Board of Education - Oct 02, 2025

001[GAVEL] The meeting of the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education will come to order. The chair requests the motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. It's been moved by Ms. Vetters and seconded by Mr. Sharp and the chair. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? That passes. And the chair requests the motion to move into closed session for the reasons stated on the agenda. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All favor say aye. And that passes unanimously. We'll return from closed session as close as possible to 7pm thank you. [CLOSED SESSION] [GAVEL] The meeting is now back in open session. And that takes us to our first item, which is recognizing data managers and school counselors, student assignment, enrollment. Dr. Trice? Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just want to take

002a moment tonight to recognize, as you mentioned, school data managers, counselors and enrollment staff for an enormous lift that they helped the district through, really, over the past 18 months or so. As you know, the board knows, but perhaps not our public. The state of North Carolina transitioned to a new student information system called Infinite Campus. And the heavy lift that my colleagues have done over this time is hard to put into words. Literally thousands of hours of work, detailed analysis, cleaning up data. It's just an incredible job that they have done. And it's not just about, you know, numbers in a system, but really making sure that our students are set up for success, that their schedules are correctly populating our student information systems, our food service is working correctly, transportation. I mean, it

003just really is core to who we are. So I wanted to ask if our staff could stand and perhaps get a round of applause for just the heavy lift in the work that they've done to date. [APPLAUSE] And I know we took. Why don't you all just come up to the microphone? We just want to know. Come up to the mic, all of you at once. We just want to know your name, where you work, and I think it's important just to know who you are and where you work. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Trice. I'm Shannon Alley. I'm one of the counselors at Culbreth Middle School. Yes. Begin. Okay. I'm Sarah Morales. I'm one of the counselors at McDougall Middle. Yes. I'm Jeff Gentry, data manager at McDougall Middle. Thank you very much for

004having us. I'm Julia Royal, school counselor at Chapel Hill High School. Good evening. I'm Quamisha Whitted Miller, and I serve. You as a director of student assignment and enrollment. I stand here to represent eight staff members that were already employees of the. district that helped us out and also three temporary staff. Thank you so much. We appreciate you all. [APPLAUSE] Dr. Trice. So Dr. Trice has been keeping us, the board members posted all summer and this is my fourth year on the board and believe me, every year when school opens we get the complaints. This didn't work. My schedule didn't work. Something didn't work with data. And this is a true story unless I've just got the emails blocked. This year this actually went smoother. Despite the incredible transition that you all have undergone with

005the data and with secondary level with the schedule, it's been amazingly smooth. And Dr. Trice, is that accurate or am I just like out of the loop? Yeah, that is very accurate. I'd also like to recognize Rebecca Atkins. I know she didn't stand until McArthur who helped us tremendously. So if you all could stand and also be recognized. These are some of our district leaders who help coordinate much of the work and just very humble and you know how much we love you all. So thank you. And I want to just say, not just coordinate, but respond to people's emails when they mistype their own name that they've had for their entire life. So thank you. I would definitely like to say thank you to all of the counselors again because I know over the

006summer, being in different schools, some that I know personally, some that I don't, that were spending countless hours on group threads, texts, working from sun up to sundown, trying to get this stuff taken care of over the weekends, 10, 11 o' clock at night, these counselors put the work in. We could not give them their accolades and their flowers enough. So I so appreciate us being able to take the time to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all of you because it made that much of a difference to our students when they came in at the beginning of the year to see their counselors working that hard to make the start of the year good for them. So thank you so much. Anybody else? Dr. Trice? Anybody else? Okay. Well, we

007appreciate y' all taking time to come tonight. Thank you so much. And we will go on to our next item which we have a proclamation with our for our school crossing guards in recognition of School Crossing Guard Month. And each board member will read a stanza. Okay, Mike. Whereas school crossing guards play a vital role in protecting students, staff and families as they travel to and from school, ensuring safe passage at intersections and along busy routes. And whereas crossing guards serve as trusted, caring adults who promote traffic safety, encourage active transportation such as walking and biking and model positive community engagement and... Whereas the presence and vigilance of crossing guards reduce vehicle pedestrian conflicts, calm traffic near school campuses and support the goals of Chapel Hill Carborro City Schools to provide safe, welcoming and inclusive

008learning environments and... WHEREAS, crossing guards work in coordination with families, school administrators, transportation staff, school resource officers, the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Police Departments, local public works and transportation agencies, and Safe Routes to School partners to improve safe travel behaviors and conditions for students; and WHEREAS, the dedication of crossing guards, often in adverse weather and during peak traffic times, merits public recognition and appreciation from the Board of Education and the broader community; and WHEREAS, CHCCS School Crossing Guard Month is observed annually to honor the essential service of these professionals and volunteers who help safeguard students each school day; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education hereby recognizes the month of October as School Crossing Guard Month, and expresses its profound gratitude to all crossing guards serving CHCCS schools

009for their commitment to student safety and well-being. Adopted this 2nd day of October. We can't say enough about our school crossing guards. Are there school crossing guards here tonight? How many are here? Stand up. You want to help out here. [APPLAUSE] You can bring them up. So if I could just have a few short words and please remain. Oh, well, you sat down. They're going to get back up shortly. But to members of the board and Dr. Trice, we just want to thank you for recognizing School Crossing Guard Month. Our crossing guards, they stand at the heart of our Safe Routes to Schools, be it rain or shine, guiding our students and our families, not just students and drivers, through very busy intersections with very calm professionalism, which is more than I could say I

010would be able to do. But we are just grateful for your public acknowledgement tonight. And it tells our guards in our community that this work does matter. And to our crossing guards, I just want to thank you for your reliability, your kindness and your courage of what you do to help our children have a fantastic start each and every school day and to get home each and every school day. And again, I want to thank the board just for continuing to support their staffing and training and equipment that helps them be safe to and from school each and every day. We have a very strong partnership with both towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill with our Safe Routes to Schools as well as local law enforcement that periodically provides training to them as well as

011our Safe Schools department here in the district. So it is a collaborative approach, but they work. Some work morning and night, some work mornings just Afternoons or evenings. And then we have lots of folks that work as substitutes to cover to do our best to ensure that daily peace. So with that being said, we would love to have them just step up. And just introduce themselves, let them know how many years of service they have here with our district. And then if we're able to possibly just get a very quick photo, I know it'd be very meaningful for them. So thank you. So if we could have our crossing cards, just come on up and just again, introduce yourself and let them know how many years you have served in our district. I'll be the

012first one. My name is Dolores Clark, and I am actually a retiree, but I worked for Carver Chapel hill for about 15 years as a crossing guard at Carver Elementary. If I hadn't gotten older, I would still be there. So I thank you. I really enjoyed my work that I did. [APPLAUSE] Good evening. My name is Paul Caldwell. I was a school crossing guard at Northside Elementary School from the first day that it reopened for 15, 15 long years. I think the thing has really kept me wanting to come back was the kids that I met during those 15 years, Chapel Hill, who got some incredible kids, especially the ones that had to walk to school. I also spent three years as a security guard at Chapel Hill High School. And this was after I

013retired from the University of North Carolina Police department. I had 29 years of law service with them. So falling back to a school crossing guard was a big difference, but I fell in love with it, and that's Why I stayed there for 15 years. So thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Hi, I'm Kimberly Hatcher. I work at Estes Hills Elementary. I've been there for 18 years as an IA and the past three years as crossing guard in the afternoons also. So thank you for having us. [APPLAUSE] My name is Crystal Council and I am the crossing guard Phillips. Before that, I was the crossing guard at Estes Hills. I have been a crossing guard for 15 years, but before that I was elping Colbread with my kids were there. Direct traffic as they come

014in and out of the sporting events. Thank you guys for recognizing us. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Hi, I'm Lawrence Chadbourn. I work at Ephesus Elementary School. Been there almost nine years. So we'll see if I can make it 10. I would like to give a shout out to the people that live in the neighborhoods nearby Briarcliff and Colony Woods. It's a very special community. [APPLAUSE] My name is Ricky Christian. I'm a crossing guard at Estes Hills and I've been doing it for about six years now, I think. Well, when I retired from unc, my goal was to be a crossing guard. It's a very enjoyable work. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Hello, old Miller Parker. I spent 10 years here at the district. Then when I retired, I went to the crossing guards in 2010. I've been there

015ever since. I work at northside elementary. [APPLAUSE] Good evening, everybody. My name is Clancy Martinez, and I'm in IA and crossing guard at Carrboro elementary for four years. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Hello, my name is Evelyn Ceballos. This is my second year at Carboro elementary school, and I've been doing crossing guards since April 2025. And I love it. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Hi, my name is Maria. I am a teacher assistant at carbon elementary school for eight years, and this is going to be my third year. working as a crossing guard. [APPLAUSE] Hi, I'm Molly Doherty, and I work at McDougal elementary and Middle school as their crossing guard. And I am just finishing up my fourth week as their crossing guard. [APPLAUSE] Hi, my name is Barbara Link, and as someone before me said, they retired

016from UNC. I retired from UNC Hospital after working there 30 years, and I decided that I wanted to be a crossing guard when I retired from there, and I've been a Crossing guard for 31 years. Started out under the Chapel hill police department when I first started. And Mark Bailey, I'm not sure, but anyway, he always send me an email recognizing me, and I just got one last week from saying 27 years. 27 years here at Lincoln Center. But I just enjoy it and gets me out of bed in the morning, so. 30, 31 years. [APPLAUSE] Hi, my name is Vanessa Sanders, and I'm at Chapel hill high, and I've been there four years, so. And I'm enjoying it. [APPLAUSE] Elle, did you want to try and get them to come up here for a

017photo? Yeah, they're ready. All right, so we're going to take a photo very quickly with the board. So if I get you just to come up and come past the mic, get closer to the board. Well, that was special. Thank you all very much. This takes us to public comments, and my understanding is nobody has signed up. However, I suspect, Mr. Link, you're going to want to speak tonight. Yes. So why don't you just come forward and we'll dispense with the normal introductions on my end since you've done this before. But welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Brian Link, and I'm the President of the Chapel Hill Carrboro association of Educators. Point of clarification, before I go any further, since this is a work session, there were going to be other opportunities to

018comment on the particular work session items later this evening. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. So I will reserve any comments about those items until that appropriate time. I wanted to specifically stand here this evening first to share some marks which I had hoped to be able to share at the last board meeting, but was at a state board meeting and unable to get here for the time for public comment then. So I wanted to start by acknowledging the excellent work the district has done done over the start of this year to make the school year successful. But in particular, it's important to recognize the hard work that's being done around the bond. Right. The building of constructions. And I wanted to give a shout out to Mr. Shoroki and his report at the last

019meeting. I also wanted to thank Mr. Scott, who is in here this evening. Right. For his detailed answers to the questions that were posed in particular by board member Barbara Fetters, who we're so glad that you helped the public to be able to articulate the difference between what's happening in Winston Salem Forsyth and what is occurring here. We wanted to thank all the work that was done by the curriculum management team and headed by Dr. Bales for his work on the plan that was introduced and the continuing work that will happen with CHC inputs. Right. On the curriculum management team and the discussions going forward. And again to thank the HR department for their continued partnership as we work forward on many different issues, including the issues of allocation going forward. Because oftentimes, right, we

020can have meetings where, and I do not envy you all in the slightest, where folks want to stand up and just sort of rail. And I think it's important that right life is not a radio talk show call in and that when people are doing the right things that they get acknowledged and recognized for that. We also want to specifically thank Dr. Trice for coming to our first all member meeting earlier this week and committing to a plan where there is engagement and transparency from this administration with all employees, but especially our members. And we want to thank the two board members here and the future board member, Ms. Manning for their attendance and participation in the School Bay candidate forum that took place on Monday where CHC was one of five partners along with

021the naacp, League of Women Voters, El Centro Hispano, and of course the PTA Council to ensure again that same transparency and discussion happens with our elected officials as we move forward. We Are honored to be a partner with the board and with the administration. And we look forward to continuing the dialogue as we move forward together. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Link. Is there anybody else here tonight who did not sign up, who would like to speak? Okay. Thank you. That moves us on to consent agenda item 5. The chair requests the motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. It's been moved. And seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? That passes unanimously. Thank you very much. And that brings us to the work session, item 6A, which is academic

022return on investment. Dr. Trice, is that coming back to me or to you at the. I'd like to say a few words first and then maybe turn it over to you also. As the board is aware, the language around academic return on investment has been swirling amongst the administration and the board for maybe a couple of years. A few years ago, the cabinet was involved with training from a national organization that specializes in academic return on investment processes. I believe it was last year. The board at one of your retreats also received some training on academic return on investment. But today's discussion is just that, to provide guidance to the administration on not just learning about academic return on investment, but how we can begin to kind of enact some of the processes that we've

023learned about. I've requested that this topic be on our next retreat agenda. So we want to be clear as an administration the expectations, the type of deliverables that the board is beginning to think about. This is not disconnected from our budget, program reviews and evaluations, how we go about prioritizing our work as an administration. And we want our next retreat to be fruitful. And what I mean by that is not getting to the retreat to do the heavy lifting in terms of thinking about academic return on investment, but actually bringing to that meeting some ideas that the board could chew on at the retreat that will kind of frame our work kind of moving forward. We have a lot of programs in our district. Typically, it hasn't been our practice to sunset programs, But I

024think the academic return on investment framework and process allows us to take an honest look at our programming, determine where we need to expand if. If that suggests. If the process suggests that we need to do so, or where we may need to look to cut and redirect resources. This is something that the administration believes in in terms of not only being fiscally responsible, but making sure that we have the best programs possible for our students and services really for our students. And if we're not taking a look at those programs on a continuous basis that does not serve our students well. So we're excited about this conversation and the work starting. But I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Chair, just to kind of, you know, help us think about what the board wants

025to see, any deliverables, if you are aware of any priority areas you want us to start with, we'll be happy to kind of take notes on all of that. Thank you. Let me the piggyback on something you said to kind of help us with the framework and then we can kind of open the discussion because you said where to expand. And I think a lot of times people think about where to cut. And it's really not that it's really about we need a process to better understand in these tight financial times particularly, but also in the times when public education is under the gun and we want to continue to provide the best services and education to our students that we can. And so you put all that together and sometimes we're left with choices

026of, well, how do we do this? How do we build a budget around programs and needs of students instead of taking a budget one year and kind of a assuming that we'll tweak it a little bit for the next year. And so that this academic return on investment concept is a way for us to I don't like to use the phrase cost benefit analysis because it sounds a little harsh like that, but it's a way for us to understand better what's working and where do we need to expand services to our kids in 2025 and the next five years, 10 years out, and where do we need to pare down maybe and redirect some services. And so for the couple years we've talked about this and we've had a little bit of exposure as a

027board to training on academic return on investment, but we haven't really made the next step. How do we actually do this? What do we do? And so we thought we'd take a little time in public and let the board ask questions, make some comments because we need to direct our focus over the next five to 10 years and we have to move away from just one year at a time. So we're going to need to make some decisions about where are we headed. Are we going to be adding some new services? Because in this day and age, students need different courses. Are we going to be moving things around? So is that kind of, Dr. Trice, what you were thinking as well? Absolutely. I think that would give us the guidance that we need to

028bring to the Next retreat? Absolutely. Okay, so I'm going to just be quiet for a few minutes if I can, and see if there's. Do you have insights from board or some directions or thoughts yourselves about how this process might look or how you want to actually get into doing some program reviews? Is that correct, Dr. Trice? Yeah, that's correct. I think part of our work internally as an administration is also defining a program. You know, I think that's some work that we started in the past and, you know, there were some discussion back and forth. Is a reading curriculum actually a program and that type of thing. And so. But again, just would love to hear from board members and we can go back and forth. Well, that was my first question. I wrote

029it down and said, what constitutes a program? And I think that might be helpful to give guidance to the staff, like, what are we going to look at? Is it what you think about a program that a student enrolls in it, or is it a tool that's being used? I mean, I think. Because those. Those could be two different things, too. I think also connected to that is knowing what things we actually can choose and which things are expected or demanded of us by the state or other, you know, or federal, I guess. You know, like knowing which ones we even have an option. Yeah. So getting some clarity, literally, on what are we talking about, which are the programs? Right. Like, what things would we even want to evaluate? Yeah, yeah, Barb. I guess

030also, what do we mean by academic return? I mean, I think the easiest way to think about it is test scores, but I don't think we should think about it that way or not only that way. I mean, and I was thinking about, like, Dr. Vilwock's presentations that we get, however often we get them in the different categories. And I think that might be a place to start. Like, what makes kids. What makes people want to be in our district? What makes kids want to come to school? What makes kids like school? I care about all of that. And then what makes kids do well and give them. And how do we think about all of this stuff in relation to our core values and our strategic plan? Just a point of clarity. So I

031know when you think about a program, you know, their staffing, the budget, you know, the goals, that type of thing. So what I hear you saying is, you know, whatever information we have about a program and its impact on children and perhaps hearing from those most impacted is also a source of data. Am I tracking with you correctly? Yeah, I mean, I guess. Just what are we measuring exactly? Like, I think when people say return, it has this weird financial fiscal. And I know that's not what we mean, but, like, what do we mean? And I guess what I'm suggesting is we mean a lot of different things, and I think we already are doing some of that, just not through this lens when we look at the data that we get. So, yeah, I

032would say if I could add on to that, I would think a certain program might be designed to only better a certain aspect of being a student in our schools. You know, so if we were looking at a program that was designed specifically to make kids feel more comfortable at school, that has nothing to do with test scores, you know, I mean, they're connected in the long run, but you can't measure it that way. Right. So you would have to look at each program in terms of what it was designed to do in the first place before you could really evaluate the return that we're getting. I think that's exactly right. That and its alignment. Sorry, sorry. I just got excited because he was triggering a thought in my head. But it was the connection

033to the strategic plan. To me, it all goes back like, how are we supporting all of our students and are we doing the right things in these programs? And I love what both Dr. Trice and Dr. Griffin said, which is it's not just about reviewing these to think about cuts, but it's like, are we providing service in the most effective way? And one thing this makes me think about is we've continued to have conversations about our dual language programs and like, are we providing enough services? Like, are we meeting the vision of what those programs are intended to. To do for our students? So thanks. I agree with everything that you all have just been saying, and thank you so much, Mr. Sharp, with what you were just saying in terms of looking at the

034programs for what they were supposed to be doing. Because if we've had a program for 20 years, let's just say in the district, I would imagine that what the original intent was, I would go out on a limb and say that that may be written to be the same intent, but it's not doing the same thing. So that we need to look at where it started, what the intent is supposed to be, and where we actually are now, which may not be an actual academic return, but it's going to be a return on investment of some sort, whether it's emotional, whether it's wellness, whether it's academic, and all of those are going to go hand in hand. So I think that would be a really good way of having to look at the programs that

035we know that we have in some way. You're going to need to look at them individually because you're not going to be able to say it's apples to apples. These are definitely going to be apples to oranges and peaches and everything else in the fruit basket. Because we have so many different types of programming and we really need to look at if we're doing a good job providing the types of services for the groups that really need particularly types of services. Like these days, social emotional learning wasn't a thing really being named 25 years ago or 15 years ago, now is very much a thing. And we need to, to be looking at it because without that, we know the students aren't doing the best that they could be doing. So we really need to

036look at where those holes are and where we can put those different dynamics together, which ultimately we're going to need to really look at each program and see if it has the right equation it needs for our students to be successful. Yeah, Meredith? Yeah, I think those were really good points and I was going to, I would take what Vicki was saying even one step further and making sure that we're looking at, you know, what has the research shown us over the past 20 years in terms of best practices, like, you know, with students with disabilities, for example, like are we utilizing the latest research to make sure that our programs are meeting those kids needs and things evolve over the years? As far as you know, where we are nationally is really different this

037year than they were 20, 25 years ago. So making sure that we're adapting our programs to meet needs as they change over the years, whether that's students living in poverty, whether it's newcomers to our district. We know that the demographic makeup has changed quite a bit over the past 20, 30 years in our district. And so making sure that our programs meet those needs as they change. I would say that I agree that we are very different nationally. But then I also have to say that we can't ignore the elephant in the room that unfortunately our district still is nationally where we've been for 25, 30 since, you know, the late 60s, we still have the second largest opportunity and achievement gap. So whatever the data points are going to say from 25 years ago,

038that is working, those same data points are being used to keep that gap from where it should be shrinking. So those data points definitely are working, but not in the way that we need them to be working. We are not shrinking. So we need to make sure that we're looking at that deeper, dive into that data to see what's working and what we can do to bring all of our students along and not just having some of our students succeed and continuously allowing the rest of the bunch to just get left behind because we have not been able to break that ceiling. And somehow those are the things we've got to be able to figure in order to truly say we are a successful district. Because we hear people say that we're one of the

039most successful districts in the country, you know, definitely one of the best in the state. And we have to stop and say, well, who are we actually being successful for? And is it okay to just be successful for some, or is our true goal to be successful for all? Which means we need to really pay attention at looking at those deep, dark pieces of data that we may not want to see and start putting faces to them and names to them and figure out what programs need to be increased to help bring everybody along, even at the cost of having to maybe reduce some. Because if you're doing 1,000 things and not doing 100 of them, well, you're still spinning your wheels and wasting time, energy, and effort. It's not just about dollars. It is

040time, energy, and effort, which will equate to dollars. But throwing money at the wall is not what it does. You have to look at all, because historically, people have done a lot more with a lot less against, a lot worse. So we need to figure out what's important here. George. So I answered my own question as I was listening to everyone. So I'm take a stab at when I think about a program, it's what the students are in. And so I think I'd like to see what that looks like, that list. And then the tool is some. So, like, think about, like, dual language. That's a program. That's something students are in. But then, like American Reading Company, like, that's a tool you call a program, but it's a tool. And so I think. But

041we need to look at those, too, right? Because we spend a lot of money on that. Millions, right. Every year. Not every year, but over the course of years. Absolutely. And so it's like, are we getting the return from that tool that kids are using? I mean, some might call it a bullet program as well. I don't know. So I would, for me, right now, I'd focus more on the program and what students are in, unless you think otherwise. And then I liked what a lot of other board members say. What helped me is some data points like when did the program start? What schools are the programs in? Maybe when they started. And if they've grown too, because some programs have grown beyond their original schools categories impacted. So if it's related to language

042or something, I don't know, you think of the categories, student enrollment and enrollment over time. So what is it currently and where we're seeing those trends with that enrollment? Also understanding the staff that's allocated to support the program, both classroom and other support staff, because as we know, not all programs are just with the classroom teacher. It could have transportation impacts, it could have additional support impacts, summer school impacts, and additional enrichment and support to make the program successful. I think other people said student data. That's. That's really helpful cost. Unfortunately, that's a reality. And then maybe this is long term. But if there's like a thought about what strategy the staff is thinking about, either based on all those things, you know, alter, expand, adjust, phase down. But that might come later. That was

043something. Dr. Trice, one thing is, I was thinking this and listening to my colleagues here too is, you know, the state mandates certain things for us, the General assembly does, and through dpi, and then there's other services we provide, and then there's probably a big area of. In 2025 and beyond. What. What are we not doing that our kids really need that we just haven't really even talked about. You know, we're gonna. You're gonna talk about technology in a minute. It's like, holy smokes, what technology skills do kids need that were perhaps even five years ago? We weren't thinking like that. So there's probably new areas as we try and forecast the future, and I hope we can. And I don't know how to do this other than to just be public about things is

044we can avoid falling into the trap where everybody feels like, oh, my gosh, I gotta hunker down now and make a presentation to somebody that makes us look. Because we're afraid there's another agenda here. And we've been talking about this as a board, publicly for a couple years now about the need to get a better handle on what's working. What do we need to do more of, what do we do less of? And that's kind of where we got to. If that makes sense. Sense. And I don't know how to operationalize that, but I want to share that concern that we're all in this collectively, together, but we've got to do it. Yeah, Barb. I mean, we, we could check the recording from this meeting. But my memory of the presentation from the woman who

045trained us and. Or trained you all in academic return on investment is that I remember at least. The case study she shared was a district that looked at one particular program, and it seemed like it was a pretty controversial program within the district. Some people loved it, some people hated it. And it really lended itself to this process. Like it had clear deliverables, and it sort of either was or wasn't achieving them. And I feel like this process would probably be easier if it's focused. And I think that's what you're asking is, like, what do you want us to focus on? I don't know if we're getting there, but I guess I feel like it would be better to look at a couple of things and do them really well than to try to do

046everything just to state the obvious. And Ronnie mentioned dual language. I mean, I'm really interested in that as well. Obviously, AIG stuff came up. We just passed that plan. I think that's worth looking at, too. Mike. It's absolutely coincidence I chose to wear my CTE thing today, but I started thinking about those programs as well. And so we need to consider that programs like CTE have another source of funding, so that it's not a decision that we would make that would make a financial impact on us either way. And so we've got to. You know, I think it's good for the public to be aware, too, that we might not consider getting rid of some program like that. You know, they're like, why didn't you even think about the medical whatever. Because it's funded in

047another way and that we don't need to worry about. And I think AP classes might be considered. Considered the same way, you know, if we were thinking about doing ib, that. Kind of thing, you know. No, that's important because that's what I was referring to. There's some things we sort of have to do. Yeah, but they're still good. I don't. Sorry. Still not even have to. But it's, there's not a detriment to us if it's funded by the government. That's. Anyway. Right, right. Good point. But we might want to think about the mix. Yeah. What we offer. Thank you. Yeah. With ct, there's a whole complement of courses that we don't offer that I know other districts do. So. Yeah. George. Yeah, I was also going to just say that I think it's important to

048maybe have a fuller list to start, because, again, like we want to assess where we might need to put more focus on and CTE might be a place that we want to even go deeper than we have the other federal funding for. So I just had a list of things here and there's probably more, but like the newcomers program, aig, Dual language, Blue Ribbon Summer school, cte. I don't know. There are others, I'm sure that will come up. Yeah, I made a list like that and I got up to 20, but I wasn't sure they were all programs either. A certain to some people's points, but it was like these things are things we do. And while I was on student success, there were things we talked about in that committee. I'm curious, George, because

049I've been grappling with this because what I don't want the community to think is something's going to get cut, like you said. But I think we hear so often from the community about innovation and how we're going to do more innovation. And it's a little hard to innovate when you offer so much. So at some point you kind of have to take some things off in order to bring innovation. So I think, you know, thinking about that, like maybe thinking about programs like if it's CTE, that would be different. I know. Dr. Trice, you, you've talked to us about some things that you've seen that other districts are doing that got me excited. I'm like, yeah, I'd love to do that, but we have so many programs already, we have no space. How are we

050going to do that here? So I think I'd be interested to see even recommendations of programs that even the staff have seen that align with what we're seeing with student data, where students are trending and going after they graduate, what we're seeing and what that program might look like, but that might come after we go through kind of our list stuff. Vicki? Dr. Trice, I know for me it will be really interesting before we even dig into the work of the return to actually get a list. It wouldn't be a list, a book of what our programs are and where, you know, what the definition of them is supposed to be and where they're supposed to be situated just so that we could actually for ourselves know exactly what we're talking about. Because if we're

051trying to respond and have a really in depth conversation about what this is when we're looking at, when you're telling us this is the return, if we didn't know where we started, we can't speak to where we're going and what it's supposed to be doing. So I know that's a little bit of homework that I would actually enjoy digging into to see what we're actually supposed to be doing and what it is and where it is and when it started and the why. So I don't like not knowing what I don't know. So. Dr. Trice, are we getting close enough? Because I think you and I have this conversation a lot about who's doing this. Is it the board initiative or administration initiative? And it's really coming from here, you as the superintendent, to us,

052to help you think through it and organize it. Do you have a sense of how you, you know, what the board is, or do you want to ask more questions? No, I think. I mean, this has been tremendously helpful. Just jotting down some notes myself, and I think a couple times I've heard and already had down, you know, just a list of what the programs are, which can be pretty long given how much we do in our district. I often say, you know, I'll put our district up against any large district in terms of programming. We offer just as much as many of our large districts. So I think that would be helpful and kind of tied to that. Not just a list of what we believe the programs are, but, you know, some associated

053context. You know, the staffing, if we know the budget, you know, what the budget is for those programs, of course, the year started, any associated data, as was mentioned, I think that would be helpful and perhaps even given to the board prior to the retreat, so you can kind of see it and reflect on it. And we still don't have a retreat date yet, but I think we're kind of getting there. I would also like the administrator, our administration, to do some prioritization, kind of given our context as well. So if we have a list of, you know, 200 programs, you know, what do we believe is most important to address first, just as a discussion point with the board, you know, what is our thinking and you know, what's the board's thinking? I mean,

054if a program is just, you know, $300 over here and, you know, it impacts two students, I mean, that's fictitious, but, you know, are we really going to spend time kind of thinking through something like that? Also, what comes to mind is who's doing the review and the evaluation. You know, that might be appropriate for some programs, maybe not for others, depending on how complex they are. But, you know, having information about that is important to me. But also the process for decision making, whether we're talking about program expansion or redirecting resources or, you know, innovation. How will we make a decision as a school district? And, you know, that might be down the line, but I think it's important to begin to think about and even share with our community how decisions are made

055in this process as opposed to, you know, making a decision and then thinking about it afterwards. So I'm thinking about community input, buy in that type of thing. So I think it's helpful, and I think our team can kind of go back and do some good thinking around some of the feedback we've received tonight. Go ahead, Ronnie. Yeah, I just want to add, again, like, it would be helpful to know how administration sees the connection of each of those programs to the really critical priorities in our strategic plan. It just makes me think about things like our discipline data that is certainly something we need to continue to work on, and some of the student data we've seen recently in our student results to unpack some of that and say, like, how do these programs

056contribute to these most critical needs within our district? Dr. Trice, I wanted to. One of the last things you just said about the community understanding and the community involvement. You know, one thing I've learned in my years here, no matter how much we talk about it in a board meeting, we can't do enough to take it out to the community and let them have a chance to digest it. And that wouldn't be before we get started, but it just seems more and more critical. They're interested and they're invested in the programs and have been for many families, for decades. And I've shared, at least with my team, you know, sometimes the reviews are not, you know, they're not done in six months. It might be a year or two. And how we think about bringing

057the community along has to be a part of that review. So I think it's an opportunity to, you know, come before the board if we, you know, land on a review of a particular program, but also think deeply about how community is involved kind of with that review, decision making, that type of thing. I mean, not all programs would be that in depth, but, you know, some are. When I think about dual language and, you know, if we're gonna, you know, do that one, that's a pretty. Pretty big program in our district. Barb, are we just talking about curriculum? I mean, I guess so curricular and extracurricular as well, or are we. I'm just wondering. Yeah, that's a good question. If we should. Well, When I was in Iseed a few months ago, you know,

058that's the question we had. Like many of the programs, I mean, they live in curriculum and instruction, but. And, you know, that's where we tend to kind of spend our money and resources. But, you know, I think it's important to kind of go through the exercise with all of our divisions as we were trained, because, you know, we just need to put everything on the table in terms of programming, what we believe programming is. And I guess I just thinking about no matter how many times we say it to the public, I'm just remembering this thing I saw on Facebook where people are like, academic return on investment sounds like they want to cut music. And I just think we should say that's not what it means. But there's something about that language that does

059sound like that. And I think it's helpful for us to talk about this in this way so that it's like, that's not what we mean. And we don't even mean cutting. So I know I'm just repeating what people have already said, but, yeah, I mean, to me, it means looking at the programs to make sure that they're effectively meeting the vision of the program and that it matches with our current needs in our strategic plan. And so, like, to me, that could also mean that we need to bolster some programs. So I think that's pretty clear. Anybody else? Okay, is there anybody in the public that wanted to make a public comment on this topic? Mr. Link, I see you coming forward. Welcome again. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just again, a point of information on

060work sessions. Is there a time limit for public comments on these individual ones or not? There's a time limit. Okay, just. Just so I know I can start my internal clock. So thank you, Mr. Chair. Brian Lang, President of CHCAE. I want to thank everyone up here for the thoughtful discussion this evening. And I'd like to echo and amplify some of the points that were raised and to bring up a couple additional items that haven't yet been mentioned. First, I want to thank board members who are talking about this the way we talk about it matters. And if I can help to give some context, as someone who comes from a finance background, return on investment doesn't blink an eye. But when you talk to everyday people, that has a different connotation for them. And

061I want to emphasize my entire comment tonight is about people, because when we say programs, you can't have programs without people. And to understand what our people have been through in this last year, in terms of cuts. And so people are very sensitive about this. And I would urge as we go forward that we talk about this in terms of people rather than in. It's not even academic jargon, it's almost financial jargon that's been incorporated into our dialogue. The second thing that I would like to just think is this idea of involving the community, and not just the community, but when we're talking about programs, the experts in your programs are the educators who are involved with them. And so we would hope as we go forward and we chart a new path, that there

062is ample opportunity for educator voice and feedback and whatever these committees and the decision making process and certainly that there's representation from our organization to have that input going forward. We don't want to engage in another. We're not marching to march to 4x4. We want to make sure that everyone is having to do that. The third thing that I want to say to everyone here is that if we're going to do a review of programming, right? And we're talking about aligning that to dollars, our ask as an organization is that we also do a review of spending, particularly spending on programming by another name, which is buy this product and implement it into our schools. Because if we're talking about what is the best return on investment, it's certainly, I would say an individual interacting

063with a child rather than a program popping up plants. And so I would hope, right as we're looking, as I heard, and I'm encouraged by this idea that it's not just shrink or reduce, but we can enhance that. That should give us more space in which to have the conversations around what can we do not just to manage dollars, but what can we do to really give our kids the best chance to be critical thinkers, learners, and successful in whatever path they choose to succeed in as we go forward. So we appreciate the start of this discussion. We look forward to being a part of it going forward. And we hope that that discussion can be people centered and can be broader in terms of where the dollars might be coming from. So thank you

064very much and appreciate and look forward to listening to the next item. Thank you, Mr. Link. Anybody else? Okay, then that moves us on to the next item, which is the Digital Learning Plan Coalition. Dr. Trice, I know this one's to you. Yes, looks like you and some other. While the team is coming forward, I just wanted to mention tonight, it's just our first opportunity to share with the board our roadmap to the development of a local technology plan. So this is not written in stone, but I think it's just as important to share with our community the process in terms of how we get to a product or our local plan. And so any feedback, guidance, direction from the board concerning what you'll see will be important. But I'm going to turn it over

065to Dr. DeBose who's going to introduce the topic for us before we get into our conversation. Thank you Dr. DeBose. Good evening Chair Griffin, Vice Chair Jenkins, Members of the board, Dr. Trice and cabinet my name is Dr. Erica Moses DeBose and I serve as Executive Director of elementary Curriculum, Instruction and Federal Programs. This evening we are here to provide an overview and share updates on our district's Digital Learning Plan. I am joined by my colleagues, Ms. Debbie Atwater, executive director of technology, and Mr. Al MacArthur, director of digital Learning and Libraries. Together we will walk you through key highlights of our progress and next steps. We value your voice. Your insight as board members are essential in shaping our Digital Learning Plan. As we present tonight. Please let us know what additions or changes

066you would recommend. Please let us know if there are priorities we should uplift more. Your feedback will help us ensure this plan reflects our vision, values and needs of our entire community. Why We Need a Local Plan Board Policy 3220 requires the Superintendent to submit a local technology plan aligned with state and federal guidelines. This gives us the opportunity to move beyond relying on the State's plan and create a CHCCS specific plan that builds on our strengths like strong infrastructure, one on one access while supporting instruction and also local priorities. The local plan will have curriculum audit recommendations embedded including developing a comprehensive plan with vision and goals Conducting a district wide needs assessment Defining measurable student learning objectives tied to technology integration Establishing standards for hardware, software and also Internet use Aligning planning with

067curriculum, instruction, SIPs and professional learning Ensuring budgets cover initial and ongoing maintenance Our guiding question in our current learning environments, what are the strengths and challenges from related to the digital learning in CHCCS that we must consider as we create our Digital Learning Plan? Our coalition participants bring together voices from across the district, students, parents, teachers, school leaders, central office staff and community partners ensuring that our Digital Learning Plan is shaped by diverse perspectives and also shared leadership, facilitation and leadership, school leadership, family and staff representation, and also central office staff. Our Digital Learning Development Roadmap Our roadmap aligns how we will move forward from identifying and prioritizing our needs to analyzing goals, drafting the Digital Learning Plan and ultimately refining it with stakeholder feedback before bringing it back to our board. Thank you. Good

068evening everyone. I am now going to go into more detail about each of the planning phases and we'll begin with this October 20th guiding coalition meeting. The outcome of this full day meeting will be to gain a comprehensive inventory of strengths and challenges within our approach to digital learning within our classrooms. During this first phase, coalition members will participate in a Situation Appraisal Protocol developed by Tragoed and facilitated by our very own Director of Secondary Humanities, Christy Stanley, who earned her Advanced TRIGOED Facilitator Certification a few years ago. The Situation Appraisal will be driven by our guiding Question. I'll bring that back up on the screen mentioned earlier, which is in our current learning environment, what are the strengths and challenges related to digital learning in CHCCS that we must consider as we create our

069digital learning plan? The Situation Appraisal is a structured and productive protocol that leads participants through a process where we brainstorm and clarify all all of the strengths, challenges, issues and opportunities for growth to get a strong sense of what elements within our digital learning strategies we need to maintain and what we need to address within the plan. After naming and clarifying the issues, which means making being a lot more specific around what those issues mean, we will prioritize which are most serious, most urgent, and if not addressed, could grow and cause a positive or negative impact on our students if not addressed over time. After we conduct a comprehensive analysis, we then name next steps for each issue, beginning with the highest priorities and specifically stating what needs to be done or what decisions need

070to be made or what changes and plans we need to implement. Finally, we identify who's going to lead each action and by when. This will ultimately give us all the information we need to create goals and objectives within the plan. During our next board update, you will be presented with the results of our Coalition's deep analysis, including a table of results of the Situation Appraisal. In Phase two, we're focusing on analysis and domain mapping. This will be on November 3rd. During this phase, our coalition will review the results of our work from October 20th. Then we will map and connect prioritized issues to both the Curriculum Audit recommendations and the North Carolina Digital Learning Plan domains which include Leadership and Vision, Human Capacity, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, data privacy and cybersecurity and technology, infrastructure and devices.

071Now you may ask yourself, what is the North Carolina Digital Learning Plan? And it was mentioned we were going to have that but also have our own plan. So how does that work? This research based plan was developed after the state legislators passed Session Law 2016-94 that required the North Carolina State Board of Education to oversee the development of a state district and school level digital learning plan. NCDPI partnered with NC State's Friday Institute and the first interaction of the plan launched in 2015 and all districts are required from that point forward to submit an assessment of their progress every two years via a rubric. Moving Ahead the pandemic accelerated the development of digital learning environments and amplified the need to continue the work of and commitment to growth and improvement of digital age learning

072in North Carolina and the plan needed to evolve. So in 2022, based on district feedback from across the state and new research, NCDPI launched a refined plan centering the work again around the student learning experience which you see in the middle of the graphic there, while addressing those five key domains leadership and vision, human capacity, curriculum, instruction, assessment, technology and infrastructure and data privacy and cybersecurity. While we develop the issues we deem to be most important in Chapel Hill Carbo City schools, this framework will help us to be cohesive with the state's plan that we will already be accountable to while we also directly address the specific suggestions brought forth from our community. So we're going back to the curriculum audit and then tying that to the Digital Learning Plan. The North Carolina Digital Learning

073Plan Framework aligns perfectly with the recommendations of the 2023 audit. This slide shows and illustrates how each audit recommendation on the left maps directly to one or more of the five domains of the Digital Learning Plan on the right, which will ensure our work is coherent and directly addresses the feedback that we've received. Turning over to AL now. Good evening all. By December, we'll take the issues and priorities surfaced by our analysis or during our analysis and use them to build a draft framework for our Digital Learning Plan. This framework centers are focused on transforming instruction, helping students think critically, collaborate and solve real world problems instead of students simply completing a digital worksheet, one can imagine a class where 8Th graders are collaborating on designing solutions to real world environmental issues, using technology to

074create documentaries, podcasts and infographics, among other products as a means of fostering creativity, problem solving and demonstrating mastery. It will also ensure that professional learning is consistent and sustainable so that our teachers not only know what tools exist, but when, where and how, how to. Use them with our students to deepen their learning. The framework also addresses sustainability and equity. Every student must have consistent access and support and we need a roadmap for. Device refreshes, infrastructure upgrades and long term investments. Sorry about that. Next slide. Awesome so once we have a draft. In January, we will be dedicated to internal review across central services to ensure the plan is aligned, realistic and sustainable. In February, we'll be seeking stakeholder feedback from school leadership, teacher leaders, families and students as well. Then in March we'll bring

075a refined version back to you where we will. Receive more feedback and with the goal of finalizing the plan in April along with community, along with a community facing version that will provide a little bit. More transparency, transparency and understanding for our. Communities to reference. Who anchors the plan. This plan cannot succeed without the collaboration. Of both instructional services and it. This will also include the thoughts and opinions of school leadership, cte, Multilingual Learners, Dual Language, World Language and EC departments as well. The Instructional leadership will be defining the Why, We'Ll be defining the why, connecting the technology to curriculum, equity and student engagement. And it will provide the how, the infrastructure, the security and the consistent access. So together we will partner on the grounds of this plan. Sorry. Together we will partner and

076ground this plan in equity access and deep learning. Looking ahead, our coalition will meet in. October, November and December with a draft ready in January. We'll use an a communication hub which. Will be on our district's website to keep the community updated and engaged throughout the process. And tonight we do invite your feedback. On what we should add to our current process or change. And I do want to mention that. I left one community member out on. The slide that listed out who would be a part of the coalition and that was a board member. So my apologies for that, but we're open to any questions now. Thank you all. Just give us a second to digest everything. Yes. So I've got a couple questions and it might be to you all, might be to

077Dr. Trice. Dr. Trice, just recently, after you were appointed, soon after you were appointed superintendent, you and I sat down one afternoon and we're just talking about a number of things and you brought up technology, just the concept of the issue as we were talking. And you were sort of the guru of the Curriculum and Instruction Management Plan three years ago and have been shepherding it through and it was a big part of. Could you share a little bit of your thinking of how we got to here? Because you know, to me this is exciting and it's also incredibly compressed to have something by January. Good. Yeah, it is kind of compressed. But for me thinking about this, it isn't just since I've been appointed, but throughout the development of the Curriculum and Instruction Management

078Plan which was underway before the audit. You know, thanks to Our team here, we knew then that, you know, something needed to change with respect to technology and digital learning. And the reason I say that, and I've shared with the board before, is what we found is that a lot of our technology was being used as a core resource for learning or teaching and learning, when in reality it was designed to be supplemental. And so you often hear me say, you know, we have to return to regular order with the adoption of curriculum and standards. That's kind of what we mean. We're not or we don't need to be in the business of purchasing technology to fill gaps when core curriculum should be doing that. And so this is also related to closing gaps and

079that type of thing. So to answer your question, this has been top of mind for me. I'm glad to see that in this plan, there would be a review at the central office level from the finance department, school leadership, instruction, to see what, you know, whether what we're proposing is sustainable. But this is not disconnected from the work around curriculum and instruction and making sure that our students have the resources they need to do deep learning, critical thinking. If we continue to rely on supplemental technology focused resources, it could be detrimental to that very action. I hope that answers your question. Yeah. No, I didn't. I just wanted to give you a chance because I know you've been working on it and talking about it sort of quietly for a long time. Yeah. And it

080hasn't been in isolation. I mean, I can look in the audience. I mean, these are conversations we've been having for a number of years. And you know what I would say it's very difficult to turn a district around that's been relying on technology resources for so long. I think the board is clear about the adoption of curriculum and what we haven't been doing as a, you know, that you can't adopt all curriculum in one year. You have to kind of do it over time. And so we think deeply about the impact, I think the science. Our adoption of our science curriculum was totally successful. I mean, even in terms of some of our student experience, achievement data, we see what happens when we do things appropriately and not relying on supplemental material. So, yeah, so

081this has been a long time coming and just excited about development of a plan, but also getting feedback from our community. I'm sure you're aware, even within our community, there's just been a lot of learning recently around AI and other technology focused areas that, you know, even our administration has been doing some deep learning about that directly impact our students in the classroom and our teachers. And so we really see this as a, you know, this may be a bit cliche, but as a living plan. So it might be compressed, you know, but I think it's important to kind of get an iteration of the plan out there early and get lots of feedback so that we can refine it and make sure that we're, you know, at least attuned to the various segments of

082our community that have, you know, rightful concerns about, you know, technology use in our district as well. Thank you. Because the one thing I hear the most is about student learning. Al, you mentioned critical thinking skills and students and the need to do that. And almost in one sentence, there's this, how do we teach critical thinking skills when the kids now can bypass it so easily and readily? And that's just. We hear it every day. And then the whole area of artificial intelligence. And you mentioned it. I assume that you're subsuming it into this review because it's almost a standalone issue that changes every 24 hours. But we can't just sit idle. And I'm not saying we were, but this seems like it'll organize it a lot, and so I'm excited. Ronnie. Go ahead, Mike.

083So first off,I want to say I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your entire decision making process. That it's. I know it's hefty, but, you know, you've got it all broken down. But you did ask us for feedback. So I'm going to be. I was a bit harsh about one particular thing that raised tackles with me in phase one. One of our jobs is to prioritize the issues and give them a sense, like rating them in terms of urgency. And I'm worried about using the term seriousness as one of the criteria for that because I feel like it's really subjective. It's also highly based on your perspective, who's looking at it and where you're coming from. How would you deem that serious? And I'm sure that Ms. Stanley is well trained in how to approach that.

084You know, you said that in her training. But I would also caution you that if I were in this committee and brought up an issue that then got rated as low seriousness, I would be feeling pretty judged. So that's my concern with that piece of it. Yeah. Thank you so much for the presentation. I am. I think it's certainly appropriate that we pause and take some time to be intentional about how we want to implement technology. And we're a little behind the train because the technology has been out of the box for so long. But I really appreciate this focus, to really have that thoughtful approach of, as Mike said, engagement. But also thinking about kind of what should be included in this plan. I do have a question about the deliverables, and I'm assuming

085this is going to be. Be the case, but I'm assuming that there will also be some recommendations on training for staff, recommendations on the number of staff resources. So I think about, like, program facilitators, for example, and then how these resources connect. Right. And so how they engage in support of student learning. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation.I just had a couple of questions. When we're looking at the, I guess the initial coalition group, and, you know, definitely this obviously lends itself to more staff, but how are we going to go about selecting the parents and students who participate? We're looking at, like, the ratios. It's pretty low in terms of that, but I get it. Trying to herd a whole lot of cats here. Right. And so you don't want it to be

086too big. And so I'm just curious about what that looks like, because you got to be careful because technology and digital learning and everything, it can look very different. Even if people look the same or sit in the same buildings or whatever, it can look completely different. And so I'm curious about that piece, and you don't have to answer it now, but just kind of think about it. If you don't. Oh, okay. If you got it. So we are working together with Dr. Trice on thinking through that, and we have reached out to some parents, and we are also working with some of our colleagues, Lori Clark and so forth, with groups that are already existing that we might be able to. To find some parents who can do this work with us. So I

087think we are also still seeking some need for that. We definitely want to have a group that is representative of our district, and we definitely want to make sure that that's the case. So we have until October 20th to continue that work. We're also doing that. We're also identifying students, and we've also reached out to, I believe, our school administrators to help us with seeking some representation. Dr. Trice, I have an answer. Yes. Yeah. And again, I think from, like, doing one of these groups, they're pretty complicated, and so that does make it tough. So then, Dr. Trice, you can answer. But then my second question is where, I think where we're going to get a lot more input and we can have a broader and larger range of people is that feedback phase. And

088so I'm curious what that looks like. I mean, it's a really short window. I mean, obviously it's a living document, so it's gonna be ongoing. But I'm just curious what that kind of looks like or what you're thinking about. I think it's tied to your first question as well. And, you know, what we're thinking now is similar to what we did for the 4x4, where we had a guiding coalition, but we were certainly intentional about, you know, visiting schools, visiting communities, doing something similar with this group. I think this topic is big enough that, you know, we could give each school a task of getting feedback from parents during a session that they already have planned, as opposed to saying, you know, come to this technology review session and where parents are already gathering. One

089of the things we're discussing is how do we give schools a protocol that will allow us to get broad feedback and that we could use to kind of incorporate into our findings, so to speak. Yeah, might be helpful to let schools know about this, because I know I've been sitting in at least one of my school SIT meetings, and they're working on curriculum nights and things like that. And that's a great way to put plug in. They might think about the timing of some of those nights in school events that would align where they're naturally gonna have a large group of parents there, and they might be able to have like a group or a session on this where they can bring them forward. Cause obviously, we don't get as many people paying attention to

090this in a board meeting. And even sometimes some events might be mixed. Like if we say, oh, we're gonna have a digital night, maybe you get some people, but it doesn't sound very fun and interesting. Then if they're already going to have. Sorry, guys. Like, if they're already going to have like a school event where they already know they're going to pull 150 of their families there. So you also remember there were a number of virtual options during the 4x4 where parents, you know, staff could log in. And so we're also discussing what that might look like various times of the day during the evening, those types of things that will complement, you know, in person kind of reviews or feedback sessions. Yeah, I would high just because I've been sitting in some of these

091SIT meetings. I would highly encourage you to engage with them and use them as a vehicle to get the information out there about what this is and so they can start socializing it and getting it out there to their families. And so, so they can really be invested because this is really big. And so they really need to be engaged in this and definitely want to hear from different groups in our community because they're the ones who sometimes struggle in a lot of spaces. And this digital stuff can get really complicated and hard and then you layer on some of the other challenges like language and things like that. And, and so I just want us to be really intentional about reaching as deep and far in our communities as we can. I really appreciate

092that. When you say reaching, I also believe in, first of all, the guiding coalition is going to be talking through this and deciding on where and how this feedback mechanism looks and feels. But I encourage, I also am thinking about how do we get into the community? How do we go to communities that are not necessarily going to be coming to school for these sessions, but going to them and finding ways to do that. And I know we have some amazing staff who do that work every day and we want to tie into that work every day any feedback we can get on how that can look. We certainly would appreciate that. Glad you mentioned that because you know, I believe in naming things. So let's say what you're naming family and community engagement, something

093that we definitely need to work on and increase within our district in all facets. So I would say that in November there's going to be the STEM fair that's going to be at Hargraves with E3 camp Anissa McLendon. I would definitely say that would be worth your time in reaching out to her because you definitely would be able to tap into families that may not be in these buildings, which does not mean that they're not engaged. They just may not be engaged in the way that some people perceive they should be. So that needs to be something that we need to look at full stop. But yeah, for sure that definitely be one. And then just looking at the different things throughout, like the culture night when the McDougals are going to have those, when

094they have a whole lot of their students and families and kids community that come into those buildings throughout and look. So just to really tap into all the different things that are going on that are in our communities that aren't school district based, but are definitely in touch with our children and our families. Thank you. I just had a very minor point in the coalition participants slide just I noticed that under central office staff you specify that there are two EC representatives, which I'm happy to see that. But I think it's also important that somebody who's Currently teaching EC students would have a really important voice on this topic because digital resources are used widely and more so every day with students with disabilities for a whole host of reasons, whether it's, you know, augmented

095communication devices or, you know, just all kind, all kinds of things, text to type, all things like that. So just making sure that we. And it changes so quickly that the people who are actually have boots on the ground and are doing the work, I think it would be important to get input from them. Yes, we completely agree. And those two members are considered central office staff because they serve multiple schools. But one of the members is or one of the participants is one. of the people lead up our assistive technology team. So having their perspective will definitely be important. That's great. Thank you. No worries. I would also mention perhaps not as part of the coalition that we're building, just partnering with professors at UNC who is doing research in this area. Cutting edge

096research in this area has been tremendously helpful in terms of my own thinking, the thinking of our staff in our last DLT meeting. Just a good amount of learning around AI, just reviewing scenarios that our principals hadn't even thought of, we haven't really thought of. And I just imagine we're going to continue to do some of that work even while we're developing a plan, just continuing to learn. It's just been so helpful. So I just feel really fortunate that we're in this area. UNC Chapel Hill is right down the street and the researchers who are doing some cutting edge work more than willing to kind of partner with us and engage with us. So that's a bit of a shout out, but just really fortunate to be in this community. Well, Dr. Trice, to all

097of you, thank you. This is a huge one of those in scope and so getting your committees and organizing it and this early in the year gets us a good start. So we certainly appreciate it and look forward to the next 90 days in terms of what we can hear. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. And because it's a work session item, if there's any public comment, anybody here tonight. If you'd identify yourself, sir. And. Who is this guy? Good evening, My name is still Brian Link and I'm still the president of the Chapel Hill Carrboro association of Educators. I appreciate the exercise that I'm getting, so my body thanks you. I just want to. I was remiss earlier. I didn't get a chance to give a shout out to Dr. St. Stewart

098and his work on safety and his presentation, but it Led me to think about he's done an excellent job with our calendar committee and ensuring that lots of different people get feedback, including also in the follow up phase with surveys, open ended comments, et cetera, that the board can then review. So I would hope, it seems to me tonight that rather than silos the discussion on return of investment and our digital learning plan, that these should be integrated. Right. Rather than sort of like, you take this lane, you take this lane and we go and that we do have some good practices that are already here that we can utilize. I just want to. There's a lot of me just sitting there going, ditto, right. So I'll say ditto to Dr. Trice in terms of

099it that. Right. That there's no supplement for the actual instruction and interaction with human beings. But like anything else, technology can be a tool for good or not so good. I would say ditto to the. The piece that was brought up by board members about critical thinking. And I would hope there's perhaps an educational piece in the PD about critically thinking around like, what is the technology or who's behind it and designing it. What are the purposes there so we can help educate our students. Not just sort of say, like use this, but why is it being used and you know, what are the concerns, especially when we get to things like AI is about, like what are the inputs, like how reliable is this? Right. Is the input going to, you know, provide you

100with a good output or are there things you should think about? I want to say ditto, obviously, to getting as many people involved in the community from parents and students. And I think it's a great idea. We've heard from board members from utilizing already. Right. Utilizing structures we already have like sits or utilizing events that we've heard in the communities that are around these things. Right. Because we know folks are going to be engaged and reaching out. Right. To folks who, as Dr. Trice said, have been speaking about this a long time. Right. And so ditto to experts in the community like you and, and others who have spoken on technology. And I'm sure this is going to come as a great shock to you all, but we obviously would love to continue partnering. I

101know Ms. Atwater has definitely reached out in the past and we look forward to reaching out to you again. Right. To ensure CHCA representation in all phases of this. And I want to thank board member Ballou for talking about, like, how do we get a diversity of instructors as well, especially because technology can play such a critical role with our different student populations and expanding it not just to EC but thinking about our newcomer populations and right how familiar are they with technology and how can we help facilitate that. So again we appreciate the discussion that's here tonight. We look forward to helping and assisting Anyway, we'd be happy as an organization to gather folks and to gather input as well to provide that feedback so you can get as broad of a range of

102ideas as possible. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Link. Anybody else? Ms. Roche, welcome. Thank you. Good evening. Mary Beth Roesch Phillips Parent and Digital Wellness Educator I will start first by saying ditto to everything that Mr. Link just said and also thank you. Thank you for recognizing that this is a challenge we need to bring serious attention to. Thank you for realizing we can no longer default to an approach of techno optimism. Yes, technology can offer benefits. Technology can also have pitfalls and harms. Thank you for making this an urgent issue. Yes, it is compressed, but this is something that needs action now. So as one parent said to me as a mom to middle school students, the timing matters a lot. My kids don't get a second chance at educational formation. And thank you

103for this team approach to tech. This is what our students need for learning, safety and well being. I'm going to throw out some kind of random thoughts and comments based on the presentation in not necessarily a cohesive way regarding the coalition. I strongly urge the involvement of some middle school students. I think that the experience of today's middle school students is quite possibly very different than what the high school students who may be on the coalition have experienced and they also had a different today's middle schoolers had a different elementary experience. So I want to make sure that that is we are getting a clear picture of really what's going on today. Have we considered inviting mental health professionals and pediatricians? So there are many parents in our community obviously in these professions who are

104very invested in in this topic. They are seeing the impacts of technology on adolescents every day and questions about screen time and device use are now standard. When you go to a pediatrician's office for a wellness check, perhaps we can consider even like a brief application or volunteer window for people who may be interested. I don't know exactly how built out this is already. And then lastly, as we have all said, this is big. So my one concern and I do not know exactly how this is executed, I'm sure it's very methodical is it sounds like we are trying to address challenges and identify priorities first. When something is this big, I think it's often good to start with your Purpose and your why to know what your walk working towards. So just trying to

105identify things that need to change and what do we need to peel back? That can get very overwhelming very quickly. Someone said to me a long time ago, it's a lot easier to have something to run toward than it is to run away from. Not that we're running away from technology, but. So just a thought, having a little bit more of a vision to start with as we identify some challenges. So again, thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Roche. Anybody else? Ms. Hamel. Good evening. My name is Carrie Hamel, and about five years ago now I served on the Technology Advisory Council which was dismantled and I am thrilled that it's back. And I echo the comments that were made earlier. If I had two talking points through this very condensed process, it

106would be always asking, is this supporting or dissuading that Chapel Hill Carrboro is about tech over teachers during these priority settings? Are we prioritizing tech over teachers and do we have tech without staff? I don't recall that there's been a summary of how the reduction in force worked. But do we have the necessary staff so that we can have the tech, the finances? I think it would be helpful if there was a financial brainstorming discussion about what needs to be looked at financially. Questions I've had for years was what are the price of the consultants that are related to technology here in Chapel Hill Carrboro? What's the price of the tech organizations and associations? What is the travel regarding technology and what gaps do we have then? Also just to be innovative, if we're looking

107for the students to be the ones who take ownership, that they're the people, they're not data, they're the people. One thing that has come up again five years ago, data deletion day. What do students want to have deleted. That schools possess of theirs? I would encourage folks to be a bit more creative about what is going to be looked at and please feel free to reach out. I'd be happy to forward materials that were discussed five years ago with the Technology Advisory Council that only was in place for a very brief time. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Hamel, is there anybody else that would like to speak? Okay, Dr. Trice, thank you all. Well, that'll move us on then to the superintendent's report. And we have an update here on state assessment summary. Yeah, this

108is for informational purposes only, not a presentation, but just to kind of walk you through through that portion of the agenda. So what you have before you is a local and state assessment summary. This information is also in our curriculum and instruction management plan. But just for transparency purposes for the board and our community. Annually we share what assessments are being used in our district, the grade level, the test date, you know, whether it's state or local, online or, you know, paper tests, estimated time and the maximum time the assessments take. We don't have anything to discuss beyond that. But if there's, you know, further discussion that the board would like around any of these assessments, we'll be happy to return with information. And this is something that you report annually to us? Absolutely, yeah.

109Anybody not seeing any questions, I think we appreciate the information. Thank you, Dr. Trice. That brings us to committee reports and sharing. And we'll start with finance committee reason. Our next committee meeting is going to be on Tuesday, October 14th at 5:30. It's virtual and all our meeting information is on the website. Thank you. Policy committee. Policy committee is meeting on October 21st at 5:30. And Student Success Committee, we are October 28th at 5:30 the fourth Tuesday. Thank you. Are there any board committee reports? Liaison El Reza. I had an opportunity to attend the Rashka SIT meeting on Monday, September 22nd. And the staff were busy working on the updates to their new and updated sit plan. So we'll hear those later this year. There were some questions that the staff had that were more

110district level, so I did point them to certain staff. Director Trice, I didn't connect with you or the staff who I pointed them to, but I suggested they connect with central office staff with their questions. Thank you. Anybody else? Yes, I was able to attend the black sel hub ribbon cutting at this on the 25th. They sent us some information to the board and so I was thankful to be able to attend. I was, I was actually was going to be going anyway. So I was one of the fortunate parents who has a daughter who is one of the associates with Black sel. But the hub that was opened at Hillside where it's housed, it's the first one in the country. So there were people from all over the country that came to see the

111Black Social Emotional Learning Hub that's in Hillside. It is absolutely wonderful. They had people presenting data about why the SEL hub is working and how the students are responding. They have a camp that goes on in the summer that is free and the meals, the social Emotional Learning. It's an absolutely wonderful opportunity and I was thankful that my daughter got to participate in it this past summer. And we tried to get the information pushed out as much as we Could WTVD was there covering. It was lots of media, a lot of different people from around the triangle. But it was was really a wonderful event and I will say that they took the time to not just show numbers but to give real life people and stories and background as to how the SEO hub

112that started with a club at the school, there's a non profit that's called Black Sel in Durham and some of the young people that had worked with this non profit to go to to the camp, they went to the adults and said we'd like to have a club and they started a club and then that nonprofit worked with those young people and they eventually got to open something that we didn't have anywhere in the country. So history was made, young people are advancing and it was absolutely beautiful. So yeah, I just wanted to share that. Thank you, Vicki. Meredith? I just wanted to acknowledge that from sundown yesterday to sundown tonight was the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. And so I just wanted to wish our Jewish families and staff hope they had an easy

113fast and a happy new year with Rosh Hashanah last week. Thanks. Thanks, Meredith. Anybody else? Yeah, go ahead. So I am excited to share as an African American who also identifies as Filipino American, that October is Filipino American History Month. Just in case anyone doesn't know, I'm first generation Filipino American. My mother immigrated here, gosh, almost 50 years ago. And so the first recorded Filipinos to the continental US was in Morro Bay, California on October 18, 1587. So a long time ago, Filipino American history was formally recognized by the United states Congress in 2009. Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the United States. And in California, Filipino Americans are the third largest ethnic group after Latinos or Latinx and African Americans. The Filipino American National Historical Society does select a theme

114this year and I think the theme is quite fitting considering the climate we're in. It's on Filipino American migration and Movement. It actually commemorates the 90th anniversary of the 1935 Filipino Repatriation act and also the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act. These two acts of you care to read about them are on two ends of the immigration spectrum. One was a movement to move Filipinos out of the country and another one was to promote Filipinos coming to the United States. So without understanding the history of immigration and migration of groups like Filipino Americans, we cannot understand nor can we appreciate our full history as Americans. Filipino Americans have played key roles in the areas of education, health, science, politics, art, social justice and other areas. So take some time. Learn about the

115contributions of Filipino Americans. Thank you. Thank you, Reza. Not seeing anything else? Then the meeting is adjourned.