001need that heard Welcome to our September regular Board of Education meeting we are glad you are here today before we begin like to share a couple reminders please keep the aisles clear during our meeting to allow members of the school system and Sheriff's Department to be able to move about also except for when honoring our flag our opening prayer andone participating in the called audience please remain seated during our meeting we hope to have a positive and efficient meeting and your help is greatly appreciated uh next we have the roll call Miss bully would you please call the rooll good evening Pete wbore present Melissa Mason here jayie Barnhart here Pat Bradford I am here Stephanie crille H mcmanis here Stephanie Walker here and Stephanie kille M Crable can you hear us okay well thank
002you uh we will start our meeting with um the approval of the agenda do I hear such a motion so moved second first and second is there any discussion yes sir Mr chair um we we we forgot to put on new hver high school update I would like to add that please okay we have a first and a second any discussion I think that should be placed under old business all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed I'm going to go with that passes 60 passes 60 um next we have our invocation we do have Pastor Kim Collins here today she's the pastor of discip ship of the Pine Valley Methodist Church um and we'd like to offer ask her to come forward if you would please I'd like to say thank
003you for this opportunity to be here and pray with you and thank you for your service and your commitment to the students teachers and families of New Hanover County let us pray holy and loving God we thank you for this day and the many blessings you have given us thankk you for this opportunity to gather discuss plan and make vital decisions that will benefit our New Hanover County Schools I lift up each board member give them your guidance discernment and wisdom in these decisions and their discussions clear their minds of any distractions so they may Focus as a team on the task at hand bless them Lord I lift up our students and pray for your protection to surround them in each school class sporting event activity or meeting grant them the knowledge and skills
004they need to grow and learn calm any fears and doubts give them joy and laughter and may they make life long friendships and create wonderful memories bless them Lord I lift up our teachers and thank you for their hard work and dedication and teaching our children give them guidance and strength each day to carry out lessons give them joy and compassion in serving their students and families and when they feel tired and weary give them your comfort and peace bless them Lord I lift up our principals School staff and administration and give thanks for their leadership and dedication in serving the students families and faculty I ask that you guide them in wisdom strength and compassion bless them Lord again thank you Father for this time together I pray your blessing be upon this meeting
005so that it may be fruitful for for all in Jesus name I pray amen thank you Pastor we will have the Laney High School Air Force Roc providing the presentation of colors under the direction of Colonel Amy Russo and master sergeant Le Bruce SE principal Danny little and the national anthem will be performed by music orchestra teacher Alexander better uh and other folks uh a Reas all [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] h [Music] I believe we've asked Miss Walker to lead our pledge today I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we could have the come on back before that I'd like to ask these young people if they introd first
006off awesome job that was awesome like you introduce yourself thank you so much hi my name is Emma Del Savio and I am a senior at hogri high school and I play the violin hi my name is Sarah Hong I'm a senior and I play the violin hello my name is Carmelo Brennan I'm a senior at hogard high school and I play the viola hello I'm Matthew blow I'm a senior at hogard and I play the cello it's a lot of strength hello I'm Audi Joi I'm in 10th Grade and I'm a sophomore and I play the violin uh I'm Blake Thompson I'm a senior and I play the violin and I'm Alex better the orchestra teacher at hogard and music teacher at rville Beach Elementary and thank you for the opportunity to play for
007you [Applause] today and now if we could have our Laney Cadets introduce himself hello my name is Logan Reese I am a senior at Lany High School nice to be here thank you guys I'm kadet captain Alonzo hondros I am a senior at leny high school and I'm glad to be here hello my name is Dylan George I'm a junior at ly High School I'm happy to be here hello I'm first lieutenant Miller uh happy to be here hi I'm Cadet Master Sergeant a um I am a junior at Laney High School and I'm very happy to be here [Applause] all right next we have the swearing in of our interim superintendent judge corpening is with us today to uh lead us in that judge corpening board members if you join us please do you
008have someone here you like hold the B it's perfect Dr Barnes I'm going to ask you to state your name and then I'm going to read this oath to you and if you agree to abide by that oath then I'll ask you to answer appropriately at the end yes state your name Christopher Barnes do you solemnly swear that you will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith and that you will Faithfully discharge the duties of your office as inter interim superintendent of the new Hana County Schools this the third day of September 2024 if you agree please say I will I will congratulations thank you [Applause] thank you right he's all yours I don't know that feel
009[Applause] my pleasure thank you all right good evening tonight we will recognize two unsung heroes of the Boe we'll be sharing these remarks in English and Spanish so please save your applause until we've read both like to introduce hogard assistant principal Lindsay liven good who's been generous enough to share her time with us this evening to read an espanol thank you good evening guo Perez e Brenda Smith exact Li Tor Ros isos as Brenda I didn't understand that but I could tell she was reading beautifully I'll try to live up to it you may recognize the faces of our two recipients tonight but you may not have had the opportunity to give them the recognition that they have long and deeply deserved tonight we will do just that custodian guo Perez and custodial supervisor Brenda
010Smith are the custodians for this building as well as Child Nutrition the district TV studio Lake Forest Academy the Spencer building and the testing center and they do it all when there is a teacher meeting here and an agenda review meeting and a town hall in the same day just for instance they are here knowing exactly what the formation for each meeting should look like and before and after each one they are rearranging the 150 lb tables repositioning hundreds of chairs hanging up the table curtains and cleaning up the messes they are essential Personnel in every sense of the term during Co they were here in storms they're here when a last minute meeting is called they're here and you will never hear them complain even when the mics are off they do their work
011exceptionally well always being flexible and amenable to sometimes demanding situations but what I want Brenda and GMO to know tonight is that their work makes our work possible their work makes it possible for the public to be here sitting in these chairs for dialogue to happen around a horseshoe shaped formation that they set up for business to get done they are not here to serve us they are our colleagues and we're proud to work alongside them Brenda GMO thank you for all you do for this building and this institution please come forward to accept your recognition [Applause] [Music] pH [Music] conratulations [Applause] you were just checking SE okay good evening it's my pleasure tonight to um bring forward to you two of our recipients for our classified recognition program unfortunately um Miss yon corkran isn't
012able to be here tonight I'm going to go ahead and um share sh the the wonderful uh nomination from her colleagues hopefully she's listening from home um tending to her daughter tonight and then I'll certainly introduce the second one so um first and foremost yvon corkran um she um the recognition came from when she was at Sunset Park as an EC teacher assistant um Ivan is very effective in her planning execution of tasks treatment of her students and most importantly her dedication and passion for the students in special education our students listen and respect her and she's an absolute joy to work with and our students love her students are her priority and she makes sure they are happy safe and are in a loving and cared for environment Ivon has high standards for her
013students and treats them with dignity and respect especially during intense situations that may occur she is an example for her students and staff handles anything that comes her way with ease and is an inspiration to all of us one of thing I'd like to add is she has now moved into a teacher role um so one of our own start here grow here so um with that Ivon hopefully if you're listening congratulations we're very proud of [Applause] you and next I'd like to ask Miss Sarah Barnett from transportation to join us up front and miss traon and I hear Miss Barnett's daughter and Grandson are here I don't know if they might want to come up we'll leave it up to them oh yep come on up come on up please all right good deal
014if you don't if you don't mind you can stand right up here please you guys all come up together um so I'd like to say Miss Barnett is definitely legendary here um and this is just a little tidbit of what um has been shared so on any given day students from Miss Sarah's bus arrive a little better off because of the attention she so lovingly gives them they walked into school with more confidence ready to tackle the day when recently asked what her recipe for success is she stated she simply pays attention she is keenly in tune with her riters and can even detect when a child is about to have a seizure for older students she demands mutual respect and is the first to give it by making sure they are presentable and ready
015for each school day if a student needs a baby wipe to brush Miss dirt off their cheek she has it ready when they take their first step on the bus she will be the first to pick up students who missed a bus or will circle around until parents can meet her for a drop off she once said we are the first people they see in the school system so we can either make their day or not make their day I look at every day as a new one thank you so much and congratulations [Applause] than and another pleasure I think I've said before of mine is being able to participate in the hiring of many of our employees in the school district and so with that it's been a busy spring and summer um and
016we have a few more of our administrative hires that I'd like to introduce tonight and um and ask you to come forward so let's start out with um tarisha Williams she is our new assistant principal at Ashley High School um prior to this role she was the daa students at hogard high school um she formerly was a tutor at Holly Shelter and JC row and we are thrilled to have her join the Screaming Eagles team if you want to way up here too just hang with everybody um all right let's see next is assistant principal from uh for Sniper Elementary Melanie [Applause] Ryan Melanie is no stranger to new Haner County as well um she was a an assistant principal at Masonboro Elementary she's been an instructional coach mtss coach um she was previously at
017Alderman Elementary a Reading Coach Sunset Park um and is coming to us back from uh Pender County school so we're thrilled to have you here also welcome welcome back um next up we've got um Mr zat principal the new principal at Holly Tree Elementary uh prior to his role as principal Mr zat was the assistant principal at morville elementary for three years um he has been a fourth and fifth grade teacher also an instructional coach and a uh digital teaching learning specialist so he's got quite a wealth of experience as well so welcome welcome well just welcome happy you're here um and then lastly um Dr John Rob Morgan come on down he is our new director of student safety for discipline Athletics and hearing board I'm sure to many of you he's also um
018uh no stranger here he was previously the um principal at new Handover high school has also served as an assistant principal and was an assistant principal at Ashley High School you guys want have some notes to share here um and um he is also serving um on the board of directors for norish andc so we're all very happy to have you here and join the team thank you on behalf of the board we just want to welcome you all uh we know you're going to do a great job so thank you so much for being here welcome back and as per normal I did Skip something so we need to go back and to approve the minutes is there such a motion so moved second okay we have a motion second any discussion hearing none
019all in favor of approving the minutes as written please signify by saying I I I all opposed I'm going to say again carry 60 at this point we have our oh you're here I am I have been on the whole time that just fixed my video okay well then I'll I'll change I'll retract that and say that passes 70 thank you thank you all right so we're looking for our student Voice come on down folks welcome hello good evening board members my name is leara and I'll be speaking on behalf of the student voice leadership team today to provide a progress update to start off Dr Barnes the student Voice team is thrilled to have you join our educational community and look forward to the fresh perspectives that you will bring as we embark on
020this new Academic Year we are eager to work with you closely to address the challenges and opportunities that face our district so so as for a progress update our team is currently in the process of reviewing applications and we are thrilled by the interest we've received from stud students across the district we've been working with Miss beam as well as the principles of different schools to distribute the application and we will be evaluating these applications using the same comprehensive rubric that proved so effective last year this approach ensures consistency and fairness in our selection process allowing us to build a diverse and capable group of student Representatives we anticipate that the decision-making process will conclude in a few weeks after which we will announce the selected Representatives we are also planning a kickoff Summit to
021be held sometime in October where the the new Representatives will have the opportunity to meet collaborate and set their agenda for this upcoming year we warmly invite all board members to attend this event as your support and involvement are crucial to the success of our initiatives and we will provide further details once the date and um venue are confirmed additionally we understand that some necessary changes are being made to the student voice policy such as updating the language to reflect changes in diversity equity and inclusion positions in the county and this will affect who our primary point of contact is and we would love to discuss this matter with you later thank you all for your continued dedication to our schools we look forward to continuing our collaboration and working together to advance the educational
022experience for everyone in our community thank you thank you I do have to say that was uh well said I appreciate that very much uh does anybody have anything to add any questions Mr Walker I know you do well cause I well you don't have to come back up I was just you can you don't to anyway I just say I'm excited to see what the second year brings um I think you guys do a tremendous job and the torch has been passed and so I'm excited to see what what you guys do this year and building the program and hopefully it lasts for years to come anything else no all right thank you and again thank you for a great presentation uh we I I see several folks from teacher uh teacher voice so
023I'm not sure who's it because it says TBD here I see Miss Moon and Miss s so are you both coming either are you coming any anybody and Miss Jeff here oh and that's right Miss Jeff that's right Miss Jeff too we yall all right Miss Moon welcome thank you by the way I got I do have to tell everybody that my my son every time I mention that Miss Moon's going to speak says that she is without a doubt his favorite alltime teacher forever and ever well thanks he was pretty easy to appreciate I'll tell you that I'm going to say my my daughter also yeah no doubt no doubt I think everybody have she's awesome well hey everyone my name is Hannah Moon and I'm an English teacher at Laney High School in
024New hanar County's current teacher of the year so as we have just begun the new school year we teachers are filled with so many emotions we're excited we are optimistic we are tired already yes we are hopeful but most of all we are ready a new school year brings about so many opportunities for growth change and success and joy so as we begin a new school year I'd like to offer some tips if you will for the board for parents and for our community to ensure a successful school year for everyone so tip number one is to please treat Educators as professionals with almost 2,000 Educators in our County we have some of the most intelligent hardworking fun and exceptional teachers in this state we have attended top tier universities we've excelled in the business
025sector we have worked in the health care field we have served in the military we have attended graduate school and we've achieved national board certification treating teachers as professionals is essential for fostering a highquality education system while enhancing success for both students and teachers when teachers are recognized as professionals they receive the respect that they deserve and the autonomy to exercise their expertise in the classroom acknowledging our specialized skills and the knowledge that we bring to the classroom promotes an atmosphere of trust recognition and celebrates the teacher as the expert in the classroom then that leads to success for everyone teachers students and the community trust me we are in the trenches every day and we know what's best for our students so please trust us tip number two ask don't assume I am asked
026probably on a weekly basis about wild rumors that people hear about what is happening in our schools and our classrooms I've heard things you literally cannot believe are coming out of people's mouths and I've heard small things that could possibly seem true to the uninformed please don't assume you know what's happening in our classrooms until you witness it with your own eyes I might be speaking for myself here but I welcome board members central office staff please come into my classroom see what's going on come and sit to my classroom and learn about Hamlet come in my classroom as I struggle to speak Spanish with my e students it's a real trip and come into my classroom and watch me play a loud rockus EOC review game too many assumptions are made about what's happening
027in our classrooms so please at any time ask don't assume tip number three focus on the positive there are so many wonderful things happening in our schools and our classrooms every day we have students making Gam on State Testing students setting State records students making their first a on an assignment students who feel comfortable to speak English for the first time in their classrooms we have teachers winning Awards and piloting programs there are big winds and small winds and the focus in our County should be on the positive focusing on the positive aspects of Education will transform the learning environment it creates a more engaging and supportive atmosphere for students and Educators emphasizing strengths and successes rather than shortcomings creates a culture of encouragement and resilience focusing on the positive promotes a collaborative and optimistic
028School culture and that ripple effect will spread in the community creating joy for everyone and finally tip four please Empower public education we are all public public servants just trying to serve the greater good public education is the Cornerstone of our society it's the great equalizer providing every child with the opportunity to learn grow and realize their full potential regardless of background or circumstance it's up to all of us to ensure that our students receive a superior education and a safe and positive learning environment where they're prepared for the future but teachers cannot do alone we're balancing a million spinning plates at one time and we cannot do it alone we need the board to enact thoughtful policies that benefit all students policies that keep the rigor high and help students to reach their full
029potential we need policies that support teachers and show that we are valued we need involved parents and a supportive community so as we enter the new school year let's make it a year to remember where teachers feel valued students reach their highest potential and our community comes together to support the one thing that unites us all public education thank [Applause] you thank you Mrs Moon very very well said and I can see now why my son values you so much so excellent job excellent thank you and a lot of very important words to be taken to our heart so thank you again again great job uh at this point I'll turn it over to our inter room superintendent Dr Barnes for his report all right folks buckle up there's so many good things that are
030happening it's going to take a minute so first and foremost this week our prease Center's opened and we welcome back our littlest Learners and with that all of our schools are up and running we want to welcome our students and families whether you're returning to us from last year or new to the district we're really glad to have you learning here with us at new Handover County Schools I also want to thank you all for all the staff and the tremendous effort you guys put in to making the start of the school year such a success Transportation Child Nutrition operations teachers ta School leaders all of you worked so hard to make sure that students had a safe and supportive learning environment and that we're meeting needs right out of the gate I'm proud to
031have you all on the team and I thank you for all the work that you do tomorrow morning the state DP North North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will officially released School data for the 23 24 school year this data will include how students performed on end of grade and end of course tests academic growth school performance grades graduation rates and schools identified for support and Improvement regardless of the scores we know two things the work our teachers and students put into growing and demonstrating that growth is Monumental and we celebrate each and every one of you and all the students as well but we also know that not all growth can be measured by standardized tests and school suspect school Success is about more than just strictly academics so while we're excited to see
032what we've accomplished tomorrow we know incredible things are happening in our schools that may or may not show show up on a scorecard we are busy hiring for positions funded by the New Hanover County endowment's early literacy Grant we've had 79 applications for these literacy facilitator positions which will serve prek to third grade teachers and help them accelerate literacy in the classrooms we've already hired 17 of these Early Learning facilitator positions and we're continuing to interview to fill positions at the eight remaining School sites and one pre site as a reminder this $8.7 million Grant will fund 26 of these facilitator positions and one to service pre- schools and one for every Elementary School in the district and they'll provide professional development to teachers for three years it also pays for two pre- teachers and
033two prek teacher assistants allowing us to serve 36 more of our prek students we're grateful the Endowment for this official for this critical funding and we're excited to see the growth it will yield over the last month and a half I've been going on what I call a listening tour to schools across the district and I've been asking folks everyone the same three questions what's one thing you would never change about the district what's one thing you would change immediately and what's the biggest rock or stumbling block in your way the reason for doing this is simple the climate survey gave us quantitative data but what we're missing is the qualitative data and we want to know what the survey says and what it really means so I've been face Toof face with over 1,800
034New Hanover County staff in the last month and a half so I can listen to what the survey means to them I'll be organizing coating all that feedback into some themes and I'll present I'll be presenting it to the board and to the public at the next uh agenda review meeting if it so pleases the board I want to thank all the new hanare County School staff that I've been meeting with for their thoughtfulness their cander and their perspective it's going to take all of us to ensure a positive climate in New Hanover County schools and I appreciate everyone who's been a part of the process that concludes my report oh thank you sir thank you thank you thank you mine's not going to be quite as long uh this month has been a very
035busy month we welcome Dr Barnes as our interim superintendent and we thank the other applicants for their interest in working with our school system we welcome our students teachers staff bus drivers cafeteria workers and parents back to school we had a successful opening and looked forward to a fantastic school year ahead we want to thank our partners the County Commissioners for supporting our school system agreeing to fund a study on new han high school and what will take uh what what it will take to bring our oldest school and make it a wonderful and safe place to learn again I enjoyed visiting schools and want to thank all the schools for their positivity and welcome welcoming this uh that they showed me and their students and their parents I also want to take a moment
036to thank my fellow board members for spending time in schools I think every single one of us has been in schools uh that was one of the things that one of the many things we took from the um survey which was that we you know we we are wanted in schools we just heard from Mrs Moon that we're wanted in school so um you know we're here we come you know we're going to continue to do it um I want to thank everyone for attending the town hall and they that gave us some very valuable insights and opinions that the board was able to utilize in moving forward we also met with all of the principles for more valuable insights and again we thank you uh for being as we heard from Dr Barnes very
037uh truthful and bringing forth concerns but also a lot of positivity and I think that's the where I'd like to end the discussion is I think we've had a very positive start we want to continue to work together and build as we move forward for the good of all our students so thank you very much at this time I will turn it over to Mrs Mason and she will begin our call to audience Mrs Mason thank you all for being here thank you for signing up to do this let's start with Chris Sutton Chris Sutton Chris suton women's wrestling Title 9 complaint I thought the entire Title 9 discussion was supposed to be tabled until after the board had the opportunity to provide Remedy by potentially voting in women's wrestling tonight since that would make
038the complaint a moot point that women's wrestling agenda attachment makes it appear as though title there are no title N9 issues that occurred in our district regarding this matter that attachment downplays the Title Nine concerns as a misunderstanding with parents volunteers and supporters completely leaves out the fact that even we even had a 2023 Wilmington Star news article showcasing how Lany has a women's wrestling team and how they've been finding success even the head coach of wrestling there openly states that they have been acting as separate teams how does Title 9 determine that there is no title 9 violation without even speaking to the coach about what was said and what occurred the head coach there has stated that he's been they've been acing as as separate teams going to different events Etc 92 kids
039signed up to wrestle there this year 27 of them are female understand the DraStic cuts that will be made if we force him to stop acting as separate teams and only keep 30 or so students how many of those 27 girls do you think will make the cut when competing against males uh I'm going to have to skip down because I do not have much time um if you will support a 5-year test run then I truly believe you will be impressed by the results and by results I mean average GPA scores above average uh standardized test results lower than average absenteeism less conduct referrals over half of them are minority students a lot of them are considered our atrisk students they're finding success we need to give them more paths more Avenues to success
040we don't need to be closing doors we've got athletes at every single School currently we had them every single year I graduated in 2006 from Laney we had girls at every single high school then this is the right thing to do I hope y'all join me and being on the right side of history with this thank you [Applause] posy good evening tonight I would like to talk about equity and equality in the last three months this board and the UNCC Board of Governors has passed policies removing Dei from documents and campuses there are a lot of people who keep keep saying we don't need Equity because we have equality but equality is not Equity let me give you examples equity in elementary school my younger brother had trouble pronouncing some sound combinations he had speech
041therapy and he and my mom practiced a lot but neither my older brother or I had speech issues we didn't need speech therapy this is equity if equality was required either everyone would have reech received speech therapy or no one would whether regardless of need equality my grandmother was born in 1908 in a German community in Illinois she spoke only German until she started school then and there everyone was supposed to be taught the same material and received the same discipline English was the language at school my grandmother was whipped if she spoke German having the exact same thing expected of and provided to every student is equality now we have many English language Learners in our schools fortunately we don't beat them if they speak their native language we provide them with special classes
042focused on their level of English that may be picture books even in high school because humans learn to listen then speak the elll classes start newcomers with lots of listening when I was teaching Elementary elll we didn't expect the kids to talk until they had been here at least a semester we taught them at their level if you require equality we will demand that all children speak English the day they arrive but we don't yes to repeat equality is requiring the same thing of everyone Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful Equity is vital in our schools and society and we must preserve it Judy Justice good afternoon I'm Judy Justice and U about to let you know what's going on here I would like to say to you and all the
043staff of new Hover County Schools congratulations to a successful first week of school it is now up to you the school board to make sure that your leadership for this school year supports our district success in other words do your job and focus on educating all of our students not carrying out those political agendas many of you are focused on over the past year here is example of a major change that needs to take place if the success is to continue the climate survey taken in the spring pointed out some of the challenges you as part of our District's leadership are facing 88% of our teaching staff completed it one of the most telling responses by 80% of them was that they felt you the school board was out of touch with the realities of
044teaching and the challenges faced in our schools 65% of them said that they feared retaliation if they spoke out about education issues that is why I'm standing standing in front of you today um to help give that 65% of vot V voice you have already taken the first step to listening to the teachers when you finally heard their concerns about the previous superintendent leadership now you need to listen to them about your negative leadership Behavior stop trying to hunt out so-called violations of what you think is morally wrong of our staff according to your political agenda teachers are professionals with curriculum supplied by experts with Decades of knowledge a lot of the language and actions you have used since you have been on the board are being used to beat down our teachers this is
045why many of our most experienced teachers have left the district over the last year if you want them to stop take the advice that A very wise and accomplished leader recently gave to our nation when she said the true measure of the strength of a leader is not who they beat down but is who they lift up you are the school leaders Turn the Page and start lifting up our staff do not continue to beat them down thank you and you're a coach and you know that's true right okay Christina [Applause] merer good evening when I sign up to speak at the monthly school board meeting my motivation is always what is best for students and what is best for staff so with that being said I want to talk about the budget last year
046I started talking about the budget in November and I cautioned that you couldn't wait until spring to deal with it but no one listens so this year I'm starting earlier you all are still feeling the St of a complicated budget season one that was filled with lack of communication Hal truths personality conflicts and a reduced budget I'm going to wager that none of you enjoyed the process and would like to avoid a repeat of it in the next budget cycle here are some ideas that just might help and they definitely won't hurt first look at the state level currently there is $1.7 billion doar sitting in the bank in undistributed Leandro funding the NCGA has been ordered to distribute these funds but they said nah has the board as a group taken a public stance
047on this have you asked for new han County's funds you don't have to reach out daily but have you reached out at all and if not why second New Hanover County has the endowment fund no matter what anyone says the money was originally earmarked for the schools that all of a sudden the schools had to apply for funding like other groups and then they weren't successful yet somehow when it became really dire the County Commissioners were able to go and procure some endowment funding to help with literacy so it seems like there is some flexible interpretation there which leads me to my third point please take the time to develop relationships with the County Commissioners it is essential they understand what needs to happen to run a school system would you like someone who only
048meets with you when they need money no instead of waiting until March or April and trying to fit in meetings Why not start now share bite-sized details with the Commissioners about how something in the schools is handled and how it could be different with more funding please don't spend the spring fighting about the budget and then passing one no one wants invest your time wisely now as the Greek philosopher dioses said the foundation of every state is the education of its youth it is never wrong to invest in and advocate for students in schools thank you Dr Tim [Applause] Merrick hello again good evening um it's come to my attention that there are two political activist groups that would like to get involved in our schools and you've made it quite clear how you feel
049about political activ ISM and I agree with you politics has no place in our schools moms for Liberty a group that's classified as anti-government extremist Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center wants to give out pocket versions of the Constitution to our students the booklets are branded by another political activism group The 917 Society now before anyone gets the wrong idea because I know someone will I love the idea of our students having a constitution in their back pocket I think it's fantastic in fact they could even look up how some of the policies of this board have infringed upon their first amendment rights so I actually support having a constitution being given to our students but only if the stipulations of policy 5210 are followed and if there is nothing printed except what is
050in the constitution in other words no branding no advertisements and no mention of who donated them and while you might think I'm nitpicking what if the ACLU printed a pamphlet on Jerry mandering and voter suppression and how they affected black populations topics that fit the DPI standards by the way and then if the na NAACP wanted to distribute them I'm just thinking you might find reasons to deny that application for political activism reasons so be very careful of what doors you open and to whom because lawsuits are are expensive thank you Barbara [Applause] barl it's a pleasure being here tonight and I think we can all agree that when a five six or seven year old may need to be removed from the classroom for their own safety or the safety of others love our
051children supports the use of in school suspensions or ISS when they are led by certified teachers an in school suspension allows a certified teacher counselor social worker or behavior therapist an opportunity to address underlying issues or lagging skills that may contribute to a child's Behavior they can focus on social skills they might include handling transitions maintaining Focus expressing concerns needs or thoughts and words or seeking attention in appropriate ways an in school suspension makes more sense than an out of school suspension the child can receive the Social skill support they evidently need there are no long-term benefits from kicking a five six or seven year-old out of school just none by the way whatever happened to the certified ISS teachers it seems they've seem to disappear since 20 or 21 Our Hope hope is that
052every school has an inch school suspension option where our five six and seven year olds can go not as a punishment but as a continuation to learn skills and Thrive it's not too early to start planning and budgeting for certified in school suspension teachers for next year our children deserve it thank you for showing love to all our children in New Hover County School System thank you Rend Kelly wheat rers hello love our children believes that children need to be in school where they can learn and Thrive there are no long-term benefits of kicking five six and seven year olds out of school our hope is that teachers are receiving the support that they need to help the children stay in school classrooms with challenging Behavior need teaching assistance the teaching assistance can help children
053who need immediate assistance during a lesson or activity teachers need access to counselors and social workers and behavior Specialists who can work directly with children with challenging behaviors or can who can help teachers develop plans for positive alternatives to to out of school suspensions based on the comments from the staff climate survey it would seem that we have fewer teaching assistants counselors and social workers and behavioral specialists than before why is that as one person wrote being short staffed in school and classrooms has contributed to an unsafe environment love our children wants safe schools for all students and all staff kicking five six and seven yearolds out of school is not the answer hiring more teaching assistants counselors social workers and behavior Specialists is a good start so start working on that now for next
054year's budget thank you Jan [Applause] Kar good evening love our children believes we have good children in our schools some sometimes they make bad decisions or do bad things there are no long-term benefits for kicking five six and seven year olds out of school not a single one my heart aches when I imagine how difficult the behavior and ramifications are for students their parents and the teachers our hope is that teachers are receiving the training they need to help children stay in school where they can learn and thrive in February 2023 38 staff members received training on the collaborative and proactive Solutions model for acquiring quote a more accurate compassionate understanding of a child's concerning behaviors this group of principles assistant principles EC teachers social workers counselors and other Educators represented seven of our elementary
055schools and Lake Forest Academy my dad always reminded us kids that if we were not part of the solution we were part of the problem so how was the CPS model implemented this past year did any of the school see Improvement in student Behavior did they have fewer out of school and in school suspensions if this training helped to increase the feeling of safety and reduce the suspension numbers wouldn't the board want to know that or did under Staffing our schools negate the benefits of the training if you don't know how effective the training was how will you know if it should be implemented districtwide tweaked or even thrown out if it is not your responsibility to make sure that the principles assistant principls social workers and counselors receive the training they need to keep
056our youngest Learners in school then whose responsibility is it love our children supports the CPS model as a positive alternative to punitive and exclusionary discipline thank you thank you Loretta stack house good evening data from the school district shows that five six seven year old students continue to be kicked out of new han County Schools love our children knows that our children are not broken the system is broken for Generations black students have received out of school suspension disproportionately compared to their peers the data is even even worse for black students in the special education program we we were glad to hear last month that our schools are no longer under a sanction from the federal government's individuals with disabilities Education Act this should mean that all of the federal funding is available again for
057our special education programs but we're not out of the woods yet the number of suspended black students students is still unacceptable you know we have elementary schools that only had one or none uh out of school suspensions during last year one possible explanation of that is that students from those schools had their needs met acknowledging that students in the different schools can have needs that were not met ignoring problems doesn't make them go away look no further than New Hanover High School to see that acknowledging the high rate of suspension of black students is a long overdue situation consider this your monthly reminder that the system is broken thank [Applause] you Steven axel good evening love our children believes that data should inform policies so we were very interested in last month's presentation on disciplined
058data we understand that the information that was presented was unverified data but one would hope that the numbers would be in the ballpark is somewhat accurate now the student Support Services monthly report for June 2024 lists a total of 2140 five short-term suspensions however we were told during the presentation that there were 3116 short-term suspension assignments how could there be a discrepancy of an additional 971 suspensions for the past school year that's 50% which number is more accurate are either of them accurate love our children believes that the ver hopes that the verified data will be released to the public very soon and with cut to the student Support Services Division and the office of communications and Outreach we also hope that the monthly suspension data will soon be available to the public the Board
059needs that information to inform your policy decisions and the public deserves the data to ensure that all our children learn and Thrive by the way compared to 2021 and 2022 presentation short-term suspensions for this past school year went up 15% sadly we know that K through two suspensions went up that is shameful thank you Peter RIT love our children believes that the public deserves accurate data this applies to short-term suspension policy it says students under age 8 or grade three will not be suspended except in response to incidents involving drugs and alcohol threats and assaults or weapons bomb threats terrorist threats and clear threats to safety during the past two school years when Elementary principles made a determination to suspend a five six or 7-year-old many of them cited one of those three types of
060violations unfortunately a few principles cited lesser infractions such as inappropriate behavior disrespect or theft this made it appear that a few principles were suspending our youngest Learners in violation of the suspension policy last year we were assured principles would record infractions accurately and that didn't happen last week we were assured again accurate data helps all of us monitor the implementation of policies hopefully the public will still have access to the K2 suspension data as we've had in previous years two years ago we thought revising policy 4351 would reduce the number of K2 suspensions and increase the use of positive Alternatives so our children could stay in school to learn and Thrive tragically the number of K2 suspensions increased so what will you do differently this year to keep our five six and seven year-old children
061learning in school thank you thank you Karen [Applause] Clark blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord our nation was built on judeo-christian principles both prayer and the word of God were removed from our schools in the 60s our choices have consequences we are reaping them all over our nation Jesus I am the way the truth and the life all scripture is given by God for instruction in righteousness that we may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work I have set before you today life and good death and evil I command you to love the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments that you may live and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you possess the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 were once the
062Hallmark of America America has turned away from God and is under curses from for Disobedience deception calls evil good and good evil hearts are turned away so they do not hear and are drawn away to worship other gods righteousness exalts a nation to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin it is time to draw a line in the sand for our children no more compromise all of Heaven is watching open your mouth judge righteously and speak for those who cannot a no vote is a vote Mori told eser do not think in your heart that you will escape if you remain silent what if you were the superintendent and the school board for such a time as this what will be your Sandy [Applause] is the
063beginning of a new school year is a time of Hope excitement and optimism each year each new year reminds us that free public education is a critical public good we're reminded that public school can be the great equalizer opening opportunities up for all children we're reminded that regardless of race income sex or disability status all children have a right to a free quality public education we're also reminded of the Monumental task our teachers have to care for protect and educate every child who comes into their classroom their jobs literally change and save lives each of us has a teacher who made a mark on our lives forever changing us for the better unfortunately that our teachers and students have been under attack by some of you sit sitting at the dis as Miss Bradford said
064you have terrorized staff I'd argue that you have also terrorized students and families not just through the budget process but through your policies you banned the book stamp because you did not trust teachers you micromanage what can be hung in classrooms seemingly because you despise lgbtq students and staff repeatedly some of you have accused staff of grooming and indoctrinating children thankfully for you a new school year is also an opportunity for a fresh start it's a time to reflect grow and do better you have the opportunity to show respect to all of our staff and students regardless of their race sexual or gender identity you have the opport opportunity to reverse the damage you have caused in our district we implore you to learn from the staff survey and stop your political nonsense to trust
065our teachers to teach and stop perpetuating dangerous lies about them and finally I call on our community to vote in November for leaders who believe in the hope and power of a strong public school system and who will govern with compassion not hate Angie key at a time when our schools are most unsafe the board passes careless policies that intentionally put our children at risk a year ago you settled in court on behalf of 14 miners that were sexually assaulted by a former teacher of the year because new Haner County Schools did not protect them under title n law and now you spin a false narrative that federal law is optional once again risking the safety of our children you defile law and targeting lgbtq plus students through publicly outing them to do harm to
066them and withhold their rights without any regard for the consequences at a time when violence runs rampid on our campus where students are hospitalized from injury and feel it necessary to bring weapons to school to protect themselves you try to restrict cell phone usage to keep the community from knowing what's going on you realize that students having access to Snapchat alone actually keeps them safe as they can avoid areas of conflict and share warnings the whole reason we even know that there were guns at school is because students share information and a cry for help that you're not listening to and how else will they reach us from under their desks with tearful goodbyes during many lockdowns it's irresponsible to even consider taking their Lifeline to the outside world who will be responsible when these
067phones are damaged similar to how their vehicles and backpacks are destroyed during the many illegal searches that take place in our school prisons that turn up nothing perhaps that's why you keep a full staff of attorneys on hand to defend this overuse of force and restrict access to videos that might show the harsh truth let's discuss access to fentel that resulted in this poorly written policy for Narcan which gives no usable information on how to prevent a student from flatlining in a classroom when the one person authorized to administer Naran is seven buildings away and there is no protocol every staff members should be trained to administer Naran and all staff and students should have access in the past new han County schools has already had sexual assault rape and death by suicide on their
068conscience add to that drug overdose and school violence with the largest police presence in the state of nework Carolina that's clearly not working thank you your time is up Gil major Gail major Natasha too good evening happy belated Labor Day to everyone um I am here tonight I was going to give an update on Title 9 uh moms for Liberty is currently um gaining more and more members we are getting more and more school buildings exempt from the outrageous Title 9 revisions um the most recent list was put out on August 28th and I'll be forwarding that to the attorneys and the rest of the school board this week I'm here to speak about Constitution Day which is coming up on September 17th um American schools that receive any federal funding are under a federal
069mandate to hold an education program about the United States Constitution for its students on this date September 17th on February 29th in 1952 the US Congress designated this day September 17th as citizenship day on August 2nd in 1956 Congress requested that the president of the United States proclaimed the beginning of the week as September 17th and ending in September 23rd of each year as Constitution week um as member of moms for Liberty we are delivering over 2,400 us pocket constitutions to every eighth grader in this County um I believe Jan Boswell the chapter chair has reached out to all of the board members she has reached out to the principes um we have other resources to provide the teachers so they have everything they need in order to observe this wonderful day and celebrate our
070amazing Constitution um this also will um is promoted and endorsed by the I shouldn't say endorsed but supported by the new han County school policy of 3530 which is the citizenship and character education policy um I look forward to seeing everyone next week when we deliver these us pocket constitutions if there's anything else we can help out with please don't hesitate to reach out and ask us thank you thank you um and I don't see Gail major so this concludes our Call's audience right thank you to everyone that spoke today we do certainly appreciate it board members do we need to take a five minute break okay all right uh my watch says um 614 let's be back on at 620 620 it's like you and my like you my bladder e e e we
071got three okay board it is 20 after would ask everyone to to return please thank you for promptly coming back it is 20 after so we will continue uh our next order of business is consensus items is there a motion I make a motion to approve the consensus it as presented thank you Miss bar and we have first and second any discussion hearing none all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed M cille St on no okay we we'll carry that down to 60 to be correct next we have policy consensus Miss Mason um I'm going to pull uh 3220 and send that back to commit um upon request of Miss Brinson for changes 3220 3220 that needs a second I'll make it okay 220 technology and education okay that's going back
072all in favor of sending 3220 back okay okay yeah okay um all in favor of sending 3220 back to uh committee please signify by saying I I I all opposed carries 60 um is there a motion for consensus so I would like to make a motion to pass the remaining policy consensus second a second we have a first and second any discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I all opposed carries again 60 uh policy for first reading Miss maon um these are just for viewing and uh they'll go back to policy for second reading and they'll come back to you next month um and the policies for second reading okay so that's 4312 7320 is first reading and policies for second reading Miss Mason and I would just make a motion
073that we approve these as written second just because we heard a comment a moment ago I would have a question and I don't have it I didn't pull it up but who is authorized at a school to administer Miss farum can you answer that one so technically our School nurses are our go-to um however um in emergency situations there are um I would say civilians basically any person that can carry those and can get those many places offer them so I'm not going to be surprised like many pharmacies hand them out many um um support groups hand them out because there isn't um as I'm told again not a medical professional as I'm told there's not a um a concerning side effect to being administered um nxone if it is not an overdose if it's
074not an opioid um interaction so I have known of staff that do carry them in their either their backpacks or their cars in the event that they see a crisis situation and they want to be able to respond in a way similar to a CPR response but this one is the injection so our number one goto is the school nurse and maybe even an athletic trainer that kind of thing um but there are staff that do carry thank you Mr chairman and my question just kind of along the lines of what are the dosage that's going to be kept at schools and I see that it says there's going to be locked position of it I assume that nurses's office but I didn't know if there was going to be like a standard protocol that
075we kind of follow so in the event that the nurse is not there people are aware yes so um when there is um when there are sub substances like that and same with like an EpiPen and those are stored in the nurse's office and they may be stored in another place on a large campus as a second or third location then um other first responder staff are trained on where those are in the event that that staff is not present and I was going to ask follow up on that can you say you know like in a large campus how many First Responders do we typically have you know in because I remember back in my day I was a first responder that you know nurses off campus I was a backup person I I
076would venture a guess but I would rather give you an accurate number after I can collect that for you okay Miss Walker well I just wanted to make a comment that I know I know they sell this over the counter now so I mean I'm I I have not a medical person I don't know how strong or I don't know anything about that but I know they do sell it now over the counter so anybody can buy it and I think the reason being I think the the having it is probably safer than not having it in some cases I think we have such a problem in our in our society and our community with you know substance use and I just wanted to put that out there I think it's over the counter now
077is there any other discussion about either of the policies for second reading my other was along the lines of dosage is I just like what M Rock referen so I don't know if there's going to be like a specific amount at each school that we would have of it on site or that wasn't specified in the policy so so they are um separate contained the dosage is fully contained in the single use okay so just a single use okay thank you okay if not we have a first if there's no other discussion we have first and second all in favor of passing these two policies please signify by saying I I I all oppos like sign passes 60 carrying on to women's wrestling miss farum Mr wior yes ma'am I think there is a problem
078with my audio I voted yes that and it's seven it's I will change that please please signify that that was a 70 vote thank you m crille and I missed the other two votes because of audio problem so I guess she'll have to just record those however you want okay okay we'll keep them as a six un unless you want to signify that you approve then we'll just make him seven or if you don't approve Mr Crill think I've lost you again okay we'll leave him at 60 Miss VAR okay I'm back um so first off I I want to express our excitement for um having the opportunity for women's wrestling as a sanctioned sport so we clearly have a lot of interest and it's growing interest in other places as well so while we
079have a lot of interest immediately within Laney High School we have um other interest and and even um more interest meetings happening in the near future so one as they really truly are officially a co-ed sport at this point in time we have been gathering information and specifically from athletic director Fred Lynch who's been at Laney I joked that he's been at Laney for about 700 years but it has really been a really long long time a very dedicated um and we um many times about the possibilities or the any unintended consequences for moving forward with a separate um women's wrestling team so um number one we want to see this as a possibility um we understand the process is through a budget request and that is understood also by um athletic director Fred Lynch
080that this was not a request that was lifted up in the budget process for the 2425 budget but we want to be prepared for that in the 2526 budget which we would call Budget 26 um definitely as a consideration and also by that time um further interest meetings are being held um within hogard and uh Handover and then I think Ashley will will also follow suit so that we will know if we're looking at four across the district or just one at Laney and then what they opportunities for competition locally would be so I don't know if you have any questions for me any questions for Mr mcmanis thank you so I understand exactly what's going on is part of this request for a designated coach separate coach to Coach women's wrestling and then the
081money to support a wrestling program okay any other question that's not something we probably should not discuss if they've got 19 girls now travel of knowwhere they're going to go I mean I don't I'm not against it believe it or not believe but where are they going to go it's going to be you got to go to Charlotte or you got to go I mean that's something but I think we all discuss it right we we have had we've had some um preliminary discussions kind of in the last several weeks about again what those unintended consequences would be if it's not a co-ed team and the opportunities for competition locally so we really do want to have an opportunity to give our other high schools um a moment to gather further interest and then generate
082that um further along this is still pretty new as a sanction sport through the High School Athletic Association Miss Bradford and then Miss Walker what would you say to the question um the idea of a fiveyear women's wrestling um allocation to see probationary period that's the right word fiveyear probationary period to see if there is the interest because I'm being told and I'm way out of my league on this in terms of knowing what the district does in terms of wrestling but that there are some you know some highly qualified young ladies who want to wrestle and want to compete at the state level and could be a state champion and so you know putting this off would deny them their opportunity and I never want to do that with an athlete I was an
083athlete all the way through high school um so what would you say to that idea would you say that you know you don't want to have unen consequences so we just don't talk about it tonight or um you know uh Colonel John Henry gave us three options CL um you know that we could look at and I I really think we should give it some depth here so my my first response would be in in talking about unintended consequences if we establish it aside from a coed sport a standalone women sport my question Still Remains and the High School Athletic Association isn't able to answer those questions for us yet we've been going back and forth um but what what would be our opportunity for competition locally would we only be able to travel further
084along right now our women wrestlers are participating in weekend tournaments that do add to their stats but they're not a part of their um conference season schedule so we know that they're having to fill in so um so when I talk about unintended consequences I want to know what we're looking at and I feel like we can be prepared for that not to wait any longer but to apply this to our very next budget process because I think we might be looking at more than just Laney we might be looking at the other High School as well so this has come about this interest and the amazing interest that we've had has come about since the budget cycle in last year and I think it needs to be ready for this budget cycle because I
085do think it's going to be something that will be will be hard to ignore and so I'll go back to your first question um I I would pose a question back do we put any other um sport or athletic team on a probationary period when we have enough athletes I don't think it requires that I think if we have the athletes and we put it through the funding process and we fund it we don't put it on probation for one year or five Miss Walker I I've thought about this a lot and I've actually done some Google searches on laning women's wrestling and it's clear to me that they're wrestling at a very high caliber and they're not just doing it coed which you know I know that I was reading um the report here
086I know it kind of checks a box that they're considered co-ed but honestly I just feel like at least at Laney they've got such a robust wrestling program and that could be the case at all of them but right now I mean I I think the last stat I had read that they were up to was it 20s something female athletes and I really just think that I mean it's past to due time for elaney to have its own women's wrestling and and I know the numbers are low at the other schools but I mean we sit up here and talk about how we want to give opportunity to female athletes and I just think this is the absolute it's screaming at it we should be doing that especially at Laney High School right now
087I mean they are topnotch what state champions how many years have they been state champions I mean they've been a lot I mean and I think I think they're they're probably past due time waiting to be their own team and you think um if we're giving equal opportunity to to our athletes like I mean it's fine is coed they're all getting to wrestle but like the the females they have their own track as well and they want to go to college and you know continue on their career at college and I don't think they're able to do that as as as fairly as as a co-ed on a co-ed team um you know and I I know this is kind of a newish but it's not really not for the female athletes that have been
088doing it for so long and competing at such a high caliber and I think they they deserve to have their own track honestly um I mean I'm reading some of these reports like it's you know of how well they're doing across the state I just think it's and I'm not I'm pointing this at anybody in particular I just think it's past due time that they have their own Fe I mean and they got recognized last year from the north Carina High School Association is its own Sport and I know we're talking about financial implications I figure out we can work that out somehow I know I feel like right now well what I've been told which you know is obviously I I I haven't actually spoke to myself but um the assistant coach I think
089aten is is handling helping the women you know the women's wrestling right now and I might be wrong so if I'm wrong I'm sorry um but I just think I think it's past time I would support a motion for you know for them to have their own Sport and I don't know what that financially looks like yet but I think they should be supported I don't know how other folks feel are you going to make that motion I would like to make that motion um yeah did you want to talk for I mean oh I would like to make a comment when it's my turn okay we haven't a motion yet I comment I mean I would agree along the sentiment Miss Walker um I understand that it's not in the budget cycle so def
090um coming into this coming year budget cycle for all of them all of our traditional high schools to have that as a possibility and explore that and allow them to kind of the Manpower behind creating getting the coach and stuff but um the financial implication of if we decided to make a motion and I'll put on the floor um to make a motion to allow Laney to have a women's sports wrestling team for this year make that motion did I already make that motion that's it would just be for I'm not saying for all the traditional high schools so I don't know if different motion than what I just made motion okay then I'll second that second that's Miss crille speak Miss crille yeah um I agree with what everyone is saying about giving the
091female athletes um at Laney High School in the wrestling program the opportunity but folks we are barely making it by with um our staff at this point in time and um for those of us who were being very f y conscious with our money we don't have the money we didn't budget for the money and so I don't think now is the appropriate time to force our acting our interim superintendent to alter the budget to do this we are not in violation of Title 9 because we are given we are giving our women athletes the appropriate opportunities um and it's not sport by Sport and I think Mr Henry explained that to us it's overall so we're not violating anything and it's disappointing but I think that the women will have to continue what they're
092doing now and have us put it into our budget for next cycle that I support what Miss Barnum was telling us thank you m kille Miss Mason um while I understand what uh Miss krael is saying as far as that goes um my understanding is that 92 students have signed up for Lany wrestling this year and 27 of them are girls if there is only one main coach for them they will have to make cuts and how many of those cuts will be the females and those females will lose those opportunities um that would be my concern I want our girls to have the opportunity to be able to pursue this and and get the scholarships and you know excel at something Dr and then one thought would be if you would amend your motion
093to put a reasonable dollar amount on it and say up to $20,000 something of that nature and then if I found that we couldn't make that work with that kind of price tag we'd come back with a more complete listing for you of what it would cost and that way you could marry both those two things together would be my suggestion okay Mr Bradford Mr mm and M Walker and the original motion so we'll get to you and you can answer that question read that out um I am not in favor of waiting until the next budget cycle when when you're an athlete you know now is now so I'm in favor of doing either two or three I'm not sure which one of these suggestions from Colonel Henry or not suggestions but um course
094of action that he has given us or now that we've got a possible Amendment mment um on the floor but I I want to go forward we've got to protect at least the 27 female students at at at this one school you know the Lany students have to have coaching we want them to achieve we want them to be the best they can be and waiting till next year is just not going to cut it for me so I'm in favor of whatever the motion is but I'm not sure what it is the motion right now the motionless it's amended which we'll get to Mr Walker in a minute uh is basically to follow number three is what is that what I okay we are we asking me right now I know saying just I
095think would be prudent if we immediately found out what the cost would be then we have a something specific that we address right now no one can put a dollar amount on that but I think that would be wise I didn't say we're not consider can continue to support it but I think before we do anything particularly now probably need just so we can see what it's going to cost that's a and then B nobody's here but I'm not going to let it go to my last day we paid $7 million out of our local fund budget for charter schools and all I say is who supports Charter Schools Charter Schools private schools Christian Schools virtual schools homeschooling books travel $7 million what would that do to our budget we are financing private schools and
096you know who did it I'm sorry but that's $7 million thank you Mr mcmanis M Walker U so first you make comment and then would you address whether or not you want to amend right and make sure I heard it clearly enough um I I I would personally like to make it it stand I think I think it what if we do something tonight we can separate from coed to makeing its own sport I think that's essential in this discussion because I mean ced's good and nice and everything like that but it's clear especially looking at Lan's program right now how successful how robust it is that it needs its own they need their own program and they need to be able to compete in their own you know their own tournaments or what what's
097going to get them the most success in their college career I mean I mean obviously up until now they've been fine wrestling with and without you know the boys as well but it's clear that it's gotten to that point and and and if we can just clearly make it at Standalone sport like the North Carolina High School Association has done I know the finances a question mark um and we have to work that out I mean I'm happy to give up the rest of my money I'm only here for three more months but you can have that I don't know whatever it takes because I think I mean I've been reading some of these Star news reports I mean they're clearly star athletes and you know they need they need their own Sport and as
098far as the other schools are concerned there's not as much but the point is it takes time to build a progam program and lany's clearly done that and the interest is there and I think you'll get that same interest if you if you allow it to blossom bloom whatever it takes I know we got to work out the finance part and the coach part I mean right now they're existing to Miss Mason's point right now as a co-a team with coaches helping them and I just feel like the difference is there's there's this own Stalone program so so what's the what's the motion the question was Mr Mr wior may I speak again my second time yeah but let her finish uh the the mo the question you'll be next M crille uh the motion
099the next uh is basically to to set a a limit of 20 thou $20,000 I think amount you know I I don't think I want to push this to a dollar amount I think that between the people working over there myself and the we'll figure it out okay we can just establish why don't you do that and then we'll vote M graille so yes thank you um I'm not certain I know what the exact motion is but I do need to just go on record of saying that I still believe we are short EC teachers and teacher assistants I believe we're short on bus drivers I believe we are short on a number of other areas that we can't afford and I am not in favor of adding another sport at this point in time
100because an emergency on somebody's a a a concern on somebody else's part does not constitute an emergency on ours we should have planned better um the people in the wrestling world should have brought this to us last February we don't have the money or the luxury of adding these new position adding this new sport when we can't even fund the teachers in the classroom and the support staff that we need to run our schools in the manner the high quality manner that we are accustomed to all right thank you m graille m w m barart Mr chair I just had throw out there because my colleague I don't think it topic is Germaine but I'm going to speak to it we have been told by the nrm superintendent that we are waiting on the 20-day
101count and getting feedback from our staff because we are going to be pushing back in positions to the schools based on the number of students so I have to say that as the public is listening and we have one board member who is sharing that we don't have money we have found I think what was the last rough estimate 1.5 million that we're pushing back into the schools for different positions that this board has said we are student focused for the position so I have to speak to that I don't believe this is relevant to the topic at hand however I have to speak to that because we're waiting on the 20day count we have been told that we've been sharing with that we're getting the feedback from our staff so that we can be
102the most effective with the increased positions that we can be so I have to speak to that that's it m Walker do you have something to say I agree I feel like we can we can do multiple things and I agree we we we can I mean the bigger conversation we're not really talking about it's not gerine to this this topic is getting more money from our legislatur and our commissioners for our school that's the biggest thing I've offer to give up whatever money I have to uh you know to a program that is obviously it it's it's it's waiting to be it's waiting to be um seen and it's been it's been long overdue now I'll speak to the to why it hasn't been brought to us I mean there's probably all kind of
103reasons why it hasn't been brought To Us by now I mean my kids weren't Athletic kids they were academic kids but I know I know how serious that is in schools and and and we've SE it had a climate survey where people were a little bit nervous to speak out so there could be a lot of reasons why this hasn't come to us before now but I'm not even thinking about the adult part of this I'm thinking about the female athlete part of this and I don't know I don't know if how true this is but I mean they are telling us through uh you know different means that this is what they need and um I've been told there you know potentially they could be upset about title n violation so I would rather
104not go that route to be honest and I think if the state's recognizing it and the school is doing such a good job and the athletes are you know Title 9 in the essence is you know giving equal opportunity to our female athletes and I just think coed has been fine but clearly it's not anymore and especially at Laney High School so and I'm going to finish it and then we'll call for the vote I haven't spoken on this yet but U Mr Colonel Henry thank you very much you gave us a document here and actually lists out three courses of action uh one basically saying as as standard at where we are the second one is having uh separate men's and women's teams uh at all the high schools and the third course of
105action is number three and I think that actually is what uh M Walker has encapsulated in her motion uh sponsoring a women's team at Laney High School while maintaining co-ed School uh teams at hogard Ashley and new han High School this course of action would be frugal and allow uh wrestling programs to recruit female uh wrestlers and strengthen their programs and so I have one caveat to that and the only difference is that we recognize women's wrestling even if they don't right now have Robos program at the other three schools if we can at least recognize that it's its own sport where we can eventually build these programs I think that's essential to this conversation also I agree with you miss buy would you please call the rooll this is to um honor M Walker's
106motion Miss Mason yes Mr mcmanis yes Miss Barnhart yes Miss Walker yes Mr wour yes Miss crille no and Miss Bradford yes he that passes 6 to one thank you board members we will continue on with uh new business uh legislative priorities we'll turn that over to miss barnhard Mr yes I'm sorry MCM may I question please make a statement about what we just did sure absolutely we received so much travel money each board member does those of us who are leaving in November we didn't get a whole lot this time um but I have $1,500 left ask he's over there I always asking what's in there I have donated money to schools since I've been on the board that's between me and the schools to try to help they were all low performing just
107for the record but I have $1,500 left of what we received this year and I would like to go on record that I would like to if we have a wrestling girls program that's $1,500 if my own the board does that that will cut that expense tremendously so thank you sir appreciate that thank you sir that's a challenge I like it uh legislative priorities back over to M Mr skipped over the new Handover High School report yes oh yeah oh oh yes I apologize I didn't update my my sheet um yeah you come on up if you wouldn't mind please give us that I apologize again I'm for two today she probably W upset and thank you Miss Lawrence for coming up to give us an update Lawrence and thank you for the tour the
108other day of course excellent your ear off your ears off um before I start I'd like to acknowledge one thing this the successful first week of school that we saw at New Hanover High School and that success is due to the tremendous efforts of Philip Sutton and his team you know we spent the summer yeah yes AB absolutely we spent the summer um they worked out some very wellth thought out ideas and strategies that were implemented over the summer and that paved the way for the success that we saw and the transition into their new sunglasses approach school year um so appreciate um Phillip's perspective there are not enough words to describe what a tremendous asset Philip Sutton is is Chris Haney and his staff it is a privilege to work with them and this
109project and this process is better because of who they are and what they bring to the table so I have I could talk all night just about those guys um but while they are now focusing their efforts on education of the students and operations of the schools um the construction is still ramping up and and going forward and that's what I wanted to talk with you about today give you a little update the interior demolition work is well underway in the main building um we're at least I think about halfway finished maybe a little bit more with the removal of the sheetrock and plaster and as just as a reminder we're removing the sheetrock and plaster so that we can see the condition of the multi-with structural brick wall that is that South Wall of
110Handover um next week we're meeting with a team that specialize in restoration of historic buildings they're going to lay eyes on the wall and start to inform what our next steps will be in the repair of the wall so very excited about that um we are Shoring up the eastern and westernmost walls of this classrooms that bookend either side of the of the main building um that Shoring will be completed in the next week and a half to two weeks and once that Shoring is in place we will recommence with excavation along the front ation of the of the building we temporarily paus that to allow the Shoring to be put in place um and of course the purpose of Excavating along the foundation is to expose the foundation and to implement the engineered design
111to stabilize the foundation along the southern wall and then on those flanking eastern and western walls and I'm happy to report U mobiles are on site uh mobile units were delivered Friday evening the first one was um it was moved moved into place this afternoon um while we've been meeting the second unit arrived on site they'll be putting that into place tomorrow um and then on um I lose track of days because of Labor Day on Thursday um the final unit will be arriving so those will all be put into the place where they're going to be located and at the conclusion of this week and into next week the foundations will be put in place underneath those units they'll tie them down they will unite the two pieces each each um unit came in
112two sections they'll unite those tie them together and then immediately on the heels of that our contractor will be tying in utilities to those units one of the biggest and probably most unlikely um components when you think about all this one of the biggest components is the installation of the Aluminum deck and ramp system that alone is going to take about a week I don't yet have the arriv date for the installation um of the installers and what date they'll be there to begin that it will be we believe in the next two weeks our goal is to have those units occupied ASAP this month so everybody is working to that end and working very rapidly um I would like to acknowledge appreciation for the New Hanover County inspections department they have been such a
113team member in this process they are bending over backwards they are sending inspectors out on moment's notice literally I called today and they sent um an inspector out within 10 minutes and they are a very integral part of keeping us moving forward and keeping us moving forward rapidly so I'd like to thank them but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have I've touched on the highlights yes sir Bennis thank you thank you this is not to be negative but I just interested you talked about somebody coming in about how to do Antiquity Restorations including cement is this before they do the assessment of the entire building it is I think the 300 $400,000 assessment yes and I'm and I appreciate you mentioning that so we had um just a little bit of
114background on where we are with that process in Sunday's paper there was a request for qualifications that was published and we are receiving qualifications from design teams um they on September the 13th we will be receiving those and then we'll be selecting bringing to you all the selection of who that team will be to engage in that study so we have not started that study yet this is in advance of that but you know the good news is is that it's not a wasted effort because what we're learning right now will be a part of informing that report other question Mr wildo Miss greyville yes so um to that point um Miss Lawrence the are we sending out um did we send out um an RFP or an RFQ for the companies that will be
115doing the um the ass the facility assessment I'm sorry Mr K bill could you repeat that question are we using the RFD or RFQ process in order to select the firm that will do our facilities study yes ma'am we are so that was that was advertised in Sunday's paper it's also on our website okay and so to that point um about how I thought I read or I thought you told us that it was going to take about you know six to eight months minimal to get that whole study done um are we also working on a parallel plan that if the study says that the building um is not viable for reconstruction um are we going to are we thinking about a plan on what to do if we get into it that far
116and we're not able to proceed at at this time our marching or orders are to study the campus and and do an evaluation through the funding that was authorized by the county we're going to be studying every square inch of that campus The Building Systems whether structural mechanical electrical Plumbing the architectural Integrity the accessibility um we're going to be studying that um and that is when we get to the end of that study and and that study will include a cost estimate for what it would take to bring those buildings and that campus up to current standards when we get to the end of that study is when we would have the conversation of how much will it cost to bring it up to standards versus is how much it might cost and time that
117might be involved to um create a new campus so M crille until we get to the end of that study we won't have the information to be able to make a decision about whether or not the C the um campus should be maintained or or should be considered for new construction or other opportunities on site m m okay thank you um thank you second part of a question and again not to throw in any daggers thank you for saying that about Mr Sutton CU he I worry about it and I've known him since he was that big um I worry about him his staff has been unbelievably supportive as well they've had rooms moved they've had particular when the mobes didn't show up my understanding you can correct me someone here will know 60 students
118have been allowed to transfer out out of new Handover to another High School to create more and I think it was Julie who said it I put it back oner because we lost classroom space am I correct is it 60 students I have offered a transfer to over a hundred students 100 yes the number is is pretty significant and where did they go where are they going to school um they go to any of the other high schools so they might and so how many are going which high school is getting most of them um I wouldn't say most um but when I reviewed the numbers maybe two or three weeks ago and there were still some that needed to accept their seat many went to Laney um several more went to hogard and Ashley
119did receive the least number of transfer requests okay so and the parents responsible for their transportation Etc yes and it's for one year only for one year so they won't have they will have to go back in a year and why I say that if I understand new Hannah was enrollment while while the building's being repaired we also got to worry about student body we've lost 60 students and and and most of those kids played a big part in in success at new hille high school and so Mr Sutton has said or I probably wouldn't repeat it but doing his advanced placement classes and doing his honors classes is really difficult losing 60 students and so I just want to make sure that we understand that the the building that's one but we've also got
120to protect his student body and I'm worried about losing all those students to other schools and then they're not going to want to come back and I don't know who's going to be on the board after the election but I hope they will not let those kids not have to go back unless they've moved their house to the district to protect new hanville high school if that makes any sense weler thank you thank you so I just just to reiterate the timeline for the the units is by the end of the month hopefully I hope prior to that yes right or or prior the repairs did we talk about the repairs that are on right now is that looking like till the end of the year for the front right now we're under contract through
121the end of November for the repairs okay and last question you brought up historical have you been in contact with the any any the historical we are we are officially not Handover is not a historic building it's in a historic overlay so we don't have any federal requirements that we have to meet to do improve movements but we're bringing in folks that specialize in older buildings often historic buildings don't know why I just assumed anything that was 100 years old was historic but I don't know has to have the designation it has have the designation okay all right it's not in the historic district it's just outside question interesting um yes I have another question M graille all right so I don't know this is definitely not in in um Miss Lawrence's purview but um
122are there any groups of students that are spending an inate an inordinate amount of time in Brogden Hall I'm sorry I'll have to get an answer to that question I'm not sure um you mean all their classes in brogon or yeah I mean like you know um ESL students by by chance or students that have um no place to go because there's no Home Room their teacher travels so um I know that during the first week of school there was some issues where we had to you know figure out where um figure out the traveling schedule and um I have heard from several of several ESL parents that their students spent pretty much like the whole week in brogen Hall well I was over there on day one and went to brogon Hall specifically because
123that's where I found Philip um I didn't see that many students there but I'll I'll get answer that question for you great thank you appreciate it anything else not thank you thank you very much and now I'll get back on on uh the right place uh legislative priorities and that will be Miss Barnhart Miss barard thank you Mr chairman the legislative committee met I think in June and we narrowed down some bullets for the board to consider um for adoption of a legislative agenda the topics you can see listed I'm not going to read them to you unless if you want me to elaborate on them but what the thought process of was when we met together as a committee we discussed bringing them before you guys and any of the ones that we wanted
124to approve and my recommendation would be to approve them all um the our senior staff did excuse me our senior staff who ever the subject matter expert would help to elaborate and um align this to our strategic plan so we could have a formalized legislative agenda on behalf of new hanur County Schools um since the the time that we met locally this list got compiled from suggestions of you all had given to me as well as our senior staff um the list could go on for pages and pages and pages so we tried to um condense it to around roughly 10 Mr mcis just I no these are not done by first second third thank you for that Clarity no it this is this is not a priority list of legislative agendas no sir thank
125you for that clarification I see a school high school building okay I was chair of that committee for quite a while to the point that tral administrators unw including the chancellor superintendent we all took many many tours and the purpose was to pick out a place to build a high school which we did we did it was given to us I mean denoted by my understanding which and I wish Eddie was here but he's drawn about three different blueprints for an Isaac bear high school over the last five or six years mhm um there was funding in the last budget cycle from the general assembly and there is a in the legislative Arena more so than a lot of us my understanding the last meeting I had with a lot of people on at the
126University was that the local County Commissioners had to also contribute a considerable base sum for the legislature would commit and are you aware of that and if so can you tell me the amounts at this point there is not um been amount discussed in particular what is a unique opportunity here and you'll see that we had discussed having a capital facility plan for the next three years and the the board as a whole is already kind of in that ball game of the bond um finance and what's the capital the third the third one of having that long-term longrange plan so we can open dialogue with the County Commissioners to see the longevity of the things we need not only for the capacity issues in our schools but also for the renovations so the unique
127opportunity with Isaac bear is multiple fronts one the general assembly had given I think it was a million dollars to actually design the building which would increase capacity of Isaac bear doubling the size of students so closer to 500 students we'd be able to serve versus roughly the 200ish 20ish that we get to now um but because it would be a partnership with UNCW and the county and potentially the state we can also use private donors and so that conversation has not started but if it's a if it is an oper opportunity that the board wants to consider as a legislative priority that conversation would be a joint conversation because the funding could come from multiple sources it would not solely come from our County this is not if this is something that the board
128considers adopting it's not committing us to we're going to fund this over new hanor High School per se because that we don't want to do that that's I was going with it I well I appreci I appreciate theur concern for it in open honesty but the reality is if we do open this dialogue of collaboration we have a unique opportunity to increase the capacity of students that were serving and change the I mean well Azie Bay is outstanding I mean there's no doubt about I just know the money is where we are the difficulty we had with getting money the endowment still there worth billions right well that's where and that's where the discussion of the capacity facility planning really came into play mr's um whenever we were discussing as a committee and myself and
129Miss Bradford and Miss Walker on there um we talked about having that long-term really broader understanding on our behalf so when we are talking with our County Commissioners we are we know a better Target Focus as doing so thank you Mr chairman and then mville and then miss graville um two parts Miss Barnhart um is there a timeline for when we're going to go Runing out of the gate with this and second of all coming down I mean we all support raises for teachers I think if you can explain 15 to 21 currently not existent um a little a little bit more it would help but in the event that we cannot be successful in that argument can we also argue for um increasing the per student allotment you know just give them one more
130thing you know if we can't get this one can we get this one and and and and it was I I thought that was part of what I'd send in is it there where I'm happy to elaborate that and Dr B said he would also happy to as well so we when we talked about teacher raises absolutely we can we can make this be less broad if you would like if it's the will of the board that's absolutely fine the justification of discussing the 15 to 20 year range is currently on the state level there is no increase for our teachers and so that was an acknowledgement when talking to my colleagues talking to senior staff that that would be a Target Focus I know the general assembly had focused on initial teacher pay for
131the last few years which came a high priority and this was one of the unintended consequences in my opinion and so bringing it to the Forefront of attention of saying this would be a great thing to Target Focus I'll since add since we last met as a local committee you guys had nominated me to be on the ncsba State Board legislative committee we met and that was you you should have seen it in your survey that you took that was one of their priorities as well and so this is an issue that has been advertised and talked about in lots of different circles um and I'll let you know more after we meet again next week if it made the legislative agenda for that Walker so yeah um I personally thought the last legislative meeting
132was was a pretty good meeting um I think we listened to the folks that had reached out and said what they thought priorities were and keep in mind a lot of these are legislative level um discussions more so than County Commission discussions because a lot of the funding and the changes have to be done in our legislature I mean looking at calendar flexibility that's one of the biggest ones um but the Isaac bear building too I mean I was on the ad hoc committee as well um you know it was nice to get the million dollars at the same time and I'm if I'm not mistaken we have anou with them that we have a certain amount of time we have to reach to get the funding or the deal is kind of off because
133I mean they've given us a piece of land well not giving it to us but they said you can build it here we haven't worked out the details of I mean we're going to have to get funding joint funding from the state because UNCW is a state you know entity and then we're going to have to come up with some of it too somehow but it's clear Eddie told us last time that those buildings are those trailers uh learning Cottages whatever you want to call them they're at their end of their lifespan and those students need to be in an actual building and um UNCW I think is ready to to do something but we we we must revisit that I think um I don't know to miss barnhart's Point um this was the the
134ideas that we all talked about at the meeting but if we have to organize them in some kind of priority list that might be a good good idea I feel like this a lot to take to legislators and go give us to us um I don't know how we would rank them I don't know if you know the committee has any idea on that um but they're all they're all important I just I I I wouldn't know how we would go I mean go to the legislators with it unless you know we we meet again and talk about it so everybody take three yeah everybody take three oh gosh bill um yeah a couple questions that's one of my point one of my questions was who is this legislative agenda targeted to our County Commissioners
135the endowment or to our the general assembly thank you um this would be something that new Haner County Schools would uh choose to adopt and so in conversations we would be able to use any of those levels that you just described so it would not be addressed specifically to General Assembly members only or County Commissioners or private investors or whatever it would be just an open these are the things that we'd like to have conversations on okay and then the BR Pro B proud truck I I love when that comes but have we um surveyed the other schools in the Southeast region before we go and Lobby for something that they may not be really in on okay I thank you Mr chairman so what we had discussed as a committee is bringing these ideas
136before the board and any and all of the ideas that the board would like to adopt as legis not necessarily in a specific priority I I don't think a ranking priority is necessary other legislative agendas that I have um been privy to do not rank them so I think it's just purely talking points and different people have different passion about the talking points you want to discuss the when I brought this up to the committee the Wilmington Home Builders Association is advocating they have LOB IST I have not I'm not part of their lobbyist but they have paid lobbyists that they openly were discussing with me they said Miss Barnhart we are advocating for a a truck specifically for the southeastern region would you guys support a resolution that you would value that and I
137said I'll bring it before the legislative committee um and before our board but I know that we as a school system love it and I I know you and I have volunteered on multiple occasions in it and it's both up for two years in advance so what the idea was from the Home Builders Association individual that I spoke with was that this would allow the truck to be present in the southeastern region and we would have ACC it access to it more often and so for my committee or for my board members who might be unaware the BR Pro B proud truck allows you to have some Hands-On Career and Technical education experience and that's been at our Career Fairs and exposure it's really cool I'm a terrible welder but I taught it last time
138I was in the truck and so I was like this would be a great opportunity because currently the state has two for the entire state to utilize and because we have advocated for it on multiple occasions and um we have some people in our in our community that thinks it's so great they want to see more of it come back to our community so this would the southeastern region I think it's a Pender Brunswick New Handover but one of the ideas that we had discussed as the legislative committee is after this gets approved and be written up by our senior staff to support with our um strategic plan we could come back together and then reach back out to our counterparts and Pender and Brunswick County and anything that they also want to jump on
139and say hey we support this too then that could be um an Allied Partnership of of the southeastern region of saying hey all of us are saying this area is a top interest because when it comes to the legislature the more people that are on board with the same consistent messaging the more likely something will happen so okay and one last question didn't we just get approval for um um 30 of our schools to be um in the C program do we need to keep that on our legislative agenda I'd like to see it stay until we get all of them personally but that's up to us as a board I don't care Dr Barnes a couple things one as the HR guy I'm really pleased to see a lot of these are pivoting around
140the allotments from the state and those are a critical pressure point issue so I'm pleased to see so many of those on there wanted to say one good thing and one thing it's probably my fault that raises for teachers from year 15 to year 24 not 21 and the state has decided to support of funding iners for the funding model so that one is resolved and taken care of okay is that so I would entertain a motion to accept unless we want to change them yes ma'am I wanted to just make one little comment since you appointed me to the calendar committee for the first time I am looking forward to lobbying for calendar because I am hearing a lot so I mean I don't think there's anybody that would argue that point well there's
141one there's one person leave that alone I move that we accept this list with the change from 21 to 24 on raises for teachers the 15 to 21 um accept it as it is well and also Dr bar just brought up the support of funding and aers has already been taken care of oh yeah and I meant that strike that one too okay I'll second that any further discussion my only thing I would add Mr chair is once our staff gets it all typed up pretty to line to bring it back for for board Just for information purposes very good all right all those in favor of the legislative priorities as listed uh as amended please signify by Mr mcmanis I got make a comment don't forget to include our staff start doing this we
142it's already included staff trying to listen to staff so he's whatever's on here prioritized let's make sure we involve our staff in some shap on passion staff brought these to us yeah I think she's already spoken with staff yeah staff's the what staff gave us this yeah okay yeah these this from direct staff all sign all uh all in agreement please signify by saying I I I all good thank you all oppose signify by saying the same sign passes 7 Zer and I see the young gentleman stand sitting out here ready to go he's been waiting patiently uh thank you for being here Mr FES uh we will turn it over to sustainability in schools natural land care uh Evan FES is with us we appreciate you being here and wait uh waiting very patiently
143for this Mr FES of course thank you for having me it's uh it's an honor to be here and discuss this issue that's been a long time coming I've met with most of you um so I'm grateful for the time that you've given to pay attention to this um I'm hoping that this is a not a one-off moment but more of a a conversation and uh I wanted to start with the issue of pesticides at schools uh specifically on school grounds um so couching this in natural land care I don't know if I have a clicker or if I just need to ask for the next slide oh perfect so quickly wanted just to give you some brief background just to make sure that you all don't think that I'm here uh passively I've I've
144been working on these issues for over 20 years um I serve as an elected supervisor of new hver Soil and Water Conservation District grateful that your board recognizes the Synergy that's and potential that's there and terms of the value we can bring to kids about the Living World The Living World happens to be absent from schools in a really critical way and one of the ways that that happens is this issue that I'm here to talk to you about tonight I'm the founder of B agriculture it's a Consulting platform uh work on these issues globally and it's one of those things where I've seen this at the front lines and to the depths of of what's known and I could not work on this issue locally I I have two kids in the school system
145I'm primarily here for my kids uh but for all kids and for all of us I know that all of you are here for that as well so I I just want to tell you is I don't think this is a contentious issue it's potentially controversial I don't really know to who um but it's a difficult thing to raise um and so I just want to acknowledge that we're on the same team here um and and I'm also here to say that it's extremely difficult to introduce ideas like this to the school system it's it's frankly unacceptable uh it's not all of your faults I've spoken to boards over the last 15 years about these issues so in a lot of ways I'm I'm here in gratitude that you've given me some time to speak
146to it um I'm here to ask you directly to be a champion for our children uh for Children's Health this is an opportunity to do that I'm here to reference the common sense of this issue uh in relation to the burden of proof I'm aware that you guys could ask someone from extension service or from the state or from wherever officially they need to come from that would be able to stand here and say that the school system is abiding by state regulations uh and so I'm here to say directly that state regulations are not enough um and I'll illustrate that here there's really no one that's going to come and make this right for us it involves us we have to think for ourselves and and act for ourselves here and ultimately this is
147an opportunity um so you know in that spirit I I wanted to just read a a quick passage and first Define what a pesticide is you know a pesticide encapsulates uh any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing destroying repelling and M mitigating any pest uh the takeaway here is that it's not just for pests themselves it's herbicides insecticides nematicides it's a catchall term this quote is really important uh this is from the American Academy of Pediatrics it says children encounter pesticides daily and have unique susceptibilities to their potential toxicity evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides and pediatric cancers decreased cognitive function and behavioral problems uh I just want to highlight that these are highlevel issues in our school system and in most school systems uh so I just wanted to
148highlight that the kicker here is recognizing and reducing problematic exposures will require attention to current inadequacies in medical training Public Health tracking and Regulatory action on pesticides what what this is saying is that that the dangers that we're inflicting on children are known that the experts are playing catchup and that we need to think for our elv so in highlighting that it was really important just from a big picture standpoint to recognize that roughly a fifth of our state drains to us the amount of conventional agriculture that happens in this zone is extraordinary we have no voice in this conversation part of this dialogue is that you know this is not just a school system challenge this is the city of wimington it's also new hanor County I'm working with them as well don't want
149you to feel singled out um we need a voice in this conversation the only way to accomplish that is to stand in integrity and lead by example you can't go complaining about the pollution that's reaching us and then not be Integrity to that reality so it's it's really important and just to highlight the local reality the county has an extremely toxic land care protocol the city does as well uh you know example they're a bcity USA and they spray neonic oids which is basically the culprit for colony collapse disorder there's a complete lack of Integrity around how we manage pesticide applications in land care I'll point you to the chronic diseases on the left it's devastating uh it's beyond devastating it's it's frankly a tragedy and an emergency at the highest level and these chronic
150disease are directly attributed to these chemicals that were on the right this list here is not just one that I made up this is literally from the new hen County School's website uh this is these are the the raw chemicals that we are act someone not not the school system contractors are spraying onto school grounds so just sit with that list it runs off the page um it's really a tragedy this is uh some images sent to me by a gentleman that lives next to R Beach Elementary School the contractors that are hired by the school system have been killing his grass through the fence for years uh it started to happen again after handshake deal ran its course the Highlight here is it's not that we're killing someone's grass through their chain link fence
151it's that were spraying Round Up indiscriminately Down the walking paths at rille Beach Elementary School there's studies that directly show that children that the the chemicals they can carry on their shoes are are create these afflictions and these chronic diseases so just a really visceral image of what's actually happening there's a natural park pilot alive at the city of wimington um I got Grant funds from Stony field organic and we're two years into that process uh these the organizations that are on board to support the school system uh you're not alone and thinking through this there is some serious support including myself um I'm here in whatever capacity uh would be be uh helpful there's over a 100 years experience here um so I don't want to keep you guys Forever on this issue but
152I want to bring it to a point here um here's this is the ask I don't think it's too much um I don't see uh Mr Anderson here this evening but I met with operations a couple months ago and I was I saw the documents that are supposed to communicate compliance with the North Carolina School Children's Health act if you're not aware of that act it's U it's actually kind of amazing that exists in my opinion given the status quo on this issue but but it's it says some particular things that have not been happening in the school system one is annual notification to parents that these applications are happening that has not been done uh notification that you can get on a list the law says that parents need to be notif ified once
153a year and if there's transparency in what's being applied and when which there should also be happening uh that they there to be notified 72 hours before a an extra application you can get on a list not unlike the mosquito list that you can be notified on uh parents have not been being notified of that the other uh thing that's out of alignment is that the school system does divulge the school the pesticides used on ball fields that is transparent on the website what is not transparent what's being used on school grounds uh these things are in direct violation to a North Carolina law so I've respectfully met with Eddie of time to make him aware he has come around they've made a commitment to get into compliance just sending the signal that I have
154not seeing any communication to my me as a parent and I'm just challenging the board to make sure that that's been followed through with from the Board of Education standpoint um I'm asking some form of acknowledgement of what we're actually doing that's public and transparent so that parents can actually be educated from the school system of what's Happening uh it's it's we can't sit back and allow these things to happen uh I'm not sure where my screen went there if it could get back up thank you uh just in just a general uh statement to the school system you know commit to an organic's first policy this is not an exercise to be on a soap box of Organics to suggest we need to ban things left and right um to take away the the
155professionalism that may be required in difficult circumstances around land care it's simply to not use them as a first uh first effort uh and this this is the precedent of how it's done in other school systems na nationally this is not a new thing um and there are again policy opportunities to take advantage of templates to to help guide this this whole process one of the things that came out of the meeting with operations was a potential opportunity around a natural School pilot it was proposed to be rightful Beach Elementary School I've been told by operations that they have stopped spraying pesticides at that school uh and they they are interested in trialing a sample of a natural product that I have in route that I'll coordinate with them to use um so just letting
156youall know there is an an opening from uh operations to be receptive to this which I was very encouraged by even to the extent U if you're not aware you're in the third of the fourth year of a contract for land care so I was told that there's a way to write the next RFP to ensure some of the things that we'd like to see given the lack of capacity of land Care Professionals in this town to perform them which is its own issue um again I'm I'm there as a liaison if that's if that's helpful uh and then finally uh you know the reality here is that I've been having this conversation and I think other people have as well there's no one in the school system that can actually have this conversation with
157me and on the level that needs to happen um and and I would couch that not just on pesticides but in regards to sustainability just a word around you know garbage to Gardens a program that you guys have incubated and that's now been accepted at the county level you know make the make the connection that started at a school right uh that's Now goal is 10 schools by the end of the year could literally solve the landfill emergency the children could uh for new H County it's incredible but there's a green team at at a lot of schools there's Gardens there's composting I don't think uh I know soil and water doesn't know but I don't think the school system knows has done an audit of what's happening at these schools the reason I'm raising
158this is that this interest is there the responsibility of the school system to meet that interest is is Paramount um so that that idea of I hope that there wouldn't be any controversy in that I think it is a win-win win for everyone politically parents kids Etc so with that I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any uh appreciate your time and attention to the matter any questions board members Mr MCM I like to say thank you for presenting us with some things that obviously everybody needs to consider thank you absolutely Bradford I really thank you for bringing us this uh slide number five that talks about the chronic diseases I just have been amazed I listened to um a candidate speak recently um who's involved in um Environmental law and health and
159with one in four kids having allergies one in eight kids having asthma one in eight kids having attention deficit one in 36 children having autism one in two having cancer diabetes one in four obesity one in three we have to do whatever we can do now and keep doing it to where those numbers start to reverse it's a huge epidemic in this country and and I'm just thrilled that you brought those numbers to to us thank you and I can't recall it's not in the slides but I believe you've mentioned that some of these can attribute to some of the behavior issues that we've seen as well um can do you have any numbers on those you know I I don't uh that was in the quote from the American Pediatric Society so I I
160would recommend checking uh on that level and you know if I if I may just plant a seed with y'all uh and the charter of the protection of our children is to challenge new Haner County Public Health on this issue um there there is no excuse to spray poisons around children and there's no justification for that and as I mentioned the reality of being able to fall back on what law says in regards to how leg regulation how it's legal to spray these chemicals uh is insufficient so I I think it would be very interesting in behoove the board to ask Public Health uh I know it's difficult to PO posture as public health officials in the world that we've created uh these things are common sense so I'd ask you to ask them to
161speak speak to this issue and I think that might help guide some reality around itart Evan thanks for being here um I know that the county approved in their budget a sustainability manager do we know if that position has been filled at this time or not yet I'm aware I think that it has been but I don't think it's been announced okay all right as because that's I think I think it's going to take some collaboration on our part and I think when you're talking about the buying and the change of the idea we definitely need to be partnering with you guys um in our sustainability manager of doing so but do you have like a proposal templ template of different changes that imple that we can Implement um with with the new products things
162versus just saying you know let's not use pesticides or like what's the CR what's what should the new criteria look like and for me um after hearing this I think it falls in line great to be a pilot at our green schools that we do have and you mentioned that because I think that that's already been ingrained there but how do we help ingrain it elsewhere if you have a template or something yeah uh short answer is yes there's a lot of precedent around this Beyond pesticides one of the organizations at the table for the natural uh Park pilot at the city level is a a 30-year plus organization in Washington DC they were uh integral in the organic standard certifications have deep experience of working with all these different capacities so I I would
163say yes on the policy level there Osborne Organics who's also at the table for the natural park pilot is the Agronomy end of it and would be capable of shepherding uh any sort of land care company that um may need some experience on how to engage this um agree with your assessment that you know we need to take sustainability seriously uh one quick word on that is that the only expression of sustainability in Southeastern North Carolina I should say in new han county is at the city level that sustainability manager's focus is on building efficiency and electric vehicles nothing about the Living World Meanwhile we're spraying pesticides on playgrounds so what's really critical is to Define what sustainability means and be have it be inclusive to life because if if we come down to some
164idea that this is a set of stereo instructions that's you know ushering in electric vehicles um we're not hitting the mark uh we're not making the impact that we really want to make so I think there's a tremendous opportunity to lead the way in our region and I think kids can do that naturally uh and and again I even think that if in concert with public health uh there's an ability to measurably increase children's capacity to focus over time and I would suggest that a long-term study to validate this would be a precedent that the world would want to see so I I see a ton of opportunity here given the sentiment that that I'm hearing and I'm really grateful that y'all see the gravity of this and I just want you to know that
165I'm here to help if if you need iton um after having some excellent conversations with Evan and um I would like to propose that we create a sustainability committee and before I make the motion I want to kind of go into a little bit of some of the discussion that we had and kind of what I compiled um I would like it to be an advisory committee uh to meet B monthly or quarterly with members consisting of a board member a subject matter expert groundskeeper those who are boots on the ground um a Soil and Water representative a parent sustainability manager and a teacher um with the goals of auditing all the school grounds noting which schools have composts uh Gardens green teams um that have parents teachers and students as members and what pesticides
166are being used uh second goal of defining what sustainability is for the district uh a third goal of a discussion of adding to the home economics or Hospitality or Elementary science curriculum gardening or learning the natural world um number four connecting schools with resources volunteers from the community to support schools in upkeep of gardens in summer months and in other projects uh number five making recommendations on non-tox toxic pesticides and then six that that pilot project with an elementary school so my motion I'm going to make a motion that we create an advisory sustainability committee first and second any further discussion um I'd like to see I a comment okay Mr Bradford and then M graille I'd like to see us um acknowledge that we're going to going to comply with the North Carolina School
167Children's Health act I think um we could roll that into it um yeah just add that one thing that we as a board acknowledge um that we want to we want to whatever it takes to get us in compliance with the state law the health act would be uh advisable so if I could amend your motion to add that second that Amendment we have Amendment okay so M crille yes I um agree with making sure that we do all that we can to provide safe campuses for our students but before we jump into this I want to hear from Dr Barnes and from the operations Department to see if we have the availability of our staff who serve on this committee and a board advisory committee is one that the chair is actually a district
168employee and a board member is just a member of the committee so we would obviously have to put that into our policy 2230 just like we need to do that with several others of teams so I'd like to hear from Dr Barnes and the operations Department to see if we are out of compliance um and and if we are in compliance that needs to be stated for the record that we are not violating anything hey Dr bars um I will obviously Eddie is not here tonight but I will make sure that he and I go over this North Carolina School Children's Health act to make sure we're complying I think some of that is also we do Outsource a good amount of our work to other agents so that's something that's just going to take
169a little time to to look at I'm looking over this study right here um so I you know I'm educating myself as we're going obviously I do want to say that of course as we've Consolidated our central office um I'm going to need to look for who the right person would be um because we're all sort of taking on additional duties but um you know obviously at the will of the board but um it's just going to take me a little time to get up to speed on on some this CU it's new stuff all right we have an amendment in front of us and that amendment is to add Miss Bradford's oh Miss Walker I'm sorry I did not see your head's in the way it's kind of hard to see honestly we need
170a little buzzer thing I I know no I I just wanted to make comment I mean I've been listening to everybody's conversation I think this definitely aligns with what our county is trying to do in some ways obviously not exactly the same um sustainability is a big deal um I'm I'm not against it um obviously we do need to evaluate what we're doing and if outside agencies are not abiding by our health laws then we definitely need to fix it um no I'm interested to see what we find out I think it would be a good thing okay we have an amendment in front of us to add acknowledgement acknowledge to come into compliance with the North Carolina School Children's Health act compliance with North Carina Health North Carina this is for that that Amendment
171all in favor please signify by saying I I I all opposed all opposed carry 70 now would you read your main motion again please I just put it I did not write try write all uh I make a motion that we create an advisory sustainability committee okay and was first and second on that now it is amended motion because we've added Amendment all in favor please signify by saying I I Mr Mr yes ma'am so the how the before we vote to have this who is going to be making El um creating the criteria for board for the committee membership to make sure that we have the teachers and the community and all the the people that Miss Mason listed has credentials and to be to be making decisions as an advisory M Mason would
172you like to speak to that please uh the plan is to look at policy and to look at the universal application and make those adjustments there that's not what I asked I asked about how are we going to make sure that they have what criteria do they have to even have CU I could sign up to be on this committee and have no um expertise in this area at all but I think she's listed out specific could you read it you know I can reread the people so the list miss miss crille the list is a board member a subject matter a subject matter expert a groundskeeper Soil and Water representative a parent sustainability manager and a teacher those people would obviously a teacher is a teacher thank you okay all right all in favor
173please signify by saying I I all opposed I see ra okay that so that carries I'm not really sure what that was is that no think was an I I said I yes yes okay all right that pass to 70 thank you sir for your time it's big deal thank you all very much thank you all right we will carry on going into close session at this point make sure I'm correct yes I am uh we are going to go into Clos session pursuant to General statute 143 3181 for the following purpose to consult with the attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the board to consider qualifications competence performance character Fitness conditions of appointment or conditions of initial employment of an individual employed or considered for employment with
174within the school system or to hear or investigate a complaint charge grievance by or against any individual employee and three to prevent disclosure of the information that's privileged or confidential pursuant to General statute 115c 402 and not considered public record within the meaning of chapter 132 of the general statutes do I have such a motion so moved we have first a second any discussion all in favor please sign if by saying I I all opposed passes 70 we are in Clos session e e e said yes we have a motion to accept the personel report second second a second hi I all opposed hearing none Mr prel is on so we'll say 70 Mr chair yes ma'am motion to adjourn uh we have correspondence we have a couple things and announce anybody have correspondence correspondence
175hear none announcements here we go policy committee will be meeting on Tuesday September 17th at 10: a.m. in the Board of Education Center general public will have the option to view remote remotely on new hver County Schools tv YouTube and the curriculum committee will be meeting on Monday May me September 23rd 2024 at 4:15 at the new H County Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to remote to view remotely on new han County YouTube last bit of made that motion okay there's a motion we have a second all favor please signify by saying I I [Music] I for