By Jeanie Groh

jeanie.groh@salisburypost.com

The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education will decide whether or not to start charging for driver’s education at Monday’s meeting.

School districts in North Carolina are mandated to provide driver’s education, but funding for the program has been cut from the state’s budget. School systems can charge for driver’s education, but the maximum amount they can charge is $65 – only a fraction of the total cost per student.

If the board decides to assign a cost to the course, it will also decide how much to charge.

Superintendent Dr. Lynn Moody will continue the conversation of unifying start and stop times for local schools. Right now, lengths of school days and start and stop times are inconsistent from school to school. Moody said she’d like for schools in the same grade span to have the same start and stop times. Elementary schools would have two start and stop times because of the sheer number of elementary schools.

The district’s Instructional Design Committee is also working to find ways to back up the start time for each grade level by 30 minutes and to flip high school and elementary start times, as well.

The board will also look at potential names for the boardroom in the district’s new central services office. While the building itself has already been named the Wallace Educational Forum, the boardroom’s name is still up for debate.

City Councilwoman Karen Alexander will update the board on the progress of the county’s Hot Spots, which provide Internet for students to use their school-issued digital devices. She’ll also coach them on how to pitch the idea to local community members.

The board will talk to a sales representative for Thought Exchange, and decide whether or not to use the information exchange service.

The consent agenda for Monday’s meeting includes the district’s 2014-15 audit contract, February budget amendments and finance report, several field trips, minutes from past meetings and policies regarding school volunteers, student promotion and accountability, graduation requirements, class rankings and non-renewal for non-career status teachers.

The Board of Education will meet Monday at 5 p.m., at the district’s Long Street administrative offices, 110 S. Long Street, in East Spencer.