001Uh, good morning everyone. >> Um, with that we're going to call the Wednesday, November 19th joint meeting of the board of county commissioners and board of education into session. At this time we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who's joining us. We got a full house in person as well as folks who are joining us virtually. The interpreters for today are Consuelo Nordon and Karen Reyes. Thank you all for taking the time to join us. Um, as we get started um on our agenda, I do want to take a moment and acknowledge um what's happening in our community. We know there were several reports of border agents that were seen in our community yesterday who um detained abducted folks from our community. There is fear. We know that it's throughout our community as
002our residents are trying to navigate um what to do and how to operate. These are our neighbors. These are community members. This is our friends. I'm grateful for so many people in Durham who stood up, who are volunteering, who are going out and making sure people are okay. But we cannot start this meeting without acknowledging the fear that's in our community today. I do want to open the floor if um chair alum or I know our superintendent has some remarks regarding schools and families today as well. >> Thank you so much, Chair Mstead. And thank you to all of the elected officials also who showed up and were out in the communities reaching out to our local business owners, reaching out to our neighbors who are most impacted by the presence of CBP and ICE.
003I think it makes me really proud to be a county commissioner here in Durham. really makes me proud to be chair of this board and to serve alongside all of you, but to also serve the amazing residents of Durham County who stepped up and put their bodies on the line to document um the horrendous kidnappings that we were seeing yesterday. Um, and I want our residents to know that they continue to have rights that they if somebody shows up to your home and says they're Customs Border Patrol or ICE, unless they show you a signed warrant from a judge, you do not have to let them into your home. You or your business. Yeah. If it's some private business and also do not you do not have to and you should not sign anything without
004speaking to a lawyer. >> Thank you both so much. I'll definitely echo those comments, but I just want to take a moment to um um reassure and speak to our our families who face difficult decisions whether to send their children to school or not. You know, uh again, we do have protocols in place to keep um all of our students and and staff safe um from visitors. Uh we have protocols that visitors must follow. It doesn't matter who you are, what role you play, um, state, local, federal, you must still follow, um, the same rules and guidelines. And so, we do have protocols in place. I know the concern is ICE showing up at schools. We have specific protocols um, in place um, for uh, to be responsive should that happen. Also, um, again, families
005are battling, do I send my kid to school? but also concerned about you know uh the attendance law and not being penalized in that manner. Please know that if you are concerned about that our schools have already received guidance to support you in that way and so just reach out to your school as you do with any absence uh and we have mechanisms in place under these circumstances that we can support uh our families. Similarly, if you um uh families or or students are experiencing any type of anxiousness or uneasiness, please know that we have trained professional counselors, social workers at our schools that are uh re willing and ready to assist um um when asked and and when needed. So, uh, again, uh, we do want to honor and recognize the heavy weight that
006is playing on our community and so appreciative of our community, uh, as a whole that have, um, just come together to wrap, um, our arms around our students and families. Thank you. >> Right. Thank you all. Um, it's a scary time in our community, but Durham shows up every single time we're faced with a challenge. So, I know we will continue to show up for students, for families, for our neighbors, for our community members. Um, so we are going to go ahead and get started with the rest of our meeting. We have agenda review and approval. >> Madam Chair, move uh to approve the agenda as it stands. >> Second. It's been moved by Vice Chair Rogers and seconded by Chair Alum that we approve the agenda as is. Any discussion? All those in favor
007say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed, please use the same sign. It passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is the approval of meeting minutes from August 12th, 2025. >> Move approval. >> Second. [clears throat] >> Excuse me. It's been moved by Vice Chair Lee and seconded by board member Byer that we approve the minutes from August 12, 2025. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed, please use the same sign. It passes unanimously. Uh the next item on our agenda is DPS capital improvement planning process. We're going to or excuse me and the county capital improvement planning process. So, we'll hear both from Durham Public Schools first, followed by the county. >> Good morning. I am Kenneth Barnes. I had the pleasure of serving as
008a chief operating officer for Durham Public Schools at Durham Public Schools. Uh this morning, Miss Devin Mitchell, our director of uh facilities and planning is going to give us a update on our CL planning process. Devin, >> good morning board, county commissioners, and Dr. Lewis. Thank you for having me. All right. So, today we would like to have a look um at where we stand with our capital improvement plan. We've been working through the development of the plan. Um and while the process um is still ongoing and relatively early, I do think we have an opportunity to um share some highlights from our task force to share some findings that we have thus far, how that relates to our financial need um and also share just some overall goals that we have as part of
009the capital improvement plan. Next slide. The um last time that we met, we talked about the history, the current state, a possible future state for all of our district facilities. We talked about a significant financial need that our district has for aging facilities and infrastructure. Um we talked about goals for the future and um we also talked about where we might be headed in our plan. And so um with that, I have about 15 slides today to share with you. I want to just remind everyone and kind of put a frame around the why of our ask. I want to speak a bit about the process thus far. Um talk about some of the challenges that we have as a district. Um what our prioritization list is at this point and uh the the remaining
010timeline that we have to get to our capital improvement plan. Next slide. Okay. So the best way to predict the future is to create it. Um we know when we set goals low um re reaching greatness can be difficult. Um we need to set our goals appropriately. Um we have uh we've have an opportunity to review our entire portfolio of district properties to review what's working and not working in our district and to set a long-term set of goals for how we achieve that. um aging school facilities uh and maintenance budgets in the United States um have been an issue and are common um across the entire United States. Durham is not um unique in its struggles. Um in addition, over the past 25 years, we've seen significant changes in uh how we approach teaching
011and learning and we have asked our facilities um to to respond to that. We've asked old buildings to try to deal with new ways of learning. Um, learning that is not necessarily focused at the front of the classroom. That involves collaboration and a new variety of spaces in order to be effective. Um, thus when we talk about aging facilities, part of what we're talking about is the ability of facilities to not be nimble to address learning today. In addition to the financial need that we have for maintenance and repairs, I also spoke last time about um the importance as a district of moving from a state that is reactive to proactive with our facilities and part of that is building the plan. Um we have a phenomenal maintenance team. Um they deal with challenges every
012day and a lot of these challenges are related to our aging facilities. um they keep things going, they figure it out. Um but we do have a critical state for many of our facilities, many of our much of our infrastructure, HVAC systems, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing related issues. Um so that is what this capital plan is designed to to address and to address the future of teaching and learning. Um next slide, please. Um the why the why of of the bond. Um and I touched on this last time. I just want to um frame the topic. So many of our school buildings are 70 75 plus years old. Um the average age of a school in our district is around 60 years old. And while in the history of buildings um we have buildings that
013can withstand 100, 200, 300 years. Um a building that is 75 or 50 plus years old that has not been maintained well over time presents unique challenges. um the cost to um repair versus the cost to replace at some point in the life of a building um adjust itself in such a way where it does not make good fiscal sense to continue um to upgrade old buildings that uh that have substantial need. Um when we spoke last time, we talked about the 2025 facilities condition assessment that the district did. Um, in that assessment, there is an expressed need for $965 million just to bring our facilities up to um, a state that um, they're working and operating and functioning well. Um, this does not include upgrades related to educational adequacy. This is simply to bring
014our buildings up to a state of functionality. Um, we also have a priority towards an equity-minded path across all regions of the district. Um over the past 25 years, we have brought new buildings online. We have um conducted upgrades at facilities, but we have disparities between our schools. We have new schools and we have old schools. And the children that go to those schools um receive different types of amenities in their schools. And so continuing to be cognizant of how we lift up the facilities that have not been touched or have been lightly touched in our district needs to be prioritized within our plan. Next slide. building next generation opportunities for all. Um, our new facilities and our vision for the future in our learning environment guidelines includes things like STEM spaces. It includes things
015like CTE and vocational spaces, collaborative learning that happens from small to largecale environments, proper resource spaces and breakout spaces, um, pullout programs and such. Um, and those things need to be integrated into our existing schools. They need to have the same types of amenities that we have in our new schools. Um, and and that's something that we need to prioritize in our planning and programming. Um, we also need to adjust um and address challenges in our portfolio. So, um, rightsizing legacy schools. We have many small schools in our district that hold less than 450 students. Um our district's standard in our model schools um put forward in our learning environment guidelines um addresses this, but uh schools that are small compared to schools that are adequately sized have less amenities and less resources available to
016them. Um and there are benefits in uh building schools at a certain size and scale. Um, we also have closed schools in our portfolio that some that have sat in our portfolio for a while and we are working to build and develop plans for those. Um, and plans for the future when we do close a site. Um, overcrowded schools. Um, we do have schools in our district that have been at capacity or beyond capacity for some time. Um, and talking through how we deal with that in the future. Um, and how we plan for that for those schools in the future is part of the plan. and then also providing for readiness for future growth. Um we are currently working on our long range projections for the district. Um and that is something that will
017be coming in a future uh presentation and how we might address that with our facilities. So oh next slide, excuse me. Sorry. All right. So our process to date, we've been working on three of the four tracks that you see here. The first one is regional analysis. There's a lot of data um and a lot of um accumulated information both on the history of our schools, the size of our schools, how well or not well they are equipped. Um an analyzing and prioritizing that information um is something we've been doing. Um, we also have our capital improvement plan task force um, which we have met several times um, to work through and prioritize and scope um, all of our district facilities um, and put them into um, an appropriate order for how we might tackle
018um, future development um, and right sizing. Um, we've also been working on estimating and reporting. So when we conducted our facilities condition assessment last year, there were many categories that were not included in that. Um and so we've started the estimating process for each and every school for a variety of categories. Um so that as we move through this, we're doing multiple tracks at multiple times to lift all of our information up at the same time and so that we can also be analyzing financially as we're making decisions about schools. We have an understanding generally how much that will cost. um so that we know when we prioritize um where we stand and then track four funding and implementation. So that is something that will be coming later in the process um uh but uh
019certainly on the way. All right, next slide. I want to just uh thank our task force. We have a phenomenal group of people um on the task force. We have uh individuals both from the board uh as well as other um DPS leadership team members. We also have individuals from the county. I would like to um lift those individuals up. We've had numerous county individuals um come to our meetings. Um and then we also have individuals that have participated from our community. Um so uh we've had the um DPS Foundation has been present. Um we also have had um Dr. Dr. Wanda Sykes from the um resilient youth group um participate in our meetings. They've been very active participants. I'm sorry. I think I got the name wrong. Sorry. [laughter] Um uh and and so
020um the the task force as a group was created to represent a broad um range of opinions, perspectives, voices, people with a variety of interests, um individuals with deep history um uh related to Durham. Um and so there was an intentionality there that um bringing these individuals together we would be able to make strong um decisions um and decisions that reflect our community. Um and they've been doing a terrific job. Next slide. All right. Moment. Okay. So how has the process been working? So we um have developed an evaluation criteria that we use for every school. It's important that as we look at every school that we be objective um rather than emotional when we make our decisions and we use a number of ways to do that. Um the first thing we do is
021we look at the facility's condition index. This tells us about the overall health of the facility. um and it tells us where a facility ranks in terms of its priority based on um existing facilities infrastructure and aging systems. Um we also look at the cost to repair versus the cost to replace. So as part of our facilities condition assessment, we have uh numerical values for every school for what it costs just to replace what is there. Um so that is an important weighted criteria for whether you decide to modernize or build a new building. Um we've also looked at um current enrollment. So as part of the assessment we look at what the um planned capacity for a school is versus what a current enrollment is. Sometimes what we see are small schools um that
022are at capacity. Sometimes we see adequately sized schools that are beyond capacity. and we need to factor that into how we make uh decisions and who we prioritize. Um we also look at site size and site conditions. If we're thinking about um future construction on a school site or future new school construction, we need to understand the size of the site if it's a possibility or if we would need to be looking at another site uh to accomplish that. And then future enrollment projections. Um how does a school's outlay over time look? Um, so when we think about if we want to add to a school facility, what does it look like in the future? What are we anticipating? Does that make good sense? Would we um solve the problem from another point of view?
023Would we look at boundary adjustments or another type of solution? Um, but it's important to look at those projections to understand um as part of our decision-m how we want to proceed with a school. Next slide. Um once we uh assess a school, we then choose a category for how that school um where we will put that in terms of our priorities. Um and what you're seeing here are those categories. So um the primary categories are maintenance and repairs. This is a fix what's broken um at the school uh approach. We have a facilities modernization which means we're going to fix what's broken and we're also going to do some improvements in the school. We're going to provide some new types of learning environments um or some other type of um collaborative spaces um to
024be determined um based on the school's need. Uh we also have a comprehensive modernization. So in a comprehensive modernization we are providing all those maintenance and repair items and we would be looking at somehow adjusting the building footprint. That could be tearing down an old building on the site or it could be growth at the school site and we're adding to the school. So, it's somehow adjusting the existing footprint. We also have new construction as a category. And new construction um can be a couple different things. New construction could be um when we think about um consolidation. If we were to consolidate and put two schools together and trade up and give them a new and better school, um that may involve new construction. And new construction could also be a new school and you'll
025see that as a category as well. Um if we think there are any potential growth areas of the district where we foresee um new seats and new students um then we want to be planning for that. Now planning for a new school takes a considerable amount of time um and we would want to have that in our plan. Um we also have a category called no work. Um so we do have some facilities that are newer and in great shape that uh we may not touch. Um and then we have uh close closing a school. So closing a school is really um a solution that we would use for a consolidation where we bring two schools together, we trade them up into a new school and one of the schools would close. Um that is
026primarily thought about when we think about our small schools having schools that have under 300 students, under 400 students um are significantly undersized compared to other schools within the district. Next slide. So just to share some highlights um from the task force. So um uh some of the big items that uh that that we think about um when we think about the organization of our bond um any investment that we look at needs to have a 20-year lifespan. So we do not want to be putting new things in old buildings that we have a plan um that later on they may um that we may change the school, we may put a new school in place. we need to be fiscally responsible and so um knowing that any choice that we made it makes it
027needs to have a 20-year um lifespan to it. Um maintenance and repair versus new construction. This was an interesting topic um for the task force. Um so when we think about schools aging out, when we think about schools that have been touched multiple times um and still have very significant needs. So we have schools in our district that have had upgrades five five plus times and still remain um with very significant needs. Um so a lot of questions about what we do and when we look at the cost to repair those today is it still uh does it still is it still a sound decision um is important. Um what we found um you know through conversation is that those schools that really rise to the top in terms of expenses to repair with multiple
028um upgrades having been done and schools that are 50 60 75 years old. The uh one of the key choices of the task force is to replace those schools to um put a new school um uh as a choice for those. And uh there are alternate plans if that's not available, but we do have a list of schools um that there would be a preference to replace um the facilities condition index versus educational adequacy. So um some of our schools have a high facilities condition index. Um they're not in great shape, but they do not have um educational adequacy components tied to them. So, in some instances, we may be doing a repair um and and really only giving u a new coat of paint or some new furniture. Um but we do have a
029variety of things that sit in that maintenance and repair category. Um we also from an educational adequacy point of view when we look at those facility modernizations and the comprehensive modernizations, we do want to start to address disparities um in our learning environments. So, um, when we choose those schools, developing a plan, um, for what we're going to touch is important. Um, and we also had some response to the touch every school idea. So, when we went out for our learning environment guidelines and facility condition assessment, um, one of the things we heard from the community was touch every school. And when we actually go through our investments, um we do have schools that are in great shape. And it and because the need is so great, um those priorities may fall to the bottom
030of the list. And really hitting the schools that have the greatest need first seems to make very good sense. Um we also um are still working through resolutions for some of our closed schools. Um and that is still a conversation that is ongoing. Uh next slide. So some of the preliminary outcomes um this is where we currently stand with the task force. This is the distribution um from our task to engagement. Um the categories along the bottom um those reflect the categories that we um discussed a couple slides back. And when you look at the distribution, um, what you see is that a large percentage of our schools fall into the facility modernization, comprehensive modernization, and new construction categories. Um so um and if you recall at the last meeting when we talked about um
031possible financial need for the district being somewhere in the range of $2 billion. When we talk about $965 million needed just to do maintenance and repairs plus the desire to um have facility modernizations and um comprehensive modernizations um for our schools with significant need. we um continue to fall within that same you know price range. I it was not an unrealistic number. Um so the financial need is uh is continues to be consistent with what we were projecting. Next slide. Um once we put a school into one of these categories, we need to then um do another layer of prioritization. Um so when we look at maintenance and repairs or the facility modernization category for example um we've prioritized those facilities once they make it into that category then those with the highest need um
032and the highest facility condition index rise to the top. Um our second priority would be schools that haven't been touched. So we have schools in the district that have been touched numerous times um with improvements and schools that have been barely touched. Um so making sure that we're cognizant of what has not been touched and making sure those schools also um receive improvements um is important in our prioritization. Uh next slide. Um similarly here um looking at new construction. So that is the category that we talked about with um facilities that are either aging out and it doesn't make good fiscal sense um or those schools that we're talking about a possible um consolidation and tradeup. So um that category um equally as strong as the others that we talked about um knowing the cost
033of construction for our elementary, middle, and high schools. That's something that needs to be planned over time, phased in over time. Um you can't accomplish that um straight away. So um it needs to be incremental and intentional in how we choose those schools. Um all right, next slide. So another component of this that we're working on is how we bundle projects. Um so um we know that not all capital outlay is the same and it produces different results and there are uh a lot of surveys um out in uh out there about how bond programs work. But um and I've put a note here, you know, there are distinctly different types of investments that produce different types of results. And so when we talk about fixing a leaking roof versus building a STEM lab or
034building a new football stadium, those have different effects uh in a bond. Um schools are the center of our community. Uh new schools raise property values. Um how we bundle things in a bond is important. um and how we think about building in those elements of new construction and modernization pieces and accomplishing maintenance and repairs at the same time need to have a duality and a shared integration. Um as we approach that in the past when we look at our bonds um sometimes they have been heavily weighted on new construction and it is at the cost and sacrifice of maintenance and repairs. Thus the um strong desire to blend out how we bundle projects into uh the bond. Uh as part of this we need to um prioritize flexibility. So in our preliminary conversations with
035the county um we've talked about how bonds may happen, what possibilities may be. Um but because we don't yet know and we have not developed that conversation um and and made decisions, we need to be very nimble um in how we've prioritized. So we have our categories. We we've placed everything where it should be so that when we find out and when we collaborate with the county um for how that bond will work um we can react and respond easily based on how we've prioritized things. um very important so that we're not uh backtracking in any of our decision- making. Next slide. So um when we think about that for us that's a buildable kit of parts. So we know where a school lands. We know um what its need is. We've itemized that um
036and documented it uh in our spreadsheets and prioritized it appropriately so that we're prepared to to place it wherever it fits best in how the funding works. Um it's a balanced and blended solution. So, um, likely in any kind of bond scenario, if we're looking at incremental bonds, um, we would need to have some portion of those first one or two increments heavily weighted into our maintenance and repairs. We have significant financial need in this area. Um, we have, um, failing systems in the district. Um, and so, uh, likely that in those first two increments, we would need to try to touch as much of that as possible. Um, and then as much as we can, um, trying to build in new construction in every increment, um, whether it's a single project, um, or two
037projects, um, and also, uh, taking on those facility modernizations, but really looking at that, um, maintenance and repair coming out first and strong in a bond. Um and then in addition to the need and the express need, we have to think about and consider how the outlay works um as a district. So um we would never um overload the community with building projects where we end up competing against ourselves. We also have a certain amount of bandwidth within our district. So being realistic about how we um package items and in what order and how we accomplish them is very important so that it's achievable um and so that we can be successful. Um so that's an important aspect of uh of how we think about bundling the packages um building the plan. Next slide. This
038is our uh current timeline. Um the red dash line is where we are today. Um, we have entered phase two of the plan. So, we've gone through our first round of engagement. We've done our first round of data analysis. We've initiated cost estimating. Um, and we've currently been analyzing the information that came forward from the task force trying to put cost estimates and priorities to that relative to our enrollment. Um, we had day 20 and day 40 enrollment. We're just now starting long range projections. Um and we need to make sure that we um have those components factored into uh the decisions that were made. Um so working on that um revisiting our task force in December to review the decisions that were made and to talk about enrollment um is something that's uh forthcoming.
039Um and then uh once we get to the end of the year um really looking at starting to put that plan together um having received all of the input from the task force and starting to actually um develop the plan for every school. Um we will continue the cost estimating process over the next uh several months. Um it is incredibly important that we are um as close to the numbers as possible. Sometimes in the past we have had difficulties estimating. We want to estimate appropriately. We want to understand if a project is 5 years from now that we have adequately uh provided escalation um and contingencies and soft costs and all of the things that go into um the cost of a facility um that those are wrapped into the project numbers. Um and then
040we'll see a draft of of the report um sometime around the end of uh March. and then uh at the end of April a final report um that then we'll have 6 months to collaborate with the county um which was the request to work towards what that bond will be. Next slide. The deliverable um so there will be a report um that will talk about um the overwriting criteria. Um it will talk about the project types and definitions. It'll have a 10-year plan for each school um in the report and each uh support facility in the district. Um and we'll also have a 10-year funding spreadsheets for every school. So, this is important. Um we've already met with the county about what the spreadsheet content needs to include. This is part of our estimating process
041and our prioritization process. So, there will be a spreadsheet um of financial need for every school. Um, and then ultimately, um, we will also be updating the district website for construction and capital planning so that our families and community can see what's coming and can see where their school sits, um, in terms of priorities. All right, next slide. Okay, so that's uh that's the end of my presentation. I think we have a presentation from the county and then questions. We're actually going to do questions right now to try to um keep them closer to where the presentation is. So, colleagues, do we have any questions? And I do want to try to keep this brief. Um we know we have an event after this, so want to make sure that we have time for we're
042over to get to our next event, but any questions on this presentation? I'll start with Commissioner Burton. >> Yes. Thank you um Chair Umstead and I just want to say thank you to Devon and her team um for doing this work and I really enjoyed serving on the CIP task force. I'm glad that we're doing this um together um as a former DPS educator. I was counting the number of buildings I worked in. One, two, three, four, five buildings. and, you know, walking through a lot of the buildings and seeing the conditions that we're really thinking strategically about how do we do capital projects and think strategically about them because many of our buildings are in not great condition and we want to make sure that our kids are learning in the best um have
043the best learning conditions possible. So, thank you Devon, thank you Dr. Lewis, Mr. Barnes and everybody who helped with this. So, I'm looking forward to further discussions around how we can improve our buildings. Thank you. >> Thank you, uh, Vice Chair Lee. >> Uh, thank you very much for this presentation. This is, um, uh, really good. Here, uh, I did have a question. You, you did mention, uh, you're going to possibly coming back later with projections, you know, for uh, for enrollment. Um there was uh news that you know DPS has um lost a little more few more students you know here recently. Now when what impact is that well do we know you know kind of some of the reasons uh for this immediate um drop in enrollment but what impact is that having
044on your planning for what we saw here today um for for the long run? But also just really quickly also on the um on one of the slides you had five uh you know school your evaluation was five schools you know close. What impact does that have on the uh on the amount uh that you would need? So the five schools that closed, would you be counting the maintenance needs for those schools when going forward with different bonds for, you know, repair? >> So the first question related to enrollment. So um we we've just been getting our current numbers back and we're working on the projections, the long range projections. Now there are parts of the district um where we have new development coming uh and so there we factor that in um to make
045sure that those areas are adequately sized. Um we also use a variety of tools um to address things like overcrowding um or underserved schools. Um so a solution could be for an overcrowded school that you build on to the school. Right? We have schools that are overcrowded that have numerous portables, for instance, they've been overcrowded for some time. So, the question becomes, do you is the is your solution to build onto the school? Is your solution to adjust boundaries um and and have some of those students at another school? Um as well as other relief mechanisms. And so, um that is something that has to be studied for each of the options where we're thinking um there's overcrowding happening. we need to look at all avenues and make sure that a sound decision would be
046adding on to a school. So, that's um certainly one thing. Um as relates to the drop in enrollment, um I know Vitali was here a couple weeks ago giving a presentation. We're still studying the why of the drop in enrollment. Uh I know there was some unexpected blips in the uh in the enrollment and I can't I can't address those at this time. I know that we're studying it um and I know that we'll uh at a future moment be able to address that. Um but it is important that we understand um what's happening and where growth is or isn't happening um to be fiscally responsible. Um your second question I'm sorry was related to >> the five schools that were Yes. >> Yeah. So, so there are we have 13 schools, elementary schools that
047are that have under 450 students. Um, when you [clears throat] have a school that is under 450 students, you do not have the opportunity to have certain programs, you don't have collaboration spaces, you don't have some of the amenities that you have in a in a school that is adequately sized. Our elementary school goal is 700 to 800 students. Any new school that we would build would be 700 to 800 students. Um so where we have schools where it makes sense to consolidate two schools that are very small or one school that could absorb uh two small schools, you know, those things can be possible. So when we think about closing one of those schools and consolidating um for us that's something that we consider a trade up right because if we're going to ask
048you to close your school you get something you should get something more right you should get a you should get all of the amenities um for the for the relocation right you should get a properly sized school with everything that a school should have. Um so when we think about that type of consolidation um the school that is then left behind um that gets consolidated we would need to have a plan for that. Um whether that school gets reused as a community center um whether that school gets used as a uh prek center each each solution is different. um whether we would do all of the maintenance and repairs which you asked um would be dependent on what the solution was for the site whether whether you sell the site reuse the site have a
049joint use have a public private partnership um so I don't think that we've developed it to that place yet it's uh more you know what is on the table for um for consolidation and trade up at this moment also um those schools that fall in that category that is not something that can happen overnight, right? Um if you're talking about five consolidations, that's over many years. Um uh we I don't think we would have the bandwidth because of all of our maintenance and repair needs to to take on those projects first, take on all of those projects first. So, I think it's something that is likely phased over time and those decisions would be ongoing. >> Thank you very much. I'll just thank you for that question, Commissioner Lee. I'll just add as it relates
050to the um drop in enrollment as we're still continuing to dig in to that the rationale the data that we did present for example um our charter school enrollment increased by 600 over close to 650 students. In addition to that uh we had our lowest birth rate since think 2005 which yielded 150 less kindergarters that were enrolling us and then we had about over 360 Durham County families that took advantage of the opportunity scholarships. And so we add those all those up very similar to the the drop in enrollment that we we we saw here in Durham public schools but we'll still continuing to dig into that data. >> Um Miss Byer >> just want to um thank Miss Mitchell for leading this work and leading it so expertly. Um thank Commissioner Burton for uh
051sharing her talents with this group as well as um my colleagues Miss Harold Gooff and Mr. Tab. Um, and thank the manager for sharing some of her staff. They have been incredibly valuable in these conversations as we have wrestled with tough things and will continue to wrestle with tough things like unpopular things like considering consolidation of schools that h have deep meaning and deep love within this community. Um, want to also lift up the the community's goals for sustainability and climate as we move forward. I know we'll be hearing a lot of that. um in the coming months and the need for office space and and especially for a lot of our Hamlin Road facilities, things that that are not necessarily popular to talk about, but also need to be um upfitted so that we
052have staff that are not in 30-year-old trailers um working like your team. Um, and I wanted to ask manager Hagard if the timeline that we're um that was presented is amendable to you and your team. Are we on the right timeline on this really complicated work on your side of the table? >> That's a great question. Uh capital planning is always tricky and um when you overlay the timing of desiring a bond referendum that also can present additional opportunities to revisit how fast you move and the pace in which it's moved. Um there are some components we may would recommend pulling out earlier. Um and we have a 10-year capital plan. um that was last updated in 2022 and so it spans 10 years and right now we do have a placeholder for a bond
053referendum in 2026. So as we model um how much debt we can afford for all um organizations that are funded by the county. We go through that process of looking at what they need and then we refresh it every seems like sometimes almost every year we may have to in this current climate do some adjustments. So the timeline sounds good where I would say as I was think listening we would need to think about the level if we were to move forward that we may consider for a referendum which has to be in the context of all of the county's debt. Um our intent is to um try to bring a refreshed um plan to our board in the third quarter. So around we're we're very close um timing wise. I know y'all talked about
054April. We're looking at um February, March, but we can have some preliminary numbers. And with our team being on the um on on on the committee, we can we can make those things work. But we work very closely with our financial advisor in determining timing, scope, size, and all of those parts that um were just shared as far as um and we asked that the schools not be as wedded to whether it's a bond referendum or if it's limited obligation bonds. Let us figure out based on the cash flow um what may work best. And that's worked really well for us to do some catching up in recent years. I will say for the um current if we we had some tremendous successes with the 2022 bond referendum in the way the county work with
055the schools and planning. We um allocated funds for planning dollars which allowed for um the 18-month process that's typically needed to plan a project to get started before the referendum. So when the referendum was passed, the schools were turnkey ready and they were able to start those projects. It's been an incredible shift in the outcomes in how bond dollars are spent. We've had some history in years past where it's taken a much longer, but DPS is doing a phenomenal job in ensuring those bond projects are shovel ready, which is a gamecher. And as we try to move forward with these types of um projects, either the approval with the local government commission or when um um talking with rating agencies, this changed approach gives us great credibility when we're saying we need to spend x
056amount of dollars and this is our strategies in doing it. I know there was a long um answer to your question, but some of the remarks I would have given a little bit later as far as the context of how we collectively do that work. I would say from a planning perspective, if it is something that we move forward with um in the next several months, some determination on the county of and working with our financial advisor, what amount can we afford for a referendum? um we don't have to dictate specifically what's included, but we do need to think sizing as we start um going through that process. Um we would need to if we do decide to move forward with a referendum, speak with the local government commission. Those conversations would start as early
057as April. um we would need to do a market um assessment to test the market to see are what's the appetite of our um residents to support a referendum. And we typically would start those reviews in the spring working towards trying to finalize all the steps we have to do if we move forward with a referendum. Um those all those steps would need to be finished by June. But it's a very um detailed uh process that many of you have been through. So um but that's a great question. Again, probably a little longer than you anticipate it. All right. >> Thank you. You can go ahead wrap this up. >> Oh, no. I raised my hand. [laughter] Thank you, Chairstead. Um I had more so a question. We had talked about this like previously. I
058remember um about just the overall infrastructure and capacity and I'm wondering is there like an a goal that DPS or nationally that exists around how close like within how many miles do we want an elementary school to be to a family? how many miles within like you know to a middle school to a foreign high school so that we know like especially as we're seeing all the growth of all the new developments coming up in Durham um do we have schools closely and also not just about the closeness to families but also you know our resident bus driver uh vice chair Dr. Lee will know this better of what is the most efficient or like best practice for distance to be able to have efficient bus routes of like if you have families even further
059out than this point then it's harder to keep uh an efficient bus route going. So recently we had the growing together uh and growing together was designed to provide within each of the five regions of the district access to similar programs for everyone to have access to programs. Um when we're talking about um students walking to school and um the closeness of of a student to a school um the first thing um is is choice, right? So we've given choice. Um some students will pursue that pathway, other other families will pursue um other school options. Um I would pro I would need to check with others in terms of the the questions about bus routing and distance and all of that. That is not my area of expertise, but it's certainly something that we can
060come back with and share with you. I think uh I'm sure that information is available. Um but it's not it's uh I wouldn't be the expert to speak to it. So we can we can certainly do that at a future meeting. >> Thank you. Thank you for lifting that up. >> I think it feeds into this a broader context of just how is our infrastructure of services and resources that we provide not just with schools, but as we have new homes built and new families moving into Durham, >> will they have schools? Will there be police uh officers like capacity? Will there be sheriff's capacity? EMS, all of that mapped out with our growth. >> Commissioner Burton, >> I'm going to make this real quick. um you may have said it in your presentation, but
061I know you said it when we were on the task force about DPI's um parameters around how large an elementary school should be, a middle school should be, a high school should be because I know with the you know the five schools those many of those schools were former city schools they were built in the 50s and 60s at a different time. So if you could just repeat that for the >> sure listening audience. So, uh, DPI sets a standard for the physical site of size of a site that a school sits on. And they're different for elementary, middle, and high school. I believe elementary school minimum is uh 10.9 acres. Middle school is somewhere around 20 acres, high school somewhere around 30 acres. Um, we have several schools within the district portfolio that were
062either city or county schools that sit in communities. Um but oftentimes they sit on a small site. Um we we would call these impacted schools um because they don't have the characteristics um and properties that we need to make a school successful today. So, for instance, we have schools where we do not have staff parking on site, where we have buses queuing out in the street, where we have handicap parking uh in the street, um where we don't have adequately sized play areas, um and other resources that you would see when you have an adequately sized site. So, part of the challenge on these small schools is that you can't really expand those schools. you if you were to consolidate, you wouldn't be able to consolidate on a small school site um because it's already
063impacted. It can't take additional footprint. In many instances, these are in housing, you know, communities. They're not areas where we would even think about building up if we had to building a two-story building in a residential community. Um but because of their size, um there's there's many reasons why they they would not make good sense as future school sites. So thinking about how we address those um and what we do with those sites and how we would reuse those sites is an important part of the conversation. Thank you everyone for this really important and timely conversation. I just want to lift up something that Miss Byer said and I didn't necessarily hear throughout the presentation but around facilities for our staff and where staff are in Durham public schools. I hope that we're not leaving
064that out as we're thinking about the bond measures. Um because we know we have folks who are in buildings that students have left, right? We build a new building because students left there um because of the condition. So, how do we make sure we're taking care of the people um and the students within our community? >> It's a very challenging conversation um because the need is so great in our schools. We have analyzed all of our administrative buildings. Um they have all been assessed with a facilities condition assessment. We did speak about those in our task force work sessions. I didn't speak about them today um just because the need is so great in the schools, but we are certainly factoring those into the plan. There will be a plan for those and we'll have
065to, you know, find a way to integrate them into the process, but um many of our support facilities are in great need as well. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you, Miss Mitchell. >> You're welcome. >> All right. We'll transition now to the next presentation, the county's capital improvement planning. Uh we do just want to allow we have 20 minutes on the calendar for >> I will be doing the presentation. Our star budget um director Keith Lane, he could not join us. He had a conflict today and I have a few slides but we'll go through quite quickly and I'm covering both operating and capital. Um a lot of the capital highlights I shared a moment ago. Uh we had a very involved conversation with our um financial advisor um in November um Doug Carter with Deck
066Associates and uh setting the framework on how we move forward with our capital planning which is um the foundation that fiscal component of it and that those documents are in your materials. We also included in your materials a document that we shared with the board in October. Um each work session we are giving updates on our operating budget as this is a quite unique um season in which we're in and um with lots of um es and flows especially around the fiscal and the fiscal um impacts from the federal and state policies. So, um, that October update is is in your materials. So, um, next slide, please. I'll cover real quickly our current budget, our planning for 2627 and then also our capital improvement plan update and then time for questions. Next size, please. Um
067the uh specifically um if you go to the next slide um we'll delve a little bit about the 2425 highlights where we landed and then some federal and state policy shifts and revenue highlights and expenditure highlights. Next slide please. Um the big takeaway for um 25 fiscal year 2425 is that our sales taxes did not um meet projections and that's pretty significant when you have an 11 million shortfall. We have um two major revenue sources, our property taxes and our sales taxes. Um it we did not anticipate going into 2425 that we would see a decline at that level. Um but we also knew that there would be some correction because of all the infrastructure dollars that came through um in the years um prior. um there because we adjusted downward our sales tax numbers.
068Um we we did rely a little bit less on our fund balance because although we uh project to use uh to appropriate fund balance, the goal is not to use it because you're hoping that you overcolct your revenues and then you underspend expenditures and that have been our history. So for those areas that we did not hit on the revenue side, it meant we had to tighten up on the expenditure side. Um a familiar um situation for many organizations. So um we managed that um expenditure side with freezing positions and also controlling for operational costs. Next slide please. In the current fiscal year, u we've not collected majority of our revenues or pretty much not on any of the major ones. Um they typically um are in the mid year a calendar year. So around
069January, we'll start seeing the property tax revenues flow as well as we'll have the benefit of knowing what happened with first and second quarters, well sales taxes. And um we have like many of other organizations pressures with uncertainty around federal and state revenues and um another major impact this year is the ARPA dollars that are unwinding and so we've planned for that. However, it's a a reality that we're we're dealing with. Um this is also a revaluation year. So um everyone uh did have their property values reassessed for the current year and uh that does have an implication as well with collections. So if people appeal their tax values uh that means that um there is a probability we will not get those dollars and that um is also an impact this year. On the
070expenditure side, we've we've had some some expense uh some experiences we've never dealt with before. Um the shifts and policies as it related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, that was one that we've all had to deal with. Um both the public schools as well as the county. Um we have over 32,000 residents that receive SAP funding in Durham County. those dollars are passed through um through public health and um about 40% of those individuals are are children. And so that's a significant expenditure that this past well this current month we did not receive those funds and uh we're grateful for the partners who helped us bridge those gaps throughout the community by helping with the food banks and covering those gaps. But that allocation translates to $5.9 million, almost $6 million a month.
071Um so um without those dollars supporting families, there were food and continue to be some food insecurity issues in the community. So we've managed some of those federal um changes as well as um shifts in other areas by freezing positions. um an approach I know that y'all have done as well. Um and we've just had to expand that further which is putting some pressure on some other areas in in the organization. We are also um having the challenge of the inflationary costs impacting budgets at levels that are much higher than um anticipated in some spaces such as benefits, cost, utilities, fuel and etc. Next slide please. I always like to give the context of of um where where our dollars come from. About 78% of our dollars are from property taxes um in and uh
072and sales taxes. And then another the other major revenue sources are intergovernmental revenues. It's about $160 million that flow through the county that are from federal and state taxes. Next slide, please. And for the expenditure side of the budget, um most of them the dollars support, as you know, our departments that are service related, whether it's social services, the sheriff's office, public health. We have aboutund um 28,000 individuals that receive some type of service through Department of Social Service. Uh for public health is about 40,000. Um and of course our sheriff and EMS, they support all of our residents um either um through calls response or with patrolling with the sheriff. Education is the next largest area with uh Burham Public Schools and Durham Tech. And we also have allocations for prek. I will note
073um prek is not a mandated service as you know. Uh we've increased that allocation um from 1.5 million to over $8 million. That's about a 500% increase since 201718. Um again, efforts to support that continuum of readiness once one gets to K12 and it's it is a commitment that our board supports and there's a couple other footnotes about the amount that we support in debt service. Next slide. This is just a highlight about our challenges that we we went through with SNAP funding. Um I know many of you felt that burden. We definitely did. Um um trying to figure out how you close a gap that large is tremendous. But our community responded in a major way and we're so grateful with that. Next slide. Um this link is on our website for those who
074may need services. I know many of you have assisted in our efforts with awareness campaigns and so just always again like to elevate those areas where we can um support our community. Next slide. And this is another information about the SNAP funding in food and security which is most important. Next slide. We'll talk a little about the sales tax pressures again only because it's such a major revenue source and not surprised that there are shifts in in the spending level because there was such a high growth factor in sales taxes overall. We are if you were to look at our growth from which is a the slide I'll show soon uh over the past um 10 years we've grown exponentially. So, we're grateful for those of you who shop in Durham or shop online and
075it it it's delivered to Durham. So um please keep spending your money but um there you will see it on the next slide that there have been shifts and you can go to the next slide please of in those patterns and so again where we were in 2015 16 we were at 172 million in sales tax sales tax revenue dollars and [snorts] in 2425 we're uh we're projecting at 287 million and although It is an overall increase. It's flattened out. And so when that happens, um that means that's there's we either have to control spending or it puts more pressure on our property taxes. And the challenge with sales taxes uh and the opportunity with sales taxes is that a considerable amount of our debt service is covered with sales tax revenues. So, if we
076have a decline, that does mean it's more pressure on our um property taxes and we're going to have to adjust because of those um those shifts. Um during the COVID period, we're so grateful everyone was spending those dollars. Um but now I think folks are realizing I may have spent um I have enough in my closet and it's leveling out. So again, we're not surprised the leveling out is happening, but it is something from a budget management perspective we have to to plan for. Next slide, please. And we'll talk about the um 2627 budget development. We'll go to the next slide. All county funded um departments and entities receiving reoccurring dollars will go under a a review of their base budgets um during the budget process. We will uh continue that review through 2627. Uh
077we started this um last year as policy shifts happened in um the federal level um last fiscal year. Um there have uh been pressures that we just are not able to cover with our existing funding stream. Um we're evaluating um budgets to determine is it a general statute requirement? Is it a local mandate? Is it a board of commissioners priority? And we're hopeful that as we get towards February, January time frame, our revenue outlook will appear better than what we're seeing right now in some areas. But if not, we want to make sure we are organized in a way that if we have to do shifts, we are able to do them in a thoughtful manner that can protect those areas that we're required to do and mandated to do. Uh we're also undergoing operational
078assessments um and we will continue to benchmark service costs. These are things that we always do but we're doing it at a more um increased level and we'll also try to do some um peer benchmarking you know the return on investment what's the cost what's the comparison to other jurisdictions and that's harder to do in local governments than in some other sectors. When I was in higher ed, it was much easier. You had iPads data, you had whole lot of comparative data at the UNCC system level, and it's just a little bit trickier when um that information is not collected the same. So trying to figure out how you do those comparisons when it may be an apple and orange comparison. And so um we're starting that work. it will continue through next year but
079in this climate and in a time where we don't have enough dollars to cover all the needs is most important. Uh we're also um developing contingency strategies just in case there are shifts um in the federal, state or local revenue streams. Um this year uh one of our programs that had been in place um for almost 28 years in our um nutritional um program education program our dying program which partnered with Durham public schools that funding was ended and we lost a million dollars from the federal government. It was a SNAP um program. Um we've covered that expense. We're closing that gap right now through local dollars. Um as we are that's one example but as we have other revenue streams that shift the question will be from a policy perspective how much can we
080afford and closing these gaps an area I know all of you are familiar with um and departments are also refining their performance outcomes and indicators. Next slide please. Looking ahead, we know that um the challenge with developing the budget and that budget process will kick off soon is um we've already in it um planning for next year. Um the the loss of one-time funding, we did not fund a a lot of recurring type activities with our ARPA dollars. Uh I know you one should not do that and we we did a good job of not taking on projects that would be long-term. But I will say there were about of the 62 million there are about $5 million that we did do and so thinking through and we've over the years have been strategizing in
081that how we will close those gaps is an area we're doing. Sales tax stagnation we've talked about that. Another one is the statehold harmless volatility that's related to sales taxes and um because of the increased expenditures and then with some of the unpredictability with fund balances we are being very careful in how much fund balance we appropriate as a placeholder um expenditure pressures that we we always say and I that we are committed to DPS and always will be so that's a pressure. Um, prek funding is a pressure. Um, inflation and benefits growth, that's another pressure. And so, we we hear all of the challenges um and the shifts that have happened with the state for some time, not funding at levels for K12 um that they done in decades past is put more pressure
082on the local um jurisdictions and trying to figure out, well, how do we close those gaps? Those are areas that we're thinking through um as we plan for this next year. Next slide, please. Um capital improvement and this is uh next slide please. This is a a quick overview of our framework um and sort of where we're headed. uh you our our plan as I mentioned earlier we we do uh adopt the 10-year plan and then there are some minor tweaks that happen throughout the year unfortunately because of certain market shifts inflationary costs um costs that have occurred because of labor market shifts and there are individuals that are no longer in the market that used to be which increase cost overall for projects And then there are implications with the tariffs that have also
083um been a factor as we try to manage our our capital improvement plan. We project our cost um and they change rapidly and I know before we even start to update the CIP, it's as though we need to do a 20% factor from when we updated it two years ago because of all the variables that have happened from an inflationary um perspective. But we do a drill down review of those costs. Our 10-year plan is over $2 billion right now. And as I mentioned earlier, um we have projects that are in our plan um for bond referendums for that 10-year period. And each time we refresh it, we figure out well when can when is the timing for that particular project? How has the cost shifted from the last time it was reviewed? And then
084most importantly, what can we afford? sort of will determine what type of financing um our current CBIP will establish when we um do the bond referendum and um the amounts that would be involved in that process. And typically for a geo bond referendum, there is funding to support Durham public schools, um the community college, the museum of life and science. On occasion, county related projects as it relates to libraries, um, primarily county debt is supported through limited obligation bonds. the cost of the CIP related debt may rise significantly um in the next five years because there's a lot of pentup um repairs and renovations and the conversations earlier today um elevated those those issues. Uh we as I mentioned earlier we did talk with our financial consultant um at the November 3rd board meeting. if
085you do have a moment to look at that, I think you would enjoy um hearing cuz uh what they're sharing and it's very informative about where we're headed. We will invite them back and I would suggest that we invite them to one of our joint meetings potentially in February. They have come before in the past and I think it's real helpful for um both um boards to hear that conversation. But um from a planning perspective um we start to um give them targets of where we're headed especially if we're um moving forward soon for any bond related debt either limited obligation bond or for geo bond um financing. And so at that meeting in February, they could um help us know from a planning perspective, even though it may not be finalized, what strategies we
086need to deploy for that. Um our goal is to um present an updated CIP to the board in um third quarter so that we can um if there's a referendum move quickly through those next steps which are quite involved including um the LGC conversations. And so next slide I think that um formally will cover sort of the CIP overview. Again, the budget process is upon us. Um, we've started, we will start conversations soon, although departments have already started some of that base budget review and benchmarking. Um, we will have our retreat with the board in February to talk about the budget process with opportunities for the public to engage beginning as early as February to share where their thoughts are as far as prioritization. The manager's recommended budget is early May and I know we
087didn't put this on the slide. Um the desire to is to have um the Durham public schools budget recommendation in that u March April early early March May time frame. Yeah. So um and uh we have work sessions and then the adoption in June. And so the next slide please. So, just some reminders. We have some strong headwinds right now. Y'all have as many as us in different areas, but there are revenue pressures, expenditures, um, demands that are converging in ways that we've never seen. Um, the backfield that we're needing to do with American Rescue Plan Act dollars, that's another area of focus. We also have capital planning. So how much we plan and allow for operating budget expenditures because it's the same burden for the taxpayer determines how much we can do for the
088capital planning. So I thought it was important for us to talk about both. But in all of it, we want to make sure that we still maintain our fiscal foundation. We have RAA bond rated entity. It's something we're very proud of. We're one of 110 counties in the country out of the over 3,000 counties that are AAA rated and at with two rating houses. And so that foundation gives us access to the market where other entities may try to go to the market and get someone to buy their bonds. Having those designations are important. So we we always put that in the forefront. The state and federal policy shifts are real. there now and they are a challenge and so managing that headwind is quite tough and and collectively we we are all getting through
089it. We talked about the stable the stagnating revenue growth um but all of it just is a um need for us to continue to do thoughtful planning and how we do our work and how we collaborate with each other as we address all these community goals. So, those are my talking points and I'll entertain questions and you can go to the next slide. Thank you. Thank you, manager Higer, for that thorough presentation and kind of setting the groundwork for us. I know we'll be on track to get our budget requests in to you all on time this year. So, we're looking forward to those conversations. Any questions, comments? must have been crystal clear. I said it must have been crystal clear. >> I just need someone to find that rock with the billion dollars under
090it. >> I say I trust I hope somebody can find it. Um okay, awesome. We're going to move to our next item then, which is an academic update from Durham Public Schools. Um I'm going to turn that over to you, >> Chairstead. Just quick question since no one had any questions. Um Would it be helpful to you all in the past? We have done tours and shown you some of our facility needs as we go forward. Would that be helpful to commissioners and the county staff or do you all already know that we're in rough shape and just want to skip that? Tour >> tours always help, you know? I think I mean that was the big My mic's on, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh tours always help. Um, I mean that was the big
091turning point for DSA when we started doing tours. So, yeah, I think that that would be um a good idea. If I can just add also like with the county CIP maybe also jointly tours of our county facilities that we're also needing. Um yeah, I would like to I've been in a lot of the buildings actually, but I would like to take a full tour of DSA. I've only been in parts of DSA. It's been a while since I've toured the whole building. So that would be helpful. And I think it'll also be helpful for us as commissioners as we talk to our residents about the conditions of these buildings because many times you may hear, well, why do we need to put money into this versus putting money into, you know, money for our
092staff and things like that, even though that is important, but we do want our, you know, our students, our children, our scholars to learn, have good learning conditions. That was a big thing for me as an educator. So yes, definitely. >> Any other questions, concern? So, yes, >> Commissioner Valentine, >> I just wanted to say that I appreciate the your comment in that regard and uh I think that would be helpful, but I can tell you that uh our community lets us know about the conditions of these schools for us to to give them the attention um that they uh that they deserve. And so, I'm on board with respect to seeing it for myself. Um, but I did want to highlight that our constituents tell us. Well, now transit Commissioner Burton, >> real quick,
093I just want to lift us up um working together around this because as a county commissioner, I get to travel around the state and visit a lot of counties and I not going to name this county, but this one county has not done any school bonds in over 20 years. So, we, you know, in Durham, we, you know, are living our values. We want our kids to have good school buildings to live in. So, I just want to shout that out that I'm grateful that we're doing this work. All right. Any other comments? Okay, we'll transition now to Dr. King for an uh update on the academics. Dr. King, >> good morning, joint board members. We appreciate an opportunity to come before you this this morning and share some information uh specifically around um school
094academics. Um this morning we are going to invite to the stage Dr. Al Royster, our uh executive director for research and accountability, who will provide you with information um about our school's academic uh performance from last year, particularly focused on uh performance of schools as it relates to the North Carolina School Accountability Program. Dr. Royster. >> Good morning everybody. Um I am, as Dr. King said, I am Al Royster. I'm the executive director of research and accountability and I'm happy to present an abbreviated version of the 2024 2025 every student deceived act or ESSA presentation which will consist of Durham public schools accountability data for the 2425 school year. I'd like to introduce uh my team that's here uh Dr. Michelle Tuck Thomas. She's the director of assessments and accountability and then also Mr. Nelson
095Sur. He's the director of data integration accountability. Couldn't be here this morning. Uh next slide please. Uh the next three slides will explain the components of school performance grades and briefly highlight the difference between achievement and growth. Next slide please. This slide shows a pie chart of our school performance grade or SPG. Um SPG is based on 80% of school achievement and 20% of school academic growth per NCDPI. The total score is converted to a 100 point scale and then assigned a final grade using the 15oint scale which is shown on the bottom right corner. Next slide please. This slide is kind of busy but it breaks down the SPG indicators for elementary, middle, and high school taken from the ESSA accountability model. Elementary and middle schools are based on end of grade or EOG
096test scores and English lang English language assessment. Say that quickly three times. uh for English learners. Uh high school SVG includes uh end of course or EOCC test, ACT work keys or AWA scores, four-year graduation cohort rate and assessments for English learners. Next slide please. This slide gives a difference between achievement and growth. So on the left side there's a brief explanation of achievement. Um achievement measures how students perform one point of on time on an assessment and that's level three and above. It also compares student performance to a set standard, shows how students perform at a a specific point of the school year and uses level three, grade level proficient, GLP, and levels four and five, which is college and career ready. On the right side, you see a brief explanation of growth. And
097growth measures the amount of academic progress students make between two points in time, usually during the academic school uh school year. And then it growth shows how a school grows over the year by comparing each student's progress to their own past performance and common assessments taken by other students in the state. And at the top um if you have this presentation there is a threeminute video that explains achievement and growth that kind of breaks that down. Uh next slide please. Uh the next few sl few slides will review our district performance data and within these slides we'll talk about school performance grades SPG and some district celebrations. Next slide. This slide reviews school performance grades across five years 2018 and 19 to with 19 and 20 and 2021 excluded due to COVID and no growth
098reported. For 2425, the district's A, B, and C schools increased to 56.6% that's 30 schools, up from 58.3, 28 schools in 2324. The 2425 school year also marked the highest number of A schools since 1819. Next slide, please. Did you have a question? Okay. And so this slide celebrates our schools that earned A, B, and C grades. So as you can see, our A schools, Lakewood, Morehead, uh, Lakewood Monastery Middle, excuse me, high schools with City of Medicine Academy, JD Clement Early College, and Middle College. Our B schools, elementary schools were Burton, Easley, George Watts, Lion's Farm, Mangum, Morehead Monastery, and Pearson Town. Our middle schools were Rogers Herr. And then our high schools were Durham School of Technology and Durham School of the Arts. And our C schools, elementary was Club Boulevard, EK Pole,
099Forest View, Glenn, Holt, Hope Valley, Merrick Moore, Oak Grove, Southwest, Spring Valley, Little River. Our middle schools were James Eye Shepard, Githans, the School for Creative Studies, and our high school, CE Jordan, and Riverside. Next slide, please. This slide shows a number of DPS low performance schools from the 18/19 through the 2425 school year. You'll notice the number stayed the same in 1920 and 2021 because of CO. We're happy to share that the district as a district the number of low performing schools has decreased from 20 in the 2324 school year to 17 in 2425. A clear step forward in making progress. Next slide please. Uh the next slide will review our EVOS growth status for DPS over 5-year period and highlight some celebrations. The education the education value added assessment system or EVOS measures
100student growth in North Carolina comparing a student's performance to the average progress of other students nationwide. Rather than focusing on final achievement levels, EVOS tracks how much a student grows from the start to the end of a school year. A school's overall growth status is based on the combined growth of all its students. This slide reviews our EVOS growth comparison across 5 years 18/19 to 2425 again with 1920 and 2021 excluded due to CO. So for 2425 DPS increased the number of schools that met or exceeded growth to 88.9% that's 48 schools up from 80.8% which was 42 schools in 2324. And the 2425 school year also marked the highest number of schools meeting or exceeding growth since 18 since before 1819. Next slide, please. The next two slides recognize our schools that met or
101exceeded growth. Growth is one of the measures that impact um uh that measures our impact because it shows no matter where a student begins, educators are moving them toward making a difference. So for our elementary schools that exceeded growth, you see Burton, CC Spalding, Eastway, Eno Valley, Forest View, Holt, Lions Farm, Mangum, Merrick Moore, Morehead Monastery, and Oak Grove. and our elementary schools that met growth. Bethesda, Club Boulevard, Creekide, Easley, Fedville Street, George Watts, Glenn, Hillindale, Hope Valley, Lakewood, Little River, Pearson Town, Orange Harris, Southwest, Spring Valley, and WG Pearson, and we Smith. Next slide, please. Here are middle schools that exceeded in math growth. And as you note, 100% of our middle schools either met or exceeded growth. So our middle schools that exceeded growth, Brogden, Carrington, Shepard, Lakewood, Monastery, Lucas, Rogers, her Githens,
102the School for Creative Studies. And middle schools that met growth were Ignite Online Academy, Lowe's Grove, and Neil. Next slide, please. And here are high schools that exceeded met or exceeded growth. And the high schools that exceeded growth were City of Medicine Academy, Durham School of Technology, Durham School of the Arts, and JD CL Clement Early College. Our high schools that met growth were C Jordan, Hillside, Riverside, and then Southern School of Energy and Sustainability. Next slide, please. BPS continues its trend of having schools ranked in the top 100 and the 20th percentile of the state's 2,590 schools for academic growth. We had one school JD Clement Early College that ranked 20th in North Carolina with a 10.39 growth index which was the highest in DPS. We had two other schools ranked in the top
103100. City of Medicine Academy ranked 44th in North Carolina and Shepard Middle School ranked 69th in North Carolina. DPS also had 15 schools ranked in the top 20% of the state's schools for academic growth. Those schools with asterisks have had two consecutive school years in the top 20% in the state. So the first three you've already mentioned, JD Clement Early College, CMA, and Shepard. And please note those have asterisks. So they had growth for the last two years consecutively. Then we have Lakewood Monasury Middle. Two years consecutive growth in the top 20. Durham School of the Arts, Burton, Oak Grove, Durham School of Technology, CC Spalding, Rogers Her Middle, Lions Farm, Holt, Lucas, Morehead Monastery, and Mangum. Next slide, please. This slide highlights DPS statewide ranking of schools meeting or exceeding growth. DPS placed in
104the top 10, number nine among all districts with our district being the largest school system in the top 10. Next slide, please. It gets better. Um, this slide highlights how DPS ranked among the 12 largest districts in North Carolina with schools meeting or exceeding growth. DPS placed first with 88.9%. And if you look at the number, I know it's small, but the Yeah, you can clap. >> And the number in parentheses in front of the school district is where the district ranked in the state with meeting or exceeding growth. Next slide, please. This slide highlights how DPS compared with Durham charter schools in meeting or exceeding growth. So DPS achieved 88.9% growth, notably higher than the 71.4% among Durham charter schools. Next slide please. Uh this slide highlights DPS rankings among the 12 largest district
105in NC specifically to the 35% English or EL progress and that ranks us seventh among these large districts. Next slide please. So the next set of slides will review the district's overall grade level proficiency, subject level proficiency, and EO progress. Next slide. So the slide reviews this district's overall grade level proficiency or GLP which includes all end of grade or EOCC and end of course EOCC test over six school years from 1819 to last year 2425 excluding 1920 due to COVID. And so for 2425 overall proficiency is 48.4% an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Our overall grade level proficiency was the highest since postcoid9. Next slide, please. This slide shows our reading proficiency results in grade three through eight with a composite of 47.2, an increase of 2.7 percentage points. We had proficiency grades in
106each grade level. Next slide. This slide shows our math proficient results, math proficiency results, excuse me, in grades three through eight with a composite of 50.6% an increase of 2.1 percentage points. We had proficiency gains in six out of the seven areas with the only decrease in grade three. Next slide please. Uh this slide shows our science proficiency results for grade five and 8 with a composite of 53.3% a decrease of 7.5 percentage points. And as noted you might see in the side reorming occurred uh this year and that is when the state updated its science standards this past year. Reorming means that science tests were revised to match the new standards and the scoring was reset. So this establishes a new baseline so all future science tests can be measured fairly against the updated
107test. Next slide please. This slide shows our incourse or EOCC proficient results in biology, English 2, math one for middle and high school and math 3. We had proficiency gains in four out of the five areas with the only decrease in math 1 in high school. Math 3 had the biggest increase from the 2324 school year with 12 percentage points. Next slide. Um this slide shows our English learner or EL progress. ESSA requires each state to provide an annual English language proficiency assessment called the WED to access for all identified ELS. Under ESSA, EEL progress must be measured and reported for all ELEL's in grades K through 12. However, for school performance or SPG, the following grades are used for accountability. Elementary is grades 3 through 5, middle school is grades 6 through 8, and
108then high school is grade 10. And there was an increase of 7.9 percentage points. And just as a note, three years ago, our EL progress uh rate lagged the state by nine points, 9.9 percentage points versus 19.1 in 2021. Since then, DPS has grown 25 points, outpacing the state 16 uh points. And we're essentially neck and neck with the state 35% versus 35.2 in 2425. We came from behind and now we're keeping the pace. and DPS, just as another note, DPS progress rose from 9.9% to 35% since 2021. Next slide, please. Our next few slides will show our district's high school, college, and career or CCR indicator comparisons. North Carolina CCR indicator measures whether students are proficient in college level English and math, ensuring graduates can succeed in entry- level courses without remediation. Next slide.
109This slide, busy slide, a lot of lot of numbers on here, but this slide reviews our high school uh college and career CCR indicator comparisons across six school years from 1819 through 2425 excluding 1920 because of COVID. CCR includes four or excuse me, five indicators. four-year graduation cohort rate, math course rigor, ACT, ACT work keys, and then a combined ACT work keys, which we call AWA, first introduced in 1718. So, we'll go through the table quickly. Four-year cohort graduation rate, that's the number of students who graduated four years after their ninth grade entry year. For example, students who entered into nth grade for the first time in 2022 2023 should have graduated in the 2526 school year. Our goal our CGR was 80.4 and that was a de decrease of last year of 2.9%. Math
110rigger is a number of seniors who received credit for math 3 and our math 3 rigger is 94.5. We decreased from last year 510 of a percentage point. American college testing or the ACT is a number of 11th graders who scored proficient on the ACT composite score which is 17. ACT is reported but it's not included in the SPG. uh calculations and our ACT was 49.2 to an increase from last year by 13.1 percentage points. As a table shows, um this ch the state has changed the proficiency composite score several times since 2019 between scoring 17 and 19. And the footnotes and asterisks on the table kind of explain those various changes over those years. And the ACT work keys is the number of CTE concentrators who earn a silver or better on a work
111keys assessment. Work keys is like ACT. ACT work keys is reported but not included alone in SPG calculations. Our ACT work keys was 56.7 a decrease of last year from 4.7 a decrease of 4.7 percentage points. So a little tricky the last last row is ACT and ACT work keys AWA which that is included in SPG calculations. So that what what that means is is SPG calculations uses either the ACT or the ACT work keys. So if a student scores 17 or better or they s they gain a silver on the certificate, they'll use either one of those for SPG calculations. And our AWA was 45.3, which is a decrease from last year at NE at 3.3 percentage points. Next slide, please. So this slide gives information about DPS advanced placement or our AP score
112report. This data is not officially a part of ESSA accountability data, but we wanted to share because it does relate to college and career readiness indicators. So among the celebrations for DPS uh 2025 uh score reports, there was an increase of 240 exams taken, a 5-year high with a 6% increase in qualifying exams. We also had an increase in performance for all student subgroups. And there were 51 AP teachers who had courses with scores at or above the state or global average. And finally, 46% of AP classes offered in DPS had scores above state and or global averages. Next slide, please. The next two slides almost done. Next two slides will review uh district subgroup performance data. And within these slides, we'll talk about composite for all our subgroups and subgroup cohort graduation rate uh
113over time for the last seven years. Next slide. So this slide shows each subgroup within DPS with the total number of students tested and the overall composite on the top row. All other subgroups are listed um to the left the total number of tested the total number of tested in the middle their percentage and to the right and far right their changes from the 2324 school year. to the 2425. And so our overall proficiency of all subgroups is 48.4 with an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Five out of our 10 subgroups increased American Indian, black, Hispanic, white, and academically gifted. And five out of our 10 uh five out of our 10 subgroups decreased Asian, multi-racial, uh economically disadvantages, limited English proficient, and students with disabilities. Next slide, please. This is a really busy uh
114slide, but this kind of shows highlights the cohort graduation rate CGR by race and ethnicity over a seven-year period beginning with the 1819 through last year 2425. So, the subgroups listed, if you can't read them, are all students, Asian, black, Hispanic, multi-racial, and white. And as mentioned previously, our 2425 CGR is 80.4%. That was down three percentage points. So just a summary of this table um Asian students decreased by 10.9 percentage points. Black subgroup modestly decreased onetenth of a percentage point but as noticed we had an increase of almost two percentage points for black students in 1819 since the 1819 school year. Hispanic subgroup decreased by 5.6 percentage points and our multi-racial subgroup increased by 1.2 percentage points and our white subgroup decreased by 1.7 percentage points. Next slide, please. And this slide shows our
115other subgroup cohort graduation rate over a seven-year period. Same year as 1819 through last year. And the subgroups in on on this slide are all students academically gifted, economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient, and students with disabilities. Um as noted our our the differences or kind of a summary of the table is academically lifted remain constant at 95 and any data point that is 95% must be shown as 95. It might be higher but we do that to protect student confidentiality. Um economically disadvantage subgroup decreased by 3.5 percentage points. Limited English proficient uh subgroup decreased by 1.5 percentage points. However, our students with disability subgroup increased to 2.5 percentage points. Next slide please. And that's it. Um I will try to answer any questions um to best of my ability. Again I kind of present the
116data. Um our data is given to of course our departments and then they respond to this data with strategies and how to address that. So any questions that I can attempt to answer? >> Thank you Dr. Rristster for that presentation and for going through so much of that really important data with us. um questions. We also have Dr. King here as well um to can talk more about the academic portion. Commissioner Burton. >> Yes. Thank you, Dr. Royster, Dr. King, for that information. Um I was really excited to see how well our students are doing, especially since I just left the building not quite two years ago from Spring Valley and we would get this data and meetings and things like that. I think one of my I don't want to say it's a concern,
117but and like you said, you may not know the answer to this. I'm thinking about where some of our more marginalized students struggle particularly with I was looking at the um you know rates and things. Is it with reading? Is it with math? Is it both? And then how can we go about getting them the help and support that they need to be successful in those areas? >> I'll start it off and I'll let Dr. King jump in. I think uh with reading and math, you can see we're we're up in most of our areas um and we're up overall proficiency um in terms of of strategies. You want to take that, Dr. King? >> Once an educator, always an educator, right? >> Yeah. So I I think at at at risk of sounding a
118little bit um general, our focus really this year uh has been on refining the work that we do. We have a number of specific focuses that we are uh establishing for all of our students that we feel like are going to focus them on practice um that will out that will allow us to maximize student achievement. Right? So we are looking at things like specifically uh ensuring that all of our schools are using um our district-wide approved uh resources. So you know obviously as as you all know we have a set of district-wide resources that we have vetted uh and adopted as a district. We vet them uh for the purpose of making sure that they are resources that we feel like can deliver the kind of um instruction that can help us deliver the
119kind of instruction that we need to provide to students um in order to make sure that they achieve. Um a key then for us is making sure that the clear expectation across all schools is that our staff members will use those resources when providing um that instruction, right? as opposed to sometimes veering away from those resources to those things that you know that they may find um elsewhere. Um, another piece um of the work that we're doing is really focusing on providing more access or at least helping our principles find more time uh to spend in classrooms so that they are doing um a more focused job of looking at and providing specific feedback to our administrators around the instruction that they're seeing in classrooms. Um, we've implemented a district-wide instructional practices walkthrough which outlines
120uh the kinds of specific look fors that we want to see in our classrooms in terms of the structure of lessons, what's included in lessons, how students are provided information um what those uh what those lessons look like and those things are specifically aligned to best practice um so so that students are put in the put in the best uh possible position to achieve. And specifically around that, we're focused on a set of instructional practices um that we know that research has made clear are effective for all students in all settings, in all subject areas, right? And and really trying to work with our staff members around making sure that they uh receive training around using those strategies. Uh specifically this year, we're focused on explicit teaching um and making sure that we are doing
121that in every classroom, in every opportunity that we provide. And I think what's important to remember out about that is we're focusing on that in a general way because we believe that the use of high quality resources and the use of um high quality research driven research proven instructional strategies will will garner higher student achievement in all subject areas, right? Not just reading, not just math, but across the board. So that's what our focus has been this year. >> And I appreciate um you Dr. King and Dr. Royster. And I just want to also add because DPS comes to the commissioners, the board of commissioners to give a report about how students are doing. I would like for us to somehow um get some of these charter schools to come before the commissioners to tell
122how they're doing. Um because those are our residents. Those are our youngest residents and they need to be held accountable for um how our kids are doing. So I appreciate this. Thank you so much. Can I go ahead and reserve a front row seat? Two of those dot. >> All right. Uh, Commissioner Chair alum King's expression got me frazzled, but um, no, I love that idea. Thank you so much, Commissioner Burton. I think that's brilliant that we should definitely because that's Durham residents taxpayer dollars that are also going to those schools and they should be able to hear from them about the performance. Um, I was wondering if there in addition to just like the school reading, is there any way to track like if particular schools have had like an increase in school counselors
123that maybe of how that contributed to uh improvement for the students or if another school had um like other programs or resources within the school that aren't directly like just the educational piece, but the whole support system that could measure or that could contribute to that growth. So that way we know also like it's a holistic practice to help our kids. >> So I like that idea. Um and what I know board members are thinking I know what Dr. King is going to say and that is that I, you know, I always shy away from making those kinds of direct connections if we have not had folks into our schools to do the kind of structured research we need to do in order to make that actual determination, right? Um because there are so many
124pieces that that that impact school improvement or um school's failure to necessarily improve in a in a given time. I do think though and I think what's important is that what we are focusing on is trying to normalize and make sure we're clear about you know what we're providing in all schools. Um, and in fact, one of the things that I was just sitting at the table working on is uh guidance to our staff about the kinds of uh priorities and values we want to drive our staffing allocations as we move forward because many of those things we recognize have not been adjusted um in a few years and don't necessarily reflect the reality of our schools now um as opposed to what our schools were when those allocations were those allocation formulas were developed.
125Um, so, um, I don't know if I want to go quite that far, but we certainly want to work around making sure that the way we assign staff reflects the specific needs and circumstances that our schools find them in because we do understand that that has impact on how our students perform um, across the board. >> No, I understand that having like in-depth analysis. I think also just thinking of the fact that we now have free lunches and um meals at schools also has a significant impact on the kids ability to just focus in a classroom. >> Sure. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Dr. Lee, >> I don't have a question. Uh but I do have a statement is is so whenever we talk about um school grades, I have to talk about my disagreement with
126school grades. Um a slide that was really particular interesting to me is the growth comparison between Durham public schools and the charter schools. Uh, some of us remember when the school grades kind of first came out, uh, the waiting was a little different. It wasn't 8020. It was I don't remember exactly what it was, but it's closer to 50/50. And public schools are generally known for growth. Uh, and with that waiting, public schools were doing better than other programs, the charter schools and so forth. So the legislature shifted the weight because charter schools and private schools uh perform generally perform better on standardized test uh mainly due to their populations. So now we're at a 8020 because those other programs don't grow as much as public schools do. And that's where we got these letter
127grades. It's all a ploy to say that public schools are failing. Now, we have to report this. It's just kind of in the ethosphere now. Everybody looks at that. It's on the realer websites and, you know, where to move websites, all those kinds of things. But I just I I'm all I always feel remissed if I don't say that um a letter grade does not tell you how a school performs a a an arbitrary letter grade. Um I'm happy to see the growth. I'm happy to see the scores and the all of that kind of thing. But I I mean I'm happy to see the grades and the improvements. I look at growth. growth is a more telling metric of what's happening in the schools than any letter grade can ever ever tell us. So,
128like I've said before to all the millions of people watching, um, go into your schools. If you're when you're transitioning into Durham public schools, go into your schools. Don't just drive by and say that's a good school or that's not a good school. Go into them. let your children go into them and it'll make a big difference. Thanks. >> So, align to that. Um I I think it's important to note uh Dr. Lee, um there are a number of efforts a foot across the state of North Carolina to address just that issue. Um just before I transitioned to Durham public schools, I served on a statewide committee uh where we looked at just that issue um and uh made some recommendations to the general assembly about that shift. Uh those recommendations obviously were not accepted.
129Uh there is another effort and I think it is one of the priorities that our new state superintendent has established to review and revise the accountability system specifically around um adjusting the balance between um growth and uh proficiency. And so what I would share is that, you know, it is always appropriate for folks who agree uh with your sentiment um that they could share that concern with their legislators because that information and those recommendations will be coming back to our legislature uh in due time. Um, and so it would be helpful uh for folks to let their legislators know that they appreciate a review or a revision of the balance between proficiency um and growth um in terms of our state accountability system. >> Thank you all. Uh I'm going to move us forward. I
130do want to note that um >> Thank you. Thank you, Chairstead. I just do we we did present this to the board but I do want to um um share that in this in this space as well. Uh the state assigns a different accountability system to our alternative schools um Lake View and Durham Performing Learning Arts Center. Both of those schools achieved an excelling and succeeding rating as well. So I just wanted to highlight our the work of our um staff and students at our alternative schools as well. All means all. >> Thank you, Dr. Lewis. Uh I I just want to note a lot of this information has been put on Durham public schools website but if there is more information commissioners that you would like regarding this please don't hesitate to let us
131know. I think we all have to tell this story of Durham public schools and so how do we make sure we all have the information that we need to talk about the good things happening in our school system. So we're happy to provide whatever resources we can. All right. Thanks y'all. I'm gonna move us forward because we do also have a public comment here. The next item on our agenda is our meeting calendar for the 206 school year or not school year, excuse me, 26 calendar year. I do want to note on this that there are two meetings that will be joint board of county commissioner, board of education, city of Durham meetings, which means that our meetings with just the two of our bodies, there'll be only two of those for 2020. We were
132discussing that we were going to change that to be one of the joint city meetings would change to add DPS instead of that we still had our meetings because the city also has joint city county planning joint city county that there's more meetings. >> What is >> I don't know if you could tell me when what your schedule for joint county city meetings. >> I don't know if we've got in the schedule for next year. of clerk >> or maybe if we I don't know if we have all the information now or we want to bring this back at a different >> Good morning everyone. Monica Wallace clerk to the board. I do have that calendar. I just don't have it with me but I can share it with Nicole after this meeting. If we
133want to move forward with uh approval and make amendments later we can. Um it's completely up to you all. I I will note we probably do need to schedule a meeting before May 12th with our two bodies so we could talk through the budget um because currently right now we would have done that in February but if it's all three bodies we don't have that opportunity. So let's say um amend this document to add a meeting in the first quarter of the year to talk budget between the two bodies and it might take our clerks to do some work to schedule that. Thank you all so much for chasing us down in our schedules. I'll say that in advance. Um, so then that would mean three bodies, three meetings at least between the two bodies.
134That sound better? >> We can do that. >> So this would be asking us to approve this um schedule as amended as we make those changes coming up. >> Oh, wonderful. >> Second. >> It's been moved by um Vice Chair Dr. Lee, seconded by Chair Alum. Is there any other discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? passes unanimously. Thank you, Miss Smith and um Miss Wallace. I was gonna say Miss Tumor, but that's different time. All right. Thank you, Miss Wallace, um for working on that with us. We do have public comment. If you can come on up, uh Jim, I'm going to read some instructions before we get started. A quick review of the rules. Please state your name and if you're speaking for an organization, state your name
135and the name of the organization. We ask that you present your comments within three minutes. Um, there's a little timer on your podium and when the yellow light comes on, you'll have one minute left to wind up your remarks. When the red light comes on, it will beep and that indicates that 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, operations of our joint bodies. Finally, all of us will listen carefully and consider the comments, but we will not engage in a discussion with the speakers. Um Jim Sarra Savara Savara I apologize. Yes, I am uh uh co-chair of the policy committee of the coalition for affordable housing and
136transit. Uh and we have been paying close attention to the development of the rail trail uh which will finally start its construction in January of 2027. And we're this is provides a new transit option, not just an amenity, but a new transit option for people uh to get to the central bus station, train station, downtown Durham without having to use an automobile. And it's very important uh that affordable housing be made available along the rail trail. Uh we've been looking at possible sites uh as a project of our of our committee. Uh and um one uh site that stands out just one block from the rail trail is the Durham School of the Arts property. And we think it would provide an option for may and perhaps only the only option uh for a large
137affordable housing development uh that is close to the rail trail. Uh and we have started looking at the possibility of the Durham School of the Arts. Uh and uh we think that the 3acre site at the north of the property where the student parking lot is located would be an ideal location. Um, we will be back to your separate meetings of the the board of education and the and the the county commission uh with a proposal uh for a planning effort uh led by the county and the board of education and including community organizations. Um the um affordable housing the construction of affordable housing we think should be a county project u using the school using the school property. Um we hope that construction can start when students have have moved to their to their
138new site. Uh and um so we we would like to get this planning effort going. just wanted to alert you to it and uh any comments, suggestions about about this effort, I'd be happy to get them from you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jim. Um and with no further business, we are adjourned. Thank you all.