Board of Education Meeting - June 7 2016 - Part 3

001J.C. Rowe Center Update, Appendix W. Dr. Markley. Real quick before we roll into J.C. Rowe, I do want to give the board and the public a heads up on a piece of legislation. In the proposed Senate budget, there is a proposal to redefine year-round schools to only be multi-track schools. That's very concerning to me for two reasons. One is we have two choice schools that we've had for a long time that are year-round, but we also have now four of our high-poverty schools that we are moving to year-round to address what's commonly called summer loss. And so if that definition of year-round stays in the budget, it would require single-track schools such as ours to revert back to a traditional calendar. So as part of the superintendent's report, I wanted to bring that concern to

002the board. So if you see one of our local legislators out there, please have a conversation with them. I have not. It's in the budget piece, so it's not a separate piece of legislation. Which budget? Both of them? Just the Senate. Just the Senate. So it may be that it's a negotiating piece when the two budgets come together, but it's not a single bill that I can attach a sponsor to and try to get a guess as to the rationale. How does that affect the budget? What it would do for what the concern it doesn't affect the budget but there are lots of items in the budget that Don't affect the budget. There's also in the budget a rule around hiring out of state teachers that'll make that much a much more complicated process so

003Lots of budget items don't look like budget items mr. Shell as the Association of school board folks, have they taken a position? Yes, Leanne Winters sent out a survey two days ago, and that's the first time I'd actually seen that. So like I said, we have six year-round schools that are single track, because they're multi-track to address overcrowding. Ours are to provide choice options and to address summer loss at high-need schools. So they're not multi-track. So the legislators need to hear that that's going to be counterproductive. Yes. Okay. And so I'm going to send it. Excuse me senator Lee would understand because his children went to Coddington as I recall So if I had the board information, I would like to send a letter to our delegation Expressing our concerns around this. I don't think

004there's any objection from anyone is it? Because I heard about it yesterday and I'm still trying to figure out why I mean it doesn't make sense That they would take a choice like that away. I mean there are many systems around the country Their whole system is year-round, you know k8 they were not necessarily the high schools, but k8 they'll put them on that nine three that Because I think educationally it's very sound I just I couldn't understand unless there's something I'm not aware of as to why someone would make it mandatory that we do that Thank you for giving me a few minutes on superintendent report just to bring that up Now one of the items that our next item is JC row and I'm gonna turn this over to dr. Holiday. Good evening

005We're excited to be here tonight to talk about this. In fact, as we bring this thing forward, it loses a little bit in the translation, but in an ancient manuscript it says, how beautiful are the feet of him who brings good news. Well, we bring good news tonight because we've been working on this for some time. And I am happy to have Mr. Glenn Locklear. who you all graciously allowed us to hire and bring on in March. And he has been exclusively working on this project with the members of my team, especially Mrs. Lisa Morris and Mr. Julie Askew, my two directors. And his little temporary area has been parked right outside of Ms. Morris' office. and they have been collaborating and working and we've been talking about this for some time. Now, what I

006want to tell you, Mr. Locklear is going to make his presentation and I'm going to leave him alone and let him make his presentation. And understand that some of these things we're going to be working on. This is a work in progress. But we, Mr. Locklear has been going out into the community and talking to different groups about this and has been getting just tremendous. Positive feedback from our partners in the community about this particular Program, so mr. Locklear Come to the presentation and we'll take any questions that you have after you finish Thank you for the opportunity to come and share a little bit of information about JC Rowe. Before I start and get into the meat of the presentation, I want to share with you that the principles of the programming that we've

007developed so far, they're rooted in research. Over the past 90 days, I've basically been in this position for that long. We've conducted a needs assessment survey with the middle and high school principals on what they're looking for out of our program in terms of the two suspension programs. I've conducted a number of meetings with various systems of care and action groups that have vested interest in their community. And I've researched a lot of programs, not only in the state of North Carolina, but around the nation. And I followed up that research with phone calls and interviews and even a couple visits to some programs that I was particularly impressed with. So that's where this information has developed from. I'd like to start off with talking about the, give you the mission of J.C. Rowe. Our

008mission is to promote a positive academic. social and behavioral changes so that students can experience future success in their schools and communities. What we want to do is equip kids to go back to their traditional school and find success. Our core beliefs at JC Rowe, all students will be treated with dignity and respect. All students will be taught the skills and behaviors necessary for success. Positive relationships and interactions are essential to student growth. Parents, teachers, students, and the community will share the responsibility for the development of strong community and personal values. Students will take responsibility for their role in the learning process, and students will develop critical thinking skills that will enable them to make sound decisions concerning their future. Taking a look at the school structure itself, J.C. Rowe is one school that houses

009three distinct programs. The first program, the Turning Point program, will educate students who are serving a long-term suspension from their district school. We know this is Pathways now. I felt like with a new beginning and reworking that program, it was a good time to give it a new name. And then we'll have the Choices Program, which provides an alternative educational setting for students who are serving a five to ten day short-term suspension from their district school. And then finally, we will have the Transition Program, which serves students who are in need. of a transition period before they re-enter the traditional school setting. So these are students that are coming back to our district in some cases from YDC, juvenile correction facilities, other mental health facilities, and we're gonna transition them back into our school district

010through our school. Some of the key components, I'll start with the Turning Point program. Some of the things that we want to achieve with our students through our programming is we want to create a positive behavior intervention system where we have school-wide and individual behavioral expectations established with our students. And students will be taught desired behaviors. and will be rewarded for meeting their goals through a point system. And I think this point system is crucial because one thing it will allow us to do is allow our staff to capture data on our student behavior for our students that are with us for the longest stretches of time. And we'll be able to pinpoint particular behaviors that a student struggles with. whether it be a certain behavior, a certain time of the day, and what are

011some of the triggers for those behaviors, so then we can focus on working on changing those behaviors with that student. Also, this point system will move the student from a more restricted environment to a less restrictive environment. so that we are transitioning them back into the traditional setting. As we know, they will be with us in a small, structured environment, but eventually they're going to return to that traditional middle school, that traditional high school. They have to have the capacity to handle that freedom and responsibility once they go back, and through this point system, we think we'll help the students achieve those goals. Another thing we want to do is establish a social-emotional curriculum, which will include developing social skills, emotional skills, desirable character traits through appropriate lessons, restorative practices, and service learning. When I

012surveyed our district principals with the long-term students, the number one request... of the district principals was that we work on students in this area in developing their social and emotional well-being and their social skills and developing character. Another thing we want to do is work on developing a clear exit criteria based upon improving behavior, academic performance, and attendance. This will include an exit project completed by each student. That will address the following items recognition of the behaviors that led to their placement at Rowe Skills that they have learned at Rowe to change their past behaviors and a development of short-term and long-term goals for the future The purpose of this is this it requires a student to own their behavior and own the circumstances that led to them being placed at our school. Additionally, it

013allows, it demonstrates what they have learned through our social and emotional programming and then how they are gonna use that once they return to their home school, short term goals, and then help them develop long term goals as well. And then I think it's key that we follow up with students once they return to their district school to monitor their progress so that we can reduce recidivism. Next we have the Choices Program, which is a short-term suspension program. I think the key here is, first of all, is establishing a clear system of communication with the other district schools on the referral process when students are suspended on a short-term basis. We want to have a clear and concise referral process. We want to have clear program expectations and then of course the logistics of getting

014the student assignments, handling transportation and those things. And so what I have worked on is developing sort of a handout. frequently answered asked questions for administrators a referral sheet And what I'll be doing is at our summer Institute I'll be presenting that to administrators and eliciting their feedback and also in meeting with administrators And having discussions at other schools is this summer I'll be willing to come and sit down and talk with administrative teams at middle schools and high schools To go over the process to make sure that we're on the same page. Creating clear program goals and expectations for those attending the program. Since we are offering transportation to these students, it's gonna be very important that the home school. share the information of how our program works and what the expectations are because

015a parent will not be coming in with the student. Around the state, I have not found another district that is offering transportation. So generally a parent has to bring the student to a short-term suspension center. So it would be very important that the student and parent know coming in what the expectations of a program are. Again, we'll develop a point system. that focuses on attendance, compliance, and effort while they are in their program. We want the home school to know that the kid has met our expectations, the student has met the expectations of the program while they have been at our school. In addition to helping the kid or student maintain their academics while they're out of their home school, we want to address the behaviors as well. And we'll use a variety of tools,

016including the ABE system, self-behavioral analysis, goal setting, and counseling. And our teachers in these rooms will work with the students on these items, discuss the events that led to your suspension, and how you could have made different choices or handled those situations better. And then we will, when the student returns, we will supply the work we've done with the student on behavior to the home school. In some cases, it may be information they're already aware of, but in some cases, there could have been a singular event that led to the student's suspension, and the administrator might not have that much background information on the student, and this could assist when the kid comes back and transitions back to the home school. Assuring that students stay current on all assignments from their district school. We want

017to make sure that kids stay on task, stay current, so that when they go back, they're with their classmates and they can pick up where they're going. And that will require consistent communication between our school and the home school through that process. Creating an environment that deters repeat offenders and possible future long-term... placement. Obviously we don't want a kid to come to our short term suspension program and then eventually end up there long term. That's not the purpose of our program. So we want our program to be structured. We're going to have expectations for the students. We want to keep them engaged. And we want it to be a productive experience at our school. And then finally, developing a working relationship with district schools to potentially reduce suspension days with the successful completion of the

018Choices Program. One of the things that over 90% of the principals that I surveyed, over 90% were open to the fact of if a student were to come to our program and say they were suspended 10 days, if they completed our program, did everything we asked, would you consider reducing that suspension, say from 10 to seven days? And overwhelmingly, the majority of principals were in favor of at least considering that to give the student an incentive. And then finally we have the transition program. With the transition program it's very important to establish effective communication with outside agencies, Office of Juvenile Justice, mental health providers that will be working with these students and creating a clear and effective referral process for district schools. Developing effective student assessments to determine the length of their placement and their

019future needs. implementing reentry plans for each student's transition back to the traditional school setting and then finally eliciting continuous involvement and support of the exceptional children's department. If you have any questions I'd be... I hear what you say about a child or student potentially being able to go back early. I have a little bit of a concern as to how you can address a lot of these things especially the five to ten day suspension in just five to ten days. What about the student who is slack on their attendance, slack in compliance, doesn't do what you all ask them to do, and they've got a 10-day suspension? Are they going back in 10 days, or are you going to keep them? Well, first of all, I think the focus of what we're going to do

020is rehabilitation. We're going to do everything in our power to rehabilitate and do what we can do during that period. We'll exhaust all of our resources. and our interventions. Starting with those two classroom teachers, moving to behavior interventionist, social worker, myself as a principal. So we'll exhaust all resources to get the student to comply within that period. In terms of being able to keep the student longer than 10 days. I think that that then becomes an issue of anything past 10 days, a long-term suspension. Well, speaking for myself, and I think speaking for some members of this board, there's a concern that in 5 to 10 days, there's very little you might be able to do, depending on who the student is, there's very little that you might be able to do to change their

021attitude. that got them suspended to start with. And I think there's, at least for me, there's a concern that they have not accumulated the points, which I think is a wonderful system, but they have not accumulated the points. If you send them back, all that's doing, would seem to be doing, is inviting them to return a few days later. Good question. And one of the things that we've researched is the ability to do... to keep them longer and part of the issue with that is the change in placement which a number of due process things kick in. And what we were trying to do here is get our foot in the door with kids who are short-term suspended and change the culture of our community to no longer a short-term suspension for students from school

022as an accepted behavior. Because what we've heard over and over again, and the vision of this board has come out of this, is that we want to correct behavior. We don't believe necessarily that there's possibility for 100% success, but Mr. Locklear has come as close to that feeling and wanting to do that as anybody I've ever seen. We're going to be, this is going to be the challenging part of our program, and we accept that, is staying within the law and bringing about the rehabilitation of the child. Getting the child in the door in this program and changing the culture in our community that everybody in our community from the police chief to the court system to the mamas and the daddies to the preachers and the teachers and the rabbis and all the people

023in our community saying that short-term suspension is not a good thing and getting that word to our parents to if their child acts up in school and needs to be taken out of the school there's a place for them a structured environment that is going to change help them help the parent change that behavior now We understand it we're gonna be building this airplane as we fly and I know that's a tired and old cliche But it's only one I got right now But what we really want to do is is give this up this this a chance because what we have right now is nothing and The vision of this board is such that you want to you want to change that nothing into something and this is a really good start It might

024not be right where we want to be right now, but it's a really good start. And based on all of our legal, and Wayne's a part of our team, as we've looked at this legally, we think this is legally something that we can stand on and can defend initially. Let me ask you a question right there. I don't understand why this is so difficult legally. I think there are certain behaviors, and I have fussed about it for quite some time. Every time I sit in on one of our expulsion hearings, you see this progression of behavior that starts in elementary school, it goes through middle school, and finally gets to the point where they're old enough where they're put out. Disrespect. And I think it's an injustice in that I think that... and I say

025this all the time, that that behavior hopefully could have been corrected much earlier and we wouldn't be having an expulsion. What bothers me here? I don't understand why an administrative if certain behavior is displayed by that student I don't understand why an administrative Reassignment cannot take place where they reassign this becomes their school and they don't go back that to me is the only way you can get through to these students is they do not go back to their traditional school until they This point system that you're talking about because several years ago the board paid and we have the teachers in the schools now for an in-school suspension program in each school, which according to many people, it's a joke. It's a joke to the kids. So why are we going to put a

026student that's got a five-day suspension over at JC Rowe taking up space when there's an in-school suspension program at the school? So I want something with some teeth in it to get the message across that the vast majority, and I don't want to sound like, I don't think. that most of our students are good, decent kids that are gonna do some silly things like we all do. But I am very tired of seeing. The vast majority of our students and our poor teachers struggling day in day out with this rude obnoxious Vulgar behavior that takes place and I want something with some teeth in it Where they're going to be removed from that classroom because kids are not stupid They know it I want what I want is when they go to JC Road They

027know they're not going back to their traditional school till they can prove to us that they're going to behave in a satisfactory manner and if they don't prove that fine they can step jc road meanwhile that teacher can teach and the other children can learn because we're so worried about children's educations and so forth of these children that we don't want to put out of school but i think sometimes we forget about the vast majority of our kids that are well-behaved young people and we need to be concentrating on them I don't have any argument with you at all. You know exactly where I stand. You know where I've been, what I've done. I know. Give us some time and try this program. We think it is as close to what you want us to

028do initially. We realize that there will probably be some tweaks, but I really have a lot of confidence in Mr. Locklear and the people that are going to be going over there because we're kind of handpicking some folks to go over there. Give us some time. And the good thing about this is you guys control this program. It's not like somebody's got to, you know, we've got to get an insurance payer to come in and do all the kinds of stuff that we have to do for some of our other programs. You guys control this. So we have some control over what we do. So if you give us some time, I think we can make this work and make this be a program like you want it and bring about some of those changes

029you're talking about. I'm going to give him a chance. Oh, yeah, I'm just wondering, though, a five-day suspension over there, why a five-day suspension? What's wrong with the in-school suspension program that's in place now? Well, hopefully the in-school suspension program will be a tool that will be a prior tool to be used for some minor behavior, but when the behavior gets a little more serious, they're going to come over to Mr. Locklear. What we're trying to do is an in-school suspension is for some minor incident that you can keep the child at that school. The going to Mr. Locklear's program is going to be when we as principals are saying, okay, Don, you messed up so bad this time you're going home. Instead of going home, you've got to go over to him. See, I

030think he should keep them until they can prove through that point system that they're capable of going back. We're going to back you in that. I don't disagree. I don't disagree with you. Give us some time to work on that and let Mr. Locklear and work with the principals this summer. He's really getting a lot of buy-in. One of the good things about this is Mr. Locklear has been a part of our system for some time, and the principals know him and trust him, and I think a whole lot of them trust us, and so they're ready to buy into this. So we know it's not going to be perfect to start with, but it's a pretty good start. So we just ask you to... Well, I agree, but I just want you to know,

031because I'm just speaking for myself. I know. Mr. Shell, I know you want to add something. Well, I was in valid agreement with you. I think what Dr. Holliday was, if I can try to put words in his mouth maybe, is that if you had a child that was short-term, was sent to Roe, and they exhibited behavior equal or worse than what got them there, then he'd be in a position to make them longer-term, and I think that's what you're saying. So it sounds like the— We're saying the same thing. Give us time to build that bridge. Because that's the bridge. We will be watching you. But give us some time to build that. We'll be off. Okay. I'd like to see more information about how we're going to work with those parents. Because often

032they come in and they are bewildered because they don't know what else to do with that child. So they're going to need support as well and guidance. Yes, ma'am. so we need that. But now the transition program, you're probably not dealing with many students there, are you? Well, we could be. I mean, one of the problems that I saw as a building principal many years ago, and what I'm getting from the building principals that work with us is... That's a key area that we lack in our system is why we can't get a kid over to Lake Forest It needs to get into Lake Forest because they haven't gone through those levels of progression that are required on the DSM to get them in there Well, mr. Locklear will be able to help schools through

033that this kid comes out of a mental health facility or comes out of some or comes to us and we don't know what's going on and they haven't had that level of care yet and we can get them over to Mr. Locklear's program and his transition program and they may transition into Lake Forest because that's where they need to be and he can get them to where they've had that level of care that now they are eligible for the level of service required under day treatment. But a big piece of it is when a kid comes out of YDC, which is what you used to call the juvenile detention center. Yeah, that's what I was thinking about, more so from those areas coming to our system. When they come, they come, as you know, as

034an old middle school principal, as you know, or excuse me, junior high principal. Junior high. Okay. When they come out of that, they come when their sentence is up. They come when their time is up. And it could be in the middle of October. That's a horrible time to transition into a high school. And if Mr. Locklear could go over and say, okay, what has this kid done? What has this kid done in the YDC as academic piece? And where can we plug him in? And we may be able to plug him in earlier than the end of the semester, but he will be able to keep him to the end of the semester to transition him cleanly back into the high school. So that's a big piece. So we're excited about being able to

035do that. But that will be serving children grades 1 through 12. Because kids sometimes are in mental health facilities, level of care that's pretty serious at the lower grade levels, and they come back to us and the elementary school principals aren't prepared to take them back in. They have to put band-aids on stuff to get them back in. So we can then transition them from Mr. Locklear's program back into their elementary school a lot cleaner. Or maybe some of those kids may wind up at Lake Forest. Oh, I have no problem with the transition. I think that we've needed that for quite some time to be able to do that, and we haven't been able to do it. What kind of bothers me, and I think what Mr. Higgins was referring to, was the choices

036program over the five to ten days. But we'll just see how it goes. Give us some time to work on that. Okay. We hear you. You mentioned Lake Forest. When a student no longer can be there because of the financial support, but they're not ready to go back to their school, but they do go back. That's a possibility. So you're going to possibly transition them to row until they are ready. Perfect example of a reverse transition back into the school. A kid may be coming from transition into Lake Forest, may be coming out of Lake Forest back into transition to go back into the school. We're excited about transition that that would really help. Yeah We don't think it's gonna hurt like for us. We think it'll help. Yes, I agree and certainly the child

037I actually think I mean not to put this negatively But it wouldn't be a bad thing to hurt Lake Forest to be great if we can catch the kids before they get to the point Where they need that service we've need needed extra mental health Services in the schools and in the community for a long time. So I appreciate your work And those rules to get into Lake Forest are getting much more stringent with the changes in mental health. Yeah, that is very positive. Any other questions, comments? Well, thank you very much. Thank you. We'll keep an eye on it. Yes, thank you. Item 10, consensus items. Item A, personnel attendance. Aye, Dr. Wilmers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Request the board approve the personnel matters as presented. No for approval. Second. Questions? All those in

038favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Item B, budget amendments, Appendix J, Mary Hazel Small. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I request that the board approve the budget amendments as presented. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Thank you. Item C, change of school assignments, Appendix K, Dr. Holliday. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the board request that you approve the release of the students to the neighboring school districts whose parents are employed by those school districts as a matter of law. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's approved. Thank you. Item on the agenda, item 11 under old business, item A, policy for second reading. Mrs. Nichols. We have one policy for second reading. That's policy 2310, internship placement,

039and Dr. Smith will answer any questions that you might have. Questions for Dr. Smith? Or a motion, then I guess we can take questions and discussion. Move to adopt. Second. Questions? Mr. Chair? In general, what are you trying to accomplish? So we are trying to clarify this process for our educational partners that we work with, as well as for the teacher interns that we place, and also the schools that are served. We want them to be clear on there is recourse if a placement is not a good fit, and also that there's a process for placement so that we can better ensure that there is a good fit. Questions? All those favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's approved. Thank you. Item B, certified personnel recommended for one year contract 2016-17 school year appendix M,

040Dr. Wilmers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I request that the board approve the certified personnel for one year contract for next school year as presented. Move for approval. Questions? Was the favor please say aye aye opposed approved item C recommitment to quality public education appendix double J. Dr. Markley I'm bringing this back up. This was a resolution that was done in conjunction with the Legal women voters. We have several representatives here with us tonight in the audience a couple of changes from when this was Previously saw I did remove a reference to a house No longer Correct that it says further resolve call upon general senator to pass House bill 803 That's actually been moved into the house budget again why it moves into the budget I Would also ask that where it says further resolve

041the Hennepin County of calls upon the general send develop him and they teach your pay raise plan i would suggest we change that so we support the efforts of the general assembly to raise teacher pay because both the house and the senate budget includes teacher pay raises and i think it gives the resolution a slightly more positive spin moving forward does house bill 80 well you said it's in the budget now does it change it to 50 50. it is the recommendation on the house version yes okay so what we would do is we would support that yeah so what you can say there supports the house uh the the house in their efforts to change that okay again would be a positive good with with those changes is there a motion to approve move

042to approve us revised second comments questions all those in favor please say aye aye opposed no how many opposed two three item twelve under new business uh north carolina school boards association training credit appendix n My name is there. Let me get over here. As you know, the law used to read that there's been a change. That the state law was that every year school board members across the state were supposed to receive 12 clock hours of training every two years. And that has been changed. Every year. I mean, I'm sorry. You were supposed to do that every year. Thank you. But it has been changed where now it would be every two years. uh i'm not really sure why they did that but it's so now six hours uh per year and we've been

043what i think we were discussing that ms nichols what other change was it was it uh there aren't any other changes we just have to verify that in order for part b to get approval for the credit you have to have attended the school board members training session So that has to be verified by you as the chair. And if you have not done that, then you would not receive? You would not receive credit. Of course, the state, they don't do anything if members don't meet this thing anyway, do they? No. For years before I got on the board, this county had never been recognized for all board members to have received their full credit. That was one of my goals. And so for 15 years, we received recognition. we didn't last year. Okay. Is

044it possible for us to have somewhere on the website documentation of how many hours we do have so that we can keep up with it? You mean individually? Yes. I might point out these credits are not from the state board that we, for any of those conferences, they do that automatically. so we're only approving i think they'll show the national the national as well we're just approving local uh additional require uh requests for our training even the district meeting is included through the state right because we receive for like a district meeting if you attend i know miss higgins i don't know how many hours you receive the national uh school boards association but then for the state uh meeting there are so many credits and then we earn quite a few during the year

045or have the opportunity to do so with meetings and things that we attend. So it gives the hours in here. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Any questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's approved. Thank you. Item B, 2015-16, year-end amendment resolution, appendix O. Mayor Hazel Small. Thank you, Mr. Cameron. I request the board approve this resolution that would allow me to approve amendments on June 30th or the week leading up to June 30th to balance budget to actual expenditures for state position allotments and non-allotted line items and to transfer state and local funds as needed to maximize state funding. This is something that you have approved in past years. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approve thank you item

046say 2016-17 interim budget resolution appendix P Mary hazel small Thank you, and this resolution would just allow us to continue the operation of the school system Thank you Up until the the time the budget is formally approved in July Questions All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's approved. Thank you. Thank you. Item D, paid lunch equity, increase lunch meal prices. Appendix Q, Mr. Hance. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. This is the paid lunch equity that was discussed earlier with Ms. Smith. And this is a federal requirement. In order for us to comply with the federal guidelines and the federal requirements, we are required to increase the price of lunch. We're increasing it for pre-K through 8th grade to $2.50, which is a $0.05 increase, and for high school, $9 through

047$12, $2.55, which is a $0.05 increase. Thank you for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Opposed. It's approved. Item E, GPS services on yellow school buses. Opinions are Mr. Hentz. Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you. Request that the board approve the continued use of GPS systems with our yellow school buses. This has been a great service for us. When parents call and tell us that their bus is running late, we actually can check the GPS and say, no, it was there within the time frame. If they say a bus was speeding down the road, we can actually track the speed using GPS of those buses as they go through the neighborhood. So this one comes up. It's been a real plus for your cannabis transportation. Any downside? Other than having

048to pay money for it. I know I received a call one morning about a bus going the wrong way. I don't know if it was on 16th Street or 17th Street. So, I mean, I just relayed it to transportation. They were able to check GPS and said no. It was, you know, it did not go the wrong way on a one-way. So, it was, you know, a nice service to have. And in conjunction with the cameras that will be installed on the buses heading into next year, I think it's also a good safety piece. Actually, we were able with two traffic accidents, some involving our students just this year. There happened to be a bus that was at the intersection, caught the entire thing on camera. So we transitioned that to law enforcement. It's a

049tremendous benefit for them as well. You mean the camera on the bus? The camera on the bus caught the entire traffic accident. We actually had two buses. in two different locations and we caught the caught the accident from from different angles and you so you could see exactly what transpired so we are going to advertise extensively are we not to our students and parents that we had these cameras on these buses and they you know that riding a bus is a privilege it's not a right and if they're a safety factor on that bus then they're not riding and we can show them on tape while we've made that decision It's a it's a tremendous benefit the cameras will be and as dr. Markley said this GPS it links up with our transportation of information

050management system as well the routing system this particular System here links up with that and marries to it. And so it's very beneficial Second any other questions comments all those favor, please. Aye. Aye. Let's approve That systems was system HVAC repairs appendices. Yes, mr. Hans. Yes, mr. Chairman. Thank you requested the board approve the Johnson controls incorporated for the support of the medicine system Mr. Hans it says various schools Yes, we have this at many of our schools a large majority of our schools have this medicine system proprietary system for Johnson controls This is like a general maintenance What's already there for support for support of the medicine system for the controls of the HVAC system? Thank you any other questions all those favor please say aye It's approved thank you item G solid waste

051recycling services appendix T. Mr. Hintz Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you. I request that the board approve the bid for the solid waste and recycling contract. This is with Pink Trash, actually. It's Coastal Ladies Carding. Could you elaborate, Mr. Hance, on what the bid covers? The bid covers solid waste removal and recycling. It allows us to place, we have been in the past placing 96 gallon rollable carts for recycling at various schools. Certain number at elementary schools, a few more at middle schools, and probably six or eight at the high school levels. Those. We fill those up very quickly. So we actually bid this time. We bid at a couple of alternates. We bid the rolling containers. We also bid an eight cubic yard metal container out there that would allow us to expand the recycling

052and it would also aid us a lot in being able to do more and more with the recycling effort. And this year is the first year that we're going to be able to actually accept the bid for those eight cubic yard. containers to be placed at the schools. So this will cover solid waste removal as well as recycling at all of our school sites. So when the hauler picks up the recyclables, the income that comes from that goes to the hauler? What little bit there is? Right. We get no income from any recyclables at all. No. We pay for the recycling. I understand. Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah, you hadn't had a motion yet, I don't believe. How many years has Waste Industries done this work for us? I'm not sure of the number

053of years, but for a good while, we've had a good relationship with Waste Industries. They just were not the low bidder on this job. They were the low bidder for the actual trash removal, but when you put the alternate for recycling in there, there's a $34,000 difference. And then you have the ability. to exercise an option on year two and year three. Is that right? Yes, we can exercise an option or we can re-compete it either way. If we do that on many of our projects. And so we have prices for year two, three and four. And we have the option to either compete it again or we can recommend renewal. If we're not satisfied with the service that we're receiving, we can recommend to, or we will go out and re-compete. have another solicitation

054just as we did this year. Thank you. But at the end of the fourth year, we will re-compete automatically. But if you were unhappy, you would do it at the end of year one? Yes, yes. And we've done that for many of our service contracts. Any other questions? We do have a motion and a second, correct? Mm-hmm. Okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Opposed. Item H, physical security for the Kelowna Beach Road complex. Appendix U, Mr. Hance. Yes, mr. Chairman, thank you. I recommend the board approve the physical security for the Carolina Beach Road complex and should be noted This is the this is not the low bidder. This is the second bitter the low bidder Did not submit all of the information it was required in the original solicitation We

055had to go back and ask them. Did they have an electronic accounting? for the officers that would be or they employees that would be on site. They came back and said that they did, showed us that they did, but it wasn't nearly as complete as what we had asked for in the solicitation. And so therefore, we're recommending the second low bidder, which is a premium of about $8,000 for this particular contract. It's based on the quality of the solicitation and the quality of the... What we feel will be provided. What is the difference in the price between? It's about the low bidder and It's eight thousand two hundred and eighty nine dollars is the difference for the first year and It's a twenty two thousand dollar difference over a four year period Any other questions,

056yeah, just just to be clear you're saying that the low bidder Failed to provide documentation or the documentation they provided was not in compliance actually both They did not provide the documentation. We had to go back and ask them. Did they have it and say why didn't you? Provide this information with the bid in the first place and they said oh, yes, we have it here it is and so we took it and evaluated it anyway, and it still fell short of of the second low bidders quality of the electronic monitoring that they that they provided we asked for electronic monitoring of the officers and while they're on our site so that we can tell where they are on our site. It's a difficulty that we've had with the service in the past is actually

057finding the people there and ensuring that they are there. So now it will be able to monitor them. We'll know where they are on the site. So if we go to the site in the middle of the night, we can actually find them. How do you do that? Is that an app of some type? I'm sorry? How do you do that? We have GPS and we can find them on the site. Right, but how do you do it? What's electronic? We can call it up on the computer and see where they are on the site based They would show up as an individuals if they're here or they move around. Yes, you can watch that McDonald's down at the corner or whatever Yeah Any other questions all those in favor please say aye Opposed it's

058approved item. I will mention Police Department services contract pendants be dr. Holliday Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. This is our routine contract with WPD for the four officers that serve in our inside the city limits schools. Even though they're WPD officers, Lieutenant Freelander, who is our SRO commander, has some leeway in how they work, and we have a really good working relationship with them, and it gives us some insight into the city. It's been a really good partnership. And the portion of money that we pay only pays for a portion of these officers so we get four and Basically, it's about one-fourth of the price of what? What the four officers cost a really good partnership and ask you to Approve this contract Second questions. Yes ship. Good. Do you recall how

059much? The school system receives from the red light cameras. I don't I don't that's that doesn't come through and about $600,000 on average and we get that because the city chooses to have that service because the city chooses to do the red light cameras. You get the funds because state law says fines and forfeitures come to us granted. But my point is they don't have to do it. They do it and it more than pays for these positions. I'm just saying I think that's a positive. Been a good partner with us on those. Yeah, because I know several times they had discussed, does it cost them money? So we appreciate it. It also makes sure. Intersections. Sure. I mean, sure, it's a safety factor primarily. They hear it from the voters every time that comes

060back up for renewal. They take good pictures. I have one. Collect good money too. I have very willingly contributed to this a couple of times myself. Is it still $50? I haven't had one in a while. Yes, it is. I'll show you $5 now. My husband's contributed also. Yeah, I'll get a discount. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved item J mental health contract and stubby down holiday. Yes. Thank you. Mr Chair This is our mental health contract that we have with the health department that we have our mental health centers in our schools It's been very positive. It's been very good and Asked that you approve this contract move for approval Questions is this the item where we added an individual last year? Yes, sir. Okay Any other

061questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? approved item K behavioral support services contracts then this X holiday yes thank you mr. chair the next serve as a preamble to the next several contracts these are contracts that we are exceptional our special education department has to support the IEPs of children so the risk of sounding redundant that's what I'm going to be saying for the next several this contract is to contract with behavior specialists that work in our schools with some of our children that are very high need and it is actually cheaper for us to do this than actually hire them ourselves so it's been a very good we've been doing this for several years and this has been a very good um contract so i ask that you approve it move

062for approval second questions oh there's a favor please say aye aye opposed it's approved item l speech services contract Then it's why that holiday. Thank you as you know we have speech pathologists that we hire that work in our schools You can't hire the number of speech pathologists that we need to meet the number of IEPs that we have They just they're just not available. So what we have done for the past several years is contract With this service to provide the speech pathologist we need to service the children with speech some of the children with speech IEPs. We have an overabundance of the number of children who get just speech in their IEP, so this is very much needed, and like I said, it's because the speech pathologists are not, it's a very tough

063field to get in. The bottom line is there are not enough speech pathologists to go around. So being able to do this enables us to serve the children who have speech IEP. Dr. Holliday, how do you determine which companies or organizations you're going to contract with? That's a very good question. Again, it's very limited in our community as to who provides this service. I can get you some better information on that, but these are who we've been working with. If you could get me more information, I would do that. I promise. Thank you. Mr. Hill? Mary Hazel, this is a $338,000. How much of this is funded by federal or state? This comes out of our at-risk state funding. Thank you. That's what I hope you said. Any other questions? All those in favor, please

064say aye. Aye. Opposed? approved item m nurse services contract dependence z dot the hall thank you mr chair this is not our school nurse contract i'll be bringing that at the july meeting uh hopefully uh this is again uh to support our special ed program these are nurses that are Provided to our children who are very fragile and as a part of their IEP they have a nurse that works with them exclusively and so these are the this is the nurse service that we use for that and this is a competitive bid and It was competed last year and it was competed again this year So it's Approximately how many. Nurses do we have to this I can get you that information? I don't have it off top of my head and again that depends

065on the number of children that we have and that would vary in the C-step because some children situation it could be that we start the year with x number of children and end with y because the number would fluctuate but i can get you some numbers of what we have basically consistently there and the contract is a per hour contract not to exceed so if the need isn't there we would not right it's just it's you know almost four hundred thousand dollars so it's it's certainly a larger need and probably most people realize. It's very expensive as you know and you're as close to being as an expert and working with special ed with the ACES program knowing how expensive some of these programs are to support the children that we support and it gives

066me just a moment just to kind of to sing your praises as a board and our praises as a system the fact that our special ed program is one that people are trying to get in not get out of so It's very good support that you all provide to the children who are our most fragile and our most needy children. And you to be applauded for that. Just as a little aside to that, I was talking to a lady the other day who they're in the process of. Oh, it's a county fairly close to you in our county that due to the program that we offer here and the lack of that type of program where they're living now, they're going to sell their house and move in. You enter a county. So and we've

067heard many stories like that. Any other comments? We have a lot of that, Mr. Chair. We also have a lot of ghost moves, too. Well, at least they're going to sell the house and move here legitimately. And I do want to make a comment that I appreciate all the hard work that that Julie Askew has done since she's come here. She's. Kind of reformed Special education and I know she's worked very well with you dr. Holliday and I do appreciate her efforts and her efforts to work with aces it has been That is reenergized aces as well. So I appreciate how hard she's worked. I appreciate that I passed along I tell her that every time I work with it's been a pleasure these past few years any other comments all those in favor please

068say aye Thank you. It passes. Item N, Public Consulting Group Incorporated, Appendix AA, Dr. Holliday. Well, this is my last one. This is the group that helps us reclaim the money from Medicaid and to build Medicaid. We can't do it for this. I know it seems like a pretty... Pretty high price, but we can't do it for this, and we can't get the money. And getting money from Medicaid is becoming more and more difficult, and systems that don't do this don't get near the money that we're able to reclaim. But it's becoming more and more difficult. Without this group, we could not get what we're getting from Medicaid. So I ask that you approve this contract. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes. Item O, general liability

069insurance renewal, appendix BB, Mr. Bullard. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is the first year that we have bid out the insurance in-house. Previously, it was done through the New Hanover County's risk management department. And as the board knows, the board authorized a new position called Risk Manager that is filled by Julie Moore. And so Ms. Moore and I have worked together to get bids for insurance renewals. This recommendation is for your general liability insurance of $2 million worth of coverage. The recommendation is to stay with your current liability provider, which is the North Carolina School Boards Trust, for the annual premium of $109,000. $352.89. Move for approval. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Item P, automobile liability insurance renewal appendix double C, Mr. Bullard. All right, with automobile liability, we

070are actually making a change in the recommendation to what is shown on the sheet. We were receiving bid information very Late in the game. In fact, we were receiving some clarifications from the different bidders today At the time we prepared this sheet it appeared that the North Carolina School Board's trust was going to be the recommended bidder We've actually received updated information that Liberty mutual who is our current auto insurance provider Is willing to renew their policy for a premium of ninety one thousand seven hundred and seven dollars So we are changing our recommendation that you Instead of going to the North Carolina School Board's trust for your auto coverage that you stay with Liberty Mutual for a premium of ninety one thousand seven hundred and seven dollars for the upcoming year question I assume

071that both the school board's trust and Liberty Mutual's policies are identical in their coverage. No, they're actually not, and that was one of the issues. The Liberty Mutual uses a pretty standard insurance industry coverage form, and the school board trust created a unique form that they use for themselves. We actually didn't get a copy of the school board trust form until about 5 o'clock today, and we really didn't have enough time to review it carefully in detail, but it probably wouldn't have mattered because Liberty Mutual's... revised quote was actually lower by $2,000. Well, but I mean, I guess the question would be, they may be lower, but are they providing the same coverage? I mean, it's like, I'm in the process of redoing my own insurance. And I got a quote from somebody, but it

072turned out the quote they gave me did not include uninsured motorists. That's the only reason I'm asking. Based on preliminary review, I believe that the coverage Liberty Mutual is offering is at least as good and probably better than what the school board trust is offering. And it's cheaper. We're with Liberty Mutual now, aren't we? Correct. Is time of the essence in awarding this? Well, the current policy expires at the end of June, and the board doesn't have another meeting in June. So unless we're going to have a different meeting, the board would need to take action tonight. You know, with the County Commissioners Trust and the League of Municipalities Trust, they give discounts if you have more than one policy. Does the school board trust offer that? We have analyzed all the bids based on...

073did any available discounts for grouping the policies and this recommendation is the Best one that number. Yes, we were discussing Maybe later in the month, but the only thing we have are the hearings But if we're with these people now we're satisfied with it and the school board extending the coverage we already have right so yeah if we're comfortable with what we have yes but i would ask i mean even if we go ahead and approve it i would ask for them to take a closer look at it so that next year When this comes up you'd be in a better position to be able to absolutely do that And since we've gone through the process this year We'll be in a much better position to to do it next year and we'll probably be

074Soliciting even more bids next year than we did this year. I mean, I'm a little concerned though that they would five o'clock this afternoon getting you information well they actually revised their coverage agreement which the trust did which specified what they cover and what they don't in automobile situations and there that the trust board of directors actually voted on changing the terms of that today and so they didn't have an updated coverage agreement to show us until this afternoon I miss that meeting. I'm sorry. I don't think my vote would have made that much difference. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Item Q, workers' compensation insurance renewal, appendix double D, Mr. Bullard. We also took bids for workers' compensation renewal. We are recommending to stay with the North

075Carolina School Board's Trust, which provides your workers' compensation coverage for your local claims. And by local claims, I mean claims by employees who are paid locally out of local funds. The state of North Carolina and the Attorney General's office handles claims by your employees that are paid from state funds or from a combination of state and local funds, but you still have to cover locally your employees that are injured on the job when they're paid from 100% local funds. We bid that out and there wasn't a proposed increase of 25% in the premium, which was very substantial. The reason for that is the claim history had gone up a little bit in the last two or three years. We had had more worker injuries than we had had in the past. In order to offset

076the proposed premium increase, we are recommending to increase our deductible from $50,000 per claim to $100,000 per claim. And therefore, the... the increase in the premium will not be as much and will be within the budget. We've analyzed the number of claims that have gone over $50,000 for your locally funded employees in the last few years, and it's no more than about a half a dozen claims. So we do not think that that is taking on an unacceptable level of additional risk, and we do think it is worth it to raise the deductible in order to keep the premium as low as we can. To analyze where you've had claims, is there a category of employees where you see more claims than others? I think you see more claims with custodians and maintenance workers than

077you do with certified. Staff just probably because the nature of their job. They're active They're out in the field a lot of times your maintenance workers are so I think that's probably the more common Group of employee that would have it on the job injury does the trust offer? An education to that group of employees to try to minimize those type they do have a safety program that they offer And I am working with our risk manager to get some information about that and take advantage of all of those services that are offered by the trust. Thank you. We'll say. Next year, we may want to look at another option around self-insurance, but that's a process that I think the board needs a full education on, and we weren't willing to bring that with a

078short notice. So probably in the fall, we begin some of that discussion about what that entails, both risk and rewards related to that, and we may see a different approach heading into next year. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? approved thank you item r voice over ip appendix double e don brunson trying to get to it hold on okay requested the board approved the voice over ip contract with nwn um for the amount of 318 thousand six hundred seventy seven dollars and fifty six cents this is one of the bond projects that was that was approved could you please i've got a question for well over a year i have had a great deal of difficulty Getting someone to answer the phone the main switchboard at the central office

079I was told it was because we had an antiquated phone system and we were going to get a new phone system and We were going to have that problem anymore Well, if we got a new phone system, it didn't fix the problem because I'm still having the same problem We don't have the new phone system yet. Yeah, I mean, we haven't had the VoIP phone system yet. We have, you know, a couple years ago, we did upgrade what we have, but we do not have the voiceover IP. Part of the problem is there's a lot of calls coming into the switchboard because the main number is the number at 6410, and if there's a lot of calls coming in there at one time, they're having to, and it's not automated. They actually have to answer

080each call, then direct, and they get a lot of transportation calls that come. Because people say press zero to go to the operator and on the recording and people are pressing zero So it's going from trying to call transportation going back to the switchboard Because we don't have enough drivers everybody there's out driving kids home and so it kind of goes back and forth So I will check into it, but I know the volume is high Maybe if we're continuing to have the problem and there's so many phone calls coming in Maybe we need two operators. We could look into that we can look and see what other options that we have It's just really frustrating. Okay. Don't. I don't have a call. No, I call directly. Will this change the telephone numbers? No. Okay.

081This won't change the numbers. We've been trying to change our main number for a couple of years. We don't have to change that main number, but it will not change the numbers, the main numbers that we have published for schools or for central office and departments. It will not change that. And will this provide new phone systems, hardware? The handsets, yes, it will. So that'll be new, so you'll have a training component with that as well? Not for the public. We just have to train the the people that in the offices. Yeah. Yeah But this this this piece is just for the core for the three central office locations. We will still have to then between now and 2023 Get all of our schools switched over as well Because AT&T we do have an antiquated

082phone system. We have basically 40 some different phone systems right now Each school and building is its own phone system and his own voicemail system We are going to basically one phone system with one voicemail system So this is what's going to get that core equipment in place and then we will start the process This is less than what we had in the bond for VoIP So what we'll do then is start using this money to start working on the schools Porter's neck when it opens up will have voice over IP for their services and will be starting to switch some other schools over. Do we have a motion on the floor? I don't think so. I move that we accept this. Second. Any other comments, questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

083Opposed? Approved. Item S, Identity Service Engine, Appendix WS, Dawn Brinson. Okay. Request of the Board approved. The credit memo basically for the purchase of the services for the identity service engine. There is actually no cost to us. Back when we did the first phase of ten schools for the bond of all the network equipment the old equipment We did as a trade-in and if you notice of the credit memo we received two hundred and forty eight thousand three hundred seventy three dollars and ninety seven cents for that equipment trade-in and We used part of that equipment part of that money to purchase some equipment that we had to pay for So we have about $127,000 left in that credit memo with this vendor. So what we want to do is use that credit with this

084vendor for these licenses and the services for the installation of the identity service engine. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Thank you. Item T, Title I application, Appendix WG, Dr. Smith. Yes, I would ask the board's approval for the district to make application for Title I funding. Move for approval. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Approved item U, CTE state and federal funding application for fiscal year 2016-17, Appendix Double H, Dr. Smith. Yes, would ask the board's approval for the district to make application for career and technical education state and federal funding. Move for approval. Questions. Yes. I was trying to understand what the application entails in general. Okay. I believe Ms. Pickett is here. She can provide us with

085some additional detail. The grant application for CTE is, or for career and technical education, is the application request for funding and the proposal of what the plan is for the funding that we will receive for the 16-17 school year. So it's an application to the state? Yes. And it's that application is the agreement between our board and the state. to do what we were saying that we're going to do or we propose to do with the funding is there anything new uh that we're agreeing to compared to what we're doing now Not anything new other than at several schools there will be some programs that will be added to some schools that we're spreading some programs across the district that do not currently exist at some schools. And that's within the program of studies for

086career and technical program, career and technical education. So we are adding some additional programs. We have some additional staff that will be in place at some of those schools, making sure that we're within the compliance of CTE program of studies. That's what we're saying we're agreeing to. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? approved item v curriculum course guide update appendix i i take my classes on dr smith yes thank you um i'm asking for the board's approval for a course that we used to offer in the district it is the north carolina wildlife high school honors course It's been updated to reflect the relationship between living and nonliving environments and also the positive and negative effects of humans on nature in the current hunting and

087fishing laws of North Carolina. And we do have within the audience Mr. McAdams and the classroom teacher who has worked to revise these standards and would be offering this course at New Hanover High School. I don't know if there's... something that he would like to say he's waited very patiently this evening for this um to come before the board so i'd like to come to them what is the living or non-living environment Yeah, but I feel bad not asking you a question, having sat here through this whole nonsense. I appreciate your patience. The class is essentially divided into four parts. The ecosystems of North Carolina divided into the mountain, Piedmont, and coastal region. The fish and fishing regulations in North Carolina, both freshwater and saltwater. Birds and mammals. Their biology where they live and the

088regulations that follow the hunting of those animals and then the last part is conservation and wildlife management all focused on living plants and animals in North Carolina So what's a non-living environment non-living environment is the soil the water and the air quality that? Affects many of these birds mammals reptiles in North Carolina Awesome. Thank you. A lot of possums on there. My question is, why do you need board approval to add this program? I was told it was pictured in the course curriculum guide, but it was not actually still considered a class. So that's why I'm here. We approve all curriculum changes. If there are courses that are outside the normal standard state approved list, then they have to come to you for approval of a local course. Has there been, I'm assuming that you've

089determined that there is adequate interest at the school level for this course? Yes, there's 65 students that have preemptively signed up pending the class and scheduling. Any other questions? I don't think we have a motion yet, do we? So moved. Second. Ms. Coble is the second. Okay. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. It's approved. Thank you. Thank you. Item W, bids for Lakeside High School demolition. Appendix double K, Mr. Hance. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Request the board approve the bids for demolition of Lakeside High School. Five. Move for approval. Second. Do we get the first swing? I'm sorry. Do we get the golden hammers like we did for the quarter's neck? I'm certain we can find a golden hammer somewhere. It really saddens me that my old junior high

090is coming down. Because I told you. You hadn't torn it up so bad when you were here. I know. Bricks will be available for souvenirs. I have a question. Oh, yeah, you could sell them. That would be kind of cool for fundraisers. I might want to consider that one. Mr. Shell, you have a question? I do. When when you bid this out and they gave you a cost for demolition I'm sure that includes Taking it to the landfill and paying the landfill Have we ever considered? Requesting that the county waived the tip fees when we tear something down That would be wonderful if the county waived the tip fees for us, but we have not requested you didn't request that did you? Actually in the process right now of requesting that on Hoggard High School

091and if that's approved on that project we would then approach the county about really a blanket exemption for all of our projects. But we never have before and it seems to me that when this issue came up several years ago for some reason we were told no but want to pursue it again. Well I know the county's invested in a C&D facility for demolition and I don't know the terminology. But they're in a position to address that differently than they have been in the past. To the extent it saves the school's money, it saves the county money. So it just seems like something I'll look at. Absolutely. That's an excellent idea. We are doing that. Thank you. Any other questions? Other than favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Thank you. Item X, bids for

092partial roof replacement and recover at Carolina Beach Elementary School and Pine Valley Elementary School, double L. Ms. Hance. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Request that the board approve the bids and the awards for Pine Valley and Carolina Beach Elementary School roof replacement. Approved. Second. Any questions, Ms. Higgins? I trust this is not on the new part that's been added to Carolina Beach. No, there's a chart in there that shows you where it is at Carolina Beach. In your packet, you have something that shows you exactly where it is, I believe. It shows you a map and the covering for Carolina Beach, which area it is. Right there. You can see it on the screen. It's the blue area. Right here. Okay. Thank you Any other questions all those in favor please? Why change order construction

093management at risk agreement for early release site package on hogard high school additions and renovations appendix double-d on this pants yes, mr. Chairman request approved the change order for CM at risk for Hoggard high school Questions yes, sir. I told you I had a question for you miss dance Could you explain GMP so that? We can understand sure GMP is a term in the construction management at risk agreement. It stands for guaranteed maximum price and In the way our agreements are structured, when you enter the construction management contract, we establish a target GMP, which is based on the budget that you approve. purchase order is issued in that amount. Since these are the early site packages and the bids that are presented by the CM are considerably less than that target GMP, as Dr. Markley

094said, there's no change in price at this point. So we're working within that total price and these are adjustments to it that this board needs to approve. That's correct. Really what this change order does is it finalizes a GMP for that scope of work. and it authorizes the contractor to proceed. In July, we will have received bids for all of the work, and we'll be bringing you another change order at that time that will adjust the GMP. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Item Z, change order to construction management at risk. Risk agreement for early release site package on the Laney high school additions and renovations appendix double in mr. Hans Yes, mr. Chairman. Thank you. This is the same same type of item for Laney high

095school questions Next item double-a professional services agreement for geotechnical material testing and special inspections for Hoggard high school additions and renovations appendix double opens hands Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you. I request that the board approve the geotech bid for Hargret High School. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Approved. Item BB, Professional Services Agreement for Geotechnical Material Testing and Special Inspections for Laney High School Editions and Renovations, Appendix PP, Mr. Hance. Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you. I request that the board approve the geotech services for Laney High School. Move for approval. Second. Questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes. Item double C, temporary construction easement and perpetual greenway easement to New Hanover County for middle school for middle sound greenway. Appendix double Q, Mr.

096Hance. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. This is easement and perpetual greenway easement, as you can see in the map. It goes across the front of the, you can see the blue line. It goes across the front of our property at Ogden. And this is a perpetual easement, and it links up with the part of the county's greenway system. Request the board authorize and approve this recommendation for the easement. Move for approval. Second. Questions? Just to be clear, I'm looking at the map. Where? What piece of land are we talking about talking about Ogden? I'm trying to find the roundabout. Where is it? I'm sorry, right? I should just bury it under the blue line right there That's Ogden, right? Okay So, I mean, it's out at the road. Does it really encroach on our property

097much? It takes part of the front piece of the little bit. You can see on the maps in here, this part of your package, you can see the areas in greater detail, the amount of the easement, which part it is, and it's varying amounts at different parts of the property line along the different parts. And you can see where it goes across the across the property line any other questions always favor please say aye It's approved item double d3 three-party right-of-way encroachment agreement for hoggard high school attendance double or mr. Hans Yes, mr. Chairman. Thank you requested the board approved the three-party right-of-way encroachment agreement for harvard high school Questions approved item double e utility easement agreement with cape fear public utility authority at lakeside high school appendix double s mr hans yes mr chairman

098thank you requested the board approved the utility easement agreement with cape fear public utility authority for lakeside high school this will provide new sewer lines for that will support the board center and the spencer complex they're replacing the old sewer lines there and they are providing As a benefit to us the lateral connections to us at no cost. Okay for approval Any questions? All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's approved. Item double F. Access easement agreement with Richard Allen Moore for Porter's Neck Elementary School at Pitnicks Double T. Mr. Hance. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I request that the board approve the access easement for neighbor of Porter's Neck Elementary School Mr. Moore, he is giving up any future claims of access to his property if we provide him this easement to

099our driveway. This is at no cost to us. Move for approval. Questions? Mr. Chairman, actually what is being requested is that the board approve the easement agreement and a resolution that goes with it, which is part of the documentation. Because this is being accomplished as an exchange of easement rights as opposed to the purchase of an easement, the statute requires the board to approve it by resolution. Passing this would that also just pass the resolution as long as the motion reflected that that you were moving to approve both the agreement and the resolution Any other question so this will not impact on the school in any way It will have no negative impact on the school or playground area or anything like that? No, it just links into the driveway, which we're going to construct

100under the school, to give him access to his property. He currently has access across our property to the road now and has had for some time. This just straightens it up and gives him access. Good neighbor policy. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. approved and thirteen call to the audience or not agenda items before you get that doctor holiday actually found the answer to the two questions that he said that asked earlier since it involves some budget items am i yeah um the number of children we have this past year was fluctuated between eight and nine that used in that nurse contract yes yeah used between eight and nine depending upon But I know our speech pathology service is a new group that we did it out with the RP

101RP or RFP. I get my bars confused. The request for proposal process in this group is a group is a local group. We haven't used before, but they gave us a really good proposal and the rate was also very good. So it was competitive. That's it? That's it. Okay. Next item on the agenda is our call to the audience, non-agenda items. First individual to sign up, Jamie Pond. Okay. Next speaker, Elise Arthur. And I would remind everyone that we do have a three-minute time limit, so we'd appreciate you staying in that. Thank you. Good evening, Chairman Hayes and board members. I know it's been a long night, but I appreciate your time and service to the community. I'm here tonight to address... House Bill 2 and how it does affect some students in the school,

102many of which you probably know nothing about. My name is Elise Arthur. I'm president of the local PFLAG chapter, and I have gotten numerous messages and calls in the past few months from parents and students, and when they feel like their children need support, they don't know who to turn to because... There has been no statement issued from your school board about this topic. It is an important topic. I think that silence is not the answer on this. These students go through a lot. They are bullied. They are afraid. They are harassed. And they are marginalized when they shouldn't be. What I would like to see happen is a task force, and I'm sure that many people among myself will be glad to help with that and serve on that. If you don't know what

103to do with the topic, silence isn't the answer. Among LGBTQ people, between 10... Between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the leading cause of death, and among transgender individuals, that number is a lot higher. Among that population, reports between 38 and 65 percent of transgender individuals experience suicidal thoughts. My daughter is engaged to a transgender person. And I know this to be a part of my life. I'm a woman of faith. I have faced all those walls with friends and family and church and community. But this is my family I'm talking about. This isn't those people across town, those people across the street. These are my people. And I consider my family to be a typical American family, whether you do or not. And all the other parents with transgender and gay students

104in your schools, I'm sure, feel the same way. Since the March 23rd passing of HB2, reports of spikes in crisis line calls for LGBTQ residents of North Carolina have been documented. When students are afraid to be who they are, whether this applies to gender or sexual orientation, it affects their mental health, which in turn certainly, certainly affects their learning and what to them at that point. Seems a threatening environment and at the very least a non welcoming environment as evidenced by your silence We can't change how everyone feels about this we I can't change how you feel your fears or how your neighbors feel or their fears But what we can do is make sure that all of our students feel safe in their schools They know who to go to if they have a

105problem the parents know who to call if they have a question And silence is not the answer. I think we really need to focus on affirming the dignity of all of our children. If you don't know how to do that, please contact me. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Jeffrey Cohen. Hi, my name is Jeff Cohen, and I'm the parent of two transgender adults, and I also want to speak, kind of expand a little bit on what Elise said, and give you a little bit of my personal experience, because I think it pertains to what we're talking about here. When my kids came out, I was really uncomfortable. It was as if... I was finding out that my kids were not who I thought they were. And it felt like an attack on what

106I'd always known. But I quickly reevaluated, and I realized that my kids had finally just become brave enough to tell me how feelings they had always harbored. And so I found myself with a choice that I could either accept my kids or I could reject them. And that's no choice at all when they're your own kids. You accept them, and that's what I did. And I very quickly found out that my kids were not different. They were the same people. And so it's been a real learning experience, and I became very comfortable with something that I was initially really uncomfortable with. Well, last year, last June 26th, my wife and I got a call from our youngest child in Atlanta to tell us that their friend Sam had committed suicide. And actually, he shot himself

107in the head and died in my child's arms. And Sam was preparing to come out as transgender. but fear of rejection from his family was too much for him. My kid actually tried for over two hours to talk Sam out of it, even tried to grab the gun from him, but it happened anyway. Sam's story is important today because according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 41% of transgender people attempt suicide at some point in their lives. It's about 4.6% in the general population. Now, from what I've been able to find out on the internet, New Hanover schools has a population of about 26,000 kids. And a study which the authors, it's the best study that I can find about how many transgender people there are in our country, but the authors of the

108study admit that it's really low. It says that 0.3% of the U.S. population is transgender. So putting those numbers together, talking about if that's true, 78 kids in New Hanover County schools are transgender. And if that 41% suicide rate holds true, that's 32 kids who will attempt suicide at some point, or maybe not, because studies also show that with acceptance and support, there's an 82% reduction in suicide among transgender people. So we're talking about actually saving lives. And for me, it's a choice between our temporary discomfort and these kids' lives. And HB2 doesn't show that kind of support to our kids that they need. And they're not a danger to other students, the transgender kids are, but they are in danger themselves. I accepted my kids because I love them. But these are all our

109kids, and they all deserve and need our love and support. Please take a stand on House Bill 2. I hope that you'll let our state government know that you oppose it, but if you support it, we need to know that too. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, Ricky Meek. I apologize. I've had double knee replacements for standing the whole time tonight. Once Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he also stood at his desk at the Pentagon going back to 9-11 in 2001. That's a little bit of history on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense. First time I stood in a long time. I want to say thank you for all you do for New Haven County Schools, the principals, sister principals, ADs. It was a privilege tonight to come to see so many

110high school principals. I want to speak about a classmate of mine from Williston, part of my Williston grade, eighth grade. I was in the eighth grade and his man was in the ninth grade. And he's the outgoing principal for E.A. Lane High School. I'm talking about Mr. I. O'Brien. Such a wonderful gentleman. I enjoy our conversations over the years at ball games, and he put in 100% of himself for the Buccaneers. And I know you're going to be coming to the administration part and Mr. and Mrs. Deshawn is going to go from Trask to Laney. One thing about Ricky Meese is that he knows a lot of people, boys and girls of all walks of life. And I just want to let you know that Mr. O'Brien had put 100% at Laney High School over

111the years. And I'm going to miss him. I'm just one person. As Mr. Higgins would say sometime on the school board, I'm just one vote. Y'all do what you want to do. I'm just one vote. And I've heard him say that many times. And I want to say Al Brown's a good man. He's left. So if you would, let him know. And also I want to say about school lunches. I had lunches when I was a little boy at J.C. Rose. We had them five days a week. The Begay Boys Club used to take a van of little kids to JC Rose and have lunches. And then before that, lunches used to be at community centers like Mesbic Horts, Creekwood, Haircrest, even probably here at Houston Moore. And so we had good lunches. Speaking of

112lunch, I had lunch a few weeks ago at Laney High School cafeteria. Back in those days, we had country-style steak, gravy, corn, biscuits. and good old sweet tea for teachers and stuff. And when I had that, they had corn puppies, little corn dogs and stuff. And I miss the days of having good old home-cooked meals in our cafeterias. And I'm a small Smith, and myself are classmates in a high school, class of 87. she does a good job for new heaven county schools and also our brian like i said he was uh we all went williston and our mr hayes was our sister principal part of our uh i did and even ran for proper office a few times too so uh i want to say thank you again for all you do for new

113heaven county schools and i'm not sure if i'll see you saturday at graduation but somebody asked me are you going to go to some graduations well i've had double knee replacement so it's been a challenging year myself so thank you so much and give everybody in the school system a 1% pay raise thank you okay item 14 this time we need a motion to go into closed session pursuant to North Carolina general statutes 143 318 11 parentheses a 3 all those in favor please say aye