001Dr. Corner, my name in Dr. We have one. It's 2:00. Perfect timing. I appreciate my colleagues being here. Uh, let's get started. Miss, so real quick before we get started, we queue up the slides. Um, this is the feedback that we started to collect throughout the year. We're going to present that to you. Um, I do want to stress to the board how important this feedback is because this is at a time where parents aren't looking at maps or aren't looking at impacted schools. So, you really get a good sense of the feelings of the community when it comes to the the feedback or information that they want to share as part of this process. As you saw when we went through calendar uh changes, there's a lot different types of feedback you'll receive once
002schools are named, but this is a good real um litmus test for you to see and understand what the the community is saying at large. And I'll turn it over to Susan. And as always, we'll just direct everyone to the website. We're going to speed through the first few slides because they are background information that you see in in many uh presentations. Uh board policy that anchors our work is 4150. We're aligned to our strategic plan in several areas as we discussed on multiple occasions. And of course, we're in step four of our current planning cycle. And so we're just as a reminder, we've actually already had the review of the annual goals with you. We did that in May. And so the public engagement sort of wrapped around that same time period. So, we're
003bringing you what we have so far. But before we dive into that, just a quick reminder of what we shared with you in March. Prior to getting started, we heard from the community that they'd like ways to participate before final decisions are made. They want to make sure they can participate before final recommendations are made. They want to make sure that they have um the opportunity to share their unique perspectives and of course that they are regularly reminded about opportunities to participate. So what we've done to support that, again, we talked about this in March, so I'm not going to belver the point, but we're making sure that we have activities early and before recommendations. We make sure we're using every communication modality that we have available to us and offering both synchronous and asynchronous
004opportunities for families to participate. Um, in addition, we're making sure that we send those reminders out as regularly as possible using our known communication methods and that way the parents preference is honored. if it's a text, if it's an email, um it's whatever the parents have indicated they prefer to get the messaging format in. Um and then of course we just like to remind everyone it does have an impact to uh Mr. Carza's point because of feedback received in prior years. You're seeing that we have expanded stability rules that the board has continued to support which have been favorably very highly favorably received by the community. Uh looking differently at how we open our new schools so that we don't overcrowd them in their first couple of years. we actually have taken a slower progressive
005um uh path forward in terms of developing attendance in those schools. That'll be der to this year's conversation. Um enhancing neighborhood and cohort continuity. There's a lot of calls for can our fifth graders go on together with sixth grade and eighth graders go on together with 9th grade. Can we do a little bit better job of creating those cohort continuity opportunities for families? Um having more access to planning resources and the list goes on. Um, before I get too deep into today's presentation, just the highlighted red text at the bottom references the current draft of the public engagement report, which is attached to the materials. This is the first installment, so please bear with me. There's probably a handful of typos and errors, but it's draft one. Um, and it only gives you information up
006through today, but that does do a look back. So for those of you who've been engaged in the PR process for the last several years, we did have some initial conversations in the Northwest with the Parkside Middle School families when we originally thought that school would open ahead of the high school. So we have included that feedback because it is gerine to the region. So you'll see that we've done a look back over the last four years including Parkside Middle Conversations, Morrisville High School conversations, and general conversations. So what did we do this year? This is your new information on slide 18. Um, we participated in the full revamp of our district website and made sure that our new page, our assignment planning page not only persisted but adhered to the new formatting requirements. We
007added a whole section called what happens during the assignment planning process. And in that section, we made sure that we um where am I that we updated everything in that section. So all of the links for steps one through six are for this current process versus the previous year's process. So the updated forecast, the updated capital improvement plan, all of those links are now curated and updated to this cycle. Uh the where are we in the process section, that is a new section and again to help families quickly find what can I do now, right? I yes, it's good to know what the history of the process is, but where are we today and how can I engage? um the sess s excuse me the session questions for 2728 in the school enrollment planning has
008been updated to reflect questions we've captured so far and that we've been able to collect responses to you for so far um and I say that because a lot of questions we get are for other departments and so we lean on our colleagues to help us answer questions particularly at the high school level academic questions athletic questions and so as we get those responses we'll continue to update the section of the website and then we've added the spring 2026 information to the feedback from engagements sessions and impact area maps section. Um, and so in that area, families can see the the group of the geographic groups of families that were invited to our inerson sessions because it's most germanine to those families as well as um any information we've collected from our live sessions, and
009we'll get to some of that in a minute. So, what kinds of sessions have we hosted? So, beyond the website, we hosted three different types of sessions. The first group of sessions were in-person sessions specific to the new Morrisville High School and we're starting to tag that Eastern Wake community early with the two schools coming in the future. Um, we then had some virtual information sessions to support that. This is specifically because of feedback last year where hey, I missed the in-person session. Felt like I had no opportunity to participate in the discussion. So, we did a double up and made sure we had an information session that was virtual that paired with the in-person session so families could either attend in person, attend the live virtual session, or watch the recording. So, we we
010sort of expanded all the ways people could participate. We made sure that our thought exchanges corresponded to those as well. And then we hosted two special focus sessions that were filled sort of as general sessions. So they were out in the general community messaging, but we made sure to highlight that we really were gathering input from the North Raleigh area and the south central and southeast Raleigh area. Two areas that have started to see some stabilization. They don't have a lot of new schools coming, but they probably have different types of assignment concerns that need to be lifted up. And we wanted to make sure we gave space for that. The thought exchanges that supported these ran from March to April for the ones that were dedicated to the Morsville High School campus and the
011East Wakeake area and then for the larger, more general ones so that they didn't overlap. We launched them on May 1st and kept them open through the 27th and that's really just to make sure we could get some information for today. Um, we have not yet hosted our AI focus groups or AI supported focus groups or interviews. We're planning to do that in the coming weeks. Invitations should be going out. The I think I have that on a different slide. I won't I don't want to speak. So, we'll be sending invitations out. As a reminder, people can go on our website, click on the I want to participate in focus groups, and that's the list we use. Right now, it's a little over five. I want to say maybe 600 families have said that they're
012interested in participating. So we don't restrict. I will say that's something just as a reminder the benefit of doing the AI supported interviews. I can send it to all of them and as many as wish can participate where if we do live traditional focus groups I'm restricted to like six to 10 participants per session. That really restricts the amount of voices that can be lifted up and heard. So that's why we really rely on the um AI supported interview process. So again, everything that I'm sharing with you and more is in the attached uh draft of the first version of the public engagement summary. Um, in fact, that first digital assets uh number has already gone up to 4,827 views. So we are continuing to see people using our website as a main way of
013staying tuned in and and informed about the process. Just a quick snapshot, we had 31 participants participate in our inperson sessions. um almost triple that, actually a little over triple that participated in our virtual sessions and even more through the views and that's just through May 25th. We know that those numbers will continue to climb on the views. As far as the online forums go, today we had 374 total participants across the four thought exchanges posting 235 thoughts. Um, and to Glenn's point, at at this time of the year, it's it's those that are keenly interested, but we'll probably see an uptick in participation once we do a first draft release and actual maps are shared. Just to let you know, the types of questions we're asking um our participants and our community members are
014here. We we tailor them to the specific conversation for that region. So, that just is highlighted here on this slide. And when we had the in-person sessions, these are just some samples of the chart papers that were really collected feedback live from the participants in a roundroin kind of format. All of this has actually been typed up neatly and is on our website in that information session area with the impact maps that we wanted you to see a sample of the artifacts that are collected during these um inerson sessions. What we really heard when we kind of looked at that in greater detail from the Morrisville High School session and and I'm I'm just going to say it out loud. Proximity and neighborhood continuity is doesn't matter where you live. Those are top of mind
015for everybody. Um so proximity and neighborhood assignment stability came up as a main topic. Really thinking about where the physical building is located and how families can access that site. Um there are some calls flushy for uh a walkability area that maybe the more new Morrisville High School is in an area where students may even be able to walk to school. And so they just want staff to keep that in mind as as we're developing the attendance area. Resource parity. This always comes up particularly when we're talking about high schools. Are we going to have the same course offerings? Are we going to have the same clubs? Are we going to have the same athletic opportunities? Are we going to be able to participate in the same types of scholarship programs? All of the things
016that are very uniquely high school. just lots of, "Hey, academics team, athletics team, please make sure that we've got the same access to the high quality programming that we would if we had stayed at our full school, you know, our 9 through 12 school that's already open." Feeder pattern and cohort continuity. Again, similar to proximity comes up in every area. Can we have a logical path from our elementary school to our middle school, the middle school to our high school? And then overcrowding, relief, and operational execution. So this one is very clearly a northwestern area concern. As you may be aware, vast majority of our cap schools are in this region or at least over half of them are. And so the community gets that and understands that and wants the new school to provide
017relief and any other school um sort of assignment area changes that are made in this community. They want us to focus on providing relief to those cap schools and better utilizing some of the schools that might have some extra space. And when we're talking about the Eastern Wink area, the the core themes that came out of that in-person session, we're just acknowledging that there is new and rapid growth coming to this community that's very different than what this community has experienced in the past. And so, just be mindful of what that's going to do to the current schools while we're waiting for new schools to come online. And please help make sure our class sizes are not impacted negatively. And so, I think as a district, we still hold to class size legislation, particularly at
018the K3 size. So regardless of how full your school is, your individual classes and studenttoteer ratios will meet those standards. But it does feel like the school is very full when a lot of students are walking around the hallways and accessing playground equipment and traveling through cafeteria during lunch periods. Uh family support and childcare. This is a very unique concern. I think it's probably not unique to the community, but was lifted up that having access to before and after school care options that are associated and affiliated with the school is very important for working families. programming and course offerings similar to what we talked about the high school level but at all schools you know making sure that as you change an assignment area for a student or open a new school that we're mindful
019of the fact that programming should be consistent from school to school and in the eastern area in particular with five schools actually having magnet designation being thoughtful about how there's differences in academic offerings from [clears throat] one school to the next if one is not a magnet school when we looked at the online forum we gave again specific prompts to the conversation ations for the area. So, I'll let you read these, but they were each tailored to the conversation for that particular portion of the county. And then here's what we start to see when we look at the Morrisville High School. Not very much different from what we heard in the Inerson session, but perhaps a little bit more granular because individual thoughts were listed out. Um, here you see a more granular approach to
020the themes with continuity and stability having the most number of thoughts. Um, second in number were proximity to school and a close third is the school zoning. When we look at how those thoughts were rated, you see that extracurricular activities ended up jumping quite a few spaces and becoming the highest rated series of thoughts and comments. Neighborhood cohesion sort of tying it and proximity to school kind of staying in that same space where it was for total volume versus ratings. So again, I remind you that the ratings are important because they allow the small voice to be lifted up because if everyone sees that comment and gives it a four or five rating, that lets you know that even if there's only one or two thoughts about it, it's important to the community. Um, and
021it also takes that volume and sort of adjusts it to balance out across the other the other dots. We're going to continue to look at this information. The interactive version of this report is on our website, so you can get all of our families can go there and and see that. Um, I'm not sure if all four thought exchanges are because the ones that closed on the 27th, it was a bit of a tight timeline. Those will probably go up later this week or next week if they're not there as well. And then just the top three thoughts just by overall ratings all had a rating of 4.3 or higher. Um, actually they were all 4.3s. Um, talking about nearby radius, need for local space schools, keeping neighborhoods together or neighbors together specifically. And then
022again, I think this is on that equity piece, making sure that the staff have the resources they need to offer the high-quality programming, particularly when we're talking about a new school. When we look at the eastern area comments, similarly, you see a broad distribution, the two highest volume of thoughts where uh categories like equity and inclusion and growth and planning. When you see the ratings, equity inclusion remains at the top of family involvement or invest, excuse me, facility investment actually comes up number two, which I think is supported by your capital improvement plan because you have dedicated a significant portion of the budget to support schools in this area. Uh again, looking at the top thoughts, a little bit more variation. You see investing in the current schools, not just the new ones. That supports
023your approach to renovations. Um the Eastern Wake don't have the same magnet options. They do now have five schools that are available to them and they're mirroring a lot of the programs that are in the central area, but just keeping that in mind that the program offerings are still highlighted as important for this region. And then again, you saw this on the Inerson session, just concerns about class sizes and making sure that uh student teacher ratios are maintained despite the rapid rate of growth that's coming to the community. When we look at the central and southeast Raleigh area, this is one that I'm not sure that the link is on the website yet because again, we closed this one super close to the the deadline for putting um information together for today's discussion. But proximity
024to school and distance concerns were highlighted. We have thought this was a concern for some of our central and southeast area families, but it's good to see their voices lifted up and the thoughts actually sort of bearing that out. Notice that mental stability pops up as a specific um series of thoughts or a theme. uh calendar consistency comes up, community alignment comes up, and then when we see what happens when they start rating them, distance and proximity to school still stay in the one and two positions. Um and community alignment kind of advances up a little bit and becomes the third highest rated series of thoughts. One thing I draw your attention to here, this is the same for all of them, but just a little kernel. Anything that's a 4.5 or higher star rating
025means there's real strong consensus or alignment in the community around that topic. And as you can see, distance concerns and proximity to school. There's no doubt that there's consensus around that that sort of idea for this community. Um, if it's below a three and a half, then you kind of have a little bit more of a two-sided approach to [clears throat] it with different perspectives. But if it's anything above a four or 4.5, that can let you know that there's some consensus around that idea. And as you can see, the comments align with that and the all the top three thoughts um related to distance. Um and when we look at the North Raleigh area, so this is the area that's well the North Raleigh area North. Um proximity, stability came up as the top
026two in terms of total number of comments. Overcrowding, pure consistency, and long-term planning. It sort of can rounded out the last three themes for this one. It had a little bit lower participation than we had anticipated. So we may need to continue to engage this community. But this is our third round of engagement with this area because we had started this conversation three years ago. Um, looking at the star score ratings, proximity, elevates, stability is right up there with it. Even peer consistency and and candidly overcrowding kind of came up, which is interesting because most of the schools have been balance have I take that back. This is an area where you have some imbalances where some schools are overcrowded, some schools are underenrolled, and so perhaps some adjustments to boundaries could better utilize the
027campuses and facilities in this region. Long-term planning is up there, but it's not quite a four. So there might be some um either ors in that one in terms of the ratings. Um proximity and location and neighborhood, proximity to home, and then children not worrying about where they're going to go year over year. This is something we've shared with you in previous sessions that if we can if we're going to make changes, if we can sort of get them done and then move out of that area and leave it alone for a while. There's a lot of support for that that we're hearing more and more as the years go by with this form of public engagement that we've been doing. But if we are going to make big changes, let's get them done and
028then provide as much stability as possible and then not keep coming back to that area for incremental adjustments. So the one thing we haven't done yet, as I mentioned, are the AI supported interviews. So here's that schedule that we're planning to follow. We're going to be sending invitations in the next week or two. Um, we're going to try to make sure all of the participants have successfully completed the interviews by July 19th so that we can bring summaries to you for obviously in time for September, but we want to make sure the planning team has access to those before any initial recommendations are formally drafted and shared with the board. As any of that information becomes available, we'll post it to the website, but we'll also share it with you in September when we see
029you again. So, what does this mean for the work? what it means for the work is I think we have a clarion call that stability is still very important and we need to continue to find ways that if adjustments need to be made can we provide as much stability for existing students as possible and when we do make adjustments let's make sure that they are adjustments that can stand the test of time um I know we say the three-year period is the shortest window with which we would want to reassign students twice but we really would prefer for it to be much longer calendar continuity it is while it didn't bubble up as an ind discreet thought it still continues to come up. We're hearing more and more calls for K12 calendar alignment on this
030side of the conversation, right? Um when it's your school that's changing, it might be a little bit of a different perspective, but this this idea that when my high schooler gets onto the traditional calendar, it just creates conflicts. Is there any way that we can have more more opportunities for traditional K12 and that's just coming out of the general comments. Cohort continuity, I've mentioned that a couple of times. Capacity management, really looking at improving the balance. This is actually new to this round as a clarion call or a point. Um we've heard it sort of in a roundabout way, but for families to really say, "Hey, I think it's time. Let's let's rebalance the schools a little bit so we can have um the overcrowded schools can get some relief and the underutilized schools can
031can be lifted up, particularly when they're in the same region. And then the policy guidance, we have obviously a lot of families talking about proximity and of course stability. um and those are highlighted by families throughout every region that we've uh sort of connected with. But we need to balance that with our need to make in our student achievement and operational efficiency goals. As you are aware, all of our schools are located in the areas that they are regardless of what the residential development looks like around them. So, it is physically not possible for us to assign students to their closest school across the district. There's just not enough seats um to do that. And then some schools on the the edges, you know, of the county would be willfully underenrolled. So we have to
032figure out how to balance this call for proximity with our need for operational efficiency as well as our student achievement goals. And with that we would come next to you. The next time we make a formal presentation to you would be September 1st and that would be the initial draft with any updates to the public engagement summary based on the summer work and reviewing the thought exchanges with a little bit more time. Um and then we may determine if additional sessions or thought exchanges are needed. if they are, we'll just go forward with those and report those out to you um as we get as we come to you on September 1st. And so with that um vice chair question, >> so slide 22 where you show the the number of participants and then comparing
033that to like slide 30 and I know there's multiple slides designed like slide 30 where you show like the top rank comments. I'm trying to get a sense So for slide 30 for example it says one of 168 2 of 168 those are the number of comments not for that particular thought exchange. So correct Morrisville thought exchange of the 235 thoughts that are up there 168 were made in the Morrisville exchange. >> Okay. Out of the what? >> The 235 you see on this slide. >> Yeah. >> 168 came from the Morrisville session. >> Okay. It has the highest rate of participation, which makes sense. It's a new school that's opening at the high school. More families [clears throat] are impacted. >> Okay. And the total, if I may, the total participants for the online,
034I'm looking at 22 again. Slide 22 is 374. Is that in addition to the live sessions or the for the 31 and the 114? >> Yeah. So, the live sessions are we go to a school, go to a meeting center. So, 31 people physically showed up to those. >> Yep. when we held the complimentary virtual sessions and the general versus v virtual sessions when I added them all together 114 total individuals came to and attended those during the live session. >> So those are two separate numbers and then for the online forums 374 people went in >> to one of the four thought exchanges and left 235 thoughts. We do have a lot of liy loops who were going in and looking and raving but maybe not posting thoughts and that's important too. My last
035question, do you put the the feedback you get from the from the live sessions or the virtual the 31 and the 114? Do y'all put those into the thought exchange so that you >> No, we put those on to the website and then we when we're looking at it holistically, we look at what happened here, what happened here as combined to what happened here and we bring it all together and that's part of what this report is for is to do that for you. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Thank you. So, there were a couple things that were a little surprising. I do want to thank you for putting all this together and also the timing of it because you know we get a lot of this dropped right before we have to make
036a decision. You don't have time to think about it and take it around and talk about it. So one of the things that I noticed and actually other I'd like to hear from some other board members about this if they've heard anything when they had the uh respondents in the southeast region talk about calendar. Is that something you hear about? I know with like Southeastley High School being on a modified calendar. Is that a challenge for families or parents or do they like that and embrace it? What What do you all hear? >> I mean, I think Well, for my part of of Southeast Raleigh, which covers like the very minimal part, um, of the the year- round schools that we have, I mean, it varies from family to family. Like, some families are really
037they really enjoy it. They really like it. it fits their schedule while others do not and they go through the transfer process to >> to select a different school. So, I don't see I don't I don't hear a lot from from parents in the schools that I serve in the southeast Raleigh area around >> that consistency. >> Miss Rice, do you hear anything in your schools about that? >> More most likely just the traditional space. It just doesn't meet a lot of folks needs economically. >> Okay. you know, because you have to it's different than taking care of um younger children's needs um in a group of two months at a time versus every 9 weeks you've got to find somewhere for your children to go and then it's not necessarily um a lot of
038our city of Raleigh spaces get filled up really quickly and so it's just not an economical um space for I'll say majority families. There are some families who can um clearly that lives in Southeast Raleigh. Everyone is not of an economic um um straight, but there are families who who can, but predominantly it's our folks looking just like traditional. I don't know if they're saying something um different, but most importantly, as we've seen on these results, it is what I continue to share and will continue to advocate for is to take the families of Southeast Raleigh back to their region, to their district closer in proximity. Um and then as a district we work together to meet um supports and resources that are necessary because if we're talking about wanting families to be more uh
039engaged and more supportive in their child's education, you can't keep sending families far away and think that they're going to be able to support their school and be able to participate in their child's school if they can't get there based upon how they work where they work and schools he home is here and school's 20 minutes away 20 m away it's just not it's the same thing that families in southeast Raleigh as we can see by our numbers today have been asking for and saying and I think that at some point um we need to figure out how to listen um what that listening looks like and then the bigger elephant in the room is my district is the last district to change registeration. So what does that look like after it shifts in the
040next 5 to 10 years completely? It'll be like the rest of the city of Harlem um in this area. So then how does that now then affect families and then I think the conversation is going to change over time in the next um 5 to 10 mornings. It's going to change again. So >> [clears throat] >> I did want to add while calendar continuity doesn't seem to be I don't hear a lot of issues with calendar continuity in the area that I serve. However, I have heard from families that don't understand why they are not the the priorities around magnet. >> Yep. >> They do not understand that. they don't understand, you know, while the district is saying magnets are supposed to um diversify and when you have Southeast Raleigh who is continuously in my
041opinion being left out of the priority for magnet programs. That is that is something that I constantly hear about. >> Dr. Um thank you. Um I I was just looking at um the the bar graphs uh comparing like the North Raleigh area with the other ones. So I noticed that the other ones have like eight items on it and this one only has five >> lower participation. So not a lot of diversity and thoughts. >> Oh, okay. Okay. So the >> I have others from previous years that have more. So we'll look at them holistically together and if we feel like we need to re-engage the community another time, we will. >> Okay. Yeah. I think it would be important to try attempt to re-engage them. uh in the north of Raleigh area. Miss Rice,
042>> thank you. I know that we're trying to move on a tight schedule, but I do have to reiterate what Miss um Gordon has indicated. It's very important to me and constituents that I hear from and um someone who's lived in in the region is relooking and re-imagining um our magnet priority. uh when it does come to Southeast Raleigh, you have a lot of families as I said. Um just because you live in Southeast Raleigh doesn't necessarily mean that you are without income and that you're and then and it also doesn't mean you're not an extremely involved parent. And so we have a lot of parents who live in the region who want to attend the magnet school but can't attend the magnet school um even when they're spaced and they're denied because um of
043whatever our rules look like um for magnet access. And so that's I must admit as well that's a huge um I have to listen to and then I try to defend the district on that side. And honestly, I don't want to keep defending something that I know needs to change um to go along to get along. And I think that's something that we need to intentionally and um purposefully look at and um hopefully that our superintendent hears what we're saying in that district to to look at to make sure that it does not create all poverty. And just because people come from poverty does not always mean that they don't know how to support their kid and that their children won't learn and that they won't be engaged in that learning opportunity. So I wish
044we would shift the narrative a little bit on that piece that um Mr. switch. So, uh in in keeping with the magnet discussion real quick, but um just in for future just think looking at the the way that the uh socioeconomic status is um determined um because I feel like some in that what what they um determination is may not actually line up with the reality. M >> um and so um I've I've encountered that many times up up in my area uh where where this just doesn't seem to make sense. So for future discussions close so you heard I said I had lots of questions but I don't think we have time for lots so I don't have too many say that any questions or additional comments please send to staff CC our chair
045um and we're going to do that all for all the meetings today just like we would in a budget meeting like please continue to add so two things one I was bringing up the calendars and things because like this past time when we had conversation about calendars. It was good to kind of get that out there and ahead in my area. I know that you asked about the Northwest and some of the schools and maybe some of us in North Raleigh, but we have a lot of issues with middle schools and middle school attendance with West Milbrook having, you know, high capacity and most of the other middle schools having much lower capacity. One of the schools that every couple years we talk about, but I haven't heard anything about recently, was Hillburn Academy, which
046is K through 8. And I know originally when we set up that program, and it's a wonderful program, it was intended to be like a remedy for overcrowding in the area, but I know that recently it hasn't had as much attendance as well with parents opting to go elsewhere. So, I didn't know if you had looked at Hillburn, if you had looked at that in any middle school reassignments. So are there any plans for that? >> So we can yeah we can certainly do some outreach. I know you had brought this up. I think it was probably last year when we looked at counter concerns. So we can continue to do some outreach, but there are certainly some cost savings to the district if we do look at dispersing those students to the um local
047middle schools that do have available seats. I think it be I think it would be good to hear from parents in that area and really see, you know, are they voting with transfers or are they really embracing it? And then just the last thing is um I didn't understand in the slides you you you frequently come back to um cohort continuity but then when we see the graphs I don't see cohort continuity what is that actually coded on >> when you see like continuity and stability here it's building thoughts in there. So what we do is we look at all of the exchanges and figure out what the industry individual discrete thoughts are that are building each of those themes. And what we're what we're deciding based on what we're hearing across the board is
048that that feeder pattern or cohort continuity or moving along with peers lots of different ways. Some people even refer to that as stability, okay? >> And the way that they write their comments, they'll say, I want a stable path for my kid to go from blah blah blah blah. So when the AI grabs it, it just sees stability. So that's where that human eye is very important >> like freedom from reassignment. The the last thing I'll leave with that is >> yes not everybody thinks freedom from reassignment is >> I typically only hear cohort continuity as a priority when someone is assigned to a school they don't want to and they want to go to the school that their peers that went to that same elementary school did >> you know I I don't hear
049people come want to come out of like Mills Park to West Charlotte for example for cohort condo usually the other way so >> correct yes perception of school is very important part of that conversation for sure >> thank you very much >> okay we're good >> yes all So we'll see you on September 1st. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Please any questions and we'll get we'll engage all of our community. >> Item two. I don't I have Dr. Hill coming up. >> Dr. Walker and I'll let Dr. Walker introduce everybody. Thank you. >> When you're ready. >> Hey, good. How are you, folks? I always feel so far away from you. Uh so so of course uh you see I'm not flying solo this afternoon. I've got my colleague uh Julie Malik of course
050the senior director of school accountability and we so appreciate her partnership on this topic uh and of course uh my team member uh Ken Jorgensson uh who is the director of alternative education. And so, uh, I'm really just going to kick us kick us off and then, uh, Miss Malik is going to drive through, um, the bulk of it. Um, and then, uh, Ken will wrap it up. Mr. George is going to go ahead and wrap it up. Uh, and so, uh, before we we dive in, of course, it's the alternative schools accountability model. And this perspective from us is really strictly about this accountability model. So that's the lens we're coming from. Um we're really not focusing of course on the limited time of the merits of all of the alternative schools, right? We
051could spend a few hours going through that, but I do have uh a particular uh slide on that which we'll uh which we'll look at. But we are really looking at the mechanics of measure is kind of what I want to highlight and what I want to make sure to leave you with. You're going to hear it now and we'll probably clarify it at the end. Every school has an accountability model, right? But alternative schools is different. Look at the second slide. And so, uh, so this is really, uh, a glance at all of the particular alternative schools. Um, and I wanted to break it up towards the application where uh, that's usually referral from their school of origin. Uh and then we have schools that are disciplinary reassignments. Uh and then um on both
052sides, but I wanted to highlight certain schools that are focused specifically for our students that may have an IEP. Uh and with that highlight, uh and so uh every school again having the school performance grades and the indicators uh and this is a supplement to that, right? And so that's what we want to highlight. It's not meant to be less uh and uh but it's meant to ensure that we reflect this student body uh is different and it looks um uh in the sense of size uh uh for often these programs and schools and so the state as as uh Mr. Malik will highlight right they highlight that we have another opportunity here uh to look at these uh and so I also want to highlight I'm just going to address it you'll probably bring
053it up later, right? I do want to highlight again the connotation of alternative uh and uh that's a DPI designation. All right, but uh for those of you who go out to our schools with a kid a school to school and you know like for connection academy, we don't have connections academy alternative school plastered at the beginning. Uh so everyone kind of can sit here. Uh and so I just want to highlight again as I told you before we own that connotation. Uh, and these are students that need an alternate route to get to graduation. Uh, and so with that, um, Julie, I'll go ahead and pass it off to you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, so before we talk about um how we address the accountability for alternative schools, just going
054to do a quick review of the accountability for non-alternative schools. Um it's the 8020 model which I know you've heard and been debated for years. Um but just as a review for the elementary and middle schools it comprises of not just proficiency in the 80% but it also includes a indicator called EL progress which is the um progress towards English language attainment of multilingual learners based on the access test year after year. So that is part of this 80% block. And then of course the 20% block is our growth calculation as we're aware. Um at high schools there are additional indicators. It's again not just proficiency. It also includes the four year graduation rate. Um E progress again at the high school. There's an item called math course rigor which is how many uh seniors
055have obtained credit in math 3. And then there's a measure that is considers the ACT and the ACT work cues assessments. Um there's also a growth piece of that. So the 80% versus 20% just as a reminder of non-alternative school accountability models and that will come into a play with our alternative school accountability as well. Um so as Mr. Walker mentioned um we've got special considerations for alternative schools in North Carolina statute. Um there is a opportunity for an alternative accountability system for them within North Carolina. Um however that system is a supplement and at North Carolina it does not substitute requirements under the federal ESSA um mandate and we'll talk about that in a moment. So in essence, we have kind of two arms of the accountability model for our current schools. The most
056flexible is under our North Carolina system, and we have three options. Um, and you all were kind enough to uh approve our plan um under June 2nd meeting, but this is just a quick review. Option A, no changes. They go back a few slides and they do that 8020 for that. Um, option B looks similar and this is a North Carolina DPI system where 20% is called a persistence measure. So these are the percent of students that persist in a North Carolina or persist in school throughout that year which a lot of times is is the great benefit of offering these programs to get the students what they need so that they can persist in school. So 20% of the modified model is persistence. 20% is that 80%. So all of those indicators that are
057wrapped in the in the nonalternative school accountability model is 20% in the modified model for North Carolina. 60% is EVOS growth. Um and those designations come out as progressing, maintaining or declining. So it's a comparison from the previous years. If they're if they improve a certain amount, they get a um progressing. If they kind of stay similar, they maintain or if they if if indicators drop a bit, they decline. So those are the designations based on option B. There is an option B, which is a district created model. Um some districts choose to do that. Uh we've done it for a few years. Um but we opted to go back to option B which is how we decided to go and and um K talk about that a little bit more in just a moment.
058Um so those are the options um for the North Carolina system. Now as I mentioned for the federal accountability system they do not uh recognize the North Carolina system. It's you know it's it's more of a federal level. So they do require that all students fall within the A throughF alternative uh account um sorry the accountability model in North Carolina based on the 8020. However, the issue we see with um these schools based on some of the programs is sometimes they don't have enough uh data to calculate those school performance grades on their own. So when that happens um we have to opt to opt on on what do we do? How do we get them that A throughF grade um for the federal system and basically if there is enough data they calculate the
059A through F grade however it's reported with an altcore B alt C. So when that happens um we have B alt C. So even within that grade, it is defined as an alternate grade. Um and typically when we report that we we take them out when we consider the the A through F grades within the system and uh we can then report the maintaining and and whatnot for those schools. However, if um there's not enough data to to calculate the performance grade, we have two options. uh we look at all the data that would have gone into a performance grade and we assign them to their base school. Um these gentlemen help me with that when that happens. Um or we can use the option of combining three years worth of data to get that
060grade. Um in the past I think we've always done return to base school. Um in the past only one school has fallen into that and that is our long view program. Um and they have the letter grade is they adopt whatever school receives the most data points in that return system. So um in the past it's only been long view um due to some changes in some of the programs. We anticipate that that there might be a few more in the coming years, but we have traditionally held to the returning of the data to the base school. And now I'm going to hand it back to Well, good afternoon board members. Uh without blabbering the information that's been presented so far, I just wanted to provide everyone with a little additional background and context into
061why uh Wake County selects option B um for our accountability model. So these six schools and programs uh that are impacted by this accountability model um are varied as you have seen uh it's varied in the students that we serve the manner in which students and families can access these schools. Uh I think one of the slides indicated we have uh school initiated application processes for some of these schools. Some students arrive at these schools and programs through a disciplinary reassignment in lie of a long-term suspension. Uh or they have some special education needs that need support at these models. And additionally, the approach and strategies that these schools utilize uh to support these students need is varied. At one time, as Miss Malik shared, uh Wake County did utilize option C. we kind of
062developed our own model. Uh but through changes at DPI, we have reverted back to option B. Uh I believe in the 2223 school year that happened. Uh and during that time in transition, of course, we consulted uh and reviewed it with our alternative schools leaders, DPI, and the changes that they made for that option C and of course our district leadership uh to come up with a valid and reliable method to assess the performance of these schools in addition to their school performance grade. Um and as you guys know uh many of the students or many of our students face various obstacles and challenges uh that result in either our district or their family or staff considering alternative methods for learning and teaching. uh at times some of these students are entering these specific schools
063uh below grade level and so an alternative model is sometimes helpful rather than just focusing on that uh proficiency. Um so the option B um just has a larger focus on growth for each student in any given school year rather than the overall focus beyond that proficiency. and some uh may consider that a more accurate reflection of the student's progress. So uh as you've heard in just a quick summary, this option B, the state approved model um has that 20% persistence. So our students remaining in school rather than dropping out. Uh there's still a focus on some proficiency. the standard is still the same to pass our state exams, but we get to tilt it towards that 60% growth that if a student is entering a school uh or a school year two grade levels
064below, they might have a terrific year and the teachers might be in an amazing doing an amazing job along with the partnership with their parents. Um but to make up two school years of of progress as indicated by a state exam is often challenging and doesn't reflect um the work the school's doing. So it lets us tilt it to that 60 cent 60% growth model as measured by EVOS. Uh so with that I think we're opening it up for um dialogues and any questions you guys might have. Um, everybody at this table will be sick of hearing me say this. They've heard it before, but I'm going to say it again for anybody that's listening in the public. The the base 80% 20% standard that was legislation passed probably 10ish year years ago now is
065problematic. >> It's the worst formula in the country. Other states that had A throughF school letter grades have either like done away with them alto together or they've improved the formula. That's right. >> Because growth should be reflected heavier. Um there's been bipartisan legislation. Democrats and Republicans in the legislature have called for the formula to be changed. Those that legislation has never moved forward. Former state superintendent Kathy Truit was calling for it to be changed. um the state board of education has called for it and we just cannot get it moved. So I just think it's critically important that we look at this in that framework and I hear you. I'm glad that growth is better reflected for these schools. Um, but it should be across the board and I just think it's important for
066us to remember that context when we have these discussions in anytime we're talking about those A throughF school letter grades. Thank you. >> Um, thank you um for sharing. I'm going to try to keep this as brief as possible. Um, we you talk about the EVOS data and we talked about um option B and you reflect back to the 60%. But when you're talking about your EVOS data and what you're gathering from EVOS, um please correct me. Um but just just only my recollection of remembering when the EVOS came and when it first came out, um it's it's collecting um integrated scoring, right? It's not there's no other um these are cumulative scoring and testing. And so how would children who possibly with some students who are in our um different learning spaces really getting
067data that shows the 60% growth piece when it's based upon EoGs which have possibly landed them into these schools because of those um academic choice or challenges or whatever it is. So how are we equitably choosing the 60 when it's can kind of be flawed around when it's EBOS is only collected based upon EOG scores of integrate testing to determine what's worth and what's not. So I don't even know if I'm asking the right question. Maybe can I try? Um so the EOGS and EOCC's are the basis for calculation in K2. It's actually um also not for the alternative model but there is a growth of um measured growth for K2 but it's not part of the accountability model. So you are correct it is EOG's EOCC's. Um but I think the the benefit of
068EVOS is you can remain non-proficient but as long as you are you know performing above your statewide peers where you started and then after the test if you move beyond them um beyond where they wound up at the conclusion of that year. And so if if you're building up those supports, the student can grow and hopefully achieve higher than other students across the state or even in Wake County with a a similar starting point. But these schools hopefully are are helping them get beyond um because they have more specialized instruction and supports for them. >> Okay. Thank you. Um then the last question I'll just ask and I'll send the rest is um what were the challenges or the positives you encountered um to revert back to the B model versus the one that we
069created and stopped in 23. um a few that come to mind. I'll say what um in the past we that option C when we were doing it, we had a portion of our model reflect grade promotion. Um we know that you know a student that might have scored a level one on an EOG or EOC, it's going to be very tough to get a three in the next year. But but if during that year I might score the a middle of a two that reflects I grew more than a year in a school year. Um that's a positive thing. And so often kids are promoted based on their um may not have passed my EOC but I am making a lot of progress in catching up. Um what um I believe DPI did during that
07022 school year was any um district that wanted to use option C had to provide um through a prepoundonderance of the evidence uh research that supported a valid and reliable measure of your model. And as we worked with our leaders and everything looking um to determine any research out there about does grade promotion um necessarily uh reflect student achievement and it was very hard to come up with that research to support that. Um, another challenge of course when working with our school principles um that are keenly aware that proficiency for some of the students that we serve in these alternative educations is a tall ask when they come in. And so we are always looking for uh an alternative model and we had our own. But when we cannot meet that threshold of uh just
071research supported data to um for great promotion to be uh a reliable measure. Uh I think the outcome was simply to go with the state approved model because we still appreciated that 60% of it was about growth. And so even though our students may not achieve proficiency in a grade level, we want the opportunity to demonstrate that our hard work and our teachers and the partnerships with families are demonstrating at least they're growing four quarters in the school year, if not more. And just the final thing, chair, if I just say this, is it possible at a later time or I'll send my questions over that what I think I hear is I understand the reasoning of switching back um because we don't want to promote students if they don't have certain skill sets um
072to be uh productive citizens after leaving our our high school spaces. Um, I would really love to see what it looks like um with offering deeper supports for particularly our high schools 9th through 12th graders um when leaving the al when leaving our alternative schools. What other supports or skills have we equipped them with? Even though they may not be able to be proficient because if they weren't proficient in nth grade, it's highly unlikely that they're going to be proficient in 12th grade with leaving if we're going to be honest and address the elephants in the room. What other supports can we provide for our students that may not grasp the complete academic piece but have other skills that will make them productive citizens and be able to work um in the career workforce. Like
073I would really love for us to see how are we really supporting those students to transition into the adult world to be um productive citizens that they can have a meaningful role in society as well despite not necessarily being able to meet the uh rigors of formal education if that makes sense. >> Miss Rice, we can look at those students that are in our alternative settings and see what if any CTE credentials that they have impact obtained. So we can get that data just to make a comparison to see if they have a team so they can have some other pathways. Yes. >> Yeah. Output. >> I think that's important. Um everybody's not going to go to four year or even two year but they need some type of trade some type of something so
074that they can have meaningful roles in society to contribute. >> Um thank you. Um uh I I know that you talk about you know persisting in school is important. Um um was is there any um data percentage of the students who end up going back to their base school uh and how does that impact the the data you're gathering in terms of you know for for the um this particular >> I think each program has a different timeline for when that might happen. Is that true? Sure. Um so the disciplinary reassignments u um barring graduation 100% of them return to their base school after the set length of the disciplinary reassignment. Um, SC score A has or SCO score has two programs and score A uh students that are at risk of not graduating or
075potentially dropping out may apply to come to score A and upon that um you're expected to graduate through score A. Uh they typically will not return back to their base school. Um, and then with our two other application schools, now Vernon Middle School, the the goal is always to uh, you know, it's a much smaller setting, so they get a lot of support from teachers. Uh, and the goal is always to grow them and prepare them with the skills so that we can return them back to their base schools. And so a large percentage of Mount Vernon students will either return to their middle school after a year or two at Mount Vernon and but often will go to their high school, their base high school. Um Mary Phillips a little similarly with score a
076if you're coming to Mary Phillips during your high school career for the most part you will um graduate there. However, there is room for Mary Phillips to return to your pace if if needed. Um, which is opposed to score A. And um, did you have a second part? >> Yeah. My my question really was like I'm wondering if if we're losing out on capturing some of the success when a a student is going back to their base, you know, like so >> is that the term scores? >> Yeah, they're they're included in the pro the persistence calculation as a as a win. So if they if they do go back mid year then you know and they maintain the rest of the year then that that counts for the alternative school as part of the
077a positive and the persistence. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. So I think back to your question that we pull a little more granular data about uh what happens with these kids when they return and what does that look like? I think that's the question that you're asking right now. >> Yeah. I I it just you know I I just wonder if if we're getting giving ourselves enough credit in in capturing that information that if a student is able to successfully get back to their school and what happens well you want to take credit for it right >> thank you very much we're going to move along thank you uh Dr. as part of um Miss Rice for getting that done. I would love to see the CT. We just had the presentation on it
078and there was how glorious the everyone graduates who does CTE and I'm wondering if we're just not providing >> and so they have that opportunity when we're at non-comprehensive schools. >> Yeah. And so, uh, I'll get with, uh, uh, Joanne Hen and Dr. Hill. We'll make sure that we, uh, capture those, uh, >> I think it, Miss Lawrence, how are you? And those schools, it's predominantly those students that are there. Um before we jump into this next presentation my just so my colleagues are aware at a minimum this will be an action item next board meeting as well. So uh it was presented to us initially as doing this and then voting on it in one meeting and and the chair and I were not did not agree with that approach. So we we both
079wanted it to be have a meeting in or have two weeks in between so we could get community feedback. So any questions that occur that we think of after this presentation because this is a very important um presentation that we get well it's been given to me every year that I've been on the board. So yeah good afternoon um thank you for having me today. Um today I am here to talk about the possibility of meal price increases. Um just start with a recap of the district. We feed um about 21,000 meals for breakfast every day and 54,000 meals for lunch out of our 161 students 61,000 students. Um the challenge is that of course our costs have increased over the years and we are enterprise fund and our the expectation is for us to
080be self-sufficient and so as we have this increase in cost food supply and labor cost um our revenues have to be able to sustain itself and that is something that has been a challenge for the school nutrition department. So like I said the purpose is to talk about meal price increases. Um this um increase in prices does align with our strategic plan. Um three things in particular. Supporting financial stability because like I said the goal of student nutrition is to be self-sufficient and our end goal is to have operational efficiency um maintaining highquality services. So adjusting prices make sure that we can keep the services that we do offer to the level that is um produces effectiveness and quality college for our students and then protects um the district resources because whenever we have to
081come to the school board for resources we are looking for you to help supplement our budget because like I said we are enterprise fund so if we come short we have to get the money from somewhere. Um, so just a little bit of background, the fund balance is like I try to describe to people like our emergency fund is for nutrition. When nutrition falls behind a two-month fund balance, we aren't able to pay um in the rate cost in um North Carolina. So that means that there's about a $3 million fee that we typically would pay you that we haven't been able to pay in the last 3 years. Right now, we're operating with a little bit over a month worth of fun balance amount. Um, and so the goal of course is to increase.
082We always want to have a fund balance. I feel like an emergency fund just like in your home like I want a six month emergency fund when I'm running tight. That's a bad situation for me as a person. Same thing for how we operate food nutrition. So I threw in some pictures so you can see some things we've done. So this year we had um Super Bowl celebration and we did serve wings. We had all different kinds of flavors. I actually went to a school and got my own wings. Um, but this was just a picture of something that we did and the staff did a wonderful job. Um, switching back, we have this is the labor the hourly rate of some districts in our area. Um, currently we start at 1775. Um, Charlotte is
083the highest paying. They are about 20. And from speaking with her, she's at that level because she's competing with um, employers that have the same career path in her city. So, you know, like if she's looking at Amazon, things like that, she's trying to be competitive to keep her staff. Um, and so we're not the lowest paid, but we're not the highest paid either. >> And Miss Lars, that is entry level pay. >> And this is entry level. So, they do get years of experience, like those kind of things as they grow up. I mean, well, as they stay with the um the impact of benefit increases, so as benefit costs increase, our cost of food nutrition increase because we are enterprise fund again. And so we do have to cover our own labor and
084benefits cost. And so this year with the budget changes, we're expecting a 36% increase in the cost to cover retirement benefits, our part of the contribution, medical cost, workers comp, and dental. And so those are percentage changes that we anticipate. And this does not anticipate if a raise is implemented as the legislator has said because the retirement column and workers will also adjust because salaries will increase. So, another feature from us is National School Breakfast Week. We had a new menu item that we wanted kids to try. It's a breakfast egg roll. It was super popular. You see the fresh strawberries on the plate. This will be on the menu next year. And so, this was something that I just kind of want to show some of the things that my staff does. Um, the
085rising cost of ingredients impacts us. So, when we talk about cost increasing, we're looking at food cost. So, if you look over the last 10 years, we used to get a chicken sandwich, it would cost us 38. Now it cost us $1.15. Chicken bites 43 cent. Now it's 91. So you see the trend. So the cost has increased as supply just like you go in your grocery store and you see the cost of something increasing. That same thing happens in nutrition. Um distribution case cost increased significantly last year because we had a new bid. Um it's $357. It will not increase this year because we are rolling over. Um, and but just to put it in perspective, there are some districts in North Carolina paying almost $5 a case. We actually have a fairly good
086rate, believe it or not. And this is the price that's added to every case of product that we bring in on top of whatever it costs to get the product. It's like a a fee. Um, if we bring things into our warehouse, we can not pay that fee. Um, the challenge that we have is that we have limited space in our warehouse. So, some of this is because we don't have enough space to house all of our own inventory. And each year we bring in over 400,000 cases. So, when you think about that $3.57, multiply that times the number of cases we bring in to serve our 200 schools. So, I wanted to just break it down and relate it to your everyday restaurant experience. And so, often people talk about what do we charge
087for lunch and we charge between 370 for $375 and $4. But what you get for that is significantly more than what you would get out in the real world. Not that we're not real world, but you get a whole cup of at high school, a whole cup of fruit, a whole cup of vegetable, your milk. In elementary, you get one to two vegetables and your fruit and your milk and your entree. If you were going to Chick-fil-A to get a chicken sandwich, just the sandwich is $5.25. We serve a chicken sandwich in our schools in high schools three days a week. It is a whole muscle white meat chicken on a whole grain bio bun with all the sides that I mentioned and we serve all of that for the $4. And so I want
088to put it in perspective cuz I think sometimes people forget what good of a deal you get when you do eat school lunch. And so I also pointed out chicken nugs. I try to choose things that I know kids love that are super popular that we also serve on our menu. And Chick-fil-A actually offers milk, but it's $1.85 and we do not charge $185 for milk in school nutrition. um performance indicators. So things that help us know if we're operating efficiently um is food cost per meal. So we are under industry standards at $145 a plate. Um industry standards around $1.75 and typically what it is is 50% of the reimbursement rate. So the reimbursement rate is typically 4604$469 depending on your district pre and reduced levels. Um and you want to be under that
08950% mark of the 469. And then mills per labor hour we operate um about 17.4. That's on average. Every school is different. If you are in the 20s or the higher the number you see in meals for labor hours, that means that is the least you have less people in your building producing the meals. And so that's almost like saying your people are working a little bit harder. So the sweet spot that I like to be in is between 16 and 18. that you can operate at 21, but know that your staff will be working with less. Um, average daily participation is the amount of kids that we f feed on a daily basis. Our participation actually isn't that different from last year, but I also want to remind you that we increased prices last
090year and typically when you increase prices, you lose participation and we haven't. We've actually gained participation in some schools and maintained. And so to me that indicates that they are still happy with what we're doing because we're not losing people because we raise prices. Um USDA reimbursement. So the $469 that I mentioned is the amount that you get from the federal government for every plate that you serve when a child is free. When they are free, if you charge $3.75, this creates a gap of 94 that isn't covered by anyone. So that's coming out of our cost. And then if they are a paid student, we only get 53 cents reimbursement from the federal government. And the gap now becomes $3.22. And so when you talk about raising meal prices, that's really the gap you're
091really addressing. It's for those paid students. And then note that students who qualify for pay reduce, that is not something we decide that is a federal eligibility guideline. And so they decide who qualifies for what. And so the majority of the kids who need these benefits are going to qualify under that guideline. And yes, I know that they're going to be, you know, that that person who is that dollar over who doesn't qualify. But we do capture a lot of those kids as well because we have reduced students that get meals in the state of North Carolina that they cover. But we also have extended eligibility and we also have 44 schools in our district that are C, which means they get free breakfast and lunch. But that is off the backs of the kids
092who qualify for direct certification. So, we're able to expand our reach and so we are capturing some of those families that actually need that support. Um, National School Breakfast Week, if you see the castles in the background, my staff actually made all of those castles out of number 10 cans and decorations they did like arts and crafts projects. And we have way more photos, but this was just the staff showing you kind of some of the things they did. They were so excited. Um, I was so proud cuz some of those castles came out amazing. Like one school had like dragons on the wall. It was amazing. So, um, historical Wake County meal pricing. So, we have raised prices for the last 3 years 25. Um, and even though that is a impact to to
093the family, it actually is not enough. Our ultimate goal is to match what the reimbursement rate is of the $4.69, but also in order to be um financially self-sufficient, we need that number to grow. So, area prices, so different districts have different pricing. Something to keep in mind in particular at the bottom row when you look at C is that Dorm is 100% C. Um Charlotte has more C schools than us. When you look when you really compare us you really should be looking at Chapel Hill because they have the similar free and reduced rate as we have cuz they have 31% if you see at the bottom but we we are like 36 37 and we still have 44 CDP schools. And so when you talk about why are we different because technically we
094are not considered a low-income district when it comes to looking at free and reduced and that is why we don't have the the opportunity to serve all meals free in our district. So I often get this question so that's why I put it here. People ask me what does it cost if we give everybody free meals? This is just the lunch number, but it would cost almost $12 million for us to pay the gap because we would of course take advantage of all the free money that we would get, but we would have to cover the difference. So, factors impacting the current situation is our fund balance being lower than we want it to be. Of course, we want to be we really want to be at our 3-month mark. um uncertainty around government around
095governmental changes because you know there are SNAP rules with the big beautiful bill that has been passed that are impacting the state. Um, North Carolina, other districts in general have dropped their SNAP level, their SNAP numbers, um, their DC numbers, which is what impact SNAP. In Wake County, we actually have not gone down in our DC numbers, but I think that's related to the fact that, you know, we have more jobs, more opportunities, so people are moving this way, but as a state, we have declined. And so, that's something to think about and that impacts us as well. And those are just changes that are happening. We expect those changes to really show up for us this next school year as the new laws and rules kind of become implemented. Perception of value versus meal
096because people challenge all the time about am I getting a quality meal and school nutrition. I had a parent last week call me. She had a high school student and she had a lot of concern about what's being served. And one of the things the first thing I asked is when was the last time you had school lunch to see what's really being served but also tell me what your child's concern is so that I can explain to you what we are doing and show her that we are serving fresh fruits and vegetables that we are serving high quality products um in that and then also educate her. She thank me at the end of the conversation and she's going to be reaching out to one of you. I don't know what district, but I
097did give her her area. Um because she wanted to learn more. She felt like parents weren't educated enough about how this works. And she said, "Wow, I didn't know. I really would like to be more involved." And I said, "You know, you guys are a great place to start so that she can participate in some of those um BAC's and things like that to learn more about the program." But just making sure that people understand that we really are giving value. And then potential negative impact for the district is because like I said before when we come to you for money that impacts the other side of the dollar which is how we fund teachers and instruction and M and those kind of things. And so our goal is to operate in a financially um
098self-sufficient way. Um in within our department some of the things that we focus on is decreasing expenses. So streamlining entre utilizing products. So when we have a chicken breast we're using it more than one way. um increase direct ship, like I said, bringing more things into our warehouse. Um managing our warehouse more effectively, like inventory. Some of the things that I've done this year is visited some large districts like us, like Charlotte, um Cobb County, and Georgia to learn more about what they're doing, best practices to see if we can implement some of those things here. And so, we are in the process of making some of those changes right now because inventory on the shelves or inventory that's lost is money that we're losing as well. So, that's something that we're working on heavily
099this year. um increase. Yeah. Could >> Could you with the information about warehouse storage space >> and cases that may come in that require cold storage versus just general storage? Is there a difference that they need to be? >> There is a difference. So our warehouse is and I can't remember the square foot is right now, but it's a fraction of what we really need. So dry storage which is doesn't require any um refrigeration we're actually fairly decent on right now provided we don't change the menu. So an example in Charlotte, Charlotte brings in their own juice and we serve a lot of juice because kids can get juice at breakfast and lunch and kind of unl juice which means they save all of the case cost for all the juice. But that means that
100they house they have a truck that takes out just juice and beverages. That's all they take out in one day. So imagine they have a similar population to us. That's how much storage space they have when you talk about pallets and pallets of juice for us. We can't bring in that kind of product because we don't have the space for that. So that's dry storage. Yes. >> And the storage unit is or the storage is at um Rockport. >> Yes. So if you when you see my office on the far right attached to purchasing is our warehouse and then inside of that we have the cold well. We have a refrigerator and we have two freezers. And so we have limited space on what we can bring in to put in that. Like on there's
101a side there. It's not just limited. It's also how it's shaped because you have the pallet jack that need to go in and lift the product off the shelf, but we don't have enough space to go down the aisle way to turn to get the pallet jacks appropriately in there, which means it limits storage space cuz we have to leave room to drive around the pallet jacks. And then in our other storage, we stack deep. And so we also have to have spaces to stage products. So when we bring it out, we need a space to get it ready for the trucks for the next day. So an example in Charlotte, they would have our space. I think hers might be I have the notes since I went to visit. It might be 20 22,000
102ft in Charlotte, but they actually recently just took over the warehouse cuz initially it was central office ran. So, she is now running her own warehouse. And she's also adding on cooler freezer space on top of that, on top of already storing all her own juices. And she's she stores all her own paper goods, juices, that's just dry, not including her freezer cooler. And so, we're not even on the cusp of being able to store to that level, but that would significantly impact what we could carry in house, get rid of the $3. And so, I asked her, what is she, you know, distributor? She's using distributor very minimal. So, she's not really paying the $3 and something when she's operating on the case cost. >> So, just as a quick followup, when is our
103new facilities? [laughter] >> Yeah. August. Um so I know that at some point in the over the next few months we we're going to get a um presentation at the facilities committee on rock corey and I want to make sure that um as a plan has been talked about that this particular issue is whatever is over rocky including CNS if we need more space that we are >> that that's part of the conversation I'll just leave it at that. Absolutely. Okay. No, you're fine. That's that's a hot topic. Um increase revenue. So, our goal is to maximize rent reduced student eligibility. So, I have rent reduced um specialists who actually pull our eligibility every single day. Um and every single day they tell me, Tiffany, I've checked every kid that I can cuz what happens
104is when we get kids that come in, we can extend. But that's something that you can do every day. So, they do it every day. So most weeks they give me a report telling me, Tiffany, I'll take every kid I can. That's kind of been something I've asked them to do. Um, also expanding C. So my goal is to increase the number of schools that we have for C because we are allowed to group schools together. So um, I'm actually in that process right now. So my hope is that I will be able to share some schools that I can expand C in. Um, the state has until June 30th to approve all of my suggestions. And so we are on the cusp of that and I do expect some of them to get approved.
105I'm just not sure all of them will. Um, and then increasing alocart. Um, of course, smart snacks is a hot topic as well, but it is a revenue builder for our small business. And so, we want to make sure that parents understand that we're not trying to serve unhealthy food to our students. We are serving whole grain, fruits and vegetables, 100% juice products, lowfat ice cream to make sure that smart snacks are a vital part of how we fund our program. Um, and increasing overall meal participation. So, some of the things that we've been doing is having flavor labs. I think I mentioned before, we're going out doing taste testing. Um, we are taking student feedback and how we implement the menu moving forward. We even have a menu committee with manners where we sit
106down and went through every single item. And when they talk to me about what do their kids like, what do we want to see, how can we change it, what recipes can we change right now cuz they don't like what kind of potato we use today. So, these are the things that we've made changes for for next school year. and just getting kids and getting people excited about what we eat and increasing participation overall. Some other things we're trying to do is increase breakfast. Um we have some initiatives around increasing grab and go and also notifying parents about why breakfast is important, how we're going to market to them. You should start seeing some of that and with the July roll out of new schools um some of the things that we're doing related to
107that. And so those are some of the things that we're doing to increase revenue and then of course the ad today is increasing meal prices. So in elementary meal prices are 375 and we're asking to go to 4 and in middle and high they are four and ask them to go to 425. In our cart we use a formula to price alo cart. We have to be profitable when we sell alocart. So we actually bring it in at cost and have a multiplier and that's why you see it sold at whatever price you see it sold at. Um the impact from just increasing meal prices by 25 just for breakfast is about $93,000 and for lunch it would be $554,000 and together that's about $648,000. And to put it in perspective on what that money
108could be used for is that if we raise if we give raises of 3% it'll cost us $1,15,000 and some change to cover just the raises. That doesn't doesn't cover if I need a new pallet jack or I need a new truck or whatever else may happen. Operational cost is just raises and then that still leaves a gap of $367,000 to just cover that. And so in order to cover just for raises and a little extra, we would actually have to raise prices 50 cents at that. Um, and you would have I think I mean I think it was like 1.2 million or something, but that'll cover the raises. Um, but it still wouldn't be enough to cover like everything. And so just kind of perspective on that. Um, opportunities for board support is of
109course I'm always asking people to educate parents, school administrators, stakeholders about the smart pack guidelines. um making sure people understand how we operate, how we're funded, how we make our money, why we make the choices that we make. Um communicate that CNS is an enterprise fund because I don't think people fully understand that. And then advocate with legislators because when they make decisions, even right down to the raises, they have to earmark the money for school nutrition. They have to say, "I'm giving this money and it's specifically funded to school nutrition." Cuz it does not always come all the way down to us when it's mandated that way. Um, I have spent some time this year having conversation with legislators to express that concern even right down to how much this raise will cost for
110the state, not necessarily for Wake County, but I have met with our Wake County representatives and decide on financial stability plan moving forward. Like what does that look like for us? Are we shooting to be mirroring the free and free free and reduced rate of the $469? What are our long-term financial stability goals just for us at this year? question. >> So, I'm going to start this time. Are all districts on an enterprise fund? >> Yes, nationwide. >> Thank you. I don't have a follow. Uh, Dr. Joe, Dr. Ann, we'll come around this way. >> Going back how you said we should be looking at Chapel Hill like how it's comparison. We're still spending 23% more for every lunch. Can you explain a little bit dig a little bit deeper about why why we're $4
111for lunch and they're $310? >> I do not know why they haven't raised their prices, but I will tell you that I have seen that a lot of boards don't raise prices when they should be. And so that would be probably what it is because at this rate and this where we are industrywide, none of us can actually provide a meal for $4.69 reliably. >> Okay. I'm going to do a followup because I asked the question when staff was in here earlier because comparing us to Charlotte Mech and um we were talking about are they in the black or the red with their program and how much and that sort of thing. I um as a comp comparison to us >> do you have that information? Yeah, I don't have the data with me cuz
112I actually had it at the legislator, but they are in the negative. Um, but they operate different from us in the sense of because they have more C schools, she has a larger budget to operate with, but with all the increased costs and everything, she is operating at a loss. And I can share it with you all, but there was a form that they gave us from the state that show all the districts and there are actually a large percentage of districts that are operating in the negative. That was important. I had heard that and I >> didn't want people to think that we are unique and not we're currently facing the same crisises. >> Correct. And even with her, she's picking up the cost like of that the warehouse expansion and things like that
113that's significantly going to impact her. Um she has I think she has some like grant funding and things like that, but it's still impacting her financially in order to operate in that way. >> Thank you. Uh thank you. Um, I like that the comparison of the food prices that you've made. Um, and you know, also looking at the nutritional value and all that. I think it's a worth uh worthy to look at deeper diet. But also, um, looking at, you know, if if a parent says, I'm just going to have my kid bring lunch from home, you know, pack a lunch. Food prices have gone up, you know, from at the grocery stores, too. Mhm. >> And so, you know, you you you know, maybe also good idea to have a comparison of a a
114home home >> um meal and say, "Okay, how much does it actually cost you to make that lunch? Bring it home uh to school and then, you know, looking at the, you know, nutritional value. I mean, of course, you can buy lunchable." >> Correct. But it's not fruits and vegetables in a hot meal. >> Correct. >> Completely different. >> Yeah. So, so you know, if you're looking at nutrition basis, you're looking at the price basis of some somebody bringing uh, you know, food from home versus just the convenience of buying it at at school. I mean, maybe that can help convince more families to have participation um, you know, school. Um, and also, you know, you talk about food, uh, the food lab, the Ferrer Labs. >> Mhm. And it just reminded me of, you
115know, like when you go to the warehouse store and >> Oh, you walk it down the aisle. Yeah. >> You know, you take something and you want to get it. >> And so I I wonder if there's some avenues for us to do something like that and when we're, you know, um in a in a place where we we'll see a lot of the parents. >> Yes. And actually that parent I talked to, she cuz we are planning to try to do some kind of food show or something, she was interested in parents having more opportunities to taste food. And so one suggestion was this is for anybody for PTAs to reach out to us and we can have you know tastes like you know at a PTA meeting we are able to do things
116like that they just have to let us know. Um, I mean, I appreciate everything that you put into this because you really are showing all of the drivers of the costs, right? And I think it's important when we think about these issues that we consider, you know, what it costs to pay someone a fair wage. You know, what it costs to provide not just a meal, not just a basic meal, but a healthy meal. Because, you know, there's a lot of cause and effect that drive the revenue in the program. If you have limited money available for the actual food costs, you have limited options. And if you have limited options, that impacts the meals you can offer and that impacts how many people want to buy those meals, right? And you can spiral downward.
117Um whereas some other systems that maybe either have more resources or invest more in the system, if they have more money for more food, they can make those meals, they have more choices that they can offer and they can sell more meals and that kind of boosts the health and the strength of that program. So I think hopefully this helps show kind of the bind we're in that as our revenues decline, our options decline as well. Um, and Dr. Joe, just to your your point about Chapel Carver, I don't know specifically how they're able to do it differently, but I do know that in terms of their budget, their state funding only makes up about a third of their district revenues, whereas they do have a local option sales tax that comes in and has
118been able historically to provide them more for more supplemental programs. Um, and with that revenue and a smaller base, they've had some more opportunities. But then if you look at this year, last year and this year, they're also suffering from some real structural imbalances where they're looking to close schools. >> And so whether their food the decisions they're making on one side are impacting decisions on the other side. I just don't know. But I don't think there's like any one clear thing that they're doing that we might be able to emulate from what we've looked at the past. Um, thank you. Um, Miss Lawrence, you always do a fabulous job and when you present us with information, um, it is it is very clear to me what the bind that we are in. Um, and
119um, I I have a comment and maybe a question, but my comment is um, to Dr. Ing's point about the flavor labs. I would love to see something um maybe collaborated with the community engagement fair that we have every year. Um I think that would give that would give families kind of a you know a first look at what we're offering and um you know put CNS um on display and and put your work on display. I mean, I know you're doing a great job on social media. I tell you that every single time. >> Whoever is doing social media, great, great job. Um, but my question is, you mentioned, you briefly mentioned when we were talking about um us in comparison to Chapel Hill, Carroll, and maybe Charlotte M. You mentioned grant funding. What
120how does that how does their grant funding differ from our grant funding and like opportunities that we're going after? So we haven't really well we get some grant funding but we are looking to get more grant funding. I had a vacancy in the person who technically was responsible for grant writing and so I actually just push that person through HR. Um and so my hope is that the person that I put in that role will have more time to look for like more grants cuz it's not just like the warehouse that she's talking about. Even how I want to expand like breakfast in the classroom like having the carts to actually go down the hallway and things like that. there are great opportunities to do a lot of our work, not all of it, but
121there are definitely supplements that we aren't really taking advantage of that we need to be. >> And Mrs. Gordon, um, with a lot of those grants, uh, they are competitive grants and they're very good. Uh, but many of those may be to support the addition of new equipment. If you put in a a grant to do a line, correct? >> Something in that nature. So, yeah. So those are things that actually help benefit your program but not necessarily it is going to lead to a funding structure to more food cost or something. >> Yeah, it may maybe I can use money somewhere else as opposed to like equipment kind of thing cuz that's it's mostly equipment mostly. >> And follow up. >> Yeah, cool. >> Um and what what would the I know grants have
122different timelines, but typically what does that timeline or turnaround look like? It varies. Okay. It vary because there they have different kind like they have equipment grants. It's they vary and it's not always even from federal either. Um you have like no kid hungry, you have um the dairy association. Um it just dep it it varies. >> Yeah. And those USDA grants that will come out of DPI, you know, as uh Miss Lawrence said, that's going to drop out enough for >> all of the Yeah. they uh uh DPI will issue those grants at various times. They do have deadlines. So, they're literally all through the year. Uh but then those associations, they may come out with something at a different time. But, uh DPI is just constant all the time. >> Thank you. >>
123Before I get to Miss Rice, Miss Edmonds had a followup. >> I wanted to piggy back on something that you said with the community engagement fair um summit. Didn't y'all do the lunches? I don't think it does. Wait a minute. That was where I had all the tables and the tea tables. Yes. I have the tablecloth. I'm sorry. No, that's okay. No, I just foundation. >> And the only reason I bring that up is to say that cuz I was thinking um cuz I got a box to lunch and I was thinking somebody said that CNS had done it. But what I wanted to say was if it's possible and not like a major cost prohibitive or headache is I think more of a a ta tasting lab >> versus just one thing where people
124can sample a few things again if it's within your ability with your budget and staff and all that stuff cuz I I do think you know we yeah I think y'all have a lot to celebrate and we just need to get more parents pulled in and I'm very excited about your yard signs [laughter] >> oh Yes, I did. >> I went to her VA. >> Any other >> echo Miss Gordon, I'm not going to go and keep telling you how great you are. You already know that already by now, right? Um um thank you for the conversations that we've had. Um I I just have a just two questions. Um, one I think is it true that I think your number that we're looking at to possibly cover cost and stuff is is it like
125that $5 like if we were to get to $5, would that help? >> It would help. I would have to double check to see if that's still the number. But okay, >> that would definitely help cuz that would be more than >> Okay. And then the other part is um how about how many partners do you have working with you now? the nonprofit partners around our food and nutrition services that support you >> with donations. >> three nonprofit partners. >> Three. And then we have some smaller nonprofits like even today we had a group of kids who have been raising we have some really cool things. This group raised money to donate to us from a nonprofit that they have. But then we had another group they made a cookbook. I don't know if y'all
126seen that. um in one of the I don't know where it is, but they made a cookbook and all the proceeds go to the angel fund and they raised like $1,000. >> Okay, that's some >> Yeah. So, speaking of that, which is what I'm hearing to say and I hope our role of course is to advocate um and to do and you were an enterprise firm and so you told us what the problem is. I think it's up to us to help with some solutions. So, I was thinking considering you talked about how large Wake County is and how great Wake County is and how affluent Wake County is, what if Wake County with your partners created this campaign that is always ongoing, that's a standing campaign about $5 feed a kid for $5 um
127once a month, right? So, imagine if everybody with our 1.2 2 million people that are in Wake County. If you just took once a month and gave $5 to feed this kid in Wake County, that is there some way with our partners of nonprofit that could spearhead of course receiving the money because you can't. um and that we really look at it as a countywide situation that we move away from free and reduced mindsets and move into just nutrition period as a well-being um priority two in our strategic plan. That's important that we as a community, as a county, look at encouraging people everywhere and just make it a conversation and make it a campaign of sorts if you would that who would not give up $5 once a month who are able right to
128feed a kid or to support nutrition. whatever that might look like in a campaign of what it is, I think that it's possible and doable with the member min number of people that live in this county. Um, and in just a fraction of people get a part of that, what it could do to help your numbers on a consistent basis, the same way we have other campaigns that we do, academics and all this other stuff. I think that because this is a a challenge across the nation, um we've got to do more with coming up with solutions versus just talking about the problem that we have every year that you have to come around this table and ask for a raise. And every year I'm one that support it. Why? Because I understand how you
129have to operate even though a lot of families may not be able to support it. The last thing you just said the last time you were here, it's not our families who may be economically challenged with recovered. It's our families who are trying to figure out who who are who are um who are families with a with a budget, but it's tight and they don't quite qualify um for that. And I think that as as you're nonprofits and we come around the table and you guys figure out a campaign around that for people to understand it's not people who who are not working, it's working people who are trying and it's just tight around the country around where we are and then how do we I I would give $5 every month >> um to
130support my my my students eating. You know what I'm saying? Dr. Taylor give $20. Because my whole point is most people who can will give more than $5 to begin with. So imagine if we collect that. We would not have to look at our budget every single year to figure out how to replenish what's been lost and then we can continue on and putting that money into our academic systems and places where it needs to go. That's my final thought. >> You can turn it on the app. You can put a check box on the app when you check out and put and put your credit card in and you can just say and also donate. >> Absolutely. Because it might be and even look at I think we talked about with the um bucks.
131What's the what's my school? >> My school bucks thing. Yeah. Or something. But I think that we can I think that we can raise our voices and do a little more. >> Dr. I think she's got some um exciting news. >> I do. I think I've shared it with the board but maybe it just just because you haven't seen the actual mechanism of how we will be doing that. uh we've been working with both um uh child nutrition uh HR communications uh but we finally do have a mechanism for which uh on the Wake County website we will have the ability where families um or other outside nonprofits partners want to donate money to the school system that comes directly to us they'll be able to do that through AC which will be no fee
132to them it can be an automatic monthly deduction um just like we donate to any other charities, we'll have that mechanism. Um the angel fund will be one of those categories. So we have I think four main categories. Our angel fund, uh special education, uh we also have our teacher of the year, principal of the year, our literacy initiatives, and then we'll just have a general donation. And so we we have had to figure out how we're going to track those as well as make sure we can balance and reconcile and then put those in the appropriate account. So we um as [clears throat] part of our anniversary this year, that was one of our goals is making sure uh we were able to have that um go live by. And so I signed paperwork
133this week. Uh so hopefully we will have all of our testing done and be able to launch that in the next couple of weeks. >> Dr. Taylor's going to test it for $20 a month. 45. It's our 50th anniversary. $5 or $50. Give $5 or $50 for our 50th anniversary. >> Right. That's how we push CNS. Five or 50. So, um I I have a question and a comment, but I'm going to after Miss what Miss Posie said, I just can't help myself but say but to say that um given the value of public schools and what it's done for this country, the fact that any public school system has to take donations to operate is pathetic. When you have a state this wealthy and you have a country this wealthy and uh all kids
134because they are required to go to school, food should be paid for by the government. And it is just a failure of our country to do this and to take care of public education properly after it has been the backbone of building up this country. Now with that said, I would love to see going back to the facilities aspect, long-term planning, and this is done with facilities too. If we're pro, if we provide enough storage is that have this, what savings does that potentially give us? What are the costs for us? That way, as a board, we can give some direction on what makes sense to better support the program because we can't assume that our governments are going to do right by this program anytime soon since this has been an ongoing issue. Um,
135so I would love to see that and I know that's not a next week thing. That's a multimonth issue and I expect the facilities team to >> not all the numbers I'll be able to share is what we can do. Um my my only question really was you talked about the price increases and the biggest one was the chicken sandwich. >> Mhm. >> Is that also the most popular one? Because I'm wondering if we get to a point where an item costs so much that we have to not serve that item and replace it with something less expensive. >> We have that conversation all the time. >> Okay. Yeah, we do talk about those kind of things, but we also want to make sure that our kids get quality and get something that they actually
136really want. So, I am not of the practice of sacrificing serving them something great because I'm trying to cut all the costs if that makes sense. >> I I get you. Is there a a point though which you don't have to say I just want to you don't have to answer that actually but yeah I would assume that there's a >> as we are dealing with the increased cost of fuel and everything that goes into this that there is a breaking point for some >> but we we try to cut and manage in other ways even right down to digging deeper into the inventory that has been a place that I've been focused on the last couple months because you know inventory on the shelf are dollars on the shelf and inventory thrown in the
137trash or dollars thrown in the Right. So, even just curving those two things I think will be monumentous. >> Do you have a question? [laughter] No, >> I just have a quick question about the the meal um options. >> Is that across the district or are are the different um the different things that you're doing >> different? Grade levels have different choices. It is across the district. >> Okay. Um >> elementary, middle, high. Yeah, elementary, middle, high. So, elementary's menu is more limited than high school and what we serve at different grade levels. Like an example, even like with the pizza, the elementary pizza, they have more options because they like that square pizza. The older kids like the the nicer pizza, but you know, a higher end, more commercial looking pizza. That's a better
138way to say it. So we're and we are really trying to make it be about what do they say they want if that makes so that's the whole point of the flavor lab because I had people telling me what they want and I don't really care what you want I want to know what my customer want >> I like that and let's serve what if they like that cuz I don't like to serve pizza but if they like to serve pizza I'm serving them serve pizza they like the donuts on Fridays nobody else does but I think parents though but the kids when we pull donuts down kids are like what they me so you have to look at what they really want other thank you >> thank you very much >> thank you >>
139at this time I will entertain a motion to go into close sessions for the reasons stated on the agenda moved >> second we have a motion from Miss Edmonds properly seconded by Mr. All those in favor say I. >> Oppos? Nay. We are in close session at 3:47. >> We're going to get Oh, he's on. He already