Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) Board of Education is a committee consisting of nine members. The nine members are elected into office every four years, and have an additional three seats. The meetings take place the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, they start at 4pm, and the public is allowed to participate and share their opinions at 6:30p.m. Although it’s recommended that you talk to your school’s staff first, they’re willing to hear your opinions on matters and try to assist. This is an overview of the most recent meeting that took place April 8, 2025.
Buildings and Grounds Committee
They discussed funding and approval for construction at Ashley Elementary and East Forsyth High School, and approved buying new yellow school buses and moved it to the entire Board.
Policy Committee
They mentioned changes in policies to better fit the North Carolina state guidelines, general statutes and the current district practices. They’re changing the 4131 policy which includes staff development and North Carolina licensing requirements for teachers and staff.
Beginning of Board of Education
To open up the meeting they started with the 2025 week of a young child which is a week to celebrate children under the age of eight learning. They recognized Hanes Magnet Middle School for math state final test scores, the scholastic art silver and gold key winners and teachers who got a bonus for math EOG scores.
Budget Amendment and Transfer #10
Budget Amendment and Transfer #10 ensures the Administration properly records transactions and uses the proper funds, it represents an increase and restriction in funding.
OpenGate Purchase
The school board discussed a proposal of buying 28 OpenGate weapon detection systems, and to put them in nine middle schools. Due to funding issues they couldn’t afford all 28, but instead discussed buying nine. They just need to get approval from the district to buy the nine, and put them into the schools.
World and Dual Language Immersion Program
They then updated on the district’s World Language and Dual Language Immersion programs including the program’s purpose, enrollment information, and their new standards. The new standards are a reword of the original copy, they only changed it to make it easier for teachers to understand.
Reduction in Force
After that they went into the topic of reducing certain roles, salaries and ending employment. They discussed 81 positions, 33 may have their salaries or months of employment reduced, nine may lose their jobs, 31 positions will be vacant by the end of the year or temporary assignments will end. Dropping these will save the school district 7.6 million dollars, this money will allow for budgets for departments and the ability to pay for the expected increase in utility bills.
School Construction
They moved into construction of school matters including emergency tunnel repair at East Forsyth, AC for the Ashley elementary school and Hanes Middle School gym and renovating the Mount Tabor track. All of these issues got approved and moved on to get worked on to fix the schools.
