NHCS Board of Ed. Regular Meeting | July 2, 2024

001it good evening everyone Welcome to our July 2nd Board of Education meeting we are glad you were here to begin I would like to remind you of a couple things um I would like to share a few reminders please keep the aisles clear during our meeting to allow members of the school system and the sheriff's department to be able to move about also except for when honoring the flag our opening prayer and when participating in the call to audience please remain seated during our meeting we hope to have a productive and efficient meeting and your help is greatly appreciated uh Miss buy would you please call the role good afternoon Pete willor present Melissa Mason here Jayy Barnhart Pat Bradford I am here Stephanie Crill H MC Manus pres and Stephanie Walker here thank you

002for being here board members we also welcome our new uh attorneys welcome gentlemen um we are going to continue with the approval of the agenda is there such a motion oh I move that we approve the agenda okay is there a second second second okay is there any additions or discussion M Walker yes please oh sorry go ahead yes please um I would suggest that we add the insurance renewal proposal I reckon under new business or old business I'd say new business which one is it sorry old or new business I guess since we haven't talked about it this year it would be new new business okay okay all right hold on um is there a second to that I'll second it okay let's take it one by one all in favor of adding discussion

003of the insurance renewal please oh is there any further discussion no all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed okay that passes five to everybody's to my right that my goodness gracious that makes it easy you just look down here five five to one okay other Miss Bradford um I have emailed you and you you both you all have this life skills training this one day emergency casualty care course that I took I'd like to add that and have your vote um according to policy we can't just submit those requests for reimbursement and it has to be voted on by the board okay is there a second I'll second okay we have first and second any discussion where M Walker do we need to vote on that I mean is that something

004that way she get really okay yeah cuz it's not an approved it's not approved uh person new business y new business okay so if we could add that all in favor please signify by saying I I all oppos okay Miss Walker yes please I would like to move that prek uh presentation U I Believe Miss Smiles uh said it's only going to be a few minutes and it's way down there and and um I've had a look at it and it looks like it's really about recognizing staff members so I would love to be able to put it up on the agenda kind of either unre under recognitions or just after that e uh it is it is uh d new business D okay so maybe we can add it under recognition at letter C

005is there a second second there first and second any discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I all opposed okay Dr F do you have one you want to move also yes the literacy we can move that under recognition Okay litery literacy c new business C new business C we would make that letter D under recognition is there well we have to have a motion I'll make a motion that we move that under recognition first and a second all uh any discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I all oppos okay we'll move that on to D with all those changes um we have a motion to accept the agenda uh as amended I'll make that motion is there a second second okay we have a second Walker first

006and second any discussion if not all in favor please seify by saying I I I all opposed okay that passes again 5 z uh we move on to let me read uh all this so we have it all out we will have the we will have the Reverend Clifford Barnett pastor of the Warner Temple Am Zion Church will be providing our invocation remotely the uh new han County Arts education supervisor Christina fac will perform the national anthem that's exciting and we've ask Miss Mason to uh please lead us in our pledge to we get to that point so at this point make sure I'm correct we are going to begin with our invocation let us pray dear God our heavenly father tonight we invite your presence in this special school board board meeting you are

007well aware of the issues on the agenda tonight many voices have been lifted with passion sincerity and great concern for the safety of our students teachers parents administrators staff and of course those who work and volunteer in our school system dear God grant each board member tonight wisdom that only comes from you wisdom to hear clearly the deliberations that take place tonight we pray God for each board member to hear clearly from you as they make their decisions God we pray that you will grant them the wisdom to do what is best for all that are under their care and dear God we thank you for the privilege to serve you in this in this way and at the end of the day may you be pleased with the work that we have done done

008tonight may we get a good night's rest from our efforts and God would you bless all and each of us as you keep us in the hollow of your hand we pray amen facing oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we ha at the Twilight last gleaming who BR stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight or the ramp parts we he watched were so Gallant streaming and The Rock H reg glare the boms buring in air gave prove through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled B are yet wav or the land of the free and the home of the [Music] [Applause] brave and now miss uh Mason if you read this in a pledge a pledge of allegiance to the

009pled 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 thank you well that was phenomenal thank you very much fa I just got to tell you that was phenomenal thank you so much thank you that was awesome um next we have the approval of the minutes do I hear such a motion no I will make the motion to approve the minutes is there a second we have a second any discussion if not all in favor approving the minutes as provided please signify by saying I I all opposed passes 5 Z our next is and again we have please note that we have amended the uh agenda so we will have additional recognitions but we'll start out with our recognitions

010please all right good evening with it being our holiday week um we may not have everyone who's been recognized in attendance tonight but we still want to celebrate them uh tonight we have the privilege of recognizing two very fine teams on their Monumental Seasons the Eugene Ashley Screaming Eagles girls soccer team and the Ashley baseball team were both Conference champions in their 2023 24 seasons the soccer team ended their season with an incredible record of 23 wins one tie and just two losses and the baseball team had an impressive 26-6 season and made their first appearance at a state championship game in 17 years and while we know that you wish these final games would have had a different outcome we are celebrating tonight how far you did get and that you left nothing on

011the field build and that you were in the arena in every way with your head with your heart and with your team you represented not just your schools but your community with grit and with a belief in yourself that defied seeds and brackets you put us on the map for all the right reasons you made your community proud and we are proud of you for your perseverance and perspective as Ashley senior magy rupy put it none of this would have been possible without everyone on the field and the bench I'm so lucky to be part of this team it's something so special don't we love that because it's not just the people on the field but the people on the bench who also make good things happen so congratulations to both of these teams and

012their coaches on your extraordinary Seasons so first we'd like to welcome the soccer team if anyone is here and if I could ask all the board members to join me please for this please anyone from the soccer team no all right and to the boys baseball team and their coaches come on up [Applause] got the wi angle still need [Applause] thank you congratulations congrats thank you all right next we have two staff members who are recognized in the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce as 40 under 40 these Awards honor individuals under the age of 40 but who's counting who exemplify exceptional leadership Innovation and service in our region quote these outstanding individuals demonstrate remarkable Talent Innovation and Leadership setting high standards for excellence and Community engagement in our region said Natalie English president and CEO of

013the chamber she continued their professional achievements are comp complemented by their passion for giving back and driving positive change in our community which I find to be genuinely inspiring they are not just the leaders of tomorrow they are already the leaders of today so first we have rakia Lloyd an EC teacher at New Hanover High [Applause] School we'll let her come on up and have to hear my words in front of everyone Miss Loyd is a New Hanover High School alumna who has since returned to teach at her Alma mder but not before earning a Bachelor of Science a Master's in psychology and a masters in special education her principal Philip Sutton said Miss Lloyd is a champion for the students she serves she is their Safe Haven at times of crisis I don't like

014to [Laughter] C during lunchtime her room is full of students who need a place with someone they can trust she is maximizing every moment of her time with students to allow them to be heard to listen to counsel and to guide her patience knows no bounds for students who need it the most and one of her students shared these words after my mother died Miss Floyd stayed on me and made sure I did my work so that I could graduate if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have made it so congratulations Miss lyd for this [Applause] that's what it's all about right yeah once it starts it's hard to stop so sorry our second 40 under 40 recipient is Kim Clark principal of tras Middle School Kim come on no promises Kim is in a

015word a Dynamo she not only knows the name of every single student at tras but she knows enough about them and their lives and their passions to make a connection every time she sees them like hey Stephanie how did that basketball game go yesterday Miss Clark does the same thing for her staff she empowers her Educators and gives them the autonomy to do their work to the best of their ability and she is in the words of a former PTA president the most non-judgmental person you will ever meet she lets you do the job and she accepts you for who you are and if you have shortcomings you can tell her and she'll help you to overcome them it's hard to think of a better trait in a leader so congratulations CL for this recognition

016[Applause] all right finally we have athletes who competed in the North Carolina Special Olympics Summer Games and students who are part of the Special Olympics North Carolina unified youth leadership experience the motto of the Special Olympics is a favorite of mine let me win it says but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt it takes bravery to be in the arena to be vulnerable to put your best effort forth in front of a crowd not knowing how how you will fare and tonight we're celebrating students who were Brave in their attempt and who truly made New Hanover County Schools proud so first we'll recognize our special Olympic Summer Games athletes Daphne maner of Laney High School medled in the 25 yard and 50 yard freestyle swim uh D Mary here okay

017Orion short of Laney High School medal in Bowling Orion are you here okay Evan Maddox of the yeah of the tpy [Applause] program Evan meddled in bowling congratul [Applause] ulations then we have Austin re of Laney High School who medled in Bowling Austin are you here this evening all right and next we'll celebrate the students who have participated in the Special Olympics North Carolina unified youth leadership experience so unified programs bring together students with and without disabilities to Foster inclusivity respect and understanding in our schools seven nhcs students were selected from applicants across the state to participate in the um unified youth leadership experience during the summer olympics games they volunteered at sporting events they attended workshops and they met with the CEO of Special Olympics North Carolina but perhaps most importantly they demonstrated true

018leadership which is about bringing people together breaking down barriers and championing the values of diversity and inclusion when we create a more accepting and supportive environment for all students everyone wins congratulations to our youth leadership experience participants and thank you for your commitment to inclusion and sportsmanship for for all so I'm going to read all the names and please hold your applause and we'll get everybody um who's in attendance tonight up here so we have Keandre Marshall of TPA Lauren Carver of tpya Rebecca Quinn of tpy Maya Roseboro of Isaac bear Lily Hawk of Murray middle school and Kenzie Liber of hogard high school [Music] [Applause] let's close [Applause] good evening I'm a special guest star tonight for the uh recognitions it's with great pride we highlight our Communications and Outreach team each year the

019national school public relations Association honors individuals and teams whose efforts and expertise made a positive and lasting impact on school public relations the annual digital media excellence awards contest celebrates outstanding work in various forms of Education communication and marketing honors include Awards of excellence awards of Merit and honorable mention our director of communication who you just saw AG go Christina beam earned six Awards in total including five for writing excellence and one for video come on up [Applause] CHR Chase Folton and Kevin Hubbert our broadcast production coordinators received a combined total of seven Awards four for photography and three for video two at the highest level [Applause] and last but not least our district Web Master Anita baggy received recognition for her outstanding work on the new Handover County Schools parents Bill of Rights web

020[Applause] page congratulations and thank you for setting the standard for the field [Music] you guys the next is just uh announcements for the principles so you can stay or go it's best time of the year we have some new faces and some faces you may recognize but we want to announce some of our new principles for the upcoming 2024 2025 school year so if we can have Mr Bert kill Patrick come on down Bert you may recognize the principal of bellany you can now say hello to the principal at Masonboro [Applause] congratulations to give us any words of wisdom quick words of wisdom thank you guys so much I've had a great nine years at Bellamy and I'm looking forward for many more years at Mason burough so thank you very much thank you very

021much next up shifting her position from the principal at JC row to the principal at Holly Shelter Middle School is Kim [Applause] morsy I sat here three years ago and said thank you so much for the opportunity say same thing again I hope to continue to make the county proud thank [Music] you now a news fa a new face for us as a principal he was a science teacher at Willison middle school he's been a science coordinator in Winston Salem and the assistant principal at hogard high school Bobby Garcia the principal of Alderman Elementary [Applause] thanks for the opportunity and let's soar like [Applause] eagles next in the HR department our new title 9 investigator is Francis Murphy Francis Murphy was a principal in uh New York and has been with us for the last

022two [Applause] years I appreciate the opportunity and to continue to work with Dr Barnes is a real pleasure really been the highlight of my career thank you all right yeah okay and next but not least uh Jill Larson are you here there you are Jill Larson is the new principal at JC [Applause] Ro I'm happy to be here here and continue my almost 20year career in New hanur County Schools as the new principal of JC R so thank you very much thank you and we will have a couple more for you next month and that'll fill us right up thank you thank you we will continue Now with uh more good news uh 2324 districtwide prek data presentation is up at this time she's here she comes yeah we moved you up so that's why

023she doesn't good evening community and board members um I'm Shannon Smiles the director of early childhood education and so um this um agenda item is um a shout out to our Preschool teachers and teachers assistants for the amazing data that they produced this year um we exceeded or met expectations of our new Hanner County School strategic goal in all six learning domains for kindergarten Readiness so we are excited to a big shout out of that so do we want to go through the slide or how would you like to do this sure for yeah so you know basically if you keep sliding please and just to give you a snapshot of the data that's amazing six learning domains are social emotional physical language cognitive literacy and Mathematics which is in alignment with your your Eli

024which is kindergarten Readiness assessment within the first 60 days of school so then the data explains for itself on each slide under each domain so I was involved with a Statewide discussion and out of the 12 districts we were top two with this data so that was amazing stuff so we wanted to shout that out to you um just so you realize we're bigger than that um and we do three checkpoints a year beginning of the year middle and end of the year and as you can see we've exceeded our met growth in all areas moving forward we're going to continue to support our teachers continue to excel um we have lots of opportunities coming up for professional de development for our administrators to get them ready for early learning as well so I'm here

025for any questions or board members any questions just a huge shout out to our teachers and teacher assistants amazing absolutely congratulations yeah pre [Applause] pre and we have one more Dr Barn three more oh three more I apologize I knew that I had missed one I talked right to their face and said I'm so glad you're here tonight okay since we now have an opening at Bellamy Elementary I'd like to recognize Jenifer Rosser the new principal B [Applause] thank you for this opportunity and I'm looking forward to continue our Blue Ribbon School of Excellence path awesome I went back there and she said is there something you need to tell me all right next up Sunset Park's new principal is Chrissy Allen Chrissy Allen comes to us from eating Elementary [Applause] brilliant showing thank you

026so much for the opportunity I'm excited to serve the students and the families of Sunset Park so go sharks and last and certainly not least the new principal at Snipes Elementary is Stephanie Willis [Applause] thank you all for the opportunity I um continue look forward to continuing my years at um SNES Academy and helping our Stars continue to shine thank you all right uh Miss Sutton I believe you are up for the literacy update Miss Sutton where is that under business it's my pleasure to announce to the board of officially now that we have received the early literacy Grant from the endowment the total amount of that Grant is 8,740 856 and so um I just wanted to share that information with you guys um as a celebration and do we need to vote on

027acceptance so um I don't know if we do that here can we do that in this part of the agenda uh approve I make a motion with that we accept the 8 8 million 8.7 million .7 million second have a question any discussion oh question attached to that was the prek classroom that was is that part of it or all get that that Grant included two um prek teachers and two prek teacher assistants were part of that Grant thank you thank you any other questions or comments if not we have a motion and a second to accept the $8.7 million all in favor please signify by saying I I all oppos closed that passes 5 thank you moving right along U and unfortunately I do not see a name next but we have our teacher

028voice now I'm looking forward to our teacher voice here we go all right come on down thank you for being here and I'm sorry I don't have your name oh andit yes I do look again Mr stanik yep Hey sir how are you thank you so much for being here yeah thank you guys for having me uh so thank you all for having me here today to share a couple things that I've been able to accomplish since Ming to Wilmington and becoming part of the New Hanover County Schools team in August of 2021 I'd like to start by saying the support and faith that the leadership team at Holly Shelter Middle and the emerging leaders has had in all my ideas is a big part of why I've been able to accomplish so many great

029things the first thing that I'd like to share with you is the Surf Rider student club that I was able to set up at Holly Shelter creating this opportunity for our students to give back to our community and become stewards of the ocean was one of the first things that I did in the fall of 2021 and it led to several other opportunities for me to grow as an individual and an educator our Surf Rider student Club is part of a network of around 150 student clubs around the nation that focus on the development and implementation of environmental stewardship projects at schools and in local communities we work closely with our local capear chapter of Surf Rider and the projects that the students participate in range from Beach cleanups to en campus reduction or plastic

030reduction projects to building Awareness on issues impacting our ocean being part of the Holly Shelter Middle School Sur surf rer student Club teaches our students to develop awareness of issues affecting our waterways and coastlines construct collaborative solutions to Ocean issues important to them learn Grassroots organizing skills and building confidence as a leader hone communication skills that move others to action and most importantly make a difference at their school and in their Community establishing the Holly Shelter Middle School Surf Club led to the creation of my nonprofit organization share the Stoke the initial idea for share the Stoke began in February of 2022 when I was invited to be part of the leadership team invited to be part of a leadership team for new han County Schools called emerging leaders I was tasked with figuring out

031a way to lead in my school the community or the school district I immediately knew that I wanted to do something for the Wilmington community that involved surfing surfing always kept me on the right track and surrounded me with positive influences so paying this opportunity forward to the Youth of Wilmington became my goal over the next 16 months I worked to set this passion project in motion by partnering with the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern North Carolina Indo Jack surf school and Point Break restaurant I was able to set up four free surfing opportunities for the underserved youth of Wilmington North Carolina our first event was on June 30th 2023 our second was on July 19th 2023 our third was on August 9th 2023 and our fourth was on September 9th 2023 transportation from

032downtown Wilmington to access 10 and rville beach was provided by the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern North Carolina since we worked with and will continue to work with their children in the 17 or 7 to 17 age range in addition to volunteer staff surf instructors were provided by Indo Jack surf school to ensure that there was one instructor available for every two children food for each event was catered by Point Break restaurant for free share the Stoke is a metaphorical bridge that connects the Youth of downtown Wilmington to Southeastern North Carolina's robust surfing Community we use the Stoke of wave riding to empower children which helps them realize their strengths can flourish and they can survive inevitable setbacks you can follow all of our work on Instagram at share theo. NC the final thing

033that I would like to share with you this afternoon is National History Day NHD is a year-long Academic Program F focused on historical research interpretation and creative expression for 6th through 12th grade students while participating in NHD students become writers filmmakers web designers and artists as they create unique contemporary expressions of History the experience culminates in a series of contests at the regional state levels and an annual national competition at the University of Maryland in June a national evaluation of NHD found that students who participate in the program perform better on high-stake tests are better writers more confident and capable researchers and have more a more mature perspective on current events and Civic engagement than their peers participants always also show a greater ability to collaborate with peers manage their time and persevere all skills

034important for students whether they're on the college track or plan to go directly into the workforce after after graduation I piloted the National History Day program at Holly Shelter this past school year and we experienced a great deal of success I had two students that volunteered to participate in work after school every Wednesday they created an exhibit on the 1898 CW and Massacre that occurred in Wilmington they placed first at the district level competition state level competition and were even selected by the state coordinator for National History Day to represent our state and display in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History at the national level they were recognized as one of the top 10 finalists in the nation and received a medal from the National Park Service for creating an outstanding entry once again

035once again thank you for having me here today I look forward to continuing all of these projects and continuing to girl as an educator say there for one second thank you board members do you have any questions or comments comments questions M Walker I'll just say how great great that is I mean I don't know what else to say I think it's impressive what you've done and we appreciate all the work that you're doing to help our students I just want to say that thank you we had a uh actually missed our second surf event with boys and girls club today my fiance ran it uh but we have one more on August 8th if you would check it out it's accs1 Mard Street in rville beach and that's August 8th from 3:00 to 5:

036so come check it out it's awesome do you think you can send us an email I would love I mean I just got to get in our calendar is there a way we can get that sent to us so we can put it in our calendar yeah absolutely thank you so much thank you thank you so [Applause] much always good to hear some positive things going on in our school systems um at this point we will carry on with the our superintendent report Dr F sure this week of course is Fourth of July holiday we hope our student staff and Community have a wonderful week celebrating with friends and family we have a a lot of good news to share as we close out another school year we wrapped up our graduation season with Ceremonies

037for Mosley Lany Ashley hogard and new H high schools our summer graduation will take place August 8th at 6 pm at Snipes Academy congratulations to all of our class of 2024 graduates our summer learning programs are taking place now we are proud of all of these students for putting in the extra work to find success last month I presented at North Carolina School Board Association Summer Leadership Conference along with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and two of our board members we shared about our career leadership and development Academy this program is unique in the state and we are happy to get a talk or get to talk about it with the school leaders across the state of North Carolina I also was asked to present at the new han County poverty reduction task force the

038task force is made up of community leaders who look at the causes and solutions for poverty we ask they ask me me to share about how we are serving students in poverty with educational opportunities these leaders were excited to hear our academic growth across all areas in the school system our turnaround task force met for a year-end review meeting we are grateful to the community and Business Leaders who were a part of this effort this year we provided Solutions and accountability as we work together to turn around our low performing schools our summer meal program is providing free nutritious meals at sites around New Hanover County any child age 18 and under can eat lunch at these sites Monday through Friday some sites will open will be open through August 9th the full schedule is

039posted on our district website thank you to our Child Nutrition staff for making this possible for local families next week our school and District leaders will attend our annual Leadership Retreat the theme this year is reimagine we're looking forward to learning from each other sharing ideas for the new school year and finding innovative ways to serve our staff and students that concludes my updates thank you Dr F uh next we have the Chairman's report good evening my report will be brief we were encouraged at the end of the year testing testing data and understand that that is only a portion of the full education our students receive we again congratulate all our graduates and wish them the very best in their future endeavors whether that takes him into college County College trade school military or

040into the workforce so best best of luck to each and every one of you we are excited about the literacy grant that we just heard about uh that the school system has received the budget was passed with the understanding that we will continue to look at ways uh to find more funding and to help our students and our staff I saw a recent mention that the board did not reach out repeatedly to try and meet with the County Commissioners and our board clerk does have written documentation that we did and I personally did call the County Commission uh chair and and remind him of that and lastly We wish all our students and our staff a wonderful and safe summer enjoy the time away and have a wonderful Fourth of July thank you very much

041at this point we will start with our call to audience Miss Mason thank you for being here and participating in a summer month um we're going to start off with Samuel Saunders thank you my name is Samuel Saunders my children's education is very important to me I rarely miss an invitation to visit class I'm also a member of the policy Council introduced to me by the administration at Dorothy B Johnson on this Council I've attended meetings throughout the school year reviewing school policies and budgets for example we were told to have governing rights equal to even you school board members which brings me to why I'm here today I've been notified that prek in New Hanover County has lost substantial amount of funding and the so-called policy Council will cease to exist on July 31st

042the worst part is a loss of 17 classrooms and over 240 students that will be affected I'm sure there's an additional Untold number of eligible children that may not even have a chance for prek I stand before you with my family which represents more than 1% of those affected children with this limited funding for prek I'm forced to make serious decisions to balance their education and our livelihood it hurts to imagine what other families in my situation are going through right now there should be no expense spared for early childhood education you don't need need me to tell you to educate them sooner or pay for it later educating these children now will make everyone's life better for the future many issues that plague Society can be nipped in the I will conclude and ask

043you to please find more funding for New Hanover County prek thank you for your [Applause] time thanks for bringing your little helpers too they're so cute thank you for bringing your helpers too they're adorable uh Alicia Ogen Deli good evening evening it's been 14 months since we've gotten an update from the federal government individuals with disability Education Act sanctions the majority of the school board must be uncomfortable hearing about this significant disproportionality of out of school suspension for black special education student for the past six years because they have yet to invite Miss bam to give a new information at the public meeting I'm afraid you won't be able to ban Federal individuals with disability Education Act nor will you be able to recover $5.4 million that has been sanctioned from our special education program

044I'm going say again $5.4 million that has been sanctioned from our special education program it seems like the board School Board is having difficulty managing its own money the truth is the majority of the school board is just part of their Christian National nationalist Playbook Financial chaos is an effective strategy for dismantling public education when you willfully fail to discharge your duties you are harming our children but put the um put the federal sanctions on the agenda of August 6 school board meetings and have Miss vam tell us if the new Hano County schools are under sanction for the seventh consecutive year and stop suspending our black special education students at 4 and 1 half times the rate of their PE 4 and a half times the rate of their PE that's blatant after discrimination

045that was it thank you for your attention Helen Wanita Clemens on November 1st 2022 regulation 4302 on the rules of use of seclusion and restraint on the schools were revised it includes the following sentence as of 2023 24 school years rooms designed specifically for inclusion will no longer be operable for seclusion before last school year children were put in locked padded closes in this County when they posed a threat for safety of themselves or safety of others special AED children in elementary schools were usually the kids in conclusion in the secluded rooms during the past five years there have been over 2,000 yes 2,000 of our children locked up in these rooms last year per the regulation 4302 there no more no more seclusions well at least that's what the in the seclusion rooms so

046where did we put these special ed kids who posed a threat to safety of themselves or others and how is this data being reported to the Department of Public Instructions Not only would the public like to know this but I'm sure that wqr W ECT ww y back there would like to know as a parent of two two former special ed students who has significant behaviors and were never ever secluded I greatly would want to know where this is on the agenda for August the 6 board meeting the truth is keeping CES citizens informed is one of your duties do your jobs come on people thank you thank you Gail major Gail major good evening everyone it's been a while since I've been here um I have been busy looking at some things through the

047state with the Board of Education as it pertains to the state and you probably have realize that new Handover county is on the radar you've made national news uh Dr F I think you've gotten quite a bit of attention and with that I'm trying to inform you which I've done before that there's evidence and documentation of wrongdoing and possible legal problems so there are things that have never been addressed that are Grievances and for some reason just on the book One it ended up on Dr fa and uh don Brinson I'm sorry I don't remember her title which was kind of befuddling because 115 c98 pertains to that being your responsibility all seven of you on the board so understand we are looking at and those that don't know me I'm a child advocate but

048we're not just for the children I started to read some of that survey so thank you for whoever did that and I thank those parents that have allowed me to understand and see the problems like IEPs I've been in two meetings I've been hearing from not many teachers unfortunately and I've been an advocate for teachers in Ohio also so I am saying to you what would be presented to you from the people and I hope anybody joins us this is the time we come together to get things done to see them sitting here for how many years now that's ridiculous and that's unacceptable so as we look at the laws violating principles is one of them that we will be looking at that comes through the pike through the DC education system and all that

049we are all doing with the people our voices will be heard you will probably start to hear more about common law and we should all know what that is that's our rights our right your time is up thank you Judy Justice Judy Justice good afternoon our school leadership via our state legislature our County Commissioners in our school board are failing our public schools for purely political reasons all of you collectively are intentionally undermining our Public Schools so that the public itself believes that our schools are failing these Republican controlled bodies are denying resources such as staff facilities and materials which are needed to effectively run our schools by constantly underfunding our schools in 2012 when the Republicans took control of the North Carolina legislature we were 24th in the nation when it came to per

050pup expenditure today we are 49th why do the Republicans want our public schools to fail so that they can take the millions of dollars that go to our public schools and reroute that money to private and charter schools so they and their friends can make a profit off the education of our children New Hanover County Schools is a perfect example of these political actions undermining our schools because of the lack of funding from the state and County there has been a loss of over 16% of the educational Workforce in our schools over the last two years even though we've only had a 3.5 reduction of student body the result is that students needs are not being met and our staff cannot effectively do their jobs worse though than the lack of funding is the absolute

051chaos and fear this school board has created since they took office two years ago when the Republican anti-public School agenda you have banned books did away with the needed EDI committee attacked our lgbtq plus students in numerous ways ignore staff's pleased for resources and repeatedly undermine their ability to teach State curriculum through censorship you all need to stop playing politics with our kids and setting them up to fail in life and when they fail they in our society suffers something that someone who truly cares about our students and our democracy should never want stop playing politics with our children's lives Helen Johnson good evening my name is Helen Johnson I'm a mother grandmother and a great grandmother tonight I stand for for those who are not aware of the damage you are about to do

052to our future I speak for the taxpayers who pay their taxes for schools and excuse me for schools not for you to do as you wish but what is best for all children would you deprive your Grands of a better education a good foundation to their future are you really looking at the future or looking at the future taxpayers or are you looking looking forward to the prisons being overpopulated give my children the same as your doctors and lawyers or are you afraid I will surpass you take color out of this equation but also remember we have lowincome whites and other races that are involved in this I hope one day the board works for the people not the dollar remember is not what you gather but what you scatter that tells what kind of

053life you liveed and that's by Helen Walton do you gather the votes of the rich or do you scatter seeds of equality or Prejudice or power I pray you can rest at night after this decision of no prek is made this affects your Educational Foundation my future and your children too thank you David Perry uh good evening um I actually changed topics for uh I was going to talk about the need for an audit and making some budgetary uh priorities but uh I just got the uh yesterday I I received an early version of the staff survey that was just completed by our County our school district one of the comments was District leadership has created a toxic work environment in new han County schools and that's just one of hundreds of written responses that

054we that we received I haven't read all of them it's only been a day I think it's safe to say that the results are disturbing 95% of the responses are negative and while there's certainly some critic ISM of the school board I would say the Lion Share of criticism is directed to Dr fa and the central office common complaints include teachers and staff feeling disrespected and unheard a lack of discipline in the schools rampant favoritism having their jobs micromanaged from above and fear of Retribution if they speak up you know as in my software career I've had bosses like that that kind of have this top down dictatorial management approach these leaders don't Inspire Innovation or creativity they Inspire their employees to startop looking for another job employee morale of our our teachers right now

055is at an all-time low teachers they're the lifeblood of our school system we need District policies but those need to Bubble Up from the best of our teachers and not be driven from the top on down we need to replace Dr fa today and hire an interim superintendent for the 2024 25 school year Dr F will probably claim that he can make some adjustments and fix all this but guess what there's no fixing 157 pages of discontent I want to tell all the teachers out there that I stand with you thank you Mr Perry your time is up Germania M Germania man okay Christina Mercier at last month's board meeting the fifth grade chorus from cottington came to sing the national anthem also at the meeting was a woman holding a sign that said stop

056school porn as it turns out a number of these students started asking their parents what porn is a parent asked the woman to please put the sign down while the children were present and she refused she only complied after a woman in her friend group convinced her this story tells me a few things one there's obviously no porn at cottington since the fifth graders had no clue what the word meant if it was really there these Rising middle schoolers would have certainly figured it out and two those who profess to care about the innocent children don't really or they wouldn't have chosen performance over compliance I'm bringing this up now because the board has spent a lot of time in the last 18 months performing and not performing duties to better serve Newan County students

057instead there are a number of you who have latched on to whatever those who financed your campaigns deem important removing books gender and genitalia Flags stuff like that all the while there have been groups of people who have cautioned you about bigger issues in the schools safety and Staffing being two yet I watched last week as a number of you seem to just realize that the shortfall in the budget was going to mean real people were going to lose their real jobs and then none of y'all wanted to make a decision it's like you expected the budget fairy to drop millions of dollars to fix the issue and that's absolutely ridiculous ask yourselves this Dr F to how many times did you meet with the County Commissioners about the budget have you taken the time

058to form working relationships with the Commissioners so discussing the budget doesn't elicit hostility how about the board of the community endowment have you asked them what they would be willing to fund and how about at the state level have you advocated for the release of Leandro funding and if you haven't why not not so board I call on you to use the next 12 months to focus on building relationships with those who have the biggest impact on school funding I call on you to forego the special interest topics that only negatively impact the schools while costing money without an adequate budget our student time is up and that's the trth thank you Miss mer your time is up Karen [Applause] Clark what is true truth the word of the Lord from Isaiah I am Yahweh

059I speak the truth and I declare to you what is Right Psalm 119 the sum total of all your words Lord adds up to absolute truth and every one of your righteous decrees is Everlasting Jesus The Living Word I am the way the truth and the life if you embrace all that I teach you prove you are my true followers for if you embrace the truth it will release true Freedom into your life I pray the Lord is your best friend and Shepherd and that you always have more than enough that you rest in his luxurious love of Peace where he restores and revives your life may he open before you Pathways to his pleasure and Lead You in his footsteps of righteousness so you bring honor to his name when your path takes you

060through the valley of deep Darkness fear will never conquer you for the Lord remains close and leads you through his authority is your strength and your peace the comfort of his love takes away fear you will never be lonely for he is ever near when your enemies dare to fight he is your Feast he anoints you with the fragrance of his holy spirit until your heart overflows may you never Fear the Future for his goodness and love pursue you all the days of your life and when your life is through you will return to his glorious presence Forever Your Kingdom Come your will be done King Jesus Chris Sutton I am very disappointed in the superintendent and the people he has brought in I feel blessed to be working with a wonderful principal who values

061her staff the district leadership specifically Dr fa is the reason I am retiring and moving to the private sector the leadership at my school is transparent and nurturing not so much at the district level I have no f faith in the superintendent's ability to effectively run things from his comments I believe he has little to no respect for us teachers fa is going to run this place into the ground there is no respect for teachers or School staff extreme extremely poor leadership over the past several years for both Markley and Fa educators are not valued as professionals with degrees in higher education our district leaders need to revisit their uh purpose in the role of Education this district has been nothing but a pain to the entire uh the entire time I've worked here the

062superintendent should not have gotten any award with the way he has blatantly disrespected teachers in his district please get a new superintendent if I were on this current Board of Education I would recommend to end all contracts of all superintendents in new Haner County Schools our uh students teachers and Community deserves better than what is being offered by the current regime our superintendent does not seem supportive of teachers at all it seems like he only cares about his own image I have worked in this district for 24 years and I feel least valued trusted and supported this year by our superintendent and instructional leadership than I ever have our superintendent seems to show up for the camera but isn't here with us knowing what we face every day in our schools our superintendent is oh

063our superintendent is disrespectful and frankly a joke no one respects Him special education is the absolute worst I gave my notice due to your ineptness I can't be a part of this hypocrisy I'm going to become a parent advocate there's hundreds of these y'all have a good day thank you Mr Sutton Sarah Bailey as a recently retired pre assistant I have a question and the question is why why defund the very Foundation of a child's education is absolutely wrong to defund it is wrong absolutely wrong educating our youth should be prioritized and be on the top of your list not decreased or erased give the give these children the the opportunity to learn you had it and your children so should they Head Start and prek offers so many benefits to the children so why

064would you take it away they already have enough obstacles in their way to add the lack of a solid educational Journey the education of our children the whole United States rest on the foundation of these young children getting the education that they need every position you have is based on the fact that you were taught some of you had the opportunity to go to private schools and go to pre kindergarten before some of us did when I went to school black school had no kindergarten we started first grade white schools had kindergarten give these children the foundation they need and stop stop taking away from these children who need this Foundation you got it you got it why can't they have it why can't they have it every lawyer judge doctor nurse had a foundation

065in education that they received give these children the opportunity to reach those Heights that they may not be able to reach if you keep taken away from our [Applause] children Carissa Smith Carissa Mr chair can I just clarify something yes please I think the notion is that we defunded it we lost the grant that that's what happened I think a lot of people don't understand that I I I'm just saying we lost the the headart Grant I don't think we wanted to to be defunded I just want to put that out there because I know we're hearing that and I just want to be clear if it's not it should be thank you thank you m Walker go ahead good afternoon my name is Teresa Smith I sit on the board of education for the

066policy committee with the for the children my children are a prod ofct of prek and I want to bring up the issue of losing the funding from the pre en enrollment for the children as well my children attended Johnson pre Elementary School at age of three they are now four without the funding I was not sure if my children were going to be able to attend school again and I'm still unsure if they're going to be able to attend I stand here before you today to ask the question why are the is the money not be eligible for my children to go back to school and for other family members or and other children who need the funding I work for the community and I work for the state of North Carolina and I am

067in the community and I see what not having Early Childhood does to individuals and uh people of my peers or what have you as social determinance of Health with children not being able to have funding to start children to start at an early age is be fing to me and I don't understand what happened to the the money you guys had such a good turnout for the beginning of the year when my children attended now it's going to be decreased by nearly half and my message is for the school system to supplement the funds that are no longer available we need to serve preschool children we're not only talking about positions for staff we're talking about not serving children Elementary 12th grade lost a lot of students to Charter Schools however prek has a weight

068list so where and why and how can we get the money back for funding thank you thank you Janette [Applause] Kosar good evening at last month's Board of Education meeting you voted to ban Student Art family photos and other images from classrooms and school grounds a few months ago seven pieces of Student Art hung in the Board of Education Center so I scratch my head and wonder what happened how ironic that last week I received an email from someone whom I have little in common with it read congratulations to the art Competition winner Morgan Ward a student at South View High School in Hope Mills North Carolina every year I'm reminded of the impressive creativity throughout our district please join me in congratulating Morgan on this achievement thanks to each student who participated in this

069year's competition any guesses who sent that to me how about if I add Morgan's vibrant artwork is a great repres presentation of her talent and will surely catch the eye of every visitor staffer and member of Congress as they pass by the US cap in the US capital every day still need a clue it's from our Republican US Representative David Rouser he then adds if you would like to visit the US capital and see our artwork in person you can schedule a tour by contacting me I will for you forward you the this email he sent to his constituents along with the picture of he and Miss Ward attached to the email I would add your latest policy Banning Student Art and forward it to him New Hanover County schools are now implementing steam science

070technology engineering art and math as it is more inclusive than stem because it allows students who are naturally more gifted in Creative subjects to feel valued and let their talents flourish here is how Einstein worded it imagination is more important than know know knowledge is limited imagination encircles the world how much imagination are you squelching transparency in your resolutions would be helpful because your policy decisions Whiplash ising the rest of us vertigo thank you your time is up Lisa [Applause] cadal good evening our child has attended new hanor County schools throughout Elementary School and after watching her struggle in school we had her evaluated and she was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade which was during Co she was placed in an IEP program starting in third grade and we started to see progress however

071in fourth grade we noticed that she was continuing to no longer make progress which we equated to a large amount of students in the IEP program due to covid and just the number of students in our school and also special education teacher ton it over we had a several um teachers that had left and had and there was not a lot of consistency in the program those last two years we had a clinical psychologists that evaluate our child recommend the Hill school back when she was diagnosed in 2021 We Tour the school thought it was a great program especially especially since she was able to stay in school with her peers and continue on however as two working parents we were not be able we would not we could not provide the transportation to and

072from both schools um we continue to monitor the growth in our School how it negatively impacted the IEP program for her during fourth and fifth grade although we loved our special education teachers we had we felt there were too many students that all had different disabilities where they needed extra support and just not enough staff to facilitate all the needs at the school she made little to no progress in fourth and fifth grade so we knew we needed to make a change as parents um we made sacrifices on our end as parents so that we could accommodate the transportation me needs applied to the Hill School we've we uh were accepted we were extremely excited about it um and then found out and excited because this would allow her to receive the support she needs

073but teachers that specialize with the experience teaching children with dyslexia and also stay with her friends and peers in the public school system then we found out the rules had changed I'm not sure exactly what happened there no one thank you your time is up okay sorry sorry Ral Michelle oh I'm so glad to be able to give you some positive news my grandson Dixon yel is one of the students who attend both the Hill school and the new Hover County Schools given his diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia the low ratio instruction of the heel WRA method has been very beneficial in helping him to move forward with excellent growth since he does not have an IEP he receives no additional academic assistance at Porter's net being a 504 student the additional instruction at the

074Hill School gives him the confidence he needs to be a successful student when he began the combination of the hill and Porters Neck in second grade he was reading at a kindergarten level at the end of second grade he scored 2.4 on reading and math showing a full 2-year growth his bog3 was well below proficiency with a percentile rank of 29% at the end of third grade in his b EOG he scored 3.4 on reading 4.0 on math and writing scores as high as fifth grade excellent growth is evident in both with a percentile rank of 72% in reading and 80 2% in math his grades in third grade were social studies 93 science 95 the reading and math instruction that he receives at the Hill School serves as a foundation for success in his

075classes at Porter neet as a retired teacher of new Handover County Schools I am an advocate of our Public School System but as my grandson's Advocate I know low ratio instruction at the Hill school provides him with tools to meet his academic and familial challenges he seamlessly transitions as he arrives at Porter's Neck and loves both schools for that reason I really hope you will approve the proposed solu resolution your thank you thank you Veronica McLaren Brown on April 18th 2023 love our children made a simple request of the policy committee revise short-term suspension policy 4351 and let the parents of 5 six and seveny old children participate in a discussion with the principal before a determination is made to suspend a child out of school 16 months later you haven't revised policy 4351 why

076is that is it because the elementary principles oppose calling K2 parents before they decide to suspend a CH a child No 3 months ago you said the principles are already calling parents is it because K2 parents oppose receiving a call from a principal before they decide to suspend a child no not one person has spoken publicly to this school board in opposition to the policy revision during the past 16 months the truth maybe is that the majority of you fear revising short-term suspension policy 4351 and putting it into writing principles will call K2 parents after the investigation is over and before they make a decision to suspend a five six or seven year old because it will maybe give have given love our children a second win but it is not a win for love

077our children when the school board votes best practices into policy it is a win for the school board our children our parents and Educators by not voting best practic practices into policy you're harming our children stop just stop willfully failing to discharge your duties to serve our children do your job revise policy 4 4351 thank you Barbara G if there's one thing that the majority of the school board has been successful at during the past year and a half it's the dismantling of public education in new Haner County that disturbs parents and the public their policies and budgets are turning our schools into places where parents will not send their children and educators will not want to work Christian nationalism is a part of a political movement whose ultimate goal is power need evidence go

078back and listen to their comments and on the battle of the books competition Banning the display of student artwork and the disbanding of the equity diversity inclusion committee for love our children it's not what the majority of the board says but what they don't say there's been no discussion about the 5.4 million that the federal government has sanctioned against our spe special education programs over the past six years due to the significant disportionate of out of school suspension for black special education students there's been no talk about this past Year's implementation of the CPS model the Alternatives being used for seclusion rooms are the 2,667 % increase in serious offenses committed by kindergarten first and second grade children the truth is some of our board members are willfully failing to discharge their duties and our

079children and the public deserve better thank you thank you Sandy is this budget season has been an absolute disaster you failed our children and staff Mr wildbore you failed to secure a simple meeting with the GOP Le Commissioners to discuss the needs of our district how pathetic that members of the same party cannot work together to solve a problem two weeks ago y'all forfeited your option to force a meeting with the Commissioners then last week the public had to listen to you whine about how you're going to have to cut staff Miss Bradford you were quoted saying this was your worst nightmare a nightmare of your own m we could have saved staff positions except the majority was too cowardly to advocate for what we needed seems that GOP is not capable of governing and

080the only thing yall are good at is being mad you spent more time being mad about student artwork being hung in our classrooms than you did collaborating with the county to save positions when you were elected in 2022 our school budget had 3,701 staff next year our budget includes 3,116 staff a loss of 585 positions or about 16% in Just 2 years meanwhile our student population has only decreased about 1% in that time you've gutted our schools they become more unsafe and staff morale has tanked just look at the staff survey and later tonight we're going to listen to you advocate for a private school versus doing your job to strengthen our own schools Miss Bradford you've not done anything to support EC students who attend new han County Schools full-time if you believe our

081district is inferior to this private school that falls on you for failing to strengthen our schools and ensuring our schools have with they need congratulations for successfully fulfilling your agenda to destroy our schools you'll be remembered as an enemy to our children our teachers and our district thank you Harriet Patricia [Applause] Madison Harriet Patricia Madison okay Peter rowt this evening there was a presentation on prek data and I hope you'll look at the PowerPoint presentation that's attached uh to your agenda the data is impressive our youngest Learners are thriving love our children supports the work of the Early Education um early childhood education department we know Head Start and NC prek focus on ways of keeping children in their programs even when there are challenging behaviors last week we learned that the New Hanover County

082Schools will not be receiving a head start grant for the next five years that's a loss of about $15 million which would have funded 15 teachers 15 teaching assistants an instructional coach family Specialists and a social worker to compound this problem Title One money was just slashed by over half a million dollars one of the consequences is there's no funding for snacks for the children these Financial changes are detrimental to our NC prek program and the hundreds of children they serve after you review this year's pre K data decide if it's worth fighting for more funds for our three and foury olds the truth is without more money next year's prek data will be disappointing make early childhood education a priority go back yes go back to the County Commissioners ask for more prek funding

083next year's threeyear olds will be in set second grade in 5 years get them the support that they deserve now thank you Mr R Loretta stack [Applause] house during the 2022 2023 school year 38 staff members received training in a collaborative and proactive solution or the CPS model for acqu re iring a more accurate compassionate understanding of a child's concerning Behavior the training cost $45,000 love our children supports the CPS model as a positive alternative to punitive and exclusionary discipline so we want to know how was the CPS model implemented this past school year did any of the schools see Improvement in the student Behavior were there few out of school and in school suspensions it seems the majority of the school board doesn't want the public to find out is that because collaborative and

084proactive Solutions doesn't align with your biblical worldview clearly reducing disruptive behavior and the subsequent out of school suspensions would make our schools safer for all students and and staff or are some of you more concerned about your power your actions suggest that you believe that honoring the re request of love our children will take away some of your power love our children is only concerned about the welfare of all our children their families and staff the truth is every school board member should have the same concern put pcps on the agenda for the August 6th school board meeting please thank you Valerie [Applause] Noel in 2022 four of you won spots on the school board in a victory that promised to undo the work of quote infer barers governing and making policy that harmed most

085importantly our children end quote this is your legacy I've been a teacher for 23 years the activities of the Board of Education and the lack of productive practical decision-making by The District in school leadership drove me out of the profession learning is not political learning is about being open to ways that are different there's a Witch Hunt atmosphere here I feel threatened and harassed by the actions of the Board of Education they are unprofessional profal and too politically driven the board as a whole spends too much time on trivial matters rather than the truly important things that schools need to be better our current board is creating and amending policies to quote fix problems that don't exist your policies are the problem when listening to the Board of Education Meetings online I'm often thinking how

086is this important to our students how's this going to make a better place for our students often I do not see how new policies or even their discussions have any relevance to making this a better environment for Learning and student achievement I feel like our board has been so focused on their own agenda that our students and staff have been pushed to the back morale is so low right now every time we turn around they're finding another way to micromanage something which sends the message that teachers or that sends the message to teachers that there's no trust the school board has created a sense of mistrust gotcha moments and animosity for most of the teachers at my school school they're not working for us it seems that they're working against us clearly teachers by some

087on the board are viewed with suspicion and downright disgust as if we are the problem not viewed for what nearly all of us are tireless people beaten down by politicians undervalued and underpaid who act with nothing but the best interest of children at heart that's a real Legacy to leave thank you Miss Noel Natasha too Natasha too good evening um I believe that everyone's aware that there's a climate survey that came out recently and it is mindblowing not very um not a lot of great things in there but a lot to take away uh let me start with some of it that's in there um 60% % that of those that took the survey do not feel that the D District leadership communicates clearly and is consistent with their staff and School administration 68 don't

088feel that this District leadership is effective in fostering a positive work environment and culture 62% believe that our District's educational expenditures are not transparent which I find very ironic considering the recent budget Fiasco uh 78% almost 80% believe that leadership is um does not believe believe that leadership is aware of what is actually going on in the classrooms and they would like to see more of all of you in there um why hasn't that happened I think that would probably go a long way let's go out with a few more other things um most of them don't feel supported by the district leadership they don't feel supported with student discipline um they don't feel valued that was probably one of the highest ones almost 80% don't feel valued they live in fear of retaliation if

089they actually raise the issues and concerns with the district policies procedures and curriculum in fact they weren't even the the input they put in on the curriculum that you bought that we've got a contract for for the next four years that $400,000 a year they didn't even want yet we're stuck with it and now we're stuck with kids who can't read and can't do math and we're wonder what are we going to do to fix it um one of the things that stuck out with me most is one of the comments that was U written in there it was like page 24 of 105 in the climate survey written um written portion District leadership has sent the message not to suspend students of color when behaviors are documented in Educator's handbook they are often changed

090to make the school look better are we serious thank you Miss that's a direct violation of 4300 up Jan Boswell I'm sorry here too John Boswell I actually came here tonight to talk about a John Hopkins University evaluation on wit and wisdom that states that the biggest problem with this program is that it does not include any phological instruction of any kind that it lacks foundational literac literacy skills and must be paired with another highquality program to get the job done and that teachers struggle to teach some of the aspects of the curriculum I just read 24 pages of your survey from May 2024 by your teachers and I think it's more important just to let you know what some of their comments were they said that wit and wisdom does not provide a well-rounded

091experience for the students it contradicts the message that our board is sending out some teachers said I feel unsure of how to teach Whitten and wisdom is not a good reading program our teachers did not want this program Wht and wisdom is a joke Wht and wisdom does not meet the needs of our students it's a complete waste of money the program is not age appropriate there are too many mature themes does not help children to read it's not kid kidfriendly these are your teachers your teacher statements are you listening thank you Jan [Applause] landro thanks for reaching out to the teachers on the climate survey as a former teacher I remember getting those surveys and feeling satisfied to know that my needs were important to the Administration and the school board your response to

092the survey will be very important I encourage you to be brave and to be humble as you take seriously the response you have received from the teachers to the survey as I read the takeaways at the end it appears that a majority of our teachers are not feeling included in important decisions especially with regard to Core Curriculum please think about what policy you will be putting in place to address this concern I'm wondering if you also noticed this plea for support with discipline one comment reflected that there is and I quote a huge lack of accountability when it comes to student behavior and this is having a severely negative impact on the culture of our schools and the majority of our students end quote with 655 comments in response to this these this questionnaire I

093believe that part of the questionnaire I believe that this concern needs your focus there is a lot to take in from the survey and I hope you will be asking yourselves the following questions what have I done in the last year to encourage and support teachers make a list what is the administration and central office doing to support teachers also what have I I done to build trust with teachers what have I done as an educational leader in this community has my focus on politics and self-preservation got in the way of my role Miss Walker your legacy to this educational Community has been taking the lead in seeing that our teachers are honored trusted and respected this survey thank you thank you um I'm going to call the two names of people that did not

094come the first time uh Germania man okay and Harriet Patricia [Music] Madison okay not seeing those we are done thank you very much thank you for everyone giving us their opinions uh they are very very valuable to us um and we will be uh definitely uh thinking about them and and really moving forward on them as much as we possibly can uh I do know that we probably need a 5 minute break um so I have uh 6:34 members if we could be back on the Das 635 so if we could be back on the dis at 6:41 e e e [Music] please board members if I can get you back please we need at least four four there's only five of us all right thank you all um for our discussion so far we

095are going to carry on with our agenda we'll give Mr mcmah just a second to get back I did fail to mention we will be having a closed session today forget I failed to mention that before we're moving on with a consens with our consensus items um Mr chair yes ma'am I'd like to pull one what would you like to let me find something to write with again what would you like to pull turn it over I would like to pull F Hometown ticketing agreement so that we can discuss cash okay there any others if not I will make a motion to accept the consensus items except for item f as provided is there a second second first and second any any further discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed

096pass 5 Z Miss Bradford item f um if I'm not mistaken I asked staff when last she say that cash would still be accepted and I believe the answer was yes but we've had enough outcry from the public saying why are you taking away cash from us being able to go to ball gam so I'd like to address it public so those of you who are concerned about this please be listening who does this go to I think jul Julie's not here we'll be here in just yeah yeah yeah yeah because I believe I Mr chair I believe I heard the same thing Kelly was here before was he all right well hurry up and wait Mr chair I believe I believe I heard the same thing that we do still accept cash so I

097think it's good to get that out there yeah Dr P can you answer that we have cash options okay Dr f is answering Here Comes Miss Farnam Miss faram we just uh had a question about item f um is there still a cash um acceptable accepted ball game ticketing cash do we still take cash um or Miss we do still I'm sorry I I missed the first part of the question so yes we do still accept cash if students are not um if they come to the gate and they they haven't gotten a ticket yet then we will accept cash at the gate and Julie I don't know if you yeah I I want to confirm that our athletic directors um are not turning students away um we don't necessarily have the mechanism to allow

098a cash option for everybody but if our students come and they only have cash we're not turning them away go ahead M uh so is that just for students because I I know that there has been some discussion and commentary from the public that said that um grandparents or um other adults that want to come view games have been turned away so can you address that yeah it it has been for students because I think we've talked this before um there would need to be a system set up that included staff um for collection of cash and then the security for that for then our financial procedures to be met so there's a it it's it's not that there can be a cash box at the gate and then that be done there are Financial

099procedures that would have to be followed with staff that do that and then the security for that and I can provide that information again that was provided before Miss Walker Oh M reford next I'm sorry so we do take cash at the ball game or we do not yes or no question so we're not turning students away if they come with cash I do not believe we are collecting that cash and if I'm 78 years old and I show up what happens it's front so there is not a mechanism for collecting cash that has been provided to our schools so students are not turned away other questions Miss Walker so okay so I'm glad we clear that because I feel like at the meeting I think we thought we were taking cash and we're not

100so I mean the students aren't turned away that's great but I think we had gotten emails about you know some maybe elderly folks that were trying to get in there I don't know how we solve this issue because I know in the past we have had this come up and we I do remember the discussion about logistically how we take cash and the security mechanism part of that um maybe the Board needs to kind of think about that and see if we can figure it out is s do you have any recommendations I believe when we looked at before there was a cost an additional cost associated with collecting cash at the gate so we can certainly um do that estimate again we've got the old estimate but I think we would need to recalculate

101with new because I'm sure prices have gone up um and we could bring that back to the board as far as the cost for collecting cash at the gate Miss Mason then Miss Walker um so my question would be was this possibility offered to the booster clubs within the schools and if not why not I'm sorry I want to make sure I understand the question the collecting of cash was that offered to the booster clubs or so so they can sell so they can sell but what about tickets that's different that's the different yes so so I think Ashley the question that she was asking so booster she said was the option offered to booster clubs mhm this is a separate boosters are a separate organization from the school district and so if they were

102to collect the cash then we would in essence be giving them that Revenue um unless they I guess they could write us a check back but we would not be able to force them to write a check back to us I we just didn't I think that's the wrong question you answer the wrong I'm sorry you the wrong question so those are two separate enti booster club has usually concession stands I'm assuming and but she's they're asking cash at the gate that's we have not explored them collecting cash at the gate okay Walker that was going to be I guess a follow-up question although we just clarified that that's different um because I know you brought up cost Associated perhaps when we talked about it before I think we were trying to figure out the

103liability issue on that maybe and the security or safety reasons why we don't take cash so could you could we still do an analysis of what it would cost probably maybe a per hour person or getting the booster club involved with perhaps doing ticket sales I don't know just explore options and I think you know there might there would have to definitely be safeguards if no matter who uses it but if we could have maybe the booster club do it and they get a whatever and then you have two people count it and all that kind of thing I mean just I know there's a lot of protocols would be needed to be put in place but miss Sutton can we can we work on that for August please thank you very much any other

104discussion on that if not um I would entertain a motion oh still have to vote on it just for f or the whole consensus F okay I move that we accept Hometown ticketing agreement as written second any other discussion not all in favor please signify by saying I I I all opposed passes 5 Z going on to policy consensus Miss Mason um at the agenda review there were some changes that had not been made to um that the policy committee had approved um so I would like to pull um prior to voting on all of them um I would like to pull 2230 um the universal committee interest form and um sorry policy it all stuck together 3440 so 2230 the universal committee interest form and 3440 okay but um removing those I'd like to

105make a motion to approve the remaining policies under consensus second second second any discussion if not all I just say there there's none are these changes were they pretty much the Schoolboard Association had recommended or they these weren't major policy changes correct the vast majority of those I believe all of those were um ncsba changes yes okay thank you okay anything else if not all in favor of everyone except the all the policies except for 2230 and 3440 please signify by saying I I all opposed C 5 Z 2 2230 Miss Mason um so the one um that I would like to that we did vote on at policy um was under B7 I believe um and it says Head Start board of directors and so it would be in parentheses when applicable that we

106need to add that was already voted on in policy so that is the change um and I can't and um inform miss kadetsky that that needs to be updated um but I wanted to make sure that we noted it because one board member had had reminded me of that um and then for p vote on that one so like to make that motion uh I I make a motion that we pass 2230 With The Changes um that I just mentioned we're applicable we're applicable when applicable when applicable is there a second second any discussion if not all in favor please signify by saying I I I all opposed passes 5 Z Miss Mason and um really the only thing for policy 3440 was just a formatting issue online um so just addressing that with Miss

107kadetsky um I make a motion that we pass 3440 um with the formatting issues fixed fixed okay second okay first and second any discussion not all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed like sign pass is 5 Z question chair I have one question please about 30 uh I know we just passed it but I think we had another board member that was um was asking the question about the univ universal application and which one had been updated that's next oh all right is that next okay sorry okay thank you Miss Mason um I would like to make a motion to um pass the univer Universal committee interest form but remove the Safety Committee under board standing committees second okay any discussion I do um Can the policy committee members explain um

108well was it put on there in the policy meeting and then weall are just removing it from this version or okay I I I guess because I haven't been to the policy meetings and I didn't know I know we are we have formed the say safy committee I did we decide whether it was ad hoc or whether that was you know is a temporary committee or is it a permanent standing committee or no oh well it says board standing committee so it's not it was yes so if we go to that policy that would be under 2230 2230 okay um we did add it under um let me work okay so standing committee so it doesn't need to be on the app saying doesn't need to be there it's just a board board members on

109this Comm correct okay correct got you thank you we have a motion and a second any other discussion if not all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed carries 5 Z we are on I believe on policies for first Reading MA um yes these were put forward by ncsba um to address uh foreign exchange students and emergency administration of none and I make a motion that we I don't move these forward for second reading second is there any questions or discussion so it's been a long time since I've done first and second reading just remind us of how that process is just 30 days and we bring it back at the next meeting and vote on it and I guess so we can hear from folks okay I don't know that we

110really need to you know to votee on it it's just it goes on to the second reading of this week yeah so okay that's just for information good thank you uh carrying on climate Comm we got to vote on it right I don't think we do because we oh right you just said that yeah I did okay okay so we'll carry on with climate committee uh and that's Miss Walker Miss Walker go for it no no no you whatever is best for you open it on your computer you can open it on your computer okay please okay um oh that's loud okay I will say this um first of all I want to thank all the staff members for participating and speaking your um speaking your voices and taking time to share what you felt

111with the board um I'm resenting the results in of the questions that were posed to staff members from the Board of Education these are not the board's opinions I will say that and to that point we did ask for honest staff opinions and we did get that um uh I would say also I'm just the messenger here um I am not like these aren't mine so um I'm going to go through these slides pretty quickly because there are a lot of them and they're really visual so um there's no way I could go through all the 150 odd pages the comments that we got there were so there two parts of this there were quantitative Parts the questions that the board asked and um they were ranked and scored and then the other ones were

112just the comments um we did a similar climate survey and two years ago and so this is kind of like a follow up on what we did back then as well done slightly different um and um it's only natural for the board to ask questions of opinions of staff and that's what we're here to do um we even have questions about ourselves so uh let's see so I'm going to go ahead and just dive in um okay hey so this is a brief timeline of what the survey went in April of 24 the board approved a survey um and then between that time that in may we got um the board members gathered questions together and we um we submitted them for the survey so the survey was launched between the 14th and the 31st

113um it was sent out to 46 schools and um reminders were sent out four times weekly and then Wednesday before it closed and then the final day of it closing um it was facilitated in coordination with the the school Watson School of Education and it's rooted in this nerdy stuff here Bowman Deal's conceptual framework of leadership um and it provided a comprehensive understanding of the district's strengths and weaknesses and enable to enable us to Target actions that we should be taking you know in support of our staff and students um so here is an initial um read out of this we ask classified and certified staff members only um like I said it was sent to the school all the schools um the respondents were 1,988 staff members um and this is a visual here

114of that the bulk of them were certified staff members and I managed to kind of pull up the um teacher total so if you look at the response rate it's over 87% response rate which I think is a very good for a survey um okay and so we did ask also how many years have you worked with the school district um that's the table and this is the visual uh 0 to five or the highest but well highest category but if you add all the other categories up we've got some really um we got some staff members that been here a very long time so that's helpful and then this we just asked how many years have you employed with the school you're currently working at and um this is the visual for that so

115so it looks like you know of all the staff members they' I I don't know what this really indicates I'm just reporting the data I'm not going to interpret this number um maybe we can ask further questions about that um okay so like I said I don't have time to go through every single question it's public information out um even the raw data this is the presentation I put together for it but um all of it's public information for people that want to look into it certainly people already have uh so here's the first set of questions um I pulled some things out that kind of stuck out to me um so overall my district is a good place to work and learn um 44% of the respondents disagree or strongly disagree with that um

116and then you know they had folks that didn't didn't have I guess were neutral on it and then 24% that did agree or strongly agree uh I'm provided with adequate resources to success this looks a little mix more mixed to me if I'm just looking at the numbers um we got some neutral folks in there too uh I feel supported by our district leadership this really did stand out as well um if you combine strongly disagree and disagree 66% disagreed I feel supported by school district with student discipline and I know we as a board have talked a lot about discipline um I really wanted to get I think a lot of us wanted to have a have an opinion of what staff members thought about discipline in the district and they did answer that

117as well we'll talk about that further on I I feel value by the district leadership for my contributions to the success of the district that again it's a very large percentage U of disagreement so I'm just breaking the questions up um I'm not going to go through I'm comfortable raising issues and concerns regarding District policies procedures and curriculum that are important to me without fear retaliation this really stuck out for me as well um when you put the numbers together um for great a degree and disagree uh there is an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect that actually is very high as well um I I'm ask for my professional opinion when it comes to my um professional developmental needs you know that that's 48 um you know y'all can read that have to keep

118read it I am asked for my professional opinion when it comes to student discipline procedures this stuck out for me as well because we are I mean I think that's part of our Safety Committee discussion is discipline um and I'm glad that staff members spoke up okay that's another set of questions District leadership communicates clearly and consistently with staff and school administrators that's pretty high as well 60% uh District leadership is effective in fostering a posit work work culture for our district that came out at 68% uh um District leadership demonstrates a commitment to professional development and growth opportunities for staff you that's a little bit it looks like a little bit more um equal but still still strongly in the disagree column okay the district's educational expenditures are transparent um this was interesting for

119me as well having just gone through budget um I think it was tricky for me as a board member to understand it all and um that I think that's what made it a lot harder to um vote on the budget this time at least for me I'll only say so I really um was hoping for you know some answers before I voted uh District leadership are aware of what goes on in the classroom this is probably the highest number that we got I mean I think that applied to us as well as board members so I will just say that but um it's important to knowe how high this percentage is leadership actively seeks and values input from staff at all levels that's pretty high as well on the disagree column District leadership effectively communicates

120the district's Vision goals and expectations the staff members um a little bit better but still very strong in the disagree column okay so the main themes that kind of stuck out I think of all the comments that we got um out of touch disconnect lack lack of support lack of respect and not feeling valued one of the comments were a prace of as uh atmosphere of distrust of professional skills has been here since this since Administration began and there are several policies from central office that are poor for students and staff policy 3,400 academic contracts I don't think we've covered that but maybe that's something we need to take a look at um and um there's a positive comment about lead teachers I think uh they're very present in schools instructional practices and make a

121positive impact with students and staff I think that's good to note as well and then this comment I think it's already been shared but I'll share it again I've worked in the district for 24 years and feel the least value trusted and supported this year um so that's all up there for everyone to see thanks um okay these are the Boe questions of course we put some in there as well um these like I said came from the board um the bo Valu is my expertise as an education professional that's pretty high um on the disagree um they positively impact my work and the climate of my school 68% disagree with that or strongly disagree um they're in touch with the realities of challenges that teachers and public schools face that is pretty high 80%

122um on the disagree un strongly disagree the Boe Works effectively to improve public schools in New H County that's on a pretty strong disagree as well um we adopt policies that are inclusive of all children that's on the high high end as well of a disagree um they work to create a positive educational climate ATT trct and retain teachers that's also very high on the strongly disagree and disagree I feel supported with student discipline by the Boe and again discipline theme come comes up as well um that's pretty high um like I said I did not do all of these we would have been here all day so um anybody that wants to know can obviously look at the data themselves and have a have a look but I I wanted to do some visual

123representations uh oh let me go back okay so the main themes leave the politics out attend to Major educational issues support Educators out of touch and include all students some of the examples I think's already talked about that today ask teachers there's so many Poli that don't make sense I think they really um they want us to come into the schools and really see the experiences that they do and maybe that will help us make decisions better um another one often it feels the board is very disconnected from what we actually are going through they are passing bills saying things they are looking out for what is best for students but they don't know anything about the students in 2024 and I wish the board was more functional and listen to teachers more I mean

124a lot of it was communication and listening and um really understanding kind of what we're doing as a board okay so this was another question question that was asked uh the Boe plays a significant role in helping the district achieves its Mission which is to provide a superior education and safe and positive learning environment where students are prepared with the skills to succeed um the answer to that I put it in a pie chart just to be different um 53% strongly disagree or disagree with that statement there was a large of large number of neutral and or strongly agree as well so that's a little bit more split but it did you know air on the 50% side of it um the main things about discipline uh and what the board can do how can

125the board support the student discipline there's a need for consequences to listen to teachers spend time in schools and create positive or consistent policies currently your hands are tied by the district seems to be the feeling of the school level in regards to the lack of consequences for toxic student behaviors there is not nearly enough staff for time to manage behavior in the way the district expects and there are no options when it comes to discipline and the intense behavioral needs of student I think we hear this a lot I heard this a lot um with the task force work and mind you we are looking at our high priority schools and that's why I I think I talk a lot about needs so um also we need to regain control of our learning environment

126there's nothing inviting about it first there's a cell phone issue I think we're going to get to that eventually with our um Safety Committee teachers cannot compete with with the cell phones they're also used to set up attacks and you know I know that's an issue I think we've had to deal with some of the video stuff uh recently as a board and then there's a mention of the 10-day absence policy it needs to be for real um I think I have gotten a lot of the comments if you read through it talk about how it's not really enforced way it should be um I.E consequences I Mr Man rings that up a lot um spend more time in schools and see the student discipline issues that teachers are facing that's an important Point um

127create more consistent policies um for actually harmful behaviors like smoking and vaping fighting disruption of classroom spaces you know um I think this is a common thing we're hearing a lot that is one of the reasons we did Safety Committee and hope we'll get to that so we had a section on curriculum this these are Ela curriculum uh questions um the highest percentage obviously there are some folks that don't even teach it so that's what you see the 50% of the above but if you just look at the other half of it a majority are wit and wisdom um folks that are you know teaching that uh and I did put it in a nice pie chart for you but anyway um you can see the large chunk of the I guess the comments are

128going to be related to wh and wisdom um here are the list of questions uh like I said I did not make a make a a graphic of all of them but I just touched on some the curriculum allows for E experiential and Hands-On learning experiences and a large uh bulk of the the teachers and be reminded like at the very beginning of the slides we had an over an 87% response rate from teachers so I just want to keep that in mind this is not I don't believe I don't believe looking at the data just a few people that are just mad I really do believe a lot of people responded to the survey and so so I mean that gives a little bit more weight to these disagrees and strongly disagrees and and

129agrees if there are there the curriculum is flexible and adaptable to meet the diverse needs of students there were a lot of comments about that as well I'm I may have get that later on but I know at least in the early grades a lot of people were like yeah this doesn't really work in the early grades um but that's that's not me saying that that's what other folks were saying people that actually teach it teachers were involved in the selection process for curriculum and their views were represented respected I mean yeah there were some comments in there as well about the process and I know we as a board approved it um I would like to probably look at what that's all about um okay so here are the main themes teacher frustration over

130curriculum selection process curriculum appropriateness teacher autonomy and flexibility I think I read a few comments about that the autonomy to kind of teach it the way adapt it to the student engagement interest alignment with standards implementation and support and cultural relevance and sensitivity I've put some of the um some of the other themes down here teacher frustration of you know they expand upon it so anybody can read that it's all online um you know and here are some more of the themes the autonomy and flexibility it goes into expand um you know what what the main themes are people that kind of brought out the discussion on the ELA curriculum uh implementation and support it's all there um okay so we went to the math curriculum as well it so shows here over 50% don't

131do that so I'm assuming the other ones are teaching the English but these are all the programs that are there for Math and you can see it in the pie chart here a lot of them are Eureka Math um so here's the list of questions um and it was on the scale and all the percentages that go with it so these are look a little bit more balanced I think curriculum allows for Teacher autonomy this looked very mixed um you know obviously Air's a little bit higher on the disagree but there were a lot of people that were neutral on it and a lot of people that agreed that it did uh allow for autonomy so that's that's something curriculum is flexible and adaptable to meet the diverse needs of students again you know I

132I imagine because it's math um it's a little bit less U you know the reading curri is different in that way um but I think obviously too you're going to have to teachers will have to adapt to the student you know themselves and their kind of level of um understanding teachers were involved in the selection process for this curriculum this was a lot more mixed as well um but still still pretty high a lot of neutrality there so main themes alignment with standards Effectiveness and rigor teacher autonomy again that theme comes up support and training time constraints and diverse needs um I think diverse needs come to you know if we look down here if I can see that hold on let me see um no but anyway um a lot of the comments kind

133of reflect that you have students on different levels of learning and maybe perhaps that is what the the challenge is to teaching these this curriculum um okay so additional feedback these themes indicate a need for more teacher involvement in the curriculum decisions greater flexibility in alignment with state standards and sufficient professional development and support for Effective implementation and also teachers highlight the need for better alignment with State Standards I guess I may did I say that already um fewer strategies to reduce confusion more time for small group instruction and concerns over the curriculum's rigor and relevance um here's a few of the comments Eureka Math is not aligned to how our students are tested in North Carolina I find it to be very frustrating to be forced to teach the curriculum when I know that

134what students need to be successful but then there's a positive comment as well I've been impressed with r math as a curriculum that reflects NC maath standards material was written to challenge and engage students at all levels I guess that kind of explains the The Divide there um it's some say it's too advanced for the low achieving lower achieving students even some on an above grade level struggle and it's another scripted curriculum which you know that's a theme as well I didn't put that up there um we are not involved in the process we're just told what we were we are using teachers need ample time and training to incorporate new curriculums etc etc and then there's a comment about Desmos you know I I don't know know this curriculum so I'm just reading what

135is put up there or what is um offered to us okay so I I know I'm kind of flying through this we I'm 25 minutes so I wanted to make sure there was time for discussion if we wanted to but key takeaways with leadership um that kind of popped out the disconnect and distrust um the top- down mandates lack of training and support leadership issues and resource mismanagement um so the suggestions you know and obviously these are just suggestions if we have more we can definitely discuss it increased engagement obviously empowerment and Trust um comprehensive training transparency and communication and focus on education not politics that was a common theme too uh key takeaways for the Boe are political influence strong sentiment that you know we're heavily influenced by agendas which negatively impact educational decisions

136um they felt there was a lack of support they fell un supported by by us as a board particularly regarding student discipline and resource allocation um and of course they said poor decision- making we criticized for decisions that seem out of touch with classroom needs and for not adequately considering teacher feedback suggestions reduce our political agendas enhance our support and involve teachers in decision- making and that is definitely a common thing on both levels of the um the sections of the um survey um for the curriculum key takeaways that it's scripted curriculum issues they feel that it limits their ability to tailor instruction to their students needs um and in adequat resources and support um they're complaining about a lack of resources for effectively implementing the curriculum suggestions would be the the flexibility allow them

137to be a little more flexible provide adequate resources and then get them in the feedback and adjustment process um you know and I think I I always felt that we should do that I think it's very smart to assess programs instead of you know going on in maybe we can do some piloting um so takeaways are lack of effective implementation and disconnect from classroom realities that's also a common theme um so suggestions would be obviously again training programs alignment with the classroom needs and continuous Improvement um establish a feedback loop where teachers can share their experience and suggest improvements for math curriculum um okay so overall I think I I I don't know the these I guess this kind of borders on my opinion but I felt like that it was pretty troubling the findings

138um with imp uh implications for leadership and direction of the both the board and District leadership um takeaways I will say include Educators important decisions and when it comes to curriculum Educators need to be meaningfully included in curriculum decisions instead of just passively uh any changes should be piloted and assessed and data should be gathered and reviewed from students and teachers like we all should do when to find the effectiveness of the programs um and then make this climate survey a yearly occurrence I think that's the way we're going to be able to really gauge you know how we're doing um oh that might be all that might be it won't go any further okay so we're back um I know some people touched on this in their call to audience um I don't know

139if anybody's got any questions it was pretty self-explanatory I think well I I'd like to first off thank you for you know kind of leading leading the charge on this I think it is very eye openening uh not in a positive way but in very eye opening um but I've had some ideas obviously had some time to reflect on this um one thing I would like to suggest and this is early for this but um you know is maybe takeing we have two Town Halls left um and we um could take one of them and make an educator only Town Hall I think I mentioned that to a couple folks not the time to discuss that but that's a thought and the second thing is and I I'm going to raise my hand and say

140one thing that I I I found very positive in that is the fact that the Educators want us in the classrooms they want us to go out there and see it and I when I first got on this board I did a fairly good job of that and I have not been doing as good a job so I'm going to say that I'm going to make sure that I'm in every single School uh within you know within the first um you know whatever four or five months uh of the school year this this year uh I had a former uh you and I know that's not the end all be that's not going to fix everything but at least we'll be hearing and I got to tell you I talked to a very wise person

141the other day and they said you know listening is great you know we hear call the audience that's wonderful but listening and doing are two different things and so uh I'm definitely going to be working on both parts of that listening and doing so and I'm just speaking for myself I'm not speaking for the board but I am going to say that I'm going to do my very best and I do thank that very wise person uh who said you know listening is good but doing is is even better so I'm going to be working on that I've talked to one young lady already about trying to do something that they asked for so we're going to I'm going to I'm going to try my best that's awesome that's great I know we got some

142anything else that probably do feel the same way but yeah you want you got anything to say yeah anybody no okay ites it does kind of speak for itself honestly there are a lot of brck brck yes um one of the things that really surprised me was that teachers had no idea how concerned we are with discipline and safety it has been we've been beating that drum as a seven-person board well mostly um the safety safety safety safety discipline discipline and we haven't gotten anywhere and it's very frustrating to me that it it on our you know our hierarchy it's in the one and two academics and safety academics and safety and yet we haven't gotten anywhere so we finally had a vote to have a Safety Committee and we've broken up into little teams

143and now we can actually do something so for me the first thing I want to do is get face Toof face with teachers um in our teams and then come back and Report um the for those who who brought up the cell phones we are working on that we have been working on it that's task to our team we've been working on that you're going to see a presentation next month on that and hopefully we will move forward but that surprised me I think the trickle down of information is not as good as it could be we rarely talk about what we're doing that's good we're constantly focused on the negative again I brought up curriculum in the budget process and to see all those comments and to know that we are tied into this

144curriculum for four more years and what the teachers said they don't like it it's it's not age appropriate and so on there's just we're going to have to do something so you're going to see me bring a measure to say let's form a curriculum committee of board members because right now I'm the liaison to the curriculum committee but I don't do anything I don't have any voting power we don't we we meet four times a year we need a monthly curriculum committee made up of board members who have an action plan and we get face Toof face with teachers talking about curriculum and see what we can do about what appears to be a big mess to me and a big Financial mess on top of that um and those are the things that popped

145up yeah you know we got some criticism not too long ago to take our salaries oh you have no idea it's like $6 an hour what we get paid take our salaries and our insurance which we have none and use that to pay for teachers so the disconnect between what our job description is here and what we're supposed to be doing if they're 45 46 schools and there's 52 weeks in the year you're in one school a week and a couple of weeks of vacation so the the idea that we can do that is is is lofty um again as Mr wildor said we started out really good we're in the classrooms but then we get bogged down with all of this other things we'll call it and so yeah we have to recommit to

146get into the schools and get face to face but we were told on our um what's that word where we we were told when we first got elected you don't go shop at a school and visit you have to go through the central office and make an appointment and so on and now we've learned that that may be the rule but that's not the way we're going to do it so we were handicapped in the beginning by rules that we couldn't just go visit then we've been told by S by the principes and the assistant principls and the teachers come and visit any time so you'll see you'll see a change in that and um I'm really appreciate every single teacher that filled this out those of you who didn't I feel I feel badly

147that your voice wasn't heard um this has been the most eye opening best thing we've done in a year and a half since I've been on this board and I'm really pleased that we did it yeah did you want share go ahead Hugh are you oh it's Melissa I'm sorry I'm looking at him I don't know why I'm looking at you I apologize I just wanted to say um kind of reiterate what has been said thus far and and just say thank you for push like putting this in front of us and saying let's do this again um I think that was a really uh great idea um hearing the voices of the teachers was definitely eye openening and for me also um I I do go into some schools but I don't go into

148all schools so really hearing that they want us in there um makes me more motivated to set foot in all of them yeah definitely yes sirse I really appreciate that everyone is saying they want to listen and they really appreciate the input and they're taking it to heart but I must add the the one thing I haven't heard anyone say so I'll say it for you is let's take the politics out of what we're doing in the school system the control of the board are developing policies I assume you're not having teacher input or principal input the very thing that jumped off the page about this survey and so if we do that maybe we can all come back and start over and do what's best for all of our students and all of our

149teachers and all of our schools and not what politically I I was elected for to just let's talk well here we go I couldn't stand it when we ban books see that that gave it away you're not paying attention to the survey when we ban books when you tell teachers what they can post in their room or not in the hallways unless it has something to do with the United States of America or North Carolina well how about something to do with all those kids and all their parents please absorb what this survey is trying to say to us but I think your body language is answering the question I'm sorry that's my 10 cents worth can I I would like to add a comment at the end I know I pretended I've talked a

150lot but um I would like to say I'm glad we did this I think it shows at least for us as a board these came from us these questions even the Board of Education questions and I think that um this was an opportunity for staff unlike the last one for them to actually answer honestly um the thing that stuck out for me also was the fact that they're very concerned with retaliation and and the fact that they could answer in in honest way as they can in such great numbers let's just point out like I I I did the math I'm not like terrific at it but 8 over 87% of certified teachers answer the survey that's not one or two people mad about something that is a collective group of people and it was

151pretty strong so I would just like to say again that I appreciate it and I really hope we as a board absorb this and take action in whatever that looks like and some of us is going to be you know visit schools more which I think is very important because people want I guess they want to feel like we are listening but it's not just about listening them here it's about actually you know being a part of it um we visited in the past but honestly like having time to really absorb what goes on in classrooms and and include them um and um I don't know I think what we should do um next steps for this is really kind of pull some of the themes out and see if we can follow up because

152I know we did want to years ago and it was good to do it at the same time I don't think anything was really done with it so I think that's just my suggestion but again I I would appreciate the staff like taking the chance of of of giving their opinion and sharing it with us and I really want us to take this a step further and really do some concrete actions to help staff because it's clear they're struggling it's clear they feel the way they feel and um if we don't do anything about it that's going to be bad I think people are going to want to leave and they don't want to stay here and that's going to be bad for our students so we're a student focus group I hope and anyway

153I won't keep on but any other questions or concerns anybody wants to bring up anybody else um yeah I would just like to say that I would appreciate it if someone would bring me a list of the books that we have banned because that false narrative out there is very hurtful for the school district we haven't banned books and that's a false narrative and it needs to be corrected so somebody bring me the list of all the books that we this board have banned I'd like to see it please now it's just just the one right it's just the one that we we did this hearing on it actually wasn't banned okay so okay well um maybe we can bring that back on the agenda for discussion all right thank you Mr Walker appreciate that

154we will carry [Applause] on excuse me my voice is starting to go here but we're going to carry on with our next bit of business which is policy 7300 and 3200 um I'm going to just say on the front end that you know I've talked to a lot of folks I've heard from a lot of folks um I actually talked to the uh previous U I don't know if she was previous or maybe two times ago uh Direct director uh art director for the county she called me up she's a very good friend of my wife's and she said you know oh my goodness you guys have gotten rid of Art in schools why have you done that um and that was a good question we had a long talk we talked about the fact

155and I mean I'm not a one that that if if it's not clear that's why I asked I actually sat down with Miss Mason Dr F and I said you know we really need to bring this back on uh and discuss it again because um we didn't do a very good you know I I'll say we did not do a very great job making things clear so um I'm going to turn it over to miss Mason let her start kind of go through the policies and hopefully there'll be a lot of clarity brought uh during this time uh Mr mcmas even just mentioned you know getting rid of all the art um so we I think we need that Clarity Miss Mason thank you um as uh Mr wbore just mentioned I did sit down

156and have a conversation with Dr f and Mr wbore um regarding this and so uh just to provide more clarity for uh the district and the community in general um I did a little bit of my own digging on definitions and on what um what this looks like and so as far as displays the question keeps being asked over and over again what is a display what is a display so the definition that I found was the multiple times was a display as a collection of images objects or other items that that have been arranged for people to look at and engage with and as it pertains to um classrooms oh I closed that tab well we'll just keep going um and as so then we talk about curriculum curriculum as defined is the expectations

157for what will be taught and what students will do in a program of study it includes teacher made materials textbooks and National and state standards curriculum is the gather information that has been considered relevant to a specific topic also another definition is the courses offered by an educational institution and if you go on to um the new hanor County website under divisions instruction and academic accountability and Elementary secondary educationc course catalog you can see all of the curriculum that we teach which includes Student Art the reason that we took out that verse was because it was Superfluous we had already mentioned it in C it was already in curriculum because we do have art classes um there it is to be included under curriculum okay and and I will I'm I'm going to jump in

158next you know when I looked up the word and I know a lot of board members looked up the words and stuff but display is to make a prominent exhibition of something in a place where it can easily be seen so even talking about you know family I had one wonderful um person that was actually up here just a while ago came to me and said does that mean I can't have a picture of my family on my desk well is that is that you when you walk into a classroom do you see a small picture or a picture on a desk I would say no that's not something that you would see so that is not necessarily display but I would like to have it clear and if that means we put words back

159in to make it clear let's put the words back in let's make it as clear as we possibly can that you know uh uh you know a art you know I was an elementary principal and art is not just in art class art is in kindergarten art is in third grade art is you know art is everywhere kids draw a lot of students you know represent what they do so much better in in in the form of art than they do in the form of writing you know some don't some do some do great on both think about book reports you know what's what what always is on the cover of a book report art somebody draws something you know I think back to kindergarten not mine cuz it was 112 years ago but I

160mean back to the schools uh where I was principal at and they had you know the whole family thing where the child Drew pictures of his his or her uh family and and all that kind of stuff their dog that's all part of curriculum at least the way I would interpret it but again I'm not against putting the word Student Art back in if that clears things up and makes people feel better and makes it clearer for folks you know you know you know then let's put it back in let's put that in let's put Family Photos back in I don't think anybody has a problem with I I know I can't say speak for anybody but I don't have a personal problem with any you know a teacher should have an area that they

161can look and say hey there's my spouse there's my children maybe they dog whatever you know I don't think that that's there there's a problem with that I mean that's who they are and that's a good thing so other board members Miss Walker well I I was not a board member that was a fan of this this amendment to this policy I I I would I would personally like to just see it taken out I don't I I don't really know exactly I I mean I went to the policy committee I saw all the stuff was added back in I wasn't happy with the emergency temporary part only because I didn't feel like it was an emergency and then um then I wasn't at the meeting you know because of my husband I I wasn't

162at the meeting where everything was removed so I didn't really get to see the whole process between time moving in moving things out I noticed now there's no art in here that bothers me greatly because if the intention was not to limit art that's not what's happened and I think if you know if um if if it's going to be strictly enforced that's a problem I personally would like to see it just struck strucking out I mean I don't think I'm going to get the votes for that but I would like to just have this whole whole thing removed I don't see the point I don't see what it's really I don't see a problem with people displaying I just don't see the problem I guess the problem has not been brought to me of

163why it's there why it has to be included there there's speculation that that has come to me that it was based on the fact that it was pride month coming up I don't know if that's true all I know is I just think when we just over and we just heard the survey if we're we're not getting input um well the input I actually did get from a lot of teachers was it was very upsetting to them and that was across the board across the political Spectrum a lot of teachers are very upset and Confused by it didn't know what they were supposed to do um and I just think we just should remove it that's my opinion M Walker Mr mcmanis why was the necessary what was the need for this policy can you

164give me examples of why this policy was even driven Mr MCM I I can I actually I can you and I were on the dis and and I don't want to mention not the Das but at at a graduation uh we both saw one student come up and and what he was going to to do and I personally don't think that was an appropriate thing that and I don't want to mention what school it was but you and I were on that di you remember that yes but I worry about the depth and the scope and the width of this policy okay it's not just that M I don't see anything that's ancient about a administrator of a school's responsibility to dictate what happens how they handle discipline how how they handle teachers how they

165handle parents their expectations again reflected from the survey I visited a lot of schools but yet we're sitting on the dis trying to make decisions of what will happen in that school every school is an individual Community what we've done is we've totally destroyed our teaching staff for fear of some type of free percussion if they just do something wrong why should that even be brought up why should we be even talking about this the principal's responsible for what happens at your school not us we don't go into a school I've never have I don't know if I don't think anybody hasn't complain to Dr F about something about a principal or a teacher I don't say that's my job then to support let them know we care about them so we support them but

166these policies are just creating so much negative ity and I noticed when we looked at the survey I meant to write it down when you look at as the years grow in new han County the percent of teachers with longevity becomes less and less that's a message I don't care who looks at it that's a message and we're part of that what we don't need these policies thank you sir yes sir I will reiterate what Mr wildbore chairman wildbore said um you know that Friday night I was at a graduation and I thought did I miss it did I miss it but at another school that same Friday night we had a student attempt to unfurl a flag that could have caused some sort of Riot situation that was the whole point of the policy

167bringing it in the beginning but since then there has been so much so many people talk about the politics of this they only talk about the four of us as politics they don't talk about the other side of the politics and so much of that has been so veracious there has been so much push back on something that put should have been pretty simple pretty easy to understand it was only a few sentences and it was to level the playing field in the schools and on the ball fields and and everywhere so that everyone's represented and not one ideology was having a field day and the other ideology was left out so activism has no place in our schools and it doesn't make any difference if the activism is your personal activism or your culture

168your political ideology it needs to be left at the schoolhouse door we're here to teach children how to think not what to think and if what you need if what you need on the wall doesn't do that then maybe your career path needs to be questioned if all you care about is the activism of your ideology being displayed on the walls then then there's a problem and I didn't realize the problem was nearly as big as it is but the push back has been severe that maybe there's more activism going on in the classrooms than we thought there was because that wasn't that I mean nobody went after something like that but this is pretty basic you know we're talking about the American flag now if you're anti-america you're not going to want the American

169flag on the wall if you're anti- state of North Carolina you're not going to want the state of North Carolina flag on the wall and so on down the list um you know the school name and the mascot postsecondary institutions School sponsored events sponsorships and the approved curriculum but if you have to give me the five-page list of things like well can we have a plant can we have a lapel pin then you are either not comprehending the written word or you're wanting to push your ideology one of the two that was the reason for this and I stick by it family pictures you can have their F you can have 20 family pictures on your desk it's not a display well that might be 20 but if they're all wearing a sweatshirt that has

170the Nazi symbol on it then we're probably going to have a problem if I could ask all the sidebar conversations going on right now to please quit know if you'd like to have a sidebar conversation please go ahead and step outside the door and have that sidebar conversation uh Miss Walker so I I I'm only going to push back a little bit and I'll I mean obviously I'm going to try to be as respectful as possible but the the originally when this policy came it was not it was not on the agenda it was it was given to us as an emergency temporary but but at the same time I think my question to our our former attorney was did you know about it I think that what bothered me especially was I almost felt

171like we were hijacked a little bit by this policy um discussion and clearly other board members knew about it before some did some did and some didn't and our attorney knew about it and I didn't that was the first thing and I was trying to understand the whole emergency situation now I think there's a lot of ways that we can view activism um I certainly I'm not bringing a policy forward to to make it a bigger thing for certain Flags I'm just letting it be the the activism in my opinion is putting policy in that kind of pushes someone else's idea of what activism is and so I just feel like the activism to me is is making you know making policy that is trying to stop other folks um the stuff was always displayed

172American flags are always displayed North Carolina's it's not as if we weren't doing this already to assume that we're we don't love America because we don't support this I mean it's already there I I I I do a I do that every every you know I did it growing up as a kid so I'm not I'm not suggesting that that has got to be removed what I'm suggesting is why do we have to even have this policy I don't see the problem with activism I have not seen it myself I don't think the board members have been um bombarded with emails about it so I just think to make an action like this under the guise of it being a temporary emergency thing in the beginning was kind of to me disingenuous and I kind

173of felt the timing was weird um but you know and I'll but I'll just go back to the um the push back that we've been getting and and the feedback I've been getting from teachers that have been very concerned about it and like I said this is across the spectrum is the political Spectrum this has not been from just one side or the other and I don't like to look at it like that I understand we have to run with a party but at the same time when you get elected you're supposed to serve everyone so I just feel like that that's how I feel about it I would like to see this struck but if not I would like to see a motion that at least add some of these things back in um

174if that's the compromise we have to make then let's do that that's how I feel because it's really confusing for staff and it's really upsetting so so were you making a motion there well I mean you had brought forward your idea because if I make a motion will be to to get rid of this this part ey and I don't honestly feel like I have the you know I'll make the motion to just eliminate part I of this the this policy here I just need a second oh well of the two P we really started with this one correct both okay they both have the same verbage well okay then this one's um 7300 part a uh I guess part I is part A Part I I would like to eliminate that from that and

175then the 3200 um hold on I have to open it up which would be oh thank you c um wait I can't see it in C which part in C is that I don't have it in front of okay end of C end of C okay so I'd like to have those both removed I just need a second second okay further discussion res said at all all right here no further discussion I you know I think I I'm going to go back to what I said before I'm going to we'll vote on what you said definitely Mr Walker but I think you know maybe compromise putting those words back in there cuz I think I want to make it as clear as possible I do like that idea that you had as far as doing

176that but let's go ahead and vote on this first unless there's other discussion Miss buy would you please call the RO pan out here would you please call the role this is to strike those to paragraphs totally M Bradford no Miss Walker yes Mr W no Mr mcmanis yes and Miss Mason no okay that fails would you like to make a another motion maybe no I think you should make that Mo since you brought it up okay and I'll make a motion that we add back in to make it perfectly clear for folks Student Art um it to both of those two sections Student Art um International Flags I think was in it originally and Al Military Flags I don't think says it in here so I want to put military Flags in and family

177photos is that uh is that what is I'll second that second first first and second discussion Mr Bradford Mr chairman the way you have proposed this you're okay for teachers flying the Israeli flag in their classroom but not any others you're okay with them flying um you know the Russian flag in their classroom but not any others when you add international Flags you open it up to the flag of everybody out there that has a state or a country and you need to think that through of what you're opening that can of worms up to you open it up to activism for the flag of the country that's why that was the intent to take make it more neutral and support who we are as Americans and so I won't support your additions I would

178make a motion to amend that to take International flag out I'll second that chair okay oh so there's second first and second for the amendment to strike International Flags but leave everything else in Miss Walker discuss okay so yeah I have I have a couple points I know I guess we've got an amendment here now but like I do I mean this is look obviously my opinion but I do not believe having flags of other nations means you worship those flags of other nations it's clear that the policy and or the procedure since I've been a kid is that we um we you know we do we every time we do the you know we we still do the flag we do you know I don't know why I'm not thinking of what it is

179what is it called please stop thank you very freaking much okay we do the Pledge of Allegiance I'm like brain a survey brain um we do that anyway we already do that that is just because you have you know a flag I mean it I guess in the policy it talks about curriculum are you are yall saying that you know I mean you have a history class you have and I think some brought up steam like we put art in there as well as it applies to countries or you know we want to learn about other cultures like in elementary and we can't put a flag up it just does not make any sense that we don't allow that I don't think what's going on in our district are people putting up Russian Flags or

180Israeli Flags everywhere I just I don't for me I don't see that I don't see the supposed activism I just don't see it and that's why I think even in the beginning I was just concerned this temporary emergency policy was was really over nothing cuz you know you know we might have an incident here or there but you know that's our country that's America that's why we have free I mean that's why we have free speech and that is that is honoring the Constitution um and and I think maybe it should be a case- by casee thing if some incident should occur but to ban International Flags does not make sense this country I mean I don't have to I shouldn't have to say this but I think most of us are are immigrants here

181our family has been in the past and you know I just don't know I don't I don't feel like that honors our our heritage in our country that we're it's going to just not even look at flags of other nations so but I did want a second part on that um the social media aspect of it at some point we need to address that discussion here as well because I know um I know a post was was taken down not too long ago and and displays was used as a reasoning for that so I I we need to cover that at some point okay let's go to miss Mason um as it uh you mentioned steam you mentioned um other languages those are part of curriculum so those would fall under that if there is

182a book report about um the history of Germany and there's a flag in the book report obviously or in the presentation obviously those are part of curriculum um my definition of display does not separately my definition of display does not include social media posts so I don't know why that was the reasoning given rord and I I would agree with everything Miss Mason just said um you know we we talk about being proactive and reactive and it's okay to just wait and be reactive when it suits whatever your side of something you're on I would prefer to be proactive in this the world is getting a little bit more dangerous every week I don't want disagreements in our classroom between our students that come from this country and those who come from that country I

183do not want to see that happen and then have to be reactive to it I want to be proactive to it so that we don't have a problem on a ball field we don't have a problem on a bus and we don't have a problem in the classroom thank you Mr chairman Mr mcis did you have I'm sorry can I stop just for one second sir I'm sorry again we have a lot of folks disuss some things out there please if you do want to talk to somebody please step outside Mr mcmanis I'm sorry so we're going to cut off TVs we're not going to allow anybody to express their feelings about I mean if I'm Jewish I can't fly a flag from Israel yeah I mean I can't you you are very outspoken understandbly

184about your religion can we not talk about religion in a classroom there are times when all of those things may be appropriate or they may give someone a chance to vent a little bit and that's part of what we do with education is allow kids to learn by discussion and sometimes to not argue but make sure that they challenge each other in their beliefs and understanding that's part of Education folks we don't have to agree but we have to provide the opportunity I I just I think actually you're slamming the First Amendment and I hope to guide somebody sue you that's I understand I think somebody is believe it Miss Walker thank you sir um I guess I guess a follow-up question would be where does it end like um to my colleagues point about

185it being curriculum then what is the problem I mean you know I mean that just assumes that any teacher can make some curriculum up about a flag and display it so that just tells me if it's that easy why even limit it in the first place but the secondly you know where does it end and that's what concerns me this country is as far as I know free and we have a constitution and I take it pretty seriously First Amendment right um that does not mean that we've got to turn around and be horrible about it but again I don't see any instance of that happening um and if it is I mean prove it to me I just don't see it and I'm worried this is a slippery slope and I don't know where

186it's going to end if we keep limiting limiting and limiting before you know it I mean we we as a majority whatever that looks like in whatever time at that is is we're going to be making all these these rules up and I just don't know that that's our job to do that honestly not this far I think this takes it a bit far he we have a thank you Miss Walker we have an amendment which would strike the uh International Flags a second uh Miss Buie would you this is only for that section uh the amendment please call the rooll Miss Bradford yes Miss Walker no Mr W can you come back to me please Mr R mayus no Miss Mason yes M yes all right so we have the original motion in front

187of us us with that stricken uh that talks about military Flags talks about art Student Art and talks about family uh would you please call unless there's other discussion would you please call the role yes is the board going to decide what the definition is that they're going to accept for display because when we look at the word display that's to um place or to spread I'll say something for an item for people to see okay so we display so when the um if it's on a bus if it's on a computer screen it's on a website that's ours that's a display according to the definition that I know of but I need the board to give a definition so that there's no um interpretation about what the the word display means and where we

188will find the word display okay well I think we should vote on that so I'm going to make a recommend ation and we can discuss it and if you don't like it we'll go to a different one but the the the um definition that I was that I found I think the best one is make a prominent exhibition of something in a place where it can easily be seen so that's again we've already we're already going to add in the family anyway can you say it again please make a prominent exhibition of something in a place where it can easily be seen Mr chair is it appropriate to comment now or yes go ahead I I do read this this is in this looks like it's from the O Oxford English Dictionary as a verb

189um to the point about making it the actual display itself and got I hate that I'm even doing this but it does bring up electronic device for visual presentation and to the point um that was made earlier about that post that was removed I don't know why it was removed I felt like it was an appropriate post and it is important if it's if display is something that is used as a reason to take it down I think we need to address it again because to Dr F's point and we have folks have to be clear I don't like the fact that these art this artwork was taken down I picked that artwork last year and I think they're beautiful and I don't know why they're taken out I just to be correct we need

190to that right there is is when you display something you you you're it's an exhibition you're you know exhibiting something maybe so so again would you are you uh offering a second or a better definition M Walker um and you like Sam mine mine doesn't have to be the well all all I'm saying is I think that is the what I'm looking at on the screen here is a is a an Oxford English Dictionary word what the verb display means to actually do the display um you know as aoun it's a performance show or event this is in the same vein and it's also an electronic device for visual presentation I just feel like I'm I don't like the thing at all so I mean I'm probably not being very helpful here and I apologize

191um display I guess that's the that's the one we should go with exhibit show um but we do need to talk about the the maybe we can get advice from our legal council too maybe that's that's where we are here okay and I think that's not a bad idea yeah gentlemen read the same okay Mr chair Miss Miss Walker had a definition he Excuse Me Miss Mason Vice chair Mason whatever has another definition I'd like to hear it again please uh display is a collection of images objects or other items that have been arranged for people to look at and engage with the only reason I you know it goes back to the family but we're adding family back in but you know if if I have you know my whole family sitting here and

192that's a collection and that wouldn't be necessarily something that so you know if somebody walked in the door they would that would be an exhibition or display really I don't think or I don't know well if you add Family Photos back in well that's what I'm saying it covers it this is a collection of okay all right so which I mean which of those two why don't we vote so um I'll make a motion that we use make a prominent exhibition of something in a place where it can be easily seen as a as a display uh is there a second for that definition I'll second it okay first and second any other discussion on that and if that doesn't pass we'll go for another one all in FA well let's say all in make

193a prominent exhibition of something in a place where it can EAS it can be easily seen where it can be easily seen are we putting this in the def in the policy itself or why are we voting if I mean I think it's just that Dr F would like to have a working definition yes there's no ambiguity right okay all in favor of that definition please signify by saying I I I all opposed no no okay so that passes three to two um so carrying on to the original motion and that is to add back in um you do that uh Student Art family photos and Military flags at this point all uh let's Miss buy would you please call the role Miss Bradford would you reread it one time sir yes sir uh it's

194to take the policy as it is now but to add in military Flags to add in family photos and to add in Student Art so that it's very clear that Student Art is and hopefully we'll be back up on the walls are we not going to address the um Social Media stuff or we we don't care about that that's not a display well I I think that needs to go back to to policy for for the definition that's going to be my my motion after this okay so okay Miss buoy so that's just to add in military Flags uh Student Art and family photos Family Photos thank you um back in Miss buly please call the role okay Miss Bradford we'll skip Miss Walker thank you skip um yes Mr wbore yes Mr mcmanis absolutely

195Miss Mason put you picture on your family damn yes and back to miss Bradford yes okay so that passes 5 z uh I would like to make a further motion that we take um the public what would you say uh what's what I want social social media posts and and bring that back to policy for further discussion is there a second so we're not doing policy from the DI can you um is there a specific policy that it would be under are we going back to this these two yes I would say these two so you want to send these back to just just that for that for for that discussion on social do you want a definition of social media as a display yes well exactly I'd like to see Miss Walker what what

196did you say before about social media so I I was just bringing up the fact that a post was removed the pride post was removed and I don't know why that was removed and if it is considered a display that needs to be that needs to be defined because I think to some folks it does mean a display and I was not in favor I didn't know that happened and I was really um kind of upset about it because I felt like it was disrespectful to put a policy that was clearly acknowledging our lgbtq plus folks and for it to be removed a few hours later was very disturbing to me based on whatever excuse it was whether it was display or not I don't know but if we're going to be clear about displays

197let's go please let's go ahead and get that over with and so it's in policy and no one has to worry about whether they're violating why please so I we have a motion but we do not have a second so it's kind of floundering out here I made a motion to send it back to P to P just that section to have a clear definition of social media posts is there a second no okay then that dies well the only reason I say only reason I like I'm not saying it because I really don't want it just to go any further I don't like this policy anyway all right but I just don't think that our stash should be directed to take things down just for for any reason if it's not rooted in policy

198and I would rather it not you know they not be directed to do that in the future so that's I'm just stating that out loud all right thank you ma'am thank you very much we're going to carry on um I do appreciate that very robust discussion on that uh life act that was Miss Mason Miss Mason please um this has been brought forward to us by Community member um there has been information shared that um we can get these without spending District money and so I am going to make a motion that we place life back into our into the New Hanover County Schools I'll oh W I think MCM got second I heard him he's louder read my mind yeah okay we got a first and second all right first and second discussion on

199life vac Miss Walker so um oh unless Miss B want's to going first since she brought the policy did you want to go first okay um I will say that um we've heard a lot about this and um I just feel like if it's no cost of the district and if it's something we can get train on on online and I feel like it is um it's going to be beneficial to our district I'm not sure I have any reasons why not to vote for it um so I I guess I just want to put that out there I guess if we pass this tonight we're going to have to work out how the implementation works in the future as well um I don't know if we have to do that now though Mr mcmah

200my askest you make sure everybody understands what that does what theice what it does real simple so life vac was brought forward by a citizen um to assist with students who may be choking and um we individuals cannot perform uh the himl maneuver on them and so it's a safe way of removing whatever is choking um a student or even an adult um from its location I guess is the simplified way of explaining it yeah okay that's what it is all right we have a motion and set you sure I didn't hear you um it's a no-brainer I have friends in wheelchairs it's a no-brainer I don't know why it's had so much resistance but I am happy to vote for it tonight and I just want to point out uh just was reminded that

201we have about an hour left an hour left so um you know we're right on time but we don't have a lot of extra time if that doesn't mean we shouldn't fully discuss this okay um so we have a motion second any further discussion all in favor of accepting and moving forward with light back as long as it's free uh please signify by saying I I I all opposed carries 5- Z carrying on to new Handover High School Miss uh Walker yes I would I okay I wanted to say I think it is beyond yes please come up to the podium thank you these are The Advocates um a lot of us have already met with them at Handover and they have done a fantastic job um talking about the issues at Handover and I

202you know and I hopefully I let y'all know I was part of a um um an interview regarding New Hanover High School um talking about my experience at Hanover when I was went there in the late 80s early 90s and how the state what state it was in then um you know I found a lot of information um from this great group that talked about you know we had an assessment done in 99 I know Eddie's talked about that as well and we have not paid you know a question was posed to me in that interview why do you think New Hanover has not gotten the attention and I could not answer that I'm gon be honest with you I um I think it's a great school obviously I'm a little biased at the same

203time I just think we as a board are obligated to elevate this conversation especially I think think we don't need a sugarcoated anymore new han needs attention now and I think we and we've just had budget discussions but I'll also say that you know even though our County Commissioners are not obligated to us operationally they are for our buildings and so they need to understand the importance I know their conversations have been had but I invited them here tonight to present to us and we need to have a robust discussion um I will have a motion afterwards but I would love for them to just go ahead and give a presentation why don't we let them go ahead and what I me then we'll have questions and answers ma'am ladies thank you so much for

204being here thank you thanks to everybody my name is Alison morder and I'm here with Cassie Rumple we co-founded the advocats last year after spending a lot of volunteer time in new han high school and seeing a lot of the issues that were um that were going on there we've had the opportunity to meet with most of you in addition to most of the new han County Commissioners other government officials in regards to educational and athletic facilities at new han High School many of you have taken the time to tour the buildings and you've seen firsthand the state of disrepair if you anyone driving down Market Street can see the state of the school and if you haven't been we would love to have you you're welcome but you just need to be aware that

205there are parts of the school that you can't actually go in now because it's too unsafe between the talks tours and presentations plausible deniability is no longer an available defense for the unsafe and desperate conditions of the structure at New Hanover High School as we're all aware New Hanover is a predominantly is predominantly attended by economically disadvantaged students the deteriorating infrastructure characterized by significant substance structural concerns sewer leaks sagging ceilings sinking floors leaking windows and doors outdated facilities and inadequate heating and cooling system in parts of the building starkly contrast with the newer and better maintained high schools in the district let me be clear new han has tiles in the bathrooms from 1922 but more importantly the main building is literally falling down the local school boards and government's persistent disregard has left the

206communities once thriving and historical building in an alarming State despite the state of mission of providing children with an opportunity for a superior education and a safe and positive learning environment the failure to unite to unite and allocate funds towards necessary Renovations or even updated studies to determine what Renovations are needed underscores a glaring neglect and perpetuate systemic inequalities at this point in action not only exposes the students to unhealthy and unsafe learning conditions that jeopardize their physical well-being but also signals a profound indifference for their educational welfare and future opportunities parents and teachers have voiced their concerns repeatedly for years yet our police have fallen on deaf ears and have left students to navigate an unsafe and unhealthy environment every day are you waiting for a student to actually be seriously hurt or chronically

207ill to take action I brought a brick from the school grounds that I found just laying on the ground it was the summer luckily no one got hit by it but there it was given the Urgent nature of their repairs being discussed right now exacerbated by the visible sinking South facing front of the school this is the time to re-evaluate the entire needs of the campus so that millions in funding aren't being spent to fix something that in fact will be better served being fully renovated specifically this board this superintendent and assistant superintendents need to ask our County Commissioners to provide funding for a comprehensive study of all the buildings and structures that pertain to New Hanover High School this is a time and place for contemplative comprehensive planning that leads to intentional meaningful and

208finally implemented change we have a slideshow that highlights some of the issues that were discovered have been known for a long time but were discovered in a study that was done in 1999 unfortunately that study did not lead to action or any kind of meaningful change thank you um if we can just go back a few slides um yeah just that one so just yep so the school um was founded in 1922 at that time as one of the largest in North Carolina it was um an all-white population that attended the school at that time and that population has changed in the demographics as you can see in the slide if you were to combine the minorities we would be a majority minority School New hanare High School with almost 50% that are on free

209or reduced lunch is there a way that I can change the slides I'm so sorry we got we got a clicker here for you that might be a little bit easier so over the last few decades when you got 10 of them some things have been built to the school this tells you what has been built um the m major extensive remodeling that was last done to New Hanover High School was in the 2000s and that was for mechanical electrical and accessibility updates there is a complaint out there it is not brought by The Advocates we are here presenting today to ask for change this complaint also asked for change I don't know the standing of that but that might be something that um Dr F can speak to or maybe it can't be spoken

210about tonight it doesn't matter because what we are doing tonight is talking about the current state of the building and we're asking for your help so we have some physical safety concerns there's a lot going on with the front of the building right now but did you know that there were 86 entry and exit points in the campus 86 we also have some issues with the catwalk with the hallways with the stairwells with ceiling tiles these are some of the current ceiling tiles why are they like this and what's behind them what's causing this in 1999 there was a facility study that was done by new han County Schools it was paid for by the schools these are some quotes from that that finding from that plan conditions are obvious facilities are un very po

211condition results show that the campus is deficient in almost all aspects this is 25 years ago this building has significant structural problems 25 years ago an alarming amount of substance in soils beneath the foundation 25 years ago the entire South elevation of the building has undergone various degrees of settlement some severe and unusual 25 5 years ago it would have been 15 about $15 million to rectify these changes to put them into place they were not and now you the board is facing millions of dollars addressing just what's going on in the main building on the south facing part of that building but the repairs the needs of New Hanover are extensive they are not confined to just the front of that main building yall have already known about well not known about but have

212had to vote on increasing funding for what's going on with the main building because it is not contained to the southwest corner as originally was thought and was hoped for but it expands the entire facade of that main building and so now students are going to be relocated because 15 to 16 classrooms are going to be closed what do those classrooms look like this this the 1999 facilities plan would have addressed that had it been implemented had those suggested changes been paid for and implemented it also talks about window air conditioning units these are our units it says that they cause mold yes indeed you can see it's coming down the facade of the building it talks about Windows and doors here are some windows this is the catwalk some of the the windows are

213permanently closed and some don't open what happens in a rain which it rains in Wilmington is that these floors are exceedingly wet and all of that dampness that wetness is brought into the buildings makes for a very slippery environment Brogden Hall yes we have a beautiful new gym floor but the rest of the building which was built in 1954 has not been renovated existing conditions these Stadium seats they're cool and they're original they're 70 years old cool as is most of the other part of the building these locker rooms they're original from 1954 original lock ERS original flooring the shower can't even be used because it's one big room with a bunch of shower heads I'm not even sure that's legal right now in terms of that being the shower in a locker room concession

214stands we don't have any running water it's also on the second floor so there's accessibility issues this is the front of Brogden Hall again built in 1954 this is our main gym the ticket office is closed because there's so much water damage the front doors don't close this is the current state of this building the cafeteria is also part of Brogden Hall was completed in 1954 it's basically in the basement you've got low ceilings you've got one kitchen sink to service 1,500 kids because it's so small we have five lunch periods and each lunch period is only 22 minutes so if you're over at George West you have to go over Market walk down get your food and get back to your classroom in 22 minutes I think only students could do that I'm not

215sure I could do that bathrooms Alison talked about it original tile some from 1922 our media center our media center was renovated in 1976 as a point of comparison hogard was built in 1968 and Laney was built in 1976 both of them received New Media centers after ours was renovated how does that make sense sense 13th and an this is our practice field it's a few blocks from school and it has a very big significance to the school because it's the only practice field that students can walk to otherwise if they're playing football or baseball or soccer softball lacrosse they are being bust to games this is a very important field to the community the downtown community but the field lighting is insufficient the fencing is broken there's draining issues in the back far Corner

216beside the football Fieldhouse which by the way that was condemned in 2008 and it was rebuilt with a a public private partnership speaking of field houses when new hanville was given a track it was in the late 1990s they were given a track and field locker room which formally was a maintenance shed this is what was inside that maintenance shed this was the track and field locker room that was bestowed to New Hanover High School with the condition that they couldn't move anything this was what was inside for 20 years student students stepped over this stuff that belonged to the new Hanner County schools that nobody did anything about and students were having to step over what is that computer I mean is it as old as brogon Hall it might be maybe not that

217old but students were having to to get around things that were left behind and told don't touch these and that remained that way until just last year when some parents to organize this stuff put it in one room take away what was clearly trash from what was a maintenance shed given to student athletes at new hanor high school I can't get to the next slide but the next slide is a slide of um the half-size track here it is great the maintenance shed that I was just speaking to is beside the half size track and there are some concerns about the half siiz track it limits how many students can practice at one time you only have three lanes most regulation size tracks have seven or eight Lanes so you can imagine how many students

218can be practicing at the same time we also have smaller straightaways and then if you're in a relay you have to turn twice as much because the the track is half the size and yet this track is what has produced one of the fastest kids in new hanor not just new hover but in the state of North Carolina is he sixth or seventh what is he in the state cash SEC second I'm sorry second in the state practicing on a half-sized track I ask you how many student athletes have missed out on scholarships because they've had to practice practice on subpar facilities I probably don't need to tell you that the other three traditional high schools all have full size tracks so why are we here before you we're here because it is the opportune

219time for this board to do something about New Hanover as you are spending million plus on fixing one part part of one building without this without you putting together a a comprehensive facility study of New Hanover you're going to need to continue to repair to pay for repairs to allocate members of your maintenance staff to fix things that are continuing to fall down and break at new Handover and it's the same things over and over and over again that is not fiscal responsibility at some point you can't afford to continue to do this and then you have the issue of overcrowding at other high schools because people go to this high school and they compare what they could their children can attend at the other high schools there's no comparison so you have other you

220have the other schools that have overcrowding issues and we have capacity but when you fix the facilities you will help fix some of that overcrowding at the other schools as well so what are we asking of you today technically we're asking two things but officially only one thing so we're asking you to fund a facility study go to the county because we understand that you need the county to fund your initiatives so we're asking you to go to the county and ask for funding for a facility study specific to Newan high school and then put that study into use doing as chairman wior so aptly said earlier in a meeting less talking more doing and taking that facility study and putting it into play we don't need another study that we have to refer back

221to in 25 years and think only if we had only done that how much less would it have been so today we are asking for specifically for funding for a facility study and having just met with the county manager we understand that there's two ways in which that can happen you can ask for the remaining Capital appro Appropriations fund you can ask for that I think it's 10 .7 million some of that's been allocated maybe all of it been allocated but you can ask for a reallocation of some of those funds to fund the study or you can go to the county with a specific request to fund this specific study for New Hanover High School and we just we just really want to thank each of you for working with us we know we've

222asked a lot of you we' taken your time and we're really grateful for having this opportunity to share with you today M Bradford M and Miss Walker I know I'm going to set this aside for a second and I'm going to make a motion I move that well I've got a motion I know but I know what you're going to do I move that we instruct the staff to request that new han County Commissioners start the process for the 2026 Bond referendum for new han County Schools make the request now we've all talked about it we've talked about it for years we've actually tried to make this request in the past and it hasn't gone forward so I move that we do that tonight and then we deal with the study but that's a motion

223on the floor now to request that new hver County Commissioners start the bond referendum process for new han High School renovation repair remodel re re re re re whatever bring it up to current make it safe make it safe for our kids well second Mr chair I mean I'll I'll second it I had the the motion all written out but we're jumping ahead with the bond discussion I think this is more important we're going to have the bond discussion I think this takes president honestly to get the facility study done so would you like to amend that that I mean I guess so since you know we're all jumping at it I'm glad we're happy about it I mean happy to do it I'm just you know I don't I'm I I share frustration of

224my colleagues because I was disappointed their bond was not discussed for some reason it was just kind of like conveniently forgotten about and I don't mean to be rude about that but I I I I felt a little disappointed I'm not going to lie um but I would also like to get the advice of our operations um superintendent here because um we've getting gotten two options correct on either reallocation or whether we should just outright ask for just funding Mr Anderson do you want to know what's the best thing to make the motion for or do you I mean you let us know this says uh well I can tell you there are there are no remaining funds Capital they are all allocated to specific projects unless we stop those projects right yeah now we

225may come up at the end of um end of August and we we may have some savings on those projects but the estimate um the estimate for the facility survey is $300,000 okay and that's a big number and let me tell you why I I broke it into two parts um you before we start anything we need to know exactly what we're dealing with I mean you you know as well as I do every time we go out to start a project it ends up mushrooming you know we want to replace a $60,000 gym floor and $3 million later we got our new floor and uh the same thing's happening on the with the um south facing wall so we need to do a comprehensive existing condition survey and that needs to include some destructive

226testing some Geotech work we need to identify the condition of all the equipments and components within that building um so that we know exactly what we're dealing with and the second part of that scope would be to go through a master planning process um I think that process needs to include um students teachers family um alumni um you know it's new han high school has a very big following and um I know that sounds like a really large group of people but we did that you'll recall with Isaac bear and it was very successful so so I I think the master plan and the facility condition survey um need to be completed first but uh we would have to go to the county with a specific request for that board members just let you know

227we are at the time for this discussion not saying we're going to stop the discussion but um we are at 25 minutes right now so uh we have an amendment here Miss Walker okay um I'm confused and know we have an original motion I have not made an amendment okay can I just can I do make an amendment and just say instead of first coming with a bond discussion we just we have that but first we come with this discussion with the Commissioners because this is an ask and so I really think that this is important the Bond's important too this is more emergent in my opinion that we need to get that done because conversations have been had already and and it's the ground is all for it I think and if it's not

228it should be because you canot so we don't have we don't have Amendment so Mr mcmanis I have met with them a few times with a lot of people one was a County Board member County Commissioner excuse me member who said not doing an election year not doing an election year well this is now not an election year so without throwing them under the bus right now they said come back I I'm sure Pat will agree I would amend it to say that we asked to meet with the County Commissioners M as a school board M for the for the so whole purpose of discussing the C whatever you want to call it the the the study to see where we are ASAP and then to start construction and that they need to start looking

229at the allocation of the funds or where they're going to get it because this is ridiculous it's absolutely ridiculous motion and Mr Anderson if you would so let's assume we had the survey done you you had the full report in your estimation estimation how long will that take to study that's my first question this two-part question how long would it take to if the county commissioner said we fund a survey for the school immediately how long would the study take how long is that study how long is it going to take I would say probably six months to completion minimum minimum six months okay once they is approved how long would it take to what well they have a big decision what they would do we're talking if we start at to bar with the

230study two to three years before we turn to Brick is that a reasonable discussion well I think the um line is good I mean if we could go ahead and start the study I I would say that you know ideally you want to have this study completed before you finalize Pro projects within the bond you know we have currently as estimated um $90 million for new Handover but it's it it is it is updated estimates best based on the best information we have and this will this will give us much better information and it doesn't include 100% of the site either so if you you know no matter what we do um you know the work is going to have to be phased in and so you know even if we had the work today

231it may it may be a four or five year project to complete 100% of the work that's needed at new Handover so most people won't be around in this in this educational Arena probably in four or five years either as a parent or student so back to what you said if we could amend it to I'd like to meet with the County Commissioners as ASAP to discuss this study this hum Qui as possible and I will second that so we'll go ahead and go with that Mr chairman I move that we split the vote okay we can all right we as long as I can remember we've been talking about having a bond for new H County um new hter high school okay as long as I can remember if we don't vote on that

232tonight we won't ever get the bond we have to act what' you say Mr Mr chair you said less talking more action so let's get something done let's vote to ask them to start the process to do the bond and then the other motion would be to fund this survey to separate things both going at the same time in the same direction and we will meet at the point where we need to go other than that in five years you'll still be here talking about this and the school will have crumble down around your ears M I'm sorry Mr chair so I believe that was to divide the motion and is there a second can we just remove the the amendment and then vote on the bond I mean we can do that and then

233make this is completely separate motion you mind Mr MCM cuz there's more to it than that that's fine but I still want to me commission We'll add that to the second well pass our time now can Clarity you for the for the bond typically a bond is a huge project so you're saying to start the bond Bond discuss process discuss the process so the board has to so and and I the other clarification was you were I think in know you were saying the staff does it the elected official to elected official does itard the County Commission as possible to discuss funding the stud that's funding whatever that's too different right but what I was saying just for clarity I was just for clarity so if you do Bond then that's you're just saying you're

234going to do a bond just but our qu my question is want to formally request the bond process begin so we don't get taken by oh it's too late in the year we heard that this year and it was something else the year before and it was something else the year before do you start the process so my question is don't you want to add more into it versus than just we need a meeting with the commissioner to discuss what we're discussing right now ASAP okay I I can I go ahead can I make one comment okay you I agree with you 100% the we should go to the County Commissioners and request request the study be completed as soon as possible at new han High School request that funding and um but I do

235think that discussions on a bond need to occur but the first question the County Commissioners are going to have when you go to them is what projects are going to be on it and how much is it going to be so we as a school system and the board need to do a little preparation work before we go to the County Commissioners okay so we have the bond question in front of us right now we have a first and second let's vote on that then we'll vote on Mr mcm's motion to do the to step into this Okay so we've we've separated the two all right Miss buy so this is do we want to start a bond conversation we just heard from our assistant superintendent that it would be better if we started the

236Bond conversation with a plan is that correct what I heard I I would say a board work session board work session on that and then go to the County Commissioners with a formal request okay so we have a motion and a second in front of us to go forth now with a bond um though we have heard from our assistant superintendent might be better to wait and go ahead and plan that um Miss P please call the role M br yes Miss Walker yes Mr wior back yes Mr Rick Manis yes and Miss Mason yes okay so we can start that process the second motion Mr MCM would you please reiterate your motion one more time I mean I've got it written down Miss Walker would you I had it all ready to go and

237everybody I'm glad everybody's excited but it's kind of like oh can we just do one thing first and then do the other but it's whatever you read it you tell I'm goingon to try if you shut up anyway um because we've gotten more wording from Mr Anderson on what it's actually called um if I'm saying it correctly make a motion to commission a comprehensive condition survey um not using relocation but using just making an ass of the Commissioners that they will fund the 300 plus thousand I think that's the the figure we've got and also to Mr man's point set up a meeting with them to discuss it in the bond is that right Mr mcis M Walker did you m Walker did you second that or did you make the motion okay you're second

238okay Miss buy would you please call the role M Bradford yes Miss Walker yes M wior yes M Rick Manis yes yes and Miss Mason yes okay that pass is 5 Z thank you ladies very much thank so much thank you again we are now at we have about 20 minutes we have well over that and we also have a closed session just remind everybody Hill Street resolution Hill School Hill School Hill School set rest yes Hill School resolution Miss Bradford Mr chairman I move that we pass this resolution as written I'll second there first and second any other discussion Walker the only thing that I will say is like I said the last time I think the letters that we have gotten have explained it a little bit better the main things I was

239concerned with that we're not breaking the law that we're not losing money as a school district and that we can work together to do what's best for kids as long as those things are fine I will vote for that and I feel like we got some clarity there a little bit in some of the emails we've received um I just definitely don't want to hurt the district that's all I'm I'm concerned about cuz that's our job but I'm agree anybody want to explain any of that are we good with that okay anybody from go ahead M Bron M Bron will you um I mean I didn't realize we still had the own so yes and just reviewing it um the very last paragraph it talks about um you know whereas in consideration of these and

240other relevant matters the new H County Board of Education hereby designates participation in programs at the hill School of Wilmington as lawful excused absences from new han County schools that means in order for them to be absent they're missing more than 50% of the day because in order to count present for the day a student has to be there for 50% of the day and that's what we also have to have to get ADM so if you pass this the way it is then it's possible that we will not get funding for some of the students that's what I don't want Radford I'm confused used reading the ncdpi student attendance and accountability manual page 10 of 86 um chapter one part three definition of a school go down to G to be included in the

241ADM a student must have a class schedule that is at least one half of the school's instructional day I believe this check that solves that students who have a schedule less than one half of the instructional day may be assigned as visiting students and will not be included in the ADM will not be in included in the ADM but that's not where we are because they're talking about three hours a day that is less than half the school day it's it's actually not when I had met with the um director there because we had talked about they would need early release in order for them to get to us for the afternoon to be there at that for the half day so we had talked through that when I spoke to the director of the

242Hill school because that was a concern what you were saying as far as the scheduling that's fine but if the kid is not going to be if student is not going to be at school for a specific class whether it be language arts math social studies whatever we don't schedule them for that because then we're not teaching it so we can't put a schedule in for a student that the student is not there for so if the student is only at our building you know for instruction for half the day their schedule literally is only half a day we don't provide grades to the classes that we don't teach Mr chair is is this is Hill school mostly for elementary kids or no no they go to Middle School too they go to Middle School

243too and that's a different schedule than Elementary I mean right they got class different classes I mean elementary is just one class they un they go out Upper Elementary they even third grade sometimes they departmentalize okay I mean I don't want us to lose money just yes Mr MCM do you have something but I kind of surpris me I thought the last meeting we had we were seated out there you said you thought that we would get no I was saying that we were we didn't need this we were working through it and I was waiting for us to finish working through that we don't need a um a resolution to get to where we were um Miss Brenson and the Hill School were working to so what we were saying is that we need

244them to take the students at the second half of the day so the first half they're there so that we get the ADM I'm not sure if um Miss Bron was um out so we hadn't had a conversation to be able to do it that's what I was talking about it um the agenda review last week but if the board does this and tells us that it doesn't matter then you are losing ADM um which means that you are not being accounted for for students so the student comes for two hours we still have to provide services for them we're just not getting the the dollar amount from the state for can I it's not that we're in um arguments with the Hill School we're just trying to work it out Miss Bron when do

245you you anticipate this being you know if we gave you say into if we delayed this resolution until the agenda meeting yeah I actually just today sent a a form to the attorneys for their review to make comment on so I adapted what we had before and had sent it to them today and we actually have a call scheduled for Monday afternoon Miss Mason I propos this as a stop Gap among like as the discussions were occurring just to ensure that we were covering those students the very small number of students that it impacts um and so I still stand behind and if indeed this is not a permanent um resolution if indeed the board decides to resend it we can do that as well Miss pford Miss BS and I would reiterate we're talking

246about you know eight less than 10 kids eight children and we said in our whole budget discussion you know we want to we want to make sure our EC teachers we want to make sure our EC teachers assistants these are EC kids and I don't understand why the school district is so against this um and we're getting emails from parents we're getting emails from the school director which contradict what you just said she said in an email to us today that if you put the children in the afternoon session then they will have Reading Writing and math in the morning at new han um schools and they will have Reading Writing and math in the afternoon with the Hill school that is counterproductive to the education process I don't I'm really confused to why there

247is so much push back we have heard from the state senator in charge of Education that it doesn't affect the ADM and yet you say it does I don't understand this we give students the right to go wherever they want and we lose ADM far more than these numbers but I don't believe that the ADM is affected here I don't understand there's something else going on here is it that our schools are just don't want to let these I mean we've gotten a lot of hate mails saying oh it's just for the privilege but we have school choice and if the parents want to send their child to a specialist that will teach them how to read and write and do math and then send them back into our schools to we benefit from the

248graduation rate we benefit from the the the the the testing rate what is the problem I don't understand it and I'm really concerned and I am in favor of this resolution because there's something here that we are not hearing from you and I'm not being disrespectful I'm just flat out upset that you would try to take this away from the students who want to go there I know some of these families personally I know the turn around miss missu that was here who spoke tonight their child was reading at a kindergarten level and now they're on grade and they're thriving why would you try to take that away from them I don't understand it Dr F we are by no means trying to take anything away from parents we're trying to make sure that teachers

249are able to get paid if you take 13 kids so each student has an amount with them so if their are special needs they get a dollar amount from the federal they get a dollar amount from the state and so if they're not here we can't bill for any of those and so then basically we have 24,800 kids and let's say if it's 13 or whatever how many kids that's money that's taken away from from our ADM but we still have to teach those kids that that it does it does why does our state center it's you just read it you have to do half a day in the school that's what we've talked with him about we've got to make sure and that's why we're working with the Hill School to say we need

250you to take them after these hours because even if there's a time of day when students are accounted um present for full day or half that has been um that has gone on for I don't know how how many years that's in the state guidelines all we're trying to say is that we need them for half the day and it has to be this part of the day if they can't do that of course if the board decides to go ahead with it then we just lose the money and then we will come back and say we have X amount of dollars of shortage that's basically all we're going to say the reason why there's push back is we are trying to save the dollar that is all we're saying coun are doing it without

251giving up I don't have they're doing the half day they're doing the half day those students are in their districted school for half the day for 50% of the day that was the conversation when Dr F gave me the directive to meet with them and make this work and that was his directive come up with something to make this work we need to make this happen that what he wanted me to do I went and met with her we talked about it and she understands I even had a conversation U with Senator Lee and some attorneys that work for him and they are on the same page it is the it is the half day piece in order for us to get ADM funding they have to be not even you know 49.9% of the

252day 50% of the day they have to be in our schools and that was the conversation I had with her and she was willing to adjust her times and release to make sure that those kids are do it so she's willing to work with us that's not a problem the only concern that she had was like you said the the um if a kid has English and math in the morning and then they're having it again in the afternoon so her email today was talking about you know can they work it out with the principal but you know if a child's behind having a double dose isn't I mean I wouldn't think it would be it would be a bad thing you know if if my child is two grades behind and they have math

253twice a day that's actually a good thing I would would think Miss go ahead oh Miss Walker well and here's here's where I am now we've just heard from Miss Brinson I have no reason to believe that she would not be telling the exact truth of what she's learned and what she has talked about I don't I do not want to disparage a staff member for doing their job and finding out and I'm reading this email too um sounds to me like they want to figure it out and I and and if youve talked to Senator Lee and he said in our statute and you just read it you have to be there 50% of the day I don't want a district to lose money I want I want to work it out too so

254I just as long as we're not losing money I just think that you know I can't support it if we're going to lose money and if we have to wait uh another meeting to talk about it like I know it's only eight students but you think if we make policy for even a few we've got to do it for everyone and I just feel like we just need to do it right um and abide by the law I would ask why waiting till the agenda meeting is are we in school now we're not in school right now I'm sorry are we in school right now year round starts shortly right are any kids going going to the Hill school that are going to year round do we know I I didn't I don't know I

255could well that's what I'm saying if if if there are then maybe we can look at them but I mean if they're not then we I mean we can wait a little bit just to make sure we do it right seriously we're here for public schools and we just had a budget meeting where we don't have enough money if we lose more money then that's not a good thing so what what ahead M stud School the the director does have that I not asked for that information she just she told me it's a small number she I imagine she'll give it to me I I I do know Porter's Neck was mentioned as one of the schools but I don't know all the schools elementary school starts at what time Dr f 7:30 about 750

256750 750 so half a day from: well you got to be careful because there's certain things that don't count as far as instructional time and that's not until the end of August saying another tough one all right so where are we we have a motion in a second that is to accept this and move forward um as Miss Mason brought up we could always revoke it if we choose to revoke it so it's a motion that would um be on the table until the board as a whole decided to revoke it yes sir so is there anything left for us to look at as long as the attorneys have no concern with the with the paperwork that the parents have to fill out that that is the last piece of it so as soon as

257I get a chance to get some input from them I know they just started so I emailed to them literally today so when they get a chance to to look at that and say it's okay then it be I'd be emailing it to you guys and you know saying this is the form that's going to be used we will be communicating this out to you know um the Hill school as well as our our principls and it would be on our website close Mr chair what's the motion again could you read the motion again please uh the motion is to accept the resolution as provided is that correct can can I make an amendment to that and as long as work out the half day thing because I just think that has to be part

258of this equation it seems to me like they want to work it out but I think that has to be a requirement I mean it's fair right Senator Lee said that is the law as well so I'm fine with it as long as we work that part out okay and I will second that Amendment so we vote on the amendment first then we'll vote on the whole resolution Miss buoy and and right after this just let you know I'm going to stop and we'll go ahead and make a motion about the the time but miss buy please call the RO this is for the amendment Amendment speak P M Bradford yes Miss wer yes Mr W yes M Frank Manis yes and Miss Mason yes okay that passes 5 Z we go back to the

259original uh now amended motion to accept this paperwork uh as Miss Walker has said now that as long as we can work out that portion uh I'm just going to go ahead and take a shot in the dark all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed passes again 5 Z thank you board members thank you Miss Brenson all right carrying on WE next have upcoming board meeting dates if you have your calendars please on right here and chair how are we for time am I oh thank you you just reminded me I just forgot like three seconds curious I make a motion that we extend our time 45 minutes that is that adding in Clos session that is Clos to total is there a second I'll second first and second any discussion

260that would carry us through 9:45 all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed okay we'll carry on at least until 9:45 we are at the prek moou so I have for you the prek for this upcoming year it is the um same as before with the 12 classrooms from the county the only difference that you will notice is that we have the carryover in theou which will help to fund um the different in cost for salaries so it's the same M as before and I do need for you to approve this mou so we can um start enrolling those um students okay so we have aou in front of us I'll make a motion we accept theou as provided is there a second second okay first and second any discussion if not

261all in favor please signify by saying I I I all opposed carries 5 Z upcoming board meetings which I tried to get to a minute ago we'll go back to it again you skipped my little request for um I didn't see it in here it was in under new business we put it into after this it's it's after it's okay um I'm going to make a motion that we hold our August town hall on uh Tuesday uh August 20 when school start please don't policies on the 20 in forget well say it's a big day for you guys we can go to 13th then 13th to be safe 1th all right so I'll make a motion that we hold our first town hall on August 20th August 13th at 5:00 p.m. and that topic is

262what um I'm going to further make a motion that that is a educator only uh educator only um Town Hall we invite teachers teacher assistants um front office staff School level teacher and teacher assistants second for that second we have first and second uh all in favor please sign any discussion you just repeat what the date is one more time 13th 1 on 13th okay okay we say what you got mean on that 5 p.m. thank you I appreciate it be the 13th at 5:00 p.m. uh and again focusing on Ed hearing from our Educators and as I was reminded and thank you everybody's been reminding me all day that we put out the their um thoughts in in action I think our main topics would be definitely discipline that's a huge one maybe a

263secondary one uh behind that all in favor of holding the town hall on August 20 uh August 13th 2024 please signify by saying I I I all opposed carries 5 Z we also have a hearing that we need to schedule is that still correct yes you have um well there were 12 scheduled I do believe I've satisfied three of those since then so um nine appeal hearings that should um run about 3 to 4 hours in total okay and it is my understanding that if we divide it into two rooms it would cut it in half is that correct you can do panels if you choose so if you have enough board members to do panels and do those in two separate rooms I'll just have another I'll have to have another administrator also be

264present for my role so so these are pan these are remind us what these panels are please I'm sorry I should have started with a more clear beginning these are your open Choice uh appeel hearings um with regard to denials for open Choice Student Assignment to schools and I am looking at the requested schools and none of them are in yearr round or restart calendar they're all traditional calendar okay so please look at your schedules see if there's any dates that are better or worse for you in the next I'd say two weeks what that work better if you send us dates well but then we did that and and we didn't get enough to show up so we nobody respond just make a date Y what what how does July 9th look to everybody

265this is my birthday I'm just it's your birthday we can all celebrate Mr Walker's birthday I I mean y'all can prove it it's by how about July 10th July 10th week from tomorrow I mean that works for me but I mean he doesn't have his calendars we need at least four to say yay I have that availability okay let's say July yes Miss spy had something to say ma'am excuse me I believe that is the a administrator's Retreat um and 10th which they got to be kind of busy then aren't they to attend yeah I'm sorry that's true I did not write in my calendar yet so the 10th will not work obviously uh the administ the administrative retre is the 10 nth and 10 10 so with the 11th 11th going once going twice

266let's plan it for the 11th we will plan you said how many hours if we just had one panel if we have one panel um I think I had the orientation starting at 8:30 and we would conclude before noon uh I think I can make that go quicker because I think I've satisfied three of those I'm waiting to hear back so if we ran two panels I think we could do it in I would say three hours and we would we would come in less than three okay let's plan on the you can't make that maybe one of the other two okay on uh the 11th at 8:30 we will try that thank you carrying on again we are now on to our insurance renewal proposal Miss s Wishful thank you so we have uploaded

267the proposal for the insurance renewal um we were anticipating an increase in insurance and so um as you can see in the document there is a 3.83% increase that amounts to about $70,000 um $7,777 um so we do have that in the budget to be able to fund I do want to bring bring your attention to that the commercial liability insurance um was not renewed we were not able to find someone that was able to renew that for us I will be glad to answer any questions and we also have our broker U Mr Zach Wright here to answer any coverage questions you may have he'll board members I'll ask him to join me at the podum podium to answer any questions Miss Walker so what does that mean exactly that could not find commercial

268umbrella Insurance answer that question thank you board members um that question we had a million doll limit of liability for umbrella that kind of is what it sounds like it goes over the general liability errors and emissions and auto and that this year we were not able to find a taker for that line of coverage for New Hanover County Schools so but what okay thank you for that but what does that mean for us as a district like is it something we have to have is it I mean obviously it's good to have insurance but we don't have it what are the repercussions of that great question that is not a requirement to have uh as an insurance policy that was an extra buffer provided an extra million on top of the million dollar underlying

269limit that you currently have okay and we're not concerned I assume so what was that say I mean how much did we spend on that last year I believe it was 114,000 yes 114,000 on page 13 okay thank you uh Bradford okay if we don't have the umbrella then if we have a claim of maybe a sexual assault in the school then we don't have that $1 million worth of coverage is that correct you still have 1 million primary coverage but this is the 1 million on top of that that would provide a total limit of 2 million okay on page four it says to me under sexual misconduct liability it says limits have been reduced from 1 million to 500,000 is that true that is correct for the sexual abuse misconduct the umbrella which

270we were talking about before did not in the past policy year did not provide sexual abuse or misconduct over the previous million doll limit that's outlined on page four so the maximum amount would be 500,000 versus the million that we have been those last few years that is correct okay second part general liability School leaders uh Eno Insurance um page 13 19% increase in our general liability and a 43% increase in school leaders in Eno Insurance um can you explain why it went up so much yes ma'am I will attempt to we're insurance industry we're in a I guess a state of flux right now uh claims are coming in for Boards of Education um maybe not an overflow but the value of those claims and I'll give you an example in Western North Carolina

271the last Monday in May first Monday in June we had one sexual potential sexual abuse misconduct claim come forward we also had a student that was on RC camping trip that dove into uh a lake and died so we are just seeing extreme amounts of severe seven figure claims now so School leaders and Eno insurance going up 43% do you have that many claims we do have those type claims yes ma'am we do wrongful termination sexual harassment more peer versus peer as compared to sexual abuse misconduct which typically would involve students because I think it's really important that we're losing this critical coverage and yet our entire amount our premium comparison is going up three 4% and we're losing coverage just want people understand this is not a good thing not at all so the

272doct was 250,000 yes sir well can I just clarify that these are now going forward all the the policies we have in the past still apply depending on the year that a claim is made depending if the claim had already been made in the previous policy year than the previous limits would apply okay the other questions if not I would entertain a motion to accept I mean I gu second okay Mr all in favor put sey by saying I I I all opposed I did have one more I question just thought of it uh I'm sorry I'm thinking um so approval of the obviously we need to approve this but um never mind I I really think the frustration is we don't have a choice we're we're being maybe that's what it is I'm I'm

273pausing because I'm I I think I've just got this so I I still want to do the wrong thing but but if we don't have a choice then that's where we are so okay yes all right anything else no all right I'm going to refresh my page here because I think we have something right below thank you very much um ahead all right um board professional training Miss Bradford okay I gave you hand I gave you email um take cour approval for um my vocabulary shot this is life skills USA one day emergency casualty care course it was absolutely fabulous I got certified in infant child adult CPR a certification and a t you you have a copy of those certifications in your stuff um the the second one was a situational awareness um the

274other it's $210 I have a ton of money in my account just need for approval so I move that to we approve this okay is there a second I'll second any discussion I just I just have one it's you know I think um perhaps the pause is because our policy says that we only train with certain I think we approved one recently and maybe that's what it is I guess I'm trying to figure out why I mean I totally get the whole CPR thing I think it's not a terrible thing to do um or I think it's a good skill to have but are are we but I say moving forward are we as board members are we are we allowed to do any training and then get approval after or should we ask first

275that's what I'm asking typically you ask first because especially if it's something that's already approved by our our policy or by our board then you don't have to ask but if it's something that's not typically the the procedure is that you actually bring it to the board and say hey I'd like to do XY or Z and I have the money in my account can I you know and then we just do it and that that is just for this one training right okay okay okay right so we have a motion a second any other discussion motion needs to be to pay out of this year because we're now in the new year yeah in the New Year okay so M Bradford you yes to pay out of this year yes so can you amend

276your motion to do that um I move that we approve this um this this current training um uh to $210 total um to come out of this year's Educational Funding from my account does that work yep thank you would you accept that's second okay any other discussion if not all in favor please seei by saying I I I all opposed okay carrying on task force committee update Miss Walker oh my gosh okay I was supposed to do this um before anyway I know we had some board members I think M KRA was there and Miss Mason were there um at the last meeting and we had made a decision as a task force to come to the board with a presentation in September um formally so and for the public to see um kind of

277some of the goals I can go over some of the things that we we talked about I think the last meeting what we we are looking to revamp some of our membership especially as it kind of surrounds some of the goals that we've all kind of come up with over the year we had a year in review we talked about some of the things that we had met with uh some of the things some of the meetings we had as far as the round tabls with teachers principles and and parents um we kind of surround we've kind of focused uh on a few goals that we had come up with I'll just read them briefly seven of them every child ENT kindergarten at gray level and really like I said we're focusing on the the

278high priority schools mostly but I mean this encompasses that Literacy By third grade um invest in chronically low performing schools create a positive culture in every school remove Language and Cultural barriers at school improve classroom management and then every graduating senior can access college or trade or certification programs that is basically the goals of the task force going forward um we talked about um like I say adding members that would probably help with these goals um I'll read this I forgot to read this first paragraph We are at the one-year Mark ready to take on new challenges in the first year our three subcommittees were leadership Community engagement and mental health mental health subcommittee proposed set these seven goals that I just kind of came out with um we're looking at um you know obviously

279adding people to the task force um that is ongoing so hopefully when we come to the board with the a formal presentation whatever that looks like we can talk about that further um that's all I really have for the update um like I said we are going to come to the board with more than that you know in in the September so any any questions board members I would just like to say I I I was allowed to come one time and um I feel like it's an important aspect of what this board does and being excluded um is is is challenging it's extremely challenged okay okay anything else if not we're going to carry on with oh first of off I'm sorry thank you Mr Walker um carry on with gifted advisory Council update

280committee can't read gifted advisory committee update Miss Mason uh I received an email and I mentioned this at the agenda review um that the gifted advisory Council has requested um they have some revisions that they want to make to their bylaws um I did send that to the board members um but I will read what changes they would like because it is not posted so to be perfectly transparent um the gifted advisory Council would like to amend the membership section of the gifted advisory Council bylaws to be the following the membership of the council will be comprised of up to 11 persons members shall be approved by the Board of Education and will include three employees representing the teachers and school building administrators of new han County Schools no less than four parents of children

281in the school system uh one New Hanover County AIG program alumni and not less than two two community business Representatives membership shall be representative of the diversity and in parentheses gender race geography of the community a committee composed of one parent one Community representative and one school system representative will recommend candidates to the full Council who upon concurrence will submit the candidates to the board of education for approval this method will also be used to fill vacancies additional Representatives may be voted to serve as ex official members these individuals may also participate at executive committee meetings and ad hoc committee meetings ex official Representatives may be used to fill midyear vacancies and so I would like to make a motion to approve those changes to their bylaws I'll second that any discussion if not all

282in favor please signify by saying I I All oppos Passes 5 Z now we come to close session uh I will entertain a motion to go into close session pursuant to General statute 143 31811 for the following purposes to consult with the attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the board and two to consider qualifications competence uh performance character Fitness conditions of appointment or conditions of initial employment or of an individual employeed or considered for employment in the school system or to hear an investigate a complaint charge grievance or by or against any individual employee we have a motion is there second second okay all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed we are in Clos session e e e we discussed two personel matters for

283okay we're back in Open Session there were two Personnel matters we discussed in Clos session would anyone like to make a motion Mr chair M Bradford I move to unly terminate the superintendent's contract effectively immediately pursuant to paragraph 14 of the superintendent's contract appointing Dr Chris Barnes as Acting Superintendent immediately until such a time as an interim superintendent can be selected by board vote thank you Mr chair is there a second second Mason um without discussion M Walker how do you vote Yes Mr mcmanis how do you vote Yes M Bradford how do you vote Yes Mason how do you vote yes and I also vote Yes that carries 5 Z Dr Barnes we are naming you as the Acting Superintendent uh effective immediately we have any correspondence board members hearing none two quick announcements

284the board will hold an agenda meet review meeting on Tuesday July 30th 202 4 at 5:00 p.m. the Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to view remotely on new hver county TV YouTube the August regular board meeting will be held on T Tuesday August 6th 2024 at 5:00 pm. in the Board of Education Center general public will have the option to view remotely on new han county TV YouTube having no other business uh I would entertain a motion to adjourn MO is there a second okay all in favor please signify by saying I I carries 5 Z we are adjourned