ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — It’s the final round of back to class for several Western North Carolina school districts this week, including Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools.

The following districts return to class on Monday, Aug. 26:

School boards discuss future priorities

During a specially called meeting on Thursday, Aug. 22, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners invited members with the Asheville City Board of Education and Buncombe County Board of Education to refine Strategic Plan 2030 goals. A press release from the county said this was the first time all three boards have come together to discuss long-term goals.

Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman and Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson both outlined how each district was meeting commissioners’ strategic priorities, their own goals and concerns moving forward. Buncombe County Strategic Policy and Analysis Manager Heather Parkinson helped lead the group through exercises that helped define shared purpose, goals, and future strategic priorities. A release from the county said conversation centered around student success, state funding, retaining and recruiting teachers, and universal pre-kindergarten.

The second part of the meeting consisted of discussing strategic SMART goals and objectives as commissioners work toward consensus on the 2030 plan for the next five years.

These goals are building upon feedback from the community, partner organizations, and the 2025 Strategic Plan.

You can find the school board presentations attached, watch the joint school board meeting here and strategic plan work session here.

Over the next several months, staff will continue to refine goals, a virtual public feedback session is scheduled for Sept. 9, there will be additional work sessions scheduled in October, and the goal is for the Board of Commissioners to adopt the Strategic Plan 2030 in November.

School bus drivers

With the start of the school year, Buncombe County Schools has been preparing with plenty of bus drivers. Transportation Director Jeremy Stowe with the school district recently told 828newsNOW the district has enough drivers for its 210 buses.

“Right now, we have each and every bus covered. But we can always use more people,” he said.

People who don’t want to work full-time can put their names on the list to be substitute drivers or drive for field trips or sporting events, the district’s Chief Communications Officer Ken Ulmer said. And, there’s now an app that will make it easier for Buncombe County parents to keep up with the school buses their children ride. The Edulog app has a portal where parents can follow the students’ buses on a map.

“It really provides the end users — the parents — the location of the kids’ buses in real time,” Stowe told 828newsNOW.

Back to school

Monday, Aug. 12 marked the first day of school for the following districts:

Other districts that have returned to the classroom already include:

Check out our back-to-school coverage below: