001you the one look sorry the wait are the TV's on cameras on if we go fast enough well while they're getting the television on is that one on back there okay this one's awesome alright again good evening everyone thank you for coming out the Durham public schools Board of Education is now convened in its regular monthly meeting we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who has come to join us this evening as well as our television viewers the millions and millions that watch our board meeting the purpose of this meeting is inform our parents staff and constituents about the work aligned with our mission to embrace is to embrace educate and empower every student to innovate serve and lead the administration we'll be presenting information that will keep you up to date on
002our strategic plan thank you for taking the time to join us as customary we start with a moment of silence and please join me so please join me in a moment of silence as we start thank you the Nita flowers community liaison and Spanish interpreter with Durham public schools she's just our interpreter for tonight is to Nita flowers miss flowers is an alumnus of DPS Riverside High School she has a BA in English linguistics with a minor and Hispanic studies in Spanish miss flowers is here this evening to assist our spanish-speaking families and community members miss flowers hola me 1 and Saturday soy miss flowers your soil I interpret a I see alguien necesita servicios de interpretación estoy aqui para sylvilla's gracias the next item item in our agenda the next two items the first
003one is to be our guest dinner invitees and celebrations good evening every month we have the pleasure of welcoming parents and community members to join the Board of Education and district administrators for a dinner before our monthly board meeting it's a chance for the board and for administration to talk with community members different constituent groups and the highlight of the event is dining with the northern culinary departments Catering meals they're fantastic and shocked but not surprised to hear that if you want them to cater your events for fall of 2020 not 2019 you need a book now there they're in high demand so this evening we had the pleasure of welcoming some of our university partners and university guests from colleges of education and various departments and we invite them to come and walk the
004red carpet we really appreciate you being here tonight thank you so much for the conversation we'll start with our partners from Duke University [Applause] from North Carolina Central University our friends from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and we had friends from North Carolina State University join us this evening as well [Applause] thank you mr. Sears so it has been a long time since we have had so many people to celebrate during celebrations so much so that I think it would be very helpful especially for the folks who are outside waiting to come in for me to go through the order of worship really briefly we are going to recognize our student of the month and then we are going to recognize our national board certified teachers and then we are going to
005introduce you to our first round of spark award recipients followed by if if our person is here our state wrestling champion from Northern high school not this year not this month and a presentation for Black History Month so we are going to begin with mr. Danny Gilford principal of Northern high school and our February student of the month good evening board members dr. my bingo as a pleasure to stand before you today to talk about Devin McCoy I had to fight off several of my assistant principals to make sure I had the honor of doing this and not them he was joined by a host of family and friends and numerous faculty members here because he is just that special Devin has overcome many challenges in his life through all these adversities he attends school
006daily and excels in academics and athletics he is a peer leader and has single-handedly helped 9th grade students at North High School feel more safe he is hellah produced a number of 9th grade in and out of school suspensions by helping them ease the transition from middle to high school and has taught them conflict resolutions skills to handle difficult situations Devin is a leader in northern high school and recently completed a mural to help the beautification of northern in the cafeteria area to make it a more positive inviting space Devin is the most respectful student I have known beyond high school he has plans to attend University continue running track wherever Devin goes we're sure that he will make a positive impact there in the same way he has done in northern and I'll end
007with a quote by miss rebar one of his peer group connection teachers Devin is a leader by example he uses setbacks as opportunities and as a glass-half-full type of optimism he has had many life experiences that even many adults have not had and therefore is able to relate to and support younger students throughout their high school trials and tribulations MS rebar so I present to you Devin McCoy [Applause] we'd also like to invite Devon's parents to come forward and get their chance to be recognized as well and yes the whole family came to be our guest tonight [Applause] Devin McCoy would our board certified teachers start coming in [Music] all right let us please continue we have some of the best teachers in North Carolina dare I say in the nation and the best of
008the best the best of the best are the ones who put themselves through the toil and tribulation and temporary absence from their families of working toward national board certification certification from the National Board for protect professionals teaching standards I would like to ask professional development specialist Jennifer Nifong and miss Alice Hagman to come forward and to introduce those teachers who have recently either received or renewed board certification good evening everyone Alice and I are pleased to be here tonight to recognize our National Board teachers because these individuals because of them Durham remains number eight in the state we're ranked eighth overall when you talk about the number of certified teachers that we have but not only that we are 31st in the nation we are 31st out of 13,500 school systems so think about that
009and that that is something to celebrate and it's because of individuals that you'll meet in just a moment NBCTs we want to thank you for your dedication to your students your schools and to your profession and congratulations first we are going to introduce our initially certified and then our renewal candidates initial certification please come forward Caitlyn doniphon from Durham School of the Arts [Applause] Aly Marcus Parkwood elementary Julie Keeton Hillandale Elementary Joanne makkad on Little River Elementary Savannah League Windham northern high school [Applause] Rachel Spencer northern high school [Applause] Kristi Simpson Riverside High School [Applause] Janet he Riverside High School Matthew Spencer northern high school Hollywood 'red halt Elementary our teachers who have excuse me let's start again the teachers who are national board certified teachers but also renewed their certification Dena Osburn she's a
010full release mentor Kathleen Turner Hillandale Elementary luann bowman Hillandale elementary lina desk ins Sandy Ridge Elementary Jennifer petit for a full release mentor thank you so much all right I'd like to invite our spark award recipients to come in and for their supporters to come in along the far wall as they come in we have a lot of people who have been nominated by their fellow employees for going above and beyond in support of our strategic plan influencing marketing engaging our community working with our students igniting the limitless potential of durham public schools and as our people come in we have beautiful enamel pins with the durham public schools spark logo that we are going to present to every single one of them and we learned the hard way at our last meeting where we
011presented our first spark recipient they're a little fiddly so we're not going to actually take the time to stick the pin on every lapel we will be here until Friday so we will present that we will present the awards to you we have several different categories of award recipients spark advocates spark igniters spark supporters and sparks who are our students spark advocates are influencers who work outside of Durham public schools to develop community partnerships increase engagement and support for Durham public schools and improve student outcomes these are the people who come to Durham public schools or come to an individual school and say how can we help how can we help advance you so we have five spark advocates this this month and I would like to introduce you them to you and hopefully most
012of them are here tonight a niche sim hall from bull city classrooms Jose Santa PEZ Bull City futsal Peter P pop market volunteer at Hillandale elementary Jocelyn Glaser UNC Chapel Hill and Amanda Marvell Biogen our spark igniters are people inside or outside DPS who provide hands-on or direct impact our teachers are volunteers and family members who go beyond providing direct support for our students we've got a long list here and it begins with somebody don't believe is here but we'll give it a shot Vanessa Calhoun from Carrington middle school milk Millburn Taylor Lakewood elementary Taylor Milburn there's a comment there that was Meredith sharts Lakewood elementary [Applause] elissa Fulmar Lakewood elementary [Applause] Morandi Hurst Lakewood Montessori middle Sarah Patterson northern high school here's a northern crowd here tonight Kenneth Eaton Lakewood Montessori middle school Mitchell
013Wilson WG Pearson Elementary Erica joins northern high school Erica Caleb more ye Smith elementary sue Sims Merrick more Elementary Lakeisha jefferson ye Smith elementary [Applause] kara shillings force View Elementary Angela Batson lakewood Montessori middle school [Applause] what's that miss see capture keV zina Djokovic Bethesda elementary school Jessica face and Johnson lows Grove middle I know you you know my kid [Applause] Sonya West Givens middle school Ashley Altman Forest View Elementary aundrea Gomez Creekside Elementary and James Lyle from Southwest Elementary we have six spark supporters who are administrators non instructional staff and other individuals inside or outside of Durham public schools who provide a foundation and expertise to support our students teachers and schools this is the behind the scenes infrastructure of Durham public schools from the front office of Fayetteville Street Elementary Kawara de Andrews
014[Music] [Applause] tanita flowers Central Services ESL Community Liaison Rick shell doll CTE director Amy Lesperance Glen elementary social worker janae Murray Maddox East Way elementary social worker and Roger brown Central Services easy [Applause] and we have one students Park recipient DPS units who amplify their limitless potential by innovating serving or leading who I do not believe is here tonight Khaleesi Oh Morris from Riverside High School and that completes our spark recognitions for tonight you are true it is our performer here is our performer here great I think that I think if we appropriate for you all take a seat for our performance while we are sorting out where our performer is I would like to recognize our Boy Scout Troop that's in the audience tonight is there a Scouter here who could introduce the group
015hello my name is John Hempstead I'm senior patrol leader for Boy Scout Troop 411 and we're here just at this meeting because we have to get some information on our citizenship in the community merit badge and our communications badge and now I would like to introduce to you for our recognition of Black History Month gabrielle laws from hillside high school [Applause] okay they say they search for freedom and to be free is to live to live in a world that doesn't take a black man's soul and hang it by a tree to walk down the street and not cry and sing a change is going to come because we've already seen one there are some some we'll make up a small sum of those who come from the south to shout freedom the lies told
016and live sold we must live we must have lives that have no price in order to be free we started with the week and now February we must celebrate this month for more than just 28 days because we fought for more than 28 days we as a society as a community as a family have fought for more than 28 days Baldwin said not everything that his face can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced so I will face the world with pride in my history my black history I will change the state like robertson i will face inequality like martin i will face oppression like every colored soul has faced i will sing like cook until a change has come i will write like angelo in - my hands are numb
017and if necessary face innocent death for the cause like Emmett Till has done and let the people see it and let the people know let them know how far we have come we shall not be defined by oppression and we should not be discouraged by prejudice or privileged but we will make those who have marched who have written who have spoken proud and let the people see it ladies and gentlemen that has been a celebration full of a lot of running and jumping and thank you all for your time and I yield the floor thank you Jeff the next item on our agenda is a superintendents update dr. Moo Benga thank you Joe Mande Joe melee members of the board as you all remember the first and most important thing that I did when I
018arrived is so pertinent was to conduct a listening tool we went to many stakeholders like all the organizations held town meetings as for feedback and discuss our vision of a bright future for Durham public schools this month we have been especially active in community outreach we held a town hall in East Durham to share information about a satiric plan and gain some rich and powerful feedback in the breakout sessions with our families we have met before the interdenominational ministerial Alliance we have met with regional realtors in Orange and Chatham counties and we'll be meeting with their can realtors in this week we have upcoming meetings with for the Durham committee of the affairs of black people and a grass roots Latin ex parents group that has been facilitated by alessandra via Dara's and others these
019are just some examples and of course we meet every day with families and stakeholders with individual concerns in these meetings we are being invited to share information answer questions and dispel some myths but we are working with our schools not to do more than that this month we held our first sale years to DPS event the weather may have been miserable but in the breakout sessions for rousing kindergarten sixth graders and naff graders I saw families will have choices to make about whether to attend the Durham public schools and we will not shy about answering - I'm showing that they should say yes to us the event was a kickoff for a month of open houses and other marketing that we will do throughout the remainder of the year as we continue to expand our
020outreach to our families we are doing two important things at the same time we are listening and being transparent about the ways in which we are all agree the Durham public school can improve but we are also making the case to our families we have more choices than ever before that Durham public schools is the right place for Durham children we are not taking our family's choice for granted we are standing to them an invitation telling them our story and expressing our gratitude for considering us I want to thank all our principals or teachers and our staff who are joining me my cabinet and our Office of Public Affairs in advocating for Durham public schools two last quick announcements tomorrow our all County orchestra perform at Riverside High School at 7 p.m. I'm still amazed
021about our student artistic there are DPS greatest ambassadors in Tuesday morning our partners at DPS Foundation will hold a press conference at our principals meeting in which they will announce some of the first fruits of their success in marshaling resources to support our classrooms Durham public schools has some powerful advocate these days and I'm grateful to help them in our corners thank you gentlemen thank you and I just want to say the say yes the DPS event was a great experience it was a great event so I just want to again lift up our public affairs organization for the work that they did putting that together all of the feedback that I heard was just awesome it was excellent so again to the public affairs thank you so much for putting that together the next
022item on our agenda is agenda review and approval mr. chair I'd like to add to the agenda and I hope to approve our legislative legislative agenda for the year okay would you guys let's do that right after eight eight before we do the policy okay section so we'll make that 8.5 okay any objections of that all right let's approve second been moved and properly seconded that we approve the agenda as amended all in favor say aye aye all opposed please she's the same sign it passes unanimously the next item on our agenda is approval of the Board of Education minutes dated January 24th 2019 approval it's been moved and properly seconded that we approve the Board of Education minutes for January 24th 2019 any further discussion all in favor say aye aye all opposed please
023just the same time it passes unanimously now we're going into public comment and I just want to a quick review of the rules first please state your name if speaking for an organization please state your name and the name of the organization second speakers will be asked to present their comments and in a in a specified time usually three minutes when the yellow light comes on you have 15 seconds left to start and please start winding up at that time when the red light comes on it will beep which indicates your time is up complaints about name staff students or parents should not be voiced in open session however we are very interested in hearing your concerns with regard to public education safety of students or the operation of our school systems so that basically
024means not to use specific names of our students staff or administration with the exception I mean you can you can say what you want about us but you can say our names all just loving yeah it has to be loving right but we just don't want to put in public record the names specific names of our teachers or principals and students finally the board members will listen carefully and consider comments but we do not engage in a discussion with the speakers your first our first speaker will be dr. patty Messala good evening board and the members here today I am just I will probably be persistent every month and I know we're making a bigger showing next month but I just wanted to say that as I've been watching RPC and staying abreast that changes
025are happening and so I want to acknowledge that I think there's reason to sell it when things are moving forward and so with that and the meetings I've had and how things are going up and pleased with how we've been moving forward in that direction so I wanted to thank this district and everyone involved who's been moving forward with ISS and slashed RPC which is now a restorative practice Center I do want to say that I would like to continue to reiterate the dis portion at nature of black brown bodies down there and that if we could even though RPC is a really beautiful and I believe in a restorative practice I think even before they get to that room we have to acknowledge the implicit bias and racism that runs through the educational school
026system so if there was possible planning and I've been to dr. my bangies wonderful town hall meeting where I've gone over the five plans for the strategic plan but that there's a sort of embedded way that we're moving in anti-racism for our school district and that should be as far as not just one offs for racial equity training but that it is better than the everyday practices and how a professional development for our teachers and administration and staff that race education cultural competency and addressing implicit bias is something we do all the time that it is actually in the framework of how we move as a district so I'm just here to keep reiterating that race is a problem and racism is a problem in this district and that we if we don't intentionally start
027to move in it it'll always be what it is and I'll always come and it will always see the same bodies even if it's RPC you'll see it made up and populated by these same bodies and that's where I want and would love as a community to disturb that and I believe that the Durham District can actually change that and move in a different way of this nation is moving with the school to Prison Pipeline I believe we have enough power to do this and I'm just gonna stay here all the time and just keep reminding you that we have the power to do this and I would like us to see it aggressively attacked because there are casualties happening and I want us as a school district to value every child and to empower
028them and again I'm grateful for the changes and know we still have a ways to go we are fully capable of doing it thank you thank you our next speaker is bill Garrity hello I'm bill Garrity yes how are you doing I'm doing well thank you all right as an introduction I am bill Garrity acting president of the North Carolina education workers union at last month's regular session I announced that we would wait until all school districts in North Carolina were on board before we initiated a job action I'm beginning to take a lot of heat for that statement people are calling me and saying well when is this stuff that you're talking about gonna happen already you're beginning to sound like the NCA II and you guys know that's the last thing I want
029to hear so I consulted my advisors and we reached out to DPS employees and it turns out that the issue that is number one on people's minds in classified and certified personnel is also the quickest and easiest to implement so here goes we ask that every dps employee get paid weekly none of us gets paid more than once a month and substitute teachers sometimes have to wait nine weeks to get paid I overheard a board member say that this would entail a complete overhaul of the payroll system but people who work closely with payroll have told us that it would take a few days at most and there's a lot of popularity with this request anyway I'm also asking for a brief meeting with the board immediately after this session I know I'm springing you
030spring this on you guys at the last minute but we need to know if you at least consider our proposal and if you can talk for five minutes or so that's great if not we will take this as a no and then sooner rather than later every virtually every substitute teacher will forget to turn on their phones every full-time teacher I've spoken with in the last two years has told me if the subs go the district will shut down by the way we have a lot of custodians and maintenance personnel and some full-time teachers on board too I'll wait for five minutes after the regular session is called to a close I'd rather not stay on night for a we're not gonna sit down with you so if you can give me some sort of
031a sign at some point before you guys are done let me know and I'll scoot out otherwise you can Mull it over think about it let me know and that's it all right thank you mr. Garrity we're not allowed to meet as a group without public notice 48 hours in advance even if even at a meeting like this let's see that would be that would be a second meeting and so a work session that would be a second meeting that we'd have to announce and we're not we're not prepared to make that announcement now I don't I don't believe that the entire board would be meeting for individual but I would be glad to talk to you Azarath the voice and representative of the board we could talk about that I will bring it to
032the board in the conversation and then we will we'll be able to discuss that at a later date okay you can I can reach out to each other and I will be we can't discuss things like that and without it being a closed session or an announced meeting so I'll be glad to meet with you and then we'll schedule it whenever the board can meet together it's got to discuss me with me tonight or I'll we'll work that out all right don't go I'll stick around four loko I thank you thanks turn it off all right our next item on our agenda that was general public comment that is the legislative agenda now we have our legislative agenda in front of us there's actually two parts but the part at the top that's labeled about
033with Steve it's really the last paragraph that's the difference here so we're adding that to our legislative agenda dealing with local taxpayer accountability would either Steve or not I'd like to speak to this before you speak now just for those watching at home at least this was in we discussed this at the at the last meeting and so those materials were available the last me apologize that we don't have those for you tonight right it's in the agenda of our work session at the beginning of February I appreciate it we have our breakfast coming up end of next week with our delegation and we are looking forward to a healthy conversation about what state resources and policy changes we think are needed to support our students so we have drafted one agenda that we discussed
034really briefly at our work session and that is here for discussion and then we would consider adding Steve you had the last paragraph about local taxpayer accountability that we would consider adding there are a couple of other things that I thought of in the meantime but and you guys might have also so but I thought it might be best just to start with what's drafted and make sure that we're all on in agreement about it we read it does that help I mean I don't know what how it's best to approach it really and I don't know our community to understand what it is is it on is it printed someplace yeah I would ask that we added to the minutes after the meeting digitally online at a minimum we can do something here now
035I mean I think we should post certainly opposed to the individual documents themselves part of the agenda yeah well the document including to include the local taxpayer accountability I don't remember us reading this in the middle I don't necessarily want to I'm just at a loss because we don't have it available to the community and the folks that are here um okay well I'm gonna read the just ahead errs exactly I'll read the headers and if you're interested we'll try to have it up tomorrow can we will have it up we'll have it up tomorrow if you want to look a little closer we've already read about the rarity read the header for the local taxpayer accountability that's really really about charter schools and how the local boards would it would administer or approve that
036I don't think it's gonna take a long time for you to specifically tell people was it okay really like a resolution one at a time starting that you want to start mini ensuring student success is number one we turn the school calendar control to local Boards of Education expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act eliminate the cap on funding for students with limited English proficiency and restore budget for textbooks and supplies to at least the pre-recession levels on the issue of k3 class size delay implementation of the k3 class size requirement until a statewide capital bond is passed funds are distributed and new facilities are constructed allow Eleazar ater flexibility in setting k3 class sizes based on varying needs for different educational in and curriculum item three is recruiting and retaining top talent like Steve
037enroute teacher pay raise teacher pay to exceed the national average within within three years and especially target raises for veteran teachers restore pay for advanced degrees expand the North Carolina teaching fellows program especially to increase racial and gender diversity restore funding for Ellie a switch our local educational agencies like a district to support teachers in earning and renewing the National Board Certification as we saw many of them come through earlier restore teacher assistant positions to pre-recession levels fun annual school supply budget stipend of at least one hundred and fifty dollars per teacher and grant all eliezer m'm flexibility to transfer funds between state funding allowed allotment categories including transfer to or from the teacher assistant category to best meet the needs the student needs and support the district priorities the fourth item is improved print
038principal pay plan at a permanent hold harmless provision for all individuals who are affected by the principal pay plan in a negative fashion at the time of implementation ad ad M average daily membership bans above the current cap of 1300 in order to reflect schools that exceed 1500 students and two and two thousand students number five at school support personnel the general assembly should provide sufficient Alava allotments to meet the nationally recommended staff to student ratios for school nurses social workers guidance counselors and school psychologists fund district equity director to develop and implement best practices alright the next one is ensuring efficient operations sales tax refund the General Assembly should reinstate the state sales tax refund to bring local Boards of Education in line with other government entities and Nexus statewide construction bond at a
039statewide construction for k-12 schools to the 2019 November ballot accountability eliminates school letter grades eliminate pay-for-performance based on standardized testing for teachers and principals item eight is about testing and excessive testing and other aspects of read to achieve and allocate those funds to elias for evidence-based literacy programs establish a commission of experienced educators to recommend reductions to the current standardized testing requirements to the State Board of Education number nine is in privatization charter schools implement a moratorium on new charter schools in North Carolina and halt the rapid expansion of charter schools passed legislation that permits existing charter schools to operate under local Board of Education oversight similar to magnet schools Noma teen is concerning virtual charter schools State Board of Education should close low-performing virtual charter schools municipal charter schools repeal session law 2018 -
0403 which allows some municipalities to create and operate municipal charter schools and eliminate the North Carolina's opportunity opportunity scholarships plan the education savings accounts the 11th item is fulfill North Carolina's constitutional promise to every student expand early childhood education to provide universal pre-k for all qualified four-year-olds offer in-state tuition at UNC system in North Carolina community colleges for undocumented and daca students and number 12 local taxpayer accountability require new charter schools to gain approval from local school boards and local county commissions in order to receive local funding require all charter schools in order to receive local funding to report annually to local school boards and county commissions of the home districts of all students responding to questions generated by said mental bodies okay so that is our legislative agenda as written are there any additions
041to this too that I thought about Mike that somehow didn't make it into this edit while we were passing things back and forth was support HB 31 SB 99 which is the bill allow durham public schools to provide housing to enable affordable housing for durham teachers and other employees we were so thrilled to see that moving out of committee this year and appreciate Maryann black and her sponsorship and leadership for that with bills that what was the name of it it's HB 31 and Senate bill 99 and it's entitled allowed Durham public schools to provide housing the other was the idea of raising starting page to $15 an hour to match all state employees because and the explanation is that last year the North Carolina General Assembly raised the minimum wage for all permanent state
042employees to $15 an hour but they left out public school workers so is there a category that would fit under that you see or does that is that a thirteenth category well that second one could go under number five I think for personnel personnel housing yeah anyone else any objections I'll accept the motion to approve I'll make that motion motion to approve legislative agenda as drafted second the munna properly seconded that we approved the 2019 legislative agenda for Durham public schools as drafted any further discussion all in favor say aye aye all opposed please use the same sign passes unanimously board policies section 1014 good evening board members dr. move Inga again just kind of quoting Natalie I think this is our first policy section that we're presenting to the board as part of the
043new transition so we kind of talked about it maybe being rocky but my recommendation is that you have received the policies previously an initial draft that showed where Durham custom language had been inserted into the policy manual I got feedback from several board members either saying I don't have anything else to add and I'm fine with these policies or some additional changes where board members were all in agreement on that Durham iist language I accepted those changes what you have in front of you now that I'm gonna recommend or request that you provide me feedback on are the edits from your fellow board members since that point they weren't really substantial before we do that as dr. Bullock and I'm not sure if he's here still serious so just to kind of lead off I
044think before we kind dig into the policies mrs. Baier had requested that administration consider crafting and equity policy for Durham public schools I went to dr. Bullock the executive director for equity Affairs and discussed that with him and he informed me that Ms Umstead had also requested such a policy he then sat down and explained to me that he had been looking into this as a result of missing Stead's request and as he is prepared if it's the board's pleasure to spearhead that effort regarding an equity policy for Durham public schools so that would be something we would need the board's guidance on going forward in response to mrs. buyers request and Miss M says requests regarding in equity policy it is our recommendation that that be done as a task force I know that
045neither one of us will be comfortable crafting the equity policy for Durham public schools and I think that the pattern and dr. Bullock if I'm if you could want to jump in at any point if I'm saying anything wrong I'm basically repeating what he said to me so that would be our recommendation and we wouldn't like to if that is the board's pleasure we can bring back some more details on that plan on how a task force could be formed at a later board meeting am I to understand telling you that we're talking about going beyond a statement of equity we're talking about a policy that that deals with everything NSBA as a statement about equity and so we're talking about going beyond that and creating policies in every area is that so and some
046of the research that I've done around districts that have adopted equity policies there are in Mis dr. Bullock if you want to join me there are definitions around what equity means for their district and then there is like what does that actually look like so what practices and policies are we going to put in place to make sure that we are being equitable and then there's normally a timeline of accountability so the board will get a report on this every year and we can craft it again however we would like to to make sure that we're all using the same definition when we talk about equity and then we have the check and balances so it can be around professional development disaggregating data a lot of practices that we already do we just haven't established
047as a part of our policy yes I would echo what miss unsteady has said we there had been some conversations and just looking at some policies from around the country a number of different districts have put some things in place to again may have a common definition of what equity is and what the equity focus is for the district I definitely feel that if we're going to move in this direction it can't be something that's in the hands of a few but it has to be a community conversation around whatever policy we put in place that those were just my thoughts and some things that I had seen from other districts so that's it was kind of an informal conversation thus far but I think there's the need to have a larger conversation if we're
048gonna go in this direction thank you let me just add that dr. Bullock was a featured presenter at North Carolina's first equity conference which was held last Thursday and Friday at the Crabtree Marriott and the response that I have received as you were overwhelmingly brilliant and that I've also received caution that we should no longer put you out there because people are now looking to take you from us so let me let me let you know now I know where home is yes but kudos for for that presentation of in fact someone sent me quotes from your presentation yes I had a comment a question actually or just about how this would look in our policy manual of course and I know that would be a part of the conversation I'm torn because on one
049part just to have it separate as a policy category for instance which show the district's commitment however is that slaw had said earlier this this should be embedded so I can also see how how we can just look at how would affect existing policies I'm not sure if you have any thoughts on that because I'm I'm torn right now about which is the best approach Oh what you envision so from some of the policies that and I've done like a preliminary review of a few policies in different places I think it does say something to name equity specifically but the concern you raise is definitely something to consider I think it's something to be said about naming equity as a value in the district and making some statements about what it might look like here
050in Durham public schools but but definitely we wouldn't want it to come off as something this and aside or something extra as opposed to something that's well embedded in what we do so definitely something we need to think about and consider moving forward would like to just direct us to what the NSBA crafted as an equity statement which does thoroughly cover everything that should be the guideposts for every decision that we make in terms of allocating funds so I'm with you to to have a policy that says this is equity policy things that you look you look at things separately when we should be looking at it in every thing that we do if that is the basis for where we're coming from and you've been you know in that office but us being their
051eyes for making sure a guiding principle it may be something we should have here embedded here to say okay I'll be sure that we did that checks and balances for everything that we do so I'm I'd like for us to go back and take a look at that statement that is a guidepost for every school district in the nation and I think we're presenting it as a either/or when it can be both yes we can write a policy and create the teeth and the policy can say this is to be embedded in our district so it doesn't have to be either/or because I completely agree with you it can sit in policy on a shelf and that's not what we need it to do we need to have some teeth and we needed to have
052strands throughout every single thing and everything so I think I agree with you and I think it's a both/and okay good singing on the same handbook so so it sounds like you know but my sense is we want to move forward and in doing this in some way I don't think we want to write it tonight so so I think you know we have a process set up right now to go through these it seems like I like the format of that to try to have a subcommittee look more carefully at at these different sections and then come back to the board with recommendations and so my preference would be to see has put a similar subcommittee together now would look more carefully at some of the options and then bring us something as to
053the whole group rather than try to do it with all of us at the pleasure of the board yeah that's consensus okay dr. Bullock and I will get together and formulate a plan for moving forward with the subcommittee I just want to point out also that in in miss buyers notes to me she also and this is one of the edits that I need the board to consider she had requested that we include equity as a governing principle as well as that equity policy and that's included in that correlation table that you have so I contacted NC SBA and kind of got some guidance from them drafted the language included some of their suggestions and then forwarded it to dr. Bullock as the director of equity Affairs for his approval edits and vetting which he
054did he made several edits and that's what's in front of you now in let's see 1,100 those are the edits at the suggestion of mrs. Baier regarding adding equity as a principal to the Durham public schools policy 1100 governing principles so I think they kind of move this along I don't one I've always said yeah I don't want to wear y'all out or drag if there's comments please let me know if you have any objections let me know otherwise I can we can move forward if the board doesn't have any objection and that policy we just move on to the second reading my recommendation for a second reading at the next work session go ahead I guess it would help me mm-hmm if we could and now maybe it's just me this seems very it's
055it's really cumbersome to term well I wasn't on this committee so I was I was trying to not go deep into it and and I was drowning pretty quickly in I don't swim well but still I was you know trying to kind of figure out where we were what I was looking at I didn't find it easy and so I think it would help me as we move forward especially as we go into some that are a little more kind of less broad and more detailed if if what came to us could be a kind of a concise presentation of any significant recommendations that came out of the subcommittee so that when we when we approve what kind of we're pretty clear on on where the significant changes might be okay as opposed to the
056everything else which is you know there's a lot in there is that does that seem like that would be possible to do I think maybe I think that's a good idea I think I would prefer to give you everything so that I'm not gonna cherry-picking it but then maybe a power point where I say policy 1,100 highlights or edits or things to consider something like that what that works okay and I'm willing to I think I'm on the next committee okay so I'm willing to kind of help you figure out what that might look like I think it would might help the process some okay and working through it I found it it is tedious and then I came to questions where I didn't know the answer right so do we have to include the
057Boy Scouts being able to use schools right I'm asking you that yeah like I'm looking at this one right now 13:10 parental involvement and engagement can that be called family involvement engagement to be more inclusive of people other than I mean you know so those are the kind of things that I the dynamic kind of stuff that I also was missing and in this work that we have to figure out a way to get a handle on I had this thing I was present I have more questions then I have like suggestions and so I know we're on an aggressive timeline but is there a way to create make sure there's a meeting in between so we can talk through some of those questions that we might have then have a first reading then have
058a second reading it also has a lot of policies so I know we had some some of the lighter ones but especially as we get into code of conduct and curriculum I found that reading them over a week with ambitious yes I think dr. hardy found the three thousands and ambitious goal also and so I can't believe the Board of Education she's complaining about our homework I think that would be again that's the pleasure of the board I would be I think we had initially talked about possibly having a committee meeting and adding a meeting into that if that's what the board would like for at least the three working group board members their availability but it would I mean it may drag aside but I think that's fine I think if you know you're
059getting the work done I would be happy to bring back a timeline including those committee meetings here where we sit down and I mean go through kind of some of the questions so I want to ask about the process as it was if we if we end up changing it I thought it was the committee does the edits we get email responsive what they edited and we have the opportunity to ask prices and make changes was I wrong that's what that's what I'm experiencing and I'm hearing now that wasn't good enough for that's probably not working it weed the committee didn't talk to each other and that was the part that we should have included before cuz we all sent questions to Tonya but we didn't actually talk with each other so then the question
060is just kind of linger and I think she included a lot of the questions inside of this document so I'm kind of wondering if we keep it that way but the committee is actually me because I know that was I mean that that's that's I don't want to add to the timeline I really don't if possible that's just me I like the way is set up if the committees actually meet and we trust each other to to ask the right questions and bring those things up I think I think we capable of doing that okay well I'll just say that I actually like the format here where the with the quick reference table that was good enough for me you know to scan through and if I had if I was curious about the surrounding
061or the context of the the notes or the the changes I could go down and look at it that way it made it it made it faster for me to read it this way so I I just want to point out that I appreciate that I appreciate the way there was format at this time and I know it's extra credit but some of these questions that we have probably if we actually go to the referencing for the state laws that they're based on some of them are based on state laws and they really can't be adjusted too much and I mean everything here has a policy attached to it and saying see policies such as I saw just extra credit so is it the worst pleasure then that I facilitate a meeting with the working
062group for each policy section but we can stay on our timeline right okay so we need a vote to go send it to the second reading we need a motion I move that we send our policy revisions for one thousands to second reading been moving properly seconded that we send for policy section 1002 second reading any further discussion all in favor say aye aye all opposed please just the same sign it passes unanimously thank you all right next item on our agenda is closed session and I need to read items so I need a motion to go into closed sessions for the reasons stated on the agenda and for the following court cases or is that what the receive attorney-client and by a turn II advice for these cases ki buying through JJ versus Durham
063public schools Board of Education and Wendel tab when dehl tab versus Board of it Public Schools Board of Education Durham public schools Board of Education move we go into closed session for the reason stated on the agenda and is outlined by the chair as a movement probably second that we go in to closed session for the reason study on the agenda and the outlined cases by the chair all in favor say aye aye all opposed please use the same sign it passes unanimously to attorney for attorney shyvanna you guys last you I'm clearing the room you all right we are now back in open session dr. vu Benga my board members I'm here to seek approval for the personnel report has discussed in the closed session booth approval of the personnel report dated February 28
0642019 Beckett has been moved and properly seconded that we approve the personnel report data in February 2nd xx February 28 and 2019 any further discussion all in favor say aye aye all opposed please use the same sign passes unanimously and with that we are adjourned [Applause]