2025-05-06 Board Meeting

001[Music] I'm trying to make Yeah. Are you sure you got a seat? Just realized I have a spot on my dress. Oh no. We're going to turn this way. Okay. Okay. We go turn this way. I missed that. Sorry. Can't tell you guys. My Thank you for coming in. Okay, I don't want to see education right up here. I teach Yes. Can I ask you? You want me to social. I'm the only one. All right. Good evening everyone. Today is Tuesday, May the 6th, 2025. It is 5:33 and we are going to call this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order. I want to welcome all of you who are watching at home today and those of you who are joining us here in person. Wake County Board of Education meetings

002are conducted for the purpose of carrying out the official business of the 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 com from by refraining from loud comments or any other disruptions. Disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with general statute 143 318 318.17. We do have all of our board members present tonight and so we do have a full quorum. I would now ask all of you who are able to please stand and join us as we say the

003pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. The first item on our agenda is approval of the meeting agenda. Um and before we start, I wanted to entertain any motions. Vice Chair Swanson. Thank you, Chair Heardy. I make a um motion to amend the agenda to uh add the recommendations for HR for um sorry um to amend the agenda to include the HR recommendations for administration and for the appointment administration appointments and for the recommendations for employment to be the new item. Uh uh number four. Number number four. That'll that'll come in right there between approval of the agenda and public comment. Correct. All right. Is there a second for the motion? Second.

004We have a second from Miss Edmonds. All in favor of amending the agenda to add approval of to move approval of the administrative appointments as they've been reviewed and adopted during close session to our next item of business that would take place after adoption of the meeting agenda. Please say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. Uh we have that amendment to the agenda. Are there any further amendments? Vice Chair Swanson, I have one more amendment. Um Mr. Chair, I would also uh entertain a motion uh or make a motion rather to add the proclamation from the county commissioners to be the um item X, which says information items uh for I do not know why I'm losing my train of words today. Sorry. Um to be the new uh information item. Sorry. Thank

005you. Is the So, if I understand the motion, this would add uh Wake County Board of Commissioners proclamation to our information items continued currently listed under X on the unmended agenda. That is correct. Thank you for cleaning that up for me, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? We have a second for Mr. Hershey. For board members information, we did receive a proclamation from the Wake County Commission only moments ago by Corer. We will we will work to get a copy available to you all before it is read. Um there's no action that's being taken. It's only an information item, but they have they have worked to send it over to us and so we will have it read for read to everyone just during our information items at the close of our

006business meeting. All right. All in favor of the motion to amend the agenda as so stated, please say I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. So now the the agenda has been amended with the two preceding amendments. We need a motion to adopt the amended agenda. Mr. Chair, I move that we adopt the newly amended agenda. We have a motion from Vice Chair Swanson, a second from I'll call it Mr. Hershey this time. All in favor of adopting the amended agenda, please say I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. We have a adopted the meeting agenda and with our amended agenda we'll turn to our first new item which is the um adoption of recommendations for administrative appointments and recommendations for employment that were previously reviewed and adopted during our closed session. We have a

007motion for Mr. Hershey to approve the administrative appointments and recommendations for employment for that we reviewed in closed session. Second. We have a second from Vice Chair Swanson. Is there any discussion or any debate? All right. If not, all in favor of approving the administrative appointments and recommendations for employment that were approved in closed session, please say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you, board. Returning to our meeting agenda, the next item that we have is public comment. So, as we move into the public comment portion of our meeting, speakers commenting on tonight's agenda will be heard before speakers commenting on other topics. All other speakers will be heard in order of their signup. We do give precedent to students that have come to speak before matters with students speaking on on agenda items

008first followed by students speaking on off agenda items. Um, only the person speaking at the podium will be able to stand at the time that someone is speaking. All attendees that are not speaking are asked to remain seated. Concerns related to personnel issues, student matters, matters under investigation may be addressed through applicable WCPSS personnel policies, the grievance policy, or other applicable policies. If there is a matter that does need urgent or immediate attention, please stay after your comment and you may be directed to speak to the appropriate member of the district staff. In the interest of maintaining civility and decorum, speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the board of education and must refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board, individual board members, staff, and most especially members of the general

009public and other public speakers. Please remain at the podium during your speaking time. Any materials you wish to share with the board should be handed to the board attorney either before or after your comments. That's Mr. Malone seated here at the end of the table. During public comment, you may speak for up to three minutes. Please note the microphones are adjustable. Your time will not begin until you begin speaking. Once you begin speaking, the green light at the podium will illuminate again showing that your time and your 3 minutes has begun. A yellow light will light up and you will hear an audible tone when there are 30 seconds remaining in your time. When your speaking time is up, you will see a red light and hear another audible tone. At that time, your time

010has expired. The next speaker will be called to the podium. Please respect the time limit and speak for no more than your three minutes. I need to pull up the amended list of speakers here. One second. All right. For our first speaker tonight, we have a student speaker. We'll first hear from Brandon Estz, who will be followed by Phoenix Bilo. Good evening, Brandon. Morning. Hi, my name is Brandon Estas and I'm a junior at Broaden High School. And I wanted to start by saying thank you. Thank you for my education. I've had amazing teachers, been pushed to grow, and honestly, I attribute the school system for giving me one of my best character traits, instilling my love of learning. But I'm here today for a few reasons. I'm scared. I'm angry. And I'm frankly tired.

011I was raised believing that if I follow the rules, if I did well in school and stayed out of trouble and worked hard, then I'd be set. That effort would equal opportunity. That I'd earn a stable job, a decent life, and a future doing what I love. But now that promise feels more and more like a lie. Every day it feels like the system around me is crumbling and under attack. I'm applying to college next year and the Department of Education, a federal agency that doesn't even set curriculum, is failing at the one thing it is supposed to do, protect students rights. If anything, it feels like they're targeting us instead. And honestly, one of the most irritating parts is hearing adults speak on public education when they haven't been in classrooms since the last

012century. And it shows. They talk like they know what we're learning, but they don't. I'm a current student. I can tell you right now, I haven't learned anything about CRT or DEI. All I've learned is to treat people with respect and have empathy for others. Meanwhile, we have actual problems. bus driver shortages, underpaid teachers, schools that need maintenance, kids struggling with mental health, and somehow this loud and angry group of adults decides the real threat is books, gay people, all of these things that frankly are just people living their lives. I get that everyone pays taxes and I'm thankful for the chance to get a decent education because of it. But that doesn't give anyone the right to enforce their personal values onto me or any other student. People love to quote the First Amendment,

013but they forget about freedom. Religion also means freedom from religion. That freedom of expression means you get to be who you really are, not who someone else thinks you should be. And that freedom to read includes the freedom to explore ideas, even the uncomfortable ones, especially when age appropriate review processes already exist. Now, I've been told to stay quiet, that it's not safe to speak up, that saying too much could get me in trouble. And yes, I'm talking about people who've gotten arrested, arrested, and in even some cases now deported just for using their voice. But I was born here. I've lived in Raleigh my entire life. And I won't be silent. I grew up loving learning museums, Wikipedia rabbit holes, asking a million questions during class. And all I want is to make sure

014other kids get the same chance or even an even better one. So, I'm not mad at you. But I am asking you to stand your ground. Don't cave to the politics. Don't bend to the pressure from people who are allowed but ultimately out of touch. Remember, students are watching. I'm watching. And if you remember nothing else from what I just said, please remember this. Every student deserves to feel safe at school. Every student deserves to read what they want, learn what they need, and be who they are. Don't let anyone take that away from us. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Estz. Our next speaker, excuse me. I know we're supportive, but again, whether they're comments in favor or against, please try to maintain order in the room so we can get through as many speakers

015as we have tonight as possible. It's wonderful for Mr. interested as to speak first, but I want to make sure that our last speaker has the same opportunity to speak and get out of here on a timely basis as our first. So, thank you. All right, our next speaker is Phoenix Bilo speaking on the budget who will be followed by Gabrielle Gerald. Good evening board members. The following are considered to be defining traits of authoritarian governments. One, concentration of power. Authoritarian regimes centralize power around centralize power in the hands of a single person or a small group limiting the influence of other institutions like legislators, courts or independent organizations. This can involve directly rewriting laws to strengthen executive power or weakening checks and balances through manipulation and control of institutions. Two, limited political pluralism. Authoritarian

016governments restrict the freedom of political party interest groups and other actors that might challenge the ruling authority. This can include suppressing free speech and the right to assembly and the rights of minority groups. Three, suppression to descent of descent. Authoritarian regimes actively suppress opposition and disscent often through intimidation, violence, or imprisonment. This includes controlling the media, limiting freedom of the press, and undermining civil society's organizations. Four, use of propaganda and manipulation. Authoritarian leaders often use propaganda to shape political opinion to justify their actions, sometimes by demonizing opponents and spreading lies and conspiracy theories. They they may also manipulate electoral processes, suppress voters, and alter results to maintain their grip on power. Five, cult of personality. Authoritarian rulers often use their cultivated cult of personality, portraying themselves as strong leaders capable of saving the country from

017enemies or problems. This can involve projecting an image of strength and authority, often at the expense of democratic values. Seven, undermining authoritarian leaders often seek to weaken or eliminate checks and balances within the government, such as the separation of powers and judicial review. This allows them to act without accountability and consolidate their power. Eight, emphasis on ordinance. Authoritarian on not on ordinance, emphasis on safety. Authoritarian regimes often justify their rule by promising order and stability, often at the expense of individual freedoms and human rights. They may appeal to fears of the fear of chaos or instability to maintain their legitimacy. I'd like you to consider something. There's a man who says that our country is unsafe because of terrorists, both immigrants and homegrown. He says that our country is unsafe because of gay and trans

018people. He traffs people to a concentration camp in another country so that they can be tortured all because their skin is brown and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wants to find ways to send homegrown people to his concentration camp, too, specifically trans people. He wants to preserve American excellence and has seemingly found the final solution. And if anybody decides to keep doing what is morally and legally their obligation to preserve the democracy of the United States, he slashes their funding and attacks them. A lot of people care mo care mostly about immigrants and trans people. And it's just amazing to know that there are people in this room and people all around me that want to see me shipped off to a concentration camp so badly that they're justifying

019$14 million of funding being taken away from our public schools. Thank you. Our next speaker, our next student speaker on on agenda items is Gabrielle Gerald. And then we'll go to student speaking. I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Then you I'm sorry, you're placed on the wrong spot. We'll drop you down to the next part of the agenda. Um, so then that concludes the students speaking on on agenda items. We have two students speaking on off agenda items. First, we'll hear from uh Logan Dillerentes or Dillerentis Logan. All right. and then uh it'll be followed by uh Leonardo Ala. Good evening. Oh, good evening. Good evening, board. I'm here advocating for a skate club at Roseville High School. We were wondering how many people want and support a skate club in our school. So, we started a

020petition about a week and a half ago. As of now, 160 plus people have signed it with more than 130 of those signatures being students at our school. I'm not here to convince anyone that skating is safe. In fact, it is dangerous just like any extracurricular activity in or outside of schools such as football and soccer having the highest injury rates. According to the National Health School Sports Related injury surveillance study, 90% of high school athletes have been injured at some point. And according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, about 30,000 of those athletes have required hospitalization. But that does not deter schools, students, and parents from signing up and advocating for these sports due to proactivity, character development, and discipline. Skateboarding has shown to build these exact same heavily important aspects that are

021needed in a student's life. Just like any other sports, we will provide any and all gear necessary to mediate injuries as much as possible, such as helmets and pads. My point is that injuries will always happen and will always be a concern, but don't let that build a brick wall prohibiting communities and persevering students from learning, having fun, and living happily. Thank you, and please allow the RHS skate club to continue and prosper. Thank you. Our next speaker is Leonardo Ala. Greetings to everyone. I want to discuss about the topic of a skate club and skateboarding as a whole. So what is skating? Skating is just not some lazy dirtyhaired kid with guts, bruises, and a temper. It is a community lifter, a teacher, and a therapist. And it brings people together. Uh what I

022want to propose with these words is allowing something as significant as skateboarding. Uh which is going to affect many students greatly, not just in Rosville High School, but in all the Wake County Wake County public school system as a whole. If we truly want people to learn what what they lost, we shouldn't worry about injuries just like how sports in school are like soccer, football, volleyball, etc. Uh we understand the risks of implementing uh we understand the risk of implementing these type of sports into school due to the common known injuries that could be caused by them. But if we want people to if we want students and people in our schools to follow their passions, we should allow them to continue with them and unprohibit this type of sports. Um but don't let that

023destroy the flower that is here when it's blown. Thank you. Thank you. That'll conclude our student speakers for the agenda. We'll start with our on agenda with our onag agenda speakers and we'll return to Gabrielle Gerald and Miss Gerald will be followed by Christine Jensen. Thank you. Sorry, she not multitask filling out that form. Um apologies if I clicked a wrong box. No worries. Um so this week we're celebrating teacher appreciation week. Uh it's a time to honor and dedicate um some time to our educators that are so dedicated to their classroom, right? We're giving them flowers. We're giving them small trinkets. And while these gestures, I'm sure, are appreciated, they seem increasingly hollow uh in the light of recent federal budget cuts. Uh the federal government just this week announced uh a billion dollars

024that's going to be cut for public school mental health initiatives resulting in $14 million being cut from Wake County. Um my daughter's elementary school has two counselors. Next year we're going to have one counselor for all of those kids. Uh these counselors are not just just there for crisis. They mediate conflict. Uh they support our teachers and help students navigate personal challenges. Uh eliminating those positions sends a really clear message that we don't value the mental health of and well-being of our students really as well as our educators. Um the need for mental health support is urgent especially postcoid. Uh there was a statewide report a couple of years ago that says that 39% of high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless. Um 18% so almost 20% have seriously considered suicide. um among some

025of our most marginalized students, obviously these numbers are substantially higher. Uh yet instead of expanding support, we're witnessing cuts that will only exacerbate these issues. Uh listen, teachers already are are underpaid. Okay? Uh they're overworked, under supported. Many are leaving the profession due to burnout, and fewer are entering the field. If we continue to strip away resources and and support systems that ultimately sustain them, we risk losing educators uh that are really the backbone of our schools. If we truly appreciate teachers, we must show it through meaningful action, not just during teacher appreciation week, but every week. And this includes advocating for adequate funding, supporting mental health services, and ensuring that our schools are equipped to meet the needs of both students and educators. Um so, yes, it's teacher appreciation week. Thank your teachers. Buy

026them some Starbucks. Uh give them a gift card. Uh but also fight for their funding because without meaningful support, all the cupcakes in the world won't save public education. Uh and we keep calling it appreciation, but if we keep gutting public funding, ultimately it's not gratitude, it's betrayal. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christine Jensen, who will be followed by Leanne Ryan. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I'm the current librarian at Lian Middle School and I am lucky enough to have two of our digital learning coordinators housed in our library. There are currently 20 of them um also known as DLC's who support 10,840 teachers. DLC's are the ones that drive all STEM learning along with librarians and instructional facilitators. They are our go-to

027people if any of us want to incorporate tech into the curriculum. And I can tell you from personal experience, they are rarely in the office because they are in teachers classrooms co-eing or they are leaning leading PD professional development. But when they are at Ligan, I rely on their depth of knowledge to incorporate tech concepts and AI lessons into the curriculum. AI in particular is absolutely critical to learn about and master. And in the county strategic plan, we state that we want our students to lead productive lives in a complex and changing world. And there is nothing more complex and everchanging than artificial intelligence. Our DLC's are the reason that I know how to use Magic School AI and Adobe Express, which are both encouraged by the county. and their efforts have allowed me to

028train my staff on Magic School AI. They are the only reason many of us know how to use Canvas, which is the county's selected learning management platform. It is not intuitive and it requires quite a bit of time to master. And they designed and administrative administered all the training both in person and virtual on that platform and continue to field many questions about it. They're also the ones that we go to when we need to find an alternative app to use when the one that we would like to use is not approved by the county. It's admirable that the county is so diligent in its research of apps as it ensures our students identities are protected. But it does mean, especially for our magnet electives, that we need the help of our DLC's to find

029alternatives and they guide us to use county appropriate resources and they also train us on how to use those resources. Currently, it's been stated that half of our DLC's will lose their jobs under this budget cut. If we cut these positions, all of us are going to be affected, not just the teachers, but certainly our students. And we did say at the beginning when we were looking at budget cuts, we wanted to do what was best for our students and affect them as little as possible. And in that first meeting about the budget, it would it was said that the county would do their best to reassign them to positions, adequate positions. But these are people that are highly trained in tech matters and edtech. They teach prek through 12th grade and adults and respectfully

030moving them elsewhere would be squandering their talents. I have deep concerns about the cutting of our DLC's and I really do worry about what's going to happen down the line next school year. We are moving to Infinite Campus. They are the ones training us and we're cutting half of them. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Leanne Ryan, who will be followed by Margaret Bilo. Good evening. I'm Leanne Ryan. I'm a grateful parent of three Wake County graduates. Uh in light of teacher appreciation this week and the report this evening on uh from finance on student grants, um school grants and public funding uh donations that have been made to our schools mostly by our PTAs. a lot of individuals that care a lot about our kids and are probably related

031to those schools that they gave to. Um, I wanted to highlight how donors choose can help anyone show our teachers and our media specialists like our other speaker tonight how much we value their dreams. There are millions of dollars of unrestricted funds in corporate matches available on the on the donor's choose website this week in honor of teacher appreciation. They also do this often just before school starts. Uh we often hear, "What can one person do in light of all of the negativity and all the things swirling in the media around us?" That one thing, show some teachers some love. Be a secret Santa. Whether it's a neighborhood school or a program that is near and dear to your heart, something that wants to supply books, arts, STEM supplies, anything to our schools that they

032don't have in light of budget cuts. show students that people care. Um, when you get these notes from students, they are in awe that strangers care enough to give money. They know the importance of money. Uh, thank you for donating books. And if you're a fan of Steve Hartman's on the road, you'll recognize the call to make kindness go viral. This is one way to do it. Classroom professionals know what engages students and I look forward to seeing how many donors choose projects are funded in Wake County just this week. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Margaret Bilo who will be followed by Katie Rodriguez. Good evening. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. Um, I'm not here to tell everyone that public schools are perfect because they're not. I've

033seen my child thrive in a more robust, medically safe, exceptional children's program in another state. We're not there. We're not even close. We can't get there when we're still fighting for basic needs to be met. I've also sat here and listened to parents share deeply painful stories about their children being harmed in our schools. I know these stories are true. I know it because I've lived it. I've been involved with this board with schools and with the exceptional children's department long enough to understand that the board knows nothing about what's happening to these kids unless a parent comes forward or there's a legal settlement to discuss. So, let me be clear. There's not a single story I've heard from an EC parent at this podium that hasn't hit home for me. Our views may differ,

034but the reality I know what's happening because it happened to Ali. Ali, who many of you have met, Ali is non-verbal, but he's fully capable of expressing autonomy. He strings together words and communicates his needs using an eye gaze device. And for over half a year, his voice was taken from him because a teacher preferred not to use it. Her preference mattered more than his IEP, his autonomy, his dignity, and his basic human rights. That meant no participation in class, no asking questions, no expressing pain, no way to tell anyone he needed to use the bathroom. When you first met him, he rode around with a unicorn pillow because he was recovering from something similar to a double hip replacement. Just 5 months later, that same pillow propped up a full leg cast for his

035broken femur. And all during that time, when he was in pain, when he was undergoing services at school, physical therapy, even placed in a stander, he couldn't tell anyone that something was wrong. He couldn't say something hurt. He couldn't say where it hurt. It took weeks for me to figure it out. We still don't know how his femur fractured. We do know that he has weak bones, but what happened to him being denied communication, autonomy, and medical safety in nearly any other setting would constitute abuse. And that happened in a classroom destabilized after representative Aaron Par's publicity stunt. Her crusade against flashcards led to the departure of a highly qualified teacher in that very AC department program, putting children like Ali directly in harm's way. Her political ideology took precedence over student safety. We are

036failing our exceptional children. Meanwhile, our federal government is gutting the Department of Education, dismantling grievance processes, and tearing down the safeguards meant to protect children. And here in North Carolina, last session, our legislature cleared the voucher waiting list and removed income limits, handing out public dollars to private schools that don't serve children like mine. Do you know what waiting lists weren't cleared? The ESA waiting list, the ESA plus waiting list, the innovations waiver waiting list, the very educational scholarships and programs designed for disabled children and those with complex medical needs to live in their own homes, attend school in their own communities, and not to be forced into institutions. This isn't neglect. This is strategy. So, I'm asking you, do not approve cuts to teacher benefits. Do not reduce staff. We're on a ledge and

037this is not the time to kick away the last piece of solid ground. If we lose the people who show up for our kids, we lose everything. Thank you. Our next speaker is Katie Rodriguez, who will be followed by Cecilia Joyce. Is Katie Rodriguez here? All right. If Miss Rodriguez joins us before the end, um we'll add her to the end of the list. Next, we'll hear from Cecilia Joyce. We'll be followed by Christine Zakardi. Hi, I am Cecilia Joyce, the proud school librarian at Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary. I am here again to encourage you to ask the county commission to fully fund the Wake County Public School System budget for next year. That will mean an ask of about $60 million. I have spoken to many of my co-workers about this budget ask. Quite

038frankly, many people are in disbelief. They say things like, "Why wouldn't they ask for the whole amount that we need? How can they expect us to keep working the same job with less resources and staff and less money or benefits?" I also spoke to parents in the carpool line today. They are against these budget cuts and support raising taxes if that is necessary to pay for our school's needs. I work at Diller Drive Magnet Elementary. As I said, staff shortages affect all staff in a building with a ripple effect. For example, if we don't have a building substitute and a subj job is unfilled, then an IIA must be a substitute. This means that an IIA is unable to do their actual job. If the IIA is a substitute, then someone in the building must

039do her lunch duty. So, another support teacher must cancel classes for this. As you can see from this very real scenario, students get the short end of the stick and teachers are spread way too thin. This also leaves them feeling demoralized after doing their job and helping do someone else's. This is personal to us. We are talking about our colleagues, our children, and our families. We are talking about real friends and colleagues losing their jobs or losing their dental insurance. An unstable school system affects all of us and whether or not our communities will thrive. It's up to you. In order to stop the hemorrhaging of Wake County public school workers who can and will take higher paying jobs elsewhere. In addition, if educators are stretched too thin, our schools are not as successful and

040families may leave them for charter or private schools. So, I'll leave you with this final thought. While we respectfully appreciate the county commission's proclamation for teacher appreciation week and all your well-wishes for this week as well, what we would really show what we would really show true appreciation to teachers and staff would be to ask for and receive a fully funded Wake County public school budget. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christine Zakardi, who will be followed by Christina Cole. Good evening everyone. My name is Christine Zakardi. I'm the librarian at Farmington Woods Elementary School here in Kerry. This morning we held a walk-in as did a number of schools across the district. We had over a 100 people in attendance, including staff, students, and family members, all excited to take part in

041an effort to show support for our school and to support a no cuts budget. As I thought about what to say tonight, what would shine a light on why a no cuts budget is so important, I thought about this morning, about the kids who showed up wearing red, the ones who brought homemade signs with them, the one that made signs on the spot saying how they loved school because they do. Public schools are the heart of our communities and our community showed up today. The educators in our building, including vital support staff such as CNS workers, counselors, social workers, and nurses, just to name a few, show up and walk in every day for our kids, even when these financial policies do not. Wake County Schools is the largest school district in the state, followed

042by Charlotte Mech. As you get ready to vote tonight on the proposed budget that's proposing cuts instead of demanding the required funding necessary to support the health and safety of our staff and students, I want to ask why the second largest school district in the state is investing in the future health and safety of their staff and students with a $ 1.95 billion budget, an increase of almost 6% over this past fiscal year. While we here in Wick are trying to make do with less. Less mental health support, less nurses, less supplies, less maintenance, less of everything. We already have seen what less does, what deferring HVAC maintenance does. Two weeks ago, it was so warm in our third grade hallway that students were complaining of headaches. I honestly don't know if the nurse was

043there that day because we don't have a nurse every single day at our school. We were dealing with a staff bathroom that was out of commission for weeks at a time. And when you have only 5 minutes in between classes or you need someone to cover your class while you run to the bathroom, you need the nearest one to be working. As soon as it was fixed, the sinks flooded and now we only have one bathroom in my office with working sinks. So, I get to hear from everybody about the current state of maintenance in our schools. We can hear how loud the HVAC here is tonight. Um, no, no cuts. No cuts. Please fight for no cuts for our kids. We show up every day. We ask the best of them. We bring the

044best of us and we need the supplies and the resources enable to do that each day. Thank you so much. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christina Cole who will be followed by Emily Malpass. Good evening everyone. I'm Christina Cole. I'm a Wake County special education teacher by trade. currently the proud president of Wake NCA. It's teacher appreciation week, huh? I'd like to quote my friend um New York public school teacher Dr. Jose Filson to start my comment. For teacher appreciation week, I wish for teachers more than gift cards and donuts, though I know those help on occasion. I wish for them broad policy changes, including better pay, culturally responsive curriculum, and a social contract that doesn't put our collective problems on their doorsteps." End quotes. For the public school workers in Wake County, I

045want employer contributions to dental insurance. I hope they get fully staffed schools with low ratios for counselors, social workers, and EC teachers. schools that have ample clerical staff to create create a welcoming environment to ensure safety and shepherd our students to class. For teacher appreciation week, they deserve working HVAC systems and enough maintenance staff to address those needs. Gift educators brave policies that both say and embody our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Gift librarians with a clear plan for fair funding to fill their shelves with books. This teacher appreciation week, workers ask for action over appreciation, for votes that respect values. If I had a dollar for every time a decision maker told me or a union member or a parent to go to the general assembly, I might get a raise next year.

046And if teachers and a majority of union as if teachers and a majority of union members didn't go to the polls every other fall. As if Wake NCA didn't knock thousands of doors over 10 Saturdays last fall. As if NCE hasn't had multiple lobby days and indistrict meetings with legislators since this session began. As if public school strong didn't run a robust electoral canvasing campaign all across our state powered by public school staff and parents. We know our work is cut out for us at the general assembly and changing the balance of forces. Why is our work cut out for us here, too? It's hard to put in work on Jones Street when we got to put in work at Crossroads every two weeks. Right now, the power is in your hands. The nine of

047you are the only people who have the power to make decisions about local funding, the local funding requests for next year. Show public school staff you appreciate them this week by voting for a budget that requests what we need. And with my last 30 seconds, I'll say as of my count of the 49 public speakers who spoke at the four budget hearings, 36 of them stood to speak against budget cuts. Show teachers you're listening. Show them you're responsive with your final vote and request to the commission. Thank you. Our next speaker on agenda is Emily Malpass. After Emily speaks, we'll go to our offag agenda speakers. And the first offag agenda speaker will be Joseph Deon. Okay. Hi everyone. Uh well, Christina said it all as regards teacher appreciation week. Um but I also offer

048my sincerest thanks to everyone who spends their workday in our schools and to everyone here who rever educators and defends their interests as well as those of our students with the decisions that you make. I want to also say that I'm standing here tonight because I can. Sometimes I just sit and listen, but at this moment I have the right to stand here and speak to you. Uh this afternoon after pickup, I was in a conversation with other parents and a few of us admitted that we never imagined that we'd actually have to fight to preserve the rights that we already have. Um, but here we are in the conversation around public schools. We hear a lot about parents' rights and that means different things to different folks. I believe when we send our kids

049to public schools, we opt into this system and my mom taught me to leave things better than I found them. I believe we have the right to knowledge and to learning how our system works and how best to work it. Tonight's agenda includes board policy 2410, gifts to the system process. I'm unfamiliar with this, which is why you come to these meetings because it's like, oh, what um I'd like to understand that better, particularly how the list is compiled, at what intervals, how the information is used, and what difference it makes if gift gifs are on the list or not. Um, I'm asking for an increase in plain language communication and education for families and community members about policies and procedures like this. I'm lucky to have my two kids at Lin Elementary. We're a

050thriving neighborhood school with a high and growing level of family involvement. We're working within our own PTA to streamline our idea processing. Okay. Uh so often folks get fired up during a listening session or a campus cleanup. They have an idea for a project, but it's easy to take the wind out of their sales with unclear processes or a lot of bureaucracy or gatekeeping. Our advocacy committee is working with our principal and PTA leadership to define the steps to our pathway to yes. I'm asking in advance that the board consider how the county can make their pathway to yes more understandable to those of us striving to build something better in our schools. We're in conversation with Rep. Hershey to develop budget 101 type education events for our families so they can better understand what

051funding exists and why and be better equipped to be constructive partners in budget discussions next year. Now is the time to learn about school budget, not next fall when these hearings begin. Conflict evolution is what happens when we move from thinking in terms of us versus each other, but all of us together facing the problem. Help us learn how to get to yes, how to make use of our community members and resources to fill the gaps and meet the needs of our school buildings, grounds, services, students, and staff. Thanks y'all. Thank you. We'll now turn to our off agenda speakers. Our first speaker is Joseph Deon, who will be followed by Dustin Keaton. Good evening. I would like to tell you about my fourth grade teacher. Mrs. Khan was was Jewish. You might be surprised

052that she taught in a Catholic school because it's often alleged that religious schools discriminate. I distinctly remember being in a group of kids gathered around her and asking why she was teaching in a Catholic school when she was Jewish and besides could get paid more in in a public school. In her mildmannered way, she replied that it was because the order and discipline was better than in public schools, and she just wanted to be able to practice her profession. Mrs. Khan never ever had to raise her voice. That that was extraordinary. E even for Catholic schools back then, we always behaved well for her because we all knew that she respected us and took low lower pay to teach us and we responded to that. Our class field trip was a visit to her synagogue

053in downtown Baltimore on one of the feast days. I cannot remember any other field trips, but I remember that one. The rabbi brought out the tourist scrolls to show us afterward. Mrs. Khan modeled the way for people from different backgrounds and beliefs to treat each other. She w respected what was good about our culture while sharing hers. She did not hold us accountable for historical wrongs. She did not expect the sisters to take the crosses down or change what they were doing because she was there. And I know the sisters loved having her work with them. I am sure that modest Mrs. Khan never imagined that one of her students would honor her 56 years later before the board of the largest district in in our state. I have heard a a Jewish prayer that

054I would like to offer for Mrs. Khan. May her memory be a blessing. That is exactly why I am remembering her to you to today. We have another ancient prayer. Eternal memory. Eternal memory. Blessed repose and eternal memory in old sloanic. Vishnaya pomeot. Vishnaya pomeot. Bleeni pcoy. Vishnaya pomyot. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Dustin Keaton who will be followed by John Blog. Good evening, members of the board, fellow members of the community. As mentioned, my name is Dustin Keaton. I'm a local resident, a parent, a veteran, and a product of the North Carolina public education system. I grew up in Clayton in a deeply religious, even fundamentalist household. While that gave me a strong moral framework growing up, it did not prepare prepare me to understand the broader, more complex world I

055encountered when I came of age. In fact, it left me at a distinct disadvantage. I joined the military as many men in my family have done. It was through this service that I gained a wider perspective of humanity. Serving this country taught me that freedom is not the exclusive property of any one race, religion, political party, or belief system. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution for all Americans, not just those who look like me, think like me, or believe what I believe. That's why I'm here today, to speak against the efforts by particular groups to censor books, limit perspectives, and impose a narrow ideology on our schools. The stoic philosopher Epictitus once wrote, "Just as what is considered rational or irrational differs for each person in the same way what is

056good or evil or useful or useless differs for each person. This is why we need education so that we might learn how to adjust our preconceived notions of the rational and irrational in harmony with nature. We don't educate our children to make them carbon copies of ourselves. That's indoctrination, not education. We educate them to become thoughtful, informed, and resilient adults guided by the four cardinal virtues of courage, moderation, justice, and wisdom. Censoring books does not build character. It hides reality. As the author Philip K. Dick once said, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away." Consider what some of these banned or controversial books expose students to. The stories of people like Alan Turing, the gay mathematician who helped defeat the Nazis and fathered modern computing. for Tim Cook

057the openly gay CEO of Apple, Vince Surf or Rodia Pearlman who helped create and scale the internet or Sundar Pachai and Sacha Nadella Indianborn engineers who now lead Google and Microsoft and let's not forget the black women whose mathematical brilliance launched America into the space age Katherine Johnson who calculated the Apollo flight paths. Dorothy Vaughn, NASA's first black supervisor and coding pioneer and Mary Jackson, the AY's first black female engineer. These people changed the world not in spite of who they were, but because they had the freedom to think boldly and be seen fully. To ban their stories or the themes their lives represent is not education. It is eraser. I urge this board to reject the politics of fear and affirm the values that make us truly strong. Diversity of thought, freedom of inquiry,

058and the dignity of every student. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker, our next speaker tonight is John Blog, who will be followed by Neil Alhanti. Good evening, school board. Uh, thank you for your time. Some people don't like red lights, so they blast through them, eventually injuring or killing themselves and or others. To protect us and them, legislatures make laws to put boundaries with consequences when disregarded. We don't allow minors into x-rated movies. In the school libraries, there are not loaded guns on the tables. There are not open bowls of prescription drugs, but there are some things just as vile and dangerous to minors. Unfortunately, we have to write a law to have wholesome books in the library. We are talking about minors and their access. The North Carolina House has passed bill 636

059to ensure content that is harmful to minors is not made available in schools. It moves to the Senate shortly. For the past two years, I and others have gone office to office to visit senators, representatives, and staff. We have pres presented books deemed instructional materials by the school system. Here's one. And uh there are some minors in the room, so I'm not going to get too much into this, but there's one person kneeling and another person presenting um a part of his body to that person kneeling. Here's another one uh with a male with female parts and a female with male parts. Can you explain the instructional value of that? Can seven out of nine of you explain that? We have Dr. Ing. He can define what a woman is. But I really I'm without

060words when I go to the senators and their staff and 99 out of a hundred turn their head away and ask why is that in the schools? So the question came back to them exactly why is that in the schools? We have no problem with people buying what they want, what they want to see. But in a public school where the pornographic laws are exempt, there's five statues in North Carolina. If I handed either of these books to any minor in this room, I could be arrested. There's a sheriff. But in the schools, it's okay. Makes no sense. Recently, librarians held a town hall fighting for funding and opposing book bans. I fully support funding the schools and paying our teachers. My daughter is a special needs instructor teacher. That was on. It's interesting did

061not post any of the books or instructional materials online or during the broadcast. They wouldn't because they would be fined or lose their broadcast license. But not to worry. Oh, thank you, Mr. Baillock. Thank you. Our next speaker is Neil Alhanti, followed by Mary Williams Stove. Let's see. Hi all. Um, my name's Neil Hanty. Uh, thanks to the members of the board for this chance to speak and props to all the students and teachers who talked before me. Uh, please reflect on their words and strive to give them what they need and want. Um, really fast about myself. I'm a husband and father. Uh, my my wife and I both work full-time. We live in Raleigh and have been for several years. Uh, I'm the husband of uh, two little girls. A, uh, seven-year-old with

062boundless energy and one very curious and goofy four-year-old that's been up in the night. So, if I exude exhausted dad energy right now, that's kind of why. Um, I was prompted to come here because of a Reddit post, believe it or not, and to speak today in defense of books and libraries, uh, and largely against book bannings and the elimination of libraries. Um, at a time when there's great fear about the removal of basic rights and liberties such as due process and paranoia of things like a stock market crash, the idea that anyone, myself and or otherwise, needs to come here in defense of books and libraries just exacerbates the exhaustion that I and many of us here are already feeling. Uh to paraphrase comedian Wanda Sykes, when a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird

063brings an automatic rifle into school, then we can have a discussion about banning books and eliminating libraries, but not before then. Uh to put it another more diplomatic way, I want my girls and everyone else to be able to read and enjoy whatever books they want to. If my girls want to read something that's not age appropriate for them, then I'm happy to chat with them about it and either let them attempt it on their own or to read it with them and to broadly broadly be a resource for them to answer any and all of their questions. If anyone here can't understand the content of a book or aren't really sure why it's there, uh, I would encourage them to join a reading group or maybe email the author. So, I urge this board

064to understand this if nothing else. Books quench the thirst of the curious mind. Libraries are sanctuaries of learning and growth. we need both in society for the past, for the present, and for the future. Um, thanks all y'all. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary William Stove, who will be followed by Jen Smith. Good evening. Thank you. And good evening. And as you said, my name is Mary William Stove and I come before you all tonight as a proud black woman, an educated professional, a Wake County resident, and a devoted volunteer. And most importantly, a mother of two amazing Wake County Public School graduates. I want to speak in support of equity, diversity, and inclusion. These are not buzzwords. These are a commitment to ensuring every child feels seen, safe, and supported. When our schools

065affirm students of all backgrounds, racial, cultural, linguistic, neurodeiverse, they are not promoting division. They are building bridges. As a mother, I've seen firsthand what happens when my children are welcomed in schools where their identities are not erased and celebrated. As a volunteer in classrooms and media centers, I've set across and side by side teachers and staff who are doing the hard work to create inclusive spaces. They deserve our praise, not political attacks. Let me be clear, affirming black students and black educators is not radical. It is right. Representation matters. It empowers. It tells our children you belong here. And when black teachers are supported and retained, every student benefits. The data backs it up. Our lived experiences back it up. Lately, we are seeing a national trend creep into local conversations. Book bans, curriculum censorship,

066and efforts to ignore history or silence certain voices. Let me say this plainly. Banning books is dangerous and anti-education. Books save lives. They open minds. They teach empathy, history, resilience, and truth. Libraries, school, and public are not threats. They are sanctuaries. As a lifelong advocate for public libraries and literary freedom, I will not stand by silently while fear and ignorance strip our children of the right to read and think. If a book makes you or a parent uncomfortable, ask why. But don't take that opportunity for growth away from others. Wake County is better than this. A book I have with me tonight is Ida B. Wells, Marches for the Vote. You may know who Ida B. Wells is. She's one of my personal sheeros. She marched for women's suffrage for the right to vote at

067a time when she, as a woman, could not vote herself. At a time when others told her, "You don't belong here." She marched with other women like myself in 1913 who refused to be silent. Don't take away the right to equity, divers, diversity, and inclusion. It makes us better. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jim is Jen Smith, who will be followed by Becky Lou Hobbs. Hello everybody. Um, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. My purpose in speaking is in support of our dedicated and hardworking librarians in our schools. Their training and knowledge allows them to provide books and resources to our children within their limited budgets. As someone who is known as a lover of books, I am very thankful for the variety of books that I could

068read in my school libraries when I was in school. Books have allowed me to learn about other people's experiences in different cultures, places, and times. Um, sci-fi books helped me try to imagine future scientific breakthroughs. Dystopian novels along with historical non-fiction challenged me to be a better person and a citizen, to pay attention and speak up. As a regular parent volunteer, I have seen with my own eyes the difference a well-funded and supported media center can make on our children. It can be a safe haven from the noise of peer drama, a place to reset and have a mini escape into a good book. So tonight, I am standing here to thank the librarians, some of which are here, for their dedication to our children and to let them know they are seen and appreciated.

069I am hopeful there can be a way to provide a fair and equitable budget line to support all of our school libraries. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Becky Lou Hobbs, who will be followed by John Kelly. Good evening. Hello. I'm Becky Lou Hobbes, mom of three amazing kids, one who's already graduated, two who are still in school, and chapter chair of Moms for Liberty. It's been uh interesting listening to everybody tonight and a lot of comments on the budget. Um I actually came talk about something a little bit different. Surveys. It's been a while since I've been able to be here, so I'm a little bit behind. But why are you still throwing money at doing these surveys? Some of these surveys have learned been the same year after year, but you're

070still giving family surveys that are talking about things like what's your child's gender identity, asking about family situations and personal information. That's not appropriate, especially for elementary age kids. And then the student survey is the same thing. Political questions, who you going to vote for president? All that kind of stuff. Once again, why are you throwing money at this kind of stuff? All these surveys do is collect data. Data on our kids, data on our family. Oh, and then there's that data breach that happened with P school that all that data was exposed. Where is that? How's that exposed every single child, parent, family member, volunteer, staff? And then you refuse to join the lawsuit against P school with the damage that it's caused. Yeah, I was reading back through some of the emails regarding

071P school and you said specifically that student social security numbers were not breached, but what about staff? What about family members, parents? All that information is in there and you're not protecting it. And once again, it's it's money you're throwing at these surveys to gather this data, to gather information on our people. So, you know, with that, you need to be spending money more responsibly. You know, we're hearing the HVAC here. It's loud. It's obnoxious. You guys got millions of dollars over the past five years to to fix HVAC systems. Our schools here still aren't working right. You know, about five, six years ago, our total budget was around 2.3 million billion dollars. It's now at about 3.4 billion in that 5year period of time. Now, that is operating and that is capital budgets. So,

072that does include facilities costs, but you're not spending it wisely. I agree with the vast majority of people here. We don't need to cut teacher pay. We don't need to cut teacher benefits. But what we do need to be tutting is wasteful spending on things like these surveys, Department of Equity Affairs, the bloat in the administrative services, and anybody who says it's not bloated, there's been over a 20% increase in staff in the in the um administrative services and central services over the past 5 to 10 years. Start being realized with what we we give you for our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is John Kelly who is followed by Amanda Polini. Is John here? All right. If John is out of the room and comes in at the end, we will

073add him to the end of the queue. Our next speaker will hear from Amanda Powini. Powoney, sorry. Followed by Connie Hixon. Paloney. Paloney. It's like baloney but with a P. Thank you. Yeah. Um, so first I want to say thank you to all of you for your service. Um, secondly, I voted for Lizard Lick Elementary. I was in the audience and I really wanted that one to win. I see you. Um, uh, the surveys that were referenced before I think uh, there was a that went out to parents and I I I walked away thinking to myself like I think the parents should have gotten to a vote on on what they called the school, especially when they got a survey twice. I have a a child in elementary school with Wake County. I have

074a child in middle school and I have a child in high school. I am a graduate of the Wake County public school education system and I am very very happy with the job that you all are doing. I came to my first board meeting um in February because I wanted to understand how the executive order was going to change the ecosystem of our schools. Uh I have two kids in magnet school and I wanted to understand how our regional program for deaf kids was going to be affected. I wanted to understand how my daughter who's dyslexic and also identified as AIG so she gets you know specialized services for math was going to be affected. And what I found honestly was a bunch of people going we're not entirely sure how the budget is going

075to these executive orders are going to and I luckily met uh Dr. Clinton that night who said, "Come on in. Let me show you around. This is your first time here." And he put me under his wing and he introduced me to his staff. And I have been so pleased and grateful to the organization that you run here. I got hooked up with free classes for parents who have been unaware of of how my dollars get spent in public schools. I've been one of those happy people that wasn't paying attention. And I'm sorry. I feel uh a little guilty for all of that. And so my goal for our conversation tonight is really to thank you for the professionalism, to thank you for the the knowledge, to thank you for the the non-ego about introducing

076me to other partners who might could give me a a different nonpartisan perspective. And you've heard from a couple of them tonight. And I just for parents and for everybody here, Parents for Public Schools offers nonpartisan free public school 101 class. You can sign up for it. It's virtual. Okay, these are 501c3 organizations. They are not political. And then there's another one um that is free for um the uh public school strong lady with the blue shirt. Um, if you're a parent that wonders what you can do to support your children in these schools, to keep the ecosystems going, to make them stronger, to give them the funding that they need, I would highly suggest that we continue to partner with these organizations. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Our next speaker is Connie

077Hixon, who will be followed by Emily Gada. Thank you to the school board for letting us meet with you tonight and listen to you tonight. I'm a grandparent of children in the Wake County school system. Um, and I reviewed your website in preparation for speaking here. Going to read a couple words from it. Um, the Wake the Wake County Public School System administers education without discrimination against any person on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, national origin, age, or disability. Our own academic data shows there is predictive association between race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status and our student outcomes. This school system is regrettably not unique. Um, I'm involved with a number of groups of people who work to bring awareness of the many differences among us and tolerance and respect for one another. The

078school system says, "We are proactive. We seek to foster academic success for every individual regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language of origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation. This requires more than merely preventing discrimination. It means expanding opportunity and breaking down barriers. As a grandma of grandchildren here in the Wake County school system, I want my grandchildren schools to reflect respect for people from all ethnicities, uh, from all political perspectives, from all personal identities. I want the school system to take into account social disparities. I want them to make decisions on policies and on books. I've read the website of the parents parental rights bill. Number 12 says the parent has the right to review all available records of materials their child has borrowed from a school library. A parent may review the list

079of materials their child has currently borrowed and so on. You can review all materials your child has borrowed for the past 12 months. Um I would urge the librarians, it was great to hear librarians here speaking. Uh I agree and I think that it important that they choose books that show respect and good taste and that present the wide breadth of what human experience is to the children so that they are able to understand and make their own judgments. Parents need to always review the books and lessons their children learn and read from and discuss them at home. Parents need to be deeply engaged in their children's education at all times. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you. Our next speaker is uh Emily Gada, followed by Richard Brides. Hello. You pronounced my

080last name right, so thank you. Um, my name is Emily Gada. I'm 35 years old. I was born and raised in Wake County. Um my mother is actually or she used to work for the Wake County School Department as an assistant teacher for about 23 24 years. Um I myself went to private school. Um I went to a public school for a year and a half. Um I end up getting my GED about 30 or at the age of 30. Um education is so important and this is my first time so sorry if I'm like um and no notes. My only note is um the children must all be ours. Um and I can handle anything that comes my way. That goes on to y'all. So I'm going to repeat that. You every one of

081you, everybody in this building um and watching, I can handle anything that comes my way and the children must all be ours. Um I wanted to come today to speak um briefly about how banning books um can be harmful. we need to learn about um DEI, critical race theory. I grew up um being taught the whole opposite of that and it did a lot of damage to me. Um but through learning about through communicating with other people um I've learned and I have changed and for the better and I believe that it's all in our um hearts to do the right thing and our students are our future. We've you heard that when you're a student and that is a absolutely more important not more important that's absolutely um still true to this day. Um

082I encourage you to believe that all of the children not just the Wake County children not just North Carolina not just the United States but all children around the world matter and they deserve um justice and freedom and love and care. Um thank you for being you. Thank you for existing and this is my first time, but this is really exciting and I'll be back. So, thank you. All right. Thank you. Our final speaker tonight for the public comment period is Richard Brides. Before I get to what I would like to talk about, I would like to lend my support to the teachers who came here and spoke out against the current budget cuts in the proposed budget. I ask that you listen to their voice, take it in consideration when you make your decision.

083I'd also like to stand with the people who are against the book banning process or it's I don't I can't wrap my head around why you'd want to shut certain people up, but that's what people are trying to do. So, please stop that. Now, you are all aware of what's happened to my son. I have been very loud, very vocal. Some of you have received I don't know how many emails from the community regarding the matter. Now, I don't While I would like to thank you for taking the time to investigate the matter and putting pressure on whoever whichever employees you've talked to to get that done, I do not believe that it's it's being handled fully and appropriately. Um, I brought my story public. I shared it to multiple Facebook groups and the principal

084of my son's school had them removed from different Facebook groups, released my name, and gave out false information regarding the situation. I'm not sure how that fits within your ethical boundaries, but I would ask that you take a look into that. Um, I know Miss Gordon's well aware of that. Um, but what's the the the the main thing that I want to get across is that I'm not the only one who's experienced this since going public. I've had multiple families reach out to me regarding situations that have happened with their children. How it was pushed on the table by the principal, vice principal, similar to what happened with Ali was what was said earlier. And one of the one that was most heartbreaking to me was a mother who had her daughter stand up and

085say the right thing about a special needs child who was being physically and verbally abused in the classroom by the teacher and by other students. This brave girl went up to the vice principal week after week and reported this to him. Not only was she ignored, but she was told to stop exaggerating. This is It breaks my heart when I read that story. When I talked to that mom, I was in tears. It's not something that happens to me very often. And I I would genuinely ask that you guys take a strong a adopt a strong policy that holds administrators as responsible as the teachers who have hurt our children. We're looking at article after article of of special needs kids being abused. What's happening to those principles who that was reported to? What's happening

086to those vice principles who ignored those stories? What's happening to the superintendent who found out about those those issues and did nothing? Please, if you're not going to hold the people at the top accountable, what's the point of having those policies that you have written down already? Thank you and have a good night. Thank you. So that concludes our public comment period for the evening. The next item on our agenda. Um I believe our information is our first information item. And for that we will go to our superintendent, Dr. Robert Taylor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, let me begin by once again congratulating Macy Briden, a physical education teacher at Kingswood Magnet Elementary, who was named last week as a 2025 Wake County Public School System Teacher of the Year. Miss Brenson, affectionately known as

087Coach B, has been an educator for six years, four of those at Kingswood. She leads with passion, creativity, and an uncanny ability to make personal connections with her students. In addition to her teaching, she leads a running club in the fall and spring that concludes with a community 5K and she organizes the school's walk to school day in kids heart challenge campaign. And I know she expects board members to participate in the 5K run. A Kingswood principal Sherry Cleaser has this to say. Macy knows all the students by name and delivers highquality, relevant instruction every day of the school year. Miss Brenson's teaching reflects Kingwood's Montasauri magnet theme, giving students voice and choice, building their confidence through movement and activity. One of her students said, "Coach B makes our classroom like a family." Miss Brenson

088also supports learners with special needs and cheers them on each year at Special Olympics. Uh I will share that she actually organized a Special Olympics event at her school this year. uh knowing that we can only include a specific number of schools at our uh district-wide event. So, we were so proud that she was able to do this at her school for her students. Special education teacher Kim Een says that Miss Brinsson's lessons are thoughtfully adapted to meet the needs of all my learners. Her ability to bring out the potential in each student exemplifies what it means to be a truly exceptional teacher. as teacher of the year. She will take part in the go global NC study program in Batswana in Zambia in 2026 and attend the Global Leaders Teacher Fellowship Conference. So again,

089congratulations to Coach B and to all of this year's finalists and semi finalists. [Applause] Next, I would like to recognize Mino Motovali, a special education instructional assistant at Davis Drive Middle for being named the Wake County Public School System Instructional Assistant of the Year. Within her professional learning community, MU is a driving force offering support to lead teachers and IAS alike. Her principal, Mike Hokenberg, says uh Mino holds her students to high expectations, balancing love and rigor to help them reach their full potential. She believes in one-on-one and small group instruction to ensure every child received the same quality of learning as their peers. As someone who began my own journey in education as a teacher assistant, I want to personally thank Mrs. Multivali and all of our instructional assistants for the vital work they

090do every single day. Uh they truly are the heart of their classrooms. The calm presence, the encouraging voice, and the steady hand that helps make real learning possible. Know that we see you, we appreciate you, we are grateful for everything you do for our students and our teachers. Congratulations are also in order for Dr. Carrie Jones of Dillard Drive Magnum Middle School, who was named the outstanding earth science teacher of North Carolina by the National Association of Geocience Teachers. This award honors K12 educators who inspired deep interest in earth sciences through innovative and hands-on learning. Dr. Jones has been with uh WCPSS since 2000 and has spent the last four years at Dillard Drive. In addition to teaching, she holds multiple student clubs that extend learning beyond the classroom. Principal Margaret Felman says Dr. Jones

091is an experienced, passionate educator who always create who is always creating opportunities for students to explore scientific concepts in meaningful ways. So again, congratulations to Dr. Jones and thank you for your outstanding contributions to STEM education. We also want to celebrate an incredible schoolwide achievement at Buckhorn Creek Elementary School, which has been awarded the full e education school credential, a nationally recognized distinction for schools achieving exceptional student outcomes. This credential credential is awarded to schools that show excellence in three key areas. Mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high quality student work. Principal Daniel Sim Simmons reflected, "Since our school opened seven years ago, we've reimagined what teaching and learning could look like, our team has worked hard to develop the skills and tools necessary to engage students in rigorous, meaningful learning. This honor follows

092an intensive evaluation process and places Buckhorn Creek among the elite schools group of schools across our country. So again, congratulations to Dr. Simmon and all the staff and students at Buck Buckhorn Creek for their amazing accomplishment. I'd also like to note that May is Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month. A time for us all to celebrate the rich cultural heritage, history, and contributions of Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Desi Americans across North Carolina and the nation. Governor Josh Stein has proclaimed this month in honor of many ways this diverse community strengthens our schools, communities, and workforce. Approximately 13% of our student population is of Asian or Pacific Islander descent. Our schools will be taking this time uh uh this month to increase cultural and historical knowledge, engage in meaningful celebrations, and make space for students

093and staff to share their stories and their traditions. will share a video at our next board meeting highlighting one school's efforts to promote increased awareness and understanding of the Asian-American experience. Until then, I certainly want to express my deep appreciation for the many ways this community enriches our district through its ongoing contributions to our classrooms, to school leadership, and to civic life. Uh, I would like to encourage our young students and their families to take part in Letterland Days happening all this week at Pulland Park in Raleigh. Letterland is a multi-ensory systematic approach to teaching reading, writing, and spelling to students in kindergarten, first and second grade. Each letter is represented by a fun character that helps bring literacy to life. All this week, these letter landers can be found at various locations around Pulling

094Park. Students can participate in a scavenger hunt to find all the characters. Families are also invited to Pulling Park on Thursday night from 5 to 8:00 p.m. for Letterland Activity Night, which will offer additional themed activities at stations around the park. Letterland Days is a great opportunity for families to celebrate the joy of learning with their children. If you go, be sure to take lots of pictures and don't forget to use the hashtag uh WCPS as letterland when posting your pictures to social media. And Mr. Chair, I want to end with uh recognizing uh our teachers for teacher appreciation week. Uh recorded a video to them that will go out today. But I can't say enough about the valuable work and the tireless work that they do each and every day when they show up

095to our classrooms. The one thing that I'm most proud of is that I am to able to say first and foremost that I am a teacher. Of all the things I've done in education, teaching has been the absolute joy of that career. And it thrills me every day that I go into buildings and I'm able to see this engagement for our teachers. And so I do want to lift up uh appreciation for them specifically this week, but what they do each and every day. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Dr. Taylor. [Applause] Right. At this point on our agenda, we will move to our consent agenda. Board members have had an opportunity to review the items on the consent agenda. And at this time, I would entertain any motion. So moved. We have a motion

096from Vice Chair Swanson to adopt the items on the consent agenda. We have a second for Miss Mafy. All in favor of adoption of the consent agenda, please say I. I. Are there any votes? Nay. All right, the items on the consent agenda have been adopted. So, we'll turn to our action items and the first item we have, we have two important items under finance. We'll welcome David Neer to the podium. The first is waiver of board policy 8101 for approval of the proposed 2526 budget. After that will be our uh review of the board of education's proposed budget for 2526. Mr. Neater. Great. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Hagerty, members of the board, and Superintendent Taylor. Back at your March 18th, 2025 board meeting, the superintendent and staff presented the superintendent's proposed 2025 2026

097operating budget. That proposed budget invests $21.4 million of fund balance to balance the overall budget. And that $21.4 $4 million investment is more than the threshold which is set out in board policy 8101. Board policy 8101 directs that the board will not use more than 50% of its unassigned fund balance to balance the future years budget and the unassigned fund balance as of June 30th 2020 24 was 39.3 million. The investment of 21.4 4 million is just over. It represents 54% which is over that 50% threshold. And as a result, staff is requesting that the board wave policy 8101 so the board can move forward in considering approval of the board's proposed 2025 2026 budget. Staff has carefully reviewed this. We are comfortable in recommending this to the board at this time. Waivers to this

098policy have been made in the past and I now ask for the board's consideration of waving board policy 8101. Thank you, Mr. Neater. Recognize Vice Chair Swanson and budget chair Swanson. Thank you, Mr. Neater. I move that we wave board policy 80 8101 uh for approval for the upcoming budget. Second. Thank you. We have a motion from vice chair and budget and finance chair Swanson for uh adoption of the requested waiver board policy 8101. We have second from chair of the policy committee, Miss Edmonds. Um seconding the same motion. Are there any questions for Mr. Neer or any discussion from board members about the importance of waiver of the policy? Vice Chair Swanson. This may bleed into my comments for the budget, but I do think it's important for the public to understand that our

099fund balance is only available for rainy days and it's enough in there to keep the the district afloat for roughly 5 days give or take. So, I think it is important uh for that and also that we are required to pass a balanced budget. Uh unlike the federal government, we do not get the luxury to pass continuous resolutions or delay this process. So, I do want to make sure that that is lifted up for the public. All right. Thank you, Vice Chair Swanson. Any questions? Any other comments before we move to a vote on waiver of the policy? All right, seeing no further comments, I will move the question. All in favor of waving board policy 8101 for approval of the proposed 202526 budget as described by Mr. Neater, please say I. I. Any opposed?

100All right. The policy has been waved. Mr. Neater. Yes. Um, after the presentation of the superintendent's proposed budget on March 18th, the board has asked a significant number of questions about the proposed budget and receive staff responses. And those responses were presented in board budget work sessions and also posted on the Wake County website for the public to see. They've held a public hearing on the budget and a first for this budget development cycle. The board held three regional public input sessions across Wake County. Board has conducted three separate budget work sessions. That said, much uncertainty continues and will remain into the unforeseeable future as we wait to see what the final Wake County budget is. We did learn last night that county commissioner or excuse me, county manager David Ellis presented his proposed budget

101to the county commissioners and that did include a significant increase in county appropriation of 35 million. Not the full amount of 40.3 million included in what is currently before the board to consider for their proposed budget, but a significant increase nonetheless. Um, but perhaps more uncertainty is what the final state budget will be, when that budget will arrive. And as we all know, we heard about earlier this evening through some of the public comments, the uncertainty that exists at the federal level. And I will remind the board that in its proposed budget, federal funding represents approximately 8% of that overall budget, around $175 million for round numbers. Significant amount of funding. The board's proposed budget for this coming year is a conservative one. There are no funding requests for new programs. There are no funding

102requests for the multi-year initiatives that have been in place for many years. There's no compensation funding request beyond what is forecast to be legislated by the state with the exception of a modest increase to the teacher salary supplement. That said, included within the proposed budget are operating costs associated with opening four new schools, local costs associated with forecast state increases, the compensation and employer contributions to benefits, employee benefits, increased funding that will be due to charter schools based upon a projected increase in the amount of county appropriation and a continuing shift of the ratio of charter students to Wake County students. And it's another reminder that the local funding that Wake County receives, not all of it is available for the district to use within the district. Rather, 11% of that local funding. While it

103appears within our budget and in our numbers, it goes right out the door to our charter schools in the county and it's unavailable to directly support this district. These state legislated requirements, including the estimated increase to the employer benefit rates, increased payments to charter schools, the operating costs of opening four new schools, provide the basis of requesting an increase of $40.3 million of additional funding from the county. The budget also includes over $18 million of budget reductions that result from the requirement of additional local funding for next year exceeding what county revenue projections indicate. Finally, the board has directed staff to make several changes to what is included within the superintendent's proposed budget. Those changes include removing an item that was in the budget which would have shifted responsibility for premium for the dental insurance

104employee dental insurance from the employer to the employee. The board has requested that be removed and it has been in these adjustments. So what would be and what you're considering approval in tonight would leave the dental insurance as it currently is which includes a $6 per month for an employee premium for selfinsur de dental insurance coverage. Also included in the adjustments would be to remove a reduction that was included in the superintendent's proposed budget of just over $600,000 to maintenance funding. That adjustment would effectively remove that reduction. And finally, um the adjustments would restore a million dollars of funding to be available for our restart schools. That was one of the adjustments included in the superintendent's proposed budget. And to offset those three adjustments I just mentioned, there would be an adjustment to the proposed

105teacher increase to the teacher salary supplement. And the increase to the supplement that was included in the proposed budget of 3% would be adjusted to an increase of 1.5%. Also included in these adjustments would be a onederee change to our building temperature setbacks for air conditioning and heating by one degree. That's estimated to create savings of 500,000. And finally included within these adjustments to the superintendent's proposed budget would be to utilize $1 million of community use funding on a recurring basis to offset both school utility costs and also background checks on our school-based volunteers. So, those are the adjustments that the board has discussed, I believe, at your finance committee meeting last week that we are bringing to you to include along with what was included within the superintendent's proposed budget. Um, you've already waved

106board policy allowing you to put over 50% of fund balance into balance of budget. And as I mentioned earlier, this proposed budget in invests about 54% staff's available to answer any questions and I now ask the board's consideration of approving a proposed budget which again is just an initial step with much more work to come. Thank you, Mr. Neer. So to start our discussion, what I'd like to do is uh ask for a motion and I'll ask Vice Chair Swanson and our budget and finance chair to restate the motion, but if you could because we're in your budget meeting, you made several modifications to the proposed budget. In stating your motion, could you restate those modifications just for clarity if possible? Sure. So, I make I move that we adopt the board's proposed budget for

107the 2526 uh fiscal year. And as Chair Heggery indicated, this budget did make significant changes, but you were it's in my remarks as well, but I can say it now or reiterate in the remarks, but it does reinstate the dental uh employer contributions to dental, which means all employees in WCPSS will pay $6, uh for their dental. It also moves the $6 million re re, excuse me, fully refunds the $6 million for restart schools that will impact roughly 43 schools throughout the district um to for area superintendents to use those as needed. In addition, it also reinstates the cuts that was directed at HBAC to move to to not to make those cuts. So those are three big main items that this uh budget addresses and the rest of that I will get into my

108comments once the motion has been properly seconded. Thank you. And for anyone requiring more detail remember this was these were the recommendations that came out of our budget and finance committee which was attended and which everyone had discussed. So at this time is there a second for the uh the proposal to modify the budget? We have a second from Miss Maffy. All right. At this time, I'm expecting there will be some comments, there will be some discussion, and if there are any questions for Mr. Neater, we can have those. Now, um before we start, I do want to commend uh Vice Chair and uh budget and finance chair Swanson and all of the members of the board who have worked very hard on this budget since the time that it was originally proposed by the

109superintendent. I especially want to commend you for the last budget and finance committee meeting and for all of the suggestions that board members have brought to the table looking at a responsible way to balance this budget. Many different scenarios were considered and I appreciate all of your very thoughtful and judicious work in suggesting them. You know, a budget is not a legislative agenda, right? It's it's not a wish list. It's a detailed plan for how you expect to spend the money you expect to receive. And that can be very, very difficult with inadequate state funding and with limited county funding. We have to be realistic and responsible about how we plan to spend the funds that we best expect we will receive. further with cuts to both spending and staffing at the federal level. We

110have a tremendous amount of uncertainty hanging over us. And if I can opine a minute, because I believe those proposed cuts affect some of our most vulnerable students, if we see those budgets, it is responsible for us to build in as much budget flexibility as we can so that we can make sure our special education students, our title one students, and others that could lose this funding can still be supported by this district. So with that, uh, Vice Chair Swanson, would you like to address the proposed budget? Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Hery. And I also want to thank, um, Miss Kimy, Miss Posey, uh, for their detailed work and hard work for this budget. This budget does not end once we start today. This is in fact a long process. So I want

111to also thank you, Mr. Neer, as well. Um, I also want to thank Miss Allen and Mr. instrumentals for coordinating the three public hearings which this district has never taken the budget outside of crossroads before. And because this was a very serious budget, we felt that it was important to take the issues to the community so they can hear. And through those conversations, we were able to reinstate changes that we heard from the community such as the dental, the concerns for HVAC and restart, which again, those 43 schools in the district, primarily in the eastern part of our county will be impacted uh the most. Um I don't want to name those schools, but there's 43 of them out there that will benefit from this. I also know that a budget's not perfect. This is

112not a perfect budget. Nobody here wants to make cuts. No one really supports those cuts, but again, we have a obligation to pass a bal to pass a ballot budget. Uh, and the reality is that Wake County, just like many other districts, are facing these same issues due to the state government not fulfilling their duties. In fact, the burden has been pushed down to the local government, uh pushed down to the county commissioners to fill that gap and in return the taxpayers. Um, which we are grateful for the community always stepping up and filling in the gap, but the state general assembly must and can and shall do better as it relates to public education because public education is a public good that all of us deserve to participate in. We also just learned that

113North Carolina ranks 43rd in the nation as it relates to teacher pay. which is highly unacceptable when we have a strong and robust economy and growth. And it's been referenced that other counties, our second largest county in the state has a a more robust budget because they have a larger revenue. We have all of this the the state government that's here which limits what we can bring revenue and tax on. And so this is again a tough one. the responsibility has been pushed down to us because again instead of the general assembly advancing teacher pay raising teacher teach teacher pay putting more counselors into the building to meet the national average they have chosen to take public dollars to divert them to to voucher schemes and whatnot and so this is the reality that we're

114facing and I think the truth has to be told and again I will support the budget but I will also continuously call out our legislators meet with them, advocate with them to talk about why funding public schools is the right thing, is the moral thing to do, especially when we have a strong, robust economy. And I will say lastly that we cannot have strong businesses come to North Carolina, Wake County if we do not have a strong school system. So I would urge my colleagues to support this. Again, this is going to be one of many times that we will address this budget. We have to hear back from the county commissioner's final budget and whatever the state government decides to do when they decide to pass their budget. So tonight is one of many

115steps that we will take to address this budget. So thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you Vice Chair Swanson. Other speakers on tonight's proposed budget. Mr. Hersy, a question for Mr. Neater. You mentioned the community fund and you kind of gave a little bit more detail. Can were you saying that the million taken from that impacts our volunteer approved background check? Can you clarify that for me? Yes, certainly. So, of the adjustments, some of the adjustments effectively um were restoring things that were budget reductions, which means there's to restore those to have a balanced budget, we need to find another source of funding. One of the sources of funding identified, brought forth, and considered, and included within tonight's proposal is to use a million dollars of community use funding towards the operating budget and would be

116applied to two areas that are appropriate. And one is utilities within the schools. And the second would be to cover a portion of the background checks. It's it's simply a shifting of the source of funding for those things which would in turn allow us to reduce on the operating budget side the utilities funding and the background check funding by an equal amount. There would be no impact. We've analyzed multiple years historically of community use revenues and expenditures and we do not anticipate there'll be any impact on the community use program by doing this. Okay, that's what I was getting at. Um I will say that um I'm I'm going to support the budget as recommended. I want to point out a couple things that I I have issues with and I have stated them already

117which we need the organizational study. I am not going to another budget without it. I think it's incredibly important to be able to show the public what we may agree it will show, but if we don't do it independently, if we voted on it as a board a year ago, a little not quite a year ago. And my expectation is that when the board votes on something like that that we get that product and I understand it was tight, but I'm a no next year without that. like we have to have that. Um it's imperative to be able to show all the staff here who people who question whether we're bloated at the top the independent study and I'm not going to prejudge it out loud. I have my own thoughts on it what it

118will show but we've got to have it. Um furthermore I just want to uplift the principle that you know I really believe we have to do everything in our power to keep staff in schools. Um it it worries me some of the using different months to some of the flexibility that principles have that we're you know maybe taking a little bit of way here to keep a little bit here within a school and and so um I'm just going to uplift that is I wish we were able to do more. And I guess the third thing is I don't know when we got to the point or when it was let me let me preface this by saying the commissioners have been great. They've done an outstanding job giving us funding and over the years

119and I really am hopeful that we'll get they will get to 40 uh by their June vote. Um, but I understand the argument of we are elected to just ask for what we need and I struggle with that because I know we have to do the work and we might be anticipating we're not going to get it all but I do understand that and I don't know when we got to a point where we make the decisions first before set just sending it over and then they give us their budget and then we come back. But I'll leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Hershey. Miss Evans, I see you. I do wanted I did want to ask Dr. Taylor if he could respond to Mr. Hershey's request regarding the organizational study. Absolutely, M. Mr.

120Chair. We will move forward with the study, and we did have an RFP that was issued, but we paused that. Uh, but understanding the board's wishes and desires, uh, we will make that part of the work that we do moving forward. Thank you, Dr. Taylor. All right, I'm going to do Miss Edmonds and then Miss Gordon. Thank you. Thank you. So, um I know this is semantics, but I it I think it's important. Um I said it last week. I am agreeing to this budget proposal, but I do not support it. And I think those are two different things. Um and I want to outline um so that we are all crystal clear about why we're really in this mess and why we're making cuts at all. Um, and before I make my go through

121that list, um, I want to honor what Christina Cole said to us, um, representing NCE. I, and I know many of us here, we are so appreciative of your advocacy at the state level and we know you know what's up. We know you know. Um, but thank you for making that point. You're I hear you. We hear you. So, the General Assembly is not fulfilling their co constitutional obligation to fully fund our schools. Um, they have spent 30 years bending over backwards to not fund Leandro, North Carolina's largest and oldest school funding case. Democrats and Republicans are guilty of this. Democrats were in power when the case was first brought, and it was Democrats who first refused, and when the GOP gained control, they just doubled down on that refusal. Fast forward to the last

12212 years of chronic underfunding and attacks on our schools. As Mr. Swanson pointed out, North Carolina is now well, we're 39th in beginning teacher pay, 43rd in overall teacher pay, which was a drop. We had been a little bit higher than that. Um, and we are 49th in funding effort. The General Assembly has taken our corporate income tax rate from 6.9% to zero, which means that no corporations doing business in our state will contribute a dime to our public schools, even though they and their employees benefit from them. They took away M's pay and have yet to restore it. They have plateaued teacher pay at year 15, which hurts our ability to retain teachers long term. They took away retirement health benefits for teachers and they've taken every opportunity to belittle the teaching profession by

123passing laws like the parents bill of rights and house bill 636 that's moving through now. A bill that includes a $5,000 fine for teaching something a parent or community member doesn't like. And bills like that waste taxpayer money on more staff and more staff time, attorneys fees, etc. uh to respond to complaints about books or materials at the whims of parents or community members. And then there's the money the general assembly is allocating for vouchers. This school year alone, 2425, private schools in Wake County received more than $56 million as of April. We are asking commissioners to approve a $40 million increase that reflects cuts for our district. while private schools got more than 56 million from state tax dollars. All these things I've listed is not an exhaustive list, but as long as the

124general assembly continues to erode public school funding, we will probably have to cut more in upcoming years. And that will certainly be true if federal cuts continue. The federal stuff gets a lot of the headlines and a lot of the clickbait. But let's be very clear. We would not be here today if it were not for the harms done by the general assembly all the way back to Leandro worsened since 2013 and ongoing. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Edmonds. Miss Gordon. Um, yes. Is this Can y'all hear me? It doesn't feel like it's on. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Oh, this is much better. Um, I, you know, I want to say, I want to say, um, that while I understand we have a clear obligation and a clear responsibility to pass a local school

125budget, um, we also have an obligation to support those who are in these classrooms with our students every single day. Um, as a parent, um, it concerns me that there there are proposed cuts to classrooms that have a direct impact on students. Um, and during public comment, we heard powerful testimony not only from educators, but from parents, grandparents, and students, all urging us to pass a no cuts budget. And to me, their message was clear. Um, cutting these roles increases the strain on already stretched schools and sends the wrong message. So with that, I cannot support or agree to a budget that has this many cuts to school buildings. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Gordon. Miss Cfield, thank you. And I I want to start with saying that I really appreciate all the work that

126goes into it. I know it's it's it's a large budget and you guys do a lot come back to us quite a bit. Um and I do hope that we get the extra support that we need. I there's a lot of really good arguments. I've been advocating for things. Um but we do decide where we put our budget directly. So, um, I appreciate that we put the dental, the maintenance, the M portion back and the 1 million back for the restart because I think that was extremely important. Um, but I wanted to be clear on one fact before I continue. We are not removing coordinating teachers, right? Because we did receive a ton of emails today and I thought that was off the table a couple meetings ago. Okay? So, I just wanted to be

127sure that we were on the same page with that. And to to be clear when you say we're not removing there is no proposed cut to those positions in the proposed budget. Is that correct? Quest Swanson. Yes. Okay. Just wanted to be clear. Um I've spent a lot of time trying to advocate for our teachers to have the support and the money that they need to afford and to live and support their and feed their families. And there's no way that I just feel justified allowing their supplement to be a sacrifice to get the resources in the classrooms. Um I have a hard time believing that we cannot conserve in other areas. I know that it is not a fund budget, but I think it's important that we look at some other ideas and I

128cannot support something that is directly cutting things that are in our classroom. And if that's the option, I cannot agree. Excuse me. So my votes going to be no. Um, but there were comments that were made that I wanted to address that to say that we are abysmal and central staff. We don't know. We just don't know. We We need to evaluate that and we did speak about it. I know that Mr. Hershey has brought it up as well. We asked about it last budget cycle and we did not see it this budget cycle. I think it would have made a huge difference and it could have been for the benefit of just us knowing. It could have been for the public. But either way, just not knowing that information. It is a huge piece

129of it. We have to at least acknowledge the money that is spent in our central office, um it's kind of irresponsible in my mind to not do that, to not even consider such an important piece of the puzzle. There's no way for any of us to know if we are bloated or not bloated because we just don't have a full picture. Yes, we have all the top directors. They are listed in our budget, but there is a lot of information beyond that point and we just don't have it. There's a large part of our a large portion of our budget. Um, it was stated that it's only 6% of our budget, which if I'm doing my math right seems to be $138 million. That's a lot of money. So, that's something that we should be

130considering. So, we absolutely should know what's in there. And I think that we really need to have that study done. We need to have that information. And I cannot in good conscious conscience take monies that we used that we I'm sorry, I'm just getting a little flustered. I cannot in good conscious take monies we usually spend on our supplements to our teachers and give to those very same teachers that they need in their classrooms. We can't take money away from them because it is I mean usually we give them 3% and now we're asking to give them one and a half% supplement instead so that we could supply things in their very own classrooms and I can't support that. Sorry. Thank you, Miss Rice. This takes some breathing exercise on this tonight. Um, I want

131to make a statement and I don't know how it's perceived, but in my mind, all I can see concerning this budget is a mom telling a kid who has limited resources, "We're getting ready to go in the store, this is all I have, and don't ask for anything more." I don't know who can relate to that culturally, right? And they say the parent knows what the expectation is they're going to get regardless of the desire of what that child really wants to have. And so that's how I see this budget. I want my kid to have the great shoes. I want my kid to have the thing that they need to go to the event they've got to go to, but that's just not what my budget is. And so in my heart, that's what's

132resonating with me is that I just don't have it even though I desire it. And so therefore, as the good parents that we have, I don't know about you all, I've seen parents take the minimal and they never missed a beat and it still worked out. It's not what we desire. It's not what I desire. It is frustrating, but this is all we have. And I have confidence in the very people who do this work every single day. People don't get into this profession for the money. They get into the profession because they love children and they want to make a difference. I see you. I hear you. But tonight, I'm the parent that understands the budget that I have, but I'm going to give you the very best that I do have to make

133it work for you. And so, while I cannot give you the 60 thou $60 million, I'm at least looking at what is reasonable to do and that makes sense within the budget that I've been expected to get. Because see my and in a parent perspective, right? You've went to work, you've done what you need to do, but you have an expectancy of what your check is getting ready to be. You don't like it, but it is what it is. But you're going to make sure that your child gets the very best they can get off the expectancy of what you think you're going to get. And I don't know about you, but I've seen my mama make it work time and time again. I don't know about you, I've seen other parents make it work

134time and time again. And unfortunately, the analogy may not make sense to others or may can't resonate with others. But what I'm saying is, is it acceptable? No. But what we're going to do is look at what we have and be a people that rises every time. So, while we may not have the best sneakers, we may not have the best suit, we're going to use what we got, and we're going to band together with other resources. We're going to band together to find other streams of revenue to make it work together. And so, I that's all I can say is that's what's resonating in my mind and my heart to make it make sense. And so while I am thankful for my colleagues hearing my heart and your own hearts about restart funding that

135affects the most vulnerable populations. Thank you. Vice Chair Swinson, thank you. Because I'm just going to tell you, I would not want to be the budget chair right about now. Why? because our social climate is different. But you took what was difficult and you use intellect, you use compassion, and you use working with others to bring it be together the best you could. And you're balancing this budget to help us to get the shoes close to what we want even though it's not what we want. I want to thank um Miss Posey, um Mr. Neer, Miss Kim, Miss Kimzy for the hard work that you guys did with hearing and answering the questions, coming back asking for things um that we had questions about from our constituents that we shared with you. Thank you. That's

136not easy. Cuz it's not easy when a parent is looking in their child knowing what they desire and what they really wrote and they really can't give it to them. That's what I'm feeling tonight. That's what's in my heart tonight. That's what's moving me emotionally. I want to give it to you, but I just don't have the means yet. So, all the great things that we've said about banning together, going to the next level, we know that each and every one of us who are advocates do that. We respect each other for that. We cannot stop. But most importantly, we can't stop working together to continue. Mr. swans and said, "Um, this is just phase one. It's phase one." And so, you can look at your mama and say, "I don't want that." And she

137can take you right on about that store and you get nothing. Or you can humble yourselves and say, "Mama, I thank you for what you can do for me right now. Cuz one day we going to do better. One day we're going to be able to do better. And when we're able to do that, we're going to stand up for it and we're going to fight for it. And I wish that tonight was one of those nights that we could do that within reason and with with responsibility to be good shepherds over what we have. But tonight, I have to be that shepherd that understands the expectation of what I'm going to get and budget it to the best of my ability. and I have to say yes. Thank you, Miss Rice. Miss Mafy, I

138want to echo the thanks to um our budget chair Swanson, uh Mr. Neater, Miss Kimsey, and Miss Posey. Um over the last nine years, the three of you along with Mark Wyers have helped me understand how school funding works in Wake County and um have been able to translate that and so that a French teacher can understand it. Um and always to Miss Alen for making sure we're able to stay on track. This isn't an easy easy budget. I've been here for nine years. My first budget wasn't easy, but it's because on the other side of it, we had to make cuts because we didn't get that funding from the commissioners. Um, this budget is taking away some of the things that this board was happy to put back in and expand services. Um, and

139that is not enjoyable. And we are in a very unique moment in this district and in education in this country where we have to um make hard decisions. And I don't have any fancy metaphors. I don't have any exciting or enlightening to say about this budget except it's a difficult decision. And we are here to make difficult decisions and our job as school board members is to hire and evaluate a superintendent and to pass a budget. So I'm here to pass a budget. Thank you, Miss Mafy. Dr. Ray, I guess I'm the last one. Um, thank you, Miss Rice, for what you said. Um, it just brought back memories of um, my family. My, you know, when I was growing up, my dad didn't have much money. He was a tor and he wanted to

140give us the American dream and he spent a lot of money um, to take care of us. None of us knew how much he was in debt until he had to file for bankruptcy. and he also had to give up his give up the our first home um because he just couldn't afford the mortgage. So I say that because I feel like you know we have been kind of like that the parents who just want to give everything to to their kids. Um, but at some point we end up having to pay the price and and the responsible adults ought to have a budget. That that makes sense that we're not, you know, borrowing from another pocket or, you know, another pot to pay for something else. Um, and you know, for us, I mean,

141I I I appreciate Mr. and neither and Miss Kenzie for for explaining a lot of the the intricacies of it over the last few years that we've been on the board. Um and the you know making a decision on the budget requires us to have full information and I agree with Mr. Hershey that, you know, we've asked for the organiza or organizational study and we haven't gotten it yet. And so that that makes it harder for us to really have a have a informed decision on what we're doing with the budget. Um, and you know, and and like everybody said, you know, we don't know what we don't know. you know, it could be that that everything is fine in terms of the organizational um uh uh the study and and the results from it,

142but we have to have that information. And so, you know, I' I've been kind of, you know, torn about what how I would vote for this. And, you know, I I and I was one of the people that really advocated for the restart money to be put back in. Um and and I'm I still am adamantly supporting the restart, but ultimately for me um as a statement of what we need to do as the adults to be able to do a a a responsible budget to understand all the numbers that that that that goes in and comes out. Um I'm going to have to vote no. Thank you, Dr. Ring. Are there any final any concluding comments on the budget tonight from any board members? Move to call the question. Thank you, Vice Chair Swanson.

143Seeing no other uh discussion, we'll go and I'd like to do the vote by roll call. Uh we'll start at the end of the table and move around. Uh starting first with Miss Gordon. Nay. Mr. Hershey. I. Dr. In may. Miss Edmonds. I. Chair votes I. Vice Chair Swanson I. Miss Mathy I. Miss Caulfield nay. Miss Rice I. Thank you. By a vote of 6 to3. The modified budget passes. Thank you, Mr. Neater. Thank you. We do have other items on our agenda tonight. I know that this has consumed a lot of everyone's time and attention, your hard work. I want to thank everybody who attended public meetings throughout the district. I want to thank Vice Chair Swanson again for pioneering that and thank Miss Allen and staff for all the work they did to

144help facilitate those meetings. Um I would now like to turn though to our other action items and for that we go to policy. Um, the first policy we have tonight is board policy 7560, permitted salary reductions on first reading. I see Miss Posey coming up. Good evening. Uh, good evening uh board chair, members of the board, and superintendent Dr. Taylor. Uh, so we have two policies for you. Uh you heard these policies in the April 29th uh policy committee. Uh this is first reading on action. So policy 7560 permitted salary deductions for absences and discipline of certain exempt employees. The purpose of this policy it outlines when salary deductions are permissible for exempt employees under the FSLA. Uh this policy emphasizes alignment with FL LSA and includes a grievance process for unresolved complaints. In blue

145are technical in nature changes and we had alignment in policy committee for this particular policy. The second policy and that that is a new policy. We do not have current policy. The second policy is policy 7620 payroll deductions which replaces old policy 8361 salary reductions. We also have technical changes that are highlighted in blue. Uh the policy lists the types of payroll deductions that the finance officer is authorized to deduct from the employees salary. Both of these are on action for first reading. Thank you, Miss Posey. Is there a motion at this time? Chair Hagerty, I move that we adopt 7560 and 7620 on first reading. Thank you, Miss Edmonds. Is there a second? Second. We have a second for Miss Mafy. Is there any discussion? Are there any questions for Miss Posey? Miss Mafy,

146I just want to clarify, Miss Edmonds, that's for both policies. Okay. That's that's what I heard. I'm just making sure. All right. So, just to be clear, we would be voting on first reading board policy 7560 permitted salary deductions and board policy 7620 payroll deductions. Is that correct? Okay. Just making sure I got it. All right. Then, if there's no other discussion, if there's no other debate, we'll proceed to the question. All in favor of adoption of board policy 7560 and 7620 on first reading, please say I. Any opposed? Nay. Okay. By my count, um I have a I have a 7 to one vote. Is that correct? I see Mr. Hershey had uh had to step out for the matter he had discussed with me previously. All right. So with that, board policies 7560

147and 7620 both passed on first reading and we'll come back to the board on second reading. Okay. Thank you, Miss Posey. All right. So at this point, we will turn on our amended agenda. We will turn to a reading of the Wake County Board of Commissioners proclamation that was transmitted to us just minutes before our board meeting. All board members should have a copy of this proclamation and an official copy of the proclamation will be entered into our minutes. I want to thank uh the commissioners for the proclamation and give special thanks to Commissioner Tara Waters who doubled her efforts to make sure that we would have this in time for tonight's meeting. The proclamation which has been communicate to communicated to us reads as follows. Whereas the Wake County Board of Commissioners recognizes the

148importance of teacher appreciation week. And whereas teachers are the heart of our educational system, declaring their time, expertise, and passion to nurture the minds and souls of our students. And whereas diversity, inclusion, and belonging are fundamental principles that enrich the fabric of our society, fostering understanding, empathy, and respect for all individuals in the classroom. And whereas there are more than four million teachers in the United States and they play a pivotal role in creative, inclusive, and welcoming learning environments where every student feels valued, accepted, and empowered to succeed. And whereas teacher appreciation week provides an opportunity to express our gratitude and administration for the tireless dedication and commitment of our educators. And whereas the and and whereas Wake County recognizes the importance of celebrating the diversity of our teachers and unique perspectives they bring to

149the classroom, contributing to a rich tapestry of experiences and knowledge. And now, therefore, be it resolved that the Wake County Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim May 5th through May 9th as Teacher Appreciation Week and urges the residents of our community and communities across the country. And that does say country, not county, to support all of our Wake County teachers. Adopted this day, the 5th of May, 2025. Signed, Susan P. Evans chair Wake County Board of Commissioners. So, as chair of the board of education, I thank the commissioners for their proclamation. I'm glad that they chose to send this to us and share this with us at our meeting tonight. Thank you. So, at this time on our agenda, we would return to additional information items, and that starts with board comments. after a meeting

150of the gravity of tonight's meeting. It can really be you know almost uh you know anything we say at this point would be a step down from the work that we have done. Um we know that we have a crisis in education funding. This is a statewide crisis and now more recently it's a federal crisis. This cannot continue if we want to continue to provide quality education in Wake County schools and in the schools across North Carolina. I appreciate Miss Edmond's remarks specifically calling out specific policy deci decisions that have been made and I think rightfully talking about the roots of the problem and there is shared blame to go around and I'm hopeful that we'll have shared solutions. I want to encourage all state leaders, Republicans or Democrats, to come out and adequately fund

151our public schools, and adopt policies that are responsible in terms of providing our students and our teachers and our school districts with the resources they need to provide a quality education in a safe and healthy environment. I want to thank our county commissioners for their past support for last year's, you know, record-breaking expense for Wake County Public Schools and education above and beyond their constitutional mandate to take care of our capital construction needs, but also assuming important operational costs, which help us, we still fall short, but helps us get closer to making teacher salaries closer to the cost of living in Wake county, we advocate yearround. If you haven't gathered that from our board comments, if you haven't seen that from from our actions, members of this board advocate year round with our state leaders

152and our county leaders and do not go into this process lightly. Dr. Taylor and his staff work hard to work in collaboration with our county leaders to look at revenue projections to try to forecast what might be available. And then when we see those projections, we continue to lobby. And while I think we may be disappointed to see the numbers being proposed by the county manager, I will say we had reasonable belief to believe that the county manager's recommendation could have come in lower. And yet, we put together a budget that we've approved tonight that asks for more than the county manager's recommendation. And I believe it is a reasonable and responsible ask to fully fund the budget which we have proposed. Fully funding the school board's budget as proposed will make it possible to

153keep those resources in those restart schools which are threatened now more than ever. We've been able to restore an important benefit that many of our staff depend on. And by maintaining these maintenance and operations contracts, we can work to move the needle and improve the learning and working conditions in our school. We know that property taxes are a burden, but we also know that we are asking for the minimum amount needed to keep our schools operating and to take care of our students. And I fully hope all of you around the table will join me in advocating for this full budget to our commissioners. And this isn't the end either. As you know, we continue to advocate and look for solutions throughout the year for additional funding. We will continue to work with state legislators.

154I want to thank those of you that have taken time out of your schedule to come with us and meet with state legislators and to talk about our schools. And I want to thank those legislators who have taken the time to meet with us with open ears and with open minds to put together past disputes or past differences of opinion. We might not agree on all the issues, but we have to agree with the urgency of the situation before us. Whether it's funding for mental health and student wellness, whether it's funding for important maintenance and operation expenses, we need to work together for solutions. And as we propose this operating budget, we will also begin conversations about our capital improvement program and our capital budget. And I want to ask all board members for their

155priorities as we reexamine that budget and again see where we can move the needle to address the problems that have been brought to us by the public regarding the safety and security in our schools, regarding the health and um accessibility issues in our schools. addressing the important concerns brought to us about the state of our libraries, about the substandard conditions, I have to say, with our mobile units and our trailers. All nine of us, I'm including Mr. Hershey and Absenti because I know this is a priority priority of his as well, have a responsibility. We cannot expect to keep doing the same thing and hope for a different outcome. And I hope that you will all join me in facilities or in subsequent discussions if you can't attend that meeting and work with our county

156commissioners as partners for how we can rep prioritize the spending of those capital funds to address our highest priority needs affecting the students and staff that live here right now in Wake County and putting them first. So, thank you. We'll go around the table. I'll start with Miss Evans. Thank you. Um I I brought visuals tonight, so staff will get that rolling hopefully. Um while we wait for that, I do want to say and it it really is it's hard to say this today. Happy Teacher Appreciation Day. It's also teacher appreciation week. Um, it's hard to say because I know that the actions taken here tonight don't feel very appreciative, but please know that we we do sincerely appreciate you. We value you and I will continue to stand with you to advocate for you

157at the state and federal level. So, thank you for everything you do for our kids. So, these images that you're seeing, um, a Middle Creek High School parent invited me to the Middle Creek High School Unified Olympics, and I wasn't able to go, but today in my inbox, I got the newsletter of their digital academy where they took all these photos of the event. And this this is Wake County schools. This is what is actually happening in our public schools. Um, and community needs to know that. And I just thought they were so beautiful and so um, exempl, you know, they exemplify what really goes on in public education. So, I wanted to share those. And then my last comment is um, thank you to Wake Cape for their library town hall last week. Um,

158Miss Gordon, Mr. Hershey and I attended. It was impactful to hear directly from our school librarians. And I want to highlight a point that the Middle Creek High School librarian made at that meeting. Um she said that to replace just the non-fiction books in her collection, what she calls information books as opposed to imagination books, I loved that. Um her naming that of non-fiction is information and fiction is imagination. But just to replace her non-fiction research collection would cost about $600,000 in that one school. um for just the non-fiction, not the entire collection. And her collection needs updating. So um and that equates to what um her students, but also students, you know, across the district have access to. But I really I appreciated her for advocating for what she needs and what her students

159need and articulating it in a number so that we can appreciate the scope and the scale of what our students do and do not have. Um and I want to thank Mr. Hershey for his advocacy here and his leadership on the facilities committee. I know that we're going to discuss it um very soon. I think at the next meeting, but if not then very very soon. And while I'm optimistic that we will find a solution um for this library funding issue, I do invite NCA and our librarians to hold us accountable on this. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Evans, and thank you for sharing those wonderful pictures. Dr. Yes. Um I had the honor of um accompanying um Lieutenant Governor Rachel Hunt at Milbrook uh for a tour. Um she was very excited to see

160our uh CTE programs there. Um and we had a the tour and uh watched um the students uh hard at work um and also the goats and the chickens and all the um activity there. and she it was it was just a um wonderful experience and then also the fact that um uh Mr. Ryan Berglin our um former teacher of the year now uh he was in his next last day of being a teacher of the year he was able to provide a tour of the program and so um I was very proud of um that school and thank I I thank um Dr. Saunders um for uh taking the lead on that and and making sure that it was a wonderful experience for the lieutenant governor. Um and in and then talking about the

161um a a AAPI Heritage Month. Um um I I you know I I do understand um the the celebration of the API heritage and you know being being uh Chinese American I uh certainly um appreciate my heritage. Um I do find out of necessity I use that term uh Asian-American just as a shortcut term. Um however um there is a rich diverse uh cultures throughout the AAPI label. Um you know Chinese people are different than Japanese people that are different from Korean people are different from Pacific Islanders in terms of history, in terms of language, in terms of culture. Um and so it's, you know, it it in a way it kind of does a disservice to those individual um cultures to be kind of all grouped together in one. But I again I do

162understand the need to have a shortcut term uh in terms of celebrating the uh people that often time don't get um the acknowledgement in western culture. Um, and you know, I am proud to be a Chinese American. Um, and in that order, um, being proud of being a Chinese and being proud of being an American. And, um, and I'm I'm proud of the heritage. Um, but at the same time, you know, I'm I'm not defined by it. Um, I I'm defined by by uh the God that um made me. And um and so you know I I think that um it's worthwhile to celebrate but also to understand that um the it's a rich rich um uh history and backgrounds to all the different cultures and just wanted to um get that out there. Thank

163you. Thank you, Dr. Ring. Miss Gordon, thank you. Um, first and foremost, I'd like to say happy teacher appreciation week to all of our educators. As a former classroom teacher and forever educator, I know what it what it means to feel appreciated for such a selfless profession. Um, a special congratulations to Coach B, our newest teacher of the year, who I'd also like to add is the daughter of a 30 plus year um, educator, which is evident that when we pour into and support our educators, we are likely starting a ripple effect. Um, as Coach B commented on how her mom is such an inspiration to her. Um, I also want to thank every community member who has shown up, whether you spoke during the public hearings or simply listened. I want to thank those

164who sent the countless emails that we are still receiving to this board expressing concerns, sharing stories, and holding us accountable. Your voices matter, and you remind us who we serve and why this work is so important. Um, I'd like to specifically also thank the Wake County Librarians for their tireless advocacy for more equitable and sustainable funding for books. At their recent town hall, I was struck by what I learned that librarians often write grants, use their own money, and even ask family and friends just to keep shelves stocked. I learned that school book fairs only return about 25% of sales. meaning a parent would need to spend $100 just to make it possible for one book to be added to a school's library. It means that yet again, students in less affluent neighborhoods have less

165access to the most basic instructional resource, which is books. One librarian said a child's access to books should not be determined by their zip code. And what's even more alarming is that these discrepancies exist even within our magnet school system. One magnet school may receive $4,000 for library materials while another gets only 300. That is in equity in plain sight and it demands our attention and action. This entire broad uh budget process has been difficult and painful. No one joins a school board hoping to vote against a budget. But I cannot in good conscience support a budget that goes against everything I believe in. Full investment in our students, educators, and families. And I want to thank Mr. Hershey, Miss Caulfield, and Dr. Ing for raising the concern of making an informed decision. During public

166comment, we heard powerful testimony from educators, parents, grandparents, and students, all urging us to pass a no cuts budget. Their message was very clear. Cutting those roles increases the strain on already stretched schools and sends the wrong message that we are okay with doing less for our students. We have an obligation to pass a local school budget, but we also have an obligation to support our staff. Let me be clear. My no vote is not a rejection of everything in this budget. I also support restoring funds to our restart schools. Those schools serve some of our highest need populations and investing there is the right decision as well as restoring dental insurance. But I cannot support a budget strategy that feels more like surrender. I understand the relentless state and federal attacks on public education

167and I know our fight must continue at the legislative level. Our role is to lead, to advocate, and to make choices that reflect our values, not just manage scarcity. Whether it is a digital learning coordinator, a school counselor, clerical staff, safety assistants, building substitute, assistant principal, coordinating teacher, or asking for more funding for library books or demanding improvement to maintenance and operations. We owe it to the people who are in the buildings every day with our students to show our appreciation this week in action. Thank you. Coming back around the table, we'll go to Miss Rice. Well, of course, we want to continue with the theme of happy teacher appreciation week. Um, I am a parent that is always Excuse me, Miss Rice. I'm having trouble hearing you cuz my mic is on is also

168And it's the same issue I think Miss Gordon had with hers. Mr. Malone, could Miss Rice borrow your mic? Let's see if that works any better for you. Is that better? Oh, there we go. Uh, I wanted to say uh, of course, happy teacher appreciation week. Um even though sometimes we can't always do what we desire, um people still need to be appreciated. Um even in words and in the deeds in which we can do, right? Um and so I've been a proud parent for over the past 25 years that has made sure I participated. My son always enjoyed teachers getting their Chick-fil-A meal and their crispy cream donut um box that we would do from our household um to our teachers. And so I do appreciate our educators as a whole within our district.

169So, as I said, happy teacher appreciation week. District 4 will hold its final board advisory council meeting on May 12th at 6:30 p.m. at Southeast Raleigh Elementary School. I want to congratulate Southeast Raleigh Elementary School, a happy 5-year anniversary within its purpose-built community model. Um, they're working diligently to collaborate with community partners and staff for student success. I'm not going to comment anymore on our budget because all has been said. So we'll move on to what I also want to take a moment to highlight tonight's focus on what the eight dimensions of wellness and tonight it is intellectual wellness just want to remind everyone that this dimension encourages you to expand our knowledge pursue interest and hobbies and set meaningful goals expand our knowledge on how budgets work. Just want to plug that in because

170we still got as Mr. Swanson said we still have other phases to go and so while I know what we we're doing is what we're doing about what we desire but let us understand the processes of how this actually works um on all government levels right um and so I just wanted to make sure that we share that as we look at our intellectual wellness domain uh and so also it says intellectual wellness sparks curiosity and supports lifelong learning. I encourage families to explore ways to nurture this area for themselves, their students, and the community so that we can what? All have a positive and productive day. Thank you, Miss Rice. We'll go on to Miss Cfield. I wanted to congratulate Heritage High School Theater for an outstanding performance in Legally Blonde and also Wake

171Forest High School for putting on another great show for Disney's Little Mermaid. It's just really incredible to see our the talent that's coming out of our students. If you have not gone to any of these shows, I highly recommend not only going to to support our teach the schools, but um you'll just be blown away because a lot of it really is very I'd say off Broadway. Um both of the schools not only had amazing performers, but they also were very talented studentled tech teams that designed and built their stages. They were in charge of controlling the sound and lighting, and they just do a really, really great job. So, bravo. Happy National Teacher Appreciation Day to all of our amazing, incredible teachers. I want our teachers to know how important they are to our

172families. We value them and we appreciate how much they do to educate and help shape our children. They are the faces that our children see most during the day, during the week. Between extra busy curricular activities and family schedules, our childrens are with our teachers most of every day Monday to Friday. And some even attend our school events after hours as well. Just last week attending our high school play, I ran into several teachers that were there with their families and I know they have definitely left a place in our children's hearts and their lives and they won't be forgotten. I see them at games, performances, and volunteering their time in students with students needs. And soon I'll see them all at the graduation to support their students as well. Teachers leave a valuable mark

173on our children and are our partner as parents to guide our children toward success and into the path to follow their dreams. So I personally want to say thank you. And although today is just one day, we recognize you each and every day and appreciate you. Just to address my vote on the budget tonight, we need to fully support our classrooms and not cut in any spending in the classroom. That includes anything impacting our teachers. It's kind of ironic that today is a budget that falls on teacher appreciation day because these things do affect their everyday all year long. But even more, it affects our children. As a mom, I know how it directly affects our own children. So this is why my support for these proposals were to vote against it, but I do

174hope that by next year we do have our organizational study so we'll be able to get the budget earlier. I know it came earlier last year. This year it was like the third week of March, but I think it would be helpful if we could have it by the end of February or March to do that. That's it. Miss Mafy. Thank you, Chair Hagerty. Um, tomorrow is walk, bike, and roll to school day. We have 21 registered events in Wake County. I'll be walking with my daughter at her school. I know there are others that are participating that may not be registered with safe routes to school. Um, and I also want to highlight that in Miss Rice's district, there is an Oaks and Spokes kids bike rodeo at Chavis Park tomorrow um from 4

175to 6:00 p.m. And if you don't have a bike, bikes and helmets will be provided. as it is also National Bike Month. Um, a lot of the elementary schools in my area have shared out that they are going to be doing senior walk days where the seniors um, if you attended an elementary school in Wake County, get to walk through the school and the kids of your elementary school get to see you being the big kid. Um, so if you attended an elementary school in Wake County, please check and see if they're doing a senior walkthrough and sign up to participate. Um, not everyone is doing it, but again, uh, more and more are. And I just think it's really neat and remember hearing like, oh, the big kids came through, um, from my kids

176when they were the little kids. Um, and again, it's teacher appreciation week. I want to highlight one particular teacher um that is at one of my daughter's schools. She is the music teacher. She manages a large chorus so much that it has to be split into two choruses, a Thursday and a Tuesday chorus. Um so that's two times a week after school. She is combining those choruses. Not only does she do that, but she also does recorders in fourth grade, which I think we can all agree any music teacher that does recorders, just a special appreciation for anyone or being around music teachers that are doing recorders. Um and but she just did a ukulele concert for fifth graders and each class did a different song on ukulele. So that was I believe six different

177ukulele songs and it was incredible. So I know this is just one example of the many many teachers in our district that go above and beyond for their students and I just want to highlight that. Um because I think all stories are important. Um all of our teachers are important, but lifting up this particular teacher um as just an example um this week. And so that you stole my thunder with Buckhorn Creek. So thank you Dr. Taylor. Um congratulations to them. And I am done with my comments. Thank you, Miss Mafy. and we'll turn to Vice Chair Swanson to close us out. Thank you, Chair Heaggery. And I was hoping you're going to explain the reason why you weren't wearing the tie. Um, making Dr. Ing and I look bad today. Little humor based off

178of the light and the load, I guess. Um, I I will not dive into the budget. I want to thank you all who chose to make the difficult vote. I know that that was not a tough vote, and I know our work will still continue. And I do call upon the House as they are negotiating and moving their budget to have a much friendlier budget for our educators that actually increases more uh compensation for those teachers. So we won't have to have a local supplemental pay. But let me get back to my prepared remarks. I look forward I wanted to highlight that Dr. Dr. Taylor and I represented the district in the North Carolina safe school press conference that was led by the deputy secretary of department of public safety, William Lasser. We were joined

179by uh North Garner's principal um principal um Price um and the attorney general that was really calling upon uh SAFE's gun storage. We were the first district that partnered and looking forward to discussing more of that in the upcoming safety and security meetings. um of what we can do. Congratulations to our teacher, our new teacher of the year who represents Kingswood so greatly um Miss Coach Coach B. And just also want to thank all of those who uh the finalist. I had the opportunity to fill in for Chair Heaggerty to serve on the um committee interview committee and just hearing all the semi finalists. their passion, their why was such a great reminder for what we what we do and and why we do this and and it was not lost upon me that all

180of them talked about compensation. Um and I reminded them that we will be going to the general assembly together to hopefully talk about that. And so it was really really great to hear them and see their why. I also wanted to um again thank our staff for this and Dr. Taylor, thank you for bringing the budget very early. And as the budget chair, I think that's a great thing that unlike some districts, we don't get it as early. And so I don't have an issue with the the timeline that we get as the budget chair. And that might be another burden for another budget chair. But I think I thank you for the work that you do. And um again, I look forward, thank you, Miss Mafy, for talking about bike to school. I'll be

181joining the Morrisville Elementary community tomorrow with the mayor of Morrisville, TJ Collie, uh, as we participate in walk, bike to school week. So, that concludes my remarks, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much. Well, Vice Chair Swanson, before we can close out, you asked a question and that was why I'm not wearing a tie. And I know Miss Mafy knows and that's simply because there are no ties during the playoffs. Go Canes. Good luck in round two against the Caps. At this time, I'll entertain any motions for us to return to close session for the reasons stated. Mr. Mr. Chair, I move that we return to close session. Thank you, Mr. Swice Swanson. Is there a second? Second from Dr. Ring. All right. All in favor of returning to close session to continue our agenda, please

182say I. I. Any opposed? All right, we will take a a brief recess and then reconvene for close session. Thank you everyone.