Board of Education - Dec 04, 2025

001[GAVEL] The meeting of the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education will come to order. The chair requests a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? It carries unanimously. Thank you. So, we're a little out of our customary order tonight. We're going to begin with our swearing in ceremony, and we're going to do it in the order of Ms. Manning first and then Ms. Jenkins and then myself. And after we do that, we're going to have a brief organizational meeting here and then we'll take an extended break to get some pictures, more pictures. And for the family members that are here, for board members being sworn in, they'll be taking some candid photos while the swearing in ceremony is going on.

002And you're welcome to join your family member at the podium or up front here or not. [LAUGHING] Well, I don't want to make any assumptions. My wife is here and I'm going to ask her to join me when it's my turn. Is there Anything else, Dr. Trice, we need to explain process wise at this point? Okay. With that said, we'll get on with the swearing in ceremony. Where's Ms. Manning? Where did you go? Come forward, please. We have Judge Joel Brown, who's graciously agreed to be with us again tonight. Judge Brown is a former school board member of ours and well known to many of us in the community. We appreciate her. Come this way. I think they told me to put everybody on this side. Yeah, Everyone who wants to come can come. Do

003you want to be with you at this moment? I kind of like them. Okay. All right. And so you're going to the places you'll go. Okay, I like that. All right. Great. Wonderful. All right. If you would raise your right hand. Repeat after me or you can put Sorry about that. [SWEARING IN] Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. So now I'm going to need you to sign two things. Okay. My real name? Your real name. [APPLAUSE] We're going to give the new board members, newly sworn in board members, a chance to say something after everybody has sworn in. So, Ms. Jenkins, you're up next. Who's gonna hold it? All right, repeat after me. [SWEARING IN] Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. I need you to sign. Left hand on the Bible. Raise your right hand. God sort of passed

004the first test. Repeat after me, please. [SWEARING IN] Congratulations. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. I need you to sign two copies. That will do it. Thank you so much. It's an honor and privilege to swear, members of the Board of Education. To Ms. Manning and Ms. Jenkins. If each of you would like to say something, this would be the time to do it. But you don't have to. (INAUDIBLE) You sure? First, I want to thank everyone for coming out today and especially Judge Joe Brown for swearing us in. I'd also like to thank the voters for their support during this election. I really appreciated the chance to connect and meet with our community, hearing their concerns and questions, while having the opportunity to affirm my commitment to public education and to our Chapel Hill Carver City School

005students and staff. I'm here for you, and we will continue to do the work so that all students have the tools and opportunity to be the living version of our portrait of a graduate. To the board, Dr. Trice and cabinet members, thank you for your work and the work we will accomplish these next four years. Thank you to all the candidates who ran during this last election cycle, and congratulations to all the newly elected and reelected officials. Your commitment to serving our community is truly appreciated. To my family, along with the family I've made and my friends near and far, running for office and serving on the board as an elected official isn't easy. So, thank you for being there for me, with me with encouraging texts, motivational calls, and just hanging out. And, of

006course, I finally want to say another special thank you to my children. You are each wonderful human beings, and I truly mean it. Not because I'm your mom, because you really are. It is my honor to be on this adventure with you and I love all of you. Democracy requires ongoing participation from the community so that we can continue growing, supporting, and challenging ourselves. The elections over the next few years across North Carolina and nationally are critical to protect and recommit ourselves to public education. We need to make sure that this message is sent loud and clear in the voting booth for our children and for the future of democracy. I'd like to end with a quote from Franklin Roosevelt. Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The

007real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] That was nice, Riza. I had no idea I was going to follow that. In a more serious vein, I do want to thank the community and the voters, no question, you know, in a heartfelt way, serving on the board at this point in my career, in my life, has been. I think, the most important honor I've had. You know, I complain a lot. We go. It's a lot of work and this and that, but it's really good work. Judge Brown and I were talking about it beforehand. She having been on the board here herself, it is good work. And to do it again, honestly, I didn't think four years ago that I would be doing this again. But I am. And I'm getting all emotional,

008so I'm gonna take a deep breath. When I learned early on in public speaking, when you start losing it, just say it and then you'll calm down. It didn't work. But it. Just being involved in this community. As engaged as it is in public education, is a real treat. And I say that from my heart. Just bear with me. I was thinking as I was sitting there, standing there with Judge Brown and my wife, the last time I did this. Yeah, four years ago. But I had this flashback to 45 years ago when we got married and, but I was nervous then and I had practiced and everything. And I wish Judge Brown had been there that day because she broke it up into three word sentences. I was like, whew. But, you know, it's

009that powerful being up here. So, thank you for indulging my emotional moment. And I think I'm just going to stop there. With that said, Ms. Manning, I'm going to give you another chance if you'd care to say anything or you don't have to. I did not prepare anything. I didn't either. Oh, okay. I just want to say a big thank you to Of course, a lot of my people are in the audience right now and thank you all for putting up with me on this kind of crazy journey. Thanks particularly to my husband, Richard and Nick Gallo for putting up, I don't know how many hundred of those school bus signs and taking them down. But thanks to all of you for just putting your faith in me. [APPLAUSE] All right, then. So, after we

010did that, we are going to now do our elections. I'm going to turn the meeting over to Dr. Trice and you're going to conduct the chair election. That is correct. So, thank you, Dr. Griffin. Good evening, everyone. So, we're going to move to the organizational portion of our meeting, which includes, as was mentioned, the election of our board leadership. For the coming year, the board will elect a chair and a vice chair. Using a written ballot, each board member will mark one nominee, sign the ballot and return it to our board attorney, sitting to my left. Ballots are public records and available for inspection after the meeting. So, board members, who among you is interested in serving as Chair? I am. Ms. Jenkins is interested in serving as chair. Okay, Ms. Jenkins, if you want,

011you can present a 90 second vision statement to your colleagues explaining your interest in the role, which will be followed by up to five minutes of Q and A. Thank you. I've really appreciated my first four years on the board, learning, listening and meeting our student staff, community board members, both past and present. We are truly an awesome district, doing some really cool things. We have a commitment to providing high quality public education for all students in our community with the best staff you could want for our students. However, providing that high quality education has been challenging, especially over the past few years, which will require us to continue to make some tough decisions, financially and operationally. Decisions that may be uncomfortable at times, but some that are new and exciting, like building new schools.

012As board chair, I will facilitate these board conversations and decisions that align with our commitment to our students and staff. Also, I've spent time in our community getting to know community members and building relationships with our fellow elected officials across all levels of government. We are not alone in this work, and it is essential that the chair of the board foster and maintain these critical relationships as we are all experiencing many of these same challenges. Whether it's in D.C. Raleigh, Hillsboro, Chapel Hill or Carrboro, I know we can continue to do the work under the strategic plan while laying the foundation and providing the tools for the district to be resilient and prepared for the future. Thank you. And I welcome questions from my fellow board members. Congratulations again and thank you for your comments.

013My question is like, what do you see the kind of major shifts that you think the board needs to make to operate more efficiently? I think, well, a few things that the board and the district are going to need to do is shift how we've been traditionally handled. Our finances. I know Dr. Trice has been going out and speaking to community members about our enrollment, but it is a reality that we can't turn away from. It's going to be an ongoing challenge with unfortunately not an end anytime soon. So, I think that's really the focus is how do we set ourselves up successfully financially. Making some adjustments. We're going to start. I know we. In my first term, we initially started talking about looking at some of our programs and how we operate in our

014district. And so, we're going to have to continue to do the work and see where we need to make some adjustments. And there's always some opportunity to bring in some new, fresh things into our district too, as we make those changes. But I think the finances and our programs are our biggest things. I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. More specific specifically to the board operations. So, you've talked more about the district. Which is certainly important and that's. Right. Just more like how we navigate as a board. Could speak to that, yeah. One thing I think is really helpful for us as board members is. You know, making sure we utilize our committee structure. We have a lot of work and information to go through. We have an oversight role as a board, and

015there's so many moving parts in our board and I think really utilizing our committees to help with the oversight. We meet twice a month, which is a lot, but it's still not enough time to go through and understand what's happening in each and every school with every program. Policy wise. It's a lot of policy. We have a lot of policy. I know, we're still going through the policy cycle review, so I think really just making sure we're looking at things. Also, I also think just some of our Maybe also how we our relationship in the community as board members. I know we've done some office hours, but we also serve as liaisons to committees and organizations. And so I know we're going to talk about that tonight, but I think we really need to kind

016of ramp up as board members really that engagement and asking, you know, even beyond what maybe some of the purposes some of those groups are, just how are things really going? Because sometimes when you're in those liaison roles, you only talk about certain things. But I think we also need to utilize that because those liaison roles, we touch a broad swath of the community that we may not reach. Also I think Any other questions or comments at this time? We have two minutes left. If there are no additional comments, I'm going to pass down the ballot, the written ballot. There are seven ballots for seven board members. So, when you're done, just fold the paper in half and pass them back my way and I will provide them to Ms. Dubuisson. So just so the

017public is aware, the candidate receiving the majority of the votes is elected chair. The vote is unanimous for Riza Jenkins. [APPLAUSE] So, I'll turn it over to Ms. Jenkins who will handle the process for the selection of our vice chair. Okay, thank you. The board will elect a vice chair using a similar process using a written ballot. Each board member will mark one nominee, sign the ballot and return it to the superintendent or the board attorney. Ballots are public record and available for inspection. After the meeting, board members, who among you are interested in serving as vice chair. (INAUDIBLE) Barb Fedders and if you want, you can present a 90 second vision statement to your colleagues explaining your interest in the role, followed by a 5 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes for Q and

018A. And after presentations are made, each board member will complete a written ballot. Dr. Trice will collect and count the ballots and announce the results. So, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Riza. I first want to thank George for your service over these two years. You're the only chair I've ever worked with and it's big shoes. So, thank you so much for your service and thank you Riza for stepping up to do this huge job. So first and foremost, of course, I want to support and back up you as we do this. But also more broadly, I guess the district under Dr. Trice's leadership is embarking on an important journey of reimagining public education. And as he says, the next 25 years must look different from the last, not because we've lost our

019way, but because the world around us is changing, and we owe it to our children to meet that change with courage. So, the board has a crucial role in this journey, and as vice chair, I would prioritize the following. So first, helping us apply with fidelity with the district, the academic return on investment process, which will allow us to evaluate how effective our programs and services are at improving student outcomes across all demographics as measured by attendance, student perceptions of their own well being and sense of belonging, course grades and performance on different local assessments. And this process also should include chatting with families who've left the district for private, home and charter schools. Whenever we can, let's find out what it is that people feel like they aren't getting here and let them know

020we'd like them back. And last, this process also doesn't and shouldn't only mean cutting, but should be an opportunity to innovate, combine and create new programs where necessary. So second, gaining and maintaining the trust of this diverse community, which requires a couple of different things. So first, and especially now, communicating to all of our families. No matter their immigration status, that they are welcome here and integral to the community that we have. All students have to feel as safe as possible socially and emotionally. Nobody can learn in fear. So second, maintain that communication that we've had with the community through newsletters, through office hours, the liaison to the committees at Reason mentioned, and being open and responsive to community feedback. However we get it, staying on top of the budget to prepare for enrollment, related

021cuts we might need to make in the coming years. Understanding the scope and content of our staffing structures so we can explain and defend it to the community and if necessary, critique it. Ensuring the bond process goes smoothly and transparently so taxpayers feel their money is being well spent. And if and when we choose to close elementary schools, we have to do so with care for our staff, plenty of advance notice to our families, and an ability for community members to weigh in. And last but not least, Riza said a version of this as well. A strong public school district is the lifeblood of local democracy, and so I would work on strengthening relationships with our external partners. So, towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, Orange county commissioners, neighboring school districts, chamber of Commerce, public

022school foundation, et cetera, so that everyone feels fully invested in the success of our schools, whether they have children in them or not. Thank you. Okay, board members, please mark your ballots and pass them to Dr. Trice. I have a question. I'm sorry. Five minutes for questions. My bad. Thank you. We have to use that six and a half minutes. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Chair Jenkins. I got to say that for the first time, which is what do you think the board needs to do differently in terms of the way we operate as a body, not necessarily administration or the district that can help improve our efficiency? Well, I think efficiency and I guess efficacy too, right. So, I guess they're related. But I mean, I agree with what

023Riza said. I would say that it's important for us to prioritize our relationships outside of this room as well. And so doing what we can, you know, within the open meetings laws to build relationships that last and that allow us to get over bumps when we disagree. And I think also not forgetting about things. So like we have a lot of work that we do and I think sometimes we'll get presentations and we're like, we have this great idea and then there's just this stuff that happens like the day to day there are crises and so somehow finding a way to keep our eyes on the big kind of 60,000 foot view of this school district so that to not get bogged down in operations. I hope that's responsive. Okay. All right. Any other questions?

024(INAUDIBLE) Oh, you do? Go ahead. I don't have as much a question as. I just wanted to thank both of you for stepping up and am optimistic and couldn't be happier. So have at it. All right, with that. Now, board members, please mark your ballots and pass them to Dr. Trice. You can mark them and fold them in half. We have an extra one then there. [APPLAUSE] Congratulations All right. Yeah, we do move our seats. We're going to move our seats at this time, but we're also going to take a brief recess. So, we can take some photos. So obviously we'll get some direction from Mr. (INAUDIBLE). We will return back to the agenda at 7 o'clock. [RECESS] [GAVEL] I probably should have hit that harder, but anyway, welcome back. So, our next item on

025the agenda is public comment. I'd like to read a few housekeeping remarks related to public comment. The board appreciates and encourages public comment. Board members will listen to the comments and may ask or make clarifying questions. But there will be no general discussion related to the comments. Speakers have up to three minutes for their comments and you'll see that time indicated in front of the clock in front of Ms. Fedders. When you are recognized, please come forward. State your Name. And if you're speaking for an organization, please identify the name of the organization. We'll start with recognizing any teacher organization, sit or student groups, followed by anyone who signed up in advance, and finally, any other persons wishing to make a comment. So at this time, do I have any teacher organization, sit or student

026groups. I see Mr. Link is coming forward. Thank you. Good evening, Madam Chair. That's exciting to say. My name is Brian Link and I'm the president of the Chapel Hill Carrboro association of Educators. Chair Jenkins, Vice Chair Fedders. Members of the school board, our Superintendent, members of cabinet and the public. I rise tonight for a number of things. First, to briefly thank our outgoing chair Dr. Griffin, for all of his work these past four years. Certainly, we've had a lot to deal with over that time and you've been a steady hand in ensuring that our district continues to thrive and succeed. And we thank you for all the tireless effort and time that you put in and sacrifice to make sure that Public education thrives here at Chapel Hill. Now on to congratulations to our

027newest board member, Ms. Manning. We're excited to have you seated and welcome. And we look forward over the next four years as an organization worth working with you and all the board members there. And we're delighted that you decided to step up in terms of public service to serve our community and we have no doubt that you will continue to support and advocate for Educators just as you have done on the outside. And now you're on the inside side. To our two new elected chairs and vice chairs. Again, we offer our sincerest congratulations as you heard from your colleagues. Thank you for being willing to step up. We know the job is not easy. Ms. Jenkins, you have served with aplomb in the role of the vice chair. And we couldn't be more excited with

028not only your re election, but now your leadership in the chair role. And now, Vice Chair Fedders. We thank you. It's great to see this board come together and to know that over different elections that cycles, you all can work together as a single voice to support our students and our community here. And we're excited for your leadership going forward. And again, we stand ready to work with you every step of the way. Now, on to other remarks. As you can see, tonight is a little bit different. It's the holidays. There's only one meeting this year. So, I do want to wish everyone well and a happy holidays. And apparently we brought the weather. And thank you, Andy J. Jenks, as always, for the call. I know my students are very excited about the two

029hour delay. That was definitely a topic of conversation. But on to more serious matters, I do want to sincerely thank the superintendent and the team that he had going around to the community over these past weeks to make sure that people were fully informed in the spirit of transparency about what challenges our district faces and how we're going to approach them and I think that's going to serve you well as you go into your board retreat and to move matters forward. And again, we look forward to partnering with you on that. In addition, I just want to again give a shout out to Dr. Stewart. We started the work on the next calendar, and as always, it's a very open, welcoming and a process that is committed as we get into the holiday season to

030ensuring that our very diverse community is reflected and celebrated and has a chance to spend time with family. And so, as my remarks come to a close this evening, speaking of family, we are one giant family. And two, I want to say a thanks. And I'm so grateful for my students. I'm grateful for my colleagues both in my building, but my educators around this district and I'm grateful for everyone from the Public in here who sends their kids to the schools, to. All right, those of you who lead on a daily basis for making Chapel Hill Carrboro the place that everyone wants to come. And we ensure that it's going to continue for that next 25 years. And we're here every step of the way to support kids, to support our colleagues, and to support

031public education. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] All right, thank you. Any other organizations or groups? Okay. And it looks like we've got one person who signed up. Elliot. Is it more (INAUDIBLE) or Morton? Morton. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Congratulations to the new board member and thanks for your service. And I'm here to put in a couple of comments about the effect of the rebuilding of Carrboro elementary on the woods. I gather tonight's the night that you all are going to vote on the architect. I've been a Carbo elementary parent since 2021 and a neighbor of Carrboro elementary since 2003, and I've had a lot of opportunity to observe how the woods interact with the school. And there's two things I wanted to make sure to put in front of you all. So, one is that, the way

032that the water drains off of the Carrboro. The Carrboro elementary School grounds, the playground is shaped like a bowl. It funnels all the water that falls on those grounds down towards the woods, and it goes into a. There's a Sewer drain, storm sewer that takes some of it into a pipe that runs it under the woods, under the Shetley Bikeway, and dumps it into a creek on the far side of the bikeway. But if it rains at all hard, that's not enough. The bowl fills up with water, and the bowl funnels the water into the woods. And if you go walking past those woods after it rains, you'll notice that water still continues to leach out of the woods long after it stops raining. So, the woods are absorbing the water. And then paying it

033out a little at a time into the creek and slowing down. They're preventing a sudden surge of water into the creek. The creek itself needs all the help it can get, because even with the new culvert that they put in there a few years ago to prevent flooding, where the bike path hits North Greensboro street, even then, I was out there this summer in July, right after Chantal, Tropical Storm Chantal. And with the water flowing out of the. Off the playground, across the through the woods, into the creek. The creek was one brick course below the upper lip of that enormous double culvert. A lot of water flows off of that playground. And if it rains at all hard, the creek overflows its banks and almost overflows the road. And the woods are doing some

034kind of job in holding some of that water back and letting it leak slowly out after the rain stops. So that's the first point I wanted to make, is. I mean, I'm sure they have hydrologists at the architect. They're going to take a look at this. But please make sure to ask them about this directly and have them measure it. The other thing is that I looked through the application that y' all got from the architect, and if you look at. So let's see. Where is this? So, the architect's application has a section. How much time have I got? I'm sorry, was that it? Okay. Sorry. If you'd like to submit your comments in writing, I. I sent them to every. Okay, all right. I know, I know. We got a number of emails about

035this. We can take a look at them. If there's anything additional that you were going to share tonight, please feel free to send those to us as well. Please just take a look at page 43 of the application. 43, Okay. What your idea of nature is. Okay. Thank you so much. All right All right yes. and if there's any other community members who have, did not sign up and you'd like to speak, you can stand over to the side Hi. Hi. Good evening. My name is Carrie Hamilt. Welcome Ms. Manning into the new board leadership. Congratulations. I would ask that the board operations change that written public comment be accepted and posted for the public. I'd like to hear the end of this and get a better sense of it and it is hard practice

036and that would be nice to start January with. As for my prepared remarks and I speak often it's still difficult to get it all in is I renew again that assembly platform be used for all meetings board meetings subject to the open meeting laws and so everyone could see the finance this board meeting special meetings Student success. Not one of my favorite words and policy and you'd be able to look at it. I also am concerned that there was mention earlier about how many committee meetings happen. I don't know if you recognize how many are being canceled and they're not year round. I would ask that the charters be looked at and that there be an inventory once a year where the finances are and where outcomes are for students and the support reaching the

037wonderful teachers and staff. You're not meeting enough and the cancellation. I'd also like to add that it hasn't been updated for the last couple meetings. So, if you go to the committee section and I would challenge how many people in this room would know how to get to hasn't been posted what the next date is and again I think simply would help that. Finally, I thanks to central office for answering this earlier this evening. But why is college and career ready not on the student outcomes Tonight I continue to be concerned about our students currently living in low income households especially as it relates to college and career ready and that educational resources are not reaching the wonderful teachers and the students some of them who need it the most. Whereas my eyebrows continue to

038stay very raised about the out of county and out of state travel happening by central office executives and what's occurring at those meetings. Thank you for listening to my comments tonight. Thank you. Are there any other audience members who would like to make a public comment? All right. Seeing no other public comments. Thank you everyone who commented. Also, as I stated you may send written comments to the board. The email is available on the agenda and additional information regarding written comment is available on our website. Our next item on the agenda is our consent agenda board members. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. I have a question. Sure, go ahead. Yeah. So, we discussed moving an item from consent agenda. It appears to still be on the consent agenda. Which one?

039C It's moved. Okay. It still appears on the consent agenda. Why don't you refresh? I did. I don't see it. You don't see it? Yeah, it's on discussion and action. No, it's still on consent. You don't see it? It's down here. Is this? Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's down on DNA. Okay. It's on the consent agenda for me, even though I. ..Okay. In any case, excluding that item, I motion to approve the consent agenda. Okay, thank you. I have a motion from (INAUDIBLE). Do I have a second? Second. Second from Meredith. All right, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, the motion passes. All right, our next item on the agenda is our discussion in action. And we've got our first item, and it looks like it's Dr. Bales coming to

040present on the recommendations for approval of new and Revised courses for 2026 and 27. Welcome, Dr. Bales. Good evening. Congratulations to board Joe Jenkins. Vice Chair Fedders. Thank you to the board, Dr. Trice, members of cabinet. Each year policy 3100 asks that we convene our curriculum management team to review any course proposals that have came forward from our administration, from teachers, and it is my time of the year to bring you those courses. One of the things that we really asked for this past year, based on some of the feedback from our 4 by 4 implementation, is that there was a need for more elective courses at the high school level. Elective courses that were not another AP course. So, you know, we were very thankful to our teachers that recommended a lot of those

041courses. I'm going to go through some of the courses. There are a lot there. I'm not going to go into too much detail and then I'll hand it over to you if you have particular questions. A couple of the pieces here with our world Language Honors one and two. That's a change mainly because our students right now can take those courses through NCVPS. We don't have the honors option. We really want to make sure that our students get the option to take those courses with live adults. Honors journalism 3 and 4 and 5. We worked previously on extending some of those classes so that we're able to get a progression for our students that are interested in those pathways going through some of the rest of them. A lot of them, you know, kind of

042rolled down to being the high school elective courses. We did have a couple of courses that the committee did not recommend, partly because just getting some more feedback on them, whether they were some AP courses or that it was an Option that you could kind of do that within the school itself anyway without creating a new course itself. I will say, going through the rest of them. Our hybrid comparative mythology, again, a high school elective. The one piece that I did want to bring up was their middle school philosophy. While the committee did recommend that being moved forward, the administration has some hesitation on that. Mainly because knowing where some of those students may be being pulled from we had a lot of hesitation last year with our Latin. And I don't really want to

043see spaces that's going to take away from our Latin positions. Also with that proposal, there was a recommendation to have someone from UNC come in and actually teach the course. Doesn't necessarily make it an equitable process across the other schools. And then there's a couple of hiccups and bumps that we'd have to work through with HR to be able to get the teacher certified, make sure that all the things are in place. I'm just not quite sure that that's the direction that we might need to move forward with that. Of course, these are your courses to approve. But that's just the one change from administration. A lot of our other courses kind of go into our middle school electives. And within our CTE, our career exploration. As we're moving students to recommend them to look

044at some of the different career options that maybe don't necessarily need a college diploma. And looking at getting kids interested in the CCP, that career exploration course at our middle school. We're trying to pilot at one of our middle schools to really get kids interested in some of those career options before they go into high school. And then we have our technology, Engineering and design course. As you may know, we're going to have a requirement for all of our students to go through and have some CTE requirements. And this is an option for us to try out at the middle school level to get some of those high school requirements done ahead of time before they hit high school. One of our concerns with the CTE requirements is that it the computer science CTE requirement

045is the fact that if it does actually go in place, it's going to really require us to have to look at our CT programming and really move it more towards computer science, which may end up limiting some of the different options that we have for CTs. We're trying to give some extra pathways in middle school so students may be able to do that there and then eventually get to high school and take something that they may be interested in. It may be a continuation of that. May not Be we want to make sure that our students have those options staying open AP3D art and design. That is the one AP course that the committee did recommend. Really just giving students another pathway. It wouldn't be necessarily another class, but an option for students to be

046able to take the 3D art within classes that are already established. And then again with the general music, kind of along the same way with that CTE pathway, we have an arts requirement that students in grades six through 12 take a course. And we're trying to make sure that we're offering as many different courses as a possible. With those, the removals, those are just courses that our counselors went in and looked at. Courses that have not made for any particular reason over the last several years. Some of them haven't really made for, you know, 10, 15 years. And we're just trying to go through on an annual basis and really clean up that process so the students don't sign up for something that may not really be an option for them. So, with that, I

047will open it up to the board if there are any particular questions on these and we can go from there. Thank you. Dr. Bales. Board members, do you have any questions? Go ahead, Barb. Thank you very much. I was just hoping you could explain the process for the public. So, a teacher proposes a course and then what happens? Yep. Thank you. So, yes, a teacher or anybody can really propose a course, whether it's a director, a teacher. That then goes to the principal. The principal looks into, is it something that we can possibly fit within our allotment for the next year? The principal signs off on it if they feel that they have the personnel for the next year. It's kind of hard because you don't know what your allotment is yet. But they're able

048to then pass it on to me. I organize it, make sure that all of our directors are able to talk through what it looks like. We had about a two and a half hour curriculum management team meeting which has represented from middle school, high school teachers, administration, coaches, counselors, and all of them are able to hear from our directors who are able to talk a little bit more about the content in the course and give a little bit more feedback from there. So, from there, you know, we don't necessarily say this class is approved because that is your prerogative. We bring forward the recommendations of the board or of the committee to the board to that improve his courses. And so, on the courses where it says administration note on the side is that the

049school administration or district Level, district administration. Thank you. The social Justice AP Gov. I see that that's not recommended. And I understand that you're saying it's currently in the course book we without the social justice aspect. But I also know that we have a social justice academy that's at East. Can you help me understand why it wouldn't be a good addition to the social justice academy to have AP Gov within that structure? So, students can still take the same. They get the same content for the most part, but the social justice is the different content that's involved in it. They would take the same AP exam as, you know, the other class that's in there. The piece with it that I think the committee was questioning was just the fact of do we have our

050AVID students necessarily have to take that course? Because it would be something that would be tagged with them. And again, like this was recommendation of the committee. There is, like I said, there is already an AP government class that students still could take. And at the school level, if the school decided that they wanted to partner with, you know, any particular group of students, they still could do that. So, I just have a follow up question. So, the AVID students at east are required to go through the social justice academy? Or am I misunderstanding? No, just, you know, part of the conversation was would we put our students, could they be scheduled together at the school? School AVID students taking that course as we move forward with our avid, if you remember, with our 4x4,

051it was a class that meets throughout the year. It's not something. So this would have been a companion course to that. I see. Okay, thank you. Thanks for the presentation. I just had a couple questions. The first one is can you clarify the comment under the Honors Journalism? So, it says admin recommended change from grade requirement for continuation to a recommendation. In the proposal itself, there was a requirement that you had to have a certain grade. We wanted to be consistent throughout what we have throughout our coursebook that it's a recommendation, but that you're not required to have a certain grade to move into that course. So, if you were in journalism too, you're not required to have an A or B to move into the other course. The recommendation will come from the teacher.

052Well, just that it's recommended that you have an A or B. Oh, I see. It's not a recommendation. We just didn't. We didn't want to put a guard rally at a student being able to advance through the courses. Got it. Thank you. And then the second question is clarifying on the middle school philosophy. It says Recommended, but the language says no. So, for that one, the committee itself did recommend that course. Just administration. That's the distinction that. Okay. Recommendations come from the committee. Administration is the Yeah Administrators just had a few. So, I'll be honest with that meeting I facilitated, I did not give any input feedback. We look at the recommendations afterwards and say, what impact will it have on our schools moving forward? We were just really concerned about the Latin aspect and

053just the fact that there are a lot of hoops to go through to get a UNC professor to be able to come in and teach that course. So, as we are approving this, would that be included in? So, yeah, my recommendation with that would. So that one would actually be not recommended when we vote unless the board would like to recommend it. Okay. Yeah. And going forward, it might be helpful to, like, have a column that summarizes. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Dr. Bales. I just had one clarifying question on the removal. Knowing that there's the arts requirement, there's that audio engineering class. I know it says engineering, but is that. Where does that fall? Is that like, It's a CTE course? It is. Okay. Yep. So we're looking at bringing that back in. That one

054is really particular on the teacher you're able to bring in retired. Have a teacher that's going to retire in a year. That passion of theirs is auto engineering. So, we're hoping that when he retires, he can come back part time and help us out in that room. Okay. All right, thank you. Any other questions? Okay, so this is on discussion and action. And the administrator. We will need to One second. I'm going to get the actual resolution. What we need to do. Looking to approve the new Revised courses for 26 and 27. I would say with the caveat of the administrative change for middle school philosophy. Okay, I make that motion. All right, we have a motion from Ronnie. Do I have a second? Second A second from Meredith. All those in favor say aye.

055Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you, Dr. Bales. All right, the next item on our agenda is item 4B. Recommendation for approval of board committees, district and non district committees, and school liaisons. That's a lot. All right. And it looks like I am leading that one. So, board members, hopefully you've had a chance to take a look at some of the committees that you were assigned. Obviously, we have Melinda in the mix and Mr. Sharp is no longer on the board. I guess we can start with. I don't know if we can start with committees. I don't know if Anyone has any thoughts on any of our standing board committees that they might want to be on? Yep. Melinda, go ahead. I would be fine with taking Mr. Sharp's place on the policy committee. Okay.

056All right. Any other committees, Melinda? No pressure. I think I'd be comfortable with the gifted education one. Okay. Also, taking. That's not okay. Yep. No, no, we'll get there. I'm gonna make a note. All right. Any other board members? Are there any of our standing committees that you might want to try? George? So, I'm interested in, you know, student success or in finance, facilities, operations, and. Or both. I was glad to see Ms. Manning raise her hand for policy, because that's when I try and walk around. That's a lot of work, Melinda. It's good work. It's hard work. And anything related to EC and I have a burgeoning interest in technology as we put together the coalition. So, I don't know where all that's heading, but I'll do whatever is needed to help. Wonderful. Meredith,

057if you would like to do finance, I mean, you know, I'm certainly willing to give. I'd love to keep Student Success if possible, but I would be willing to cede my position on finance if you would like that. You're smiling too much. Sorry. We had so much fun. I do like the facilities part a lot. Yeah. Actually. Yes, I'll be interested in a policy committee this year, as well as maintaining my space on student Success. I was only on one standing committee this past year. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Madam Chair. Sorry. Yes. As I support with the policies, typically, our board chair is not on a committee unless you would like to be. So, I just wanted to call that out, too. Yeah, yeah. I'm not on any of my committees. I already told some

058of the board members. I'm sad. Sorry, guys. I will miss you. Ronnie? Yeah, I'd like to stay on the policy committee. Okay. Thank you, George. I think you're safe at this point. Okay. All right. We can talk, and I'll look at the counts. I'm not. I'm not counting very quick tonight. Sorry, guys. I like finance. Yeah, it is fun. All right. And we have our district committees, and so Melinda already volunteered for GPAC. George. I will rotate and go to the public school foundation. Any other board members would like to rotate, move, or. I'd like to stay on snack. I feel like I have a good rapport with them, but the only thing is that their public meetings conflict with student success, usually. And so I've been going to their leadership team meetings, but I

059haven't gone to as many of the public meetings. And so, I don't know if maybe somebody. Mike was. Also a liaison to that group, so maybe somebody else wants to do it with me. And then they could. If they're not on Student Success, then they could attend some of the meetings. I can't. When are the meetings? It's usually I'll have to look and see, but it's usually the. Whatever. Tuesday. The same Tuesday as Student Success. Fourth Tuesday. Right. Vickei? I had the same conflict with the PTA Council. Well, I'm interested, depending on the day and time. Okay. Barb? Vickei? Vickei, are you. Do you still want to stay on GPAC? You and Barb? Melinda? Well, it was three of you guys for that one, it looked like. Yeah, it does. It doesn't have to be.

060So, if you guys want to, I might recommend fewer committees if. Yeah, I'll yield my spot with GPAC at this time. Okay. So, Melinda, it's all Yeah. I don't see. Is PTA Council on here? It's at the very bottom. That's in the non district. That's right. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. I've been going to those regularly, so I'm happy to continue doing that. Okay. And you want to stay with Pre K? Sure. Okay. All right. All right. So non district. Meredith, you're going to stay with PTA Council. Vickei , I think. Did you want to stay with PTA Council? It looks like it's saying the third Wednesday now, not the fourth, so if that's fine. Okay. And school collab. That one will be you and I. Barb, the capital needs. We can take this one off

061of here, right? Ronnie, this is a legacy. We disbanded that. The Intergovernmental Parks work Group. Meredith, did you want to stay on that one, or. I'm happy to give that one up. The intergovernmental group, they don't meet very often. I think it's like twice a year. And then I also have been attending the Carrboro Parks and Rec. We didn't. For some reason, we don't have a connection with Chapel Hills Group, but I have been attending the Carrboro ones and so somebody else could do that. It's interesting. It's not the most high activity group, but there's some. Definitely some synergies between our community and what's happening in the local parks. Sorry, I'm typing. So yes to both. Somebody else can take that if they would like, because I'm already Doing PTA Council and snacks. Maybe I

062should pick up the intergovernmental one. Okay. Yeah. All right. It makes sense to do the parks also, since they're both parks related. Madam Chair? Yes. I just realized the Orange County Justice Advisory Council is not listed, so I think I may need to yield my PTA Council liaison spot because I have been assigned to the Orange County Justice Advisory Council. Okay. Yeah, I noticed. Also the Climate Action Group is not on there, and I serve on there as well. I'll take the PTA Council. Okay, thanks, Ronnie. Give me one second. Next month me is gonna be so mad at today me. It's okay. And I did mention the Climate Action Council. I don't. I mean, I'm happy to stay on that one. It only meets twice a year, so. But if anyone else wants to

063go to that one, you can let me know. Okay. And Risa, is there going to be maybe listed on here should also be the liaison to the technology working group. Right. Okay. Yeah, that'll be under district, so we'll need to add that one as well. Okay. Barb and George, the technology. Let me move that back up. That's under the district one, so we'll need to fix this sheet. I'll put in parenthesis. All right. Any other ones? Did I ask about family success? Barb and Vickei are still good on that one. Sure. Barbara got a yes. Vickei? Yes, I'm good. Okay. I need an affirmative yes. I don't want to promise anyone's time. Okay. Was that everything on that? Okay, good. Thank you so much, everyone. And then next we have hold on, I've got a

064long list here liaison. Is this the one? Okay, then it's the school liaison ones. Correct. So, we've got the list. Obviously, we've got some open schools. I guess the first question is, do board members want to stay with their current schools? Do we have any interest in rotating? Obviously, we can do a mix. Where if some of you might want to stay at some. Or if you want to stay at, you know, try some other schools and see what's happening there, you can let me know. So, I'll start with, would anyone like to keep their current schools. Or does it matter, open? I would like to keep Phoenix. Okay. Vickei would like to keep Phoenix and Smith. So Vickei would like to keep her schools. Melinda, do you have any schools? Mike was the liaison

065to Northside, McDougal Middle and East. Would it be easiest for me to pick those up? You can. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And it's agood mix of all levels. Okay. So we'll just keep. Keep our current schools. That's fine with everyone. Okay.And obviously, board members, you can visit, see any of the schools, join another board member if they're visiting their school as well. Okay. All right. Did we get all of that? Let me make sure. And we'll work with Tamara and the team to make sure we get Melinda especially. But board members just reconnected with the principals, the SAT meetings, and everything that's happening with the school. So we'll make sure we do that. And then I think the first task for board members when your committees meet in January, because I don't think anyone has any

066more meetings this month. Correct. All right. In January will be to review the charters again, select a chair of your committee. So, I'll leave that to you all. Okay. And we'll have the charters come up on a future board meeting for us to discuss. Okay. Any other questions? Comments? Okay. Well, that went smoothly. All right. And I guess we need a Do we need to approve? (INAUDIBLE) Okay. All right. So, board members, we'll need to approve our committee assignments. I'll entertain a motion to approve all our district committee and board committee assignments. So moved. I have a motion from Vickei. Can I get a second? I'll second it. Got a second from Melinda. All those in favor say Sorry. Clarifying. Okay, sure. So, like, I don't for. I think there are only two people currently

067on finance, so I would just a friendly amendment to approve. With the caveat that you'll fill them in. Sure. As they need to be filled in. That's right. I was actually just composing an email because I forgot that Riza's spot was going to be open, so that could go to George. So, I'm happy to stay on. So, I mean. Yeah, I wasn't trying to get off it. Just to be clear. I'll go about it. And so that will amend that and have Meredith, you back on finance. Okay. So, we've got a motion from Vickei and a second from Melinda. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you. Fix that real quick. Okay. All right. And our next item on the agenda is item 4C. Recommendation for approval of the architectural and engineering

068services contract for the replacement of Carrboro elementary for the 2024 bond project. And I see Mr. Shiroki is coming forward. Good evening, Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, members of the board, Dr. Trice and guests. It is my pleasure. It's been a long time coming to be able to bring to you a journey that started about two Years ago to where we ultimately are embarking on the first step of replacing doing a full replacement of Carrboro Elementary School on site tonight. What I would like to do is just to give you a very brief overview of the RFQ process that the district participated in. Obviously there's very detailed information, all documents, all advertisements, even the final draft of the contract that's been negotiated working with board council's firm. So we are, we have a green light

069at this point pending your approval this evening to embark on this process. So, I'd like to start off with just a brief timeline. We started the request for qualification process back in September 8th. Our responsive firms had to submit by September 26th. We conducted interviews on the 22nd of October. We had a notice to the awarded firm on the 27th. We began our contract negotiations with that firm the following day. And then ultimately we are here this evening where we're bringing a recommendation for you for the contract's approval. Want to walk through just the committee members who played a part in this. We first started with four representatives from Carrboro elementary to include Mr. Roman, the principal and his assistant, Ms. Winslow, as well as a longtime tenured teacher, Deb Cox, as well as Maria

070Fernanda Ortiz, who has been active in the PTA as a representative and with the school and was able to provide a lot of valuable insight from community needs perspective with respect to our central services. You have all the people that you would anticipate, including all of our folks from our facilities, team, technology, even school leadership, elementary instruction. We had Ms. Howard participate. We also had Amy Rickard, principal of Morris Grove, who had the pleasure to serve on the original design committee for Northside elementary as well as Morris Grove, which she has been principal from the beginning, able to provide a lot of balance and good perspectives and also to serve potentially as a mentor with Mr. Roman to understand kind of the nuances that are going to occur as you try to balance a construction

071project occurring while school is still in session. And then we had our folks from finance who also participated. These folks, many of them will continue throughout the process of design. So, in the RFQ. And again, this is a 10,000 foot view. But there were six areas of criteria that all respondents were scored on, from introductory letter of interest to explaining their expertise of their firm, their references, their team, organization, management, general qualifications. This is to include consultants that they bring as well, from mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineers to civil landscape architect and engineers, structural engineers, sustainability consultants, food service consultants, all the folks that have deep concentrations. The architect focuses on the building the other professional consultants, because those are very large areas of expertise. They all contribute, but those contracts are all run through the

072architect's contract. So they're subs to the architect as well as just gaining an understanding of their project approach. How do they approach projects working? And for us, it was specifically working in an elementary pre K5 type situation, though some provided information about middle and high school experience. Our RFQ was really towards school design in the state of North Carolina, primarily in the Triangle Triad area. And best practices that they've demonstrated, as well as showing examples of innovative design that they've had the opportunities to incorporate with their clients. And then we had an exhibit A which was what I call the nuts and bolts. What value of work have you done? How many projects have you done? What states have you done them in? Where are your folks licensed? How many people architects do you have

073on staff? What type of workload do you have? A lot of demographic information that allowed us to be able to score to determine the caliber and the capability of the firms that had submitted. So with our proposed submissions, we had 17 licensed architects in the state of North Carolina, K12 architects submit. So that is. I've mentioned this in previous meetings. That is a tremendous volume. Part of it speaks to just the market and the economy right now, where there's a lot of work or a lot of firms and there's probably not as much work. So many submit at the same time. We've spoken about how Chapel Hill, Carrboro community, our communities are located in a region that's very appealing for design firms, contractors and subs because of the proximity to two larger metropolitan areas. Knowing

074that Charlotte Mecklenburg county does a lot of work and many of them have to drive there each and every day from this region. So, it is very attractive as well. So, in that process, from 17, we were able to bring it down to five that we actually interviewed and we brought. They came and met in this room here, or excuse me, the room down the hall. But they all interviewed, brought their teams, many of their consultants, and they were asked to be able to present overview of their firm, but also specifically unique items that they believe they see that would need to be addressed at Carrboro elementary specifically. And things that we need to be aware of. From that interview process, we narrowed it down to two firms and you see here, the DLR Group

075and LS3P Associates. And at that point, the committee, knowing that they had finalized it to those two, we decided to go on a school tour with each of the respective firm. We went with LS3P to Stow elementary and to Pleasant Plains elementary with DLR. So, Mr. Roman, Ms. Winslow and several of our folks went to see the design and help understand. How you build a school, possibly a two story structure, on a tighter site so they can kind of get a feel and to be able to interact with the architects. Because one of the most important features, aside from the qualifications and expertise, is how well can they effectively communicate with the senior leadership, but also with their respective community. So it's really a lot of walk and talk and getting to know in order

076for Mr. Roman to be able to give his recommendation. So ultimately, in the end, the committee recommended LS3P Associates. So, when you give an overview of LS3P, there were four. Again, this is 10,000 foot but primary reasons why the committee recommended them. LS3P is a multidisciplinary firm that offers full range architectural interior planning services. They have completed over 2,500 school facilities in over 160 school districts, primarily within the state of North Carolina. This firm has been in existence for decades and they've done extensive work. When you look at their portfolio over the years, they've demonstrated experience with occupied school replacements, which was a big component that we looked at with our designers. They had to demonstrate that they've actually not taken a site, tore a school down, move the kids somewhere else, and then built

077a new school. We wanted examples where the children were occupied directly next to it, which is what we're doing at Carrboro Elementary. And then we wanted them to have the ability, which they do, to forge an enduring connection, to bring new levels of thought, insight and inspiration. We wanted folks that could step outside the box and could question a lot of the practices that maybe we have had with the construction and design of Northside elementary and to push us to the next level, to ensure that we are providing the most educationally adequate flow facilities for the next 50 years. And be it, Carrboro is the first, we hope that Carrboro will be the benchmark for the other schools that are to follow. So the RFP committee determined again that LS3P stood out as the best

078fit for the replacement. And they felt that their clear and comprehensive proposal was unmatched. With their own K12 experience, their strong project team, the track record they were able to demonstrate, we believe that if that we have full confidence in their ability to deliver this project successfully, not only for the district, but for the Carrboro Elementary School community. So just to go over briefly the contract award, as you're aware, in our capital investment Plan this year we have been given 10% of a $53 million total project cost, 5.3 million for design. The remainder is for all other costs associated with the project. This proposed contract is an award in the amount of $3,081,600. That contract has a total basic service design fee of just over 2.6 million, which is about 6.4% of the base fee.

079The base fee is what the architect is doing directly to design the school. I will tell you that this is a fee that we're very proud of in working with our board council. Given that it is a very tight site, it's an occupied site. My experience has been that fees are generally upward of what we've received. So we've been able to negotiate a very good competitive price. And again, the additional construction budget is a total of 42 million that that fee is based on. The contract includes additional scope design fees ultimately for the demolition of the existing car borough at the conclusion of the project. And then there is $150,000 allowance for the site consultant, Civil Engineering, Timmons Group, to be able to conduct site and field engineering services for the new school. Site preparation.

080That work needs to be done on the front end so that the design team can begin moving forward with site planning purposes, which again, this would be done by the same firm that was submitted from them. So lastly, just tentative project timeline. This is new for you, though. You've heard the substantial complete completion date. At the end, we will be coming back to performing a design narrative with the school. And that's where you start talking about the programming needs of the school, the way in which the school is going to be modeled. The architect then takes all the input from the school, from the teachers, from folks in ISEED in our central services, and they're able to ultimately develop what's called the schematic design, which will be the overall layout of how the school will

081be configured. And that's going to be when we come back to you to present everything that occurred in the design narrative, what the architect has done to give you some initial concept designs that ultimately we would ask them for you to approve. We want to get that concept design in the programming in the school approved by you before we go into anything further with design development or creation of the construction documents. Working with the contractor because you wouldn't want to exercise stuff and then find that there was something, something that you as a board wanted to change. Generally, schematic design, we will share with you iterations and components as we go. So that when you see the schematic, it's not the first time you've seen the entire presentation. So that again, the team can get

082feedback as necessary. And then ultimately we'll be looking at bidding in the fall of 2026, early 2027 construction starting as early as spring of 2027. Construction would go through December of 2028 with what I will say is substantial completion for the building would be earlier than that, but the site would be in September. I think realistically, this is not where we have to occupy a school in the summer, as if you were building a brand new school and students were being transferred into it. The children will be able to go from, say, a Friday, they're in their school for the final time, they move into the new school the next Monday. That's kind of what we're looking at. So we know that there is flexibility here and we're not going to be forced to do

083it over a winter break or spring break or summer season when that time comes. And again, my disclaimer has always been this is a very aggressive schedule, but it's always dependent upon a lot of other tentacles that are part of the process, be it public comment, public opinion. We have to go through the town of Carrboro through their process, through you as a school board and ultimately the board of county commissioners. So based upon all of that, you know, I have said that the project date, we know that there could come a time where it could go from 28 to 29. But we will continue to keep you posted. But we're striving for the most aggressive, as we've done through this process. So milestones is a slide you've seen. I just wanted to show you

084where we've got all the green checks. Tonight is where we are awarding the architectural. We still have the ILA agreement to be completed as well as we have a construction manager at risk contract that's been out on the street. And actually the submittals were due today. So we will be working on bringing a contractor on board, knowing that our goal has always been to have the contractor on site as early as possible to weigh in and to give input within the design process. They're not going to be doing any construction on the front end, but we want them there because the phasing is going to be monumental and critical and we want to make sure that the left and the right hand are always on the same page in this process. I do want to

085add, though, for the ILA, I will say, the core team that we talked about with senior school staff. We met in addition to Orange County Public Schools. The two of us met with county budget staff about two and a half weeks ago and started actually having a core team meeting without an ILA to be able to bring both districts. We shared brought everything up to date. I can tell you that Orange county is probably about a month behind us, but we are pretty much in sync with the timing. So we're both progressing forward. But it was a very productive meeting. The one thing that came out is that the ILA discussion may be reintroduced to the county commissioners, possibly in late January, is what the budget director said at that meeting. So I will just

086keep you posted on that. But right now, there's nothing to stop us from continuing to move forward and to get this score school moving so that we can have this at the earliest of June of 2028. So, at this point, if there are any questions that I can answer, I'm sure there are. I'm happy to answer that. I will tell you that if I can't answer it. We do have a representative from LS3P, James Johnson, who was the project architect, as well as from the Timmins Civil Engineering Group, Blake hall, and then we have Turner and Townsend and Heary, our project management firm, in addition to Mr. Contreras, who is our Capital Facilities Executive director. Thank you, Mr. Shiroki. Board members, do we have questions? Start. Meredith? Thank you. The first question I had is

087just a clarification. So, when we go through this process down the road for future schools like Estes Hills, for example, will we have to start at the beginning of this process again by putting the RFP out and then the architecture firms? Or is there some economy to be had here by circumventing that process? I'm not sure what's required, so I just wanted to get a sense of that. Yeah, that's a great question. So, we deliberated over that, and knowing that we have not been, as a district, in the construction business of an elementary school in quite some time, we felt it was best to do a separate RFQ for all services. So, from project management to architectural to construction manager at risk, they are specific to Carrboro Elementary. Now, I will tell you just in

088my own experience over the years, if you have a successful team, you know it's going to be. They have obviously the advantage of being able to compete more aggressively than others. But at the same time, we will advertise and go through the same process. So, if the CIP is approved as it was proposed this current year, we would be looking to have design money for Estes Hills starting in July, and we would be repeating this process. The biggest advantage is we've gone through this once. So, a lot of the collaboration behind the scenes between multiple folks will not need to be done. And it will be very streamlined, but we will go through this process. And then at that point, if we believe that we want to continue, we can decide later on. But I

089think we want to. See how this team works together to see if that's something we want to consider down the road or if we want to continue to do them singly, as we've done with this one. Okay, thank you. And then, you know, we've gotten a number of emails regarding concerns about environmental impacts. And, you know, a lot of people have referenced the terms clear cutting and other things. Obviously, nobody wants to cut down trees unnecessarily. There may be some that have to be brought down due to the way the this tight site is. Can you elaborate a little bit more on kind of what we assume will need to happen and what steps we're taking as a district to make sure that the impact is, you know, as small as it can be? Because,

090you know, you mentioned that during the interview process that some of the groups brought in subs that we're going to be consulting on various aspects. And so, did they elaborate a little bit on what type of landscape architect they use, whether drainage is going to be fully looked at? I'm assuming that this is the case, but I just want to hear it publicly that they're going to be looking at drainage, at trees down, at impact on the forest, all of these various things. Yeah, twofold. First of all, when it comes to stormwater regulations, environmental quality, there are a lot of regulations that you have to follow with state and federal guidelines, depending upon the type of streams that you may have to Department of Environmental Quality requirements. But what I will tell you is when

091the architects design buildings and when they bring their design firm, Timmons Group, who's the one that is partnering with LS3P, they have extensive experience in working with multiple types of developments, not just K12, but you have to take all of that into consideration. And I have all the confidence in the world that they will be able to help develop site plans that will do everything possible to be aligned with our sustainability guidelines of doing everything we can to minimize the amount of trees. The bottom line is we're replacing a school on an existing site. It's a 20 acre site, but for the public bikeway east, that land does belong to the school board, but it is extremely environmentally sensitive. We have no plans to even come close to touching the bike trail to the east

092from preliminary layout. But we do know that we've got to bring a building, a new school up to current standards. And one of the things that will be required and what you don't have at Carrboro is you don't have vehicle collection ability when parents are picking up and dropping off. And there are requirements that. Where you have to have vehicle stacking on your property, you have to get the vehicles off the public roads at the beginning, at the end of school. We see where we have many older schools where that is extremely problematic. But even in some of our newer schools you still see it even though they increase the length. So, we know that we will have given direction to the architect who is the primary for the civil engineer. But we're going to

093make every effort to preserve as many trees as possible. We have a two story structure and we're going to want to make that a very tight footprint to minimize any site disturbance because we do need to have buffers, buffers for the school to maintain the history of how the wooded area has been used. So, we're going to come up with designs that are able to achieve the goals of the project, but to show we would only accept the one that has the least number of trees that are impacted. But again, I don't want to tell you today we will have to cut trees down, but we're going to do everything we can to mitigate that to the greatest extent possible. I don't envision that we will in any way, shape or form be clear cutting

094an entire site of our property. We need trees and if we can salvage those, we want those and we want to have buffers. You know, big thing when you have to go to your community with private property owners that are adjacent is that that's a requirement and there's a demand. And that natural area to the east of the trail provides a great buffer. But we know that that trail is used by the Carrboro community. And we want to instill primarily as pine trees for the most part, but we want to instill that character as much as possible. And I feel very confident that we'll have designs that come back that you'll be able to review. At the same time, I will tell you that we do our best with playgrounds, not to do any clearing

095for a playground if we already have land that's cleared. And this is a project where we're going to be demoing an entire elementary school. There will be clear land for us to use for recreational field space for play space for possibly an amphitheater, outdoor amphitheater. That if this. Whatever the school and the community want to try within budget to fit, we know that we're going to have that big open space, and it's going to be on the front of the property to where there's good passive visibility and security. So we're definitely going to leverage that. The balance is you got to be able to do that after the school is occupied in order to demo it. So it's just finding that balance. If that helps, that's helpful. Thank you. And then just the last thing

096I wanted to ask is kind of a small point, but in the COVID letter that the firm, I guess with their design fees, they mentioned something about. Sorry, I'm just trying to pull it up here. It says the program will be approximately based on the CHCCS existing Northside elementary School. And I just. I'm not sure what they mean by program. Like, you know, Northside is our newest school, but it's already out of date in some ways. And so, I just want to make sure that we're thinking really carefully about innovation and how we want this space to. To really serve our modern needs. And so I could be misunderstanding what's written here, but I just wanted to make sure that that was said to a degree. Misunderstanding. But what it is, is they're saying that

097we're using Northside as a starting point because that's what the standard that we have in our existing elementary schools. But what we've worked with them on is to be able to. We want to compare Scroggs and Northside and inventory that from a program standpoint, look at what DPI standards say today and then also work with LS3P to look at standards that they have been programming in other jurisdictions and to be able to see where we can add and expand. But what they're saying is we're using that as the starting point, but that will by no means be the end point. Ronnie? Thank you so much, Al, for this presentation, as always. Like every question I have written down, you've anticipated and answered it in your presentation, but I did think of a few more as

098you were talking. One of them just. Can you remind me what the capacity plan is for this school? Yeah, we're targeting 550 to 600, and that will be as budget allows. So, as we begin to get through and we understand all of the needs, because our wants are going to be greater than our funding and we're going to have to narrow that down to be able to see. But our goal has always been to give a minimum of about a 50-seat flexibility. And if we can get up to 100, that's what we want to do. The idea there has been with pre K being added into schools and many of our schools pre K is in modular units, exterior buildings that we want to try to incorporate that. But again, we have to do that

099as budget allows. But currently the capacity at the existing capacity from a SAPPHO standpoint is a 500-student school. But we've been saying this and promoting it for almost two years now. So, 500 to 600. I'm thinking about like, as we've been having the conversations about what might happen across the district, I think we probably have to continue down this pathway for this first school. But certainly as we think about the next two, it'll be important to think about how capacity might shift across the district as we plan. Agree, agree. And at the same time. We're doing everything we can to develop the most updated program for our district with Carrboro, so that that will be able to be used as the benchmark which will accelerate the process. But we agree that not knowing what the

100future holds, knowing that we've been looking at our inventory of schools, we definitely see that as an opportunity. And that was actually some of the foresight our team had in not trying to put two schools into one design with one firm. Because we know that right now everything is very fluid and that might have limited us in having the ability to expand as needed. Okay, thank you. And then just. I am also very interested in environmental assessment. So, as we develop the schematic plan, I'd like to have that come back to us as a presentation from the architectural firm when that's ready. Absolutely. Schematic design will definitely be coming before the entire board. Yeah, the ask is to have that accompanied by the environmental assessment. So, I'm interested in like what will be the impact

101to the trees? And not that we won't cut. I know we will, but I want to be really intentional about how we replace where we can. And then also we heard a speaker in public comment talk about the water runoff. And so being very thoughtful again about what that will look like. I mentioned we'll be able to speak to all of that as that is part of the design process. Sorry, just one last thing. Just as we deactivate the building, also, we can be thinking about like, what are the ways we can minimize impact. Can we reuse any materials? Right. Like how do we dispose of things? Already on it. Okay, thank you. We have all of our teams kind of inventorying, seeing what could be repurposed into other schools and stored versus how will

102we go about disposal from hazardous materials to just from monitors, computers, air conditioning units, you name it, we've been taking inventory. Great, thank you. Yes, I have a couple of things. The first seeing is that TIP NC just had us seeing, you know, all kinds of wonderful starry eyed gazes when we toured the school in Guilford County. It was a wonderful thing and it's so exciting to know that our superintendent is part of that board there. So I'd like to know how often will we be able to get ongoing feedback in terms of how this architectural firm will be looking at things relating to how tip, excuse me, is pushing the envelope with innovation and using those different spaces. We know that Carrboro is a very dense, populated space. There are a lot of people

103and a lot of things in a small space and that our school is going to need to fit in there neatly. So really interested in knowing what more in detail we'll be able to get back in terms of how they can fit into that very unique space. When it comes to Carrboro being the area that it is. And I know that Carrboro elementary has been a very integral part of the town of Carrboro, being that I attended it in the 70s. So, I know exactly what that feels like. So, I would like to really know how you'll be able to make sure that we bring our community along with us for the ride and to show us all those different ways to be able to keep nature intact in the innovation. So that's one thing

104to think about and then the other thing that I was wanting to ask was just simply how the school itself will be, I guess be partnered to be a part. So, I guess it's just like a part 2. How can you explain a little bit in terms of how the school would be able to be partnered to be actually be a part of the town if we're there yet. So, I guess you're referring to some type of community use or. Yeah. So we've spoken with the town of Carrboro's Rec and Parks Department within the past year talked about the idea of they have interest in helping fund a larger gymnasium as we did at Rashkis . And again that's one of the requirements from the Board of County Commissioners. We gave them some cost estimates

105to be able to build a middle school sized gym within the carbo footprint. Have not heard a response back. Obviously after I think they looked at the finances. But I definitely think that where we want to partner with the town and get familiar feedback as well as the community when we have those opportunities will be the open space where the existing building is being demoed. I do see that that is a diamond in the rough and it has a lot of potential given its accessibility and the fact that potentially we will still have a parking lot that the existing school has that potentially could be repurposed or reused to where community could have access to a. The front portion of our school property. You know, our playgrounds are generally more secure, but there's enough land

106there to create green space to be able to do something to where it could be a balance and possibly be a complement to the bikeway that exists. Knowing that it's only about 200 yards in distance as far as. I just want to respond as far as we'll be working with the school immensely and getting feedback of what's working, what's not working, that we're doing tours with them to kind of see. Because for them, their school is so old. They could go to one of our schools that's 25 years old. And it is a huge improvement from what they're currently in. I mean, I'm just being realistic. So, we want them to see that, but we don't want them to be satisfied with just seeing what we built 15 years ago and saying that's great. So

107we've got to be able to educate them, bring them up to speed, because many of the staff, that is the only school that they've worked in and it's all they know. And we want to be able to educate them so that they can give us that input as well. As we're having several folks from the IC department looking at all of the schools and determining what is again, what is that standard, what works best. Because, you know, the art program at one school may work really good and we may want to emulate that art program at Carrboro. But then the gymnasium for pe, that section for PE might be working better at a different school. And we want to get. Get that input to be able to share that with the architect to see how

108they can mold and model that. But again, all of that will be part of the schematic design process where we walk through the entire design charrette process and you'll be able to see where we have received lots of input. It's going to be a very participatory process. You know, my disclaimer, I've said it before, but it's just going to be there's going to be all these needs and the budgets. It's going to have to. We're going to have to make very tough decisions to stay within the budget, but we'll be able to provide a tremendous improvement to the school for that community. In the end, it would be unbelievable, and I think we'll all be proud from it. But there'll be lots of competing needs that we'll have to. And as a board, we'll have

109to address. Thanks. Any other questions for members? Go ahead. Ronnie. Vickei . I think you were almost asking, like, should we be looking outside of the district for school. You know, design? Well, definitely that's what I was speaking of in terms of the tip, because we were just floored when we saw the way they use spaces that they pulled from inside and outside. I mean, classrooms that could be one size and then movable doors that could be open and more cafes around stuff and opportunities for young people to feel really centered. And the media center that wasn't in just an isolated space. It flowed through the school. We saw things that hadn't even been considered or at least from what we've been given at this point that just really show the word innovation in the

110program's name in and of itself, but really could help challenge and push the needle on how you're wanting to elevate and embrace education to the next standard into the century. So that's why I was saying that are we definitely going to be continuing to look at what they're sharing and letting us see. So, I mean, they're showing us what's new and I know that they've got a gown, had just had a groundbreaking on their new school in Guilford county as well, just the other day, I guess that was Tuesday, as a matter of fact. And are we able to look at what's going on now so we can take, continue to learn so that we won't have that problem that once our school is up and running, that it's already out of date, that we

111want to make sure that we're not letting that happen to us? Yes, again, I'll provide greater clarification with that. So obviously we have all the confidence that LS3P, with what they have designed throughout the state of North Carolina, has numerous examples. But even for us as a district, we have already conducted school tours. I've personally gone to four schools within Guilford County. The same school that you've been to and you know, various architectural firms have designed those schools. And it's always best practices. And we are also associated as a district with a group called the association for Learning Environments, which is where you have many public school districts within the state of North Carolina, many architects and consultants, and there's a lot of enrichment and exploratory. But I can assure you, as our teachers don't

112know what you're describing, if they have not seen it as we work with our architect, I can tell you there will be numerous times where we're probably going to have to go on field trips and where the art teacher will have to go see something that was done. And it may be that we can't do that, but it will open up ideas and to be able to say, how can we make this work or not work? And I envision that will happen just because we haven't done school construction often enough. So absolutely, we will leverage that. And I'd like to just add, also a big part of tip is really talking about the instructional model that we. Want for our students, you know, in the future, and also having that part of the discussion. I

113know Al, and I've talked about that at some length. And, you know, I see it along with the school and community is going to be a big part of that as well. The building does need to complement the teaching and learning aspect of what we do as well. Ms. (INAUDIBLE), I just have one question on that schedule. With a substantial completion, so the school will be complete, but there'll still be some site stuff happening. And I'm curious, what does that look like? Because we're going to have little bodies, curious bodies, while we still have things happening on the ground. So, I appreciate you asking that. There's going to be a lot of times where there's going to be architectural words that are used that are not in layman's terms. So, when you say substantial completion

114of a building, that means that it's not. It is near complete inside. But any new school construction, the site always. You have to get occupancy of the building to be able to address the outside of the site. So, when we get substantial completion for the building, it doesn't mean that the kids are able to go directly into the building as the site is not complete. Hence, we showed fall of 2020, 2028 as the ultimate. But in a contract architectural mind, substantial completion of the building is a milestone that you hit. And then you have to do everything where the civil engineer works with getting all of the Access to ensure that the fire marshal, everybody is good with how you get in and out of the school. There still will be punch list items for

115us. We want to finish and be able to get all of that done before we occupy. Many times for myself over the years, when you've had to build a school and you get down to you are doing work two days before school starts, because you've got to do that and you're still addressing things while the children are in the building, you could occupy it, you receive permits, but you still have work to be done. And we want to try to accomplish as much of that as possible in order for the children to have the smoothest transition. Getting your heating and cooling balance is a big one that we want to make sure that we have fully balanced before we bring them in to the building. Okay, thank you. Thank you, board members. Any other questions?

116Go ahead, Vickei . Actually, I just have a statement as opposed to a question as you're talking about inventory and making sure that we can use things from the existing carbo and other spaces. I would also please. Well, not even encourage. I would, I would fall a little short to say that I would beg of you to make sure as we're inventory that we hold onto the history of that school. Because unfortunately, I know when Chapel Ohio was changed and we got the new one, a lot of history was lost. And that would be very unfortunate. And with Carrboro going back to 1959, we need to not lose the history of that school because then when you don't have the history currently, it tends to change. We need people to understand and know that Carrboro

117mascot was once Wildcats. They haven't always been Cubs or Bears or at this point they were the Wildcats. So, we need to know that there were wings in which the schools were already. That school was already built in sections in which kids were raised and educated in different sections. That's not new to our district. We had K through two in one building. You had three and four in the middle and you had five and six on the other side. So these aren't things that were new for. But that's stuff that we need to know and need to make sure we need to know that they had student council. We need to know that that's where a lot of people. So I would really beseech you and request that we do a much better job than

118we did as a district with Chapel Hill High. Even if it means not leaving it just in the hands of the people in the school. Whoever's responsibility. It was the history of Chapel Hill High School that got lost when that school was closed. It's a travesty. When it came to the point that alumni were getting emails saying, come get the yearbooks or they're being tossed was absolutely not okay. So we need to make sure. And I would. Please, please, as someone who walked those halls in the 70s, I would say for all the people that walk those halls, we need to do our best practices and make sure that we hold on to the history of that school and our community, because those are now grandparent parents of children that are now in that school.

119So, we need to do our best by that. Thank you, board members. Anything else? Thank you, Vickei . All right, with that, board members, we are seeking approval to approve the contract for our Architectural and engineering services for Carrboro Elementary School. I will entertain a motion to approve this contract. So moved. Motion by Ronnie, Can I get a second? Second Second from Vickei. All those in favor say aye. Aye Any opposed? All right, motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. All right, and next up on our agenda is our Superintendent's request board. Dr. Trice. Yes. I just want to make a quick announcement before our presenters get up. It appears that we've had a little glitch in Granicus. So the slide deck has been emailed to board members. All right, I see. Dr. Vilwock, how are

120you doing this evening? Happy to be here. Good evening, everyone. Push the button. Thank you. Got it. Good evening, everyone. I'm excited to bring this sort of combination report with accountability and strategic plan update for really the past school year. All right, so you can see the elements that we're going to cover this evening. And we're going to start here. I'm going to ask Layla to give us the strategic plans link. Can we put that up? So, the document I just brought up is a public link that talks to about the KSA, the key strategic actions progress over so far. Now, three of the five years of our strategic plan, you've seen this in the past. So it has the mission, vision and the five major priorities next. And you can see how this is

121organized. So each key priority has one to three goals underneath the those are key strategic actions. And then we have an implementation timeline that directs us on what to do in what order next. So you can see from this that there are the five priorities going across, and in each one is a pie chart. The green means that the key strategic action is on target. So we plan to do it this way. We are working the plan and it's coming out well. The purple is progressing, so we're making movement. It's not exactly where we hope to be, but we're, you know, moving forward the yellow is paused. And so those are the ones that are not in motion at the moment. There are two red ones that are off target and there are two gray

122ones that have been strategically abandoned. So if they're strategically abandoned, that's because of funding issues. They were things we planned to do and the funding hasn't been there for it. And so we've put them down next. So inside this, if you want to dig further on the left, you can see the five priorities. And underneath it, goal 1, 2, 3. Not every priority has three whole goals. Some do, some don't. In the middle, you'll see the key strategic actions. At the top, it tells you which priority and which goal you're looking at. And then under 24, 25, that's the step that was supposed to be taken this year. And then the 24, 25 on target is that status next. Next links there. That's the one I'm looking for. So, here's the overall timeline with color

123coding. And so you've got that same on target, progressing, et cetera, for the first three years, and then the next two years are there to tell you what those implementations steps are. And so this is out on the web. It takes it then. And you don't need to do that, Layla. It goes either to the strategic plan document or to the companion document to this, the school data profiles. So, we don't need to go there tonight. So, we can go back to the slide deck. Thank you for the segue. I figured it didn't hurt to go back through this again. Awesome. Good evening. So, I'm going to pick up from where we left off in terms of talking about the area around creating a culture of safety and wellness. And as you saw in that

124area, that was one that had the most pause for strategically abandoned KSAs. Again, part of that is because some of the funding that is there and then it impacted the work. And at the rate which we could do the work, and what I will say is that we're still making progress in this area. So one of the things that you'll see is that discipline in our district or students receiving referrals is low. And so just to put that in context, the National Institute of Health studies indicated that about 33% of students experience one or more discipline events over the course of two years. And in our district, that number is 6%. Another way to say that is only about 95% of our students will or 95% of our students will never experience a discipline related

125incident while they're here in our district. And so again, those numbers, just to kind of put it in context, are really low that we're working with. The other thing that we would note is that attendance is moving in the right direction. And we looked at the data around attendance. One of the things that we've noted is that attendance is really everyone's business in this school. We've seen it be primarily our social workers job. However, we've made it the work of McKinney Vento thinking about attendance. We have looked at our school leaders really stepping up and having some accountability around attendance. We've also looked at our attendance taking procedures which means all the way with our teachers. That lies with them in terms of taking attendance. So we've looked at those procedures. What we noticed that

126elementary school and middle schools both had increases in satisfactory attendance with elementary school experiencing a 9 point percentage points gain and then middle school up for five points. And then our high school satisfactory attendance has driven dropped the past two years. However, the category right below that which is mild is where they saw the increase. And then what you'll see is our severe absences. And I'll look at that in just a moment. The level has dropped at every single level. So, our severe absences at elementary school are. Let me see, I'm going to turn here. Maybe not. Okay. Our severe absences have looked at about 5% in the elementary school and middle school, 3% in the high school down as much as 11%. So that's one area that we wanted to highlight in terms of

127attendance. One of the areas that we also looked at in terms of just overall is that our student perception data is an upward trajectory. So overall there is a stronger sense of belonging in this area and it's up 10 percentage points. So that's one of the proud points, is that our sense of, of belonging is up. So in terms of discipline and I want to just. And we shared mainly with you discipline where we were at the last two years. But what I'll do here is just update you where we're at through this October. And so you'll see the number of unique referrals. That means an individual student receiving one referral. I received a referral. So that would be a unique referral is up from 2024 by 37. However our total referrals are down by

12810. And so that's what we've been seeing lately is that our discipline is kind of going up or down. It's just. It's at this space where it just kind of goes up or down by 10 or up or down by 2. And I'll talk with you about why we believe that that's happening. The other piece is that there the question came up at our most recent board reading meeting about how is attendant discipline during flex period. We've only had four incidents during our flex period. You'll see that in context. We've had in our second period block and 21 during lunch and then 88 in our overall high schools. One of our challenging points, and we continue to think about this is our students with disability discipline. So there's 39% of our students with disabilities receive

129the referrals. However, they make up about 12% of our population. The other area that we want to continue to pay particular focus to and it's called out in our strategic plan, is that 22% of our students have a unique referral where black males. And that's nearly unchanged. And I said again, you'll see that, that our discipline is kind of unchanged in a lot of areas. It goes up or down by 10. Attendance. I spoke with you about this school year. We have goals that to increase a combination of satisfactory attendance. So, this is one of the first years coming out of the strategic plan that we gave schools actual goals around attendance. We did a combination of satisfactory and mild because we looked at anything above 90% looking at the data as it correlates with

130academics and those students tend to perform well. If you have 90% or higher attendance. And as of October report, the combination of satisfactory has risen 5 percentage points. So the work that we've been doing around attendance, again, like I said, it's everyone's work. We started off with an attendance campaign. Campaign. This year we have worked with Infinite Campus and our staff to ensure that there's accurate attendance. Our reporting measures are correct. We also reviewed our attendance policy last year, if you'll recall our attendance. Our policy was reviewed and put in place for this year. We have schools reviewing chronic absenteeism. We're looking at students on the bubble. Students have case managers, attendance reports. We share this data with our school leaders often as well their attendance letters to families. The area that we worked on

131this year really coming out of last year was increasing our wraparound services for students. And so that means that as we meet with our students that we have supports in place for them in tier one and tier two. And tier three, one of the things that I was really, it's really been nice to see is that our tier one supports are generally working. When you have that low of an amount of students receive in discipline referrals, your tier one supports are pretty strong. And in some cases your tier two, when you start thinking about tier three, those could be your frequent flyers. And so that's what we'll talk about in terms of work that we feel like we need to do. But we have worked to build a more robust wraparound services for our students.

132So in terms of schools support and improvement, all of our secondary schools have restorative practices rooms and we have them staffed. We have taken great training measures for those staff members to make sure that they are exercising the restorative practice measures as much as possible. Our assistant principals have been trained in this work. We are currently partnered with Boomerang, which is an alternative to suspension program. So in lieu of a suspension, a family could take their child to the Boomerang program. They also do some restorative work with students that there. We have targeted behavior training for some of our EC classrooms. And so, we have some specific classrooms that have students that struggle with disabilities around behavior. And we asked those classrooms to have targeted training. We also had members of our EC team participate

133in the minds of boys training because we were just seeing an influx of our male students having some discipline in issues. And so we wanted to make sure we're responsive to that. Our executive directors now approve what is principals assigning more than three days of suspension. Part of the rationale for that is it used to be 5, but we dropped it to 3 just in so we can monitor and calibrate on what kind of things are causing out of school suspensions. Our mental health specialists are currently providing interventions for students who may receive referrals. And substance abuse is no longer seen as a discipline issue. We're really trying to look at it as how we do education around substance abuse. So that's been a change for us. Our secondary schools also will use their flex

134time often to work with SEL intervention. So that happens. Our high schools have adopted exam exemptions, so we're in year two of that. There's sometimes mixed reviews, but I can tell you who likes it is the students. And so ultimately they have been trying to meet those. What we did see last year just because they worked so hard. At the beginning of the year, there was about eight or so days at the end of the year that they didn't have to come. And so our Attendance did not fare well at the end of the year. So that's something we have been trying to keep our eye on. We have also launched our disproportionality work this year where we're looking at student discipline in specific schools and targeted schools where we're looking at discipline disproportionality as

135it relates to our exceptional children. We have also, like I talked about, created those attendance goals. And then again, I mentioned this before, but Culbreth Middle School has implemented a homeschool visit program. The principal there just continues to report that it is making a positive impact. So, this is the slide where I wanted to talk about some big bets. And so big bets are these pieces where we feel like if we can really get these things right, we might see a little bit more of an increase or a decrease in our discipline and an increase in attention. So, one of the things that we're really clear on is that we have to make deep investments in our general education teachers around teaching students with disabilities. We have found that like our specialists, our EC teachers,

136they get it right. However, when we know that most of our EC students are sitting in the general curriculum classrooms, we do have to make sure our teachers are trained in how to work with that behavior and navigate those situations. We have to continue to work with relationship building. And while we saw an increase in that this year, we still want to make sure that we're investing in relationship building. And it's not so much about relationship building because there's sometimes it's easy because it's like, you remind me of me when you were a student, but what about the students that don't remind you of when you were a student? And so we've seen that and we have to partner. We've been thinking about or not thinking about. We are partnering with our equity division and

137she's doing lessons around the district around relationship, relationship building. Because that's what we really see at the core is that equity work is relationship work. We have to make deep investments in proactive programming. And so, we have quite a few programs in terms of restorative practices and even Boomerang being more of a reactive program about how we handle it once a student has already been in some trouble. We want to think about how we can think more proactively about that. Some mentor based programs and some additional supports there. We have to continue to think about equity work as it relates to students and staff if we're going to move the needle around student discipline. Because that's just what we're Seeing. And a lot of the research will tell you to have a code of conduct

138and character to try to calibrate on some of those things across the board. But our code offers interventions, and we have to have students starting there. The last thing we want to think about is just how we continue to think about parent engagement. And I'll add this piece there, too, even when it's outside of our comfort zone, is where we have to also think about parent engagement. So that is our work for. Creating a culture of safety and wellness. I'll stop there to see if we have questions and then we can move to our instructional work. Thank you, board members. Do you have any questions? Meredith? Just one. Thank you for that. That was a helpful summary. I know that I've mentioned this before, but I remain concerned about the disproportionality of students with disabilities.

139I mean, it's a very high number compared to their numbers. And I'm a firm believer in the behaviorist communication camp. And I think it's clear that you're hearing that based on what you're saying and the investments that you say we need to make in general ed, teachers especially, I think not only do they need more training, but they need more support. And, it's challenging when you have students who have real needs in your classroom. In order for those students to access the general curriculum, there have to be more accommodations made so that they can do that. And I think a lot of times discipline comes up because they're not with the program, they're not absorbing some of the lessons that are going on. And so their behavior is telling us that they need something different.

140And so I really appreciate the conversations that have been going on surrounding this. And thank you both to Dr. Trice and to you and to Fonda Robinson to continue these conversations. And I think that we can make a real impact, make a real dent in this, in this area. So, I appreciate the attention to it. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think right now we've done a lot of the Tier one supports, and we're seeing evidence of that. But it'll really be digging in to think about how we can do some things differently. I would agree. Vickei? Yes. I have a question. You were speaking about Boomerang, and I agree Boomerang has been doing some phenomenal work for a long time in Orange county. But I also know that it is not housed in Chapel

141Hill any longer. And you mentioned that people can take their kids to Boomerang in the event. So, if we have someone who has an out of School suspension. Are we not doing what we can do to get them to Boomerang's location, which is in Hillsborough? Yeah. So, we have been having lots of conversations with our Boomerang partner right now, and that is a challenge. We're not taking students there. It is in the Hillsborough location. It's no longer here. What we are having conversations with Boomerang about is how they can become more of a proactive partner for us because our numbers are actually pretty low. They were low before. It was. You know, we didn't send very many students before, and we're concerned about is, will we send even less this time? I will say that

142we have had a couple families that have been making some. You know, we have talked with our principals and really are trying to coordinate with families to get there. So, we are having families take advantage of it still. But again, we are looking to shift our focus a little bit with them. I do have a couple questions. So, I think in years past, we might have had, like, a key to help define, like, what makes up a discipline referral. That would be helpful, I think, when we kind of bring this back again, because I'm sitting here, like, what is it? You know, what does it take? So that's just one ask. And then have we come up with an idea to address this absence thing for the last few days of school right now, just

143by moving to block? There's going to be fewer days at this point. So that's one thing. There'll be fewer opportunities for them not to be here. It might be helpful for us to start communicating that out. I know that's just, like, a big concern a lot of, you know, because those absences do count. They do for a variety of things. If students do athletics, they count. And so a lot of students, they don't like going those last days because, well, I play a sport in the fall or however, I don't remember for how it works with sports, because they've changed that. But I'd be curious to know, like, how many days have we reduced it? And then how are schools thinking about proactively doing things, maybe moving some of the activities around or whatever to

144place them and entice kids to come on those last few days of school or whatever they look like, because, you know, I mean, we want kids to come to school. Those are opportunities. Even if it's not learning the material for the class they're in, it's still an opportunity for them to do some enrichment activities or other activities. So Dr. Trice has asked that Our schools have a plan for that time and so it should include and will include activities for them to do. Okay. Yeah. I just want to, for the public's sake and I think. Also board members, this issue came up, I believe in our student. One of our recent student success committees meetings. And I think it's important for principals and teachers to come together to develop a plan for that testing period.

145But not only that, that the plan is really publicized and understood by the community, by school, because each of our High schools is a bit different. And I know in the new year we'll begin to work on that. I just wanted to kind of reiterate that for our board and community. And we're really close to being able to share some of that information with the community. I have a question about the exam exemption policy. And my information might not be accurate. So, if it is wrong, just let me know. So if you are a person who qualifies to not have to take your exam, but you want to take it anyway. If you do, is there any kind of hold you harmless thing or if you do really badly, do you get kind of like.

146I could see if I were a student I might like there's a. Do you understand? I do. I'm looking at Bob. I believe that we did put in a. They can certainly take the exam if they want to. And then in most cases, I believe of that grade it has to be better for it to. It's to their advantage. We only made it to their. To the student's advantage. I do remember that. Okay. I see a lot of head nods from that's good schools. I was gonna say. I remember it was only to the student's advantage. Yeah. And if you come and don't have to take your exam, what are you doing? So that's the portion that we're talking about with the plan. Right. And it will be school specific. I mean there are certain

147schools that will have like some more things that they need students to do. We've been talking some about how they can prep and plan for the next semester as part of that plan. So I will say that in all honesty, it'll be a little bit harder at the end of the year, you know, but there's a plan. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Ms. Reese. Hello again. Moving into the area of instruction. Here are some areas of strength. We like to start with the positive. One of our elementary schools exited ATSI status. I will explain that science scores were above the states with a brand new testing curriculum and elementary schools had strong proficiency. So ATSI stands for Additional Targeted Support. Let me walk through the context. These are federal designations coming out of the Every Student

148Succeeds ACT or ESSA. And then I put the five possible designations there, from most severe to least severe. So to date, schools in our district have been consistently underperforming or additional targeted support or none of that. So, none of the CSI things which are sort of district wide issues that hasn't affected us or we haven't met the criteria, I guess is the way you'd say that. So you know about school performance grades. Those are 80% proficiency and 20% growth. And they do that by group. Right. So, the racial groups and students with disabilities, multilingual learners, et cetera. So, every three years, and this past year, the 24, 25 year was one of those designation years, they look at the data and decide whether someone who's already ATSI can exit. So that's one of the things

149that occurs that year. Northside elementary School did in fact exit after having been in this status for six years. So, this was a huge. It was such fun to make phone calls to tell the principal, it's very good. And so you get identified if your TSICU, I can tell this is sort of upside down for an explanation. TSICU is identified annually. So every year they look to see if you have these groups and they have an F performance grade for three consecutive years. Then you become labeled as TSICU. And then the school district works with you to improve the performance for that group. So, you get out of that, you exit from that by getting a D or higher for two consecutive years. Excuse me, for ATSI, you can only exit once every three years.

150So, there are these three year chunks. You get in and you're in. And then the next three year cycle, if your scores are high enough, they would exit you. Okay, so that's how that functions. Okay. Excuse me, real quick, before you start, I would again ask for those who are streaming or even who may be in the room who aren't educators, if we would please give some explanation about acronyms so everyone doesn't speak educationally so we can have some plain language so they'll know what it means. Thank you. Well, if you go back a slide. Additional targeted support, TSI or ATSI. And that is just the label the federal government give schools who have met the data criteria that are listed on the screen. Thank you. I'm sure they appreciate it better than that. In

15124 25, Northside exited ATSI status after increasing the school performance grade for the economically disadvantaged student group by more than 10 percentage points from 23 24 to 24 25. Now some key factors that led to this improvement K2 teachers participated in Math Talk training project aim to strengthen math discourse and conceptual understanding in grades three. Five POCs and administrators collaborated with district. Staff to analyze that data and also, create data walls and also guide the Development through data driven and small group instruction. Another thing Quarterly District elementary Data talks were conducted to dig deeper into student growth and achievement and also to identify actionable steps. Throughout the year, K5 teachers, parents instructional assistants received professional learning on the science of reading and also in addition professional. Learning was provided on developing reading goals. Northside trained

152teachers and also IAS instructional assistants over the past three years to increase use of AVID school wide learning strategies for all students. These strategies include writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading with a foundation of strong community connections. Nothing happens at a school without leadership, so leadership accountability moves it. Increase accountability around instructional expectations for staff, increase visibility in classrooms and providing feedback on a specific walkthrough tool. Active administrative engagement and participation in weekly professional learning communities and MTSS meetings. Prioritize focus on small group instruction school wide and the use of data sources and planning additional student supports and this could look like tutoring and or small group instruction. And then we also want to talk about our science growth. I know we've talked about this a lot because I know that eventually we're coming back

153to the board to ask for more money when we have new curriculum adoptions. So we're going to make sure every time we bring it up. When we also talked to you about technology, we also made sure that this was a plan and a curriculum that is not technology dependent and it's very hands on. It's instrumental in what we're doing. So with this, our science growth across our elementary, middle and high schools far exceeded our other school districts throughout the state. As you can see, we have two of our levels that you know exceeds growth and then one that met and compared like I said, compared to their other districts that's a lot higher than what we're usually at. So again we know that we have a formula in terms of getting input from teachers, creating

154a curriculum and getting back to normal business in terms of doing that. As we move forward with English, ELA and math, we will be going through those exact same things and will allow us really to get back to a clear understanding of this is the path we're going to move forward and making sure that we're involving others as we do so we did want to kind of go through some areas of focus. In the larger deck. We have a ton of data around EOG scores and anyone can go back in there and look at it instead of going through that now, as that was a test that we took in May, I wanted to make sure that we actually talked about things that we're doing in part based on the data we had, but then

155also knowing that we don't just look at the data at the end of the year and go, oh, we need to start working on this. These are things that we started to discuss and look at before the data even came out. We've, you know, we progress monitor, we do diagnostic testing and these are all things that allow us to predict where students are going to eventually be at. So, I'm going to hand it off to Tammy Eddins who's going to talk us through our second and third grade reading proficiency. Thank you. Okay, so again, I think Dr. Bail shared that the data is in your slide deck. We just want to talk about sort of how we're responding to the slide in growth at K2. And so the first thing that I want to make

156you aware of is that even though in terms of growth we have, you know, taken a slide back, our proficiency is almost in some grades, 3 through 5, 20% above the state average. So just wanted to point that out. But we're keenly aware that non proficient students have to not just meet growth, but exceed growth. And when they are not exceeding growth and the rest of our students are meeting growth, then we take a slide in our overall growth. We're definitely aware of that. And so to address those things, we're providing professional development with regarding core practice and literacy. We're providing data for schools so that they can in time, just in time respond to needs that students have. We're also providing tutoring two of those sites is really a shout out to public school

157Foundation Hill center is providing foundational reading support at both Rashkis Elementary, Northside. And then all of our Title 1 schools have additional tutoring and foundational reading skills from the Ignite Reading Company. And then finally we're providing district level support, including learning walks, direct modeling, planning support, anything sort of that's needed at the school or the professional learning community level, if it's an entire grade level, then finally I think one of the biggest things we want to do is we've provided a standard treatment protocol and it helps schools respond in a standard way when our core is not working for students. And so we have Responses in five areas. And each of those areas are the big five in reading. Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. We also have things in there for writing as

158well. The reason the first two are starred, remember, 95% of all reading problems lie within those two areas, phonics or phonemic awareness. And so in response to that, that's part of that science of reading research. We have carried that over to fourth and fifth grade. So if we still have fourth and fifth graders, that's not typical. But if we still have fourth and fifth graders that need that foundational reading support, we've given them some advanced options for that that would encourage them. What questions might you have about reading? I have a question. I'm curious. Are we seeing a difference? We've got looks like two tutoring programs happening. Are we seeing impacts in both or is one doing better than others? So they're both actually targeting foundational reading skills. Okay. Yes. Ignite tutoring is online tutoring.

159So, it's like 15 minutes. The difference is your Hill Rap tutoring is going to be about 30 to 45 minutes a session. So we're doing really targeted with both. And it's foundational reading support. Yes, we're seeing growth in both in foundational reading skills. What we have to do then is once we've conquered decoding is then focus on the heavy comprehension work. And we're going to do that part in the school. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Go ahead, Barb. The idea of accelerating learning. I just don't. What's the plan for helping kids do that? Because it feels like they need to be in school more because it just falls to the kids. I mean, I live with one and it's just, you can't. Like, you're just falling behind. And so if you're supposed to catch up and

160get ahead, like, how are we doing that? So this. We didn't talk about core practices. And I think one of the things that we're doing in elementary school is we have a individual level reading assessment that will assess a student whether they're reading on the kindergarten level or the 12th grade level. And once we give them that assessment, we then work with them to determine what goal they need as readers. I'm going to give you sort of an example regarding acceleration. This fall I met with a principal who said my level fours and fives, especially in fifth grade, are not growing. And so we really began to analyze what are we doing for those fourth and fifth graders. And so we have designed and most schools are Doing this. This particular school was not at

161the time due to staffing. They had someone retiring. And so we started pulling during intervention time. So they're getting exactly what they need as well in terms of acceleration. And we're. They're currently doing a novel study and one of the things they're looking at is the different types of conflict that come up in a fiction text. And so we are addressing not just core foundational needs, but as importantly, if not more importantly, acceleration in elementary. Additional questions? All right, I think we're good. Thank you. All right, our second piece that we're going to talk about is our ATSI. So as we talked about, I love to talk about how we have a formula, but we have a formula and that we've used at Northside to really look at a lot of the leadership moves and

162exactly what we need to do strategically to allow our stool over the three years for an ATSI status to be able to exit that status. Unfortunately, this past year was one of the years that they go through and they, you know, look at our scores. We've had a few schools that are now added to that ATSI list. I know we're fixing the presentation deck here for a second, but just to kind of go through where those land, those really fall within our multilingual learners. So our Culbreth Middle School, McDougall and Carrboro High School were each given that designation. And then for our students with disabilities, Culbreth and Phillips are both given that designation. So we kind of have an idea of the focus that we really need to look at within each of those schools

163again, that three year designation. Like, yes, we look at it and they are evaluated every three years, but you also cannot get out of it in just one year. So this is really a multi year plan to figure out, okay, how do we actually navigate this process? So as we're looking through that, we kind of have three years to look at. We have a first year of planning, which we're really going through and diagnosing, engaging and designing. So that really is allowing us to go through and look at what progress do we need to look at, what type of data do we need to pull? I'm almost trying to look at the screen here. There we go. Review the data, engage stakeholders and really build that capacity to say, okay, this is what we're going

164to be looking at and moving forward in the next years. Year two, once we kind of have that plan in place. We start to implement selected interventions and professional learning. We're providing coaching and making sure that things are done with fidelity. And we're tracking progress and communicating results in year two in hopes that in year three, you know, we start to refine and scale the effective practices, strengthen the leadership and the PLC capacity and then plan for sustainability and continuous improvement. And this is from the state in terms of this is like the game plan of this is what we should be looking at. And these are all things that we did at Northside as well. So, when we go through this process at the end of the third year, really if you're doing these

165three things, we should expect to see a lot of these schools exit that ATSI status. I don't know what the number right off top of my head is, but I think it's about 14% of students that are in ATSI status actually exit. So it is difficult to do because it's like you got every three years you got that one chance to get out. That doesn't mean that progress isn't happening in between there. But that third year is the year that you've really got to look at. So with that I'm going to hand it over to Ms. Reeves, who is going to be able to talk us through our students with disabilities. So just again with our students with disabilities, some of the work that we've begun is to make sure our teachers are trained in

166evidence based programs. Both Wilson and Spire already we've been hearing really good feedback from our teachers about the implementation of new curriculums. I know about two years ago we stood before the board and we talked about specially designed instruction. And that is something that we're starting to see the benefits of right now. And so that's the curriculums that they're using. We're training teachers in our evidence based programs like sel. So again that's we're seeing some behaviors that are improving. They're tier one using assessments to identify student needs. We're writing high quality present level statements, getting coaching around that, and before providing coaching to staff around that, we're writing high quality IEP goals and transitions so their present levels of academic achievement. So we're really focusing on that to make sure that our goals and the

167work that we do with the students are aligned. Training teachers during transition activities and then we're also monitoring student progress toward those goals. And so there's been a lot more intentionality about that over the last couple years. Okay. With regard to our multilingual learners, I'd first just like to say that it's really important to remember that our population has really shifted since 2016, 2017. Relevant to our CYFE students. SIFE stands for Students with Interrupted Formal Education. And so the increase has been roughly 62%. In our district, we've had a rise of 62% of students who are SIFE. So I think that provides important context for what Dr. Bales just shared a moment ago. Also, in terms of multilingual learners, we did pilot AVID Excel this year here at McDougal Middle and Culbreth Middle School. AVID

168Excel is a standalone elective course. It is specifically designed to provide students with language acquisition acceleration along with very specific strategies in AVID that engage students in reading, writing, listening and speaking, which is incredibly important for our English language learners. There's also a focus on familial connections between families and schools and finally really helping students learn about skills that help them write their own educational journeys. That self advocacy piece I'm happy to report that both Culbreth middle school and McDougall Middle had great, great gains this past year when we piloted in terms of language acquisition as well as the number of ML students that exited identification. So we're incredibly excited about that piece. We also have trained some educators on AVID Emerge. While it's not a standalone course, it is a framework and very intentional

169lesson designs that echo AVID Excel and again that goes back to accelerating language acquisition, strengthening ties between school and family and then allowing students to learn to be self advocates and strengthening their own voices. In terms of their educations on any given day in our district there are ML students who might be in a core classroom where there is no ESL support, especially if you're a long term ESL student. Having said that, we recognize that it's absolutely critical And I think Ms. Reeves mentioned this relevant to EC as well. It's absolutely imperative that we build capacity with our core and content teachers and have them really embrace the idea that they are also language teachers. And we do that. We have done that and we continue to do that through ELD training, English Language Development

170Standards training, as well as PSYOP training, training teachers and providing sessions on best practices, the implementation of language objectives, and finally through strengthening our partnership with Durham Tech to provide pathways for our students that align well with our students, ML students and their strengths, and then finally being very purposeful in leveraging data to inform the MTSS process. We've recently started goal setting with individual students so that students and even at elementary are doing student led conferences with their families and their ESL teachers to set goals relevant to where they are in the language acquisition process, having kid talks at schools with school admin teams, so that if there are struggles or obstacles with students, whether they be academic, social, emotional or otherwise, we're addressing those and removing those barriers in a very timely fashion. Being

171very purposeful about Newcomer placement and making sure that students, students who are eligible receive that intensive language instruction. We're also exploring progress monitoring tools that have not historically been available to us, that are specific to language acquisition. And then finally really honing in on our weighted allocation model to make sure that the schools that have a high level support get that support by way of ESL, allocate teacher allocations. Any questions about that? And this goes back to what we've talked about before. We've shared in the past our 8th grade math data, especially because that's the first time that we separate for a lot of our middle school students. If you're on an advanced math track in sixth and seventh grade, you're taking the sixth and seventh grade EOG as well as any student that may

172be in the standard math class. When we get to eighth grade, it's the first time that we see that data separate. And we have our students that are in 8th grade math and our students that are in math one. And when we look at that data, it really gives us a true picture of some areas that we really need to focus on. This is something that we started last year and continue to do so. So one of the things, and while this is the focus for this year, we spent an enormous amount of time this past year providing Newcomer and Tier three supports to teachers. Gave them the time, the structure to build a curriculum and collaborate on what is needed for our students in those tier three and Newcomer classes. We created at the

173high school level an entire Newcomer curriculum for math for our students that are coming in and may need some extra support. We also, I would say probably on an every other month basis, have a 8th grade math and a math one IPT instructional planning team that meets and actually goes through and really dives into. Not just like this is how you teach. Do some like, how are kids reacting to the questions? I mean, this last time we went in and we probably spent an hour and a half on one question and every single angle of like, okay, depending on what your background may be, where your frustration point may be, how do you need to adjust your teaching? Or what's a question that might get a kid to think in a different way? And being

174able to really dive into the questions and looking particularly at our tier three and our newcomer students, and saying, okay, how do we support those students? So we will see where that kind of lands at the end of the year with our Math one and Math eight. But it is allowing us to really take a deep dive into that. And that has been our director of math, Mary Rogers, one of her big focuses this year of not only providing that time for the instructional planning team, but making sure that those are the classes that we're going in and looking at when we're talking with principals at the allotment time and when they're working on their schedules. The teachers that are really your amazing teachers probably need to be teaching those classes and being able to

175shift schedules as we move forward. Another piece that we're working on is we completed the scan and those of you who remember the 4x4 process, it's our trigo process that we've used. It says in December, it was actually today. So we were able to kind of look at the pathways that we have for students, placement and alignment. So we're beginning to have conversations around, you know, should acceleration begin earlier in the math sequence? And when I say earlier, I don't mean like earlier kind of dives into a little bit of the elementary time. Should we start accelerating students in third grade so we're not having students in sixth grade do a year and a half of math? Our placement guide's been guidelines fair and equitable for students. Our systems and procedures or processes consistent across

176schools. Do current structures support or constrain student growth? I will tell you that those are four wonderings that we had when we created this presentation. We had 37 wonderings that came up today that will help guide us. We're going to meet again not next week, but the week after to really dive into are we doing the right things for, for students? Are we teaching the right things? Are we really looking at it from a strength based lens and not it's the standard class and here's my expectations. So a lot of that is going into play in that process because we really want to focus in on students that need us to actually teach different. It's not that the student's struggling, we're struggling to teach the students. So our next steps, I'm just looking at leadership,

177accountability, alignments for us, you know, and I know we started to talk about this previously and we've talked about it a ton within our DLT process is just a real big clear focus on our three big rocks. I'm looking at Avid, MTSS and PLCs. We've had Avid as A pretty much a highlight of our last couple principal meetings where we've had three hour trainings, we've had people from AVID actually come in, we've done some internal training, we have people that are now trainers to be able to go out and kind of push that. But really looking at AVID as the way we teach, that's our tier one instruction. It is very much student focused, making sure that the student's at the center and relationships, as we talked about, with discipline and making sure that that's

178included in terms of the curricular piece. So we focus on that. Then we look at MTSs, we've really ramped that up over the last few years. But making sure that when we figure out a student needs some extra help, some extra support, we have systems and processes in place, we have standard treatment protocols. That said, if a student is struggling with this, we know exactly some different options of what we need to do to actually try to intervene to help them in that moment and not six years down the road. And then really looking at our PLC work, to making sure that we're organizing that work. So one thing that my team is working on, and we will share that with you all too, is we're working on a three year kind of rollout and

179trying to get alignment with our principals so that we can agree that, you know, at the end of next year every one of our schools should be at this certain place for avid MTSs and PLCs. Year two, we should be somewhere. Year three, we should be somewhere. So that by the end of that time we are fully implemented within our avid, our MTSS and PLC structures. That doesn't mean that we're at point zero right now, but it does mean that in three years we should all be exemplar in those spaces. I will say for our principals, it's really helped them have a shared vision with central office. We've even navigated some things of how do we make sure that we get what our vision is and what the principal's vision is on the table in

180June and July instead of August, when they may have already planned everything. So there's even some of the changes that we have within our cabinet. But just making sure that we're aligning that work with multiple stakeholders and our leadership. So just to close this out this evening, schools are more clear about the practices that we have in place around attendance. So just collectively around attendance, around instruction and around how we'll be move with school wide discipline. We also have moved to more targeted support for students. So as Schools need certain pieces. We'll work with them. You've seen that as well with our professional learning for special education. We have schools that we're going to work with that have demonstrated high needs instructional walkthroughs and then our school improvement plans, which I know you all be

181hearing or be a part of shortly, also reflect the work that's taking place at each individual school. So the tailored plan support and that is it. Do you all have any last questions for the team today for members? Go ahead, Barb. So Dr. Trice sent around to the board an article recently from New York magazine called the Big Fail. And it's just about public school districts across the country post Covid. And it linked to the Education Recovery Center Scorecard, which is published by Harvard, which then does like a district by district rollout of data. And ours are. No one's in North Carolina has caught up except for Johnston County. And so, I guess I'm just wondering, are we trying to. No. Is that wrong? We have five elementary schools who have caught up. I mean,

182as a district, I think those are like aggregate district wide. Yes. No, I was glad to see the five elementary. And I don't think we talked about that in the presentation, but I was glad to see it in the deck. But I guess I'm just, I guess I feel like we shouldn't get. I'm not saying anyone is suggesting this, but I feel like we shouldn't give up on 2019 as our benchmark. A lot of the graphs start at 2022, but I think if we started them at 2019, it would look even worse than it does. And so I just, I hope we're not giving up on that, on getting everybody to proficiency, not, not just the schools that are on there. And I guess I'm also wondering if Johnson county has something to offer us.

183I mean, maybe they don't, but like, how are they the only district in the state that have gotten everybody back to proficiency? I can just speak to that because I know CEO in Johnson county, honestly, like it's, it's narrowing the focus. You have to be aligned. It can't be that these three schools do this and these two schools do this. I mean, we've talked a lot about not being a system of schools, but a school system. And I feel like we're going, we're working on that path. We are not there yet. Part of that is it's our curriculum. If we don't have a strong curriculum to really lay back on and we are piecemealing that Together as well. But I will tell you, like, for secondary math, we spend about $0 on curriculum for secondary

184math, unless we're looking at ways that we're intervening. And if we're not putting that investment forward to begin with, we do have the math adoption coming up. So, it's like, do we spend all this money on this new thing and then make teachers go back and redo it all again? So, we're looking at every time we have those curriculum adoptions as the opportunity to align even with our science. Science looks great. It would look amazing if we were all aligned and we had everyone following every part of their curriculum. I think the proofs in the pudding, like when scores came back and some people saw like, oh, I didn't really follow it and my scores show that, and my colleague down the hall did and their scores are 15 points higher than mine. That's going

185to help get people on board with that as well. But I really do think that curriculum alignment and just having a focus, that's one thing principals have like starving for. They're like, just give us three things and let's focus on it for four years. Sorry. Is there anything we can do to be supportive and helpful? Because I feel like you guys have to come up and make these presentations. It's so much work and we like listen and try to ask smart questions. But what would be helpful from here, from this side of the table? And you don't need to answer that right now. But I just, every time I hear this, I'm like so appreciative. It's so interesting. I'm like, what can we do that's different from what y' all are? I'll come up with

186a list for you. Okay. Vickei , go ahead. I know for me it will be helpful when we have presentations and I know everybody likes to highlight what's going well and what's great and we want to do that nice shiny spot. I would really like to know when we're getting slide decks or if you're even providing information in between. And I know I've talked to you about, send us what we need to know. Let us know where the really hard spots are, the immediate pieces that can be attacked, the low hanging fruit, the things that we can do to be intentional, hard set to get to the young kids that need the work, that need to get what we can provide them. We have wonderful educators who with given the right tools, can reach some

187of these kids. But we have to know what they need and, and how they need it. And we need to know the kids that we need to wrap our arms around to really address the situations, whether it's attendance, whether it's social, emotional, learning, literacy first and foremost, so that we're not looking at how many beds 20 years down the line need to be built in prisons in North Carolina. And I'm sad to say that just is a fact of what it is. So we really need to know the who, the what, the where, and the how and the why so that we can do best things, things to work collectively with administration, the community, to really do the hard work that needs to be done. Because if we don't know what we don't know what

188we don't know, that's just the bottom line. And if it's not brought to us in a very transparent, plain language way, then we don't know how to do the job that we're tasked to be doing. And that is what they ask us to do on this side of the table. And I know we very much as a collective body want to do that job. We may have different opinions on how to do it, but I know that, I know that, I know we want to do it. Can I follow up on that? I mean, I am the one who sent the article out only because it was. As a new superintendent. It was just so interesting to me. Because it kind of outlined what I've been feeling as an educator, but also clearly outlining that

189it's, you know, a lot of school districts across the country are experiencing the same things. And so, one of the most compelling tales in the article was related to the adoption of curricula. And I know that's something we've been preaching. It's not the type of thing that you can do overnight. You can't turn that ship overnight. But when the question was asked, what can we do? I think, one of the first things we can do is begin to address. What we've been talking about, like our budget, declining student enrollment. All of that has a serious impact on our ability or capacity to acquire high quality resources for students. When we talk about what's available for secondary math, I mean, that's not a hyperbolic statement. I mean, that's reality. So, I think from the board standpoint.

190Is when we can become more, you know, efficient, better use of our dollars. Making sure that we have often called regular order in curriculum. If you don't have that, you don't have much. And then that's where you kind of get into this question. School is doing that. Another school is doing another thing because and you can't point the finger at teachers because they're doing the best they can with what they have in a district like ours, with a community that invests in education like ours. There should not be a reason why, we shouldn't have the best curriculum in the state, the highest quality. We have best teachers, we should have. The best curriculum to kind of go with that. And the second thing that I'll raise is a bit of focus. And We've talked about

191MTSs a lot. We've talked about POCs over the year, over the years, but we've been paying. For AVID for a very long time, and they have some of the best resources in our country and perhaps even internationally related to not what we teach, like the curriculum, but how we teach. And so just like we have to align on what we teach, we need to align on how we teach, because that gives us a focus in terms of professional development, supporting new teachers. You know, we have an influx of new teachers coming on board. And so, holding us, when I say us, the administration, accountable to that focus is important. And I'll end on this. As you know, in terms of relation to the article, it is absolutely essential that central office and principals come together.

192So, I know it was mentioned, and maybe, you probably wouldn't have caught it, but starting this summer in June. Principals and central office will align on what the focus is for the following year. For so long we've been doing that in August, and then you're starting school in a week. Well, we know what our data looks like. We know what professional development we need to focus on. When school ends is when you do the heavy thinking. When you look at your professional development plans, when you say, okay, everyone, these. Are the three things we're going to focus on the following year. And then principals can kind of go back to their staffs over the summer. And at the beginning of the year to say, hey, this is our focus. We've been trained, you know, we've

193had an opportunity to provide input, and everyone's kind of on the same page. So that kind of streamlines, you know, the direction. And unfortunately, we just haven't had that for sometimes in terms of direction. So that's kind of like building the foundation to be able to accelerate learning without a focus, without curriculum, without strategies. That we all believe in as a district, it's hard to accelerate learning, but if you have that, you. Know, you can accelerate learning. And we know that our students do better when they have more time for learning. We see that in some of our summer School data. But if we don't address some of our budget challenges, can we even expand that or, you know, I mean, those are the types of hurdles that we'll have to deal with as a

194district. And, and I know there will come a time when we can talk a little bit more about, you know, the teaching and learning supports that we can put in place as we address those budget challenges. Sorry, but appreciate it. Thank you. Board members, any other questions? Thank you. Thank you everyone for your work. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. All right. The next item on our agenda is sharing. So do any board members. I don't think we've had. Have we had any committee meetings since our last meeting? No, I don't think we have. Okay. Do any board members have any sharing in terms of any of the organizations they serve as liaisons for? Okay, I just want to give a quick one. I missed it last time. So, I do serve on Climate Action Council

195and so. And I'll share these notes. I think it's mostly to staff about the work and some of the initiatives. But this past year the focus was on focusing on the heat action plan and Beat the Heat. There were updates on a lot of the climate Action grants and the grants of the county gives out, which we've been a recipient of some of them over the years. But next year again the work is going to continue about Beat the Heat. And I think that's really important when we think about our greater community. And also we're finally going to launch the year of Electrification. We delayed that because there was an urgent need to address some of the challenges with heat and heat related issues in the community. So next year will be the Year of

196Electrification. I know we've done a lot of work to shift to electrify a lot of our fleet in terms of like electric vegetation management and those equipments and things like that. But I'll share that information so we can kind of share back with the county some of the initiatives that we've already done in place. But also thinking about a reduction in some of our energy consumption which we did here in upcoming date on so and this meets twice a year. So we'll meet again in May 14 from 5 to 6:30. But I'll share it with the, the staff so you're aware of some of the things the county is working on and we can join in and provide information to them in terms of what we're doing. Okay, board members, we do have to go

197into closed session, so may I get a motion for us to go into closed session for the purposes stated on the agenda. So moved. We have a motion from Barb. Can I get a second? Second. Second for Meredith. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. And we will return back to open session after that. Thank you. [CLOSED SESSION] All right, thank you, board members. We are back in open session, and we have one item. We have the personnel agenda to approve. So, can I get a motion to approve the personnel agenda? So, moved. I'll second it. I've got a motion from Meredith and a second from Melinda. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, the motion carries. And with that, that was our last agenda Item. So, we are adjourn. [GAVEL]