CCS BOE Business Meeting | Monday, June 8, 2026 | Edited to beep out prohibited language.

001Okay, good evening. Welcome to the Cabarrus County Board of Education June 8th, 2026 business meeting. I'm Rob Walter, the board chair, and I'm going to call this meeting to order. Uh we have a don't have anybody performing for the opening ceremony. I don't want to sing, so let's uh just say the pledge of allegiance. Could you stand with me? I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Okay, 2.02 is our introductions and greetings, and I'll just introduce uh the folks up here on the dais, and uh for the last time as uh we have our teacher representative Madison Little. Welcome. Uh board member Shannon Lancaster, board member Catherine

002Moore, board member Sam Treadaway, our superintendent John Kopicki, and to my right is board vice chair Greg Mills, board member Pam Escobar, board member Melanie Freeman, and our board attorney uh is filling in. We have Dave Stevens uh today, so he's he is here tonight. Welcome. All right, board members, we uh need to set our agenda. It's been there on the diligent website for a while. And you know, motion a second, or Melanie? >> I'd like to uh make a motion to pull the fees off of the consent agenda so that we can discuss those. >> Okay, so there's a a request to pull the fees, and any board member can do that. So, we'll move that over to the action item, so we'll vote on that separately. And that will be uh 10.02. >>

003Okay, thank you. >> So, any other changes to the agenda? I need a motion and a second to adopt. >> Make a motion that we adopt the agenda as amended. >> Okay, thank you Mr. Mills. Anybody second? Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Thank you Sam. We have a motion and a second. All in favor of adopting our agenda tonight, please say aye. Aye. Okay. Agenda is set and we're going to move right into our recognitions. And this is exciting. We get to do the Burke County School state champions of the spring of 2026. And do we have Mr. Brian Tyson? Is he here? Brian? All right, give him just just a just a moment. So we've got a number of a track track athletes here. >> [applause] >> Is that applause for finding us out

004there? >> [laughter] >> Oh, well good evening board members and Dr. Kopecky. Um there's so many positive things to celebrate in our district academically um and athletically. Um so I wanted to take some time tonight to celebrate and recognize our spring state champions. And we don't have a lot of state champions here with us tonight. Uh you know, I don't know I don't know why somebody wouldn't want to come to a board meeting, you know what I mean? But in the summertime it's hard to get everybody here. But uh we do we had one state uh team state championship. And we had eight individual state champions. So we got three individuals here with us tonight, but I first want to start off with the men's track team. J.M. Robinson won the 5A men's track championship

005scoring 73 points. Uh they blew out Oak Grove. Oak Grove was a far distance second place with 45 points. Chase Thompson is here tonight representing the team. Chase, will you raise your hand? We appreciate you coming tonight for us to be recognized for your team. And if you remember the J.M. Robinson track team, the boys team also won indoor state championship this winter as well. So, a lot of speedsters there. Team members were Cameron Tucker, Aiden Black, Jayden Covington, Demonte Barr, Nehemiah Chisholm, Mason Coleman, Jamir Kelly, Darius Smith, Kamari Pinkston, uh Kwabena Kankam Jatona, uh Johan Jonan Jonan K, Andrew Davis, and Emmanuel Rustin along with Chase. And we also had in men's track, we had Chase McCulla of Hickory Ridge High School. Here's Chase is with us tonight. We appreciate you coming, Chase. CHASE

006CHASE IS FROM HICKORY RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL. He just graduated. Uh he won the 7A discus throw with amazing 189 ft 10 in. Uh he is one he is one of the premier throwers in the state of North Carolina and in the country. Currently ranks 14th in the nation. Um >> [applause] >> He was a state runner-up last year as a junior and as a senior this year he won the county, the conference, and the western regional in both the shot put and the discus. And Chase is going to go to a great university next year, Appalachian State University. And I'll say that that's cuz I went there, Chase. You did too, Mr. Treadway, didn't you? Oh, you didn't? Okay. But uh yes, he's going to go and he plans on pursuing a degree in kinesiology

007with the goal of becoming a physician's assistant assistant and we just wish you the best and congratulations on your accomplishments. >> [applause] >> And he will be with participating in track and field at Appalachian as well. Also some people that did not were not able to come tonight on the men's track side of it the state champions was Julian Williams. I don't think Julian made it did he? I didn't see him come in. So Julian Williams was a is 11th grader at Northwest Cabarrus High School and he won the 5A triple jump. And he won both the indoor and outdoor state championships ships this year. And he's currently ranked number 21 in the nation and number two in North Carolina. So congratulations to Julian Williams as well. Others that couldn't come here tonight and I

008know Cam Tucker you've seen him here many a times before at the JM Robinson a superior athlete. Cam is actually out in Seattle, Washington competing in the Nationals and I just found out just a while ago that he won the Nationals in the 400 meter. So that's awesome news to hear as well. And Cam Cam won three state three more state championships this spring in the 100, the 200 meter and the 400 meter. He was the 5A MVP and that's a total of eight state championships in his stellar career at JM Robinson High School. So congratulations to Cam. Kaison >> [applause] >> Kaison Moore of Concord High could not be here. They just graduated from high school and from Concord High they won the 5A high jump at 6 feet 7 inches. So congratulations to

009Kaison. And also Elijah Monroe which you've seen him before with multiple state championships as well from West Cabarrus High School, just graduated and he won the 100 meter dash in 10.5 seconds and also placed second in the 200 meter dash and he is going to have a full scholarship to starting this fall at the University of South Carolina. So, we wish him as well and congratulations to Elijah. And the last one that could not be here tonight was Grady Anderson of Hickory Ridge High School. He's only a junior, rising senior. Won the 7A 1600 meter run in 4 minutes 18.6 seconds. So, congratulations to Grady Anderson as well. And we move on to women's track and we do have with us tonight SOPHIA WHITTAKER. >> [applause] >> SOPHIA IS A STELLAR athlete and student at

010West Cabarrus High School. She is a rising senior this year. She won the discus with a throw of 136 feet 8 inches and she was also second in the shot put. And also Sophia won, if you remember, Sophia was here this winter and she won the shot put in the winter state championships as well. So, congratulations Sophia on a JOB WELL DONE. >> [applause] >> AND LAST BUT NOT NOT LEAST was Corrine Tucker who is Cam's sister and ironically Corrine won the same events that Cam did this spring in the state championships. She won the 100, the 200 meter and the 400 meter and she was also the the meet MVP just like her brother was. So, that that is amazing in itself. AND WE KNOW WHERE SHE IS GOING NOW ALSO. She is going

011to UNC Chapel Hill on a track scholarship. So, congratulations to Corrine, as well. So, that that is that comes to the conclusion of our state championships and champions this spring. We've had a great year this year Bears County Schools athletic-wise and we're honored to to celebrate these kids and congratulations you guys. That's something that nobody can ever take away from you. That you will always be a state champion. And thank you guys for showing up and girls for showing up tonight to the to the board meeting. We appreciate you and thank YOU VERY MUCH. >> [applause] >> MR. TYSON, I HAD A QUESTION. HEY MR. TYSON. ARE THESE athletes are they eligible for the Cabarrus County sports Hall of Fame? >> Uh you have to be out for so long. >> Okay. >> We'll get

012them signed up. >> All right, there's some amazing athletes here in Cabarrus County. Congratulations to them. Moving on to section five, which is the approval of our minutes from last month. So, we have uh minutes from our work session um and our business meeting. And those have also been an opportunity for board members to review. Um any changes or comments, corrections? If not, I'd need a motion and a second to approve our minutes. >> Move to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Treadaway. Thank you, Mr. Mills. Have a motion and a second to approve our minutes uh for May. Please say I if you agree with that. >> I. Okay, those minutes have been approved and we will move on to section six, which is board chair and superintendent comments. So, essentially tonight I'd just like

013to say, you know, there's important matters for our students, our staff, and our community that we're facing on tonight's agenda. We have a number of citizens also that signed up to address the board on topics that are important to them and their families. And I want to thank those individuals for participating in the public process. Public education works best when community members are engaged and willing to share their perspectives. As a board, it's our job, but we have the responsibility to listen carefully, review information thoroughly, and make decisions through an open and deliberate process. Um I do know that Dr. Capikie is going to address the OCR situation. Before he does that, I'd like to ask our attorney Dave Stevens, have you heard anything on the Supreme Court hearing, what's before the Supreme Court that's

014related to this? >> No, we are we are closely monitoring both the EEOC versus Little case and the West Virginia versus BPJ case, which are pending opinions at Supreme Court. We expect that those opinions will come through by the end of June or the first week of July. Um the next opinion day at the Supreme Court is Thursday, and and again, we've got a close eye on them. >> Okay, thank you. All right, with that I will hand it over to Dr. Capikie for his comments. >> Thank you, Mr. Walter. I'd like to speak this evening about the actions we are taking to ensure our schools and bathrooms remain safe and as safe as possible for every student in Cabarrus County. First, I want to reaffirm that Cabarrus County Schools will always follow the law,

015and we will continue to do so regarding student restroom access. Should laws or legal requirements change, we will adjust accordingly. Beyond legal compliance, our responsibility is to ensure every student and family feels confident that our schools are safe, welcoming, respectful, and supportive learning environments. >> [snorts] >> While we are limited in what we can publicly discuss regarding the Department of Education investigation due to student privacy protections and legal considerations. I want to reiterate that we are fully cooperating with the investigation. I also want to address an important point that is sometimes overlooked. Our schools provide private or single-user restroom options for any student who may feel uncomfortable using male or female designated restrooms. We recognize that people may hold differing perspectives on these sensitive issues. And we respect that families come to these conversations with

016deeply held beliefs and concerns regarding privacy, dignity, safety, and well-being. However, I believe there is common ground within our community. Every student Every student deserves to feel safe, respected, and supported at school. That commitment remains at the center of every decision we make. Our leadership team has listened carefully to the concerns expressed by parents, students, staff, and community members in recent weeks. As we move forward into the summer months, we will work closely with our principals and school leaders to review our student code of conduct, safety protocols, supervision practices, and procedures related to student behavior throughout our schools, including in restrooms and locker room areas, will be will be reviewed. If improvements or additional safety measures are needed, we will take appropriate action. Consistent with national trends and feedback from our own parents over the

017past 3 years, bathrooms, outdoor spaces, and playgrounds remain the top areas of concern for student safety. This input helps guide our ongoing efforts as we regularly review supervision, facilities, and security measures and procedures to strengthen safety in these areas. We remain committed to listening, evaluating, and making improvements to support the safety and well-being of every student. I understand and agree with parents who believe that even one incident involving student safety is one too many. We take every concern seriously, regardless of how often incidents occur, because maintaining safe schools is our highest responsibility. At the same time, it is important to provide context. Our data indicates that incidents occurring in school bathrooms represent a small percentage of overall student discipline matters. During the 2025-2026 school year, approximately 2.4% of all disciplinary incidents occurred in bathrooms, with

018the majority involving vaping, vandalism, or fighting. While those numbers remain relatively low across 44 schools over a 10-month school year, our expectation is clear. Students are expected to demonstrate appropriate behavior everywhere on campus, in classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, athletic facilities, and restrooms alike. And by and large, our students carry themselves in an exemplary manner. We will continually evaluating whether our expectations, supervision, and responses meet the standards our students, staff, and families deserve. Finally, amid the emotion and disagreements surrounding these discussions, I do want I do not want to overlook the tremendous accomplishments that our students continue to achieve. Cabarrus County Schools continues to demonstrate strong academic achievement. Our graduation rates remain among the highest we've ever achieved and continue to exceed the state average. Our students also continue to outperform state averages on standardized test. These

019accomplishments reflect the hard work of our students, the dedication of our teachers and staff, and the strong support of our families and community. I welcome questions, feedback, and concerns from our community because these are your schools and we are honored to serve your children every day. As we continue these important conversations, I simply ask that we do so respectfully, thoughtfully, and with a shared commitment to the success, safety, and well-being of every student in Cabarrus County Schools. Lastly, I would like to talk to two people directly this evening as tonight will be their last school board meeting. I'd like to thank Madison Little for representing the Cabarrus County School teachers in a wonderful fashion and for her cooperation collaboration over the school year working with the administration and also the school board. She's done a

020fantastic job and Madison, I um hope and and wish you nothing but the best in the future and you continue to exemplify everything that's wonderful about our school system as an excellent teacher that we see every day. So, thank you, Madison, and all the best to you. >> [applause] >> And then lastly to Dr. Marybeth Roth, who will be retiring at the end of this school year. Um she has filled many roles here in Cabarrus County Schools. She has been a principal, a director, a level school leader, um currently serves as the head of student services, and everything she has taught here, everything she has been involved in has been just fantastic. Um she's very geared on student success and making sure they have the best representation at all times. Uh filled with knowledge, incredibly

021intelligent, one of the finest people I've ever worked with. Um I appreciate all your help, your guidance, your insight, and the wisdom you have shared with all of us over the years. Um and I will forever be indebted to you for the kindness you have exhibited to me here in Cabarrus County Schools. Um with that being said, I wish you nothing but the best in your future and I hope we get to see you again in maybe some different capacity or roles as you go out to your new beginning. So, all the best to you, Dr. Roth, and thank you for all your dedication to Cabarrus County Schools. >> [applause] >> AND WE ALSO TRULY APPRECIATE THE IMPACT YOU'VE made since for Cabarrus County Schools. We're a better place now than we were. All right,

022I want to move on to section seven, which is our guest speakers uh portion of the meeting. I have We'll read our our statement here. Uh Each speaker is allowed up to 3 minutes to speak, and an individual speaking for a group is allowed up to 5 minutes at the discretion of the board chair to express interest and concerns related to official business of the school district. The speakers will be called in the order in which they we received the request. A person may not be substituted for another speaker, nor may one speaker donate time to the other another speaker. If the speaker runs out of time, then the speaker may leave additional information with the board clerk. Statements reasonably perceived to be disruptive or intimately threatening to the orderly operation of the meeting shall

023not be permitted. Any limitation on public comment shall be viewpoint neutral. I have the authority to rule a speaker out of order. If the speaker attending attendee willfully interrupts, disturbs, or disrupts this meeting and refuses to leave after being asked, then the speaker may be escorted out for disrupting an official meeting. Board members will not respond to individuals who address the board except to request clarification of points made by the presenter. So, I believe it all our speakers are understand that those rules, and we're going to start uh with the order they received, and I have Pam Emmons. Are you here? Welcome. >> Hi, good evening. Thank you all for your time this evening. My name is Pam Emmons. My family and I live in Midland. I'm from >> [laughter] >> that Midland, North Carolina.

024We are also members of the Mandarin immersion community here in in in Cabarrus County. I have a current rising fourth rising fifth grader and a rising seventh grader. So, a student both at the elementary program which currently exists at Harrisburg Elementary School and the middle school program which is at Roberta Road Middle School. The The presentation that you received last week is accurate. The enrollment in our middle school is low. But I want to share a different perspective on why I think the enrollment is low. The Each year since the program was moved to Roberta Road, unfortunately, I think you can see a trend that that enrollment has decreased. It's not Roberta. We love Roberta. My son loves Roberta. He wants to be a Raptor for life. Love the school. It's simply just not the

025natural feeder for the majority of families. With the program being at Harrisburg Elementary, the families that that is their home school, their home district is to Hickory Ridge Middle School. Many of them can't provide personal transportation to get their child to the middle school and they're choosing to stay with their home middle school. And just not enough have committed like my family. I mean, we drive 20 minutes to go anywhere if you live in Midland. So, it's not a big deal, but it is for many of our friends. The program is a stellar program. If you don't know about the Mandarin program, it's absolutely something as a county that we should be leaning on as a as a as a fantastic piece of education for curriculum. Two years ago, the Harrisburg they did a data

026presentation to the families and at that point, the Mandarin program choice was outscoring every other program choice in the county. The students in the Mandarin their EOG scores were higher than every other program choice. I think that doesn't have to do with the kids that were in it. It has to do with the the curriculum challenges your brain. When you learn another language in an elementary school environment immersion, the science is there that it just makes your brain stay like a sponge for longer. And so it's a fantastic tool for educating our children. Um my son's sixth grade class this past year, every kid was in advanced middle school math and all but one were in advanced ELA. There are 25 kids in this year's kindergarten class. So I think there are families that are

027showing that they're interested in this program. They're choosing it at Harrisburg. Um I do have to say it was a little frustrating. We as families did not receive any communication prior to last week's presentation. Um if not for a friend who was paying attention, it's summer time, many of us wouldn't have known that this was coming for a vote tonight. Um my recommendation for consideration by the county is simply to realign the elementary and the middle school. So we're going to have If we only have time and space for one immersion program in elementary and one immersion program in middle school, I think in order for it to be successful, they need to be at schools that naturally feed each other. And give it time. Thank you. >> Thank you, MS. OWENS. AND MY MY

028NEXT SPEAKER IS TRISTA ROCK. Are you here? Hello again. >> Hi. My name is Trista Rock, but all of you know that since I was the one who first brought this issue to the board. If y'all would have done something about the issues of trans individuals going into their non-biological bathrooms when I brought this issue in December, then I wouldn't have gotten harassed, bullied, had my name written all over the walls, received death threats, and threats to jump me at school. Kopecky, I am extremely disap- disappointed in you. I'm 17 years old and showing vulnerability to you and you dismiss my peers and I and say how this is a perception and this is also not a problem. This is not only an issue at Cox Mill, but an issue to other schools across the

029county that you and the rest of the board members are accountable for. Additionally, you stated how the number of ostracism-related incidents is only 2.4%. That's close to 800 students. Is this 2% 2% you speak of what's been told to you or what's been reported? That doesn't take into account for the people who are terrified to come forward to report and say something because they're scared to face the same repercussions I have or have been threatened by a coach or a staff member, which many of my friends have been threatened by. This issue is so self-explanatory to solve, but what you do is deflect this and do what so many staff do, which is deflect. Something will happen. It's only a matter of time and every single one of you will have to take accountability for

030it. In your own opinion, Kopecky, me coming to you me coming to speak to you is not an issue? You can dismiss me and put me in harm's way. You can dismiss every student that has stood before you and put them in harm's way, but you cannot dismiss reality. It's happening. It's a problem. Remember this moment. Us students have done our jobs. Now it's time for the rest of you to do yours. HAVE A GREAT DAY. >> [applause] >> OKAY. >> [applause] [applause] >> OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS CASEY BURKE. >> [clears throat] >> WELCOME. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Casey Burke. I'm the mother to a rising third grader in the Mandarin program. And in my day job, I'm an attorney and the executive director of a nonprofit legal services organization. When

031it was time to enroll our daughter in school, my husband and I did a lot of research. We landed on Mandarin immersion in part because of the incredible data that was presented by the school. Your data showed us this is a special program. It showed us that students who are educated in dual education programs outperform students that are educated in traditional classrooms in standardized tests. They develop greater cognitive flexibility. They have superior problem-solving skills. And they have enhanced understanding of the English language in addition to the language they are learning. Being proficient in any second language is a huge benefit from elementary school through middle and high school and into the workforce. Being proficient in Mandarin is a really special skill in today's global economy. This program is setting our children up for success in

032a way that is unique and extremely valuable. I appreciate that the board is facing difficult financial decisions and that there are limited resources. As executive director of a nonprofit, I understand what it's like to work within the constraints of a budget. But some investments are worth making. So much has gone into making this program what it is. The board, the teachers, the schools, the parents, and the kids have all poured into this. And to walk away from it now without truly seeing it through isn't doing justice to that investment. I understand enrollment right now for the class that's entering middle school is low for a variety of reasons that the other speaker mentioned. But my daughter has 20 kids in her class. Don't they deserve to see this through to fluency? I've watched my child

033and her 20 classmates flourish as they develop language skills, cultural competency, and critical thinking abilities. These are skills that will benefit them not just now, but throughout their lives, potentially equipping them to be leaders on the global stage. And Cabarrus County should be a place where children have the opportunity to become those kinds of leaders. We've already done so much to be that kind of community, and we can't quit now. Strong public school systems are defined not only by their ability to provide the basics, but also their ability to provide this kind of distinctive, high-quality opportunities that prepare our children for an increasingly global future. Cabarrus County's commitment to our children through the Mandarin program is a huge draw for this county. And so, I ask you on behalf of the students who've committed years

034of effort to and deserve the chance to see it through to fluency, and to the families who chose Cabarrus County schools because of this opportunity, uh please preserve the Mandarin immersion program through middle school. And I thank you all for your service. >> Thank you, MS. BAKER. >> [applause] >> MY NEXT SPEAKER IS BRANDON MATTHEWS. I DO SEE you over there. >> Can you pick me out? Should the camera see it? You know, I find it real funny that it takes a Title IX investigation for you to speak up. Now, we pay you $278,000 a year, and that's not including the membership fees, which equal about $350,000 a year, and you got to look down and read off a prepped AI speech. You pulled it out of a book. You ain't even got the knowledge

035to sit here and talk to us straight-faced. Do y'all know how this works? He works for y'all. You understand that? So, every time y'all tried to talk last week and this man shuts you down, he can't shut you down. HE WORKS FOR YOU. ROB, YOU WANT TO PROVE THAT YOU'RE IN that seat and you deserve that seat, then when he back talks you, you tell him to shut up. That's how that works. You, the fact that you turn around and made them dumb signs, that's crazy. Because you manipulate and go back on everything you say. That's a hypocrite. You understand what that means? Pam, you're a waste of oxygen. God, I don't even know why you're sitting there. Ms. Melanie, I know you know what's right. Thank you for standing up. You, to hear you

036defend his salary, I about throw up in my mouth. I have never heard somebody talk so much bull to kiss his Now, you want to be aggressive, we can do aggressive. >> Language, Brandon. >> Brandon? You want calm? We can be calm. But this is ridiculous. Come on. Y'all look stupid. Every one of you people and you look stupid. All you do is sit there with your lips closed. You seem like a very nice lady. Cat, come on now. You think he's worth $350,000 a year? Do you? I tell you what though, I know your daughter and I know if a man walked in there and touched her, you would go off the >> Brandon. Brandon, that's that's not >> Whose children? >> Brandon. >> Oh, you're out of line. I'm sorry, Mr. Resnick. I'm

037out of my seat. >> that's out of order. >> What's out of order? >> Using the language. >> Oh, cuz we bring y'all's kids into it. WHAT ABOUT OUR KIDS? YOU SEE THAT? YOU ARE A pathological liar. You cover your own tail to save your own tail. Nothing you say is legit. And you want to sit up there and call us liars? I hate to tell you, but there's a lawsuit coming and I hope you're ready. That's where I'm going to end it. CUZ BOSS, MY NAME IS dead center that lawsuit and so help me God to the day I die, if it takes me getting you out of that seat, that's exactly what I'm going TO DO. WATCH. >> OKAY, DON'T COME BRANDON BRANDON, YOU'RE DONE. OKAY, BRANDON, THAT'S BEING DESTRUCTIVE. OKAY, you've had

038your you've had your time. Let the next speaker Next speaker. Okay, Brandon, I'm going to ask you to leave, please. Brandon, get out. All right. Next speaker is Jay Shineman. Are you here? Shineman? Jay Shineman? Okay. I can't believe that we're having to have this discussion again. It's taken a a federal investigation to prompt Mr. Kubicki to make his statement today. I don't I don't believe a word he said. I'm sorry to say it. So, Mr. Kubicki, this is directed at you. I am at this time going to ask you to do the right thing. Not only for the young ladies in our schools, but for the safety and well-being of all the students in Cabarrus County. Your denial that there is a problem which is already causing humiliation, fear, shame, intimidation of our young

039ladies has brought about this request. Your denial has brought >> [clears throat] >> undue stress for families, increased the likelihood of potential lawsuits, and that the county cannot will not withstand. At this time, I am asking you to stand up and do what is right. For the citizens, the students, the staff in Cabarrus County, announce your resignation effective immediately. >> Yes. Yes. >> [applause and cheering] >> Okay. You're you're out in left field somewhere by allowing this to happen for over 6 months now. All you had to do was make a simple policy. You didn't do it. You refused to do it. And now, we're looking at some severe lawsuits. I know this for fact. I've talked to some of these people. And I'll tell you, me personally, I'll help them hire their attorneys financially.

040Have a good day. >> We all know you're going to >> My next next speaker is Christy McDaniel. Are you here? Welcome. You make sure that mic is on. Should be a button on the front you have to press and a red light will come on. There we go. >> Yes. Hi. My name is Christy McDaniel and I have two children in the Mandarin Immersion program here in Cabarrus County. I love that my children speak Mandarin. They trade jokes and tease each other in Mandarin while brushing their teeth. They have secret conversations at the dinner table. And they even speak to my Chinese speaking colleagues in Europe and Asia when I have a video conference call. Watching them grow academically, socially, and culturally through this program has been an honor and a joy. I only

041have 3 minutes, but I want to remind everyone that the Mandarin immersion program in Cabarrus County consistently produces outstanding academic results, and it is consistently the top performing program out of all the program choice programs. It actually helps raise the overall district performance and averages. Since Dr. Kiki has challenged us to become the best district in the nation, we should be nurturing this program, not trying to get rid of it. The reason we are here today is because low enrollment in the rising sixth grade class is discouraging. However, I want to point out that these children started kindergarten during 2020 COVID remote learning. And as you can imagine, learning a language as complex as Mandarin through remote instruction at 5 years old was difficult. Please don't make a permanent decision today based off of the

042havoc that COVID reeked 6 years ago on enrollment. We can't let COVID win. And as a parent who has talked to all the other parents in the program, I will also tell you that we need to keep the school pipeline stable. When we keep changing the schools that are involved from Hickory Ridge to Harris Road to Roberta Road, and Cox Mill to no Cox Mill, parents give up. If we were to keep a stable plan in place for the entire K-38 pathway, I assure you enrollment would hold much more stable. And we can survey the past and current parents to confirm this. Lastly, I think marketing for Mandarin could use some help. You guys are spread thin over 19 different program choice programs, and Mandarin isn't widely popular in the South, but it is the

043most spoken language on the planet, so I promise you that it's useful. And learning a second language will benefit our children and their community, which is this community, for their entire lives. As a parent, I have personally encouraged four families to enroll in this Mandarin program without any real effort at all. Imagine what could be accomplished if the district were to partner with [clears throat] parents who are passionate about the program like many of the parents here today. I would gladly volunteer as a Mandarin immersion ambassador, and I know many other parents would do the same. We want this program to thrive and we are ready to help. Please let us help champion this program before you get rid of it. I beg you, do not approve this recommendation tonight. Thank you for your time.

044>> THANK YOU. YEAH, I HAVE TWO MORE I HAVE TWO MORE SPEAKERS. THEY SAID they are representing a group, so if you come up here, please explain what the group is and then have your say for 5 minutes. Next speaker is Keisha Sandidge. Welcome. >> As I've sent to the board clerk already in my email to request to speak, Purple Table Talk is a non-partisan faith group first book group created to discuss community issues collectively, bring resolutions where appropriate, and an attempt to address the problems that plague our country and our county. Rob, I don't think I should need to say this every month, okay? Um so I wrote down a few things and um Mr. Penn, I just want to tell you thank you for the TKO Nick last week or last month or

045last week, I'm sorry. I appreciate us setting the record straight. One thing I want for this board to consider is consistency of what's being asked of you. Many people have talked about safety. If the concern is with compliance to federal law, why does the focus appear to be exclusively on Cabarrus County Schools? There's several other school districts in this county, but I only see Cabarrus County School being probed and being used as a scapegoat. There's several federal buildings, governmental buildings that are here in this county. I don't see the probes there. You got to ask yourself, why is Cabarrus County being targeted like this? And if you're not asking that question of yourselves, you should definitely be asking them of the people who have come up here for the last few months and given a

046lot of oxygen to safety. Let's see. If it's truly about safety, why are we not spending an equal amount of time talking about safety across the board? I've come up here several times. I've also gone to our county commission and I talked with them about safety. There is a JCPC group, a juvenile crime prevention committee that meets every single month in our county. Folks, get on that committee. There is a child protection and fatality team that meets monthly. I hope one of these school you school board members are on that team because they discuss the deaths in our county. That is another layer layer of safety. Cabarrus County Schools has its own safety committee. I believe two board members are on there. I suggest you get some of these parents that keep coming up here

047every month talking about safety on that committee as well to help you plan accordingly. >> [applause] >> Public safety should be guided by facts, consistency, and sound governance, not selective outrage. We You fix problems on social media. We do not fix problems on social media. We will continue to spend until our heads are falling off if we continue to discuss problems on social media. Now, I have yet to hear Cabarrus County Schools budget be presented to the Cabarrus County Commission. That should trouble every single last one of you board members because one person on that county commission approved the school board every single year if I remember correctly. And y'all need to keep that in mind. That same commissioner has been here several times preaching to you guys about safety for something that commissioner themself

048did not address while they were on the school board. And you've got to question why is that the case? It's very concerning that you guys are asking for the same amount of money that other districts in our county are asking for. Yet you've been unable to present that to our county commission. Now, if you've met individually, I can tell you that that entire county commission has not heard your budget. I know that for a fact and I know many of you do. I encourage this board to remain focused on the task at hand, which is providing for over 35,000 students, over 4,000 staff, and an entire community that is dependent upon what happens in this educational system. I bet you several people in this audience out here bought their house in Cabarrus County because of

049the school system. And nobody can tell me I'm lying about that. That's this school system has served hundreds of kids that we see every month come in here and get awards, get college scholarships, and we give those accolades to be sitting here and listening to all of this drama. It should not have to come in front of you this often for something to be done about it. Dr. Kobiki, one of the things that I heard today that I agree with is we should have had a statement prior to all of this. I think it would have gave way and quieted a lot of things that have been said in these last 2 months. People want to know what's happening. And we have the opportunity, and I know this for a fact as well, to talk

050to them about what's happening, to give them the facts. And to drill down into the facts as much as we want to, but another thing I'll make sure you guys know is we won't get those facts if y'all don't ask the questions. >> Thank you, Ms. Sanders. >> THANK YOU. >> OKAY. AND THE FINAL FINAL SPEAKER TONIGHT IS ALEXIS HUGHES. And I see you over there. >> Hello, guys. Um we got to introduce what we are and all that. Don't start my time if I have to introduce myself. You're making me do that, okay? So, my name's Alexis Hughes. I uh have a group called You Heard Her. We're an advocacy group for female students, parents, and teachers in Cabarrus County who feel unsafe coming forward with their stories, whether it be about the bathroom

051or otherwise. >> Thank you. I appreciate you restarting my time. On June 1st, Dr. Kobiki sat before this board and said data showed that only 2% of the reported instances occurred in school bathrooms. The implication was because the number is low, there's little justification for implementing a bathroom policy. But, that argument ignores both common sense and reality. You know what things have policies and laws against them? Hate crimes, drunk driving, traffic fatalities, school shootings, sexual assault, racial profiling, human trafficking, kidnapping, terrorism, student suicide, student weapon possession on school property, child abuse and neglect. What is interesting is that each of these issues directly affects less than 1% of the US population in a given year. Yet, we still recognize these issues as important enough to address through laws, policies, and accountability. As a society, we

052do not determine whether an issue deserves attention solely based on the percentage of people affected or percentage of incidents. We consider the severity of the harm, the vulnerability of those impacted, and our responsibility to create safe communities. In fact, common sense tells us that many of these issues remain lower percentage-wise precisely because policies, safeguards, and accountability measures were put in place. The purpose of policy is not to wait until a problem becomes widespread. The purpose of policy is to prevent harm before it does become widespread. So, citing a statistic that only 2% of incidents occur in bathrooms is not an argument against policy like you think it is. If anything, it is an argument for proactive policy. What concerns me even more is the assumption that the 2% figure accurately reflects reality. It is obvious

053that incidents occurring in classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias are more likely to be reported and make up a larger part of the data set because adults are present to witness them. Teachers, administrators, and staff see what happens and document it. Bathrooms and locker rooms are different. They are the one one of the few places in a school where students are largely unsupervised. It should not be controversial to acknowledge that incidents occurring in less supervised environments are more difficult to detect, document, and report. And we have additional reasons to question whether underreporting is occurring. We know that a cheer coach told the cheer students that there would be consequences if they reported or made a big deal about a biological male being present watching them in their bathrooms and locker rooms. If students believe there will be

054punishment, retaliation, embarrassment, or social consequences for speaking up, many simply will not report what they experienced. And well, obviously, that cheer coach isn't going to be going to leadership to report it either. That is not evidence that incidents are not occurring. That is evidence that students may not feel safe reporting them, which is exactly why several members of this board were right to ask questions about the data and right to acknowledge that underreporting is a possibility even if at all, but Melanie, wait, if all of them, sorry about that, right to acknowledge that underreporting may be a possibility even if all but Melanie Melanie waited until after the federal investigation was open to do so. Yet, when those questions were raised, Dr. Kopic, your response was quite hostile and defensive. That concerns many parents because

055transparency should welcome scrutiny, not resist it. And unfortunately, concerns about transparency are not new with you. During your tenure in Pennsylvania and under your leadership, right-to-know requests, the same as North Carolina FOIAs, were wrongfully denied. The matter went before court, and the court ordered the records released. Rather than accepting that ruling, you pursued further legal action seeking to over court overturn the court's decision and prevent the release of those records, matters of public record. So, when parents here ask questions, when board members ask to review the data, and when concerns are met with dismissal or defensiveness, people naturally wonder whether transparency is once again taking a back backseat to protecting a predetermined narrative you want to present and protect. Was that why you abruptly resigned there from your contract in 2021? The issue is not

056whether the number is 2%. The issue is whether this district's lack of policy created an environment where the rights, privacy, safety concerns of biological female students were disregarded. The issue is whether girls were expected to surrender protections that Title IX was designed to guarantee. And given that this district is now facing a federal Title IX investigation, I believe there is sufficient reason to conclude that these concerns deserve far more than dismissal, deflection, or statistics designed to minimize them. They deserve answers, accountability, and corrective action. Responsible leadership does not minimize concerns, call girls and their parents liars, or bury their head in the sand. Responsible leadership understands that protecting students is more than protecting narratives. Members of the board, Kavicki and the attorneys work for you. You do not work for them. Direct them to do

057what you ask, and if they refuse, that is insub- insubordination and grounds for dismissal. Oh, and Dr. Kavicki, that parent who had to go through the courts to get that data and information were illegally allowed to have, her name is Jamie Walker. She asked me to tell you hi when I talked to her this week. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Hughes, and thank you for everybody who's brought the who spoke tonight. Um we're going to move on. And our next part of our business is reports section. So, we have a couple reports for that. The first report is 8.01. That's the CTE comprehensive local needs assessment and the performance indicator yearly review. And we're going to welcome Ms. Melanie Ritter to the podium. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, Dr. Kavicki, and members of

058the board. Thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. Um we're going to just briefly talk about the CTE comprehensive local needs assessment. For a quick background, um this is a 2-year process for career and technical education. Uh we reach various stakeholders to get feedback on our current programs. Um also uh student data, we review student data, work with community partners um to improve our programs um across the board. Yep. Uh quick vision statement students prepared to pursue pursue their direction and purpose. One of the main things in CTE is really focused on every child making sure that they are career and college ready before graduation so that they have a plan as they move forward with their futures. A very quick overview we continue to increase our enrollment we increased by 11% over

059the past few years since 22. We have 52 career pathways in Cabarrus County Schools which I'm very proud of several districts around us don't quite have that so we are offering what students are interested in and also aligned to industry partnerships. We currently have eight career academies within the county architecture and construction aviation and aerospace engineering financial technology health science hospitality and tourism information technology and public safety. We continue to offer opportunities for our students within the work-based learning realm. We afforded students over 400 opportunities over the past couple of years last year was over 400 we actually had over 200 field trips submitted for our students in middle school and high school. We also uh offer professional engagement through North Carolina ACTE that is something that as a CTE department we think is very

060important for our teachers and our staff and so we provide a membership to all of our CTE staff. Just really quick growth projections. We continue to grow our CTE programs and enrollment the blue line you see is unduplicated numbers for 2026 so we had almost 14,000 students enrolled in CTE courses and the duplicated number for that is 22,167 so students are learning about pathways within their school as early as 6th grade and learning what they love to do and what they're most interested in and and to enroll in our programs. A couple of things that we're very um excited about and proud of. Um I'm going to go through our um comprehensive local needs assessment with our indicators really quickly. Um our cohort graduation rate for CTE students, these are students that complete their pathway.

061Um we also call them CTE concentrators. It's over 99%. So of the students that are within our CTE pathways that take a a first level, a second level, um that's usually the concentrator within the pathway. Some pathways have a third level to make them a concentrator. They are graduating um at a very high rate, over 99%. Couple of our performance indicators. So I added this slide intentionally to show how we align with the district strategic goals as well. Um it's interesting when I talk to people and I say, "Oh yeah, English 2 is one of our performance indicators as well." and they look very surprised, like, "Oh wow, why does CTE have anything to do with English?" And so it's really important that um just kind of talk quickly about our concentrators and how they

062rank um within the data. So our 2S1 academic proficiency within uh reading and language arts, um that is our English 2 performance indicator. Um this one is for our 10th grade students and um you'll notice that uh we are outperforming um a little bit over 4% um based on the the state benchmark. Um within our math uh proficiency, it aligns again with our strategic plan. Um so math 1 and math 3 are our performance um indicators and um if a student has taken math 1 in eighth grade, then it's the math 3 indicator uh for that group of students. Um again, we are outperforming. Um the benchmark is 39.91 uh within our CTE concentrators and actual for 24-25 was 48.30. Um so again, gap is where a plus over 8%. Um and the third one

063that um is important is 2S3, which is academic proficiency within science. This is biology, directly aligning to our strategic plan as well. Um, this is an 11th grade um, concentrators as 11th graders, regardless of when they take the test, that's when it the data triggers for our our um, CTE concentrators. Um, again, we are outperforming um, and you'll notice that it has the state goal, the benchmark for Cabarrus County, and then our actual in each of the categories. Um, just very quick comparisons for our 10th grade um, English 1. You'll notice um, the teal color is our LEA, so that's Cabarrus County Schools, and then the purple is statewide. We continue to out outperform statewide within this category for our CTE concentrators. Um, again, Math 1 or Math 3 depending, um, we outperform in this

064area as well. Um, you'll notice on the graphs I have all and then I have female students, male students, and non-traditional. Again, these are CTE concentrators, that's the group that um, is represented represented here, um, and we continue to outperform in those categories. And biology, um, again, teal is Cabarrus County Schools, purple is um, the uh, statewide, excuse me, statewide. Um, you'll notice the line that goes across to, that's the target for North Carolina benchmark. Um, we continue to outperform in this category as well. So, we're really proud of our CTE concentrators. It's showing the alignment of our CTE pathways with the core classes and how they um, basically work in tandem to be able to increase our data across the board. Um, some of our performance indicators, so when we dug into the data,

065our our CTE leadership team um, did a really great job over the past 2 years. Um, we talked a lot about how do we align with core subject areas? How can we um, create curriculum that, you know, brings in Math 1 and math three concepts within our CTE classrooms as well. So, we're really focused on providing additional opportunities for our PLC teams to review their CTE course materials and find where English two, math one, math three, and biology standards are within our CTE standards as well. So, another thing that we're planning to do, reviewing the data by sub-populations to provide additional supports. We noticed that non-traditional students is definitely a growth area for us. If you Google CCIP, just the letter CCIP, it's actually public-facing. And if you put in Cabarrus County Schools or 130

066as our LEA number, you can see this data in real time, basically. Um So, we're really focused on non-traditional enrollments and our special population students just to make sure that we have provided wrap-around supports for those students to be successful as well. Really quickly about our credential data. We're very proud of this. As a director, one of the things I charged our teacher teams with, our leadership teams with, our district team with was to look at the credential data and provide students the opportunity to take credentials that align to their courses. I will say that this has been a huge growth area for us. It is interesting to see all the changes at the state level and try to implement them and our teams have really grabbed a hold of it and and ran with

067it. So, I'm very proud. You'll see a couple of different data points here and I'm going to explain each one. This is 23-24 data. When we were digging in, the 25-26 24-25 data was not available, so we focused on 23-24 to look at the credentials that had the largest gaps, where we could grow the most. The state goal was 26.28 during that school year and we were at 63.7. So, huge huge growth there. Um As a district for 24-25, we earned over 6,400 credentials. Our students earned over 6,400 credentials, which means we're starting to afford those opportunities to students if it lines to the course. I will say there are a couple of courses that we offer here in Cabarrus County that we call local course options. If a credential makes sense and it aligns

068to the curriculum, we also offer those. OSHA 10 is an example. We have a logistics program at West Cabarrus High School. We've talked a lot with the instructor. He's advocated for our students and OSHA 10 it makes sense, but it's local to us, so some of those numbers aren't in the state data. Um we have 233 um academy graduates. Again, um data this was um done before graduation, so 233 um 406 National Technical Honor Society members. Um I'm very proud of being able to offer the um CTE award ceremony every spring that we do here. Uh we hosted over 1,400 people at the arena and we celebrated our National Technical Honor Society students. We celebrated our academy graduates um with cords and stoles. So, I'm very excited about that. Um also, we are driving um

069state and national competitive uh competitions with our CTSOs. We continue to invest in students so that they can get an experience outside of the classroom. We've had students travel all over the nation with our CTSOs. Last week we had a student travel to Atlanta to compete nationally. We sent a busload, 50-plus students down um to compete in Atlanta for DECA. Next year they go to California. These are experiences that these students would never get unless they were in the CTE program. Our teachers advocated to start their CTSOs and then we support them and make sure that they can have every opportunity to be successful within those programs. Um this year I'm very excited to report. This was May 19th. Um over 8,000 credentials were earned by our students. That's an attestation of how hard our

070teachers are working in the classroom, how hard our students are working within our CCE pathways. Uh data collection is still being verified and with credentials, we actually have until August to report. Um we do have some students still doing um nursing fundamentals nurse aid one, for example. Um and that basically if we have a credential voucher for it and a student didn't earn it, they can try they can try us with a second attempt. Um 41 of our credentials earned 100% of the students earned the credential. Um within NCCER, that's um with carpentry, for example, that pathway. Um they can earn several credentials. Each one of the modules for NCCER is counted as one in a certain data set. So, 41% um within that. We're going to talk about a couple of those in just

071a minute. Um and the growth is almost 2,000. And we weren't done yet when I created the slide deck. So, very excited about that. Couple of the top earners for 24-25. Um ServSafe food handler, over 544 students earned ServSafe food handler. When you go into a restaurant, you see the certificates for employees who currently work there. We are offering those credentials in our buildings. So, students can go on a job interview, they have the credential versus somebody who might not have it. They're high They're more likely to get hired. Um BLS basic life support, 313 students earned that in 24-25. NCCER basic safety, 249. OSHA 10 health was um 202 and then stop the bleed 187. Those were the top earners in 24-25. Um and then gold star standard, these were our 100%. Um drone

072two, map, NFPA 2400, the CERT credential, and then FAA TRUST. So, three of those are within our drone program at West Cabarrus, and then CERT is our public safety one. So, we're we're earning them. I'm very excited. Um students are starting to talk about it. I feel like we're starting to shift the culture. When we started offering credentials, it was like, "Why am I having to do this? What is this for? The fact that we can align it to industry partnership and and employment is really a a huge um carrot in our hat, if you will. A feather in our cap. Um and also it'll it allows students to be able to talk about this within their classrooms and can really does create kind of like that competitive edge and other students want to take

073those classes to get the certifications. Um 5S1 goal for 2026-2027 or 2026-2028, excuse me. Increase the percentage of CTE concentrators earning a recognized post-secondary credential by aligning um aligning to their program of study. We're looking to increase that by 8%. In my mind, if it's a credential that we can offer, we should be offering it. There are some challenges with third-party vendors and different things. Um our team has done a really great job of overcoming the barriers. If we can't get the credential in time, we're we're on the phone calling constantly trying to figure out how do we get the vouchers so students can test. Um strengthen our data collection practices and ensure consistent uh consistent understanding and implementation of credential expectations. Again, a couple of years ago, it was an opportunity, but maybe not

074pushed as hard, if you will, right? And it's a proof of learning now. So, that is the um indicator that shows student mastery within several of our courses. And so, we've charged the teachers really with this is the credential that's offered in your class. What do you need to help support you in order for students to be successful? How do we provide supports to students so that they can earn these credentials? Um collaborate with program leaders and CTE teachers to create a credential quick reference guide um with changes from the state and, you know, a a plethora of credentials, if you will. It's hard to try to figure out what the credential is that aligns to the course and then what is the best mode to prepare students. If it's over um 80% of the

075curriculum, allow we have vendors that will offer that service. So, for example, Adobe Photoshop, we work with a vendor to help train students and it uh supports the teacher in the classroom. So, we're consistently looking for ways to make sure students feel supported so that they can be successful. Um and then review, obviously, our credential prep materials. Um non-traditional enrollment enrollment is something um that we want to focus on. For us, one non-traditional program enrollment, we're looking to increase non-traditional enrollment by 2%. So, when I talk about non-traditional enrollment, I'm talking about females who carpentry, for example, or are in the trades, our electrical program at Mount Pleasant. Um so, we want to increase that by 2% um and the way to do that is really start talking about it, help those students feel comfortable

076in those settings, and make sure that they know all the opportunities available so that they can uh be successful. Support students in making informed post-secondary decisions. So, within CTE, we've uh partnered with student services um and pretty much every department across Cabarrus County um to work on career development planning for students. It's really important that students understand all the opportunities that are there and how they get there. Not every student's going to go to a four-year college. Some students are going to go to trade school. Some students are going to go to two-year associate's degree. Some students will go into the military and some will go directly into employment. But, we need to make sure as a county and as a CTE department that students understand the opportunities that are there for them and how

077they can reach those goals. It's really hard to um map out the perfect way to get there. It's often, you know, a windy road for students and we need to help them understand it's not point A to point B. There's often, you know, um curves and and barriers on the way and we're here to support them and make sure they know what's out there for them. Um we also uh plan to continue with career development planning, of course, and then partner with local companies for work-based learning experiences. I've been very fortunate to meet so many great uh partners within Cabarrus County who are willing to host our students as early as sixth grade. 13, 14 years old, right? 12 years old, I guess, in 6th. Um but they're going on site to tour facilities so

078that they can see what what their future might look like if they worked at one of the local companies. And then increase partnerships. Um this has been a goal of mine for the last 2 years. Continue to increase partnerships and figure out what what's the cadence to actually building the partnership. Uh we have so many great companies in Cabarrus County that it's sometimes hard to to manage all of them. And so uh we were very lucky this year. We partnered with Leadership Cabarrus this year um to review our partnership form and help determine our next steps for implementation. So we could figure out how do we track who our partners are and how do we consistently communicate what we're doing in CTE with our partners to help um provide opportunities for students outside of the

079classroom. Um so they did a full partnership review for us uh which was very helpful. And then uh beginning of our standard operating procedures, how does this start, right? I get inundated with emails. How do I track that? How do I manage all of the great people around who want to support our students? That they That group really kind of helped us get started, if you will. Um next steps for CTE department, uh once the partner fills out the form. So once they fill out the form, what's next? What's kind of that question? Um and we're looking at that to make sure there is a a cadence of if they fill it out, we're reaching out to them, you know, within a certain amount of time, and then what is what are next steps for

080our partners? Where can they um insert themselves into our schools, um into our different events so that so that they feel like they're part of what's going on in our schools. And it also helps us get great feedback for the curriculum that we currently offer. Um we also were very fortunate to have a CTE program video uh made through Leadership Cabarrus um with along with Kannapolis City Schools. Um and we we filmed at Mount Pleasant High School and they filmed in um KCS. And this video was focused on our pathways. So, we have some other videos for CTE that's focused on our career academies. This one was solely focused on our pathways, which I think is really important for all of CTE across the board. Um and we um we're working on the partnership form.

081Um and our goal over the next 2 years is to create a toolbox so that partners can go to the toolbox and learn, and that our team can support that as well. Trying to um you know, marry the two, put them together. Uh work-based learning implementation. So, we heard what Leadership Cabarrus had to say with the partnership form. It is hard to manage and hard to track, and when did we contact a partner last? And if I've contacted a partner and two of my schools have as well, we're kind of crossing over, right? And so, we've decided to um implement work-based learning through a company called Schoolinks. Uh we worked hard this year to get it set up. It's going to support our work-based learning opportunities as well as our internships. It'll have a job

082board for internships in there for students to access so that they know what internships are available for them. They'll be able to apply within the system for an internship, and the career development coordinators in each of our high schools will be able to support the student and help them find an internship that matches their interest. Um easy track easier tracking for student interns, uh making it more digitized than just a random, you know, packet of paper going around every time they go to an internship, they fill out the paper and then come back and ends up in a backpack or whatever. So, um Schoolinks is going to help us streamline that, which is great. Um it's also going to provide a tracking system for our partners, which I think will be really helpful for our

083team to make sure we're aligning the partners with the different uh programs that we offer within CTE. Um and again, aligning the process for all of our high schools to make make an equitable practice for internships. Uh work-based learning goals. Um realign our CTE business advisory council. We had a meeting last week with our advisory council. It went great. Um great team there kind of giving us feedback of different things and letting us know what's happening around Cabarrus County, uh but we're working to continue to align that and increase our number of active partners by 10% over the next 2 years. Um review work-based learning process for data collection, implement digital process for internships, and create a partnership database, which I think will support uh we have great programs, we have great pathways. Now, we

084have to build that connection with our industry partners to make sure students have an opportunity to go out and on on-site, you know, job shadowing, internships. Uh we're working on um building pre-apprenticeships. We've got a couple going right now um with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, so we've been very fortunate to have them as a partner as well. What questions do you have for me? >> Seems like a lot of good news to share, and questions from board members. >> Melanie. >> I [clears throat] appreciate your passion. >> Cannon. >> And you know your your material um Quick question. Does it most of the funding for CTE come from at the federal level? >> Uh we are federally funded and state funded. Mhm. Um so we write part of this tonight this evening, our comprehensive local needs

085assessment is part of the um grant that for Perkins 5 um to fund it. Yeah, and then uh we get a state pot of money as well. The state money um includes like curriculum um experiences for students in that that that budget. And we also get a state budget for teacher allotments. >> So it's federal and state money. >> Yes, ma'am. >> No local money. >> We do not get any local money. That's >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Melanie. >> I I I have been to some of your meetings where you inform us of what all I'm just amazed that you can coordinate all of this stuff. I hope parents realize what a valuable person you are [clears throat] um because I think children need their um future linked to what

086they're learning. I think that makes them more um involved in their learning and as you said, they're outperforming. They see a point to what they're learning. And I think that's excellent. So, um I just think you're doing a great job and I just How many people do you have working in your department besides yourself? >> Um right now at the district office, we have five additional employees plus a treasurer. Um and then in each of our high schools, we have a uh curriculum instructional management coordinator, which supports the teachers, and a career development coordinator, which supports the student side. And we also have one that is non She's um over the non-traditional, so she does both of those roles with our non-traditional schools. >> That's a massive a lot of information to to coordinate and

087like you said, with the partners and getting more partners and seeing who talked to who last. Um I understand all of that and I just appreciate so much your effort for these kids and I think it's a wonderful program, so thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. I do want to say I have an amazing team. Um could not do any of this without them. Our district team, our leadership teams in our buildings, they're awesome and um yeah, it's a team effort. Thank you that Thanks for saying that. Anybody else? >> Thank you. >> All right. One more. >> I guess you have to have a treasurer cuz you have to do special accounting since it is federal money, right? >> Yes. >> You have to do very detailed reports and that type of

088thing. >> Yeah, um she also acts as our office manager. Um so, a lot of paperwork comes through. Um potentially could be audited, so yeah, she manages um all of our budgets. We also have budgets, um credential budget is a separate budget. Uh we get credential funds from the state. Um and we have written a couple of different grants, and so she helps manage those grants. We've got gotten an ad grant in years past. Um we've done Communities in Schools grant writing for Concord High School. Um so, her and I manage. She's the treasurer, so she, you know, manages it, but her and I do that. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Appreciate your time and bringing us up to speed on all the good things going on with CTE. Thank you.

089>> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Okay, our next report is going to be from our teacher of the year, Ms. Madison Little. Looking forward to this one. >> All right. Hello, everyone. Um thank you for allowing me to speak with you tonight. I'm going to kind of go through a year in review and share some of the happy moments because I think starting positivity is a fantastic thing to do. Um some of the things you've already heard about this year, but for myself as well, I wanted to look back at everything as this is my last time sitting up there on the board with you all. So, to start things off, um as we kicked off this school year, three separate things that I was really grateful to be a part of were the BT3

090Summit, um Rise, and then new employee orientation. Um at the BT3 Summit, I got to share a lot of EC knowledge, which was really special. Um at Rise, I got to speak to the whole school system, um and kind of go through a journey of my own of how I am a graduate of this school system and then got to where I am teaching here as well. Um and then at new employee orientation, I got to also share some things um that have been really close to me that has helped me guide help guide me um through my teaching career so far. Um and so, to kick off this school year, I was really grateful for all of those separate experiences. Um I also got to be a part of our advisory council meetings. These

091were revamped this school year um with the help of Ashenberry and Mr. Shoe. And this was a really awesome experience because it really reinforced listening and learning from other people and that is something that I really value a lot. Um and within it I've gained a really great friend and she's sitting behind me. So thank you so much. Um I think it's amazing how um people who are like-minded can come together for the betterment of one thing and that is serving our students. And so it was a really refreshing group that I hope to continue to be a part of even when I'm not sitting in that seat anymore. Another really amazing experience for me was being able to be a part of the legislative meeting. Um when I look back on that meeting, I

092think one of the most important parts to me is that I was able to advocate for a group of students that is really important to me. Um which is our special education population. Um it was just really awesome to be able to share the knowledge that I have um with that group of students, but also to understand how decisions are made. Um I've talked a lot about how I've learned a lot um throughout this process over the past year, but this is really one of the biggest things of how decisions are made, um how people can come together um to make those decisions and to move education forward. And so that experience really strengthened my belief that when we remain focused on what's most important, when we're willing to listen and learn from each other,

093that we can really make positive growth that's going to lead to a very um impactful change for us moving forward. I also got to go into many schools. I would like to point out the picture there on the left because that is a Taylor Swift book and all the students were like I looked at them and I said, "Do you guys know who this is?" And every single person did. So that was just great. And I've talked about my obsession with the letter lamp parade. You all know about that. Um but it was really great to be able to go into schools. Each school really does have its own unique culture and strengths, but I think one thing continues to remain the same across the board is that when you walk into schools, you see

094students love to learn, and then you also see staff members who are pouring their hearts into what they're doing as well, and that's ultimately why we're all here. And so, it was just really refreshing to be able to do that. I know you guys get to do that each year. Um, and I think it's just really special. And I also learned things that I had never thought about as a teacher before, either, and it was it was just really special. Um, and lastly, I think it's really important, um, to note that I was still able to be a part of this whole entire experience while also being still considered Miss Coach Little. Um, it's a nickname that came about because my students and cheerleaders couldn't figure out how they were going to call me Coach

095Little, Miss Little, which one they were going to pick. So, Miss Coach Little is what it is, and it stuck. Um, no matter where the journey has taken me, being in the classroom and building relationships with my students has really remained like my biggest joy. I knew I was going to cry. I'm going to try not to. Um, so, this is just a small glimpse at my year, um, but I'm really grateful that I was able to do it while still sitting up here with you all, learning so many incredible things. Um, and I think it's just really special. When you look back at a year, I've looked back at it from my own lens in the classroom and what my students were able to accomplish and how we did it all together, and the

096relationships that I've built, but also same for you all, as well, and the people sitting behind me. Um, so, lastly, I want to say thank you. Thank you for the incredible opportunity. A very special person, Miss McClain, um, once told me that the experience of being the District teacher of the year and sitting up on the school board and being a part of it was considered rare air. She is 100% right. I've been provided with opportunities and experiences that I've never imagined and I'm so incredibly grateful for all of them. I've been given the opportunity to learn from so many remarkable educators and I've also really enjoyed being able to advocate and speak on behalf of teachers. So, thank you so much for listening to me. Whenever I turn my little microphone on and as

097this chapter for me comes to a close, I hope you know that it's not goodbye. I would love to be able to keep in touch, collaborate, and hope that you all will utilize me as a resource as we continue to work toward what matters most, supporting every student and staff member across our county. So, thank you so much for this journey. It is one that I will never forget and the lovely Miss Gilchrist will be joining you all in July and she is phenomenal and her classroom is like so I cannot wait to see what she does throughout her years district teacher of the year as well. >> Well, it's been a blessing to have you on the board. I mean your energy is infectious. And your advocacy, we've learned a lot too. Really your

098passion for your students is just amazing. Anyone have questions for Madison or comments? >> I think we've all enjoyed her energy. >> Oh, yeah. Thank you. All right. So, next item is actually our committee reports from board members. Any board members been on have a report for us this week, this month? Nothing on this side. Good. >> The Cabarrus County Education Foundation celebrates its 25th year this year. So, for 25 years this foundation has been supporting education in our county. Over just this past year, Cabarrus County Education Foundation gave out 5,500 books to over 3,200 students. They also helped engaged 700 students in STEM and workforce connected learning activities. So, for the past 25 years, they have been supporting our our education and our teachers. I know I personally have gotten Whenever I was a

099teacher, I received very several grants from them. So, I do know that they support classroom teachers, and it's a great group. Um part of the way they raise money is also the luncheon they have every year. They have a big luncheon in October. It is on October 30th this year. Sponsorships are available. It did sell out last year, so mark your calendars, October 30th, for the luncheon that the Education Foundation has. And also, they're starting their school supply to start school in August. I know I mentioned several times last year that the average teacher in Cabarrus County spends $1,600 out of his or her own pocket for classroom supplies. We ranked second in the nation for out-of-pocket expenses that our teachers have to pay. So, if you can help get teachers started with a good

100year, they do start their they're starting their drive right now. And Combs Chiropractic in Harrisburg already has drop boxes. So, you got to Combs here in Harrisburg, Combs Chiropractic, and they will have a drop box out there for school supplies. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Sharon. Anybody else? All right. Move on to uh item nine, which is approval of our consent agenda. These are all the items that we had uh discussed in detail last week and decided we had enough information to approve. So, at this point, I would need a motion and a second to approve our consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Pam. >> Second. >> Thank you, Greg. So, we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Anybody

101opposed? All right, the consent agenda is approved, and we'll move on to the items for action. We have two of those. So, 10.01 is the annual program choice review in 2027-28 recommendations, and we're going to bring back Ms. Reed and Ms. Workman. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, Superintendent Dr. Kipecki, and members of the board. Thank you all so much for allowing us to return tonight. Um we did not receive a lot of questions regarding the other programmatic recommendations. However, we did receive several regarding Mandarin, and so we do have some updated slides regarding those questions, specifically answering several suggestions from our constituents regarding uh the rationale and some suggestions in terms of the programmatic discontinuation of Mandarin at Roberta Road Middle School. Um and so, I would like to share those with

102you this evening, and then also make sure that everyone understands we will be updating these and uploading them to diligent as soon as the meeting concludes. So, one of the um important things that we wanted to underscore to our community, but also the Board of Education, is that our programmatic recommendations for Mandarin at Roberta Road would not take effect until the year 2027-28. So, this would be for the rising sixth-grade class. And so, starting next year during the Futures Fair in October, we would no longer be offering that programmatic opportunity. For those families that are already committed to Roberta Road, we want to make sure that we continue to see through the programmatic continuation for those students in terms of their language acquisition. Additionally, our plan is to make sure that we work individually with

103the students that are currently enrolled in Mandarin at the elementary level to provide educational opportunities on future opportunities to engage in receiving a high school language credit through a variety of other opportunities that won't be immersion, but would allow the student to to pursue a Mandarin 1 or a Mandarin 2 high school credit in the future. Additionally, the other piece is that we wanted to the community to understand is that the programmatic recommendation is not just for 6th grade Roberta Road. Part of our challenge right now that we are facing is the significant decline in terms of community interest for our rising kindergarten students. And so, as you can see here, um we pulled the data since 2019-2020 specifically for the kindergarten cohort of families um in the Mandarin program that have shown interest. And

104we've gone from 64 students that were interested in the program in 2019-2020 to 25 students in the 2025-2026 school year. One of the things that's really important to us is we take a lot of um professional uh development and professional advice from Participate, who is our participating partner in language immersion. And our ultimate goal is to have at least 50 students enrolled in any language program to ensure that we have long-term sustainability to be able to run the classrooms at a cost-effective measure. Our state currently allows us in a middle school model um at a minimum of 115 to 120 students per teacher. So, obviously, when we're considering that, any additional cost would go into local if we're not fiscally optimizing those teaching staff. And so, 50 students really gives us the ability to have

105some matriculation through the program over the years because, obviously, we do not have the ability to enroll a student in Mandarin after 2nd grade because of the language development skills at that time. And so, we really have to take into consideration not only the current sixth grade students that are going to Roberta Road, but also the rising and incoming kindergarten students in the programmatic interest of the community based on applications. Additionally, this is just a data set that shows the overall Mandarin enrollment of the county. And so again, as you can see in 2025-2026, we're starting to see a significant decline. And so when we're looking at Destination 2027 and really thinking about fiscal stewardship and efficiency, we do have to take into account the fact that the staffing and personnel needed to run a

106dual language immersion program, we have to have enough community interest to effectively run that program without having significant costs. And last but not least, this data set really shows currently what we are looking at in terms of the middle school projection numbers. And so of course, we want to honor and understand the frustrations of our constituents and the families that are currently in the Mandarin program, but also understanding the limited interest even in the situation where we can provide staffing. Obviously, the language immersion program is not what it needs to be when you only have three students per grade level in the program. And so as we're working with our Participate vendor, we're really having dialogue around what is best interest of the students to truly provide a comprehensive language program while also ensuring that

107we maintain flexibility for our families. Additional things to consider that were related to the programmatic concerns, we shared this again when we shared about the dissolving of the program at Cox Mill. The J-1 visa process for teachers is becoming increasingly more difficult for the Mandarin program, which poses several barriers for us as well as the community interest in the Mandarin program in Cabarrus County Schools. And so with that being said, I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Allison Whitaker, the director of program choice, and she's going to share a little bit about what we've done in terms of marketing and recruitment efforts for our rising kindergarten families over the last couple of years um to support the fact that we have been making every attempt to be able to provide marketing to our community,

108but we're not seeing the numbers in applications at this time. >> Uh good evening. Want to just list uh quite a few um items that were uh implemented um along with in with collaboration with school leaders as well as with our communications department. Um we had school leaders conduct open houses as well, of course, as our Futures Fair. Um we had teachers reach out to families in the fifth grade that were middle school teachers to share about the program as well as the middle school principal reached out to all fifth grade families. Uh we um had a local journalist come and do a um article specifically on our DLI program, the Mandarin program, and interviewed elementary and middle school students. Um that was this year. We um promoted Mandarin throughout program choice open enrollment period

109with marketing campaigns on social media. Uh we um provided information sessions and took quite a few phone calls um with families with questions. Um we held more than one open house at Roberta Road. We actually held two showcase student achievement and um learning experiences through a wonderful um Chinese New Year event for families. And um of course, always including Mandarin in our um program choice application materials and recruitment resources. Um and of course, as well, all because we are monitoring enrollment trends and tried to adjust recruitment strategies based on um the outcomes we received. >> And lastly, we just want to say our recommendation from the programmatic annual review is simply right now community interest and enrollment numbers. Our recommendation does not reflect the quality of the program that currently exists. We are incredibly thankful

110for the stakeholders, especially our teachers that are in this program. Um and we certainly have student achievement data to support the high efficacy of the program. However, with such limited numbers in enrollment, we truly can't provide the comprehensive immersion experience that we want to provide for our families, which is why we are making this programmatic recommendation for the 2027-2028 school year. That being said. >> Thank you for the updated presentation. Board members, questions? Pam. >> Um thank you. I also want to thank the parents that emailed and um that are paying attention um cuz I do recognize that this is a challenging time to be watching school board meetings. Um so I just want to speak first hand because um one of those statistics is my child and um I'm going to try not to

111be emotional about this cuz I'm just so proud of her and I'm so proud of like the Mandarin kids in general like um there was a principal here who we were talking about DLI just period like the beauty of um dual language and um he at their school they have Spanish and he said um you know, it's really interesting to watch these second graders because their relationships they become almost like siblings and I said, oh, I know. Nine years. Nine years. Um and uh it is it I can't imagine her experiencing Cabarrus County Schools without it. And I hurt I hurt for the parents who um who are advocating for their kids because I know the value. I know the value. I've seen it. And um her class of of kids that just finished at

112Roberta Road, I mean, I've known them since they were kindergarten. Their teacher is amazing. They put this video when they finish like the program, 9 years. She got every teacher they had from kindergarten to send a message. And they live They don't live in the United States anymore, some of them. And so, it's just um the quality is is absolutely there. And um and I guess I'm frustrated with this information because um when you look at the numbers, like we did make that decision about Cox Mill. Well, basically, what you're saying tonight is that there's no way we can meet the demand for middle school. Because if it's only Harrisburg as your feeder, we're not going to be able We're never going to get there. And so, with all the marketing and all the things

113in the world, we cut the program in half um as far as feeder. And so, now we're at this point where yes, it makes sense that there's only three kids when you think about COVID um that are going to make it there. So, I I guess I just um I just want to speak highly about Roberta Road. I recognize why parents are choosing not to go there because you're right. If you don't have the flexibility to get your kid to a hub stop, to get them to and from, especially middle school, I mean, orthodontist, name the appointments that they have. Like, it's just a lot, especially if it's not around the corner. And um that was a huge sacrifice, and it was a huge decision in our family that we had to make. Um but

114we stuck with it because of the value. We recognized that we've we've put in 6 years, kindergarten through fifth grade. How could we stop now? But we had the luxury uh with our careers to be able to make that adjustment. So, I've recognized that Roberta Road is a fantastic school. It's an amazing opportunity and when we went through the promotion ceremony this year, you know, you sit there and you realize even the Spanish students DLI, the contribution of the benefits of bringing kids from all over the county to one school is actually really cool. But that's not going to get your kid to and from school. So, I I recognize that. So, sorry, long long question, but several parents mentioned it tonight. We also got several emails and I again, I really appreciate this. The

115feeder pattern question. What would happen if because it's only at Harrisburg Elementary now, if we put it to Hickory Ridge Middle, do we know if we could sustain it? Now, I know you don't have 50 kids, um but is there a possibility? And then the other question I have on top of that going to the visas, we have participate teachers all over Cabarrus County. They're not just in the Mandarin program. So, is there something specific with China that makes those those passports different? Um because again, just throwing an idea out there, um would there be a way to have a Hickory Ridge Middle School who is a participant teacher also teach those cuz for for those who are not aware, it's like 80 90% immersion in in in elementary school cuz you just like what

116we call them the English kids, just like the English kids, they um they have their one teacher who teaches them all their core stuff. It's the same thing in Mandarin, right? So, you're learning everything from them. But when you get to middle school, you only get two classes. And so, you get social studies um in Mandarin and then you get uh your um Mandarin class, like the language class. Uh Um So again, could we play with the position to stick someone at Hickory Ridge where they're also teaching maybe, I don't know, um I we happen I know I happen to know that the Roberta Road teacher, her English is phenomenal. Um not all the Mandarin teachers' English is phenomenal. We don't necessarily want them to be better at English than Chinese, but um um would

117it be possible to do something like that? Just be a little bit more creative, um especially because um I just we've you've put 6 years is a lot for a kid. And we do have the Chinese New Year. And last week when I saw that slide, you know, I just I kept on thinking about that little girl in that picture. Like she when she signed up, she thought, you know, we thought we're going all the way, right? And all the way is eighth grade. So I don't know. Thank you for listening. >> Yeah, I'll let Dr. Williams speak to the staffing piece, and then I'll speak to the the transfer of the program, and and some of the key pieces to consider. >> Yeah, so just very briefly, the hiring of Mandarin teacher, even through

118Participate, has quite a bit more um work that Participate has does on the backside. It's also much more difficult um to be able to find the Mandarin teachers and get get them here and get them here on time. Um there is a it is a quite a complex um immigration issue to get those visas issued. Um and so I would say finding high-quality Mandarin teachers has become a challenge um as the years have gone on. Uh and then secondly, when you look at the middle school, um you know, I will will speak I was the Mandarin program was not at the school where I was a principal, but we I did help build the first middle school Spanish immersion program at Winkler some years ago and I will say from experience trying to schedule that

119into a middle school schedule without the requisite number of students becomes incredibly challenging because you end up with your dual language teacher attempting to teach things that they have never taken and never taught. And so when you get things for example like a eighth grade North Carolina history test that you're trying to have a teacher from overseas or class Yeah, that when you look at those social studies classes, you can build that in if you have enough kids to be able to fill those sections. Of course we begin keep in mind they're teaching across three grade levels. But when you attempt to do that with really unique classes as they go through middle school and you don't have enough kids to fill those sections to make them unique, that becomes an incredible scheduling challenge. Um

120So right now the I will say from an HR perspective it the number of students enrolled does cause me some um a little bit of heartburn in terms of staffing a school appropriately and making sure that our all of our our kids needs are met. >> Yeah, and in relation thank you Dr. Williams. In relation to the consideration around moving the program, I think first and foremost it's important to understand that that that program was intentionally moved to Roberta Road because both of our dual language programs for middle school are offered at Roberta Road. While it seems simple to say why would we not just move it to Hickory Ridge, very candidly when you look at the current students that are in attendance in the dual language Mandarin program, their home school is not necessarily

121Hickory Ridge. So while that may serve some of our families, it's not serving all of them. And from a geographic distance, it is only 1.3 miles difference from Hickory Ridge to Roberta Road from Harrisburg. So we're not talking about a significant proximity challenge. Um and so, for that reason, you know, in those considerations, when we look at the programmatic numbers, we don't even have enough students currently interested in the Mandarin program to sustain a half a position. And even from there, the challenge has become incredibly complex to be able to serve, you know, obviously, you have three grade levels plus the language classes that you have to serve for students in a master schedule. >> Follow-up question. Um this program has only existed for 12 years, correct? So, we haven't even had So, it started

12212 years ago with Cox Mill Elementary where um they've put kindergarteners and first grade together. So, we haven't even done a full full 13 years of this program. Um So, what if this if this I I don't think my colleagues share my concerns. Um I could be wrong. Um but if this passes, what what is since some of these parents just found out about this, what what are you what are you going to talk to them about? What what does that look like? And what would that cost? >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um so, first and foremost, right now, we are honoring our current rising sixth graders' commitment to Mandarin those students. And we've been able to work um with Mr. Patel at Roberta Road to be able to be able to use a

123split position so that we're using fiscal resources effectively to be able to get students at Roberta Road what they need in terms of Mandarin programming. And also making sure that we're fiscally utilizing that resource allocation because obviously, anything below around 115 to 120 students per teacher ratio, it is beyond what the state funds us at. So, we want to be very intentional about that. Moving forward, um obviously, the recommendation would be starting next year when we're recruiting, we're not recruiting for the 6th grade continuation. So, Ms. Whitaker would be working with Mr. Wedby and myself to be able to provide programmatic pathways that would include education around what the credit by demonstrated mastery process would look like and alternative processes for families to pursue for their language credit opportunities, but it would not be within

124the the actual school day. At this point, we're also exploring some other opportunities in terms of virtual learning opportunities, but very candidly all of those have fiscal components involved in them and so without having a state or a local budget, we do not feel confident in being able to communicate that at this time, but internally we are having those conversations so that as we prepare for recruitment efforts in the fall, we can work and have open houses with the families that are currently in Mandarin that are in upper grades. >> So, when you said earlier >> When you said earlier that you you're going to honor the kids in that are going into the middle school now, but you're but the kids that are in elementary, you're not locked in. Like you all all that

125they're promising your promise is through 5th grade. >> So, that's what you're saying. >> So, the current rising 4th graders next year we cannot commit to a middle school program if the vote is approved tonight. The current rising 6th graders, obviously they're going to Roberta and the rising 5th graders, we would not be able to commit to a program starting in the 2027-2028 school year. >> So, can you go back to the slide above before this? >> This No, next one. No. >> This one? >> Yes. >> So, um where we So, this is just kindergarten and 6th grade right now. This isn't capturing how many students are actually affected by this decision. >> That is correct. Yes. >> Do we know what that number is? >> We do. Um and and I can I

126can share that and we shared that with you, but we'll be happy to post it publicly as well. >> It's only an overview. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay, Melanie. >> Would you elaborate a little bit on the I and I you know, I can feel for these people. We've we've gone this far and stopped cold turkey. Um where will Oh, speak to the Mandarin one and two, how they could continue taking Mandarin but not in an immersion. Is is that Am I understanding that correctly? >> Yeah, so so right now there's two really pathways that we see families pursuing, one of which is already actively happening in our community. If families are not choosing to pursue attending Roberta Road for dual language immersion, many of our families are doing private tutoring and then there's an

127opportunity through the district in the state called credit by demonstrated mastery, where once the students go through an adequate number of course work and they feel prepared, they can actually sit for a test to be able to receive credit for Mandarin one or Mandarin two or both, depending on their language proficiency. The second opportunity would be through a virtual course work, which would cause the district a cost to incur. So at this point in time, we can't necessarily commit to that until we have an accurate understanding of the state and local budget. >> So there there is not a class that you're saying of Mandarin one and Mandarin two that they can take. So you're talking about proficiency to take the test. Um okay, is there um and I know the employment the the getting

128the visas and all that. Um with some of the teachers that we already have in the immersion, would it be possible for them to teach an extra level [clears throat] of in order to I'm not asking it well, but that you understand what I mean. They I'm trying to figure out some way where they're they don't have to stop their learning. >> Yes. So, we we are considering outside of the box solutions to be able to provision instruction. It will not be a full immersion program. I think at this point there's no possible way we can offer a full immersion program with six three to six students per grade level. Um however, there could be an opportunity to look into some of those opportunities in terms of online instruction, but we will not know that

129until we have clear understanding of the budget and and what the board's decision is to be able to think through what supports we can put in place for the families that have already committed to the Mandarin program in elementary school. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Shannon? >> Um my [clears throat] daughter took Mandarin Chinese when she was in the IB program. So, when did they stop that as part of the IB program? Has it been a while or >> They have Spanish. They have Spanish there. >> Yes. >> And they have Mandarin. >> Yes. >> Not Mandarin. >> And I guess there's not a pathway to take Mandarin Chinese in high school at this point in the county, right? >> To my knowledge, no. >> Okay. So, it have to end at grade

130anyway. >> That's correct. >> You know, I'd spoken to you about having a virtual option. I think that would be a great solution to this. >> Yes. >> I'm also sitting here and thinking it could be maybe an enrichment during the day for some of these students that may not be able to continue it, but it could be an enrichment opportunity when they have specials is what we used to call it. >> Yes. And and and I will say we would absolutely look into all of those opportunities, but all of which will come at a cost. And so, we've got to really make sure that we have a clear understanding of our budget as we move forward before we make any commitments to our families. >> I completely agree with that. >> All right. >>

131Is this something we have to decide tonight or we >> It is on the And again, this isn't for this school school year, so they're the students are going to go to where they for the we So, there's some time to figure out what the long-term future looks like, but we've got to set the groundwork now if we're going to do that to give people notice. Otherwise, I mean, next spring and you don't give them any back any notice, so I I don't think that's fair. So, at least now we've got options. We've got people working on the working on solutions. So, any further comments on that? So, the the motion actually is is threefold. So, there's a dissolve the Mandarin program for rising six grade students at Roberta Road due to low enrollment numbers.

132Two is increase the marketing and recruitment efforts for Cabarrus Health Sciences Institute Early College and pilot enrollment opportunities for rising juniors at Cabarrus Health Science Institute uh for the 2027-28 school year contingent upon seat avail- availability in addition to the current rising freshman enrollment model. And then third third was revised Central Cabarrus High School STEM program boundaries to support program continuity and reduce transportation distance for participating students. So, those are the three that we've been asked to to vote on tonight. So, if someone's ready to make a mo- motion and a second, we can have that vote. >> I make a motion that we accept the changes in our program choice uh as recommended. >> Okay, we do have the motion. Thank you, Sam. I'll have a second. >> I'll second. >> Okay, we have

133a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Okay, all in favor of the program recommendation uh for the 27-28 school year, please say I. I. Anybody opposed? Okay, we have one opposed. Thank you. So, our second action item is the one that we took off the consent agenda and that's the school fees for 2026-27. I don't know if Dr. Legrand is available to come to the podium for questions. And I'm not sure if we we it's got the presentation up there, so. And Melanie, since you did ask to have that pulled for, I'll let you ask the first questions. >> Um so, it says proposed school fees, but this is not a comprehensive of all the fees, correct? You say >> It is just one category of fees. >> That's for the school fees. There's

134a separate student activity fees, which includes extracurricular activities, etc. These are for school-based fees for instructional supplies and items for use during the school day. >> Okay, and you mentioned that the band fee is not is there's separate band fee from marching band. They do not have to be in the band during the day to be in the marching band? >> They are typically in the band to be in the marching band, but the student activity fees would cover would would the student activity fees would cover the marching band aspect of it, such as uniforms, trips, travel, that type of thing. Um and that is covered under policy 3620, which is our student activity fees. >> So, the student activity fee for that for that would be what? >> In our policy, it states that

135it is created at the school level, and it is something that cannot go over $500. That's what it is at. >> And we have never had a fee that went over the $500 because I think I had heard higher. >> If so, it was it went over the amount policy allows. I'm not aware of what it went over 500. >> I just I just want to say as a as a principal, I don't remember when that policy went into effect, but it's been I'd say at least 10 years where that $500 cap cuz there was concern that the the what we were asking parents to pay to be in marching band was getting too high. So, that I that There may have been previous to that policy, there may have been fees, but with that

136that's been at least 10 years ago, I'd say. >> Thank you for clarification, Sam. >> It just seems like to me, I know you're classifying it as as an extracurricular, but they go with the football team to represent the school. It just doesn't seem like that should be a fee that they would have to shoulder. Is Is what I'm saying. I I I don't remember um I know there's some booster club and stuff that's kicking in on some of this, but I would like to I would like to have more information on how that fee has caused our um our student involvement to drop and things like that. I just I just don't know any other program that requires that kind of money. Um that would be extracurricular in that category. Is that one of

137the highest fees? >> The band fee is one of the highest fees, yes. But, it is Like I said, it's covered under 36 policy 3620, and there's a cap on it. Um Now, that's to offset the cost that is associated with instruments, uniforms, travel, all of the things involved with that marching band. Um now, there are clubs and teams and other things that are also covered under the 3620, but most times those fees don't get anywhere near the $500. >> Um Dr. Kapicki, we we talked about this before, and and you went out um in a finance meeting to check on this, but I understood that the fees covered music and other things like that. Um in talking to a a high school teacher of band and stuff, they were mentioning that the high cost

138and the fees that they were and out that was my question. Why are they paying fees for instructional material when nobody else is? >> Well, there for instructional material, those are the student fees. And so, those would be fees that are paid um similar to what I was talking about last week with the STEM fees. So, if a student is enrolled in a STEM program, there may be extra instructional materials that uh go along with that program that cost um an additional amount, and therefore, there's a $25 a proposed $25 fee to help offset those costs for the schools to be able to carry out the program as intended. >> Does that fee also get set by the individual schools, or is that just district set? >> That would be a district, that'd be a

139board approved. Uh the the policy 4600 says that the board the school board approves all school fees. And so, that's why I'm bringing it to you guys for approval for the STEM fees, cuz I saw again an instructional supply a school feed for the instructional school day. >> Okay. Uh personally, we'd just like a a deeper dive into these fees, and [clears throat] um the Vex programs, all of that stuff, and what it actually um is charging, and how many students it's affecting, and and all that kind of stuff. Maybe you've given that to us before, but um it seems like there's an awful lot of fees, and um $25 is not that big a deal, but when you get to hundreds and 500, like the robotics fee, that is that considered ex- extracurricular, also?

140>> The Vex robotics? >> Mhm. >> It is considered a school fee, because it is it is something that is uh done during the school day. It was something that was brought to this board last year, um and it was approved for the Vex robotics fee. Um I will point out two things. Um the first thing is there is a crosswalk that was um this part of this agenda, that it shows when each fee was introduced or approved, and what you and which year, and it's a it's a comprehensive list of all of our student fees. Um and these are school-based fees, and which year they will they were approved. Um and the second thing I want to point out is I know you mentioned uh student participation. We we would not uh prohibit students

141from participating in any type of instructional or extracurricular activity due to an academic economic hardship. This is something that is waived if there is a um if there is a legitimate economic hardship. >> How much is that put out for all the parents to know? I mean, would they um I just don't think it's general knowledge that they have that they if they were uh it was a hardship, they could still do it. I think most parents would say it this is not in our realm of finances, so they would just wouldn't even go after it. >> Yeah, and and that's something we definitely have our schools uh talk to parents about on a on a consistent basis. Um and we want to make sure that our parents understand that this should never be something

142that keeps their their children from participating. Um it's something that's done discreetly with the family if they do need economic assistance or if they need it to be waived. Um again, to treat them uh with respect for their situation. And our our schools do a really good job of of navigating that when when needed. >> Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions? Okay, so what are we know what we're voting on? Review again what we're what the changes are what >> Okay. What we're going to have to change to vote on. >> So, the two uh proposed school fees I brought for uh last week just to review this again, there's the uh annual school fee review. Um and what we do, this is a yearly thing that we do with our schools. Um and

143I bring it forward every June. Um once we have a uh review with our district leadership, our principals, we receive feedback. And the feedback that we got this year is there were two things uh that STEM fee, and that would apply to our five STEM magnet schools um that you can see there. And um the the thing about this fee is it was originally, and you can see it on the crosswalk, it was originally on our list of approved fees. And then it was taken off uh because we weren't at school during the COVID years, and we didn't think it was right to charge kids for STEM fees and STEM supplies when we weren't at school using those materials. So, it was taken off, but our schools have identified that it is something that is

144is is needed going forward to maintain the STEM program and as as we want it to to remain. And the fee is used to purchase consumable materials for hands-on activities, project-based learning, etc. There's a lot of materials that go into the projects, the experiment, all the things that go along with the STEM program. The second one is the City Labs fee. And this is for all full-time CBA students. It is a $20 fee. City Labs is a software that our teachers use, our students use to improve their online experience. I It also does a couple important things. Not only making it more interactive, it also it helps with progress monitoring, which is very important for our virtual students is because we don't see them on a daily basis. It's not something we could watch them

145doing their work. And it makes sure that all of our materials are ADA compliant, which is important for EC students, etc. So, um that I did Pam asked Ms. Escobar asked me a question last week about the amount that this was costing per student. I did go back and do some research on that, and it was closer to the $30 per student. So, this is just used to offset the cost. It's not meant to cover the entire cost, but um is is something that our CBA has identified as as uh a need to again uh continue to move forward our virtual instruction in a in a very high highly effective and efficient way. >> Okay, board members, do we understand what we're being asked to vote on? If so, I'd need a motion and a

146second to approve these recommended school fees for the 2026-27 school year. >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mills. Thank you, Mr. Treadway. We have a motion and a second to approve the recommended fees for the school year. All in favor, please say I. I. Anybody opposed? Okay, we have one one no. All right, that does pass. So, those fees will be approved for the next school year. >> Thank you. Moving on to section 11, which is a need for closed session, and let me read the justification for that. Um a need for closed session pursuant to 143-318-11A1 to prevent the disclosure of confidential information. 3 143-318-11A3 to instruct the the public body's staff and negotiating agents concerning the position to be taken on our behalf of the public body

147in negotiating the price or other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property. And 143-318-11A5 to consider confidential personnel matters pursuant to general statute. 143-318- 11A6. Somebody make that motion? >> Second. >> Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you, Sam. Motion and a second to go into closed session. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Anybody opposed? Okay, so we'll say goodnight to the listening audience. Um and we'll see you next month. And we are now in closed