001guess we'll get started 6:30 good morning good afternoon everyone thank you all for being here on this very very important night I'm going to go ahead and call us into order and um the next thing on agenda is a moment of silence and while we're doing our moment of silence I just would like everyone to you know think about our uh the situations that are going on in our country the things are in Charlotte how you know the the incident in Charlotte the events that have really been happening over the last that's come to light over the last few years um mainly the light of um issues pertaining to um young black men but well black men black women in general with um with the police force there's a lot of great policemen but there
002are some some bad that are having some issues and um just just think about our country in peace and that we can get somewhere that we can move somewhere together um and help move help us move past that so In This Moment of Silence I would I would ask that for a moment you just kind of think in that direction thank you next item is uh agenda approval um we would need a motion for to approve the agenda put forth is actually a handout if you don't have one there's some on the table outside um don't move second been moved and properly seconded that we approve the agenda for tonight's special meeting tonight's special meeting is about uh the community and us as a board to hear from the applicants who are um seeking the
003seat for District Two District 2B um this is a very important step in our community a very important seat in our community and um I applaud those who applied to be here the the for this seat there's one applicant who was not able to make it tonight and so we'll be convening a special meeting on Monday that's right Monday night same time 6:30 to hear from that candidate um that's Nadia Porter and fult right there's two okay there's two Nadia Porter and Christine folk okay fol there's going to be two on Monday Monday night I apologize I um I miscounted so the candidates were actually um send an email for myself and uh I'm just going to read what it says on the agenda what this was actually in the actual email and what we
004were asking them to speak on they'll each have five minutes to talk about um this information and so as the candidates to speak for up to five minutes on how they would contribute to the board's focus on the established guiding principles AC mic Excellence teaching the whole child racial and social justice and the objectives uh for specific Focus which came out of the board's retreat was improving teacher retention improving academic achievement for boys of color increasing access and community support for early childhood education uh these areas are what the board uh set as our guiding principles and we're looking to hear from U the applicants about these areas I ask that everyone give each candidate the uh respect that they deserve for stepping up for this Ro this uh seat um and so I'm going
005to go ahead and get started here we're a couple minutes early at 6:40 we have U Pastor Davis uh going first after that it'll be Elizabeth linquist Jenny Highland batina Umstead Anne Hartman Dr Regina George Bowden Cecilia Pano Marshall Williams and then Doren Langley so we'll start with Pastor Davis good evening board members I'm Frederick Davis I reside at for Shalon Court Durham 27713 I'm here to share my thoughts with you on my desire to serve the children parents teachers staff administrators and citizens of Durham County as a member of the Durham public school for 25 years I have been a citizen of Durham I've been a supporter of public school since my own educational achievements our Three Sons were all educated successfully in Durham Public School System I stand today with a history of
006serving this community on several task forces dating back to 1992 during the merger of the Durham City and County Public Schools as a servant of this community I have dealt with many topics which address the advancement of children in Durham public schools in particular African-American males who have found themselves still challenged by our educational system I am a former District 2 Durham Public School Board member from 2006 to 2014 both times wi in more than 50% of voter approval since my tenure on the school board I still find myself assisting various settings of Durham Public Schools such as being a member of the school Improvement team of Lowe's grow Middle School under the leadership of Dr teesa Mitchell and I have given and served in various special projects at Lake View School under the leadership
007of Mr Docker as I reflected over the guiding principles for which you have established to address the needs of Durham public school students I would agree that they are all grounded principles that can continue to advance our diverse population academically I still believe that our focus should always be on equity in rigorous curriculum courses to prepare our students for the global World they shall face I believe that equity in student population and staff and Administration hiring are also very critical for the advancement of our system one of our greatest efforts was the creation of a community task force to develop a school for African-American males or young men of color this was and continues to be a great need in Durham public schools and yes it will improve the academic achievements of our young men
008of color as a former board member and and from my work at various schools and on community and budget committees I see myself as a collaborator and a community organizer for the good of this school system uh the efforts that we must make in dealing with teaching the whole child cannot be done with lip service but it must be validated by school policies and procedures that put our children first our retention of teachers can only be improved and thereby reduce with continued support and Scaffolding we must continue to provide mentoring opportunities our efforts towards early childhood education must be increased because we know that Early Education intervention is an intrical strategy in closing the educational Gap we must seek out individuals who desire to be teachers and not just opportunists to have loans paid off
009our efforts toward early childhood education can only happen when this system along with State dollars make it possible to have Universal childhood education I leave you with this rephrasing of an Ethiopian African proverb which states and I quote when spiderwebs unite they can tie up Lions I am Frederick a davers and I speak for myself thank you Pastor Davis thank you very much all right our next speaker would be Eliz Elizabeth Ruth linquist she's gonna um thank you for having us here tonight um oh yes sorry the first Principle as it should be is academic Excellence I would bring more Focus to elementary schools they are critical as the foundation of academic Excellence if a child finishes fifth grade behind the odds are that student will never catch up although the numbers are improving in
0102016 47% of our fifth graders scored proficient in math and 44% scored Prof ient in reading that means the majority of our students are finishing behind and will likely never catch up there are elementary schools within the district and across the country that are making great strides I would examine what they are doing especially with data analysis and application and institutionalize it within DPS imagine what the system would would be like if at least 75% of students finish fifth grade proficient think about how that changes the availability of resources and the ability to bring in new programs to broaden support for all our students especially for students looking at post high school education and vocational training we need to spend less on remediation and more on getting it right from the start secondly I would
011look at changing the length of the school day if not for every school at least for schools that need it the most the United States is just about the only public school system in the world still operating on an agrarian calendar and we have shorter school days than almost every other country this system is 100 years out of date we need to look at the success of Kip Charter Schools the Massachusetts public schools that have adopted longer school days and others we need to innovate to keep more money in public education instead of sending our Public School dollars out to Charter Schools I would capitalize on all these parents who want to to be involved they are a major resource for DPS that is seriously underutilized we have to tap into our families and all
012the strengths they bring to our system the second principle teaching the whole child we must use a holistic approach in our schools we have to get it right from the start working on the five keys to social emotional learning self-awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision-making we need to support the whole child through resources beyond the teachers to ensure that every child has their social emotional nutritional health and safety needs met we need to model after successful schools within DPS and outside our district I have been very impressed with EK Po's holistic approach and school resources and at George Watts we have our peaceful High Achievers looking at the whole child and modeling good behavior and how to express oneself these things are critically important for our youngsters second we need to keep
013music and the Arts strong in our schools music Math and Science are all on the same side of the brain this is where extending the school day even by 1 hour can make a big difference by allowing the time to use the Arts and physical education effectively for the success of each child as well as more guided and instructional time the third principle racial and social justice this is critical the three key key areas where I can contribute to the board are first of all closing the achievement Gap this has to be the number one priority the roots of the achievement Gap run deep as deep as the racial and social inequalities and injustices in our society I have been actively researching and working on this issue for over six years we have to have
014open conversations we have to have the tough conversations to move forward together and we have to change who controls the narrative too often conversations and surveys are crafted to get the answers schools want to hear not the answer the district needs to hear secondly utilize the families partnership partnership partnership there's a lot of lip service about this but how how many schools are really doing this effectively parents have a huge amount of energy to work for all our students but sometimes they are being held back by the bureaucracy of the system or don't feel welcome to participate we must Empower parents in their desire to act and to be engaged DPS must support parents in their efforts and when necessary step in at the school level finally we need to allocate resources disproportionately in order
015to have the greatest impact the money and resources need to be targeted to kids within schools who need it the most I'm tired of hearing that it needs to be about everyone no it doesn't we need to focus on the children and families most affected by the achievement Gap please please wrap it wrap it up um I just one more thing um there are a lot of kids in our schools whose parents and our society provides every advantage to including my own there are most there must be focus and funds going to the kids who do not have those same advantages and if that means funding disproportionately then that is what we need to do thank you thank you miss linquest our next speaker will be Jenna Highland thanks so much I just want to
016start by giving a really sincere thank you to all of you you've I watched you try and schedule this meeting and I know how difficult it is uh to find the time and everyone that came out to listen and that that means a lot five minutes or four or so minutes is not really a lot of time for me to go into everything I think about policy how I think I'm going to do it introduce myself to you and woo you all but I'm going to try and scratch the surface on some of it um my name is Jenna Highland right now I work in international humanitarian development so what that means is I work with Earth's most vulnerable population ations to make sure that they're getting their most basic human needs met um everywhere
017from shelter water medicines life-saving vaccines to education um there's been a recent shift in the field that education is a basic human right and that's something I believe very deeply I have worked in Kabul Afghanistan with girls who are being murdered for just trying to attend school working in Juba South Sudan with former Child soldiers that's actually where I was recruited by the at Atlanta Police Department to come and work on their juvenile crime it's a really Progressive Department you might know uh our current Chief came from there uh Chief CJ Davis um very Progressive they realized that they had tried to arrest their way out of Youth crime and it got there got them nowhere and they also recognized the limitations of what they could do so they hired me to come in and
018reduce crime that was the charge so coming in I realized that even after having been in Atlanta for a while and having lived in some of these communities having been homeless myself having you dropped out of school and re-enrolled that I didn't have the answers so what my role was was to get everybody get well I decided the role was was to get everybody who cared about these children in the same room we took a hyperlocal approach we we settled into one particular neighborhood I met with all the stakeholders we had our nonprofit organizations that were there our faith community that was there our parent communities and and Community organizations as well as the police department that had full and total support we had our city council we obviously had our school board we had
019all of the public school teachers in the area um what we did is we just got all the brains in the room together and I'm not an expert on Durham I wasn't an expert on Atlanta but I'm an expert on policy and I'm an expert on working with people and listening and getting things together and understanding what needs to move and how um I hope that you guys were able to read some of the application package that were on the website um it goes into much more detail U you there are examples from my son's school I'm a single mother of a first grader um it's actually his back to school night he said I could come I asked him straight out um he said it was more important which is nice um yes Eko
020um his principal wrote a letter of support as well as two of my colleagues one the director of my department um speaking to the time commitment issue which I think is really important two things that you guys pulled out in the application was the time commitment and the ability to work across diverse cultures um but the guiding principles these These are key if I were up here telling you exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it I would hope that you would run me out of the room I don't think not there's not a single person who is an expert on Durham you can live here your whole life and not understand the entire scope of it and if anyone tells you that they are the expert run them out
021of the room what what you need is somebody who's an expert in policy and an expert in getting things done and an expert in listening and that's what I bring uh these are all really really important key pieces but you can't pull them out racial and social justice is is dug into all of our institutions that's that's systematically through all of the things that we do uh that's what I bring is this ability to put this lens onto all of our policies um the ability to translate what is happening in the community into what is happening in our Administration um they they it's important that you've laid all these out uh I could speak for a long time on the things that we did in Atlanta I'd love to speak a little bit more but
022like I said five minutes is is about it but Durham here is my home I recently was offered my dream job in Sierra Leone uh to go work um in health and education there with as I tell my son when we were going to leave all the boys and girls who don't have access to healthcare and education like we do um I turned it down I turned it down because Durham is my home um I know I haven't been raised up in this community um but I'm committed I bought a home my son is here he's he's in first grade we're we're digging in and we're making Roots you know I volunteer with hospice I'm active in my synagogue I lead a young professionals Network um all throughout Durham as well in as in my
023synagogue as well as um in the organization where I work um but I'm committed this is home for me and home to me means safety Health and Justice and I'm very committed to listening to everyone on how you think you could get there thank you Miss Highland our next speaker will be batina Umstead everyone can y'all hear me all right all right here we go okay so like many of you last week I was devastated by the recent events in Tulsa and charlet when our middle school students at student you ran up the stairs of WG Pearson I hugged them a little tighter I needed them to know that they are loved and affirmed every time they walked into our building our world is broken by structural racism poverty and systematic injustices these problems prevent
024our students in this community from reaches its fullest potential I believe that we have an opportunity and the responsibility as a district to make sure that we create the right policies the procedures and the culture to ensure that every single family that enters our schools has an opportunity for their child's education to affirm the equal value of their child's life my name is batina Umstead and I'm the right person to fill this District two seat my work in Duram began while I was in college at UNCC Chapel Hill and I've become a fierce defender of this city I believe in the people and the resources that are here we are able to acknowledge the problems that we have and we know we have the solutions to fix it for the past 7even years I've worked
025with 450 of durm students and my work at student U I'm the middle school program director and so I get to meet every single student that comes into our program these students attend every single School in our district and so I have an understanding of their experiences their parents experiences and I know using these guiding principles that you all have as a board academic Excellence teaching the whole child and racial and social justice they're things I think about every day as I create the program and the policies and the culture for student you our board and our Administration has made great strides in educational outcomes the graduation rate is increasing in Durham we have have a collaborative task force thinking about expanding prek we have resolutions that name the injustices that are preventing our black
026boys from succeeding our district has shown shown its commitment to teachers by funding Mentor teacher programs Eng encouraging free speech and developing entry pipelines like the Duke Duram teaching fellowship I would be thrilled if I had the opportunity to stand alongside you and continue to advocate for these causes with this great strength we need to make sure that we have the right procedures in place and culture in place to make sure the full effect of our policies are realized I went to the racial Equity Institute and they taught me that culture eats policy for breakfast as we write new student code of conduct and Implement restorative practices we want our changes to be reflected in the experiences that our students see every single day in their schools I've learned over and over and over again
027in my work at student you that often time the voices that need to be in the table when we develop and we implement and we evaluate our program are not there that's our students that's our families and often the loudest voices heard when we really need to hear the voice that doesn't think they have one at all too often when we change our policies it stays the same we all have implicit bias right and so even though I Chang the policy what happens in my school might not change we need to make sure that we don't return to our old ways that we continually check ourselves our Administration and our staff and train us to be able to catch the bias when we continue the same this is hard but necessary work Dr Lum in
028your uh column to the Duram Community you said that this is necessary for cultural transformation and I agree teachers are critical influencers in making sure that we have the desired outcomes for our district many of the teachers who have come to Durham have come through our student U program and I know that they committed to working in Durham because they believe in the power of our students the power of our community and they are proud to work in a district that stands up for students rights by condemning deportations in schools they're proud to work in a district that has peer-led professional development and they are proud to work for principles and administrators who believe in their work and value them as professionals we have some really great strengths here we need to continue to allocate
029funds towards that continue to provide incentives to make sure that our teachers continue to stay in this District we can't wait for the general assembly we can't wait for another election we have to move now when when I go back to work tomorrow and I see our students I want to make sure that I've done everything in my power to include make sure that their schools and every single School in this district is going to have the resources that it needs to succeed excuse me all right I know that my job as student U affects 450 of our students and that's cool and that's good but there's 30 over 33,000 students in the durm public schools I want to use my experience and what I know works and leverage it for all of our students
030this work is incredibly urgent this work is incredibly important and we must do this work now I'm ready to join you all in making this happen thank you Miss Hamstead our next speaker is Ann Hartman good evening good evening members of the board superintendent and community members I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you tonight about how I yes ma'am about how I could contribute to the board's Focus as I listened in church this week one question rang clear in the message that was being delivered what is calling you this question helped me frame thoughts that I want to share with you this evening the bottom line is that what calls me to apply for the vacant position on the school board is my passion for children their families and their health my application packet
031outlines how my role as nurse educator and mother would contribute positively to being a member of the board but tonight I want to speak to the guideline guiding principles an area of focus of the board I found it reaffirming um as I read them that they are the same or that they're congruent with my personal and my professional goals and values my nursing care is holistic and patient centered I care for the medical and the nutritional emotional spiritual and social needs of my patients and their families and education this translates to the board's guiding principle of teaching the whole child when you look at the whole child a child's health and their education are inseparable as a public health nurse I'm aware as you are that education is a strong determinant of Health persons who
032have higher level of Education live longer and have lower mortality rates but the reverse relationship is also true health related problems limit the motivation and the ability of some children to learn if we are going to improve educational outcomes the school board must work simultaneously to address Health disparities a key group of Health disparities or health issues that must be addressed are related to Mental Health Schools have become and will continue to be the primary providers of mental Mental Health Services for children in our community mental health in the classroom includes The Usual Suspects of ADHD and behavior disorders but more often it presents as anxiety depression stress trauma neglect and abuse I believe my training as a um nurse and my experience as a public health nurse can assist the board to recognize how
033health disparities such as mental health are negatively impacting the educational outcomes of Durham students we must work with Community Partners and community- Based Services to develop and Implement policies and programs that would reduce Health the disparities and improve educational outcomes at the same time one of the fundamental values in nursing that is also a guiding principle for the board is social justice social justice is acting at in accordance with fair treatment regardless of economic status ethnicity race age disabilities citizenship and sexual orientation as a result advocacy for vulnerable populations has been and will continue to be the moral and ethical responsibility of nurses I use fredman's health impact pyramid to begin important discussions with my nursing students about the role of Public Health nurses whereas we spend a lot of our time at the top
034of the pyramid focusing on interventions and education and counseling evidence shows usus that that's the least effective way to make changes in public health where you make the most um bang for your buck is at the bottom of the pyramid where we focus on socioeconomic factors such as poverty reduction and improved education so although my volunteerism in the classroom as a parent is helpful the impact of this is very low and so I look forward to the opportunity to be able to work at a systems level with the board members on improving um high quality education the guiding principle of racial Justice aligns with your specific focus of improving academic achievement for boys of color at this critical thought time I believe this needs to be the priority of the board but this is easy
035for me to say right I would be remiss if I didn't State the obvious I'm a white middle class woman who for a long time was blinded by my white privilege but my work in Durham my personal Endeavors my professional relationships and participation in racial Equity training have opened my eyes and allowed me to see the structural and institutional racism that is inherent in our society and that I have benefited from it's the same physical characteristic the color of skin that puts boys of color um at disadvantage as them in our society it must be a really disheartening message to hear that you are not valued and everything you do you see you read so it's really the message that the board must change it's imperative that we ask the question what in these in
036these policies discriminates against people of color or what is it that benefits exclusively white people and because of my whiteness my job is to listen my job is to listen to board members of color the community and the um Narrative of boys of color in our school system I can think of no better way to live out my commitment to Black lives than to serve on this board thanks for the opportunity to speak thank you very much Miss Hartman our next speaker is Dr Regina George Balden greetings school board members superintendent school administrators and fellow citizens it is an honor and a privilege to speak with you today pertaining to the issues that were identified at your retreat academic excellence teaching the whole child racial and social justice I could be of a great assistance
037to you I have served on the Durham Public School Board of Education for eight years I have over 40 years as an educator which I taught young student teachers on the University level on how to achieve academic excellence in the classroom which would reflect teaching the whole child I have extensive research training in Latin American countries for over 35 years meaning that I have been in those Latin American countries so I know the different cultures that actually exist I definitely understand the differences I have volunteered with the Institute of poverty I could share many of their projects and to see how we could enhance our own issues within the justice department I am a product of Durham Public Schools I am a hillside graduate so I am o Durham and New Durham my commitment to
038this Community does not only began with me my grandmother and my mother taught in this system until their retirement I have a proven vested interest to see this school system become one of the greatest all history books speak about what a great City Durham North Carolina is go back and read web the boys please and I am here to keep it that way the best school system and the best city when we address teacher retention we must recruit from colleges and universities that are trained in urban School curriculum I'm going to repeat that because that's important we need to address teacher retentions by looking at colleges and universities that are trained in urban School curriculums these curriculums would ensure that these teachers are well versed on classroom management for high need students they would know
039how to teach them and understand the environment from which they come from a sociological perspective um lost my place here um they would know how to teach them and understand the environment from which they come from a social perfective perspective one University that comes to mind is Montclair University that's what they do they train teachers in urban education so it's a real difference between coming out of a curriculum of urban education and just regular teacher education it's very different very different also in terms of retention we must look at salaries and we must look at the professionalism of teachers with the right training we could improve academic achievement among young men of color at this time our stats for this population is not on the bright side we must correct these stats our young men
040have a powerful and wonderful future it is our responsibility to help them climb the latter implications for improving educational practices are through learning and teacher Styles repeat implications for improving educational practices are through learning and teaching styles increase access and community support for early childhood education one of the steps is to build a strong Coalition from parents political personnel and professionals the issue of childhood development is multi-layered we must peel these layer s like a onion with design and implementation interfacing with the target population would create a change strategy and a plan of action so with that said I am the best one to feel this seat because I am a person of plan change for this for these issues they have been stated and I ask for your support thank you thank you Dr
041George bden yeah we're gonna hold just for a second we're getting a little feedback just just we are it is interference and uh they are not picking up the interference on the transmission to electrical interference that is okay and in the hallway uh Dr Bowden yes did you hear did you hear the music when you were speaking just a little just a little bit okay well it should not be on it should not be on the public records right huh oh it's a game back there okay so if we could if we could turn off our Electronics just in case that might be causing some of the interference that that'd be greatly appreciated thank you okay that's what they're say yeah okay okay are we settled you guys okay okay yeah we'll wait till we
042get oops you can um you can come up gu he's back there okay um thank you all for that pause uh we wanted to make sure we cleared that up our next speaker is Cecilia palano thank you my name is Cecilia palanco and I'm a regent I'm a recent graduate of dram Public Schools this past may I graduated from UNCC and I've moved back to Durham to work full-time on my food truck and catering business called so good pusas we have a partner in pusas for Education which aims to give scholarships to undocumented students for them to attend college I graduated uh from Northern High School in 2011 following which I took a gap year and traveled abroad and did public service service and then went to UNC and got my degree in Global Studies
043it is really a pleasure to be here today um the stem of everything I do of all the work I've done of the leader I've become today started in Duram Public Schools through Eastway Elementary Glenn Elementary tuning uh tuning middle which is now the school for Creative Studies in Northern High School that's where I really blossomed as a leader as an activist um and went on to do some great things um in college and now I'm back I'm living in Durham and I really uh want to continue the work I do at the intersection of social justice and education as the first Latina student body president at Northern High School I had the honor of serving on the board that chose our next principal I know how important it is to have great leadership and
044to make sure that that great leadership motivates our teachers and feel feels them empowered to want to stay and work with a great team of of principes and other teachers and serve our student body serving students has been something I've been doing since before I realized I was doing it in high school I thought of myself not just as a peer to my other to my colleagues but also as uh someone who felt who I felt had a voice and could give voice to those who didn't feel like they had a voice um I started the international Club at Northern um and we did all sorts of things around not just Latino culture but International culture for any student who felt they didn't have a place at school I think that it's great that one
045of um the D the board's mission is to focus on the whole child um because that I think has been a great part of what's made me successful um it's taken a village to get me to where I am today it's it's taken programs from Durham public schools from neighboring initiatives it took programs like Head Start um I went to head start at the school that is now Kip on Holloway Street I remember all of the teachers um all of the initiatives that provided me with the resources and opportunities that I needed to not only get into college but be able to receive a full Merit based scholarship to go to college and graduate debt-free that was one of my worri as um uh a high school student is how was I going to get
046in and then how was how was I going to pay and I've been so fortunate and want to give back to those who haven't had the same opportunities I've been working with administration at UNCC and on the same sort of things policies around that affect our college students their success how they're able to thrive and one of the things that I've that I've been met with a lot of resistance a lot of FR frustration but that's that's all part of the journey um but one of the things that that has stuck with me is that they said if you really want to be part of the change then you you run for the legislature you be in one of those leadership positions that causes the the change to happen and as a college student I'm
047thinking this is they want me to jump from here to there already and make all this change happen um but they're right they're right if I want to be part of the change I want to see I need to get involved in those positions that help Empower our students and put the policies in place the initiatives in place that help them be successful for me representation is very important it's been important for me to see students that look uh students that look like me teachers that look like me administrators that look like me um for me to really feel like I'm being heard and I'm being cared about I think it's important for students to see that from the board and the way we serve so that they know that there's there's someone who can
048relate to where where they're coming from what they're going through and the backgrounds they're from I think that I can bring my experiences to the board to best serve our students because as you might be able to tell I'm I'm young and while I what I might lack an age I don't lack in capabilities or experience or time that I will commit to this position it will become my top priority and I would like to work with the board to make sure that we're serving every student no matter their background no matter their social economic status the best we can so they can be successful even after they graduate from our school system thank you thank you miss palanco our next speaker is Marshall Williams how's everyone doing uh my name name Mr Marshall Williams
049and the reason uh that I became interested in musici is because uh when I moved in a certain area we had uh after school programs where youth could go and uh Thrive to do better in school and if they had any questions any down downfall in they could go to someone at the uh at the after school area that we had in in my neighborhood which we had two one up the street from my house and one up to Hill and a few years afterwards both of them had disappeared and that's why I'm very much concerned because we have youth young men that had somewhere to go and there most of them attended College in that area in my area but now since we no longer have it uh I really can't tell you what
050how the situation is going and they teaching this a whole child and student um that is something that I remember when I was at U Wood high school we had a course that that was very similar they Tau us the three things that they had one was uh you had to they want to check your uh spiritual your um soundness physical and your merely of various diseases and that was the structure that the class was made out of and I see now that um two of them has been we don't get as much we used to one is a physical activity and which I knew when I was in school we really enjoyed the after the uh a recess period we can run act and you know it gave when we came back to class
051we rest have vitality and we felt like we could uh really do something doing that uh get all that energy out that was in us out and racial and social justice that's to me has been a long to and very aspiration as aerating situation because all I seen is people talk and nothing then done from the time that I was and before the time I was even born I hear my ancestors speak of this I hear my uncle mother and other resident that was in North Carolina speaking of the same thing that we're having now and so I'm saying why are we even here why haven't we did something by now it's the same rhetoric over and over and I wonder why we used to have um mered Mo used to be a high school
052like I said in my community it has been taken away um same thing they wanted to do something with heelside but we had too many voices ringing out in the community and when you say racial and social justice I just wonder and the other thing that I really like i s very much concerned is a lot of things that we had like uh primary example I looked at the paper the other day they had these certain schools which wasn't afroamerican that they was talking about and the Bible says um that Faith come by hearing good or bad or indifferent it will PR the heart so I'm saying all we see and is this that's not toward American afroamerican Young Mens so I'm just saying we've been going over this over and over and as a
053um after school program volunteer while I was at North Carolina Central we had they had a special Dropout uh student race show that they had that they attended Central and I really was amazed after I talked with those students and we did their assisted them in their schoolwork I really was amazed how intelligent those young men and women were and they supposed to been your low graded student I say what are we doing wrong and and like I I guess because we as a volunteer at that um we was at Whitted school I guess that we really showed that we cared about the student and they wouldn't didn't feel threatened by anything at the time so like I say that is my reason for w to be nominated for this position thank you very much
054and have a blessed day thank you Mr Williams thank you very much and our last speaker for today is De waren Langley good evening my name is De Langley and I am uh what you would call the son of durm I've grown up here I've lived here my entire life and one thing that I've noticed about durm is that we find our best Solutions when we look within not without meaning when we look within our city we find the solutions to every pressing problem every challenge everything that has ever faced our community and that's what we need to do now dur is at a Crossroads where you see nice apartment buildings being built that cost an excess of $1,000 you see a lot of startup businesses coming here to this community you see a lot
055of businesses expanding and the question we must ask ourselves is are we preparing our young people to capitalize on the Renaissance that we see happening in our community and if you were to ask some of our students some of them would say yes a lot of them would say no I have lived and grown up in District 2 my entire life with the exception of the four years that I went to Hampton University uh growing up here in dur I was a part of an organization called partners youth where I receiv received mentorship and support to help me get through high school to get to College once I got to college I continued through another program called inroads which helped me develop and place me in internships and professional mentors and professional um opportunities to
056hone the business skills that I were developing while at Hampton University upon graduating from Hampton I had the choice to move to Atlanta to become a manager with IBM or come back to my community and I knew from the start that I wanted to dedicate my life to public service and what better place to do that than within my own Community realizing that it wasn't until I met a woman named elain O'Neal that I realized that my dreams were actually possible and having that interaction with her knowing that she grew up in the West End had gone on the law school became a successful attorney and judge that I too could following those same footsteps and that's what I young men and women in our community need now they need people who grown up in
057their same environment within those same conditions who are shown as an example of what they could do through the power of education and that is the key to helping eradicate poverty and the disproportionate gap between opportunity for so many of our students when we talk about academic Excellence teaching the whole child racial and social justice we need to engage all stakeholders in our community sitting at this de is not where all decisions need to be made it needs to be made in collaboration with our students our parents our teachers our principles because these are the stakeholders this system is designed to serve and for it to serve effectively it must engage all those stakeholders in addition we must develop and Implement a collective impact strategy to improve our coordination and collaboration of our public and
058private resources durm has every resource that it needs to solve the achievement Gap to improve outcomes for young men of color to create increase opportunities for all students everything we need from Duram public schools from North Carolina Central from Duke University from the multitude of community nonprofit organizations that work with our young students every day we have all the resources we need but what we have to develop is a common gu and vision and a real Strate strategy to help us leverage those resources to create real change in our community and by doing so we ensure that the mission that we have plased on the wall that is uh shown at every board meeting becomes a reality for every child in our Public Schools I'm here to extend my service you all have known me
059in this community for a long time my service is not going to stop if not appointed to this position but it would extend it and allow it to be a greater amplifier and asking the right questions that we need to be asking as a district in order to solve the most critical and pressing issues faced by our community thank you and someone might want to use some Lysol cuz I'm under the weather and I don't want anyone to be sick all right so can we get a a round of applause for our you guys you you all were excellent I appreciate you coming down here this can be uh intimidating uh I think we have a very tough decision now we have two more people to listen to and that's on Monday that's going to
060happen on Monday same time same place same setup here um but I'm just I'm so excited that we have such talent here in Durham who are willing to step up into the public and uh have a seat here on the board we all experience it all of us on the board here experience it so we understand what you're going through and what you're experiencing and so I just can't say enough how excited I am to have you all to have applied I really appreciate you coming down here um I really appreciate the um application package that you put together I've been reading through it I'm going to read through it again now after I've um I've heard you all speak and um next week after we we listen to the next two the the final
061two we'll be um working towards making a decision right now is scheduled to be on October 5th um and so I'm really excited about that and thank you all thank you all who came to watch thank you for coming and supporting during public schools and we will definitely be updating everyone on our progress thank you