001Yeah, that's what we may want to do over here. Maybe like here. Have you guys seen Elena? She did. >> I don't know. She has >> different cast. How you doing? do the live edits and we can make sure I swear. All right. So, we are going to start with our work session agenda. uh robust uh work session. Some items that we could not get to from the retreat you're going to lift up here. But uh last work session we talked about our employee um buzzman policy. And so we'll start with that conversation. It will be my hopes that we can get this policy in a good spot. Wave first reading and have the policy go into effect. uh if we are good to go now with the so I will turn it over to
002Dr. Robinson and Dr. uh off. >> All right. Um good afternoon. We definitely want to go over the ones policy. First thing we want to do is go over some of the things and the edits that have been captured. So if we can go up to uh letter B uh scope of authority and independence. And what we want to do that's a little bit differently. We want to be able to go over the policy and then we want to be able to um construct and do live edits as you guys want us to capture for you. And so it says the OMBbud shall remain impartial and mutual and shall hold no other position with or beyond WCPSS that might otherwise compromise their independence. And so if you notice there that is the language that was
003captured. Uh we took out all though and put in the OMBbud shall function independently from control, limitations, influence or interference by any board member, administrator or school system employee. And then you will notice there that um what was taken out was in the blue which was scratched out and then is the onbuds position um shall be filled by one or more independent contractors of the board. And so as you look at that then the blue is captured. The superintendent or design may offer input to the board for evaluation purposes on OMBbud's function and activities, but the board shall be ultimately responsible for overseeing the OMBbud's performance. And so, as you look at that particular paragraph, is there any other language that you would want changed or admitted or edited? Board members, any thoughts rise >>
004with the um scope and authority just for clarity purposes. Can you make can you help me understand from our conversation that we had around them holding position or being a part of that's not the same as indicating that they'll the scope of them being able to participate because remember one of the things that we desired when we spoke about it was they need to be able to be at other um where how do I neutral position other positions within the new So, we're not talk we're not talking about um because it's saying talking about boards and stuff. We the question was raised by Miss Miss Edmonds, I believe. I can't remember, but sorry to put you on on the spot, but the question was raised about an buzzman if they are on other uh committees
005or something. It's not that there's necessarily direct influence, but it's more about knowledge and understanding about those particular things. if you recall what I'm saying. So, can we put that in scope or perspective a little bit more for me to see if is that different than this line or something else? So what I I remember the conversation was talking about serving as a ad hoc or an exofficial member of the uh employee comp review, not to have any sway or anything, but therefore if the staff person files a complaint, they would have I guess some background information on that process, not not to have a vote or anything of of that nature, but just to serve um as a a exofficial member of that. And I think that's where attorney Ramy was supposed to get
006some clarity on that for us. >> Okay. So, if we can continue and then once he gets here, >> we can flag that. >> We'll be able to flag that so that we can go back to >> unless attorney you can clarify that for us. >> He's really been in the weeds on us. So, I don't want to try. >> All right. He told me he was going to be here, so I didn't even touch base with him. >> All right. No worries. And so we come back to that first paragraph and we'll make reference to um participation in that high committees with the understanding that there will be impartial with no vote will be able to share additional information. All right. So if we jump So are we all good with that first that
007paragraph other than that? >> We have one question for Edmonds over here. >> My apologies. I think way I read this um the next paragraph might address it does not specific the next paragraph the onbud shaw access to all necessary information and I'm getting ahead of you because I know you're going through but I wonder if that somehow addresses Miss Rice's concern even though it doesn't say ad hoc committees per se it does talk about them being able to have access to information and so that's that was my >> so let's Go ahead and jump to that paragraph. Um, the OMBbud shall be subject to all applicable uh board policies, including but not limited to all anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies. The OMBbud shall have access to all necessary information and individuals within the school system
008to the extent permitted by law and board policies and regulations. The OMBbuds does not have authority to make binding decisions, mandated policies, regulations or procedures, formally adjudicate uh disputed matters or participate in management functions, formal complaints and resolution procedures or investigations. So based upon that, board member Rice, would that capture uh the concern that you had just discussed that you wanted to make sure was included? >> Um to be honest, uh not completely. >> Okay. Um I my intent let's just clarify my intent. My intent with the arms bugman is to be able to or have language that specifies that they have the ability to be in in meetings or committees or boards at any time for the purpose of observation or whatever it is. Um that goes so that they can observe and make
009some decisions or inform of possible suggestions because one part of the policy is that they'll be able to share trends or directions. And unless they have the scope of being able to have access to be a part of boards, committees, or whatever it is that they choose to possibly participate in or observe to make a um a possible suggestion or decision. That's my only my intent. So it to me, just to me, the language does not specify, not that it has to say that for verbatim, but the language does not specify that they have this um broad access. >> So we can flag this until attorney Ramy gets here and figure out how we can flesh this out a little bit more for us. >> Absolutely. So if we go to the next paragraph, the
010super well other than the the flagging to make sure that possibly the language should be changed from access to be inclusive of particular boards and things of that nature. Is everybody okay with that? And so that's the only one. So the first paragraph is good. The second paragraph we want to flag the access and what that access looks like. >> Any other comments regarding those first two paragraphs? >> All right. All right. >> Let's go to the next one. The superintendent or designate shall oversee OMBbud's payments and related ex expedentiures for budgetary purposes in alignment with applicable laws, policies and procedures and may offer recommendations to the board or on any increases or decreases in funding for ombbuds activities. The board in its sole discretion shall determine the appropriate level of funding and resources to
011be provided to the employee onbuds after considering the recommendations of the superintendent. And you'll notice what has been crossed out is that the board's discretion, the onbuds position may be filled by one or more school system employees or by one or more independent contractors of the board. So that was scratched out. So are there any other recommendations for considerations for edits or something that needs to be omitted? Any feedback for this particular paragraph that we're discussing? All right. All right. So, uh, section B is pretty much, um, complete. And so, now if we can go ahead and scroll up to the protection from retaliation, looking at C, you will notice there are no specific edits or any changes there. Then, if we can go all the way up to um, number three, neutrality and impartiality.
012And within this particular section, you'll notice what's been included. the ambut shall not serve on any school systems committee or task force without the final approval of the board chair. And so that goes back again to um what board member writes was referencing. Okay, if we go ahead and we get the language changed in in uh section B far as access but here in this section it's saying they may be able to participate but in order to participate they need the approval of the board chair. I see uh Miss Edmonds and then Miss Rice and Miss Edmmonds. >> Um for me, I I like this sentence in section three neutrality and impartiality because it specifies shall not serve on that doesn't limit this the ombbuds from sitting in on observing listening. Um and so for
013me, I'm I'm happy with that because it's so specific to serving. Um, Miss Rice, did you have a comment on this one? >> I'm in agreement with Miss um, Edmonds, but I'm sorry, I just lost where which section we were at. >> So, we're on section page four. >> Yeah, page four where it says uh, three neutral neutrality and impartiality. >> That's where I thought we were, but Okay, there it is. Um I yeah I'm in agree with what Miss um Edmond said, but I would like um to still invoke my thoughts around serving on or not serving on but observing or participating in these committees even without the chairs. Um >> so it's clear we'll wait till attorney Raymond gets here until we So I haven't >> Okay, I'm sorry. So, >> do you
014want to attempt to at least have a language there for as if we're saying the young shall not serve on any school system committee or task force but may observe. However, you must have do you guys want to go ahead and start trying to do that or we want to wait. >> So, is there thumbs up or thoughts on the language that Dr. Rogers suggested? >> Question. >> Sure. Dr. A. So in what context are we approving someone to or having the board chair approved someone who is an ombbuds to serve on a committee? I'm I'm I'm not quite sure why why we had that language added. So I believe it was a discussion, we had a healthy discussion around employee comp review committee that would allow the unbudsman person to uh to sit in
015participate or to have a different a full picture of an employes's complaint. So therefore when that complaint comes to the unbudsman uh they have the background knowledge to assess the situation appropriately. Um, I think that's why that language was sitting there. Um, but again, we can follow up with attorney. Dr. Robinson. >> I'm I'm here at the will of the board. You let me know what you want me to do and I'll continue to do as you ask. >> So, did that cl was that a clarifying? >> Well, I mean to sit in is one thing, but to serve on a committee in an official capacity, it's a different matter. Right. >> Correct. And correct. So, are you do you have some suggestions to that language that you want to recommend to us? I mean
016in I in terms of impartiality I think as once you start serving in a committee I I feel like there's a risk of losing your impartiality in in that in that aspect. So but that's just me. >> Any other question? >> Yeah I appreciate you bringing up that point. It's really interesting. I guess it kind of depends on like I I'm thinking an ombbudz person if you're on a committee you're then making decisions and you're almost choosing sides and I I don't know what what committee they might or might not be on but is that an appropriate role for an person to then be potentially taking votes on something versus observing and providing the board or whoever with impartial feedback of here's the process I saw that was problematic or that worked well. >> So,
017Dr. Joe, >> um, >> just from an employment standpoint too, it we're hiring this person for a very specific reason and I don't know, you know, what it would even do to their contract to their, you know, to their um, like I would start to be concerned that there'd be some bleed of, you know, into other areas and what they were um, and what they were there for if they ended up on. >> [clears throat] >> So is there a consensus around removing that language? So the person does not serve on any committees. >> I prefer does not serve. Um, Miss Mans, >> that's what I was hearing is that um that really the the sticking point is just shall not serve and take out the um exception of without prior approval of the board
018chair. I'm hearing it more just just not allow it all together. >> Can we just do a thumbs up if that works? >> So, >> sure. I want to make sure I'm I'm following correctly. We want to strike out without the prior approval of the board chair, which means they will not serve on any school system committee or task force. And then we just keep all the other language the same. >> Now, I do want to flag that may contradict what we were having discussion about with serving on as an exofficial member of the employee relations HR. Is it the HR comp piece? Um, so if that's the will of the board, that's the will of the board. But I just wanted to put that out there. That's right. >> So, so even with addressing
019that with our attorneys, um, so you're saying that they have to be in that role of an exeicio to participate in that or is that something we need to confirm with attorneys? Is that >> to confirm? That's what I'm saying. We have to confirm that with that, but if that's what the, you know, what the board wants, we can do that. Right. >> So, we say, can we say contingent upon what the um the attorney tells us because we need them to be able to have access. My my I agree with they don't need to serve on a committee. I I'm that I'm not questioning that at all. Again, [clears throat] my intent is about them having access to all meetings and all things to render that impartiality in all spaces. So I believe >>
020at levels that's that's my only intent. >> So I do believe earlier in this policy it says they should have access to all documents um information that is needed. So if it's clearer I think that's at the top that answers and I think it addresses the piece that you're raising. >> Yeah. Or define needed or be I'm questioning the needed piece because who's going to determine if it's needed or not? needed for them or needed in what the whoever is in control of whatever media they're in deems that they need information or access to. >> Dr. Al key in in section B in the last uh sentence, can you highlight that? Um so everybody can see it. >> The last section B. >> No, in the second paragraph. Okay. >> The last sentence. >> What
021is it? No, right before right after the green strikeout. The ombbud shall have access to all necessary information and individuals within the school system. Um, chair, that's what you were just making reference to. >> Yes. >> Okay. And even like I'm And even in that same space, I know you said you're going to have um attorney Remy look at that and possibly even in that same spaces you can put in there about access to um all committees or whatever else that that might just a thought, but I'm sure he'll determine where it might need to go. That works. Um that Thank you. And so in essence, those are the only edits and the only changes that were being brought forth um for consideration from the board and looking at the board um the draft policy.
022And so when uh attorney Ramy gets here, we have to really focus on the language as far as access. What does that mean? And then we had to make the determination whether or not and I think everybody was in alignment that we wanted to scratch out without the prior approval of the board chair in that particular sentence under neutrality and impartiality. Is there anything else that anyone has for consideration prior to us going back to the table and clearing this up so that we can prepare this? Attorney Malone, do we have a Do we know Attorney? >> It It appears he did not realize this was over for the work session at all. Is it on the regular agenda? >> It's on the phone. >> Oh, so that must be the problem. He didn't he
023missed the work session part of it. >> Gotcha. So is he still his >> he's in the office on a call on a meeting in a in a virtual meeting. >> Okay. >> According to Diana be 3:30. >> No, he won't be here at 3:30. >> So how can we get some clarity on this piece because we have about 15 more minutes on this particular session. >> Well, I can try to help. >> So let's go back to the question and I again I was pointing it to Neil. What is it that we're attempting to accomplish with that? Are we trying to say do we want to know have language that if there are committees that the OMBbuds is able to sit in on those committees? Is that what we're trying to establish? >> All
024right. Without violating the appearance of being, you know, the biased piece of it. So remaining neutral and impartial is the piece that we are discussing. I mean we could add into the sentence that um you know Dr. Robson has highlighted um that um right before to the extent permitted by law, you know, and to um sit in on is not the word I want to use. Um >> observe. >> I like observe. Yeah. And to observe any is it committees and task force? Is that what we're looking to include? Yeah. And to observe, you know, any school system committees and task force and then pick up to the extent permitted by law and board policies and regulations. Board chair, can I ask a clarifying question? And so when you talk about the intent of the
025purpose of the OMBbuds and you talked about the impartiality and the neutrality of the work that they're going to be doing and we talked about participating and not participating and we also talked about observation and so is it the intent of the board that this person would be able to observe the interactions, the functions, the structures, the protocol and then have conversation with the board or is it the intent of this person being able to observe and then be able to provide input? So, I think it's a both approach. Um, and I I think again this is a new policy that's new to the district. So, there will be a lot of kinks that we're going to have to work out and learning parts. And so, we may get the person may the contractor may
026come in and realize that there's parts of this policy that we may need to amend to make their work a little bit more applicable. And so, I think at least I'm open to that and I I would hope that my colleagues would be. Um, but I think what we're trying to do is add a little bit of meat and potatoes to the their work so they're not at least coming to this blind, but there's some set parameters and some guidance for them to conduct their work and be effective. >> So, I see your hand is right, but I want to give an opportunity for Dr. Taylor to chime in. >> Yeah. So, I mean, I I kind of came in the middle, so I'm not quite sure where you guys are, but we've had extensive
027conversation [clears throat] on um uh how we want this to function, and that's really uh having that contract person to come in uh to look at any um inconsistencies that we might have. And if at any point we come to um um to employ a person as staff, then we've kind of dealt with those parameters. But I know the the bulk of it is about uh making sure there's a way that someone can be that impartial person. Uh and then any of those additional parameters that the board wants to add, you know, we're certainly open to that. But um I'll get back up to speed in a minute because I was out talking to the press. But >> would you be willing to repeat your sentence and then I'll open up for questions. So yeah,
028after school system there in that sentence, but you got highlighted um inserting and to observe. >> No, good. Wait, you wanted me to do what? >> No, I was trying to see where you were talking from then. >> Oh, no. I was just g to take the square away. I said, are you going to type in the Oh, okay. Yes, I thought it was you. Sorry. No, no, no. We're working together as a team. So, you got that, Dr. >> To observe. Okay. Um any school system committees [clears throat] and task force. Um yeah and then pick up with to the extent permitted by law. Yes. which means that we can then remove that sentence that at the bottom of the house have some discussions. But before we go there, I did see a couple
029of hands. Um, Miss Cfield, Dr. and then uh Miss Evans. So, Miss Cfield, and then Miss Rice, Miss Cfield, >> I think I was just kind of trying to understand what we were saying before, but he might have changed the language. I just the whole idea is to have somebody that is nonpartial but to be able to sit in on everything to come back and give feedback and and advocate for solutions. Right. >> So they should be able to tend everything have access to everything be in there just not participate. >> Correct. >> Uh Dr. Um [clears throat] and so so to so we're saying that they that the ombbuds can um observe or sit to be witness to the conversations at hand. Um they can or cannot participate in the conversation. >> So I
030think to get back to the original piece we did not want any participation. So they can still remain neutral and impartial. >> Okay. >> I you know for one is you know that person cannot have any kind of voting rights um for for that you know for in terms of that conversation or the meeting. Um, but certainly, you know, I'm I'm open to to people's opinions about, you know, whether that person can or cannot have conversations within that meeting. >> So, I'll add this in because I think I'm up to speed now on this particular piece. Uh I I think uh what would be good from this is if we think about um uh the cup committee uh and and quite often we may get um um feedback from staff that something was not fair
031about them. So having the ombbuds um um contract person there or actual person to observe what takes place that now puts them in a position to say okay I understand why the employee has an issue and so we can help you better understand what may or may not be working with this. So that's why we would be open to uh the umbbuds there observing what takes place. Uh and and I know that's one that rises up real fast in terms of what you probably get a lot of feedback about. And so it is giving them an opportunity to be able to observe and then give feedback. that one gives feedback uh to the district about the process uh but it's also an opportunity for them to give feedback to the employee that may have an
032issue to help them better understand the process and where they may or may not be incorrect. Um, going back to section D number three, neutrality and impartiality. I think we should keep, and this may have already been decided, but I need clarity was um to keep that sentence. The ombbud shall not serve on any school system committee or task force and just strike the without the pile of proof. Strike what's in blue, >> but leave the rest intact. >> That's what we did. So, it's so we good with that. Okay. >> That was not clear to me because we were going between the two, >> right? That's right. >> Thank you. Um I was trying to piggy back um off your comment that you made in reference to sharing um when in committees whether they
033should be able to share or not. And then Mr. being um alluded to the same statement that I was that I agreed upon and like I think that it's important um for the budsman to be able to share information observed not only as Dr. the superintendent indicated um if there's a concern around board but also to possibly whoever may be chairing that particular committee um or something in reference so that there can be um neutrality or feedback um which is the intent of I think you said earlier of what's needed. So maybe not necessarily or I don't cuz because if they're going to be available to be a part of a meeting we know that they're not going to have any voting rights. They're simply there for observer, observation, neutrality, and sharing um some positive
034feedback or whatever to make the meeting or whatever that's happening um um be more effective, right? And so my only thought is is them being able to share that with possibly a a chair or something. Not necessarily get into the meeting where it sways other people's opinion and and uh you know for them to have influence in that way as a larger space but being able to at least do it with the person whoever may be leading that particular situation. And >> and to be clear it would be staff. It would not be board operations. It would be various uh complaints that happens throughout the district. So they would share that feedback with the superintendent because that would be the person that they would respond or report to. Okay. >> Um and that's where that
035feedback would go to. Dr. Did I >> Yeah, I think you hit it dead on the head that if if they observe and have feedback, I think that's something that they would want to share with the superintendent so I can better direct how a process may take place. So So you're right about that. Yeah. Any other comments miss >> just to clarify but it does actually come back to us in reports right so that we reflect on it >> that would be yes once the person Yes. So the it's like a two-part approach. Our first part is getting our policy aligned. And then the second phase is bidding out to a contractor so they can compare notes to figure out how their work aligns to our policy. And then once the board approves the contractor,
036[clears throat] they will start and solely report to the superintendent as a outside agency that is solely there to help you know restore confidence and trust. the various staff folks have uh complaints that they feel as if not being properly addressed. Any other questions with this policy? So, just to recap, I think we were able to capture the parts that was lifted up. So, we we'll go ahead and we'll go over the two parts that were lifted up. Um Dr. off. Keith, if you can scroll up to um section B, second paragraph, you'll notice in the blue section, we included and to observe any school system committee or task force. And so that was included to capture what the uh board wanted. And then if we scroll all the way down to neutrality and impartiality,
037we have um xed out without the prior approval of the board chair. Everything else is pretty much in succinct. So what Dr. off for Keith and I will do after the uh while the board works session is still going on we will clean up the policy and so that we will have it in actual writing and be able to provide that to Miss Allen and then we'll be able to present it at action for action >> and board members hopefully we can wave first reading or this will be first or second reading >> second so it go into effect >> wait a second >> waving second and having it go into effect so we can start the process so therefore we can collect some data to to figure out, you know, how effective this policy
038is and how this, you know, move over to the next next phase of this. Does that work? Thumbs up. Any hearts? All hearts and minds clear. Perfect. So, that gives us a little bit of time to move to our second part. Thank you, uh, Dr. Robson and Dr. Offer Offer. Uh we'll move to our board goal and professional development from the retreat. So Dr.'s not here for me to catch him up, but um I know that we started the conversation of of developing a smart goal for the board to address. And that smart goal uh was centered around um addressing student achievement. Um and so today we're going to tighten this up a little bit and then we have a special ad hoc committee um that will include Dr. Joe, Miss Gordon, Miss Rice, and
039Miss Coughfield um to help clean this up for us and we'll go from there. So I'll turn over to Miss uh Boore and Dr. Key. >> Where we left off um Dr. Robinson's peasants and things off. But where we left off the other day was just we said we would provide you with a few examples that you can not use it all or use parts of and to make your own. But sometimes it's just helpful to have a visual model there in front of you. So, if you want to just go ahead and review those needless. So, you may want to just look through and underline parts that you like and then we'll see if we can do some kind of a combined or a new goal. It doesn't out of here. I bring this
040from the retreat where we developed a smart goal around um as a board around addressing uh uh academic performance um taking a piece of the strategic plan for us to focus on for the year. So that was the simple smart goal that we discussed at the retreat. And so we'll use this opportunity to kind of fine-tune this a little bit before we send it to our special ad hoc committee. Chair Swanson, if I may confirm, I believe that our goal today in this brainstorm is to get further alignment on the shared goal, but then each board member will be developing an additional goal that supports that. Is that >> correct? Correct. >> Correct. So that will be the big picture is the board's goal and then board members have an opportunity to develop individual professional
041development goals or plans to align to how you plan on supporting the overall goal through various learning opportunities whether it's trainings through the school boards association or or or whatnot. >> Are we ready to get >> Yeah, I was going to say if you're ready, we'll also open it up for conversation. whoever would like to lift something up. >> Gordon, you want to kick us off? >> Sure. Um, there are there are bits and pieces of each one that I like. Um, some of the language sounds a little bit more actionable, which I like. Um, and some of it less actionable. Um, so I don't know where you want me to start. >> Start with the top. >> Okay. So, the Okay. So the top one um I like how understand how to better leverage
042assets like to me that sounds more actionable like we are we are trying to better [snorts] understand how to do a thing so that we can then do it. Um I do question the part about the the use of staff input. Um, I'm not sure exactly what what that would entail. Um, with that one, we were trying to capture Miss Rice's idea about experiences that staff may have from other districts or have from other places in their research. We were trying to kind of summarize that part. Um, but of course, we're picking and choosing here. So if that part doesn't land, we can also strike it. >> It Yeah, I'm I'm just unclear on how we would utilize that. >> And keep in mind how it goes back feeds back into the strategic plan. >>
043Do you want to >> you want me to go to the next one? >> Do y'all want to go through all of them and just stop at each one and have discussions? Which one makes the >> how can you can you clarify how point of clarity about how we're doing are are you asking to go >> right that's how I was raising the question >> or are we sharing we're going to piece what we've pieced like what Miss Gorge just did take each [clears throat] board member and piece together what we felt was >> right that was the question I was raising >> on each one >> so we'll start with the the first one and have discussions and then feed our way through this one. >> Okay. So, >> so I was going to
044ask um I do actually like the um actionable part that you spoke about, but instead of use of um staff input, I was really hoping that we would go more for finding out our community partners' availability like to see because if we're talking about cost savings and partnerships, we really need to see what they have available like who can participate, what can they do, how can they help. Um, and also to reach out to see how the communities are available to help because we may have all the thoughts in the world, but if the community can't do it or they don't know it's available, that's a missing piece that could connect a lot of dots. >> I think that goes back to the work of the community engagement piece of identifying the partners, you know,
045bringing them back, figure out what their capacity looks like. Um, and goes where um, I'm sorry. >> All right. So for me it was more about finding the the community partners and the availability [clears throat] to see what we could use. >> We'll go Mr. Rice and then Dr. Joe. >> Okay. So I um I think it may have been a mis piece of misunderstanding of me talking about using staff part. I I didn't necessarily mean in this perspective, but I can clarify that later. But the only part within this first one that I am um in agreement with is understanding how to better leverage assets of various communities. um that part. Um I have another piece that from another the other bullet points that tie into to to that, but I I I want
046to keep that top line as piecing together an overall goal. The other parts um I find a better fit with the other paragraphs, but that's it for me. Just the first line. >> I'm going to kind of say the opposite. I um I think it's important that we research how other districts are doing this and are are leveraging those partnerships and then perhaps we can find similar um situations here. But I so I think it's I agree though that understanding how to better leverage assets in various communities can be the first line and then we might be able to combine the colored parts of each into the measurable part. Um, I'd like to hear more about what community mapping initiative is. Um, but the the only line that gets a little too vague for me
047actually on the [clears throat] that last line about to promote student achievement by December 2026, I wonder if if we even need to be more specific than that. Like the goal is that we h we come together to create the plan in 2026 for how to do this. And so we're doing the professional development all year long to learn about it. And then that way we need to be prepared to have this discussion to create a plan by December 2026. >> Any other comments? >> Do you have a comment? >> I don't know about comment of thought, but to go off of um Dr. Job just said that um in December of 2026, do we really need a full year to kind of see what's out there to come up with a plan? I mean,
048it's up to the board. I mean, the smart goal, you have to have a start end date at [clears throat] some point. So, I don't know if it would be appropriate to say by June giving the fact that we're still having discussion. Maybe it's August. So, I mean, it's up to the board, but it feels if the end date should be I'd like to hear everybody else's thoughts and maybe staff on how they could >> Yeah, Mr. Ch. What I what I would say is uh I think December is a good time frame because it's work that you will continually do over that time frame. Um I agree that if you think about um setting a June date, uh that's 6 months. It kind of limits you in terms of being able to achieve the
049goal. You could certainly achieve it all in two months, but at least you've got now a time frame that says as a board, we want to make sure that we've done all the things necessary to understand uh how we leverage these things, how we understand what other districts are doing uh and do that over that year. And so even though that smart goal has an end date to it, uh it doesn't mean that you don't accomplish that before that. give yourself enough runway to where you have time to work towards this specific specific board goal. But that would be my recommendation. But >> so I guess for clarity, are we trying to achieve the goal or we trying to set our intentions of the goal? So I think that's the bin. Also, I think we're
050trying to start the goal and then figure out ways that we can achieve this goal or move the needle back to finding ways that we're leveraging partnerships to address uh academic performances across the district. So, I guess for our first step of trying to see what's available and what's out there, I would hate for us to wait a whole year just to have that [clears throat] information just to see what's out there because we are the largest in North Carolina. We can also set precedents of what we want to do and what we have available here. I mean, it's good to reflect and see what others are doing, but they may not be doing things either that we want that would work for us. So, I don't want to wait a whole year just to
051have a discussion of how we're going to put a plan into action. >> So, I think it goes back to what um Superintendent Taylor just said. It doesn't mean that we will wait until that date to accomplish it. We're going to do the work. We'll hopefully accomplish it well before then and to put it in action. I agree with Miss Koffield around um the piece as you'll hear me say often, we need to set precedent on what things really look like because we are the largest district. Um people need to follow our model and what we're doing to actually make it work and be a little bit more innovative in that. And so to Dr. Joe's um concern around um looking at um partnerships with other districts. The reason why I chose to take that
052part out is because and and and I think she's right about hearing more about our community mapping initiative that we did. I think that data of our resources of who we are is what's most important because we have different resources than other districts have. And so we can't compare their stuff to ours because we're just different through the resources that we have countywide, communitywide. We're resourcerich in this county and we our resources will definitely look different than other counties within our state to even compare them to. So, I think it depends on how narrowly we're going to define this. Like, if we're just talking about finding community resources that we can partner with and opening up, then yes, it probably would not take a year. probably, you know, but if we're really going to do
053a deep dive into like um uh sorry, as Gordon was saying, um with community the community and schools model and like be able to even develop more of a framework of how we enter into these partnerships, how we you know, so it's not just peace meal who jumps forward, who you know, who's the first to raise their hand or or you know, having stuff that abruptly starts and ends, but if we want to start like making this more of something that is um intentional and is part of the school life all the time, then I think then it probably would absolutely take a year. >> And this should build back off of the conversation with the school improvement plans by doing deep dives into those and figuring out, you know, where you can support it.
054How does this goal support that versus just looking at something that's totally separate? So, I want to make sure that we circle back to fleshing out this this first part. Um, so I think there's >> I'll >> I was just thinking do we want to just shift to the second one and pick out pieces there that you're like we really want to move this component? >> Yes. >> Or strike this part. That >> works. Um so I I underlined um the piece where it says in bullet number two increase our understanding of assets available but then what to me that's not that's not really action that doesn't lead to an action um which is different from the first one because it says to understand how to better leverage the the the action is to leverage
055those assets. So, I would recommend not using the first line in this in the second bullet. Um, I do like the utilizing the community mapping initiative. I do like that. Um, that speaks to um, you know, what we're already doing and utilizing what we're already doing to help us achieve our goal. Um, and then I also underline to explore resources. That's an actionable That's actionable. >> Um question for you. Um what do you think it's important to understand the assets themselves in order to understand how to better leverage them? Like should we combine those two sentences and say that we need to better understand um the assets available and how to leverage them or something much more eloquent than that was. That that makes sense cuz we I at this point I don't think we
056understand we understand the assets. >> That's true. >> Dr. In sequence wise I think the second bullet probably should go before the first bullet. Don't you think? >> Yes. >> Right. [snorts] >> In the end you just [clears throat] need like one statement. You don't need all of them or anything like that. So, so it sounds like you're saying understand increase understanding of assets that are available and how to leverage those. >> Okay. So, we like both of that combined. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And I don't know if everyone would be okay with that part of the statement and then we can move to the colored part. >> Okay. No, no. I think we're we're there. That's what I was saying. Going through book, I believe it's it's like piecing the part. So for
057me, it's like by December 2026, increase our understanding of assets available in various community um to understand how to better leverage the assets of the various communities and receive professional development on the communities in the schools based model. So it's like >> [cough] >> It's marking out like what we're doing of pieces that we don't need. What we're looking for is in all three. So, I'm just trying to make sure we're capturing the pieces that we want out of the three >> where it makes sense in a full sense. That's >> right. And so, I want to make sure we're still going by the process by sticking with two, making sure that everyone has voice their concerns or their their piece about it and then the third if we can get to the big picture
058of mapping them all together. >> Okay. So if I have to share my part then of bullet two, it's keeping the [clears throat] first line and the second line down to Yeah. >> Yeah, it's keeping the first and the second line. Um actually it's that whole thing almost but just it's definitely keeping the first and second line. So would it would it sound like something like by December 2026, we want to receive professional development in order to increase our understanding of assets available in various communities and how to better leverage those assets >> using our community. >> Okay. And then and then what are we using that I think we have to decide on that is just this little part. But >> how does that sound? >> Do you have your hand? >> I'm good.
059Actually, thank you though. >> To the degree. Yeah. >> Can I I know I know we haven't moved on to the third one yet, but >> I want to provide a point of clarity around communities in schools and community schools. They are two totally different things. Communities in schools is a national organization. So you know we talk about being innovative and you know you know leading the way. >> That is not what I meant right >> when I when I made my comment. Um I am I am speaking about community schools which look very different from school to school. It is a it is like the community hub and you are you are utilizing the assets and looking at the needs of a community. So, my community over in Southeast Raleigh is going to look
060different from a community in Apex. Um, so I just want to provide that point of clarity. >> Again, these are just samples. So, the part in the colored part here, you guys could not even use any of that. This is what you want it to be. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And I believe Dr. All for Keith has summarized what's been said from taking the three bullet points there and adopting or capturing the conversation to turn what's written on the far right side into a smart goal. >> By December 2026, receive professional development to increase understanding of assets available in various communities and how to better leverage those assets by right. So that's so that's a part that we're still is like what would be the action that you would take in that professional development
061and you're saying community schools lowerase C lowerase N as one of the topics of professional [clears throat] community mapping initiative could be another >> yes >> yeah I would even say >> like that first one where we're we're talking about by researching effective cost-saving partnerships um by researching effective cost-saving partnerships. I don't know in regard to community schools in other districts and through I don't I'm not sure. I I know I'm getting really wordy. Is it I'm with you with the cost savings piece, but not necessarily other districts, but with um cost savings partnerships, cuz we're talking about partnerships um within our community mapping initiative cuz we may find cost savings within our partners [clears throat] and that's cuz that's why we're partnering with that's how we've saved cost by utilizing our community partners. So
062with um utilizing the community mapping initiative um to for the development of a community schools model [snorts] I have something similar. So, but better leverage those assets by researching effective cost-saving partnerships through the community mapping initiative and various models for community schools. Lowerase C lowerase M right opening up to broad community models. >> I just Okay. >> [clears throat] >> No, I think I think that's actually good. I just want to make sure we're not nailing ourselves to the community schools model. Like that [snorts] might not be what we end up with at the end of all of this professional development is it might be something different compared to what our options are and everything. So, but I still I think that basically lifting up the community schools model is a good idea and the
063Yeah. Okay. >> Can you read the last sentence, the last part of it? >> Sure. I think I'll read it in full and you all can see. By December 2026, receive professional development to increase understanding of assets available in various communities and how to better leverage those assets by researching effective cost savings partnerships through the community mapping initiative and various models for community schools. Because the researching piece is the prof the professional development piece, right? That >> That's right. >> This will only work when all of us commit to it. >> The goal can't be four members choose and five does something different. This is the only way this will be successful is we all have to commit to doing the research, doing the work, to bringing the to making this come to turn it
064become a smart goal. Sorry, my words aren't for working today. Uh Dr. Joe, >> um two things. Uh one, this is I was just going to say this is the other reason why I think it might take till December because there are also some good conferences and stuff that you know and I don't and they're going to some of them are going to be over the summer and in the fall. But um the other is do we still need that last point though that I was talking about before saying like in what our ultimate goal is is to make a future plan or or is this enough like how do we know like my I guess measurable how do we know we've [snorts] succeeded at doing this >> be the tangible right what's the tangible
065thing in the end >> well we have two minutes left of this [laughter] >> is that what the committee is way that the committee can >> absolutely that's what the committee would be for then they can talk about the specific things that are necessary to accomplish the goals >> correct so we'll start we'll go miss admins and then vice chair >> so I just had um I was thinking about the last part of that sentence various models for community did we want to add in our schools to get away from like what you were saying before so it's not like a it's just basically saying each one is individual just so >> I think so with CI >> I mean I was saying yeah I I think so it goes with our um >> so
066just add in our school >> I think >> so I know there's a committee um for this work. Do you have um do we know yet? Will there be a formal reporting in structure or is that up for the committee to determine? >> That will be up to the committee to determine that piece. I just want to make sure that the board has gotten it to a good place so then the committee can discuss this at the January 16th meeting. Is that 13th 13th meeting at 1:00? Um and it's on your board calendar. that go out in the mail this week. >> Can you read that again? Cuz I feel like we're getting really longwinded >> and we have too much there and it's starting to from my perspective. >> Like we could edit it
067down a lot and still have a really important goal. Like I think we're trying to name everything and stick it in there versus having a broader goal and then letting the committee fill in how we achieve maybe. Um can you just read it? >> Yep. By December 2026, receive professional development to increase understanding of assets available in various communities and how to better leverage those assets by researching effective cost savings partnerships through the community mapping initiative and various models for community in our schools. >> I don't like the in our in our schools part. Community schools is a it it is a it's a model like it's a holistic approach to everything in a school. It community in our school like that's that's what we have the issue with. That's what we have problem with
068not understanding the community in our schools. >> So I think adding in our schools defeats the purpose. I also think now that you read it the beginning where you say receive professional development does that repeat itself in the >> I think it does. >> Yeah, that was the first word or doesn't see that I heard is that we don't necessarily need to receive professional development too when we have five researchers. >> So it's like which would resonate with you more? Are you thinking of it as seek out professional development to attend or research and share information? >> Miss Gordon, do you want to >> um I I like the second part better. It because it's direct. >> What were you What else were you going to say, Mr. So I I would still cut out
069like a lot because I feel like if we say the goal is to increase understanding of assets available in various communities and how to better leverage those assets, we need a then defined reason why to have to save money and then period and then all those other things are steps that we are going to take to do We I mean I can't understand that entire sentence. I mean I it's hard the chair's in the way so it's hard for me to read it but it is long and it is we're kind of versus like here's our end actionable. Here's what we will have completed on December. I don't know what that is. >> I haven't further got it. The committee is going to tighten this up. Let me the committee is going to tighten this
070up, work through it, and then flush all the ideas that we have. So, it's like we're throwing everything at the wall to get it structured, and then they will come through and >> I got >> take the piece and connect the dots. >> I hear you. >> Yeah, I got >> really quickly since we're in that same vein, I hear you, Mr. Hershey. Um so is it possible even to say by the December 2026 increase the understanding of assets in our community mapping initiative because that's the assets is within the community mapping mission which is which is of the people. So um and then better leverage those assets by by researching effective cost-saving partnerships through. So that's just my thought since we took the time to gather all these people in community and remember the
071the community mapping initiative does not end just because it started. We constantly need to keep feeding people into the community mapping initiative and add adding more people into within our community because we need to constantly share with them where they need to go. It still needs to remain on the website. It still needs to be a space that where people feel like they have something to offer us as an asset in the district that is that nonprofit 501c3. they still should be able to share who they are because organizations close and erect um you know um what am I saying in a cycle right so that's just about >> we have four more minutes of this discussion and again it's going to the committee and that committee will meet on the >> 13th at 1:00
072and we're just trying to get it's like throwing the spaghetti We'll let the law see what's fixed and the committee will take it from there. Dr. Joe, >> I want to make sure we put student achievement back in there. We kind of dropped those dropped that phrase while we were while we were parsing this all out. Um, and then yeah, I think I think probably we will end up something somewhere closer to what Mr. saying, you know, and then move some of it into here are suggestions of possible professional development you could do. I was going to circle back to the question of the measure and how we've done it. I think what Miss Rice said in response to Mr. Hershey can be that answered which is we looked at the map. This is how
073many partners we had on it and these are the ways that they were already engaging with schools and then in December next 2026 we have this many more partners and they're engaging this many more ways, right? And then you can measure your increase in both of those things. So more partners available, more partners also involved with schools in those ways. >> Final comments right >> really final comment with that said around engagement. I think that it's very important um Dr. Robinson um if uh Dr. Sturdivant is a part of that conversation and possible help with us around this engagement, this community piece um and leverage the great partnerships that she's done throughout the year and things of that nature. So I would hope that um she could be included in this piece that we're doing
074to yield incremental in it. So I I I just want to level set here as well by making sure that you know this goal once it's developed does not just sit on the shelf and go from there that we're working this in [clears throat] conjunction with the school at this the strategic plan and everything is building um and then we can check in and say as a board we've been able to do this this is how it's helping me end up going from there. So, I just wanted to make sure that everyone's mindful of, you know, it's not just going to a committee for the committee to do all the work and then it stays that committee. This is a board goal uh which was discussed at our retreat. And so, you know, we talked
075about being innovative. Uh we heard from Powers that no other board has developed a smart goal around strategic plan. So, we're being innovative. We're leading the way. And so, we just got to commit to that and keep moving the work forward. So, I think this is in a better place than we were on last week. Um so the committee will take it from there >> and thank you all for the discussion for you know helping us flesh these ideas out and we will move to our strategic plan priority number two and wellbeing uh which was on our retreat agenda that you know mother nature did not allow us to fully fulfill. So uh Dr. Robson, Dr. Heel, uh Michelle Woodson, Dr. McMillan and Dr. join us at the table. >> Thank you uh board chair
076Swanson. Uh this afternoon we're going to follow up with the priority too. Please just have a seat. >> Let me I tell you what I'm >> um this afternoon we're going to follow up with priority two student disposition and wellbeing. We have seven presenters that are going to be able to provide information and answer any clarifying questions uh that you guys may have but at the same time we want to make sure that everyone is informed. So when we think about student disposition and well-being we take about talk about goal four and goal five and goal four deals with the attendance and then goal five definitely deals with the um student well-being and so who is going to walk you through this presentation today is going to be uh Dr. hand off for Keith. I
077will not do the slides in the beginning as we always ground ourselves in the work of our strategic plan. We know that we have three priorities, seven goals, four aims, and 20 uh excuse me, three priorities, seven goals, four pillars, and 20 aims. And so we consistently do that all the time, but because of the time that's been allocated for this portion of the agenda, um we're going to go ahead and forego that and we're going to jump right into the presentation so that you guys have time to ask clarifying questions. So, Dr. Leanne offer Keith, I'm going to pass it over to you and you can go ahead and start with priority two. >> Thank you everyone. Um so as you see here um we are looking at priority two behavioral health in this
078deep job. As Dr. Robinson was saying we have done several of those um so far this year. We're excited to bring this one to you here today. This is how we defined behavioral health when we were when we were developing the plan in May 2023. As you can see here, the priorities represent the overall outcome. The outcome that we want to see is positive student dispositions and well-being. But the definition includes staff and that was an important choice on the part of the board because we know that the staff behavioral health is also really important to the student behavioral health. So you can see how it is defined here and our deep dive today is going to focus mostly on measuring progress towards our goals. The first goal is goal four which is about attendance
079and ensuring that 95% of all students are in attendance at least 95% of their days in membership and eliminating any disparities that we see their race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status. And uh so we're going to look here in the attendance rates in comparison of the last 3 years that we've been in the strategic plan. You do see represented here what is the goal which is the top line that 95% of days. And then you also see chronic absenteeism reported um because that is what is a part of our different accountability models and uh several of our internal processes is addressing those highest need students who are chronically absent at 90%. Um overall the trends are fairly flat but I will invite uh either Assistant Superintendent Woodson or Dr. Hill or Dr. McMillan to share
080um any any other thoughts that you have about these trends before we start digging into what we're doing about it cuz I know that's what you really want to know. >> I' I'd just add as a little bit by way of additional context if we take this back even further to pre- pandemic attendance rates here in Wake and really nationally for schools are still much higher than they were uh pre- pandemic. We saw a pretty big spike uh during that time and it has settled back down, but it has not settled back down all the way to anything like what we had prior to to 2020. Um the state's chronic absenteeism rate is up in the 20s. So, we're doing a little bit better than the state is as a whole, but it is still
081proving to be a pretty um pretty stubborn problem for us to get a handle on. >> Any questions? >> All right, here it is. You see it by a group. This is each group in last school year in 2425 meeting that goal of 95%. As you can see, there is predictability there as we see with other data points as well. We are actively working against that. We'll talk about some of those strategies in a second. Um, but I will note that the gaps are not as wide as they are on some of our other goals. >> Questions? Oh. >> Oh, that's right. >> So, with this to make sure I'm looking at this correctly, students attending 95% of this is the amount of students who actually do attend school that we're looking at. Um, and
082with that said, on the opposite end of the spectrum, have we collected the data um of the reasons that when students have not attended school? We do. We have that data that'll be shared today as well. We have some information. >> We have some information. Okay. But to your point, better recordkeeping is a part of one of our goals that we'll talk about that the next slide. >> Okay. >> Can do you we have information that shows the academic achievement breakdown of those who have attended like basically >> how does it >> Yes. Thank you. Miss Gordon said how does it correlate? >> Yeah. >> Academic success like can we break that down? Yeah, we I think we the last time we looked at that was when we were doing the goal setting process for
083the current strategic plan. Um, and we've looked at it even 8 to 10 years prior to that, but it's basically a linear process. The more schools you miss, the worse you do, and it pretty much just follows a stairstep pattern. If you look at more and more inattendance results in more and more non-proficiency, more and more non-growth. Um, it's it's a it's a pretty clear linear relationship. But how are we if if the goal if the attendance rate isn't changing, how are we growing in some areas? >> The attendance rate isn't changing. Just processing your question. How are we growing in some areas? Well, it's changing a little. It's getting a little better. And if you recall last year, our proficiency rate went up only about 210 of a point. Um, so and it also
084varies by subgroup as you can see because we have a variance in attendance here. That's going to affect that. And then also the number of people you have in each of these groups is not equal as well. So one of these groups might jump up quite a bit like multi-racial students, but if it's only 4% of the students in the district, you're not going to see that borne out in any kind of district level. >> Miss Rice, I'll share a >> Oh. Um, so is the same I know we're we're talking about attendance and we're talking about students, but is the same can be said for staff and in the correlation of the student achievement. I know we learned a lot about that in research at our SBA that when when teachers are not in
085school, students don't perform at better rates. And so that attendance rate can also correlate with students who possibly when we have such huge vacancies and teachers are not in school. Students may tend to wonder why do we need to be in that class at during that time if there's not attendance. So just wondering all these correlations have some effects in student achievement. >> Most definitely. >> Yep. I'm writing down to follow up. We have been looking at attendance this year. I don't have it in this um presentation, but I have I I am writing to follow up because it was in part of our earlier conversations in operational effectiveness as well. So, we can circle back to that. >> Dr. Um I received a um presentation by the Heritage uh high school um for their
086ramp application on this very uh issue and what their action steps are. So I'm just curious to find out what can what we can do to change these statistics. You know >> asking for the next one. Perfect. [laughter] >> I'll let you take them. Well, good afternoon. I'm glad to spend some time with you all this morning or this afternoon, forgive me. Um, and uh, I will say I'm certainly going to address many of your questions here. I do have my amazing team who is here with me today to make sure that they can address any other questions that you have, but we certainly want to think about what some of those strategic responses might be. And they begin with Miss Rice, to your point, what are some of the systems and infrastructure that we
087can build to make sure we're doing a better job of capturing the data. So the reality is is that we want to refine our record c our recordeping and reporting processes to make sure that data is accurate and um as we transition into into infinite campus we had some things we needed to level set on make sure we're taking attendance at a similar time every day those kinds of things that the data is accurate as we're looking at that we also want to make sure we have standard protocols updating guidance to provide every school with a consistent evidencebased roadmap around that intervention process. Um, we also uh had an opportunity this past year to have attendance works come through and do a diagnostic with us as a district to kind of just look at what
088our infrastructure is around attendance. [clears throat] Um, and we want to make sure that we're moving towards implementing some of those core recommendations and some of those things are inclusive of problem solving around what are the root causes behind the attendance challenge, right? Why is it that the students are not interested in coming or families are not sending them? There's a variety of things. Depends on the student, depends on the school, maybe depends on the circumstance, but really digging into what those root causes are. Um, we there's no doubt we need to empower our school teams. To your point around heritage, that's exactly the kind of work we want to see happening where schools are looking at their data and problem solving. What do I need to do to become preventative? We're going to talk
089a little bit more about preventative action. Um but that's exactly [snorts] the kind of work we want to see happen. Um and we want to train those school teams to make sure that they are being preventative in that way. Uh and we want to equip them with some strategies that will help them become more pre preventative rather than just reacting if students are not there. I'm going to react to it. I want I want to get in front of that. And then ultimately we really want to think about shifting that with our family engagement, right? How do how can we shift our communication style to be more inclusive and supportive with parents? We changed the letters for example that we send out at 3, six and nine. Is that right? 36 9 10 days. >>
090Thank you. 36 and 10 days. Um because we want to be in partnership with families. We want to align. We certainly want to let them know that we're seeing that their students are not attending, but we also want to work together with them. um and that we want to collaboratively work together to uni understand and resolve any of those challenges that might impact their regular attendance. So I do think it is a different approach and how we're going to uh make changes as we go forward. So uh we're going to move from attendance if everybody's good with that into Oh yeah, go ahead. Um, I brought this up at our retreat infinite campus real time notifications to parents possible because if you go into a class and you get marked absent, you're five minutes late
091or whatever, hey, your parent can or a family member can get on your rear end. Where are you? because we don't find out. I do not like that we have our system where you don't find out where you get a call at 5:00 in the afternoon. I never like that about Wake County Public School System. It's >> Is that a Wake County thing or a DCI thing? >> And I know that there's some features in campus that you can give that utilization of how often you want those notifications to go out. And so that's something we need to explore of how often and how timely we want those notifications to go out to parents, but we can set that up to have that to roll out. >> So just to add to that, there is
092an ability within campus to send notification based on the kid attendance, home attendance and all that. We currently use uh school messenger to do that and that's what we have done in the power scope. We are looking at it right now the teacher said to really see what we can do. So the team is investigating that whole functionality. >> Um well two things I just wanted to say like to your point Mr. Hershey. Um I know Power School used to send little notifications if you set it up that way so you can find out like where your kid is and what they're doing. Um but I'm not sure about any accounts because I was checking now for that. Um I wanted to know um as far as the um attendance works and uh you said
093the diagnostic reports, can we get a copy of that to see that? And do we ever um put that information out? Like I think if we want to partner with our parents and we let them see look this is how many absences we're seeing. This isn't just your kid had a tummy ache, didn't come in or they had a doctor's appointment, we just didn't take you back. Like look how much attendance issues are happening in our schools. So when you see and hear all the stuff that's happening in your school, know look at this report. See how many kids are not there. But I think it's also important to put in there with um teacher attendance especially after you know postcoid you hear that a lot um and when you have subs in your class
094often it actually does dis disrupt learning but then it also will help us understand is there something bigger that we need to look at that our teachers are struggling with that they're not in class all the time so I think it's kind of like a twofold answer there and that's it I just wanted to know and also if we like what time frame we see these reports. >> I think I'd be a little leerary of the teacher reports because I don't think that's something we can address as a board if teachers report to the superintendent. So if there's uh something that needs to be discussed, the superintendent has a teacher advisory committee that I could go through. Um but I also think we have to realize teachers are human beings as well. Teachers have mental
095health needs that they need to set to address. They have concerns. They have they have lives outside of the classroom. To be clear, that was too I get to you. But I want to finish because I want to respond to that as one of three teachers sitting at this table. I don't think we need to start trying to please teachers when we are in a moment where we don't have enough teachers in this as as a whole. So I think we have to look at this at a holistic approach. Um if we want our students to be well, we have to do what's best for students, but we also have to do what's best for teachers as well, which is treating teachers as professionals. And so I I would not be open to a report
096that I I I just would not be open to that report. And I'm just one vote. >> I'll give you. >> So I wasn't saying that was a two separate thoughts. If the parents were to able to see the attendance in that school, they understand how important it is in that school. A separate thought if we could understand if our teachers are absent. Is there something internally that we need to do to help our teachers with that? So that's to to I don't want to report back to public. Look, your teacher's been >> absent. No. We have policy that says, you know, if teachers have been if you know, we have a class that is out for a week or so, there's policies for us to be transparent about that. But I I think that's
097something in school improvement plans that we can keep diving through. If there is opportunities for those conversations to take place, I think that would go through area superintendent, look through the the school improvement plan to see if there's a a concern at the school level and what the school community is doing to try to resolve that. So that's just my Dr. T. >> So Mr. here. Um, speaking of the teacher attendance, that is something that I've talked with principles about at principal leadership. And so, uh, they're well aware of what that is. You know, when we had the conversation about student attendance, I also said to them that they need to be able to look, know, and understand what teacher attendance is in their buildings. And that is where, uh, they have those conversations. And
098so um you know it is about making sure we treat them as professionals but also help them to recognize uh the importance of their attendance. Um so we have had those conversations uh with them about teacher attendance in in in conjunction with uh student attendance and I'll just throw in today that um uh Miss Abbins can answer the question about 720. You remember that? And so in our meeting today, they talked about the number of days that kids actually have for instruction from kindergarten through third grade. So that's 720 days. That is all the time that we have to do instruction. And so that's just an additional way to share with parents that, you know, if your kids are not here, you don't have good attendance. There's a finite amount of time that we have.
099>> Um I just wanted to lift up the topic of substitutes. um there's you know teacher absences for illness or personal obligations what there's that I think the larger concern and I know that we do better in Wake County because of our supplements and because of the some of the other things that we offer like reinstating M's pay etc but for a teacher vacancy for a position that we struggle to fill and when you're talking about a long-term sub I just wanted us to be mindful when we are when we throw around the word sub. But those are really two different things. Um because uh I think that's really important because [clears throat] I I know the long-term sub when you when you can't fill a position, that's a whole different animal that is really
100troubling for all of us and has is not related to somebody missing a day, a week for whatever. >> Thank you. score. >> Um, in reference to slide number nine and number 10, um, I I have lots of thoughts on on the attendance rates and why, but I think one of my questions um is like what what goals have been made to improve the conditions that lead to these attendance rates? And then secondly, um I certainly appreciate the approach like the district approach and the school support approach that you all are planning to um to provide support to you know make improvement around attendance. Um, but I just want to lift up that a lot of times when we talk about attendance, we talk about it as this like this one lane thing when we
101really need to be talking about the conditions that um that move it. A lot of times we are seeing the attendance rates because parents don't see they don't feel welcomed in their schools. They don't feel the culture in their school. Um, so they don't they don't deem it important. It's fine if you miss a day or two. Um, the same thing on the student side. When a student loves to come to school, they going to bug you to make sure you get them there. Um, so I think like looking at it in a lens of where are we where are we making sure that we are providing the the conditions that that are really pulling our families and our students in. Um, and then understanding that looking at these numbers, you know, you look at
102our English learners, we just had a whole bunch of ice >> rah, >> which is definitely going to affect this and it's probably going to affect it for a long time. So like understanding those conditions and and the dispositions that families have in different communities around the importance of being at school and the importance of feeling welcome and um you know feeling really appreciated and a part of that school community. >> We good? You are a perfect segue into where we're going next. [laughter] So, um, as we're talking about the next priority, student dispositions and well-being, uh, we certainly want to think about that, our north star is making that making sure that we have 90% of our students that will master those core social emotional competencies. That it's not just about feeling, it's not
103just a feel-good goal, right? That we are really talking about tracking specific skills like self-management and responsible decision making um, as indicators of student success. We want to make sure that we're thinking about prioritizing the predictability and equitable access to your point. Um, and that it's these are critical components of this work in ensuring that students uh their race, their gender, their uh socioeconomic status does not predict their well their outcomes. Right? We want to make sure that everyone has opportunity and we are building a system where every student receives the same high quality behavioral health support which I think is the culture and climate you're speaking to regardless of which school that they attend. And so we want to think about um that through the social the excuse me specific competencies of self-management, self-awareness,
104relationship skills and responsible decision making um as a toolkit really that helps to move that work forward. So, we're going to move today to talk a little bit further about that. I think Leanne, you were picking up here. >> Yes. Um, so, uh, we have have not had a chance to revisit how we measure those SEAL competencies. So, in setting that goal, we haven't had a chance to talk about where those measures come from, uh, which is the bymass universal screener. So I thought in having that chance today to like dig deeply into how is that goal measured would be something that would benefit everyone. So we did invite Dr. Mary White House who is the expert on that on that uh competencies screener to come and share uh how it's measured with all of
105you. >> Sure. Good afternoon everyone. Um, just as a reminder, when we're talking about a universal screener, we are talking about a measure in which we collect data on all or as many students as possible to get a sense number one of how our instructional practices impacting student outcomes, but then also to identify students who might need some level of additional support [clears throat] either because they haven't acquired the skills yet or maybe they need some enrichment to extend those skills. So, we're using this as a tool to collect data on all of our students around these social emotional competencies. Um, and why? Well, it is the starting place for intervention. If when you have a fever, that's an indicator that something's going on. What is that about? Right? And so, a screener helps us
106figure start to figure out those things. they can pinpoint places where there might be an issue that we need to dig into and address. So if we identify individual students who might need some additional intervention that gets us there sooner hopefully than waiting until we have these more reactive sources of behavior data such as major minor behavior referral suspension data all of those kinds of sources of data that shows us that the problem has already occurred. And sometimes oftentimes when we back up from that one incident, we might see a pattern that has led to that point where we could have intervened earlier if we'd known that there was an issue. So screener helps us get to that place of figuring out sooner hopefully so that we can intervene before a problem becomes a bigger
107concern. We also know that for students um who have participated in this process because they are getting the right amount of support at the time that they need it, they tend to have higher academic performance and demonstrate those SEAL skills. Their attitudes tend to be better and they tend to have more positive social behaviors. They also tend to have fewer conduct problems. They tend to be involved in less substance use and they tend to have lower rates of emotional distress. Obviously, what we do for everybody is not going to work for everybody, but to the extent that we can make sure that what we are doing is working for most students and then providing the support that is needed beyond that, that is the goal for this work. Um, so yeah, we're using this as
108a preventative to try to support our students in a more proactive way. Um, this gets to some of the conversation that we just had around attendance as well. We know that optimal brain development requires these things. Some of which we have little to no control or influence over. But when we start talking about emotional well-being, social relationships, safety and belonging, cultural well-being, how are we creating the conditions to where our schools are fostering those spaces so that those things are more likely to occur? And that is a place where we do have more control and influence. Um this slide and the next are just some data that have come from the youth risk behavior survey. A couple years old at this point, but um there are a number of high school students across the country
109who have reported feeling some internal stress around a lot of things often related to sadness, worry, um feeling like they don't belong. And then this data and I know that you all have access to these slides so you can see it a little more closely about the sense of belongingness as it relates to school and what is the school experience like for these high schoolers who have responded to these surveys. And so there are a lot of students who are not feeling supported by their school environments. Um which again could be a reason for the attendance piece. Um, but it could also really impact how they are doing just overall in life because they spend so much of their time in school if they are coming to school. Um, so yeah, what questions can I
110answer that doesn't talk specifically about the measure itself, but what questions can I answer either about the measure or how we do this? >> Uh, we'll start with transport and then Dr. Uh very quickly for me um as I have heard from multiple students um not only just in my district but throughout the county um students as a whole based off cuz I'm glad you showed the slide um and and I saw in earlier slides 14 where we talked about higher academic performance and things of that nature. I I don't want us to lose sight. I really wanted to know what are we doing to help students um more around the 4 and 10 feeling experience persistence um sadness and hopelessness. These same students can still perform very well but are experiencing these emotions. What
111are we doing as a district to provide skills and tools for them to use in a daily cultural space to feel better because even in an interview I just did that a student asked of me yesterday, they don't get [clears throat] what they feel like they need in skills of training. They indicated they get a training or a video that you we share once a year and that's fantastic. But students are asking for skills to help them cope with these thoughts and feelings that they have but they yet still are high performers. So what are we doing around that? >> So I will attempt I will begin this conversation and certainly can turn it over to some folks on my team that can certainly add too. We do have a district-wide um curriculum that is
112called second step that is available K through 12 at this point in time. Um and in that curriculum we do address these competencies, right? Self-awareness, self-management, social emotional or social awareness, relationship skills, those kinds of things. It helps with how do I goal set, right? How do I collaborate effectively? It's really those soft skills that you've talked about and and articulated so that they can become stronger at those kinds of skills as they're continuing to grow in their in their academic career as well. That is available. Um teachers uh are teaching that curricula in a in a large majority of our schools and we are expanding that and and monitoring the implementation of that at this point in time. There is training for staff with regards to that as well. Um, but that is a
113strategy that we have. We are also working hard and we'll talk about this at a at an upcoming student achievement committee meeting to talk about how are we making sure that the school environment from the classroom beginning in the classroom environment as well as the schoolwide environment is explicitly taught. What are those expectations? What how is a student to be to monitor themselves and engage in the environment in that way? And then also um making sure that that is in partnership with the second step curriculum as we as we kind of move forward. >> Chair, I'm sorry. Follow up. I I I heard you. I I'm thankful of hearing about the second step and what you talked about the soft skills, but I'm I'm more looking for the emotional piece, the goal setting and all
114that stuff is fantastic. You have a lot of students that are that can do that. They can do that part. I'm asking more about the emotional part with students. How what tools or programming are we providing for them to handle the emotional regulation? Not this is how you communicate. This is how you do that. It's about I communicate well. I do all of those things well. I'm an honor student. I'm this. I'm that. But I'm struggling mentally. I'm struggling on the inside as I keep those things together. what tools are we giving students for the emotional part? >> So, I think that is responded to in a tiered response. If we have students who are struggling, who are kind of beyond that core level, then if you need additional support, whether it be through a
115school counselor, through mental health services, I think that's exactly where we engage with our student support services staff to assess where that student is, determine where their challenge might lie, and then what kind of resources might that school provide. It could be a small group. A counselor might have four or five students who have similar challenges around grief as an example and they might do a small group related to grief. That might be something that they could they could address there in the school setting if that's an individualized challenge that a student has with mental health supports. They can definitely make either make a referral or connect them to possibly teleaotherapy. There's a variety of things that we're doing right now in school uh school-based mental health opportunities. uh to be able to give them
116one-on-one support that will also support them there. >> I promise. Final final follow-up promise. I promise. How do students recognize that they need to ask for the emotional help? I hear you. But what I'm trying to share or try to get a better perspective and you may have to share with me later how do what tools are students offered to be able to recognize when they are overwhelmed and how what is the culture we've set for them to know how to go ask for the support. I heard you tell me we have it but what have we taught or how have we taught our students to recognize when they need to go ask or looking for a self assessment of some sort. Is that correct? So that so a student can self assess that they
117need that. >> Yeah. How do they Yeah. What what tools have we provided them for to recognize when they need to go ask for help? >> I I don't know. Certainly something we can do in investigate further. >> Yes. Absolutely. I was going to add to the conversation in addition to the self assessments and going back to your point in regards to making sure that we are also equipping our staff members and teachers with skill sets to also help recognize when we may have students in distress. um so that we are forging that relationship, a positive student teacher relationship so that students know that there may be multiple um adults in the building that they can turn to when it feels distress. And so we have several uh professional learning opportunities um from our past
118department where teachers can engage in signs to look for, not necessarily diagnosis students, but signs to look for um if students seem to be in some form of distress as well as who they can reach out to. They teachers who they may reach out to from our past department for additional support. So if I may talk about that I will talk about that but I would like to also add um you know as R say how do we teach the emotional stuff what I want the board and everyone understand this social emotional learning skills are the root of helping the kids having better mental scalable but fertile soil is having strong competencies. If I'm more self-aware, if I can manage my behavior, if I can regulate my behavior, I can do all those things and
119they are strong, I have better mental health, right? And that's what we think of them with the supports that we have for students as you know um has been pointed out. The other thing, yes, we do provide um it's required for our past staff, but it's also open to all um you know, staff in Wake County because we recognize that if those people who work closely with our youth are able to understand and recognize the signs and symptoms of a student who distress, they're not mental, but recognizing the signs symptoms of a student in distress and could provide that first aid right in terms of uh calming that student. So what we try to do is really to create a web and then public speaks it's not just programming right but it's also what are
120all the support that we build on our students that make sure that everybody has the skills, the knowledge and awareness and how to get to the support and services that we need as we >> and I like to add to um board member Bryce, we talked in previous meetings about the new federal health advisor group and now it's in its second year. Uh this is a very small tool but it's still important. Last year that group developed the posters that we put up with all the schools recognizing the importance of talking to someone if you have any kind of struggle. So they're appropriate for K through 12 and we have those now available. If they're not in a school, if you go to to a school and you don't see them, let the principal know
121to reach out to me and we can get copies for them so they can put back up. But the students brought that idea to us about these this is something that we can post throughout the school reminding students that if you need something, it has on there some quick facts about mental health that's age appropriate. And then it also has who you can go to in the school as well as the 98 number and alliance health information numbers for students in middle and high schools. But um we're starting to help kind of spread the word to students destigmatized mental health and making it a normal conversation to have. And so that's something we just started last school year. That's >> my question is around the the social emotional screener. Is that the same as the
122BI violence? >> It is the violence is the tool that we are using. >> Okay. Can you tell me what binds stand for? >> I don't even know if I can today. Um, >> I can't. >> It's gone. >> It is it is not is not an acronym in the sense because the tool is the BIOS 2. So they've already gone away from what the acronym was such that its name is BIOS if that makes sense. >> The behavior intervention monitoring assessment system. >> Okay. followup. Sure, please. >> Is that probably about two maybe two years ago, I attended as a parent, I attended a forum that you hosted? Um, and we talked about is this the tool that we that that was presented as a part of the um equity framework. Basically, how long
123have we been using this tool? I'm sorry. >> Yeah, we piloted it in 2019. We had a second grouping of schools ready to go and screen and then March of 2020 happened. So, we pushed pause um and then we came back and have been onboarding groups of schools since the fall of 2021. >> Okay. Um, so we are up to 164 schools are using this right now with the last big group coming on board in the spring. >> We'll have everybody on board by the teachers. >> That's what I'm getting at. >> Um, so and this is the this is the tool that the teachers use and if I if I remember correctly, it's a subjective. It's very subjective. >> It is. It is. It is and it's not. So it is um how often
124did you observe these behaviors in this student over the course of the past week? And so there's 34 questions teachers go in and then there is a key for how often is rarely, how often is sometimes, how often is often. Um and so for teachers to think about how often did I see this or not over the course of the past week for this student. So it is a snapshot. It is teacher observation. Um it does have a lot of really great statistics around reliability and validity. Um and it has just been reormed and they're working on the third edition. Um but yes, currently we are only using the teacher form. There is a parent form and a student form. >> Yeah, we're trying not to I'm trying not to ask too many questions. >>
125We're going to get there. >> Can is there any way that we can have a copy of the screener? >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. chose >> and then I have this >> um my questions about how you chose this particular tool but that's that's not but but also what happens if a student is screened and like needs significant intervention and the school system is not able to provide it and the parents are not able to either like I like what do we have to offer like you know because unfortunately mental health is not treated the same as physical health by insurance and and all that. So >> this is often where we tap into alliance and our other community providers. This is where we can tap into schoolbased mental health um and the partnerships
126that established there. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um, Miss [clears throat] Woodson, you said that the Second Step curriculum, um, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it's but it's not everywhere. It's not in every school or necessarily in every classroom. Can you tell me why why that is or how does it work? >> I think there's a level of implementation that we're in the middle of right now, but it is available for everyone and we are in the midst of trying to roll it out so that to make sure that every classroom has it available. It has been it has been shared and trained to all schools. Um [clears throat] and at the high school level in particular, we just started that that was actually not even available at the high
127school level. They wrote it for us. Um so that we we did it with ninth graders last year. Is that that's correct? And so we're just in the midst of moving that up per grade level as time as we're moving forward. Um but just as we're moving through that implementation, we're just trying to make sure that every school has access and every classroom has access. Great. Thank you, >> Dr. D. >> Um, thank you. Um, I was just thinking, you know, you you already answered some of it, but I think, you know, we're talking about leveraging community resources or community partners and this is a classic example of where we need to leverage partnerships with a community where I mean even as just even if within your own community like you know your church community
128or your you know network of family members that can you know certain certain um mental person in in their life. Maybe there's some somebody that can help uh get talk them through a difficult time. Uh and it it may be that you know some um going you know to the point of needing you know help from alliance and for some more formalized type help. Um I'm really curious, you know, this CDC information uh talking about um you know um 3/4ers of students using social media um uh from this is the data from 2013 to 2023. I'm I'm really curious just to see kind of what the momentum will be like in the coming 5 years, 10 years with us not, you know, parents being more aware of, you know, the impacts of social media and
129using cell phones early on and and how that may impact some of our data uh down, you know, in a few years. >> Yes. Um I was just curious how um when we get to the step of our partners, can you tell us what parents receive as far as resources? Because I know we've talked about this in the past. I'm just trying to understand how it's evolved over the last couple of years. What do parents receive? What does it look like for them when they call one of these numbers or we try and partner with Alliance? I know we've tried to partner with Wake Med. um you know what do they get from us when they call up for help? >> Yeah. So we our partnership with Alliance has been so good because they have
130people embedded in some of the facilities so that if they go there for example I [clears throat] think we might have shared this at one of our last presentations. Um if they go to one of the facilities they have people trained to be able to connect with them so that it's more of a warm handoff than just here call this number. um they have someone there once they sign the form a parent gets permission to talk to us. They then report back to us what the status is and if they get discharged whether they're admitted or not if they're discharged that day from the emergency room or a psychiatric facility that they um communicate that back to the school so we can help with a continuity of care when they return the next day, the
131next week, the next month. So those are for more of the intense cases, but um we have worked Alliance has helped us to kind of go out through the community and make sure that they're aware of what the services are and what the families need so that they're very um it's a much more of a connection than than just call the number. Um we do also have u a list going out this [clears throat] week to the families because we know that we're not going to be around for a couple of weeks. So, we're going to send a reminder to the families about all the resources and how they can get help. Um, so we do that before holiday breaks. >> So, we connect them to them and but it's basically like a I don't
132want to say handholding, but we make sure that process is completed. >> We we do um when we and this county has worked really hard to do that. It doesn't happen in a lot of places. And so and and there's a whole team of people with Alliance that we um connect with again that are embedded in the facilities and then also work at Alliance and then go to the school. So with with the schoolbased teams for example if there's someone who needs support and we know that there's going to be barriers for that family. We connect them with a real person who helps them go to the the appointment, get the appointment and not just that they've made it but that they follow through that they've you know been going to treatments until the treatment's
133complete. Those are called care coordinators. So we are very um unique in that we have something that's that progressive. >> So where are the care coordinators? Are they at each individual school? >> They're across the county. We don't have one for every school. Uh they get assigned. So every day we get a referral. We process that and then we assign a care coordinator to a region and then those uh care coordinators have a case load. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. And so here we'll see where we are on those screeners. Um, as they were sharing previously, 67,000 students were screened last year. This is where you see that those competencies were seen. It is uh notable that we are increasing the number of students screened every year and also seeing increases in those competencies
134as well. And you see that's each competency that is measured across the bottom. This would be from the teacher screener as Miss Gordon was saying. And then this is where you see it for each student group in comparison to the goal of 90%. Again, looking at the 67,000 students who were screened last year. This upcoming spring will be the first time that we have all of our students having been screened by our teachers. We do see gaps that follow similar pattern in predictability as our other data points, but not nearly as wide in these competencies either. [clears throat] >> I want to point out we won't have 100% of our kids um going through the screen unless parents do opt out. >> Correct. I was going to talk about that. Glad you shared that. Yes,
135all students will have been eligible to be screened. Good point. All right, next steps. >> Yeah, so this is um getting a little bit to what Dr. Pediper just shared. We certainly want to make sure that this is a vital diagnostic that we can use as Mary talked about to kind of sift right to make sure we can identify where that risk actually is. We are looking to full implementation for the teacher portion at the end of this school year. Um we are also planning a pilot to ask parents to join uh so that we'll have a small group of parents that that will have not only the teacher portion but also the parent portion. Want to start small but certainly want to grow that and that will begin uh planning to have that begin
136this spring. And then of course what we're we're ultimately looking forward to is the opportunity to hear from our students in this space. Um and then having those three data points triangulated together will give us a much more robust picture of where we really are in this space and where how kids feel as well as families feel so that we can um certainly tailor our supports and focus to the students based on that data. um as we move forward. And I guess before I just want to make sure before we move on, are we good around the the universal screener? Everybody. All right. I think this last portion um Lisa Alred is here with me as the assistant superintendent for special education. And actually, this is a preview of what we think will be coming
137in the uh student achievement meeting that is forthcoming in probably January. But we are partnering together to really start talking a lot about um where we are regarding student well-being around restorative practices. Really thinking about this as a shift um and how we are with one another rather than thinking about a disciplinary action that needs to happen on behalf of students. But we want to move from being punitive, right, to being restorative. We want to start talking about how we're going to intentionally move away from that traditional model um and really think about building relationships, collective problem solving and how do we move towards repairing harm. um our restorative culture, a restorative culture needs to be built um on trauma informed uh and fully accessible ensuring that students with disabilities and all students are supported
138including in and included in that resolution process. Um this is inclusive of communities building circles, restorative dialogue and formal conferencing where it really gets at mediation to help repair harm that has happened. Um ultimately this restorative uh work happens both in the big moments right but also in the small moments just a general interaction with a student um creating a consistent environment of safety and we want to talk about how we're going to move towards um a comprehensive level of this being in place at the core which is in every classroom every day but also for kids who need that much more intensive support that might be experiencing more challenges with behavior here and how do we um mediate our way through that so that we can help support uh building building those relationships and
139helping with that decision- making at the end of the day. And we will do that initially by building our central services staff. We need to make sure our our internal staff is trained and that we are building a a cadre of individuals that will be able to be trainers and coaches in this work. um we will talk about how we can have standardized protocols just make sure that that's inclusive of the materials that are necessary and in an implementation plan. So you'll hear a little bit more about that in January um as we're really really excited about the work that that it that sits here with us. And again, ultimately the goal is that we are decreasing any level of exclusionary practices, and that's inclusive of suspensions and expulsions, but it even is really exclusion
140within the school day, in the school building, right? We want to we want kids to stay in classrooms. Um, and we want them to be able to feel successful in those classrooms. And we need to make sure that we're thinking about that um for all students, but certainly our students of color and students with disabilities. Um, and we're looking at improving that overall school climate that gets to kids feel better in the space that they're in. Staff feels better in the space that they're in. Um, and there's a sense of belonging for everybody. That's that's the whole goal. So, coming soon, [laughter] um, we'll be talking about school climate and coaching with support structures. um a deep dive into the discipline data for the 25 24 25 year and then some details on this restorative
141practices um in January. >> Thank you all for this update. I know that uh this was a great discussion and it was a pre conversation to my board advisory committee meeting because I know we didn't get to this part. So hopefully Dr. Alfred Keith those others are paying attention so we don't have to find ways. >> We invited them to watch. >> Yes. Um, so I have a couple of questions about the last piece, but I want to at least open up the the discussion to my colleagues before I raise mine. So, we'll start with our student achievement chair since the slide is up there. >> Um, this has been great. This has been great. Um, I will say when I worked in the district a couple years ago, this was specifically restorative practices was
142brought forth. Um, and it was an ongoing thing. But in all honesty, it quickly became just a buzzword. And I see that it is I'm I'm thankful and I'm so very grateful that it is it is um something that is being focused on now. But I guess my question is what what what did we learn in the in between time that is making us say okay we we need to get back to this and make this a core priority. I think we've learned a lot and in the meantime also we had a pandemic where we had a period of time where we have had a lot of staff turnover with so we've had we have a staff that has not necessarily had the professional learning and general classroom management how do you interact in a
143school I mean some of those basic things happen I have my own child she's not in wake but she became a teacher um in the middle of the pandemic and she and I have been on the phone more than a few times to talk about how do you set climate in your classroom? Right? And she had not and when she came into her to the district she was working in, she didn't have a functioning PLC that she could sit at the table with them or go into the classroom next door and watch that teacher do that work. So, it's been a unique dynamic. Number one, we have some some professional learning that certainly needs to happen for our staff. We also know we had kids in a in a very different space and they have
144different needs now as well. Um so I think that there's an elevation I think we've talked about that all along this this afternoon that there's there's a higher need um to make sure that we are intentional about this work. But I also think to your point that it's not one thing. It's not just a circle. It is it is an entire way of thinking and that that's a part of the work that I mean to be transparent that's going to be a part of the work we're in here for. When we talk about having to change mindset that's deep work and it's going to take time. Um, and it is about making sure that I'm responsible for my own actions, but I'm also if I do something that impacts someone else, there will be an
145there'll be there will be a consequence in session, right? What does that look like and how do we move from there? >> I appreciate the works. Great. >> I think I was also here when um John Powell was leading those restorative and he was just recognized with the WAT partnership for the work that he's done. So it is great to see that work taking place and know it helped me to really think through. So I was teaching you know what is the culture that I want to set and is it teaching to you know to show that I have power. Is it a way of saying this is our communal space and that's I think when you look at it from that approach you're able to really have those meaningful conversations and relationship building because
146again it's an environment that's conducive for learning um with teach students at the center of that. Um I had a question regarding the special education piece. I know that it's always exciting to hear about the work that's taking place and the changes and also shifting the culture um of special education knowing that it's not just the sole responsibility of special education teachers. It's everyone in that building is a part of that IEP team and is a part of making sure that teaching and learning takes place for our most vulnerable students. So in this whole creation where are we with um considering family voices? those families that are having uh concerns. I know there was a uh one point uh committee that was going to be structured for families to have an opportunity to really be
147a part of the conversation. So are we still in the process with that or is >> Yeah. So as we're as we we are literally planning right now so that Lisa and I will again we'll share with you soon about how we launch this both at both at the core level as well as for some students that are more intensive and what does that look like but to your point we need family voice at all levels of what that actually looks like. So there's there's no doubt that that will be a part of the process as we're planning and and beginning the implementation of this. Um, I I also want to say that and I'm going to go to um we do have a pilot actually going on and I feel like I'm sharing a
148little more of what we'll share later, but we do have a pilot going on currently um out of our alternative ed shop that is happening between alternative programming where a student might be assigned for disciplinary reassignment. Um so this happens with middle and high school students. We have four middle schools and four high schools that are partnering with us. We'll share lots of details around this. This is kind of the stuff that gets me up in the morning. It is it is amazing some of the work that we have seen that has happened here. Um and through that partnership um a lot of what happens is is we are creating a success plan for a student and in that success plan is ex is explicit discussion and communication with the family. What is it that
149student needs? What do you know about what's happening with your student that I don't know? This is what we're seeing. What do you think about what that looks like? So, really engaging the family, that's much more of a one-on-one discussion rather than just a collaborative. We need both, right? >> Correct. And I I do know, and I've said this quite some time, so I might sound like a broken record, which is which is fine. But as we're talking about our alternative learning programs, I hope that we're mindful in the future of not necessarily referring to those schools as that name because that sets a negative connotation and it also takes away from the great work that those schools are doing. So I hope that we can as we're talking about this work that we center
150some different language. So therefore it is very inclusive and it's not just centering students or it's that perception that it's not just for students who have various behavior concerns but it's for all students. It's a it's a different uh environment. So I I I'm a little biased because at least two of those are in my district I represent and I know the great work that Principal Hine is doing at at SCORE and uh Dr. Perkins at at uh connection. So the work that they're doing gets a model that is not just a success there but should be a teaching model for all principles all schools to see how do you really center the relationship building which then changes behaviors and you also buy you have the parent buy in. So it's very exciting work. >>
151Mr. Chair, can we as a board give a directive that we have alternative language in place in the next 30 days because we keep having this conversation and I feel like I mean you've raised it enough times in 3 years and it's time for a change and I feel like if we do not put a date on a change, we're going to keep having this language unless you know something about it. >> So I'm going to direct that to the only employee that we are responsible for. [laughter] >> So So Mr. I I appreciate that. Uh let me get with staff to determine uh what would be necessary in order to make that change because I know that we've got uh documentation materials blah blah blah or that may appear. Uh and so um uh
152I've heard what the board said, but let me make sure that whatever is necessary logistically, we can do that and do that as expeditiously as possible. But uh I do like the idea of of changing vernacular. Uh that's something that's very important and um and we can definitely u make sure we do all the things to do it as quickly as possible and know what the logistics are. >> Thank you Dr. Dor. Thank you chair. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Um Mr. Chair, I got make one comment. Um, I I just want to say um to the board um when it when it comes to behavioral health, you you know how very important this is to our staff um and what it means to our students and and I want you guys to
153know uh how much I appreciate you all continuing to bring attention to this uh because people in the community listen to these work sessions. our staff listens to these work sessions and so when they know and understand that this is something important to the board uh then it helps support what it is that when we we what we do when we go out and talk about these changes uh as a classroom teacher I know how very important it is that these things take place um and unfortunately I know how very sad it is um when as a teacher you miss things that you wish you would have known and you lose students as a result. Uh and so I just want to express to the board that your continued uh advocacy for this work [snorts]
154everybody in this district will see that and uh and we need you all to continue that because that helps us um push down these [clears throat] and these expectations if you will. >> Great. Thank you all for the dialogue and we had a very lengthy work session and was able to clear about 12 minutes. So >> we can get some HR in 12. I have my at this point I will entertain a motion to consider uh confidential information protect under GS14 3-318.11 A6 uh and 115C-319. >> All right. It's been moved by Vice Chair Hershey, seconded by Miss Edmonds. All in favor of move to close session. Let it be known by the sign of I. >> Oppose. Eyes have it. We're in close session.