Board approves $2.98 million for stadium improvements at Lake Norman High
BY KARISSA MILLER
Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education Chairman Doug Knight spent a significant amount of time during Monday’s board meeting explaining the rules the board will follow during the coming year.
Knight, who was elected chairman earlier this month, said the rules are in place to ensure fairness with the public and trust among the board.
Making personal remarks or attacks during debate are prohibited, he said, and there will be “no cross-talk between members.”
Although he will not place a time limit on debate, Knight said he wants to keep things concise and moving the meeting forward.
Knight also emphasized that board members need to be polite and professional.
Each month the public is invited to address the board during the public comment period.
However, Knight said, “in order to speak it must be relevant to us within the jurisdiction of the school system.”
The chairman said that he wants to be consistent and fair to each speaker and will be strict on making sure each speaker does not exceed the time allotment. Speakers generally have three minutes, but sometimes the allotted time for each speaker is reduced to two minutes if a large number of people sign up to speak.
Knight also explained that once the board’s meeting agenda is adopted, it takes approval of two-thirds of the members to get something added to the agenda.
He also spoke on board member duties.
“We don’t get involved in the day-to-day operations of the school system. That is the job of the superintendent,” Knight said.
Board members must vote on all issues. If a board member recuses himself or herself from a vote, the members must state a reason before the vote is taken.
“Chair should always remain impartial, and that is my goal,” Knight said.
Board approves upgrades for Lake Norman High School stadium
The board voted 6 to 1 to approve a nearly $3 million bid for upgrading the athletic stadium at Lake Norman High School. Board member Mike Kubiniec cast the lone dissenting vote.
GeoSurfaces Southeast Inc. was awarded the Design-Build RFQ for the remaining athletic stadium upgrades for Iredell-Statesville Schools. This is the same company that completed the stadium upgrades at North Iredell and West Iredell high schools.
Superintendent Jeff James said Sen. Vickie Sawyer worked to secure $2 million for improving three athletic fields and other improvements for Iredell County schools. He said that Sawyer will seek additional funding for the two other fields that are left, James said.
Turf and field work includes:
• Site Preparation & Drainage: Excavate field, install perimeter drainage systems, verify subgrade stability, and provide necessary erosion control and permitting. Install concrete curbs, stone base, and shock pads, and prepare the area for turf installation.
• Turf & Track Surface Installation: Supply and install synthetic turf (Greenfield’s Ironturf or Tencates Pivot options), including game lines and logos. For the track, remove existing surface, mill base, install new asphalt, and place Mondo Super X track surface with required field events (jump pits, pole vault, discus, shot put).
• Field Modifications & Equipment: Replace visitor bleacher fencing, adjust field goal uprights, and provide field maintenance equipment and training. Track includes installation of necessary infrastructure (drains, curbs, D-zone, long/triple jump areas, etc.).
The project cost is $2,984,190.
Board approves 2023-2024 Audit Financial Statements
In other matters, the board approved a presentation from accounting firm of Anderson Smith & Wike PLLC on the June 30, 2024, audited financial statements. According to the consultant Shannon Dennison, CPA, during the Committee of the Whole meeting last week, I-SS received an “unmodified opinion” on its finances, which means the district received the highest marks on its finances.
The audit shared the following highlights:
• The Local Current Expense Fund decreased fund balance by $584,722.
• The Capital Outlay Fund decreased fund balance by $1,527,187.
• Finally, the Other Special Revenue fund decreased fund balance by $1,683,669.
• Child Nutrition had profit of $528,573.
• Prime Time had a profit of $616,675 from operations. I-SS was able to utilize a Prime-Time grant during 2023-24 to pay for many of their expenses.
Board close two elementary schools to student transfers
The board also approved the recommendation of closing Cloverleaf Elementary and Coddle Creek Elementary to out-of-district students and approved reopening Lakeshore Middle School for out-of-district transfers.
If our county secured money from the state of North Carolina why in the world would any member vote against up fitting one of our high schools? Seriously the South end needs new board members. They do not have our best interests in mind.
You bring up a good point Susan. My other question is why Kurn from Mooresville got mad because she didnt get to be vice chair & left the meeting? What about a board members obligation to perform their duties? And Sloan abstaining from the vice chair vote? And now Captain Crunch voting against athletic field upgrades? These people make our county look bad. Who would want to move their business here knowing several villages are missing their idiots?
Here is why I voted against the LNHS stadium renovation. I sure hope the editor prints my entire response verbatim. Look for it on Facebook.
First: I did vote for the NIHS and WIHS football stadium renovations at a cost of about $3M each. The board was promised that these facilities would be rented out to generate revenue for the school district. These facilities could host various tournaments and other activities throughout the year. Since these facilities would be a tremendous asset for the county, we would use these to our advantage (revenue for ISS and county tourism dollars). As we all know, money is so tight. Our state legislature seems to disappoint us each and every year with underwhelming support and this year was no exception.
During the debate and discussion for the LNHS football stadium renovation, I stated that I fully supported renovating ALL the high school football facilities. I fully support our high schools having first-rate sports facilities. I am on record stating this.
I asked about the district’s plan to promote and market the NIHS and WIHS stadiums and how much revenue has been generated to date. The answer is: no revenue has been generated; there is no plan. Naturally, the Superintendent mentioned that he cannot hire additional headcount to manage this nor could he assign these duties to someone else, to add to their already full-time job. Of course, that is not desirable. I suggested to the Superintendent that one option could be to hire a company that would promote, market and manage the outside scheduling of these facilities. This company could then receive a percentage of the gross receipts and the rest comes to ISS; so no headcount impact or any real additional cost to ISS. There could be other options we could explore for managing this.
So, I wanted to press upon the fact that the board was promised that we would use these facilities to generate revenue, we previously committed $6M for the first two schools. Since revenue generation has not happened and it did not seem that a plan would be forthcoming, I stated that I would vote no. This no vote was to make a point. I hope the school district soon starts to figure out how they will promote, market and manage these facilities to start generating revenue we badly need. If a plan is not presented when the South and Statesville renovation proposals are presented over the next 2 years, I will vote no on these as well.
In summary….. I am a fiscal conservative and hold the responsibility for spending our funding wisely. I do support these football stadium renovations. I live at the south end of the county and have been to LNHS many times and do want this renovation to happen for LNHS. I did realize that I would probably be the only board member to vote against this so it would likely pass anyway and I am good with that. But I did want to press the point to the Superintendent and his staff to honor the commitment made to develop and execute a plan to generate revenue from these facilities.
I hope I fully answered your question. If not, I am happy to speak or meet with you or anyone anytime to discuss further. Also, I am always willing to explain any “NO” vote or any “YES” vote. You will find that I go on record stating when I plan to vote NO against something, so you, the public know. Other board members do not do this. If you would like them to, then ask them.
Still don’t feel it’s necessary for every school to have a multi million dollar athletic stadium. Games and events could be staggered so that the stadium is utilized in a more appropriate way. Schools close together could accomplish this with a little bit of planning and save taxpayers money and have better facilities.
Kudos to Chairman Knight for his work to make board meetings productive and professional.
The beginning of this article states that Knight said: “Making personal remarks or attacks during debate are prohibited.” If that is how the new Chair feels about decorum on the school board now under his leadership, then:
Why did Knight, during debate, falsely impugn the motives of a member when the member argued to add board member comments to the agenda? (Note – Knight has continued the practice of the previous chair of censoring board members from making a few open comments at the end of the meeting on matters affecting public education.
Why did Knight, during debate, falsely accuse a board member for wanting to fire the school board attorney without any evidence?
How is it acceptable when Knight falsely accused a board member for wanting to fire the Superintendent without any evidence except for accepting the “rumor mill” as truth? What kind of person does that?
Why is it everytime a news article comes out with information about any one board member, immediately they come out all defensive & have their groupies chime in to fight their battles for them. Enough already Captain Crunch & Micah’s mom. Iredell county has had enough of your nonsense. Stop wasting our district’s time & resources. Go back to the holler you both came from.