001[Music] oh my goodness I totally forgot so EXC [Applause] got for [Music] she that's hi nice to meet you I'm [Music] lady have you met our wonderful youth organizer [Music] ask I feel like not together try to go over on that side good to see you too where do you want to go here but get everyone to take their seats we'll get started all right good evening everyone uh today is Tuesday March 19th it's about 5:35 p.m. and we are calling this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order I want to welcome everyone who might be watching at home and those of us who are here for a full house watching in person tonight wait County Board of Education meetings are conducted for the purpose of carrying on the official business
002of the school system the public is cordially invited to attend board meetings to observe the board as it conducts official business persons who willfully interrupt disrupt or cause disturbances at an official meeting may be directed to leave by the presiding officer members of the audience should show respect for the speakers by refraining from loud comments or other disruptions disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with General statute 143 31817 I believe everyone is in if I can get everyone to take a seat all right we do have eight of our nine members here we do have a quorum and so if everyone at this point stand if you are able and we'll recite the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of allegiance to the flag of
003the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all all right thank you we have what we are calling a robust agenda tonight so without further Ado we will turn it over to superintendent Taylor for his comments thank you Mr chair uh thank you all for being here tonight um start off by saying congratulations to Molly mcneel of joner Magnet Elementary School who was named the 2324 School social worker of the Year miss mcneel has been a school social worker in our district for 10 years uh senior administrator Angela Carwell who super IES as Miss mcneel says Molly has such a big heart her deep compassion for families and their challenging circumstances drives her to work toly to find every possible
004resource available to help them our 130 School social workers provide invaluable support to students and families who are experiencing difficulties helping meet both their physical and social emotional needs so they can stay engaged in school the work is essential if we are to meet the objective set forth in our strategic plan I'm grateful to miss mcneel and all her colleagues for for the compassion and professionalism they display and demonstrate each day congratulations are also in order for five of our athletic directors who were honored this past weekend by the North Carolina athletic Directors Association Rod whitel of Holly Springs High School received the Braveheart award given to athletic directors who have exhibited bravery and courage while enduring trying personal experiences Shane Zimmerman of Holly Grove Middle uh received the Middle School athletic director of Excellence
005award James mount for the fuqu Arina High School received the athletic director of of Excellence award honoring significant contributions to Athletics across the region State and nation and Colin fagaly of green level high school received the president award for his service this past year as president of the athletic Directors Association and Darren Co our District's director of Athletics received the Jerry McGee Award of Excellence the most prestigious Award presented by the Association Athletics benefits our students and our schools in so many ways our athletic directors provide stability for athletic programs while promoting student safety high quality coaching school spirit and healthy competition so again my hats off to these five outstanding athletic directors for being among the best in the entire State we're so very proud of what they've accomplished finally my thanks to everyone
006who has supported this year's wake up and readbook drive thanks to your generosity wake up and read will be able to provide more than 100,000 books to students who need them most more than 125 collection Partners including businesses Civic groups and schools supported this drive the books will be distributed to 18 Wake County partner schools and 16 child Child Care Centers just because this year's book drive is officially over doesn't mean it's too late to support childhood literacy in Wake County so you can still donate uh you can drop off books anytime using the BS at wake up and reads headquarters at 1820 Capitol Boulevard in Raleigh you can also make a financial contribution at any time I'll say that part again you can also make a financial contribution anytime uh we know that students
007who have access to books at home at an early age are more likely to develop the literacy skills that are the foundation for academic success that's why we are so appreciative of the wake up and read Coalition in everyone who contributes wake uh visit wake up andre. org to learn more about how you can support literacy in our community thank you Mr chair I'll give back to you all right thank you superintendent Taylor we have a long long agenda tonight with a lot of important items I would be remissed if I didn't congratulate the NC State wolf pack for the first time since 1987 that we can congratulate them on their ACC Championship extend coach Keats all right uh we've been very busy the last few weeks a lot of important issues some of which
008will come up tonight some of which haven't been able to find a place on our agenda for those of you I recognize uh some of our friends in the law enforcement Community came out to the town hall that we had on social media and I wanted to thank you for your presence and your support there this is is something that our board all members of our board are taking very seriously we had a wonderful event at um uh Athens Drive High School in Miss Edmond's District uh but that work doesn't stop we'll have more conversations about this but today we're going to focus on some other very important topics and so with that I'm just going to end my comments and turn it over to Vice chair Johnson Hustler thank you very much I will
009also be very brief um so I will not have to talk about wake up and re because you did and yes please still donate book and money but I will add to that for those of you um who do not follow Wake County Smart Start please do because they have the dolly part and Imagination Library back up so that each of our young babies before the age of five can receive a book every month up until their fifth birthday um so I'll add that to wake up and read um additionally I would also um add that we've all been reading Across America for most of February and March and I will share my most um it's a story that I'll keep with me most of you heard me talk about the student that I've been
010reading with um through a wed partnership a wake reads and so I've read with the same little girl every Friday um when I started working with her not a lot of reading aloud not a lot of talking um that was when she was in first grade she's in third now and so I got to see her because she wants to see me every time I come and she told me that she still had many of you heard me say this probably two years ago had my mother-in-law make her a quilted carrying case for her books and so her sister starts kindergarten and August and so she asked me to make one for her sister so she could also have her own personal library and I love that how she describes me to kids I'm her
011person so when the students were like who are you hugging that's not your mom and she was like it's my person so I will end on that note that is why we dedicate our time to our young people because like our Educators those of us who can give our time please also look up wake a partnership because they need lots of Partners to read to our students they start reading on Fridays most schools every Friday and if you can't do every Friday they'll take you anyway so please look up wake a partnership to help our youngest students um feel good about themselves through um their literary scholarship thank you thank you Vice chair Johnson Hustler I see some folks still writing so I'll go over to this side of the table Mr Hershey uh good
012eyes um I'll keep this very short I just want I apologize for not doing this for everybody but I just want to uh give special recognition to our um lady who are here today from the uh wake young young women's Leadership Academy I don't know if there are any from the young men's Academy but uh I just appreciate yall being here and the families being here and the um support and love you give to the leadership acmy I look forward to hearing from you in a little while thank you thank you Mr Hershey Dr Ing good evening um I had the opportunity last week to attend a couple of conferen um the first one was um the spring law conference sponsored by the North Carolina School Board Association um they talked about um some really
013fascinating and relevant um topics including the pros and cons of artificial intelligence Title Nine implications on athletic facilities use and the implementation of school threat assessment teams I also attended a virtual conference sponsored by the Carol's academic leadership Network um on the issue discipline and restorative justice in our schools um it was a lot of food for thought and it gave me a lot to think about um and I was glad that I attended and I want to thank both of these organizations for hosting these conferences um I want to welcome all our law enforcement friends here tonight um thank you for being here to help recognize our resolution that we'll be talking about um this is probably the most secure place in Wake County right now uh um and I am honored to have
014you all here and I appreciate all that you do for our community um I am keenly aware of the sacrifice you guys have made uh every day um my nephew and my uh and his wife are both in the police office uh police officers in the Houston Police Department um and I remember how proud my nephew was to complete the police academy and how excited he was to start his first day um as a as a rookie patrolling with his partner um and then a few years later um when hurricane Harvey hits Houston um and the whole city was essentially flooded um my nephew had to stay at his post um during the storm and meanwhile his mother my sister um had to deal with flooding that was coming into the house and you know
015eventually destroy the house but um you know he had to he couldn't stop you know drop everything to to take care of his mother but you know he had to stay stay on his task so uh I understand the sacrifices you guys make um and um I also you know uh know that um you know uh people who serve as a school resource officers in our schools you know they have a especially um uh dedicated job because they're they're serving children um and and you guys uh who who work as sro's um uh keep our um uh grounds safe our our children safe and you know that service is uh does not go unnoticed um so this resolution to me represents a partnership with you all in your mission uh to keep this entire Community
016safe and I am hoping that by urging people to keep the gun stored uh and away from the hands of children that we can help prevent senseless deaths and reduce needless emotional trauma um thank you also for all the other people in the community including B smart who um kind of help helped spearhead some of the the talk about this in our uh in our um uh uh in the last couple of years um lastly uh we will be having our next BAC meeting for District 3 on Monday April the 22nd at North Ridge Elementary School so more information will be coming soon thank you thank you Dr in Miss Edmonds thank you since our last meeting I attended in an event at Centennial Magnet Middle School their Harlem Renaissance Museum students created projects based
017on their study of the Harlem Renaissance and these projects covered a wide range of mediums some were art projects including song or music or both some studied important literature of that time and this was a Living Museum experience I was so impressed with their work thanks to the students and staff at Centennial for all their hard work on what was a great Showcase of talent I want to thank Mr swansson Senator G Adcock and commissioner Cheryl Stallings for putting together a community town hall on school funding and safety I miss mfy and Dr Taylor were invited to participate and it was a time of good public engagement with members of the western weight Community thank you Mr Swanson for including me Dr Taylor and I went to church together on Sunday uh the members of
018St Mary's Free Will Baptist Church in Holly Springs welcomed us to their worship service and we thoroughly enjoyed it Dr Taylor has visited several churches with other board members so I appreciate I very much appreciate your intentional visibility um at events and Gatherings throughout the district thank you sir for your commitment to be in community with the people of Wake County it means a lot finally I want to lift up the safe storage resolution we are passing this evening I've been active in the work of gun violence prevention for almost 10 years through Mom's demand action for gun sense in America and to now be a member of this board and in a position to take such an action um is deeply meaningful to me I want to thank Lisa Luton and her staff for
019working hard on getting this language right checking all of our citations and working with our Community Partners I'm very grateful thank you so much Lisa to you and your staff if this resolution and our commitment to educating parents and the community about safe gun storage prevents one act of violence or one act of accidental harm it's worth all our time and energy I look forward to supporting it this evening thank you thank you coming back around the table we'll go to miss rice good evening everyone uh I'm going to be very short to just want to really highlight um uh Bug Elementary and the amazing sneaker ball that I got to attend that Dr Taylor was not at he had another meeting but um but no no seriously and KH um Elementary for stem night
020they did an amazing job as well the students were so daer I was really excited um to see the book dispenser there since we're talking about books um I also just wanted to encourage um um folks around our um books and and and and literacy Liberation station is an amazing place to um purchase a book that might move around culture um Norms that other people might can consider in doing that with their books um and so just two things I want to highlight um which is environmental Wellness just want to encourage people um to bike or walk um and choose these eco-friendly options for short trips um then there's an eco-friendly commute considering electrc or hybrid um vehicle um and also compost turn food scraps into um nutrient-rich soil and then spiritual Wellness um we
021got I got to enjoy um Macedonia New Life Church they had a youth Sunday that was there and so that was very exciting with Dr Joe Stevenson um and so I got to operate in those two Wellness domains within our community uh where I got to watch even the clergy um gather around um its professionals Within the ministry around mental health that were professionals within that so it was very a robust couple of weeks um engaging with schools and enjoyed every moment of it thank you Miss rice Miss Coffield thank you is this thing on um last week I had um the uh opportunity to enjoy two third grade classes with read Across America um you not only enjoy all of their energy when you're sitting in the class but um it's like they went
022on a field trip they just get so excited to have a visitor come in and share the time with them and also the fact that um you know I left a book with each one of them you would have thought it was a piece of gold they really do get very excited um when we were talking about the different books they also shared all of their stories with us and it just it really warms your heart so I'm just putting a plug out there in case you can't tell to kind of go and visit your schools and be with these adorable little children they really appreciate it um the teacher also um she was pretty involved in it as we spoke about um diversity and different things it told I showed a story um that
023was written by a local author here in uh Apex and she's uh it was a story about a little boy who was color blind and all the children were able to add stories and what they thought and what it might be like for them um it was really great to see all their energy and hear all their stories about it and while we were there um the teacher who was was from Jamaica took out some of her money and she passed it around to all of the students and they got to feel and in Jamaica they have um there's like a clear strip on it and it has a texture to it so it tells you what your money is in case you are blind or have some kind of challenges or something like that
024so everybody passed it around and then they took out our dollars and we were comparing what it was like so they had a lot of um great energy and a lot of good stories to go back and when I was leaving they were asking me when I was coming back and please come back please come back and read to us again so just really kind of teared me up a little bit as I was as I was leaving and I look forward to going back um so I'm kind of putting that little plugin there to if you could kind of donate your time if you don't have the time and that's not on your side if you can donate books to your local schools any school you do not have to be a parent in
025that school you could sign up to be volunteer in any of your local schools to come in and do either or I wanted to uh congratulate Roseville High School for their win to the women's State basketball championship I know that they are enjoying that reward um for that title for all their hard work so go Rams today starts the shed competition hosted at Roseville High School um the awards are this Thursday I know that there were students last year that I got to speak with that they got their hands-on experience and their team building skills and they were really pretty excited with it and it's encouraged them to go on and actually seek careers in in some of these fields so good luck to all those teams Wednesday they are going to and it's also
026the Vault um competition as well so I wanted to mention that so Wednesday they'll have the award for the vault and Thursday for w um for the shed competition I think it's between 2:30 and 3:30 good luck to all uh I wanted to say another congratulations to all our semi-finalist I saw a couple of uh district one coming up along here so I just want to give another shout out to that and today we're going to speak about gun safety and the resolution and this is something that does not have a side a color an age a nationality or gender it's something that is important to all of us and it's important that we are educated on it diligent and alert to all of the signs and I am thankful that we're standing in unison
027on this subject of gun safety and we'll continue to do work to keep our community and our children safe and to all of our law enforcement and to those who serve our country I want to say thank you for your sacrifice your dedication to our community and for keeping our kids safe I know my kids's first experience was in the Dare program in fifth grade where they had a real police officer come out and they were able to you know have ask questions and talk to them and it was really very important to have them there um and it just really gave them a good light on being a police officer and of course they went home and played dress up for a a while so they were very encouraged by all of that so
028thank you very much for all your hard work and dedication that's it thank you Miss Coffield and uh we will end with Mr Swanson thank you so I means I to take up the time that my other colleagues didn't use I'm joking I'm joking um I want to start by saying uh thank you to The District 9 UM BAC members we concluded our meetings for this year um I want to thank the office of equ Affairs for coming out and giving us a very high overview of some of the work that they do and um I thought it was very important for our ptas to hear the um various uh um businesses that uh ptas can engage with as they are supporting our schools um I also wanted to thank uh Miss Horton at Kingswood
029Elementary for inviting me to read Across America I was able to read two books the bad seat and the good seat I'm sorry the bad seat and The Good Egg excuse me um and raise maybe I'm the bad seed um but uh it was it was a great book that really had some great lessons in there and they really raised some very interesting and challenging questions about governance and what that looked like and some of them kind of threw me on my toes with some of their questions um and I also want to thank Miss Barcelona at rurn for inviting me to participate and I had the opportunity I think the three of us read the same book The Crown um which is an O to the fresh haircut um which was a very befitting
030to what we had in policy so it was just great to see and hear those students light up and really the share connection that we all have at the barber shop or beauty salons um which was really great um and I also want to you know just make a one or two comments about the um resolution that we'll be discussing this evening um I I think it's very important and it shows not only our commitment but it also shows the community around us and that we can't do this work alone just like our municipalities can't do this work alone and our law enforcements we all have to be at the table together working side by side to make to ensure that our communities are safe and that we see the signs and that we are
031able to build uh um communities so we can uh prevent these these tragic uh events from happening and so I I want to you know thank the public for their input and the emails that we received around the resolution um and the advocacy uh I've received a couple of emails from uh constituents urging all of us and to support this so I look forward to that um and I thank want to thank the staff for uh the hard work and dedication uh Miss Luton and and Mr Scott uh that went on behind the scenes and superintendent for this great thing so looking forward to that and uh looking forward to some of the great dialogue that we'll have this evening wonderful thank you Mr Swanson so that concludes our board comments before we adopt tonight's
032meeting agenda I want to entertain a motion to amend the agenda to add uh approval of our administrative appointments and recommendation ations HR recommendations that we made in Clos session I'd like to just add that to our consent agenda if anyone would make that motion second there's a motion from Miss Edmonds a second from Mr Swanson all in favor of the motion say I I any opposed all right the motion passes thank you and now that the agenda has been amended all in favor of approving the meeting agenda please signify by saying I I oh is there a motion to entertain the agenda yeah all right long agenda and I'm just getting started I apologize y'all motion for Mr Hershey to approve tonight's amended meeting agenda and I heard a second from Vice chair Johnson
033Hustler all in favor of the amended agenda for tonight's meeting please signify by saying I I and he opposed all right thank you the meeting agenda has been adjourned or has been approve y I got I got I've got a lot tonight i' I've got a lot tonight let me get over all right I might you know we we we have the vice chair for such things as state funerals and ribbon cuttings she might just have to jump in tonight um I think I think some of this is because we we know we have a big night tonight we have a full house we have so many of our of our employees and staff who are here to uh to be with to be with us tonight for important issues that we're considering we also
034have so many members of our law enforcement Community as well as well as parents and other concerned uh community members Advocates who've been working in this space um you know related to Safe gun storage for a long long time um and so but really before we get started I just want to recognize and say thank you to all of you the many law enforcement Partners we have tonight I recognize some of you some of you I have not met before so I'm going to have to use a cheat sheet I apologize but I would like to recognize and welcome Apex uh police department uh CH Chief Jason Armstrong Kerry Police Department Lieutenant Elizabeth Pearson Fuquay Police Department Pi Chris gathman uh Morrisville police chief Peta Costa Chief there he is and uh Pio Rox Cruz
035um Raleigh Police Department chief Rico boy deputy chief Rico Boyce and Lieutenant Jason Borneo uh and finally uh we will be joined a little bit later by Wake County Sheriff Willie row um I think I don't know if we have Lieutenant Charlie Twitty here from the Sheriff's Office also Deputy Ryan doxy uh major Dan Shropshire our SRO coordinator we especially are pleased that you're here major Shropshire thank you and Pio uh Roselia federa all right there she is thank you um I also want to thank our our advocacy Partners who played such an important role and have worked for a long time in uh bringing a lot of the facts uh but a lot of the information that we've shared out with families about this important information and again all the parents who've joined us
036this evening and I know there are others that are watching who aren't joining us tonight but have had discussions in ptas and school assemblies and I our board advisory committees about this topic um you know this is one of our highest priorities ensuring the safety and well-being of all of our students and as a board I think each and every one of us has spoken out at this table about the importance of safe gun storage and preventative preventive measures we can take to protect all of our students to keep them from harming themselves and from harming others gun violence as we know is one of the leading causes of injury and death among students in our country we have talked about issues related to Suicide Prevention we know Firearms are often used in these horrible
037horrible incidents but whether targeted unintentional self-inflicted so many of these tragedies could have been prevented We Know by restricting child's access to Firearms they have to be getting these guns from somewhere and everything that we can do on the front end to prevent that and stop that is a tragedy averted um and we know safe gun storage is a crucial component of responsible gun ownership we hear this from gun owners who agree proper gun storage reduces the risk of accidents unauthorized access theft we know that it's imperative that Firearms need to be secured secured uh safely and securely whether that's at home whether that's in a vehicle putting it in a loved glove glove box is not securing your firearm and so we're grateful for the dedication of partnership of our local law enforcement community
038that is working so hard to get this message out their expertise and collaboration have been invaluable as we've gone to them for information about safety about statistics about what we can do as a school system to work with our community to get this message out there they've played an important role in the development of this resolution and they continue to bring security to our schools each day so today we're proud to announce a resolution focused on this issue of safe gun storage and it emphasizes as you'll hear in a moment uh education awareness and collaboration as key Tools in this in in this really this this fight to prevent gun violence this is going to be the start you know it's one thing to just read a resolution and then you know we'll clap and
039there'll be pictures taken but we want this to go beyond this we want this to be an ongoing and regular practice a real commitment to the families in our district um to share the resources that will really address the community needs we have a safe storage website w cpss Donnet um slsa storage it is now live with information on hous securely store firearms and how to obtain other safety information and tools the district will be sharing these in other school safety updates and resources with all staff and all families on a regular basis we'll also be connecting our school Leaders with law enforcement to organize events for the for the families and for the students that will be dedicated to educating them on the importance of gun safety you know this is a multi-tiered approach
040there's no one right answer we know that a lot of our families receive messages differently we can't just put this out on an email and hope everybody gets it and so we are committed to making sure that all families get this important information and continue to get it throughout the year uh by working together as a community ad activists Advocates Staff Law Enforcement parents we will make a difference in safeguarding our students from these preventable preventable tragedies so what I'd like to do now is read this rather oversized resolution if you'll bear with me um once we have read it I will entertain a motion um to sign the res or for passage of the resolution we'll take a vote on the resolution and then for board members if the resolution does pass then I
041would invite all of you to come up and sign the resolution here immediately at the board table then we have some law enforcement partners that we'd like to recognize and hear from and then at the conclusion of those remarks we will take a brief recess all right so if I might I'd like to read Fresh Off The Printer whereas evidence strongly suggests that secure firearm storage is an essential component to any effective strategy to keep schools and students safe whereas an estimated 4.6 American children live in households possessing at least one firearm and 4.6 of those live in a household with at least one loaded and unlocked firearm whereas every year an average of 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else that's nearly one unintentional shooting per day and
042More than 70% of these incidents take place inside their home whereas another 12200 children and teens die by gun suicide each year most often using guns belonging to a family member whereas an incidence of gun violence on school grounds the large majority of active shooters were current students or recent graduates and up to 70% 76% of the shooters aged TW 12 to 18 obtained their guns from their own home a relative's home or a friend's home whereas an incidence of gun violence on school grounds more than 90% of active Shooters displayed prior social social emotional well-being challenge challenges whereas research shows that secure firearm storage practices are associated with up to a 32% reduction in the risk of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm deaths and an 85% reduction in the risk of unintentional injuries among children
043and teens whereas the United States Secret Service National threat Assessment Center recommends the importance of appropriate storage of firearms and whereas across the country lawmakers community members and local leaders are working together to implement public awareness campaigns such as the North Carolina secure all firearms effectively andc Safe program which is endorsed by the North Carolina Department of Public and safety and the and also uh by the B smart Campaign which is endorsed by the national parent teacher Association and the North Carolina Pediatric Society which is encour which encourages safe gun storage practices and highlights the public safety risks associated with unsecured firearms school districts across the country have begun to proactively send materials home to parents and Guardians informing them of applicable firearm storage laws and Firearm s let me try that one again um
044school districts across the country have begun to proactively send materials home to parents and Guardians informing them of applicable firearm storage laws and Firearm secur storage best practices and whereas keeping students teachers staff and families safe from from the threat of gun violence should be the responsibility of all adult stakeholders whereas state law imposes penalties on adults when a when a child gains unauthorized access to an improperly stored firearm therefore be it resolved that the board directs the superintendent and the staff to regularly and consistently provide families with information and resources on the importance of secure gun storage the legal consequences to parents and Guardians when a child gains unauthorized access to an improperly stored firearm best practices for secure gun storage as reviewed by local law enforcement partners and mental and Behavioral Health Resources
045at this time I would entertain a motion we have a motion from Mr Swanson we have a second from Vice chair Johnson Hustler all in favor of the motion please signify by saying I I any opposed the motion passes we will now sign the [Applause] resolution just come on it yeah all right it'll go in order one just that one three and five six before I bend over and you get the [Laughter] ball all right if everyone wants to stand up we'll get a nice picture of it come on around all right take one step this way this way there you go all right all right looking here three two smile very good all right thank you thank you okay thank you so now it's my pleasure to introduce some of our important Partners to
046share some brief remarks um first I'd like to call on apex police chief Jason Armstrong Chief here uh thank you board chairman uh and thank you to everybody for coming out uh this evening and thank you all board members for supporting uh this effort we heard a lot of statistics and there are a lot of numbers and they're alarming when we hear all of those things but tonight I want to tell you all a story about a young man named Malachi hemp Hill I'm sure many of you I'm sure probably none of you have heard the name Malachi hemp hill before uh in 2017 I was working in the Forest Park Police Department in Forest Park Georgia where I started my career and Malachi at the time was 13 years old he was 13 years
047old and Malachi happened to come into possession of a handgun at 13 years old he got this handgun and he started going on Instagram live playing with his handgun and he started to become real popular with his friends and his friends would log on and they would watch Malachi play with this gun on Instagram live and unfortunately one evening uh he was upstairs in his room room his mother and his sister were downstairs uh in their um in their apartment and the mother hears a loud bang she runs upstairs she has to kick his door in Malachi had accidentally shot himself in the head and killed himself um on Instagram live in front of all of his friends and so when we hear those numbers we don't often understand the impact that a community has
048when we talk about gun safety and gun storage and this gun had been taken because it wasn't properly stored and that's how it came into the possession of Malachi uh and and Not only was his family and their life forever impacted by that tragedy but think about all of the kids that watched that happen uh on that video and how their lives are forever impacted by that and so we we hear the big numbers and the numbers are alarming alarming but it's it's it's different when you have experienced that in your community and you have a name that you can attach to one of those numbers and so I pray for all of us in here that the efforts that we're taking today and the efforts that we will continue to take will lead to
049none of us having a name that we can attach to that um and that is the power of the work that we can do when we're working together um for the greater good not just our community as a whole but especially for our most vulnerable and that's our young people thank you thank you Chief next up I'd like to get remarks from morisville police chief Peta Costa Chief so my name is Peter Costa I'm the chief of police in F so first of all I want to say thank you thank you for having me here um sometimes I think it's really important that you are recognized you are recognized and and you deserve a thank you and a job well done uh we're very thankful for this uh bringing this topic to the Forefront the
050hard work each and every one of you have done and especially for the staff of Wake County Schools who work with these children each and every day and the hard work we see you and we appreciate you and we look forward to our continued partnership so thank you thank you [Applause] Chief Deputy Chief boy hello my name is Rico Boyce I'm one of the Deputy Chiefs for the Raleigh Police Department I'm grateful to stand in solidarity with my law enforcement colleagues throughout the county as well as all the staff with Wake County Public School System the joint effort and is a testament to our uh shared commitment to prioritizing the safety and well-being of our community especially our children gun safety is just not about laws and regulations but raising awareness and responsibility it's about
051ensuring that every individual who owns a firearm understands the gravity of ownership and fully prepared to handle secure it with the utmost care education plays a pivotal role in gun safety the Secure Storage of firearm mitigates accidental and intentional shootings learning how to properly use and store firearm and understanding the consequences of negligence is critical initiatives and programs dedicated to teaching these fundamentals can significantly reduce accidental shootings and save lives in and outside of our schools Secure Storage is non-negotiable Firearms should always be unloaded and locked away with ammunition stored separately this simple step can prevent curious hands from turning a moment of negligence into a lifetime of regret as officers we have an obligation to enforce those laws that require you to secure your Firearms so that they are not accessible to children when
052the law is broken you will be held accountable within the City of Raleigh we continue to see an increase reported weapons violations there was 502 incidents involving a firearm in the year of 2023 we also seen an increase in legal possessions of weapons as well as care and concealed weapons violations in the City of Raleigh our officers continue to proactively remove weapons from our street from our streets many of which are stolen from vehicles and homes firearm safety is just not about excuse me firearm safety is not just the concern of Fire owners it's a societal issue that demands our Collective efforts each one of us from law enforcement to school board to the school system to every family here has a role to play in this critical Endeavor through education and Secure Storage we
053can work together to prevent tragedies and create a s safer Raleigh in Wake County for all on behalf of Chief Patterson and entire Raleigh Police Department I want to thank Wake County school board I want to thank the Wake County Public School System uh for this partnership and the commitment to create a sa safer Community for all thank you thank you Deputy Chief and finally I'd like to hear from our Wake County Sheriff The Honorable Willie row a good evening and thank you for the privilege of your time I for being late I just completed a meeting at wake Med where I'm working to develop better health care for the inmates that are entrusted in our care in the jail but uh again it's an honor to be here tonight you know keeping our families
054and our love ones safe in our homes at school at the workplace throughout the community is a top priority to all therefore we Embrace this opportunity to partner with the school system with our members of Public Safety and the public health he to meet this commitment of safer gun storage we all know that secure weapons uh help us move a step closer to saving lives and ending gun violence so we're committed and we believe that this uh Endeavor will allow us to educate as well as hold people accountable but also provide the tools and resources in the form of gun locks uh safes and storage boxes for people to properly store their weapons uh stats have shown there's definitely a reduction in uh gun violence uh suicides and as well as uh injuries and deaths
055related to gun violence so again we Embrace this opportunity look forward to working together and always know in the sheriff office you have a partner and a good neighbor thank you and God bless you thank you Sheriff Ro all right so we will have a brief recess now uh we'll U give have an opportunity for our friends in law enforcement to to to mingle I know some people would like to talk to them as well um we'll transition the room and we'll be back in just a few minutes thank you all everyone e all right if we can come back together we still have a lengthy agenda ask everyone to take their seats all right thank you all uh the next item on our agenda is an information item this is a presentation on the
056superintendent's proposed budget by Dr Taylor thank you Mr chair my rice Kake out of my mouth tonight the administration will present the superintendent's operating budget for the 2425 school year uh presented with the uh fiscal challenge of the end of the erra funds Administration has developed a budget that focuses on Wake County's commitment to our strategic plan and the equitable distribution of resources while simultaneously preparing to address the approaching fiscal cliff the superintendent's budget is being presented much earlier in order to provide the Board of Education with ample time to Garner feedback from constituents and craft the final board of education budget to be presented to the Board of Commissioners Administration has worked diligently to address the most pressing needs for the next school year this budget continues to focus on three critical areas important
057to Student Success uh student Knowledge and Skills uh funding is requested to maintain full-time substitute teachers critical to the supporting uh to the support of teachers and students funding Masters pay for the next group of Educators qualifying for the benefit critical to teacher retention funding to support the opening of the new Woods Creek Elementary School in the aage student disposition and well-being funding to maintain the current level of social workers counselors and school psychologists these are positions critical to supporting the mental Health needs of our students that we surely recognize during the pandemic an operational effectiveness funding to support legislative salary increases for employees funding to cover state law requirements of surrendering local funds to charter schools for students uh residents of Wake County attending a charter school funding to support the extended care programs
058that support the bus driver shortage while there are many financial needs to support Student Success this budget reflects the most critical areas is necessary for continued success and at this time I'll turn it over to our chief financial off officer David Neer uh for the budget details David thank you Dr Taylor and good evening chair Hagerty members of the board um if okay great it's already up so what we are going to share with you this evening again it's an information item and it's the first formal step that the board will now work through in developing a board's proposed budget again tonight is just for presentation at your April 2nd work session you'll have a budget work session you'll likely have a second budget work session at your second April meeting and any additional work
059sessions as you deem appropriate in need so tonight we're going to share with you highlights you've heard a few already of the superintendent's proposed budget for um give you a little context of the landscape you also heard a bit there with perhaps one of the biggest drivers of this year's budget being the fiscal transition away from federal pandemic relief funds um going to also share with you potential risks with the budget a budget as I've shared previously is really a forecast of what we think the state is going to do as far as funding related to the second year in their Bal budget which was passed about a year Well less than a year ago um in the first of the two years um a forecast of what we think the county would do or
060at least what the superintendent is requesting of the county or to the board then the board can effectively through the work sessions direct the superintendent and staff to make changes to the superintendent's proposed budget and after any changes are made it becomes the board's proposed budget and then finally um after the county approves their budget which will have the county appropriation in it and after the state finalizes the second year of the buying yeld budget we will bring back recommendations to reconcile the board's proposed budget to the actual funding that is available and is requ required by the state local budgets so we'll start with the state as I shared this coming year is going to be the second year of the Bal budget um understanding the general assembly will convene in April and they
061usually do make some tweaks or changes um to the second year the Bal budget so we certainly anticipate but based upon what was written in the long session last year we estimate will receive an increase of about $291 million of funding with the lion share of that going towards staff compensation the the budget for next year that the state has for classified staff has 3% increases in it and for teaching staff it ranges from anywhere from I think it's in the 7% range down to just below 3% the federal funding as I've said is perhaps one of the biggest drivers of this budget um as we look back on the pandemic we received almost $500 million of federal relief a little bit of that was State funding but the vast majority was Federal and of
062that funding we decided to invest about $35 million into items that recur mostly Staffing um the rest of the funding was invested into nonrecurring things and in the current fiscal year we were able to repurpose and use additional local funding to shift almost $13 million off the federal funding and now on to local funding but we still have for this coming year another 22.9 million of funding to transition off and again the majority of the funding is for Staffing behavioral health support positions counselors social workers um school psychologist School building level substitutes and the extended care for bus riders that we initially labeled as the learning lab that is where we can have formal supervision of students that are waiting on a bus in the afternoon generally um provide snacks to them while they are
063waiting on a bus so that's what that is um we're also estimating reductions in three areas of what are considered local revenues they're not part of the county appropriation though um indirect cost which is a percentage that is charged against grants um is coming down by over $3 million and that is based on we were able ble to increase those revenues to the district by charging indirect cost against the Esser and other pandemic relief funds as those funds are winding down we no longer have that capacity and so those revenues will decrease um we see a decrease um and this we hope to be one time um the court systems went to a new software system unbeknownst to us and as a result the processing of bond forfeitures had some hiccups and so even in
064the current year then into next year we are anticipating a reduction in fines and forfeiture revenues and then finally um the board had asked us to look at we have included within the proposed budget a reduction the student parking fees at our high school and what's included in the proposal is taking the current fee of $200 which has been in place I think for five or six years at this point and reducing it to $175 that will reduce revenues however by just over $200,000 this next slide I'm going to walk you through a little bit um this is the county appropr ration request and formally the budget is presented to the County Commissioners it's not presented to the state it's not presented to the federal government but state law prescribes that the Board of Education
065submit to the County Commissioners no later than May 15th of each year its proposed budget and the superintendent proposal includes an increase in County appropriation of $ 58.3 million over the current year budget and I do want to point out on the right hand part of that chart that is a Reconciliation of how that $58 Million number becomes 58 million it's not quite as simple as just adding up all of the funding requests because there are a lot of different moving parts for example on the just prior slide you had revenues coming down and so that plays in as well tonight we won't get into detail but in one of your work sessions if you would like we'll be glad to get into the detail of that um and both of these charts are in
066your budget document as well the proposed budget also significantly invest fund balance to balance the overall budget to the tune of $ 32.4 million and that amount represents 62% of the unassigned fund balance that was available as of June 30th of this past year the most recent audited financial statements uh it is a significant investment we made similar albeit smaller Investments at the end of the American Recovery uh and reinvestment act funding after the Great Recession ended and so this is part of the bridge of the fiscal transition as well this will require if it maintains at above 50% a waiver of board policy 8101 and the board has done that in the past some of these you heard Dr Taylor speak to so I'm going to go through them quickly just for tonight but
067the local budget adjustments or expansion funding requests would fund the permanent building substitute teachers one at every school um and we are looking at subsequently it may not be a lotted one at every school we may reconfigure that allotment formula um local Masters pay for new hires the board did approve last year reinstating Master's pay for teachers who received their master's degree after the state said we're grandfathering everyone who already has a Masters or is currently enrolled in a program but anyone newly hir that attains a master's degree there is no pay differential effect of July 1 of this school year the board has been paying all of our teachers with Masters that pay differential as we hire additional teachers or existing teachers get Masters that pay differential which is significant comes with a cost
068so this additional funding in this uh bud is to cover those additional teachers as we continue to hire um the student disposition and well-being category that $13.8 million being requested is to maintain the existing social worker school counselor and school psychologist positions do you want add it doesn't add new positions it allows us to maintain the ones we've already got and then under operational effectiveness um the $9.9 million is the amount of local funding that we estimate will be required to implement what the state has legislated for compensation changes in the second year of the binal budget the transfer to Charter Schools the $9 million figure of funding being requested is driven by two different things first that's driven by um the increase in County appropriation roughly 10% of every dollar that comes to us
069in the form of County appropriation goes right back out the door to Charter Schools so with a $58 million increase in County appropriation it's about $5.8 million of that is required to pay charter schools and we're also seeing in our projected student counts and the projections are done by Wake County government staff members Wake County School System staff members and third-party Consultants their projections looking at the number of Charter students next year looking at number of Wake County students show A continuing shift of market share so the other part of that number is driven by that um and then the extended care formerly known as learning Labs um line item is so we can maintain that service and support uh in the coming year it was funded in the current year using eser funds just
070a few other things included in the proposal um we have leases on several of our properties including the building we're in this evening um and we have insurance premiums that are going up just as our personal premiums are going up so the increasing property costs are those two categories primarily increasing premium costs and Lease rate escalation Clauses um we and again we can get into detail in one of your work sessions but we have something called lap salaries which is when a position is vacant the funding that was budgeted for that position goes unused we can use that and create savings if you will we know and recognize that we will have vacant positions throughout the year so we work that into our budget we actually have positions that are in our district that don't
071have funding underneath them because we know we will have these lap salaries to support support them our lapsing salaries though are on a decline for two reasons one our fill rates are going up which is the good news and two we continue to add to the number of restart schools we have and one of the benefits that the restart schools have in addition to their Charter likee flexibility we allow the lap salaries at those restart schools to be used at the school so the school can use those but then they're not available for the district as a whole for savings so that's what the lap salary line item is and again we can get into detail in one of your work sessions as desired the extra Duty schedule is now a living schedule and it's
072based upon the state beginning pave for teachers so as that goes up it requires additional funding to support the extra Duty sched schedule we have funding um included for early early college programming that is mostly to replace State funding that we believe we will not be receiving in the coming years um slight increase due to student membership changes I believe there are three or four positions that are being requested they are new positions in Human Resources we are a human resource driven business over 80% of our budget goes to people employees uh uh $200,000 for two magnet programs and then you'll actually see this last dyem is reduction it's a net reduction the state included in their second year the binal budget an increase to our healthare cost that the employer pays but a reduction
073to the retirement rate so that Nets out to a savings not a cost we may see that change with the short session my prediction is we'll see a change um I believe the board's familiar with this chart it one takeaway I'd like to share with you tonight is the federal funding slice of the pie is getting smaller as the Esser and other pandemic relief funds comes off I think last year it was or two years ago was up around 17 18% now it's drifting back down into what it has been pre pandemic into the 8 or 9% range and the overall superintendent's proposed budget and I'll say it's the operating budget we're talking about this evening not the capital budget the capital budget is what drives the school building program building new schools renovating schools
074life cycle projects that budget has a whole separate budget development process that's independent of this operating budget but it's a $2.2 billion operating budget and to give you a sense of where that funding is invested 86% of it goes directly to the schools and I would posit that you can add 4% of that uh to that 86% pushing it to 90% these numbers we're told how to account for what categories to put them in by the Department of Public Instruction and every school district in the state has to follow the same set of rules but that 4% includes our utilities includes our maintenance and operations for maintaining our over 200 buildings our transportation service that we provide to students so as you can see the vast majority is going out directly to the schools and
075it shows 3% going to Charters I want to note on that that's 3% of the total budget but when it's looked at in terms of just the local budget it's closer to 10% Charter Schools receive their portion of State funding and federal funding directly from the Department of Public Instruction it's only the local funding that flows from the county to us and then from us to the charters so again for the county appropriation for every dollar we get 10 cents of it's going straight back out the door there are some risks anytime we make forecasts or we make assumptions there the possibility the assumptions don't play out as anticipated um I'm not going to go through each one of these but I'm going to hit some highlights there is considered legislation that may come up
076during the short session that may change the amounts of funds that are due to Charter Schools potentially increas in the amount of funding they would receive from school districts that's a possibility child rtion um is an Enterprise fund where revenues need to match expenditures we were able to limit our increase to meal prices to 25 cents in the current year by using fund balance a separate fund balance that's maintained by Child Nutrition to cover what would have been another 25% increase um that Mark Strickland brought to you I believe back in May of 2023 so that's on our radar um talked a little bit about lap salaries as far as legislative impact again it's possible when the legislature comes in for the short session they may make some decisions that increase the amount of local
077funding that is required that wouldn't be shown in the superintendent's proposed budget and the last thing I'll mention to you is the targeted enrollment what that is that's an item that we have not in the past had in the operating budget but we have appropriated fund balance for at the beginning of the year and even sometimes during the year and I believe for the current year the board has approved appropriating just over $7 million and those are resources that can be pushed out to schools for additional teaching positions or other positions as needed a large part of the push out is at the beginning of the year when there may be a class siize issue and they need an additional teaching position and that happens more frequently in a multi-track year round school than in
078a either a single track or a traditional calendar school so that's what targeted enrollment is um and again we just have that on our radar one thing we'll review with you tonight when we made significant progress on but you will not see in the superintendent's proposed budget for this year are funding requests directly related to the four multi-year priority areas um of employee compensation increasing the number of instructional support technicians which is even now more important post pandemic as we've more or less tripled the number of devices in our schools um increasing behavioral health support positions to a National Standard and increasing our funding for maintenance and operations uh staff again to a National Standard but looking in the rear viiew mirror um in recent years the boards have invested over $60 million 64.3 million
079do of local funding additional local funding that's been requested to go towards employee compensation and that's above and beyond what the state has legislated and to give you a sense in 201819 our lowest hourly rate employees May $158 an hour and in the current year that number has grown to now $17 an hour for an entry level position again all these are in your budget book um so what you're seeing are just snapshots from your actual budget document three other priority areas instructional support technicians over the same years we've added 34 additional positions we've added over 2,000 months of employment some of those are not not all of those are 10-month employees but if they were 10-month employees that's over 200 new behavioral support positions and then uh over $16 million has been added to
080the maintenance and operations budget as we work towards those multi-year initiatives it is our intent in next year's budget excuse me the subsequent Year's budget the 2025 2026 budget to get back on this schedule as we get to the other side of the fiscal transition this is just the snapshot of your table of contents at the front end of the book The only reason we have it in your slide deck tonight is to point it out as a resource this book which you all should have a copy and for the public this will be on our website it should already be there um it'll be there in the superintendent's proposed budget once the board approves their proposed budget that document will be loaded and available to the public and finally on the other side of
081you approving a final budget that third document will be added um but the table of contents can take a complex document and kind of give you a road map maybe to assist you in in going through it here's a link again to where you can find the budget document it's embedded um in the PDF that's in assembly and again as I shared it's it's on our website so next steps again um as I shared tonight it's just an information item not meant to get into the details um and now at this point the budget begins its transition from the superintendent's proposed budget to the board's discussion potential direction to the superintendent and staff to make revisions to the budget and then eventually will become the board's proposed budget that again has to be delivered to
082the County commissioners before May 15th as you go through the document you're likely going to have a lot of questions we'll ask that you direct those questions via email to miss Terry kimsey who's sitting over there and I'll get back to miss kimsey in a minute um if you email her your questions um she will gather them all up Farm them out to the most appropriate staff to respond to them we will present the questions and responses at the beginning of your first board work session you can continue to ask questions through this entire process uh that we work through in the coming weeks and literally months um and we'll continue to respond and we will also post those questions and responses on the website along with the budget documents in addition at your work
083sessions that's when the board after we staff reviews The Board member questions and responses that's when the board begins its Dialogue on potential changes that they want to see made or revisions made um you'll have a work session on April 2nd you'll have another one two weeks later as needed the board can schedule as many additional work sessions um as needed and then targeting having the board approve a proposed budget at your first May meeting which would allow us to still get it to the county by the May 15th deadline but as needed the board could schedule a specially called board meeting to approve a budget later but prior to May 15th um as as necessary so that's what we wanted to share with you tonight Dr T I'm not sure if you want to
084add anything as I conclude uh thank you for the presentation Mr Neer and I think you've covered everything that uh we needed to share and so we will uh end with the presentation then thank you Dr Taylor now we did see that there was a whole procedure for question and answer this is the earliest we've gotten a superintendent's proposed budget in my memory so I know that we're going to have a lot of time for questions and discussion and for research um so I don't want to get into anything substantive but if you have a procedural question or a question about timeline uh just so people know it's wcss.org the presentation I just sent you to the homepage but if you do back SL budget you will find it there we'll get that thank you
085Mr hershy we'll get that updated all right thank you Mr Hershey thank you Mr Neer and thank you superintendent Taylor thank you all right so now we move into our public comments section speakers commenting on the night's agenda will be heard before speakers commenting on other topics all other speakers will be heard in order of sign up only the person speaking at the podium will be able to stand again all attendees that are not speaking are to remain seated now if you have to leave uh if you have to leave the room please don't remain in the building as only this room is open after hours the rest of the building is closed if the public comment portion of the agenda exceeds 30 minutes board policy states the board chair reserves the right to conduct
086other board business after inviting the remaining speakers to the podium memb of the public are welcome to offer comments or criticism directed at substantive ideas actions or procedures of the board and of individual board members laws and policies of North Carolina provide that issues or concerns involving individual Personnel or individual student matters are confidential and therefore not appropriate for the public comment setting those offering comments to the board including students may discuss issues and matters of General concern concerns related to Personnel issues or student matters can be addressed but they have to be addressed through applicable wcpss Personnel through the grievance policy or other applicable policies in the interest of maintaining Civility and decorum speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the board of education and must refrain from personal attacks and insults direct
087at the board individual board members staff and most importantly members of the public please please please please remain at the podium during your speaking time address your comments um forward to the the board any materials you wish to address or you wish to share with the board please give them to our board attorney Mr Malone who's sitting here at the end of the table they will be distributed to the board members and they will be made part of the public record uh during public comment you may speak for up to three minutes please note the microphones are adjustable when you begin the green light at the podium will illuminate showing that your 3 minutes has begun a yellow light will light up along with an audible tone when there are 30 seconds remaining when your
088time has expired you'll hear a red you'll sorry you will see a red light and you will hear another audible tone when your time is up the next speaker will be called to the podium speakers are asked to respect the time limit and speak for no more than three minutes and you may choose to speak for less time so we will turn it over to our list of public comment speakers tonight as uh has been our recent practice we will allow our students who are here to uh speak first and have priority so our first speaker will be uh bavi Joi um followed by Gabriela Titus good evening good evening sorry let me just get set okay good evening members of the board my name is parv Joi and I'm a junior at wake young
089women's Leadership Academy and I we my other students sitting in the back um are back again to present our case in the in the months since we last spoke St Augustine university has officially lost its accreditation it is currently pursuing legal action against Sac SOS but with $7.9 million owed to the IRS it is hard to imagine what will come of that today we learned that SAU is moving completely virtual in 2 weeks on April 1st for what we assume to be cost-saving measures so we have lost we have officially lost lost stability and our hope is dripping down the drain what little hope we have is rested in your hands and to give us back what we lost and what we deserve today you will hear from four more of my peers some familiar
090faces some new they will talk about the questions that still sit heavy in our minds we will talk about the insufficiency of the information provided and the plans to save our school we truly appreciate your time and attention through the rest of our speeches thank you thank you our next speaker is Gabriella Titus followed by Elizabeth bellica hi just for reasons of order um I'm going first instead of Gabriella and state your name for us um my name is Elizabeth Bika thank you um good evening to the members of the board as I stated I'm Elizabeth Bika and I'm also a junior at wake young women's Leadership Academy I'm glad to have the opportunity to speak to you you again on behalf of my classmates thank you for your continued attention and concerns surrounding the
091future of wake young women's in men's Leadership Academy in light of the situation at St Augustine's University we understand that Wake Tech classes may be our only option if we decide to continue at wola for our senior year we know that you have made a decision based on your knowledge of each option's offerings and your perspectives on the problems that we will be facing however many wola and WIA students remain in the dark about what benefits and education at Wake Tech could offer us especially in comparison to what we were promised from St augs University we have been told that by transferring to Wake Tech we would become a College and Career promis School and we have not been given an explanation as to how that would affect our opportunities in available classes in comp
092in comparison to what we would have had as a school in the cooperative and in Innovative schools program many students have expressed concerns as to a possible need to choose a concentration which may not align with their career goals we are also worrying if our credits would be able to transfer out of state or even out of the UNCC system like they would have at St Augustine's we as students as one of the most affected parties in this situation don't have a clear understanding of how your decisions will shape our future if this is the only solution the Wake leadership early college students and families deserve timely clear and accurate information about what our early college program would look like at Wake Tech we respect your decision but we hope that you will give us
093information that we need to decide where to spend our senior year thank you for your time thank you our next speaker we'll go back to Gabriela Titus followed by Blair Miller all right good evening members of the board my name is Gabriel Titus and I'm a junior at wck Women's Le Academy here with my peers we want to let you know that we are not here to Simply complain we do not believe that taking virtual classes at Wake Tech is an adequate solution but that transferring us to another 4 University is the only sufficient solution when we first joined the school we signed up to work we forfeited a Traditional School experience from the time that we were at 11 years old but we did it for the promises included in the early college program
094the promise that we'd be able to earn college credits that would transfer to the school of our choice the promise that we would have to cram the promise sorry excuse me the promise that even though we'd have to cram all but four of our high school credits into 2 years it would be worth it because the other two years would be used to accumulate college credits that would offset the cost of tuition for our College of choice the promise that we would gain these credits while experiencing life on a college campus and the promise that we would finish our time here at trans will say that we graduated from our early college school now due to the oversight of the previous warning signs of our partnership with St Augustine University and the lack of planning
095for for for foreseeable Fallout we're experiencing right now this promise has been distorted and we need to resort to frantically finding a sufficient solution the follow of this not only threatens us the current Juniors of wicking women's Le Academy it also affects the sophomores the freshman in the entire established plan of our early college since our first group of juniors in 2014 as said before the only plan that we have been made aware of that has been proposed to take is to take virtual classes at wi techn W Technical Community College we do not wish to look down upon W Tech as is an esteemed Community College within W County however we deserve to be in a program we stand up for with the only adequate solution to this devastating issue being a partnership with
096the for University by the Fall not a scrap the solution of what we were once promised thank you thank you next speaker is Blair Miller who will be followed by Iman Nazir good evening my name is Blair Miller and I am a junior at wake young women's Leadership Academy regarding this possible solution we've been told that there's red tape prohibiting it from becoming a possibility we've been told that there is a one-year minimum time period to transfer us to a new 4-year that this time is mandated in order to provide time for multiple bodies including the school board to communicate and work together to jump through the Hoops required to get us from point A to point B what we fail to understand is why this process cannot be expedited the reason we are in
097this situation is because there was no contingency plan made when St Augustines first became at risk of losing their accreditation or when the university failed to adequately communicate with the board on multiple occasions it was only after we were already attending classes at an unaccredited college that any attention was paid to the matter but for months we felt stranded so now this time around we are pleading with you to fight for us to fix the problem that never had to exist in the first place and please try to expedite this process We Begin our senior year in 5 months we are begging you to use this time more effectively than the last 14 Governor Roy Cooper named 2024 the year of NC Public Schools we need multiple levels of the board and legislature to work
098together to adequately resolve this problem and help us believe this promise prioritize our education and fulfill the commitments made to us we have 141 days until the start of our senior year and every day counts towards finding a resolution and Expediting the process that ensures our future success the trust of us students and our community is in the air and it is up to you all the board to prove us wrong and to earn back that trust thank you thank you our next speaker is Miguel figes followed by Rowan Belo good evening good evening I would like to start by saying thank you for the opportunity to speak today my name is Mike figaris I'm the father of four children who are products of the public school system and three of them have received an
099associates degree um through the Early College Programs my wife and I have gone through public school system as well and we are grateful for everyone who's poured into us and made a positive difference in our lives as a parent organizer for Education Justice Alliance I advocate for the Civic engagement practices at a grassroot level I seek to engage impacted people to achieve a relationship centered public school system that truly values parents and students as decision makers and active agents of change if you look around you you see these are parents and young people here today who are not only part of J but they help guide the organization we speak to you today regarding the proposed budget and ask you move funds from law enforcement to investing in support staff such as school psychologists mental
100health therapists school counselors more nurses and other support staff I ask that you not just go through the motions when allocating budget funds but to think outside the box as well prevent should be the most important factor regarding issues in which sro's are called how can we prevent this from happening should be the first questions asked not what disciplinary action should be taken if there were support staff in place we could lower referral percentages and wouldn't have the need for SRO which clearly discriminates against black and brown students according to the data one way to pay for the support staff is to not allow the voucher program to defund our Public Schools North Carolina legislators owe us Millions to the community for betterment of our Public Schools through the Leandro case verdict people need to
101hear about this injustice people need to hear your voice regarding the Injustice we ask you to fight for these funds to give our children fully funded schools I just gave you two answers to help with all the budget uh costs fully funded schools that give the students the opportunity to Excel and to strive in whatever career they choose fully funded schools where what of our what are our kids going to eat for lunch doesn't exist schools where when you're going through a rough time in your life as a student you can go speak to a support staff for help before anything happens it can be done it can become a reality the North Carolina Supreme Court said that the Leandro money is owed to us so find a way it's not our job to figure
102out how to make it work it's yours and I believe you can you can do this if you really wanted to thank you thank you our next speaker is Rowan Bido followed by April Miller good evening board I touched on this a bit last week but I want to elaborate elaborate on it more today March 31st next Sunday is transgender day of dis visibility although I'm sure one can infer what this day is I'll Define it just in in case trans day of visibility is a day that honors and celebrates transgender people in our communities letting them know that they're loved respected appreciated seen and heard maybe you have a trans cooworker a student a classmate a teacher a friend a family member or even yourself and if you show them love every day you
103really should show them appreciation on the 31st as well I know I like it when people know that I'm trans and put an effort to be more supportive and understand being trans is hard and isolating I feel like nobody cares and nobody really listens and the people who should even the people who should because they're making decisions that would impact me and the whole trans Community I feel like the majority of the world the country the state and even of the people in this room don't want to hear me talk about this issue or hear me talk in general and to be honest I wish I didn't have to but here I am just like there shouldn't be one day out of 365 that's set aside for commemorating Trans people because it should be every
104day I shouldn't have to pause my silly teenager life to come here and ask a room full of grown adults to please see me to please see my trans Piers to please acknowledge us support us let us know we belong let us feel like we belong I wish you could do that every day I wish there wasn't a law that said you can't legally acknowledge a whole demographic of students leaving them leaving them feeling like Outsiders like burdens like mistakes I wish my teachers could see me being harassed specifically for being transgender and they could say something I wish I could just be I wish we could all just be and be in peace which is unfortunately too big too big of an ask so I'll ask for something smaller I'll ask that you please
105acknowledge this day please acknowledge the trans students in the district please for one day let us feel seen and loved we exist in the world in the country in the state in the school district and I know that there's at least one in this room and I think for one single day it'd be okay to recognize that existence thank you thank you our next speaker is April Miller who'll be followed by Katherine Rodriguez good evening good evening honorable board members and superintendent Dr Taylor my name is April Miller and I'm the mother of a junior and a senior at wake and women's Leadership Academy both daughters are currently taking classes at St Augustine University first I want to commend you and your predecessors for the flexible thinking and determination that provided Wake County with Early
106College Programs someone did the hard work to forge this model and provide this amazing opportunity someone went above and beyond the status quo so students could invest early in their higher education for that we say thank you to match your efforts in creating a fantastic program you have attracted an amazing group of young men and young women willing to go above and beyond these students sacrificed being part of a traditional High School experience full of the customary activities and extracurricular options in order to focus on their academics While gleaning skills to become strong leaders through their respective leadership acms you've done good so please keep going St a challenged accreditation issue issues have been public knowledge for years when I inquired about it the issue in the fall of 2022 I was told by parents
107and a staff member it's fine they always work it out my assumption then was that the taxpayer money used to fund this program and the future of these Wake County students was safe under the O under oversight of someone with the Wake County Public School System well we know now that that someone did not sound the alarm action was not Tak even with all the forn knowledge of the issues there was no contingency plan we are here to say the discontinuation of the early college program even for a year is unacceptable instead of punishing students by stripping them of their Early College opportunity we are asking you to work with the local and state leaders to expedite the transition of the early college program to another four-year University for the fall of 20124 we already
108have the allocated funding an amazing staff of admin ministrators and teachers and the students as my daughter said earlier even Governor Cooper has declared 2024 the year of public education we are asking that you work with DPI and the legislature to go above and beyond with these kids to get them on a four-year college campus and to not take no for an answer these kids were willing to go above and beyond with rigorous and accelerated classes for the promise of attending a 4-year College they kept their end of the deal they worked their tails off personally I just learned today that due to St A's ongoing issues my senior will now end her High School career the way she started it in online classes please do not tell these Juniors that they will spend their
109senior year on screens or pushed into an alternative program that limits or defrauds their promise the next speaker is Miss Catherine rodrig yes followed by Christina [Applause] Spears all right good evening I'm sorry um I'm here to talk about the gun resolution but that was amazing by all of those students their parents should be so proud of them so I hope that you can help them um but I'm very excited to be here to support safe gun storage um this is a bipartisan issue regardless of what the politicians in special interests may say none of us want to experience the pain that the families of Sandy Hook walde or Parkland have endured as a country that proudly upholds our Second Amendment rights it's crucial that we ensure the safety of our children around the guns
110in our homes despite our best efforts children do not always listen to their parents it only takes one moment of curiosity anger or sadness to encourage a child to reach for an unsecured gun it could be an elementary school child who wants to show off to his friends or a middle schooler who's depressed or a high schooler that seeks revenge if guns in our homes are not secured this puts all children and the lives of those around them at risk I urge all parents to normalize the practice of asking about safe gun storage in the homes their children will visit this is not a democrat or a republican issue it's about safety let us not fall into the Trap of those who try to divide us we all share the same desire for healthy and
111safe children in schools I want to thank all of you for this resolution but I want to especially thank Cheryl and wing for not falling for the message of division and putting children first thank you thank you our next speaker is Christina Spears followed by Aubrey deorio good evening good evening the kids are all right and their parents too good evening Dr Taylor chair hegerty Vice chair Johnson Hustler board members District staff I'm Christina Spears awake County special education teacher by trade currently serving as the Wake ncae president the Esser transition is finally here we appreciate Dr Taylor staff and the board doing their due diligence to prepare for this budget transition and consider the incredible impact of losing support positions would have on our schools and students about $22 million needed to keep those
112those positions including building Subs are vital with our growing number of vacancies I've been asked what is wake nca's priority in this budget cycle with such considerations like the Esser transition legislative impacts and new schools we understand it takes money to keep the lights on as Dr Taylor has told me to describe those regular facilities and maintenance needs but our priorities have not changed and I want to make them crystal clear here tonight it's not your budget hearing but it's ours we are asking that you commit to the previously proposed multi-year plan do what you said you were going to do and increase the local supplement for all staff being 42% for certified staff and 4% for non-certified staff we also ask that you include pay for coverage for staff covering classes due to vacancy
113as part of that extra Duty line item in this proposed budget I'm really really proud to deliver 2,900 110 petition signatures from 84 Wake County Work sites this evening nearly 3,000 of us decided to unite together through our organizing work of our Public School Workers Union to let this team of 10 know what our priorities are this petition delivery is historic and it's a result of over 100 leaders collecting signatures from their co-workers by talking to them about what matters most to them we know we know know you recognize the need for increased compensation to recruit and retain highly qualified staff and as a reminder we also know fully funded fully staffed buildings impact students safety staff compensation has been a written priority in multiple places last year's proposal and vote last month's board retreat
114presentation and is the first priority written in today's proposal but increasing the local supplement is not included a budget is a living breathing document that reflects the values of an organization it's time to uphold the promise of prioritizing employee compensation and move forward with the multi-year plan if you can show Public School workers a budget that values our needs and the needs of students then we will show up together to the County Commission budget hearings to fight for a fully funded budget our co-workers are highly motivated to unite toward a fully funded budget that keeps its Promise Fund the local increase for all staff so that we can bring a united front to the County Commission thank you thank you our next speaker is Aubrey Oro followed by Lisa Ashworth good evening good evening chair
115Hagerty Vice chair Johnson Hustler board members hello superintendent Dr Taylor and District staff I'm Aubrey diorio a stem teacher at Turner Creek Elementary School and a Cary resident I'm here as a proud ncae Union member to let you know that our school staff needs an increase in Pay we know the bulk of our salaries comes from the budget in the by the NC General Assembly but you can support an increase to our County supplement you have supported employees of Wake County Public Schools because you are exploring bonly pay for our classified staff and they need it you have taken our needs into consideration when planning for the Asser funds you've given bonuses and more we all know knew there would be a transition away from the Esser funds but we still need to maintain seal
116Personnel support positions and building substitutes as inflation continues to impact our rents and mortgages grocery bills gas and providing for other needs of our families we need pay increases to lessen the load on School staff many of my co-workers have two and three jobs just to be able to afford the basics for themselves and their families a close friend left the profession last year because she needed to make a decision between a second job or one job to pay her bills another coworker couldn't be here with me tonight because of her second job I recently filled out the teacher working condition survey I love my school the staff the administration the families the community everything about it I can't see myself working anywhere else I made sure that that was reflected in my responses but
117the one thing they don't ask us on that survey is about our wages at my scho School our main role of educating students is protected within the building but our paychecks don't support our bank accounts and bills if we want highquality Educators working in our public schools with our weight County Children then we need to pay employees a wage that allows them to focus on their main job of caring for and educating students I'm currently working on a leacy project with our fifth grade students when asked what they think will leave a positive impact on their school Community a group responded that all teachers need need to get a raise our students already know what's needed to leave a positive impact on our schools and I know that you do too do what you promised
118by including increased wages as stated in the multi-year plan in your budget to the County Commissioners I'm here with my wake ncae siblings to tell you that we have a p a petition with nearly 3,000 signatures from staff across wcpss demanding a 4.5% increase to our salary supplement for certified staff a minimum overall increase of 4% and $18 minimum wage while continuing the 25 C step differential and 40 Cent grade differential for our classified staff we need a plan for pay for coverage because more work deserves more wages thank you thank you our next speaker is Chris tole I'm sorry our next speaker is Lisa Ashworth Lisa Ashworth then Chris Tuttle sorry to get you out of order there good evening good evening good evening Dr Taylor chairman hey Hagerty and members of the school
119board I am Lisa Ashworth and I am currently a middle school AIG and intervention teacher at Dillard Drive Magnet Middle School and a very proud member of wake ncae our Public School Union this is my 25th year of teaching and I'm proud to say that I received my middle and high school education from Wake County Public Schools however I'm here to tell you you a story just a very short one that in the last six years that I've been employed by this district and teaching here in Wake County Public Schools I have witnessed multiple people leaving the profession beginning of year mid year um end of the year and and it's very disheartening to me um because I you know had never thought about this in my commitment I have recently witnessed in the last
120three years five teachers who left our school system to work for educational resource companies simply because their teacher pay couldn't cut it to pay their bills and their pay was significantly higher than their than their teacher pay three of these teachers were recognized as firste teachers of the year at their schools and they were a tremendous asset to their students and colleagues the current wcpss strategic plan goals that were approved earlier this school year include four essential pillars to this plan they include High highly high quality instructional core Equity focused practices family and Community engagement and high quality wcpss staff along with these pillars are seven core beliefs that show the most important values of your plan one of these core beliefs is a well supported staff there is a strong connection between having a
121highquality staff and a well supported staff they definitely go hand inand in achieving the mission of this District to provide a relevant and engaging education where students are prepared to lead and be successful in our everchanging society my principal Margaret Feldman does an amazing job of consistently supporting our school staff by encouraging us to be the best versions of ourselves as Educators while helping to find the best resources for our students I feel supported and encouraged by my entire admin team unfortunately though principles don't have the power nor the resources to provide the strongest support that Educators truly need this is an equitable and sustainable comp compensation to ensure their well-being and retention last year you as the leaders of our district said you were going to increase staff supplements as part of your multi-year
122plan sadly we will continue to lose strong Educators every day in this District if our school staff salaries do not increase I realize you have no ability to change CH the State Compensation and we are 46th in the nation at the bottom in salaries but you as the leaders have a chance thank you our next speaker is Chris Tuttle followed by Chrissy [Applause] Sims says two seconds I heard the tone I called it I I don't know what the two seconds is there is good evening Dr Taylor and board members my name is Chris Tuttle and I am a librarian at South Garner High School and a proud ncae member tonight I stand in solidarity with certified and classified staff across our district and demand increased wages for all wake staff allocating funds to pay
123staff for more wages for more work and for you to do what you said you were going to do include local supplement raises from the multi-year plan in 2022 and 2023 CNBC ranked North Carolina as America's top state for business in contrast North Carolina ranks close to the bottom in our nation for teacher pay I pulled the staff at my school asking if they had to take a side hustle to make ends meet I couldn't possibly share all the responses in my allotted time so here are just a few I do customer service in the evenings I tutor sell insurance complete taxes and write resumés I coach tutor dogs sit and drive Uber I work a fireworks tent in the summer coach and do Home Hospital I do door Dash and instacart I coach seven
124soccer teams and run a pet sitting business I do Amazon delivery I wait tables and work as a teacher at wine and design I sell custom t-shirts and gifts I cut hair at Sports Clips on the weekends and just today my co- librarian resigned while she loves her position she can't pay her bills she was left with no choice but to leave wake and education for a higher paying salary in spite of our dismal ranking in teacher pay and the additional burden of second and third jobs to make ends meet our teachers and staff still succeed in wake's Mission of significantly increasing achievement for all students by providing a world-class education according to wake the Wake County Economic Development website Wake County is ranked number one Nationwide in Gold Standard teachers I hope you see
125the irony here wake schools are used as part of the marketing strategy by the Wake County Economic Development for attracting businesses to our area yet the majority of certified and classified staff have second and third jobs to make ends meet as one of the largest employers in Wake County we must stand together and demand increased wages I recently watched the film Cabrini and I leave you with the final line of the movie what kind of world do we want and what are we willing to do to achieve it thank you thank you our next speaker is Chrissy Sims followed by Cindy tomin hey Chrissy good evening thank you long time no see good evening superintendent Taylor school board members and concerned citizens I am Chrissy Sims mother of three children and a passionate be smart
126volunteer before I proceed I would like to say a heartfelt heartfelt thanks to all of you for passing the safe um safe storage resolution the B smart campaign is singularly focused on safe firearm storage and keeping unsecured guns away from children it is non-political nonpartisan and endorsed by gun owners and non-un owners alike I know many of you have seen the B smart presentation but I will touch on a few points that I think are worthy of mentioning again as mentioned in the resolution 4.6 million children children in the United States live in a household with at least one loaded unlocked gun many of these children actually know where that gun is stored it is always an adult's responsibility to prevent unauthorized access to guns not a curious child's responsibility to avoid guns on our
127website be smart for kids.org there are a lot of resources and there are two handouts in particular that I would like to briefly mention one is titled talking to your children about guns and it lists some appropriate talking tips for a variety of different age groups this is a precaution not a guarantee the other handout that has become mainstream is asking about secure gun storage at friends and family's homes Where Your Children frequent this particular handout lists sample texts and email conversations that can help navigate a sometimes difficult conversation there are also sample conversations for teenage babysitters that are going into strangers homes it is also hard to overstate the role unsecured guns play in suicide a compulsive teenager coming home from a bad day at school knowing there's an unsecured gun can lead to
128fatal consequences just yesterday NBC News came out with an article and statistics on children being unintentionally shot and killed nearly once a day a child gets their hands on a loaded gun and shoots themselves or someone else last year 2023 had the highest number of unintentional shootings for children under 18 resulting in 411 incidences of deaths and some involving multiple victims I thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you tonight thank you our next speaker is Cindy tommen who will be followed by Melanie Harris good evening good evening my name is Cindy tomman and I'm the mother of a rising senior at the leadership acmy and I'm here tonight to urge you to take action on the current situation at St augustin's un University and let families know what the plans are
129for next year it's been over 15 months since St a was placed on probation 3 months since their accreditation was revoked and you have yet to provide take any actions to provide families with Solutions in the work session today you discussed academic calendars for all the other schools in the district including two years from now for most schools but we don't know where our kids are going to be attending classes in two weeks when St Augustines closed their their doors to students I know it only affects about 150 students who take classes at St Augustine's University but they're just as important as these other kids that you're making plans for two years from now um it's time to prioritize the plans for the 2425 school year for these for these kids um registration for fall
130semester classes at Wake Tech and the other area colleges and universities opens soon if it hasn't already our students need to have the option to enroll in these classes because they fill up and because they have taken all the courses offered through their high school with the uh assumption they would be taking college classes for students who wish to attend the CCP program at Wake Tech and have submitted applications three weeks ago Wake Tech can't process those applications because the principles have been directed by Central service staff not to provide approvals for them to attend that program most of the transfer requests that have been uh made we had to submit prior to knowing what our plans are for next year and they've been sarily denied from staff we have the opportunity to uh to
131request that you can reconsider those but we have to submit those within 10 days and we still don't know what our other options are um for for the students who are athletes their only option if they can't uh live with whatever solution you provide is brought in high school because any other schools they want to transfer nchsaa will not let them participate in ath in athletics for 365 days um it's just time to make make a decision Mo let's move forward whatever that decision is and as you think about the calendars we start school in five months we don't know where we don't know when um if you choose not to continue as a a Cooperative Innovative High School most of these students will be taking the majority of their classes probably at Wake Tech
132through the CCP program and they're going to need a hybrid calendar that if it's no longer exempt from the calendar law it's got to follow the calendar laws but it also has to be a hybrid that considers the school breaks at Wake Tech or wherever they're going to take classes and we need that calendar we need y'all to make a decision and move forward I also want to thank Mr Hershey he's been great with meeting with us and listening to the parents concerns thank you thank you our next speaker is Melanie Harris who be followed by Elliot Brody good evening missis good evening and uh I appreciate you guys offering me the opportunity to give comment um me and my Transportation family have been here ever since the beginning of the school year and I
133stand here as a 12 12 year veteran of Wake County Public Schools and transportation and as a parent and as a proud ncae member um but what I want to talk to you guys tonight is about bus drivers getting paid bi-weekly not just bus drivers but all esps and the reason being is because uh coming back from the summer especially if you're a 10mon driver it is extremely hard which you guys already know because you've heard the stories W County Public School is a wonderful school system to work for however and that is a big however we need some straightening so what does that mean that means that you guys got to pay your employees more frequently you guys are losing great staff to Amazon uh let's see Amazon UPS FedEx and the list goes
134on and own y'all pay for people to get these classes they get their cdl's and then they're out the door I have seen so many bus drivers walk off the job and just turn their keys in because they cannot afford to feed their families me I am a single mother of three if I go and take a second job that means I won't be able to take my daughter to her karate practices I won't be able to see my son play football at Southeast Raleigh high school and I won't be able to let my 13-year-old son who's a student in Oberlin even try out for a sport because I'm going to have to run from one place to the other so what I'm asking is can you guys find a way to to make this
135happen you have the ability to do it because if you don't we will not have any transportation staff at all thank you thank you our next speaker is Elliot Brody followed by Melanie merset good evening School Board good evening Dr Taylor I'm ellot Brody him he him pronouns I'm a school counselor at Banks Road Elementary Loc at in your southern region right smack dab on that fuqu Raleigh line I stand in front of you today as a proud wake NCA Union member representing 100% of my staff 92 co-workers some of who have joined me today to demonstrate our solidarity every one of us has signed this petition asking for the board to prioritize raises and wages in our pay in the budget decisions this spring and with every opportunity you get thereafter I speak to
136you now sharing my truths from a place of deep respect and concern we are passionate professionals you speak of safe schools think of having highly qualified Educators in every classroom think about the IAS the CNS workers the support staff getting what they need in order to grow the relationships and grow our students and their futures this month marks four years since we shut down our building to endure a pandemic I pause to ask the board how are things different since then we took the return from CO as an opportunity to do better but the adversity was has been higher than ever bus driver shortages leading to longer days substitute teacher shortages leading to covering classes and absorbing kids teachers out sick leading to mised instruction student services overwhelmed administrators having to take extra duties people
137feeling burnt out and many of my colleagues leaving their calling for something that could pay the bills the reality still exists today we feel overworked underpaid and we're tired in 2022 Banks Road explored and learned a new way of school culture and discipline we adopted restorative practice model we were trained and coached by by Wake County Public Schools restorative practices team which has since been dismantled due to the lack of funding and a return to the status quo restorative justice is based in indigenous teachings and it has a core belief that we should treat everyone with respect dignity and mutual concern we are all profoundly interconnected that is why I stand here today with my union family to ask the board to treat us with respect dignity and mutual concern by listening to us when
138we say we need living wages for all do what you said you were going to do and include increased local supplement wages in this multi-year plan thank you thank you our next speaker is Melanie Mersed who will be followed by Emily hooks good evening Schoolboard members and superintendent Taylor my name is Melanie mersad and I'm a parent an educator and a B smart volunteer B smart is a public education campaign geared at keeping kids safe from intentional and unintentional gun violence by encouraging all gun owners to secure their guns I began volunteering with the B smart program after 17 people were killed in 2018 at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida but my experience with school shootings traces back to when I was a senior in high school and watched on TV The Terror
139at Coline high school but at the end of the day it's not just school shootings that keep me up at night what weighs on my mind is the fact that guns are the leading cause of death of kids in this country in fact every year nearly 4,000 kids are shot and killed and 15,000 more are shot and injured sadly North Carolina is leading the way with kids 51% more likely to die die from a gun than the national average just this week a second grader was shot and killed in chadburn North Carolina so what can we do about this first off adults lock up your guns kids are getting their hands on unsecured guns at their home at friends homes and stealing guns from unlocked cars Lisa Luton Chief Communications officer reported that families that
140have been debriefed after a gun incident at school often didn't expect that their kid knew how to access their unsecured gun except they did and then they brought it to school to show it off Schoolboard members we all know that our job as Educators extends Way Beyond the bounds of Reading Writing and arithmetic maso's hierarchy of needs has safety just of the need for food and water if our kids are not feeling safe because they are dealing with the trauma from gun violence Trauma from losing a classmate to gun violence or trauma from hearing about a kid with a gun in the next classroom there is absolutely no way they can learn the bottom line school safety begins at home and in our community and I want to thank the school board for pass ing
141the safer gun storage resolution we must act now and educate the adults in our community adults at all times keep your guns locked unloaded and with ammunition stored separately thank you thank you our next speaker is Emily hooks followed by Serena Johnson hey good evening um my name is Emily Hooks and I am a proud wake ncae member I also work at West carry so my face might seem familiar from last year um when I advocated for our school so I want to talk to you about a few things um I'm a little concerned with the budget that was proposed earlier um I didn't see the 4 and a half% like we were promised for um the next few years and so it kind of has actually changed what I wanted to say um I
142work three jobs and tonight I am not able to work one of those jobs so therefore I'm losing some money that pays my bills because I needed to be here to speak about being paid I thought we were going to get the 4 and a half% and I didn't see it but maybe I just misunderstood and I if it's not on there I need you guys to put it on there so when you guys have those disc discussions with you with each other please take everything that we said into consideration and put it back in the budget when I work my three jobs I leave my house around 6:30 a.m. I do not get home until 9:00 p.m. each night that's a lot of strain for me in my 30s I don't know if I
143can maintain that in my 40s 50s and 60s I plan on working for Wake County my entire School career I don't see myself leaving I just don't know if I can maintain what I'm currently doing as I get older so with that said I really really need you guys to put the 4 and a half% back on the budget if it's not already there I also need you to pay us for coverage because when I'm asked to go cover a class I therefore can't PLC I can't plan I can't grade so when do I do it when I get home at 9:00 at night so when do I sleep at all know so then I'm tired and it's just like this big cycle and it's really really putting a strain on me again I want
144to stay dedicated to you guys I need you to stay dedicated to us so please please put it back in the budget if it's not there again I might have misunderstood I really hope it's there the the next thing I wanted to talk about is this I will fight for you guys at the county commissioner level I will go with what whatever you guys put up there as long as you put up what I'm asking um I will go to the county commissioner I will say you need to give what our school board is asking for because you're asking for the right thing you're asking for us to be Prof as paid as professionals you're asking us to be there for our children and that's our number one priority so if you don't ask they
145can't give on now so you got to ask for it you got to put it on there okay cuz then I can take it up to the next level and then I could take it further after that and I want to be in your corner thank you all right our next speaker is Serena Johnson who will be followed by Erica drao hello board and superintendent my name is Serena Johnson I'm a parent of Wake County Public Schools kids and I'm also a parent organizing with education Justice Alliance and we all sitting here with the youth program and the parent program and what I want to speak on is a number of things and everyone has kind of touched on it but one main thing that we haven't been discussing is language barrier we have families
146here that speak Spanish and they're here attending the meeting because we ask them to come and some have no idea what we're talking about and going to have to get a rebrief afterwards about what's going on in the meeting so that's something that we have asked for for the for years now how can we support families who do not speak English as a first language and how uncomfortable it has to be sitting in a room listening to someone speak a language you don't speak and you don't understand and also want to speak on the budget I also attend facility meetings for Wake County and I know this is a separate I didn't know it was separate from the funds until today as far as the budget is concerned and I'm concerned as well about the
147budget and how can we allocate over $2 million for snacks for kids who are waiting for buses but not pay the bus drivers more money with that $2 million I'm a little taking back what was the thought process and setting aside over $2 million for snacks instead of money for the drivers and I also want to speak on to teachers it's how can we get a quality education for our kids I have a daughter who has several poy I have a daughter who have ADHD I have a son who has emotional stuff going on and how can they get the services that they need within the school system the teachers are not being paid how can you adequately educate a child when you're exhausted and how can you you going to do something and don't
148follow through and I just want everyone in the room know that there is voting coming up coming up May and we need to know how these seats are filled and if they're not following through what their promises get them out it's as simple as that get them out the seats and um I want to thank you all for the things that you have addressed that we could we speak to the school board members on you we try to get in contact with them I haven't we haven't met with you Mrs Coffield we have requested to meet with you to discuss things what happened within the school system this is a non-bar Artisan um seat and although you may not believe in what we believe in we are still going to support all students in Wake
149County and we would like to see you in a meeting to discuss those topics and I also want to address since I only have 30 seconds left overall picture of what Wake County is is letting out on how our education system is so supported when we have cap schools in Western Wake County who have limited classrooms to serve to serve kids smaller classrooms but then on the other side of town they're overflowing what's happening with those funds for those cap schools for those schools who are getting overwhelmed with students that's in the classroom what are we doing to address these school how are we doing this just seems like um segregation is what it was what it looks like to me what are we doing to address these topics thank you thank you our next
150speaker is Erica drao followed by Daniel Grant King good evening good evening good evening School Board good evening um Dr Taylor my name is Erica drapo I'm a ready tolearn teacher at vandor Springs Elementary I live in Garner and I'm a proud ncae member growing up I wanted to follow in my mother's footsteps and become a public school teacher she spent over 35 years of her life dedicated to her students and her community I am now in my 24th year of teaching just a handful of years away from my own retirement but there was a time in my career when I truly wasn't sure if I'd be able to stay in the profession I loved for the first part of my career I was a single person struggling to afford the basics of Life on
151my teacher's income during those years I had to work a second job each day I would put in a full and I mean full day in a kindergarten classroom only to rush home change into to my waitress and close and head back to my second job I still look back and wonder how did I make it through those years several years into that exhausting Pace I met my spouse with two incomes now I no longer needed my second job and I could stay in teaching but many other Public School staff have not been able to stay in the profession they love they have had to make the tough decision to leave their career because they simply cannot afford it this was the case for my very dear friend and former kindergarten teacher with the Wake
152County Public Schools she simply could not afford to stay in the teaching profession she had to choose between teaching or being able to pay her rent I still remember the day that she told her kindergarten students that she would not be returning the following year the children sobbed that was their family and she sobbed too our school in County lost a deeply caring and knowledgeable teacher a teacher that created a safe classroom Community year after year filled with laughter and learning the same sad story is happening in every school in our County and it's going to continue to happen our schools cannot afford the high turn turnover that is a result of low pay and broken promises that is why over 80 work sites and almost 3,000 of us have come together through our Union
153to demand change and this is the change we are asking for we're asking you to increase the local supplement including a 4.5% increase for certified staff 4% increase for classified staff and pay for extra duties we thank you in advance for doing what you said you were going to do with a multi-year plan to protect our schools and our profession thank you thank you our next speaker is Daniel Grant King followed by Jenny Clayton good evening good evening it is good being back in this room I hadn't been been in a while um superintendent Taylor vice vice chair Johnson Hustler and chair haggy and members of the board I'm Daniel Grant King and I'm currently an educator with Wake County I'm also a proud member of ncae and I would like to I don't even
154know where to begin because many of my colleagues have already touched on what I was going to say this evening but we have to recognize that there is no secret that teachers are often under valued and underpaid in our society despite the current role that our Educators play in shaping the future of our children many teachers and colleagues struggle to make ends meet to provide for their own families this is unacceptable and it's time for us as a district to take Broad and consequential measures I'm sure to make sure that teachers and educators are compensated and in addition to low salaries our district also struggles with inadequate support for our substitute teachers because when a teacher is absent it is crucial that students have the continuing of Education provided even when that teacher is absent
155so I urge the Wake County School Board to continue advocating for educators and to please do what you were promised that you said you were going to do to raise for all certified staff and classified staff within the uh plan that was described on this evening also investing in our Educators is not only the right thing to do but it is also crucial for the future success of our students because without our Educators leaving the profession guess what happens our students suffer and not only that our Educators suffer because Where do they go they go to other jobs they go to places like Costco and Chick-fil-A and many others who pay more and why is that because the state and our district is failing once again to provide what was promised so I am encouraging
156everybody I'm reminded of a Bible text that says we ask we have not cuz we what ask not and so we must remember that even though there is some work to do we must continue to put our students at top priority thank you so much thank you our next speaker is Jenny Clayton followed by Carol MTH good evening hi good afternoon good evening I'm Jenny Clayton I'm a wake ncae member and and a petition signer um and I am a high school teacher at Cary high so I am here to add my voice and support of paying teachers so that they stay in the county and I want to talk to you about just what it's like when I'm called on to cover a class uh 12 years ago I started at Carrie High School
157covering classes was not so much of a thing as vacancies have piled up and positions unfilled and more teachers um being those calling on to cover classes has really increased it we have every couple weeks you can be sure that you're going to get called on um and that's something I can kind of plan for my week on call sometimes the vacancies or the absences are so much that we get called when when it's not our week but anyway um any way it happens it's a stressful part of the day of a job that's already stressful um in my case specifically I teach immigrant English learners and I teach a three-hour Block in the morning the best time for me I'm a 15-year veteran teacher to plan for my next day is right after that
158three-hour block I literally stand in my space and I think about the interactions that just happened there peer-to-peer me to my students and I think who uh missed something today what should I focus on tomorrow who showed an interest in something today that I want to focus on what did I learn about a student today whether their curiosity or something that's going on with them outside of school that I want to make sure I run down or that I want to it's an area of interest that I want to add to my plans like that that's the professionalism that makes good teaching great teaching our students deserve great teaching um if I'm running to cover a class right after my 3 hours of teaching that it's gone it's hard to recover yes I can recover
159it on my own time after school after my meetings I can try to get myself back in game mode recover that do my grading my assessing giving feedback um but that doubles my commute or I can do it at home that cuts into that work life balance that they tell us is good to have the opportunities for me to conference with my students about social emotional how they're doing it's course registration time which is really important talking with students individually about what classes they have in need those opportunities are lost so I've been doing this for 12 years at kry I've mentored teachers continuously over half of them didn't sign this petition they're not here tonight to ask for fair pay because they quit um that's hard vacancies will lead to more vacancies because it's
160stressful for us who are here and it's hard to see teachers who liked teaching and were good at it leave because of the money thank thank you our next speaker is Carol MTH followed by Willie [Applause] Vic hello superintendent and the school board my name is Carol Muth and I have been a gun safety Advocate since Sandy Hook that's over 10 years that's a decade of caring about gun safety but I want to say one thing first pay the teachers more and please figure out something with the college leadership because they need your help too many of our kids including mine have had incidents with guns at school that's why gun safety initiatives are so important the facts on safe storage speak for themselves you've already heard that 74% of School shooters get their guns
161from home or the house of a friend or relative but this may be the next one may be a fact that you do not know in states where there is widescale safe storage of firearms accidental child gun injuries and deaths decreased by 85% if we can get people to store their guns safely we can save a lot of lives we cannot accept a reality where our children's lives are put at risk through irresponsible gun storage our students deserve to be safe our teachers deserve to be safe and our administrators deserve to be safe too your Wake County resolution on safe storage of Guns is a great start so on behalf of thousands of Wake County Public School students parents and teachers I have two things to say the first is thank you and the second
162is keep going thank you thank you our next speaker is Willie Vic followed by Jennifer lobs hey good evening good evening my name is Willie Vic good evening Dr Taylor School Board um I'm here to speak about the bi-weekly pay on behalf of my uh co-workers um that's a very serious issue and as driving when I was in the process of driving here I was thinking about that we all play a big role when it comes to education from the school bus drivers to the janitors to the cafeteria workers up into the teachers and just last week I experienced what it was like to have a bus uh bus driver shortage um one of my high schools I was dropping off my kids and in front of me was a city bus uh a go
163R city bus and off that bus got were 25 students that got off that city bus and if that's not serious and we're talking about gun violence and everything imagine what they have access to on those city buses I mean they're riding up here with homeless people going to a high school for education and the thing I thought about is that then that we're all important inside of this educational field if we don't do something really seriously for the teachers for the bus drivers for everybody those kids are going to be lost and what I mean by that what I saw last week with those kids getting off the city bus some of those kids that are riding the buses you don't imagine what's going through their mind if we don't show that we care
164and no no more put them on a city bus and then when they get the classes we expect these teachers to Mentor them and teach them their mind is not even thinking about education at that point because think about how they got to school on a city bus they W even there wasn't even a school bus able to get those kids to school 22 kids off of a city bus so I'm saying to you guys take it into consideration what we're saying here tonight don't let it be in vain um there are saying together we stand divided we fall that's the say that I have together we stand divided we're going to fail and until we meet the needs of the teachers the bus drivers custodian workers cafeteria workers these kids their education is going
165to be in vain you know so I'm just saying and I'm begging you please take into consideration everything that's been said here tonight especially with the bus drivers being that we're the first face that they see do something about it it's time out for talk and be about it thank you so much thank you our next speaker is Jennifer lobs hello my name is Jennifer loves and I come to you as a parent of two children that go to awake County Middle School as a wife of a teacher that teaches at a high school in our County and as a public school strong member that supports public schools in our state and an overall supporter of Wake County Public School System I just want to say that this Schoolboard meeting has been one of the
166best Schoolboard meetings that I've been to in the last five years that I started coming to and the reason why is that there are so many different opinions and so many different voices that are sharing with you as you are representatives of our County and the majority of children that are educated in our County are are part of our schools so this is us and I thank you I I want to talk about something as simple as the twice monthly payroll for eligible staff seems like a really simple thing you know as me somebody on the outside thinking oh yeah why can't we pay our bus drivers twice what I didn't realize is one of the reasons why I started getting involved speaking at the school board meetings was a Schoolboard member that used to
167be here told me she says you don't realize how much information and processing and stuff goes on for one little decision and and I didn't like realize that until I started following and and seeing the work groups and seeing all of the other stuff and all these people that you guys have hired that really look at the the impacts and what it what it processes it does start coming from us speaking of ideas and us working together and man there's some great stuff happening and it's not the individual thing about for or against being paid twice a month and I really for me as an outsider think oh my gosh the bus drivers are amazing and and all the other staff you know I wish they would and and also you know some of the
168teachers here that were talking about being paid um and working two and three jobs I don't know a teacher including my husband that doesn't work Aid hustle in order to support their family and he's been teaching for over 20 years I just want to say that thank you for looking at alternative ways to support our staff and our schools because I really think it comes down to how do we raise our school system and continue forward thank you very much thank you Miss robs so at this point in our agenda if you remember when I introduced public comment I said that if public comment exceeds 30 minutes we reserve the right to conduct other board business it's tripled that we've gone for an hour and 30 minutes and it has all been worthwhile and we
169have additional comments that will also be worthwhile but I know there are also people here that are waiting for very specific board action tonight including some of our students so what I'd like to do is move that that concludes our on agenda speakers I'd like to move ahead to the rest of our agenda to focus on some of these important urgent action items and then we'll come back and then we'll resume public comment with our off aggenda topics so at this point thank you um at this point what I'd like to do is move to our consent agenda board members have reviewed our consent agenda is there any motion we have a motion from Mr Swanson to adopt the consent agenda second from Vice chair Johnson Hustler all in favor of the consent agenda please
170say I any opposed all right the consent agenda passes next we'll move into our action agenda the first items we have are consideration of several policies coming to us on first reading I believe our first policy will be policy well uh series of policies 4334 5035 6422 operation of small unmanned aircraft systems uh and drones all right Miss fber we dat just a minute sure all right thank you certainly good evening everyone tonight I'm bringing policy 6422 operation of small unmanned aircraft systems drones for first reading this is a revised policy and revisions are recommended by staff it was discussed at the February 27th 2024 policy committee meeting once adopted it will replace the current version of the policy tonight we request the board's approval of the first reading of policy 4334 5035 6422 operation
171of small unmanned aircraft systems drones all right um in the absence of our policy chair tonight is there anyone who would like to make a motion to adopt the policy on first reading so moved we have a motion from Miss Edmonds uh second from did I hear Miss callfield um are there any comments or any questions for our speaker all right it looks like we had a good thorough discussion it is is there a vote at this time I'll call it all in favor of adoption of the policy on first Reading Please signify this is policy 430 4334 5035 6422 operation of small unmanned aircraft systems and drones all in favor of the policy on first Reading Please signify by saying I I any opposed all right thank you we'll move to our next policy
172on the agenda board policy 7240 drug-free and alcohol-free workplace on first reading all right welcome Dr matilla thank you chair hegerty members of the board um I know when you mentioned the Urgent matters that the public was waiting on you were not referring to these HR policies so I will try to get through them as expeditiously as possible um however the first one is a little bit more lengthy so tonight I'm bringing um 70240 drug- free and alcohol free workplace for first reading this policy was created by school boards Association as part of their policy to lead the schools um and we reviewed this on February 27th during the policy committee meeting you'll remember we agreed to a change during that meeting to include uh the use of tobacco and nicotine products as a reference
173we also um just added a section e duty to report where we said that in addition to the supervisor or principal employees could report to employee relations so we agreed upon those two uh but since that time we we also had the conversation again about about um discrimination against persons for the lawful use of lawful products and that was really in response to specific um CBD and THC so we had that discussion um we did go back and do some review and if it's okay with the board I'd like to walk a couple changes on tonight um as a proposal please proceed okay so the focus of that section was really around the second sentence in section a paragraph 1 if you want to reference that and it referenced hibiting employees from the use of
174CBD or THC regardless of whether it was noted as a controlled substance under state or federal law so after reviewing and and response to the feedback we're recommending striking that second sentence in its entirety that talks about prohibiting um specifically the CBD and the THC but then adding to to um in the second paragraph under Section A adding to the end of that first sentence or other lawful products including but not limited to any legally acquired cannabis products that have intoxicating effects and we really think the deletion in the additional language here gets more at the Spirit of the policy which is to address substances that are either a part of the workplace or um impact an employees job responsibilities and not to try to um regulate things that occur on their own time private
175use um that does not impact the um their their work performance so we also wanted to just add in section A if we did agree to deleting that sentence um just adding anytime this policy is applicable because we do have that language cons consistently so those three proposals we we do think May satisfy the board's concern um and we we present those for you tonight great is there a motion to adopt the policy on first reading so moved motion from Miss Edmonds second from Mr Hershey any comments or questions I will say that when this came up in policy committee I had several questions about its um compliance with the legal use of legal products act and working with the staff and with legal counsel I feel that all of these changes adequately address the
176we've vetted them we've looked at other language and I think this is a great solution any other comments or questions all right all in favor of adoption of policy 7240 drug free and alcohol-free workplace on first Reading Please signify by by saying I I any opposed all right the policy passes thank you great and you will of course see those changes in writing during the second reading of this policy that so that you you can take a look um our next policy is um policy 7241 drug and alcohol testing of commercial motor vehicle operators um tonight I'm bringing that one as well it was discussed also at policy Committee in February and when given final approval it replace the current version um also in 7240 when we talked about the CBD and THC references there
177are also references to the same here in policy 7 241 but instead of returning it to policy committee we're asking for the board's consideration to approve this one on first reading as well staff will go back and continue to study whether that makes sense to alter 7241 at all and we'll bring that back on second read and if there are some substantial changes we can certainly bring it to action as opposed to putting it on consent so that I can review those with you chair hagy I move that we adopt 7241 on first reading with motion by Miss Edmonds uh second by Mr Hershey again just the same concerns that were raised in policy committee staff and legal counsel have done a good job of vetting these we think we have a good solution that
178complies with other state statutes but still maintains the Integrity of the policy and the strength of what we're trying to do and and uh who we're trying to protect in the workplace so uh I also support uh the policy on first reading and the motion are there any other questions or any other comments all right all in favor of adoption of policy 7241 drug and alcohol testing of commercial motor vehicle operators on first Reading Please signify by saying I I any opposed all right the policy passes on first reading next we'll go to board policy 7500 work day and overtime on first reading okay thank you chair heery um not much to go over here we reviewed it in policy committee there was a recommendation to remove the word strictly from the opening paragraph um
179so we we did do that based on the board's recommendation um so tonight we do request the board's approval of the first reading of policy 7500 chair Hagerty I move that we adopt 7500 on first reading motion from Miss Edmonds second from Mr Hershey any comments any questions about the policy all right all in favor of adoption of board policy 7500 on first Reading Please signify by saying I I any opposed all right the policy passes next we'll move to board policy 7501 employee absences on first reading this one um during policy committee there weren't any changes recommended so we're just bringing it back and requesting board approval of the first reading of policy 7501 employee absences tonight chair Hagerty I move that we adopt 7501 on first reading and as I am the vice
180chair of policy thank you yes we have a motion from the vice chair of the policy committee seconded by the chair of the facilities committee Mr Hershey is there any are there any comments or are there any questions about this policy again we had a good discussion I thought in committee all right all in favor of adopting board policy 7501 uh employee absences on first Reading Please signify by saying I I any opposed all right the policy passes on first reading continuing on uh board policy 7505 compliance with state board of education employment policies first on first meting again no no changes here during policy committee had good discussion so we are requesting the board's approval of the first reading of policy 7505 compliance with state board of education employment policies chair hagard I move
181we adopt 7505 on first reading second motion from the vice chair of the fac or the policy committee to adopt board policy 7505 on first reading seconded by Mr Hershey any questions any comments all right all in favor of board policy 7505 please signify by saying I I all opposed all right that passes and then the final policy been considered tonight board policy 7510 uh employee leave on first reading thank you chair Hagerty um the only change we made here during committee was that we had a changed a section reference um in the first part of the policy from section e to section c as we um change some um lettering throughout the policy and I will just point out you know this is a short policy and we have now started bringing the individual
182leave policies to policy committee so staff will start to see some of those specific policies that I think will be really helpful um in future presentation so tonight we're just requesting on the approval of the first reading of policy 7510 leave chair Hagerty I move we adopt 7510 on first reading oh we got a race for the second there I'll uh I'll I I'll take the motion made by Miss Edmonds second by Miss Coffield any questions any comments about the policy all right all in favor of board policy 7505 on first Reading Please signify by saying I I'm sorry 7510 I was going to do that one twice uh board policy 7510 on employee leave on first Reading Please signify by saying I I all opposed all right the policy fastes thank you Dr matilla
183thank you for your time all right uh the next item we have is a presentation from the superintendent on the Cooperative Innovative high schools um and believe this will you present this one directly or do you have staff coming up uh I'll present it directly all right thank you Dr thank you Mr chair and I've had an opportunity to talk with uh all board members individually concerning um our partnership with St Augustine's University and uh the students that attend young men and young women's Leadership Academy so tonight Administration brings forth a recommendation regarding theou at St augustin's University to ensure the future success of students attending Wake County Public Schools young men and young women's Leadership Academy for the past 10 years students at both schools have achieved at an enormous level with recent achievement
184levels of A and B status at both schools graduation rates exceeding the district average and nearly 80% of graduates enrolling in fouryear universities and 7 to 8% enrolling in twoyear colleges both of these exceed the district average because of the tremendous support from parents teachers administrators and all Wake County Public School staff we know that this level of achievement will continue while our partnership with St Augustines university has been a part of this success recent struggles at the University have placed severe strains and our ability to maintain this partnership and not put the College academic components of our students at risk uh St augustin's University is currently arbitrating their sax accreditation uh which once started will contain a 90-day timeline uh for the for the these reasons Wake County Public Schools chose to stay at
185St Augustine University for the remainder of this semester in order to limit transitional stress for students and families and the ability to complete accredited courses for College transfer in light of these conditions Administration will seek to identify alternate higher education choices for students at the Wake young men's and young women's Leadership Academy for the short-term future during the 2526 school year and a long-term partner for a uh Cooperative Innovative high school budget considerations have been developed to support the short-term transition to be recommended for the upcoming school year uh with that Administration seeks board approval for the following recommendations Wake County Public School currently uh um Wake County Public School's current mou Amendment with st augustin's University was signed on 21 January of 2021 with the original you being signed on 6 March 2024 I
186recommend that Wake County Public Schools end the partnership with st augustin's University per theou effective on 1 July providing the 90-day notice required of theou I recommend that the Wake County Public School enroll students taking college courses with the Wake Tech uh uh uh Wake Tech College uh to provide courses to these Rising Juniors and seniors for the 2425 school year and I recommend Administration be given authority to seek a new Cooperative Innovation Innovative High School partner as part of an application uh submission to the State Board of Education for their consideration for the 2526 school year uh and with that I will yield to the board thank you Dr Taylor are there any questions for Dr Taylor I know that you've had chances to speak with Dr Taylor individually so just if there's no
187questions that table I know that they've probably been answered in individual conversations um at this time I would entertain a motion Mr Hershey uh Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to terminate The Cooperative Innovative High School memorandum of agreement between the board and the St Augustine's un and St Augustines University dated March 6 2014 at the end of the 90-day period end at um excuse me at the end of the 90-day notice period thank you Mr Hershey is there a second second uh second from M Coffield I'm sorry from M rice all right is there any discussion Miss abant I just wanted to thank um Dr Taylor and all the leadership team and staff including the leadership at the two um at w and wake young men's I know this has been extremely
188stressful and um for all concerned and obviously in addition to the parents and students but thank you I know the meetings have been exhaustive and late and many and I just thank you all for all your work thank you manam thank you miss edmans any additional comment you dror Taylor I do want to thank you know you and your staff who've been working to try to come up with a resolution to this we heard from students and parents tonight about some of their concerns and anxieties particularly around the future credits what different options might hold and um I know you've assured us privately but publicly I if you want to make a statement about communication with the families absolutely thank you Mr chair we do have a scheduled meeting with parents tomorrow and students um
189uh to share any updates based on uh the board's vote uh tonight um uh we know that this has been a stressful time for students for faculty for staff uh but I want to assure everyone that we've been in a constant mode of trying to determine what is the best course of action for our students so we will uh have a session tomorrow we can answer questions that they will uh certainly and and and surely have for administration uh and then we will plot the course forward uh making sure that we keep them in in constant updates in terms of what we do thank you Dr Taylor all right then if we're ready to vote all in favor of the motion by Mr Hershey to terminate the theou please signify by saying I I I
190any opposed all right the motion passes thank you uh the next item on our agenda technology finance and Communications will be um a recommendation on pay payroll frequency payday frequency I see Miss posie good evening can everyone hear me okay great uh good evening uh board chair Hagerty board members and superintendent Taylor this evening on action you have um a work session item that we shared earlier today uh where staff provided you an update on the payroll frequency along with survey results from staff and some options on payroll fre frequency and this evening I believe you would like to take action on voting on one of those options and Dr Taylor I believe you had something you wanted to share with u board memb as well absolutely um we just say that Administration recommends the
191adoption of Plan B that was shared with the board in our work session which includes hourly uh employees being paid semimonthly beginning in January and remaining qualifying employees being paid in July 2025 Mr Swanson I move that we uh I move that we uh accept the superintendent's recommendation um and proceed with this action so there is a motion by Mr Swanson a second by Vice chair Johnson Hustler I know we had a discussion earlier in work session are there any additional questions or any further discussion all right then we will take a vote on the moot on Mr Swanson's motion all in favor of adopting the superintendent's recommendation to increase the frequency of um uh the payday fre quy uh to a a twice monthly um pay result for staff is described in option two
192uh or sorry is it option two or option b b option b from as described in our previous work session all in favor of the motion please signify by saying I I any opposed all right the motion passes thank you Miss posie thank you thank you Mr chair all right thank you so at this point in our agenda we would go into Clos session but we do have um you know any additional speakers who remained for uh public comment on off topic agenda items I saw that Miss Bilo had left is Joseph Deon present I'm not seeing Mr Deon our next speaker who signed up was Ben Chapman all right Ben thanks for sticking it out with us yeah um thank you for for hearing me out um I'm actually grateful uh that y all
193kind of did that that way um in part because I heard a little bit about how the policy committee was going back and forth with the non-discrimination with regards to the drug enforcement policy um so I'll start mine hello I'm Ben Chapman milbrook High School go Wildcats class of 2012 I'm an eagle scout Library school graduate and history professional and Community Advocate and organizer I want to commend this board for considering Crown act protections I want to thank you sincerely and strongly encourage you to incorporate these Common Sense protection into existing policy cross referencing where necessary some of you may remember that last year I had long red hair um I had two goals when I grew out my hair first I intended to donate it to locks for love and the second I wanted
194to raise awareness and start local conversations about the crown act and inclusive non-discrimination protections tonight I'll advocate for the most inclusive protections possible uh since August 2022 I've been advocating for Crown act Protections in Johnson County I began in my town of Clayton with two arguments one they should consider adding more language more protected classes because the policy they pass didn't even include all the current federal protected classes and two that since 2021 Wake County has Crown act Protections in the law it seemed arbitrary that some types of discrimination were legal just over the county line I was incredibly grateful to hear that protections for hair length are on your mind as you develop this policy a profoundly disappointing ongoing story is that of Daryl George a junior at Barber's Hill High School in Texas
195he has been unjustly sent to in school suspension since August 2023 here in North Carolina um Mia Chavis the mother of 7-year-old Edward Chavis told wrl news that her son's hair her son's long hair is part of their Lumby tribe and Native American Heritage and she refuses to cut it I stand with Daryl and I stand with Edward hair length isn't the only way to make your policy more inclusive uh in section 344 inclusive interpretation of sex and race discrimination Wake County specifically States their intent to interpret quote all legal prohibit prohibitions on sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression and all legal prohibitions on Race discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of protected hair styles local law shouldn't for your policy and I thank
196you for your commitment to create a respectful and open world for natural hair I'll briefly note it's a respectful and open world there was a journalist recently who said workplace uh we can think a little bit bigger than that uh this is about non-discrimination Protections in all areas and aspects of our lives so thank you all right thank you um we have a couple other speakers on the list if any are here uh Carin Hardy all right thanks for sticking it out with us good evening board my name is Carline Hardy and I am here to address the inequity and access to driver education for our students in lowincome and underserved communities in whe County I was hired by way Tech Community College to serve organizations like boys and girls club communities and schools stepup
197Ministries and Big Brother Big Sister to help expose teens and means to post-secondary educational options and career Pathways to help lift them out of their current environments and economic situations in my role I'm connecting with recent and soon to be Wake County Public School grads with job opportunities and paid internships as a work development professional I know how important it is to earn credentials that can open doors to jobs and Pathways otherwise closed due to not having a driver's license earning your permit gaining that Driving Experience in license in my opinion is is a life skill that everyone should be able to enjoy it's no secret that the students I primarily work with aren't on the traditional four-year college track these young people are considering Community College apprenticeship programs or going straight into the workforce
198and it's becoming more and more apparent that our black and brown students are getting overlooked when it comes to obtaining these crucial Milestones Wake County Public School System has only one driver's education contractor that serves his students I've heard countless stories of students not being able to register register because count because classes are filled within minutes of its opening extremely long waight list and a and younger students being placed above older students because their parents are more connected and know how to work the system working with these communities I've heard parents and students being unable to pay the $65 fee for classroom portion or students telling me that they will just wait until they're 18 so they can just go to the DMV to take the test those that know how to drive but have
199never been formally taught or out here driving without a license or permit this is unsafe and illegal but in their eyes how else will I make it to work to support myself and my family I know the buses are free now and that there are free Raleigh go passes for students but let's be real our students are not D using public transportation the bottom line is that there are too many barriers and roadblocks in front of these kids who need the skills and credentials and I propose the county add another driver education company contract ctor and or consider embedding a class inside one of the youth Community organizations that I serve so I can better serve so we can better serve our Wake County Public School students who need this service most I am an
200advocate and a voice for the voiceless who sees a problem and is trying to do something about it and I would greatly appreciate any assistance on this issue thank you for your time thank you our last speaker if he's here is Michael Carpenter is Michael Carpenter present if not that will conclude public comment at this point I would entertain a motion to return to closed session we have a motion from Mr Swanson a second from Vice chair Johnson Hustler all in favor of returning to close session oh Mr malom for the reason for the for the statutory reasons stated uh stated previously all in favor thank you any opposed all right we are now in closed session thank you all uh for coming we're going to continue on our business for who knows how long
201and then uh head on out of here good night e