001Actually, I just thought This is Huh? >> We usually run All right, we're going to get started in just about two minutes. Love is here. Yeah, just give me a text so I know that weird. >> Okay. >> All right. We are just logging in one of our members who is remote and once that connection is made we will begin. There is no My laptop. Okay, great. All right, everyone. Good evening. Today is Tuesday, November 18th, 2025, 5:51 p.m., and we are calling this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order. I want to welcome those of you that are watching at home and those of you that are here in per here in person tonight. Wake County Board of Education meetings are conducted for the purpose of carrying out the official
002business of our school system. The public is cordially invited to attend board meetings to observe the board as it conducts its official business. Persons who willfully interrupt, disrupt, or cause disturbances at an official meeting may be directed to leave by the presiding officer. Members of the audience should show respect for the speakers by refraining from loud comments or any other disruption. Disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 143 318.17. All right. So at this point um though we have a few members who are out we do have a quorum and we are in the process of having one member join us remotely. Sam Hershey will be participating by WebEx, but we do have the minimum number required to get started.
003So, those of you that are able, please stand and join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation, indivisible, liberty andice for all. All right. Thank you everyone. So the first item on our agenda is the adoption of our agenda. Uh board members have seen the proposed agenda and I'll entertain any motion at this time. >> Uh chair, I move that we adopt the uh tonight's agenda. >> We have a motion from Vice Chair Swanson to adopt tonight's meeting agenda. Is there a second? >> Second. >> We have a second from Dr. Ring. So because we have a member remote, we will have to conduct all votes uh by roll call. So uh we
004will start over uh at this end of the table. Uh all in favor of adopting tonight's agenda. Members will please say I after they have been called or I or nay after you've been called upon, please register your vote when your name is called. So we'll start with Miss Gordon. >> I >> um is Mr. Hershey available yet? >> I we have Dr. Ing. >> Hi, >> Miss Edmonds. >> I. >> The chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson >> I. >> And Miss Rice. >> I. >> All right. The the agenda for tonight's meeting has been adopted. So, we will proceed to the first item on the agenda, which is our public comment portion. I know many of you are familiar with this but for those who are not or those who are speaking joining
005with us speaking or joining us for the first time um we prioritize our public comments first for any students but there are no students joining us tonight or I'm sorry no students joining us to speak tonight we do have students in the audience. Um we would then hear from those speaking for items on the agenda and then items that people are bringing to us that are not on the current agenda. Um when it is when you are called upon you will be called in order of sign up after those uh levels of priority. Um only the person speaking at the podium should stand. Everyone else should remain seated while another speaker is speaking. concerns related to personnel policies or student matters may be addressed through our personnel policies um and other applicable school practices. If
006you have such a concern tonight, please after you speak, stick around so that someone on our staff can speak with you personally to help address the situation before you leave. The board welcomes all points of view, including criticism directed at substantive ideas, actions, or procedures. However, the board's public comment policy also requires us to maintain decorum. So, in order to do that, please address your comments to the board of education. Please refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board, staff, and especially members of the public. Whether you agree or disagree with another speaker, please know and respect that it is difficult to get up before a body like this. It takes a lot of courage and we should respect everyone's ideas who comes to the podium. Um, also remember that we often do
007have students present or those watching and so please keep your comments appropriate and substantive and civil. Please remain at the podium during your speaking time. Any materials you wish to share should be brought to our attorney, Mr. Rod Malone, either before you start speaking or after you have finished. That way the time it takes to give those materials to him will not be taken out of any of your Speaking time is 3 minutes. So once you begin speaking, the light on the podium will illuminate. Uh the first light you see will be green to indicate that your time has started. When you have 30 seconds left, the green light will disappear and a yellow light will appear. You'll hear an audible tone. Don't let that rattle you. That's just an alert that you've got 30
008seconds left. When your speaking time is up, you'll see a red light and you'll hear a second tone. At that point, I'm going to thank you and I'm going to call the next speaker up to the podium. So, please respect the uh time limits and speak no more than three minutes. So, our first speaker tonight is Mr. Joseph Deon. He'll be followed by Irene Gordon. Good evening, Mr. Deon. A legal settlement was on the consent agenda in June 2023 for a profoundly disturbing sexual abuse case. I don't know whether any any of you on the board at that time read the case file or simply approved the lawyer's settlement. I found the file in the state and county court system. I will not uh describe the abuse. Suffice it to say, it was gross and
009disgusting and terribly cruel. But we must look at the action and inaction of school administrators and teachers and then ask whether current policies and training are adequate to prevent sexual abuse from happening again. The case started in Durham where a teacher, according to the file, encouraged middle school girls to think of him as cool and their friend. He allegedly touched girls, multiple girls inappropriately and made sexual comments to them. He frequently held girls after class. There is no mention of other teachers ever reporting any of this obvious grooming behavior. It's hard to believe that other teachers, especially those in classrooms next door, never saw any of this, especially keeping girls after class. This shows why your policy and training must list all the common grooming behaviors so people have a clear idea what they have
010to report. You have to drill it into people's heads that they don't need proof of abuse, just reasonable suspicion that inappropriate behavior could lead to abuse. Finally, this teacher grabbed one girl and she ran out of the room screaming. Apparently, no other teachers came to find out what happened. Are we to believe that no one heard anything? The girl told the vice principal, who did nothing, didn't even tell the principal. What part of the mandatory reporting law was she not trained or did not understand? When nothing happened, the girl's mother called the principal. He broke the law by not calling the sheriff and instead conducting his own investigation. Next time I will review his and HR's response and how this problem migrated here to our district resulting in in this uh lawsuit. Uh thank you.
011>> Thank you. Our next speaker is Irene Godz who's followed by Liz Tatum. Good evening. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Irene Godinz and I am the mother of a nine-year-old child in our school system and a concerned citizen. North Carolina calls itself a place where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great. If we take that seriously, then we must confront how heightened ICE and custom borders patrol presence in Wake and surrounding counties is harming our children right now. Research is clear. Toxic stress in childhood, what we call adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, shapes health for a lifetime. And one ACE we too often ignore is the fear of deportation. One in four children in the US live in mixed status families. Even US citizen children carry the constant fear that a
012parent may be taken from them. We saw the tragic consequence of this stress earlier this year when 13-year-old Gabby Aparici Ortega of Durham died by suicide after being bullied about her family's immigration status. Today, this fear is showing up in our attendance records. Families are keeping children home today and likely the rest of this week because they're afraid. And these are safety decisions, not truency. While I appreciate the mass tax message about supporting families and staff amid federal immigration orders today and all of the information that is being shared online, our families need more proactive action by our superintendent and each of you and community members that are listening in. Realistically, families experiencing terror cannot be burdened with proactively advocating for their child to be excused from class via talking points. not when they are
013protecting themselves from being hunted. Compassion alone isn't enough. We need district-wide preparedness. Every adult in every Wake County Public School System building must be trained. This includes teachers, custodians, bus drivers, office staff, everyone. Staff need clear guidance on what to do if ICE or CBP appears, how to recognize a valid judicial warrant, how to protect student data under FURPA, and how to deescalate high stress encounters. Confusion creates risk. Clarity creates safety. So my call to action is three-fold. One, to adopt a non-punitive attendance policy that is proactive during this immigration enforcement surge. to provide temporary flexible learning options so students are not forced to choose between between safety and education and to implement a mandatory district-wide training to ensure that every adult in the school knows how to protect students privacy and their rights and
014well-being. If North Carolina is truly a state where children grow strong, then we must protect them from preventable trauma, especially when the trauma is created by broken policies and practices that are within our control. Our future depends on it and I thank y'all very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Liz Tatum who will be followed by Emily Ga. >> Good evening. My name is Liz Tatum and I'm a Wake County resident. Um my daughter is attending a language immersion magnet program and she's bilingual at age seven. Her teachers have changed the way she moves through the world. They've given her more than just a second language. They've fed her mind with the richness of their cultures, the traditions they carry, the food, the music, and their stories. Recently, I was journaling
015about my daughter's education and just wanted to verify the countries some of her par her past teachers are from. I sent what was meant to be a simple, harmless email asking to confirm their country of origin. Instead of the usual warm, cheerful responses, my email was met with fear and hesitation. These women questioned if the email was actually from me and worried that they were being set up. This opened my eyes and revealed their emotional heaviness in our current climate. The teachers who pour love and stability into my child daily are living with fear and instability. They're here legally, yet they still worry about immigration rules shifting with the possibility of deportation. And when teachers feel unsafe, our children feel it, too. It impacts every classroom they touch. So today, I ask for three things.
016Please speak up publicly for our immigrant educators. Please protect programs like language immersion. And as a mental health professional myself, I urge you to please offer mental health support to our educators who are fearing for their own safety. Our community is better because they are here. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Emily Ga who will be followed by Maddie Seagull. Hello. Thank you. Um, this is my second time back. Um, last time I had a little piece of paper that said, "The children must all be ours." Um, I want to continue on that quote and follow up with the past two speakers as well. The quote that most of us have heard but some of us has not but it is applied to all is the children are always ours every single one of
017them all over the globe. And I'm beginning to sub sus sorry sorry the children are always ours every single one of them. All over the globe. And I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality. James Baldwin said that today our community in Wake County and abroad um had fear and sadness upon us. ICE and customs border control were all over and fears in schools, fears in workplaces, fears in lives that all of us recognize as a human. As our two presenters before me said, there are different ways and different actions that you can take. Our school, you all, each one of you um need to learn how to be a fourth amendment workplace. Our schools need to be fourth amendment. So, we have practices, there are
018organizations, there is information out there that I can provide later, too. But we need to do this. Even if ICE and Border Patrol never come back, we need to do this now. Some families have need to do remote and flexible learning for safety. Flexibility is an act of care during moments of crisis. No child should be labeled in fear for who they are. Protecting students ensures equality across the district. Safety decisions must not become disciplinary records. Fearbased absences reflect trauma, not neglect. How the speaker, two people before me, said there has been a suicide even here because of the fear and the sadness that that young child felt. And we don't need to have that. We have the power. You have the power. Please use all of your power. $7 billion have been allocated to
019the agency of ICE as part of the big beautiful bill acting $3 billion to ISIS's base budget through 2029 and 45 for detention centers which are privately owned. We have the information and we have the time to do and be. Thank you for existing and again all of the children must be ours and just be human. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Maddie Seagull who's followed by Richard Bridges. >> Hello. Um thank you Robert Dr. Taylor and the school board members for allowing me to speak tonight. I had the privilege of attending the district 7 BAC meeting last week where I got to hear Lisa Luton talk about the history of Wake County schools and how we're soon going to be celebrating 50 years of integration in our school system. 50 years of diverse
020perspectives coming together. Lisa shared a story about when she was a child and she came here not knowing any English and about and how scary that was. and she's been on my mind today as we've heard about the presence of ICE in our community. I came here tonight to thank you all for the timely communication that came out today in support of immigrant families in our communities. This is the second time you all have done that where I signed up to speak about something and then you addressed it right before I came which I really appreciate. It was very well done and I very much appreciated especially at the end the reference to flexibility in the school absence policy which was referenced by a prior speaker and the county's willingness to work with families who
021are afraid to send their children to school. Your quick and compassionate approach that I know must mean the world to many parents who are rightly afraid of bringing of being illegally separated from their families is exactly the kind of leadership that I admire and that I know our families in the county are looking for. So, thank you. And I just want to hope I want to encourage you to keep up the good work and continue to support our school counselors who I know are taking on the brunt of this challenge head on. And also Lisa is amazing and I think she was responsible for that communication today and she deserves a raise. So thank you all. >> Thank you. Um our next speaker is Richard Bridges who will be followed by Amanda uh Paloneyi or
022Paloneyi. >> Good evening. Good evening. Um I'd like to lend my my voice to support the speakers before me. um they're here for a noble cause and please listen to what they have to say. And Mr. Chair, I support your thank you for speaking up on my behalf the last the last time I was here. But I do want to say that until you're willing to defend the district from the enemies within, you will constantly have a culture of fear and that needs to be addressed. Now, at some point, every one of you has talked about how you want this district to be the golden standard that other schools emulate. And every one of you has emphasized how student safety is your top priority. And I don't think for a minute that you would hire
023anybody who says that they would lie to the public, lie to parents, and lie to the police about child abuse. Yet, the district is currently employing multiple superintendent and principles who have either actively covered up child abuse or been complicit in the cover up of child abuse. Even more incriminating is that the district seems to actively ignore complaints and only takes actions against leaders when news organizations run stories exposing it to the public. This has occurred multiple times in the last six or seven years. Parents are afraid to speak up out of fear of retaliation against their children, and when we do, we're ignored or dismissed. Teachers are afraid to speak up because they know leadership is beyond reprieve. And if they're willing to call me, the guy who showed up evidence in hand, a
024liar, imagine what they're saying about other families who don't have my resources. Now, in one of the documents I provided, the lawyer, you'll see a police report where, with the exception of his name provided, every single word the vice principal told Fuway PD was a lie about the abuse my child faced in his school. In the other document, you'll see where I that I provided tonight, you'll see a high ranking school investigator openly admits they're not independently verifying statements made to them by school employees. If this is the Wake County standard you're striving for, then why are you here? At some point, you're going to have to address the avalanche of inept leadership that has plagued this county, especially in this key key element of the district's survival. And I believe that you will owe
025the students, parents, and every single taxpayer in this county an apology for your actions over the last couple of years. And I believe you owe it to families like mine who have been dismissed without a proper investigation. and reopen all of the cases conducted by the principal and the investigator in that action. Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you. Our final speaker is Amanda Perilone. >> Good evening. Good evening members of the board and community. My name is Amanda Paloney. I was born and raised in Raleigh. I graduated from Wake County Public Schools and today I am the mother of three children in this district. One who is banging away on his Chromebook in the back. Tonight's topic uh in the committee was student achievement. And I want to speak to something that
026makes achievement impossible. Fear. Last night, while cleaning up after dinner, my 14-year-old eighth grader came downstairs and asked me what she should do if her bestie is approached and/or taken by unidentifiable, armed, and masked men. Although I am aware that her best friend of is of Mexican descent, I have no clue what her immigration status is or that of her parents. What I do know is she is kind, quick with a smile, encourages my daughter to read and laughs at her jokes. Surprised and deeply sad, I did my best to simplify the steps so that she would be the most help in that moment. Similar to stop, drop, and roll, she will need to simultaneously manage her own fear and adrenaline and tend to the fire. A marathon of questions followed, including, "How do we
027know these people are ICE? Why aren't they identifying themselves? What happens if they aren't ICE? And how is this legal?" She went on to say, "That's not happening. There is no way I am letting an unidentified armed masked man take my best friend without a fight." And I looked at her and I said, "If you enter a fault, a physical altercation, you will lose." This is not a conversation about learning. That is a conversation about survival. And children cannot learn when they are in survival mode. Fear destroys the conditions required for student achievement, focus, memory, emotional regulation, and a sense of safety. A major Stanford study shows immigration rates cause a 22% increase in student absences, the academic equivalent of every student missing an extra day and a half of instruction over half of a
028school year. And in North Carolina this week, Charlotte Meckllinburgg saw 30,000 absences in a single day after a federal operation. Research also shows that increased immigration enforcement leads to declines in test scores not only for immigrant students but for US students born as well because fear spreads through classrooms. Pediatricians call this toxic stress. It shuts down the parts of the brain responsible for le learning memory focus and executive function. I appreciate that the board has already already taken steps to protect students during enforcement actions. As a parent, I am grateful >> after hearing from my daughter today. >> That's your time. >> Thank you. All right, that concludes our public comment period for tonight and we'll move to the next item on our agenda. Thank you all who did come out to speak tonight. We
029really appreciate you um coming out and sharing your opinions with us. So, uh, tonight, uh, the next item is our consent agenda, and board members have had an opportunity to review the items on the consent agenda in advance. And so, what I'd like to do is entertain an a motion regarding adoption of the consent agenda. >> Chair, I moved the adoption of the consent agenda. >> We have a motion for Vice Chair Swanson to adopt the items on the consent agenda. Is there a second? >> Second. We have a second from Miss Rice. All right. So again, we will have a roll call vote. We'll start with Miss Gordon >> I. >> Mr. Hershey >> I. >> Dr. Ing >> I. >> Miss Edmonds >> I. >> The chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson >>
030I. >> And Miss Rice I. >> All right. The items on the consent agenda have been adopted. So we'll move at this time to our action items. And the first item is under finance adoption of the 2025 2026 annual balanced budget resolution. We'll hear first uh from Mr. Neer. Thank you. And good evening, Chair Hagerty, members of the board, and Superintendent Taylor. At your finance committee meeting a few weeks ago on November 4th, staff reviewed recommendations for reconciling the board's proposed budget to the currently known state and local budgets. Tonight we are asking for your formal approval of the 2025 2026 budget reconciliation recommendations and request your consideration of approval of a formal budget resolution for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. To provide a brief recap of the budget development process thus far the board
031has gone through. Um, on May 6th, the board approved its proposed 2526 operating budget, which included a request of the county commissioners for an increase in county appropriation in the amount of $40.3 million. On May 6th, the board also approved waving board policy 8101. Specifically, the board waved the component of policy 8101 limiting the investment of fund balance to no more than 50% of the available budget into a future year's budget. And the board's proposed budget for the 2526 year included an investment of 54% just over that threshold of the available balance. waiver of this policy has taken place many times in the past based upon staff recommendations. On June 2nd, the county commissioners approved their final 2526 operating budget, which did include the full $40.3 million increase of the board of education uh increase
032to the county appropriation. And on June 24th, the board approved an interim budget resolution for 2526 to allow it to continue to operate once the new fiscal year began, which did on July 1st of this calendar year, even though a state budget had not been finalized yet. In late June, the state legislature approved House Bill 125 and Governor Stein Governor Stein signed that into law on August 6. House Bill 125, we shared more details with you uh about it at your finance committee meeting a couple weeks ago. Um, it included some specific budget provisions for the 24, excuse me, the 25 26 year, but it was not a comprehensive state budget for the bienium or even for the current fiscal year. Effectively, it was a mini budget bill. And as a reminder of what we
033presented to you on November 4th at your finance committee meeting, there were no legislative compensation changes per staff included within that House Bill 125. Albeit, House Bill 125 did provide for a step increase for certified instructional staff and for assistant principles that are also paid off that base certified staff schedule. At your November 4th finance committee meeting, we made recommended adjustments to the proposed board budget to align it with the final county appropriation and the state's mini budget bill. and shared that we did not anticipate the legislature approving a comprehensive budget for the current year or for the bienium. That was at that point. We're a couple weeks later now. We still do not anticipate that approval. So, as such, tonight we're requesting the board approve a balanced budget resolution for the 2526 fiscal year
034based upon the board's proposed operating budget for this year. and with the adjustments recommended at your finance committee meeting two weeks ago. Should the state subsequently approve a comprehensive budget for the 2526 year, staff will return to the board with recommended adjustments to the board's approved budget resolution. And as the board I believe is aware, the budget is a fluid living thing over time with adjustments being reported to the board on a monthly basis. With that, I'll now ask the board's consideration of approval of its formal 2526 balance budget resolution. We'll glad to answer any questions. And I've got senior director of budget, Miss Kinsey, here as well if you get technical on us. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Neater. Uh, so staff has requested uh approval of the annual bud budget resolution for
035fiscal year 2025 2026 in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 115C. Vice Chair Swanson. >> Sure. Uh, chair, I move for the adoption of the 2526 annual balance budget resolution. >> Thank you, Mr. Swanson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion from Vice Chair Swanson with a second from Miss Edmonds. At this point, are there any questions or comments about the budget? Vice Chair Swanson. >> So, Chair, I do have a couple of comments. I as always, I want to thank uh Chief Neer and Miss Kimy and their entire team that balances and deals with this $2 billion operating budget. Um, that is fluent. And as we are currently in this still process because of the state legislature uh choosing, it's by choice. I want the public to understand it's a
036choice that they have made not to pass their budget that is impacting not just Wake County but hundreds of thousands of public school students across this state. Um and so I want to thank you all for doing the heavy work and not only just with this but also being uh proactive in moving forward with next year's budget on top of this. And so I do hope that our lawmakers do come back and fulfill their constitutional duty like all of us at this table has done. Our job as board members is to pass policy and to pass a balanced budget by July, June 15th to get to the county commissioners. We've done our job. We've advocated to our lawmakers and I think we are seeing if we are truly serious about moving the needle on student
037performance, on moving the needle on testing and learning and ensuring that that takes place, the general assembly that is located at 16 West Jones Street has to do their damn job. And that is what I'm going to put. And so that's that is that. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Swanson. Miss Edmonds, >> I couldn't have said it better. Vice Chair Swanson, and I'll add for anybody that may not be aware, North Carolina now has the distinction of being the only state in the country that has yet to pass a state budget. That's not the kind of outlier I would like North Carolina to be, and I know many of our residents feel the same way. >> Thank you. Further comment, any questions? Dr. Ring? >> Yes. So mine will not have any expletives in it.
038Um I I just wanted to you know um thank you for doing all this. I know it's never easy uh to present this to us. Um and um you know I and I you know I echo some of the things that had been uh mentioned and but I also pointed out that you know um there's a house and there's a senate and the house has been more than um willing to listen to our plight and all across the the state. And it was a bipartisan um uh uh group of legislators in the House that did make a good conscious conscience effort to um propose a budget is it's but it's hung up in the Senate. So, I just wanted to clarify that and you know we if we have to um have a by um
039I wish we could have a bipartisan approach uh at in the Senate as well and that's something that I you know I want to um uh you know request people to speak to the legislators spec specifically in the Senate to um uh do that. But of course, you know, in you know, the the senators who represent the Wake County um are all, you know, on our on our side for for public education. Um and so, you know, we maybe you have friends and neighbors uh you know, in other parts of the the state that can um uh influence um their uh respective uh senators. Thank you. >> Thank you. And you know, Dr. Just to your point, you we had uh four of us went to the North Carolina School Boards Association conference last week
040and got to meet with colleagues from all over the state, rural counties, urban counties, blue counties, red counties, and you know, even even in those most rural and reddest counties, there was a frustration and there were people that were ready for a budget to put to be put forward. And the feedback that we got was not it wasn't even necessarily even individual senators because many individual senators wanted to move forward and vote, but a lot of this was being held up by leadership. So again, to your point, as something we've all advocated for around the table, if people will call their legislators, whether in Wake County, if they've got family outside of Wake County, please let them know how important this is so that we can move something forward. Um, specific to our budget, are
041there any more comments? Any questions about our annual budget resolution? I wasn't able to check. Did Mr. Hershey have anything? All right. Well, in that case, sensing a readiness to vote, all in favor of approving the annual budget resolution for fiscal year 2526. We'll go in order and roll call vote. Uh, we'll start with Miss Gordon. >> I, >> Mr. Hershey, >> I. >> Dr. Ring >> I. >> Miss Edmonds >> I. >> Chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson >> I. >> And Miss Rice. >> Hi. >> All right, Mr. Neater. The resolution has passed. >> Thank you. The next item on our action agenda for tonight is the 2026 2027 WCPSS school enrollment plan. This is the plan that we discussed and were briefed on in our work session. Um, and we welcome back
042uh Miss Pull and Mr. Corrosa for any additional discussion or questions that we might have before a uh adopting a final plan. >> Chair Higginy, Vice Chair Swanson, Superintendent Taylor, members of the board. Again, I'm thank you for this opportunity and I'm here to present the school enrollment plan. I'd like to begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who played a role in shaping this year's enrollment plan. It has been a complex and collaborative process and could not have been completed without the support, insights, and expertise of many individuals and teams. First, I extend my thanks to you, the board of education, and of course, our senior leadership team. Your guidance and support have been invaluable as we worked to draft, review, revise, and finalize the plan. I would also like to recognize the
043collaborative contributions of our whole school choice planning and assignment team. In particular, my gratitude goes to Eric Chansy and Louisis Embrio in our office of student assignment as well as to Rob Sideweek and his entire team in the geospatial analytics department. Your thoughtful reflections, encouragement, and partnership throughout this process have been essential to its success. I also extend my gratitude to Dave Bernett and Elizabeth Sharp from our facilities design and construction team. their collaborative uh their collaboration, you're going to hear me say that word a lot, ensured that we had the most accurate and up-to-date information needed to align our planning efforts with school readiness milestones um being kept diligently in mind. A special thanks, of course, to our transportation department as that's an area that we're always aiming to improve, in particular Bonnie Slutter
044and Joy Milin, and of course Bob Snyder Miller before he retired for their collaboration in refiring refining our recommendations aimed at improving our transportation efficiency. And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't thank Sandy Honeyut and Carrie Fuller in our technology services department for ensuring that all of our student information systems are ready to support the implementation upon your approval. Um, there's countless numbers of others that we can thank, but I also want to make sure that I thank our principles and our area superintendent, particularly those that are in the impacted areas. their uh insight, their meaningful and thoughtful uh approach to helping us figure out a way to develop this year's plan. Making sure that we are considering not only the implications for the current schools and the new schools, but also
045the community as as a whole and thinking about staffing needs as well as overall school operations. This year again, we hosted one of our open houses and I just want to thank the I can't count them out by name, but all of the staff that showed up to help us and we brought together a number of departments to support our families. These dedicated team members provided reassurance and vital information as our families shared their questions, concerns, and uncertainties about the transition to a new school under the assignment plan. Their collective efforts allowed our families to leave that event feeling heard and equipped with the resources they need to navigate the changes for their family. I'm personally grateful for the entire enrollment and transfer teams um most specifically Zulma, Haley, April, Ashley, Jimmy, Carrie, Sandra, and
046Sarah um in my office for their dedication. Their efforts to center the needs of our schools and elevate the voices of our families throughout this process really have been unwavering and their uh willingness to provide that help and support at every turn has been extraordinary. And of course, a special recognition to recognition to Karali to now. She's in our communications department. Her invaluable support in brainstorming our public engagement strategies, crafting clear, timely messages for families, community members, principles, and internal partners has been instrumental to the success of getting to this point with the plan. Carelli's dedication to ensuring transparency and accessibility in our communication efforts has played a crucial role in fostering meaningful dialogue and participation throughout the process. And of course, he did it to me earlier, so I'm going to do it to
047him. A special thank you to Assistant Superintendent Carrosa and of course Chief Strickland for their consistent support and encouragement. They really do enable me to do my best work and our entire team to do our best work. And last, but certainly not least, I want to thank our families, our staff, and our community members. They have been participating non-stop for several years and will continue to do so. Their honest, thoughtful engagement throughout the process really helped to shape this year's plan and previous plans and will continue to shape future plans. Whether they participated in pre-draft discussions or provided feedback after the plan was published, that participation has been instrumental in getting us to the final recommendation. Now, back to the 2627 enrollment plan. With one new school set to open in 2026 27, Hilltop Needmore
048More Elementary, this year's plan addresses multiple priorities. They include relieving capp and overcrowded schools, optimizing the use of our underutilized schools, addressing cohort continuity issues, and continuing our commitment to enhancing transportation efficiency. The plan incorporates base assignment changes and calendar application adjustments to meet these goals along with generous stability provisions to support our impacted families and promote continuity in their school assignments. The development of this year's enrollment plan actually began in earnest in March of 2023. We hosted a series of in-person uh engagement sessions with families to gain deeper insight into the perspectives of communities projected to be impacted by the opening of this new school as well as others particularly in high growth areas. These efforts continued into the spring of 24 and 25 with additional sessions designed to refine the feedback gathered and
049provide even greater clarity on the concerns and priorities of these communities. All of the rounds of engagement sessions were also followed by focus groups or AI supported interviews to gain a deeper understanding of those specific factors that surfaced during these efforts. As the planning process advanced to an initial discussion with you, the board during a work session on May 6th, we were able to highlight the preliminary insights and considerations that needed to be reviewed. In this year, additional information related to crowding, capping and overflow impacts on schools uh was asked by the board and we were able to share that information with you during work sessions on May 20th and June 3rd. A summary of the feedback that had been collected to that point during the earlier engagement sessions was shared with you at a
050subsequent work session on June 24th. and the feedback gathered from those sessions along with all of the input from the May 26th, 20th, and June 3rd work sessions along with the district-wide analysis of needs inform the development of the initial draft of the plan. The initial draft was reviewed and presented to you at September on September 2nd at a board work session. After that meeting, staff launched a thought exchange and hosted three virtual information sessions as well as an open house to engage our community in sharing their thoughts, comments, and questions regarding the recommendations included in the initial draft. A review of the feedback received along with a revision to the draft was presented at the October 241st Bwork session. After that meeting, staff launched an additional thought exchange and hosted one virtual public information
051session to again engage our community in sharing their thoughts, comments, and questions regarding the revised draft. Additionally, you held a public hearing on October 21st to solicit and capture feedback from the community regarding the plan. The plan was most recently reviewed and presented as a final draft earlier today during your work session. And official totals are coming out. So, the total number of students projected to be reassigned is just over 1,450, which is less than 1% of our current population of students. 74% of those are going to be eligible for a stability transfer, which does not include their younger siblings. When given final board approval, the final draft of the plan will be implemented for the 2627 school year. Families directly impacted by the plan will be contacted as soon as possible with specific instructions
052regarding the process or eligibility for requesting a stability transfer and stability requests from eligible students that are submitted during the designated window will be approved. These transfers will be valid through the last grade of the school which would be fifth, 8th or 12th grade respectively. And so tonight we humbly request the board's approval of the 2627 enrollment plan as presented during the work session held earlier today. Thank you, Miss Poleium. So, before we get uh too far in into any discussion, questions, or debate, I'd like to start by uh asking if we have a motion. >> Vice Chair Swanson. >> Chair, I move for the adoption of the uh student enrollment plan for the 2627 uh school year. >> Thank you, Vice Chair. Is there a second? >> Second. We have a motion from Vice
053Chair Swanson and a second from Miss Edmonds. So, um, again, we did discuss the matter in work session, uh, and now it's here before us for official action. You know, I do want to I do want to take a minute again just as we're extending kudos to thank Miss Pium and all of the staff for all of the work that goes into an assignment plan. Consideration of a reassignment plan is something that as a board we do. I say reassignment, it's an enrollment plan, but every year the focus is reassignment. Is something that we as a board do every year. Some other districts do not do this as often. But the philosophy is that we would rather move as few people as possible each year rather than wait a couple of years and then move
054a large portion of the district. You know, we've had to reassign students every year since I've been on the board. We've had to reassign students every year since my son began kindergarten back in 2011. We have had unusual assignment plans ever since I was enrolled as a student in WCPSS in the 1970s. So, you know, this this really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but that doesn't always make it easier. But when we open new schools, we need to find the families that will populate, that will establish the traditions, that will be the pioneers and the trendsetters and really create that school community. Um, and it's exciting to see a new school opening in our in our county. Um, and then as neighborhoods change, as more people move in, as some people age out,
055as some families, you know, age and and their they stay in their houses, but they no longer have students, our school populations change. And so, you know, this is, you know, sometimes disruptive but a necessary function that is put on all of us. Um, I want to say that the plan does address overcrowding concerns that we've talked about uh throughout the year. And many of you might remember hearing from many families at some underenrolled schools about questions of being an overflow school and the instability about whether or not because they had so few students at the beginning of the year, they would get the aotments they would need to adequately fund the teachers they would need when all of the overflow students would come. So, I like how this plan helps create more stability through
056the district, through the regular assignments, rather than having to rely more on, you know, kind of the unpredictable nature of capping and moving students, you know, during the year when they enter the district to go someplace other than, you know, the neighborhood that they moved into. Um, one thing that I also want to highlight in this plan for the changes we've made to existing schools is one of the things that I always judge a plan on that that I look at is calendar alignment and what can we do to minimize misalignment for families because it is a burden when you have children on one calendar and another child on a different calendar. Um, I know in Western Wake, especially the districts that I represent and I think Westier Swanson and the the District 8 representative
057have a lot of multi-track yearround schools already. There's not a lot of year- round options and those that do exist almost all at or over capacity. Um, so how do you avoid that disruption? And I I wanted to bring up the stability rules that you're offering this year. When I joined the board, we didn't really have stability rules. If anything, it might have been for just that final grade, right? Just the rising fifth graders, just the rising um eighth graders, or if it was a high school to another high school, we wouldn't move the seniors, but everybody else would have to relocate. What we've proposed this year with current students rising into seventh or eighth grade for the middle school changes and students rising into first through fifth grade at elementary really is, you know,
058the kind of most farreaching plan we've ever offered to help those families avoid that disruption and stay at their existing school if they're able to provide their own transportation. So, um, you know, while there have been some families that will be reassigned to new schools, keeping this option open, especially for so many families, um, is again a real change that we we haven't offered to this degree in the past. Um, but I think that those families will benefit from this and it really does give a lot more choice into helping them uh make the best decision as to which school they'd like to send their children. So the only question that I had about the plan was specific to the calendar application changes talking about misalignment and in one of the changes we take students
059who live in the Mills Park base which is traditional and we um would reassign them to Salem as a multi-track year round and again they would be getting a generous stability rule so rising seventh and eighth graders could remain at the school and you've also provided a proposed calendar option school which is something that's not always done. >> I saw that the proposed calendar application school was Apex and I was curious about that because I know there's a lot of middle schools in the Kerry area that have um greater capacity, a greater need for students. I think of West Kerry and East Kerry. I think of even, you know, Davis Drive as maybe having more capacity than Apex, especially with a lot of the growth around Apex. And I just wanted to hear from you
060about why Apex was selected. I'm very appreciative that there's a calendar application school. I just wanted to know a little bit about why that school. >> In this particular instance, thinking about what the community has said to us, not only about calendar alignment, but cohort continuity. All of the current student body at Salem Middle applies to Apex Middle as does the elementary group that they would be joining at Turner Creek. So that would create a community cohort that's going to Balkcom Elementary and Apex Middle and they would have that cohort continuity in that space so that as a neighborhood they wouldn't be split from those peers and if they chose to come back to those core schools on Multitrack, they'd still be with the same group of students. that does not preclude preclude these families
061from asking for a different traditional option. For example, one of the examples you gave was East Carry. It is one of our magnet schools. So, they are certainly more than welcome to ask for it during the magnet application period. And if they'd be willing to provide their own transportation to a school like West Kerry, we certainly would not, you know, have any opposition to trying to help them with that alignment. We just didn't want to create calendar discontinuity or cohort discontinuity when that's clearly what everyone's been asking us to stop doing. And just to clarify, by cohort, you're just talking about the same kids that they've been going to school with in the in their other grades, keeping them all together. >> Yes. Okay. >> And and the community so that that whole neighborhood or
062the sets of neighborhoods that would start mixing together would all be going to the same sets of schools. >> Okay. Perfect. Well, that answers my question. Thank you, Miss Edmonds. >> If I may, there's a little more to it, too, just from a capac because we know Parkside Middle's coming onto that northern area as well. We know we're going to be doing a lot of shifting and some of that capacity that you think is there is going to be absorbed because if remember Mills Park this still is not addressing there all of their overcrowding Ridge is still experiencing overcrowding so we're any of the available seats sort of north of this region we're going to need during that reshuffleling. >> Okay. Thank you Miss Evans. >> Thanks. Um I wanted to echo uh what Mr.
063CRoza said earlier today. You really are exceptional at the work that you do. And I know we can't make everybody happy. And I know there's lots of folks that are not in the Susan Pullium fan club. We understand that. Um because this is tough on families um when they're, you know, being asked to do something they don't want to do. So we we understand that. But um thank you because the process is vastly improved than the way that it used to be. So well done. And then I wanted to know if you had an answer from the other from my question earlier about um Southerntherland. Thank you. >> So the area was assigned to White Oak Elementary in 2016. So this would be their 10th year in the school. So that's relatively stable assignment. And
064then Green Level High School open up into 2017. And the Mills Park alignment was done in that same time frame to get them all together. So this basically keep and keep in mind in this area we're not changing their high school assignment because we don't feel that that's necessary. and there is a strong enough group coming from Salem Middle in to Green Level that they won't be isolated. So that's why we only have the elementary and middle school recommendations. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Swanson. >> Excuse me. Um, yes, I just want to also say thank you and also to the communities that provided so much input and feedback and that email to all of us and >> I think it was raised earlier that we this is something that we don't like to do.
065Um but due to growth that we're seeing due to development that's happening, we're this is our this is what we have to do. K3 legislation limits how many students are able to attend elementary schools from kindergarten, first grade, second, and to third. Um which there was a plan in our uh legislative agenda that asked for waiverss for those schools. So we did not have to do this. So we've heard what the community is saying, but again, it's tied up on Jones Street in one chamber that Dr. ing reference. Um so I I also want to just thank um thank those families and also to share that that's why we started having these roundts with local municipalities so therefore they can understand when the growth is happening in their particular towns and communities. This is the
066this is the impact that we're facing. So therefore all of us are aligned on the same page. So we've had one successful round table and there will be others coming so we can all get on the same page of this. Um and when we looked at the minutes about this back in 2009ish when uh former representative Gil was the chair, this was the topic that was being discussed in 2009ish growth. Um so this is not a new piece and I know the chair has referenced that and I will say that any school that these families are being um reassigned to, teaching and learning is still going to take place. there is a culture of excellence in all of those schools and this gives the families an opportunity to really help shape and define what they
067want to see. Um and so there is despite what these grades may look like that does not an accurate description of what takes place in these schools daily. And so I think it is is a disservice when folks share those things when they're not seeing what teachers are doing every single day to this. So my question, Miss Pium, is can you explain to the public when will those stability when can they start applying for those stability rules? When can they start the transferring process? Um and I'll stop there. >> Absolutely. If all goes well tonight and we we get a successful approval, we're set to go. Um we'll start getting all of our updates done by the end of this week so that by Tuesday of next week, we feel confident we can open the
068stability transfer window. We'll submit uh emails out or send emails out to the families. And as I mentioned in work session, we'll also send them to their current principles. So they'll get double communication from both sides, from their school as well as from us, letting them know that it's open. We're going to add two days to the window because of the Thanksgiving holiday. So we won't technically count Tuesday and Wednesday of next week as business days. And we'll keep it open for a full 10 days after that all the way through the that Friday. I'm going to miss it. It's December 12th or 13th. And so they'll have that time and we'll send them multiple notifications. and as long as they submit them in that window, they are guaranteed to be approved. If they have
069a kindergartner that they've already pre-registered, they'll be able to go ahead and do that one at this time. I do want to ease concerns on that front. If you have a rising kindergartener that is eligible, but you didn't have a chance to pre-register, that's fine. We can handle them in the March um transfer window. >> So, if I can follow up to that, chair, >> go ahead. If a person applies, if families apply during that time frame, they are guaranteed essentially to stay at the school that they are currently >> Yes. Just wanted to make sure that they could >> through the terminal grade. So, yes, >> at an elementary school that'd be fifth. At our middle schools, that's eighth. And at our high schools, that's 12th. And those younger siblings get that same length
070of time as well. >> Great. Thank you. All right, Dr. Um, I want to know what the dues are for the Susan Pium fan club. >> Zero dollars. Oh, >> no. Seriously. Um, you mentioned about transportation efficiency and, uh, it's not just about numbers. It's about, you know, people, kids, and, um, can you speak to it? I mean, you know, just playing devil's advocate. And what if the stability rule, you know, transfer would provide, >> um, transportation? Sure. This has been asked for the last couple years. Candidly, to be perfectly honest, it would be a bit of a false promise because it would extend the length of so many routes that families would feel like it really wasn't good bus service because we still have a limited number of drivers. We have a limited number
071of routes. You we've expanded about as big as we can get with our routes and service. So, if we were to try to attempt to include transportation with our stability transfers, that means all routes would be much longer in length and time. And candidly, some probably couldn't run. We might even have to drop transportation for a neighborhood school or a mag. It would just put a lot of negative impacts on some of our programs that are going really well. And so it I don't know how to put a dollar amount on it or a quantify it and and maybe I'm not sure if someone else can speak to it more articulately, but it it's just physically not possible with the generous stability rules we've offered. We would have to go back to much more restrictive
072ones like Dr. Mr. Hickerty was referring to where it might be it's one grade for one year. We wouldn't be able to be as generous and let families stay through the fifth grade or through the eighth grade or through the 12th grade. >> Thank you so much for explaining that. I I I just want to make sure that the public understands that the difficult situation that we are faced with, you know, given that we're expanding the the stability rules that that is one thing that that we are, you know, just, you know, that parents providing transportation is going to have to be the the case. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Any other questions? Miss Gordon, >> I'll keep mine quick. I just want to say thank you to the complete team. Um
073I was extremely impressed by the intentionality around the public engagement and it speaks volumes to what you and the team do. So thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Anything for Mr. Hershey? All right. Well, sensing a readiness to vote, I'll entertain a motion. Oh, we have a motion and it has been properly seconded. So we'll move to an immediate vote. Uh we'll start with Miss Gordon. This is a vote on adoption of the 2025 the 2627 student enrollment plan. >> I >> uh Mr. Hershey >> I. >> Dr. Ang >> I >> Miss Edmonds >> I >> chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson >> I >> and Miss Rice. >> All right, Miss P. The plan has been has passed and been adopted. Thank you. >> Thank you. Messages will start going out tonight.
074>> All right. Thank you. All right, the next item on our agenda is uh we have two policy items. Um board policy 7920 and 7921. Uh Dr. Mutello is here. All right. Good evening everybody. Um tonight I am bringing two policies on action um for board approval. I will present each individually, but just wanted to start with a couple comments because this the policies are so similar and there's a change we're proposing not in your materials that applies to both. So, um the board did consider both of these policies during the October 28th policy committee meeting. The policies were moved to action due to the proposed language changes um during that meeting. In the drafts that you see, we've incorporated most of those policy changes, but I do want to note a change in both
075policies that we want to add for your consideration this evening. In response to a suggestion made by board chair Hagerty during the policy committee policy committee, staff proposes striking a phrase in section A3 um of both policies. And that phrase reads, quote, that is brought about by the decline in enrollment or by other actions or events. and end quote. So the first part of that of that paragraph then would read under financial exig exigency would be quote financial exency means any significant decline in the board's financial resources that compels a reduction in the school system's current operational budget end quote. So staff agrees with board chair heard that removing that would make the um that part of the language more concise and more clear. So I'll now present each policy separately now that I've let
076you know about the change we're proposing um for both of them. So policy 7920 reduction in force for contract employees. The black text just as a reminder is from the school board's association policy with the blue text showing either inserts from our current policy 3430 or changes to make um the provisions in both 7920 and 7921 parallel. um and also to incorporate the changes from the October 28th policy committee meeting. Um there was alignment on these changes during the policy committee. Once adopted, this policy would replace policy 3430 in the old manual. So unless there's questions or changes tonight, we are requesting the board's approval of the first reading of policy 7920. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Matillo. Is there a motion regarding the policies? >> Yes, Chair Hagerty. I'd like to make a
077motion to approve 7920 on first reading. >> We have a motion from Miss Edmonds to adopt the policy on first reading. Is there a second? >> Second. >> We have a second from Dr. Ring. Are there any questions or comments about the policy, Miss Edmonds? >> Uh, thank you. This is for 7920 and 7921. I did go back and review the meeting from October just to listen again to our comments and discussion and it was basically just that there were several edits that we felt that's why we put it on action instead of consent and I just wanted to express my thanks to staff for word smithing and taken all that into consideration um to get us here tonight. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Further questions, further comment Swanson. >> Thank you. It
078seems like policy always conflicts with the standing workbean that I have. So I did was able to pay attention and listen to the discussion. But I'm concerned that you know given the climate that we're in and the declines that we're seeing with funding with public education, do you perceive that this could uh signal, let me choose my words a little bit better. um do we think this could impact our recruitment of teachers given the fact that this policy is what the policy is saying? That's a concern that I have and I'm curious to know what you all >> think on that or have thought through different plans about that. >> Sure. Thank you for the question, Vice Chair Swanson. I >> thought that might come up at some point. this is, you know, that we
079might be signaling something or there might be a concern that a reduction force is is pending, but it was just part of the, you know, the standing schedule and we're getting toward the end of our um, you know, human resources policies to migrate. So, we wanted to bring it forward. We have been able to I don't even want to say it out loud, but we we've not had to exercise these policies even with some of the reductions that have occurred. we've been able to move staff around and find positions. So, I don't think this would be an um you know impede our recruitment. We are always committed to first um finding positions for folks that might be employed even if we do have to shift things around. So, um not expecting that would hurting hurt
080recruitment and we're still, you know, full speed ahead with recruiting even for this school year. >> Gotcha. Thank you. Yes. >> All right. Any further questions or further comment? If there's not, we're ready to vote. All in favor of adoption of this policy on first reading, we'll go around the table. Please vote I in favor. Nay, if you are opposed, Miss Gordon, >> I >> Mr. Hershey, >> I. >> Dr. I. >> Miss Edmonds, >> I. >> Chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson, >> I. and Miss Rice. >> I >> All right, the policy passes on first reading. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, policy 7921, reduction in force for employees without contract. Um, again, the black text is our current policy 4430. And then in blue, provisions from the schoolboard association policy as well
081as our um staff changes making policies parallel where we could um based on comments in the October 28th policy meeting. And again, when adopted, this policy would replace 4430 in the old manual. And we are requesting the board's approval of a first reading of policy 7921 this evening. >> All right. Is there a motion regarding policy 7921? >> Motion to approve 7921 on first reading. >> We have a motion to approve the policy on first reading by Miss Evans. Is there a second? >> Second. >> We have a second from Dr. Ring. All right. Any comments or discussion about this policy? All right. Vice Chair Swanson. So, I'm going to raise the same question. Given the fact that I know it's easier to move teachers who are certified classified positions, I think that it's limited
082of where we can shift staff. So, can you ease my concern because for this one, I am I I'm not too sure I can vote for this one just because those concerns, but I just want to hear what your thoughts are on that. >> Yeah, of course. And and good point with um you know, teachers and folks on contracts. Just a reminder to that these are existing policies that were just migrating over. Um but again, I think I'd use an example probably to answer your question the best. We did have to eliminate the building sub positions um last year which was you know a position at at every school and we were able to find places for those folks that wanted to either go back to the daily sub pool or some um served as
083instructional assistants. So, we still make every effort we can that if we do get in the unfortunate situation where we have to make position cuts, we want to take care of our employees the best we can and find places for every everyone whether they're certified, non-certified, have contracts, not contracts. So, it is always our priority um to take care of the employees that we have. >> Any further questions or further comment? Dr. Matilla, I did want to just get clarification. you mentioned the amendment that we talked about at the beginning uh again some of that word smithing and so I just want to make sure that I'm clear on it in policy uh 7921 can you uh just read back that amended language to me I'm sorry I said 7921 um >> so yes for
0847921 again the language we were um wanting to strike is that is brought about by the decline in enrollment or by other actions or events. >> So it right now would just be school reorganization is defined as closing consolidation and then proceeding from there. >> Number three. >> Yeah. So it's three um it would >> exigency. >> Yeah. So then then it would read financial exigency means any significant significant decline in the board's financial resources that compels a reduction in the school systems current operational. >> Okay. Okay. The version I had still had it. So I just wanted to double check. >> Yes. That yeah that's what we're proposing to strike and you'll see that when it comes on consent as well. >> Okay. Yeah. Wonderful. All right. That's the only question that I had.
085Um any other questions or comment? If not, if there's a readiness to vote, we'll uh proceed as before. All in favor of adoption of policy 7921 will say I. Those opposed will say nay when you are called upon. I will start with Miss Gordon. >> I >> Mr. Hershey >> I. >> Dr. Ing >> I. >> Miss Edmonds >> I. >> Chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson >> I. >> And Miss Rice. >> All right. policy has passed on first reading. Thank you, Dr. Mel. >> Thank you all. >> All right. Um at this time, we were considering something regarding the agenda. Vice Chair Swanson. >> Yes, Chair. I would uh make a motion um looking at Miss Allen to make sure that she's ready because I gave her a heads up. Um that we
086would continue with the strategic plan updates. Um so adding that to the last part of the agenda which would be item uh item is that yes adding item two to the board agenda under the uh information items continued section. >> All right. And what this would be if I understand you is just simply finishing the presentation that we started but that we had to cut short because we ran out of time. So, is there a second for the motion? >> Second. >> We have a second for Miss Edmonds. All right. Um, is there any debate or are we ready for a vote? Okay, Miss Russ. >> Yes, I do. I want to ask how much time are we we want to devote to this because >> um at our board sessions, you know, we have
087about two hours of time or whatever so that staff doesn't feel rushed and it's late and so we ask our questions and get to where we till we end. So I mean I know it's still early but I'm just >> No, that's that is a perfectly valid question. We had time that we thought would be sufficient for this topic during the work session, but because of some delays in getting started because of the previous committee going long and then um the time to set up and break down the room, we didn't have adequate time for the whole presentation. I'll ask Dr. Robinson, does he have an estimate on what he thinks? Again, you never know because you never know about the questions, but do you have an estimate on how long the continued information item
088would would last? >> Absolutely. Um, I think that uh Mr. Stricksland Strickland's presentation will take 10 minutes. Uh, Chief Buller, how long would your presentation take? >> 5 to 10 minutes. 10 minutes. Um, Dr. Matillo, how long would yours take, sir? >> Five or less. >> It's interesting. Five or so. was going to be dependent upon the questions and so >> and then I'm sorry >> go ahead Mr. And then that's that's really the primary I think staff really does a very succinct job of what they have. My question is with us. >> Um what time will you allow us to ask our questions and do because I don't want to feel rushed and I don't want to feel like someone's cutting me off with getting clarity or what I might need to say or
089ask um in reference to these important topics that we're dealing with operational effectiveness. I do want us to take that in consideration cuz I will take offense when people like to pull my coattail. >> Well, I will say that by having this on the >> board meeting, there is no time there's no meeting after this unlike the previous meetings where we had a definite stop and start time. So, we should have as much time as is required. Of course, it is at the subject of the rest of the board and the ability to vote to move on. So, all right. Any further questions? All right. Then we'll proceed to a vote for amending the agenda. Um, we'll start with Miss Gordon. >> I. >> Mr. Hershey. >> I. Dr. Ing. >> Nay. Miss Edmonds >>
090I. >> Chair will vote I. Vice Chair Swanson, >> yes. >> And Miss Rice, >> nay. >> All right. By vote of one, two, three, four, five to two, the motion passes and the uh agenda has been amended and we'll proceed with the remainder of the presentation. Thank you, Dr. Robinson. >> Thank you, sir. So, next up, we will have um Dr. Matillo who will talk about hiring and recruiting and all those great things. Um, we're going to make sure that we get the presentation up and get you the clicker. >> All right. Good evening again. Um, our portion is is really pretty short. It's only two slides because we we provided a more detailed staffing update during your September meeting. Um, but Dr. Robinson and Dr. Alfer Keith didn't want us to feel left
091out of the strap plan updates. So um we're here with a couple slides for you this evening as well. The first slide um you will see you saw much of that data during the September meeting, but we have added a November 2025 column to each of those areas just to show you that hiring still does continue as the year progresses into the school year. So, as an example, you can see we are up 86 new hires to a total of 1,368 new hires since July 1. And then we've added another 72 return hires. These are folks who have left our district and decided to come back. Um, and overall, we've now increased our total hires by 539 to a total of 3,777. And so that's just to give you some context of the volume of
092hiring that we're doing. The next slide, um, we did not update this slide. This is the same slide that you saw in September because our vacancy rates really change day by day and we we try to use September as our official reporting and benchmarking for subsequent years. So I did keep the data the same on that slide. Did want to share a couple updates verbally with you. However, um when we looked at our teacher vacancies for the last board meeting, um we dropped by 25 overall teaching positions and our fill rate was 98.96 at that time. I really wanted to round up to 99, but we're going to get there without rounding up at some point. So, we do continue to see some improvements there. And then with our special ed teaching positions, um they
093continue to be our greatest and most persistent need. We did see vacancies drop by another 13 positions. So that is trending positively. And I really you heard from um both Christy Dy um as well as Crystal Gregory a lot of the strategies that we were already working on to try to improve these rates. But there are a couple things that that team continues to work on. I did want to take a moment to share those with you this evening. I continue to be thankful and impressed with their leadership that we continue to explore strategies to um improve these vacancy rates and fill them with high quality staff. So, one thing that we have done since that presentation is we've partnered with NC State in their Wolf Track program, TRAC, where our instructional assistants with a
094bachelor's degree can now enter their master's of teaching program um while continuing to work with Wake County. And these areas of lenture are elementary ed, multilingual ed, as well as special ed. And today at six o'clock, I didn't get the uh get the update, but there was an interest meeting for that program and 83 of our employees expressed interest in that. So that again, that is another good strategy, another step toward um really increasing our pipeline. Our second partnership again that we've worked on since that last meeting is with North Carolina Central University and they have a program that focuses specifically on special education. and we had um 61 attend a virtual interest meeting. We've had 19 apply already and have have seen nine acceptances already. So, and those acceptances are still rolling. So, we're
095hoping to see more of those. So, now that's nine folks that are in that pipeline for special education with NC Central. Our goal for that program in its first year was 10 to 12 participants. So, we're right on track um to meet or exceed that target. So again, just proud of that team for continuing to really work on the pipelines that do lead to teacher lensure to help fill not only general ed positions, but our most persistent positions with our special education teachers. So I wanted to take a moment to highlight um the efforts of our recruitment team and we will continue um to explore these partnerships and opportunities. So that's all I have. >> Thank you, Dr. Matilda. And just by clarification, I see the note related to bus drivers. So that's a 64.9%
096fill rate for the optimal level of service. >> That's correct. >> But that's not the number of drivers we had at the beginning of the year. >> That's >> right. That we had fewer drivers at the beginning of the year because we weren't able to >> run optimal routes, but rather we did make sure we had >> as you know full bus service. >> That is correct. Yeah, we were able to staff the routes that we had planned plus two subs in each region to start the year. And we I think as we brought up before, we're continuing to try to you know get to the optimal level but also reporting our you know reporting our vacancies to that optimal level. >> Okay, great. Thank you. All right, any questions for Dr. Mutilla, Miss Gordon?
097Um this may or may not fall within this, but um as it pertains to like um services that we offer offer like speech language for like speech language pathologists, what is being done? Um like if a um a speech language pathologist has to go out on leave, like does that affect our numbers? I guess what I'm asking Go ahead. >> Yeah. So, I think if if an employee is out on leave, depending on the type of leave, it may or may not be included in the vacancy numbers. And we do have provisions for longer term leave when we can, you know, hire some folks on an interim basis to try to um cover for those leaves. >> Okay. Okay. >> Good. And if it's specific about speech language pathologists, I can get you some more
098information on that as well if you're specifically interested in that. >> Yes, please. >> So, Mrs. Gordon, was the the idea uh how do we provide services in those areas when somebody like a speech pathologist is out? Is that really? Yeah. So, we are still responsible for providing those services. So within the special education department, they will either uh reassign additional staff to to cover those needs or we will have to provide compensatory services if that person is out. And so so we can get additional information about exactly how we address each one of those issues that come up. But if if I get speech services and the person is out, uh then we can't not provide those services. You can't provide it immediately then. Uh but it'll be rescheduled at some point so we
099can still provide it. And I do think one of my colleagues off to the right is trying to tell me that we also use contracts um for that for that purpose as well when we do have folks who are out. So >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> All right. Further questions for Dr. Matillo. Mr. Russ. >> Dr. Matillo, I may or may not have heard you correctly, but explaining your slide. Can you clarify me what the top um general ed special education and then with the bottom general ed and special education um categories are. >> Yeah. So the the top is general education and special education teachers and then the ones below are general ed and special ed instructional assistants. >> Okay. I'm sorry I missed that. >> No, no problem. >> In between.
100I'm sorry. Thank >> you. >> It's a busy slide. It's my fault. >> Dr. A. Um, can you um kind of cl or just explain how we are uh um approaching the the special education IAS like the pipeline where where are they coming from? How are we going to recruit them? >> Recruit the IAS or the teachers? >> The IAS. >> Yeah. I mean, we continue to, you know, post and recruit for those. I don't think we have specific pipelines that that we do recruit from for instructional assistance. Um if you remember there there is a slight pay differential for special ed IAS versus regular ed IIA. So sometimes folks in those regular ed positions will want to move into the special ed positions but at this point we don't have specific pipelines to lead
101from other positions to instructional assistant positions. I you know I just wondering you know if there's any way we can brought you know you open it out up to the community in in some ways to because there's a lot of passionate people who wants to help. It's it's just, you know, they don't they may not have the the uh the uh kind of education that they have as a a special education teacher, but they have the a big heart and, you know, how can we get the word out that, you know, for the that we have these vacancies. Yeah. >> Yeah. And we can continue to explore that. It is one of the groups that we do advertise for um but we can continue to explore different ideas for that. Yeah. >> All right. Yes.
102>> Follow up, Miss Russ. >> Yes, I do. One one last question. I don't know if you can you can answer, but to um Dr. Ning's um point a little bit, I was looking how how are we actually um training and supporting our um instructional assistants? because as I visit classrooms um I it's it's a special education is a very um unique um art and support. And so I was just trying to figure out as we as you're advertising the best you can as you're getting people that you can how are we trying to um support them um with the retention process for them? >> That that's probably another op um area of opportunity, Miss Rice. Um, you know, we definitely they rely on the teachers that they're working with. We have our normal onboarding
103and orientation, but I think what you're getting at is it is a different kind of role. We've just started partnering with special ed on some >> onboarding for special ed teachers. So, HR now like especially those alternate lure teachers, we are providing additional training for them. So, I think we can start to also um look at how we do that for instructional assistance. I think Lisa Alred is maybe have a something to add to that answer. A >> couple things to add to that. So, as part of our plan for disproportionality, we have a plan to roll all of our in special ed IAS through registered behavior technician training to give them some very specific skills around how to address some of those behaviors that I think is what you're talking about. How to take
104really good data so that they can address those things. We also have worked with HR to meet monthly with those ALI and BT teachers as well um to give them some additional support. And I just wanted to bring both of those to your last thing I'll say chair is I would continue Miss Albert um as you guys work with these special education teachers as well as our um staff in general continue to also look at how we're going to serve their well-being. That's not an easy position. It's not an easy position. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Mutello. >> Thank you all. >> Transportation. So, I'm thankful for the opportunity to uh continue to present tonight. You know, all ready to go. And so I'm glad to get to share this wonderful information. So I've
105got a couple of quick slides about transportation. The first is uh talking about uh three of the metrics that we track that are very important to the program. Obviously you've heard some discussion about the bus driver vacancy rate. And so we we've held pretty steady over the last three years. And as uh chair pointed out, that 31% vacancy rate is our optimum fill rate if we were not to have to do double or triple backs anywhere throughout the district. Um I think it is worthwhile to note and to share that for the last year or so plus maybe two years there has been an intensive recruiting effort uh on the part of many of us within the district to uh identify recruit and and bring in new bus drivers. We have a uh dedicated recruitment
106person. We meet uh twice a month and um I don't know where we would be if we had not been doing that because that has really uh proved us uh well throughout this process. We are a few drivers short uh than when we started uh in or our last projections back in June, but nevertheless um we're still looking for opportunities to improve. um we still have a relatively strong pipeline of um recruits in the mix. They have to go through criminal records check. They get to uh they have to go through DPI training. The bus class uh Dr. Taylor has been and spoken to several of them. So that effort remains strong. Um but the bus driver vacancy rate is something that is a metric that is very valuable to us. Also very important to
107us is our inspection score. And so much like in golf, a lower score is better. The scale goes from zero to 100. Nobody gets a zero. Um, in the eastern part of North Carolina, I was double checking today, the scores are in the low to high uh 30s. We're not considered in the eastern part, but that 25.8 for this year is really good. That's based off of inspections by DPI and uh we are expecting an inspection very very soon. It is time for us to get one. They come and look at a percentage of our buses and look for safety issues and there are mundane things such as mirrors not being adjusted properly, seats that are torn, uh things like that can count against you on your inspection score. So that's a metric that we
108look at on a on a regular basis. in addition to the monthly inspections that we are required to perform. And then lastly, uh important for us is the efficiency rating that determines a lot of our funding. And I'm I'm glad to say that for the last couple years, our efficiency rating from DPI has been 100%. Moving on to the next slide. Um this is exciting too, but for a different reason. Um and the the data that we're we're showing on here is is in its infancy. So uh for some time um we have been working on a data dashboard uh with technology and with transportation. This is an internal effort to better track uh our buses, their movement um whether they're late or not on time. And so we've been working on this dashboard. Um
109we hope to show it to you all in the coming months when it is finalized. But this is is some of the information that that we've gleaned from this right now. Uh again, this information is in its infancy. Uh you can see the incomplete data. We're working with our GPS provider to try and and figure out a way to uh clean that data up and make it more usable for us. But these are some of the things that we're looking at right now. And again, this will be an internal effort that um our managers and field people have asked for so that we can better and more easily access the information on performance of our buses. And that's something that we're working on again both in-house with transportation staff and also with technology. And with
110that, I'll be glad to answer any questions. >> All right, questions for Mr. Strickland. All right. Well, that's amazing. Good job. >> I'll turn it over to Mr. Bedulla. >> All right. And there's a reason why I want to go back to the last slide. Uh, good evening, M Chair Hagerty, board members, Dr. Taylor. Thank you for the opportunity. I know I'm the last one on the deck, but I'll make sure I take enough time to bring you some updates. So, the reason I want to go back go back to this slide is this is internal effort. Um, obviously we presented this data several months ago about uh how can we provide that experience to our families when a bus arrives late, right? So, we didn't have any mechanism in the past. It was all
111manual. So we automated a lot of these things where if a bus is running late, you get a notification on your phone saying that the bus is running late and you don't have to show up in the you know bus stop in a cold weather. So obviously it's a big time uh experience enhancements for our family and community. I just want to make sure we kind of uh talk about that. Um so obviously some of the projects I'm going to talk about the metrics I'm going to talk about is for the last year. The two big things I want to talk about uh is the new student information system update. Obviously board had an update last month about the humongous effort which is crossf functional effort everybody put in because we were literally under the
112gun to really implement this system come July 1 and we did it and uh obviously it's a huge effort not just from technology but across cross function team within central services our educators our principles our community our parents students it impacts everyone so just want to make sure I call that out. It is a humongous effort and I said that in in the board update. I think uh this is my sixth SIS implementation. I think this was the best implementation. I can uh confidently say that. Right. But we're still working through some some of the you know nuances of the system. We are still maturing the system. We are still kind of going through those checks and balances. But I think as we progress through the year, we hope uh we're going to stabilize using
113that system. Right. Number two is the whole Oracle ERP. Uh several months ago, we updated the board on that. Um so we were running a outdated anti-waited Oracle system. Now we're running the latest and greatest software of the Oracle. We have a stable environment not only on the software side but also on the infrastructure side. So that is the core business system. So uh we have a really stable system there. So moving on to some of the uh metrics uh sorry um metrics here. Um the number one is the if you look at the devices this is all impacting our schools right. So these are the pro promethium boards we rolled out last school year. Uh obviously close to about 12,000 promethium boards we have rolled out. We should be closing out that project this
114year. about 95% done. All the instructional spaces have been equipped with those Prometheium boards. Making sure our students and our educators have the technology to basically support the instruction. Right. Uh next one is the student devices. Um which is uh pretty much the activity we do every year. Um 38,000 Chromebooks. Uh we provide new devices to our third graders, our sixth graders, and ninth graders. Obviously, we also um refurbish a number of uh devices so we can reutilize them. Last year, we also made sure that every staff member had a new including you uh new uh you know um device. So, we made sure we we keep up with that refresh uh to make sure they have the equipment and the technology they need to support the instruction. So, we took care of that. Um
115next line is the resources. Obviously to support all this technology we need to have a solid uh help desk in place. So 140,000 odd tickets were generated. We were able to provide the support needed there. And the next one is the digital resource product library any piece of technology whether it is software has to re be reviewed by our team to make sure it is safe and secure. We want to make sure the digital ecosystem what we have is safe and secured. So we did that activity of um 387 requests. So almost 356 requests were processed. Uh the next line item is all the core infrastructure supporting the instruction which goes into the school. We were able to increase the internet speed by about 50%. To all the schools u so that is something we
116are really proud of. Uh next one and I'm trying to see. All right. Uh next one is the refresh the internet infrastructure in 46 schools last year. Obviously we have to make sure the core infrastructure which is the uh infrastructure which supports the internet and the network and everything is refreshed. We were able to refresh in 46 schools last year. The overall uptime for our internet uh in our schools is about 99.7. uh that's pretty um good um rate and then over 160 schools had over 100% availability of the internet all through the year. So with that um that is my one or two slides and happy to take any questions. >> All right. Are there any questions Miss Edmonds? >> So just to clarify the Prometheian boards all of our schools have them. This
117was just what was added last school year. >> Correct. So overall we added about close to 12,000 odd promethium boards. We're at about 95%. There are about still about 20 odd schools left. We're going to finish up uh those schools. Um so about 300 boards still left to be installed >> and that'll be done by the end of this school year. >> That is correct. >> Okay. And then um my second question is uh well it's not really a question, it's a comment request. Um again with the lots of budget uncertainty for 2026 um and and this may not even be in consideration but um if the time if if the time comes to consider I'd ask us to please be very thoughtful about not replacing any staff devices unless it's absolutely necessary. Um, I
118do appreciate having, you know, updated current technology that is useful and supports teaching um, and supports our administrators both school-based and based in this office, but um, and I don't have a sense of the percent. I know it's in our budget book, but not having that in front of me. I just if that's at all helpful, a place where we can save and and I ask us that we be very thoughtful about that. >> Thank you for that question, Mr. Edmonds. I think that uh going back to the staff uh devices, we refreshed last year, so we're good for another I would say four years, three and a half to four years, so we don't have to worry about them. >> All right. Thank you, Miss We'll do Miss Rice, then Vice Swanson. >> Okay.
119Thank you. Um, chair, I I'm I'm trying to make sure I understand um my colleague statement. I'm a I'm a little um perplexed considering talking when we're talking. You said we have another four years or so before we have to >> we have to refresh the staff divides, >> right? And so the the thing that I have to remind us about it and and it make I get our budget restraints and all of those good things, but at the end of the day where we are right now, that's how teachers teach. Every student has a Chromebook. Every teacher has to have it. Their stuff has to be up to date. They can't do their jobs. I don't know a school in Wake a student in Wake County school system right now isn't learning on their
120device, whether it's in the classroom, whether they take it home. And so if our teachers don't have what they need to do their job, we don't have books, we have paper limits. So for me, I need for staff to have all that they need technology-wise because that's the only way that they're teaching our kids right now. If there's another way that we're teaching that I'm completely missing, then I've been missing something. What my kids only been gone since May and um that's the only way he learned and the only way he learned was if the teacher uploaded because the teachers are uploading the lessons in Canvas and the other way. And if their systems aren't working correctly or don't have the new refresh and updates, then they can't actually post stuff and do it correctly
121and appropriately. I could be wrong. Please correct me if I don't know. But um that's just my thoughts. I think I just want to make sure that we're not I think I think I hear I mean it's it's anyway I just don't see our Chromebooks and the teachers computers and technology is something that's an option at this point where we are and where we're going and so I just know unless we got some new textbooks coming I don't know about. >> So Mr. Dr. Bulla in Badulla in your professional opinion what is the average life cycle or time period for a laptop? Do laptops and Chromebooks need to be replaced every year or is there a certain best practice or what does the industry recommend in terms of refresh time? >> Thank you for that
122question. Um so if you look at a Windows device which is primarily of a staff devices you're looking at about 3 years 3 to four years life cycle right. So my response was we replaced last year which is literally less than an year. So we have a little bit about another three three and a half uh years left on those devices. Chromebook is the same thing probably lesser age maybe about two and a half to three years on that but we do repurpose. We kind of uh you know uh refurbish and we repurpose them. >> Thank you. And if something did happen where one became nonfunctional it would be replaced ahead of the refurbished schedule. >> Right. And we have support on those Windows devices. For example >> from the vendor. So if something goes
123wrong, they will fix it. Even when they cross that support, we have an internal uh technical team who actually can fix that and make sure we kind of maximize the life period of that particular device and we are doing that for the Windows device and also for the Chromebooks. >> Great. Thank you Dr. Ring. >> Yes. Um just to kind of um uh uh go along with that just the what I mean what part of the laptop is the requires um you to um change it or I mean meaning is it is it a component in it? Is it the operating system? Is it the you know is it just slowing down because of all the apps that you put in? um what what kind of things are we dealing with that causes us to
124have to re you know replace them? >> Yeah, great question uh Dr. Ring. So there are two components software and hardware. Software components are something you have to update on a periodic basis and all the updates you get while you're doing your work sometimes and we have to do that for two reasons. To make sure all the applications which are running uh they done they run seamlessly. That's number one. Number two also to make sure your laptop is safe and secure the security updates right. So when you come to hardware hardware when we bought these devices last year we made sure the configuration of the hardware what we bought is good for the next four to five years. So if somebody drops a device and that's a whole different issue because we have to replace
125it and everything. >> Go ahead. >> Um and then you mentioned earlier that you the new laptops are provided to the younger grades students. Is that correct? >> No, I'm talking about the staff laptops. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, staff laptops. Everybody got the uh Windows laptops last year. >> Okay. But but you did mention about >> Yeah. The Chromebooks. >> The Chromebooks. Right now, the way we are doing is we are providing new Chromebooks for the third graders, sixth graders, and ninth graders. >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. So that they they can carry on through the correct course of their >> transition into the next uh you know, middle school or high school and all that. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Gordon. >> Are we seeing more of a um cost in replacing
126um educator uh devices or student devices? >> Obviously student. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Vice Swanson. >> Yes. And I wanted to uh I know we've been having discussions about CIP and uh technology funding regarding the onetoone device and um I think as we look through this perhaps there could be some shifts that could take place with ensuring that um you know K3 or K4 are not having Chromebooks but a class set if we're trying to be useful and and thinking outside the box. But that's just a suggestion. I I think we've had some early discussions. And I know the chair has put some discussions together about that and so I just wanted to lift that up and you know put it out there since I thought it was appropriate with this discussion.
127>> Yeah. >> And Chief Pedull, you will be coming back to us later kind of talking about some of these specific recommendations and where we might look to either maximize efficiency or look to other devices just in sort of right sizing our technology. Is that right? >> That's correct. That's correct. We got your feedback in the last session. We're putting all that together and we're going to come forward with all those options and recommendations and then >> talk about those. >> Okay. So, we'll have we'll have a more extended discussion correct at that time. >> That's right. >> Okay. >> I wanted to also add that um during those discussions where we talked about reductions in the CIP even though uh the board had not uh made any an official um position on what those
128numbers were. uh Chief Bullah and his team uh have made u recommendations based on what we uh would anticipate that reduction would be and so they've already prepared for those adjustments. >> All right. Thank you. Any final questions? All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Dr. Robinson or Dr. Keith Alford offered Keith. >> Thank you Sasha. So once again, thank you for the opportunity for allowing us to be able to present. Can you continue to show the uh slide deck, please? I have a couple of more slides. Thank you. And so here, this is one of the things that we wanted to definitely share with you. This is our forecast uh with regards to the additional strategic plan deep dives that we have scheduled. But more importantly than what you see on
129the screen, we wanted to provide you an opportunity to really give us some feedback if there is anything that is specific that you would like for us to be able to bring that is of interest to you um that we may not have included. And so as we prepare for the next strategic plan update, are there any areas you would like to us to approach differently or enhance more forward? So, we really need feedback with regards to how can we make this better and more impactful and meaningful for the board and we're giving you the information that you want. >> Miss Gordon, >> that was a hand, right? >> Yes, it was. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um, I I can appreciate the the in-depth information and um effort that it has taken to, you
130know, provide us with this information. I think for me um if we are moving forward with this like continuous improvement mindset when we're presented with data if we are presented with the glows and the grows and everything is not just like gleaming um because when we don't know where we need to improve we can't improve um and so I will just say that around like the data that we're presented with. >> Thank you, ma'am. Glosses and Grows. >> And then the only thing that I would add would just be as wonderful a presentation as this is, if we could get it maybe uploaded or shared with the board a little bit earlier, okay, >> that'll just help us digest it so that when we come with questions, we've had time to think about them. And
131some questions we can ask offline, right? Rather than, you know, asking it at the board level. or if you hear the same question from several board members, it might mean that it's something to address in the meeting. >> So, that'd be great. Thank you, Dr. Hank. >> Um, yeah, thank you. Um, I think, uh, I I enjoyed even though I say no, we don't want to go through it today, I did enjoy the information. uh um but but I think an approach that maybe cons can consider maybe like a problem based approach to present presenting this information perhaps you know like you know because so many of these uh are kind of crosscutting for different departments and you know if we have a problem that that we can present as the original you know issue
132and how does it relate to you know this department this that department and how do how do you guys work together to to uh solve a problem I mean it's just I don't I know it's not as comprehensive as what you you guys have done uh today and previous sessions but it may be helpful for us to think through the uh how it you know works in real life. >> Yes sir. Thank you. >> All right Miss Edmonds. >> Thank you. Um, this is in no way directed at board leadership. Uh, but I feel like we owe you more of our agenda time in going forward. Um, it's been noted I'm sure not I mean with all of us that um this is not today is not the first time that we've encroached on your
133agenda time. So I think we all um in a in a unified way um need to really dedicate some time um to prior prioritizing what you all have to share with us um perhaps putting you first on agenda things like that. So um just a a call for all of us to again in a unified way because I'm not picking on our board leadership um that we make sure we give you the the time that is due. Thanks. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Edmonds. Anything else, Miss Russ? >> Um, well, Dr. Robinson, you know, I absolutely love our strategic plan, and I'll share a little bit about it in my board comments later. Um, one of the things that you're asking us here, what I would like to see is, um, in each one
134of our priorities and then, um, within some of our aims, I think someone's probably already said it, how we how do we help um, how do we show like what we did tonight with um, community engagement, our metrics, and like where we actually are. we got to see a little bit of data around surveyed of like where we are with meeting those 2028 um target goals. Um I think those are lofty goals. I think those are um goals of excellence and I think we can do it. I'm just interested in in everything that we do as board comes as um staff I'm sorry comes to us. I'm really I'm always looking even though I know we list what um our priority is and our aim is every time they come and present. We talking about
135it and how it fits, but I'm looking to see the measurements of where we actually are in doing it. So, we can talk about it all day long, but as you this is this is your baby. You put it together. I need to see how do we meet the mark? Are we hitting the target for 2028? And then what do we need to do as a board to support staff or um push it more in the culture to bring those um timelines align to where we need to be. So I really would like to see a little bit more measure measurements um as we move forward. And every time that we're presenting, when staff do it, can they also share in that um slides that they do, share share where you are in that goal
136in your measurement? Are you at 58% out of the 95% or are you really at 85% of that? So, what does that measurement look like? Because come 2028 when it's time to show the measurement, I don't want to see, well, we tried really, really hard. No, show us where we are so that we as a board can kind of make some more some more um uh direct decisions about where our funding needs to be and so the superintendent can see where he needs to allocate things a little bit better within the district um as we assess and measure. Thank you. >> All right. Any final thoughts? Vice Chair Swanson? >> You know, I thank you Dr. Robinson, Dr. Aler Keefe, and all the folks who've worked on this. I think it's important to show how
137all of this comes together and I've been paying attention to the strategic plan since I voted on it in 2022 three. So it never went in the shelf and I just forgot about it. It's a living document. And so one thing not only as a board to pay attention, but the community is inviting you all to BAC meetings which you will be coming to district 9's BAC on December the 11th to talk about the strategic plan and where we are after the state releases the data. So, we have to be very strategic when we're pulling this out because some of the data that we want to take deep dives into is is um not fully released yet due to its embargo is the word I was looking for. So, I I think there's a lot
138of work and we know when we put this plan together that it was going to take some time to move the needle. So, I think it's important to see where we're making strides, where we need to do a little bit more work and how we are and also how we're being transparent to the public. a lot of folks would not necessarily put their data out when they're not meeting the mark or not saying that we're doing this. So, I think it's important that we are owning that that yes, there are some wins, but there's also more things for us to do. And I also think, you know, the piece with the school improvement plans. We haven't discussed that since the LA, you know, since we pulled those things out. So, I think there's things that
139we're doing to move the needle if folks are paying attention. And so, thank you all for the work. And um I guess it's no I guess we'll give them a sneak preview that this is not going away and it'll be coming out at our upcoming retreat and all that and we'll be doing deeper dives and breakouts and all that. So it's not going on a shelf. There's things that we need to do and I think also it's important that as we move the work in our committees is to pick pieces of the strategic plan and discuss them in the committees that you have the ability to do that. So, it requires all of us to move this work and not to necessarily do it along. And I I think um we could use an entire
140month or whatnot to really do deep dives, but we know that with everything that's going on, we have to maneuver. And so, I just want to thank the chair for allowing us to push this on the forefront um as quickly as we can and and doing the work that we have to really show where we are and where we're choosing to go forward um not just in 2028, but beyond. Thank you. >> And I think that's an appropriate place to end. Thank you, Dr. Robinson. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, at this time on our agenda, we would move to information items. And the first information item are comments by our superintendent, Dr. Robert Taylor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh I would like to start by speaking plainly to our public about our
141response to reports of immigration enforcement actions in our area uh which address uh which we address in a message to our staff and the community today. Uh we recognize these develop developments have created uncertainty and stress and I want to use this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to every Wake County student and family. Uh our primary and non-negotiable mission is to provide a safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environment for every child regardless of their background or citizenship status. Uh this commitment is legally grounded in the Supreme Court's decision in plier veto which guarantees the right to a public education for all children residing within our boundaries. Uh so we want to reassure our community that our district has always followed federal and state laws and will continue to do so. Uh while that does include
142complying with law enforcement actions as prescribed by law, it also includes honoring all laws protecting the rights and privacy of students. And to that end, our district does not ask for or record information about the immigration status of any student or family. Uh, school leaders were reminded today of the strict procedures that law enforcement agencies must follow when interacting with students on our school property. Should immigration enforcement personnel seek to access seek access to a campus, our building leaders will immediately uh will immediately consult with legal counsels who ensure compliance with all applicable laws. So we strongly encourage any family whose child has social emotional needs related to these developments to reach out to their schools uh and the student services teams that are there. Above all, we want our families to know that the
143safety, privacy, and right to a sound education is guaranteed in this district for every student. And we will do everything in our power to ensure that remains the case. And so with that, I I want to shift our focus now to recognize an absolutely crucial role in our schools, and that is uh the intervention coordinator. Tomorrow, November 19th, is intervention coordinator day, and we are proud to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight spotlight on these dedicated professionals. These staff members are instructional leaders who work collaboratively with fellow educators to make sure every student is getting the support they need to be successful. Intervention coordinators are responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring intervention plans as well as analyzing multiple data sources to tailor instruction to student needs. They also provide essential professional learning and coaching
144to their colleagues, which elevates the instructional capacity of the entire school. Their expertise is essential in managing the supplemental and intensive interventions that operate within our multi-tered system of supports. We call that MTSS framework. This framework allows us to address the academic, behavioral and social emotional growth of our students through rigorous datadriven problem solving. Intervention coordinators are the navigators who ensure every child receives the right support at the right time. They play an essential role in our mission to make sure every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential. So we are asking our schools to celebrate their intervention coordinators on social media using the hashtag WCPSsis appreciation. And so if your child has ever benefited from the work of an intervention coordinator, uh I hope you'll um also take the opportunity to express
145your gratitude. Uh I also want to take a quick moment to recognize our board chair, Mr. Hagerty. Um and and I know he was probably not expecting me as he's looking at me like what is he about to say? Uh but uh he had um the distinct opportunity to be a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School. Uh I didn't say Howard, I said Harvard. Uh and I just want to recognize um he took the opportunity to talk to students about their professional conduct uh and arbitration. And to me that is um a tribute to uh the members that we have on the Wake County Public School Board. Uh and I know that uh the central um um central um um >> the legal eagles. >> Yeah, the legal eagles. Central University is proud of their
146alumni and so I just wanted to to say how proud we are of you for representing at uh Harvard Law School. >> Appreciate it. Howard's next. >> Howard is next. Okay. Uh, and at this time, um, Mr. Drew Cook, if you could come forward to the podium. >> Um, I know you weren't expecting this. Uh, uh, um, but I next would like to take a moment to acknowledge the upcoming retirement of a dedicated WCPSS educator, Mr. Drew Cook, our assistant superintendent for academics. Uh, Drew's commitment to this district is profoundly personal. Thank you, Mr. Okay. Uh, he is a product of Wake County Public School System, graduating from Garner High School, the class of 1992. Man, I must be old as I was in the 80s graduate. My man, his career came full circle when
147he returned to Garner High School in 1996 as a beloved teacher. He later became a highly regarded assistant principal and principal at his alma mater leading the successful implementation of the IB magnet program. His impact as a leader was widely recognized when he was named the WCPSS principal of the year in 2011 and regional principal of the year in 2012. After moving to central services, Drew played a pivotal role in creating innovative programs such as Crossroads Flex uh and an innovative online program to give dropouts the opportunity to earn their high school diplomas. He served in his current role since 2019, leading the entire academics department with his characteristic grace and humility through immense challenges including the pandemic. Uh he leaves us having recently earned a 2024 employee excellence award, a fitting tribute to his
148years of service. So Drew, uh thank you for your kind and dedicated leadership. Uh you leave a legacy of innovative, compassionate service to both our students and our teachers and principles. And I can tell you will be greatly missed, but we wish you all the best uh in your welldeserved retirement. Uh and Drew, you will continue to hear me say I think the greatest honor that we can have as an educator is when we are considered an institution. Uh and that is what you have become. So please join me uh in a round of applause uh for Mr. Drew Cook. And Drew, I do want to give you an opportunity to say some words. >> No, it's late. Um, >> you got time, man. I >> No, I just And you did catch me off
149guard, but it's very much appreciated and very humbling. It's been my honor to to work in this district since 1997. Um, all I wanted to do was be a basketball coach and a high school social studies teacher. And it's amazing the journey that this profession takes you on. Um it has been truly a blur. It's gone by so fast. Um you know some of the things Dr. Taylor you just read I forgot that I did and forgot that I was involved in but truly and humbly it's been my pleasure. um every day. We don't always agree on all the details, but have always felt have always felt it even in this room that our hearts are in the right place even when our minds are in different places about where we need to go and
150how we're going to get there. And so, um I'm excited about the future of the Wake County Public School System. Um, I'm a third generation Wake County public school system educator and so I've got a daughter who is employed as a high school social studies teacher right now. Um, and so I'm I'm excited about where she and the district are going to be going. There's great things ahead. Thank you so much for the opportunity and I look forward to what's next, whatever that is. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. K. Uh lastly, students at Kong Magnet Elementary got a special visit last week from former NASA astronaut and administrator, Major General Charlie Bolton. Uh General Bolton's long career included piloting the mission that launched a Hubble Space Telescope. Uh he shared stories and lessons from
151his career before taking questions from students. Uh his visit set the stage for Khan students to make radio contact with the International Space Station in Jan January. So, take a look at this video from General Bolton's visit. >> In January, students at Con Magnet Elementary will have the opportunity to make contact with the International Space Station. Before that, they got a very special visit from former astronaut and director of NASA Charles Balden. Mr. Balden shared his journey from his school days all the way to venturing to space and answered many questions from the students. Um, this is one of my heroes. This is Dr. Franklin Chang from San Jose, Costa Rica. When we go to space, we're going so fast. We're going 17,500 mph. At that speed, we're is actually trying to pull the spacecraft
152away from gravity, trying to break it free of gravity. Students enjoyed the presentation and left with an ambition to reach for the stars. >> And since I learned all about him, I was super excited to meet him. I've always been fascinated by space and ever since I was seven, I've always wanted to be an astronaut. >> The lesson that I've tried to give them right in the beginning, don't ever let anybody tell them what they can't do. You know, dream their dreams and then do whatever it takes to make it happen. Believe in themselves. Uh study really hard, work hard. Most important thing is don't never be afraid of failure. That's okay. You know, if you try something and you fail, that's okay. Uh just keep going. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those my comments. Omega
153Man in Space. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Taylor. Uh what I'd like to do for the board comments is if Mr. Hershey is still here, I'd like to give him the opportunity to go first. >> Still here. >> All right. >> I will be brief and then I will uh drop off so you don't have to take a roll call vote to go to close session in a little bit. Um, I just want to thank the members of the community who came out to speak tonight on behalf of our other members in the community who are feeling uh a lot of emotions today, tomorrow, the next day. And I also want to thank um the members of the community in general throughout Wake County who are making their voices heard, who are standing up
154for what's right, who are standing up for our students and our families. Uh you know, we hear you. Keep doing it, please. It is so meaningful and so powerful and uh I will never back down from diversity makes us stronger. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Hershey. Uh we'll proceed with our other board members for board comment. We'll start with Miss Edmonds. >> Yeah. Um today was a very hard day. Um, I want to thank the superintendent and his team for your leadership and all on your team for their leadership in this moment. Thank you to all of our school-based staff who did their best to put families at ease and students at ease. As a board member, I can say just my personal experience that it was very hard, extremely hard to
155focus on today's board business knowing that people in our community and particularly Wake County public school families were potentially subject to what I describe as a form of domestic terrorism. The presence of ICE, whether it's here in Wake County or elsewhere, causes real unnecessary and long-term trauma. I really appreciate the speaker that lifted up ACE's adverse childhood experiences. The fear and trauma imposed on our children's developing minds and hearts brought on by these bands of masked men and women armed head to toe indiscriminately showing up in public spaces, neighborhoods, businesses, and even schools. Whether or not that happened in Wake County schools today, that's not the point. the threat that they could show up in our schools, that fear and trauma imposed on our children will be with them for the rest of their lives.
156The adults, too. We are tasked with educating these children who've been traumatized who are living through that trauma. And because we're Wake County, we are also tasked with supporting their families. I know we're all committed to doing that, but let us acknowledge how much harder days like today make that work. I'll end here. Um, but I do want to lift up the organization Sam Cumbra NC who work around the clock to support North Carolina residents who are targeted by ICE. They offer trainings for allies and concern community members. You can find them at cumbranc.org. Lastly, um my district 5 BAC will be on Monday, November 24th at 5:30 p.m. at Westlake Elementary. And we will be hearing, this was already on the agenda, we'll be hearing about the many student services available in our district
157that support student mental health and well-being. Thank you to Miss Woodson and her team for bringing that to us. Thank you, Chair. >> Thank you, Miss Edmonds. Dr. Thank you. Um um last night um the district 3 board advisory council met at Abbottz Creek um elementary school and I want to thank Dr. McMillan and his staff um for from the data uh research and accountability for giving us a presentation. Um, and I want to thank the PTA there for hosting the meeting. And I also especially want to be uh thank uh principal of Trantham for her dedication to the school. Um, she even brought her husband along to help her clean up the school, the the media center afterwards. So, that's that's the kind of dedication uh uh that she displays. And speaking of Abbottz
158Creek, I I was happy to hear that the school just joined the share program, which stands for Stop Hunger and Restore Earth. This is the partnership between WCPSS and Toward Zero Waste to help recover unconsumed food from the cafeteria and use them to feed the students and not the landfills. And um I uh I've heard a lot of good things from other schools, so I'm happy to see that it's uh coming to District 3. Um, and speaking of feeding our students, uh, we are so grateful to have the district White Angel funds, uh, this past year. Um, even though, you know, um, you know, it was well used, it does need to be replenished. Um, so there is an opportunity, uh, coming up to contribute to the Angel Fund. Um, on December 4th, the organization
159for Children Partners is hosting an Eat, Drink, and Be Giving event, a night of raising awareness about how addressing food insecurity can help make a positive impact on learning. So, my predecessor, Roxy Cash, um, who is also on the board of directors for, um, for Children's Partners, brought this to my attention. Um, it will be held at Bri Creek Country Club on December 4th at 6 PM. So, it'll be a fun night of food and fellowship. Plus, there will be an auction and, uh, you can purchase tickets to the event on their website, www.4childpartners.org. Uh, for is F. Um, a portion of each ticket and the proceeds from the auction will go towards supporting the systemwide angel fund. Um, you can buy single tickets or you can be a silver, gold or platinum partner. And
160I wish to thank Miss Cash for her continued advocacy beyond her uh uh tenure here. Uh finally, as we continue to to uh develop our policies on cell phone use and on artificial intelligence, I want to encourage my fellow board members and the public listening to um to listen to the uh podcast honestly from uh Barry Weiss uh dated from November 17th. Um she interviewed Jonathan Jonathan height who uh wrote the book The Anxious Generation as well as another book uh the coddling of the American mind. Um he and his books have helped spearhead a whole movement of returning children to play and exploring the real world rather than becoming addicted to devices, the social media and being consumed by the virtual world. He uh also pointed out data that showed a sharp rise in
161mental health issues um starting in 2013 with the advent of Instagram and self-facing cameras on the phones. Um but really it is more than just about technology. Um it is about the culture that we have um allowed to happen. Um, something is wrong when the number one career goal for Gen Z is to be an influencer. And something is definitely wrong when a survey showed that people would rather be famous than to be happy. >> Yeah. >> The solution does not come from our policies, our state legislations. Although there are 35 states now that have cell phone legislations, the solution really has to come from the home. And we as parents have to model the right behavior and have the right priority. So that means that we need to put those phones away at the
162dinner table and actually have a conversation with our family. And I am looking forward to seeing what our student achievement data will look like in the coming years as we start to change our relationship with technology. Um this is even more important as we figure out how we and our children navigate the arrival of AI which is already arrived. We have to be deliberate in our approach with AI AI otherwise we we may end up going down the same road. So that's it for my comments. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. and I will note with some irony I listen to the podcast but of course on my phone. >> Yeah Miss Gordon >> thank you. Um, tonight I want to speak clearly about something weighing heavily on many of our families, including my own,
163as we had to sit our boys down and have a a transparent conversation with them last night. Um, the fear created when ICE activity is reported in our communities. Um, the impact is real and so is our responsibility. Our schools must remain places of safety, stability, and trust for every student and family who walk through our doors. When families worry that simply bringing their child to school could put them at risk, learning becomes secondary to fear. And when fear enters our classrooms, it disrupts everything for everyone. Attendance, mental health, academic focus, and the sense of belonging that every child deserves in their classroom. I want to be clear, our commitment is to students, not to systems that destabilize their well-being. I know that as a district, we will continue to uphold policies that protect student
164privacy, ensure our schools are welcoming environments, and reaffirm that no child should fear accessing their right to an education. We also have a responsibility to communicate proactively, support families who feel vulnerable, and make sure our staff has the guidance and training they need to keep classrooms calm, informed, and focused on learning. And I can appreciate the message that was shared with families and staff today. Tonight, I stand with our families. I stand with our educators. And I stand firmly on the belief that every child deserves a school environment free from fear. Our policies and our actions must continue to reflect that commitment. One community threatened is all communities threatened. Thank you. >> Thank you. will come around the table to Miss Russ. >> Good evening everyone. Since our November 3rd board meeting, outstanding excellence continues
165to shine through district 4. Before I get started, I want to remind everyone that District 4 has a community meeting concerning the Ligan project on Monday, November 24th at 6 to 8:00 p.m. at Southeast Raleigh Magnet, I'm sorry, at Southeast Raleigh YMCA on Rockire Road. And our next board advisory council meeting is on Monday, December the 1st at PO Elementary School from 6:30 until 8. On November 10th in Winston Salem, I witnessed exceptional performances by Carnage Magnet Middle School, Enlo Magnet High School, and Green Level High School at the NC Music Educators Conference. This is a highly selective stage representing the highest level of statewide musical excellence. Our students and staff represented Wake County with dignity, discipline, and talent. From November the 12th through the 14th, I attended the NC School Board Association conference during
166a session on school safety. Um, attending during a session on school safety through principal self-care and well-being. I was plea pleasantly surprised but not shocked to learn that the representatives were our very own Wake County Public School staff. They delivered researchbased strategies, real solutions, and compelling data on how principal well-being directly impacts student safety and achievement. I look forward to this um information being shared with the full board soon. On November 13th, we celebrated Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. Uh community leaders, parents, students, administrators, and Southeast Raleigh football team and the Raleigh Firebirds joined together for a community walk. The second graders of Southeast Raleigh Elementary School performed a beautiful reader theater and the evening closed with a vibrant curriculum night. It was a powerful display of unity, history, and community pride. And I
167would hope that we had some information about that in our community um uh in our uh communications um as we continue to plan to bring out the highlights of what happens in Southeast Raleigh. So, our eight dimensions of wellness focus tonight, I know you're waiting for it, is spiritual wellness. Tonight, I want to highlight spiritual wellness, especially in light of the current social tensions surrounding border control, and the widespread feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and fear that many are experiencing. Spiritual wellness is not about faith alone. It is about finding purpose and meaning in life. It is a personal journey of discovery. It includes cultivating inner peace and harmony and grounding oneself in values, beliefs, and ethics that guide how we show up in the world. As you reflect, I encourage you to consider how your
168spiritual wellness tools can help you better support the emotional, social, and environmental wellness of your neighbors. Even when it may look like divisive forces seek to dismantle families or communities, remember this, they will not prosper against you so you can have a positive and productive day. That's it. >> Thank you, Vice Chair Swanson. >> Thank you. Um, I also want to say to Mr. Cook. Congratulations on his upcoming retirement and uh thanks for all the work that he's done for Wake County Public Schools and the work that he will continue to do. Um so thank you and I will say that you will most definitely be missed. I had the honor of really working closely with you and I uh during my time as student achievement chair and also I'm grateful for your wisdom and
169your steady voice that you always bring to every situation. So thank you. Um, I also want to thank the superintendent and his team for the statement that went out to many families to show that our schools are a part of our community and and um my thoughts are out with the families who are impacting this. And I often just remind, you know, was remembering the uh quote that is on the Statue of Liberty that says, "Give me your poor. Your your hurdle mass is yearning to be free." And I'll just leave that as that because I I think it's it is we're in some interesting times and our students deserve to be in a community and a place where they can feel seen, safe, and and heard um and learning without having to worry about
170distractions that students should not have to worry about at their their age. And so I am grateful that we're in a community that that centers all students and families. Um I also want to share that the chair and the superintendent and I and Miss Rice had the opportunity of attending the wake ed uh gayla stars for education where um our former most recent chief of staff um chief of schools, excuse me. Uh Jackie Ellis was honored as a friend of education or stars of education for her many service to public schools. And so it was always great to, you know, be in like-minded spaces where folks in the community are coming together around public education and preserving and protecting. And so that was such a um great event. And and you know, it's always great
171to hear some wisdom from uh Dr. Flood um his his leadership. And I will say I can no longer say that I am exhausted when he's 93 and still doing this work. Um, and so I I always look forward to hearing the wisdom that he has to drop for us. Um, and also want to just thank the chair for his um, leadership. I thought you was going there, uh, Dr. Taylor, because you were in my notes as well, for his leadership on the North Carolina School Boards Association. Um, uh, representing not just Wake County, but the entire school boards association and bringing that leadership and and that reminder there. So, thank you for the service that you've went into that. I know it's not easy juggling the chairman's role as well as being on the
172board of directors for the school board association, but you definitely represented Wake County and this board very well. So, thank you for uh that leadership. And um I will say that uh lastly, and it'll probably be forthcoming, um that the District 9 board advisory committee meeting will uh take place on December the 11th um at Adams Elementary and uh Dr. Robinson and his team will be talking about the strategic plan updates where we are, which has been a uh popular presentation that uh the community has requested. So, we will be diving into that as well. So, um that concludes my uh board comments. >> All right. Thank you, Vice Chair Swanson. Um a few things tonight. I hope you'll indulge me. Um I won't do this too often uh for too long. Um I guess
173first and foremost I want to you know that your uh colleague Miss Caulfield isn't here tonight and she is taking care of her son Alex who is coming out of surgery and we just want all of us here to to I wanted to let you know that he's progressing well but we just all wish him a very speedy recovery. He's a brave young man and it's tough you as parents we know it's it's tough when your child goes through anything like that. So, we wish her well as well as her son and hope she'll be able to join us at our next meetings. Um, the big topic tonight obviously even though it was not part of our agenda was what has been going on in our community today and the rest of you have spoken
174to it and spoken to it well. So I don't want to dwell too much on it but you know as as as Dr. Ring has pointed out in his constitutional facts you know we are a nation that you know still follows the rule of law and the rule of law in the United States as cited by Dr. Taylor, maybe a future attorney. We'll see. Uh, the Piler versus Do decision again does guarantee all children the right to access to public education regardless of citizenship status. And our district has always complied with federal law and state laws will continue to do so. But just as importantly, the reason why we are here is to ensure that our schools remain safe and welcoming spaces for all students and all families. And I know that there are some
175people in our community that hear that and maybe they don't understand some of the concern or outrage or they don't understand why it's it's elicited this reaction and these comments. And what I would like to just ask if I have a right to do so would be I would encourage them to talk to someone to talk to someone who has been profiled racially profiled or someone who has a fear for their personal safety because it may not be in their life experience. They may not understand it. But if they just take the time to talk to someone who is experiencing that fear, that anxiety, learn about their life experience, and why this is a concern, what they or their family or their parents have been through. I hope it'll create more understanding and more dialogue
176and help us move to a better place than some of the division that we've seen in our country lately. Um, moving on to um some other topics. I thank you, Vice Chair Swanson, for referencing the North Carolina School Boards Association. Um, I did complete two years on the board of directors, four years. And, you know, funny story, every time I go to these meetings, they always know what's in Wake County's business. They're always asking me, they ask me about you all. They see you. You are all stars for the rest of the state. Um, but this has been a very valuable opportunity. I appreciate um being able to serve in that capacity and bring Wake County's voice to those state deliberations and hope that I've made a meaningful contribution to them. Um, I mentioned earlier
177today the four of us that were able to go to the schoolboard association convention and again this is always something that has is a a valuable experience. Dr. Taylor joined us there as well. Um, and it's a great opportunity to hear from others around the state about best practices, new information, new ideas, and I'm going to personally bring back several of the new ideas that um, you know, I learned about and share those with you in in future meetings. Um, and I know it doesn't always work out with everyone's schedule, especially, you know, we have a very busy November, but I would encourage your continued participation in the organization. So this even though we have two more official meetings of the board before our annual meeting, this will be my last regular board meeting sitting
178in this chair in this role. And I wanted to take a moment. This is what I was asking you to indulge me just to go back and talk about a little bit about the last two years that we've all been through together or as soon into that two years as you joined us. Um because you know there have been highs and there have been lows. This has been a difficult year for public education and we see a lot going on in the national news, but I don't want that to take away what you all have been able to accomplish sitting around this table in those two years. And I wanted to reflect on some of we talk about the glows and the grows, right? On on some of those highlights because we've done a lot,
179but we still have some unfinished business. I look in areas of safety and student safety and we work to put Nlloxxone in every school in this district and have staff trained to administer it saving lives. We have since I've been here probably the achieved the most SRO stability in terms of having a multi-year agreement in place that focuses on continuing education and training which is something we emphasized focuses on deescalation and with the creation of our SRO survey we have more student and family feedback about these positions than ever before and that is that is not always been the case in the district and I think that's something you all should be proud of. We've added uh new security infrastructure because of security issues. We can't talk about all of it. And I think very
180significantly we've had a I think a very effective gun storage safety campaign that we continue to partner with sheriffs, the sheriff's office and local law enforcement on again working to save lives. in terms of our students mental and and physical health. You know, Dr. Ring, I don't know if you took up took a look at it in my notes earlier, but you referenced a lot of the areas where we've done a lot of work. You know, we joined with other school districts around the country to bring a class action lawsuit and demand accountability from the social media firms. We're still that's still in progress. But it was a valuable and important statement as we recognize the addictive qualities of social media and how unhealthy these algorithms can be for our students well-being. We've adopted a
181mobile phone policy. We, you know, again, the state came and told us we had to, but we were we had started and we were well on our way. Um, in in terms of physical health, we've referenced the angel fund and more intentional work than we've ever done trying to ensure that every student that comes to our school that is hungry gets fed. We've expanded the, you know, community eligibility program to provide more meals to more students at more schools in Wake County than ever before. Even little things like the food recovery programs that share program that Dr. Ding had referenced. You know, they've they've added a new one in Brier Creek in my district. You know, Sam, I know he dropped off, but you know, he was was pushing this. They push it from a
182sustainability perspective, but it's also important for a lot of our schools that those meals are available to any student that can come and get them anytime, no stigma, get something to eat. We have new anti- vaping programs and, you know, a real commitment to student mental health with our student mental health plans, which again are new to the district in terms of our school buildings. You know, we started off 2023 rough, right? And going into the the 23 24 year, but we have addressed shortages. And while we still have a way to go, we have seen improvements in the number of bus routes running, in improving our late and delayed routes and filling vacancies, and in terms of um our HVAC outages from last year to this year. This one's a little personal to me,
183but we saved Morrisville High School when staff came to us and told us that the original site was unsuitable and we were able to pivot and keep a high school plan for that community, that traditional high school. We created our first sustainability policy, which is something, you know, I've been working on and had been unsuccessful at it for years on this board. and we've hired a sustainability coordinator. We've already heard from our chief of uh chief of technology, but it was a big lift increasing our internet infrastructure. Things like this Oracle migration, it can get very technical, but that has been a major issue for the district for years and it was great to see the progress that was made in terms of our schools. Um well, also, you know, Infinite Campus as well. um
184getting an SIS up as smoothly as as we did was no mean feat at all. The speaking of our schools, we saved the Wake Young Men's and Young Women's Leadershipmies. When that process started, there was no guarantee there was going to be a happy ending because so much stood against us. But we worked hard. We worked with staff, with parents, with our legislators, and we got that done. We restored the senior teacher exemption from extracurricular duty. You know, that was something that was eliminated by statute and we sort of went along with it until we came back and said, you know what, that is a benefit for our teachers that we can provide, especially in an area where benefits are getting slimmer. Um, we created the community engagement committee, which did not exist before. And
185we've seen the community engagement fairs and expanded communication throughout our district with our families. Our magnet schools and our blue ribbon schools for the support of military families continue to win national awards and recognition. And historically, we saw the greatest investment by Wake County in our public schools. That's a lot. Now, we didn't get everything done that I hope we would. There's a lot of things that are still in progress. We're continue to work with the superintendent on the creation of an OMBbuds program and helping improve our citizen and our employee grievance and complaint process. We've started planning, but it'll be for our next chair to lead our 50th anniversary celebration. And you actually heard from one of my constituents, Mattie Seagull, who came out today talking about Lisa, if I call her, Lisa, Chief
186Luton, and the job she did at our BAC. There is exciting stuff planned, you all, and I hope you all be here to see it. Um, a legislative agenda and legislative progress. We probably made a lot more progress than we have on several key items, but I didn't think I'd be sitting here in November telling you we're still waiting on a budget. But if we get as as as we've talked about some of those key items that are in the House budget, we will have some real incremental but real progress that we can take pride in. our a we've started and are still on track developing our AI policy and examining the appropriate level of of technical uh equipment that our children need in schools. We've begun to reform our CIP priorities to prioritize renovation
187and taking care of our existing facilities. Again, I was hoping before my last meeting as chair we would have those in place, but I'm going to keep pushing that and pushing y'all on that. And I'm hope I hope that we'll continue the progress in that regard. I'm proud of the collaboration we've had with our county commissioners. We've had more joint meetings than we've had before. uh working with Vice Chair Swanson, he pioneered this idea of these municipal roundts, getting better relations with our other local governments and going back to our county commission and to our municipal government. We think we can help contribute to solving some of our problems with affordable housing. And that is so important, especially when you consider how many of our own staff would qualify, aren't in need of affordable housing
188in our community. Finally, again, we've had the that we've begun the historic reorganization of our resources with the new regional model we heard about today. It's launched, but it's still being built. But I'm excited to see that. And we're not we're not as far along as I hope we would be, but we've made great progress. And again, um, we've begun examination of our risk management process and the restrictions on extracurricular curricular activities. And I hope we'll continue to take that seriously because we know those kinds of activities help keep kids in school. And it's not it it's never given headline status, but attendance is one of the key factors in student engagement and success. So finally, there are some things left undone that I'd hoped I'd be able to make some progress on. I began
189working as your chair with the idea that we could identify some alternative stream of revenue from the county, from local government, working with the state. But even though we began research on that, much of this year has been spent kind of jumping from crisis to crisis and looking to replace lost grant revenue or suspended federal revenue. And even though there's still a lot of good ideas out there, I'm sorry we weren't able to actually identify that because even though we we even though our needs are probably greater than what we might be able to identify in some of these streams, you know, every dollar is needed as we've talked about. I was hoping that we could do more for K3 class size reform. And again, we had some interest on the House side. Um, but
190that'll be suspended for someone else. Um, and I hope I hope one of you g gets to see that succeed. Um, I am still waiting on our organizational study and our marketing market competitive study. I understand we're making progress. I had hoped we would see that launched. I'm hoping we'll see something soon. And you know, finally with with you know, we I've talked about the maintenance and operations and the formula alignment and then CNS long-term sustainability. This is going to be a problem that's with us. I think we have made some great strides and we've put more attention on this than I think we've seen before. We still need more and we won't solve this problem, but I think we need a direction. We need a plan um or at least a plan for a
191plan and how we can continue to work forward with that. On academic progress, we continue to make progress academically recovering from the dips that we saw since um you know remote learning in the pandemic. We did see a little slip in graduation rates this year, but we are continuing to make incremental progress in proficiency in test scores. But I really hope going forward we'll find some better way to capture really the the suitability the the the better measure of what we mean by college and career readiness. You know, life is more than a test score. And we've seen amazing students come out of this district and do amazing things, whether it's college, whether it's entrepreneurs, whether it's in the military. And you know, I'm confident that we are producing a high quality graduate that are
192out there giving back, being productive members of our community. And I'd love to find some way that we can better capture that. And I know the NCDPI is looking at some different ways to measure the student impact and student performance. And I hope we can look to them to see some ways that we could capture that in Wake County. So you've still got me for two more meetings, but this will be my last long address to close the meeting. So thank you all very much. I have enjoyed working with you in this position. I hope you've feel that you've been able to make a difference, that you've been heard and been able to raise issues that have been important to you. And with that, I'll conclude my remarks and I'll entertain a motion in reference
193to close session. >> Chair, I move that we go into close session to address the items that are on the agenda. Um, sorry, my computer died so I can't pull it up, but the items that are referenced in our closed session. So to consider confidential personal information protect under GS143-318.11 A6 and 115C-31 I'm sorry- 319. also to consult with the board of education attorney and preserve attorney client privilege as provided in the GS43318.1183 and finally to consult with the board of education attorney to preserve the attorney client privilege as provided in GS143-318.1183 due to current litigation May County Board of Educ Education versus HAS Properties LLC. >> Is there a >> second? We have a second from Miss Rice. Mr. Hershey has dropped off so we can return to a voice vote. All in favor
194of moving to close session for the statutory reasons cited by your vice chair say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, we will move into close session. Thank you everyone.