001e e e all right good afternoon everyone today is Tuesday October 15th 2024 it's approximately 5:33 p.m. and we're calling this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order I want to welcome those of you who are watching at home and those of you who are joining us here in person um I want to make sure everyone gets in and gets a seat no worries thanks all right for those of you that been here before you've heard this before but for those of you who are new um we like to establish our meetings uh by stating that the Wake County Board of Education meetings are 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
002as 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 all speakers and refrain from loud comments and other disruptions disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with North Carolina General statute 14338 18.7 again please show each other respect especially those that are speaking that are coming to the meeting to get provide public comment all right so I look around the table I note that we have all board members here and so we do have established a quorum and so what I'd like to do is ask everyone who is able to please stand as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance I
003pledged aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right thank you the first item on our meeting agenda is to establish our meeting agenda so at this point what I'd like to do if board members have reviewed the items on the agenda tonight is entertain any motion for the approval of the agenda or to amend it for any changes necessary so move Mr I'm sorry just let me let me recognize Vice chair Johnson hos yes Mr chair I'd like to amend our agenda to allow us to approve the HR um Provisions that were talked about in Clos session thank you Vice chair Johnson Hustler is there a second second second from Miss mafy again
004what this would do is just let us go ahead and adopt the uh recommendations for HR appointments that came out of closed session and we would do this immediately after adoption of the agenda all right you all have heard the motion is there any discussion or debate if not all in favor of amendment of the agenda please signify by saying I I any opposed all right thank you now we'll need a motion for adoption of the agenda Miss rice did I hear a motion all right second we have a we have we had we had an earlier motion from Miss rice for adoption of the now amended agenda and of we have a second from Vice chair John Hustler all in favor of adoption of the meeting agenda signify by saying I I any opposed
005all right thank you so now that we've adopted our meeting agenda the first item is public comment so as we move into public comment tonight I need to remind everyone speakers commenting on items on the night's agenda will appear before speakers commenting on topics off the agenda all other speakers will be heard in order of sign up one thing we do is that we do give our students priority before other speakers um only the person speaking at the podium will be able to stand you may be here with a group but again only one of you may come up to the podium and speak all other attendees that are not speaking we ask that they remain seated concerns related to Personnel issues and student matters may be addressed through applicable wcpss personnel and grievance policies
006and other applicable policies of the school system if you have a matter that would be otherwise confidential and address to one of these methods we have staff here who can address that with you individually to help you have a resolution to that issue in the interest of maintaining Civility and decorum speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the board of education and they must refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff and members of the general public please remain at the post during your speaking time any materials you wish to share can be handed to our board attorney Mr Rod Malone either before your comments or at the conclusion of your comments and these will be made part of the official record during public comment you may speak
007up to three minutes if you haven't spoken before I'll let me run you through the process up here when the green light begins or sorry the green light will begin once you begin speaking that's the start of your time then you can continue to speak when you see the yellow light appear and you'll hear the first audible tone that's just a that's just a notice that you have 30 seconds remaining in your time you don't have to stop then but then when your speaking time is up you'll see a red light and you'll hear another audible tone at that time please conclude your comment because I'm going to call upon the next speaker to come up and speak with the next speaker um we be called to the podium I'll announce the speaker and then
008I'll also announce the speaker who's on Deck after just so you can have a chance to prepare your thoughts and be ready again please respect the three minute limit and speak no more than 3 minutes all right all right well if we are ready then we will turn to our list and again as I said we will have our students speaking to us first tonight our first speaker and again please if I mispronounce your name please feel free to correct me I will not take it personally and I apologize uh I have um ana Menan thank you after aad you will be Rowan Bido good evening good evening um I go to Eno high school and Eno is a space where vastly different ideas backgrounds and passions converge the diverse student body and range of
009classes offered create new and unexpected friendships that are the foundation of our school and many other Public Schools Community we as students have access to countless opportunities regardless of our interests like the IB program the mbsa program and ACD just to name a few and often we are connected to these organizations by school because we were unaware of them before having this opportunity but there's a huge problem with our school's funding the teachers and the bus drivers are not paid competitive competitive salaries and the essence of our schools is with the people who create our learning environment the lack of effective bus rops should not be a limiting factor of whose able to attend our school and the lack of competitive wages should not make it more difficult for teachers to continue fostering an interest
010and passion for learning in my own experience teachers have bridged the gap between my least favorite subject and my most favorite class also many of the buildings at different schools are less than ideal because of issues with funding since middle school I've heard problems with infrastructure in different schools which affects the learning experience of all students involved I've seen issues in certain buildings where there's so much humidity that the walls paint peeled easily and mold was found throughout the school carpets there were leaks throughout the school and the furniture hadn't been replaced since the school was opened more than 50 years old earlier and the air conditioning and heating didn't work properly this created an uncomfortable environment for the students and it was not healthy for our Learning Without proper funding from the state for
011staff and bus driver salaries the counties are forced to use infrastructure wages to provide competitive funds some counties are Rural and they cannot afford both infrastructure and competitive salaries so I support public schools because everyone deserves the opportunity to have a school that creates a safe learning environment a staff that challenges students to grow and a place to foster a community for all students in which students learn to give back to the community this is why I believe that public school funding is a huge issue that needs to be addressed thank you for giving me this opportunity for listening to me tell my story thank you thank you our next speaker tonight will be Rowan Bido followed by Wilton moratz good evening board members today I need to address a serious matter of safety and
012ethics there are many people in this crowd and on the board that have made a big deal out of school safety as well as bullying which is fair because that is a big deal so big that concerned parents have asked for more SRO full body scanners the whole shebang yet I am perplexed perplexed that some of these concerned parents are knowingly inviting an extremist hate group into our schools perplex that people concerned about bullying are engaging in doxing one of the most severe forms of cyber bullying that is what creates a hostile learning environment not clothing something that has been emphasized to students since elementary school is our digital footprint the choices we make online live forever the pain we can cause online lives forever students are taught not to post anything personal about themselves
013or others not to post anything hateful not to cyber bully and not to take and post pictures of someone without their knowledge or consent so what lesson is being taught to Young Minds when adults are non-consensually posting pictures of somebody with their private information and tagging a known doxing group think of the implications of that by including the name and location of a school is that not putting the 1,000 teachers and students and staff in danger no matter the circumstances this behavior is wrong and dangerous not to mention that this is a blatant Title 9 violation look at my outfit fabulous right if I wear outfits like this I get harassed and bullied I have also frequently had my picture taken and posted on the internet so I'm scared what if somebody takes my picture
014and posts it with my full name or my address or where I go to school what if some concerned parent invites a doctor to my school what if I get swatted that's terrifying and I've done nothing but put on a cute outfit how can you say that safety and bullying are your biggest concerns when this behavior is inciting violence and bullying the actions that have been taken by these concerned parents are reprehensible and it's scary you claim to want to keep all students safe but now I'm afraid to even leave my home how many students and staff have that same fear seeing as there's an estimated 14 million queer people in the US what are you going to do about these groups actively intentionally putting your students and staff in very real danger are you
015going to protect me if I become another Target my life as I know it depends on it thank you thank you our next student speakers tonight our next student speakers tonight I believe are from uh milbrook high school and I know they have some special guests with them tonight I want to recognize our former chair of the Wake County Commission Mr Sig Hutchinson and our former peer on the Wake County School Board who served in many many roles our beloved Roxy cash thank you both for coming [Applause] all right so we'll continue on uh with Wilton moratz and followed by Sophie Abbott Mr M than all right thank you hello members of the school board my name is Wilton moratz I'm a junior at milbrook high school my reason for being here is that we
016would like to start both an interest group around cycling and a Nika sponsored cross country mountain bike team at milbrook high school so here's some reasons why you should support this initiative so first of all wcpss supports safe routes to school which is all about cycling to school and teaching bicycle safety which is what we would like to do with our interest club and our sponsored team another reason is that cycling supports the wcpss Strategic plan priority to student dispositions and well-being which states we will prioritize caring for students and staff as individuals and developing and maintaining positive social emotional behavioral and mental health so some steps we have taken to support the Cycling Club at milbrook high school is we have communicated with principal Brian Saunders and we have identified a teacher coach willing
017to be our club advisor known as Rise um and we have also identified a student president for the club myself Wilton Morad uh here's some ways we support outside wcpss in relation to Nik cross country mountain bike team so first off Nika is a National Organization of 32 State leagues approximately a, individual teams and 24457 registered student athletes Nationwide in 2023 Nika is an organization supports our North Carolina league and underl teams with insurance for liability during team activities even though they are very uncommon we also have other schools clubs and Nika teams include East Chapel Hill High School Durham School of the Arts Falls Lake Academy Riverside High School McDougle middle school carboro high school and many more we are supported by a growing cycling Community those here to support cycling clubs in Wake
018County Public Schools please please stand please allow us to start a cycling interest club and nikah sponsored cross country mountain bike team at milber high school thank you from the future president of the milb high school Cycling Club Wilton Morad thank you Mr moratz we'll now hear from Sophie Abbott and then following Sophie that'll conclude our student speakers and we'll move to our on agenda speakers good afternoon Lake County School Board my name is Sophie Abbott from Heritage High School where I am a junior my primary goal is to introduce a Cycling Club and a mountain biking Club at mbrook high school and I will first start by introducing the safety factors from a n from a national inter Scholastic Cycling Association Al also known as Nika they introduced a injury surveillance system based on
019common High School sports such as football soccer wrestling ice Hawk and Lacrosse football was around 13,000 injuries reported soccer was around 2,000 2,200 wrestling with 2,700 ice hockey with 700 and Lacrosse with 1,100 the Nik mountain biking injuries reported were less than 1% so moving on to the benefits of nikah nikah also provided a survey from the students at the end of the year like when they're um season has ended 97% said they had improved physical physical fitness 86% said increased self-confidence 78% said increased mental health 89 said increased respect for trails in the surrounding environment moving on to just noting the other weight County Public School System high school high school clubs some of them are motor motorcycle clubs race car clubs Aerospace clubs and skateboarding clubs 70% of clubs at these high schools
020are related to a sport and a third have a car a carauto club so our big a ask today is to your support in starting a Cycling Club at milberg high school and to set the precedent for other weight County Schools thank you thank you Miss sabot now that'll conclude the student speakers on our agenda and again we give some allowances for some of our students but please I want to remind you all of the instructions we gave at the beginning all attendees that are not speaking are asked to remain seated okay so um please please please follow the instructions and we'll get through we've got a long agenda tonight um what I'd like to do now is go turn to our on agenda speakers um our first Speaker tonight is another former County Commissioner
021um I'll call out our good friend we're going to wait just a minute for some folks to come on through I don't want to get run over by the bikers glad they've got that insurance all right thank you commissioner Burns um good evening thank you my name is John Burns I'm a a resident of Raleigh um and as you said Mr chairman a former County Commissioner um I signed up to address the budget and I wanted to do that I'm a former Wake County Commissioner and uh my former colleague Sig Hutchinson who was here tonight and I had many long budget discussions with you and your predecessors I know that Miss Johnson hosler Miss mafy certainly remember those long conversations for my time on the commission um and I am proud of the work that
022we did collectively to try to bridge the shortfall left by the general assembly I wanted to tell you that I think you've done a very good job on your budget and I wanted to thank you and your staff for the amount of work that you've had to do to be here and to get to this point and while we may have differed and could still differ about the amounts of certain things in certain places in certain parts of the ledgers larger principles and assump have come to my mind in recent days and I wanted to address those so I wanted to apologize that I have sat at home in recent years and assumed that you had the resources you needed to confront the rising tide of Christian nationalist attempts to take over the education system
023I thought you had the necessary security budget needed to staff meetings rendered divisive by people who choose to see perversion everywhere and then project their own darkest thoughts onto the actions of others I assumed you had sufficient resources to support your teachers when they were unfairly targeted and doxed by political extremists when all they are trying to do is connect to today's kids I didn't think you needed to budget for remedial Civics and reading comprehension programs for adults in our community and finally I didn't think of the time you and your staff have to spend dealing with the deceptive and disingenuous complaints of an angry and hateful splinter group so perhaps in your next budget you should account for those hours and those needs in the meantime I just thought thought you and your teachers
024should know there are far more like me who silently support them and appreciate how well they have educated our children as a person with a non-binary child in my extended family I leave you with the request that you continue to support and defend those children who are in your care you have our support and we have your back thank you thank you Mr burn and again just as a reminder just as a reminder whether in support or in opposition please let the speakers continue speaking so everyone can hear their remarks okay please don't make remarks or sounds or whatever during while a speaker is speaking at the podium all right our next speaker will be Mike figueras and he'll be followed by Janet Peterson figaris figs thank you hello uh my name is Mike figaris
025and I want to thank you for this time uh for me to speak during public comments I spoke in here on other occasions and I'm grateful and will be respectful in this public space I promise you it's unsettling and sad that groups are abusing this public comment opportunity at such a critical time they're just seeing headlines and self-promotion by politicizing this public comment section at board meetings and I will not take for granted this time and keep it public education centered first I am a parent organizer for Education Justice Alliance a dad of four beautiful amazing public school children and I wanted to talk about the school Improvement uh plan for schools that identify as low performing schools and earn an overall school performance grade of D or F and a school growth score of
026of met expected growth or not expected growth not met expected growth the legislation states that within 30 days of the initial identification of a school is low performing by the state board the superintendent shall submit to the local Board of Education a preliminary plan for improving both the school performance grade and school growth score including how the superintendent and other central office administrators will work with the school and monitor the school's process progress uh in my 25 years working with families in the community I've always believed in listening to the people who are invested the most I believe the answers will come from those going actually through things I mean who knows their child better and cares more about their future than their parent as a parent myself I would like not only to be
027notified if the school earned a low overall performance grade but to be to be given the opportunity to be a part of the process of the creation of this preliminary plan I believe the parents would have something of value to add if not then maybe hear the recommendations given and be able to voice their thoughts to modify the plan we at eja education Justice Alliance believe that public schools should be Community Schools and we should have a relationship centered public school system that truly values parents and students as decision makers um we hope you do this as well I ask you consider my comment and thank you again for this time thank you Mr fetes our next speaker tonight is Janet Peterson after Miss Peterson that will conclude our on agenda comments and then we
028will move to off agenda comments but I'll have a com I will have a comment about that as we go thank you Miss Peterson whenever you are ready feel free to adjust the I am a Christian and I do love my country so I'm not sure what that makes me I reviewed your agenda and I'm pleased to see that there were a variety of Grant requests by teachers and administrators to support lots of different projects some of the grants were obvious in their intent uh kitchen equipment that was needed uh baseball uniforms however there were quite a few that lack clarity about the intent of the project for the public to be on board with each initiative I think more information is going to be needed about the grants uh more than just their title
029and the names of the schools one of the eighth grade grants that you approved last year was on bullying let me tell you that some of the staff and citizens seriously need a refresher course during the last meeting here at the school board someone on the board took photos and videos and shared them out to the creators of social media memes and post and pointed out the names of attendees in the audience the memes and the videos have been shared out in an attempt to silence and intimidate anyone that would want to come to one of these meetings uh speak address a principal or an administrator um hey superintendent Taylor I wrote an email to you and and chair Hagerty about this board member using his phone to record attendees and I got no response
030from either one of you the board member emailed me back he refused to apologize or deny taking pictures staring at me and mouthing words to me to be safe when I left instead he accused me of playing the victim card this isn't the first time he and other board members have attempted to intimidate speakers who oppose them while I'm at it one of the candidates that's running for superintendent has assisted in awarding Grants through groups like The Z Smith Reynolds Foundation some of those groups have uh that they have uh given Awards have radical goals and missions um let me just share a couple and I ask citizens to do their own research and make their own decisions Progress NC uh a team of community Communications and digital experts dedicated to building long-term transformative people
031uh throughout North Carolina their datadriven messaging and communication strategies uh Etc shift inced 2021 received $50,000 for two years according to the web they're permanently closed now and their focus was on leading North Carolina to improve Adolescent and young adult sex Health how about Planned Parenthood let's don't accept any of their grants there are others like Creed who talk about the systemic transformation of the educational system in summary I don't know who created the memes or the videos I just find it a way of intimidating the public that would be brave enough to come up and speak it has no place in school it has no place here on the school board and I would say as far as grants go grants can be great things and I'm all four schools and businesses partnering together
032as long as we know where the money is coming from where it's going and what it's going to be used for all right thank you Proverbs four so that concludes our on agenda speakers now according to our board policy we generally allow up to 30 minutes for public comment when we have comments in excess of 30 minutes what we do is we have the option of moving on with our business agenda and continuing on after with the public comments after the conclusion of that agenda we started public comment tonight at 5:40 it's 6:00 now what I'd like to do though based on the number is we'll go ahead and try to do 30 more minutes of off agenda speakers we will go then to our business agenda and then at the conclusion of the business
033agenda we'll resume our off agenda public comments All right so our first off agenda public speaker tonight is Margaret Bido who will be followed by Joseph Deon hello board superintendent uh thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight um I'm not sure if any of you read the newspaper but I recently came across an article in the news and observer that made me ask myself how can people who claim to care about school safety attempt to dox a teacher simply because they disapprove of that teachers dress code compliant spiritwear these same individuals come here and rail against this school board and implying that the school board doesn't truly care about school safety I'm left wondering what was the goal here inciting violence for potential gacha moments drumming up more free media attention to promote their
034preferred candidates for superintendent of Public Instruction and School Board it's clear that this has nothing to do with school safety this is willfully dangerous nonsense aimed at schools attended by our children as a parent I'm deeply concerned about school safety having spent several years living and working on one of our country's nuclear Triad bases I know firsthand that publicizing all safety measures can in and of itself create safety risks I'd like to commend the board for your ongoing work to keep our schools safe and for understanding this critical aspect of security if what we hear so often in this room or genuinely about child safety why aren't we addressing real issues take October for example it's domestic violence Awareness Month each year it's estimated that 5 million children are either direct or indirect victims of
035domestic violence schools and districts play a critical role in supporting these children yet the so-called parents Bill of Rights touted by moms for Liberty members adds at least one if not multiple barriers to resources for child victims by protecting the rights of abusers to keep this information hidden at home if the focus is truly on protecting children and school security why are these same voices inviting harm into our schools by outside actors this has never been about protecting children or parental rights it's been about protecting what they see as their property from fabricated boogeymen children are not property neither mine nor anyone else's as human beings they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and to be protected from known harms abuse continues not just because of abusers but because of society's tacit Acceptance
036in closing this willfully dangerous nonsense was intentionally aimed at schools attended by children I'm calling on each School Board member to denounce the actions of moms for Liberty of wake when they posted and tagged of Tik Tok with intentionally manipulated information painting a Target on a specific teacher administrator school and even our school board members of the public take note of who some of our school board members are associating with and let that inform your vote in the upcoming election vote for candidates who are truly committed to protecting and educated educating all of our students thank you thank you miss padoo our next speaker will be Joseph Deon and Mr Deon will be followed by May Mitchell ever since uh Goldberg's research was published in 1966 Child Development Specialists have known that children do not
037come to a realization until age five or six that the sex of a person is not merely something external like clothing or hairstyle but is an intrinsic physical and immutable property of that person yet there are 16 story books on gender identity for children from the age of four found in various wake School libraries these books are Insidious because they are interfering with normal child development by interjecting something abnormal who who's agenda is is this the world professional association for transgender Health asserts that transgender identity is a natural human variation but how could it be natural when it requires radical pharmaceutical and and surgical intervention in an attempt to change n nature which it can never really do the argument that library books do not violate the parents Bill of Rights because they are not
038instructional materials is is lame Wake County should not be subverting a child's normal development whether there is specific positive law or or not then at the SE September 17 meeting a 15-year-old girl with great courage told the board that she was so upset by a graphic pornographic and in incestuous book that was read and discussed in English class that she dropped out of school this was a violation of your own policy against sexual harassment because it was so severe it caused her to drop out for all of your pronouncements about inclusion you excluded her after the backlash over over that incident from the pastor at the last meeting board member Lynn Edmonds whose District included that student promoted ban books week in her comments well it's not about banning books it's about whether Wake County
039should be picking books out of the gutter for students to read whether it's in in the classroom or or the library thank you Mr dayon our next speaker will be May Mitchell and may will be followed by Bailey Butler good evening hi good evening um Wake County school board members I stand before you as a mother of two children in our public schools and as a daughter of an immigrant I'm here to express my deep concerns about House Bill 10 and its potential harm to our education system and Community I'm providing you with a handout detailing how School vouchers have increased State deficits and dismantled public schools in three states that have implemented them which is Ohio Arizona and Florida hb10 despite its promise of educational Choice threatens the very Foundation of our Public Schools
040it proposes to divert substantial funds $248 million in nonrecurring and $25 million annually so the first year that will be more than $400 million diverted over way from public schools to private school vouchers this could lead to reduce funding for teachers bus drivers instructional assistance and other essential staff and resources at my children's elementary school we have already lost a school social worker we have lost an interventionist and we have lost a school counselor due to under enrollment this bill raises several alarming issues the first being equity and access Public Schools serve all students regardless of ability private schools have no obligation how can we ensure the quality education for all when we can't hold private institutions accountable for public money second rural impact many rural Counties have limited or no access to private schools
041yet they lose significant funding yadid County being one example over $100,000 despite having no private schools third is educational inequality this bill seems to favor wealthier families who can supplement vouchers potentially widening the Gap in educational opportunities and then the last that I find so reprehensible is Community Trust the provision forcing law enforcement to cooperate with ice is deeply troubling this could shatter the trust we've built with our diverse communities affecting our students wellbeing and academic success imagine a child trying to focus on their studies while worrying about their parents safety we talked about domestic violence this is another way that a child has to carry that burden consider the potential rise in unreported crimes as families become reluctant to interact with authorities that doesn't stop the crimes from happening it then leaks into the
042schools n none of this benefits our community resources that could improve Public Schools address housing crisis support communities impacted by environmental Injustice and health inequities are instead being diverted to private school vouchers I just want to stay I am a product of public education a daughter of an immigrant I've seen firsthand how strong public schools and inclusive communities can change lives thank you for your time thank you Miss Mitchell our next speaker will be Bailey Butler and and Bailey will be followed by Maggie F good evening Miss Butler hi good evening all right my name is Bailey Butler and I'm here to request the School Board to keep families in Pearson farms and Ashley Downs aligned to Olive Chapel Elementary School indefinitely or at least until there's a correction to the current calendar alignment to
043start off proximity okay sure I listened to most of the working session today and student assignment said during that session that 540 isn't a walkable option but Apex has invested $5 million into their safe routes for Schools project this is part of the greenway that runs behind behind our neighborhood this project is designed and I quote to improve the expand Town existing infrastructure for pedestrian and bicycle traffic to and from schools to which all of Chapel Elementary is specifically mentioned Pearson Farms is the only oce School connected to the greenway therefore Apex tax dollars will be wasted if you move our communities away from oce who by the way Ashley DS is 900 feet away and Pearson Farms is half a mile respectively away from oce again per the working session today you are listening
044to the folks in other communities like bellacasa asking to keep that huge Community from two three elementary schools to two which is great and definitely needed and I applaud you for that and I hope that goes through but Pearson farms and Ashley DS we're tiny there's not that many people here and we're also technically split up between two elementary schools half of Pearson Farms goes to oce and the other half goes to Scotts Ridge I know Scotts Ridge is also capped but I implore you to reconsider plucking our two communities out of oce and moving us to bacham when there are better and more viable solutions for our cohort in the larger Community our community again it's so small you guys have the numbers you won't give it to us you can see this not
045only will we not significantly contribute to the underutilization percentages at bacham moving us isn't helping the overutilization at oce moving us is not a solution the board faces I it's not a solution to what the issues that you guys face I think also if you look to the proposed 2526 resing map of oce you will find some initial very obvious solutions to re relieve some of these operational efficiencies another point to the working session was around the calendar misalignment to which there isn't a confident solution when watching that I'm nervous I don't think there is a solution that makes sense for my family based off how it stands today in conclusion please keep Pearson farms at oce and if you can't please move us to a Scots Ridge so we can be with our cohort
046and our community members we share an HOA we share a pool we all live in that area together thank you thank you our next speaker will be Maggie F who will be followed by Caitlyn Trader good evening good evening thank you all for hearing our comments tonight I'm here on behalf of the nlow high school PTSA whose board unanimously adopted the Statewide pta's nonpartisan resolution to keep public dollars in public schools by supporting Governor Cooper's veto of hb10 ptas around our state are aligned in supporting full funding for our public schools which serve 85% of our state's children if hb10 passes Wake County Public Schools alone would lose about $12 million imagine the consequences continued teacher turnover and burnout due to low haay continued problems with our school buildings as County money makes up for
047the state's low salary scales longer bus rides less support for our children with disabilities and special education remember private schools receiving vouchers generally don't admit children with disabilities less access to top tier academic programs like advanced placement and international Borat fewer electives while these consequences will be tough for Wake County they may be insurmountable for our rural counties already reeling from Hurricane Helen many of which do not even have private schools but will see their budgets cut as we just heard rural counties will see budgets for their kids diverted to subsidize wealthy kids in other counties the North Carolina legislature's voucher program has primarily benefited well wealthy parents often making over $260,000 per year since there is no income cap as a parent a PTA member a Wake County taxpayer and a North Carolinian concerned
048for all of our students this is not a responsible use of our public funds transparency is a Hallmark of our Public School System private schools even if they receive our tax dollars as with hb10 are not publicly accountable you can casually Google any school any public school and see their demographics test scores student to teacher ratio percent of licensed Educators and much more Google a private school and you will find no consistent transparent data on student performance on teacher or teacher preparedness order they have a public board like this very board meeting tonight dedicated to hearing and creating a process for resolving parent concerns we might argue about certain issues but at least we all have a say in them we might disagree about certain actions but at least these decisions are made in public
049hb10 would divert millions and ultimately billions of tax payer dollars to institutions with no accountability transparency or commitments to serve all North Carolinians and I'll just end with a quick quote from Diane ravit who says it's immoral to defund public schools and then say they are failing we have an opportunity to come together to support the children of our state by asking that lawmakers sustain The veto of hb10 thank you thank you our next speaker our next speaker will be excuse me uh Caitlyn Trader who will be followed by Carrie Whitaker hello good evening have a visual aid for you all this is a video before I start my speech of me walking from my neighborhood to the school and it will finish before I'm done speaking because I have arrived after watching the live
050of your work session I had to completely change my speech I had to completely rewrite it and prepare for something different uh according to your own data the virtual session for our community had the most participants by far compared to all the other sessions according to your own data the top themes were proximity and commute stability and consistency these apply to our neighborhoods more than any other neighborhood impacted according to your own data the top three rated thoughts are explicitly about our neighborhoods Pearson Farms has access to a Greenway that connects to Kelly Road Park which has a brand new sidewalk along Kelly road that goes to the school you claim our communities have to cross a high-speed Road and a major highway the highway is below us we don't set foot on 540 highp
051speed no that is a school speed limit Road starts at the beginning and goes all the way past the school to the intersection of Olive Chapel and Kelly Road and We Don't Go Near That inter intersection that intersection has more accidents by far than Crossing from Ashley downs and Pearson Farms to Olive Chapel because we do not cross any major roads we don't cross any roads it's the same road we live off of the same road as a school if you don't consider the road to be real Road or not wide enough then why isn't a higher priority on your road safety projects that were approved for millions of dollars I looked at it today it's rated medium like not a not a high priority but if it's that bad that you're making us move
052why why isn't it being improved I'm wondering about that uh and my husband and I walk side by side we're not small people my husband's over six feet tall we the two people can fit okay it's not a small Road it is a regular sidewalk that is protected uh moving our neighborhoods because of 540 uh and we're on the other side of Olive Chapel as opposed to the other side and and saying you have to drive past Olive Chapel to get to bacham I'm sorry but there are tons of areas on this map where multiple neighborhoods have to drive past one two three schools to get to the one they're assigned to um so to say that was just kind of uh it made me laugh to be honest um and I'm wondering there's a
053small section in carry 20 minutes away that is zoned for Olive Chapel Elementary School if they miss the bus they're screwed it's they don't get to school they're late how are they getting a priority over us when it takes me 2 minutes and 26 seconds to walk from the school to my neighborhood um I had more to say but I'm heeded I hope you guys take us seriously and find a better solution all right thank you our next speaker is Carrie Whitaker who'll be followed by Robert uh Rano hello good evening good evening thank you for this chance to speak tonight I'm Carrie Whitaker I'm the mother of an elementary school student here in Wake County and just standing here tonight to remind this board and any person who might be watching or who might
054be listening to please not let the voices of an extremist minority distract us from real issues that are facing our schools I volunteer pretty regularly at my child's school it's something I love doing and when I'm there I'm working alongside administrators and teachers and fellow parents and staff members and and I can it is not an exaggeration for me to say that every time I send my child into her school I am literally flooded with gratitude because I know that she is surrounded by dedicated talented professional Educators who are just as dedicated to her well-being as they are to her learning and through my direct experience and observation I can confidently tell you that our schools are not indoctrination centers our schools are not grooming centers as they've been labeled by people who stood before
055the board those accusations are not only false they're also really deeply offensive and what our schools are filled with are professional Educators who are almost miracle workers in how much they're able to juggle more than one person should reasonably be expected to juggle they rise to that occasion over and over again so the voices that might be ranting about book content or about what a teacher war on Spirit day those voices are distractions they are distraction from what really matters and so I encourage us to really focus on things that matter like physical safety we live in an era of school shootings and talking about safety enhancements to our school that's a non-negotiable funding our schools the full funding of our Public Schools increasing our teacher pay so that we can recruit and retain the
056quality teachers that we need and Mental Health Resources we know that our students face unique challenges and we need to make sure that our schools have mental health resources available to meet their needs so I again thank this board so much for your commitment to our public schools and I'm glad that we're in this together and I stand here to work with you um because after all I see our public schools for what they are our allies not our enemies thank you thank you m ler next up will be Robert followed by Meg shrer thank you uh board members Robert stagno representing the bellaza neighborhood uh in Apex and just wanted to uh send some gratitude from from our neighborhood because uh a few reasons first of all thank you for laying out such a
057clear process on the four pillars of student assignment it really helped us understand where you are coming from helped us make our case uh more clear and more aligned uh and second of all thank you for this morning for relooking at the plan and helping us strengthen the pillars especially with respect to stability and hearing our arguments on how to propos change to keep our small part of the neighborhood in Scotts Bridge uh keep us there helping improve operational efficiency not making it worse so thank you very much and I appreciate all you do for our community thank you our next speaker is Meg Shredder or schroer uh who'll be followed by Brian grovenstein or grovenstein you got to write the first time Meg Sher I'm impressed German surname right uh my name is Meg
058Shader I the mom of three kids in three schools I've never done this but I feel so very passionate about this and that's why I'm here um again I have three kids in three different Public Schools we've been in these schools for 11 years I've also been a substitute teacher both longterm and daily and I am so so so concerned about the potential of hp10 I have seen firsthand what it looks like to be underst staff underfunded and under supported I was a long-term sub in kindergarten literally went home that first day it was one of my first subing jobs and cried for like an hour thank God I had teachers next door to me who came and checked in and I had people who were able to support me that did not always happen
059during those long-term subing situations there's not enough money for these teachers and for our support staff and for our bus drivers I'm concerned overall but especially with some potentially unknown consequences this is something that I heard from one of our administrators as we were discussing some of these things when I was a PTA president in our elementary school if parents take these vouchers and they go to a private school but decide after a 20-day waiting period at the beginning of the school year to then go back to a public school that voucher money stays with the private school it does not go to that public school with that student that is going to indicate further underfunding of these currently vastly unders supported schools and that breaks my heart I am a newly single mom of
060these three kids and I need these schools these teachers these bus drivers Miss Glenda is she's there every single morning for my fourth grader as a bus driver so much of public education is underfunded please don't take any more money from our schools as our previous student so elegantly explained about our school schools that are in dire need of refurbishment we are in several of those schools where it's not necessarily safe for our students to be there all the time and I recognize the dire need in Western North Carolina right now for rebuilding there's some dire needs in Wake County as well that need to be addressed safety issues health concerns and that's not even touching on the Dei things that some previous people have talked about we are driving amazing teachers staff support staff
061bus drivers Etc away from these desperately needed positions putting my kids this the kids of the single mom again who I need these amazing individuals I was just hearing somebody talk about how beautiful these miracle workers are and I have seen that in action both as a cooworker and as a parent and as a PTA president and member we need these people I need these people please stop driving them away please please please don't take funding away through hp10 thank you so much for letting me share thank you our next speaker uh Brian will come on up and Brian will be followed by Laura hag good evening good evening um good evening members of the Wake County School Board my name is Brian grovenstein and I'm a native North Carolinian and have two children in
062the Wake County Public School System tonight I'm here with several members of the bellacasa Verona and Sienna Community um some are attending online and some are here behind us I won't ask them to stand we represent roughly 50 impacted children based on the previously posted School reassignment plan the children who were recently impacted attended Scott Ridge Elementary School which is on a traditional calendar track the stability of my youngest child was going to be compromised as she had been reassigned to the new Pleasant Plains Elementary School this school had been set up as a yearr round calendar track the matter of assigned tracks has been our highest concern from the moment the original plan was released our goal has always been to come up with Solutions not just hardships and problems we my neighbors and
063I who attend Scott fridge Elementary had outlined several suggestions via the thought exchange emails to Susan pilman within the assignment office the formal letters that you guys may have received over the last 48 hours um and we really thank you for being part of the solution our solution has always been to support the stability of our children families who currently attend a traditional calendar track we'd really want to stay on that track and follow the same example families who potentially were on year round tracks should stay on that same track based on the updated reassignment plan that was just released only hours ago I've now Rewritten some parts of this um and wanted to make sure that clearly our efforts had had been making Headway and her I appreciate the board seeing the small impact
064our families made in the enrollment of Scotch Ridge Elementary and therefore allowing our families to have consistency in our annual calendar I'd like to publicly thank the reassignment team and any board members that may have been involved behind the scenes making the adjustments to our neighborhood at this time I'd like to ask the board to formally approve the amended plan that was done just hours ago keeping the children of bellacasa Verona and Sienna at Scotts Ridge Elementary School on a traditional calendar track at the November 26th board meeting thank you for your time and consideration of the proposed Visions thank you we'll now hear we'll now hear from Laura heg I'm sorry hey um my my name is Laura hay uh I live in the RTP area um I am a homeschool mom so I
065don't even have a kid in public school he was supposed to graduate kindergarten in June of 2020 so we did not get a full year but the few months that we were there it was so so grateful for the team as everybody said so I wanted to thank you for letting me speak with you today I hope you are enjoying the Barb and heimr 1940 stylization outfit that I've put together for you I've heard that this is what the kids are doing as a girl who P who grew up in public school always being told that I was too much I am here with my too much muchness decades after my middle school days to speak to you about a teacher his supportive Administration and the baseless claims being hurled at him I'd like to
066take a moment to draw the parallel to this exact type of hateful and fabricated lies that leads to dangerous and deadly reactions exactly how we are seeing it play out in Western North Carolina right now putting a skirt on an atomic bomb doesn't make it what it something different it's still a deadly weapon just like a male presenting human wearing a skirt does not make him something other than what he is in this case a teacher participating in the fun Community Building school spirit activities it doesn't suddenly make him a predator a grooming for dummies book doesn't suddenly show up on his audible Library he wasn't that when he purchased those that those pieces of clothing out of his own budget but that's for a different conversation and he wasn't it that when he showed
067up at school in those clothes he was also abiding by all the dress codes put out by the way furthermore if he hadn't participated at all I would assume that some of these parents would also be very upset that their child was not being provided with an appropriate level of Pep Ry Rah Fun by all teachers I have so much more to say I just want to remind everybody in this room that there's an election coming up it's a big election but the small ones matter the small ones matter get registered and vote so that we do not continue having this horribleness around our children thank you all right so we still have a lengthy list left of public speakers but we've gone 30 minutes plus just on off agenda so at this point in
068time we're going to turn back to our regular business agenda we'll hit several items on that and then we'll return to complete our public speaker list if you've already spoken and you don't necessarily need need or want to stick around we'll give you a minute just to uh just to take off and then we'll get started again all right I mean it's perfectly interesting and if you want to stick around I never can guarantee what'll happen on the next episode of Wake County school board but all right thank you all for coming out thanks okay so the next item on our agenda for tonight our comments from our superintendent holding that for dramatic pause also just to make sure that everyone is everyone who's remaining is seated remarks from our superintendent Dr Robert Taylor superintendent
069Taylor thank you Mr chair good evening to you all uh on October 3rd I had the pleasure of announcing our 2425 principal and assistant principal of the year uh shuana Jacobs of leeville Road high school was named principal of the year and Sebastian ship of milbrook Magnet High School was named assistant principal of the Year Mrs Jacobs became principal of Le railroad High School in June of 2023 this is her fourth principal ship in our district having also served as principal of of Roseville Elementary Dillard Drive Magnet middle and Apex friendship middle Mrs Jacobs also was named the assistant principal of the year in 2008 while serving in the role uh at Apex Middle School Sebastian ship has worked in our district for 21 years and has served as an assistant principal at milbrook Magnet
070High School since 2015 in addition to his regular duties as assistant principal Mr chip also supports his school by managing the partnership with the communities and schools program which has brought in more than $330,000 for students uh he began his career as a math teacher at Garner magnon High School he has also served as an assistant principal at East Wake magden High School I don't think uh it's a coincidence that both of this year's winners prioritize collaborative leadership the best school leaders Empower their scho students families and staff to play an integral part in their own success Mrs Jacob says she approaches her role with the mindset of building trust and mutual respect for example when she took the helm at Le leeville last year she prioritized learning from the existing staff and Community she
071says I learned from staff who have been part of the school for many years their guidance helped me avoid potential missteps and allowed me to honor the school's history while working towards positive changed Mr ship also strived to to make sure all of his conversations with students and colleagues are two-way discussion he says feedback both informal and formal is the Cornerstone of the school environment I strive to create Staff suggestions are not only encouraged but acted upon it's fitting that we bestow our annual Awards to school leaders in October because that also happens to be National principal month so I'd like to take take this opportunity to thank all of our outstanding principal principles and assistant principles for the essential role they play in the success of their students and this school district our principles
072through word and example set the tone for their schools creating environments that promote a high achievement and cohesive Community they work long hours and I'll say that again they work long hours and have to make key decisions on a wide variety of matters uh on a daily basis it's a tough job but it's also a rewarding one and we are fortunate to have principles at every school who are passionate about the power of Education to change lives uh my thanks to all of our school leaders for their skill compassion and determination to see that every child reaches their full potential this week is national school lunch week a time for us to recognize the importance of healthy balanced meals and to celebrate our hardworking Child Nutrition services staff members I will have the Good Fortune
073tomorrow to visit York Elementary to Mark the occasion and sample some of their uh pirate themed menu items on offer this week in all our schools the theme for school lunch week is find your treasure so our students will be treated to Entre such as shiver me chicken tenders and treasure map be uh beef chalupas o October is also formed to school month when schools feature North Carolina grown products a kickoff event was held last week at South Lakes Elementary where students participated in an apple taste test and representatives from uh Butterball talk to students about cultivating and processing turkey in North Carolina uh these are fun ways to highlight the wonderful quality and variety offered by our child nutrition services staff the they are committed to making sure all students have access to proper
074nutrition they need to excel in the classroom and to grow into healthy adults I ALS I hope you'll take time this week to thank the Child Nutrition workers at your child school they so much deserve it I'd Le next like to remind everyone that the application period for our magnet and early college schools are now open the early college applications period ends December the 12th and the magnet application ends January 23rd applications are not first come first sered uh but don't delay take time now to explore the magnet Orly college options that might suit your child's needs and interests individual schools will be offering tours in coming months and there will be a magnet and early college fair in October on the 26th at Enlow Magnet High School magnet schools promote diverse student populations and
075specialized curriculum creating well-rounded Dynamic students ready to Take On The World our Early College Programs give students access to higher education opportunities as well as job training allowing them to get a jump start on their College and Career Ambitions while still in high school all tuition free so learn more at wcpss.net Magnet lastly I would like to commend the many students and staff who have taken the initiative to organize efforts to support hurricane recovery in the western part of our state many schools are hosting drives to raise funds and supplies to support our neighbors in Western North Carolina after the devastating effects of hurricane Helen you can find the list of many of those efforts and how you can support them by visiting wcpss.net hurricane help I'm proud to lead a school district that is
076so full of compassionate people who are willing to take immediate action when they see people in need uh the recovery period following the storm will take a long time so thank you all in advance for anything you can do to help Mr chair that concludes my comments thank you superintendent Taylor um I was all very well said so well said that even though there is a lot that I had prepared for tonight in Defence to our long speakers list and our agenda I'm just going to wave my comments and just say ditto so thank you you I will turn it over to our vice chair Miss uh Johnson Hustler thank you and I will certainly be brief um because I promised Willow Spring High School that I would commend them for the work that they've
077done on their ramp as many of our board members sit at the table with and sign off on our rant programs our school counseling initiatives at our schools they did one of the things that I often talk about and got to see in full action which was the inclusion of a parent while I'm at the table with them and so it was great to have this parents feedback who clearly knew all of the Spanish speaking students at her school because literally as we walked down the hall she knew everyone but it was a great piece of feedback that I will share and said I would share in addition to their great work the parent made the recommendation of something we've long long term I've been working on this board is really moved along and that
078is the need for Spanish interpretation and broadly speaking one of the I she gave a concrete examples that I'll share so I don't forget and that is many parents may not understand what we mean when we say scholarship and so that was the example she gave of it'd be great if we offered the opportunity not just for our family engagement nights but for parents who are at pivotal points in their child School career like high school seniors or any of those terminal grades um that they have that information shared to them in a language that they can then understand exactly what's happening and she certainly challenged us to look at the number of our um English and second language Learners who apply for Scholarships in our schools as a note to her belief is that
079number is going to be significantly low because we don't provide that opportunity so again kudos to the schools and all the work that they've done and even more importantly thank you for the engagement of parents um and allowing that parent to sit in the space and share that with me as her school board member to lift up um I will say I've done a lot of walk rides and rolls this was my first time being a spotter of a kid who literally chose his first time to be in his brand new inline skates down at incline and first I thought about his health and well-being and then I also thought about our liability and Cecil so needless to say me the grandmother and the mothers kindly talked about a lot of things as we all
080surrounded this young person on their inline skates on walk roll and I also kept like leaning to the Garner PD like get up closer um who were on their new electric bikes um but again thank you to all of our school students and parents who participated across the district and then lastly um I was not here and I and I've and I was watching remotely um and again thank you for the kindness that I can still um watch our board meetings when I am um several hours away which I have to say I was in Alaska for work during the northern lights and they were more beautiful here in North Carolina but nonetheless um I learned a lot from the 239 tribes while I was there so I will leave you with this which is
081usually um Bard member Rice's place to talk about her Wellness tips so I'm going to leave you with um a quote or uh I adapt it from my from Tabitha Brown and for those of you who don't know for the culture please Google her um My grandmother used to talk about this all the time so I'll give you the preference that she used to say talk tell me about people's last nerve and I was curious about like why they only had one nerve um as a child and then she'd tell me how people has gotten on the rest of them that's why there's only one left so what I will tell you from Tabitha Brown is Friends colleagues peers everyone in this room don't let others what they do what they say and how they
082look get on your nerves those of us who let people get on our last nerves often lack and can't find our own joy and that's why they're fixated on what others are doing it's about negativity and I implore you to remember that our job all of our jobs is to remember instead of getting caught up in what others are doing let's focus on being good humans ourselves and when we do the work for ourselves on ourselves we begin to spread Joy kindness and we also protect our own Joy so friends don't let anyone take that away by getting on your nerves or you'll be like my grandmother and end up with one nerve thank you Vice chair jnn Hustler Johnson Hustler I'm sorry it's already getting late all right we'll come around the table we'll
083start with Mr Hershey thank you uh chair Hy um so so uh I was pretty uh you know I like coming up here and I like celebrating our students and I was at a Friday night game where I was really enjoying the band and the drum line and all that stuff outside of our district and just wanted to give a shout out to uh the amazing public school students that we have all across this state and I enjoy talking about those things at at the board table but I'm going to talk about what everyone has been talking about tonight and that is uh to address address um what happened at Martin Middle School so everyone is fully aware of some of the facts uh there was and listen let me start by saying I love
084passionate parents and I talk to them and I understand that they are advocating for their students and I've had 22 months of that and and I tell them that I really understand where they're coming from but a line was crossed definitively crossed because a picture was taken that a picture that was taken about 12 months ago in Martin Middle School you know how many uh parents reached out on that day after that day Zero I think it was in the yearbook you know how many parents reached out to me about that zero because nobody cared it was totally fine within a spirit week and so to have the teacher the principal the school to be doxed on social media by a Anonymous account which was no doubt belonging to a a member of the hate
085group moms for Liberty and the comments I I watch I read the comments I was up till 3:00 a.m. I was Furious last night the comments about our principal and our teacher were disgusting there was Zero purpose in that post except to promotee hate and Division and bullying it was disgusting and I fully support Martin Middle School and the decisions they made they went through a process they listened they went through a process they do not deserve in any way shape or form what happened on social media you can take a picture of me that's fine because more people are going to be on my side is he supposed to address me if you're going to take a i I don't really care right now because y'all dock somebody a teacher and a principal and
086disgusting things were said all right disuss I'm there will be no comments from the gallery during board comment a second warning there will be no comments from the gallery our teachers and our principles do not deserve that you want to take it at me that's fine I'm an elected official I can handle it what that teacher did didn't affect how he was teaching didn't affect that school at all didn't affect anybody in that school you crossed a line and I think it's shameful and my heart is full by the response from the community cuz I was in a bad place earlier today I was really angry and I thank you all for turning up and and it is a small group of hateful people and I appreciate yall that's the end of my board comments
087next speaker will be Dr in again our next speaker our thank you our next speaker will be Dr in uh yes thank you um I again wish to um also congratulate principal shuana Jacobs from Leadville Ro high school for winning the principal of the Year award uh but I'm especially proud of uh assistant principal of the Year award that went to one of my our own from District 3 Sebastian ship um one of the things that I remember fondly was um when he won that he it was just a wonderful moment when he broke out in song uh of singing a praise to God for the recognition so I really want to congratulate him uh for his accomplishments for his years of leadership and inspiration um and I also want to just continue to pray
088for all the people of Western North Carolina Ina um all the people who have come out to help those people the the volunteer groups Charities the church groups that have stepped up to help um and I am also thankful for the many Sheriff deputies and police officers from all over the state um even from other states that have gone to help provide Aid to the local law enforcement um unfortunately the help from um the federal and state governments have been slow to arise and it's been bogged down in bureaucratic red tape but I know that the people of Western North Carolina are resilient people and and the neighbor helping neighbor attitude is what's going to help them get through this tragedy still we need to make sure that they are able to exercise their right
089to vote in this coming election and I trust that the North Carolina Board of election is working hard to make sure that no one is disenfranchised during this crucial election and speaking of election um as you all know the election is coming up and it is your right and responsibility as citizens of the United States to participate in your civic duty and um election day is November 5th and our schools will be closed uh and um I think it's a good opportunity for parents to use that to teach the children about the election process and how we choose our elected officials I would especially encourage you all to discuss the Electoral College and how the framers of the Constitution in their wisdom came up with this system you can also discuss how the two houses
090of Congress the Senate and the House of repres Representatives created a balance between the interests of large states and small states it is really important that our children understand how blessed we are to have a governmental system that gives a voice to everyone no matter how they live and finally when you do go out to vote please be an informed voter we should always be understand the issues and vote for candidates who align with you your views on the issues and don't be a one isue voter either our world is more nuanced than the one issue that affects your piece of the world don't just vote based on a particular candidate and how uh that person makes you feel or what kind of derogatory negative remarks you may hear about someone else in this heated
091political climate you do not have to you do have to question everything you he so do your homework and work and vote for the people who are able to uh do the job that they are set to do they are elected to do and think about your future think about your children's future it is not enough to ask the question are you better off now than you were four years ago think about how how you can make this world a better place for your children four years from now thanks thank you our next speaker will be miss Lynn Edmonds Miss Edmond sounds like a sorry I'm laughing because you're rattling us off like we're the um thank you chair so first of all I want to uh congratulate Athens Drive Magnet High School for their
092um superintendent Taylor I was so hoping you were going to cover this cognia accreditation um Athens had not been they had been accredited by cogia um but not since 2018 so not only did they go after it and and get it so re get re accredited with cognia but they also earned um the cognia school of Distinction award which is a big deal and thinking Dr Taylor was going to cover it I didn't write down more specific so my apologies I I'll redo it in two weeks um to give them the the proper recogn and it's on our website it is on our website so please check that out but congratulations to Athens um on that accomplishment thank you to Middle Creek High School and Vernon Malone College and Career for inviting me recently to
093learn about their ramp applications um this is a distinction given by the American School Counselors Association you've heard many of us board members talk about this um we do go and listen to their presentations and we are one of many people that just sort of has to sign off on it um but it just it's you know these are incredible staff members that do exceptional things in their counseling uh services for our students so I'm very grateful to them I'm grateful for their work I know that um not only do they help make students lives better um but as was discussed in both of these presentations they do Focus also on supporting their academics so I am confident that both of the schools will be awarded the distinction and I wish them well in that
094endeavor at the last meeting there was a lot of discussion about hb10 and school vouchers um voucher supporters say that this offers school choice when it's actually the schools that do the choosing school choice does exist within our public school system and as Dr Taylor mentioned I want to celebrate that our magnet Early College yearr Round And application School period opened yesterday unlike voucher schools these schools of choice are free public schools held to the same standards as all public schools in North Carolina acceptance into these programs is not dependent on family or student religion or lifestyle students are accepted even if their parent or Guardian cannot commit to a set number of volunteer hours none of that is applied here these are public schools of choice there's a large magnet and application school school
095Fair coming up on Saturday October 26 there are also virtual information sessions and families can learn more by going to the program tab on our website and click magnet schools finally the um First District 5 BAC meeting of this school year will happen on Monday night uh the 21st I think is the right date anyway this coming Monday night at 5:30 at Oak Grove Elementary school thank you chair thank you Miss Edmonds Miss mfy thank you um on Saturday um or Friday I can't remember um Miss Johnson Hustler and I were able to go to an event to help raise money for uh school children impacted by uh hurricane Helen um and we were able to hear by a uh rural bunkham County teacher um about the impact of that disaster on her home on
096her school community on her family and she is now here in Wake County and she's grateful that she's able to be received uh in a welcoming manner by our incredible teachers and staff in Wake County Schools um back in February I was a part of a group that brought together local elected officials so Town School Board County commission um to meet from all across Western North Carolina and my first thought after the devastation was reaching out and seeing how things were for those folks that I was able to meet and connect with um and hearing from them they are getting help from the government both state and federal from the military and the National Guard and from private folks um and they are grateful and thankful for the outpouring of support that is continuing to
097pour in um and many thanks to our schools that have stepped up to accept donations and to recognize that empathy for people when they are hurting is the human response um parents um I want to thank you for continuing um to engage in the thought exchange for our assignment plan um please know um that we are reading and continually looking at areas that you ask us to look at and address um and as a side note um last night I was able to go to the Apex indigenous peoples um celebration for indigenous people's day and I saw a familiar face of Miss Gwen laer who for 20 years was the person in charge of of our Indian education program in uh Wake County and um as suspected her retirement is now helping Johnston County Schools
098so we knew that we she couldn't stay away long but um many thanks and I just want to reiterate the human response when there are issues is empathy and helping and um that is the response that you get from our teachers from our administrators and I am so grateful for each and every one of them thank you Miss mafy we'll come back around the table to miss rice y'all are ready aren't you oh yeah absolutely let's do this to all the staff of Wake County Public Schools to all the staff of w County Public Schools let me be clear you are valued needed supported and will be protected your dedication to our students and the community does not go unnoticed and we stand with you every step of the way thank you for the vital
099role you play in shaping the future of our children and ensuring the success of our school schs together we will continue to create a positive and inclusive environment for all congratulations to our principal shaana Jacobs and assistant principal Sebastian ship as the principal and assistant principal of the year we are so proud of your dedication and Leadership I had a fun fi day on Saturday October the 5th with other board members I attended the 55e celebration of project Enlightenment at project paloa and I also took part in the inaugural Saturday school through W County public school familymy and partnership with the southeast Raleigh YMCA these two events continue to empower and support our families across the district and it was a privilege to be a part of them I had an amazing time supporting District
1004 over the past two weeks first I would like to acknowledge and give a big thank you to the student who shared your direct concerns about facilities your voice your voices are in value and we are committed to addressing them additionally I want to recognize the boys and girls Breakfast of Champions um where I had the honor of supporting and participating in events at the Boys and Girls Club at the Raleigh Bullard location I also attended the Carnage Middle School ramp presentation it was absolutely amazing sharing how they improve student achievement and morale showing the seventh grade data of 21 students who were failing and took it down to just four I also was excited about how they use Equitable and Equitable lens on utilizing students achievement attendance and discipline so congratulations to the Carnage
101counseling team for your ramp certification um a special shout out to principal Moore of Hunter Elementary um for the invitation to attend the walk to school day which promotes safe routes to school and Community engagement it was a great walk alongside students staff and parents from Roberts parks to Hunter um to Hunter Elementary School um to an outdoor assembly I had a magnificent time socializing with community in the past two weeks and the last event was this past Friday at night Dale Town Hall at mayor Jessica D Academy where we um spoke about um our roles in Wake County Public Schools and night holds a special place in my because this is where I started my advocacy um in roles into education so let's continue to work together to make way County Public Schools a
102positive and sorder supportive environment for everyone so to do so let us focus on what social Wellness so as a Wake County Public School Board member I believe it's essential to promote social Wellness for our students staff and broader Community here are two key tips that can keep that can help strengthen our social well-being Foster open communication and support networks encouraging open dialogue within our school and Community is vital students staff and family should feel safe expressing their feelings concerns and ideas whether it's through peer support groups counseling services or simply fostering an environment of respect and empathy building strong supportive relationships can greatly enhance everyone's social Wellness number two promote inclusive and engaging activities creating opportunities for students and staff to engage in team building activities community service and collaborative projects strengthens connections and
103promotes a sense of belonging by embracing diversity and inclusion in these activities we build a stronger more connected School community that celebrates each individual's unique contributions let's Contin continue to work together to ensure that Wake County is a place where everyone feels valued supported and connected so that they all can have a positive and productive day thank you next we'll hear we'll hear from board member Coffield thank you um I was elected on to the board uh based on advocating for students and teachers and and I stand up here doing just that our purpose here is to advocate for what we can do here at Wake County Public Schools well I'd love for us to not be discussing political points of views I understand that we have an election coming up and I think we
104all will be very happy when November is over um and we could get back to that Focus so there are some facts that I would like to clarify so people know all of all of the facts that are available because these details do matter so please go to the NC AA website that's the organization that assists with the planning the Char uh the changing of the or the the spending of the funds they assist with those in the 529 College plans funding and loans and Community College assistance they can answer any questions and they do have a lot of details there about the opportunity scholarship vouchers the only numbers that are act that are actual are the ones that have already been given out everything else is a hyp thetical number this year there was
105a there was 28,5 renewal students that means they've already received funds in the year prior the majority were in tier one the families under 57,000 and tier 2 115,000 only 66 766 were in tier 4 and out of that 726 did not report their income that left 41 students that actually were high income earners that's a much different picture this year we won't actually know those numbers up front until they actually hand the money out the better question for us to ask is why were there 72,000 new applicants in February they are not awarded 72,000 students they are only applicants but that is the size of some of our school districts here in North Carolina and it we know it's reported that there's only 25 or there is 25% a quarter of those students attend
106Public School quarter of those don't attend public schools so I would like to know why so that we can improve where possible and be their number one choice so the statement that it is primary for the wealthy it's actually the least amount that was given the funds and the least amount that has actually applied so I worry about our students I mean I worry about our students Le but also our teachers that are leaving after so many years in service but some are even new as well and we can replace them all day long but the retention them enjoying their actual job affects our students we speak about well-being there's no wellbeing when they don't feel heard their job becomes too difficult and harmful in some situations of course we all want pay we all
107agree on that but they want their classroom to have order and resources so that they can reach their goals they are excited to see their children Thrive but when that doesn't happen they feel deflated they feel worried and and filled with anxiety the reasons they love their job is depleting these are things that the te the teachers themselves have said to me emailed us I know that they've talked to us I know that they've talked about it with us it's decisions that are made up here at our level nobody's saying that our schools aren't wonderful they are we have great opportunities our principles are awesome our teachers are awesome I think they really just need more support the families want to be heard they need more support not everything costs money either and sometimes the
108monies can be SP better spent to ignore all these I feel is neglectful on our part as a mother as a parent I would like to know all the details before vot voting and this is why I'm pointing this out more money doesn't fix the problem it doesn't if it doesn't see the right places like our classrooms last year we got extra money every year we get extra money $50 to $60 million more each time one time last year actually we gave our teachers the 52% raise that was 4% from the state and one and a half from us on their supplement some teachers have not even seen a dollar of that because it doesn't it it never reaches their paycheck with the raising costs of their their retirement sometimes they actually earn less because
109if they're not receiving any longevity pay or any other hikes they see less money I spoke to a teacher who was here for 18 years and she left us because she started to make less money that to me is really sad that that actually really gets me upset that's why I'm advocating for the longevity pay because I think that would help close that gap for those teachers with the vouchers the ga does have a provision a section in the law that reinvests the savings back into the public schools the 72,000 applicants that were there it's not approved yet not all of them will qualify and they're not all going to receive those things but I wanted to point out that there is an appropriation act section 7.82 c that was passed in 2003 for people
110to see that the savings will actually go back to the to to the public schools one thing that I did want to um I know a lot of people are voting on their emotions and I understand it there's a lot at stake here but I think the better question is to ask why did 72,000 people apply and we're if we need to listen and not pretend that everything is just going great we owe it to the teachers and the students to improve where we can and acknowledge the work where it's needed I think it's really important to say that it's not that I'm not supporting this the teachers and not supporting our schools I think it's more about our choices that we're making here if we could listen to them I think we won't have
111a question between the teachers wanting to stay our bus drivers is wanting to be here and the parents wanting to leave I think if we listen to that if we address those concerns we won't have 72,000 people applying for vouchers to get out of the public schools another argument that I wanted to point out is that we're talking about it being Public School uh P public funds going to our public schools and that we're stealing money from our Public Schools but are the same people that are against the vouchers are they okay with the taxpayers money paying for loan forg student loan forgiveness or down payment for our homes this is the same kind of money that it that we're talking about I would like for us to do a survey that follow up and
112get so that we can get unbiased report from our families so that we can see where they can grow to be their choice I'm not sure how we can do that each and every parent that left the numbers and surveys so that we can understand with open blanks for them to honestly answer with real data not selected choices that's why I'm asking if we if we can actually submit some kind of survey or work on that then we could have a good conversation about what our students need I'm going to skip the rest I wanted to congratulate the principal of the year and the assistant principal of the year and last I would like to know if there is a way that we can support that Nik program especially dur during the pro the pandemic
113this activity I know really helped a lot of our students and um I'd like to for us to consider that I'm not sure how we go about accepting a program like that or putting it into effect but I would like the board to consider it I know it's a great program they do follow a lot of the safety things and they're all over the country so I think it would be great for us to support that thank you and we will conclude with Mr Swanson can you remind them of the rules really quick again I've we've been allowing just a few claps and expressions at the conclusion of speeches just please do not interrupt speakers while they are speaking thank you sir thank you Mr Swanson thank you well thank you Miss Johnson hler for
114opening up with Tabitha Brown because I had to channel that a couple of times to figure out what nerve I was actually dealing with and so thank you for allowing me to Center yes it's all joyful and so is voting is joyful um voting is joyful because you get to choose leaders who value public education who value Public Schools those who believe in a system deserve to be in leadership not those who call our our teachers quote pedophiles and groomers and call schools social indoctrination centers or and socialism Sinners those who align themselves with deadly insurrections have no business leading our school schools because you know if you're going to I'll stop there but those folks elections do have consequences and I also think as we are two days away from early voting that lasts
115for 17 days you if you missed the voter registration deadline that was on Saturday or Friday excuse me last Friday you have 17 days to take advantage of that bring your ID take advantage of the same day on stop early voting because you know Character Matters Integrity matters leadership matters those are things that all matter when you look for folks who are holding positions also dig deep look deep do your research because I encourage voters to reject those who have aligned themselves with hate groups who have aligned themselves with false and misinformation who have aligned themselves with this deadly force that wants to take not just our schools back to a harmful place but our country as well I also want you to think through you know read project 2025 look at the harmful attacks
116is going to have on public education Head Start Title One funding that helps our most vulnerable populations of students and when you look at that also look at though what read through those 900 Pages because it's interesting to look through um better than a survey I would say but I believe it is important to look through that stuff and important to see who and what those candidates align with and as you do that bring five folks to the polls with you make sure you have your plan make sure you exercise your rights because elections have consequences choose those folks that are going to advocate for public schools not just when it's convenient for their schedules not just when it feels good but when it's tough when it's when it's difficult those are going to go
117down and and and raise their concerns the people's concerns not an agenda not a political agenda but you know since education has become very politicized we have to speak up we have to step out and we have to speak up because public schools are a public good that deserves to be protected invested and preserved so that is going to be the conclusion of mine and I will say that um I want to thank board member rice for the invitation for inviting me to District 4 to to participate in the Family Academy celebration and I'm going to close with uh the great tab of the brown and I'm going to say and this is a tab of the brown quote that you know is a good quote some some goodness that always comes that's that joy
118that I'm going to bring us back to full circle board member Johnson Hustler so she goes on saying have a good day and if you can't don't you dare go messing up anybody else's day so take that with you happy voting go vote show up poll greet talk to your friends and families happy voting thank you all right thank you Mr Swanson all right so the next item on our agenda is consideration of our consent agenda motion to adopt the consent agenda we have we have a motion from Miss mfy to adopt the consent agenda and I believe I heard a second from Vice chair Johnson hosler is there any discussion or any debate if not all in favor of adoption of the consent agenda please signify by saying I I any opposed all right
119the consent agenda has been adopted we'll next go to our action agenda our action agenda tonight consists of several policy items and the first of which hold on let me scroll down here just to make sure I it should be board policy 7400 on job descriptions if that's correct and I know will that be Dr muello or will that be Dr crane Dr okay we'll wait just a minute for Dr muello to arrive and actually Dr muello has a whole series these will be the PO these are all on first reading but you'll remember these were debated and discussed in our policy committee meeting earlier uh job descriptions teacher responsibilities and duties Personnel files petition for removal of Records all in this series welcome Dr m thank you chair Hagerty and good evening everybody um
120tonight I am bringing these four policies they are all Schoolboard model policies I will remind you that the black text is the Schoolboard language blue text is the additions from current policy or staff suggested revisions and green text is where we've moved certain um Provisions within the policy first policy is 7400 for job descriptions it would replace 3219 job description teacher uh there was General consent for this during the policy committee and not a ton of discussion this this version does broaden the policy Beyond teacher job descriptions to all employee job descriptions I think that's kind of the main um difference there so tonight requesting the board's approval of the first reading of policy 7400 thank you Dr muello staff has requested approval on board policy 7400 is there a motion is there a second
121we have a motion from Miss Edmunds a second for Mr Hersh is there any discussion or any questions for Dr mutilla again I think this was pretty thoroughly discussed in our policy committee all right all in favor of adoption of board policy 7400 on first reading signified by saying I any opposed all right Dro next on the list next is 7405 teacher responsibilities and duties it would replace policy 3220 there's a bit more discussion in policy Comm committee around this so I'll just include a little bit more in my remarks here um in first you'll see a a section highlighted in yellow because this was not part of the policy committee but sometime between policy committee and bringing it to you there were some questions that we felt like we should take the opportunity to
122try to address in policy while we were bringing it so we've added language just recommending limiting extra Duty assignments like Department chairs to beginning teachers without their consent we have this in the provision under non instructional duties like coaching which is a statutory requirement but we wanted to add similar language here again not preventing a principal from assigning a a a department chair duty to a beginning teacher but recommending that um they limit that also in section c um board asked to remove the word however and begin with any teachers failure uh to perform an assign non-instructional or extracurricular Duty just wanting to make sure that it was any teacher and not just a beginning teacher so those are the main points on this one and tonight requesting the board's approval of the first reading
123of policy 7405 all right thank make motion we approve this policy on first reading we have a motion from Miss mafy second and we have a second from Miss Edmond is there any discussion or debate or is there any questions for Dr mutila again you can see the changes he referred to right there on the first page p page one and P the last page page six or sorry page five of the amended policy coming out of committee all right in that case all in favor of the adoption of board policy 7405 on first reading signify by saying I I any opposed all right it's passed and we'll go to Second reading uh board policy 7820 okay so Personnel files um we did review this in both the August and September policy committee meeting because
124the board had some question around um some of the language so we've brought back what we hope um you know reflects that discussion and now this policy more tracks both with the State Board policy as well as um legislation so some of the provisions we've made clear now is that HR May investigate complaints to determine whether they are invalid outdated irrelevant or no documentation of an attempt to resolve supervisor should use good judgment and recommending documents to be included in the personnel file um superintendent or design will provide principles or supervisors guidance on monitoring and documenting concerns outside of this policy um and then employees will get notice that a complaint um and rights to offer a denial or an explanation to that complaint before as it's um presented in the personnel file so tonight
125we're asking the board's approval of the first reading of policy 7820 thank you Dr Mello do we have a motion so moved we have a motion from Miss mafy for and a second from Dr ring for adoption of board policy 7820 Personnel files on first reading are there any questions for Dr matillo or any discussion of the policy again Dr mtil I appreciate the work you and staff put into just adding more detail and clarifying some of those extra Provisions that were raised in committee yes sir thank you all right if there's no further discussion all in favor of the adoption of board policy 7 820 Personnel files on first reading signify by saying I I any opposed all right the policy is passed and we'll be considered for second reading um number four in
126this series of four board policy 7821 petition for removal of personnel Records On First reading y again um had agreement around language coming out of policy committee the only minor change there is we added Design After superintendent where appropriate so um tonight requesting the board approval of the first reading of policy 7821 thank you Dr Mello is there a motion so mov motion from Miss mfy for adoption of board policy 7821 petition for removal of personnel Records On First reading with a second from Mr Hershey um again just a technical change based otherwise just as what we discussed in policy committee no questions no discussion all in favor of the motion please signify by saying I I any opposed all right thank you Dr Mello board policy 7821 in addition to the others have P
127all pass on first reading and we'll go to Second reading thank you we do have one other policy on our action agenda tonight this is board policy 8623 settlement of claims on first reading uh we'll hear from David Neer thank you good evening chair Hagerty members of the board and superintendent Taylor tonight we're bringing you board policy 8623 settlement of claims for first reading policy was discussed at your June August and September policy committee meetings the revised policy essentially makes one change and one addition the change is in the amount of settlement Authority given to the superintendent the settlement amount in the revised policy is up to $30,000 the Revis policy also requires that any settlement over $10,000 but up to that $330,000 limit be reported to the board any settlements over $30,000 will continue
128to require board approval the addition to the policy um has to do with giving the superintendent in consultation with the board attorney the authority to enter into a tolling agreement for up to 90 days and just as a reminder a tolling agreement is effectively an agreement between two parties that suspends the statute of limitations from um expiring to allow parties to continue to negotiate so those are the revisions to the policy and we bring it to you tonight for first reading thank you Mr nater is there a motion motion to approve we have a motion to approve board policy 8623 on first reading from Miss mfy a second from Mr Hershey any discussion Miss mafy yes um it may seem like we're kind of rubber stamping these policies I want to refer folks if they're
129interested to look at our September 24th policy committee meeting um well equally as animated um there was robust discussion over many of these policies and so those are all available on our YouTube channel if you want to spend two hours of your time listening to some very polite conversation and such so thank you thank you Miss mfy Mr Swanson thank you um and thank you for making that reference uh Miss Mafi and I just have a technical question I'm sure it's you've raised this but just for clarification all settlements will be brought before the board all settlements that have been approved or whatnot settlements do have to be reported out okay that that was the question I we'll ask Mr Malone just for some further clarification so under the under the RIS policy settlements between
130$10,000 and $30,000 will be reported to the board in some fashion it will determine but the board will learn of all settlements between $10 and $30,000 settlements over 30 will continue to come to the board and the settlements that the board reviews in closed session are the ones that will then get announced um typically following Clos session thank you do you follow up yes I just raised that because I know we live in a universe where alternative facts don't matter and so I wanted to make sure that the public knew that just because this policy is being presented we're not the we're not not going to be briefed on these information so that was just uh the question that I had so thank you for allowing me to raise that thank you Mr Swanson you
131know the other thing without getting into two-hour discussions of the merits of tolling agreements uh one of the real advantages of this policy is that it does help us to settle claims by allowing us to enter that agreement where to negotiate a settlement work something out rather than having to face each other as hostile litigant in court and so I appreciate that um positive step toward dispute resolution I think it'll help improve relations with you know all parties and um really help resolve a lot of these issues so thank you for that as well um are there any other questions or any other discussion if not we'll take a vote all in favor of board policy 8623 settlement of claims on first reading please say I I any opposed all right Mr Neer thank you
132it has passed and we'll be considered for second reading all right everyone so that concludes our action agenda so now we will go to we will resume our public comment period so take a stretch and I will return to our list here all right um next on our our speakers list again we have 28 speakers signed up um but we have gone through SE we have gone through several so the next on the list actually I'll get him while he's still standing Mr bog before you sit down uh we'll resume with you and then uh Mr bog will be followed by Bobby vinent good evening board thank you for your time last meeting a picture of the audience made it out on social media with a big red arrow pointing to one of the nine
133attendees I was in that group the text said don't forget a running in waight Schoolboard District a right in the middle of extremist stunts ti ti a we see the extremist Company You Keep keep we are the public we are not extremists we are not terrorists we are concerned parents grandparents and taxpayers and I'll be darn if I'm going sit there and get lectured to by a board that's putting out 60% grade level reading math and science if any of you had a product that was 40% efficient you'd all be out of business and yet I'm paying 47% of my taxes to all of you so there was a bunch of crap going on a lot of laughter and a lot of slap On The Backs this is a pitiful School County grade there's a
134few other things I don't know if I'm going to get through it now I'm extreme enough to visit legislators walk 10 miles some weeks to go door too to alert parents voters taxpayers how abysmal the grades are for this area how approximately 50% of their taxes are going to the wcpss and you continue to ask for money you are bloated at the top I've heard you got 1.4 million for Dei I told you a year ago Dei will suck you down like a Vortex you start out with a manager a director an executive a vice president I've got a list of over 30 companies I'm going to bring next time I talk UNC Chapel Hill dropped Dei University of Florida dropped Dei John deer drop Dei why because it makes a terrible business decision and
135your product I I don't want to call students products but your product is an educated literate thinker who can contribute to society not just taking our money I'm a little bit annoyed and I've also gone door too and I've told them how teachers haven't seen a decent increase in years how this board was the two Implement implemented the unconstitutional changes in Title 9 that will be overturned I will continue to do so because I believe we the people not you the board is in charge we pay the money for your programs we want educated literate thinkers uh and I don't appreciate the picture of the school board going public it needs to stop in full transparency invest investigate thank you very much all right our next speaker will be Bobby Vincent and Miss Vincent will
136be followed by Megan Sarah or Sarah hi everybody good evening good evening members of the board Mr Hagerty and parents and community members my name is Bobby vincon and my child attends White County public schools I'm also a product of public school education thank you very much okay I'm just going to be brief I'm here to address the trumped up allegations re but without a respected English language arts teacher these accusations are fueled by moms for Liberty Center around the teacher wearing a tutu during a school spirit week I'm just going to leave you with that for like a second to think about it school spirit week is supposed to be something fun that we all we all get involved with we celebrate when our teachers get involved the kids have more respect for the
137teachers who do these things it's a fun time the fact that this has turned into what it's turned into I'm very confused about school spirit days are meant to bring School Community together in a light-hearted and inclusive way the teacher's decision to wear a tutu was actually a playful way to connect with the students to contribute to the spirit of the event it was an innocent gesture fully in line with the purpose of the day for which I have learned the theme was barbon Heimer way to go Magnet School Martin thank you um the claims of indoctrination are not only exaggerated but they are a misuse of the term by definition indoctrination refers to teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs uncritically there is no evidence that this teacher's playful attire worn on school
138spirit day was an attempt to impose any ideology on students we got to be careful not to label everything light-hearted as a threat it was innocent a fun moment it was definitely not indoctrination so I believe our schools face far more pressing challenges instead of wasting time on divisive culture wars we should focus our efforts on solving real issues that face our schools stuff like funding teacher shortages teacher retention academic performances and our discussion should not be faced on unfounded claims the attack from moms for Liberty is nothing more than an distraction from the real work that needs to be done to improve our schools I appreciate every teacher they are the back phone I appreciate you guys for being here thank you thank you our next speaker tonight is Megan [Applause] sah good good
139evening I am a mother of a child who attends a Wake County magnet school and I'm also a speech language pathologist in our community I'm here in support of the ELA teacher and Martin Magnet Middle School involved D in this recent incident that has been discussed this goes beyond a single day of Spirit Week a fun and creative opportunity for students and teachers alike to express themselves through themed dress up the teacher in question simply embrace the spirit and fun of the day by wearing a skirt and full compliance with school guidelines the backlash here is misplaced instead of fearing what we don't understand why not embrace it fear and misunderstanding can have profoundly negative effects on our children stifling their growth in their ability to engage with the world around them it's vital to
140create environments where students are exposed to diverse perspectives and cultures this exposure Fosters empathy open-mindedness and a stronger sense of community we cannot pretend that our realities are the only ones that exist and our children benefit from learning this very early on in my work as a speech therapist I use play excuse me and creativity and therapy for example I often introduce baby dolls to both boys and girls to help them practice empathy and caregiving skills research has shown that engaging in these kinds of activities enhances their emotional and Social Development so the idea that theme dress up or clothing can somehow push an agenda is not based on any factual evidence it's rooted in fear and fear only Narrows our Children's Horizons in fact as per the Journal of educational psychology programs designed to
141promote tolerance significantly enhance children's empathy and their willingness to engage with with peers from diverse backgrounds a study by the American Psychological Association found that a exposure to diverse identities leads to Greater acceptance and reduces biases in children additionally this helps to dismantle prejudices that can arise from ignorance engaging and playful teaching methods like participating in Spirit Week actually have real benefits research shows that fun and engaging teaching methods can significantly increase student engagement and retention of information when teachers connect with students in creative and playful ways they help create an inclusive environment where learning is more Dynamic and students feel more comfortable and engaged while we're discussing issues of inclusion it's important to bring up broader policies that affect our community hb10 for example aims to create more Division and fear particularly targeting immigrant
142students and their families when children feel unsafe or targeted their ability to learn and Thrive diminishes way County Schools should remain a space where all children feel welcomed and secure regardless of their background finally I want to commend the leadership at Wake County schools for supporting their teachers in embracing individuality and playfulness through their commitment to inclusivity they help create an environment where students can Thrive Express themselves and learn from the diversity around them this is how we buildt a loving and supportive community and it's a vision we should all support thank you thank you so our next speaker is Jessica Lewis who will be followed by Nicole Baldridge I'm going to go a little off topic um first of all I just want to say I've been speaking at these school board meetings for
143four years and moms for Liberty is not a hate group I met tons of wonderful people um and we wouldn't have to come to these meetings if you guys were doing your job there's been CRT seal Dei the focus has not been on academics in four years so until you get your act together and start focusing on Reading Writing and math for our children yes we will be coming and trying to hold you accountable it's not working very well though so I'll go with my speech my my name is Jessica I have two children in the W County Public School System I also am the here for moms for Liberty I'm here tonight to address the fact that my daughter um does not feel safe in her Ela class um he talks about his gay
144personal life to the students and you guys say the skirt is for gender spirit week or or spirit week but I've never um came across a spirit day that you wear a skirt a male wears a skirt I mean this is this is great groming and I wouldn't be so I guess alarmed but like three out of seven of her teachers I mean the principal hired a male gay black teacher for an 100% female Dance Program um she's had her science teacher as what her pronouns are so it's all um all the stuff that inclusiveness I guess you guys call it that you're trying to put in our schools which is a distraction from academics so the reasons I'm asking for her to be removed is a male teacher working with minors in this age
145group should not be wearing a skirt this is a distraction from the learning process and let REM me remind you that the picture of him in a skirt has surfaced across the student group chat so it is in fact caused a distraction most importantly my daughter has expressed that she does not feel safe in his classroom due to him talking about his personal life saying such things like there's a hot guy at the local coffee shop and seeing the image of him dressed as a female I do not care about his personal sex life but I do care about personal sex life being shared with my daughter and all other students in this class as an adult I am able to remove myself from the situation she is not able to I simply went to
146miss mandora and asked for her to be placed with another Ela teacher that should have been respected and it was not so yes it has gotten messy but as a parent if my child does not feel safe in the class she needs to be moved and that's it thank you our next speaker is Nicole Baldridge and Miss Baldridge will be followed by Shannon Knox good evening all right hello my name is Nicole Baldridge I've been here a couple of times and spoken a few I have three amazing children um one of whom is a junior um at Apex friendship she's really embarrassed um which is and she's going to be rezoned but actually we're okay with it because I'm just going to drive her and it's fine because of the stability plan so she's going
147to stay at Apex friendship and it's going to be absolutely fine and for our particular neighborhood this stabil the plan is going to keep those students I live in Salem Village it's going to keep those students in line with the other students when she was at Apex element or Apex Middle School half of her friends Ed ended up at Apex friendship and half of them ended up at Apex HIgh so this is actually going to be future wonderful right now it's a little tricky and people are a little nervous as happens when we have change but it will be a wonderful thing that's actually half of I I came here to talk um I did want to point out a couple of things um I was a teacher for 14 years before I changed careers
148I changed careers because of pay my students are amazing the reason I came to school every day was because of them they are incredible I love and value each and every one of them and I know that the teachers that are still at the schools that I left also feel the same way they come to school because of the students they continue to get up and go to school because of their students it it is about pay that is the reason and anything that you're hearing or other people may be telling you it's pay it's 100% pay if they can't feed their kids they can't clothe their kids that's what it is the reason stability longevity pay is gone in North Carolina schools is because of the GOP it was removed by Senator Tom Tillis
149in 2014 so in case anyone is unclear the Republicans are the reason that teachers are leaving the classroom I am allowed to get political because I'm a parent number two Master's pay Master's pay was dropped in 2013 also by our Republican Le go Le Senate it was the first we are the first state in the United States to drop Master's pay North Carolina is thank youw County School Board you reinstated Master's pay you kept many teachers in the classroom because of that decision but that money has to come from somewhere and it is not coming from our legislator you are getting that money from the county commissions and that money and you know this that money that you using to keep teachers here is not then being used all right thank you Miss Baldridge and
150again just as a reminder please respect the speakers at the podium I know we have a lot of different viewpoints a lot of you know people that are in disagreement with each other but please do not make comments or noises directed at the speakers while they're speaking so next we'll go to Shannon kn and then Shannon will be followed by Renee suckle that was hey good evening that was a tough act to follow but I'm going to try good evening wonderful board members uh thank you for all that you do I'm reading on behalf of a fellow Public School parent who couldn't make it to speak today she said dearest board my name is Lindsay Logan Allen I am a wife to a beloved Elementary School teacher here in Wake County mother to two students
151that attend our school and an National expert in equity and racial Justice I am a stroke survivor and a chronic illness Warrior I stand before you today to address two specific issues a crisis threatening the very Foundation of our public education system via hb10 and2 the constitutional principles that Define our nation and the dangers of stigmatization and false accusations recently baseless accusations of indoctrination have been hurled at our Educators including one targeted for wearing a tutu during spirit week let's be crystal clear this Witch Hunt isn't just misguided it's a dangerous assault on our first amendment rights let us remember the words of the First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof this fundamental right extends to all Americans including our Educators and students by
152demanding that our schools adhere to a specific religious or moral worldview these accusers are in fact advocating for the very indoctrination they claim to oppose our constitution guarantees freedom of religious establishment yet here we are facing demands to conform our public taxpayer funded schools to a specific religion and moral worldview the irony is palpable those crying indoctrination are in fact the ones attempting to indoctrinate public schools are bastions of learning growth and inclusion not pulpits for any single belief system when we encourage exploration curiosity and diversity we are preparing students for a complex Multicultural world and honoring our commitment to equity underboard policy 1150 to those here tonight pushing a narrow religiously based agenda true Liberty includes freedom from religious coercion your insistence on a Christian morale based lifestyle in public schools isn't protecting Liberty
153it's trampling it now let's talk about the elephant in the room the misuse of public funds I'm here to support of the veto of hb10 funneling taxpayer dollars into vouchers and private schools is a direct attack on Equity these institutions often cater to the elite with zero accountability and student bodies that look nothing like our diverse Community when Charter Schools create policies that require parent volunteers participation in paid activities and mandatory car pools they're not offering Choice they're creating barriers that widen the equity Gap across racial socioeconomic and religious groups this is direct opposition of board policy 1150 and the 2020 wake count Wake County reorganizing racial discrimination as a Public Health crisis thank you thank you our next speaker is Renee sule and Renee will be followed by WEA Watson good evening good evening
154thank you for letting me speak what we've seen here tonight is community we a lot of us unrelated to each other heard saw that news and observer article and were shocked and appalled at the attack on one of our school teachers on our community and so there are people in this room I've never seen before I might never see again I've never heard from before there are people I have met before but the point is our community came together to protect its own W county is a community Carrie is a community I shouldn't say that because there's all sorts of towns uh represented here but the point is is that Community is rooted in our public school system because our Public Schools is where kids come together it's where families enjoy science night an international
155night where they learn about the languages in the countries that all their classmates come from it's where kids come to book fair and we don't ask them hey honey who'd your daddy vote for before we send them a book or give them a recommendation and we don't say oh sweetheart where do you go to church do you go to church what do you believe that's not a thing we do we come together in our communities we don't dox people we don't say nasty things we come together and we support each other in our communities Miss Johnson hostler I appreciated what you said today about not letting people get on your last nerve but I will say that doesn't mean that when people act in an antisocial manner when they attack our communities that we don't
156point it out and call it out whether it be a parent lying about teachers or looking for something to to be angry about or an elected official Dr a spreading lies about our federal government's response to Western North Carolina when you must know you have to know that our brave patriotic soldiers are out there in Western North Carolina being threatened with violence based on lies like the one you spread tonight that's antisocial behavior and you should be ashamed anyway thank you for letting me speak all right our next speaker our next speaker is WEA Watson we'll be followed by Marie Dexter thank you Dr Taylor and the board members for allowing me to speak tonight for background I'm weeda Watson a parent a former a a a former teacher former Community Health educator former State
157education uh consultant for Alabama and North Carolina former member of the New Hope Pres preser you uh youth Council advisory committee so I've got a deep background in education and working with youth but before beginning but I want to read this following statement was some something that uh Mr Hagerty started with the Wake County Board of Education meetings are conducted for the purpose of Carry On official business of the school system tonight I'm speaking for a great group of parents who attend and follow Schoolboard meetings year round not just during election season they come to support local issues like the need for more bus drivers broken agback systems attendance zones and the lack of equity across the schools in the district they come to share concerns about the need for funding for school counselors for
158nurses for other mental health support systems they come seeking support for their children who have been othered by laws such as the parents bill of right and by speakers during these meetings they are also engaged in activities in their local schools many serving with ptas and the the school PTA and the and their district ptas and some are also teachers many work and struggle getting their children home and settled so they can attend these meetings not much time to do that if you work till 5:00 in the afternoon and you don't live nearby but we we also have parents who watch from home they watch the videotapes they watch the committee meetings they don't just watch these meetings they know the agenda they also know what the what the plans are for for this meeting
159they advocate for full funding of public school budget in the general assembly they are active in community activities that support weight County Public Schools and when they show up to speak here they speak about personal local issues compare this to others who use this time to advocate for issues that are nationally driven and have little connection to the parents and citizens of Wake County it's not uncommon that I F find clips of their performances at these meetings on the YouTube channel I even found one on a Michigan channel from this meeting so here's my ask I would like to see parents and citizens who are engaged in our local school schools those who show up at these meetings on work days in their schools and whatever else to have a way to be heard with
160less attention to those who come with a desire for free free publicity and a national agenda all right thank you Miss Watson our next speaker is Marie Dexter who'll be followed by Julie Pig good evening good evening my name is Marie Dexter I am president of Wake County PTA Council this year and I want to take a moment to highlight the power of a parent teacher Association or PTA many of you the PTA is a fundraising organization or the folks that run the school book fair while it is true that PTA Advocate ad activities include fundraising the pta's true purpose is to Advocate and create positive change in our education system the PT a brings together families Educators and community members to work collaborative collaboratively in support of our children research shows that when parents
161are engaged in their children's education students perform better academically exhibit improved behavior and have higher education rates currently in Wake County we have schools with strong thriving ptas raising thousands of dollars a year and having strong Advocates as I think you've heard tonight we also have schools with no PTS in schools with active ptas we see greater parental involvement increased volunteerism and enhance student programs all of which en enrich our educational experience a strong PTA cultivates a culture of advocacy and support ensuring that all voices are heard it serves as a bridge between families and schools fostering trust and collaboration this collaboration not only strengthens the school Community but also creates a supportive environment where all our students can Thrive as we evaluate the equity across our schools in Wake County it is important that
162we include ptas in that discussion the Wake County PTA Council and ncpta want to create a PTA at every Wake County school but to do that we need the board support and we need Community Support together we can create a robust Network that Champions our students enhances their educational Journey and ultimately prepares them for a successful future thank you thank you Miss Dexter next we'll hear from Julie pagee followed by Becky lobs hi um I want to address the issue at Martin Middle um to be clear the problem is much less about the fact that a male teacher is wearing a skirt on Spirit day and much more about the fact that the teacher is discussing his personal life and love interests to 11 to 13 year old kids I need you guys to understand
163the difference okay there is never a time or a place in a classroom for that type of behavior he should leave his sexual desires and bedroom habits at home where they belong children should not know about a teacher's religion politics or sexuality school is a place to learn about reading writing and math they should be neutral in safe spaces for all students teachers must uphold these principles to that point if a student says that she feels unsafe for these reasons then the school must listen to her empathy right this the school cannot just ignore that or even disagree her perception is her reality empathy just because the principal says that the teacher is safe doesn't mean that the child thinks that way herself it's utterly ridiculous to dismiss this student feelings students should come first
164always over a teacher or a principal's feelings this principle should be reprimanded for her failure to do her job in protecting her students I want Justice for this student move her to a different teacher for this particular class she's an excellent student with high academic grades she's serious about her studies she deserves to learn in an environment that she feels safe and respected in one where she is not made to listen to a grown man's sexual Ambitions why is that so hard to understand why does the school system feel compelled to discuss and even celebrate sexual desires at all schools of her academic learning not sexual fetishes state law 115 c-81 D30 says You must teach that abstinence from sex before marriage is a standard for all schoolage children and that mutually faithful monogamous heterosexual
165marriage is the best way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases laugh it is not funny it is the law anything other than that should not be allowed in our Public Schools especially by teachers these students are at a very vulnerable age and yet they are expected to listen and trust their teachers the confusion is astounding here we want Justice do the right thing move her class that's all that was ever asked put her in a different class with a different teacher empathy where is she valued where is she supported thank you our next speaker will be Becky L Hobs who will be followed by Meg Gandalf and Miss lobs before you speak let me just make one more plea please y'all do not make comments or noises or editorial grunts while the speakers at the podium
166are speaking I know there may be many you agree with many you disagree with but please show everybody the respect for getting up here in front of a bunch of people they don't know being live streamed opening themselves up to criticism just just please be respectful and give them their three minutes without interruption all right thank you okay my name is Becky lobs you guys know me Mom to three amazing kids I have students in the Wake County Public System since 20 12 as you know I'm the chapter chair of moms for Liberty in Wake County tonight it was said that students should feel safe expressing their feelings well is that mean for all kids we have a child who is does not feel safe with her teacher imagine your child comes home and says
167mommy this person was talking to me about his Rel relationships and how people were hot I would be wanting to know who that is that's sexual harassment that has no place in a classroom not a single comment and if you think we have a problem with people who are gay or lesbian I don't my kids have had teachers that are gay and they were fantastic teachers you know why because they spent time on teaching instead of talking about their lifestyle choices to children in their classroom now the other thing that was talked about tonight is moms for Liberty but one of the rules of the board is not to address members of the audience yet you allowed a member of the board to be looking directly at me to address me specifically and did not
168stop it no and now to address your comments Mr Hershey about moms for Liberty and you call us a hate group you called us extremist and many of the nut jobs over here probably agree with you I am an extremist I'm extremely unhappy with how poorly this system has educated my children I'm extremely unhappy that four out of 10 kids cannot read on grade level how six out of 10 children cannot do math one don't you look away with Mr Swanson and see that's what he does he goes up there and takes pictures of people and then posts them online and then I don't get my public records request in a timely manner with that information so who is the bully who is the hate group we are just parents wanting our children to get
169a proper education and I didn't want to have one of my children leave the public school system I wanted them to stay but you left me no choice because all you talk about in middle school is sexual orientation and not teaching them how to learn not teaching them how to read not teaching them math you are a failure all right our next speaker is Meg gandal excuse me board chair can we just remind memb I don't care what they say about me but just remind them to not refer to other members and insult other members of the audience please as part of our deorum thank you so Mr Hershey I I appreciate the sentiment please understand that keeping order and Decor in these meetings is very difficult and I have my just so everyone knows
170I am listening specifically for references to individuals called out by name if we want to call out speakers for criticizing groups collectively there's been a lot of criticism of a lot of different groups all right and I think that's you know it it may not be the most civil it may not be the best deorum but I think that's permitted so you know I understand the discomfort and I appreciate where you're coming from but you know members that disagree are going to say things about each other collectively and as groups again where I'm drawing the line is behavior we've seen before that we've recognized as inappropriate where a speaker or people in the audience specifically call out another individual by name by turning and pointing at them by you know specifically singling them out I
171know that won't make everyone happy I have to have one standard that I apply equally and right now that's the standard that I'm applying so you know I I I really can't keep asking everybody you know not to interrupt speakers I don't want to REM you know remove anybody's access to these meetings you know I just you know want to make sure that we can conduct our business the business of the school board in an orderly fashion and get through it so with that we have about 1 two three six more speakers it has been a long night but speakers number 27 and 28 deserve just as much respect and just as much as attention as speakers numbers numbers one and two so if we can let's all pull together and then hear from our
172final speakers the next speaker is Meg Gandalf who will be followed by Amanda clerin is Meg Gandalf still here all right with me if Meg Gandalf is in the building and has stepped out and returns we can add her to the end of the list but we are going to proceed so the next speaker will be Amanda clerin who will be followed by Kristen money is Amanda here Amanda clerin all right thank you the next speaker on the list is Kristen Mooney who will be followed by Nancy Hagood Haywood no all right Nancy Haywood is calling an audible and uh declining so then after Miss Mooney we would have Eddie oh gosh I know I'm gonna mispronounce this sersi okay Edie sisers I apologize Edie thank you all right welcome hello um Board of Education
173uh thank you for letting me be here tonight um so I wanted to speak with you all about hb10 and I promise I'm going to get there but that's actually the end of my story so I'll I'll backtrack um I am the vice president of the PTA at Morrisville Elementary School um very happy to to work under Mr Swanson I'll see you Thursday um but I wanted to say that this story starts with our outdated PTA website that still called for a special education inclusion committee um as we know sometimes these ptas there's only five people that do all the things um so even though I had volunteered for that it was still up that we needed that role filled um due to that we actually managed to rebuil our entire parents support group I'm
174proud to say that I was able to pass that on to two two wonderful seic members and we also have two advocacy chairs um and we have an amazing parent group support chat um all of these parents for the most part their children are in the Au EBS classrooms um my child while on an IEP is in a mainstream classroom uh part of the reason we've been brought together is by these dreaded School assignments um I will say that this is a double-edged sword I thought that there was seven schools um in Wake County that had an aebs classro and today I was told that there were three the double-edged sword here is that one of the parents who has to commute over a half hour to more so Elementary um that the program has
175been one f for her kids and they're thriving um this group has created play dates within themselves um we've made an inclusive space where we feel free to talk about certain issues and aspects of you know other agendas and the political thing of course um one of the biggest things that we're proud of is that we also arranged for a fence to be put up um to prevent children that tend to alope um now the PTA is paying for it and a lot of us are grateful that our PTA can but we don't feel that we should and that's where hb10 comes into play when you're going to funnel out $248 million North Carolina spends approximately 5,000 less per student than any other state in the nation we're already underfunded and I wonder if C
176groups get put in in into that's it thank you all right so I believe our next speaker then is Ed sersi and again I do apologize I went by Miss ski when I taught school okay the name's just too difficult to to comprehend well thank you I do appreciate that and I want to thank all y'all for your service it's very tiresome I can see just being here tonight so I thinkk thank you thank you my name is Edie superski and I am a longtime resident of Wake County I worked for Wake County Public School System for years I raised four children in Wake County Public School System and I have six precious grandchildren like your grandma sitting on my last nerve have six precious grandchildren in Wake County Schools I am concerned about the
177situation at Martin Middle School I didn't come here with any group I came here just totally on my own I don't know anything but what I've heard and and seen you know so I'm I'm just speaking to this and if it's true or fictional I don't know you know so I'm just speaking to what I've seen and heard I am concerned about the situation at Martin Middle School I am concerned about the welfare of a Young Middle School child that's what gets kept me up at night thinking about this little girl CU I have a granddaughter who's in middle school and it's hard you know to get to get go to Middle School it's whole new thing and for a child to be going through this kind of stress concerns me and I don't even
178know them I don't know them at all um I am concerned about the welfare of a Young Middle School child who has been exposed and stressed she's been stressed out unnecessarily by a male teacher dressed in supposedly in a tutu I saw the picture myself and was mortified that apparel I'm an old grandma and now remember this but that apparel would also be inappropriate even for a female teacher because to me it looked like a kenalin which was something women used to wear as undergarments I'm old so I can speak to it then I was doubly shocked to hear that the school administrators would not permit the child to be put into another classroom this to me is just wrong it's just wrong um I I went in my studies at NC State graduate school
179school of education years many years back I learned about the DSM 5 diagnostic statistical Manual of mental disorders which lists gender dysphoria as a mental disorder why would wcpss allow someone who is unsure of his own gender be a teacher over highly susceptible middle school children This is highly offensive to me and many other taxpayers in Wake County finally I leave and this is what I want to leave here with an appeal for the young person to be allowed to study literature in a classroom by a teacher with a passion for English and not an LGBT agenda social activist Middle School years are stressful enough without a teacher trying to pass on his own dysfunction to our young people I hold the school administrators and the school board responsible for this abnormal and frightening School
180experience for this young person the family and frankly many other citizens appalled by this incident at Martin Middle School sorry Mrs that is the conclusion of your time thank you our next speaker and our final speaker of the evening is Ella fiser is Ella fiser here thank you Miss Fischer you do win our patience award hi I'm Ella um I had a whole speech planned out but everyone has um expressed it better than I have and I'd kind of be beating a dead horse so um on a sort of anticlimactic note um I would like to say as a former Martin student that I am proud of the Martin teacher and of the administration and principal for standing behind him um thank you for hearing all of our concerns and yeah go Mustang thank [Applause]
181you all right everyone so that does conclude our public comment period we still have a few items remaining for um our Clos session agenda Miss mafy did you have a motion I chair hagy I'd like to make a motion to return to close session for reasons stated on the agenda second all right we have a motion from Miss mfy and a second for Mr Swanson all in favor of returning to close session for the statutory reasons previously cited please signify by saying I I any opposed all right thank you we will be in recess for about 5 minutes and then we will resume and close [Music] session e