001e the March regular meeting to order I call the March regular meeting to order Miss buoy will you call the role good evening Melissa Mason here Josie Barnhart here Pat Bradford I am here Judy Justice here Dr Tim Merrick I'm here David Perry here and Pete wior present um I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda so moved than Madam chair uh Miss Barnhart I like to M i' like to make a motion to amend the agenda under information I was I had reached out to attorney general Jeff Jackson um after our board adopted the letter and was able to meet with him Thursday and would like to share it with the board oh thank you would like to share it with the board just information kind of our frustrations that we expressed to
002his cabinet and the response that we received so 5 minute under information no action but I felt it um unless if you would rather um extend the time for the DPI letter discussion so that we can include that conversation second okay which would you what's your actual motion a five minute information under information discussion of the conversation with the attorney general okay and Miss Bradford seconded that uh any discussion hearing none uh all those in favor of adding an update of the power school discussion with the ag office to information signify by saying I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero all right uh do I oh um there were two hands and they went up at the almost the exact same time I'm going to go this way so miss Bradford I would
003like to amend the agenda to add under old business a discussion of superintendent Barnes and the the staff's plann uh that they promised us for today's meeting for a change of curriculum for stepping stones it somehow missed the agenda I'll second that and that was under old business yes ma'am okay all right how much time do you need me just five minutes but total I don't know when he's going to present his plan so it might be up to the super how long do you need sir well is the plan that I emailed you guys earlier today so we can talk about it and be ready to discuss it whenever okay so do you need like 10 minutes I can do it in 10 all right 10 minutes okay I can hit seven I can
004name that song name that too all right um any further discussion on that Amendment amended yes Amendment okay hearing none all those in favor of adding that discussion under old business signify by saying I I any opposed passes 7 to zero Dr Merrick I'd like to make two uh genda modifications uh I'd like to switch R numeral 7 and numeral Roman numeral 6 because I think we should affirm our minutes which include uh saying yes to uh superintendent barns before we actually sign him in I'll I'll second seven seven and eight you mean uh was it seven and eight okay thank you oh okay yeah okay yes s eight okay that's that's that's number one you want to go ahead and second that that's great I did done okay and so let's vote on that
005um all those in favor of swapping seven and eight signify by saying I I any opposed passes 7 to zero Dr Merck you had one more yeah it's a small thing but I would like to change uh item uh that reads super interim super intendent report to superintendent report second good job agreed I agree all right any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero now with all of those amendments do I hear a motion to approve the multiply amended agenda second all those in favor signify by saying I I any oos passes 7 to0 continuing on um we have the invocation um which is being done by uh Reverend Deacon Ronda Thomas of the Church of the servant um after that we will have
006the national anthem and the pledge good evening thank you for the the opportunity to provide this in invocation tonight so all take a moment and take a breath Close Our Eyes we're all here because we care about our children teachers and other school related employees we're all here because we care about the future of this community during tonight's meeting let respect be the Cornerstone upon which our interactions are built let our words be guided by a deep appreciation for the diverse perspectives that enrich our discussions with each exchange let us honor the uniqueness of every individual and through this invocation of respect let us Foster an environment where every voice is heard and valued and let us strive to keep open minds and listen with Open Hearts amen now with the national anthem we have
007Mr vet music teacher at rville Beach and Orchestra teacher at hogard High School you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we at the twilight's last ging who brought stripes and bright stars through the per fight for the r we watch were so and the theing in gave through through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star Spang gold B yet [Laughter] R for the land of the free and the home [Applause] of and I've asked Miss Bradford to do the pledge I pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you I do not a minute I do um so the next item on the agenda
008is an approval of the minutes do I hear a motion to approve the minutes so move is there a second second any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero continuing on we have the swearing in of the superintendent yeah you've already signed the contract you can't go anywhere you're stuck now do you need does he Dr Bible there we go sir that right there B righte once I change my glasses I'm going to read this you agreed to your appr first I'll ask you to state your name Christoper you solemnly swear that you will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent there with and that you will Faithfully
009discharge the duties of your office as the superintendent of new han County Schools this fourth day of March 2025 if you agree please say I will I will congratulations [Applause] [Music] [Applause] have a [Laughter] GI and we all thought since you like playing by like care nice okay why is it ticking it's that's right yes that [Applause] you want me to sign it to h signing his life away over there yes sir now anyone who knows me knows that if you thought this would be reverent and solemn occasion you are great [Applause] all right continuing in the fun let's do our recognitions good evening thank you for allowing me to speak we're going to start this evening with Dr Katie thinkink who is going to be helping us to recognize our national board certified teachers
010this evening good evening Schoolboard members and superintendent Dr Barnes super I am Katie Fink my official title is beginning teacher support and evaluation specialist but one of the many hats that I get the pleasure of of wearing is also that of the national board coordinator for our district and that is what brings me before you this evening national board certification is the gold standard in the teaching profession it is a rigorous professional experience created for teachers and by teachers to determin practices of accomplished teaching the certification process requires the completion of three portfolio based um components which demonstrate what teachers can do as well as an assessment component which shows the teachers knowledge the certification process can take anywhere from 1 to 3 years and once all of those components have been complete candidates submit
011them in May and then start the the agony of waiting until December um to hear the results that are announced by the national Board of Professional Teaching Standards North Carolina leads the nation in the number of national board certified teachers with 23% of teachers holding this title in new Haner County Schools we now have 438 national board certified teachers thanks to the group of uh teachers that we are going to be recognizing this evening so without further Ado I'm eager to announce our initially certified candidates um from 2023 and then we also will recognize them from 2024 as well so starting with a 2023 folks we'll start with Emerald Boyd she is from the career Readiness Academy at Mosley [Applause] we're going to do individual no they don't get the scoup Ari [Applause] next we
012have Crystal Corbett from Edwin a Anderson Elementary [Applause] Natalie Triggs from College Park Elementary [Applause] and Emily Willis from Porter snack [Applause] Elementary stay the 2023 folks to come all right big round of applause now we'll recognize our 2024 initial candidates um they will also receive a phone board um that we provide from the district that they get to display outside their classroom so that everyone knows that they are now an nbct we'll start start with Miss Sarah B from Masonboro Elementary [Music] [Applause] Christina cheers from Edwin a Anderson Elementary [Applause] Alexandria Fowler from Mary C Williams Elementary [Applause] [Music] [Applause] krie galami from John J Blair [Applause] Elementary oh I have a lot no I have a lot cydney gogins for Mary C Williams [Applause] Elementary Megan gr close from Forest Hills Elementary [Applause]
013Holly hatchel from Forest Hills Elementary [Applause] Jamie Lang from do Dr Herbert Eaton senior Elementary [Applause] Meredith Mitchell from Dr Herbert Eaton senior Elementary [Applause] Mary Porter from Pine Valley [Applause] Elementary Elizabeth rled from from Emma be tras Middle [Applause] School Marissa Rizzo from Masonboro [Applause] [Music] Elementary Natasha roone from Dr John cot [Applause] Elementary Jennifer Smith from New Hanover High School [Applause] Kelsey stot from Murrayville Elementary [Applause] and I believe our last three are not with us this evening but we have Caroline Strickland from Bradley Creek Kathleen Ward from Murrayville Elementary and Allison Waters from the international school at Gregory thank you [Applause] grp [Music] s okay now don't move don't move [Applause] yeah so congratulations again to all of our 23 24 initially certified candidates you really have joined an elite group of
014educators and New Hanover County Schools could not be more proud of you thank you to the board for recognizing them this evening absolutely now we are at [Applause] 438 well I can't let Dr Frink have all the fun so it's my turn all right tonight we want to celebrate the outstanding determination and talent of Porter neck Elementary's first spelling be winner Knox Lee come on up Mr Kno come on up buddy all right so in the world of spelling bees every counts the competition is fierce the words are challenging and the stakes get higher and higher with each round but through it all KNX stood out demonstrating his exceptional grasp of language his Focus drive and perseverance truly defin success Knox won out of 40 of his peers this was Pine Valley's first spelling be
015sponsored by our city rocks and hosted at the Davis Community now not Knox will be representing new Hur County in the Carolina Panthers Regional spelling be on March 9th in Charlotte for a chance to spell in the sips National Spelling be in Washington DC wow yes congratulations KN come on down folks we're going to do this again can he spell awesome oh all right hold on [Applause] all right congratulations KNX you you can stay here if you'd like you might as well you'll get to sit shortly all right so this evening I'd like you to join us in celebrating the incredible achievement of Ashley High School senior clim kamacho from Ashley high school for winning the nchsaa 4A swimming 200 meter men's freyle state championship that was a lot come on up here all right
016throughout his swimming career Clen has EX simplified what it means to be a dedicated athlete always striving to improve always staying fused on his goals and always supporting his team with a positive attitude and unwavering Spirit Wings up during his season Clen took home many wins and this Championship swim set a new record for our district by touching the wall at 13757 he also made first runner up for 100y yard men's butterfly with both events qualifying him for All American status we are we are fortunate to have such a talented and driven individual in our district someone who leads by example and encourages us all to strive for our personal best we look forward to seeing you continue to find success especially in your next chapter at Virginia Tech where you will keep growing your
017talents and swimming and furthering your education thank you thank you thank you [Applause] you stay right there fix thank you thank you all right I've got I saved an amazing one for you here in new han County Schools we celebrate the student staff and volunteers who demonstrate the character that make our schools positive safe and respectful often the true heroes in our community are the ones who work quietly behind the scenes without seeking recognition but when a life is saved we can't let that moment pass without acknowledging incredible selflessness and quick acting would you please play the video I had received a text message that Selena one of our fantastic custodians saved a life one of our students was eating here in this beautiful cafeteria ran out of the cafeteria Miss Selena happened to notice
018her in distress followed her into the bathroom when she arrived student was unable to talk or and was visibly in distress unable to breathe and Selena immediately jumped into action uh gave the child the heck and saved that child's life when you work with the school system it's not about making a living it's about making a difference and we've got a kid for the rest of the time that they're on Earth they might not have been if it hadn't been for you I just wanted to give you this and tell you thank you thank you and how amazing it is to what you do so thank you for stepping in and thank you for doing what you're doing thank you this month's character and action award goes to custodian Selena meros for her hero choice
019to help a student in need at trass middle school she is UN able to be with us this evening but her principal Miss Clark is here to accept the award on her behalf where' she go come on up here all right thank you there so miss meros makes an impact every day for making the school a safe and positive environment to ensuring that each day runs smoothly but in this moment we see how deeply her presence is meant in her building this is more than a job to her it is about caring for each and every person in the trass community whether it's a smile in the hallways a helping hand or in this case saving a life when it mattered most we would like to thank Miss meros and give her a big round
020of applause [Applause] [Music] thank you and this concludes recognitions for the evening okay the next item on the agenda um we do not have any student voice Representatives this evening so next item will be um teacher voice which is our ctec science teacher Rick Kor um who's going to do a presentation is he here you see I do not see him uh we can go ahead and go on and then I'll find out okay well the next thing is the superintendent report first uh I want to touch on a couple of things with you folks tonight for our March report I can't believe it's March 2025 already um I want to make sure I inform you folks about our communication protocol as a reminder what I've tried to do over the last several months is
021send District Communications first to the board then to principles then to all staff and lastly sent all to families and Community this ensures that we're doing clear and consist cons messaging throughout our schools district Communications are items such as the message we sent earlier today about the possible impact of severe weather on our area tomorrow again I want to remind you no decision has been made but we do want to alert everybody there's a potential for a delayed dismissal of our bus riders tomorrow so as soon as we um know for sure we'll send out an update to everybody we are now officially more than halfway to spring break and I know that everyone is working hard to support our students in schools I want to take a moment to thank every one of you
022for your dedication and perseverance during this busy time of the year a very special recognition is coming up on March 7th which is maintenance workers appreciation day our maintenance staff play a crucial role in keeping our schools safe clean and operational every day so please take a moment to show your appreciation and thank them for their hard [Applause] work regarding enroll we want to encourage families to register as early as possible to ensure access to all School assignment options enrollment opened on March 1st and key application dates can be found on the website but we want to note that due to the transition to a new student information system the processing for 2526 enrollment and transfer applications will experience some delays in June and July so online enrollment through scribbles will end June 30th with
023new applications available in Infinite Campus on July 7th transfer request submitted by May 31st will be processed by June 30th we appreciate your patience and encourage early enrollment to help make this a smooth process finally I want to take a moment to recognize School social worker week our school social workers face incredible challenges all throughout the school year addressing student needs with strengths resilience and compassion this week is a time to celebrate their dedication and the powerful impact that they have on students families and our school communities their work is invaluable and we thank them for their commitment to making a difference thank you for your time and dedication to our schools your hard work does not go unnoticed and I appreciate what you do to support students and families for details about other upcoming
024events there is a flyer in the back of the room we'll turn your eyes towards feel free to take one of these on your way out it'll give you more information for everything and lastly I just have to say I am truly honored and grateful for the trust and the support of the new cver County Board of of Education our Educators our students our families in the entire Community serving serving as the permanent superintendent to New Hanover County Schools is a privilege that I quite frankly wasn't sure I wanted but now I do um but I remain committed to fostering a culture of collaboration transparency and student centered decision-making I appreciate the board's confidence in my leadership and the collective efforts of our staff and families in creating an environment where every student can be
025successful together we will continue to B build a strong supportive and thriving school system that prioritizes excellence and the well-being of all students thank you for your commitment to our shared vision for new an County schools and that concludes my [Applause] comments all right next up is me um it's been a busy month for the board uh February was extremely busy uh and we continue to be busy as we discuss the budget and participate in so many different uh School celebrations all over on the 14th several board members were able to attend and celebrate the ribbon cutting for CC's new construction trades building and culinary arts lab upon completion of the ribbon cutting all were given a student- guided tour of the school and new facilities and were then treated with some delectable Foods prepared
026by the students in the culinary arts program my favorite was the carrot cake cookies with the cream cheese frosting in the middle f it was delicious um on February 18th the downtown Wilmington Rotary Club held its annual rookie teacher of the year ceremony celebrating outstanding achievements among beginning teachers we were able to celebrate all of the nominees and find that Maddie Johnson an English teacher at Ashley high school was named the 2025 Rookie of the Year congratulations to all the nominees and to Miss Johnson our students are also doing some amazing things one such student Houston Sutton had an idea to support our gifted student population with peer support and shared that idea with a gifted advisory Council last year he worked Tire tirelessly to establish a pilot school and saw great success this school
027year he expanded his program to more schools and his program titled AIG buddies and if you could if you look on Instagram you can find it has earned him an award from the North Carolina Association for the gifted and talented for leadership through service congratulations to Houston another unsung hero in our district is a mom who has dedicated years to supporting our AIG students care Johnson the former chair of the GED advisory Council has earned the James J Gallagher advocacy awards for her efforts in advocating for the AIG students and families of our district congratulations Cara in addition to these amazing individuals I was able to make it make a visit to two schools this month that are very near and dear to my heart the first school was Forest Hills Global elementary school and
028I have I normally have the opportunity to go volunteer weekly in that school but I wanted to get a bird's eye view so I sat down with the principal the great things he told me about Forest Hill are innumerable but the greatest thing is the growth that the teachers and students have made in the past year it is a school on an upward trajectory with a leader who has a vision and the drive and staff who are motivated to grow our students the other school I visited was Winter Park this school has a special place in my heart as it was one of one that my own children attended and while I would boast of the small tight-knit community that exists within the school or the garbage to Gardens program the principal noted that the
029composition of the school's population reflects that of the Wilmington Community it is a school where teachers know most if not all the students by name which in turn brings about an environment of familiarity and safety I'm so grateful for the variety of schools administrators teachers and students that we have in our district thank you to each of you for all that you do and this concludes my report um do we have the teacher yet I do not see him so I moving forward um I'm going to hand over the Reigns to Vice chair Barnhart to begin the call to audience thank you m chair tonight we're going to start with Rob mayor okay thank you Deborah Brunson Deborah bson okay members of the board how is new han County School's curriculum determined particularly in social
030study I'm sorry let me stop how much time do I have how much so it's what 2 minutes long yes okay can you please start the time over again am I supposed to be talking now yes we just started the time over for you there you go okay all right thank you how's new han County curriculum determined particularly in social studies history and language arts what's the procedure and process I couldn't really find it on the website I emailed a staff member but I did not hear back from that person um so I went to the Department of Education uh last Friday I noticed that there was a major Revision in the on the national level about Dei diversity equity and inclusion and uh after realizing that a lot of what they said was not
031enforcable they came back and said the schools may include programs that celebrate cultures and heritages like black history month they are not illegal the Department of Education prohibits the department from exercising control over content of school curricular however title 6 obligates schools not to create hostile environments through race-based policies stereotypes Etc I believe that not sharing diverse literature is hostile and it is harassment homogenizing history is hostile the Trail of Tears happened that keegee experiments happened red lining happened black lung disease still happens agent orange happened 1898 happened The Immortal Life of Henrietta LAX happened and I've brought a painting of her that has hung in the National Portrait museum in Washington DC this woman died in 1951 her cells are still being used by the scientific community Comm they have probably saved people's lives
032right here in this room through cancer Parkinson's disease covid Etc so why is this not appropriate material why can this not be shared Moretta stack house Loretta stack house [Applause] Loretta stack house Ann SS hello my name is Ann SS and I'm a parent of three children here at new hanare County schools and I've never spoken like this before it's my voice it's going to get real nervous um one of the things that is a deeply held belief of mine is the oparation of church and state however I'm also a person who has been raised in a faith that is deep and profound and believes that all children are created go by God including transgender and sexual minority children and I'm very concerned with what is going on with Dei I hear claims of of
033what God has done and um that is not the faith that I was raised and I was raised in a faith that um R Milton who believes that one of the safest ways to understand things is to read permission uously to read broadly that how can you choose what is moral when that has moral has been chosen for you and so I want my children to be able to receive stepping to education I want to be able to make that choice a number of you have run on parent choice and currently it is so beautiful we each can choose what is best for our own children and I want my children to be able to understand multiple viewpoints I want them to be able to go in the world with their own understandings of what
034they know having having read broadly and and understood greatly um and I don't want us to create a state of invisibility for those who are on the margins um that emboldens bullies it emboldens violence and we need to be avoiding that and I am going to end because I am going to ramble but I would love to speak with any of you um individually and um I don't want to bring my faith into this because I this is a a secular place and also um when when I hear that brought in in such a profound way and claims of what God believes and that aligned with power um that is the antithesis of of my faith system thank you Angie KY Angie kany safety has never been the priority of new han County schools in
035recent weeks we've had a student thrown through a window a student hit by a car again crossing the road from their school EC teachers injured trying to do their job amidst your staff Cuts fights involving as many as 45 students hours spent in the dark due to a major power outage that you refuse to communicate to parents about students in Mental Health crisis and severe cases of bullying because the board has encouraged division the district responds by moving the entire team of SRO who have built relationships with students from the most crowded and violent School in the district and replacing them with cops who criminalize requiring more outside law enforcement in dogs and classrooms that destroy property you strip prek our most vulnerable population of their Title One in local funding preventing access for families
036to resources and seeking ceasing professional development but expect us to believe that you're invested in reaming behavior for the distory you discard Dei to send a clear message of your bigotry and straight white supremacy and you refuse to hold the settlement with the victims of sexual assault by attacking the very law that protects them Title 9 and your quest to dismantle the committee that was devised as a part of that settlement continuing to put students at risk you retaliate against teachers and students when they bravely use their voices to ask for help you destroy Family Life Education a program that has successfully reduced teenage pregnancy and STI numbers for decades because of your obsession with harming lgbtq plus kids you compromise the mental health needs of students through irresponsible policymaking and hate and then you
037attempt to attempt to silence our voices so the public remains uninformed and you confiscate cell phones to further endanger kids children have lost their lives because of your recklessness and you seem to wear that like like a badge of honor none of you have mental health degrees or experience and very few in public education meanwhile you work to destroy both your actions have consequences and as a community so do ours and we're tired of sacrificing our [Applause] children Chris [Music] S Elizabeth mcyd elizabth mcloyd my name is Elizabeth McLoud I'm a firsttime speaker to this board policy 4303 Fair consistent discipline Administration States quote the board recognizes the negative effects of exclusionary discipline on a range of student outcomes and therefore has reserved the sanctions of suspension and expulsion for only the most serious violations
038of the code of student conduct end quote see if you recognize any of these negative effects children who were suspended from school are as much as 10 times more likely to experience academic failure repeat a grade drop out of high school hold negative School attitudes children who are suspended from school are more likely to behave worse when they return to school have poor attendance not graduate on time and are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated again policy 4303 States the board recognizes the negative effects of exclusionary discipline if the board recognizes the negative effects of exclusionary discipline why would you subject any child to a suspension or seclusion why are you setting them up for failure why are you punishing them instead of helping them at a minimum policy 4303 should say quote the
039board recognizes the negative effects of exclusionary discipline on a range of student outcomes and therefore has indended the use of out of school suspensions for all five six and seveny olds thank you thank you Jerry Wis last month the school board voted five to two to add one sentence to short-term suspension policy 4351 so now the policy has three sentences the student has the right to be present at the informal hearing but does not have the right to have a parent or other representative present it also says principle or their designes shall attempt to contact parents Guardians as soon as possible when a suspension determination is made that's the new sentence It also says that a student is not entitled to appeal the principal's decision to impose a short-term suspension and other words a parent
040of a five six or seven-year-old cannot be with their child during the hearing can only learn about a suspension after the decision has been made and that decision is final the fact is that policy 4351 was actually written for older students a separate policy should be written for our youngest Learners it should be a policy that keeps them in school where they can learn the social and emotional skills they need to prevent bad behavior and it would include a developmentally appropriate restorative practices that aim to repair the harm done to the victims parents deserve the opportunity to ask questions before the principal decides to kick their kid out of school what ever happened to parents' rights [Applause] [Music] Janet Williams Janet Williams Nelson Boer good evening I'm not exactly sure what the majority decided with
041your votes last Tuesday to be honest I don't really think you know what you voted to do either uh the the Motions that you make are so couched in bizarre political legal langu or language as the dear colleague letter that you're twisting yourself into pretzels to try and follow which perhaps is by Design as there seems to be more about theatrics to this and less about academics which is why I was confused that your Collective response to the dramatic changes to a 5-year strategic plan and the scrubbing of our policies of Dei was we are just following the law now I'm not advising against open Defiance of the law that's just me uh this majority has flirted with defying state law you don't agree with uh you have all talked about defying uh seal laws
042uh and you've talked about uh explored violating the state's calendar law and taking the action the board took on Tuesday you are not following the law you are interpreting it and twisting it to do what you've always wanted to do the dear colleague letter is not law it's the view of the Trump Administration about what the existing law says their view flies in the face of Decades of legal precedent and the letter itself is in no way legally binding put in another way you haven't been instructed to do anything this board has agency when policies are put in place that are unpopular when we cease to learn about 1898 or when Black History Month and emit till and women's history month and cica Falls are thrown to the wasbin it won't be because of law
043it will be because of your agenda which you have actively and success y pursued and you should be proud do not hide but do not misunderstand that the voters will know the truth take a lesson from Mr Perry who publicly accuses these people behind me of indoctrinating our children as you see our call our our employees in new H County don't indoctrinate anybody they save lives you owe these people an apology sir Natasha too Natasha to Elizabeth Nagel did I say that last name right nalii okay thank you good evening I'm Elizabeth nle I'm a parent of two elementary students who attend a New Hanover County Elementary School and like Ann this is my first time attending and speaking at a school SCH board meeting but I felt that I had to be here tonight
044to voice my strong opposition to the changes that you are considering that would limit fam's access to choice and sex education by removing or altering the Stepping Stones curriculum I'm asking you to reaffirm what the selection data already shows parents and caregivers in this County want their children to have the option to receive medically accurate comprehensive information to protect themselves and for their students to make informed decisions about their health addition Al I urge you to consider how this decision will shape the way that this school board responds to Future attempts by the Trump Administration to interfere with the local control of Education this decision does not stand in isolation it sets a dangerous precedent for the future of our schools it signals that this school board and the district's senior leadership will preemptively surrender
045to empty political threats even those threats that have no legal standing and actively cause harm to our communities stripping away parts of the Stepping Stones curriculum is not about legal compliance it's about censorship it dictates what students can and cannot learn whose identities hold value and whose are erased and it exposes a deep contradiction the board members here who campaigned on Parental Choice are not truly committed to its principle rather than protecting fam's abilities to choose they are attempting to impose their own ideology by limiting families to a single option of absence only education I urge you to uphold the program that has been chosen by students and resist outside pressure that undermines our children's learning please keep Stepping Stones as is thank you thank You Adele MC merry Adel MC merry good evening while
046working with defendants at the nberg trials Captain GM Gilbert was searching for the nature of evil and stated evil I think is the absence of empathy a genuine incapacity to fill with their fellow men for decades parents of new hver County Schools have value the choice to make an informed decision to opt into family life my life or opt out of both since early 2024 the board has heard from current and past students teachers parents professors on how helpful family life is at removing the ick and uncomfortableness of important topics families find challenging to discuss over 90% of parents opted into Family Life the majority of this board continues to put energy into dismantling it now another attack on Parental Choice a topic many of you ran on to be elected here we are again
047fighting for our family's rights for Education based on science and fact not personal religious beliefs most vaccine as you hide behind an executive order from a purposely chaos inducing regime to push forward your own agenda will of parents and students in your county be damned to continue to marginalize groups you don't believe exist regardless of evidence to the contrary do your recommendations come from a place of fear from a place of concern for students or from a place of self-righteousness that you know what's best for our children or is it you align with the EO and support bullies and violence in schools support exclusion hate and dismissal of human beings when the next EO threat is funding will be cut if math and science classes are not limited for girls so they will to focus
048on home economics and child care we support it when the next EO States women shouldn't be on the school board or in areas of leadership if they care so much about students they should be at home taking care of their own will you support it when an EO rolls out excluding anyone over 55 years of age from being on the board since your children are grown and when you get past a certain age exhaustion and confusion ensues and it's difficult to make on decisions will you support it or do you only support the dictates of this regime that did not affect you personally it shouldn't have to happen to you to matter to you you're here to represent all of us you are here to show empathy to experiences that are not your own Do
049Not Bow Down and freely give away your power to their baseless illegal threats it will not stop at lgbtq plus and immigrants they are coming for you next and if that is not enough please remember I was only following orders was rejected as a defense of the nurg trials be better Rachel [Applause] dog my name is Rachel I'm a parent and a pastor in Wilmington think of a time when you have injured your dominant hand the hand that you write with brush your teeth with all the things while you are recovering you function awkwardly but every moment of every activity feels harder more frustrating exhausting now add on to that layers of Shame put on you by your community grief at relationships lost because of this part of who you are I've heard trying to
050to live life as a straight person when you are not feels a little like always having to use the wrong hand always wearing clothes that don't quite fit just to make others feel comfortable in the latest Gallop poll 99.3% of the US population identifies as lgbtq that is almost one in every 10 people think about the damage you are doing to the entire population of New Hanover County when you try to silence a tenth of our community that affects every classroom every family every business the queer Community has always been a part of every population and it will continue to be when you make it unsafe for them to be honest about who they are they don't stop being queer but they can't share their gifts or live their life to the fullest we all
051suffer when that happens according to maso's hierarchy of needs when a child feels unsafe their brain cannot learn when one child is made to feel unsafe in a classroom the climate of the classroom changes everyone feels it these are our children they are the present and the future of New Hanover County we all deserve for them to be treated with respect and made to feel safe our future and our present depend on it thank you sopia Pearson hi I'm Dr Cindy Pearson I'm a board certified OBGYN I've been in practice for over 20 years I think I've probably delivered a few babies um from this group in here I'm here to talk about the abstinence only um potential policy which I think is going to be a huge or would be a huge detriment to
052our kids um uh I can't tell you the number of children I see or young girls who could have benefited maybe from a even more instruction on sex ed the amount of chlamydia the amount of ganaria the um I mean I I've had I have so many examples I I can't say all of them and I don't have it all prepared I mean uh when I was in residency I saw a 12 yearold you know taught abstinence only went on a church Retreat her uh pastor uh the pastor son impregnated her so when she was 12 I got to deliver her baby while she's clutching a um a a a teddy bear um the number of girls that come in and uh their moms are like oh she tells me everything I know she's not
053had sex I'm like okay can you leave the room and when you ask uh the girl they're like oh yeah I'm 15 yes I've had three or four Partners but my mom doesn't know we all want our kids we all want the best for our kids we want them to practice abstinence only up to a certain point but the reality is that's not what they're doing they are having sex we need to protect them by giving them the knowledge of what happens when you have sex what happens how do you get pregnant how do you get chlamydia how do you get ghara how do you get warts yes you can get um herpes on your genitals when somebody gives you oral sex and they have a history of fever blisters I just encountered that the
054other day this is all the stuff that they need to know and they need to know more of so that we can help prevent it and abstinence only is not going to Amanda re Meer Amanda ree Meer good evening my name is Amanda rism I'm a board-certified and licensed behavior analyst and a doctoral student but my most important title I've ever had was being a title one special education teacher this is my first time speaking to you all tonight but I have a funny feeling it won't be the last as a behavior analyst and researcher I understand that data is important in fact I think everybody here can agree to that it's a powerful tool and can inform your policy decisions in fact it should all data is significantly relevant when it's directly related to
055policies that are under consideration having less than 20 K to2 students receiving out of school suspensions is significantly relevant if you're monitoring out of school suspensions of five six and seveny olds data already shows that New Hanover County has a long history of suspending its students as recently as 2018 to current date our schools were sanctioned for disproportionately suspending black special education students at a rate of 4.5 times more than their white peers simply put the public has a right to this suspension data that you've been collecting now General statute 1321 states that public records and public information compiled by agencies of North Carolina government as well as its subdivisions are property of the people and statute 1326 States no request to inspect examine or obtain copies of public records shall be denied on the
056grounds of confidential information being commingled with the requested non-confidential information you can of course please remove the confidential inter uh information you've shared some of the K2 data but now it's time to share all K through2 suspension data from the first half of this entire school year thank you for your time and I hope as you've all pledged when taking office you stand by every child and our community at large thank you Dr Jamie [Applause] [Music] Pond good evening I have a speech prepared but I also want to just put a shout out to my colleagues out in the audience who've been talking about this same theme because I think y'all hopefully are getting the message um tonight I'll be speaking about the importance of comprehensive sex education in our public schools and more importantly
057a parent ability to choose what program is best for their child as of right now new H County parents can choose to select Stepping Stones a comprehensive sex education medically accurate program or my life an abstinence only program that is religiously based research shows that comprehensive programs like stepping stones are more effective than absence only programs at reducing teen pregnancy rates increasing abuse and delaying the start of sexual activity these programs also reduce homophobia homophobic bullying in schools they increase students understanding of gender gender Norms they support healthy relationships they reduce dating and relationship violence and they support the prevention of child sex AB sorry child sex abuse not only this but comps comprehensive programs are widely popular 72% of parents in junior high school students and 65% of parents of high school students agree
058that Federal Government funding should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives instead of funding programs that have abstaining from sexual activity only I wanted to discuss all of this tonight because I know you've been concerned about gender identity being discussed in the program remember districts not the federal government have a say over what they want in their sex education programs I Echo several of my peers thoughts tonight and I want to encourage you to keep stepping stones in New Hanover County sex education program the way it is let parents decide for themselves and their families what is right for their kids thank you came Keith [Applause] the Third Edition of the Champs book has as its subtitle a proactive and
059positive approach to classroom management so it should come as no surprise that the phrase out of school suspension does not appear in any of its 590 pages that said it does have two paragraphs on the topic of removal from the class session it says in part removal from class will not work for students who are unable to demonstrate the expected Behavior because they don't understand the expectations are unaware they are exhibiting misbehavior or currently lack skills to demonstrate expected Behavior it also has the PO potential to demonstrate to some students that they are not a valued member of the class Community finally students who are removed from class often fall further behind this can lead to a cycle of misbehavior due to confusion frustration and leading to further exclusion in another part of the book
060it says disruptive behavior should not involve removing a a student from class unless it is so severe that there is a loss of instructional control sometimes the child needs to go to a different room with a highly qualified certified teacher so that they can continue their learning I'm asking you to budget for more counselors and social workers who will help our youngest Learners with their social and emotional skills let's get our children off to a good start thank you Mell Hill good evening my name is lvll Hill this is my first time speaking to the board regulation 432r rules for use of seclusion and restraint in schools States seclusion means the confinement of a student alone in an enclosed space from which the student is a physically prevented from leaving by locking Hardware or other
061means or B incapable of leaving due to physical or intellectual capacity physical restraint means the use of physical Force to restrict the free movement of all or a part of a student's body mechanical restraint means the use of any device or material attached or adjacent to a St student's body that restricts freedom of movement or normal access to any portion of the student's body and that the student cannot easily remove seclusion and physical and mechanical restraints were used hundreds of times in recent years and they were primarily used on special education children in the elementary schools my question is are they still being used and to what extent I hope the Champs approach and the reframing behavior program will help reduce the use of seclusion and restraints looking at Behavior through a neuroscience lens and
062understanding that many behaviors are the result of an activation of a person's stress response system will help all children to learn and strive seclusion and restraint are not the answer in our public schools and can be harmful and are considered ineffective thank [Applause] you thank you Lisa ESI [Applause] good evening my name is Lisa espie I'm a proud school counselor in new han County Schools but I'm also the vice president of the new hver County Association of Educators the beautiful thing about our Union is not only do we represent teachers but we have a lot of certified and classified employees teacher assistant bus drivers um maintenance work workers are with us one of the things that we really want to advocate for is we've done a wonderful job of teacher voice but even tonight when
063someone was recognized from tras she wasn't able to attend many of our teaching assistants bus drivers custodians they're either still working or they're at a second job so being able to come to this Podium is a privilege that they don't have we want to work with the board and find a way that we can continue to increase teacher voice and staff voice one of the things that's been appreciated I'm a member of your district and in the work rooms teachers have been impressed with the fact that there's been more transparency with budget presentations the fact that the superintendent did a tour of the area to go around and talk to people we appreciate that and we want more of that there are lots of problems and issues going on and as you can see we
064have a community that cares we know that only having 20 or so people speak on these forums isn't enough and we want to be more proactive and problem solve based not just come in and complain but sit down and give you information on the perspective from what it's like in our thoughts so I will be emailing everybody to provide my contact information I would love to be able to set something up where we could work on increasing proactivity and being able to share personal stor so you can understand and make decisions not just from your expertise but from the people who are actually in the building with the kids and their situations thank you for your time thank you Peter W [Music] [Applause] Peter of the 29 K2 suspensions from the first half of the
065school year 22 were for for assaults the student code of conduct defines an assault as an act of such nature to excite a reasonable apprehension of har ful or offensive physical contact with another person who is also a student and without the use of a weapon or causing Serious injury in other words if an adult sees two children and they are fearful that there might be physical contact between them and there's no weapon no serious injury a five six or seven-year-old can be suspended from school by this definition one child doesn't even have to touch the other child to be kicked out of school and the key phrase here is reasonable apprehension and when it comes to fear or what someone fears it's subjective any five six or seveny old that's acting in a way
066that makes people apprehensive probably needs help counseling and support not the removal from school denying them access to our professional teachers counselors and social workers is just cruel and with all the new training that's in progress and the anticipated application of Neuroscience in our schools the code of conduct is due for a major update thank you thank you caring [Music] [Applause] CLK the Preamble of our North Carolina Constitution begins with acknowledgment of allmighty God we the people of the state of North Carolina grateful to almighty God The Sovereign ruler of Nations for the preservation of the American Union and the existence of our civil political and religious Liberties acknowledging him for the continuance of those blessings to us and our posterity for the more certain security and for the better government of this state I
067pray that each of you honor the Living Word the king of all the universe full of Glory the only God who is worthy of the highest honors throughout all of time trust in the Lord completely and do not rely on your own opinions with all your heart rely on Him to guide you and he will lead you in every decision I pray over you an understanding heart so you can passionately know and obey the truth as you battle for our children the Lord's commandments are your counsellors that you set your heart on his precepts and pay close attention to all his ways let your life be shaped by Integrity with truth written upon your heart that's how you will find favor and understanding with God and men and you will gain the reputation of living
068life well now may the Lord of Peace pour into you his peace in every circumstance in every possible way the Lord's tangible presence be with you in jesus' name amen thank you going back through those who are absent Rob Mayers I know you said he's sick I'm just gonna call it his name Loretta stack house also sick Chris Sutton um Janet Williams Natasha to hello everyone it's been a while since I've seen everyone's faces happy March I'm here to commend the board members who voted to remove all the diversity equity and inclusion references from The District's strategic plan policies and procedures in accordance with the federal directive I would also like to express my complete support of the board adopting the my life curriculum as the opin program for parents and students in grades 6
069through 8 and removing all nonheterosexual sex education from the family life training for the kids maybe I should focus my attention this way would you like that let me let me say really loud for the past five years in every school board meeting liberal leaning residents have repeatedly and rudely I would say encouraged this board and other members of the community to trust the experts and Trust the subject matter experts when it comes to curriculum matters yet when they're advised by the very staff and and those subject matter experts to adopt a sexual education curriculum that promotes abstinence as the best way to prevent pregnancy instead of promoting various alternative Lifestyles and abortion as a contraceptive method these same community members throw a temper tantrum this is abject hypocrisy and another example of a two-tiered
070policy at a time when Newan County School District is contending with a serious budget deficit are they not concerned with the risk of losing 10 million do of federal funding I hope the members of this board as well as our new superintendent congratulations Dr Barnes I hope you are concerned as I am about the possibility of losing $10 million in federal funding I encourage each of you to stand firm and hold the line thank your time is up thank you so much thank [Applause] you madam chair excuse me we will have order this concludes the call to audience we are going to take a 5 minute restroom break please come back to the Das board members at [Music] e e e board members if you would please return to the dis board members if you
071would please return to the dis for [Music] board members please return to the dis there he is all right all right we are back in session as we continue on in the agenda we have a financial Wellness review report and that is presented by Mr Aaron booer um good evening Madame chair members of the board Dr Barnes it's a pleasure to be with you this evening um you have a copy of the report in your materials um just going to touch on some of the highlights some of the work that was performed um some of the recommendations and um go from there so if you have any questions feel free to ask me at any time during the presentation I will be very brief uh respect your time um one I want to applaud the
072board um for taking the opportunity to have an independent review done of your Current financial operations across the district uh most times districts go through change and they're really not sure what their current St situation is so um work with a lot of school boards across not only North Carolina South Carolina across the southeast really working with them on some smart budgeting um so we have a lot of experience um I apologize on behalf of my partner arassi Atkins uh she wishes she could be here with us tonight um but she just recently has taken a job as the interim um HR director in Philadelphia Public Schools um so she's not able to be with us here tonight she's serving in that capacity for the next 3 months um hopefully I'll be able to Pitch
073hit adequately for her part of this process um School operations specialist is an independent group of former school employes that brings content area expertise to some of the areas that were reviewed uh we don't have all the answers we take best practices that are used not only across the state but in different parts of the country and we help districts apply them to how their structures and their process and procedures work what makes our evaluation successful one we have the time to evaluate so we thoroughly look at how you're doing your work what you're doing and are able to give our opinions based upon that as I've said we have expertise in different areas uh we have people that have been very successful um work not only at the K12 level look at the work
074at the higher ed level um have been very successful in moving School District Operations and one we take a lot of pride in being very objective in this process um we know often times we don't get to deliver the news that sometimes districts want to hear but we're very honest transparent and very um open about what we've seen and what we um evaluate within the district the scope of our work was to evaluate the budget process and also to enhance some smart budgeting techniques review of your review of State local and federal maximization of funds review and Analysis of some of your operations efficiency provide initial initial Financial Wellness assessment with findings conduct review of Staffing and allotment plans to ensure the maximization of resources and review position control procedures in light what does that
075mean um we're here to really tell you whether you have the structures in place in order to focus your time and energy on things outside of the operational area um hopefully you've read the report um but I'm going to hit on a number of the highlights and then make some concluding comments um as far as the financial area goes um I think you all are off to some great starts not only this year but hopefully in the future of enhancing your budget process um people want to think budget is a spring activity it's a yearr round activity um it never CH it never stops um you got the closing of school the opening of school your numbers that come with the enrollment each and every year but again you've taken adequate steps you have a
076very thorough budget calendar I think you should be applauded in a number of things but you have very thorough budget documents that are very comprehensive to providing the detail of the information that a district needs in order to make decisions um you've had clean audits that speaks to the compliance issues all the issues in spending your funds appropriately how your books are in order having a clean audit is a very very important step in the process um we've looked again at the maximization piece overall you're doing an outstanding job uh we made recommendations that we do believe are going to allow you all to make some additional savings with some of your State dollars and your state resources and those same capabilities with those decisions should be able to be done for multiple years to
077come so it's not one time savings hopefully it's savings that can accumulate over time will you'll be able to do the same things in order to provide that maximization um you're going to hear this mentioned a lot during this report but you have probably as good of position control as we've seen anywhere across the state that has allowed you the structure unfortunately to have made the cuts you made over the last couple years but you have excellent position control excellent communication between finance and HR and we can tell you and again we're very transparent but that does not happen and that does not exist in a lot of districts across the state of North Carolina um financed officers HR directors right now they're they're commodity that's hard to find having people in place that are
078doing a good job really allows you again to focus on what's important um we we reconciled over 450 positions that were in your pay assignment that means actually people being paid that are no longer there that's probably some of the most drastic numbers we've ever seen done in that period of time again we're not here to speak to how that may have come about in the past we're just here to really state where is your financial situation as it currently exists but again you deserve a lot of credit for having taken the necessary steps in order to have a sound financial uh structure place along those same lines I caution you in the financial area to know that your fund balance in your local General expense fund has dipped to a level that would probably
079be deemed a little bit low or unacceptable for a district this size I know you have an arrangement with your county that will fund certain things in lie of a storm but a $1.3 million General expense fund balance for a district this size with a budget this size is getting to a point where you're very dependent upon someone bailing you out of situations should they occur some of the unknown issues with the federal funding in the future all those things combined you've taken great steps but a $1.3 million fund balance again is a little bit low you did you were very successful in doing what most districts did you grew your special Revenue fund balance over the last couple years because you had additional indirect costs coming in from your federal funds so that sets
080you up for a little bit of a lapse in time where you can utilize some of those resources should you need need those but a lot of those resources and those funds are restricted they come in associated with Medicaid funds um different things that are restricted revenues so it's not as flexible as within the local General expense fund um we'll speak a little bit more briefly about the work of your Child Nutrition because that's one of the Departments we reviewed but you should be applauding yourself that have had a negative $3 million net position just over 3 years ago to having a net position in Child Nutrition of almost $4 million as it exists now um your current exe your current director does an outstanding job um again we'll speak to some of the things
081within Child Nutrition but that again allows you to be financially prudent in that you can charge indirect cost to that program you're not having to subsidize that locally you can make decisions that's an Enterprise fund that's one that literally doesn't try to make money but becomes profitable in order to then benefit the district in other ways and provide a more stable program um in the Human Resources area again we reviewed all processes and procedures um position summary and change reconciliation goes on routinely that's a wonderful step um you're not waiting till the end of the year you're not basing everything on the start of the year there's constant checks and balances that take place throughout the year um I think this is going to come of no surprise to the board but with your declining
082ADM with some of your numbers possibly in time there has to be proper adequate steps looked at to is school consolidation a choice School consolidation comes with issues it has to be matched with possible construction options um opportunities around the community to make that work as far as distances busing all the things associated with that but you all know it you review numbers annually uh most of North Carolina unfortunately are declining adms um a lot of the urban areas are declining ADM even the largest school district in the state which grew by 65,000 students prior to 2015 has grown by less than 3,000 students in The Last 5 Years so the numbers are taking place consistently across the state in a lot of the same areas um so on and so forth again we cannot
083speak highly enough about the wonderful collabor ation that goes on in the strong systems that exist within HR um we sampled seven School allotment sheets we reconciled the position cuts not only for the current year but the previous years and you all know that you've gotten very lean and when you get lean you have to continue to evaluate yourself on an annual basis but you can only go so deep in that process or you really do start to lose the ability to deliver the quality education that most districts want across the board um and again we spoke to the position control um my partner again I thought had the best practices in the state she's implemented her procedures in probably over a dozen districts and her exact words were she's never seen it as thorough
084as it is here um and that again should be applauded on the surface for the great work that was done and the amount of work that goes into creating those documents um in the area of Child Nutrition um you have excellent procedures you have an excellent procedure manual sounds very simple but again there's a lot of compliance that goes on with serving school lunches to students so having those things in place again allows them to address their attention to the important issues uh we spoke to A Strong net position that gives you good Financial stability within that program that a lot of districts across the state are having to subsidize their Child Nutrition programs through their local General expense fund so by having that at that level again again you're benefiting not only the district
085but your County Commissioners um the need for those resources um across the board um the person that did our review does State reviews all over the state but says excellent USDA compliance so again very much attributed to the strong leadership and the management of that department we did make some recommendations around Staffing um often times we size things that we say that you have to right size the district and that doesn't mean it stays in that same mentality forever but currently you pay schools um differently than we would recommend probably as far as the number of students it's how many people participate in the program because the more people participate in the program usually Associates with the more amount of work that goes on within um the lunch program so on and so forth so
086we made some recommendations in the report we made some suggestions of how the salary could match in those areas but again the classified areas are across the board have gone up drastically in the state which they should but maintaining those being self-sufficient funding the um living wages and all those um becomes much and much more costly to the district um transportation same thing and again I feel like I'm a broken record in this and uh you know again it's our job to really look objectively but your transportation is one of the few districts in the state that receives 100% efficiency from the state on their funding that means you get the maximum amount of State resources you can get from the state a lot of districts the state average I believe is about 84% so
087if you're not getting 16% of your state funds for those programs then you're having to make that up locally so again being at 100% is extremely beneficial to the district um along with that you have very strong Management in place I'm a very unique background appears to be working working out very successfully in running the transportation program we don't see many people move over from HR to run Transportation but our transportation expert who again works all over the uh country in different aspects spoke as highly of your team of leadership over there for their transition their procedures manual how they handle discipline how they manage their Fleet uh different processes and things they have in place um exceptional children is the one area and I think if you read into the report um I'll name
088the Miss Alicia Tate who does work across the entire State works at the higher level did our EC review um she couldn't again speak highly of how dedicated your staff is but you know it you've made a number of cuts to the EC program and there's a lot of needs that go into the serving the EC population and you're at a borderline that has to be monitored and has to be you know watched that you have to be compliant but you can only push your staff so far to deliver the necessary services so we've documented some of those in the report again you had to do what you had to do in order to bring about a balanced budget um exceptional programs Services come at a cost um a very worthwhile cost but something you
089have to constantly review between your federal state funds um receiving your Medicaid funds all those kind of things but it is our observation that you've gotten a little bit lean in that area you're pushing not only School staff but Administration a little bit to the max on managing that program with the number of kids being served across the board um some of our overall findings are again the structure around processing procedures are in place for Success it doesn't mean you let off the pedal seen too many districts that get too comfortable and all of a sudden it gets to put to the back burner but right now you have the you have wred the ship you have right size the district and that's very important because you have to work with the resources that you
090have available you have excellent protocol procedures process some of the best we've seen you're currently in a fairly strong financial place as far as a balanced budget but you do have to be cautious about your local current expense fund balance there's no ability to rely on that to cover any kind of reoccurring cost it's actually very low to cover even onetime issues um budget is something that always has to be evaluated um your staff does an excellent job with their amendments providing the resolution providing those documents that are online um we actually know of a lot of districts across the state that use your budget documents as a model for what they want their budget documents to look like so again a lot of um credibility needs to go into that process that people always
091want more when it comes to budget but it really is a science of presenting concise important data around that material and even I forget what page it is in your book but you summarize all your positions what funding source they're paid from and even that summary report shows the people that have the positions that have been cut over the last three years where what the funding source is and again that's extremely value will have that documented across the board um you know you're managing declining EDM that comes with challenges even with nothing else said the new state model of funding you on the prior year second month ADM has you having to cut people again this school year so you have to always be on your toes you always have to have your aame available
092that you're managing by the Numbers hopefully you grow but you can ask any District That Grew this year they didn't get their growth money till almost December and it was in question legislators had to come back and approve a special appropriation in order to put growth money back in the budget so again it gives you some stability to move forward but again if you do happen to rebound or you go down there's a year-by-year effect and you're you're dealing with Charter Schools you know none of us know the impact of the voucher issues but those things have a definite impact um we spoke to the excellent collaboration between finance and HR um again you've made significant progress to rightsize the district with the resources that are available um probably our last and final statement is
093the district has positioned itself to focus on student learning and all indications are the current lead leadership is providing a student first system and I can't tell you how many times we don't see that we see things that are almost adult driven program driven by the district you have really centered yourself around Student First Learning with your budget showing those priorities within your budget so again I can't tell you that we don't normally get to deliver this kind of message most times we stand between before school boards and tell them all the deficiencies they have but you should be very very proud of yourself in these areas that again keep need constant monitoring um but with all of our expertise and evaluation our overall opinion was the things that we looked at across the board
094were in excellent shape so glad to answer any questions provide any additional information you'd like Mr thank you very comprehensive document um it's very important to us um I would like to take just a second to thank our superintendent and Senior staff uh and their teams because obviously when you hear a glob report about yall's great job so I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you all do you do thank you all and your teams um what I'm hearing the biggest concern you have is our fund B I mean I heard that about seven different times in your uh presentation that you know you we just don't have enough money in our fund balance even with that document that thatou with our uh County Commissioner you feel like we
095still need more money in that I mean again in our review of that that's basically storm related for them to bail you out in case of a storm you'll hear this question and I'm sure you've heard it at Schoolboard trainings and ncasa trainings everyone wants to know what is what is the appropriate amount of fund balance local government commission will not identify for school districts they will for County governments you know they have to acquire debt so on and so forth but $1.3 million I mean you could have a roof issue that's not storm related you could have boiler Chiller issues you and I'm not putting it all in the maintenance area you could have additional identification of EC children that weren't in your head count that you're not being funded for you're above the
096cap you're you're just bordering on that 1.3 does not allow you all I mean most districts of this size I mean you had a $12 million fund balance in local current expense 3 years ago um you know that is probably more in tune with the size of your budget and the District of the resources you should have and again you dealt with your needs you came off the yeser you've writed the ship that's just one area the only other area of concern that we kind of had was again the leanness within the exceptional Children's Program that you have to be compliant and that's a fine line you have to walk as far as the resources available the delivery of services but again your staff and your management is doing a great job with what they
097have thank you um so we are nearing our cut off time so I'm going to make a motion to extend time for 10 minutes second okay uh any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed passes 7 to zero so next is Miss barer thank you madam chair I appreciate and I'm going to Echo my colleague sentiment of thank you to the staff for the fabulous job that we're hearing from this report um that the EC program is an area that the board has also heard that same feedback and so that's one of the legislative items that we have put on our legislative agenda because the state has proposed a tiered System model um and Miss barnon please correct me if I'm um not saying this properly but if
098if that were to pass new Handover County Schools would receive more funding for our EC program because we have such intense needs and she touched on that um a few weeks ago with the assistant nurses and things like that so it's a good acknowledgement because even from when we're having those conversations we can bring this report in to say and this not only is it a concern of ours but it's we're seeing that this is an area we have room to grow in um and the my second question would be do you have a format when you're looking for what the fund balance ideal mix looks like that I mean I know as Su and I have had conversations about potentially a policy or what that number is but any any format that we could
099consider as a board I'd love to be passed along to us I mean there there's districts that have policies around how much should they try to maintain in fund balance you know Ashley's outstanding expert in almost all the areas across the board but again there's uncertainty in the federal funding moving forward um you know certain times you may have to if your federal funds haven't been approved but most times the overall consensus is somewhere between 4 and 8% should be maintained in local current expense fund balance um Auditors usually Echo that same opinion County governments have to keep between 8 and 25% um but usually between 4 and 8% of your local current expense budget is the recommended amount and then sometimes people say 3 months worth of local operating Revenue should you have to
100pay utility bills cover any kind of expenses so on and so forth M Bradford um thank you Aon and I want to thank Dr Barnes and the staff because I know when this proposal first came up you were a little nervous was this a Witch Hunt no it was a wellness check and you guys have just soared above the accolades that he's seen anywhere and we're really proud of here thank you now I would direct your attention to page 21 because this is going back to um in22 back to EC and EC request last year was high priority for us and here it is on paper for us to use to see if we can't do something about that because this is pretty dire in this section it's got me you know when I read
101it two weeks ago it was alarming and we started as Miss brart said we' started um but it's a it's an uphill deal um and we're blessed that people bring their students to our County because we offer such exceptional services but we're not blessed because we don't have the money to cover all of it because of the disproportionality of the of the financing and so for me I'm going to want to see that be a super pro super priority for the rest of this year until we can get some movement there and um other than that I'm just thrilled thank you very much Dr Merrick Erin that's a lot of work thank you and I and I appreciate the both the accolades and the very gentle nudges uh that you are giving us I want
102to parir it what has already been said because it can't be said enough Miss Sutton you and your staff the whole team who's that guy that used to be the head of HR oh right yeah well this guy all it took getting a smart person over there in HR and you guys are good but I mean uh it does it does uh warrant being said it again and again thank you for all that hard work but I the thing I'm really getting from you is based on the resources available we've been doing a good job and you kind of hint that the quality of Education in certain places is you know at risk and and I I agree with my colleague here that EC is just a place so we cannot continue uh underfunding and
103under underperforming um I want to give a shout out to the public because they came to this board again and again and again last year when we were looking at all the cuts that might happen to EC and so I think they deserve a little bit of acknowledgement for keeping on top of things and for bringing those concerns and I really do hope that we will work really hard as we you know I even see that our our our budget conversations shifting a little bit the next time we meet because I think this has to be addressed and the last question I have for you is will you go and tell the County Commissioners how well one comment I'll make very briefly is you speak exactly to it you right size to what resources you
104have available public education's on the crossroads right now and its ability to be successful with all the choice all the options that are out there we're we're watering it down to some degree because the resources don't allow for the additional Services across the board but again that aside you all have put yourself in Good Financial standing with what you have with what you've done to be success all right Mr Perry yeah unfortunately most districts across the state right now the only thing they have that grows their fund balance is their inability to find people lap salaries is really the only creator of anything significant the cost of inflation the cost of doing business the cost of all materials across the board really are exhausting the increases the districts are getting so you don't sit in
105any isolated situation in that area it doesn't mean that you won't have some things come in an appropriate budget in any system should be somewhere between 94 and 96% spent out if you're in the 80s then you're probably putting too much money into a fund balance on an annual basis but usually at 94 to 96 you're not sweating out every purchase every dollar trying to get to year end wondering are you going to make it so you know I hope you feel your positions because I'll trade off having a educator in front of children as opposed to accumulating the dollars but unfortunately with the challenges that exist across the state right now and finding quality teachers unfortunately that's probably the the main driver of changing the fund balance situation you know there's some bills being
106proposed but they have to be voted on and approved and we also um Dr Barnes just a couple of points I think for our issue and I'm going to give you one specific example this year we took all of what would be allocated teacher assistance for our regular third grade classrooms and gave them over to be Tas to the special ed simply because there wasn't enough money to get the job done done some of the concern about not having the fund balance is our inability to Pivot and adjust and do short-term emergency things that we normally would have been able to do I will say that um for the fund balance the first step towards building a fund balance is to stop spending it and so this year we have done that so at least
107we have stopped the bleeding this year I will say that um over the last three or four years our time from posting a job to failing a job has gone from 45 days to 20 so what ordinarily would be a larger amount of lap salaries we don't see as much here because we have such a supportive uh local funding for a very high um come on help me stien local supplement thank you plus the fact that this is an area where people want to go we're very well known so we don't get a chance to use our lap salaries to some extent either because we don't have as many vacancies as order places are you going to give me another start thank you wording ourselves all right thank you so much oh oh I'm sorry
108Miss Justice you got to close this out we have about a minute left a minute left okay just quickly then and thank you this was great thank you for whoever's idea was to have this done uh I just been back recently the EC situation most of that funding would be coming it should be coming from the federal government but they don't Supply it as well as they should is that what the bulk of the funding would come from normally how does normally EC departments funded you some pass through that but yes state funded and federally funded but the state funding majority is passed through from the federal government in that funding formula but it's capped at a certain percentage of students of your population so again those those present challenges in itself but it's a
109commodation of state and federal funding right now and then you get some you file for what's called Medicaid reimburse fee for service outreach program so it brings in a little bit of additional local revenue for those Services you provide that the whole combination of we all say it's putting a puzzle together in order to match the needs and the fund but Medicaid is in intrical to this functioning properly correct and that's a federal program correct yes thank all right um that ends our time thank you so much sir appreciate um continuing on uh we have the attorney General letter Miss farhart thank you madam chair and like I said my fellow board members this is just informational I had reached out after uh we sent that letter to the Attorney General's office and heard nothing
110for a few weeks um and was able to get an appointment last week and so I took the opportunity to sit down with staff um and just share our concerns that we have openly brought to the attention and in his press release they had thank to new hver County for sending the letter and bringing it to attention so they reiterated that um but sitting around the table with just cabinet members I said moving forward what does this look like there's still a lot of frustration and I know speaking with my colleagues we see that of we don't want this to happen again and we want to make sure that moving forward we are able to advocate for better change and what that looks like and so while they could not speak to the legality of
111the case itself they said they would keep us up to date whenever um whenever movement changed but one of the discussions became around protocols in the response time and so there are different privacy laws that could be updated there are um different terms potentially inou that the DPI could utilize uh Power School was a Statewide contract and so unfortunately um North Carolina is entirely affected and so moving forward as we just have conversations about the DPI letter potentially we can talk about different terms we'd like to see on theou which ideas could include a variety of things um but one of the things that we brought up frustration was some of the data that was breached in New hanor County dated back a long time ago of of students and employees that are no longer
112part of our system and so bringing that to the attention um as potentially a good idea for DPI and then different privacy laws that could change obviously at the um legislature um and the other thing of discussion that came up um uh I'm sorry I feel like I'm all over the place was talking about the aggregated data versus the personal data and what can be changed with that and so advocating for potentially that change on the DPI level um the other option that being discussed that we can consider is advocating for maybe not having a Statewide contract um I would love if my other colleagues that were able to have this conversation with me if they have anything to add but I think that's pretty much recap I just wanted to share that out with
113the board thank you madam chair and we will have further discussion on the letter in a little bit but that was just informational for at this point um continuing on uh I will entertain a motion to approve the consensus items do I hear a second second all right any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero I'm going to hand the batana over to our policy chair Mr wilbore there it is thank you okay um just a brief two brief U not brief but two two policies to bring forth uh this is brought forth by one of our colleagues here uh if you look at the um the consensus items uh 4320 tobacco products and 50 2672 smoking and tobacco products um I think
114it's pretty straightforward in both of those uh policies um you know we're expanding the policies to cover a lot more things than just tobacco nicotine and vaping products um but I think it is pretty straightforward and I would make a motion that we uh accept these two second okay any discussion miss burnhard my apologies I feel like this goes along the vein um potentially just seeing the explosion of vaping in our schools if potentially the conversation of having an ordinance of sorts that around our school buildings to prohibit the sale of that and talk about have that open that dialogue with our with our County Commissioners and things of how close in proximity to our schools are um stores allowed to sell vaping and and cigarettes and things like that but i' I've I've heard
115I've um heard different ordinances have that conversations in other counties and so I don't know if it's something that we'd like to potentially open the opportunity to consider and have that if we're seeing this as an issue which from feedback from staff we are seeing major issues with that okay Miss Justice yeah I'm not sure how practical that is in a county this size with 46 different schools and uh if you've been around the schools there's shops everywhere uh that would be something that that's also uh that just complicates rules that don't necessarily that alone will not stop in my opinion I have teenagers in my house I know teenagers I taught teenagers and so that seems to be going a little bit far um especially some of the schools that are in areas that
116there's an awful lot of convenience stores not just vape stores all kinds of I mean you can't go into Walmart they're everywhere so you know that seems a little bit extreme and not practical considering the you know our County that's just my opinion Dr Merrick I know that there are um Statewide initiative to raise the raise the the age for uh vaping and and tobacco products and um I just wanted to bring forward the voice of a parent in our district who lost a child new han High School child to vaping and I think that we do need to take this extremely seriously and um I know that uh she because of the loss of her child does programs all around the state to different school districts around helping the students to understand the danger
117of VAP and it might be something that we would consider uh taking a look at her program and seeing if it would fit in our high schools good idea okay all right so the motion to approve the just a clarification Dr mer could just asked for a quick clarification this is consensus so we can go ahead and move forward with this today so just to make sure they can Perfect all right hearing no further discussion on all those in favor of passing policy 4320 and 5026 7250 signify by saying I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero carrying on to policies for second reading uh we have policy 6129 uh we actually heard today of a of a hero at tras Middle School it was able to save a person's life that was choking
118uh I mean and I mean that was you know a hero I mean just unbelievable um with these devices it might make it that much safer for our students um and so I think everybody is on board with this uh this is the anti-choking device uh putting one and you know putting them all they were very nicely or very wonderfully donated to our school system putting them out in the schools this is the policy that will uh help us be able to use them uh appropriately and effectively so again motion that we uh accept policy 6129 second thank you any further discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed that passes 7 to zero back thanks um continuing on uh an update on new Handover High School Miss
119Lawrence you Miss Lawrence to give you a brief update sorry Mr Anderson I like how he emphasizes every time it will be too don't worry um it will be brief um I'm going to similar to last month just kind of break this into two parts talk about the structural repairs and then a brief update on the facility assessment Master planning process I'm happy to report that the structural repairs are proceeding Along on schedule the most noticeable work that you'll observe on site right now is the Reconstruction of the East and West walls you know over the next couple of months you're going to see those take form um as we go into the month of March um repairs along the southern elevation that runs parallel with Market Street will be underway the vast majority of
120that work is going to be interior to the building you won't really see it um and then this evening you approved the change order for phase 2B phase 2B is all work that's remaining all scope of work remaining to allow us to reoccupy the classrooms and offices for um the 25 26 school year so that change order takes us from this point through August of this year and that really sums up um the progress that we've made over the past month um moving on to the um facility assessment Master planning process last week we had a fantastic week um on Thursday we met um with students and had kind of dayong sessions had about 400 students who participated in that they came at different stages in the four blocks of that day um met with
121us in Princess Street gy we had a team of individuals who um were distributed around five stations and at each station we were talking about different topics and getting information from the students on what's important to them and what they see as the needs for new Hanover High School as we um go into the future um teachers and staff were also invited a number of teachers were accompaning their students and participated um side by side with the students in that process um it was a thoroughly enjoyable day I cannot emphasize enough how amazing the students were it's a very impressive student body they were engaged they were articulate they were so well-mannered um we really had a great time um Mr Sutton did an excellent job of bringing in a cross-section of students that were
122representative of the different programs such as Lum stay and Rise so uh it was a really wonderful day um that evening we had a community um engagement session and that was for parents alumni and Community stakeholders they participated at the same type of stations that the students did so we not only got the information from the students and the teachers and the staff about the future of Handover but also from parents alumni and Community um stakeholders so um and then also we had a questionnaire that was distributed um and that folks could either fill out um on paper and we collected or there was a QR code they could scan Mr Sutton sent out a link to the students via email um that that questionnaire is still um open um for participation I know that
123Mr Sutton is um poting in the QR code at the basketball games so we can um further continue to um gaug gain P participation from our community but in a nutshell that's um a wrap up of the update I would like to note um though I'd like to thank The Advocates they volunteered with us um with the students and in the evening to help us organize them um and appreciate their involvement and their support in the process but I'd like to open up for any questions you may have Miss Bradford um thank you for that report will we have access to the information that you gathered yes and thank you I I actually intended to note so the design team is going to take that information and it's going to be a part of the
124report that they're developing and and again the end of April is when that Master planning and facility assessment report will be wrapped up um we're going to be utilizing that information to help um drive and give direction to um the Master planning also between now and the end of April we hope to meet with the students teachers and staff again to be able to to show them hey we heard what you said this is this is the information that we received from you and this is how we translated that into a vision for the master plan but you will be able to see all of that data that we gained from all of the folks that showed up last week uh Dr Merck thank you um that was a wonderful event uh I came for
125the community part I wasn't able to see the kids there but all the Architects were raving about the intelligence the great questions the engagement the politeness of our students and I think that says a heck of a lot for for Mr Sutton uh Dr Sutton and and and for all of us and so I appreciate asking stakeholders and I I appreciate the process that you're going through and I think getting Buy in from everybody's Fant C it so thank you very much certainly anyone else thank you oh miss Justice always as soon I got lucky and got to have the Tour by the advocats that was wonderful last week and one of the things that really Shook Me Up was going into those office areas and seeing where they were holding up the walls with
126all the huge cracks that could have any time come down on the heads of of any number of Staff members and children so uh I'm just I was actually shocked at in how bad a shape it had been and that nobody was injured over all those years and I'm so glad now that we've got the funding to do this to keep of nothing else you know the people alive and safe it was really impressive it's very timely and we are very appreciative of the support of the county to fund this work it is much needed and we're glad that we're able to do it anyone else going once going twice thank you Miss Lauren moving on um we're going to start talking about Dane Britt um Miss Justice you brought this forward um we do
127have some information yes to share about that um so do you want me to start with Dr bares or would you because I was not sure um um Dr Barnes said he was in contact with him or where did you find out yep so I reached out to him uh Tuesday at during a genda review I was texting him and um so I touched fa with him on Wednesday he has sent his insurance information um that I for my request to me um I've talked to both the superintendent in Pender and Brunswick I know that Ashley has talked with the CFOs in both places as well uh what I agree with Mr Brit was I said listen the next time you are doing a show locally give me a call I'd like to be will
128go out with a couple of my folks meet you see the program and then we can talk more so we're just waiting for that that's probably a good place to leave it at this point uh because it needs to have a buy in I've already bought in because I I know the effect that he has had a positive effect for many years before the problem which I still feel bad about because I don't think a problem should have Arisen about his performances it was due to several individuals that actually are no longer in the situation uh so we need to I think for the sake of the kids because it is such a positive message and he does he he's in Brunswick County he's in Pender County he does all kinds of shows I think
129he even did the prom last year at Laney um and that wasn't that wasn't the show he gives at the school but I mean that's the type the type of positive performer he is around our our students and so uh yes if you could as soon as you could get a chance to do that and come back so we can make a decision and having him return yep just want to do my due diligence to see it for myself I never have so he's supposed to call me when the next time he does something I'm going jump something okay all right I'm GNA lay all the board MERS I don't know about that Miss Bradford um I was just wondering um if the superintendent had any idea when that would be is it like you're
130going to have to wait a half a year or a couple months he said he would call me the next time he scheduled one I said I'll drive anywhere around the surrounding area but no clue on on on how frequently he does them he didn't give me a date when we spoke Miss Barnhart I appreciate this and this was something that I also would like for us to look into I remember when the program stopped doing and being on this side of the board seeing all the insurance and liability issues I see we've had to make a lot of changes and so the fact that we're making steps that potentially could bring it back I'm very excited for so thank you for that anyone else all right let's keep going Dr Barnes the Stepping Stones
131Family Life curriculum so I sent the board uh tried to send the board at 9 o00 this morning then sent it again at 1 o'clock this afternoon because I know how to send apparently um we sat down with a group of Educators at your request to look at the Family Life curriculum um and what is attached there what you guys have read is sort of our recommendation a couple of things we want to make sure that we remind everyone and then I'm going to turn it over to Robin unless I miss something okay a couple of things that we have to remember that all the programs that we teach are required to follow State curriculum as well the state curriculum is an abstinence first program and that there is a difference between abstence first and
132absence only only so but all of our programs teach absence first so what our recommendation would be is that we believe that there is value in the Stepping Stones program we believe there is value on comprehensive sexual education for all students however there are things that are in that curriculum that we would feel can be removed out and focus on the health benefits and requ environments that are in there so what we've recommended you can see there and I'll speak to it if you want me to be more specific um there are four lessons so let me go back a minute um listening to the community we got over a hundred uh emails and their focus was primarily on things about contraception Sexual Health dangers of of St s dangers of human trafficking dangers of
133sexual assault those were most of the letters that I got their primary concern was about those criteria or those those things so what we would recommend is keeping our curriculum sort of the way it is removing a total of only four lessons one sixth grade two seventh grade and one eighth grade lessons and keep everything else previously in Stepping Stones this will allow us to provide the best comprehensive education we can and also respond to some of the concerns that were brought off last month um or last week excuse me so um our other recommendation and you can see the rest of these here but the other recommendation is to leave things as they are this school year because we are already in process and make these changes to next year so it's a little
134less abrupt the other question that we were suggesting our staff's recommendation is to change it from an opt in program to an opt out program to just make it more seamless so that's the Miss Dr Hamilton did I miss anything I think you got it all and the four lessons that we are removing are not in our state standards nor are they in general statute Mr wior uh well I was one of the folks that fought for it being an in option um simply because an opt out a lot of times what happens is that letter doesn't get home and then your parents oh I never even know much I was going through that so I think it is important to keep it as an optin program um or have some way to document either
135way but I mean we do need to have that documentation um you know if they get a letter back and you know if we say opt out and we say that everybody has to have a letter back that you know that says no I don't want to opt out you know but I I think that's clearly you know I'll be honest I I was in there where I was calling back in my teaching days uh where we actually had to call parents and say you know do you want your child in do you want don't want your child in I think that communication in some form or fashion is is important I think if it's just an opt out program what happens a lot of times is that we just don't get any communication at
136all right uh Dr mer well it's kind of two parts um I I'll ask the question now but I'll keep going so I'm I'm concerned about I I also spoke with the family life Educators and they made the same recommendations that perhaps those four lessons would be edited so I understand that that's got Buy in okay and I appreciate that but I'm wanting to know what are those lessons that are being removed because I do know that the general public has been very much in favor this program I know that some of the triggers I believe that we're worried about is the idea of lgbtq information coming into sex education um between the executive orders and the dear colleague letters the only thing that it discusses is gender identity which is to say transsexualism um
137and as much as I would like to leave it in there I I bow and say yes I think probably it's safest for us to take those out but to understand uh gay and lesbian uh relationships is also important for our children um I believe that opt out is really important we talk a lot about parents rights nowhere do we ever get rights without responsibilities so if you've got a parents right we also have to make them responsible to opt out this is uh with the sexual assault case and the agreement we need to provide certain things and it's we have to leave it up the parents to be responsible to say if I don't want my child to have this I'm going to have to take the effort to opt out okay uh Mr
138Perry um the this was for the family life recommendations and the which ones are being removed for family life which ones are be Stu Stones uh and this would streamline Robin correct he get of them wrong this would streamline us to one program if you opt out you would be responsible the parents would be responsible for the entirety of the curriculum so it's opt in or it's that we would have one health education curriculum presently with a family life would you say that um is it is it uh abstinence only now it's not Family Life neither were abstinence only they were including Family Life correct they were both always abstinence first um Family Life did not go into as much detail about contraception and Sexual Health as stepping stones um in general statute 115c 8130
139it does say that each Board of Education shall adopt policy and provide a mechanism to allow a parent or legal guard Guardian to withdraw his to withdraw his child or her child from instruction required under subdivisions 10 through 13 of subsection a of this section I have one followup question okay contraceptive does any of the contraceptive education part ccul um as M uh two mentioned for involve abortion as a form of contraception I've not seen that anywhere uh Miss Justice um two things I'll start with the opt in uh or opt out um I just recently had my grandson go through this and one of the things that went on was and he did stepping stones and um one of the things that went on is I was constantly bombarded with make sure you signed
140this get permission uh we had emails phone calls I think I might have even got a text I mean the schools are very thorough in trying to contact the teachers I mean the parents and if the parents don't opt out they'll do the same thing with they opt out then as someone just said it's on them because I know statistically we're going to get a lot more kids involved if it's an opt out than an op in for example our health program with the I I'm just using that as an example with the it testing and and the dental uh testing we've had kids the numbers have dropped down to 30% from like 80% because of the optin optin problem which to me is a huge problem because these are kids that are desperately needed
141and they're not getting it so I'd hate to see this with the sex education program because it's the same thing unfortunately even in this day and age parents do not do the jobs that they should be in my opinion um and so this is a great way for kids to learn and they come home and ask questions well the parent should be talking to them and they're very embarrassed but this is a catalyst for that kind of discussion at home also U the section on what has been pulled out it appears and correct me if I'm wrong that it is a section on the U education or understanding about what the lgbtq uh definition is in order for our students to understand recognize the different changes and different uh types of be behaviors among humans
142as you know the population is what it is is that what's been taken out to make it more transparent Robin or Dr Hil can you give us just a brief overview of those four lessons please yes the four lessons the one in sixth grade is lesson 6-3 which is about gender roles 7th grade is 73 gender roles also in seventh grade lesson 74 lgbtq plus and in e8th grade lesson 2 lgbtq plus so it is all right and this is been done because we had this discussion I believe it was during the agenda review this was done in response to the dear colleague letter which I didn't see anything in there about that but then the uh School Board Association passed down the information that maybe it'd be a good idea to just pull it
143out in case and somebody during the agenda review said well if the Schoolboard Association sends that they're the most liberal no I worked with the School Board Association for years they're very conservative so that's why they were doing that um I I'm very concerned about our kids well-being I I can honestly say that I'm probably the only one up here that's worked with middle schools and teenage kids on on on the level you have with the younger ones on the on on the level of them developing into young adults and and having to work be with their peers and understand who they are and our society's um perceptions of what they they are in their future and I'm very concerned because they need to learn reality and this is reality and it always has been
144and for their safety sake when I was teaching in the 90s I had several kids try to commit suicide because of the attitude of the their peers in schools from ignorance the less ignorance the safer our kids are and this is a safety issue bullying is a huge issue it revolves around this topic gender identification and roles so I I I really don't I I hate to see us be more fearful of a very vague and definitely not a legal in my opinion because I've also taught government I know how the Constitution works but it's more the vagueness than anything else and we endanger our kids because we take this part out out of fear from something that most experts actually are saying is not legal so that's I know one need the money and
145this that and the other but we don't even know how far that's going to go it's all in court right now so this is my concern I care about the kids I care about their safety I care about their self-perception and the way that they know need to understand each other okay um so we've hit time so I'm going to make a motion to extend this for five minutes is that going to we have three board members who have not spoken yet once so um I will make a motion to extend the time for 5 minutes although uh do do I have a second second all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed passes 7 to zero Miss Barnhart thank you madam chair um when this topic came up I was asked
146a lot of abstinence only and for me I said I support the option of having an absent forward and having access access to understanding contraceptions and diseases sexually transmitted diseases and so that's important so I just want to read the topics of looking at the Streamline of what those staff brought to us advantages of ABT excuse me abstinence assertive communication and refusal skills available Community Resources breast self- exam for girls only child birth and pregnancy consequences of teen pregnancy contraception healthy communication and relationshipsdating fetal development friendship communication skills during conflicts human reproduction male and female reproduction system media influence and Online safety parenting parental involvement peer pressure physical changes of adolescence self-esteem sex trafficking STDs um including HIV and AIDS reporting sexual abuse and sexual harassment Technology and Safety and then testicular self- exam for
147boys only the purpose of sex ed is to be informative in the process in the hopes to prevent teen pregnancy and in the event of sexual activity that they are students are as safe as possible um I do not like the idea of us encouraging students to have sex I'm going to put that out there as well um I do support the idea of having it opt in and understand the time commitment but I did want to ask this because I did not know if that was part of one of the discussions um in the settlement to m to have it an optin versus an opt out and I think that's important to know for my vote Mr blard I we took a quick look at the settlement and I I don't think the fact
148that we're offering this stuff by the way I I think satisfies us we did want to stress one of the reasons staff came up with that list that you're seeing is that contraception is required it's mandated that we at least offer it now parents do have the statutory right to opt out but we are required to offer contraception um STD prevention and I and I see that in here and so I guess my followup to that is even parents who are enrolled in this course if they say I want my child to be in this course there is availability in our policies if a a parent reached out and said specifically in fial development for whatever reason that lesson I would like my child to sit out for that is an option for a child
149taking this my life suggested content that parents still have access to do that per our policies am I understanding that correctly okay I think it is I just want to make it clear I don't know that we've ever had specific I'm just giving an example just in case it arises I that as far as if there's a lesson in curriculum that's not sexed it's my understanding we have a policy that if a parent request an alternative assignment if you will that they have the right to reach out to to the teacher and the principal and that their child would have an alternative assignment in lie of the assignment that is on the agenda on the I think like in fifth grade if parents didn't want their children to participate then we did provide children with
150alternative assignments and I think those things are worked out at the school level I Case by case because I'm not sure that happens that frequently um for especially if you opt in and then there's just one lesson you don't want your child to have I'm not sure that I've ever run across somebody just saying I don't want this one but I also don't think that anyone would argue with that I think that you know staff would be happy to facilitate that and then my last I think sorry within reason I think we can can accommodate things like that right you know I just want to I want the public to hear that that's that's what I'm getting at by last thing is when we're talking about contraception is distribution of contraception I think someone spoke
151to it in the call to audience I want to clarify this we as a school system do not distribute contraception to students condoms things like that we are not allowed to it does not align with the general statute to do that um I know offsite there are clinics that students can go to and partake in those but on our school campuses we do not distribute these materials and I just want to put that out there too thank you all right in order to ensure that all of the board members have an opportunity to speak um I am going to make a motion to extend the time for five more minutes uh do I have a second second okay uh any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed
152passes 7 to zero Miss Bradford okay I um move that we adopt staff recommendation one and staff recommendation two with the following changes I move that we adopt staff recommendation number one and number two with the following changes that we continue to be opt in for both and that we implement now and then we go ahead and add to it a review of the other policy changes that were suggested in the North Carolina School Board Association uh recommendation that we got last Tuesday in order to comply with the settlement and with the pressure on the federal funding I move those two things now can you specify do we do I have a second for that second okay um I have not spoken so I would like to say something um this has brought been brought
153up a bunch the optin versus the opt out um I have always been a fan of optin because as a busy mom um there are definitely papers that get lost there are definitely emails that don't get read There are definitely text messages that don't get seen um and I don't want I want to make sure that our parents always have that that choice um and so that it's not just well I I didn't have it I didn't see it it was a really busy day there was a lot going on um that's my concern yes parents should be responsible but we all have off days um and I think that we need to allow for our parents to have off days as well um I think it's it's really important that we continue to provide
154that as an op in um everybody has had one chance to speak we have three minutes left goodness and a motion on the table so right now um if this is we need to speak to the motion we have three minutes um I believe actually a while ago Mr Perry had his hand up and then in our curriculum component um and I appreciate barard that say some of our cices he the rest of it um I believe we great step forward and I am for um motion to make immediately I don't want to take any chances that at the end so next time you speak Mr Perry can you make sure your mic is on because I think that there are people out in the um oh I'm sorry I apologize people out on the
155broadcast that cannot hear him uh Dr Merrick can you finish it up we got one minute yes well I object to the motion based on the fact that it's vague and unspecific we know that the dear colleague letters and the executive orders are as clear as mud and so when you say I I move that we go in line with the uh dear colleague letter it does not tell us what we're voting for and so I demand that the motion be specified okay um I would you like me to repeat M I would like you to yes please miss Bradford if you would repeat it we have a hand out from the superintendent it has two staff recommendations on it in the middle of the page staff recommendation number one staff recommendation number two do
156you need me to read those or go for itead go for it okay staff recommendation number one switch to a single Middle School Family Life Education Program I'm I'm offering a change here to beginning now with the parents ability to only opt in um this program will be called family life in other words as I understand it we're going to combine the things and rename it that's how I understand it Dr Barnes um correct me if I'm wrong um keep fifth grade growth and changes as is but but not but um removing the opt out model staff recommendation number two policy committee updates policy 34 3540 section B to reflect a single middle school program titled family life and I propos the change to add a review of the other policy suggestions that we got
157last week in a handout from the north count School Board Association we all got those we all discussed those last week send those to the policy committee and let them review them there that's that's my motion and Mr says they're already there so discuss this perfect okay so there is a motion on the table we have um met our time so uh Miss I'm going to repeat the motion the motion is to uh move forward with staff recommendation one with the changes of beginning immediately and um the verbage opt out changed to opt in and staff recommendation number two with the addition of adding the policy changes from ncsba that we have recently received Miss buoy will you call the role for me Miss Mason yes Miss barnhard yes Miss Bradford yes Miss Justice no
158Dr Merrick no Mr Perry yeah I and Mr wior I oh I have my mic off I'm so sorry over to miss Barnhart thank you madam chair I really just want to opportunity for us to brainstorm together um I know some feedback was some people liked having the letter beforehand some didn't so this is just an opportunity for us to come together to formulate the letter to DPI um we know that the state is moving towards Infinite Campus um instead of power school and so what are some qualities and criterias that we'd like to see potentially um discussing what data that we are hoping that we are able to submit to the state what can we keep how long they're going to keep our data things like that and so I I will open the
159floor to discussion take notes and be able to formulate a letter to come back that we can adopt before the board m Justice did you have your hand raised yeah why are we sending this letter just about this topic we have our Department of Education that's been broken into and all of our information is out there um why don't we send it to um the Su the attorney general and have him write a letter concerning what's going on with our department of Ed information I mean I'm not going to go into Social Security because that's not education related but the point is if we're worried about our data being out there in The Ether and owned by people that with nefarious uh intent possibly that we don't know I think there's a lot bigger problem
160going on right now than just what's going on with this particular North Carolina possible contract down the line that uh involves security for people's private information so why don't we do a letter along those lines okay thank you uh Miss Bradford and then Mr per um I enjoyed the seriousness of the State Attorney General's office in our discussion with him last week or them um I enjoyed the the seriousness of how they're taking this and Miss Barnhart may have said this earlier but it really hit me that North Carolina was probably the most affected state but it affected every state in the nation and we had this contract because it had been handed down from the state level and and everybody in the state except for two schools that were both brand new charter schools
161and they had just come into the system so late that they just went with the one that's that's now been slated for us to go with next so I would want some breaks on the term there I know that one of the gentlemen that spoke said something about there's a couple of states that have really stringent restrictions on this type of vendor and pardon meac privacy loss that's it um and I would I would really like to go down that road I'm not going to say I want this or that or whatever but I want it to I don't want to end up in this position again we still aren't talking about what's happening at the federal level with that data breach um and I'm just really concerned about the safety of our data okay
162uh Mr Perry yes I thank Mr barart for taking this information and sharing I concern about this I'm not only concerned about what happened with power school but I'm also very concerned that the same thing might reoccur when we go to Infinite Campus because we if we keep data like this confidential information like this on the cloud it is inherently dangerous and in these days of quantum Computing things that we could never thought get hacked into things with the best security systems can be hacked in within 24 hours um so I would suggest that we continue down this thing give us some more autonomy as a local school district to make a decision on you know how we keep our data and um I I agree with with Miss barand I think we need to
163push for only giving you the aggregate data that you need and not and keep that personally identifiable information in a very secure physically secure set of servers here at our district uh Mr I'd like to make the suggestion that M barnhard and Mr Perry work together you know obviously Mr Perry's this is his expertise area m barnhard is uh working on the legislative committee maybe they can formulate the letter together and bring it back to the whole Board second think that was a motion it was a motion yeah it was yeah sure was happy to I just motioned it I don't think we need to have that as a motion I think they um Dr Merrick um I agree with my colleague that we have to be very very concerned about our data um in
164terms of having it being stored locally I'm concerned about the increased liability that that would put us under um I don't know that we would be any I mean we would probably have less people trying to hack into it but I am concerned that if it was hacked into that would it would open us up to lawsuits whereas right now you know I I'm thinking that infinite power whatever Infinite Campus whatever blah blah you know has their lawyers on staff they're doing everything they can to keep their data safe I don't think they data is safe anywhere I just don't want to open up ourselves to more to more uh liability okay um can I talk first thanks Dr um I I'm as we look at what happened and I think being that preventative measure
165what are the safeguards that they do have do we know the safeguards that Infinite Campus does have to protect us um we're all so frustrated that this this data breach even happened um we need assurance that every every single precaution is is taken I don't I'm not a tech person um I don't know all of the ins and outs of it but um um yeah uh Miss Bart you're the only one that hasn't spoken to it well then Madam CH I'd like to take my time to just recap what my colleagues have said a potential discussion of high up letter of federal issues including security um specifically with DPI having a large data breach protocols concern for that at the state level potentially change those to be a more Privacy Law forward um and advocate
166both with DPI to the general assembly to get that done discussing um having breaks on the state level so it's not the entire state with um one vendor which it would be infinite campus again advocating for privacy laws concern for data being on the cloud and Slash the length of time that it's stored um advocating for local districts that we can store our own data potential concern I heard potentially that would have some liability for us um but support aggregated data given to the state while holding withholding personal information so advocating for that and then what I translated my last colleague's advice was um to advocate for better safeguards from our vendors as we move forward so potentially um looking at different protocols and processes prior to going into anou with Infinite Campus sound good
167does anybody else have anything else to add and as long as we investigate those two states one of them was Connecticut was it Miss barard that might Connecticut and another one um has very good privacy laws I can't I don't recall it top my head down I'm trying to find it I thought he said Connecticut Washington and California I thought is what he said that's probably it what did say it's in here somewhere I write it down but yeah I I I really would let's see what they're doing and I will be happy to work with my colleague Mr Perry to help draft that letter and bring it potentially before the legislative committee and then before the board so we can adopt it and send it to um the state superintendent all right uh Dr
168Barnes did you have anything you wanted to add sir just this is one of those situations I just want to make sure we don't that the public is aware that the state chooses the system we use for our student information system we have little control over choosing our own we don't have the ability to seced from the union sort of in that regard so all right but advocacy is always the name of the game anyway yes thank you Miss barart for bringing that forward and thank you board members for a good discussion um let's continue on I will entertain a motion to go into close session pursuant to General statute 14331 point 11c for the following purposes to prevent the disclosure of information is privileged or confidential pursuant to General statute c-42 and not considered
169a public record within the meaning of chapter 132 of the general statutes to prevent disclosure of Student Records rendered confidential under the family educational rights uh 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 empo 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 charge or grievance by or against any individual employee to moved second uh any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I any opposed hearing none 70 that passes we are now in close session there we go e e e all [Music] right all right sit all right we are back in
170open chair I move that we approve the is your mic on is your mic on is your mic on oh Madam chair I move we approve the Personnel report second that all right any discussion hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I any opposed passes s to zero correspondence does anybody have any okay continuing on announcements policy committee will meet Tuesday March 11th at 1: p.m. here at the Boe general public will have the option to view remotely on Youtube board ofed will hold a work session on Friday March 14th at 1 p.m. here at the Boe general public will have the option to view remotely Board of Education will hold a town hall on Tuesday March 18th at 6: pm. here at the Boe to receive Community input about AI uh the
171Board of Education will hold a budget work session on Wednesday March at 1:00 p.m. here at the Boe the general public will have the option to view remotely the Board of Education will hold an agenda review meeting on Tuesday March 25th at 2 pm here the general public will have the option to view remotely the finance committee will hold a meeting on Thursday March 27th at 12:30 here the Board of Education will hold the April regular board meeting on Tuesday April 1 oh good it's April Fool's Day at 5:00 p.m. at 5:00 p.m. here the general public will have the option to view remotely on YouTube do I hear a motion to adjourn sorry I think there we have a oh yes there is that was not put on the yes so there is a
172legislative committee meeting on the 12th here here at the board of ed 2 o00 I can't remember all all the times that you name plus I think it's 2:00 on March 12th which is a Wednesday let me me just real quick look it up it is yes 2:00 on the 12th thank you Miss Bard all right do uh all those in favor of adjournment signify by saying I I any opposed that pass is 7 Z we are for