NHCS Board of Ed. Regular Meeting | June 8

001good evening i' would like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order give everyone a moment to get settled right this evening we will start with our invocation and we would like to welcome Elder Diane Hayes from the House of Integrity Ministries to provide our invocation everyone please stand hallelujah when I entered the grounds I don't know exactly what's going on but God dropped in my spirit the Earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof the word world and that dwell and all that dwell therein so with that being said let us go to the throne of grace together in prayer oh Lord our Lord how excellent is Thy Name father in all the Earth who has set the glory above the the heaven oh Lord how great thou art father Hallelujah

002Lord God in the name of Jesus I ask that your amazing presence the anointing present father fall quickly and quietly perating the atmosphere tonight Lord Jesus you God you remove every opposing Force father of energy that isn't pleasing in your sight that is in the spirit of man tonight father in the name of Jesus reinvigorate father the atmos feere take charge God so that there may be a conducive and line up in the word of your heavenly father open their minds and touch their hearts father with the unity of Oneness among these elected board officials Lord Jesus the heart and the mind of Christ Lord Jesus are needed to do thine will their leadership father and their decisions impact so many in this school system and the surrounding community that they serve it is all

003about the children father all about the children their needs their welfare their trust their growth their safety their obvious need for guidance Lord Jesus jinu will love and care father in the name of Jesus in the mighty name of Jesus Lord father let there be a collaborative effort of unity amongst them Lord Jesus where there may be spirits of chaos Discord contention father and confusion remove it in the name of Jesus who's Lord and savior of our souls we bind up the spirit of hopelessness Lord we bind up the spirit of hopelessness and release the Spirit of Faith Lord Jesus in the name of Jesus for as Believers of Christ we are moved by faith father God and not by sight now on faith now on faith father Oh Glory Hallelujah now Lord God Almighty

004it is in the Glorious name of Jesus that you remind us that a double-minded man is unstable in all their ways so Lord God let there be no double-minded among the school boy father let them have a Clear Vision father God and you God be with them every step of the way you say where there is an invitation of you God you shall dwell and be in the midst Lord so we are counting that you are in the midst let them carry out the oath of Duty sworn and assigned to their hands Lord it is in Jesus name the author and the finisher of our faith father God that I offer this prayer unto you father and SE it father at your feet at the throne of grace and mercy God it is in jesus'

005name that I do pray and I stand boldly declaring the name of God in the name of Jesus we pray for one another and the safety and the mindset of your people it is in Jesus name I pray amen amen amen God Amen God amen thank you Elder haes very much for being here hallu please remain standing and uh for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated Miss buoy could you please call the role good evening Stephanie Adams here Nelson Buller Judy Justice here Stephanie Kel here Hugh mcmanis Stephanie Walker here and Peter wildbore present all right next item up on

006the agenda is the approval of the agenda is there a motion so moved when do we if you would like do you want would you like to make an alternate I have some alternate agenda suggestions okay do we do that after the Motions um Mr wior has made a motion to approve the agenda let's see if there is a second first see if we need to do an alternate second okay thank you miss crille all right discussion yes Miss Justice Miss cral oh there you go Miss cral and I both have would like to do similar things so I'll allow her to go first okay I I would like to first um move item number 11 um information up to um wherever it makes more sense um after the approval of the minutes but before

007the call of the audience or after the approval of the agenda wherever it makes sense so that our invited guests can um give us their information and um be on their way U if they'd like all right so as a motion that was do I if I have two do I just do one motion at a time let's do one at a time depending on the motion so the first motion is to move or I guess do we need to do this as an alternate motion to the agenda okay Mr will deore I would I would agree with Cal all right so the motion uh added to the motion of the approval of the agenda is to move information to after approval of the minutes and before call to the audience is there a second

008okay thank you Miss Walker any discussion about moving information all right uh all those in favor for that agenda item move say I I all those opposed all right continue on Miss Grable you said you had a second um yes um I would with all due and the utmost respect Madam chair um we have six and a half hours of scheduled time on this agenda um and that's if we keep to all of the times that we're supposed to um I would like to propose that something comes off and that perhaps we move it to um an interim session because again 6 and half hours from now is going to be 12:30 at night and um I don't know that we're prepared to stay that long um our staff is prepared to stay that long

009and our minds are prepared to make good conscious decisions at that point what are you proposing well I would like to see um the second call to the audience since we are not being voted on any of those items um the committee reports um The Head Start we're already not doing because it came in our board packet and and then that actually I believe that's an action public it is okay I'm sorry then if we have to do that but is it action that we need to have um and then is there anything else on here that is not time sensitive that we can put off for two weeks Dr F I mean it's all it's all good stuff but what can we bump so minus the consensus items there's 35 minutes of old business

010the up until let's see I I kind of I added all these things up and um at about two hour 20 260 minutes um that gets us through I think old business I I think all of these are necessary they're all important and necessary but I mean do we really want to be here six and a half hours I so I the easiest things to take off are the second call to the audience because that's probably 60 minutes and um and then the 5 10 15 20 minutes of committee reports unless there's some I don't know what's on your committee reports but unless they're time sensitive um for that so um the the motion is to remove the second call to the audience and to remove committee reports off of the agenda is there a

011second all right thank you Mr mcmanis any other additional discussion um well this is in general one of the things on the committee reports was the ad hoc committee report and we could have I'm not trying to say we should have done this we could have had this problem cleared up a couple meetings back and one of the because I even had copies printed out once more of the two meeting schedule and and the thing is is that I was waiting for policy which never touched on it um and that's not the only one there was another item that I was waiting for policy in order for us to complete it so as far as the ad hoc I guess at this point it can wait it's already waited but they need to put this

012on policy and discuss it so we can bring it back and decide on having our meetings more organized because right now this is not working very well okay noted um any other discussion yes I just wanted to say that the policy committee did discuss that um that ad hoc committee and in our minutes and we talked about it again at our meeting today and um we moved at that time that we weren't going to take any action and that was reflected in our minutes so I did not see it I didn't find the minutes I looked for the minutes they're on the they're post they might be today that is a conversation for another time um the the motion that is on the table and the second is to remove the second call to the

013audience for non-agenda items and to uh remove committee reports from this evening's meeting all those in favor say I I all those opposed no I down the line since we're split Mr wior say I I to remove the items correct okay Miss walker nay nay I am an N Miss Crill was yes yes yes nay all right uh motion motion passes oh three to three yep Miss stagner what happens in that situation the the motion fails if it does not get a majority all right so the agenda will stay as is um any other Miss Justice we will go to you and your additional motion for the approval of the agenda okay um I wanted to talk about close session um they I want to addition I would like to have an open session vote

014on whether the board wants to have one final request sent to Wayne bowler to turn over the school board property videos that he took speaking during our call to the audience previously and um if after the vote if uh that we vote in favor then we need to go ahead and you know follow through with that Miss agner could you address that request please well if if she has made a I don't know if if there's if that's a motion um it it's a motion to have a public vote whether or not to follow through are you asking to add that item to the agenda well we we were trying to do it in Clos session but we could never come to a resolution so public Miss Justice I the you know closed session items

015should not be discussed in Open Session without the entire um consent of the board if you're going to discuss Personnel or um or attorney client information well um if you want I mean there is it is public that there has been a request made of Mr buler that was published um if you want to add an item to the agenda to discuss it in Open Session if you have a majority of the board then I'm I'm not asking to discuss it in Open Session I'm asking to have the vote we've already discussed it whether or not we want to go ahead and do that again you're asking to add an item to the agenda I believe that's how it would be considered okay all right uh Miss Justice would like to add an item to

016the agenda to vote on requesting one more time for our property from Wayne B all those in favor or is there a second there's a second all right thank you Miss Walker any other discussion all those in favor say I the discussion we got made a discussion um the discussion is it's our property the public has requested it and we all need to the motion is to add it to the agenda the discussion of the topic would be under that item if it is passed and added to the agenda so we're discussing whether or not we should place it on the agenda I think that the public wants to know what's going on with that and that's why I would like to add it to to the agenda all those in favor say I I

017I all those opposed nay uh where did we split on that Mr wior nay Miss Walker yes no no no I uh motion fails 4 to2 all right back to the original motion for the approval of the agenda I have one more item oh yes Miss Justice okay um are and this is a question before I ask for a motion for Miss dagner Miss dagner do we have any form of printed uh information as what's on closed session agendas before we come to these meetings for us not for the public the items that not specifically the topics um that will be discussed in Clos session are included in the motion to go into closed session so that would include Personnel matters student information litigation attorney client privilege discussion those topics those broad topics are listed

018in the motion that give notice to the public before close session okay so there's no specific list but if we request topics and on these to discuss in closed session and there's a second should we be talk talking about them in closed session from the PO board's point of view believe the the issue now is approval of the agenda so I mean if you're asking attorney if you're asking me for advice I don't know that this is the appropriate time the the agenda is under review at this point I agree Mr Justice do you have a motion uh I would my motion is that we discuss the topics that were previously presented to the board chair and second by a member in closed session that would be a motion to be made in closed session

019okay thank you very much I'll do it then that's why I un clarify so back to the original motion of the approval of the agenda all those in favor I have one more since the um the the approval of the agenda was um denied to take off the second call of the audience I would like to make a motion that we limit it to 30 minutes um instead of the uh to limit it to 30 minutes since we really have no policy on the second one because our policy states that we only have we only have to do an hour um and we only have to do an hour once a month okay uh you've heard the motion of limiting the second call to the audience for non-agenda items 30 minutes is there a second

020motion fails all right as uh as we originally stated uh approval of the agenda there is a first and a second is there any additional discussion all those in favor of the approval of the agenda with the um changes noticed of moving information in between approval of the minutes and call to the audience all those in favor say I I I all those opposed no no all right um motion passes 4 to two or for the approval of the agenda okay to our students that are here in the building thank you so much for being here today uh I love when we get to do positive updates and today we have some very special recognitions and achievements which is why we are here at the Boe Center it is about you students and so I

021am going to I believe Dr Smith are you going to be facilitating the nitions and achievement all right please come to the podium yes ma'am and I have my assistant with me you're you're lovely assistant so good afternoon board members and guests on behalf of the new H County Schools communication division it is my pleasure to present the following District accomplish accomplishments to the board and to honor and celebrate these outstanding new han County School students and employees first I would like to introduce to you the hogard High School varsity School softball team the 2021 State 4 a high school softball champions congratulations to the following incredible lady vites team members as I call your name please come forward Amna adala Emma Bland Sydney [Applause] chamilo casy [Applause] clemmer Olivia cobbert [Applause] Isabella [Applause] cobbert

022Gracie [Applause] Maly Isabelle Roberts Ali Royal Madison scandin Sydney [Applause] short Amber small Isis Travis and Skyler [Applause] Walker and now for some awesome coaches head coach is Jordan I am so sorry Jordan that was not on my list I apologize I typically read really well when the words are there so I do apologize for that and now for some awesome coaches head coach Colleen St Ledger and assistant coaches Anna gford Caroline Newman and Jack Rasberry let me get [Applause] out conratulations you have County the state championship for the first time for [Applause] soft all right folks we are not done yet I would also like to acknowledge the H the hogard administration team who have been supporting the lady Vikes along this journey um I believe we have uh we have principal Mary Paul

023Bill assistant principal um and athletic director Brad Lewis um as well as assistant principls Justin fet Paul HW and Christy tennis Brown so congratulations to the entire haros softball team our 2021 state [Applause] champion all right we will continue with another outstanding new han County female athlete it is my pleasure to honor Ashley high school girls V varsity basketball player siia Rivers as the national Gatorade girls basketball player of the year as as siia comes forward I'm pleased to share that siia has completed her new han County Schools Journey last week as a member of the Ashley High School class of 2021 beginning in August siia will be T begin a New Journey as a student at the University of South Carolina as a member of the women's usfc game cxs basketball team congratulations to

024siia [Applause] all right folks we're not done yet and we're going to continue with a little more girl power it is my pleasure to honor another outstanding student her name is am I supposed to read this okay maray Benson a rising senior at hogard high school marade received the first place in the 2020 aelia Festival youth essay contest for the High School Division um I'd like to first thank new han County School schools once again for its partnership in promoting not only the aelia festival's youth art contest but also its high school writing contest new han County schools has produced many winners and Runner UPS over the last 10 years this year Mar Benson and 11th grader at John T haret high school was the first place winner in the essay category of the aelia

025festival High School writing contest with her piece title the aelas of okay of 2021 myid is an active and well-rounded student carrying a challenging academic course load playing on the women's um on the Hogs women's golf team and participating with the Beta Club and at her church in a number of service projects additionally she was selected to attend the governor School of North Carolina this summer for vocal music After High School she hopes to attend a US service Academy we wish her luck with that and congratulate her on her literary [Applause] award all right thank you to all of the students that were here to be recognize this evening I would ask uh that you can exit the building out this side door please and thank you so much for being here enjoy your summer

026congratulations congratulations guys congratulations thank you thank you congratulations congratulations thank you good luck thank you thank you I will sure all right so as they exit the building uh the next item that we have on the agenda excuse me is a closed session pursuant to North Carol carolinaa General statutes 14338 do11 A1 3 and 6 to consider Personnel matters and to maintain the confidentiality of personal records under North Carolina General statutes 115 C- 319 and- 321 to prevent the disclosure of Student Records rendered confidential under the family educational rights and Privacy Act 20 USC 1232g to consult with the board's attorney to preserve attorney client privilege information including in the case captioned John Doe V New Hanover County Board of Education at Al New Hanover County Superior Court case number 19- CVS D 2745 do

027I hear a motion so moved thank you Mr wior is there a second thank you Miss Walker uh any discussion all those in favor say I I all those opposed we are in closed session we apologize for our tardiness for closed session there was a lot to discuss this evening um next item up on the agenda agenda is the approval of the minutes uh for the May 18th interim board meeting and the May 4th regular board meeting do I hear a motion to approve the minutes yes correct yes I make a motion to approve which one are we approving for May 18 May 18th yeah right thank you m crills there second second all right thank you Mr wior any discussion all those in favor say I I all those opposed all right minutes are

028approved next item per our earlier change we will be welcoming UNCW and our representatives from DZ DC Virgo let me pull up this information real quick we moved information up the agenda to we want our guests to be able to present to us when you are fresh we appreciate that um so tonight we have with us actually I'm going to pass this to you Dr F you were listed as our owner for this um to introduce and team okay let me get back to it sorry sorry sorry so good good afternoon we have before us um our friends over at UNCW and um in my time here uh Dean DC has um he's been a true trooper I will say that and have enjoyed all the conversations with him um and he allows me to

029come up with these good old plans that we can actually help work through and so what a pleasure it is to welcome the team from DC Virgo and so um welcome thank you good evening Miss Adams and members of the board Dr F members of your team and members of the community uh my name is Van Dempsey I have the honor of serving as the dean of the Watson College of Education at UNCW uh we are here tonight in part to do an information update and share progress at DC Vergo we are also here to say thank you as we try to do excuse me every opportunity we get for for the partnership and collaboration with the new hille County schools and our efforts at DC Vergo I do want to go ahead and quickly

030excuse me introduce members of our team Miss Sabrina Hill black who is our principal uh Dr Bill starret who is the associate Dean for Teacher education and Outreach at in the Watson college at UNCW Jody AB bear who is the operations and coordinator liaison and she will explain what that means in just a second and Kamika sidbury who along with being one of our math and science teachers is also one of our teacher leaders in the governance structure at DC Virgo so let me explain quickly before I turn it over to our team what the laboratory school is how it came to be and how we entered into the partnership with DC Virgo and the new Hanford County schools in 2016 the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation creating across the UNC system what would

031become nine Laboratory Schools that would be based on the UNCC campuses under the authority of the chancellor and in collaboration with the colleges of Education uh on each campus in our case that is the Watson College of Education the initial bill did not have parameters that allowed us to partner with new han County those conditions were related to the number or percentage of academically low-achieving schools in the district new han County's level was not high enough and we were not able to partner in year two of the project the general assembly revised the legislation such that if the superintendent in an otherwise in a County District that was otherwise not eligible if the superintendent and the chancellor agreed to form the partnership then the partnership could be proposed and approved and so we did that

032in 2017 2018 working with the Board of Education and the Board of Trustees at the University and then we began planning and uh implementation discussions to do do this work in collaboration at DC Virgo and ultimately in July of 2018 we opened DC Vergo as a university lab school with UNCW the purpose of the laboratory school as I said a second ago is to focus on serving the needs of children who are themselves identified as low achieving who or who attend a school that is identified as low achieving they can relocate to the laboratory School and in our case we have about 20 209 children at DC Virgo um at the moment the schools along with that Focus also focus on the preparation of new teachers and the preparation of new principles as well as

033the professional development and the professional learning support of teachers and principles and other Educators at the school site we also focus on establishing and sustaining a research agenda where we can learn from the practices that are going on at DC Virgo so they those can be shared with other schools in the district shared with other Laboratory Schools shared with schools across North Carolina so what we're going to do over the next few minutes is give you an understanding of what has been going on at DC Virgo the work that we've done in collaboration with the district and if we have time we'll be happy to answer questions good evening evening so imagine um driving a ship and planning for what that ship looks like at the same time that was us that first year so

034we closed DC Virgo on June 30th of one year open July 1st in that same year started school as a yearr round ka8 public school on July 18th after taking a bus of all of our staff all of our teachers to a conference in Florida if you've never seen a charter bus with chart paper and sticky notes down on the windows up and down the highway that was us so we were planning we were planning for a public school that generally falls under General statute 116 115 lab schools have General statute 116 and it gets a little murky in there so when you have a chance go back and look at that based on that criteria public K8 school as we were having those initial conversations we thought about who our students are we also

035thought about the fact that there was no public K8 School within our um District Dr Smith you remember these conversations um where we could really think about um prioritizing families when we thought about where DC Virgo sat there is a school around the corner there is another Middle School up the street if you go on the South Side Market Street and we have new Handover we had families who were dropping children off at three different locations so let's think about a K8 model we can think about changing the trajectory of who our students are and also building their academic successes as they leave us going into the high schools we were following the yearr round modified calendar that Eaton and cottington I think in sunset at the Town we're running um this past year because

036of Co do the parent surveys think about who our staff was and everything that was happening we moved to a traditional calendar but we are moving back to that yearr round calendar as of July 14th with Eaton and Cardington we are our own Lea that was very interesting so as a lab school you are your own School District so those of you who work in title one I appreciate all that I've learned from you um because we are doing that work at DC Virgo and at UNCW with help every now and then when I call for assistance so everything that you are doing as a school district we are also doing for our school our little one school School District we are um almost fully staffed but with the help of our EXA grants we

037are expanding that staff this year to think about the needs of our students and also build in other positions after taking a look at who our students are the needs that they're bringing to us we are trying our best to take a look at personalized inquiry based experiential and reflective education when you think about the legislation and who our students are we have to hone into to their needs um getting to know who our students are creating opportunities for experiences and for for teachers and students and families communities to be reflective in everything that we're doing prior to becoming a lab school we had a stem focus it has not gone away our emphasis is there again and also a really critical focus on literacy especially early literacy um we're simultaneously focused you can see

038that physical health social emotional needs you understand you know that our children need all the work that we can provide for them all the love we can give them when it comes to social emotional and Behavioral Health needs and most of all with Ka we have a kinship model we want our eighth graders to go down to kindergarten and help those students we want our kindergarteners and second graders and first graders to be able to look up to those middle school students who were really in shock when we let old people come in the building they'll tell you um to know that we're family here and that was what was important you will often hear us say we're a small school with big heart if you've been there miss Crable knows we are we've always

039been a SCH small school with a big heart since I've been there and Community is important now as we were building this ship what you see there is a planning sheet that's Dean Dempsey's handwriting on a big sticky notepad um the collaboration that was happening at the time was happening with leads from New Hanover County schools and faculty from UNCW there were many many plans there were many many ideas as we were building that ship and got halfway through year one we realized these plans were written without the people who were doing the work so we really had to go back and do some work and think about our why why are we here Simon s think about your why right um so we asked our teacher what are your commitments and these are the

040commitments our teachers and our staff developed out of that original proposal we want to be creative we want to be Innovative most of all we want a safe and welcoming student centered environment we know when they come to us we have to develop their academic needs but we also have to make sure that we're focusing on anything that will Empower them to be Future Leaders and prepare them as they leave us in e8th grade to participate in a program and a ninth grade program here in new han County an early college program program here in new han County or a specialized program within the school because ultimately they are coming back to help graduate we're going to graduate them from new han County and it's our job to prepare them when they're with us um

041small school with big heart again we're small those of you who are from Wilmington you've seen the building it's a little I don't even know how to explain it all it's all over the place it's all separated it's very unique and it's been very unique for our Kinders to come into that building and feel like this is their school and they love their school so we are fostering resilience as much as we possibly can creating an opportunity for families to come to school together and you will hear that we are proud to be a place where families can come to school together I'll be back hello so I'm Jody AAR and as Dean Dempsey said that I will explain what my role is so um first I want to say thank you um for this

042opportunity I love DC Virgo and I love all the people who around DC Virgo and work at DC Virgo and attend I just love it so having the opportunity to talk about us is fantastic so um I am operations coordinator and liaison is a really big title to say that I am a Helper and I am a link so I am the link between our school and our partners and so those partners are University Partners y'all um are our partners and then Partners in the community so we partner with y'all on child nut ntion um some instructional Services we get to partake in some of your professional development um transportation facilities our students uh compete with New Hanover County schools in athletics um and some of the other competitions so that's really great um so

043my job has a lot of logistics with contracts andus and all those things but my favorite favorite part is connecting our students families and staff with resources um and opportunities through the University new h our County schools and our community and so a perfect example is happening right now over at the north side pool so uncw's learn to swim program that two-e program that is very well sought after is happening at the north side pool right behind our school um UNCW the swim coach and their athletes are teaching the course we've partnered with NC swim because they are running the Earl Jackson pool there and so we've pulled in the community they're doing lifeguards the NC swim athletes are actually um doing demonstrations for our students and then y'all are going to help us with

044Transportation because we have invited all of our swimmers to UNCW for a celebration day where they will get to tour campus do a little Marine Quest stuff on buoyancy and then um they'll get to visit the nitorum to have a ceremony so I think that's a perfect example of how we're all coming together to serve needs that our students have both academic and outside school thank you don't me back so as we were planning and as we were reflecting especially after year one and thinking about our why we had to think about how we could tell our story um lots of conversations happened around what we now consider our four pillars when we think about who our students are when we think about their needs when we think about what happens as a result of

045requirements from the Board of Governors School Improvement plans in the star if you're doing a school Improvement plan and what are the overall goals of just having a school Under 115 and 116 General statutes we have four pillars we're focused on H literacy soci School Community resilience mtss and PBIS and social emotional learning the pillars are led by staff members a University faculty member or staff also sits on that pillar and a Community member they meet at least twice a month they have an agenda and they also have focused questions that we as a support team provide them and the the bottom line is what can we do to enhance what we're doing here at the school around each of these four areas in literacy we're looking at what standards alignment we're looking at prek

046to third grade early literacy we're looking at financial literacy it's not just the literacy when you think about just reading and writing um School Community resilience is super important to us that pillar I think Stephanie krael is on that pillar um we thought about who else in the community and who else helps us think about our vision and our goals prior to UNCW taking over taking over us becoming a lab school there was a DC bergo Advisory board that was established by the new Hanford County School Board the members of that original board sit on the school Community resilience pillar the DC Virgo alumni members of the school Community who were some of the first students to walk through the doors when that school were built sit on that pillar members of our PTA sit

047on that pillar as well as teachers they gauge family needs they do send surveys they think about all the things that we can do to build well-rounded children as you know mtss and PBIS is all about the data how are we using the data to meet the needs of our students so with the use of universal screeners things like NC check-ins and informal assessments that are happening data is constantly being discussed as we think about that personalized in in personalized instruction social emotional learning um physical social emotional school safety is where we also think about restorative practices we are really thinking about restoration rather than punitive okay so those four pillars are helping us to tell our story Gordon Parks is one of my favorite photographers and that's why I include that picture of him

048think about how you tell your story and you have to create that lens from which you tell it and that's what we're doing good evening and one further way we have built our UNCW new Handover County Schools relationship is through the Green Ribbon Schools initiative in which we wanted to look at how we Define oursel through the green pillars of Health and Wellness of stewardship of resour resources of sustainability education and stem so we are pleased to partner DC Virgo UNCW and then also rville Beach Elementary it was a great partnership we started this right before the pandemic talking about the three pillars and what students are doing how staff are engaging in this work and as you probably heard all three schools were recognized for this award and we helped to build on this

049with other schools as well because it's really a way in which we can build in community efforts volunteers and again Focus un aspects including extracurriculars including Student Success in new ways as well and with us miss Kamika sidbury is going to share a few specific examples from that partnership Hi how are you doing how are you how are you imagine in any classroom teacher could probably relate someone coming up to you and asking you to do something that you're not comfortable with well one day Miss AAR asked me hey you want to grow mushrooms and so I was like no but it led to a wonderful partnership that got our students through Co and so working with Mr sohill who is actually an instructor at Kate Fair Community College we were able to take students

050who were those four day a week students in the beginning and they were able to teach other students who are AIG or higher level than them the process of micology and so they were able to cultivate mushrooms and grow them within our classroom setting and transfer them until later become decomposing agents to composting and so that is some of the work that we've invested in as far as providing experiences and opportunities to our students who may not have a chance otherwise and so if you can look here at some of these pictures Miss Gasson is now working for NASA however she took time during her um transition to work with our students on Electro games and in circuits and so we found out that that our girls wanted to become engineers through this process um

051she also worked with some of our young men and we have some ESL students who may not have the comp the comprehension to read at certain levels however they can process and they had those kinesthetic skills to show others how to connect circuits and so when we go through and we think about opportunities and sustainable education we have to look at providing students with additional opportunities so far at DC Virgo we have where our fourth graders are working in composting our fifth graders created their own recycling program for the entire School sixth graders doing gardening and micology and eighth graders are working on tomato grafing and so we're looking for our fourth forward to our fourth year where we can expand our sustainability program thank [Music] you back all right so um I wish that

052those screens were much much bigger so that you could see our students um better than how small they are up there but so these are just a few of the ways that we have collaborated um with UNCW and across um the community so some of the pictures in the top Corner we've been we've partnered with Randall Library um and you can see some of our fourth graders at the time had visited their digital maker space they done some work uh shout out to Melissa rmer who is a librarian over there she has partnered with us and she comes to the school and works with students and then this was a culminating piece of their project she's worked on Zen with them she's written a whole bunch of grants for us that have gotten us books

053and resources and materials um and we have next we're working on our next project is a farmbot so expanding our gardening program it's um an actual like mechanical gardening thing and kids will learn how to program it and it will do all that stuff so um we're currently waiting on that um facility proposal coming your way shortly because it involves a little bit of infrastructure we're tweaking that just a little bit um to make it easier for everybody but so that's a a neat project that we're working on with them um C stem which what does that stand for the center for Center for stem education over at UNCW I knew it had stem in there um but uh they have a lab on campus they actually paid for the farmbot and then we're partnering

054with Randall library to do some of the curriculum around it um and they also pull in professional development resources and learning opportunities for our students and you've heard a lot about our gardening Recycling and sustainability work um one of the posts up there is about the r green future event so some students from UNCW in sustainability came and did an educ ating event for our students and community members on composting sustainability topics like that so we're looking to continue to influence out into the community um you'll see our Al lab in the bottom corner that was a partnership with chhs thank you Miss kbo for helping with that um so action-based learning is really important to us over at DC Virgo and then I can't I don't think well there's a little slide up there

055but you don't see all of the collaboration that we we have with Watson and we are just so fortunate to be able to connect to their expertise and knowledge and resources um from all the folks over there that have connected with us from professional development and you can see principal cell up there um we were lucky enough to have our own session um with him at our school and we were invited to Watson session as well so we have just reaped all sorts of benefits and so um in in conclusion sometimes we get really busy in the hustle and bustle of doing school and we feel like we're just doing school like everyone else is but when we really start digging down into some of the things that we're doing it's how we are doing

056school that really stands out and so we want to connect our students and our families and our staff to the world so if you have ideas and want to collaborate please reach out my information is up there and you can always find me at the school thank you so much to the entire DC Virgo team before you go let me open it up here to the board do you guys have any comments or questions oh yeah here miss Justice yeah I love it all I really do and I've heard some really good things from parents who kids attend there so thank you for what you're doing and it's a great opportunity for our Educators within the system and it's a university too so I'm gonna come by now that we're going to have regular schools

057next year come say all right Mr mcmanis anything oh POS Miss I just say my baby's growing up the I don't even see any gray hair on any of you so this is awesome um just you know keep up the good work and and any of the Partnerships that we can do you know we you know it's All About Kids you know it doesn't matter what building you sit in um what neighborhood you live in you know it's all about the kids and you guys exemplify that and um and that is something that new County School strives to do as well so thank you for what you're doing on on your end I absolutely love the gardening component of it it's it's a big is close to me and I love that my my fellow

058Handover a in here is reading the whole thing um um and I appreciate everything y'all are doing this is great and I I can't wait to hear more and we're gonna visit definitely now Mr vort and I I would Echo what my colleagues have said I mean I just have heard great things about your school um I apologize for not stopping by but I will now for sure and uh I would love to have a tour and see all the great things going on there so again thank you all like what they said thank you thank you thank you for all you do and keep up to great work especially in this last year that was so tumultuous I just have one question it's probably from Miss Hill black what do you think Virgo does

059better than any school out there I think we have created a culture of family we have created that culture of kinship we know teachers work tires tirelessly we know support teams work tirelessly but when teachers have given of themselves their hearts their minds and our families know that we are taking care of your child and they always know they can find Miss Hill black wherever um that I think that's what we're doing right we didn't promise anything when we started this partnership um I sat in many of those meetings I have to thank Dr Smith OB wh he is Mr Anderson you know the whole support team that helped with this there was nothing promised to parents we started a school like Hey we're DC burgo we're not really offering you anything and they trusted

060us so I think trust kinship and just knowing that you know we really ultimately care about your kids we want to make sure they're successful when they leave us and that's the story we're telling thank you we thank you all so much for being here I've been in the halls and you feel it when you walk in so appreciate all that you do and uh we look forward to future success and your partnership is just incredibly important to the school system well we thank you for the partnership I think some people have me on speed all right thank you very much than okay okay our next item on the agenda it is our Legal Services review I would like to invite our board attorney Miss Deborah stagner uh to the microphone and uh she is

061from Fairington Smith and will prevent an O excuse me present an overview of the legal services provided to the board of education and New Hanover County schools welcome Miss stagner thank you madam chair um board members Dr fa um and those DC bergo folks are going to be a hard act to follow um so I am going to try to keep this short but I will be glad to answer any questions at the end um your board policy 2610 says that the board attorney will report to the board every June regarding Legal Services provided there's more to the policy than that but this is the reason for my being here tonight um you see my face every month at your board meetings but I wanted to just start and spend a little bit of time

062to tell tell you about how I came to be here and some of the the other folks that support me and that I could not do this job of of advising and representing the school district without my Law Firm is sington Smith in March of 2020 your interim superintendent Dr Burns called me um after the resignation of your former Council and asked me if I would consider serving as the board's attorney um this board approved a legal services contract agreement in in March of 27 um March 17th of 2020 and you didn't just hire me you hired my firm um and I'd like to take just a minute to introduce some of my colleagues who you don't see all the time Rod Malone who has expertise in school construction law Contracting and purchasing um he

063handles all of the board of education's f um forfeitures Bond forfeitures DWI forfeitures you'll hear more about that in a minute um I think some of you may have heard spoken to Rod before he is a a huge part of the firm's uh representation of this board of education Carolyn mkin is um an expert in special education law she's worked with your folks in in the EC Department um she has not done a lot because you had some great folks here so that's good news um Colin shive is one of my partners he has been working with Dr Coker and your HR Personnel since December um honestly it was becoming to be too much for me you had um a lot of vacancies in your HR department for a while Dr F has gotten a

064good team in there and so um I thought it would be helpful for them to have one person colins's got a lot of expertise in Personnel law I'm still involved in some of that but he's been the lead for personnel since December and it's been working very well Steve rosson you know he's filled in for me on occasion in board meetings um he's assisted in Personnel matters and general matters for the board board um Melissa micho she has provided a lot of information on um an analysis on through the Corona virus crisis she was doing a lot of advising on things like emergency leave for your staff and so she was providing um information that that we shared among all of our clients and that's one of the I think the things that I really

065benefit from is having um a team of attorneys that have we've been practicing education law from our firm it's education law is the largest section within my law firm of durington Smith we've been doing it for 40 years we have 17 attorneys uh that just do education law or primarily education law eight paralegals in legal assistance so there's a lot of expertise out there because I can't answer every question I can't be an expert in every area so I have this great team to to come back on and ask questions U about um Jason Weber is uh an one of our Associates the other folks you've met are our partners uh Jason was with the uh State Board of Education he served as Council for the State Board of Education assistant councel for four years

066before he joined our firm he's provided tremendous resources in analyzing um the toolkit um executive orders as they've come down over the last year and he's also um helped out with a lot of timely guidance that I we can push out to you and the administration and he's done a lot with contract reviewing working on technology issues with Don Brinson um and then Lindsey Vance Smith is another one of our Associates among several and I I didn't want to put all 17 attorneys up here but these are the main ones uh Lindsay's been working very hard on some of the public records requests and helping me out with that along with um some other folks so the overview now that you've you've met us and and know some of the faces that that help me

067out we we have opened 66 separate files um and I I picked the period April 1st to March 31st that's 12 months um I didn't have information through June because when you know we we sort of Bill one month behind and we we calculate our hours one month behind uh March wasn't a full month March of 2020 there's 66 separate files opened we've provided 1187 hours of legal services that includes uh both attorney time and paralal time the total amount build is $244,600 of expenses that's primar primarily travel I will say that I've been able to do a lot remotely that cuts down on the board's expenses for travel time um I'm meeting remotely uh with with administrators I'm doing board meetings remotely and so that's a not a huge amount in um fees so

068with that overview and that big picture um and you previously had inhouse inh House Council um I I don't think that this is you know I'm not going to try to compare Mary Hazel small your finance officer can provide you with other numbers this isn't a fiscal year but you have had a previous budget for in-house attorney and support staff for that person as well so I want to talk now about I I'm not going to go through every one of the 66 matters that we've represented the board in but I want to I've grouped seven or eight General categories that I want to talk about the services that I've provided and again my colleagues have provided to the Board General is a category General is a matter that I build to um that you

069will see your your folks see every month when you get your invoices General is mostly mine my time um this is for attending board meetings including agenda meetings it included some of the Title Nine committee meetings I haven't been going to those regularly since uh that committee has has gotten through its policies um but I'm available to consult as needed with um Jerelle Lewis your title n director so General are where I put in meeting attendance special meetings regular meetings agenda meetings phone and email consultations with the board um board members primarily the board chair and the superintendent uh I talked to Miss Buie a lot um to help her with setting the agenda setting out the public uh the notices making sure that the open meetings laws complied with um I consult with the

070superintendent and other administrators um I'm pretty much on call so if someone has an issue they send me an email they make a phone call we set up a time to talk and for those matters that are not going to be longterm ongoing things if you need a quick answer about a statute you need to uh help interpreting a a policy you need a question answered pretty quickly it's going to be um you know less than an hour or two I'm going to put it in the general and and those are the the kinds of regular advice that I'm giving to U the school system on an ongoing basis um I also included in here our legal updates again because I I mentioned the wealth of experience that my colleagues um also have we will

071send out legal updates if there's a new new legislation um very often it was with the Corona virus and covid issues but if there's a new law that's passed I try to keep the board um updated and send out information on legal updates and and when I say the board I also mean administrators who are dealing with those particular issues so of the total 1100 um Plus hours that I mentioned were total General was about 208 hours um about 17% and I'm going to ask you not to hold me to precise math I was I was grouping and rounding um some of these the next very large item are Bond forfeitures and DWI forfeitures those are two separate matters they're they're very large categories um this is responding to lean holder petitions on seized vehicles

072and I will say Rod Malone who you met earlier on by picture he handles these um categories for the most part he's Statewide known for his expertise in these areas and he's got some other folks that work with him two full-time paralegals that do a lot of the communication with the court by law by Statute um the board of education has to respond to these petitions on seized Vehicles Rod has told me that you have a very aggressive um program in New hanor County uh and that the statute is followed to a te and that it generates a lot more work than would normally be um expected for a district this size because of the number of DWI U vehicle forfeitures in new Haner County um he also monitors responds to and objects to motions

073to set aside bonds um and so those Bond forfeitures are a source of revenue for the district you often hear fines and forfeitures well when someone um has a bond they don't show up that bond is forfeited that money comes to the school district and if you don't have an attorney who is um monitoring that making those objections appearing in court staying on top of the bail bondsman to make sure that the laws followed um that money doesn't come to the school district I don't have uh numbers for the year that we have been representing the board in this matter but I will say for the 2019 2020 year um $233,000 $233,800 came to the school district through Bond forfeitures That's not including other fines and other property um uh forfeitures but just for bonds

074so the 256 hours that Rod spends has spent over the last 12 months is paid back and and we should get the next numbers um for the 2020 21 year available in July the administrative office of the Court um releases those numbers so that's a that's a big chunk of what we've done but it's it's necessary and it actually um does pay back the school system um Personnel matters um sorry the type is kind of small on this one um I talked a little bit about what Colin has been doing uh what I had been doing in helping the district through some Personnel issues when we first came on board and you didn't have a um Dr Coker here in charge of HR and you had a series of interim folks there was a a

075Personnel review uh we provide guidance on General Personnel matters like contracts um leave and benefits col and assist and advise um the assistant superintendent for human resources um and your HR investigators when there are investigations that need to be done um advising about the the legal requirements for suspensions termination recommendations we advise when there are employe grievances attend Personnel hearings so if a per if an employee has a hearing they want to grieve uh or or have an appeal right to the Board of Education we would advise the board in that process as well that uh was approximately 135 hours there is a general Personnel matter where again those are those short phone calls about Personnel issues um that aren't going to be an ongoing thing as well as a number of individual Personnel matters

076that that included um several hours worth of time so I've lumped on grouped all of those together um 135 hours about 11% of our total time was spent on Personnel uh student matters parent matters and EC special education matters um this would Encompass student and parent grievances subpoenas for Student Records requests for student records from parents uh Consulting on furpa issues um Discipline matters student enrollment and transfer requests those sometimes result in in hearings and appeals as you'll have later this month I believe suspension and expulsion hearings um other hearings before the board those sorts of uh matters again there are some general student matters and then there are some specific ones that have gone on um and take a little more time that's about 112 hours of that total time that we've spent um

077with the district uh contracts andus we and I um and my colleagues review proposed contracts that come from vendors and service providers so there sometimes you know I will get sent a contract and asked to to review it and it contains a lot of very unfavorable terms for the school system and I'm looking for those I'm also looking for terms that are required by state law by federal law or by board policy to make sure that the contract includes all of those um we have developed a set of template contracts that I've provided to um to Mary Hazel and so those can be used so we're not Reinventing the wheel all the time and it saves the district um certainly attorney time when you can go to a template and it has all of the

078terms that you know are required by law and sometimes they have to be tweaked um but but that's something that we've provided um and then I negotiate if you know I spend some time a lot of time talking to your partners at UNCW and and cap Fair Community College um negotiating those M us and making sure that those are all in place that's been about 106 hours of the time that we've spent over the the 12-month period from April to March public records request um and this also includes um some assistance with media in public inquiries for information but this is a very large portion of the time that we have spent um with the board I have advised the chief Communications officer and the Communications Department staff regarding compliance with public records laws um

079a large chunk of this 144 hours has been spent reviewing documents that have been requested by members of the public the the the documents of the school system are public records unless there's a specific law that makes them confidential um and so those are primarily Student Records Personnel records and attorney client privileged written Communications um when there is a request for emails your folks will download them all and then um they have to be reviewed to make sure that there isn't student information Personnel information or confidential privileged attorney client Communication in there U some of the email requests that have been received by the Communications Department come into the hundreds of thousands of emails and that takes a tremendous amount of time to review and make sure that sensitive information um that is you know

080if you release Personnel information uh that is not public it's a misdemeanor you know so we have to take this very seriously we don't want to release um emails that that concern a student special education status when a teacher is conferring with a student um psychologist or something like that so those emails have to be reviewed and and I have been working with the Communications Department to try to um streamline that process try to to keep our involvement as limited as possible but at some point it does require um us to to review them and that's been about 144 hours of the time over the last 12 months or the 12-month period I'm looking at um and then just assisting the communications teams with responses to public inquiries sometimes you'll get a request for personnel

081information when there's something in the paper um you you can release certain Set uh pieces of information and we want to make sure that we're complying with the statutes um and then the policy manual review which this one will go away at some point in the the near future um I have been asked to review the proposed and new proposed new and revised policies from the School Board Association this board is undertaking a tremendous job and the policy committee has been working very hard over the last many months to bring your policy manual up to date make sure it's compliant make sure it's effective um I've been attending all the policy committee meetings remotely um I help draft new policy language when requested and including any legal research that might be needed that's been about

08267 hours of the time or about 5.6% of the total so those are the main categories there have been some other things I've provided some training um there's been some guidance on just some issues like graduations and and calendars when the new calendar law came that was I spent a lot of time working with Dr Smith on that so there this isn't everything but those are the major groups um and I'm happy to answer any questions if I don't have the information with me right now I will be glad to get back to you on that thank you for that presentation Miss dagner I will open it up to the board are there questions or comments go ahead okay will um now originally when you were hired last believe it was April by Dr Burns

083or ask and then we approved at the that board at that time it was a month-to-month contract correct um my I have a copy of it because I thought there might be questions about uh it the the agreement for provision of Legal Services is um will be terminated it's a the agreement will continue in effect unless terminated by either party upon 30 days written notice okay I am the attorney for the board um I in in all honesty expected this to be an interim so you know you had a new superintendent coming in had new board members coming in um at any time the board can choose the route it wants to take for legal services and that's part of the reason for the policy so that you can have an understanding of the legal

084services you are receiving as a board and as a school system um so there is no there is no end date on our Legal Services agreement um you know if you all told me you didn't want me to come back tomorrow I would help make the transition as quickly and and um helpfully as possible to the new attorney that you chose um so it is one of the most um important and sacred relationships that this board has with someone to give you the best advice that you uh can get and that you deserve and so um if you you know feel that the board wants to go in a different direction certainly the contract is not going to be an impediment to that okay so and also it was almost a quarter million dollars then

085is it the darington what is the name of the firm darington Smith is the law firm and there have been like I said um I counted up I think 19 different attorneys so I actually got some input from a couple of other attorneys outside of our education section have provided some support to the district along with our eight paral over that period of time but it was a quarter close to a quar million dollar fee it was 244,000 I believe for a 12-month period that's not a fiscal year that's um that was for the 12 months that I I wanted to have a full 12 months but it's not a fiscal year because it I haven't been here a full fiscal year okay and thanington is also the company that's handling our insurance U working

086for the insurance company that's handling some of our Legal Services correct so your insurance company Liberty Mutual assigned thanington Smith specifically me and Steve rosson to represent the Board of Education in uh two pending lawsuits and well there's been another one that we've gotten resolved um that is something that I do I in just give you a little bit of background I have been practicing uh law since 2000 uh with Arrington Smith I represent school boards in litigation all over the state of North Carolina and have been doing it for many years um so for school boards that I represent and school boards that I don't represent um I will often be assigned to defend those school boards in in when there is Insurance also with the North Carolina school board's trust um so I

087am an attorney I also in addition to new han County Schools I'm the general counsel for edcom County Board of Education and Rona Rapids City Schools um and I defend and and represent School boards all over the state in litigation matters uh do you do you have any idea how much sington Smith is being paid by the Liberty Mutual in their contract with them for the these this court cases I do not have that number um much the defense cost for the litigation has been I I don't have that with me tonight so they're getting paid from both the insurance company Liberty Mutual and ourselves this particular for for the work so we are we are being um so the school system is not paying for its defense in those lawsuits that cost that's yeah

088understand that cost is being uh paid by the other than a deductible and so I don't have the numbers on that that was not included in this because that separate work that's that's a different matter um so to speak um and I I didn't come with the numbers and hours for for that defense and we were just informed that because of this relationship some of our Communications are limited with you as far as representation about this lawsuit Miss Justice I would ask you not to discuss any attorney client privileged information in Open Session that is a a privilege that can only be waved by the board as a whole um so any advice that I give you about my representation and legal legal advice that I give you in close session can only be disclosed

089if there is waver and of that privilege by the entire board good all right is there anyone that has any questions or comments in regards to the legal presentation and services provided over the past year um I I have a question um do you feel like that is an unusually large amount for a school district to spend no no you don't that our hourly rate for new H count County Schools is $235 an hour for partners $200 an hour for associates um I believe that your budget for Legal Services prior to our coming on was in that same vicinity or maybe a little higher because um again we're billing on an hourly basis for the work that is done um there's no you know you you had an in-house attorney before and you were paying

090a salary and support staff and benefit Etc so to clarify we have received the benefit of 19 attorneys over the past year where for almost the same rate that we were getting an in-house attorney and a support staff is that corre you do with Arington Smith you do have the benefit of 17 attorneys who specialize in education law yeah but but you don't have the figures about what we were paying previously to compare she just suggested it I I think it was I think the budgeted line item was $300,000 um and that was at 80% he only wor that included legal services from his assistant and things like that was only at 80% he was an 80% employee at 300,000 for him alone did the whole the the he benefits and the peer legal and

091their benefits so so other it wasn't just for the one of them so it wasn't just one okay all right at 80% question is it usual for attorney I mean we had an in-house before but that didn't work out but is it usual to have an attorney all the time with when it comes to board members I understand like policy probably but um I mean is it is it do we have to have attorneys all the time like in like now I know we're doing it now because we're having a presentation but like you know on a parliamentarian procedure I know that would be helpful so my um durington Smith we represent I think we have 25 26 around that number clients who all of you know the partners and uh who are general counsel

092for school boards so we represent about as general counsel um about a quarter of the school districts in in North Carolina maybe a little less than that um and with almost and there may be an exception here and there who whose meetings we don't attend but for large school system certainly you know my partner Jonathan blumberg is the attorney for the Wake County Board of Education and he is at all of their meetings um you know I go to all of the meetings of the edcom County Board of Education who I represent other my you know we represent alamance's um Burlington chadam you know those attorneys are going to those board meetings it's not an unusual situation at all for the board's attorney to be at the board meeting to give advice as legal issues

093come up in um in the board meeting also to attend closed sessions and provide legal advice in closed session we agenda meetings all the policy meetings not Title Nine but like I don't know I just I don't know I've been told that it's just not always there's not always an attorney all the time I mean I understand it would we need advice you know so there are um certainly some boards have work sessions that attorneys don't attend things like that um do you do you know approximately how many districts across the State have a full-time uh attorneys representing them from you the percentage the you mean in-house attorneys correct I think that I'm aware of Gaston County Cumberland County um pit County um there are a few others there's a handful it's it's not the

094it's not the majority so so the so it would be safe to say the majority of districts in the state do not have full-time attorneys on staff most school districts in the state do not employ in-house School attorneys um at least the larger school districts that I'm aware of have an have general counsel that advises them a regular basis they're not full-time well you know full-time is you know I'm available when I'm called I think for any attorney in private practice who's representing a school board you're available when you're called um you you come to those meetings that you're asked to come to but so the but most districts don't have attorneys on staff or full-time employee Miss dagner isn't here to talk about what other districts do miss stagner is here to talk about

095the legal services that have been provided to new Haner County Schools so is there anyone else on the board that a question or comment I was just asking my questions yes Mr Buller thank you for joining us you have a question no Madam chair not a question just a comment I just wanted to uh thank M stagner um you know attorneys are like anything else you get what you pay for um no legal bill is overly cheap but I really do appreciate uh Miss dagner's ethics her Integrity I think she has served our district well I thank her for this presentation and I appreciate her willing to continue to serve if that is the will of this board and certainly mine thank you Mr bullier anyone else have any comment or question you weren't voting

096right no wasn't a vote okay no there there's a voting I would like to make a motion yes M Justice okay um in light of this information um I move to discuss okay sorry about that in light of this information I moved to discuss um ending the contract with sington at the end of 30 days or what's more convenient um so that we can uh because of the conflict of interest that's what my concern is because of the to the representation of two separate U entities by one Law Firm you're making a motion to have a discussion about that right now yes okay is there a second I would like to have the discussion I don't know if that I would like to hear that motion like if you're you're saying now the 30 days

097from now that we well just have the discussion and decide whether or not we we are interested y I'm good with a discussion so is that is that a second a discussion this evening no just Madam Madam chair would you like if there no more questions from me I'll leave the podium and and to provide some legal advice that would be lovely thank you thank you we appreciate you thank you very much Miss stagner for that presentation and thank you for your service this has been an incredibly difficult year and you have been an absolute asset to this board thank you you all right so could you speak to the motion in the second regarding a discussion about Legal Services could someone reiterate what the motion is because I've heard like a lot of kind

098of jumble this Justice what are you requ yes uh I move that we discuss whether or not we want to continue our services with tharrington Smith due to conflict of interest so you are at you're asking to add in an item to the agenda I'm asking to have well this is coming out of her law information that she sent over here just now just presented this was an information item certainly if the agenda is going to be amended to add a discussion of uh terminating the thanington Smith contract you could if a majority of the board wants to amend the agenda could do so so the motion needs to be to amend the agenda to add an item to discuss the thanington Smith Legal Services contract correct okay and you said that you are second

099second okay any discussion um this has been something that the public and a lot of the public has been very concerned about and I have been trying to bring this up to place it on the agenda I was told this was the time to do it and then it wasn't on the agenda um so that's why I'm bringing this motion up now considering the circumstances I would have preferred to do it on a less stressful situations u i mean I have information but I know right now we've got a long night ahead of us um as I said though I do believe believe we need to have this discussion and you have you told me several months ago that this was the time you were going to place it on the agenda and it was

100not please stop lying stop lying Miss Justice what I said was that we were you are out of order you I said there would be a legal services update at the June meeting that is the truth stop lying now there is a motion and a second is there any discussion well we're having the discussion now right I would just like to weigh in that we the discussion as part of our agenda it says board attorney Deborah stagner of thanington Smith will present an overview of Legal Services provided by the board of to the Board of Education new Hanner County Schools it doesn't say anything about action to be taken so if there are people out in the community that were expecting to hear conversation and they may not be here tonight because it wasn't on

101the agenda so I am having a real hard time adding something of this magnitude to our agenda right now when all we were expected to hear was a legal update nothing more I agree Madam chair and oh yes Mr buer yeah I I'm just gonna point out that you know Miss dagner's service to the board has been continuous since she was hired by the board at the recommendation of Dr Burns this has not come up until March of this year and her employment her representation of every single company as far as I know remains unchanged I just I think to to do this to our attorney is is shameful frankly I'm disgusted I feel that this isn't just impacting the board it also impacts the school system as a whole and I think not giving

102our superintendent ample time to collect information that could be important for this discussion I don't think that's fair to do to him and his staff because they work with Miss stagner as well and so I do not feel that this is this is you you are the first person to say you don't like to be surprised this is a surprise I was surprised and I don't think it's fair to do to anyone in this room to have this conversation Madam chair speak yes um I I agree a little bit with um U Miss Justice we did ask for the discussion I don't think there's anything wrong with us discussing things and I think it's okay to do that from time to time as a board to re-evaluate you know services and I this is nothing

103personal with Miss stagner I just feel like if it's important to the community it's important that we have it on the agenda and we ask for it we haven't had the chance to do that and I take Miss cra's point about the fact that this is information at the same time when we've asked for it to be put on the agenda and we haven't gotten that I think it's to delay it is um I don't I don't think it's right because I feel like board members should be able to put something on agenda and talk about it and that's all I'm saying I would like to do no I I understand that Miss Walker and and that that's a valid point but I think the purpose of this tonight was the legal to understand the

104services to them be able to have a discussion because without having the information of what has gone on for the past year it's impossible to just simply have a discussion without being prepared almost three months ago if not two months ago this was the conversation about placing it on the agenda that we would wait until tonight when she presented but it's just just the information there is no discussion about actually the services which was very disappointing uh I would be more than willing to wait till next meeting if you assure me that you put this on the agenda and don't come up with another reason to put it on you may feel send send the email with the second the normal process that we do that you would like it added to the agenda I

105did that several months ago no you requested for conflict of interest discussions you did not request one you did not say I want to discuss whether or not we are continuing our legal services with darington Smith if you have an agenda item you want to include you must be clear I was clear two months I think it was two three months ago and you said to put it off until now so let's do that the next one it will be very clear I followed policy which was this was the legal services planning for this evening which is what I do do if we if we request again would it will we be able to get it on the agenda next time for the discussion yes ma' if there's a first and a second well then

106I'll withdraw my motion okay thank you very much all right mner oh yes Mr mcmanis I just have to make a personal thought as a board member five months now with everything we've got going on legally I can't believe we're even beginning to discuss a change of attorneys absolutely I cannot believe it if we don't have an attorney we're up the creek we can get another no one here is qualified to offer legal advice guidance she knows everything more than any of us combined and we need her we do not need to be talked about repl attorney right now you want to talk about that next year with everything whatever request I'm just sorry I I don't think we need to talk about it let's let's do that when we have the discussion next time

107the Judy why do you have to do this all the time because the public asked me you are out of order all right moving along into the agenda um we will close that conversation Miss dagner thank you very much for that presentation we appreciate you uh next item on the agenda is call to the audience um as you know we have a very large uh participation list this evening and um before we begin call to the audience I'm going to say a few words about two of the topics that have received a lot of attention over the past few weeks and many of you have signed up to speak speak to them this evening they're important to address because these conversations Force our community to choose a side the rising anger is palpable and we

108saw it this evening we must clearly State accurate information about the lessons taught in our schools New Hanover County Schools follows the North Carolina State Standards and is not teaching critical race Theory there are no written or Unwritten District approval curriculum or classroom resources used to support the implementation of critical race theory in our social studies classes another topic that has caused conversation is sofix Solutions which is a change management consulting firm they support organizations that are committed to navigating change through an equity lens they are supporting new hanb County schools during our journey of embodying the values of diversity Equity inclusion and belonging they have facilitated a series of interviews with nhcs community members now that I have discussed critical race Theory and sofix Solutions in our school district I want to share a

109few additional thoughts this week I witnessed divisive language inaccurate information threatening behavior and inflammatory stories from all forms of media let me be clear none of these will drive the direction or focus of this board board the rhetoric on all sides of numerous issues is not healthy for our students our staff or our community as a whole we must do better all of us this board focuses on student achievement and success for now and for the future we hope you want the same when we say Equity we mean every child your child your child no matter what they look like where they come from how they learn or who they worship in new Handover County every child will have access to the highest quality education support and resources a sound basic education as you stand

110here today I challenge you to ask yourself what am I fighting for is it our kids or is it political ideology are you supporting student growth or are you fearful of losing something I appreciate the passion in this community however when passion breeds fight or a flight response we need to look Inward and ask ourselves why what are we truly afraid of thank you all for being here today to share your comments and concerns with the board everyone here is a me member of this community and I encourage you to speak with respect and treat each other as neighbors because that's who we are now that being said I'm going to talk a little bit about the logistics for a call to the audience this evening um the speakers are welcome as you know we

111are over the 10 speakers signed up which limits the speaking time to 2 minutes instead of three speakers are welcome to offer comments or criticism ISM directed at substantive ideas actions or procedures of this board and of the board and individual board members in the interest of maintaining Civility and decorum however speakers are encouraged to refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff or members of the general public the laws and policies of North Carolina provide that issues or concerns involving individual Personnel matters are confidential and therefore not appropriate for public comment settings concerns related to Personnel issues may be addressed through applicable nhcs Personnel the grievance policy or other applicable policies speakers including students may discuss issues and matters of General concern but should refrain from discussing confidential

112student information concerns related to confidential student matters may be addressed through applicable nhcs Personnel the grievance policy or other applicable policies um board members I believe that we have agreed for the non-agenda items uh a time limit of 30 minutes I do not believe that we addressed anything regarding we did not take a vote in regards to how long we are allowing for agenda items because currently the policy says 1 hour correct me if I'm wrong I don't believe we took a vote on that I believe the total public comment in the policy is one hour is one hour so we have we we did vote to have 30 minutes for non-agenda items so is would anyone like to bring forward a motion in regards to I believe we've got 46 people signed up for

113agenda items um do you do would anyone like to make a motion in regards to that if not it will be cut at 1 hour I would like to go ahead and make a motion that we expand the time to to be able to hear our constituents okay so extend the time until all um people that have signed up for agenda items have been heard thank you Mr bore Miss Walker thank you for the second any other discussion all right all those in favor say I I I all those opposed no thank you motion passes 6 to one or sorry I'm sorry Mr Buller I completely forgot you're on there did you did you want yeah I I apologize for not being able to share my screen I don't have a very good internet connection

114but I will uh I will support the motion okay thank you so motion passes six to one all right on that note uh first person up for call to the audience is Mr Peter roit thank you tonight I'll speak about the Strategic plan six years ago the Board of Education adopted a strategic plan where one of the strategies was to eliminate Elementary suspensions so what happened nothing we still have a suspension policy where young children can be removed from school for being disrespectful or for using inappropriate language we need a strategic plan that produces a policy that ends suspensions for four five six and seven-year-old children unless they bring guns or drugs to school or commit a violent assault and even then remember their children who go to school to learn student misbehavior is a

115teaching opportunity the Charlotte mecklinburg school district has a policy where the superintendent has to review and approve or disapprove suspensions for all prek through second grade students it also states that at the elementary level when a student is violent or out of control a crisis intervention team will be activated and this team will develop a crisis intervention plan to meet the needs of the student and family the new strategic plan must meet the needs of our students and families by keeping our children in school challenging their minds elevating their voices inspiring them to dream nurturing their independence and respecting them for just the way they are they're children love our children thank you [Applause] I would like to ask for tonight um to to keep things moving let's please not do the Clapping please after

116each speaker thank you uh Miss Liz Kramer hello thank you for having me I came here tonight to speak to you about social and emotional learning in our schools I do not believe it's the job of the teachers to be be counselors or social justice Warriors for our kids I don't believe we should be collecting sensitive data on our students I believe that promoting seal will take away from the informal education good teachers have always provided it puts unreasonable demands on teachers and infringes Upon A parents right to in the upbringing of their children when I initially got involved in this effort I was surprised to learn how many in the school system had never heard of SE on a live Facebook feed recently Judy Justice admitted that she had no idea who James Ford

117was James Ford is a member of the North Carolina State Board of Education and the main driver of Social and emotional learning James Ford founded Creed and he believes that America is systemically racist I will just read you one one tweet from his Twitter feed and you can decide for yourself FYI I know some extremely nice racist some of the most Pleasant people you ever met they are congenial personable even charismatic this does not change anything about the fact that they are functionally racist just felt the need to say that this is not someone I want leading the charge for our children in our schools on another note I would like to address Stephanie Adams on the recent statement you made to teachers admin and staff I don't know why you felt compelled to make

118such a statement I believe I can speak on behalf of everyone in this room in saying that we appreciate all of those who work tirelessly on behalf of our students we especially love our teachers we also do not support racism or sexism lastly I want to say that we do appreciate all of the board and at no time mean any disrespect but I do want to remind you that you are elected officials okay we put you in office and we we expect you to respect us too thank you very much Veronica M Lauren Brown Veronica M Lauren Brown good evening New Hanover County Schools board's strategic plan for 2016 to 2020 included a strategy and a goal to eliminate Elementary SU suspensions have Elementary suspensions been eliminated no they have not our students especially our

119four five six and seven year old babies continue to be abused from the excessive use of out of school suspensions while the board tinkered with a few words in its discipline policy and its trate strategic plan became Dusty from nonuse our children need and deserve a strategic plan and a disciplined policy that explicitly ends suspensions and establishes a new paradigm for our entire school system a paradigm that normalizes keeping students in school rather than throwing students out of school to my elected school board members I say this for you to know that out of school suspensions are harmful and to students for you to know that out of school suspensions don't improve behavior and for you to allow the current discipline policy on suspensions to remain in effect is just plain inhumane and cruel please

120forgive me if my words seems too harsh but after three decades of experiencing and reviewing suspension data for the new han County School System I think the adjectives are justifiable cast a vote for justice and for the humanity of all of our children in out of school suspensions do it now immediately for our four five six and seven year old children out of school suspensions are like the knee on the necks of our children suffocating them killing their hopes and opportunities thank you Hazel is should I touch it to make it move so that I should I move this down honey you you can p down good evening to quote the 14th Amendment nor shall any student any state deny to any person the equal protection of the laws tonight you are not creating laws

121but you are creating policies which must comply with the law transgender students deserve to be treated the same as you and me they deserve the right to play on any sports team or or participate in any Student Activities as it aligns with their gender to deny them this right would be discrimination to Target them to prove their gender would be discrimination it is illegal for our schools to discriminate against any student our schools should welcome all students with open arms it is as simple as that I'm 13 years old and I understand that everyone should be treated with respect even when they are different for me although some may say transgender students would be taking opportunities away from me I think that is just an excuse to deny the right to the lgbtq plus Community

122I do not need to be protected from transgender girls because we are both girls they they are not a threat I will earn any opportunity I get based on my skills and no one else's I work hard for the things I achieve and to assume I cannot do this is insulting I do not need to be protected because I'm not weak and I'm capable of success my hero Ruth Vader gins once said a gender line helps to keep women not on a pedestal but in a cage stop trying to cage me and don't cage transgender girls we are all human regardless of race sexual orientation gender or or religion and we all deserve the same respect thank you for your time Libby done hey I'm here to tell my story and why I believe social

123emotional learning and diversity Equity inclusion training is damaging for our kids and our community seal teaches self-awareness and social awareness which are good things however like all good things they can be used for evil seal is about teaching our kids values and beliefs and re-educating them when their values do not align with the approved values of our government and school boards do we really want the government teaching our kids their values and beliefs additionally this curriculum teaches that if you disagree with someone based on your previously predicted religious beliefs that is the same thing as hating them or being phobic additionally this training spends too much time on feelings versus facts we already have a generation of kids that think their feelings are more important than the truth I didn't get to be a nuclear

124engineer by feeling the right answer on a test I had to study the actual facts and formulas and use critical thinking not critical race Theory to solve problems I fully support diversity and inclusion I call it unity and diversity I believe this is God's great plan I was taught in Sunday school Jesus loves the little children all the children of the world red yellow black and white they are precious in a sight I was taught that there is only one race the human race I was taught to judge people based on the content of their character not the color of their skin I was taught in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal with these values ingrained in me a self-evident truth I started dating my husband who has much darker skin

125color than me and the in the 10th grade on Sunday we celebrated 20 years together most people are extremely accepting and good care less that we have different skin colors until recently with the growing focus on skin color by the BLM Movement we have experienced extreme and atrocious racism I like most white people have been called a racist white supremacist my husband has been called Uncle Tom and house inward this is completely appalling and has brought much pain to my husband and me who is this said by racist ignorant white conservatives no local BLM members please join us in fighting this new racist philosophy and do not teach it to our kids up TJ done if you're wondering that was my wife my name is TJ Dunn and I'd like to start off by saying

126thank you to every individual that's come out to listen listen and voice their opinion we are not tweeting sharing memes or posting statuses but communicating in person as we were naturally created to do I would also like to say thank you for the opportunity to speak my opinions freely I'm fortunate enough to live in a country where great men and women of all Races have fought for the right to do so they fought for that freedom it was not given but if we enact social awareness and critical race theory on our children we'll be teaching them that they can produce any outcome without fighting for it Michael Jordan is not the best basketball player because he is a male he was the best basketball player because he was determined to outwork his opponents on the

127court he earned that title Serena Williams is not one of the greatest athletes of all time because she's a black female she's one of the greatest athletes because she's focused so much on her technique that she can serve a ball that I doubt any man in this room could defend she earned that right to be labeled one of the greatest athletes of all all time former president Obama was not elected president because he is a black male he was elected president because he campaigned his butt off and he perfected his craft of public speaking he earn the position as 44th President of the United States of America I look at critical race theory on a practical level if I had children will I teach them that they are limited by their color or that they

128can do anything if they put their hearts and desires to it and willing to work hard for it the first option creates cages but the other opt option sets them free to pursue their P excuse me pursue their education talents and dreams I've experienced racism in my life and I have some experiences that still affect me to this day if I let them and if I let them I'll be placing myself s in that same cage but if I be honest with myself I've had overwhelming number of positive experiences with people of different races that have produced wisdom laughter encouragement opportunity Mr D your time is up thank you very much ma'am Lindy for Lindy Ford thank you boor and Dr F my name is Lindy Ford and I'm a former educator and teacher in

129N small business owner here in Wilmington more importantly I'm the mother of five children social emotional learning is just a trojan horse of ideologies that are damaging to our children that also goes for our Equity diversity and inclusion they sound so good don't they the problem is that parents don't understand the mismash of Psychosocial Babble here are just a few of the issues seal teaches values attitudes and feelings that are not the right of any school to teach these need to be taught by parents it encourages collectivists group think instead of what most parents want for their their children critical thinking skills seal encourages psychological profiling by endless assessments of parents' children and teachers to ask personal questions that is an invasion of privacy Seal's even rejected by the left y left-wing activist teacher Dr

130Dena Simmons said seal is now nothing more than just white supremacy with a hug you are doing nothing more than wrapping the evil of critical race theory in a nice package calleda SC or diversity equ Equity or an inclusion we say return to Cinder this is damaging to our children I love children no matter what race or sexual orientation Judy Justice all of us know what Marxism is do you I was in the Soviet Union when it fell in the 90s I was in on a humanitarian trip to bring desperately needed food to orphanages I saw the devastation communism brought to its people 5 years ago I was in Vietnam on another humanitarian trip the Communist Party followed us around like dogs they actually allowed us to be there because they wanted nothing to do

131with helping the poor socialists don't like to be assoc associated with Communists but they are the totalitarian gateway drug the past lead the same Judy Judy Judy you've written in an open form that you don't even know who James Ford is you might want to do your homework on him he is a puppeteer and Marxist Sandy Isles Sandy Isles tonight I will ask the board and all in attendance three simple questions to quote Jane Elliott if you as a white person would like to be treated as as black people are in society please stand or raise your hand because most of us do not want to be treated as black people are we must address equity and our Strat strategic plan this is why we must stop suspending black boys at disproportionate rates second please

132raise your hand if you want to be treated as the lgbtq community are treated tonight you will vote on whether or not Middle School trans students must prove their gender identity if you require proof then every single child who chooses to participate in sports must also prove their gender but we won't require this because it is abusive and invasive will you decide to Target and discriminate against a specific group of students if so I wonder how many title N9 and civil rights complaints will be filed against you my final question is how many of you want to be treated as our students with disabilities are treated again raise your hand who wants to be restrained and secluded against their will in 2017 we secluded children mostly disabled 486 times two years later we just about

133doubled that by secluding children over 9 in 30 times do we blame the children for this increase last month last month Miss Farnum presented a much needed new Behavior plan stating it was evidence-based however the US Department of Education states there is no evidence that seclusion and restraint improves student behaviors if it does not work why do we do it all children deserve an education where they are safe valued and respected we cannot let fear justify discrimination as a Christian Jesus taught me to love my neighbor all children are my neighbor neighbor I love them and I expect our district to treat them humanely thank you John McIntyre thank you as the father of a transracial family with two beautiful intelligent and creative elementary school kids about to launch into their middle school career here

134in New hanur County I'm here to declare to you that they are made in the image of God just as I am just as you are and they have just as much potential for success and acceptance as any other child in this County God makes no distinction at all in his love for us and based on his scripture which my family holds dear and by which we live we love God and we love all people we make no exception anything which suggests that we should be selective in how we love and respect each other runs completely counter to the teaching of scripture and therefore it's not acceptable to my family it's my job as a parent to impart values and behavioral standards in my home it is not and never should be considered the job

135of the public school system to try to get into the mind of our children in order to manipulate and indoctrinate them into a Marxist way of thinking which runs completely counter to the religious and social beliefs which our family holds so dear I've taught in both public and private schools here in Han County and my job as an educator has never been to teach students what to think nor how to think but to equip them with the skills necessary to think for themselves anything short of that is unacceptable to me and my family under social emotional learning which Miss Justice and others Advocate the ultimate classroom goal will be to teach my children how the government wants them to think you do not have permission to do that in the United States of America thinking

136for ourselves as a god-given right protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution this program teaches children to judge other children by the way they think or the color of their skin rather than the content of their character and that will hurt all of our children thank you deah abble again I please ask please cease the Clapping Deborah AEL good evening my name is Deborah AEL I'm a retired teacher here from new han County and a Community member as we look at updating our policies and strategic plan please keep these words in mind these are the words of Julie Tarman a high school teacher to undocumented students you belong here to black students your lives matter here to Muslim Students you are welcome here here to Hispanic students you are valued here to female students

137you are respected here to homeless students may you find a home here to lgbtq plus students you are perfect the way you are to students with a disability you are able to all students you have a voice and the power to change this world for the better these words reflect the heart of every educator I know and I hope the heart of this School Board in our personal lives we may not have the same backgrounds religions or Lifestyles as our students and their families but as Educators and board members it's our responsibility to accept each student that walks through our door just the way they are we are to create a place that allows them to grow academically artistically and athletically we are to enable them to use their voice and to develop into the

138best possible version of themselves please support all of our students not just those that align with your personal beliefs Anna Spelman hi thanks for having me uh my name is Anna spalman I'm here in support of my trans family and friends and chosen family um and I just like to say that trans rights are human rights and that it is really well established that the more affirming a community and um friends and family are the more lives that we save and so I think any student who wants to take part in extracurricular activities should have the freedom and the ability to do so and it's it will literally save lives that's all thank you Barbara Anderson hello School Board I'm a retired educator from new Haner County and I would like to speak on several

139issues every morning students across new hanor County start the morning with the Pledge of Allegiance which ends with Liberty with Justice for All But is there liberty and justice for all students in New hanor County schools in 2018 the community made an outcry to the school board to stop sexual abuse of students within new hanor County Schools a school climate survey of students was asked to be conducted in December of 2019 and was ignored that survey potentially could have exposed the continued abuse of students by three more staff members that were arrested just recently where is the justice for these children and their families in 2014 the Star News reported on the increased suspension rates in new H County Schools one of your goals and objectives in your 2016 2020 strategic plan was to eliminate

140Elementary School suspensions yet the suspension rates have increased disproportionately among black and brown children and you even passed an updated susp ension policy this year that allows for suspension of Elementary age students where is the justice for these children and their families now you will be voting on policy 2620 tonight which explicitly discriminates the gr transgender students as of April 5th 2021 the ncae trained facilitators released an open letter condemning any anti-transgender legislation the LGBT students find that they are fearful they have not safe in their schools based on a glsen survey done where is the justice for these students and their families it is the responsibility of new han County Schools to educate all students regardless of race disability or gender identity it is a responsibility of Educators to educate all students regardless of

141where they come it is the school's place to love them and provide them a safe place to learn it is not our responsibility or our place to judge them to do otherwise is discriminatory and it's morally re reprehensible thank you Katie Jennifer hi my name is Katie Jennifer I use she her pronouns and I'm an attorney from carboro where I live with my husband Craig and our two kids who are both part of the LGBT QQ Community I'm a proud mama bear which means that I fiercely advocate for the basic dignity and human rights for my children we drove two and a half hours here tonight to talk to you about um the policy 3620 uh Madison and I recently spoke at the North Carolina House Judiciary Committee on uh HB 358 which fortunately was

142tabled in committee so I'm urging you all to continue to allow trans students to participate in School sports without unnecessary and discriminatory restrictions sports are a part of growing up for all kids and what a shame it would be to deny children like my daughter Madison all of the social physical and mental benefits of Athletics to exclude CL trans kids from these basic part of childhood and for what to address a manufactured problem that's not even an issue in New vanover County changing this policy to put in discriminatory restrictions against trans Kids Moves new Handover County backwards because it may sound like a small thing about participating in sports but for Trans kids it's so much more it's about being on a team just like any other girl it's about feeling included and accepted just

143for who she is it's about ensuring she has every opportunity to thrive just like her friends a lot of this conversation is based around unfounded fear trans girls are girls and trans athletes have been playing sports for decades there's not a single sports that's been overrun by trans athletes Maddie is not is been the only trans student in her Elementary School and only one of three in her middle school there's a lot of threats to girls in women's sports like unequal resources and CIS coaches who abuse their um athletes but trans girls are not a threat so please protect their right to play they deserve respect and dignity thank you Jennifer haret good evening social and emotional learning ourl is damaging to our children it does the opposite of what it claims it moves us

144backwards in race relations segregating our children and teaches them to use skin color in order to judge one another seal and CRT both are from the same dangerous ideology this is not my opinion but that of experts themselves CRT is considered so d damaging to our children that a dozen States including North Carolina have introduced bills to ban it this is a worthy task that has been taking on by both black and white leaders Mr terce Todd the former director of The White House Office of African-American education says CRT seal harms children and its goals are trying to resegregate our nation Judy Justice says that we are not teaching CRT this statement at best is grossly uninformed C CRT is Seal does Judy Justice not know that in September of 2020 the State Board of

145Education for North Carolina passed an equity resolution that states an equity lens will be new policy and practice and will be achieved through seel programs which further goes on to say that all North Carolina schools are systemically racist systemic racism White Privilege defund the police oppressors and oppressed these are the terms that stem from CRT seal and CRT are one the same this is well documented this is public information Judy Justice and as the only School Board member on the curriculum committee this is appalling that you are so uninformed my children and grandchildren should not be used as guinea pigs for an unproven political ideology Judy Justice intimidation of parents is also unacceptable Judy Justice calls concerned parents mouthpieces for rich white conservatives Judy Justice black leaders white leaders and parents are standing together against

146seel CRT and states are making it illegal for good reasons according to WECT your time is up thank you good evening Travis Newton Travis Newton thank you guys I appreciate it I'm Travis Newton I'm pastor of Morning Star fellowship and I'm here to to uh speak for my congregation and also for my two daughters who are attending new Handover Public Schools um I didn't have this in my notes but I just wanted to say you know my daughter's best friends in her school is a black gay kid and a Muslim from Egypt you know there she has a love for people and she we we we came from a neighborhood in Charlotte where uh we lived 18 and a half years in a predominantly black neighborhood my kids grew up not knowing the difference between

147black and white all their friends were black race wasn't an issue it was just friendship and so I'm really concerned because what's going on right now across the country is there's a trend of curriculum you know uh social emotional learning as other people have been talking about that really is a trojan horse for indoctrinating kids to begin to view race as a identity it's identity politics and it's damaging to our kids we don't their kids don't need that and um I would like to see us get back to schools actually doing education math reading arithmetic teaching kids uh the skills to um learn how to think but not what to think we don't need to be using the school system to indoctrinate kids in political far-left viewpoints it's not right you're not going to be

148serving the county as a whole you're serving one group with one ideology and there's lots of people in this County that have different ideologies than these ideologies and you're not going to force it down my kids and uh so I would just like to uh in closing would just like to remind everyone of Reverend D Martin Luther King Jr American hero and what he said in 1963 he uttered these words I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character [Applause] [Music] I have been asked to take a brief Break um so we're going to take five minutes and we'll be right back members could please come back to the dis

149this first one all right thank you for entertaining that break the next person up for call to the audience is Dr John F Zeno hi good evening the reason I'm here this evening is that I hold a part-time faculty position at both Cape Fear Community College and UNCW in Wilmington and I felt compelled to share some of the observations that I've made the past few years with regard to social emotional learning models let me please explain the courses I teach are first year seminar classes and they are designed to help college students make the transition from high school to college and one of the primary goals of the class is to encourage and engage student thinking exposing them to new ideas challenge their worldview and help them learn how to address difficult Topics by exposing

150them to ideas which with which they may not agree however what I've noticed is a very strong inclination of many students today to reach conclusions about difficult topics based on what they feel rather than what they actually think I've been surprised at the lack of ordered and structured thinking patterns of most of my students and their relative inability to follow simpal simple lines of logical thought to reasoned conclusions I can only conclude that in some way the overreliance on social emotional learning in the secondary schools has had something to do with this students generally respond to challenges to their worldview in one of two ways they either fight to try to shut down or cancel people with that have points that they don't agree with or they recoil and run away we I think this

151is largely responsible for many of the safe spaces that we see on College college campuses today it also results in students labeling any ideas with which they disagree as hate speech and shutting down any and all fruitful discussions fortunately the circumstances that I've described have not yet fully progressed to this stage here in North Carolina but I am concerned that social emotional learning models if they continue to be applied across all student education could result in this I would strongly encourage the board to carefully review the contents and the student learning outcomes for any programs that utilize social emotional learning thank you Wilkins Rick Wilkins I'm representing my husband oh okay he broke his he broke his heeles do you have any idea Dr F and the board what these shoots are represent it's a

152fraction of the the approximately 100 known victims of the pedophilic teachers in the New Hanover County system your predecessor in this board ignored the reports of teachers and the claims by students that these pedophilic acts were taking place these denials are no different than what is happening today in our school system you and the members of this board are denying that CRT seal EST is taking place in our schools given the timeline the new curriculum may not have been rolled out to the students during the 2021 year so your denial is probably appropriate but the educators are being Indo indoctrinated by required videos if you don't believe me check with the member of your Administration Kimberly O'Brien uh here's a timeline Dr F you join New Hanover County School System in September 2020 your purchasing

153department ENT entered into a contract with sopic Solutions in February 2021 which was signed by your budget manager and I might add this Arrangement flew under the radar of requiring uh RFP I think that's pretty sneaky sopic Solutions website states that they consult in diversity Equity inclusion and belonging Consultation Services which includes among other things anti-racism training diversity Equity inclusion and belonging consultation that sure sounds like CRT to me doesn't it folks um I'm going to to think about what I can bring in to address you and the board once the students begin their indoctrination process the problem is the number will be far greater than 100 pairs of shoes uh your Administration in this board will be damaging 60% which represents uh uh 60% of white students 26 of the 26,500 students or nearly

15416,000 students and uh Miss Justice please from your snarky comments about ma'am your time is up Tony [Applause] McGee well good evening thank you so much for this opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas I had an opportunity to campaign for the Board of Education and primarily the the primary function um in my estimation of education is the make sure students learn how to critically think and the reason that that of course we're talking about the emotional learning model and so forth and I'm not sure I've looked at some of that I'm not sure that that would be appropriate because there are some things about critical thinking that I think all of us even those that my age at 64 years old need to uh need to develop as far as certain attributes of thinking

155about processes the first one is intellectual humility in other words there are things that I don't know there's things that many of us here do not know about we have to be open instead of shutting down this side or that side we have to be open that we can hear that so that we can know what's going on of course intellectual autonomy the idea that I'm not being propped up by any particular group I'm standing on my own based on my understanding I think that's an important aspect of Education intellectual Integrity not to just swallow something because it's popular for everybody well I stand because that's what I actually believe maybe nobody agrees with me a lot of people don't agree but this has to be the point of education to make sure students learn

156how to stand on a particular position from a place of Integrity also courage it's going to require courage required courage to come out tonight it required courage to come out and and and go through some of the abuse some of the things that people said and so forth and so on I think critical thinking is the key this should be something in my mind that should be a a a major concern something we put forth other also intellectual perseverance to stand it confidence in reason how about that can we have conf confidence in reason rather than emotion confidence in intellectual empathy can we empathize with another person's point of view without our calling them names or questioning them and so forth and also the last one fairm mindedness can we be fairm minded about what

157we're talking about thank you so much Leslie posie Leslie posy [Music] good evening I'm going to be simple and short tonight one of your primary jobs on the board of education is to create policies that protect our students so they have a quality education that means all our students does New Hanover County School's policy prevent the suspension of K kindergarteners no does new han County Schools policy prevent the use of seclusion rooms no does new han County School's policy prevent restraining students including Elementary with handcuffs no are trans kids given the right to participate in sports according to their gender identity I guess we're going to find that out tonight the true measure of a person is not how they treat their peers but how they treat those who are different new han County Schools

158policies do not treat all students equally black Native American Hispanic gay trans special needs kids and others who are different are not given the respect resources or quality education they need for success as members of the governing body for new han County Schools can you look in the mirror tonight and honestly say that your work on that Podium gives all students the support and care that they need I would argue that most of you can't I hope that will change Chad Hill good evening my name is Chad Hill I'm here to speak on the relevancy of social emotional learning is brought to us by the same people who forced common the common curriculum down our throats and as parents and teachers Across the Nation are urging school system to dump this toxic curriculum curriculum they

159are because it's a it's a a theory that doesn't work unfortunately their new solution is Seal Same Book Different title it's social engineering you will teach our children to look at the outside of a person and judge them if Little Johnny is white treat them this way if Mary is of color treat her this way if they are Baptist treat them this way our children will become a society of robots and if Little Billy wears a God loves me shirt to school he'll be sent home but if he wears a Carl Mark shirt he'll be accepted children will be taught how to feel and act and react the same what happens to their own relevancy what happens to their own individuality SEO will tear down friendships which will tear down loyalty which will tear down

160dependency which will tear down Unity Dr Kenny King is turning over in his grave tonight our children attended School in Northern Virginia they had the highest rating High School number 10 in the nation this was introduced into their school 10 years ago after they graduated the school was not even in the top 200 anymore it's a gospel of Envy equal sharing of poverty it's the Creed of division Nelson Mandela said our world is not divided by race or color or gender or religion our world is divided by wise people and foolish people and foolish people divide themselves by race and color and gender and religion we must decide if we are wise or if we are foolish Angie bleed and harassment towards our lgbtq students has increased dramatically in recent weeks since the vicious attacks

161from extremists many of whom are here tonight some of them imply that activists for Trans students can't possibly be advocates for victims of sexual assault as well you know that's not true that me mentality of ignorance and toxicity is not welcome in our schools new an County schools has failed to protect our students under title n laws for a really long time we now have a title n director on staff that's advising you to do better yet some of you still aren't listening and questioning his judgment even aligning with oppressive radicals that must end tonight with groundwork for positive change through passing policy 3620 for transgender middle school students Supreme Court case of grim versus glauer Board of Education ruled in favor of Title 9 to guarantee all transgender students right to protection in state

162and federally funded schools President Biden signed an executive order in March which guarantees an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of gender sexual orientation and gender identity within a 100 days of that order the Secretary of Education and attorney general will review existing policies for compliance and consider suspending those actions inconsistent with this order where were new han County School fall in their policies the national survey on lgbtq youth mental health reflects 85% of trans youth seriously consider suicide we are not willing to lose those students in an effort to protect politics ignorance and hate these students matter and they deserve inclusion being gay is about who you love being trans is about who you are and all of our lgbtq students are visible and valuable they're deserving of a policy that protects

163them and sees them for who they are I don't usually quote scripture but Mr wbore likes that so here it goes people look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart practice what you preach and look to the heart to end these pathetic attempts at excluding and oppressing our children thank you April far hi my name is April faren I'm a new officer in the Nan County Democratic party I ask that you pass the 3620 policy High School transgender students have to go through an invasive State panel procedur in order to play sports with the gender they identify with our middle school students shouldn't have to be to go be forced to go through that nightmare the panel procedure serves to exclude students from playing sports and renders them invisible as a

164woman's right Advocate I would never be a part of anything that excludes girls this policy doesn't exclude girls it simply includes all students respectfully and authentically I ask that you at a minute minum past policy 3620 moving our children forward not backward into isolation and and invisibility the board of education is solely responsible for making decisions on how the to spend the education budget not the Board of Commissioners who are influencing behind the scenes more school resource officers is the opposite of what we need in new han County schools there are statistics out of Seattle Philadelphia and New York that demonstrate that when social emotional learning and restorative justice practices in conjunction with the the school Justice partnership are implemented as opposed to sro's suspensions and seclusion restraints decrease and the school to prison pipeline

165declines increasing as SRO is the fear-based approach which ultimately creates an environment that's not conducive to learning kids go from restraint seclusion and suspensions to dropping out of school and into jails and prisons we must stop fueling the school to prison pipeline I can't imagine anyone who doesn't stand against sexual misconduct in New Hanover County Schools people in the SE system need to know that abusers will be held accountable the board must listen investigate and keep conflicts of interest out conflicts of interest like having the board attorney work for the firm that represents the insurance company that would have to pay out to student victims or representing a school official under investigation for withholding information about child sex abuse for example for so long perpetrators have been the ones to feel comfortable and safe from

166consequences our children are the ones who deserve to be safe at school and that responsibility lands on your desk Denise yone I'm saying that correctly y okay I am a child advocate and retired learning specialist I am here to keep the focus on our children who totally depend on us especially to uphold their human rights children have the right to be free from hunger and homelessness students have the right to a truthful Equitable and excellent education children have the right to be seen heard and accepted included no matter what their race gender sexual orientation ability or religion students have the right to be physically socially and emotionally safe in their schools it's up to all of us and the new hanb County School Board and our Educators to uphold the basic human rights of our

167beautifully diverse children we can't let politically motivated lies take away our children's god-given human rights recently a little first grader at a new han County Elementary School lost her beautiful teenage sister to covid-19 this little first grader barely older than a toddler and her siblings will need all the support that social emotional learning and compassion can give we have real children experiencing real trauma on a daily basis how dare anyone expect them to keep calm and carry on the initiatives recently launched by Dr fa Dr Smith Dr vnum the EDI committee and the school board are an encouraging beginning thank you thank you raising literacy rates focusing on social emotional learning and the equity report card all uphold the human rights of our students on these issues you have my support but this is only

168the beginning the School Board needs to increase transparency and pursue Justice for the victims of sexual assault the thing we cannot do is take one step backward board members please maintain your Equity initiative and build upon its foundation do not be deterred do not be intimidated upholding equity and equality means protecting the human rights of our children please stay strong and do not let our children down thank you Dorian cardi okay can I take this off yes okay hey my name is Dorian cardi tonight I'm speaking to you from the position of third vice chair of the New Hanover County Democratic party tonight I would like to speak to you guys on the issue of the children in this County there are thousands of children in this County who are going to sleep tonight without

169a place to sleep without any food in their stomach who are part of this school system and that is a big issue here in the county I um the party would like to say that we support any positive Endeavors you guys have to change that issue but as we know due to co the issue seems to be growing also we support diversi and inclusion and equity in our schools we want you guys to do more we support what you've done so far it's very helpful it's a step in the right direction we also would like to say that let's see we like to say that um equity in the correct teachings of American History is very important in our school uh we understand that CRT is not being taught in our schools and and that's

170not an issue for our school system thank you for your time thank you for everything you've done so far and please continue doing what you're doing Pat Bradford good evening my name is Pat Bradford and I have puzzled what I could possibly say to you in two minutes that would make a difference in any of your thinking researching social emotional learning Equity diversity and inclusion I learned a lot about German philosopher Emanuel Kant Emanuel Kant was came from the 1700s he exposed a world view that is very much very much alive today as I researched just last week a light bulb went off over my head oh my gosh I learned this in college I have a teaching degree I learned it in college and as such I turned towards socialism I took a lot

171of philosophy in college I turned soci socialism I turned away from a relationship with my savior I rejected capitalism I viewed the police as pigs and I apologize for that as our oppressors I felt the pain of the oppressed the black men the red men the yellow man my body was my own no government was going to tell me what I could do and could not do I did didn't respect the sanctity of marriage I didn't respect the nuclear family sound familiar sounds a lot like Ed seal and CRT no matter what you call it this curriculum is the same and you may be sold out to it you may be uh have approved its adoption you may have signed the contract already you may be implementing it but know this we the people are

172not with you open your minds here you're being deceived and I beg you to reconsider reject this intolerant and basically evil curriculum and I offer in love a gentle warning believe in God or not God in heaven believes in you and he sees everything you do and one day you will stand before God and you will be accountable for what you do in this board thank you e merer Merc merer Mercier my name is Christina Mercier and I'm here tonight to talk about teaching students and the Strategic plan I'll start by saying when we know better we do better I've been a teacher for close to 30 years and in that time I've taught some students who look like me but more often my students physical appearance or experiences Do Not Mirror my own as

173a result I've always sought out relatable materials for my students I'm still angry with myself that I felt for the lie that was pushed when I was a teen in the 1980s that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Heming were really in love and that's why he never gave her her freedom in reality he was in a position of power over her and she had no choice not any different really from teachers who abuse students at any rate learning supposed facts like that has driven me to be a better teacher to my own students as a result I've talked I've taught about school integration Japanese internment camps during World War II and the 1898 Wilmington coup among other topics recently here in Wilmington there's been some uproar in the community about critical race Theory a man had

174took it upon himself to send an email to many churches indicating that this was Marxist indoctrination and that amongst other claims that CRT will involve teaching first graders to masturbate sometimes people get hung up on labels not to mention following victim to questionable sources for information maybe that's what happened with this guy and others I don't like to speak to absolutes but I know that I've never run across an educator who was interested in indoctrinating youth I have run across Educators who believe as I do that when we know better we do better and that means understanding that the United States did good stuff and bad stuff we want kids to learn how to think and analyze sources and that means knowing what's a good source and what's not so that you don't fall victim

175to bad information thank you Rachel doll my name is Rachel wayy Dole I am a mother of Youth in the district dist and a church educator here in Wilmington I know that you share my concern that we make sure all children feel safe in our schools at the foundation of all we do as Educators is maso's hierarchy of needs students need to have their most basic needs met before their brain can learn anything second only to food water and shelter is the need to feel safe in their surroundings here are quotes from students currently in the new Hanner County School System quote I've had a staff member make an inappropriate comment about my body in my clothing quote boys consistently make jokes about being gay and use the fs slur in front of me without

176punishment but yet the situation was swept under the rug like nothing happened quote sometimes teachers acknowledge what I tell them but then refuse to use the right name or pronouns and don't even try to correct themselves it's like they don't even care what my real name is quote there was a time when I was in one of my favorite classes and there was a sub I'm a trans student and I asked to go to the bathroom he proceeded to interrogate me about which bathroom I plan to use in front of the whole class and kept making derogatory statements toward me this is only one of the many instances I've of times I've felt unsafe at school if any student student is disrespected in school all students feel it and know to keep their guard up

177a new Gallop poll of the current generation of students show that nearly one in six said they were queer or transgender these are our students they are our children and it is our responsibility to keep them safe and provide a space where all can Thrive thank you Stephanie fortunado good evening I represent moms from Liberty in New Hanover County and tonight I'd like to address women's rights specifically the safety of biological girls girls deserve equal opportunities to experience the thrill of victory but allowing males to compete in girls Sports disadvantages girls and destroys their athletic opportunity according to a 2020 poll 75.4 2% of North Carolinians agree that allowing biological males to compete in women's sports is unfair women fought long and hard for Title 9 which was designed to stop discrimination and create equal

178athletic opportunities for women biological women allowing males to compete in girls Sports reverses nearly 50 years of advances for women the message to girls is you deserve equal opportunities except in sports on May 1st 2019 the North Carolina High School Athletic Association changed their rules to allow the boys to compete in sports and now you're trying to do this with Middle School the NCAA modified their athletic policies in 2011 to allow bi biological males who identify women uh to compete in women's sports what do girls lose medals podiums public recognition and opportunities to compete scholarship opportunities and elite elite College scouting self-esteem and hope the next generation of valuable role models that Inspire tomorrow's Champions will be lost Workforce diversity 96% of female CEOs played competitive Sports biological males are generally bigger faster and stronger

179than biological females for two years in a row the fastest Connecticut High School girls were defeated at State com competition since 2017 those two male athletes have taken 15 of those girls championship titles away from them your time is up thank you Gail hering Gail hering thank you for hearing all of our voices tonight my name is Gail Herring I'm a native of Wilmington that's pretty rare and a product of new han County school system and now I have three grandchildren in the school system I'm here to State my concerns and my fears about the curriculum for our schools three concerns one critical race Theory two social and emotional learning and three Equity diversity and inclusion I want you to know I've done my research from California all the way to the classrooms in this

180County and the elements that I've just mentioned are being taught in this CL in the classrooms I've seen it and I've heard it and it's been reported to be my students and it's appalling and what we know by fact is that most of these curriculums are grounded in Marxism and they indoctrinate children to believe in incorrect theories about how America was formed and it clearly emphasizes that America is systemically racist and it ignores the thousands of policies that have been imple mented in this country since 1965 that have stopped excuse me systemic racism CRT stresses race essentialism Collective guilt and Neo segregation which all violate the basic principles of equality and justice if we allow this radical agenda in our schools we are prepared to offer free American history classes across this County for K

181through 12th graders to supplement what is being taught called in our classrooms this is not a threat it is a promise we don't want a curriculum developed by some communist Jour journalists from The New York Times to hijack what is being taught to our children whether it be the 1619 project or social emotional learning or CRT we're going to insist that these non-academic curriculums stay out of the classroom just as judeo-christian principles are kept out Al alvita King Martin Luther King Jr's niece who is working at the national level to fight all this said and I quote I have lived long enough to witness systemic racism eliminated in this country please step away from there's only one critical race and that's the human race do I have Leslie Cohen good evening it's been a long

182one um I'm kind of amazed at the amount of disinformation and misinformation that I've heard in this room today and outside as we were waiting to come in um as most of you know I'm part of the title 9 committee for new hver County Schools the policy that's been put forward to allow transgender middle school children to participate in sports according to the gender that they identify with uh came initially from Mr Lewis uh I know that you guys know what's right here and what needs to be done trans girls are girls they deserve the same opportunities as cisgender girls they deserve to compete they deserve to have teammates to learn sportsmanship to have Fitness in Middle School we're not talking about scholarships and money and all of that we're talking about kids playing and

183that's what we want them to do it's been a rough year already for Trans kids across this country I'm in touch with families who are considering moving States selling their homes changing jobs because their children and their families feel unsafe I know that all of you know the right thing to do on this policy please go ahead and do it get it done tonight show these children that we support them that we see them that we believe in them and that we're there for them thank you very much NADA morani NADA morani not present thank you Jamie mcmanis good evening uh my name is my name is Jamie mcmanis I go by she her pronouns um I didn't come here with a whole speech written honestly um I think speeches are disingenuous when it comes

184to specific things that aren't really shouldn't be up for debate um as far as it goes where the medical science behind kids trans girls playing on women's teams I could get into that I work in the medical field I'm transgender so I have a little bit more say and a little bit more right to talk about it than anybody else than that in this room that's not trans but um the concept that trans high school students would have some sort of an unfair advantage and would take that that edge away from students is lost in me I'm 32 years old I went to a high school in a very conservative city in New York and there were female football players on the Mal's football team that wasn't a trans issue at the time that was

185just let kids play sports and let them play on the competitive like side that they want to play on um those girls didn't have any perceived advantage over boys and they were allowed to play and honestly they took our team to a championship that year so this concept that alienating kids and saying you're less than because you're different sets a precedent that harms them and puts them on a path of self-destruction I can say that from my own personal because in all honesty going through high school I didn't have these kind I didn't have any body here to speak up like I'm trying to do right now and I'm really terrible at public speaking but um if I did I probably wouldn't have tried to commit suicide in 11th grade I probably wouldn't have had

186such a terrible life mental healthwise um if I was just accepted and treated like a normal person like I probably would have been called every other day in school and I hate saying that word but in all honesty I'm tired of people treating it like it's not a real thing that happens every day to these kids and they need [Applause] it Adelina Marie Adler good evening and happy Pride everybody there seems to be concern when it comes to policy 3620 that it will somehow be abused that opportunistic kids are going to lie about their identity in order to get some sort of advantage in sports see I'd imagine that we as parents might aim to raise our children with enough Integrity so things like that aren't a concern but in any case I failed to

187see how concerns over Middle School sportsmanship carry more weight than the welfare of our trans children who're already facing the incredibly difficult process of gaining acknowledgement acceptance and respect from a society that so often casts them as confused sexually deviant and even sinful Abominations to God so if helping these kids feel loved means suffering a cheater or two I'd say it's worth it but but what about those who will use this as a way to maybe sexually harass one another in locker rooms you ask as a Survivor myself I can tell you that unfortunately harassment can happen anywhere and everywhere from anyone and I guarantee that a good 98% of trans kids aren't trying to do that according to local news in fact the teachers here are more likely culprit so maybe we should focus

188on that panels like the ones used in our high schools have been described as incredibly invasive and traumatic they require parental permission which puts trans kids at risk of being outed and exposed to potential abuse in their homes there's a physical evaluation evaluation which is wild his gender is a construct so I'm wondering what physical signs can possibly confirm that yep that's a Bonafide trans kid this just seems like humiliation to me there's also a psychological evaluation of which the implications are you might not just be trans just sad confused kid how incredibly invalidating but let's just say even if that were the case what's the harm and letting this child explore that Avenue of healing who really gets hurt here a study from the University of Pittsburgh found that transgender adolescence have higher odds

189of suicide than their cisgender counterparts from the 2000 surveyed about about 85% reported seriously considering suicide while over half of them actively attempted it we need to love and support our trans kids instead of invalidating them at every turn young lives are on the line can we please do better and offer them an environment with their respected believed and allowed to be in peace can we teach our sons and daughters strength Integrity compassion and love so we can stop using them as an excuse to suppress the freedom of their peers can we teach ourselves thank you so [Applause] much Mar and Timothy Joiner uh good evening as the son of two pastors it is always hurtful to hear that the god that you serve and The God That You Love Somehow finds it that you

190the Creator creation of his cannot find yourself and when you do find yourself you are undeserving of God's love maso's hierarchy of needs was mentioned earlier at the top of that pyramid is self-actualization school is meant to be the period where youth are allowed to explore thems expresss become themsel and teach themselves something as well as learning and teaching others using all of these excuses from the Bible as well as using buzzword such as critical race the instead of equity diversity and inclusion in order to create hysteria and then mask it with religion is not healthy that is sending a message to the children that the judeo-christian beliefs that we say are not in the schools are in the schools and they do not love you everyone in here claims to be a Christian and

191a good person the main point of being a good person is acknowledging difference and acknowledging that difference when you approach with it acknowledging it knowing that one day you too will change and you will have to answer for that change when it's time for you to answer for that change I hope that you will say I did not spend that time telling children not to be who they are and putting more police officers in the schools telling children that we believe your criminals as a person that is constantly typ cast as a person that is constantly stereotyped I understand how easy it is to fall into such behaviors but I also understand how easy it is to change the reason being being because I was changed the reason being my parents love me enough to

192allow me to change the reason being because my love Outlaws any policies or laws that they can put on my identity thank you David Hitman good evening I'm here to also discuss policy 3620 and I just think it's time to stop punishing and disadvantaging our biological female athletes at some point it just has to stop it's just unfair to even consider allowing biological males to compete against biological females just concerned as a parent of this city and of this County that we're doing irreparable harm to our young people both male and female male alike to consider allowing biological male athletes to compete against biological female athletes is just insane Title 9 was established to allow female athletes a fair shot at competition and to have access to sports not available to them before which included

193equal funding for girl Sports anyone who has any Common Sense who has ever competed at a higher level than elementary school and who has a basic knowledge of science knows there's a clear difference between biological males and biological females in the way the body functions and performs in elementary school aged children biological females and biological males can compete more freely with each other without as much possibility of physical harm and on a More Level Playing Field however once puberty kicks in males typically have a clear physical advantage in size strength and speed in middle school age children biolog iCal males bodies clearly start gaining a physical Advantage please do not allow the nonscience mob to dictate emotional nonata non-fact policy that ultimately hurts our female athletes I ask parents the school board members and our

194state legislators to stand firm and stand up for our biological female athletes thank you George blet George blet members of the board Dr faou my name is George vasset and I'm a retired public school teacher and first vice president of the local nwacp I wanted to address two related issues today the first involves how the board and the county are allocating their scarce resources I find it incredible that we are funding SRO in our elementary schools while the educational social and emotional needs of our students go wanting not only does this indicate misplaced priorities but it sends a message to those young people particularly black brown and trans students that their education is more about control than it is about learning the second issue I want to urge is that I want to urge the

195board to support our teachers and let them teach the truth over the last three months a concerted effort uh has been underway uh against the supposed use of critical race theory in education let's be clear CRT is a straw man the real Target is allowing teachers to teach about the systemic racism which is our heritage as a teacher I ne had never heard of critical racis Theory but I taught about systemic racism in my classes based on my personal experiences in the civil rights movement and the Mad of factual information readily available from authors like web Deo and Michelle Alexander we can trust our dedicated teachers who with the proper training can reveal these truths to our young people without guilt tripping white students in fact understanding that systematic racism is a central part of

196our history removes the blame from individuals and places it squarely on the system that has oppressed people of color it's not about whether your ancestors were slave owners it's true that we didn't start the fire but unless we all grab the buckets we can't put it out Chris suton Chris Sutton it was kind of ironic that we just had a board member call another board member a liar and then tell us to be respectful of each other so let me go ahead and start this um she actually I'm sorry uh no ma'am there's no rules for decorum for how I stand at this so the deal is I want to speak to y'all and tell y'all as to how this actually just occurred okay so back in March this meeting I'm going to have to

197ask you to leave I'm going to have to ask you to leave you're violating the rules you are violating the rules of the Corum please step outside of that door now thank you Nancy stokeley evening we know that dangerous teaching has been and is being integrated into the public school curriculum you say it's not CRT but we know that this teaching is sneaking in under other various names it has to be slipped in deceptively because the majority of thinking IMM moral Americans would bitterly oppose it we have been warned by many people from countries that were once strong free and prosperous that the exact same tactics that destroyed their nations are now being used here in the United States States we think this country will never fail and will always be free however once this

198next Generation has been propagandized to believe and accept these dangerous and divisive beliefs everything will easily crumble in states where this has been in place children are being reported as being depressed yes depressed little children they carry a heavy burden of guilt and self- condemnation others have been brainwashed to believe that there is no way they can succeed in life they believe there is no use trying because things are stacked against them they feel defeated and their god-given desire for a good and happy life is driven out of them and replaced with resentment fear hatred and anger this topic of racism is being used it's nothing more than an effective tool being used for other evil purposes I hear from black people every single day that are extremely opposed to this it's really not about

199solving racism it's fueling it we need to wake up and see that we are being duped deceived and taken in as fools they are using this philosophy to divide and conquer so I ask you board members please tell the North Carolina Board of Education that was not elected but was rather appointed by Governor Cooper that the residents of new Haner County will not stand for this if you do this we will stand with you I am confident that we could gather thousands of you need us to we will stand with you in this fight for our children and our nation at your time in thank you thank you Aiden pomy Aiden pomy hi um I'm Aiden and I'm transitioning from male to female and uh I'm also a student in uh new hanor County uh

200I'd like to start by thanking the board for considering policy 3 3620 and sticking their necks out for LGBT youth in New Hanover County it's great to know that at least some people are looking out for the safety and happiness of people like me I've never been an active participant of school sports I'm actively transitioning from male to female and I know that being Trans in new Haner county is very challenging I have an interest in participating in School sports activities but I've never felt comfortable or safe participating in male teams and I'm sure this Reigns true for many trans people I know I personally couldn't even make a competitive team but I just want to participate in sports with my friends and yet there's a stigma that trans individuals are pretending to be the

201opposite sex to gain an upper hand many teens are using use hormone blockers to stop the development that comes with puberty and a vast majority of teens are unable to get access to hormones until they are at least 16 for any one on puberty blockers you can make the argument that they are a severe disadvantage to cisgender students hormones on the other hand give trans people muscular densities similar to that of their chosen sex so there's no argument for an advantage in build even if the child wasn't on hormone blockers before transition even if a teen is not on hormone blockers or hormones and implies a vast discrepancy in the abilities of adolescent males and females which is simply nonsense in young kids I find it extreme disturbing that anyone could be more concerned with

202a scientifically unfounded difference rather than the safety and happiness of young children I hope that anyone considering discriminating against the trans youth by denying this policy will take a step back to consider the effects that this will have on the trans youth of New Hanover County to those in support of this policy I thank you for your support and open-mindedness time is up Ava latori Ava yes novator am I saying that correctly yeah a so I don't know hi I'm Ava my pronouns are she or they I'm transgender and that means I can do whatever I want and after I leave here I look forward to using the women's bathroom because I'm allowed to do that uh I think it's kind of ridiculous and I accept yall's apologies for making me have to come out

203here to defend other kids like like me so administrators that harassed me don't harass them I'm really kind of annoyed about here in this whole biological M thing I swear to God if I hear it I'm probably going to have a goddamn aneurysm um as a previous person said once you take hormones your body starts to change if you're really worried about the differences between male and female then you're going to have to ask the science as the one guy who was just that out there said you know we're anti-science I guess sort of just like the people that were there on January 6th um so if we're anti-science if they're anti-science then why don't they believe in Co I mean their position seems to be pretty contradictory I don't know the other night a

204few months ago or whatever I was walking downtown and I got called a HEI by a cisgender woman then she threatened to assault me she started cussing me out calling me slurs and I'm just curious if I can beat a woman at sports then how come this woman said she could beat me up it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me I don't understand it but again nothing those people seem to say makes any sense uh I would really appreciate it if you don't pass anything that's going to hurt trans kids cuz then we're just going to continue to be at TH your side every single summer and maybe every season too I'm getting really really tired of seeing all of these anti-trans bills pop up all over the country it's

205terrifying I also have tried to commit suicide before so I'm in that percentage of like half of the people that have Robert Robert [Music] Glascow Robert [Music] Glascow um Andrew jarbo Andrew jarau last call for Andrew jarbo Jade Watts good evening um first I I just wanted to say how amazing and brave I think all of the trans people that have spoken tonight are um I am here supporting policy 3620 which is a step in the right direction to advocate for our lgbtq students the vilification of trans kids is unacceptable what they need most is our support and protection we need to let them know they are loved and supported and we have their backs there's already been a record number of anti-trans bills passed in the United States so far this year which is

206terrifying I'm hoping that New Hanover County won't join that statistic I'm also here as a concerned parent of a future student I want my daughter to attend a school that provides equity and inclusion for all in regards to race gender and gender identity thank you right that concludes um our call to the audience regarding agenda items um I need a break or are we good let's keep pluging through no okay all right uh next up on the agenda are the consensus items um before we do anything with those um I need to remove uh item o which is the facility license agreement with UNCC Wilmington for classroom space there are some updates that need to be made um for that item so miss dagner do I need to do a motion for that or can

207we simply remove it M it just can be removed okay all right so um so the consensus items that we are voting on um here are listed excluding o um so are there any other items on the consent agenda that would like to be pulled for discussion uh prior to the vote for consensus items Madam chair to As Long As I Got the Right copy here any we were talking about this the um contracts with SRS I just had some questions we don't mind pulling those out just for discussion the cont I know I'm having trouble finding them too G it's G contract with NHC Sheriff's Office for elementary school resource officers that one yes okay so we're going to pull um G and G G will be for discussion uh any others that uh

208anyone wanted to pull off for any discussion um Yes except now I can't find it I had it right here oh Solid Waste and Recycling contract renewal I just have a couple questions and though I guess we need to pull in order to do that all right anyone else um mam sh F contract with interm Healthcare I just don't know what they do I couldn't read I couldn't figure it out from the contract okay all right so we will go ahead and we will move forward um to vote on the consensus items a b c d e a h i j k l m n q r s t u n v is there a motion I'm since those are two similar I apologize because I didn't realize there were two on there the the

209both for the I'm not trying to say I would like to pull both just because they're both similar G and H yes ma'am all right so same list that I just um gave except removing uh letter H Madam chair move to approve thank you Mr Buller is there second second thank you Miss Walker any other discussion for the consensus items all those in favor say I I all those opposed consensus items are accepted uh let's go back now and go in order of the ones that um board members requested let's start with f uh Miss varnum could you you just speak quickly to the interim HealthCare of Eastern Carolinas yes this contract is um to provide the um one-on-one pediatric nursing services for our students with disabilities who are medically fragile and require um full-time

210nursing services in the school setting so that they can respond to certain medical needs for them to be in the classroom okay thank you that's what I thought but I I just couldn't figure out from reading so I apologize go ahead with the vote yeah all right would you like to make a motion I make a motion that we um accept the contract as presented with interim health health interim healthc care of Eastern Carolina all right is there a second second thank you Mr wbore any discussion all those in favor say I I I all those opposed item f is accepted next item uh items G and H um the first one is the contract with the NHC Sheriff office for elementary sro's the um H item is the memorandum of understanding with the Sheriff's

211Office and Wilmington Police Department uh was there a specific question you had Miss Walker I I do I actually have two or three if that's okay um I guess you're the woman to talk to um I don't know if we have a policy that talks about um interrogation I didn't see in the contract I read them both and maybe I missed it or maybe I'm there's a policy that I'm missing that that the um addresses you know possible interrogation of students before parents are contacted I don't think I saw that on there but if I'm wrong please tell me uh it's in theou um let me go back to that so it's a it's quite extensive I understand there's a lot here yeah so in the um ex called exhibit a to the contract for

212SRO services and actually we just um mentioned it this morning in the policy meeting on page four um is where it starts talking about law enforcement actions and safety interventions and then it goes through um outlining investigations and arrests and then searches and then uh interrogations did it cover um um contacting the parent before that happens or anything kind of statements are written so generally um that's what happens so only in situations where um law enforcement May request that that not be done because of some type of safety issue or or some information that the school administrator is not knowledgeable of um but generally um the school principal is the one making that contact okay is it is it in a policy or is it specifically stated in this contract it says in cases where

213the U parent or Guardian cannot be reached and any questioning of a student is conducted without parental notification the school principal or designate must be present okay so they're they're seeking to um provide that contact first but then they will be present in locco parus do do we know that that's actually happening I don't know um I mean citizens have said that sometimes that doesn't happen is there a way to let the board or the board know or the school to know if that doesn't get followed I I would defer to Dr F on that one I would say that um you know this is the expectation and when that's when that does not happen if we find out or or learn that that does not happen that's addressed but I'll I'll defer to about

214F if that's this is what we're what we're looking at too this is simply the agreement so if that's something that you would like to request we could definitely put that in for some sort of followup regarding SRO interactions but this today is just for just the the agreement between the two organizations so I didn't know whether if we approve the agreement we can't go back and add things to it later on just to kind of make sure that we're covering our bases so actually that is actually one of our policies we were just talking about that one today it's 5110 5 51 5100 sorry 5100 okay 5100 and that's in there and so if they're not doing that then it's a violation of policy which then would there different type of accountability measure that

215we all right appre I just you to make sure that it's you know in our in our agreements second question I have is um on reporting and I I I I was sent a couple emails from a community members that had emailed um you about that but I also emailed the sheriff's department about it and they were both getting that they don't keep certain records and there's nothing really in here it's kind of vague when it talks about how to keep records and that if we as a board want to strengthen that or be more specific that we could in this particular contract um about incidents that are reported that we're having having a hard time finding out like what where those records lie are they at the school is it something that the district

216keeps in a a file somewhere that we can access as our citizens can access or we as a board can access to find out how that's going or you know with schools Etc okay so there are um reportable offenses and then there are reportable actions so is there a specific because we follow um General statute and state board policy and reportables uh and those are all um reported in anual report to the Department of Public Instruction so is there a specific type of reporting that you're I was just wondering I know I've been I've told we've got a new system now where there's like real time reporting of the incidence that happened at schools and I just didn't know because I mean I think that's part of our job as oversight is just to make

217sure that the the agreements that we have are we're following them but we're also keeping in mind that you know we are kind of the the people that um speak for the for the kids in the the district and we want to make sure that we have good oversight and so I just I was confused by the emails I was was getting that says that you know where where the records are if someone wanted to inquire about like if say a certain school has you know not not like um personal information but like like What that particular school is going through it just helps us be able to have oversight if there's you know perhaps a problem going on that we we won't you know won't know otherwise right we are fully compliant with the

218reportable offenses and um not just the ones that are required for reporting but then any incidents that um lead to behavior interventions so if if you're asking about reportables um or something that's not listed as a reportable offense or reportable incident then that that would be um something to discuss would be able to well be allowed to follow up with Miss bnam on that just to understand it more like I just I just feel like the emails I got was confusing because if someone was asking for what records were you know particular records if they knew an incident happened but they didn't didn't have a record of it or no one gave that to them I just feel like it's lost somewhere and I just don't want it to be um a case of things

219happen and we don't know what's happening so I'm thinking about reporting yeah so right I think that would be a good conversation yeah um that way you can be probably a little more specific you allowed to talk to me about that oh yes yes just making sure all right so with that being said um items G and H so we pass them the way they are like is there any way that if I we can come back around to this discussion just it's I know an agreement I just I feel like if we don't talk about it we won't ever get to talk about it we poliy that may be a policy that you a policy so I should bring it to I should okay so 5100 5100 we just reviewed oh you literally just

220we just reviewed it today and um I didn't get anybody who had any feedback on that so I could have asked that so sorry the um but anyway we will get that for first reading in July okay so you plenty of time to look at that and give us the information and we can talk about it then so knowing that um items g& H would you like to make a motion or would someone like to make a motion do you want to make a motion since for what to approve to accept yeah I will make a motion to um accept the um accept the contract with the sheriff's office for the elementary officers and theou um with the Sheriff's Office and the Wilmington the police department for our school resource officers was there a second

221second thank you Mr wildor any other discussion all those in favor say I I I all those opposed that was Nelson oh thank just throws me off okay and so last on our list um is item p uh which was Miss Justice I had some questions for I believe Mr Anderson oh yeah Mr Anderson hi um I'm just trying to find out what our role in the the schools the individual schools role in the recycling we have this contract and it's for solid waste and then it's for recycling and do the every individual School particip schools participate in our recy a a recycling program or is it going unused in some schools well all all schools participate in recycling to some degree or another um some schools uh take you they have uh programs within

222their schools and probably uh do a better job of recycling and energy conservation and so forth um than others but all schools do participate in recycling okay so there's a regular use of the fee that we're paying for that because you at my own personal I know we have our our own personal recycle if you don't use it you pay for it anyway okay and and it does vary from year to year sometimes we'll increase the uh size of the container or the frequency of pickups okay because it will vary from year to year but um there's a you know a pretty good base level of participation from all schools okay well that's just what I wanted to ask brought up the question thank you thank you knowing that Miss Justice would you like to

223make a motion sure item P yeah motion to pass it or to yeah all right is there a second second thank you miss krael any other discussion thank you Mr Anderson right all those in favor of approving the solid waste and recycling contract renewal say I I I I all those opposed it is approved all right um and I just want to note that the final item that we had on there was certified Personnel recommended for contract renewal um we did have um some of our new administrators here in the in the uh room tonight and I'm sorry that obviously there was a lot going on so we didn't get really a chance to acknowledge um but we do have some fantastic administrators that will be joining some of our schools and I don't know

224if you want to speak to that at all Dr Coker or we can all right okay moving along we do doesn't she want to say the names what's that don't we want to recognize them would you like I mean you don't have to but would you would you like to recognize just the names of of the administrators that are going to be joining us in new roles thank you for indulging I just like to celebrate the folks that are doing good things and we're recognizing those good things you're absolutely right and they were here in they they brought their family some of them had their family watching um so they were very excited to be here um but then um we allow them to to leave so we have a new principal Rosemary Willer wheeler

225at Eaton Elementary School who was here tonight with our principal Dr Brad Lewis who is the new new principal of Holly Shelton Middle School who was also here tonight we have Lena espanosa um she is the new assistant principal at Forest Hills Elementary School we have Bobby Garcia who is the new assistant principle at hogard high school um Beverly lad the new assistant principal at parsley um Elementary School aala Neely who is the new assistant principal at Roland Grace Middle School we had Justin zat who is the new assistant principal at Murrayville Elementary School um and that's it for tonight they were all here um tonight and they're very excited fantastic talent and it's very exciting to see it's internal and so to see some of our folks moving up through the ranks absolutely there's

226some really great training going on so thank you HR and thank you Dr fa yes ma'am can we also announce the other person that we are going to be hiring we have we have a couple of other a few other people we've mean like our Communications we've got a lot of people can we let's move on with just okay we will we get we'll get those out thank you so much Coker thank you we have our strategic planning Partners waiting on zoom and it is 10:25 at night and so I just wanted to Let's Move Along here if that is all right with everyone um let's see who do we have this is Nancy Hunter fantastic hey Nancy how are you good thank you how are you um can you enable screen sharing Anita is

227working on that and thank you both uh to you and Dr Palmer for for hanging with us we know it is late and it has been a long night so thank you for being here to give us an update on the strategic planning process for new Haner County Schools okay thanks thank you and I'm looking to see if I can share this with you and I think I can so um we are in this process we're excited to be going through it with you and um just wanted to quickly remind you what the process looks like there are five phases to it the first is planning and strategic assessment which is where we are now uh and then phase two will be developing the vision building the framework is the building phase four is presentation

228back and re-engagement and then phase five is finalization miss you could if you could speak up a little bit it's a little bit quiet if you could just talk a little bit louder please okay thank you um perfect can you hear me now yes ma'am okay so right now we're in Phase One and what you see in here the teal colored items we have completed um and those are the interviews with board and Leadership staff and I would like to say on behalf of both of us thank you so much to those who participated with us and shared your wisdom and experience um valuable input into the planning process um currently we are developing a survey instrument and we have scheduled the um other stakeholders that will be moving along down here the it it

229in the um lavender color or slight changes from the previous schedule I think we had mentioned that this might change based on the availability of people the school year and so on um but basically we still are on track to try to complete our assessment and get the data compiled and analyzed by August um we are looking to um survey students and parents at the end of August after the new school year begins because um we're told there'll be probably more responsive at that time so that slight change is there but we are still working on positioning ourselves to get through um most of this assessment and have the data and Analysis by August and um it's it's an exciting process um I think we're going to come up with some very rich data that

230we'll be able to use to develop um a really strong plan that you can Implement um Dr Palmer will um remind you of what happens after we finish the phase that we're currently in so in phase two uh we will focus on developing the vision and building the framework and this is where we will engage the board and or the leadership staff in a retreat type setting or space in order that we might be able to share um some the feedback information and data uh from the surveys and from the interviews and the like uh we will also determine what the essence of the goals will be the primary goals will be in the plan uh and um again that's what will happen in phase two this will be um a working together uh phase

231of developing um the division and building the framework and Nancy you can go ahead to three and phase three will focus on strategy building um this will be collaborative I think I I heard in the invocation um um a reference to um um a focus on um a collaborative effort um tonight or this evening and so um we hope that we will be able to um guide that that way of working together in this particular phase of strategy building so we'll collaborate there will be collaboration with the staff and of course uh with with with the board also we will be defining strategic details and making recommendations um as a part of this as a part of this phase in phase four um this is where we um actually present um a draft a working

232draft of the plan and we will um work to um work with the board and the staff and or stakeholders to do so um during this process we will also decide on um the way in which the um the plan will be presented again this is um to be facilitated and coordinated um in a collaborative fashion as well as um have and engage in a collective review uh of of the plan in terms of fa five uh finalizing the plan and positioning um for for the implementation of of the Strategic plan uh uh this is where you know we actually see uh the tangible results the deliverable is is the Strategic plan uh we will present that uh collectively and um seek approval from the board um at which point the plan will be um

233in a you know ready for implementation and so there will be some decisions made on on that and how the plan will be monitored and then we always encourage um follow-up visits as it relates to um the progress that's being made and how the the pro the the plan is being implemented that's a quick W where we're going with this and where we are at this point we're on schedule we have still a lot of um stakeholders to hear from a lot of interesting data and important data to still gather and we look forward to coming back to you with update and to working with you um in the fall to actually take all the data that's collected and turn it into a framework of goals that we can build out into a plan uh

234are there questions um or comments at this point in time um we again hope do hope we'll be coming back to you again but uh if you have any specific questions at this time please let us know I'll open it up to the board anyone at the board yes M I just have one quick question about um the survey of Staff that's supposed to take place between June and August um do we do we think we're going to be able to get a hold of staff that I mean some people are 10 10 months and some people are not so I just want to make sure that the folks that aren't working in the summer that we can still reach them is I mean we have to arrange those times what we what we would

235probably do is leave the survey open through August um and I would expect that if we have not had a good representative sampling uh or good participation by that time that we might go out again and reach out again to staff to remind them if they weren't able to access it during the summer to um to respond that's the same sort of the same issue as with students and parents that we felt like um based on what we were learning that we might not have good participation across the Summers so we really going to push that back toward August to be sure that they're included great thank you appreciate it any other questions or comments you just have by mail or by email or the surveys I think it's still they're still determining I think

236it'll be multi media um yes what we'll do is um contact people with different media but the survey itself will be online um it will also be if people would like it it can be printed um it but what we'll do is send a link and Andor QR code that people can access it um with you know laptops or telephones or those that prefer can use paper copies um and we will be working with the communication staff to determine the best methodology for reaching out to the different um stakeholders and we'll be um coordinating with them and following advice as far as how to best Reach people um what medium works best for which folks was the staff aware this prior to ending the school year they were going to be taking survey I'm sorry

237I didn't hear the question were the staff's notified before the end of the school year that they would have access to the input the survey or is that something that they just will receive Now by whatever multiple means um go ahead I was going to say you know tonight was to be um an overview and um providing feedback in terms of where we are with the timeline and the plan was also to um begin to do a more um more a formal roll out or more of a formal kind of kickoff of the Strategic plan as we discussed with with staff okay anything else thank you all right well on that note thank you very much for being here at such a late hour we look forward to our next steps and um you know

238I know that we all very much enjoyed our time with you with our interviews and to get this process started and look forward to what's coming next all right thank you have a good evening we appreciate it thank thank you all right next item on the agenda is parliamentary training um Miss Walker brought forward a request for parliamentary training for us to become more Adept at Robert's Rules and other parliamentary procedures um the op opportunity was provided to multiple uh parliamentarians um or different groups that provide parliamentary training um we have heard back from one of them um Miss Tannis Nelson of Nelson Consulting and marketing LLC and attached with this um item is her quote uh theou that she provides and so I would like to pass the floor to Miss Walker first if

239she would like to say any comments since this is her item and then we can open up the discussion for the board um this item is for um action if that is the direction we'd like to go well would it be appropriate for me to just make make the motion to accept it and then discuss or sure we can do that um in that case I would like to make a motion to accept M um Nelson's umou for approval by the board parliamentary second by Mr mcmanis okay all right so go ahead we will open it up for discussion if anyone has any comments questions concerns yes M crille so is this anou or a contract because you said both she sorry I didn't she listed as anou um but she's given us a fee

240and usually don't cost us anything and and I would think that before we would do anything we would have to have th this is really just a proposal um we would have to have her complete a a Services contract or something through the finance department so although it says it it is a proposal this is a proposal um and so it it this is not a contract or anou this is a proposal so there's no there's no actual contract here and that would be something that there there are some standard contracts that the the board has um got access or that the Administration has to to do small contracts like this for services okay so we can't actually vote on it then right we can to accept the proposal to move forward with with a

241contract creation I guess would be the well I mean I think this is an amount that is within the you know it would not have to get board approval for this amount of an expenditure I I believe I mean the board wants to go forward with this training you can approve that tonight but I think that this is within the superintendent's Contracting Authority for services okay all right so I did have one other one other comment where it says um in there that this may not be televised or recorded So if we are all together um it has to be an open Forum so how do we do that that's a good question it would have to be done in an open meeting um and so you're not required to televise your meetings but that

242is your practice and that's certainly what you have done in in the past U but it would have to be open to the public I'm assuming it's because she's doing this like in a proprietary way like this is her training and she does I guess some people are like that when they have specialized training they don't want other people to see it and steal you know because she's um licensed and everything like that um and isn't it IT training certain training you don't have to have uh the public involved remember right yeah we've done training we've done training without being televised it has to be an open meeting it's an open meeting yeah the public may not show up people can come so if anybody wanted to sneak in and get free training they they

243could wow how nice of them within reason within yeah six people is what we can fit in right right and I just wanted to clarify okay all right great any other discussion well I I think that it's quite evident that it would be a very good Training for all of us cons considering what we do on a regular basis and it might make things go more efficiently smoothly understood consider the expert absolutely all right uh so there is a motion and a second uh shall we go ahead and vote uh all those in favor of accepting uh Nels the Nelson Consulting proposal um and to move forward say I I I I all those opposed proposal is accepted um Miss buoy if you can reach out to Miss Nelson and we will begin that process

244thank you very much what's that I think we're all kind of like right next item on the agenda is policies for second reading and I'm going to pass the microphone to M oh miss kill I believe is going to I'm gon to still do it for Nelson he's he's going to listen in and and coach from afar um all right so we are talking about policies for second reading could you yeah so everybody can look and see what they are so we are talking about um policy 4150 actually I should say the names um School assignment um unsafe school choice transfer injury and loss prevention service animals in schools release of students from school of student from school and that was from one meeting and then we also have um another round of items for

245first reading um is I'm sorry no we're only going for first reading this is second second oh shoot I'm sorry you guys I'm a okay my first Duty and I messed it up yeah I know all right how let me find the the oh we're doing second readings first yes sorry okay so that the the policies were the same that I was reading I apologize um and we also have um tuition for discretionary admissions student Insurance programs communic communicable diseases child abuse and related threats North Carolina um address address confidentiality program student sex offenders concussion and head injury attendance confidentiality personal identifying information rules governing confidentiality of personal identifying information and surveys of students so um Nelson had sent um an email to folks um to if there's any that you wanted to pull um

246I didn't get any um Nelson did you get any no I didn't get anything okay so are there any now um um or are we ready to um pass these ones for a second reading I'll make a motion to accept the policies for second reading can I second okay okay all right is there any discussion all those in favor say I I I closed all right policies have been accepted yay thank you thank you my first job moving along uh into new business uh this first one is extremely exciting Mary Hazel small would you like to come to the microphone we had a a a big win last night um the county Commissioners uh have approved their budget and our teachers will now be possibly the highest paid in the state if not they're like

247they're pretty close up there so assuming nobody else changes assuming nobody else changes but this Ian we can't we can't thank the Commissioners enough for their support and I mean truly this is going to give us the opportunity to recruit retain the best in the business and um just appreciate the partnership the the work that the finance team has put into this Dr F and his team has put into this um you know the county manager and the County Commissioners it's just been such a incredible collaborative process so pass it to you thank you um that was part of what I was going to say so you said it better I appreciate that um I did want to point out that both the teacher supplement schedule and the administrator um schedules were um presented to

248you in I believe at the April board meeting so it's the same format that we've been looking at for for a couple of months um but now that the Commissioners have approved the funding our budget won't be approved until July but you can go ahead and approve the schedules which will help us in hiring and so um I do recommend that you approve um those schedules also um this is the time of year that we approve all the supplement schedules um there was a minor change to the extra Duty supplement schedule and also some changes to athletic stien schedules that were um recommended to um provide greater Equity between sports and so I had listed those in in the summer I'll for the sake of time I will only discuss that if you have questions

249um but at this time I recommend that you approve the supplement schedules as presented um can I ask a question so you said that we're going to approve the final budget in July um they approve their budget um we will bring our our recommendation to you in July um we are still waiting on the state to find out what our um benefit rates and and what raises they're going to um approve for our state um paid employees before we finalize our total budget so okay um so these supplements aren't yet set in stone until all these other um processes are in place correct um no the these supplements once the board approves them will be effective July 1 um we have a continuing budget resolution that'll and which is a little bit later on the

250agenda um probably the next item but um that will allow us to continue at current year spending rates but um the budget's going to come to you by July 15th so we'll have authority to spend you know up through last year's budget so I don't think that would be a problem so um the the intent was that you go ahead and approve and we hire based on that most teachers won't start till August anyway except at year on school so um they the the funding for that is totally local the things that we're waiting for are based on state state funds so um we weren't planning to um there wouldn't be a change in in how we use the funds that were allotted to us for supplements okay so this is a recommendation um I'm

251going to state right now I'm very disappointed that the support staff classified people have been left out of a lot of this I've been yelling about the $15 an hour for a long time and I I love the teachers they they deserve every penny they get but so do the people that support them and the fact that you know we might be the number one One supplement for teachers in the state doesn't Aleve the fact that you know our other employees deserve better and I know you said that hopefully the state will help but we won't know we will be bringing um recommendations for salary schedules um for classified and central office administrators but until we know how much the state is going to pay we have several different proposals and we we need to

252see which one we can afford once we know because most of those employees are State paid um and with with most of their salary coming from state but that's our choice it could we could be giving them also supplements so what happened is um the Commissioners told us what we were going to do with the local money so we didn't get to say we wanted to do this this was told so if you go back they'll when when did they do that yesterday no this was they've always said they were funding the teachers and so this is what they're not funding the local with their local funds they stated to us that they were going to be funding the teachers well what well now I do know that a couple years ago when I first

253proposed this at the time it was Dr Markley and he did say that he could look and find it with your help possibly is would that still be a possibility at this late state if the state doesn't doesn't fund these the $15 minimum we can't use the local dollars because the Commissioners voted on what they wanted to fund us with that's one well $13 million Miss Justice I would encourage you if that's something that you feel very strongly about and we know that and you've been advocating you know and and it's something that I think we all would like to see our classified salaries go up I would encourage you to have those conversations with our commissioners so when they're having those discussions for the next year's budget maybe that becomes a focal point this

254year the commitment was to the teachers well I believe that at one point we're supposed to be heading towards $15 next year anyway but I'm concerned now but it is what it is I guess I agree with you is there is there anything I mean you say local funding um is it set in stone that we can't move any well then is there any other way to come up with a 15 in some other pot I mean seriously we we have in the and what we're going to bring to you in July we are being as creative as possible I can assure you um using um estimated increases in state funds as well as you know based on just the one of the things we're waiting on to find out is the state going to

255um they fund US based on projections and they need there's a bill under consideration that would allow them to not reduce that to actual if our projections come in low you know because oh I see what you if we don't hit yeah right so we don't we really need to to make sure that they're not going to reduce our budget before we commit salaries that we couldn't fund for the the whole year so once we know a little bit more about the state budget um I hope to be able to bring a proposal to you that will you know at least bring us to that second step you know with a minimum of $14 which is what we had just talked about but I can't I can't tell you that for sure until we know

256um how much the state can fund because most of those employees are State paid so for tonight we need to approve or not approve the supplement yeah more anything else I'm trying to find out information about how to help that's what it is at this point it's been going on for two years point I I don't know if the average that's wrong word I don't know if most of the public realizes that as of January 1st of 21 state employees no longer have health insurance when they retire they're all going to what no longer have health insurance when they retire paid new hires new hires correct um so so someone who was hired before Jan January was it 21 I guess I've lost all track it was 20 or 21 but I think it was

25721 um if they were hired after that point when they retire they won't have that's right they won't have it so and that probably is one of the to me one of the biggest variables I ever had in hiring teachers when you can tell them just add $1,000 to your net when you retire because that's what insurance going to cost you before you have serious problems so anything we can do to help the classified in particular I agree absolutely I think it's absolutely important and we even have I mean in that proposal a comp study so I mean we just have to wait for the state because we can't get ahead of ourselves and produce something and don't I think they need know we are we that we're sure AB what we can do tonight

258is approve a supplement schedule is there a motion the I thought we do we ask questions before the motion or after the motion well why don't we let's get a motion to we know the recommendation is there a motion I'll motion thank Miss is there a second thank you Miss walk ER okay discussion okay so I just um these were questions that I had um not with the number at all but I just wanted to know um some of the things we've listed on here we're not doing anymore so are are they just on there as placeholders and I'm talking like the senior project coordinator which we don't require anymore um and then I noticed that um we have a lum department head gets a stien but then the Marine Science leader at Ashley doesn't

259get a stipended or the um stem medical you know person at Laney doesn't get a stien and the IB person at hoger doesn't get a stien so will that be incorporated somewhere um we we certainly can do that if that is the board that that was an oversight I can tell you okay um we we weren't looking to change this um schedule except for the the one item that was requested of us that that um is listed on the front about the advanced Ed team chair to make um sure that the early colleges who participate in that process have the same stien the year they go through that process as the um Traditional High Schools but the others we had not looked at that yet that was not a priority in this year's budget to

260go through this whole schedule but we probably need to okay but but we will certainly take that consideration if this boort if it is the board's pleasure we can you know make that change right now so that all of the um you know we either remove that or they all would get it it at your direction we could we could make that change that need a motion can I make a motion within a motion no stagger to do that or do we have to vote on one and then or can I withdraw my motion to make a new motion you can I think that you would you would make a motion uh for an amendment um to approve the this there's already a motion to approve this and you would move to amend by adding

261um to to add to the motion those additional position positions if that's the desire okay that's what I would like to make my motion to be um what what Deborah said the an amendment to add those additional those additional stiens for the um specialty program leaders at each high school at Traditional High School is there second all right Miss Walker any other discussion on that one all those in favor say I all those opposed okay the amendment passes Within can we go ahead and take a vote for the overall supplement with the amendment all right we have a first and a second all those in favor to approve the supplement say I I I I those opposed supplement schedules are approved thank you very much I believe you are staying here for the year and

262budget amendment resolution more for you um the next um two items are resolutions that are are generally brought to the board in June um to both close out the current year and and sort of um provide the bridge until the budget is approved um in July so first for the year-end budget resolution um I will just read it to you um the Board of Education authorizes the Chief Financial Officer to approve budget amendments as of June 30th 20121 needed to balance budget to actual expenditures for State position allotments and non-all outted programs for which the state covers actual cost and to transfer state and local funds as needed to maximize State funding and I request your approval all right you've heard the recommendation is there a motion I'll move thank you Mr wior a second

263thank you Miss Walker any discussion all those in favor say I I I all those opposed year and budget amendment resolution is passed thank you the second is uh or the next item is the interim budget resolution um which um you know allows us to continue operations um after July 1st until the budget is approved the budget could be approved at any point it it doesn't have to happen in July generally we approve it um at the July meeting or you approve it at the July meeting but um some years and I think last year was one of those years we waited because we we were expecting the state budget and it it kept getting delayed and I think it wasn't approved until October but normally it happens in July so um either way this

264this resolution would cover and it read to be a resolved by um the new hmer County Board of Education that superintendent is empowered to allocate encumber and spend from all funds expenses necessary for the operation of the school system expenditures shall not exceed the prior year budget and um the resolution will take in effect July 1 2021 until formal and continue until formal budget adoption okay the you've heard the recommendation to adopt the interim budget resolution is there a motion motion so moved thank you Mr bullier is there a second Miss Walker thank you and any discussion all those in favor say i i i i is opposed uh it is resolution is adopted 7 to zero and I believe you on again for the insurance policy renewal thank you um I'm requesting your approval

265for our renewal of our insurance premiums um totaling 1,277 129 to be effective July 1 2021 through July 1 2022 um there's a there was a list provided for you of um each type of policy and the price for each and at this time I request your approval all right you have heard the recommendation for the approval of the insurance policy renewal is there a motion moved thank you Mr bullier is there a second second thank you Mr wildbore any discussion yeah I I had just a question about um the the total amount that the so we're only insured oh our premiums are only 1 million only 1 million um premium so what does that equate to in um coverage um is that what those numbers are the 566,000 or it it does vary by

266type there's several different types of liability um and each each one has um um dollar amounts of coverage and deductibles I certainly can provide that to you I I have have the list here if you want me to read it um but um I didn't um I guess my question was is this enough I mean I know it's hard it might be difficult um I'm not sure what our status is on getting Insurance um so is this enough coverage this this is the insurance that we were able to nego the coverage we were able to negotiate okay any other questions or comments all right uh there's a motion and a second all those in favor of Rec of of approving the insurance policy renewal say I I I all those opposed recommendation passes you next

267option or next item resolution authorizing increase in micro purchase threshold thank you this is a new one um but I think if it is something that that the board wishes to do it will be added to the every June um you get to approve this so um with our federal funding um the the federal guidelines are called uniform guidance and they set the um the amount by which we have to bid purchases and it's currently um and those are called micro purchases the way way you purchase without bids um at $110,000 and they have um in this past year they have updated uniform guidance to allow a local government to increase it to 50,000 or whatever state law allows and so the attached resolution which I wasn't planning to read to you but hopefully you

268reviewed it um is the recommended language from the UNCC School of government that meets state law and gives us the flexibility provided by the the federal government So based on the type of purchases for some it would be 30,000 in compliance with state law and for um purchas of services it would be 50,000 so this point I am recommending um your approval of this this is called a self-certification process that allows us you know to to make the choice to to um to purchase in this way um the the other way that we you know we also have purchases where you can get a waiver um and we have a process we have to go through the Department of Public construction to get a waiver if there's something that we are trying to buy like

269curriculum where there's only one provider so that that that that's separate from this but this would allow us if we were trying to do a workshop that cost $122,000 we wouldn't have to get a waiver you know if we had this this in place so um that was probably really bad example it's the only one I could think of right then but um if this is approved when we get to the purchasing policies with the policy renewal we'll also include this language in the policy but it would still the the regulations would still require that the board approve make this decision every year so even though it's not currently in policy we can go ahead and still recommend to start this yes so so it's not currently in policy but once you approve this with

270the intent to put it in policy in the future you're you'll be good for this year just we just want to address your purchasing policy should address this is what I'm trying to say but um if you approve it that would allow us to to to use this more flexible way of purchasing in the coming year um and if not we will continue it'll be fine we'll continue with what we're doing now at the 10,000 okay so the recommendation is to approve the attached uh resolution authorizing increase in the micro purchase threshold for purchases of goods and services using Federal funding is there a motion yes okay thank you Mr Buller is there a second second thank you miss kille any discussion or additional questions okay all those in favor say I I I all

271those opposed it is approved let's micro purchase all right next up uh new han County School's application for Career and Technical education state and federal funding fiscal years 2122 Dr Lesean Smith welcome thank you good evening um we are asked for the board's approval of the application for Career and Technical education this provides the guidance for the Strategic development of our plan and so your approval of this plan just allows us to access the funding for the 2021 2022 school year okay so you have heard the recommendation to approve the application uh is there a motion motion Miss Justice thank you I didn't know it was that loud I have no idea what's going on here is there a second second all right Mr wero thank you any discussion yes I had a question Madam

272chair so is this um is this to be spread apart for us to use at for the CTE programs at all of our traditional high schools and and CCH high school so this supports our comprehensive Career and Technical education program so this would include all of our high schools and Al all of our middle schools and in any expansion that we might do for elementary I know in the past we've done um an elementary event to get elementary students interested so everything that we would offer under career in technical education yes and so what are we like how much are we applying for it and I I apologize for asking all these late questions I was reading it this afternoon and it the wrong attachment was up so I couldn't even develop any questions to

273ask you so this is our planning document so I could get that information to okay yeah I do not believe Miss shord is still on no that's cool I can call you later I just wanted to make sure it was it was usable for all of our CTE programs and not you know just one or or something no it is comprehensive and it is um across the district okay yes thank you okay we have a motion and a second right we did that sorry it's getting late uh we have a motion in a second we've had discussion uh all those in favor say I I I all those opposed applications approved thank you all right next up is the alternative schools modified accountability system participation yes so this next agenda item is um asking for

274the board's uh approval to submit to the State Board of Education our alternative modified School accountability um participation plan um for Lake Forest and JC row we're looking at option b which simply means means that their accountability model will include um student progress as well as looking at proficiency levels and then for career Readiness Academy we would follow the traditional option which would be option A right so you have heard the recommendation to approve option b the alternative schools progress model for Lake Forest Academy and JC row and to utilize three years of performance data to calculate the school performance grades for each school is there a motion so moved thank you Miss Justice is there a second second thank you Mr wildbore any other discussion I just had a brief question um this is

275just specifically for altern um I can't read right now alternative schools is there not way we can do that with all our schools we have like a modified accountability system is that not allowed by SCH it is not available the reason that this is available for these three three schools is because they have been classified um for us as a district as alternative school model um the reason we're making the change with career um Readiness Academy is because we're re-evaluating them okay I was just hoping we could have an alternative like grading system for all our schools anyway thank you we have a first and a second uh and we've had discussion all those in favor say I I all those opposed it is accepted for yes approve Plan B next up oh you're leaving

276I lost my pleas here here we go plan for social emotional learning so we have a presentation do you guys want to take a really quick like 3 minutes just break stretch our legs all right we'll come right back and and I really mean at this time everyone let's do three minutes all right lot less distraction bring it back in all right welcome back thank you thank you for indulging that quick break we know it has been a extremely long evening uh we welcome Miss Julie varnum to the podium to do a presentation for us this evening on the plan for social emotional learning and mental health thank you uh per Senate Bill 476 and subsequent school um stateboard policy um shlt -003 local school districts are required to adopt and Implement a plan for

277promoting student mental health and well-being and for assessing our ongoing efforts for the effectiveness of our supports for mental and social emotional health and substance use needs of our students and this this is required to be in effect by July 1st so I'm required to um provide the overview to you and present it to you for submission to the Department of Public Instruction so um some of the um strong recommendations regarding needs assessment include as you can see LinkedIn blue um the shape quality assessment uh needs assessments resource mapping and then the social emotional learning and crisis response practice guide I want to let you know that that um our um uh mental health leadership team and the safer schools task force have been involved in this work for quite some time and so the

278needs assessments were um pretty well underway by the time we moved into this plan um we had a pretty U multidisciplinary team working on this uh many within student support but also um support staff and supports from instruction Human Resources schools um across the board and and really supporting this effort from a multidisciplinary approach so moving through the core social emotional learning and mental Wellness supports first of all um we focused on our strengths and needs with regard to prevention strengths and um looking at the Core Curriculum that have already been implemented uh along with other efforts such as multi-tiered systems of support School based mental health many of these efforts that we've talked about over the last several months needs would be um incorporating the social emotional learning into the curriculum and culture of

279our schools and then really looking at our teaming systems to make sure that we are analyzing our impact with um that implementation much of this would be surrounding some professional development but then also um some of the resources that we found as gaps that we have also included in um future planning such as substance misuse programming for our students and then also um on the um the last column to the right we have hyperlink um the resources that we used so that those are um able to be accessed and reviewed and if there are any questions certainly let me know the next is really describing our um PSU is is kind of the new um term Public School unit instead of local Education Agency so instead of Lea we're referring to ourselves as psus in

280North Carolina now um so we really talked about could you say that again because that is so different from what I've so so DPI is referring to typical school districts or Traditional School Districts as public school units now psus um and not leas like local Education Agency okay yeah so when you see that just know it's just it's just the thing that that DPI is doing now okay because we just really like more acronyms um for our existing that's my um 116 humor 11:16 p.m humor um for our existing initiatives that are really prevention initiatives we wanted to uh lay out um the efforts that our staff are already incorp operating into um The Daily World in our classroom we've got our systemwide multi-tier systems of support we do have our Harmony curriculum our second

281step curriculum and then other student safety curricula that we've talked about over the last few months um and then also involving that is our family life curriculum and how that incorporates with our healthful living standards uh in addition moving through other resources that we have in place for our students that we've covered in in um recent us and then um other discussions for what we have going on with student support including school-based therapy our Wilmington Health Access for teens clinics and then other resources such as um our school Wellness coaches which is the school health advisory Council um initiative and then other reporting systems and um supplemental resources within our buildings so we'll move on um the next is really building and aligning our infrastructure and this was something that we have um have had

282well underway but use this as an opportunity to um not only kind of assess internally but look at new resources that have been um brought about by the Department of Public Instruction they've they've created um a a really healthy um toolkit for us with new mental health information with regard to Suicide um prevention protocols and so um our team has been working more more on excuse me looking through that training and determining where we might have gaps in our current process because we use um we use tools and protocols that are like the Berkeley and the Colombia that are already in place but this might give us more comprehensive approach and then a team training approach um so our safety director Mr lle who is here um Manning maning the station um he's been he's

283been um essential in working through that analysis the other um pieces we've worked on are really improving our student support staff ratios and you all have been very supportive in that effort um we do have our ratios linked over here to the right and we know that those are only improving with the increase of um our school social workers and school counselors in addition to School nurses as a part of our ongoing um efforts and then of course utilizing our um stakeholder feedback knowing that that feedback back from our families our students whether it's um as a part of particular curricula and uh or anecdotal or whether it's a part of formal team structures um such as the um Family intervention teams within our schools utilizing that to really leverage Partnerships and resources to make

284sure that we're getting the most impact for our student outcomes so next really excuse me aligning with our academic objectives um this plan would be remiss if we did didn't tie it into um student academic outcomes we know that that's that's our work that's our focus and the only reason we're addressing these other issues and these other areas um that are at risk for our students is because they are barriers to learning so each school will tie this back into their school Improvement plan which we know is tied to the NC Star indicators and um focus on for three consecutive years and then um so we've got not only professional development for our teams on that um for our school teams on that but also aligning our social emotional learning to the academic outcomes and

285then that happens through of course instruction so therefore you can see that we've got the aligned lesson planning that pulls that together um schools will have individual plans for those indicators because they're using their own student data this is not going to be a districtwide um cookie cutter plan for school a to school Z simply because that's not going to be functional and it's not going to um provide us the greatest impact for our student outcomes and so the next would be um our prevention curricula we um have had many of these pieces as a part of our ongoing efforts but we're really focusing more now um the return um to our daily instruction after um having kind of that hybrid model this school year um really looking at making ensure that we are getting

286the most bang for our buck with regard to our instruction um many times the whether it's the Fidelity of the implementation or really that analysis of how students are responding to the instruction something in there might be missing and we might we might have one part of the intervention really strong and another part not really um reaching our students or all of our students in the way that we intend so having that as a part of our revision and um kind of problem solving model so we know that um we're focusing on all of those in more of um an analysis view with gives a little bit of a different lens we're not just putting things on a checklist and saying these are good things to do and let's check them off we're measuring the

287impact and the impact is going to is going to continue to be seen through our individual student data and then Collective student data um so that's how we lead to the um the data evaluation piece and and of course we are utilizing um school-based and District based evaluation tools for those and some of those are linked here and then you'll um end up seeing more of those through our implementation of policy 4302 which is that school plan for the management of student Behavior which is really that individual School plan for Behavior needs that goes into the school Improvement plan which will come back to you so we can move through that system roll through the system of early intervention many of the pieces I've already mentioned um fall into this such as identifying our students

288who are um at risk of um developing social emotional learning needs or mental health needs at school and then using our resource mapping tools to make sure that we're providing them the lowest level or least restrictive intervention options first um and I I won't go into a quote for that it came to my lips and I won't do that because it's too late and I'll mess it up um um or maybe I will so an intervention just like special education once a special educator always a special educator an intervention is is much like um you know any other potion it can be a it can be a toxin or a cure and it's all about dosage so we have to make sure that we are providing the least restrictive options so that we are we

289are providing our students the most inclusive instructional opportunities um then moving through um our individual school teams and our fit teams being able to provide that that prescriptive model based on the resources in their own schools the resource mapping not that resources are discrepant from school to school but they might not all be the exact same they have the same rubric um for staff allocations so they're going to have the same access to the resources that they need but they might need um one type of um position over another uh just depending upon the student data so being completely responsive and flexible to that the next is the treatment referral um piece where we're really looking at um making sure that we are providing again that least restrictive option but that doesn't just mean with

290regard to intervention it might mean with regard to school placement and support for students whether they are transitioned into an alternative program such as Lake Forest with a day treatment model how do we provide that transition back how are we supporting our students that have been receiving a higher level of care maybe outside of a typical Public School setting but they really need the resources that we can that we can support them with in the district and that might happen through an alternative program prior to um transitioning back so of course those are um much involved in um School re-entry again on the right side we have our Continuum of Mental Health Services um our mapping for school-based mental health therapy and then also our transition plan um and of course we will will um

291be updating this Improvement plan at each of our um Improvement plan team meetings and we will be um analyzing it quarterly with our evaluation data um I will let you know that um my team and I run monthly um District data evaluations that I share with the rest of senior staff um to really kind of keep a progress monitoring um finger on where our Trends are headed so we'll know when we need to kind of take a step back in quarters and so a lot of information there was good job and even you know at this hour I love talking about it so um do you do you have any questions good job though thank you very much and this is a very important program yes thank you very um I I do have a

292question and I'm sorry it's late but the um is this any part of this plan going to be included in our strategic plan so that we can all follow along with you um that would be my hopes that that's certainly um part of my voice um when when interviewed I I certainly am going to provide or I did provide um our goals and it's included in my goals to to Dr fa as a part of my work in the in um the division that I'm leading so that would certainly be my my preference too question you've already identified the schools so this plan is actually for all schools so we have we have other support systems um whether it's a professional development plan like I presented last that um is for identified schools yes but

293this one is for all 45 schools thank you all right thank you very much Miss farum appreciate the presentation and appreciate all the work that went into creating this and it is going to be sorely needed as we come out of covid with our students next year so this is going to be very important thank you thank you I am going to need an approval on oh sorry there I forgot there is a recommendation I'm there the recommendation is to approve to submit it to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is there motion thank you Miss Justice is there a second Miss Walker any discussion all those in favor say I I I I any opposed it is approved 7 to zero thank you welcome all right next up pulling places usage agreement Mr

294Eddie Anderson good evening um we're asking the board's approval of the polling places us usage agreement with Board of Elections um contract term for this agreement is uh uh from approval through the end of the calendar year December 31st uh well next calendar year 2022 and includes 19 sites we ask for your approval tonight right you have heard the recommendation is there a motion motion I'll make Mo motion to to approve from Miss Walker is there a second second thank you Miss craen any discussion all those in favor say I I I all those opposed polling places are approved y you are staying here to share the North Carolina interconnection agreement for State jurisdictional generator interconnections that is a mouthful I know this is actually a really exciting item um tonight we're asking for your

295approval of the interconnection agreement with Duke Energy Progress LLC um I will say the the agreement has um has been reviewed and approved by the school board's attorney as well as the uh North Carolina Utility Commission uh that was not an easy process but uh everyone has has now approved the agreement um it will um this will allow final connection of the solar array at Murray Middle School um to the electrical grid which is expected to produce little over 152,000 kilow per year uh which will result in a little over a 7 and a half% savings uh to Murray Middle School in our in our Energy bill um and I would like to point out that the uh entire project uh would not be possible uh if not for uh Grant through NC green power

296um the State Employees Credit Union Foundation actually matched the the uh fundraising effort of Murray middle school and we're also participating in the Duke Energy rebate program so those are uh three things that uh like I said wouldn't project wouldn't be possible without those we ask for your approval of the uh interconnection agreement all right you have heard the recommendation is there a motion so moved thank you Mr wildor is there a second second second thank you Mr mcmanis any discussion it sounds great by the way I was that a discussion sounds really go green go green this is fantastic and any money that we save we can put it into other ways to support our students in schools right more solar projects right there okay more solar pins got it all right uh all

297those in favor say I I I all those opposed agreement is approved thank you next item on the agenda our policies for first reading and I believe Miss kille is also going to be handling this item as well okay so we have um several policies um to look to to look through for first reading tonight um 3620 extracurricular activities in student organizations and then um halfway through our 5,000 series schools in the community parents organizations School volunteers visitors to the schools registered sex offenders emergency epine epine yeah please say that word um auto injector devices prohibit prohibition of drugs and alcohol smoking and tobacco products weapons and explosives prohibited um automated um external defibrillators and Community use of facilities um Nelson again had asked everyone if they have any policies that they wanted to pull

298out um for further discussion to um let me or him know I didn't hear of any um did you hear of any Mr Boer I did not miss krael okay so um are there any that we would like to pull out for further dis for separate discussion um otherwise we'll go ahead and accept them all for first reading I believe these are for information only I don't think we have to actually we don't have to vote on them oh have do anything okay these are the policies for first reading and um so we will um look at those for second reading at our July meeting okay mad chair yes sir I would like to pull policy 3620 for further discussion okay uh go ahead you mean for further discussion at the next meeting or further

299discussion at this moment at at this moment I know it's late uh we had discussed that previously uh I'd like to look at the language and ask for a I would like to make a motion to wave first reading on that policy we had a first reading we added a little bit language uh just to make sure that students would be able to understand that they cannot automatically play high school sports just because of this middle school policy um most of the discussion or a large percentage of the discussion at CTE this evening uh was on this issue and uh I I think it's important to give our school system guidance to give our administr Traders guidance to give the community a firm answer on where this system stands and I understand there's a lot

300of passion on both sides of this issue um we were elected to make the tough decisions this is one of them and uh I think we are prepared to make it tonight so I would ask to wave first reading for this policy and adopt it okay uh so there is a motion to wave first reading for policy 3620 yes M dagner would you like to weigh in here no I was just going to say that there would be the motion first a way first reading and then a motion to approve it got it okay thank you so is there a second second all right Miss Walker uh motion to wave first reading of 3620 uh any discussion Madam chair board members Dr fa members the of new han County School System parents and other stakeholders

301of our school system before we have before us we have a very delicate and important topic just to recap on how we got here our Title 9 director felt like he needed to be able to answer people when they asked about transgender students in uh Middle School athletics please note that the topic was not brought forth by a board member nor by the school system nor by the state um Board of Education group that we're working with but by the title 9 director I feel that we need to discuss it from a simple Common Sense approach the title n director in his brief research clearly stated that no one no other school district that he had contacted was doing anything like this he discounted the other school districts saying that they did not understand or

302do a good job in researching the question our state has a very clear policy for students that are in 9th through 12th grade the policy allows students to go through a protocol to keep all the sports arena as Fair as possible for all for all a athletes according to our Title 9 director though he feels the other counties are not up as he is on current events other counties are following a simle a similar process for Middle School athletics as they are in the high schools please understand this is a nationwide issue several states have already chimed in including Idaho Arkansas Tennessee Mississippi South Dakota and Florida baning transgender athletes from participating in school courts the ACLU has stated that 25 to 30 states have introduced similar bills um please understand that I do pray

303for all our students and I do want them all to succeed I do ask and beseech my colleagues on the board to think and pray about this very important decision some important things that you do need to remember one putting a procedure in place would not bear a bar excuse me putting a procedure in place place would not bar transgender athletes from participation in athletics two it would prepare the students for the protocol at the high school level that we have no option to change it's there so we don't need to CH we can't change it three it would help our coaches and our teachers from being put in no win situations whether to keep or cut a transgender athlete as well as questions about playtime or lack thereof four even the military has a

304protocol to allow transgender Soldiers and Sailors into the military there's a protocol five as one of my learned colleagues on the board has pointed out recently to me there's a good chance that our current president will make an executive order that specifically addresses this and it may end up in the Supreme Court it makes sense to wait even if our title uh nine director wants an answer now we need to do what's best for our students and our faculties new han County Schools not necessarily what one director thinks is best so I'm against waving a policy changing policies thank you Mr wbore and Mr mcmanis you had a comment also I'd like to add when we first discuss this being a high school principal and going through this before we ever had the transgender issue

305um we have the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and a wasow you can correct me if I'm wrong um but they require a process um I think we're kind of throwing the middle school kids under the bus if we don't at least add a process to the middle school because I think it gives everyone a defining moment and an understanding and I think it involves when you ram something down somebody's throat it's never going to work and if if we're going to do if we're going to do it we need to do it with planning and discussion so I I I think that it needs to be discussed again I truly do and I think we need to to look at a process okay any other comments um yes um remember that the motion

306here is to wave exactly that's what I want to speak on so um um I will I will withhold my my discussion on the policy itself but um I am against waving policy um waving this reading um right now because we've already experienced two times tonight where we have not followed the policy that we have written um I don't know about you but I have heard over and over that our board has um our board previous boards have been very derel and inconsistent with following our own policies and we got to start somewhere and just two cases tonight where we have broken our own policy and here we are at 11:40 and we're still doing it so I am against waving policy waving the reading of the first policy based on just principle alone and

307the fact that this is not critical and um I am not opposed to waving a policy from time to time but this is not Mission critical um there is no student that's going to be harmed um if we don't do something tonight um students right now are are all eligible to play you they can they can apply we don't have any teams right now but um they're all eligible and so I don't know why we cannot follow our own policy on this very easy one and then um discuss it when it's when it's due that's my thoughts can I discuss okay are you referring to the policy about the uh call to the audience I am referring to that one because it says clearly right here a maximum amount of time for public comment will

308be one hour speakers remaining end of the hour may be recognized at the end of the board's agenda and we we we clearly skipped that um I don't want people not to be heard but you know what we we've got to start somewhere following and there's a policy that you had brought up that you're going to bring up again later the ad hoc committee where we talked about it and you're going to ask to wave that one too probably and we've already talked about so I'm just set the stage this is we're talking about this right now I know but it's the same that's about waving skipping policy and not following our own rules I think that at this point there has been so much public discussion it has already been sent back to policy

309once before there is a reason we can wave policy there was a reason we were elected just to make a vote is fine um if you feel that way that is your perspective but I think this is important to the public and I do think it matters to the kids I do think it matters to their parents um and I do think that we need to consider an awful lot of things like Changing Times is 2021 we know so much more than we ever did before if you start getting into science we could go on and on but at least give these kids an opportunity to be themselves are authentic selves especially at middle school high school is a different matter possibly but right now Middle School is kids playing games there's not as somebody

310mentioned earlier there's no Scholarships in yes all right any other comments yeah and to to add to that about the waving part is that um Nelson asked specifically for those of us that had issues um that wanted things to be pulled to let us know ahead of time no one did except um everybody out there is waiting for a vote that was never supposed to happen so I'm just a little perturbed with my fellow board members who were telling people that we were going to be voting on something tonight and giving false information and false hope that and telling people I'll take care of it you know I will make sure that we don't vote on it and I am just I'm kind of a little bit you know kind of fed up and frustrated

311that we can't follow our own rules I agree so that's what I'm talking about with waving so to to that motion that's the thoughts on that okay sorry I'm still I'm thinking myself um any other comments regarding the waving of the policy if I could just you know add back you know if we if we all remember back to December when we were making the most the B probably the biggest decisions of the night at4 to 12 we're doing it again I think it would be much smarter to wait and and think about it and and for those who pray pray about it we we have the power to do this let's just go and do it we've got a motion in a second I just think we should just do what we were eled

312to do which is vote on these matters all right I we will call the question then um I think that this was going to be split so let's go down the line um Mr wildbore just we're voting to wave this is to wave the policy Yes W wave first reading for 3620 no so okay Mr Willer Bo a no Miss Walker yes I am going to be a yes no Mr mcus no yes yes and then Mr Buller yes all right so motion passes 4 to3 so now there will I'm assuming there needs to be a follow-up Motion in regards to approving it is that correct that's what she said M dager yes yes so is there a motion to approve policy 3620 as written I'll make a motion to approve thank you Miss Walker

313is there a second second thank you Miss Justice any discussion additional discussion no all right we'll call the vote uh all those in favor say I to approve 3620 as is I I for uh straw pole please sure you want to go yes Mr wior no yes I'm a yes yes Mr crel Mr mcis yes yes Mr bullier I'm a yes and I'd just like to briefly add I will be leaving the meeting after this vote all right thank you uh policy 3620 passes um for second reading in a vote of 5 to2 thank you all right um the [Applause] rest uh the rest did we do the policies for for the rest of them no those are for information okay moving on um Head Start we have I believe Shannon Smiles are you still

314on there oh wow oh my goodness indeed I am thank you Miss Smiles school we go to bed at eight people you're hanging tough tonight all right hanging tough Madam chair we are asking the board's approval for me to write for carryover funds for $64,500 to continue to support our health and safety Aid position at Johnson pre center that is um written in our quality Improvement plan for next school year and we would like to keep these funds instead of losing them thank you very much and Dr Smith are you up here to share anything else well just in case um Shannon was not there I was prepared yes all right you have heard the recommendation for approval of a one-time supplemental funding carryover request to fund a health and safety Aid position um to

315continue to carry out qip expectations and to be prepared for Focus to Head Start Federal review us Department Health and Human Services compendium of required certifications and Assurance forms do I hear a motion I so moved thank you Miss Justice is there a second second thank you Miss Walker any discussion all those in favor say I I I all those opposed motion passes 6 to zero thank you Miss Smiles you may now go to bed night night thank you all right we've moved information previously uh so the next item on the agenda genda is the superintendent report Dr fast on behalf of the New Hanover County Schools I'd like to recognize June is pride month and celebrate all of our employees and students um New Hanover County School Embraces Equity diversity inclusion throughout the year

316the district is making great progress ensuring that all means all I'd like to extend a thank you to the new han County Board of Commissioners for their continued support the district greatly appreciates the increases to the teacher stien and also funding the after after school late bus um cap fear um Community College transportation services for students and their commitment to Early Childhood programs as we wrap up the last days of the 2020 2021 school year in our year round and restart new han County Schools is preparing a a launch it new han county is preparing to launch sorry it's getting late um it's summer program summer ignite um we're hosting summer learning opportunities in many of our schools in addition New Hanover County schools Child Nutrition will offer summer food service programs that selected school

317and Community sites throughout the county for the 2122 school year and pleased to share that the new Handover County Schools will operate under normal conditions offering in-person learning for all grade levels remote learning will not be provided that concludes my report all right thank you very much much next item is board chairperson's report um the only item I had tonight was just to Echo Dr F statements to thank our County Commissioners um you know with the budget that was passed last night um is going to be a very impactful uh very impactful piece for this District moving forward so we just thank them for the collaboration and the partnership and look forward to continued uh good work together in the future all right next up committee reports we have um four committees that are going

318to report out do that I'm sorry didn't we didn't we cut those we were did we Ved V didn't pass yeah yeah um okay so the first up is Legion Stadium committee update Mr bore well let me grab it real quick because I put it away all right Legion Stadium um there is a big move we we've had uh one meeting and uh there was a big move to there it is um they're going to add uh the sharks are going to add a whole new area um the school system will benefit from that but we will not be asked to participate in the funding that they they've asked at this point for the County Commissioners the uh City and the Sharks to share that so hopefully that will be uh that will go on

319uh that would be great that will be renovations to Buck Hardy field so that will affect our baseball uh team that plays out there from new hover uh and um the other thing for the legion Stadium committee is that we our contract runs out uh in a year so one year from now we need to look at that going on to parks and wreck we've had monthly meetings a lot of a lot of discussion about getting folks out and moving uh especially in the area of pickle ball so a lot of pickle ball there are some new parks being named uh in additions um so just a lot of opportunities um and there was one mention of of schools uh that was eaten because of all the bike trails that are out by Eaton uh

320there is a need for more um bike racks um so they were going to try to find a grant uh or possibly talk to Dr F about getting us some more but that's our brief report for those two thank you very much Mr wbore all right next up uh we have an Asus update with Miss Justice hey um and this has been a really rough year for the parents Advisory board for sectional children because of Co it's like everything else um the last couple meetings in fact we haven't had a quorum as far as being able to actually conduct any business uh there's been a couple times when we had didn't have a corn but we still conducted some business but we can't get anything officially done so what we're planning for next year um

321and this is in conjunction with our new um EC director Wonderful by the way um we're going to and this is based on feedback from the um the different members of Asus and the community the following actions are going to be taking place in preparation for the 2021 school year uh they're going to update the council's uh The Advisory council's website and till a new parent Ambassador will be appointed in this update any necessary information will be revised see we've had some people drop out too uh will be revised in a Google form um and will be included asking parents to become a member and this is the important part becoming a member of the council and to nominate new members then they're also going to collaborate with the uh communication and Outreach division to

322assist the Council on reaching parents once again of of students with disabilities in all areas of the county because one of the things that the council does is disate an awful lot of very complex information to parents about the process and it's very important that we get as many involved as possible we have a variety of people in this District you uh accessing these these services and we need a variet of people on on the council so the more the better and they're also going to be drafting a 2021 uh advisory Council working document it's going to be a new one so uh there's many people can get involved in doing that so that we can reach community members so we can help those families and these kids have a very positive future because you

323know it's a great group of people and they're a very important part part of our population so that's pretty much what's going on with Aces um the next one want me to keep on moving sure if you can okay the ad hoc committee I'm confused I'll be honest I was told back when we did have this meeting and we all voted because we put this committee together because this is a per thank you by the way Mr wildar pointing out that this is very late in the evening and we should not have to be making decisions this late you know um V for it yeah that was I'm talking about if we had a different meeting format we wouldn't be in this position so we had all voted for changing it we sent it now

324the idea was to send it over to policy and um Mr uh Boer actually said that we would be dis he would go to policy and then we would discuss it during the last interim meeting in uh May which didn't happen and now earlier today in fact they I couldn't find where they have discussed it in today's meeting earlier today about going ahead and uh approving the format that we all approved so we could go ahead and implement it now miss uh krael had said that we they had had discussed it but I didn't there was no minutes up when I looked at I am pulling it up right now to show you I'm just saying that earlier there was no minutes I think it was yesterday was the last time I looked at it

325was it Sunday yesterday were up they they weren't I didn't see them on Sunday so um at at this point I'm not sure what's going on with that because we definitely had want to go forward with it but until policy brings something to us to be able to know how to do that uh we can't go anywhere because I'm sorry can I can I jump in please so we um what it what the minutes say is that um we recently organized the ad hoc committee which was chaired by Judy justice under the recommendation of the adhoc committee it was proposed to move the committee reports to the work session portion Miss Crill shares that she does not believe a lot of people attend the work session meetings and want to listen to the important work

326being done and reported reported through committee um and listened to committee reports she suggests that the committee reports remain under the regular session Mr Brer states he is in agreement with Miss crel Miss crel also states that she would like a time limit set of four hours for monthly meetings the committee discussed the call to the audient portion of the monthly meeting no AC action was was recommended that nothing changes okay well this is the first I've heard of it and it wasn't on the it was not up until I you said I didn't see it on Sunday and that's the meeting from last this was the meeting that was can I continue what I'm saying that was the meeting Mr boair told me told the whole group all the public in the first May

327meeting I believe it was on the 8th that we would have a report by the end of the month and you would discuss it in your uh policy meeting in May that took place after our initial regular meeting so did you discuss it then or is that the one you're reading we discussed it on the 11th and then we at the meeting the interim meeting we came back and said that we voted to take no make no changes well that means that nobody reported out I was there Nelson was there well nobody I I have not heard a thing about it and I did not that those minutes were not up on Sunday so I'm glad that that's there and we need to go ahead and move on this it's pretty late tonight but could

328we go ahead and do this in we'll put this on the next agenda so we can go ahead uh because I don't see how the ad hoc committee is going to change that's meeting we'll just agree on what we' already agreed on so the discussion does need to be about what the policy committee suggested and what we as a board want to decide but once again how late is it anyway it's almost midnight and this is the reason we were having this committee so I would suggest we put this on the next agenda can you add that for July since there is interest for to ad hoc committee okay all right thank you next up is correspond does anyone have any correspondence they would like to share right um call to the audience non-agenda items

329and I apologize what a long night this has been thank you if you are still here uh we have a few people signed up for non-agenda items uh first one is Matt Coyle see here do we have um do we have anyone outside anymore that would have be no okay um second is Miss Deborah Maxwell she's not here uh next one is Jared Nava um M Rachel birkenhauer right um Aaron kogan Joshua Braden Barber wow okay and then um I don't know I think this is C Anderson it's I can read Anderson Heather Higgins uh Tracy Bannon hi my name is Tracy Bannon and I appear in new Hover County I'm here to speak about a big ugly pig and that pig's name is CRT doesn't matter how much you dress it up with pink

330fry hat or put on Pink Lipstick it's still a pig it's still a pig is still a stinky ugly pig don't matter what kind of name you give it I have six grandchildren four of them are Caucasian two of them are black excuse me they are mixed you want to teach my grandchildren you want to teach four of them that they should be shamed because they are white you want to teach each two of them that they should be shamed because they are black because they are less than no my grandchildren are equal they are all capable of learning and doing the same thing and being the same people do not teach my grandchildren that they can't do something when I know they can it doesn't matter what their race is period do not do

331this to my grandchildren do not do it to another child Mr McManus I know you know better my children went to your school I know you to be a fair man some of the some of the some of your behavior tonight has been atrocious period I don't see how you can call yourself Ault some of you you're ridiculous Mr W I can't pronounce your last name thank you very much and I'll close with this we know where the snakes lie thank you hey y'all thank thanks for being here so late I don't even know what I was going to say um my name is Nicki Mintz my pronouns are she and her um I'm a community organizer here who got some of y'all in y'all seats and it's good to see y'all and I appreciate

332the work that you're doing and I just want you to know as a queer person it meant a lot to get some of y'all here so I hope that you see that uh that you lean into some of that labor of love that we put into uh making sure that you're able to be in this role so um I just want to thank you for that I also want to thank folks for prayers but what we really need is uh protective policies for our kids um I'm a queer person from Wilmington boarded and raised I'm a Handover high school graduate class of 99 I was a school softball player here um and I can't imagine what my life would be like or who I would be today had I not had a chance to be

333a part of a team um to be celebrated to walk with dignity to know my worth you know I was very lovable I was well- loved I was a peer mediator um I had that luxury of uh being gay and being out probably the only out person I remember in my school um and I just I wouldn't I wouldn't want to know that our kids today don't don't have that experience um and not have the opportunity to know what it's like to be dedicated to something to have people working with you to accomplish a goal um I also want to Center that to liberate our trans kids liberates all of us we all benefit when our kids can be who they are love who they are be loved and accepted for being who they are

334and where they are um and it does harm our kids when we send messages that they're not worth it that we shouldn't celebrate them uh Happy pride month um in that Spirit of Pride uh I just want us to remember that these these these are our kids these are our babies we got to do better by them it's healing generational trauma it heals all of us from having to grow a life of being out struggling of being out um we all deserve better and our future deserves better when I see trans kids I see our future I see gender uh being liberated I see self-love liberated and we all deserve it thank you all right and that concludes our call to the audience for non-agenda items uh next item announcements the equity diversity and inclusion

335committee will meet on Monday June 14th at 5:00 P PM in the Boe Center to ensure adequate social distancing audience attendance will be strictly limited to no more than 50 people if students are scheduled to participate in a board meeting meeting mask and social distancing requirements will be upheld for the North Carolina strong schools toolkit the general public will have the option to view remotely on nhcs TV on YouTube the title 9 committee will meet on June 21st at 3M in the Boe Center the general public will have the option to view remotely on nhcs tv YouTube the board of education curriculum committee will meet on Monday June 28th at 5:00 p.m. at the Board of Education Center to ensure adequate social distancing audience attendance will will be strictly limited to no more than 50

336people if students are scheduled to participate in a board meeting mask and social distancing requirements will be upheld per the North Carolina strong schools toolkit the general public will have the option to view remotely on nhcs tv YouTube that brings us to our final item for the evening adjournment do I hear a motion thank you Mr mcmanis is there a second second thank you Miss Justice any discussion no all those in favor say I hi all those opposed have a good night everyone thank you for being here