December 12, 2023, Board of Education Meeting

001new Cadence allows board members prepare for upcoming regular meetings through pre-work sessions they're typically more casual in format primarily for the purposes of info Gathering and no formal votes will be taken we will begin this pre-work session with the discussion of the book great on their behalf the board is committed to professional development that focus on improving student achievement and organizational Effectiveness and this book exemplifies this belief I will be facilitating the discuss of part two chapters 7 through1 on how our school board can become effective by clarifying priorities uh I will begin chapter S begins with a solid anecdote of one of embarrassment we've all been in one of these where they were asked are you student focus and some smart alec board member says she is an 11 out of 10 but then

002which board member that anyone to my right and then this person this is a fictional board member but here's the line that's stuck out to me and I'm going to put you all on the spot necessarily for book reading but for an answer to a question and it's a line on page I think 111 if a community most cares about underwater welding but students have never been asked to demonstrate their capability in the area then currently it is not known whether or not any students have this ability and so the first question I'm going to ask is if you could design a test to measure underwater welding as a school board member what is your underwater welding what would you want us to test and examine because knowing the answer to that on page 20

003is the the difference between we hope kids do good and we hope kids learn how to weld under water that spoke to me you don't necessarily have to do it what I thought liked about this book as I'll as I'll get to you'all answers in a second is that once you've identified that the book kind of turns into a blueprint for the rest of chapter 7 doesn't it it's got to be specific you can't just say do good it has to be measured able because things that are measured can be shared with your community I have an anecdote that I'm on a group thread with a bunch of dads we normally just walk to school and one of them said why are we testing the kids again I already have that data and I said

004who who do you think the test is for and I just pointed out that it helps administrators it helps teachers and one of them says I'd never thought about it like that and the other 13 dads all gave the thumbs up to that comment so I think we do a measuring things that's what to ask question is it attainable goals that can't be accomplished undermine staff I imagine that if I was a cabinet level director and the superintendent came to me and said well they want zero complaints this year and that's what they're measuring the superintendent be like well that's good and Lily we would like for you to decolonize the entirety of the curriculum and we would like it done by next march please that's not an attainable goal we all know that you

005need to be results focused not measure whether it something was done but whether what was done successful and finally time bound while a realistic sense of urgency this one spoke to me because I was reminded to conversations I've had with members of the community that were something like this and we've all been there I complained about this in September and it's November now why do we not have a new curriculum well we've been teaching teaching we've been administrating we've been doing stuff and so uh I'm going to start with Miss Tasha white share with us is if you've read this book or thought about this book what's the thing that you would want to measure or underwater welding what's what's the activity that you wished we were always measuring how long they can hold their

006breath oh you're funny I meant let me rephrase the question I said there like you don't give a dang about underwater welding you care about something of value in the city school the cater right gotcha that we may or may not be measuring or we should be measuring more as an outgoing board member what's the thing you're like hey for the next four years measure blank Tasha on her answer because I appreciate your clarification there J okay good good and P pull the mic close to you so every I can hear that's a good question you go with me first yeah um well I knew you would tell me if my question was bad so I have to go with you sure I would um I would say that my question would or what I'd

007want to know would be around mental health um I think that it was something that was absolutely important and at the Forefront preo but it is there is it's no option now I think um I think there's just the the the ramifications of Co we are going to continue to see for a very long time and I've I've often spoke on this subject as adults we've had we've had some ways to relieve the pressure and the pain that we've felt from covid be it maybe drinking or traveling or you know being able to step away and maybe um get it together because from you know from the ram ramifications of Co but kids haven't necessarily been able to do that or we we might not have been able to really show them how to do

008that and so I think really uh focusing on mental health and checking the status of our kids Mental Health on a regular basis and checking in and making sure that they are you know doing okay not just in math or in reading but are they doing okay like that I would want to know that what would you measure now um have reading levels for black students at the middle school how have how have reading levels at the middle school for black students um um from father three as a middle school teacher in particular I bet that stands out to you I I had a hint you'd have an answer somewhere along those lines and me later on in page 129 it talked about this I've jumped to chapter eight being a board remember is a

009lot like taking a ride share a good passenger opens up the lift and tells them where you want to go if you don't do that you're not taking a ride shair right you're just jumping in someone's car and then a great member if you jumped in the car and you said they give the example like the highway is shut down you may want to share that with your driver you your GPS may not be showing it but I happen to know that ponts is shut down today so I'd love it if you just get there thereby not going that way and then a bad right share person is saying no turn left turn right turn left turn right this is how I want to do and that that that's a very easy one like this

010is the thing I don't want to see I don't want to see data that is disperate for race for students I want to make sure that it's not just a goal but it's a part of everything we do and it seems like guard rails do that as we measure it an example of a good guard rail that that the author shared that I liked was do not make significant decisions without first engaging with stakeholders impacted by the decision on page 129 that was great and then the non-example behind it we are all guilty of this and I think all superintendant are guilty of this to a little degree is here's a good guard rail keep parents happy also on 129 it's impossible and it's also a tough guard rail and I appreciate you sharing that

011we should measure that Dr Sultan what would you measure I would measure the number of high school students that have lost instructional time because of disciplinary action that make sense you want to say why you think that's such an important place to focus I think it's important because namely to dissect that further that by Race So What proportion students of color have lost instructional kind because of disciplinary actions who is enforcing these rules how often are we investigation those are all things that I would want to understand Mainely because it seems to me that there's obvious disproportionality how students are disciplined in this district and that instructional time can be used of disciplin and then the outcome is never anything positive for the student so how would that be being enforced how is it being

012used are there any patterns um are there any Trends um because that directly impacts stent outcomes and access to learning which is in a public school system is your right to have a right to have access to the classroom so how are we using discipline and the overlap of access to instructional time thank you right Hans I think I I very very laser focused on literacy if if a child does not learn to read they cannot read to learn and I think we are already measuring the kind of things that i' want to see measured what I want is to see the worst of that data in front of us every single time we meet we should look at what those numbers for the free and reduced l kids are doing on either their math

013scores or whatever the latest assessment is um every single time we meet when we talk about Equity if it is not that thing if it is not fixing that problem then we're not fixing what is really the problem I am appalled at how we do on that front and it is I think the single most important thing that we can possibly do as this body to and this Administration to change that trajectory thank you quick review and and I'll take any comments and I'm gonna ask some members of the caucus what they would measure if they ran the world um of course uh chapter nine I think does a great job of talking about the board work falls into the categories of gold guard rails what you don't want to see legal and then everything

014else is the superintendent in fact the school board might be the worst possible place for people to attend to for customer service not their job to say well this is how Sally was treated in her class it's their job to set the policies in place that oversee Sally and in many anyways simply can't get involved um and broke it down into four and there's one that I'm personally very bad at I kind of wanted to talk about that that when brought with brought with criticism or compliments is expressing gratitude to our constituents for sharing that whether that's students or or or parents listening to the community providing feedback but in a way that we we gather information creating a connection and we all know and hear the power of this oh you have this issue

015you don't need me you really need to be connected with your teacher you really need to be connect connected with Sergio and operations oh you really need somewhere else and the place that I think is that open invitation the inviting them to learn more about what the board does as opposed to what we can't do um my answer to this question and my favorite thing that that we measure is does every student feel a connection to an adult in the building we've measured a little bit I think that that alone suggests a level of academic acceptance I think it suggests uh a sense of belonging I love asking people you know what's your connection to education and very few people that I know and respect don't have a relationship with a teacher a relationship with

016an educator that was formative in their lives and if we're measuring that seeing which students don't have that and actively reaching out to them we're probably doing a good job and then chapter 10 was about understanding assessments um I loved the discussion of Criterion versus Norm reference and measuring how we're doing versus a norm versus and then also the different goal types if you if you haven't Revisited that section being proficient growing and then comparing groups I I kind of I kind of giggled I think Hans is a big comparison guy you know driven by data how's this group doing versus this group doing and show me the data and the pie chart um not the pie chart not a right I'm sorry the bar graph uh um I think proficiency and growth are also

017incredibly important um so good set of chapters like I said after it introduces that you should be goal centered and if the rest of it is a blueprint I have time for two any takers out there what would you measure yeah I know itar really your in anybody else to tell the board what you want us to measure and you two are in the proper [Laughter] Department I love that uh so don't just do things do things that have value I love that that is it unless anyone else has any comments questions thoughts Dr Whitaker no I will just say thank you so much for engaging um in this discussion of as a board you all are very much um engaged in this learning on great on their behalf I know that it pushes and

018pulls Us in different ways I literally tab the the book uh write in the book run into people's offices with do you see what this says and this is what this sounds like to me and you know really excited about learning and teaching but you know that's pretty much who I am so uh thank you all for that level of Engagement excellent and we will take January off yes from the book and February danana will facilitate part two step three monitoring progress we let get caught up Dr Whitaker would you introduce any new business for discussion yes uh thank you chair hearnen I would like to call on Mrs Amanda Lyn she is going to provide or actually seek your feedback on an exciting Innovation this afternoon all right good afternoon board chair hearnen Vice

019chair Dr Sulton esteem member of the board and superintendent Dr Jima Whitaker as you are aware we have had an opportunity to reimagine our district Charter Innovations to ensure alignment with our strategic PL and true Innovation today I will be sharing information on the vision of amplifying student voice with you the Board of Education this initiative is aligned with our strategic accelerator focused on building and sustaining and engaging and inclusive culture specifically The Innovation was envisioned to establish a student member of the board we've been working closely with the Georgia School Board Association gsba and our legal team around this possibility we have received feedback there are both legal and practical issues with establishing a true voting student member of the Board of Education under Georgia law there are very specific requirements to qualify as

020a board member which you're probably familiar with and which a student would not be able to meet for example board members must be elected by The District in a formal election second according to the city of theaters charter school board members must be at least 21 years of age finally board members are required to be elected for terms of not less than four years by state of law to move forward we can however establish a student board representative or a student board liaison this student could be elected by their peers and could provide input into the board discussions outside of executive session they would also inform the board what their vote would be on matters instead praised as a non-binding Prem the establishment of the student board representative or liaison would best be established through

021the development of Regulation rather than policy her gsba and legal after benchmarking against other districts throughout the nation we are proposing the representative via high school student in grades 10 through 12 for the term in which they would sered annual terms would be served from July 1st to June 30th with school-based elections taking place the prior spring so at this time I invite any discussion or influence that would help help us in guiding or help guide us in developing this regulations are we thinking this would be a student that would just serve one term like one year term or do we think question for everyone that this person might do better maybe coming in as a sophore or Junior in Serv two years those are the questions that we're seeking input I you know if

022you're saying someone that's um going to be in it for at least two years you would need to select what would be a rising Junior right if you're saying that there would need to be um they would just serve one year you would limit it to I would say potentially Rising seniors so that they would um you know have the most background already done and then when you're thinking about availability in the schedule right so um obviously this could be utilized as an internship I worked study um there are multiple course codes that I could love to write curriculum on utilizing this information it's just the availability in the schedule is definitely more for a junior or a senior just because they've got they've actually accumulated more of their credits by that point but those

023are some of the different questions or um thoughts we would love to get your guidance on as we develop the rec I think there's just a lot of learning that goes into how the board functions even if it's a liaison that's a non- voting member which is probably going to be some of the joy of you know the having a student here is you know they probably work very closely with Amanda and understanding board policy and you know I wonder if a year may not be long enough um although I can see the flip side you know a senior would probably be somebody who have tremendous Insight um so and obviously I would love for that student to be trained by gsba and so they would attend our gsba training um so headed to Savannah

024in in June you know those sorts of things so those are things just to think about I I second two years I think um I think that first year is such a learning curve um and just really getting a a grasp on what it's all about and what what's the background is and what's done and then that second year I think is when they'd really be able to contribute a little bit more and and knowing what they know now they can say what about you know and really be able to contribute and so I would I would lean toward two years as well I think coming up in their junior year and learning all the background for them their senior year to really be based on a full year of already um seeing what we

025do back in the back I think I think that would be more beneficial from a design perspective I I was going to argue very strongly against two years and the reason for it is because you would then be forcing us into a situation where a class would always be skipped and I think every class ought to have an opportunity to vote one of their own folks in and I think we have to be careful about I I agree that well I mean so first of all I also wanted to uh just remark that a year on this board does not feel like enough I Just Disagree that completely but uh uh I understanding I I do understand like coming up to speed on everything you have to come up to speed I think we have

026to be thoughtful about that but I would not be comfortable moving forward knowing that we would be alternating classes and not allowing every class to participate yeah for that reason I can link toward and I mean year is an important year but junior year they folks going to be taking their College college entr exams and and things like that um that also would make me lean towards here do we have an SG we had conversations with that body of So based upon the feedback here I would then approach our Student Government Association to help us with what would be the elections the campaigns all of those sorts of things I want to first start with your sentiments and um consensus building around that um and then begin the administrative work but this is truly an

027innovation that is not existing um and so we're excited to to move it forward within Georgia within yes within Georgia um I also want to just say that that I while I recognize that there are logistical challenges to making this a full voting board member I don't accept that we can't get there maybe we can't get there right away so I would like to know what the path is whether there is state law that has to be changed whether we have to adjust our chart we do have to adjust our Charter what what are the things that we can change in order to be able to make this happen it doesn't have to be like I do feel like there could be a special position for this student that is different than the the um

028at large or District specific um board perfect we can look into that and I know you know at a minimum it is it's changing some of the state laws and things that are in place and the the city of Decor Charter that establishes this as well so but we can certainly look into that for a long term Y and I think I think some of the other point are disc or consideration is because in in other spaces we've had discussions about having students or trainees kind of as liaison Bo is how much you want them in confidential spaces so and you know does is it all and all or nothing if they're voting then did they go into confidential spaces or if they're not could could it be either or we can't put them in

029executive sessions they able to go into that and then they can't really be voting members as the law and things Express to us if I were to vote for these reasons so they could share that so that we're really working on amplifying the student voice but as far as recording the vote and counting it we could not as it currently exist yeah I was going to say thing in terms of there would be things that they would potentially be vot voting on that we would discuss in executive session and so that would be a barrier here how how is it done nationally when you do have a full voting member did those students tend to participate in exact session and vote on everything or is let me we may not have done that research this

030is a question to be answered sure I I read a lot of policies nationally and there were kind of two perspectives some states had some where there were um students who were allowed to vote but they still said that they were not allowed to participate in closed or executive sessions that was pretty consistent across all of the ones that I read um other states similar to kind of where we are talked about non-preferential voting we were kind of ad by which means I'm going to express it of course but it's not going to count um we've kind of been advised to kind of avoid the word vote so that there's not confusion or Merk around that but rather expressing um you know kind of where their opinion was um so I have not like watched

031recordings or reached out to talk to anyone at those districts yet to see you know how does that work on items that are discussed in executive sessions is that something they have stained from you know if they don't have all the information um but if that's important we can look at that no I mean I think that answered the question right and and so I can see I can see a scenario where if they were to express an opinion they're going to be expressing opinion on things that they're fully informed on and if we're having to make a vote on something that is based on Executive session then they don't necessarily Express the I mean in Legally we we legally can't vote on something that we haven't discussed um exactly anyway in in a public

032form usually the executive session part is kind of the we're figuring out our own stuff you know but we can't vote on anything now that that isn't going to be made public so I think that shouldn't be an issue um have we thought about or talked about if this um student would also be a part of the SGA at the school so then they would kind of be the liaison between the school board and the school um and then have a role there I think that's possible um I would think that I so I currently have a student student a superintendent advisory Council that is made up of a n9th 10th and 11th and 12th grader from the high school with alternates in as well but I would probably say those are the individuals that

033would give me more of an SGA type of feel I think this person is really going to be what would work with us as a governance team okay my solution to the twoe thing would be we would elect a j a rising Junior as almost an understudy or an intern for the physici that can go through the training it also creates someone who could replace the senior if they weren't available and then when we start year two congratulations you you know you're not yeah in July you're not getting trained you you kind of sat you know what's going on actual and an alternate that every year we still including I like that idea I'm trying to find a hole in it no seems like a pretty good idea I'm gonna get a t-shirt that say

034find a hole in it all right yeah any other questions I like that well I mean so I do want to just Express a high level of support for this I think this is a great idea excited about it can't wait to meet students and and I'm looking forward to to T and I think it's it's also a good way to get the high school students they will elect the person um and I think it'll maybe Bridge a gap us and not high school and I would love to follow like the first one or two or three and just see like do any of them become board members or from seeing the backgrounds they like nope I would never do that like what part of as we talking about know homegrown teachers and RightWay toic

035engagement I agree we just finished talking about the assessments to measure things right and what our goals would be so it sounds like there's a great opportunity to to measure some of the outcome right absolutely thank you thank you thank you vctor and staff for the presentation that concludes our preor session we'll now just move directly into our work session what boom there we work session has begun thank you for joining us today for our work session Dr Whitaker I believe we you can start with the first presentation yes thank you chair hearnen I would like to call on Mrs Jennifer Burton assistant superintendent of teaching and learning she will provide an overview of our 2year literacy plan good afternoon board chair hearnen Vice chair Dr Sultan superintendent Dr GMA Whitaker and esteemed board members

036I have the pleasure of presenting City schools of VOR 2year literacy plan when Dr Whitaker was selected as superintendent she was given board priorities the first first being literacy and I understand why if we're not teaching children to read then we're not a school district literacy is a fundamental right and city schools of dictator must do everything we can to ensure that we have Literacy for all we've established our literacy Mission which is to provide students with explicit systematic and engaging instruction in Reading Writing speaking listening and language skills instruction grounded in the science of reading when we do that our students will have the essential literacy skills needed to be successful and impactful community members to reach our goal of literacy for all we will provide students with standard-based instruction using high quality materials

037we will assess our students regularly and adjust just our instruction based on student need we will train our teachers in the science of reading which includes the evidencebased reading instructional practices needed to acquire language phic awareness phonics fluency and comprehension We Will Champion our students that require additional support in innovative ways and will create a website to inform our families of what the science of reading looks like in the classroom and how to support at home before we get to teaching the standards we must have protected time every day to teach the standards beginning next school year students will receive 120 Minutes of literacy instruction in K through 2 classes and 105 minutes of liter literacy instruction in grades 3 through five you may be wondering why I have science and social studies listed in

038a literacy Plan Building knowledge in science and social studies is a critical component of comprehension so think about it this way I'm a skilled reader who knows a lot about college football when I read an article about college football I understand it and have no problem comprehending I'm a skilled reader I know nothing about the sport curling when I read it I have no idea what I'm reading that background knowledge is critical even as a skilled reader once we have the dedicated time for direct instruction we have to teach the Georgia standards instructional coaches have been trained on using the standard unpacking tool where teachers determine how a student shows Mastery anticipates common misconceptions identifies extension and support opportunities and examines how the standard is assessed on the end of grade or end of course

039test support to our middle and high school teachers and creating syllabi which clearly outlines the standards being taught to improve communication at home it's our responsibility to provide teachers with high quality curricular resources right now we have adequate resources to teach vemic awareness and while we have the physical resources our teachers have received limited training in how to implement hty during post planning kindergarten and first grade teachers will receive hegerty training along with a short refresher again in July this school year we started training K through3 teachers and Foundations through Focus monthly training followed by classroom coaching which we will continue we use words their way in grades four and five which we will likely move away from by 2025 we use American reading company or Arc as a primary curricular resource while it has

040strength in knowledge building and uses culturally relevant text the resource is inadequate in the other reading pillars we will start the textbook adoption process for KES grades K through 8 in January which will be grounded in the science of reading and ensure that we're providing mirrors and windows for our students right now we do not have any common curricular resource in Middle School Ela courses in middle school we may not adopt a traditional textbook but we will have at a minimum a vocabulary instructional routine a more phology or word part stoken sequence and common text that all students read beginning in August 2024 teachers will participate in a year-long training with the new Ela textbook and new Ela standards hand inand together so when they implement the following year in August 2025 our teachers feel

041confident and prepared to provide high quality instruction for our students next year our teachers will be participating in extensive learning on these new Ela standards and new Ela resources so teachers will continue using AR for reading instruction next year we cannot just stop using art without a supportive comprehensive plan for our teachers which then ultimately impacts our students I want to acknowledge the concern turns around Arc specifically with small group reading our district reading coaches have already begun working with coaches and schools on using GEOS a foundations aligned resource for small group instruction please know that art materials will be completely phased out by August 2025 next school year all students K through 12 will take start assessments which will serve as a universal screener and dyslexia screener we will no longer take the math

042test moving to the the star assessment allows for coherence across our district T through 12 an alignment with the dyslexia screener in addition star offers Lilo a Cas through2 foundational adaptive software literacy adaptive software and freckles for 3 through 12 which provides additional Ela practice based on student star data three times a year in addition to the universal screeners we will monitor student progress and standard Mastery through common summi of Assessments in grades 3 through 8 House Bill 538 requires that all K3 teachers complete an approved science of reading course by July 1st 2025 for the past three years CSD has been requiring all K5 teachers to take the hill science of reading course this course is not on the Georgia doe approved list because they are an introductory course while the law requires training

043for K through3 teachers we will require training for K5 teachers the state and part partnership with Cox campus and the Rollin Center is offering a free one-year course to meet this requirement we will offer release time for our teachers to complete this valuable requirement there are several programs that are on the approved list like letters and Orton Gillingham Any teacher that has taken a course on the approved list will be exempt from the state course and we will continue to offer optional letters training and the 70-hour or Gillingham course for our teachers we will create a parent friendly literacy website that has classroom videos showing what a science of reading classroom looks like a clear explanation of our dyslexia screening process and Ed educational resources for our families my team will work closely with our

044dyslexia task force family to ensure that our literacy web page meets the needs of our CSD family our teachers deserve to have a knowledgeable highly skilled coach and we're fortunate that each school will continue to have one coach all of our coaches will be letters trained and we'll begin a coaching program where they will where they will learn best practices and how to coach our teachers so even our coaches deserve a coach right now we have some very highly trained teachers in schools that have fewer struggling readers and then we have several highly trained skilled teachers where uh well we have highly trained skilled teachers with few struggling readers and then we have the reverse and we need to be Innovative about how we serve our students because we're so geographically small we're considering having

045some of our Wilson Reading intervention trained teachers work with students across School we've improved our partnership with the cater Housing Authority we've already offered parent workshops to support our families with literacy at home excitedly we've trained the tutors in phonics instruction and provided quality instructional materials graciously funded by the decor Education Foundation the materials include culturally relevant student decodable book packs based on each student's reading data and science and social studies materials to pre preview content for an upcoming unit if shown impactful we'll duplicate it at each school's extended day tutoring program while compromise may be an option for many things ensuring Literacy for all is a non-negotiable thank you for making literacy a CS priority what questions do you have well first I would like to say um thank you for a very robust

046um presentation um and I appreciate the the timeline especially because those are to James point a lot of questions that we get if if they hear okay we're going to be implementing star but then if it's not done by next month I thought you were going to be implementing star and so so that I I do I really do appreciate this so when we get those questions we can say when things are going to be phased out and phased in and why um teacher burnout of course is the number one thing and we don't want um to contribute to that so I appreciate the thoughtfulness um with the timeline um when you talked about the schedule uh for the reading requirements for and the 105 for 3 through five where are they currently so I

047can kind of get a gauge of what what is it increasing to so it varies varies it does it really does vary um and a lot of the time has been very interdisciplinary um and we know that we have been lacking in our science and social studies direct instruction really getting into it so reading a book about magnets is not the same of getting into the magnets and using them and so we've really tried to um allocate time where we can do some of that interdisciplinary but then also provide you know structured time um for for students to to really dig deep into the curriculum but it really varies from school to school and we're hoping by when we make this streamline right at a district level level it's it will be more efficient and

048we can provide better support when we have common systems and structures in place makes sense okay so at this point we don't know what they will have to take away from what each school will potentially have to take away from in order to get in order to meet this so that will be forthcoming I guess right my concern is um how they will how each school will be able to find this time and is there going to be direction to each school on where they could potentially find this time so it's not you know like Spanish for example was a really huge um conversation here a few years ago and and establishing u a certain set of amount of minutes for Spanish right so would want to know is is that potentially going to be

049yeah is that protected and and where are they going to find this time yeah banish is not going away um but we have looked at at K2 and at 35 we have built shell schedules for schools to say this is what these these are your minutes this is how it would work even built in transition time because we know that kids have to move and go places um so I'm working closely with um Karen Newton Scott on making sure that our our schools are aware and know how to make this work when they have their schedule they will present it to um Miss Newton Scott and myself um and we can give feedback and really partner with them on that um for the matching of the high most highly skilled inferential teacher with the student

050needing most support could you kind of expand on what you're thinking or meaning by that um is it that at the start of the year if a student have particular reading need they would I'm imag if they in first grade they would go into a class are you envisioning that students would get P out or what are you what are you yeah so the student data would drive that decision for that school year um so at the beginning of the year we're doing our screening and then continue you know when students are kind of like a flowchart if they're you know show that they're struggling in one area let's say phonic then we may give them a word read survey and then all right we can pinpoint that all right um so we know that

051they need a lot of support around short a okay so really narrowing down to what they need and then using our Wilson Reading intervention teacher so this is a high level of training that um about 25 teachers receive during the summer and it's intensive training um depending on kind of how um any of our staff allocations go this would be a great place for to have a floater interventionist where now I know something really specific the student needs I've got the skill set and I can move between a you know Westchester and Claremont really easily because we're close to one another um right now we have some teachers that are Wilson Reading trained and they don't have as many strugglers but then another school there are none and so um we we need to make

052sure that if we if everybody can't be trained it's it's very expensive it's a lot of time but let's let's move our folks to really meet the needs of our kids are we going to pay this to teachers addendum bonus some kind of differential compensation for now having to move between schools and being the ones I mean so they are bringing a higher level of skill to the table they're also you know teaching the the children with the most challenges um I just want to make sure that we're being fair to the teachers as well that we're asking that of uh I will say that we can definitely look into that obviously if they're moving between schools they will be able to um we will obviously budget for mileage um as any itinerant teacher would

053they would receive mileage for moving moving between schools of um having the additional credential we want to make sure that we look at all of the ways that our teachers get additional credentials and make sure that we are putting that dollar amount and applying that consistently so I can't say I will say we'll look into it because I think it's I think it's a great opportunity I think we should get additional teachers Wilson Reading training to that degree um and I think that's where the money should go but it's and I think my question is a little bit more specific because it is really the the nature of what we're asking the specific teachers to do you know I mean so put it in engineering terms if I have a project that's been managed extremely

054well up to this point then all it needs is me to watch it carefully that's an easy project if there's a project that it's Fallen apart um or whoever is managing it before did not do what they needed to do and I have to now correct all of it that is a different paying role and so what we're asking is the teacher to take on potentially a more challenging um um instruction I'm I'm presuming and and uh I just want to make sure that we're cognizant of that if that we if we are having a contingent of teachers that we asking to do potentially a more intensive focused and and frankly a challenging role to help I think I think that could get tricky though I mean you know I think potentially all teachers I

055mean you know if you're in a general a classroom you're going to have to mix allw students um also you know you have we already have itinerant teachers you know um gu well teachers you go from building to building yeah so that's why I said I will need to let me look into it because providing interventions yes you're highly trained and highly skilled because you've had additional professional learning to do that at the same time multiple people have additional credentials to meet the needs of students and we don't necessarily differentiate their pay but that is something that we can look into um I did have a couple of other questions oh I don't I don't want to have take I think Dr Carman was asking some question okay I want to that um I I

056think I wanted to one also thank uh the parents some of whom are here who've been so vocal active on this particular issue I think it's really kind of given us the idence to push very hard um you had just mentioned interventions I know on the one chart that you showed with the circles around it I think I can't remember the exact title of the the bucket on the right but that is probably where interventions sit I just want to make sure we're explicit about how that works did not go that um yeah so additional reading support that bucket holds all like ntss and other Associated um structured interventions okay very good um we talked a little bit about some of the uh literacy support at dhaa uh I also wanted to ask about um

057not just K5 but also some of the prease stuff that might be needed is that something that's also on the agenda since literacy we know is really birth through [Laughter] so um not that I'm but the I just want to make sure that we're also thinking about that since there's such a huge element yeah and this really is so this is just the beginning so this is really in my opinion this is our level set this is our are kind of the base of where we're starting to get things kind of right and set um we have tremendous opportunities to grow go much further with this especially through some of our Charter initiatives um and Charter Innovations so think of this as our beginning point and not the last time that you'll hear me talk

058about literacy over the next two years well chair heren what excites me most about literacy for all it is that it is truly all so our strategic Partnerships and you mentioned them um with the cator Housing Authority with the cator Education Foundation and our reading experts and families will ensure that all of of our families as well as our students understand how we teach all students how to read here indicator so that's exciting to me and it's it's more than just um you know rhetoric it's it's the passion and really one of the reasons why I got into business in the first place so thank you thank you thank you Miss Burton thank you Dr Whitaker um I guess please introduce the next presentation yes and I would like to call on Mrs Amanda Lynch

059she will present the findings from the 2025 2026 calendar survey and our option good afternoon again board members and superintendent Whitaker today I will be presenting you with an update on the development of the 2025 2026 academic calendar the calendar develop priorities District priorities and stakeholder feedback today I will share with you the data that was gathered from the calendar development input survey this will also include teacher feedback on the early release professional learning days I will highlight recommendations and considerations that were generated as a result of the identified priorities and Survey data new calender options will be shared that reflect these recommendations and consideration our commitments going forward will be presented finally I will invite discussion of these calendar options I would like to start by publicly thanking everyone who took the time to

060complete the survey I am delighted to report that we received a total of 1,980 responses to the calendar input survey the overwhelming majority of respondents about 79% identified as parents the next largest group of respondents identified as CSD employees 10.8% were teachers 3 and a half% were cfd employees and parents 2.3% were school-based employees other than teachers and 1.1% were district office employees together this means that 17.7% of respondents identified as CSD employees the third largest group of respondents were our current students at 5.2% the remainder of respondents fell into other categories such as residents Community Partners or parents of former or future students for those of you who like me may enjoy doing calculations this does total to greater than 100% this is because the single category of CSD employee and parent of CSD

061student was included in the percentages of both the parent category and the employee category here their responses were only calculated once once when analyzing the data this slide highlights some of the overall preferences expressed in the survey when looking at ratings of extremely desirable or desirable weekl long breaks in September and February came out on top 83.1% of respondents gave it a rating of extremely desirable for desirable ending the school year before Memorial Day is also a strong preference with 81.9% rating this as extremely desirable or desirable and right behind this was starting the school year on or after August 1st with 81.6% of respondents rating this is extremely desirable or desirable stakeholders were also asked about their preference for the first day of school Monday August 4th was ranked as the preference for the

062first day of school by 62 and a half% of the survey respondents now to be transparent while maintaining weeklong breaks ending school before Memorial Day and starting school after August 1st are all desirable there are simply not enough days in our school calendars to accommodate all of these conferen you will see the highest ranked preferences the week long breaks and ending Before Memorial Day reflected in the calendar options being shared for discussion later in this presentation we also collected feedback specific to the digital learning day and early release days for the digital learning day 46% of respondents rated it as extremely desirable or desirable he broke this down by stakeholder groups to gain some additional Insight when looking only at student responses the percent indicating desirability increased to 67% when looking only at CSD employees

063the percent indicating desirability increased even more to 76% this suggests that our students and employees value having the digital learning day the qualitative feedback on the digital learning day produce a mixed results and opportunities for improvement some stakeholders make suggestions to move or eliminate the digital learning day while many of us likely understand the desire to move the digital learning day to say the day after Halloween we must remember that one of the intentions of this day is to promote Civic engagement on Election Day itself the feedback also suggested a preference for asynchronous learning on the digital learning day while a determination about the method of instruction for a digital learning day is not necessary for calendar adoption as a district we are committed to examining our practices on this day to ensure they most

064benefit student learning when asked about the early release days 56% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the inclusion of early release days in the the calendar student responses yielded a 75% agreement with their inclusion and cfd employees yielded a 66% agreement themes that emerged from the qualitative feedback on early release days focused on frequency Effectiveness and structure some parents and teachers felt the frequency of the early release days were too high some stakeholders expressed frustration with the early release days that occurred in close proximity to other breaks in the calendar options being presented tonight we have reduced the number of early release days in response to this data in response to the board request in October we asked school-based staff specifically to provide feedback on their experiences with the early release days thus far

06596% of teachers reported engaging in professional learning on the early release days we ask teachers about the relevancy engagement value and contribution to their professional growth of the early release dat agreement ranged from 54% to 72% in these categories as detailed on the slide analyzing the qualitative feedback provided more insight into these responses some teachers indicated a desire for adjustments to the early release days making recommendations such as including time for department-based professional learning providing options to them for their professional learning and allocating time for grading we will continue to gather ongoing feedback about the effectiveness of early release days so teachers are supported with instructions to improve student outcomes the board and District priorities along with the stakeholder feedback have resulted in several recommendations you will see in the calendar options for discussion tonight

066the first recommendation was to maintain the September and February break this was the highest rate of preference in the survey the second recommendation was to end the school year before Memorial Day for students as it was rated the second highest prence it is also recommended to maintain the digital learning day on Election Day the inclusion of the digital learning day is valued by both our students and our teachers one of our priority student outcomes in our strategic plan states that we will cultivate Scholars who among other things participate in productive Civic engagement the digital learning day on Election Day serves as a model to students for this Civic engagement finally it is recommended that we keep early release days on the 2025 2026 calendar however we may do so at a reduced number as we

067work needs of teachers with instructional time for students for these reasons you will see each of the recommendations reflected in the two of the calendar options that are being presented if we order to keep each of these recommendations we will need to consider the date for the first day of school in order to meet the full 180 days of instruction the first day of school would need to be Wednesday July similar to our current year calendar as our first day of school was Tuesday August 1st 2023 it is also similar to next year's approved calendar where the first day of school will be Tuesday July 30th 2024 the second calendar option has the first day of school as Friday August 1st if we were to select this option we would have the desired later start

068date expressed in the survey but students would only have 178 days of instruction as a Charter system we can exercise flexibility on our district calendar this reduction in instructional days would result in an increase in the number of teacher professional learning days allowing for additional dedicated PL time to support teacher development here you can see the two calendar options with the recommendations and considerations as described I'll pause for just a moment to give you a chance to review how the recommendations and considerations have been reflected in the options and we will have time to discuss so finally before inviting discussion about the proposed calendars we would like to make clear a few additional commitments first as part of the calendar development process we have been intentional to help ensure that all truly means all superintendent

069Dr gima Whitaker hosted an interface counsel meeting specifically to gain feedback from diverse fa on the calendar we have representatives from the bahai Catholic Episcopal Jewish Muslims and Presbyterian faith with their support we are co-creating a calendar companion that will provide guidance and considerations for the district school and teacher levels council members are identifying significant holidays in their faith and establishing guidance around these holidays this companion will include when students might be asked for religious reasons when major events should avoid being scheduled or test and insight into when students might be engaged in religious rituals such as fasting finally and as suggested earlier in the presentation we are also committed to engaging in the continuous Improvement cycle to enhance our professional learning so that it supports teachers in their crafts and yields improved student outcomes

070for all students thank you for the opportunity to share the data from our calendar input survey and the recommendations and considerations that emerged at this time I invite any questions or discussion that will guide the next step in the adoption of the 2025 2026 academic calendar any feedback may be used to provide the final calendar option I have two questions well I think the first thing is to emphasiz that in taking all all this wonderful feedback into account that our goal has to be to maintain the appropriate number of days on the calendar um you had that great presentation by um Jennifer Burton and we have to maximize the amount of time that children have in instructional time so I think in you know and that was some of your challenge here was to was

071to marry um parent feedback as well as making sure that we're maximizing the time that children have in the classroom um I think another point has come up a couple of times is why the early release days are on Wednesdays as opposed to being moved to other days of the week so could you explain to of that yeah absolutely that did come up in the survey and I'm sorry I didn't touch on that the preferred date when we asked people was in fact Fridays we have some serious concerns about moving an early release date of Friday both from a as we talk about the value of instructional time we're concerned about student absences as well as staff absences um if we are using for professional learning um the engagement of staff on a Friday afternoon

072is probably not going to be as high as it would be on another afternoon as well um so there were hesitations about a Friday using Friday as that professional learning for those reasons the in the survey we asked what days they would prefer and while Friday was the preferred date Wednesday was the second choice and so that is why we maintained to the Wednesday on the proposed option it also looks like from what you're presenting here with these early release days that is is your understanding that the teachers are getting something out of it because if the teachers are are not getting anything out of it then I think we need to revisit the concept but it sounds like you feel like they are using it using it for appropriate using it teachers are using

073it appropriately for professional learning and I think that if we were to dig a little bit might be opportunities with pockets of some of our teachers for example we know that the data is very good um from our teachers who are engaging in the math standards um ongoing professional learning as part of that day there might be some pockets of teachers who who we need to make sure that we're encompassing all teachers who teach all students in different non-traditional courses or things like that so that they also have good opportunities I'd have to dig a little bit to make sure that that's the case but we're going to continue to collect that data and make those refinements so that it is Meaningful but yes overall it is still meaningful for the teachers may be more

074of a Dr wer question but are there opportunities I think when we discussed early release days at their Inception to continue to partner with uh Community organizations um to make sure that there's Child Care point for some parents with early releas days as they get out at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and if you're at work then F gets off of work at one o'clock in the afternoon um but I think for some folks who are already in after school programs maybe it's seamless but for people who aren't who are used to picking their kids up on time this is where this becomes problematic so are there opportunities for us to look into other expanded options or expanding some of those program so that this doesn't yes we can definitely look into that uh I

075will say with the reduced number of early release days next year and or not next year but year after that uh we will be able to know ahead of time which days which potential providers and then be able to share that information with the community um as we identify those partners and my last question is between option one and option two just in eyeballing it is the major difference the first day of school correct the only difference only difference days one is option two is 178 days it's 178 days so the the school year starts two days later so students are only there for 178 days teachers are still 190 day employees so therefore there are two days that um students would not be present but Stu but teach some you know opportunity for professional

076learning for teachers on those days and so what happens with those two days how do you because I was thinking that students had to have 180 days how do you pick up those today so you don't um because we are a Charter system we have the ability to exercise our flexibility on the school calendar if we are doing professional learning things to help support the the needs of our district back up J's question is there to maximize their student days is there any wiggle room that you saw in creating this to give the students those two days back other than adjusting the first day of school and and in trying and I understand I understand the challenge of trying to incorporate what your your biggest points of feedback or were there any two days that

077you could see where they could get those two days back so really looking at it it would either be we shorten one or both of the breaks in September and February we didn't want to do that based on the stakeholder feedback um we're ending right before Memorial Day so it would be coming back after a long holiday in that case um the other option is around that long semester break but again the way the the days kind of fall this year um currently students are getting off on a Friday the 19th and so if you put an additional day it would be coming on like a Monday the 22nd um and so there really wasn't a lot of um around the semester break I tried I tried I do I I do just in the

078in the starting the Tuesdays later uh I don't actually mind the two professional days for the parents but I do think starting the school year on a Friday is just sort of single day dangling out that you know like how much of a day is that Canna actually end up being right so so um yeah I I think I'm leaning a little bit more towards having the kids classes a little bit earlier I'm I'm leaving towards the 178 days just because I know I desperately teachers need those professional learn days and I mean we got to figure out for those teachers who in the reading of using the reading um that's no longer on the list and so now they we got to figure out you know can we split it I mean can we

079do 179 days and start the Thursday at least that's two days of instruction and you give a teacher the teachers the extra time is like I Want It All um I kind of like that idea not starting on a Friday Rel related the early release days both calendars are five correct yes we just kept that the same right now okay and what were they this year toal they were nine nine so we had talked about independent ly that that is two extra days of curriculum that we are building back into the calendar in terms of classroom time if you look at the early release days reducing from nine to five is four days of about two hours each so at least eight hours or one um of instruction so that is a great Point yeah

080and then with with the later start day the the children aren't getting back that classroom instruction you that's 178 days that versus 0 days that's two days that we can't build back in by face to face CL constru that's my the challenge is teacher PL where where what do the time com from I me so many new initiatives and I mean where that time come from right um um so I I will be I will speak to lived experiences I've worked in former Charter districts where you had a you over the past probably five to six years you did not have 180 um in 180 days of instruction although it's beneficial you do have to also allow the teachers the time to plan the work so as we are in the TW the summer of

0812025 with the new resource in hand and new and and also the new training as far as Ela is concerned we will need to prepare them all year long prior to so I I will be honest 179 is a happy medium between 178 and 180 um and if the board is comfortable and I I don't think we need to solve it today but I think we needed to get your feedback and continue to work with everyone and be able to bring a recommendation One calendar based upon the feedback today to the board next month so if we if we went from nine nine early release days to four to five then that's four less opportunities for the teachers to get professional learning right because at this point they're all we're using that that time for

082and that's it eight hours so I think that that would solve then if we if we split that in half and started school on the 31st 31st then they would get that additional hour that were missing from the from the early release days on the 30th and also have two days of school that week instead of one so I would be in favor of that starting school on the 31st 31st and getting 179 days okay I did want a slight change of Direction at that but I wanted to talk a little bit about the Interfaith Council and some of the um uh accommodations and I and I think it's important important to note that in addition to ensuring that we have resources available for teachers to know not when to schedule stives for example um

083that I think there's probably some clarity that we can provide teachers as well about what constitutes an excused absence one of the things that we heard pretty clearly was you know teacher or uh parents that they feel like they have to jump through hoops to get a religious exception allowed and that should be the owner should be on us to make that easy not on them to do the work and so I just want to make sure that that's a clear part of the process yes that that was something that did come up in our interface Council from the various spes that were present and so we talked about from a governance standpoint what does that look like for policy potentially for regulation and as we are talk as we move to that portion um

084we'll make sure bring that forward we will we will all right all right prepare the next all right thank you Miss Lynch Dr Whitaker do we have another presentation yes chair hearen Dr Lily hudon will provide the annual update on student services which includes student behavior and discipline social emotional Learning and Development and our Universal screener for social emotional Behavior Dr thank you good afternoon cheer heren I shair Dr celton a team board members and superintendent Dr Jim Laker we'll start with a midyear update on displine over the last years the total number of students receiving ISS and OSS has decreased how however our student discipline data continues to reflect the negative disproportionate outcomes for black students and students with disability this this is not acceptable and it's not in alignment with our strategic accelerator

085students success in all areas this year our goal is to reduce the number of in and out of school suspension incidents for both black students and students with disabilities by 5% as of December 1st students were removed from the typical classroom environment for 231 days 32% of combined ISS and OSS incidents were assigned to students with disability 70% of combined incidents were assigned to black students 15% OSS at thhs received OSS more than once and one student at Beacon Hill received OSS more than once the number of students receiving ISS more than once um was greater with 45% at thhs and 133% at Beacon Hill Middle School now I will provide an overview of District support to proactively improve student Behavior outcomes cbis is an evidence-based framework to improve and integrate all of the data

086systems and practices affecting student outcomes every day our PBIS district coordinator and PBIS District coach convened monthly meetings with school-based PBIS team to discuss problems of practice and provide needed support PBIS teams participated in a two-day tier one training in August and school-based teams have completed their tier Fidelity inventory in SE September and all of the staff have taken the self assessment survey in October feedback from these assessments was shared with the district tbis team tbis leadership team this month in addition District staff members provide feedback and onetoone coaching for school-based teams to support students who have tier three Behavior plans and behavior intervention plans PBIS has function today with limited District resources we're requesting additional funding to increase professional learning opportunities for PBIS coaches and to provide support for student recognition and schoolwide acknowledgement

087of progress with PB we are excited to be actively involved in rethinking and repurposing the function of in school suspension a space which stands for students promoting accountability Clarity and empowerment will replace the current ISS framework at e hill and theer high school the space is a proactive setting designed to help students to problem solve develop appropriate school and classroom behaviors and reduce the need for subsequent um for subsequent removal for exclusionary discipline the space offers students increase social emotional Behavioral and academic support and interventions with Nur in a nurturing and supervised environment the space facilitators are trained professionals who receive additional resources to help students gain insight into their Mis Behavior to plan appropriate next step and to transition back into the classroom after disciplinary incident or event has occurred the implementation of the

088Space Center represents a shift in which students will have the opportunity to embrace the Journey of change and celebrate personal growth training as a facilitators will be completed this month and we have a planned implementation dat of January 2024 next we transition into a brief overview of our work related to social emotional development according to the collaborative or academic social and emotional learning our Castle SE is regarded as an interal part of education and human development is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities manage emotions and Achieve goals and feels and showy for others while SE is not new for CSD we currently do not have a CO strategy to ensure that seel is prevalent in all classrooms and implemented with

089viel from our preliminary audit of practices only lower elementary schools upper elementary schools and the theer Virtual Academy are implementing components of in the classroom lesson morning Circle times or core lessons facilitated by school counselor in addition the number of minutes dedicated to SEO the frequency and the curriculum or framework um very break across schol some of the challenges we've identified withal implementing se's instruction are competing priorities um time constraints and challenges related to devoting instructional time for AAL practices as such we've developed a detailed plan uh for a cohesive districtwide SE strategy that will include the adoption of ANL framework and curriculum to be implemented during the 24 25 school year this project will support the Strategic accelerator Student Success in all areas and building and sustaining and engaging in inclusive culture next I

090will highlight the results of our social emotional Behavior career for the second consecutive year City Schools indicator has utilized the best to screen for social emotional behavioral health risk in students the best measures behavioral and emotional risk associated with known precursors to the development of mental health or disorders which could later contribute to academic problems so there's risk in everything we do driving a car has normal risk driving a car on an icy Street elevates the RIS driving a car on an icy stre Street at 5° weather with no snow tires no salt barriers while texting makes the risk extremely elevated so these statements parallel How risk associated with the V can be interpreted it's important to note that risk does not equate a disorder trening helps us to ensure that risk factors are identified

091so that we can put protective factors in place to support the confirmed need the fall administration of the V opened October 9th and closed October 27th for all students in grad 3 6 and N of the 1261 eligible students 1140 or 90% participated in the screening according to the student outcome report 917 or 80% were identified as having normal risk 166 students were identified as having elevated risks and 57 students were identified as being extremely elevated for risk of developing emotional Behavioral or adjustment problems after the students were screened the process to confirm risk and recommend support again school counselors psychologist social workers and District level student services staff conducted one toone checkin meetings with 225 students who were if as being elevated or extremely elevated 128 of the 222 students were initially identified as

092the elevated um were confirmed for risk after Consulting with parents the decision was made then to continue existing support measures or to refer the students to an array of tier 2 or tier three rule based counseling clinical or wraparound Services over the next few years we will build and expand screening capacity in schools um students in all grade levels will have gr plan for this grow we're building and expanding partnership with Community organizations contractors universities and vendors that Aid cfd in in the goal with trading students to Bolter both their student wellness and health I will conclude with a summary of the efforts to improve Behavior outcomes in student Lo we're expanding SEO we meet monthly with AC to train and calibrate around student discipline issues prior to issuing issuing any OSS or more than

093two days of ISS all administrators consult with the director of resorted practices and beh made support our new coordinator rep round Services is working to connect Mental Health Resources um for students with challenging behaviors we also look forward to partnering with communities and schools to enhance wraparound support and all instructional staff will attend professional learning facilitated by C3 um to increase their strategies related to classroom management the workshop is consistent with restored practices cbis and culturally responsive education and will take place um on our first day B after the holiday break are there any questions will be imp will it in January in January and the um teacher or the adult will be the SP facilitator what kind of background will they have are will they have C back so um we have been working

094with the facilitators of ISS at both schools they have had um 40 hours of training this month um many people from the city services department have been working with them to be able to provide them with a curriculum to use in the space and they'll have ongoing training and support so um we're working with the existing I facilitators but providing them additional training and then that's optional yes yes par had the ability to opt out if they didn't want to and then the students of at RIS at extreme risk um they would be referred um support I they refer for support internally or um or outside of so it really depends on the degree of of concern so after the initial screening um members of the student services department met with the students um really

095reviewed information about the students background and conferred with parents for most of the students who were elevated and extremely elevated we were able to refer them internally because we have the dictator schud Center um or it might be issues that be addressed by their school counselor if it was something that was um you know just a change in their environment that they needed to up and then if we felt as though it was something that needed to be addressed further we shared our resource list with the parents to be able to look at outside but we are very fortunate to be able to have inhouse um clinical stap to be able to address a wi issue can you explain um again what the referal processes so a student violates the code of conduct or has

096an alation tool when they when when a teacher or principal can hand down a punishment of OSS or ISS or when it has to escalate to I guess a second opinion or something like that is it based on is it based on the violation is it based on the number of days um how does how that so the vast majority of classroom behavior in are managed by teers and they report that information to our with database they often connect with parents and they're able to manage that um just sort of locally there in the classroom if it is a level three through five um violation of our code of conduct those are the things that are reported um into Infinite Campus those are things that rise to the level of being managed by a school-based

097administrator so the next level of having a consultation with a district um employee is when after investigating uh whatever the incident is if the administrator feels as though they'll be looking at any out of school suspension or um more than two days of ISS that is when they consult with our um director of restorative practices to talk through whether or not there are other alternatives to suspension that can be considered and to make make sure that we are implementing the code with the and are the principles aware of of all this there with been well yes the principles are looked in as well so at the high school and the middle school we typically are working with ATS around these issues obviously princip principles are kept you know in the loop um and then at

098elementary schools um sometimes we hear from the AP or the principal but they're definitely aware of this process and if it's just one one day of ISS then the AP can just hand that hand down that punishment without having to go through this speci pathway yes that's cor can use they can use their judgment um on the on the slide where we're keeping track of the recidivism rates um are we keeping track or monitoring that with the teachers as well so just keeping track of it is there a particular teacher or teachers um that are sending students to ISS or to the principal's office more than others is there a way to check with that as well with Swiss yes there's a way to drill down to get the information by teacher with Swiss and

099that's information that that our team you know will be looking at and then working with the at um as a part of the work we do for our monthly AC meeting we're able to have them bring that data with them so that we can talk through how they can continue to coach teachers around this as well um at some point maybe in an executive session if it's possible to just get an update on what that's looking like what what you know what type of actions are being taken and what we're actually seeing um in the classroom would probably be helpful to follow up on Tasha my conclusion from this data is ISS doesn't work in the high school I mean for 5% recidivism rate u means that what we're doing is not changing Behavior so

100I appreciate you all stepping outside of that to look on ways to improve it um is PBIS and this is a great way to ask I was going to ask about new teachers but teachers who handed out are we targeting them with additional training um and sort of identifying the teachers that could benefit from it and we'll be expanding that work as we go forward so bringing in ct3 is in direct response to to teachers sharing some of the needs that they have and being able to um glean all of that information from the canvas visit and then to immediately um put into place the pl that's necessary for teachers to continue to improve in this area great and I think to speaky back on Tasha's thoughts um I would be interested to hear what

101the um the high school and the Middle School principles think about this when I saw this these numbers I had to read it twice um 200 and something lost days across multiple that's a huge amount two I mean that's a huge number of days and if it's one or two days here um you know or across multiple students um that's impactful um and it's you know it's really really hard to ignore the the component of race here um you're talking about a population of students that makes up a quarter or less of the total population we 70% of the of the of the recipients of the discipline here um it's it's it's it's astounding to me um so I'd be very curious like Tasha said to see if there are some Trends um and I'd

102be very curious to know kind of what the principles um think um and there's must be some room in um this a professional learning series for you know for biage training UMO ongoing internal work I think overall looking it just it makes me S you know that 200 and something days have been lost because of pun punishment um so I think we have a lot of work to do here and I'm I'm happy that you're passionate about it in in regards to the best screening that's been done you said it was something like 1,00 students or so that have received that that screening across a range of grades yeah and so outc the 80% 5% probably statically hold across the student po right I mean you've got a pretty diverse sampling I think with a

103sufficient size if 5% of the kids are at extreme Edge or forgy P term was but Extreme risk that would imply that we' have some 300 students in our schools right now that are at extreme risk and I'm wondering if there's any way I know how intensive screening can be and for 80% of the kids to effectively not need something from it is there a way to really laser in on the kids that we think are going to be in that 5% and 15% bucket right my guest is the teachers probably forward with the screening to really just like PR rapidly identify those 300 as soon as we can and then maybe get screening out later to the to the kids that are less at risk so oh D okay um did I just you

104did you did Sir so when so when we think about I want you to step away from Behavior but just step away and just think about intervention so mtss or intervention in general there is a triangle a pyramid if you want to hold it up this way if you want to hold it up that way either way you have almost and we talked about it in cabinet that perfect triangle of elevated risk we have to do our due diligence in finding those students just as Miss Burton talked about with those that have neurod Divergence in their way they acquire reading skills the same way around Behavior because mtss although we often times think of it as truly literacy or math intervention true mtss is behavioral it's academics is also looking at attendance it is mcss

105from a structure that's why I said that's the one thing that we need to really dime we need to design all over over again because when you have a strong mcss process it is truly integrated across those areas and we can't skip a step so you can't skip a step to identify a student for special education and you can't skip a step when it comes to screening for that elevated risk we have to do our due diligence if not we will be potentially doing harm to children but um that was that was Theo I didn't know if you had another question what or comment about a different topic and well that I guess the core of the question is then do we we then have to screen all 5700 kids to find the 300 that's

106elevated or we have other ways to get there ultimately there is a twoyear a three-year plan to increase the grade levels of intervention across all of our grades so we did 3 six and nine this year next year we have a full plan of how to increase the screening time but we just want to make sure we're being thoughtful we're being intentional in that implementation I think you you run if you don't follow that process then you run the risk of stereotyp disproportionately screaming certain demographics and then missing students who and so that's why I said can't necessarily do that but we can the flip side of that though of course is that 5% of our seniors aren't going to get anything this year because they're not going to be a part of the program

107screen and if the Juniors aren't screened next year then we also miss them as well I mean so I do feel I recognize those risks right like it's a sort of a rock in a hard place kind of conversation but either approach feels to me we're missing and I'm just course you know there's a way to notal I have a question on the on the a the the percentage that was highly elevated or somewhat elevated do we know how many of those children were already receiving um some kind of services either internally or externally or both that's a great question and actually many of the the students who were identified were already um receiving support at school or part of the npss process and that's what came to mind with your question this isn't our

108only mechanism for identifying students we do notice that we may um pick up a few more students of internalizing um conditions that are happening or experiences and that's why we want to be able to to grow this each year and make sure that we are ready to respond with additional resources and build that as we go but this is not the only way that students are identified sometimes they are self-identifying they refer themselves to the decor Student Center parents let us know we have um students who are um getting support through 504 and so there are multiple mechanisms but this is one that has a wise me and we want to to be able to have that to really make sure that we're meing all so yeah that that gives me a great conf appreciate

109that it it sounds like in effect we aren't really missing a lot of students we just haven't put this entire rigorous structure in place which we are wor so that I'm well uh just in conclusion I just want to let uh the community and let the board know that just today we started I started my day as a district uh wide or the district leadership PB principles were there assistant principles were there we had our support staff from um Metro Reesa was there as well helping us to really think through our implementation plan and truly Fidelity of implementation of PBIS and what it's going to take and I know that Dr Hudson also mentioned the work that we will engage in with ct3 coming on next um next month with teachers so it's about understanding

110that individual celebrations that students need but then also the collective body of our Educators to understand the needs of our students and when we marry those two we'll be able to get to where we are and know that our principles tomorrow will receive this presentation so whether or not they already do all the data well pretty much they did but uh they'll get it good so thank you so much Dr HUD yeah thank you for the update um moving on to policies yes uh chair Hern I would like to call Mrs Amanda Lynch she for first read of policiy afternoon again board members and superintendent Dr ler but today we have three policies on the agenda for work session these policies were discussed in pre-work last month month the the recommendation being made is that

111the city schools of the cater Board of Education accept each of these policies for first read they will then be available for public comment through the Sy first we have policy DC annual operating budget based on board feedback last month the policy was edited to provide Clarity around budget adjustments the previous version required authorization by the board for Budget changes in any function for any fund exceeding 10% the revised version specifies the superintendent is authorized by the board to transfer Appropriations within function as necessary to staff and equip Schools board approval for any Amendment which involves new non-school-based positions or changes in allotment formulas is required board approval is required for a general fund Department budget transfer between functions when the total of such transfer exceeds $100,000 special Revenue fund of Grant budget adjust Ms

112up to $1 million may be made without board approval but reported at the following board meeting as information is there any discussion or may I read the recommendation no please read the recommendation the recommendation being made is that City schools of decator Board of Education accept policy DC annual operating budget for first reading do I have a motion to approve the recommendation to accept policy DC our annual M or member Johnson Davis makes a motion may I have a second thank you Miss White second to the motion any discussion all right all those in favor say I sorry I very quickly I just I by recollection of the thresholds we had wanted to align it with already approved procurement thresholds right that is what we find yeah we did a lot of research and we

113went back to other districts and um other Consultants to pull the language and make the language a little bit better to to meet the feedack 100,000 was that threshold right yes yes all right okay hearing no further discussion all those in favor please say I I I motion carries unanimously Miss Lynch second recomendation second we have policy DK Student Activities fund management no changes were made to this policy as discussed in pre-work last month is there any discussion um I'm going to go ahead and read the recommendations the recommendation being made is that City schools of decator Board of Education accept policy DK Student Activity funds management for first read thank you do I have a motion to approve the recommendation to accept policy DK Student Activities fund management for first read move board member

114UTS makes the motion may I have a second second thank you board member white second to the motion any discussion all those in favor please say I motion carries unanimously Miss Lynch the final recommendation last we have policy djd expense reimbursement no changes were made to this policy as discussed in pre-work last month the recommendation being made is that the city schools of the cator Board of Education accept policy djd expense reimbursement for first read do I have a motion to approve the recommendation to accept policy djd expense reimbursements for first read don't move board member white makes a motion board member Oz is in a hurry and seconds the motion any discussion no this is great I like that we uh put it towards the federal mileage rate which makes it flexible makes it

115easy as a district to keep up appreciate the Forward Thinking on the board uh any other discussion great all those in favor please say I I I thank you M Lynch for the policies that are now available for first read online uh this concludes our work session for today we will take a 10-minute break we will come back at 5:00 pm to begin our board meeting Now call this meeting of the school board together to order at 5:00 p.m. we ask that you silence any cell phones you have at this time and we will begin with a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance at this time I ask that everyone join me in a moment of Silent reflection thank you now I ask all that are able to please stand for the

116pledge 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 our mission is to inspire and enable student student growth through meaningful and engaging learning experiences supported by highly qualified and caring Educators in a safe and inviting environment we will move to the second item on the agenda approval of board minutes meetings for December 2023 board members are there any revisions to this agenda is proposed this evening hearing none do I have a motion to appr approve today's agenda motion to approve there agenda board member white makes a motion may have a second second I have a second the motion any discussion of the agenda nope all those in favor please say I I I

117motion carries unanimously next agenda item is the approval of minutes from our previous board meetings do I have a motion to approve November's regular board minutes motion to approve November's regular board minut thank you board member white may I have a second thank you board member UT second the motion any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I I motion carries unanimously we are now going to move forward with our other agenda items we're going to start off with student and staff recognition Dr Whitaker I see a few students and staff in the audience any recognitions this evening yes chair Harden at this time our chief of school performance Mrs Karen Newton Scott will come to the podium for some special presentations thank you board chair hearen Vice chair hson Este Steed

118members of the board and Dr worker tonight I have the pleasure of making two presentations as each person is your principal up front for Photograph and remain for pictures with our board members after all recognitions have been made for the first presentation I'd like to present members of the Oaker team Cindy Aldridge and Aaron gueri talk crap for Andy Aldridge and Aaron gueri have been champions of the great work at oakar by presenting at two conferences this semester in November they presented the use of podcasting to reach parents and families with important information about how our children grow and learn in De the dynamic duo presented at the El national conference conference to help others make the most of daily weekly and monthly crew the way Cindy and Karen continuously enhance their learning and so

119freely share that knowledge with others is inspiring and an excellent example of what it looks like to the Allin thank you so much Cindy and Aaron I am also you can say I am also pleased to highlight student accomplishments from our Virtual Academy under the leadership of Mrs Heidi Watley our first highlight is husa gria this year Hena embarked on her technical school program with the goal of earning her certified nursing assistant certificate alongside her high school diploma pursuing her dream of becoming a nurse she plans to apply to nursing school next year and we are confident that she will make a compassionate and dedicated nurse additionally Hena has actively contributed to contributed to our virtual community by serving as a student member of the DVA Advisory Group and volunteering as a peer mentor her

120commitment and contributions are truly commendable tonight we honor you Hena good job now let's turn our attention to shantavia Shield shantavia has exed with top grades in all her coursework this semester and demonstrated exceptional initiatives by undertaking an additional credit Beyond meeting and surpassing all academic requirements she has consistently attended every check-in every live session and every instructional opportunity notably shantavia has taken the extra steps to schedule appointments with her online teachers her wavering dedication serves as a shining example for anyone considering the Virtual Academy Auction in PSD please join us in honoring shantavia [Applause] Shield at this time we invite Whitaker and the board members down for a photo opportunity with our students and our teachers that recognize this even ra congratulations congratulations good job congratulations thank you all uh Dr Whitaker do you

121have any comments for superintendance reports yes I do uh chair hearnen thank you so much for uh first of all the acknowledgement of all of our staff and phenomenal students and just really celebrating what it means to be all indicator so over the past few months I have taken a deep dive into the Strategic plan all indicators as well as the community engagement data generated to create that document I found when asked what is the greatest need needs for improvement for CSD respondents indicated policies to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers to be the highest rated when asked the question to indicate the second greatest need for improvement for CSD respondents indicated financial management of the district this data is supported by the response to the additional question what area listed has the greatest potential

122for improving our school system and also our community to which the response was keeping in that same theme hiring and keeping quality teachers and staff the second greatest potential for improving our school system and Community was increased funding so by listing all of those data points I understand why this board created the Strategic accelerators of all indicator at our most recent board retreat we focused on Student Success in all areas by doing a detailed analysis in an interoperable data system within Infinite Campus and I cannot wait to share that same tool with staff and even to have a forward-facing public version of that tool but once again we're focusing on students was a key need highlighted in the Strategic plan and it is foundational to the governance team as we are great on their behalf

123also we discuss how budget the master schedule and human resource allocation demonstrate our values therefore it would be of value for me to share what I call the through line through all of the presentations that were provided last week City schools of Decor is a public school system not a taxing Authority as a result we rely on both County and state government to provide the revenue to fulfill our mission and deliver quality educational opportunities to students at CSD These funds are known as our Revenue the revenue sources for FY 24 come from various sources the largest being taxes at 54% this is roughly 57 $7 million the tax digest has historically been used to project our Revenue however that is not enough we must engage in face-to-face discussions with our tax assessor and commissioner in

124order to have a more accurate projection of Revenue we started this C this conversation actually back when staff and I met with the commissioner and I look forward to the commissioner as well as the assessor to actually coming to our board and providing a presentation to the community in febru February but by engaging in this public discussion we will be able to reduce the variance between what we are projected to Source in tax revenue and what we actually receive in tax revenue the second largest revenue Source comes from the state at 34% which is roughly $ 37.8 million georg's funding formula is called the quality basic education or QBE so when it comes to QBE taxes special revenue and school nutrition all of those categories can be used for salaries and benefits and of our

125FY 24 budget 79% is Personnel the salaries and budgets for teachers and also our staff of course these are the individuals that are providing that high high quality Educational Opportunity QBE is a funding formula which goes back to the 1980s in Georgia to measure the number of students QBE uses a weighted full-time equivalent otherwise known as FTE student count we typically call those weighted counts but the weighted counts do not represent the number of students in the seats the weighted counts are based upon the students that spend time in each of the various 19 instructional programs for funding purposes the class day is divided into six periods or otherwise known as SE and the school system earns funding based upon the placement of students during each each of those various instructional segments specifically on Tuesdays

126actually the first Tuesday of October and Thursdays in March also first Thursday in March this evening's consent agenda includes the P parameters of the budget development for FY 25 with the number one priority being maintaining competitive compensation structure for all employees and number two being to ensure that we are maximizing QBE funding through coding scheduling and staff allotments this brings me to another key side slide from the board retreat we took the first look at salaries of teacher and non-instructional staff last week this slide does not include benefits as January's work session presentation will include them but with this first pass in mind let's look at the First Column for an entrylevel teacher you will see CSD which is the yellow bar ranks eight out of nine as compared to other Metro districts for a

127midcareer teacher around 12 years either seven or eight is the ranking out of nine and finally for that end of career teacher salary only not inclusive of benefits the ranking is nine out of nine Row one are our Bachelor teachers teachers that have their Bachelors row two masters Row three Specialists and row four teachers that have their doctorates so what does this mean for our district and the DHS master schedule the board students and teachers at DHS were presented options that would in increase funding from the state by adjusting Master schedules the adjustments will ensure students are in funded classes on state reporting days which are Tuesdays and Thursdays funding allotments for the district I want to reiterate what the options stated when classes will remain as a part of the master schedule again when

128classes will remain as a part of the master schedule however they will be moved to a non-reporting day now what are students currently thinking based on the data from the survey and the discussions with our superintendent Middle School and High School advisory councils so board you have in front of you some of the thoughts of our students so I meet monthly with the student advisory Council and they receive the same presentations of course I'm a teacher in teacher friendly terms and they have a and so the board has in front of them the notes and the actual thoughts of our students about the schedule about the budget parameters and also about the compensation of their beloved teachers so what did they say the block schedule is preferred over a traditional 7 period day an environmental

129scan of all IB High School Master schedules with teacher planning specifications is also being conducted additionally Mr Sproul will continue to seek input from all stakeholders including students teachers and family before any options are submitted for final board approval now what are the implications of this knowledge we know we are not making making any changes due to budget cuts we know we are optimizing QBE by scheduling to maximize FTE for weighted classes on count days we also know that strategically budgeting and forecasting will allow us to put more funds towards a compensation package which is competitive for our staff remember we are a district that aims to hire to retire these strategies are a must if we are going to raise salaries I started tonight's comments with an all indicator strategic plan which refocuses our

130work on students their success and access for all to that end I want to remind our community about our honors coursework family webinar which is scheduled for 6:30 on this Thursday December 14th finally as Educators we continue to learn how to teach and Lead while navigating the complexity of an Ever Changing and uncertain Global Society the super intendent Interfaith Council met last week where Recon convened members of the bahai Presbyterian Islamic Catholic Jewish and Episcopalian faith we strategized on how we will ensure all students are seen in the calendar and how staff can become aware of student needs but we also recognize the existing challenges in our school district along with the local impact of the conflict in Israel and Gaza this among the opportunity this is among the opportunities for growth that has caused

131us to refocus on what it means to be all in for every student while true change will take time the city's schools of the cater is Resolute in our commitment to creating an even higher achieving School community that Fosters respect inclusion where all truly means all so chair Hearn that completes my report thank you Dr Whitaker um for the chair's report good evening not believe we are less than two weeks away from the semester break behalf of the board I want to thank everyone for their continued engagement and the success of our students and our schools the board is grateful for the high quality instruction of dedicated staff across cstd we are pleased with Dr Whitaker and her team for their D diligent work on our outline PR sem we excited about the direction of

132CSD the December board meeting began with an executive session we followed that up with our first annual legislative luncheon the luncheon was held here in the Wilson Center all of the members of the decab delegation were in attendance appreciate them for joining us to hear and discuss our 2024 legislative priorities I want to also thank mayor Pat Garrett city manager Andrea Arnold and several members of the decator commission for participating in our luncheon moved on to the pre-work session we're excited to receive proposal on our vision for amplifying student voices by adding a student representative to the CSD board when you consider that students are the primary beneficiaries of Schoolboard decisions empowering them with a voice on the board is critical to building an even better School District we certainly look forward to adding this

133representation to the board the work session included additional presentations this there was an update on student services which included a social emotional Behavior update the district's two-year literacy plan was unveiled there are both Focus areas for the board we will continue to monitor them closely also want to thank the 1,980 people who responded to the 2025 2026 calendar input survey the board heard a report on feedback today along with proposed options and consideration they are reviewing the options will provide input to guide the next step in the calendar approval process the work session concluded with a presentation on ccpi and S no it didn't recommended Finance policies presented for first reading uh I want to remind the public that all presentations are available for assembly in assembly for your review uh and of course there

134were two board presentations earlier highlighting the outstanding Oakhurst Educators uh Cindy Aldridge and Aaron G thank you for being selected to be champions of the great work of Hurst and two elel education conferences we applaud them on being selected and appreciate their commitment to our Oaker students we also learned of the accomplishments of two students who attend our Virtual Academy which is under the leadership of Miss Heidi Watley congratulations to the students of Cena Ben Bria and shavia shields on their academic achievements now we have one more special presentation cuz you popped up over [Laughter] there Tasha white day everyone it literally is tonight's meeting serves as the last meeting of board member Tasha white who will transition off the board in January she's given us two great terms of ser dedicated service including serving

135as board chair and vice chair uh at the legis board member white was presented a proclamation by mayor Patty Garrett from the city of decar declaring that officially December 12th indicator is Tasha white dayasha Mary Tasha white she prefers Mary over happy given season U for those yeah thank you um Dr Whitaker I believe you also have a presentation yes I do come on always Shing from head to T So appropriate before we even uh like displayed it thank you tremendously for your two terms of service thank you for entrusting me I think there's something else coming take it B okay there you go it open at your own time well I don't know okay I'll do the card later I'll open the box down that's part of it okay oh the card is yeah

136there a Gi Oh okay all right so I'll open that one for a can't believe you're leaving well maybe we can't believe you're not taking us with you that's awesome thank you oh gift cards My Nail Bar yes I do like it my done yes yes you guys know me so well all right oh oh I love it okay so inside J real quick guys so most of the time it is freezing 20° in here okay freezing and the only one who remembers to bring extra covering and protection is J right and there have been times when I've thought I was going to bring one I left it on my bed I'm like I forgot my Jana sh I forgot my J sh so I've been calling in a j sh for like two years

137right and so that is um very old that is the story behind the very old now I have my very own jasha sh thank you guys okay wait no I'm being I'm puure yeah because we have yep great we're all here yes we Will's the you can what mind the hole mind the hole the hole board member white it has been an honor to serve with you we are appreciative of all you've done on behalf of CSD um I'd like to invite other board members for some personal remarks about Tasha and her service to CSD if they have anything to share I said this to you I said this to you personally but I wanted to say this um when I came onto this board car and I came of the board at time we

138were pretty determined to make some changes and I think we were frustrated a little bit where the schools were and I think I incorrectly in hindsight assigned some of that t Tasha Tasha inherit bag of cats and managed to hold it together for long enough for the system to pull through and I I incorrectly question your leadership at the time I have come to deeply respect your insights on students your passion for the work uh I just wanted to make it clear publicly was not right and you have it's been an absolutely fantastic honor working with I'll say that um the first thing is that uh in looking at those pictures it's really hard to look at those um I think in positions of leadership like this longevity expertise um are and critical to the

139vitality and success of all of us it's always brings me joy it brings me passionate to see women of color in positions of leadership and you've been such an inspiration to me personally I've learned so much just from hearing the stories you tell um your successes your wins your losses um and I think it's you're taking so much with you out of here um so many stories uh so much that you've learned that I hope that we can still call on you um like I said it's really hard to let you go um I personally feel like I've gained a friend um you're a neighbor you live I can walk to your house um I'm grateful that um I've gained a friend um I will see you at summer camp um so um I adore

140you you're a great person so grateful for all the hard work that you've done Community should be grateful and we are indebted to you so I'm so happy to see wherever you land next and um I'm it's been a joy to work with you Tasha working on your campaign was my first introduction to the RO of a school board member and as karma said you were my inspiration um when I decided to run um you have served during some very difficult times and ex fire and I still appreciate that um just want to thank you for your service um and I look forward to celebrating past white day yes water thank you um had the opportunity to attend the 200 year by Centennial and uh Linda Harris who's retiring after 35 years shared a memory

141that's P they a powerful decator and Tony power shared a memory that was powerful for him about decator um I was a former teacher who thought I wanted to run for school board and decided to meet with people and it was I don't know I don't know and then I had coffee with Tasha White and the energy she essentially said that there are few jobs you can do in life that improve and change people's lives Bill Floyd earlier that day had told me anyone running for Schoolboard is crates he [Laughter] wasn't Tasha brings an energy and love to this community as a mother and a friend and uh I didn't know if I wanted I I did successfully run for school board again um and again it's because Tasha told me that I had to

142he did two terms so I had to at least do two terms to be fair um so when I'm attending the next Bicentennial and someone says my memory of theater and why I give back and do it it will be coffee with you oh and anything you would like to share or say follow that up um very Bittersweet a lot of people come up to me and said I I bet you're glad that this is your last board meeting um and it it has been tough at times but it it's definitely Bittersweet um especially working with this particular governance team that we have sitting up here right now so pretty awesome um and I I I find my I I I call myself blessed to have been a part of this team um I thank

143mayor Elizabeth Wilson for tapping me on my shoulder in 2015 much like I told you you had to run again James she told me I had to run and in that moment I wasn't sure if it was for me so I started asking questions and I met with Julie R whose feat I was going to be taken over and I wanted to see what shoes I would be filling and could I fill them and I met with her numerous times to just gather all of the information that I needed to know that this is the space that I needed to be [Music] and hope was tough tough for everybody um but I'm happy that that is not my lasting memory of being on this board this year has been incredible bringing on Dr Whitaker is

144definitely going to be the Legacy that I leave on this board for sure um and I'm just grateful that I'm going to continue to be here I'm not going anywhere I still have one more in the nest so I'm not an empty nester yet by any means so I will still be involved um as many of you know I lost my mother this year and so I am I'm just re-evaluating things and I think I will take 24 to continue to heal and um think about what my next move uh will be so I appreciate all of you that are here uh in support of me and I absolutely appreciate the community that has voted for me to sit in this seat twice um I know my board members up here will attest it's a

145very surreal moment to go into a voting group and see your name name I don't know how anybody gets used to it I've never gotten used to it and I'm so grateful that um my community each time chose my name um to represent your children so H thank you thank you I I consider it an honor that I was able to sit in this seat for eight years and I never took it lightly so thank you guess that's the conclusion of the chair's report uh I want to wish everyone a great semester break reiterate our thank for your constant work to get better to be great on their behalf uh fellow board members do you have any thoughts anything else you'd like to share as part of the chair's report before we move on hearing

146none we'll MO now move to action items we did not have any action on Executive session items Dr Whitaker can you introduce uh the proposed mid-year adjustment yes thank you chair hearnen I would like to introduce Miss lunita broom our Chief Financial Officer to provide the midyear budget update and recommendation for Amendment evening board chair Cen Madam Vice chair Dr slon the team members of the board superintendent Dr wi community and college December represents midterm for the district the district has been in operation for six months of the fiscal year and we have had an opportunity to analyze Current financial operations Trends and Returns on investment based on the analysis it has been determined that there is a need to amend the current FIS year 24 budget for General slot and Grant fund there are

147request to amend the general fund budget which is the district's largest operating budget this slide shows the general fund Revenue sources and expenditures categories in the First Column the board approved fiscal year 24 budget in the second column the impact of the midterm request in the z c and the revised fiscal year 24 budget based off of the requested midterm amendments in the board total revenue and total expenditures are highlighted in midterm budget request for Revenue total an increase of 93275 the details of the increases will be discussed in the upcoming slide midterm budget amendment request for expenditures total an increase of 1,1 166,00 and458 the details of the increase will be discussed in the upcoming slid the total fiscal impact of the requested Amendment to the current fiscal year 24 general fund budget is

148[Music] $33,750 this amount represents the difference between the midterm request revenues of $932 753 and expenditures of 1,166 468 the small table to the right titled fly 24 the Y fund balance identifies the funds that were left are the surplus of funds after the collection of all revenue and payment of all expenses in last year's fisal year 23 budget and the audited beginning fund balance for f the year 23 as you know the ending fund balance for one year becomes the beginning fund balance of the next year so the projected current fisal year 24 beginning fund balance when the board approved the budget was 9.44 Million the actual beginning an audited fund balance is approximately 14.9 million which is a $5.4 million baranes are increased from what was initially projected the $14.9 million is United

149and subject to slightly change the details of the bances between the projected and actual beginning fund balance will be discussed in detail during the 5year budget review presentation in February I some of the factors that contributed to the V include local taxes came in 1 million more than what was projected for the tax Pro other Revenue sources such as earn on investment summer school tuition transportation fees and miscellaneous Revenue like facility rentals and surplus B pay in $487,000 more than what was projected Q e state revenue came in [Music] $327,500 million difference in FIS year 22 ending balance and FIS year 23 projected beginning balance although the 5 million bar is definitely not ideal this amount would be extremely instrumental in fiscal year 25 to fund some of the budget primary priorities including maintaining a

150competitive compensation structure at the Su at the November 28th board retreat in which the board chall charged the staff with looking at compensation options to obtain and retain quality steps the 3,000 per person increase in health benefits for non-certified employees and covering the recently announced four fith are point8 anticipated increase in PRX additionally measures have been put in place under Dr woodford's leadership to provide a stronger oversight and management of the budget including the addition of the controller position mve into a perable expenditure budget to align School budgets with actual expenditures utilizing a modified zerob based budgeting to justify all operational expenses establishing a relationship with the tax assessor to gain better insight to tax projections conducting a three-way match between the Personnel budget position control and payroll to ensure positions are not over budgeted

151and looking at f positions mid year to determine savings and to amend the budget at the next table the first row under the header which is labeled designate funds from fund balance it's the difference between the budgeted revenue and ex initially when the board approved the budget it was projected that Revenue would exceed expenditures by $481,500 after the midyear Amendment it is projected that $247,800 will be added back to the fund balance highlighted in green is the projected endine fund balance for fiscal year 24 the projected Ed fund balance was was $9.8 million and the revised CLE year 24 midterm projected end fund balance is approximately 15 million due $15 million due primarily to to the 5.4 million increase in the beginning fund balance the fisal year 24 for JPM Bond balance will be fiscal

152year 25 projected beginning fund balance the fund balance percentage with the is 15% which is within the board policy range of 4 to 15% are there any questions on the general fund SE [Music] you didn't even write anything down no questions right the details of the midterm request on the upcoming slides include reallocation of funds in addition to both revenue and expenditure you will see whether total for some request are negative which represent a credit this simply means the addition of Revenue request under strategic accelerator one building and sustaining and engaging in inclusive culture total midterm investment is $100,000 requests include $20,000 to increase a translation budget to finance additional translation and support services for non-english speaking families and stakeholders $80,000 increase to the technology budget for Professional Services and we subscriptions to enhance and

153professionalize communication strategic accelerator to organizational Effectiveness and excellent total midterm investment is $ 421,750multifamily Financial oversight and transparency reallocating $ 68,9 from a budgeted administrative assistant position will be used to offset the control 1,498 for increase in board salaries to compensate board members for additional work hours responsibilities into alignment salaries with those of other school board members $20,500 for safety audit to assess the district's Security operation $50,000 for a production design consultant for Branding marketing and communication $50,000 usage primarily with the cooling tow $150,000 for increased energy cost $120,000 for the pressure washing of District par strategic acceler R for stud to success in all areas total investment is $147,700 requests include $ 71,9 for the six month salary of an mtss director to lead the mtss program and ensure it it's aligned with the

154Georgia Department of Education reallocation of $70,000 from teaching and learning operating expenses to offset the salary of the MTS salary $1,991 for the six Monon salary of two special education teachers to meet students needs $155,000 to enhance the PBIS program to ensure students success in all areas $ 34,39 for College and Career online online platforms to increase family knowledge fam's knowledge and opportunities for postsecondary College and Career options the cost of PBIS in the College and Career online platform will be offset by 34656 by eliminating the tripod gei and 7c surveys which are dupc with the Georgia student cap service 30,000 the data services support contractors to assist with identification of Trends and root causes driving disproportion outcome an analysis of Revenue show that earnings on investment have been trending significantly higher due to increased

155interest rate midterm Amendment request is for a $435,000 increase to earn its on investment I like that one state grants are Grants awarded by the Georgia Department of Education that are budgeted under General funds the district has been awarded a total of $453 in state R grants are budget neut neutral and that both revenue and expenditures will increase by a total of 4977 any questions on the general fund before I go to BL it okay there are also requests to the SP 6 budget this is your current FAL year 24th blot budget the midterm request and the revised amended fol year budget there's a request to reduce Revenue by 800,000 and expenditures by 600,000 and expenditures are being requested to be reduced by 136,000 the small table to the right title fiscal year 24 beginning

156fund balance identifi the funds that were left are the surplus of funds after the collection of all revenues and payment of all expenses in last year special year 23 budget initially the slly set the unit fund balance was projected to be $1.8 million however once we realize that Flo funds were coming in lower than anticipated we drastically reduced spending of Flo six funds by approximately 3.2 million which resulted in a revised beginning fund balance of $5 million six Revenue collections began last fiscal year it is important to leave a healthy Reserve Spock funds so that there are funds immediately available at the beginning of the net fisal year in the net table the first row under the header which is labeled designate funds from the fund balance shows the difference between the budgeted revenue and

157expenditures the fiscal year 24 budget anticipated that 632,000 will be needed from Reserve to balance the budget after the midyear amendment of reducing the revenue budget and adding additional expenses it is anticipated that $196,500 will be needed to balance the budget if the projected revenue is received and all budget funds are expended the projected ending fund balance for slot fit will increase from 1.2 million to 3.9 million du Prim from the 3.2 million reduction in spending for the year 23 in the upcoming slid I will review budget amendment request for slot f are there any questions in reference to this slide just quick question if we're if we're as I make sure I fully understand this we're looking at $800,000 reduction in presumed revenues then why are we having to reduce plan spending by 3.2

158million that was last year fisal year 23 okay so that is not this particular correct got all right that's my question that was a short file of approximately 1 million year 23 this year's spot col is coming in a little less than anticipated and therefore the request is to reduce the slot s budget by 800 the revenue the expenses will also be reduced by 800,000 earnings on investments have not traditionally been included in the slop budget due to the insignificant amount previously earned due to the increase in earnings the request is to add 200,000 in revenue for earnings on investment other slot six requests include $25,000 for a not to exceed amount for an Erp and change Management Consultant 139,000 for the the design and permit documents for the district duplex and $500,000 for additional

159amount required for the funding of the Legacy track and field the board will be presented federal grants are grants received from the federal government grants have stipulations on how the funds are spent and the district is reimbursed for all allowable budgeting expeditures grants are budget neutral in that Revenue equals expenditures the initial budget for Grants are based on projections from previous received grants the amount listed in the midterm request are amendments to existing grants are additions of new grants the initial budget for FAL year 24th Grant was 2,778 the revised budget for fisal year 24 Grant is 2,743 38 Lita on the Erp consultant you have that under reoccurring it's reoccurring for yes for the Erp well yes we would need it next year oh so it's just two years or or you thinking we

160we're going to get it every year I'm thinking next year we'll be ready to implement at most three at most three because to to to move to Erp system is more than a oneyear um process or project so will reoccur but until it's fully stood up and we're we've tested we've ensured everyone is paid accurately oh yeah it's will definitely be two years possibly three okay the district has received approximately 1 million in special education grants approximately 492,000 in title grants and $ 69569 in a one time eff the board will be presented with an overview of Grant F I will be happy to respond to any questions or provide clarification no question but just in general a comment um the the 5.4 overage on um anticipated income is I mean it's it's not great

161and I know that literally every step that you mentioned those are exactly all of the right steps to ensure that that doesn't happen next year um I I would like to uh invite the administration to evaluate ways not just to use that but to provide some of that back to the community and still hit our targets for uh what we're seeking compensation compensation yep thank you lenita lots of detail really appreciate your work there um recommendation yes uh any seeing no comments do I have a motion to approve what is that right the may your budget adjustment oh do I have a motion to approve the midyear budget adjustment thank you may have a second second thank you Miss White any discussion okay all those in favor please say I I I motion carries unanimously

162um let's see where am I board we will now move to the consent agenda items which include a Personnel report School nutrition report monthly Financial reports fi25 budget calendar and parameters and overnight out of State student travel uh Dr whitrow I guess Miss broom just continues yes she does October 2023 the October 2023 Financial reports are located in the Assembly of the general fund budget is approximately 98 million as of October the district has collected 33% or approximately 33.2 million of the budgeted Revenue here to dat which is in line with the percentage that was collected this time last year October revenue is 11% less than the amount of Revenue collected for September due primarily to the approximately $455,000 decrease in the amount of tax receipts from September to October this decrease is normal for

163this time of the year a large tax a larger tax percentage of sales tax is traditionally collected in November and December earning on investments is continuing to Trend higher than anticipated $57,000 was receive received by October which is approximately $28,000 or 96% higher than the amount received in October 2020 increasing earnings on investment to actually reflect the increased earnings is one of the midterm budget am our other revenue is trending as anticipated expend expenditures are normal for this time of the year the district has expended 22% of the overall budget are approximately $21 million year today for the month of October it is equated to approximately $8 million this is 11% higher than that will we spent in October 2023 which is due primarily to increases in salar and the majority of October expenditures are

164for salaries and benefits which make up approximately 7 for the month of October there is a deficit of approximately 4 million which means the district expenditures for the month repord million more than the monthly Revenue the 4 million be taken from the fund balance overall year to date there's a surplus of approximately 11.8 million due primarily to the large receipt of property tax collections posted in July last year this time the Surplus was also El the surplus of Revenue is normal at this time of the year in account for the healthy fund balance of approximately 26.8 million the unpriced beginning fund balance of approximately 14.9 million now the fund balance has been decreasing since August and this is also normal for this time of the year October revenue for Capital funds consists of approximately $586,000

165from earnings on investment and SL six expenditures are trending as projected in the deficit will be covered by the fund balance which is currently approximately 7.3 million just the year 24 anticipated expenditures for capital is approximately F nutrition revenue and expenditures are trended within the same range as previous years F nutrition revenue for the month of October was approximately $467,900 $45,000 for students breast and lunch expenditures for the month of October were $287,600 State Grant not budgeted in general funds we have closed out all of this year 23 grants and as of October 31st 2023 have been awarded approximately $2.5 million in Grant funds wow the district has been awarded grants for special education and title funds for economic needs to help ensure Student Success for all students I will be happy to respond to

166any questions or clarifications thank you Miss broom any any comments from anyone on the board excellent uh do I have a motion to approve those consent items one through four and six move to approve consent items one through four and six thank you Miss Johnson Davis do I have a second second second Miss White any discussion all right all those in favor please say I I motion carries unanimously uh next we will review the Legacy Park track and field contract Amendment Dr Whitaker chair hearen I call on Mr Sergio Perez the chief operations officer chair her Vice chair Dr sulan members of the board and superintendent Dr J this is the request to increase the financial Comm of the Board of Education and the City of decator for the design construction and installation of the

167Legacy par track in fi we receive two be on October 26 2023 Precision t for 8, 23,24 and Sport for 6, 81,0 53 the recommended actions SE approval of amendments to the intergovernmental agreement between the city of DEC facilities Authority the city of decors and theic Board of Education to increase the financial commitment of the city of DEC in the Board of Education from 3 Millions each to 3.5 Millions each a total of 7 Millions for the design construction and installation of the track and field facilities at Legacy Park request approval from the Board of Education the contract for legacy par track can fi improvements to the sport part for the amount of 6,815 approval of mosow sport Lighting in the amount of 308,000 for the athletic faciliity lighting approval real of land planning for

168the amount of 60,000 for the construction Administration and approval of Georgia Power Company in the amount of 50,000 to address utility relocation the cost associated with this a has been allocated with which is plus six Capital funds do you have any questions may I read the motion statement to increase the financial commitment for Legacy Park and track and fail facilities one one question on the Precision and sports turf was the reason to go with the sports turf simply budget reasons or there were there other factors taken in it's a 2 milon just a$2 million okay thank you I moveed that the city schools of decator Board of Education approve the superintendent's recommendation to amend the Legacy Park Track andil intergovernmental agreement excellent do I have a motion to accept the contract Amendment move to accept

169the contract Amendment board member Utz makes a motion do I have a second second Davis second motion any discussion or additional questions hearing none all those in favor please say I I I motion carries unanimously thank you Serio uh moving on to policy Dr Whitaker yes thank you chair heren I would like to call on Mrs Amanda Lynch Chief of Staff to present three policies for second read action thank you good evening again board members superintend we have three policies for second read action first up is policy Iha grading system with approval this policy would be effective beginning in the 2024 2025 school year I would also like to acknowledge that as discussed in previous board meetings regulation will be developed that will provide more specific details on how this grading policy will be implemented

170the recommendation is I recommend to approve policy Iha grading systems affected beginning the 2425 school year for Action doation to approve the policy Iha grading system syst some effective 2024 2025 school year for Action Johnson Davis makes the motion do I have a second second second from board member SS any discussion questions one question sorry was there when this was up on assembly did we get community feedback about this specifically been up it has been up and open for public review and none was received thank you I just wanted to thank everybody for their hard work on it I mean this is very foundational really to to moving the system forward so thanks for yours whole teams everybody's work excellent all those in favor please say I I I motion carries unanimously thank you next

171up is policy km visitors to school for the record no feedback was received on that from simbly I recommend to approve policy km visitors to school for action do I have a motion to approve the recommendation to policy km visitors to school for action or member makes a motion may have a second second member white second motion any discussion all those in favor please say I I motion carries unanimously all right Miss Lynch recommendation and finally is policy ikb controversial issues I recommend to approve policy ikb controvers issues for Action any I mean car's question it's such a good one once again no feedback we're waiting on you to say so all right do I have a motion to approve the recommendation to accept POS the ikb controversial issues for Action so move board member

172white makes a motion may I have a second Davis any discussion again thanks to the team for this I know this took a lot of work to get here it's been better part of the Year particularly to Dr hudon and her team we really appreciate us being able to inact that I just felt felt let Community folks who are here who may not always attend the board meetings know that we have read and discussed these um policies and revisions several times and so three times at least three at least three months so um as we are there's no been no discussion because we have discussed it pretty thoroughly clarification thank you J all those in favor motion carries unanimously thank you Miss Lynch you we're head of schedule I think we have some people here

173for public comment is that accurate yes okay okay um no they're here for Tasha white day Tasha it is Tasha white day everyone Tasha white um that's official with the city it's official you can look it up all right the following information is included in the board policy manual and members of the public also acknowledg this information when they signed up to speak this is a reminder for all speakers and members of the audience the opportunity to address the board during public comment is limited to District parents students residents employees businesses and organizations wishing to address the board during public comment must sign in and in doing so will be asked to State their connection to CSD Andor the city to cater to allow time for other business public comment will be limited to one

174hour or 20 speakers at the board's discretion the public comment period may be extended the time limit for all speakers is three minutes persons speaking during public comment are not allowed to yield the floor transfer unuse time comments during public comment should be addressed to the board as a body they should should not be addressed to individual board members it is up to our discretion that persons violating this policy may be asked to step down speakers should also be courteous and professional speakers are not to list any complaint about a specific person or Personnel or individuals connected with the district in a public session the board strictly prohibits language threats comments jeers Applause or shouts from the floor disruptive persons will be asked to leave the meeting room the chair May terminate public comments that

175are profane vulgar defamatory or disruptive if any speakers comments begin to Verge into an area of hate speech or defamation I'll will ask the speaker to end their comment speakers may not address confidential student or Personnel matters they should be they are encouraged to submit such concerns to the superintendent in writing members of the board will not address persons presenting public comment or speak to the substance of any comments made instead a member of the admin team will follow up with person speaking at the board meeting I will add in that at 3 minutes I will ask you to see the floor and to respect everyone's Time Dr Whitaker will you please call our first Speaker our first speaker is tazin I ja can you hear me yep good evening my name is cazina j

176and I've been a resident in the city of deada since 2018 my children attend City Schools educator but today I'm also the mother of wadea elun the six-year-old Palestinian boy fatally stabbed 26 times in Chicago today I'm also the mother of Pam Hanan and fine three Palestinian students shot in Vermont today I'm also the mother of [Music] 9,77 Palestinian children killed in Gaza today I'm also the mother of 18,000 Palestinian children who have been wounded and are undergoing medical procedures without proper medication today I'm also the mother of 24 palestin 24,000 Palestinian children who have lost their own parents I've always thought of thear as a safe haven but in the last two months I've been called a terrorist an anti-semite an animal and other horrific names for simply asking others to remember their Humanity

177their compassion and their kindness always thought was at the core of our values here but I've never felt more afraid and silenced than I have living as a Muslim in the city of theater in 2023 City schools of thecar is known to teach about the oppression of black and Native Americans and the horrors of the Holocaust we've worked with parent groups to bring light to Asian-American hate lgbtq equality and people living with disabilities and yet the school board is only further promoting islamophobia anti-arab hate and anti- Palestinian Hate by censoring Educators and students in a time when over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed and almost 2 million displaced the school board is creating an unsafe space for Palestinians for Muslims and for Arab students and while this war seems world's away is impacting us right

178here in America with the rise of islamophobia instead of showing compassion and empathy the school board has chosen to Cave into pressure and remove Palestine from the model Arab League showing children that it is okay to erase a people that it is okay to erase history that it is okay to erase diversity of thoughts while other school districts are Banning books indicator we are B Banning kindness we are Banning Humanity we are Banning Palestine thank you the next speaker is Hassan V hello my name is hust rby I've been a resident of the city of De Gator for eight years son attend school in the city of decator school system and I have two other children who will be joining in the next few years I'm here to voice my concerns which are shared by

179other parents who I've spoken with are afraid to speak public War about actions taken by the school district specifically the cancellation of DHS students from representing Palestine in the model Arab League in the action taken to investigate and reprimand a restricted employee as a result of leak email and pressure from parents I understand that I cannot discuss personal matters here so regarding that issue I will simply say that the public information about the case has my made my community and my family feel excluded unwelcome the staff members actions were doing the exact opposite he was creating an inclusive environment for a vulnerable population regarding the decor High School model Arab League I'm concerned about the decision to not allow students to represent palestin in the upcoming model AR conference as you probably know anti-al syian

180bigotry in islamophobia has been running rampant in this country a six-year-old boy was sound to death and three college students were shot because they were Palace besides these hit crimes there have been softer forms of this bigotry theaters have decided to cancel Palestinian film festivals art houses have removed art created by Arab artists and hotels have decided to not host Muslim advocacy groups and now school systems have decided that Palestinian Palestinian identity is too controversial to even acknowledge the city school the city of deer school system appears to celebrate its diverse student bodies it proclaims to have a culture that honors all students and staff regardless of cultural or racial background at a time when there are over 25,000 Palestinians who have been killed or missing under the rebel the vast majority being civilians how

181do you honor Us by ignoring us you have Arab students in their families who are geving you have Muslim Students in their families who are geving the CSD employees shared resources embraced my community and was written in a true Spirit of inclusivity I have spoken to members of the decor Community both color white people Muslims Jews Christians and people of no particular religious affiliation from this conversation I can tell you the perception is that our school system is also censoring any academic discussions that humanizes the Palestinian people besides that exclusion of representing Palestine limits the educational experience by allowing students to EXP for various viewpoints even though that may be sensitive educational experience becomes richer and more reflective of the complexities inherent in geopolitics we need transparency why was this why was the decision made

182to full representation of Poli science who made this decision was this just the easiest decision to make after pressure was applied if this school system truly honors all students and staff regardless of cultural or racial background why would they stop students from representing Palestine in the upcoming school activity I urge you to reach consider this decision and to also ensure that our school district is making decisions in the best interest of all students and families and to abide by the spirit of inclusivity and Equity that we claim to thank [Applause] you next speaker is Raheem snow members of the board my name is Raheem snow I a decater parent and a decator resident I am here to share just a few thoughts on the issue of Palestine that has been happening um I want to

183start with a quranic verse that says and it is God saying that he has made us all out of a single soul out of a single being so we are parts of this larger Soul we are leaves from this larger tree when some of the leaves are hurting it affects the entire tree and so I want to make sure that we are giving Palestine a voice in this community the the there are there are groups and forces and pressur that don't want us to talk about Palestine that want to keep it as part of um some other topic some other place happening somewhere else it's not our problem but I want you to remember that once upon a time talking about indigenous Americans and what they've suffered was taboo Once Upon a Time talking about

184the real horrors of slavery was taboo Once Upon a Time the the topic of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany uh was taboo some people still don't believe it even happened so I want to make sure that we as Educators as parents as residents of this community are talking about Palestine giving it a voice at the administrative level at the staff and faculty level at the student level I was looking at your International Balor uh learner profile and I found how much language it has around not just teaching the students to be good students but also citizens Global Citizens who have critical thinking skills and who care care about what is happening on the other side of the world and so my request is is that we've got to find a way to bring the topic

185of Palestine into the curriculum into our offices into our uh uh what the teachers talk about what the staff talks about and we need to normalize it because anyone suffering is something that our students should know about they should know because this this is not happening in the past you know 500 years ago this is happening right now and as a resident I am asking that you are not alone in doing this you have our full support we are happy to support your efforts in this regard thank you very much next speaker is the next speaker is Evan gallagan and I believe he may be Zoom is he on okay the next speaker is Zoe bareno also hello listed oh yes listed in Zoom yes now hello all right I'll go ahead thank dear superintendent

186thank you all for taking the time to listen to the concerns of the parents in the community I believe that we meaning the school board and I are learning many new things about history the impacts of words and Equity I'm grateful to be on this journey together with regard to the the city schools of decar the city of decar the country and the World At Large I'm seeing people many of whom may truly mean well and have the courage of their convictions and yet knowingly or unknowingly spewing hateful rhetoric and causing damage emotional and physical violence against our students against Muslims Jews and the population at large I truly do not understand why supporting one Community has to be done at the exclusion or expense of another in September of 2022 I wrote to the

187board about the how the dress code unfairly targets girls of color in December of 20 2022 I emailed the board to call out the silencing and obfuscation regarding a racial issue that was specifically harming black students but also destroying the trust and of the administration by students of all colors last month in my public comment I spoke here about anti-Semitism indicator what I'm seeing is a vast and desparate community of people and opinions who due to a lack of balance sources and research have caused Great harm to our community by for example instituting false propaganda disguised as Curriculum by involvement in one-sided extracurricular activities Etc what curriculum standards are required for opposing viewpoints in the in intellectual honesty in the classroom Amendment would this policy allow radical anti-israel material and activists into schools a different

188example would this also pave the way to welcome in the opposing opinion that the Earth is Splat or to deny that the Holocaust happen because these are certainly opposing viewpoints we are at a critical juncture in history where the pendulum of public opinion is swinging to extremes at both ends it is imperative that we deeply examine our source information before further deleteriously impacting the safety of all our children and the people they become thank you for listening thank you Zoe thank you the the the next the next speaker is Hannah Rogers my name is Hannah Rogers I'm in my 13th and final year as a CSD parent as my second child completes her senior year at Deeter high school as a parent I've had some complaints along the way but I've always been proud of

189CSC for being a national leader and bringing a multiplicity of perspectives into the classroom and by granting teachers the autonomy to have Frank conversations with students as an IV World School CSD leads the charge of studying data text and visual culture from all over the world and empowering students to create critically examine information to inform their views this semester some of those conversations are getting shut down at school some teachers are fearful and some students are fear fearful as an academic librarian a large part of my job is critical how to do the thing as a fellow educator I am alarmed by the silencing that I'm witnessing in the city schools of dear we heard from Jewish parents at the last board meeting about their fears but the student safety and my heart breaks for

190those parents no one wants to see children suffer no one wants to see students being marginalized for their belief or their family or their appearance or their head covering or where they came from or when they arrived Muslim Arab and Middle Eastern St students are also suffering this is made worse by some csb actions that look at best bias and at worst islamophobic suggesting that Palestine should not be represented by the the DHS model Arab League sends a message that their that the perspective of Palestinian people doesn't matter but it does not deserve representation this is a hurtful message when materials are distributed from an Arab based news source as a means of offering additional perspective on the ongoing war and that is treated as misconduct or even a crime that too sends a message

191allowing we stand with Israel posters and CSD classrooms while removing other flyers that sends a message these same debates are playing out all over the country and we need to address them here too I should not be afraid I'm afraid I am afraid I should not be afraid to stand up for my child's friend but I am I am afraid of being called something that I am not but I cannot stand by while children are afraid to go to school and their parents are fearful of asking for help I'm sorry that I have not spoken up sooner and I know that there are others out there who share my fear and my sorrow thank you next speaker is Sophia um hi I'm a csb parent um and I plan to speak but as a Muslim

192woman and as a journalist I'm just afraid that my words can be could be misconstrued I also used to work at Al jaaz um but they could be misconstrued and that could be used to Target me and my work and so I will be but I will be following us prively thank you thank [Applause] you next speaker is Alexandria do not want to attend yes it's just like no problem thank you please please say it it sir very thank you my name is Alex TR hitzer and I'm a black female Jewish mom of a CSD student my comments tonight are not from the perspective of one category of my identity but the intersectionality of my identity as well as my experience and I first uh want to thank the board and DHS Administration for the

193work in progress to advance inclusion and for passing the controversial issues policy today our children will need to be equipped with the skills to effectively navigate the complexity and Nuance of controversial problem my question is a followup to passing this policy today is how will we ensure our educators are knowledgeable enough to properly address the complexities of given topic brought up in their class by students and two how do we make sure that teachers have the proper training to effectively facilitate these layered and uncomfortable conversations how will we support a teacher in their preparedness and access to legitimate resources for both sides of these conversations Dartmouth recently held a series of conversations on the quote unquote horrific events unfolding in Israel and Gaza the panelists were academics who have spent their career immersed in the

194history and study of the region from both the Middle Eastern and Israeli studies department they came together to proactively facilitate these conversations across the student body they were clear about the objectives of these discussions which was not a call to action it was not a desire to teach students what to think but to teach them how to think through and have these discussions they also stressed the importance of community these professors were available to all students and checked in with them afterwards whether they were Israeli or um the the Muslim studies um students Counseling Services were also accessible and routinely referenced by the professors how are we supporting students after these controversial discussions are we ready with the additional training and access to resources for teachers are we willing to invest in additional resources and

195training for counselors to potentially support follow-up conversations from these discussions with students who may be working through a range after passing this policy and indeed with the comments that have happened today the the critical need to be able to facilitate these conversations among students and and truly um among fellow parents in the district to make sure that we are really pushing forward inclusion I hope we're ready to step up and do the work to truly implement this as a district and creating this policy is only the start thank you the next speaker is Kavita vajana like how it spelled it out I see it I see it gentically yes yeah it's been a second since I've been up here um I'm kav rajina I'm a longtime resident of dear I'm the parent of twin eighth

196graders at Beacon Hill Middle School and I'm reading an edited version of a group letter that was recently sent to the board the superintendent and a few other people that I wrote with Adam Horowitz Raheem and Jennifer snow and Andrew Holly we're all CSC parents um so I'm not sure what I can say but we were alarmed that an equity director was suspended for sharing a resource document on events contextualizing what is happening in Gaza from an educational standpoint in response to the in response to suggestions that the resources shared are anti-semitic we categorically reject it the censorship of Palestine within CFC is a grave issue of academic Freedom that contradicts the district's stated values and put students at risk this censorship is no different than trying to limit how race and racism can be

197taught in the classroom these efforts to limit discourse on Palestine are rooted in bias and simply an attempt to obscure history and critical discussion of current events we must lift up the work of the person who was reprimanded and other staff and teachers who share stories and resources for learning about people and struggles for J Justice that are often rendered invisible we are parents of South Asian Jewish black and Muslim children who are already marginalized in CSD our children will be at greater risk if CSD limits discourse on Palestine by perpetuating The View that even mentioning Palestine is inherently biased we have seen violent hate crimes amid um recently amid the rise in anti-palestinian racism and islamophobia in the US with the recent brutal shooting of the six-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago and the shooting

198of three Palestinian college students in Burlington we cannot allow this to happen in CER We Believe Equity is integral to CSD we ask that you adhere to the district's framework for Equitable student outcomes in order to sustain a positive culture and climate in which all of our students are St and Staff feel safe seen and successful censorship islamophobia and anti-palestinian racism have no place indicator thank you next speaker is Adam haret my name is Adam Horowitz I'm a parent of 2 eth graders at Beacon Hill Middle School and I'm also a Jewish resident of the cater I'm here tonight to speak in support of staff and those who are sharing resources about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the context here is important because as I said there is a genocide being committed and as

199a parent in the district I believe there's perhaps a topic uh no more important to be educating our children about I was raised to say never again and one way one important way to do that is for education so here are some facts in the past eight weeks over 18,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over 250,000 homes have been destroyed 1 .9 million people displaced of those killed over 7,700 have been children put that in perspective there are an estimated 5,640 students in the entire city of the CER School District it has been reported in the AJC and other places that the district has received pressure from Jewish leaders in Atlanta that sharing this information is biased or even anti-semitic I'm here to flatly denounce that idea complaining anti-Semitism with sharing information above or

200even criticism of Israel is factually wrong and does a great disservice to the fight against actual anti-Semitism which remains essential I asked that if there's going to be a discussion or process regarding alleged anti-Semitism within CSD that it be an open and transparent process and not one held behind closed doors and I say this because I believe that the pressure is actually not about anti-semitism it's simply rooted in the desire to prevent the information that I shared above from being more widely known it is an effort to censor Palestine in our school district and ensure that a narrative that favors Israel is the only one that is heard in this way it's no different from efforts to control or skew the versions of history that are taught in school the city schools of dear have

201stood up against those efforts and I would expect it to do the same here finally you might wonder why I didn't mention the other tragic death that took place on October 7 as we all know there were people killed in Israel and that and they also included children at least 1100 people were killed and this included nearly 50 Children these deaths as with all deaths are tragic but the reason I didn't mention them earlier is because there's no one here tonight or that we've heard about online telling you that they shouldn't be discussed there only Palestinian deaths And discussing the killing of Palestinian children that is considered cont controversial biased or a reason for suspension this double standard is rooted in anti-palestinian racism and I call on the school district to reject it please support

202those who are speaking out please support free speech and please support academic freedom on College the next speaker is Sarah web philli I'm the Reverend Sarah Webb Phillips and I'm here with my husband Reverend Dr Ed Phillips at the camer School of Theology for the past two days we were in a conference with indigenous people of what we call America now and learn so much and I remind you that we are on Mogi native land I was alarmed to hear about the disciplinary actions that were taken because I am part of an or on the national board of an organization that seeks to build peace between Palestinians and Israelis working with Jews and Muslims Arabs and Palestinians around the world because true peace will never be possible in the region without providing a Homeland for

203the descendants of people who've been part of the region for thousands of years those descendants welcomed persecution Jewish people to settle among them and they lived in peace for many years until the noxa until there is a true Homeland place for Palestinian there will be no peace students need to be able to have conversations about what is happening in the world that affects them by perpetuating The View that discussing discussing Palestine is inherently biased CSD is ignoring the ways Muslim and Arab students and others are being impacted by The Daily News of thousands of children being killed in Gaza actions or policies to censor discussion and other efforts that s to limit discussions of race and racism in the classroom when we moved to Decor we chose decator because of the city school system and

204we are proud parents of a graduate and even prouder that her education led her to a scholarship to Georgia Tech and led her to be a citizen of the world and she gain that from the diversity of the city school of deater of school system we want and need our children to learn about Justice about standing up and doing the right thing this includes speaking out and sharing information about injustices even when it is not popular and what a wonderful opportunity right now is for this that has happened to be a discussion that moves forward and helps our children see how adults can talk together and even be sorry for some things that have happened and move ahead for the greater common good thank you next speaker is Dr Al I'm a Decor resident and

205Mom I'm an educator scholar activist and writer and I'm a Jewish Georgian with the partic ancestry I have a PhD in anthropology and my research was in Israel specifically focused on Middle Eastern Jews their experiences EST State violence eviction and racism and how this connects to experiences of Palestinian communities I've worked on Israel and Palestine have been a university professor and also continue to teach a Middle East course for 11th grade for the last several years after reading the AJ article into cator is I was dismayed no one should be disciplined for sharing resources about Gaza sharing ways that people can navigate this particular time in this intense situation happening where the US is involved and seeing it where almost no educational institutions are speaking about it in any meaningful way and are certainly not

206allowing students to be able to speak openly about their questions access information hear from people who they feel they can talk to to share resources is one way to allow students faculty and others to be curious is curiosity not a part of the objectives of city schools of the cater the only explanation of this kind of disciplining is said in one of the facts and findings I'm not sure what I can say and not say so I'm trying to do it without breaking the rule um because this is an in does not share the views of that person politically on the conflict which means that person's personal opinion or bias was not part of the student focused learning process as an educator I read that is because CSD does not share these political views and

207therefore made the situation about political views rather than about resources that were educational and could spark curiosity we are in a heightened state of anti- Palestinian racism anti-arab racism and islamophobia along with anti-Semitism we've seen in multiple civil rights organizations monitoring the situation that people in every institution are being shut down in silence fired and disciplined for sharing information for saying anything about Gaza I find it fascinating that in Israel this is also Tak anything that shares something related to Gaza that is counter to the Israeli government narrative Israeli Jews Palestinians are being beaten arrested and fired as an educator I was able to speak openly to an entire High School their ability to ask questions their maturity in pursuing curiosity wanting to know more wanting questions answered a desire to know where they can

208put their energy because of the US involvement in supporting Israel in this war it affects our students and faculty it affects our community coming after the equity coordinator for sharing resources is absurd and sharing information about about Gaza is not anti-semitic it's just sharing information and resources according to genocide Scholars and human rights officials there is genocide taking place the least that can happen is to bring resources to our educational communities and communities at large to investigate understand an act to end harming any group of people when I looked through the resources on question I tried to find what on Earth could possibly be something you wouldn't want staff students or faculty exposed to since this is the time to be paying attention asking questions and finding one's grounding as the world grappled with this

209genocide and the US support of it our children and our schools deserve [Applause] better next speaker is Becca Shephard hi um I'm Beck Shephard uh I am in my 15 here of being a parent in the school Sy my kids has gone from Fraser Center to Claremont to West Chester fa to Beacon Hill um to decer high school got one who is a is now in college um and I'm going to keep my statements really short there are a lot of eloquent people in this room who have a lot more important things to say than and anything I would have to share but when I read the article the AJC article reporting striking how disturbing it is for a school system which is supposed to promote critical thinking education at at at as as a

210basis um to censor a staff member and to put him under investigation and threatened his career and livelihood all for sharing resources that should not be controversial that should be available um this school district already has a retention problem I think it's well known that we are one of the lowest paid for staff members and teachers we have amazing teachers that they teaching in an uphill battle and to create this censorship and this even um the barrier to them I don't know how we expect to keep qualified staff to keep teachers to keep Educators and staff when we are making clear that we will run people out for the for sharing ideas that should not be controversial oh you'll the next speaker is Brian ker and I believe is zoom Brian Brian are you there

211uh hello hello there you go okay all right Brian hello sorry about this my zoom setup is not fantastic um I am a uh 13-year resident of the city I have been paying tens of thousands of dollars in taxes to support the great uh City schools of decar I simply want to say that um basically I agree with what the previous uh speakers have been saying that you know to to dis this person for putting out resources uh to censor the topic of Palestine those are things that inhibit uh education that inhibit the free exchange of ideas especially on this very critical and important topic that uh is is uh that is something that uh the Board needs to to change and uh so essentially I just want to register my uh uh agreement with

212the with the previous speakers thank you final speaker for today is Wally Davis good evening ma Davis I'm a resident for the city in the city of deada for over a decade and I stand here as a human rights right attorney and Community organizer focused primarily on creating safe what we call Faith sacred and healing space for African-American men and many of those men um are here some of them are here this evening but they can raise their hands uh they're here because um a man who um you all have decided to discipline has been a part of the work that we do voluntarily trying to create safe space for people to just be and one of the greatest concerns and what's so sad is that somehow we have said that the school district Palestinian

213voices should not be heard and that's deeply disturbing it's disturbing for the young men that we seek to serve every week that we volunteer here in the city of deor many of those young men are Muslim and we want them to be courageous and we Advocate that they are courageous both in school as well as with their peers and they serve as leaders in our community and it's important that they not feel as though they will be silenced because they believe that all lives are in fact precious and they should be honored and respected and so to think for uh a moment that we have a situ ation today where we cannot say and honor the sacredness of the children Palestine without being called anti-semitic it's scary deeply deeply scary that there are people that

214are here that and people who are not here that are afraid they afraid for their jobs they are afraid that they'll be cancelled because all they want to do is say that those children their lives matter matter that we should not have to be silenc that even as a school we should not withdraw and not prevent our students from representing Palestine it's as if if Palestine and Palestinians exist it's a threat to the existence of others just by their mere existence that is um scary because that proposition says then Palestinians must all be wiped off the face of the Earth in order for other folk to feel safe and that's what we're advocating then we are in fact leading this convers and so we again ask that you reconsider those decisions as it relates to

215our brother and as it relates to our students thank you I'm PR to I want to apologize board member SS had a flight to catch and uh he wanted to leave before board comment but won't stuck around as long as he possibly could so that's why he he left he didn't ask me to share that either I just felt compelled uh we would like to thank all of the speakers seriously for taking your time to be here tonight as board members it is incredibly important for us to hear the concerns from our communities uh we do take your comments into consideration the next board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday January 9th 2024 uh again at the Wilson Center and we will follow the new Lord meeting cadence I've been asked about it twice this week

216um where we we start executive sessions early and we we start Community com uh feedback always at 6:30 pm uh we will also have our next community meeting on Tuesday January 23rd at Beacon Hill Middle School uh the community meeting is this board's commitment to two-way conversations with the community about our visions and values uh topics such as budget compensation student outcomes will be discussed um there being no further business this meeting is adjourned at 6:58 p.m thank you