001[Applause] okay us she but because she's an AKA all right waiting on one do you see Cheryl okay all right yeah all right good evening everyone I'm gonna gavel the meeting into order today is Tuesday March 5th 2024 a little bit after 5:30 and we're calling this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order I want to thank all of those who are watching us at home and all of you who have joined us tonight in person uh Wake County Board of Education meetings are conducted for the purpose of carrying on the official business of our school system public is cordially invited to attend these board meetings to observe the board as it conducts its official business persons who willfully interrupt disrupt or cause disturbances at an official meeting may be directed
002to leave by 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 all right if I just ask all attendees to take their seats I was not intentionally signaling out our board attorney Mr Malone with that sorry just uh poor timing there all right um at this point I see that we have seven members present which is a quorum and so with a quorum I would ask everyone who is able to rise so that we may recite the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation
003under God indivisible with liy and jce all right thank you we will begin our meeting with comments from our superintendent Dr Robert Taylor thank you Mr chair and good evening to you all uh I certainly look forward to celebrating our teachers of the Year tonight so I look forward to our semi finalist uh this week is National School social worker week a time for all of us to show appreciation for our caring and Tess School social workers we have about 130 School social workers who promote positive change by working with students and families to eliminate barriers to learning they provide a link between the home school and Community by providing support services that positively impact the development of the whole child their job responsibilities include helping secure needed resources for our students connecting families to
004community part Partners who can provide assistance helping students to remain engaged in school each day in managing physical and mental health services they are a Lifeline for students and families experiencing difficulties and their work is essential if we are to achieve the objectives set forth in our strategic plan so please take time this week to honor your school social workers for all they do to support student well-being and success tomorrow night at Memorial Auditorium in downtown about 500 students will showcase their talents during the annual pieces of gold performance pieces of gold was launched in 1981 by the Wake County Arts education department and quickly became a favorite for students staff families and the community tomorrow students from nearly 50 schools will Express themselves through dance drama Visual Arts and Music pieces of gold not
005only celebrates the Arts but also serves as a call for ongoing support of an investment in arts education in our district the Arts aren't seen as action but rather as an integral and essential part of the educational experience we prioritize Arts education because we know that the Arts keeps students engaged in school and they are an excellent they are an excellent tool for supporting the development of the four SE skills creativity collaboration critical thinking and communication research has also indicated that students who particip ate in some form of artistic Endeavor perform better on standardized tests I like to say it just makes them better students and the art support our students social and emotional health by instilling a sense of Joy accomplishment and belonging I'd like to especially thank our dedicated Arts teachers for the
006many hours they spend each year making sure pieces of gold is a resounding success I know that each of you uh each year the show is bigger and better and I'm looking forward to seeing our students shine in the spotlight I hope to see you there and if anyone needs an extra ticket I do have one finally this evening I'm pleased to report that our schools found creative and inspiring ways to observe Black History Month here are just a few examples many of our schools held readin and H to highlight books by black authors at wake Young Men's Leadership Academy students and staff performed songs by legendary black musicians such as Diana Ross and Jimmy Hendricks students at Garner mag did High School got to make take in more than 1,000 historical artifacts in memorabilia
007exhibited by the United crowns mobile Museum and our office of equity Affairs coordinated a special performance at Southeast Raleigh madin High School entitled Dare To Dream African-Americans in the Arts I understand they may have caught me stepping on the stage at that particular event uh you can find photos and videos of these and other black history month events on the Wake County Public Schools faceb uh Facebook page delivering culturally responsive instruction is a critical P component of our strategic plan I applaud of all our students and staff who took the opportunity of Black History Month to increase knowledge understanding and appreciation of black Excellence so take a look at this video to see some of the highlights from Black History Month celebrations across our districts and at the end of the video I'll return it
008to you Mr chair school system celebrated black history month in 2024 with multiple events including this storytelling visit by Donna Washington to PO Magnet Elementary School this story comes from the Appalachian Mountains and the African-American storytelling tradition it is called an aing story here we go and his mama said [Music] e you are driving Sanderson High School's image and wise clubs put together a showcase for the entire school that highlighted the contributions of African-Americans throughout history it also featured a keynote address by Apex mayor jock Gilbert so people asking what made you want to become a mayor a mayor wearing gold shoes let me tell you this I want to make gold a moment and all of you will write your own story to make golden moments Central Services got involved as well as the
009office of equity Affairs organized a darare to dream event at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High [Music] [Applause] School [Music] all right and let's just give everyone associated with that a big round of applause I I really appreciate the the dedication and all the effort that went into all the projects this past month you know Dr Janine Perry Campbell did a fantastic fantastic job with that and so many of our schools look to their own history to pull out special events and recognitions we saw it Oberlin Washington um and and many others and I hope we'll just continue to live that history through through the year um superintendent Taylor you covered a lot of wonderful stuff it is um arts and education month and I appreciate you holding up our wonderful pieces of gold celebration um we
010can't talk about pieces of Gold without thanking our great partner the Wake education wake at partnership who has put this uh program together for decades now and it really is one of our our finest Showcase of the Arts that we have I think in like the state of North Carolina in terms of our Public School Systems so um again if you have extra tickets I think some people might be coming for you so be careful with that um thank you also for uh recognizing our social workers and uh this the special month we have to to honor them as we're getting closer to our budget season we know that our social workers and so many of our support staff are such important key parts of our school day in our students lives and um you
011know hopefully we'll we can take this month and some opportunities just to thank our County Commissioners for their support of adding more of these positions increasing the pay and benefits uh especially that Master's pay which is so important to so many of them um I only have a few things to add you know you're going to see out in the public this month the board is really going to come together and talk a lot about issues of security and about public engagement and those two issues in particular I think we're going to balance and we'll see some great opportunities where they come together we're going to have our first meeting of our boards Community engagement committee and uh we're going to continue to talk just um we talked in our work session today about some
012important issues around safety and we're going to bring more of that discussion to our next meeting um it was interesting to see as we get around in the community I know that uh our vice chair uh Miss Johnson Hustler who's not with us tonight she and I and yourself were able to attend the Leadership Retreat for the community Equity leadership team and it was you know we hear a lot about a lot of different groups working in the community and sometimes you know you think different people with different priorities might have things at odds but it was great to see in this case how Community engagement and discussions around safety security and what we can do to stop bullying what we can do to fight discrimination and violence in our schools really all came together
013around that around that meeting and I thought that was a great use of our time and I look forward to more work that we can do with the organization um going on going forward um we did have a few um losses in our community I do I don't want to dwell on it I know we have a happy and positive program but I know that recently we have had um some of our that untimely passage of some of our students and addition some longtime School administrators recently and again just out of respect for the the family's privacy I'm not going to go into a lot of the names and details right now but please know that we're aware and we we do hold you in in in our hearts um the the passing of anyone
014before their time is always a tragedy and I know the schools and the school staff are supporting support Personnel out to those schools for both the students and the teachers as as best available so we'll move on to some more positive news I'll end my comments there and uh we'll start with Mr Hershey I'm sure everyone will find it positive that I have no no board comments tonight thank you Mr Hershey I can always count on you Dr in all right good evening um I want to thank uh Mr Glen carosa and Miss Susan pum for speaking at our recent uh District 3 BAC meeting at Abbotts Creek Elementary School um thanks also to principal Trantham for hosting it and for the uh abbis Creek PTA uh for providing and serving a delicious meal that
015night um I'm sure that the teachers and the staff were um very appreciative of the leftovers they were able to take home um Mr CA and Miss poam gave us a great overview of the issues of student assignment from their perspective and all the factors that they have to consider in deciding how to handle the influx of students due to the continued growth in the triangle and we actually had a work session today to kind of um uh get more details about uh the changes that they have in mind we had a very robust discussion during the Q&A time and there were some great ideas coming from the parents on how to promote our public schools to our new neighbors um to give their personal stories of the great things that wcpss has to offer
016this is really an essential work given so many families are moving into the area and the explosion of school options we have a great Public School System but to be honest we are no longer the only option um I firmly believe that having educational choice is good in this day and age because one size does not fit all it is not productive for us to trash the other school options because parents all have valid reasons in their own minds to look elsewhere our responsibility as a district is to provide the best education that we can so that wcpss stands out as the superior offering people say that the gra grass is always greener on the other side and that may or may not be true always um but is there something about our own grass
017that needs fixing or amending is that the reason why the grass on the other side looks Greener I know that by the time my grass looks sickly the damage has already been going on for some time but fortunately it is not a reparable um are we bold enough as a district to ask the question of why parents need to look elsewhere for their kids education with all the accomplishments and successes in uh our district are their things that we can do better have we somehow broken that Bond of trust with our parents or is the school system bureaucracy making it difficult for parents to advocate for their children we cannot measure our success solely by our accomplishments and successes and we do have plenty to brag about instead we need to look at ourselves and
018see how well we are meeting the needs of our children and our parents if we are not doing something right or if we are have broken that trust with our parents we need to fix it my hope is that our efforts to increase Community engagement uh will allow us to better listen to our parents and find some uh common Solutions thank you thank you next we'll go to miss Edmunds thank you um just a few things so I wanted to reiterate how Magnificent the program was at Southeast righ High School the black history event um that was put together by the office of equity Affairs I don't see Dr Chavis he could be behind that big column somewhere but um it was really outstanding and I know there was a ton of work that went
019into that multiple schools participated but I would love for that to be an annual event so I'm putting that out there in the world I'll say that that to that department directly um that although it's a lot of work it was just incredible and something I think the celebration that we need and um worthy of an annual event in my opinion we I want to thank senior staff all all staff involved in the retreat that we had on February 23rd I also want to thank our board leadership and Dr Taylor for putting all of that together that was another thing that was a ton of work and I just I thought it went really well I thought we had um extensive good time together it was a 9 to little after 6:00 p.m. full day
020um but very worthy of our time and I I thank you all um that were involved in organizing that and finally I want to thank everyone that came out to my BAC last night at Washington Elementary we I took inspiration from several other board members that have done breakout sessions uh in my uh history on well my short term on the board just over a year my bac's have been more where staff presents to the group and you know we invite questions and we have discussion but it's we needed something a little more Dynamic so we did two breakout sessions one on artificial intelligence where uh parents and Educators got to discuss what concerns they have um as we as a district look to implementing developing new policy around AI so that was a great
021discussion and then the other uh topic that we discussed was Community engagement because of the fact that we've got this new board level committee that we are starting so um lots of great discussion and I wanted to thank the staff and the community members and the BAC BAC members that came out I believe the next District 5 BAC the last one for this school year is going to be May 13th it's a Monday night but um that that date will be forthcoming and it'll get posted to the website and it's a public public meeting and all are invited to attend thank you thank you Miss Edmond Miss mafy um I just want to say congratulations to our semifinalists that are here um thank you for being here on your teacher workday um it's it's always
022great to be recognized even though that doesn't always happen and I just want you as you're here as we're once we're done talking we'll move into your part of the program we promise um but take it in because you don't always get to see this recognition um you might get a hug or a high five from a student or maybe a hey thanks or a gift card from a parent um but we know that you have a whole team of other teachers behind you but today I want you to take the time to let yourself be honored um and to our your supporters that are here your administrators and your friends and your family members um I just want to extend thanks to you all I know as a former teacher having that family or
023those friends that could be that ear when you had a rough day or could celebrate when you finally broke through and reached a student is a huge thing and it's not easy to be the loved one of a teacher um my husband used still hates putting things High um up in the classroom he's much taller than me um and so I just want to say thank you and please make sure you give yourself that time and permission for you to be celebrated at for the great and wonderful people that you are thank you Miss mfy we'll go to miss rice I'm going to be short too um my 14 days of being on the board so I'm super excited about that just want to run down just really to say thank you uh to everyone
024thank you so much for being here I'm a strong supporter of Educators and teachers I think you guys are amazing um I do want to say I had an amazing time I think I followed Dr Taylor almost everywhere he went in the district over the past 14 days we were in the same spaces but had an amazing time time at Shaw University Zan black history um and other programs that we did Southeast Raleigh I really want to say thank you to everyone that welcomed me in these past two weeks uh that were our superintendent or our chief of schools Dr Robertson Dr Ellis um Lisa um um Luton and um Mark Strickland thank you all so very much that met with me I just really want to tell everyone thank you you so much for
025being able to share such amazing amazing gifts that I got those great goodie bags I didn't want to forget the schools that participated Carnage en low bu con just you all were absolutely amazing and so I just really want to give a round of applause to our district to our schools to our amazing um Educators and just really wanted to say thank you and um we'll have our first district one will have its I'm District Four I'm sorry will have its first BAC meeting on April 22nd at 6: p.m. at night Del elementary school so we're moving right along to join in with everyone but I just wanted to say thank you everybody thank you Miss rice and it it doesn't seem like it's only been 14 days you're fitting in really well all right
026uh Miss Coffield thank you um to celebrate Black History Month we were all invited to share um the evening as Dr Taylor said um with the very talented Southeast Raleigh High School um D to dream I often talk about the talent in our schools and the children and what they bring to their clubs and stage and I just I can't say wow enough it was you were it was wow um the energy on stage the crowd energy it was just incredible to see that Community come together and the talent and smile that were up on that stage from Bug Elementary School absolutely adorable to the older students that was just they just left some crazy Steam on that stage um it was just incredible and so is the audience so I'm proud of our Southeast
027rally students and thank you for the invitation it was wonderful I do hope that they continue that each year and you know celebrate um their students there my board advisory meeting was this uh was last Monday we talked about mental health and resources we also did some break outs and collaborated with uh the different age groups uh elementary middle and high school to share ideas and see how we can come together um and where we can close the gaps um our next board advisory is March 18th and staff will join us so that they could share about some more re share about more resources and how we can connect and get the care that we need to our families students and staff this week is read Across America it's a nation a nationwide event it
028highlights and encourages students to have fun with reading um and I just want to reiterate that you do not need to have schoolage children in order to volunteer you could sign up at any of your local schools just contact your local school or contact me c callfield at wcpss.net and I will get you to where you need to be um but you could go in and volunteer a couple hours of your time an hour of your time however much you can and if you um cannot physically offer your time please consider donating some books to our schools um I will keep it this short as well because we will shortly recognize the great crowd that we have out here and I want to congratulate all of the wonderful teachers among us thank you thank you
029Miss Coffield and I'll leave it to Mr Swanson to close us up all right thank you chair hegerty and let me start by saying happy women's History Month um happy social uh worker appreciation week and uh um yes I just want to reiterate the great things that was happening at the dare to dream it was so great to see our talented students um and also the piece that I was surprised and I get mention was the baby pictures um of of those so great to to see you know the great leaders that we have in those wonderful baby pictures um I also want to thank the Apex Elementary School for allowing me to read to their kindergarten students um this week for last week rather for Black History Month um and I'm also looking forward
030to reading to students at barwell and Kingswood Elementary uh Friday for R Across America week um and my BAC meeting will take place on March 11th at Salem ele school that will be our last BAC for the year and then on March 14th Senator Gail Adcock commissioner Cheryl Stallings and myself will host a Western Wake town hall on school funding this event will start at 6:00 p.m. and it will take place at the Apex Town Hall there is some RSVPs that that are out there and I will push that back out um and there was one other thing but if I missed that please charge it to my head and not my heart oh I've also the polls do not close until 7:30 so if you are yeah so if you have some time make
031sure you go out and vote use your voice as your vote to take place in this primary election so um happy voting and Mr chair that's my comments all right thank you well with that charge Mr Swanson we will expedite our matters um the next item that we would have on our agenda would be approval of the meeting agenda uh Miss Coffield I believe that you had a motion you wanted to make first yes um during our last meeting when I cast a vote um I it was recorded that I was a nay and I don't know if that was just a misunderstanding if I didn't speak loud enough or softly I just would like to move the record to reflect that my intent was to be a nay on the agenda item for that
032for the uh Grant request we need diverse books so I know it doesn't change the outcome but I just wanted to have that clarified thank you okay thank you Miss Coffield um let's see do we need a motion for that or do we just enter that I think we can just enter those comments to the record okay um all right so let the record reflect Miss Coffield that uh that she had intended to vote nay on the action item Grant proposals we need diverse books held at um our last Board of Education meeting which for clarification was February oh sorry was uh February 23rd 2024 all right motion to approve second um so we have a motion to approve i' heard meeting minutes but I'm actually asking for the motion meting agenda all right motion
033from Mr hershy uh second for Mr Swanson all in favor of approval of the meeting agenda please say I I any opposed all right we will proceed with our agenda and the first item our highlight tonight is from Human Resources I'm looking out there for either Dr matilla there he is all right Dr matilla let's I'll turn it over to you to kick off the show good evening chair Hagerty members of the board superintendent Taylor it is my pleasure to bring to you this evening the 2023 24 Wake County Public School System semi-finalists for teacher of the year it is truly a joy and an honor to play my small part in helping to recognize These Fine Educators and also do want to give one more um thanks to the to the crew behind me
034who are mostly filled with colleagues and principles friends and families also to support these teachers teachers never do this for the recognition but oh is it nice to be able to recognize them for their their hard efforts um the few times that we get to do it so in addition to this evening's recognition and award that Dr Taylor will present each semi-finalist will receive a little swag bag compliments of weake County Public Schools and a Chromebook compliments of Lenovo um so we're thankful to them for for their donations and awardees when I call your name please come up to the front and be greeted by Dr Taylor and remain upfront until all recipients have come forward so first ran bergund mil Brook Magnet High School 9 through 12 agriculture teacher Heather Campbell score academy 9th
035through 12th grade English as a second [Applause] language Juan Cruz Buckhorn Creek Elementary fifth grade teacher Nicole DRC wend Magnet Middle sixth grade [Applause] math Susan Enis leisel Road High School Career and Technical Education Health and Science [Applause] teacher April gendler blockheart Elementary intervention teacher [Applause] Mary Beth Grunwald Sycamore Creek Elementary fifth grade [Applause] teacher Monica Hall Timber Drive Elementary kindergarten [Applause] teacher Tena Howard Sanderson High 9th through 12th grade Air Force jrc [Applause] teacher Kelly hurry Laurel Park Elementary second grade teacher Joanna clager AB comes magnet element kindergarten [Applause] teacher Whitney Masterson Mills Park middle 8ighth grade science [Applause] teacher Matthew May Green Hope High 9th through 12th grade English [Applause] teacher Julie Marto kiny Diller Drive Magnet Elementary first grade teacher Madison Parker Alon Ridge Elementary special education ecs1 teacher Karen Ray Diller
036Drive Magnet Middle sixth grade [Applause] math Allison Reynolds East Wake Magnet High [Applause] biology Ashley Smith zebulin Magnet Middle seventh grade English language [Applause] arts Kelly Vander molan bam Elementary K5 cross categorical resource [Applause] teacher Maria Wilkins Milbert Magnet Elementary second grade [Applause] teacher all right Lorie Rutherford's taking a picture that must mean I got them all um all right good we do look forward to Dr Taylor and the surprise Patrol recognizing the 10 finalists during the first week of April uh but for now semi-finalist please turn and face the board to be recognized by chair Hagerty and members of the board semifinalists congratulations you know this is always one of the most exciting times of the year for us only follow you only exceeded by the naming of the finalists and then ultimately our
037our 2024 teacher of the year you know Dr matillo asked me to give some remarks but I'm telling you what that's a landmine it's like when your kids ask you which one you love the most so of all the great prizes and recognition that might be available I recognize that the greatest gift I can give you is your time so I'm going to conclude my comments and then what I'd like to do is after I encourage everyone to give all of you arousing standing Round of Applause we'll take a recess of about 10 minutes 10 to 15 minutes to let everyone take some pictures and then you all can clear out and enjoy the rest of your night thank you all so much and we're happy to present you this semi-finalist Hest [Applause] all right
038and we'll stand in recess for about 15 minutes thank you congratulations congrat conratulations thank you for e so we have add some what's that um same amount of time just uh some students one student signed up but they had three using this dividing up the time so I talked to rod and got it clear all right everyone if you'll take your seats we'll come back into order all right welcome back everyone we're now going to move into our public comment portion of the agenda speakers commenting on items 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 one person at the podium at a time please all the
039attendees that are not speaking are to remain seated if you have to leave the room when you when you're finished please do not remain in the building as only this room is open to the public After Hours the rest of the building is closed if the public comment portion of the agenda exceeds 30 minutes board policy states that we can reserve the right to conduct other board business before inviting the remaining speakers to the podium members of the public are welcome to offer comments or criticism directed at substantive ideas actions or procedures of the board and 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 public comment settings for these those offering comments to the board
040including students may discuss issues and matters of General concern those other matters related to Personnel student matters those may be addressed through other applicable wcpss policies or directly to wcpss Personnel in the interest of maintaining Civility and decorum speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the Board of Education those of us up here and must refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff and most importantly members of the general public and other speakers please remain at the podium during your speaking time any materials to share with the board should be handed to our board attorney Mr Rod Malone here at the end of the table either before or after your comments during your public comment you may speak up to 3 minutes please note that the microphones are
041adjustable when you see the green light at the podium it will illuminate showing that your 3 minutes have begun a yellow light will light up with an audible tone when there are 30 seconds remaining in your time when your speaking time is up you'll see a red light and 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 3 minutes you may choose to speak for less time all right now on tonight's agenda in particular um board members we do have a revised agenda our first three speakers though are each going to speak for one minute I believe if that's correct um each all right so we will start with uh Jake Sue
042speaking followed by Mason depri good evening Jake oh okay hello W County School Board my name is Jake Zoo me and my team wanted to take a special moment to recognize the new new year in our community it is the most important holiday in Asian culture and is celebrated across all of Asia and Southeast Asia in countries such as China Vietnam and Korea it holds a special place in the hearts of millions the Asian population is rapidly increasing in way County with more than a 100,000 residents celebrating this cultural holiday during this holiday season our families get to reunite and embrace our cultural heritage this time of year was made for sharing memories passed down from Generations it is day it is a day that we as asian-americans can come together to celebrate this holiday
043we believe that the teacher that the new new year should be a teacher workday for four reasons one acknowledging this important cultural celebration is not only a step towards inclusivity but also reflects the diversity of Wake County Asian students and parents alike could spread their cultures their families celebrated to their Community states such as California and New York and even Chapel Hill and inth North Carolina allow their students to take the day off and celebrate this holiday thank you the next speaker is Mason Dupri I'm sorry that's the name that I have on here is that right is this sunny um I we're adding another speaker I guess okay so two way county is our Multicultural Community with cultures from all over the world that deserve to be celebrated as a big part of our
044community Asian people have made great contributions to building our diversity the North Carolina Lantern f Festival held in ch held in carry brought out 216,000 residents in Wake County and during 2023 alone these festivals were a major success for Wake County in aiding its conquest of a more diverse Community three We Believe recognizing the diversity within our student body and fostering an inclusive environment are essential to the values we uphold in our educational system by making Lunar New Year a teacher workday we not only acknowledge the cultural richness of our community but also demonstrate our commitment to embracing and celebrating cultural heritage of our student and their families excuse me just uh for the record since it doesn't seem like I have them in order here would you mind just stating your name into the
045mic my name is sunny Z thank you sunny all right and so is this Mr Mason Dupri yes sir all right good evening Mason you may begin when you're ready four schools that we attended throughout our elementary Years celebrated and diversified its cultural celebrations by creating activities based around the Luna new this brought much joy to children in Wake County elementary schools and we want to share this remnant of joy joy to children in Wake County elementary schools and we want to share uh with other children in our community by making Lunar New Year a teacher workday children across Wake County can celebrate this holiday annually it's important to recognize that taking time off from school during the lunar year would benefit the entire Community regardless of which Community One belongs to Wake County is
046a diverse community that has helped Foster strong connections among its people shaping the way that we live the lunu new year is a special occasion for celebrating and connecting with family and friends as well as a time of healing and renewal this proposal wants to change future school calendars and create a more inclusive environment for students across Wake County along with the rest of the Asian community in W County we thank you for considering this proposal and thank you school board thank you all right our next speaker is Rowan Belo Rowan hi guys um today I want to talk to you about bathrooms um again um I think that single sty restrooms need to be placed in every school and I know that might be difficult since schools have already been built and so there
047was like specific things set aside for specific things but it's not impossible um for example the General Assembly Building in Raleigh was built when women's rest without women's restrooms because it was when women couldn't be inside government buildings so then they just like converted like storage closets into women's bathrooms so like you could do that um um and I'm sure that um every school has like at least one thing that you could do that with um single skull restrooms are beneficial for a number of reasons and I think that um everybody would have something to gain from them first of all it's a it's a private and safe place to just use the bathroom um because a bathroom that one person can use at a time would be much safer because it would lower the
048risk of fights which I I don't know if that's like common but I witness those in the bathroom like more than once a week um and um it's also more private and it's not so much of like a community Gathering space um um because I think that it's kind of odd that people just like hang out in the bathroom when I'm just there to use the bathroom um and um people also go to the bathroom at school to do like bad things like vape and smoke and all that jazz and so having a single St restroom would be a way to get away from that um and the biggest reason that I would appreciate single stall restrooms um is my own personal safety bathrooms aren't a safe space for Trans people and an incident in
049Oklahoma earlier in February is just one example of why um next Benedict Was a person just like me a 16-year-old High School sophomore who identified as non-binary like I said just like me um they were brutally beaten to death in the bathroom just for being a queer person who wasn't afraid to be a queer person again just like me so now I'm more than terrified I don't want to get my head bashed into a wall until I lose Consciousness and die from bum force trauma the next day um I really just think that single Stell restrooms would be an amazing idea and I ask you to please consider it um and also March 31st is trans day of visibility which is a day to acknowledge and celebrate our existence and contribution to our communities um
050so on that day you should make sure to take a minute to tell a transer that you see them and support them and love them thank you our next speaker is coming of there are no speakers speaking on agenda topics so our next speaker will be Margaret Belo coming on our off agenda topics we'll give you just a minute all right good evening Miss Belo good evening uh superintendent members of the board I stand before you today as a mother deeply concerned about the implementation of s sp49 and its potential impact on the safety of gender diverse students in Wake County Public Schools the recent tragedy of NEX Benedict a non-binary student brutally attacked within their school highlights the dangers faced by our children due to their gender identity s sp49 threatens LGBT Q Plus
051students rights by restricting discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation fostering discrimination and violence as a leading District in North Carolina Wake County Public Schools must reject s sp49 prioritizing the safety and well-being of all students let's send a clear message that our schools are places of acceptance and equality I urge you to stand on the right side of History protecting the rights of gender diverse students perhaps on March 31st trans day of visibility our children deserve NE less now I'd like to turn to another pressing issue the use of restraint and seclusion techniques in our schools research shows these practices escalate situations disproportionately affecting marginalized groups and causing long-term harm which will negatively impact the achievement ability of students subjected to such techniques Alternatives like positive behavior support and trauma-informed Care have proven effective
052in managing challenging behaviors safely and constructively in the end with both of these critical issues let's prioritize evidencebased options for addressing the situations as well as Humane approaches to create safe and supportive educational environments for all students thank you thank you our next speaker is Mr Joseph Deon who'll be followed by Susan book good evening some of the most controversial issues that have come before the board in involve uh social trans transition of children who feel they are transgender this includes books on gender identity use of pronouns and bathrooms School sports and whether to inform parents and the de debate is highly emotional on both sides and has become politicized although I don't know why it should be I'm sure none of you want to make decisions regarding the health and well-being of children based
053on politics instead the the clinical evidence for gender affirming care needs to be examined in a dispassionate way the school board needs to do this because social transition in schools is often the first step toward uh gender affirming care therefore I'm providing two articles to the board by Dr Cala who is head of adolescent Psychiatry at tampier University in in Finland tampier University hospital she was put in charge of their new gender identity clinic in 2011 she wrote the the first article summarizing her clinical experience for a general a audience because this issue is so important in in society and the second article came out just two weeks ago in British medical journal me mental health it it analyzes the mental health record of patients suffering gender dysphoria in in Finland and the statistics on
054suicide and I'm I'm not suggesting that these are the that this is the only article to read but this is a landmark study because the entire health history of all citizens in Finland is is entered into a database thus this study in includes all patients un unlike many others that have relied just on those who have responded to to voluntary followup surveys it uses clinical observations rather than self assessment ments and it's longer term now I know none of you except one is a medical doctor but the moral responsibility Falls to you to evaluate these studies the best you can because your policies impact the health and well-being of of Children and adolescents so well thank you thank you for your your consideration thank you Mr all right our next speaker is Miss Susan book
055who'll be followed by Katherine Rodriguez good evening Miss book good evening this isn't easy but I have to say restraint and seclusion isn't normal although it was said in the student achiev meeting that restraint and seclusions aren't all bad I'm here to say it it is all bad for someone to get to the stage where they believe their only recourse for safety is restraint or seclusion something truly awful happened in a classroom if not then your use of restraint and seclusion was never Justified and a good hard look at bias must be undertaken I listened to the meeting and you all left out something significant and important the word trauma trauma is what our children feel when they're held down or confined yes kids like mine can get disregulated but my child could barely stand
056to have clothes touching his back during a meltdown let alone a person holding them down sometimes my child was held by a stranger to him sometimes too hard we don't have numbers for how many times my child was restrained it was in the Years you all reported zero restraints I was sometimes told by staff or teachers over the phone or in carpool I have no paperwork I do live with a child who experienced this trauma as early as kindergarten my child felt unsafe at school for many years so yes I'm glad to begin this dialogue to tell you that when you use the same room as a calm down space that you do for seclusion it causes confusion fear and yes trauma do I trust that that door will remain unlocked or will I be
057locked in like last time when I was dragged in there by force that space longer is calming for a child children view restraint and seclusion as punishment sadly we've normalized the abnormal we've normalized these techniques for disabled kids and kids of color as a parent my elementary school told me it was normal for dealing with meltdowns it isn't the racial disparities in our data should be unacceptable and shameful yet in our tone so far we've normalized the abnormal I urge you to look at the position of folks like the National Alliance for mental health who urges schools to eliminate the practice of restraint and seclusion if you're only using it for safety how many meltdowns does it take before you look deeply into the environment surrounding these children in our schools the trauma from this
058practice stays with you stays with you as a child stays with their family members and caregivers I want to start a real dialogue but it must begin with recognizing that restraint and seclusions are not normal practices they cause trauma and yes are bad for all children on a happier note please remember March 31st as transvisibility day thank you thank you our final speaker for the night is Katherine Rodriguez good evening hi uh restraint and seclusion violate the basic human rights of students and support a harmful cycle of trauma and neglect they perpetuate systemic injustices particularly impacting marginalized communities it is unacceptable that these punitive measures continue to be disproportionately applied to black students and those with disabilities the recent presentation to the school board underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reforms despite recognizing racial disparities
059and the traumatic impact of restraint and seclusion the school system and board have not proposed significant changes these techniques fail to address underlying behavioral issues and often exacerbate them especially for students with disabilities who res who deserve dignity and respect the Reliance on restraint and seclusion reflects a failure to provide adequate support and resources I stand with families like Joselyn pe's um and uh and her uh uh whose child suffered fear and Trauma due to restraint and seclusion it is disheartening that board members did not show a willingness to move away from these practices espe especially when Alternatives such as positive behavior support and deescalation techniques are available the racial disparities in Restraint and seclusion incidents also underscore a broader issue of systemic racism and implicit bias within our education system data shows that black
060students are already more likely to be subject to discipline in general and are more likely to be identified as intellectually disabled or having emotional disorders compared to other students black students are also disproportionately subducted to these punitive measures perpetuating the school to prison Pipeline and further marginalizing communities of color I Echo the calls of board members TOA rice and Tyler Swanson um for increased training on Behavior Uh deescalation and the empowerment of Educators to address student needs effectively all teachers not just a select few must receive comprehensive training on supporting students with diverse needs and recognizing the individualized nature of each child's education plan creating safe and nurturing learning environments requires proactive approaches prioritizing empathy and understanding schools must adopt evidence-based practices considering the root causes of challenging behaviors every student deserves a safe and
061inclusive environment free from harm or discrimination thank you thank you this concludes our this concludes our public comment period uh the next item on our agenda is consideration and Adoption of our consent agenda is there a motion second we have a motion from Mr Hershey to adopt the to approve the consent agenda seconded by miss mfy all in favor of the motion to adopt the consent agenda please say I I any opposed all right all the items on the consent agenda have been approved we'll next move into our action agenda first item we have is under academic achievement I believe we have Jill McKinnon speaking to us about uh learning together hi Jill hi good evening um good evening chair Hagerty superintendent Taylor and board members tonight I am requesting approval for two contract amendments
062um one for learning together Inc and the other for Frankie lemon school and development center Inc um both learning together and Frankie lemon are licensed community-based developmental day centers with whom Wake County Public School System contracts to provide educational and related services to meet the needs of students who have a high level of need students served in the developmental day centers are placed by an IEP team in this setting based on their unique needs Wake County Public School System special education services in collaboration with our office of early learning monitors progress ensures the IEP is implemented appropriately and remains responsible for the provision of a free appropriate public education continued partnership with developmental day centers is a key component to ensuring that the district serves three and four year olds in regular early early childhood
063programs developmental day Center Grant funds are made available through the State Board of Education through an annual application process students who are eligible for the grant funding meet specific criteria based on the level of educational and related service needs um and those are directly documented on the IEP funds are allocated in monthly increments for up to 10 months um for a school year and may be used towards salaries of teachers instructional assistance and related service Personnel such as speech therapists occupational therapists and physical therapists the developmental day centers across the state have been advocating for a decade at the state level for a grant rate increase um for quite some time their monthly Grant amount was $1,004 per month per eligible student um following our initial contract approval for the uh 2023 24 school year
064the state did increase the grant rate by $346 a month so it is now $1,350 per student per month uh the contract amendments here for approval tonight reflect this rate change in the grant funding um so staff request approval of an increase of $2,240 to the learning together Inc contract for a total contract of $ 68,9 um this contract provides services for up to 44 preschool students in our district all right all right thank you Miss McKinnon um are there any questions about the learning together program miss mafy a motion to approve the contract we have a motion from Miss mfy uh for approval I heard a second either one I go with uh Mr Hershey any discussion any questions Dr in thank you I I pulled out of um consent U just I wanted
065to highlight the good work that is being done through those uh enters and it is really money well spent thank you absolutely thank you thank you Dr ring it really is an opportunity for us to kind of like hold up the program and tell people more about it and the good work that it does at this point if there no more questions or additional comments we'll take a vote all in favor of approving the funding for loaning together Incorporated please say I I any opposed all right the motion passes thank you so miss McKenna you have another presentation yes um the other contract is for another developmental day Center um Frankie lemon um so this is for approval of an increase of $183,300 um to the Frankie lemon school and developmental center Inc contract for
066a total contract of $733 500 uh $733 $520 um and this contract provides services for up to 41 preschool students and 12 um school age students the school age students that are served in this are um kindergarten students who are under the age of six thank you m Miss McKennon Miss maffy motion to approve the contract with Frankie lemon we have a motion by Miss mafy and an aggressive uh second there by Mr hershy not making any doubts enthusiastic um and again I think I think the idea here is not that there was a lot of debate around the Franky lemon Center but just that it does wonderful work and that uh this was a great opportunity to talk about it uh Dr ring I know this was also on your list are you have
067any comments on Frankie lemon um I actually had a tour of it when my daughter was uh in that in that age range and it it it's a remarkable place and and I was so glad that it has grown since then uh I think they are just down the street from Wake Med Now I believe yeah they are on Carl Samberg that's right do Dr Talon if you saw it this weekend when we were going by to the post Center but yeah it's right there in that new space and they're doing really well and they do great work for us so we have a motion to approve funding for the Frankie lemon school and developmental center if there's no other debate any other questions all right all in favor of the funding please say I
068I all opposed all right the motion passes thank you m McKennon and with that unless I am mistaken I think we are due for a motion to go into closed session motion to go into close session for reason stated on the agenda I have a motion from Miss mafy a second and a second from Mr Swanson so we will go into close session for the statutory reasons cited in our agenda um to protect confidential Personnel information under General statute 143 31811 to protect student information protected under gs115 c42 family rights and Privacy Act and to consult with the Board of Education attorney um preserve attorney client privilege due to uh current leg litigation TS Ms versus wboe um also uh Genesis Wallace by and through Janine Wallace and Janine Wallace versus WC booe and Wake
069County Superior Court and CP buing through TP and KP versus wcboe um which is in the uh 20 238c 5329 in the office of administrative hearings and finally to instruct board staff for negotiating agents concerning a position to be taken honor behalf of the board of negotiation of price or other material terms of proposed contract for the acquisition of real property in Wendell North Carolina all in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed all right we are now en Clos session thank you very much e