23-11-21 Board Meeting (Recording)

001good evening everyone it is Tuesday November 21st 2023 at 5:45 p.m. thank you for your patience as we transition from our work session into this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education which we are calling to order I would like to welcome those of you that are watching home and those that are here in person our meetings are conducted for the purpose of con carrying on the official business of the school system the public is cordially invited to attend board meetings in order to observe the board as it conducts its business persons who willfully interrupt disrupt or cause disturbances at an official meeting may be directed to leave by the presiding officer members of the audience should show respect for speakers by refraining from loud comments or other disruptions disruptions by any person

002or persons of a public meeting will will be subject in accordance to with General statute 14331 1817 and we ask that all attendees please remain seated um and I'd also like to note that Mr Hershey is with us in Virtual presence um so um we will make sure that we are able to capture his voice as we vote which may take a little bit additional time but um we'll see how Rusty I am with WebEx um we do have a quorum so if you all will stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands na indivisible andice all right thank you we now turn it over to Dr Taylor thank you madam chair and Mr Vice chair

003members of the board we certainly uh thank our community for being here with us today both in the meeting and online the campaign for grade level reading has recognized our school district and our invaluable partners for for two efforts to improve childhood literacy and addressing learning loss in the wake of the pandemic we were named the pay Setter Honors Community for two collaborative initiatives wake together and wake up and reads reaching families rais readers program last year we partnered with the YMCA of the triangle and the helps education fund to create wake together a tutoring program specifically aimed at helping students who fa who fell behind during the pandemic wake together has rallied Community Partners families and schools to improve educational and social outcomes for students wake up and Reed was awarded for its work

004to slow learning loss and accelerate Equitable learning recovery through through tutors and out of school learning opportunities I recently had the opportunity to meet members of the wake up and read Coalition meeting as well as those working directly with wake together the work they have are the work they are doing to promote early literacy and combat learning loss is absolutely essential to meeting the goals laid out in our strategic plan as the sixth core belief in the Strategic plan reminds us we need to support we need the support of our community volunteers in partner organizations like the wake up and read Coalition the YMCA of the triangle and the helps education fund if we are to be successful I'm proud of the work that's being done and pleased that our efforts have been recognized at

005the national level we look forward to bringing you more on this at the December board meeting third grade students from three elementary schools got a big surprise last week when they each received the brand new bicycle and helment courtesy of the triangle spokes group group and bikes for kids the entire third grade classes at cre Road East Garner and Rogers Lane Elementary Schools were surprised with the announcement at an assembly students were asked to write an essay about reading the book think big work hard be kind no excuses they arrived at the assembly thinking that only the top three essays win new bikes it was a joyous moment for these students as well as their teachers and families I'm thrilled for these students St uh that they were they will get to experience the happiness

006and Independence that comes with having your very own bike uh this is yet another example of Our Community Partners going above and beyond to support the well-being of our students my heartfelt thanks to the spokes group and bike for kids for this generous gift I will tell the board that this is one of the more exciting events I've been able to be a part of uh and there were a lot of teary eyes for students in the room and it was absolutely wonderful in closing I would like to offer my condolences to the friends and family of two longtime supporters of our students who passed away last week Wake County Commissioner Dr James West and Ralph caps the president and CEO of the Wake County Boys and Girls Club Dr West leaves a legacy of

007steadfast service to all of Wake County and particularly to the residents of Southeast Raleigh he represented his constituents on the Raleigh city council from 199 9 until 2010 when he was appointed to serve on the Wake County Board of Commissioners he remained on the board until his untimely passing Dr West believed in the power of Education to lift people up and he advocated Fier fiercely to expand services to Children and Families for example he was a driving force behind the successful effort to build Southeast Raleigh Elementary School alongside a new YMCA a treasured community resource he also served as chair of the Garner school's area advisory Council and as president of the Smith Magnet Elementary School PTA and of course Dr West supported our entire District by working with his colleagues on the accounting commission

008to provide the funding we need to be successful Mr caps moved to Raleigh in 1973 to become executive director of what was then known as the Raleigh boys club which had about 200 members and operated out of a single building today seven clubs serve about 6,000 young people each year through the organization now known as the Boys and Girls Club of Wake County the mission of the Boys and Girls Club is to enable all young people especially those with the greatest need to reach their full potential as productive and responsible citizens the club provides a safe place for young people to learn and grow as they are mentored by caring adults countless thousands of w County children have benefited from Mr Cap's bold vision and energetic leadership just last year Mr caps received the Vernon

009Malone friend of Education award from the Wake Ed partnership the organization's highest honor given only to those who have set a high standard for selfless dedication indeed selfless dedication was the Hallmark of both Mr caps and Dr West true Public Service Until the End may we honor their Legacy by continuing the work of serving the young people of Wake County with the same determination and passion that they each demonstrated throughout their lives thank you madam chair thank you Dr Taylor um certainly Giants within our community I don't think you can think of the Raleigh boys and girls club without thinking of Ralph caps and we know that he has been so integral to so many of the Partnerships here in Wake County um he passed away on November 17th I think many of us found

010out either yesterday or today about his passing um and we just want to extend those wishes to his family um both by Blood and by Community because there are certainly many many people um in Wake County that credit Mr caps and the boys and girls club with their success um I also want to continuing with this somber note um lift up former commissioner Betty L Ward who passed away on the 8th of November she served on the Wake County Commission beginning in 1988 until her retirement in 2016 and that's 28 years as a commissioner um and she was a fierce Advocate um for our school system um during that time and then Dr West I think that shocked a many many of us at this board um many of us in this community and I

011I couldn't think of a way to remember Dr West without without pulling a a quote from Steven cuffy when you engage in a work that Taps your talent and fuels your passion that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet therein lies your voice your calling your souls code and Dr West Souls code was the service to his community whether it was through the North Carolina State Cooperative Extension fighting for voting rights including founding the Wake County voter education Coalition his service on Raleigh city council or as a Wake County Commissioner it's really hard to imagine this community without his voice there and just want to extend our condolences to his family his children um his colleagues on the commission and all of those folks that

012have been blessed to even have a conversation with that man and um in keeping with Dr West he would tell us that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing and uh I'm going to move on to more Schoolboard business um but certainly will be a huge loss on all three counts in our community um um many of our board members attended the North Carolina School boards association annual conference um in Greensboro I want to give a shout out to former Wake County Public School staff member Dr Marvin Connelly who is the current superintendent of Cumberland County Schools and has the great honor of being the North Carolina superintendent of the year and although he's no longer in Wake County Public Schools we certainly want to extend our congratulations to him

013um yes thank you um I'd like to thank Dr Ronda tayor bulock for coming and beginning implicit bias training with our board last year we passed an equity policy um and we want to to make sure that we are modeling top down um how important this work is we see the data on how there are gaps in student academic success and this is one of those ways that we can look at that data and interpret that data through an equity lens I'd like to thank board members who brought this idea to me um and I I hope that whoever is the next chair of this school board continue with this work because it's something that not only impacts children but our work in this community as well um last Friday was National substitute Educators day

014so many thanks to the many folks who have signed up up to substitute teach it is a unique job um where you step in sometimes for an hour a day sometimes long term and you then are the person for many children and so just many I'm I had no idea until last Friday when one of my ptsas posted about it but I'm very grateful that there's a moment to thank our substitute teachers and then lastly well not lastly almost lastly um the North Carolina Museum of Arts has an exhibit that is running through the spring about the creative lives of Educators and many of our Wake County educators are highlighted in this exhibit um including Bethany Drew from Broughton Magnet High School Eric gimons from Vernon Malone College and Career Academy Caroline HW from Lacy

015Elementary Brian mfield from Abbott's Creek Trish Kena from Green level high school Taran LoveIt from North Garner Middle School Slater mat from Green level high school Aaron McConnell from Apex friendship Elementary Don mccor mcdom from High coft Drive Elementary Michael McHugh from stout magnet um Quinton Neil from bug Magnet Elementary and Beth Palmer from partnership Magnet Elementary School our art teachers are creative amazing in people and we are blessed to have their gifts and talents um in service to our students but many of them most of them all of them are artists in their own right so it's wonderful to see their creative Outlook shared not just in their school Community but beyond um with our state I also want to highlight that this um December begins Miss Johnson Hustler's 10th year of service on

016the school board so thank you for being a con and continuing all of your work here and I could go on but I know you don't want me to so I'll stop and so I will end uh with a happy birthday to Mr Swanson thank you for doing your civic duty on your birthday and that concludes my comments I'll pass it over to Vice chair Hagerty thank you chair mafy um as you know this is a special week we have our Thanksgiving holiday coming up I hope that Mr Swanson is thankful that we will not be singing to him this evening um because no one would enjoy that especially if I'm part of that chorus um several things though a little more seriously we've heard already about some of the community leaders that we've lost

017and I am thankful for their service I had the opportunity to know both you or all Mr you know Mr caps commissioner Betty Lou Ward and Dr James West um I don't want to repeat a lot of what's already been said but I will say particularly with Ralph caps when you have someone who's a leader of a nonprofit oftentimes you see them in their work and you may not know who's responsible but if you just go out and you look at the community and some of the tributes that we're hearing from so many people whose lives were directly impacted by his work um it really is outstanding it was a fantastic one by coach moton you know um in in in particular and this really is a loss for the community but I'm going to

018be thankful for the lives that he helped Inspire and motivate along the way in addition uh Dr West you know I I think we were all surprised having seen Dr West just in the last few weeks um and having conversations with him um that we would lose him so instantly I will tell you that I'd had a conversation with Dr West not too long ago actually I'll say Dr Taylor it was um during the day while we were doing our superintendent interviews and what was supposed to be a 20 minute conversation extended to an hour and a half because what he was speaking on was engagement and kind of the division and polarity and society and the importance of Engagement and Civility and I don't know that I ever have encountered any instance of Dr

019West presenting himself as anything more than the most civil gentlemanly public figure and he had asked that whoever our new superintendent might be whether we could do more out in the community do more to take you know ourselves out Beyond carrying Crossroads and I filled a couple pages of legal pad with that and I'd love to share you share with you some of Dr West's ideas I'd hoped that he would have the opportunity to present them to you directly but um in his absence I'd love to take those to you so again we are thankful for Dr West Mr caps and commissioner Betty Lou Ward um additionally as as chair mfy had said I'm thankful for our staff um we had a wonderful opportunity a wonderful meeting to highlight some with the staff at the

020state board at the state school boards association meeting with um Dr Clinton Robinson and and Dr Le Alfred Keith who were talking about our strategic planning process and you know I know chair mfy was in both sessions commission sorry um fellow board member Johnson Hustler was in another one I attended one we had an opportunity to really see our staff come alive highlight the good work we're doing here and that is so important because you know Wake County can be a beacon for the rest of the state and you know our experience with what we did with our strategic plan really does stand out and really does shine and when you do good work you need to tell people about that work and so I'm I'm glad that you Dr Taylor you're able to loan

021them to us for the conference take them away from their daily duties here but to try to move into that role of uh some Statewide leadership so thank you for that um barring some surprise this meeting is likely one of the last we'll have under our current chair Lindsay mfy at least this year and I want to thank chair mfy for you can stop there that's no no no no I I want to thank you for your two years of chair and your previous two years as Vice chair and if anyone was paying attention we well there was a year that kind of blurred there um you know anytime you come in in knowing that you're going to face a Statewide pandemic um and still dealing with issues of masks and lockdowns and taking on

022that challenge I mean that's absolutely heroic and taking on those challenges and then the things we didn't expect having to go and select a new superintendent every member of this board knows what a task Herculean task that was and especially when so many of our board members are new and just finding their footing to to lead a board of a majority new members to select a new superintendent and to do everything to try to get us back on the road to normaly is is just truly amazing so I don't know if you and your family will be traveling back to Paradise Island for the holidays but um I hope you get some well-deserved rest and relaxation I just wanted you to know personally that I'm thankful for all of our board members but for your

023leadership these past few years thank you and this isn't a political statement I woke up stuffy and I didn't want to get anybody some crud before the holidays we're thankful for your thoughtfulness thanks um Miss Johnson I did have you have more oh I'm sorry I thought you were done that's all right and maybe maybe I should have ended it there but but I did I did have to I did want to thank the families that have taken their time to engage with the school board during the reassignment process um you know specifically we've had dozens who've reached out personally to take time to write to come here to present public comment attend the public hearings as well as hundreds who've contributed thoughts on the thought exchange and others um it's an immensely difficult task

024to balance our state legal requirements for our school populations to manage a districtwide bus system with a shortage of drivers to manage the growth in building new schools especially when in past decades we haven't done what we needed to do to keep up with our school Construction and I'm very thankful for our current County commissions and their leadership and investment in our schools but we are still behind and and where we we we need to be but back to reassignment I wanted to personally thank Jennifer and Jackie and Devin and Dave Susan moit Ashley prti pry and so many others who've really gotten down and looked at the work that our assignment office does that have looked at specific suggestions and you know I'm very sorry that we haven't yet found a path that could

025meet the district's goals and also you know let them stay at the schools that they prefer but I think that they've done a lot to lift up the voices of that Community I think they've raised some very important questions about calendar disrupt calendar or the disruption of families with calendar misalignment and I hope that we can make this experience uh better out of the feedback that they've provided and so I just wanted to to thank them for their advocacy too thank you sorry for trying to cut you off earlier Miss Johnson Hustler thank you um like my colleagues um I would be remiss if I did not add my sentiments to the room for um those that we've lost it it is truly a reminder of our mortality um as you get older you know

026it's real but there is still a part of you that it becomes Crystal Clear um when people you literally just spoke to are no longer here and so I certainly um felt the reminder with with um commissioner Ward then Dr Wes and it was just almost floored last night when I got the last text around um Mr caps all Giants in this community all supporters um of our schools our students and our communities um and I said this on my social media post but uh about Dr Wes um because he never left me without a Bible passage and a cvy quote and so I mean so so those things will you know always ring true to me and um I saw so many people post you know that he was a mentor and didn't know

027he was a mentor I I would say he did every time I spoke to him he's like it's so good to invest in the young people I'm so glad the young people are doing it that's what mentors do so you don't always have to make it formal he was very clear that his role especially for me personally in my life was to ensure that I understood our government structure ensure that I had what I needed and understood the importance of representing families and in his words um our most vulnerable families which he prided himself on ensuring that we lifted that voice um every time we went to the Commissioners for money I was always assigned to Dr West um and I say we already know the conversation raising taxes directly disproportionately impacts our most vulnerable

028communities um so where do we go from here and inevitably we came to the same agreement that education for both of us as black people um speaks to why we're here and how we got here and so he understood having that conversation that could be very contentious but he did it in such a graceful um I can't even describe it I mean his mannerism just speaks to um the tenderness that he has and love he had for his community but also um very much so strong presence as well and so so um it's funny because of course like Miss beh I was like there will have to be a cubby quote and the one that he last quoted to me was if you just remember seek first to understand then to be understood that is

029the best gift to being a public servant um and I believe he was correct in that um and then lastly I kind of chuckled uh Dr Taylor when you mentioned um his role in the Garner schools his children are my age they're adults and he still it is still a part of how he talks about who he is which I think is just a beautiful thing that 30 plus years years post being the PTA president it is still part of how he describes his resume and his legacy and so um I know the Garner Community also deeply dearly loves him because he is very clear that his kids attend at weight County Public Schools um in Garner and so I so you said that I was like he would certainly be pleased that that was

030a part of how you talked about him because I always teas I was like your kids are my age and he'd say yes but I was the PTA president Smith Smith Elementary School so so thank you and I I I know that he is certainly smiling down on us and appreciative for um for for making sure that the Next Generation understand the shoulders that we stand on and he often talked about the the need to build our bench around how we talk about our Legacy and so I feel like all of us at this um table tonight are doing that so I I know that he greatly appreciates that um I won't be as long-winded because I not plan to be this long-winded about Dr West but um Mr Cap's the same way every single

031year if I miss my visit to the boys and girls Club he would have his staff called me even though I was just there he would remind them that I had not been there this year um and he always made time to talk to me about our partnership with Wake County Public Schools and how gracious he was and I still was stunned that he has been there for 50 years I looked at uh Vice chair Hagerty because we both are nonprofit execs and I'm like well I'm halfway there this is my 25th year so I'm like oh that's also a sense of mortality um but but but I think again um his his love sounded like he just started every time he talked about it it was still a fresh new perspective on how to

032become better Partners Better Community engagement and I would be remiss if I didn't lift up the work that they did to ensure that the students that they serve had both teaching and learning spaces in their centers during covid that was very important to him and he was like I know it's co but you got to come out get out here and see what we're doing um because they they physically changed their space so that our students had teaching and learning space in in those facilities during Co and again it speaks to um the way the people love our district and we can get lost in the noise that we hear that doesn't exemplify um the way that people love our district and love our students and love our school Community um and they truly did

033and so it is not I'm not saying that just for you all I'm also saying it to me as a reminder that people truly are invested at Wake County Public Schools um and the outcomes and the impact that it has on our students and community at Large um so I grateful for them speaking of Garner had a great opportunity to attend the Garner Stars many of our communities I know Garner and East Wake do their own student stars like we do our um Wake County schoolwide but it's all the Garner schools and Dr James Overman was the MC he did a great job of transitioning and using puns to introduce the next school each time which was amazing um to see and experience with the community um I also experienced something you rarely see people

034were taking turns sitting on the front row to see their kids again it for me I mean small things that remind you how beautiful we are as a community um it I mean it was I felt I was like oh I'll give up my seat they're like no we have a row over here that's just for parents to to transition as their students took the stage so again I I've appreciated these gentle reminders of of our Humanity um and it's also why I'm an eternal optimist because our Humanity reminds me um every day of of why it's important to to have hope um and I will also say um several of us have been visiting wake Med uh many people know they're building 150 new beds in Garner um a large number of them will

035be dedicated to our kids um who are suffering Mental Health crisis and so we've been in deep conversation with them learning about the work that they already do um but also making sure that they will have access and information to learn about the work that we currently do um to meet the needs of our students um but it is I would say a budding partnership that um that again I think is important to let our community know that there are many people listening including I had an amazing I always call you all know I get my hair done often so I believe that stylists are literally next to me have me having a good therapist and so I also heard from an amazing stylist who really talked me through the number of students that she

036is providing quasi Mental Health Services to and ask me how do I get this access in other ways and so again just out of the blue she was like I heard you talk about this at the last board meeting um I want you to know that this is not my profession but this is important to me um so our our community is listening and are engaged um even when we can't make the decisions that we know that parents know are right for their kids when it comes to assignment um there will be no surprise I've been very clear at the community how how I will vote tonight on our Student Assignment um it is one of my largest assignment moves in my almost 10e tenure on this board and so I feel it deep in

037my gut um that parents won't all be able to have what they need but what I do know that those parents did many of them are new to our community have language access barriers um they have sent um a representative to speak with me I've met with them in community and they have done a great job of understanding that that the way in which we assign schools and build schools is much bigger than just those of us who who are sitting at this table um but they've began to have the conversation with their local leaders around when you're and we've talked about this definitely in Western Wake but it's certainly new to to my part of the district that I live in um is to have that conversation with our municipalities around how do they

038actively engage which isn't just calling saying hey board member can you not move the people which which is an ask that they can make but but really truly they're asking what can we do how do we not get here next time um so so thank you to those families but also thank you to those Community leaders who also reached out and said we didn't really like getting those 100 plus calls either so how do we do better next time um so so thank you to the community um for still sharing um and advocating even once we talked about what the outcomes would be which will be difficult um and then last L i' be remiss um you all know I love love wake up and read I have a great uh media specialist at South

039Gardner High School who um has also now putting up which I love when you see the little boxes of reading material so she is spreading the love of literacy and as I said building a legacy of learning um in our community and so they're little purple boxes that you can take your books from and so uh thank you very very much um Chris and for all the work that you're doing at South Garner and spreading the love of reading in Garner and surrounding communities thank you Mr Swanson thank you um I'll start my comments off by also paying my tributes to Dr West and um thankful for the knowledge that he had poured into me in a short little time being on this board but I have to say Dr West was a true Statesman

040and you don't really see too many um Statesmen uh in in public service and so I'm grateful for for that and every time I would engage with them there was always a story or something a history lesson that I learned uh that I never knew and I don't think anyone knew the history of this of this merger of this County or this District better than Dr West and so um I am very grateful you often reminded those stories of of how and the struggles that they engag and also the uh way they were over to overcome those struggles and so education is that great equalizer um that allows many am no matter who or where you come from to have a a opportunity of achieving that American Dream but we also know that there are

041obstacles uh that are there that we learned about in the implicit bias training that that uh um hinders families from having those opportunities so I think it's often a great reminder for us to to to Center the work that we have to do and all of us play a part in that work and to continue moving uh the pendulum forward uh to to creating that just society that uh Dr King and many others often referenced um so I did receive an email from the Green Hope um High School uh journalism uh team and wanted to shout give them a major shout out of some of the great things that they have been able to do and so I'm going to read this and I'm glad I got my glasses because I am now a another

042decade older my vision is not as sharp as it should be I know it's the big 30 glad to be here it's the big 30 so let me read this really quickly so Green Hope High School um has produced the number one online newspaper site in the nation they have also been recognized by school newspapers online for distinguished sit excellence in writing excellence in multi media audience engagement site design Excellence page design Excellence excellence in continuous um coverage and those are just a few of the great things that they have done and I can say that I have gotten many emails from their their staff to to give input on certain things and interviews and um I do apologize because sometimes I miss their deadlines but still send it in um but they have done

043a great job so if you do not have an if you want to learn more about it please make sure you go to Green Hope um it's GH falcons.com to see all of the great work that they've done and that they're going to continue to do so great job Falcons um also I had the opportunity to visit Salem Elementary and Salem Middle School um uh yesterday and see the great things that were happening and um just to tour and see the great learning that happens and I I think our staff does a great job of of fostering learning and fostering those environments that students feel safe and seen as they are able to uh access the the the rigorous courses that we offer um and I thought it was very funny I was not funny

044but a good idea um and I'm hoping that we can get them to present my BAC next year but the um PTA days at Salem Elementary is creating a um volunteer kind of like dating app um for parents and teachers to come in so if you need a parent to come in and and read to a kid for like 30 minutes you can go on their little app and uh put your request in and they'll match you with the parent um that can meet those needs so I thought that was very exciting and a great Innovative way of really showing what that Community looks like because you know we often hear that families do not really get to engage but I think there we're doing a great opportunity and a great model of showing how

045to build those relationships and so I'm looking forward to hopefully giving them a little time to get it together to present at my BAC meeting next year since they're all planned um early this year to kind of talk about how we can use as an example moving forward to engage um building those Partnerships um and there was one other thing that I was going to mention along those lines but again it has escaped me this is why you should write things down so if it was something else I was supposed to highlight about a school in District 9 please uh charge it to my head and at my heart and give me a little Grace since it is uh my birthday today and I'm doing my due diligence as being an effective board member um

046but thank you all and and to those piece and I know I'll go into this a little bit later and so I'll save that um but as we go into this season of Thanksgiving I just hope that we all take a little time and do some reflection and and find ways that we can um bring back that civility that that is so missing in this country as we move forward and understanding that we may not always agree on certain things but having that that discourse does not often uh create the solutions that we want how do we have those tough conversations and then agreeing to disagree at times so um just want to put that in the atmosphere and also um to those families wishing you all a Happy uh Thanksgiving with your your families

047Miss Cofield thank you I can certainly sympathize with the glasses although I'm not 30 like to be again but um I just want to give a quick announcement that our next board advisory is on December 4th um we're going to do another breakout session and we'll send some information out uh through the PTA um congratulations to um for Mr Connelly for winning the 2024 superintendent of the year as well we had the pleasure of some of us longer than others but getting to know him he's a wonderful man and I'm happy to see that he was recognized um my focus continues to be on effective resources for our students so they have the tools and knowledge necessary to become the most that they can be I believe that if one wants to get to the

048best outcomes they need to get to the source of any problems issues or challenges so that one can grow and real solution tions that could be most effective for our children Reading Writing math science life skills critical thinking they're all invaluable tools and that will arm our children with what they need it needs to always be our main focus our number one from there our children can move mountains which brings me to that I just recently watched a movie with Matthew Perry I still can't believe that he has left us and may He rest in peace he has left us with Decades of laughter um and so much more he was a big advocate for men that struggled with addiction um and wanted to give back I know he'll be missed but he was in

049a movie where he was a teacher and his role was basically it's a true life true a true story of a teacher um Up In Harlem and he didn't want to give up on the children that were in this one classroom um in the movie they appeared to be not the best academically not the best behaved um but he Mr Rob Clark is is his name in real life um he had the support and the tools that he needed he was also very creative and he even more so he had the drive which I know our teachers have we have amazing teachers and it what makes them take that journey to teach by the end of the story um one of the students who challenged him the most is also the one that he reached

050the most and she had an incredibly challenging story um and it turned turn he turned it around and she wound up being one of those GI gifted children that would have otherwise fell through the cracks she received not only the highest grade than anyone in the class but also in the school and also in the state so it it's a great story and a reminder that given the proper tools our childrens can reach our children can reach their potential and they can soar now I'm going to flip to a even more um local story and one that's more current um and one that I'm proud to share in District 1 from Wake Forest High School I saw abc1 had done a story on Adriana debose and I hope I'm saying that right she said that

051um who spoke about yeah who spoke about having always had ambition but she also had advocacy that she felt um pushed her to her true potential and helped her reach her dreams and now here she is starring in the Disney movie wish so and she was uh interviewed sharing her story and what that meant to her and she said young people are the future and giving them every opportunity Unity to find their passion and to acknowledge that they are not their circumstances she followed her dreams had ambition but also the support and drive that get her as far as that she as far as she can go so congratulations to her for her success story and a proud moment for CC and Company dance which is up here in North North Raleigh and also Wake

052Forest High School and just this last week I attended another theater show at Heritage High School uh from Matilda with some of our very talented high school students and it just always amazes me the talent that is just right here before us and I have no doubt that I will see some of these children on a stage somewhere shining um as they continue their school Journey after their school journey and I can't wait to see where they take that to another level My Hope Is that our children all over recognize their gifts their beauty their value through support and advocacy and but also through giving them the resources and tools they need I always believe that knowledge is power so whether we support our families through tutoring remediation math and literacy curriculum vocational skills arts

053or music they will find their dreams and it's important for us to all be there and be present my focus is on giving children tools that they need and making sure our teachers have those resources we have incredible and amazing teachers and we need to Value them and support them our teachers are so influential in our in our kids lives they are also the mentors that our children need an extra eye when they need it and so much more and I think that we are lucky to have the amazing teachers that we have here in way County one of the things I know that is challenging for staff our teachers and our families mostly our students is mental health struggles it makes achievements sometimes that much more challenging and this week Miss mahaffy and Miss

054Johnson Hustler joined me at wakem to talk about joining forces and breaking down the silos effect to find ways to approach effective and meaningful mental health support for our children and our staff I appreciate the conversation that we were all able to have and we are trying to open those Silo doors all well intended silos but they're separate so getting them together and meshing and as we navigate navigate through that and figure out what this could look like for our students bless you um and what would be most effective I would love to hear from our students I would love for the students to reach out to us and kind of share some ideas that they have because at the end we're trying to reach what are the goals that our students have we're trying

055to reach out to our students and see how we could Mo most help them so I would love to hear from some of our students there's many facets to mental health there's many levels and there's no one size that fits all I hope that we can break some of the barriers with resources and understanding the struggles that our te our teens face and that our staff have getting them the resources out to the families who struggle with mental health mental health behavior academics emotional and physical it all affects everything that we do and it's an important subject and I hope that everyone around us will team up and be part of this solution like Miss Johnson Hustler said Hustler said it really is a team effort for everybody at home the teachers all of us

056I hope we could remove those silos and realize that us working together we can move mountains I pray everyone has a good Thanksgiving and takes a moment to count our blessings and realize that there's always uh plenty to be grateful for and it could also be a time for us to reach out to those who are struggling around us and include them in your space and are your Traditions if nothing else called uh call to to somebody and send good wishes so Happy Thanksgiving to everybody miss Waters thank you chair MFE I too want to stand in solidarity with all who are mourning the loss of commissioner West and as Miss Johnson Hustler said he always left you um with the scripture and the one that he last spoke to me was from Matthew 2540

057which says it matters what you do to the least of those with such intense emotion and I really cherish um that because it is truly what matters for us as public servants and he left a legacy that really reflects that he cared about the least of those in the community and so um I feel honored to have had the opportunity to know him and to live in his district and so I know um there are so many cherished memories that will live on and I'm still processing the news of Mr Cap's passing he loved loved loved his work and the spirit of excellent was Excellence was evident throughout all of the work of the Boys and Girls Club of County um and his memory will live on through thousands of children I had a very

058um interesting uh Saturday morning and I want to thank um one of our amazing um community service um Advocates Mr Troy Johnson of ym4 C for the sweet opportunity to walk in the Raleigh Christmas parade on Saturday with dozens of students from District 4 it helped me to Center my why to hear boys and girls from my community chaning Southeast Raley Southeast Raleigh at the front of the parade um and it was so wonderful to walk with Miss Brown who is a first grade teacher at Southeast Raleigh Elementary and she has she was a kindergarten teacher and she moved up with her students and she is looping and if you're familiar with that process um the data shows that outcomes are really increased um when teachers move up with their students and so just to

059be able to hear her experience um as we walked in the parade um was really wonderful and so really cherish that time and I hope all who participated um in the parade were're able to find some Joy um as we head into the holiday season especially um through the Bron High School Marching Band truly amazing um so really um a great representation throughout the parade of Wake County Public School System and I want to lift up um next Tuesday which is giving Tuesday and it's a time set aside for people to show generosity in a way that is Meaningful to them every act of kindness that helps me to need is important and um one of the ways that I want to lift up particularly is the growing issue around clothing security I had a

060chance to attend an event um recently and sat at the table with the executive director for an organization called Note in the Pocket they work very closely with our school social workers to help students in our buildings have clothing so it's not a barrier for students to access instruction and they always need clothing to be able to um distribute to the community and they need adult siiz closing um as you know children children come in adult sizes and so um if you're out shopping on Black Friday or if you have some koh's cash or whatever your um pleasure is um think about the students in our building and um that's a good way to give back and I also want to lift up the District 4 BAC meeting which will be on Thursday November 30th

061at night Elementary School we are fortunate to be welcoming Dr Maria roseangle to connect with us around Community engagement and lastly um I want to say how thankful I I am for Miss Johnson Hustler and her 10 years of service um when I was appointed to the board I don't want to cry but when I was appointed to the board um she set aside time for me every single week on top of being a mom a wife a nonprofit executive a policy Guru all things amazing and truly a virtuous woman and so um I don't know how you ran every two years for so many years and so um you are to be celebrated for all your contributions to um public schools and um really thank you for um the time you've taken with me

062in the investment and just really um thankful for always being willing to share um everything you've had with me to um help me be successful so super thankful and um I hope everybody has a tremendously Happy Thanksgiving with all your favorite desserts and so thank you Miss Edmonds thank you um I knew you all would say it better better than me so in regard to Dr West I I join everyone at this table in mourning that loss I had just seen and spoken to him at the state of the county address which um Miss chair mfy and I attended last Monday so it was um is still a shock and I send my condolences to his family and his you know Wide Circle who loved him on November 9th I attended a wonderful Veterans Day

063celebration at Penny Road Elementary I was able to spend time with some of the veterans and learn details about their service in various branches and various locations in service to our country um the students and the staff at Penny Road did an outstanding job celebrating these men and women including a slideshow of what seemed to be at least a hundred family members of the students who have served our country thanks to Penny Road for including me and all of those in attend thank you chair mfy for arranging training for the board with we are while I was not able to be there I saw the news story about it and agree with you chair mafy that this board must also engage in equity work that we have put forth in our Equity policy and our

064strategic plan we must commit to this work and training just as we are asking our staff to do I was participating in that work in Charlotte instead of here um at the southern Education Foundation um conference the theme was miles to go fulfilling the promise of racial equity and education and this 4day conference was one of the best that I have ever been to and session topics included um equity in early childhood education school funding leading in equity work engaging with parents in the community school segregation the the harms and impacts of school segregation and there was um so much more Dr Chavis was there too and I know that he and I are anxious to share with you some new resources um and information that we gained over that four days it was outstanding

065with regard to our vote today on the new assignment plan I'll just say that while this is my first time casting such a vote um I have seen this process watch this process play out many times it is always challenging it is always emotional we don't take it lately overcrowded schools are not good for students or teachers and under enrolled schools aren't good either for students or teachers they're also not a good use of taxpayer funds to have space available and not try to maximize that space to the families that will change schools I hope you know that the staff at the schools receiving you are ready to welcome your children and I know they're also ready to welcome you and your engagement and your support support in that school Community I want to thank

066Miss Johnson Hustler and Miss waters for their advocacy particularly on making sure that we considered equity in the development and approval of this plan last two reminders it's still lgbtq plus history month and you can learn more at glass.org g.org two we'll hold our District 5 BAC meeting next Monday November 27th at Penny Road Elementary at 5:30 p.m. M Dr Taylor is our guest and after um his portion of the program we will hear an update from the office of equity Affairs including a Q&A session I hope everyone has has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving holiday thank you Dr in thank you um and uh Happy Birthday Mr Swanson um you get to an age where you'll have to take off your glasses um first um I also want to extend my condolences to the

067family of Dr West um I really appreciate the tributes that you guys have uh expressed and uh I wish I had had the chance to know him um his death is a great loss to the community and uh I will keep his family in my prayers um the board advisory Council for District 3 held its meeting at Heritage Elementary School last Monday and um I want to thank uh principal Harmon for hosting the meeting and my uh BAC leadership team for helping to put the evening together um we had a great privilege of having our superintendent Dr Taylor to be our speaker for the evening he uh talked about his background from Mississippi his family uh and how he got into the education field he also gave an account of his first 100 days and

068then opened it up for a time of Q&A um one thing that stood out for me was his answer to the question of how to handle the growing number of charter schools in nor Northern Wake County uh this was one of the questions we actually asked him in our interview process um and his reply was that you know he respects parents wanting to choose what is best for their children so we just have to make sure that W County Public Schools offers the clearly the best option um I really appreciated that response uh because we all know that in this day and age public school is not the only game in town uh in order for public schools to stay compe competitive we do need to quote unquote know the market and to understand the

069Dynamics that drive parents to choose one school option over another we need to stay true to the primary mission of educating our children so that they will come out prepared to be productive members of society we should spend our precious time and energy on how best to handle the ongoing problems we as a school system face believe it or not our parents can see through the smoking mirrors when it comes to choosing the best educational option for their children in this week of celebrating Thanksgiving I do thank God uh for allowing me to live in this great country um just as the Puritans came to this land to flee religious persecutions and to have a new life my parents brought me and my sisters to America to flee the inevitable takeover of Hong Kong by

070communist China we found a new life here even though we had to start from the bottom it wasn't easy growing up a minority and in poverty but I never felt like I was short changed in fact I felt that America being the land of opportunity gave my family a way out of poverty and I never value myself or others based on external characteristics and as it says in the Bible in 1st Samuel 16:7 for the Lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart so I firmly believe that America was founded on these judeo Christian principles and that we as Americans have striven to look past the externals and into the heart to Value People based on the content of their character so in this

071Thanksgiving season I urge you all to say a prayer for your neighbors even the ones that you may not agree with uh maybe even share a meal together and get to know them as people uh that would be a truly god-honoring thing to do thank you Mr Hershey thank you madam chair can you hear me okay yes all right thank you um I want to stand first of all I apologize for not being there uh I did thought it best having covid not to share that for Thanksgiving um I want to start by standing with my fellow board members and just taking a moment to to give my condolences to the families of Dr West and Ralph camps and Betty Lou Ward um so many wonderful tributes by fellow board members that I don't need

072to add to uh but I just admire them enormously and their dedication to our communities to our students to our families uh I thank them for their work and they will be remembered uh next I want to announce that our next BAC meeting for district 6 will be December 6th from 12:00 to 1 at Douglas Elementary School we will be talking uh in Roundtable discussions about transportation and our Bell schedules to extremely important topics that I know are being discussed now uh at the highest levels of Central Services um I want to thank uh if my thoughts are a little clouded um I want to thank lyro Elementary School PTA for having me at their school PTA meeting um I want to encourage our families to join their ptas or pto's as Sanderson I know

073high school I know has a PTO it is a wonderful way for you to be involved in your school I know it really play they play a terrific role in helping out our students and uplifting our staff at schools um lastly I want to just congratulate Carol Middle School on a wonderful performance I uh my f took my family and we watched Shrek uh it was fantastic it was funny it was put on by some really talented students of ours um even the staff participated uh and I want to bring up one one thought I had when I was sitting in there and this is kind of a challenge to our County and our County staff we know that we have problems at some of our middle schools in getting our elementary schools to come

074into those middle schools this is um well known it is certainly an issue at Carol and other middle schools and as I was sitting in there I couldn't help but think of the opportunity of having third fourth and fifth graders watching that presentation or watching that show at that school as a way to start engaging students and families earlier I know that that takes a lot for a principal so the burden should not be on our principles this should be on our staff at Central Services to help facilitate these things but if we simply wait until students are in fifth grade to start engaging students and families about the ne where they will go to middle school and that's what we've been doing we should not expect results to change and I I challenge our

075staff to change the way we approach it because we have to start helping we have to do a better job of helping our Middle School succeed and keeping those Elementary School students I know Dr in mentioned Charter and private schools we lose them in that area and we know know it and we have to do a better job and start reaching out to parents sooner and it cannot just beond the burden of an individual school and I thank the chair for my time um thank you all on and uh though normally we're not as long-winded I think we had a lot to um grieve celebrate and reflect upon um so I thank you all for your patience at this time um I'll take a motion for approval of the meeting minutes but I do want

076to point out um that item I um which is under the meeting minutes we are pulling the minutes from the August 15 2023 meeting in order to make a correction uh these minutes will be back on the agenda with the correction reflected uh at our next meeting so with that change um I will now accept a motion to approve the meeting minutes so moved second all right we have a motion in a second all those in favor please say I I thank you Mr Hershey uh any oppose nay all right I've been told by our attorney that if he doesn't speak up I have to call him explicitly so we're on this Mr Ry and also thank you for being here with us today you're normally not in that seat um but Welcome All right

077we are now going to move on to public comment um speakers commenting on the night's agenda will be heard before speakers commenting on other topics um all other speakers will be heard in order of sign up only the person speaking at the podium will be able to stand all attendees that are not speaking are asked to remain seated if the public portion of the agenda exceeds 30 minutes board policy states that the board chair reserves the right to conduct other board business before inviting the speaker remaining speakers to the podium many of members of the public are welcome to offer comments or criticism directed at substantive ideas actions or procedures of the board and individual board members the laws and policies of North Carolina provide the issues or other concerns involving individual personnel and individual

078student matters are confidential and therefore not appropriate for the public comment settings those offering comments to the board including students may discuss issues and and matters of General concern concern concerns related to Personnel issues or student matters may be addressed through applicable wcpss Personnel the grievance policy or other applicable polit policies in the interest of maintaining Civility and decorum speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the board of education and to refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff or other members of the general public please remain at the podium during your speaking time any materials you wish to share with the board should be handed to board attorney Mr Ry either before or after your comments during public comment you may speak for up to 3 minutes

079please note those microphones are adjustable um when you begin speaking the green light will illuminate showing your three minutes has begun a yellow light will light up along with an audible tone when there are 30 seconds remaining in your time and when your speaking time is up you will see a red light and here another audible tone and then the next speaker will be called um and so hold on I just need to aate to another window I'll get there everybody and so our first speaker is I'm not looking for a drum roll I'm just looking for the email no we're good is uh R Rowan Bido followed by Susan book okay first I would like to say happy birthday Mr Swanson um um so miss Coffield you mentioned that you would like to hear

080from students about specific or general mental health issues um in schools so I think that what I've prepared can fit with that um so today I'm going to be talking about something sort of uh a difficult topic um so I'd just like to inform everyone of that so you know it might be uncomfortable um something I've heard from people who speak here is that diversity and Equity needs to be removed from schools and that is a huge problem yesterday was transgender day of remembrance on that day we mourn the lives of trans people lost throughout time we grieve over every loss but especially murders and suicides Brandon Tina was a transgender man from Nebraska he fell in love with a girl who knew that he was trans and loved him nonetheless one night at a

081party two men forced Brandon to strip so they could should whoa could show his girlfriend what he really was in quotes later they assaulted Brandon and forced him into a car where they drove to a secluded area so they could rape him eventually Brandon escaped but the men found him again they shot and stabbed him to death Leela alorn was a transgender teen before committing suicide she wrote that the world had been so unkind to her and she couldn't take it anymore she also wrote that she hoped her suicide would create a dialogue about the abuse of trans people in hopes that newer generation of newer generations of trans people would never know what it feels like to choose death over life because of their identity sadly it's still the case brandan Tina was murdered

082in 1993 Leela alorn killed herself in 2014 but it's still happening in 2023 I'll be honest with you being transgender is really difficult and sometimes I seriously hate it but it's just who I am and I can't change that I've been the target of so much violence and hate and cruelty and sometimes I feel like I'd rather die than have to suffer like that even though I know it can and likely will be used against me I will open up and be vulnerable with you I've tried to act on those feelings of being so mistreated that I was desperate for death and an end to my suffering I was willing to die because I couldn't take the pain I'm just so tired I want to live a life without hatred and cruelty I want to

083grow old after living a full life but everyone just wants to hurt me and they want want to hurt kids that want nothing more than to be accepted the rate of murders and suicides of trans people is asinine the rate of assault and harassment is harassment is outrageous people have threatened to kill me people take photos of me and post them on things like the Northwood rward Instagram someone threatened to shoot me because I Ed the boy's bathroom and for the same reason a group of three boys threatened to gang rape me um I've been exper uh I've experienced numerous types of sexual harassment people grabbing my butt cat calling and mo moaning at me telling me to pull my pants down so they can see what I actually have Etc I've also been sexually

084assaulted I was raped by a boy who thought it would fix my transness it has to end these things happen at the grocery store in the gas station in the bathroom and even right at school why what have I done to deserve this and please don't say it's because God is punishing me for being trans because I would never want to believe in a God who made rape and abuse a consequence for something he doesn't like I'm a person and I'm so tired of the disrespect and violence and hate thank you to those of you on the board who dang it Susan book followed by Chad stall always hello Happy Thanksgiving Happy Birthday to board member Tyler Swanson in this season of gratitude I'd like to thank the board for thinking of those of us

085who regularly attend board meetings I'd like to thank you with about policy U 2310 this is a wonderful place where democracy can flourish I'm afraid it is also a place where hateful words have been said this is the antithesis of a flourishing democracy when folks fear are being bullied or targeted they do not stand at this Podium I have sometimes attempted to organize other parents to come and give their feedback on board policy the reaction so many everyday parents tell me is that this in this current climate many do not feel safe to do so with the new policy on public comment I hope we can begin to encourage more folks to attend and increase the voices that we hear I hope that our Wake County School Board continues to embrace inclusion we have a

086long way to go including language access but with these new rules I hope we are in for a welcome change and encourage more people to participate in the Democratic process I also want to add in this season of gratitude a positive remark about the staff Administration and teachers at REI Creek Magnet Middle I am in awe of the support I've seen and the acknowledgement of what it means to be neurod Divergent in the world I can always pick apart things that are negative or can be improved but in so many ways the school has exceeded my expectations the curriculum assistance provided is amazing as well as the other supports including emotional support I hope the board and staff continue to open up more opportunities and more schools to provide autism standard course of study which

087provides more than just standard autism support programs currently there are only four middle schools and I just checked the website and appears only two high schools that provide this service I hope we are looking at the success stories and expanding this program thank you Chad stall followed by Margaret Billy dowoo good evening watching her cough and you react to it's cracking me up I'd like to read an email uh from June the 9th from Mr Hagerty to give a little context we were emailing I think I emailed all of the board uh because for me personally the the book reading and all those things I thought you know how long are we really going to go on and and have to hear that language the unintended harm that may come from that being published on

088YouTube where any child can watch it from one of your laptops right at any age level so there one of the responses I got back which I think is interesting this is coming from Mr haery uh First Amendment court cases have many fine and particular specifics about what is allowed and what is not allowed under US Supreme Court interpretation sometimes these seem inconsistent and sometimes over the decades they change but that is what guides what our attorney feels can and cannot be said there is some discretion but the legal advice is to air on the permissive side so when I saw like policy 2310 I thought well that doesn't make sense to me why because to be honest Lindsay I think you're doing a fantastic job running the show from the chair when anyone gets

089out of line I think you've been spot on all year so I just don't think it's necessary I think it's also a distraction but then I saw a little blurb from the Taylor Bullock thing and there's a line she asks board to consider how they can use their power and privilege to be intentional and disruptive on writing policies to mitigate policies that contribute to harm of students so then I thought well that's interesting So you you're writing a policy that says hey don't insult us but you're going to pay a person $3,000 to convince you that you're a white supremacist or a racist or a land stealer and I'm thinking to myself well if you're getting that here for free why do the taxpayers have to pay money for you could hear it from someone

090else that doesn't make sense to me the claim earlier today right that you're contributing to the economy how how is it that you're contributing to the economy the money that you make comes from taxpayers what is it that you generate do you sell education I don't think so your classrooms are poor and yet you boast all of the success of the nonprofits that are enriching themselves your children can't read and yet you boast the success of nonprofits teaching your children how to read so then to come up here and say well but if you say something that offends me you're going to get kicked out you're going get reprimanded it's not necessary you're doing a wonderful job managing it from your seats from your chairs and the whole like I mean the racist training blows

091my mind it absolutely blows my mind I'm in a mixed race house married to a woman of another race I have a mixed race child but yet no one's advocating for any other race thank you Margaret Billy do followed by Kristen Morrison gonna finish Rowen uh thank you for those of you on the board who stand with transgender people and don't support the intolerance keep weight County safe I want to stay but if I'm in danger I won't be able to educate people about trans issues don't educate them to hate us treat us like people we should not live in a world that has killed so many trans people that there's a whole day to mourn them Brandon Leela and everyone else rest in peace rest in power members of the audience and of the

092general public I'm begging you to stop there's so much hate against us and there's only so much we can take before it breaks us and I know what it feels like to be broken it's not fun and I almost didn't make it out alive please end this thank you um and then I'm Margaret villo mom of uh four two kids who are uh in public schools in Wake County uh just brought Rowan back to Wake County bringing money back into public school um I'm here again to continue to advocate for equity and inclusion and education a common theme that we hear uh here at the board meetings very frequently is an admonition that you all are going to answer for and to Jesus or God or whatever it is that for whatever it is that

093you do that is disagreed with it's incredibly problematic to try to bring religion into public education because let's face it not everyone that goes to public school in the United States or more specifically North Carolina or even more specifically Wake County is Christian and people that are Christian or identify as Christian aren't even the same sect or denom domination with beliefs across the Spectrum some of which conflict with one another so we don't have a universal morality or even a universal Christian Morality In fact even though the United States was founded on the principle of religious freedom in the beginning of the US colonization different groups of Christians were marginalizing and killing each other based on their beliefs each individual has to answer to their own conscience and whomever they represent at the end of

094the day were a salable unique ingredients all stirred together into a delicious meal each ingredient retains its individual it yet together they make something even more beautiful our schools can and should be a safe place for every student educator support staff person family member Etc a place where they are represented and respected so that they have the mindset necessary to learn let's keep things going in that direction thank you Kristen Morrison followed by John bog good evening thank you for your time tonight and for your public service and Happ happy birthday uh I'm the parent of a fourth grader and a rising kindergartner and I'm joining you tonight to ask that you adjust the 2324 school calendars in order to keep students out of school buildings on Tuesday March 5th 2024 that's the date of

095the 2024 presidential primary election in 2022 the board made the decision to adjust school calendars for the November election days uh to keep students out of school and this was a decision that I myself am personally very grateful for and many other weight County parents are also grateful for at that time however the 2324 calendar was not Revisited to consider the spring election dates this Academic Year the spring election is going to draw much larger voting populations than the Municipal elections that happened earlier this month as it stands right now all school calendars are in session on March 5th 2024 58,000 students attend the 78 school buildings that will be used as polling locations on that day these include 57 elementary schools 14 middle schools and seven High School schools for the Wake County Board

096of Elections there were there were almost 61,000 in-person election day voters uh in the precincts that are currently assigned to school polling locations in the last presidential primary election in 2020 on November 2nd I emailed the all school board members a spreadsheet of data which came from publicly available sources which I hoped would be helpful to your conversations and discussions on this topic there are several safety reasons why many other Wake County parents and I are concerned about students sharing their school buildings with voters on election days voters do not follow the same procedures that typical School visitors must follow in order to enter the school buildings additionally cones ropes and hallway monitors are inadequate barriers for preventing armed or ill-intentioned people from Gaining access to students in shared spaces like cafeterias libraries gyms and

097restrooms places that voters will be um moreover such a large volume of extra car traffic on school campuses creates parking and carpool issues uh and safety issues which are frustrating for both voters and for parents at this time there are banked instructional days in the calendars that can and maybe should be used to keep students out of school buildings on March 5th 2024 adjusting the school calendars now gives ample time and notice to families and Child Care Centers to uh make adjustments to their plans I really appreciate your time and consideration of this issue student safety needs to remain our Collective top priority thank you John bog followed by Teresa Jones I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and uh good evening board members thank you for your time I understand that most of

098you attended the we are seminar last week which was about $3,000 we are is an acronym for working to extend anti-racist education their mission statement says we are collaborates with children families and Educators to dismantle systemic racism in schools and Beyond so the obvious question is can you define the systemic racism in Wake County schools and Beyond which schools what are the symptoms where are the N where are the numbers are they on the wcpss website Weare promotes racial identities historical racial constructs racial Justice anti-racist practices anti-racist education so I'm just curious how much time is spent in the classroom promoting this instead of the curriculum the wcpss office of equity Affairs oea has systematically train teachers across the district in CR critical race Theory with the goal of implementing it in the classroom and

099implicit bias included as a core component of that training with the addition of new data for fiscal year 20 21 and 22 the overall budget has risen slightly from 8.6 million to 8.69 million an increase of 200,000 Equity has become your and our money pit directors VPS it will only grow every corporation that starts the equity Road just builds more and more uh Administration unfortunately the return on investment it's dismal and the taxpayers pay Equity is not equality Equity pulls a top performer down to become level with a mediocre mediocre performer they will not be equal they will become the same a good example is a government job based on levels and steps you show up after time you all progress the same time is the factor not work output not pride in your work

100not based on Merit Merit is how you perform what are your results is this the ethic you want to install in our students being the same not exceptional sounds Marxist it is if you really get into the definitions of equity it is a Marxist base how much time is spent in the classroom promoting this instead of curriculum the trainer for Weare Ronda Taylor bulock was named engineering black Leader by VP Camala Harris in March of this year during White House Black History History Month event the same Camala who is the country's borders are the border that is secure with over 10 million illegal Crossings actually Cala is the best example of equity in the government today thank you our next speaker is Teresa Jones followed by Andrew Branch can evening the PTA believes all students

101have the right to equality Equitable education in a safe supportive and inclusive school we believe that every student has the ability to reach their full potential when the environment is one in which students feel they belong with the passage of SB 49 the North Carolina legislature has put many of our students and families at risk indeed the so-called F parents Bill of Rights violates the very Mission and purpose of our schools s sp49 creates a discriminatory hostile environment for lgbtq plus students and their families by taking two proven lifelines away from them supportive teachers and school materials and books that affirm their identities and experiences we know from Decades of research that lgbtq youth are at greater risk for mental health struggles being lgbtq plus does not cause mental health problems but because these kids

102often face factors like peer rejection targeted bullying discrimination and acts of violence they are at a higher risk for depression and anxiety and an alarming 45% have seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year research also suggests that school climate is a significant protective factor for lgbtq plus youth the US Department of Education has used this research to create a toolkit that supports lgbtq plus students and families key factors including developing thoughtful and intentional anti-bullying policies providing professional development for educators and protecting lgbtq plus students from book bands additionally research shows when schools Implement these supportive policies and practices all students experience Better Health outcomes wcpss knows that a diverse School community that is inviting respectful inclusive flexible and supportive is the key to Student Success it is written in your core beliefs the new

103strategic plan has made Student dispositions and wellbeing a priority setting the high goal that by 2028 90% of Wake County students will demonstrate essential social emotional competencies however these skills cannot be realized by a student who must hide a core part of their identity while they are at school Additionally the equity policy states that the board expects an equity lens to be applied to all policies programs practices and decisions when applying this standard to sb49 we see that it not only violates the equity policy but deliberately excludes certain students and families from Full participation and inclusion in their schools the Wake PTA Council respectfully asked the school board to consider the Myriad of ways that s sp49 violates the board's strategic plan the equity policy national standards for school counselors and Title 9 before implementing

104any policies to enforce s sp49 thank you and Happy Thanksgiving our next speaker is Andrew Branch followed by by Jen shorter my name is Andrew Branch I did not leave home this morning planning to speak so I apologize for any disorganization and for how I'm dressed when I took online classes for Teacher licensure with UNCC Charlotte around 2016 I don't recall receiving any implicit bias training with all the social justice jargon I did however get some simple pointers for example a group of black friends in the hallway if you will is going to have a baseline volume level just a slightly bit louder then your typical group of right friends and different cultures interact differently don't be surprised hearing that noise doesn't inherently mean Rowdy or that a fight is about to break out see

105how easy that was without jargon without cliches dividing people up and categorizing identities with privilege and dis discrimination oppressed or oppressor as if everything is zero sum you don't need critical theory to love your students ask questions ask how your policies affect different groups those are good things um but is it really that difficult for a teacher to distinguish between a disrespect a disrespectful student and one who is if you will learning while black in some cities Police Stopped policing certain neighborhoods or certain crimes because they were arresting too many black people who then became a higher share of the victims of crime in some cities schools were closed well into 2021 citing covid danger to people of color which kids have shown more learning loss Oregon last month suspended a requirement that students show

106Mastery of Reading Writing and math in order order to graduate citing harm to students of color is the situation a bit more complicated than that headline yes but it's not less complicated the equity Elites have done more to infantilize and harm students of color than they care to admit what else do you get young white men once again taught to be hyper aware of their skin color now feeling the need to stand up for themselves when the implication is that to be crash you people are the cause of all this country's problems past and present slogans like it's okay to be white are the best you can hope for it's dangerous when black lives matter rioted in 2020 after seeing a man die on video many of us thought we understood but after October 7th

107multiple BLM chapters and a UNCC student group with a paraglider poster issued support for the terrorists who videotaped their murders it wasn't the video something sinister is Unleashed with critical theory worldview you can ask these questions and serve and love all your students and communities without $1,500 an hour thank you our next speaker is Jen shorter followed by Jeremy Miner hi my name is Jen shter I'm the president of the Mills Park Elementary School PTA and uh thank you so much for allowing me the chance to speak I have come to you to congratulate our talented and dedicated counselors Terry Armstrong and Nancy Snider as the recipients of the North Carolina School counseling Diamond award um I had to do a little research to find out more about this award I'd like to share it

108with you this award recognizes programs that demonstrate an exemplary data informed and outcome-based comprehensive School counseling program and when I told um I spoke with Nancy earlier to tell her I was coming here and she wanted me to stress that this was a collaborative effort um not only of the work that the counselors in our school did but also Mr hegerty and um some of the members of the central office staff um some of the things that I really want to point out about this um this award and this program it's an extensive application it hits 11 different topics and I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into it um I love that it's data driven they're using the information that they can get from the school systems to identify and help

109try to solve real problems um and this as I was digging through led me to look at a portrait of a graduate and I just wanted to say seal I think along with many things right now is kind of coming under attack um but what I loved about portrait of a graduate is that it's another collaborative effort and they worked with not only um education at many different levels but also Employers in North Carolina to see what can help me make our graduates successful and the skills thatal is teaching um they call them durable skills are what employers are looking for so this is important work um that is being done I know these are difficult times and there is a lot more work to be done um but we should continue to recognize the

110important and good work that is happening um so again congratulations not only to the Mills Park counselors but to all recipients of this award and thank you to all those who work diligently to attract and retain Professionals of this caliber to our school system thank you our next speaker is Jeremy Miner followed by Katherine Rodriguez all right I'm Jeremy maner I'm a um student well um I'm a um parent of a former student of um of wcpss um we went we special educations student um you know we tried to work it out uh through the IEP process um we hired a professional um IEP um professional IEP advisor to come in um she tried to work it out we couldn't work it out um so uh after um months and months and months of that

111we finally filed a due process hearing we went through the due process hearing we won the due process hearing um as our um as darington Smith is very aware um but I want to read what the um what the judge wrote after considering a hearing on the merits let's just get down to it um uh the UND sign concludes that Wake County Board of Education denied student a free appropriate education by not timely revising the behavioral goals in the individual education plan and behavioral intervention plans to address his shifting Behavior needs um by not implementing with Fidelity his bip and delivery of a social emotional skill instruction and um by not timely considering the the IES um not we didn't have appropriate uh IEPs we didn't have appropriate bips we didn't have um so uh

112she rewarded us 402 hours of compensatory Services currently Wake County Board of Education is refusing to implement this so um you know at this point um you know we're we're having to pay for all the the services that are ordered in our judgment we're having to pay for all the services that are ordered in our judgment right now um you know uh you I I all I I like you know all I can say about it is I'm shamed you know I'm I'm ashamed of you all uh you you continue to you know you've been found to deny my my son of free appropriate public education and you contined to deny my son a free appro appropriate public education as we're going forward with this um back in May of um well may of this

113year I asked a for a public records request for the costs that you all were spending to defend these lawsuits because this is ongoing this lawsuit is ongoing you you know my guess is you're spending millions of dollars to defend these lawsuits and here we're going to go for more and more and more I know what I've spent on this lawsuit and it's it's a large amount um so you know you're denying these requests and we get to go further into into debt and and you all get to spend um more and more of the Public's money um you know unwisely because you know the there there's no chance of y'all coming you know there's no chance of you winning against it right now so I mean we can go forward but I'm ashamed to

114say that I have to deal with you all our final speaker tonight is Katherine Rodriguez hello I'm here to speak about draft 1310 as the larg school district in North Carolina Wake County has an opportunity to be a leader and stand up to the general assembly and refuse to comply with the sections of the law that discriminate against lgbtq students and families as Elder activist Maggie said stand before the people you fear and speak your mind even if your voice shakes when you least expect it someone may actually listen to what you have to say well- aimed slingshots can topple Giants and do your homework campaign for southern equality has done its homework to show schools are unable to comply with s SP 49 or 1310 because they violate Title 9 by creating a hostile

115educational environment for lgbtq students this includes requiring the outing of trans students regardless of whether this puts the student in danger it man mandates School surveillance of Library s ctions textbooks and instructional materials targeting lgbtq content and Bar's instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity through fourth grade Title Nine States no person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in be denied the benefits of or be subjected to the Discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance Justice Neil Gorsuch stated it's impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex by the same logic Title 9 bars discrimination against lgbtq students schools violating Title 9 risk litigation and losing their federal education funding in addition

116Wake County would be in violation of its own policy 1710 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race color national origin sex sexual orientation gender or gender identity disability or age any form of unlawful discrimination harassment or bullying as defined in this policy and any educational or employment activities or programs is against board policy Beyond refusing to comply with s sp49 Wake County should follow the lead of chadam County and carboro Chapel Hill school districts and pass a resolution affirming their support for lgbq students and families thank you this concludes public comment we now move on on to our consent items is there a motion to approve the consent item agenda second all right we have a motion in a second is are there any questions comments concerns yes Miss Coffield thank you just a

117couple clarifying questions um the Wake together and helps I am in the right section right yes it kept closing out on me um how do we is there a list of school schools that are getting it is it going to be applied to all schools I know at one point helps as a pilot program trying to understand um where what number schools have it do we have any information on that not in this this is approving the um contract in order to continue work with help and and expand upon it but when we were in executive I did ask when we would be getting an update we saw some of the work with that so I'm sure they can get you a list of schools and what we're planning on expanding to um via email

118um so um I know someone I I see Mr cook nodding his head and I was also told that an update on that will be coming I believe in January or February um on where we are with the the high impact tutoring okay I was just wondering what the contract specifically was because it's just it's um the contract is to re-approve right yeah so yes all right I'll wait for that Emil thank you thank you all right are there any further questions or comments all right seeing none all those in favor of approving the consent items I all right any oppose nay all right we now move on to our action items um miss m for for the minutes to you were were you able to record a vote from Mr Hershey I heard him

119okay I did not thank you thank you Mr Remy um um we now move on to the uh final draft of our enrollment plan um for 2425 um there was a robust discussion and review of this final draft in our work session um which can be seen um via YouTube um so if there's a question that we miss I encourage folks to go and review that and I know Miss pulum and her folks will have more information and we may be repeating questions tonight so I'll hand it over to miss pum thank you chair mfi Vice chair higy superintendent Taylor and members of the board I'm here to present the 2024 2025 enrollment plan I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board and our senior leadership team for their support as this

120year's enrollment plan was drafted reviewed revised and finalized additionally as this is a collaborative effort I would like to personally recognize Rob cwek and the GE spatial analytics office Kim Lane and T tamani Anderson pal in the magnet office Marcel a Rory in longrange planning and Betty Parker in real estate services for their support encouragement and thoughtful Reflections throughout the process in addition Bob snid Miller Bonnie slutter and joy Milan and our transportation department for their support and collaboration as we refined recommendations aiming to improve Transportation efficiency and Sandy honey cut and Carrie Fuller and Technology services for their work ensuring all our student information systems and applications are accurate and ready for implementing the approved plan I would like to especially thank my directors Eric chansy and lisis ambrio along with our entire enrollment

121and transfer team Kim Shauna zulma April Ashley Carrie Sandra and Haley for their creativity elevating the voices of our families and for their willingness to provide help and support when needed as you may be aware we lost a dear member of our team this fall and I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to share that all Don C Baker is and will continue to be missed her contributions to our work will endure I would like to recognize the entire geospatial analytics team Ryan Dan Judy and Molly for their help and support in mining organizing and visualizing our data for more effective analysis and for developing enhanced online tools for parents to learn about the plan also Mike Miller with numeric LLC for his work in developing and running models and scenarios his

122insight and perspective are invaluable in this process my gratitude is unending for the support of carali Torell in the Communications Department her work and support in ensuring that our public engagement process is authentic well organized and easily accessed by our families is impeccable further I would like to uh recognize assistant superintendent carosa and chief Ellis your Insight support and encouragement throughout this process have allowed me and my team to do our best work lastly and certainly not least I would like to thank our wcpss community as a whole families community members staff and other stakeholders throughout the county have actively contributed to the development of this plan through their honest and thoughtful participation in all of our public engagement activities now back to the enrollment plan with one new school opening in the 2024 25

123school year Woods Creek Elementary and a continued need to relieve captain and overcrowded schools to fill underutilize schools to address historical assignment areas and to support Transportation efficiency this year's plan includes base assignment changes and calendar application changes to address these goals it also includes generous stability rules that promote stability of school assignment for impacted families the process for developing this year's enrollment plan began with an initial planning discussion with the board during our work session on May 2nd of 2023 prior to that work session staff hosted seven Regional public engagement sessions asking families and areas impacted by Future new school openings what district leadership should be aware of and take into consideration when managing enrollment growth and school crowding as well as when opening a new school in the community a summary of the

124feedback collected was shared during a work session on June 20th of this year feedback gathered during the work session on May 2nd and collected from these Regional public engag sessions along with an analysis of the needs of the district led to the development of the first draft of the enrollment plan the first draft was reviewed and presented at the September 19th board work session after that meeting staff launched a thought exchange and hosted four virtual public information sessions to engage Our Community in Sharing their thoughts comments and questions regarding the recommendations included in the first draft the second draft of the plan was reviewed and presented at the October 17th board workor session after that meeting staff launched additional thought exchanges and hosted two virtual public information sessions to again engage Our Community in Sharing

125their thoughts comments and questions not only regarding the second draft of the plan but also the potential of converting Pleasant Grove Elementary to a year- round calendar additionally the board held its own public hearing on November 8th to solicit and capture feedback from the community the plan was most recently reviewed and presented as a final draft earlier today during the bo board workor session the total number of students projected to be reassigned is just over 1500 Which is less than 1% of the district population and approximately 73% of those students are eligible for a stability transfer when given final board approval the final draft of the plan will be implemented for the 2024 25 school year families directly impacted by the approved plan will be contacted as soon as possible early next week with some

126Specific Instructions regarding the process for requesting a stability transfer stability requests for students eligible under these rules that are included in this year's plan um and are submitted in the designated window will be approved and will be valid through the last grade of the school tonight we request the board's approval of the 20242 enrollment plan as presented during the work session held earlier today thank you Miss pulam and again that was presented at the work session because it was an hour and a half long um conversation and discussion um and again that is available is there a motion from board members all right we have motion to approve a motion to approve and a second all right questions comments and discussion for Miss pum Mr Swanson thank you I want to thank thank the staff

127for the work that you you all put into this and to the public for all the feedback that they um provided to us I have a couple of questions I know we heard um during the uh comments but could you explain how we work with municipalities and um other uh County staff as we were talking about in measuring growth sure um a separate entity our longrange planning department helps spearhead this effort um but with that group what we do is we work with the county county planners and all the municipalities that are within the county on an annual basis in fact we've just wrapped up the review process for the upcoming forecast that process helps us to get as much as we can and our partners in the community are very helpful and they they're

128very permissive with giving us information about projected and approved residential plans as well as other plans and then all of that is factored into a longrange planning process where we use that along with some economic factors I'm going to speak out of turn a little bit because it's not my project but uh all of that information is shared on our website as well but they work together to collaborate to get those projected growth by region those projected growth numbers by region as well as to come up with an agreed upon projected growth on an annual basis to partner with the county for um the budget process thank you and the reason why I raised that question is because I wanted folks to understand that our excuse me our municipalities hold a great deal of of

129knowledge and information as we were going through looking at what's best for students when we are approving and plans um so we had to I think my colleague had talked to us about smart growth Andro and understanding what that looks like so that was one that I just wanted to raise so thank you Miss Coffield I just wanted to say thank you because I know that you guys really put a lot of effort into it um and just I mean since I've been following the school board one of the biggest complaints was that families wanted to be closer to their schools and come together and I think that in the plan that you provided to us you really did go very far to try and do that as much as possible and it's not going

130to be perfect for everyone and I want everybody that is out there listening to understand like Miss Edward said it's Ed sorry it is not easy for us to make the decision for those families that come to us we do hear you and some of us have actually been in that seat you you know so I do understand um movement transition it's going to be hard for kids it's going to be hard for families but in the long run with the transportation issues we have with the stability issues that we have um I do understand the decisions and the way that you did it and how in the long run it's going to help our families so I just wanted the public to hear that it is not an easy decision for us to move

131families at all and that's not what we want um but with transportation and all the other Factor factors that come into place sometimes that some of those boundaries are going to be touched and people are not going to be happy um but we do understand that so I wanted the public to hear that and thank you very much for all the effort you put forward yes sir thank you I wanted to give my colleagues an opportunity before I monopolize the conversation um as you know and based on a number of the comments we've seen on thought exchange families that have come out to speak at the public hearings and at our public comment there are a lot of people in the Northwestern part of the county that have some specific thoughts on the program or

132on the proposed plan um if you heard me earlier I did want to you know acknowledge and thank a lot of the families that have come out and have been um very involved very engaged and really tried to get into understanding like the the why and the how behind the program um and I think you know I need to honor their hard work and make sure we acknowledge just how many questions they raised that they brought to your staff and so you know I know that we brought document like formal documents that have been compiled petitions and so I just wanted to go through I didn't know if you'd had a chance because there's so many people that respond if you had been able to respond to to any of those families either individually or

133as a group about any of the Alternatives they had raised sure a lot of the information that you did share with us with the packets that you received were very similar if not exactly the same as what we had received in thought exchange and so most of those have been addressed through our draft to FAQs that have been posted to the website many of which we went over um in work session as well but I'm happy to address any specific questions that you'd like to make sure that they're fully responded to okay if you could yall would bear with me just just a few um the first one actually doesn't have anything to do with one of the suggest one of the parts of the plan that had gotten the most work but you had

134discussed it today which was several families had reached out to myself and I know they'd also communicated with Dr R and with Mr Hershey about the Evans Mill neighborhood that was seeking a middle school reassignment and you know looking at that they had made um representations that their neighborhood was in favor of a a suggested reassignment wasn't part of the original draft and they were showing the four pillars behind it and you know I thought made an interesting case for it but it wasn't included in the plan can you just share some of the reasons why that public suggestion wasn't included and any ideas going forward thank you for that we actually thought that the recommendation had some Merit for that particular neighborhood the challenge we have is they're they are not the only neighborhood

135in that same predicament and so to highlight and resolve a a single neighborhood when there's a much larger group of families that are in the exact same situation seemed a bit premature and so our recommendation would be to look at that going into next year's enrollment plan and pick a larger look and get more families engaged in the conversation we certainly understand that one neighborhood is for it but there's a much larger geography that's impacted with many more students that they may not have been aware of so you're telling me you're coming back next year um bless you miss pum um so some other questions but we have five new schools we opening we do um some of the families have asked about possibly delaying parts of the plan for a year and could you

136talk about some of the implications of that if that's a feasible option for the board to consider sure um everything is on the table I'm the concern From staff's perspective uh for certainly with the Woods Creek opening delaying a year would we think would be ill advised with the need to up you know sufficiently operate in that school uh the recommendations related to the central and Northern and Northeast easn areas related to getting students that are currently assigned to schools like leeville elementary leeville middle and leeville high to schools that are closer to home we'd like to strike while the Iron's hot and get these students to schools that are closer to home while the capacity is available and the support works for them that then creates a domino where there would be a number

137of seats that are made available leeville ele Elementary would be a significant reduction so if we don't take advantage of that opportunity to get other students closer to their school we're just delaying the ability to get students to schools closer to home on that side of it there's another portion that's related to Brian Road and also alustin R and park side these schools are extremely overcrowded two of those that I just mentioned are already captain in multi-track one is so crowded that if we don't make a reassignment we're probably going to have to come to you with the ca recommendation which we know is not really a long-term solution um and in each of these areas there isn't new construction coming that can support the enrollment growth in these areas um again working with our

138Municipal planners to your question we already know of the growth that's coming in these areas and there's potentially more that we're learning about right now so to delay that would only further exacerbate the crowding and cap situations at these schools and so we just feel like delaying will only create more challenges for the families in these areas as well as for the district and for our transportation concerns thank you and so when you talked about the transportation efficiencies I know that several families had talked about like an additional Transportation burden how does how does that what's the on balance with this assignment plan sometimes we have to move families further away to accomplish other things but then sometimes we can find ways you know where maybe we overreached where when you looked at all of

139the moves in this plan did did we come out sure the sum total in talking with our department of transportation is that each move is at the very least neutral to the routing Network um but in many cases is actually an improvement in reducing routes so nothing that we've recommended would increase a burden on Transportation all right it would just switch we we've talked we talked about in work session a little bit there's some families that have talked about this being the fourth or fifth reassignment for their neighborhoods in the last few years and we do have new a new Middle School coming online and ultimately a new high school coming online and and you know it is something to ask these families to make a change knowing that we have to do it for

140the betterment of the whole County and the district but there's also something about asking them to frequently make frequent changes can you talk about that and how the opening of the middle school might affect these families sure so if I understand your question correctly we're really talking about the areas being recommended to be assigned from Aon R Parks side into Pleasant Grove we did an analysis the last time these areas had a reassignment was in 2009 certainly not a distant past but not within the last three to six years um and then if we look at I'm sorry 2019 I apologize 2019 so that's that's within the last four to five years um and and then prior to that it was 2009 that's where I'm remembering that number so they did that particular area might

141have had multiple reassignments leading up to 2009 but there was sort of a quiet period between 2009 and 2019 so they have the families that are living there now have not been subject to frequent reassignments in the last short period um uh but we do understand that any reassignment is destabilizing and that I don't want to dismiss that concern uh the other element with the Parkside Middle with it being delayed to 2026 27 we're the possib again if it stays on schedule there is a possibility that current fourth grade students could potentially if they're reassigned this year have the fifth grade