Asheville City Board of Education Work Session May 4, 2026

001Okay. Um, thanks to everybody for being here tonight. Um, Liza is on her way. She had some uh, traffic issues. But, we're going to go ahead and start. I'm going to turn it over to George to read the equity statement. In Asheville City Schools, we are committed to equity and anti-racist policies for all students and staff to learn and thrive. We recognize that our positions come with power, responsibility, and public service for the entire ACS community. We will model our commitment to equity through our practices and decisions. During this meeting, we invite a pause if harm has taken place, a moment to name the harm, and space to practice repair. Thanks, George. And magically, we are now all present. And we have a quorum. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? I move that

002we approve tonight's agenda. Second. All those in favor? I. I. Any opposed? All right, the agenda before us is approved, and I will turn it over to Maggie to take us through our next courageous conversation about race. As, um, so, board members, we're actually giving you a little bit of a homework assignment. So, you have a packet, um, with just the previews of the information, um, and then there's some places for you to take some notes and bring your learning back, um, next week. Um, question four is just summarizing, um, the five conditions and using those conditions to process, uh, white culture. And then there is an activity at the end, uh, which is a a landscape sheet with a chart on it for after you've read and kind of processed for you to really

003focus. I was trying to create a presentation for this, and it's just very dense and very deep, and I thought it would just be best for the board to have some time to read and process, um, the information. And so, you've got, uh, some text there to read and just process, and we will pick this back up in June for a deeper discussion once you've had a time to process. This is the hardest condition, um, so we didn't want to just try to summarize it cuz it really is about your personal processing of the information. So, wanted to give you that opportunity. So, you've got some homework, uh, for the next work session, and, um, we'll bring this back up and talk about it in June. In our June work session. So, thanks, Maggie. And

004just to confirm, the homework is due to bring with us the first the work session in June. So, we have a month to do the homework. I'll put some reminders in the Friday follow-ups. Just making sure. I appreciate this approach of giving us some time to process. Thank you. All right, well, thank you. With that, I will now turn it to Maggie and Heidi to talk Just one second, Heidi. And board members also printed a packet of the presentation for you, um, just so you have that at your desk. Um, so, we just, um, included a recap of the calendar even though we didn't exactly follow that this year with the new local funding, um, formula that was put into place for the first time this year. Um, it does look like the county commissioner,

005um, county manager's version of the budget will be presented tomorrow evening, so I'm planning to attend the commissioner meeting and see that since those materials are not online yet. Um, and then what we would do is summarize this for you this evening and ask that you, um, vote on a recommended budget for next year. Even though we know what the amount is, it's still a requirement of state law for you as a board to present a budget to the county officially, um, as far as a budget request for the year. Um, on the third slide, we have our Oops, I need to do this and not my own computer, don't I? Okay, there we go. All right, so, um, I tried to clean this up a little bit from last year, hopefully to make it,

006uh, a little more understandable. So, basically, um, we are trying to look at right now just the money that we are planning to be able to, um, receive from the local government, which does not include the supplemental tax change if there is going to be one. And those things that we've already covered at the other board meeting. So, basically, on your left arrow are the is a summary of the revenue we know we will lose, um, and again, these are all estimates at this time because we don't have a state budget. So, we assume that that will be close to around $150,000 in state funding if those allotments don't change. You'd You might ask why if our charter population is staying about the same, would we be expecting lose about $300,000 more in charter payments?

007And that would be because our revenue went up. Anytime the local current expense appropriation goes up, then they get a larger share of that even if they have the same number of students. So, that again is just an estimate and will be determined once we see how many students attend, um, coming this fall. Uh, we've got the same placeholder for school nutrition where we anticipate losing about $500,000 on our first year of CEP. On the right arrow are things that are increases. So, the first section of increase would be revenue because we expect to get about $1.7 million more in the local funding formula. And the natural growth of the supplemental tax, not including a tax rate change, was going to be about $200,000. But, then increased costs, of course. Honestly, this arrow might look

008more balanced and break even, um, if it if which is what we've projected here is a regular raise year, somewhere in the 2 to 3% range. And then with that new increase in local revenue, we might be close to break even, but we also have some increased costs to consider. As always, um, there's going to be probably a significant increase in utilities. You've probably seen a lot of those headlines from Duke Energy and some of the other companies. Um, property insurance continues to go up, um, our area particularly. So, that again is an estimate. And then, um, Dr. Maggie has talked at some of the previous meetings about the loss of funding where we have traditionally in the last several years provided either after school, Saturday school, or summer school through either SR funds or

009Project Serve. And now we're going to need to not only, um, provide those services, but we're looking to ramp up those services in conjunction with our, goals in our strategic plan. So, that estimate at this time is $1.4 million. So, assuming all that happens and we don't get any more new revenue, and, um, we don't have any other increases in cost, it would take about $2.3 million of fund balance to be at break even. Again, estimates at this time, and we'll get into more concrete numbers. But, at that point, does anybody have any questions about that slide? Go ahead. I'm curious about what we're doing right now with Saturday school, and then what the expansion plans are, but that may be beyond the scope of this discussion. I think, um, are you not going to

010cover that in more detail? Um, we'll go in more detail, um, once we've kind of have finalized that, but that's still part of the strategic plan action planning. Um, but what we know we want to do for next year is increase the number of Saturday school opportunities. So, this year we started until I December or January. We want to start it right off the bat when students come back to school. We also want to add layers to that, so incorporating additional opportunities for family, um, and parenting engagement during those, any additional social, emotional, and mental health services during those. So, adding some layers to what we already have. Um, yeah, quick question, Heidi, how does this, uh, your estimate of $500,000 loss with school nutrition compare to what you estimated when we decided to take

011on that that program? It's pretty close. Okay. Thank you. We we have in some months done a little bit better and in some months done a little worse, and they're really trying hard through the end of the year, um, even still adding and changing some of those serving plans. So, I hope it'll be a little better, but that's going to be close. Thank you. Um, [snorts] I just wanted to to clarify the 1.3 million in salary and benefits, is that for all employees or just locally paid? That would be the local, the remaining local cost, no matter how someone is paid. Okay. Thank you. I have a correlative that question. I'm assuming that number came from a projection you made that the state will give teachers a raise. Correct. >> And just curious what you're

012using as your placeholder. Well, we showed a 5 and 10% increase in one of the prior budget sessions, but honestly, it's rare that it's that big. You know, obviously everyone would love for it to be, uh, that big, but also they're considering still, you know, some kind of action in this year's budget. And if they did that, chances are then for sure it would not be that large for next year. So, I just went with the average 2 to 3% raise for now as a placeholder. And but then just to clarify, if the raise for next year is higher, that 1.3 million number would be higher also. Yeah, okay. Just making sure I'm tracking. And then on the next slide, that's actually back to that point of really not knowing right now. So, I had

013this done, and I didn't try to change it for tonight, to be honest with you. Cuz Friday I went to the finance forum in Raleigh, in downtown, in the middle of the May Day event, which was interesting getting in and out, but, uh, it was it was a good meeting at DPI, and, um, so, we actually had been told very solidly that that would be the retirement rate, um, 24.3 38, right? Yeah. And, um, probably 2 weeks ago in a DPI session, and then Friday they said, "No, it's the governor's budget has more of a almost 5.8, 24.25.8% rate. And then it does look like health insurance might actually go up, and not just a premium increase of $500 according to the governor's budget. Now, of course, there's always three versions of the budget, and

014until one of them passes, we don't know for sure. So, just back to that, these are estimates at this time. That number is still bouncing back and forth, so. Um, and then this just summarizes some of that which we just already talked about, and we always need to keep on that horizon of our thought, um, the cost involving our exceptional children program. And the fact that a number of these, um, revenue sources we depend on are sales tax based, and not property tax based, and even property tax based with the reassessment and all that that we've talked about at the prior meetings, can be variable, and we have to assume that some of those might change. As long as and we might also find unexpected or increased costs as we move forward. All right. So,

015I'm going to take the next couple of slides. Um, so, as we are, you know, moving into putting the strategic plan into operation, we are beginning the process of aligning budget requests with our strategic plan focus areas and some of the critical initiatives on that. Um, so, before we look at the enhancement requests, um, just a review for staffing allotments um, that we change in tweak from time to time just based on what what we see in the classrooms, what's working, um, additions as we see those are needed. Um, so, if you can look through those staffing allotments, just to share what we have there. I know one question that's coming up is the media specialist from the high school. Um, initially when we wrote that a staffing allotment, we wrote one per school, and

016in my mind I was thinking one per campus just because it was a whole, even though there's two schools, the number of students I felt that was sufficient for one media specialist, um, within Asheville and SILSA because it is one media, um, center. Um, and in that hearing also from our middle school on the need for an assistant, um, so, we added for next year the media assistant um, for both high school and middle school. >> [clears throat] >> Um, and then we have enhancement requests, and these are positions that as I met with principals and shared and and district staff and said, "Here's your um, your updated staffing, your updated enrollment numbers." And those enrollment numbers come from our enrollment projection study. So, as we look at the enrollment projections that we get from

017that study, I plug those in, and then use those numbers the position allotments for each school. Um, so, as we reviewed those with our staff, um, we did have requests for additional, um, in addition to the Meet, Confer, Collaborate. Um, so, just as you look through those enhancement requests, um, like I'll explain, there's a couple elementary schools and plus our middle school who because their enrollment is changing, they lost classroom teacher allotments. Um, so, some of the requests in their, um, enhancement requests are to keep some of the teachers that they were projected to lose. So, if their numbers in fourth grade or sixth grade went down from what they are, they might lose, just depending on those numbers, they might be projected to lose a classroom teacher. Um, and then overall, I think the

018the biggest request from our staff was support for students that need intense interventions for academics and behavior. Um, and then also some, um, requests for EC, additional EC supports. So, are there any questions on, um, the enhancement requests? And the other piece I wanted to point out for the board, um, is that when you look at the enhancement requests, there is a column as we talked about aligning work to the strategic plan, we've asked the principals and departments to say, "As you're adding staff, what's the focus area? Is it focused on closing the achievement gap? Is it focused on improving overall student outcomes? Or is it focused on reducing disproportionate discipline outcomes?" So, we asked them to select which of those three their request most closely align to. And if all those requests were granted,

019um, it's about 32 positions for about 2.2, 2.3 million dollars is the total ask. Any questions on the enhancements? Yeah, I just I just have a quick question on the, um, middle schools. What is a additional coaching days split with school? What does this mean? Um, Actually, I meant to ask Blair. Blair, is that additional days for your EL coach? That's what I figured. So, Blair is a he paid for some additional out of his local fund this year, um, working with his EL coach for additional days to help support staff development. So, he's asking I pay for the the contract pays for one, um, for 10 months. So, they get 10 sessions with their coach. So, he's asking for addition additional sessions above that 10 that we would pay Thank you. >> paid for.

020So, Maggie, this 2.2 million is not included on that. No. Mhm. So, when we say increased cost of 3.2 million, that's not including the additional requests from the staff. That's not in there yet. We're just giving you the baseline, then, "Hey, here's the request that we're getting." And then we're going to look at plus since we don't know yet what our overall tax, um, the state budget, and we don't know the supplemental tax rate yet, starting at a baseline with what we do know, what we really can anticipate expecting before we say, "Hey, now let's add all these additional things." So, knowing where we have a baseline, and then looking at what our additional revenue might be, and then deciding, "Now we know we have X additional revenue, we can look at adding X positions."

021I didn't want to dump them all in there or pick a couple because I wanted to make sure that we all started at the same baseline level, and then can say, "You know, based on increased revenue, let's say we know we're going to have a surplus of $500,000." So, then we could say, "Hey, based on all these requests, of these requests, which are most closely tied to addressing our biggest and largest priority to close the achievement gap?" So, then we would go back through as an admin team and say, "Okay, let's look at all the requests first and foremost that address the achievement gap. Are those fundable totally across all the requests? If they are, that would be our first recommendation." And then we would say, "Okay, how much is left for addressing disproportionate discipline

022outcomes?" That would be our second pool. How many of those can we fund if we can fund all of them? And then the last one would be positions that would address overall student, um, improving student outcomes. So, that's how we would prioritize based on what I have identified and what I think our staff and community have identified as some of our most prioritized needs going through strategic planning. I have, um, can you clarify on the enhancement requests on the slide before the what's playing out with adjusting the hourly pay tables district-wide and when >> Yeah, I'll let Heidi address that one. So, as you know, we made a pretty significant adjustment 2 years ago, then we had let it kind of sit still this year because we did not get a state budget. So, um

023what we had promised everyone in conversation is that we would take another hard look at that, make sure that the alignments that we established in that because there were a couple of concerns and a couple of adjustments that we made this year, a couple of adjustments we couldn't make this year and said we would review those during the budget process. And then, of course, just total marketability for our hourly staff, which you and everyone else has asked to be a priority. So, we were going to take another hard Again, back to that once we find out what resources we do have available, we're going to take a hard look at that. We're going to try to make sure that our salaried pay tables reflect that same kind of structures since the supplement will be fixed

024now moving forward. And for marketability purposes in the community when a job is posted, you know, a lot of people don't understand how significant that local supplement is that we pay here. You know, they'll look at and say, "I only going to make $20 an hour." But are you really if 18 and 1/2% is going to be added to that or 10% is going to be added to that? So, what we want to capture in the pay tables is actual total compensation. So, when someone looks at actual city schools to say, "Should I come to work here?" they see that they're going to what their entire compensation would be. And that hopefully would help people understand that we do have an advantage here on our pay compared to a lot of the neighboring districts. Thank

025you. And I appreciate that aligns exactly with what we learned in strategic planning about looking carefully at how to uh how we can maximize compensation and be transparent. Um I have one other question. Um when we think about the enhancement requests and how these play out, am I understanding correctly that some of these would look like a different teacher-student ratio at certain schools if they were granted? And do they become permanent if they're granted this year or is it understood that there's that's a temporary and then that was just saying next year we wouldn't be able to do that? That's a great question. So, these enhancement requests will go into and make changes to the staffing allotment formula. So, if we're saying we need in um intervention teachers to support math and reading, that's to

026me is a cost that's not going to go away until for several years and then we can revisit it at that time. Um and then some of the staff, like I said, some principals did say, "Hey, I was uh projected to lose grade level teachers, but I think I need those." That is twofold. Number one, we're monitoring as students enroll. So, some of them lost a position because they lost students, but if they get additional students, they may earn that position back. So, it is going to depend on like where does enrollment fall, where does like if the grade level grows, it may bump them up and they may earn another teacher. But if it doesn't and we say we're not funding that, we would keep that number the same. But if we say, "You

027know what, let's actually look at funding those." Um and if that, let's say one elementary school would have an impacted teacher-to-student ratio, we would also look at the equitable um allocation of funding across all elementary schools. We wouldn't want to give all these extra staffing allocations to one school because that's the point of the staffing allotment formula is that we want it to be equitable across schools. I hope that answered your question. Okay. Yes, Pebby. So, for um allotments that uh entice or stabilize enrollment, I'm thinking about um things like the request to fill um uh the art position or orchestra strings or things like that. Does that fit in with climate and culture and stronger public schools, stronger community, or where would that fit in um in the strategic plan things that you're looking

028at? So, I don't I wouldn't put it in climate and culture. Um we know that first and foremost, we need to have exemplary academic results. We need to close the achievement gap. Having those things is going to attract staff and students to our district, I think much more so than wider variety of academic of some electives programs. And just because we don't fill a position doesn't mean that we can't still offer some support and services in that program. It may just look different. I'm just thinking about our middle schools kids and what gets them excited and out of bed in the morning may be different from the things that we have to focus on to address um achievement, testing, opportunity gaps. So, as I'm looking at it as a mix. Certainly not, you know, excluding

029one thing for another. True. It's just, you know, as you know, it's complicated. Okay. So, Maggie and Heidi, thank you for pulling all this together. Sorry. Sorry. I got another question. Is it good? Um Maggie, will you explain MCC Oh, thank you. >> Yep. So, through the Meet, Confer, Collaborate process, there one of their requests that came up for staffing um was eight positions to um five EC assistants, um one for each elementary school, and then three um what they were asking for were IEP coordinators. And the IEP coordinators would be staff that would be hired just to manage and and do all the IEP paperwork. Um so, we've included those as well. And that's where the MCC stands for Meet, Confer, Collaborate and that's where those positions are come come from. What I guess

030I'm confused because are these outside of any of the schools that are listed here? Mhm. Yes. So, forgive me. Why don't we also have a row for admin and their requests? Like why why does Meet, Confer, Collaborate get this They did. Um so, as we I met with departments, so you'll see student services has requested a social worker. Okay. So, that's in there, too. I just have a question if So, Maggie, you I'm trying to get perspective. You've brought to us what Heidi's projections are currently based on. What requests have been made? You're showing us how they fit in with the um strategic plan. I appreciate the rationale and all that's been shared. And for tonight, we are receiving this and we are asking questions and we can send follow-up emails with additional questions. And

031I guess my two-part question is, what specifically do you want to hear from board members, whether tonight or by subsequent emails? And then, what's the next step? Great question. So, overall tonight, I would just want to know from the board, is there anything you were hoping to see represented in the budget enhancements that we didn't capture through our meeting with Meet, Confer, Collaborate or through talking with principals and departments about what enhancements they feel like they need? Um and then, so if there's something we missed, we would like to know what the board thinks we should include that we perhaps didn't. And then, the last thing is um what will happen next is the June work session. Hopefully, we will have more info We'll definitely have our um estimated what will be voted on for

032the um supplemental tax and um we'll be able to share that. Hopefully, we may have more budget information from the state at that point. Um so, in June, we'll be asking for the board to and let me ask Heidi. No, that was like, wait. Getting out over my skis. No, on Monday, we have to make sure your budget message That's right. is approved because the the deadline to get it to the commissioners is May 15th. But that is only the local budget. The bigger picture, like you said, hopefully will come together better. So, we have to send what we call a budget message, which is asking for how much money we want from the county. So, we already know what we're quote getting, that 37.76%, so that's in there. And then our request for the

033adjustment to the supplemental tax um to be 10 cents. So, that's all we have to get approved at this moment um for next for the next board meeting on May coming up. Okay, so I got lost there. Not tonight, but next Monday night, the board will vote on our local budget request. Whatever you called it. Being the 37.7 our share of the 37. whatever percent and our 10 cents. Just to be clear, we already know we got the first and we've already asked for the second. Yes. But we go back formally and say, "This is our local request." And that's what that's all we have to vote on next week. >> Correct. And then, meanwhile, the rest of this information, I know there'll be a lot of information coming out of Raleigh and coming out

034of the county, will we next see more about this in the beginning of June or will it not be till the end of June? I think that's what I'm just trying to figure out the timing. I think it's going to depend on what we hear from the state. Okay. Um so, just that timing will be there. If we know stuff by the June work session and um actual work regular meeting, we'll be able to present that. If we don't, then we have that last meeting in June um to pass the spending resolution, which is basically like, "Here's our budget, which is here's what we're, you know, Heidi puts together those spreadsheet with the different buckets for the different accounts um or funds and then the board votes on that and it's just there it's a

035guessing game. It's what we think we'll have. If we don't have a state budget by June 30th, we have to give you an interim budget so we can continue operating at basically status quo for next year and then Okay. Yeah. And back to the the old way we used to do it is September October hopefully we would get a budget in July or August and be able to bring you the real budget resolution in September October. So just to close this out, we won't expect necessarily to see this again until we have more information from the state and the county. And in the meantime you want input from the board. Okay, thank you. That was just the perspective I was looking at and I know other board members have questions. Yes. Yeah, I have I

036have a couple questions. One um you have this one per one assistant media assistant and that you've already sort of added to the staffing allotment. >> Yes. Um and I also see that Asheville High has requested media coordinator. >> Yep. And um what informed your decision to add a media assistant as opposed to a media coordinator at both schools? Um good question. So I just to be honest I just don't feel that two very specialized staff um at the media level are required to run a school and to run it effectively. Um that there is a need for a media assistant to help with book checkout and managing stuff in the media center while the media specialist themselves is kind of working with teachers and pulling resources and prepping. Um so that assistant is able

037to manage kind of the media center while they're doing the instructional piece. Um I've seen it work really well in many many districts of ones that I've worked in, talked with other superintendents that are it's very effective model. Um and then also if Derek, you know, if the request for the media coordinator is not put in place, um Derek also has flexibility or any principal does to use their points in different ways. So he could say, well, I'm going to just take these points for this and move them into this position so that I could hire it. So because the salary differential is probably about $25,000, he could say, well, I want to take quarter of a point from this position and have that be three quarters of a time and then have this one

038be a full-time media coordinator instead of assistant. So they've got that flexibility um over, you know, just on their baseline data. Okay, but as I understand it media assistants are not allowed to supervise kids. They're not allowed to teach. They are. Just like an IA. Just like Just like an instructional assistant may teach a small group of students. Okay. Um well, I'm going to say that I will not I would support I mean, for my part after talking with media assistants I mean, media coordinators that and I here's another question actually before I get to that. The how do you do who decided where the categories were that improve overall student outcome as opposed to close the achievement gap or reduce dis Is that the principals selected that? Principals decided that. Um yeah, so from

039what I understand the media coordinators need another coordinator so that they can actually take the time to teach. Both can actually teach. And um right now the services and we heard from Julie Nodland from the middle school during public comment a few weeks ago describe the very specific things she could not do. >> Sure. And she has someone there uh media tech part-time or whatever and all of those very specific things I've also spoken with um just because they're anyway, I've I've spoken with a couple of the media people sort of casually but um it seems to me and I could be wrong about this but it seems to me that additional media coordinators can go a long way toward not just overall student outcomes but toward closing achievement gaps. I can't imagine like a

040better resource for a student has particular challenge or interests in this and how do we get them reading? What do we find them interested in? So I really think that that um is important. I'll just put that out there. And it's only 20 25,000 dollars difference in salary. I know that's not chump change but I think it's well worth what you get at a master's level skilled media coordinator versus a high school graduate level media assistant. Okay. So that's my two cents. Um second question I had is do we have two social workers already at the high school? Uh is Kim Robinson here? I don't know the actual allotments for the high school right now. Uh the reason I ask is because we've got a request for we already have one social worker at the

041middle school or not? Half-time. One and a quarter is what the spreadsheet said. >> [clears throat] >> They earn one and a quarter points. I don't think the social workers are not on the spreadsheet. Anyway, I would I just was curious about that because that's something else that I've been hearing in the ether is um the need for for two social workers in each school and I know that that's again contrary to sort of I guess the allotment formula etc. but that's a a need that makes >> the for um social workers we start the formula at one social worker for 250 students and we're incrementally trying to get to that ratio. Um so I don't have to look back look back at the numbers but I don't think we are there and then Kim

042starts allocating her social workers based on whether she see the additional need. So this was her request so that's what she asked for and I put it out there. I'd like to see us get closer to the one to 250. Sure. We try. Anyway, those are my two cents and I was curious about all the rest of it. But say thank you very much. Um I will say that I echo everything that Amy just said um that we've got four social workers for the district right now. I think that's the number um is not enough for our district. Um and then with the media coordinators um I really appreciate the extra that they provide um and I can't imagine at the middle school level and the high school level not having two media coordinators and

043I think we're still um the loss of the digital lead teachers and there's some overlap there um is also impacting the district. Uh so I would love to see that. I will say across the board that the principal requests and the MCC requests all make sense to me. I understand that that is um approximately $2.2 million dollars that we would need from the supplemental tax um and uh other potential resource or other potential sources like hopefully the stop arm um uh authorizing ordinance gets passed and we can move forward with that um as another revenue uh generator. Um but this all all of these requests make sense. I appreciate the way that you've broken it down between a baseline additional principal requests and and having the the um requests from the teachers themselves for those

044eight positions really make sense. Uh but I'm looking for a yes and, you know, kind of solution and I believe all of us are looking for that, too, where we want to provide well-resourced schools. But we have to deal with, you know, what what actually gets approved. Um when you change all of this draft that we see are we going to be able to know what was changed, what wasn't changed and Yes, and that's why I shared the updated enrollment or staffing allocation formula. Okay, and then are we also going to get the maybe the principals um say um how I mean, I know you guys going to do it but are we going to hear well, we're never going to hear what if the principal agreed on this or agreed on that cuz all

045of this going to be coming from your office? So They make the changes about >> That's why we've got the baseline formulas and then meet with each principal individually to see what they are requesting. So the information that's on the enhancement requests is directly from the principals on what they would like to prioritize for their for their school. Jesse might be asking And and I don't I'm over the next month as we [clears throat] learn more information about revenue and other expenses I assume ultimately you and your team, Heidi and others, will discern what it it where's the greatest need or what Correct. >> I assume there'll be more conversation with the principals, but I don't think the principals get a vote. I mean, I'm not sure if that's really what you were asking, Jesse,

046but >> Yeah, and that's why I had them prioritize their requests. So, I said, "Based on what you're asking for, what is your top priority? Like, if you can get one position, what would that position be? If you can get two, what would those be?" So, yeah, there will be additional conversations with principals to say, "Hey, you had this as your top priority. We are able to fund you a half-time position, which of does that change your ranking?" So, yeah, we'll be going back to the principals for sure. Yep, once we have a better idea of what our overall revenue is, if we're even able to fund any of the enhancement positions. That's still a question. We don't know. Right. Jesse, did I didn't mean to Was that what you wanted to know? Okay. I'm

047going to I'm sorry, I'm looking to these people over here for a bit. Sorry. Actually, one of the things I was noticing is at the start, you oriented us to um what would be we needs to be budgeted out of fund balance just because of the um factors. And so, we're both seeing I think I'm seeing that where we are with just baseline will require us to use fund balance, and then the enhancements, oddly enough, are about that same amount. Um >> and so, [clears throat] I I think though like I'm kind of finally getting to the realization that there's so many moving parts to the budget that it is appropriate to say, "We're going to have to just use fund balance because there's things that will be less expensive than we thought, there will

048be things that are more expensive than we thought. There So, I I want to know, am I understanding that there's not necessarily um a reason to think that you that we would prioritize using no fund balance? That's not because you showed us we're expecting a couple million dollars will be budgeted out of fund balance, and so then additional revenue can be going to these enhancements without trying to protect fund balance. And that's account from an accounting perspective. Well, and appropriate. We can kind of skip over these next two slides cuz they're really just from that supplemental request that you've already seen. If you flip to that last arrow um slide that what we did is we showed you how um if we got the 8.14 to the 10 cents, that's 2.6 million more dollars. Obviously,

049the first slide showed you using 2.3 million dollars of fund balance. If we get 2.6 from the supplemental tax request, we're actually in a plus .3 million dollar >> [clears throat] >> to fund what what we might choose to do. The other piece of this we have to remember in the back of our minds because we still can't 100% guarantee that there won't be some kind of budget passed for this fiscal year and that would change the complexion of all of this. Um but we talked at our earlier meetings that part of what we had to reserve this year was money in our budget assuming we would get a raise like we always get, and we have not gotten that. So, I really expect our year-end fund balance to be up to some extent because

050we didn't get a raise. So, we will also have that factor playing to all this. And if that's how it ends up and they don't do anything, then even if everything comes down just exactly like we said, we could have 1 to 2 million dollars there that we never had to spend to apply toward these kind of enhancements for next year as well. So, there's just that like you said, there is just an amazing number of moving parts yet that we can't really quantify, but we we can still in the back of our minds for as we continue to progress have that as conversation. One more comment about fund balance is just thinking about previous conversations with county commissioners. >> [clears throat] >> A way to frame whatever that budget um request What do we

051call it? A budget No, the that you have to send to the county. Uh yeah, the the budget letter. Um I've heard in previous years when we have put together our budget proposal, I've heard Buncombe County Commissioners come back and say, "Oh, you've got this fund balance, and it's pretty robust. So, you can you can weather um us not for example, expanding the supplemental tax." So, I just want to be careful that however it's framed that we that we're I understand it's a public comment or public moments, so the Buncombe Commissioners can certainly listen to this, but the fact that like we're not saying we're looking forward to dipping into the fund balance, right? We would love to have the county commissioners um meet us where we've asked for them to meet us at the

05210 10 cents on that supplemental tax. And then then we can be using our our fund balance if we need to to bring in the enhancements that we wouldn't otherwise be able to do. So, I just want to make sure that framing is clear. Um No, I'm I'm just kind of like trying to make sense out of all of the the numbers and um you know, I just I recognize what what a a difficult season this is. Um >> [snorts] >> And I know that I will have questions that I'll send to you. Perfect. And I'll say this actually is not a difficult I mean, yes, budgeting is always a little bit stressful, but because we have put a staffing formula into place, we are so much in a better position than almost any other

053district in the state. As I'm talking to superintendents all across North Carolina, they are in a very stressful position about cutting positions. We are not in that. We are looking at natural places where we have to realign based on enrollment changes, but it we're not in a like, "Oh my gosh, we've got to this year eliminate 20 positions or we've got to look at X, Y, and Z." We're in a good place because we have been following the allocation formula, which puts us in a good position to have some opportunities to say, "All right, where do we want to grow? What do we want to add to improve the outcomes that we know our students can do?" So, that's it was actually not a and it was great to meet with the principals and say,

054"What would you ask for?" instead of saying, "Where can you cut?" I'm asking you, "What do you need? What else can we provide you as as the principal, you know your school best. Tell me what your requests are." So, that actually felt really good. Not saying, "Hey, you're going to get these," but if we do have an opportunity with you know, increased revenue, we can start funding those positions. That's why implementing the allotment formula was so critical even though it was painful for the past 2 years because it put us in a place where we're able now to say, "Okay, we've allocated resources equitably across every school. We have a known formula. We're monitoring our student enrollment, and we're adjusting as needed based on what we see in our numbers." And then we can say,

055"All right, principals, what what do you need? What what would help you make your you know, improve your student outcomes?" Okay, thanks, everybody. I'm going to say one more thing. Okay, you guys each get a tiny moment, and then we're moving on cuz you can always send it by email, right? >> Yeah, well, no. Not Email is not public is not public. >> Okay. Yes. But that said, I will make it quick. Um First, I mostly wanted to thank you for the transparency of these enhancement requests and being able to see what the principals asked for. That is not something we've seen before, and I appreciate it. The second thing I want to note is when we dip into fund balance to fund positions, that amount only grows with each year. Correct. >> So, if

056we if we spend 2 million dollars out of fund balance this year to fund new positions, it's going to be 2.1 million next year and you know, whatever it is. So, I think that's important. Um and yes, I I also want to appreciate that there were some really hard decisions that got us here. Um and I think there's also room for correction of some of that, and it I I think we need to think a lot about where that achievement gap can be impacted um the most as you've already said, but that's the way to justify 10 cents, right? Is the achievement gap is these are the positions, the kind of positions that can help with that. Thank you. Thanks, Amy. Peppy. I appreciate that, Amy. Um So, I am wondering whether we want to

057include um a week from now in our vote or in our approval or recommendations um just a little what if caveat given that um uh part of the General Assembly has um I believe passed a bill um asking to or directing 10 counties or 12 counties, including ours, to roll back um the um property values to the 2025 values. And in the event that that passes, I think it'd be useful for us to go ahead and say to the county commissioners, we would want we would ask to maintain the 11 cents rate if we were maintaining the property values. And just give them that information. So, that's my my last Just I assume it's a form letter that we fill out. It is not a bill yet. It's a proposal that has come out of

058the house to to go back to 2025 values. They haven't approved it yet. Uh Phil Berger Senate I know it's a proposal. I don't think it's been voted on yet. I think should that pass, we have a a bigger problem in that we have 38.76% of the different number. I mean, it will be Peppy, we don't need to discuss this right now, but I think that we can certainly add a footnote if bill XYZ passes, we would like to revisit this with you. I'm fine with that. But I think there's a lot of unknowns. There are a lot of unknowns. Clarifying the the um interlocal agreement uses the pre-prior year's tax receipts. You read my mind. That's what I was going to say is So it shouldn't change. >> is based on the year prior.

059Right. So >> Okay. I stand corrected. >> they would be a definite concern. Yeah. Okay. Thanks everyone. Um Maggie, we can now move on to the strategic plan. All right. And Kim has copies for the board as well that she's passing to you. So really um this is really exciting to keep this moving down the road. Um wanted to share um just quick updates. Hold on. Make sure I got the right one. Oh, hold on. I pulled up the wrong presentation. All right. There we go. Sorry about that. Um so just a quick reminder for the board, the whole strategic planning process is where the board is very engaged in the vision and the mission and then has a lower involvement as we get over to the more operational side, but there is that kind

060of co-mingling on particularly the vision and mission being um set, looking at what our guiding principles and core values would be, and then having this opportunity to provide input for what our strategic goals and objectives would be. And then as we get to those critical initiatives, tactics, and how we execute, that is strictly up for That's the where the administration takes over and implements the plan and reports back to the board. Um as I've been saying, we've got to focus on becoming a high-quality organization. Um so making sure that we've identified our core business, what are we here to do and achieve, and looking at that um being solidified in our vision and mission, our three promises, the portrait of a scholar, and then implemented through the strategic plan, um that we're using high-quality practices

061and strategies, and we're implementing those across the district. We've got a culture that's committed to continuous improvement and always thinking how do we improve our practice as practitioners, whether in a leadership role, whether in a teacher classroom, whether you're a mechanic and you're fixing a cooler. Um those are things we always want to think about how we can do better and what can we learn from where we've been. Um establishing those key indicators to make sure that we're monitoring how we're getting how we're going along the way, that we aren't waiting for one final assessment at the end of the year and going, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea we were going to get those results." Where we're able to monitor and then apply interventions or supports as needed so we can change the

062trajectory if we're not getting um where we want to go. We've been going through this. This has been about 18 months of lots of work and meetings and gathering input and reflection. Um so as you know, we presented the strategic plan um kind of widely um over in um in April. We did feedback opportunities. Every school um had a facilitated feedback process. We did the town hall and collected feedback information. Um so in the small groups at our staff meetings, we were asking the staff "What message is coming across loud and clear as you've listened to this presentation?" We also asked staff, "Is there anything missing from the plan that you had hoped to see? Like did we not put something in there that you really was were hoping to see in this plan?" And

063then asking them for questions, "What questions do you have?" So we collected all of that. I typed I hand-typed all the responses, um fed that into Gemini, asked it to come up with some summaries, but then also had the knowledge of, "Hey, I've looked at every single piece. Did it actually come up with some accurate? Did It did. I think it missed some of the nuances so that I was able to then say, "Hey, it says this, but I think as I looked at what the staff was saying." And I'll point out one of them was um like instructional assistant staff development. Like that was noted as something missing that our staff picked up and said, "Hey, we'd really like to see how we're supporting our instructional assistants and their role in improving student achievement

064and closing the achievement gap." Then we took that summarized data um with our leadership crew meeting last week. We reviewed it and I asked for the team to help me say, "What are the clarifications that we need to communicate about this plan?" And then [snorts] what are the next steps and or also, you know, are there any changes that we need? Um so it was really great to hear that um as we reviewed that data from the feedback sessions, that it came across loud and clear that our focus is on student success as a school system with the strategic plan. Like that first and foremost was over over and over and over again. We are focusing as a school system on what's best for kids and [snorts] student success. Um there also were lots of

065mentions that we are focusing on improving equitable outcomes for students as a number one priority. Um the why we do the work, like what is our core value, why are we here to do this work, and the general what we're going to do um has it would came across very clear. And the last piece that was a a high-level summary was that there are clear accountability systems and data transparency needs to be put in place. What the staff said um what we heard from our community about what's missing and stakeholders want to see um is more specific action steps. What are the logistics? What are the resources that we're going to use? Also specifically calling out, "What are those vessel special interventions and supports that will impact our um students of color, our ML students,

066and our EC students?" So give us They want very specific details on what are those action plans going to be. Um additional specific information about mental health and how we're going to address student discipline concerns, um strategies I've got a misspelling in there. Sorry for that typo. Um what are strategies in place to support our veteran teachers? They heard that we are invested in recruiting new teachers and supporting our beginning teachers, but what are we doing as a school system to make sure those great staff that we have feeling supported and feeling recognized. And then as I said, one of the other big come aways was how are we um supporting our instructional assistants. So questions that the stakeholders had about the plan um was, "Where's our stop doing list?" I've mentioned that a lot

067as we've gone through this process that we have to say if we're going to do something extra, we also have to take some things off the plate. So they were like, "Hey, where's that?" Which I would understand. Um funding. Where are we getting funding to move this work forward? Uh questions about who was involved in the plan and who will be involved going forward? And then curiosity about accountability at all levels. So accountability for leaders, accountability for me as the superintendent, um what does that look like at every level? Um so just to give some clarification and then lead into what next steps are next. So I shared this with the board um at the meeting in the in my comments at the April meeting, but strategic plan and action plan, they work together. So

068strategic plan is your very high level. It's 3 to 5 years. It gives us that general direction with your compass. So if I know I want to get home, I've got a head east, west, whichever way you live. You're going to head in a general direction. Um it also defines our why and our what. Um so based on what came across clear in the feedback, I think we hit strategic plan right on the nose. We said, "Hey, [clears throat] here's what it is." And that's what we got feedback. A lot of the questions in the missing fall in the action planning category. So what are those short-term detailed road maps we need to build? What's happening over the course of a year? The details for the who, the how, and the when. Um and then

069what are those specific details, responsibilities, and resources? And specifically aligning those to those areas of our students of color, ML students, and EC students that we know need um additional layers of support to be successful. So digging into the action plan development. So that is what is coming up next um for us. So giving detailing the specifics on the who, the how, the when, the funding sources, um specific details on what are those supports going to look like for our students of color, our ML students, our EC students. Developing very clear smart goals and progress monitoring details along with a timeline for when the board will hear reports, when our community can expect to hear reports out. I think another piece of that was a question that I was needed some more clarification is, "What's

070that through line from the district to the school to make sure we've got meaningful teacher engagement. And as we build the action plans, I've been very clear with the teams as they're building those plans that if we are going to do if we're going to recommend something that in that a teacher is going to have to change their practice or a teacher is going to have to implement something, we need classroom teachers at the table to help to help give us information and give feedback on those. So, we you we will be seeing lots more school level engagement because we've got the clear vision. We've got the direction. The how we this is really another great place to engage our teachers and building level to be part of building what is this plan look like.

071So, basically we know we want to build a plane. Well, what kind of plane do we want to build? That's where we're headed next. Um and then examining this is also what we'll examine expenses and revenue. So, let's say each of the focus groups starts building their their action steps. And they all are saying we need to implement these things in the first year. Well, based on resources, we may not be able to. So, then we'll have to as a group as a district decide what do we want to prioritize because that's what's going to give us the most gains and impact our students the most. So, there is still going to be some hey, we said this is going to happen, but it may take a while just until we know we've got the

072resources that we can allocate so that those things can be funded. Um I did want to say there was accountability questions in there and that's why we have the theory of action because this is our accountability model. We set a standard. We outline what we expect from our staff at every level through our job descriptions, through our evaluation process. And we do the accountability through our evaluation process. That is what our accountability model is. And in my mind, our accountability is about when we identify places where we need to improve in whatever your level of employment is, we're providing you the supports so that we can get there. The best thing that we can do as a school system is to keep the employees that we have and help them improve their practice so we

073know that they're meeting those high expectations that we have as an organization. So, what the board has to approve is the vision statement which we've had a chance to review, the mission statement which is also had a chance to be reviewed. And the board doesn't necessarily approve this plan, but you give uh basically we agree with the direction that you're going in, superintendent, and we will support this work as we allocate funding for the different critical initiatives. So, quickly next steps for this timeline as recommended is May and June, we're going to do what I call setting the stage. Getting very clear on who is going to be part of these action planning teams, what do they need to do, and getting ready to kind of prime the pump so we can start getting the

074work done. Productivity stage is where we'll actually build like if we know we want to offer let's say a professional development for instructional assistants, that's when we'll build it so that we're ready to execute starting in September when our staff come back. So, we really have from May to August to kind of set the stage, get things ready. Product produce you know, make the things that we know we need to get out there for our teams and then start with executing certain initiatives starting in September. And then we move on July onward is measuring and progress monitoring. Some of the measuring up front is going to be very like check box. Did we do what we said we were going to do by this date? Like hey, critical initiative about um let's say attracting and

075retaining teachers. One of them we said we were going to survey our teachers. Did we do that? So, there'll be just some procedural check marks kind of monitoring the process of getting the work ready. And then we will do quarterly reports September, December, March, and June. And the September and March reports will be done at the board's half day work sessions. So, just kind of a preview of what's coming up as we move through the next steps for strategic plan. Um so, open for discussions or comments, questions from the board. Uh Maggie. >> [clears throat] >> Didn't I think at the meeting that we had a couple nights ago wasn't the biggest concern was the achievement gap that you will put something inside your strategic plan to to clarify how you're going to work with

076the achievement plan. I mean, I think they spoke about that. Yes, and that's coming in the action plan. Well, I thought they wanted to see it in your I mean, I thought they want the words in it like how are you able to close the achievement gap? And that's supposed to be part of the I would point to equitable Yeah, I would point to equitable outcomes for students. Like that is the focus of that group. Everything that that focus area is is about creating equitable outcomes. Okay. Maybe I heard him wrong. I I thought they want specific the words achievement gap inside of your um strategic plan. I thought okay. I I heard action I read that or interpreted that as action plan. Like how will this action plan? What are the steps we're going

077to do to ensure equitable student outcomes? But didn't they say the achievement plan or equitable state? I think they really wanted to hear it. They wanted to see it. They wanted to feel like they belong as in how are you going to try to close this gap? And this is how you're going to do it. But I hear you when you said the equitable outcome for our black pop kids. >> Mhm. But could you put the achieve I mean, I think they clarified it that they wanted >> remember a lot of questions about that. And then being ready to share like the next step is where you will see those specifics. I think the the general direction is equitable outcomes for students. We have that on our compass. That's where we're headed. And those specific

078action steps we'll be putting in place will identify here is specific programming and supports to to help close the achievement gap for our students. All right. So, if there needs to be clarified language, I wasn't hearing that the map needed to change the strategy map. My my understanding was what are those specifics that we can see once we put those action plans and share those action plans. All right. Will we see an action plan uh this spring? You will see action plans starting to come out What did I say? Probably August, September. Cuz we'll be building those from now through September. Takes a while to build an action plan. We've got a lot to go through. Need to do some training with our leadership teams so that they're building achievable achievable action plans. So, action

079plans will be kind of in the works for the next several months and we'll share those updated with the board. The only other immediate thing I'm noticing is I would like for us to build trusting relationships. I see students and staff. But I also want us to have trusting relationships with families, community um Mhm. you know, partners. And I don't know what wording is appropriate for that. But that's that's a piece. Okay. Noted. Thank you. What's Maggie, can I can I go back to what Jesse was talking about? Um >> [clears throat] >> And Jesse, I appreciate you raising it up. I was unable to be at that meeting. I hate that I wasn't there. What I'm hearing is a desire to actually name not just in the action plan, but in the actual strategic

080plan like the the the plan for this district. I'm sitting here looking at data from the entire state that you know, Nashville City Schools continues to have the um the worst outcomes for black students of every any district in this state. That we are that we name that it's about um >> [clears throat] >> closing that achievement gap the opportunity gap for our black students and better outcomes for our black students. With with no um disrespect to our families who aren't black, right? Um >> [clears throat] >> But this is this has been the challenge of this district long before you were here or any of us sat on this board. Um but to put it in writing in the strategic part of the plan that we are committed as a district to closing that

081achievement gap, right? Yes, there need to be action plans around it, but to name it at the in the strategic plan, I think would be would go a long way toward at least for me as a board member to understanding as we move into every single board meeting is this what we're working toward. Understood. I will bring that back to the team. Um I I noticed on the action plan development that it mentions the specific supports for black pop and I I'm I'm curious why it is worded that way. Like I I from an equity perspective, to me that reads as lowering the bar for accountability and implying that black and brown students can't be at the same level as their white peers. I That's not the That's not how I read it and that's

082not how it was intended to read. It's making sure that we've identified students that's particularly focusing on our students of color and what are the supports they need and what are the strategies we need to do so that we can change the outcomes for those students. I I get that. I I I can't suggest an alternative for that word there, but that's that's the way that it read to me. Can I Do you mind So the word supports supports? I cuz it's it's interesting you bring it up. I'm glad we get the chance to hold this together because I was thinking how much I appreciated this part which is what was missing. That this is what I was excited to hear tonight is we saw our presentation, we had the town hall, and then what

083what's next? And so one of what you heard from them was what's missing is the specific resources, so that's the other word that got used, to impact BIPOC, multilingual learners, and EC students. That those were groups where people said it kind of feels like it's missing in the plan. What's What's going to be How are we going to resource this? And then to see it's well, it's part of the action plan development. It's not just missing, it's going to be detailed. Um I took it more in that vein that there was a an a a naming from the folks who read this. I I appreciate that and I also and the questions that stakeholders have, um what does accountability look like at all levels? Like I I take that to mean like not only instructional

084staff and and all staff in the district, but also our students. And and holding upholding our our high expectations for for rigor and high-quality work. And I guess that I was holding that in my mind when I read that the phrase supports for BIPOC. And I'm I'm just curious about that. Is resources a more comfortable word? Yes. Okay. Because to me resources, um connotes the inequity in our society where supports just to me implies like a lowering of expectations. And that's you know, that's part of I think how how we are where we are. Um So, can I invite a pause for that word being used? Thank you. Thanks, Lisa. I think I just want to note that the word supports is used throughout this document. So I understand what you're saying and I appreciate

085you bringing it to us that if used with that connotation, it's troublesome. But I mean, we say specific sorts supports for mental health. We said specific resources and supports. And then another place we say resources. And so um I understand to you the word is has a clear connotation that you don't like. I just note that I think it's used throughout this document in many boring normal ways. Perhaps we just leave it to Maggie and her team to go back and maybe find better language. Um I I don't I just to clarify, I don't think you disagree that part of the action plan is we need to do more for our BIPOC, ML, and EC students. >> Yes. Right. I understand what you've said. I don't read supports that way personally, but I understand what

086you've said. Thank you. Can I say one thing? Yes. Um I'm going to dab dip out for 15 minutes because my daughter has her spring recital at the Baptist Church right now on piano. So I will be back. Excuse me, please. Other um input from Maggie on the strategic plan? Very Yeah, very quickly, Maggie. I just I really appreciate uplifting um where is the stop doing list? I understand that's action, that's not strategy, but I'm glad it's there. I'm glad it was pointed out. Um we've talked about that many, many times. Like to stop the things that are ineffective and harmful. So, thank you. I also just want to say that I'm feeling so excited for this next phase and seeing it rolling into things like our retreats and creating this way where the accountability

087I think accountability that is predictable and you know, and transparent is the best kind. And so um I I'm excited about where we're going. Thank you for all this work. Um for the accountability piece, if we're going to be delving into it at our half-day board retreats, what I ask is that we either do the board retreats in this room or make sure that there is streaming and recording at whatever location we use. For me that that says public accountability for what we're doing. Um I and I appreciate where where we're going with this. I do want to acknowledge that at the town hall I saw a lot of um elected officials, county commissioners included, who came to attend and and watch, and I saw a lot of community partners. I saw a few parents

088and families who didn't have other roles in Asheville City Schools. And I know that people opt in, but as we roll this out and when we roll out an action plan in September, I think it may be good to do another type of town hall event in the fall where you again solicit, invite, open up the floor to look at the strategic plan and the action plan in combination. Uh and I know there was a um a meeting over at uh Lucy Herring that I attended. And when I looked at that crowd, it was approximately 50% um out of about 50, 60 people, it was about half staff. And there were um parents and families at that meeting, but it still wasn't as large of a group of of parents as I would um hope

089that we would have at a future meeting. And so once we get the rubber to the road part of it with the action plan, I think we've got an opportunity for additional engagement. Okay, thank you. Those were two big items that represent a lot of work being done for a long time. And appreciate it. Um I wanted just give um a moment. Really struggling with this microphone. To say a sincere thank you to everyone who helped with the strategic planning community event last week. Particularly Miss Tanya. Um it was extraordinary. And I know that there was a lot of effort. Um I don't think I I I totally agree with what you said, Peppy. Um I think sometimes having an event and publicizing the event and everybody knows there there's an event, there's a huge

090amount of good publicity just from doing that. So um but I thought it was really, really good. And I just wanted to say thank you. So. I know. I know. I know, but you I know you've worked really hard on it, too. But I thank everybody who worked on it. Um at this time I'm going to move to something I hope is a little lighter or not lighter, but a little easier. Um 4.1 are information only. Some uh updates to policies. You've had the links. We don't have to vote on these. They're just here for information. Any questions about any of these? Do we need to vote because they are changes? And have them on the consent agenda? Asking our our Endicott attorney. Yeah, generally when there's like technical changes where it's just you know

091like changes to the citations and things like that that are super minor. They don't generally require a board vote just cuz they're technical changes not changes to the actual policy language. So we don't generally require it on those. And for the school bus seatbelt procedure, can we get any more information from that? Maybe April Dockery can tell us about it. Is there a specific question that you have for that or just in general? Just so that the public knows and that all the board members know like why this is coming up. The General Assembly is moving towards a requirement for safety belts and so we are just trying to work proactively on that. We have a new mini bus that that's what this particular procedure is about and how to safely get children out of

092the bus if needed. And we're getting ready to roll that new bus out soon. So we just wanted the board to understand that we are communicating that with our bus drivers and with our stakeholders. >> [snorts] >> And I noticed that there is a plan. I think it's for explicitly teaching students about seatbelts three times a year. Yes. Okay. This is already common practice with our bus drivers. They already get they work with their school admin team. We're very fortunate to have an engaged assistant principals who work with our bus drivers and our bus drivers do a good job reminding children how to safely ride the bus. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you. Those are received as information. Um we have several contracts that we do need to discuss and have a vote on

093next week and we're just going to take those up in order. And so the first contract is the Chartwell dining services. And I'm looking over here to see if you all want to talk about it or give any context. I'll be happy to entertain any questions. There's just an annual requirement to do an amendment to the original contract in order to continue those services for the following year. And written into that contract is a requirement to honor the CPI increase for the per meal equivalent cost which was the 3.9% and that's the only change. In order to allow the opportunity for public comment before we vote and to not make a decision today on this, I want to make sure it stays on the regular agenda not the consent agenda. And then I have my

094perennial question about can the contract be updated or what would the options look like to allow staff to choose to be on our payroll with those rights and obligations versus being on Chartwell's payroll. And I know that's a complicated question. Contractually we're required to allow any new hire to become Chartwell's employees not ACS. That was part of the original contract and part of the actual honestly cost savings initiative of the contract. So if we wanted to revisit that, we would probably need a significant contract change. I think I'm looking at my legal counsel right now to see if she's nodding. Yes. So. Yeah. I know that we have legacy employees who are allowed to stay as Asheville City employees. That was part of the original agreement as well which a lot of districts do is

095to make sure that we don't compromise those retirement options for employees who had dedicated themselves to that program before the contract was assumed two years ago. And I understand that we are in this to stabilize food costs in a very uncertain time and I also I'm uncomfortable with the concept. I don't I know that they qualify employees who are Chartwell's qualify for temporary layoff unemployment which is different for our employees who are directly employed by the school. So there are advantages. I just I cringe with the idea of saving money if it remains means reduced compensation for our food and nutrition staff and I'm not sure what the reality experience is for that staff until I'm hearing from the staff. Fair enough. Yeah, I'm just trying to to process through that part. Okay. It will

096not be on the consent agenda but it will be on for vote on Monday. Next Monday. So next we take up the EL education contract. Again just looking for any perspective you want to offer on this. Sure. So continuing our partnership with EL and in there we've described kind of a general overview on the cover sheet but that this is work that is directly supporting our student outcomes focus area in the strategic plan and as you remember through the strategic plan presentation a great deal of the what we need [clears throat] to make this successful is support for professional development and using the resources through EL which is including not just teacher professional development but leadership development. They're also this year we're working with them to help monitor and implement monitor and support implementation of

097the strategic plan and monitoring monitoring our progress not just student outcomes but as leaders we said we were going to do X Y and Z. Have we done X Y and Z and if we haven't what's our plan to make sure. So enhancing some of that leadership level support to make sure that our leaders are doing the work that we know is best practice at leadership strategies. So the other addition on there that wasn't on there last year is EL does an annual conference and this is if the board wants to cut this this is fine with me but I thought it would be a great recognition for all of our teachers that are named teacher of the year to have their have a trip to go to the EL national conference. It's in San

098Francisco this year. So any questions from the board? I'd like to not have this placed on the consent agenda. Okay. And want to be able to receive public comment and feedback from our teachers union. As I know there were some concerns expressed last year. Mhm. See how this year has evolved. Sure. Yeah. There are some principals in the room if they want to share any comments about their work with EL this year. If you'd like to hear from some of our principals. I'm also I'm interested to hear about the the school-based coaching. Mhm. And how how that was implemented and received by our staff as well. I'll let the principals who are more directly involved with that so let them share. Put him on the spot. Check check. Um So as a second year principal,

099I will say that the coaching is >> [clears throat] >> I don't know worth its weight in gold. To have a new model for us their coaching model through EL education is the way I think it should be done in any program that you would adopt. To have somebody like our coach is a former secondary principal at multiple schools and so they know EL in and out cuz that has been basically their career. And so for them to be able to coach me personally but then more importantly to coach our school improvement team by offering individual sessions for some of our like committee leads who are leading the work from all the things you've heard about related to like habits of scholarship and our development of habits of character. Next year we're moving into high

100quality work and for them to be able to provide protocols for teacher teams to be able to analyze student work, offer feedback and help design like authentic tasks and experience for kids. Without that level of expertise on some level it's like why are we doing this model? And so I believe in the model and the coaching really does enhance it deeply from my perspective. I was also lucky enough I just got back from Portland, Maine. Me and two other staff members were able to go see an EL fully credentialed school King Middle School and it was a really nice experience. One just to see another middle school cuz I don't get that opportunity very often but to be able to see a school that's been doing the EL education model for 25 years. It was

101really good to see that in action. The ownership that some of their students had in their work. The public audience that they had for some of their tasks was really impressive. Um but to your actual question, without the coach from my perspective, the work would be much much slower to get us to a point where change can really be um seen. The only I'm sorry, the only thing I would add is like the help with the work plan cuz that's, you know, I think that's Blair encompasses all pretty well, but I mean, D particularly with like Ashley and I, we spent a lot of time digging into that work plan, thinking about how it works at a high school. Um not that we can't do that with Maggie or anybody else, but it's just it's

102it is somebody from outside the district that we can have some hard conversations with that either will put me in check, which I know I need to be sometimes, or like a thought part partner to think about things in a different way. Ditto to what both of they said to you. Suzanne, we've had two. Suzanne has and um Dr. Tiffany have been available 24/7 to me for a sounding board or I hey, I need feedback on this. She they have helped develop our staff meetings, our PD. Um they've met with me, our crew our crew time. Uh and it really as a as Blair was saying as a first-year principal, really just helped guide me in this process and I don't know if where I would be. I'm not great now, but I would I

103would be a different place without that help for sure. Um let's see. Thank you for the opportunity to share. I will say the current EL coach that we have, Suzanne, has been very helpful. Um what I've appreciated the most about her is that she came into our relationship with a listening ear as opposed to um saying these are all the things that are wrong, but really trying to get to know our school, get to know our staff, get to know our leadership team. And I think through that process, she's been able to more effectively work with us to help build a work plan that really resonates with our staff. Um lots of great questions. Um no judgement, but the the process of um asking hard questions that then helps to create opportunity and space for

104growth. She's been a very helpful thought partner um in thinking through some of the reflective pieces I've had as a school leader on some of the things that I would like to improve on or um level up in terms of our school cultural co- culture and climate um um rigorous work for students. How do we ensure that the work is rigorous so that we can close those opportunity gaps and it's not things in theory, but how we can put everything in practice. So that's been very helpful. There are a lot of what I consider best practices, research evidence-based practices that EL has taken and put it all together. So we're not looking in different places to find those evidence practices. They're there and if we are unsure how to implement them, our school coach, Suzanne,

105has been helpful in helping us to think through ways to implement. So I have found that work to be very beneficial and impactful. I just wanted to add two more things. Dr. Cobb is always as right on the money. Um the two things I just wanted to to elevate are it is a framework, right? It's a set of research-based practices that are effective. And so on some level, it's like, well, if they just are, then why do you need somebody to help you? But from what Dr. Cobb said, um what I deeply appreciate about the coach is that they listen and they think about the individual context of our school, our system because the application of that framework is different depending on where you are. And so D does a masterful job of being a

106listener and thinking about how application in our context will be most effective. >> [snorts] >> Maggie, given the size of this contract and uh and that it is kind of the foundation of what what we are now doing as a district. Um at some point in the future, I'd love to see a presentation on just the, you know, whether there's data points or whatever to see how I mean, I know we're now into year two or whatever. You know, at some point to see just what what that implementation has been like, what data there is to support um the effectiveness, that kind of thing. Other questions about the EL contract. It will not be on the consent agenda, but it will be before us for a vote next Monday. Okay. Next, Mountain Professionals, Driver's Ed.

107Do we need any context perspective? Ms. April. Any questions from the board? Can it go on the consent agenda? A lot of silence on this one. Okay. Excellent. Um Waste and Recycling, Republic Services. Any context we need? Any questions from board members? I have a I have a few questions since this is my wheelhouse. I ran a quarter-ton trash company for 15 years. Um >> [clears throat] >> this is a renewal contract. How often do we renew with Republic? I knew when I made eye contact with you, you were going to ask a question. Um this is a yearly basis. Yes. Okay. Um have we sought quotes from any local companies, Republic being a national company? Not in my tenure in this role, um but I am more than willing to take that back to

108my team and consider that for next year. Yeah. We do have two local, actually maybe three local haulers. Um and you know, loving to support local if if they can give us a good rate. 100% agree. We have that is a goal of my department and we are working on towards that slowly. Yeah. Not as quickly as I would have liked, but >> Sure. No worries. Um and then I'm just curious with that this amount, the 120, um I know we have a little bit of a breakdown here. Um >> [clears throat] >> Sorry, I we're getting deep in the weeds, but this is the kind of stuff I geek out over. Um a 30-yard and a 15-yard are the same rate, unit cost? So do they charge us by the ton or is that

109a flat rate? I do not want to misspeak. I want to take that question back to my team and I can provide that to you in an email if that's appropriate. Uh yeah, that'd be great. Thank you. Um although I'm not requesting this be a it could be a consent item. Um >> [clears throat] >> And I guess the other question is how often are they dumping those front load containers, the waste unit, the recycling unit? Is it weekly? Is it for that rate? I I want to I yes, it is weekly. I just want to make sure that is also true. I do believe there are some times where it's more than weekly in some locations, but I can't remember that off the top of my head. I apologize. Yeah. No worries. Thank you.

110Um one one last question. Given the dramatic rise in diesel costs, do you know if Republic is factoring in these new fuel expenses to this to their bid? I do not know the answer to that question. I do know that some of our other vendors have. Right. Yeah. And so Later in the day. Yeah. And under like again, as someone who was in the industry, understandable. And also for a school district, I just want to make sure that we're clear that this is the despite the fluctuations in markets, that this is the rate that we'll be paying. That is the due diligence of the vendor and Right. So George, knowing she'll get you some more information, I think you said you were okay with it being on the >> totally okay on the consent agenda.

111>> to make sure. Um other questions, board members, are you okay with it being on the consent agenda? Seeing nods. Okay. Excellent. Um Tar Heel Paving and Asphalt, which is about the Asheville High parking lot. Context? I am curious whether we're doing anything with Danny's Dumpsters for composting. No, but I do know that Feast has been doing some smaller projects at our elementary schools. Thank you. Apologies, Sarah. >> That's okay. Questions about Tar Heel Paving and the high school parking lot. Comes from capital funds. I have a a question. I'll just go ahead and ask it. Parking lot repaving is one contract and then also at Asheville High there'll be parking lot resealing. Can you just at the level of like if somebody said why were those different? Sure. The parking the pavement project is

112starting at that one of the tennis courts and going all the way around. Um some other It's not the entire surface area. Some of the lots were already paved. This is just going back through and then sealing them in a stronger product to keep the life of what we currently have in place longer. That's the piece. I'm sorry. I think that I assumed that the paving was the was like all the parking at So it's a big I mean It's a huge project. Yes, ma'am. But it's >> where they're not getting paved and they're getting resealing. >> Yes. And we're resealing other lots across the district, too. For the same reason. Just to preserve the life of the lots. Uh April, it's just going to be done during the summer or are we going to

113wait until school starts? This is going to be done during the summer with a campus that's opened all school year all 24 12 months a all the time. So it's going to be joyous. We have a meeting tomorrow to finalize some of the fun things that we're going to have to do. But we'll do it. All right. Are board members okay with this being on the consent agenda? All right. Next we have Western Waterproofing which I couldn't get to open. So I don't know if you all saw it linked or not. It's linked. It's linked inside the document, just not in the agenda. So if you open the full list of contracts Okay. you can get [clears throat] to the live link. So any questions from board members, any perspective anybody wants to offer? Um

114Any questions? I haven't looked at this one, obviously, since I just figured out how to open it. So I'm looking to other board members. Do you have any questions? Are you comfortable with it being on the consent agenda? Okay. Um What I just want to know what's tuckpointing? The sealing of the masonry work on the building. Okay. Um Last is I'm sorry. I skipped True Blue, didn't I? I apologize. Going back. Um True Blue. More paving like things at different campuses. It's the season. Any questions about the contract with True Blue? Are we good with it being on the consent agenda next week? Last, Wild Acre Landscapes, lawn mowing and leaf removal. Any questions? I mean that's a giant increase. >> Yeah. And so I just I guess my question is have we looked at

115other vendors and sort of tried to compete this one cuz this looks like I understand we've had a lot of rising costs, but this is you know, not a this is not 100% but it's it's at least a 60-something percent increase. I did anticipate this being a concern. And in transparency, we work with this vendor we have for a long time. Did not have as big of a rise last year. But we they are a locally owned business and they are absorbing a lot of fuel costs. That's This is one of the biggest ones that I would kind of anticipated would happen. Um it is late in the season for us to open it back up, but we we could of course do that. We would have to work with them to be able to

116maintain the landscaping through the summer cuz it would be a hard turnaround for me to get that to you by June. But it is definitely something that we can consider. Um I did not anticipate this big of a jump. I'm sorry. One other question, if I may. Did you So this only serves two campuses? Mhm. Holy smokes. >> This is a landscaping. I don't want to be too The the high school campus is significantly larger and it is almost impossible for us to maintain. There's many old trees on that campus. We're trying to keep the aesthetics of that campus, the leaves, the It's an ongoing ongoing issue. We are still experiencing limbs falling from Helene. Just lots of things are happening that we really do need contracted services for that campus. My team cannot maintain

117that property. Can you address why then That makes sense to me. The high school campus is just immense. What is it about Dixon that requires this? Dixon did not came came on prior to me taking this role and from what I understand it was when the new campus was built, it was part of the maintaining of the the water retention pond, too. And just being really mindful about the way that the playgrounds are designed. Remember that's kind of a fingerling school. So there's different places. There's lots of different nooks and crannies, outside spaces. Like every classroom has outdoor space and it was just harder to maintain. And so at the time of opening that new campus, they decided to go with a landscaping firm instead of local. How do we maintain the other schools? Is

118it all in-house? It is all in-house, yes. Okay. Do you think you have capacity to add more? Or do you feel like your folks are tapped out? I feel I feel like we have a very strong grounds crew who does a lot more things than just grounds work. Um I am very proud of the fact that they have been fully staffed and have been for quite a while. Um I would if that happened, I would go to the superintendent and ask for more support for that team. I would ask for additional personnel. I do not think they could take on the high school campus. I think it would take a lot This is the machinery alone we couldn't could not do. Yeah, I was more thinking about Dixon and just I was just wondering if

119the staff you have right now had capacity to add Dixon. Look, as you said, it's late in the year. Uh this is just a little bit of a jarring figure for two schools. >> Sure. Um I understand. And I do appreciate the challenge of the high school campus. So two options. One, I can we can work with the vendor and see if they can just do a smaller contract to get us through the summer and go through the RFP process now. Or um we do we take this on as a priority for next spring when it's time to renew contracts. I have a question. Is there Will there be any information out of the facilities study? I mean I think that that's a way we're going to get some information about ongoing maintenance. And if

120Dixon has this very unique maintenance requirement, will we get any assessment of if that maintenance requirement continues to be what was expected at the time that the school opened? Just assessing if this element needs to stay cuz it might be a way to right-size the contract without I have not specifically asked that question, but I can work with the leadership team to do that and kind of work through those details. It Again, I think it's just more of the blowing the grass away from the doors. It's just a lot on that particular campus. And I'm speaking from memory, not facts. So I really need to go back and make sure that I understand that correctly cuz again, that was I was the principal of the middle school when that decision was made. So At risk

121[clears throat] of proposing something that nobody wants to do, how what's the likelihood of parents and community members being a part of grounds maintenance? I will tell you first hand that a lot of parents already volunteer and help. Like I think Blair can speak to that probably better than anybody. Um and it's just such a hard task. It's a heavy lift for parents, but they do do a wonderful job helping us with flower beds and things that of that nature. Thank you. Okay, one question. Who [clears throat] does Hall Fletcher? Our grounds crew. And wouldn't it be cheaper if we just turf Hall Fletcher one day? I mean, would it be cheaper overall over 10-year period? >> I'm I'm assuming you're referring to that the bottom field. Yes. There is a large water draining system

122underneath that field that prohibits us to being to make it a smooth flat surface across. Um but we are in the in the midst of a construction project on that campus, too. I'm happy to take that back and see if that could be considered. But right in that particular location will be where the contractors go for the project that's going to start this summer there. All right. Amy, would it be possible cuz I I just am I would it be possible to um have you consulted with your team about this number and whether or not this seems reasonable in light of everything cuz yeah. So, in transparency this happened pretty quick cuz we're trying one of my team members was out on leave for medical leave and he was kind of our point person. Another

123team when we got it back, another one of our team members took some much needed time off. So, there wasn't a lot as much time for us to really sit down and talk about it in detail. So, I wonder if we could does what's our timing on this? Can we wait until May to and give it what? I think April or cuz I was actually going to call the question. I think April offered she could go back and ask Wild Acres at what it just to give us a contract through the summer. Is that the same thing you're saying? >> No, it's not. But I did I heard that my um which I I think a a perfectly reasonable alternative. I just wondered whether with another month you know, there was the possibility of doing

124sort of an a better assessment of where this stacks up compared to others informally, not an RFP process. But I'm also good with doing a shorter contract with them and then you know, yeah. I understand what you're saying. I guess I just worry we get to May and we decide we don't want to go with Wild Acres for some reason, but we don't have another option. I mean cuz right? Even that would be the risk? That's yeah, but that's why I was asking. Is that something that we Anyway, I'm as I said, I'm good with you doing a shorter I don't love this for a year if we haven't done due diligence. My fear is that sometimes companies get institutions like schools and it's this contract that's renewed year after year without a lot of

125questions and they just it's up up up up and this is just a giant leap up. So, why don't we pull it from the for next week's agenda and I will work with my team to bring the board a new contract in June. They'll either reflect the work over the summer or reduce cost for the 26-27 school year or a third option that I can't think of right now. Well, and and I want to back you up on that. So, at this price point there are [clears throat] none of those companies that are just going to give you quotes. Yes. >> has to go through the RFP process because of those unique situations she's talking about. >> Right. >> That would all have to be spelled out and they'd have to comply with. So, it

126it is a time sensitive matter. >> Okay. Yep. Understood. Well, can you add some more property to that? I would prefer not to at this point. If we if we what I really would prefer to do is go next spring and do a more thorough RFP process. I have found that to be very beneficial in some other with some other vendors that we have historically used. It has either helped us strengthen our relationship and get what we need out of our current relationship with the vendors or we have found someone who could provide a better service. And so, I that's really what I would want to do. But given the circumstances in this unique situation, I would if the board is okay with me bringing back either a shorter contract with Wild Acre and do

127an RFP process over the summer or a reduced cost. One or the other. I'll do my best. Okay, last question. As the city school, your people on the as the city school staff does all of them except these two here, right? >> Yes, sir. All right. Thanks. All right. So, I don't know that I guess I'm just looking for consent. Consensuses it will not be before us next week. And April is going to look into this more and come back to us in June. Okay. But I do hear you suggesting that we go ahead and agree to this for a year. Is that kind of what you really want? No, I I will I will just bring it back in June. I will be really clear. I can communicate with Dr. Maggie and Sarah and

128get some information to you so you're we can talk about it more in the June work session. Okay. And I'll say just so it's out there, I would be fine putting this on the consent agenda. And I'm fine with this contract understanding like translating it into fuel costs and FTEs. But I'm also fine with um uh looking at it again in June. Okay. I think April's after all this asking that she comes back in June. So, we will not be before us next week. Thank you. Okay. And with that, we have reached the end of our agenda. And at this point, I would entertain a motion for the board to enter into a closed session pursuant to general statute 143-31811 for the following purposes under subsection A1 to prevent the disclosure of privileged and confidential

129personnel information pursuant to general statute 115C-319-321 and under subsection A3 to discuss matters protected by the attorney-client privilege and I will read the announcements. >> [laughter] >> I move that we go into closed session. Second. Second. Third. Okay. Um all those in favor of moving to closed session. Aye. >> Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. You see future meetings and announcements, early dismissal days. Um we meet next week and then we don't forget have three meetings in June on your calendar. Thank