001I'd like to call this regular meeting of the Board of Education to order if you'd all please stand for the invocation if you would be so kind as to bow your heads and pray with me Heavenly Father and so we gathered here together this evening to conduct the business of New Hanover County Schools we thank you for yet another springtime we thank you for the opportunity to serve the students of this great community lord please help us to be thoughtful in our speech respectful in our conduct and wise and the important decisions that come before us we pray for our servicemen and women our police officers who put their lives on the line to keep us all safe father we ask a special blessing for our Board of Education members as they seek to bring
002honor to the duties they have been elected to perform bless our superintendent Lord our senior leaders principals teachers employees and all students let this district continue to improve and be a place where all children are cherished and given every opportunity to succeed farther we ask these and all blessings in your most holy name therefore it is with grace and humility that we counted as done thank you Lord and I meant please stay standing for the Pledge of Allegiance a posting of colors I pledge allegiance [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] maybe seated good evening ladies and gentlemen I am Jackie the supervisor of arts education here at New Hanover County schools can we have another round of applause for that beautiful students right back up here to introduce themselves to you those were the College Park Elementary
003chorus under the direction of Miss Katie Phillips so we'll have them back up here in just a moment in the meantime our Flags tonight where the Ashley high school in JROTC and we would like to introduce them to you they're going to tell you their name rank and grade my name's Lance Autry I'm a sophomore and I am an insin my name is Marsha remaining I'm an apprentice and I'm a freshman my name is Johanna Carroll I am a freshman and I'm seaman my name is Maggie finer I'm a freshman and I'm cadets thank you very much and now our singers are back and they're gonna tell you their names and what grade they are in hi my name is Lydia and I'm in fourth grade hi my name is Bella and I'm his fourth
004grade hello my name is Payton and I'm in fourth grade and I'm in fourth grade hi my name is Donna Murphy hello my name is ashlynn and I'm in fourth grade hi my name is Kylie and I'm in fourth grade hi my name is Andrew and I'm in fourth grade that means me and I'm in fourth grade my name is Shawn I'm a 4th grade fourth grade hi my name is Kevin hello my name is Kaylee and I'm history hey my name is Breland another four three hello my name is Riley and I'm at fifth grade hello my name is Logan I'm in fourth grade hello my name is Elizabeth and I am in fifth grade hello my name is Sophia and I'm in fourth grade hi my name is ma I'm in fourth grade
005hi my name is Jada I'm in fourth grade thank you very much [Applause] all right thank you everyone and thank you Miss Quattlebaum for that invocation as well that was beautiful all right living on to item number two approval of the agenda during emotion do I hear a second second who gave a second I did okay all right if everyone could please speak up in the interim if everyone can speak up all those in favor say aye aye any opposed the agenda is approved item number three approval of the minute minutes item a regular meeting minutes from February 5th and March 5th everyone has had a chance to look over those do I hear a motion so moved second there's a motion in a second all those in favor say aye are there any opposed
006it is approved I'd never be special meeting minutes from March 28th second all those in favor say aye any opposed it is a fruit I have a number for recognition of achievement item a Community Partnership Wilmington Fire Department this prata bomb thank you madam chair at this time we will have our first partnership presentation and it happens to be with our great city of Wilmington Fire Department they will tell us how their organization supports our students and activities such as operation warm and Fire Prevention Week so at this time I'll add some is windy geo mini the community Risk Reduction coordinator for the fire department I would first like to say surprise to my boss who's sitting in the front row we did not know that we would be here at the same time and
007one of my firefighter brothers is in the back row too so Wilmington Fire is well represented here tonight thank you for the introduction and tell me am i clicking okay all right so this screen and I feel strange with the folks behind me so I want to make sure everyone knows that we're excited the Wilmington Fire Department is excited about a community partnership with our school board the symbol that you see on the screen says fire is everyone's fight that's because the fire department cannot alone take care of all the fire problems that we have in Wilmington it belongs to individual families it belongs to teachers and school children and the community as a whole so now there's a photograph of operation warm which wasn't necessarily the Wilmington Fire Department but one of our special
008groups that's the International firefighters association our local union is number 129 and each year growing in size is operation warm here in our city this was a series of photographs from snipes Elementary School where the firefighters association funds finds partnership with operation warm to fund coats for kids so we're glad that that's here and we're glad that's that's one of the programs that the firefighters association participates in regularly with the schools and you may remember some years ago Wilmington Fire not to be confused with New Hanover County Fire Rescue on two departments within our same within our same school boundaries Wilmington Fire had a program called lunch buddies we visited schools during the entire lunch period and visited about fire safety topics and New Hanover County Fire Rescue our partners north and south of the
009city of Wilmington continue to do an outreach program with your school system called recess buddies which is a fantastic way for fire and school system and the kids to get together so mostly we think about fire prevention in October October is fireproof holds fire prevention week and it's kind of turned into all of fire prevention month but I wanted to make sure that the school board knew and that all the teachers and staff knew that if they were interested in having trucks come to visit or if they were interested in coming to visit stations we have a request form this online that makes it super easy for the public to be able to interact kind of formally with the fire department we'd love to have you visit us and we'd love to come visit you
010there's another important thing that we can partner together with from the faces of our classroom reflected back to the fire department with working smoke alarms the fire department's fire marshal's office is in charge of making sure that commercial and public structures are safe for us but the real fire problem in our city and across the nation happens in people's homes that's where most most of the dangerous stuff is and that's also where the fire marshal's office does not visit so again with a theme of fire is everyone's fight if you know that there are children in your classrooms that don't have working smoke alarms we can help with that we know that working smoke alarms save lives we have a small budget that affords some smoke alarms for us to install annually within our city
011limits and then a New Hanover County Fire Rescue just outside the city has a similar program so if you know that they're kids that are without smoke alarms please let us help it's another visit to the website or a phone call write to me another thought that I've been having repeatedly over and over again in my dreams at night is having a firefighter visit you at your PTA meeting you didn't talk about the evacuation in case there was a fire alarm here in this building but she'd moved towards the exits right I can imagine in my mind that before every PTA meeting or at least a few of them a year your local fire station sends a representative maybe they're helping with the pledge maybe I don't think I'd ask them to sing the national
012anthem there may be one or two good ones but generally I'd say stick with the pledge and also point the way to the exits wouldn't that be an excellent way for firefighters and the families at your schools to partner together to get together and just beyond kind of a casual but informational basis so pointing out emergency exits I'd love to see it this program is a program that I really the most important message for you tonight has to do with youth fire setters that I really wanted to discuss kind of personally with you there is there are kids that are lighting fire sometimes it's in the trash can in the school bathroom sometimes it's out in the the grounds surrounding your school sometimes it's reported to the fire department sometimes it's not but Wilmington Fire
013has a really strong education and prevention program that has to do with youth fire setters we are not trying to get anyone in trouble and we're trying to work within the framework of our our base of knowledge our expertise which is not mental health but we can use a specific tool that comes from it another state a neighboring Fire Department that helps us assess the risk of reset so if you are having problems in your school even if it's just once we'd love to know again it's about education prevention intervention and keeping the kids in school safe we want to make sure that families aren't extended when it comes to the danger of youth youth lighting fires at home or in their neighborhoods so keep us in mind that might be something to share with
014SROs too huh career fairs we can help we've got 200 people that work for Wilmington Fire that are you know proud and ready to stand up and say how about a career in the fire service we know that monthly you have fire drills at your schools because that's the law and we'd love to participate when it comes to fire drills as well we don't want to pull your poll station and make your students move we still want for you the administration to do that but we'd love to give a high-five and encouragement and help connect the dots that that sounding alarm has to do with the firefighters response and if you need materials or resources especially as we approach October we can help you with those we've got lots of social media sites so we
015keep them updated constantly with education and information to help keep families safe in and around town in their homes in in their neighborhoods so please call on us for resources and we're here to help we're glad to be partners thank you [Applause] presentation is a feature that our board has requested and I think he shows a lot of creativity so each month what we will do at the meeting in the beginning here is we'll highlight video created by our schools to show the uniqueness of the schools and special programs that they offer so our brave first principal is mr. Adrian Pearson and he will highlight what's happening at the career readiness thank you miss quarter bomb board chair miss Easton vice chair mr. Wortmann rest of the Board of Education dr. mark Lee I appreciate
016this opportunity to showcase and give you a little taste of our little family over at the career ready stick Adam II located on Prince's place Drive we have several programs a lot going on we tried to integrate and you have all programs involved as much as possible hope you sit back and enjoy this little video if you have any questions or want to visit please come by and see us anytime thank you welcome to the derivatives area mostly your one stop for a variety of policies educational opportunities come in and learn more about our crazy having pre-k students earn our career reduced Academy Academy Curry's Academy Academy of Finance in our career at is Academy transition program for young adults the Career Academy emergency or effort beats opportunity [Music] good morning how can I help
017you come on in I'll introduce you to our director hi I'm one of the teachers from the tpy a program tpy a stands for transition program for young adults our tpy students come from the New Hanover County area high schools they all have completed the extended standard standards curriculum while they were in high school and they ranged between 18 to 22 years old I'm excited about being a teacher at the teepee why because our goal is to support the students while they're in the community and most of our learning takes place within the community setting we try to build on each student's independence level and we try to provide them with as many hands-on experience as possible our classrooms are located at Career Readiness Academy at Mosley on Prince's place trial and in the Watson
018College of Education building on UNC w's campus we are providing individuals with the resources to create a lifestyle of their own choosing what I love about Sifu is my teachers and having fun with my friends I love that but you like riding the bus yes what else do you like about it like eating like here - yeah everyone glad you're here welcome to the career readiness Academy can I help you well come on in let me buzz you in we are so excited for you to join career readiness Academy at Moseley pre-k center the pre-k team is working diligently to establish a successful school year for you during your child as a parent you're your child's most important teachers and our pre-k team look forward to your participation in supports during the school year we
019believe are already together will allow that traditional individual and group goals for our students our parents and our staff thank you for sharing your children with us [Music] [Applause] welcome to the career-readiness katha me how can I help you okay let me buzz you in come on in the Academy is a partnership between New Hanover County Schools and our homeschool families in the community currently we also serve former Charter and private school students students can fully enroll in the Academy in grades 6 through 12 or they can dually enroll with the Academy and their home school courses are provided online and can be accessed off-site in the family home the students and families must agree to an orientation period which includes an hour a day at career readiness Academy at Moseley for a maximum of
02010 days students and families must also agree to taking all state tests on site at CRA at Moseley as well as wearing a uniform went on site if you have questions or want to know more about the e Academy please don't hesitate to reach out welcome you to the color red in this Academy how can I help you well that's awesome let me buzz your Lin we are the career readiness Academy and mostly a small non-traditional high school with the career theme to focus it's our hope that all students will take advantage of the career technical education classes and to lead them throughout their coursework we also offer students stay struggling to achieve excellence as well as career college promise classes we want students become navitat certified this allows them to take certain classes their
021National Academy Foundation Academy of Finance horses this allows them to get preferential hiring after high school so we hope that students will take advantage of this certification [Music] thank you very much you got a couple of interesting students who have gone through your a Academy yes sir you share some of those stories we have one student named Claudia Webb who were showcasing right now who came to us with just a few credits left the parents had to move back to England and want to take her back with her she came in and took the Academy for hardly ended up being our valedictorian and is being accepted to one of the most prestigious universities in England as we speak [Applause] great please come by see us thank you very much a shout out to our County
022commissioners commissioners Apple is with us today for finding the funding for that pre-k there's pre-k classrooms they mean a great deal to us and they're it's it's very heartwarming to see them at Mosley when you go out there and to see the spread of different programs that are offered at Mosley it's amazing and the tpy a kids really love being with those those pre-k kids so it's really amazing so I encourage all of you to go out there and visit so thank you again Commissioner mr. Pearson our next recognition is very special as well tonight we recognize four recipients of this year's Board of Education scholarship for future teachers our County Commissioners and our board members have made an investment in the future of these young educators this scholarship will it's for seven thousand dollars
023each year to annan credit North Carolina college or university of the recipient's choice for a total of up to $28,000 for their education and in return these scholarship recipients make the commitment to come back here to New Hanover County schools to teach and help build our pool of highly qualified teachers this is so wonderful and we get to honor these people tonight so students when I call your name as you hear your name I would ask your parents to please stand and your school principals if you're here as well so we will begin with Hoggart High School's Eleni blackly [Applause] Elleni thank you she's starting to teach already from Isaac bear Early College High School machen last ginger [Applause] if you all will remain of there without a picture at the end from New Hanover
024high school Regan Radford [Applause] and finally from Laney high school mr. Matthew Weaver [Applause] all the parents and your teachers and principals over here we know you are so proud of these students and we congratulate you all I look forward to seeing you in four years and we're going to picture of you with that big check [Applause] thank you we're so proud of you congratulations you want to keep the money we got we have yes the Lord if you would please say we have won recognition that's not on the agenda but it's a sort of a surprise the Lord wants to recognize our superintendent dr. mark Lee for dr. mark Lee was recently named the superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina school based Health Alliance so there's my boss and ask him to
025come [Applause] just a little bit about it this award recognizes the district's commitment to providing accessible affordable and quality health care in school-based and school linked health centers particularly in the area of mental health support of our students so dr. Murphy congratulations to you and the entire district to the board for making our students health a priority thank you so much [Applause] all right living on two I'm a number five call of the audience each speaker is limited to three minutes however time does not permit dialogue between the board and the community while the board welcomes residents to share their views the Chairman retains the right to limit discussions on a particular topic and such comments become slanderous or personal in nature before we begin we had looks like at 21 people sign up which
026is would take us over the 30 minute time slot that is allotted for our policy so I would leave it up to the will of the board we could the policy does speak to allowing the three minutes so we could we have several options we could do the first ten right now we could do all of them right now but we would have to it would be against the policy so we want to give everybody a chance to speak but I'm I want to hear the will of the board as to how we do this we could we could do the first ten now which would give us the the 30 minutes and then have the remainder speak at the end of the the meeting what is the board and it's chairman of the policy
027committee I don't think anybody's going to arrest us please all to speak at the beginning of this meeting at the beginning yes is that the will of the board to continue okay thank you so give everyone to three minutes and do it yeah all right and that's we shall do all right I would ask that everyone be considerate oh I said it wouldn't be considerate since we do have quite a number sign up so we can fully allow everyone's voice to be heard the first person that did sign up was Sonia Patrick Munro good evening my name is Sonia I'm Yvonne and karlie chair in south eastern region of the national black leadership carcass on behalf of the southeastern region national black leadership carcass we are outraged over the slavery games used in our New
028Hanover public school systems we're pleased however we're pleased to the urgent response of the New Hanover Board of Education and that de slavery games would not be allowed in the public school system however we feel the instruction principle should have been removed from the public school system I am a descendant of slave captives the ideology of using slave games as a form of education is immoral and in school systems when I was in school they taught us about the Jewish Holocaust and the autobiography of any friends however we were never taught about the black Holocaust which that has lasted for centuries slavery is best taught in our history books slavery was the worst form of inhumanity in the history of this country there are still many horrors of slavery they have never been taught in
029school systems or in motion pictures roots the movie for example is a fairy tale version of half a ripping slavery really was we are in agreement with in double-a-c-p that we need African American educators in our school system not having enough black educators have been a problem in new analysts County for over us for over an almost half a century however our organization has always encouraged cultural competency training and have resources we are pleased that culture competency training is part of the resolution by the Medical Board of Education we were like details as to when this training would take place and if the training is mandatory this unfortunate incident has said like the slaver games still do exist in this country some are used for educational purposes some are not but we encourage that to
030be banned on a national level slavery is not a gayness or horrific part of our past and we don't want it to be played as a game as our future thank you for listening [Applause] next speaker Jacqueline white first I want to thank you for this opportunity for the public to make comment I'm dr. Jackie white and I'm here to make a few comments about one aspect of addressing title 9 violations in the schools and just as a way of background I moved here to Wilmington about three years ago after retiring from UNC Greensboro where I was on the faculty in the psychology department while there I conducted research for over three decades on sexual assault and dating violence among teens and young adults and I'm also the co-founder and past president of the National
031Partnership to end interpersonal violence and I helped organize the administrator research sure campus climate collaborative which is developed evidence-based approaches to assessing campus climate in the context of title nine issues one aspect of that work is focused on institutional betrayal which is what I want to call your attention to today following any form of gender-based violence including sexual assault survivors often turn to lurk the larger institution the teachers the coaches the administrators counselors for support assistance and justice they're basically turning to you but when your policies and procedures turn out to be inadequate or are improperly implemented then you fail the victim in the larger community when victims are met with inaction mismanagement or retribution they have experienced institutional betrayal and what I would like you to know is that there's actually a survey the
032institutional betrayal questionnaire that is available without cost for for use the survey assesses and I quote wrongdoings perpetrated by an institution upon individuals dependent on that institution including failure to prevent or respond supportively to wrongdoings committed within the context of the institution institutional betrayal has been found through empirical research to symptoms of PTSD anxiety depression dissociation suicide attempts as well as physical health impairment it leads to lower confidence in and respect for the institution and its leaders really everybody connected with education and it can undermine the status and Trust in the institution throughout the community so addressing the problem begins with understanding the extent of institutional portrayal and then developing policies practices and procedures that are transparent understood and effectively implemented to reduce it institutional betrayal is real it has consequences it can be assessed
033and it can be prevented but it does begin with determining how pervasive and it is the community needs an opportunity to be heard we might even want to think about a New Hanover County me too movement to identify the extent of the problem thank you [Applause] next speaker at iran mohammed my name is tyrone muhammad i'm the local representative Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam here in Wilmington and the surrounding areas I would like to speak directly to the Coddington elementary slave gang incident and I wanted to start by raising or quoting some words from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan from his book the fall of America dealing with the public school system any reason the current study of American history is nothing more than an indoctrination of Americans in the ideas of white
034supremacy and black inferiority the fundamental philosophies of Western civilization are rooted in white supremacy you can't bring a black child into that kind of educational environment and produce a child who loves and respects itself you produce a child who vows to white people and looks at white people as being God this is why black history should be studied not only by black people but by white people as we have developed a respect for white people by knowing their history and great accomplishments White's will develop a respect for black Native American and Hispanic people and all the peoples of the earth when they know the histories and contributions of others to the onward march of civilization in a pluralistic society such as they claim this is that's a quote from the novel miss Louis Farrakhan but
035I wanted to say that the slaves game is a prime example of why our position as it stands as the most honorable eyes Muhammad teaches that separation really is the best and only solution because I mean we for years and we're talking about sensitivity I mean at this point I mean sensitivity training I mean what is it going to take for us for you all you know for white a white supremacist mindset which disrupt his public school system represents not only here Wilmington but throughout the country you know so as we're beyond sensitivity sensitivity training it's just that it's just a thing of there's no justice isn't there's no equality there's no real freedom in regard to this public system in our in our people and it produces the slave mentality and I recognize that
036you know many people they're proud of that history of being the slave master I want to perpetuate and play that kind of the game which really just adds insult to our pain you know for our children our babies deserve better than that but white children deserve better than that as well there's a history there's a great history of things that are being taught in the public school system that you all need to know that you can benefit from that's not in the public schools in the public school textbooks you know there's a great history of Caucasian people in Europe and it's in the case before you came out civilized and we're able to stand up and just and take care of yourselves I'm sorry mr. Mohammed okay but anyway thank you there's so much to
037say three minutes really is not sufficient but I thank you for the time [Applause] [Music] Florence one good evening on behalf of the Woolston Alumni Association we urge this New Hanover County Board of Education to actively be proactive about insensitive choices teachers make in regard to instructing our children we want to go on record that the recent use of the slavery game and the disregard of a student not given a Christmas gift by the teacher when all others were given one are inexcusable acts we didn't realize that slavery was reduced to a game but a way of imprisonment for a certain group of people we feel it is unethical that an adult moreover an educator would damage a child's self esteem self worth and implicate that he or she wasn't as worthy as the other
038students to receive a gift what seed did this teacher plant teachers are an extension of parents we attempt always to plant seeds that sprout greatness and build a strong community when we empower our students we empower our communities as a former teacher of 35 years a as a former teacher of 35 years experience I represent the Williston Alumni Association incorporated I'm a graduate of Williston senior high school as you know we employ that this board immediately we meant implicit bias and cultural competency training on a yearly basis we also recommend we also recommend and concur with the NWA CP that a diverse group inclusive of African American community be involved in selecting the team to provide the training we implore the board to provide sensitivity training to all personnel employed by the New Hanover County
039Schools this training should be inclusive of the front office staff and all employees that have contact with student and parents thank you for listening to our concerns and we look forward to seeing some positive changes in the very near future [Applause] Evelyn Bryant good afternoon I'm here representing a coalition of parents citizens organizations and business owners dedicated to addressing the concerns of our group and concerns of the african-american community pertaining to creating equitable practices for the success of black students within the New Hanover County school system here are just a few areas in which we see need improvement data has shown that although african-american students only account for 19 percent of students within the New Hanover County school system 63 percent of them experience short term suspension between 2016 and 2017 black students within our
040district were eight point three times more likely than their white classmates to receive a suspension and seven point three times more likely to be referred to juvenile delinquent court research has shown that out-of-school suspensions lead to weaker academic performance decreased school attendance and important packed on peers this alarm and disparity coupled with recent and past events have shown a repeated pattern of indifference for in for adequate education development and well-being about african-american children who have had a right to be included in our school practices as listed in title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 therefore we would like to present a policy recommendation to implement a citizen's review board that will provide a second set of eyes to the school board's actions to provide both praise and fee in number one addressing parent
041complaints number two providing the public with transparent and accurate responses to conflict / challenges in a timely manner 3 ensuring that educators who display implicit bias against students of minority backgrounds are accountable to their constituents and number 4 support a more inclusive management approach to situations relative to racial inequity we also recommend that the New Hanover County school system fund a culturally appropriate supplemental program for African American students to create an environment that fosters an improved sense of self-worth empowerment and provides a true and accurate educational curriculum on African American history by considering the implementation of these recommended actions the New Hanover County School Board will not only be working to close the academic achievement gap between african-american and white students but to improve educational outcomes and quality of life for our children and communities
042as a whole our write deemed to us as American citizens thank you [Applause] Herbert Harris and Sandra Spalding Hughes good evening board members thank you for this opportunity I am Herbert Harris former director of the Community Action Group and Sandra Spaulding Hughes former city council member and former member of the North Carolina State House of Representatives we're here tonight to speak on occasion regarding this escaping slavery game at tottington Elementary School I'm aware that this issue has been raised recently and the New Hanover County school board has taken some steps to address it however we are speaking tonight to highlight the importance of this issue and a broader sense and to point out a real issue of racial insensitivity that exists and may permeate the entire New Hanover County school system first I thank God
043for the parent who stood up and said that this escaping slavery game was wrong not only was it wrong it was inappropriate and sensitive and racist when I first heard about using this escaping slavery game at the Coddington elementary school I could not believe it it took watching the news and further inquiry to verify that not only was this game played by the students at tottington elementary and this year but it had also been used in previous years it is therefore important that we know how long and which schools have been using this game second I'd like for you to consider the three points point one to introduce approve or permit this escaping slavery game to be played at the Coddington elementary school or in any public school is an insult to all African Americans
044and trivializes a 400-year traumatic slavery experience perpetrated by white Americans upon life Americans point to to permit and in fact encourage this game to be introduced and played by black and white students demonstrates a total lack of sensitivity and lack of historical intelligence on the part of the teachers principals and administrators I dare say that these same teachers principals administrators would consider using and escaping the Holocaust gained point three the fact that this escaping slavery game was used in the New Hanover County school system at all demonstrates racism of the worst kind impacting the minds of our students and requires that this entire school system and its curriculum should be examined talked about him to more fully understand how any intelligent educator could think that this game was an appropriate way especially during Black History
045Month to highlight and honor the contributions of African Americans in the city state and county in conclusion this game and the educational reality that surrounds it has struck a nerve in the consciousness of fair-minded black and white citizens of this county and as such should be diligently and swiftly addressed by this Board of Education so that this never happens again [Applause] [Music] Natacha Longo good evening thank you for allowing me some of your time I'm here to address the board in regards to the way that parent complaints are handled I'm going to give you a brief history in 2013 we moved back here from upstate New York for the first couple months that my child was enrolled in school did great shortly after she began to people complaints mediations were done the bullying continued I
046had a meeting with you have to give me a minute I had a meeting with administrators and due to advocating for my child I was bullied in return soon my child begin to self-harm we put her in counseling she done extensive counseling and by the end of early 2015 my child tried to commit suicide come to find out my child was sexually harassed by here on her school bus I immediately called the school to file a complaint the SRO then refused to file the complaint he didn't have enough evidence to file a complaint so I filed a complaint with the board I go directly to his supervisor the complaint is made eventually the sexual harassment happened again my child was hospitalized yet another time dude trying to commit suicide I filed another complaint with the
047board from 2014 to 2015 my child had to ride the school bus with her assaulter every day of the year until she graduated from high school and in that time I filed over 50 complaints with the school board and nothing was done much how it was been sent to JC ro in my opinion I do to put a lid on things because I continue to complain which backfired because she excelled she was able to graduate a year early and now she starts college in the fall asked you to do your due diligence when complaints are made my child suffers from PTSD however she can hold down a permanent job and continue college that may not be the case for future students who go through what my child has gone through it is detrimental that you
048take every single complaint that is made by parents seriously I'm also for accountability on the part of those who mishandled those complaints it is of my knowledge that out of the 50 complaints I made you all have one on record and it has nothing to do oh yeah I'm sorry the bully or the sexual assault thank you [Applause] Debra Dix Maxwell good evening madam chair members of the board I stand in full support of the comments you've already heard with regard to slavery in Cottington my name is Deborah did smacks vote on the president you'll handle the County n-double-a-cp and I have to send you copies of the press release in which I'll address my concerns previously I stated today that I would speak on diversity but I err my topic should have been the
049lack of diversity and that has caused problems in the classrooms as noted a Cottington and so one of the recommendations was that this school board utilize REI or racial equity Institute which is based I believe in Guilford County to provide training that is needed for New Hanover County Schools please consider first looking at schools with the largest Disciplinary grades it has been researched disciplinary rates increase when educators lack cultural sensitivity especially with black males a recommending reading source and to implementation of training is countering the conspiracy to destroy black boys by dr. Curt junk food the community is New Hanover County when you proceed further in making decisions that will impact all upcoming elementary school children and redistricting no child's educational success or failure should be determined by their zip code as a newly formed
050Board I'm asking that when you make decisions look at the equity factor in each situation you have an opportunity to make this County drives educationally or fail even further it is up to you and your decisions as you put aside any differences and work together for the good of the children of new and over County a New York Dodger a New York I'm gonna change the topic a little bit I'm here tonight to recognize some very very talented students in the New Hanover County school system I wanted to share this good news with you the New Hanover County n-double-a-cp Excel group held its 2019 local competition Saturday morning March 9th at the International embassy of holiness for those of y'all who don't know about EXO EXO stands for afro academic cultural technological and scientific Olympics
051it's been the primary national and double-a-c-p youth activity for the past 41 years each year high school students compete locally in 32 categories for the opportunity to win an expense paid trip to Nationals and a chance to win national scholarships New Hanover County is in our third year of competition last year two of our students went Ron's medals nationally along with thousand dollar scholarships and new iPads we began meeting each month on Sunday afternoons and September and culminate in a local competition at March and gold medal winners receive an all-expense-paid trip to Nationals which this year will be in Detroit I wanted to let you know that our local medal winners were Kennedy Martin from Lainie she won a golden sculpture silver and poetry Cameron Martin from Isaac the early college who won gold and
052short stories by writing and painting dart Devane from Wilmington early college who won gold in painting an essay Lauren Lee from Isaac Mayer early college who won gold in filmmaking Jacky benetton from Laney who won gold and contemporary dance and Nestor Rodriguez Garcia from Brunswick early college who won gold and oratory I have attached never mind I sent miss Quattlebaum a copy of the winners picture which we'll be sending to Nationals and hopefully y'all will get to know the students that way I wanted to thank especially miss Pamela vines who's our XO chair miss Deborah Dix Maxwell who was the act so found her here in New Hanover County and as she knows she's president the new you never count a n-double-a-cp branch mache web he's the UNCW health technology student and a former XL
053gold medalist and she's our assistant actor chair ash Ashanti picked it at his humanist CW Steven and environmental science and she was our Excel UNCW mentor chair I want to thank first bank in Michael Panero who provided notary services and all of our monthly meeting speakers our mentors he met with us each month and our judges so Miss Quattlebaum we appreciate all that she is doing to get the news out of these very talented students in our community and we hope we'll bring back some more medals for this year from Detroit thank you [Applause] good evening members of the board my name is anna lee i'm a new neighbor county resident and mother of a third grader greater who until a few months ago was a New Hanover County Schools student while my son is
054now at a school outside the district I continue to be deeply invested in our public schools because I believe in the power of a robust equitable public education to transform the lives of children families and entire communities I wish I could say that I felt right now that New Hanover County Schools was a district that provided that kind of transformative and just educational experience for all students but I cannot you may find that a harsh criticism or perhaps you don't believe me but I challenge you to sit with it it's not comfortable to hear critiques of our work or that as an organization we lead but I'm sure you all know that it's essential to face reality head-on if we're in fact to be the best that we can be I assume that you're committed
055to serving all students and helping many Hanover County schools improve if you weren't why would you spend your time running for this office so starting from that assumption I want to share a few words of both gratitude and challenge for you first I thank you for the work that you're beginning to do that is focused on addressing implicit bias and undoing systemic racism through training yourselves school leaders and teachers the existence of this training is a welcomed shift from the past when board members denied problems of racial and other biases existed in our schools by providing this training you're acknowledging the need for your own learning of how to undo the harmful biases that we all carry with us this is transformative leadership in action I also appreciate your work to input a new title
056nine committee and related trainings this is long overdue you need the creation of new policies where there are none or improving upon existing weak policies is an important step in moving us for it it may be tempting to say that's all that needs to be done however the policies are only as good as those at shape and enforcement I believe that transformative leadership also requires accountability to those most impacted and we expect accountability from those who have committed wrongs in the past you've been asked by parents and community leaders to initiate an impartial third party study of how administrators at the district and school level have handled parent complaints I ask you to heed that call it doesn't have to be complicated create a mechanism for parents and students and staff through an anonymous survey
057to tell you what their experiences have been people are often afraid to share because they fear retaliation or their impacts on themselves and their children I'll share briefly my own experience of the district's response to an important parent concern to illustrate the importance of this the issue is a racial disparity and admitted some children's to the Spanish immersion program maybe you're saying we've handled this it's moved to Gregory we have a new admission policy of lottery but to that essay where's the accountability to the parents whose children were excluded from this program who didn't have the chance to benefit from it all an administrator had to do was walk into a classroom of that school and see a classroom of white children and a classroom of black children one immersion and one not and understand
058something was going on and there needs to be accountability at the district level for folks who didn't make that ask that question of a principal for on whom the blame was praise placed thank you I ask you to continue to take the steps you're taking and have accountability for those who did not handle the classrooms thank you Amandla boomer sign good evening my name is Amanda boomer Shine and my husband and I have two daughters in New Hanover County Schools and we also have foster children in your school system I'm actually here today in my professional role as a Spanish professor at UNCW who teaches and advocates for heritage Spanish speakers I'd like to talk to you about the linguistic rights of heritage speakers in this county a heritage speaker is in the United States
059as someone who was raised in a home writing or a non English language is spoken and in this case that would be Spanish the student may speak or understand the Harris language and be to some degree bilingual in English and Spanish and depending on where that heritage speaker lives he or she may not receive formal education in Spanish until high school and even then it may be in a traditional Spanish class designed for second language learners of Spanish so currently the district does not offer any heritage Spanish classes and heritage speakers often end up taking Spanish one or Spanish two classes with students who speak no Spanish or they take other electives this would be equivalent to placing English speakers and an ESL class that said I'm very happy to hear that the district has
060now the resources to begin offering heritage Spanish classes at New Hanover high school next year first students coming out of Gregory's immersion program my understanding is that these classes will be honors Spanish heritage classes but I do hope that the heritage students at New Hanover high school will be able to enroll in them I'm here this evening to ask you to offer heritage Spanish classes at all of your high schools and middle schools I understand that these classes are not currently being offered due to a lack of resources but since the county is now able to offer these classes to immersion students at New Hanover high school I hope the tray will offer them to the very students that they are designed for roughly 10% of this County's population is Hispanic and the majority of
061that population are children in your school system there are hundreds and hundreds of heritage speakers of Spanish in your schools and research shows that offering them the opportunity to formally study their language will increase proficiency scores in English as well as help them maintain their Spanish providing measurable cognitive and career benefits the district has demonstrated that it understands the value of bilingualism through its efforts through at the international school of Gregory and now it's a chance to show that bilingualism is valued for all students in the county even those who come from a home where Spanish is spoken would you consider converting at least one traditional Spanish class per term into a heritage Spanish class so that our Hispanic students are able to learn to read and write in Spanish just as their non Hispanic
062classmates are encouraged to do my colleagues and I are happy to provide professional development support to current Spanish teachers north to help them develop and teach heritage Spanish classes in your district I hope you will follow in the steps of other districts in North Carolina and throughout the country to offer the Hispanic students in this district the same opportunities that you offer that you afford those who come from english-speaking households the gift of bilingualism and by literacy thank you [Applause] pastor Robert Campbell good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening pastor Rob Campbell pastor of new beginning' Christian Church I'm here tonight with other concerned citizens to stand up for our students we've all been talking about the Cottington situation the incident we do not believe that that teacher was intentionally racist
063or malicious in her acts we believe that it is not as much as that teacher failed us as it is the board failed that teacher and it failed our community when when I say the board I know that many of you all are new so it's not the board that you created it it's the one that you adopted or adopted you and we recognize that you begin to set forth a new initiative with your quick response in your aggressive statement and we'd like to applaud you for it we thank you for good we're here tonight to ask for a couple of things accountability and report ability we're asking that you not only make the statement but make the statement of plan and quantify and specify what you're going to do in your statement if you
064say you're going to train every New Hanover County employee tell us how many employees and then we'd ask in six months you would give us a milestone update of that we'd ask first it's your next meeting that you'd come out and say here is the plan that's quantifiable and verifiable and then in six months you give us a milestone report and then in February of 2020 Black History Month you would share with us the final results we recognize that this didn't happen overnight and it's not going to change overnight but it can change tonight we also asked we also asked there are a couple of things in your statement that I thought was great but we recognize that talking about getting more minority teachers has been talked about long enough we've got 1,900 teachers and
065only a hundred and three of those are african-american 5.4 percent that's abysmal we also recognize that we are talking about making principals accountable for the culture of their school what a novel idea they've always been accountable now when you make it a part of their evaluation we will now get to see that it's a priority to you and it will become a priority to them we thank you for what you have stated now we want to see the results we hope that next week you will pluck the next month next month you will publish your statement into a plan thank you very much [Applause] Thank You Kelly Stanley hello my name is Kelly Stanley I am here tonight as a concerned citizen I'm also a parent of two school-aged children like all parents I want
066the best for my kids I strive to be a good parent and I strongly believe that the way to do that is to be a good citizen so in order to do that I have to sometimes look past my kids and our neighborhood and and see that the quality education that my kids are being provided is not being provided to so many of the african-american children in our community for those willing to look it's easy to see that the children in this in our County are afforded vastly different opportunities based largely on their skin color we all know that this is not right and so it is with so much gratitude and hope that I am here tonight to address a school board that appears to be ready and willing to take action on this
067issue [Applause] please know that you have the support of many community members now specifically there are two parts of the statement that was released last month that I would like to address with my remaining time the first is the large-scale book study on cultural competency from a brief review of this recommended book that was mentioned in your statement it appears that this could be a great first step but only if in fact it is that a first step followed up by many additional steps it's my understanding that participating in these book studies is voluntary if that is the case it seems impossible to connect this to a measurable outcome what if instead of and perhaps in addition to this book being used for a voluntary book study it's also required reading for beginning teachers in
068their first three years I know that there must be so much information that new teachers need to learn but it's hard to imagine there are any topics that are more important than cultural competency secondly I'd like to express my concern about the effectiveness of the focus group discussions that have occurred and if these discussions occurring about equity bias and access in our district if there are not people of color at that table then we need to recognize that we are inviting the wrong people to the table this seems obvious to me right there's it seems obvious to me but when I stop and consider the gross under-representation of people of color on our school board and in our schools as teachers and administrators that seems like a significant question so moving forward I urge you
069the board to not put forth resolutions that can't be quantified but to instead focus on actionable steps that have well-defined and measurable outcomes so that people can be held accountable if these goals are not met thank you [Applause] Rebecca Trammell hi I practically know most of you guys on a first-name basis and I'm happy to be back here tonight to say thank you for those resolutions that were immediately passed after the Cottington instant it spoke volumes to me and pretty much everything that I've been asking for for about a year was stated and I appreciate those resolutions I want to talk to you tonight about the equity team so what does the equity team look like does it look equitable to some of the people look like me to some of those people on that
070team have they ever experienced the horror of their child being experienced to racism I know that that's probably not your experience and I'm glad it's not but I'll be even happier when it's no one's experience so why do I do this what can be more important than education what what could be the one indicator in society that would say that there is a brighter tomorrow it's education I can't imagine anything more important than what you guys do because you guys set the standard you guys set the bar and I'm asking you to set it high and even set it higher so with that I'm asking first of all I want to thank our Bryant he was making participating every single week in my community conversations at Williston high school and your presence sir has not
071gone unnoticed he's there half the game is just showing up and he showed up so what I'm asking for for this equity team as part of the resolution can you tell us who they are and give us updates on social media and in WCT waa why the news paper we just want to know what does this look like and where is this going and also how can we be involved I think that all the people that are standing behind me tonight they're also standing for you and what you said you're gonna do and if there's something that we can do to be a part of it you just let us know because we're all there and with that I'm gonna say the one thing that I think we need to invest because I believe the
072children are our future teach them well we'll let them lead the way [Music] reminded who we used [Applause] we're gonna talk about the equity committee did a little bit Tyler Shumate hello my name is Tyler teammate and my teacher in New Hanover County first ones say thank you to the board up to dr. Mark Lee for allowing me to speak this evening I have read and reviewed the board statement an action plan after the incident at Cottington I think into action plan is excellent and will benefit not only our staff but students as well implementing correctly there is one action statement that I would like to address specifically the implicit bias training that principals will receive in June 2019 we believe that is the best interest of our students have that same training delivered to
073all teachers in New Hanover County teachers are the heartbeat of the school and ultimately decide how and in what manner curriculum will be delivered in the classroom it is vital for all of us who know what implicit bias is what it looks and sounds like and ultimately how to avoid it in the classroom implicit bias refers to attitudes and stereotypes that affect our understanding actions and decisions unconsciously in regards to race and ethnicity why this particular training to ensure that the only black student in classes and what giftless at Christmas and to make sure minority student isn't a pawn in a game teachers need the training to identify their implicit bias and learn how to dismantle them we spend the first few workdays in August focus on academically growing our students when we should focus
074on ethically and morally developing teachers and in turn students as well if the children are our future let's ensure that we are using every source and every ounce of energy to ensure it's an equitable and fair future for all students especially for students of color I do want to thank the board and dr. mark Lee for their bold stance on the importance of cultural competency training and the requirement to have this training at the beginning of the 2019 2020 school year cultural competency is not an easy topic to discuss and often comes with mixed reactions and emotions we love our kids what we deserve training to know how to take tackle prejudices and biases that we may not even know exist considering the difficulty and uneasiness that accompanies these discussions we ask that the principles
075be held accountable to ensure that the training is delivered with fidelity there's be follow-up from both the centre office and the board to ensure that it's being carried out with fidelity and integrity any good teacher knows that their principal is stretched to the max as we are I certainly see this with my own principal but this is important listen sure that our teachers receive 100% quality and implicit training cultural competency and implicit bias I do emphasize both because cultural competency and implicit bias can it can't and shouldn't be separated it would be like peanut butter with no jelly shrimp with no grits or dare I say North Carolina without college bass somebody they are the left and right shoe that put us on the path to equitable classrooms that will be a model for the
076state of North Carolina and the entire southeast my friends and I stood before you tonight because like you we love and care about each and every one of our kids in New Hanover County they are the best and the brightest and represent our future we want to ensure a more ethical and fair future for everyone through the adequate training for our teachers thank you for your time this evening and for your devotion to the betterment of all students and teachers with special regard to those our different ethnicities and races thank you [Applause] my Egyptian my name is Claude Edgerton I appreciate the opportunity to be here to talk to the board and I appreciate the board hearing all of us tonight the song that I heard growing up was Jesus loves the little children of
077the world red and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world I'm sad about the fact of and I'd like to say something about redistricting if Jesus came to New Hanover County and wanted to see the black children he would be sent to one place in general the white children he'd be sinful nullified I think they cannot be racial sensitivity that cannot be what's called racial reconciliation without racial justice and I don't think you can have racial justice until you have accountability for when racism happens and it happened in and I realize I'm saying this a lot it happened in first-come first-served in 2015 and 16 it happened clearly and the way it was handled is I'm not sure but I've given you a lot
078of material I was planning on putting something up on the board and I can't do that but I will say that I tried to bring forth a complaint about first-come first-serve which for those who don't know was a program that the enrollment was supposed to start and on second March 2015 and on the 27th of February the program was full in a 46% black school it was full of 40 children without one african-american student and the way that happens I think maybe the board how it happened maybe they know I have evidence that you have seen that not only did the board find out in but the superintendent and the deputy superintendent knew about it the deputy superintendent in a 2012 blog talked about how he was responsible for for enrollment and the principal has
079sworn under oath that our administration knew about it it's also been stated in other places that the upper administration do you matter but the administration's comment now is that the the principal was in charge of this all the time and so when I bring it up at the last board meeting first come first serve mention it one time the board lawyer takes several minutes four minutes or so telling about what happened after first come first serve what happened during first come first serve is going to be come more and more public the principal said white parents cannot advertise this program in Africa in minority communities because of safety issues and the superintendent supported that in a letter which I was told was a reason I couldn't complain it was I was also told I had
080not been agreed when one black child or any other child colors agreed we're all agreed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Reverend Dante Murphy I'm here tonight to clear because this board has neither habit of making comment after I make comment but then not allowed me to say anything in response it seems that this statement that I made that if you all did not do an independent investigation it would make you all co-conspirators to child abuse and discrimination unlike what some of your board members have seen that was not directed personally to any of you so what I do because some people said to me reven Murphy back there you know you all is all white board probably don't like hearing it from a black man so I've adopted what the professor for the unit CW say it
081if you don't investigate your top administrator for mishandling complaints of child abuse and discrimination then you do become co-conspirators to institutional betrayal of victims of the same people are asking for action because all of this talk about racism we've been telling about racism for 400 years people want action when an administrator does something that's racist and wrong why do they keep their jobs and this title nine community that you have put together one of the top administrators that we are saying has been problematic in those complaints you put that person on the title nine committee so that shows that you're really wanting to put action two words I'm not saying all this is easy because you've got an attorney that's telling you what to do you got an attorney that goes in to say what
082you can and you can't do and I know that so this is not an easy problem but the first thing you can do and you don't need an attorney mission for this get dr. Rick Holliday off of that I've been asked to take a five-minute break so we will it is what time is it 706 706 we'll be back here in five minutes you