001Mhm. >> Good evening everyone. The Durham Public Schools Board of Education budget hearing is now in session. At this time we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who's joining us this evening. The interpreters for tonight are Yvette Perez and Karen Reyes. Thank you all for taking the time to join us. The next item on our agenda is a moment of silence. I will acknowledge while we take this moment of silence. We have a Durham Public Schools graduate Riverside graduate who passed away tragically this week Trooper State Trooper Mr. Perry and so I want to acknowledge him and his family who are DPS part of our DPS family as we take this moment of silence. And so excuse me we also had a Durham School of Technology teacher who also her and her husband
002tragically passed away um in the past week or so. So when I acknowledge both of them as we take this moment of silence. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is agenda review and approval. Move approval of the agenda as presented. Second. It's been moved by Ms. Byers, seconded by Ms. Rogers that we approve the agenda as presented. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed, please use the same sign. It passes unanimously. That's going to be a 4-0 vote. We have a couple of board members who'll be joining us a little later this evening. The next item on our agenda is a I think brief presentation from Mr. Cheater, our CFO. I'm going to pass it over to you right now, Mr. Cheater. All right, thank you,
003Chairwoman Stead, board members, and Dr. Lewis. Um, I think we have um an attachment of the phase one of the superintendent's recommended budget um in IT's hands and if they can queue that up. Um, and so I just want to preface, you know, that this document um is the uh same document that we looked at at the board meeting just a few days ago uh and I've been working uh closely with Dr. Lewis um and and reviewing feedback that we've received from a a variety of stakeholders uh to inform what phase two is going to look like um and that will um publish with the board materials. So, usually those materials publish Monday evening and so we're um pulling that pulling that together um and and trying to have that ready uh to be reactive.
004Um, we also want to take into account, you know, we'll have some additional feedback tonight. Pleased to see uh the crowd. We had I think three comments last time um we um went this route and so I'm looking forward to some feedback tonight um that we can take into account as I work with the budget team to finalize uh the document um over the course of the day tomorrow. Um And so with all that said, um we can uh advance uh into a believe it is on page eight or so um or really page nine of the document. Um if we will move forward there, um just a little farther. Um So we can go one more page, please. Maybe one more. Uh uh thank you. Okay, we're there. Um and so we um So
005obviously this is um right, we we discuss very often um continuation costs and and the reality um that we wrestle with um as as a public school system as we all do across the state that we go first um in the budget development process. Um we don't know um we don't know what um things are going to look like for the county, although we did get a little bit of a preview uh of of Durham County's forecast um at the meeting last week, but we started this process some time ago um and didn't have that at the beginning of the process per se. Um we're unclear uh what the state will be doing. Um so normally uh for the public's knowledge, we would be operating from year two of a two-year state budget and um
006for all intents and purposes, we're in year zero. Um and so it just did not come together and uh naturally we're um very keenly watching um the state to see what might happen over the next couple of months. Um if there's going to be any kind of direction, um I think we've got a um very closely watched, very tight result um with a critical primary um in in uh Senate District 26 um that I think has some bearings for how the state activity might shake out. And so we're we're monitoring that and just the the information that we're receiving is that what we get from the state budget largely hinges upon the outcome of that particular election. So, um that's where I'll kind of park politics for now. Um and so we um so we
007just sort of assume um in these situations assume certain scenarios um that are that are that are possible, but also scenarios that are um a little more on the higher end that we have seen historically. And so as such, um you know, we're we're preparing for a 5% uh increase for certified and classified in the absence of better information from the state of North Carolina. Um also anticipating the usual increases in in benefit rates like state retirement and health insurance. Um so we went for the sort of more aggressive end um in increases there that we have to prepare for. Um so as they make changes um that impact state-funded employees, we account for those implications to touch our employees that are paid from other sources like our local funds. Um and then certainly um
008other things out of our control at this time that we're preparing for um are just potential increases um in utilities um as Duke Energy's pursuing um sort of con- continues to pursue record increases in rates um and our insurance carriers are always pressuring um the Department of Insurance for increases uh to property and auto um insurance rates and so forth in North Carolina. Uh and so we we have some new new leaders um in in the state of North Carolina that affect those spaces. And so we're not entirely confident how they'll react as they receive these various pressures um from these entities. So, um we're sort of planning on the higher end for those items as well to make sure that we don't have surprises uh as we enter the next budget season. Uh with
009that said, the um the next sort of section um that we look at, right, is the expansion uh component of the budget. Um and so this first the first item obviously there right is the space where we've had um, sort of tremendous conversation um, and this is space um, where we're um, even seeing news as recently as last evening. Um, them so just we're aware that our our partners at Duke University announced a $20 an hour minimum wage for their full-time employees. Um, and so we're still um, doing some research there to see also it wasn't clear if that also touched their part-time employees. And so uh, continuing to kind of do some homework there to figure out sort of the situation there. So just another partner um, and competitor in our space um, that's
010that's pushing in that direction. And so we're um, sort of sitting with that um, carefully um, as we develop the second phase of the recommended budget. And so as a reminder this is a repeat of of sort of the same materials we saw last week. Uh, and so we're reflecting um, the request for additional local dollars to ensure that we would have the ability to at least do the 5% in the absence of the state of North Carolina taking some sort of action um, to benefit our classified employees. Um, also lifting up the uh, transportation safety assistant supplement at $100. Um, as as I shared at the last board meeting um, this is an item um, that that really that did come onto our radar um, as a result of the meet and confer process
011and the advocacy uh, that came from DAE. And so it's not quite the $200 um, but it's it's currently uh, the $100 recommendation on the part of the superintendent uh, where that item is concerned. On the next uh, item down on the page um, we sort of lift up occupational and physical therapists and we've received a great deal of feedback uh, regarding that sector of our workforce um, and the role that they play in the the health and the safety um, of our students and and the cost of of a potential uh, salary schedule change there of 269730 in the in the phase two will be lifting up at the work session conversation around what that might look like for occupational therapy assistants and physical therapy assistants a smaller you know both of these are
012smaller groups but this is that's an even smaller group to work with and we'll share with the board sort of some cost estimates at the work session of what it might look like to make a change for those employees as well and wanted to make sure that we're sensitive and reactive to the feedback that we received at the last meeting where that's concerned. If we can advance towards the bottom of the next page just sort of um we we had some conversation about the need to reorganize the human resources operation and so I know I can I feel comfortable sharing this evening right the Dr. Lewis and I had some conversation around that and and we are likely not to push that forward as an expansion request per se but we will work within our
013existing central office resources perhaps to make available the necessary FTEs to support human resources and and what of those positions that were requested are sort of the most critical to move the HR operation forward and so that's so just wanted to lift up that this may be something that does not move forward um as an additional ask of the county when we move forward to phase two and that will certainly help us to sort of sharpen up our request and allow us to press in on some other priorities that have come forward to administration and to the board if we can advance to page 12 sort of near the bottom of page 12 we sort of spent some time in the capital outlay space right and so this is the area where we often are
014making reference to the care of our facilities and we have a number of funding streams that we discussed at the budget town hall with the community and with the board about resources made available to us and so we had some conversation about technology as a part of the request this year and so I will share that right the board challenged us to do some homework around how it might look like if we were to phase in devices at particular grade levels and so with the work session we're sort of prepared to to talk through the board about 6 12 versus K5 and so you know so working with Dr. Lewis kind of taking leadership on what that might look like for the school system. So just want you to know that that's a space where
015we're sharpening our pencil for the for the second iteration of the draft budget and so from there um if we sort of roll on to the next page, you know, so these totals have not changed but there's the potential here that that these numbers will shift in in some form or fashion at the work session for us to receive feedback at that point in time but as it stands, you know, so just a little bit shy of 16 million additional request for current expense and then an additional 3.7 million for capital outlay. I think I will end my remarks there. I know we've got a large crowd and and I just want to allow sufficient time to hear from our partners who are here this evening and we can take good notes on their feedback
016rolling forward. Thank you Mr. Teeter. That concludes your portion of the presentation. We're going to now move into the public comment. I'm going to do a quick review of the rules before we get started. First, please state your name and if you're speaking for an organization, please state your name and the name of the organization. Second, speakers are asked to present their comments within we're going to 2 minutes this evening. When the yellow light comes on, you'll have 1 minute left to start winding up your remarks. When the red light comes on, it will beep, which indicates your time is up. Excuse me. Complaints about named staff, students, or parents should not be voiced in open session. However, we're very interested in hearing your concerns and ideas in regard to the budget, public education, safety
017of students, or to the operations of the school system. Finally, board members will listen carefully and consider your comments, but we do not engage in discussions with speakers. I'm going to call three names at a time just so you kind of know where you are in the order. I'm going to start with Millie Rosen, Maria Lopez, and Yamileth Ramirez. Hi, Millie Rosen, member of DAE, um proud math teacher at DSA, and I'm going to cede to Maria. Uh good evening. My name is Maria Lopez. I'm a custodian at Eastway Elementary. I was previously at Giddens, but now I'm at Eastway. hablar o a participar sobre de los injusto que están haciendo porque yo trabajaba en Giddens yo de 8 horas yo hacía extra trabajo yo hacía como 22 salones más librería más puertas más vidrios
018más si falta otra compañera me dan cuatro salones extra y era mucho cansado yo llegaba con mis hijos >> [laughter] >> I'm here this evening to talk to you about injustices that I have faced. Like I said, I used to work at Giffords. I had an 8-hour shift, but I often had to work extra hours. I was responsible for cleaning 22 rooms in a shift. On top of those 22 rooms, I had to clean doors, I had to clean the library, I had to clean windows. And sometimes if one of my colleagues was absent, I would have to clean additional rooms, up to four additional rooms in a shift. Um when I finished my shift, I would come home exhausted. I would come home to my children, to um my spouse exhausted and stressed out.
019Um I suffered from pain in pains in my arm. Um it was it got to the point that my husband was telling me you should quit this job. Um it's it's too much work. Uh it's it's too much for you. And I told him I I don't What choice do I have? I have to work. Um we have expenses as a family, our household, our home. Um we need to pay bills. If I don't work, we can't cover those bills. Um so I decided to look for work that would be less hours. I thought maybe I could find uh a different job that would be um lighter work, that would be less hours. Um but the truth is that the pay is not enough for how hard we have to work. Um we don't earn
020enough to be able to cover our own expenses. And so my ask today is um you know, where can I go to get a job that is going to have a better pay that I can actually afford the expenses that my family has? Okay, eso es todo. Le paso mi el tiempo a Yamilet. Um and I'm sorry the interpreter missed one line from the the last thing. It was um so what can those who are in charge, those who are above us, um can who are in charge of things, what can you all do so that people like me don't suffer so much? Um and I'm going to cede the rest of my time to Yamilet. Miss Smith, how much time is left on the clock? Okay. So Yamilet, you'll have 51 seconds of additional
021time. Um and we also have our interpreter here to uh interpret for you. Okay. Mi nombre es Yamilet. Soy custodia de Gittens. Acabo de renunciar la semana pasada. Uh my name is Yamilet. I'm a custodian at Givens and I just quit last week. Our January checks were were less than what we were owed. The supervisor said that the partial pay was limited to 80 hours. There isn't enough staff and so we are all having to work extra hours. Often up to 10 hours on top of our 20 hours that's that's our normal time and we're not being paid now for those extra hours. There are also many of us who haven't been paid when we have to work on weekends because there are basketball games. We're we're being ignored. We're being ignored by our supervisors
022and also by the administration. The superintendent and district leaders have said that they will take care of this. They will fix it and that if we have problems we should call the person from the administration who takes care of payroll. But what can we do if we don't get a response from them? So now we got our February checks and we didn't have the extra pay. My January check was for $1,100. That was 300 less than it should have been. >> It's not enough for me to be able to pay my rent and prices are going up and up. The stress is starting to affect my health. I had to quit finally so that I could take care of my own health. There are also other people who are quitting because they don't have any
023other option and they can find better jobs that pay better in other places. I quit on Friday. My colleague who is pregnant quit on Monday because she started to have contractions and it's too much work. The work is too heavy for the the salary that we received. They told her they were making her do the work that should have been done by three people while she was pregnant. We need leadership to make sure that our checks are being made out for the correct amount. We shouldn't have to call more than five times and get four different answers about you know what our pay is going to be or why the pay was incorrect. We should be paid correctly on time for all of the hours that we have worked. Uh and now I'm sorry. I'm
024going to have to cut you off there. Um I see you do have written remarks. If you want to submit them, we can take those as well. So we can follow up. I will say if anyone um is having issues with the payroll checks, uh please reach out to our payroll department. I would even go as far as to reach out to Mr. Teter. We will ensure that translation services are are there as well. We want to make sure we can communicate that with our staff. Yep. If matter of fact, at this meeting, if you can leave Mr. Teter the info, we'll make sure we have translation services there to address that. Okay, let's take a brief pause. I do want to make sure that folks can't The interpretation is not working for those who
025are watching us. So, I want to take a brief pause to make sure that that is working before we get started again. So, let's take a recess and then we'll get back in. >> Mhm. >> Okay. We are back. We are going to do a little testing to see and sure that our interpretation is working. Test, test. Can you all hear? No. No. Okay, so let's pause and we're going to make sure that works. All right, so we'll do another quick recess to make sure it works. Since the system check in. >> Mhm. >> All right, we are back. Our interpretation is now working. All right. So, we're going to go to our next group of speakers. We have Yamileth, then we'll have Mika Tweetmeyer, Jen Painter will be next. I I am a custodian
026at Eastway and I come to share a a couple of thing a couple of convenient No. So, Yamileth? Okay, and so then we have Mika Tweetmeyer, Jen Painter. Uh, Asu Asusena? Asusena Chavez. Okay, there we go. Good evening, Mica Tweet Meyer, president Durham Association of Educators. I cede my time to Jen Painter. Good evening, Jen Painter, Jordan High School ESL DAE member. I cede my time to Asusena Chavez. I am a custodian at Eastway and I come to share a couple of things, a couple inconvenience in regards of my work um, across um, couple of things that have developed and with a couple of workers in regards of the cleaning. Um, there's a couple points, important points that we should um, do at our work. For example, the hours, the normal hours or the extra
027hours. It's very stressful in our job daily. Um, superiors tell us that we that we they are paying us at least 80 hours a month. Um, and sometimes it's less hours and less of work that and less hours of work. Um, there's very little personnel in the cleaning and more work to do for us. And even on top of that, the pay is less and it's necessary for us to finish everything on top of those hours. My job is um, part-time and it's only 4 hours, which I realize once I'm done with work daily. Um, it is it is very true that the mayor the majority of uh, others workers are better paid and much better job a and less pay. It is necessary to give us more hours at work and raise the pay
028to retain uh, ourselves personally every day in the area of the educators um priority in the at work is to realize that the Board of Education This is for a better salary and justice. Um that's why uh some of us are lifting our voices to tell you guys to for a better pay and more hours at work. She also wanted to share that her daily work consists of 11 rooms, one hallway, eight bathrooms in each of the 11 hall rooms every day and she has to do that in 4 hours which requires more time. It's not enough. She also has to take out the trash, sweep, mop, wipe windows if they are dirty and she gets tired. She gets tired when she she gets home and she is a single mom with kids as well.
029She remains there because she needs that job and she has been working there for 4 years. That would be it. for the moment. Thank you. Is there additional time, Ms. Smith? Okay. Mi nombre es Azucena Chavez Trejo. Um soy custodian de la escuela Eastway. Y vengo a compartir algunos de los muchos inconvenientes en cuanto al trabajo que desarrollamos como trabajadoras en lo que es la limpieza. Hay puntos muy importantes que se deben tomar por nuestro trabajo. Las horas normales y las horas extras. Es estresante el trabajo diario. Superiores dicen que no se pagará más Caroline Herbert Hi, my name is Jen Lee. I'm a media coordinator at Rogers-Herr Middle School and a DAE member and I'd like to cede my time to Kim Gugino. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, and Dr. Lewis.
030My name is Kim Gugino and I proudly serve as the high school media coordinator at Durham School of the Arts and Thank >> My name is Kim Gigueno and I proudly serve as the high school media coordinator at Durham School of the Arts as well as as the DPS high school media lead. I'm also speaking tonight on behalf of our middle school teacher librarian Jenny Umberger who is unable to attend. Uh we have just wrapped up Library Lovers Month in February and I truly appreciate the opportunity to share some of DPS's library love tonight. My hope is that the board, Dr. Lewis, and all stakeholders will continue to prioritize our library media centers by hiring and retaining licensed media coordinators and by providing adequate funding for books, programming, and resources that support literacy instruction in
031every school. I'm here to ask that you continue to protect that what what matters most uh to the students who need it most, their school library media centers, and the resources they provide. Our library media centers are not quiet rooms with dusty books. They are active, vibrant parts of the school day. Here are just a few examples from our secondary schools across the district. At Hillside, passive programming like puzzles and art stations along with partnerships with teen librarians at Stanford Warren um public library have created um lunchtime programs that have significantly significantly increased student engagement. At Jordan, circulation has increased 74% compared to this time last year. They have uh hosted an exhibit on North Carolinians who experienced the Holocaust, one of our several programs that helped push their uh door count to above 13,000
032visits uh to date this year. At Riverside, students participated in an author visit by Helena Haywood Henry through a collaboration with First Book and Penguin Random House. They're also partnering with uh News Literacy Project and engaging uh the entire student body with the Kids Voting Durham County Participatory Participatory Budgeting Process. At Northern, circulation has increased 33% from last year. Students are excited about reading and regularly gather in the library to share and discuss books with their peers. And at DSA, the library hosted the Kids Voting Durham School Board Candidate Forum and supported more than 1,000 students participating in the recent Kids Voting Durham election. And we are also collaborating with our ELA teachers to apply science of reading strategies and using our collections to meet the diverse needs of all of our students. We understand
033the board is facing extremely difficult budget decisions. Cutting library funding or positions means cutting access to books, technology, trusted adults, and stability for the students who rely on us most. In Durham Public Schools, we value equity. Our library media centers are where equity happens. As you set budget priorities, please remember that every child deserves access to resource resource resource-rich libraries. That's a tongue twister. And librarians who know students. Thank you for your time and for your leadership. I'll give the rest of my time to the next person. Carolyn Herbert. Good evening. My name is Carolyn Herbert and I am one of two school library media coordinators at Hillside High School. I'm also a parent of a student at Riverside High School and a proud member of DAE. Throughout my 21 years in DPS library media
034centers, first at Oak Grove Elementary and now for the last 9 years at Hillside, my students have benefited greatly from our school receiving the full per capita media budget. Thank you for continuing to fully fund our library media centers year after year. With this funding, I have been able to maintain a collection of current, relevant, high-quality materials for both leisure reading and instruction. As an International Baccalaureate School, this is especially important. All 10th grade students in our middle years program engage in the personal project, an exploratory research paper on a topic of their own personal choosing. That is every 10th grader in our school. Our 11th and 12th grade students in the diploma program complete a multitude of research papers, including a college level 4,000 word extended essay involving in-depth academic research. Our school library
035media center is an invaluable resource for them because we have consistently received our full funding allotment. All of my students can find books that are mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors because we are able to provide a diverse collection that reflects both the cultures within our building, which are changing every day, and those out in the wider world. Thank you for enabling our school library media centers to truly be hubs for learning. Thank you. And our last two speakers will be Heidi Jo Hetland and Kristy Clem. Good evening and thanks for allowing us the opportunity to speak. I'm Heidi Jo Hetland, um a physical therapist of 35 years unbelievably, and I've been with DPS for 4 years. I'm a DAE member, and I'm a parent of two DPS grads from different schools. Uh the therapists,
036as you know, of um PT, OT, um and our OT assistants have shown up at these meetings for the past 2 years after the pay debacle, which is still can be seen being referred to as a payroll error. I can count on my hand on one hand the number of times um my lead has missed these meetings in the past 2 years. She has been relentless. It is unrelate It is related but unrelated to her job, and she has tirelessly been working to get the data for not just therapists, but for all the classified staff over the past couple years on her weekends and her evenings. Um our PT team is much smaller than OT. We are um last year at this time we were a team of eight, and right now we are a
037team of five. We did not fill empty positions, and we have somebody out on leave, and so there's five of us covering the whole district at a time that is very heavy on IEP meetings and other things that need to be done um during that fourth quarter. Um we have one therapist who is leaving at the end of this year, and there are at least one other therapist who is approaching retire- retirement age, and without the proposed changes to the therapist salary schedule, these positions will not be filled, students' IEP services will go unmet, and these children's need will not be met. We show up for our students and teams daily. Evening and weekend hours are spent at home doing documentation that is necessary to comply with IEPs, DPS, DPI rules and regulations, as well
038as our individual licenses. We show up at continuing education courses that we are required to attend for our professional licenses. We pay out of pocket for them, and we do them on our own time. If we do them during a school day, we are required to make up all the visits we miss for the students. Uh we have shown up relentlessly, and we are asking the board to show up for us now. Thank you. Hello, Krista Klem, physical therapist, member of DAE. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. Um I don't know if there's a whole lot I can say after Heidi Jo just went. Uh we have a very dedicated group. I definitely um really hope the occupational therapy assistants are considered. There's no PT assistants. I think there's six COTAs. It's a very
039small group, and you know, like I said last time, they are the workhorse with the therapy services that they're providing. Um so please keep OT, PT, and COTAs at the forefront during this. But I also want to speak on all classified all classified staff. Um folks I interacted with today custodians to help make sure I had a clean floor to sit to work with a child who can't sit up by themself yet. Where people in the warehouse. Country who helps me over there almost every day moving equipment or getting desks to somebody that need it for the right ergonomics to give them a chance to be independent and participate with peers. Talked to bus staff today. Met with transportation um safety assistants on Tuesday to do a collaborative training to make sure that those folks
040are are able to help keep students safe to get here and to get back home. IT to help with, you know, making sure we can communicate securely with outside providers. Naseeba helps me in IT world on regular basis. There's so many Oh, let's go see um the nutrition staff child I'm sorry I'm blank on the right name right now. Collaborate with them regularly. Let's use this tray. How can I hand a tray to a student so they can be independent and participate? Classified staff across the district in all ways help facility help support our students. Those in EC and those in gen ed. All classified staff. Show that they're a priority. Please don't just say they're priority. I'm I'm so tired of hearing classifieds a priority. Please show something. Do an action that lets classified
041people know they are important. They're the backbone. Teachers, we all know what teachers do. Thank Thank you. And that concludes We'll add one more. Got 2 minutes so you can state your name. Uh and if you represent an organization state your name and the name of the organization. You know the rules so Mr. Mr. Mr. Head. Good evening. Quentin Haden, Riverside High School instructional assistant uh for the EC classroom as well as Durham Association of Educator proud member. Um I don't have enough time to tell you the list and the responsibilities and the duties that we have, but I do have it here in my hand and I want to submit this to you so that you can see firsthand what we do on a daily basis. But also I want you to also understand
042that in the EC classrooms for classified staff, we have been under. And what I mean by that is we have been understaffed for years. And yet we do multiple classrooms which is not part of the requirement here. But it's something that we do because we know in order to make our program successful, we do it anyway. Right now as y'all saw when I came up here, I was limping. I have muscle damage in my left leg. And I still still go to my job, climb my flights of stairs to go to my classroom, go back downstairs to the MU classroom, and do changing which is also part of this and toileting and medication procedures and medical procedures for my kids. I do this on a daily basis. So I want to say first and foremost,
043please let the classified staff really be a priority. Like she said, show us that they are really a priority. And last thing I'm going to say, 5% is not enough. It's not enough. Literally in 5% of what I do, and I've been doing this for 10 years, when I got my tax returns and I got my W-2s, I've been doing this for 12 years now. I'm only making $28,000. I have been given a letter by the state 3 years in a row for foreclosure on my property that I pay a property tax for. And I just luckily get it paid for, and I prioritize my bills and stuff all the time. So, I employ you, please make the classified staff a real priority. Thank you. And that will conclude our public comment on the budget.
044Board member, Miss CR, have any comments this evening? Uh, Miss Byer. So, I want to, um, appreciate everyone who's come out tonight and appreciate, um, the thoughtful ways that you have shared your lived experience with us. Um, that is so helpful as we shape our priorities. Um, I think, um, one thing that continues to come up is is questions about our our living wage, how we can, when the state gives us $15 an hour, how we can maximize our pay for folks. And so, I know that's something that I will be wrestling with, and I know colleagues are, too. Um, I've heard references to our living wage policy and how that aligns with the county's living setting the living wage and how we are behind the county and, um, as having lived that experience of
045having advocated for, uh, raising that for many, many, many, many budget cycles, um, I wrestle with how to how to, um, continue to uplift that and also deal with compression that is so important to deal with and be honest about what we can do and be honest with folks. So, I know I'll be happy to advocate and wrestle with that along with the community and colleagues. Um, I wondered, Mr. Teeter, and this might be a question for you and Dr. Lewis to think about before we meet next, but I I I seem to recall between last week and this week that we had a budget priority last year about EC students and trying to deal with more investment in EC students in a longer-term way that would help us um get near that state cap
046or it you know, you know how that state cap keeps hitting us. And so that's something that I wondered if we had any possibility of of re-looking at. And and I sit with this in knowing how grim the county manager was with her conversation last week, but I thought we might I might as well just put it into the conversation. I I struggle also with the need for a bond because knowing that the average age of our facilities is 60 years plus that we get complaints valid all the time that our HVAC systems and our roofs um need urgent repair. Um I struggle with with making sure that we maintain that need for the county. Um and then as I'm I'm looking at some of the things we've done locally, anything you all might have
047to evaluate whether bonuses and pay that we put in are actually be having the intended effect I think is super helpful. Um but um I really am appreciative of folks that have been able to attend and and bring voice to the needs of folks and I look forward to um folks that weren't able to attend continuing to email us, call us, um be in dialogue as we continue to wrestle with with this budget. So, thank you so much. Uh Ms. Gordon. Um I'll just very briefly um echo the gratitude that um Ms. Byer voiced for everybody that came this evening. It's incredibly helpful for us to hear um how our decisions impact those of you who are working with our students every day and who are in our buildings. Um and it's not easy to
048get up and share your experiences especially when they are painful ones. So, thank you for doing that. Um These are dark times for public education, but having um this organizing and these voices give me hope during these dark times. So, thank you. Any other comments? Again, thank you all who came this evening. We appreciate it. The next step in our budget, there will be a draft, another draft presented at our work session next Thursday. It start at 5:30. We'll be streaming online, but we'll also be here. It's another opportunity to give public comment if you want to come before the meeting and comment on that budget. And then the date for the board to approve the budget is the next meeting in March, which is I don't have off the top of my head. March
04926th. So, that is the time to get feedback to the board so we can be ready to approve that budget. Dr. Lewis, any other comments? Yeah, I just want to send my also my gratitude to the community for coming out and hope this board and community has seen our ways of in terms of increasing engagement from surveys to budget town halls to additional hearings so that we can hear what our priorities should be. And and I hope you truly understand that we are working feverishly to ensure that we are able to show our commitment to our classified workers having lived in Missouri, the "Show Me Show Me State", I get it. You know, we want to show you. And so, we definitely want to want to do that. It's always been my focus even in
050my previous district when there was one pot of money. We always wanted to ensure that our classified staff, our lowest paid workers get the larger percentage of that of that pot. You know, it's definitely no stranger to to my family, my grandmother having spent 40 plus years as a food service worker and to to be in the house and see her come home so tired, you know, I I I understand and we definitely want to make sure that we are addressing our classified staff. Thank you. You. Both of my grandmothers worked in child nutrition as well. Um We could have a whole different conversation about what what else they did before then, right? As domestic workers in the South. Um but anyway, thank y'all again for being here this evening. And with that, we'll close
051our meeting. Thank you.