NHCS Board of Education Regular Board Meeting | Jan. 9th 2023

001bill all right call the January regular board meeting uh to order um welcome to the first and hope and I hope the only occasion for a zoom meeting in our future I hope that everyone is safe and can we can return to a normal day tomorrow a couple quick reminders board members please be sure to identify yourself before speaking uh we will need to have a closed session today you should have received a separate Zoom invitation for it due to the zoom uh format several normal items will be need to be removed we will do that during the approval of the agenda lastly if there are internet problems the meeting will carry on as long as we have a quorum in the absence of the chairman the vice chair would take over the meeting if

002both experienc internet issues remaining Quorum can vote a chair recording in progress okay uh if both um experience internet issues remaining Quorum can vote a chair proem or can adjourn the meeting and also please remember to bring your preference sheets on Friday I sent an email out about that um so if there's any questions along the way please stop me we'll do that uh Miss buoy would you please call the role good evening Pete wildor present Melissa Mason here Josie Barnhart here Pat Bradford I am here Stephanie krael I think she's on but we can't hear her Hugh mcmanis have not seen H and Stephanie Walker here okay we do have a quorum I think Mr grael as I said is here uh and I have not seen Mr mcmanes yet I'm sure he'll be

003joining us shortly I'm looking through everybody real quickly and I do see Miss kill's contact information but I don't see can't hear her I'm here but the audio won't okay Miss crille has I think sent a message that she is here but the audio is not working for her but she is here okay um Hugh cannot connect um so miss bagy can you check in into why he cannot connect Mr mcmah says we'll give him a minute to join us working on that now okay give it just a second here so I think our two connection problems at this point are Mr cille's audio and Mr mcmah in in entirety you say it's working now okay well good I guess everybody's good we will Mr chair Mr chair that was me because somebody said that

004the live stream wasn't working so I was just telling Anita that they said it was on now so that that's different than you I apologize okay not my fault I'm sorry thank you Mr Walker we'll give we'll give Mr mcis just a couple more minutes to get on and then we'll move on we do have a quorum in either case M crille just sent a message how do how does she fix her audio this is her new computer I'll try to call her on her phone and see if I can work it out with her thank you very much all right um board members we do have a quorum uh with uh five active members and six entirety right now we'll move on to the approval of the agenda I'm going to start with uh

005I make a motion to remove the following items from the agenda the national anthem presentation of colors recognitions administrative introductions and teacher voice is there a second and please again identify yourself a second Josie Barnhart second thank you Miss barnhard could you repeat that please sir yes ma' Bradford Pat Bradford thank you yeah and M crille saying the same thing um the the uh items to be removed moved are the national anthem presentation of colors recognitions administrative introductions and teacher voice and I did speak with a representative from teacher voice and they said they would rather wait till next month and actually participate uh in person uh student voice will be participating um here so and I do see your your your um motion Miss crille but I'm the are the ones that just have

006to come off for uh and I'll entertain any other motions after that but these are the ones that have to come off because it is a zoom meeting so we have a first and a second um and Miss Grable if you would just kind of uh um chime in Via um your you know through through the messaging we'll we'll count your vote that way uh all on favor uh let's let's call a roll call we'll have to do that to um to um vote vot so again that's to remove national anthem presentation colors recognitions administrative introductions and uh the teacher voice Miss pu if you'd call the role please Miss Walker yeah yes Miss Bradford yes Mr mcmanis Miss Barnhart yes I'm showing Miss crel as a yes in the chat Mr wildbore yes and

007Miss Mason yes okay so that passes six to zero um now are there any other motions we would like to make as uh about the agenda before approval Mr chairman I have a motion barnhard jie Barnhart yes sir I'd like to make a motion to postpone the discussion of the career Readiness Academy at Mosley for after the hearing that we agreed to in the agenda review earlier this week second okay who was second I'm sorry Pat okay M bford Mr chair yes ma'am is it time for discussion is that Miss Walker yes sir M Walker Miss Walker uh yes uh it is time for disc we have a motion in a second to postpone the discussion of uh Mosley until after our um and it is we do need to make sure we call it

008a hearing versus a a public hearing versus a town hall Mr Walker you have the floor yes sir thank you um yeah I guess that is one thing I wanted to clarify whether it was actually hearing and if it is it's going to follow the hearing policy um you know uh procedure uh cuz I know typically the hearings we've done have been like one side and the other side goes like I feel like I felt like the way we discussed it was we were going to hear from folks and um it doesn't have to be called a town hall I don't believe but I think that is it technically a hearing I mean I know I was talking to miss m she probably has more to add to this um but I know we were

009talking about the format of the meeting itself and if it's going to be something we vote on in the end as an action item could it not be called just a special meeting where we have like a call to audience typee format and hear from folks that way and then make a decision after I just don't know if I want to hear everybody's thoughts on whether they think this is actually hearing or not and and I I will speak next if I could um my thought in hearing for what we voted on my interpretation of it was it was a hearing as far as we were hearing from the people it was not it was not an actionable I don't think we we did not in the motion we did not Mo we did not

010make think part of the motion did not say that we would vote at the end of it but it would be so my my thoughts and again this is something will the board not my thoughts or just one one out of seven but my thoughts were that we would hear uh Dr fa's uh presentation again uh so that the the public could hear it uh again that are that are present and then we would do it just as you just said we would have a um basically a call to audience to have people come up and make their their presentations um what we are talking about we're talking about the Mosley uh discussion uh hearing that will be uh held next Tuesday a week from today M crille so um you know so that that

011that was my that was my interpretation of the motion that we heard last week was that we would hear that and then probably vote U but I do know that Miss Mason had mentioned to me today some concerns about the timeline so um anyway uh who would like to speak Miss crille is just saying it is a public hearing yeah and if I may Mr chair a a public hearing is a type of specially called meeting thank you sir Miss Mason would you like to if I might um in looking at the the letter to the parents I think that the concern that I have is their time clock is still running um and so honestly to be fair make sure that we are um giving the public an opportunity to speak I really feel

012that we should put those deadlines on hold um I don't think it's fair to parents and students to be rushing through and trying to make these decisions before their voices have been heard before the board has actually made a decision on it um and so I strongly feel that we need to put a hold on the whole entire process for Mosley until after we've made a decision after we've heard from the public and I think that that was some of what Miss Walker was referring to um if we have an actionable item or part of the agenda for that hearing um we would be able to not forgo any any further not delay it any further um but if we wait until after that hearing and then we have to have another meeting to make

013a decision we still have those parents still have those deadlines that the deadline for applications for specialty schools is February 2 um and I don't want to put those parents under the under the gun so to speak for that so I I would like to um amend and say that we put a hold on the timeline that's currently in place for Mosley for all of the deadlines I will second that motion let me get my Mr chair if I may right now we're we're discussing the motion to amend the agenda to remove the Mosley agenda item this is offering to amend the motion to amend can we do that uh yes we can do one more motion but but we're just talking about whether it should be on today's agenda or not so can I

014yes just provide some clarity so a couple things for clarity um there's no application that those students have to complete um also you don't have to we can stop right now um what we're trying to do is find $10 million for the board we're at negative $10 million and so the board is going to have to make some some serious decisions because we can't balance a budget and so in an effort to ensure that not only are we doing right by students doing right by District making sure that we are um providing the best um Quality education for students this is what we came up um with the the timeline the timeline is there so that it runs into the other timeline so we have specialty schools there's another timeline for all of our specialty

015schools to go so if you're pausing it then you're pausing it for the entire district and so I wish there had been conversations before this so that we could have gotten all of these so I could have helped you walk through this um but I'm just going to be honest either way if the board chooses not to we're okay with it I'm not Mar I'm married to making sure that we have what's right for the district in a ethical way that we're doing what's right for kids and making sure that we can balance the budget thanks Dr f um so we do have a motion from Miss Mason to um and and Miss Mason I guess I I need Clarity on that your motion is that that is only specific to um the Mosley parents

016not you would not as Dr F just said want to freeze it for all or or would you like to freeze it for all because he's saying that I guess that they're they're automatically in correct if they choose correct wherever they want to go however if more seats are there and they're not on that list then we can't put them in the school that's the that's what we're running into um so they those all of those programs have a number of seats that they're in so you'd have to pause the entire District's specialty program okay back to miss Mason what is your can you give us Clarity on that on your motion please I think that the pause is only temporary um I'm just saying because of the letter that was sent to parents that

017says there is an application so if there's not I guess there's there's some confusion there but um I I think this is an extenda circumstance and I don't want um I don't want our entire District to suffer for it I think that we we need to be respectful of these parents that are having to go through this very big change these kids that are that are possibly having to go through this very big change and I one or two weeks I don't is is that that much of an ask I guess okay so your motion is to to freeze for um I guess Dr F saying it would be for everyone we have a second um just a um a point U on the side Mr krael has just sent a message now she can't

018hear anyone either so she can't hear nor can she be heard um so I don't know if um our technology folks can help her with that and I guess Mr chair yes Stephanie Walker is it were we still in discussion phase yes ma'am may I speak please well I was um wanted to kind of just put this out there like I understand the timeline and I think I understand what Miss Mason is saying I think for me as a board member um when it comes to timelines I I guess we were we were we were kind of put here um if I think if we had been brought into the loop a little earlier we we probably could have avoided this and um I know what our role as the bo of the board is

019you know when it comes to what we can and can't do but I feel like in in this instance we' we've been kind of put in a crunch and um I I would just hope that I I request that the next time something like this happens that we are brought into the loop a little bit sooner so it's almost like this timeline is is what we have and uh I just want to speak to that point um that I think what Miss Mason is talking about is the timeline that the parents were given to make the decision whether they go into another program or not and I understand that there are spots that have to be you know they have to sign up for I I also like to know and maybe this is we

020can hold this off for the for the actual hearing or whatever it's going to be called um how many students have requested other slots and and are there some that didn't you know because that will make a difference too um for them in their program and going forward and what we decide so uh that's that's all I have to say Thank you Mr walker uh Miss grel has just shared with us that she is now in so she's changed computers and she's she's part of us so we're just missing Mr McManus at this point actually Mr Mr mcmanis is on now oh good all right I've been on I just been quiet oh my goodness thank you sir well welcome glad to see you on I had to go through the browser it wouldn't work

021anywhere else I go back and start the Brows well thank you I have a question yes sir since you're here so if we vote to postpone then that will postpone the entire School Arena where it's necessary to reach an applic to do an application U the the motion in front of us right now sir is um Miss Mason's motion that would put it off probably approximately two weeks so that we actually have the hearing and can be the the folks from MOS will be heard um and and that kind of thing so they would be heard so it would um necessitate uh by Dr f um response uh you know everybody being put on that way so we don't fill up the seats and then have to come back and say my goodness we have

022you know eight children from uh students from Mosley that that that want those seats so so everybody would be hell harmless then no one has an advantage or is disadvantaged well and he's saying that the people from mosu would be given those the the first uh priority yes sir yes sir okay thank you yes sir Mr chairman yes ma'am Mr chair Bradford yes ma'am I would agree with Miss Mason and I agree with um Miss Walker this came as a surprise and if it surprised us it certainly surprised the parents we've heard from just five students and so I feel like the um the public hearing is absolutely necessary I don't know that I want to vote at that time but if we could have that option it certainly wouldn't hurt but I don't I

023don't think it's something I want to do I wanna I really want to process this and and spend some time on it it's a huge decision and um I want all the facts when we do it so um I I agree with my colleagues here okay we got any other discussion if not miss buoy would you please call the rooll M C have her hand up Mr chair yeah Mr Miss krabble has our hand up and but before you toss it to to miss krabble I I I want to suggest that the the discussion is is terrific the the discussion is from a uh motion to amend the agenda as to whether the Mosley matter should be on tonight's agenda um correct M Miss Mason's motion kind of went to the underlying let's call it

024Mosley issue of of whether and when to have a a public hearing it would seem to me that that would be a motion that is kind of a little out of order here but would be perfectly made later in this meeting if Mosley remains on tonight's agenda uh all that being said Mr chair it's I defer I defer to you but I I I I would have suggested that Miss Mason's motion you know be considered not Germain to the motion on the table which was whether to amend to amend the agenda to remove Mosley from the agenda um can we I and I'm and to answer Miss Kel's U thing I'm not seeing anybody's hand raised so uh if you would just since you're everybody's on if you would just please uh um bring that

025up and and I would uh I'd have to disagree um I mean I think it is Germaine because if um you know if we are going to move ahead and talk about it tonight that you know whether or not we can you know give those those parents and those students the ability to um be heard and then we talk about it or not is is is kind of big I mean so I think that that is gerine it's huge I I I just just to clarify I wasn't suggesting that that that it was an irrelevant point just whether it was as a parliamentarian matter whether it was Germaine to the motion on the table to amend the agenda okay yes sir I appreciate that thank you all right thank you Miss crille Miss G will

026had for hand up okay okay so thank you the um for recognizing my hand so that I was in and out listening to that but it it is I um am going to go way out a limb here and agree with Mr vogle um that we the motion is to remove it from the agenda and if we want to add another motion then we have to do that so I would like to call for the question that we vote on um removing it from the agenda a simple yes or no and then we can move forward from there okay and I've already ruled on that Mr kille uh his his uh comment and your motion are the same thing that it is and I'm feel I feel that it is Germaine because it is all

027about the same thing whether we talk about it tonight if we don't talk about it tonight and then we go forth with um without the ability to hold off that the the uh timelines then that that makes it very you know it puts those those young people in in problem so Mr shair then I would like to call a point of order and um challenge your ruling on that so Mr vogle can you please look in our book Robert's Rules of Order we have to if he we we have to ask about um if we agree with what he's saying is that not right because I I don't believe that that is the case that we we vote on the agenda we don't skip to other things we vote on the agenda and if we

028want it on the agenda then we vote um leave it we vote Yes um if we want it removed then we vote no and we move on and have this discussion in the appropriate place on our agenda we don't we're not allowed to just skip items because we don't feel like we feel like talking about them okay um I'm pretty sure that you can check challenge my ruling on a point of order but we haven't had a point of order so I don't believe you can challenge my interpretation of a motion that I have made I have ruled Germaine but I will def wanted Mr vogle to check on for us I will defer to Mr vogle on that well I I do think that Miss krael made a a point of order that um

029that you overruled and I think what she's asking is to appeal the ruling of the chair and that is proper if if a majority of the board votes to uh overturn the ruling of the of the chair on a point of order so you could ask Miss Buie for example to call the role on that yes please so again this is Miss Kel's challenge to leaving Miss uh Mason's motion on the table or my ruling on that to be more precise uh Miss Miss Buie would you please call the role Miss Walker um I'm I'm sorry Chris I'm confu I'm sorry I'm confused Mr chair I apologize Miss Kel is so we have a motion and a second uh Miss Mason's motion Miss Bradford second to uh suspend the uh timeline uh and give those

030parents an opportunity to uh be heard from before we make that motion before we uh decide otherwise we would leave have to leave it on for tonight so miss Kel is saying that um that she does not believe that that is Germaine to it so she's challenging my ruling that that Miss Mason's motion is gerain so a no vote would be saying that we leave Miss Mason Mason's vote motion and we rule and we vote on that a yes would be I agree with Miss crille and we take it off and we just vote either to leave mosy on or take mosy off chair point of clarification I don't disagree with Miss Mason's motion I think what I'm confused about is I agree we're we're originally voted to remove it from the agenda why don't

031we just leave it on the agenda and then we can vote at that time all I'm just saying is I I'm not if I vote no I'm not vote I'm not ruling against you as chair I'm I and I'm not ruling against Miss Mason either I just I feel like if if we're gonna be clean about it you know maybe we just leave it on the agenda when it gets to Mosley then we rule on Miss Mason's point because it's a good point and I I agree with it it's just um that was my point Miss Walker completely is let's leave it on the agenda and talk about it where it's appropriate yeah and so like I just don't want to get it muddled and I'm not ruling against you Mr Sher or Miss okay

032um but I we could still talk about it because there might be other points that other folks may want to bring up at that time as well so maybe we just leave it then we can agree with with Miss Madison's Point okay so you are saying yes that you want to leave you want to yes okay yes Miss buy yes okay Miss bu no no Mr mcmanis yes Miss Barnhart yes Miss crille yes Mr wildbore no and Miss Mason no so uh we do it it's four yeses to three NOS so it will be we will remove Miss 's motion so we go back to the original motion by Miss Barnhart to remove the discussion and the second by uh Miss Bradford so we we have taken Miss Mason's motion off the table uh and

033a 4 three vote and we will uh now look at Miss bar Excuse Me Miss barnhart's motion to remove the mosy discussion from the from today's agenda Mr chairman Port of information um we can't offer a second motion if Miss barnhart's motion was to pass correct you mean if if Miss barnhart's motion is passed then we would be removing the discussion of Mosley from from today's discussion so we we can't discuss the the timeline that Miss Mason's talking about so the only way to do that would be to beat no vote no on barnhart's motion correct am I following it thank you yes ma'am that is correct so okay any other discussion again at this point the motion M Bar yes discussion hand up okay uh Miss barnhart's okay go ahead Miss gyil I'm sorry

034but I missed half of the discussion because my computer wasn't working um I am just want to make the comment that I agree with Miss barnhard on this we need to have a public hearing to hear what parents have to say we don't know what they are going to have to say and then once we hear from them then we will be able to make a decision but I am just having a hard time here what are we trying to accomplish are we trying to smack Dr fa's hand because he didn't communicate in the way that we wanted him to or are we trying sorry or are we trying to legitimately look at what is best for our students and our staff in perhaps relocating um these students to a program that is equally um

035as beneficial to them and to preserve the jobs of our teachers so I think that we should wait to hear what the parents have to say maybe they're just going to be angry with us for a little bit and we and we we sit and listen and we acknowledge that maybe they have some good ideas about where we go forward from here so having to talk about it before we talk about it is it's just seems counterproductive and a waste of our time and we've already spent now 30 minutes you know talking about just this agenda item other discussion if not the motion in front of us as I was saying before is Miss barnhart's motion to remove the Mosley discussion from today's agenda um Miss buy would you please call the role Miss Walker

036no Miss Bradford no Mr McManus yes Miss Barnhart yes Miss crel yes Mr wbore yes and Miss Mason no two three four four to three that passes so mosy discussion will be removed from today's agenda um take that off is there any are there any other M chairman ma'am that's Radford make a motion that we remove the attorney discussion from the agenda Mel second I'm sorry the second from Miss Mason thank you this is to remove the Vogal discussion the Vogal Law Firm discussion from today's agenda is there a discussion hearing none Miss uh Buie would you please my hand up Mr chairman okay I I have a question of clarity there was not a description in um on this agenda item so I didn't know exactly what was coming to but I have taken

037and heard the accounts of concern from fellow board members um and I had looked over policy 2610 for Bo board attorney the biggest concern and I do believe this is a better discussion in person so I might be in favor of moving it the biggest concern is making sure that we have um appropriate coverage for special education specifically um with the leave of the with the link leave of the sync Law Firm that and I looked over policy 2610 and in this policy it says in addition the board may enter into contracts with attorneys for representation and litigation or other special services as needed and so if we table this discussion which I may be in favor of to do this in person with one another um I just want to make sure that our

038staff has what they need in the event that they need extra support specifically in the area of special education and again board members I I would ask you thank you Miss barard but I would ask you to please just uh verbally because I there's no hand coming up on my screen so I I don't see anybody's hands I don't mean to slide anybody or not uh hear from anyone I do want to hear so please do as Miss barart did and just say Mr chairman and and tell me who you are and we'll go from there so uh any further discuss thank you Miss walk Stephanie Walker um thank you I I mean we're discussing whether we remove it or not but we're already having discussion about why we I just think it's we're getting

039into discussion and it's not just about removal again and I had some things to say and if we remove it from the agenda do we just have to all all of a sudden add it back again if someone seconds it I mean it's on the agenda we talked about it last week and we know what we need to discuss so you know I don't I'm not in favor of removing every single thing on our agenda tonight even though it is in weird circumstances that we're doing it um we have a serious discussion to have and I don't think we should ignore that so I mean the will of the board is going to be what it is at the same time we we can't avoid this discussion this has to happen especially in light of

040the the new information that we have um so I'm definitely not in favor of removing this discussion this is super important discussion um and so I I don't have have any policies to site at this at this time I just you know since last week we got more Revelations and I just think they're worth discussing and I I'm not in favor of move it I may be in favor of tabling it for a personal for for an inperson meeting um and I'm okay with that too but I don't want to remove it thank you can I ask you a question uh I'm just gonna ask keep Miss Walker in front of me here for a minute would You' like to make an amend would you like to amend the motion to table to table it

041until the February meeting say for instance um I'm not tell you what to do I'm not telling taing is not the right word it will be postpone anyway yeah um I would like to have a comment before Miss Walker has a chance to make a motion to change the motion okay please go ahead Mr bbel this was my um ask um back in December as soon as we got the letter from the email um from Mr SN and Mrs S um saying that they were resigning from our um from their association with Mr Vogel and so I requested that and I didn't need it to be on the agenda review at all because there was no information I wanted it to be for my request and the second was to have it discussed in public

042we are all sitting here we are looking at each other if you put your gallery up you can see everybody's face at the same time you can see our hands raised that there is no difference between talking about this in person and talking about this over the zoom because anybody who has an opinion or who has facts or who has documents they're sitting there right in front of us right now so um I am not in favor of removing it because there are important things that we need to discuss and um I don't think that the argument that Mr vogle gave at the agenda review meeting was sufficient to answer all of our questions any other discussion Mr chair yes ma'am Melissa Mason um I think that based off of the weather and the fact

043that we've already had some connectivity issues that this is something that we should address in person um I don't want anybody to lose the opportunity to express their opinion whether I agree with them or not and it is at the end of the agenda and the weather is only getting worse um meaning that power could be um going out for some of us or connectivity could be a problem so I think it would be better so that we could have a full discussion make sure nobody nobody's voice is lost in the mix um to do it in person okay any other discussion Miss Bradford I agree with Miss Mason my power is already clicked twice and um you know we've already we're 37 minutes in and we haven't approv the agenda um I really think

044we need to get about the people's business here okay Mr Walker Oh Mr Manis can go first he's not gone yet all right thank you we're under a warning see shelter as we speak on the TV and that's the third one since I've been here just about and unfortunately my front porch and my door Southeast and that's where it's coming from south yeah so just for the record we got a hell of storm out here and we're sitting here arguing about something so thought and we spent 30 minutes doing it which is our biggest problem yes sir okay Mr chair and then in that conclusion we'll get back to circling back what what you asked me about earlier I will uh can I please amend them the um Miss barnhart's motion to postpone or table

045this until our next regular board meeting where we can do it in person and then we can also so you know not worry about power and the weather and whatever's going to come with that um and I would like a second on that please um okay you beat me to it okay we have a motion second to postpone until next meeting any further discussion on that okay hearing none Miss buy would you this motion is to postpone discussion of the Vogal Law Firm until the February regular meeting Miss buly would you please call the role Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford yes Mr McManus no Miss Barnhart yes Miss crille no Mr wbore yes and Miss Mason yes that passes 52 we will postpone it will be on the regular agenda uh in February uh at

046that at this point I would like I ENT m a motion to approve the agenda the amended agenda so moved Bradford Bradford motion second I'll second all right please call the role Miss buy oh any any I'm sorry any discussion hearing none Miss Bo please call the roll Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford yes Mr mcmanis yes Miss Barnhart yes M Crill yes Mr wbore yes Miss Mason yes pass 7 Z here we go flying through um next we'll have our invocation obviously remotely excuse me Father in heaven we thank you for the love that you have for us and Lord I pray for your spirit to help all those who are here to make decisions concerning the children and their education Lord please teach us all as it says in Psalms 912 to number our

047days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom knowing that each will one day leave this life and give an account to you for all of our Lives I pray for the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom that we would make righteous decisions in view of Our Father in Heaven who's watching us right now and Lord you said in Mark 10:14 to allow the children to come to you and Lord you said to not forbid them for the kingdom of God belongs to these and you also warned us Lord in Matthew 186 you warned us that whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in you to stumble it would be better for him to have a heavy Mill Stone hung around his neck and to be drowned

048in the depth of the Sea Lord knowing these things that we're going to give an account to you for how we lead these children and what we do with them and that you are indeed watching Lord I pray that your spirit would fall on this counsil and they would do what's right in your sight knowing that every decision they make they will give an account before the god of heaven and so Lord having uh seen these things I pray for your help and your grace upon each one of them that you would give them your heart for your kids and that they would do what is right in your sight and we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen amen and Miss Bradford would you lead us uh Miss Mason if

049you want to hold up that flag that'd be great Mr wildor Mr wior would we could you please tell us who gave that invocation that would be a Miss buy question I do not have that well can we ask Miss Buie yes just miss Buie can you share with us and I do apologize for not having that but that was not given to me it was with um Morning Star Fellowship uh Mr um Pastor Travis I don't have his name right in front of me but it was from Morning Star Fellowship um Church mington is this a is this a repeat person it is yes ma'am okay all right thank you sure all right um Miss Bradford you are on to lead and uh Miss Mason's got the flag I have flag in here I

050pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America America and to the rep for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right next order of business is the approval of the minutes is there a motion to approve the minutes Mr chair Josie barnhard I make a motion to approve the minutes all right Miss barard thank you is there a second Miss Walker second thank you Miss second Miss Walker seconding get that right not miss second walking um any discussion Mr this ish yes ma'am my work computer went out my other computer what I'm talking on um I had notes there if we could I believe it is in um the 12 six minutes would you scroll down into where we're um under it

051was um policy I think I I maybe Miss can put it up on on the screen and I could I can see it because it's not coming up on my anyway in there in one of the minutes it says Miss Brad Miss Bradford made a motion and Miss Bradford seconded the motion so we need to just fix that okay I believe it was in policy can we keep on scrolling down yeah this is really hard when your computer's not working and the internet goes in and out yeah there it is under policy amendments a um Miss Bradford shares her input she moves to change the language um and then a wa minute that's not the right one go down to the next one keep going maybe it's in that one hold on let's look in

052there it must be in the it must be in the other one I'll just go ahead and prove it because I I can't get to it on my computer one one of our minutes has has something that needs to be fixed Mr chairman could we just um instruct the staff to make that correction and and move on I think that'd be fine I'm fine I'm fine with that I'll find it as soon as we get back up okay all right so we have a motion a second to approve the minutes um Miss Buie would you please call the role Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford yes M FR Manis yes Miss barnhard yes Miss crille yes Mr will deor yes and Miss Mason yes all right thank you that passes 70 uh carrying on our next

053uh item is student voice yes thank you so much um first of all good evening everyone thank you for adapting to the inclement weather and transitioning our meeting online we are grateful for the opportunity to speak with you uh tonight and want to express our Collective appreciation once again for your ongoing efforts to support and advocate for students to update you um seeking guidance from the hogri AP Stat teacher we've been collecting student opinions on policy 7205 our objective was to gather a comprehensive and stratified sample of student opinions regarding this policy as it directly impacts students education this initiative involved conducting indepth interviews with a diverse group of students spanning from sixth graders to high school seniors and including participants from various academic levels such as onlevel AP and IB programs we extended our

054reach to Encompass students from five different high schools and three middle schools across the county ensuring a broad and inclusive perspective the process was very thorough students were provided with an overview and specific SE of the policy for review prior to sharing their thoughts uh to date we have over 60 interviews uh conducted and our efforts are still going on to gather additional data um since this policy isn't up for vote at this meeting we'd like to propose that our team uh the Ambassador team be given the opportunity to collaborate and speak in the upcoming policy committee meeting in alignment with our student voice policy 44 we would love to contribute to such discussions with this policy and others as we believe our input drawn directly from the student body would be more valuable And

055Timely for that setting thank you very much uh board me board members I'm sorry you have more I don't mean to catch you off no no worries just just the ending question if you don't mind answer go ahead Stephanie Crill Miss Crill um yes um so I would like to make a motion that um we permit student voice to speak to us at the policy committee meeting um on January 16th I'll second Stephanie we have a motion and we have a second uh discussion um Mr chair Stephanie Walker M Walker um thank you um I think this is absolutely appropriate um I know this is U when we originally approved student voice to be part of our policy and also our board meetings we um we agreed to input and they're regularly on our agenda

056to bring us information and to bring us um words from the students the student body who are our biggest stakeholders and so I do believe it is a good idea to also include them in with feedback on policy especially policy uh so I am definitely in um I I will vote in the affirmative to to allow them the opportunity to come and contribute and and speak and share their their opinions for this policy Mr chairman Miss Bradford um I wasn't aware that teacher Voice or student voice were actionable items so I'm confused that we're having a vote Mr chair Stephanie cril M Crill um at Agenda reviews we are not supposed to make actionable items there either and yet we do it for clarity Mr chairman I said I did not believe that student voice

057was ever an actionable item or teacher voice was ever an actionable item I thought they were just simply informationon points I thought that's why we added them to the agenda so it's just a it's a point of information please and I get I repeat the same thing agenda review items under information are only there for information and yet we make motions from there as well so we need to be consistent and I don't understand what the problem is with following policy 44 um and I just wanted it all of us to be aware that it's written in the policy that we give them the opportunity so if we're not going to do that then now we're not going to follow our own policy so perhaps our perhaps the chair of our policy committee can weigh

058in Mr vogle um let me ask Mr vogle uh these these items um student voice and teacher voice is are they are they actionable in your opinion or not well I would say generally a board uh takes action on items that are in new business and an old business but it's up to the chair's discretion whether you want to entertain a motion on a different agenda item okay Mr mcmanis I just want to add my my total support our sole purpose is to support our students and to try to make decisions that are in their best interest all students and so how can we deny as hard as we work some of us to get student voice on board and as hard as they work they represent those that I understand considerable numbers and I

059know only two board members showed up for their meeting this year but we need to listen to them whether we agree or not that's up to the board vote but I absolutely agree 100% we should listen to them more that's why we have a job that's why we're here thank you sir you don't mind me adding our purpose of of using that setting is because it would be more effective with your discussion instead of utilizing the time here especially given it's online we thought it'd be more effective to to do it there where um you guys would already be discussing other policy and the one that we want to bring up 7205 Miss barnhard do you have a you have anything you'd like to say as policy chair sure I am not in favor of

060this motion and I did see your email Sam I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you the reality is when this policy was brought forth to the policy committee there was a lot of questions and concerns that were brought up zero have been addressed um there it was put back on my shoulders to say well you can change it if you want to and so when you're talking about a collaborative effort when you get feedback it's it's part of the process to change in address the areas of concern that has not been done um and so the reality is when we had this um Universal application the board said no that students would not be serving in all committees and so I do not feel it is appropriate I will be voting no for this

061motion and I would hope that you take to heart some of the changes that need to be made in the policy so that we can effectively move forward together with this Mr chair Stephanie walk walk Miss Walker I don't understand what we're concerned about here why would we not want student feedback and I'm not really sure um if my fellow member is talking about 7205 feedback or 404 feedback at this point and nothing as far as I know has been changed on that and I really don't think it needs a lot to be changed on it what we're discussing here is whether or not we allow student voice to have a voice when it comes to policy and I I don't understand the the opposition to it there shouldn't be any fear or opposition to

062any feedback that students give us at all so I don't I just don't understand the vment kind of opposition to having students come and speak I don't I don't believe I and I may be wrong but I don't believe the application even addressed just because they didn't have a tick box on there or a check box that we were not going to allow them to come to our I mean they're they're entitled to come to any of our policy meeting or any of our uh committee meetings anyway as as member of the public but as students you know I still think they should be included whether or not they have a check box on the universal application I don't think that has been decided so I I don't I'm not I would never be scared

063nervous or uh worried that students would come and give us feedback that that that's what they should be doing period and I'm gonna step in I'm gonna step in you I'm just wondering why we have a public hearing on Mosley and we won't have a public hearing from order you're out of order you spoken twice and again somebody else gets to speak once before you get to speak your third time it's great Bill uh as I was going to say I would like to ask Dr fa his opinion because we do have uh you know we're talking about a policy committee meeting that happens in the morning uh typically and so what I'd like to see what Dr fa has to say about um students missing school and you know that I I would like

064to get his opinion Dr F Dr F yes sorry I was trying to unmute so I I think what happens and what I was Shar what what I was told is the students who actually come aren't in class but we can't provide um an excuse to come to a policy meeting we'd have to have um a bus to get them but I think the students in Salmon would need to help help us um because that's what I was told last time that they don't have class um during that time okay there are a few of us who who do not due to their online and such and so they would be the ones to attend and obviously as as a team we meet monthly and so everyone's input is already given would be given to

065that one person or two people that would be able to make it and they could kind of give you the whole Spiel that we have but it's still represent of the whole student ambassador team which thus is representative of the whole student body but we could still be able to give you our feedback that way because we have students that can make it okay thank you that answers my question excuse me any other discussion okay if not the motion FR us am I allowed to make a comment or am I in trouble because I talked over dad go ahead and finish your make one more comment and we'll so I just want to say say that and I put it in the chat um two things is that we are offering a public hearing to

066parents and and students and the community on the changing of the program at Mosley but we are not allowing a a public input from a group of citizens who just happen to be students and the second thing is it is written in our policy 4,000 and four that the students will be allowed to give input and to miss barnhart's feelings that she doesn't agree with what's in the policy it really doesn't matter because I don't agree with in a lot of the policies we have either but it's written and we have to do it so until such time that our policy is changed then I don't think we should be denying any portion of our community with their rights to speak up so that's what I want I make a substitute motion to terminate policy

0674 04 at this time you're not allowed to make policy changes with an amended agenda and that's written in our policies as well could I interject for just a moment yes ma'am go ahead um hi everybody Harper har that's Miss Harper just so you know thank You' I I just wanted to um I hear everybody's points and I I do understand them I think we understand each other very well and clearly here um I think what the students well I know that what the students goal is um they just want to be able to give you information that they've gathered none of it is is negative um none of it is argumentative it's just informative um and it's just something that they want to give to help guide because they they want to learn some

068of them are very interested in the positions that you have um and are going to college and are taking studies to to get into different places and so they just really want to gain the experience and they've put in a lot of work they they just really want to be informative and provide that information so that you guys could help steer um within a a different not in a different way but to help steer and to just gain all the perspectives of all the students and teachers and parents from the the data that they've collected and and that's really it we really don't want 404 to be something on the chopping block as the students just want to uh be a part of the process and be have a seat at the table that's just

069really their ultimate goal and that's all I wanted to share thank you for your time yes sir um when we have the mostly hearing will students be allowed to speak from Mosley as they were before I would say so yes sir it's okay then if those students are allowed to speak then I think there's no no no argument about our our our students that we've selected and and asked for their input to be able to speak at a policy committee we can do anything we want to I remember someone saying that one time we can do anything we want to if we have the support and I am absolutely astonished and floored that one or more board members are saying so that every student I hope is listening to this we don't want to hear

070what you have to say that's basically canning what's going on we get we had students crying and and we we're going to have a special meeting for it we had a meeting and banned a book because a student supposedly complained to her parent who came and had it Mr chairman we're way off topic here let bring back in um we do have a motion from Miss um barnhard to to substitute uh a motion is there a second so please restate that Miss barnhard I make a motion to terminate the student voice policy 44 okay is there a second hearing none we will move on with the motion uh from M I'm sorry why are we can I ask that question what what did we do ma'am no no ma'am no ma'am we're not gonna have

071no you may not at this point I I apologize yeah I'm sorry thank you ma'am I apologize thank you so uh at this point we are going to move on with the motion M cille's motion to allow student voice to speak at the U policy U meeting um Miss buy would you please call the role Mr chairman a point of clarification yes ma'am um I I think we're talking about maybe two different things here we're talking about speaking as a member of the public I.E kind of call to audience as a guest has uh an opinion they want to share at a policy meeting but we're also talking about collaboration and having decision-making power so I really think that the motion um it needs to be clarified before I can vote I will clarify my

072motion please do the the motion is to allow the students to interact with us at the policy committee meeting they will not be voting um they will be weighing in just as our Papa representative does not vote but our Papa representative weighs in and the policy clearly says that they will be given the same opportunities afforded to others and we have afforded that opportunity to the principles and we have afforded that opportunity to the students um via policy 404 so my motion is is to allow them to interact with us at the policy committee meeting not to vote okay thank you Miss greyville we will carry on Miss bu we have somebody's hand up I just that you was that you that's mine I'm trying to put it down okay first time I've seen a

073hand so at least at least it works Miss Buie uh would you please call the role explain exactly what we're voting on I want to make sure yes sir yes sir point of clarification uh we voting as Miss Crill just said to allow student voice to um speak to the policy committee or interact with the policy committee I think is what M Crable just clarified uh about policy and I wrote it down somewhere but it's 70 is it 7 and it doesn't even really matter if it's just 7205 it's interact with us at the meeting okay there we go all right Mr mcmas is that uh yes sure thank you all right Miss buy please pleas call the rooll Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford no Mr mcmanis absolutely yes Miss Barnhart no Miss Crill yes

074Mr wildbore yes and Miss Mason yes that passes 52 um do does our representative from student board have anything else you'd like to share that should be it and just wanted to go off Miss Kel's point a little bit about the voting thing as she mentioned the policy it says we're allowed and by state we would not be allowed to vote so what she exactly how you said it Miss crel interact just means we just like how you guys have done in the past we just weigh in gave our feedback and have a little bit of dialogue if that makes sense and like Miss Harper said we're really just trying to be informative here and provide you guys evidential data from the student body which is obviously crucial to board members of of education so

075we're really not trying to um trying to do anything in a negative sense at all and we're just trying to provide the information to help you guys make better decisions thank you young man appreciate it and thanks for your time today thank you sammon Mr wbore yes sir Mr mcmah may I address something Dr F said I want to make sure I understand this about these kids allowed to leave school to come to present or to observe and I think I've said earlier in one other discussion that that's definitely an educational experience but all a child needs to check out of school is a parent permission that's all a child needs and a parent can write a letter saying my child has a right to check out for each one of these or invited to

076a meeting Etc and and I don't think the board would need to vote to say that was excused and I can't imagine that a teacher would make it unexcused to begin with with but if that's a problem s you need to let us know because this is important to us that we listen to what you say we might not agree all the time but we need to make sure that you know we're listening and I apologize for those who aren't it it's all about y'all all right thank you sir thank you young man appreciate your time today uh next we will have the superintendent report uh Dr f had a great start to the week yesterday as we made a surprise announcement at Castle hanne Elementary school to notify their principal Christian May that she

077has been selected as the North Carolina South Eastern region principal of the Year her leadership at Castle Hayne has exceeded growth for the last three years and increased a full letter grade last school year from a c to a b we're extremely proud of Miss May and look forward to her bringing home the title of North Carolina principal of the year the career leadership and development Academy field trip um was last week and we had the privilege of observing new H County students in school um middle school students during a visit to a construction site as part of the career and leadership development Academy a partnership with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce this program has opened many Pathways for our students and has now expanded I mean and literally it's just thanks to all of

078the state officials for securing that $2.8 million in funding so um this will also allow every seventh grader over the next two years the opportunity to parti participate in the career leadership development Academy two years ago when CD clda began we were able to fund a little more than 40 students we're now able to fund more than 80 this school year I had the privilege and honor of speaking at the Wilmington Biz power breakfast um Wilmington's most intriguing people of 2023 on December 14th um 2023 at the Wilmington Convention Center the title was focus on the focus I would like to First say um congratulations and you know thank you to hogard high school football team for an exciting season that they had um and we cheered all the way up into the state championship

079it wasn't the outcome we hoped for but we couldn't be more proud of our team our players our coaches and our fans thank you for an incredible and exciting season over the prior to the the Christmas break our principes filled 800 backpacks with nourish food at nourish NC on December 8 7th 2024 the backpacks go home with kids and prek through fifth grade nourish feeds 1,00 kids in our schools every week that concludes my um comments and I'll turn it back over to you thank you sir appreciate that very much uh mine is equally uh U short um huge congratulations goes out to Mrs May principal of the Castle Elementary School who was selected the Southeast region principal of the year in case you don't know there are eight regions in the state and the

080ninth counting all the charter schools so at this point uh she is one of the top nine principles in the state but of course you know as well as I do she is number one congratulations goes out uh additionally to her entire staff her parents and of course her students so great job it was quite a big celebration um do have a shout out to my fellow board members during the Board of Education appreciation month thanks for all you do each and every day for students and staff happy New Year looking forward to a great year serving and educ educating our students and working with our staff and our parents uh it was rewarding to attend and participate in the social media Town Hall thanks to all who came out and who participated it was

081very enlightening and a rewarding experience congratulations as Dr F said to coach Underwood and the hogard high school football team you are truly Champions and finally I look forward to meeting with our County Commissioners to begin the process of budget planning uh that ISS my comments um at this point we will continue with our call to audience a good evening I'm speaking tonight about several concerns with recent actions from uhen County schools first resolving the career Readiness academ Academy at Mosley the program has shown that students do better in smaller classrooms and environments this is true of all students but especially so for the average learner or those with special needs in classrooms of 30 plus these students are often overlooked and are unsuccessful however once they are in a small environment where they're seen

082they flourish as well Mosley is one of the most integrated and diverse schools in the county and the students love it new Handover county is small enough to diversify all at schools without putting undue strain on commute times and all would benefit I can understand the administrative concerns about funding a small school but the message being sent to these students is that New Hanover County Schools does not care nor value them I fail to understand why the academy cannot operate as a school within a school similar to the lysm academy because by not even considering that it is again sending the message that these students aren't worth saving also as we head into budget season I'm calling on you all to actively advocate for more funding for new han County Schools I said several months

083ago that in order to encourage the Commissioners and public to invest in the schools you all need to become cheerleaders and I have yet to see that desanding the Dei Committee Against members recommendations and closing the career Readiness Academy are two negative stains that impact how the school system is seen remember you don't just represent who voted for you you represent everyone please Advocate and vote like you do thank you hello my name is Barbara Garo I am selected to speak tonight in slot number two uh P your per your website I was selected via the lottery to speak in the number two slot for January 9th Board of Education meeting the email that I got was from the me Web Master unknown and looked like spam even though it was in my email box

084thinking I got no communication after checking my junk mail boxes I contacted a friend to get the instructions I did did speak with the communications officer and the Web Master at 11:00 a.m. this morning my purpose of making this effort to send you my remarks is to implore you to make a better 2024 for your students parents of five six and seveny old children should at the very least be called on the phone prior to administrative actions that would suspend their child from school school suspension should be a last resort in fact your policy states that school administrators will utilize Positive Behavior Support alternatives to suspensions and only use out of school suspensions as a last resort please revise the short-term suspension policy 4351 so that four so that five six and seveny old children

085can have the right to have a parent or other representative participate in the conversation with the principal before a determination is made to suspend a child making the this change does not take any power or authority away from the principal principles are still making the final determination about the out of school suspension it does not require extra time currently principles contact a parent after the child has been suspended we are simply asking the phone call be made before the child is suspended so that the parent or Guardian can ask some questions thank you very much and please enact this positive change this is Barbara BT's recording for call to audience and I'll start by saying that there's no right way to do the wrong thing but sadly some of you continuously do the wrong thing

086you pass Draconian measures or leave others in place while claiming to love children if your love sets others up for failure and exclusion that's not love it's never the good guys Banning books or dismantling a committee such as Ed or fail Title 9 protections against sexual abuse or seclusion policy still in place in the year 2024 yet the lawsuits keep growing you repeatedly do not present yourselves as one of the good guys who advocate for the most vulnerable or give teachers the support and respect that they deserve instead you side with extremists who are tracked by hate groups such as human rights organizations or the Southern Poverty Law Center groups such as the moms for Liberty whose newsletters front page had a Hitler quote for inspiration as for the disillusion of the egi committee the

087majority vote was a result of partisan politics four of you voted to dissolve it for purely political and discriminatory reasons at the expense of those who need it most I'm unaffiliated and that shouldn't matter but you're supposed to be a nonpartisan board yet politics repeatedly play a big role in the majority of your decisions driven by a larger fascist political agenda fueled by numerous dog whistles aimed at dismantling public education in general and that's been quite obvious to many of us it's sad that you aren't more open-minded and focused on helping all students succeed using whatever method available it's very disappointing and shame on those of you who voted to dissolve the Ed the EDI committee thank you my name is Valerie Noel and as a parent of three children enrolled in in HCS and

088a former educator I've grown increasingly concerned about the leadership of the school board you are leaders of our school district yet are incapable of conducting yourselves in ways that are being asked of the students and staff that you serve in the last two months alone multiple board members have Justified making sweeping far-reaching policy changes because right or wrong some people believe that some of these ideas are being taught in some of our schools and because it's just your perspective right or wrong The public's been told that the final EDI committee meeting was a disgrace display of temper tantrum with no appreciation for diversity of thought no inclusion and a lot of hate and that there was no professionalism or control of self serious accusations citing not a single specific detail or example from the meetings

089in a recent whqr article on climate survey results thoroughly discussed during the October 5th EDI committee meeting and used as a basis for the October Town Hall a board member claimed that they hadn't seen the survey results until the news reporter reached out and that the staff informed them that there was a troubling unauthorized information leak to the media to tell them to put in a public records request for the survey results yet another unsupported serious accusation regarding results that have been posted as a supporting document on the nhcs website since early October making public claims without citing relevant evidence and decision-making without presenting researched supported positions models ineffective inadequate and at times unethical leadership do you know what happens when students write argumentative or analytical essays based only on their perspective right or wrong

090and ideas that some people believe with absolutely zero tangible evidence they fail my expectation is that at a bare minimum you're capable of the same performance you demand from our students to behave otherwise is irresponsible Reckless and especially misleading to the community members who are unable to closely follow the school board and District thank you for your time hello my name is Lany Cooper the founder of speak your peace North Carolina New Hanover County board of education has proven so far that their decision making processes are solely based on race why else would the highest percentage of children who have a lower percentage of attendance be subjected to a greater number of suspensions while in school is because they share a commonality and that is a brown face New Hanover County institutions are structurally based

091in system atic racism what we're witnessing and what our children are experiencing is the generational systematic pipeline to prison the numbers don't lie but you do you will voted in to be a source of wisdom and understanding for the job you act to do for the children in this County instead you treat our black children as if they're criminals rather than students we're asking that the parents be notified before the supension takes place out of respect we ask that you modify policy 4531 can you consider for a moment how you feel if these were your children this is a message to parents who may be listening if you don't take interest in your children's education and take measures to teach them how to behave in school don't expect more from their adversaries we are at

092War it's time to wake up they're not preparing them for adult life in these schools but they are preparing them for mass incarceration it's the next step after the pipeline to prison and suspension thank you Sayan Ricky Dr f i Now understand why you said the Constitution wasn't written for you it was written to protect us from government officials who act like you you and fac are rogue employees who far overstepped your Authority disrespected our elected board members and worked against the best interest of our students by working on a newcomer program for immigrants without informing the board a board we elected to represent us in matters such as these you both have severe lapses in judgment and accountability it is critical that you the board Safeguard the interests of our community this one-sided decision

093making by fa and fac is alarming and unacceptable in the private sector such actions would be grounds for termination our education system is failing in New hanburg County and rather than focusing on improving our education system F and fac are focused on a refugee Center as opposed to our student successes initiating what is effectively a refugee Center without board approval is a blatant disregard for process this has far-reaching implications not just on resources but also on our current students their families in the neighborhood where the refugee Center will be located asent admits that she hasn't attempted to pursue additional grants for Mosley's current high school program if we struggle to fund 68 students how can we fund 500 Refugee students even more pressing is the February 2nd deadline for parents to choose new schools for

094next year possibly before the board decides Mosley's future the Board needs to reconsider and remove this flawed timetable tonight thank you sorry this is my try too this is htic my son goes to the career W Academy at Mosley the past month has been incredibly stressful I've have been busy looking for a comparable alternative my M for my son I even over the holidays be able to talk to for and research different schools some were public private and Charter Schools this is a change for me because I've always been an advocate for public education and that is why I want to see this program to the study I have been able not not been able to find anything as comparable to most my child needs I know other students and families are in the same

095situation my son has a I and his accommodations helped them be successful they are not drastic measures but has helped him tremendously with his learning experience and increase his overall ability to per his fullest potential MOS has been the only SCH as had teachers that were able to pray for this from the B of previous so it Tak at least the first grade in period for him for me to talk through email onl my teachers that teach my son about his disg graphia and have an alternative way for him to submit assignments in place I know the teachers tried to follow the accommodations for his IP for the large class sizes and the student was with my son he was called behind until his sisters were on board this has been the first year that

096we' now had to play catchup at the end of the semester and the teachers have known from the GetGo I am involved and supportive of Education it's a lot to undertake pH please consider for my son's education years um since his underutilized help advocate for more enrollment I truly think families in the community are not aware of the great things smoothly has been able to do son and other students with similar ability thank you hello my name is Cynthia Leos today you will be voting on whether you will be closing mosy career Readiness Academy the news that this came as a shock to not only the students and staff but to the community as a whole the closure of the school will disenfranchise every single one of its students and staff the board of education

097is supposed to Advocate and Implement policies for the betterment of its students but this decision only seeks to hurt the children of our community you've not given the fam students and community enough time and notice to understand the lifelong ramifications of your decisions nor have you given yourself enough time to implement accommodations for the students 56% of Mosley's students are Latino Or Hispanic there are not enough counselors teachers and translators in our County to make it for the community that mostly has built within its walls I urge you to look beyond your political agendas and to look at the faces of those who you are affecting what type of message do you want to send to the students the children in our community are our future they will be our next Health Care Providers Engineers

098economists business owners don't you want to give them a safe and sound education instead of ripping it away from them thank you hello my name is Chris Sutton let me start off by thanking our school board members for removing thanington Smith as legal counsel a while back there was a strong perceived conflict of interest in regards to John Doe vers nhcs sexual assault cases at the time we did not have many options for attorney and I believe Mr wildor summed it up best that a change was necessary but he wasn't thrilled about any of the options when fcal presented to our school board there were four attorneys brought in to speak half of them have now left including the certified mediator and person Mr Fogle said was an unbelievably important part of the solution in

099resolving EC matters and other issues one of the attorneys that left was a former counselor for the Department of Instruction when questioned about special education law Mr Bogle said he had six years of experience and we just lost two attorneys that collectively had 13 years of experience that means we just lost two-thirds of our special education law experience I believe vogle has been given the opportunity to show us that he can provide the level of dist uh the district needs um let's not even get started about the fact that the public records requests have been pining for months and a news article came out uh that those hadn't been fulfilled due to vogel's inability to open zip files reminder that zip files are used on a pretty regular basis by school districts Nationwide on top

100of this vogle failed to uh provide proper guidance to board members which exac bated problems I have a list of examples however I do not have the time to go through them at this point I believe it's time for us to at least open a request for proposal to at least get keep our options open as we move forward also wanted to address the Mosley issue uh however there isn't much time I feel like communication was yet again lacking which caused further grief for our teachers and families affected it appears that board members were kept in the dark and this is not the first time I remember board members having to find out from the office of civil rights complaints via a news reporter instead of our superintendent our community truly deserves better than what

101we are currently receiving time and time again communication has been lacking and this is so unfortunate I really hope the board pushes our superintendent to be more communicative to them in the future thank you my name is Robert Bellamy I am speaking as an advocate for love our children about revising policy 4351 when I was suspended as a kid it was something they did immediately right away I had to walk home and show the paperwork to my parents who were shocked and mad at the same time so suspending a child under those conditions only makes them harder to reach that way don't give them conclusive measures to think more rationally about their actions without a fair hear a teacher a police officer or most government officials are never suspended without representation neither should a kid

102on the government rules a parent should represent them even if the suspension has to be delayed the rights of a kid is also the rights of a parent so schedule to process if needed don't just kick a kid out in the rain who could be crying inside without an umbrella love our children or lose them to the streets my name is Robert bamy thank you greetings and salutations my name is Kiana Williams and I am calling on behalf of Mosley TLC my high school Journey began at Lany high school when I was at Lany High School I fell behind all my credits du the circumstances that were Beyond My Control fast forward I was referred to a non-traditional high school that will soon be coming to Wilmington and I had to apply to go I

103applied to Mosley even and I got in when I got to Mosley Mosley was a different atmosphere the teachers were different the principal was black um and it was just a different type of Love they met us at the door with smiles and I like to think that we showed up because of them and they showed up because of us fast forward in 2009 I graduated mosy PLC uh with the one .9 GPA as a first generation college student I was able to go to Elizabeth I was able to go to St Augustine's college and um and graduate to attend Alabama A&M as well I was able to not only graduate as a first generation college student but to come back to my community and help my peers and different students throughout the city I

104say all of that to say we have four non-traditional schools in Wilmington Wilmington Early College ctec MOS PLC and Isaac bear all of these non-traditional schools provide a non-traditional atmosphere for these students with the upand cominging announcement of mosy PLC closing I'm really not sure what will happen to these non-traditional students please help us figure this part out thank you so much for your T consideration I am osle scholin created with the Divine Purpose I am wonderfully made thank you and bye-bye hi this is Sandy Isles and this is my call to audience so Jonathan vogle is being sued by two former colleagues for non-payment and breach of contract it seems the concerns just keep piling up remember back in September when I emailed you about a potential fura violation because personally identifiable information was

105released about students in a public records request and how this happened just a few days after Mr Vogal claim to lead his firm's efforts in this area for the record neither new han County Schools nor V have ever addressed my concerns then there are the repeated concerns that vogle favors communication with just a few board members and has not consistently shared information with the entire board and what about in the spring when vogle was not transparent and forthcoming that cabis County had failed to renew his contract in just eight months vogle has misled the board misled the public refused to address concerns and now was being sued Miss Bradford believes when we have these conversations about Vogal we quote straight out of Integrity what Integrity Miss Bradford you're supporting a legal firm for political gain

106and power that is the opposite of integrity and now we have three more students of Michael Kelly who have come forward with sexual abuse allegations and new han County Schools is facing another lawsuit this is after setting a settling a previous case for $140 million I have zero confidence vogle is capable of handling this new case after all he's not only lost two attorneys but now he has to use resources to defend himself against allegations of non-payment and breach of contracts Miss Bradford Integrity would require being a good Steward of taxpayer dollars Integrity is not wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on an attorney who doesn't even have his own house in order thank you good evening my name is Tim Merck last month we heard from five bright committed and terribly concerned mosle students

107whose safe home in the new hanok County school system was being ripped away from them every one of our students needs to feel safe and welcomed in school to meet that need requires more for some students than for others that's equity and that is our job we need to keep this program funded until the current students have graduated at least we owe them that much and I know it's about money the state legislature is literally defunding public education Governor Cooper has declared a state of emergency for our schools and to respond to this crisis we need to make appropriate adjustments to our budget according to the National Center for Education statistics we spend over $12 million more than comparable districts on central office administration Rachel Keith has been reporting on the excesses in the superintendent

108contract the Vogal Law Firm is being paid three times what Wake County pays parents and taxpayers Dem demand fiscal responsibility and quality education for their children we need to ensure that our dwindling revenue is spent supporting our teachers and in student facing Endeavors cutting Mosley is not the way to balance the books thank you for your consideration my name is Linda Higgins I live in Wilmington and have a seventh grader at DC Virgo I watch all or at least most of both the school board meetings and committee meetings either in person or online and I am concerned about Q how you as the school board and central office are setting yourselves and the community up for conflict on the one hand you said at the agenda meeting that the budget is in trouble and it

109is due to a lack of enrollment or enrollment going down at the same meeting you spoke of the need for trailers and you have spoken of overcrowded schools so needing more schools either enrollment is going down or it is going up it cannot be doing both at the same time it may be true that enrollment is in going up in one part of the county and going down in another but that would be a reason to move to the students around not build more schools a chance to desegregate our schools again and give all of our children a chance you do this again with the issue of whether or not you believe in parents rights you either believe in parents rights or you don't if you believe in parents rights according to all the work

110you've been doing then you should want parents at disciplinary meetings especially the young children and if you do not actually believe in parents rights stop pretending hi I'm Natasha T today I address a matter of utmost importance the proposed closure of Mosley career read this High School the decision spearheaded by Dr F and Dr Fason has not only betrayed the fiary trust placed in them but has also bypass the transparent process that governs our district the decision to close Mosley High School was made without the knowledge or approval of the board a clear breach of protocol and Trust the board members elected to represent the interest of our community were kept in the dark about this significant change this lack of transparency is unacceptable and it undermines the very principles of our District's governance further

111the manner in which the mo parents of Mosley students were informed is equally troubling a m four days after the board was made aware of the closure parents receed letters informing them of the delusion of their children's school this Hasty and poorly communicated decision has left families scrambling and worried about their children's educational future The District administration led by Dr F and Dr fasen has overstepped its Authority by initiating a student offboarding program without the board's consent this unilateral action disregards the authority of the board and more importantly the voices of our community I urge the board to take a vote tonight and pause the Rogue timetable for closure set by F and phasin in order to give parents some breathing rooming before the final decision is made right now District Administration is forcing parents

112to make a new school decision by February 2nd this is not just about school closure it's about the Integrity of our educational system and the trust we plac in our leaders Dr F and Dr Fason have attempted to sidestep the community's wishes and the board's Authority their actions have shown a clear disregard for the proper process and for the stakeholders they serve it is imperative that they be held accountable for their actions I stand with community in calling for the preservation of mly ready career ready this high school and the termination of Dr F and Dr FAS for their blatant disregard of their duties and responsibilities we must protect the educational future of our children and uphold the principles of transparency and accountability in our school district thank you Karen Clark Jesus was consumed by

113his father's business do not be deceived by the enemy's tactic to distract you every seat of power realm of government and Authority it exist through him and for his purposes I pray in jesus' name you remember the call the Lord has placed on you as a body to protect the education of our children that you set your mind as a flint on the prize before you I pray you are never drawn into meaningless arguments or tear each other down with useless words that only harm others avoid empty and worthless words for they simply add to the irreverence of those who Converse in that manner I pray your fruit is not contentious competition and evil suspicions but based on the truth of the anointed one may you be reservoirs of every kind of wisdom and spiritual

114understanding I pray you would walk in the ways of true righteousness pleasing God in every good thing you do then you'll become fruit bearing branches yielding to his life knowing god in his fullness I pray you continue to advance our children with the truth Wrapped Around Your Heart assured by God that he's the one who has truly taught you Jesus says I make all things new we don't need a new law firm but a school board made new I declare our new Handover School Board is made new in jesus' name as lightbearers standing firm on the truth of the word for our children amen good evening this is Lesley posy last week whqr had a story on the survey of Administrators that was taken last October one of the question asks whether they work in

115an environment where there's trust and mutual respect only 34% of the respondents said they agreed with this statement answers to other questions were similar Illy negative whqr reached out to the district to see if anyone was available to speak on these results but a district spokes person declined school board members were also asked to comment most of them didn't respond but board member Pat Bradford did voicing concerns about how the media knew to request the survey results quote the first I heard of this survey or the results of the survey was when you emailed us asking for comment I have been trying to ascertain why this survey was shared with with the media but not with me as a board member at the same time I understood from staff that a somebody leaked the fact

116that there was a survey so the media knew to request the data unauthorized informational leaks from nhcs is equally troubling even though I was appreciative to re receive the revelation of the survey and its results end quote however the survey was publicly shared and discussed for about 30 minutes at the October 5th EDI committee and the results were also uploaded to the committee's a agenda files after she was informed of that Bradford walked back to her comment saying now that you mentioned it I do remember the discussion about his survey at EDI I never connected the dots to realize it was the one you sent us how odd end quote I find it interesting that Miss Bradford's first response to this publicly released information which was presented at a committee meeting she attended was to

117assume the information had been leaked why would she not want want the public to know about the working conditions in the schools she helped supervise thank you hi my name is Michael Davidson I hope this is getting to the school board uh thank you for an opportunity to let me address you uh I've been thinking about this school board and I've come up with I think an appropriate nickname the nickname is the 43 team for any crucial issue this board addresses it seems to be a 43 vote now in terms of leadership I think this is not really showing off very well for the school board for a school board or any board to be effective the members need to be supportive you need to operate with a strong results orientation you need to seek

118different perspectives and you need to solve problems effectively I think the board has failed on all these four points I do think you have an opportunity when you sit down with the City commissioners or the County Commissioners to show some leadership and push for more funding for the school thank you so much and you have a great day I believe that is the end of our call all the audience is that correct okay very good uh board members thank you very much uh we will continue um with our consensus yes ma'am um can we take like a five minute break absolutely uh we'll take a five minute break I have uh 643 let's let's come back at 650 thank you 650 we are in a break all right I have 650 so we are back

119in session all right next item um let me sure we have everybody back we do okay uh our next item is uh I would entertain a motion to approve the consensus items so moved Bradford Bradford makes motion Walker second Walker second any discussion hearing none Miss Buie would you please call the rooll Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford yes Mr mcmanis yes Miss barnhard yes Miss Crill Miss crille sorry about that yes Mr wildbore yes and Miss Mason yes passes 70 next we will have a new business uh board budget priorities Miss Sutton hello good evening everyone um knowing that we had a virtual meeting tonight I sent out a Google Mr chairman point of order I can't hear her sen can you um speak speak up please I can hear her can you hear me

120now are you still having trouble hearing me I I can hear you I can hear you I can't hear her um I'll I'll speak as loud as I can so knowing that this was a virtual meeting I went ahead and prepared a Google sheet a Google form to go out to all of the board members to be able to collect the board priorities for the 25 I'm sorry the 2025 budget year the the form as everyone should have received that it went out this morning I've gotten back it looks like four responses so far it looks similar to the exercise that we done the past two years where it lists all of the um strategic plan goals and there's a priority um one through six and so you have to pick a priority for each

121goal similar to what we've done as I stated in the past so I'm hoping to get the results back from everyone um by tomorrow and then be able to share that information on Friday at the um work session okay any questions board members Mr chair um I I apologize to Ashley um I did answer that it was probably about four o'clock but I I did answer so I apologize that that I took that long no it's okay I've got I've got yours back um I've gotten so yours was one of the four that I've received back all right any other questions or comments board members if not miss Sutton thank you very much thank you we will move on to Old business and we have none at this point because both uh have been uh

122taken off so then we have correspondence board members does anyone have a correspondence remembering that that is uh you know either an email or a letter that they'd like to share with us hearing none yeah miss crille miss crille miss crille yes Miss crille yeah the um I was understanding that um correspondence is whatever a board member wants to say so I am just want to say Happy law enforcement national law enforcement day I'm really s a law enforcement appreciation day I'm sorry that we're not there in person so that we can give them um a round of applause um I also wanted to um congratulate Christian May on her recent selection as the Northeast region North Carolina principal of the year and didto Mr vor's comments on we hope she brings home the gold

123um or whatever the statue is that that she gets to have um second of all I just wanted to um report in that I attended the first annual Esports tournament back in December and the room was palpable with energy the um watching those kids compete um against each other and and help each other was just very um eye openening also to wanted to just um say that I was very proud of the Mosley performance Learning Center um with their cultural fair that they held right before the end of the semester there was over a hundred um students parents community members um School faculty and New Hanover County Schools faculty there two um two restaurants two local small businesses and a church contributed um the the food and um the music to make that a um

124very energetic send off to the um to the the the holiday break um also too wanted to just um ex do as Dr F did extend thanks to um Rogers construction and um Novant Health for having the cdla group out at their work site um looking forward to continued work with them all right thank you anyone else if not our next I wanted to highlight um thank you I wanted to highlight I was able to attend back in December and I highlight this the school meals for all it's an organization and we have two uh School Ambassador teams one at Laney and one at New Hanover High School and there was one representative from each School actually dedicated um and designated to be chosen to present in Minnesota and it's a group that Advocates um

125to to make sure that kids not don't go hungry for breakfast and lunch and advocate for change for that so I just want to highlight those students um I have to pull up the email to get their names but we have two Representatives that are going um on behalf of new han County schools which is pretty cool very cool thank you other board memb Mr Mr roor yes ma'am Mr graille um I I forgot this last one um the wanted to also give a shout out to our transportation department um for partnering with communities and schools at their rville Beach plunge and um to thank again the bus drivers that um came and drove um for that so it it's a good partnership that the school district are are good partners um within our community

126as well all right thank you anyone else going once going twice going three times moving on to announcements um I have a list here to Share Board of Education will hold a budget work session Friday January 12th at 9:00 am at the Board of Education um Center general public will have the option to uh view remotely on new han County Schools tv YouTube the policy committee will be meeting on January 16th at 10:00 a.m. something's going on with your talking okay I can hear you Mr chair I can hear you fine here okay maybe I'll get a little closer to my iPad uh the policy committee will be meeting on Tuesday January 16 2024 at 10: a.m. at the Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to remote to view remotely

127on the new han County Schools tv YouTube new han County uh Board of Education will host a public Hearing in regards to the career Readiness Academy at Mosley Tuesday January 16th at uh 20 uh 2024 at 5:00 pm Board of Education Center again the general public will have the option to uh view remotely on new hanare county TV YouTube new hanare County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners will hold a joint meeting on Wednesday January 17th 24 at 9:00 a.m. at the Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to view remotely new H County uh tv YouTube the district will host a high school spe specialty um try again the district will host a high school specialty programs Fair on Saturday January 20th 2024 from 10: to 1 p.m. uh

128at the Board of Education Center hanal County Board of Education will hold an agenda a review meeting on Tuesday January 30th at 2m Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to view remotely on new han County uh tv YouTube Title 9 will hold a committee uh will hold a meeting on Monday February 5th 2024 at 3M at the Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to riew remotely the new Haner County YouTube new han County Board of Education will hold a February regular board meeting on Tuesday February 6th 2024 at 5:00 pm Board of Education Center the general public will have the option to view remotely new han county TV okay that ends those at this point I will second here second there s over all right

129we do have to have a close session tonight uh I will entertain a motion um to go into close session pursuant to uh General statute 143 318 11c for the following purpose one to prevent the disclosure of information that is privileged or confidential pursuant to General statute 11542 and not considered public record within the meaning of chapter 132 of General statutes two to consider with to consult excuse me with the attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorney and the board including with respect to new han County Board of Education versus Liberty uh and to consider the qualifications the competence performance character Fitness conditions of appointment appointment and conditions of initial employment of an individual employed or considered for employment within the school system or to hear or investigate a complaint

130charge grievance or any by or any individual employee is there such a motion so moved Miss Bradford thank you is there a second second Miss Mason second for first and second any discussion um if not miss buy would you call the role please Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford yes Mr mcmanis yes Miss Barnhart yes Miss crille yes Mr willor yes Miss Mason yes all right board members we are in closed session you should have a separate link and I will see you in the CL close session say we better hurry up for my cat start jumping up here kitty don't you call that cat he can't hear you anyway okay there we are I think we are all back make sure we're all back I see everybody very good at this point I would entertain

131a motion to adjourn Melissa Mason so moved second Mason we have a first and a second any discussion if not all in favor please signify by saying I I all opposed passes 70 board members again thank you very much for your hard work uh to the public we do apologize for having a zoom but um you know with the storm going on I do appreciate us all working together thanks so much be careful be safe and we will talk to you Friday or before have a good night thanks everyone