001Good evening, everyone. I call the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education meeting to order. First item in the agenda, may I get a motion to approve the agenda? I have a motion from Vicki. Second. Second from Meredith. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Next, may I get a motion to go into closed session for the purposes stated on the agenda? So moved. I have a motion from Melinda. Second. A second from Vicki. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we will return at 7 PM. Thank you. [ CLOSED SESSION ] Good evening, good evening, good evening. Welcome, welcome. My name is Andy Jenkins. I'm the Chief Communications Officer. We are not the school board, but we are the warm-up act, and we'll go over a few
002logistics before the board comes out in about 10 minutes. But before I get too far along, I want to introduce Rose, Blanca, and Norma to say a few words. [ SPEAKING IN SPANISH ] [ SPEAKING IN CHINESE ] And Norma and Rose are going to help me interpret for the next couple of minutes. Want to point out some housekeeping items. Restrooms are directly out the back doors of the stage, directly across the hallway. [ SPEAKING IN SPANISH ] [ SPEAKING IN CHINESE ] We also have one-page handouts that are at the doors in the hallway. These handouts summarize some of the things that we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks. They also have a link to our full 100-page study that we've shared earlier this month and a link to get you
003to a website, chccstogether.org, where you can see additional information and leave written public comments. [ SPEAKING IN SPANISH ] [ SPEAKING IN CHINESE ] And my last note is that we are here for a public hearing that will get underway in just a little bit. All of the speakers will have 2 minutes apiece, and we're going to use the screen over there to show the name of the person who's speaking as well as the person who's coming up next. That's where the microphone is, right up front, and we'll just ask that whoever's next in line position themselves behind the person who is speaking so we can keep the pace up this evening. [ SPEAKING IN SPANISH ] [ SPEAKING IN CHINESE ] Those are all my notes for this evening. Thank you very much for
004being here. The board will be out in just a few moments to get us underway. [ SPEAKING IN SPANISH ] [ SPEAKING IN CHINESE ] All right, good evening everyone. We are back to open session. Um, before we get started, I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank our staff who made our meeting tonight possible here at Smith, and also to thank Smith Middle School for hosting our board meeting. I know there was a lot of logistics technology and communication work that the team did behind the scenes, and in addition to what the community saw or the community received via email and social media. So just thank you to all of our staff. You know, I really appreciate it, and I, I think our community appreciates it too, moving this to a larger
005venue to have this board meeting. All right, so our next item on the agenda is public comment. Um, so I just want to go over a few housekeeping items. Tonight we will have our general public comment first, and then we will go into our public hearing agenda item, and we will have a public comment related to our public hearing regarding possible school closure. Okay, so this is going to be for the general public comment. I know we do have people signed up for that, but just some general comments about tonight because we do expect to have a number of speakers and we do want to allow time for everyone to speak tonight. I just want us to make sure that we allow speakers to speak without any applause, snaps, or sounds during or after they
006speak, so we can keep the next speaker moving along and get everyone in to speak. Also, that when the board is discussing and conducting our business, that audience members do not shout or yell to the board or to the group at large. Okay, again, we're trying to move the discussion along and allow everyone to speak tonight, so that will just kind of help, help us. And again, I recognize that the board and the community are grappling with a very big topic, and I want tonight to go as smoothly as it can, and I definitely appreciate everyone's cooperation, patience, and presence tonight. So let's begin with public public comment, for general public comment, for all topics not related to the public hearing on proposed school closure. Okay, yeah, I'll say that. The board appreciates and encourages
007public comment. Board members will listen to the comments and may ask or make clarifying questions or comments, but there will be no general discussion related to public comments. Comments should be related to the education safety of students or the operation of the school school system. The public comment time is for discussion of educational issues or for extended comment. Sorry, 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 2 minutes for their comment, and that is for both the general public comment and for the public hearing. When you're recognized and we've got
008names already up here, okay um, please come forward, state your name, and if you're speaking for an organization, please identify the name of the organization. Um, we're going to start with any teacher organizations, SIT, or student groups, followed by anyone who signed up in advance, and any other persons wishing to make a public comment, you You'll just need to step forward when we call you at that time. Um, and so with that, I see we've got, um, Mr. Link. And so, um, you have 2 minutes. Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Brian Link and I'm the president of the Chapel Hill-Carboro Association of Educators. I rise tonight for 2 purposes. One, I want to thank the district and especially our HR department, um, in particular under the leadership of Dr. Harris for an excellent
009excellent awards recognition ceremony last week. Congratulations to all the winners, many of whom were CHCA members. It is terrific in a very difficult year that we are honoring the excellence that goes forth in our schools. It was fabulously run, and we thank you for bringing a little light to us. The second thing that I would like to ask everyone, board members and public alike, is there is a important meeting that is scheduled for next Thursday. I want to make sure I get it right this time, at the Southern Human Services Center at 7:00 PM, to talk about the budget at the County Commission. I think we can all agree no one wants to go through this ever again. And yet, because of our General Assembly, there are two going to be two constitutional amendments on
010the ballot this fall that will limit state income taxes and will limit localities and counties from raising property taxes. If we don't have dollars to add on the plus side, we have to subtract. I salute everyone who is here this evening to speak up and speak out in support of public schools. And I hope that if you made the effort tonight, it's literally just down the street that I'm going to ask everyone take out their phones, which is unusual for an educator, right? But it's after school hours. And to put in your calendar 7 PM, 5/28, to go and let our county commissioners know we need additional funding for public schools. Because if they don't fund the continuation budget, we're not only facing school closures, we're going to be facing another RIF. So please, please,
011please take action. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Raman Sidhu, and I am the proud parent of a 6th grader at Phillips and a 4th grader at Ephesus. And the closure discussion we're having this evening is very important to me, and I empathize with all those impacted. But I'm here tonight to share my thoughts on tech usage, as I believe it directly impacts families' decisions to stay and enrolled to join the school district here. Last year, our family relocated to the Triangle from suburban Philadelphia. As we looked at this area, our children's education was the primary driver on where to settle. We researched broadly and were drawn to the excellent reputation of the CCS District. In many ways, we were confident that this was the right move. The
012ease upon which our children integrated within the community, with friends, with sports, has been a sigh of relief for any parent. However, when it comes to technology in the classroom, we are falling short, and I hope we can be we can begin to unwind some of the false sense of progress that has been put in place with heavy reliance on one-to-one devices in the classroom and at home. In 6th grade math, for example, my son uses IXL. He is not interested in understanding why he got something wrong. He wants to get an 80 points and be done. He doesn't use scratch paper. Any sloppy notes that are on the screen are gone once he clicks next. And there is a strong connection between writing on paper and cognition, and the perseverance and stamina that our
013children need are critical as these problems are going to become more challenging in the future. In 6th grade history, when I asked him about a study guide for a test, he said he had a GIMKit. So I observed what this was, and he's repeated cycles of multiple choice questions and a video game, multiple choice questions and a video game. When he got a question wrong, there was no explanation of how to help him learn what the right answer was or do better. We are missing the mark to help our children build knowledge and do hard things. And finally, giving our children one-to-one devices with restrictions that can easily be worked around was likely not the intent of the district. But when our children are finding ways to watch mindless YouTube reels, uh, or listen to
014the new Drake album that was released last week during school school hours, then we have failed. Thank you. If we don't make significant change in how our tech is used today, then we're going to be here having the same discussion tomorrow. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Dr. Carl Johnson. I'm on faculty at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health. I live in Chapel Hill with my wife and 18-month-old daughter. I want to share a few remarks on the use of education technology throughout the district. Firstly, I want to acknowledge why many of our gather many of us are gathered this evening and the challenges facing the district. They also want to make clear that I, as I personally consider where to eventually send my children to school, it's hard
015to overstate the role that edtech plays in this decision. Myself and many of my friends in a similar stage of life, a failure to curb the excesses of edtech throughout the district will will inevitably lead to decreased future enrollment. We are experiencing crisis in youth mental health, which warrants a public health response. Given the vulnerability of children to the mental health harms associated with digital technology, we must reform the environments in which our children are routinely present to be more health-promoting. This includes further restricting access to cell phones throughout the school day and establishing clear guardrails on screen time limits in the classroom. Only in this way can our school system, from kindergarten up through graduate school, can be a sanctuary for learning and personal development, and that alone. Thirdly, I've seen how restricting edtech
016leads to teacher and student well-being. As a researcher, I've just completed a survey of Granville County's Tech-Free Tuesday/Thursday policy, which has been in existence since the fall. Nearly every teacher indicated that face-to-face interaction among students and teachers teachers has increased dramatically since the policy took effect, and that because of this, they're able to better attend to the needs of their students. The majority of teachers indicated that the policy had an overall positive impact on the district. Please consider these remarks as the district considers strategies to improve enrollment and the use of EdTech in 2016 academic calendar and beyond. Thank you, members of the board and members of the community. My name is Dr. John Easterbrook. I know we are here today to discuss the potential closure of schools. Thank you for the care and thoughtfulness
017involved in these discussions. My heart goes out to the community members impacted. I feel it's pertinent today to point out that the technology used in the classroom is an enrollment issue. My wife and I moved here in large part for the schools. I came to speak to you last year when my son was in kindergarten. Like many other families, though, we are now considering leaving the district given what we know about the tech that awaits in middle school and high school. The proposed digital learning plan is too little and the timeline will be too late for our son. One argument I hear in favor of tech in schools is to prepare our students for the workforce. Please pause and learn from the lessons of the recent past. From 2009 to 2022, the number of degrees
018in computer science nearly tripled. Just 5 years ago, computer science graduates were promised lucrative jobs and promising careers. Those graduates now face a 7% unemployment rate. Job postings for software developers continue to decline. For the first time in 20 years, at Stanford, computer science enrollment has declined. The tech our kids use today will not be the tech of their future. The way to prepare students for an unpredictable workforce of the future is to train them to be creative, critical problem solvers who can teach themselves new tools and information. Even the founder of Netflix recently stated that for students and parents, quote, the best defense today is to be broadly educated so they can adapt to the changes coming. What this looks like in the classroom is a curriculum that prioritizes discussion, reading a wide range
019of books, and and learning how to evaluate evidence and construct an argument. What it does not look like is what I see when I volunteer in my son's first grade class. I watch him race through his work on his iPad, then proudly show me how he can search, find, and watch a YouTube video of a man building with Legos in the classroom. There is a reason why executives at leading tech companies send their children to low-tech or no-tech schools. What we're seeing in the workforce now more than ever is the Thank you so much. The whole individual. Please, thank you and give us a reason to stay in the district. Hi, how are you everyone? I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to stand here and speak to not closing the school. When I
020heard about the news, my heart really breaking because I moved from New York. Chapel Hill attract me to settle down in Chapel Hill and live in that area. It's because I heard about the language opportunity open to my kids, and then we had the two business in this area. And then I'm so happy about this And then I think that we come from the community and we are businessmen and we are pretty willing to also contribute to the community. And one of the most important thing we would like to contribute is our public resources, is the community and the resources we can provide to our kids, our next generation. And that was really heartbreaking. And then for what we make from our business, we are happy to contribute to our society. This is the most
021important thing. We would like to contribute. That's it. And otherwise, our taxpayer and paying the tax, every dollar we want to go towards our next generation. That was something we really concerned about. That was something every morning we wake up and then we try to go outside and then open our door and open our business up and then try to make every dollar and then pay the tax, we are happy to do that. And then if closing the school for our kids, closing the door for us, and then close our hope. And then what the other tax dollar go towards to? For what? For what? For next generation? I just feel so disappointed when I heard about this news. And then also, I also want to say something about, uh, Chapel Hill culture. Chapel Hill
022is a university town. CHCCS serves not only current families but also the broader ecosystem that attracts faculty, researchers, dollars, graduate students. Thank you. That was 2 minutes. Okay, if you have additional public comments And it looks like you've got it written. You can email it to the board. Yeah. Yeah. I hope that we wake up every morning and we work hard and that we have the hope for, right? And thank you for supporting our next generation and all our community. And we are we need to be a member of this community and contribute together with you guys and stand with you guys. That's our hope. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Hi, Adrian. I just want to make sure you're speaking on, on general public comment, not our public hearing item. You are
023correct. Thank you so much. It's completely different. Okay, good. Thank you. But near to my heart, so that's why I'm here. Okay, my name is Adrian Halpern. I have a son in one of our local high schools who is a junior and a very good a good student athlete. My son would like to take a year off before his senior year beginning this August in order to work on his sport and to take college-level courses in areas of interest in order to make better decisions about what to study later. We've been told by school officials that if my son takes a year off, he'll be considered a dropout and that upon returning to high school next August, he will only be permitted to study for one semester to take the three courses he needs to
024graduate and perhaps one other course, but that he will not be permitted to enroll for the spring 2028 semester, which means my son cannot take at least four of the five senior year courses for which he's currently enrolled, namely Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Physics C, Mechanics, Physics C, Electricity and Magnetism, and Studio Art. This draconian approach is both punishing and anti-educational. I find it incredulous that our school system would have policies in place with such results. In response to asking for the written policies underlying the school's approach, I was provided with links to Chapel Hill-Carboro Board of Education Policy Code 3460, Graduation Requirements, and NC State Board of Education Policy Grad 004, State Graduation Requirements, neither of which addresses the specifics of my concern. I therefore respectfully request clarification of this matter in order for
025my family and others to make the best decisions for their children. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, so I know so Jen, I think, has signed up for the public hearing. So, um, Adrian was our last speaker for general public comment. I just want to make sure there were not any other speakers for general public comment tonight. Okay, and as a reminder, just wait one second, we're not we're not there yet. Um, as a reminder, if anyone has any other general public comments, you can email it to the board. There's the email address on the website. Okay, thank you so much. Our next item on the agenda is the public hearing on the district administration study of the proposed closure of Ephesus, Glenwood, and Sewell Elementary Schools. Schools. To start, we are actually we
026are going to have the public hearing, which provides public comments for the community. Speakers will have 2 minutes for their comment, which is limited to the topic of proposed school closure. Please line up as your name appears on the screen to ensure the next speaker is ready when it is their turn. Again, when you're recognized, please come forward, state your name, and if you're speaking for an organization. As a reminder, if we could keep the applause, all of that, just so we can get to the next speaker and people have time to speak. Okay? So let's, you know, let's just make sure the applause, all the snaps and everything, everyone is a wonderful speaker and we appreciate all of you. Okay? So your name should appear on the screen. If you could just be prepared
027when you see your name come up next, you can come down to the side and be ready to step forward. Okay? And I think that's everything. So, Jen, we're ready. We can put it back up on the screen. I'm sorry. Yeah, the I'm sorry. Thank you so much for the reminder, Emily. The first up is our teacher organizations, SIT and other organizations. So I don't know if CHCAE or the school improvement teams or PTAs are going to come forward and speak. Sorry, Jen, that's my fault. Good evening, Dr. Trice and members of the school board. I am Bailey Norman, the librarian at Ephesus Elementary and a sit member, and I'm speaking today on behalf of our school improvement team. Thank you for the time, care, and seriousness this process has required. As you move toward
028a decision, we urge you to choose the least disruptive option available. Based on the evidence before you, that option is not closing Ephesus. As a school improvement team at Ephesus Elementary, our message is simple: Ephesus is working. Ephesus is academically strong, has positive student growth indicators, and is the only non-magnet elementary school projected to be and remain above 95% capacity by 2030. But Ephesus is not simply a school with strong outcomes. It is a school producing strong outcomes while serving substantial populations of students who are especially vulnerable to disruption, including economically disadvantaged students, students from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, and students with disabilities, including autism and other special needs. Closing Ephesus would not just move students from one building to another. It would disrupt a functioning school community, trusted relationships, and a support structure
029that is working for the students who need stability most. This is also true of our staff. What makes Ephesus work is not only individual excellence, but the way this particular team works together under this administrative leadership for this community. We also hope the district will fully consider the programmatic impacts of closure itself, including, including the weakening of supports that depend on keeping students together in a school where those programs are working well. While some programmatic issues may be addressed through redistricting, we should not assume that will always be possible, effective, or desirable. Ephesus is working for students, families, and students who are are especially vulnerable to disruption. We urge you to choose the least disruptive option available. Closing Ephesus is not that option. Thank you. Go ahead. Hi, I'm Emily Kreutzer, PTA president for Glenwood
030Elementary. I wanted to talk with you all about a discrepancy, I believe, in the report about aftercare numbers. And I've, I've reached out to several of you individually about it, but when it says that there are 150 spots at each school and then it shows in the report that certain schools only have 60 there are only 60 spots in use I think those numbers are inaccurate because every year we've been an aftercare waitlist at our school. So it shows having those 60 spots It there's not space for 90 more kids. Um, so I think that's something needs to be considered when a school is closed, if that is the direction you all move in, is the aftercare options for families. Because it said that they can go ahead and apply to that next school and
031that there's space for them, but I'm sure that other people can confirm that there's waitlists at almost every school. The other thing I just wanted to point out is that I would really love to see the board and the district working together with if you all decide to close the school, to really reach out to those communities and to see what they need and figure out how we can work together and become stronger together. And I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Good evening, members of the board and district leadership. We come here tonight on behalf of the Sewall Elementary Parent Teacher Organization. We recognize the district must adapt thoughtfully to enrollment changes and real budgetary pressures, but adaptation should preserve the assets most aligned with the district's long-term educational vision. As you consider the
032future of the district's elementary footprint, we ask that you preserve the campuses that offer the greatest long-term educational return. Consistency across the district does not require sameness at every campus. A strong district can maintain shared expectations and aligned instruction while still recognizing that some schools offer distinctive assets that advance those goals in exceptional ways. Ways. Sewell Elementary does this. Its outdoor connected campus, learning garden, Critter Corner, and proximity to Bullen Creek Greenway and protected forest are not geographic incidentals. They are educational infrastructure. These assets support hands-on learning, collaboration, observation, movement, emotional regulation, and meaningful connection to the natural world. As CHCCS considers intentional technology use, Sewall represents an important balance: evidence-based, purpose-driven, and age-appropriate learning. Sewall may not be a new campus, but is very much a modern learning environment. A modern school is not
033defined only by the age of a building. It is a place where students can think, question, create, belong, and connect. These environments are not in I-Cities. They help children develop the exact adaptive skills the district itself identified in future planning: curiosity, resilience, collaboration, inquiry, problem-solving, ethical thinking, self-regulation, and connection to community. Sewell's value also extends well beyond elementary education. It sits within the only pre-K to 12 corridor in the district, um, obviously alongside Smith Middle and Chapel Hill High. This isn't theoretical adjacency, it functions as an active educational ecosystem. So across multiple classrooms and programs, middle school Smith Middle School and Chapel Hill High School students regularly contribute to our shared community. Our librarian works with 15 to 20, uh, high school student volunteers throughout the year, roughly 20 20 Chapel Hill High School students
034support 5 other classes, including a few students with an interest in education careers who come multiple times a week, every week throughout the school year. Mult Smith Middle Schoolers are a fixture in our art classroom. And for years we had a weekly reading program in which they came to Sewell before their school day to read with younger students. And this type of cross-campus collaboration, um, benefits everybody and is embedded into this community's practice. Elementary students gain mentorship and support, and older students gain leadership, career exploration opportunities, and meaningful engagement with the community. And so while the closure study does acknowledge adjacency, it doesn't fully capture the long-term educational value of this corridor. And if the district wants stronger pathways in student leadership and future learning, Sewall is one of the few places places where this
035work is already established and readily accessible. It also reflects the broader promise of CHCCS. It's academically strong and deeply diverse. We are our student body is majority minority. A third of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. We have a sizable population with learning differences and disabilities. And we are diverse in our student and staff populations. We speak over 20 languages and come from 5 continents. So it's a place where academic strength, learning, and whole child and equity already exist. Equity isn't achieved by reducing unique learning environments, it is achieved by expanding access to them. Thank you. That's it. Yeah, that's it. Thank you. All right, so now we're going to go to the speakers who have signed up. Jen, thank you for your patience. Getting over about a strep throat, but I shouldn't
036be infectious anymore. Um, thank you all for, um, on the board for your service to our community, our schools, which I realize is often a thankless task. And as all you all know, neither the Woolport Wolpert Report nor the May 7th closure study identified Glenwood as a priority for school closure. It wasn't even recommended for renovation until 2036 in the Wolpert Report, and it has lower 10-year facility needs than the other two schools. Instead, the reports have showed that Glenwood is one of the most well-utilized schools. As a health equity advocate, I too am disturbed that Glenwood used to be a whites-only school. However, I am heartened that the tables have turned. Glenwood is now majority minority with 64% identifying as non-white and has a strong focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Speaking of
037belonging, I grew up in a small town in Indiana where I was one of only two Asian kids in my class. I was called a commie even though my grandparents fled communist China because they were not communist. Kids sang rude songs to me, made inappropriate gestures at me for being Chinese. I was ashamed of looking different, stopped speaking Mandarin at home, and tried to avoid associating with other people of Chinese descent when I was in college. Chinese people are often viewed with disdain in this country, being told to go back to to where they came from, even if they were born here like me. For these reasons, it is so meaningful to me that my son can now attend a school where his Chinese culture is celebrated and honored by people of many different colors,
038religious affiliations, and backgrounds. His kindergarten class is far more diverse than mine was, with kids who are African, Asian, European, and Middle Eastern descent. My son actually asked me to speak Mandarin at home to him now. Prior to Glenwood, he got annoyed when I tried to speak Mandarin to him. This understanding of the value of learning Mandarin and befriending friends from diverse cultures is exactly what I was looking for and the primary reason I insisted that my husband and I live in Chapel Hill. Thank you. Next speaker, please. [ SPEAKING IN CHINESE ] Hello, School board members. My name is Rio, and this is my friend Asher. We are both at 4th grade at elementary I just wanted to say how special Glenwood Elementary School is for both of us and all our other friends
039and siblings. Glenwood is a one-of-a-kind school in the area since It helps kids like us learn Chinese and participate in special events like Chinese New Year and other cultural festivals like this. Jing Li. Learning a new language makes kids even more stimulated and even smarter than they are now. Kids that go to other schools don't get to share these wonderful experiences like the students of Glenwood do. Asher won second place in a national essay contest where he wrote all in Chinese and has given speeches at events all in Chinese. We wouldn't have been able to do this if not for everyone at Glenwood. Our teachers are so wonderful. Asher and I will be in 6th grade by the time you might close the school. Please don't. But future children children like my sister won't get
040to have the same kind of memories as all of us. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Calvin Chin. Calvin, thank you. All right, good evening. I want to thank you all for your work putting together this school closure I am a parent of a kindergartner at Glenwood. He's 6 years old, which means that he was born right before the pandemic. He grew up during a moment of escalating anti-Asian hatred, part of a longer history of racial violence in this country, unfortunately one of many such histories. We want him to have a strong sense of who he is and where he comes from and to cultivate self-love. We want him to be part of a community that understands him, that won't make fun of his name or his food or the way he looks or
041the languages that he speaks. And that's important to us because the experiences that Jen described earlier are almost universal among Asian Americans of our age. He has found what we are looking for at Glenwood, and he's found it there because the dual language program sits side by side with the world language program. Both of the programs work together to create a community that goes beyond just learning Mandarin and learning about Chinese culture to creating a community invested interested in making sure we embrace all cultures and heritages. The parts are bigger than the whole at Glenwood. I urge you not to split the programs up. Thank you. Thank you, members of the school board. My name is Matt Gardner, and I I appreciate the opportunity to just provide a couple of brief comments today. I have
0423 children. My oldest is in 6th grade at McDougall, and then my other 2 children are at Glenwood Elementary in the DLI program. About a year and a half ago, I was offered a job opportunity to move my family from Utah to either Atlanta or the Raleigh area, and we explored options where we could live in Atlanta and in Raleigh, and in both locations our main consideration was find a dual language immersion program in Mandarin. Our children have been doing that since first grade and has been such a tremendous opportunity for them. Choosing to live in Chapel Hill was a difficult decision for us, to be honest. It's financially challenging for us, and there are other places we could have lived in in the area, but we felt it was important for our children to
043continue their education in the DLI program. My request is that you keep the world language program and the dual language immersion program. We know you have a difficult choice before you, that there are a lot of people who have strong feelings and there are a lot of different interests, but I know that this has been a really meaningful meaningful opportunity for my children. And just lastly, as I hear some of the comments about perhaps how Asian Americans have been treated in our country, I am just deeply grateful that my children my wife and I are both white. We don't have a Mandarin background, but they have embraced this multicultural environment. Has been a really tremendous opportunity for them to be incorporated in that environment. And I just, uh, I think we need more of that
044in this country. So thank you for your time. Appreciate the hard work that you're doing. Good evening, board members and Superintendent Trice. My name is Bianca Allison, and I'm the parent of a kindergartner at Glenwood Elementary who's here with me. And I have two future investigators who cannot wait to join their big sister at Glenwood. I urge you, do not choose Glenwood for closure. Glenwood is not just a building or a set of language programs. It is the only school-wide Chinese cultural and linguistic environment in CHCCS. Students experience language, culture, and community in the hallways that have Chinese lanterns dangling from the ceilings, Chinese cultural celebrations throughout the year, signage for families in both Mandarin and English throughout the school, cross-racial and cross-linguistic friendships, and our incredible teachers and staff. When my daughter's Chinese grandmother
045came to her Lunar New Year performance, she was deeply touched when she saw the effort to promote Chinese culture and language across the entire school. The Glenwood community is a place where Mandarin-speaking children feel safe, seen, and valued. If you split the dual language and world language programs apart to different schools, which which I know has been discussed you do not end up with two half Glenwoods. You lose the magical integrated environment that makes the school so successful. Glenwood is also one of the district's strongest tools for attracting and retaining families, as you've already heard. In an internal survey that was conducted by the Glenwood PTA where 118 families responded, we found that 90% said that they moved to Chapel Hill or chose CHCCS over private and charter schools. Because an integrated because of our
046integrated Mandarin and STEAM school exists here. I know that my family would likely not remain in the CHCCS public schools if Glenwood were to dissolve, and the PTA's internal survey showed that only 14% would enroll their child in their neighborhood school if Glenwood closed. However, 93% said that they would follow the programs if they were relocated intact to a new school. So if advancing equity and belonging and bringing more families into CHCCS are values of yours, which I know they are, please preserve the Glenwood programs together as a complete school community rather than fragmenting one of the few models that's already achieving both of these in our district. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Mims, and I'm here to explain my perspective of what it's like to be be an actual student at Glenwood Elementary
047School. My mom lived in China for 5 years, and when we moved to and when they moved to Chapel Hill, they were looking for a program for me and my sister to, um, to do Mandarin. And we were thankful that Glenwood had a Mandarin dual language program. The Mandarin immersion program's 25th anniversary is coming up, which is just incredible. People come to Glenwood At Glenwood, people come to Glenwood who aren't just from North Carolina or China. We get students from all over the United States and other countries as well. When I walk in the building every morning to class, the staff don't just say, "Good morning," they say, "Zao shang hao." What I love about Glenwood is that they put excitement into everything. The staff are always so kind and supportive. There is also so
048much diversity, and I'm always here hearing my friends talking in different language, and it's so inspiring. For graduation, the whole 5th grade is singing a Chinese song called "What a Joyful Day," and when our teacher told us there was a huge rap part, we were really nervous, but there are extremely talented people who are gonna nail it. Since Glenwood used to offer a French program, I feel so honored to be able to learn Chinese by the best teachers ever. In my opinion, In my opinion, I think world language and dual language shouldn't be split up because they both work together and we make friendships out of it. One of my friends said that both world language and dual language are like a coin with a heads and tails side because a coin can't be a
049coin without a heads or tails side. So both basically work together. So just put the world language and dual language as the heads and tails sides. This is what I personally think about Glenwood Elementary School. Thank you for your time. Good evening, my name is Jen Ziegler and I am a Glenwood teacher and also a Glenwood parent. I'm sharing tonight on behalf of my husband Brian Ziegler. I'm a parent of a current Glenwood in third 5th grader, the cohort of students that will be most negatively affected by a closure, having spent the entire entirety of their elementary careers at such a special school, only to be uprooted for the home stretch of 5th grade and then whisked off again to start middle school. My daughter has cerebral palsy and struggles in ways that most of
050her peers do not. I have seen her absolutely thrive under the loving care and compassionate teaching she has been privileged to receive at Glenwood. From the leadership of Mr. Bennett to the incredible EC staff, classroom teachers, and support staff, every single person at Glenwood has provided the dedication, patience, and guidance that has truly allowed my daughter to bloom into her best self. She is in the world language track, but with the weekly Mandarin special, She has grown an interest in Chinese culture that has opened her eyes to the existence of a broad and diverse world beyond the boundaries of her own life experience here in the Triangle. Her participation in the STEAM program has helped her dream of possibilities for the future that can be built with not just science and technology, but also human
051creativity and imagination. She comes home from school goes to school and often proudly recites the Glenwood Gators chomp chant, which has instilled a commitment to good citizenship. These things don't happen in a vacuum, and they don't just happen anywhere. Glenwood is a special place that has brought the best out of my child and generations of others. I understand the necessity and the gravity of the difficult choices that lay ahead for this board, and as you can consider those choices. Please consider that STEAM and Mandarin dual language are not just programs at Glenwood, they are Glenwood. Thank you. Good evening. I'm here tonight as a grieving working mother and a Glenwood parent. I have 3 concerns. First, the data. The district's own data shows Glenwood is not under-enrolled, not underutilized, not the highest cost option, and
052not a facility problem. Glenwood is full, so my question is simple. If Glenwood is not the problem, why is it being treated as a solution? Second, my second concern is the process. The study itself did not recommend closing Glenwood. Glenwood. It did not weigh, prioritize, or score the schools. Yet board members have spoken to the media about Glenwood and even discussed splitting Glenwood programs. So I ask, when did this decision move ahead of the data and based on what? Third, the impact. At the same time, Glenwood's future is uncertain. ASAC, American Asian culture is also facing displacement and possible closure. Families are facing layered disruption. Our school may close, our language programs may be split up, after-school care may disappear, and working parents are being asked to absorb all, all of this without clear answers.
053And this is happening during AAPI Heritage Month to a school that hosts Mandarin immersion and world language programs. We are celebrating diversity in name while weakening it in practice. There's a Chinese phrase called shi wei su san. It means holding a position but failing to carry its responsibility. Public office requires more than sitting in a seat. It requires showing up, listening, and doing the work before decisions are made. If Glenwood and ASAC families are worth approaching during election seasons, then we are worth engaging before our school is put on chopping block. That is not representation. That is extraction. Now I want to say one sentence in Chinese to my community. We are parents, we are taxpayers, we are voters. If your voices are not taken seriously, we'll make them heard. With our votes. But above
054all, our responsibility is to protect our children. I asked my son Xavier, who is a second grader at Glenwood and will be profoundly impacted by your decisions, to say the final words, not because children should have to fight adults' battles they should not but because one day at least he can say he stood up for his beloved school and community. We are more than 400 children at Glenwood. We cannot vote. We cannot question the districts. So our families must speak for us. We are not numbers on a map. We are not empty seats, and we are not pieces to be moved around. We are children. We are the future of this community. Please do not make decisions about us without listening to us. Thank you. Thank you, Atticus. And Elizabeth, if you could head over
055to the wings over there. Thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Atticus Parrott. I'm a 5th grade dual language student at Glenwood Elementary and want to tell you why Glenwood Mandarin Immersion Program will improve my life. Studies show that learning 2 or more languages is beneficial to a person's brain development because when it enhances it enhances problem-solving skills and improves multitasking and the ability to focus. Learning a second language will also improve my experience in other countries because when I know what people are saying, I will understand the world better. And that is also true for many families coming from China to our community. If they come to Orange County and can't learn subject works in their language, then they won't learn what they need to learn and will struggle living in the US. This
056is what makes Glenwood vital to our district and the world. If you shut down Glenwood, you're losing more than a school, more than a program. You're losing a whole community of people from all over the world. Thank you for your time. S , se or. Good evening. Thank you so much for your time and your service our community. My name is Elizabeth Sasser. I'm a parent of two Glenwood students. My son is a 5th grade dual language student at Glenwood, and my daughter is a Glenwood dual language alum. We moved to Chapel Hill from Washington, D.C. in 2013, and we chose Chapel Hill in large part because of Glenwood's dual language program. Um, it's something, uh, Glenwood's dual language program offered something that our family deeply values, which is the chance to learn a second
057language for our children and also for our kids to meaningfully engage with another culture. At Glenwood, Chinese language and culture aren't confined to a single classroom. It's woven through the daily life at the school. Students see and hear Chinese throughout the day. They learn They learn from Mandarin-speaking teachers and they celebrate cultural traditions together as a community. It's that immersive school-wide environment that makes Glenwood unique, and that's what makes it effective. It can't be replicated by splitting the program apart. If you separate the dual language program and the world language program into different schools, you don't end up with two strong programs. You lose the integrated culture that makes Glenwood work for everybody. So I respectfully ask that you please take Glenwood off the closure list. Thank you very much. David. Good evening. I'm a
058parent at Glenwood. Two years ago, when my family were deciding whether to accept a job over here, we are happy to. But then we learned something very special here. Greenwood had a Mandarin program, and Greenwood also had ASAC, a daily Chinese after-school program located right on campus. Then we came here. And this year, CHCCS is not only considering closing Greenwood, but also requiring ASAC to relocate from Greenwood to another place. And increasing the rental fee to nearly 3 times the current rate. So as an immigrant parent, I want to ask: 1, why close Greenwood, one of the most unique programs that actually bring families here? 2, Greenwood has more than one after-school programs. Why was ASAC the one forced to leave? Why was ASAC's rental price increased a lot without clear nation and the respect.
0593, close Greenwood, force ASAC to relocate, combine them. What message sends to our community? Have you think about it? So I work for another state, but I choose to live here. I spend money here. I clean up Jordan Lake. I perform lion dance and Governor's Mansion. I donate money to local company. I love this community. Community and have tried to commit to do it in many ways. But now I don't feel I'm welcomed. We are not truly welcome. So this is not your intention. We want to have a clear, public, respectful explanation, and we request to take Greenwood off the closure list, and we request ASAC stay in Greenwood with a fire-stable rental arrangement. Thank you. Good evening. My name is David Sims, and like a lot of people you've heard from tonight, I'm a
060Glenwood parent, and I want to thank you for having these meetings and for giving us this opportunity to speak and to try and get some clarity, because I think a lot of the parents right now are very confused. We're confused in part because we hear you talking about things like enrollment numbers and test scores, and that if that makes sense, but Glenwood is a school with great enrollment numbers and great test scores. And we hear you talking about costs, which certainly understand that that's an issue, but it does not look like Glenwood is the best cost-saving measure when you look at its actual costs. We're confused about that. And I'm confused because I've been to a few of these meetings now and I have heard y'all say at the the meetings some amazing things about
061your commitment to diversity and inclusion and equity, and those are inspiring things and values that we all get behind. But then we look at Glenwood being on the chopping block, and, you know, if you haven't been there, I don't know if you can imagine the way this is a focal point for this community, and for a community that includes a lot of people who are vulnerable. Um, many of my fellow parents English is not their first language and they may not have another easy way to go to a place where the teacher can speak directly to them about their child's education. My children have classmates who English is not the language they hear at home and it's a language they're still struggling with and having teachers who can really talk directly to them is amazing
062for them. And having a community that supports them is amazing for them. And you know what's going on in the country country now. You've seen there's been some horrible vitriol directed at the Chinese community over just the past few years. And in this moment, seeing Glenwood, a school that's not struggling, not failing, seeing it go up on the chopping block, it is hard to look at that and not feel like it's an attack on a very vulnerable group. And I know that's not the signal that you want to send, but please think twice because that's what we hear right now. Thank you. Thank you. Kate, if you could go ahead and come on down. So I am Iris Vance, also a Glenwood parent, and I want to state plainly that it is wrong to consider
063closing Glenwood. Our school serves a high number of children who were born outside the U.S. or who come from immigrant families. and with unprecedented levels of loud hatred towards immigrants in the national discourse, these children are vulnerable and must be protected as a moral issue. My own kids' friends have spoken about how meaningful it is to have teachers who can pronounce their names correctly and celebrate their cultural heritage. I ask the school board not to let the country's political climate of rampant xenophobia cloud their judgment into the colossally backwards idea of closing this school. Let's take a step back. The very reason we're considering school closures is declining enrollment. The school board's own recent study shows Glenwood is thriving and growing, the only elementary school to grow enrollment district-wide last year. Both Glenwood magnet programs
064are at capacity for the upcoming school year, reflecting the demand. Our family moved to Chapel Hill specifically to attend Glenwood. And we continue to meet others with that same story. As you've heard, at my kindergartner's birthday party, at least 3 of his new friends' parents had moved from around the Triangle. Playing at a park, he ran into one of his classmates, and I struck up a conversation with his mom, who's a truck driver who moved from Brooklyn, New York to Chapel Hill, choosing between multiple states our community primarily for Glenwood. Please don't deprive the diverse children of our Glenwood community of a place where they feel safe and seen celebrating their cultural heritage. And don't deprive our district of a school that draws families to the area from around the Triangle and much farther afield,
065fixing the enrollment problem that created this painful discussion in the first place. Thank you. Thank you for your service, board members. Good evening, my name is Kate Messig. I'm the parent of two Glenwood students, and I've also served for 10 years as a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, where my work focused in large part on East Asian studies and global student learning. As many of you may have heard, next month UNC UNC is permanently closing all 6 of its Global Area Studies Centers, including the Carolina Asia Center, and this is part of a larger anti-global national trend that we are experiencing and that's impacting our students and communities at all levels. Um, this is relevant because I'm particularly concerned that, um, the Board is being asked to decide the fate of our buildings before that
066we have a clear, sustainable plan for preserving the integrity of our academic programs for our communities. And we know that this would have implications not just for whichever school or schools close, but the schools where those 400 or more students of our programs would be relocated. What makes Glenwood valuable is not simply that it teaches Mandarin. Um, it has been built over more than 2 decades, and we have built a really rare and cohesive educational model. It's the dual language, it's the world language, it's also the STEAM integration through both of those curriculums. And our outcomes are strong, and our community is diverse beyond just Chinese, which is what you are hearing a lot of tonight, but that's not what you would see if you go there. I think at this time of increasing anti-global
067racism and discrimination nationwide, this is a place that is a safe space, and this disruption that closing it may cause will have ripples throughout all of our communities, impacting our children, which is really the most important thing. At a time when families are leaving public schools, Glenwood is actively attracting and retaining them. And something we haven't heard yet tonight is that Chinese is the second most common language in the world and the third most common in the U.S. Thank you. I would encourage you to keep Glenwood open and together. Rachel, if you could make your way down as well. Thank you. Hi, I'm Alice Whiteside. Thank you so much for your care and attention to this process in this challenging time. I'm also a parent of a Glenwood student. A kindergartner in the dual language
068track of the STEAM II program, and I want to speak to the fact that the world language track students are fully part of the culture at Glenwood, and that my child's experience in the dual language track would be very different in a school that did not preserve the school-wide culture. It's hard to imagine that the district would hire a second STEM teacher or a second Mandarin language teacher to continue to provide these specials for tracks at two different schools. Other changes that come to mind immediately are staff would not greet my child in Mandarin at the drop-off line, the Lunar New Year celebration would not be school-wide, and losing the school-wide culture of the STEAM 2 program would introduce a sense of otherness, the current lack of which is one of the greatest assets of
069this program. We chose Glenwood for multiple reasons, including the STEAM program, project-based learning the many benefits of learning a second language at a young age. But we also chose it because it's the only school, elementary school, in Chapel Hill-Carboro City Schools where I was certain that my child, who's biracial, would have teachers who look like him. Families in the world language program, um, language, world language track, put equally careful consideration into choosing Glenwood, and splitting the two tracks between schools would significantly change the experience for both. So respectfully, I ask you to take Glenwood off the closure list and redirect this process towards redistricting. Thank you for your time. Thank you to the board members for this opportunity to speak on this issue again. I am the parent of a second and fourth grader at
070Glenwood Elementary. The district faces real financial strain to the county and state funding decreases for declining enrollment. Past board discussions have focused on school utilization rates and declining enrollment as major catalysts for school closure. To cure what ails the district seems like closure, but this can't be true for Glenwood. Glenwood has current district data and future projections based on closure studies shows Glenwood has better utilization rates and 100% enrollment now and in the future. I have heard comments that say, oh well, Glenwood's a lottery, enrollment's easier. I beg to differ. Differ. Students are not assigned to Glenwood. We must ask students and family to choose Glenwood, and each year they choose Glenwood over and over. Where the district has struggled to bring new students to the district, Glenwood has thrived with waitlists for both dual
071language and world language for the upcoming school years. Families choose Glenwood because of its two unique pathways. Mandarin is not learned in isolation but with meaningful cultural context. It is not just symbols or words on a page, but the names of fellow students students and teachers, and greetings of zhaojianghao in the car line. The cultural exchange takes place every day at Glenwood. Glenwood's thriving ecosystem pushes against current district enrollment trends with its world and dual language programs under one roof. The world and dual language programs are not just cohorts that can be shoved into another school. They work to create together to create a cultural bridge. Asian Americans are the largest minority in Chapel Hill. This cultural bridge created at Glenwood is important for the health of the town and our community. Glenwood is the
072model to solve district enrollment struggles. Glenwood is not to be separated. Glenwood should not be closed. Womindajayichi. Annie Kramer. And now for something completely different. Uh, hello, my name's Annie Kramer, and it was my privilege to have been the Sewall Elementary art teacher for 32 years there. I'm here to speak about the report presented by Mr. Shiroki at the last board meeting, and he did an admirable job, uh, for not, uh, showing any kind of bias or doing, you know, really very well. Unfortunately, there was a couple of things I must take exception to, and one of them is the characterization of the connected Sewell-Smith Chapel Hill Schools corridor. He said that he thought that the greatest advantage was for parents to have ease of dropping off their children and how convenient that must have
073been, forgetting entirely that the population that we care about as educators is our children and our children's experience. To have the experience to come to Sewell at pre-K, continue through Sewell, walk over to Smith, then walk over to Chapel Hill High, have brothers and sisters at various places attend their performances, have escorting their younger brothers and sisters to the other campuses. This is a community, a multi-generational community, and it's unique in all of our district and maybe unique in the state of North Carolina. North Carolina, for all I know. As I say, it was my privilege to be there. He offhandedly mentioned that no Sewell students attended classes at Smith or Chapel Hill High School. Well, of course, that's ridiculous and inaccurate. Of the 5th grade graduating class, only one student this year is not
074going to Smith. Smith is comprised of many, many, many, many Sewell students all through the years. And the same with Chapel Hill High School. When Chapel Hill High School students that attended Sewell graduate, they come to Sewell for the last day of school to celebrate and to be celebrated. Maybe that happens all over the district. Thank you so much. Maybe it does not. Thank you. Hi, I'm Jennifer Hochberg. My daughter is a first grader at Ephesus and my son will be a kindergartner. I just enrolled him on Friday. Um, I know how much thought and care have gone into this process. I've been at multiple meetings. You guys have heard from me multiple times and how hard this decision is. So thank you for all of the care that you take for this. But as
075I looked at the 8 criteria that the board established in the study, Ephesus clears all of them. The geographic conditions: no flood zones, no wetlands on the property, a stable site, no red flags. Enrollment: Ephesus is the only school in this study that is growing, projected to hit 100% capacity by 2030, driven by approved residential developments already in the attendance zone. This trend is up, not down. Hardship to students: Ephesus is a Title I school. Over a third of its students come from economically disadvantaged households. These are the students this criteria was written to protect. Displacement hits them hardest academically, socially, and logistically. And we cannot overlook our exceptional children. These children depend on consistency, familiar hallways, trusted teachers, established routines. For a child in an IEP, a new school is not just An inconvenience
076is not just an inconvenience. It means regression, anxiety, and lost progress that takes years to recover. The study itself acknowledges this risk. We should not impose this unnecessarily. Transportation it's the most walkable school, and it would only include 3 buses. The capital expenditures yes, this building needs investment, but the investment serves a school that will be full. Capital spent on a school at capacity capacity is capital that has delivered value. Board members, on nearly every criteria you set, Ephesus makes the case for staying open. I trust you will follow the data and keep Ephesus, because Ephesus is all of us. And just a clarification, I see that Seoul PTA signed up. Sarah, I know you guys spoke at the beginning. Is this somebody else? Okay, thank you. Hi, my name is Katie Holland. We can
077skip me when I come up later, but I'm going to finish the Sewell PTA statement from earlier. What Sewell offers the Chapel Hill-Carboro City Schools portfolio is rare: a diverse and high-performing school, a Pre-K-12 corridor, outdoor learning infrastructure, and active middle and high school engagement. Importantly, these strengths align with the board's own closure criteria: site adjacency, long-term program fit, building adjacency, transportation considerations, and future district planning flexibility. These are not easily portable assets. In fact, they're not portable at all. We ask you to use the report and all the information you have received throughout this process to make a decision grounded in thoughtful, forward-looking stewardship. Sewell is already one of the district's most unique assets and is singularly positioned to become even more valuable in the years ahead. I'll also make a quick comment just
078on behalf of myself. I am a parent of two Sewell Seahawks. I'm also a Chapel Hill-Carboro City School alum. I'm also a former Chapel Hill-Carboro City School middle school teacher. Go Colbreath Cougars. My husband was recently hired by the district as a middle school teacher for next year. So we are bought in. We adore this district. We moved back to Chapel Hill and we're thrilled that my oldest was able to begin kindergarten in the district. It's unfortunate that this situation has caused us to show up here in colors. My Sewell t-shirt is dirty because I have 3 kids. But we are we're a broad community, and I implore the board to recognize the impact that this situation has had on all 3 of these school communities, and that we celebrate the teachers, the staff at
079all of the schools for holding it together through all of this, because it's hard. So thank you, all 3 schools. Thank you. Oh wait, yep, yep, it's okay. Hi, my name is Fumi. Thank you for taking the time to hold this public hearing tonight. I calculated the total building capacity of the elementary schools using the district's population building capacity numbers and current enrollment data. The total building capacity across all schools is 5,664 students. The capacity of the 3 schools currently being discussed are Ephesus, 436 students, Sewells, 450, Glenwood, 420 12. The current district-wide elementary enrollment is 4,293 students. If only one school is closed, the remaining district capacity will still be approximately 5,200 students. However, if you close if two schools are closed, the remaining capacity drops to around 4,800 students. This means that closing
080two schools will leave only about 4, 5 seats of remaining capacity, capacity district-wide, while closing one, only one school would leave approximately 1,000 seats available. An increase of 500 students will bring enrollment back to the level we had as recently as 2021. Which was not long ago. In addition, the program capacity number presented by Dr. Shiroki are even more restrictive than the building capacity. I understand that registering hasn't been started yet, and it may be difficult to predict future enrollment pattern patterns. However, even looking only at these numbers suggested that suggests that closing two schools could be a risky decision, especially considering the ongoing housing construction in our area and the presentation shared at the May 7th meeting. As a board of education, I understand that you need to make decisions carefully. Oh, Fumi, you
081can email it to us if you'd like. Thank you. Or you can pass it to another person who hasn't signed up to finish for you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Bailey Backus. I am a teacher at Sewell. I also am an alum of Sewell, Smith, and Chapel Hill High School, and I have a daughter now in kindergarten there. And as a senior at Chapel Hill High School, I got to go and explore kindergarten rooms with a course that I took on child development. And so that in turn turned into wanting to be in education and going to school for that and coming back to Seoul to teach. And it's just a really magical place. Um, it has a lot of really awesome memories, um, from being a student there and then being an alum and coming
082back and then now being a teacher there. And I just, um, I now have two seniors in my room volunteering from Chapel Hill High School, and one of them is going to go on to school at a college in Georgia. And it just has a lot of awesome impact to have those schools right there there next door. Um, and as a student, I saw it, and I want my daughter to see that too, um, as well as her younger sister, um, having that adjacency and being able to go back and see teachers so easily, um, and help out whenever field day, um, at the end of the year when they come in caps and gowns, school dances. We have, um, volunteers all the time. So So it's just something to think about when you're thinking
083about school culture. Vivian. Oh, sorry. Okay. Um, hello, my name is Vivian Chun. I'm a parent of two children at Glenwood. It is disappointing to hear the board and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Administration children, as well as the general public, speak about Glenwood almost exclusively in terms of its Mandarin programs and hardly ever, if ever, in terms of its community of children, families, and educators. When we reduce Glenwood to its Mandarin programs from a structural, HR, and program delivery standpoint, we erase the people who make the school what it is and what the district is so proud to use to recruit new families. Glenwood is more than typical school. It is one of the few places in this area where Asian children learn in an environment surrounded by peers and adults who look and speak
084like them and who share cultural backgrounds and experiences like theirs. Let's not pretend that is insignificant. That representation is foundational. It provides belonging, affirmation, and safety. Those things are not expendable. The potential split of the Mandarin dual language and world language programs may allow neat packaging and may seem least disruptive to the district, but it is negligent and would be deeply disruptive for an increasingly marginalized Asian community. As the district evaluates community disruptions, redistricting, and program placement, it is essential to avoid decisions that favor majority populations at the expense of minority groups. Equity requires a careful consideration of community cohesion and the lived experiences of those most affected. Thank you for your time. Nolan, and then Anne. Thanks. Good evening, members of the board. You might remember me, Nolan Lee. From March 19th, I'm happy
085to be back today to share why Glenwood is so special to me. Glenwood is more than just a school, it's a community where students learn to think, create, collaborate, and care for each other. It's as a STEAM and dual language school, Glenwood helps students from many different backgrounds feel included, valued, and inspired. During Lunar New Year, our whole school celebrates together. Every grade performs a different dance that we also sing to. This year, my grade danced and sang "Tian Tian Xiang Xiang," which means "Make progress every day," like what I do in school and at home every day. One of my favorite moments was when the dual language and the world language teachers performed traditional dance, a cultural dance together. It was fun, joyful, and showed how teachers at Glenwood support one another and celebrate
086different cultures with us. At Glenwood, our teachers never give up on us. I remember working with my science partner on a flashlight that simply wouldn't light up. We were frustrated, but our teacher helped us, offering the guidance and encouragement that helped us work more efficiently. When the bulb finally flickered and turned on, it wasn't just a light bulb turning on. It was a lesson in perseverance. Our staff members are the key of the school, helping us in every way they possibly can. Glenwood shapes us into confident learners and great students. Schools like ours ensure that every student feels safe, connected, and proud of their heritage. I ask you today, please keep Glenwood community together. Thank you. Once a Gator, always a Gator. Go Gators! Hello everyone, thank you. Um, the first thing I want to
087do is just honor the contributions of everyone here of all three schools. And even though I come as a parent, uh, from Ephesus, I just particularly want to call out the Glenwood School folks because I just think this is so important. So, um, My name is Anne Kaplan. It's actually Dr. Anne Kaplan. I'm a public educator, not at UNC Chapel Hill, but in the UNC system. Um, I am also a single parent of a child at Ephesus Elementary School. And I point that out because, um, to me it seems very important and telling, uh, that at Ephesus it is more challenging for our parents to contribute to a forum like this because we are the only Title I school. This was said earlier, and I just want to underline that fact that most of our
088parents would have a very difficult time because they are working often 2 or 3 jobs. I came and hired a babysitter so I could be here specifically because I knew very few people would be able to show up or might be accustomed to speaking, not that I really am, in an arena like this. So, um, with that in mind, there are many things I could say about the community. They're very important. They are not to be dismissed. But I would like to speak to you about legality and numbers. NC State statute NCGS 115 2 calls to avoid hardship to pupils with disabilities, economic disadvantages, multilingual, Black students, Latinx, and others of diverse communities, and those who have been historically marginalized. One thing that is not mentioned, and I haven't heard mentioned in any of these
089discussions, is something that Audre Lorde speaks about, which is that these issues are usually connected. Oh, great. So, um, I want to encourage you, if I can have two sentences, to think about that at Ephesus we have, um, over 4.5 times the affordable housing unit of any other schools. Our minority level for our drive zone is over 1.5 times. Thank you. I know. Thank you so much. We've got our next speaker waiting in the wings. That's what I get for honoring people. You can pass it off to one of your other speakers. Thank you. All right, I'll get someone to sign up. Thank you. Hello, my name is Zhiyue Lu, and I'm a faculty at UNC Chapel Hill in the chemistry department. I'm here also as a father of a 7-year-old boy from Glenwood. Elementary.
090Board members, please do not close Glenwood, the school that is working. The stated problem was declined budget from under-enrollment, but Glenwood is not under-enrollment problem. It is a high-demand, fully occupied, successful magnet school. Closing it would punish the demand, not solve the underutilization. The dual language program and the world language program are not furnitures We cannot simply move it or split it and say it has been preserved. It depends on the teachers, cohorts, continuity, culture, and the family's trust. Walkability might matter, but it cannot become a backdoor single criterion that overrides enrollment, program impact, capacity, and equity. Please preserve Glenwood. At minimum, Do not vote to close it until there is a public weighted rubric and a full program impact analysis. The question before us is very simple. Will we solve the under-enrollment problem by
091destroying a full and successful school? Please choose the solution that match the problem. Do not close Glenwood. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, dear board members. My name is Ye Hua Wei. I'm a professor of decision sciences at Duke University and the parent of a first grader at Glenwood. I'm speaking tonight because closing any school is an irreversible decision that can have profound negative consequences. Specifically, closing or splitting a successful school like Glenwood will only accelerate the decline of enrollment and further reduce the funding that Chapel Hill is receiving. I know this board is analyzing tremendous amount of data and navigate this difficult process. I urge you to not ignore the strongest signal that you will find from the data, in particular, that Glenwood is working. It has one of the highest utilizations among all schools.
092So demand is a very strong signal here, and please do not ignore that. Just keep in mind that Glenwood is working, and please do not close a school that is working. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hello, I'm Rod Mullen, father of two Glenwood students, Isabella And I thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. Some of what I say to you, you will have read already in the email I sent a few days ago, but this evening I want to give a bit more of the background to our decision to apply to Glenwood. I grew up next door in Durham and graduated from Hillside High School, class of '79, when the legendary John Lucas was principal. One of my very best school friends was born a few short months after his parents
093immigrated from India. He mentioned more than once that he could not talk with his grandmother because he had never learned the native language of that part of India from which his parents came. To me, with my own grandmother living not far away, it seemed he She was missing out on so much. And when my wife and I had our children, I was determined that they would be able to talk to their Chinese grandmother about anything they wanted. So because we were looking for a dual language program for our children to learn to communicate on any subject with relatives in China as well as in the U.S., we chose Chapel Hill and applied to the program at Glenwood. The benefits of having a broad spectrum of cultures and curriculum pathways at one school are obvious, almost
094like having a miniature United Nations within one school. Having the mix of learning activities and personal interaction together is what makes Glenwood so successful. Over the past several years, the combined magnet programs have also been an asset to the district in boosting enrollment, and the latest CHCCS data data suggests that Glenwood will be at full capacity within 5 years. It's my understanding that present and future growth in this part of Orange County are likely to be on the east side of the CHCCS service area, so the school building and its capacity are in exactly the right place. Thank you, Rob. You have an honorable and difficult responsibility. Please take Glenwood off to close your list. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening, board members. My family relocated to North Carolina from Boston, so both
095my husband and I work in Greensboro, but we decided to settle down here just because of Glenwood's unique programs. So since then, at least 4 families from Guilford County Schools have contacted me asking where whether Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District is worth moving to for their children's education. As more families have remote work options, school quality and district reputation play a major role in where they choose to live. The data clearly show that enrollment is at capacity, which means families value and support this school. This success did not only happen, you know, by accident. It is the result of the school board's decision to create this program and the dedication of teachers, staff, and leadership over the past 20 years. So even though at this difficult time, yet kindergarten enrollment for this fall is already at
096capacity, that shows families still believe in Glenwood. Closing Glenwood would not only separate students, teachers, and staff, It would weaken trust in the community and damage our school district's reputation across North, North Carolina. We are already seeing and hearing discussions about these closures beyond Chapel Hill on social media. This school does not create opportunities only for Asian community. It strengthens opportunities and reputation for the entire school district. If financial considerations are the main reasons behind this decision, if the future use of Glenwood location will provide greater financial benefit to the District, then please be transparent with the community and tell us the truth. Please do not let 20 years of success be lost. Thank you. Good evening, my name is Virginia Jones and I'm a 5th grade teacher at Sewell. Thank you guys for being
097here tonight and thank you for, you know, just committing to this process. It seems all-consuming and I'm so glad that I don't have to do it. There are 3 great schools and I just, I do not envy your decision. Before I give you my comment, which is very mild in nature, I just want to tell you a little bit about what makes Sewell so special to me and what my connection is with the school and with the system. So I started Sewell as a third grader in 1981. Barbara Lawler, those of you that have been around long enough, knew that she was the real MVP of all principals. She was just amazing. I was probably one of the most disruptive one of the most distracted children growing up, probably one of the most distracted adults
098in this room, but I'm I've learned, um, to tether that a little bit. But she saw all these things in me that I could never see for myself. She took a special interest in me, um, as well did, um, Alan Seuss and all the other teachers there. I went on to go through Phillips and Chapel Hill High School, and I'm, I'm so proud of our system. I mean, looking at where it is today, like, I just think we're doing an amazing job and I really do. Um, I moved here from Eastern North Carolina and back in the '80s, that meant rows of seats. You didn't get out of your seat. You copied down what was on the board. You didn't talk and you just until recess time. So when I moved to Sewell, it was
099very interesting because nobody had desks. It was very, um, we had pods, we had learning teams. We had multiple teachers. We were moving from place to place. It was extremely innovative. That's still there today. Sewell is the most magical place I've been. I, this is my year 30.5, and I do not want to leave. Every day I get up, that same Sewell magic that our teacher of the year spoke of earlier, Bailey Backus, is there every day. The sun's coming up over the school and I love it. Please do not close us. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you. And then May after Ashley. Thank you. Hey, good evening. My name is Ash Sherman. I'm the school counselor at Ephesus. Um, over the past couple of months, I've made several other public comments.
100I've spoken on behalf of my colleagues at Ephesus about what makes our school such a beautiful place to work and learn at. I've also spoken alongside colleagues from other elementary schools to advocate for building-level staff involvement in HR planning, um, regardless of what the closure decision may be. Um, but tonight I want to start with a really sincere thank you to the board. I know that this is really hard work. Um, we're having really hard conversations. I know that all of our communities are feeling the stress and the hurt right now. Um, the expected vote on June 4th feels really pivotal to me. I think that's when we're all going to find out the next phase of what our school district is going to look like moving forward. Um, I'm going to find out whether
101or not I get to keep the job that I love. I think that emotions are really high right now for a lot of us. Um, but June 4th is also going to be the first time that the board will publicly discuss the specific nuances of closing one school over another. This isn't about abstracts or hypotheticals anymore. It's going to be the first time that you publicly get into the nitty-gritty of Ephesus versus Glenwood Wood versus Sewall. So, um, my hope for that discussion, um, is that we'll be able to see a really clear presentation on the updated financial implications of closing just one school instead of two. Um, I hope that you'll have a really detailed discussion of the pros and cons of closing each school and what closing will practically mean for each community.
102Um, I'm also really hoping for some specifics on what it means to protect existing existing programs and what that will look like for each of our schools. I also hope that you'll ask Dr. Trice and his cabinet members for their recommendation on which school to close. I know that the report deliberately did not include a recommendation, but our community trusts and values Dr. Trice for his leadership and his understanding of our district, and I know that I personally value his perspective very highly. I hope that you'll make a timely and transparent decision decision that provides financial stability moving forward. I think our community has many great ideas for improvement, and we need a firm financial foundation to do so. Thank you, Ash. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Mei,
103and I currently have two sons at Glenwood. I'm here today to advocate for keeping Glenwood School open. We see Glenwood as a single program that's comprised of Chinese Chinese culture, language, and STEAM learning with two different tracks, the world and the dual language. The STEAM program is programming is woven throughout all of the grades and classes, and the two tracks share that same environment community that highlights and celebrates our Chinese culture. Both programs will learn about the history of the mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They learn about the famous Monkey King, Sun Kong, and the traditions of our Lunar New Year. All students start their day by hearing the spoken Mandarin language. You will find native speakers in both tracks. To separate these two tracks is to effectively dismantle our program. Glenwood is also one
104of the highest-scoring elementary schools in the district and is projected to be at 100% capacity by 2030. And I believe the success comes from having the right combination of teachers, staff, curriculum, all working within the specific community that's been formed at Glenwood. It is not something you can split up into two or three groups and expect to have the same, expect to have the same result. This program has once been shown to be a draw for people to come into our school district who may have otherwise sought out alternative places for education. To separate our school, to separate our two tracks, is to disregard what it is that makes Glenwood successful. At every meeting, the board has repeatedly sought proposals to attract and increase student enrollment. Glenwood Elementary has proven on every metric that should
105be considered considered a solution and not a problem to this ask. If we are truly trying to think differently, to highlight diversity, and to equip our students to be able to navigate a rapidly changing world, as noted in your strategic plan of 2027, then closing Glenwood School would be a mistake. I respectfully ask that you choose to keep Glenwood both tracks together and open. Thank you, Iris. Good evening. Thank you for your services. My name is Iris Im. I am a Chapel Hill parent with two former Glenwood students, Henning, who is now 17, and Divika, who is now 13. I'm here to ask the board to take Glenwood off the closure list and focus instead on redrawing school boundaries to balance enrollment across the district. I understand that CHCC DCS is facing serious financial and
106enrollment challenges. I also understand that difficult decisions may be necessary. However, closing or splitting Glenwood would be the wrong solution to the problem the district is trying to solve. Glenwood is not just a building. It's one of the district's most distinctive and valuable programs, a program families parents actively choose and a program that gives family a reason to stay in the district, as we heard from many parents tonight. For my family, Glenwood gave my children something very hard to replace. They learned that they did not have to choose between being American, Danish, Chinese, or Taiwanese. They could be all of those things at once. The Mandarin dual language program gave them a daily connection to language, culture, family, and identity. During COVID when anti-Asian hate was all the rage, I was very grateful that my
107children was in a safe environment, an environment where Chinese culture was is visible, respected, and shared. Half of the class brought that heritage, and the other half was learning the language and culture alongside them. That kind of environment creates safety, empathy, confidence, and belonging. In this increasingly divided world, we need more programs like Glenwood, not fewer. Glenwood helps children build broader worldviews, it teaches them to cross cultures, bridge differences, and see identity as something expansive rather than limiting. Thank you. That benefits every children, not only Chinese or Asian American children. So I would like to ask you to take language off the closure list. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, somebody else. Oh no, no, you can go. Okay, thank you. Oh, it's okay. Uh, good evening and thank you all for giving me
108the opportunity to speak here tonight. I'm here to advocate for Glenwood Elementary School. Originally, we heard the reason for school closure is said to be under enrollment. This district's own data shows that Glenwood is not under-enrolled, and the enrollment of Glenwood of the year '26 to '27 is already full, demonstrating that there is strong and ongoing demand for this school, which is consistent with the fact that beyond the significant Chinese American population in Chapel Hill. Many families from diverse culture and linguistic background have chosen Glenwood because they believe in the value of multilingual and globally focused education. This is not a small or isolated interest group. It is an established community of families whose educational needs deserve to be respected. Another reason mentioned for considering Glenwood foreclosure is walkability and transportation impact. However, walkability is
109generally a less significant factor for elementary school students compared with older students in middle or high school. Most elementary parents are understandably not comfortable having young children walk to school independently, and many working families Many parents also do not have the flexibility to walk their children to and from school each day. So as a result, school buses remain one of the primary forms of transportation for elementary students across the district. Because the reasons presented for closing Glenwood are not convincing, I respectfully remind the board that closing Glenwood would not simply relocate students. It would disrupt successful magnet programs, divide a strong school community, and reduce educational choices that families across the district clearly value and support. Thank you. My name is Good evening. My name is Jing He, and I am speaking on behalf of
110my mom. I am a parent of a 4th grade student at Glenwood Elementary School. My husband and I both work in Durham, but we chose to live in Chapel Hill despite the high housing costs and the daily commute of more than an hour each day. Why? Because of Glenwood. Glenwood is inclusive, multicultural, and welcoming forming in a way that cannot simply be copied, divided, or recreated somewhere else. This culture does not belong to one grade level or one single program. It exists throughout the entire school community. Glenwood makes many families, including Chinese families like mine, feel accepted, respected, and safe. It provides an equal learning environment and a strong sense of belonging. Honestly, without Glenwood, there would be little reason for my family to continue living in Chapel Hill. We could move to Durham, have
111a shorter commute, buy a better house for the same money, and enjoy many other conveniences. We chose Chapel Hill because of Glenwood. I believe this is not just our family's choice. Are there any others here tonight who feel the same way? Would you please raise your hand? Okay, thank you. Now returning to the original reason for considering school closures, declining enrollment. Please stay focused on that issue. The data itself shows that Glenwood is not a struggling school. It is a thriving, vibrant, highly attractive school that contributes greatly to this district. So why close such an attractive and high enrollment school in order to solve a declining enrollment problem. Glenwood is not the problem that needs to be solved. Glenwood is part of the solution, and a very successful solution. So do not close Glenwood. Thank
112you. Thank you, Bonnie. Good evening, board. My name is Bonnie Wong. I speak speak on behalf of the largest language educator association in North Carolina. We are FLANC, Fostering Language Acquisition in North Carolina, and I'm also a former president of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of North Carolina. Behind me there are over 500 language educators from those memberships. We recently learned of the proposed closure of Glenwood Elementary School, the only school in this district with a Mandarin magnet program. We understand the I know the school board faced difficult budget and enrollment decisions, but I am here to ask you to keep Glenwood open and with it both its dual language immersion program and its world language program. Why does this matter? First, North Carolina is a national leader in dual language education. We are the
113top 5 in the country, number 1 in the Southeast. Glenwood's Mandarin dual language program is part of that success story. Closing it would send a troubling signal to families, educators, and other districts across the state and a very troubling signal to other states. Second, language programs require long-term commitments. Families chose these districts, and you heard tonight, they moved homes and enrolled their children specifically for the Mandarin pathway. Abruptly dismantling that pathway while also losing the world language access that Glenwood provides to non-dual language students would disrupt students' progress, break family trust, and destabilize the school community. Third, both programs matter. The dual language program develops bilingual, biliterate graduates ready for global careers and civic life. The world language program gives all other Glenwood students exposure to language learning, an essential foundation for middle and high
114school. Removing either one reduces educational equity and opportunity in this district. These programs are consistently in high demand among families and can play a critical critical role in attracting and retaining students. They also support North Carolina's economic future by preparing a bilingual workforce that is increasingly in demand across industries, national security, and essential for engaging in a global economy. I am not here today simply to oppose the closure. I'm here to ask you to protect both programs. My program my organization, FLANC, will follow up with a formal letter with specific recommendations. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Hi, I'm Shawna Catlett. I am many hats. Tonight I'm here as the district elementary world language leader, and I've been hearing so many awesome things about the language program at Glenwood, and I it's just, there's There's
115so much I want to say, and I did send a letter, a community letter with much more information. But I just okay, so let me point to something concrete. The summary of key data under the pupils affected, there was something written about the Mandarin dual language and the world language program there, and I just feel like something I want to make sure we have a distinction in this conversation that every elementary school in our district has a world language program. And I know we're not saying to, to cut those, like, that is not our conversation, but I'm hearing a lot of advocacy for the language program, so I just wanted to make sure we're all talking about the same thing. When I started in 1996, I was a student teacher at Ephesus. Um, there were
1166 schools. 3 did French, 3 did Spanish. One of them, Glenwood, was a French school. And as the The dual language program did grow there. At first, the French teacher taught French to the dual language kids and Mandarin. That was kind of fun. But as the school got bigger, there is research that shows, and we concur, one language per school is the way to go to build community. So they switched to Chinese FLES, which they call World Language. And that is indeed best practice, and every elementary school in our district has just one one language. When we founded it in 1988, that was one of the ideas, was do we want many languages at each school or just one? So I am on board with keeping this is important one solid language per school does
117really build all this community. I do want to say something special about Ephesus because we're only one of the two remaining French schools. We're not really talking about language, other schools, and I do think that is missing here, and we are a value-added at Ephesus for that. Thank you so much. Thank you all. I am wearing red today, but that doesn't mean I am just here for Ephesus. More than anything else, I'm here for the school system. I want what's best for the system. I've said that from the beginning, and over the months I've taken in the data and facts and come to more to believe more and more that Ephesus should not close. Still, up until a few weeks ago, I found myself asking if I truly believed that, or if my natural human
118bias was clouding my belief. Despite all the data and the facts, do I just want do I just feel that way because I walk back and forth there twice a day taking our son to to and from school? Is it because Larry, our crossing guard, is too amazing for me to not have in my life every morning? Is there more? I thought there would be more laughs there when I wrote that. Come on, everyone over there. Um, uh, is there more than just my feelings? And what was on all of your decision criteria? Then the 2026 teacher working Education's GRE analysis came out, and I haven't heard anyone talk about the analysis yet. I know it's not one of your criteria, but I think it's really important because the teachers, they spell out what the
119schools are like. That's when I knew exactly why I believe what I do. The responses put into data what I feel about Ephesus. Ephesus teacher responses had higher scores on 78 out of the 87 questions when compared to one of the schools here today from the teacher responses. And compared to the other school teacher responses, Ephesus teachers' answers scored higher on 85 out of the 87 questions. If Ephesus stays open and is there and if there is redistricting that causes current students to change schools, I will be sad that they are no longer going to experience what caused those Ephesus teachers to respond to the surveys the way they did. If Ephesus stays open and new students come in through redistricting I will be so happy that those new students are going to experience the
120magic of FSS put into data by the 2026 Teacher Working Conditions Agree analysis. Thank you. Thank you, teachers. Good evening. My name is Emily McGuigan. I'm the parent of a current FSS first grader and also another future CHCCS student. I'm an occasional substitute with the district, and I'm a former public high school teacher. And as the board and district administration contemplate their next steps, I would just encourage you to engage in the educational best practice of backward design. The education folks in the room will be familiar with this, but for those who aren't, backward design is essentially a framework for effective planning, and it starts with the end learning goal in mind and works backward to ensure that each lesson, each activity aligns with that goal and is sequenced in a way that supports students'
121capacity to demonstrate mastery on a high level. And if we take that lens of effective planning to this process of addressing the challenges that are very real and facing our district, um, I do have some concerns about the alignment and sequencing of making a school closure decision prior to and not as a part of a holistic, comprehensive, and values-driven redistricting process. Um, I'm sympathetic to the sense of urgency that initiated this process, and I really appreciate the robust report that we received earlier this month, as well as the contributions that have been offered by the community throughout this process. Um, I think this process has illuminated a few things, um, one being that the situation pointing toward closures has been not quite as dire as originally thought, that we're talking about maybe one school instead
122of two, that the criteria that prioritized these three schools in the first place maybe not clear as originally thought, that we have the capacity to do the hard work and forge a thoughtful and comprehensive way forward. And I think it has also illuminated the importance of community buy-in for effectively navigating these challenging transitions. And as a teacher who has worked through a massive school transition, I can attest to that. Again, I'm sympathetic to the sense of urgency that started this conversation, but while closure may ultimately need to be be part of the district's future. To leave this process with closure instead of a clear direction and vision causes communities to feel defensive of what they might lose rather than inspired about where we might go together. I believe that moving forward is our shared goal,
123and I please urge you to make those choices aligned. Thank you. Hello. Good evening. My name is Sarah Sederberg, and I'm joined with my daughter Elena. I'm both a resident of the Ephesus attendance zone and a parent of a Glenwood student, and I'm here to ask the board to vote for zero closures on June 4th. I've been following this process closely, and what began as a response to a $2 million operating budget gap has turned into a question of utilization and redistricting. The closure study contains no operating cost analysis. I only see capital maintenance costs and transportation estimates. These are not the same thing. At no point in the study does this demonstrate that closing a school actually solves our budget gap. Without that case made, the justification appears to have shifted to utilization. If
124that's not the goal, the solution is redistricting, not closure. North Carolina law requires the board to evaluate student welfare before issuing a closure order. The study itself states that the equity impact analysis begins after the disclosure the closure decision is made. Ephesus makes this failure concrete with putting its Title I designation education potentially at risk. The board has not proven the financial case. We have not completed the equity analysis. The goalpost has moved and the data has not followed. Vote for zero closures on June 4th. There we go. All right. We had to do a little list cleanup. We already had speakers who already spoke. So thank you. Good evening. Thank you so much for the chance to speak. My name is Zheng Wu Zhang, and I'm a parent of two students at Glenwood and
125also a researcher at UNC to study numbers in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research. So I'm here to ask you to not vote Glenwood as the solution to the budgeting problem we're facing now, because it's not. Many arguments has made before. Uh, so I'm here to summarize the numbers again. Glenwood has nearly 400 students. Uh, the district's own data show that Glenwood is not underused. Its enrollment is projected to remain strong, and its building is projected to stay, uh, near full capacity, uh, even about, uh, full capacity each year. And if you look at the, the numbers, the summary of key data, there's one row says recent projected capital expenditures. The second row under that row says Option B. You know, look at this. And if you think about the future, if you have
126to renovate the schools and the cost of Glenwood is the lowest one, I don't think you want to go through this process in the future again if you want to renovate some of the schools. I'm sure the schools need to be renovated. Upgraded because some of the schools are pretty old. So think about the future. The data does not support the closure of Glenwood, and the data shows that families want these programs, and data shows that students are performing very well. And, and this language programs are not just serving the current families. I also encourage the board members to think about the future. Those programs are important part of what makes the CHCCS attractive to new families. New families, programs like Mandarin dual language and world language have distinguished our district from other districts. It's
127the exact reason that we're going to gain more families into this district. It gives reasons to families to move into our district. So I urge the board to follow the data, to focus on the real solution to the problem we're facing. Thank you. Thank you. Emily. Hi. I just want to say I hear the frustration and pain and also the pride of the families who've spoken tonight. Through the process of following this public dialogue, I've become convinced that we as a community are facing higher budget challenges that are contributing to a downward spiral of yearly staff and program cuts in our school, and our district does need financial stability. The recommendation at the May 7th board meeting to focus on one school surprised me. Despite listening to the discussion online, I remain unclear about the
128data behind that shift, which worries me because I, I hear other people saying they also feel kind of unclear about the decision-making. For me, the worst-case scenario is that we go through the pain of closing a school building and still end up in a funding hole, necessitating continuing cuts. I believe an incomplete budget fix would just extend the pain. It would weaken and demoralize our district in the long run. I don't have a specific opinion about the final decision on closures. But for me, the fact that I'm more unclear now than I was before about the decision-making does worry me for our district. No matter what's decided, I think clear justifications and detailed rationales for the decision-making are going to be really vital for us to move through this and pull together to make our
129district stronger in the long term. Thank you. Um, hello, I am a 5th grader at Glenwood Elementary, and, um, I also have a little brother who also goes to Glenwood. Um, here at Glenwood, students get the support they need no matter if there's a language barrier or disability. Teachers, staff, and even students are there to help. Um, I'm someone who's been in dual language for 2 years and World Language in 2 years, and I can say they're both equally as important as we're all a big family, and if they're gonna be separated, half a family is not the same as a whole one. Finally, finally, for the Glenwood community, it's very valuable because there's a lot of diversity from people who are from South America, North America, Europe, Asia, etc. Um, and a lot of
130different countries too. Um, and, uh, and we people at Glenwood value, um, all the important friendships, um, and how, um, we treat each other as, um, important people. Thank you, and please don't close Glenwood. Thank you, Emmeline. Good evening, and thank you for listening to our community speaking in one voice. My name is Dr. Ishay Falik, father of 3 Glenwood students. My passion is restoring vision to my patients by transplanting corneas in their blind, sometimes painful eyes, reconstructing their ocular surface with stem cells which restore the integrity of the delicate organ, celebrating with them as they regain function, thus dignity. I've heard many of us come with facts and demands. We address your emotion and sense of justice. I want to entertain the following thought together. In the last two meetings, I've discussed excellence and
131then choice, two values that are the basic in this great country, which is based upon those two values. I've urged you to choose wisely and find the inner strength to refuse degrading these great schools, just like you would have refused degrading the Mona Lisa