001done. So, let's try again. Like to call our January 6, 2026 board of education meeting to uh order. We are glad that you are here this evening. Happy New Year one and all. I don't see a whole bunch of people here. My goodness. That's okay. That's great. Uh, we have a couple board members missing, but that's okay. We have a quorum, so we'll go ahead and move forward. Uh, at this point, would you please call the role? >> Miss Baggie, >> present. >> Miss Mason >> here. >> Josie Barnhart >> here. >> Pat Bradford, >> I am here. >> Judy Justice. >> Tim Merrick, >> here. >> David Perry. Okay, we we do have a quorum. I will say that we'll move forward. Uh just a couple quick announcements before we begin. The invocation today
002will be done by Gail Taber from the uh pastor of the Salt Church. That will be our invocation. We are happy to have our Laney High School Air Force Junior ROC. Uh they will present the colors today. Colonel Amy Russo and Master Sergeant Bruce C. Uh and then we're very excited to have our new Hannover County Elementary Chorus. Um they were selected for North Carolina Honors. Uh and under the direction of Dr. Amanda Hail, music uh teacher at Codington. And we've asked Oh, there's Miss Justice. Welcome. And we've asked Dr. Merrick to do our pledge this evening. So we will start with our invocation. I am Gail Taber. I am the pastor of Sculpive Methodist Community and I invite you to pray with me y'all. Holy one, today as we gather to do the work
003of providing for the education of all the children in New Hver County, we first pause to remember grateful. We give thanks for the absolute joy living beautiful place and for the beauty of your creation and our mandate to care for all that is in it especially the children who are often seen as the least among us. We pray not just for the physical safety of all the students and teachers in our schools, but that we would be spaces where all are seen, heard, and appreciated. Not just because not just because of our differences, but because just as beautiful music is made and harmony comes from blending of different voices, so the beauty of humanity shines in our differences. guide us as we face times of concern and fear that our choices and our vision will
004be ever toward all and especially to all of those who are most vulnerable. May the decisions made here be inclusive and equitable even when we have difference of opinions. Give us a spirit of unity. Help us not just to listen to others as they share their point of view, but to hold them in full regard for all of our shared humanity. aid us and aid this body to work as a unified team as they lead New Hor County schools. May every child and family know their worth and their value to this body and to the community at large in our everchanging world. We pray for these board members and for the various level of official and staff who serve the students and the families of New Henry County Schools. bless this body with their decisions
005that it would be of benefit to all those who work or attend or have a child or person for whom they care. We offer all the names of the one we call. Amen. Forward ars. Oh, you see Oh were still there. Wow. Face forward. Arch. Dr. America. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Don't go anywhere yet. We have young folks here if I could. Just want to guys introduce yourselves to everyone. You did an awesome job. Wow. >> Would you tell us who you are and a little bit about yourself? >> I'm Casey. I'm in fifth grade and I go to Clottington Elementary School. >> Thank you. >> I'm
006Amelia Sanchez. I'm in fifth grade and I go to Bellamy Elementary. I am Zayn Shidler and I am in fourth grade and I go to Eaton Elementary. >> I am Genevie Whitney. I'm in fifth grade and I go to Pine Valley Elementary. >> I'm Sutton Paige and I in fifth grade and I go to Cington. >> Let's give a little more. Great job you guys. And if we can get our Laney folks to tell us a little bit about themselves. >> Um, my name is Leila Saladine and I'm from Laney High School. >> My name is Cole Miller. I'm a senior at Laney High School. >> My name is Jeremy Polyarpio and I'm a sophomore at Laney High School. >> Hello, my name is Azar Mela and I am a senior at Laney High School.
007>> Let's give them a round. >> Thank you all. You did a great job. Thank you. >> All right, that's a great way to start. We I will entertain a motion now to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> We have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> First and second. Any discussion? >> Yes, >> Mr. Bradford. >> Mr. Chair, I would move to take new business item A, exceptional children, and move it up to after information. And the reason for that is we have a guest tonight who's come for the CTE presentation, David Stagall from the endowment, and he said he would stay and listen to exceptional children and I'd really appreciate if we could do that. >> Second. Okay, >> we have multiple seconds. Okay, any discussion? >> Good. If not,
008all in favor of moving uh item A under new business to uh item B uh under information, please signify. >> No, sir. Just move the whole new business under there. >> Well, there may be some action. >> Okay. Okay. So, basically moving. All right. So, moving um new business >> under information. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. All oppose like sign. passes 70. Okay. Now I will entertain a motion to approve the amended agenda. >> Moved. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All opposed like sign. That also passes 70. My favorite time of the night is recognitions. And we'll start that. Miss Baggy minutes. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm I'm get I'm so
009excited about that. I wanted to skip everything else. We will uh I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes. >> We have a motion and a second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. All oppose like sign. Again, passes 70. And now on to my favorite part of the day. >> It's not just your favorite, it's mine, too. All right. Thank you all for this opportunity. First of all, tonight I'd like to start. Last year at this particular time, we were here to recognize a particular staff member and they were recognized by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, DNCR, for learning happens here teacher ambassadors. This year, we're here to recognize him, Mr. Sean Stannic from Holly Shelter Middle School for being chosen as the
010winner of the North Carolina State 2026 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Outstanding Teacher of American History Award. This award speaks to Mr. Stannic's high level of excellence in teaching American history, recognizing him as a top educator across the entire state of North Carolina. As the winner of this award, Mr. Stanic is in the running for the selection of a national winner which will be announced in the spring of this year. Please join me in congratulation congratulating Mr. Stannic in his incredible achievement. You're good. Congratulations again, Mr. Stanic. Thank you. >> Thank you. And congratulations. We hope to see you back again next year. >> All right. Next, please welcome to our stage our future business leaders of America students. We have Caroline Santo and Evelyn Tanner. Please join me and hopefully they didn't
011move so I can talk for a minute. All right. So, our these students have been hard at work this past year and we'd like to recognize them. First, Caroline Santo from WEX. Caroline has been diligently serving as the NCBLA Central Region Vice President for the past two years. Additionally, she was named the NF NCFBLA stake co-president earlier this year. She has truly set a new standard for the NCFBALA leadership by leading workshops and setting the example for fellow state officers. She is also currently preparing for the NCFBALA state leadership conference in March of 2026 in Greensboro. Next, we'd like to recognize Evelyn Tanner from WEX as the NC FBA Central Region Conference Ambassador and for her hard work as campaign manager for NCBA FBA Central Region Vice President Caroline Santo. I wonder if they know
012each other. Evelyn has been instrumental in leading FBA's workshops and event planning for opening and award ceremonies. She also played a vital role in managing Caroline Santos campaign, leading her to reinstatement as the central region vice president. Join me in celebrating Caroline and Evelyn for paving the way in NCBLA leadership both individually and as a team and for representing NHCS so well. Congratulations. I love my job. All right, I'm gonna I see I'm gonna have to put you guys back in order, aren't I? All right, so nan January is National School Board Appreciation Month. So, we're going to take this opportunity to take a photo Okay. So, we would like to thank our board of education for its commitment to New Hmer County School's mission to provide children with an opportunity for superior education and
013in providing helping us to provide a safe and supportive learning environment where they are prepared with the skills to succeed. Thank you to our board of education members for your leadership and commitment to education here in our community. Now, last but not least, I have one more for you tonight. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Brock Wall, NCCAT executive director, and Mr. Rick Stout, NCCAT board of trustees chair for this next recognition. We're proud to recognize Allison Hancock, music teacher at Snipes and Rachel Freeman School of Engineering for being named as a finalist for the North Carolina Central for the Advancement of Teaching 2026 Burroughs Welcome Fund NC Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. She's been chosen as one of 27 finalists from across the state for this prestigious recognition and it's a testament to
014her excellence and dedication as an educa educator. and we're incredibly proud to see her hard work and talent recognized at the state level. And now I'm going to turn it over to our guests. Good evening, uh, Superintendent, uh, Barnes and members of the New Hover County Schools Board of Education. On on behalf of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement and Teaching, it is my privilege to announce that Allison Hancock, a K5 music teacher at Annie Snipes Academy of Arts and Designs, had been selected as a finalist for the INCAT 2026 Burough's Welcome Fund North Carolina Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. This recognition celebrates Miss Hancock's outstanding trunk contributions as a beginning teacher and the meaningful impact she is already making on her students and the broader community here in New Hover County. I'd
015like to recognize Dr. Stephanie Willis, principal of Annie Snipes Academy of of Arts and Design. Andrea Reigns, New Haven Handover County Schools beginning teacher the uh coordinator for their support of Miss Hancock. And also like to thank Encap Board of Trustees Chair Rick Stout for being here to honor Miss Hancock. The beginning teacher of the year award was created to recognize the creativity, resilience, and commitment of firstear teachers across North Carolina. Each year, more than 7,000 new educators step into the classroom statewide, and this award shines a light on those who rise to the challenges and represent the very best of our profession. Miss Hancock will be attending a week of leadership focused profess professional development with her fellow finalists in March where interviews and portfolios will uh review will be conducted by a panel
016of judges across the state to determine the next beginning teacher of the year. On March 12th, INCAT will celebrate all finalists and announce the winner at a recognition event at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem. At ENCAT, we are committed to advancing teaching as an art and a profession, and we are thrilled to celebrate Miss Hancock as a shining example of this mission. Please join me in congratulating Allison Hancock on this outstanding achievement. We are pleased to provide you with a certificate recognizing you as an INCAT 2026 Burough Welcome Fund North Carolina beginning teacher of the year finalist. And M. Reigns, if I could ask, how many years have we participated in the beginning teacher of the year program? >> And how many years have we had a finalist? >> Thank you. Um, Dr. Wall,
017if we could bring this one home, please. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And that is my portion. Next we will have our administrative uh introductions. >> Thank you. Good evening. Um tonight I am pleased to um announce two new uh supervisors, assistant director and an assistant principal tonight. So first I'd like to ask Miss Lauren Appleweight to come up. So, Miss Appleawite brings over 16 years of educational experience to her role as assistant principal at Winter Park Elementary and Holly Tree Elementary. A national board certified teacher, Miss Appleawite most recently served as instructional coach and MTSS coordinator at Mason Burough Elementary School, providing coaching and professional development for teachers while focusing on datadriven practices to support continuous improvement and equitable outcomes for students. Miss Appleawite is committed to building strong relationships with
018students, families, and staff while collab while fostering collaborative environments that support both teacher growth and student achievement. Congratulations. >> I just want to thank you for um giving me this opportunity. Um, I'm really honored not only to be chosen at one school, but two. Um, and just to be able to continue the good work happening in both those buildings and building relationships with our students, families, and staff to promote um, education in New Hor County. So, thank you again. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> I do want to point out that both of these um, employees are great examples of start here, grow here, and we're so very proud. Um, Miss Laura Seard is the next employee. Um, she is not able to be here this evening because she is driving a bus. So,
019she is our new assistant director of transportation, but because of this funny little thing going around, the flu and some other yucky stuff. Um, there's a significant amount of drivers that have been out. So, what does an assistant director do in New Hver County Schools? They jump on they they jump in as a team member and drive a bus. So, um, while she can't be here, I'd still like to honor her anyway. um by sharing a little bit about her experience um and recognizing her achievement tonight. So, she brings over 30 years of dedicated service to New Hover County Schools. Throughout her career, she's served in virtually every facet of student transportation from bus driver and dispatcher to coordinator, TIM's coordinator, and transportation supervisor. This comprehensive experience has given her unique insight into the complexities
020of ensuring safe, reliable transportation for our students. Known for building strong partnerships with schools, families, and staff, she has earned the trust and respect of all stakeholders. Her extensive experience makes her an invaluable asset as we continue serving our students and the community. So, congratulations to Laura. Um, and if you see her, give her a shout out. Thank you. Next we will have our January teacher voice and this month we'll have pause for people coming forward. >> Yay. Got to love that. Good. >> Hello. >> Welcome. >> Good evening. Thank you. Um, is it possible that we have the slides perhaps? >> Yep. Okay. Excellent. Well, in the meantime, as that's coming up, I'm Curier Henry Wizenh Hunt. I'm the executive director of Posher People. Uh, this is Kimmer, who loves the camera, as you
021can tell. um she has come to represent our four-legged co-workers and components and we are really grateful to be invited to speak to you all about re-engaging with being able to have animal assisted intervention from posture people with the new Hannibar County students. Um I did prepare a little story to tell. So if that's possible but if not I can just talk on through. Doesn't work out. Okay. In the meantime she loves the limelight. Um, as we're doing that, if I can recall a few things that were just on the introductory, just a little bit about Pause for People. Um, we were founded in 1999 in the greater DC area originally and we relocated here to New Hover County with our headquarters in 2011. So, we've been here for gosh, I guess now we have
022to say 16 years now because it's 2026. Um, we did that to build our partnership with UNCW. So we have an assistance dog training minor at UNCW which is the only undergraduate minor in the country that students can pursue in this industry and the UNCW students actually help us with the finalization of the dog training portion. And a lot previously when we had our previous partnership with New Hover County Schools, a lot of the interaction that got to be done was when teachers or administrators invited our dogs to the schools, uh the UNCW student handlers would actually get to come partake in that also. This was a really cool kind of like educational full circle experience of students helping students. Um, but we're very excited. We thank you for your consideration and we're very excited
023to have uh a new refreshed and signed memorandum of understanding so that our facility dogs and our dogs in training can attend school functions when requested by teachers and approved by the principles. so that students who are perhaps struggling um after maybe some difficult events, they might be needed. Also, um we already have an invitation on our agenda for later this month for, for example, a literacy night because the dogs helping with literacy. Uh building confidence in reading and those skills is something that I know that the educators really hope to engage and be able to have the dogs to build that. So, we're very excited to have the dogs re-entering the schools this year in 2026. We're glad that we can share, you know, our furry loving animals with the students and that we'll
024be able to be responsive to the requests. So, you're okay. >> Oh, okay. So, that's all I had to say and then we just have a short story to share with you and we should be right on time. That's okay. I never like to sit at the seat with a computer, so >> I'm just very grateful for y'all. Mason, >> I just want to say that when we had the previous contract or the previous with you guys, my boys were in um elementary school and they loved reading with the dogs. So, I love that we could bring this back. And >> thank you so much. >> Such a good puppy. >> Thank you. She's a pretty good one. >> Yes. She always knows when they're talking about her. Yes. Good job. Yes. Oh, that's okay.
025>> That's okay. Are there any other questions or topics that I might be able to take a >> picture with the dog? >> I would love that. Yes, let's do that. Thank you. >> Ladies and gentlemen, >> all right, let's go. >> Coming. in the dots. So, I'm guessing none of our monitors are working. >> No, but our >> It's okay. It happened. I told them what they need. >> You did. You did all the right things. >> I can see better. >> No, mine either. >> All right. >> We will carry on with our superintendent report. >> Thank you. >> So, Mr. Superintendent. >> All right. As we begin a new year, I want to start by welcoming everybody back. I hope our students, staff, and families had time to rest and recharge and
026enjoy meaningful time with loved ones over the break. Before moving on, I want to recognize the incredible work happening in our schools every day. I want to share an email that I got this week. I usually get emails, texts pretty often from families, but this one is one I had sent to you folks a little earlier this week. Just encapsulates the work we're doing so well. I want to share it with everyone. So, the email says, "I hope this note finds you well. Our family has recently moved away over the holiday break. And as we are closing this chapter, I felt compelled to reach out and share how grateful we are for the incredible team at my child's school. The principal was truly phenomenal. From day one, she made our family feel known and valued.
027She greeted our son by name every morning, learned our family members names, and used them, and was consistently warm, present, and intentional at every interaction. When situations arose, she was proactive, thoughtful, and quick to communicate. Her leadership created an environment of trust and care and the morale we experienced at this school was truly second to none. We'd also like to recognize the teachers who had such a profound impact on our child while they were there. Miss Putnham, Miss Patterson, Miss Drawn, and Miss Hill, uh, his speech teacher who he's been seeing since he was three years old. Each of these educators poured love into our child, built him up, and supported him in ways that went far beyond academics. They made him feel safe, capable, and confident. and they truly saw him for who he
028is. Because of them, he grew not only leaps and bounds as a learner, but as a person, which is also very important to us. As a former educator myself, I know how special it is to find a school where leadership, teachers, and specialists work together so intentionally to support children. This school is a shining example of that kind of community, and we wanted to be sure you were aware of the exceptional team you have there. Thank you for your leadership in supporting a school community that made such a lasting effort impact on our family. The school will always hold a very special place in our hearts. I share that with you guys not to single out one school or one principal or one teacher, but because it reflects what I see across our district every
029day. This kind of feedback is a powerful reminder that the work our staff does matters deeply to families and leaves a lasting impact well beyond the classroom. I want to thank all of our educators, support staff, and school leaders for the heart, professionalism, and dedication you guys bring to your work every day. All right, turning to district updates. I want to highlight some upcoming opportunities for our students and families. The application window for our specialty high school programs opens January 18th and runs through February 8th. Program prompts will be posted on individual school websites beginning January 11th, and the district will continue to share reminders with currently enrolled students. These programs are open to all students in New Hover County and I encourage families to explore the options that we have available. If you want
030more information, I encourage you to visit our encourage you to visit our district website. Under the schools tab, you'll find a special a section titled specialized high school programs and early colleges where families can review program details, prompts, and application links in one central location. We are also preparing for enrollment season. PreK enrollment begins February 1st, 2026. And kindergarten enrollment, believe it or not, will take place on March 2nd through March 16th for the 2026 2027 school year. Families should watch our website and social media channels for additional details as dates approach. Hold on, folks. We're almost there. The next several weeks will be filled with outstanding student achievements and events across the district. I want to highlight some of them for you. Free application for federal student aid. The FAFSA nights, Tuesday, January 13th
031from 6:00 to 7:30 at CFCC Union Station located at 502 North Front Street. Thursday, January 29th at 6:00 at CFCC North Campus located at 4500 Blue Clay Road. Those are nights for free application and support to apply for the FAFSA. Our math counts middle school competition is January 21st. And if you have never had that sort of humbling experience of watching that happen, you should go because I learned that I did not get as far in that as some of our middle schoolers have already gotten. All right. All county chorus performances, middle and high schools on February 7th and elementary on February 14th. The elementary chess tournament is on February 18th and the all county dance and theater is on February 27th. These events recognize the talent and reflect the dedication and creativity of our
032students. You can look on our website to find their locations and opportunities. And I think uh sorry uh Anita, we're going off script for a minute. Over the last several weeks or so, I've gotten comments and questions from board members, from community members, from staff asking me why if I see something that is maybe incorrect or um maybe not the whole story printed on social media or somewhere, why am I not going out and spending time making sure that the story is correct? And so I wanted to speak to that just in brief for all of you. I have sort of three gateways that I have to follow. One is the state's general statutes and laws. The second is the schools uh and the board's policies and procedures. And the third is my own personal
033code of ethics and personal integrity. I will not sacrifice any one of the three of those things to make sure the whole story gets told. You sometimes hear your part of a story. We are unable to share the entirety of the story with you. That doesn't mean there isn't another side. It just means that I'm too classy to share it. But it's also part of what I think is appropriate and what I think is is willing to do. I will not do things that sacrifice any of those three three things significantly my personal integrity and code of ethics. So just understand that sometimes you hear things understand there might be some other side to that story. That concludes my comments. Thank you. >> Thank you sir. I don't have three pages. I only have one.
034So I'll be a lot quicker. Excuse me. Good evening and happy new year to everyone. As we look forward to an exciting 2026, we need to reflect on 2025. Lots of things happen, some good and not some not so good. Our pastor entitled his sermon recently a reset. And whether you're a church attender or not, this time of year there are many New Year's resolutions made and some kept and some not kept. I want to begin by thanking my fellow board members for showing their faith in me to lead this board into a very interesting year. We have many challenges in front of us and with five, excuse me, with five out of the seven of us running for either election or reelection, it may become challenging to keep up with our responsibilities to our
035students and employees and attempting to running a successful campaign at the same time. I would humbly ask a few things of my fellow board members. Please keep the lines of communication open with me and with your fellow board members. Before you post something or do an interview, ask yourself two very simple questions. Will this help our students or staff in any way? Or will it hurt the positive progress of New Hmer County schools? I would humbly ask you if you have any doubts about the answer to those questions, reach out either to me or to our elected vice chair, Miss Mason, for a second opinion. You still can say whatever you want, but I would like you to at least do that for that second opinion. It's always good to be able to talk through
036important matters. And if we can't come to an understanding, we can reach out to the other leader for a third view. I know some people want to immediately post or respond, but sometimes waiting and reflecting can bring important insight to a matter. I am very grateful for our board and for our school system and for the awome awesome things that our students and staff are doing and will be doing in the future. Happy 2026 and together we will reach new heights for the focus of all that we do, our wonderful students. Thank you. We will continue now with our information uh presentation of partnership that works for New Hmer County Schools Career and Technical Education CTE. >> Dr. Hamilton, >> good evening and thank you for the opportunity to share this with you. Earlier in
037December, I attended the um CTE teacher of the year banquet of our teacher Trey Moore from New Hover High School was one of the statewide finalist. And then the next day I had the opportunity to attend the first annual statewide CTE workforce development conference. And at that conference, New Hover County Schools was mentioned several times for their statewide leadership with partnerships in our communities that enhances workforce development. And at that conference, there was a fabulous presentation from one of our Ashley High School seniors, Alexa Grace, and one of our partners, general manager of Wilmington Grill, John Barber. It was so good that by the time they barely even sat down, I said, "Okay, I hope you all know you have to be prepared to come to the January board meeting and make the same presentation
038again because everyone needs to see this." And I attribute these successes, of course, to our CTE leadership team, our CTE staff that we have in our schools, and primarily to our fabulous director, Mrs. Mandy Mills, who I'm going to turn this over to now. Thank you. >> Good evening. Good evening. >> Um I'm going to talk really fast because I want to turn it over to the important people. Um but I would just like to um note to you the um you each had a gift bag that's from um the CTE department in honor of um schoolboard appreciation month. And >> just so you know these um coasters that were made, I just wanted to tell you like some of the skills and tools that um had to be learned before these could be made.
039So, these students used um planers, joiners, table saws, band saws, clamps, and sanders. They learned about measuring, cutting, laminating, and sanding. That was in the carpentry class. And these these were all made at New Hver High School um with Mr. Brian Baitwell's carpentry class and Mr. Trey Moore's um engineering class. So, the engineering class learned CNC machining and the digital files, and then the carpenter class then got them back again to sand them down and get them all ready for you. So, you also have some other CTE swag, but this this was the most important. >> Very cool. Um, so I'm also very excited to share with you tonight or introduce Alexa and John because they are a great example of how career and technical education really comes to life through industry partnerships. CTE works
040best when our students have the opportunity to learn directly from professionals who are invested in their success. This evening, I'm proud to introduce you to Alexa Grace, an outstanding senior at Ashley High School, her mentor and one of our valued industry partners, John Barber, general manager of Wilmington Grill. John also serves as the chair of our advisory CT advisory council and his leadership plays a critical role in helping us keep our programs relevant and connected to the workforce needs. We are incredibly grateful for his time, commitment, and continued support to our students. This partnership is a perfect example of how collab collaboration between education and industry creates meaningful opportunities for for student success. So, at this time, I will turn it over to Alexa and then John. Okay. So, hi, my name is Alexa. As
041Miss Mills just stated, I am a senior at Ashley High School and I've been a CTE student actively for three years going on to my fourth year now. As you can see in these pictures, that's me on the left. That's Mr. Barber in the middle. He was one of my mentors. And then my other mentor, Mr. Moore, who unfortunately was not able to be here tonight, but I will speak on his behalf for a little bit. Okay. Okay. So, I'm going to go over a quick brief introduction to what my class experience has been in CTE, my two big projects that I've done through business partnership, and then just in general, the beneficial like reactions I've gotten from CS CTE and what that has done for me. Um, starting off, I'm a senior at Eugene
042Ashley High School. Like I said, I was an active CTE student for three years. Unfortunately, my program teacher is no longer at our school, so I'm no longer actively in my program, but I am still interning and working within CTE. I have background experience through my CTE courses in mechanical engineering and architecture. I did an architecture apprenticeship from 2023 to 2024, so last year. And then I was also an architecture intern last year in my sophomore year. Um, so like I said, I'm going to go over my classes, my projects, and then just the overall impact I've had at CT. So, starting off with my certifications and classes. Like I said, I was actively enrolled in classes from my 9th to 11th grade. I took drafting one, architecture 2, engineering 2, and advanced study in
043architecture, and an architectural internship. I was also certified in AutoCAD, which is a 2D drafting service, Revit and Inventor, which are two different versions of the 3D continuations of AutoCAD. Um, so I did two big projects through out my time in CTE. They're both kind of placed between my freshman to junior year, mostly in my sophomore year. I will say the first big one I did was with Mr. Cameron Moore, who like I said is unfortunately not able to be here tonight, but I designed a house basically, which I'm going to get into, but I was brought onto his team, and he works for the Wilmington Capefare Home Builders Association. I was brought on his team to help design a home and kind of work with clients and just more shadow when I was starting,
044get to know the people, get to see that experience because I was really really architecturally based when I started in CTE. So, it started off as kind of more of a mentorship throughout the program after I got to know him, he got to know me. I spent a lot of time with him and our clients. They learned a lot more about what my skill set was and I was a little bit further along than I think they expected I was. and we ended up shifting that into an apprenticeship and I did end up doing actual hands-on work with these clients and with the board. Um, so it was kind of a big thing I will say I took away from that was client-based interaction. As a sophomore in high school, I wasn't able to drive.
045I didn't even have a job at the time and I was working with people and speaking to people about their home that they were building. I think that's an experience that has stuck with me forever and I think will continue to stick with me just because it's something so abnormal. you don't feel like you'd ever experience that when you're 15 years old, but it really formed such a great relationship with me and also built my soft skills a lot. Along with that, like I said, and I will get into here in a second, I was a basic plans designer. So, obviously, I'm not an architect. I can't stamp anything. I can't make anything necessarily structurally sound, but I was able to design these plans with these clients and like go over what they wanted their
046house to look like because that was the skill set I had. And I spent I think a solid I think we did 36 sets of plans with these clients. This is over this is over a whole year. So it was a lot of time that I spent on these plans. This is my final floor plan. I wasn't going to make you guys go through the 36 versions. Figured that would be a little timely. Um but this ended up being my final one. As you can see, like I said, these aren't necessarily architecturally sound because this was just kind of what the client was like, "Oh, I wanted this." And I was like, "Okay." So I worked with what I could. This house is located out in a which is a up and cominging neighborhood right
047next to a gardens. Um which I will get to the final house plans in a second because I do have those. But this was the bottom floor and then this was my top floor which looks a lot different in the final plan because originally they did not want any finished space over the garage. We ended up switching that. But so those were my plans. Like I said about 36 versions. I spent eight months with these clients and with Till You Homes and Brad and I spent a lot of time speaking to them and I know these clients very well. I'm still very friendly with them. They reach out every once in a while and check in on me and I check in on them. They move in in a couple months actually the house will
048be finished being built which is very exciting. So I'm going to go to the opening and everything and see them which is such an amazing experience I will say again as a senior in high school. So these are the final plans that I got sent by the architects last year around. As you can see, they are very similar to the plans that I showed you that I designed. And the fact that I can stand here, again, like I said, I was 15 at the time. I couldn't drive a car and I can show you a house that I essentially designed and had a huge part in. I think that in itself speaks for our CTE program and how amazing it is here and how awesome it is that I was able to even have this
049opportunity and really get to explore it because I designed a house again when I was 15, which I'm just so grateful for. This was our upper floor plan. I really think the big things I took away from this was, like I said, client experience. And being able to sit down and be like, "Oh, this really isn't as scary as I thought it was." The idea of going and speaking to someone was terrifying to me. I didn't want to get on a Zoom call. I didn't want to do a meeting. All of that seems so scary cuz you've never done it before. Having that experience and being able to just sit down with the client and be like, "Hey, you didn't like this. You liked this. What's up?" was an experience that I really did benefit
050from and I think I still do in my everyday. I'm a teacher now. I'm a preschool teacher. Um, and all of that work I had a lot more experience like with working with kids and just being able to speak to parents and mentors and everybody I feel like in my life I feel like client experience has been so amazing and that's something I wouldn't have been able to get if obviously we didn't have our CT program and I'm just really grateful for the opportunities we have especially with that business partnership as I was able to work on field. I'm going to go to my second project. This is with Mr. John Barber who you guys will hear from in a little bit. Um, so this project was on the left. You can kind of see
051my reference image. I designed a mechanical like I mechanically engineered a metal cart basically. Um, our teacher showed us this picture in class one day and was kind of talking about it and he was like, "Oh, this is really cool." Whatever. Like I saw this, this is a good example of stainless steel design as that what we were going into with our programs. And I was like, "Oh, this is really cool. I would love to try and design this. Like, would you let me?" And he was like, "Of course." So, I spent a lot of time, I would say, with my teacher. He taught me how to do all of our 3D software because I was not certified in it yet. I am now. But I spent a lot of time in that software which
052is when I designed this. This was also a mentorship. So I worked to design it. And then Wilmington Grill, which is where Mr. Barbara is the general manager, helped me to manufacture it. So these are my final drawings. Again, I'm not going to go through the 18 files I have of this saved on my computer. Um, but this ended up being my final drawing. As you can see, there's a side view, a middle view, and then a top and bottom and an isometric view. This project I think took two se it was a full year. It took two semesters the end of my freshman year and the beginning of my sophomore year. Again, a lot of time was spent on this, but it was so valuable to me because I really did get that hands-on
053experience with programs. And then to be able to have Mr. Barber and him reach out to me and be like, "We'd love to work with you on manufacturing this. Here's the process. I met everybody on their team. We went in, which I'll show you a picture in a minute, and we watched it get manufactured." And I got to watch that process. And as a sophomore in high school again, I think that was a process that really did benefit me and it really motivated me to be like, "Oh, I can see my future in this." Like, this is something real. It's not something I'm making up. I kind of always knew when I was younger I was going to go into engineering because I was good at math. And that's what I was told when I
054was a kid, oh, you're good at math. You can go be an engineer. But this is really an experience to me that I think motivated me and really still to this day drives me. Which I'm going to show you guys a couple pictures. So that picture on the left for you all is the picture of the day we went and got it. We got it over Christmas break and we got to go through the entire process. So I got to get watch the laser CNC's. I got to watch my program go into it. We got to watch the welding, the bending, all of that. I met the whole team. Everybody was so accommodating. And like I said again, this was just so inspirational to me and motivational to me. And that is something you really
055cannot get out of if you do not have that business partnership aspect that I am so grateful we have in our CT program because it really has pushed me to motivate my life. As you can see, it's currently in our garage. We're using it for my dad's cery. Um, I love it and being able to like see it in my house every day pushes me further, motivates me to continue to pursue my passions and what I'm going to go into. Um, and now I'm just going to kind of talk about the overall impact that I've not already touched on. So, I am currently, like I said, I am currently a preschool teacher, well, an assistant preschool teacher. And then I also am currently a um plan designer and an AutoCAD drafter for American Homesmith here
056in Wilmington. I redo a lot of their plans and I tweaked them because I have experience in that. So, that kind of built off of my CT and I really wouldn't have had that experience and I wouldn't have been able to have that connection with him if it wasn't for CTE. I got that connection through Mr. Barber who like I said, nope, Mr. Cameron, sorry. Cameron works at the Kate Fairfare Home Builders Association and he set me up with um American Homesmith. They're great people. I love them. It's such a fun job and I get to continue to work on my skills and that is something that came out of CTE and I'm again so grateful for. Next thing is college and future exploration. I know a lot of the time when CTE is brought
057up, it's kind of thought of as like going to trade school or going directly into the workforce. I am going to four-year college next year and I think this has been the most beneficial thing in the entire college exploration process. I know so many people that are like going into college. I spent so many years like changing my degree and getting a new degree cuz I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And like I said going into high school, I was like I'll just go to engineering. I'm good at math. It'll be work easy. Um I really didn't know anything about engineering. No idea what they did. Didn't know there was like 20 branches of it. Like it was a complete like I was just going to dive into the deep end. And
058then I went and I took my engineering CTE class. And like I said, I took both architecture and engineering. I was leaning architecture for a really long time. Through that experience though, I kind of learned that as much as I loved it, I didn't want to do that. I wanted to go into mechanical engineering. That's what I will be majoring in next year. But I think the ability to figure out what I'm going to do for college and be dead set on it because I know what it involves. I know what it's going to look like and I know what my future is going to look like is something that I am so incredibly grateful as a senior in high school because it takes so much stress off of you. I think that is so
059great about the CTE program. And then specifically in our business partnership program, like I said, connections. I wouldn't have my job with American Homesmith if it wasn't for our business partnership and being able to connect with people. And then also that comfortability in the workplace. I was talking with my soft skills and my communication skills. I was young. I had no idea. I was scared to respond to emails if I didn't know the answer. Now it's like, "Okay, cool. Whatever." I can shoot off an email and just be like, "Hey, let me get back to you and I figure things out." Never would have done that two years ago because I had no idea like that was normal. And it's things like that that's like it's things like that that you develop through CT that
060like are not really thought about as adults because you have developed them, but as a kid it's like that's not in your head space. Getting on a Zoom call, like I said, I was terrified to get on a Zoom call. I went through co I was terrified to get on a Zoom call meeting because it was just something that I was new to me. So to be able to have all that experience going into college is something I am so so grateful for because I think having those soft skills has developed me as a better person, a better student, and just a better like community member in general to be able to interact with almost anybody, mentors, anybody like that. Also, my public speaking skills is something that I'm really grateful for CTE in. I
061would have been terrified to do this two years ago. You would I would have said no. I would have not been up here right now. I'll be honest with you. But the ability to get those soft skills and get used to being able to be up in front of people and talking to people and sharing things is something that I think is the most beneficial thing of our business partnership. On top of that, getting hands-on work experience is really what I would say has been my biggest benefit and my biggest impact from business partnership in CTE. But I think that's all I have for you guys. So if you have any questions before I pass it to Mr. Barbara, I would love to answer anything. >> Board members, any questions? >> I don't have a
062question. Yes, >> but I have a comment. I just want to say I'm going to highlight one of the things that you pulled out and you said CTE is not just for the kids who want to go to trade school and um coming on to this board workforce development and having pathways for kids has been a passion of mine and so this we've been through the rebranding process you see the logo and all these partners because >> we talk about the opportunities of what CTE can bring and so I just want to say I'm so proud of you. Thank you for sharing your story and the value and impact of what partnerships and opportunities look like for students and you know keep on keep it on. >> Dr. Merrick, >> I think we're all pretty
063impressed. >> Thank you. >> But I also want to give you something else. You kept saying, "Oh, well, I wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for that and this and the other and how scary it was." And I want to acknowledge that you did it despite the fact that it was scary. And that is the mark of real character. Keep it going. Share it with your friends. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you for making us look good. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Barnes. >> Again, we talk a lot about the three E, which we want every student to graduate with, enrollment, employment, or higher education. And you've nailed two out of the three. So, I want to recognize Liz and Brady. Her parents are here tonight. So, give a wave. Thank you. And
064I will tell you, Dad, she gave the exact right answer when I said what school you're going to go to. And her answer was, "Whichever school gives me the most money," which I thought was the perfect answer. So, I didn't want to stop you, but just amazing work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, and everybody else has spoken. I I would just like to tell you that I am super proud of you. My goodness gracious. I can't imagine at your age getting in front of all these pe these adults and speaking and all the wonderful things you've done. Um you know, next next house I build, I'm going to get get you a call. So, thank you very much. Great job. >> Of course. I'm going to pass it over to Mr. Barber then
065if there's no more questions and I'm going to let him speak on more of our business perspective of CT. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. So, so hi, I'm John Barber. I'm with uh with Wilmington Girl and I'm always the one who has to follow Alexa. So, uh that that's that's just a wonderful wonderful story. Um and we were so happy to be able to work with her on that project and she didn't even tell you half the story. So, um so all right. So, I'm John. I'm with Wilmington Grill. We manufacture stainless steel grills here in Wilmington. We're up in Northchase. We're a family-owned business and one of our values as our company that we have is we always want to promote manufacturing to students. It's been a wonderful career for
066me uh and I always like to do that for my family and help tell people that it can lead to many opportunities for them. So that has led us to do many things as a company. Uh we started with manufacturing day. We have tours. We have a lot of tours at at our facility. We love doing that to the point where we've even modified our equipment so we can give better examples during our tours. Uh we've been on different advisory boards. Um we sponsored manufacturing camps for middle schools. Um different presentations, projects like we have with Alexa. That led to being part of the advisory board. And then when Mandy took over and her great team, she asked me to be the chair. And so that's why I'm here right now and that's why I
067was with uh Alexa at this presentation to help talk about the community partnerships. So I want to take a couple seconds here just talk about our CTE advisory board. And I think this has been a a great thing that that we've you know built up over the past couple years now. So on our advisory board, we've got a representative from pretty much every major industry here in town. In addition to that, workforce development, the chamber, Capefir Community College, we've got the um you know, membership or the the administration team here at the schools. So, we've got this this nice group going to help with this advisory board to help give the the feedback that's required and and needed to to see what's invited or needed in the um the community. So with our advisory board
068and I'll make this quick here is what works. So we've got this nice group and we're all there and we're there to provide feedback and I know many of you have been part of these meetings. But that's the great thing. Everybody that's there wants to be there and is engaged and active. And the great thing is too that the administration wants to hear our feedback so we can give you know input as to what's needed in you know the the workforce. We've got a great group. Having people from every major industry and all of the support networks is is incredible. Uh we have a quarterly meeting. We put it at a high school. And that's great because part of the meeting is we go on, we give a tour and so everybody can see firsthand
069what's going on in the classroom. And I think that's very important for the community partners. Um, we also have a nice little executive committee that works with Mandy's team to help um, plan the meetings. So, we got everybody engaged. Uh, and then we've got a great followup where we're constantly keeping people engaged and keeping these community partners going as well as then we've got a nice tie-in with Capefir Community College. So, in general, Mandy and her team has done a great job in helping to develop this the CTE program, especially the advisory board. And I just like to talk about what we just have, you know, done with with the the group. And that's a two-c overview of the CTE advisory board. So, it's hard to follow Alexa. So, so any questions, >> board members,
070any questions? Thank you. >> Another comment, not not a question. >> I'm just going to say thank you again. I appreciate your leadership and the opportunity to partner with you because um as a district, I know principles and teachers get frustrated when they have to figure out an opportunity to create for their students. And so having a district-wide leadership and intentionality and Miss Mills, I'm going to shout out to you as well of making sure that the program recruit we are creating here applies to all of New Hor County schools because we want to make sure we're get giving you and the workforce the best of the best opportunities of students who might work for you one day. Um but also really making sure that all students have this amazing opportunity. So thank you so
071much for your commitment to our students. >> Thank you very much. Neils. Oh, Miss Bradford >> and John, I just wanted to echo Josie's comments and Alexa and Mandy, thank you very much for the presentation, sharing the information. It helps us promote what you do and it just helps us work that much better. Thank you for your dedication. >> Thank you. >> And if we can have you and Alexa and her folks and Mandy come up, we'd like to get a picture with all of the board as well. >> Told me I don't have a choice. This is my favorite thing. You know, we just All right. Now straight into >> All righty. >> Easy. We are going to go uh I don't think we updated it, but we are going to go on to
072new business, which is exceptional children's programs. And I'm not sure who's going to be taking that. >> I think it's Julie. >> Julie, I figured. Okay, >> Miss Varnum, please come down and join us. Welcome. >> Thank you. That's a hard act to follow. So, I'm going to talk about money that we would like to have more of. Um, so, thank you for bringing this um onto the agenda for uh your discussion and for possible action. And this comes in response to the resolution in support of equitable funding for exceptional children in Hannover County Schools. The resolution that the board passed in the uh last board meeting. So I want to bring um to the board's attention or to the community's attention some of the details in the resolution uh that will lead to more
073of the information and then of course whatever questions uh you have. So for each student that is served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which we refer to as IDA, but knowing that that's the federal law that governs all of the um programs for free and appropriate public education for our students that have a qualifying disability. And in North Carolina, uh, North Carolina policies governing the programs and services for children with disabilities outlines the eligibility criteria, outlines the evaluation processes, and all of the procedural safeguards and parents rights. So, um, for each child that is determined eligible, school age child, state funding is provided at 5,593.34 per child. And that's calculated based on our December 1 exceptional children headcount or child count. And that's based on the number of children that have those individualized education
074programs, meaning they are they are eligible for services. There's a plan in place for those services. and we are providing those services. But the December child count um the December child count allows for us to calculate every child receiving services, but the funding stops at a 13% mark. 13% of our total ADM, which is our average daily membership of total school age students. Our population of students requiring exceptional children services or having an individualized education program is 13.9. Now, I'm speaking about data that occurred last December, December of 24 for the 25 funding cycle. So in in another couple of months I can provide information on on what our funding will be like for it might actually take closer to April but to give an idea of what our um our child count is. We've
075calculated our December child count but all that has to still be verified. So I'm using data from a year past. So based on the funding cap, we're serving we're serving 13.9% of our population as students with disabilities requiring IEPs or individ individualized education programs. Meaning almost 1% were not being funded for. That calculates for us at 101 children. So those are not funded. That dollar amount for us is $564,927.34 for this current school year. $564,000. So, the board did ask in the resolution for the general assembly to consider the um looking at a funding formula that it revises from a per child count to an intensity of need count. and I'll speak to that in a minute. Also, asking for other supplemental funding uh relief options, which there are some, and hear me when I
076say we are really quick to ask for those. As soon as those applications open, we seek those. We do not wait a day or two. Also asking to um remove the financial or remove the cap um to release some of the financial burden and to increase our impact. and then alongside um other districts advocate for um the provision of federal funding as well because that's another point. So I want to move on from the resolution to the next document. Um it would be the third New H school's funding legislative request. Thank you. And I apologize. I'm going to have to say a lot of the words that are on this particular document because it took a lot to make it one page. And so therefore, it's only the main points. So there are um four
077major sections in this document that I'm just going to speak to and then this is here for anybody to reference if you want to. So there are statutory requirements, there's an intensity of need and then there are the funding challenges. But inside the intens intensity of need, I'm going to give you some specific data. So, the statutory requirements, as I've already mentioned, federal law, which is IDA, federal law lays out exactly what's expected of us and and that was enacted by Congress in 1975. And I'm going to give you a a quick little piece of information on the funding. In 50 years ago, when that was written, Congress wrote into the law that they would fund 40% of what it takes to implement. and the states would pick up the rest. So this is written
078for the nation. In 50 years, it has never been fully funded. The most funding that states have received is 18%. Just let that sit for a second. The average that states have received is 15%. Our most recent is 13%. So, we already have a major gap in what's expected and then what's funded. So, the state's picking up the rest. Our North Carolina policies, as I mentioned, require and ensure that all eligible children are provided a free appropriate appropriate public education. And that's not just for special education services, but it's also for related services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech, language, medical or nursing services, and the list really goes on. So these services are not determined by a district level team. They're not determined by a state level team. These services for each child are determined
079by that child's team, including most importantly their parents who have goals and a lot of history and a lot of insight into that child's characteristics, their strengths and their needs. So that forms the team along with their current providers at their school, their general education teacher, their special education, the administrator. That team comes together and decides those services and then we follow through with making sure that the resources are there for those services to be uh to be carried out as the team has determined. So the intensity of need, let me come to that. Um well, let me back up one step. We don't just serve school age children. We start evaluating children where there's a suspicion of disability. We start evaluating at 2 years 6 months because we start providing services at 3 years.
080So three years old. And the services under IDEIDA are for ages 3 to 21. But if a student stays with us and they're still in school with us when they're 21, they can remain with us and and be provided services through the school year in which they turn 22. They don't count on headcount either. So, we don't necessarily get the funding when they when they choose to stay and age out with us, but that's fine. We serve them. So, we we say we serve 2 years 6 months to 22. The intensity of need current numbers not based on last year's child count current numbers 3,293 so 3293 school age students who we often refer to as EC or exceptional children are provided special education and related services with us. We are we are only um
081providing special education services by certified and highly qualified staff. And in the event we have turnover, we are recruiting those highly qualified and certified staff to fill those gaps. North Carolina policies govern case load and class size. So we don't just fill up classrooms based on the size of the classroom. We're following case load and class size requirements. Those and and those are meant to meet the educational, the behavioral and the medical needs of our students. So while the the class size and the um the case load um ranges across a continuum, it ranges from two staff to six students for our most significant needs to one staff and 14 students. Again, the continuum of children with disabilities and the continuum of need is vast from very significant to very minimal but still requiring services.
082So again, the ratio can be two staff to six students or 1 to 14. The average ratio of staff to students in new handover county schools is 1 to 3.8 students. One staff to 3.8 students. And that's due to the significant number of students with intensive developmental, behavioral, and medical needs. So, I want to speak to that for a second. We have 108 maximum service classrooms for our students with the most significant needs. And those classrooms require really low ratios, low staff to student ratios, specialized equipment, assisted technology, multiple related services, and it's not just those that you might automatically think of or I mentioned a while ago like physical therapy and occupational therapy. It can include one-on-one registered nurses. The cost of these services far exceed the per child aotment funding that we receive
083from the state or the fed. So in fact, this is a really crucial data point. In fact, the cost to serve our 30 most fragile students, all of their related services, I'm not mentioning their special education. I'm not mentioning the classroom teacher that also serves a few others. I'm talking about just the related services for our 30 30 most intensive students exceeds $1.4 million this year. So that means our nursing, we have 13 students with nursing, one-on-one nursing, that is $964,000 contract this year. CNA support, another 255,000. The list goes on with language facilitators, cued speech transliterators, educational interpreters, behavior technicians, and braille services. So the funding challenge and I'm again so grateful that the board has asked for this information to be discussed that to be provided to legislators and this is exactly why
084this has been this has been created as a one-pager with very many words in very small font. The funding challenges are this. There's a flat funding formula. We get a per child amount. I'm going to go back. You remember what it cost to provide the services to our 30 most fragile students? 30. And I said that was 1.4 million. Remember, we get $5,593.34 from the state for those children. The funding challenge is the flat funding formula, meaning that all students are funded at the same level regardless of the intensity of the services they require. For example, a student who requires 30 minutes of service daily, could be physical therapy, could be speech therapy. They have the same funding as a student needing full day support plus multiple related services. Full day support of teacher, teacher,
085assistant, maybe multiple plus all these related services, same amount of money. So the proposed EC weighted funding model that has been proposed by the state that is identified by DPI and the state board as a priority currently uh through the government affairs office and provided in the December 3rd state board meeting. It is still identified as a priority to to implement the exceptional children weighted funding formula that generates the funding by the service level required for the student versus the fixed per student rate. that funding formula per DPI. The weighted elements would include environment, so the placement, the location of services, the intensity of services, which could also include that course of study, whether our students are on the general curriculum or adapted curriculum, and then it also includes staffing ratio, how many staff are
086required to appropriately and safely serve our students. So, we are very much in favor of the weighted funding formula. And during my time um serving as president of council for administrators of special aid in North Carolina, we were very involved in the create the original creation of this. I'm sad to say that was a few years ago. I think it was about five. >> The next is the next funding challenge is our state cap. We have legal obligations, as I mentioned before, to serve every student who meets criteria. Every student who meets criteria must be fully served. Then why shouldn't every student who meets criteria be fully funded? Amen. >> So, we're asking for the state cap to be removed because it doesn't match the legal obligation in North Carolina or developed by Congress. So
087the 13% cap should be removed. I am so appreciative that this board has asked that for immediate funding of what we aren't being provided that.9% funding which is over $560,000. So immediate action requested would be removal of a 13% funding cap in addition to approval of the EC weighted funding model. and that we find that that would be imperative for public school units to meet baseline legal requirements. Baseline, not the most um the what's considered the best or the or the most advanced. It's to meet baseline. That's the least that can be done regarding the funding. I'm open to any questions. >> Okay, thank you for that. Um my question is how um I I'm definitely for the weighted model. How uh indepth or complicated is it going to be to set up a system
088where um because every child's unique and they vary. So um how do we come up with a advocate for a system that's going to be not a bear to manage but still gets us the money that we need? >> Right. That's a great question. this um weighted funding model has already been piloted in multiple school districts across the state and then analyzed for the funding that they would have received um in under the old model and then the funding received in the new model. So um those results do show that districts or counties that have a high number of students with significant needs are provided more appropriate funding and the database for these 3,300 children is quite extensive. Um, so I would I would argue that we already have every every sale in any report
089that is needed for that. Thank you, >> Miss Justice. >> Uh, yeah, thank you so much for this presentation and thank you for this board for caring what the information. Um, one of the things that is a reality is that New Herbert County is a magnet for people moving into the area with their children or EC because we do provide the best >> most comprehensive >> support. Yeah. Of in southeastern North Carolina, it's a reality. >> Uh, not only that, parents who send their kids to private schools, if they happen to have an EC child, pull them out of private schools and put them in our schools. This is a financial burden that the other districts don't have to deal with locally, but it's a problem across the state obviously, >> right? >> And this
090is purely political. It's a decision that our our leaders in the legis I know this is this is just a fact. So we in general, not just us, but our community needs to pressure them to look at what's needed for these kids because not only are they missing out on what they need, but the other students are too because we repeatedly have to pull because we're trying so hard to follow the regulations. But we have to pull other people constantly from other classes where they're needed desperately to try to meet the needs of these kids. And I wanted to say thank you so much, Miss Barnum. I've known you for years and ever since I first met you. Good God, excuse me. Eight, nine years ago. You've been such a powerful advocate for this this
091group of children. So, thank you so much personally. >> Thank you for that. >> Did you have something? >> Yes. I I heard something that I wouldn't address. >> No, thank you. Um I know that this has been on our legislative agenda, the ECtiered funding model, because it has been piloted statewide. So, we're not even asking to be a part of a pilot. It has been piloted. We would like to see that implemented. If I remember correctly, New Hover County, if this passes, would receive an additional two million more dollars roughly with those numbers that we talked it might have been a year ago, so it might be a little bit changed now, right? But I mean, it would be a substantial amount of money that we could specifically direct to EC because I know
092one of the ways that we did as a district to be responsive to EC needs is to say, let's take some of the TAs that had been traditionally in every single third grade classroom, in every single second grade classroom. We needed those so that we could be more responsive to the EC students that we have. >> Exactly. >> And so if we have allocated funding specifically for EC, then that would free up and allow us to re-evaluate how we could staff in different environments. So I don't know if you in one of our updates if we that up number is not 2 million if you could give us what that would be with the tiered funding model. I I remember it being roughly around that but just to >> Yeah, I'm not exactly >> it's
093old number. Yeah, it is old. >> Okay, >> Dr. Merrick, >> thank you. Thank you for bringing the passion for our kids. Thank you for caring enough to really spell this out. I I think what I'm seeing right now is that we know that about 200 people watch this meeting at home. And so this is really really important public information. And I think it I I don't want to skip the opportunity to remind the public that when we give vouchers to private schools, take that money away from our public schools. Now, these private schools are not under any uh commitment to take care of these children. >> We have to do it. And so the other thing, and I don't want to skip ahead. Are you going to go through that very long uh presentation
094for for these other um No, >> I included those for the highlights that I mentioned. >> Gotcha. Well, I want to bring something up about those because >> what we notice in there, what DPI has said we need in our schools and what they have recommended to the legislature and what the governor has recommended that we need are so very very different than what our state legislature has has suggested that perhaps we might want. And that's really important for the public to know what we need, what the governor realizes we need, what DPI says we need, what you say we need is not being delivered. And so we need to have public support to change our state legislature to please take care of our children. >> Yep. >> Thank you, >> Bradford. >> And I'm
095going to jump to my personal goal for the next couple of months, which is the cap. If we can just get the cap popped or raised, if it just went up one point, we'd have another $570,000, which would make a huge difference in our staffing at the EC level. And if y'all remember a year ago, we had for finance, we had uh school operations specialist Aaron Bullar come in and he did a a fabulous analysis of finance. But at the back of it, he had a big thick section about how stretched thin EC was at the crisis level >> and that we needed relief and we needed it fast. Now, we have the superintendent study that's just come out. And if you correlate those numbers in the very bottom around uh in the the the
096questions in the 40s and the 50s, you can see that stress level that our our principles are reporting, our assistant principles reporting. So, my goal is that while we're doing these mini budgets in Raleigh that everyone in this room can approach whichever state legislator that you know and ask them to take the cap off of EC funding, pop the cap or at least bump it up by two points. Talking to other board members at in other districts, we are not alone in this need. We are not by any means at the highest level of what the percentage is for other other counties, other school districts, but we want to take care of that 101 kids in our district. We want to take care of our staff as well because they're stretched thin. They're at the
097breaking point and it's a crisis. And so, um I'm just thrilled with this. We we need to we actually need to take this presentation to the new Hannib County Commissioners next and um and just keep moving as hard as we can on this. and maybe by you know maybe in 6 months we will have accomplished it. >> Thank you Julie. >> Thank you >> and I'm going to echo what my colleagues have said. I think uh this was a great presentation. Um very needed. Um I think that uh you number one you always do a great job but I think this is really an area you know as a former principal. I remember when one or two students uh you know just changed the the whole climate of a school. Um and you know if
098we had this the staffing and the student and the you know the the help that we needed at at the schools a lot of times you know those students would thrive they would be doing a lot better. The school as a whole would be doing a lot better. So it doesn't just impact that one small classroom of 14 students. It impacts a whole school uh or several schools uh in this case. So um you know I think I'm I think you know we all are on the same page that it is needed. we need to go ahead and get this cap popped as my colleague said down there u so that we can uh fund these students give them because this these students are hugely important but so are the rest of the students in
099the school so I agree >> Dr. bars just to add something to Julie what you said when you think about the a lotments of teachers that they provide the state provides to school systems the amount of EC service they provide all those come down to what's called a per pupil funding if you look at North Carolina I want everyone if you don't mind pull out your phone those of you who aren't already texting >> pull out your phone the national average for the teach for the per pupil funding national average for all 50 states including DC, so 51 is $17,853 per student. So put that into your phone. 17853. North Carolina's per pupil funding is 12,193. The difference in those two numbers, someone call it out for me please. 5,660. >> Well, look who is
100my A+ AIG student. Whoever you are, is 5,660 per kid. We have approximately 24,000 students here in New Hover County Schools. So, somebody please take 55660 and multiply that by 24,000. >> And where's my A+ student? Where what we get? Let's go down. Okay. about $136 million. >> Okay? And >> that is not to put us as the highest person in the highest state in the nation. That's to bring us to the national average. >> $136 million more would take care of our EC problems. It would take care of our academic concerns. It would take care of us some of our behavioral concerns. >> Boy, would we be flying? These are the things that we need to advocate for. My concern is removing the cap doesn't solve the problem. The problem is that our schools
101are not funded at the place where they need to be. >> I've been out of schools for about 10 years into central office. And when I was a high school principal, >> I the formulas and the funding was the same as it was a decade ago. Students are not the same as they were a decade ago. And whether it's special ed students, regular students, all students, we need to address with our legislature the state funding per pupil aotment. >> Thank you, M. Justice. >> Yes. And um by the way, we are the 12th wealthiest county I mean state. We're 12th wealthiest state in the nation. There's there's a recent within two months the most recent figures show that we fund our children per pupil at the 50th level 50th level out of 51 because they
102do conclude DC. This is appalling. Our kids deserve so much better. >> Any other questions from >> No. I I just wanted to if we're done, I'd like to make a motion that we uh take a five minute uh break um because we've already uh before we do the call audience. >> Okay. Is there a mo there's a motion? Well, is there anything else for Miss Varna before she leaves? >> Thank you, Julie. >> Great job. Great job. Okay, we have a motion. We have a motion for five minute break. Sure. >> Before we do, is I just was asking Dr. Barnes, is there any action that we can take that would advance this forward tonight? Does anyone have an idea? >> We can pass a basket around if you guys got 136 mil. I
103>> I think it comes down to, you know, we did such a great job last spring bringing students to Raleigh >> and showing legislators this is what New Hanover County Schools does to kids, does with students, right? I think continuing that advocacy is our only solution. I know that you and I have been working with the public school forum on their district-wide weighted student funding formula. I know that these things take time and I know you guys have been patiently waiting for a call to audience, but this is the real crux of the issue >> and if we could lick this problem, we would solve so many different things. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thought I was done. I apologize. But I think the throughout that has echoed in this conversation has been focused
104on the advocacy of targeted change. And so when we when we created and adopted the legislative agenda, we said what are the targeted needs to focus on? I I I don't like the aotment formula model. Never have. I support a fully student awaited funding model. Like Dr. Barnes said him and I have been asked to serve on a committee with the NC public schools forum and we've given our feedback and we've talked about how there needs to be consistent checks and updates. There needs to be something built in that if you have a teacher who has taught for 30 years, how are you accommodating them at a different rate with than a first year teacher? All these things. So there's there are a lot of conversations going on and the feedback that has been given
105to us to question and to say how does it look is where is the accountability it model in that because what has what is currently in place the line item that it is earmarked for must be spent on whatever it it says if it's EC students it has to be spent on EC or if it's in technology or whatever and so that has been a very um crucial component in talking about how to change things. And so that's something as as we have further conversations with one another to to um talk about the concern because that's been a concern that's been brought up to us that we've you know brainstormed with colleagues about. that I say continued the targeted focus the we have already acknowledged that EC here in our district and talking to colleagues
106across the state it seems to be echoed that the cap and the tiered funding model would help support and help us to better support what is currently happening um so I just appreciate my colleagues for approving the legislative agenda so that we can have a targeted advocacy focus >> for sure >> okay we will take a fivem minute break uh let's go ahead and be back at 40 uh 20 This All right, board members, we're ready to start. Need a couple more up here so we can begin. >> Sir, no one. >> All right, we are going to carry on. Uh, thank you for coming back. We are going to carry on with our call audience. I'll turn over to our vice chair, Miss Mason. Miss Mason, you're up. >> Thanks. All right, we're going
107to start with um Leslie Posey now. I heard she wasn't here, but I still wanted to call just to make sure. Okay, Chris Sutton. >> Thank you. >> Up there. Thank you. wasn't planning on speaking about pods for people tonight, but uh the theme of mine was delay and uh so they were removed in 2022 and then back in January of 2025, the executive director that actually just came and spoke during the teacher voice time. She sent an email to the board back last January. So a year later now, here she is at teacher voice. And again, delay, it's still not being handled. It it doesn't make much sense. I went around speaking to a lot of different teachers. That's something that continues to be brought up as pause for people. Um, another thing, delay
108the agenda review item that's coming before y'all tonight. Why can the community not see agenda review items? I understand it's still a working document, but they should be able to see it earlier. How can we disscent? How can we have conversations with our elected representatives? It's one thing if y'all just treated agenda review as just a regular agenda review. You don't. Sometimes y'all take votes at it. That's not good. Realistically, if y'all are going to support this change and make it a consensus item and vote on it, please at least add some type of protection that doesn't allow agenda review votes unless it's considered an emergency. Uh public records requests. Another one for six or seven years now, I've brought up the fact that we have uh our attorneys, which again, this is several attorneys
109back. The problem still persists with public records requests. We have no mechanism that makes it where things need to be handled in an in a specific amount of time where something can technically be tabled. We have one public records request right now that's been pending for 258 days. How is how is that quick? And I understand that we've been working on things and once our staff members kick it to our attorneys, I would love to see our attorney public our policy with attorneys change to tell them to work in a specific manner so everything gets addressed and things are not accidentally tabled. There's a lot more that I I plan to speak on, but we continue to delay growth. We need to start moving fast. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Satin. Karen Clark. Good
110evening, Dr. Barnes & Board. Jesus was consumed by his father's business. Do not be deceived by the enemy's tactics to distract you. Every seed of power, realm of government and authority exists through Almighty God for his purposes. I pray in Jesus' name, you are intentional. You remember what was placed in your heart when you were elected to protect the education of our children. That you set your mind as a flint before you. You avoid empty and worthless words and are never drawn into meaningless arguments. No more delay sending policy back to committee over and over. Our children, our parents, and our teachers are counting on you. Our children need academic rigor to understand citizenship, the moral law, to think critically, to discern truth. Teachers need time planning in the classroom, less meetings, emails, and costly
111canned curriculum. I pray your fruit is not contention, competition, and evil suspicions, but based on the truth of the anointed one. May you be reservoirs of every kind of wisdom and spiritual understanding. I pray you walk in the ways of true righteousness, pleasing God. Then you'll become fruitbearing branches, yielding to his life, advancing our children with the truth wrapped around your heart. Then heaven touches earth with righteousness, peace, and joy. Your kingdom come, Jesus, your will be done through our school board as it is in heaven. >> Thank you, Brittany Laroo. Good evening. As many of you know, my name is Britney Laroo. When an elected official speaks publicly about matters under their authority, their words do not lose weight simply because they were posted from a personal account or paired with the disclaimer, quote,
112"These opinions are my own." Board members are entitled to a personal life. But there is a wellestablished concept in ethics called nexus. A sufficient connection between a public role and public conduct. When that connection exists, action taken personally can still impact official duties and public trust. The question is not whether a comment was made from a personal account. The question is whether a reasonable member of the public would view that speech as coming from a schoolboard member, not just a private citizen. That connection exists when a board member's title is publicly listed, when an account is widely known to belong to a board member, or when posts are regularly treated by the public as board level statements. When that content overlaps with this board governs, it is no longer purely personal. Serving as an elected
113official requires restraint and sacrifice, particularly in public forums. When that responsibility is ignored, trust erodess and bias appears, even unintentionally. For these reasons, the revisions of policy 2127 is appropriate. The restriction on using school system names, logos, or trademarks on personal social media protects clarity and public confidence. I have already submitted proposed clarifying language to ensure board members may still share approved district communications in their original form while still maintaining a clear boundary between personal speech and official representation. Clear rules protect the district, the board, and the families the board serves. It is time the board treats that responsibility with the seriousness it deserves. Thank you, EJ Hanley. Good evening. The revised short-term suspension policy 4351 went into effect at the beginning of the 2022 2023 school year. That's the revision where kindergarten, first grade,
114and second grade students would no longer receive out of school suspensions for minor offenses. During the past three and a half years, the school district has made a significant progress with providing training for staff on reducing out of school suspensions for K through2 students and has in fact reduced out of school suspensions for that group of children. The children who were in kindergarten in 2022 are now in third grade. With all the success the district has documented, it is time to revise policy 4351 again. Starting with the 2026 2027 school year, the revised policy should include 8-year-olds or children in third grade. It would read in part, quote, "No student under age nine or under grade 4 will be suspended out of school except in response to incidences involving violations of policy 4325, drugs and
115alcohol. 4331, assaults and threats. Policy 4333, weapons, bomb threats, terrorist threats, and clear threats to safety." End quote. An email has been sent to the board president and the superintendent requesting that the revision of policy be added to the January 13th policy committee agenda. We look forward to your response. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Laura Axel Laura Exom >> I don't hear as well as I probably could. Uh policy 2210 do duties of officers lists nine duties for the chairperson. Two of the duties include ensuring accountability. The chairperson helps ensure that the board and the superintendent are accountable for their decisions and actions and facilitating communication is the second. The chairperson fosters communication between board members, the superintendent, and the community. At the October 7th board meeting, one of the board members
116inquired about the feasibility of posting the suspension data monthly or quarterly on the school district's website. The board member was told by a member of the administration that they would find out and get back to them. It's been 3 months. What was the answer? Does the public have the right to know? At that same meeting, another board member asked the about the three-year trend for K through2 out of school suspensions. It was omitted from the discipline data presentation. Has that been determined? Does the public have a right to know? And if you have the three-year D trend data, what does it say about the impact the revision of short-term suspension policy 4351 in 22? Is anyone monitoring the impact of significant policy changes? Does the public have the right to know what the impact was?
117Accountability and better communication are needed here. It can't be overseen by the chairperson alone. Each board member needs to help get public information out to the community. Thank you very much. CHAMPS is a classroom instruction and prevention framework that addresses problem behaviors. It helps educators define their expectations clearly. CHAMPS is also an acronym. C is for conversation. It answers the students question, can I talk now? H is for help. What do I do if I'm stuck? A is for activity. What am I supposed to be doing? P is for participation. How do I show that I'm doing it right? S is for success. What happens if I do this well? Based on the training that many staff members have received from reframing behavior approach, an additional letter needs to be added. Aura. Aura is for
118regulation. What do I do if my body is not ready to learn? In other words, what do I do if my nervous system is in the fight, flight or freeze state? Because a disregulated nervous system can't think clearly, plan, listen, respond calmly to others, focus, or learn. The CHAMPS framework will work best when students are already regulated. The reframing behavior approach would say, quote, regulation before expectation. End quote. Embed the concept of regulation as you revise discipline policies and the code of conduct of student conduct. Add regulation to the agenda of policy committee's uh meeting for January 13th. Thank you. Commander, good evening. Some things just haven't changed. The concept of operant conditioning has been around for over a hundred years. Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which behaviors are shaped by their
119consequences or changes that happen immediately after the behavior. Behaviors that are reinforced increase and behaviors that are followed by punishment decrease. This is just a small portion of the principles within behavioral science. Behaviorism is rooted in the idea that behavior is learned through environmental changes which can include changes of how we or maybe a teacher responds to the behavior of others. For example, if a student raises their hand to speak and gets praise that's meaningful to them, they're more likely to raise their hand again in the future. If they shout out and lose recess time that's really meaningful to them, they may be less likely to shout out in the future. It won't surprise you to learn that your behavior policies and the student code of conduct are based in small components of behaviorism. And
120they don't consider increasing skills to prevent these challenges from reoccurring. Nor does it consider the developmental context or the unmet needs of these learners. This approach emphasizes observable behavior and learning outcomes alone. It does not sufficiently integrate the substantial advances in neuroscience and brain development that have emerged over the last century. Contemporary research demonstrates that learning is deeply influenced by neurobiological brain states. Stress and nervous system dysregulation can significantly impair cognitive processing and traditional reward and punishment strategies. They're just less effective when somebody is disregulated. They're also just not ready for learning. The policy committee needs to take a look at all of its discipline policies and consider the advances that have that can be integrated into a more holistic, behavioral, and psychologically sound educational practice for the 21st century. Thank you. >> Thank you,
121Barbara. Who has seen the new Hannover County school student code of conduct? I asked because of last week. It was extremely hard to find, if not impossible, on the district's website. If you click on the little search magnifying glass on the homepage and search for student code of conduct, code of student conduct, or simply code of conduct, the first hit you get is either policies under review, student assignment plan or non-faculty coaching positions. I finally had to reach out to another member of our love our children team to get the link I needed. The code is 19 pages long. It lists 65 unacceptable behaviors and quote corrective actions end quote that can be used for each incident. Corrective actions such as suspensions remain largely punitive and are rooted in outdated frameworks that undermine student growth.
122They are misaligned with modern evidence-based practices both supported by behavioral science and neuroscience. The student code of conduct states that corrective actions are used to quote maintain a safe environment, maximize all students learning and improve students behavior and problem serving solving skills end quote. So, how exactly does that work for an eight-year-old who's been suspended? How does being out of school maximize their learning and improve their behavior? Give K through three students the help they need and not punishments. Thank you. The student code of conduct outlines six levels of unacceptable behavior. Level one behaviors like cutting class or excessive affection are normally handled by teachers. Level six behaviors like bringing a school a gun to school involve the sheriff's department. Now, picture an eight-year-old in third grade showing a level two behavior, speaking disrespectfully, refusing
123a simple request, or trying to take a library book without checking it out. One corrective action in the code is an out of school suspension for one or two days, and during that suspension, the child is banned from all school events. But the consequences don't stop there. If that same child has been suspended or sent to choices within 10 days of a field trip, they are automatically barred from going. No exceptions, no consideration of age, need, or context. Let's call this what it is. Exclusion, not education. Field trips are part of the curriculum. They expose children to new environments and connect classroom learning to the real world. They create shared memories. Memories an excluded child will never ever have. Being left behind can leave a child embarrassed, angry or isolated. And each excuse excuse exclusion
124chips away at their trust in school. A disregulated 8year-old should not be excluded from learning because of a moment of frustration. If learning, safety and support matters for every child, then co-regulation, not exclusion, must define our discipline policies. Michael Sheridan. >> Thanks. Good evening. I'm Dr. Michael Sheridan and I'm speaking on policy 4300 on student behavior which does not align with what the staff is learning through the reframing behavior training. Hopefully, this training is still being offered. The policy mentions the board's quote commitment to creating safety, creating safe, orderly, and inviting schools end quote. The current research tells us that when a child doesn't feel safe, they can become disregulated. Their nervous system goes into fight, flight, or freeze mode, which might present as disruptive or dangerous behavior. The policy goes on to proclaim, quote,
125disruptive behavior in the classroom will not be tolerated. End quote. Thus, policy 4300, ironically, can lead to a 5, six, seven, or 8-year-old child being suspended when they don't feel safe in school. Not a good outcome. Instead of having a zero tolerance policy, please use this new language. Quote, "Disruptive behavior will be addressed by understanding its underlying causes, deescalating stress responses, and supporting regulation rather than through punishment. Consequences will be framed as restorative and skill building opportunities, helping students repair harm, practice self-regulation, and strengthen connections with adults and peers. Supports and strategies will be individualized, developmentally appropriate, and responsive to students stress responses and regulatory capacities. Revise policy 4300 to reflect current neuroscienceinformed behavioral practices that emphasize co-regulation, skill development, and relational repair. Approaches shown to improve student engagement, behavior, and long-term academic success. A
126win-win for everyone. Jerry wins it. Good evening. I'm Reverend Jerry Winset. I'd like to talk to you about the new Hanover County School Strategic Plan for 2022 to 2027, which has six initiatives. One of them is safe and civil schools. The stated goal of that initiative is to reduce student disruptions and referrals by implementing programs, monitoring progress, and providing ongoing staff training to maximize instructional time. Sadly, those goals frames behavior as something to eliminate, not to understand. And it seems more focused on staff inconvenience than it does on the students needs. It would be better if the goal was about supporting student regulation and engagement to ensure consistent access to learning opportunities. And of course, you can implement programs, monitor progress, and provide ongoing staff training to achieve that goal. The Stoic model for the
127safe and civil school initiative includes many elements that reflect the recent research. Some examples include providing clear routines, expectations, and consistent instructional practices to support predictability that helps with the nervous system regulation. Building relationships with positive language is at the core of self self-regulation and trust. And addressing offtask behaviors through retteing and modeling is a solid skillsbased strategy. It is a well better way than punishing disregulated kindergarten first, second, and third grade children. Your strategic plan, board policy, the student code of conduct, and the schoolwide behavior plans needs to be aligned. Please use the reframing behavior language to help you do that. and thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. >> Thank you, Peter. There have been a lot of suggestions and ideas tonight about revising and updating the discipline policies and other
128documents. Don't worry if you didn't write them all down. We will send them to you. Policy 2410 policy development adoption and review allows any board member, individual, group of citizens, student or employee to initiate proposals for new policies or changes to existing ones. And before the policy committee approves any proposal, they can seek input from the board attorney, other professionals, school system employees, parents, students, and citizens. And whether it's called school discipline or behavior management or self-regulation or positive behavior support, it's time to review and re-evaluate systems and beliefs about behavior that have been around for a very, very long time. Discipline policies have an impact on all of your strategic plan initiatives. safety in school, attendance, math and reading achievement, graduation rate, and transparency, accountability, and accessibility. Remember Miss Penny from the Bellamy Elementary
129School? Quote, "When students arrive late or may be struggling with a hard start to their day, Miss Penny ensures they've had breakfast. She lets them know, we're glad you're here today." She gets them smiling. and most importantly, she gets them ready to learn." End quote. That's co-regulation. Let's have discipline policies that get every five, six, seven, and eightyear-old ready to learn. Thank you. Good evening. Um, I've spoken to you numerous times from the podium and individually about the fact that is often difficult to hear you and hear the speakers who are at the podium. Uh, Dr. Merrick has stated that he bought hearing aids, but they only amplified the garble. as a professional with considerable audio engineering experience and my hearing tests well as well. Uh I have offered to provide help myself, provided referrals
130uh for other professionals, and I was assured by you and your staff that this that we would address this and uh and follow up with me. And I'm uh happy to report uh that though there was a missed email to due to spam that your um very capable director of communications, Anita Baggy, replied to me and we will work together to diagnose the problem and offer solutions for the near future. I look forward to hearing you more clearly. >> Carla Rosette. Okay. Barbara Anderson. Okay. Helen Johnson. Good evening. Thank you for your time. While riding down Carolina Beach Road, I noticed all the new apartments, homes being built. This means neighborhood schools, but you wanted to get rid of Mayor Washington. How? This is not a color issue, but a money issue. The rich get
131richer while the poor stays poor and out of the equation. The Bible states that the poor shall always be with us. When is the boy going to consider the people that voted you in to do what is best for all people and children? Education should be the best wherever our children reside, but they should not be denied convenience over money or politics. You continue to show us what is important, which is money, not futures of the working people. Remember, we all have a judgment day. Will yours be? I looked out and supported people of all races and economic statuses, or I agreed with only the rich and the powerful. If you were in my shoes, what or how would you feel about the people who had my child's life in their hands? I speak for
132teachers, parents, support staff, cuz without them, you have no job. When making decisions, think of people that voted for you. and are you doing the best for them? Our votes count. I speak for grandmothers who see the lack of field trips, cut lunches, homeless families, exceptional childrens which can't talk but still finance the system because of their needs. Please think of others before you say yes and be brave to say no when it's wrong. Thanks. >> All right. Um, I don't see Leslie Posey and uh, Carllet Grisette is not here. So, this concludes our call to audience. >> Thank you, Mason. Thank you to everyone speakers. We appreciate your time and definitely appreciate your passion. Thank you very much. Um, we will carry on. Usually, we'll take a break, but we're not going to take
133a break, but I will give everybody a minute or two to I think some people will be leaving. So, give you a moment to do that. Mr. >> Sure. >> Yes, sir. >> I would recommend we we take a very short break because it will take a while for the room to quiet down. >> All right. Why don't we uh >> disagree? >> I disagree. >> It's up to you. It's up to you, Mr. We can just >> We'll carry on. We'll just go ahead and carry on best we can. Uh the next section is very uh straightforward. Anyway, uh we will have our uh consensus items. I will make uh I will entertain a motion to uh accept all the consensus items. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> First
134second. Any discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I'd like to pull Brooklyn Arts Music Academy for revised. >> Okay. So we want to pull E. Dr. Merrick. A. >> Okay. So we'll pull A and E. Anything else? All right. Uh, I will make a substitute motion to accept all but A and E. >> Second. >> First and second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of passing all but A and E. Please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. That passes 70. We will start in alphabetical order. So we'll start with A. Dr. Merrick. Well, I'm going to I'm going to blame this on the on the public uh on the public's need to know. Fact of the matter is I don't understand part of what I'm looking at on these reports. And I think
135that, you know, for those folks who work in this every single day, I I'm sure it seems obvious. Um, but there are there are acronyms in here and I can't tell whether the positive and the negatives are money we saved or money we money we lost. Right? So, I'm I'm I'm asking that it's one thing for these. I just think that we need to have these forms be a little bit more understandable. Uh, each change order doesn't have a a real description of what it's for. Um, I mean, yes, it gives a project number, but that doesn't necessarily help me. I'm not You're asking me to go back through a lot of research to figure out what that's for. And the last thing, Mr. Chair, is that I'm sure there's a very, very good reason
136for it, but one of these contracts started out at 68,000 and ended up at 9.4 million. And that was a little that was a little uh that was a bit of a huh. >> Did I see that? >> I think that's the last one on the list. >> Would you address those for us, please? Or Dr. Morgan. >> So, I'm sorry. You're looking at one for the new structural repairs. >> Yes, ma'am. Sir. Yes. >> Yes, sir. So essentially, and you're right, the description on some of them is not as detailed and some of them, I think when it goes through the process, it is identified in there. These reports are intended to show the differences in the contract from where it started versus where it ended. That one in particular, I think, is actually
137provides the most description of the other ones that are in there. Um, so I do think that one is outlined for you, but it's something I think we can probably do a better job of if that's what you're looking for. Um, a lot of these are not they're not something that you're voting on right now. So those changes voted on previously. So, if there was if there was a change in the contract that pushed it over the $300,000 benchmark or it changed it by 25% of the original contract, then it would have had to come back to the board for approval. So, in this particular case, these were all things that had been voted on previously. This is just record of those changes that have been previously approved. I I just want to remind everybody
138that these are public, you know, uh, forms that everyone can look at. And I know that people do go into our our our our paperwork and and they're going to be confused by this. And if I was someone in the public who was worried about where our money was being spent and I saw a contract for 68,000 that we ended up paying 9.4 million for, I'd be pretty upset. Now, I think I understand what that is. We're talking about the the facade at at New Hover High School. Like, I get all that, but I don't know that the public would. So, I'm just asking for more information on these forms when we put them out to the public. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you so much, >> Mr. Bradford. >> Um, and I would just
139like to comment that we go over these in the agenda review, and Dr. Morgan has many, many times, including our last agenda review, gone over these with this. when I ask the questions specifically about the new handover one. So the time to ask these questions of him is at agenda review to get all your answers so that you can share them with the people that have concerns. Um and and I just wanted to remind you of that. But we did go over each one of these. I picked apart a couple of them if Dr. Morgan remembers correctly including the new handover one to remind me why that $9 million was there. >> Mr. Chair, I'd like to respond. Yes. Thank you. And I appreciate the comments from my colleague at the end. The most important
140thing I'm bringing is that these are public documents that are on our agenda and that the public does access these. So we need to help them to understand it. They might not have watch the agenda review. Maybe they might not have had that information or they didn't remember. So I'm asking for just more information for them. Thank you. >> I move we approve A. Okay. >> First and second to approve A. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving A, please signify by saying I. I. I. All oppose. Like sign. Passes 70. And the other one we pulled was E. >> Mr. Barnhart. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to bring again to the public attention. This is expansion of the program um at the Brooklyn Arts Music Academy expanding. It'll
141be at Mary um How PreK, Johnson PreK, and at Forest Hills Elementary School. And with that, I move to approve thisou >> second. >> Okay, we first and second. Any discussion of E? >> I want to say how thrilled I am that we get an expansion of a program that's not even going to cost us anything. I It's It's valuable in its own right, but the fact that it comes for free, man, we love it even more. Thank you. >> Amen to that. Agreed. Totally agreed. Any other discussion? >> Yes, sir. Just on that number four, I just want to point out how proud I am that this board voted unanimously, if I remember correctly, to save Mary how and so the fact that we're expanding it with this program, we had space there to
142do that, I'm just really proud of that. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of uh uh passing letter E, please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. >> Passes 70. We will carry on to the policy uh consensus. We have four policies in front of us. Um I as the chairman of the policy committee will make a motion we pass the four as approved or as as um stated. Is is there a second? >> I'll second for discussion. >> Okay, we second for discussion. >> I like to >> All right, let's uh why don't we take it one by one. Um, so, uh, let's take 2230 first. Board committees. >> I like to pull that. >> Yeah. Well, we're going to go ahead and pull that one. I think we're
143going to pull them all. >> I think we're going to pull them all, Mr. Chairman. >> I believe we are. Uh, I believe Mr. Perry has shared with us an amendment that we have in our hand. >> Withdraw the motion to approve them. Are we going through them? >> We're going to just go one by one. So, >> withdraw the motion. >> Just withdraw the motion. >> I'll withdraw the motion then. That's fine. Okay. So we'll go through uh 2230. Mr. Perry, why don't you talk us through your a proposed amendment? >> Yes. Since we are 2230 uh concerns uh board committees, I thought this was as good a time as any to um discuss a a new committee uh standing committee for employee retention and reward. um the business of taking care of our
144employees and making sure that they are valued as much as they should be and coming up with new and innovative programs in order to uh recruit and develop and retain those employees. That's should be something that we do be doing on an ongoing basis. They are our lifeblood here in the school system. We shouldn't be waiting. So as you can see in my in the policy that I uh I gave you my only addition is number five under which is on the second page under uh point A of board standing committees which reads this committee will develop new and creative employee benefit programs that will aid NHCS in recruiting, developing and retaining the highest quality employees. The committee will be comprised of three members of the board along with up to eight employees chosen by
145the committee who are representative of the various job positions within New H County Schools. The committee is assisted by the administrative staff at the direction of the superintendent or designate. We need to take care of our employees and this is not something that we should put off. We need this is something we should just be doing continually. So I'd ask for a second on this. >> Okay. We have a motion to accept the amendment here. The I guess we'll call it the David Perry amendment. >> I would second for the sake of discussion. >> Okay, we have a first and second. Further discussion, M. Barnhart. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was handed this paper um during the call to audience actually. Um so, uh as my understanding and so I just need just some
146clarity on that. Uh, is is my colleague to the far right currently on the policy committee and chose not to bring this for committee but chose to bring it to the board instead? Is that as you being the policy chair and the chair of a board? >> Not brought to what? >> It was not brought to policy committee. >> No, it was not. >> That is my that is my only question and clarity. Thank you for answering >> Bradford. >> Um, and I I noticed that it was passed out during call to audience. And if I'm not mistaken, we've already debated this. We've voted on this. So, I would move to approve policy 2230 as shown on our screens that we've had for the last month since the agenda view review um with the changes
147that the policy committee made not adding any additional changes. >> I second. Well, can we do that? >> We already had a motion on the table. >> I finished this >> on the table in a second. Mr. Justice, >> um I'm I'm of the same mind. I I didn't realize that she was going to say it, but he's on the policy committee. This is getting old. Um let's he there was plenty of opportunity. Send it back to policy again then if you want to add it so we can discuss it during the policy committee. That's the proper process in order to get these things changed. >> You had a chance. So Dr. Merrick next and then we'll go to >> Yeah, Mr. Chairman. I actually probably comes under almost a point of inquiry. Um, I'm
148having trouble remembering all the different machinations that we did actually approve this committee and then we voted to postpone the the enforcement or the implementation of the committee and I'm wondering this really isn't something to to discuss in policy that that committee has been approved and so maybe it's not approved as of this date. Maybe it's not doesn't go into implementation for another few months or something, but I think we need to resolve that before we can decide whether or not it belongs in this state in this document. >> Sure, Miss Mason. >> So, if I might, um, the original committee name that my colleague to the far right had proposed that we approved was the performance ad hoc. This is a different one. Um, >> ad hoc's not the same. it's a different standing
149and ad hoc definitely not the same. So, just to that point, um outside of that, um the changes that were made to the sustain the I believe it was the >> Soil and water. Um I'd like or no, sustainability. >> Oh, this one is >> sustainability. Um I I'd like to kind of have the policy committee revisit that. um in in discussion. I am currently the chair of or part of the sustainability committee and I know that my colleague to the left is part of the soil and water um and I have participated in that as well and I feel that there's a lot of overlap and so I really think that we need to send for at least that portion back to policy to reconsider. I think that we don't want to do double
150duty. This year is going to be a busy year for a lot of us um for all of us. I mean, we all have our lives and our jobs outside of this um and our families and so um I I would recommend and this is not well actually um I move to refer this back to committee >> supersedes the original. >> We already have a motion. >> You already have a motion. >> Nope. Refer referring to committee supersedes. >> Okay. >> The whole thing. >> I'll second that. >> We have a first and second. Mr. Hey, >> I just want to be very clear that this committee is not the uh the other performance bonus committee the that we approved before. This is more of an overarching committee that could that might include um discussion
151of a performance bonus, but may also include some other things like working with corporations or or with housing vendors in order to get um you know maybe some special perks on assisted housing vouchers for our our teachers employees so that they can afford to live here. This this is a more overarching committee than than the original one. M >> Barnhard. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, from my brief reading of this, I am not in disagreements of this committee. Um, just I don't appreciate being handed something say this is what we're going to discuss and vote on when there's no I've not been addressed this. There's not been having a conversation about and so to have something come up um on the dis the day of that I understand that does happen. It's usually protocol
152that we make each other aware that this is happening. This is why it's coming up on short notice. Um the other thing that the reason why I agree to send this back committee committee not only for that but I agree with my colleague to the right about soil and water and sustainability overlapping. So if if and when this gets sent back to committee 2230 the other policy that needs to be addressed is appointments to outside board committees because that is where currently soil and water's on. So if there's a discussion about consolidation that policy also needs to be discussed with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And while I support the um motion to send back to committee, there are some comments I'd like to also send back to committee with it since I'm not on
153that committee. Um I recommend a clause that reads, quote, "The board chair will appoint board members from each political party to committees that as closely as possible reflects the makeup of the party membership of the board." unquote. We've talked about how to do this and we've come up with some ways that it works and some ways that it doesn't. And I think this might be one way that it would work. Um I also would put that in as G4 and that regardless if that goes in or not, we have two different sections of 1, two, and three. And those should be 1, two, three, and then four, five, six. Or if I if you allow my G4, they would go 567. >> Mr. chair. Oh, >> and one more one one more comment for the
154policy committee. Uh in a uh the the finance bond uh committee, it only has two board members and I think it's probably one of the most important committees we have, but it says it in here is two and I think it needs to be three. >> You're probably right. >> Okay. >> It says at a minimum. >> Well, I would make that minimum three then. >> Yeah, Miss Justice. >> Okay. Is this a place for all of this? All these different things popping up suddenly >> uh and creating a committee really really within five minutes that we didn't have before. We need to send this back to policy. This is very confusing and definitely not following policy and procedure. >> Okay. So, we have a motion and second to carry it back to policy. Uh
155all in favor of sending uh policy. Chair, I wanted to propose an amendment to Miss Mason's motion, but you send it to not the one next week, but the following policy committee. >> Would you be interested in that amendment? >> Why? So, you have a different policy. >> It's a week to It's a It's a It's a week. It's a week out. >> Oh, we have a point of order. Yes, ma'am. >> Just Who has the floor? >> Miss Bradford. >> Thank you. >> I don't think so. >> Six of one half dozen of the other. >> This doesn't give much time to prepare. I mean, we we got this will the board first first conversation 30 minutes ago or 45 minutes ago and now we've got another suggestion. It's just >> what we didn't
156get. >> You make a motion. He says it's going to be >> um I would make the amendment to that if she's agreeable. I can re >> what? >> I can re revise >> or substitute state. Um, I move to refer this policy policy 2230 board committees back to >> policy committee to be addressed within the next month. Is that reasonable? Within the next month? >> That would be the next meeting. >> Mhm. Y >> Okay. I mean, >> I second. >> Okay. First and second. Any further discussion on that motion? >> Okay, we'll take that motion first. So, the motion now is to will you revise it? So, the the motion now is to revi to send 2230 back to policy committee within the next month. All in favor, please signify by saying I.
157>> I. All opposed. >> So, I think that's a no. So, that's 6 to 1. We will so 2230 will go back to policy within next month. Next we will have I'm glad I give some time for this. This is great. 2235 advanced delivery of meeting materials. Um >> that we adopt. >> And we have the morning of the agenda meeting. We have a motion to adopt. I'll second that. Any further discussion? Dr. Merrick. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I want to thank the policy committee for bearing with my incessant requests and for bringing these changes. I think it's a really big step forward in transparency, which I think every single one of us have run on the on the concept of transparency. So, I think that we've all described, you know, the that transparency
158is so important in local government. in the paragraph with the changes right with the red lines with the red ink for clarity I would move to add this language uh where it says the proposed agenda and here's my change of the upcoming regular board meeting because it could get confused with the agenda review meeting that we're that we're talking about. I just want for clarity to make sure we're talking about the regular board meeting. Other than that, I thank the policy committee and this board for their perseverance. I will second that. But I like the clarification. >> Miss Justice. >> Okay. So, what you're saying is not to change uh and instead just to make sure it's >> include the changes. >> Include and then add >> and add. >> I'm just going to clarify.
159Thank you. I'm trying to clarify here. >> Thank you, Miss Bradford. >> Okay. Look at the look at the second line there. This is applying to regular interim and agenda review meetings. So if we change that to say the proposed regular board meeting, it will only apply to the regular board meeting. But I think your intent is for it to apply to regular interim and agenda review meetings. Is it not true? >> You know, at the agenda review meeting, the morning of the agenda review meeting, we need to have the agenda of the regular board meeting posted. We that's what that's what this whole change is about is making sure that people can look at the documents of the regular board meeting on the morning of the agenda review so while we discuss they can
160follow along. >> Okay. >> So that's what we're saying here. >> So into the proposed agenda. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. My only point of discussion is does the staff have the understanding capability to make sure that we're posting a draft of this and so just speak to that clarity. >> Yeah. So for for us it's not really a large change for us. We have to have the stuff for the board meeting in before we have the agenda review. Correct y'all? I think the only thing that we will have to have the public understand is that that will be listed as a draft. There have been times that we go to agenda review and we change what we're going to do at the board meeting. >> Right? The problem is once you post an agenda,
161you are not supposed to change that agenda. >> So I'll make sure I write draft all over everything. And I've also asked our staff to if they >> change document between the agenda review and the agenda, they change an attachment or whatever to put version two, version three, version 47, whatever it is. >> Yes. >> I'm going to ask for my staff to have a little bit of grace in this. This is changing what they do. They are already pressed to what I consider the max. So just be gentle. If you have concerns, obviously public, you guys come to me. But we already have to have the documents in already. So it's just a change to make that document wide open to everybody as opposed to just the board. >> Mr. Perry. Yeah, I'm in
162full I just want to state for the record for the public that I'm in full agreement with this and uh I think we need to be as transparent as possible and uh I think this is uh and as Dr. Barn said, it doesn't look like it's going to be any real additional work at least as far as this portion that's in policy goes. So uh I think this is a step in the right direction. So I'm all for it. >> Okay, with that I'll take uh a moment to uh call for vote. All in favor of the amended um with Dr. Merrick's amendment for policy uh 2335 please signify by saying I >> I all oppose like sign >> passes 70. Next we will have uh policy 2127 board member Mr. Chair. Yes sir. >>
163We voted on the amendment but did we vote on approval of the policy? Do we have to do that as well? >> Well, we did the amended, but that you know what? Let's let's go through it twice. That's fine. All in favor of the amended policy, please signify by saying I. >> I. All oppose. Like sign. >> 70. Okay, we carried on. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. >> Uh carrying on with policy 2127. This one might take a little longer. Um the changes are listed uh in section three uh letter B. uh the as as they are right now. Board members should not utilize school system or individual school names, logos or trademarks on personal social media in such a manner that could be construed as a political endorsement. Miss Mason, start with you
164because you're closest to me. >> Thanks. So, I think my biggest concern with this um is that there are individuals on this board that have children in the school system and my personal um social media is privated for a reason. I don't allow a lot of people to to view everything that I post on my personal um social media. And I think we need to define that um because when we went in November to the NCSBA conference, we did learn about the differentiation between the personal and a school board type more professional um social media. And one of the defining things, if I remember correctly, and the other board members that were there um can correct me if I am if I'm wrong, the a personal one is not at the same level and isn't
165doesn't have the same expectations as the um or access as the school like if there's a campaign page, if there is a school board page. Um, and so I I struggle with this because I know that we live in a very um divi divisive time and I think that it is easy for people to point fingers um at somebody that they disagree with, at somebody that they dislike. And I would be I would be concerned that on my social media page um someone might find access and say that anything that I've posted about my children's school with their logos with new Hannover County schools is for political gain. Um, I don't post a lot on my social media, but what I do post is things that I'm proud of for our schools, things that I'm
166proud of for my children, things that I'm, you know, that I that I am supportive of. So, I would be concerned with putting this into policy for a personal social media platform. >> Thank you, Mr. B. Mr. Perry. >> This came down in its original form from the NCSBA. Um the the uh the form before you today was something that we discussed at our last policy committee and that we because I thought that the original restriction was did far too much of a restriction on our individual rights as of free expression as board members. Um the important thing to know about as far as I'm concerned is to make sure that but it's already stated in in number A that that we're clear that we're not speaking for the school system that even on our
167candidate pages we are speaking for ourselves and it's not hard to do that. I do I put my little disclaimer on all my post so that's already an A. So personally I don't think we need B at all. I think we could just not not make any changes to this policy and I would be fine with it and you know and just leave it the way it is. So I would like to make a motion to that effect that we just uh not that we not make any changes to policy 3127 >> second. Um I'm going to since let me jump in here. Sure. My my biggest concern is that looking at the the section in blue, which I agreed with at policy, uh I'll be honest, but you know, you know, if I wear
168a Laney shirt, you know, cuz I used to work at Laney a little bit, coach there, and I go to, you know, Laney High School and get a picture, and I'm not running for anything anyway, but you know, but if I was, uh, you know, if I go in front of, you know, Laney High School and get a picture of myself in a Laney thing, somebody could say, well, that might be construed. I mean, I guess who's in in whose eyes that it could be construed as a political endorsement, you know. Um, I'll be honest, when I did run, uh, I did get pictures in front of schools doing my job, which was going to schools. Uh, you know, I guess I couldn't, you know, could have not taken a picture, but I take a
169picture at running into, you know, whatever, Castle Hane Elementary School. Here I am. Boom. you know, so I mean I I guess I I do have some concern that you know, my my biggest thing is I think we need to have a level playing field and if a candidate goes in front of Laney High School with a you know Laney shirt on, that's okay. But if a board member does the same thing, it could be construed as a political endorsement. So Mr. Chair, >> that's that'd be my you know that concern. I'm going to go to Miss Justice, then you then you. Okay. Well, actually, I'm sorry. I'm not going to do it to you twice. Dr. Merrick was first. Yes, I was. I apologize, Dr. Mayor, go ahead. >> I was going to give
170you all kind of grace on that. I just want you to know >> uh I actually agree with my colleague on the far left here who has said that, you know, how do you determine if it is for political intent? That's a very gray area. We have a hard enough time following our policies as it is sometimes and when they're vague, it's pointless to have one because it cannot be it cannot be enforced. Having said that, I do believe that the intent is correct. If if you go, you know, if if a if if one of us is running for office and we're there in front of a school and we're opposing and and it makes it look like the school endorses us, that's an improper usage. But I don't think that's typically what would
171happen. Uh we were discussing the other day we took pictures of that wonderful bike giveaway and there just happened to be an newer high school logo in the background and what we wanted to say was this is an amazing program but we couldn't put it online because it had a logo. >> Mhm. >> So it does need work and for that reason I would move to refer back to policy and let's try again. >> We already have a motion on a motion. >> This is a referral. >> Refer supersedes. >> Okay. There's a motion to refer back to policy. Is there a second? I have a second. Is there a second? >> Oh, hearing. It dies. >> Okay. Goes back to our original motion. Miss Mason, then Miss Justice. >> Oh, no. >> No, Miss
172Mason. I'm sorry. Miss Bradford. Boy, I'm >> I'm back to I'm back to what I used to do. I'm sorry. Miss Bradford and then Miss Justice. >> So, Miss Justice first or me? >> You. You. >> Okay. And I would just remind everybody, I think most of us were out in front of JC Row when we read academy when we redid the sign and we took the picture in front of the sign with the logo and all the staff and and at least one student. If this were to pass, somebody could point their finger and say, "Hey, I'm constring this as a political endorsement." And I just as Miss Mason said very brilliantly, I want to stop the finger pointing. So I'm I'm totally in favor of Mr. Perry's motion. Okay. And over to Miss
173Justice. >> I think we're almost sounding like we're in agreement. Um there's a big difference between a political Facebook page and a personal Facebook page. And that's basically saying you know your personal life. We don't restrict people from going out in public that work in certain jobs and you know they can't be proud of it. Share that or Yeah. So that that makes total sense. were talking and how that's well the schoolboard association >> did they have this in here? >> No, >> they they they had some the red part >> a version of it. >> It was suggested >> that's okay. I'm just trying to and I was on policy committee. I should remember these. >> Sorry about that. Yeah, I think we're all in agreement. I a personal page is a lot different
174than other kinds of pages. >> Okay. Yes, ma'am. Miss Barnhart again. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. My only followup prior to us voting is the schoolboard association sometimes has legal requirements for policy changes and sometimes there's suggestions for us to debate over. Um so I would just like to ask legal counsel is this language um required by law to add or is it pure opinion whether or not we >> uh if I could because I've already attachments on your >> I've actually talked to him about that exact question and it is not legal. Yes, >> not legally required. Thank you for that clarification. We we point of order we have on our screens if you click on the one that says the the fall update you'll see that section where it says you know required
175um >> if you click on NCSBA fall update some wonderful staff person put that on there for us >> um so that it tells you right there that it's not required. >> Yes. And and just to point out Miss Cadetski if you're listening she did a great job. She she did that. So, we do have a motion to eliminate section B. Uh, we have a second on that. All in favor of eliminating section B 3B. So, be civic, please signify. >> Order. >> Yes, sir. >> I think my motion was just to no action >> to leave 2127 alone, >> right? Which would eliminate section B. >> We just leave you. >> Go back to original. Yes. >> So, revert to the original. Well, I'll say it the way you want me to say it.
176Revert to the original. uh policy 2127. All in favor, please signify by saying >> point of inquiry. Yes, >> chairman. So close. >> You said that in the previous version from the SBA there was some version of paragraph B. >> There is. >> So are you saying that we're going to revert back to the original of the SBA? >> No original. So you're going to you're going to take away this this clause alto together and remove whatever clause SBA had included which is this which is section B. Yes sir. >> Yes sir. Okay. >> El back to my my interpretation of Mr. Perry is saying eliminate section uh everything in red and blue uh under three. >> There was nothing else was there? >> That was it. >> There was at the very bottom a
177little tiny legal reference. >> Yes there is. I'm sorry. Yes, there is a >> comma or a space right there. >> 187. US 187. >> We're fine. >> Okay. So, eliminate everything in section three. >> Oh, yeah. >> Or go back to the original version of section three. >> All in favor, please signify by saying I >> I. All opposed. >> Okay, that passes 70. >> I No, sir. I I I I still had a question before we voted. I I I'm still confused. >> Okay. I'm hearing that there was some clause B from SBA. >> the red was from NCSBA. >> And so are we in this vote? Are we keeping the red and getting rid of the blue? >> All of it. >> You're getting rid of all of it. Okay. Then I'm
178a nay. So 6 to1. >> Okay. So we'll change that to 6 to one >> as a vote. Okay. And finally, >> can I speak to that? >> Oh my goodness. >> Sorry. Sorry. I would be remiss if I didn't remind all the board members that we do have uh photo releases. If you do have a photo with a student in it, you need to check with the principal or with the communication director to make sure that they are eligible. Do have their picture shown, please. >> Okay. And we are past time, but we we do have retirement uh 70 uh 7910. Um >> we adopt >> I will make Go ahead. >> I move that we adopt second. >> Okay. First and second. Uh any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of uh adopting
1797910 as written, please signify by saying I. I. All opposed. >> Very good. Caught back up. All right, we're going to carry on. Thank you guys for bearing with me on that one. There was a lot of moving pieces. I do appreciate you all. Uh we have no old business. We have no Well, we've moved new business. We do have a need for a closed session. Um, so I will read this section here. Uh, I will call for a close session pursuant to g I'll call for a motion to go into close session. Excuse me. >> I will motion that. >> You have to do it first. Yes. >> Uh, pursuant to general statute 143 318 111C for the following purposes. to prevent the disclosure of information privileged or confidential pursuant to general statute 115C
180402 and not consider public record within the meaning of 132 of general statutes. to prevent disclosure of student records rendered confidential under family educational rights. to consult with an at with our attorneys in order to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the board and to consider qualifications, competence, uh performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment of appointment and conditions of initial employment of an individual employed or considered for employment with the school system or to hear investigate a complaint, charge, grievance uh by or against any individual employee. So move. >> Okay. Second. >> All in favor of going to close session, please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. >> Please make sure you bring your calendarers, folks. We need your calendars. >> I don't have one. >> Or your phone or
181whatever you use. >> You know what? I I think I'll survive. Yeah, I'm speaking Yeah, my computer. >> All right. Oh, yeah. Carry on. >> Oh, yeah. We got that. >> All right. >> Okay. We're back in open session. >> I move to approve the personnel report. >> Second. >> We have a first and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the personnel report, please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. Carries. 70. Computer back. >> I'd like to recommend that we hold our uh >> Your mic is >> I'd like to recommend that we hold our budget board budget work session on Wednesday the 25th. Okay. Is there is there a second >> 25th? Make sure you >> January. >> February. February. >> February 25th. >> Thought we talked
182about the 23rd. >> I can't make it on the 23rd. Can't make 23rd. Okay. >> 25th. So, would you be at right after our agenda review? >> No. No. The 24th is our agenda review. >> It's right after. I mean the next day. >> Next day. Yes. >> The next day. I should be more specific. The next day. >> Okay. Yes, ma'am. Does that give >> Yeah, that that is going to >> It's kind of tight for Ashley to go from Wednesday to Thursday. She won't even be able to Yeah, >> I'll just uh I think as long as we can >> Can we do it maybe earlier in the day on Wednesday? >> 10 o'clock. Can we do it? Can you do it at 10:00? >> I do starting at 12. >> 12:00's good.
183>> 12:00 >> on the 25th. >> All right. So, we have a motion. Can you um amend yours to 10:00? >> I will make that amend the motion to say that we have our board budget work session on Wednesday the 25th of December at noon. Noon. Okay. >> We have uh see that's budget. Okay. We have a first and a second. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed >> carries 70. >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I move that we move the March 3rd board meeting to uh March 10, one week out >> Because of election day. Yes, sir. >> Okay. First and second. Any discussion? >> Can I can I hear a repeat of the motion? >> Uh motion to move it from the
1843rd to the 10th. >> Move what? >> The the regular one here. Yes. >> Our meeting. >> Yes. I didn't I didn't see it written there >> at the same time at at at 5:00. Okay. All right. Uh, all in favor uh well, there any discussion? No. All in favor of moving the uh March meeting from the 3rd to the 10th, please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. >> That carries 7:00. >> 5:00. Yes, sir. >> Mr. Chair, >> B O E. We giving two hours, three hours. What are you giving? >> Miss 15 minutes. I'm going to go there and there. You're up. Miss Brad. Miss Bradford. Thank you, sir. >> Yes. >> One more. The one at the top. Um I move that we approve the board town hall for Wednesday,
185January 28th, um 5 to 7. >> Okay, I'll second that. Any discussion? >> All right. Uh all in favor of having a town hall uh with a budget focus with the superintendent involved on Wednesday the 28th, please signify by saying I. I. >> I. All opposed. >> I think what you're voting on is that my budget listening tour with >> We just took it over. >> Okay. We just took it over. >> Oh, okay. Have at it. Good luck with that. >> Oh, yeah. You'll be there. How long, >> Mr. Considering that we uh that we postponed the our March board meeting from the 3rd to the uh 10th and I would guess that we should probably uh make a motion to to uh make policy the 17th. >> Okay. I don't know. >> Has
186that already has that? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Has that schedule already been established or >> It has, but we can change it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. So, we have a motion. I'll second moving policy in March to the 17th. >> How do you say? Can't do that. >> Oh, yeah. You can wear green. All right. All in favor of moving policy uh to the 17th of March, please signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. on the one for his listening tour because he said he needed our approval. >> Yes, >> we Yeah, we we approved it. We approved. >> Okay. Uh let's see. Correspondence. Anybody have any correspondence? >> No correspondence. >> I got Christmas cards. >> Yeah, me too. Uh let's see. The policy committee meeting will be on Tuesday the 13th
1871 p.m. Board of Education Center. The general public will have the option to uh view remotely. Board of Education will hold an agenda review on the 27th at 2 p.m. The general public will have the option to to uh view remotely. And the board of education will hold its regular meeting on February 3rd. Make sure you bring your your gifts for my birthday, which is the next day. >> What's your birthday? >> February 4th. >> February. >> Well, mine's the 18th, so >> Well, there you go. You know, we'll have a joint party. >> There you go. >> Bring joints. >> No. No, we are. No, we're not. Yeah. Okay. I know what you're talking about. Yeah. >> All right. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> First
188and second. Any discussion of adjournment? All in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All oppose. No. That passes 6 to1. We are adjourned. >> And it's 8:26. >> 8:26. I got a new sticker. >> All right.