001good evening everyone welcome to Asheville City Schools Board of Education regular board meeting for tonight um Monday June 12 2023 we're excited for a great final regular board session of this school year we will we have a quorum so um we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance tonight from Miss kickert's second grade class from Claxton I pledge allegiance to the flag hello what's your stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice it's for all all right thank you very much um I'm going to ask for a motion for the approval of the agenda with one change that's that's the that was the change [Laughter] I think she look does it on purpose um with one change the agenda which is um after action items before superintendents reported we're going to hear
002a recommendation from um Melissa Bates um about the RFP for Child Nutrition for next year so um if I can um so move if it's moved second seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed great all right so the agenda is passed and so we will start with April Dockery and our good news thank you thank you superintendent Dr Cosby and board members thank you for this opportunity to come before you tonight and share the good news for June 2023 we would like to take a moment and celebrate the class of 2023 I would also like to thank the administration and the staff that did a lot of work to pull off a beautiful graduation ceremony we were so fortunate to have it on our own campus and it was quite lovely and as a
003mother of a 20s for three graduate I'm very grateful the 21st century Community Learning app center after school sites have had a wonderful and successful program this year they served approximately 150 students at four of our elementary schools the 21st century programs in Asheville City schools are staffed with a made an amazing team dedicated to providing the best after-school experience as possible the students were given daily opportunities for academic support social emotional learning activities literacy and math as well as Arts enrichment students also engage with multiple Community Resources for their students for example bricks for kids a Lego building experience was a tremendous hit I can see why bricks for kids facilitated four eight week sections in our programs this year family involvement is an essential component to this 24th century program site hosted multiple
004family engagement and events that included food fellowship and celebrations family celebration events themes included a fall festival a Valentine's Day dance which I participate in and it was amazing butterflies and books and a luau several of the family events included literacy stations where District staff gave out books pencils journals to every student who attended the great turnout for these engagements were representative of the success of this amazing program while it is unfortunate that the state is not providing 21st century grants to the cohort for next year we are thrilled to have secured funding through a dogwood Health Trust grant that will allow us to continue with our elementary after-school programs for this next coming school year you're a member of that team will you please come forward any of our 21st century you'll come up
005to the board we're gonna take a quick picture foreign [Laughter] we'd also like to thank cni and Melissa hett for working so hard to get that Dogwood trust funding for us for next year thank you [Applause] thank you Miss pearly come on up [Applause] or Miss Hurley has had to spend her entire day with me today congratulations to our Isaac Dixon Elementary School Child Nutrition manager Miss pearly Hamilton for being named the winner of the educational snacks national school lunch hero contest this year Miss perley is only one of three winners across the country but she will always be number one for us we are so honored to have Miss perley in our Asheville City Schools family I don't know how many years you've served but you've been here a little bit she is an
006educator that loves each and every one of our students and works hard to serve them every single day and we are so grateful thank you foreign [Applause] thank you Miss Farley this is another emotional one as some of our retirees are in the room with us tonight earlier today we celebrated our retirees for the 22-23 school year we had 16 people retire this year we would like to thank each and every one of you for all of your hard work your dedication countless hours tremendous amount of love that you have poured in to Asheville City schools for countless years if you're here tonight would you please come forward so we can honor you [Applause] foreign thank you Jenny thank you Miss Thomas Asheville City Schools would like to provide recognition to the EC behavioral sport
007team sport support team they are sport team sorry support team for their work across the district during the 22-23 school year this team these team members are part of grand Grant funded through the ex exceptional children's department and share the goal of improving and enhancing our school's intensive Behavior practices the grant is focused on providing students with systems of support to succeed in school while decreasing the use of exclusionary disciplinary practices the team members include Daniel Chrome Cassandra Ingram DeAngelo Collins Miranda Williams Erica Howard and Becca nessler this team is led by Daniel Crone an ACS Behavior liaison Daniel has served in Asheville City Schools since 2008 in a number of capacities as an instructional assistant and EC teacher and Title 1 and mtss roles he lives here in Asheville with his family and has
008two children two children are ACS Cougar Cubs at Jones Elementary School Miss Cassandra Ingram has been a part of the cougar family for many years and in many capacities she is known throughout our community for her therapeutic supports mentorship and family advocacy this year her work has been at Jones and Herring elementary schools as well as Asheville middle school she has over 34 years of service in our state DeAngelo Collins is an Asheville High School alumni I know and has worked for Asheville sea schools since 2122 he works with several Community organizations as organizations and is a leader of our community partner my daddy taught me that this year he has worked at Hall Fletcher and Isaac Dixon Elementary School Miranda Williams is also an Asheville High School alumni currently working on her degree from
009North Carolina's Central University her area of study is criminal justice with the focus of societal barriers and stay out of and stay out of the correctional system this year she has primarily worked at Montford North Star Academy but has supported several elementary schools as well Erica Howard is also an Asheville High School alumni and has earned a degree from North Carolina a t University in Psychology this school year she was honored as a keynote speaker in our Avid banquet her behavior support work I should know this off top of my head I'm sorry Erica has been at Isaac Dixon and the educational Career Academy and Asheville High School Becca nessler is a western North Carolina native and graduate of Warren Wilson my alumni she previously worked in the field of Behavioral Health Services to case
010manage and provide community-based services to children and adults she also owns and operates an organic farm in Western North Carolina with her family she has two children that both attend Asheville City Schools go cougar clubs if you are here tonight please come forward so we can take a quick picture [Applause] foreign would any of you like to say a few words anybody like to speak just for a minute um yeah I'm just honored to have worked with the team that I did this year and I just really want the board to know how much they've done to support students across the district uh nearly all of our school campuses and uh really you know close to 30 students have received direct support from the team so I just want to say thank you to them
011thank you and that concludes this month's good news thank you thank you Abel next on the agenda is public comment the Board of Education greatly appreciates your interest in the Asheville City schools and we welcome your comments to the board please be mindful of the following guidelines personnel and student matters are confidential and therefore are not appropriate for public comment if you have a concern about an employee or a student matter please contact or see the superintendent after the meeting if you have a concern about an employee or a student matter please I just said it sorry the board permits public comment on issues relevant to and within the jurisdiction of the school district although an individual May identify themselves as a candidate for any public office no person may use the public comic portion
012of a board meeting to actively campaign for or endorse a specific candidate running for public office persons are not limited from speaking on issues relevant to the official business of the school system for purposes of this policy active campaigning includes but is not limited to asking for support for a candidate running for public office and or stating when a candidate will do if elected to public office unless otherwise approved by the board the total time for public comment shall not exceed 30 minutes for in-person and 15 minutes for virtual speakers members of the public may speak for three minutes the time remaining is indicated by lights directly in front of you multiple speakers from a group who are representing on the same topic may choose to elect one speaker for the group if a single
013speaker is used by any group they shall be allocated five minutes instead of the three if an unusually large number of people wish to speak the board may decide to reduce the time allotted to each speaker or require the designation of a group spokesperson please be respectful A disruption by any person or persons of a public meeting will not be tolerated and can result in removal from the meeting incorrect or misleading information presented by a speaker may be responded to at the direction of the chairperson public comment allows you to provide the Board of Education with your thoughts and relevant information concerning the Asheville City Schools therefore board members will not normally respond to individuals who address the board except to request clarification so with that we will get started um first on our list
014um please forgive me if I mispronounce your name Courtney Bossman besman and Miss bezman you'll have three minutes critical race Theory and programs that have followed like SEL social which is social emotional learning social justice gender confusion and inappropriate books in our school libraries CRT Advocates that American culture is a conspiracy to perpetuate white conspiracy Supremacy what it does is divide all Americans along lines of race and gender and between oppressors and victims it has for many years been on college campuses and has spread through Public Schools across the country key words in race in critical race Theory are diversity equity and inclusion in true Marx's fashion these words are turned upside down by CRT in fact diversity means One race racial or gender group preference over others Equity does not mean equality or equal
015treatment of all Americans under the law it means that government must treat individuals unequally according to the color of their skin and in in order to force equal outcomes and inclusion in fact means exclusion it often results in programs that lead to segregation and race quotas and office of diversity equity and inclusion in our school systems is designed to spread as much CRT propaganda in classrooms and the minds of our children as possible it is not the responsibility of school boards to induce racism into the classroom but instead to teach basic skills and subject matter you do not have free reign over our children yet you are taking the responsibility of for teaching programs of racism gender confusion and are causing emotional instability in vulnerable students and I honestly ask do you honestly want that
016responsibility federal and state money has strings and strings with Marxist programs I wish you would just forget that and get back to the basics thank you thank you next we have Linda cobal and Ms Cobalt you'll have three minutes to you our public servant leaders I would like to take this opportunity at this time to read the North Carolina law regarding public open meetings quote North Carolina's open meeting Law chapter 143 article 33c of the general statutes sets out the requirements for notifying the public of official meetings and describes the limited circumstances under which closed meetings may be held this is to assist public bodies in complying with their responsibility to kukunda public business in the open end of quote this school board has made discuss has had discussions and made decisions behind closed doors
017in closed meetings thereby shutting out parents and taxpayers who support the schools policies are developed set in motion and transferred into the public school system without public notice other than private personal cases which need close meeting discussion when it comes to General policy that affect all students why would you have close meetings and are you aware that folks on both a local level and the national level have been awakened and they do care about this issue as elected school board members why wouldn't you expect to follow the letter of the law and now if you would like these elected school board members to follow the letter of the law please stand up and please stay seated if you are very comfortable with them not following the letter of the law thank you very much thank
018you next up we have John Brigham Mr Brigham Young for three minutes I saw her tip it down I want to get back up it seems to be working particularly well actually can you hear me okay um thank you I want to um I want to present an image this is a teacher's lunchroom in a high school Eric is eating his daily sandwich he's a history teacher and he's tired Sarah is a math teacher she's eating her daily yogurt and fruit she's been teaching all morning and she's tired also Kate walks in and is all excited Janice swartzberger has resigned whoa Eric takes another bite and looks up Sarah's not listening Kate repeats Janice resigned Eric takes the bait who's Janice over Kate says she's the chairman of the school board Eric is polite he
019says he replies well I hope she finds success the point being that teachers in a healthy school district have no real awareness of the school board the school board should be invisible anything from the school board that impacts the classroom will be destructive the teachers in classrooms do not need help at least not that kind they know their job the school board actually does not even know what they do closing the achievement Gap implies that teachers are discriminatory I don't believe this the recent emphasis on social and emotional learning is insulting to at least three thousand years of tradition in education let's pull the teachers out and tell them they need to include the whole students all teachers know that better than you do everything that comes from the Asheville City School school board that
020impacts on the classroom directly is destructive the emphasis on Equity contributes nothing of the education of anyone these programs are the problem and this is fundamental the teacher works from a very personal platform and that platform will not be changed by any outside influence your big power Brokers yes you are but it's fun to terrorize teachers it's fun to restructure it's fun well that may be but you need to retreat you have a superintendent let her do her job the Asheville school system has distorted the school board into something it was never meant to be the greatest intelligence comes from the room there's no room but we need to come together and figure out how to help students of color no you need to retreat there's no reason why this there is the reason why
021the school board pays so poorly you have distorted the school board into something that is not meant to be and the plan is not working Asheville City Schools needs change and this is the simplest summary of the change that is needed all any school can do is hire and fire is hire the best teachers and then give them what they need and stay out of the way you're like teenagers it's not about you and there's a powerful upside you can go home I want to end with a shout out to Liza and Jesse there are two people in this room that are actually important in the Asheville City Schools Jesse and Liza are teachers thank you next up we have Bill Robinson and Miss Robinson you know three minutes we can call this the bad
022news portion of tonight's agenda because for all the good news there's also bad news of course it only makes sense do any members of the school board are there any of you familiar with the name Kylie May Wilhelm if you are please raise your hands now okay I'm not surprised are any of the school board familiar with the name Sabria Boseman if you are please raise your hands now okay so Kylie Mae Wilhelm committed suicide several weeks ago I know not many people care about this but I care I went to her funeral I'm not I'm not bragging I went to her funeral it was one of the toughest things I ever went through Sabria Boseman committed suicide in March she was a 16 year old high school student at Reynolds she was the second
023young girl at Reynolds that committed suicide this year apparently there have been seven suicides of young girls in the Asheville Buncombe area over the last since the beginning of the year that's statistically improbable something is going on with our young girl students and nobody's looking into it nobody seems to care but it's really important that we protect our children not only are there little precious Minds being destroyed but their lives are being destroyed they're committing suicide and it's not because their boyfriend broke up with them or they're being bullied in the lunchroom there's a lot more at work here so I suggest that the board follow up on this and try to do something because the students lives are very important it's not all about Pride flags and pride months let's protect our children thank
024you next up we have Aaron Griffin Mr Griffin you'll have three minutes thank you I am alumni Asheville City Schools as well just like the gentleman before me and the young lady before me and a young lady before me it's a problem we're now really dealing with structural determinants of health or social or how it affects our children we're not even really doing what we need to do as far as safety in our schools you know it's it's it's obvious that when you have a principal have to call someone from this building to take care of a child to see what to do about a child then they're not ready they're not trained properly so in case there is a case of suicide or mass shooting or anything that happens at the school we are
025not ready and I'm frustrated about this we're not doing anything about it nothing we're not even prepared so we got a big challenge ahead a huge challenge ahead as we celebrate today we got a problem with safety folks and we need to move quickly Bennett I can't talk about this situation right now anybody who care a parent a father anybody who care I'll be willing to talk to you about this situation Safety First don't just put it in the book do it [Applause] thank you Mr next up we have Derek Edwards good evening folks I'm on a shift gears just a little bit and just celebrate for just a minute Saturday night um we had what I think is my oh I know it's my favorite night of the year we got to celebrate all
026of our students on our campus it was um a perfect night perfect sunset with about 375 perfect kids that all came across our stage shook hands with everyone gave them all diploma hugs from most students who I've known since they were four and five years old it just was a it just was perfect night um and it was such a celebration all our students got 11 tickets for graduation and that filled up our Stadium on both sides standing room only most of you all were there staff from all the other schools were there um it is such a great way that's the benefit of our small district is that all of our students come to that one campus so we can all show up for that one celebration and they feel it our students all
027felt it that day so I want to just to end the night with a thank you not only thank you to you all but also thank you to all of our Educators and that is literally all of our Educators our bus drivers our cafeteria folks Librarians IAS office staff teachers admin and Co folks um we all come together for all of our kids all the time and I just wanted to end the night on a big thanks to everyone who got all 375 of those kids across that stage Saturday so anyway thank you Derek and finally we have Pepe asiba and baby you'll have three minutes thank you very much members of the board I do recognize that it's been a very difficult year for staff and I'm so grateful for all of our staff
028who have continued to show up day after day and take care of our kids I want to acknowledge the fellow who brought up the mental health crises and the large number of suicide attempts and suicides that were that were carried out this past year in our County um I think the place that you need to take that the place that I took it last week was to the County Commissioners right now we are facing a huge budget shortfall most of the cases that you're talking about we're in Buncombe County Schools this is Asheville City Schools but still I know very well as well as any of you what kind of told the past couple years has taken on our kids and what a struggle it is to find the mental health services that we need
029I acknowledge that it's a very complicated time their IC that some of the Tick Tock culture around um lesbian gay bisexual trans some of that culture ties in suicidality and it hurts um my kiddo is exploring all of these things as well and I just need to give them as much support as possible I did want to clarify something that was brought to the board last month there was a speaker from Wake Forest who showed up and spoke very dramatically about porn books in the library it turns out that the book that he was referring to there is apparently one copy in Asheville City schools in a middle school library so some of you don't know me I have been at these meetings these school board meetings almost every single one for now in August
030it will be nine years I come every month I come several times a month to these meetings I watch right now this board these members here do not have an issue with meeting behind closed doors and making inappropriate decisions behind closed doors but it has been an issue in the past I will say about that one book it's in the section of the library that requires parental consent I gave parental consent to the media coordinator at my child's middle school because I wanted my child to have access to truthful accurate information and so that's a decision that we're allowed to make as parents thank you thank you baby that include that concludes in person for public comment Dylan do we have anybody virtually we had one person sign up but I don't think they ever
031showed up April are they there no no okay so that concludes public comment thank you everyone moving on we have our consent items those of you with an agenda in front of you can see the laundry list of closed and open session meeting meeting minutes as well as contracts for a variety of things discussed at our last work session and also policy read discussed at the last work session um I will open up to the board with any questions about items on the consent agenda okay so I'll ask for a motion second a motion to allow us for a motion to approve [Music] I moved and seconded all in favor aye any opposed consent items have passed thank you next we'll move down to our action items we'll start with our Personnel report number 10
032presented to us at our last um and yes enclosed session at last at a last meeting movie that we accept Personnel report number 10. it has been moved and seconded all in favor aye any opposed Personnel report is passed next is the equity statement and working definition presented at our work session last week by the district Equity team have any questions about that before we I just wanted to clarify that that the understanding is that that is a living document subject to change and adaptation as we see fit yes thank you for bringing that up Liza yes it is it is always a living document um and um as Marta is not in the room but she will be the first to remind us that um those of us on you know as a district
033on this journey um there is no end point and so it is always we are all Learners in the room and so that is always going to be a living document I had some clarification on how those changes might take place that's a great question I I mean I've I my um my feeling is it would go through committee on the district Equity team as a member of that I can speak to that I you know I would um I would Martha unfortunately he's not here tonight so she can't speak directly to that but those of us who serve on that committee and there are others of us in this room we are in those meetings bringing what we're seeing in buildings seeing out in the community into those conversations um and so yeah it
034would be it would go through that committee but it can come from wherever to a person that committee and that can be in discussion yes that's yeah thank you Dr Cosby yes it can always come from a board member thank you anything else on that item so I'll ask for a motion for approval of the equity statement I move that we adopt the equity statement as uh drafted second it has been moved and seconded all in favor aye any opposed all right so Equity statement has passed next is the local supplement recommendation and I will before I open that up just remind those on the board and anyone else listening that local supplement recommendation if you don't have if you're if you're looking at the paper copy includes a year of a kind of dual
035program where folks can opt in to receiving their supplement monthly or continue receiving it once a year for the next calendar or the school calendar year at which point in 2024-25 it would become monthly are there any other questions or comments from the board on that yeah I just want to ask um you know received a comment today from a staff member and I'm curious about two things one what was the and Dylan you may be able to speak to this um how did we send out that survey was it just one email or was it multiple emails does anybody remember I think it was multiple at least two okay it was multiple okay thank you and then and we had a we had a a really about almost 600 staff members respond which is
036one of the best surveys we've ever done Georgia can you speak just even generally to their Savings of time or money that this policy will result in if you're speaking of the Savings in time money for the school system one is the labor intents that the payroll department has in doing it once a year we generally um have multiple employees that have to work nights and weekends to make sure that is complete as far as employees they will have the opportunity to in invest that money into a savings account where they could earn interest where now they cannot okay you so it's so from the perspective of your shop it does Save hours this is an efficiency measure correct and it also when we look at a budget from month to month it does give
037a clearer picture than waiting until May anything else Georgia while you're there have you since we last Met has your department had any chance to think about um the informational meetings for helping staff to learn about summer savings accounts when where how often like the structure for that project next year so we have talked about having some at the central office and some in the schools um at least every other month okay any other questions comments about that I think the only other thing that I would acknowledge is that it was basically a tie vote so I just think we should say that and acknowledge that and so we if if we vote in favor of this it's because we think there's a reason to do it which in my opinion would be the efficiencies
038assuming that those members of the staff Who currently get it once a year will be able to take advantage of hopefully savings accounts that would sort of result in the same thing but I do want to acknowledge that there are staff members who aren't happy with this and I wish that every decision that we made could make everyone happy um I think in this instance at least from my perspective there have been enough reasons given that it makes sense to me even looking at it as a budget that it's easier to tell what we're paying folks month by month by having it paid that way um thank you and I'd like to just also add how much I appreciate Georgia that your department in the this year is doing the extra work to allow people
039to choose since I think that to me feels it Honors that it was really half and half we would tie vote um and so instead of everyone having to wait or everyone having to start this is a year where those who feel ready that half can say I would not get going and those who are not ready can say I want to wait and learn more and hopefully we can roll out summer access to Summer savings understanding what that is how it works so that next year those who who wish this wasn't happening at all we can support them to structure their paychecks so that it feels like it's not happening for them at all thank you any other questions comments then I'll open it up for a motion to approve the local supplement recommendation
040so go ahead I moved that we approved the local supplement recommendation second it's been moved and seconded all in favor aye aye any opposed right that is the local supplement has passed and finally on action items yes this is the last one the revised proposed resolution to prioritize public schools in 2325 biennial budget this was done something we discussed at the last work session um Dr Cosby has reminded me that the revised proposal they have added in that statement about the impact on local tax dollars and local property taxes and what it what um that does to the burden to County Commissioners across the state so I'll open up to questions or comments then I'll ask for a motion I move that we accept the revised proposed resolution to prioritize public schools in 2325 biannual
041budget second it has been moved and seconded all in favor aye any opposed and that is passed thank you board um next we have the superintendents no I'm sorry we revised the agenda next we have Melissa Bates um who has um is going to share the results of a very long day today first I just thank you for the opportunity for me to give you an update on our RFP process for vendor services for school nutrition we created a verify team and we worked together to support the process the team included all the cafeteria managers board members and assistant principal a principal cni staff and operations staff and verify in April the verify team met to discuss the process and Define the next steps members of the school nutrition staff visited two locations to experience
042School environments that already had vendor services possible vendors were invited to tour the kitchen at Asheville High School in our dining room they were very complimentary of the kitchen and our staff so that was very good from five experienced vendors so we also opened bids on May the 24th and we received five bids one from each vendor that attended the visit at Asheville High School then a core group of the verified team used the published rubric that was in the RFP to narrow down to three vendors and then we presented that to the verified team so they would know who we were going to expect oral presentations from so today that is what we had the oral presentations for most three vendors so it was a long day but it was a good day and
043we also had um the opportunity to ask questions of the vendor which was good and Dr Lynn Harvey who is over school nutrition services at ncdpi she came to observe the process and she was very complimentary of how we were very much engaged all our members was in the process and the level of questioning and communication with the vendors and with each team member so after all the presentations we completed each verify team member completed an evaluation rubric that we then tallied and for each vendor and it was decided that Chartwells would be the best Fiat for Asheville City Schools and we would present that at the next board meeting for your approval all right any questions any questions I'm sure there's lots well I I am just curious about whether or not I appreciate
044how inclusive the committee it sounds like you had folks from everywhere I know I've spoken with cafeteria staff who are not enthusiastic about this and don't want it to move forward and I don't really know why so I'm going to confess to that what I'm curious about though is the sort of the concern that I've had in the back of my head rolling around is the concern about these employees whoever's hired after we do this will not be an employee of Asheville City schools and is that correct that's how the RFP was written right and so did you talk with employees at the various schools who were served by was it Chartwell is that that way yes and did you ask them about their job satisfaction and that and I mean those who are not
045employees of that school system but are employees of the contractor so I visited Burke County with three of my other managers plus my assistant and when I was in the kitchens we went to four different schools I could not tell a difference in that Staffing who was a district employee and who was a vendor employee I couldn't tell well I I that's I appreciate that did you happen to ask and say those of you who are not members of the school system how do you feel about your the conditions of your employment because I know what the conditions this employment are for Asheville City Schools Employees and that makes gives me a certain amount of comfort and I'm um and I also know that there are contractors who are awesome and provide great benefits and
046similar or maybe even better than we do and I've had situations where I was aware of contractors who didn't so I gather though that that those questions weren't asked of the employees no I did not assets that they were happy of the other school system employees I did not did you ask any of them how they liked their jobs or how they like you know anything about one of the managers she had worked in a school system that operates like we do now and she said this was the way to operate through a vendor she did forego that information gotcha thank you I'm Travis Holt I'm the cafeteria manager at Jones Elementary and I went solo to Chapel Hill where at Chapel Hill High School there were 13 District employees still employed well excuse me
047there were 13 District employees still employed for the district and the rest were all Chartwell members at the high school there were two managers one was a Chartwell manager one was a retiring District employee and to my knowledge and I asked them directly how they felt working with each other and how they felt as specifically as a part of the community and they felt to me they felt like it was a very natural progression and they had been a company with a company for a long time but switched companies so that is a caveat but they they had both district and Company employees they both felt that it was they were a part of the community and I got a sense from some of the kids that they felt comfortable with both not really knowing
048who was part of who you know so I think it and it has given some of my staff pause because just because it's it's more of a not knowing what's coming next as opposed to just not wanting to do it it's not that they don't want to do it's that they don't know so this is what this whole process was about is trying to gather the information to give them and us that information that we could really grasp on to to see if it's the best thing for the district and I'm not saying that it is or isn't it didn't seem completely negative and I personally was going into it with a lot of questions because I'm a I'm a fairly new employee here as opposed to like pearly who's been here for quite some
049time you know they're I wanted to make sure that you know those who have been here a long time could keep a pension and keep their district and it seems like you know there's always going to be a friction between the district employee and the the company employee but they try to work it out as best as possible in that kitchen and then if it doesn't work out in the kitchen then they go to the next level and it it seemed like there were steps to resolve any differences that were made thank you I hope that answers your question a little bit yeah sorry thank you excuse me um I got one question yeah did the other managers from the other schools cafeteria did they all agree to make that switch over uh was there
050a save I mean are we 100 percent is the manager 100 behind this new change that's going to be made I believe that we understand that something needs to happen um and that it I believe that after this process that we are on I mean I'm I can speak personally that we're on board with it I know some people have a lot of reservations about it but you spoke with your colleagues so it's just like two two against five not again it's not 100 but I can't give you a full on answer of that I I know that there are some that have reservations about it that are still just going to move forward because they feel that that's the inevitable Next Step uh people to get more information do you remember that yes because
051we've had a lot of questions uh and then we kind of did Melissa met with him some more and then we made the decision to put everyone on it because they would understand that process um so like Travis said we agreed that we had to do something and this felt like the most appropriate next choice so we made sure that the RFP was written in a way that supported with the cafeteria managers wanted for their staff it's also important to note that the cafeteria managers are still the managers of everyone who works in that kitchen including Chartwell staff so they are the direct supervisor and they work closely with the company they are for now and then they will not be that is true but we do have a key person who works for us
052who supports the cafeteria managers So in theory no not every we don't it's not Kumbaya and but the questions that were asked and some of the feelings we were able to work together through that we still have some questions I think you had some good questions today about benefits and what's that going to look like and we're still trying to do that together but we all came to the conclusion that we have to do something and this felt like the best approach by working together to pick the company that we would go with and we wrote the RFP in a way that we had high standards this is what we want increased participation by X percent how get us out of the red how do we keep morale up how do we train our staff
053how do we recruit how do we make our cafeterias more appealing how do we create menu items that are more attractive to staff and students innovative ideas and I think we had an enjoyable time talking about that and our staff that got to visit really learned a lot and they were able to come back and report to their colleagues other districts kind of reassured our staff that it might not be a bad time I mean my job's gonna change completely I would I would really welcome Steph feedback on this like if you know whoever was involved in this conversation I would really like to to hear from School nutrition staff um you know The Good the Bad and the Ugly all impressions um if they want to just email us as a board I just
054think that that's really valuable I would be happy I mean I went to Chapel Hill I was the only nutrition employee that went to Chapel Hill I didn't get to go to Burke County because I had employee sick but I'll be happy to answer any of your questions and I I'm honestly you know I was very skeptical and then still have a lot of questions about how it would happen moving forward but seeing how Chapel Hill worked with both District employees and Company employees in the same kitchen working together it it helped me see where this could be a working option for the for this District now I see a lot of I see some head shaking no and stuff and I understand that but you know we're all just working through this as best
055we can I am trying to help my employees understand this and we know that something has to give because we can't keep going being in the red every single year how employment's Rising as well as food costs in feeding the kids you know what we can out of what we're given that's I was going to ask if you could give us from your perspectives um there's been several references so we can't keep going like we're doing um to lay out what are the circumstances that cause you to feel we cannot keep going the way we're going well financially is you know of course the major one we don't have enough participation to generate Revenue to cover our expenses when you say participation what are your requirements so um participation is how many students eat with
056us per day we only get funds when you call reimbursement if a child eats with us is it guarantee that they still going to eat with us if if we make this change well with going to a vendor they have the buying power that way is a small District do not have so they can offer more items more choices for the students than we currently do that for me as a manager is one of the largest enticing things to see because for example I didn't order roles one time I happen to have flour I happen to I went and bought wheat flour and asked Melissa if I could if I could make focaccia bread instead and she allowed me to do that because she had seen the the recipe that I used that was completely
057compliant with all the regulations and everything now I had wheat flour on hand I was able to do that but I couldn't order that just from Cisco because our contract is not big enough something like that may be able to be useful and I asked every single employee possible company that would work for us if they would allow me to do that in the future and they said yes absolutely um so for me that seems it seems like the the pool of food that we can draw from from Cisco or most of them use Cisco seems like they have a larger pool of food and product that we can use to allow us to make more types of food and allow the menus to be a little more different and a little more reflective of
058what we would like kids to try as opposed to having the same thing every day again I'm not advocating for either way I have my own feelings about this sort of stuff but uh just you know it is one positive it is such a large company they have a huge contract with Cisco that means they are we're allowed to get more product in that can help me build stuff from scratch as opposed to just opening up a bag you know I cooked in restaurants for 14 years before coming to the schools I it's it's a passion of a mind to get back to scratch cooking and I'd be a vehemently opposed to this if they were going the other way and none of these companies did and that was one of my major concerns so
059okay I got one more question for you um yeah you know that we're in the red and kids are not eating are we still making the same amount of food that instead of cutting it down maybe to no sure I mean just there readjust the numbers based on how many we think we're going to do like last year so what can't the school system do the same thing I mean you know if we know that kids are not eating while we're still cooking for 500 when we can just still cooking and the cost of food and labor has increased dramatically since it's still going to increase with uh if we get someone else in it's still going to be just as expensive over a period of time right now they have huge buying power so
060their food would cost them less are are we able to utilize um any of the products that are produced on our campus Gardens or from our campus yes that was the one thing I wanted to go back and answer Amy's question the reason we chose cartwheel was because they insisted on following the needs and wants of our district we don't have to have our in employees Child Nutrition turnover to work for cartwheel they said if we want to keep our workers keep them they just want to make sure that Melissa and our staff had the resources to be able to do the kind of meals that they presented today they were excellent and I am a foodie they were excellent high quality all the educational programs they partner with local chefs here to work with
061the managers to come up with creative meals um they try their best to do all local and it was just phenomenal and like Melissa said the buying power chart Wells is number one in buying power whereas Melissa would have to hunt search Cisco come get you know bring this and because we are not a buying power school district we may not even get that product but because we're going through cartwheels they are the number one buying power of Cisco and other places so we would not miss out on anything so we don't have to turn our workers over they said that is left up to Melissa and the district and the community engagement piece was another one for us um cartwheels was just it I mean just like I dreamed bored they they the dream
062to say all things are possible and because we're on a one-year contract with them they work for us we don't work for them so if something's not working within that year bring it back to the table what do you want you want to turn cartwheels turn cartwheels I mean it was like a open this is what we can guarantee this is what we can build up to with your help so can we can to answer more specifically they said that I can't I can't use the food directly from my I built three raised beds at Jones just this year I can't use that food in the school to serve kids directly unless there's uh the DPA the lady from DPI said there's a certification that can happen where I might be able to do that
063but until then I could they talked about you doing sharing tables or sampling tables where kids could come by and try we could make something like you know bruschetta from the tomatoes or something like that where they could come by and try it and they can see that it came from this Garden we made it this way here it is now and that they can see the full cycle and learn something from that I'm just I'm looking through their website as as I'm listening to y'all and um yeah I'm I'm seeing that they have you know engagement is one of their their um principles that that they strive for and you know I have curiosity about like whether whether children can be involved in the the garden exclusion preparation and then also it seems like
064they have will have taste testings at least monthly if not more and if I came to them with a recipe or something I would certainly get together a team with Miss Cobb of students who could try it out and say yay or nay and that sort of thing they said they could turn it around and have it on the menu within two weeks but it is that they do have a set way to get the students involved directly from the from the school garden it could be from the school garden they didn't speak directly about that they're talking about just food in general but given their openness to do pretty much anything for us to get I think that they would be open towards the school Gardens and I would certainly be open to making
065anything that would help kids expand their minds in terms of what foods are available to them or what food can be available to them thank you so I very much appreciate the process that you all have been through I appreciate how it was designed I appreciate how you have gone through it I I'm I want to say a couple of things or or sort of just what's going on in my head one of them is that I'm not hearing you say we really want this to happen I'm hearing you say we were presented with the fact that it needed to happen and then given sort of uh we I we we create we crafted our ideal situation if we had to make this change and that's great I am I wrong that a new employee
066who would be hired into the cafeteria after the date that we contracted with this company would be the company's employee and not Asheville City Schools 10 years are you sure oh I can see today not just current employees but future employees I need to I need to get a look so I was under the impression and have been that that they would be a contract with us and that anybody that came in with them would be their employee if I'm wrong about that I wanna I wanna know that because and I hear you Tanya Miss per Shay and I I trust you that that's what you heard but I want to see something in writing from them because I want to understand the implications for future employees as well as current employees we'll have a
067clarification for you before we bring it back to you thank you and um and then I guess the other thing that just you know for me in my head is um there's just sometimes these we we are presented with these opportunities to contract with private companies and it's always presented as a really positive experience and um it it just doesn't always come out that way and I understand that it's a year to year contract we could change our minds we could do whatever but um I approached this with some skepticism as you can tell by my questions um and I'm open to it for sure especially if our employees want actively want to do this otherwise I'm interested to just not I don't want to feel pressured into making this decision very quickly without feeling
068like we have the information that at least for me that I feel like I want to have and I don't quite I'm not quite there but I not your fault you guys have done wonderful work staff has done excellent work there's no criticism of anybody this has just come up kind of quickly for for me so I would like to say so I serve I was asked to serve on the committee as a board representative unfortunately I could not make it today because of my new job um but yeah I was happy sort of um uh but and honestly if I would have made it it would have been for the second and third ones and that's not fair to do that um so I just pulled myself out um but I will say that
069you know having gone through this process last year going through the RFP training which Melissa and I and Georgia sat through what four hours at least of training for that last year and then seeing what the rfps and everything that went out this year and then looking having the opportunity to see what the presentation was going to be from all three that they look at today um I I understand that there is hesitation from from some board members for this um this is something that we have the opportunity to uh you know I keep hearing like cost savings and things the moment that you know since I've been on the board um since 2019 we have been in the red every year in our Child Nutrition funds which means that we have to pull from
070local funds in order to balance that every year and it's not getting any better and so if this is something that I feel that I look at that we can actually save um I've had experience with Chartwells um at UNC Asheville and other locations around the state they do an excellent job the food I think has always been top-notch and so personally you know I'm not saying that we need to push to vote for this but right right away because we're not going to vote on it right now but Melissa give us a timeline of what you're looking at because I know you have things that you have to do so what is your timeline well we have several beds that will be expiring the end of the month and the transition would start for
071the vendor July 1st that's the current timeline and we can also provide you a copy with the proposal from Chartwell if you would like to to read what they presented to us and we'll get we'll get out that I'll out to you I'm hesitated to say much because I don't wanna I'm I'm leaving so I don't want to be sticky with something that may leave you with it but I would share with you that this process and the folks who have been involved with it have done tremendous amount of work and there are reasons to need to do something different uh our we're a small system almost all small systems across the country are having issue for being able to even break even in food service programs I've had the pleasure of working two times
072in Chapel Carrboro and working with Chartwells it was fantastic I cannot over emphasize how much it took off of the worry about the school system and having to to run that program the food was excellent there was always things would run extremely well any kinds of issues that were discussed that were taken care of almost immediately and it was just a very very good experience the food improved and participation improved and then not only did to do that but they would provide all the catering and all the kinds of things that we need in the school system I I don't remember percentage but something like 70 percent of what we were paying for normal kinds of catering and stuff so that's also a big saving because we buy a lot of food and we do
073a lot of activities and they would turn all that around so you know I will not be here and I'm not going to make a recommendation on it one way or the other but my experiences with it have been excellent and my experiences with the folks who worked for the cafeteria staff they were very satisfied and very pleased but you will not get that to that point until people have experienced it you can't expect people to give you feedback on something that they have not yet done can we get um also at least and maybe we have it somewhere I'm not familiar aware of it but I'd like to see the the comparison of what we expect to save I mean what the financials are I have I don't know if I've seen the sort
074of what we're paying now what we how we're in the red and what this contract provides in terms of cost to us and expected costs thank you yes we will get you all that information and all this next week this session tonight was just to catch you up on where things are because they just just finished meeting but we can put all that again for you we will have to vote on this though one way the other before July 1. all right unless we just we need a yes or no I'm just transfer or not transfer July first right so think about that in terms of this board and recognizing that um you know now that we are seven versus five and and recognizing that we're now in the summer and Etc um just to
075kind of crawl all this together I'm hearing that we that board members would like to see first of all I agree I would love to see that proposal um um in writing um a cost comparison where the savings are um a lot of you asked for some feedback directly from um some of our food service staff um so you know I know I'm not necessarily putting it on our cafeteria managers but cafeteria staff who you know those who are listening that kind of stuff if you have comments um as as long as I said good bad or ugly that you want to share with the board we would encourage you to do so um I'm getting the sense though that we'll need to see the like if you know there's conversation around what when do
076we get this done by July one um it sounds to me like um more discussion needs to happen once we get that information once we see the proposal once we see cost comparison once we get some feedback am I am I right and from the board is that what I'm hearing so it's not necessarily the next time we meet we absolutely have to vote it sounds like the next time we need to meet is to review those things am I correct on that I mean I'm seeing nods okay yeah I think we theoretically could review them and still vote at the same meeting okay um okay I also would like to say that I I just would well I was thinking about the staff that I've talked to who are really against this I'm curious
077about what their perspectives is are and why um what they fear um so including with the feedback maybe at least some feedback from folks who feel pretty strongly that they don't want this and so that we can understand what they're worried about would be helpful to me so with that being said we've got to decide you know when do we want to meet again about this now um you know we've we've got a a little bit more than half a month left to work on this we do have of course a meeting scheduled which we'll talk about in more detail in a moment um at the end of the month that's really about more about budget um so we could say I mean that next Monday is a possibility that which would be June 19th
078um oh you're right it's Juneteenth so yeah that would not maybe that's not the day but yeah figure out a day that we can gather about this um so I I guess I'll just throw it out there as far as some other dates that might work for us Tuesday the 20th I mean I'm on vacation um and I would really like not to work um but you know I'll do what I have to do I wonder if we can combine it with the budget or is that just too much I don't know that honestly may be too close I mean that's the 29th and not having a decision if we don't have a decision on the 29th or if we can't come to something on the 29th she has to have these contracts done by
079the first of July so this is in my personal opinion um we need to go ahead and meet if not next week then the following week you know quickly uh you know it have to be before the 29th uh just to make sure that Melissa has the time that she needs going into July to have that stuff ready my personality you have to have it I mean why can't we decide so we're having summer fading right now starting Wednesday she's got a lot going on so we couldn't decide on the 29th that would be too late for you and that's okay if it is I think that's really pushing you okay I feel very anxious that's great thank you for that and that's what I want is your candor unless you've got to have beds
080and stuff ready to go out if we don't do this correct well that's processor on this pushed it to today so that our staff who work in schools could be a part of The Proposal process so we purposely waited till school to get out so we could bring in the vendors so our staff could engage in it more so that was intentional but we knew it was a tight turnaround yeah so like like Amy I'm also out of town um that the next week but if that's when if that's when we need to meet I mean it would have to obviously I'd have to be virtual um and it would be great if I you know but if that's what we got to do then that's what we got to do I'm just putting okay
081I don't know if it's enough time I'm trying to acknowledge you guys are on vacation I mean there's Monday the 26th I mean that's three extra days ahead of the 29th I don't know if that's enough I understand that is that enough for you Melissa if it was Monday the 26th that's a few more days than the 29th better than the 29th so I recognize it's better than the 29th and is that the only I mean is it only that it's better than the 29th or do you think you could get if are your way all next week Amy yes I am um and I'm trying to be protective of that time I will tell you I need I need a break um so I would prefer the 26th if it can happen then and
082if it can't then I will join you next week on Thursday or Friday of this week is that it's a matter of how long you want the materials and things to look at how quick we can turn it around I would prefer to get it done this week how quickly could we get the materials that we've discussed and staff feedback I would suggest if it's acceptable staff feedback if we send out an email to a food service employees and let them know that they can we'll give them your email addresses and let them stay tuned if you have any information you'd like to share with board members please do so yep correct thank you yeah thank you um so yeah let me ask that of the board um Wednesday night Thursday night Friday night did
083we could we not do can we do Friday I can do Thursday Thursday is that Thursday evening yeah okay yep I can do that yes I had it in my head that you were on vacation that's what I thought back tonight yeah so right so I'm driving back tomorrow morning so I'm just listening and depending on when you guys have it I may joined by Zoom or I may defer I'm just listening but yeah I'm Alex it's just a tough time of year nope it's been a lot of time I think this week is better for you guys just keep going I'm just not commenting so the 15th at five o'clock I think that's okay you could always zoom in if you needed to or right that's right what's the rule like do we have
084to be at every single meeting I need someone to tell me no you don't okay yeah because that way if Sarah doesn't or doesn't you know it's not the end of the world if you can't visit if you can't I'm missing August so I'm trying to be like it's time three three we'll call you for a moment April when we send out that message um I mean I don't I don't know if everyone has has shared their phone numbers but just in terms of accessibility if if staff would like to contact me or via text or call text is probably better because I have small children but um perfect yeah that's fine thank you yes thank you five or for Jesse 1700. yep thank you Melissa thank you for the cafeteria staff thank you for
085that to the verification team James thank you for doing all that and yeah we'll appreciate you all working quickly to turn that stuff around to us so we can have some good information Dr Cosby next on the agenda thank you very much and I'm proud to announce that this is my last superintendent's report and a regular meeting so you can cheer if you want to oh you can cry or whatever you want to do but whatever I do have just a few things to share with you you heard a report from Principal Derek on the graduation but it really was a fantastic night Saturday and I think all of you were there and it was very enjoyable one of the best run I think smoothest and probably the most joyful type of graduation and you
086know I've experienced someone asked me today how many graduate these graduations have you been a part of and I I don't have any idea there's been there's been so many of them over 30 some years I just have no idea but this was certainly one of the very best that I've ever been associated with and it was a pleasure shaking uh 375 hands as they came across the stage and probably a few more than that because those parents who presented them to them I got them also I didn't let them get off but I did have to put a lot of liniment on my right arm the next next morning but it was it was a pleasure a quick report some equity and for your information Martyrs on vacation that's why she's not here tonight
087uh continuing to have staff members attend the two-day REI Workshop she's also continued meeting with small groups about Equity efforts and caucusing and partnership with the Asheville City Schools Foundation working on to continue anti-racist practices in the school system human resources and in Full Speed Ahead as far as recruiting and trying to hire folks and also had a great retirement event this morning that you heard mentioned I think helped me Kim was a total 310 years of employment for those folks and eight months okay 310 years and eight months of total combined employment for the folks who retired retired this year so just just some great folks and I spoke with them about their future and what they can do in retirement and gave them a lot of information about how in six months they're
088going to get an email or a postcard from Kim saying that we have jobs available you you served your six months absence out system you can now come back and work of course if you'd like to and I expect some of them about six months might might be interested in doing that operations of course finishing up the RFP process on Child Nutrition that you've just been talking about also wrapping up the process of preparing the 2324 code of Student Success to have that ready for next school year and finalizing the transition to parent Square I think I heard of that that will be our new district-wide communication platform been used starting immediately it has just tremendous things that you can do with it much better than what we could do I remember I think Houston
089board you got one recommendation this year asking for some system where parents could sign up online for field trips parent Square does all of those kind of things so it's going to give us one one piece of technology that we can do all the kind of things and Communications curriculum instruction that's another school year is wrapped up we now give gear up for summer programming we now have 700 students I believe who enrolled in eight over 600 between 600 and 700. summer programs for preschool through High School our Summer's programming will begin June the 14th and the programs will run through July 27th an elementary summer learning website has been created and shared with Elementary School families this site contains resources and links designed to engage students with learning over the summer and we can
090we can get you the link to that if you'd like to have it the district mtss which stands for multi-tiered systems of support team has been working to revise the ace our our plan our handbook which will include the following new vision statement in Asheville City Schools we work together and partner with families to create inclusive learning environments where each student thrives and feels safe valued and seen through a multi-tiered system of supports I think that sums it up very very nicely then nice job on that exceptional children leadership has been working with elementary schools and cni to complete their state identified measurable results analysis of the impact of chronic absenteeism on student outcomes in each School and student absenteeism is a real issue since covet everywhere every school district I talk to are having
091the same kinds of issues the strategies to address chronic absenteeism will be built into school Improvement plans and shared with State and District leadership later this summer in media and Technology implementing North Carolina dpi's data security standards that's over half of ransomware attacks in the United States Target K-12 Education Services we need to be certain our partners are protecting private student information appropriately every third party service that handles student data must confirm their adherence to the data security standards we're actively reaching out to our list of third-party vendors ensuring they're informed about the standards and capable of meeting the requirements parent Squad training for athletic coaches as well as school and District administrators parent Square allows schools to send messages share important updates collect electronic signatures and facilitate collaboration between parents teachers and administrators in
092a secure and convenient manner and the CNR team is preparing for 10 professional development sessions for teachers in August ranging from training on Core Curriculum to effective instructional practices we've been also in contact with County Commissioners following up on our budget request I know some of you are making those contacts also I would encourage you to continue to do do that and encourage them to do everything that they can they can possibly do uh if you're a member we discussed probably a couple months back the county to express an interest in doing something with an EMS station at the actual Primary School site and at that time we asked attorneys to discuss it they have been doing that and have come up with some possible ways of doing that the county has said they would
093like to pursue some discussion on that sometime in the near future and you may hear them say something publicly about it before that begins so don't be surprised if you hear it nothing has been agreed to or even discussed yet so before you hear it I just want to know that you know that you may may hear it out there as far as the new superintendent I think you've done a great job in making that selection Maggie will be here in our school system Wednesday of this week she will visit high schools that morning she'll have lunch with central office staff the middle of the day and she'll visit elementary schools that afternoon she and I plan to spend approximately an hour together Wednesday to begin our plan sharing sessions and develop a plan of
094transition how I can best be of service to her so those were the last things I want to share with you thank you Dr Cosby um that is really everything on our agenda however I do want to um I'll just very quickly remind everyone that we did for future meetings we have now put this meeting on Wednesday the 15th we've also got a special called work session closed session on the 29th time to be decided that's going to be um our in response to whatever bucking County Commissioners give us which is Tuesday I believe when they the 20th is when they release their budget so we'll meet and discuss how we move forward with that as Dr Cosby said this is his final that was his final superintendent report this is Dr Cosby's final official
095um regular session regular board meeting of course we unfortunately you got to sit through two more with us but [Laughter] but we wanted to um share our appreciation for what you have brought to this District during your time with us you will be sorely missed sitting up here alongside us here on the board we're grateful for the stability your honesty your openness your transparency that you've that you've given to Asheville City schools and so in your final regular board meeting we wanted to thank you for sitting alongside with us and being engaged in this work so if we can just take a moment and give our appreciation to Dr Cosby [Applause] and while he's unwrapping it um while he's unwrapping it there are um for I believe this is for the district um on Wednesday
096drop in appreciation for Dr Cosby both in the morning at 8 30 and then the afternoon at 3 30 drop in appreciation for Dr Cosby this week thank you thank you and thank all of you too and with that unless there well first is there anything else from members of the board and I will ask for a motion to adjourn this meeting moved and seconded all in favor