A familiar face will take a seat on the Alamance-Burlington School District Board of Education. Seneca Rogers was approved to fill the seat left vacant by the retirement of longtime Board member Patsy Simpson. Rogers was the fourth highest vote getter in the last Board election.
Last month, twelve applicants vied for the open seat, each giving a five-minute presentation to the Board on their qualifications and desire to serve. The applicants spoke passionately about their credentials and commitment to serve on the Board.
"We have a lot of important issues in this district. What we don't need is politics, race, and power plays," said Board Chair Sandy Ellington-Graves. "This seat is not about those things. It's about the 22,000 children and families we serve. We must work together for the benefit of all students."
Ellington-Graves added, "Seneca has been actively engaged in fighting for our kids. I'll be honored to serve alongside him."
Rogers will be officially sworn in at the Board's evening meeting on December 4.
School Calendar Update
The Board approved several new changes to the 2023-2024 academic calendar at its meeting Tuesday afternoon to accommodate the upcoming March Primary Election. Since many of our campuses are used as polling locations, the changes were necessary for student safety.
The changes include:
Changing March 5, 2024 to a Required Teacher Workday due to the Primary Election being held on many campuses.
Changing February 21, 2024 and March 13, 2024 to full days of school for students to make up lost instruction time from March 5th change.
The updated 2023-2024 academic calendar will be available on the ABSS website soon.
Audit Report
The District received the results of its annual independent financial audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. The audit was conducted by the firm Anderson, Smith & Wike, PLLC.
The auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the school system's financial statements. This is the highest level of assurance auditors can provide and indicates that the District's financial records fairly represent its financial position and are free of material misstatement.
The report identified one finding related to more closely monitoring the budget process. The District has developed a corrective action plan to address this issue. Auditors also expressed concern over the District’s low fund balance of $644,100. Superintendent Dr. Dain Butler said as a result, all non-teaching positions would be frozen temporarily and the District may explore the possibility of a reduction in force to bring expenditures in line with revenues and rebuild reserves.
Overall, the auditors found the District's financial management and reporting practices sound.
"This clean audit demonstrates our District's commitment to transparency and responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds. We appreciate the hard work of our finance staff in managing our resources and maintaining quality financial records,” said Dr. Dain Butler, Superintendent.