NHCS Board of Ed. Policy Committee Meeting | Aug. 15, 2023

001everyone for being here I'm going to officially call this policy meeting to order um Miss cadetsky would you please call the roll [Music] here I am here here mine is in herself I think they're working on it um okay and um thank you Mr wildebear for being present via Zoom Miss Mason for being here and Miss May I will start by um we'll stand and do the Pledge of Allegiance excuse me I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good next on the agenda is for the approval of the agenda and I make a motion to do that now second any discussion yes yes ma'am um so I would like for us

002to table discussion on policy 3200 I don't think it's appropriate for us to be talking about things that are in the book challenge until after the book challenge because it's just it seems to me it's an inappropriate time to be discussing all of that this would not be centered around any challenge it would be I understand that I understand that but what my thoughts are is that some of what's in that policy may be presented by um New Hanover County Schools side and could also be presented from Ms gates side and I don't think it's appropriate for us as a board to be talking about that policy right now until after we have the book challenge behind us I think it's perfectly appropriate to talk about make sure we have it right but we're not

003gonna I don't think that we should influence any of the discussion on the book challenge by talking about this policy um at this time I appreciate the feedback I want to offer a little bit of clarity prior to um having a vote on this the idea that I had today was that we could come together and share concerns and feedback about it it was not actually to change the policy today but rather to have a discussion about different things working with our staff that we could do to do to make this policy better and so that is it was not my intention to have changes it was at my intention to have a conversation today no and I understand that and I appreciate that I read that on here but it says for consideration slash

004approval so approval to me always means there's the the um possibility that someone's gonna make a motion and I I would I respect what you're asking for and I am all for talking about it I just think it September policy meeting Miss Bradford do you have any input on that um so there is a first on the table to table that policy is there a second hearing no second will go back to the main motion which is to approve the agenda all in favor I I all opposed no that passes two to one now looking at the minutes there is a couple of Corrections and I'm going to go ahead and point those out I already made Miss cadetsky aware of this but since it was posted I didn't want to change it and and

005have some confusion with the public so if you look at our meeting minutes and in our packet it is page 10 and it's number one on the meeting minutes the first change that I saw it should not be Stephanie Adams board member Stephanie Walker continuing on to page 13 in our packet which is Page four of the minutes at the very top it had the initials JB so that should be written out as Josie Barnhart and I wanted clarification Miss cadetsky I don't know if you had time to go back and listen but see policy 6220 I believe this was Miss Sutton so if we change that verbiage to reflect not miss varnum but Miss Ashley Sutton leading that discussion and then my last I think there's one more the last note was on seven

006of the notes and it should be Miss Barnhart not Mister ladies any other where is it on page seven on the 16 over pocket yes um I had a couple um additions and or corrections as well um on page two where it's um where she's listing all of the non-voting attendees and says Miss Barnhart welcomes Miss Christiana May Cassidy and all fellow board members Cassidy Thompson is the name is the one of the students and I didn't know if you wanted to name all of the students or not or if we wanted to just say representatives from the student Voice team there I'd be fine with adding Thompson and representatives from student voice okay Miss Bradford is that okay with you okay okay then in um policy on page 13. where it says by welking

007welcoming the students members of the student engagement team it would they were the student Voice team the student engagement teams are the ones at this school and the student engagement team is one part of policy fourth four thousand four so it's really you just take out that um the members of the student engagement team or just to say student Voice team and then it's in it's in there twice in in the first sentence and about halfway down um so just say student Voice team I would say student Voice team because that's who was here okay um one two three four five five lines up from the bottom where it says student advisory Council that is spelled like our legal counsel and should be counsel with an i not council with an e okay and I

008didn't have a chance to go back and look but I think Miss Charlotte Harper was was involved in this meeting and had a visual that she presented so she was also part of that presentation wherever we want to put that in or if you don't think it's necessary but I think it's encompassed on the student Voice team yeah but she's not part of the student voice she's not a student she's a teacher she is their adult Ally so she's not so she's not part of the team she's not part of the team she's their advisor okay um so we might just want to put in a student advice because she she made a presentation actually you know she had the handout you know the the not the handout that the poster board where she went

009through the umbrella so choose we can include that she knows she was here of people who watched no she was here our minutes just don't reflect that for do you have any well with that with those conversations um are we okay with approving the minutes that has been with the presentation of amendments being made I am and I'll second that was that emotion yeah oh she just said she said I'm fine with that that's not impression I move that we accept the minutes with the changes that have been noted and I'll second that all in favor aye aye any opposed that passes three to zero so that brings us um to the first policy for discussion which is policy 2120 and this came back from our June policy board meeting where the discussion um and

010having some language change about the accountability paragraph at the end looking at the language um Mr Vogel I just want to ask is this the language that has been written this is in compliance with legal statute and not going to get us in any sort of issue there yeah this is the language that we drafted at the committee's request and it is compliant thank you sir is the we this committee or that you're it you and you and your legal team the law firm okay and so um where where who any place that I see I see red is that I'm supposed to assume that that was what um bogle's Law Firm put in or some of those I know are coming from the ncsba because this was on their list yes ma'am so the

011last paragraph or the last two paragraphs starting within the event the chairperson believes um and ending with inconsistent with the law that was what the policy committee had voted on and instructed the law firm to create language of adoption to discuss how to address accountability metrics for board members and so this is the language that he's bringing forth as part of the conversation of policy the other if you look at the other red they're the first um up until 22 are the changes suggested by ncsba in 23 and 24 were also changes that the policy committee adopted to add as well up to what number 23 and 24 is the policy changes that our policy committee added so up to 22 is where ncsba had added Madam chairman yes ma'am I move that we accept

012this policy as written and I'll second that all in favor I have a discussion yes I do so um I have a question about um the number five the last after the last clause and complying with all board policies that set expectations for conduct regardless of whether these policies expressly require compliance by board members I don't recall seeing that from the ncsba is that something that we added because the um you're talking about top of page 20 I'm talking about the top of page 20. it's the last clause and um if we are going to put all policies then um I think that we should be intentional about putting them in our reference section and um I do want to call attention to policy 2116 which is one of those policies where it talks about

013misconduct removal from office and that I was going to talk about later on down but if if we I don't recall seeing this from the ncsba I I'm just looking at my notes now and it was and it's been in here for the past revisions okay so it was in the revision for June so this is coming from well just because it was from June I'm just making sure that it that it wasn't added by someone but this committee no ma'am this was not a that was not a committee decision it was a ncsba suggestion but if you are uncomfortable with the language we can discuss the changes to that as well maybe Mr Vogel after having read the the ncsva policy manual maybe he can tell us which policies were that we might look

014towards are you asking which policies would be implicated by having number five apply to board members like it applies to everybody else yeah complying with all board policies that said expectate because this is this policy is about us and it's about our conduct so um our conduct with each other our con our conduct with students parents employees and vendors so um I was trying to look through and did a search on um policies with that set expectations for conduct and there are a ton of them and but most of them are related to our student and our employees not related to us so if you know of any um then I was just wondering if you could help us out with that well it's my understanding that the purpose of this provision is to make

015those policies that apply to the staff in particular applicable to the to the board members not that it was incorporating other conduct policies relating to board members okay okay I'm okay with that um in number five when we're talking about this is back on page 19. I I kind of skipped ahead a little bit um when we're talking when it says model Civility and integrity to students parents employees vendors in all elements of the community by encouraging free expression of opinion by all board members um I'm having a lit I mean I agree with that completely but when we are rejecting each other's motions then that is not free expression of opinion by all board members so I just the things that we're writing down I don't know that we are taking into account what

016we're actually doing um so I don't know how I don't want to change the wording because I think the wording is appropriate I just the um the behavior that comes with it so um I'm looking at how are we possibly going to enforce some of these things like if if somebody does a behavior that I don't like or that the it says that the board chair believes is a violation um I'm just thinking that this is pretty nebulous you know on when we're talking about that it leaves it Way open um if we're talking about attend all regular schedule number one attending all schedule board meetings in so far as possible and becoming informed of the issues what about if a board member states openly I haven't even read the policy and we're talking about

017that policy so is that something that I would say Okay hold it time out that's a violation of our ethics code so I hope you get the gist of what I'm talking about with um with that if we're looking at number 15 on page 20 represent the entire County without fear or bias this whole policy is to me a direct conflict with that because it's it's really kind of putting fear into any board member that feels like they want to to talk and represent people from the community that are he that are with us and we've gotten emails from but this this policy is sort of I'm feeling like very um very attacked you know by that not me person well me personally but I think our board they were trying to micromanage you know

018ourselves um Miss grandma I'll jump in right here um the idea and concept of this became with this is this is great to have an expectation this is what we are supposed to be doing and how we're supposed to be act but in the event that there are issues that arise then how do we openly address it as board and so what the idea behind having an accountability paragraph is that in the event this is not saying that every single board member is violating in every single thing that we're doing is wrong this is saying in the event that there are circumstances and that there are members who are attention intentionally not following this then there is a way for the board to address those individuals that is the purpose and intent behind the discussion

019of having this accountability paragraph and it's not if you're following the board of Ethics then it's not an issue at all and you just reiterated exactly what I just said how if I have it if I have an issue how do I bring it up and um with that other than do I stop the meeting right then do I call the you know the board chair and express my concern and then he gets to decide if um I'm Sorry Miss craigville that's you that's whatever you need to apologize for saying what you said and then or if you don't apologize then I'm going to go into this next round of censure removal of a board committee from assignments and that's why I gave you this everyone from the the County Commissioners ethics they aren't micromanaging

020themselves they aren't saying well if you don't do this then we're going to do that and if you don't do this we're going to do that and I'm just having a real hard time with it I mean everybody all of the new board members that ran this time and um talked about not wanting government in oversight and yet we are oversighting ourselves to death right here about to seek individual to not seek individual retaliation of other board members motives for personal reasons religious or political what the heck is that yeah I don't even understand the wording on that and to understand our role and not to overstep as a board member that's already written in the policy why are we saying it again we don't have subcommittees so you're gonna you're gonna remove me remove

021us from subcommittees that we don't even have um I don't I don't see any examples of violations that we're talking about um that whole paragraph you know it says that the board chair already has the authority to name people and remove people why are we saying it again what privileges are you talking about that you want to take away um so long as they don't they're not inconsistent with the law we don't have that many privileges what are you going to do say I I don't understand what that means and then the last paragraph a board members will fulfill you to discharge duties may result in criminal charges um that's to me sounds pretty intimidating but also we have a policy 2116 that talks about that so why are we adding it in again um

022so that those are my thoughts there and then the last thing in the cross references because we've talked about um the board chair's ability to name people we need to have a cross-reference of 2230 board committees so those are just my thoughts on I don't understand why we are micromanaging ourselves to death um what it what is the problem and I feel like the need to put something like this in somebody somewhere must have had a problem there must have been an issue just that's how rules get made all the time so I would like before we adopt a policy to talk about what some of those kinds of things are so that we can get a better handle on how to go about addressing them thank you Miss Bradford three years ago the school

023district hired a new superintendent the district was inarguably in the toilet totally disgraced failing students failing schools but now you look around and you see accountability has been layered into everything that we do in every Department every body is held accountable for their behavior the superintendent is held accountable by us we hold the teachers the staff the central office the students we hold them all accountable but not this board well the super and his team are going about riding the ship the school board for this last three years dissolved into chaos became the laughing stock of the region voters expressed their extreme displeasure with that behavior on the board last November when they elected three new people and returned one not returning two board members who'd been on the board for some time the community

024wants us to function as a board with the vision to bring the school district to Excellence we're showing Improvement we're getting some things done but we as a board are stuck no Organization no entity gets to Excellence with rules for thee but not for me do as I say but not as I do there isn't a bona fide reason to reject this to be afraid of this the only reason would be that you're afraid that you can't abide by the code of ethics that we have and I know you can leadership begins at the top ask yourself what sort of example does it send down the ranks with our board that oversees everything when we say I don't want to be held accountable for my actions but you darn sure better and ladies I'm going

025to close up the policy committee does not have authority to pass the policy this would be coming before the board we've reached our time on this we have a motion and a second all in favor to send this forward to the board aye aye any opposed yes no I mean yes I'm opposed no vote okay so that will move forward to be placed on the agenda for September may I have a point order a point of clarification is it going in with no changes or with changes we're going to go back and look at with no changes 2120. like it's what is presented moving on to policy 2123 s coming as an update the board voted to extend the Carolina academic leadership Network as opportunities for development and so that language is in there I

026make a motion to pass this policy as is with no changes on the September board meeting second all in favor I have discussion okay discussion um I I know that we we approved that at the last board meeting um to that we agree that this network is good I am not in favor of adding it to our policy until this organization has some sort of track record and has even conducted any training so that is my um that is my reason for voting no to this policy change okay on paper I I so you so you are opposed so that passes to 2123 that will go for the regular board meeting with no changes um 3200 this is an oh this is a discussion for the selection of instructional material um process and I had

027talked to Miss Dr face and excuse me about having an open discussion for some of the things there's been a lot of clarity looking at this policy just as it is it was adopted December 8 2020 the state has done a lot of changes to what the expectations of our standards are mainly in 2021 and a lot of those and I've had good conversations with a lot of individuals a lot of those allow for more interpretation of the standards and so I think it is a rightfully so for us to have an open discussion about some of the clarity that we can use to help guide our staff and the expectations to put everybody on the same playing field so that with that um ladies I'm gonna open up to you to hear some of

028your discussion but the point today and it's going to be 20 minutes is to openly share some of the concerns some of the areas that we'd like to see a little bit of changes on and then if if it's the will of the committee then working with the central office staff and making sure it's legal to make some changes to this policy and what that would look like for implementation purposes for New Hanover County who would like to start Miss Bradford okay um well and also miss Mason I know you're not a voting member but I know this is one of the reasons that you're here so I would like to give you an extension of time and I'll allow you two minutes to speak to share some of your concerns so they can be

029heard so I get to go first thank you Miss Barnhart um in looking at this um there there are some there's a lot of ambiguity um we talk about the maturity levels we talk about the developmental levels in here and it says it multiple times um but we need to really hone in on bringing in the science I think um bringing in the what the science because there are developmental scales of what what materials and and topics are appropriate for students and I think that it's important that we utilize those as measurement tools um my initial delving into this topic was back in when was it March or April when I brought up the book Review Committee um and this this policy was one that that really just popped out um that committee deals with

030the books that are already in our schools but this definitely deals with what's coming in and I think it's important that we address that probably prior to addressing what's already there we need to really investigate the process of how how these materials are getting in are they appropriate what age levels should we be recommending them for all of that those were my biggest my biggest concerns I think with this policy thank you and I'll jump in so looking over this policy I had a lot of questions and I know I've posed these a lot um in just having conversations some things that I've looked at is how are we aligning consistent across elementary schools so how do we how do we harness and capitalize if we have this process on individual elementary schools how are

031we making sure district-wide element or expectation is set Middle School expectation is set High School expectation is set things like that and these I know some things that that you ladies are working on and so these are things taken in and to look at that the other question that I think is a good one to have is should we have a difference in mtac as far as just supplemental selection and a curriculum development team because I think it's very different when you're talking about making sure you're meeting the standard making sure that you are differentiating and Scaffolding and having those resources for your students I'm looking down at my principal over here when when you're building a lesson if you want to give a little insight on this when you're building a lesson you have

032an expectation of your teachers do you think that looks different as far as the content development versus a single resource itself so at my school we start with a standard so um you know for example this year we're going to have a new reading curriculum but we'll still start with the standards and make sure that the curriculum aligns to the standard that we're teaching when when we're unpacking a standard the standard is kind of like the end game right and so there's a whole lot of stuff that may need to happen in order to reach that end game and so in breaking down the standard is this curricular resource enough and what prerequisite things do we need to teach or address in order to reach or access to standard and and the resources um and

033so we you know we're very systematic and strategic about about picking anything supplementary for the last four years we've used the quality review checklist anytime any supplementary um anything anything supplementary is requested by teachers and and it goes through the quality review checklist process and then has to be approved by our school Improvement team so you know if it's an additional book that we want to use like um the true story of The Three Little Pigs that's not something that we're going to send to the to the supplement or to the Quality reviewed checklist process with the school Improvement team that's the decision that we're going to make in a PLC meeting with our teachers does that answer your question yes it does I appreciate that and so there there has been a couple things

034um clarity about sexually vulgar content and when and in particular I'm not talking about just using this word and just leaving it that I'm talking about making sure that this is off limits to discuss masturbation oral oral whatever different things that we're discussing in hypersexualized content should not be allowed in our schools and I want to make that clear in our policy because I think sometimes when we talk talk about the word controversial I think we should expand what that means and what that looks like I would I would like us to Define what is complex controversial content and then how do we go about what is the expectation of our staff when we openly engage in that and so I think when when we look at that I think this is a good framework

035but just looking at the policy itself it's one paragraph for selection of curriculum materials and I think when we're looking at the guidelines of what we're expecting out of our staff I think we need to be more intentional and I think that setting the boundaries up front by the board in conjunction with our staff is making sure everybody's on the same page because this is something that we need to be on the same page about um so just discussing how we're streamlining that process and then also looking at um looking at when you're talking about removal and outdated supplementary materials I feel like that is kind of vague in itself like I don't even know what is the groundwork for what would be considered outdated and so maybe if we can look about how we

036can redefine that and if there are is if it's the board that can say you know I want to submit this for review through the process I think that would be a good measure because right now it has to be parents in the class or parents in the school to ask questions about content and so I think that is a very isolating process and so when we're trying to take a step back and say how can we be um intentional about content and looking at things in a way that is going to meet the standards but I think we don't need to construe controversy and rigor as being one in the same and I think we need to have some guidelines for when our staff are engaging in controversial content with that those are kind

037of my gist notes I know I'm given a lot of just open conversation but again to look at this and to say how can we make it better how can we give clear guidelines so that everybody's on the same page is the goal of this conversation today so can we start back with the letter c the removal of outdated supplemental materials um Ms Branson can you address the process or are you ready for to address the process that we use to discard let's say like um library books that are better there yes they look at the books in multiple ways so for instance let's say there's a book that there's maybe 10 copies but the book hasn't been checked out accidentally like leaving one copy the other ones kind of put aside to see if

038it gets checked out and if they need to bring it back they can if not then then they actually get rid of those books through the process so they also then when they look at the um the research books they're looking at the year and how old you know the you know science constantly changes but we don't necessarily want to you know have anything out there that says the World is Flat still so they kind of look at those resources and the time that those are and then they kind of weed those out it's it's a technical process that the media Specialists go through and it's one that takes a lot of time um committee members any yes ma'am any other info so I am not going to delve into this because I don't believe

039we should be talking about it but since you guys I want to go on record with some of your comments so that when it is appropriate for us to talk about this more um you had mentioned Miss Barnhart controversial versus relevant and rigorous and what I have heard from several members on this board and that we do not want to teach children we want to teach them how to think not what to think and if they are not ever exposed to anything controversial then to me that means we're telling them what to think sexually vocal content not allowed in our schools at all and I agree that we don't need to be doing that but if there is a line or two to you know help make a point um then I'm not really I

040don't really have too much of a problem with that because I think the teacher in the classroom can talk about that but it comes back to in policy 2120 that we are moving forward where it says that um we will not with the that we are not going to be basing our decisions on personal reasons religious or political so some of this I think might be um in conflict with that um I'm wondering you said how do we harness and do something about our reading material what what do you mean by harness I don't understand what that means you said how do we harness and something else um and then you went into scaffolding so what are you trying to harness foreign I couldn't write it all down okay well full script of everything I

041think General consensus different when you're selecting a curriculum or in developing a curriculum versus an individualized just single content so there's library books or supplement materials that teachers have in their classrooms and things like that I think that's a different process and standard than it is to develop so I don't know what I said after the word harness but I'm sure people go back I can go back and listen and then you also said you wanted to define something complex blob well and I want to I want to reiterate I am in favor of being able to discuss controversial content but I think we should Define it I don't think that there is a definition of what deemed controversial and I want to expand it I think there are complex controversial content that is discussed

042in our schools and racism is one of them I mean you and this is something that when we're talking about developing a lesson the expectation of our staff the questioning we use and how we get together well-rounded discussion because I agree with you I do not think that anybody should be having one-sided discussions in a classroom and so how do we help engage that on in a policy level to say here's the expectation without dictating this is exactly what you have to say unless if that's a route that you want to go but that's not personally what I do can I just add some clarity so when curriculum is brought forth throughout the board books on curriculum schools don't create curriculum they create a lesson based on his Pennsylvania from a standard so any curriculum

043that is in our classroom the board that's on it um any lessons come from the standards which come from maybe your National math standards English standards history standards um science standards so there's a national um standard there that then the state adopts and then they push out and so then that's where you get your North Carolina standard course of study and outside of that then you pull out those standards that meet um the level of you know the rigor so then your state assessments are um from the standards so if you don't teach the standards then you actually create what I call educational malpractice so you're teaching something that's not um in any direction but the curriculum that we select from the different companies typically will be one that is most aligned to the North

044Carolina Standards you won't find a curriculum that will only do North Carolina Standards it's they they come from the big States I forget that it's like four or five of them being used to create it's like Ohio California somewhere else and then we then pull in those and I think you did one for reading and so that's how it's selected so there's a group you have um staff members and board members look at the curriculum it's presented to them and then you vote on it and then from there that's the standards already written and then we just kind of pair the curriculum with the standard so in this policy though when it says selection of curriculum materials and supplementary materials this is not in regards to teachers developing their lesson so when we're seeing curriculum

045curriculum material so the curriculum fun and I'm trying to find where you are and if so that I speak but the number is it to process support this one is it paper F2 selecting supplementary material so supplementary material are let's say you have a textbook but the supplement I may add another um book that goes with it because it teaches it gets down to the point that I'm trying to make so for instance inside the standard there are verbs and each verb or the standard will have maybe one two three four verbs if I need an additional supplement that will help me teach the material better than I that's why it's called supplemental it's helping me get to the standard and so those standards are within and as she was stating there are certain things

046that they can bring in that are without questioning some things we um said well you know you need to run this through because there was some teacher pay teachers that was not meeting the standards that we needed and so there were some other little games and things that they were out there that we were saying That's not meeting the level of rigor and I know I'll get emails about teacher pay teachers so you know I'm okay um but what I'm saying is that when they do those supplements there's a process that process that schools use that actually folds into all of this so when individuals are just using it I'm not talking about any of you but there's just been this thing on the Nation about putting these blankets out here of like the curriculum

047is bad the curriculum is doing this you vote on the curriculum and so that's why I like to narrow it down and give lessons up here to help you understand they're not there are things that individuals will do that are wrong or in violation of your policy that's why we have and then we run it through HR those types of things but when we look at curriculum the board votes on the curriculum the standards you don't actually get to vote on the standards because they're handed down we have to actually teach substandards because when the EOG EOC comes through that's what they are being assessed on I agree and we're coming up on our time with this but what I'm saying is with the standards change and knowing that we have a lot more interpretation

048for the standards I'm after hearing you talk I'm wondering to add in do we need to have Clarity on the lessons itself because if we're adopting the curriculum we do see it and approve it before but there are unique sectors that have different standards or unique standards that we're having so to that's that's where my intent behind the conversation is of that is laying helping lay out what that expectation is because of those standards change in 2021 of to be more interpretive foreign because the standards are so broad Dr Faison can probably help me with this one I'll let her I'll yield I'm I'm just trying to make sure I understand the question but what I will say is um our teachers we always start with the standard even no matter the curriculum even though

049we provide curriculum because as Dr Foust said there is not a resource that we could provide that is tailored to North Carolina that's number one and we then we Empower our teachers and our principals to be the experts right and they provide supplemental materials to make sure our students get what they need to address that standard that is why when Miss May brought up the quality checklist they have to go through that checklist and that is a line across grade level it's a line across schools to make sure that fits in to our um classrooms in our schools so there's a process that we have to make sure that what the teachers are bringing in is aligned to the standard because that's where it starts is start you know is is you think about we

050always I use myself myself as an example when I was a young teacher I used to like to teach about certain things but then when I grew to know better didn't matter what I like to teach about it's about the standards and making sure that our kids are ready for the assessments so I just want to make sure it all sorry it all goes back to the standards that the state requires so though the standard may change we still start with our pocs the first thing we do is break down the standard so it's like Dr foul said with the verbs we break down the standards and that dictates where do we go from here so it's like backwards design planning our time ladies so we can take a motion to extend the discussion time

051or to table us I I would make a motion to hold this in policy and to potentially work with our senior staff and our Council to see how we can improve this policy maybe addressing some of the things that we discussed here openly and discuss more in September I second that I just wanted to go on record and reiterate that I am in complete support of what Dr Faison just said and what Miss May said that if we are going to micromanage our teachers and tell them exactly how they have to teach we will not have any teachers left in our school district because that is not what a professional expects of their employer okay so with that there's a first and a second all in favor to keep it in policy any opposed okay

052so that's going to stay in policy 3200. the next is a new policy that was drafted and this was in response there was an ACLU complaint and so this is for a consideration to look at so that we are following legal guidelines Miss Bradford um this is it this came from the attorney firm right this language that was drafted by them yes yes okay so the only thing I would think is um um page 30 paragraph B five minutes I would suggest that maybe we take that to three minutes versus five um we we ask our called audience to speak to two minutes so just kind of wanna you know not double up on that time so that's my only change other than that I move that we accepted as written I would agree with

053keeping it a short time I think it's great to give the opportunity we have a lot of faith-based organizations that support our students and our staff so to have the opportunity to be present at our board meetings is important but to definitely lengthen that or to shorten that time I would agree with Miss crabill do you have any input on this um I that was one of my comments too but I have several other inputs on this so there are six Boards out of the 82 that ncsba supports that have similar processes and those policies were sent to Mr Vogel to review I have not had a chance to read through all of those to see how ours Compares with theirs but I was just wanted to clarify is this only for regular board meetings

054because we do from time to time have invocations at other board meetings special board meetings so I wanted to just make sure that we were specific about regular board meetings and does that imply that we will not have invocations at any of our other meetings Mr Vogel that would be a Mr vocal question I think if you would answer that sir the proposed policy has regular board meetings in the title right right but it can be extended to any board meeting by no I'm saying you can change that language and make the opening invocations before board meetings and take out the word regular so that the board has discretion to have invocations the thing is this proposed policy sets forth a a specific process for the school district to implement to solicit speakers who might

055want to give an invocation so so you know you would be perhaps needing to have a similar policy a similar process for other types of meetings other than regular meetings so for example you know agenda meetings or or committee meetings if you were to have an invocation it should be by by this process is my suggestion Madam chair I would amend since you haven't stated my motion I would amend to take out the word regular strike that word and that would cover all of our meetings um if if whatever whatever we're doing now I mean I don't know the I don't know the plan for when we do and when we don't um that's up to the chairman um but just to strike the word regularly so then the motion would be to bring this

056forth to a first reading in September striking the word regular and adjusting the through five minute to three minute time frame yes ma'am for the board to consider I would second that any further discussion yeah I have more discussion it's not about to regular except for the fact that um are we going to decide when we're going to have are we going to do it for all or are we going to just randomly choose which ones we're going to do it at and the reason I'm saying that is asking those questions because when it says in the event no INB this is number five on Page 31. in the event no invocational speaker is signed up for a particular meeting a board member May provide an invocation um I would I am staunchly against that

057that it should be a moment of silence or should be some inspirational quote because we've already had a board member recite the Lord's Prayer in that and we're definitely not allowed to do that um and I would suggest on that one that we do what we've currently done our board clerk keeps a list of the people that have asked to speak and people that we have recommended or other people from the community have recommended so I definitely don't want a board member jumping in and making an invocation um and then with I don't know unders I don't understand why we have to codify exactly what we're going to put out there into the public and when it says worshiping for the purpose of worshiping or discussing their religious perspectives are invited what about people and

058it says it down here non-affiliation with any group how do we get them how do we how do we get them involved in this if I'm not representing a religion I would just like to give an invocation so there are a lot of people out here who don't worship or worship very differently than others so the for us to try and like I really want to read you know what those other ones say and then just wondering what these legal references are for the Town of Greece New York versus Galloway and Marsh versus Chambers how I would like to read more about what those are so I can understand why we're basing our decisions on that so yeah there's the the and I'm wondering why we aren't using our board clerk more regularly in here

059I mean that's the superintendent's designee I'm sure but um but if no one speaks I mean there's also um Miss Bowie is very cognizant of these special um designations that different months have like you know Hispanic month you know women's month um you know black Heritage Month Ramadan um you know Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and she is very cognizant about picking people from the list of people that have already asked to be a part so that they can speak during their month of um yeah um recognition so I just I think this needs more work if we if we want to codify it I think it needs more work now granted we this is only for first reading and we do have to do a second reading but my fear is that somebody is

060going to make a motion to waive the second reading and then we will have not had a chance to do our homework read what the other um the other districts who are doing this have put in theirs get more information about the legal references so we understand where this is coming from um in here the one thing I wrote a note to myself um when people are quoting scripture and saying things like tie a concrete block around a person's necks and tossing them into the river I mean that is in some faiths Doctrine but it's not in everybody's Faith's Doctrine I mean I was really taken aback when that was quoted to us twice but so and to put that kind of stuff in policy um it's just it's not when it says here the

061board further requested speakers do not promote One Faith or belief system over there disparage other faiths or beliefs attempt to convert or believe or ask board members or audience to participate by rising or otherwise that that is what made me start thinking about a person quoting scripture and quoting such negative scripture that it was just like oh my God that that's not putting us in the frame of mind where it says to Solemn solemnize and lend gravity to the occasion um but I think you're bringing up a good point this is helping outline the expectation for those individuals who want to participate in an invocation it helps outline what the expectation is of that invocation it expands it shares the process for you were addressing the people who may not be part of a faith

062or affiliation if you want to be a part that it shares the process of what the board will be doing to extend the invitation to get invocation speakers and so I think that that is the whole point you're bringing up the concerns and the issues and I appreciate it that's the whole point of this policy is to help shine light and give a clear expectation for those individuals who are coming into this space for the individuals who want to be a part of it to do so Miss Bradford Madam chair I would like some clarification from our attorney firm we have a board member who did this thing that wasn't right but number five says that a board member can provide an invocation so I'd like some explanation as to whether um asked by the

063chairperson because no one else was available prayed if is it does that fit under number five um where's the clarity there please yeah the um the cases that have interpreted the First Amendment including the two U.S Supreme Court cases that are listed under legal references Town of Greece New York Chris Galloway and Marshfield Chambers as well as the leading court of appeals case in the fourth circuit which is the circuit that encompasses North Carolina a case called Lund versus Rowan County North Carolina that's a 2017 case those cases among other things stand for the proposition that there is nothing per se illegal for board members to provide an invocation in certain circumstances so there was a case where the board required all invocations to be given by the board and that was problematic that was

064something that was problematic with that policy but in circumstances where a board has a policy that solicits public participation in providing the invocations there are some circumstances where a board-led invocation is appropriate um in fact I've I've highlighted something in the Lund case uh if I with your Indulgence I'll read just a little bit of it um it says the court says we would Not For a Moment cast all legislator-led prayer as constitutionally suspect religious faith is a source of personal guidance strength and comfort and legislative prayers that is a board member or legislative LED solemnizing effect for lawmakers is likely heightened when they personally utter the prayer accordingly The Establishment Clause indeed allows lawmakers to deliver invocations inappropriate circumstances legislator-led prayer is not inherently unconstitutional so therefore this proposed policy sets forth a process

065of soliciting input and participation from the public and providing invocations and then states that in the event that no invocational speaker is signed up for a particular meeting a board member May provide an invocation just to be clear it's not a requirement it's to say that it would be permissible it would not be constitutionally suspect thank you you're welcome yes ma'am I was not disputing the constitutionality of it just so we're clear on that um I was putting in my opinion that I don't believe that it is appropriate um for us as board members to offer an invocation I would prefer a moment of silence so that because this board may be not representative of the religions and the backgrounds of our community and I shouldn't say may it is not so I think we

066will alienate a lot of people if we get into the practice of uh because nobody signed up for that month that we get into the practice of us offering that that was my point that um I think we need to discuss that more before putting this in policy um I've I believe that there is emotion on the table to move it forward reverse reading in a second and so there's two motions Miss Barbara had emotion to take out regular okay the motion was let me let me reiterate the motion the motion was to move forward to for first reading the policy with the changes of striking out regular to opening invocations before board meetings and changing the five minutes long to three minutes and that appears in both the first page and the second page

067of the policy so that the board has an opportunity for discussion of this policy so I would like to ask Mr Vogue for porn of clarification Miss Bradford made a motion to take out the word regular and I think we have to vote on that first and then we vote on that's what I'm just asking if there's was a motion on top of emotion and I think we need to I'm comfortable with the chair proceeding it again then I make a motion to move this policy forward for first reading with the following changes to cross out the word regular from the title of the policy and change the indication speaking time from five minutes to three minutes on both page one and page two of the policy for board consideration do I hear a second

068second all in favor to move this forward for first reading I all opposed no so that's going to be moved forward to First reading with those changes Dr Barnes I had initially said 10 minutes but if you do shorter that'd be great we'll run a little bit behind um be pointed border before we go in I just want to know this again was one of these and I hate to you know if anybody has seen these other than me but we don't have any of the proposed changes in there's no proposed changes at the time Dr Barnes and I have been talking he has uh quite a few policies that he wants to update so he just wants to give the public an awareness and us and awareness that these policies are going to be

069coming to the table in September and give a brief overview at this time about them so there's no changes at this time but he's just making us aware there's going to be changes coming Mr Dr Barnes so to reiterate we've spent the last year going over policies that we've experienced uh in interactions with staff and things that have happened and these are some policies we would like to think to adjust and add some language to so my recommendation was to bring these to you today to make you aware of them and next month my team will work to bring policy changes in language exactly to you so just in brief there is no policy that speaks specifically about transporting students in uh in personal vehicles except in the case of emergencies though in the vehicle's

070policies we'd like to add language about transporting students and not using School vehicles for personal use in regards to work day expectations we'd like to jump in What policy is that I couldn't find that anywhere the ones that you have referenced are 73 10 and 65 10. so I don't understand where where they would fit into equipment materials and supplies is I'll go back and look and see I'm sorry if that if I if that's an error that that's the policy we thought it would fit into but we'll do the research and put the language in there um in workday expectations we'd like to add some info uh clarity about clocking in and clocking out where those things can happen because they lead to um sometimes people clock in when they're not at work as

071well as some prohibition about sleeping while on the job and being paid um in policy 7270 we'd like to add some language about ensuring that um we knowingly employees who knowingly are aware of criminal activities or improper activities need to report that to their supervisor in our policy 4310 integrity and civility we'd like to add some language about uh profane language and ensuring that we are keeping appropriate language with students in the there is an old policy we used to have called 600 6081 which involves consensual relationships between staff members and that policy is not in the latest Incarnation from the state board but we would like to have some language in there regarding employee behavior and we could always include it in policy 7300 or in policy 4310 but some language about consensual Behavior

072between employees who are in a relationship um the fit for Duty I think that we can handle in regards to this is for someone we suspect who may need to go for drug or alcohol assessment or screening and we'd like to put some language in there about the process and the procedure for how that works we've had several opportunities to explore that policy this year and then the last one we'd like to add some language into policy 7310 about staff student relations defining exactly what an enrolled student is defined as so that we can provide Clarity for our staff thank you very much for that Ms crabill so um for you had policy 7 900 listed here too that's for resignations was there going to be some warning about that too that is one specifically

073for um I'm sorry I skipped that one that is one specifically for folks in job abandonment that our policy our our Personnel handbook has language to that we like to speak to that in policy about someone who abandons their job is not reaching out to us you know that that that there's a policy for that okay and one last question on the policy 7240 when we're talking for the fitness for Duty process is that something that we need to codify or is that like with an r or is that something that is just a procedure that um Dr Faust and his team AKA you and you develop I mean is it do we need to codify that or is that just one of those R things or is it a procedure we're still working that

074we may just do a step-by-step procedure that we can include in the Personnel handbook but we want to make sure we provided Clarity for employees about what the steps would be if there was a reasonable suspicion I'm down with doing that was just wondering if it needed to be codified yeah we're working on that now it's either going to come out as a procedure that will go with the policy that you can reference or we will put the brief language into that policy okay thank you this is just for us just to be aware that there's going to be a lot of changes to policies coming so that everyone's informed including the public and so that brings us to the substantive policies for ncsba from the spring and the first one is the unmanned aircraft

075drones policy 4334 50 35 7345 we kept this in policy with the updates last month or two months ago because we had updated language and if you look on page one section B in that second line it said must be approved in writing by the superintendent or designee at least five business days prior so that is what's currently in our policy but the the version that we had in June didn't have that updated language so the changes that are being recommended I am fine from NC I think it was just a reference change actually so are you looking for a motion to approve this yes uh so moved and I'll second them all in favor to move forward I I any opposed okay so that moves forward with no changes that brings us to the

076dual enrollment policy and looking at the notes from ncsba these are just strongly recommended changes so discussion for that um yes ma'am um when I read this I remembered that Dr fausted had some discussion from the Deus and so I wanted to pull that into this and and see where we are with that um before we we rubber stamp this sucker um because he brought up some really good points and and I don't know exactly which meeting but I think was the last time we were actually here um so I wanted to to draw that into this discussion please I'd like to make a motion that we table this discussion until we hear from Dr Faust and his team in October um as he suggested I'll second that okay um any discussion my my only

077discussion of of this and this part of the consideration when I was reading through this I know we have a lot of specialty programs so I didn't know if there was a way to bring that in um you know it says the the Board of Education being in high school level but I know we have initiatives in the middle school so I don't know if we wanted to Encompass that so for things to consider and potentially I don't know if we need to bring in a discussion of Isaac bear in early Wilmington early college and things like that I didn't know if this belonged in this policy or if we had something different to address that but I would I mean I know we're potentially tabling this dual enrollment will only be for high school

078okay yeah yeah and I I when you talked about that we had students repeating classes and failing that just really set off a lot of alarm bells for me and I really want to see that addressed first and second to table this discussion so we're going to keep it in policy 3101 yes yes and so we're going to vote on that now um all in favor to keep this in policy I any opposed that is going to stay in policy 3101 that brings us to the automatic phone and text messaging 5008 my only notes on this and this is just a question for our staff is I know we have a large Hispanic population and so while um I agree with it saying the school system may use automatic notification systems and artificial pre-recorded messages

079I wonder if there's a way that we can incorporate and also require um and I don't know this the repercussions of that or not but to make sure that we have a Spanish translation I I know because I see the versions of texts that come from the parent side of things but I don't know if that was an everything District decision that we do or if it's just dependent on the school that you're at so I would open the question for that in school messenger when parents create their account they're able to select their language so then their stuff would be translated for them and whatever language they choose do we want to acknowledge that in our policy to say that we are ensuring multiple translate I don't I don't know if that's something that

080needs to be reflective or thoughts committee members I think it's important and it reminded me the other night we went to the um endowment whatever it was um that we haven't addressed hearing impaired and so I don't know how many students we have in the district that are hearing impaired but you know we don't have anyone in our meetings um signing and how do the hearing impaired get the messages from the school that is a really good question that I will research for you so um all information on our website um is um able to be we had to reboot our website a couple years ago so that everything could be um universally uh you know for Universal communication and it can all be translated for hearing impairment um so we and and everything in

081our website and I don't have the language right now but we had to like reformat everything you can't just upload videos or whatever um and then for um for students if we had a student that would be participating in a board meeting of course we because we do have interpreters and um cued speech staff we have a plethora of staff so I think it's based on requests but I haven't I haven't known of any requests in a board meeting but that's certainly something we could do so yes ma'am so um do we do we still have the system that when you get a an automated phone call that you Auto you get an email as well all right so that is yes but this only says automated phone and text messaging so I didn't know

082if we needed to either change the title or we needed to say it in because I read through the whole thing and I couldn't find where we Trend but we also got emails yes that's correct it's a automated audio and a text to that number okay I'm asking about emails um some families from what I understand can also get an email that goes along with the automated call you are you are correct basically when the person submits the message they choose audio text email so they get to choose and most schools choose all three okay so should we not put that in our title maybe just the automated notification system messaging leave out the phone and text part so it covers everything so automated notification messaging I would be in favor of that title change

083the committee members my question to be included and wordsmithing can be done by Council and subject matter experts but right after that first paragraph I don't know if we want to put something in here the school system will offer multiple forms of language Communications maybe we don't name them outright but like Miss Bradford had said hearing impaired and brought up Spanish translation and I'm sure there's others that can be done we can opt into it so I don't know if we wanted to include that in policy well in hearing just last week that some of our schools are 40 Hispanic I really think it's important that we constantly pay attention to the Hispanic aspect of of families and students in our school I think going forward it's it's got to be a focus of ours

084when so many weren't even born in our country that we get our messaging out in in that language as well and you're telling me that we are so I'm grateful um Mr Vogel is as simple as adding that sentence the school system will offer multiple forms of language communication in the notification messaging process is that simple enough or yeah I think that's a sufficient accommodation we also need to not just change that in the title but we need to change it throughout the the text it's several places it's also listed automated telephone dialing and text messaging system or service so we need to go through and change that wording everywhere so then I would make a motion to move this forward to the board 5008 but with changes from the attorney firm addressing specifically the

085notification messaging as well as that language change that sentence if you could do that word something for us a second okay so hearing a second any other discussion about this policy the um is this a policy that you drafted for us Mr Vogel or is this something that we got assistance from the ncsba I played no role in drafting this policy so this is this is new from the ncsba actually yes I'm looking at it now so it's not been yet adopted so it would have to go forward with first reading with those changes that were suggested so I'm I need to I need to I'm going to pull my motion and restate to move this forward for first reading policy 5008 With The Changes Wordsmith by um our Council do I hear a second

086second any further discussion on that thank you for that Clarity okay all in favor of that I I any opposed that will pass for first reading that brings us forward to drivers which is policy 6315. so I have just a goofy question okay no goofy questions why is the type on this one completely different than everything else is it is it something we brought from the past you know just just this is what we're supposed to see that when the board policy committee gets this we are supposed to see all these changes so we know clearly who put them in whether it was ncsba or us as a board member or if coming from the senior staff so this is how this one doesn't tell me who put in these changes it's kind of neat

087to see them like that and I know a program in the document you'll be able to see but we this is just a PDF like Miss cadetsky could tell you where this comes you know if you asked her she could tell you because but we can't hover over in a PDF and figure that out but looking at these These are coming from changes from ncspa they are recommended and strongly recommended and the the strongly recommended portion comes from the drug and alcohol testing component which is one and two oh 11 and 12 if you look on it on our document my only other question and I don't know if this is more a procedural thing is I know for our younger students that we require a guardian present at bus stops and so I didn't

088know if that was an expectation that we should add for our drivers as well to understand that with their smaller children our Pre-K students kindergarten and first and second grade is there just I'm looking at you now it's actually a state law for k-3-1 as a district we include second grade students as well and that's a that's in the procedures in bus drivers are well aware of that so is that something that you feel that we should add to this policy in particular as well or it's fine to because it's covered elsewhere I think it's I think it's covered and we've communicated that expectation and we have a exemption forms that parents are aware of in Madam chair Dr Barnes brought up 7130 and 6510 with vehicles does this with drivers have any impact on

089that Dr Barnes I think we can work to fit that language in wherever it's most appropriate if it falls in this we're going to work with my team and send it to the attorneys and to miss Barnhart for review so we'll fit into whichever policy so do we want to hold this one until you've got that one done at the board's pleasure we can do it either way forward and then can tell us if we need to add into that um yes ma'am first of all we would have to vote on that on what you're fine with before we can do that but the I had a question that we have discussed this before and I forgot where um we what we came up with were in on page 46 letter B um it says

090um after number three if board requires a social worker to increase his or her private automobile liability coverage and or add a business use Rider to in order to transport students the social worker will be reimbursed for the additional premium and I believe that we talked about that we don't ever require them to do that but do they transport them from you so they should not be so no employees should be transporting any student at any time in their private that's what I thought so that no I don't think we should strike it I just think that because we might change our mind at some point but this is just there and I think that's what we talked about before we don't do it but we decided to leave it um and that would I

091guess this would also include T and then correct me if I'm wrong teachers who bring students to meetings or transport them around I mean not just they should not be so that might be we need to remind some people that they can't do that yeah okay but so I the word social worker is I mean it should be no employee you know I know why social work so the reason why the only reason that social workers in there because there have been maybe not in this District but in the state there have been times where social workers were the go-to and would uh transport students um we just don't use them that but in the event that we would then we would ask them to increase their premium because there's state regulations that they have

092to have but there's nowhere else in here we would ask an employee to do that to take um a child home foreign okay yeah anywhere yeah okay I get you and and that would include like coaches taking people home from games and no employee no employee and if you get a stipend or you consider it an employee okay all right I'm just making sure because those kind of things will those they will come up so that committee members um I make a motion to move this forward to the board with the changes I've seen I'll second um I don't feel comfortable moving this forward because there there are some moving parts that Dr Barnes has just alluded to um I would I would be more in favor of holding this in committee until September so

093that we can talk about it with all the others that are related that's just discussion on the motion there's a first and a second so all in favor I any opposed aye yes opposed could you clarify Miss Bradford were you opposed or in favor sorry um I'm I'm in favor okay so that is going to move forward with the board um 6315. moving on to 6330 this is insurance for student transportation services and I I was going to ask the question of well miss said that this we had just made some changes to our insurance policy and I didn't know if this there needed to be any changes with we agree with the recommendations yeah this I'm sorry I was just discussing that and um Mr Lee was up to date and we're fine with

094the recommended changes it is consistent with the coverage that we currently have perfect with that then I would like to move I make a motion to move this policy forward to the board second any further discussion on that all in favor I I any opposed that passes 6330 will meet moving forward to the board this next policy is another new policy drafted by the School Board Association and I had um looking this over like this policy is talking about encouraging the participation of a historically underutilized businesses but then it also down in that next sentence it says um you know with Services we're not going to I'm sorry looking at centers for the blind severely disabled the board will purchase goods and services without regard to race color creed nationality sex age disability or religion

095and so my question was more towards legal counsel to see if there's an opportunity for you to look into um what is required and making sure that we're not violating that by adopting a policy that says that we're essentially going to do that yeah I'll be happy to look into it um as you noted this is a tricky area of the law when there's some implication that a government agency would would prefer businesses that are owned by 51 or more owned by people of a particular race or or particular sex or or managed by people a particular race or particular sex it just conjures up issues under the equal protection Clause of the 14th Amendment when it's a government agency on the other hand the idea of widespread participation and encouragement of of all sectors

096to participate in in applying for opportunities to purchase goods or services from the school board is absolutely permissible and and I think most if not all would would encourage that but because there's some um there is some discussion in here there is some references in here to historically underutilized businesses as defined by General statutes 143-128.4 which is defined in the way that I that I described based on race and sex and and the like I would like the opportunity yeah to uh to take a closer look and possibly words meant this a bit to make sure that it meets constitutional muster under the equal protection clause Madam chair I would then move that we hold it in committee until the attorney has had a chance to review it and report back to us yeah I

097would just like to go on record that as a small business owner myself and having attended many of the Small Business Association training classes this is completely in line with what is happening throughout our community and I have been able to and I'm others of us who own our own businesses might have also been able to take part in being a woman-owned business a small business working in underrepresented areas so I I don't see any problem with this at all and encouraging that in our community um I'll second Miss Bradford exposures and continue on with the discussion about this um I don't think that there's any problem and I think it's a proceed I would think that this is a procedural thing I know we have a couple of sectors of organizations that do work

098with um historically marginalized businesses business owners so this is this becomes a question of is this a procedural thing to ensure that we're getting the message out there for the opportunity to work or is it um and so that that was where my question became of this so this is not this is not discouraging the use of underutilized businesses this is saying we want to make sure that we're in compliance with the law and are we doing our part as far as procedure-wise to get the message out to different areas so with that there's a first and second to keep this in policy all in favor aye any opposed that's going to stay in policy um secret for clarification Madam chair I think it's a proposed new policy is it not so it's not a

099matter of it's staying in policy it's a matter of it's still being under review by the committee correct okay so there's not a handy little box for it to put that in then so I'm just going to keep that as a note foreign policy is 64.30 and here I can kick this off in the second paragraph last two words when feasible it's a pretty ambiguous term there so um I I just I just have a question about ambiguity so perhaps um we can talk about you know from the purchasing point of view but when feasible I think we address later and that's if you need a sole source um you know you have a sole source you purchase and so the you might want to address that for us yeah we agree with the changes

100that are there I'm sorry yeah now tell me where exactly you're okay all right should be obtained when feasible so sometimes you may not have anyone else bid you may only have one bid but we're trying to get as much competition as possible and so um our goal is to to get that competition um when feasible because sometimes single source is all you can get sometimes it is truly sole source and that has to come to the board for approval if it's a sole source is that referenced in here if it says if it if in the event of a sole source it has to have board approval yeah yeah if you look down like under piggybacking and you look at um because we want to keep it in standardization that is in letter um

101letter e number five sell Source items and that's North Carolina's General statute I'd like to make a motion that we move 64-30 to um onto the move it forward with no changes I'll second okay um any other discussion all in favor aye aye any opposed that passes 6430 will be moved on to the board brings us to teleworking which is 7503 I did not have um any concerns of the changes that the ncsba added when when they were defining teleworking it said temper number letter a number four teleworker is defined as an employee engaged in teleworking on a temporary episodic or emergency basis and I don't I don't know the state of emergency I don't know if we needed to clarify that as well or to add that in here yes I had that one

102I had two things I had that as well an emergency basis to me maybe that my hair dryer didn't work this morning um but so so again it's ambiguous what emergency basis is it's a stated emergency basis or declared emergency basis or district-wide emergency basis or whatever Dr Faust wants the emergency to be [Laughter] um and then my other my other question and I guess it's just I don't agree in one of this paragraphs but in the event that we are requiring our employees to work remotely um I think that they should be compensated so in the event of uh I don't know schools being closed for a year and a half and making our employees work from home something like that hypothetically that I think that there should be some compensation for them so

103in page three number three it says all cost incurred by an employee to arrange an alternative work location and telework are the employees responsibility and will not be reimbursed unless otherwise required by law so I think it's different to say if Miss May says you know for your undesignated work day you have the option to work from home I think that's different and the employees can still come into the building versus her saying you have to work from home so I I don't know um if it's the will of this committee to consider that but I think it's a good conversation for us to have and I understand okay so the the change in this policy recommended by the SPCA is on page 60. and that's specifically to talk about it being as a common

104a date an accommodation for the Americans with Disabilities Act we're in reference to your earlier questions you were just stating that teleworking and emergency situations is generally used to mean we have to close school due to a hurricane or snow and we may elect to the superintendent may elect or the board may elect to designate that teleworking is available for employees difficulty is there are some employees who cannot do the essential functions of their job remotely and the general example is a custodian bus driver so we would afford leave to those folks or even provide them opportunities to to flex their time or whatever we would need to do but we certainly can't pay them when they're not able to do the essential functions of their job um so Dr Barnes is there um is

105there anything in in or and maybe Miss frogle can a potential teleworker appeal to the I get the principal says no you can't Do It um is there an appeal process for the employee to appeal to the superintendent or designee um on that decision to allow teleworking and then and then appeal to the board I mean is that it doesn't say it and I don't really want to do that I was just wondering if that is in here somewhere there's really not a provision for random teleworking right okay um really the situation is if there's a big specific instance that requires periodic teleworking however the policy also states that you can't use that teleworking in order to avoid using sick leave or leave based on FMLA so it really it it really there's very limited

106opportunity for Pure periodical teleworking so there's really because normally if you need it it's because you're trying to avoid you know I have someone who's ill in my home I need to take care of them I can't come to work but I can still work the problem with that is they're generally aren't able to really put their effort into the job when they have such other competing responsibilities so if you're sick you're sick and we don't want to make people work when they're sick so generally there's not really this episode of teleworking it doesn't really come up very often okay I'm fine with that Madam chair can we go back to the um let's see page 59 three second graph all cost incurred by an employee to arrange an alternate work location and to telework

107of the employees responsibility and will not be reimbursed unless otherwise required by law is any of that required by law Mr Hill Eddie anybody which what part number three three second paragraph because um in 2018 we had that hurricane that kept us out for two weeks and um then of course we had you know virus in I put internet into my employees homes I sent equipment into their homes I paid for those things I put phones into their homes so that they weren't using their personal phone so um I just wondered if if that's if it's required by law then we're good but if not couldn't we establish say a per diem that said okay if you if you're stuck out this is how much you're going to get per day that you're doing your

108own stuff um if you had to under to get equipment because somebody could you know put in a enormous internet system um they could put in a terrific phone system you know so I'm just saying is there something we're gonna have first-hand experience in this I would hate to speak out of turn um but trying to do a per diem for 4 000 employees may break the bank um so I think we go back to what the statute States and so if you know it's backing out of um the pandemic but if there's a snow day we determine if not all employees are going to work from home um sometimes it's a the school system is closed so it's rare that every employee could do and I don't know what in the case where every

109employee I don't think we could every employee could do their job from home it's very job specific so I think we go back to what our statute a lot of times is Dr Barnes talk about is often with them in FMLA case that we're working with um other than that hours our job our work is face to face and I'm looking specifically at the um letter e and where those changes are and that for you that's the teleworking that's on page for me before page four four and it's more of the accommodations um again so it's a case-by-case we speak specifically with those individuals versus I wouldn't want us to do a blanket and say well you know you're going to get x amount of dollars to do it and it's it's kind of hard

110to answer that as long as it's Case by case but say example um we're in a hurricane and it was like that one where we were out for two weeks and this person's house has a tree in it and they have to get a hotel room but now they're having to work so they've got to get a computer they've got to get set up in there and I would just hope that those people would be reimbursed for there so typically if that's the case then we would ask them if someone's having to do all of that they would just take time off okay I'd like to make a motion that we move policy 730 7503 on to the with no changes all in favor I opposed could that passes onto the board the next one

111is the evaluation of licensed employees which is 78. and looking at this it is a recommended change from ncsba I was just curious number nine the red that is added here the evaluation data Also may be used in making other employment decisions including those related to transfer reassignment um an exam can somebody give me an example of that lift this off the paper for me and tell me what this would mean for reassignment um so I reassigned so what would happen is let's say employee is not doing well in a in a in an area that there again and so instead of having them there we would reassign them transfer them to another position based on and it says it will data evaluation data will be used to make decisions related to contractual renewal on

112teacher contract policy.net and then evaluation data also will be used in making other employment decisions including those related to transferable risk so um there could be an opportunity where as an employee again is it meeting the standard there but we know that they can do it in another place we would transfer this and we would have that's just another arm of data that's used manager yes ma'am go ahead and move that way we move this one forward I would second that Miss credible do you have any more discussion with this policy so then 7810 is going to be moving forward to the board with no changes and the last policy upper discussion is 78.15 the evaluation of non-licensed employees these changes again are recommended by the ncsba any discussion on this ladies or anyone else

113I'll make a motion to move it forward as presented second um any other discussion all in favor I I any opposed um so that passes okay well let's redo that so all in favor aye all opposed so that passes 3-0 78 15 is going to be moving before the board and now that brings us to adjournment make sure we all name yes thank you so we have before we adjourn we have policies that are moving forward with no changes policy 2120. policy 2123 policy 4334 slash 5035 slash 7345 policy 6315. policy 6330 policy 6430 policy 7503 policy 7810 and policy 7815. two that are held in committee at policy 3101 and then a third a little caveat 6402 we have not adopted but we have asked for that to be looked into as well and

114then two policies were moved forward for first reading and those are 2315 and 5008. and I did not list Dr barnes's policies but those are going to be coming in September 2. any questions on that committee members with that before we adjourn I just want to bring to your attention that when I was looking on the website for upcoming meetings it says the policy committee meeting in September on the 19th it says all day so I didn't know if there was anything surprise that we may want to look into that just in case now the I do believe that we could make it a one-hour meeting in September I don't want to jinx myself here but um moving forward I think that we've been able to get into a good group of things and so

115but I think it was just probably for planning purposes somebody booked in just said all day but have we tended through all of the March spring updates from ncsba yes we sure did just now so I thought we did Imagine chair I would just like to remind everyone that tomorrow is the four C's and that's at Roland Grace from 8 until 10 in the morning it's at Ogden Elementary from 12 30 to 2 30 and Murray middle starts at 5 30 and that's to look at curriculum have coffee have conversation um look at just an awful lot of things so we're asking students and parents to come on down awesome thank you for that announcement with that I make a motion to adjourn second all in favor aye any opposed thank you everybody for being

116here