#DPSCommunity | DPS Board of Education Monthly Meeting | 4/23/26

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Evening, everyone. >> Good evening. I'm now calling the April 23rd, 2026 board meeting to order. Um we are now in session. At this time, we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who is joining us this evening. The purpose of this meeting is to inform our parents, staff, and constituents about the work aligned with our mission to embrace, educate, and empower every student to innovate, to serve, and to lead. The interpreters for tonight are Karen Reyes and Yvette Perez. Thank you all for taking the time to join us. One more note, this meeting is interpreted live in Spanish, so there will be a delay of a few seconds. We kindly ask for those that are speaking this evening that you pace yourself, pause between ideas, and speak clearly so that

002everyone can follow along. The next item on our agenda is a moment of silence. Thank you. The next item on our agenda, celebrations, Ms. Cooper. >> Good evening, Chair Umstead, members of the board, Superintendent Lewis, colleagues, and members of the Durham community. I'm pleased to present our April celebrations this evening. April gives us an opportunity to highlight the depth and diversity of excellence across Durham Public Schools. Across our districts, across our district, students are achieving, creating, competing, and leading in ways that reflect both individual growth and strong school communities. These moments, large and small, are the result of intentional work and a shared commitment to student success. We will begin our celebrations with our students of the month, followed by our Battle of the Books participants. Next, we will present our 2025-26 Superintendent Student Advisory

003Council, followed by a special recognition for EK Powe Elementary, and we will conclude with a Spark Pin presentation. Please welcome Dr. Lori Bruce, principal of J.D. Clement Early College, to present our first student of the month. >> Thank you, Superintendent Lewis and Board of Education members, for the privilege of introducing one of our most special J.D. Clement student, Senior Jose Aleman. Jose is the second J.D. Clement Early College student in his family, and exemplifies the promise and impact of cooperative innovative high schools now and for generations to come. He is the son of two DPS employees that did not have the opportunity to continue their education after middle school, yet has raised this young man in front of you to be a National Merit Scholar finalist. >> Yes. >> Jose not only prioritized his academics

004and grades over the last 4 years, but he also focused on service and leadership roles and organizations such as our student government association, National Honor Society, and Future Business Leaders of America. Most recently, he presented to State Superintendent Mo Green and the North Carolina Board of Education regarding his early college experiences along with only two other students in the state. A few weeks ago, Jose was offered and accepted a full ride scholarship to Harvard University in the fall. As a biomedical engineering major, this is impressive in and of itself, but he also intends to use his acquired knowledge in the field to improve healthcare outcomes for all. This young man is one of the most humble, hardworking, and resilient young men I have met in over 35 years of public service and education. He has

005earned the respect and support of our entire school community, and we cannot wait to hear about all of the exciting things that he will positively do to impact the world when he leaves us in May. >> Thank you, Dr. Bruce, and congratulations, Jose. Come on, step right up. We are so proud of you, and I was happened to be at that State Board of Education meeting and witnessed Jose in action, and it was quite impressive. And I know that you will continue to do great things moving forward into your very very bright future, but we have a few things we'd like to celebrate you with tonight. First, we have your Student of the month certificate. Next, we have a DPS Spark pin and we hope that you wear it proudly as your educational journey continues

006far beyond Durham. Our friends from Triangle E-cycling wanted you to be powered for success. So, tonight they are presenting to you a laptop. And at this time, we have a very special presentation. Um I would like to ask Chatiba Bullock, Education and Child Development Manager at Families and Communities Rising to step forward. Families and Communities Rising understand how critical it is for our young people to have healthy starts that they need to thrive. Because when young people are supported from the very beginning, their potential is truly limitless. So, tonight they would like for you to have a $250 gift card to use how you see fit to further your academic or personal um endeavors. Congratulations again, Jose. We welcome Dr. Gloria Woods-Weeks, principal at Riverside High School, to present our next student of the month.

007Dr. Woods-Weeks. >> Good evening, esteemed board, Superintendent Dr. Lewis, Riverside High School is proud to recognize Jennifer Serrano as our DPS Student of the Month, as nominated by her teacher, Ms. Claire Souls, and the entire ESL Department. Jennifer exemplifies dedication, resilience, and leadership in every aspect of her life. She is an outstanding student who consistently completes her work with excellence and remains fully committed to earning in her diploma. Beyond the classroom, Jennifer is an active member of JROTC, where she regularly volunteers to support training and events. Jennifer is also a compassionate leader and role model among her peers. As a teaching assistant, she supports both teachers and students by preparing materials, assisting with assignments, and helping classmates to succeed. Her positivity and willingness to serve others make a lasting impact on our school community. Outside

008of school, Jennifer works evenings, weekends, and holidays in food service. After making the courageous decision to leave her home country, she now lives with her brother and is navigating adulthood with remarkable maturity. During her time at Riverside, she has made tremendous progress in mastering the English language and continues to grow in confidence and fluency. Jennifer is truly an exceptional student whose perseverance, leadership, and character make her so deserving of this recognition. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in nursing through the military. I present to you as our DPS student of the month, Miss Jennifer Serrano. >> Congratulations, Jennifer. Step right up because you two are the recipient of some lovely gifts today because we want to acknowledge all of the amazing things you're doing and we know that your future is very bright

009and you will go far. Continue to represent DPS proudly. First, your student of the month certificate. Next, we have a DPS spark pin and we hope that you wear it proudly. And of course, when you go on to the military and you have to do all of those very high-tech things, we want to make sure you are powered for success as well. So, you two receive a laptop. And Miss Bullock is back to present you with a $250 gift card as well to pursue your professional and personal endeavors. Congratulations, Jennifer. >> Please welcome Heidi Perez, secondary literacy integration specialist, to present our Battle of the Books participants. >> Good evening, Madam Chair, board members, Superintendent Dr. Lewis staff, and community members. Thank you for sharing this space and time with us to celebrate our readers

010here in DPS from our Battle of the Books teams. Here in Durham Public Schools, we empower all schools all schools to participate in this literacy enrichment opportunity by providing the necessary fees, books, transportation, and district coordination to support all elementary, middle, and high schools that choose to participate. This year, we added five more teams to our Battle of the Books cohorts. We had 44 schools participate this year. Across this year's elementary, middle, and high school Battle of the Books list, our students found adventure and humor, history and mystery, powerful contemporary voices that reflect a wide range of cultures, identities, families, and lived experiences. We also have a joyful band of dedicated community volunteers that act as competition officials for these quiz bowl style tournaments to test our students' knowledge of these books. If you really

011want to experience Battle of the Books, let me know. I'll get you into one of those volunteer spots next year. Um when I announce the team that's won each level, the team and the coaches will come up to greet and take a picture with the board and the superintendent. Our first team is the Durham Public Schools Elementary Battle of the Books champions, Lyon's Farm Elementary School. Lyon's Farm placed first first in the Region 3 competition on March 21st. While they get their picture, Lyon's Farm placed first in the Region 3 competition on March 21st. They are going all the way to states. They'll travel to uh Statesville on Tuesday, April 28th, to compete in the state competition. Durham Public Schools Middle School Battle of the Books champions are Durham School of the Arts. >> DSA

012Middle School Battle of the Books team placed first in Region 3 competition on March 21st. They'll travel to Statesville for the North Carolina Middle School Battle of the Books on Monday, April 27th. Durham Public Schools high school Battle of the Books champion is Durham School of the Arts. Go back in there. Oh my gosh, what a surprise. Our high schoolers are busy in the springtime with sports and jobs. No. DSA placed first in the Region 3 competition on March 20th. And just this week, they took second place at the North Carolina High School Battle of the Books state competition. >> Congratulations to our Battle of the Books scholars. At this time, I will turn celebrations over to Dr. Lewis to recognize members of the Superintendent Student Super advise advisory council. >> Thank you so much,

013Ms. Cooper. Good evening, board chair, I'm staff members of the board, members of the community. It is my distinct honor, privilege, and pleasure to introduce the members of my Superintendent Student Advisory Council or SAC, and to recognize their exemplary dedication and service throughout this school year. Over the course of the year, the SAC met regularly, engaging in both in-person and virtual sessions. Students provided valuable insight on a wide range of issues impacting them and their peers, their schools, and their broader community. Serving in an advisory capacity, they engaged in thoughtful dialogue and offered valuable perspective on um various topics, including uh restorative practice circles. This was facilitated by Dr. LaVern Maddox Perry, a policy 4301, which is the code of student conduct. Uh that session was facilitated by Dr. um Melissa Watson. Their very first

014meeting, they had an opportunity to provide feedback on policy 4318, which is the cell phone and personal device use policy. I facilitated that conversation. Uh they gave valuable insight um truly to the safety and security, uh including discussions related to ICE. Uh college and career readiness, including FASFA applications, internships, and apprenticeships, uh facilitated by Sharice Artis and Darian Harris. I did a couple of team building exercises facilitated by Dr. Idahor. Uh Durham Public Schools budget development by our Chief Financial Officer, Jeremy Teeter. The RISE initiative by Dr. Lockhart. They provided feedback on instructional technology, including interactive touchscreens versus projector devices. That was facilitated by uh Chanel Sitberry and Paul McJunkin. And then they also uh provided feedback and learned a little bit more about the Cognia accreditation and the district strategic plan facilitated by Chanel

015Sitberry and Ashley Stevens. Uh the council also participated in a special session dedicated to open dialogue with our board chair, Bettina Umstead, and vice chair, Millicent Rogers. In addition to these uh meetings, SAC representatives, uh as you know, attended um Board of Education work sessions and regular meetings where they amplified their student voice and provided meaningful um perspectives on district initiatives and decisions, and they really asked some tough questions of those presenters. Um, so throughout the year these students have demonstrated honesty, courage, and a strong commitment to improving Durham Public Schools for all students. I'm eternally grateful and so grateful for their willingness to lead, to speak candidly, and to represent their peers with integrity. We also extend our sincere appreciation to our high school principals for identifying and recommending such an outstanding group of

016student leaders. Uh, appreciation to our families, parents, and care- caregivers, many of whom are here this evening. Many of whom provided uh, rides sometimes to those meetings. And thank you so much for your continued support and for nurturing these exceptional young people. At this time, it's my privilege to introduce members of the 2025-2026 Superintendent's Student Advisory Council. Uh, Dr. Pittman will now call each student's name alpha- betically, uh, by school. And as their names are called, students will come forward to receive their certificate, walk the red carpet, and join us for a group photo. >> Thank you, Dr. Lewis. Our first representative with us this evening is from the Durham School of the Arts, Kayla Cabrera. And Ella Rosselli from Durham School of the Arts. From Early College, we have Elise Tran. From Hillside High

017School, Christian Riley. And from the School for Creative Studies, Alexander Long. You coming back here? >> This year DPS is instituting a new honor. Graduation cords are presented to graduating seniors in recognition of their service on the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council. So, will our seniors please step forward? >> Dr. Lewis helped select and design these cords. They are representative of the Spark Ignite Durham Public Schools colors. >> Thank you and congratulations to our SAC members. Please welcome Laura Parrott, Director of Advanced Academics for a special presentation. >> All right, thank you so much. Good evening, Chair Umstead, Vice Chair Rogers, members of the Board of Education, and Superintendent Lewis. Joining me at the podium this evening to help celebrate and recognize the leadership that guided E.K. Powe Elementary School to official authorization as an International

018Baccalaureate Primary Years Program school are Dr. Kenji Bass, Director of Magnet Programs, and Mrs. Phoebe Suarez Dal Real, our district IB specialist. E.K. Poe's journey began when the school was tapped to become an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme school. In August 2023, E.K. Poe's AIG specialist, Tia Terrell, began to shift her role into the role of IB specialist. And with that, began a bold and purposeful journey to transform the educational experience at E.K. Poe school through the implementation of the IB Primary Years Programme. This work required vision, persistence, and a deep commitment to students and staff. Through her leadership, systems were built, mindsets shifted, and a strong foundation was established, one grounded in inquiry, global mindedness, and high-quality instruction. As this work progressed into its final and most critical phase, a leadership transition occurred at

019the school. In August of this year, Mr. Rob Welden assumed the role of the principal at E.K. Poe during a truly pivotal moment, the school's final year in pursuit of IB authorization. This stage of the process demanded both depth of knowledge and strength of leadership. Mr. Welden quickly immersed himself in the IB framework while guiding staff through the final implementation with focus and clarity. Together, he and Mrs. Terrell prepared for the IB Organization's authorization visit, a rigorous two-day evaluation process from IB World that included classroom observations and interviews with students, staff, families, and the governing board of district leaders. This visit represents the culmination of years of intentional work and alignment. It requires a school to not only demonstrate understanding of the IB philosophy, but to live it authentically in every classroom and interaction. Through

020strong leadership, collaboration, and a shared commitment to excellence, EK Paho Elementary successfully met all of the expectations to become an authorized IB Primary Years Programme school this month. Tonight, we thank you, our Board of Education, for your continued support, and we recognize Mr. Weldon and Mrs. Tiero for their leadership, as well as the dedicated staff, students, families, and community members who brought this vision to life. Their collective efforts have created a lasting impact and a powerful learning environment for all students. And we have a certificate of excellence that we will present to both of them, and then I'll allow them to shake your hands. Again, thank you so much. Mr. Weldon? Mhm. And then go ahead. Off to the official? >> Congratulations to E.K. Poe Elementary. The Spark Pin is one of the highest recognitions

021we give in Durham Public Schools. It represents the spirit of our mission and honors those who go above and beyond to make that mission a reality. Spark Pin recipients embody our core values and those values are realized through their actions. Our Spark Pin recipient this evening is someone who quietly ensures that everything runs as it should, anticipating needs, solving problems, and supporting others without seeking recognition. She is a steady presence behind the scenes, helping colleagues and teams operate at their best. Juanita Avery is the glue that keeps the Deputy Superintendent's office running seamlessly. From coordinating complex schedules to fielding calls that often extend beyond her formal responsibilities, she approaches every task with a clear commitment to helping others. Juanita consistently brings a positive, solutions-oriented mindset to her work, making her an invaluable support to the

022entire team. Her reliability and dedication make her an indispensable member of the team and a cornerstone of Central Services. She is truly deserving of the Spark Recognition and stands out as a bright light within Central Services and Durham Public Schools. Congratulations, Ms. Avery. Your appreciation indicated that additional celebration this evening regarding a scholar state champion student athlete who is unfortunately unable to be with us because she is doing her thing on the athletics field, but we look forward to bringing her to a future meeting very, very soon. This concludes our April celebrations. >> Thank you, Mrs. Cooper, and to all of the folks that we celebrated tonight. We're really grateful for those appreciations. The next item on our agenda is our agenda review and approval. Move approval of the agenda as presented. >> Second. >>

023It moved by Ms. Byer and seconded by Ms. Rogers that we approve the agenda as presented. Is there any other discussion? >> Colleague. >> I apologize. For the legislative steering committee, there's a document that um committee members would like switched out because the um the numbers aren't exactly accurate in the document that was originally sent to me. And so, they've updated it and sent it to me. I want to change it out. I'm forwarding that now. And it looks like the prices not marked for action, but it should be. And that's my bad. So. >> We got some updated materials as well as an item that needs to be for action. Do we need to amend I'll say amend the agenda for this or >> I welcome that friendly amendment. >> Thanks. >> Um so,

024it's been moved by Ms. Byer. Was that friendly amendment confirmed? Okay. Um by Ms. Rogers. Any other discussion? All those in favor, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, use the same sign. It passes unanimously 7-0. The next item on our agenda is the Board of Education regular monthly meeting minutes from March 26, 2026. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor, excuse me. >> Move move approval of the minutes. >> I was rolling. >> From March 26. >> Second. >> It moved by Ms. Rogers and seconded by Ms. Harold-Goff that we approve the meetings from March 26, 2026. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, use the same sign. It passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is general public I'm sorry. Oh,

025I apologize, y'all. I did. I skipped over the superintendent's update. My apologies. So, let's go back to the superintendent's update, Dr. Lewis. >> All right, thank you so much, Board Chair Armstead. Not a problem at all. I have several updates and celebrations to continue, um, this evening as we continue to ignite the limitless potential in all of our scholars. Next slide, please. April is Autism Acceptance Month, and as educators, our role is critical in ensuring that every student feels seen, heard, supported, and valued. Our scholars with autism bring unique strengths to our schools, and it is through inclusive practices, strong staff support, and meaningful family partnerships that we create environments where every student can thrive. Thank you to our school leaders, educators, and EC team for all that you do to support our scholars. Next

026slide. We are well into our celebration of school library month, recognizing media coordinators, and honoring the power and possibilities we present to our scholars when we put books in their hands. Learning and literacy go hand in hand, and we are certainly grateful for all who ensure that our school libraries, um, support instruction, cultivate curiosity, and allows our scholars to explore the world through books. Next slide. This month we also celebrate National Assistant Principals Week. Our assistant principals are difference makers in our schools. I know that they were honored this month by many posts on social media and many acts of care and kindness in their buildings that were shared with our APs all across DPS. Uh, we don't just celebrate them this month, but every day to ensure that they know how important they are

027to our schools and to the the success of our scholars. Uh their presence is certainly felt and makes a difference. Next slide. This week is afterschool professionals appreciation week. Our afterschool teams create safe, welcoming spaces where students can explore new interests, build confidence, and stay supported long after the final school bell rings. Whether they're helping with homework, leading enrichment activities, or simply being a steady, caring presence, they make a real difference every day. Thank you to our community education team and all of our afterschool staff for the work that you do. Next slide. Congratulations to the City of Medicine Academy for winning the Secondary Magnet School of Merit Award of Excellence presented by the Magnet Schools of America. CMA received the honor at the National Conference of Magnet Schools held last week. This national recognition

028highlights the school's commitment to diversity, academic excellence, and curriculum innovation. We're proud of the CMA community for continuing to set the standard of excellence for Durham Public Schools. Next slide. In more CMA news, DPS was proud to be represented at the Eggs and Issues, the annual breakfast hosted by the Public School Forum of North Carolina, where education leaders from across the state gather to kick off the legislative session and highlight key priorities for public education. Students from City of Medicine Academy showcased their Science Sidekicks program, bringing hands-on science experiments and engineering challenges to younger learners at Fayetteville Street Elementary, and sparking curiosity early on. Next slide. During traditional calendar spring break, as was mentioned earlier, Dr. Lori Bruce and student Jose Aleman represented DPS and the State Board of Education meeting and presented alongside two

029other school districts regarding the state's success with cooperative innovative high schools and how they prepare students for life beyond high school. More students than ever across the state are earning college credit before graduation. Thank you to Dr. Bruce and Jose who was here earlier um who will be attending Harvard on a full ride next fall. Thank you so much for showcasing the impact of early colleges and the value of a DPS education. Next slide. Shout out to our Holton students who represented the represented represented at the North Carolina SkillsUSA state competition last week in Greensboro demonstrating their personal workplace and technical skills in a series of competitive events. Every contestant every single contestant placed an incredible reflection of the talent preparation and pride and a couple of our top finishers were Samaya Smalls for natural

030hair first place and Miles Hightower barbering first place. Uh congratulations to these scholars for representing Durham Public Schools and I think I may have found a new barber. Next slide. Uh Durham Public Schools was proud to welcome Senator Sophia Chitlik and Representatives Vernetta Alston and Ray Jeffers at Creekside Elementary for Legislators in Our Schools Week. The visit included a student-led tour and thoughtful conversations with school leaders, teachers, and families offering a first-hand look at the experiences, priorities, and opportunities shaping our schools. We appreciate the time uh they spent listening and engaging in support of Durham's students. Next slide. Congratulations to Dr. Asia Cunningham. Dr. Cunningham was recognized earlier this month as a finalist for the Constantino Family Engagement Award. She also received the Community Impact Award for her exemplary leadership in family engagement. This is

031an exciting recognition and we are so proud of her achievements. Congratulations, Dr. Cunningham. Next slide. Congratulations to Curtis Walker, PE teacher at E.K. Powe Elementary School and also a member of my superintendent's Teacher Advisory Council on receiving the Betsy Alden Outstanding Service Learning Award from Duke Service Learning. This honor recognizes individuals whose work reflects meaningful partnerships, reflection, and a deep commitment to community engaging learning. Through his partnership with Duke's Partners for Success program, he has created a space where relationships drive learning, students feel seen and supported, and volunteers grow alongside them. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor. Next slide. Dr. Diedra Danner, our senior executive director of federal programs and community engagement, has been elected Yeah, has been elected to serve a second term as vice president of the National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators.

032This organization is dedicated to advancing federal education programs nationwide. Congratulations to Dr. Danner and thank you for your leadership. Next slide. I had the amazing privilege of joining Carrington Middle School's sixth graders for the during their annual Discovering Durham field trip where learning came alive beyond the classroom walls. Students engaged in reading and math through EOG style task, explored behind the scenes of local businesses, and enjoyed a true taste of Durham with visits to community spots for small treats and tokens. Special thank you to Carrington teacher, Ms. Amanda McCall, whose vision, planning, and dedication continue to make this experience possible for And she's been doing this, from what I understand, for more than a decade. And also huge thank you to our local businesses that literally opened their doors for our scholars to take part

033in this learning opportunity as well as the volunteers, that's district staff that served as chaperones, board member Carter Auton participated as a chaperone. I know vice chair Rogers participated last last year and in the picture you have a grandfather of one of the scholars that was that was with us in our group. So, this is certainly a powerful reminder how we can connect learning to real-world experiences. You did it today? Okay. Pretty fun, huh? Yeah, yeah. You're tired. Yeah. Yeah, so this is a excellent opportunity for us to create moments where we can carry learning like I said beyond the classroom walls. Next slide. Attention rising kindergarten families, consider this your personal invitation to our countdown to kindergarten event on Monday, May the 4th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. This event will be held at

034the Museum of Life and Science. Join us for a fun, family-friendly evening where you can explore schools and programs. You can also get help with the registration, learn what to expect in kindergarten, and connect with DPS staff and families. This has for years been a premier event for our rising kindergarten families and we can't wait to welcome our new scholars. Next slide. The Sparkies is almost here. We're excited for this Oscar-style awards program on May 7th at the Durham Convention Center recognizing employees across the district for their exceptional talents and leadership. At this event, we will present the DPS Teacher of the Year, Assistant Principal of the Year, Beginning Teacher of the Year, Instructional Assistant of the Year, Media Coordinator of the Year, EC Educator of Excellence, School Social Worker of the Year, School Counselor

035of the Year, Bus Driver of the Year, Operation Services Employee of the Year, and the Spark Light Award. Um we're certainly thrilled for this event and can't wait to celebrate with all of our amazing employees. Next slide. All right, this is where I need your assistance. Um we have launched a new profile picture frame on social media to celebrate everyone who supports strong, thriving public schools. Whether you're a parent, student, alumnus, educator, or community member, your choice matters and your voice matters. So, you can add the hashtag I chose DPS frame to your profile picture and let the world know that you believe in the power of public education. Please visit our website and social media to download the frame and let's let everyone um know loud and proud that I chose DPS. Next slide.

036During a special called board meeting on Monday, April 20th, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education voted to make Friday, May 1st, an optional teacher work day. Thousands of public school educators, families, and advocates from across the state have planned to gather in Raleigh on May 1st for a day dedicated to public education advocacy to voice concerns about the state budget and educator pay. Again, next Friday, May 1st, there will be no school for students as it has been designated as an optional teacher work day. Next slide. Finally, um although Trump's uh administration's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes a $539 million increase for special education funding aimed at strengthening um IDEA services, uh it simultaneously cuts $2.3 billion in overall education funding. At the same time, proposals would eliminate approximately $890 million dollars English

037language acquisition, funding that has helped district like our districts like ours support multilingual learners and even promote bilingualism. Um as superintendent, I'm deeply concerned about the proposed federal priorities um in their fiscal year 2027 budget that would significantly increase defense spending by roughly 1.5 trillion dollars or 44% while offsetting those costs through a 10% cut to non-defense programs including education. So as a community, we must continue to advocate for the resources our students deserve. So every child, regardless of language black background, has the opportunity to succeed. And as we think about our fiscal 27-28 outlook here, uh it also presents challenges, but man uh a manageable path forward. Uh addressing a projected 7.2 million-dollar funding reduction right here in Durham Public Schools, rising costs, and competitive labor pressures will require balanced approach that combines strategic

038investment, operational efficiency, and enrollment recovery efforts. Uh we have um want to be clear about this. We have not adjusted our formulas. Um we are adjusting our staffing allocations uh to buildings to account for the decline enrollment. And so while many schools will see decrease in allotments in terms of their FTEs, um there are few schools that um will see a slight increase in allocation due to their programs um and enrollment. I know we've been see receiving some emails from um Lakewood. Uh that's one of the schools that will see an increase. And if you haven't taken a look at when I presented my superintendent's recommended budget, if you can go to that last page and read our Chief Finance Officer Jeremy Teeters' uh letter, he does a very good job of outlining uh our

039forecast and what we're faced with and what we're doing about it uh for the the coming year. Durham Public Schools must remain disciplined, forward-thinking, and adaptive, leveraging both short-term solutions and long-term structural changes to ensure financial stability while continuing to serve students at a high level. Next slide. I think that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Lewis, for that update. Um I too got to participate in the field trip at um with Carrington students today. I had a really great time. Um thank you to all of the businesses that participated. Ashley's Bake Steak, Lily Milkshake Factory, American Tobacco, had Cookies and Cream Milkshake, um had Loaf, we had uh oh, just Night Street Bakery, a whole host of folks that participated. So, please thank y'all go out and support those businesses. All

040right. The next item on our agenda is general public comment. But before we do that, I want to make sure we introduce We have one of the students from the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council here this evening. Kayla Kayla, your name is spelled wrong on here. So, what's your last name, Co- Cabrera. Kayla Cabrera from Durham School of the Arts. Kayla is a 12th grader. Kayla planned, coordinated as student council president, DSA's first Alumna Fest, raising approximately $950 in ticket sales and donation for Durham School of the Arts Student Council. She also raised nearly $300 planning and coordinating an Asian American and Pacific Islander Club Potluck at DSA as the co-president. See, a future fundraiser maybe in our midst. Kayla's committed to NC State University for civil engineering. She's also a four-time Eastern Regional Orchestra, three-time

041Honors All-State Orchestra, and four-time Durham All-County Orchestra student. She's a National Honor Society member, Tri-M Honor Society member, and Key Club Vice President for 2025. We are so glad to have you here this evening. Yeah. Any remarks you want to share before we get started? >> I do just want to say that I've enjoyed my time on the board and I've received a lot of input that helped me um carry out decisions in my school as the president. So, I did find a lot of value in this role and I just want to thank you for having me here. >> Thank you. Throughout the evening as we're discussing items, I'll look to you. Just wave at me if you got something to say or I'll make sure I acknowledge you cuz we love to have

042your input in the board meeting this evening. All right. So, next we'll have our public comment. Quick review of the rules before we get started. First, please state your name and if you're speaking for organization, state your name and the name of the organization. Second, speakers are going to be asked to present their comments within we'll do 2 minutes tonight. When the yellow light comes on, you'll have 30 seconds left to wind up your remarks. When the red light comes on, it will beep which indicates your time is up. Complaints about named staff, students, or parents should not be voiced in open session. However, we are very interested in hearing your concerns with regard to public education, safety of students, or to the operations of the school system. Finally, board members will listen carefully and

043we'll consider your comments, but we do not engage in a discussion with speakers. So, the first speaker I'm going to call multiple speakers at a time so you all can line up. The first person is Katie McDonough followed by Patricia Russick and Michael Curran. And if I mispronounce your names, please correct me as you come up to the podium. We got Katie McDonough, Patricia Russick, and Michael Curran. Thank you. >> My daughter I'll have to answer that later. Um so, I love it that I prepare for one and now I have two. Uh so, today I was asked by a district leader to trust the process, you know, that we are looking for a new principal. I was told to trust the process. Um it is really hard to do for me as a parent

044and an employee when your processes keep failing me and my children. Wallpaper was supposed to be removed over spring break from building services to my ears from our stack virtual meeting. It's happening over the summer. On March 31st, I reported a major security breach at one of your campuses. The only district leader to respond informed me that their department was not responsible for the work, but he would forward it on to the appropriate people. The repair was completed yesterday. 18 days for a major security breach at one of your campuses. Not 18 minutes, not 18 hours, 18 days. How am I supposed to trust one of your processes when I can't trust you to keep our children safe? Trust is earned. It's not requested. Or for me, most definitely not freely given. I need each

045one of you to do your part. So, we as as a staff, your families, your students can begin to trust you again and believe that safety and accountability are more than just talking points. Thank you, Ms. Umstead, and thank you, Ms. Bayer, for being two of the leaders who actually responded to me. I appreciate it, and you will be very missed. I cede the rest of my time to Patricia Resek. >> Good evening. I'm Patricia Resek, and I'm a teacher at Little River. Air filters at Little River have been changed, But facts remain. Months went by November to March. Air pushes through systems never truly clean. Last week two hours of EOY testing in a hallway A10 to be exact left me with a sore throat. That room's been empty most of the year except

046for a Montessori training. So it's not a classroom that students are usually in but two hours gave me a sore throat. The air holds a stench. Reports confirmed elevated mold spore counts high far past the norm. We're told to wait for summer, for change, for removal, for repair. Summer. This is not just a building maintained. It is a school being neglected. So I'm asking not for more plans. Not for more waiting. But for action. Inspect the HVAC. Identify the source of the humidity and the odor in a hallway. Half the classrooms are not full of students this year. Next year those classrooms will have students in them every day. Fix it before they sit in that room for hours. A fix. Fix it at its root. Thank you for all you do. >> Michael, you

047can come on up. I'll announce three more names. Next we have Kim Wright, Kayla Coran, and Shad or Cora. I apologize if I'm mispronouncing your names. >> Hi there. My name is Michael Kern and I cede my time to Kim Wright. >> Hi, I'm Kim Wright and I'm going to cede my time to Kayla Kern. >> Hi, my name is Kayla Kern and I am the music educator at Lyons Farm Elementary, a district appointed lead teacher in DPS, currently working on my national board certification and a taxpayer in Durham. I'm here to discuss the immediate issue of overcrowding at our school. It is clear that the district continues to not have a clear plan leading into the upcoming school years and we are asking for a seat at the table to have fully informed conversations

048about our spaces for the future of our programs. Leaders in education constantly state that building relationships is one of the most important aspects of teaching. Building relationships with students can do a lot. It can help with classroom management, provide a safe space for our students, and foster a true love of learning. For 4 years we have done that. For 4 years Carolyn Birkhouse, Louise Mello, and I have built relationships with everyone since we teach every K through 5 student at our school. We have fostered a love of learning, provided a safe space for our students, and yes, building relationships does help with classroom management. Our first year we had 450 students. 4 years later we are at 682 students, which is already over capacity according to the 9th Street Journal stating that our building capacity

049is 650. It has been made very clear that this number is expected to grow again next school year. We have the unique privilege to get to teach these students at Lyons Farm from the day they start kindergarten until the day they leave fifth grade. If we're lucky enough to teach them throughout their elementary journey, that is 6 years of building relationships with the same students. Our current third graders opened up the school with us as kindergarteners. We often refer to these students as our babies. We have watched them learn and grow. These particular students will be in fourth grade next year. When they reach the fourth grade, they finally get to participate in more intricate, challenging, and robust lessons. Forcing us to teach on a cart without our designated classrooms will in no way support

050these lessons, and some lessons and opportunities will be simply impossible. So, these students will completely miss out, and that is not equity. Of course, we will continue to provide a safe space for our students because we care, and we are excellent educators. But, this will not allow us to continue to foster a true love of learning, and it definitely will not help with classroom management. Please be proactive about the future of our programs. Additionally, the lack of clear direction and support around H-1B visas is a deep concern for many of us in DPS. We are at risk of losing remarkable educators. Failing to have a real conversation about this matter is not simply an oversight, but is a failure to our students. We are at risk of losing the very people helping our students succeed.

051I look forward to your adjustments and communication towards these very important matters. Thank you. >> Um my name is Shad, and I'm 18 years old, um Egyptian exchange student um on the YES program, and I'm placed with Border Less Friends Forever as my place with organization. Um I think that exchange students really help in connection between the countries and we always bring diversity in the classrooms. I remember answering um the student questions about my country. Is Egypt in Asia? Do we ride camels to school? Or do I live in a pyramid? And a lot of questions that never ends. And um we always bri- uh give back to our community by volunteering often around 107 hours of volunteering since I came here. And I want to ask you um we really need your help um

052to get more slots in schools and during public schools for more exchange students. And uh because host families are always ready to uh host exchange students, but we really need more uh slots and we really need your help in this. And I wanted to ask you to be the reason for another student that um help him to get his dream to be true or come true. And to be a bridge between cultures. And thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. Next we have Pauline Myers, Melissa Stansbury, and Morgan Whitmore. >> Hi, my name is Pauline Myers, and I would like to talk a little bit about the exchange program in the schools as well from a different perspective because from the perspective of a parent and someone who has had a lot

053of awesome foreign exchange students from a lot of different countries. And I do want to encourage the schools to open up more slots. We have so many students um who are so interested in American, so excited about it, and can bring so much to this country, and to this county, also. So, I'd like to take a minute to tell you a little bit about some of the students I have had. A couple of years ago, I had a student who was from Libya, and he came home telling me about his concerns about the students who were here from Syria, who were refugees and didn't speak English. And he put a lot of effort and concern into supporting them and helping them, and helping them to understand how the school works, and maybe to interpret a

054little bit for them, because in Libya they speak Arabic, in Syria they speak Arabic. And one of the teachers even asked my student if he would look after these students a little bit, and and help to interpret it a little bit for them. So, one of the things that I actually did want to do is give a special thanks to Riverside High School and Northern High School, because they are the two high schools who have supported my students. One of the things I have found out about having students in these schools is that they learn to really love the other students, the local students, to care for them, to teach them about their own countries. And I think that adds a lot to the education system, and I want to thank you for listening, and

055hope that you can open some more slots for us for foreign exchange. >> Good evening, members of the board. Um Superintendent Lewis, my name is Melissa Stansbury. I'm a parent at Riverside High School. I'm here to request action on two crucial areas to improve and enhance our school environment. First, I'm asking for mandatory ongoing training for students and staff on our Say Something anonymous reporting tip system. There have been excessive lockdowns this year at Riverside causing distress to staff, students, and families. And studies show that tip lines are effective only when the school community is offered ongoing training. Secondly, I also am a host mom and I want to enthusiastically praise the success of the International Exchange Student Program at DPS. This year, Borderless Friends Forever, a local nonprofit exchange program, had 10 students in

056the school system and they're all excelling. One student found a love of dance and participated in Evening to Shine. Another student won a swim competition. Students have performed in numerous other arts and sporting events, but due to time I'm going to rush it along. Um very impressed with the dedication of these young people. A total of the 10 students have given nearly 500 community service hours. So, they don't just give to the school community, they give to Durham and our county. Um so, when they come here, they give back. Um it's just a testament to their maturity, an example of what it means to be a global citizen. Within the school community, the students enrich our culture, enhance academic discussions, and act as ambassadors to their own countries. As our schools strive to foster leadership

057and prepare our students for the globalized world, having more international exchange student presence is highly effective and a positive step forward. I know public schools are facing many challenges, but this is an area that's low cost yet high reward. So, I encourage the board to see the tremendous value the students provide and consider the following changes, which would be to increase from four to five seats, which would mirror Wake County, and or to allow people to transport the student to another school uh if the seat is Thank you. Morgan, I'm going to pause you one second. I'm call the next three. So, next we'll have Katherine Doring, Lil Lily Winton Winton or Whitten, uh Eric Prinshaw, Peter Crawford, Samira Welling Welling Meyer, Welling Meyer. Go ahead, Morgan. >> Okay, good evening board members, superintendent. My

058name is Morgan Whitmore. I'm a Durham resident and taxpayer and a current first-time host mom of an exchange student at Riverside High School. I'm here tonight with some of fellow host families and we believe that the global exchange is a vital asset to our schools, but our current district policies are rooted in outdated financial assumptions that no longer match North Carolina law. Uh currently DPS caps exchange students at four per traditional high school citing funding concerns. However, there's there's a new era of school finance. There's an empty seat theory, which applies here more than ever more than ever. DPS is currently facing a decline in over 1,000 students and we have the physical capacity and the teachers already in place and adding an additional exchange student to an existing class incurs a near zero additional

059cost to the school. Um the specific specifically what we are asking is for a revision of the foreign exchange student policy. Durham County requires students to be at least 16 years old and in the 11th grade. This seems to be an arbitrary barrier. US Department of State is set the eligibility age to 15. By excluding 15-year-old sophomores, we are turning away highly motivated students who want to complete their exchange before intense home country graduation requirements begin. We ask that Durham align its age and grade requirements with the federal J-1 standards to allow for 15-year-olds in grades 9 through 12. So, in summary, we're asking the board to remove the arbitrary four-student cap in favor of a capacity-based model for students or for schools under a 95% utilization, and to lower the minimum age to 15

060to align with federal standards, and to add a J-1 funding parity to your legislative agenda asking the state to treat these students as domicile for funding purposes, as residents and taxpayers, my household is contributing to the state and local tax space. >> Thank you. And if you want to email us those comments, you certainly can. Catherine? >> Like to start? >> Yes, you can. >> Okay. It hasn't turned on, though, so Okay. Okay. >> Hi. Good evening. Uh my name is Catherine Hester Doring. I'm here tonight as a parent of a current student and a future student at Murray Massenburg Elementary. And I'm speaking on behalf of all of our amazing families, and especially on behalf of our most amazing art teacher, Mr. Herrera. Uh we were here at the last meeting in April, and

061we have not stopped coming before you, whether it's in in our presence and with our creativity and art, or through email, um because we are asking you uh to allow us to keep this very, very special, exceptional human being with us on staff school by agreeing to extend his visa. Um we also know that you've sent us a reply to some of our messages uh relayed to our PTA president, um added some further clarity about the history of international teacher agreements in DPS. What I understood from that, um was that uh these were handled on a limited basis during and after the pandemic, supported by grant funding that may no longer be available and without a consistent or formalized process. And so now you all have reverted back to a process that was in place

062pre-COVID, pre-pandemic. So I want to respectfully respond with three points. Well, I'm not going to get through them. But um first, Mr. Herrera was already in the process of of sponsorship extension. And so regardless of whether that process was part of a formal system, it was actively underway. And the considerate thing to do for Mr. Herrera and for our community that relies on him is um to allow it to be extended. Second, the absence of a clear process for extending visas should not become the reason we lose excellent educators. If anything, this calls for flexibility while a stronger, more consistent policy is developed. And so my concluding point is that we urge you to consider a more balanced and measured temporary solution. Adopt a temporary policy to allow teachers who are already mid-process. Um >>

063Thank you. And as always, Catherine, you can email the board with those additional comments if you like. Lilly? >> I believe. >> Okay. So then Eric, Peter, and then Samir will be our last comment tonight. >> Good evening. My name is Eric Prinshaw. Um I'm the parent of two scholars at Murray Massenburg Elementary School and I'm here to advocate uh for extending the visa for Mr. Herrera. Um I have a tremendous source of pride whenever I walk into the school um to see the beautiful artwork on display, the murals, the creativity and talent um that is nurtured there in that place. And it is something very important to me. And um my daughter has said specifically that Mr. Herrera helps make the world a more beautiful place. And coming from a 5-year-old, that is very

064special. Um So, we have just had a conversation, a community forum about bullying and how we can create a culture of love and respect and welcome at the school. And to continue these vital conversations, it's important to have staff that are so caring and loving and can be retained for longer periods of time to continue those conversations. So, I would advocate your diligent work in navigating these issues to make make possible these policies so that he may be able to stay and retain wonderful educators and human beings. And I would yield any further time to Pete. >> Hey folks, my name is Pete Crawford. I'm a parent of three DPS students, two of whom are at Marie Mastenburg Elementary School. Again, I'm also here asking for the board to revisit policies related to teachers serving

065in DPS on work visas and for Mr. Herrera in particular. Retention is our best recruitment strategy in the district. If we can find budget-neutral ways to keep somebody versus having to go recruit somebody else regardless of their work visa status, that's the best thing to do. And then the only things that really matter after that are the outcomes they achieve in the classroom and the trust and respect that they enjoy with parents and administrators. Mr. Herrera is an asset to our school and to the district, and we ought to not allow bureaucratic precedent or inertia to drive our decisions when it comes to the most important resource we have, which is our teachers. And to reiterate, in an environment that we just spoke about earlier, when federal funding that supports bilingual education is shrinking, Mr.

066Herrera is a native Spanish speaker who goes above and beyond curricular requirements to share his native language and culture with our school. And it It become a part of the culture of the school, and the kids expect expect it. So again, I would appreciate your consideration. Thanks for your time. >> Hi guys. Samira Wellamire, I am the PTA president at Brogden Middle School. And I'm here to speak in support of the express stops proposal that was presented last week. Since the district began talking about express stops, I've heard a lot of parents speak in opposition to them, usually from the perspective that it would limit access to magnet programs and decrease equity. That makes sense if you're evaluating express stops through the lens of one school. However, equity is a district-wide concept, and the express

067stop proposal was created with the whole district in mind. Implementing this proposal would actually increase equity across the district and provide more options for more students. It will also help DPS fulfill the commitments of growing together. As an example, I want to tell you a little bit about Brogden. We're the only DLI middle school in DPS. And of the seven DLI elementary schools in DPS, only Club Boulevard is in our same region. But their program is still growing, and they're not producing sixth graders yet. They won't till 2031. That means there's no DLI middle school in our region, and none who are eligible no students who are eligible for neighborhood bus stops, i.e. door-to-door transportation. All three of the DLI schools that currently produce rising sixth graders are located outside of Brogden's region, and they

068have to either use express stops at their base middle schools or get private transportation to get to Brogden. Going into the school year, Brogden's DLI program was fully enrolled, but 1/3 of the cohort unenrolled as the year started, and the program is currently operating at about 63% capacity. Of the families who unenrolled, 83% expressed that their decision was directly tied to the lack of transportation options. On the other hand, Durham School of the Arts is one of the schools who gets transportation options Oh, sorry. Durham School of the Arts would have limited transportation options with this a switch to express stops. Currently, they get door-to-door service throughout the district. And this commitment to comprehensive transportation for DSA students comes at the direct cost of other schools and students across DPS. These aren't abstract trade-offs. Student

069I'll leave the rest. >> Thank you. That concludes our public comments for this evening. Thank you all for joining us. I'm The next item on our agenda are We have two consent items which include a budget amendment um number two and thought exchange contract. >> Move approval of the consent agenda. >> Second. >> It moved by Ms. Rogers and seconded by Ms. Byrd that we approve the consent agenda. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, please use the same sign. It passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is uh attendance the strategic plan priority two update. I'm going to pass it over to Dr. Lewis, Dr. King. >> Assuming somebody's going to walk through that door. As they're Yeah, as they're as they're coming in as

070you know board we've we've provided a one update on our strategic plan priority two. This is an additional update specifically focused on attendance. And so we'll take a a deep dive in our attendance and talk about how we're doing as it relates to the goals that are within our strategic plan. And we do want to take a moment to acknowledge Representative Morey in the house with us this evening. Thank you so much for your advocacy and just for being here. Thank you. >> Hello. Hello. Okay. Good evening, board chair Umstead, board members, uh Dr. Lewis, and senior administration, and Durham community. I'm Chanel Sidberry. I am the assistant superintendent of continuous improvement and school supports. I'm here to provide an update alongside uh Dr. Maddox Perry, who uh supervises student support services, and our colleague

071Mr. Nelson Searles from research and accountability. Our presentation is pretty clear. It's about attendance. It is in connection to our outcomes aligned to the strategic plan for priority two, and the focus is pretty simple and complex at the same time. Um students cannot benefit from instruction if they are not present and in school and experiencing teaching and learning. Attendance is not about compliance for us. It is directly tied to academic achievement, graduation, and long-term outcomes. Um so, this is about ensuring that every student has consistent access to learning, belonging, um and support. I'm now going to turn it over to Dr. Laverne Maddox Perry, who will walk us through the longitudinal data um pre-COVID and post-COVID, as well as our aligned strategic plan strategies. Dr. Maddox Perry. >> Good evening. Thank you, Ms. Sidberry. I

072wish good evening to Dr. Lewis, Chair Umstead, Vice Chair Rogers, esteemed board members, and the broader Durham community. I'm here to provide a detailed update on the status of student attendance in Durham Public Schools. As designed, this update is intended to explore what the data tells us, highlight what we're doing, also highlight what's working, and share the identified areas where we need to improve. We will also articulate our intended actions moving forward in response to the data. And Ms. Berry will return with key takeaways before we engage in discussion and answer any questions. Our essential question to kind of guide the framing of this presentation is, what's keeping this child from showing up and how do we solve it? Next slide, please. Next slide, please. Compulsory attendance. This is the statute that outlines the requirement

073in North Carolina for attendance, and it is fairly simple. Attendance is required required beginning at age seven and ending at age 16. The statute bans encouraging non-attendance and places an onus on parents to comply and ensure daily attendance. Next slide, please. Chronically absent. North Carolina monitors chronic absenteeism within schools and school districts. The definition of chronically absent applies when a student misses 10% or more of the school year, whether whether the absences are excused or unexcused, as long as the student has been in membership for at least 10 school days. Chronically absenteeism is all also used as an early warning indicator for academic risk. Next slide, please. Before we begin reviewing our attendance data, I want to thank our research and accountability team led by Dr. Al Royster and supported by Director David Searles for

074compiling and completing the data slides in conjunction with our joint collaboration. Next slide, please. This slide shows average attendance rates across school years since 2018-2019. The attendance rate for 2025-26 shown here is only through month six reporting and is included just for comparison. Attendance has declined approximately four to five percentage points since 2018-2019 and has not returned to prior levels. Please note that the attendance rate for 2019-2020 is artificially high because students were counted present in the fourth quarter due to COVID-19 remote learning. Overall, the trend indicates that prior strategies have not resulted in sustained improvement. Today, DPS attendance has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. While there have been minor fluctuations, progress has been slower than expected. This reinforces the need for enhanced proactive strategy and a revitalized community approach to everyday on-time attendance

075for every child. Next slide, please. This slide isolates the first six months of each school year, which provides a more accurate comparison to the current school year. This data suggests that attendance challenges began earlier in the school year than generally expected. It highlights the importance of early intervention and monitoring. Using this measure, attendance shows a 1.3 percentage point improvement from the same point in the 2024-25 school year. This slide shows that it is a best practice to proactively focus on early identification in months one through three of the school year. Next slide, please. This slide presents chronic absenteeism since 2018-19 school year. Preliminary chronic absenteeism information for the current school year is as of April 9th and is included on this slide. Rates in Durham Public Schools have remained elevated since the 2021-22 school year.

076The pattern reflects a sustained condition rather than a short-term change and requires a greater sense of urgency in our efforts. Research shows that districts that bend the attendance curve intervene early before absenteeism becomes chronic. Next slide, please. This slide compares chronic absenteeism in Durham Public Schools to peer districts in North Carolina. DPS is denoted using a triangle. The comparison provides context for understanding the district's data. Rates vary across districts indicating possible differences in local trends. To put this data in context, chronic absenteeism doubled nationally in the most recent years following the pandemic and remains high. Also, one in four, about 25% of all North Carolina public school students are experiencing chronic absenteeism. Even within that context, rates for Durham Public Schools remain high. Next slide, please. This slide shows preliminary chronic absenteeism data by grade

077level for the current school year as of April 9th. The overall rate is 37.3%. As a reminder, compulsory attendance begins at age 7 and ends at age 16, which is relevant when analyzing data for kindergarten and lower grades as well as high school grades. Next slide, please. This slide groups same data for 25-26 into grade spans, K-5, kindergarten through fifth grade, sixth through eighth grade, and ninth through 12th grade. Again, the overall rate is 37.3%. This data speaks to a need to strengthen our middle school transition and the connections between middle schools and high schools to create welcoming environments, including increasing our emphasis on high school pathway alignment to student interest and strengths, as well as more efforts around increasing student engagement. Next slide, please. This slide shows chronic absenteeism by binary gender since the

0782018-19 school year and compares to the state average during the same time period. There is minimal difference between binary gender groups over the years. This suggests that our response to chronic absenteeism should not solely be differentiated by gender, that this is a district-wide issue requiring a more global response. Next slide, please. This slide disaggregates chronic absenteeism by race and ethnicity since 2018-19 school year and compares it to the state average during the same time period. In the graphic, Durham Public Schools data are noted with triangles. DPS aligns with the national and state trends, which consistently shows that black, Hispanic, Latino, American Indian, and other historically marginalized student groups experience higher rates of chronic absenteeism than their white peers, even when controlling for pre-pandemic attendance patterns. Disparities persist and are indicative of our need to ensure

079culturally responsive engagement in our classrooms and throughout our school systems. These disparities reinforce our knowledge that different groups of Durham Public Schools students perhaps are experiencing school in vastly different ways. As a positive note, Asian students have been trending downward with chronic absenteeism since 2023-24 school year. Next slide, please. This slide focuses on chronic absenteeism since 2018-2019 for specific student groups, English learners and students with disability. English learners and students with disabilities show consistently higher rates of chronic absenteeism. This pattern is observed across multiple years of data. This underscores the need for targeted wrap-around supports that focus on all vulnerable or historically marginalized student groups. After seeing the attendance data review, we believe it is important to share how the data informs our implementation of the strategies within our strategic plan. We also believe this

080data compels all of us within the Durham community to develop a commitment and sense of urgency to addressing chronic absenteeism. Next slide, please. For priority two, student well-being, belonging, and equity, our annual performance benchmarks are established by our strategic plan. This slide provides a glimpse into the implementation of the two strategies that are most pertinent to improving attendance in Durham Public Schools, attendance and student wellness. According to the research on districts that have proven to make immediate and sustainable gains in attendance across the country, the student wellness elements are vital in fueling the improvement. For 2024-25 as denoted as denoted on the screen, we did not meet the attendance benchmark and our current progress for 2025-26 shows we are still below the benchmark and need greater attention. The key takeaway, incremental progress is not enough.

081We need acceleration. Next slide, please. As I delve into the attendance strategy review, I want to at this point thank members of my team led by Tamika Ward-Satterfield, director for student wellness and support, who assisted with producing the strategies and assisted with outlining this presentation. So, thank you, Ms. Ward-Satterfield. Um as next slide, please. As Ms. Seaberry shared in the February priority two update to the board, attendance and wellness are part of a multi-year strategic commitment. Here's a glimpse of that slide again. Our focus remains consistent, building capacity, removing barriers, strengthening systems. Improved attendance follows belonging. Students come when they feel seen, safe, and supported. This is long-term, sustained work, not a short-term fix. We have not yet reached full implementation. Next slide, please. Historically, attendance work relied on punitive measures and focused more on

082students already in crises. That approach has not delivered the outcomes our students need. We are shifting quite urgently to a different model. Students attend when systems are aligned, relationships are strong, and barriers are removed. This requires coordinated action across classrooms, schools, central services departments, and community partners grounded in restorative, student-centered practices. Next step, we are accelerating the shift to early warning systems and proactive supports. Attendance improves when we remove barriers early, not just set expectations. Next slide, please. This slide shows what is possible in Durham Public Schools. There are 21 schools that have met the attendance benchmark to date. I want to hold this sign up because there actually are only 20 on this slide, but Murray Massengburg also um met the benchmark, but was not initially color-coded due to a rounding technical error that

083we discovered. We are learning from what is working at these schools, prominently through our impact meeting model, and we will be scaling up more and more the best practices across the district. Next slide, please. Student wellness is directly tied to academic success, engagement, and lifelong outcomes. When students feel safe, connected, and supported, they show up. Our approach prioritizes daily, on-time attendance through wellness strategies along to aligned to Durham Public Schools, state policy, and strengthened by our community partnerships. School social workers and professional school counselors are critical leaders in this work, working alongside their principals and administrative teams, and driving both school-level and system-wide supports. We are seeing progress where schools have strong foundational structures and a clear focus on students' mental, social-emotional, and physical health. To accelerate impact, we must ensure student wellness, attendance monitoring,

084and intervention planning are consistently embedded as key components in school improvement plans and MTSS processes. Attendance is addressed proactively, not reactively, through early identification and coordinated supports. The research is clear, punitive approaches do not improve attendance. What works is connection and problem-solving. That includes mentoring and trusted adult relationships, check-in and connect models, attendance teams focused on identifying and removing barriers. This is how we will move from responding to absences to preventing them. Next slide, please. As we shift our attendance strategy, the focus is clear, proactive, relationship-centered approaches, not reactive responses. This means strengthening attendance teams to identify risk early and act quickly. Research shows districts improve attendance when they move to early warning systems, flagging patterns within the first month. In Durham Public Schools, that means action by day two of absence for every student

085within a month. Coordinated supports for students and specific student groups, stronger alignment with community partners. What's working currently? Strong staff, school leadership, district leadership, and tier support systems are in place. A more structured approach through MTSS and our standard protocols, meaningful partnerships including culturally responsive mental health supports, and targeted supports for vulnerable student groups. Where we must improve. We are still too reactive often instead of preventative. Efforts are not yet consistently aligned across schools and departments. It is much too easy to respond to the needs that are visible and often prevent us from being more proactive. Some approaches are not experienced as supportive by our families who are essential partners. The shift ahead is about earlier action, stronger coordination, and deeper partnership with families. Next slide, please. DPS is strengthening how we respond through earlier

086intervention, structured monitoring, and coordinated systems to reduce chronic absenteeism. We are increasing urgency and tightening our approach by acting earlier, monitoring more consistently, aligning supports across teams. This work is happening because of the collective effort of our families, school leaders, teachers, staff, student services teams, and community partners. Now, our focus is ensuring this approach is consistent in every school for every child. Next slide, please. One way we are removing barriers and avoiding punitive responses is through our partnership with Elna B. Spaulding Conflict Resolution Center. Truancy mediation brings schools and families together to identify root causes and create shared actionable solutions to improve daily attendance. What you see here is that referrals increased in this school year alone over 100%. A key message from this is that attendance challenges are driven by systemic factors, including our

087own practices, not individual blame. We own that and we are responsible for continually improving how we respond. Now, I'll turn it back over to Ms. Seaberry to walk through what we are doing differently starting now. >> Next slide, Javin. Thank you, Dr. Mattis-Perry. So, um we've we have outlined kind of where we are as a district, what our trends have been, um and now I'm going to talk about our key takeaways and next steps. Um the shift is clear. We want to move from reacting to absences to preventing them early. Um we That means we need to act within the first few absences instead of letting them stack up. Um strengthening our tier one experiences for every student, removing barriers before patterns develop. So, uh attendance will improve when we act early, when we are

088consistent across our schools, and we have a system-wide response to uh chronic absenteeism. Next slide. This slide is a nice, ADA-compliant, um Ms. Cooper, um graphic uh that um kind of personifies what attendance work looks like. Um when we say attendance, our mind immediately goes to student support services um because it is the owner of the data, but attendance is a multifaceted, multi-departmental commitment to improving. So, this slide shows you that connection to all these other departments. If the quality of teaching and learning is not something that is exciting, desirable, or even on grade level to inspire students, then there's going to be class avoidance, which is an attendance issue. Um when students don't feel like them their best selves, when they don't seem see when they're not seen and heard in a school, don't

089see themselves in the pages of the books that in them pages of the things that they're doing, that creates creates a space to destabilize attendance. Reliable transportation, getting on time, the complexities there also connect to attendance. Um how well our our um communities uh the breakfast experience, the bus, um the discipline, all those things um are supporting and connecting to um attendance, as well as school leadership, the systems that are in each school, the tone of the school, all of those things and how we monitor at the school level and district level contribute to attendance, as well as the continuous improvement in school support side, which is how we are identifying root causes, looking at the artifacts of systems, and providing support to school. So, in general, this is a system issue and we are

090responding as a system. Next slide, please. I'm going to read this slide to you. In general, these are not recommendations. We've had lots of things where we are providing suggestions to schools. We want to be clear that these are expectations of every school, and we are also monitoring up close and personal. We will ensure early identification attendance concerns, bi-weekly attendance team meetings with clear protocols, monthly monitoring, full alignment to the school improvement plan, and a multi-tier system of supports. Our focus is now on consistent implementation and measurable results. Next slide, please. So, our path forward is clear. I think you have heard the trend. We want earlier action, stronger systems, and shared ownership. Our commitment is to ensure that every student is present, supported, and able to succeed, and we welcome any questions and and

091comments from the board, and we are thankful to all of our departments and all of our partners in the community that support us in supporting our students every day. Thank you. >> Thank you all for the presentation. Board members, questions? Comments? I'll start with Ms. Harrell Goff. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. I have one comment and one question. Um one comment is around I just wanted to highlight a lens that I know the district has, but just want to reiterate about being proactive. Um I think something that we need to be being proactive right now means that we have to consider um that there are more families that are dealing with unstable housing eviction risks, situations that are causing them to move more frequently, you know, unstable income, tax increases, higher costs

092of of living and I think all of that is is deeply impacting um how our families are or are not choosing to engage with attending school. um we have babies that are staying home taking care of their siblings so their parents can find work. um so there's there's a when we're talking about removing barriers um it's not always just the barrier of them like choosing not to engage in school because for a lot of our kids, our buildings are their safer space. So um we have to be mindful of really considering what it means to remove barriers um for the populations considering all of the things that are going on right now economically and so that's one comment. Um The other thing I wanted to to lift up and to ask a question about as

093I was looking at the presentation. I love how it lists what we're working on, you know, where we where we are, what we're moving forward and I noticed I I didn't see um any mention of our community schools model and I'm wondering um would you agree that there is a correlation um with working with the community schools and how that improve improves the attendance rates because um that model in and of itself is something that we are currently doing that we can strengthen um you know, that helps to remove barriers, you know, with community support so that you know child, you know, keeping children in the building and having resources that they need. Um so, should the support of community schools be listed as at least something that we're doing? Should it be listed here

094in this part of the strategic plan as something that we are looking at that can help us remove some of those barriers? >> Uh thank you for that feedback. I will confer um with um administration to find that talk talk more about what that looks like moving forward. We really just stuck to the strategies explicitly written in the strategic plan for our updates. >> Thank you. >> If I could just add just just one thought to that. I think our our real focus was looking at um you know, really systemic kind of district-wide um structures and strategies that are that are being implanted implemented and while certainly we support and and appreciate the notion that community schools as a model um certainly can help with the attendance. One of the reasons it wouldn't be listed

095here is because obviously we have a a relatively limited number of community schools in Durham Public Schools at this particular moment. I think I hope I I desire um is that as we continue to work with community schools model we'll be able to learn and glean some strategies through that work in those schools that we'll be able to um scale up in additional schools around the district uh even if we aren't able to uh continue to expand the number of community schools uh in the district. >> This res- Um so, I understand that the community schools are only within with specific schools, but I guess I'm trying to understand that is something that the district is supporting and and some of so so does that that information that we're does that reflect in the strategic

096plan as a strategy that we're that we're using or following? That's That is one of the strategies in our district, correct? >> I I think it's enumerated anywhere as a specific strategy in the strategic plan. But it it certainly again is a program that we've um committed to uh supported uh both with staffing and funding um and and continue to work to expand across the district. But to my knowledge, I don't think it is specifically enumerated within a strategic plan. >> My interest in in asking that question is um just being able to track it in that place. I love the how everything is being articulated and shifting in the model. And so I would love to see um all of our strategies, you know, articulated in a way that we can can follow. Thank

097you. >> Pastor Rogers. Thank you for this presentation and for answering all my questions that I submitted in advance. I'm not asking those questions. I was going to say, we're ready to say them again if you're at I'm not asking those questions. Um I do appreciate uh that you didn't read us the slides and that I, you know, I was able to get more information by listening to you. Um you talked about one of the strategies being mentorship and support. Um I think about also the data that you shared around uh the referrals for um the uh L. N. B. Spalding Center. Appreciate that. It's not significant in comparison to our um truancy rates um and absenteeism, but is there anywhere that y'all are tracking information about the percentage of students that have mentors? >>

098So we are not yet tracking that as a universal expectation. Uh I'll just I'll speak to um a school we're at today, Eastway. Um so they have mentors for their chronically absent students in in in connection to Central. Um she has her own database where she's keeping up with that. We do not have a systemic way to monitor that cuz not all schools have strong community partnerships. Not all schools have community partners that support attendance. Um, and so if we want to make that as an expectation, our schools have an expectation to have community partnerships. Some of them use them for various things. And so that's why we're not in a space. Some of our schools have mentorship that they've developed right in the school where everyone has a buddy person. So it just varies.

099If that's something that the board would like us to do, we can we can curate that. But right now, no, we are not doing that cuz we don't have a universal strategy across all our schools. >> Okay. So that was my next question about how you're creating culture and support for schools to leverage community partners in this way and to develop community partners because everybody doesn't have them. Um, if a school reaches out for support, who are they reaching out to for to look for mentors for their chronically absent? >> They absolutely can reach out to student support services, specifically our student wellness and advocacy team, which is our cap school. Oh, I'm sorry. I'll get closer. I'm sorry. Um, so I was saying they could definitely reach out to student support services, specifically in

100the area of student wellness and advocacy. We recognize that mentorship and organizing that is a place that we definitely need to grow. We have for many years um, tried to to increase our ability to curate that for our schools and it continues to be um, an area of growth for us. But we do have some community partnerships that we can assist schools with getting in touch with and uh, helping increase that across the district. >> Thank you. And to that same point, um, when students and families are experiencing chronic absenteeism at such a vulnerable point in their educational progress, if a family or student feels like they need support, is there a consistent way to get that at each school or are they having to talk to the homeroom teacher, having to talk to the

101grade level principal, having to have conversations with five or six different people before they actually get the support that they need? >> But what we find is that students will talk to their trusted adult. The system that we have in place is our attendance team and that is primarily led by our school social workers who are often one of the trusted adults in the schools, but that is the centralized um person who can provide that support as well as access to all the resources um that families can can obtain as wraparound services for whatever um may be their need. >> And are the school social workers clearly identifiable on each school's website? >> I I have not checked everyone of the websites, but all of our schools have staff directories, but I can follow up

102to make sure that is explicit around every student school social worker. >> Yeah, I think some of that's getting lost in the sauce. >> Okay. >> Especially if there's a shared social worker, etc. Um and there could be some intention done around that. >> Sure. >> Um Yeah. Um Yeah. Okay, and then can you give a little bit more information about the Greater Durham attendance summit that you had noted for this summer? Who is that for and how is that going to be communicated to everybody? >> It is it's a work in progress. It is an outgrowth of the work that we are doing with the new pulse mental health um system that we utilize to provide even broader supports around mental and even social emotional help for our students. And it is being um

103built by our community partnership. So, there's more information to come. Right now, it is what we hope will be a way to increase as I've said, inspire and increase the urgency within the entire community to have this discussion. We hope to bring in city, county, state, even um partners to to assist with making that really meaningful and families definitely. >> Great. Um attended the state of the city, ran into a couple of leaders. Serve on juvenile crime prevention council. Has any of the attendance data, any of that work been shared with the juvenile crime prevention center council? So, that they can support us in this as well. >> Absolutely. Um Dr. Melissa Watson, um director of student alternatives and supports is our primary member, you know, at hot near member of the JCPC. And I

104know she has shared 2024-2025 attendance data because that is the official data. We usually do not share in progress data and especially not until we are sure the superintendent and the board have had an opportunity to engage with that data. Thank you. >> I think I'll respond to this notion of how our students doing if they have a mentor. Um what we can do is research. I know PowerSchool had a feature that will allow you to put a badge or icon on a student that you can further run reports. And if Infinite Campus allows us to put a badge on students that within the student information system um that the student has a mentor, then we can be able to run report. I'm getting a thumbs up from Nelson, so we can do that. So,

105more to come on that. >> Dr. Lewis, I just want to add just one thing. I heard I think I we suggested that um all schools don't have community partners. I'm afraid I might get some emails tomorrow if I don't correct that. All of our schools do have community partners. All of those community partnerships, however, are not necessarily focused around um activity like mentorship, if you will. Um many of those community partnerships are focused on other particular strategies and structures within the district. So, I did just want to add that uh that important caveat. That is something that is that is actually enumerated in our strategic plan um and is something that our schools have been working pretty diligently um around. So, just want to add that uh detail. >> Thank you. Uh Ms. Bayer.

106Thank you. I um I want to start by showing gratitude for you all for bringing this uncomfortable data forward, for acknowledging that in no way are we where we need to be with this data and with our students who are reflected behind the data. Um and I apologize for not getting my questions in in advance. Um that didn't happen for me. I'm sorry. I am This is This is grim and um it needs, I think, annual reports to the board going forward. Um I think we've got to continue to accelerate progress. And when I look at the list of schools that are kind of doing better, not as well as we'd want them to do, um they're small high schools or they're some elementary schools, typically. And I wonder where the bulk of our numbers

107are probably in our big high schools and our big middle schools. And so how we can focus work in in those spaces to accelerate the gains that the the students need. Um I looked at some things that have been effective and I'm glad to hear about the summit community campaigns. So do we need a Durham-wide campaign about this? And and Representative Morey, some states have done statewide attendance campaigns. I don't know if that comes from legislation or sure they'll fund it. Um but I mean I these this is so so important, but it's just embarrassing for Durham to be this egregiously bad, right? I mean um I wonder if as you continue to share data um on student attendance disaggregated by schools with the board in the future like that we actually go ahead and

108track staff attendance as well. I know when we looked at that years ago, we had a lot of Friday absences and you know, our adults need to model what we expect of children that that this is where we are Monday through Friday bell to bell. Minnie Fort Brown would say bell to bell. Um I wonder like if you can talk a little bit about ways that we've had some struggles with our partnership with the district attorney and ways that that could be working and things that we could do better there um because I think you know, elected official to elected official maybe we can help nudge things or the future board members can. All right. Do you all have any thoughts on that that or >> What what I will say is that what we

109spoke into in the um in the presentation is that research um does state that you know, you move towards more restorative practices and we do have conversations and partnership with our local district attorney's um office. Um And I know that communication has occurred interdepartmentally for years. And um I think that we are working within the structures that are most supportive of our families. >> And I will say what during my conversations with the district attorney shortly after I arrived, you know, I understand some things happened before I got here, but she is interested in partnering and and being a thought partner as we think about some things that we can do proactively and some things that we can do a better job of in terms of supporting potentially our or specifically our truant students as

110well, but she's offered to come talk with our principals, work with our principals. So yes, she she is a will be a thought partner with us as we think about moving forward. >> No, that's great to hear. And it sometimes it's what we call things like I know that the term truancy court that we had before is very off-putting when you believe in restorative work. Um but whatever we do to get the right folks around the table as quickly as possible when we notice that second day of missing like um I'm also unclear because I've thought that we were always using Ball fans early warning indicator I thought we always had an early warning tracking system. And it doesn't sound like we have or done that or been consistent with that. Do you have any

111insight on perhaps it predates. Um we have not been tracking in ways that we want to track. Is that kind of what I hear you all saying in your presentation? And we're going to track better? >> We have as a district we have inconsistent practices across our schools. They become more complex as you get into secondary. Um, I will also say this year there's a another layer of complexity as switching over to IC, Infinite Campus. The ability to create um, those automated letters at 3, 6, and 10 was delayed um, because of our transition over to this new system and everyone getting acclimated to how to do that. We do now have that in place. We now also have a consistent way with this this the two-day letter. So, a preventative proactive is not waiting

112till three go to two. Um, another uh, systemic thing that we really want to strengthen going into next year is this idea of what happens at every level. So, what is the teacher level responsibility? Um, what is the principal level respons- the attendance team? And then what is the district level responsibility? I think that there were some blurred lines in terms of um, people what the expectations were and reestablishing who does what and when and what and how do we also monitor and adhere to lift up those best practices, but also um, spotlight when we are being inconsistent in in meeting those expectations. I think in general we we've always had expectations. The monitoring reporting and conversations around how we improve those are the things that we have adjusted this year. >> The letter goes

113in the mail, goes in a backpack, goes how to the family? >> it it is sent. To the family. >> Yeah. It's nothing electronic. >> Our mail. >> Mailing. Right. So, we're not sending anything electronic in addition to that. So, if a family is displaced, they're not going to get their mail. They're also not coming to school. Right. >> Right. So, um, in increasing to second day, our um, that is an outreach. It is a phone call. It is a teacher inquiring with siblings. It is finding out on that second day in a month where that student is and what perhaps could be the reason for the attendance so that you get the information sooner. Um we also coordinate with our school social workers remain a key component in working with our families experiencing transition

114or homelessness and keeping we actually have a social worker who does that work across the district and we have a family engagement for our secondary schools around students who are either unaccompanied or experiencing um homelessness as well. >> Yeah, I I just would encourage if we can use text or email as well in the future to actually make sure we are informed. >> 443 Oh, yeah. I don't And even like this to me strikes as like a beautiful place for a future research project with one of the area university researchers as we try to accelerate best practices but um You're saying that the social worker is who takes the lead at every school? Is that If I'm if I'm a parent as Ms. Rogers said and and I need some help. I got a nephew

115that literally in Texas they had a truancy officer that went to my nephew's house. Oh, out in right here. Um cuz teenagers were are uh challenging on some mornings let's say. Um but a parent that's struggling their first connection should be school social worker. >> I would say the student services team school-based because it may or may our school social workers and our professional school counselors do a lot of co-training and they have very distinct individual roles but they also have outlined where their paths cross and how they can provide the best support to families. So, if our families can get to any member of the school-based student services team, they can get the support that they need. And I don't want to at all neglect to mention that our school leaders, our principals, and

116our assistant principals are also very accessible and open to supporting our families as well cuz they support the work that's happening in their student services teams as well. >> And then like resources for families on why attendance matters? Like as part of this campaign, perhaps that will be coming more robust communications and engagement with parent academy or family academy. Is that Yes, great. I appreciate it. I look forward to cheering y'all on as you work on this really complicated issue. >> I would just say in September we had a really in-depth professional development with our building administrators providing them guidance on the letters, what's what's to happen at tier one, tier two, tier three. Tier one is the teacher level, tier two is a school counselor, and tier three is a school social worker. When

117it comes to the letters, the letters are mailed but a copy of the letters also given to the school social worker who may be in contact with our McKinney-Vento services that can provide that support um to the families as well. Um all of those are, you know, reactionary. We also share with the with the principals what can be done when we do a really good job of, you know, sending texts, calling people, sending letters when they don't come to school. Um what can we do when students do come to school? And so if little Nick King typically will miss one day just about every week, if he make it makes it to school every day, you know, for one week, I'm calling Miss King and I'm saying, "Miss King, thank you so much for sending

118little Nick to school. He made it to school every day this week." Now, watch this. I'm going to connect it to the academics. Because he made it to school every day this week, he's now mastered his two-digit multiplication. Thank you for sending him. We'll see him on Monday. Miss King will probably send him to school on Monday as well. And so, from that standpoint, connecting it to the academics, the importance of attendance, not just we are um a a a public school system that want all students to come to school because of the compulsory attendance law. Yes, and this is why and the this is why and here's our here are the benefits of students coming to school every day and on time. >> All right, I'm going to go Miss Carter, Miss Chavez, Mr.

119Tab. >> Thank you so much for this um comprehensive presentation. Um thank you for adding the um comparison with other districts. That's really helpful for seeing whoever added that and is in charge of that. Super helpful just to see the magnitude and to see um I mean, frankly, the picture's even worse after seeing that because we're doing so much more poorly than some of our peers. Um thank you also for adding the um explicitly the definition of chronic absenteeism. It helps me to keep that fresh in my mind, but it also triggered in me a question that I hadn't had a chance to ask yet, which is about the role of suspensions in chronic absenteeism. And I'm curious to know the extent to which we've been exploring the reasons that we are suspending students and

120whether they are the best that's the best behavior management technique for that specific student's needs and how that might be impacting our chronic absenteeism rates. >> Uh so, thanks for lifting that up. I think in the future what you will see in our priority updates is that we will triangulate this data um because they all do connect. I think what we see overall when we look at our trends in terms of discipline, we are still um uh striving. We are doing better in terms of restorative practices, um but we are still reactionary and looking to um have a punitive response to student behaviors, we are still really striving towards consistent use of our SEL social emotional learning curriculum to teach good strategies and good behaviors for students to give a replacement for the behaviors that

121they share. I think that what you will can recall in our priority update is that we are trending in a positive way in terms of decreasing suspension by African American boys, black boys, black and brown boys, as well as EC students. I think I talked to Dr. Bell and and also Sashi about the complexities of what it looks like for EC student or AU student who is not yet diagnosed and how those manifestations of those behaviors are coded and responded to systemically. But I think that again, all of the things that we we mentioned, we still have work to do. We are improving our systems and definitely improving our monitoring and accountability and also providing that supports to schools to say, "Yes, you are on the right track." or "No, you are not on the

122right track. Here's what we want to do to support you. Here's how it looks." The the correlation is still high in terms of suspensions for students. What I can say is that the suspension trends depends on the school. And so we do still see, because we are a predominantly black and brown school district, we do see higher numbers. And it is still disproportionate to the percentages. And so that is a rooted in terms of our mindset of shifting. I think we are in year three or four of moving to restorative practices. And we're having more consistent conversations to, as Dr. Lewis alluded to, on a monthly basis in our professional learning, we are looking at our data, reflecting on our practices, but we still have work to do. >> Follow-up question on that. >> I

123just want to add to that about the days and attendance when it comes to discipline. That is something that is included when they look at reporting and look at the data. They actually get a report around the cost in instructional days as well. >> At the school level you're saying? >> level, yes, I'm sorry. >> Just a follow-up on that. So, if a student is suspended, are those numbers included in chronic absenteeism or not? Just to be clear. >> Okay. Um, so absenteeism for short-term, any any absence, anything that removes the students from instruction for this suggested period of time, and it depends on the, you know, the day length of the day, but the amount of time that you're absent from instruction, whether it's through an excused absence, unexcused absence, or a suspension, an

124out-of-school suspension, or a reassignment, um, well, a reassignment is not is the only thing that does not count towards chronic absenteeism. So, long-term suspensions do not because they're reassigned as well. We don't have true suspensions that way. >> So, that's helpful. >> Short-term suspension will go into these numbers. Long-term, which is a reassignment, would mean that you would be you're still attending school. You still have access to instruction. Okay. I'm sorry. >> I think I'm sorry. Thank you for pointing out even even excused absences are counted in chronic absenteeism. And so, so think about on this side of COVID, um, during COVID, we would tell families, you know, at the first sign of a symptom, keep your child at home. And I think that has lingered. Um, and so, parent parents, and I'm a parent,

125too, we we feel we do a really good job of sending a note when when our child is absent. Yes, continue to do that, but please also know that that's counting against chronic absenteeism. And that's a reason this board passed our school calendar well in advance so you can make those doctor's appointments around the days that we are we are out of school. And so, missing 10% of school is you're chronically absent. And so, we're in school 180-plus days, 18 days. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it's factored into students being chronically absent. >> Can I follow up on that? So parents are doing this thing where they're notifying folks at the school. And to me it sort of aligns with absenteeism where they're notifying educators, data managers that their student is absent. Is the

126expectation that they're getting a response to those emails? And those notifications, acknowledgement, anything? Because as a parent when I don't get a response >> We will follow up. That's that's in the research and accountability department. So I will definitely I got that in my notes. >> That's helpful cuz as a parent when I don't get a response it makes me feel like you don't care if my kid is at school or not. >> And so I agree I think an acknowledgement of the email is in order and you seeing that reflection in your child's attendance that it was excused by sending that note. We can definitely follow up to ensure that there's a response to those emails. >> Um my um my other question was around it seems like we have some understanding of what's

127happening for families when the students are not coming to school but we don't have a comprehensive understanding of all of the reasons, right? Or all of the reasons that Durham has higher much higher rates of chronic absenteeism than other districts. So I'm wondering if you could tell us to me we this means we have to operate really with more curiosity towards not just you know I always want to know what the research says. In this case I want to know what the people who this is most directly impacting are saying about this and so I'm wondering to what extent are you training folks that are in the schools, the social workers, the principals to have those in-depth conversations with families to really dig deep into what's going on for them so that then when we're

128solving at the school level and at the district level we're using that to inform our decision making um, just what we think might work cuz we think we have the answers all the time, right? Did you have a question? >> Yes. >> Okay. How are you working with staff that are, um, on the ground and working with families to make sure that they know how to ask the critical questions and have these in-depth conversations to get the information we need to solve for this really challenging problem here in Durham? >> Right. So, um, part of the information that was included in the presentation around the contributing factors, much of that, although it comes from some of the research as you look at what's happening in our communities, um, it also is informed by the very

129nature of the things that you're talking about. That is why we put it in some systemic factors that are often seen in research and they can tell us what usually happens if you. And then there are also societal and community factors that we spoke to that are very unique and specific to our local community and what we're hearing from our families. Our work with the Elna B. Spaulding, um, conflict resolution center is all around that joint problem solving and really listening to what families are saying. As I start As I started the presentation, what is keeping this child from coming to school and how do we work with the family mainly to to prevent that? Um, we also have, and I'd I'd be remiss if I didn't add this, we have a parent liaison and

130there's only one, but we do have a parent liaison who is often, um, an on-the-grounds go-find either a parent or a student if we have concerns. Of course, that is a tier three support that we have in Durham Public Schools. We would love to be able to scale that even more, um, who meets families where they are, who is, uh, working with some of our students in detention, perhaps that are adjudicated. And so we're trying to, as I said, increase our wraparound, um, supports for families, but we do have multiple prongs of supports trying to make sure we understand why children are not coming to school. And some of it is adult action, particularly in the lower grades. And so, at that point, it's really important that the wraparound services are there because of the

131more we can support the parents and the families, the more likely what we've seen is that we have increases. At the school this morning, the principal mentioned that 75% of the students for whom chronic absenteeism was identified and they were getting them mentorship and support, they improved their attendance where they no longer were being the same pace of chronic absenteeism as before. So, we know that wraparound services help, but it is, you know, it is a all-hands-on-deck effort. >> I don't know if you said Barry or or the team, if you recall some of the reasons that we heard, well, the couple of schools I went to with were high school. Because if you look at high school data, one in two students are chronically absent. And some of the reasons that some of our

132high school students are not coming to school. One that I did hear is that students have to work to support their families. >> And so, that's a system issue. We are providing a service from 8:00 to 3:00. But if I have to work to support my family, I'm not coming to your school. So, as a school system, how can we provide services from 8:00 to 3:00 and 3:00 to 8:00 to account for the fact that they need to work for their families? >> Yes, Dr. Oh, go ahead. I I do know when we changed to that later schedule for high school students, I remember I knew some that skipped fourth period every day because the shift started 4:00, right? So, I skipped fourth period to go. And so, I I think too about the system

133issue around is there independent study? You could be doing three classes and not have a fourth period if you got to go to work, right? Like, how do we actually But if someone needed I knew that cuz I was working with her outside of school. But somebody needed to call the family to be like, "Wait a minute, you got to get to Chipotle." Okay, how do we rework your schedule so that we actually work with that? So, I just think some of those work understanding those work causes to Ms. Carter Hawkins point too backs up for us to think about system-wide what are we doing differently and acknowledging when some of the changes that we make as a board impact students and families in that way. >> Uh just to speak to that yes Dr.

134Lewis so one of those things that come up in our comprehensive high schools is around students having to work full-time jobs. Um it is also around being a primary caregiver for siblings and or their own children um and then also this space of being adult care for adults in the house. Um and then there's also this space of mental health um to students who feel uh certain things and and have certain needs um that that make school coming to school on a daily basis complex for them without additional supports outside of the scope of what we can diagnose and provide. Um and so there is there are a lot of complexities at high schools um that comprehensive high school um principals have a lot of work to do um to to to continue to support

135it's hard at a comprehensive high schools um with um young children having to live their lives as adults. >> Davis >> Thank you so much for this presentation on the disaggregated data. I really appreciate that. Um and just the energy with which you bring this I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to you know seeing um from a greater distance what um what the implementation of these things will look like in the outcomes that we will see next year. Um and in the coming years. Um I wanted to ask one clarifying question so um a student is absent if they are not present for half of the day or more or what percentage of the day >> one half >> Okay. I want to name that I'm also concerned about students who are skipping school and

136I live near a school will go unnamed that um and I see I see students in the middle of the day. And um so I um that you know, they're not always what I'm understanding is they're not always um captured in this data if they stay through, you know, they stay for 60% of the day. Um but they're, you know, maybe missing time, so um I I am certain that is on your radar as well, but just want to lift that up um with our students who might have a little bit more agency with um their mobility. Um thinking about education on the front end for parents, um but also for high school students, I think a lot um I guess most my time on the board about um you know, visiting was visiting some

137of the high schools about high school students who are immigrants themselves and really conveying the long-term economic benefits. Um at which we do a, you know, an awesome job with our um our CTE programs and all of that at, you know, showcasing those and it's only grown since I've been on the board, but um I think it would be really great to emphasize those long-term economic benefits of staying in school regardless of legal status um because a lot of kids they do, you know, they do work, they do need to work some of them. Um but also understanding what is the value of completing your high school diploma, um perhaps getting, you know, a certification beyond that. Um and and I'll just say this, we can't always assume people don't always have the same opportunities

138after high school, but there are some opportunities for all students. Um so um I'll name that. Um We I had questions questions about the protocol and process when a student is absent, but I think you answered those and um I'm happy that we'll be moving to the two days um as you all mentioned. um, wanted to ask, what are some of the other best practices? I'm just interested to know a little bit more about the strategies that these schools on slide 20 are utilizing, other creative strategies. >> So, one of the things and I'll turn it over to Dr. Mass Perry to chime in as well. So, just to speak to uh the students not being where they're supposed to be. I do want to shout out Jordan High School. Um, Jordan High School through

139um our our impact meetings identified some trends of things that they want to combat and then Taylor, um, they now implement um high school classroom sweeps, hallway sweeps. So, they have a spreadsheet, every student's name, every student's identification uh number, and they sweep the halls during different periods at random times of the day. They monitor that data. They're tracking um one student, two students, how many times, and that student has a proactive support in place for them. So, that's one of the things, the best practices that we see at least at a comprehensive high schools. It's a simple thing, doesn't take time, doesn't take a tremendous amount of time, but it makes a tremendous amount of difference and sends a strong impact to students around our seriousness around the priority in being in classrooms. One

140of the other strategies that I will will lift up is just a consistent system. So, um through the leadership of Dr. Mass Perry, there are lots of protocols and resources in regards to what does an effective attendance team look like? Um, some of our schools are still aspiring in terms of all of the components of that, the cadence of meeting, and the type of data, the quality of the data that comes through that process. So, the best practice that I can lift up is strong systems of alignment, good clean data from our research and accountability department, and then for that school who knows, the school system, that school team to sit down and say, "We know our community best. How will we respond?" Um, so I was speaking with one principal in the last few

141weeks who said, "You know, we do home visits um in our community in our chronic absenteeism, they don't open the door." And so, I challenged him to think about think about the community you're walking in and what you look like um and what that response to the community could look like. Whoever, you know, think about the optics of this. So, our schools are are trying the things that they they are are they have in place. What we want to do is go from more of a haphazard individual school, um, response to look at what is having measurable impact and scale that up. Um, so like I said, um, also at I'll speak to just Eastway, we were there this morning. Them having that mentor system, um, and having that individual check-in with students is making

142a significant difference at schools. So, I think that overarching is the personalized touching care that comes from getting a phone call as opposed to a letter in the mail, having someone show up that you know and relate to that can have a conversation in a non-judgmental way, um, about how that receives. And then just supporting our staff with understanding the complexities of what, um, families are going through. I was speaking with an individual, they said, "Well, you know, they didn't answer the door." I said, "There's a whole host of reasons why someone wouldn't answer the door. Their hair couldn't be done. The house could be dirty. I could have someone in the house I'm not supposed to, etc. Let's not assume that our that our families are trying to evade us, um, because they don't

143respond to one strategy. What else can we try? >> Thank you. I really appreciate that. Um, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. >> I have to add one thing, just one thing. I know it's 8:51. Um, but I would also say, you know, for each of those schools there's an intentional focus on climate as well. We said over and over again that where people students feel seen, supported, and that they're gaining something, that they are, um, really a part of that community, it tends to be, um, more likely that we'll have less chronic absenteeism. >> Um, awesome. All right. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Um, and one thing I also just want to note is, um, kind of with attention to climate, is that I hope one day we will, um, track data around LGBTQ

144students because there is, um, there are trends nationally of absenteeism with, um, our queer and especially our trans and non-binary students um, related to heteronormative environments, anti-trans bullying, that kind of thing, which of course we are experiencing on a national level right now. So, um with an intersectional approach, um looking at all the other identity bits. And I read, thank you for the question, um uh Vice Chair Rogers, and your answer um about um DPI not having not allowing custom gender choices. Um however, if there are creative ways to look into that data, maybe not through, you know, Infinite Cam- Campus, but other ways on a school level, I think that would be great, at least to introduce that to the conversation because um I know, you know, well, it's been some time since I

145was in high school, but there were kids who dropped out of, you know, didn't finish school because of bullying and things like that. So, and I knew as a teacher, I knew kids who, you know, experienced different challenges too that affected their attendance. Um and the last thing, um probably already on your radar, Dr. Lewis, but I would love to hear the uh maybe this is a great topic for the Superintendent's Advisory Council, Student Advisory Council, um about why kids are not coming to school. Um the data is alarming, but I really do appreciate um your, you know, creativity in thinking about this, and looking forward to positive trends for Durham overall. So, thank you. Well, >> Thank you very much. Thanks for saving me for last. Um and Ms. Sidberry has already indicated that

146we're over time, so I'll make this very quick. Um thank you, Board um member uh Byers, for uplifting the truancy, cuz that was really my going to be my topic. Um so, I won't, you know, have to go over that again, but thank you for uplifting that. And I want us to make sure that we really, really take a serious look at that and address that. I do want to ask, and this is maybe for the board as well as for you all's um in input. Um what impact does our attendance policy have on student attendance? So, just want you to think about that, and we're talking about attendance, and then we have a policy on attendance. So, I'm curious to know if this our policy is impacting some way you work. >> Thank you

147for asking that question. I think it could um stand a a quick look. There are some punitive language within the policy, particularly that last paragraph that I think um can be addressed and maybe enhanced, I'll say. That's policy 4400. Okay. Thank you. That's it. >> Eli, I do want to come to you. Do you have any comments? We said a lot about students and attendance. If you have any comments you want to share on this topic. >> So, you did make a lot of comments about just having that data from all the tracking, but from a student's perspective inside of the building, inside of the classroom, a lot of it goes unnoticed. So, recently there was a case with a student skipping their fourth period class to go to another class, and they were caught

148by the counselor, and then they were sent to the assistant principal. Now, they were only caught and directly addressed because they were still on campus, but many of the students that skip are not on campus. They want they walk to the downtown area. So, Durham School of the Arts is easily accessible to all these different places. But, those students aren't recorded and caught. So, how do we better keep track of our students that are not on campus within their control? And um kind of ensure that they're not making their way off campus in the first place. >> Ex- excellent comments. Think all of us may have seen some students around a high school once or twice before walking around um when they should be in class. That's really good, Kayla. Thank you. I'm going to

149go to Vice Chair Writers and then I'm going to have the last comment cuz we need to wrap this up. >> I'm so sorry. >> Eight minutes, eight. >> The first thing is uh similar to Kayla's comment. I attended DSA, experienced all that, did the things. Um those things. The first time I rode the city bus, I was not supposed to be taking AP. But okay. Um And and I have a student at Jordan and um have heard about the sweeps. Will ask some long-term questions on that. I My questions around that and to speak to Principal Taylor about this last week is are the sweeps punitive in a way that encourages students to move off campus instead of loitering on school property where they're a little bit safer. Um And how do we how

150are they using the information that they're learning from the sweeps to encourage students to go back into the classroom? And how is that data presented in absenteeism? Um because I assume you're not reporting on each course. You're reporting on the daily attendance rates for comprehensive high schools. Um so that's that. I guess my other question is for Dr. Lewis is around It's great that y'all are implementing the second absence call. right? What is the data and evidence that the the notices that are required to go out by state statute are actually going out, and what happens when educators aren't doing those things? In terms of supporting those educators and in terms of um making sure those educators are prepared to support our families. Cuz adding another thing for them to do doesn't feel like the

151right thing to do when the required things aren't getting done. >> I think one way it it can be tracked is within um Infinite Campus when those attendance committees meet and at the school and they're looking at that their data and looking at interventions, they can easily look and see, well, at 6 day was a letter sent. Then I think it also begs us an opportunity to look at how effective are those things. How effective are the robo calls? How effective are the letters that are sent out? Are we seeing improvements um in attendance? So, I think that's one way we can track that uh when our attendance teams meet, looking at was a letter sent. So, in other words, we shouldn't get to the student having 20 25 absences and there's no documentation of

152a letter sent. So, I think within our Infinite Campus system, we can include some comments there. >> Thank you. I think my question is more about what's the process when an educator doesn't do what they're expected to do. >> I think that speaks to the what I was alluding to in terms of impact meeting. We have had expectations. We have had resources, tools and resources, and now we have to be um more consistent with our monitoring and reporting that out. So, a part of that process is with the impact meeting, what it looks at, are we actually, number one, doing the things that are expected of us? And then after we do that, then what is the impact of that and how do we adjust our um practices there? To your point, that's going to

153be the overarching thing in any priority update is around how we're monitoring and holding people accountable for those expectations as well as supporting them, having ideas and uplifting best practices. We're not yet collecting that data, but through our impact trends it was something that we'll be able to speak to in the future. >> You're not yet collecting that data of >> In terms of did you send eight letters home? The conversation is now around are attendance teams meeting consistently? Is data at that heart of that? And once student once schools get that in place, now talk to me about what parent phone calls look like for teachers. How are we keeping up with those logs? How are we having conversations with staff who are doing those things and who are not? So, we're kind of

154layering it in in terms of all of the things that that are supposed to be in place. There are schools where meeting those expectations and leveraging other strategies now. In some places they're not yet consistent. >> Okay, I'm struggling cuz it's a compulsory attendance law. It sounds like we're not doing the things in the district a little bit to support families in following the law. And so, if the state wanted to hold a family in our district accountable, and they came to you and asked you for this documentation, would you have that? >> I would have it would be inconsistent. >> Thank you. >> We have implemented an attendance team plan verification form. That's a starting point for us to collect that data. >> If I If I If I'm >> What I would say

155is I and I think I might be able to add a little clarity to the 3 6 and 10 day letters. And Mr. Sorrels might want to add something to that. That is a collaborative effort at the school and there is tracking at the school. There is you know, a collaboration with student services when they are having a professional learning around what extra supports do you need as we stated this year it has been particularly difficult with the transition but yes it is as stated expectation and role and it is monitored at the school we don't um right now have the information based on to to share with you but we do have that. We know how many letters have gone out for each student and all of that. Through our school social workers and

156data managers. >> It's a benefit or not of going last cuz I have comments on all the comments. I do appreciate the honesty and transparency which y'all brought this data forward to us today and the systems that are working and not working. It sounds like we need more alignment to across systems from student support to academics to school leadership to MRC who does graduation code like all of those folks actually working together on this efforts cuz even as I hear us talk tonight I'm like oh there's some slight differences as we all have these conversations and how do we make sure we're all on the same page. Excited about the summit that's coming up um and so glad you have county and city partners there. That is a conversation that's come up in those different

157spaces. I do think about come back to this kind of root cause analysis and I know there are some things that were sprinkled through the presentation but I'd be really interested to know you know, majority of folks are work or this age group is sickness or elementary school or something with pay I don't you know, I think you all let you all do that data but it'd be really interesting to get that cuz I think we can throw a lot of strategies you know, at a wall but without really understanding what we're solving for I think that's going to be a challenging piece and I understand some of that's already happening it seems like on on school level and the conflict resolution center conversations, but I love us to lift that up holistically because we've

158got system-wide problems that we all identified and talked about earlier. One of the other things that I'm just struggling with a little bit is that we're looking at multiple years of trend data that hasn't improved, and so I know there's things that we're tightening this year, but we're still trending in the same direction, and so what is going to be different um next year? And what are the other ways that we're implementing? I think about this and enrollment and retention as some of the highest measures that we need to work on because we're not going to see increases in um academics if we're not even having students in schools, right? Um and to that retention and enrollment conversation, you got charters and privates that are knocking on people's doors telling them come join us, right?

159So how are we also offering some of that same care for students as they're showing up? So I don't We don't have to answer that question today, but that's what's on my mind of and what will make the data move in a different direction um if some of these strategies we've been implementing for a little bit of time. So I'm hearing some accountability, but I think there's more that needs to be done on that effort. Um and I'm wondering too with that if the strategic plan data point maybe need to be around increasing attendance rate, but also decreasing chronic absenteeism because those feel they're similar, but they're also feels like there's some different strategies on both of those. Um my other part is a lot of the things we talked about is reactive, so we

160are have talked about proactive things before around climate, but also just think about rewards for attendance. So in this community summit, what is the community's way of rewarding folks for showing up to school? How are we supporting parents who show make sure their kids get to school every day? Um you know, it's an effort to get children out the door. So what is the ways that, you know, is there a free ice cream cone on one day or something for students who've been chronically absent? Like how are we um providing some of those rewards for students and families who need that. Um and then I wonder at the end of this year, is there a data report they can come back to the board that just talks about what we've learned this year, what we're

161changing, what the data says as we move into the next year cuz I um we you know, we can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results and and the world is changing, right? Our students are changing, the world is changing. Do we need to be offering more students, you know, ignite access for high school if they are working full-time jobs? Like what are the system kind of things that need to be shifting to making sure that we're supporting getting students educated. Um how many students know about like, well actually if you stay in this coursework, I can get you your certificate. So when you graduate, you're going straight into a career making X amount of dollars a year, right? What are those other system you uplifted on one of those middle to high

162school transition, but I still think what are the other kind of more systemic ways that we need to be addressing this conversation and telling parents to and helping parents navigate um you know, block phone numbers and all the other things that kids do when they're trying to get around um those phone calls that go home. So I appreciate the honesty and transparency. I just I think I said a lot. I don't know if there's any response to all of that, but I really this is a vital way that we need to see things improve and it's so connected to all the other things happening in our community, the conversations around um preventing gun violence, the conversations around juvenile crime, like all of this is intertwined. So we can't do you know, we got to do

163something differently so we can see rates chronic absenteeism decrease, absentee rate increase. Uh sorry, I said a lot. I was just going to say, you know, on slide seven it what we're looking at apples-to-apples um months 1 through 6 through months 1 through 6, we are actually trending up in terms of our attendance. I don't want to celebrate it's about 1.3 I believe it was. Um um when we're looking at month to month, so we're we're continuing to monitor how our efforts that we have right now in terms of reestablishing expectations and continuing to uplift those best practices across schools, how that is having an impact. I think also I was could speak to this this thought of Dr. King and I talked about it about coming back at the end of the year reporting

164to the Board of Education on our impact meetings. Our impact meetings look at every aspect of school systems, whether it be POCs, attendance, discipline, SEL, how they're handling all the things. And so we we can come back and provide that update with regard to what we're seeing across our schools and best practices as well as things that we want to do better and differently for the next school year. >> And that's why I think sorry to your point around the attendance rates going up, but chronic absenteeism still feels like static. And so I just think we got to figure out how we capture both of those data points in there um because we can celebrate attendance rate going up and it should, but we also need to make sure that the chronic absenteeism is going

165down. Those feel like different and we don't have them highlighted in the same way in the strategic plan. >> I was going to say just to your point of that that root root cause. You know, I I think chronic absenteeism is a symptom of a larger disease. Whether it's I'll take Big Nick now that he's in in in high school. If he's constantly missing fourth period or skipping fourth fourth period and fourth period is his math class, is he skipping because there are some skill deficit gaps there that we need to address? That's why he's missing that class. Is it there's no sense of belonging in that class or sometimes it may not be a sense of belonging in that school. And so those are the things that we have to unpack one by one.

166Often say have a laser-like focus on every single student. We should be able to know as sad as I hate to say this, but when we look at 37% of our students chronically absent, 11,000 students chronically absent and we're trying to meet our academic goals, that's going to be difficult. And so we have to look at it one student at a time. And I think leveling up and really drilling down on our attendance committees and our attendance plans in each one of our buildings is the way we get there. Because keep in mind if we don't, attendance is one of those early indicators, those pull factors, push factors rather in terms of students dropping out. >> And I I just want to uplift this individual and when you get to 11,000 students out, there's got

167to be a there's a system issue. There's some policy things that probably need to be changed, right? So, I want to know when I look at that 11,000, is majority of those students um what is the issue, right? And so that are what are we doing now to put in place to address that and what community solutions. So, it's to me it's an individual and when you got that many, there's got to be a root cause analysis that I would love to see this many students for this, this many students that, this many report. And I know it won't be perfect. We're relying on what people are reporting out. I think that will help us think about where money needs to be allocated, where resources need to be allocated, where policy changes need to be

168made to make sure that we're encouraging students and families come to school. >> And I'll end my last comment on on this. I do want to acknowledge that since 2021, specifically for our Hispanic students, that the chronic absenteeism was going down, but I do want to acknowledge this past November that has had a major impact on our some of our Hispanic families. And then something that you said, Chairwoman Stead, is that our students are changing, but has our system changed? So, I think that's a huge opportunity for us. >> I will also just say again another shout out and thank you to our our educators, our building principals, our social workers, our professional school counselors, every single department of research and accountability. It is a team effort. Yes, we're reporting this data, but as I

169mentioned, a lot of factors contribute to attendance and we want to continue to have a multifaceted approach including students' mental health, SEL, quality teaching and learning, as well as strong protocols for monitoring and supporting attendance as we move forward. So, thank you. >> Thank you. We went way over time, but this is a really important presentation, so we appreciate y'all being here and all the comments that are made and the work that's being done. We're looking forward to some updates and some improvements coming soon. The next item on our agenda is our legislative steering committee priorities. I'm going to pass it over to Vice Chair Rogers who is leading up this committee to talk us through. >> Okay, but five decades out. Um I don't even know where to start. Um Thank you all for

170this time. Um our legislative steering committee has been meeting, has come up with this idea of better than basics legislative priority recommendations. Uh and so if you go to the next slide um I mean compared to where we are. Um I'm not even going to try to read that. Anyway, so this uh slide talks about the initial goals that the steering committee came up with to um develop the legislative agenda. They wanted clear talking points uh that were connected to student outcomes. Uh they want to be able to engage directly with state and local uh legislators and support us in our uh advocacy efforts. Um they wanted clear and simple messaging and um research with evidence with links and they wanted one to three priorities where we've been doing five or six or whole one

171pagers. Um and they want us to be able to develop some visuals to go along with that work. And so we came up with three priorities that we'll see in the next slide. Um I put together a little diagram that um is up on the next slide. And um shows the overlap of improved student outcomes, how each of these reaches into improved student outcomes. And then on the next slide, you see the list of committee members. Thank you everybody for your participation and for your work on this. Uh and for showing up. And then on the next slide, we go more in depth into the fully funded public K-12 instruction to reach adequacy in North Carolina as our initial priority. Each title has a link that has a one-pager and links um to the data

172that supports um the request. And so, you know, uh there's a request to protect local funding authority, making sure locals can still do what they need to do to support uh K-12 educate public education in Durham. Prioritize public over private funding. Uh fund the full cost of instruction. Enable fair local revenue options. Um they would like to be able to do some progressive uh taxation that Durham can't currently do or counties can't currently do. They would like to revisit uh charter funding requirements and invest in long-term stability that includes a comment action uh funding of a comment action plan. Um for future capital needs. So, all that would fully fund public K-12 instruction. Uh and then the next slide, support every learner, talks about reducing uh take removing the EC caps and changing the model

173that's supportive of the EC weighted model that Superintendent Mo Green is um advocating for uh remove the 10% cap for ELL students and remove the 4% cap for AIG students and then look towards moving to an overall weighted student funding model uh for long-term investment in students to support every classification, every subgroup of learner. Um the next slide is the invest in educators, demand real accountability, and protect public education. It starts to take us from school letter grades, um talks about a moratorium on the opportunity vouchers um and is attentive to uh making sure that there is accountability at all schools that are taking um public money, taxpayer dollar uh for districts, charters, and um voucher uh private schools that accept the voucher. And so, the goal in this in putting together these three priorities

174and naming them the way they are is so that each member of the steering committee can reach out to their rural counterparts and have intense conversations about uh adopting the same priorities to talk to their delegation because it's not our delegation that's the problem when we think about the stuff that's not happening in Raleigh. Um and with hope that they would adopt similar priorities and be able to find um similar um data for their districts. Um on the next slide, we talk about next steps. Um the next meeting of the legislative steering committee is April 28, 2026. Ms. Smith is working on getting us a room but it'll be here in Fuller from 4:30 to 6:00. We're going to invite uh members of the delegation to give us an opportunity. And I've had some conversations

175with Representative Hawkins and Senator Murdock about um how we have productive conversations with our rural counterparts. So, people at the foundation would be able to go to foundations that support rural school districts. Um PTA leaders will be able to go to and talk to intelligently talk to um folks um in the rural counterparts in their PTA spaces about how this works. Um so, we want to talk discussion of strategy. There's also a desire to have a conversation about political education tactics and how we can engage our community, our local community members in further understanding um the impact of sending your students to charter schools and impact of using opportunity vouchers to attend private schools on uh local funding and on public schools at large. And so, the request is for the BOE to schedule a

176delegate breakfast in May. Uh legislative I'm sorry. General Assembly does not meet on Fridays. And Representative Hawkins has shared that he would prefer that we try to schedule it on a Friday morning. Um because they have a delegate session during that time. And they could use that for that. And then, if we get approval on the priorities, we'd like to send them to public affairs to create graphics that we all, including our legislators here and committee members, can use to share our messaging. And Joy and I are um here to Miss Herron-Gallagher and I are here to answer your questions and comments and hear your thoughts. >> Thank you, Miss Herron-Gallagher and Vice Chair Rogers, for all your work and to the Steering Committee who's been working diligently on this. Um I'll pass it to

177Miss Bayer. >> So much gratitude um to you all for leading this work. It's been um I was able to attend one of the conversations and it's been such a robust um positive space for a variety of Durham stakeholders and families and to come together and work on this together and you've got done a remarkable job in just two meetings, right? Two? Um one question I had was on one of the You talk about opportunity voucher program on the third point and also on the first point. And so there there's a little bit of inconsistency in the language and I feel like it would be good to make sure that those are aligned. One of them talks about pause or phase back the expansion of voucher programs until public schools are funded and the other

178says enact a moratorium, which is my preferred language. Um but I I thought you might want to >> Yep, happy to adjust. The intent in the priority one was to talk about the funding of it. The intent in priority three is to talk about the accountability scheme. Any ideas around how to modify or merge the two or disconnect them. >> I mean, I don't think we should have vouchers in North Carolina at all, so I would just say end the expansion end the voucher program. That's what I was saying in the first one, but you know, that's how much I hate vouchers. Um and then the other one I would go with the moratorium. I would just call I would be consistent what you call them. So, they're opportunity scholarships or they're I like to

179call them school vouchers because I think they use the term opportunity scholarships to make them more palatable. So, I would just I love the moratorium language. I don't know. That was just one thing that popped out at me. >> Okay, we'll modify um the first If everybody's okay with that, we'll modify the first priority to name the moratorium and use the language on school vouchers instead of opportunity scholarship. Is that what you're asking? Am I getting that right? >> I think so. My brain went to another thing that I saw on there that I was going to bring up in a minute, so >> Pause or phase back. >> I would push back just a little bit on the opportunity scholarships and while certainly that they're school vouchers because opportunity scholarships are what they're called,

180we're talking about using this language to go talk to other folks about it. It would be nice if there we're speaking the same language. Not saying I agree, but it's just if I'm talking to somebody in different county, I want to make sure that we're speaking the same language. >> Yeah, that was the the other comment that I similar comment and that um some of our counties might not share our same progressive lens. And so, I I some of this language even with just pause or phasing back, we're trying to get something that they will um that we can convince them to go alongside us with. Um and so I think that was some of the conversation that we had that I heard in the in the meeting is that uh we want to do

181it but we also we we want to bring them along and so some of this language I feel was was suggested to to encourage that. >> All right. Um Miss Carter, I want to add on that point of I think >> Um just to say I was I eight opportunity scholarships also and yet I think I really like the focus on the prob the root of the problem here is what you have in the the two different slides. That they prevent the fund adequate funding for public schools and that there's not accountability, transparency, and student outcome measures. And if you focus on that, then you again there's a possibility of bringing other people along that might not be like and more like might not be down with the total moratorium or but they they can

182get behind accountability and transparency in school funding. I don't I just like that goal of just trying to be able to partner with others that might not be traditional partners in this advocacy effort. >> Um Miss Barbara, before I come back to you, Miss Travis, do you have something on this point as well? Miss Travis? >> Um I wanted to comment just that um I understand a moratorium to be temporary. So I don't know if you all talked about that, which a lot of times it can lead to a full ending. But um that would be just a you know, a thought for me. I like the phasing out option honestly because well opportunity scholarships now primarily benefit white, middle-class to wealthy families, I believe. Um definitely there are still some um uh poor working-class

183students. Um and you know, who may or may not be students of color, who may be reliant upon them for the school that they're in, and a phasing out would allow a shift for their family over time. Um so I haven't thought about it at length enough to say I I just like the option of the two. Um and I do like the the or more more of the or language to talk with other um rural districts, other districts in general. I really like that idea. And I think um whatever language would expand conversation rather than narrow it, I would be in favor of that while getting at the same aim. >> I do want us to move along here, so do you I don't know if that provided you any clarity, Mr. Rogers. >>

184That does provide clarity. Are we can we get an agreement on the top three on the priority names and language there and the intent of the priorities by the end of the conversation? That's all. >> All right, let's actually start there. We good with the top three? So, I love the top three, yet there's pages of requests underneath the top three. So, um are we good with the top three, folks? Yes, Mr. Dow. Okay. So, you got that consensus, but then we'll keep talking about the things underneath that. Um Ms. Byrd. >> So, I did look at NCSBA's language, and they do use opportunity scholarship, so it probably is wise to be consistent. Um So, on the last slide, the last bullet, the statewide study on the growth and impact of single operator charter school

185networks, I wonder if that bullet could just stop there rather than to ensure responsible expansion, because in that notion, it makes it seem like we support expansion of these statewide networks, and that Yeah. Maybe that doesn't bug anybody else, but that one >> It bugged me, but I did When it bugged me, I thought about the people that we're talking to about this, and I wondered if um the intent of that was to implement some sort of accountability plan when the state approves um new charters. But I'm open to whatever y'all want. So, her question is about um the impact of single operator charter school networks and sure responsible expansion. Makes it seem like we're okay with expanding charter networks. >> Ms. Carter, um Could you just change that to to ensure that any expansion

186is done responsibly or something that makes it clear that expansion's not necessary necessarily going to happen, but if it is, it needs to be done in a responsible way. Would that get to the heart of what y'all had intended while still What is >> What's your address? Oh. Um but this feels similar to me, but I don't know. Um Any other comments? Mr. Ervin, did you have something? >> I was wondering if we needed a a motion. >> Um I think so, but I think there might be a couple more comments before. Kayla, I know you're getting ready to go. Did you have any comments on our legislative agenda before you head out? >> No, I currently do not, but I just want to thank you for having me here, and I enjoy listening to

187all your thoughts. >> Thank you for hanging out with us late on a Thursday night. We appreciate it. I did have uh two comments very different under the support every learner. Okay, hang on. Can we Okay. >> Can I make a suggestion on the >> Sure. >> Commission a statewide study on the growth and impact of single operator charter school networks to ensure if expansion is necessary, it is done responsibly responsibly. Okay, keep going. >> Um my different comments were under support every learner. We talk about remove the cap, but we don't actually say how we want them to be funded. Like how we want ELL students to be funded or how we want AIG students to be funded. You just say remove the cap. So, I wonder if there's a second part of that

188to say fund at the level within the school system or fully fund, you know, the percentage matches the percentage and I don't know what the the answer is, but um we talk about removing the cap. We just need to insert what we actually want to see there. >> Yep. Um so, that was a conversation also. And uh if you look at the document that's linked in the title, uh it speaks to some of that, but overarching lead to move to a weighted model so that students in each district get what they need, which is the last bullet point. So, it's weighted. So, if you have even if people are um students are twice identified, if you have identified 18% of your students as AIG, that support would be there. >> That's not as clear in

189this written report. So, I would just make it clear. >> Okay. >> The weighted formula is explicitly talked about under exceptional children, but not explicitly talked about at the end. But, the other two just say remove cap. So, I would just figure out how to make that feel explicit throughout. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I'm wondering if y'all had discussions around some of the studies that the legislature's already done about weighted formulas. Okay, cuz pulling some of that data might be interesting for this, too. >> Yep, I emailed I think I emailed it to y'all. If I didn't, I'll email it. But, somebody brought in documents for us. >> Any other questions or comments? You said this is for action tonight, so that's we would make a motion up in pending the amendments and

190suggestions that we offered this evening. >> Yep, and I will send those over. But, basically the top three so that we can get the information to OPA. Fully funding. Okay. Can you share that? >> All right, I'm going to take a stab at this motion. If that's all right, we're ready. >> Mhm. >> So, pending the suggestion suggested edits we've discussed today, I move that the Board of Education approve the following legislative priorities proposed by the legislative committee, which seeks to improve student outcomes by fully funding K-12 instruction, supporting every learner, investing in educators, and showing evidence of real accountability to protect public education. >> Second. It's been moved by Ms. Ervin Goff, seconded by Ms. um Byer. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor say I. All right. Any opposed use the

191same sign. It passes unanimously. Thank you all. Thank you uh again, Vice Chair Rogers and Ms. Ervin Goff for your leadership. All right. The next item on our agenda is we have a policy committee update. That's just for information, and then we have a relationship with law enforcement um policy 5120. I'll pass it over to Dr. Pittman. >> Yes, I believe >> I'm ready >> Yes, ma'am. >> Good evening. Good evening, Chairwoman Stead, Vice Chair Rogers, and members of the board, Dr. Lewis. So, this evening, the revisions to policy 5120, the relationship with law enforcement, are being presented for discussion and action on second reading. As we all know, this revision process has been extensive, spanning several months, and has included an in-depth policy committee meetings, board discussions, and input from a wide variety of

192stakeholders, including our community, the Superintendent's Principal Advisory, Superintendent's Student Advisory Councils, cabinet, our legal counsel, additional district staff, as well as our law enforcement partners. Following the work session on March the 12th, the policy committee continued refining the policy, incorporating the feedback provided by the board. And additionally, in the intervening weeks, a representative group of principals and district staff have also worked together to review the proposed revisions in preparation for the April 13th policy committee meeting. And those represented included principal at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as our assistant superintendent uh Dr. Keisha Rogers at the middle school and assistant superintendent Dr. William Logan, as well as uh district personnel and um Mr. Barnes, Dr. King, Mr. White, and our security our new executive director of security McCloyd Bynum. At the

193April 13th committee meeting, we also included with for our policy committee board members key staff members to support the discussion and provide continued input. And those members included our executive director of safety and security McCloyd Bynum, our executive director of auxiliary services Mr. Anthony Wright. Again, Dr. William Logan joined us, Mr. Kenneth Barnes, principal Susan Taylor, and our superintendent Dr. Lewis. So, as a result result of that work, the revised policy that is included in your board packet this evening is in several forms. One, we did include a track changes version, and that is the version from which we'll be lifting up and highlighting the key changes for our attention, as well as there is a clean copy prepared. There is also a highlight document that lifts up key revisions that that those are the

194talking points that I'll be sharing through the track changes version. So, through those documentations, hopefully we'll be able to um highlight the major points. Before we get started, I do um want to acknowledge joining us this evening, we have uh McCloyd Bynum and Mr. Anthony White, who will be with us throughout uh the subsequent discussion or questions that may arise. So, at this point, we're going to pull up the track changes version of the policy, and I'd like to lift up just the major points that have now we are at consensus and I'll go through each section of the policy as we go. So, the opening paragraph the major point of clarification that has been reached is just a clarification of the term principal to mean principal or designee for consistency throughout the policy. Then

195if we roll down to section D on the next page there are some key sub items I'd like to lift up. In D3, there was a request that we clarify the procedures for student questioning including that parents would or guardian would be notified. There is guidance in there about how to manage a time critical or time sensitive situation and the requirement is now named in policy for the principal to be present if notification of a parent or guardian was not possible. Scrolling down a little further still under section D but item six and seven the policy now strengthens the expectation in D6 that we would be avoiding embarrassing the student in front of teachers or peers. In D.7, students would be separated during law enforcement um interactions such that questioning would be in a private

196area removed from observation or contact from others and under D7 a clarification of the role of the administrator involvement during questioning such that the principal would be um present during questioning. Section F this is our section that has now um been named the federal law enforcement for immigration related matters. Under section F3 information requests um that are made by if an information Excuse me. This refines the procedures regarding if a principal asks for information that the officer's name, title, contact information, and copies of warrants or legal documents would be provided. Under F3 what a school should do if there what is the appropriate response when no warrant would be present. And under F4 outlines when the district would consult legal counsel. Scrolling to F15 this aligns our procedures with the established school safety standard response

197protocols for our schools to manage in the event that law enforcement is on our campus. And then finally under section I for training there was a directive request that we'll see in here the November 2025 board resolution is lifted up and explicitly including training for all school personnel on responding to immigration related requests clear referral protocols and protection of student rights. So again, I welcome to the question response area. Mr. Byrum and Mr. White, they are available answer questions and I'll pass it back to um the chair of the policy committee, Ms. Jessica Card Auten or to the board. >> Thanks so much, Dr. Pittman. Um I appreciate the way that you've outlined the most recent a summary of the most recent changes. Um and um just very excited to have this policy here today.

198As you named, we've gotten This is an example of a policy that's we've not only put lots of work into, but we've gotten feedback from so many different Many hands have been in this, and I think it makes it a stronger policy because we've gotten feedback from staff that are on the ground in schools, in our classrooms, administrators in schools, safety and security, legal team, sheriff's department, families that are going to be could be impacted by this, um, and had lots of robust conversation with folks and um, made edits in response to different folks um, feedback. And who am I missing? Oh, students also. Superintendent Student Advisory um, council. So, I think um, yeah, I'm excited to hear what other board members are thinking at this point and um, yeah, I'm proud of this version

199and think it's going to be uh, it's going to strengthen our ability to keep all of our schools and all of our students safe and build partner better partnerships with law enforcement. So, thanks. >> Ms. Byer. >> So, I'm so appreciative of the work that's gotten us here and hope that we can resolve this entirely tonight, um, so we can move on to the other policies that are waiting, um, under F, uh, one, I think we need to insert in the in F1 in that first sentence that we're asking them to report to the school district's main office, not the school's main office. I think that was the intent. No. I think we were trying to actually get them out of the main office rather than the Am I remembering that entirely wrong? Why do

200we want them in the I I thought we were trying to push them downtown. For anything to do with immigration, it is like make it clear from the jump that it goes downtown, not into a school. >> Yeah, I think we were trying to not push them downtown for fear of our principals getting into a confrontation with them saying you can't come here, you have to go downtown. I think that was part of the conversation not wanting to put our principals in that standpoint of saying because it also aligns with our current guidance of they report to the school main office, the principals will work with our identified individual here at the district office to determine if if it is a valid judicial signed warrant and then our law enforcement officers will will show up

201there as well. We didn't want to create a sense that if they do if this is written in policy one can interpret that when they do show up at the school that they've been cleared because they went downtown first and that's and that's certainly not the case and then I think the overarching part of the conversation was we don't that federal law enforcements are probably going to read this policy probably not going to care for this this policy but we wanted to make sure that it aligned with our current procedures and not put our principals in that uncompromising position where they're saying no, you have to go downtown and law enforcement officer will say no, I'm staying here. >> I I get that but I really thought we were actually trying to say immigration is

202never never should start at a school. Our preferred thing is for them for immigration officers except in exigent services to contact and then report not to the schools main office. You don't necessarily want them to go to the front office at Hillside. You'd rather them come and clear stuff with you. I'm maybe I'm just totally wrong. I just really really thought we had gotten it to the place where we wanted it coming your way. I know that don't want the conflict. I totally get that we don't want the conflict. But to write it in here that that it seems like we've written something that is conflicting with itself in policy language, so. >> And we'll just read it. This is This is our current guidance and aligns with our current practice should immigration officials show

203up at our schools. >> I'll I mean, I can be I can be wrong all by myself. I just really thought we had resolved it that that we actually wanted to be explicit that we wanted them to actually not come to schools. Like, don't come to schools. It doesn't have anything to do with schools. >> You are correct in your remembrance of the discussion. And that that was our the and then Dr. Lewis's explanation is where the the discussion ended up because there will be no way that the school or personnel would be able to manage where they begin their touchpoint with the district. And often it is at the school level and I've asked Mr. Bynum to be at the ready. Um just a normal practice is how that unfolds if that would be

204helpful, but um there was extensive conversation. >> Yeah. No, I remember the conference the the the like we don't want a conflict. I got I got that. I just didn't I thought we were being pretty explicit from the jump that actually it shouldn't be in schools. It shouldn't be in schools. By the way, it shouldn't be in schools. You know, so yeah. >> I think I'm remembering both of these things. An intensive conversation around this. Agreement that we don't want them in schools and Dr. Lewis's feedback on it. I wonder if we could I mean, I also don't want them in schools and in other places the policy we set about expectations even though we don't think they're going to follow them, but we put them in policy to state this is what we want.

205Um so we could here also state that they are supposed to contact the superintendent's office and present to admit you know to central office but then clearly also state how principals and other school administrators need to respond if they don't do that. Cuz I just want this to also be clear guidance for those that are on the ground so they're not confused um about what to do if and when they do present at schools. So I'd be open to that as some kind of a middle ground to both protect our administrators but establish a clear expectation that it is our preference that they start with central office. Don't know how others feel about that but >> May I make a suggestion? In reading the the provision sort of all together um I think it talks

206about the immigration officers shall contact the superintendent's office etc. and report to the main office before visiting a school. I think the rest of this provision is just about before visiting a school whereas if you're reporting to the main office you're already in the school and so what if you just took out report to the school's main office? Just say before you even arrive we expect that you make contact with someone and have a conversation on the phone. Um because then the rest of this talks about what to happen when they what happens when they show up. >> Yeah and that may have been why it confused me especially cuz it says report to the school's main office before you visit a school which is like a don't go there but if you're there go

207to the office. I mean yeah. So if it just said you're supposed to contact the superintendent or principal before visiting a school. And that's what this provision is about and then what happens when they show up physically is covered in the rest of it. >> Board, any thoughts or consensus around those shifts? Ms. Carter Otten looks like you're ready to say something. >> I was going to say that feels comfortable to me and I was curious to know if anybody disagrees with that or could show a thumbs up, thumbs down, or share thoughts around it. >> Ms. Chavez, do you have a comment or Okay. Go ahead. On this one? On this >> Yes, I just wanted to hear from Dr. Lewis your thought on this. I'm not adding. I just wanted to hear your

208thought on that. >> I was going to punt it to um Keep I want to call you Detective Bynum but still check. Sure you saw plenty of warrants, right? And so how does how does this sit with you in terms of I know this is about the federal immigration um any feedback? >> And can you introduce yourself for everyone who's welcome to your first meeting? >> Yes. Oh, here we go. Um I am Miklo Bynum. Um I appreciate uh you all having me here. Of course, um the new executive safety and security. I do have some feedback on this and I was kind of brought up to speed within my last 2 weeks about this. Um and I have you know, of course, been on several warrants and dealing with ICE and the whole immigration.

209Um what I will say is usually once uh federal agent law enforcement period come to the school, um I would say the administration probably wouldn't want I mean probably wouldn't differentiate between if this ICE sheriff's office, police department. So by time they even entered, they're already in the school by time you even think about this because they used to just letting law enforcement within the school. So to say, you know they need to go down to the district prior to usually they're already in the school because you're just going invite law enforcement in and the principal secretary most likely they see a uniform, some type of uniform, they kind of put them all together in one. So, when we're looking at it, they're already inside the school. So, if we're saying go talk to the

210district, but now we're saying get out of my school, which the confrontation is now starting to build. We're telling them get out of my school, you need to go to the district, and they're already in the school at this point. Um, so I would say, you know, I did say, you know, you kind of want to keep your administrative out of being in confrontational situations and trying to tell a federal agent or any law enforcement what you need to do. Um, those things and it kind of puts them in a compromising situation because ultimately the federal agent know what they can and cannot do when it comes there to it. Um, most administration wouldn't be able to tell and understand if this is a valid warrant, if it's not a valid warrant, if it's administrative

211warrant just for reasons to be ordered or is actually a arrest warrant. All those things come into play and you when you kind of putting it in the administrative hands uh right then to make these decisions and have kind of compromising altercations, you know, uh it kind of put them in a situation where resist, delay, and obstruct comes into play and all these different things where they have to answer to this. So, um yeah, I would say, you know, kind of saying going to the district level they're already in the building it's kind of, you know, numb and void. >> Even if it is a signed judicial warrant, which we've given them examples of um, you know, from a principal's standpoint if they show a signed judicial warrant and we have them here, you have

212to still have to report to the district office, would they leave at that point? >> Probably not. They have certain policies they have to to go by, but ultimately if it's a signed warrant and they have reasonable belief that this person is here and most of the time when it comes to warrants, they already did their due diligence and their homework in as to you may not even know they're on your campus. They may already actually looking to see if this individual is walking in the school. So they already kind of have done the intel and that's the reason why they're there because they've done the intel already prior to even come to the school, to be honest. >> And that's where the conflict comes in with our current guidance is that you know, we've

213trained the principals and you know, here's an example of a signed judicial warrant, you send that in to the district office or attorneys to to verify if it is indeed one. So now we're saying you know, seems like whether you have a judicial warrant or not, still report to the district office. >> Colleagues, questions, thoughts? Feel like that might bring up more questions for me, but I know we've been working on this policy for a while, but I'm going to go to Mr. Tab cuz it seems like he's ready. >> Thank you. So I just been listening to the conversation. I want to be clear that Mr. Bottom, Mr. Byers, you were saying that you don't want them to go to the school, you want they need to go to central, come to central office

214and what Mr. Bottom, you were saying is that once they get to the school, they're at the school and there's no need for them or they're probably not going to leave the school to come go to the central office. Is that I just want to be clear, make it simple. >> What I'm saying is at this point, usually once they're at the school, administrative seeing, you know, it's it's not a a poster saying, "Hi, I'm ICE, and I'm not Durham PD. I'm not the sheriff's office. I'm not this, you know." And then usually, by the time you even figure out that they are, you know, um ICE, they're inside the actual facility already, what I'm saying. So, but now what we're saying we're we're going to do is tell them you need to leave and

215go down to the district when they're already inside the building. That's what I'm saying. >> And the conversation has been that Dr. Lewis, not just be just want to be clear, that you were and the team were okay with them being at the school, but it was Miss um Well, I mean, by it was your understanding that they would go to central office. And that's what we're just trying to clean up. Is that Is that accurate? >> I I think that's accurate. I think that's that language is mirrored in here twice. It's for the federal law enforcement officers, and then it's mirrored again with this immigration issue. I guess what I'm really here feeling a conflict with is we're telling them not to come, but we're also telling them to report to the main office.

216Like, so the sentence seems to be in conflict with itself. Am I Am I maybe the only one that is struggling with that? Um And I don't want to make it harder for our principals. I want it to be crystal clear. Um It like And it maybe the word report in there you should report to those school office. Well, that's kind of telling them where to show up, that verb itself. I don't know. I just Maybe I maybe just need to see how it plays out. >> Ms. Carter, um Um I agree with you, Board Member Bayer, and I think I heard that our attorney did as well. And so, I'm wondering if we could just remove that clause and report to the school's main office before visiting a school, and if that would clear

217things up to where it says the expectation is they go to superintendent's office, but then all the following language is what happens if they do go to the school. School staff shall immediately notify the principal. The principal should be the primary point of contact and what the principal should do. So, then it's clear that like we're saying you should be going and you could I guess change shall to should. Like you should go to the superintendent's office, but then there's clear language there to state say they just show up at the school. We're not saying turn them away. We're saying if they show up at the school, here's now clear guidance for what the principal does. And I think the problem, the confusing part here that Board Member Bayer's naming is and report to the

218school's main office before visiting a school because we just said they should go to the superintendent's office. >> Well, I I will say my read of it is that they should contact the superintendent's office, and I I agree with the staff that sending them on a goose chase around town is not going to put anyone in a good light, but um so, yeah, I would one option would be to just say take out report to the school's main office. So, it's contact the superintendent's office before visiting a school. >> Then number two gives the school staff direction if they show up to the school. >> And then I'll argue their other point, which I don't want to keep belaboring this one word, but we do want something that as much as possible holds them in

219the office, rather than dispersing them out. So, that was the other reason it referred to the main office. Like, we were all the stuff was supposed to go on in the main office. They weren't supposed to be going down the halls. They weren't supposed to be interacting with general student body. So, maybe anyway, and maybe this is the best we can do. I don't know. I just >> Yeah, I I also certainly think it's fine to keep it the way it is. >> You said one more time? >> Yes, the way it's drafted here, I think is also fine. We're just looking for options. >> Other questions or comments on this language? Um, we have a proposal to leave it just as it is. Also, a proposal to remove the report to the school's main

220office. Um, I'm looking at my colleagues. If you would like to keep the language as it is, if you can give me a thumbs up. >> I just want to note that the immigration officer shall remain in the administrative office is already in number five. >> In number five, uh, what five? Which five? F5? >> I'm okay either way. I do think I hear what board member Byers flagged about it potentially being confusing. So, if we think that, we take it out and it's already named below in number five, clearly the thing to stay in the administrative office while the principal does the things. >> Um. >> Okay. The Just a comment on that. Like, yes, it's in five. I think just in a order of operations, having it in the front would just be

221helpful so people kind of know. I think generally speaking, principals are probably going to say, "I need you to come in a conference room and sit down so I can do all the things I need to do." But, I understand why we want to keep that clear in policy. So, um, I just want to check again, are we hearing that folks want to keep it as it is? Uh I saw a yes. Okay, so I see three thumbs up. So, that means there's not a full consensus there. Is there a recommendation to do something different? This is the Chavez. >> Can we read the sentence if we add the contact? >> Contact the superintendent's office? >> And what How would we change it? That's what I'm saying. Can we just read >> Um for Ms.

222Dubosson's recommendation is what you're asking? Can you say what your recommendation would be? >> Then it would read, "Immigration officers shall except in exigent circumstances contact the superintendent's office, school principal, or other appropriate school administrator before visiting a school." Then it becomes about advanced notice. >> Give a thumbs up to that. >> Can I add another one that may be even more helpful? Um immigration officers shall except in exigent circumstances contact the superintendent's office or other district school administrators before visiting a school. It takes the school office out of it. It takes the school principal out of it. >> I like that because then in two it says exactly what's supposed to happen if they appear at the school site. And also says that in number three and it kind of goes into tells of

223what happens then, but it starts off very clearly stating that the expectation is they contact the superintendent or district first. >> But we also would need to track change that up in the >> Okay. >> Um um in the other portion. Are we asking for both? Right, so in in under D. local state federal law enforcement for non-school related matters also has similar language. Are we asking to change them both or we just asking to change in F? Just so I can be clear. >> I think just >> Just in F. >> I think just F because our local law enforcement may contact the SRO, may contact the principal. >> I agree. I do think it's different. >> F, all right. So, um Dr. Lewis, can you read that one more time? >> Um immigrant

224immigration officers shall except in extended circumstances contact the superintendent office or other district administrators before visiting a school. >> Um board members, are we good with that change? Colleagues? Um could we add then just in that second bullet principal shall notify migration officers school staff should immediately notify principals and it could be officers are to remain in the front office or remain out of sight of students or something along those lines in that second line. >> Like move number five up and add it to number two. >> Yes. Or you can move it up or um or just add the >> Uh maybe not the whole thing cuz it's while the principal collects information or views >> Yes, maybe yeah. >> What about a number two? The principal shall shall ask the officers to remain

225outside or in the main office. >> Sounds great. >> And immediately notify the blah blah blah. >> Yes, Collins. >> Yes, all right. Sounds good. >> Hold on, let me write it down. >> Working it out as we go along tonight on the second reading. >> What would you like? >> The principal shall ask the officers to remain outside or in the main office and immediately notify the >> I like the wording but I guess what I'm trying to get at is compromising your administrative staff tell someone to get out. Um I guess that's Try not to compromise the staff in being in positions to tell someone to get out of the building, you know, a federal agent and they have reasoning to be, you know, to be there. I guess that's what I'm trying

226to get >> I think it's a I think we're concerned that folks wouldn't have reason to be there. They're just there because and then I think that's, you know, we're not telling you to say get out, what I'm saying is, you know, I need you to step outside while I do my due diligence on my end to make sure that we follow in the processes and procedures. >> Or wait right here. >> Wait right here. >> Not step outside. Wait, wait right here. >> I think it's a you know, we I have to do my due diligence. I have rules I need to follow. I need you to stay right here. Um but you also, you know, probably need support from other folks, but I think living in a time where the rules and expectations

227aren't being followed, I think it's we want to be as clear as possible and if that helps on the back end in a someone's case, like we want to be really clear on what's going on. All right, any other comments, questions, concerns, Ms. Chavez? >> Um just want to say as we talk about different strategies for keeping our kids in schools, hopefully this strengthening this policy will be will be one that only further supports our attendance. Um I wanted to look real quick at D 5 D7. Um this piece was added with the exception of the principal who must be present during the questioning as provided in section D7 above, but I believe that's supposed to say D3. >> I believe that's right. >> Okay, that's a typo. >> So okay, just adjusting that and

228then um the parallel to that below F12 to that section, not the not the part I read, but the section. Where it says questioning by immigration officers should be conducted in a private room or area removed from observation by or contact with other students and school personnel. Um we don't have a piece around principals being able to be in the room with a student who would be questioned for the F immigration enforcement part. Um but can we remove the and school personnel piece so that it would not preclude the possibility of a principal being present in that questioning of a student? And just I guess building off of that, is there is there a reason why we wouldn't allow principals >> I think you you do have it. It's under it's above. Under number nine,

229in cases where the parent cannot be reached, the principal must be present. >> Okay, I thought I read it earlier and then I couldn't find it. Okay, so, um Okay, so then in that case can the language of F12 near D7 with the exception of the principal like um or and other school personnel with the exception of the principal who may be present may be present during the questioning as provided in section F9 above? >> I think that's I think that's good. But you're changing them you're taking the one from seven above and replicating it but you're changing the must to may. Is that correct? >> That's right. >> Yeah. I think that's >> Do you need me to repeat it at all? >> Or folks need that repeated or Okay. Uh go ahead. >>

230Repeat it. >> One more time. >> It's like Mr. White has something to share. Mr. White, you have to come to the mic. >> sir. >> Um good afternoon, everyone. Good evening. If you want to add principal, I just would ask if you can add and designate in the event that the principal is away from the campus. >> Yes, I think we have the section above that Didn't we have the section above that clarifies that principal means or designee throughout? Okay. Mhm. Um so again, that would be Going back and forth. With um a private room or area removed from observation by or contact with other students and other school personnel with the comma with the exception of the principal comma who may be present during the questioning as provided in section F9 F.9 above.

231Good. >> Comments on that? All right. Any other changes we want to propose? Motion to approve with the amendments that we've made tonight. >> Make a motion that we approve policy 5120 for second reading with the amendments made tonight. >> Second. >> It's been moved by by Mr. Rogers seconded by Ms. Carol Goff and Ms. Carter Arden. Any other questions? >> I need to check on Dr. Pittman. >> Yes. >> You you good Okay. All right. I thought you still writing. >> I do have one question. What happens after we pass this policy? How is that communicated with staff um families etc. >> I think um we will take a look at this policy and see where would uh revisions need to be made to our existing guidance and and make those um revisions. Um

232and we can have some additional conversations as it relates to um cuz we typically don't communicate with families when we pass a policy. So we maybe just have some different conversation about that communication looks like. >> Um yes and what we don't traditionally it might be something for us to consider especially as the policies that are impacting families right and students and then how do we also communicate that in a way that's accessible I think to families and students. Um our policy legalities is can be complicated and so how do we do it in a way that just feels easy. Um so people understand. Any other comments, Miss uh Byer? >> Yeah, I think one of the most important things that is a small sentence in here that we added and wrestled with how to

233say was that Is it F-15? Oh. ginormous policy standard response protocols will be followed if immigration officers appear at a school site or are otherwise present on or near school property. And I think that notion alone is going to be helpful for our families to know quickly um that that's new and what that might look like. That that I think is really really a critical improvement. Thank y'all. >> Carol Goff Um I'm speaking real green on this, but I like how um we had the key policy revisions and it was bulleted, you know, kind of simple language I think that's something that can easily be pulled. And a suggestion might be to do it through social media or on the website. You know, have a place on the website where there's just a a notice.

234Um policy such and such and such and such, check out the key policy amendments or something like that. Just so that, you know, something simple. >> All right. Any other comments, discussion? All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed say the same sign. It passes unanimously. All right. The next item on our agenda is for information only, so we have grants, gifts, and donations. The next item on our agenda is um a closed session. >> I move that we go into closed session for the reasons stated in the agenda. >> Second. >> It's moved by Miss Carol Goff and seconded by Miss Byer that we go into closed session for the reasons stated on the agenda. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor, excuse me, say I. >> I. >>

235Any opposed, same sign. We're now moved into closed session. It passes unanimously. Um good night everyone who's streaming. We will not come back to the live stream after closed session. Thank you.