Catawba County Schools' Board of Education member Peggy Duncan resigned from her position during Tuesday's meeting.

    The resignation comes after Duncan accepted a freshman English teaching position at Pacific Island Bible College in the Federated States of Micronesia.

    "My only hope is that all those who elected me would be understanding of my calling to mission work," she said in a letter she wrote to the board.

    Prior to her November 2007 election to the school board, Duncan had been teaching abroad in Namibia, American Samoa and the Philippines since 1989. Prior to that she served as principal of Conover School.

    She said that the teaching position has been open for the past four years and that the college contacted her in early April.

    "I had to do a lot of praying on this one," she said.

    During the meeting, the Board of Education also approved a $8,219,000 construction bid for Bunker Hill High School. The bid accepts a deficit in budgeted cost of $3,256,000 due to the rise in cost of construction materials.

    "That, we feel, escalated the cost," Rick Sain, construction coordinator with Catawba County Schools, said.

    The project will fund athletic improvements, including a 14,000-square foot kitchen/cafeteria, a conversion of the old cafeteria into classrooms, and a 4,000-square foot football field house and other athletic improvements, Sain said.

    "I can say that I feel very strongly that we need to approve this in such a way that would help to fund this in its entirety," Steve Hilton, Board of Education member said.

    Funding the project in its entirety means that Bunker Hill High School will also demolish its old pressbox to make way for another one, add approximately 500 seats to the football stadium, add a press box, concession area to the soccer/track area and to include fire alarms in the existing buildings at the high school.

    The lowest bidder on the project was Mountain Creek Construction, and by unanimously approving the company, Catawba County Schools defrayed more than $100,000 in cost from other bidders.