2024-07-16 Board Meeting

001e e e what I just for e for e e e I out know and think they will will by so usually they'll do course of leg they'll ready all right all right good evening everyone I'm going to call this meeting to or order today is Tuesday July 16th 2024 at 5:40 we have uh full attendance all board members are present I want to welcome those of you watching at home and those of you that have joined us in person tonight uh the Wake County Board of Education meetings are held for the purpose of conducting the official business of the board and the public is welcome invited to attend these meetings to observe the board as it conducts its official business persons who willfully interrupt disrupt or cause disturbances at an official meeting May may

002be directed to leave by the presiding officer members of the audience should show respect for speakers even those they disagree with by refraining from loud comments or other disruptions disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with North Carolina General statute 143 through 1817 all right um we have established a quorum I think everyone has taken their seat now that we've taken a seat I'm going to ask if you're able to all stand as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all so we'll begin our meeting as we always do with our superintendent's comment Dr Robert Taylor

003thank you Mr chair uh good evening uh the the 2425 school year is now officially underway as our multirack and year round schools are now back in session I had the privilege of kicking off the school year last Monday at Woods Creek Elementary a brand new school in Holly Springs welcoming students for the first time it was a joy uh to see the excited students their families make their way into this beautiful state-ofthe-art facility our multitrack around schools allow us to maximize the use of our school buildings in high growth areas just one way we are good stewards of the resources provided by our local taxpayers uh there's every indication that the 2425 School Year is off to a good start and I'm excited to witness the strides we will take together as a school

004district uh and as I say all the time the Wake County Public School System is second to none and I can't say how excited I am uh to be here at the beginning of the school year uh this new school year presents an opportunity for us to build our successes and get even better I have every confidence that great things are in store for our students families and staff members in the 2425 school year here's to a school year filled with challenges uh uh met goals achieved and and progress that we will make next I'd like to congratulate Whitney uh bleop of Buck Horn Creek Elementary on being named the Wake County Public School's outstanding mathematics teacher of the year principls were asked to nominate an outstanding math teacher from their school and Mrs bhop

005was selected as the winner by committee uh that was made up of members of the academic advancement team her Commendation read in part she embodies the essence of an exceptional elementary math educator through her passion and expertise she cultivates continuous engagement and inspires a love for mathematics among her students uh Mrs bleop who is has taught math in our district for 16 years uses a variety of visual models and strategies to help students grasp math concepts and encourages them to engage in productive struggle to develop problemsolving skills her principal Daniel Simmons says the uh the following uh she Fosters a classroom atmosphere where students feel empowered to take risk she will be recognized at the North Carolina Council of teacher of the mathematics state conference in Winston Salem later this year uh math can be

006a challenging subject for many students uh but teachers like Mrs bleop demonstrate that any student and I repeat that any student can learn math concepts with the right teaching strategies and the right attitude it's important for teachers not only to set high expectations for their students but also to make sure they give their students the skills and encouragement needed to reach them so Mrs bhof embodies that idea and we want to say congratulations on this well-deserved [Applause] recognition lastly I want to encourage all of you to make a contribution to this year's tool for schools Community Supply Drive organized by our friends at wad partnership Tools for Schools was launched in 2022 to provide classroom materials free of charge to our teachers since then the program has given away more than $1 million worth of

007new school supplies this past school year long more than 8,000 teachers representing all of our nearly 200 schools shopped at Tools for Schools a survey found that the Wake County Teachers can spend up upwards of $1,000 per year out of their own Pockets to buy supplies for classrooms uh for their students that are in need uh Tools for Schools eliminates or at least greatly reduces that burden on our hardworking teachers so I feel strongly that Tools for Schools in addition to the savings teacher saving teach teachers money has reduced their stress and reminded them just how valued they are uh they can only serve to make uh them more effective Educators and more likely to stay in the profession to support this worthy program you can drop off donations at any designated location including all

008Staple stores within Wake County uh Financial contributions are also greatly appreciated uh so again visit wake ed.org toolsfor schools to find drop off locations or to make uh Financial donations um so again thank you in advance for your support uh the last thing I want to do is to thank our board shair who was able to deliver a message at our recent state of the city county and schools event uh I can I can tell you that um I've shared this particular video uh with our staff and I encourage you all to visit our website to see this uh he did a wonderful job in representing both the wonderful things that we do as a school district and the and the tremendous amount of support that we need in order to be an outstanding District

009um uh not only in this state in this nation but so chair Hagerty thank you for that it was outstanding you did a wonderful job and I'll turn it back to you absolutely I appreciate that not so good that I can do all my meetings by video though right well thank you all um I did have the opportunity to attend the greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce verus state of the city county and schools and you know without replaying that entire 20-minute presentation I'll give you what we used to call the cliffnotes version I understand a new product has replaced Mr Cliff um but generally we have a lot of great things going on in Wake County and our schools um and don't judge me for knowing what cliffnotes are um we do have wonderful and

010great CTE programs that we're developing a lot of great Partnerships made possible through Wake Technical Community College with our early colleges with our dual enrollment programs and then all of the programs that are taking place in our schools so many of our high schools now have uh their careeres where they're taking special courses from engineering to finance culinary arts Hospitality video game design um it's really amazing to see the job preparation we're doing the new schools that are coming online to accommodate growth in weight County all this made possible by the support from our County Commissioners who really have been great Partners these last few years with us to address the challenges of growth our benchmarks compared to other districts and our academic performance numerous Awards our graduation rate scholarships the students that we have

011and the amount of Public Service hours they put in giving back to the community are really outstanding but of course it's not fair to shine a light only on the good we need to acknowledge the challenges and we've been hearing about the challenges many of you have come to us to talk about these challenges the problems that we're having in this Nationwide crisis around bus drivers this is a nationwide this is a Statewide crisis but that doesn't matter we've got to address it here locally and we're trying as a board several strategies to do the best we can with that strategies for our filling our HVAC positions and our maintenance positions we know that when the hvc goes out it disrupts learning it disrupts lives our staff's lives our family lives any day lost because

012you've had to go out of school you've had to get out of work to pick up your kids that disrupts everybody and it's a preventable problem but it's one that's challenging when we don't have the number of available workers in the workforce period let alone those willing to work for the salaries that we're currently able to offer and of course one of the biggest question is that while we get rewards and recognitions and accolades we have to be honest that there are students that we are not serving well and that has to be our priority whether they're not getting the amount of Engagement the amount of challenges or the resources that they need that has to be addressed and and that's our promise to educate every student give every student in Wake County a quality

013education so you've just saved yourself 20 minutes by putting up with that remark that's the gist of my comments but I did want to share them with you for that now if today's a little bit muted it's because I wasn't sure how to address current events because I want to do it respectfully and I also want to acknowledge that there's a lot of really charged political feelings and thoughts and emotions in the country right now and I want to make the distinction and I'm not assigning any blame I'm not making any excuses I do want to say that we've seen a real coarsening of Civility of public attitude toward government and public service we've seen the defacement and vandalism of our Capital we've seen calls for lynching of public officials we've heard public officials talk

014about you know some PE some people need need killing but that does not compare to the murder and attempted murder of individuals and candidates at our political functions as part of our political system all of us as Americans should be ashamed that it's come to this and I know that personally I'm going to do better in all of my conversations and my treatment of others and I would just ask all of you to reflect on that individ indvidually what can you do to make things better America has been the Jewel of the world's democracy and I know I'm getting emotional about this but in a previous job I would have judges and Scholars from other countries come to North Carolina to learn about our justice system to learn about our democracy to learn about the

015peaceful transfer of power and how we've managed to do this in a nation with so many personal freedoms and we have maintained that for over two centuries incidents like we saw in Pennsylvania threaten to disrupt that entire system you might wonder why I'm bringing this up now and you might wonder what this has to do with any of you and I just say as Amer Americans we all have to do better so thank you vice sh Johnson hler thank you very much and thank you chair Hagerty for issuing the the call to each and every one of us I don't think there's anything else I can say other than to remind us that regardless of our opinions our distinctions and our similarities um we are still one United States and so thank you for the

016call to action to all of us um and again you're I was going back and forth what I was going to say so I'm actually glad I went after you so I didn't have to read my scribble over here so thank you very much um but I will lighten the mood and say you still should watch the 20 minute video because it was I meant to make for those of you who had young kids recently I wanted to make a flat Chris in honor of Flat Stanley like where in the world is Chris because hint he travels throughout the district district throughout the 20-minute video so if you have watched it you should I told Dr Taylor I would have never been able to do what you did it was very well done people were

017our attention span is this long people were captivated the entire 20 I've not been in a room where people were captivated by a film when they could talk to their neighbor in a room that large but every single person Dr Taylor and I were almost laughing because we were like people are engaged they were actively listening so job well done to you and to the team that made it look very professional so thank you very much um you made my job easy to be on the panel because you did an excellent job of doing exactly what you said talking about our successes but also being very open about our challenges and how we know that both of those are acknowledging those are the only way forward to continue to ensure that we move to what

018we want to be which is the best choice for All Families at way County so thank you very much for noting that um I will just Echo Dr Taylor on to tools for school um another standin I did for you chair hopefully I did your Justice luckily you don't have to watch my video um but again please please um if you will and also for educators who are listening Staples was also surprised proud to acknowledge to us the discount they're giving to our teachers in Staples um and I am not an early riser so I don't generally watch the morning news before I leave so when I got there I was very surprised to see that there were Shoppers in the store because they saw it the preview for Staples Grand unveiling of the partnership

019with wake partnership so there were people in the store shopping that morning uh my favorite is a lady said please don't put me on camera my family don't know I'm here spending money but I love buy school supplies she has no children or grandchildren um but so again the partnership in Wake County again it's a so it's a gentle reminder that even when we feel overwhelmed and and really worried about how we look what our Persona is to the community there's always those small jewels to remind us that people truly truly do pay attention and are still endeared by W County Public School and that's what that moment meant to me that morning to see people saying I saw on at 5:30 a.m. news and I'm here to shop for Wake County Public School students

020and so again thank you to those of you who do rise early enough to watch the news to be to beat Dr Taylor and I to the store to start shopping so thank you again and thank you for everyone and Staples for our partnership with um wake for our relationship with wake partnership it was my pleasure to stand in your stead that day and lastly um many of you will remember we acknowledged U Mr Perry who was long term principal of Fuller Elementary School his wife and his family was here um and I received a call from several actually several of his family members today and so um I said I would say that here and acknowledge that a giant from Wake County Public School at the age of 21 um passed away today and

021it was also he and his wife's 69th or 70th wedding anniversary as well so please keep the Parry family in your hearts and prayers um and again another reminder that um I didn't know Mr Perry when he was a principal but they certainly see us as their extended family I wanted to make sure that I passed on his transition to our board into the public and so I will end with saying just that that regardless of who we are we are still neighbors um and by our mere connection of this school district it makes us extended family and so hopefully we continue to remember that when we disagree that we can still do it with civility thank you thank you Vice chair we'll change our order up a little bit um he's still writing so

022I won't call him Mr Swanson I'll switch over to miss rice thank you chair hagy um happy 2425 school year to our year round students um I have the faith that their year began um with a very productive start I want to give a round of applause to gramble Johnson in the office of equity Affairs team on their help Helping Hands summer Camp's end of Camp presentations I enjoyed seeing students present um what they learned during the week- Long Camp their reading skills were strong on display and they did an excellent job sharing about prominent people that make significant contributions to our country uh this week's Wellness Dimension is financial Wellness Plan and budget your back to school expenses um as we enter the new school year with new expenses and and Reminiscing on the

023summer months filled with vacations and end of summer travels I encourage you to take a deep breath and do what you can creating a budget help manages cost effectively and reduce Financial stress here are some suggestions that may be helpful make a list of all necessary school supplies clothing and extracurricular fees this helps to prioritize spending and avoid unnecessary purchase is remember to stay cool from the weather and your head when managing your budget thank you chair thank you Miss rice next we'll go to miss Coffield thank you um so we have this title line policy coming before us today and even though the courts uh um enjoying this new Title Nine proposal rule there's confusion unclarity on what this means now and what it'll mean to our families going forward but I'm going to

024go ahead and I'll share some of my original comments because no matter how it pans out it is still what I'm hearing from families and still what I feel is right so all the women grandmothers aunts even fathers husbands should be appalled that these proposed changes of these proposed changes to Title 9 redefining sex is a political agenda this new rule to Title 9 undermines the very thing it was set up to do women fought hard for these rights it's absolutely erodes the foundation and its purpose and removes the very protections it was created to Foster I think about how we say that we want these people to stay our families to stay in public schools there's a lot of talk about opposing opportunity scholarship vouchers for families that are seeking other opportunities for their

025children yet we keep bringing polarizing policies to the table this policy will not only cause harm to our children but cause confusion for our children as they are looking to us for leadership and protection I am confused by Our advice to keep pushing this I'm not sure why there is well I guess there's conflict that we should be pursuing this August 1st date I guess everything is still kind of up in the air um so I'll kind of brush past that one I'm not sure why we would keep moving forward not knowing what the lawsuit will hold and how it will look possibly when we go when it goes on further there are several plists in the group that have some kind of protective role with the preliminary injuction and therefore it makes it a

026lot more difficult to even Implement I wonder if we will be at risk for liability like Louden County which is now being sued for $30 million for that poor girl the second girl that was harmed in a bathroom what about our biological female students that feel afraid of going into the bathroom to join Sports or to worry about their scholarship possibilities now being at risk afraid to sign up for field trips not knowing who will be sleeping in their bed or room and yes that has happened why would we put our children at risk in a a possible bad situation this can be a bad situation for all involved this is not a matter of being pro against or having anything to do with a particular person it is just all of our children it's

027putting them in a precarious situation it's not healthy and it's not right I'm disappointed that our leaders have not stood up for the 99% biological female students when do their rights count what about their well-being when is that important how about their when their their safety being valued and when do they have a voice when do they matter and when do they get to say I just don't feel safe instead of proposing to punish them for using pronouns incorrectly which by the way it's just it's not proper English iron ironically the very thing that we're in business to to do is to teach proper English we need more emphasis on literacy and not using incorrect pronouns like they and them I'm sorry it just refers to multiple people it's not proper English it's confusing instead

028of prioritizing these types of policies I think we need to put focus on academics we have a lot to talk about there or improving safety for our students this policy puts our kids all at risk and preca and in precarious situations we are not listening to the very kids who claim we claim to protect we have a student that has come before us and asked us for single stole bathrooms for their safety I totally get that allowing biological Boys in girls bathrooms is wrong and dangerous loud and County families can attest to that and these examples that I'm providing are because it's a possibility if we allow this PO this policy to go through the way it's worded vague not giving definitions of what we mean by this it absolutely could be things that come

029before our board we're allowing biological boys and girls locker rooms that's wrong it's dangerous intimidating it's uncomfortable and provokes great upset allowing biological boys and girls Sports is dangerous Payton McNab can attest to that allowing biological Boys in beds on overnight trips it's ridiculous and I cannot even believe that we're even considering this and God forbid somebody asks about it or raises a question it's considered wrong that they ask a question question who is sleeping with them no wonder these kids are confused look at our leadership we spend all this time changing and creating policies but my whole time on this board I do not recall us discussing how we will work on implementing them how we will create consistency that helps everyone know where we stand and what we expect or how to follow

030up on these policies to make sure that they are even effective or if they're working in the way that we intended we are addressing this discrimination harassment bullying policy how many times in the past few months we did the dress code the crown act and now Title 9 with boys in all of these different situations but in the 19 months that I've been in this role I have pretty much begged us to listen to the families and address this policy in regards to bullying which is severely harming our youth along with other aspects like discipline issues which are also harming our students that we know is an issue in the classroom we're still not talking about bu bullying and dis dis discipline that affects each and every one of our children regardless of how they

031identify they identify as victims and nobody is rushing to make a stronger policy or an implementation procedure on how to improve what we are doing to help them and I know they said it's coming but I am mad that we keep getting distracted from what the families are telling us are important to us we do not listen and then we act shocked when we leave or want when they leave or want opportunity scholarships to find somewhere else for their children that they don't have to swallow this polarized political adult-driven agenda we can do better and I will no vote as long as this is on the table my vote will be no it is a convenience to be in a public school to be a public school family door-to-door Transportation sports clubs scholarship opportunities we

032have so much to offer parents forgo all of that with going to a private or Charter to ensure that their kids have well-rounded education we need to listen to that you want the parents of Wake County to stay or to come back they want better math they want their kids to be able to read and they are not not just barely passing at 60% it is imperative to a well wounded life and they want life skills that's what our parents want and that's what their kids need I have read about this and the final CA uh cast study and the NHS England response and even the New York Times just came out on July 12th with information about how gender affirming care does not help and sometimes causes more harm so I I know that

033that's going to be something that somebody is going to say that I'm not caring about the suicide or their well-being so I want them to know that there are plenty of studies out there about these children and what's happening to them so I am actually begging everybody to vote no to keep our children safe and to stop polar this polarizing policies that do not Aid in learning and I'll be voting no for these policy changes attempts to redefine sex and I hope collectively that we will cons reconsider this notion thank you all right so next we'll go to Mr Swanson I'll wait if you ready I apologize oh no thank you chair hery um and thank you for your remarks I think you sumed out my thoughts as well so thank you um a couple

034of weeks I had a couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the young entrepreneur business Fair which was hosted by the Big Brother Big Sister um and the leaders for and leaders um for hosting this event um which was able to give young entrepreneurs and of our students and staff a great opportunity it was uh also the MC was um mayor uh Jack Gilbert from Apex and I think I missed you by a couple of hours uh chair hegerty um which you probably wait wave the heat like I to be fair it was 100° yes it was so I had the opportunity of really listening and learning from these students to hearing their businesses and what they have and you know it was a great opportunity um and look forward to attending next

035year's event as well lastly I just want to highlight an all call um opportunity that will be taking place at Carrie High School uh Miss uh Mrs Haywood and the Cary High PTA will be hosting a Cary High grounds cleanup day on Saturday August the 3D from 8:00 am to 3M um for more details and to sign up you can visit uh contact Carrie high or visit the school PTA Facebook page um I will be out there with my cleanup attire and I think I even signed up to do a couple of weed eating in grass so um I know commissioner Stallings will be there and so I hope that the public will join us um as we give the students of car High a great welcome uh welcome to the 24 25 school year

036so that concludes all of my remarks for this evening thank you Mr Swanson we'll come back around this way uh Miss mafy are you ready I have no comments we will go then to miss Edmonds thank you on June 21st I had the pleasure of going to Westlake Elementary to spend time with their two school counselors to learn about their ramp designation we've said it before but it's worth repeating the work of our school counselors has a direct positive impact on academics and student well-being I'm in awe of all that they do across the districts um but I do want to extend a special shout out to Miss Johnson and Miss Lee for taking so much time with me that Day on June 25th I went to the drive-through graduation for tracks 2 three and

037four at Holly Springs Elementary and as we know um as Miss rice mentioned our year round schools have since started their new school year so a shout out to my district 5e rounds Holly Springs Elementary Westlake Elementary and West Lake Middle Middle Creek Elementary and Centennial Magnet Middle starts next week so I wish all of them a happy new school year as well uh chair Hagerty I really appreciate your comments about um the violent events of Saturday and I would just like to add that um I'm in agreement that there's no place for this in our country and I believe that Saturday's tragedy reminds us that it is always time to talk about common sense gun laws for America no civilian has any business owning these types of military grade weapons AR-15s bump stocks explosives

038Etc but what are our leaders doing about it and what will we demand that they do about it some other recent political violence um involving guns Steve scalise in 2017 others were also shot and injured at that um particular shooting federal judge Esther solace in 2020 her husband and son were gunned down in their home by a man who felt wronged by the judge her son died of his injuries and her um husband was shot three times and underwent multiple surgeries congresswoman Gabby gords in 2011 six people died of gunshot wounds at that event and 12 were injured at that same um event in addition to the injury that she suffered and gford said just yesterday political violence quote political violence is unamerican and is never acceptable never end quote I agree with her it

039is absolutely unamerican but what are we doing about it school boards don't govern gun laws um but we do have the power to contribute in other ways for a safer America we can continue pushing for more counselors social workers School psychologists in our schools continue supporting let restorative justice practices and teaching kids how to handle conflict in healthy nonviolent ways teaching kids how to be kind to one another modeling civility in response to conflict that's how I see K12 education contributing to a safer America let this board lead by example and do what's within our power to promote nonviolence thank you thank you Miss edmans we'll next go to Dr Ring um good evening um first I would like to welcome our yearound students back to school I hope that everyone had a chance to

040get a well-deserved break this summer uh first day of school is always a little overwhelming but I am hoping that after a week everyone is uh settled into a routine um I do look forward to returning to visit with some of the schools in District 3 um uh and meeting a few of the new principls and assistant principles there also I am eager to get back to the table in the coming months to continue working on the budget with my colleagues on the board uh we remain fully committed to increasing pay for our hardworking teachers and bus drivers um and as uh chair Hager mentioned um uh the events in Pennsylvania this past weekend and the the tragic loss of life was really a wakeup call for many of us um it was definitely for

041me um regardless of one's view uh of the world or political leanings uh we should NE uh still be able to discuss our differences in a civilized manner violence and destruction of property are never the answer my prayers is go out to the family of Corey comparator who died while shooting his wife and daughter from the shooter his bullets his daughter calls him a superhero for sacrificing himself to protect her many of um you are here tonight because you too are trying to protect your children the proposed changes to our policies prohibiting discrimination harassment and bullying were prompted by the new title 9 rules issued by the Department of Education there are multiple lawsuits uh across the country challenging these new rules and there is a preliminary Junction that may have some impact here in

042Wake County but let me be clear on one thing uh no one is for discrimination and harassment however we do have to consider the main thing who are we trying to protect what was the original intent of Title 9 I have two daughters one of whom is a competitive swimmer so I am deeply concerned about the impact that title 9 changes may have on women's sports as she goes on to participate uh as she gets older it is my understanding that the specific title9 regulation addressing Sports has not been put forth by the Department of Education but the current proposed rules may still be up for interpretation because as it says quote preventing any person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity will subject them to more than the

043Minimus harm on the basis of sex so because of this a whole set of questions come to my mind when the definition of sex no longer means boy girl man woman how do we properly protect our daughters who are athletes does this impact the chance of a female swimmer or Runner being competitive if she has to compete with someone who is biologically stronger and faster if she is involved in a contact sport will she be CH subject to increased risk of physical harm competing against a a male how will this impact her emotional well-being these are fair questions to ask and if she were to speak up against this unfair treatment will she be accused of sex discrimination or sex-based harassment this last question is directly pertinent to the policy changes we will be discussing

044this has direct impact on everyone's First Amendment rights so before people come to the podium to speak please consider your own children and how it will impact 51% of our population and for my fellow board members I would ask that you look in your heart and vote for what is right and not what is expedient these rule changes change back and forth depending on who's in charge but the truth endures I don't feel that we are compelled to make these changes before August 1st deadline because the litigations are still evolving we need to focus on our primary responsibility which is to educate the young people of Wake County thank you all right and our next speaker will be now y'all I talked to you about disruptions right everything was very polite but just we just

045have to limit them out that okay um next we'll go to Mr Hershey to conclude our board cont thank you chair I'm I um [Music] I want to thank you for your comments earlier uh the only disagreement I would have is when you say We As Americans and I think it's we as human beings um should should treat each other better uh I I'm going to save some of the the Title Nine comments for when we uh speak later but you know when when we are and I'm not going to divulge what is um said in close close session but when we are given answers in Clos session and then we come out here and say other things I I don't think that's being I think there's a little bit of being disingenuous in some

046of the comments because we have received answers um I will wait to make uh other comments about that later I will challenge though as we talk about diverse um the Title Nine work and we we think about when we passed policy related to the parents Bill of Rights and we had a lot of people here are going to speak passionately and I listen all the time who said we had to pass that it is state law we don't have a choice this is what we must do we are obligated as a school board and now we are sitting here facing um a Federal Regulation that has a date August 1st just as the uh parent Bill rights had the date of I think it was moved a couple of times but we complied and got

047it done and there were some people who said we shouldn't do it but as a board that was our responsibility to comply and now we're going to switch roles and some people are come in here and say you don't need to comply it's a federal it's something Federal we don't agree with it so don't comply with it and so my challenge to the speakers respectfully is to and I know it's you're going to get your comments in a second is or send me an email on it why did we have to follow state law and comply by a certain deadline and then now why do you turn around and say we shouldn't follow a federal federal guidance that we have been given when we can be finded up to the full amount of our you

048know our the federal dollars we get which it was well over $100 million so I'm just how I'm just wondering do we only as a board pass things that we like regardless of what the state and federal law says and we just hey I don't care what the state says we're just going to do whatever we like in the moment or depending on what administration is at the federal level because we have an election coming up and they could be Chang es and this board I believe its history as to whatever the title 9 changes have been they have adopted that into policy because that is their the role of the school board and the job of the school board regardless of our own personal feelings so I would I encourage and I look forward

049to um you know hearing some comments on that um I also want to acknowledge uh we have some speakers here that are going to speak about um cell phone policy and and I uh am hopeful that the board will take up uh and have a robust conversation about what we may do um one of uh Miss caulfield's comments that I agreed with was talking about consistency throughout the district um and a couple board meetings ago we talked about uh how our tardiness policies are not consistent that was brought to our attention um and so we have a cell phone policy where you can have one thing at one school something else at another school and it's it's time for us to address that I I appreciate and I encourage staff to look at what Grille

050county has done um I think they they do it in a smart way maybe a couple modifications uh but I just want to acknowledge them being here as well um and I just to end on a slightly lighter note it is the last uh swim meet for our summer swim uh kids and I just want to give a shout out actually to the parents who are out in the heat right now volunteering and there were their kids and it is hot and normally I'm Clerk of course but I had other obligations tonight and uh appreciate the uh families being out there thank you chair hagy all right thank you Mr Hershey and so now um before we move on with our agenda we need to approve tonight's agenda do we have a motion for approval

051of the meeting agenda motion to approve second I heard a couple motions I'll take Miss rice uh as a motion to approve the agenda Vice chair Johnson hosler second all in favor of the motion to approve the agenda please signify by saying I any opposed all right thank you we will move on so the next item on the agenda is our public comment portion so those of you I know some of you have been out here before and have heard these remarks could probably recite them yourself by now I'm looking at you Beck um some others you might be hearing this for the first time this comes from our public policy so it it's a little lengthy but I just want to make sure everyone knows what what we do in this session so speakers

052commenting on tonight's agenda items will be heard first before people commenting on other topics all other speakers will be heard in the order of sign up only one person may speak at the podium the person speaking at the podium will be able to stand at a time all other attendees are remain seated while the other people are speaking members of the public are free to welcome comments criticism directed at the actions ideas procedures of the board and individual board members the laws and policies of North Carolina provide that issues and concerns involving individual personnel and individual student matters however are confidential and so those aren't appropriate for public comment settings we have other ways that those can be addressed directly working with staff so as not to reveal confidential information either involving your student or

053another now concerns that just basically res say what I just said um in the interest of maintaining a Civility and decorum we do encourage you to address your comments to us at the board um and we do you know have to say this you must refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff and members of the general public you may hear things you agree with you may hear things you disagree with but please please remember you're at the board meeting and direct your comments up here and not toward fellow speakers um any materials you've brought that you wish to share with the board you should those could be handed to our board attorney Mr Rod Malone here at the end of the table either before or after your comments

054that doesn't take up any of your time during comment public comment you may speak up to three minutes you'll note up here we have microphones they are adjustable when you see the green light at the podium your time has begun it will not begin until you begin speaking um the time will count down so when you see a yellow light and you'll hear an audible tone the first one you hear will let you know there are 30 seconds remaining in your time and so it's time to start wrapping up now when the light turns red and you hear the tone a second time your time is expired I know that sometimes it's awkward you might be mid-sentence but we do have to enforce the time limit to give everyone who's come out to speak a

055fair opportunity to speak so and again you can always speak for less time but that's how the time limit works so at this time I will go to our list of speakers by by our practice what we do is we give our students the first priority to speak our first student speaker tonight is Miranda wadil is oh sorry Mr Hershey you have a question or comment are we going to go all the way through all public comments first because we have some people waiting I just want to make sure they are aware okay so good point Mr Hershey so by practice if in our policy if we have public comments that go past half an hour we can then take the rest of the comments and put them at the end of the agenda so

056that the items on the agenda that maybe people came out to hear can be heard and voted on first and then we'll return to the agenda for the remainder of the public comments I may not go 30 minutes I might go an hour we'll see how we Pace it um and we'll try to get through as many as we can but if it does get on Beyond an hour we will move those speakers toward the end of the agenda all right thank you for bringing that up especially for people who might be here the first time all right so now returning to our speaker list the first Speaker we have a student Miranda wadel is Miranda here parent of student do I need to wait yes but we will put you are you speaking on

057on agenda or off agenda AG all right I'll move you to that space on the thing thank you for letting me know all right so then our second student is Rowan Rowan Belo if Rowan is here good evening board members my name's Ron and my pronouns are they them in case anyone was curious um my speech today will touch on some heavy topics so I'd like to give everybody a trigger warning before I start I want to speak to you about the changes to Title 9 as a transgender student in your schools throughout my tenure in school as an out transgender person from sixth grade to present I've experienced my fair share of discrimination my sixth grade teacher added me to my parents when I wasn't ready my seventh grade teacher or not my seventh

058grade teacher in seventh grade someone called me a series of slurs starting with tfnb and I was the only I was the only one who faced punishment when I explained to my peer that I did not accept his apology I was alienated and pushed to leave the school so I was online for 8th grade I was in Pittsboro for freshman year and it wasn't too bad then we moved here and I did sophomore year at Willis spring and I hate to say it but my time there has been hell the second I walk through the door every morning I get dirty looks or offensive comments or people trying to trip me whenever my bladder tells me it's time to go I'm terrified because I have no safe option a few years ago I was raped

059in a bathroom and it wasn't the scary scaped transom everyone pretends to be afraid of it was the scary real man that we should be afraid of and addess instead of fabricating a million other issues which we love to do using the bathroom shouldn't be a panic attack for me but it is walking in the hallway or going through the lunch line or sitting in class those shouldn't cause emotional stress but they do I exist in constant constant Terror in a place where I should feel safe and I don't even feel protected a few weeks before the last day of school I was walking through the lunch line with my friend when someone came up from behind me and hit me somebody I didn't know know touched me without my permission in an attempt to

060inflict emotional or physical distress which is assault the school receptionist the school receptionist refused to let me see the SRO one admin suggested that the guy just had had a crush on me another admin told me that I was sensitive and kept me in her office to tell me that I exaggerated and would not let me leave until I agreed with her I do not trust admin at my school with my safety anymore I honestly don't trust anyone because it seems like everyone whose job it is to protect me instead has it out for me and people like me all of this happened with Title 9 so maybe the changes will do a better job of preventing it in the future because let me tell you I'm sick of it I'm sick of having a

061Target on my back just because i' I exist I'm sick of feeling like me living is such a problem and I'm so sick of feeling like the only way to make it stop is to kill myself my schools have failed me my country has failed me and I'm honestly just angry 1.8 million LGBT youth in the US consider suicide every year and there is at least one attempt every 45 seconds that number is only going to increase if this hateful ignorance continues and as I said to our state legislature moments before they stole my rights from me I am tired of seeing my brothers and sisters die because they are being denied their rights now I know that now I know that adapting to the title 9 modifications isn't going to fix these complex problems

062but it's a step in the right direction so please so please do it please show show us that you care about me and about a huge demographic of your school's population thank [Applause] you thank you now you all are going to love this news I've just been informed that we are having some functional issues with our timer we're going to take a minute to make sure that it is working properly so last time it just needed to be so we're everybody cross their fingers h on we don't want to deny anybody anytime but we also know we can't rely on the honor System what test it it's not working I'm not seeing anything up here power the power court is it's yeah really more than I can [Music] working I did all right all right

063if if we are ready then that was our last student speaker and so what we'll go do is we'll go to our on agenda speakers and since uh we had Miranda on the list first just under the wrong title we'll call her up first so first up will be Miranda wadil speaking on agenda on um policy 1710 and Miranda will be followed by Emily James and would you mind pronouncing your last name for Miranda wadil wadil okay thank you I apologize for any butchering I might have done thank you I am requesting that the sexual harassment not be changed in the policy prohibition against harassment and discrimination for bullying my name is Miranda wadil I am a believer in Christ a mom and a parent of a student that faces these policy topics in school

064I am working to understand the changes that are going on in the policy as it relates to our world today I understand that the revisions are being made to redefine sexual harassment to sexual discrimination and sex-based harassment we have protected classes for a reason we perceive they need protection don't we all my concern is this policy and its changes discrimination and bullying are not allowed and are already included in the policy removing sexual harassment to replace sex-based harassment is redundant as the policy states gender harassment to include conduct that is not as of a sexual nature my concerns revolve around the age appropriateness of This Global policy as it Rel to all government funded schools and programs it's my understanding that Title Nine protections Span Elementary Schools through college universities while I admire the system's

065protection I question the affirmation of inclusive policies around across the board parents rights should not be left out of the guidelines a child who is under the age of consent which is 16 in North Carolina is asked how they identify to pick a room um where they can um for the type of dorm that they would like to sleep in for a government funded program all in the name of Title Nine that child cannot smoke drink or vote legally however they can choose if they want to sleep with the same sex they identify with while being biologically the opposite sex that's called the assigned sex at Birth why because the physical attributes are the terming factor for sex in all but an estimated 1.7% of our population so should children and adults alike be able

066to choose their respective identity for public bathrooms locker rooms and sleeping Arrangements without discrimination or harassment in a perfect world however it is not a perfect world we are humans and almost 100% of the time humans will disappoint generally speaking public bath bathrooms were segregated when women entered the workforce and the policies were made to address safety and privacy concerns should we be concerned when a transom uses a woman's bathroom or vice versa a trans man uses a man's bathroom transgender people are not to be feared the opposite sex is not to be feared hatred and lack of compassion is the problem it's a human problem everyone wants to be loved and accepted if we are moving forward in a world that is non-binary then the non-binary bathrooms will allow the community of people that

067want rights to be with like-minded people hopefully not facing harassment and for their protected class and that is already in the definitions don't change the definition I'd also like to address the other reason for segregated bathrooms which is privacy when I ask my child about their concern for the bathrooms um I remember it was just like mine for privacy the cracks and things like that and the doors when you walk past stalls you can see who is on the toilet so we need to do a better job of protecting privacy and this should be of utmost concern especially if we are going to mix SE Sexes because of genders all right everyone wants protection thank you very much Miss W thank you our next speaker is Emily James and Emily will be followed by Ross

068ellam good evening Miss James good evening all right thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Emily James and I have two children currently enrolled in the Wake County Public School System I'm here to speak about the title 9 policy changes being discussed because the portion of the changes regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity seem to be causing people the most angst I would like to address those changes by sharing two stories with you the first story is about D doe who you may have read about in a recent statement put out by the Wake County GOP and you just heard Miss Coffield reference earlier the statement says from the GOP that the existing title n policy will quote allow boys in girls locker and bathrooms like the boy

069who was Trans in Lowden County Virginia and raped that young girl this statement contains inaccurate information and has no connection to the policy changes being discussed in June 2021 Jane Doe was a high school student in Virginia who was sexually assaulted in her school's bathroom the story made national headlines in part because the victim's father told the Washington Post that his daughter's assault happened because of quote radical gender policies and that the student who attacked her was gender fluid Jane Doe publicly stated that this narrative is false she told the New York Times that while her attacker was wearing a skirt he was not quote identifying as transgender and going into the girls bathroom under the guise of that this is an important story because while what happened to Jane Doe is awful and unforgivable

070these current policy changes to Title 9 would not have prevented the attack on Jane Doe since its Inception Title 9 has protected students from sex-based discrimination the new regulations expand the definition to include discrimination based on sexual orientation this means Title 9 affirms the rights of the lgbtq student to come to school as themselves so while these changes would not have protected Jane Doe there are students they would protect like next Benedict next was a non-b non-binary 16-year-old from Oklahoma who had been the target of bullying at school because of their identity earlier this year NEX got into a physical altercation at school that left them unconscious in an interview with police NEX said they had never reported the bullying at school even though it had been going on for over a year because they

071did not think anyone would care the day after the bathroom attacks attack next Benedict was found unresponsive and later died that day their death was ruled a suicide NEX did not believe they had a way to get help or that anybody would hold their bullies accountable under the policy changes schools are obligated to protect students like NEX next Benedict should have been able to seek help changes to these regulations are crucial steps in ensuring the safety and dignity and equality of all students and I hope that you will all do your job by doing the right thing and implementing these changes swiftly thank you Miss Miss James our next speaker is Ross eliam and then Ross is followed by will be followed by Jacob Arthur if Jake's here oh there he is all right hey

072how youall doing good evening um as a parent of Wake County School students I'm here to be an advocate and lend my voice uh of support for the updated title 9 guidelines the changes aim to expand protections to ensure that all students regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation can learn grow and succeed in an environment free from harassment and discrimination education is a right and fear out of ignorance or misinformation has no uh place in the pursuit of this right as uh Miss Coffield mentioned earlier there are some discussions about um the incident in Virginia um just to re-examine that case the perpetrator as the previous commenter made was not trans the the assault did not occur in a bathroom and so claims like these and many others are not only false and

073created to incite fear but are used to spread Mis misinformation about trans people not only that but the assault occurred months before any trans inclusionary measures were put into place meaning they had no uh influence on this horrible incident in fact a Harvard study found that transgender non-binary students aged 13 to 17 are more likely to be sexually assaulted than their cisgender peers providing them access to bathrooms or locker rooms that are consistent with their jiter identity actually reduces that risk by 10% there's absolutely zero evidence that allowing these children access to bathroom matching their gender identity causes any security risk for other students in fact a rigorous test study from the UCLA School of Law found that there was absolutely no correlation between non-discrimination laws and public accommodations and reports of crime in public

074restrooms or other gender segregated facilities uh these children do not want to be activists they just want to be normal kids they want to go to school learn in the classroom make friends and come home safely to their parents anyone opposed this measure is only contributing to the turmoil turmoil and causing greater damage to our children politicizing something that should be common sense um and to go further what's not included in these guidelines there's no explicit language calling out Sports inclusion but if there were was expanded to include that I would argue that that is a great thing the vast majority of middle and high school students won't ever play sports at a competitive level after we should be supporting and advocating all students to participate and Foster a sense of self through Sports critics

075often site competitive fairness as a reason for exclusion but we must recognize that athleticism varies greatly among all athletes sports are not just about winning they are about participation and personal bests policies can be crafted that both respect the Integrity of women's sports and include trans athletes ensuring everyone competes on a Level Playing Field in fact if we objectively look at the data there isn't even an advantage to be found in competitive Sports by trans athletes sport is a universal language that speaks to the pursuit of Excellence teamwork and personal growth it teaches discipline resilience and the joy of striving towards a goal these lessons are invaluable to every student and trans girls are no exception they deserve the same opportunities to learn to compete and to excel to exclude drance girls from participating in

076school sports is Den deny them more than just the thrill of competition or the health benefits of physical activity is to deny them the camaraderie and sense of belonging that comes with being part of a team thank you I think that's my time thank you Mr Ellen our next speaker is Jacob Arthur and Jacob will be followed by Becky lobs good evening evening Mr chairman uh my name is Jacob Arthur I'm with the NC Values Coalition uh I am also a Wake County Public School parent I have a rising 10th grader a rising eighth grader a rising fifth grader and a 5-year-old who is going to be in kindergarten and is super excited um quickly I will answer Mr Hershey's question he mentioned the fact that he doesn't know why we why we would not

077enforce uh Biden's Title 9 regulations and and enforce the parents Bill of Rights that's because the parents Bill of Rights was a law passed by the general assembly Title 9 was a law passed by Congress Biden's interpretation is merely that it's an interpretation of his regulation this this policy would require public schools to allow biological males who identify as females into showers into locker rooms into bathrooms with females it would require public schools and universities to allow allow biological males and and uh to identify as girls to compete in girl Sports it would uh violate the Privacy rights of girls and women in locker rooms it would have the freedom of speech violated that would not only apply to females apply to males as well I will read from Judge broom's order recently uh in

078a Kansas case that you have likely been informed about Judge broom said the department of education's reinterpretation of Title 9 to place gender identity on equal footing with or in some instances arguably stronger footing than biological sex would subvert congress's goals of protecting biological women in education the final rule would among other things require schools to subordinate the fears concerns and privacy interest of biological women to the desires of transgender biological men in shower dress and same restroom facilities with their female peers I would also include as Miss carfield said it would allow girls uh males to be roomed with females on overnight field trips which has happened in North Carolina this is a reckless policy it is currently under injunction and it will affect Wake County I have seen the list of schools that

079was provided to the federal judge and while I am aware that the list that was put out only included Lian middle school that is an incomplete list the Attorney General of Kansas does not even have the complete list at this time let me just give you a brief summary of well there's a lot going on here I'm H I'm happy to I'm happy to talk to anybody who would would like to know exactly what this what this rule will change but will I will I'll end with is this First Amendment rights will be violated for anyone who speaks out against transgender policies parents rights will be diminished employees will become spies to enforce compliance and employees subject will be subject to discipline for not reporting possible discrimination harassment or bullying your daughters will be subjected

080to males in bathrooms and your sons could be subjected to abnous I'm sorry that is your time thank you all right our next speaker I believe I said was Becky L Hobs and U Miss L Hobs will be followed by Janet Peterson well cheers to a new school year I'm Becky L Hobs longtime Wake County resident mom to three amazing kids and Chapter Chair of moms for Li in Wake County and I'm here tonight to discuss the title line changes and some policies on the agenda tonight and the recent Federal Court ruling that actually affects all 50 states so first what does Title 9 actually say no person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any

081education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance but this past spring Biden's Department of Education issued sweeping changes to tital line eviscerating equality free speech and due process on tonight's agenda are two policies that regarding sex discrimination and harassment that attempt to implement these changes lawsuits have been filed as you know and several adjunctions have been issued on July 2nd the US District Court issued another injunction against Biden's doe title line changes for four more States plus any school attended by children of moms for Liberty members because of this injunction Wake County Schools is prohibited from implementing B Biden's Department of Education changes I furnished you a link to the ruling but here are just a few excerpts the purpose of Title Nine was to protect biological women from discrimination in education the Doe's reinterpretation

082of tital line to place gender identity on equal footing with or in some in instances arguably stronger footing than biological sex would subvert congress's goal of protecting biological women in education the doe simply lacks authority to expand sex to mean gender identity and it violates the First Amendment so in summary the Court ruled that title N9 was meant to protect biological women from discrimination and found that Biden's rewrite was contrary to law exceeded their statutory Authority violated the First Amendment and is impermissibly vague and overly broad so if you decide to implement the changes tonight and proceed with these policies Wake County Schools will be in violation of a US District Court order injunction and risk serious legal repercussions I promise you we've already been in discussion with national about this and it will be

083pursued I also want to thank Miss Coffield and Dr wing for her comments regarding Title Nine and please protect our girls that's all we're asking we are not asking to discriminate against anybody we want our girls to have safe places thank you thank you our next speaker tonight excuse me our next speaker is Janet Peterson who will be followed by Kathleen roblas welcome back Miss Peterson thank you Title Nine of the education Amendments of 1972 is a federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and education programs and activities as has been said the Department of Education has used rulle making power to convert a law designed to equalize opportunities for both sexes into something much broader by expanding the reach of the rule to include gender identity have you heard of

084the song smoking in the bo to room well by allowing students to choose the restrooms and the lockers according to their preferences smoking in the bathroom will be the least of your worries there have already been multiple examples of vulnerable girls being sexually assaulted in bathrooms locker rooms and showers in the news over the last several years the proposed policy puts responsibility on already stretched School personnel a better solution is to provide those single serve bathrooms and the changing spaces for students to ensure their sexual identity okay schools have to be safe spaces staff and student enforced codes of conduct would ensure it but where is the line between exercising your religious beliefs and being interpreted as bullying or creating a hostile environment as we see an increase in people from diverse cultur C and

085religions there should be no expectations that either students or staff do anything that would go against their religious beliefs where do pronouns fit in in your policy by requiring staff or students to use someone's preferred pronouns are you creating a hostile environment tattletail tattletail hang your Brites on a nail the creation of this title tail coordinator excuse me title n coordinator is problematic so far you've talked about proposed oral or written allegations of misconduct well I'm sorry oral is not sufficient it should be written written statement should be mandatory accused individuals should have access to the document and be able to respond I'm not sure why we need a coordinator what happened to meeting with the counselor and letting the counselor follow through with formal or informal complaints with these proposed policy changes you're creating

086a scary situation for students and staff the creation of a tattle system is going to be a nightmare for anyone considering employment in the school system or a new student looking to make friends I close it with this thought why not wait put any action on Title 9 policy on hold you've done a good job so far protecting students don't be Hasty and enact policies that will actually endanger or harm students or that precious staff too thank you thank you taking a moment of personal privilege I do have to say this is the first time in five years that I've heard mle crew quoted at a board meeting so we move on to Kathleen robbles followed by Miguel fetes is Kathleen Here There She is welcome Kathleen hi welcome first I just want to thank

087you guys so much for all the work that you do my name is Kat robbles I'm the mother of two children in W County Public Schools um I'm the advocacy and Dei chair for my children's elementary school and I'm also a civil rights lawyer I'm here today to discuss what the changes being discussed are and what they aren't and why they are in keeping with the original intent behind Title 9 Title 9 was passed in 1972 to prohibit sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive Federal funding it was a landmark legislation that was greatly needed because while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and employment it didn't Grant any Protections in the realm of education laws aren't meant to be static they require continual interpretation as our

088world evolves to ensure they fulfill their original purpose and this instance the goal of Title 9 is to ensure equity for students facing harassment and exclusion based on sex students who are marginalized excluded and harassed in our schools every day and are in need of legal protections that's why the federal government made explicit in the 1990s 20 years after the passage of Title 9 that this prohibition on sex discrimination also includes a Prohibition on sexual harassment laws aren't meant to be static sexual harassment also impairs equal educational access that's also why the Department of Education issued a notice of interpretation in 2021 one making it clear that title 9 applies equally to discrimination based upon gender identity and sexual orientation Miguel Cardona the US Secretary of Education stated that all students including lgbtq plus students

089deserve the opportunity to learn and thrive in schools that are free from discrimination this rule we are discussing today is entirely separate from another rule being proposed by the US Department of Education relating to the participation of transgender students in sports I just think we've had a lot of misinformation here about what the laws are and what's actually being considered so I just want to be clear that that is a completely different proposal although I do want to note that the US Supreme Court did rule in 2020 in the bosck case that in the context of title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 discrimination on the basis of sex must also include discrimination against individuals based upon their sexual orientation and gender identity and that includes individuals who are transgender the US Supreme

090Court the highest court in the land said quote it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex end quote now throughout history whenever civil rights have been extended to marginalized groups the oppressors will show up as they have tonight warning of all the evils that might come if we dare to codify equity into our laws people protested against Title 9 when it was passed in 1972 they were scared of losing their power and their privilege and that's a strong MO Ator but that fear shouldn't rule the day here none of us be free until we are all free thank you all right our next speaker Miguel fetes and Miguel will be followed excuse me Miguel will be followed by Jonathan Clayton thank you

091hi everybody um first I want to thank you for uh having interpreters today because we're here to serve all communities right so I want to thank you for that um and uh my name is Mike feris my pronouns are he him his L and uh in the Bible God says let us make man in our image so God used pronouns as well and I am a parent organizer for Education Justice Alliance I have some of my parents here and uh I'm a parent of four children who have all gone through Public School System my wife and myself also are graduates of public schools and uh tonight I want to talk about the Discrimination uh policy that everyone's so passionate about apparently um having worked as a youth pastor uh a youth organizer a dean of

092students at an alternative school in Miami Florida uh I realized uh just how special and important School interactions are for kids how it can affect a growing young adult and shape them school can provide support for a child who doesn't feel supported it can provide structure when it's lacking in their personal life and or in their Community it's a place of acceptance and an environment for creativity and learning a place where the sky is the limit and you can dream about goals and all Ambitions but the school experience can be a bad one too as we heard earlier from a student and um when you're uniqueness is attacked because of ignorance because of fear uh you could be going to school not feeling safe you could be going to school and losing who you are

093and your creativity and not wanting to be a part of the school um there's no place for bullying discrimination and harassment anywhere much less in school um though some spaces are out of our control right that's going to happen uh but in school this policy can change that for our youth for our students um they can be monitored right now they can be monitored and uh put down all the ugly treatment and uh try to eliminate that ugliness right um well I applaud your policy uh eja applauds your policy our parent leaders applaud your policy as well uh and we'll be holding you accountable uh for ensuring that every student regardless of race ethnicity sex gender identity sexual orientation religion age or any disability receive a sound Equitable education and feel safe thank you all

094right thank you our next speaker is Jonathan Clayton and Jonathan will be followed by Susan bu good evening good evening board members and fellow citizens thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight I Rise to share my honest concerns about the Biden administration's proposed changes to title N9 that you as a school board are considering adopting Title 9 was signed to the law by President Richard Nixon on June 23rd 1972 to ensure the safety and security of gender specific private spaces and celebrate equal opportunities for women and girls in public education settings the rewrite of Title 9 is a tragic and fundamental only despicable change to this Landmark legislation as it pretends that biology does not exist and that reality can be bent in any direction that one pleases this is simply false it

095is a biological fact that there are only two genders male and female and that your gender is determined at your conception it is also a biological fact that your gender also known as your sex cannot be changed but is an immutable part of who you are we must teach our children to accept live in and champion this reality and truth because it is is for their good that it exists I am also deeply concerned about the safety of students in our schools will be put at extreme Risk by this rewrite of Title 9 if is it accepted by the school board as boys and girls need separate private spaces including locker rooms changing facilities shower rooms and bathrooms this is not just because it aligns with the biological reality that Humanity lives in but also

096because these separate private spaces keep both boys and girls safe in 2021 as you've already heard in Lowden County Virginia our neighboring state a female student was sexually assaulted in the bathroom of her High School by a male student wearing a skirt this is a tragedy that is entirely preventable by saying no to this nonsensical and dangerous policy it is dangerous because it claims that gender is based on identity this is not only completely delusional but also exactly the kind of policy that leads to sexual assault in the first place we can present this senseless harm to our children by declaring today that separate private spaces will remain gender specific as they always have in the Wake County public school system to conclude tonight I urge you to decline to adopt this rewrite of Title

0979 let tonight go down in history as the night when you reaffirmed as one school board the reality that there are only two genders male and female and that to continue to Foster equal opportunities and a safe learning environment for both boys and girls you said no to this disastrous policy choose this our children over a policy that puts them In Harm's Way thank you God bless you and may God bless the Wake County school public school system thank you our next speaker tonight is Susan book and Susan will be followed by Margaret Belo good evening Miss book before I get started to the meat of the matter happy disability pride month inclusivity matters just so you know I spent the better half of a Friday trying to complete a forum for special educ ation

098Transportation reimbursement it required printing scanning taking pictures of documents it was cumbersome and I have to say at one point I said it it wasn't worth the trouble we can do better when it comes to inclusive inclusivity and accessibility not only to our students but to our parents as well but I'm here today because I truly believe inclusivity matters to all of our students I wish it was Universal and we could all agree no one deserves to be bullied at school every child should feel safe in their school including our trans kids their Humanity should never be up for debate and I'm afraid that's what we're doing today reading about the experiences and meeting trans kids in our community has taught me that all people matter maybe if everyone read more and banned less we'd

099all gain a greater understanding of everyone's experience granting protections for Trans kids doesn't take away protections from everybody else it doesn't permit illegal Behavior or Shield Those who commit crimes from prosecution instead anti-bullying is a statement of love and compassion an acknowledgement of all students Humanities and rights as students again no one is talking about giving more rights to a group but simply making sure our policies are inclusive to all student students let's not demonize children ever trans teens from what I've learned just want to learn without trauma and Bullies they just want to be without bullies my child isn't transgender but he's a rising ninth grader and if you ask him his biggest worry is bullying letting him know that there are policies that protect him and his peers and that teachers and staff

100can be relied on to carry out those policy go goes a long way in alleviating fears all children should feel safe at school no matter who they are thank you thank you our next speaker is Margaret Bido followed by Kim my sure it's Kim Manny or Kim Manny all right thank you hello everyone my name is Margaret Bido and I'm a proud parent of two children in the district tonight I'm here in order to advocate for consent agenda item 7A policy revisions made in order to comply with Title 9 thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak I'd like to applaud the use of verifiable data and crafting this policy it's crucial that we base our decisions on factual information rather than capitulating to the influence of loud but unrepresentative groups which unfairly Target

101certain children and hinders genuine efforts in preventing sexual assault and harassment we must address the real perpetrators of sexual assault by not doing so we allow them to remain free to assault again as statistical data shows the issue of sexual assault affects our communities and schools and it's essential that we tackle it headon the distraction and subterfuge surrounding sexual assault only serve to perpetuate and allow it to continue trans individuals are more likely to be assaulted in a bathroom the perpetrator in Lowden County does not and did not identify as trans false information should not inform policy if we don't address the root of the problem such as the vulnerability that perpetrators exploit we cannot effectively prevent sexual assault furthermore the othering of children who are different only serves to make schools and Society more

102dangerous for lgbq gptq I A Plus and trans children I applaud the school board for standing with policies that will have a positive impact on all students and prevent arbitrary exclusion moreover we must dispel the notion that sex assigned at Birth dictates athletic ability as a teenager this notion left me feeling excluded however when given the chance to participate I did very well in My Chosen Sports in fact I won a state Taekwondo sparring Title by fighting and beating a male in my weight class despite having two sprained ankles we don't hear people shouting as loud as they possibly can to defend transgender males and demanding that they be protected in order to participate in Sports no we just hear targeting of trans females and specifically one player in the entire state which our general

103assembly wasted thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars discriminating against one student anyone who has played volleyball knows at some point you'll take a header I take Umber to the notion that males are harder hitters than female the idea that men are inherently Superior to women is fundamentally contrary to gender equality we should be finding ways to include more students in athletics not finding ways to exclude some children trans male players who excelled in their sport prior to coming out are often pushed out due to Social maltreatment and scapegoating which leads to sexual harassment sexual harassment and assault disproportionately affect the lgbtqia community especially the trans Community we must ensure that no student is targeted or excluded based on their gender identity which is bullying I urge each of you to vote Yes to

104replace the current prohibition against discrimination uh and I'm going to remind you that this has already been clarified in a dear colleague letter that nobody's been following so they just had to actually make it an executive order because nobody was following the dear colleague letter thank you thank you our next speaker is Kim Amy and Kim will be followed by Loretta Humphrey hey sorry I didn't recognize your name but I recognize the face no sorry and I didn't get an email so I kind of made up my my little statement I didn't have a yeah anyway so thank you guys so much for your um for your service and and allowing um the public to speak um I want to talk um as everyone has this evening about the title 9 policy change and my

105support for that I was at a consignment sale this weekend where there were 50 copies of a well-known children's book which I will paraphrase as everyone goes to the bathroom I wondered if purchasing and passing out that book here might help us to get our mind out of the toilet and instead focus on one of the greatest benefits of public education which is the exposure to those who are different from you to embrace them and spend time with them and make what happens to them matter to you children bully because they don't understand because they've never seen anyone who is like that before so having um protections for those students like what is proposed in the changes that we see is so important it is the purpose of public education and challenging individuals who seek

106to keep us behind who seek to um couched um in religious terms keep us from moving forward to move us away from segregation in any form is important so I wholly support these changes and thank you so much for time to speak thank you our next speaker is Loretta Humphrey and Loretta is followed by Natalie Lou anyone El hi my comments are in regards to Title 9 it doesn't matter to me what another human being identifies as however for an example if I had a friend that identified as a unicorn I do not believe that friend should be allowed to run in the Kentucky Derby um gosh I got lost here um biological men for all obvious reasons should not be involved in female sports South Carolina's coach Don Staley has her team practice with

107men's intramural intramural teams she is fully aware that men are bigger stronger and faster than biological women you can see the statement being made here no biological woman will ever become an NFL quarterback a major league pitcher or an NBA point guard men don't want someone who is not a biological man to Def what masculinity is I got lost in regards to title n Savages who dog fight do not put a poodle in the ring with pitbulls do those Savages have more decency than those who want to put biological males in women's sports because we would putting be putting our young women In Harm's Way to have them it would most likely cause serious injuries and harm to biological women and completely put an end to the possibility of a scholarship which is wrong on

108so many levels biological women have fought too hard to get where they are today I believe that one day soon in America and in the social media and most importantly this vote tonight that we will free ourselves from woke ideology and return to recognizing reality and speaking honestly only when that happens will Sports return to serving as an important source of unity rather than division in our culture keep in mind you cannot amplify those who want to be silent silent people simply ask for vouchers to go to Charter Schools or home school so not to be involved in the weight County nonsense in closing I ask you who in this room is a Savage are you do you want to put a poodle in a pitbull fight that's the question oh in regards to you

109um the federal money that we're receiving for public education that really needs to be investigated sir because um but thank you all right our next speaker is Natalie Lou and Natalie will be followed by Meen McBride all right good evening don't worry I'm winging it that was just something else no just don't just don't let it tip yes yeah just just in case I wanted to refer to that so can you hear me now there you go so I'm just uh I'm just winging this now because I've been working on the RDU quy fight mostly but um my name is Natalie Lou I'm I am a Cary high school graduate from the early 80s I came up of age under Title 9 that Title Nine made a huge difference from one year to the next

110um I went on um I ran track and field I actually went to NC State on a scholarship and then I've transferred to the University of Texas I held a track and field record at NY State for 35 years and I held a record at the University of Texas for 25 years I raised Jackie join ay so I was pretty good average high school guy could beat me there's you you you you you nothing different between us we have different skin color different religious police whatever we're the same you you you you and you and you we're biologically different one of you guys could probably beat me and take records away from me so to the gentleman that had said something about It's Just Sports it doesn't matter no there's some people out there if

111you're working hard you want that opportunity to compete against Sports and boy can beat me um like I said I was kind of kind of winging it um so I I am a um basically the I'm a document reviewer by trade and so um one I I reviewed what I think was your old policy and the new policy one you should have a Redline version so it's easier to see the text change but somebody earlier come came up and said oh they're just adding in sex sexual orientation the old policy has sexual orientation in there I don't care but nobody cares about who you want to love or or who you think you are but there is a biological difference between men and female males and females um and so when you what you did

112with the new policy you just added some words about not uh bullying transgender or based on transgender or gender identity which is all which is all good and fine I want to treat these people nice but when it comes to sports no when it comes to coming in my bathroom no I was a victim of a sexual assault I don't care if you're a boy that thinks you're a girl I don't want you in my bathroom if you got stuff hanging out it's just not it's just not right um same thing with um like yeah the sports the locker rooms the bathrooms single stall is one thing but not not in a bathroom there should not be a biological boy in there if you're going to if you they need other spaces that's fine um

113but I think what we need to do is get to the heart of matter in the definition you know what is you know transgender if you define that word you know a boy that thinks they're a girl is still a boy a girl that thinks they're a boy is still a girl and that's that's what it boils down to teaching kids the truth but no Sports needs to be for it is for education but for those that want to work hard and compete they should have that opportunity I was the one that if there was a boy in there I'd be that one person that didn't get to go to whatever competition I was just barely there at the national level there's other people that like Riley Gaines that got knocked off a Podium it's

114just a biological fact that you dudes are stronger than us girls and that is time thank you Miss Lou so our next speaker is Meen McBride who'll be followed by Theodore Hills good evening right I want a vision hi everyone do I have to okay uh my name is my McBride from Wake Forest uh in 1972 Title 9 was passed to protect women's education Sports and private spaces their intent was clearly defined um by Congressional records in 72 women sports and academics received just 2% of annual budgets with 300,000 women participating nationally and that number has increased 40% of budgets now on a in a good school um and 3 million participating that is still a gap uh but certainly Improvement that Improvement is now at risk um the new interpretation is very vague it

115comes from a three-letter agency it is not a law it is a mandate it might be connected to money but you have the opportunity to do the right thing despite what dollars are attached to it um how will it destroy women's sports decreased opportunities for participation in medals and scholarships as of March 2023 women sports policy.org reported that 578 victories in women sports were achieved by men that is in 60 Sports um then that is a direct insult to people who have been working their whole lives to achieve um Sports Medicine published a paper stating that during and after puberty biological men have a 10 to 50% physical advantage over women depending on the sport that pesky science that everyone wants us to follow um redefining meaning of the words like sex and gender to

116force societal and political engineering Force spe is never okay uh diminishes the role of women in education Sports and life it also uh the language allows for single investigator model again which I think goes against due process for anyone who is accused of something as heinous as harassment um and that single investigator model also allows the investigator to make the decision I don't really know how you get to be judge and jury all at once um um that's not how things are supposed to work in America denying an accused of due process is a protected constitutional right um in closing I implore you to ask your moms your wives your sisters your daughters and your daughter's friends uh if they approve of having their opportunities values bodily autonomy safety and privacy violated I'm hopeful that

117you have asked those questions in light of the very important decision that I hope you put on a hold until the court can sort this out thank you thank you our next speaker is Theodore Hills good evening ladies and gentlemen thank you for this opportunity according to the US Department Department of education's website the department released its final title uh changes to Title 9 with the stated intention that quote no person experienced is sex discrimination in federally funded education unquote however several parties both public and private have sued to prevent the implementation of the changes and as a result there are temporary injunctions preventing implementation in 14 States the Kansas federal district courts injunction potentially applies to all 50 states in in addition there are at least four more suits pending clearly I am not

118alone in the opinion that these changes to title 9 will not prevent sex discrimination but will in fact harm students and especially girls for whom Title 9 was originally designed to protect in light of this I think that it is prudent to wait for these cases to be resolved before implementing any changes in Wake County however I'm asking for more than mere Prudence from this board I asking you to refrain from implementing any of the title line changes at any time let me explain why the altered Title 9 requires that a student be allowed to participate in girl Sports based on the gender the student feels he has unfortunately this does not take into account the risks of injuries to girls who are competing with boys nor the virtually raer of females as first place

119contenders with males according to one study adult males have 32% more muscle mass by weight than adult females and this is of course reflected in boys as they develop furthermore males have heavier and denser bones and are about 4 and 1/2 in taller than females taking a global average of heights the result is that men on women's teams pose a risk of serious injury to both teammates and competitors and also take top places in competitions such as foot and swimming races there have been high-profile incidents of girls being injured by boys as a result of Title 9 like accommodations including one right here in North Carolina and of girls losing to boys by wide margins that are based on sex differences not competitive power creating these risks and indeed certainties in order for a boy

120to feel undiscriminating underlying this is the reality that a person's sex does not change when they make a claim counter to their biology and pointing out this reality when done in a sensitive manner does not constitute discrimination if that's not bad enough the new title 9 requires that girls bathrooms locker rooms and housing be open to any boy identifying as a girl this compromises not only girls privacy but also their safety it defies common sense to believe that incidents won't occur when boys are allowed into girls bathrooms and locker rooms in summary I ask that this board refrain from implementing Title 9 and Title 9 changes and if necessary sue the Federal Department of Education as other states have done to have these irrational changes rescinded thank you thank you so that concludes our on

121agenda list of speakers I said we would go an hour so that would take us about two-thirds of the way through our off agenda speakers I've heard from some of you that you want to go on and let's go ahead and hear from everybody if we go to our if we go to our limit that would leave two people that would have to wait till the end of the meeting so I'd like to go ahead and press on if we're all amable okay great all right so um ironically I think the list is going to be one shorter the next person on the list I saw him here earlier but I believe he's left just Terell still here okay so then that will take our first off agenda speaker will be uh J Brewer ellerby

122Jr welcome to the podium Mr ellerby Everly sorry yeah please to Mr Malone there there um board members thank you my name is Dr uh Brew Abberly I'm a family physician here in the city and then a McDonald Agape fellow with the theology medicine culture fellowship at Duke Divinity School last year I discovered an essay by 15-year-old Caleb silverberg titled why I traded my smartphone for an axe so Caleb writing as a student well aware of the burden his generation faces between social media screen time and gun violence makes a plead of his peers to Simply put the phone away while in educational settings I'll often share this article with my young patients pairing the voice of one of their peers um with the voice of clinical practice such as an article published last year

123in Pediatrics and review the official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics which explicitly connects School Readiness to avoidance and reduction in screen time or a study from London's Institute of Psychiatry which found that average cell phone distraction manifest a 10-point fall and IQ twice that of smoking marijuana or a disturbing set of experiments in the Journal of Social and personal relationships which show that the mere presence of a cell phone decreases the quality of conversation and heightens the potential for aggression particularly when dis uh discussing something personally meaningful we know screen time is linked to Pediatric depression insomnia nearsightedness obesity worse concentration and worse academic performance and I suspect this board is familiar with such stories a few of which I've offered in a handout they are top of mind for me these days

124especially after the surgeon general's call last month to make schools phone-free environments echoing similar calls from the UK Department of Education already manifest in bands at Eaton college for example which is arguably the most elite boarding school in Britain you know one of the deep privileges of caring for school aged children is I get to ask them they find themselves coming alive where do they feel their hearts quickening where do they feel and see their minds flowing for the first time where work and wonder are coming together and the answers can be Clues to a future life well- lived and work well Chosen and it's my professional and clinical opinion though also I think common sense and practical wisdom that cell phones do not support such flourishing in a school setting I understand cell phones

125can play a role in expression in the health of students who for example need to track their blood sugars but for the vast majority of students smartphones take more than they give I'll close with this my middle son came downstairs uh just several weeks ago just after we' put him to bed and asked me if I was going to spend the evening on my computer or on my phone so it's not lost on me the log in my own eye here I'm a family doctor sure but a lot of Pediatric Care is parents and adults practicing what we preach otherwise we will continue risking the formation of a generation who cannot learn because they cannot attend who cannot raise their hand in Wonder because they've been habituated to reach into their pockets thank you thank

126you our next speaker is Nicole Stewart and Nicole will be followed by Joselyn P good evening good evening um good evening superintendent Dr Taylor chair members of the board um I'm sorry that um two of our speakers tonight of our my but small group um had to leave already um it's a long night I know you got a long time ahead of you too um but I also want offer my perspective as a parent of two children in Wake County Public Schools my name is Nicole Stewart and my children are second generation Wake County Public School students they've just completed Sixth and eth grade and frankly I'm concerned for their and their classmates Education Health and overall well-being as you can guess by now I'm concerned about how cell phones are impacting their lives in

127my own Children's Schools there is a policy that phones must be secured and powered off phone should only be used in emergencies or during lunch periods but who is left to enforce this policy and are children actually building incredibly important socialization SK skills during their break or are they addictively playing online games and checking social media I understand that some if not much of the pressure to allow children to have fence in Schools is coming from parents parents who want to be able to text and call and track their children at any moment all day long parents who are afraid of not being able to reach their children in an emergency but this parenting style doesn't allow our children to fail forward nor learn to operate independently of us it also doesn't keep them safe

128in a true emergency an emergency where their safety is dependent on paying attention to the adult in the room I want to be clear no one person or entity in our community is to blame for where we are today we collectively as parents teachers administrators and leaders didn't know better but now we do now the data is resounding and it's our responsibility to collectively take action not unlike how we ban Tobacco on campuses Across the Nation it's time to ban phones because we've grown to realize the health risk associated them with with them for our children I'm here today along with again sorry Char Char and uh Craig BB already had to leave and Dr Eberly to urge you to ban cell phones with schools um we'll plan to email you our comments communities Across

129the Nation from California to Virginia and across the world are already doing so citing youth chronic health conditions if you feel the need to First research the impacts locally look no further than the pilot you've already effectively conducted I understand there are Wake County public schools that have complete bans on phones schools that have bans that aren't enforced and others that have no rules collect the data from these schools and see if and how students grade student attention and conduct teacher satisfaction and more vary across the different policies frankly though I don't know that our students can wait another Academic Year while we analyze what we know the data will say so I urge you to consider an outright ban on cell phones a ban that does not require teachers to act as enforcers across

130Wake County schools for the coming Academic Year as soon as possible thank you thank you so our next speaker tonight will be Joselyn pce followed by Diane Chandler hello I'm Joselyn piece I'd like to talk to y'all tonight about restraint and seclusion use in Wake County Public Schools I have heard board members and District administration say restraint and seclusion is necessary it keeps kids safe it's calming and it teaches self-regulation the data the research and the experts that I gave you in that paper prove it as all false The Proven effects and risks of restraints and seclusion include physical and mental trauma worsening of behaviors creating new behaviors self harm PTSD suicidal ideation suicide and death yes hundreds of children in America have died from restraint and seclusion restraint and seclusion produce negative emotions of

131anger distress fear shame humiliation de humanization and anxiety there is no educational value to restraint and seclusion research shows it adversely affects the brain and learning restraint seclusion is not therapeutic it is not calming instead it escalates behavior and further disregulated both staff and student restraint and seclusion is not necessary CPI the company that Wake County contracts with to teach staff appropri restraint te techniques is now partnering with the alliance against restraint and seclusion and supportive supportable solutions to dramatically decrease restraint and end seclusion in America other alternative approaches have been successfully used in other districts States and Facilities when adults changed how they responded to children and appropriately trained staff in these districts they were able to decrease restraints and also eliminate seclusion data there showed stopping seclusion resulted in a 90% decrease in

132the use of restraint a 64% decrease in staff injury a 133% increase in goal Mastery and an increase in global assessment scores a decrease in peer aggression Defiance and disruption by 92% after just one year of using these alternative approaches they also saw decreased staff turnover sick time workman's compensation costs Insurance costs and improved job satisfaction they were all documented all students and staff would benefit if you would stop seclusion update policy 4302 and change the current culture and Restraint of seclusion in the county and that paper contains all the research and articles that you need for that so I really appreciate y'all being willing to listen to me tonight thank you very much thank you our next speaker is Diane Chandler and then Diane will be followed by our final speaker Edith Jones good

133evening Miss Chandler hi so I am here to speak about the paride medle M High School swis of location which was supposed to be on tonight agenda but for whatever reason seem to have been moves so I thank you for that giving us more time to think about hear our opinions because there are a lot of them I may be the only one here tonight but I know that you guys have received emails um and part of the reason why I'm only one here tonight it because a past experience last year where our parents came to talk to you about we assignment and they felt like they were not heard so be aware that's in the back of everybody's mind okay so first of all the timing it we want to know what happened I

134literally went to in April a par mdal stent assignment planning meeting and in April we were still talking about par will be my next Park the land for more for high school was so if I correct was sold to you by Mor town for the purpose of a high school and then talking to the council members couple of them over Fourth of July I a few minutes ago everything was going well we were all on board everything would go what happened tell me what happened okay my number one concern is for safety of our kids I do not think and nobody thinks it is okay to have high schoolers directly nice to elementary school and I'm not going say that high schoolers are bad but they have more freedom some of them can go off

135campus they make want walk to the their stores are in their neighbor like rest next to Neighborhood there is a road I was there yesterday in a Bus Loop part say Bus Loop there's a road that connects the Bus Loop to the new what we're supposed to be the I don't know the purpose of the road if it's still going to be there but it has concerns for high schoolers who are free can walk around and so this is a concern also we have a neighborhood field for Park and we adore it we love it and we want to you get neighborhood field for pro it's important to keep our younger children closer to us I don't want to be singing my middle school kids all the way across trer Hill Road to a commercial

136Zone area it makes much more sense to have a high school there I'll be back all right thank you Miss Chandler all right our final fin final speaker tonight is Miss Edith Jones you how are you all right um excuse me okay I have this is the word from from the Lord for you tonight and the word is from Luke 17 to it would be better for him you guys to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his or her neck than for him or her to cause one of these little ones to sin and this is the millstone this is the millstone he didn't God he didn't say what was next he never spoke what was next but I'm guessing if you don't repent for what you're doing for the decisions

137you're making hell is next hell is next because you know what you're doing to the children is not acceptable to God he is not pleased with it he is not pleased at all the things that you are teaching the children you allowed to be uh to be Tau to these kids same sex all these things and I and I admire you ma'am and Sir for for the stand that you're making you're teaching them same sex you're opening them them up to demonic activity you'll open them up to Darkness and you know what that is a recipe for failure but I tell you what Jesus is coming I have been here to this board so many times five or six times and I've been coming in the name of the Lord and I've been giving you

138the same message God said he want change he want to see change from you guys but you know what you never did the same thing just like this young lady was saying you never listened you never addressed it but you know what about the children about the transgender and uh same sex and changing their identity you never uh you never made any attempts to change it but you know what Jesus is coming he's coming and he's coming and for you for everyone that is not making a CH not even tried attempt to make a change he's coming and believe me he is coming he is coming and he's coming for change he's coming for his children as a matter of fact there are parents and te teachers Educators all over that you know what theyve

139taking their children back we're taking the schools back we're taking our children back and we're going to win this fight we will win thank you all right thank you that concludes our public comment [Music] period so the next item on our approved agenda is consideration of our consent agenda you all have had an opportunity to review the consent agenda items online and mo I'd entertain a motion motion to approve this second we have a motion from Miss mfy and a second from Miss rice all in favor of adoption of the consent agenda please signify by saying I I any opposed all right the items on the consent agenda have been adopted so now we'll move to our action agenda and the first item we have under our chief of schools is the Wake young women's

140and wake Young Men's Leadership Academy University partner recommendation all right I wondered which of our Dream Team would be up here looks like Mr carad Drew the Short Straw good evening um so we're here to seek your approval of the partnership for Wake young men's and wake young women's Leadership Academy with Shaw University as well as approving their calendar for the 2425 school year that aligns with Wake Tech Community College uh you had a presentation earlier today during the board work session so staff is here tonight just seeking your approval great board members of course you were in all in the work session you all heard all of the information saw the comparisons between the partners I know we didn't have a lengthy discussion but I know some of you wanted to save that discussion

141for this meeting so um do we want to start off with a motion and then go into discussion all right Mr Hershey uh I move that we approve um sh University as the new partner for the leadership academy and the calendar for the leadership academy as well and do we have a second second I heard a second from Mr Swanson all right is there any discussion of the recommendation Mr Hershey uh is um Mr Williams still here I think he's hung up right now but he okay so uh one thing that I wanted to bring bring up with this is is just for to be on the record the passing of the bill and the new approval will mean still mean two separate acmy that's our expectation as a board going forward and that's the

142expectation of Staff yep that's cor thank you um I just want to start I'm going to speak for a couple minutes I'll I'll get moving um first I want to thank our our parents and our parents and our students and the staff at our leaderships for everything they've been going through over the last eight uh months or so um their input in this decision has been invaluable uh I appreciate um all I appreciate them taking the time to speak with us and to speak with me directly um I want to thank representative Pare for uh um taking the lead on the bill that we we got through uh the General Assembly faster than I thought it would go um I didn't even mind The Vape stuff that they added to it uh I don't know

143the back story there so I won't get into it but and I thank the governor for signing that bill I want to thank Wake Tech uh for stepping up and partnering with the leadership acmy for this next year and I want to thank all the institutions that spoke with us for as potential Partners um to be with the leadership leaderships I could not be more excited to have Shaw University as our partner they are offering everything that our families our students and our staff were looking for they are incredibly enthusiastic about this partnership they're presenting opportunities for us to grow with them um particularly on the the leadership side and so I I I could not be more supportive and I just just want to add um that if we could sometime this fall start

144doing tours there I know the parents have asked to please get on campus so we can we can get rolling on that and I just want to thank um Mr Williams he's not here and uh Mr Dominico and all the rest of our staff that worked on this tirelessly it was a lot of work it's not easy to put these together um but fantastic result and and I look forward to uh a wonderful partnership with Shaw University thank you thank you Mr Hershey are there other comments that board members have or any questions Dr in um I pretty much did What U Mr Hershey says but also just wanted to uh thank Mr Hershey publicly for his indepth participation with the whole conversations with with all that all the parties and and then keeping all

145the rest of us invol in in involved and informed so I really thank you very much thank you Dr Ring um any further comments I don't want to cut anybody off I know that this has been a long process um Miss mafy I just want to Echo the previous statements um having students being able to go to a small college is um something not everyone is able to do so the fact that we're able to do this is amazing and and the fact that it is the first HBCU um just really adds to that experience and so I'm I'm grateful to everyone who participated in the process and I'm very excited to see the partnership ahead um with this historic institution thank you Miss happy final comments Vice chair Johnson Hustler yes um I guess

146I probably shouldn't go because the only thing that I did want to add is um to and I will Echo all the sentiments that my colleagues have said Thank you Mr hershy the countless hours um that you've invested I know that the parents across the district thank you because several of those parents actually live in my district and so um we are very appreciative to your your time that you committed to this but also your ability to communicate back to the board exactly what those families wanted and needed so thank you very much and I'd be or a Miss um if I didn't also Echo the S sentiment says it is a small University and it also has a very rich history which I think is also an important piece for me as someone you

147all know I've attended multiple have not just attended have two degrees from two historic black colleges and universities and so the importance of that rich history being spread to all of our students certainly for me is an example of the work that we continue to strive to do in W County Public Schools is ensure that all students have access to all information and this is a history that many of them would not have had and so those of us in the HBCU Community call Shaw mother Shaw because it indeed is the mother and foundation for students of color who were not able to go to college and um many of you know the story but those of you don't I recommend Googling it $500 was the original amount um that Reverend Tupper who also the

148church but near Shaw is called Tupper Memorial um had as a Freed Man to purchase land and lease it and uh continue to move from there so it speaks to um there can be naysayers but it just takes an alsa hope and a whole plan and a whole lot of planning and support to do this so thank you to all of my colleagues for your support and certainly the Y's work to Mr Williams who who is not at this table but hopefully he will go back and listen to the recording um oh goodies in the back um I know that you said you had a few gray hairs but I think they're already there and I appreciate Gravely greatly the amount of time that you put into it again um Mr Hershey played the role

149for our board but I also think it was for me amazing to hear the feedback from families of having both a school representative and a board member be so intimately engaged with parents people felt heard and seen and that's what we strive to do and again thank you Mr Dominico and Dr Taylor Miss Ellis and everyone who had to spend countless hours doing this work Ando you thank you for being the person who's punting in front of us for the work that you put in as well thank you got a lot of experience thank you Vice CH Johnson Hustler there were a lot of people that put in so much work and one of them may want to say something now miss rice that's just one thing give light and people will find a way

150Ella Baker and that's all I want to say um there was much light given to this project it just um makes me very proud to see what w County can do they band together have strong leadership and move things forward in a manner that's productive for all of our students thank you I was trying to tick off and make sure that we got everybody um I know we've expressed our gratitude for a lot of people that were very instrumental I want to make sure did we thank principles King and Walker because thank you okay um they've been instrumental guiding the families through this process and I know this has been a stressful situ situation for them um obviously Mr Hershey your advocacy on this was just invaluable and everybody the families involved but just the

151families that you represent on the school board should be really proud of the work that youve put in on this so thank you very much representative paray really did a lot of heavy lifting force in the legislature I don't want to overlook her contribution at all um she took on some long odds and worked really really hard on this and then finally Dr Scott rolls and Wake Tech um we wouldn't be here to make this be able to make this decision to continue the program and especially land it where we' landed it if not for Dr RS and Wake Tech and the board members of Wake Tech being able to step up and offer our students a transition home so they could continue their participation in the program and they really helped to save this

152program and I want to make sure they get full credit for that all right so at this point we have a motion we have a second are we ready for a vote all right all those in favor of accepting the recommendation of Shaw University is the new partner for our leadership emies please signify by saying I I any opposed all right the motion passes unanimously thank you do a separate vote for the calendar now we need to do a separate vote for the calendar was part of the motion okay perfect all right so that has been adopted and enrolled so the the new school will follow the same calendar as Wake Tech excellent all right thank you you all right next on our action agenda policies the first policy that I have listed here is

153policy 2310 public participation at board meetings first reading request waiver of second reading if we're all ready for that one give me just a minute to pull it up here we go oops ironically it pulled up a technology item which is not the correct item and I'm going to blame that on technology not user error all right I just have a different order than I see here yeah well I just want to make sure my agenda has 1710 first so do you have 2310 yes okay yeah so I have I'm I have a different one so I'm going to go off what we've got here all right and if you're wondering why that's important it's because the listed person first name listed is Chris Hagerty board chair so during the during the board work session

154you know that we just had um on June 18th the board had a discussion regarding streamlining the board meeting agenda as we've all seen board meeting agendas can get very long we may have more speakers on topic and off topic such that the length of time it takes might exceed some people's patience and endurance and we might lose people who would otherwise be here and participating so we had a good discussion of several options on ways to streamline those and those are included here if you look at your supporting documents in amendments to 2310 um again we have here this would set aside I want to make sure this is this is correct um the changes that we spoke about were that we would um have two public comment sessions uh one that would start

155prioritizing the items on the action agenda and then the second set that would um be for the off agenda items and you'll see combined with the next policy these would now come in front of board member comments to allow public comment to come first on the agenda we would also move adoption of the agenda up higher on the agenda so we wouldn't have completed agenda items before adopting the agenda um and I will apologize to folks I have been traveling and just got back into town so this version of 2310 I'm reading says the board regularly sets aside 2 30 minute public comment periods each for the regular business meeting one prior for consideration of action and I want to make sure that that's consistent with our discussion because I thought we had talked about

156not having a limit so I I want to I I want to question the draft here I don't believe this is accurate from what we had discussed in the board meeting or what we had decided on in the board meeting okay all right so I believe um we were going to set aside two public comment periods it's just they weren't limited to 30 minutes and then the rest of the changes each speaker will be allotted 3 minutes unless the board by a majority vote reduces the amount of time for each speaker in order to hear more from speakers within the time allotted say if we had 60 speakers and we knew we wouldn't be able to get to everybody before people started leaving we could have the vote to reduce the time maybe from 3

157minutes to 2 minutes to all everyone to speak um but that but we wouldn't have a cap on how long the people could speak um that's how I remember but I want to go around the table and make sure that was consistent with your memories of the discussion Miss Coffield did you have well I wasn't here for that discussion but um I just wanted to say as far as um I'm not really exactly in favor of that because I feel like if we're shortening the time because we have more people to talk to us it just means that more people are coming to talk to us they're taking that time twice a month it's all they get to come and speak to us for minutes and they prepared a speech to sit there because they

158know at 3 minutes they're going to get the G they're going to get cut off so how do they sit in the audience to say oh well you have more people now that want to talk to you how do I modify my speech by an entire minute we've all been candidates before and you stay up a stage and they tell you whether you have one minute two minute or three minute to do your speech it's really hard to do that so I feel like we're kind of limiting their speech by doing that when they only have two opportunities a month to come and speak to us for only 3 minutes so I'm not exactly in favor of that M Russ yeah um I recall these same conversations when we had this um I said let

159the people speak um uh we're in these positions to listen to community and public it's only twice a month yes I know it might extend to longer periods of time but to take away someone's ability to share what they have and they only have 3 minutes to do it I think that we should be able to do that and I'm really not in favor of decreasing people's time but I am in favor of the two segments if we need to um you know I hate to say it like this but we're here for a reason let's serve the public the way that we're supposed to all right thank you Mr Swanson did you have I did I I was just going to say I I don't recall as putting a time to it either I

160just thought it was too to uh time slots that were there with no time limit um just to give the public an opportunity to give their comments before we gave ours so that's what is so I'm in favor of adjusting the um agenda as it is presented all right thank you Dr Ring then miss mfy then miss edmans um yes so um uh as I recall I I did oppose having um any any time period Less Than 3 minutes so I think we should make an adjustment on in that aspect as well thank you Miss mafy again I echo my colleagues I think that uh last underlying clause in section one um if it was struck that would more accurately reflect the the discussion that we had at the work session um so I don't

161know if you need a motion and then a friendly Amendment or what the Parliamentary procedure would be for doing that so let me hear from Miss Edmond and then we'll thank you so I'm actually in favor um of the way that it's written the last sentence unless the board by majority vote reduces the time for each speaker because I don't I don't read this as that would be our common practice that each speaker is allotted for three minutes I'm in favor of three minutes I agree completely that that is part of our duty is to listen to public comment and I think three minutes um is a stretch as is so because it is hard to get all of your thought um crammed into just three minutes so to me this doesn't I I don't

162see this as dictating practice common practice but it just allows us the possibility to do that um in an unusual circumstance thank you thank you so again I do want to apologize I I this didn't quite come out as I think we had talked about does do people feel comfortable amending it at the table to get it back to what we had or do you want to send it back to policy for any rediscussed just these changes have to be considered with the other changes in the Parliamentary procedure part of the policy to see how it all works together all right so uh Miss mafy I think I don't know that we actually put forward a motion yet so would you like to amend the proposal um sure uh chair hegy i' make a motion

163that we accept these um proposed changes with the exception of the um final underlined portion of the sentence in section one which reads unless the board majority by the board by majority vote reduces the time for each speaker in order to hear from more speakers within the overall time allotted all right is there a second second are you also getting rid of the 30 yeah in the first line yeah the word 30 from the original policy yes sorry this would also include getting rid of the 30 minutes or two 30 minutes for a public comment so they would the sentence would finish each speaker will be allowed three minutes okay yes everyone comfortable with that Mr Mone do you have that language I just want to clarify so the the first line would read the

164board regularly sets aside to public comment periods correct yeah I believe that's okay just making sure okay all right and do we have a second I'm sorry I didn't hear yes I second second for Mr Swanson all right Miss edmans I have a question so what is the rest of it are we keeping public comment during each regular business meeting one prior of the consideration of action items and one at the end at the conclusion of the business okay yeah thank you that part's separating for example tonight we have 1710 on the agenda and so we wanted to prioritize everyone who wanted to come speak on policy 1710 versus you know other issues that they might be bringing to us to make sure that we heard from everybody before a vote Miss mafy is this

165the discussion question because I have a qu question about my question about your own motion about my own motion I do um in our current policy it states that the chair has the authority to decide when that um delineation will happen um the 30 minutes is just after 30 minutes the chair May and I'm not reading directly from our policy um split that um but is there something that we need to read into this in order to continue that or is that something that would just be allowed under practice and would not have to be in policy so I'll direct that to Mr Malone I'm sorry where where so the question was with the amended policy and the language you know we have what's written here but in practice what we've been doing is where

166public comment has exceeded a certain amount of time we've reserved the right to add it to the end of the business agenda and M mavi's question is that we are splitting public comment into two periods but would we still let's say we had 60 speakers come out for on agenda items would we still have the ability to go an hour and then continue on with board business before going back to that or would this would these changes eliminate that practice no I I mean I think as it's with a change it would say the board sets aside two public comment periods during each meeting one prior to consideration of action items and one at the conclusion of the board's business agenda yes so we Al if you look at then the in section two we

167have the language speakers who are not reached during the first comment session will be called in priority priority priority order during the second public comment session but because there's no time limit now when would you have a situation when speakers in the first session aren't reached unless you had the ability to go ahead with other board business so I mean as it as it is set now the the board of the chair would split it into the second period I mean you're you're removing the time yeah to give yourself that flexibility I mean are you thinking that we need a sentence that would say that either the board I mean you could add a sentence to say that the board or the chair shall or may determine when you know when to split it I

168can come up with better language for the next Mr chair if I may the current policy and I will send this uh for policy 2310 says the board regularly sets aside 30 minutes for public comment unless the board extends this time any speakers remaining at the end of the 30-minute period may be recognized at the conclusion of the board's business agenda each speaker will be allotted three minutes I mean right so I mean maybe you I mean so the question is I mean you're somewhat going back to your original policy which is fine um I mean I think again if if if I recall the discussion correctly we had talked about giving the priority to the onag agenda items first and then having a second public comment period which wouldn't necessarily be at the end

169of the business agenda because technically that could follow closed session which for example speakers would have no idea how long the closed session would last when we were coming out of so that's one of the reasons why we wanted to make sure that it had a designated place on the agenda um but it's so it's not quite the same as the this part is the original policy it does have that specific delineation but we did have before as Miss maaf said the ability if one part of the agenda was going on so long that that could be moved as you see speakers are not reached during the first comment period will be called in priority ordered in the second public comment session so you know again that's hard so Matt um chair um so basically

170what what I'm looking at in my mindset is we're removing the barrier of the time and I think we're going to use uh wisdom and discretion I would say by the chair that if it be go if it if we recognize and we can observe what's going on if it's longer than what we anticipate we can inform the public we're going to pause the public comment from here we're going to go through with some other agenda items and then we're going to bring it back I think that a person in that leadership position would be um a reasonable mind to understand when we need to shift or when we need to Pivot but I think I'm in agreement to remove the time barrier from both policy pieces around the 30 minutes and use a reasonable

171person's thought process on when we need to Pivot and shift Mr Swanson I was caucusing with Miss joh Vice chair Johnson Hustler uh Miss rice took everything that we were discussing over here and so I just want to Echo that as well I do believe it's up to the Char discretion I think that um so far both chairs uh former chair mfy and our current chair hegerty have done a great job of using that discretion in determining when and if we need to Pivot and whatnot so I'm okay with that being up to the chair's discretion thank you for that Clarity Miss rice I appreciate it thank you Dr in well I have the amazing ability to caucus remotely so I I agree I think the chair's uh um has the ability to have the

172discretion based on based on the the items on that list the the priorities and um how many people are on that list and the time you know so I think you know um the time restraint should should not be should be lifted but there is a you know a kind of a a time for based on your judgment to to make that call how to separate it okay thank you so now the challenge is how we articulate that in policy so I'm going to look look to Mr Malone having synthesized all of this for a coherent and piy statement that will capture what we were trying to do so what we could do since this is on for first reading is you could approve it for first reading as discussed and then you and I

173can work on some specific language that captures it for second reading I think I I do clearly understand I think it'd be easier to word Smith it outside of okay the meeting and that was that was my concern whether we could get this just right at the board table seeing some of these differences so originally the you know the moot we would have had a motion as we talked about it for first reading and a request to wave second reading so this would be in in effect at our next meeting but given these concerns and I think the need to get this right I would be opposed to waving second reading and proceeding as Mr Malone has suggested we'll produce we'll vote tonight on the first reading and then we'll come back with a second

174reading with this language adopted for everybody's review before we go forward does that sound like an approach all right well in that case we have Miss mafi's motion on the table it has been seconded Mr Swanson question so once we receive the revisions could we then wave that once we if you know if it passes or what not could we wave it for it to go into effect at the next August meeting that last meeting in August I believe so okay yeah because once once we pass it it'll be policy for on that second I mean on on second reading and second reading would take place that August 6th meeting gotcha just just clarifying that thank you okay I just needed to say it out loud to make sure I understood it I trust me

175I agree I agree and do any motions need to be amended given the the motion as I heard it I didn't say waiver did not have the waiver so we would be in making sure that that is clear yes okay all right and my computer still does not have the same list of policies it is the 16th right am I missing that yeah okay all right so all in favor of Miss mafi's motion to pass the the amended version of policy 2310 on first Reading Please indicate so by saying I any o any opposed I thought we retained it we did yeah but her motion had the amendment yeah it took out all the stuff you didn't like okay all right I I'll call again all in favor say I I any opposed all right

176so the motion will pass on second reading and you all will see it again tightened up on second reading I'm going to ask Dr Taylor here to continue on all right so the much more clear board policy 2340 if we open that you'll see this is our order of business and this specifically talks about putting discussion and approval of the agenda as the first item in our meetings following the Pledge of Allegiance we'll determine our Quorum we head say the Pledge then we'll have the discussion approval of the agenda then rather than going to board comments comments by the superintendent we'll start start with public comment and then following public comment we'll return to the comments of the superintendent the board chair and the board members and those are the only changes in that policy

177but those are the ones that we discussed Mr Hershey shouldn't there be a second public comment in this order of business if we're going to have two like we just passed in first reading there should and so order of operations Mr Mone can we pass this one as is can we pass it to include the second public comment period when we haven't adopted the last policy on second reading yet well your current policy already allows for the second public comment so I think if you want to go ahead now and insert the second public comment here there's nothing inconsistent between your current policy and this change um and then then the only thing that you'll be doing next time is adding the language of border the board chairs flexibility to the to the other policy

178okay then at that point what I'd like to do is entertain any motion for adoption of the revised policy 2340 as written with the amendment that following item H you see a1h we would make the addition and reum appropriately for I would be second public comment period and then close session as needed and adjournment motion to approve with those amendments a motion for Mr Swanson second second for Miss rice all right any further discussion Miss mafy so um I guess I was under the impression when we left and I'm not going to hold this up but I had thought that we would go from the pledge to recognition information and then public comment that actually is my recollection as well um so I'd like to offer a friendly Amendment and remember we discussed this in

179the rationale is that when we have say members family members of a deceased member who are coming to be honored or we have students making a student presentation especially if it's a school night on a Tuesday they should not have to wait an hour two hours before it would come to them so with your friendly Amendment we would move recognition to follow discussion approval of agenda yes and then reum accordingly all right uh and information to follow recognition and information items would follow recognition follow recognition that is generally that also is usually when we have a guest coming in yes or students all right so here because we did have a motion in a second we will have to vote on The Friendly Amendment so all in favor of Mr Hershey's fa uh Mr Hershey's

180friendly Amendment oh she made Amendment okay team she ended her own Amendment so Mr Hershey will be the second all in favor of the amendment to the motion please signify by saying I I any he opposed all right now all in favor of the amended motion on first reading and I didn't hear a request to wave second reading on this one so we'll go ahead with the same rules in effect for our next meeting all in favor of the amended policy 2340 please signify by saying I I any opposed all right thank you see when you all showed up tonight you didn't think this was going to be the big uh the big policy debate like to keep you on your toes all right now next I do have on my computer policy 1710 prohibition

181against discrimination harassment bullying in first reading and so do we have Miss Hill here all right great all right Dr Taylor I'm going to trust that I'm good from here on out nope I don't all right all right one second you're da all right all right thank you Miss Hill good evening board members U Mr chair Madam Vice chair superintendent Taylor um we are here tonight to present the modifications to policy 1710 uh the prohibition against discrimination harassment and bullying our recommendations with regard to the modifications are based upon the changes to the title 9 regulations we go which go into effect on August 1st um we have reviewed these changes with you all as a part of our a part of the policy committee um and we have um made a few modifications since

182the policy committee that we discussed in committee um and have marked those here for your reference um in a um on your computer version in highlighted yellow um there as we discussed previously the purpose of the changes were to um clarify some of the language with regard to Title 9 modifications additionally we also changed the policy to separate some of the information regarding the um Title 9 standards as well as title 7even sexual sex discrimination and sex-based harassment standards so that we could more clearly organize that information um for people to be able to see and read uh one of the modifications that was that we made was with language and what you will see as number four um a dealing with quid proquo harassment I I forget which board member but there was a

183concern Dr in there was a concern about use of the word impliedly um and uh we did change that to implicitly um such that it says explicitly or implicitly um additionally um if you go to the next page there are some modifications where we changed um the word recipient to school system the language here was reflecting some of the language directly in the title 9 um which talks about recipient um and we think it's just better to call ourselves school system rather than recipients um you'll see some changes to just some of the uh lettering just for clarification in this um policy um when you go to section D which deals with uh the next page sexual harassment and employment under title 7 as we discussed in policy committee we struck a paragraph here that

184was moved to the beginning of the policy um I um am not going through the specifics of everything in the policy since we have talked about that previously but um I'm certainly open to any um specifics that you'd like me to review or explain um outside of um of what we discussed during the policy committee uh as I said we are recommending that we move forward with the changes as laid out during policy committee um so that we can be prepared to comply with the August 1st deadline for the title 9 changes and for us to be able to implement those changes um by that deadline all right at this point do we have a motion second we have a motion from edman a second for Mr Swanson any discussion Dr ining um can you

185clarify the um language of under sex based harassment the language of nonverbal um what is that what how is that defined how was an example of that are you are you in the paragraph before the this paragraph that starts sex-based harassment includes harassments on the basis okay so um in terms of um acts of verbal or nonverbal or physical aggression um there are a lot of times when we talk about non-verbal there are um Communications actions via not words but via looks um I'm sorry Mr Hershey right signals gestures things like that that U make it that can in fact be um harassing in terms of what is what is shown or um display to someone so often those are the types of non-verbal things that could constitute harassment I wouldn't I don't want to

186demonstrate some of those things but I think if you can imagine some gestures and things like that that could be considered harassing in terms of what is presented there followup followup um so is it has to be directed to the um the complainant or can it I mean would it be open to other people seeing it those nonverbal expressions and and then that becomes a point of complaint I think it will be it will depend specifically upon what what that incident is it's hard to really give an exact description of that there are people who can make complaints because of concerns that they see with regard to sexual harassment in fact our policy our direction to staff is you know see something say something and we have obligations to report when we see things that

187that may be considered harassment discrimination bullying those sorts of things so it is possible that someone could observe a nonverbal um gesture and report that themselves or it's possible that the person who is the recipient of a gesture or non-verbal communication could report that as well any further questions Dr all right other questions comments Mr rice um um for me um because this information is so prevalent and it does happen um often so these changes are necessary um I am just I guess I guess it's a question but maybe a statement um are we educating our students as well as staff to ensure the understanding of the violations of these policies and specic or and then providing maybe specific examples or case study scenarios because these changes when we start talking about nonverbal and things

188of that nature um my my only concern is to make sure that everyone is vividly aware of what this might look like um so that when people uh consider creating a um a complaint uh they really do understand what that complaint really consists of and looks like and they can kind of back it up and to make sure that our staff really understands what this looks like so that they can properly identify for one and then two make making sure that students try very hard not to violate this because this is a a change that's deeply ingrained sometimes in human behavior that they're not paying attention that they're doing but changes like this to this policy really brings it out to show these are prevalent things that are really happening but people we've just done

189the wrong thing for so long we want to make sure that people are very aware of what that looks like and I'm sorry that may be a whole lot um in that but that's really a concern with changing a policy like this and using the language that uh Dr ning brought out to make sure that our staff and our students are prepared of what that looks like so there is a um a a process for training our staff um something that we've already had in place and then something that we we've so we have in the past trained staff with regard to sex sexual harassment and what that is and provided um training for our staff we have updated that training um our attorneys worked um to provide updated training which has gone out to

190staff members already for this year it does include scenarios and one of the things we wanted to emphasize was not so much the legal language but the types of things that staff need to see so that they can identify report you know intervene when they need to so that was a specific request that we made in requesting uh and looking at staff training when we did that this year and those things were made within our staff training information right and and I'm sorry we're saying staff but again these policies affect staff and students absolutely students are learning developing and growing and we need to make sure that they understand what this looks like and mean so while staff may be trained to identify something that a student said but has the student really been trained

191to understand that that's a thing that they can't say or do so that's really my concern understood um and I I can't speak from the student side because I I work on the Personnel side however I do I will make a note of the fact that that it is something we need to focus on is making sure that student students and and I believe they do I don't see um some of our counseling um folks here but I believe they do get some training with regard to these issues but we certainly will make sure to note the need for ongoing training scenarios those sorts of things for students as well and Mr rice what I wanted to add is that we will make sure that Michelle Woodson shares all of the things that we're doing

192in terms of what the the work that we do with students so you can be aware of that thank you Miss Edmond and then miss Coffield thank you um Dr Hill I don't know if this is for you or doctor I'm sorry I'm sad Miss Hill Miss Hill I don't know if this is for you or um one of the attorneys in the room but we heard a lot of concern this evening about bathroom use and um Can someone speak to the Gavin Grim case and what the fourth circuit um how that is related to what we're doing with this PO these three policies this evening so I'll I'll give an overview and then we can if um add one of our attorneys in um as needed um as as you heard the these regulations

193are not speaking to issues of bathroom use for um in terms of um what's required for us in fact our fourth Circuit Court of Appeals already decided about bathroom use for transgender students or bathroom use based upon a student's gender identity that's something that's been a decision made four years ago um by the fourth circuit who identified under both Title 9 as it existed as well as under our equal protection Clause um that students were permitted to use bathrooms based upon their gender identity what we're doing here does not um impact that at all that is already the law um here in North Carol line based upon the four Circuit Court of Appeals any followup or was that okay thank you that's Miss Cofield um I just wanted to I just wanted to get clarity

194um we have two different policies c and d and I'm just trying to understand the difference I'm reading through both of them unfortunately one of the ones that I printed out does not have the changes that I see on here um when you said c and d 7230 or sorry 1710 and 1720 ah okay okay I can explain those yeah the difference between those two and I will get to 70 1720 in just a moment so 1710 is the policy that lays out the the standards the what the board puts in place what the board indicates you know these are our expectations we don't permit bullying we don't permit harassing discrimination those sorts of things policy 1720 is the process that we use to investigate and review those um claims of of discrimination harassment bullying

195hosital environment um so they they work hand in hand and often when we have someone who who has a concern we will send them both policy 1710 and 1720 one which explains the standards the prohibitions the expectations the other which explains the actual process that we will use to review an allegation okay so they both basically are the same information just one is about the expectations and the other one is how we're going to carry it out am I understand that correctly one is so if you look at policy 1710 it talks about the prohibited behaviors what are the things that the board says are not um are not permitted within the school system it talks about where are the places that this policy applies to um how do you go about reporting what will

196be the consequences if you don't comply what sort of training and those sorts of things do we require with regard to the policy um and the expectations here if you go to policy 1720 it lays out um mandatory reporting requirements as I mentioned before we as staff members are to report if we see concerns that violate those policies it lays out um how someone can file a complaint who will they speak with what will the process be this is where our different titled nine coordinators are um um oversee that process and um review it lays out how the investigation will work what it happens there what happens if someone doesn't agree with the investigation um what are the appeal processes so all of that is policy 1720 which is the Discrimination harassment and bullying complaint

197process versus um this policy 1710 which is a prohibition against discrimination bullying and harassment okay I guess what I'm trying to clarify is I I made my point pretty clear before about the title line changes um I'm definitely against discrimination harassment and bullying but I don't see a lot of the title line changes in this policy before I vote I want to make sure that I'm not I'm voting for what I think okay thank thank you understood so the changes and are you talking about 1720 or 1710 okay so um in terms of 1710 we we talked about and reviewed some of those modifications to the standards that are there the language the definitions those sorts of things that are laid out in 1710 and 1720 um there are just a couple of changes in

198171020 to reflect some of the language for example instead of sexual harassment we've changed language throughout to sex discrimination and sex-based harassment we ALS also identified um the appropriate Title Nine coordinator as the person who will receive um complaints with regard to this we have taken out the decision maker um Mo model here and and proceeded with um the single um single investigator model um and so we referenced the appropriate title n coordinator and we reference as we always have um our title n complaint um complaint procedure which is a more the more specific document about Title 9 it's an rmp that we have in place that we've provided to you for your information purposes so there are there are few uh modifications to 1720 those processes will continue as we have uh reviewed 1720

199and those processes the the majority of changes here is to strike sexual harassment and change it to sex-based harassment and sex dis termination 1720 yes which is the procedures for investigating and then to the extent that we are investigating Title 9 we have r&p that deals with those investigations you're welcome I want to make sure we've gotten everybody who hasn't spoken a chance to speak first well actually I've got to I I a few things I wanted to say as well so all of and miss miss Hill some of this might be for you but then some of this is just discussion for the board um you know and for the public you know we as board members receive information from our attorneys about our legal responsibilities and it's important to get public comment to

200hear from people's concerns on both sides of the issue and I think some people are coming with a lot of fears fears for their children no matter which side will their rights be protected will their rights not be protected um one thing we've done on this board and one thing that I remain committed to has been following the law and in North Carolina as public officials we have a statutory obligation to follow the law whether or not we agree with the law and we've seen cases of this where I know many of us disagree with the school calendar law some states decided to go out there and challenge that law and you know what they've been slapped down we know a more Equitable calendar would give us a lot of more educational opportunities but we

201don't violate it because it would be breaking the law we've heard from Advocates about the parents Bill of Rights and things specifically related to Title 9 that they object to and we've been encouraged not to comply with the state law and wait to be sued but we don't do that because this board has followed the law now what we have here isn't a law of Congress it is something coming down from the federal government I want to challenge the contention that it is just one man's opinion it is one man's opinion but it is does have the power of the executive branch behind it now that might change as different Executives change but for right now you have an actionable mandate from the federal government that has real consequences behind it from Fines Office of

202civil rights complaints you know forfeiture of our federal funding that could all be consequences of not following the legal mandate we remain under a legal obligation to adopt the revisions and policies to reflect the new title 9 requirements at every school right now except Lian and I also want to recognize that that could change as new new schools might get added I do have a question for Miss Hill we're not putting Lian specifically in policy because of the injunction right we will have the policy and then the injunction just overrides the policy is that correct so with regard to Lian um we would presumably if there was a um an issue a concern a claim made with regard to Lian we would follow the existing policy with regard to that um based upon that injunction

203in place so we can we can adopt the policy I will let I will let the board attorneys speak to that if that if because you know they're the ones that are the experts David if you'd like to identify yourself sure David one of the board attorneys and please come to the mic sure um so the the injunction doesn't prevent the policy from taking effect at Lian the injunction would only prevent the Department of Education from taking action to enforce it in any fashion so the policy adoption would be across the district um as it's being presented so if I understand right as the legal case continues to evolve other schools might be added to the injunction you know the injunction is a temporary measure and the actual case will be decided later on its

204merits is that correct that's correct it's a it's a temporary it's a preliminary injunction at this point um the case is continuing on and so we do have a legal obligation right now to act before August 1 even knowing that things could change as the case develops that that's correct okay thank you so you know again this may or may not be the final version of the policy or the final action we're required to take but it is something that we are legally obligated to do and to follow um or face the sanctions that we've talked about the other two things that we talked about that that have been talked about today that I wanted to address Miss Edmonds took on one of them and that was the the talk about the bathrooms and what

205was referenced in that Gavin Grim case all members of the board have been in have you been informed by our attorneys that the questions about which bathrooms transgender students have a right to use was conclusively decided by the court of appeals now you can check me and I I I'll hear from me because I'll listen to you but for the information I have right now because it was decided by the fourth circuit unanimously and the Supreme Court didn't take it up it would remain law of the land again we know that Supreme Court opinions can shift but the best Legal Information we have right now and the information from our council is that right now the new title 9 regulations and the proposed board policies do not reference bathrooms and the law of the land

206right now would supersede any policy that we might have one way or the other um what we've also talked about but and what we've heard from the attorneys about I guess what what people have shared some concerns about with sports and I I just wanted to be clear on that the advice that we've been given was that neither of the proposed policies that have come up specifically address transgender student participation in inter Scholastic Sports there's a different regulation that the federal government's been considering we were informed it was about maybe a year away it's still in the public comment period and we would have to review that when that came up but currently the what we're being asked to adopt by the federal government does not address Sports and again we currently have state law

207state law requ requires inner Scholastic middle and high school teams to be designated as either male female or co-ed where those terms are defined by reference to assign to biological assigned sex and it does not allow male students to participate on designated female teams and so following this advice you know as as as it is right now that would not require us to change or to violate state law we would still have state law which would separate those teams by male or female or if a team is designated as co-ed so that wouldn't change with adoption of these policies that's the advice we've been given and I just you know I know that there's a lot of information about this that's out there some of it's conflicting again I'm willing to listen if there's conflicting

208legal arguments on that but this is the advice that our council is given us so you know I think some of the fears have been have been expressed may not apply in concerns of of you know fears about bathroom use fears about sports and Athletics I think those are policy questions and I appreciate people bringing those to our attention but I don't think adoption of these policies and following this Federal gu this Federal guidance will will result in those fears coming to light and I think we have a legal obligation to follow the law or face these sanctions so that's where I am as as I consider these issues and again this has been the advice that all of our board members have been given it's okay if you disagree with that on a policy

209issue but I want to make sure that we follow the advice of our attorneys and you know we do the right thing and we vote with correct and accurate information so other board member comments or questions Dr in um I mean I I've kind of implied this but I mean we we are kind of putting the the cart before the horse in in implementing a policy change when the actual um Title 9 UM regulations that are still kind of in play uh out there in in legal world so um so in essence we're we're basically making these changes because we want to make these changes correct I I would contest that but I would defer to our attorneys I I believe from our advice we're under legal obligation recognizing that that obligation could change as

210the case changes right if the if the regulations overturned or thrown out we might be back here with a different policy but as I understand it with the advice we've been given I think we are under a legal obligation but I'll defer to councel because I don't want to I don't want to be uh and T Johnson Hustler reminds us we also do not have a board meeting before the first so we won't have any other opportunity to comply with the mandate other than our vote tonight I'll just add on that the um the injunction doesn't stop the rule from going into effect as of August 1 um it it as I mentioned before it enjoins the enforcement by the Department of Education in certain specific schools or certain States but it doesn't stop the

211actual adoption of the rule which uh as of now the Department of Education has not indicated it's walking back the rule in any way so it's still set to go into effect as of August 1st thank you any further questions or followup M Mr Hershey when we get Federal rules like this and we have do they often give us dates when they have to be in place yes when we get Federal rules like this does your office review them to see if how our policy matches up up with it yes we receive um information from our attorneys um sometimes information from the school boards Association recommendations um we but yes we gather that information and we are provided Direction and guidance and suggestions with regard to complying with the law personal feelings ever cause us

212to change policy from coming from your office or is it just following State the federal or state law as provided when we receive when you receive aerations we follow those modifications whether or not you agree with it correct yes I call the question okay there's been a motion uh call the question so this will cut off debate and take us to a vote Dr Hill did you sorry Miss Hill did you have I was I was turning that JD into a doctorate we we would um request that this be um that the second reading be waved because of the August 1st deadline and the fact that there is not another board meeting prior to that time period okay thank you um I don't believe the original motion contained that waiver of second reading is can

213we would we you have called the question the call of the question is to close debate um chair hagard if it's appropriate I can change my Mo my motion all right I'm GNA ask Mr Malone for his parliamentary interpretation there has been a a call of Call for the question right so just te te say we're all on the same page that's a motion to call the question it requires a second it requires a vote if the majority of the board votes to in discussion then you would vote on the actual um underlying motion the calling of the question by itself does not in debate it's simply moving the previous question that requires a two-thirds vote according to our parliamentary chart right here okay then if if that's what it says I'll second it Mr

214chair all right so before you second the call for question no well you've already done it so I was going to see if we could amend the motion as as Miss Ence had intended but we have a motion to cut off debate correct and the original maker of the motion has offered to amend her motion what I think is because de the motion has been made to end debate we would proceed if we proceed to a vote on the motion to call the question if that passes by a 2/3 majority we would then vote however I think it would be in order to then come back and make a motion to wave second reading just following that and that might get us to where I think people want to go okay chair does that mean

215that that ends conversation it does if the motion passes so that's it just cut off all conversation about that if if two-thirds of of the people vote in favor of ending debate and if somebody else had a motion to actually offer then that's not at at this point that would be out of order right am I correct yes if the motion to call the question to Second it and it passes then that would end the debate but those are steps that have to occur before debate ends if the motion to call the question does not pass then debate continues okay is everyone clear all right and we're going to do this by roll call vote to make sure that there's no question of the number uh we'll start with Mr Hershey I Dr in N

216Miss Edmonds nay Miss mafy I uh chair will vote nay Vice chair Johnson Hustler I Mr Swanson I miss Coffield definitely a nay and uh Miss rice um I I okay so I have a vote of five to four it does not receive the five it does not receive the two-thirds vote and so the debate has not ended so is there further comment or further debate on the policy Miss Coffield so I just wanted to add a couple of things uh Food For Thought um I know that it was said that I was providing misinformation I never said that the um the girl that was sexually assaulted that's not misinformation she was sexually assaulted that is absolutely a fact and she is not the first girl by that boy I never said that he was

217transgender I never even said that he was wearing a skirt we just know he was the whole point of that was that that shared space created an opportunity for harm to come to that girl if they were to have a separate stall and that's one of the questions I wanted to ask you is if we have to abide by these Federal mandates or rule is it possible that we could change the wording to accommodate what it is that they're trying to get at but with our own words we'll direct that toward Miss Hill so I if you all will recall from our policy um meeting um one of our attorneys was there who talked about the wording of of this language and and I think her succinct uh statement was was very helpful you know

218it's the law and so what we're doing is reflecting the law and one of the concerns is that if we start changing the wording we make ourselves more um um vulnerable to challenges that we are not complying with the legal requirements we have implemented requirements that are different than those legal requirements and that puts the board more at risk so the wording here really is consistent with the law that we the the regulations that we've received so if I understand correctly um you can have several attorneys interpreting the law and what it means in different ways um let me give you an example for one thing the new rule does affect Athletics because it redefines discrimination in all applications of Title 9 but yet we have another attorney that saying that the sports are not

219included you know and that it says something different so that is my concern um and it's a little bit more about not the sex space harassment so I what I was asking the reason why I was asking is if I could make a motion to include language that would make it clear what sex based harassment is not and then the four things that I would focus on with that would be that sex harassment shall not increase the refusal to use preferred pronouns based on the First Amendment objections uh segregation of sexes based on biology for overnight trips assignments for sleeping and to include locker rooms bathrooms and showers and also for gym classes so those four categories will actually ensure the safety of all of our children women and trans but then we're also abiding

220by all of what the law is saying by they're not allowed to sexually harass discriminate or bully is that something that we can do is that a question or is that a motion well I said I would like to make a motion I guess I need to make that a little bit more formal so I would like to make an a motion that we would include that language to be clear what sex Bas harassment is not so if you'd like to do that I would ask that you do it formally looking at at the policy and telling me where you would like that language and then we'll see if it gets a second and then if it does we can have any discussion or a vote on the motion okay so that goes back to

221my question before with the policy 1710 it seems like it would fall within that because that you mentioned was our standards and expectations am I correct that's correct okay so then you're asking what number I would want it to be in so I would say that it would be under where sex harassment is on number four okay and I guess we would add it underneath number six since they are listing out okay I see several definitions I want to make sure that when you say six I know what you're talking about section four I see the following constitutes sex-based harassment there's an AB A1 B2 ABCDE E I don't see a oh I don't see a is six do you see it okay yeah so the six had been struck through do you want to

222just add it at the end of the section or is there some other place you would put it okay so I don't have that through let me pull it up here sorry I think I printed it out before it got updated a so I originally had it for number three but it looks like there's all different ones here so I'm going to say contact on the basis well actually I'm not going to ask it to be put under there because it's not fitting the way that it's worded so if it would be under item number four under sexual harassment as a separate paragraph is a separate paragraph all right so then to be clear in that section four you just add it as a separate paragraph at the end of the section MH okay can

223you read the language that you are proposing yes um that sex based harassment shall not include a refusal to use preferred names and pronouns based on First Amendment objections so that would be the first part the second part would be in the interest of safety and privacy sex-based harassment shall not shall not include segregation of sex Sexes based on biology for overnight trips room assignments for sleeping yeah and then in the interest of safety um and privacy sex based harassment shall not include segregation of sexes based on biology for locker rooms bathrooms and shower rooms and we could add them together because it does have the first part of the sentence is exactly the same I was just separating the locker rooms bathrooms and showers from the overnight sleeping and then also based on biology

224for gym classes all right so do we have the language for the motion making sure our folks have recorded it all right the motion has been made is there a second second all right any discussion or any debate Miss edmans um Miss Hill and aren't these definitions of sex discrimination Etc set by Statute and do we have the ability to change them the definitions of what is um sex harassment or sex-based harassment that we have the following conduct constitutes sex harassment or sex-based harassment those are set by the statute in terms of um what constitutes sex harassment or sex-based harassment um the language in here um with regard to um the pregnancy related conditions sexual orientation gender Ori those those things are a part of um the definitions that are laid out in the Federal

225Regulation go ahead I guess I'm just wondering if we even have the ability to adopt something that such as Miss Coffield is suggesting would that violate statute is my question so I'll I'll refer to our attorneys to respond to that um in terms of the details there it's not it's not clear to me that the language um here is something that is um specifically prohibited by the statutes but it's also I mean I've not had a Time chance to look at it to see if this is something that would be inconsistent with the regulations as they have been passed already so I can certainly see if our attorneys have any familiarity with language similar to this that you know has been discussed or if there is any specific um thought with regard to those elements

226so I I I don't view it as my role to say what the board can and cannot do in terms of adding that I would say that um I I think these definitions as put in the proposed policy are taken from the regulations I think some of the proposed language might be inconsistent with some of the language that's present in the regulations um and with as discussed earlier the Grim case and how that applies in North Carolina um so I I do think that that there might be a risk of of potential liability there thank you any follow-up miss sence any further discussion debate Mr Swanson I just had a uh question as well that kind of similar to miss Edmond's because I just remember taking the oath of office for those that said you

227know we will support maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States and Constitution and laws of the state of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith and that we will Faithfully discharge our duties of Wake County Board of Education members so with that constit our oath of office being stated does this proposed amendment violate the North Carolina parental Bill of Rights or does this language even align with that because I don't want to violate any potential state laws or or whatnot so I guess that's a question for one of the attorneys back you I can um and with the caveat I'm being asked to render an opinion off the cuff on it um I don't think that any of the proposed amended language would run a file of the parental Bill of Rights I think there's

228there's some overlap but nothing inconsistent is my measured response to that all right Mr Hershey uh just a suggest question and take it or leave it but perhaps uh Miss Coffield would consider um submitting this to um the attorneys and then us following up with this specific motion uh or the language in the next policy committee meeting so they have time to vet it to make sure we're not violating any um state or federal laws with it since we're asking them to make a change um and pass something pretty quickly but I'll leave that to miss Coffield M Coffield uh just to understand what you were saying are you saying go ahead with the vote today to be timely for August 1st and then bring it back to policy to make those changes yes so

229without so we would vote basically without your we would vote down your motion now and then you would submit that language for attorneys to review and for staff to review and then have that conversation at po the next policy meeting just based on what their um reading of the state and federal law is whether it it would be permissible to add any of the language that you are suggesting and that way we'd be bringing this back in a month or so so if I understand it correctly you were saying that the verbage is not necessarily violating anything but here we are trying to make a policy with a whole lot of changes pending and happening that we really have no idea what's going to happen what schools are included or anything but yet we're going

230to pass a policy I'm little I understand where you're coming from with that but right I'm saying we're kind of contradicting why we're voting so I I think if I understood Mr Hershey we have a legal mandate to follow that that will be enforced against us if the changes are not made by August one now post August one things could change right the court case could have a change you could have different Federal mandates come down a lot of things could change but right now I believe because we have a mandate that can be enforced against us with real sanctions if we don't comply by August one Mr R is saying let's go ahead and and if I'm mischaracterizing it let's go ahead and do this but then after that's in place if we've had

231the attorneys being able to provide counsel and direction on additional changes you might want to make whether or not we don't want to go ahead and pass something in my opinion that would not comply with the Mandate go home and then not come back until August 6 and find out we've been in violation and the enforcement actions could be taken against us but you have something in place and you all want to have further discussion on this we can certainly do that I mean I I have I have I have some real reservations about the amendment and as it is right now I likely would and support it but you know if if you want to have more research done and bring it back in policy we could do we could we could do that

232but it did I accurately characterize that okay so you know I just spent a lot of time since policy meeting speaking to um attorneys reading things going over things and everything so I think I was getting a different inter interpretation so I'm kind of going to stick with my original okay all right well if if and and thank you Mr Hershey for the suggestion I will say I'm I'm against the amendment I think there's certain things here you can't take language that you you can't say we have a lang we have a policy following a federal mandate against discrimination or harassment and then say but you can we're it's not going to apply to pronouns or other things because of First Amendment rights because if the First Amendment would protect your speech in that situation

233why wouldn't it protect your speech in any harassment situation and then what would make what would make harassment of of one protected class different than harassment of a separate protected class that that's just not I don't I don't follow that legally I just don't think we can do that again I could be wrong but to me by the very nature of defining harassment and how harassments been defined simply claiming the First Amendment as a defense is is just not adequate um and again I'll go back to the questions that we have about the segregation of of locker rooms and bathrooms I believe these are covered by other state laws and you know if it comes down that we have conflicting Federal guidance and mandates that come down we'll have to weigh those and see what

234the conflict is between state law and the federal guidance but I would not be in favor of the amendment I do understand your concern and and why you've put that forward I just personally don't think it's good policy any further comment all right all in favor of the amendment please signify by saying I any opposed nay nay all right the amendment fails thank you though Miss Coffield all right Mr Hershey I'd like to make a friendly amendment to wave second reading to for uh who made the amendment Mr Miss Edmond from to for Miss Edmond's uh motion a friendly amendment to wave second reading second okay there's a motion to amend the amendment to include a waiver of second reading uh has been moved and seconded for discussion I will say that will allow us

235to go ahead and comply with the Mandate by August 1 all in favor of the amendment please signify by saying I I any opposed okay um um so U by my count a vote is 7 to2 we have amended it to wave second reading all right final motion on the table as written and and amended would be the adoption of policy 1710 as amended with a waiver of second reading are we ready for a vote all right all in favor signify by saying I I chair votes I any opposed I have two votes nay is that accurate all right by a votion of 72 policy 1710 has been adopted we'll now move to policy 1720 thank you Dr Hill sorry dang it you know I I I happen to I'm going to work on that

236I'll I'll go ahead and Kender Hill has had an illustrious career and I don't know if everyone knows all of the different roles that you have had in in in government and the court system here with us if doctors the worst thing that we can say about you I hope you see that as a compliment and in some places it's the doctor right yeah thank you thank you can you lead us through 1720 please yes thank you chair Hagerty um as I mentioned uh and speaking with Miss Cod CFI Coffield um policy 1720 is our complaint procedure with regard to discrimination and harassment and bullying um we have minor modifications to this policy um it is to change um instances of sexual harassment to read sex discrimination or sex-based harassment um we also included in

237here that um reports should be made to the appropriate title n coordinator um and that any process for what happens after those reports are made will be based upon our Title 9 complaint procedure which is an r&p that we have um for title 9 UM throughout this policy again there are several places where the policy use sex sex harassment or and we've changed that I mean sexual harassment and we've changed that to sex-based harassment um those are the that is the change within this policy it is very limited all right is there a motion so move second motion for Mr Hershey second for Mr Swanson any questions for Miss Hill any discussion or debate Miss mafy I'd like to make a friendly amendment that we also wave second reading on that is there a second

238to the second friendly Amendment second second from Mr Swanson all in favor of the amendment to the motion please signify by saying I I I any opposed all right I'm recording that is 7-2 all right uh the motion has been amended to add waiver of second reading uh we're back to the original motion any questions any debate Dr in um the the language of having an oral or written request uh that comes from Title 9 regulations is that correct Dr in which yes that is intitle n regulation I'm not sure which uh where you're pointing to in policy 1 1720 uh are you looking at underneath definitions yeah section two complaint right yeah under definition A2 complaint oh okay so if those are things that are already in our our policy that's already this has

239been our complaint procedure um for 1720 we have not modified that with regard to this um oral or written notification is um is the process for someone to make a complaint um as we process those we try to gather more information requests that folks write down more details but that complaint can be made orally or in writing um just follow up please so so that means that there is a paper trail in the process of the complaint correct well I so and where does it start ultimately there there will always be a paper trail because we're gathering information so it depends how a complaint comes in I can I can give example but it will differ in every situation but if there is a verbal complaint that is made um then the title 9 coordinator

240will follow up to gather more information often that followup is done via email it also may be done via a phone call but then confirmed in email once that information is gathered so ultimately yes there will be paper related to the complaint um because that's just the nature of how um our the investigators often will interact and then there um um are also you know um people also are able to file something more specific if they want to fill out information to file a complaint if they want to but if it's an oral complaint we can and do ask for more information confirm that information try to make sure we have the correct um concern that's being investigated um another followup please um so so um based on another part of it in page 16

241I believe where it says I mean I I I do appreciate where it says that both sides get to access access to the evidence and opportunity to respond to the evidence uh Page 6 so I'm sorry I I I I was using a different version sorry Dr in I let let me clarify I understand here what you're looking at and page 16 is a copy of the information um I believe provided as information with regard to the specific Title Nine complaint procedures um policy seven that's an r&p that we have um in place for our Title 9 complaint procedures okay r&p 1720 I mean I'm sorry r rmp1 that you're looking at is specific to title n policy 1720 is how we handle other discrimination harassment bullying hostile environment complaints that don't fall under that

242specific Title 9 procedure so I apologize for the confusion we provided that to you all for information purposes um but 1720 um is the policy that we're requesting that you all approve it's basically just a statement that you know I'm I that I appreciate that you know the the the um uh both sides will get information about the actual complaint is that true yes that's correct so I mean and that that I think is some something that um is needed obviously and and um so that's why I was asking about the Paper Trails so that people would have an understanding of where that complaint came from understood right thank you Dr thank you Miss mafy thank you so miss Hill what you're saying is 1720 the paragraph that we're changing is just saying if you

243have a title 9 complaint that would fit in this here you need to go to this separate policy r&p r&p yes okay for for the procedure to investigate the complaint all right thank you all right any other further questions further comments on policy all right at that point this point I'll take a vote all in favor of adoption of policy 1720 on first reading with waiver of second Reading Please signify by saying I I any opposed all right by a vote of 7 to2 the policy passes on first reading with waiver of second reading all right that concludes our action agenda we have a motion from Mr hery to go into close session I believe I heard Miss Coffield or no apologies to both uh Mr Swanson as a second all in favor of the

244motion to move into close session for the statutory reasons cite in the agenda please signify by saying I I any opposed all right we're in closed session thank you all very much e e e