001thank you taking time I get uh there it is I'd like to call the May regular board meeting to uh to in uh at this point we will have a roll call it's bully if you'd call the roll please good afternoon Pete wildebear present Pat Bradford I I am here Josie Barnhart Stephanie crabill Melissa Mason Hugh McManus and Stephanie Walker here excuse me I think he's here mostly uh board members I would call for a approval of the agenda do I hear a motion Miss Bradford moved I'd like to amend the agenda Mr chairman okay I'd like to um well do I need to wait for a second I like to add um right before the vote for the new attorney a short discussion to potentially adopt a resolution in support of the SBI release
002documentation for discussion and potentially an adopt a resolution of Atlanta Board okay so we have a first I will second that okay so we have first and the second for the motion to um say that again please it was a lot of words I would like for us to consider adopting an emotion or resolution for attorney Josh Stein's office to release the SBI documentation to a request for them to do that for so are we going to discuss that a little bit Yeah okay we're gonna no I mean to discuss to add um yes my suggestion would be if we're going to add that then we might want to have we might want to have a closed session discussion to talk about what we want to do to make sure that we understand you know
003pros and cons of doing such so the um does that make sense got a pressure button all right well I think if it's right before Legal Services we will have had a closed session um after call the audience is that right so there will be an opportunity for legal questions okay yeah then um okay okay all right so we have a motion a second is there any other discussion about it if not uh let's do a roll call just to make sure please Barnhart Mr McManus yes Miss Walker yes Miss Bradford yes and Mr Voldemort hi pastor 7-0 so we're back to our original motion to approve the amended agenda we have a first and second any other discussion if not all in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed also passes 7-0
004uh next on our agenda we have an invocation we would like to call forward the Inman Abdul Rahman Sharif from the talud Islamic Center please stand the fact that a muscle Redeemer the most high the might of the wise and comparable to the Great give a ball that is good except of what only is good we pray for your Divine Providence upon this kind of School Board of Education meeting Grand board members of Staff the best Jewish prudence and insightful intellect and all decision making fairs and policies allow inspiration that will influence and impact all students to pursue excellence of human potential that women potential and Grant them inspiration that will influence love and appreciation for attending school and promote excellence and Perfection as a goal to be Future Leaders in the American society and
005when this meeting comes to an end bless all present with a safe return to the intended that's the nation amen thank you thank you very much next we will have the Ashley high school ROTC Color Guard unit provide the presentation of colors and it's under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Reiner principal Patrick McCarty as they come forward we'll have the Myrtle Grove Middle School student Addie Daniels providing the national anthem under the direction of Jamie wood choral director principal Cindy bless foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign we've asked board member Hugh McManus to lead the Pledge of Allegiance 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 thanks thank you you may be seated
006we would invite the uh Ashley Junior ROTC to come back and introduce themselves as well as our wonderful young lady that sang for us if you wouldn't mind coming forward sorry oh and the guitar player too yes absolutely would you guys come forward please I'm Addie Daniels hi I'm Katie krippas hi I'm Nash Dallas hi I'm Hayden cornelli hello I'm Kaylee cignarello good evening I'm Tyler Simpson hello I'm Jose Andrade thank you guys thank you thank you again thank you all for being here today it was wonderful we're going to continue now with our recognitions Clarice I believe it's going to be hitting it up good evening board chair Vice chair Dr Faust and members of the Board of Education I am here this evening with your recognitions for tonight first up we would like
007to recognize our Board of Education future teacher scholarship recipients congratulations to the 2023 New Hanover County Board of Education student scholarship winners for future teachers the Board of Education recognizes the critical role that future Educators play in shaping the quality of Education in New Hanover County the winners of this scholarship will receive 28 thousand dollars each the scholarship will support these four students in pursuing their education at an accredited North Carolina Community College college or university of their choosing we applaud the scholarship recipients for their dedication to the field of education and their commitment to positively impacting the lives of students in New Hanover County congratulations again on the significant achievement and we look forward to welcoming these four students back in a few years as gifted and qualified educators Stella view Laney High School
008[Applause] [Music] thank you Isabella Gonzalez Ashley High School [Applause] Nicholas Klein Laney High School [Applause] Reagan Lanier Laney High School [Applause] congratulations again to you for [Applause] our next recognition is our distinguished leadership and practice program congratulations to the following principles they recently completed the distinguished leadership and practice program a year-long leadership development program for practicing school principals across North Carolina the program is designed and provided by NC principals and assistant principals Association also known as NC Papa the program uses a non-traditional professional development model aligned with the performance evaluation standards adopted by the State Board of Education for North Carolina School leaders join me in congratulations congratulating principals Deanna link [Music] Sabra Wright Brent Hall Lauren napola Christian May and Paul Slavic [Applause] congratulations again to these principles [Applause] foreign [Applause] to be able
009to recognize another New Hanover County School staff member whose quick thinking and Swift action has saved a life when a student began to choke on a plastic ring from a water bottle Miss Tara Huntsman school counselor at Forest Hills Global Elementary immediately sprang into action she performed the Heimlich maneuver without hesitation which dislodged the obstruction from the student's throat and prevented a tragedy from occurring your courage and presence of mind and in that moment is a testament of your dedication to our students welfare your selfless Act exemplifies what it means to be a true educator and a caring Community member we are proud to have you as a part of our school and your actions have inspired us all to be more aware and ready to impact change on behalf of the entire School Community
010we extend our deepest appreciation and gratitude to you Miss Huntsman please join me up here for your recognition this evening [Music] [Applause] thank you foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] celebrates the incredible talents of our young artists who have won the Azalea Festival art contest these talented students have demonstrated a remarkable ability to capture the beauty and essence of our community through their artwork their creativity and dedication have produced some truly stunning pieces showcasing a range of styles techniques and mediums from colorful paintings to intricate drawings and everything in between these artworks are a true Testament to the imagination and skill of our young artists congratulations to the following New Hanover County School winners of the Azalea Festival art contest Tallulah cop Carmen politis kygo Roach [Applause] [Laughter] Brinley shilawaski shalosky and Emma Dixon
011[Applause] foreign [Music] for our final recognition I would like to invite Addison Daniels back up to the front Addie Daniels is an 8th grade Myrtle Grove Middle School student she was selected for the prestigious 2022 North Carolina middle school honors course this was Addie's third year being selected for the North Carolina honors chorus having served as for two years as an elementary school student Miss Daniels was the only middle school singer from New Hanover County Schools to have been selected for the choir this year and she represented her school and District at the highest standard Addie and other students were recognized at the concert held at the North Carolina School of the Arts Stevens Center this past winter I am pleased to have Addie back up front with her who we just heard moments ago
012do our national anthem congratulations to Addison for her hard work talent and determination as well as Krista fazen our interim art supervisor and Jamie Woods Addison's chorus teacher at Myrtle Grove Middle School [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] that concludes our recognitions from the evening thank you [Applause] foreign all right we'll continue now uh with the approval of the minutes do we hear a motion so movements Bradford a second Miss Graybill your second okay all right would you like to pull off yes 80 minutes okay 4 20 April for 24. okay agenda review from April 24th so we have a first to approve the rest of them and then we'll go back to that one uh is there a second that's again to prove approve all the uh meeting notes except for April 24th no second thank
013you Ms Walker any other discussion if not all in favor signify by I I any opposed passes 7-0 Miss crabill um yes sir [Music] that we change the agenda to allow the law firms who were like to go later in the meeting and that we did that with no vote from the board the um so I just think that we should um and as my recollection was they were given a different time Ms Sutton can you speak to that please yes there was some miscommunication um as far as I think how the agenda was laid out versus the times that the firms were asked to come to present so um I think we did adjust the agenda based on the times that the individuals were set to present originally yeah and I don't have any
014problem with that happening I just think that the minute should reflect that we changed the agenda because we did and um but we didn't take a vote you know to change the agenda okay um we just sort of some people said I don't want to do it now I want to wait and some people are like okay but we didn't ever vote so I just think that if anybody else cares about that level of detail okay we have a motion to make that Amendment and anybody have an opinion on that discussion I need a second does it need a second let me start with that do we have a second second Miss Walker okay in a second Miss Walker seconds any additional discussion on that if not all uh all uh an agreement please signify
015by saying aye aye all post passes 7-0 so the amended let's now vote on passing that so we've agenda we have uh amended that all in favor of now approving the agenda the amended agenda review for April 24th I'll say that four times really quick um please signify by saying aye aye all opposed again past seven zero at this time we will move on with our student voice welcome welcome hello everyone thank you so much for having us um I am Cassidy Thompson a junior at Hoggard High School hi I am Tanaya tune and I am a sophomore at Laney High School we just wanted to share some updates with you guys on what we've been up to and what some of our next steps are so first of all our student voice website is
016up and running Ms Clegg has been working hard to get that set up for us so it's on the EDI page of the New Hanover County Schools website and we've revised our mission statement and been working hard on that um Mr Johnson is also going to be handing over the empowered news newsletter to student voice to kind of use it for our purposes and just we're going to be dealing with that from now on and another thing is some members of our team were able to go to the equity Summit last Friday which was such a positive experience there were over 175 students from different schools there and it was great we got to set up a booth we made a poster and got some more students to sign up we have some more students
017who have shown interest now from a variety of different schools so before I hand it over to Mayo to talk about our next steps we're just super excited that all of this is coming to fruition that we're growing out of our just idea phase and into the implementation phase and that next school year we will actually have a lot of students from different schools that will be able to talk about and impact real decisions it's just super exciting and we're so grateful for this opportunity and excited to see what the next year will hold hi guys I'm here now to talk about our next steps so for the next school year um some of our next steps are to get our interest form out and to get our kick kickoff Summit and our application ready
018for the next school year so students will know who we are and what we do and if they are interested they will be able to apply um our another one of our steps is to send out that application in August right when the school year starts so that we can get you know going and running throughout the school year um to have that kickoff summer in the fall and to establish norms for our team so that students know what they are expected you know of doing while they're in our group and so that they know you know how to carry themselves and just you know what to do while they're in our group um and that's what we're trying to do you know as the new you know school year gets here and one more
019thing to add just about our Norms we've been discussing this with our team is we want to make sure that our student Voice team is one that just cultivates an atmosphere of respect and that we're not just here to complain but we're here to just offer proactive Solutions and that it will be a place where we can just understand that our views will not always align but appreciate what we can learn from each other and we really want it to be a diverse group we'll definitely make that a point in when we're sorting through the applications we want students from all the schools in the county who come from different backgrounds so that we can hear from all different types of students and we can all have a chance to make an impact on our
020education so that's our updates we have for you guys if you have any questions any questions board members Miss Walker um yeah so I just get my mic on first I want to say Well done I know do an initiative like this from the ground up is a very difficult thing to do one to form and two to get it all together and keep it going and I know how hard you guys have been working so I want to say I appreciate that very much I think for us I I assume when the forms go out you'll have on there what committees maybe people want to serve on board committees and by that time hopefully we'll have had our our applications done so we can you know be able to give you guys that too
021but anyway I just wanted to thank you because y'all have worked very very hard and I appreciate you coming back and I want I want to hear an update every month no matter what it is thank you thank you so much Ms Graybill um [Music] getting all this planned and still doing your job thank you so much Mr McManus I just want to add to what both have said I can remember this first came to discussion and we're so excited I know that some boards would be hesitant to have students according to involve and ask questions I think for us to represent every single one of you we need to listen that's what we're here for and I always agree if we can do it but we need your s thank you so much I'll
022just add that again thank you for coming up and speaking that you know it takes a lot to get in front of all these adults so thank you very much I appreciate it thank you thank you for the opportunity and all thank you have a great rest of your day thank you thank you [Applause] I believe next on our agenda will be the superintendent's report Mr Dr Faust good evening first and foremost I'd like to express my appreciation to our 45 exceptional school principals whose dedication was celebrated yesterday on National School principal day their hard work and Leadership have been essential in fostering a positive learning environment for all of our students I'm also delighted to announce that just moments ago we awarded the Board of Education student scholarships for future teachers these four scholarships
023valued up to 28 000 each will enable promising students to pursue their aspirations of becoming Educators and accredited accredited North Carolina Institutes contributing to the future of our district and Beyond this week we'll be celebrating a significant accomplishment the graduation of our inaugural career and leadership development Academy cohort in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce the program allowed middle school students to acquire career leadership and education pathway knowledge building their leadership skills and highlighting employable skills needed for today's Workforce this Innovative program has not only enhanced the professional skills of our students but also nurtured the next generation of community leaders later this week we'll be hosting our educator of the Year celebration where we will recognize all of our outstanding finalists and announce the overall educator of the year the deserving winner will receive
024a cash prize of approximately sixty five hundred dollars while all finalists will be honored with special prizes and gifts as a token of our appreciation for their exceptional work and dedication to our students as we approach the end of the year our dedicated staff and students are diligently preparing for integrated tests and graduation ceremonies simultaneously we are laying the groundwork for a successful upcoming Academic Year by identifying areas of improvement in developing strategic plans the safety of our students remain a top priority and we have been working relentlessly to make necessary enhancements in our school buildings these improvements will ensure a secure and supportive environment where our students can thrive to wrap up I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the entire Community the entire School Community for the unwavering commitment and hard work
025through this throughout this school year your Collective efforts have made these accomplishments possible and have positioned us for continued success in the future thank you for your dedication to our district and to the students we serve thank you this concludes them thank you Dr Foust and I think I'm gonna have to move that because you stole half of my thunder right here I was uh uh just a couple things I had and I'm going to do something a little bit different at the end but uh first off I enjoyed working with and interviewing the teachers of the year and principals of the year uh what a great opportunity to meet with some some wonderful people we actually had a former teacher of the year that Mr Abby Nobles I believe she's still here is Abby
026still here I've asked her to come forward she's going to share an idea with us real quickly that I think is outstanding thank you for being here yes thank you thank you everyone the two thousand oh gosh I don't know what year it is the 2022 New Hanover County Schools district and overall teachers of the Year team Stephen O'Neill Melissa Allen Elizabeth raffled in conjunction with myself the 2022 Southeast Regional teacher of the year are excited to recommend to the board their desire to have a one to two minute spot each month at the board meetings for Teacher of the Year representatives to share teacher voice and positive engagement from around New Hanover County Schools as key stakeholders on the ground they are excited to rotate each one to two minute Spotlight to highlight our
027great teacher leaders and activity in New Hanover County Schools so that's an idea that my team and I came up with and we would love your support to make that happen in that place on the board agenda happen so thank you thank you very much we were sitting down chatting and she came up with that idea and I said you know we have student voice but wouldn't it be great to also hear from Educators and educator voice so I think that'd be awesome something for us to talk about in the future um additionally I was going to mention that the future future scholarship interviews we were all part of that and boy I tell you it was it was eye-opening it was wonderful the Young Folks we saw here today with additional uh through uh
028three other additional students that also interviewed for that and just what a joy to hear these young people and all their positivity their wonderful ideas and the fact that they just want to come back and work here in New Hanover County Schools so much um I do also I also want to mention that we had site visits as we announced the teachers of the year and boy I tell you there were some of them that were very very surprised so tears were once again flowing and just some wonderful teachers doing wonderfully uh just doing a super job with their students throughout the school district so I would like to highlight all the teachers of the year and congratulate them as well as the principals of the year and finally I have a quick announcement from
029Mrs Mason so I announced this last month but it was right at the end and I wanted to just make sure that everybody else could hear it because I think it's a great opportunity for parents the New Hanover County Schools advisory Council for exceptional children are putting on a parent forum it's titled parents as partners in the IEP process it will be happening Thursday May 18th from 7 30 to 8 30 and it's going to be online via Zoom I am pretty certain they're going to be sending these this information home with parents but I really wanted to just highlight it because I think that the people on this committee have been doing so much good and hard work to make this a phenomenal um Forum so I hope that parents can come and participate
030thank you Miss Mason and that ends my report next on our agenda is a call as the call of the audience Bradford will be calling the names as usual Christina Mercer good evening I'm here tonight because I'm tired of playing games I'm tired of these side issues that keep the board from focusing on what really impacts students and teachers in New Hanover County's Public Schools first I cannot fathom your insistence on being content with the most minimum state requirements for funding and Staffing for decades employees have known that the State numbers are ridiculous and the only way to strengthen the schools is to enhance those numbers in order to do this the board and the County Commissioners have to work together yet we have a superintendent who keeps telling them we're fully staffed and a
031board who gives condescending presentations about the budget I hear you speak about improving student achievement but you all are expecting caviar on a hamburger budget Why Should students strive to race to the top if you're satisfied with the bottom it's part of your job to advocate for more funding why don't you do it also there are dozens of abuse victims from teachers who were allowed to continue teaching for decades despite Whispers of misbehaviors this predates you all but you could finish the lawsuit and put the money towards that by simply setting settling surely there is a point where legal fees exceed what the school system was hoping to save and settlement money do it help these victims move on with their lives and begin to work through the trauma and last I spent the last
032years of my career at the alternative school and I'm telling you definitively this school system doesn't discipline students consistently minority students are more likely to receive a harsher punishment than their white peers for the same offense students with disabilities aren't immune from being suspended and even long-term suspended even if their infraction was directly related to their disability I had been hopeful when the new Behavior Matrix came out but it became quickly obvious that no one was following it in closing you represent New Hanover County Schools it is your job to advocate for what is best for all students are you going to spend your time chasing and resolving non-issues created by non-educators or are you going to actually work together to create a better school system for all students thank you Karen Clark [Applause] foreign
033I speak in the name of Jesus for love to overflow for the spirit of wisdom and Revelation for the foolish things of God have proven to be wiser than human wisdom and the feeble things of God have proven to be far more powerful than any human ability I pray the wisdom from above will enter your heart in a deep Fountain of truth will be opened inside of you I pray his grace will flood you with bold courage giving you the ability to move forward in spite of what you see that you will not be easily shaken by trouble nor let us Stray by novel teachings or by false doctrines of deceivers who teach clever lies but instead you will remain strong and always sincere in love as you express the truth so in awe before
034the father of our Lord Jesus the perfect father of every child in heaven and on the earth I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited Riches of his glory and favor until Supernatural strength flood your innermost being with his Divine might and explosive power then the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life never doubt God's Mighty power to work in you he will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request your most unbelievable dream and exceed your wildest imagination his miraculous power outdoes them all constantly energizing you we give God all the Glorious praise that rises from every generation thank you through Jesus and all that will yet be manifest through eternity amen thumbs up Peter radovich did you know that the words equity and Equitable
035appear 27 times in the New Hanover County School Board policy manual for example in policy 4300 it states student Behavior policies are provided to establish a system that ensures the Equitable treatment of all students in other words white students should make up about 58 percent of the out-of-school suspensions and about 18 percent would be black students because 58 of the student population is white and 18 is black with Equitable treatment there's Justice now the word equal appears 50 times in the school board policies in policy 2130 it states that an equal amount of budgeted funds will be allocated for each board member for conferences conventions or other board development activities that is you all get a fair and consistent amount of money so tonight is you consider policy 3610 counseling program look for the word
036equitable spoil alert it's not there because all of our students all of our students needs are different school counselors must be able to provide Equitable access to opportunities and if they're already doing it fabulous just put it in the policy fair and consistent access would be an injustice with Equitable access justice prevails thank you Mr [Applause] Chris Sutton I noticed that apparently we had another child almost die and yet we're still dragging our feet on getting an airway clearance device this is getting ridiculous if we have a child die that's going to lay on all y'all's heads is wrong okay um you have to watch how you speak to attorneys because one word can change an entire conversation so for instance Miss Bradford you asked about the elephant in the room you asked about a
037conflict of interest you said there was none but there's a perceived conflict of interest and he knew this because he brought up the poor City Daily article in which even miss Adams quoted as saying the board would speak about the perceived conflict of interest in closed session all of perceived conflict of interest is a very reasonable person can look at the details and state that there isn't a chance that someone might make a bad decision or a slanted interpretation because they have some type of gain or something to get Liberty Mutual I asked y'all to see how much money we've spent to fight the victim excuse me Liberty Mutual paid Darrington Smith to fight the victims I believe it's close to a million dollars that's just one lawsuit they work with Liberty Mutual on potentially
038multiple lawsuits so we're talking millions of dollars potentially that is an inherent perceived conflict of interest and he ducked the conversation on the technicality because perceived was not added in that is ridiculous call to audience has two problems that have been discussed teachers and staff being unable to sign up at exactly 8 A.M due to organized uh groups blocking out a chunk of called audience posts um both of these problems can be accomplished without the lottery system that y'all are trying to introduce we could create a teacher voice agenda item before called audience that allows teachers to be heard without competing with the rest of the community I believe there's a significant difference in perception of what the value of call to audience is I believe some members believe it is a waste of time
039just a mandated part of the process others including myself believe that citizen participation is mandated because it is our new soapbox in the Town Square it is our opportunity to not only address our elected officials but also raise concerns with the community I didn't know we were locking kids in closets until a parent spoke at a call to audience she helped raise awareness and shut down the seclusion rooms thank you thank you Denise yeah you know good evening my name is Denise yannon I am the President of the New Hanover County Special Education parent teacher Association with each with Teacher Appreciation Week upon us it is important to recognize and support our great teachers but what does support for all teachers look like why should we support teachers at all the second question is easier
040to answer it is for the same reason that we should support parents it is because both parents and teachers hold the lives and well-being of our community's children in their hands supporting teachers means making sure they all have a lunch period a preparation period and reasonable access to a restroom support means providing enough resources for teachers to teach and for parents to learn support means enough appropriately certified staff for each classroom support means of parent support means attending to parent concerns and trying to find appropriate Solutions together support means informing parents of their rights it means open and frequent Communication in ways parents can understand and access the best thing parents teachers administrators and community members can do for our children is to find ways to support each other without anger and fear supporting parents
041and teachers is the only viable way to support our students children Thrive when parents and teachers find ways to work together heartfelt gratitude for our entire education staff our future teachers our parents and Guardians and most especially for our beautiful children Happy Teacher Appreciation Week thank you thank you miss your name Katie Gates [Applause] good evening board I ask you to carefully revisit your policies and curriculum in the upcoming months and perhaps provide more oversight and maintain compliance with an already existing objectives in doing so please ensure the protection of American ideals and Heritage and guard against the promotion of marxist and communist principles that have crept into the curriculum cultural Marxism has invaded our schools through dangerous ideologies and programs that appeal to emotion not fact parents please take note of what is being
042taught to your children directly and indirectly in 1789 the First Federal Law and education linked the Christian religion and public education together declaring religion morality and knowledge as necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind President Truman repeatedly stated that communism represented a conflict between Christianity and anti-christianity asserting the only lasting way for America to defeat communism was through Christianity that worked great until 1963 when the Supreme Court took prayer out of schools in that same year 45 Communist goals were read into the Congressional Record I actually encourage you to read those all and reflect on the premises that have been incorporated into our modern psyche and our educational system since 1963. let me just read a few 17 says get control of the schools use them as transmission belts for socialism and current
043communist propaganda soften the curriculum get control of teachers associations put the party line in textbooks 24 eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them censorship and a violation of free speech and Free Press 30. discredit founding fathers present them as selfish Aristocrats who had no concern for the Common Man and 41 emphasized the need to raise children away from the negative and suppressive influence of parents so I thank you for considering those as examples of Parental concerns in this area thank you thank you Miss Gates Barbara Barker wits good evening can you hear me book Review Committee I'm appalled by the trajectory the majority of the board is taking and what was said by those of you in favor Banning books by whom by what criteria by what right there are parental Choice policies in
044place no legislation exists in our taxpayer-funded Public School System denying the rights of parents and their children access to books other people want removed as for objections voiced by some stating it's not a ban let's dispense with semantics and using words like Marxism taken out of context this slippery slope of a first step aligns with Fascism and autocracy let's review fascism's alignment in history Hitler for example in 1939 removing books then burning them South Africa Banning authors and their books during apartheid Soviet Russia prior to during World War II and afterwards did all of that as well as rewrote Ukraine's history and now has quickly removed books yet again then burned piles of them then there's Iran so parallels of fascism are in our country for one example there's a district in Texas right now
045that was actually pushing for a community book Burn with Putin's invasion of Ukraine the people there including my relatives both past and present were and are risking their lives for a democratic existence that also includes resisting fascistic censorship such as this with this committee they lived it and they know it they're experiencing purges now just as they experience the purges of Stalin and they'd have a lot to say about what's being proposed here and they know firsthand and they'd Enlighten you about the aligned Paths of fascism both past and present so again there's that slippery slope taught hopefully To Us by history you're out of time thank you [Applause] good evening the short-term suspension policy number four three five one states that before a student receives an out of school suspension they have a right
046to an informal hearing where they shall be informed of the charges and the basis for the accusations against him or her and may make statements in defense or mitigation of the charges the students Also may request that the principal here from persons whom the student claims can speak on his or her behalf if the student reasonably claims the need for additional time to to present such persons the principal May postpone action for a reasonable time that may sound reasonable for a teenager in high school but does it make sense for four five six and seven-year-old child remember four five six and seven-year-old children are only in kindergarten first and second grade their reasoning and thinking are not the same as older children they may know they're in trouble but it's unlikely they will be thinking
047about requesting that the principal here from persons who can speak on their behalf and I don't expect them to request additional time to present such persons that is why short-term suspension policy number four three five one needs to be revised our younger Learners deserve the right to have their parent or other representative present at the formal hearing if this is already happening in some school that's great it needs to be in the policy so that every four five six and seven year old has that right thank you thank you Ms Stackhouse bless me Posey cozy good evening the length of board meetings has been a recent topic of discussion I would like to point out a few things that have unnecessarily used your time the calendar you have spent multiple hours debating the school calendar
048in 2005 the then newly elected Republican legislature declared that school must start no earlier than August 27th and must end by June 10th this put the end of the first semester in January this law is still in effect all you had to do was follow it books in our schools again hours have been spent discussing ways to keep our children from reading the district already has an excellent policy if I don't want my daughter to Read To Kill a Mockingbird fine I tell her teacher I tell the librarian she's blocked from that book problem solved you have spent more hours revisiting policies that should not be changed the budget you minutely discuss cutting vital positions but make no mention of our top heavy Administration North Carolina has a huge Surplus in the rainy day fund
049urged them to use some of it on schools as is required in the state constitution one thing I learned in high school debate rambling is a sign of being inept the called audience seems to be the top consideration for shortening meetings if you really don't want to hear from us do what is right for the children we have given you information on programs to train teachers to stop seclusion and suspension along with laws governing policy so stop trying to eliminate The Messengers and do what we elected you to do run our schools so that the kids are safe and get the most complete education possible but if we're so dangerous that the sros need to stand behind us and you really enjoy complaining fine Mrs Abel and I are glad to keep crocheting in the
050back while listening to your rambling thank you Miss Posey Rocky Jeter Webb foreign I'd like to recommend some books to put into our Public Schools I'd like to recommend this the King James Holy Bible I'd recommend the constitution of North Carolina the U.S Constitution the Declaration of Independence why do we need government in the first place where every American needs to know by Dr Christina mcmatters I'd like to recommend young conservative one of the smart TV Like Us by Young America and I'd like to recommend the total twins books this is a popular children's book series the book episode over four million copies here in the U.S I think you teach children about Freedom Liberty Liberty rights as well as a variety of other things I encourage you to vote for the new Vogel Law
051Firm and I'll also end on this real men aren't women and there are only two genders male and female thank you let's go Brandon thank you thank you Mr jeterwebb Alicia or gandali [Applause] good evening policy 3610 counseling program will be presented later tonight during the policy consensus portion of the meeting you will hear that New Hanover County Counseling program mirrors the American Council Association my national model for counseling program except that it doesn't have hsca has 36 standards it states all 3610s can be applied to three counseling domains academic career and social emotional development the first standard is the student belief the development of the whole self including the healthy balance and mental of social emotional physical well-being said that the phrase social emotional was deleted from policy 3610 last month policy committee meeting
052why two reasons we're given our schools are putting so much emphasis on social emotional development second it was reported that there was a vast number of parents out there who have expressed that they are interested in social emotional that they're not interested in social emotional programs they are more interested in academics I find that hard to believe when a lot of children are just don't possess academic skills and they need more emotional support second um our students are not robots they present social behaviors and have emotions we need policy 3610 to allow our school counselors to do their job and work with the whole child you're taking human out of humanity thank you make it make sense thank you thank you Veronica love our children advocates for the safety of all our children and staff
053in our schools it supports policy 4300 which states that school administrators will utilize Positive Behavior Support alternatives to suspensions and only use out of school suspension as the last resort it also supports policy 4351 which states that students under age eight or under third grade will not be suspended except for incidents involving drugs assaults or possessing weapons those serious charges demand parental participation those serious charges the man parental participation love our children NC believe that our youngest Learners should have the right to have a parent a representative present when they are a part of an informal hearing that will determine if they receive an out-of-school suspension for incidents involving drugs assaults possessing weapons a parent should be allowed and encouraged to participate in the informal hearing either in person by phone or in a video
054conference direct the policy committee to review policy 4351 at its next meeting revise the language so our four five six and seven-year-old children will have the right the opportunity the benefit of a parent or other representative representative present at an informal hearing for incidents involving drugs assaults or process possessing weapons changing policy 4351 will improve and increase parent involvement in the life of their child at school Jillian [Applause] good evening and thank you to the board my name is Jill Hoffman chair of the New Hanover County Democratic party and an immigration and human rights attorney for the past 15 years as someone who regularly works with children during administrative and legal proceedings I'm here to respectfully request that short-term suspension policy 4351 is revised to allow for students under the age of eight or under
055third grade to have a parent or other representative present at an informal or formal disciplinary hearing right now the policy states that no student has the right to representation at such hearings while also expecting that child to be adequately informed of the basis for accusations make statements in defense or mitigation and request Witnesses I don't believe that any child under eight even understands what mitigation means let alone properly can process pending charges defend themselves call witnesses or request a postponement which the policy already allows for in which I'd advise each and every one of them to do based on the current text unless it is absolutely necessary I almost never put kids on the stand or bring them into Administrative Hearings or even let them witness their parents proceedings because any type of hearing where
056some other person or adjudicating body can decide your fate and change your future is fundamentally overwhelming scary and traumatizing even for adults and especially when you don't know what is going on what is going to happen or how to protect yourself this is a critical bipartisan issue to protect students parents Educators and quite frankly the school system itself for liability purposes it is not just about well-established due process or representation rights but about basic human rights dignity and fairness since the policy already allows for adjournment so that witnesses can be present it seems very much like a no-brainer to afford the same general courtesy to both parents and children themselves thus I respectfully request that policy 4351 is revised to add these much needed protections for young students thank you [Applause] books minds and umbrellas
057only work if they are open it is clear to this community which of you has an open mind instead of working to remove word social emotional and reframing from using equity and policy 3610 counseling program let's use these terms to align with the New Hanover County strategic plan and the state strategic plan why would you delete Words that point to an evidence-based program that helps you reach your goals especially when it can address some concerning practices like seclusion and restraint bullying while also helping to improve students academics the very idea of reframing from using the word Equity from the policy speaks volumes it's a standard as a parent and a Community member that I demand remains let me remind you of the research findings for social emotional learning hundreds of studies involving more than one
058million students worldwide across Pre-K to 12 offer consistent evidence that SEL has a positive impact on students academic achievement students participating in SEL have a higher level of school functioning as it reflects their grades test scores attendance and homework completion it also increases the performance of the 11 percentile points comparing to students who did not participate that's a whole grade level there's absolutely no need to remove these words from the policy and I hope that you can focus more energy on how you will reach your strategic plan and not sabotage it our kids are in crisis and I would think that the board would want to use every available resource to support our students as elected officials do the right thing and keep the words equity and social emotional in policy 3610 [Applause] thank you
059over four years ago I addressed the board on behalf of the victims of sexual assault since then there are new occupants in the seats before me and entirely different board superintendent attorney and a panel of senior staff yet here we are making the same plea to keep kids safe and do the right thing a new legal contract sits before you denied of three firms to consider for your legal fiascos yet one question that has not been raised is which of them would provide advisement in the best interest of students not Barrington and Smith apparently June marks four years since Michael Kelly confessed and was convicted of almost 60 counts of sexual abuse against students and since that time your goal has been to protect pedophiles and those who enable them instead of children the board
060is signed off on prolonging the trauma of victims in that process and inflicting more pain through the ongoing hellish Court battles you find comfort in assuming that you all are safe under qualified immunity but who's keeping our kids safe the victims of these heinous crimes are not just numbers they're former students at the district failed to protect and many of us worry about the toll your actions take on their well-being every single day that this case stays stagnant so as you go into closed session to deliberate I'd ask that you give a second thought to the victims that you continue to abuse and ask yourself when does it end and what message are you sending to our students now they obviously continue to be at risk as there are plenty of predators out there watching
061the mess you've created with this case that has broken the trust of the entire Community you are elected to protect children not figure out ways to get around doing so with excuses and blindly following legal counsel no matter which law firm you go with the choice is still yours with regard to ending this case and allowing the victims to finally begin to heal and live their lives perhaps it's time to elevate their voices on a platform that'll be heard because their stories are far more heartbreaking than what I stand up here and say then maybe the public will understand the consequences of negligence of this District in failing to follow law and protect children and push for accountability and finally set the victims free thank you Mr Haney do you justice [Applause] [Music] okay most
062of you need to start focusing on what is best for a school district not advancing a political agenda that further damages our Public Schools our schools are in crisis due to lack of funding for staff and Facilities from both our state and local government stop wasting precious time on those political eye issues that do not in reality affect this crisis but add to it stop trying to censor books and curriculum developed by educational professionals that a very small group finds offensive stop trying to cut funding for needed services such as SEL programs and practices they do nothing but help all students and especially our most needy stop trying to deny the lgbtq community their fundamental rights as Americans and stop accusing them of grooming students stop ignoring the dozens if not hundreds of sexual assault
063cases that have occurred for at least 20 years and are still resulting in student and staff suicides and ruined lives and do not pick a relatively small and untried Law Firm because of political connections that will do nothing but to add to our financial costs and continued legal entanglements start doing the job you were elected to do stop focusing on funding to support repairing a start funding support repairing our facilities and keeping and hiring good and needed staff fight for the money the 1.5 billion from the hospital sale promised to us start to properly evaluate the superintendent who continues to fail to serve our schools effectively start to help our schools designated as failing through targeted redistricting and real magnet programs based on educational research and start to listen to all the staff and Community
064not just those who you are politically align with do your job according to our educational needs not how your political parties dictate the election is over start serving all of the people thank you Miss Justice your time is up Carletta Carletta Chrisette okay Lisa golf in honor of the national Day of Prayer on Thursday May 4th I'd like to remember what President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for National humiliation fasting and prayer it said in part we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity we have grown in numbers wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown but we have forgotten God we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved Us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us
065and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom in virtue of Our Own intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace Too Proud to pray to the god that made us it behooves us then to Humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our sins National sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness thank you Miss golf Kimberly Spicer Yolanda Hernandez good evening tonight I'm addressing policy 3610 the counseling program and equity for all students the American school council Association has developed has developed a national model for School counseling programs policy 3610 states that our counseling program should mirror that the association has a position on equity for all students it states that
066schools counselors are advocate for the Equitable treatment all students in school and the community it also states that the school counselor's role is to develop and Implement a School counseling program promoting equity and access for all students some of the ways they do this is by using data to to identify gaps in achievement opportunity entertainment maintaining Knowledge and Skills for working in a diverse and Multicultural work setting and promoting access to rigorous standards-based curriculum curriculum academic courses and learning paths for College and Career for all students in the beginning of this year the school year 13 of our schools were low performing four students received a top rate of a clearly some of our schools need more counseling support than others tonight tonight's revised policy 3610 calls for fair and consistent access to Opportunities reject
067that vote instead for equity for Equitable access to Opportunities let's support all of our students thank you thank you Miss Anderson Hernandez now case it's not here Gail taberer good evening I grew up in North Carolina my dad did not complete high school because he had to stop School in order to work on the family dairy farm he completed his G8 GED in the military but he was a voracious reader he read everything he could get his hands on and he handed that trait down to his children his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren we read as much as we possibly can everything we can get our hands on I grew up attending an Evangelical Church we read the Bible as I still do today in my vocation and in my home I learned stories of rape
068and incest and adultery from the Bible and I learned that God is love and I've come to realize that for many this means that God is love only if you have the same religious and political beliefs as they do fortunately this type of belief runs a foul of the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution that guarantees that no law be made respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof I will remind this board that regardless of your own beliefs on the topic of book content to think about this no one on the right side of History has ever been on the side of censorship or been on the side of banning books and I implore you to consider that parents have the right to stop their child from reading a book but
069not to stop every child from Reading thank you thank you [Applause] Davidson thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Michael Davidson I'm on the clock uh first of all I'd like to say that the Acoustics here are very challenging I can hear people who speak at this mic but your mics I'm having challenges with so I don't know if you can project a little bit more or check the sound system but it's second meeting I've had and it's very hard to hear you so I just want to speak a little bit about if I get my phone to work which is always a challenge Okay so this is all my opinion and it is going to State it uh freedom of speech and book Banning cannot coexist how do we create a well-informed Future
070Leaders if we restrict what they're asked to speak what they can read uh 50 years ago when I was in high school my 50th anniversary is coming up we had something called the William Matt Buckley stairway some of you remember who William Buckley was we had two groups in our school we had the common concern club and the Young Americans for Freedom we were both on the different ends of the political Spectrum how did we debate well what we did is we took butcher paper and posted our ideas on a stairwell between the second and third floor of our High School uh our advisors caused us to look at issues critically they would not allow us to put things up it wasn't fact based it wasn't based it wasn't in some form that that we
071could support in future speaking uh wheat plants posted our ideas we talked about Vietnam War we talked about abortion we talked about legalizing marijuana but each time we spoke we spoke with respect we didn't put down the other group that was posting their ideas and also posting ideas on our on our wall allowed students who weren't involved in either of our clubs and understand ideas that we were throwing out there in fact we knew we had a Hot Topic when the stairwell was filled between classes oh I'm sorry okay thank you sir I'm sorry okay thank you Michael Davidson that was him is he Bannon hi I found it very interesting that others are talking about the sexual assault cases tonight when I've not heard one of them say anything about it before I also
072find it very interesting that one of the prior school board members talked about it she's been on the board four years what she do about it nothing uh let's see hmm we need to change attorneys because of the sexual assault case why should they try to settle it they get billable hours why hasn't it been settled these men some of them have committed suicide I consider these men to be murder victims why haven't they why hasn't this been settled can you answer this you also stated last week that you give all options to everything that's asked if you you do not you give options that you think others want to hear and when an option is brought up to you you then say Oh yeah that's right but so as far as books go I
073don't appreciate my money being paid for the kind of books that are in the libraries you say that it's a Parent's Choice find this appearance choice but it's my money that's being paid for I don't appreciate that I don't want my money to be spent on trash it keeps referring to the Bible the steps in the Bible guess what it's not good stuff that's in the Bible it doesn't talk about the good stuff incest isn't good the Bible doesn't say it's good it's an abomination you keep referring to it as being stuck good in the Bible and it's not so don't refer to your incest the Bible doesn't teach a child how to have oral sex thank you thank you Miss Bennett that concludes our call to audience she did Kimberly Spicer Kimberly ah there
074she is hold on for one second please your timer up do y'all have a flash drive everything up here well never mind okay I'm Gonna Be Quick um try to speak as fast as I can I'm speaking not just for my daughter but for all the students my daughter is a student at Laney she got hit January 3rd um she got flown to Chapel Hill we stayed there for two days so my my thing is I don't know exactly where to start but I'm starting with the school system I'm going for more Lighting in that area a sidewalk a trail whatever I'm not don't really care what it is but it was dark the night that my daughter got hit and it the younger they hit her could not see her so my thing I'm
075fighting for more Lighting in that area cause soon as she hit the street she got hit and it was dark so my my my my thing to y'all is who to start from where do I go I'm gonna try to keep pushing it she's only in the 10th grade I don't care if it's after she graduates to get more Lighting in that area not just for my child but for the students you know of course leaning interest so that's my thing this is my daughter right here thank you [Applause] that that ends our uh follow the audience at this point we are going to go into closed sessions uh I would call for a motion to go and close all right I got you um family educational rights and Privacy Act 20 USC one two
076three two G and formulate plans related to emergency response and school safety to consult with the board's attorney and preserve attorney-client privilege including the case captioned th by by parent or Guardian age versus New Hanover County Board of Education 23 EDC zero zero six zero eight is there a motion um Mr chair in order to discuss the SBI report in closed session we'll need to add the doe cases to the closed session motion so there should be a revised one posted online um with the dough cases okay let's try again thank you sir yep thank you all right I call for motion to go into closed session pursuant to NC General statue 143 318 11 A1 3 6 and 8 to consider Personnel matters and maintain confidential outperson records under NC General statute 115c through
077three C 319 through 321 prevents disclosure of Student Records rendered confidential under the family educational rights and Privacy Act 20 USC one two three two formulate plans related to emergency response and school safety and consult with the board's attorney and preserve attorney-client privilege including the cases caption th by parent or Guardian age versus New Hanover County Board of Education 23 EDC 00608 John does one through 14 versus New Hanover County Board of Education at all 19 CVS 2745 and Jane does one and two versus New Hanover County Board of Education at all 20 CVS 1395 and Jane Doe three versus New Hanover County Board of Education at all 21cvs 4707 Consolidated matters thank you do I hear that motion I have a motion for Miss Bradford second for Miss Mason is there any discussion you
078know what I'm thinking don't you um all in favor please signify by saying aye aye aye all opposed pastor 7-0 we are in closed session thank you all right we're back in Open session next uh I do apologize for the length of that there was a lot of good information given to us in closed session that we needed but I do apologize for the length of that uh we'll continue on with strategic Plan update foreign update yeah it is next oh we're doing strategic Plan update to the next meeting move the Strategic Plan update to our next meeting if I have a second Bradford all in favor please oh excuse me any discussion okay takes a five to two vote any discussion nope uh all in favor please signify by saying aye I all opposed
079carry 7-0 we'll move that to our next meeting time yes ma'am I'd like to make a motion on top of your not on top of yours but in in following yours is um in Old business where we have legal services um I would like to move that either to a special meeting that we might have or to the next time because this is going to require some a lot of discussion and I think that we need to talk with our firms again because there's a lot of questions that were unanswered and some of us didn't reach out to the candidates um personally okay so I'd like to make that motion motion to remove C or should be postpone see to put just call a special meeting either to do it at a special meeting you
080know noticeable I can't do in June but but um to have to do it as part of a special meeting that we might be having okay so we have a motion to have a second second Miss Walker is there any uh additional discussion on that uh to move um under old business uh numbers or letter excuse me c uh legal services to a or to postpone it to a later meeting to a special meeting to a special meeting as soon as possible as soon as possible we have a first we have a second my only question Mr wood is I know that this is a there's a time constraint and so as far as an extra special meeting I'm just wondering the turnaround time in which we'd have to do it to with Fidelity to
081act on behalf of our RFQ that we head out I believe we my understanding and I'll ask my Sutton to uh well I asked my son just to speak to it because that way I don't tell you what my understanding is so we wanted to get that taken care of this month so we could go ahead and get the notice out because if we decide not to continue with therington Smith Services we need to give 30 days notice so we were trying to get um the recommendation and get a contract in place before June 1st if possible first and second is there any additional discussion um Mr chairman I agree with Miss Barnhart this is important it needs to be done we can move some other things off of here but I think this needs
082to be done tonight okay other discussions would you please yes ma'am Ms Walker well I just want to add there are there are a lot more questions I mean we we're going to have it if the discussion is going to be had we're going to have it and it's going to take a very long time and I don't think we're going to get all the answers that we need tonight we don't have anybody else here that's going to answer the questions we have okay Mr McManus yes sir in the event that there's a change when does that become effective I think I know what I want to make sure Miss Sutton that will be the end of June correct yeah July 1 it would take effect so but we we would need to have 30
083days Mr McManus we need to have 30 days if if we decide to make any changes okay just to clarify I am proposing that we do this at a special meeting as soon as possible like we talked about in closed session okay so that's it's not to not to not to hold it off any long time but just so that we're fresh because this is going to come to us at like 11 o'clock so we have a first we have a second is there any other additional Miss Mason how soon are we talking I guess is my question that's gonna be up to us at that special meeting that we had discussed yes that's what I that's why I told you there I was going to be proposing that because um just so that we
084have a chance to get the lawyers back to answer questions for us um either Mike remotely because there's a lot of unanswered questions that I had and I didn't reach out to the the people like some board members did so she's proposing a special meeting that we would have the attorneys back at for another virtual line of questions I believe she said virtual did you say yeah virtual I don't have the problem with them coming in virtually back and forth right yeah no still dialogue they don't have to come they get on they get online so that we can ask questions okay so we have a first and second we'll call the question uh let's uh if you wouldn't mind Miss uh Bowie would you uh buy oh please so again just make sure everybody
085understands Mrs crabill's motion is to postpone the discussion to a meeting very soon on Legal Services yes yes Mr McManus yes Miss Mason no Miss Bradford no Mr wildebear no Miss Barnhart no it's defeated four to three so that will stay on we will carry on so we have moved strategic Plan update to the next meeting we are on to student discipline update um is this something that we could postpone to the next meeting that would be up to will the board the Scrabble this is something that Mr McManus asked for specifically so I think we should allow him to weigh in on that well yes it was requested by yeah I just want everybody to hear the same thing so would you like we're here let's go let's go forward all right a couple
086three hours you're here I'll be here next time too okay good evening chair World of War members of the board Dr Faust as you know our New Hanover County Schools policies and professional development are based on several key tenants around student Behavior all students must be treated with respect students can and should be taught the skills and behaviors needed for Success motivation and responsibility should be encouraged through positive interactions and building those relationships with students student misbehavior provides a teaching opportunity and collaboration in this is critical all School staff members work together to help students behave responsibly and to meet those students needs clicking I am we're going to cover four main points the first one what do we know about our own data beyond that we're going to dig into regulations and policies in
087place with regard to idea OCR and our local scored policies Our obligation to respond and then what sanctions exist for us so the first piece digging into our own data what do we know about disciplined by the numbers and this is summary data for you from last school year as the you know the last completed school year how many office discipline referrals resulted in out-of-school suspension so we had 2712 office discipline referrals in the 2122 school year 16 percent resulted in out of school suspension so um that's how many office discipline referrals we had that resulted in OSS I will tell you that that is a reduction from pre-pandemic school years where we had total school year data the previous school year prior to that we had pre-pandemic in the year 1819 we had 2936
088and the year prior to that we were at 3487. so continuous reduction what do we know about out of school suspensions by grade well we know that 7th 8th and ninth graders make up almost half of all students suspended as we do a breakdown of out-of-school suspension by race you can see by the percentages listed here African-American students are suspended at a rate almost six times more than their peers just as concerningly African-American students with disabilities are suspended out of school at a rate almost four and a half times greater than their peers what I want to highlight for you is that New Hanover County Schools is the only District in North Carolina among 115 school districts that is significantly disproportionate in Total Auto School suspensions the threshold for significant disproportionality is three times we
089are at four and a half times for our African-American students with disabilities top offenses that result in the assignment of out-of-school suspension are as follows you see fighting at 28.8 percent disrespect 20 and a half percent disruptive twenty percent inappropriate behavior 15.7 and aggressive behavior at 14.9 I do have a question for you though someone please to find for me what disrespect looks like anybody beauty is in the eye of the beholder oh okay interesting so whatever definition you provide for me I'm going to ask does everyone explicitly agree with that definition right next I'm going to go to the second bullet what are the regulations and policies in place with regard to student discipline in these we're going to discuss the individuals with disability Education Act regulations office of civil rights rulings and New
090Hanover County Schools policies not sure what's happening so let's talk about what disproportionate representation and significant disproportionality really is it's over representation of certain students by race or ethnicity for special education services there are three areas that this is calculated on for us it isn't about the more restrictive placement options and or the identification it's about the disciplinary removals within the parameters of federal regulations each state has to adopt procedures and processes to address whether this just significant disproportionality and whether it exists in identify identification placement or discipline again for us it's discipline there is a sanction the perimeters further require the reservation of funds and when I say um the parameters the parameters of the Federal Regulation requires that the district with significant disproportionality reserve the maximum amount of federal funds received under the
091section of the ACT meaning idea and that's 15 percent to provide comprehensive early intervening services in other words to address the root causes of the disproportionality this reserver set aside must address the factors that contribute to disproportionality therefore those funds cannot be used for the overall Services of the EC or special education program 15 percent of the idea funds the district receives are not able to be used toward the overall services for students with disabilities that amount of sanction over the past five years is more than four and a half million dollars and I go on to say that needs to be returned to the special education program by way of reducing the disproportionality the regulations require specifically the promotion of equity and idea the process for determination of significant disproportionality as I mentioned for
092this promotion of equity and idea is explained as identifying and addressing the factors that contribute to significant disproportionality addressing any policy practice or procedure that contributes to and then reporting publicly any of these changes I also need to share with you some rulings from the office of civil rights that require our our response so the office of civil rights is just as concerned by statistical evidence as I have highlighted here so I'm not reading everything to you word for word statistical evidence of discriminatory effect so this is the difference between intent and what outcomes look like even when we believe we are treating similarly situated students the same such as everyone involved in the fight gets out of school suspension it's still when these when the outcome still weighs more heavily on students of a
093particular race we still find ourselves in disproportionality so more clearly equal responses to student behaviors that don't lead to equal outcomes for students by race is still disproportionality furthermore the office of civil rights is concerned with the application of discretionary or subjective infractions such as Defiance disruption inappropriate behavior because these less objective infractions are more susceptible to racial bias as we will go back in review our top offenses that result in out of school suspension more than half in fact 56.2 percent of those are extremely subjective inappropriate behavior disruptive and disrespect third bullet what is Our obligation to respond how do we engage in root cause analysis and what policy and process reform are required or incumbent upon us I want to bring your attention to commentary from the safe and civil schools which is
094the root of leadership and Behavior Support training we've been providing in the district research 20-year body of research schools Across the Nation research consistently indicates that the most influential factor in establishing a positive proactive learning environment as leadership the principle sets the tone therefore who did we ask what the root causes are principles so I'm sharing with you a few slides here of their responses of root causes in their own handwriting and then I'm going to provide for you a summary slide that has multiple bullets so I'll give you a few minutes to look over the pictures and then I'm going to move on and again I have them summarized in a bullet a bulleted slide so I'm going to move to the next and one more I succinctly bulleted here for you the First
095Column addresses root causes the second column are what principles identified as strategies to address not necessarily lining up Bullet by Bullet I want to highlight for you root cause the top addressed issues as root calls mental health and Trauma of students a lack of de-escalation training or use of de-escalation in adult responses implicit bias and cultural bias perceiving that this behavior is disrespect from this student but another student engages in it I don't necessarily see that as disrespect I see that is self-advocacy that kind of thing old school supervision attitudes lack of Student Success lack of classroom engagement hunger basic need deficiencies High concentration of needs in certain schools lack of adequate Supervision in high traffic areas I'm sorry to read these but I have to highlight them social deficits a lack of connection and
096relationship things happening in social media lack of communication skills pressure from stakeholders for an easy out OSS is called the easy out punitive mindset in schools and a lack of use of restorative practices these are from the words of principles principals also identified the second column as what we need to be doing to address these trauma-informed teaching professional development counselor lessons in social emotional learning modeling and teaching the de-escalation for staff reteaching replacement behaviors for our students staff professional development in responding to student behaviors changing lens from punitive to teaching and restorative practices relationship building among students and families increasing professional development for our adults on conflict resolution and power struggles they want a district restorative practices plan versus their individual School plan they want proactive communication with families in celebration of successes and they
097want effective academic interventions we know that out of school suspension is not an intervention so our New Hanover County Schools policies local policies the 4300 Series in the past we had one student code of conduct policy policy 8410 in our policy manual revamp we went to 18 student Behavior policies these policies were revised for the 2122 school year including the requirement for a range of consequences in each policy for each Behavior strand principals and District leaders came together to create those range of consequences for each of those violations of student conduct those range of consequences are a graduated response including instructive and restorative approaches many of what you saw identified in the strategies column from principles in these we must ensure that all School settings are safe and productive no argument there create positive School
098climate with a high expectancy of Student Success an expectancy of Student Success is a completely different trajectory than an expectancy of student failure or student removal and then designing effective policies and procedures for prompting students to be responsible highly motivated and actively engaged in school tasks again I'm going to remind you New Hanover County schools has the highest disproportionality rate in North Carolina the only way to reinstate the funds that 15 percent set aside for the sole use of students with disabilities thus increasing their academic growth is to continue to reduce overall disciplinary referrals or OSS from schools and that's by implementing policy 4302 our school plans for the management of student Behavior as were reviewed from school Improvement plans back in the fall those plans guide our staff to be proactive where problem behaviors
099are prevented before they begin positive or they're interacting with students in Friendly and inviting ways and instructional where misbehavior is corrected calmly and consistently to teach students to behave more responsibly and I'll leave you with this every student regardless of race or disability needs to be part of the growth for which New Hanover County Schools strives to be known thank you um we talk about least restrictive environment for our AC kids and a lot of the behaviors if they are behaviors happening with our EC kids are they in the mainstream classroom and if so are we looking at whether or not this truly is the least restrictive environment for those kids absolutely there is always a balance in the discussion of placement for a student with a disability and when a student is engaging in
100behaviors that interfere with that kids learning or the learning of others that's when that placement determination has got to be um discussed at an IEP meeting and those of course are all very individualized the the real concern when addressing behavior in a vacuum is have we looked at every potential or reasonable intervention being provided to reduce the likelihood that that problematic behavior is occurring that's that assessment that we have to complete and that's where you'll hear teams talking about a functional Behavior Analysis where we're looking at what is really triggering or is the antecedent for the behavior and then how are we responding to decrease the likelihood that that behavior actually works for the kid yeah very much all right um Miss barn and I appreciate you hitting a lot of Keynotes because you're talking
101about the input and the intentional input and the idea that we have subjective nature of interpretation to our range of consequences and when I looked at it I agree with you when you talk about disrespect and discipline it's going to look different in the eye of the beholder so it's really important to get our stakeholders our principals together to talk about ways that we are utilizing de-escalation excuse me de-escalation strategies and I want to bring up policy 4300 because it talks about in the very first paragraph number two A system that ensures the Equitable treatment of all students and you said this you said the intent behind something versus the outcome that happens and I want to openly address this because I think this is something this Board needs to come together with a work
102session because we do have a lot of common ground but unfortunately over the last few years we have heard the disciplinary practices of both suspension and inclusion being used in a way that teachers have not done those resources and implied that and so what I hear back from staff is this is Josie I have tried I have de-escalated I have pulled in teachers I have admin and I have kids who are violently aggressive and I don't know what to do to keep my class maintained and so what I am worried about is looking at the outcome and assuming everything is wrong rather than looking at the outcome and say let's brainstorming what we're doing right and what path we need to continue to go on to get those results we want to see and so
103for me and I've said this before the idea and concept of virtue signaling the word Equity meaning everything's going to come out the same this is what we've done the last few years though in leadership we've said let's just stop doing that practice just stop doing that practice and then everyone says well what do I do rather than saying let's change the focus on the input and that's what we need to be doing is changing the focus on the input getting the support from our staff and so as we move forward with this conversation that's what I'd like to see because I know there are things that we're doing the first night that we came onto this board in December we signed three times them out for a person learning perspectives agreement and what that
104done what that did it was a company comes in to evaluate whether or not our AC students are getting the supports they need and they're being effective in their environment that's what we did one of the first things that we did and back in December so I know that there are things that our district is doing I know there are things that we need to work on it is clear from the expectation but what I'd like to do is as we move forward with the focus I want to focus on what we're inputting to get that versus just saying stop suspending because the trickle-down effect and some of our staff and schools is you are not allowed to punish if you have a child of color you are not allowed to because that's what Equitable
105treatment is for kids you can't have that result with a kid and I'm just telling you the disconnect and I'm telling you why there's such varying degrees of opinion of that word because of the subjective name of how some people interpret it and and I will let you know um there has not been a direction or a directive not to suspend thank you that's true Miss Walker first I want to say thank you for presenting in such an honest way in talking about disproportionality the data is the data and I think acknowledging it is a very important First Step secondly I I appreciate the principles coming up with root causes because until we address root causes you know um it doesn't matter if we change the word Equity here social emotional learning here this is
106what it is and there's a lot more to it than in understanding that we really need to dive into I I've talked about it in other cases poverty is the biggest driver of trauma and so we dress a lot of these root causes um I don't see how we're going to affect real change and I know that's something the school district can't take care of on its own that's something I hope the task force at least looks at and really has some honest conversation about um we can sit here and hash out what Equity means or doesn't mean but obviously we have definitions from our federal government about it and um it's it's embedded in our account on our own County government in their strategic plan it's not a scary word it's not a word
107meant to say oh you know it to me and I think I've shared this with Mr man this is it's about opportunities and making sure that we are trying our best to understand the biases and the things that we hold and and in effect and change for our students that is a big number the disproportionality is a is a huge problem and I think it's been that that way for a while and I hope that we really have the real conversation about it not whether one word means this or one word means that I just think it's wasting time when this is the work that needs to be done no one else yeah I just wanted to um kind of weigh in one of the things that I was looking at before we talked about
108this was that educational Equity means that each child receives what they need to develop their full academic and social potential and that's kind of what we saw with the principles and I would expect that it would be different from building to building because the populations are different from building to building so um yeah I'm just I guess what I'm getting at is are you um has our strategic plan and your actions your strategies your action steps based on what you've shown us with with this data are you doing are you going to make changes to the Strategic plan or is it written out such that we have five years to do it and you're just you're going along to meet those those Milestone action steps yes and and I would Echo what the principles provided
109as root cause analysis and strategies to address that in being very much aligned to behavioral research and very much aligned to our strategic plan because what we offered as a part of our strategic plan is rooted in an Evidence base around student discipline student behaviors that are conducive to academic rigor and academic engagement so yes I find that they're they're very much aligned and so the follow-up Mr wilderberg so these things that we're talking about right here they would fall under the pillar of school safety you know the not the people not the physical safety but the people safety definitely and the creation of positive and proactive School cultures is the it is a is a huge if not the most um appropriate or um Paramount deterrent for school day so school safety inside the
110school building correct anyone else Mr McManus yes sir I I've never lost for words I'm lost for words I I've said this once before sounds like fun on deaf ears we got to get out of the box I don't know what that means we've been doing the same things and you get the same results you got to go back and start over again and we know the schools where this is happening we've got to do something we've got to get together if it doesn't work we try something else but we've been sitting on this for a long time we we can't ignore it uh in so many ways and for a lot of reasons some probably still to come if it's the right thing to do we got to deal with it so we got
111a lot of smart people in this County and a lot of thinkers and problem solvers so what do we do and we need to do it quickly and this board cannot ignore that if we don't agree on anything else we cannot ignore what you just said to us and I'm hoping Mr McManus I mean Miss Walker has a task force and when she needs us to pull in I mean she's brainstorming and putting this into action to say how can we respond to the needs we also have the all hands on deck that I think was a great idea that the last board had to be able to plug people in to respond to the unique needs of every school and I know that people say you know fix it fix it sometimes it's Manpower
112going in and being a volunteer makes a difference in kids lives as any one of our priority schools pick them go in and say principal where do you need me because they'll plug you in and we need to be proactive in saying that we want to do it no one else if not miss varnum thank you so much I I think that and as I'm looking a bit at this I think that at least on my version it says student discipline update is under consensus items and it really shouldn't be I think it should be under information I don't know why maybe I didn't notice that before is it under your mind is under consensus for some reason I don't know why it's not its name on the screen oh okay all right well that's
113good let's go on to our next uh item which is consensus items is there a motion to accept the consensus items as provided so moved Bradford moves as their second Miss Walker seconds is there a discussion MS crabill um and you said that was h okay yep yeah absolutely pull H Ross that's not a problem anything else Miss Mason um I just had a couple more questions about the one to one year three devices so I was hoping to pull off the E we can pull that off that was what my mind says F so it must be e right e one okay I got one somewhere there it is so pull those two off is there anything else if not then um can I get a motion to accept all the consensus items except
114for I think we've already had the motion but uh do we do we have a second for Miss Bradford's motion to accept the items except for e and H second Miss Mason seconds all in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed passes seven zero let's first talk about uh item what's going on f101 one two one one yeah one two one questions Mason um I actually had two uh I had asked Miss Brinson the relative age of the current devices I didn't know if you had the chance to find that information out and then the second part or the second question was what are we doing with those devices that are still good or within use I guess okay I'll answer the second question first so what we've done as we've implemented one-to-one we
115have pushed the computers down so um what I'm being able to share with you is gonna include some very old devices we're using we've implemented since um covid we've kind of tried to get as many devices in the schools as we can there are some laptops in there that still have power cords attached to them and they have to be plugged in because the battery won't last so I've done numbers right now in the middle schools we have 4054 laptops including staff student and CTE of those 1989 are come next year will be four years old or older we have some still in schools that were purchased in 1617. any additional questions if not okay let's move on to the other one that we'll take them both back in if that's okay uh uh letter
116I NC Spark we'd like to kind of my question was and I I was just just wanted to confirm that we were only doing it there and um just where the hiring of the leader comes from is it going to come in staff or we're going to hire somebody new and then um a question about other schools are allowed to come and use that you know how are we going to facilitate that little detail yeah so it will only be at ctec because we actually have the opportunity to have one lab it will be our choice to design the the use of the lab so if we want to allow other students to come in and use the lab that is totally up to us but see test ctec will house the lab and keep
117in mind what Dave tip is doing is actually providing us the resources they're giving us the funding and the furniture to house this lab and then we can actually do our own ordering and select the person and I'm sorry I can't see and select the person who will actually be facilitating this lab so this is an opportunity for our students to come in and see careers that they may not have the opportunity to see in a typical classroom an experience like modules well it's probably best to hire someone new because this is a one-year Grant opportunity so and we have funding from them and they're going to give us 65 000 that's going to be benefits and all so you you we might want to make sure looking at this doesn't have to be a
118technical teacher this just will be a person facilitating instruction so we have a little leeway with the general assembly about the type of person that we hire any other questions NC Spark entertain a motion to accept uh consensus items e and H so moved Mr Bradford moves second second all right Miss base in seconds any other discussion all in favor please signify by saying aye aye all opposed passes seven zero move down to our next item which is policy consensus I'd entertain a motion to accept policies as provided so moved bathroom motion second second was Barnhart any discussion Ms crabill yes I'd like to pull off several of the policies for us to discuss policy 3610 on the counseling program policy 4720 on surveys of students and this really isn't a policy it's a a
119working document but the one that is called call to the audience it's okay all right so that leaves us policies 26 I don't see do I have oh I'm sorry do we have a second for that do we need a second okay we have a second okay we have a second second any discussion well we'll have discussion afterwards but let's go ahead and go through the remaining policies yes sir you don't need a second to pull from the consensus agenda obviously if one member of Jackson there's not consensus right that's true I'm sorry okay so with that remain that leaves us remaining 26.60 board policies okay that's that's called the audience at 2130 uh 21 23 and 23 22 20. uh we have a motion a second to uh to approve those 26 60 is
120in there 2660 yes would you repeat those Mr I will so we're taking those three out so it's 26.60 23 and 32 20. yes so all uh any other discussion on those if not all in favor of those three consensus uh policies signify by saying aye aye all opposed pass the seven zero why don't we go right down the list let's start with the 36 10. 6 10 um I wanted us to talk about that and call attention to the average person wouldn't be able to tell that these words were removed but in the first paragraph in the second set of red changes where it starts with academic career and developmental needs of the student population words that um the policy committee is suggesting that we remove our social and emotional before developmental needs of
121the population the um like I said in the the policy committee meeting is that none of us on the policy committee are counselors have been to school for counseling are a part of the counseling American schools counselor Association and have learned the national model so who are we to be saying what words come out social and emotional learning is required by DPI so just because we've removed the words doesn't mean that we're not doing it and then just if you look read through the rest of the verbiage in that paragraph when it says the EG for example it's and it says that the students will engage with talking about personal concerns individually or in a group they would be talking about some things for example attendance you know issues forming healthy friendships the need for
122more effective coping skills as they deal with the loss for example those are all social and emotional um Concepts so I don't know why we would take the wording out and I just I wanted to make sure that everybody knew those words were missing there because it's not obvious that they were missing there's someone that would like to speak to that um the opposing side the opposing beliefs I can I can speak policy horse here I make a motion that we accept policy code 3610 as it's written here first are we not discussing first or are we just going straight from you can make a motion because then we have to just discuss it but somebody has a second incident I know this one second okay Miss Mason's second set the second okay so now
123is there further discussion yes Miss Walker I I just don't understand why we are why we're just taking words out because we don't like them I don't understand this at all I I I feel like just Enlightenment scrabble's point just because you take a word out doesn't mean it's still not there in a sense but taking it out it's almost like saying you just don't like that word I mean I think it's a direct quote that was sent to us over email was you're putting so much emphasis on social emotional development makes me happy to just strike those words out this is not how you do policy I just don't understand why we were taking just words out because we don't like them can anybody answer that or you know we pass some policy here
124it's our job to do that and I just don't know why we just on a mission to just remove words anybody on policy committee want to answer that all right I would like to have a work session so we can openly hash out where the disconnect is because I promise you I think that there's more common ground than we think but until we're willing to have an open dialogue then we're going to go to this back and forth so looking at the counseling program when the words were presented from ncsba the question became is this a necessary change or a recommended change and back and forth with distinction there has been different interpretation to what that is allowed as far as social emotional curriculum and development means and so what when looking at this the
125counselor program so if you're evaluating a counselor on their job if you feel as a parent that a counselor didn't meet the social emotional other needs do they then have grounds in our policy to push back and say they're not doing their job they didn't do it appropriately they didn't do it right so I I'm curious because from semantics it was like both of these two things are the same thing and since we're not willing to have an open dialogue between all of us to go on the same page you're frustrated with semantics we're frustrated with semantics so are we willing to have an open dialogue and have like a work work discussion about the different expectations of what these things are and what we do and do allow not allowed to discuss or not
126sure Mr chair um Mr McManus if you take it out uh they're going to ask why we don't have it at all we don't even have an opportunity to try to meet those needs I can't imagine that a board of education will say and take out the counseling Arena academic career and developmental needs of our student population I I don't I don't understand the rationale behind that whatsoever yeah that stays in it's not a takeout I do not understand why any of it's being removed we just talked about our suspension rate and we're going to argue over three words I don't get the priority of what the coming priorities here and what I just think we're losing the focus and concept of what we're all about Miss Walker well I mean and to that point
127too I mean this is the will of the board if we want to meet to have a full-on session about what Equity means and social emotional learning means and I'm and I'm happy to do that I mean I just don't think taking the word Equitable out and changing it to fair and consistent I don't know if that's where that is yeah I didn't point that one out but thank you it's in um sorry sorry that that's in the same policy right I mean it's in the same policy sorry trying to help her find it thank you um well I think really the bigger discussion is why are we removing these words I don't I don't feel like this was a problem before but I feel like that they're coming up because those particular words are
128there and if I'm if I'm looking at the direct quote it's like it would make me happy just to strike them out that this is not how we do business I don't think that's how we should be doing business just because we don't like a word so I mean I'm opposed to the change and I just don't see what the point is of making it um I guess that's all I have to say okay so what Miss um Walker was referring to is in letter A in the second sentence second line where it starts with support it's the ncsba gave us the wording support Equitable access to Opportunities and rigorous and relevant curriculum for all students and Ms Bradford and Miss Barnhart wanted to change Equitable for fair and consistent I looked those up in
129the dictionary and they are not synonyms so and when I asked Miss Bradford if she could during the policy committee meeting and anybody can go back and listen she said that her throat hurt and she had already explained it once and she didn't want to explain it again so maybe now that her throat doesn't hurt she might want to talk about why those words mean something particular to her no thank you all right we have a first and we have a second is there any other discussion uh it sounds like we're gonna need to do a roll call on this one again the motion was to pass policy 3610 as we see it in front of us as amended Mr littlebor yes ma'am the and Jason help me if I'm jumping in I want to
130piggyback on what Miss Barnhart offered up was to can we table making these changes until we do have a meeting to discuss and get on the same page of what Equity means I mean so how can I make a motion on top of his or do we because if we vote on his first then I don't even get a chance to have mine heard board members there's a main motion on the floor and if a member wants to make a motion to postpone remember certainly do that whether it's to postpone until the next board meeting or to postpone indefinitely pending scheduling of a special called meeting okay so then I would like to make a motion to um table the motion that we just made until we have a chance to talk about equity in
131a special meeting so that we're not changing the policy twice There's Hope no is it's a majority a simple majority yeah do I have a second second was what I was there okay so we have a first and second to table policy 3610 to until we can have a special called meeting to discuss Equity discuss equity and social emotional alarm yes thank you okay we have a first and second is there a further discussion on that if not miss Bowie would you call the roll on that question Miss Walker Ms Bradford no Mr world of war no Miss Barnhart yes and Miss Graybill yes so that passes four to three yeah okay so that is tabled until we can call a message um a meeting boy it's gonna be a late night no because we
132we just don't we just postponed it yeah you're welcome and our second policy in front of us let me raise another board here is 47 20. to look at the um the oh where am I sorry the the wording in 4720 yeah 4720 it is the um trying to find it all I had you there it is um it is in the first paragraph in um and there is where the where the the big block comes in as described in more detail detail below a parent or eligible student must provide prior written consent before the student is required to participate in a survey involving a protected topic if a survey does not involve a protected topic parents or eligible students must be given the opportunity to opt out of the survey and if you keep
133reading through um there there's several other changes that support that but I just wanted to call to the attention to the board that did not have a chance to watch the policy committee meeting that this is essentially saying that for every survey that we give parents um it no we took that out if a survey does not involve a protected topic parents have the um have the right to opt out of a survey and but we keep going down further and we basically said and and maybe I'm misunderstanding this yet again but that we have to um like in in a number two little letter C parental consent the second paragraph the um well in all those paragraphs is that a parent has to opt in you know to every single survey and versus that
134we have some opt out so if I'm explaining that wrong please help me out uh Ms Barnhart on that but I don't this is a