001we're glad to have everyone here we are GNA call the meeting to order we have a lot of exciting things going on as we always do we are going to open the meeting with a reading of our Equity statement and I'll ask Rebecca to do that 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 thank you um all the members of the board are present so we have a quorum and next on
002our agenda is the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance yeah I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you I am going to clarify a few changes on the agenda and then we'll ask for a motion to approve the agenda we would like for all the um great things going on at Hall Fletcher to be next on the agenda which will precede the good news so we're going to flip that and then back in the um section six after we talk about board Norms there's going to be a discussion about the article 39 funding and then a request um to discuss a possible letter related to the Community Development block grant disaster
003relief funds so those two things will be added in section six with those revisions um is there a motion to adopt the agenda I move that we adopt the agenda as amended I second all those in favor I any opposed great the uh agenda as modified is approved and at this time I turn it over to whoever is in charge at Hall Fletcher thank you well hello members of the board Dr Maggie I'm Sean Benfield I'm the interim principal at Hall Fletcher and my interim AP had an IEP meeting that's probably running a little long so she's not here yet I'll introduce her so you see Miss Kelly McCarthy um it's going to be a little different and that's how I roll I like to do things different coming out of Performing Arts for 25
004years as a band director I like to Showcase things a little differently so it's going to be three parts the first part you'll get to see a musical piece that Mr Schmidt is going to do with our third grade then we'll take you on a field trip yay field trips right to VI view our art with Mr Lori finally you'll see our robotics team who is um four made it to States this year they'll be at States next week so that's a big shout out yes Shout Out woo woo woo goall Fletcher if any of those teams qualify at States then they get to go to Worlds which is in Dallas Texas and it's been a couple years since we've done that so we're we're really excited and hoping that that works out for these
005guys so are you ready here we go Mr Schmidt it's all yours buddy again thank you for having me um I'm Mr Schmidt I'm the music teacher at Hall fleder Elementary School uh just a quick note about what the third graders have been learning uh they've been learning a curriculum called drumming up character um and so it's got 10 unique rhythms that uh correspond withal character traits uh this was developed by dancing drum uh during a summer program with at RIS as atrisk youth in California um so the challenge was to uh create a curriculum that would engage and inspire students grades K through 8 to learn about good character and how to become a better person we've brought two rhythms for you today our fairness Rhythm and our caring Rhythm we hope you enjoyed
006[Music] everybody can you say fairness is the way be fair every day fairness is the way be fair every day fairness counts it's the way to be the same rules are there for you and me don't take more than your fair share listen to others and show you care be fair to you be fair to me it's the best way to act most definitely [Music] great job the last Rhythm we have for you is our caring rhythm [Music] c a r i n g [Music] caring is the way to be c a r i n g caring is the way to be think and care about someone else help someone before thinking of yourself don't run away from a friend in in need take by their side and do a good deed take some time
007to share your heart care for a neighbor and do your part [Music] great job third grade thank you stay seated right there all right members of the board let's go on that field trip so we're going to walk out this way you'll see the the art panels and Mr Lori he will kind of talk you through what the second and third grade has done and look here here's Miss McCarthy she made it IEP meeting's over say hey after you V see the artwork go see Mr fryer and he has our robotics team they're going to do a demonstration for you all right don't Mark say go just hold on just a second once our Schoolboard members get out you're more than welcome to go view that as well so join them e e e just
008can hear me okay thanks everybody for letting us go on a field trip we appreciate everyone from Hall Fletcher that came out to show us what they're up to um at this time I'm going to turn it over to Dr Kim deant to talk about good news in the district I am proud to say that we have a lot of great news happening in our public schools and it's always an honor and a pleasure to come share that with you every month first up we would like to congratulate Marta a call you'll come on up Marta was recognized at The Rotary Club of Asheville's people of action Galla for her work with marvelous math the awards were presented for outstanding achievement to individuals who embody a service above self mindset in our local region service
009above self is the rotary's motto and a huge congratulations to Marta for her work with marvelous math [Applause] in Asheville City Schools social emotional learning isn't just a lesson it's woven into the fabric of each school day from the warm greetings of our bus drivers to the personalized connections teachers build with each student seal is about fostering a true sense of belonging this month we're celebrating the countless ways our dedicated staff go the extra mile to nurture these vital skills in our classrooms and schools we are thrilled to announce that hotti Karns Chief finance officer at Asheville City schools has been honored with the 2025 Lou Thompson distinguished service award by the North Carolina Association of school business officials hottie's incredible 30 plus year career in school Finance spanning South Carolina Rutherford County and now
010Asheville City schools has made her an invaluable asset to the community her leadership willingness to share her expertise and dedication to fiscal Integrity truly embody the spirit of this award congratulations to [Applause] Heidi the Hall Fletcher robotics team has been hard at work preparing for the state robotics Student Competition on March 16th in Concord North Carolina this team made up of 24 fourth and fifth graders have competed in three tournaments this year and have placed in top 10 categories and received judges Awards recognizing their Innovation their creativity and most importantly their teamwork we are so proud of the Hof Fletcher robotics team and we are wishing you the best of luck at the state competition go cougars and if we have any of our robotics team if you'll come to the front so we can
011get a oh they're out there that's right [Music] um well yeah we'll we'll go on to the next one then we'll come back okay Asheville high school was filled with inspiration last week at the Asheville City Schools as the Asheville City Schools Foundation hosted author and poet Ross gay the event which included art and writing art and writing contest on cultivating Joy was a testament to the power of creativity and Community Connection with over 600 guest members present we witness the incredible Talent of our student leaders we are grateful for the foundation's commitment to provide opportunities that lift up student voices and Inspire and connect all of us and now I'm going to ask the Hall Fletcher robotic team to come to the front so that we can get a picture of you with the
012board [Applause] Asheville high and silsa students immerse themselves in the world of career possibilities at two Career Fairs hosted by the Career and Technical education department they explored Diverse Health related careers connected with college students pursuing medical programs enjoyed culinary Creations from the foods 2 class and connected with local professionals who show showcase the many cosmetology career options available in our community our CTE department is committed to providing students with Hands-On learning and real world opportunities fostering their passion and preparing them for Success upon graduation thank you to our CTE teachers and to Dr cheeks for making these opportunities available to our students and I don't see Dr CHS bway thank you curriculum crew day was a big hit Asheville City School staff participated in a districtwide professional development day at Asheville high in silsa
013this past Friday they started their day with a breakfast an opening crew activity and then all the staff had an opportunity to attend professional development classes from a selection of over 40 Choice classes led by Asheville City School staff and students thank you to the curriculum and instruction team for organizing a great morning of professional [Applause] development and it's social worker appreciation week last week Asheville City Schools celebrated our amazing School social workers who go above and beyond to support our students and families both in and out of the classroom our school social workers play a critical role in supporting the academic social and emotional well-being of our students School social workers are essential members of our school communities working tirelessly to bridge the gap between home school and Community this year their contributions have
014been nothing short of extraordinary to the immediate aftermath of the hurricane they swiftly mobilize Gathering and distributing essential items to our students staff and families their dedication didn't stop there they went on to to impact over 1,000 families during the holiday season providing food and gifts that brought joy and relief our Collective recovery as a school district has was made possible through their support and advocacy thank you to our school social workers for Bridging the critical gap between community school and home and ensuring that every student not only attends but truly thrives and belongs in Asheville City schools at this time I'd like to turn it over to Kim Robinson good evening oh it was supposed to be a surprise uh I would like to um acknowledge our school social workers and if we have
015any of them here would you please stand Miss Abby and L and I was trying to surprise levette levette's our lead social worker and I was going to um uh give a description of what someone said about her and was going to leave the name out but she's here so our school social worker of the year is Miss levette Campbell all of our social workers are amazing and it it was a really difficult choice and uh we're looking forward to uplifting all of our social workers throughout the year one thing that was said about levette levette is consist has is a consistent wraparound support for her students and families as well as her co-workers the is a team player and utilizes her skills to assist and best support her co-workers when in need no matter
016if it's a resource problem problem solving are just a person to vent to about things levette is highly resourceful when needing resources or Community funding for our students and families Miss levette is a true definition of a social worker a person whose job is to help people in a particular area who have social disadvantages or personal problems I highly highly nominate Miss levette [Applause] Campbell thank you you want anything I feel like this is a true honor but it's something that comes very natural so we don't really look for the recognition we look to put out the fire solve the problem and find the solution to best fit the family or whomever is in need so I would just say thank you so much um I feel like we have a wonderful group of social
017workers that truly have the passion to thrive and to make things better for those around us and I just want to thank y'all thank [Applause] you our alumni Spotlight for this month is last week Asheville High and of students and the student government Association interviewed Asheville City Schools alumnist Chris chalk Chris chalk is an accomplished actor director and producer who has starred in several award-winning television series like when they see us a drama series about the Central Park 5 and Gotham a DC Comics television show we are so proud of alumni like Chris whose passion and creativity was nurtured right here in Asheville City Schools thank you Chris for spending time with our high school students and for encouraging them to follow their dreams at this time I would like for Dr Ferman to come
018up here and help me hand out some certificates George Berg is receiving a certificate because he has successfully completed the North Carolina School boards Association Academy for school board members school boardmy George participated in over 58 hours of board training congratulations to George [Applause] next up are academic growth Awards our academic growth Awards go to Asheville High School D Hall Fletcher Elementary School and I have a feeling Shawn is still outside but Carrie if you'll come up and accept on his behalf Isaac Dixon Elementary School Asheville Middle School is Shannon here Montford NorthStar Academy and the school of inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville [Applause] we would also like to recognize Lucy s Herring for not only ma meeting growth but exceeding growth for the academic growth award [Applause] that concludes our Good News segment
019but we do want to remind you the Asheville City School strategic planning process has been underway since February please continue to follow our social media to learn more about upcoming events and how you can get involved as a student staff member family member and Community member following QR code will take you to the strategic planning page on our website so please stay connected as we work through this process of creating a three to fiveyear strategic plan for our school district thank you thank you Dr dekant for the good news at this time we're going to turn to public comment and I'm going to read some guidelines no what did I miss sorry Kim we will now hear about legislative updates so we go from good news to legislative Updates this feels like not a good
020shift but um I things are moving so rapidly not just at the national level but at the state level and so this is just to kind of keep you informed of what's out there what bills have been filed and kind of where they are in the process things are moving so fast um Friday I thought I had this wrapped up and then I got the Friday legislative update and I had to put four more on there so uh things are moving quick uh this is our house committee on education uh and we'll talk a little bit about them um when I go over a specific Bill uh but these are the individuals who are co-chair and vice chair of this committee uh all of these individuals um are um are registered Republicans and they serve
021in these roles the senate committee on education and higher education these are the co-chairs for that uh standing committe and well again you'll see some bills that have been filed this is the budget process during the long session this is kind of how they Pace it out and how they hope to hit that June date of passing a budget that's what we're hopeful for we know that doesn't always happen sometimes but that is the goal is to get is for us to have a budget by June and as you know in North Carolina uh we operate on a two-year budget and so they're they'll be working on the budget for 25 5 26 26 27 so this is what ncdpi has lifted up as part of their legislative agenda and that's higher teacher pay additional
022aid for schools in Western North Carolina whove been impacted by the hurricane uh also a moratorium on the expansion of opportunity scholarship program which we all know as vouchers and policies to support teacher retention across the St State uh we also there's several school calendar flexibility bills out there that have been filed um from various school districts and uh Representatives uh and hopeful that those will make good traction uh student health new pay structure for principles and restoring Master's pay some of the non-budget uh legislative requests are again that's the school calendar flexibility uh a portfolio requirement for for individual sinking principal lure uh DPI flexibility for placement of early literacy specialist eliminate the practice core requirement for admission to an educational prep program which has been a bar a barrier for a lot of
023individuals trying to um obtain their teaching license uh hold harmless ADM for districts impacted by the hurricane which would be significant for us uh eliminate uh school and District accreditation uh also looking at revisions to the C Mill program incentive hopefully which would work to our benefit uh study how to eliminate or consolidate required DPA and State Board of Ed legislative reports uh Sunset the textbook commission and also uh school districts would have uh a dollar allotment reversions for use and purchasing technology um House Bill 82 is the study commission uh for leas that are large uh there's five wake Charlotte me Guilford Winston Salem for and Cumberland County and so this bill would look at do uh for students who are in larger districts does it have a negative impact on the students and
024if so what would some of the remedies be to help those students in larger districts House Bill 150 is currently uh it's it has been filed and it's still in the house it's still in committee uh and that would just be to expedite Surplus property to educational organizations um I have a feeling this one is in there to quickly get um Surplus materials not just to public education organizations but anybody who has says they're an education organization uh House Bill 186 uh the Stars and Stripes commitment act require would would require if passed as uh the US uh and North Carolina Flags to be displayed in each classroom that uh we would have to recite the pledge within one hour of the beginning of the instructional day and as well as at regular meetings of
025the board every regular and special meeting of the board and that one has uh is in the house uh House Bill 887 is uh a cell phone free education policy and also uh the Senate has also filed a bill in in regards to cell phone use as well uh this would require uh school districts to adopt a cell phone policy um where we would eliminate or severely restrict student access and then we would not notify parents of that expectation at the beginning of each school year the bill that has been filed in the senate senate uh Senate Bill 55 has passed the Senate and moved on to the next step uh it has broader restrictions um cell phones tablet computers laptop computers paging devices I don't even know if our kids know what a pager
026is but and two-way radios and gaming devices um unless it's approved by a teacher for education purposes House Bill 192 um uh pertains to uh teacher pay raise it was filed on the 20 5th um by representative from Wake County and the the bill is looking at um 9,000 to 12,000 depending on years of experience um just the nature of the budget and how it works uh usually Standalone bills pertaining to um teacher pay increases don't gain a lot of traction because that's typically factored into the broader state budget um because they look at state employees and all of that so um not saying it can't happen but I definitely one to watch Senate Bill 204 would again remove the uh testing requirement for Teacher lure um it has been filed no traction yet um
027and um again would eliminate all standardized tests for Teacher license House Bill two which has bipartisan support uh would be for um school districts to accept cash at athletic events currently the majority of school districts use um you pay electronically and this um is a movement to go back to also accepting cash at these events as well House Bill 47 pass the house and the Senate um so it will go to the governor and it's an allocation of $4.5 million for summer programming for school districts who've been impacted by the hurricane in the bill um it's it's written to where only fourth uh it would uh summer programming would be available for students fourth through 8th grade um and students who have not reached Proficiency in reading or math uh or demonstrated proficiency on an
028EOG would get first priority but then you can also the way it's written you can also supplement with any other student who uh needs additional support the bill clearly outlines three hours of instructional time one hour of enrichment a period of physical activity we would uh be required to provide food and transportation pre and post assessment and if this passes we have to have a plan to DPI or I guess this one has we need to have a plan to DPI within 30 days PRI prior to our last instructional day so this one's time sensitive um House Bill 56 published central office employment information that would have to be po if this bill passes that would need to be po posted no later than August 15th of every school calendar year with compensation funding source
029salary travel reimbursements position title the date the position was created um the number of employees in that department um and so it clear it has clear outlines of what would need to be on our website if this bill passes House Bill 106 uh is revive the high need retired teachers program this bill um if passed only requires that retired teachers have a two-month Breakin service versus currently they have to have a six-month break in service it would not impact their retirement and they but the One requirement is they would have to be in a classroom providing classroom instruction House Bill 144 uh has been filed and that is to elect State Board of Education uh we currently elect our state superintendent and this would um is a proposal to um have an elected board as
030well the proposal uh if this passes if this bill passes they would put that proposal on the November 2026 VA uh ballot it would be one of those Standalone statements it says for or against and then once um the state voted if it passed then they would look at the how they're going to divide the districts um so that individuals could run for those positions on the board to represent the eight School District the eight Regional districts across the state Senate Bill 47 um increases access to sports and extra extracurriculars for all students whether you're homeschooled you go to a public school private school so for example if a student uh Asheville high is unique that has field hockey so if there's a school um near us that doesn't have field hockey um they that
031student can come to Asheville high and participate in field hockey if this bill passes it would then be up to the board to establish a participation fee schedule to um make up the difference or the cost for that individual not being enrolled in our Lea um and so they would have to pay a fee to come and play that Sport and you would have uh the board would have that published by October 15th of each year of how much the fee would be to play that sport in our school district Senate Bill 227 came out last week it's a bill eliminating Dei and public education each PSU shall certify annually and writing by September 1st to DPI that the PSU fully complies with the requirements and actions taken to achieve the compliance this this bill
032was filed by Phil berer and uh you'll notice that the two certifications uh the report annually you have to report by January 15th if this passes to the Joint legislative Commission on governmental operations and the oversight committee and at the beginning you saw those two slides all of the individuals on those slides support this and um they all sit on one of these committees Senate Bill 147 teacher license re reciproc um this would allow um teachers coming from other districts would no longer have to take the North Carolina test in order to get their license um we could take um hire teachers from other um states without making them go through and take our um assessments if passed Senate Bill 77 School contracted Health Services um this is one of the ones that just came
033out on Friday uh and it has a lot to do uh with IEP health services so there would be some changes there about parents have um well it appears based on what's been filed they have a more more of a voice in who is hired for those health services and then Senate Bill 223 the expansion of academic transition Pathways for sophomores um it just outlines more opportunities for sophomores to begin and um um obtaining their associates degree at the community college level um so it's just it's an expansion and then it's important to let your voice be heard advocacy uh is extremely important and now more than ever um Su State superintendent Mo green is hosting listening sessions across the state and he will be uh in the western part of the state for our
034region next Monday March the 17th at 6: p.m. at Haywood County schools at Tuscola High School um he is there to to listen answer questions and hear um feedback from uh individuals living in the western part of the state so I encourage you to attend if you can and um that concludes the legislative update thank you Kim we appreciate those updates and I'm sure they'll be more updates curious some of those bills might have cus a little um I'd like to invite a pause um for some of the legislature that has been shared with us um and there are multiple harms that um that are in those and I don't want to take up too much time to name all of them but I would just like to invite a pause thank you Liza at
035this time we will move to public comment and I want to remind folks of some rules um we're grateful for your interest in Asheville City schools and we welcome your comments to the board um there are guidelines posted on the signup sheet but please keep the following in mind please be respectful public comment is designed for the board to hear from you about school district issues impa impacting ashel City Schools so board members will not typically respond or ask questions employees and students are entitled to confidentiality and due process thus the board does not accept Personnel complaints or hear student matters in public comment please see our superintendent after the meeting if you have concerns about a specific employee or student matter so I am aware of nine people who have signed up to speak
036and there are no virtual speakers it may be that some of the folks are with a group and I just ask you to identify yourself if you're with a group the group can speak together and you have five minutes if you're an individual speaker you have three and there'll be a light at the podium um and so I first call on Samantha AOK hello um as you know in January the County Commission voted to claw back $4.7 million from our local public schools I gave my first ever public comment during that meeting because I felt compelled to help them understand the dire impact that decision would have on our schools including Luc s Herring Elementary where I teach kindergarten um I was disappointed but not entirely surprised when they voted to slash the budget anyways
037um and I never imagined I'd be here giving public comment again um to explain once more the devastation that would result from not having a fully funded budget next year um you're the board of Asheville City Schools and I know you understand the impact that those cuts have on your staff your students families the community um and I am asking you to commit unanimously as a board to asking the County commission for a fully funded budget for the 25 26 school year um I know every single one of you wants the same things that I do I want every student to have a sense of belonging and pride in their school we want our students to have their best possible education uh we want their basics needs to be met for our families to feel
038valued and supported within our school district and for our community to thrive as we bring future Generations up through a school system that meets individual needs and pushes them to succeed and we all know that that isn't possible without full funding for all of the varied supports that go into making our schools function effectively so again I asking you I begging you to please commit to asking the County commission for a fully funded budget for for next school year that does not allow for any cuts to staff or services for our students especially in the aftermath of Helen because otherwise we're going to start losing some of the amazing people and programs that make our school district such a fabulous place to work and learn thank [Applause] you thank you next is Christina shimrock hello
039I'm just going to hold it then uh my name is Christina shimrock I'm a parent to Penelope a third grader at Claxton and my son Luca will be at Claxton B hopefully in two years I'm a former educator and a member of the claxon social justice league auxiliary as a group we organize the districtwide event with the Community Partners such as Asheville City Schools Foundation United Way read to succeed in a CAE the event lifting The Veil The Power of public schools and the impact of school choice was to celebrate public schools and the amazing work that is done in our ACA schools each and every day as a group of parents and caregivers we believe strongly in supporting that only our kids school but public education in Nashville the state and the country the
040night included caregivers who are beginning to start their education Journey with their schoolage child some were there because they were about to jump into the unknown and sometimes scary world of Middle School some of them were there because of the overwhelming amount of news the shock and all of it all about what the future of public education will look like in our country our state and our city and how that then affects our kids our guiding question and planning for the event was do our values align with our educational choices and decisions let me ask this another way do your values align with your educational choices and decisions you wouldn't devote your time and energy as a board member if you didn't so to this end if we believe that public education is the great
041equalizer if we believe that our children deserve the best if we believe they are our future if this is what we value as a community then it is vital for our schools to be fully funded so tonight I'm here to ask for a no Cuts budget I EO all who are here who are come who spoke before me and after I know that you don't control the final budget we receive but I'm asking you to be honest with the services and the needs of our students I'm asking you to evaluate if your actions align with your values I know this is a difficult moment but our what our students and Community deserve now are Advocates who will take the Bold stance and vote to ensure our schools maintain the vital pre hurricane Staffing and service
042levels we we live in a time where threats to disant dismantle public education are no longer threats the quiet parts are said out loud that public education is not for the common good anymore it is our job to fight back Helen reminded us what community look like reminded us that we take care of each other so tonight we are here to show that democracy is not a spectator sport as a community we can fight back by fully punding funding our Public Schools we fight back by putting our values into action we do this by presenting a budget to our County Commission with no more Cuts thank [Applause] you thank you next is Laya paren pearlstein hold for you hello my hello my name is Lyla I am in first grade at Claxton our schools are
043in big trouble if we don't get more money soon we may lose a few of our teachers which is very important to us so I will explain what happened some people do not agree to give us the money we our schools need my teacher Miss Bridges drove four 4 hours through a tornado to ask for help for us we love our school and we do not want any changes we need to stand up for our schools and ask for the right amount of money I hope you will support us thank you for listening thank you Lyla next is Carson Bridges I'm right here good evening my name is Carson Bridges I'm a first grade teacher at Claxton Elementary where I have taught for four years and I am proud to serve as membership coordinator on
044the Executive Board of Asheville City Association of Educators tonight you'll hear from school staff parents and our students themselves that post Helen what our students need is more resources not less you have a really hard job right now and I can understand feeling like the odds are stacked against us but one of the affirmations we say in my classroom every day is that you can do hard things and our kids Futures are too bright and too important for us to back down in my class we joke that my work advocating for our schools is my third job I'm a full-time teacher I tutor after school several days a week and I spend almost every evening working as a union leader to advocate for our kids and our staff after pulling a 16-hour day on Wednesday
045to travel to Raleigh and Lobby for funding for our schools my kids asked where I was when I explained they immediately wanted to know what they could do to help to quote the former president of Planned Parenthood Cecil Richards one day our children and Grand children may ask us when it was all on the line what did you do and the only acceptable answer is everything we could this is one of those moments a moment that could Define our kids' futures for Better or For Worse our students are asking to help in this crisis our staff are ready to do everything we can and we need you to be all in and do everything you can to make sure our kids don't show up in August with less than they had before the hurricane the
046most important thing you can do as a school board member is to be honest about what our students need no matter what that means requesting a no Cuts budget that keeps our students whole by maintaining all pre hurricane staff positions compensation programming and services we have presented budget petitions to you before and today we are coming to you again as a United staff asking for a no Cuts budget because we know that we are stronger together imagine the power it would hold if the entire ACS Community stood United imagine if students staff families District leadership and school boards from both districts stood as one united front and said together with one voice our school children cannot pay the price of this hurricane we have an opportunity to come together in a way that we've never
047done before in a time that calls on each of us to do nothing less than every single thing we Poss Poss can for our kids and that's why we want to invite you to sign on to our petition tonight we can continue to come back to 85 Mountain Street and plead our case until the second you take your budget approval vote if we have to but I would rather spend my third job evenings figuring out how we can join for forces and work side by side to make sure that we get the funding that we need so the sooner you commit to adopting a no Cuts budget request the sooner we can shift our attention to the County Commission and to the state and the more time we have to use our Collective voices as
048school workers School leadership and school communities to secure full funding of your budget request for our district and our kids so if you're ready to sign on to the no Cuts campaign petition tonight we have a spot right here just for you we are meeting as union leaders tomorrow night for several hours and again early next week to develop a strong strategy to bring our staff and Community together to get our schools the funding they need and we hope to be able to share the good news at those meetings that we as a district are all on the same page and can begin to plan our next steps to win countywide Lyla is going to help me in giving each of you a copy of our petition a list of our 467 staff signatures as
049well as a petition signature sheet so you can make yourself the 468 thank you very much [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everybody thank you and I know she's passing this out but Lila hailes will be next hello my name is Leila I am a first grader at kton I am asking for you not to not cut money from our schools we do not want to lose staff so we can keep all of our classes and keep all of the things we like like the library maker lab art class and drama class we need to make sure we have the money for the things we need school is important to me because we get to learn how to tell time and learn how to read and write we need your support to make sure we have the things
050we need I hope you will help us good [Applause] [Music] job thank you Lea next is Carolyn small not sure how I'm supposed to follow that but I'll try my name is Carolyn small I'm the co-president of the claxon family and teacher organization um I'm here in that capacity tonight but also um here to present a letter that is signed by all of the ACs parent family groups supporting uh AC's fully funded schools budget request and also to let you know that you have our support as you continue to make these tough asks to the county I wanted to pass up the letter first I'll read it um so we can all hear it dear board members and superintendent Ferman we the fto and PTO of Asheville City Schools implore you to bring before the
051County Commission a 20 2025 26 budget request that ensures that all programming services and Staffing levels in our schools are maintained at pre hurricane levels as parents we have a front row seat to our children's education we know they cannot afford to lose any more support as or resources if we want them to thrive we're aware that bunkham county is predicting a $70 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year as a result of lost revenue from Hurricane Helen and we know that the state is the responsible party here the general assembly's failure to release critical relief funds and reimbursement are at the core of the problem we also know that the general assembly has a proven track record of failing B bunkham County and an even long even longer record of defunding our Public
052Schools while our Board of County Commissioners would have us accept this as an impass we do not believe that's the case there are options that the Commissioners can take to make sure our schools have the funds that they need the Commissioners can restore our City's School tax to pre-co levels which is 12 cents for every $100 of assessed property value they can similarly restore countywide taxes to pre-co levels they can find creative ways to Levy new taxes like that which Dr Ferman presented to you at the February 18th Board of Education meeting while our County cannot make up the entirety of its deficit there are steps that we can take to spec specifically raise funds for our school we saw how you are superintendent and the a the staff of ACS stood up for our
053community in a time of crisis in the aftermath of hurricane Helen you sprang into action and transformed our schools into Resource Centers that were critical to our community's recovery now it is time for us as a community to stand up in suppor of you we know that this budget request isn't easy nothing about this year has been but in times of Crisis we look to our elected leadership to take bold action and that is what we ask of you today as parents and as bunkham County taxpayers and community members we're asking you to be brave we know there is pressure on you to Institute Cuts but now is not the time to waver Under Pressure now is the time to be steadfast and to push the for the funds that our children need we Echo
054the petition that acae has brought forward and we ask when you go before the bunkham County Commission you request a fully funded budget that ensures that no preh hurricane staff positions compensation programming or services are cut in 202 2 or 26 additionally we ask that your budget proposal include reimbursement of the $700,000 clawback that took place in January of this year lastly we ask that you encourage our commissioners to restore City and County taxes to pre-co levels and to pursue other creative means of raising the funds our children need we bring this letter to you to show our support in making such requests as the elected advocates for our children we're counting on you to do what it takes to pursue the funding they need to succeed the future of Education lies in your hands
055signed um Ashville High silsa parent teacher organization ashel middle parent teacher organization Clon Elementary family teacher organization Hall Fletcher Elementary Family Team Ira Jones Elementary School family teacher organization Isaac Dixon Elementary par parent teacher organization and Lucy s Herring parent team and I would just finally want to add um that in these very difficult times for public schools as parent groups we are doing everything that we can um to help sing the Praises of ACS we are writing to our legislators and we are writing to our County Commissioners um we also know that enrollment is key and we are doing everything to encourage our neighbors and peers uh to consider ACS as the absolute best choice for their students we're giving tours at elementary schools we're holding Public School advocacy events we are um wri
056we are excuse me wearing our school gear every um if we can do more we're ready to step in and do more please use us in our networks to support you and your crucial work and thank you so much for everything you [Applause] do thank you and next would will be Kenley hers you're fine hi um I wrote a speech this time and I'm gonna try really hard not to add live okay um good evening my name is candle herps I'm a first grade teacher at Isaac Dixon Elementary um today I'm here to speak about a no cuts no butts no coconuts budget I did change the name of a little bit but I think it's better because I'm going to use that word again implore you to submit a budget request with no cuts
057to our County Commission every single day my colleagues and I are struggling we are struggling to meet the needs of our students we are struggling to provide adequate interventions enrichment and support we are struggling to put on a brave face in the morning before we go to school because we know there are not enough people in our building and we know that even if one person is out for whatever reason the day is going to get significantly more difficult God forbid anybody gets the flu again we had 18 people out guys 18 um it's even worse now that as a first grade teacher I don't have an IA I'm supposed to have one half the time because that's supposed to happen somehow um but if I have her in my room that means she's not
058in another room supporting another group of students and I can't do that in good Consciousness um last year my first grade team and I we saw an amazing growth of our students academic and personal growth we meet our goals for both tier one and tier two it was amazing um but this past year without a full-time IA has been my hardest year yet this is my sixth year teaching um and it was hard before the hurricane and I taught during Co like my first year during Co um I'm not able to consistently do any math intervention with my students um students that can barely add to five or write numbers to 20 um I'm not able to meet my students needs with trauma trauma that's now been compounded from the hurricane um when I'm alone
059in my classroom I've had multiple students leave they're loping and I'm stuck what do I do do I go after them I have 14 other students that need me to teach them do I run after them my other students are seeing this and they're counting on me to be the calm and responsible leader in that room they are trusting me to keep them safe and to teach them and it is impossible on my own if I still had an IIA the answer would be a no-brainer because I would have someone in my classroom with me who could either go support that student who needs help re regulating themselves or even could take over my classroom and teach them I don't even have anybody to watch while I go to the bathroom guys I'm so dehydrated
060um in events like this happen every single day it's not just my classroom I really wish it was my classroom only um we call code Nikes all the time um because we're operating on a skeleton crew I'm teaching from the door I'm constantly calling for Behavior Support my students needs are rising and I can't keep up with them alone every I'm G to keep going every day I feel like I'm failing my students my colleagues myself um I know you guys don't control our final budget but you do control how much you ask for um please be honest with yourselves with County Commission um please do your part for voting and submitting a budget request with no cuts to maintain our staffing and the service that our kids deserve please thank [Applause] you I'll call
061on shashana petler here's over here so they can see hello my name is Shana and I am a first grader at CL Elementary School I want you to ask the people who took our money away from our schools can we have that money back please we need money for our schools so that we can buy things that we need and have fun things like the make lab we need to have a enough grownups in our building to we don't want [Music] any teachers tooken a away because we love them we can do hard things and keep keep warning lots of of things but we not need your help I want to make sure we have enough money to keep being a great school because we need your help to get the money back that you
062thank you for listening at and I hope you help [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you and our last speaker will be Abby hubs hi friends uh well plot twist I was actually supposed to go first but here we are so good evening uh my name is uh Abby hubs I am a uh bus driver and instructional assistant in first grade gr at Isaac Dixon Elementary this is my fifth year coming this Thursday um and I sorry words are hard um so I know that I came in at the beginning of Co when everything shut down March 13th 2020 um and ever since then I've seen only a decline in our budget and um funding from the state and our County um I've also seen multiple impacts host Helen um both with our students and with our
063staff um we have a staff member who completely lost her house um but recently as of this past year as a first grade uh ia uh I have been split in between two classrooms um and doing the job of two people while on top of being a bus driver um this is not Dr furman's fault I just want to say that she's doing the best of what she can um however the challenges that the majority of my co-workers and I are fa are a direct result of undering underfunding our Public Schools since Helen more and more students uh need support and many of our staff including myself are very close to burnout um now that I'm spped between two classes I can see things that I'm not able to do for either of my classes
064because I'm either in one class or the other and things happen um I say this um our bels are already tight there is no cut to our schools that won't hurt students in their learning these students are the future there are artists there are Engineers there are leaders there are voters um why would we do anything but ask for the best possible support for them um we are here tonight to share the results of our no Cuts uh just commitment petition campaign over the last few weeks we have had hundreds of conversations with our co-workers and community members about the county commission's decision to claw back millions of dollars from our budget mid year and an unacceptable possibility of these cuts um will be normal in the future um which is ridiculous if you ask
065me we know our students need more resources not less in the wake of aling We Stand United with our colleagues in bunkham County as well saying that our children are the most vulnerable members of these of our community um and then cannot bear to shoulder the weight of the cost of this hurricane um so our petition as you have already heard uh is to fully fund the BCS and ACS um at the level that ensures our pre hurricane staff positions comp compensation programming and services are not cut uh in 25 26 and similarly maintain um the pre hurricane funding um let's see also to reimburse uh us for the 4.7 million across both districts um that was cut from us in January and to restore the Asheville City School's tax form from $10 62 to
06612 cents which was preco um uh to 12 cents per do per 100 of assessed property value um the petitions now has the signatures from a super majority of ACS staff members a unanimous sort from every PTO in our district and you are the ones that we are asking to request this money for not only us as humans but our students who severely need this support um um also we have a beautiful banner that was made I just want to point that out of the M of all of our wonderful signatures um and we ask you tonight to commit to proposing the true no Cuts budget of the County Commission this means the budget request includes the rising operational cost of our district faces and does not accept the County's clawbacks as the new status
067quo and honestly States what our schools and students need post hen we know that we are stronger and we when we stand together so let's stay Asheville [Applause] strong thank you everyone um again there's no virtual comments so that is the end of our public comments um next on the agenda are our consent items these are uh draft minutes from prior close session and work session this also includes student releases um it includes our summer program plan for testing and accountability the uh School nutrition request contracts memorandums understanding that we talked about um at our work session second read policies the Personnel uh report and the superintendent contract amendment is there a motion to approve the consent agenda I move that we approve the consent agenda there a second second all those in favor I
068I I any opposed the consent agenda is passed unanimously so at this time we will um move to section six which are action items and potential action items and the first one is returning to our board norms and and we spoke about these last week there was one change to the governance Norms they are back in front of you um I would be glad to declare these adopted by consensus I don't I'm not sure about that so we can do a more formal vote if we need to um are we good with these by consensus do we want to do a formal vote I am good with consensus I am I would not consent excuse me I'm not supportive understood okay so at this time um I will entertain a let's we'll do this a
069formal way if we could get a motion in a second we can have discussion and then we'll have a vote so is there a motion to approve the Norms so moved second second okay uh discussion about the Norms there may not be any further discussion I I think I've I've stated my objections at the work session um I am concerned about uh the board Norms uh being edited um and uh certain things being omitted I do not want to see the board siloed or separated from staff or from others and I want to make sure regardless of how we move forward with this that we maintain um uh an open doors policy with staff um and that we continue to be accessible to staff to families to parents and of course we work with the
070superintendent uh to resolve issues okay um so that yeah and then I'm also aware that uh the North Carolina General statutes um require us to do more than just the proverbial hiring and firing of the superintendent that we have true oversight responsibilities and we want to maintain a culture of 360 accountability so that's just you know any way that that Norms get in the way of that is there's a lot of good stuff in here I just don't want us to sequester the board from the rest of the district I support those sentiments okay yeah but the the rest of the board Norms I'm I'm in agreement with us doing our our level best to adhere to them but I I do want to Echo the sentiments especially of remaining accessible and having an open
071door policy um to hear from all stakeholders so I will just say that I don't I mean I would love it if you would be a little more specific about the board Norms that you think interfere with our duties to govern which is not to run the schools but to govern um I don't think that there's any statute that requires that we uh I think that we should and are accessible I think all of us are accessible um to teachers parents stakeholders anyone can reach out to me anyone can reach out to any of us the issue with what the board Norms require is simply that we convey those concerns to the superintendent or her design so that's the way I understand the board Norms that they don't preclude us from hearing from any stakeholders
072but they ask us to respect the position of the administrators in the buildings in our schools and in our central office and I know that I personally when I took this position viewed my job a little differently than it turns out that it is um and so we all want to jump in and fix everything that's sort of the nature of problem solvers and people who are likely to run for positions such as this one and um what I have come to appreciate is that when I walk into a school I am treated differently than I was when I was just the parent of Elizabeth Vivien Langston or Ben um and I am disruptive in a way that was is surprising sometimes but it is in fact the case so I want to respect the
073the leaders of our schools and I just don't see anything in here that would stop us from receiving any concerns at any time and making sure that the persons who are responsible for assessing or dealing with those concerns or notified about them and I also think by the way that it doesn't stop us from following up with Dr Ferman if we're wondering whether or not something has taken has been handled um so I guess what I'm wondering about is do you just distrust because I think that fundamentally we have to trust our superintendent and her team and our school staff thank you other to add to it I believe that we discussed last week that we'll give it at least a opportunity a chance to go over the norms and we have a year to
074change them at our next uh in January we're going go to our next um Retreat what what was it Retreat yes so I don't think nothing is wrong with giving it a chance um I think we should uh take notes within now and next year and bring you back to the table and we will uh delete those that need to be deleted and add what needs to be add but I think just having Norms I think it'd be good for all of us at least give us a TR else I think i' I'd like to invite Amy's first question which is was I agree with that the Norms are helpful and they give us sort of an understanding of our role in a way that in will promote a type of operation in our district
075where the staff know what to expect they can feel confident that their time is theirs they know how to do their work and that we can have an open door to hear from anyone at any time that somebody I mean we got our training from the lawyers about what to do people are going to tell us stuff and that's the idea tell it to us and then what do we do with it in a way that supports really excellent operations for our district so I'm I would like to know for anyone who feels that they can't agree to these Norms what is it specifically that doesn't work for them we which Norms give the impression that you can't operate in the way that you were saying you want to be able to operate I think
076everybody said what they wanted to say I'm gonna call for a vote did you want to say something okay um at this time if uh please indicate if you are in favor of approving our board Norms I I I I okay those opposed nay okay can I ask a question yes um just because like I know this wasn't it's unless this was a formal action now that now that these Norms have been um agreed upon by the majority of this body similar to other action items where someone might have a nay vote is the expectation that everybody now on this board uh abides by those Norms that is correct I just want to make sure that's clear thank you it's my understanding that the board has now approved these Norms as what we will work
077under and we ask that everybody abide by them um the next item on the agenda is a proposed letter that I circulated ahead of the meeting um just to recap there is discussion with state legislators about article 39 funding which we receive and is part of the school Capital fund and there had preliminarily been a bill that was maybe going to be in the house it turns out the bill was filed in the Senate um I've been in communication with the chair of the bunkham County School Board um and we have a proposed letter that would be sent to our state legislators both in the house and the Senate as well as to the County Commissioners expressing why we um offering more perspective on article 39 funding the harm it would cause if taken away
078and asking that the bill not proceed so I don't feel they need to read it out loud um but I would take comments from folks about the letter as presented and my assumption is after we talk the bunkham County School Board meets again this Thursday and there may be some further back and forth so at some point if this board feels comfortable with it giving me a little discretion to amend as needed um and last thing I want to say is we will be adding some specific Asheville City examples about capital projects but I don't have those yet to right so now comments thoughts I I support this I was concerned that it was specific more to bunam County and its details so I appreciate with that said that we can add some language about
079Asheville City Schools I think it is um I appreciate the reasons that we need to um ask that no none of our that that the funding that was dedicated to capital projects remain that without any diminution of any other funding that would come to the schools or should come to the schools I also voice support for this um one piece that we might consider adding would be um if the state were to or if the um Senate and House were to um redirect the article 39 funds uh perhaps they could stipulate that our Capital funds are replaced out of the state uh the state's 1.4 M 1.4 billion um Community Development block grant um disaster relief funding um that would address some concerns um about lost Capital funding and that particular piece isn't in there
080right now I guess my my only concern with that is that if we can get funding from the cdbg drr funds I'm not sure why we would in other words we should be getting all the funding we can so I don't know why we would agree or support the shifting of of um the article 39 revenues and then ask for it to be replaced by cdbg grants that if we are if we have needs that qualify for that those grants then we should be asking for those in addition to that I just don't want it to reduce our chances oh of getting more funding yeah I think it would be if if they're going to take funding away then do we in this letter mention that we would want a priority on on the block
081grant funds or is that a different ask at a later time I'm not positive the legislature has any control over the cdbg Dr grants I mean I'm that's true actually sorry I I don't know that they have any control it it may be that there are State administrators who can make sure that our Capital funds are addressed there but this letter is fine as it is in my opinion okay okay I got one question yes sir uh we heard from The ncae Today is there anything that we can add to it according to their comments that we just heard from I I mean I think they're still in the room I think they would with us saying that the ACA and probably bcae support the request is that what you're sort of asking Jesse that
082would help the the letter to show we have their supp I mean it shows how many it shows that NCA is supporting our request I just want to be careful we are kind of putting NCA on the spot here because I'm looking at right no I mean we have most of the information right here that they gave us and and we heard most of the comments from the ncae so is there anything that we heard that we could add is there anything I I appreciate what you're bringing up and I think I'd like to just offer that it's not going off the table even if it's not decided tonight Sarah has discretion this this is a draft and so for your group to take the I Jesse's made an invitation that I hope you'll consider
083and then take your time and let us know yes I think that's a great idea and there's no urgency in this moment for you to from the audience like you know take a vote of the yeah yeah it's a great idea yeah thank you for bringing it up it's it's a great idea and and just to to be clear for public record we want to say what we were presented by so many members of um ACA today was was funding that I would qualify as more operational funding right and here we're talking about Capital funding that it's a completely separate thing so um uh just to understand that by asking for article 39 that bill to um to stay as it is as opposed to amending it um affects more than anything the capital funds
084that are approved through the capital fund commission not operational funds that are approved by bunkham County Commissioners themselves thank you George so is it fair to or do we have a consensus that this is we're good with this and to share this letter with ACA uh AC CAE and bcae so that they can look at it um at their next meeting correct I think what we can do again I still um some additions need to be made to this letter I'm happy to send a draft to you guys um and BC excuse me the bunkham County Schools needs to talk about it again so it'll be very fluid I think what I'm hearing is if appropriate and given permission by the bcae and the acae we could add to this letter that you all are
085in support of this and I think George I'm just making sure I was tracking what you're saying this letter is very specifically about article 39 Capital funding and so it's staying focused in that way um I think there are probably other things we would all like to say to the legislators and we may need a second letter where we take up some other things um I know I and I apologize I don't know even where I saw this today um but the request to freeze prior year ADM and some of the things I know they talked um you guys talked in rale about so I think what I'm hearing from this board is this letter is going to be very specific to article 39 I will share it with the representative organizations and um accept
086their feedback and I'm if they say they're on board you guys are good with that is what I'm hearing okay so um would somebody make a motion that this letter or some similar letter would be acceptable to the board I move that we vest our chair Sarah thornberg with the authority to tweak the proposed letter and then submit it um with our support I second any other everybody in favor I I I opposed I okay thanks I'll keep everybody posted um last I'm adding at the request of um Pepe uh a potential action item with the board and I'm just going to read your email pepy and then you can clarify anything um sending a letter requesting the city of Asheville to amend its cdb gdr draft plan by adding the words Child Care preschool
087sorry these have quotation Child Care preschool and local educational agencies in the context of capital projects and Workforce Development and for context the current draft only includes higher education so we would be writing a letter that asks that these other um items I'm sorry I'm not using the right words right now um these other um contexts be appropriate so what is the feeling of the board about that letter I need to know more yeah do we have access no you guys didn't I'm sorry no um apologies Pepe had asked this to be added to the agenda and so that's why it's here and so I I could forward you all this email I apologize and maybe it's not something we take up tonight I just session may I speak to this I'm sure yes yeah
088so the city of Asheville released its draft plan last week and doing a um a find uh on the PDF yielded no results and doing a a a review of IT yielded no results for preschool or schoolage facilities um it just focused on um or it it just included infrastructure for higher education like abtech um and Workforce Development like abte and to provide future flexibility and allow us to apply for funds what I'm suggesting is that we simply do a request with a letter at the chair's discretion to ask that they add in preschool child care local educational agencies or whatever phrasing the super the um superintendent and the board chair think is appropriate just so that we have the option to reply to apply for the uh um $225 million in city of Asheville
089Community Development block grant uh disaster relief funds I support that I I just need to still know I all right in a past life I drafted a cdbg grant I drafted the cdbg grant that went from the city of Asheville related to homeless services and so what I know about those funds is that they are very specific and I'm assuming that the disaster recovery Grant funds are also very specific and I don't want to uh I'm I'm fine with I absolutely want us to ask for anything that falls even arguably within the four corners of what these funds are for what I'm seeing when I just and I think my ultimate recommendation is that we table this I don't feel comfortable myself recommending a letter until I feel like I understand because when I pull
090up the website I'm seeing housing economic revitalization and infrastructure and what I'm not sure about is whether the infrastructure has to have been damaged by Hurricane Helen in order to be eligible for the funds and maybe our Melissa het knows or somebody else who deals with these grants knows and I just feel like maybe I need more information but Dr Ferman can you comment on any of this from what we've been able to glean so far it would only be capital projects that have been damaged by the the hurricane that's what we know so far we are working on um the FAQ that was requested at the last um at the work session so that was going to be ready for the board at the next uh work session but we are collecting that trying
091to gather more information um to make sure you've got all the information you need and is there anything that that you're aware of with the timing of this that means we need to write a letter now as opposed to later um not that I'm aware of but I haven't looked at the timing yet we have a a 30-day clock that's already started and so it may be that the next work session could fit into that clock but it is a tight clock and I think the next work session may be a few days too late for the plan in my conversation with the manager of the plan and I think this may have been after uh Dr Ferman uh talked with the same gentleman um there was openness for supporting infrastructure that would support Workforce
092Development so early childhood could fall into that category or Child Care um but uh that's why I was suggesting that we leave it to the board chair's discretion or the superintendent and the board chair's discretion but just so that they have the latitude to submit a letter if it is helpful so I'm going to offer comments just simply as a board member um my inclination would be to submit a request for what we want and need I find it um I don't know why they need me to suggest that they change the parameters of their grant that feels presumptuous of me to say would you after all the community input that you've received do this differently and then we have to wait to hear from them to know if we could make a request I
093I'm just telling you personally I feel like why don't we just ask for what we want and in the ask we could say we're going to inter I'm just I'm just hear me out um so I I offer that I also just want to put out there again speaking only as an individual board member I see things like preschool and child care and I know those are programs that we've discussed I don't know that we've even and I say we but I mean Dr Ferman and her staff I don't know what the plans would be to do with those I mean I we have a lot to say grace over these days and so I'm a little much like well anyway I'm just sharing with you where I'm personally sitting with this the other thing
094that I'm curious about and as someone who administered um cdpg in my in a previous job meaning that I file all the paperwork we did you know um most cdbg grants are if if you comply can be Perpetual my understanding of these cdbg Dr grants is they are not permanent I mean it actually says it very clear they're not permanent and so if we are requesting funding for something like say Early Childhood that that is something we do in perpetuity I wonder what that would mean for us once those funds have dried up um and what would that mean for Budget years down the road so I'd have some curiosity around that which just leads me to to the final thing about like I feel like this does need more discussion to find out some
095de more details from the city of Asheville and then we can have more discussions about it to answer a couple questions um uh in the information session this 30-day period is the public feedback period for defining the grant so this is our opportunity to provide feedback if we want the grant to include language that is different than the language it has right now and that 30-day clock is as I said ticking the period of time covered by the grant is a maximum of six years and so that that may be helpful in in understanding how big the scope can be I'm just trying to assess where board members are and at some point we may just have to have a show of hands but I'm hearing from some that they're simply not ready to um
096move forward with this until they know more which is you know just means we'll wait and gather more information in the April work session um so sorry to interrupt you Sarah to Pep's Point we've got there are three input sessions in the month of March I I just found this on the website March 19th is for housing March 24th is for economic revitalization and March 26th is for in infrastructure um so so um yeah so um so I do hear Pep's concern like waiting till work session if there are opportunities to provide input so um I I think what for me it it um boils down to is this something we do formally with some kind of letter or is it something where we're showing up to these and asking questions as staff as board
097as just members of the community to say can we get some better definitions or definitions that might support this District better um that doesn't answer what you're trying to get to Sarah but I just wanted to bring that up I think that one of the challenges that I'm having as I'm thinking about this again is kind of going back to role and what our role is and so I feel like I'm really in support of our district seeking any funding we we can and I feel like it's well it's right in the heart of what our superintendent and her team do which is to look for funding sources and discern which ones make sense for us to apply for so what I would prefer is for to ask Dr Ferman and her staff to just
098to look into this to figure out if there's anything in here that we could possibly apply for and then we can always call a special meeting as we have many times in the past if it turns out that they're like oh yeah we think we could do this and we believe that the board's support for this is helpful then then I think we can meet and offer that support otherwise I feel like it's the same as any other Grant opportunity that we can pursue and the superintendent and her staff pursue great for us successfully all the time um so I I don't know that I appreciate I want to say that I really appreciate the creative thinking and I feel like it's not really in our realm unless the administrative team feels like we can
099offer support can can I appreciate that Amy I feel like that's helping it's certainly helping me to sort of Imagine because I want to go after after any funding we can right I don't want to ever leave money on the table and I think what I've heard is that there is sort of the the time to write the grant but we're in the pre- leadup to that right now which is the city is having to Define what will be allowed to be and so I'm curious or I'm offering that the question is Maggie Dr Ferman and her team to because we just don't have enough information with this coming on the agenda without anything for us to read or consider or research on our own but again our role would be asking for your input
100and your looking at if if it looks like we're blocked out of this grant if your assessment is we're they've written this in a way that and from my perspective I think at this moment it's Lea's because that's we run is an laa um and that then we'll rely on the staff to assess it and tell us and then maybe we would think it's the right thing to do is to ask could leas be eligible for the money but I don't have enough information to know why it's not there what it means that it's not there in this moment does that align Amy with with what you were thinking or have I moved it into a different place it does with the caveat that um always with federal grants of course they they Define their
101own parameters and so my only I so yes except I think the question really is is the Federal grant parameter something that we can fit within and if Dr Ferman and her team say yes there is even a creative way for us to make that argument awesome and we want board support thank you excuse me I'm hearing that we are not ready to commit to vote and approve this we'd like more information we remain um interested and willing to move fast if needed but we'll just await more information from Maggie it's your sense that that we'd rather call a special meeting than give you the latitude so we could do a special meeting where we discuss it is it is my sense from it again and I can do I'm happy to do a formal
102vote I'm hearing from several people that they want more information so I feel like they're going to have to have a meeting to receive information that's the part I'm I don't see us handling this by email terribly well in in my feeling of it I would be excited to have that meeting okay I think we will gather more information and just decide um what we do next everybody okay with that just looking around okay thank you for allowing this on the agenda yes okay I am very cognizant of the fact that it is a long day of the first day of a time change and we are now at superintendent report right thank you very much um hopefully this won't be very long but just wanted to update the board on a few things um
103we've been working on several reform policies um the first one evaluating student progress which is basically how we Define our grading practices um so my recommendation to the board is oh I had a typo in there two four instead of 34 um is as I've looked through the um what's in the policy um is that when we come to the April board meeting or the April work session that I bring a first draft for a first read and that this draft um policy include some best practices when it comes to how we assign grades and some core beliefs around grading um and I'll have some more information and share this with the board and I'll get you the information so you'll be ready to process this along with how some of the input I've gathered
104from several stakeholder input sessions um but these five core practices are kind of as I've done research on high quality grading practices really Define what you should have in your policy when it comes to Equitable grading practices the first one is that it's accurate making sure grades reflect and are can be reported accurately number two is that all grades should be reflection of student progress and their proficiency on the academic standards third is that they support a culture of rision which helps support and motivate students um the fourth one is that um all grades should provide students with timely and actionable feedback and then the last one kind of links to me in my in my brain to to the second one where you really pull out what are those what I what I've always
105called habits of scholarship from the ends or the grade so we want to make sure that that grade is accurate and it reflects student mastery of progress not did the student turn in all their work not was the student in school every day not did the student um you know not come to scho class prepared so really teasing out what are those habits of scholarship that we very much know are essential for students to do well in school but they don't reflect progress on Mastery of the standards so then we would work with our team to say okay here are these let's say five um habits of scholarship and we will report to parents on how the kids are doing how our students do on those habits of scholarship because those help them perform better
106in school so kind of teasing those out but making sure that they are separate um so I will draft and I'll have a presentation ready for the work session but that's just wanted to update the board where we are there um and what my recommendation will be so what I'm doing right now is collecting feedback um I've met with principals I've met with District leaders I've met with the ECA um and what the next step for this is is the ECA and the principal will work together to present some information at their schools to their staff and they'll be collecting that information um with these two questions in mind so are these five principles aligned with our values and beliefs as a school district and are there any other principles that we should think about
107including as we kind of put these into into policy um the other thing happening kind of continuously with this is working on the procedure so what are the procedures that we have as a school district when it comes to grading and how grades are used so we're collecting that information at this point reviewing what that is um so then I can um present to the board an updated policy for first read um at the April work session so next steps for the board um is to review that proposed grading um policy once it's sent with the accompanying information about those five principles also the feedback that we've gathered um and that we'll discuss that in May and be ready for a second read um discuss that in April and be ready for a second read
108in May um so that any questions about the grading policy where we're headed with that okay then the other policy that we've been looking at is uh policy 3420 which is student promotion and accountability so a few months ago I did an initial policy review with the educator advisory Council they gave some feedback um so what we've been doing in the past you know couple um months is doing some research what our best practices when it comes to drafting language um to review what are the good benchmarks or things that we should put in place when it comes to promotion criteria what are our beliefs around promotion um so then this very next EAC meeting I'll have the promotion Benchmark draft procedure and policy to review with EAC and then similarly they'll do another round
109of input at their local schools to gather feedback that I will bring back to the board um so as I've been doing some work on just research on best best practices when it comes to benchmarks and what is policy versus procedure um my recommendation to the board is that we include in board policy that some core beliefs and values around promotion so I've included just a quick summary draft of of what those would be and those right now for your consideration um and discussion in a following work session would be that our promotion benchmarks um and procedures promote a high quality a high academic standard for all students that we ensure that each student has access and opportunity to a highquality education um that we are implementing a systemwide accountability to verify that each student
110has that access to highquality classroom instruction and is it aligned with our national state and local standards to make sure that every student has the opportunity to reach or exceed these grade level standards and um the next one is that we want to make sure that these procedures ensure that we are having an early identification of students who are not on track to demonstrate Mastery of our benchmarks and that we have a systematic approach to interventions to avoid retention because in my core belief I do not believe that retention is a is a good way to help students get to mastery um but we need to approach it with our interventions early um and that we also want to make sure that our um educational objectives are met in a fair and non-discriminatory manner so
111that is um kind of an update on where we are with those two reform policies any questions or comments on the reform policy work um next up just wanted to update the board I am in the process of forming a student advisory Council we sent out applications through parent Square to students um one of things principal Johnston and Edwards and day they helped support that effort by um kind of reaching out to some students that may not normally be the ones that you apply but we would want to make sure we hear their voices um and right now this cohort is our inaugural cohorts I'm going to start this year with just grades um students in grades seven through 11 and then next year we'll add um additional students to get all the way down
112to fourth grade um and add up through sixth grade students are going to serve a two-year term and we will have our first meeting in April um strategic oh and one of the first things that those students will be reviewing is the promotion and Grading to get that you to get the student perspective on those two policies uh strategic planning update uh we are well on the way to building our strategic plan in those initial phases um and we are going to be sharing more detailed updates as we go we're getting to the point where we need deeper Community input and attendance at various events um so we are right now kind of that march to April which is still kind of ending the taking stock understanding our history and then building that stage of
113the shared vision for what we want to get to um and then there'll be a phase um starting april-ish uh where they are synthesizing all of that information to put in a general um report and then the next phase when we say we're mapping the current state what that means is we'll have built this shared Vision we know where we've been we've built a vision for where we want to go how do we then get from A to B what does that what does that look like um so that is kind of what do we have that we need to keep doing and what are the things that we can say you know what that's not getting the results we need we need to pause or stop those um various initiatives or things that we've
114been doing um and then after that piece is done um then starting in July it will be school-based teams that are really moving forward and taking that plan um and developing action plans to put it into place and um that was it for the update this evening any questions or discussion Maggie I have a question about um that's brought up by this timeline and thinking about how the district excuse me is is sharing opportunities not only through par and square but thinking about like I for example because of their policy changes have eliminated anything related to meta so I'm not on Facebook anymore I'm not on Instagram and I know there are other folks out there who have done the same yeah um that leaves a very small um opportunity for social media engagement so
115are there ways that the district is doing other things to get the word out to parents to community members Etc yeah great question and that's what we're um getting ready to brainstorm about so do we have Flyers at each school things where we can hand out um Q QR codes or cards with information so parents can say oh yeah are doing this going to do go to um different events or meetings and making sure people know like here's how you can provide information um for the for the um strategic plan but yeah we are working on a wider reach of community um community outreach I guess is what I'll say thank you Maggie that's really good information and it's you've been saying this was coming and it's exciting to see and it'll be exciting to
116put it in place and we appreciate that um I note some announcement at the end of our agenda uh optional teacher work day Monday March 31st we will have our next work session on April 7th spring break is the 14th through the 18th our next regular meeting will then be Monday April 21st and these meetings are all linked on the website and at this time I would entertain a motion to adjourn I move the we adjourn second all those in favor I any opposed the eyes have it um thanks everyone for being here