Durham Public Schools Board of Education Work Session August 13, 2020 5:00 PM

001aligned with our mission to embrace educate and Empower every student to innovate serve and lead tonight the administration will be presenting information to keep you up to date on our strategic plan thank you for taking the time to join us tonight our first item this evening is a moment of silence and as we recently heard of the loss of a student I'd like us to hold that family and friends of that student in our hearts this evening this is a unimaginable loss and an unimaginable time of grief for that family and just uh let's come together in a Durham way to lift them up as we observe a moment of silence thank you all our next item is agenda review and approval we have additions or changes to the agenda as presented yes can I

002add a superintendent update um to the agenda can go maybe after um public comment so we'll add that as our new item six and bump everything else down defitely anything else that we need to include this evening if not appr I move I move approval of the agenda as amended it's been moved by Mr Lee and seconded by Miss Lewis that we approve the agenda as amended I'm GNA start with the birthday girl Miss Lewis hi missad I Mr Lee hi Mr Sears I miss valz I thank you and I vote I also it passes unanimously that brings us to the next item approval of our board work session minutes from July 16th move approval second it's been moved by Mr Sears and seconded by miss valadares that we approve the July 16th work session

003minutes start with Miss Lewis Miss Umstead hi Mr Lee uh hi Mr seers hi Miss V hi you and I vote I as well it passes unanimously that brings us to General Public comment we have all received the public comments ahead of time and they um have been reviewed they are also posted on the website but our chair ask that we um in light of um time give each one one minute um this evening and then the the remainder can be reviewed by the public um immediately online Mr sth do you have those available I do good afternoon board members and thank you very much we do have I believe 30 35 uh public comments and I will as uh Miss berer said I will give each one one minute and they are available on

004the board website for the page for this work session we begin with Danielle Adams of Miller Drive I would like the board to consider funding Chromebooks for students enrolled in the EC prek program these are some of the most vulnerable students and many need interventions from birth not having the ability to come to school is enough of a setback but not getting any services at all will only widen the gap between these young students and their peers at a stage when so much crucial development is taking place my son greatly benefited from his years in EC prek and I credit the program for preparing him to be a kindergarten student this year please include EC prek students in the plan to receive Chromebooks and virtual instruction our next comment is from Katrina Morgan of Glendale

005Avenue EC prek need and are entitled to instruction to help them build the foundational skills they need to be successful in school and in the community please fully fund Chromebooks so that these students can access the services they need next comment is from Court hexter of Kettle Creek Way are you the board aware of the fact that our schools are not all in fact ready to start are you aware that we don't have enough devices hotspots that some schools have given out the devices they already own to a portion of the student population because none have been delivered to them yet that the rest of the student population at those schools has no idea when there will be a device available for them are you aware that some schools in DPS have waited well beyond

006what is reasonable for families to announce their daily weekly schedule families are understandably calling for more actual information across the district to plan their lives and being told to wait or not being responded to at all do you know that although this is one district and we are DPS the disparity between schools is astounding when a family has children in multiple DPS schools and sees how things are being handled better at some than others or resources seem to be more available at some than others it raises a lot of questions if you do know all of these things what are you doing about them who are you holding accountable Where is the pressure on the state to allow for more time to be ready and that is the end of the timer our next comment

007is Teresa erling man from Manchester I understand that this school year presents challenges unlike anything we have ever seen however if DPS is going 100% remote for the first nine weeks it is vital that all students have access to devices and the internet if that cannot happen we need a plan for how we are going to reach all of our students with the delay of device is meaning some students will not have the ability to start the school year off on Monday and be online please do not allow some schools or individuals to start While others are waiting for devices or hotspots I appreciate that delivery of equipment is outside the control of DPS however you must ensure access for all students I have heard of families who only have cell phones to start the

008year and that doesn't seem like it is an equitable option the next comment is from Jared Geller of Rivier Road I am the tech champion at Parkwood Elementary with Schools starting on Monday we are still missing over 300 Chromebooks if by some miracle they arrive tomorrow the Parkwood staff would have to work overtime to ensure all of the Chromebooks are uploaded into our system and assigned to students so that they can be deployed the following day this is a Herculean task that will keep teachers from preparing their classrooms and learning the new educational programs that are being rolled out this year with the heavy stress put on all of us and the short time frame it will be nearly impossible to start the year with smooth procedures and Exemplar instruction as a result I could

009easily imaginable world world where parents immediately start looking for other options to educate their children there are many new Innovative options popping up and this kind of disastrous rollout is exactly the Catalyst that will permanently push families out of DPS it is not worth it we must push back the start of school at least one week and preferably until after Labor Day so we can ensure a smooth start to the school year for teachers students and families a messy start will set the stage for a messy year a year that is and that is the end of the minute timer the next comment is from Marlo palansky of cheek Road as a teacher for Durham Public Schools I'm overly concerned and overwhelmed at the lack of computers lack of hotspots and lack of communications surrounding

010the start of school our community was told that there would be enough devices and hotspots to access online learning systems unfortunately that is now not the case while some students will have total and unhindered access to vital online learning others will be left in the dark this is an enormous equity issue how can we start school knowing that we have students in our district who will not be able to access online learning I believe we as a district are not ready to start school Monday and I ask you to consider delaying the start of school we are less than one week away from the start of school and many of my colleagues do not feel ready while there is always some stress and uncertainty with the start of a new year this year's start of

011school stress is downright debilitating and unhealthy teachers are muting their Zoom calls to cry while others lie awake at night unable to sleep this overwhelming anxiety is all due in part to trying to navigate a new learning management system in just a week's time while there have been training sessions and and that is the one minute timer the next comment is from Liz Miller of Cleveland Street I'm writing to urge the board to examine the practices being put in place at the school and classroom level and the equitability of those practices listening to the board and District leaders as well as DPS social media channels would leave lead people to believe that we are well equipped to begin the school year online in a way that is Equitable for everyone as someone working in schools

012every day I can tell you definitively that is not the case we do not even have computers and hotspots guaranteed to all children who need one that is the bare minimum requirement for beginning the school year and until all students have access we are not ready to begin we also need district and school leaders to take responsibility for and provide thorough answers to the questions teachers have been asking for weeks in the district kickoff and in school meetings we are consistently sent a message that we are incompetent and ineffective and therefore require near constant supervision to do our jobs well this could not be further from the truth but until we receive a clear understanding of our schedules and how to reach all students from leadership we are incapable of doing our jobs to our

013full potential stop babysitting and that's the end of the timer the next comment is anonymous anyone who has been in the school building this week knows how just how chaotic it has been teachers are scrambling along with administrators to ensure that students have what they need to start with remote learning even still there just isn't enough time to get it all done it would be a wonderful help if the board would vote to push the opening of school back for students this would allow for a much smoother transition into online learning we want to set our students up for success and teachers need to be adequately prepared the abrupt closure in March led to crisis schooling that experience could not have prepared us for what we are facing in this new phase of online teaching

014we are being asked to create an entire courses redraw our entire profession as we know it and physically disperse materials there just simply isn't enough time to do this right we are scrambling and it will affect how we set the stage for this new experience for our students and families please allow for a little more time for us to get this right the next comment is from L Lara O'Neal dun of cheek Road I would like to express my support for starting the school year later if possible the first day of school is a special day that teachers prepare for diligently the delay of devices is creating a situation in which not all children have Equitable access to the first day furthermore the child care options for families still have yet to materialize many families

015are unable to be home with their child during the rigid times DPS has set for synchronous learning their children too will miss the first day there are many inevitable problems raised by this pandemic but some are not inevitable DPS has control over child care and devices and the date that we begin if we preach Equity we should make we should sure make conditions are as Equitable as possible for the first day of school next comment is from naama Brooks of North Point Drive hello and thank you for your time I'm a kindergarten teacher and I'm wondering how can we start school on August 17th when we have no Chromebooks for students no hotspots and no hmh materials we are not at all ready to start instruction on 8817 teachers are struggling to keep up with

016and understand all the new technology and paperwork documentation that we are being asked to use we as a district definitely need more time to get things in order how is it that we have parents scheduled to pick up Chromebooks but we have zero to give out the parents are not going to be happy when they show up to get their device and we have to tell them that we are still waiting on them to arrive we need to cancel and push everything back the next comment is from Elisha Burns of Pebblestone Drive thank you for your time I'm concerned about school opening next week without all the resources needed for our students to be successful my son's school does not have all the materials Chromebooks curriculum Etc needed for their students because of District delays

017and unforeseen events this adds stress to the school School Community how can he be successful without the Necessary Technology and access to learning as a parent I would rather school start a few weeks later than scheduled and my child be fully prepared then for school start next week and my child not to be able to access his education the next comment is from Andrea Hoff of Governor's Place can we please delay the start of classes back to the original start date of August 24th to give schools and teachers an extra week for schools to receive all of their devices and to try and get their in hotpots distributed forcing a start date when all students cannot participate is unfair inequitable and unwise the next comment is from Cynthia Jones of wearing Street DPS schools have

018presented schedules consisting of five hours of teaching and learning five days a week firstly many teachers are not prepared to begin instructing students on August 17th mainly due to having to learn the new canvas system teach students how to use the system as well as inform parents as to how it works secondly has anyone even considered the physical impact of time spent on a computer radiation Vision the next comment is from Ronda Taylor bulock of Willow Crest Road dear board members we are not ready Durham Public Schools is not ready Monday August 17th is supposed to be the first day of school and we are not ready after public outcry from concerned parents Educators and community members DPS decided to shift from Plan B to plan C for the first nine weeks the former is

019a hybrid some in-person and on some online learning the latter is a 100% virtual learning experience this this shift required at minimum putting laptops in the hands of every single DPS unit 33,000 children DPS does not have the capacity to meet this need because all of the laptops have not arrived this is a national issue not a local one we are not ready spool school is supposed to start Monday and many children will be left behind specifically many of our most marginalized black black and brown students will will not be online with their teachers and classmates they will be starting the school year further behind this is not due to any fault of their own but due to a governmental system that has not prioritized their education Durham Public Schools leadership is doing the best

020that that is the end of the timer the next comment is from Michelle Bruner of Kuru drive I'm very concerned about our school starting on Monday when our elementary school is short 250 Chromebooks how can we start when onethird of our population doesn't have the one thing everyone needs also the teachers aren't ready they're in a panic from what I've have heard they have received zero training so far on this new online platform and haven't even been given a login it's Thursday and school is starting on Monday how can we be so unprepared starting when we are clearly not ready is going to be a mess for all we don't need to start August 17th let's get this right and not get off to a rough start also what happened with the Chromebooks why did

021the schools get and give us parents mixed messages about whether or not they have them will have them Etc thank you for clarifying the next comment is actually a repeat the next comment is Rebecca Ferris of ceru Drive DPS we love you and our teachers so so much I having a hard time understanding why the start date of Monday when our school does not have enough Chromebooks we can't have school without Chromebooks why are the teachers being thrown into this unknown when we are online no matter what push back the online start date and prepare our students and teachers adequately please the next comment is from Alena Barnett of intuition Circle one DPS Learning Center I suggest removal of the DPS employee discount in favor of a more Equitable fee structure that is only income

022based the benefit of this change is that those DPS employees who are in financial need could still access lower cost Services while DPS employees who can afford the full cost would pay their fair share two remote work policy 7503 I have concerns that teachers will not have access to Reliable equipment while teaching remotely the policy as written states that the employee is responsible for their own remote working costs Low video quality low audio quality and computer failures all interrupt remote instruction and make it harder for students to succeed in order to facilitate highquality remote instruction I suggest that teachers without access to Reliable equipment be supplied a reliable computer system when they are asked to teach from home by ensuring that all teachers have access to appropriate equipment we facilitate A Better Learning and working

023environment the next comment is from Sarah Anderson of enesco circle I applaud the steps the board has taken to ensure students safety by enforcing remote learning for the first nine weeks however I have serious concerns about the elementary virtual learning schedules I have three children in elementary schools the schedule presented would require my 5-year-old son to spend hours a day in front of the computer this requirement is not research based I am unable to find a single Professional Organization who Advocates children having this much time in front of a screen furthermore the majority of parents are working full-time and young children cannot be parked in front of the computer and sent off to learn on their own all day they require help logging on help with redirection and help completing schoolwork we can't pretend virtual

024learning is exactly the same as face-to-face learning I'm urging the board to set limited by grade level for how much time a child can be expected to participate in Virtual learning I'm also urging the board not to require any live instruction for elementary students there's no way to determine when students who need support from adults in the home can access that help requiring rigid time students must be logged in creates a huge Equity issue between students that's the end of the timer the next comment is from Tade Dominique of Century Oaks Drive why does DPS and Community Education think it's safe to have a learning center with an enrollment of 150 students and 50 staff at different schools doesn't that contradict the district's plan C remote learning option does DPS and Community Education not value

025the health life and safety of their classified workers so the staff and students that will attend the Learning Center will be test dummies for DPS to see if they get covid the next qu comment is from Durham congregations associations and neighborhoods dear Durham Public Schools Board of educations members of the Durham can afford affordable housing action team have been working with residents of Durham Housing Authority communities to address the disruption of normal day-to-day life since covid-19 recently we learned that many returning students of Durham public schools who live in these communities have not received the Chromebooks or hotspot devices promised by the district after reviewing information located on the DPS website we noticed that each school is Distributing these items in different ways as you may know DHA communities comprise students from many different schools

026across the district we count at least 10 schools at Hoover Rogue Community alone while many of the residents articulated their understanding that all students would be receiving a Compu computer in Hotpot if necessary most were unaware of arrangements to receive such materials we found found this to be due to parents unaware of their assigned pickup day parents and students not having the transportation to get to and from pickup locations or the fact that some DHA residents do not have working mailboxes telephone numbers or internet access please inform and that's the end of the timer the next comment is from Ajax woolly of Bonair Avenue dear DPS board in community I'm sure there will be no hesitancy or confusion about approving agenda items seven and eight today beyond that as a Durham native and longtime DPS

027parent of three I beg you to immediately develop a specific action plan to support and sustain the connection between DPS and the residents of our public housing communities starting now and extending beyond the period of covid recovery well into whatever future we seek the onetoone digital device rollout experience has shown how even the temporary loss of free access to our school transportation and physical plants presents an egregious inequitable burden on our neighbors who are already struggling with the substandard living conditions and systemic oppression in public housing we are not powerless as a community we will stand with you as you enact bold policies to counter the pressure and sabotage from status quo entities who fear the oncoming collapse of the system of privilege that as the resolution in item seven states in paragraph 2 unfairly

028disadvantages specific individuals and communities of color while unfairly giving advantages to other individuals that is the end of the timer the next comment is from gendelina Shaw Peters of Corn Crib Court dear DPS board and Community I applaud and stand with you today on approving agenda item 8 the expansion of the service agreement of hotspots with AT&T as a member of Durham can a retired New York City school teacher teacher trainer principal and most recently Durham resident I have committed myself to supporting and aligning with those who share the same goals I have for serving the underserved communities as a student growing up in an The East Harlem Project I was afforded an opportunity to grow learn and become all that I could thanks to the the NYC public school system this is why I

029believe in Durham Public Schools however recently Durham can learned that many returning students of Durham Public Schools who live in Durham Housing Authority communities have not yet received Chromebooks or hotspot devices as promised we were also informed that this community would not be receiving their needed materials until after the start of the school year due to the lack of available devices therefore we would like to applaud you and stand with you today on making this Monumental decision to expand the service agreement of hotspots with at& so that all Durham Housing Authority Community students and that is the end of the timer the next comment is from Laurel cner of Harrier Court I appreciate all the work that the schools and District are doing to get things up and running however I do not understand why

030things are currently set up that kids of all ages must log in from 8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. the ignite program was set up to have three hours of inperson instruction three times a week and that was perfect my son is a kindergartner and he honestly loses the ability to emotionally regulate when he gets too much screen time is there any way to adjust this why can the teachers not follow the ignite Program scheduling and then schedule one-on-one or optional activities I will always support the schools but the scheduling should be altered especially for younger kids next we have mac burns from Pebblestone Drive how can we begin the virtual school year without the proper technology needed for the students when the technology devices aren't even in the warehouses how can they get to the

031schools and students that need them I suggest that we post poone the start of school until all the technology devices are in the hands of the ones who need them that way no individual falls behind next is Adam L of pelum road I want to thank you all for all your hard work I feel making canvas LMS available to all students is going to allow for the teachers and students to all share a common user experience and I believe this will make the learning experience much smoother for students teachers and parents the next comment is from an anonymous DPS teacher not every student has a device or internet access it is not fair to begin school until all students have access the next comment is also Anonymous I understand the importance of Education as a

032parent and teacher but if the district is not adequately ready to due to the lack of training for teachers lack of materials for students then the start of school should be pushed back I've had a conversation with a teacher for the district and to have them get ready for school in three days is rather impossible to do not only that you want these kids who have not been in the classroom for direct instruction to take an EOG assessment at the end of the year our students and teachers are not going to retain without direct instruction when you look at data and it doesn't reflect what they know or their potential it will not be because the teachers didn't do their job it will be because you have rushed the teachers into preparing for the unknown

033the next comment is from another anonymous DPS teacher I would like to ask the board to consider delaying the start of school to allow teachers and parents appropriate time to plan for the new virtual learning and allow time for new devices to come in and be distributed to children it would not be fair to start school before all children have access to learning that will only create a larger achievement Gap moving forward next comment is from ru petrea from Carolina Avenue I have grown children educated in Durham Public Schools I am proud of the education they received and want all children of Durham County to be as fortunate I think their education provided the building blocks necessary for their success as contributing members of society today I'm concerned that a week ago I heard that

034DHA students will not receive necessary equipment to learn in our new envir of online learning these neighbors will be the last to receive necessary equipment when in fact plans should have been in place for them to be taken care of first I will stand with you in any way needed to see this goal is achieved all students must start the school year with necessary equipment not just the wealthy the next com comment is from Chelsea Bartell of Elderberry Court I would like to respectfully ask Mr Lee to clarify some public statements he wrote on August 11th 2020 specifically Mr Lee stated prek is not a part of the public public schools program and we are mandated by the state and federal governments to provide services for K12 we have to look at TH those as

035a priority as they are the foundation of the public school system we all agree that prek is just as important as any other grade which is why Durham is working to implement Universal prek but with the funds available we have to manage the required grades first and work to provide access to prek as a secondary consideration upon being asked about Federal mandates to provide faap to students aged 3 to 21 Mr Lee stated EC prek is in fact part of DPS the general seats are not despite stating that prek is just as important as K12 Mr Lee made it clear that prek is the last priority for funding Additionally the repeated insistance that prek is not part of DPS communicates disrespect for our prek Educators and families even if they are not identified as e

036and that is the timer the next comment is anonymous I am an elementary school teach teacher for Durham Public Schools we are not ready to begin full instruction on Monday August 17th devices have not been handed out yet and we still have families that do not know that we are even beginning School online teachers were given four days to completely reinvent school with little guidance and Little Instruction while trying to get in contact with families and get them the resources they need before Monday expectations and guidelines continue to shift and teachers and families are the ones being tugged around how can we confidently talk to families about starting remote learning on Monday when I can't even promise They will receive a device the expectation is that students as young as 5 years old will be

037on Zoom for 3 hours straight in the morning with another two hours after lunch on day one with only a couple of breaks here and there families are concerned about their child being on Zoom for that amount of time the expectations being put on School administration teachers families and students is unacceptable and impossible I especially want to highlight that EC ESL Au teachers and families are being left behind even more so than they usually are and that is time the next comment is from Alexander Bayou Zach Bayou of Murray Avenue as we prepared to start school on Monday we also recognized that many children in our community will still need physical spaces outside of their homes to successfully access their online learning we also know that as of today some children in our community have

038not received the devices necessary to learn Community Partners have collaborated to create a robust model for safe Learning Centers that support the remote learning provided by DPS our goal is to reach at least 3,000 students this fall and to be accessible free of cost to as many families as need this option we know that many more families would benefit from such spaces with the limited space we currently have and focus on keeping everyone safe we must prioritize our most vulnerable children who will suffer devastating consequences from loss of learning and lack of social emotional support if they do not have a safe nurturing space to access their online learning for our purposes we are prioritizing children who are experiencing in houselessness or transitional housing qualify for free or reduced lunch have parents who work in

039essential jobs and aren't able to have child care at home during the day and that is the timer the next uh comment is actually a repeat next comment is from Brian Smith of Holloway Street thank you for your proactive approach to keeping students and teachers safe during this time of uncertainty I know that our goal is for our students and families to feel safe and successful during this new remote Learning Adventure I feel that we are not setting our families up for success with the first day of school being on Monday there are many factors that have come into realization by families and staff this work week I'm asking the board to consider to push the start of school back after speaking to several families many did not even know the first day of school

040is Monday let alone that we are starting remotely how can we expect our families to feel supported when they feel as though the schools have not communicated with them they're hearing information through the grap Vine and is creating a lot of uncertainty in an already uncertain time not only am I questioning the communication that the district is providing to its staff many times teachers have been in the dark about various district and school-based decisions and found out through news outlets or social media and that is unacceptable in pushing back the start of school staff and families could work together to get on a similar page about the start of school it would ensure that staff had time to contact all families and the timer is out and the final comment is from Angela Jones of

041Glen Brun Road I have a number of concerns regarding the reopening of school August 17th there's been a lack of communication to parents in regards to computer distribution obtaining hotpots and even how the first day of school is supposed to operate I have gotten numerous concerns from families who do not know how they will get internet where they are supposed to pick up items or even they should have picked the items up as a teacher I have my own worries that we weren't given enough sufficient time to plan on using canvas nor had we the nor had we had the time to meet schoolwide expectations that seemingly came out of fft field we need to be better prepared before we attempt to launch the beginning of the school year and that was the last comment

042tonight thank you so much chip thank you for reading those and thank you for putting them online so that everyone um's full comment can be appreciated by everyone I know uh we miss being together in person and public Comon is one of those times that I especially um miss being together with our community because we feel heart and and the concern and the challenge that our community brings as we work towards equity for our students and teachers now I'd like to move to the item that we added a superintendent's update to Dr MinGa thank you Miss berer for the opportunity to be able to give you some updates regarding our Chromebooks maybe some other items as well as a reaction to some of the comments I heard uh let me start off by saying thank

043you to my staff uh for working so hard for the past uh few months um a lot of folks do not know the work that you do behind the scene um getting our schools ready to start on Monday I'm very grateful to have you on board and um all the long hours as well as some of the it folks that's been working with all the time to get us to a better place um prior to covid we had about 12,000 devices on laptops and Chromebooks moving fast forward when we got to co we knew that the next year we're going to have to be well prepared to be able to have enough device devices for all our students thank you to our board for allowing us to be able to place those orders pretty much

044back in June we're able to purchase about 20,000 devices so our plan was pretty much getting those 20,000 devices in one time we should be able to take care of all our students unfortunately it's only until probably today or yesterday that we're able to get about 13,900 devices 6,000 of those we were told that uh they're not going to arrive anytime soon because of uh whatever violation that's uh the company that is working with uh our vendor that is uh based in China they have some violation um that's the reason why those 6,000 devices were held up by the US Customs so we are working with that particular vendor to make sure that we're going to have those devices uh those 6,000 probably sometime around October that's we're going to have those so once we

045got that news about two weeks ago um we went back to what we have in the district so we able to figure out that there are some devices that are maybe 3 years or maybe older that we can fix them quickly make sure that uh our students will be able to use them until we get a brand new one that is going to arrive in October So based on our mathematics we knew we had enough to be able to deploy to to our students so as of today I'm going to tell our community that we have enough based on our mathematics to have those devices ready for our students so what's going to happen here so our schools we told them to have a schedule to be able to deploy those devices we knew that's

046all 14,000 they will arrive in one time we start receiving them bit by bit th000 2,000 3,000 so it took times for our it folks to be able to get them ready and push them to the school that's the reason why some of the schools they had a schedule set up say hey on Monday we're going to deploy those devices by the fact that we're not receiving all 14,000 in one time that's delay changes and things of that nature my apologies because of what happened and some of our families did not feel comfortable but at this what tell you as we're talking here we still have our it folks that are still working deploying those devices we hope by Monday we should be able to get all the devices that we have to work with

047to get to the hands of our students I know there have been some uh suggestions regarding pushing back uh the calendar things of that nature and I just want to let our families know as well as our teachers when it comes to calendar we got to know that state legislators this they are the one that set up the start date of the school unless we want to be defined say we're not going to follow those rules and let do our own thing that's something that as uh Madame chair is going to take over and uh our attorney is going to weigh in to be able to give us some advice as well but his to be my suggestion as we're moving forward I heard our teachers frustration a week of preparation or few days of

048preparation uh to be able to teach effectively online is not enough I hurt you but at the same time I'm going to wear my hat of being a classroom teacher uh as I'm giving my comment here my report usually the first two days or three days of schools it's a time for teachers to be acquainted with students there are teachers that's the first day they pull the curriculum they pull the Ping guide they're ready to teach but I'm going to work with our board I'm going to ask our board if we can find a way to compromise to be able to get our teachers little bit time to be able to be ready I don't know if two three days going to be ready but I'm not in favor unless both uh we want to

049take with the attorney make a different recommendation I'm going to ask our schools to be able to slow down when it comes to teaching curriculum the first three days let's work on social needs of our students let's work on activities to be able to know our students I think usually in the past that's what teachers have done before there are some teachers the first day they can just get ahead and start teaching so we can compromise spending the first three days dealing with social emotional needs while teachers well they going to have some time they can go and work on their PLC and keep on fine-tuning their lessons so that day four they should be able to teach I heard you teachers we're doing the best we can but I'll tell you this I was

050reading somewhere one of the district that I'm not going to call the name they are short 880,000 devices and they're going to receive those in about four months they are district that are really in a terrible shape when it comes to those devices it's not only DPS is not only North Carolina that's across the nation there are pretty much about 11 companies that's been working with for different vendors that they being under those sanctions that they cannot receive those devices we are in a better place we strongly believe some of the equipment the devices that we have we're going to work with them to fix them by Monday we hope to be able to give up all those devices so hot spot again we we're working with our city and um du to make sure

051that all this public housing they were going to have connections what happens we heard probably by the end of August that's the time terce McDougall they're going to be connected then the remaining public housing is going to take time it's going to take more funding that's the reason why we coming tonight to the board to be able to ask for additional hotspots the 6,000 one that we able to order per Dr Monk tomorrow they should be able to give out all of them once our board approve additional 3500 I heard is going to be a turnaround time of 24 hours AT&T should be able to give them to us and we are working really hard we're going to work over the weekends and make sure that we're going to have those devices ready so that's

052pretty much my report I'm asking for patience Grace to our staff uh one week of PD may not be sufficient understand it we on the same board with the district as well we are not the only one and to our parents those devices I said this on WL every student that need a device they're going to have one and I don't even want to tell you how hard we have worked today call all these local vendors to be able to acquire those uh devices they are all sold out thank you to DPS Foundation because we had a conversation this morning they had an emergency meeting to be able to find us $200,000 so we can buy those devices I'm working with Larry Hurst a triangle recycling um uh company he has been making a lot

053of calls he going to help us out he was able to fund few devices as well all I'm asking our families please work with us patience give us some Grace we are working really hard and some of my staff have not had a day of vacation so our commitment is to serve our families when I hear about Equity that's something that resonate with my staff all the time the reason we did not want to deploy equipment or devices back in March because of equity we feeling that we're going to be in a better place we're going to take care of all our babies everybody's going to have those devices and Hotpot is going to be based on the criteria that we came up with Madame chair that's some my reports and U my staff they

054will be presenting more and I'm going to be available to answer to any questions and concerns that our district may have thank you thank you Dr MGA thank you to the team that has been working so hard and also for our teachers and and School Personnel who are working so very hard to to connect with families we're also struggling I know to figure out ways to communicate with each other during these times when we have to stay distant and so any ways that we can continue to build those bridges will be so important going forward yes can I ask a quick question to our attorney on the line around calendar law we had a lot of calls around starting school later what what options do we have you don't have an option to literally start

055school later but the plan that the superintendent proposed is something that we have seen other clients do I think some people may be calling it orientation or something that kind of starts the school year a little slower to give people a chance to get ramped up is certainly something that's available based on our reading of the statute so I I think that what he proposed is something that is certainly something that the the board or the the superintendent could do does that answer your question M unstead uh yes it does I fully support us doing an orientation time period or something because I don't want to have instruction happening and all students don't have what they need so I really hope we exercise that option it's unfortunate that we don't have the option around calendar

056flexibility um so please take that advoc see to our general assembly because it's important any year but especially in this year to be able to have that flexibility to do what our community needs so thank you R for that answer Miss Lewis I see your hand go ahead thank you that was a great question um chair Umstead um Madam chair during the meeting I had a question if um and listen to considerations and I'm support of it as well uh is this a place that I can make a motion uh Dr vinga are you expecting full discussion of this idea about start of school now or will it come later when we have more discussion and more topics um it's uh your pleasure but I'm not asking for any votes on this uh if by

057consensus if we can all agree that we're going to leave this discretion uh to our principles the first week we want you to do orientation work with your staff to make sure that they're working with students they need to know their families and they need to reflect on what covid is all about and all that kind of stuff so unless you guys want to vote but personally I'm not asking for vote for it it I don't think a motion is necessary for what he's described because it's fully with we believe it to be within the statutory Authority for the superintendent and the school system anyway Mr Le Miss Lou did that answer your question I'm sorry before I go to Mr Lee it did I have a followup I'll go ahead let Mr Lee ask

058uh Mr Malone um does does this orientation period affect the um um ADM count I mean it should this is a day of school it's just that the school system is using it in this method so it it should not I mean it's it is the first day of school the first week of school um so I don't I don't see why it would on Mr lour in regards to the question uh Mr Lee of does it affect ADM in general school starts off slow students continue to come in over the first 20 days really at the end of those 20 days your membership last day really predicts where you're going to be uh for the state purposes of allocations uh for best one of two months ADM so it's the first and second month

059that is looked at for determining how the funding will be for the school district so um it'll be later in the month before we really know what it'll look like okay thank Miss Lewis see I do want to come back thank you for that explanation as well um but just for for equity and continuity um across the board I would like us as a board to consider um making the motion to delay um academic teaching until I would even give it a date Thursday August the 20th knowing that there is a short turnaround um for devices to be in every student's hand on Monday but that we can ensure that devices are there and that everyone across the district is in alignment and understanding um what what the pleasure of the board is again to

060make sure that the community knows that we're all on the same page no matter what school you're in this is a standard and expectation so let me see if I can repeat that you you were actually wanting to push the start date of school till the with with a motion to to delay academic teaching until Thursday August 20th so that we can ensure that a device is in every student's hands and that we are as a district um aligned together with this understanding so my question on on changing the start date of school in that way would be do are those days that would have to be made up during the calendar calendar some other way work days that we would have to move is that not asking I'm sorry that's I'm not let me

061clarify it's not to start on Thursday 20th but to delay academic teaching and to use August 17th through August 19th as orientation so school will still start on the 17th but we are being clear as a board that that is an orientation time frame so that everyone in the district is aligned and understanding what is just being discussed right now I see and let me see if I see other hands I I wish I could move you all so that you're all in a clump on here I got to improve Zoom um other thoughts as we continue this important discussion sunstead um I support that I don't know if it needs to be a motion or just document being for you to hear that really clearly from the board I um love our principles I

062think leaving the that discretion up to them might mean that some folks start and some people do not and we may not actually make sure that devices are in every hand so I prefer to wait um collectively as a district that we are doing that orientation for those first couple days and that we all start together once devices and that is a Chromebook and a Hotpot if you need it is in the hand of every student I know that uh legislatively or statuto is in the superintendent's um discretion but I I want to present as a board that that is would be my expectation Madame chair I can assure you that's um I'll be glad to send the email to all our principles on Monday no no I'm sorry tomorrow to make sure that the

063first week is going to be building those relationship those connections and no academic instructions should be taught and I'll make sure when I send it to everyone and I will copy my book as well so Dr MinGa I hear you saying the entire first week um which is different than than what Miss Lewis suggested and and you're comfortable with that as as far as the amount of time that that will be dedicated and that's correct I think coupling that with the stress level from our teachers as well that's going to give them additional week as they tweaking and uh they're working on their lesson plans yes ma'am did I say you come off mute yeah yeah I I just wanted to share that this is um this is about rolling out our our school year

064with consideration and so I I really appreciate um Miss javan's um uh suggestion and and also like her plead for for equity and and how we're rolling out so and thank you Dr mubenga also for um being open to that and I think everybody here just understands that there 's you know families that still need their devices and a lot of different things that in terms of information I think communication um we can never overc communicate we we still need to communicate and for those families that we read that you know don't know that August 17th is the start date you know that's that let's let's let's put that date out but with the consideration that we will be um with the with with the the information that we are going to be considerate um

065as as students start that first week and so thank you for that any other thoughts and discussion it I didn't hear I don't think we need a motion but I do want to make sure I'm open to anyone's thoughts and ideas while we're on this [Music] important M fire I mean I guess I'm I'm still a little confused um could I try to marry the two I miss Lewis I completely understand the intent and you know if the administration agrees I'm I'm on board for that messaging about when academic instruction will begin and are we going to overtly communicate that do we have agreement on that so that when we leave this meeting we know that a rooc call will go out um that's what I'm not clear on um I don't want us to

066think we're doing one thing and then it doesn't happen and it I realize this borders on micromanaging the administration Dr MGA um but give given that Equity concerns I think the community is asking for some clear statement here I agree uh Mr Sirus um Mr sth do you want to step in and uh I don't want to put you on the spot can you tell the board what's our game plan for communicating this and I just want that it's going to be clearly stated that school start on the 17th right so what I am hearing is that school does start on the 17th that it will begin with an orientation week I am going to I'm I'm we need some administrative uh discretion I believe as far as the wording but I see uh opportunity

067for teachers to prepare for academic instruction and for schools to provide social emotional learning and orientation opportunities for our students um and that we would uh and that we would communicate that uh through a rooc call uh this evening as soon as as soon as the decision is made with follow-up communication by email to principles and written Communications uh to families and on DPS website uh uh to follow afterward and uh I did just receive a text message from one Pablo fredman I heard a rooc call might be in order tonight rest assured I am here um so um so um as soon as we have the clarity administratively and from the board level as far as exactly what that first week will entail we can send that uh that communication um no no earlier

068than we have that Clarity and no later then we can uh turn turn around that information um and have it in parents hands and ears at a reasonable hour saw a question from Mr Lee it's not really a question I don't really have a question I would just like to uh request that if if we're having this orientation week um I would like to request that we try to get you know a full student all the way through the teacher uh test for each student you know like uh being able to log on access applications you know connect to zoom all that works check you know you know Cameron set okay good okay Nicholas is set cool like that and then we come back on academic day so um this way we have we test

069our it systems bandwidth and everything like that all the way through so when we do hit the ground running we're actually running instead of starting to go through those IT issues so the this orientation days are not just kind of hanging out out and uh oh we got three more days to to relax and I don't I don't think that anybody would do that I'm just saying this is a perfect opportunity to test our systems test our connections our passwords you know uh that single sign on all of that stuff Let's do let's make use of these days to test all of that so when we open up the classrooms when we start this nobody's saying oh well how does this work you know so let's however that communication happens um I would really love

070for us to use this this orientation days as system uh system testing days thank you Mr Le see Mr seers yeah so you know I'm going to go out here and and and Rod correct me if I if this is is out of order and and board you know we can vote this down but um if if I'm hearing consensus around a week you know I I would like to make a formal motion I am making a formal motion that we call this orientation week so that it's clear not to families and as you work with your administrators um that that we're not going to be slipping in inequitable academic instruction um please don't take that as a sign of distrust just take it as a statement on Equity so that is my motion there's

071a motion on the floor does it have a second I have a second second by Mr Le go ahead Miss B can continue discussing I guess like for me it's it's um it's just a realization that uh the schools that started early um have been working hard and around the clock and and having to navigate all these things and you know to whatever extent that we can also offer it and we can be inclusive of you know the the four schools started really early um that are still you know navigating this I mean they're the best ones for us to kind of see like what it takes to get our students on board with with the online learning um that this could include them as well whatever considerations we can give to our early schools

072um that we can also include them as as much as possible and so um just wanted to put that out I would only say on those and that's that's an important question for administration that they are on calendars with Community College and with North Carolina Central and um I think that's a good point Miss B just that's an important point we don't other thoughts and hands and discussion I don't know who I just heard I'm sorry we have a motion on the floor and a second are we ready for a vote on that can we repeat the although I seconded can we repeat the motion just just for clarification no no no we can't do that I um I believe I moved that we um uh call this week universally in or in orientation week

073both in our external messaging and direct the administration um to use that internally so that we don't have inequitable academic instruction happening at some schools and not others I'd like more discussion I I move for more discussion to see how we can also include those schools and and just just to check it doesn't have to be the same time frame being that they started earlier but we do have to have some consideration for those schools if they need you know extra days for you know the the the orientation aspects or on boarding or um students who don't have devices or whatever it is that they can also have that flexibility and it may not be the same time frame I understand that you know we have Schools starting on the 17th that could have one

074week we had schools that started earlier that also needed and and still need consideration Miss Lewis sorry I saw your hand thank you Miss bades for the consideration ations um in regards to the conversation we've been having with the August 17th start date um with this motion being on the floor and having being seconded would we move forward with this motion and potentially create another motion that would consider the four schools in discussion that we haven't talked about yet can I make a comment before while still having discussion um just for your information uh the four schools um they have all of the students have devices um for whatever consideration that you guys may have uh if you give me the authority able to have a conversation with those four principles whether not they need

075um a breakdown since they already started a week now they're going really well if they're going to need any flexibility to be able to use day or two for for orientation I think uh that will go a long way things have been going really well for those four schools they have all their devices and uh they hit the ground run just for your own consideration if you can give us a little bit flexibility for those four schools to leave it up to those four principles I think uh that will be helpful thank you Dr other board members with thoughts and comments I did M said I saw you come off mute or yeah I mean I just also want to say thank you Miss V daras for that um consideration I and also a huge

076shout out to all those small Schools staff and principles and teachers who really worked hard to get started last um Friday we know you all have been in school for a while and and almost testing out what this online learning is so please don't think that we don't see you we see you um we're excited about the work that you've done so far and really appreciate the hard work that's been done so far and you know I I heard the urgency that my colleagues expressed for communication and communication to go out tonight I'd almost rather um you guys take till tomorrow and get it as tight as you can because I want families to understand actually what they can expect I know some families have looked at our online schedule we've had some families say

077it's too much screen time we've had some families say it's not enough you know I want families to know kind of if it's a soft start an orientation week what they can expect next week as as part of that so I want you guys to make sure you take the time to to get clarity in that messaging because um those questions are going to come um very quickly if they don't otherwise Dr M I really appreciate you having the flexibility to listen to the community and the concerns from our own staff and um give them give them this time to to start the year right um I guess we had oh Mr SED sorry um I I will plan on because this meeting is happening online and it's happening in real time and is being

078live tweeted by some people hello Miss Bartell um um I think that we will need to get some level of communication out officially quickly because the grape vine is already very active uh but we'll provide gen we'll provide General basic information um you know level level one and then follow up tomorrow with the details and we'll tell people be aware and there will be more details tomorrow I just do feel like because this meeting is happening in real time in in public that we need to acknowledge um what's what what has been said and promis more detail as rapidly as we can m b if I can also add I really want to be clear with our staff as they're watching uh as we're talking about orientation the the first 10 days is going to

079be crucial for us to be able to take attendance so attendance is really required for the first week as well because that's a part of our ADM we really need to get paid thank you thank you Dr M thank you everyone for a very thoughtful discussion about these important issues are we ready for this vote I I will look at nodding as a sign of Readiness of at least BR this to a vote Yes um hear seeing no uncertainty um the motion is on the floor all in favor uh Miss Lewis I miss Umstead I Mr Lee I Mr Sears I miss bodus I and I vote I as well thank you all it is a unanimous vote that brings us to the item USDA waivers in your packet you all will find um a

080letter and um you all have received some I think this was an item that I added so I'm trying to um to bring that forward you all know that um the waivers that have allowed us to feed students have expired and districts all over the country are struggling to figure out how in Virtual environments we're going to continue to feed our students during this pandemic there's a draft letter in your packet that I hope that our district could take a quick vote and sign on to um have you all had a chance to review it it goes to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and there are multiple signatories it actually already has been mailed but I think it would be important for us to go ahead and add our voice to it and

081have it added to the website so our families that are interested in advocating um know some of the important relevant facts on that issue I don't see a reason to read it aloud um but I would welcome discussion or motion on that item I would move that we sign on to this letter and and send it to um the appropriate authorities I second you it's been moved by Miss Umstead and seconded by Miss viar so that we sign on to the letter to the USDA any further discussion okay then we we're ready for the vote um Miss Lewis yes sad I Mr Lee hi Mr SE hi M valadares hi and I vote I as well it is unanimous thank you all that brings us to the resolution racism is a Public Health crisis um

082I know that so many of us are in favor of passing this quickly this evening but I don't know if others want to speak on this topic it's super important to to us in our community I'm looking at my screen mad did you add this to the agenda I did um this resolution came from us from uh Dr Wanda Boon together for resilient youth um she's also the the health and safety chair of the durm committee on the Affairs of black people um and this has been adopted by the county and the city so she also asked us to sign along I feel that it aligns with our our mission and the work that we do here in the district we recognize that health is so interconnected um especially right now I feel like that's

083very evident but we know that that's so interconnected with the work that we do so missa did you want to read it aloud or did you want to just pass it what's your pleasure this evening I I would move to pass the resolution um and it'll be available on our website so that folks will able to read it I saw some nodding heads of wanting to read it I thought Miss F there is Miss Lewis I think there's excitement about reading aloud if you guys don't mind that's not what I was saying oh that wasn't what you were saying I thought okay I'm seeing I'm seeing all of you and I don't know if y'all are all seeing each other Miss Lou what were you saying I say chair Umstead but I definitely wanted to

084speak to what it says um because I don't want to make light of the moment that's what I was going to say but um Miss V yes um biod is I don't know if you want to read it or not I think we should I think this is a very important moment for our community to hear that this District does uh you know understand that um resilience trauma you know the socio emotional is very important and I think that um you know this has been work for many years I know that um Dr W has been working with tribe with youth for so long there have been many people who've been asking um whether our district is trauma informed right and this is like our opportunity to as we sign on to this you know

085to be able to share this with our families with our community um I think that you know racism as a Public Health crisis um and all the impacts that it shows on there whether it's inequities and health um and access to resources and all that I think um it's it's not a long it's not a long thing but I think that um I mean I would I would love for us to read it it's it's it's a page and and some so all right if you don't mind um Miss Lewis it's your birthday can you start us off and we'll go in the same order that I've been calling on you all in so I've been going javanna batina Mike Matt Alexander and myself and we'll just cycle through it until we finish it thank

086you so much and I appreciate Dr Wanda Bo and her leadership on this um and so it begins with resolution racism a Public Health crisis whereas the American Association a pediatric cause racism a socially transmitted disease pass through passed down through generations leading to inequities observed in our population today and whereas racism unfairly disadvantages specific individuals and communities of color while unfairly giving advantages to other individuals and white communities and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of Human Resources Duram County's Collective Prosperity depends upon the Equitable access to opportunity for every resident regardless of the color of their skin and whereas historically white supremacy in the socioeconomic context refers to a system in which white people enjoy structural uh a structural Advantage privilege over other ethnic groups on both a collective

087and individual level and Matt you're still on mute sorry where racism is a social system with multiple Dimensions individual racism that is internalized or interpersonal systemic racism that is institutional or structural and is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks and whereas pregnant African-American women experience stress related to the likelihood that their children will have future negative encounters with police and that stress from negative youth police encounters is associated with depression and whereas sorry whereas the racial achievement gap which refers to disparities in test scores graduation rates and other success metrics reflects the systemic impact of historical trauma and ongoing impact of racial trauma on communities of color strategies for addressing racial trauma have centered on affirming and valid individuals experiencing traumatic stress reactions and

088whereas extensive peer reviewed research demonstrates that this history has had a lasting detrimental impact on the educational outcomes of black students and other students of color through curriculum discipline and school climate and whereas the district seeks to reduce the effects of structural and systemic racism defined as a system in which public policies institutional practices cultural representations and other Norms work in various often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity and whereas schoolage children six to 6 to 12th grade uh 6 to 12 tend to view media coverage in personal terms worrying that a similar event could happen to them this can lead to preoccupations with their own safety and that of their friends which in turn can lead to distractability and problems in school and whereas students 13 to 17 may become fixated on events

089as a way of trying to cope or deal with the anxiety that they are feeling as a result while older students may be exposed to a wide range of images and information via social media as well and whereas the Durham Public Schools Board of Education stands with the Durham committee on the Affairs of black people and residents of Durham now therefore I'm gonna continue be it resolved by the Durham Public Schools Board of Education that racism is a Public Health crisis affecting our entire School District Two work to advance dur public school's Board of Education as an equity and Justice oriented organization with the DPS Board of Education and staff leadership continuing to identify specific activities to further enhance diversity and to ensure anti-racism principles across leadership Staffing and Contracting number three promote Equity through

090all policies approved by the DPS Boe number four enhanced educational efforts aimed at understanding addressing and dismantling racism and how it affects the delivery of human and Social Services Economic Development apologize for that background number five support Community efforts to amplify issues of racism and engage actively and authentically with communities of color wherever they live number six to always promote and support policies that prioritize the health of all people especially people of color by mitigating exposure to adverse childhood experiences number seven encourage current racial Equity training among all Community Partners grantees vendors and contractors and number eight identify clear goals and objectives including periodic reports to the Durham committee on the Affairs of black people and Community to assess progress and capitalize on opportunities to further Advance racial Equity thank you all so much do

091we have um a motion on this item I move that we um pass this [Music] resolution second it's been moved by Miss voras and seconded by Miss Umstead and Lewis any further discussion if not we will uh vote now Miss Lewis hi sunstead hi Mr Lee I Mr Sears I miss valod irus I and I vote I as well it passes unanimously thank you so much to Dr Boon for bringing this to us and the Durham committee look forward to seeing it on our website soon it brings us to item eight or nine however we're counting the updates on the Consolidated District be vacancy I'm gonna turn that over to you Miss Hamstead yes um Nicole has some slides that she's going to bring up so one thank you to all the community members who

092applied for the seat um we had 10 applicants and we have sent that information over to the Board of Elections to verify um the eligibility of the applicants um but I will go ahead and list their names now once we receive that information back from the Board of Elections we will um make sure that those application materials are available on our website U that was sent this morning and they have assured us they're going to be working on that um quickly so the applicants are Nancy Cox Luke Derry Micah Jeter Antonio Jones tiisha Joiner Frederick Raven millison Rogers the Reverend Dr Fatima Sal David Veni and Chris Wilson so thank you all for your interest in this seat um and we're going to talk about the next steps in this process um board members thank

093y'all for also interesting me for sending you sent me some really great questions and I saw some themes that came out from those questions so you'll see three were board operations equity and Community engagement and these are the questions that I propose that our candidates prepare a speech something under 10 minutes um to address those three categories so you'll see board that board operations equity and Community engagement so I'm going to stop at that part and I'll get to the inperson person later does anyone have any questions or concerns about the speech that will'll answer those three topics thank you madam chair for putting those together so M said is it your proposal that they would have one speech that would be 10 minutes at at longest to address all of these major topics yes

094okay you give hard homework you know this came from the board I will say so we are I think rightfully so looking for someone who's ready to jump in and contribute to the work we have a lot of hard work ahead um and so these questions again are from where I think our heart is and thinking about what we need for our district right so barring no other other um conversation on those we talked about having an in-person uh virtual question and so one of the ideas would be that one of the topics below we'll ask um applicants to have an idea that they'll present on something very short what is one thing that we can do um as we're navigating these topics and I know there was a an interest in having it kind

095of be on the fly so applicants maybe would not know which topic that they're going to get but they have a general idea of what we' be looking for um this is open again for discussion on if we think that's a good part of what we want our practice to be for the appointment process so would there be a way to have them get a random topic like using random generator I think that could be interesting and it I guess I would ask if it's problematic if different candidates get different questions on that I mean I think it's our it's our process so we we could if if the topics are public I and they have time from now till then to prepare I can't see how asking randomly is unfair can you repeat that

096I didn't hear you Mr SE I apologize if if the topic are public which they are in this meeting and I'm sure we would communicate them then I can't see how asking them randomly to speak about one or another if it were a true random process is um unfair perhaps we have to define a true random process such as pull them out of a hat or a bowl in real time vtina I think the only thing that concerns me from the list is I think you have Community engagement on there as a second on there twice is that was that intentional or see as an in person and a it could be either one it was intentional I think there's always more that we could talk about around Community engagement but um I'm open I

097think I put a charter school question in I didn't see that reflected anywhere here that might be one that would be interesting to throw into the inperson questions as well so I will add that um barring no other discussions we'll put this together and send this out to all of our applicants um we have selected August 20th which is next Thursday um as the day for these interviews we'll make sure that we have the zoom I'll work with um Miss Smith to make sure we get everyone Zoom logged in and ready to go I also want to say all the applicants information will be online so board members as we go through this process you're also able to reach out um and community members are able to reach out to those applicants as well if

098you have additional questions Natalie um let me let me think how to phrase it sorry I raised my hand before I actually thought it through all the way I think I was actually wondering if we'd set a time for this Miss Umstead all is it an evening or have we set a time and are we I'm not sure that we have I'm open to four or five I don't know board members if there's a preference at five o'clock five o'clock works for me um if we have if we have a 10-minute speech and we have this question we have 10 applicants um that can make for a long evening and so um I say five o'clock because it's it's gonna and then there's going to be some time in between right as as we move

099so I'm we're looking at about 20 minutes per candidate so um let's uh five o'clock will be fine for me for me that's you know that's me uh Miss Lewis I agree I agree with I um Mr Lee is saying as well and five works for me and I wanted to know if we wanted to put a time limit also on the inperson question yes yes I I would say two minutes keep it brief and the inperson question will be random I was hearing what Matt said but I wanted to be pleas we'll be area topics okay um this is getting in the weeds I know could we ask the administration to investigate if we can get an onscreen timer uh worked out for that both for the 10 and for the two and test

100that so we're bug free can do that Natalie did you also have a question we had talked previously we had talked about um encouraging candidates not to watch other candidates interviews in real time it just um just so they'd all bring their own authentic voice to each conversation and so there's different you know there's no Advantage I I don't think there's no way we can prohibit it but I think it would be nice to at least suggest that they um wait until after their own to start watching their there you know the other folks I don't know how to word that but I'd be interested in that yeah I mean I think I I would leave it up to the candidates honestly um to decide I think the way having the random inperson question was

101kind of the way that we wanted to see how folks might respond but um I think I would leave that that um decision on the candidates and I believe that each one of them are going to bring their unique perspectives um to their questions yeah um I agree with um Miss un said so uh the T the speech is just going to be open you know it's it's for anybody to watch I don't think that I don't think it will influence any of the other candidates and the only part that we were really talking about being in um the only part only part we were talking about candidates not seeing was the question you know the uh you know the random question you know for just general conversation um but since we decided to give

102the subjects of the random questions and it'll be a random question coming out um I don't think watching someone answer the question would give anybody else an advantage of of seeing it because there the have random questions they it's not like it's the same question that everybody gets and so if you watch it you kind of be prepared you you kind of have to be be prepared for any of these subjects that we have um and whatever the question is what's in those subjects so there's no advantage of not watching another candidate because you're not being prepped you're not get you're not the first person is not as is not um disadvantaged to the second person who might have seen the same qu the uh the exact same question so I think we're okay uh

103at least in my mind on that on that front with candidates watching other candidates okay I've got all that feedback do we have any other um items that we want to discuss on this so where are we going to talk more about the rest of the timeline or is this the time to do that so the rest of the timeline I think we outline as the 20th being the interviews and then on August 27th we would make a decision um at our large boort meeting would we expect the appointed person to be um sworn in at our work session in September yes okay and I get them started as as soon as possible that's right all right do you have any other discussion okay so um we in this process there are six of us

104that are voting and um for the uh to appoint and um you kind of speaking with Natalie and you Bettina also what as well hadn't really gotten to speak the others is the we do have other organizations in the end Durham who were looking at the possibility of uh endorsing specific candidates and um there's a thought so previously when we did the did uh Miss mad's appointment none of the packs Ur did any endorsements because there's only six of us that are um there there are six of us that are uh voting you know for the for the seat uh generally endorsements are are to inform the general public who can't do vetting who can't necessarily do vetting of each candidate of each race and so forth this is a little bit differently different and

105so um Natalie wrote a um a letter that I think we should consider in asking you know the organizations across Durham not to make a specific endorsement in um in this race simply because I believe and and I I fully believe this that um it can it's it could cause confusion uh in this process and so you have 10 candidates there's six of us that are voting and um I think it I think it starts to Cloud The Cloud of water when U we have uh organizations uh competing for for these endorsements uh is is my opinion I have I um I think we should consider the let the sending a letter to the different packs um again like I said when we did missum said seat there were no endorsements that were made um

106I remember speaking specifically to the different organizations uh throughout Durham about that and everyone agreed that was the best pass now this is no way there's no way that uh we can stop anybody from making an endorsement um but I think it is important to at least consider uh requesting uh so that we can uh so that this process can go uh within our within our guard Wells uh Natalie would you like to read that or U is it at the appetite of the board to even consider uh such a uh such a request I'd be glad to read it at least people can see kind of How It's worded and whether it's something that we would be interested in signing on to the Durham board of education is working diligently to fill the district

107B seat vacated by our brilliant former colleague Xavier kase we are honored to have numerous qualified dedicated candidates from Durham who have stepped up willing to serve the board is leading a candidate selection process during the ongoing Co 19 pandemic focused on transparency for all Durham residents all candidate materials and interviews will be available to the public before our board reaches our final decision in recent days we have heard that some local political action committees may make an endorsement for this vacant seat as a board we would like to encourage Durham Pax to refrain from endorsements for this vacancy we have multiple qualified applicants and only one seat it is our sincere plan to be thoughtful deliberate and lead a process that brings our community together as we make this important decision individuals and organizations

108are welcome to contact us directly via email at Boe dpsnc.net or by telephone to share their thoughts we are listening and responsive to our beloved Durham community and so this is just for consideration you know this isn't our topic here of the board seat and I just thought I'd bring it up uh speak about it and um just get some get your get your thoughts um thank you for bringing it up Mike um Mr Lee and um for composing a letter Miss bu I definitely want to lean on your experience having been through this process um previously and um ESP your judgment all that I think the letter is very well crafted um we don't particularly I think that I think that would be a good um weigh in for our position I would support

109that I'll add that my my experience from last time was uh that it felt like an overstep [Music] um and so I I won't be supporting the letter um you mention your experience from last time that what was um could you clarify a little more about that it felt like an overstep from the school board yes as as I as a school board member after we had decided to do that connected with Pax and receive their feedback on that request it felt as if it was an overstep to me for the elected body to be trying to shape the Pack's actions and so I won't support this letter but I just have one vote well just for clarification in our last last time it wasn't the request did not originate from the board we did

110not seek out packs to not endorse they asked what they asked an opinion we didn't say we don't want you to endorse we didn't say that at all it was brought to us um that pack shouldn't shouldn't endorse and that came from the political action committees themselves thanks for clarifying that Mike uh my my own communication and experience still still stands but I I I understand that that was the case I would also state that we have um it sounds like multiple candidates that are members of multiple packs and um I'm not sure how thorough a process of of vetting and endorsing that um anyone's going to be able to do during the pandemic um and especially using you know online technology to make those endorsement kind of decisions I think is has the potential

111to kind of alienate some of their own members um and you know I know we all are going to consider every applicant thoughtfully and thoroughly so I um I hear you man I also agree um you know there that's what think there's no jurisdiction of making this request packs can still their own organized body they can do what they want to do but on the other side of that I just hear um we're just sharing what our request and desire would be based on experience and um from what you're sharing Mike um keeping the process similar to what it was like last time um so that the waters don't get muddy okay um so it's clearly not consensus and I'm not sure that we vote on this um I think what we you just have

112to do is if you support it you know you can sign on to it if you don't if it's fine um I don't think this is a I don't think this is something we would vote on um what do you think Natalie is this something is this a letter that we vote on or that you know if you sign on to it you sign on to it if not you not you don't you know I think I think it could totally be something we vote on if if um the majority of us are in favor of it I I don't think it binds any you know pack to anything you know it really just expresses an an opinion um you know one thing I've heard that that the Dae was thinking of doing because they're

113they're choosing not to endorse was doing candidate questionnaires and and putting their own questions up for the public to review in addition to what we've done you know I think that's another option that PS have and and could use at their um discretion as well um and I don't think nothing that this board does is going to um make or break what PS decide to do it is something that I feel strongly about would help us bring community and unity through the process to to have this as independent as possible and our last process turned out great right so I hear your concern Natalie um again I don't think that we had the will to move them one way or another so just to me just making public comment you know in agreement we wish

114that you wouldn't you know trust in the process things like that but there's no public will in it do we need to take an action I don't know that that's necessary because it doesn't move in one way or the other because if they make the they make an endorsement they make the endorsement even with the statement so I don't know how it helps or moves things along one way I hear the sentiment of what you're saying and I'm glad that that's out there um for public viewing and consumption well let's do this let's not take action on it let's just make it not known that um there are some of us who are uh interested in this I've already spoken to a few people but um this letter is in our uh we can make

115it in our packet or we can uh do something I I may post it on um um on my pages but um I just wanted to be known that there is concern over the endorsement process and an appointed seat and um um I guess we'll leave it at that it is it is very important to me as well um that this is that this is sad and made public I would say one I think that what I heard also from this letter is that people can email us and call us and contact us and I think that is what I really want to lean into to so you know please do that we want we welcome that information and it is the six of us though that have to do that vote so we need

116to hear from community that that we what they're interested in um and I you know we can't um dictate what PS do but they can contact us and so keeping that line of communication open feels helpful I'm going to close out my agenda item Natalie thank than you all no thank you that's exciting that's an exciting update and I know the community will be thrilled to hear that there's such interest in participating in this board and and we look forward to those questions next Thursday at 5: PM see that brings us to our consent agenda we have two items on the consent agenda the service agreement Amendment with AT&T to provide monthly internet service for remote learning connectivity and an item B which is academic contracts and these items have been reviewed thoroughly ahead of

117time they are available online for the public what is your will on the consent agenda I would move to approve the consent item subject to final review and approval of contract terms by the board attorney we have a motion on the floor is there a second uh I'll second moved by Miss Umstead and seconded by Mr Lee any further discussion I would only um discuss that uh these hotspots that we're buying have have never been in question for the DHA properties and I I regret that press coverage was um inaccurate and made it made for more confusion within the community we are enthusiastic about providing this and I hope in the future we can get an update on how the city and the county can work together to get Wi-Fi interconnectivity out there hardwired um

118into those facilities um any no further discussion I will um move the vote Miss Lewis hiad hi Mr Lee I Mr Sears hi Miss valadares I and I vote I as well the consent agenda passes unanimously that brings us to the chief of staff's items M Giovani you're joining us with some exciting policy changes I am U if Miss Smith would please pull up the PowerPoint for the 6400s 8000s and 9 's policies and while Miss Smith is pulling those up I'll just refresh the um our community as well and let them know that the board did begin its policy transition project back in January of 2019 we have completed so far the 1000s the 2000s were completed in 2015 we've done the 3000s the 4,000 A's 4,000 BS 7,000 A's and 7,000 B's and

119we are currently um at this Point addressing the 6,400 purchasing policies and the section 8,000 and section 9,000 and to let everyone know that we did meet with the policy working group to go over these and Dr Monk and Paul lur were the administrative uh staff that participated in this so with that said next slide please the first issue that we have is the p 60 policy 6450 purchase of services um what we would like to know from the board is what amount uh you would like to have as a uh threshold for um suggesting that we provide quotes what um if you recall we did have to send out um our auditor for uh quote we had had them for I believe either 12 or 15 years that is generally not best practice to

120not bid out for these services what this policy provides is that it's not required but um occasionally that we do bid them out so that we can make sure that we are allowing for competition um from various members of our community and also making sure that we're getting the best um services so typically like just for example we did bid out our third party administrator um this year for workers compensation and we had been with them for approximately five years and we frequently bid out our insurance usually every um three years but it depends on the administrator that's in charge but we do recommend that we put in policy that when we're spending an amount and the suggested amount is 150,000 that uh administration at least have a conversation um within itself to decide if

121this is what's in the best interest of the district to send it out and if it's not then the policy wouldn't mandate it but um we do feel that there needs to be some uh kind of maybe putting feet to the fire a little bit for administration to make sure that people are sharpening their pencils and that we're being um fiscally responsible with the uh public funds so the Mr Yani are you wanting to go through these all the way through and then have questions or discussion at each point I would like to do we can do discussion at each point I think may be the easiest for these if if there is any discussion yeah and of course I'd ask um Mr lur Dr Monk to jump in as well if they have anything

122to add but we did meet with the policy working group and we did go over these um with them and so this is administration's recommendation and that okay I'm just looking to see if if folks have concerns I would just remind folks that that you're off camera for for a health reason and we're thinking of you and and we know glad that you're here with us um Miss Giovanni the and the 150,000 is is the amount that you guys are recommending yes but that can be raised or lowered depending on the board's pleasure but we felt like that was a significant enough amount that um would warrant at least making sure that we were being um responsible with um the boards and the Public's money so I guess can you can you remind me who

123was on this policy working group and um um I do so many it's been a while perhaps I've been sending emails to different policy uh groups um I know Alexandra was on there I think Miss Umstead oh and I'm drawing I think yeah it was just those two that's why I'm confused I was trying to think of the third person because um Mr um kesan was originally slated um before he resigned so it was um miss viar and miss Umstead on the working group I don't think I was on this one Tanya I think it was another one wasn't there you why am I I heard someone come off Mike was it you Mike that was me um where was this what what dollar figure was this before Minnesota Giovani we didn't have any a

124policy requiring or suggesting any quotes for limit yeah there was what what do we know what level uh board approval is just in a regular purchases is it 100,000 or 99,000 9 z00 Z okay n 90,000 okay so right now like when we do we can do Services contracts for you know any amount anyway but we don't have to um but that's why we didn't have that policy before if you look at the first part it says it generally does not require it so we don't have to go through every year when we're doing services and do competitive bidding and so what we're saying is and what the kind of best practices are is when you're going through those you want to make sure that you're getting the best deal so like I said when

125we quoted out the insurance we typically do that like every three years to make sure that they're keeping their pencil sharp to provide the services and we've been with um our same broker for years but they we send it out and get different quot from different folks to make sure that um we're getting the best deal that we can while also making sure we're getting top not service so it's not just a a pricing question I mean you want to make sure you're getting uh top-notch uh providers of the service okay um earlier you mentioned something about Auditors was this a recommendation from the Auditors that we look at doing something like this or is it a result of some findings or no what so it's just part of the um policy manual transition when

126we got in so this was what triggered it to some extent was kind of we been with those same Auditors for so many years and that's just really not best practices to be and the same with insurance so I'm not putting it just on finance I mean we had been previously you know before um I took over risk management we had kind of been with the same you know providers and hadn't looked at it and hadn't said like just whatever they sent us we took it so that's really um you know where it came from okay thank you so I any questions I can move on don't let me know no I I appreciate it I like the the dollar figure that you all put in there and I think we can go back and

127change it if our finance staff feels it's too high or too low but I really appreciate that exactly okay please so this is um policy 8,000 fiscal goals it is um just generally kind of aspirational uh statement the policy working group requested that we bring it to the full board to get Pro get input and commentary from you regarding additional values that you may want to add to it I believe like some of the examples that they shared were sustainability and transparency so I would seek guidance from you on what other um values that the board may want to add and then I would add those in and bring it when we bring it back for the next reading I'm looking for folks that have questions or thoughts on that sorry darus yeah I just

128uh want to thank um Dr that um Tanya javani for this because I think um in terms of values I mean it's it's uh sustainability you know transparency these are things that um are very important and so just to include values like this um as we think towards the future and um in terms of our contracts in terms of how we're building um and and especially like knowing that we do have climate change happening we do have to be mindful of like impact right on our environment and as much so really appreciate like being able to to navigate like finances and also like how to build sustainably um and uh efficiently so thank you I just wanted to comment and and thank Dr jaavan for that for including it I was on this group I

129apologize I've been on a couple and so I think I just forgot um I could see us adding a statement here on the fiscal goals um about making decisions that align with the district's V mission and vision I think we have laid out Equity as a part of our mission and vision and and community building and so without um writing every single goal there maybe a line that says these decisions will align with um that goes a little further than the educational goals but aligns with our District's Mission and and vision I think there what are and values our core values I think is the other statements that we use okay okay so I can Wordsmith that um as well um if any other board members have anything that they want to add and they

130think of later after this meeting if you just want to shoot me an email and when I bring back the draft for the next meeting I can include that and the board can review it does that sound good Miss Lewis did you have a comment I saw you come up I can't get my thoughts all the way together but I was just thinking um when I say free public schools I just think about High quality um just I I don't know how to with the balance is what I'm trying to say so I'll throw that out there but I don't know what else okay well I can word I'll try to word Smith that in Miss Lewis and when we back um and as I said before if any of you think of something um

131that you aren't able to think of me an email and I can include it in the draft for the board okay uh next slide please so this is um policy 8100 budget planning and adoption this policy is obviously I'm just going to giving you the critical part it goes through um the whole budget planning process and how it's adopted but there is a line in the draft policy that said the board shall hold or may hold at least one public hearing on the proposed budget prior to final action so we needed we were requesting guidance on whether you want to make it a mandated hearing every year on the budget or to leave it in the draft language of sha and I believe Miss Umstead had um lifted this up for it to be brought

132to the full board and Mr lour I think um if you can give a little more insight maybe for the board before they sure so the the policy is May um and this year as you well know because of everything that was going on and the ups and downs of the budget um we didn't have actual public Hearing in that regard we did everything else but we didn't have a public hearing but that was a May um and we're just looking to see what the board's pleasure is in regards to having it as a shall or leave it as a may just depending on the situation of the the current times I feel strongly that it should be sh I mean I I that is one huge budget that the community needs to have you

133know voice in and we've had some years recently where we haven't heard from folks but boy we've had some other years where we've heard from lots and lots of folks and it's informed our thinking so thoughtfully um I'm gonna go with SH um mainly because over the last uh four or five years been we have been really working toward making our budget and budget process transparent and part of that transparency is encouraging people to come out and speak on the budget whenever we have our budget meetings some of those meetings have been very very informative like like Natalie said some of those were not as well attended as we would like but many of them have been and to be able to offer each year the community the opportunity to come speak on the budget

134is extremely important and so I would love to compel this board and future boards to continue this practice of opening up our books opening up our our microphones and and allowing the community to help inform us on where our budget is short where it is good where there are challenges and where where things are looking good so um um I'm going to go with Shia here uh because I think it's very important especially over these last few years that we had a meeting and we continue to plan ahead it's not that difficult of a process this year is a lot different that there there's a lot of things that didn't happen this year that that we generally would but this is not a normal situ this is not a normal year so um I would

135like I would like to change this to Shia to have this at at Shia okay any board members we have two for sh I support sha as well I think it aligns with our values of transparency so I support sh so do I so do I okay the shs have it next slide please um again this is the annual independent audit kind of as I said previously kind of um sarbin Oxley it doesn't cover us that's um corporations we're not covered by that but it does offer guidance on best practices fiscally um so what we are requesting Administration is wanting to add language that we the board require a new audit firm every three or four years and again I would ask Mr lour to weigh in on three or four years if he could

136provide some guidance for the board I don't want to overload the finan office with you know getting a new audit firm too often so I think Mr blure if you could maybe provide some a recommendation on three or four um you know every four years would be a good time frame um the first year your your audit firm's coming in and and looking at what you're doing and we'll try to provide you some assistance I I but I think every four years at at the at the it would be the right number number okay are you satisfied with four or did you think five Paul I mean I don't know that we I think we no I don't I don't know that you need to go to Five because again we want to um had

137we had we not had change over um we probably would have gone out for a bid earlier um but from that standpoint the um every four years would probably be good um we did get significant Savings in going out for the bid and that's really what you're trying to do because audit firms um that will be interested in doing Duram Public Schools will be quality audit firms and uh from that standpoint it's just trying to get the best price possible uh for the district can I can I ask a clarifying question sure go ahead is this intended to mean that you will solicit a firm every three or four years or actually switch firms because it it is so you would no matter how great the firm is doing you will switch to a new

138firm every three or four years correct I think that is um what best I me we can the board can do whichever one it wants obviously but um it would be the recommendation for Best Practices that you switch firms because um you want to make sure that some sometimes that the Auditors are basically operating at a certain standard that's why as I said before we're not governed by starban AI but that is the recommendation under best practices that you do switch but again it um it is up to the board if because as we had as I said before we've had the same ones for several years but that is our recommendation that um we do get a new audit firm all right thank you I just want to make sure so Mr Lor how

139many I mean are there multiple firms that do Public School North Carolina accounting audit I mean that that you could have viable bids from yes yeah this go around we had seven um and there were probably some that didn't bid on it because of distance but um what I'm we're seeing is more and more audit firms are reaching out to go a little bit further um from their hometowns to uh and expanding their their firms at the same time so um we're seeing I think we had seven this time um and they were all qu they were all quality firms from that standpoint so with that with the cocation from Mr lur um Administration would recommend four years for the language there any further commentary or questions from the board okay uh next slide please

140so this is um policy 8340 uh Insurance the frequently principles it come to my attention that principles on occasion transport students in their vehicles for various reasons um there has been a general Prohibition in the district with our previous policy that that no staff member transport students in their vehicles so I know frequently um there were some requests that social workers do it and because of the policy um that was there that was forbidden and when we discussed this with the policy working group we kind of talked through um should we have maintain the current prohibition against staff driving students and maybe work with um transportation regarding like safe transp student transportation that we could work with or do we want to include this draft language with principles uh being potentially the only people that

141could transport them and that the board would provide maybe some additional I think here the suggestion was $50 as an additional premium for them to add um this coverage so that's uh the policy working group did request that we um bring this to the full board for further [Music] discussion I'm concerned with principles driving students right and yeah and they do and I think that that's kind of where the concern is like if there's I mean I've had multiple principles tell me that that if a child gets a left you know like they'll be sitting there at six o'clock or seven o'clock at night the principal will take them home or if something happens so we have had that happen even though we had the so that's what we needed to have this conversation from

142uh the board I think if we can we can stick with the current prohibition and just say you know under no circumstances and I would be happy to maybe work with um Dr Monk and our broker on kind of figuring out not our broker but with our transportation and figuring out like I know we have student transportation services that transport our kids now that we contract with so we could maybe um expand that to some extent but right now our principles are driving students on Mr sharers go ahead yeah I I'd like to speak strongly on this as strongly as one board member could speak um and and bring in my my day job where I I I I managed student student risk um and have watched the trend around the litigiousness of decision making

143um to where we are crippled from making Common Sense decisions um and and I would not want to tie the hands of a principal to make a judgment call in an emergency I know we can split hairs on what an emergency is and try to detail out that list um but to to take risk management to the extreme uh where we we can't have a principal transport a student in the back seat um in an emergency situation um bothers me to my core because we if this trend continues we we we won't be able to do anything and we won't be able to um make judgments that you know can can help students not just in the getting them home situation but other emergencies uh that may come up so that's my two cents could

144say more about it um ands yes um I would um suggest that we switch the the bullets I think that there's um there's something about what our general um uh ideal situation is like we we don't want staff transporting students I mean we we want to make sure that you know um we we want our students to get home safe we want them to get picked up by parents ideally we we wouldn't want to put our our staff in that situation um so I'm I'm thinking that if we switch the bullets and we start with Administration recommends guidance on maintaining the current prohibition against staff driving students in personal vehicles however you know the board realizes that on rare emergency so it just it puts it as though it's not like our culture that principles

145are going to be driving students all around but that in the rare occasion in in case of emergency that we we we're not going to um you know know restrict our principles from from doing um what they what they deem right in that moment but that it is not our our culture that you know our staff is G that they're going to be driving our students um you know I I know like in terms of risk and all that like many different institutions put forth things that that you know there should be at least two adults or there should be it should there should not be oneon-one like no adult should be alone with a child you know and and that those are policies that they put into place so it could be that we

146add something like the principal and another staff member will ensure that this the student gets home you know like something like that um we can we can definitely talk about what what that would look like I know that institutions like the institution I work for um they've even reduced one-on-one Zoom calls between an adult and a child you know so it's like like you know minors um in terms with miners there's there's a lot of uh risk and and uh just ensuring boundaries and ensuring that there are like adequate things but I would just say s the bullets at least it kind of puts it in that we recommend guidance on on maintaining um you know the provision we do acknowledge that you know on rear occasions it may be necessary okay I on Mr

147Le's hand go ahead I had a a question um kind of following up what Miss bis um said so is the purple part of the so I think we have to do we need to rewrite to add something to this to um make that part of the policy okay that ad that's what my go ahead that's me saying that's what we're asking because there's in our current policy prohibition but as we said due to so what I would do is just say in general words Smith is you know the board you know discourages and prohibits staff from transferring students and I would Wordsmith that but it realizes that on the re emergency occasion and then flesh that out is right okay so I just wanted to clarify that because I think what Miss Bob darus

148said was U was a good compromise here what we're doing I just want to make sure um we create wording to emphasize what the administration recommends within the policy there so I I U I do appreciate that um both Miss V and missani for making that connection I would I would also just add I don't want to handcuff our our staff at all Matt but I don't want females in vehicles alone with a male principal I you know can we add that there will be you know two adults or something if that in that rare emergency I mean that you know you don't go in and get a a a GYN exam without another adult in the room that is just best practice I um yeah I will and the the The Red Bullet also

149that red text makes it sound like this is about money and reimbursement and I think that I don't even know that that should be in there I you know it's if we're discouraging it then you know I don't know why it would be in policy that we're paying for it either that's that seems strange I I I will you know ask forgiveness that I wasn't on this Poli review despite being invited and I I would reiterate that minor protection is a core piece of my my work at one of our local universities and I'd be happy to go back with Mr Giovani and address that very specific point missp about you know supervision and you know I'm not sure the gender piece exactly that way but two1 supervision as SP he raised that as well

150um working in that space Also I don't want us to go so far that I mean if we start to apply this just it's a slippery slope if we start to apply um certain levels of risk management we would restrict our ability to educate students and provide that s Bas of education so it's just a risk I see in trends of the litigious nature of trying to um keep your risk low so I would like to take Mr Sears up on that offer um if it would be the pleasure of the board that um he and I work on this language with his um expertise and then bring back um the amended and updated policy for the board's review and consideration at the board meeting um at the end of the month is that acceptable

151to the rest of the board I've seen lots of consensus thank you Matt excellent thank you Matt uh next slide please so this this is a very detailed I mean it's like probably 10 or 12 Pages this policy um regarding Community use of facilities so the policy working group wanted um us to lift it up to the full board regarding how we felt about more Loosely organized groups so the policy details like formal groups that have um you know nonprofit status um that is documented or has a formal group status such as like a PTA or a PC or a group like that but what they wanted to know is kind of what the board's pleasure was for more Loosely organized or Affiliated groups like a lot of community groups don't have you know the

152resources to um and if either one of the policy working group board members would like to kind of expound on this I would appreciate it but um and share your thoughts on this for but that's kind of where we want to go and I think I don't miss vs yes um I think that we are realizing you know um how blessed we are in Durham Durham has an ecosystem of efforts um institutions nonprofits and there's also Grassroots um they're parent L groups we have a lot of ptas and um associations and and and other loosely held group so uh this is about not excluding um the contributions of any specific group I think if we start naming specific institutions we are you know by naming them or by by uh framing it in a way

153it's it's it's it's setting us on on a precedent of like saying that we rely on specific types when the efforts are very diverse um multiclass um Multicultural and um and and just you know across the board very different you know in terms of organization so um I'm very very content with this part which is um just talks about uh different types of organizations um and Affiliated groups without uh specifying you know a specific institution so thank you for that Mr Juan does does this policy go into the and you all weren't here when we had the history of Faith groups coming in and interacting with students in the afternoons and and a lot of after school activities and we had to actually change policy a lot to actually have separation of church and state

154issues respected and um good news clubs are are present prohibited from our schools and things like that does this policy cover any of that or do we need to be cognizant of that history that we've had in general so I I believe Dr Anderson's on the call um I believe uh but the most this is generally for outside of school time use is that so I don't I'm not familiar with what you're um the good news clubs that you're talking about Miss was that during school hours that they were coming in or was it in after school like this would have this is pres to be presumed to be after school is completely over Andor on weekends for the community use of facilities there's no that sounds different than these were afternoon um you know

155Community Ed times when there were clubs coming in but also kind of evangelizing and prizing to students so um as long as that doesn't no this isn't that isn't that but but it is um I think Dr Monk I do see him Dr Monk Dr Monk I don't know if you can hear I hear you um those things don't fall into my purview I'm sorry I just provide the buildings for activity so I believe if you could just share with the board I believe you had provided an amount that we had lost for I think when you Dr Anderson presented on this we were yeah so we're here today talking about the use of U Community use because of um the cost associated with it um whether it be custodial or um utilities or maintenance

156fees and things like that and so um though we appreciate and want our community um to to ingrain themselves in the school district by using our facilities there the the use of those facilities are not free to the district and so um this is a conversation that the Board needs to have um to um make a decision about how much of the cost for Community use um they're willing to absorb and how much they're going to ask um those organizations um that want to use those facilities to contribute to that so with that um the reason that we're kind of lifting this up is and I would based on Miss R's comments and if pending any further comments from the board I would word Smith to bring back to the board kind of what those

157Loosely organized groups and Affiliated groups would mean because it's all it's a tiered level of access and fees so that's really the primary um purpose on where they kind of fit into that so that um they can get the benefit kind of of the more preferred status of you know organized nonprofits versus corporations or businesses or you know for-profit groups that may want to use our facilities I have a comment about that and this is about you know um celebrating the initiatives of parents I mean um a lot of parents especially uh in the latinx community um parents who wanted to meet with the superintendent have been using the facilities and you know asking to have these meetings um taking initiative being proactive and wanting to have those lines of conversation you know and creating

158ways creating Pathways so um yeah definitely a multi-tiered and recognizing that parents don't have you know uh um the budget they don't have a budget right these are these are um parents who who really just wanted to connect with the district and want to connect with admins and so um if we have a multi-tier and we recognize like who can pay you know if if institutions have budgets and all that like they can definitely support our schools and support um support the use of facilities but when it comes to like some Loosely group some Loosely organized groups like parents who who want to connect who want to be able to hear um you know get their questions answered and and I applaud as many of you board members who have shown up to um these

159parent meetings um you know organized by parents so I think it's very important to to acknowledge like who can pay and who can't and you know in terms of equity it is about ensuring that that our facilities that we are nothing is free there's there's no such thing as a free lunch that's that's the saying but that um in as many ways as we can support uh some folks and then we can also um have Buy in from Community groups that can pay and can provide um you know can can pay for the use of our facilities that we don't uh exclude those Lucy organized groups that want to use them and may not be able to pay so we we can we can figure out like what what that would look like but I

160just wanted to pinpoint that we we have examples of what that looks like in in in terms of use thank you m Mr Yan did we give you enough feedback to move forward in a healthy way on that yes what I um what I will do um with the board's permission is kind of work with the feedback that I've gotten um here and bring back uh a new Wordsmith version to include that um for discussion at the next board meeting okay all right thank you next slide please so this is uh naming facilities and if Miss Smith would click through like maybe three times just you can see what all we have to look at here board members so next slide please and then we'll come back and next slide like this is the entire

161policy so uh if you can go back to the first slide on 9300 um this is the naming of facilities and really just kind of went through uh we did not use the ncsba version um we worked with uh various kind of pars together different parts of other schools to see if we could get something that would be more Durham uh friendly and this is what we came up with so um I know we're we're probably going to have a meeting I have two more items myself after this but uh with the board's pleasure I think if we could just maybe take some a little bit of time to read through this and then get feedback or if you've all don't have any comments and you're ready to adopt it we can do that so

162um all right not that helpful but I think number one is pretty critical having a student that attends lakid Elementary and confusing it with lquid okay so it's um let's see this is the easy slide here because this is I think from our current policy it's going to the next one that gets more sticky to me okay next slide please so number four um this is we kind of had some conversation about like what size a group had to be and so we really couldn't figure that out like what that really even means what sizable or recognizable necessarily means I think that we just have to take that on a Case by case basis because you don't want to say you have to have 10 people or 100 people um for the nomination but we

163do want to make sure that people feel like they're heard and so that's why we I changed it to sizable or recognizable group so you also don't want one person coming in and inundating one or two people inundating the naming committee or the superintendent with various suggestions so um so Tanya I have strong feelings on this and I'll just put them out there and see what others think I love our schools that are named for people now but I think this is new to actually add this I think we had taken naming schools huge entire schools after individuals out of our DPS policy and I think it we did because it's better practice not to have schools named after people and the reason I think that is they tend to be named after politicians who

164I think are about the last people you should name a school after um so I would be delighted if we just said that entire schools and Durham wouldn't be named after people anymore um that's my very strong feel okay well I I personally don't have a problem with with um the schools being named after people I just don't want to constrict the options um um I do like I mean we have schools named after people we have schools named after areas and then just schools with random names right um and after streets and everything so um I don't I personally don't have a problem with schools being named after individuals um that is for the the current board or superintendent and and group to uh kind of go through the options but I don't U

165I personally would welcome all the options and then have the board narrow down to what the board is feeling at that moment or the um the process how the process Narrows down the names um I don't I don't have a problem with um names being included I also um don't have a problem with names being included um it's just the rich history um that we do have in leadership out of Durham um and take P pride in the names um of some of the some of the schools we already have I think that um I wouldn't be opposed to keeping for as it is my question was around from you miss Giovani um is the recommended or sponsored through a sizable or recognizable group is that what you're suggesting Chang in the language too or

166you want more um input about what that should be so the and 4 a yes 4 a so when we were look talking about it what you don't want is that the board even if someone even comes forward right for a new building name but you don't want is like individuals inundating Administration with suggestions like me saying I suggest you know person X and then 100 people do that so what we want and you do in order for a nominated person to even considered it would have to be through a sizable or recognizable group nomination so I think you know sizable is one of those things that I think you're just going to have to kind of determine like is that 10 probably not you know but you know is it a 100 it probably

167less than that so I think it's one of those things where we just want to look at the group kind of going back to the prior policy but I don't want to maybe handcuff us so we do have more Loosely Affiliated groups right that may not be formal ptas or or group group of Faculty but they still are community members that have kind of coalesced and to form a group and they would be able to potentially nominate a person assuming that the B the board um adopts this policy that that question yep I I definitely hear that you know keeping it General with sizable and then my next question goes to recognizable what is the I think again just um to say that a group if you can look at this group of people that

168are submitting the nomination and they've kind of coalesced and you know they get together on a regular basis you know I mean I don't want it to be again like I just don't want to hobble like our groups of folks you know to miss vod's point of people that have gotten together and want you know to kind of form a group that have like-minded thoughts so that's what I would say is like recognizable so okay so not make it that formal like you have to have a nonprofit or you have to be this but it's recognizable that your group is coming together and putting forth this nomination people I get it y thank you for that that explains it okay M Mrs buer I I don't if we're ready to move to the next slide

169or if any other board members have any other comments on this slide no I just I don't um I don't see Hands raised or people off mute I think I think we're ready to move on um I don't know what you I mean um I would like to to share with people at some point in time you know how difficult it was to name Lucas school which is named after two different lucases that are not related as the most recent example of naming schools after people that gets really sticky and um I just don't think it's best practice I think it it causes potential harm I is this notion of an individual being deceased as less than five years so we're only naming after people of I mean that that supersedes that 4A that last

170sentence we're not naming a school after anybody until they've been deceased for five years is that how I'm reading that yeah so no entire school um so like you could do an individual room for people obviously they're still living um but an entire school facility would not be able to be named for any living person or any person who has been deceased less than five years so that's the that's the draft language um in the policy so that helps so that yeah but anyway I I I seem to be the only one that has any concern with this and and so you know I think it's probably best to move on to the next we got a lot on this agenda still thank you next slide please I don't think this one will be that

171next SL okay so this one just goes through I think pretty standard like when you're changing facilities names there was some conversation about potentially changing a name of a school earlier I think that's been resolved but just basically this is just um f that it would follow kind of the process for um existing schools so I don't think this one's that um controversial it just says it's consistent with naming a new school all right next slide please and this just establishes as I said this is the entire policy um but it just says the superintendent shall establish regulations for this policy so um I think once we uh get through the policy adoption then we would start on those regulations so are there any other questions about the naming facilities okay uh next slide please

172and the last one is we are holding for the final cleanup fact Sim signatures um our current policy just addresses um faxes and not emails and signatures which as we all know is the primary way that we sign things so um when we talked about this with Mr lour also we want to make sure that we are um legally compliant on that and we just didn't have um all of the input that we needed to bring the faem signatures and the E signatures um to you the draft we got does not address um electronic signatures so we need to do some research and bring that back to the board with cleanup next slide please okay I believe that I have all the guidance that um I need for this um set of policies and I

173will um bring them back with the um updates and amendments for the board at the meeting at the full board meeting at the end of the month thank you so so much Mr Giovani it is tedious work but it is so so important and I appreciate your willingness to listen to all of us and and incorporate that feedback um is the next item yours as well Mr ganni the Title Nine policies yeah the next two so this one should not take us long um in May of 2020 the Department of Education and Betsy DeVos um drafted new regulations around sexual harassment and they slated those to go into effect um tomorrow there is um the attorney general has filed a lawsuit in North Carolina and around the country um objecting to that but those haven't

174been ruled on so we have to have these in order to be compliant we have to have these policies adopted and do all of the things that they say we have to do which includes um posting our training we have to get training for our staff under these new regulations we have to include all of the trainings we've had on our website so Dr Pitman and myself have been working on this for the last maybe month and a half um Dr Pitman is here uh so Dr P please jump in whenever um you feel so inclined but we we just got these draft policies from uh ncsba on July 28th um so that is why you have not these the policy working group has not seen these the first no other board members have seen

175these except as they were presented as I said because we just got them but I have gone through if you can um pull up the PowerPoint Miss Smith please next slide please I uh sum this up a little bit um for you before and I'll just kind of give you a brief history I know we're short on time but just to kind of give you a brief history is that the Obama era um sexual harassment um rules were um withdrawn by the Trump Administration in 2017 and they adopted um new regulations regarding sexual um harassment and discrimination if you recall we had to all boards had to adopt those new policies and so this is a new set of regulations that um have been adopted and they require um a lot more work and uh

176Dr Pitman and I as I said have been meeting at least once a week for probably the last month and a half trying to make sure that we're ready and we'll be compliant as a result of us only getting these on July 28th and then going into effect on August 14th we are requesting a waiver of a second reading and adoption tonight um by the board next slide please so I'm not going to go through um all of these policies as I said they're multiple pages but just to kind of give you um an idea next slide please I've done I've provided the summation chart for these it's basically they changed some of the definitions um we previously had a uniform process now it's been split out between all of the different discrimination policies so

177that title 9 kind of stands on its own and we've had that's what all these multiple policies require next slide please so this is the summation um as I if you as I said I'm not going to read all this in the interest of time um but these are the draft policies from uh ncsba that they've shared around the state and that everyone basically just got um a few days ago um and if there's any questions I'm happy to answer them uh oh the one thing that I do need guidance from the board on is 1725 if you look at the bottom of your screen for definitions uh the definition of fondling the draft that um ncsba sent to us said the definition of fondling is over clothing touching for sexual gratification and my recommendation

178is that we change it to underneath clothing I'm sorry the def what they sent us said underneath clothing only I changed it to because that's an option and I need the board's guidance on this to over the cloth touching and fing for sexual gratification so we can make it underneath which is obviously a not necessar a lower standard but if someone touches a child's genitals over their clothes it wouldn't be defined as fondling under the first option if you just say underneath I support that change Miss Giovani okay okay if there any Gan can can you just clarify in three sentences what attorney general Stein's uh lawsuit is I mean that do you do you have knowledge of that claims not in detail I just saw um an email like a paragraph email from Carolyn

179merchon at durington I know Rod may know a little bit more but I'm not sure like I know that they were talking about like just basically the objection to it because it's like it prohibits us from uh pursuing like sexual harassment um claims unless certain elements are met so it raises is the bar significantly for sexual harassment like we can investigate I think off campus I mean it's a very there's a lot that um they've done so I'm not sure I haven't seen it as I said I've only seen that paragraph that there's these pending lawsuits so Rod is there are you more familiar with it or is Caroline share that with you unfortunately not I mean I can try to find that email and look it up here now but I'm not fortunately not

180I don't know any more than what you just said that's fine it just essentially weakened protections for students and it did it on college campuses as well I think there have been significant concerns and and it offers more protection from for harassers and bullers um so it's it's very alarming and it's alarming that we have to pass these um in order to keep operating and while we're in opposition to this so along those lines Mr Malone what happens if we don't pass if we disagree with this I mean what happens here if we don't if we don't incorporate these policy changes because some of this is I've been reading this from previous what I mean you mean if you don't do them tonight or if you don't do them period period period I would need

181to research that if I mean you certainly could table it tonight but um I would definitely need to research that to give you a better answer if you're thinking I'm saying if we if we disagree if we disagree with these changes which I disagree with quite a few of them most of I think all of them um and we say here in Durham we're not going to do this we're not going to do what the Trump Administration is doing weaken in protections for our students and our staff um if we say no we're not going to incorporate your policies I would like to I would like to understand better what that means yeah I mean I can certainly be prepared to provide guidance to the board or Ken you know at the next meeting on

182on what that would mean um but I I don't I wouldn't feel comfortable right now just trying to answer that but I can definitely make sure you an answer at the next meeting if not before yeah I'd be interested in knowing that as well and knowing if there's you know if there are an amicus brief we could file to go along with the AG Stein's um lawsuit just so I I think that um I don't know Dr Pitman you've gone attended the trainings is there did they provide any guidance on what would happen I mean I know you're not the lawyer but you've gone to the trainings certainly the only caution that is under consideration with this proposal is to understand this is federal Title 9 directive and it is it has passed as law

183and there is a directive that leas will adopt their policies by August 14th that having been said we've discussed how strongly and seriously our schools our district the board treats sexual harassment we we have very strong systems and processes in place so the the risk we run is we're out of compliance with the directive to pass policy by the deadline um and some of the training I've attempted has has alerted us us that there will be compliance checks and we just need to be cognizant of that and I don't disagree with that but I I certainly think that the difference between tomorrow and the next board meeting is not a significant enough concern in my mind that you that if the board has concerns about it that we shouldn't answer these questions before you make

184that decision right and so and thank you uh Dr Pitman for for that update um but my my concern is like are we losing like do we have to shut down are we losing funding of some sort are we you know you know what what is it what are we looking at penalty wise I don't care about being out of compliance if it means that we're forced to uh uh with with alternative being we have to put this into policy I don't really care about being out of compliance I want to understand what that penalty is you know what is that do we lose funding for our students do we lose funding for our teachers and our buildings and so forth from the federal side and if that's a no if it is just you're

185going to say oh Durham is not compliant they're not compliant well I'm I'm fine with not being compliant on this so um if we have to vote tonight I'm G to be voting no to this that's that's just me uh I prefer to under um that's just me one of six but I I really want to understand what non-compliance means uh to this there's nothing that Betsy DeVos has done that's been positive for traditional Public Schools since she's been there there's nothing positive that Donald Trump has done has been positive for public schools and so forcing the relaxing of some of these policies uh puts our students and staff and teachers in danger and so so I'm not willing to support changing this policy right now and whatever that might mean now again if it's

186a detriment or harm to our students and teachers that comes along with that I'll do it but um right now I don't know what that is so I did hear Mr Malone say something about tabling it and for further research would that be an option Mr Malon or you well and let me let me do I'm actually um texting one of there are a couple of different lawyers as I look at some emails within the firm who have been looking at this issue so certainly if we could table it for at least until the end of this meeting maybe and then and then maybe the next meeting but I may be able to have an answer to to discuss with the board in Clos session by the time you get into Clos session well I

187don't I mean you mean like when we come back and open after the closed session to talk about that's what I was thinking yes so okay that I I would um I have a lot of trepidation about not adopting it I know that in general I mean and I think I'm going to defer to rod and the experts on this as he is doing but um I definitely would like us to have an answer you know tonight if or no later than but we can't do it tomorrow because there's not a board meeting but we definitely need to have a decision I don't agree with these either obviously it's a very upsetting um and I think everyone around the country the majority of people that care about children are very upset by these but I

188also don't want to jeopardize our access to federal funds so I think we need to make sure we have we we've thought this through um and so I think with Rod texting everybody um I would agree that we kind of table this through the end of the meeting and then wait to get final advice from Rod if that's okay with the board but we do need to do it in Open Session though whatever you side so okay is that yeah that's okay with me I think I would have a question of like sometimes you all give us policies and we can be more stringent than what it is and so I'm wondering if that I have no clue because I'm not um don't know enough about the federal policies if there's a way that we

189could have our own that goes beyond or redefines that we written this and we still have our own processes that go to what we believe in um in this process well I think that um as I said Dr Pitman and I and I I know we're getting late and I but I think this Warren's conversation Dr Pitman and I have discussed it um she's our title n coordinator we have honestly um really good processes in place to protect students and our principles have done a great job on that working with Dr Pitman so I feel that as we've worked through this we're definitely not going to lose um that protection of children that has been part of our culture under Dr pitman's leadership however there are certain things as I said that this does maybe

190prevent us from doing but it doesn't stop us from protecting children in our schools I mean that is um the bottom line and make sure that we get the additional training it's a lot that's a lot more of it but I do respect um Mr Lee's um feelings and I'm sure the other board members I know Mrs vyers as well has stated that that these are very um unpleasant policies and the changes are no one likes them as I said before that cares about children around the country so so with the board's permission I think maybe the best plan for us is to wait for um Mr Malone to get some further um input from his firm the experts that work on this in his firm and then possibly then come back to it tonight

191and make a final decision yeah and I I I just I just was on the phone with one of the guys and and what what he what he just said um that one of our clients did and this and he's going to send me the language and this may be a reasonable compromise is um that they basically adopted a policy that basically said that they would follow what the regulations say is kind of what their policy language says and then in the meantime they are continuing to examine this language that you have here that for the same concerns and trying to analyze what is the best next step for them um so that that keeps you in compliance in the short term and it but it does leave the door open for you to have

192the kind of conversation that it sounds like you want to have about this policy I think everybody is struggling with it so um that may be the best or I won't say the best but that's certainly an option uh for you that's maybe a hybrid between just tabling it and and pting it down the road um gets you in compliance for now but certainly leaves you some time and flexibility to think about the next best choice and um I hope to have that languish from the other policy here shortly but um you know that's certainly something that you could consider tonight so you're waiting for the to get the language right yes but it yes I I explained to him that the board is literally meeting right now so I need it like right now

193okay so Mrs Myers I'm ready to move on to the next policy if while we wait for feedback from mone's Associates yes that sounds perfect I appreciate it okay um Miss Miss Smith if you could pull up the 4207 directory information I don't know actually I didn't send it to you did I didn't send you a powerpoint because we just got it this morning uh board members if you um would take a look at um well I sent you the email early this morning explain that given the remote learning that under plan C and various conversations that have occurred regarding recording of students and furpa and privacy issues um Dr Hardy and myself and miss sidbury and Dr manga have had um multiple meetings trying to navigate and figure this out like everyone else around

194the country so I know Dr Hardy has gotten feedback from uh other large districts on kind of what they're doing and basically it's been 50 some districts are saying absolutely no um recording other districts are saying yes we're going to allow recording but with these uh various parameters so after we met um I then met with uh Mr Malone and Mr Sue to kind of discuss the best way for Durham to be able to record them if we could and still be compliant with furpa and while we were on that conversation and Mr Malone feel free to jump in and share with our conversation that you me and Ken had um basically while we were on the call at 8:20 in the morning um Mr Malone got an email from Mr Ry and thanington that

195came up with an alternative um that would allow us to record video record and audio record these lessons by designating them as directory information so that they could be shared with students in the class and so in order to do that however it does require um an amendment to the directory policy so by way of History the directory policy was tabled initially while we um continue to work on it Durham's directory policy is a little different than the majority of other districts so um considering that we moved it to the cleanup so that we could have a lot of conversation as the board wanted around that policy but today we're asking for what is kind of a temporary Amendment to the directory policy to allow for the recording of the lessons to be designated as

196directory information I mean I think you accurately covered everything the the key being that the child's picture and name and responses um would otherwise be deemed a student record and this makes that directory but it's we are limiting it in the policy change to the other students who are in the class so a student in the class would have access to the video um a a member of the public would not have access to the video because we're now able to have directory information be limited to in it scope so that allows us to limit the directory information only to other students who are in the class um and you'll see in the draft policy change one possible additional limitation would be to say that that the student who would have access to the video

197would have to have missed the class or would have missed the video but and I'm not saying that we're recommending that but that is another limitation that one could place on it I think that um your instructional people would prefer that it be made available to any of the kids in the class to be reviewed subsequently as they prepare but um that certainly is is another option that we at least discussed and just to add to that um and Dr Hardy and Miss hbur please jump in y'all are the um educ instructional educational experts but um kind of part of the conversation surrounding this is that absent this like a lot of other school systems are suggesting that teachers pre-record these lessons which would require teachers every night you know before the school day starts

198to do their whole lesson plan lesson with just them being recorded and then have that to share so um Dr Hardy and miss sidbury explained that that would just be too honorous on our teachers and then have them to go then go through and try to teach these lessons as well so we felt like um trying to balance that this was kind of the best balance so I think Dr Hardy if you want to add your input Miss Jaan I agree with everything that you have shared and um we appreciate the board considering this we do want to make sure that um we are providing every opportunity for our students and we know that there will be some students who are not able to participate in every synchronous learning opportunity and this will also help

199support our students in their learning so the I've had two board members also reach out to me regarding kind of a um when will this stop you know when will this end so we're doing it right now if the board adopts it let's say uh when would it change and so I shared I think via text with Miss Lewis that um we're going to be bringing the directory policy to the board in as part of Cleanup in November December so assuming that um we go back uh and no longer do remote learning before then we would then bring the policy back to the board um for consideration I think that we are definitely on top of this that's we talk about this and think about this 24 hours a day it feels like so um

200to answer your question I don't suggest that we kind of include any type of automatic termination clause on a board policy I think that it definitely always warrants conversation from the board um regarding this and so that would be my recommendation is that if you do adopt it that you allow it to stand until we go back and then the board would we would bring it back and or bring back the new or proposed update to the directory information policy in any event because that's going to you know uh involve a lot more conversation because the um proposed draft policy on the director information is uh kind of tracks so we would need input from the board in detail in any event on the final directory policy M Jan you do need action on this

201item tonight um yes and this would be another where um would be requesting a waiver of the second read because school is going to start on Monday and we want teachers I know that there may be that may not need to be happen I don't know what the orientation meetings Etc but I do think we probably should do it so that they can practice even with that you know if we don't have this it's going to be hard for teachers to kind of do that orientation where they're practicing recording and interacting with students um on the video so it would be I think Dr Hardy if um I think you're in support Dr mbanga I think we have their their support to request that the board wave um the second reading and I apologize again

202for the lateness um we just got it this morning I know but darington's been you know working hard for a lot of districts around the state on this and God blessed them for it and I'll just share what Ken shared with me that um he had been in the Johnson meeting and they were having the same conversation and but they didn't have this because Neil hadn't come up with it yet so um this he just came up with it uh yesterday and we were able to get this policy from sington so we really appreciate how hard they worked and how fast they worked on this so yes Mrs Meer all that to say we would request adoption and waiver I appreciate it Miss Miss unstead yeah I just want to say thank you to the

203team for all the work on this I think when we think about synchronous learning and parents balancing work and all the and other responsibilities the ability to be able to record a video and share it later and students to rewatch it I think is super important um as we hear more and more stories of parents figuring out how they're juggling those so I would move that we approve this policy um with and wave the second reading 4207 um so that we second sorry that's all right I thought I'll talk to I don't need it's been moved by Miss Umstead and seconded by Mr Lee any further discussion my my only discussion is the the memory that we really really dug into this policy quite a bit to protect our undocumented students during a lot of

204the ice raids and we want to make sure that whatever we do going forward we're teaching our folks you know not to take pictures of Zoom screens and not to share things out that would identify um students and and put them at risk in any way and I'm sure that's how we're training folks already but um I appreciate that um I think we're ready for a vote Miss Lewis happy birthday hi I'm Miss dead hi Mr Lee hi Mr Sears hi Miss valadares hi I vote I as well thank you it is unanimous Miss yovani does this bring us to the end of your um long long long item yes Mrs fire subject to um I think waiting for Mr Malone to give us some more feedback on that Title Nine but yes ma'am um

205T just I just sent you an email a couple minutes ago if you'll check that and then you know maybe try to get up with me and then we can maybe get this back okay perfect but yes M Mrs V I'll work with Rod on the backside in the background and we can move forward thank you I'm going to um take a point of privilege and see if I get any nods to this idea to take a f minute recess at this moment in time in this meeting anyone anyone or y'all are all good to keep [Music] going if I could bring computer if I could interrupt for just a moment all of your phones will start ringing at 8:10 with the rooc call about orientation week perfect I'm I'm bringing the computer though because

206it's my section I'm GNA have to answer question okay so we're gonna go ahead and take that recess I would like like see meet y'all back here in five if that's all right that sounds good all right 810 we'll be right back here thanks I can ask board members that are on to just flash your camera so we can know whether folks are back and we have a COR or not I see Miss Lewis Miss Umstead Mr Sears I don't see the recording button so I'm going to say it flash my and there's Mr Lee Tada and I see Miss badar's name not sure she's back yet I'm back perfect everybody ready to roll all right all right let's do it thank y'all so much I really appreciate that I got a new glass of

207water so I'm good to go um so that brings us to operational Services Board policy 7503 remote work good evening everyone I um have I regret to inform you I have one more policy for you but it should be quick hopefully um this is a brand new policy um really wanted to provide flexibility for our employees and some guidance for them as well as guidance for supervisors uh the overwhelming majority of the language came from the school boards Association policy with very few changes but because it's a brand new policy I didn't do you know the slides that we usually do extrapolating you know old and new information um so yes so we would I would request if at all possible to if you don't find major issues with the policy to to wave a

208second reading because of our all virtual remote learning um I would like to address one comment that was made at the public comment about remote remote work and um in the policy it does say that employees should have their equipment and internet access our buildings will be open for staff members who don't have internet access at home and so they can they're more than welcome to teach from their classroom since the buildings will be largely empty um it is a safe space where they can access internet and all of their DPS property and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have brand new policy for a brand new day board members you've seen this policy it's in your packet anyone have questions on it clarification needed on any of the points do

209have a go ahead sorry I do have a question about eligible employees um can you tell me more about that definition it's in two like how how are we defining what it means to be eligible sure it's basically those employees that are able to perform their jobs like teachers a little bit further down it talks a little I I don't know why it's ordered this way and we can certainly change it but it is in let's see there's another section that speaks to uh employees who may not be able to um to work from home due to the nature of their job I'm sorry I'm trying to find it I wonder if it would be helpful to if Miss Smith you could um project the policy onto the screen if at all possible [Music] on

210page 296 if that's helpful of the packet I think or 290 so I I mean I guess I could speak to the L that was again in the included in the base language from Schoolboard Association but it it may refer to employees for example bus drivers who are not able to obviously perform their jobs remotely um to do commensurate work whereas teachers instructional Specialists instructional assistants and others are able to complete the bulk of their work responsibilities um remotely and I think my question kind of comes in where we have that definition and then the bottom section B where it says employee supervisor determined employees unable to perform his or her essential job duties while working remotely the employee may be required required to take any available acur leave um and I think as we're

211in the midst of this pandemic and we've been trying to understand like how are we flexible with as staff members and making sure we're signing you know if you are a bus driver what other remote work maybe could you do so that you're not having to take that leave time and espe for staff members who um who have an acrw leave who might be new to our district so wondering is there a way that we can write that type of flexibility into the policy sure we can we could definitely um take a look at some language or draft some language in there one of the other Provisions that is available just and this is pretty covid specific but the the use of federal emergency sick leave is also available for employees that based on the

212covid crisis that are caring for someone or they're diagnosed with covid themselves or if they're um you know they're caring for someone or they're have a lack of child care I know I recognize that's that's different um but it does provide some provision so that employees don't have to use their own leave for for those specific cases and the other thing is we definitely are um kind of I guess what like sending out a survey or polling our employees to be to ascertain whether or not able to take on additional assignments such as you'll you'll hear Dr Hardy talking about the child care sites and so that's definitely something that we're going to be making available to our employees as well other board members have questions or comments feel like we're in such unprecedented times

213that you know you may have to have a draft policy to see what changes might need to be made once we get feedback um missus yes yes I'm gonna peek you back on um the eligible employee because I guess for me it's um raises the question of like who is a non-eligible employee and I and I hear you know that you know bus drivers and that there's going to be flexibility of placing them but I feel like that that wording by saying eligible that it almost infers they're non-eligible employees as well um and I think that that should be addressed somewhere in the paragraph like um if we're going to use that terminology so the addition of maybe examples of specific roles or changing that alog together yeah because I think that eligibility is is

214um like we we are we are in essence saying that there there are employees that are eligible and and inferring that there are employees that are not eligible and because we in the in covid times I mean we have to think about like Learning Centers I mean there's there's ways that even things can evolve that might open up for even employees that may not be the ones that we're thinking of that they might have to there might be some flexibility right um uh so I'm just I'm just wondering if there's yeah in terms of like not just the rule but also like employees the eligibility like if we take away eligible employees instead of like making it uh a description for the employee like we just say the eligibility like employees can be eligible it

215just takes it away from eligible employees versus non-eligible employees you know I see what you mean sure I do want to make a distinction though that that our employees while we are trying to provide opportunities that they can work maybe in alternative settings or doing alternative things this is specific to remote work so I'm just I will definitely think about a way to word Smith that that um to put like employees who are eligible are able to perform their job dues or something like that I can certainly um Wordsmith like that but um you know there definitely are going to be groups of employees that are not able to work remotely so I do want to make that clear just in the example that I provided it would be difficult for a bus driver there's

216no you know doing the bulk of their job now there definitely will be alternative assignments available but that's completely different than this policy well and to me Miss Atkins it's not the employee that's eligible or not eligible it's whether the remote work can be done remotely that you're trying to Define I mean some tasks some jobs really are are not remote and so um see that in in essential employees kind of all through our society um um I a question um being as this is a new policy I know you're talking about um maybe waving the second reading but also just for transparency and it being introduced in the in the um to the public at this point as well what would be the hesitation to doing a second reading does this policy have to

217be in place by the time school begin or I don't think it does we've been you know we've had limited instances of of remote work so I don't I don't think it does we don't have to especially since there's been feedback and some specific verbiage to be included we can certainly take it back for a second reading thank you for that other thoughts and other feedback that folks have I know Miss Atkins would welcome that tonight or in the future if we're going to move to a second read I would definitely um you know any other thoughts as you're working on inward smithing and help wherever I can thank you sure it sounds good thank you for bringing this rosi and you and you do have flexibility so that if we you want us to

218pass it on first reading and bring it to our um full board meeting is that what the time frame that you think would work best that would be modifications okay all right I move we send this policy to uh the full board meeting I mean the meeting on the 27th for second reading for Action I second it been moved by Mr Lee and seconded by Miss Umstead that we bring policy 7503 remote work first reading to our full board meeting for second reading any further discussion point so um for those roles where employees you know are eligible to work remotely but um we we also have to think about the fact that we have um employees that don't have the setup at home right and and so they're going to have to I know that

219the buildings are open for staff to come in and use computers and all that but we we are also having to think about families and you know staff that have children that you know can't come into the buildings right um and so what are what are the considerations with um remote work for staff that do have complications um um or you know that that you that have different the families that we have in our district like we have we have staff that have children and and so um if they don't have the connectivity if they don't have the internet if they don't have the the laptop you know not not not instructional assistance um not all of them are they don't they don't have like not everybody's getting a laptop right so um that's something

220else to think about and I just wonder if there's anything in terms of like setups um for this remote work for right now as you said our especially because we are in this dire situation with hot spots and we're really trying to get the all of our devices and hotpots into the hands of the students who need it most right now our sort of workaround for employees with no connectivity or Internet is to come to the location because there won't be students there is to come to school I do we do understand that there are also limitations to that for the reasons you stated so we'll continue to think about it and work on it especially as we go into this new territory some of it is going to have to be trial and error

221and seeing and we will certainly always as we always do work with our employees who truly um need this support and we um you know we will certainly be flexible with employees who just it's not feasible either way thank you sorry any further discussion if not I think we're at the vote Miss Lewis sunstead hi Mr Lee hi Mr Sears hi Ms I and I vote I as well it passes unanimously thank you Miss Atkins for this [Music] policy that brings us to academic and student Support Services Ray our final prek sliding scale waiver is the first item I have who's leading Us in that discussion good evening board members tonight we are going to discuss a couple of items regarding we have one for the waiver of prek and then our DPS Learning Centers

222Miss Smith if you could bring up the first presentation please thank you very much this evening Administration is bringing to the board for consideration a recommendation to wave the prek sliding fee scale during plan C which is our districtwide remote learning this recommendation will hold families harmless while instruction is remote as a District we know that many of our families across durm are facing intense challenges during this partic during this pandemic this will provide some relief for families as they navigate the complexities of covid-19 this recommendation aligns with strategic plan Priority One to increase academic achievement and priority five ensuring fiscal and operational responsibility at this time I would like to recognize Dr Debbie Pitman assistant superintendent for specialized services and M Miss suzan cman director for the office of early educ a they will

223provide specific information for your discussion and address any questions as we move to the close throughout the presentation I'll turn it over now to Dr Pitt thank you Dr Hardy next slide please good evening members of the board and superintendent mua this evening Miss cman and I are pleased to provide a brief highlight of the proposed recommendation Miss Smith I'm ready for the next slide if possible thank you the ration now behind the recommendation a review of the prease sliding scale and the the implications that will come with the waiver of the sliding scale fee and of course we'll take some time for any questions and discussion next slide so the proposed recommendation is to wave the pre- sliding scale fee during remote learning if approved there will be no tuition fees collected while the

224district is implementing plan C but the fee waiver for parents will be temporary families will be notified of the pre prek sliding scale upon enrollment and that is based on income verification this will ensure that once remote learning ends that families are aware that there is a sliding scale fee when schools reopen for face Toof face instruction the district will reinstate the prek fees according to the board approved scale next slide so the rationale behind this recommendation was to ease the impact of plan C remote learning on prek families in particular under plan C for remote learning our families with preschool aged children will now need to incur the cost for the sliding scale fee in addition to making accommodations for unexpected additional child care costs with their preschool or at home we have received

225concerns from many of our prek families about the cost of pre tuition while students are served remotely we recognize that families must pay tuition and pay for child care costs there is a concern that families will not be able to afford both and subsequently will not be able to afford during prek we value and embrace our new prek families as part of our Community we want to be responsive to their needs to ease the financial burden on our families if we are able on the next two slides Suzanne cman our director of The Office of early Ed education will review the pre-case sliding scale with the board that you approved last February and then she will outline some of the Poss the possible fiscal impacts on the district Miss cerman next slide thank you Dr

226Pitman now that I've unmuted myself I apologize for that and good evening everyone on the table before you you can see that the pre- sliding scale fee factors in family size and Family household income if you follow across with me for a four member family the scale provides for no parent fees up to 400% of the federal poverty level which is $12,999 of income keep in mind that these charges reflect only a 3/4 day so six and a half hour program and they're only for 10 months most Working Families need WRA care in addition to preschool services for 12 months if the sliding scale is not waved during the remote plan C families will need to cover the cost of the pre tuition and child care if the board approves the pre tuition waiver there

227will be some fiscal impacts on the district next slide please there will be a reduction in Durham Public Schools prek Revenue it's hard to calculate the exact figures because the variable changes each year and we are implementing a new fee scale however just to give the board a rough estimate of the impact of this decision based on previous year's tuition averages we calculated a possible quarterly loss of approximately $ 56,2 it should be noted that previously These funds have been used to support the specialized monu programs and the wited program which is and it's also used to offset the cost of personnel and to meet other needs such as professional development the good news is that NC prek has made the decision for the 2020 2021 school year to provide payments to North Carolina prek

228Contracting agencies based on the number of contracted slots Durham prek has also announced that it will support Durham prek slots at the witted School the federal Tuttle one EC prek and state EC prek funds are also holding steady back to you Dr Hardy sometimes finding that unmute button is harder than we think to the next slide please tonight board members we are recommending Administration recommends that we that the board wave the pre-case lighing scale fee while we are in remote loan learning only this action is needed to um because the board would need to approve the prease gliding scale which you did in February of 2020 since this prek recommendation will result in Revenue reduction this proposal requires board approval action and notification at this time of course we are open to any questions and

229discussion thank you thank you so much to the whole team Miss Lewis Miss conman can you explain the last two points that you made on that last Slide the north K prek to make I didn't I didn't follow that I'm sorry sure no problem so NC prek we are a contractor and so they reimburse us for some of our slots and place some students that meet their criteria with us um normally we would be reimbursed $320 per child based on attendance because of the covid situation um we were very worried about that because we certainly didn't want children and and this is Across the Nation um we certainly didn't want children to feel like they weren't getting what they needed so um they have decided that they will reimburse us on the number of slots

230so we will get full reimbursement even if it's you know impossible for a family to join us on a particular day and the same thing with JN pre does that answer your question yes thank you problem other questions or discussion on this item I just wanted to um just for those um listening and I've heard from a lot of different people the reason for this is because a lot of people would have to pay for external child uh uh child care right if we if we were to hold it the same it would be external child care and their prease slot right and so what we're trying to do is you know since we're not since we're not in the building for prek we're taking away our charge and allowing them to use that money

231for their private or out of school prek is that correct said yes yes sir thank you thank you so I look forward to kind of continuing conversation as well and it might come in the Learning Center update or it might come in in future meetings but what is our district thinking on our commitment to prek and when we might prioritize or triage those students to be able to come back in person um I think it's really really important I you know I've seen a lot of chatter um and we had some public comment tonight about you know needing to get Chromebooks to foury olds and threey olds and and I think that is because you know our community acknowledges the the profound importance of early learning um but it's to me so much with these

232small smallest Young Learners it has to be in person as soon as we can safely do that and so I look forward to continuing conversations um about how we can do that and how we do prioritize that as a community Comm yes ma'am thank you said yeah um thank y'all for bringing this to us I know that we won't be doing inperson instruction but I am under understanding that we are still providing some materials and content for families can you share a little bit about what we will be doing for families absolutely I will definitely let Miss cman speak to those specifics but I do as Mr Lee mentioned um we do want make sure that our prek families we know that the board values prek you have um supported and adopted our prek addendum

233strategies earlier this year so that is part of the work that we're doing with our strategic plan making sure that given the cognitive needs of our earliest Learners our four-year olds that there is going to be a balance between activities that they will be able to complete in their home with paper pencil as well as activities that they'll be able to complete virtually and I'll let Miss Carman speak to some of those specifics thank you Dr har so yes we have a very robust plan for our Preschool teachers and um we have provided sample schedule for them and that has also been shared with principles and teachers will be sharing that with parents as well um teachers will have time to work with students in a large group so they'll do a morning Circle time

234they'll have some small groups they'll also do have a math and lit A literacy time and of course those will be um short within the developmental um guidelines and they'll also have time in the afternoon to work one-on-one with parents and um you know via phone or Zoom or however it's comfortable for the parents to work um for our students that don't have access to technology we do have um some really great packets that mirror the daily work that our teachers will be doing they have cognitive activities social emotional learning physical learning language needs and there're also activities that are designed so that their caregiver or parent can support their child and then teachers will be providing daily connections with the child and the parent via phone to help with um any questions or you

235know any information that the parent may need I think one other point to add is that given the class size and that in each of our prek classrooms we have our prek teacher um and a minimum an instructional assistant many of our classrooms um may have two instructional assistants class ratio is not to exceed 12 students so many in many of our classrooms if you divide that up in our classrooms 1 to 10 our teachers are going to be able to provide those daily connections to five students and so is a little bit of difference when we think about um the class size of um our many of our traditional classrooms especially in Upper grades so making sure that they have that personal connection and that we can support the learning um for our earliest

236Learners and if I may I just miss cman would you mind mind calling attention to the resources that are available for families the Virtual Field Trips the week oh sure just briefly no problem on our website um there are some covid resources that um there's a page for covid resources and there is a resource there for our parents um it does have a page that has all kinds of virtual resources there's Virtual Field Trips there's math and literacy activities there's also 10 weeks of virtual lesson plans that parents can do including um literacy math writing and those are all developed so that parents don't need any specialized anything to do it they're using um household items and things that you would have around your house um as well as there's a link to our Waterford

237software for our students which is a software that also provides literacy and math um skills and infuses some science and social studies so there is that link um that parents can access right through our website excellent I was going to just say yeah it sounds like um education will be going forward with our um pre students those are some great options and resources for families to tap into as you're talking about the packets for those who don't have um access uh technology access and having packets will their teacher still be making contact with them via phone or other means to provide support and services I'm seeing Nas yeah yes definitely definitely okay time built in their schedules to do just that okay good good and then um going back to the fee part um and

238you said that there'll be a $56,000 loss based on what has been brought in um previously I'm curious to know what did that funding originally go to so that funding orig I'm sorry Dr Pitman would you rather no that funding originally um helps well it does help support support pay for the preschool teachers as well as the instructional assistance so there's Personnel implications and it also funds um some professional development and um our pre- strategic plan addendum is really um our addendum um goals are really around professional development so that would help support that as well and were you saying that the um NC prek making the payments the $320 per child that would now supplement where that loss is well won't supplement it because that money does go for personnel and salaries predominantly but

239it will allow us to continue paying our teachers and and keeping our program robust so we won't lose any classrooms or teachers or you know have to cut our program because of that okay this is an action item for tonight and I'm sorry that we kind of took you all off a prek uh field trip there but I really appreciate it I think it's important for us to to have that conversation and the importance of early learning other uh questions discussions or I would welcome um motion on this item I have something just a point of clarification so sure just summarize so we are waving the fees for prek um we have traditionally had um prek students that um have you know um have not had fees right and and so these would exceptional children

240um free and reduced lunch I would imagine so do we have the numbers of I know we have the number of like a $556,000 loss um from what generated but do we have like in terms of like what percentage of our kids uh you know are Title One na versus the ones that would would have been contributing to the 50 $56,000 I I I just want to make a clarification Point um we don't charge our EC students any tuition at all um because by the virtual of their disability um we have to provide them a free and appropriate education so they are never charged um any student that would qualify for free and reduced lunch would not pay any tuition at all because they would qualify under that federal poverty level um so it would

241be anyone who made above [Music] $12,999 that would be getting their tuition waved for the students that didn't pay any tuition they it would not make any difference in their um fees they would not pay any fees it would be free and and no student with our recommendation is losing their seat so all of the pre students that have either received their street be seat because of um their um either their feeb you know non feebay seat or EC prek this recommendation simply is waving that tuition cost we will still be working with all of our families making those personal connections each day providing them with the tools and resources right thank you no problem if there's no further discussion we do need a motion to um make take this action tonight I would move

242to wave the prease slighting fee scale um for as long as we're doing remote learning I'll second moved by Miss Umstead and seconded by Mr Lee any further discussion Miss uh Miss Lewis hiad I Mr Lee I Mr Sears hi M darz hi I vote I as well thank you all staff for bringing this important issue to us this evening as you thank you thank you Dr Hardy you have another item a big one um yes excited to talk about our DPS Learning Centers Miss Smith if you can bring up the presentation please this evening board members again another item before you for Action is um to discuss a collaborative effort that we have had with student U led by Miss Alexander Zach Bayou as a convening partner as well as Megan G alz executive

243director of the DPS Foundation as well as several DPS staff members who have been leading this initiative these centers will definitely be a joint effort and collaborative effort between DPS staff and our community representing multiple departments within dur Public Schools I would like to acknowledge the staff members that have been working on this project Dr Dietrich Danner executive director for professional Learning Community Education and federal programs Dr lever Maddox Perry senior executive director student Support Services Dr Debbie Pitman assistant superintendent specialized services and Miss Melissa Watson director of The Office of school relations next slide please tonight we will provide and share the rationale for our Learning Centers we'll discuss our adherence to health and safety guidelines programming Learning Centers including a summary of our staffing and resources in anticipated cost next slide please this

244is truly a collaborative opportunity from Durham public schools and our Community Partners as we offer a solution to support families as they return to the workplace these centers are necessary for the overall Wellness of our students and will provide a safe socially distant um cohort structured well supported environment for our children The Learning Centers will be staffed by Child Care Professionals trained educational staff as well as volunteers to support our children as they engage in their work with remote learning while engaging in remote online learning our students will benefit from having a small group and um and working with their peers to support them in terms of the social and emotional needs these centers will also help us offset some additional potential trauma that could be caused and may have been caused and invol from

245the lack of both inperson instruction and peer interaction during this pandemic next slide please our DPS Learning Centers will be housed at three elementary schools and three middle schools and will service children prek to 12 those sites are youo Valley Elementary Southwest Elementary WG Pearson Elementary githens Middle School Carrington Middle School and Shephard Middle School program will begin for K5 students on August 21st excuse me August 24th and for 612 students on August 31st the program will remain in place throughout the duration of planc participants will receive support for remote learning They will receive breakfast lunch and an afternoon snack the total capacity will be 900 students with a ratio of 1 to 10 and 150 slots per School our communication Our Community Education staff and other identified staff and volunteers will support our programming

246next slide please we are collaborating with many Community Partners to leverage some of our existing Partnerships to creative creatively coordinate pushin services for our DPS Learning Centers some of those partners and connections include alliance with our collocated Mental Health our counselors and student service staff to provide age appropriate guidance Durham County Social Services will continue to provide additional wraparound Services for Families impacted from remote learning as well as our student support services staff to provide social and emotional needs to our children during this pivotal pivotal time in their lives you can go forward to slides please thank you so much now I will share with you some of the projected expenses anticipated expenses for our Learning Centers these expenditures for salaries are in the amount of $462,500 which is comprised of Community Education staff who

247will provide oversight to each of the Learning Centers 104 Community Education staff members have confirmed via survey that they are willing to provide in-person services for our Le remote Learning Centers excuse me our Learning Centers there is an additional need of 124 staff members to adequately support our programming we will be working with our instructional instructional assistants and other staff as well as volunteers um to make sure that we are providing support for our Learning Centers as we move forward with this endeavor estimated cost for supplies and materials is going to be $24,500 bringing our total expenses to $486,500 next slide please so I would like to share with you our sliding fee scale um we will have as you look through some of our scenarios what you will see is that there are some

248um slots for our children that are completely free for our most vulnerable students there is also a rate will be that will be for our families that qualify for free or reduced price meals there will be a rate for GPS employees and then there will be a regular weekly rate and then there will be a registration fee for all families that are in these three categories families that are free will not pay the registration fee next slide please I would like to share with you some scenarios regarding the projected Revenue so what you will see in this particular scenario is 900 students all providing in slots that are part of our paid rate so what you will see is 900 students for our registration fee 250 students in the free and reduced price fee 100

249students for the DPS rate and 500 students at the full price fee the projected Revenue would be $766,000 the program expenses that we just talked about I will reduce that out and in this particular scenario we would have a projected Revenue after expenses of about $280,000 next slide please scenario two again still 900 enrolled students however in this particular model there are 150 of our most vulnerable students who would have the free rate so notice that we are only collecting the registration fee for 750 students 450 at the full rate 100 students for um the DPS rate 200 students at the free or reduced price rate that will yield 638,000 when I subtract out the program expenses and the registration fees um the um there is no um projected Revenue we would actually be um

250in the red $73,345 finally you will see another scenario this is scenario three again based on 900 students this is this scenario provides 450 slots would be for our families that are most vulnerable and that would um have a free rate we are not collecting the registration fee for those students 200 students at the full rate 50 students at the DPS rate 200 students at the free or reduced price rate yielding $346,000 and as you can see the projected Revenue would yield a deficit of 100 a little over $140,000 this is before you this evening for Action to make sure that we have guidance to continue to move forward in planning and working towards operationalizing our Learning Centers I would also like to acknowledge our chief of staff Miss Tanya G Esquire who has also

251worked to support the team along with Arington Smith as we make sure that we have everything in place to support during Public Schools as we move forward with this effort at this time the team is here as well as myself happy to address any questions that the board may have thank you thank you so much Dr Hardy and and to the team that's worked so so hard on this um board members I know you have thoughts and questions I just see it Miss FIS yes um I I do see the different scenarios and the breakdowns in terms of Revenue um and you know consideration for students that would not be charged you know who would not I guess the different scenarios you know everybody paying registration fees it's an area to um where some students

252won't pay registration fees and and who would be um but I'm also wondering if part of this presentation will also feature uh who is going to be prioritized in these slots um I know that there are many parents who have children with special needs um who have you know been reaching out and saying you know they need to have um that level of care that level of um um support during these times and remote learning for children that are on the Spectrum or who have different um uh different um who are who are somewhere along the Spectrum they're they're kids who need more support than others and so I'm wondering if um there's going to be also a part where we're kind of showing like who would be prioritized in terms of these slots because

253we're talking about across class right for free and reduced lunch but then there's also like um ability and and and needs of support so I just wonder if there's anything that you can share um regarding that regarding priorities thank you for that question and so we have worked um really collaboratively with our Community Partners as well as with Community Ed and to make sure that we have an application that um honors the philosophy of our board when you look at those core values um that we have in our strategic plan and so we'll be prioritizing students one around um our families that are experiencing transition homelessness families that might be identified from um and would be participating in our mcken vento program we'll also be um prioritizing our students and families that qualify for free

254or produced price meals on the application there are going to be specific questions which allow families to identify if their children um in previous because we know we we might potentially have some new enroll Le have um if students have an um individualized education plan or an IEP have been supported with 504 Services as well as their language acquisition needs so our newcomer families that may be just learning uh the English language and so that will allow us to identify families so that we can prioritize appropriately we've worked very collaboratively under the leadership of Dr Danner and the community community ed staff to make sure that those questions are explicit in our application the application will also be translated in Spanish and if we do receive approval tonight we'll be able to push that out

255on Monday um to our families and I have a follow-up question um so we're talking about volunteers we're talking about reaching out to Community Partners Partnerships with um uh Durham County Health Department um I am also um wondering at what point we will have you know folks that can work with with with the PE with the students that we are um looking to serve like you know whether it's um we're addressing trauma we could be addressing um disabilities or or um children that are differently abled um uh and so or or who need more supports and so I'm wondering like in terms of like our Partnerships and how we are we can compel any staff member or any Personnel to um show up and and be in the building in person like you know of

256our teachers um are are being compelled to do that and and I did see that some did volunteer that that that this would be this is something they're consenting to to do um or or that they're um signing up to do but in terms of like ensuring that we are going to meet the needs of of the students that are we're going to be serving I'm wondering a little bit more about those Partnerships um if Durham County um the health department like do they have um the the people who who can actually have the expertise to be able to serve our our children and what what does that look like in terms of um vetting who can serve our kids in this in this capacity I I definitely appreciate the question and I think one

257of the things as we have been working collaboratively um with our conveners missak valou and Miss Gonzalez is um they have through the Hope Network they have collected lots of Community Partners through out um the county and the city that are willing to provide support we will first start um as I mentioned to begin with our already partners that we have so we have collocated mental health we have our student support staff um so we do have several um adults that are already trained that we will lean on first um and then given the interest that we have making sure that we have the opportunity to expand in those areas to provide support um I also think it's important to note that um these Learning Centers are to provide those safe spaces for our children

258our children will be um working and have the connection although virtually with their teacher and their classroom Community as well and with many of the orientation activities connection activities relationship building activities for most for much of the time that they are in our Learning Centers they will be engaging and interacting um with their particular classroom and then during the asynchronous time making sure that we can provide that support um and we also will be able to provide support um for meals as well thank you you're welcome J Hardy I guess I have deep appreciation for your team putting this together because it's it's our board that asked you to to do this because we really challenged you to to come together and and um help us find safe spaces for children to learn because we

259know there's so much need I'm I'm guess I'm concerned that there's going to be a lot of unmet needs still like this is just the very very tip of the iceberg and I'm wondering what um if you guys see this as a start or if you see it as a as the end of what we might do as a district um and then I'm also very very confused about these re Revenue scenarios are you bringing those as to to see what different things different students might apply are you asking us to choose one and lean one way or the other as to how much we're going to subsidize it I guess I'm not clear what what the are telling us thank you Miss by um I think I'll um start with the first question in

260terms of um do we see this as the end I think this is um the beginning as we go into plan C I know there are also going to be lots of opportunities across the community as our conveners are working as well um Mr yovani is working very closely um with us as well as some of our Community Partners in terms of additional Partnerships um that will be able to host Learning Center so we see this as um a beginning we know how important it it is from what we heard from the board to have these up running um as close to the beginning of school as possible and so um we wanted to make sure that we could provide options for our youngest Learners so prek to 5 will open um the second week

261of school August 24th and then 612 will open the following week on August 31st the scenarios um were just to provide you with some sense of um options in terms of what could be so that you were aware that um of the cost that we will encour as a district to provide these spaces we will as we are getting requests in we um are going to prioritize slots as we have mentioned to ensure that we are serving our most vulnerable um your action tonight is giving us action to continue with the program and to launch the um launch the application um in support of our recommendation regarding prioritization we just wanted to make sure that you had some sense of what it would look like because we are anticipating if we move forward that you

262would also like for us to have an update later and we would we would want you to know what that update would look like in reference to um potential revenue or potential loss of funds so we just wanted to be as transparent and honest as possible as we get guidance from you to move forward with this initiative no I appreciate it and I appreciate if you if I missed it can you tell me again are we keeping kids in small pods in each classroom we're keeping them with the same adults what are the ratios like that like and how are we ensuring what metrics are we using to make sure our staff are safe every day and and what metrics would we use if we have to close down I mean I think those things

263are really really critical as we're I think I think a little bit ahead of where most of us feel comfortable with 150 children in the school building absolutely I will do my best to um um answer all those questions and I may have to also defer to my colleague Dr Monk um we are going to use most of the recommendations that we brought forward as we were planning in Plan B so the ratios that Mr Palmer and other staff had provided for us in terms of the capacity within a particular classroom students will be in um pods um or clusters of um no more than 10 students with one adult students will be in a particular area of the school identified and worked in collaboration with um our school planning department Mr Palmer we will

264make sure that the um the guidelines in terms of how we screen students to enter are followed we are also working very carefully to make sure that staff that are working our front office and other staff are um protected using the appropriate PPE students will not be traveling um to a cafeteria or to a gym so in the event that we do have um a youngster or an adult um that does test positive then we will work closely to identify those that are impacted so that we can make those very thoughtful decisions um our n our new lead nurse um nurse Trisha Howard is working very closely um with Mr videlia and Miss super Edwards who are our coordinators for Community Ed and will be running this program under the leadership of Dr Danner and

265so um there's there's no 100% um safe guidelines but we are following all of the recommendations to do our absolute best to provide an environment um for our students and an environment for our staff that is the safe learning space um that we want our children to have during plan C and I will yield to I think Dr Monk is on the other screen if there's anything that I missed that I should have noted Dr Monk no that all sounds really good thank you thank you Dr other board members Miss Miss Lewis and then miss before I get my to my question um as far as the safety standards and minimizing risk um with student pickups and I'm a parent with three children in DPS and had to pick up devices and I saw um

266those protocols taking place as far as planning in between each person coming through this just is um Mr M was just a really good process I don't know if you got to the individual schools but as a parent um it felt like there was minimized risk um in those situations so I'm you know definitely confident that you all work out the details for the 150 in the six schools um two questions I think one of them first of all great job and meeting a need um being very um consider considerate of what these Learning Centers look like like working out all the details um that you have um I don't know if you mentioned the other half of the Staffing would be coming from I don't if you're saying was other Community Partners or there

267still some hiring needs to happen for that other half of the Staffing and then also why is um 900 the magic number knowing that that is just a tip of the iceberg I don't um I'm going to start with the latter question I don't know that they're um there is a magic number I think that um you know we really wanted to make sure that um we were being thoughtful um this is a big project and we want to make sure that we are thinking about the safe spaces for our students as and also the safety of our staff and our community as well um and I do believe that this is just the beginning as we work with our conveners and other spaces that will be available within the community um and then I

268think I forgot your first question as I was answering the L where are the other half of the teachers coming from the other half not teachers but um staff supervising the students yep I apologize so we do have our community ed staff that has volunteered there is a possibility that we'll have more Community Ed staff as we begin that was from our initial poll um we are going to have this as an opportunity for some of our other staff at our schools which would include um many of our instructional assistants this could be an opportunity if they would like to come and support our Learning Centers and then we have been in contact with our institutions of higher education um Central and Duke University in particular have reached out they have many students that either

269part of the coursework that they have or part of um their work that they're doing with volunteers and so there is um a pretty good network of volunteers from from them that would potentially be willing and then the Hope Network is also collecting volunteers as well miss Atkins will um partner with us in term terms of our volunteer screening and so what we will do is of course build up as we get um our applicants in and assigned to make sure that we have the appropriate staff there is the possibility that we would have to hire staff um to make sure that we meet the need of the students that we need to serve and then that would adjust your programmatic cost um there's one thing that I did forget to mention and I truly

270apologize and I um can also yield um to Dr Monk the reason I forgot to mention it is because we have been working so hard in the past few days to um to really make sure that we have all the details we are going to be able to provide transportation for our Learning Centers and we will be able to provide transportation in a hub format so we've been working very closely just in the past 48 72 hours um Mr Vidalia and Miss super Edwards with Mr Harris and so we that is going to also help our families and they will be able to know on the application if transportation is needed and I apologize um that it was not in um my initial talking points because we really have just um figured that out in

271the past day or so that's okay just Pro to me you're a mind reader because that's going to be my next question about Transportation so I'm glad to hear that as well and then I know you're not asking for um support from the board as far as how many free slots there are um that is one of my major concerns I'm assuming and correct me if I'm wrong that it depends on what your application pool looks like but say there are 600 families that have need for free spaces is their ability to move up from where we were for free spaces or is there truly is is there going to be a c so what we want to make sure that we do is that we assign um spaces based on those priorities and so

272that's why I wanted to share with you how those spaces are going to be allocated and um the top two priority being families that are in transition um and families that um have qualified for free or reduced price meals the reason I did provide you with the scenarios is I I want to be transparent with the board knowing that um there is an anticipation of an update and if you direct us to move forward using those priorities I wanted you to be aware that um as we move forward there could be the potential that we would not net revenue with this particular program and so I just want to make sure that we're being honest and thoughtful about the cost that we would incur um your direction tonight is going to give us um the

273permission and the direction to launch the application and to follow your guidance around prioritizing those seats and I I hope that makes sense um I did okay that's interesting Dr Hardy I think I wondered if if in conversations with the Commissioners um going forward if the county were to able to support this more whether we'd be able to expand it more quickly and it sounds like that might be possible um if we could dream that with them um because we definitely have a lot of need in the community Miss I'm said I'm sorry I started talking right over you um that's okay um Dr Harding your team thank y'all for putting this together we really did charge you with this probably a couple weeks ago and so you were able to put together this I

274do have a question about um just like need do we have a sense around number of need I think I've heard some people in the community say a 3,000 number but I'm not sure you know if we have a sense yet of what the need is on this I'm not sure that we have a a comprehensive sense of the need um and working very closely with our conveners um they have identified a target of 3,000 spaces for students across the city and county for public school students and um but that is a partnership so that is um hope learning sites that would be uh DPS sites as well as Learning Centers that would be in the community that there would be 3,000 spaces um available um I think we will be able to um start

275to identify the need as we collect applications in the form that we submitted we did receive um well over 800 student potentials from the form that we launched and that was just focusing on K5 and so um I do think there is a need to say exactly what that need is I I don't have enough data to share that um but the conveners are looking towards having 30 excuse me 3,000 um slots Miss B can I make a comment here yes please thank you appreciate it um this particular Endeavor I think is going to take a community effort um As we sing Across the Nation there are faith-based communities and other places as well they're stepping in and try to help as well I have been involved in a conversation with Folks at the city

276as well as the county level as well it's going to take all of us to make this happen can you just imagine are we have six schools or six sites that we're able to open if we have to open up more than that that means that's going to take care pretty much most of our schools where we're trying to bring our teachers to be able to teach remotely and then if we have to bring our students that means we on Plan B already so uh I'm for those who are watching us and I'm asking our faith-based communities and other folks as well it's going to take really a village concept for us to be able to make this happen uh also just want to remind folks being really transparent as we go through this covid

277and we don't really know what revenue is going to be we only have $8.3 million fund balance so we're going to need every penny for 2122 school year uh we just wave fee for our precare which close to $60,000 and based on the plan that's that hard just presented to you and they're going to be more to come as well as we're dealing with with this covid so I just wanted to put it up there that uh I'm asking our community to be able to step in and uh try to support us in this particular Endeavor thank you Dr MinGa I I did note that these budgets are really unless I'm reading them wrong they're projections for the first nine weeks or seven weeks of operations so you know to run the entire academic here

278I saw I saw Miss falaras come off and then miss Umstead um yes um I I did uh you know uh just appreciate like the efforts and and realizing the limitations and I I just wanted to check I have um three questions but the one with um how many how many staff um were missing right now 120 something I thought I heard Dr Hardy and so um so this this also brings me to what I'm seeing right now um in terms of Trends in the in in you know uh the community where you need an additional 124 staff members 124 yes um so there are there are the state is funding community health workers the the state is uh providing funds and I think uh Medicaid has like 28 different criteria um I think transportation

279is included so I'm wondering like to what degree this is a partnership with the state like you know as much as we can leverage the kind of things that some of our families um do have access to um I know that there's 208 criteria in terms of like um Medicaid used to only look at some things but now they're they've opened up to different things including food including transportation and uh this the state has has been partnering with um with folks for community health workers who essentially could do um who are trained who could keep us safe in terms of like monitoring for covid symptoms because anytime we have people in person in a building um there has to be that that training as to like how to how to um minimize exposure and spread

280um and so just just putting it out there that having the fact that we already need 124 and that maybe we we do need to think outside of the the normal you know um or outside of the box in in so many ways and and leverage as many resources including you know um you know health health workers um and in this case you know there is this model of community health workers that um that that could could could support us and of course Community Partners and as many different people as Dr mua um stated you know we do need community support but I'm thinking that having that Focus for people that are that are trained that um can understand like you know how to navigate covid response and also like are providing could provide transportation

281um could help us with those with those things especially for the for the um for the needs that our kids have you know um I'm thinking that there are some funds from the state that we we should look into thank you very much for that Miss Umstead and then Mr Sears thank you um we just had this conversation about Transportation y'all just had so that cost is not included in what we're talking about right now and then when you talk about supplies and materials what is included in that and what is maybe not included like are the cost around cleaning and sanitizing also included in what you presented to us around the budget I will defer to Dr Monk to share what some of those cost um would be in operationalizing the six centers and

282I recognize these might be estimates as literally y'all just did this yesterday yeah so um I won't even attempt to talk about um the cost associated with Transportation because we don't even know which students are going to be attending and where they're going to be attending from um but what we do know is that um this is more of a deference of um savings that could have been realized um by operating completely in um in plan C um so because we're going to be um consuming Goods uh we estimate that cost to be um for the the total nine weeks about $50,000 for the consumables those are your sanitation and disinfecting Type U products as well as you know paper towel and soap and things like that and then if you look at the amount

283of um labor that's going to need to be there for the constant disinfectant for those um spaces comes about $95,000 for that labor for the nine weeks so all total as relates to um the custodial operations at the site which is brought about by um covid-19 those requirements is 46,000 um dollars we're estimating for the nine weeks for all six sites of course the more sites that you open up um the more cost that you're going to actually incur um with those items so if we add that 146 to let's say we had 450 free sites we're looking at over a half a million dollars that are not that we are expending that are not saved and we don't have money allocated already to this right like this is money that would come from our

284fund balance or is there another line item that we are thinking about this money coming from the answer can be just it's coming out the fund balance it's coming out of our fund balance which is our savings and I and I asked those questions and I know that we have this need in our community I think I'm also just concerned about our own budget um as a district and what we spend this year I think as revenues are decreasing across the Durham County across the state I have fully believe there will be some Cuts coming in the upcoming year um and so I think I want the public to hear that people who have access to funds in the community what can you do to help us make sure we meet this need for our

285students um but it it it does raise a little bit of a red flag for me um and also I recognize how much our students and families need this we're a district with 60% free and reduced lunch students um having more free slots is going to be a best option for us um but it does concern me around this budget um item and then I just one question around Staffing are we thinking that the 124 would be volunteers or we also thinking about there will be some hired staff in there as well because I know that wasn't included I'm still talking about money I'm sorry y'all um in that budget Revenue would the goal be mostly volunteers or we're not sure yet I think we are optimistic that there are going to be some of

286our our current DPS staff that are going to support and and then we will have volunteers um I don't want to um to make a promise that we will not have to hire additional staff um we're going to do our best to to follow um and to meet the parameters that we have shared with you this evening I saw Mr lur come off of mute and then I need to get him mat as well but um all you had something to I'm I'm going to defer to Matt because he has been trying Mr Sears has been trying to get into the picture and then you're you're so kind but I think my question relates to you as well and Dub's tales with baa um I I do want to talk about the budget because um

287having been on this board for six years and having gone through a reduction in force process that was economically driven um we're not using those words a lot in this economic crisis and we're doing everything we can to avoid using those words and I'm glad we are and yet we haven't seen the state or the federal resources come to help us with that so I'm G to I apologize I'm going to steer us this is maybe the first one where you know I'm going to ask about those 104 staff members in community ed and it for them is this say this is your job and if they are not willing to take that is to say your job is going away because of the economics I don't know who answers that question for me well

288I certainly don't want to answer that question I'll go to miss stead's question can I ask one budget question too before you answer sure so because this is also line on lines of budget um you know we just cut out 56,000 um waving pre fees we're looking at deficits that are coming down the line I think about um Community Education and that funding knowing that some of it is based on what families pay and another part I'm wondering is being subsidized will be getting any subsidizing money in um for our Community Education work that's happening or is that just null and void also if that's makes sense okay um the money of course is is always an issue um we're going to leverage all the cares act money we have that we're receiving to offset

289some of these costs um we will try to get reimbursements for some of the expenses that we will have for uh cleaning supplies so on and so forth uh we're going to try to utilize all our dollars that we have in front of us before going into fund balance I don't want to go into fund balance we're going to try as a team to make this work with the funding that we have for this fiscal year some of it we only have till December 30th in a lot of the cares act funds so we're going to try to try to use those dollars to support the programs and other people that such as if they're in some instructional assistants that are going to be part of this program and they're not going to be working

290with uh classroom instruction but they'll be working at these centers we can use that as as as Dr Hardy said we could use the those dollars to pay those people too so we're looking at all the pots of money to make that work yeah it's going to be difficult but we're going to try to do everything we can to minimize uh and not go into fund balance I appreciate that Paul I don't think Matt's question got answered and I think that's a really important one is it is it for Miss Atkins or Miss Hardy um what what are those folks options how is this being articulated to them so I'm going to start and then definitely can have Miss Atkins or or Dr Danner one of the things that um we shared with you at

291the end of our um plan C presentation it was either at the last meeting or maybe two meetings ago is that we had really worked collaboratively across offices to make sure that we had clear roles and responsibilities for all of our employees while they were while we were working remotely and so during the covid closure we were very closely with Dr Danner and his team to provide um professional learning there were specific task and work that our community ed folks had to um that they completed just like tasks that teachers and other staff were completing um so that they were able to continue to be compensated we surveyed our community ed staff to to see which the staff that would feel comfortable given the current conditions to come into the building and that is where

292um that is how we came to the 104 Community Ed staff so those are the staff that will be coming into the building we will our plan is to continue what we did with um during covid closure and to make sure that we are providing um opportunities and tasks for those other employees so that they could um still continue to work in a remote environment and get compensated um and I will yield to Dr Danner or Miss Atkins if um there have additional pieces to add I hope that answers your question it does and and forgive me for for asking it so turly I I didn't take the five minute break so I haven't moved in four and a half hours um I I I could have wrapped it in and and should have that

293you know we have been doing everything we can to keep our people employed um getting paychecks and I know that um without continue infusion of funds I'm worried that we need to start talking about reduction in force which is code for layoffs and [Music] um and continuing to push what what few levers we have to try to get those with more power than us to um support that I know we have local Partners but um but this is this is the pandemic of a century here and um if if we just continue with status quo we're going to have to make some hard choices pretty soon I'm afraid and I think it's going to be in one of these sort of ancillary Pockets where you know they typically have their own um revenue streams that

294that aren't coming in and they try to operate you know budget neutral so thanks for taking that question I I know this is hard um and and I do want to know how how we're communicating with our people so thanks for that they are tough times these are tough topics this is tough work um Mike did I see your hand yes it's a subtle okay I'm going to be very very quick here I I don't really have any specific question I just want to say thanks for putting this together all right so you know when we when we were talking about plany um I mentioned the idea of having some spaces where we can um there some safe spaces for our kids all right some people didn't like that idea in fact I was attacked

295for it so I really appreciate you guys given an opportunity for uh given opportunity for some of our staff to you know continue to work for in the buildings if you're able to go into the buildings to provide you know a safe place for kids who who do not have safe places working with Community Partners working with other groups to make this happen you guys have really put together a good program I enjoyed seeing what I saw there's a lot of work that has been done in the last few weeks to get this together and there's no small this is no small feat especially when we're going to have to include Transportation so I just want to appreciate you guys you know for everything that you're doing this the even just the six buildings is

296going to provide Rel Lea for a lot of people a lot of people and it's not about making money it's about providing these places for kids to go who need a safe safe place to learn so I really appreciate what you guys are doing I really like the idea and thank you all very much for this thank you Mike I see Miss this is related a little off topic I say I'm a family that has means and I'm looking at these streams and I would like to pay for another student to be able to go like I'm thinking about how can we make sure that we can afford some Splats for free students who do I talk to to get like is that a ask is that something that we can be thinking through um

297to be able to to get more slots I think that I can work with um Dr Danner and Mr suth to um as well as Mr lour if we want um to have opportunities for someone to sponsor um a family um um if you the application is by week so there could potentially be an option for you to sponsor a family per week um or child per week and so we can definitely explore that as an opportunity um and I'll work with Dr Danner and Mr lure and Mr Su um to explore that option fres off the press the foundation is also doing some work around providing some free seats so thank you I I'm this might yeah I'm just a second I come right to you this might be related or it might be

298um different but when you look at the scenarios the way I'm trying to think about it is if we have half paying students does that mean that we can offer more free spots I mean essentially whoever Paul Alex who's done the modeling like who can tell us you know I'd like all the slots to be free if we have 900 but if we do 450 now now and we get 450 free students does that let us continue to to recruit 450 more paying students and serve more free students in in the coming expansion I mean I don't even know if that's if I'm making sense with that question but the model the model that we are the scenarios that we provided tonight would require us to go beyond the six sites and so we will

299have to make that determination that would be based on what Dr Ming has just said about keeping our facilities uh safe for our teachers so they can come in and do their work so that would have caused us to move definitely into Plan B so we would have to think about how we expand those sites that 150 was based on 900 students based on survey data that we sent out early at the beginning of this request yeah I guess I'm I'm thinking of that as a modeling scenario and and if we recruit plenty of paying families that lets us grow the program in my mind if we need it longer but but y'all have fresher math Minds than mine um just keep it in mind and I'd also like and hope that one of the

300risk criteria that we have in there in triaging students is is foster children I don't know if I heard that one Dr Hardy in your list but those are that that group of children fits in that first scenario so any family that is in and transition is the broad term that we use because um often times there are situational circumstances and they might be in the process of qualifying for mckin vento or there could be other extenuating circumstances so it does include our foster Families Our most vulnerable students students that are in transition and students who may qualify for um mckin vento services so that's that first priority um of students that will be um that will be serving thank you so much m yes I I I like that um that line of thinking

301in terms of like being able to have spots where parents can pay um just wanted to bump up again um I don't know what the algorithm is going to be in terms of placement but again like um when we think about free and reduced lunch we know what the numbers look like across the district we have quite a few families that qualify for free and reduced lunch um most of our schools are you know Title One schools and so that criteria Alone um would already take up all the 900 spots and for me it's like how do we ensure that we are uh being very strategic and and because there's limited spots that there's like whether it's like a a combination of factors I'm I'm I'm really thinking about the moms that I've talked to

302who um have cried on the phone have told me you know my child needs to see somebody that you know can um needs to be in in an environment right needs to be in a space that um that that that will allow them to learn and especially for kids that have EC needs so I'm really thinking I'm really bumping up EC I'm bumping up the kids that need to have like you know the the the interaction um the supervision because working parents I mean giving giving the kids who have these special needs um to just you know have a babysitter um or it's it's not the same thing as being um as the kind of services that they were receiving I think they're the ones that are hurting the most um everybody's hurting right now

303everybody is and I'm not trying to say um but but when I think about the moms who have told me what covid has meant and it's meant for many kids to not get the therapies that they need and it's not the same to get therapy over a screen you know and it is not the same to have you know to be able to pick up on the cues there are many different cues that you can pick up especially for some of these sensory um Spectrum um and so when I think about that I'm just wondering if there's an algorithm that will not just make it a or b but will make it even a combination if you have a and b like if you're free introduced lunch and your EC like you know you have

304an IEP um or even parents who are willing to pay you know there there are many parents who are willing to pay who have those those uh those uh special special requests that their child needs to see um you know needs needs to have the supervision um and to be seen so I know this is like a big a big feat I'm just really thinking if there's a way that we can have an algorithm or some kind of thing where it's like it's a combination of factors and we are um with the limited spots that we have trying to trying to um provide those spaces for those children that really need need to have that absolutely and I think one of the um that's one of the reasons we have worked to make sure that

305there are explicit questions on the application so that we can see um potentially the multiple needs that many of our families will have and so that will help us um with the board's Direction um if there is guidance this evening and approval for us to use those priorities that we mentioned I do also just want to make a a point of clarification and um Dr Pitman is here who can represent um um Miss rym regarding ESL services and I know Dr Bell was on earlier um and so I I want there just to be a little bit of clarification as we are trying to make sure that we service our most vulnerable students that this is not operationalizing plan B this is not school this is providing a safe space for students to learn and

306their services are going to be facilitated through the operation for example of their IP our exceptional children's teachers and our exceptional children uh instructional assistants so I just want to make sure that um there's not an expectation that because a child um one of our students with special needs or other children that we are going to be operationalizing and executing their IEP in these spaces that is coming from our teachers and we're providing learning through plan C and um but at the same time I understand the need that I'm hearing from any of the board members to ensure that we have a safe space because what we know is if we're meeting social and emotional needs it helps our children with their academic needs given the many needs that our community has and so I

307did want to make that point of clarification um I can scroll to see if um I'm not sure I do see uh Miss Saunders oh I actually see Miss Ryon so I I want to make sure I don't know if Dr Bell has had to step off um and I would if any of our um if Dr Pitman or any of our other staff want to clarify if if um if there were something that I left out no Dr Hardy I think you did a wonderful job we are making sure that on the application for particularly our families that are new to the United States and do have English language support needs that Miss ryson out of the uh English as a second language department is going to be collaborating with the Learning Centers to

308support those students and Miss Saunders on behalf of EC I see you you're here thank you and you have anything that you'd like to add S I think Dr Hardy was was pretty clear we'll be executing the I piece with through the schools and not through the Learning Centers so that would be completely separate from that thank you both thank you thank you for your patience with us tonight it's a long long time to get to your agenda item but it's super super important any other thoughts and and questions since we did have a public comment about the thinking behind the DPS staff right can you guys uh share your thinking about that before we move on our um one of the things that we do want to make sure that we are able to

309provide as high quality engaging social emotional and academic learning for our children during remote um during our PLC we want to make sure that um many of our staff um have multiple children and we want to make sure when they are um providing that synchronous instruction to um children in our community that if this is a service that they need that they can take advantage of this service so that they can teach and connect with the children in their classroom um and just wanting to make sure that that is an option because we have such a commitment to making sure that the remote learning that you see is engaging it's meeting the needs of our students it's addressing their social and emotional well-being and they can do so without any distraction because we know how

310much they want to do that and they do that every day um and they want to be able to give but many of them as well have own own children and this would um allow them to give to the children in during Public Schools thank you so for that um any other comments this is an item that is here for action and a really important item this evening everyone looks as content as they can look at 9:40 in the evening appreciate it I think we I would welcome a motion okay so I'm actually looking at the agenda trying to figure out how to what are we supposed to what are we approving here uh what actually are we approving so um we are asking that you um approve for the administration to move forward with

311the implementation of six Learning Centers okay I move that we compel the administration to move forward with the DPS Learning Centers the prioritization part of it as well that was presented and and the priation what about the scenarios I mean you presented three uh one that had registration for all students one that did didn't have it and had you know the numbers so is that is that not we're not going vote on which scenario tonight I mean is that something that I guess we can follow up on we will definitely make sure to provide you with updates um I would like for you to allow us the flexibility given the prioritization that you've given to us to make sure that we're meeting your guidance and that we um would not be held to a specific

312um number for each group you've given us the prioritization and we will um do our best to implement that prioritization with the guidance that the board has provided yeah I apologize I thought that was all part of it but I didn't know we I didn't think we had to do a SE do we have to do a separate motion for that or are we adding that in there okay I just making sure because yeah I thought it was all built in so that's my motion that's prese I second your motion mik it's been yeah I see um it's been moved by Mr Le second by Miss Lewis and I see comment uh question from Mr Sears discussion yeah I'm I'm I'm torn here um there is a threshold where we have to do something and

313and this may be the something and cases are trending down um in our community which which I think is great [Music] um I I I I'm just really torn about you know if about the employee piece about the safety piece [Music] um uh I I you know doing this for our most vulnerable students is is a good thing in terms of supporting the families and and you know there's strong a strong rhetorical argument for that this is the guinea pig um program and I I worry about the health effects um but I'm not a health expert um I sorry to to you know just Babble on about this but I think I'm going to abstain which I know is a de facto yes vote um I'm just not confident this is the right move at

314this time Dr Bingo did you come off mute yes ma'am uh I saw you it's not my habits to contradict any board member but I just wanted to add a another piece um uh the num is trending down that's correct but when it comes to our school age student 5 to 18 um the infection rate is 19% so I just wanted to put it up there so it's still bad among our school age students 19% yes missad yeah I I still feel a little torn as well um I'm wondering and I and I say that with knowing that this is a need right so I I want to be clear that I understand the equity concerns around this um and while we're doing it I wonder if there's a way that we um do we

315do a hundred students in in every building instead of 150 and and and there are ways like you said Mr seers like we're testing to kind of see what this looks like is that give us a little bit of a better um a smaller group that we're working with or I actually I think what I'm really saying is I would really like really regular updates on this of how many students are enrolling how many are requesting free spots what we're looking like as we partner with Community around safety um because I'm excited I know the need is there but I also it just makes me a little nervous I wonder if we might um pass as this with you all adding some health metrics um that you're working on with the Duke and UNCC team

316um that would put specifics in place and I think I shared with some of you I don't think I shared it with all of you the Cambridge Public Schools model has three Health metrics that they've identified in working with their researchers that might be good ones to start and look at and they what I like about that model is it shows when if specific metrics go up when it's time to stop and go full remote when things can close as well as when they can open um and that's the piece I think that um Matt and and Betina are having some concerns about and that that we need to actually delineate for families because these may be able to open on the 17th and the 24th or they might not be able to open until

317September October I mean we I think without that piece it doesn't feel like done full due diligence um um we're um definitely in a just um between a rock and a hard place with the decisions that are happen to go forward and I think that um this this Administration team was asked to come back with a plan that highlights minimizing risk and keeping our mbers low and that's what they came back with I um I'm hesitant because just in in this space and time there's hesitation with everything and I'm also um willing to move forward with this plan because it has pres been presented and a lot of folks have have had um contributed to what this would look like how this can look so with that I'm I would also Echo what chair Umstead

318said and having regular updates and knowing these metrics and letting our community know these metrics because I think that will help to decrease our anxieties but again having a clear plan that you all have vetted and have brought to us and would like action for that um even in my hesitation I am ready to move forward with it um I yes thank you um you know this is an opportunity for us to uh put into place things I mean one thing is to have the data and to have like the information but then what are we doing about the information that we get so we do know that there's a 19% rate which means that you know the risk is there that you know that there's going to be um students with symptoms that we

319are going to have sta staff that are going to be exposed so how are we preparing how are we setting it up and that's where I'm I'm I'm I'm saying that there's already um funds that are they're like workers that are already being paid where DPS wouldn't have to pay but there are people who are trained to deal with sympthoms to understand flowcharts and isolation protocols um who have already been deployed to different nonprofits throughout Durham so they they're already community health workers in different uh institutions right now um some Charters are are looking into that as well so it's like you know can we can we like make the cases set up these uh spaces with the Personnel that that is able to help us mitigate or help us monitor um have have the

320the setups in place so it's it's great to have the data it's great to see the trends it's great to see the numbers and to understand what the risks are then we have to have um a framework we have to have flowcharts we have to have like um people on the ground people that are present who know what to do um if you know a child has three out of seven symptoms you know or two out of seven or if you know somebody's coughing what does that mean you know it's like somebody who's who can really have um can can can guide the processes that are going to have to happen in in these buildings because the reality is that the risk is there um and so yeah just just uh putting that out there

321that right now there are models there are um funds that are coming from the state that you know we can we can figure out if if some of these folks can help us as we're setting up these centers so we can set them up responsibly and with the considerations of vulnerable populations that have been impacted disproportionately by covid um marginalized communities that have um fared worse than anybody else um because this this this virus has done that so um to mat's point you know that's that let's make sure that we protect and and we we set it up in in very responsible very considerate way with with the with the health I agree with with Natalie in that sense that we have to take into account Health where are these people though where where are

322the people that you speak of I mean there's there's far too little and far too many demand it's already spread out they're nowhere to be found because they're already dry they're they've come to present to us well I mean they've talked to to to so there is a group um the pandemic response Network so at Duke they have an app um they have developed an app that Duke students so I as a Duke employee that I am I have to be logging in my symptoms two weeks before I even set foot into Duke it's it's the monitoring it's the responsibility I have to have as somebody who is going to pose exposure like a risk even by stepping into a building so two weeks before I have to be doing like Sy monitoring and they

323already have developed the app it's it's already there they have been sharing the data so if you go on Twitter and all that I can send you that information but they have talked to um to our DPS admins and they have you know shown the app the app is already being used um by Duke and so and they are working in collaboration with the Ford uh they have they have shared data with the four doctors that came to present so there's two arms to this there's the research arm and it's a research framework and then there's a Services there's the boots on the ground this is the kind of thing that is like in the into the weeds and developing tools for us to be able to use so it's like the two different components

324and they're very important because one thing is it's going to tell us the trends and it's going to give us guidance as to when to close a school but then we have to have the tools and we have to have the setup that is going to help us ensure that teachers are armed with you know equipment with with with a tool with an app where they can um do their own monitoring and feel safer because they're like okay um and and it's also going to help families too because as they're tracking their own symptoms and it's going to tell them like you know Green like almost like a stop light like you should not should not show up to the building today like every morning you kind of do this because you're being responsible because

325we have to take care of each other and so it'll it'll like have like a little like no today you should not you should you actually need to go seek medical care or seek medical attention there's more to it but I think that there's this this this this uh tools like and and the workers would be super helpful and we're saying that we want we're looking for the students to do this as um monitoring there's a recording all of that kind of thing is that what we're saying they're not students no these are people the community health workers it's a model they're they're trained they're trained and they go through through trainings and to be able to to navigate times of covid so the state has funds for it they have their own training that

326they have to go through and these are People based in community so there's there's relationship and there's trust and so um the model comes with like I said there's tools and then there's also the people like the work and they have been approved so right now you can you can talk to the folks at Duke they have come to talk to to um they have come to talk to to DPS and so I would say like that's I don't know if if I would I would move I don't know if you guys want to have like a presentation I think it would be beneficial to have them kind of speak about how that works the community health workers the app and the tools so so we can have both components the research and the programming

327and the services I understand that I just I thought you said that you had the monitor your own symptoms and I was just wondering if you were saying that our students would have to monitor our own systems in the appp and kind of come out yeah it's it's like the out of station form that we talked about where before like like I mentioned before I even go into Duke like I have to be like I I I open an app and I I click on you know what is happening today if I have nothing then I have nothing to click and I'm good but if I start showing something then I click you know it's like I I cough today or I sneeze you know I have a fever and it'll immediately it has already

328the algorithm that will tell me no you you you can't you can't show up to the building today and so um it is like an adastation form like the the thing we're going to have where folks are going to have to answer some questions before they set foot into a space or be allowed into a space like it's it's it's to that level I think I think that can be something we can explore but I don't want to try to solve that um tonight but I definitely think that's something I think Dr mbinga has been in contact with the pandemic response Network um and we definitely I mean we're going to need all support that we can have with trying to move forward with any type of in-person Learning Centers instruction Etc so thank you

329Alexander yeah thank you so I last I heard we did have a Merion and a second and I kind of tried to make it a friend L amendment to it about metrics I don't know if that was accepted or not um because that would give me some help what on my own Readiness and I was trying to help Matts and batina as well um any other thinking on this I think we've um we've gone around quite a bit the staff's been very patient are we ready for a vote are we voting on an amended motion or the motion that was po I didn't amend by motion was I was I supposed to so I was trying to offer an amendment about our staff putting in actual metrics that would that would help um guide when

330these are ready to open and when they might need to close but you know as part of their next steps before we move you know all the way forward that Health metrics piece but it's up to you whether you would accept that amendment I think that isid I'll accept it I'll accept it so well it can it could be it doesn't have to be res seconded we can we can just accept it as a friendly Amendment any other further discussion if not are we ready for the vote thank you all for all your input um Miss Lewis hi missad hi Mr Lee hi Mr Sears I'm abstaining mes I and I vote I as well it passes however Mr Malone scores that with an exension um 51 560 I don't know how that goes I

331mean you you not it as an exension but it technically would count as an affirmative vote typically thank you I appreciate it um and actually I think that brings us back to the Title Nine policy issue with you Mr Malone and and Miss Giovani if we're still yeah if I would if we could table it until after the Clos session and then have a short attorney client discussion on it en closed um I do Envision that you'll do something in the open session that related to it thank you very much and then that brings us to uh do we summary of follow-up items I think Dr is this me okay Dr Mon may I asked a clarifying question I just want to make sure that we understand the board's Direction and on of that motion

332so the ask away thank you so much the the motion is for us to bring back to you metrics at the next meeting and then based on those metrics you will determine if we are opening or moving forward my amendment was just that you would incorporate those and based on your monitoring them would would move forward or not depending on what you all decide I don't think it needs to come back to us I never intended but some said doesn't think that needed to come back to us I I just think it's a a thermometer or that you all need to build into the model so that you will have it there and and does that make sense Dr Hardy yeah I think so so we are moving forward with K5 opening on the 24th

333and 612 opening on the 31st and then providing updates with metrics to the board unless the health metrics say alarming red don't do it then I would think y'all would use your judgment and not right I I I think I'm I'm more clear now do that does that Mak sense yeah we got it yes ma'am I was looking at Dr MinGa saying yes I'm good and I apologize let me clarify Dr M thank you lot of good work being done tonight um next week we're going to get that information out uh to families uh tomorrow about the orientation week for next week make sure there's Equity um as we go into um starting true instruction and then Dr manger is going to work with those early start schools um to make sure they're also in

334a good place um as it relates to devices and um make sure their students are prepared for instruction as well thank you so much Dr Monk thank you all everybody on both screens for all your patience and diligence in this these difficult difficult times I would welcome a me motion to go into Clos session for the reason stated on the agenda so move it's been moved by Mr Lee and second by Miss L that we go into close sessions for the reasons stated on the agenda uh Miss Lewis ready to vote or hi hi Mr Lee hi Mr Sears Mr seers I think you came off mute at at the wrong time i i i i perfect thank you Miss I and I vote I as well we are in closed session thank you all

335e Kyle's setting up the link now he's ready do you need a countdown are we good no we're okay you already started great we are back in Open Session session board s MinGa do you have a Personnel report yes Miss B board members um I'm here to ask for your blessings your approval for personal report as discussed at a close session the personal report I'll second it's been moved by Miss Umstead and seconded by Mr Lee that we approve the Personnel report dated August 13 any further discussion all in favor Miss Lewis hi mad I Mr Lee I Mr Sears I hi Miss valadares hi I vote I as well it passes unanimously do we have um a Title Nine issue Miss giovan yes uh board members um administration at this time would like to

336withdraw its request that the board wave second reading given the complex nature of the new title 9 regulations in the extremely short time period that the board had to uh review it as well as myself and Mr Malone uh we would like this to um move to the next um board meeting for further consideration thank you so much Miss Giovani you need action this evening or will you just move that on consensus no just on consensus like we did before we're just I'm withdrawing the request for the waiver great I appreciate it thank you all for your patience thanks for bearing with us and if there is no further business I will call this meeting adjourned thank you all be safe by everyone happy birthday