001Good evening. I call the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education meeting to order. The first item on our agenda is to approve the agenda. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? I would like to make an amendment Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. I have a motion from George. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Next item on agenda is to go into closed session. I would like to make a motion to amend the closed session agenda for the items that are stated on our closed session agenda and to discuss the matters of RS versus CHCCS 25 CV 00196, and John Doe versus CHCCS 26 CVS 481-670. Do you have a second? I second that. A second from Barb. All those
002in favor say aye. Aye. All right, we will come back to open session as close to 7 o'clock as possible. Thank you. [CLOSED SESSION] All right. We are back to open session. Board members, I'd like to ask for a motion to amend the agenda to consider a time-sensitive board professional development topic on discussion and action. Okay. So we'll add an item for 6G, recommendation of approval for board attendance to an upcoming professional development. If the motion passes. If the motion passes. So we've got a motion. Can I get a second? I'll second. A second from Vickie. All those in favor of amending the agenda? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Next item up on our agenda I was looking around is introduction of our administrative appointments. And I see Dr. Harris is
003standing up. Yes, ma'am. Esteemed members of the board, my fellow cabinet members, and community members of this great place, as you may notice, I am not Andy Jinks. But I will do my my very best Andy impression this evening. Good evening. I am Dr. Ashawna Harris, Chief Human Resources Officer for the district, and at this time, we are more than pleased to introduce a recent appointment to our administrative leadership position here in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and to our amazing Human Resources Division. She joined us in December and has been rocking and rolling ever since. Members of the board and public, please join me in a warm welcome for Dr. Veronica Seals, Executive Director of HR operations. Dr. Seals, please come up to the microphone and say hello. Good evening, greetings and salutations to everyone.
004As she said, my name is Dr. Veronica Seals, and I'm excited to be a part of this district. Just a little bit about me. I'm actually a New Jersey native where I went to undergrad and graduate school. I attended the College of New Jersey for my graduate degree, earned a double master's at Rutgers. University Camden, and then went on to Drexel to earn a master's and completed my education at University of North Carolina Wilmington. Go Seahawks! And with that, I've earned a double certification in HR and have been working in human resources for over 12 years. My background includes most recently over a decade in higher education administration, as well as background in Title IX, financial administration, legal, and law enforcement. And so I certainly have a wealth of experience that I'm so excited to
005have brought to this district. This has been an amazing experience and opportunity with wonderful leadership under Dr. Harris and the entire team. I truly reside in the notion of excellence, innovation, and collaboration as my points of ethics, and I certainly have enjoyed bringing that to the district and look forward to continue serving. Thank you for having me. That concludes this evening's introduction. Madam Chair, back to you. Okay, thank you so much and welcome. All right, the next item on our agenda is public comments. Okay, and I like to read a few housekeeping remarks related to public comment. The board appreciates and encourages public comment. Board members will listen to comments and may ask or make clarifying questions or comments, but there will be no general discussion related to the public comments. Comments should be related
006should relate to the education and safety of students or the operation of the school system. The public comment time is for discussion of educational issues or the operation of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. Public comment is not intended for extended comment or disruptive behavior. Speakers may offer criticism of school operations and programs as well as criticism of board members and administrators in their official capacity. However, the board will not allow personal attacks. Obscene, abusive, or defamatory language will not be tolerated. Speakers will have 3 minutes for their comment. 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 organizations, SIT, or student groups, followed by anyone who signed up in advance, and finally any other persons
007wishing to make a comment. So do we have any teacher organizations, school improvement team representatives, or student groups? Hello? Hi, Mr. Link. Good evening. My name is Brian Link, and I'm the president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators. I have a laundry list tonight of things to speak on. They're all on discussion and action this evening. I want to thank Dr. Trice and the administration and this board for their difficult but thoughtful approach to how we are handling budgetary matters for the coming year. And so I want to assert publicly that our organization supports the budget requests that we are asking this board to adopt and put forward to the County Commission. I also want to relatedly speak to the request that we're asking for approval this evening to extend the transfer deadline to
008be able to allow our staff personnel to be able to have the greatest flexibility possible, right, to find a landing spot if they are affected by the cuts that we are facing due to demographic changes. And we thank the thoughtfulness of the administration for putting that together. I know a lot of folks don't want to wade into the leads, and it can often get confusing with budgets and CIP, but I want to thank all those who spent countless hours looking at our capital improvement plans. Thank Mr. Ciarochi, right, for his continual efforts to ensure that our buildings that are here are kept up to date. And we think that the plan put forward is thoughtful, and again, we support that that as well. Moving on down the list, I don't oh yeah, he's there this
009evening. I can do this publicly now. This is very good. I want to thank Dr. Stewart. He's got a couple of items this evening on the list. First, for his thoughtful efforts around every 5 years in terms of a food vendor selection. He runs excellent committee meetings. He's just absolutely fantastic. We're always happy as an organization to have representation on that. You'll be hearing a presentation, but we support the efforts of the administration around that selection. Similarly, he does an excellent job with the calendar committee. And again, organization representation. It is really a thoughtful collaboration among parents and staff members, both, right, certified and classified, to consider all those differing factors. And while we thank the board's comments for the first go-round, we are more than satisfied with the calendar going forward and we urge
010its adoption. And of course, if we're talking about calendar issues in my limited time remaining, I do want to thank the administration and hopefully this board for the adjustment you're proposing to the '25-'26 calendar to address May 1st, May Strong First. We certainly look forward to going to Raleigh and advocating for further funds for public education so we're not in this situation locally because the ultimate responsibility lies with the state to fund public education. And we'll be out there representing strong. We encourage all of you to join us. and we ask that that change be adopted as well. So, um, as we head into fourth quarter, it's lovely to see you all. It's lovely to be back to sort of normal session. Um, and we wish you the best this evening. Thank you. Thank you.
011Any other groups, group representatives? All right. And it looks like we've got a few speakers who've signed up. So why don't we start with Jen? All right, thank you very much. My name is Jen Costanza. I'm a parent here in CHCCS. I have two kids at Ephesus, and I want to speak tonight about the upcoming process continued process, but upcoming steps for deciding on school closures. We have been told the forthcoming staff report will be a narrative describing each of the three schools being considered for closure, but that it will not include other critical pieces such as scenarios for where programs could be moved or intended utilization of any closed school buildings. It will also not include a recommendation from staff on which school or schools to close. And then only a few weeks later,
012less than a month later, the board is expected to make major decisions on how many and which schools to close, which will have multiple interconnected effects across the district. That's just simply not enough time, I don't think, for a truly data-informed decision. What if the report has gaps, or what if board members have additional questions? What if the information raises new concerns about redistricting, transportation, walkability, or student disruption? There will be little time little to no time to fill gaps, answer questions, or seriously compare alternatives. And these issues cannot be considered one at a time for each school individually. in isolation. A school closure decision is not just about one school's narrative. It's about ripple effects across the district. For example, school closure, closure should not be considered separately from redistricting if one option would
013force far more students and families through additional disruption than another. The board's responsibility is to choose the least disruptive path for students and families in this decision, and I don't think you can do that with partial pictures and an artificial, artificially rushed timeline. So my request is to please slow this down, look at the full picture, and fully consider all alternatives and all the interrelated impacts before voting. And if you need more time to make a complete and responsible decision, please take it. There's no reason to stick to an arbitrary June deadline if it prevents a sound decision. These are complex system-level issues that should be considered holistically and strategically before any decision is made on school closure. Thank you. Catherine Cole. Good evening, my name is Catherine Cole. I'm the proud librarian at the
014one and only Northside Elementary School. I just wanted to take the time to come and publicly express my support and my gratitude for both Dr. Trice, Dr. Griffin, and now Al McArthur, our Director of Digital Learning and Library Services, and to acknowledge that what they are dealing with at the hands of our state legislature is neither fair nor just. What a shame that next week during National Library Week, when we should be celebrating libraries and the professional expertise librarians bring to our schools, we have the distraction of having our leaders being called once again before the House Committee to defend what libraries should always be a place for all. A place that certainly supports instruction but does not stop there. That is but a minimal role, a very important role, but there's so much more.
015Our collections serve to offer access to reading for school and pleasure, to offer spaces to breathe and connect, to build knowledge and to build friendships. Whether we're talking about the bullies in the statehouse or the bigots in the White House, books and readers are never at fault. Never to blame, never to scrutinize, and it's really never about the books. Our books offer lifelines to many and escape for some. The books we curate for our libraries are based with our community in mind. Our community, its values, our families, our schools, using professional reviews and community needs We aim to create library collections that allow our students to read the word and read the world, to affirm and validate our students and their families' existence while also allowing all students to experience joy and understanding through another's
016experience. We recognize that parents have the right to choose what they want their child to read, but they do not have the right to choose what all children read or have access to on the shelves of a library. And I want to be clear that books that feature LGBTQ characters belong on our shelves. Shelves, and they belong on our shelves because we care about kids. This is about kids. We care about our families, and we care about our community. If we want to discuss protecting children, we should start with how books that affirm a child's family or experience is a form of suicide prevention. Statistics from a study from a September 2023 through March 2025 Trevor Project have shown us that LGBTQ+ young people in this country continue to face elevated levels of stigma and
017political rhetoric, which take a serious toll on their mental health and well-being, and these youth reporting suicidal ideation grew from 41% to 47%. Book ban campaigns foster unsafe environments for vulnerable youth who see their stories and themselves falsely described and stigmatized. This diminishes a view of a future where all youth can be themselves and be accepted just as they are. Our librarians are doing good work in our schools. We're not breaking any laws, and we will continue to strive to create an environment that is inclusive and welcoming to all stakeholders. Thank you Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Mary Beth. Good evening. Mary Beth Roche, middle school parent and digital wellness educator. This past Sunday was the Parents for Intentional Tech monthly meeting. Dr. Bales graciously accepted our invitation to attend. And
018listened to feedback from 60 attendees on the topic of screens in our schools. These 60 attendees represented the now 300 members of the group, grown from just 35 14 months ago. My takeaway from this incredibly powerful meeting, meeting was this these families are pleading for your help. Families are leaving our schools. This digital plan is barely scratching the surface of what we are asking for and what our students need. We need more and we need it quickly. Last week I thanked you for taking a first step with this digital plan. I also stated that it was only part of the conversation. This conversation and our mindset must shift. Talking about how to improve digital learning is missing the point. We have the research showing these products are not effective learning tools. We have the evidence
019of distraction. Children are viewing ads, accessing inappropriate content, playing games, and watching YouTube during school hours. We've experienced data breaches firsthand. The number of lawsuits for theft and sale of student personal data is growing, and we've heard the recent verdict holding big tech companies liable of purposely designing their products to be addictive. What more do we need to make a change and do what is right for our kids? Sweden is pulling tech out of schools. Utah is leading the charge among our states, having passed legislation to set educational values educational value standards for edtech and to regulate screen use to support student focus, cognitive development, and classroom interaction. In North Carolina, Burke County resolved to prioritize pencils over pixels and Granville County has 2 tech-free days per week, K-12. Yale University just released a report
020stating, quote, We recommend that Yale affirmatively support a classroom environment conducive to full presence, focus, and interaction. That begins with a device-free policy. No phones, laptops, or tablets as the default in classroom settings. And a Kansas middle school principal took matters into her own hands with the support and encouragement of her teachers and pulled back one to one this past December. As one member so profoundly stated this past weekend, giving a student a school issued device is like expecting a gambling addict to go to a casino and read a book. In the words of educator Andrew Cantoruti, the architecture of our classrooms form the architectural blueprint of our students' futures. Schools can be sanctuaries where we protect the conditions for healthy cognitive development and human flourishing. The question is, will you give this responsibility the
021serious attention and action that it deserves? Thank you. Thank you. All right, that was all our speakers who signed up in advance. Do we have anyone else in the audience who would like to make a public comment? If so, if you could just head to the podium and make sure you state your name. Seeing no other public comments, thank you. Also, you may send written comments to the board. The email is available on the agenda, and additional information regarding written comments is on our website. Board members, the next item on our agenda is our consent to May I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. I have a motion from Second. A second from Ronnie. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes. All right. The next item on our
022agenda is discussion and action. And our first item is the recommendation to approve the fiscal year '26-'27 Board of Education's recommended budget request to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. And Mr. Scott is coming forward. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, board members, Deputy Superintendent Ciarochi, members of the cabinet and public. So tonight we bring forward a culmination of several months' worth of work, which started in earnest in February of this year. And it's the Board of Education's local operating budget request to the Board of County Commissioners. Just to kind of go over briefly, the superintendent presented his budget recommendation in early March. Since then, we've had several board work sessions and public hearings to gather input to craft a local operating budget request to the Board of County Commissioners. As we discussed at
023the last work session, this budget has two components to it budget. There is a continuation budget that equals about $3 million, and there is also well, that continuation budget is about $3 million, which includes a 4% salary increase for all employees across the District. Again, it is estimated because we don't quite know what it is going to be. It also includes increases in benefits, health insurance and retirement, as well as a 4% inflationary factor for non-personnel items. In addition to that, the Board approved a $3.7 million expansion request, which includes an increase of 3% in both classified and certified supplements. That totaled about $2.7 million with an additional $1 million to be targeted towards a recurring sustainable curriculum fund. So all in all, as we talked about last time, the budget total budget request is
024just, just at $6.7 million. We're looking for approval of that tonight, and from there We will continue drafting the request for the county and prepare a presentation to present to them on April 30th. Happy to answer any questions if any board members have them. Ronnie Motion to approve. We have a motion from Ronnie. Can I get a second? Second. Second from George. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Closed. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Thank you. All right. The next item on our agenda is approval of our fiscal year 2026 to 2036 capital investment plan. Thank you, Mr. Ciarochi. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, and guests. Again, as Mr. Scott had said, this is the culmination, of a process that for us, for the capital improvement plan, started close to 2
025years ago because the projects that are moving forward have been brought before you over the course of those 2 years and they've been prioritized. This is the recommendation for you to approve this knowing that this is the first step. Next step would be sending this over to the Board of County Commissioners for their review consideration and their ultimately their approval of the appropriation. Just as with the local operating budget, there have been 2 public hearings held on this. So at this time, I could answer any questions that you may have, but what is submitted tonight is what you have seen to form since the last meeting. Board members, any questions? Motion to approve. I have a motion from George. May I have a second? A second. A second from Vickie. All those in favor say
026aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you so much. The next item on our agenda is a recommendation for approval of the selected vendor for district-wide food service management, and we're welcoming Dr. Stewart. Good evening, Madam Chair. Thank you, first of all, to Mr. Link for your kind words and for stealing all of the thunder I have tonight. I am before you first tonight, Madam Chair and board members, seeking approval for the administration to proceed into the contractual process with a vendor for food service management. As Mr. Link said to you, this is a process that we undergo every 5 years. Uh, and tonight I wanted to make sure the board was aware of the process. I was before you back in November, but in looking at the complete process, we actually notified DPI a
027year in advance that, uh, we are going to put out to bid our food service, um, contract, which is required by law every 5 years. We release an RFP, but prior to us releasing the RFP, we have to come before the board and have approved goals. So I was before you in November seeking approval for the goals, and I thank you for that. Prior to that, in October, we had a district committee that came together to look at our goals and to look at everything that we needed to present to the board. After that was completed and the board approved the goals in December, those goals were put in an RFP, an 86-page RFP, and it was released to the public. In January, all interested vendors met here on January 25th, and we were able
028to tour 6 schools at that time so that they could understand the scope of the work. In February, all of the questions from those vendor visits were compiled and we were, by law, we released an RF, excuse me, a Q&A for all of our vendors to see. In March, their submissions were due and we also had their vendor presentations on March 25th. In April, we consulted with DPI and we contacted our legal team to let them know that we wanted to move forward with a vendor pending board approval. So tonight I am before you seeking that approval. Uh, if approved, I will then, uh, work with our legal team and the vendor to, uh, complete everything and bring you back a contract in the month of May. That process, uh, looked like this when I
029brought it to you in November, uh, on the DPI form. We took a survey amongst our students, so we had 1,400 over 1,400 of our students in the secondary schools complete this survey. You can see that the majority of them were students, excuse me, but we did have some parents, we did have some employees that completed the survey as well. The survey was formed around the board's goals. We wanted to know, first of all, we this is the slide to show you the affiliation, what schools and what levels our students actually took part in the survey. But we wanted to know who took part in food service, who actually eats our food on a daily basis. And you can see that this was, it was 50-50. And that's a number that we want to increase
030because one of the board's goals is participation and increasing participation. We also wanted to know how many students actually bring their food from home on a daily basis versus eating in our cafeterias. And you can see you can see, uh, the numeric breakdown there. We also wanted to know if our students had enough options. Did they have enough vegan and vegetarian options on a daily basis? And you can see that once again, our number was 50-50 in our responses. We wanted to know, did our students take part in recycling and our sustainability goal? Cause that's our third goal. And we'll look at that shortly as well. And one of the biggest takeaways that we have from our survey is what did our students say to improve things? Our students said that they needed more grab
031and go options. They were in line too long. They needed more food options. So all of this was compiled within the RFP and it was put out to bid. The board's goals, just as a reminder, uh, revolve first around menu options, which we just talked about. Uh, did we have enough, um, vegan and vegetarian options on a daily basis. It also revolved around, uh, increased participation, not just for students, but for adults as well. We want to make sure that on a yearly basis, we're increasing, uh, cafeteria sales for breakfast, for lunch, and our students feel comfortable coming and eating the food, and they want to eat the food in our cafeterias. And of course, our third goal was around sustainability. We wanted to make sure that our students took part in composting. We wanted
032to make sure that we were efficient with our energy usage, and we wanted to make sure that we are clear on all our health standards, including things like our vendor partnering with our schools with gardens and those types of things. So we had a selection committee that was formed for our presentations on March 25th. Our selection committee was comprised of students and student input was great that day. We had also parents and PTA representatives. We had a very diligent school board member thank you, Dr. Griffin who was a part of the committee. We had school-based administrators, we had health and wellness representatives from the district, and we also had our NCDPI representative was there. We had a scoring rubric, and you can see this is the rubric and how it lined up. So the committee
033was apprised of the rubric prior to entering the room. We were able to listen to presentations that were 60 minutes long, which included sampling of food as well. We heard how the plans would be developed, how innovation would be put in, how participation would be increased. And in the end, we scored each of the vendors. after their presentation. Now, I will tell the board that we did not come to a consensus, and I did not ask for a consensus for us to pick one group. Actually, we looked at strengths and wonderings from each of our, presentations, and at the end, a recommendation sheet was passed around, and each committee member actually gave their recommendation and why. A part of, the scoring sheet and, and the heaviest weighted but this was not the sole source or
034the sole factor in determining it was the price. And you can see here that all of our groups we had 4 presentations, and you can see where each of our vendors actually landed with their per-price, per-meal price, and their base price, and then the commodities. The reason that you actually see the far-left, far-right column is the lowest is because the district receives about $334,000 in USDA commodities, which reduces the price for the vendor. So this would be year 1 pricing. In the end, the selection committee has chosen to ask the board to approve the Nutrition Group as the top vendor and to move forward to into the contract phase with the Nutrition Group. And at this time, I'll answer any questions that the board has. Thank you, Dr. Stewart. Board members, do you have any
035questions? Go ahead, Meredith. I just have a very simple couple of questions. So how long have we been using Chartwells as our current vendor? Is that correct? Yes. And how many years have we had them? 15. 15. So this is a big change to have a different vendor coming in. Yes, that's good. And so you're happy with the selection and think that I would defer to the committee, being the administrative rep on the team that led the team. And I would say that the selection of the committee and I said that we did not come to consensus, but over 50% of the committee members selected this group. I look forward to hearing how the change goes. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Thank you. Other comments or questions? Yes, ma'am. Go ahead, Vickie. Will there be
036sampling of their items to students prior to a full switch? Is that going to be maybe a possibility to introduce them? Moving into the contract phase, we want to get that set up, and we will see. But I will work with the vendor, whose representative is here tonight to see. And, and one of the things that I would also like, to see is to bring it forth to the board as well. So I would like for the board to be able to sample things as well prior to the rollout. But we are actually diligently working on several different components in our transition. So we put a transition plan together, and with approval tonight, we'll be full speed ahead with that. And board members, the actual contract with Numbers will be coming back to you. Yes,
037George, I just, the questions my colleagues on the board have had, um, if in 5 years you're on the board, volunteer for this assignment because each vendor, and they tried to warn us, prepares their best food for the committee. And so you eat 4 breakfasts and 4 lunches while you sit there for 5 hours And as one of the students said, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, I don't feel so good. So, you know, we did get a chance to sample their best. Yeah, I heard about that. I was a little jealous. Thank you, Dr. Stewart. You know, this is really important. I think, you know, sometimes we think of food service, but really nutrition of our children is so important. Especially that first meal of the day that I struggled to get my own
038children to eat. So I'm really excited about it and I appreciate and I'm looking forward to seeing what they're going to do about the vegetarian and vegan options. I remember from some of the times during COVID we had a number of families who would say to me, this isn't like vegetarian, like giving us just like the fruit and things like that. That's not enough. Right? And so, and even when I've done the food tasting that we've done, sometimes that's always what I'm curious about because that's what we do hear about. I also liked with the survey results, I know the McDougall Middle School, they've had a particular interest. I did like that they had some really high survey numbers. So that's really helpful because I know that was a they were very outspoken about our
039food and our nutrition options. So But I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to it. And hopefully we'll hopefully get an update. I know the contract is every 5 years, but I'd love to see it at the end of the year. Just hear like what the kids are thinking about the meal so we can make adjustments to it. So what I will vow to do then, uh, Madam Chair, is that when I bring forth, um, the yearly extension that I'm required by law to do, I will bring you, uh, student results and student survey results at that time as well. That'd be great. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right, board members, this is on discussion and action. So we do need to let me get the wording of what we are approving because we've got we're
040not approving the contract yet. So we're approving the selection of the vendor. Yes, ma'am. All right. Board members, can I get a motion to approve? So moved. I got a motion from Meredith. Can I get a second? Second. Second from George. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Thank you so much, Dr. Stewart. Wait, you're still up here. You got, you got a couple items, I think. So the next item on discussion and action is the recommendation of approval for our traditional year calendar for school year 2027-28. Yes, ma'am. So thank you again, Madam Chair. Tonight we're before you seeking approval of the 2027-2028 traditional calendar. We were before the board last month and we brought this process to the board for feedback and we received some great feedback. And the
041board actually told us some specific things that they wanted us to report out on, and they're on your screen right now. Looking at virtual options for the week of Thanksgiving, those teacher workdays, looking at September 24th and keeping it as a teacher workday there and not moving it into October, looking and asking questions of community schools and how can community schools help to ease the burden that parents are having around child care, and also looking at the 25% of the centers from our most recent survey that we had with parents. So just as a brief recap, the calendar process begins in November of every year with a public meeting. Uh, at that public meeting, we go over the state law, we talk about, um, what is to come, and we talk about our process that
042we will bring before the board. Uh, we solicit, uh, help from our schools, um, from our different organizations, and we look for classified and certified staff from across the district to bring together the voice and amplify everyone's voice. And I think over the last few years we've done a good job of amplifying voice, the voice of different groups and those that sometimes are less heard. So this year we really heard from parents. We also partner with our faith-based community to gather their input as well. We usually have between 3 and 5 hybrid meetings. And we will bring the information before the board, receive feedback. We communicate back and forth with our committee and their constituency through surveys. Just some quick things about the state law that we follow with the Calendar Committee. We begin school
043on the Monday closest to August 26th of every year, and we close school on the Friday closest to June 11th. Uh, school, our school calendar covers 9 months. Uh, you can be either 185 days or at least 1,025 hours. CHCCS is an hours district and the calendars that we create, we seek to have banked hours in them as well. So we always look to have at least 3 days beyond the 1,025 hours for things such as weather. You must have a minimum of 10 annual leave days, and we cannot have school on Sundays or Veterans Day. So the draft that we're bringing back to the board tonight we sought to balance these semesters, uh, so we had 88 days in our first semester and 86 days in our second semester, which was aided by block
044scheduling and making sure that we were not way off because of the instructional time in our high schools. We sought also to make sure that we identified all of the observances throughout the years, uh, whether they were on weekends or weekdays. We wanted to make sure that we notated those things, uh, those observances. Uh, we included our 3 district PL days, 2 for the district level and 1 for the school level. We had 3 optional teacher work days the week of Thanksgiving, with the caveat that the superintendent has the discretion to make those days virtual if he so decides. So I know that was something that came up in the communication around that. So our office will communicate to everyone to make sure that we are consistent across the district. Also, because this is an
045even-numbered year, we had to notate both primary election days in March as well as a potential runoff election day in May. The runoff election day, in my time at CHCCS, we have not had to use the runoff election day, but we have to reserve it just in case for the Board of Elections. Also, we have 174 student days in this calendar, 215 teacher days, which is required by law, Uh, we made sure that all of our quarters were at least 42 days, uh, so that our elementary schools had the complete 9 weeks to go through their curriculum. Um, where possible, we captured observances with breaks as well. So you will see around spring break, uh, it captures the beginning of Passover as well as Good Friday. And we did leave September 24th as a professional
046learning day as the Board of Education requested. This is the complete list of observances that we have, and we always want to place it within our slide deck so the public knows what we're referring to. The data from our week of Thanksgiving, I brought this to the board and we were specifically asked to look at that 25% of individuals that did not, were not in favor of the week at Thanksgiving. And what we found were a few things. So in looking at their data, um, we found that most of our comments were around the burden for childcare, food insecurities, and instructional time. Those were the 3 top, um, dissenting, uh, opinions. And when we move through it, so we have worked to try to alleviate those things. So in working with community schools leadership, um,
047we actually this year, not waiting for the 27-28 calendar, but in the 26-27 calendar, we're going to put in place some workdays for that Monday and Tuesday to alleviate childcare for afterschool. So Mr. Scott Farrington and his team are willing to have sites open depending on the those that sign up will depend on whether they have 3 sites or 4 sites open. So that will help in the childcare, with the childcare issue. Also, I've spoken with leadership and around social workers to make sure that food insecurities is not an issue. So we build a rapport with families throughout the year to make sure that they don't have to reach out to us at this time, but we actually reach out to them throughout the year. So, uh, we kind of identify our families in need.
048Um, we are always seeking to help all that we possibly can, and then we partner them, uh, with community partners as well. And at this time, I'm seeking approval of the '27-'28 calendar from the board. Are there any questions? Go ahead, Barb. Thank you so much for the presentation, and I'm sorry if I missed this, but so what, what was the decision about the virtual options for November 22nd, 23rd, and 24th for teacher workdays? Yes, ma'am. So they are optional teacher workdays. Okay. And what we have done is we've designated them as superintendent designated days. So the superintendent will have the power to make them virtual for everyone. Okay, thank you. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead, Ronnie. Thank you for the thoroughness. I love that there's such a well-established process that you've already considered probably most
049of the questions we would ask. I think the one day that I always think about is, after Halloween, that day of dread when kids wake up with sugar highs and they go to school and we push them out of our doors and give them to the teachers. So I wonder, I don't know what flexibility there is to adjust this calendar, but I would encourage us to consider to look at future calendars of making that a day if that's possible. Yes, ma'am. And our committee actually looked at that, and from year to year, we actually, that comes up every year. I think the one drawback with this particular calendar and how it is structured was looking at how much time we would be missing in that week as it leads right up to Election Day in
050November. And the discussion that we actually had, I believe it was in our March meeting, was about placing a PL day there, but for many winter break, but, the board, advised that, they was better served in September. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Okay, any other questions or comments? All right, so board members may have a motion to approve, uh, the traditional calendar for 2027-2028. So moved. Motion from Meredith. Second. Second from Ronnie. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you so much. And got one more. Yes, ma'am. Um, we have a proposed amendment to this calendar, this year's calendar. Yes, ma'am. So this is a two-part, um, ask of the board. The administration is first seeking to take the May 12th runoff election day and to revert it back to a
051regular day of school, as we have been alerted by the Board of Elections that that day is no longer needed for runoff elections. Also, we are seeking to turn May 1st into a teacher workday and to use banked hours that we have in our calendar As our staff, what we have seen is a rise in absence requests for that day, and we want to ensure that we can, one, run school safely and make sure that it's not an issue for schools. And two, we want to make sure that we are supporting our teachers and those that want to be in Raleigh to advocate. And what we've seen across the state, and I've reached out to some of my counterparts in other districts that this has come up in other districts and they have most have
052either made the move to change or they are in the process of making the move to change. So we believe in supporting our teachers, our staff as they advocate for the best education for our students as well as for themselves. So we're seeking the board's approval tonight to amend our current calendar to make this a teacher workday and use banked instructional hours. Thank you, Dr. Stewart. Board members, any comments or questions? Is that a comment? Okay, go ahead. Looks like we've got a motion to approve the change to the traditional calendar, reverting May 12th back to a regular school day and May 1st as a teacher workday using banked hours. Motion to approve. Motion from Ronnie. Do you have a second? Second. A second from George. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you.
053And I'm certain Mr. Jinks and the communication team will work to get all the information out there.Risa Sorry, I just wanted to say one thing about it. I just also wanted to encourage any parents that are listening to join our teachers in Raleigh if they're able. It might be a good civics lesson for your kids. Bring your kids. And, you know, I appreciate these efforts. It's important for us to be supporting our teachers, especially right now. Yes, thank you. All right. Okay, so I think this next one is me. So board members, we have the next discussion and action item. This is a recommended recommendation of approval to extend the deadline for the employee intent to transfer for the '26-'27 and the '27-'28 school years. Board members, in your packets or the information, you'll see
054the proposed changes to those dates. And let me get to them pretty quickly. So the current policy states that the employee intent to transfer submission date is March 31st. So in the recommendation We're looking to change those to June 15th, 2026 for the '26-'27 school year and June 15th, 2027 for the '27-'28 school year. And then the deadline for final execution of transfers and policies, May 31st. And so we're looking to waive those and extend them out to July 15th, 2026 for the '26-'27 school year and July 15th, 2027 for the '27-'28 school year. I don't know if board members have any questions or comments. Go ahead. I mean, I just want to point out that this was a request from several staff and community members who have spoken about school closures, and I'm glad
055we're respecting it. I think it's a really smart move, so I would move to approve unless other folks want to discuss. You have more? Go ahead. Yeah, I had a question. How does this relate to the deadline for student transfers? So I'm imagining if a teacher moves to school, they may also want to move their student, can they? Dr. Stewart or Mr. Ciarochi, I don't know if you have an answer to that. I want to get, I want to get the dates. Yeah, so there, the deadlines are different as you have suggested, but what we have always done is we've tried to work if there is capacity and there's availability with all of our employees who have children that attend our schools, we do work with them. So I don't foresee that the process would
056change, as we have done such in past years as well. Thank you. Thank you. So we have a motion from Barb. Second. And a second from Rani. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you Board members All right, and our last item on the agenda is a recommendation to approve board member attendance at an upcoming professional development. Yes. Thank you, Chair Jenkins. This is a request to attend the 20th annual NC Summit event that's happening next week. And it's time sensitive because it is next week. Just for context, the North Carolina alliance addresses policy and economic issues to enhance communities by developing and promoting systemic policy change, as well as youth and leadership development. And in this summit, they are holding a number of sessions around education topics, including Next Steps on Leandro. So
057Board Member Vicki Feaster Fornville and I would like approval to attend. So that's a motion. I don't know if board members have any questions or comments. Okay, so we've got. Rani, I'm going to take that as a motion from you. Yes, I should have phrased it as a motion. Yes. And we have a second. I'll second Vickie. Oh, go ahead, Barb. I guess I just. I mean, I support. This seems great. What are the budgetary implications and how do we think about them? I really don't know. It's truly like. It's a great question. So in the past, what we've done is we've had a annual budget for board professional development. I think we're going to get back on track to do that soon. And so the cost of registration for this is about 240, I
058think, per person. And it fits within the professional development requirements that the board has. I think just in addition, like, the policy is really wordy. There's like certain organizations where you don't have to come to the board for approval. This organization is not one of the listed organizations. So that's why it does need to go through a level of approval. So, but yeah, and board member Dasi's correct. I did share with both board member Dossey and board member Feaster Fornville that we would get back on track with kind of scheduling out professional development, thinking about it, and also looking at our budget just to make sure we're aligned. Obviously, we've got a lot of budget things going on, but we also want to make sure board members are receiving the professional development that they need.
059Okay, so we've got a motion. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. I just have a question. Can you remind me if you remember offhand or maybe even those. What the requirement for continuing education is for board members? Because I think we actually, you know, not only are they nice to have, they're actually required to have. It's supposed to be 12 hours every two years. Yes, 12 hours every two years. Okay. Yeah. I just think that's important to note for the record. Right. Yeah. It's laid out 12. There's like a minimum of two hours of ethics education when you first join the board. And then I get. Or get elected to the board. I don't think it's when you first join it. It's every. Every time you get reelected to the board and things like that. So. All
060right. Okay. So we've got a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you. Wow. We went through our agenda very fast tonight. So the next item on our agenda, and I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything, is sharing. So I know we just had a meeting last week. I think we only had one committee meeting since last week, so that's going to be FFO. Yes We had the Finance Facilities Operations Committee met on Tuesday and we heard a really exciting update about Carrboro elementary progress. And we also learned about our campus safety monitors and other technical support staff. And it was really timely given the incident at Carrboro High School. And we just want to take the opportunity to thank everybody who is involved in
061that right now. So. And our next meeting is next month. Thank you. All right. And the other two committees. I know you've got your meetings coming up. Do you have your dates in front of you? I was trying to grab them for you really fast. Go ahead. Why don't you go ahead and share, Meredith? Thanks. The Student Success Committee will meet next on April 28th at 5:30. It'll be a virtual meeting. And I just want to echo Barb, we did have a very scary incident happen at Carrboro High School, and I just want to acknowledge that. And I know that there's a lot of complicated feelings that have arisen. And I just wanted to compliment the district staff as well as the staff on the ground at Carboro High and our law enforcement partners who
062did a good job considering the circumstances. And, you know, in case people are unaware, there are continuing efforts to help support the affected students and faculty and staff in the schools. And there will be folks who trained professionals who will be available for them to talk to in the wake of that incident. So thank you very much to Dr. Stewart and his whole team. Thank you. And policy committee. The policy committee meets on the 21st at 5:30 and it is a virtual meeting. And while I have the mic, I will echo Meredith and just say, like it is heartbreaking as a parent, as an educator, as a community member to think about the experience of the community at Carrboro High School, and I just want to send them so much love. We can be better
063than this as a world, and we have to keep working to make it so really, really high gratitude to our administration. I think we went to lockdown in a very quick time frame and very proud of the approach and continued focus on safety that our administration puts. But just sending so much love to those families and their. And I think people think about students a lot in these instances, but my heart really breaks for the adults in the buildings who have to hold on to their pain and help the students navigate these emotions and events and just. We gotta stop this. Any other board liaison updates or sharing? Go ahead, Vickie. I attended the SIT meeting with Frank Portogram, and I wanted to make sure I took the time to congratulate them on getting the
064grant funding for one of the Orange County Care Coalition's calming spaces. So they've toured it and now they will start looking at getting things done place. So that is. That is happening. I'm very excited that it's money that is not having to come out of our budget, but it is still money that is coming from our community at large. So that is what working together does, and that. That is how community education spaces work. So I was very pleased to hear that one of our elementary schools was going to be a site for that. So that will benefit our little kiddos when they need a place to decompress. So I'm very thankful for that. Thank you, Becky. Any other sharing? Go ahead, Barb. I just wanted to echo a little bit Ms. Cole's public comment
065about the attacks on books that are coming from Raleigh. And to say, as a member of the LGBTQ community myself, this is not fun. It's not fun to have your community talked about as filth from leaders in Raleigh and to just point out PEN America has done a study and found that 2,500 individual books were banned from July 2021 to June 2022. 41% were LGBTQ themes and 40% featured protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color. So these are attacks on LGBTQ people, on people of color. And I just wanted to take a little moment of personal privilege to just say that it really means a lot to have people who are not in the LGBTQ community standing up for these books and for the kids and our students and staff and families and everybody who's
066being targeted by this, it really makes a difference, I think, in terms of helping me feel a spirit of kind of pride and resistance instead of Pain and stigma. So thank you. Thank you. Barb. Go ahead, Rani. I just wanted to call out an invitation to attend Earth Day festivities this Sunday at Carrboro hall town Commons from 12 to 4pm all are welcome. I just wanted to give a public school foundation board update. I attended the meeting last night. Great segue from Barb's comments about books so Books over break. The Public School foundation, in partnership with our community and other community partners, has hit their goal of gathering over 11,000 books. They are still accepting donations because obviously we have some readers who have some specific books and they want to round out some of
067the books that are available to students. So you can continue to provide donations to the public school foundation, just designate it to Books over break so they can buy additional books for the students. Their goal is to give five books to each elementary student and three books to each middle school student. And then there was some extra books too, that they can get. Also, the Public School foundation received grants from the Chapel lacrosse for more free little libraries and the town of Chapel Hill and Hope renovation. So we'll see some more free little libraries around town. And then one drive goes to another with the public school and foundation. We've got the porch food drive that's going to be running from May 18 to June 26. All of our school sites in the Lincoln center
068will be available for you to drop off your food donations. And then the spring public school foundation grants deadline is Thursday, April 30th. So I just want to make sure everybody knows that. Oh, and then last night we actually had a great presentation on the literacy intervention tutoring lit. It was, I think, like a $98,000 grant that was given. And so we had Hill Learning center in partnership with the district. It was just really great to hear kind of like how they support kind of existing what's going on in the schools and also some of the other existing interventions that take place. And they've been looking at some of the data and it's looking really positive from the schools that have participated in with their students there. So just really great board members and anyone
069else who might want it, please let me know. I'm happy to. I can circulate that report that went around. It was just really great to hear some of the progress. And it's a lot of what we know. Obviously this is to help students who need significant growth. So we're talking about more than one year's growth, I think. Don't quote me on the terminology for that, but just a really great public school foundation meeting. And as always, they're a great partner. So, any other liaison updates? I know it's warm. All right. and with that, our board meetings adjourned. Thank you, everyone.