NHCS Board of Ed. Regular Meeting | June 3, 2025

001Call the June regular meeting to order. Miss Buoie, will you call the role? Good afternoon. Male here. Izzy Barnhart here. Pat Bradford, I can't hear you, Crystal, but I'm here. Judy Justice, Dr. Tim Merrick, hey, I'm here. I'm here. David Perry, present. And Pete Wabore. All right. Um, I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a amendment to the agenda. Okay. Under new information, I'd like to add a 10-minute discussion about NCDPI testing fiasco. Second, and that was under new business for 10 minutes, ma'am. Okay. Discussion. Uh, yes, Dr. Merrick. Yeah. I'm sorry. I I'm having a hard time hearing anything. Uh I don't know if it's our system or not. Could you please repeat the motion and let me know a little bit more what

002it's about? Madam Chair, do you have a four? Go for it. My motion is that we have a 10-minute discussion under new business for the NCDPI testing fiasco that occurred recently. And I second it. Um and Mr. Okay. Um, is there a motion revolving around that thing? Otherwise, should should it not be under information, Miss Barnhart? Go ahead. I think that we should have some leverage. Um, the superintendent sent a letter to Superintendent Mo Green, and I I'm I intend to make a motion of endorsement and support of that letter, and I'd like for the board to consider that as well. So, yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Um, Miss Bradford and then Miss Justice. Um, point of information, has the letter been sent? Are we approving that tonight? Dr. Barnes. Yes. I spoke with him

003on the phone and I sent the letter Saturday or Sunday. Thank you. This weekend. Okay. Miss Justice. Okay. Um, by the way, thank you very much in your mic. Your mic on. My personal opinion, Dr. Dr. Barnes, you handled the whole situation very well considering the circumstances. Um, we've got an awful lot to cover. People are always complaining about we don't have enough time. The letter's been sent. Uh, there's been plenty of discussion in the media. We can hash it out here like everybody else is across the state or we can move forward. Uh, my main concern is testing itself and that is a whole totally different discussion that I think we do need to take up at some point. Um, and Dr. Merrick, yeah, I I've been told uh time and again by members

004of this board that the time for putting something on the agenda had passed and that if it's not an emergency, it should not be added to the agenda. And while I uh agree in in in broad terms with uh supporting this letter and supporting uh our superintendent's actions surrounding the testing, I do not believe it belongs on our agenda today. It's there's no emergency here. Okay. All right. With no other discussion, um, Miss Buie, will you call the role? Miss Bradford, yes. Dr. Merrick, no. Miss Mason, yes. Miss Barnhart, yes. Miss Justice, no. And Mr. Perry, yes. All right. Madam chair passes. Miss Bradford, I would like to amend the agenda to remove an item. Okay. And to put it under um it's in information now and it's on quorum and with member Wore out

005sick. I feel like we should postpone that to the agenda review at the end of this month and we could put it under old business. And that is my motion. Okay. I'll second that motion. All right. Any discussion? and that is to remove uh the decorum discussion and put it on the agenda review at the end of this month. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. All right. I will Dr. Merrick. I would like to move to add to the agenda a discussion around the uh text around the book stamped uh to be used in our curriculum based on the fact that more than two months ago we moved to have it be put on the agenda and it was seconded and according to

006policy it needs to be on our agenda and yet has not been added to our agenda. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay. discussion, Miss Barnhart, and then Miss Justice. I'd love to know um what the emergency is to add this to tonight's agenda. Miss Justice, it's long overdue. We have a teacher um or our teachers that would possibly like to use it in the proper manner that it was originally uh used in her classroom according to many sources. Um and not only that, I did ask for this months ago. This was over a year ago that this was supposed to have been resolved and it hasn't and it only was actually worked on. Anybody did anything about it when I put it on the agenda. Then suddenly it was sent to a curriculum committee

007that hasn't even I'm not even sure if it's formed yet without having any input from us. We need to know what's going on. We need to know when this curriculum meeting is happening. In fact, we're having a lot of problems as far as meetings go with certain uh committees that are completely confusing to me. But this is something that needs to be done. The public's been concerned about it and it's not fair to our public to let it hanging there without any information at least about when it's going to go to the curriculum committee when curriculum committee is meeting and what the criteria is for its uh being approved this alternative course. Miss Bradford. Um, Madam Chair, I would uh have the staff confirm that that meeting is scheduled for June 30. Thank you. Am

008I correct? That is correct. Good. Thank you, Dr. Merrick. Um, I'd like to answer my colleagues concerns about an emergency and I feel that if our board is not willing to follow its own policies, then that becomes an emergency. who are we as a board if we will not follow our own policies. So yeah, I do believe it's critically important. But I'd also like to add on to this conversation in case it does not pass that we had a real difficulty at our agenda review meeting when we were told that there had been a unilateral decision to send it to the curriculum committee. Now there was never a meeting where it was announced. It was never moved to send it to committee. It was never seconded. It was never voted upon to send it to

009curriculum. And the reason I have a hard time sending it to curriculum because curriculum is not a board committee. Curriculum is an advisory committee. There's only one board member on it. N and that seems like a very funny way to uh to have a discussion about a band book. Thank you. Um just for clarity, there is not only one member. We voted uh at least one month ago to add two additional members. So there are three members on the curriculum committee from the school board. Um I'm going to go to Mr. Perry because he hasn't had an opportunity to speak and then Miss Barnhart. Um thank you. Um, like I've said before, I believe according to our policy, perhaps it should have been put on earlier, but at this point, uh, it is since our

010meeting is for curriculum, I do believe at the same time that the curriculum committee is the best place that to start this conversation about the stamp book. Um, considering that that's what less than uh it's within our calendar month here in June, I I I don't see what the urgency is. is certainly not going to be implemented anytime before the end of this school year. I mean, our school year is ending. So, um, so as long as we've the curriculum may get on to it fast and make a recommendation to us, we can get it prepped for if if approved, it can be prepped for use for the for the next school year. So, I don't see what the urgency is. Miss Barnhart, I echo my colleague sentiment to my right. Um I also will

011add it came forth to the entire board during an agenda review where we voted to say the appropriate metric was to go to curriculum committee. So it is not accurate information on the dis to say up here that we did not discuss this as a board. We voted majority voted to send it to curriculum committee. Thank you madam chair. Miss justice. Uh yeah point of clarification. I thought we voted that there were going to be two members on the curriculum committee. Um there was a big discussion. We said two to three. Two or three. Uh could uh I would like for somebody to go back and look at that because it seems to me it was two. Um I wrote it down. Well, in the minutes I'd like to find that in the minutes at

012some point. Um also I do appreciate now for the first time hearing that the meeting is going to be on June the 30th. This is one of the main concerns I had for supporting this motion is that I hadn't heard anything and we didn't know for sure what was going on. And as far as the school year, we know it's not for this school year. I'm talking about the upcoming school year. Teachers need to plan ahead of time. That's the idea of a summer. All right. Um, you've had two opportunities, sir. So, I'm going to One of them was just a point of clarification, but Okay. Um, so the motion on the table is to add a discussion of the booked stamp book stamped. Uh, Miss Buie, will you call the role? Mr. Perry, nay.

013Miss Justice, at this point, no. Miss Barnhard? No. Miss Mason? No. Dr. Merrick? Yes. And Miss Bradford? No. All right. That pass or that fails. Uh 5 to one. Um I will entertain a motion to approve the amended agenda. So moved. Second. Um discussion hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? I. That passes 5 to one. Continuing on. Um, I'm actually going to pause just so that there is some clarity. Um, in accordance with New Hver County Schools Board policy 5020D and North Carolina General Statute 143- 318.17, the board promotes mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct. Positive communication is encouraged while disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Disruptive attendees may be asked to leave and if necessary escorted out by law enforcement. Continuing on, um the invocation will

014be given by senior pastor Kenny Chin of Northside Baptist Church. Um followed by the presentation of colors, which will be the Hogard High School NJOTC color guard unit. Um under the direction of Commander David Everett and Staff Sergeant Richard Oh, I don't want to brutalize your name. Guardo. Guardo. Okay. Um, and then the national anthem will be sung by members of the Codington Elementary Chorus. Would you join me in prayer, please? Our heavenly father, we thank you for this opportunity to be here tonight. This is such a viable meeting and a and a valuable time to come together as we consider how we shape and mold the minds of the young people of this community. And gathered here tonight are a group of adults. And I pray, Father, that we recognize that as we prepare

015to help our children that they would look to us for the type of behaviors that they would want to emulate. And so, Lord, authority. You wrote about in Romans chapter 13, you told us that we are to honor the authorities that stand before us today because there are no authorities except from you. And any authority that exists came from you. And if we resist those authorities, in fact, we resist you. And authority is something that is given to us. And we thank you for it. I pray, Father, for all the people, the members of the board, the audience that is here, that we would recognize that honor comes first in all of our life. And respect is the behavior of honor. And when we do that, the authority flows smoothly and things actually happen. And

016so for this time tonight, recognizing that as adults and as human beings, we all have differing opinions and things that we do, but that does not mean that we cannot have mutual respect for one another. So I pray for calmness tonight. I pray for effectiveness tonight. And I pray that in all things that you would be honored. I thank you for how you have blessed each of us with wisdom and knowledge and ability. And let this be a cohesive meeting tonight and a collaborative meeting. when we walk out, we'll recognize that we have furthered the progress of this community, that we have elevated the education of our children, and that we have illuminated the maturity that can be found and discovered amongst us all. We thank you for that. We thank you for all of

017these things for make our prayer in Jesus name. Amen. Anyone else? Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light, what so proudly we held at the twilight. Lights last gleaming whose fresh stripes and bright stars through the perilous sparts we watch were so gallently stream. And the rockets rock the bones bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet for the land of the free and the home of the brave. [Applause] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Y'all, you can [Music] [Applause] say your name. What grade? My name is Casey. I'm in fourth grade and

018I'm 10. My name is Elise and I'm 10 and I'm in fourth grade. My name is Sutton Paige and I'm in grade four and I'm 10 years old. My name is Whan. I'm in fifth grade and I'm 11 years old. My name is SA. I'm in fourth grade and I'm 10 years old. My name is Savannah and I'm in fourth grade and I'm 9 years old. My name is Harper and I'm in the fourth grade and I'm 10 years old. My name is Tilly. I'm in the fourth grade and I'm 9 years old. My name is Failen. I'm in the fourth grade and I'm 10 years old. My name is Hadley. I'm in fourth grade and I'm 10 years old. I'm Olivia. I'm And I'm in fourth grade and I'm nine. My name is Austin

019and I'm 10 years old and in fourth grade. I'm Alexandria. I'm in fourth grade and I'm 9 years old. My name is Cameron. I'm in fourth grade and I am 10 years old. My name is Claire. I'm 10 years old and I'm in fourth grade. My name is Abby. I'm in fourth grade and I'm 10 years old. My name's Khesi. I'm in fifth grade and I'm 11 years old. My name is Alexis. I'm in fifth grade and I'm 11. My name is Nina. I'm 10 years old and I'm in fourth grade. My name is Braden and I am 10 years old and I'm in fourth grade. My name is Sam. I am in fifth grade and I'm 11 years old. My name is Izzy and I'm 11 years old and I'm in fifth grade. My

020name is Anna and I'm in fourth grade and 10 years old. My name is Cecilia. I'm in fourth grade and I'm 10 years old. My name is Gabby. I'm 10 years old and I'm in fifth grade. You do it. Yes, you do it. I'm Cadet Graham from Jonty Hogard High School and I'm a sophomore. I'm Cadet. Okay. Yeah, I'm Cadet Lasser. I'm a sophomore from John Hoger High School. Hello, I'm Cadet Connor McAuliffe and I'm a junior at Hogard High School. God bless. I'm Cadet Zachary Brooks from John T. Hogard High School and I'm a junior. Thank you guys. Go Cougars. All right. Uh I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes. So move second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to

021zero. Continuing to recognitions. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to present to you this evening a fraction of the amazing All right. There's a lot of trucks. Ah, okay. We're gonna swap out some people, so give us just a second. Thank you. Yep. Without And just if you're standing in the back, if you could find a seat, um that would be greatly appreciated. We have there's seats up here that are available. Um, but we need everybody sitting. This is actually a wonderful problem to have because we have so many recognitions tonight. So, please pardon us. Here we go. Got to get that door shut. All right. Um and when the last time you were talking it was hard to hear you even with so the mic too. Thanks Anita. All right. Um we do

022have quite a few recognitions this evening so bear with me. It's the best part of my job as you all know. So thank you. We're going to start with our National History Day awards because they have somewhere else they need to be. All right. Tonight, we want to recognize the outstanding research, hard work, and creativity of our students who competed in the National History Day competition. We want to show our support and appreciation for the students and their teachers who represented New Hver County Schools at last month's state level contest. First, we want to recognize Holly Shelter Middle School. I would like to invite up Shan Stannic, Joselyn Hudson, Satie Langford, Scarlett Ran, Ben Gardner, and Gavin Opinger. As you all have your picture taken, I will tell the audience a little more. Mr. Sean

023Stanick was awarded the North Carolina History Day Teacher of the Year and will now represent our state at the National Contest. Jocelyn Hudson won first place in the junior individual documentary category. Sadi Langford and Scarlet Ron won first place for the junior group exhibit. If you guys will all pay attention to him, he's going to take your beautiful photo. Okay. And then Ben Gardner and Gavin Opener won first place for their junior group website. McKenzie, forgive me for saying this wrong if I do. Siaki, who was unable to be here tonight, placed third for her junior individual paper and was selected by the editor of the North Carolina Historical Review to be published in the review. All right, one more round of applause. All right, thank you guys very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

024you. I know they have somewhere to be. So, yes. Yes. All right. So, next we have the international school at Gregory Abigail Blair and Llaya Varnham. Please come on down. [Music] These two students are returning to nationals for the second year in a row. Oh, scoot back a little bit. There you go. These seventh grade students focused on local history, earning first place in the junior group documentary category. They also won a special prize for the pres preservation of North Carolina history from the North Carolina Society. Woo. All right. Next, please welcome Olivia Stler from Wilmington Early College High [Applause] [Music] School. She is also returning to nationals for the second year in a row. She won first place in the senior individual exhibit category for her project. Another round of [Applause] [Music] applause. Finally,

025we want to celebrate Isaac Bear Early College High School. Please welcome Lily Atwell, Anna Sta, Kaylee Grace Moody, Valyria Valdi, and Aninsley [Music] Tryion. And forgive me if I said anyone's name incorrectly. Thank you. All right. While they're passing those out, I'm going to give a little bit more detail. Lily Atwell earned second place for her senior individual documentary. Anna Sta and Kaylee Grace Moody won second place for their senior group performance. Additionally, Valyriia Valdieri and Angley Tryion placed third in their senior group exhibit and they will be alternates for the national competition. We are also incredibly grateful to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources pro for providing a transportation grant for our students to attend at the state level. Congratulations. And next we're going to move on to our Purple Star

026Awards. We will celebrate our Purple Star awards with a special designation given to schools that demonstrate a strong commitment to supporting military connected students and their families. These students often experience unique challenges such as frequent relocations and parental deployments. The award recognizes schools that go above and beyond to help these students transition smoothly and thrive. I'd like to invite up Mr. Howard Latimore, state level military consultant from the Office of Career and Technical Education at the NC Department of Public Instruction. Yep. Okay. As your school is called, please come forward to receive your banner and we will take a photo with our board and Dr. Barnes and Mr. Latimore. First off, Castle Hane Elementary School. [Music] [Applause] Okay. Not yet. Yes. [Laughter] Smile and wave. All right. Next is Dr. John Codington Elementary School. You

027know, And next we'd like to welcome up Emma Brasque Middle School. [Applause] [Laughter] And next we will have Ensley Elaney High [Applause] School. All right, moving on. We're gonna celebrate. Oh, look at you guys. While they're having a moment, we'll move on to Ashley High School where all of this got started. This will be Ashley's second year with this designation. Come on down. All [Laughter] right. All right. Forest Hills Global Elementary. Forest Hills, come on [Applause] down. All right. Anyone from Forest Hills? I'm not seeing. Okay. June is a very busy month for our staff and students. All right. Holly Shelter Middle School, come on down. [Applause] If you can see him, he can see you. Masonboro Elementary. [Applause] Next we have Noble Middle School. [Applause] Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to point out

028that last year we had one school with this designation. This year we have 12 and growing and growing. And Murrayville Elementary, come on down. You're next. [Applause] Thank you. We're going to need to start putting tape down. All right, New Hover High School, come on down. All right, New Hover High. Oh, there we are. They're They're coming. You should be in the picture. Mhm. We have a photographer. We kind of have a [Laughter] photographer. Give me [Applause] And next we have CEK Southeast Area Technical High School. Come on down. [Applause] I will do the same for you. Yes. I told you I have fun up here. I'm sorry. All right, we're going to move on. That was it. All right, please join us in congratulating the Hogard High School track and field team for winning

029the NCSAA 4A state championship for the 4x 800 meter relay. Welcome to the [Applause] stage Riley Kaziah, Elliot Johnson, Aiden Schroeder, and William Holmes. They each ran their leg of the race in under two minutes, breaking their school record by almost 8 seconds. We are thankful for their supportive coaches, Alex Bogs and Rhonda Shalowski. Did I say that? Shalsi. Okay, sorry. As well as the family, staff, and athletic trainers who prepared this team for success. Nicely done. Woo. All right. Next, Miss Isabelle Garcia from Isaac Bear Early College High School. After after earning second place in biology at the North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair, oh, it gets better. She went on to advance to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair where she earned the third place grand award in the microbiology category. Her

030project, harnessing coral bacteria as probiotics to combat vibrio chalera water contamination, that's a mouthful, focused on developing a cost-effective alternative to treating small intestinal bacterial growth. Oh. [Applause] Oh, nicely done. All right, moving on. New Hover County Schools is proud to celebrate the outstanding educators that we have right here. Every year, each school selects a teacher of the year, and a committee chooses the top finalists who exemplify dedication, instructional excellence, and leadership in our classrooms and community. Last month, we recognized the winners of our annual celebration and revealed our educator of the year, assistant principal of the year, and principal of the year. We'd like to showcase them for our audience tonight. Please join us in congratulating our 2526 educators of the year. Elementary educator of the year, Desiree Trailer, first grade teacher, Pine Valley

031Elementary. Middle school educator of the year and overall educator of the year, Benjamin Lord, social studies teacher for Myrtle Grove Middle School. Yeah, we'll do them all at once. Come on down. High School Educator of the Year, Jessica Harvey, social studies teacher from Laney High [Applause] School. Assistant Principal of the Year, Alicia Chapman from Holly Shelter Middle School. And last but not least, principal of the year, Rosemary Wheeler Eaton Elementary. [Music] [Applause] Thank you. All right. I am excited to stand here to celebrate and highlight a group that constantly promotes, highlights, and celebrate students and staff from across our district. It is my honor and privilege to inform you that the North Carolina School Public Relations Association has honored New Hmer counties for excellence in communications with eight blue ribbon awards. Please welcome to the

032stage Chase Bolton who won two gold and three silver awards for photography, Kevin Hubard, who won a gold award for electronic media, and Elizabeth Felt, who won a gold award for digital media engagement. Please bear with me because I'm going to take the photo. Thankfully they know how [Applause] All right, join us now. We're going to be bringing down Pine Valley Elementary. This recent month, Pine Valley Elementary School won a $10,000 grant from Prodigy National Cup. I'd like to invite up Mr. Pantitz and his students Olivia Krasco, Kelly Neil, Erly Robinette, Isaac Stewart, Bank Smith, Sydney Brown, and Liam [Applause] Jones. Their school came in fourth place in the United States. They beat over 4 million students and 72,000 schools. Since January, they answered almost 1 million math questions correctly. Yep. And in the two

033weeks of the national competition, they answered a little over 525,000 problems correctly. Yes. Mr. Norse's class from May 1st to the 14th alone answered a little over 155,000 correct. Bank Smith, raise your hand. He answered 17,63 correctly during those two weeks. All right. All right. And where's Isaac Stewart? Oh, there's another one. He answered the most in a single day with 4,061 problems answered correctly. For all of their hard work, their school won a $10,000 grant. So stay tuned to see how they utilize that in the future. Thank you guys. [Applause] I know. If you scroll to the bottom, sir, you will see something that I'm going to ceue up in just a second. It will say video. All right. In New H County Schools, we love to celebrate the students and staff and volunteers

034who demonstrate the character and action that makes our school positive, safe, and respectful. This month's character and action award goes to Caitlyn Durkin, early literacy facilitator at Ogden Elementary School. Come on down. There she is. Mrs. Durkin became a real life hero when she noticed a student choking in the cafeteria and was able to perform the Heimlick maneuver. Here she performed the Heimlick maneuver to save his life. Thanks to her calm and quick action, the student is safe and healthy. We are so grateful for all the ways Mr. Urkin makes an impact, and we especially thankful for the character she showed in this crisis. And now, I'd like to direct your attention to the screens for a video. During lunch, one of our teachers on duty, um, Miss Durkin, noticed the student in distress and

035jumped into action, um, and actually assisted the student by performing the Heimlick maneuver. um the student was choking on a slice of pizza and she is a well-loved member of our staff and always a hero in the eyes of our students. So, this definitely just solidified the fact that she is indeed a superwoman and we're so proud to have her as a stingray at Ogden Elementary. Miss Duran, we talk a lot about how we change kids lives, but you saved one of them and I think that's a huge accomplishment that we just cannot measure. And so, so we just wanted to come here and award you something and tell you this is what character and action looks like. This is what being good people is about. School is not just about learning. It's about learning

036how to do the right things. And just we just appreciate you so much for your experience. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Yeah. So, this is for you. Let's all give her a big hand. Let's give her a big round of applause. And next, okay, to the ad add to the list of wonderful recognitions, I'd like to ask ask Miss Natalie Soo and her principal, Miss Diana Leak, to come forward. [Applause] Uh last month we recognized our classified employees um through our excellence exemplified and Miss Soo was not able to make it. So we wanted to uh take this uh opportunity to uh recognize her tonight and I want to read a little something quick um certainly while you're taking the picture. Um, so Miss Soo is a teacher assistant at Murray Middle

037School and has worked for New Hver County Schools since July of 2003. She was commended for excellence and is well known for the relationships she builds with EC students and how she fulfills her duties in the classroom while helping students reach their full potential. It was also mentioned that students who interact with Miss Soo have a higher self-esteem, a higher level of self-confidence, and feel safe talking to her regarding sensitive information about something that they may be going through at home or at school. Her colleague recognized that she often shares information and talks to their teachers if a student is having a rough day to keep an eye on them as well as letting them know if someone has a recent success that they can also celebrate with those students. Congratulations Miss Natalie Soo for

038being this quarter's recipient of the excellence exemplified award. Thank you so much. [Applause] Um, and that's all for recognitions. If you guys want to sit down, I'm just going to do some administrative introductions. Okay. So, um, first up, what I'd like to do, well, first this evening, I'll be introducing our new administrators. They are, um, principles and assistant principles in our district. So, this is the first round, and we'll have a few more coming at the next meeting. So, first, um, he is no stranger here in New Hver County schools, but I'd like to ask Mr. Paul Slovic to come up. Mr. Slovic brings over two decades of educational leadership experience to his new role as the principal at Mary C. Williams. He began his career teaching at Bradley Creek Elementary before advancing to assistant

039principal positions at Gregory, Mary C. Williams, and Winter Park Elementary. Since 2014, he has served as principal. He served as principal at Winter Park Elementary and Porter's Neck, demonstrating consistent commitment to student success and educational excellence throughout his progressive career in school leadership. And I believe Mr. Slovic shared a story that when he was leaving initially, Mary S. Williams, he said, "One day my dream is to be back here." So congratulations, Mr. Slovic. [Music] Thanks. Thank you so much. I didn't know I was coming up here. I would just like to say that I am so proud to work alongside the staff at Porter Neck Elementary School for the last four years. Um it's been a wonderful opportunity and I'm thrilled that I have the opportunity now to lead at uh Mary C. Williams. So,

040thank you so much. Miss Jill Larson, come on up. Miss Larson began her career at New Hover County Schools nearly 20 years ago, and she has gained experience spanning all educational levels, K12, in both traditional and alternative settings. Her career progression includes eight years as a school counselor, 10 years as an assistant principal, and she currently serves as principal of JC Row. Her extensive work in title one schools and diverse educational environments has shaped her commitment to servant leadership and creating equitable opportunities for all students to succeed. Jill will begin the 2526 school year as the principal at John J. Blair Elementary School. [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you for the opportunity to continue to serve and lead in this amazing county. Like Jen said, you know, 20 years is a long time, but I still have

041a lot left, and I'm very excited to start the new year at Blair. So, thank you, Michelle Cornnegie. All right. So, Miss Cornnegie brings 18 years of education experience to her new role as the principal at JC Row. The combination of her leadership experience and a unique background in law enforcement enhances her approach to school safety and relationship building. She has served as assistant principal at Ashley High School and Virgo Prep Academy, consistently supporting diverse school communities. Now stepping into her role as principal of JC Row Alternative School, she is passionate about leading with purpose and compassion while creating a safe, supportive environment where students and staff can thrive. [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you so much for trusting me with this opportunity. I have waited a really long time to have um an opportunity like this.

042I am so super excited to join the JC Row team and work with the staff and support the students and again I just can't thank you enough. I um I just cannot wait to be a part of the team and start. So thank [Applause] you Miss Elizabeth Jones. Miss Jones will begin the 2526 school year as the principal at Lake Forest Academy. She brings 25 years of experience in education to her new position, having served as a science teacher, instructional coach, and assistant principal. Throughout her career, she has made significant contributions to student achievement and teacher development, supporting both students and educators while witnessing the transformative power of learning. Her extensive background and passion for nurturing academic and personal growth position her as a valuable leader committed to creating positive educational experiences for all of

043her students and school community. Congratulations. I brought with I brought my girls with me. This is Eliza. She goes to Bellamy and Savannah goes to Myrtle Grove. And shout out to those amazing schools. and I'm just super excited. I've been at Lake Forest. It's amazing place with an incredible staff and incredible students and I'm so glad to be able to lead there now. Thank you so much. All right, last but certainly not least, Amy Harrison. With a strong commitment to supportive supporting diverse learners, Amy Harrison has 11 years of experience with New Henburg County Schools with experience in both general and special education. She holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from UNCC Wilmington and a master's in school administration from UNCC Penrook. Beginning the 2526 school year as the assistant principal at John J.

044Blair Elementary School, her diverse teaching background and administrative preparation position her well to support the school community and contribute to student success. [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you guys for this opportunity. I'm so excited to work with the families and the staff and students at Blair this coming school [Applause] year. All right, continuing on, we have teacher voice. Um, and we have the distinct privilege to hear from the transition program for young adults. the whole team. Well, not the whole team, but a large portion of the [Laughter] team. I'll just tell we can tell y'all when to click. All right. So, we are Transition Works, TPYA. If anyone didn't know, you can go ahead. Look at us. We're cute. You can go ahead. I'm Emerald Boyd and I have the honor of giving you a quick quick

045overview of who we are and what we do. So, we have three sites for our transition program for young adults. We serve individuals that are 18 to 21 years old in the adapted curriculum special ed. As you can see, we have grown exponentially from 2022 2023 school year going from 12 students to this school going to 44. So that is 44 individuals ready to go to work. Woo. Our focus is self- advocacy, self-determination, independent daily living skills, and most importantly, employment readiness. All right, Chris. Chris. Hello. Hello, my name is Christine Co and I am from the UNCW site and this is one of my students. We wish we could have brought them all but this is Chris Kounak. Say hi Chris. Say hi. Hello. Hello. Um Chris started just this year. And there's a

046first picture of Chris. He's wearing his uniform. He actually already has a job. And where do you work Chris? Um McDonald's. McDonald's. Right. He works there on Tuesdays. What do you do when you're at McDonald's? Wiping the table. Wipe tables. And then, as you probably know, in our program, we do vocational training. And the other picture of Chris is where? Um, Obama. Um, in the purple shirt, you are where? Hospital. At the hospital, right? We have a partnership with Novon Health and Chris is actually um we're making trays for the patients and he is counting grapes and we make over 800 trays a week. So, what is your favorite thing to do at TPYA? Do it. I can do it. And I can do it. Right. And Chris said this morning the reason why he

047loves coming to TPYA is because he's learning to be a grown-up and a nice young adult. Hi, my name is Micah Bigum and I am one of the TPY teachers at the Capefir site uh Capefir Community College location and this is my amazing student Bobby. Hello, I'm Bobby. Bobby has been in the program for one year and he is already gainfully employed. Where do you work? Feno 5. And what do you do at Finner Drives? Pros. Build things. Okay. Um, so throughout the year we've also worked at other site locations. What was your favorite work site location? Go. Okay. And you love Special Pedals. Pio, right? What do you do at Special Pedals? Pop bike. Right. And what's your dream job? Open a bike shop. Open a bike shop. So that's perfect for you, right?

048Um, well, we work hard, but we play harder, right? We do a lot of fun things. So, what was your favorite community-based site? Go a Y. Going to the Y. Yeah. Mr. Nate's pretty cool there, right? Yeah. No, I go walk out. Yep. He's got to get bigger, stronger. Yeah. Um, so what do you want to get out of being at TPYA? Like, why do you love going there? Fun. Fun. Fun. And you you're a great leader, right? Yeah. Yeah. Good job. And then we have an an oldie but goody. I know. So this is Zra and he is one of our graduates from this year and you were in the program how many years? Four years. Four years. And as you can see on the left, he about two months ago he got employed

049from New Hover County Schools child nutrition. So and currently what school are you at? How prek? How prek? Right. Um, and on the right he's at New Hover County Schools warehouse over on Carolina Beach Road, but he says his favorite training site that you've had is where? Recycling. Recycling. So on our campus, we go to the recycling center and lots of cardboard to recycle. So um, his favorite community-based activity is what? What? The Y. Everybody loves the Y. And what did you learn or why did you like transition works TPIA? Live on my own. To live on his own. Be independent. We're getting there. Yeah. Right. All right. All right. Miss M. Miss Mason. Oh. Oh, we get more people. Okay. Just a little bit more. So, um, we have all these partners in transition

050education and that includes the the community of Wilmington. Um, all of our business partners, our nonprofits, we I mean we couldn't name all of them. This is the starting place and it's growing. Um, but our partners in education in terms of our sites, uh, educational sites are UNCCW and Capefir Community College was added this year and we're very grateful to both of those institutions for taking in our young adults and providing the opportunity to have um, growth along uh, typically developing peers that are the same age as our young adults. Right. All right. So in the next um with that all of our community partners, how do we keep this success growing? That's what we want to keep doing. This expansion has been tremendous for us. We are reaching more students. We are reaching more

051students. We are growing more young adults and couldn't be more proud, right? And we want to keep doing that. We want to keep doing that. Um and that the recognition that the board that the district leadership gives us has elevated the awareness of our program and the important work we do and the important work that they are doing becoming independent and successful young adults. Right. Um so with that u thank you for all the things that you do to support us in that way. We have a little bit more. Um, and I'm Valerie Simmons and I'm at the Capefir Community College site as well. And uh, we how we're going to keep growing is just build life skill vocational labs eventually and then recruit community resources. So if you know anybody in the community that

052has a business or a nonprofit and they could be part of us, that would be great. And I also have to thank the Loun Foundation because for three years now we have received a grant of just shy of $5,000 which has supported us to buy these beautiful shirts and to have um buses outside of the way system that we use every day. Um so when we can't get to Curry Beach to do the disability fishing tournament that we did um Landfell Foundation supported us with that. So if you know any other funding sources that could keep keep us growing and keep us going that would be great. And to build on that, we're going to continue to build life skills, um, vocational labs, life skill labs. We are going to use every resource we can

053find to continue to expand the program and reach as many students as we can. And Chris has one some closing words for you. Um, so we are so thankful for the board of ed members and the senior leadership who were able to come to our graduation. It's one of our most special days of the year, but we would love for you all to come visit us anytime in any of our classrooms out in the community to take a 10-second selfless moment. Um, I'm retiring this year. Um, 10 years ago, I came down here. I was an administrator in post-secary and I landed into EC. Never did EC in my life. These are now my people. the the inspiration is insurmountable. We would love to share their love, their desire to please us and to make

054us happy. It is every day is incredible. Every day and we would love to see you. We would love you anywhere. So come visit us. Well, before you go anywhere, we want to do a picture with you guys. Oh, okay. You're good to go. All right. [Applause] You're up. Superintendent report. Thank you so much. Good evening everybody. At last night's county commissioner meeting, we shared our appreciation for the currently approved funding from the county at $103 million in operating funds, 2 million for prek, 2.6 6 million in capital and again ongoing support for the things that are not in our operating budget such as school nurses, SRO's, mental health counselors, and family support specialists. We also emphasized about our 42 school specialist positions that we've been looking for that remain essential to student success. We've

055also submitted a request to the new Hover County Endowment and continue advocating for updated funding formulas that reflect the evolving needs of today's students. So, thanks to this strong partnership with the partnership with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, all 1,758 of our seventh grade students participated in the Career Leadership Development Academy, CLLDA. This year, we did 172 industry field trips. Students explored a wide range of local career paths while building leadership and preparation presentation skills. The program culminated in a chamberled district-wide showcase. Winners were awarded prizes, including cash awards and travel vouchers. And we are grateful to this community in the Wilmington Chamber for their continued leadership and commitment to workforce development and student success. Now, we're also proud to be named a financial aid champion district by the College Foundation of North Carolina. And

056this is important. Through strong partnerships with CFCC, UNCW, NC Works, and military reps, we hosted FAFSA nights across the district, offering vital support to students and families. our counselors and college adviserss leading the way in making higher education accessible for all. New Hannover County also applied for the CFNC financial aid champion designation recognizing schools that implement best practices in supporting financial aid completion. This reflects NHCS's commitment to ensuring all students have access to higher education. And this is an area that we were behind the state average last year and now we are one of their financial aid champions. So that's great news, right? Bus stop planning for 2025 2026. We're already planning for next year, folks. Current riders will roll forward, but new riders, those with address changes or special requests, must meet posted deadlines.

057All transportation forms must be renewed annually, and I encourage families to visit our website or check the QR code in the handout at the back table for more information. I want to shout out Laney baseball team and the Ashley women's soccer team for heading to the state championship. We're proud of all of you. Our summer library program is detailed in the handouts provided. Summer meals are currently listed on the child nutrition social media sites and traditional high school graduations and scheduled this weekend. We're watching the weather folks and we will communicate with families as needed. But prayers are appreciated. All right. So, this was mentioned earlier. Let me make sure I address the statewide testing disruptions that we experienced on the morning of May 28th. Like many districts across North Carolina, our students, particularly in

058grades three through eight, were in the middle of statemandated testing assessments when the testing platform failed at the state level, affecting 120,000 students. Many were forced to stop mid-exam. And despite every effort to resume, persistent issues led me to make the difficult decision to suspend testing district-wide for the rest of the day. I feel like it was the right decision. Our students deserve a calm, focused environment to demonstrate what they've learned, not one filled with frustration, stress, and uncertainty. These tests carry serious implications, not just for students, but for our school's performance grades and teacher and principal bonuses. Our testing department carried an immense load in the aftermath. To reinstitute reinstate testing the next day, our staff had to issue over 7,200 individual test tickets, which quickly became a massive manual task that took hours.

059They did a phenomenal job and I can't say enough about great things about how professionally they handled that situation. So, I've written to the state superintendent and I'm requesting four things. One, that impacted districts should not be penalized in performance grades. Educators should not be penalized in bonus and growth calculations, that additional support and resources be provided for test makeups, and that transparent communication should be shared statewide to help restore confidence in the testing system. Now, I will tell you, I did say if it negatively affects them. So, if it helped us, I'm cool with it. But this was in case it negatively affected us. I think it's important there are three things that get lifted up in this situation. One, the resiliency of our students in a difficult situation. The amazing ability of our

060teachers and our administration to pivot and adapt on the fly. And the herculean effort of our testing department and their willingness to make sure that kids got put first. As superintendent, I have test scores have to matter to me because the system's set up that way. But I want to make it clear that though what I care about is kids, staff, and families. They deserve the credit for all this situation. I have never been more proud to have the privilege of serving as superintendent as I did last week to watch them do that. As we close out the year, I want to thank our incredible staff, students, and families. Despite the challenges we've had, your commitment and resilience have carried us through. Testing is wrapping up, celebrations are underway, and we're looking ahead to graduation

061this weekend in a strong finish. And I think I can speak for all educators nationwide as I say to parents, tag, you're it. Thank you, Dr. Barnes. Um, a lot of people have stolen my thunder, so sorry, it it it wasn't just you. Um, so as the school year draws to a close, we find ourselves entering a time of celebration and reflection. We've all journeyed through another year, one filled with growth, challenges, achievements, and countless moments that have shaped us. For some, this may have been the smoothest year yet. For others, it may have post signific posted significant hurdles. Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, whether you're a student, staff member, teacher, administrator, or parent, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for your unwavering commitment and contributions, each of you plays

062a vital role in making our district stronger and more successful. As board members, we've had the privilege of beginning our graduation season by attending ceremonies across our early colleges and special programs. It's truly inspiring to witness the accomplishments of our students. Whether their next steps include college, joining the workforce, or military service, we celebrate each unique journey and take pride in their determination and achievements. I just wanted to take a moment to highlight a few couple of the programs that have already been highlighted tonight. Um, the transition program for young adults. It's one that is close to my heart. It's a remarkable program and they talked about what it focuses on preparing our kids for life and work within our community and teaching them practical skills creating real world opportunities and it helps students explore

063and attain meaningful employment. And at the graduation was when we first heard about that student that is employed in our district. What a powerful testament to the dedication of the teachers, assistants, families, and most importantly the students involved. This is exactly the kind of success that reminds us why programs like TPIA are so vital. And then the Career Leadership Development Academy, another standout initiative um which Dr. Barnes talked about the end of year showcase. So over the course of the school year, all seventh grade students um my youngest was one of them. So he had the opportunity to visit various local businesses gaining insight into the range of career paths available in our community. This hands-on exposure culminated in student created presentations ranging from diagrams and brochures to mock interviews, some of which were quite

064entertaining, highlighting what they learned. Some students even left with money that they won in savings accounts, but all of them walked away with a broader, more informed perspective of the world of work and their potential place in it. And as we approach the final days of the school year for our traditional schools, we also look ahead to a well-deserved break. Let's not forget to pause, take a deep breath, and acknowledge all that we've accomplished together. The work of education is never truly finished, but in the moments of rest, we regain the energy to keep moving forward. Thank you again for your dedication, your passion, and your belief in our students. We are grateful for all you've done this year, and we look forward to what we will achieve together in the months ahead. Um, so

065originally when we had our agenda review, we had added um a brief uh public apology that I I had forgotten to put into um and so I am I'm not sure we need a motion because we did already add it last week. Um and so I will pass it over to uh Mr. Perry briefly. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um yes uh it's been a pleasure so far to be elected to the board and to start serving in December. there. It is a learning experience and uh and uh sometimes uh you know the dynamics of school of uh what goes on at the school board can get frustrating when especially when things don't go your way and why don't they think like we like I think but about two months ago uh uh a at at

066our regular meeting I believe um the uh there was something that I was frustrated a vote that came down and how uh a point of procedure didn't go my way and I got I lost my temper and uh and thinking to myself I was being speaking without a hot mic. I kind of laid some profanity down but I there was a hot mic and uh and apparently a lot of our staff heard that. A lot of some of our community members heard that and so I wanted to I've already apologized to the board previously, but I wanted to apologize to all of you tonight and and then I'm going to be making uh much better efforts to make sure that that kind of uh unprofessional conduct does not happen again. So, thank you. Thank you,

067Mr. Perry. Uh I am going to turn it over to our board vice chair for the call to audience. Thank you, Madam Chair. First up, we have Karen Clark. Good evening, Dr. Barnes and board. We have this unshakable hope, firm and secure as an anchor for the soul. The Lord in Joel 2:25, I will give you back what you've lost. The fear of the Lord is true wisdom. To forsake evil is real understanding. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Thank you, Lord, that you will show yourself strong today and in the days ahead. By his mighty hand, miracles will manifest through his saving strength. I declare new handover County schools come into alignment with God's purposes for this generation and those to come. Our children

068will set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Like the Joshua of old, they will have no fear to enter their promised land. Fiery warriors of the Lord who sit at his feet and go out walking in fearless victory, boldly bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. We release our children and our children's children as the arrows. And we declare the flames of holy passion are rising up making them the most devastating generation to the kingdom of darkness the world has ever seen in Jesus' name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you Dr. Jamie Pond. Good evening, school board members, superintendent Barnes, parents

069here and watching at home. Happy Pride Month. By the way, tonight I will be speaking about Tonight I will be speaking about advanced placement funding as is proposed to be cut by North Carolina legislature. On April 15th, North Carolina Senate passed a budget that cut AP budget, taking us from $15 million to $4.7 million. For the past decade, North Carolina legislature has covered the cost of AP tests for students and created the North Carolina Advanced Placement Partnership, which will be cut under this budget. This year alone, over three, sorry, 3100 tests were completed in New Hmer County. These tests ultimately save families hundreds to thousands of dollars. The North Carolina AP partnership has estimated that this initiative has saved North Carolina, sorry, New Hover County families more than $1.5 million this year. In addition, New

070Hver County students have thrived under this program and support. Since 2021, there has been consistent growth in scores three or higher in New Hmer County. Each year, as more students in our county take AP tests, students are doing better than previous years. Furthermore, these tests help prepare our students for college while also helping to mitigate the financial burden of higher education, making college more accessible. By cutting the funding for AP tests, our students will very likely take less AP classes and AP tests. As such, there will be less AP courses offered. The other day I met a few kind of students and a student told me that they noted that if the test had cost them money, they probably wouldn't have taken the AP classes. In addition, the added cost will likely negatively affect our

071progress our county has made over the last few years. Paying for the AP test will add extra pressure on students, which unfortunately will have a negative effect on test scores. I encourage you to support students who wish to take AP exams and are thriving. During the month of June, please contact your state representatives, state senators, and ask them to restore AP funding. Thank you. Colton Griezgard, Colton, Shalia Washington, Shalia, Sandy Isles, Tonight I'm going to talk about fear. Josie, it's clear that fear controlled your attempt to ban the book blended. Nelson Mandela once said, "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." A courageous person would not file a district-wide book

072complaint in secrecy. they would be proud and show moral courage through transparent actions. But you chose to hide as though you felt shame. You hid in fear versus leading with bravery. Then you played victim and blamed others after your actions were brought to light. As Bnee Brown said, "You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you can't choose both." It's obvious you did not choose courage. You wanted the comfort and privilege of privacy as you chose to engage in a matter of public concern. You secretly attempted to take away the parenting rights of over 25,000 parents. And not only did you attempt to strip away our parental rights, but your complaint explo exposed your utter lack of understanding of what children in New Hmer County experience on a regular basis. While you try

073to shield your own child from the realities of life, thousands of New Hmer County children live it each day. These young children demonstrate more bravery and understanding of life's reality than you did with your complaint. Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less. Marie Curry. Josie, you need to understand more because your lack of knowledge consistently prevents you from conquering your fears. And our community suffers because of it. We deserve elected officials who can lead with courage, not leaders who hide in shame. If you want to ban a book, just own it. Be proud. Have the courage to publicly admit it. And if banning books causes you to hide and shame, then stop banning books because history

074tells us book banners have never been the good guys. Leslie Pie [Applause] A parable slightly revised from Matthew 25. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will sit on his throne and he will separate the people. He will say to those on his left, "Come those of you who are blessed, take your inheritance as prepared for you. For I was an immigrant and you welcomed me. I was hungry and thirsty and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. And the righteous will answer him,"Lord, when did we feed you and welcome you and care for you and visit you?" And he will answer them, "Whenever you or one who represented you did for the

075for one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me." Then he will say to those on his right, "Depart from me, you who are cursed to the eternal life. For I was an immigrant and you bound me in feeds and chains. After I was imprisoned, you sent me away to foreign lands that were never my own. When I was hungry or thirsty or naked or sick, you said, "It's their own fault. We're not responsible." And they will say to him, "Lord, when did we do all these things?" And he will respond, "When you or those you chose to represent you did all these things to one of my brothers or sisters, it is as if you did them to me." So, I'm asking you members of this board, when you

076stand before Jesus, which side will you be on? Do you work to be sure all the children in your care are fed, clothed, and protected? Or do you stand with those who would say, "It's not our problem. They don't belong here. They should go to their own separate school or go back where they came from. Our money shouldn't go to feed them or give them medical help. It's more important that we spend time in this meeting discussing how we treat those who are like us, what the decorum of this meeting should be, or how we should follow the whims of one or two of us or the whims of the puppet masters, Sally Easter, Sally, Bob Bogart. Oh, I see Sally. My apologies. Thank you, Madame Chair, and the whole board. And um and Mr.

077Barnes, Dr. Barnes. Dr. Barnes sent out a letter on May 13th with his decision on the book Blended. If anybody hasn't read it yet, this is what it looks like. He said, "As superintendent, it is my responsibility to make decisions that I feel best reflect the educational and developmental needs of the students of New Hover County Schools. That's a big responsibility. So when a principal kicks a five, six or sevenyear-old out of school for making threats to a staff member, do you feel that using out of school suspension it best reflect the educational and developmental needs of our children? Or are the children who present disruptive behaviors not one of your responsibilities? It seems to me that meeting the educational and developmental needs of those few young students who would include providing a different space

078where they can continue their learning with a highly qualified and licensed teacher as well as opportunities to work with a counselor or social worker to address the root of their behavior. Remember, I am talking about little children who enjoy the elephant and piggy books where the main characters are learning about friendship. They have no interest in reading about an 11year-old girl who is navigating the complexities of family identity in a piano recital. Stop treating five, six, and seveny olds the same as our middle and high school students. consider their developmental needs and where they are developmentally and all out of school suspensions for our youngest learners. Bob Bogart. Bob Bogart. Um, and just a reminder to members of the audience, if you have a sign, please keep it lower so that you're not blocking the

079view from of the people behind you. Good evening. As for policy 2410 of the policy development adoption and review, Love Our Children proposes changes to the short-term suspension policy 4351 based on Maryland education code section 7-E.1. Two months ago, our love our children sent Dr. Barnes those changes so he could study them. The policy states that the superintendent or designate should submit proposals to the board policy committee. They have not heard back from Dr. Barnes or members of the policy committee yet. The Maryland statute is powerful because in addition to banning all out of school suspensions for children in pre pre kindergarten kindergarten, first grade or second grade, it addresses the needs of our youngest learners by adding one exception. PreK through 2 grade children will be suspended for not more than five school days

080if the school administration in consultation with the school psychologist or other mental health professional determines that there is an eminent threat of serious harm to other students or staff that cannot be reduced or eliminated through intervention and supports and that no more than five school days provides time for the elementary principal and school psychologist to meet. And finally, the most important sentence, the school system shall remedy the impact of a student's behavior through appropriate intervention methods that may include restorative practices. Love our children hopes that the policy committee will be prepared to discuss and implement these proposed changes at their June 17th meeting. Thank you, Plet Gresette. Hello. Recently, the Duke Children Law Clinic and Education Justice Alliance released a report that highlights the urgent issue of out of school suspension for students in preK

081through 2 grade in North Carolina. Based on 20 years of research and data, the report identifies six significant problems associated with out of school suspension. Mostly importantly, it underscores the profound negative impact of suspension of our youngest learners. The the report states, "Suspension can cause educational, economic, and social harm to children. Young children are especially vulnerable because their brains are still developing and are heavily influenced by negative experiences. Young children, young students have suspension are more likely to receive failing grades, drop out of high school, develop negative feelings about school, and become incarcerated later in life. Your policy 4303 acknowledges this concern, stating that the board recognizes the negative effects exclusionary discipline on a range of students outcome. Why do you continue to have a policy that harms students? It is unacceptable to suspend five,

082six, and seveny olds from school. Policy 43, sorry, policy 4300 identifies 18 alternatives to out of school suspension. The support positive behavior. One practical alternative is inschool suspension which removes a child exhibiting dangerous behaviors from their classrooms allowing dangerous behaviors um from the classrooms and allowing excuse me allowing children to continue their education. It also provides a separate learning space where the disciplinary student can work with highly qualified teachers, counselors and social workers. We urge you to read the the latest report and take immediate action to keep our youngest learners in school, nurturing their growth and development. Thank you, [Applause] Cameo [Applause] Keith. Good evening. The online end of grade testing was disrupted across North Carolina last week due to issues with the software. The tests can be stressful enough on a good day, but

083when testing was interrupted, Dr. Barnes made a compassionate and sensible decision. He suspended all testing for the remainder of the day. In his email to parents, he said, "My priority is always going to be about students and their well-being. Does that include the well-being of a five-year-old who gets kicked out of school for saying they're going to beat up a classmate during recess? Dr. Barnes also said, "We are committed to providing the best environment for students success." Instead of suspending our youngest learners, wouldn't the best environment for student success be a different space in school where they could keep learning with a highly qualified teacher and meet with a counselor or social worker to make a plan to safely re-enter the classroom. Based on your data from the first six months of this school year,

084we are talking about 18 K to2 students from nine elementary schools. Revise short-term suspension policy 4351 and end all out of school suspensions for five, six, and seveny olds. Yes, compassion, but primarily provide the best environment for the success of our youngest learners. An inschool suspension can provide the help and services our children need. And as we saw this evening, primaacia evidence that they could be the next award winners. Thank you, Barbara Garrow. Before I make my remarks, I just want to say thank you as a citizen for Dr. Barnes and the school uh board members that were able to speak to the county commission last night. It was impressive. It was needed and I just want to say thank you. In January 2025, a paper was published in the Journal for American Association for

085Behavioral Analysis International entitled A Call for the End of School Seclusion, citing research and data for over the past 30 years and from 40 sources, two of the uh researchers concluded, and I quote, "Seclusion is an ineffective, dangerous practice that should not be used in schools. Seclusion is misused as a punitive response rather than a safety measure and it is longlasting dem detrimental consequences that affect students who endure the practice as well as classmates and the school personnel. Furthermore, seclusion is unsafe for many students placing them in a situation which self harm cannot be prevented and re-triggering traumatic experiences. If there is a potential for harm, traumatization or death of even one student, then the cost to retain the practice of seclusion is too high. Seclusion is never warranted, is harmful, and its use must

086be terminated in all schools. And that's the end of the quote. Here are questions. Does New Hover County Schools still use seclusion? If not, which alternatives are you using? If so, how many exclusions have occurred this school year? And since you are no longer using seclusion rooms, where are you putting students, young children who are secluded? The public deserves to know, and I appreciate your response. Thank you, Alicia Uendeli. [Applause] Good evening. Don't give up on our youngest learners. Most of our five, six, and seven year olds follow their teachers direction. Most of them do as they're told. Most of our five, seven year olds show respect to adults and most of them say please and thank you. Most of our five, six, and seveny olds keep their hands to themselves. Most of them walk

087down the hallway quietly. Don't give up on our youngest learners. Most of our five, six, and sevenyear-olds sit quietly during lessons. Most of them don't wiggle around a lot. Most of our five, six, and seveny olds play well with others. Most of them can take turns doing a game. Most of our five, six, and seven year olds use the words they they are upset or angry. Most of them will go to their teachers for help. Don't give up on our youngest learners. A few of our five, six, and seveny olds can't do those things regularly. They need more time to develop their emotional skills. They need more time to practice their social skills. They need to feel safe. And when they feel safe, they need to work on listening to their bodies to self-regulate. Why

088would you deny them their education? Why would you kick them out of school? They are only five, six, and seven year olds. Again, I say don't give up on our youngest learners. Thank you, Loretta Stackhouse. Good evening. Dr. Barnes made a recommendation about the book Blended. Blended is about a black middle school girl whose father is black and her mother is white. When the parents are divorced, she spends one week at her father's house and the other week at her mother's house. She experiences racial prejudice and profiling in her community. She is the victim of an accidental shooting by a white police officer. Dr. Barnes recommended to keep the book accessible to older students while um not making it available to students in third grade and under. I can't imagine a younger child who would

089be interested in reading that storyline. And if there is an interested third grader, I hope he or she has a responsible mature adult to discuss it with. It is interesting that Dr. Barnes said he made his recommendation based on quote the educational and developmental needs of the students of New Hover County Schools. End of quote. It is it is as if he's acknowledging the fact the five, six, and seven year olds think differently than 15, 16, and 17 year olds. So why are the consequences for misbehavior in the student code of conduct the same for every child? Should not the consequences for the younger learners be different than those for older students? It's time to revise the code of conduct. It's time that the consequences request re reflect the educational and developmental needs of the

090students of New Hover County Schools. And Dr. Barnes, thanks for recommending this book. I hope I'm that responsible adult that the child finds to discuss it with. Veronica McBuren [Applause] Brown. I hope each of you has taken the time to review Merlin Education Code section 7-305.1. It recognizes that some four, five, six, and seveny olds may present a serious threat of harm to students of staff that cannot be immediately reduced through current interventions and supports. But instead of kicking kids out of school as punishment, Maryland committed to providing the interventions and supports those children needed. Now, let's talk about the reality in New Hover County schools. Based on your K2 suspension data from the first half of this school year, only 18 children would require targeted intervention 18. But it's then instead of providing those

091necessary resources, we are just kicking them out of school. The interventions we should be providing include positive behavior interventions and supports, individualized behavior intervention plans, referrals to student support teams, referrals to individualized education program teams, referrals for appropriate community-based services. These interventions work and many include restorative practices that teach children how to regulate their emotions. Is there anyone here who believes that punishment is better than providing support to our youngest learners? The board needs to make a clear, unwavering commitment to helping our children instead of punishing and hurting them. Commit to keeping our kids in school where they can learn and thrive. Merlin used statute 7305.1 to commit to their K2 students. study it, embrace it, adopt it, use it to create a safer and more supportive learning environment for our K2 students. and Steven

092[Applause] Axel. Good evening all of you. Um I would love to say that I always love coming to these meetings, but um that's not always the case. Tonight was a particularly nice surprise hearing all the wonderful stories and I think everyone here deserves credit for it. So board members, u Madame Chairwoman, uh Commissioner Barnes, thank you for um creating what happened tonight for those uh teachers and children. Um but I'd like to talk to you about um the the recommendations from the report from Duke. I think we can all respect that there's a high quality level of science that went behind this discovery um that that come from the too young to suspend report from Duke's uh children's law clinic and educational education jud uh justice alliance and it it's worth reading. I hope you

093all will. The first recommendation is quote increase public access to data on early grade suspension unquote. At a state level, it recommends that the Department of Public Instruction's annual discip discipline report include data that is disagregated by school grade, offense, race, disability, and other factors that help the public better understand the use of early grade suspensions in their community. At a local level, it recommends that individual school districts and charter schools proactively release their data uh their detailed suspension data for the uh public uh to the public for the community review. The report notes that the lack of information leads many to assume that grade suspension is not early grade suspension is not a problem in their community. However, the data often tells a different story. It is critical to the understanding of the scope

094of the problem and monitoring reforms. The New Hatter School, New Hanover County School has an out of school suspension problem. Five, six, and seven year olds are being punished. Time is up. Carrie Bogart. Good evening. The use of data of research conclusions of experts in the field is one of the hallmarks of an educated decision maker. Not just the way we've always done it, not the easiest way necessarily, and not by kicking the can down the road for the next person to deal with the issue at hand. The American Academy of Pediatrics developed a policy statement of out of school suspensions and expulsions in 2013. It said in part, "Research continues to demonstrate that out of school suspension and expulsion that are used too readily are ineffective deterrence to inappropriate behavior and are harmful and

095counterproductive to the student, the family, the school district, and the community as a whole. The American Academy of Pediatrics maintains that out of school suspension and expulsion are counterproductive to the intended goal. They rarely if ever are necessary and should not be considered as appropriate discipline in any but the most extreme or dangerous circumstances as determined on an individual basis rather than a blanket policy. Last year the AAP updated their policy statement. It says in part, there is little evidence that exclusionary school discipline practices make schools safer or deter future misbehavior. Children and adolescents are affected by exclusionary school discipline are at a higher risk for dropping out of high school and for involvement in the juvenile justice system. Exclusionary school discipline has a negative effect on the school climate. High rates of suspension and

096expulsion are correlated with lower academic achievement schoolwide. End all school suspensions for five, six, and seveny olds. An inschool suspension with a highly qualified teacher makes much more sense. Provide our youngest learners with the help and support they need. Thank you, Peter Witch. The North Carolina Department of Instruction reported that last school year there were 3,136 out of school suspensions for kindergarten through 12th grade in New Hover County. Sadly, those suspensions represent 10,228 days of miss school. That's 10,228 days of students going without classroom instruction, remedial reading, special education, speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling services, and more. What's more alarming is that the number of K12 suspensions and missed days of school both went up over the past three years. In the 2021-22 school year, there were 8,149 missed days of school due

097to suspensions. And again last year, the number was 10,228. That's about a 26% increase of suspensions over two years. The new handover county schools has a suspension problem. And I know you've reduced the number of K2 out of school suspensions and it's time to finish that work. Instead of kicking little children with dangerous behaviors out of school, provide them with an inschool suspension where they could keep learning with a highly qualified teacher and work with a counselor or social worker on their social and emotional skills and on getting at the root cause of their behaviors. It might not make a big difference on the data, but it will have a profound positive effect on their future. They're only five, six, and seven years old. Thank you, Katie Gates. Good evening, board. Strategic goal number four

098used to be DEI and is now called inclusion, equity, and sense of belonging. It says that students and staff should agree that their school is inclusive and connected and that this connectedness must be assessed. But how do you measure that? How do you define belonging? And how much time and money are we spending on a vague goal? Can we do more with less? Why not eliminate goal number four and its underlying Marxist ideology, save resources, focus on academics, and add a more applicable, measurable, and teachable goal like citizenship. Citizenship includes skills like conflict resolution, respect for others property, honesty, empathy, integrity, and self-control. It teaches students how to disagree respectfully, teaches about teamwork, how to prepare for an interview, how to clean up after yourself. We want our students to show gratitude, write a proper

099email or letter, shake hands, and make eye contact. These skills matter in school, at work, and life. It used to be that after academics, education also prepared students in citizenship for adult responsibilities like voting, workplace dynamics, raising families, civic service and engagement. Let's return to that. We can draw on timeless moral frameworks like the Ten Commandments, not to preach religion, but to teach right from wrong and as a blueprint for character. Let's prepare kids for the duties of adulthood under the banner of citizenship as opposed to inclusion, equity, and belonging. Citizenship has historical precedent, costs nothing, and is priceless. Thank you, John Hennitt. Madame Chair, Madame Vice Chair, and Board of Education. Allow me to pause there. uh would like to encourage you to ask your staff, your students, and your teachers when they address

100you to begin in a professional manner when they begin their comments. We need to improve our professional standards here board of education as well as our other boards. Um also, Madam Chair, I hope when it comes time to the performance review of the superintendent, uh he should be criticized for not slipping his business card to the kid who got 117,000 math questions correct in a row. We could use him on our budget team, right? Um uh but but on a more serious note um I've not read all your policies. Um frankly none of them mean anything if one of them can't be honored. We've had a parents privacy violated and the process did not work. And it's important that we hold people accountable for violating policy and breaking the process because the process is what

101protects our parents, our students, and the integrity of our school system. And that's all I have to say this evening. Thank you. Colton Reegard, Risegard, Colton, and Shalia Washington. Madam Chair, then that concludes our call audience. All right. I am going to give us about a fiveminut restroom break if we need it. Do we need one board? All right. So, five minutes. So, board be back on the dis. Um, we do have a close session. Um board be back on the dis by 6:57. board members, if you could get back to the dis please. I need all board members returning to the dis. We need one more for quorum. I need all board members back at the dis please. Thank you. All right. Um, we do have a quorum at this point, so let's get

102back to it. Um, next on the agenda is the new Hanover High School Master Plan update. Dr. Morgan, good. Can you hear me? No. Is it me? Am I the problem? Use your Use your principal voice. Is this better? Yes, sir. My apologies. Okay. Thanks for having me. Uh just wanted to give you all a brief update this evening on the New Hav High School master plan that I know that uh you all have heard quite a bit about uh most recently in in recent weeks. Um to date, the conversations surrounding the facility study and the master plan for Newber High School have included a lot of information gathering from stakeholders. On the front end, it included uh even a public event that was held at the Princess Street gym in New Horizon School in

103midFebruary. I know some of you attended that. Um I think the uh it really sort of catered to people who had a direct connection to the school. So they uh they brought students in during the day, staff as well, alumni, former staff members were there. I know some uh staff members from around the district were there as well as you all. Um, in more recent weeks, the design team has led discussions specifically with New Hammer County School staff members, uh, schoolboard members, New Hver County staff members, and New H County commissioners as well. The focus of these discussions boil down to matters of school uh, school and student safety, academic programming, operational efficiency, and cost. So with these things in mind, the design team based on input from all the previously mentioned stakeholders has been

104charged with the task of presenting several schematic design options to include a design plan that explores the option to build an entirely new New Hampshire High School, an entirely new site. Uh a design plan that explores the option to renovate some of the buildings on the existing campus. a design plan that explores the option to renovate and expand some of the buildings on the campus's existing footprint and a design plan that explores the option to renovate and expand some of the buildings on campus and potentially grow the school's current footprint. So, I know many of you have been involved in the discussions in recent weeks. Uh we appreciate you attending those. Um you know how complex and how exciting some of those conversations have been. Uh but I wanted to provide just a brief summary

105tonight. um so that you would know where we are in the process, how close I believe we are to seeing the long- awaited product of these conversations. Our plan is for them to be uh for the design team to be able to present at the next board meeting. Uh again, so this tonight is just a brief overview, kind of bring everybody up to speed, get on the same page. Um if you have any questions for me at this time though, I'm happy to answer. Miss Barnhart, I just have one comment. when I was leaving the YMCA breakfast the other day. I saw um a Monteth builder and I just did our mantra. It said under budget on time before the next school year start and he assured me he said Miss Barnhart we are on

106our way to do that. So I just kept saying under budget. So we appreciate all your hard work Rob. That's good. Thank you Dr. Merrick. Uh I agree it's really exciting to see what can be produced there and to see the well it's also overwhelming when we think about how how difficult that's going to be and all you know the phasing and so thank you for doing that. Um I guess the one question I have is I have been contacted by different people in the public and in the press saying hey where are those plans we see that on the agenda that there are plans existing but they're not published anywhere. So, I'm just hoping that we can get, you know, something out there for for the public to see. Yes, sir. And and that's

107the plan. When they come to present, I think those will become public. I'm not quite finished. One more thing about Oh, I apologize. Oh, it's okay. The attorney general has uh put out a statement that explains the law that anything that is done, even if it's just a draft in our schools, is already public information and needs to be um shared with the public. So, I'm you know, and this is a conversation we've had and it's not about you. uh I love what you're doing but I am encouraging all of us to remember that everything we do open meetings law uh that that that we are a public body you know we don't do anything in in private so I'm hoping that we can get something published ASAP even if it's just like hey here's

108here's what we're working on so far thank you uh Mr. Perry and then uh but I thank you for uh the hard work uh you've been putting in. I I had the privilege maybe two or three months ago to go visit this before you became the uh assistant superintendent. um the um but I was impressed with uh with the work that was being done and uh I just want to you know there's been some criticism by uh in the last month or so by or some questioning whether we have the manpower uh to handle these projects. I do you feel confident that that we have the right people in in place? Yes, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair. Miss Bradford. Um, thank you Dr. Morgan um, for the update. It was very helpful and I appreciate

109the fact that the plans haven't been released because they're not finished and we look forward to the finished product when you bring them to us next month. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Justice. Um, now people have been speaking about this. So in July they're going to give us an update. Is this going to be basically the same information that was given to us? I guess it was last month um about the different opportunities that we decisions we make the fact that we are possibly looking at a bond. Is this what's going to be presented to us next month in July? I I think you'll probably see some similarities, but I also think it's it's been evolving every conversation that we have. Everyone that I've been a part of, it's slightly different. So, I think you'll

110see some similarities. And I think what you're referencing is probably what you're expecting to see. But I can't tell you be exactly what you're what you were part of when you attended that last meeting. Um I think it's the same thing that all of us was were you know educated on. I I was just reminded when uh Dr. Merrick brought up about everything that we see everything that's printed is a public record. So in essence those that information they shared with us that day could be out there right now for the public to look at and give feedback about. So this is something that we need to be thinking about as a district as we move forward these kinds of things happen that we be proactive about the dialogue ahead of time instead of being

111at the situation here where we're talking about being presented in July when all seven of us have had the opportunity to look at where they're you are now in fact the whole facilities department not the whole facilities department but whoever is involved because I think it is good for the public to give us feedback um and I and if they were had the opportunity which I hope we do in July to see what we were presented with. They'll probably have come up with the same kinds of conclusions that we are because it's a good process, but it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of public support. So, the sooner we can get him on it, the better. Miss Burnernhard, I after hearing my colleagues talk, I need some clarity here. I

112I was under the impression that we were going to be presented the plans in July and along with access to the public. So I I feel like from conversations that colleagues are saying that that access is not going to happen in July and I just would like some clarity. It's requesting that access right now and they have been. So what you what you are coming today is saying in July we will have a detailed report and the public will have access to different options that you were exploring and you just kind of alluded to the overview. Okay. So in July that's happening. Yes. I think the main reason for tonight's update is because originally we had intended for that presentation to be tonight. Okay. Based on feedback from the the discussions with the county commissioners

113with you all that we're back they went back to the drawing board with some things. So at so at that point we decided we would move it back a month and because we had we had discussed it at least as a staff we had discussed it being presented to this and I know I had spoken to a couple of you about it being presented tonight. Um but we wanted to at least give some sort of update so that everybody could hear that yes it is coming. All right. Thank you Dr. Martin. All done. You're good. You're good. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next we have the cloud to local server presentation. Is that Miss Princeton or is that Brian or both? What about the Carol? Okay. Thank you for allowing me. Am I gonna do

114or you? Thank you for allowing me to um the opportunity to share information to with you um about our cloud services. As as you can see, we have a variety of cloud hosted applications. They range from administrative functions to instruction. There's second screen. The items with asterisks next to them are are for archival purposes only. We no longer use the AS400, but we keep that data. And same thing with the HRMS legacy system. These next couple of slides contain a list of applications that have no self-hosting option. The asterisks denote the applications that are provided by the state which have to be used. There's no option. We have to use the state systems for those. I missed one. Okay, here are your um when we cut over to Infinite Campus on July the 7th, these

115applications will become part of Infinite Campus. So, we'll no longer be using Educators Handbook, Scribbles, Power School, or School Messenger because all those functions are incorporated in Infinite Campus. Okay? So, those will go away. Okay? And then to transition to um an on-remise solution basically there's three high-level steps that I would take to do this. The first of course is identifying a suitable solution. The second identifying um infrastructure and personnel needed to second two steps and identify infrastructure and personnel needed to manage um the the switchover and to keep up the solution. Each of those highlevel steps break down into many others. So the the process of looking for a suitable solution is going to take time for each of those applications and then once one's found there's going to be subtasks that have to

116be done underneath it. So I have been doing a little bit of homework and identifying some of the expenses that the district would incur for this transition. Um first of all would be the software cost and of course that also depends on the individual applications chosen. Then there would be infrastructure and possibly could include an increase in power consumption, UPS's, rack space, servers, hard drives, a web application, firewall, and this of course will all depend on the solutions that are chosen and could grow over time if we're keeping the data. One example I'm going to provide for you is the cost to move all Google, Microsoft, and Convolt storage um onsite with including like a 15% growth, which isn't a lot, would be a $214,500 expense. Okay. We would also have to contract with a

117network observation center. Um with all the data being moved to the local servers, the need for 247 monitoring for indicators of compromise would be necessary. Um right now with the hosted solutions as done by all the businesses, but if we're going to bring it all back here, we would need that solution. Okay. Um and then like right out of the gate, we would need an additional network engineer and two additional cyber security specialists to help manage this process and keep our data safe. The salary for those positions are with benefits are 127,434. So can you go the PDF? Okay, this next file um is a comparison table of in-house hosting versus cloud hosting. So you can see um they basically go through the upfront cost, maintenance and upkeep, scalability, security, reliability, flexibility, all the different

118parts and features of the two options. Okay, I'll take any questions. Um Miss Justice. Okay. I What is What are we asking here? are is is the will of the or have we had a discussion about moving every I know we have moving everything which is what all these figures are about moving everything from the cloud to local storage that's what I was asked to do a presentation on yes okay that's what I'm I'm just trying to clarify um because there's also I think that a lot of the fear from what I understand was people afraid of having the compromise the cloud and thus our information like I guess did happened with P school but there's no security necessarily here locally that would do any I mean we're living in 2025 and I wouldn't say

119we don't have security we do we do have processes in place and equipment in place to secure the stuff that we have we don't have to the extent that Microsoft Google um and all your big companies do that we actually um subscribe to or where they store their data which is usually Amazon Web Services or Microsoft. So, so, so in essence, it would be more secure if we didn't move from the cloud. Yes. Thank you, Miss Bradford. So, if I understand it correctly, we had a board member ask you to bring us a presentation to compare in-house server versus cloud hosting, and that's what we've just seen. Yes, ma'am. The cost. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Um, let's see. Where was I? Uh, did you No, Mr. Perry. of the applications that we they are

120currently cloud hosted now how many of them are cloud hosted on a separate application server say spun up on Amazon or azour that belongs to us in a separate and how many of them are like powers school where our students data our teachers data is conglomerated with data from all kinds of other school districts where if somebody hacks in, they can it's a big target and they can get all of it. And how how much of it is if we were to say maybe not bring it in house but bring it to a separate cloud-based server that belongs to us uh that isn't conglomerated with other school districts data and becoming a big target. Is that a possibility as well? So with the applications that we purchase, our data isn't separate because you're doing a

121subscription purchase, you know, and you're paying for it not just the um having your data, but the the actual platform itself. Um so you're paying for that. So yes, anybody who subscribes to that platform, their data is is stored together in the cloud, you know, in their data servers, but each of these businesses have data servers that are anywhere across the country. So that way they have the redundancy for us to have our own data server. Even if we do have a cloud data center for us, we could not use all the applications we use to do that because those programs aren't ours and they point to their servers versus ours. My understanding that at least with the upcoming Infinite Campus that at least according to their website, there is an onsite option for Infinite

122Campus. I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? I apologize. My understanding of the infinite campus software that we will soon be getting is that there is an option whether we're allowed to have it from DPI or not is another question. But at least according to them there is an option for us to to use infinite campus with a an on-site uh hosting option. I was not given that choice. I I don't know if that was a question that was asked of this, you know, anybody else. I think the state pretty much have made those options for us. The one final question I just have is of the different applications that we use, can we identify which ones would probably have the most sensitive and most confidential information and can we and which ones would if we

123were going to migrate maybe some of the more confidential ones and maybe leave some of the other ones alone. Uh can we and maybe cut some cost there? Is that a possibility as well? The systems that have the most PII information would be your state systems which would be the P school, the infinite campus, the um the Tyler Nunes system that we don't have a choice. We have to use what the state provides. Our systems that we use, we put as little information as possible. If we can just do a student name and that's it. That is what we do. We um we try and limit it and not give them exactly what they're asking for. We give them what they need. Okay. Dr. Merrick, thank you for for doing this. I realize this is

124kind of above above and beyond what you normally have to do, and I I very much appreciate you looking into this for us. Um, so you're saying that there's going to be a cost of almost a million dollars uh thereabouts uh to to bring this home that even if we do bring it home, we won't necessarily have as robust of uh of security as we might get on the cloud with these larger companies. And uh there's still the question for me about the actual safety of the data. That's the thing that I am most concerned about. And if you're telling me that it's actually going to be safer in the cloud because there's more robust that that means something to me. But there's something I don't see on here. And that is I and I'm

125just guessing maybe we have the the the liability coverage, but I'm guessing that if we choose to bring this data home and then there's a breach, that could really increase our liability as well as risk the safety of our children's data. Correct. So if we bring it home and there is a a like what happened to P school, that liability would be on us. That is and right now that liability is not on us. That liability is on on P school Pearson. Yes, like infinite campus. Um, so there are two board members that well, one that hasn't spoken and one that wants to speak again. And I know Dr. Barnes wants to speak, but we are at time. So I'm going to make a motion to extend time for three minutes. Okay. All those in

126favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That passes. Miss Barnhart. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I appreciate all you guys are doing. Um, I know we know more details than the public knows, but um, for those listening out there, there is a lot more behind the-scenes work that is going on here locally in New Hover County schools that we are doing in anticipation so that your data does not come compromised. In addition to that, this board has been active in pursuing conversations with the attorney general and going um with DPI of which the letter that we addressed and said, can we have this option to explore a local entity? So we are actively taking efforts but to see this million-dollar price tag and understand that local funds are the most flexible funds that

127we have and that would be replacing uh I mean a million dollars last year budget was about 75 positions and and we we could do that. We could tonight just have the conversation of if we want to switch over um but that would mean potentially 75 positions left locally and that's not something I'm um wanting to entertain. Something that I also informed our fellow board members is myself and the superintendent were able to be part of a conversation with the North Carolina Department of Information Technology and they are actively pursuing changes and protocols and they are willing to come do a presentation for us to talk about those changes in light of a lot of the things that had happened with Power School and just the lapse of time and the things that we need

128to do a better job um what did she say? Maturing the process I think is how she politely said it. And so we are actively pursuing ways to ensure the safety of data not only um here locally New Hover County schools but also just making a better process for statewide because nobody wants to see um this happen again. And so with that I appreciate the data and information. But I am not willing um with this price tag to basically transition out potentially 75 positions. Um, but I just want our public to rest assure we are actively pursuing ways to keep information safe and to update the processes that we have to use as part of the public school system. So, thank you. Uh, we have about a minute left, Miss Bradford. I appreciate you bringing

129this to us. I appreciate the update on the information. Um, we have had questions from at least one board member. And what madam chair I would suggest is if a board member has continued questions that they take that to them and sit down in a meeting personally um rather than pursue this any further at this time. Okay. And Dr. Barnes, no. I'd like to add just one quick thing because I'm sure Brian whispered in my ear. The services where we do um where I said you know our data is with other districts data. It's in actually a what term you isolated our instance. It is isolated out to our instance. Okay. All right. Just wanted to make sure we clarify. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Moving on to

130uh consensus items. Madam Chair, Miss Bradford, I would make a motion. Pay attention. This is going to be complicated. Number one, move to approve the six policies that show up on your screen that were held from the May 6. That's not where we are. We're at consensus. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, I'm reading my notes. I actually I move to approve the 16 items that have the little R behind them, which means that they are just a renewal and pull the seven to be reviewed. the one Katefair Community College which is K because of the refusal. Yes. So I move to to approve the 16 that have the R behind them. That would be A B C D E H I L M N O P I can do my alphabet. QRS B. I move

131to approve those and I'll second that. Oh, I think you skipped K. No, I have to I have to be out of K. She's got to recruit. So that's why she skipped it. Mhm. All right. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of approving A, B, C, D, E, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, and V, Z, signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? All right, that passes. Six to zero. What do we got left? So that puts up anything without Yes, Dr. Merrick. I move that we um approval. I know you have to recuse but I I move that we uh ratify K uh in in your in your absence. Okay. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Nay. And that

132passes six to go. Five five to zero. Um and now we have what what are the remaining ones, Miss Bradford? Um, well, F, G, J, T, U, W, X, Y, and Z. Okay. So, starting with F, Miss Justice. Yeah, I'd like I'd move that we pass that. They're already happening and they are going to be extended. That's what that particular UF is. Okay. All right. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. G. Cont. I move we approve that one. All right. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. J. Madam Chair, in the the concerns about time, can we just go ahead and approve all if there's any

133that specifically You can make a motion. I move that we approve them all. JT U WXY and Z. Second. I would like to pull off I'm sorry. I would like to The only one I is J. J. You would like to pull off J. So amend. Amend. Yes. So the motion is to approve TU WXY and Z. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Oh, sorry. One point of discussion, Madam Chair. I just want to highlight again um the new Spark Lab that is happening in our schools is a phenomenal opportunity. This is a new thing. We had one at CEK um through the funding from the state. We are one of 17 counties and so we are getting a second one because of the partnership with our community and this

134should be highlighted and so I'm very proud about that. Um we should all be I just want to again highlight to the public and thank you for the work of the community with that. So I I also agree. I just wanted to state that. Thank you. All right. So let's for official purposes all those in favor of approving TUWXY and Z signify by saying I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. J, Mr. Perry, you said you had Yeah, we had some discussion about this at the agenda review, but I wanted the public to know uh maybe Miss Sutton could explain the uh because there was what we discussed a little bit so the public knows uh that this isn't uh uh this isn't a complete how it's distinguished from your usual uh thresholds. So,

135this resolution increases the federal bidding threshold from 10,000 to 30,000 for goods and to 50,000 for services. And that aligns with our state bidding requirements, right? And that differs from your usual ones where the where our superintendent has up to maybe a $300,000 limit on most purchases. about getting our board approval, but this is different. Can you explain that to the public? Right. So, this this isn't um approving um the contract. So, normally we bring contracts and purchase orders to the board for approval if they are forformational purposes between 100,000 and 300,000 and then the board approves all of those items over 300,000. So, this is talking about um bidding under the 100,000. Um so, at this point, if you had something with this new rule, if you had a contract for services that were

136under 30,000 or $30,000 or under, um you wouldn't have to have a competitive bidding process. Uh although right now that limits 10 for instance, um but you're still going to shop around, right? Yes. We're still going to make sure we get the best price and we're looking for competition even though we're not going through the formal bidding process. That's true. Okay. Thank you. You explained this last week. I just want the public to hear it so know that we're trying to be financially uh fiscally responsible. Yes, sir. Thank you, Miss Bradford. Madam Chair, I move that we adopt um consensus items J. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. So, um, our policy chair is not present this evening.

137Um, hi Mr. Wbor if you're if you're still watching. Um, and because we have such a large amount of policies, I thought it would be best if we broke it down into the ones that had been passed forward and then moved to the NCSBA um, policies. And so I'm going to make a motion to approve policy 4150, 5240, 7360, 8225, 8220, 9120, and 9125. Second. Is there any discussion? And these are the ones that the um schoolboard association has already gone through thoroughly. So these are the these are the the top policies are the ones that were sent from policy um to us, I believe, last last month or the month prior. um and we moved them forward May 6th. Uh May 6th on here is what it says. So um this is just to

138um ensure that we are getting them in and uh if there's any discussion. Uh Dr. Merrick. Yes. I'd like to pull 4150, 8225, 9120, 1720, 4030, 7235, which are all one. Um sir, we're only focusing on the top right now. Okay. Well, we'll get to that one later then. Uh I I don't know. 5240 and 6220 are part of that or they're new ones. 5240 second one on the list 40 is the is one on that top list. So um 4150 8225 5240. So we do only have 20 minutes and we have 20 over 25 policies to cover. So I want to make sure that we have time. Is there a way that we can consolidate any of those? And I I do appreciate that and I do care about time. However, a lack of

139time is not a reason not to discuss policy. So, uh, where would you like me to start, Madam Chair? Um, which ones were you pulling? Uh, 4150. It starts with out of So, out of the top list, can you just list all of the ones that you are pulling here? 5240 7360 so all of them 9120 1720 and its derivatives okay pause so just up the top all but 9125 is what you're pulling of the top list okay yes there were two 8220 and 912 9125 okay so I make a motion that we approve 8220 and 9125. Second. Um, any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes. Um, madam chair, point of order. Yes, ma'am. Did we have a second to pull those others? I don't

140remember it. I don't know if we need a second to pull because we've had to we've done that in the past. So um so we have what 4150 5240 7360 7360 8225 and 9120 so um Dr. America, you wanted to pull. So, start with 4150. I'm happy to bunch some of these together as it that would be ideal. And some of it is just a very quick statement, but start with policy 4150. Mhm. Which is about um teachers uh being able about how we manage the lottery for for schools. And you know, we put our teachers through so much. Our teachers are overworked and underpaid. uh they're asked to hold, you know, to put on more and more hats. And uh in this revision, we take away the teachers ability to have any um priority

141in uh the in the in the the lottery system. And I just think of all the things that we could do for our teachers and and I and I think we owe to our teachers. I would love to find a way if we can do it legally to give our teachers uh some priority when it comes to the lottery choices for their children. Um and so I'd like to suggest that we move it back to policy to see if there's any way that we can give our teachers something. I second that. Is that a motion? That's a motion to move. I second that motion. This Okay, Mr. Harry, this was not one of the ones that we originally started one. This is one that I brought forward with two policies um at the request of

142somebody we all know. Um the um and it's it's about fundamental fairness. I mean, we had basically a parent being complaining that they were being their child was not given an equal chance to get into um to some of our uh lottery schools because, you know, they made too much money or one of the parents had a college degree. I mean, it it'd be great. These these year- round schools, I think, are awesome like Hottington and Eaten, but I mean, we there's and there's so much demand for them. I wish we had more of them, but the fact is, you know, we need to have every every parent needs to have an equal chance to get their child in here. This is one I brought forward. It it it really didn't have anything directly to

143do with uh the diversity, equity, inclusion things, and that's why I'm talking in favor of it now. So, um otherwise, I've already said my piece on all those other ones. Um Miss Barnhart. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a question and this is maybe for legal counsel. Um I'm not necessarily opposed to placing this back in policy, but is this the recommendation of legal to have this language in there or was this the will of the committee? The policy 4150, which is some red language. The student assignment plan shall detail the process for how the lottery assignment process will work. All lotteryies will provide an equal chance for all students to be selected. did no way to I think that comes from the committee and not us. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um Miss Bradford and

144then um um I would also uh agree with my fellow board member. I'd like to know where this red language came from. Did it come from Miss Barnum? Did it come from um the staff? Where did that come from? If it came from an individual board member that placed it there me and I believe Mr. Hold on. Um, voted for. So, has the staff then looked at this and do they have a recommendation whether they feel this is comfortable or not? Madam Chair, may I ask them? Um, I know Dr. Barnes wants to speak or he he worked too. Thanks. One concern, I think this may have gone through policy when I was in Indiana, so I apologize. My concern about the language in this and the reason why I do think it needs to

145go back to policy is our cooperative and innovative high school programs, specifically CEK, WEX, and IBEC are targeting first generation college students and students at risk of dropping out. That is one of the criteria to be a cooperative innovative high school. I think that this takes a this is going to need a little more review. Yes. Okay, Miss Justice. Yeah. And if I remember right, I don't think you were there or you would have probably brought that up and I do believe it was written by a board member at the behance of a citizen, a community member. And so, yeah, I think we need to look at it a little closer. Uh the day we were doing this, there were so many I mean, it's it's hard sometimes at these policy meetings when you got

14630 or 40 of them being thrown at you for all kinds of strange reasons and something like this falls through. of some kinds. Um so there is a motion on the table to put 4150 um back um to policy. Miss Buoie, will you call the role for this one? I'm guessing I can figure it out, but just to be sure. Miss Bradford, yes. Dr. Merrick, yes. Miss Mason, yes. Miss Barnhard, yes. Miss Justice, yes. And Mr. Perry, hey. All right, that passes 5 to1. All right, next. Um, I have a 7360 and 8225 crowdfunding on behalf of school systems. Um, I just have a very brief comment about policy change. Um, the only thing he really changed in here is taking out the word inequity. And I I I really don't it it doesn't have

147anything to do with diversity, equity, inclusion. It's just the word itself that we're afraid of. And that really concerns me that that we're like word police all of a sudden. I mean, I even explained and and showed the the the board that President Trump's executive order uses the word equity in it. You know, the word itself is not illegal. And I'm just concerned that we're, you know, uh, getting into thought police. That's all. And I'll I'll leave it at that and move on. Okay. Miss Justice. All right. Um, I'm I'm agreeing with Dr. Merrick. This is it's getting a little ridiculous. Um, that the the word is fine as it was. It's being pulled for this just paranoid reasons. It's not very reality based. Uh it makes it hard for us to do our jobs

148when people are pulling out words not because of the context, just because it's a word used in context someplace else that they don't like. And they're in a position of authority on a level way far away from us. Have nothing to do with our district. And you know, we shouldn't be doing things like that. We're supposed to be responsible to our local kids and what's going on here and what's most practical. So, you know, just put the word back in there and leave it alone. It's not doing anything wrong. It's just stating effect. Word should be succinct and mean things. Miss Bradford. Um, Madam Chair, I move that we accept policy 7360 8225, leaving the new word discrepancy in there. Um it's perfectly good word. Um we spent an inord amount of time and I

149move that we approve it as it is changed. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? Dr. Quickly, I think my colleague said it very well. we use we spent an inordinate amount of time on it and that's exactly what doesn't make sense when we have such bigger issues to deal with that we spend so much time on a word change in a policy and I will leave it at that um and Miss Justice okay where is she referring to which which policy you're referring to 7360 8225 okay she was talking about 825 correct the word discrepancy but it's not being used in uh okay there's two different things going on here But yeah, I I just think leave the word inequity and and discrepancy is we're just pulling pulling hair. This is crazy. All right, there is

150a motion to approve 7360 8225. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Nay. That passes. What's next? 4 to2 is 5240. 5240 9120. Okay, I was going to I thought uh sorry, here we go. Here um 5240 just for the folks at home uh is about advertising in schools and uh in this policy it does we're we're we're specifying that we don't allow defamation um in school advertising and the only revision that I see in here is removing the protection for LGBTQ students and families. You know, I get and we've been through this with legal and we realize that as soon as you say we don't discriminate on the basis of sex that includes gender identity and sexual orientation. So legally speaking, we don't need to keep those words in

151there. But the choice to take the words out when they're already there seems a very clear political message that hurts people and I don't know why we do it. Um, I I I can't vote for it. I'm not going to make a motion. I know where this is going to go and I don't want to slow things down anymore, but I just have to say it. Madam Chair, Miss Bradford, I move that we adopt policy 5240 with the changes that are there. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Miss Justice, I've been saying this for years. We need to stop playing politics. We've already wasted so much time on this wording and it's not fair to our community. I'm out there all the time and have been for years. The overall community doesn't want us to

152waste their time on this and they want these things to be left alone. It's only a small fragment that wants to yank them to make political statements. Do you guys see what's going on here? Is this really what's right for our kids? Madam Chair, is this appropriate for this discussion? I think it is because it's factual. um you are inserting some intention in there. So I'm going to but um really there's not a lot I can say. It's sort of self-evident. Okay. All right. There is a motion to approve 5240. Um all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Opposed. That passes 4 to two. All right. That is all of the ones from May and now we have about 24 from this last um policy committee meeting. And so I'm going

153to make a motion to approve all of them. Second. Any discussion? Yes. I would like to pull 6220, 1720, 4030, 7235, and 8225. Can you repeat that, please? Yes. I would like to pull 6220, 1720 and its derivatives, and 8225, 9120. Um, we already discussed 8225 and 9120. Yeah, we did. Which one? We go. Which one? I thought we approved 82. We approved already. 8220 and 91 25. So, just to be clear, 6220, 1720, 4030, and 7235. Did I get all of them? four to go. That those three there's plus 6220 and 9120. Well, 9120 we have already approved. Yeah. Haven't we? Did we? Oh, no. No, we didn't. No, we did not. You're correct. I'm sorry. My apologies. All right. So, okay. Remaining policies. Holy cow. are SL4,02 1510 4200 7270 1710 40 20

1541725 4035 72 36 17 25 40 35 72 36R um 17 26 40 36 7237 Reading way too many numbers. Um 1735 4329 7311 2302 7320 3400 3420 3620 40 23 72 33 uh 404 40 73 10 42 40 73 8312 um 7130 7232 7340 and 9210. Madam Chair, I I move that we adopt those. Second. Yeah, because I'm not reading that again. Don't ask, by the way. Um is there a second? A second. Okay. Um, Mr. Perry, just I I wanted to um ask the attorney because we discussed this briefly um at the policy committee and some of them we held over till the next time because of it. We were talking about um how the word sexual harassment somehow gives you the connotation it has to be romantic or some kind of a

155liaison where we were talking about may perhaps changing the title of some of these to sex one because this kind of harassment has a lot more to do than uh there's it's a lot more broad that protection than just you know romantic. I think I believe that Dr. uh Mr. Blanchard was going to look into that a little. So, was there specific ones that you wanted to pull to have that question answered? Oh, unless he can just give us the answer. I can't remember which policy that came that discussion. There are multiple madam chair, Miss Bradford, I think I can bring some clarity. It looks to me, I could be wrong, but 1720, 8225, 9120, and 6220 all are around the sex word um that we've discussed now multiple times. And some of those we've

156already we've we've got pulled. And just in in light of of the time, we have about 2 minutes left. There are differences and one specific for 9120 is quite different. I understand. I'm just saying we have all of these other ones. So let's get them through and then we can come back to this discussion if the other acceptable. All right. So all those in favor of approving all of the policies I listed previously signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes 6 to zero. So we have 6220 17 20 4030. Yes. Is that right? 7235 and 9120. That's what I have written down. Okay. Say again. Ready? Okay. 6220. Uh let's start with 9120. It's right here. Okay. 9120 is about awarding contracts and giving preference uh to local businesses and to women and

157minority owned businesses. So that is being uh they we're taking out the concept that we can give preference to local businesses and to women and minority owned businesses. But what's interesting is that then we threw in some verbiage in here to talk about how we can get around the local thing that we're going to encourage local contractors to to to apply. So is basically it's it's a workaround uh because we can't say it in policy. It would be improper. uh we give the workaround. My question is then why aren't we giving the workaround to womenowned businesses and to minority owned businesses if we believe that that's the right thing to do even if we can't put it in policy we can put the workaround in there point of order. Yes ma'am. I got 9210. What

158which one are we on? 9120. I want Okay. I've transposed numbers. Thank you. All good. Yeah. Um Miss Justice. Yeah. I believe that the legal the attorney said at the time that there were I'm not sure who it was. Maybe it was um finance that there were uh state statutes that procluded us from removing a lot of this. Am I right about this? 9125 9120 912 9120 9125 Are we talking 9120? I'm talking about 9120 at the moment. Oh, but they're very similar. Is that on our and we passed 9125. So it's 9120. We were going through so many of them that day, but the the 9125 one and I we've already passed that one. I'm just talking about that because there were it's the related issue, but the 9125 one is the one that

159the the general statute, not federal North Carolina general statute requires us to keep that showing that we have to make the good faith efforts for outreach. um 9120. I can't remember what the issue with with that one was. I I can't I think this was one Miss Sutton had a comment on, was it not? Yes, it is. Bidding for construction work. We have to comply with the laws that are out there. Yeah, that's what I thought. That's why we would still have reporting requirements that would be sent to the state. um we we wouldn't by changing this policy, it wouldn't pro um we would still have to meet those reporting requirements. So, I believe that's what we talked about in policy, but we would still have competition. Um and we would still try to get

160the best price we could as and that's the wording that we have in there. I'm not sure if there's another specific question related to that wording change. There is. Yeah, we we are at time. Um I will allow the question but we we need to continue the agenda. There's it says on here the board is committed to promoting fair and open competition in all bidding pro uh procurement processes while no geographical preferences shall be applied in the evaluation of bids in accordance with federal and state laws. The board encourages participation from qualified firms based in New Horror County and in North Carolina. So there's the workaround, right? Um, and so why aren't we doing the same thing with a workaround for womenowned or minority owned businesses? Because that's what was originally in the policy. What

161I guess what I'm saying is is are we just trying to say no, we're not going to give preference Linda, just say it. That's not We're just not going to give preference to womenowned businesses or minority owned businesses. Although we are we are at time. Can we So unless there is a motion I'm Yeah. I agree. Second. Starting to get confusing too. So yeah. So policies 6220. I will make a motion to post pol to postpone policy 6220 and 1720/4307235 to the next meeting and send 9120 back to policy for further discussion. I second that. Say it again, please. I make a motion to postpone 6220 and 7220/4030/7235 to next month's meeting and send 9120 back to policy for further discussion. As I say, I second. All right. Um, since we are at time, um,

162all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Yes. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. God. Um, continuing on, we have our insurance renewal Sherry presentation person questions, all of that. Oh, good. Yeah. So, as we shared at agenda review, um we've got we worked with our Shuri insurance agent, um Zach Wright, and he's here with me today to answer any questions um to go out to market for all of our insurance um policies. We do this annually to make sure we are getting the best price and that we are looking at competition um for anyone who can provide these services to us um that we feel are responsible vendors. And so I have in front of you the recommendation based on um the quotes that we received back from the different um companies.

163And so as you can see here, the total um renewal cost is um over one a little over 1.9 million. So it's $1,987,480. is a 3.71% increase um compared to the current year which was actually less than we had planned for in the budget which allowed us to also offer the accident student accident insurance coverage for prek through 12th grade which was approved at agenda review. Um I do have that new document in front of you because there was a change that we wanted to point out. Um, if you take a look on page seven, we had talked at agenda review. We were still working with the vendor to try to get a change to that date. Um, they had adjusted um the retro date um originally in the packet we looked at at agenda

164review, it was July 1st um 2009. No, I'm sorry, 2015. Yes. Um, but we have worked with them, and I say we, but really Zach, right, has worked with them um to get that retroactive date changed. Um, so now we've got that date, we've negotiated and got that date down to July 1st, 2009. But, um, we will be glad to answer any questions that you have related to that. Miss Burger, thank you, Miss Sutton. Um, I was extremely frustrated on Tuesday to see um, and it's it comes with New Hover County's history. Um, it just seemed that technically they did everything right, 45 days notice. Um, but a pretty I can't say the bad words on the dice, so I'm not going to situation. And so to come back tonight to see that it is

1652009 versus 2014, I'm thankful for it. and thank you for going to bat for us. Um that is a huge thing. I know that this board the last year we have looked at ways that we can provide better insurance because of the situations that have happened in the past. We had to take away a lot of things that um normally had been covered and so really to understand that for our community that we're going to bat. I know last Tuesday this board approved the personal liability that we'll be able to bring back things like tugof-war and jump houses and I know so many people are excited I said don't do it this week next year. Um so tonight I was honestly this was the part of the agenda that I was dreading the most because

166of the frustration of the date change and so for you to come back tonight saying that it is now um 2009 versus 2014 I'm really grateful. Um, and then also I'm going to highlight you are also continuing on our behalf to look out for umbrella coverage. Could you expand on what that means for us? Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. Glad to. For the umbrella coverage on page seven, the coverage was non-renewed. Last year in the way the insurance would work, we have to get the primary coverages placed first with Liberty. Those came up tied against the last Tuesday deadline. So the Liberty information has now been submitted to multiple umbrella carriers in the market and we are waiting for the response of most of those. A few you will see have already declined. So we're

167contining in that effort as well. And the retro date of09 that now I think fits with the statute to where the first group I guess of 5 year olds that started in ' 09 that graduated in 22 and have three years for the uh statute to expire. That should give us complete coverage. 04 was a little redundant over what the statute allowed, but now we we are within that and there should not be coverage loss. Thank you. Um Dr. Merrick and then Miss Bradford. Um thank you. I am more than delighted to hear that six more years of tail coverage exists and I can't ex I I mean I've had errors and omission uh as a doctor for many many many years and with several different companies and always the choice is it going to

168be claims made and you lose the tail or is it going to be occurrence and it goes all the way back you know that sort of thing and I was so frustrated like my colleague to my right that how could an insurance company take away errors of the past. That's why you have insurance. Correct. Uh so I just want the the public to understand what we're talking. We're talking about, you know, we've been paying insurance year after year after year. And at some point and now the insurance company says, "Yeah, but we're not going to cover you for things that happened uh 10 years ago anymore." I mean, huh? So, uh I guess you you you quickly understood our our fear, frustration, and etc. And I appreciate you working with us. Um it means the

169world. Thank you. No, the the message was received and rightly submitted to me. So, my pleasure to be able to get this worked out. Miss Bradford, sorry if I was a little mean last time, but you know, this is something that I'm really passionate about. So, I'm going to make a two-part motion. I'm going to move that we approve the renewal proposed as is with the caveat that we take this next six months and we investigate alternative if there is one out there so that this time next year that we're not stuck held you know kind of hostage to one insurance company even though we've gotten this awesome concession which thank you so much for doing that. still not happy, may never be happy with them, but um so that's my two-part motion. Accept it

170as it is, but we start the process. I mean, Miss Sutton has done a fabulous job of reducing the cost of our insuranceances and just could not be happier with what you're doing, but I want you and the attorneys to get together and figure out if there's another route we can go. Um, but other districts are going that we maybe can get out from under this. Um, so that's my two-part motion. I'll second. Dr. Barnes, just want to be clear before anyone schedules a third grade skydiving event, we will be going over the list of approved activities and putting it back out to principles once we get the insurance approved. That doesn't mean that Thursday I'm going to be nuts. Thank you. No skydiving, Miss Barnhart. Just um two points of clarity. I agree with

171what my colleague is saying. Um, from my small knowledge about this space, it seems like sovereign immunity is one of the things that in the discussion of exploration is one of the things to look at. But then I also um before I vote on this motion, I want to ensure that passing it as is still allows us that opportunity window to um have a different umbrella policy if one becomes available to us. So, if we pass this tonight, we if if it's out for bid, um, and in the event somebody says yes, we still have the opportunity to pick up that as well. Yes, you do. Thank you. All right. Well done. So, I'm happy. Uh, we have a motion to approve this um with the caveat that we are going to pursue. Um, all

172those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh the new Hanover County Schools AIG plan 2025 to 2028. That's Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Dual. Where's that hand out from? Hi, good evening. So every three years we have to resubmit our AIG plan to the Department of Public Instruction and this is our year to be able to do that. And this is in alignment with the DPI's AIG legislation and general statutes 115C 150.5 article 9B. So our plan is up for renewal. Dr. Walt has worked very hard on renewing this plan to make adjustments based on where we currently are. She has taken feedback from our site visits, from our site visits from the department of public instruction, from

173meetings that she has attended with the department of public instruction regarding our plan from the gifted education specialist working in our schools with our children every day at all levels. Um, and from the gifted advisory council, she has made these revisions. you do have a copy of those um of the updated plan. Um in addition to that, as we go through the next three years, as things change and we do need to make revisions based on our needs, we do have the capability of doing that. So, we are asking that you all approve our plan to submit to the department by July 15th this year, which is when it's due. I make a motion to your mic isn't good. Mic. I make a motion to adopt the a AIG plan as presented. Uh, Miss Bford,

174discussion. Um, I would love for you to list from the little handout that we got two days ago the rising student needs under the AIG program. I know you saw it, Robin. I think you handed it to me. Um, cheat sheet. Is that the county commission? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just think it's important that you that you get credit for all of that. I wasn't at the meeting, but speak to that. It's fine. Miss Miss Bradford just handed that. This was from um then you had a um from the county commissioners um budget meeting. Yeah, the budget meeting. Thank you. um that our academically and intellectually gifted children which AIG that 21.3% of our students in grades 3 through 12 are identified as AIG and that the state funding only supports 4%. Um so that's

175what you were wanting to share with that. Yes, that we do have 21.3%. And that only state funding only supports 4% of that. So that's significant. All right. Thank you, Dr. Merrick. Um, first of all, Mr. Walt, I I am uh really impressed that you've taken on a position that you didn't have to take on that wasn't supposed to be that you've you've taken on at least temporarily to be AIG coordinator. And now I if I understand reading this and I feel like I needed three PhDs to read this. Um, it's it sounds like you're you've done a lot of work to put structures in place so that we can afford not to have an AIG coordinator. Am I am I right about that? Um, I don't know that I would phrase it exactly like

176that, but I do um I have great trust and admiration for our gifted education specialists. they have been they have given me an immense amount of grace uh this year as I've learned to balance two roles as well as my curriculum and instruction team. Um I in this re reiteration of the plan in taking feedback from DPI and from GAC and those teachers really it was to build upon what was already working in our system. So we had great structures in place. Some of them just needed to be finessed a little bit. Um, and we had to do that in a way that we could um, keep in mind the budget that we that you all passed. Can I ask you a really difficult question? You can try. You know, of course, sitting over here

177and not knowing all that goes on over there and hearing that we kind of don't have a full-time AIG coordinator, as much as respect as I have for you, don't take this personally. Um, as a board member, of course, that concerns me. You know, what's going to be the future or the trajectory of our AIG program, if if there was a leak leak in the bucket by not having that position, what would I see? What information would come to me if there was issues not having that full-time coordinator? I think I can speak to that a little bit if that's all right. We had to make a difficult choice between cutting AIG teachers at schools or maintaining this position. We obviously have been significantly focusing on studentf facing positions. I think that what you'll see

178in the upcoming plan is a lot of the work of the the AIG is an interesting situation because the AIG teacher works for their principal. they are supported by the AIG in the district program. So what you'll see is things about supervision and work with the AIG folks being passed on to our school leaders to do. I don't think I think you're working so hard to make sure that there isn't a bubble or a bump in the AIG program at the school level. So I don't think you will see that. Miss Bradford, so we need to approve this tonight. So there was already a motion. Yep. I move that we approve it. Well, there is already a motion. Okay. I'll second it. It was already seconded as well. It was already made and seconded. Enthusiasm.

179Multiple. All right. Um, since we I guess are done with questions and discussion, all those in favor of approving the AIG plan for 2025 to 2028, signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. Thank you, ladies. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I will entertain a motion to go into close session pursuant. Oh, is there a Sorry, I'm sorry. I skipped. My fault. Um because we added the DPI fiasco. That was Miss Barnhart. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I'm going to start start off by saying I have great gratitude for our staff who found themselves in a situation that should they honestly should have never been in. Um, we are required to do state testing in a certain window by the means that DPI tells us to do the

180testing and it failed last Thursday. Um, Dr. Dr. Barnes, I want to openly commend you um for stepping in after an hour of our kids waiting, just sitting there, having to be in the testing environment, meaning silence in their rooms for over an hour with nothing to do, not able to go take a snack break because you're in the testing environment, not able to complete their test, not able to save their test. Um to halt testing and fingers crossed hope that I was going to work the next day um because that was what was best for kids. um after an hour they would have come back to three hours testing that would have pushed back lunch and all the um remains. I mean we had a group of fourth graders that came up today um

181and they were probably in that bubble that day of just absolute chaos. So I want to give a shout out to our staff because I know that they did the best they could and our students the best they could in a situation they they did not ask for um nor should they have been in. Um and so I was um again choice words I'm not allowed to say in the dis after that day to find out it was statewide issue only to find out that um the districts across the state that broke calendar law and finished early didn't have to deal with this because they weren't in school testing um and I became more angry. Um but the last year we have done um been very intentional to build the collaborative efforts of this district

182and understand that there are sometimes things within our control, sometimes things without our control and to continuously open dialogue um to change things and address things when they need to be. And so when I uh was expressing my displeasure to our superintendent um he had stated that he was going to openly write a letter to NCDPI because this is the process of what we do. We open openly collaborate with people that we are required to work with and required to follow. We're going to do do what we are supposed to be doing when we are supposed to be doing it. Um, and so, uh, board members, I would like for one, if it's the will of the board, for Dr. Barnes to share, um, the letter that he sent to DPI, but I would make

183a motion that we endorse this letter and support it coming from New Hover County Schools based on the heartache and frustration that we endured with their fiasco. Second, Miss Justice. Yeah. And I'm seconding it. Um, I'm not going to repeat what Miss Barnhart said, but as a child who had a lot of challenges in testing and learning, um, it infuriates me. It just infuriates me that after Dr. Barnes went to the extreme length of putting out a message to calm all of the children so this would be less stressful for them to go through these tests. And they're sitting there and it's called off and then they have to sit there for a whole hour. I can't imagine what sort of traumatic experience that would have been for me and across the district, across the

184state. Not to I mean that just one thing alone is enough to send this letter. But the impact it had on our testing center, our teachers, our staff, and now we have funds in jeopardy, now we have scores in jeopardy. It's just an absolute outrage to me. And I totally support sending this letter. Um I mean Dr. Barnes's letter was great, but if we sent them 4,000 letters, it wouldn't be enough. We can never let this happen again in our state. It's just reprehensible. And I'm very strong on this topic. Miss Justice. Oh gosh, he already read the letter. It was excellent. He did a great job. I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but it was a horrible situation. I have been testing kids since 1989. Testing is a problem. It's gotten worse

185over the decades. Lots of money to be made in testing. This is a bad mistake because of technology and affected thousands and thousands of children. So, this is all good dialogue, but Dr. Barnes has already read the letter. He's already sent it out. It was excellent. Can we move on, please? We all agree this was a bad situation. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Perry, I I I I think we should go to a vote. I haven't had an opportunity to read the whole thing. I'm sure his letter was fine. I support what Dr. Barnes has been doing. But you know this the points I want to make about this whole thing. The fact of the matter is we say well we have to do what NCDPI keeps saying us. And what I see is a pattern

186of the state, the general assembly and the DCP, NCDPI trying to continually and more and even more so micromanage our school district and not give us the option to to do things in a way that makes sense for our school district. And I love technology. I think it can be a great aid, but when you become dependent on it, when you can't pass out a number two pencil and a printed test, there's a problem. So, you know, we need to push back when it when it comes to NCDPI and to our state legislature and say, "Guess what? We're the locally elected school board. We are in the best position to be making decisions on how this should go down." So, give us some guidance, but stop micromanaging us. And I think that needs to be

187part of the our our interactions with the people at the state. Um, I know Dr. Barnes wanted to make us like well misjustice I said I've been doing this for decades there's nothing we can do about it state law most of this is coming from the legislature which is being controlled by politicians hasn't been listening to us we're 49th in the nation as far people's expenditure it's bad no but I'm saying it's bad is this gerine to the topic yes it is he's talking about the state legislature and the problems involved in testing it has to do with funding a lot of it that That would be my call and and I will say that it is remain but in in we're running out of time. We're running out of time. So if there is

188a contact your legislature and try to help help the kids. That's my best advice. Um Dr. Merrick. Yes. I'd like to amend the motion to uh table until next uh next meeting so that uh Mr. Perry can read it so that we can all read it a little bit more and consider this. Uh I I love to see what response Dr. Barnes gets from his letter and you know I don't think we're going to go back to scantrons folks. I think those days are gone and uh these things will happen and I would like some accountability from them but I'm guessing we're going to get that. That's my hope. Uh so let's not rush in with the fire hoses. Uh I I move to amend to table until next meeting. Is there a second? Yeah,

189I'll second. Okay. Um, Dr. Barnes, just wanted to add one thing. I mentioned earlier about the unplay unbelievable resilience of our kids and the ability of the staff and the administrators to pivot, but something specific happened with the testing department that I don't think is common knowledge and I think is really significant. When uh we made that call that day, I was at the testing office when we were doing it. Um, those testing folks knew that they would have to put in an individual ticket on every single test if I made the call to cancel it because it technically is a misadministration. That meant that they were looking at 10 hours. They they went home that night at 10:45 at night after inputting every single test. They did not tell me that would happen until

190after I made the decision because they wanted the decision to be based on what was good for kids. And so, I just want to commend that testing department as well because that's leadership right there. 7,226 tickets had to be placed. 7,226 tickets and they knew that and didn't tell me about it until after they're good people. All right. Uh Miss Barnhart, good to educate. My my only point of discussion on the amendment is this is an opportunity for us to come together and openly support our superintendent, openly support our staff and students who were abruptly um and un unnecessarily affected by this. And so I think it's it is imperative that we pass this tonight to be able to stand together with that rather than pass it down the line to say, "Oh, what's going

191to happen of it?" just to understand that we are coming together in unity for our staff, for our students, behind our superintendent and together. So, I will not be supporting the amendment to postpone for that reason. Um, but this is an opportunity for us to come together. Thank you. All right. So, there is a motion to postpone. Uh, Miss Buoie, will you call the role? Miss Bradford, no. Dr. Merrick, yes. Miss Mason, no. Miss Barnhart? No. Miss Justice? Yes. and Mr. Perry. Yes. So that is 33. So it fails. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. If it is tied, it fails. Yes. And then it goes to the main motion. Correct. Yep. Okay. So the main motion, Miss Barnhart, can you restate the main motion? My motion is just to uh endorse the letter that Dr. Barnes

192has already sent to NCDPI Mo Green on behalf of New Hover County Schools. Okay. Uh, Miss Buie, will you call the role on that one? Mr. Perry, if I don't really know what it says, nay. Miss Justice, I want to wait. No. Miss Barnhart? Yes. Miss Mason? Yes. Dr. Merrick? No. And Miss Bradford? Yes. So, that one fails as well. Madam Chair, point of order. Yes, ma'am. I don't understand why one board member hasn't read the letter. I think we got it on When When did we get it, sir? Um, Dr. Bar on agenda. So, well, it's part of our package and we're supposed to read our packages and we're going to continue on. We're going to continue on in the agenda. Thank you. Um, I will entertain a motion to go into close session

193pursuant to general statute 143-318.11c for the following purposes. to prevent the disclosure of information that's privileged or confidential pursuant to general statute 115 C-402 and not considered a public record within the meaning of chapter 132 of the general statutes to prevent the disclosure of student records rendered confidential under the family educational rights to consult with an attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the board and to consider the qualifications competence performance character fitness conditions of appointment or conditions of initial employment of an individual employed or considered for employment with the school system or to hear or investigate a complaint complaint, charge or grievance by or against any individ individual employee. So moved. Is okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. We are enclosed. All right, we are

194back in open. All right, any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That passes six to zero. Uh any correspondence? No. Okay. Um continuing to announcements, uh policy committee meets Tuesday, June 10th at 1 p.m. here. General public will have the option to view remotely. Um, members of the board of education will participate in the Mosley High School uh, career readiness academy at Mosley High School commencement ceremony on Thursday, June 5th at 6:30 at the Snipes Academy Auditorium. Members of the board of education will participate in Laney High School commencement ceremony on Friday, June 6th, 2025 at 6 p.m. Laney High School, Laney Stadium. Members of the board of education will participate in the new Hanover High School commencement ceremony on Friday, June 6th at 6 p.m. Legion

195Stadium. Members of the board of education will participate in the Ashley High School commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 7th at 900 a.m. Uh Ashley High School Ashley Stadium. Members of the board of education will participate in the Hogard High School commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 7th at 10 a.m. Hogard High School um Brazwell Stadium. Board of Education will hold agenda review meeting on June Tuesday, June 24th at 20 uh at 2:00 p.m. here. Uh general public will have the option to view. Board of Education will hold the July regular board meeting on Tuesday, July 8th at 5 here. General public will have the option to remotely. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? Finance meeting on the 12th. I don't have it on here. So, there's a finance committee on the 12th. The 12th at

19612:30. 12:30. Do And what was the curriculum meeting mentioned in there? That is on June 30th. And do we still have the 18ole? I think that's for something else. Okay. Thank you. All right. We do have to do that though. Yes. Right now, Julie thinks she can get it in. Okay. Do I hear a motion to adjurnn? Second. Yes. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. We are adjourned.