imani Jones praised the “We Ready” tutoring program, which has helped her since 2019. She said “We Ready” helped her work independently and effectively and that she enjoyed the twice yearly field trips.
Imani was also introduced to dance, sports, and many other activities through the program. She was proud to get the “most improved” recognition recently.
Courtney Stee spoke about the Justice League of Mooresville, a collaborative of three community-based groups, Know Your Self-Worth, the Gators football organization, and Teen Pressure. The group tries the bridge the gap between self-confidence and athletics, life skills, and education, the powerful tool that can help children grow up to change the world.
The group’s “We Excel” leadership academy is a mentoring, reading, and tutoring program powered by community leaders ready to act to help the youth of Mooresville through teaching them respect, integrity, self-control, and good citizenship, said Stee.
SUMMER PROGRAMS REPORT
Director of Secondary Education Jemma Conley and Director of Secondary Education Tracey Waid presented a report on the district’s summer programs.
Y-Readers
Conley said Y-Readers serves at-risk kindergarten and first-grade students in reading through a partnership with the Lowe’s YMCA. The six-week camp with off-site field trips featured morning academics and afternoon enrichment.
Thirty-one kindergarten and 36 first-grade students attended. The students were assessed with the STAR assessment at the beginning of camp, but end of camp data has not yet been shared with the district.
The students read 772 books read at the site and were challenged to read at least 30 books with their family over the summer as well.
Read to Achieve
The Read to Achieve program is a state funded program that prioritizes students in grades 2 and 3 that demonstrate reading difficulty. The 120 students (second grade – 53, third grade – 67) received 72 hours of literacy instruction in the five-week program that featured morning academics and afternoon enrichment and research.
Conley said the second-grade students were assessed in DIBELS, a series of short tests designed to evaluate key literacy skills, at the end of camp, with overall average composite growth reaching 3 points. All subtests had positive growth of 2-5 points, with the NWF (Nonsense Word Fluency) and CLS (Correct Letter Sounds) areas having the most growth.
Third-grade students who had not received a Good Cause Exemption were given the opportunity to achieve an alternate pathway of reading proficiency. One student met proficiency through DIBELS (Lexile 725) and one student met proficiency through the NC Read to Achieve Assessment.
MHS Summer School
Waid reported that students who did not receive course credit at the end of the school year took seven half-day classes for credit recovery or new courses online for credit. NF Woods/ MIWAYE hosted its own five-week summer school. Both programs featured small groups under certified teacher guidance.
At MHS, 116 attended and recovered 113 credits, with 38 completing attendance recovery.
At Woods, 95 students attended and recovered 190 credits, with 86 earning new credits. 30 completed attendance recovery. Eleven students graduated after completing their credits.
CTE Camps
The district also offered Career and Technical Education (CTE) Career Camps with hands-on skills and project-based learning in STEM for rising 6th through 9th Graders. The focus was on building CTE awareness and boosting future enrollment for these course options in fifth through eighth grades.
Rising 9th-12th graders in CTE camps paid visits to local businesses and industries in their program.
Waid noted the two one-week camps were locally funded since no state funds were provided as in previous years.
Students rotated through hands-on activities, including hearing guest speakers, building bird Houses, creating sensory bottles, learning Sphero Bolt Coding and building with Legos, creating circuit boards and learning brazing skills, making calzones and cookies, using remote control cars, and playing business games.
Forty-eight students attended session one and 33 session two, averaging a 98 percent attendance rate.
Jumpstart Orientations
Waid said that students at key transition years got to know their new school through Jumpstart orientation programs, offered for rising sixth-graders (led by student WEB Leaders) and rising ninth- graders (led by student Link Leaders) over the summer. NF Woods also had an orientation for new students.
Those participating went on tours, picked up schedules, had lunch, and participated in team-building activities. Districtwide, approximately 70-80% of students attended an orientation, believed to be the highest ever participation.
CONSOLIDATED DEDERAL PROGRAMS PLAN
The board unanimously passed the proposed the 2025-2026 Consolidated Federal Programs Plan, presented by Waid and Conley, which will help address the needs of all students through the use of supplemental federal funds, including
● Title I: support for students from low-income households
● Title II: support the learning needs of all students through effective instruction
● Title III: support for multilingual learners of English
● Title IV: support for all students to be safe and healthy, and well-rounded.
Conley said MGSD will continue to focus its $ 767,371.48 in Title I program monies ($670,017, plus some funds held over from last year) at the K-5 grade levels.
The K-2 per pupil allotment is $797.03 per low-income child, with the 3-5 at $600.31 per low-income child. Forty-seven percent of MGSD students (2251) qualify for these funds.
School allotments include:
♦ South Elementary School – $ 195,446.52 for 241 students;
♦ Park View Elementary School – $ 193,850.07 for 239 students:
♦ East Mooresville Intermediate School – $ 201,464.59 for 330 students;
♦ Mooresville Intermediate School – $ 190,058.71 for 311 students.
Total allotments to schools could be used for salaries, benefits, instructional materials, parent and take-home materials, encouraging parent involvement, staff development, and indirect costs.
Conley said that targeting efforts and providing support to primary students is a crucial strategy to close academic achievement gaps early. Early intervention and targeted assistance can have a significant impact on a student’s educational trajectory and long-term success.
In 2025-2026, all four MGSD Title I schools will continue to operate under the Title I School-wide model that provides all layers of support (core, remedial, supplemental and/or intensive) to those students identified as being most in need while offering the flexibility to enable all students at those schools to benefit from Title I services.
Title I status is based on all prerequisite criteria and the percent of students receiving free or reduced lunch as of March 4. South (61%), Park View (56%), East Mooresville Intermediate (51%), and Mooresville Intermediate (45%) all meet the eligibility criteria of at least 40% low income students to qualify for the Title I school-wide funding.
Waid said the purpose of the district’s Title II funding ($153,175) for this school year is to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive programs and activities to address the learning needs of all students through effective instruction.
Funding is used for innovative and evidence-based activities to more effectively attract, select, place, support, and retain effective educators in every classroom through professional development, beginning teacher support, and tuition reimbursement.
The district’s 2025-26 Title III allotment ($35,076) provides funding to school districts to:
(1) help ensure English learners attain English proficiency.
(2) assist English learners to achieve at high levels in academic subjects and meet the same academic standards that all children are expected to meet.
(3) assist teachers and school leaders to establish and implement, and sustain effective language instruction designed to teach English learners.
(4) promote parental, family, and community participation in language instruction educational programs.
MGSD’s Multilingual Learner (ML) teachers will continue to strengthen family engagement by building on the success of the 2024-2025 ML Family Picnic by hosting additional events in 2025-2026 to provide multilingual families with the opportunity to learn about the state curriculum, testing policies, graduation requirements, and student resources.
The ML Team will continue to partner with the Dual Immersion program on events such as Hispanic Heritage Night and will be present at other district events, such as Picnics in the Park, to promote family and community involvement.
In addition to professional development and family engagement, Title III funding will be used to purchase instructional materials and resources to use with Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) strategies and to provide additional academic support for multilingual learners.
Connolly proposed that $48,152 in Title IV funds be used to
(1) provide all students with access to a well-rounded education.
(2) improve safe and healthy school conditions for student learning.
(3) improve the use of technology to improve students’ academic achievement and digital literacy.
MGSD’s Title IV programming will help fund a Director of School Safety, whose responsibilities will include promoting social and emotional wellness, implementing conflict resolution practices, coordinating school safety measures, and examining structures for behavioral support.
SOUTH ELEMENTARY MODULAR UNIT RENOVATION
The board also unanimously approved a $342,330 modular unit renovation at South Elementary. The improved unit will house four pre-K programs in much better facilities.
In an effort to provide the best possible learning environment, NC Pre-K students at South Elementary will be moved from the current outdated single modular classroom to the newer and larger modular classroom, vacated during grade span reconfiguration, after renovations complying with NC Pre-K regulations are completed.
Catalyst Construction Company, Inc was selected for the $342,330.00 project, funded by capital outlay funds.
NEXT MEETING
The next regular board meeting is on Tuesday, September 2, at 6 p.m. at the Mooresville High School Performing Arts Center because of a scheduling conflict at Town Hall.
The board will also have a work session on Tuesday, September 30, at 9 a.m. at East Intermediate School.