2026-1-20 Board Meeting

001Good afternoon. Uh it is Tuesday, uh January 20th at 5:30. We are calling the regular board meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order. I want to welcome those of you all who are watching at home and those of you all are here in person. The Wake County Board of Education uh meetings are conducted for the purpose of carrying on the official business of the school system. The public is cordially invited to attend the board meetings and to absorb observe the board as it conducts its official business. Persons who willfully interrupt, disrupt, disrupt or cause disturbance at an official meeting may be directed to leave by the presiding officer. Members of the audience should show respect by the to the speakers by refraining from loud comments and/or disruptions. Disruptions by any persons or

002persons of the public will be subject to action in ordinance with journal statute 143-318. We have a quorum. Uh all eight board members are here in person and Miss Rice is remote. Um, at this point we'll stand for the pledge of >> the allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. So, we will move to the approval of the agenda and I know there will be some modifications to the agenda. Um, but tonight the board will begin using online voting this evening. Board members, please remember that you need to sign into assembly in order to cast your vote. Please know that I will pause after board members have cast their votes

003to ensure that all votes have been reflected. So, is there a motion to amend tonight's agenda to remove which policy is Miss Cfield? policy 6220. Is >> there a motion? It's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> It's a motion by um Miss Cfield, second by Vice Chair Hershey. All in favor, we will open up the vote to amend tonight's agenda to remove policy 6220. >> And Mr. Chair, >> yes. >> If I may, this is under uh item Roman numeral 4, policy item A. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. Just wanted to be sure. Thank you. >> All right. >> Well, it's >> all right. Miss Allen, are you ready for us? >> Thank you. >> I don't know. >> It's getting ready to open up. >> Oh, here we go.

004>> So, the voting has popped up online. So, Then you click record my vote. So it should have popped up. And if you can >> It's been amended. >> He hasn't voted yet. >> Uh Chair Swanson. >> Yes. >> Are we also going to do voice vote for people watching online or will it just be assembly? >> It will just be assembly and I I'll record and read the vote. Has everyone had opportunity to vote? >> Gotcha. >> All right. So, voting will be closed. All right. So the agenda was approved anonymously as you can see displayed on the screen. So now that we have amended our agenda, is there a motion to adopt the newly amended agenda? >> Chair Swanson. >> Yes, sir. >> I move that we adopt the amended agenda. >> So

005there is a motion by Mr. Hegerty to adopt the newly amended agenda for tonight. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Dueling seconds from uh Miss Edmonds. All right. All in favor, we will record the vote to approve tonight's amended agenda. >> Oh, there it is. So, it's already been taken care. >> We still have to vote. >> Gotcha. Okay. I'll record. >> And vice chair or sorry, Chair Swanson, this would be a voice vote because we do have a member remote. Correct. I thought we would not have to do that because >> if if if the if the vote to approve the amended agenda cannot be recorded through assembly. >> Okay. >> We would need to do a roll call vote. >> Thank you for catching that. Yes. >> So this one will be

006I misspoke. So this one because we amended the agenda is what threw me off. This one will be a roll call vote. So we'll start online with Miss Rice. >> Yes. >> Uh coming around the table. Dr. Job. I >> Miss Gordon. >> Hi, >> Dr. Ing. >> Hi, >> Miss Cfield. >> I >> vice chair Hershey. >> I >> Mr. Heerty. >> I >> Miss Edmonds. >> I. >> The chair also votes I. So, this passes unanimously. All right. So, now we will turn to our first information item, the NCA NCCAT beginning teacher of the year finalist. And we will turn to Mr. Keith Richardson, director of leadership development. Welcome, Mr. Richardson. >> Board Chair Swansson, Vice Chair Hershey, Superintendent Taylor, Board of Education members. Good evening. I am Keith Richardson, director of leadership

007development in the Division of Talent Management and Human Resources. It is my pleasure to welcome and introduce members of the North Carolina Center for Advancement of Teaching. Dr. Brock Wall, executive director, Dr. Karen Summer, Deputy Executive Director and Superintendent Taylor, board member. They will come before you now for an exciting announcement regarding one of our district's beginning teachers. >> Good evening, Superintendent Taylor and members of the Wake County Schools Board of Education. Would Molly Todd please come forward at this time? On behalf of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, it is my privilege to announce that Molly Todd, an Extended Content Standards teacher at Panther Creek High School, has been selected as a finalist for the ENCAT 2026 Burroughs Welcome Fund North Carolina Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. You don't have

008to memorize that. You could go forward. This recognition celebrates Miss Todd's outstanding contributions as a beginning teacher and the meaningful impact she is already making on her students and the broader community here in Wake County Public Schools. I would like to recognize Gregory Decker, principal of Panther Creek High School, and Jennifer Olette, Wake County School's beginning teacher coordinator for their support of Miss Todd. As well, I would also like to recognize Dr. Brock Womble, INCAD executive director who came up with this idea and made it all happen. And we would not be here today celebrating Miss Todd uh without his belief in this process and the importance of honoring beginning teachers. The beginning teacher of the year award was created to recognize the creativity, resilience, and commitment of firstear teachers across North Carolina. Each year,

009more than 7,000 new educators step into classrooms statewide, and this award shines a light on those who rise to the challenge and represent the very best of our profession. Miss Todd will be attending a week of leadership focused professional development with her fellow finalist in March, where interviews and portfolio review will be conducted by a panel of judges from across the state to determine the next beginning teacher of the year. On Thursday, March 12th, INCAT will celebrate all finalists and announce the winner at a recognition event at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem. At ENCAT, we are committed to advancing teaching as an art and a profession, and we're thrilled to celebrate Miss Todd as a shining example of that mission. Please join me in congratulating Miss Todd on this outstanding achievement. And we're pleased

010to provide you with this certificate recognizing you as an INCAT 2026 Burroughs Welcome Fund North Carolina Beginning Teacher of the Year finalist. [applause] [applause] Go. >> One, two, three. Big smiles. Thank you so much. And um Chair Swanson, um Miss Molly Todd is here um tonight and supported by her mother, Roxanne Todd. Mr. Scott Todd, father, Dr. Greg Decker, principal of Panther Creek. Gina Williams, teacher and her teammate. Miss Casey, assistant principal, Panther Creek High School. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. And Mr. Heckerty, I'll recognize you since this is a great school in your district for some comments. >> Well, thank you. So, Miss Todd, thank you for joining us here so that we could help celebrate this wonderful recognition with you. We're so appreciative of your choice to go into teaching and

011especially to teach here in Wake County at and I'm biased, a great school like Panther Creek High School. So, thank you so much Dr. Decker Casey. Thank you for your great leadership at Panther Creek. And again, uh, we also want to acknowledge the Burough's Welcome Fund for continuing to do amazing work here in Wake County in all of the STEM fields. So, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Chair Swanson. >> Yes, I echo the sentiments of my colleagues. Thank you and congratulations and look forward to all the great things that you're going to do and great support system. And so, thank you every day for the great work that you do to support our students. Thank you. All right. [applause] All right. So, we will now turn to the public comments of our

012public comment portion of our agenda. Um, students will be heard first following those commenting on items on tonight's agenda and then speakers commenting on other topics. Only the person speaking only the person speaking at the podium will be able to stand. Again, all attendees that are not speaking, please remain sta seated. Concerns related to personnel issues uh or student matters may be addressed by through the applicable WCPSS personnel grievance policy and any other applicable policies. The board welcomes all point of views including criticisms directed at substantive ideas, actions or procedures. However, the board's public comment policy also requires that there should be order and decorum must be maintained. In the interest of maintaining order and decorum, speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the board of education and must refrain from personal attacks and

013insults directed at board members, individual board members, staff, or members of the general public. All commenters are asked to remember that children often attend these meetings and to keep their comments substantive and civil. Please remain at the podium during the time and and any materials that you wish to share. There should be a basket out at the front now that you can put your materials in and we will give it to the board. Um during the public comments, you may speak up to 3 minutes. Please note that the microphones are adjustable. And when you see the green light illuminate showing uh you have 3 minutes have begun, a yellow light indicating that there are 30 seconds remaining. And when your time is up, uh you will see a red light and hear another audible tone.

014when um and we will move to the next speaker. Speakers are asked to respect the time and speak no more than three minutes. As you can see, we've also made some changes. Now, you will be able to see where the speakers where you lie as a speaker comment on for tonight. So, we will start with our uh off agenda. Uh and we'll start with our first student uh first student uh speaking tonight. Hello. Um, good evening. Thank you for your time. My name is Arnov Shahan. I'm a senior at Panther Creek High School and I'm trying to make school cool again, starting with entrepreneurship education. So, for some context, I started my first company a year and a half ago. We were doing AI video analysis for tennis players and runners. It started as a

015fun side project combining two of my passions, sports and technology, and I was able to scale it to a good amount of revenue. Additionally, I spent last summer working at a healthcare startup in San Francisco where I made my own position and was offered a return offer. And at that point, I was here like August of 25. I was seriously considering dropping out of high school. I took a step back and I realized that me considering dropping out of high school means something is broken, like completely broken. And so my operating thesis currently is that students are think more and more students are thinking school is a waste of time and they have there's better things they could be doing with their time. when school is meant to be a place where you can learn

016and explore and meet new people. And so something's broken. It's not the students because they're going and doing extraordinary things outside of school, but school itself doesn't promote um creativity and freedom of expression and like personal just ways for students to choose the things that they learn in terms of things that interest them. Um currently I've spent quite a bit of time working on figuring out how to build more entrepreneurship education and make it easier to get higher quality entrepreneurship education in schools. you shouldn't have to fly to San Francisco to get the same thing. Um, we're starting with the entrepreneurship course I'm talking with. Um, NCA is a great resource uh in the state of North Carolina. They're one of the biggest entrepreneurial ecosystems and they tie in all of the other ones around

017the state and they have something called the mindset program. The mindset program has the Ice House curriculum which basically teaches the entrepreneurial way of thinking. My proposal and question for you is what is the best way to make sure that we can get something like the ICE house curriculum which teaches the entrepreneurial skills that students need to succeed in today's world into every single classroom and then make school cool again. The other thing is AI literacy curriculums for teachers. Um what I've noticed at my school itself is teachers don't understand how AI works and so they don't they get scared of it and so they don't use it when AI is it could be a very powerful tool for teachers to use. So my other question is how do we make it more accessible for

018teachers to like actually apply the things that they're learning? I know there's a digital literacy curriculum for teachers. [snorts] It's all theoretical from what I've seen and it doesn't really teach teachers how to use these tools in the like dayto-day in their classrooms. I've I just flew in earlier today from out of town. I'm very busy. I haven't had time to make a proper speech, but these are some of the opport uh things I have in mind. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. All right. And we will now turn to our next speaker. Um, who's the next speaker? Um, Judith Bulock will be our next speaker. Is Judith in the room? Welcome. I brought some a letter, but I didn't know where I was supposed to put it to distribute to you. I

019I missed that part of what you said. >> Um Mr. Malone will take it. Okay. >> There's a copy for everybody. And in fact, it's one that y'all have already had copies from me. >> Um there you go. Thank you. >> It's out there. >> Okay. It's right there. >> Is it okay? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Um, good evening. My name is Judy Bulock, and I wanted to start out by commending all of you for your public service. It is not an easy thing to do. It isn't. And I want you to know just as a citizen and a resident, I'm very grateful for your efforts, each and every one of you. Um I myself come from a background of public service. Um 30 years as a attorney for the federal and uh state governments.

020I actually started out as an army jag attorney back when I used to be a lean mean fighting machine. Now, I'm a service a retired service member with a service connected disability, but um just to let you know that I appreciate what you do, but most importantly in my whole life, I'm a grandmom and I'm a grandmom of a four-year-old, a little boy named Ellis Cornell. I wrote to each and every one of you back in November is the date of this letter. And I also attached a copy of his picture to it. So you might remember it from that because he's awfully cute. I couldn't resist. And basically I'm here because at the age of four and as a level three autistic student, which means he's nonverbal and uh extremely uh disabled at this

021point. He's in the prek program at the uh at the Bri at the Brier Creek Elementary School and he was uh administered a two-day suspension by the principal there, Eric Taylor, who seems to be a lovely man and a good principal. I don't want to come off as as disagreeing necessarily with who he is as a person, but I will say that I believe that uh he and Wake County frankly and frankly the state of North Carolina is implementing a very abusive suspension program uh that needs to be addressed. And the reason I'm here today is because um I am going to try to do something about it. And it's really not just for my little four-year-old grandson who's totally adorable and worthy, but because there's a lot of other kids that are in the

022system that don't have grandmoms that are retired attorneys and don't have financial assets the way we do to um I have retained a special education advocate uh and they don't work cheap. I also have a special education attorney for him. So, you know, everybody else can't do that. So basically why I'm here today is to ask you all please to respond to my letter in some way because my next step is to go to the general assembly. I know there's some pending legislation right now uh that's stuck in committee like a lot of things are stuck in committee there and I just want to be able to try to make the movement to abolish the process of prek suspension. It's it's not a good thing to do. It says here suspension of Miss Bulock. Thank

023you. Your time is development. Your time is inspired. Thank you. And Miss Woodson is going to follow up with you regarding your your uh letters and your concerns. >> I really appreciate that very much. And again, I say thank you because you all are really doing you're doing the Lord's work by being up and doing what you do. Thank you. >> Thank you. And we will now turn to our next speaker, um, Miss Sherry Bodie. followed by Mr. Richards and then Mr. Deon. >> Good evening. I am here to provide an update since the last time I spoke. Since then, I was informed by the board, well, by the district that the bus driver's written statement completed 28 days after the incident is considered the best indication of what actually happened on the bus. That

024determination has not provided clarity for our family and does not resolve my primary concern regarding student safety and administrative handling of this incident, including documentation, communication, and evidence review. The 2025 2026 WCPSS student parent handbook states in the bus conduct section that buses also have cameras on board to provide video and audio that school leaders may use to manage student behavior. Despite that, the use of this evidence has been unclear, which makes it difficult to understand what evidence was reviewed and how conclusions were reached. This is especially important given the documentation that I do have focuses primarily on my daughter's alleged behavior. If a report written nearly a month later is being treated as the best indication of events, it raises serious concerns about the reliability of the process. It also raises concerns about the

025evidence and how it was evaluated. In a matter involving student safety, there are expectations for clear documentation, consistent communication, and reliable evidence review. Those expectations have not been met in this incident. Neither a timely, consistent, or clear. As I mentioned the last time I was here, systems matter. And when systems fail, families feel the impact. This is a system failure and my family is feeling it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We'll now hear from our next speaker. [clears throat] During my last comment, public comment, I mentioned that Wake County has a problem when it's presented with facts. It likes to change its narrative. Said it happened to me before, it's happened to me again. So, according to Wake County Public Schools, the police report I supplied them only contained information I provided to the

026police and didn't contain any statements made by school officials. The problem with that is that police report contained names that I didn't have. It contained dates I didn't supply. I presented this information to investigators through text messages of changes I had with other parents and and employees and they told me it didn't matter because they conducted a thorough investigation and take matters like this very seriously. Um, I would actually like to point to Miss Gordon. In one of our previous conversations, I told her I didn't know the substitute teacher's name. It magically appeared on the police report that I gave you. I don't I don't understand how one parent asking very basic questions about very serious problems has exposed this many flaws in your system. At this point, I honestly don't know if it's just

027poorly run or if the system's broken. I I know that as soon as I mentioned the word principal, the system automatically assumed I was I was wrong and you were right. Um I've had to stand here in public with insurmountable evidence before you even batted an eye. I've and now I'm being met with a system that's denying facts and disregarding reality. And after having having heard some of you say talk talk speak publicly about how other agencies in our government are doing that I expected more out of you. But that's just I guess that's just the reality of 2026. And all of this is to defend people who told me my son was violent. They said he lacked empathy, showed a flattened effect. They told me that he needed to be medicated. None of these

028people are medical professionals. And if he was such a monster, how come he hasn't run into any of these issues at his new school? I mean, and and to separate from that, he has three inschool suspensions on his record. We have zero record of one of those days, we have a text message that literally says he's not suspended or anything. On a second, on the second one, it says he had a great day. There's no issues today. Magically suspended. The third one's a complete mystery. And this it's not even the most egregious thing. You told me he was standing on a chair kicking a kid in the face. The evidence showed him he was innocent. You have my son being bullied. A kid threw his sandwich on the ground and my son magically summoned the

029strength of a Power Ranger and sent that kid flying through the air. And none of this information was shared with us. It wasn't on his ECAST report. It's on a separate hidden document that parents don't have access to. Fix this. Our next we'll now hear from our final speaker. >> I will now finish the horrible story of the abuse case that I've been going over in recent meetings. Durham school administrators violated the law by not reporting a teacher who grabbed a girl, instead suggesting he resign, whereupon he applied for a job in Wake County. The hiring principal in Wake naively accepted his story why he resigned midterm. When she called the Durham principal, he did not tell and she did not ask the real reason. Soon after he started in wake, he molested an 11year-old

030multiple times with utter cruelty. When a foul mess was left in the bathroom, the principal, who apparently had not been trained that abusers threatened to kill their victims if they tell, got very angry with the girl and suspended her. When her parents brought her back to school, she threw herself on the ground screaming. No light bulb went off in the head of the same principal who had negligently hired the predator that something else was going on. The girl did not return to school and for more than a year was emotionally disturbed and anorexic. She was down to 50 pounds at age 12 and her parents feared for her life. Here I must pause. If anyone who has suffered abuse hears me, there is nothing about you at all that deserves such treatment. I cannot explain

031why anyone would treat another human being that way. It is the mystery of of evil in the world. Bad men committed those crimes by their own free will. But God loves you and so do many people you may not even know. Finally, another victim from back in Durham came forward and the teacher was arrested for sexual assault. After the Wake County child heard about it from a former classmate, she was f finally able to tell her mother what that guy did to her. I pray for her recovery. Next time I will offer specific recommendations to prevent this from happening again like it just did in Rollsville in November. Thank you. >> All right, we will now turn to the consent part of our agenda. Board members, please remember to sign an assembly to cast your

032vote. Um, and I'll pause as I did earlier to ensure that the votes are reflected. Is there a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda? >> Oh, Vice Chair Hershey, sorry. >> Uh, make the motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So, there's a motion by Vice Chair Hershey to approve the agenda. Is there a second? >> Seconded by Mr. Heggerty. All right. All in favor? We will cast our vote to approve tonight's agenda. No, it's not on yet. Okay. Technical to technologies being technology. So there it is. God damn it. Okay. All right. So, the motion passes 78 to one. All right. So, now we'll turn to our action items. Our first action items is the recommendation for capping for the 25 I'm sorry, 2625 academic school year. 2627 school year. Thank you, Miss Pullium,

033for that correction. Welcome. Good evening, uh, Chair Swanson, Vice Chair, uh, Hershey, pardon me, Superintendent Taylor, and members of the board. I'm here tonight to request approval of the capping recommendations for the 2026 27 school year as presented at the facilities committee meeting on December 16th, 2025. These recommendations are the result of a thorough analysis of current and future capacity, enrollment projections, and a review of all available overcrowding management tools. Our goal remains to balance student enrollment with our existing facility resources effectively. Staff recommends removing the caps at five schools effective July 1st, 2026. And as we talked about in facilities, that's that's a a new approach. Alson Ridge, Holly Grove, Parkside, and Scots elementary schools and Heritage High School. Crowding relief for these campuses has been achieved through strategic enrollment plan changes, additional regional

034capacity, and shifts in local demographics. In addition, staff recommends adding a cap to one school, Zebulun Elementary, effective July 1, 2026. Again, we discussed this is a new approach to give families in the school time to prepare for the cap. Staff also recommends designating Wakelon Elementary as the overflow school. The capped capacity for Subulant Elementary, which we were not able to discuss at the facilities committee meeting, would be 678 students. This cap provides essential and temporary relief to the school. To support this recommendation, modular units will be added to Wakelon Elementary in the coming months to ensure that we have the necessary capacity in the region for these students. Finally, staff recommends maintaining the caps at the remaining 17 schools currently on the list. If approved, the total number of cap schools in our district

035will be reduced from 22 to 18. We will continue to monitor the impact of these decisions, particularly on our overflow schools to ensure operational feasibility. At this time, staff requests the board's approval of the 2026 27 capping recommendations to take effect July 1, 2026. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Is there a motion to approve the 2627 cabin recommendations? >> So moved. >> It's a motion by the by by Vice Chair Hershey. Is there a second? >> Seconded by Miss Gordon. Any discussion, comments, or question? All right. Hearing none, the votes have been open. So, board members, if you could record your vote the first time, >> and we'll give it a moment for it to pop up on the screen. Are they did pass unanimously. I'm just waiting forward to >> so the

036public can see being as transparent as we can with >> Thank you. >> new system. So, >> all right. All right. Was it a pop any feedback? >> Just waiting to see if we can have it the votes displayed on the screen. Um, >> did not match up. Okay. >> So, it was unanimous. It's been approved. >> So, it's the first time we're utilizing this system. So, everything is, you know, how it is in education. You start something new, you have to, you know, make it work. So, we will practice to the best of our ability, but it has been approved. >> Thank you very much. And we'll be meeting with the affected principles later this week and then having support meetings with them following. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for your time.

037>> Thank you. All right. So, we will turn to our next action item. If I can get my documents together. >> This is also Mr. Corrosive with um >> Yes. for the act disc topic that we discussed in work session to uh make our year round schools close our year round schools and honor up the midterm um primary election. Mr. Corrosa. Good evening. Staff is here to make a recommendation for the 2526 instructional calendar for multitrack year round schools uh to have March 3rd, 2026 and non-instructional day for students a teacher work day. Um we presented this information during the uh board work session today and we answered questions from the board. Uh this recommendation aligns with general statute 115 C-84.2 two, the North Carolina calendar school calendar law, which requires 1,025 hours of instruction

038each year. Uh, many of our schools serve as polling places, and in recent years, staff has attempted to make these days non-instructional days for students. Uh, staff is available to answer any questions you have before this recommendation. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, board members, is there a motion to approve the recommendation that was just presented to us? >> So, moved. >> All right. We have a motion from Mr. Hershey, seconded by Miss Caulfield. Any discussion, comments or questions? All right. Hearing none, we will record the vote. Okay, let's see if we can get a message to Miss Rice. >> I hear Are we doing a voice though? >> No. I think if you can record your vote, um, it should be on your screen. >> It I don't see it hadn't popped up. I'm sorry.

039There we go. All right. So, the voting has been closed. >> All right. And now we'll share the vote. There we are. So this pass unanimously. So thank you Mr. Carros. >> Have a good evening. >> Thank you. All right. So we will now turn to uh our chief of staff to is it your chief of staff? Sorry, academic advancement. I have too many papers in front of me. Welcome uh Dr. Johnson. >> Good evening, Chair Swanson, Vice Chair Hershey, Doc, Dr. Taylor, Superintendent, and school board members. I'm here tonight to present the memor memorandum of understanding on behalf of the partnership between Wake County Public Schools and Wake Technical Community College. Before I begin, I'd like to introduce our Wake Tech partners that are here with us this evening. I'm going to ask them

040to stand uh and be recognized. First, Dr. Scott Ross, president. Next, Dr. Nicole Ree, executive vice president of programs. Brian Gan, vice president of enrollment and student services. Scarlett Edwards, associate vice president of enrollment services. Santrel Kase, dean of admissions and outreach. Elvin James, associate dean of outreach. April Hammonds, director of the career and college promise program, and Dr. Sandra Williams, chairman of the Wake Tech board of trustees. I just want to start by saying their collaboration and their expertise and their commitment and to our shared students that we have among us was vital into getting thisou to its place and point of tonight. First I'd like to share a little brief background of theou and then I'm going to give Dr. RS also an opportunity to speak uh as well. So the purpose of

041the MOU is to establish the terms and conditions for operating the college and career promise program also known as CCP courses. This program is designed to offer structured opportunities for qualified high school students to dy enroll in community college courses that provide high school credit. Also while giving students access to clearly defined pathways that may lead to certificate, diploma, associates degree or state or industry standard credentials. In addition, the program supports the development of entry- level job skills as established by North Carolina session law 211-145. This agreement reflects our continued commitment to expand equitable access to post-secary opportunities, strengthening our career readiness, and supporting student success through partnerships. At this time, I would like to invite Dr. RS, president of Wake Tech Community College, to share a few remarks. And I'll ask uh Sandre Williams,

042Dr. Sandre Williams to join me to our board ship. But first, let me say thank you for having us tonight. Wake Tech uh we have many, many partners. Uh we kind of pride ourselves in partnering, but there's no partnership that's more valuable or important to us than Wake County Public Schools. And so we appreciate uh our colleagues and our partners here and the work we're able to collectively do. You know, dual enrollment, what we call CCP today, has a very unique history in North Carolina. It goes back many years, and opportunities here for high school students to be able to take college courses free of charge is unique in North Carolina. We used to years ago refer to them as Huskins programs. About 25 years ago, dual enrollment in North Carolina became supercharged through the

043creation of uh early college high schools. and we share four early college high school partnerships uh together here in Wake County which is unique. Uh about 10 years later the framework for career and college promise came together. At that time I was president of the North Carolina Community College system and my counterpart at the time was Dr. June Atinson and I saw her about a year ago and she reminded me that uh she had the napkin for when we sat at a restaurant called Finches and I'm if you're old enough to remember Finches downtown and sketched out what became the framework of Career and College Promise and all that history going back many years many years before that. Uh the recent history of career and college promise in Wake County is also very unique. And

044today uh this year in Wake County uh we share through students and through the career and college promise partnership this year 5,377 Wake County Public School students who have enrolled at Wake Tech as Wake Tech students through career and college promise and dual enrollment. And on top of that, 801 early college or high schools, our four cooperative innovative high schools. On top of that, I I doubt there's any system and college connection in the country. And there may be one or two, but not many where that scale and that amount of students exist in partnership between a school system and a community college. That number has increased significantly since 2021, grown by 153%. To where today if we just took out our shared students, uh the Wake County, the public school students who were dy

045enrolled, that group of students would be the 12th largest community college in North Carolina if together they were a single co college. So, lots of things have happened and more things are happening and and Dr. Dr. Taylor and I, we share a lot of work together as our staff does and to reach this point today. Uh so we're very proud of our colleagues who have brought forward this memorandum of understanding. We're particularly proud of the collaborative partnership that exists between Wake County Public Schools and Wake Tech and opportunities that those partners this partnership creates for enabling access and opportunity for students to start early in college and to continue on into college whether through Wake Tech or other other places that they go. So, thank you. We're very honored to be here. I'm going to

046ask my board chair, Dr. Sandre Williams, to say a few comments. >> Thank you, President Ross. uh on behalf of the board of trustees as at Wake Technical Community College, we are very excited and have always been excited about this collaboration. Uh Wake County Public Schools has always been a great partner with us and we're excited to continue that partnership. Now, on a personal note, CCP means a lot to me because my niece was one of the first ones who went through it in Richmond County, not Wake County, but Richmond County. She went on to uh UNCC Wilmington, finished at UNCC Wilmington, got her master's degree, and now she's an assistant principal in the Richmond County school system. So, uh, CCP means a lot to me, uh, personally, and again, we're excited about this collaboration.

047Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, board members. Before you this evening is an action item for the final approval and signature of theou. We appreciate your consideration and continued support of this partnership. And if there's any questions, I can take those at this time. >> Great. Thank you. Is there a motion to app to adopt theou between weight tech and WCPSS? >> Motion by Miss Gordon. Is there a second? >> Second from Dr. Job. Any discussion, comments? Well, I'll just say on behalf of the board, we are grateful for this partnership and very blessed that we have these relationships that benefits all of our students. Um, and so grateful for this continued support and very excited to continue this relationship and collaboration. So looking forward for us to pass in thisou.

048So board members, the vote has popped up. If there's no other comments or questions. >> Okay, Miss C, >> I just wanted to say I personally have uh I know quite plenty of students that have gone through these programs and it is wonderful program for our schools to partner with Wake Tech and it just really helps a lot of students find direction. I think you know sometimes in high school you're in a space where you don't know like where you want to go, what what path you want to travel and Wake Tech for my family and for plenty of our friends have um have definitely helped. So I appreciate this program and I hope a lot more of our families take advantage of it. >> Thank you, Miss Evans. >> I'm sorry this is a

049technical thing. So, on the popup, it doesn't it does say the the item number, but it doesn't give any um text where the previous popups did. I didn't know if that mattered for Miss Allen's recording. >> U Miss Allen said she's good and is able to record all the votes. All right. Any other discussion? All right. Well, Mr. Chair, if I could just make one comment, and I know that um uh Dr. all has said it the best, but I I just wanted to just reaffirm uh the wonderful partnership and relationship that we have with Wake Tech Community College and uh specifically want to thank you for your leadership along with Dr. Atinson and making sure that we have what I believe is the most robust program in the nation. Uh and and his continuous

050commitment has [clears throat] been about how we expand this opportunity to every single student that is eligible in in Wake County. So again, Dr. Ross, thank you for the friendship and thank you for your leadership and thank you all. >> Right, so the vote should be on your screen. >> All right, so the voting is >> All right. So we'll give it a moment to pop on. There it is. So this pro was approved again unanimously and we're looking forward to a continued collaboration. Thank you all. >> Thank you all. >> All right. So our final action item tonight is the wake AP leadership cohort program. So we'll welcome Dr. Robinson and Mr. N. Southern Western area superintendent. Um, good evening board chair Swanson, vice chair Hershey, esteemed board members, and superintendent Taylor. This evening,

051I present a request to continue the WCPSS investment in our leadership pipeline through the assistant principal leadership cohort program for the 2526 school year. This district-based program prepares high potential assistant principles to serve as effective school executives. It is grounded in the North Carolina school executive standards. It's aligned with our strategic plan and it emphasizes applied learning through capstone projects that directly support school improvement. This is a proven component of our broader leadership development system. To date, more than 177 assistant principles have participated with over 45 graduates currently serving as principles across the district. The total cost for this work is reflected in your board documents and covers all training services for the remainder of the school year. This investment supports leading continuity, internal talent development, and long-term organizational effectiveness. Prior to seeking board approval,

052we are joined this evening by two current principles who compi completed the program and are here to share their perspectives. At this time, I will ask the southwestern area superintendent, Mr. Ends, to make introductions and immediate following the uh principal remarks, we'll be happy to respond to any questions you may have. And then following that, I'll be seeking approval at that particular time. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Ends. >> Good evening all board chair Swanson, Dr. Taylor, and board members. Thank you for entertaining us this evening. My name is John N, Southwestern Area Superintendent. Uh before I turn it over to our two distinguished guests. Uh just a quick note, Dr. Taylor gave a broad or doc Dr. Robinson rather gave a broad overview of the value of the current principalhip pipeline. Um just to

053bring this down to the surface level just a little bit. Um we've been entertaining um this princip leadership cohort program. This is its seventh year. It is designed specifically to grow the leadership capacity of our assistant principles. Um Dr. Robinson's numbers are correct. Um a little over a third of the participants that have graduated have gone on to become either principles. The part that we've left off is some have also metriculated into central office roles as well. We don't formally share that data but it's useful for consideration. Um, assistant principles are nominated based on a set criteria annually and they are selected after they apply and go through a rigorous application process. Annually we take 28 of our assistant principles who go through an entire year uh throughout this Wake AP leadership development program. uh

054activities involved within this program and I I'm not going to seal any of the thunder as as um the principles behind me will share their personal insights but they do include leadership coaching a capstone project the 360 disc survey book study work on executive presence in particular um simulated learning experiences case studies and vignettes and um and there is an alumni networking activity because once they quote unquote graduate at the end of every year that learning doesn't stop. We offer that networking opportunity so that they continue learning um over the over the summer as well. So, uh without further ado, I'll turn it over to two principles, Miss Roseanne Todd. That last name should ring a bell. She was just here celebrating with her daughter uh with the Burough's Welcome Fund Award. So, congratulations again,

055Miss Todd, to your daughter. Uh she's the principal at White Oak Elementary School. the apple obviously doesn't fall too far from the tree and uh Mr. Douglas McCulla who's the principal at Salem Middle School. Both outstanding principles who will share their experiences. >> Good evening board chair Swanson, Vice Chair Hershey Hershey, Dr. Taylor, and all of our wonderful school board members. We talk so much about how the research validates time and time again the power of having a dedicated, passionate, and talented leader affects the learning and outcomes for every learner in a school. And I have to stand with my testimony that this program, the AP leadership cohort program through RTI made a significant difference through my development now to be able to serve in the principal chair and support my learners. Many of the

056structures of the RTI program were very systemic. They've grounded us in our why. We talk about that many times through our career, but we're at junctures, especially in leadership. We need to refocus what our why will guide us to do right now. So, we had opportunities like the DISC assessment that Mr. N spoke about that explored our leadership styles and we talked about our strengths as well as our areas for growth. We leveraged our strengths for our growth and then we explored how our specific talents then could lead us to that end in mind of serving all students. We were able to look at at a systemic level. When you live as an assistant principal, most of your life is in that managerial. You manage buses and you do the schedules and you work on

057attendance. And it's a very um big cognitive mind shift to go from that role then to lead a school. And this RTI program helped us systemically walk through how we do that from our chair as an assistant principal to that ownorous but very important chair as a school leader. So they took us from our why our end in mind of serving all students and then we stepped back to build the skills to get to that end in mind. The case studies we worked through helped us to an unknown school on just like we would do as a principal. you walk into a new setting and have to learn the data, the culture, all the pieces that could lead to school improvement. Then we worked in that cohort on teams on skills, how to take this

058fictitious school from where it was to where we want it to be for all learners. Within this whole process of these pieces, the RTI program helped us to build reflective practice and that's so important in any position, but especially as a school leader. We're impacting humans and our whole job is to build every learner that's put there in our care and that requires the time to sit back and honest reflection and that very transparent honest reflection of where we are, how we're doing, what our struggles are and then we how how we address them and that's a reflective practice that I've applied every day in my principal ship. Now might be on my way home but it's a time that I take every day to do that. We also had the opportunity to have exposure

059to the different area superintendent and listening to their leadership journeys helped us talk through and understand where we want our journey to go as well. It's important to know where we are, our purpose, and then learning from others who do incredible work in this county, how they get there. So, I have to give a wholehearted endorsement for this program. as an assistant principal is one of the most impactful pieces that I took part in and felt very very fortunate that I work in a part in a um whole school district like Wake County that builds our leaders and looks at the succession plan because as our principles retire, we want to make sure that we all are in cohorts and work to keep the good work going. So, thank you all for your consideration and

060Mr. McCulla has great things to say. >> Good evening. Um, I guess I could just say ditto because you know Rosen covered a lot of it and I think I will speak to a few um of the activities that we got to participate in through the RTI institute and just really allowing the us to have the time and I think that was the biggest thing that I really took away and when we talk about this being an investment. We love to say as principles we have the best job in the world. We do not have the hardest job in the world. Assistant principles have the hardest job in the world. And so as an assistant principal, you don't get a lot of time. You don't get a lot of time to reflect. You don't get

061a lot of time to think about your vision. You don't get a lot of time to think about all the things that we that we heard today. All the comments that I heard today. I thought about that as a principal. As an AP, I was thinking about getting my observations done, getting the buses set up, getting all the problems taken care of. And that's great for running a school, but that doesn't move our schools for our kids. And in order to move our schools for our kids, we have to have an investment of a of a process that allows our assistant principles with promise to have the time to do deep reflection to develop their executive presence to know what it means to stand in front of a of of a whether it's parents or

062students or teachers and and and really get them to believe in the vision that we've set forth as a district and as your school and I can't thank enough the opportunities that we got through the RTI institute to do that whether it's through the books studies that taught us about how to work on dysfunctional teams and how to move our teams, whether it's a PLC or whether it's an admin team or whether it's a case study or our capstone project. I think the capstone project is a beautiful way to help our assistant principles start to think about what it means to lead a school. You don't have an opportunity to always input your own vision on things as an assistant principal and the capstone project gives you that opportunity to take your creation, your vision

063for a school and implement it in your school. That that process from year to year is invaluable for our for our APS and as being an AP for over four years and and working with Mr. Ends, we know you are supporting someone else's vision. But when you walk into that principal role, you have to have that vision to align with your teachers, your students, your community. And the RTI institute really gives you a lot of tools to be able to do that in a way where I had a conversation with Enzy years ago and he says, "You're never ready. You're never ready." But the RTI Institute allowed me to feel more ready than I think I would have ever been um without that. So, I appreciate the consideration for continuing this investment in our leadership,

064in our students, and in our district. Thank you. >> Um, at this time, we would like to open it up for any questions that you guys may have. >> Great. Um, is there a motion to approve the uh to adopt the Wake AP, sorry, to adopt the uh Wake AP leadership cohort program. Motion to approve. >> It's a motion by Miss Edmonds. Is there a second? >> Second for Miss Gordon. Any discussion? >> Mr. Vice Chair Herty, I'm sorry, Vice Chair Hers. Sorry. That's okay. >> So, I I love the program. I love that we're growing our own. And I'm wondering if you know how we're measuring the success of it, people who have gone through the program versus people who are not. And then I'm also wondering is if our area superintendent are are

065utilizing it enough when they're hiring principles versus, you know, expanding outside of Wake County or any any other avenues they go when they hire. And that's for an area superintendent. Also, vice chair, those are some of the questions that we would love to answer at this time. But um one of the things I will share with you that area superintendents are utilizing in totality to make sure not only do we have qualified candidates, but when there are vacancies, people that go to the cohort are pretty much given an opportunity through the vetting process to see if they um fit the mold or the profile of what we're looking for in the vacancies that we're trying to fill. I think there's still some more opportunity as we unpack it even more. how can we quantify and

066create metrics to ensure that we can determine the success of the program and how it's impacting schools. So, that would be information we can definitely bring to the board at a later date and hopefully in a work session so that we can really dive into it. >> Yes, sir. Miss uh Edmonds, >> um the cost that's listed um in the agenda item, is that for one uh person or how many how many APS or does that cover? >> Well, that that covers the program for the whole year. And so, as Mr. Anne shared with you, he quantified and gave you a number of how many participants we have? >> 28 participants and that what it covers. >> Okay. I apologize. I missed I missed that. Thank you. >> Any other Scoffa? Did you have a

067>> No, she just asked. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments? >> Well, I know this is this is a way of really us building our own um investing in our own and so was very grateful and thankful that Dr. Dr. Roby was able to pull this from consent to action for us so we could highlight this to encourage more APS to participate to help get this the word out here so we can continue to grow our pipeline and have phenomenal principles like Principal Todd and Principal McCullum who I will say when principal Todd AP Todd was a phenomenal AP at Green Hope Elementary and I had the opportunity of really is it Green Hope? >> Oh, Davis Drive. >> Davis Drive. That's right. Sorry. Davis Drive. um grateful for your leadership and

068always grateful for you all to really for us to put faces to the programs which is very important so folks can see themselves in this. So I look forward to supporting this and hopefully we can get others to really talk about the success of this and and really show how Wake County is really investing in our own talent as well. So thank you all. Uh Mr. Hagerty >> and Chair Swanson, I apologize. I hate to come after you after such an eloquent bid benediction of an endorsement of the program. Um I I I do want to put all of this though in context with the discussion that we had earlier today both in our budget finance committee and as we talked about the crisis facing students right now who don't have enough to eat. And

069while I think we've heard two wonderful endorsements of people who've directly benefited from the program and how their experience will go and benefit all of the students within their schools and all of their professional relationships, I believe this program has value. Definitely has value. I want to suggest though that you know as we go forward into this budget year and we're looking to prioritize projects as I look at this specific contract and I see the expenses in here for alumni networking sessions and similar things which are some of the the largest components of the bill that RTI is charging that we may want to look in the future of the program. Are there some aspects of the program that we can bring in house and maybe reduce those costs so that we can continue this

070very valuable program even if some of the features might be a little more modest. So again, I support the program. I will endorse it, but I think in context of the costs and everything else that we're talking about going forward, we may want to try to bring it back in a little bit. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> That's why you are the budget chair, sir. [laughter] Yes, ma'am. Um, I just have a question. Um, you mentioned that it was for 28 um, 28 people that it was going to serve and you said it was for this year. So, we're already like halfway through January. So, this is I guess the you were adding, if I'm reading this correctly, we're adding 81,000. So, the total year expense will be 136. >> Correct. That's the total

071year expense. So some of the expenses were already paid and we wanted to make sure that this got in front of the board so that the board would know and understand the work that's being done instead of having it split now you see it in totality to make sure that we get board approval moving forward. So that's for the remainder of the 2526 school year. So some of the work has already been done and um in order to continue doing the work we had to bring it to the board to get the um board approval for the remainder funds to go into the program. >> Okay. And I do agree with Mr. Hagerty because we're going to have some pretty tough conversations going ahead. Um and I just want to know like um do we

072you said you can't measure it right now for us to know how effective this is. Can we get a broad picture of how many people we have in this kind of training program altogether and how much that costs us. >> Absolutely. But I want to make sure that I understand when you say broad picture I we shared that there was 177 participants and out of the 177 participants over 45 plus are now principles and so when you ask for the broad picture can you provide me a little bit more context of what you want and we will definitely bring it to you. >> So how much we spend a year on something like that? I mean and like um Mr. Mr. Hagerty said like we're worrying about how we're going to get chicken instead of

073vegetables and water in front of the kids and you know we have all these different things to it's very important what we're doing and it does sound like a great program but I think it's just helpful as a reflective tool for us to see what do we spend each year and how many people does it serve and what do we see from it. >> Absolutely. Yes ma'am. >> Any other comments or discussions? All right, hearing none. The vote should be record or popped up on your screen. Uh if you will record your votes. >> All right, we're just waiting for one. All right. Are we still waiting? >> Okay. Thank you. >> And chair Swanson, if you don't mind, I would like to provide Mr. Ins opportunity to provide closing remarks. He's been a conduit

074to make sure that this program continues. >> Sure. So, sir. >> Sure. >> Thanks again for your consideration. Um, we know that uh um current and growing leadership, especially out of the Wallace Foundation, points definitively to the idea that um we know that the primary driver of student success is the teacher in the classroom. You're never going to replace that. What the new research continues to support is the principle is second to that effort to ensuring that student outcomes are being met at the highest level. And in order to do that, we believe strongly that a pipeline that supports the development and growth of an AP before we give them the proverbial keys to the cars is really important. And as of now, this is all we've got. And so we do appreciate your consideration.

075Having said that, we're in the same boat as you, we recognize the fiscal constraints that reside before us and whatever we can do to do both simultaneously, honoring the austere environment that we may be approaching while maintaining this program, we'll do our best effort because we recognize that both are important. Thank you again for your consideration. >> Great. Thank you. All right, Miss Allen, has the votes been recorded? >> All right, the votes are closed. Just give it a moment to process. All right. So, it has been approved unanimously. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. >> All right. So, we will now turn to our information items. Our uh which will start with our superintendent comments followed by board member comments. So, Dr. Taylor, thank you, Mr.

076Chair, and good evening and happy new year. Uh hope everyone's 2026 is off to a strong start. Uh before I get into my um written comments, do want to thank the board for their engagement uh on the budget exercise uh and hopefully uh our public will see that the board uh is absolutely in tune to uh some of the budget decisions that we will have to make in the upcoming year. Uh and I do hope that uh our citizenry uses this as an opportunity to encourage uh those government entities that can support public education in a very real way uh that they do that work so that districts won't be in a position to where they have to make uh decisions with little or no information. So I do want to appreciate uh the board's

077effort in that work. [snorts] Uh as we begin the uh the year I want to acknowledge Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, which was observed yesterday, uh, and to look ahead to Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th. Both are important moments for reflection and learning across our schools. These observances give students opportunities to better understand how both the civil rights movement and the Holocaust shaped our world and continue to influence the society we live in today. Uh they also ask students to think critically about responsibility, courage, and the consequences of individual and collective choices. We recognize that these topics can be challenging, especially for younger learners, which is why our teachers are provided with age appropriate resources, guidance, and instructional support. In elementary grades, instruction around Dr. King focuses on fairness, leadership, and positive change

078aligned to state standards and developmental readiness. At the middle and high school level, students engage more deeply with historical context, primary resources or sources, and thoughtful discussion, including learning about the Holocaust through carefully selected resources. Our goal is not only to teach history, but to help students learn how to ask questions, listen respectfully, and engage in meaningful dialogue. This work reflects our broader commitment to helping students become well-informed, thoughtful, and productive citizens. That includes producing graduates who can think critically and courageously about difficult issues and who understand their role in shaping a more just and humane society. I'm grateful to our teachers for approaching this work with care, professionalism, and a focus on understanding and positive action. Next, I'd like to tell you about an upcoming opportunity to learn more about our unique future teachers

079program. A virtual information session will be held on January 29th at 5:00 p.m. for interested students and families. The program is for graduating Wake County seniors as well as for the first and secondyear college students who are enrolled in teacher preparation programs at local colleges and universities. This session will explain the application process and allow participants to hear directly from current teachers about their experiences in the program. The future teachers program, which began in 2015, supports young people who plan to major in education and commit to returning to teach in our district. Participants receive guaranteed teaching positions in our district, tailored professional learning, and stipens up to $4,500 over four years. While this is not a scholarship program, it provides intensive mentoring, professional networking, and structured summer learning opportunities. In return, participants commit to remaining

080in good academic standing and teaching in the Wake County Public School System for at least three years after lure. This program remains an important part of our long-term strategy to grow our own educators and strengthen the future of our workforce. Learn more and register for the information session by visiting our Facebook page or going to our website and searching future teachers program. Also want to rec recognize Dr. Roxan Sykes, principal of Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary School, who has been named the Wake County Public School System Magnet Principal of the Year. Under Dr. Sykes leadership, Dillard Drive was named the National Merit School of Excellence by Magnet Schools of America, an honor reserved for a small number of magnet schools, demonstrating across the board excellence. Dr. Sykes has been instrumental in implementing and growing the school's

081global studies and Spanish immersion magnet theme. And if you ever have an opportunity to go to Dillard Drive and experience kindergarteners and first graders speaking in Spanish, it is a wonderful site to see. In just four years, she has helped build a strong sustainable magnet program that reflects both academic rigor and a welcoming school culture. Families and staff consistently describe Dr. Sykes as accessible, transparent, and deeply committed to students and educators. Congratulations to Dr. Sykes on this well-deserved award. I'm grateful for the leadership and care she brings to her school community each and every day. Finally, I'd like to congratulate the students and staff at Broton Magnet High School who made the 9th annual Play for Kate charity basketball tournament another huge success. The event raises funds for the Ka Cancer Fund, which honors the

082life and legacy of the former NC State women's basketball coach who died in 2009 after a courageous cancer battle. Coordinated by students and broaden sport and event marketing classes, the Play for K tournament held on Janu January 9th raised more than $39,000 for the Kao Cancer Fund. That's 9,000 more than last year, bringing the total raised over the years to approximately $145,000. Last spring, these students in their school were recognized at the TWW uh at the 2025 women's final four in Tampa as one of the top K12 payforplay fundraisers in the nation. We want to make sure they have funds to take the superintendent next year for the next recognition. Uh but this video captures the heart behind that work and shows what's possible when students are empowered to lead and serve. So now let's

083take a look at the video. So this is Brown's ninth annual play fork event and my sport and event marketing two students planned this event. We started in October. Um they reached out to local community businesses and gotten some auction items donated. Um they've designed t-shirts. They are playing in the actual event, the whole event. They're going to honor survivors um drivers and warriors at the halftime of the women's game tonight. And we're just trying to raise the money for the KL Cancer Fund so that we can find a cure for all cancers affecting women. So it's become the the [music] class project for my sport event marketing students. I think a great way to do the curriculum um and raise some money for a great cause in the process. So, we were actually part

084of the sport marketing 2 class last year where we got to play this tournament and plan it, which was a very cool experience. And we helped set up all this and all the banners in the gym, which is very funny. It makes us feel awesome to be a part of behind the scenes and then playing the game and putting on a show for everyone. Also, it's very fun to know that we raised all this money for cancer, all women, and that it's really cool experience to be a part of. They're going to do proof of performance to tell all the sponsors like, "We promised you this. This is how we deliver." And then when they go do their internship, most of these students have to do an internship. So, they already know how to do

085an an email. They already know how to follow up. They know how to talk to an adult. It's not as scary because they've done that through this process. [music] Um, and they've made some connections in the community to network. So, I think that networking piece is really big. [music] And it was all in the safety net of this project. And I think when you pull my students, most of them have know somebody that has been touched by cancer. So that's our motivation is [music] to one day not have to do this because we found a cure and maybe we'll find a different cause to get behind and >> comments Mr. Ch. >> Thank you Dr. Taylor. We'll start on this side of the table with Dr. Job. >> Thank you, Chair Swanson. Um, I want

086to first take a moment to thank Dr. Robinson and all of the staff here for organizing such a thorough orientation for me uh for 12 hours. I got a deep dive into the Wake County system and I'm even more impressed with how things are run now. So, I and I feel like I'm really hitting the ground running. Um, I'd like to recognize Holly Springs High School. They their cheerleading squad just brought home first place in the Triix Conference uh cheerleading championships. Um, and I want to thank love the Lufkin Middle School PTA for inviting me to their last meeting. Um, it was really interesting to hear about what the school is doing and I got to meet their incredible um, principal, Miss Hannah, who's amazing, and see just so how the community is coming together.

087Um, I got to see how Miss Snyder, their uh, media specialist, has been labeling all the books by genre, uh, thanks to money they raised by the book fair. and I also got to hear about how the students started a food pantry and raised over $6,000 in December for it. Um, [snorts] and they are actually serving 59 Lufkin families um, in that food pantry across all four tracks. And so it's it's really great that the community is coming together for that. Um, Lufkin's just one of the schools that held food drives over the past few months, and it's really highlighting the increasing need of our county aid rising food costs. Um, speaking of rising food costs, we are now closing in on 203 days without a state budget. Um, because our legislators have not performed

088this essential duty, our teachers are having to buy more expensive groceries without their promised raises. And moreover, Wake County students have an incredible staff here who are trying to plan for their needs and how to provide an education that fully prepares them for their futures without even knowing what the 25 26 budget is, never mind what the 26 27 budget will be. So, I really encourage everyone to from parents to business leaders to all stakeholders in the county to please pay attention to the budget or lack thereof and encourage your legislators to act. Thank you. >> All right, Miss Gordon. >> Thank you. Tonight, I would like to lift up something deeply meaningful that I experienced over the holiday break. Um, I had the opportunity to visit North Carolina's first blackowned children's bookstore, Liberation Station,

089owned by um, Miss Victoria Scott Miller, located right on Hill Street near the historic St. All campus. Um, Liberation Station isn't just a bookstore. It's a community-built learning space of literacy, joy, and belonging, and a living affirmation for our children, their brilliance, their imagination, their identity, and their place in the world. And I encourage everyone to go check them out. Um, I also had the pleasure of attending the elementary magnet um magnet school fair. It was energizing to see schools showcase their themes, their cultures, and the innovative learning pathways that they offer. Um, what struck me the most was the excitement. Families imagining their children in environments full of play, creativity, exploration, STEM, arts, you name it. Um, all of these experiences. And I even got to talk to um the magnet coordinator from my

090elementary school, Powell Elementary School. Um and as I walked through the fair, I kept coming back to this core belief. Every school in Wake County has something special about what's in their building. While our magnet programs inspire the district, they do not stand apart from it. The joy, the innovation, the culturally engaging experiences, the hands-on learning, the global perspectives, the high expectations we highlight in magnets. We um should make those present and we are working on making those pre present in every school in every zip code for every child. Our responsibility as a board is to move our entire system toward the highest level of excellence and opportunity. So, I have homework for everyone listening. So, with February love month coming up, I would like to encourage students and parents to email your board representative

091with what you love most about your school. And then that brings me to the importance of something we see every time we gather here, public comment. I want to acknowledge every parent, every teacher, every student, every community member who shows up in this room or on social media to speak. Um I had the opportunity to engage with um a couple of my peers on social media um around board decisions um and their input as um parents. Advocacy is powerful. Advocacy is a form of love. When parents come to speak, whether it's here at the podium or online, whether they are advocating for equity, their resources for safety, for advanced courses, extracurricular programs, they are demonstrating hope and engagement in our public schools. Public comment is not just a procedural step in our meetings. It is

092a reminder that decisions made in this room must be informed by the by the voices closest to the classroom and at home. Our policies are better when they reflect live experience and our schools are stronger when families feel empowered to speak up. So tonight, I want to encourage our community keep showing up. Visiting Liberation Station reminded me that liberation begins with storytelling. Whether it's storytelling from a magnet school perspective or storytelling from a parents point of view, that change begins with speaking up. Thank you to everyone who continues to tell your stories and use your voice for our students. And finally, my last um announcement is we will have our district 2 um board advisory committee meeting uh on Wednesday, February 18th at 6:00 p.m. and it will be held at South Lakes Elementary. and

093more information forthcoming. Thank you, >> Dr. Ing. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Good evening. Um, first I wish to express my regret that I was not able to attend the midyear graduation ceremony at Milbrook High School last Thursday. I had a conflicting schoolboard business and uh that that made it impossible for me to attend the celebration. But I do want to congratulate all the graduates um for their hard work and their um uh important initiative in stepping boldly into their plans for their future whatever that may be. Um I know you know in the past years I've seen people who have you know um gone to um work um already uh this some of them have gone into um the military and so it's uh important for us to celebrate their lives. Um, I was

094able to attend the community meeting on January 8th at Lian Middle School. Um, it's not one of my schools in my district, but I thought it was important for me to be there, uh, at least for part of it. Um, I was there for part of the time and, um, was able to hear some of the feedback from the community about their opinion on the future of the school. And since then, we have all received emails from uh, concerned Ligan parents. Uh, one word that keeps coming back to me over and over again is the word legacy. And just a little background, um, during, uh, 2022, uh, when I was running for the school board, um, there was a torrential rain and a giant oak tree fell on my house and literally cut the roof

095in in half like a piece of cake and and it rained that night. And you know, f first and foremost, my family was safe. Um, nobody was hurt. Uh, the the house was damaged terribly. And then the rain caused more damage. The water came in and overnight all we could hear was the ceiling collapsing on us in in our uh master bedroom. And my wife was crying and, you know, we were just praying that it was not going to be more damage. Um but you know but at the end of the night we realized that there was a lot of damage but still you know the important thing was no one was hurt. The house was able to be patched up um and we ended up selling it to a builder. Um and if you

096had gone to a parade of homes um it was one of the homes in Northridge that was uh on on uh display. Um, we had a lot of great memories in that house. Um, however, in my mind, the memories that were made there in that house, they were all centered on the individual themselves. Um, when I think about the good times and the bad times, I think of the faces of my loved ones, not the house. Buildings do deteriorate, and in my case, it was clear that the building was not serving our families anymore. So what I'm trying to say is what is the essence of the Ligan legacy that we should honor? Is it about the building itself? Or is it about the people who populated the halls of that building? There are thousands

097of stories that took place in that school and I'm sure that there will be thousands more that will take place in the future. Whatever the final decision may be, we have to find a way to remember and pe and honor the people who made this school what it is today. And I look forward to receiving more feedback from the community and our final vote. Thank you, >> Miss Cfield. >> Thank you. Happy New Year to everyone. Um my comments this week are really short. Um we had to reschedule um due to snow our last board advisory committee. So the new one is coming up this Monday at Zebulun Elementary School. Um we will do be doing some breakouts and getting some input from our community there. And I wanted to congratulate all of the midyear

098graduates um that are either just graduated or about to graduate that happen going on now. We wish you the best of luck and everything that your future holds. Um, and that's that's all I have to say for this week. >> Right. We'll turn around to this side and we'll start with Miss Rice who is virtually virtually participating. Miss Rice, >> good evening everyone. I hope um everyone had a meaningful and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and that you were able to participate in some of the level um in some level of service to others honoring the Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy through action, compassion, and community care. I want to begin by sharing an important invitation. While I will not be able to attend in person, I encourage you to please join us for

099our next district 4 board advisory council meeting on February 9th at Rogers Lane Elementary School beginning promptly at 6:30. We are honored to welcome our esteemed guest, facilitator, Dr. Janine Perry Campbell uh who will lead a meaningful community centered conversation. I hope many of you will be able to take advantage of this opportunity to engage and connect uh in the district 4 community. Before I transition to my wellness focus, I want to sincerely thank all who have reached out with care, prayers, and encouragement. For those who may not be aware, in December I was diagnosed with cancer. I had surgery on New Year's Eve and I'm grateful to share that all cancer has been removed. So, Dr. Taylor, I was not expecting you to highlight and talk about cancer tonight. Um, but thank you for

100sharing that for so many other families um who may not even be in the situation that I am in um in recovery. I share for this um clarity and transparency. Over the past several weeks, I've had to decline speaking engagements and community events. And some may have wondered about my absence or received an autoresponse for voicemail indicating a return on March 1st. While my participation have shifted to a more virtual capacity during recovery, I remain fully engaged and committed as you see this evening. This season has required me to practice exactly what I share during our first and third Tuesdays eight dimensions of wellness focus. In order to live well and continue doing what I love, I must take care of myself first. I encourage each of you to do the same. Know your body,

101listen to it, and seek appropriate care early. Wellness is not optional. It is essential. So tonight, my eight dimensions of wellness focus is occupational wellness. Two simple yet impactful tips to help decrease stress in the workplace are let's establish and honor healthy boundaries knowing when to pause, delegate, or say no so your work remains sustainable. Number two, build intentional moments of restoration into your workday, whether through brief movement, um, breathing, or stepping away to rest. As you reflect on occupational wellness, I invite you to consider this question. Are you thriving in your work or simply clocking in and clocking out? I can truly say that I am thriving and deeply grateful for the work I do and for the colleagues who have checked on me, prayed for me and reminded me to practice the same

102wellness behaviors I encourage each other in each other. Let us continue to focus on reducing stress, supporting one another, and leading by example so that we can serve our students, staff, and community well. Thank you. As always, make sure you're having positives and productive days. Thank you, Miss Edmonds. >> Thank you. Um, I still have to schedule my next two BAC's, the last of the um this school year, and um I expect to have the next one um on the calendar by the end of the week. Uh if if it if it doesn't show up on the website, I know Miss Allen will do it as soon as she possibly can, but do look for that. So, I can't I'm still working on that date, so I can't announce it, but it's coming soon. Um,

103I want to also congratulate the midyear uh graduates. I'm excited to celebrate those at Athens Drive High School and Middle Creek next week. And um thank you, Dr. Taylor, for talking about Dr. Sykes. I was not aware of this honor. And um I just I can't say the words. She's one of my favorites cuz you're not supposed to do that. But she does have a special light that um I love going to visit her and her staff and I'm not surprised um to learn about this. So I'm I'm excited to learn more and thank you um for lifting her up. Uh the last thing I'll say is um about the budget discussion that we had. Uh there are choices being made at the state level. You've heard me talk about them before, but I'll mention

104them again. Um our corporate tax rate is set to be completely eliminated by 2030. And some budget analysts um and experts say that that's going to cost North Carolina $800 million um in 2627 and 900 million annually. And that's a significant hit by a choice to allow corporations that do business in our state not to contribute a dime to public goods and services, including our public schools. Another choice that is being made by the general assembly is to give an obscene amount of money to private school vouchers. That's a common theme for me and it I'm not going to stop beating that drum. Um Wake County alone got um private schools in Wake County got $56 million in taxpayer funded vouchers in the 2425 school year alone. $56 million for Wake County private schools. Bailey's,

105for example, which has 12 campuses, got 14.4 million. So, let's keep that in mind as we have these discussions going forward because um we're being forced to make choices that hurt students and hurt educators by as a result of choices being made by state lawmakers. And that needs to change and we have the opportunity to do that in 2026. Thank you, >> Mr. Haggerty. >> Thank you, Chair Swanson. So, I'm just going to piggyback on Miss Edmond's points. You know, when you don't fund public schools with state tax dollars as required by the state constitution, you pass those costs back down to local governments and the counties. And this results in higher property taxes, which concerns citizens, particularly the elderly, those whose homes might be their only real source of equity and investment. And so

106they reach out to state lawmakers who right now are considering addressing this problem by putting state limits on county property taxes. So, you know, it it we're getting pushed into territory we haven't seen in modern times in North Carolina regarding education funding. And I don't want to be alarmist, but I also can't ignore what's going on in front of us. And that's why we're having really frank discussions in these budget committees and in our eventually in our work sessions and before this board about what we can and can't continue to fund. And I hope that people are taking notice. You know, this month we had protests across the state, January, I think January 7th, January 13th, hundreds of teachers coming out and just trying to advocate for the needs they have in their schools and

107to keep our schools fully not even fully funded, but just fully staffed, right? Because we all know that the teachers aren't doing this for, you know, monetary gain as much as they do for love of the children and and love of their jobs. But they got to eat. And the demands that they put out there, you know, all of these are are reasonable. Whether we can pay for all of them at the state level or not, these aren't even being debated. But things like longevity pay, unfreezing step increases, restoring, you know, the mast's pay, which we did in this state for years and then recently removed, how do you address rising health care costs, how do you, you know, if with with the premiums going up but salaries being flattened, you know, the fact that

108we eliminated a lot of those retirement benefits that were sort of the trade-off that many state employees would work for a lower wage now but would have the security of a secure retirement. You know, we heard today about the growing costs it takes to educate each individual student. Costs like, you know, the the increase in utility costs, the increase in insurance costs, the increase for feeding our kids with, you know, the with with those meal costs. You know, even if we don't add one new educational program for the betterment of our kids' education, it's going to continue to cost more and more every year just to operate our schools. And so at some point, I hope I have an idea when, but I'm not going to speculate, the deadlock, our legislative deadlock will be broken.

109And I am hoping that our legislature will embrace the state budget proposals that provide more money for public education. And I hope future proposals will address some of these just dire needs that we have to keep schools up and operating and fully staffed. So, I appreciate all of the work all of you are doing. I know that we're going to have some tough decisions to make in order to stretch our dollars as far as we can. With these challenges, there are going to be valuable programs that we may not be able to continue to fund, but I hope we'll come together and identify our shared priorities about what we can continue to keep in operation and finding new and innovative ways to continue to support our students. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Vice Chair

110Hershey. >> Thank you, J Swanson. I will be brief as well as it was brought up uh during an earlier conversation. I did want to give an update on um the share table program. I was at Root Elementary School a couple weeks ago where it was being introduced there. I believe we're up to about 25 schools now in the school district with um the fourth and fifth stage rollouts coming up and I'm excited for the continued expansion of it. I know the the team there is continues to meet with the state to see how um we can better improve uh the overall system as far as being able to get this program into all schools, the foods we can collect and redistribute. And I want to make sure that we are encouraging the schools that

111have it to maintain it and understand the position we're in and occasionally just, you know, reach out to them and say, "How's it going? uh because it's been very successful and it's going to take, you know, a commitment from the schools to to carry it forward uh beyond just that kind of honeymoon period of when it's going on. Um a lot of food is collected and a lot of food goes right back out before even the end of the day. So, it has been successful and I want to lift that up. Um and then I just want to wish Miss Caulfield luck that she doesn't have to cancel the next BAC meeting. You said it was Monday. Good luck with that. Uh, and I will close just by saying be good. All right. So, I

112want to try to get all my notes together and make sure I don't forget anything. So, if I do forget something, please charge it to my head and not my heart. But I want to start by thanking the mayors uh who participated in the roundt discussion with us uh for their robust discussion that we were able to participate in talk talking about future collaborations and strengthen those partnerships. So very grateful for all of those mayors um and looking forward to some of those upcoming discussions. I also want to thank Mr. Tuck Tucker uh and the arts department for hosting a robust and exciting and engaging uh BAC meeting with us last week at Morrisville Elementary, which was very engaging of highlighting the arts as well as bringing in those local artistes who are in our

113schools daily to talk about what it means and how the arts are shaping the lives of our students. So, I will say that was a great one. So, if you do need a topic, Mr. Tucker has a great treat up your sleeve if you choose to engage with him in that topic. Um, also wanted to recognize and thank some of the art ambassadors that participated. They were Carrie High students, uh, Molly and trying to find my notes here. Uh, Molly and Hannah who are part of the arts ambassador representing ambassadors representing Kerry High. So hearing their perspective of how the arts shaped their lives and how they were able to bring some of those skill sets that they learned in the arts to applying it to their everyday lives was very impactful. And so thanks

114to the Morrisville Elementary, Principal Burton um and the uh Morrisville PTA for hosting and providing a delicious meal for the principles in district 9. Also want to thank the uh Kerry Chamber of Commerce for the invitation to talk to speak with their education committee about the work of Wake County Schools and how we can partner and really building those partnerships. And so uh it's my goal as chair to help strengthen and bring those voices to the table so we can leverage as many community partners as as possible. So looking forward to their discussion and also and thanking them in advance for their honor a teacher program where they honor teachers in Kerry um for their work. And so between the Cherry Kerry Chamber of Commerce and the Kerry Rotary Club, they uh sponsor a couple

115of teachers and so I did share with them that we cannot always make a Tuesday meeting uh that we've but we we look forward to partnering with them and so there are some discussions to potentially change. I know that's something that former chair heard worked on and so hopefully we can resolve that so the board can at least participate and show that that gratitude. I'm also want to thank you know Miss Allen and uh Chief Luton and Miss uh Clark and the comm's team for exper taking a part of my wild experiments uh by making sure that we can you know be transparent with our voting process and our speakers list. So I know that was a a a task and so very grateful for that and to the security team for restructuring the boardroom

116as well. so thankful for all of the work that went into uh making some of these changes possible over the break and so grateful for the partnerships and the dedication. Um and I feel like it was something else but I am going to stop there. Um again if it does come I will include it in the next uh board comments. Actually yes I have the email Dr. Chavis wanted me to recognize a couple of principles out in District 9 uh with WL's uh voter choices award. So, the top elementary school winner was Davis Drive Elementary School, which was led by Principal Barb. Um D uh uh the top uh Bob Fair, excuse me. Uh the top middle school winner was Davis Drive Middle School, which is led by Principal Hogenberg. And the top high school

117uh was led uh was Green Hope High School under Principal Cleveland's leadership. Um uh as well as the top administration award goes to principal Hokenberg from Davis Drive and a second place was to principal fair at Davis Drive Elementary School. So grateful for recognizing our hardworking staff and I knew it was something. So hopefully I did I knew I could not forget that because Dr. Chavis would not necessarily uh send me any more emails to share at the table. So glad I was able to remember that and also looking forward to participating in the midy years and I'm looking forward to seeing the great things that those students are going to achieve when they leave WCPSS to achieve and go on to do greater things. So at this point I will look to Vice Chair

118Hershey for a motion. >> Chair Swanson, I make a motion that we move into close session to consider confidential personal personnel information protected under GS143-318.11A6. Oh, that got in my way. Hang on. The vote got in my way and I can't read it. Close that. and 115 C-319 to consult with the board of education attorney and preserve the client the attorney client privilege as provided in GS143-318.1183 to consider confidential student information protected under GS115 C-42 and the family educational and privacy act 20 USC1232G. All right, there is a motion. Is there a second? Second by Dr. Job. The votes should have populated on your screen, so please be sure to record your vote. >> That was second by Dr. Joe. >> Sorry. All right. Are we waiting on any other votes, Miss Allen? Did it

119>> tell me? >> What is your How would you like Miss Allen to record your vote? >> So, yes. >> We will close voting. >> All right. Miss Allen has closed the voting >> and I'm going to share. >> All right. So, the motion has approved. We are in close session. Have a good evening, everyone.