As of Tuesday, 151 students and eight teachers at Blenheim Middle School of Discovery are under quarantine due to 18 students and two teachers testing positive for the coronavirus.
Superintendent Dr. Gregory McCord updated board of education members at their meeting Monday.
He talked about the dashboard on the district’s website. 
McCord said one of the reasons for the dashboard is so the district can be transparent about COVID-19 in Marlboro County.
As of Tuesday, there are 27 active cases and 204 students in quarantine.
Currently, there are two active cases and 11 staff members in quarantine.
He briefly talked about Gov. Henry McMaster’s comments about masks being removed in schools.
“I do not believe we are at a point yet where we can safely remove our masks at all times,” McCord said. 
He also updated board members about the situation at Blenheim Middle School of Discovery.
“We are in the midst of a situation where we have had to quarantine a large number of students,” he said. “We do know of some situations that include students gathering at a place outside of school that may have been the nexus for it.”
He added BMSD Principal Dr. Dionne Vance and her team have continued to do a good job. 
“We just have to remain vigilant,” McCord said.
Currently, 319 staff members are fully vaccinated while there are 30 who have received at least one shot. There are 186 staff who are undecided about taking the vaccine.
“Our numbers have kind of stagnated. Our numbers are a little better at 60 percent with staff members completely or one shot vaccinated. We continue to encourage staff to go out and get vaccinated. We are not going to try to make anyone do it. It is something that needs to be thought about and considered when it comes to being around mixed company.”
Chairman Larry McNeil encouraged people to get vaccinated.
“People are still dying in this community,” he said. “Covid hasn’t left. It is not going anywhere. It is up to us to make the change.”
In other business, board members will meet for a board work session from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. May 22 to work on section G of the board policy manual.
Board members approved three certified new hires and three certified resignations.
The board also approved participating in the class action lawsuit against Juule e-cigarettes. This will be at no cost to the district.
Board members learned the district had expended, as of April 27, $22,052,203.44 of a $34,818,102 budget, or 63 percent of the budget. Ideally, the district should be at 83 percent of the budget spent.

Budget presentation
Chief Officer of Finance and Operations Sharon Hubbard made a budget presentation for the school year 2021-22.
The proposed 2021-22 budget is built on the district’s current student enrollment of 3,700. It is a proposed $35,518,930 draft budget with $35,341,654 in expenses.
McCord has recommended a proposed five percent raise for certified and non-certified staff. The cost would be $1,398,620.
Hubbard wanted to make sure this was the option that the board wanted to use so Hubbard and staff could find ways to fund it.
Options to offset the  pay increases include analyzing all opportunities to maximize ESSER II funding, consolidating positions through attrition, transferring funds from the fund balance, increasing revenue (by possibly raising the local millage).
Hubbard said the millage has not been raised in 10 years.
The third budget workshop will be May 17. Also the board will approve publication of the public notice in the local newspaper for the public hearing and first reading of FY 2021-22 budget.
A public hearing and first reading on the General Fund Budget will be June 7. The second reading of the General Fund Budget will be June 14. The third reading of the General Fund Budget, if necessary, will be June 28.