001for spe okay ch you would spe right e on e for good evening everyone it is Tuesday February 6th 2024 at 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 you who are joining us here in person tonight Wake County Board of Education meetings are conducted for the purpose of carrying on the official business of the school system the public is cordially invited to attend board meetings to observe as as the board as it conducts its 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
002comments or other disruptions disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with North Carolina General statute 143 31817 and at this point we would ask all attendees to take a seat remain seated we do have a quorum tonight um Miss mfi is not here but Mr Swanson is joining us electronically by webx so uh with seven members we do have a quorum now I'd like to ask everyone to rise if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you everyone as we open the meeting we will turn to our superintendent Dr Robert
003Taylor for his comments this evening Dr Taylor thank you Mr chair and good evening to you all and thank you for joining us at uh today's or tonight's board meeting I have a lot of good news to share with you this evening starting with the 47 magnet schools that have been honored by magnet schools of America with National Merit Awards 14 schools were named to top Schools of Excellence 10 named Schools of Excellence and 23 named schools of Distinction this marks the highest number of awards for Excellence our district has ever received in one year schools are recognized for demonstrated commitment to high academic standards curriculum Innovation desegregation and diversity and consistent delivery of high quality education since 1982 our magnet uh programs have served as a national model promoting academic achievement and divers first
004student populations clearly the tradition continues to this date so again congratulations to the students families and staff of all these outstanding schools I also have some very encouraging news to share about our efforts to support academic recovery following the covid-19 pandemic researchers from Harvard University and Stanford University earlier this week released their education recovery scorecard comparing learning loss and Recovery in school districts across the country the study found that math and reading overall scores for grades 3 through eight have essentially returned to prepandemic levels in Wake County this puts us well ahead of the state of North Carolina as a whole I think this is great news our academic recovery also has outpaced the other school districts in the state of similar size I believe one critical factor in this success is the intentional investment
005in our staff using Federal Co relief dollars as well as local funds we invested in hundreds of new positions to support students that included new intervention teachers school counselors psychologist bless you sir and social workers we also added one full-time substitute teaching position at every school and our principles have talked about the tremendous difference that that makes and we provided our employees uh with four retention bonuses of $1,250 each uh contributing to a staff retention rate that was the highest among our peer districts uh our staff is our greatest strength and our most critical asset when it comes to student achievement this study shows how important it will be to maintain the Strategic strategically and strategically grow our staff even when covid relief funds expire and so that is why we want to be explicit
006about the importance of our supporting our staff and how we need to compensate them uh appropriately now speaking of our hard-working staff this week the National School counseling counseling week a time to recognize our school counsels for everything they do to support students and families the work of school counsels has never been more vital to Student Success the pandemic has demonstrated in no uncertain terms how critical it is to support the whole child and school counselors do just that addressing both academic and social needs even before the pandemic this board Rec recognized the need to increase our student support staff and has worked with our County Commissioners and more uh to add these this essential personnel and so I want to share um I had an opportunity to visit the state board meeting this past
007week and there was the diamond um uh the North Carolina counseling Diamond award it's a state award that they give out and so schools were recognized in the state that received the diamond award and all these schools were at the State Board and so I want to read the names of all of these state recognized schools Mills Park Elementary School Wake County uh Brooks magnet Museum Elementary School Wake County Silver City Elementary School that was chattam County noose River Middle School Wake County Roseville Middle School Wake County Wake Forest Middle School Wake County Garnet Magnet High School Wake County and score academy me Wake County and so what that shows us is that at a at a state recognition level Wake County swept the board and so I think that is something that we definitely
008need to celebrate next uh next week is love the bus week a time for all of us to show our appreciation for our bus drivers our schools always do a great job finding ways to celebrate drivers and I know this year will be no exception look for photos of these celebrations on social media by searching the hashtag # wcpss loves the bus I'd also like to take the opportunity now to express my gratitude for our drivers they take pride in the fact that their work gives tens of thousands of students the opportunity to learn grow and succeed every day so we can't say enough about uh how we recognize our bus drivers and lastly February is Career and Technical Education Month a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of CTE Partners at
009the local state and National level so our school system is fortunate to have more than 700 dedicated CTE professionals who put students first and so with that I will yield my time back to the chair I do want to recognize uh this is Black History Month I think this month is done month has done so much in recognize recognizing all marginalized populations and we have seen that expansion across so many different celebrations I do want to uh recognize that this month uh we celebrate Black History Mr CH all right thank you superintendent Taylor couple things to talk about tonight um a couple of things I would appreciate you lifting up uh the national counseling week I mean I could just know from my personal experience School counsel has played an important role in my life
010and if it wasn't for my one of my high school counselors Miss frell I would not have gotten my college applications finished and submitted and it would have been an entirely different different story so just just you know it's so important to lift them up remember all year but especially this week so thank you for that recognition uh also we had the uh event earlier today I got to see many of you uh the tools for schools opening our community partner wake Ed partnership is continuing this project it started in 2022 making uh classroom supplies available for any of our Public School teachers that want to come out and get them since opening in 2022 they've raised um and distributed almost $770,000 worth of classroom supplies for students in our classrooms last year they had
011about over three I guess what 3,300 of our teachers that were able to come in and teachers in every school every Public School in Wake County were able to come in and take advantage of that service this is something that you know is provided through our partner uh with the wake at partnership several people in the community Business Leaders Community leaders that come together and through their generosity find ways to support our schools support our teachers and support our students so we're very thankful for them in return I've promised that I will do my best to uh encourage people to come to the store to volunteer spend a little bit of time helping out Distributing these supplies sorting supplies we have generous donations from the community but they all come in together and we have
012to get them organized and available so teachers can get in find them and move on and then of course if anyone's interested in providing these supplies through a local Drive in a work in a neighborhood or church or Community you can contact the Wake Ed partnership for that too um It's a Wonderful service the new store is located at 1816 Capitol Boulevard right in the heart of Raleigh it's right off the belt line at the old Bobby Murray Chevrolet site and they've done a lot to make that site look a lot better than it used to look in in past years so again please uh if you're interested lend a lend a helping hand to the folks at wake head partnership with the Tools for Schools store now um in addition to Dr Taylor's uh
013comments and then we'll have a public information item on this but I also want to wish everyone a Happy black history month and I thought one of the things that we could do uh especially is take an opportunity to recognize some of the Trailblazers that we've seen here in Wake County in our own public education system you know there's there's a rich history there's a national there's a National History there's a state history but just even Wake County Public School System has several individuals you may or may not be aware of but whose name should be lifted up and honored this month and I thought it would be appropriate one of the first that I wanted to recognize was Dr Bob Bridges uh Dr Bob Bridges was the first black superintendent in Wake County Public
014Schools I have his name on my high school diploma he was superintendent when I came through and you may know that Dr Bridges was the father of Dr Randy Bridges who is our interim superintendent who I know we all think so highly of um those if you don't know about his father Dr Bridges was an administrator here in Wake County um at the height of this District's efforts to integrate the school systems we had the merger between the county and the city school systems and uh you know the the Dr Bob Bridges had been a principal at Hunter Elementary at Crosby Garfield Elementary which eventually became Crosby Garfield 6th Grade Center and then after the merger he was one he was he served as the district's first black super intendent and really had to put
015policy and practices into effect to help integrate the schools and help develop our fledgling magnet school program so we moved away from a policy of forced busing to try to encourage more voluntary integration and Dr Bridges was able to really Pioneer a lot of those programs so you know in a way he's responsible for so much of what we've enjoyed here and what makes Wake County unique from a lot of other school districts especially school districts our size um recognizing the history of our own School Board I tried to go back and pull a couple of names um when our school school board the Wake County Public School System was created was created you know from the merger between Raleigh City schools and Wake County schools and I wanted to recognize um another former School
016leader uh the late Vernon Malone who was a former state senator former County Commissioner uh here he's had some distinguished off Offspring but I'm not going to name any names but he was also the first black chairman of the Wake County Public School System um and father of our board board attorney Mr Rod Malone um this was one this was someone who came before my time I had to research a little bit about her but miss clonia Wimberly was not only one of the first black teachers to integrate Wake County Schools but also became the first black chairwoman of the Wake County Public School System you I was familiar with ariet Webster and Rosa Gill she was with Vernon and she had served with Vernon so um I want to lift up Miss clonia wimberly's
017name as well and her role now I had to do a little bit of information on this and I might need some factchecking we know the first Schoolboard chair uh male and female but then who was the first black member of the school board in Wake County and so I had to go back um I believe that it was um a Dr Nicholas Franklin Roberts going way back to the end of the 19th century 1897 he was an educator uh Professor I believe of mathematics a preacher and played a prominent role in Shaw University I don't know if he was president or Provost but had been president for a very short time okay but then was one of the first elected members also a Raleigh City Alderman so it goes back a long ways and
018then there was a significant gap between his service and our next Black School Board member MERS but that is an important part of our history finally we have some Trailblazers of our own currently on the board for years starting way back with uh Dr Roberts we've had African-Americans who served on our board of education but we had never had two African-Americans serving at the same time on our Board of Education until the election of not then Vice chair but now Vice chair and former chair miss Monica Johnson Hustler who joined with Keith Sutton for for the first time in W County's history that we had two black school board members and then in 2022 we made history again for the very first time in our County's history when we had three black board members elected
019with Mr Tyler Swanson who's joining us virtually joining Vice chair Johnson Hustler and our former member Miss Tara waters for the first time so it's recent history but it's still history and so I just want to these are historic firsts we want to recognize them and they should not be taken for granted because you saw the time it took from our first member all the way through to the situ the time when we might have three members serving on the board on its own so thank you for your service and that concludes my remarks and I'll turn it over to Vice chair Johnson Hustler thank you very much and some of you may remember I had the great Fortune to go to the historical marker for Dr um Franklin Roberts which was a great which
020is actually history I didn't know until I attended his historic marker so thank you for lifting that up chair Hagerty um I had the great opportunity of knowing both um Senator Malone and Miss Wimberly who I got to know when I ran for school board because everyone reminded me that the two of them she what they were on different boards when the boards merged one on City and one on County when they merged essentially they were historically should be captured as the first time two black members served together but a lot of people don't capture that history because it was during the merger and so uh we did a great deal of history I can't take credit Miss Allen did a great deal of that history so that we could actually accurately reflect um and
021literally it was almost 30 years to the date when I joined Keith Sutton um as a second black board member and we were able to acknowledge the the trailblazing work that people have done so thank you very much um for lifting that up and certainly um one of a teacher who I will say her name um Miss Oliver actually assistant principal took a very wonderful photo when we did the uh March at Southeast Raleigh High School of myself Mr Swanson Miss Waters and Dr Taylor and it was at that moment that none of us had realized that that was also history um and so I will forever keep that picture and it's currently posted to my social media um and I think it's important to say here while we have so many students in front
022of us you never know when you'll make history and sometimes you don't know you made history until someone actually lets you know that and so just a reminder that representation certainly matters um because again I moved here and got to uh know Senator Malone very well and would have never imagined that I'd be sitting in a seat to speak to literally did never imagine sitting here and being able to speak to standing on the shoulders of such Giants that I've had the opportunity to meet um so I'm extending that to our young people who are in the room to hear that um and Mr Swanson is not here but also extending the fact that um he is a very youthful board member and so also recognizing um that age is also a representation that we
023often assume that people look a certain way or a certain age when they can create history but many of you can are creating history right now your own right so um thank you to our students and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak directly to them today um um especially because this month is important and I tell people all the time while it may be the shortest month of the year I celebrate Black History 375 uh 365 and so should you um and so thank you to my colleagues um Dr Taylor has already mentioned um our magnet schools as well as our diamond and ramp Awards which I will just highlight Garner uh Magnet High School in addition to getting their Diamond award also got their ramp award which many of us as
024board members um are a part of so congratulations to all of them for their hard work and that's was especially um exciting I hear from our school counselors who were um able to be in person to at the Schoolboard meeting as this week is um recognizing our school counselor so for for all of our young people and Educators in the room don't forget to thank a school counselor for their work this week um and that concludes my comments thank you Vice chair Johnson Hustler at this point if he is ready and available I'd like to call on Mr Swanson joining us via WebEx thank you good evening everyone can you all hear me I can't see you all if you're giving me thumbs up sorry yes we hear you just fine Mr Swanson thank you
025perfect thank thank you um like we're all align with our remarks this this evening but um I just want to emphasize that you know this is a black history month is American History Month and these these injustices that we've witnessed came out to be something that was so beautiful um and Miss uh chair heg you already mentioned a lot of my talking points tonight but I I'm honored to to serve and to be a representation this is this is historic for all of us and in the 48 years that we've only had black eight black um school board members um and so that's that's historic and I hope our students are able to see themselves in everything that we do um I want to thank uh Dr Taylor for joining District 9's BAC meeting last
026week um where we were able to really take Vice chair husters approach and do some breakouts before and come up with some topics for Dr Taylor to address so thank you for being flexible and and engaging with us um I also had the privilege a couple of weeks ago I think of joining Vice chair um Hustler and we toured Connections Academy and Crossroads Flex which are two amazing schools that we have uh all across this this District but really two they're near and dear to our hearts and so um just want to give a great shout out to principal Perkins um for their hard work at connections um and principal Patrone at um Crossroads flex and so I um believe that is all my remarks I seem to have left my notebook at home um
027that has some more remarks so I will leave it there and just close by saying um um originally when Black History Month was created back in the 19 early 1900s with Dr Carter G Woodson it was uh negro week uh in between the history in between the birth date of Frederick Douglas and uh uh President Lincoln those were the two that they had had symbolically chosen to to leverage their great work um and now we have went from a entire month and so I think that history is very important that we remember the wise and also understand that um we just don't need a special day or special month to celebrate everyone's contributions but we live into those moments and when you see something that's not just that's not moral that you speak up and
028you speak out and that you create your own uh Legacy and not just the Legacy for today but the Legacy for tomorrow and so I hope our students are able to lean into their power and be those change agents that they want to see because the world is yours and it's up to you to figure out how to make that Beloved Community your own so those are my remarks for the evening so thank you so much thank you Mr Swanson Miss Coffield welcome back we are glad to have you if you are ready uh please share your comments thank you I appreciate that is this thing on okay um okay I am glad to be back too thank you uh the last month for me was a bit of a challenge um some medical issues
029so I appreciate uh love that I'm back and I appreciate all of the patience that everybody has um and both all the the not only the board and helping me keep up with everything that was happening here but also U being patient with the emails and trying to answer everybody back so thank you for your kindness and your messages um I mentioned this challenge um because we also speak about mental health many times and we will continue to do so um the reference of silos has come up and um it's a description of the challenges that we face so it really describes the wall that could prevent progress and it's um the very conversation that happens between those silos is what could break the walls down and the barriers and open up great conversation so
030that we could find out the best ways that we could approach either for a patient a student um or anybody that's in need of mental health and I mention this because in the middle of a big organization taking over in this case the medical field um struggles with everything from appointments connecting doctors phone calls everything that went went along it was a long process and it was very frustrating and I realized all of these walls that stood in my way and it wasn't restrictions on my end it wasn't me not trying to be diligent or ask the right questions it was just a challenge of the process and what was uh all the technicalities that were standing in the way um I know that many people around me share this frustration uh especially when it
031comes to mental health and the struggles of trying to reach out and find resources and I realized how much the silo effect stood in the way of moving forward getting to the next step there's such a disconnect there so I mean I know we see this in corporations we see it in the medical field we definitely see it in the mental health field and sometimes even our parents come to us you know with the same frustrations even the students feel you know disconnected from their school or or from their parents or from their teachers and not knowing where to go so way County doesn't stand alone with this I think this is a nationwide thing um and but it's our responsibility to tackle our challenges here with our children so I'd like to accept this
032this Challenge and ask the board to keep the word silos in Our Minds when we approach these challenges it's between those walls that those good conversations are going to get to the heart of our struggles I truly believe that we can turn around our challenges and turn around even you know our some of our successes and make them even better so I hope this year we could all focus a little bit more on that space in between the space between that connects the dots the space in between those silos that's a valuable piece that could make a difference in the outcome that being said each year I pick a word last year it was engagement and although I don't stop plan to stop on that goal and I see that our board in general is
033really kind of moving forward with that so and I I think that's going to be wonderful for us to also Empower our parents and families um to come and work with us as a team so I had te time we met with wake Med um at trying to open up some some more doors and possibilities in regards to our mental health uh worked with other organizations and entities to try and get our communities in more involved and the engagement with families and Community is going to be imperative towards the success as we come together as a community for the success of our students this year my word is going to be purposeful so purpose of my time and space and good use of being on the board which means focusing on my original goals for
034our students and our teachers bullying and discipline mental health our curriculum parent engagement academic gaps I think a lot of these discussions have happened over the past year and I really look forward to the movement in those categories I love this new um engagement committee that has come up and I hope that it really brings brings our community together even more along with the support of Dr Taylor and the work that he has in store after his first 100 years so I look forward to all of that and I want to wish everybody a happy Black History Month I love hearing all of the history that you're sharing and everyone that you're lifting up and you're right it's not just a day an all year celebration of your accomplishments everyone's accomplishments and I hope that
035our children do hear that message because they are capable and I mean very willing you go into the schools and you see these kids who are eager and I hope they get that message they can accomplish anything they want when my kids were growing up I always used to tell them Reach for the Stars you never know what you'll find and hope each and every one of them do continue to reach for those stars and I'm excited to see everyone perform today that's it thank you Miss Coffield we'll come back around the other way uh Mr Hershey if you're ready uh sure thank you um first I just want to uh say how incredibly important it is that we recognize Black History Month I look I'm very much looking forward to the presentations and I
036was in here listening to some of the singing prior and it was it was wonderful and fantastic and I'm looking forward to them sharing that with everybody um you know black history is American history and for far too long in this country and I intentionally say it that we whitewashed history and we did not recognize the vital role that black Americans and black people have played in this country and so um it's very important it's a very important month both here and and it should be across this country it's important that and and I'm going to bring in that you know some people continue to try to to dismiss this month and the importance of it and we need to push back always um I find it particularly important as a white male to say
037we have to push back against that we have to push back against those that want to ban books that take away and try to diminish the accomplishments and everything that uh black people have all the roles that they have played in this nation and all their accomplishments and all the just everything that they have done and we have to just push back and it is my role and my job to do so um so I I look very much look forward to celebrating this month and I again the presentations that are coming today and I also want to acknowledge though that in Wake County I think we do a very good job of teaching Real History just based on so far based on my son's experiences and what he brings home to me and what
038he talks about and so that's a a shout out to his teachers at Douglas Elementary School for for their for the job they are doing as well um turning away from that uh and I'm going to apologize to uh the indispensable Melissa Allen over there because I do not think I told her that uh the next BAC meeting for district 6 will be February 26 at Martin Middle School from 12: to 1 and it will be a facilities focus and for those of you that may not know who Melissa Allen is um she keeps this board functioning she is uh so vital to everything we do and keeping us on time in in the know and I appreciate her so much um I want to congratulate all of our midy year uh graduates uh a
039lot of Ceremonies over the last couple weeks I had the honor of attending Sanderson High School last Thursday um wonderful presentation and I just wish all of our graduates who uh all the best in their uh future endeavors um I this last Saturday uh I underdressed for flag football at Roseville High School it was very cold out um but I got the opportunity to to uh watch our student athletes play um it was fantastic I hope that the plan is for us to move forward um in warmer months and not in January and February uh with flag football um and and if we do so and when we do so that we make sure that we are uh giving them the proper respect through uh the equipment and the facilities and everything that goes into
040it it's a great start but I I just would like to see us build on it and all the uh student athletes that I spoke to loved playing they appreciated it um they want to keep doing it and they just said please not in January um lastly uh i' want to acknowledge and thank um our Le Leadership Academy students and families for their passion and their commitment to ourmes um I've had a couple of meetings with numerous parents and phone calls and I see that we have some speakers here tonight who are going to be speaking and uh there are some I I just appreciate their willingness to communicate and collaborate on the future of the leaderships and I just want them to know that they are being heard and that uh I am sharing
041this information with my fellow board members so you are being heard loud and clear and that is it for today thank you thank you Mr Hershey Dr ining good evening um and I also want to say happy um Black History Month um at the same time I you know a lot has already been said and you know I don't need to belay be labor the point but I I do want to you know also focus on the future um I actually was in attendance at the um the report to the community Dr uh Taylor gave on January 25th at Bren High School and I really appreciated his Reflections on what he saw during his tour of the schools and the community in his first 100 days um we do have a lot to be proud
042of uh and it was quite a celebration I especially enjoy the musical and dance talent that we have in our schools um I you know they should be booked for something you know um um I want to thank all the elected officials who came to join in the celebration and as Dr Taylor says you know we have a lot to be proud of but also you know we have a lot to work on still um and we cannot rest on our Laurels and we are still working to recover from learning loss uh that we have faced in the previous years and even when we have made some improvements you know we have to um continue to exceed our own expectations um and speaking of exceeding expectations I had the honor last week of representing the
043Board of Education and attended a couple of midyear graduations at milbrook high school and at Heritage High School I um I really enjoyed listening to the accomplishments of the students um at the Heritage High School they actually had the parents um um write something kind of to honor their child and it was very very sweet um and um you know I was really impressed with many of the students who were already working while they were completing their coursework um and already have a clear path uh career path in their mind um I really see a level of maturity on display um because they were taking their future in their own hands um it may not may or may not involve having a college uh degree but it does require a certain amount of grit and
044determination so I really admire that in in those graduates um today I had the opportunity to visit milbrook high school and to see the great things going on there um I got to see some of the IB classes and I can imagine some of the future engineers and future scientists will come from that those classrooms um and it is really the best part of a magnet school program you know to attract the best students and to develop the hidden potential of all the students um I also got to see the excellent agricultural program um from there from today um and um they were you know really learning some of the essential Skills and Trade uh for a technical career um it's a unique um program because it comprises three branches of mechanical animal science and
045horiculture and uh I got to meet Wilma the Wildcat uh their unofficial mascot um she's a really cute cat who kind of roams the campus freely uh um and um I also got to meet some of the reptiles they they weren't roaming though they they were they were in their uh containers um the fish and uh I met I went into the see some of the goats um on campus um they they they did a good job eating those uh Christmas trees by the way um um the students got to learn a lot about responsibilities of taking care of the animals and uh I really can see that all the IB and a teachers love what they do and that they are an inspiration for all the students so I want really want to thank
046uh Dr Saunders the principal at milbrook high school for showing me around and for his leadership there I think he really um is um instrumental and and having a good um uh faculty there uh so I look forward to uh Vis visiting some more schools in the next few days um this week and next week so thank you thank you Dr Ring Mr Simmons do you want to close this out I do thank you um students thank you for this I'm also excited about your performance and the 22nd is already on my calendar so thank you so much and happy Black History Month um I feel like I talked about this last meeting but I do want to congratulate again the all the midyear graduates across the district including those at Athens Drive High School
047and Middle Creek I was not able to be at Athens ceremony but I attended middle creeks and I extend my best wishes to of those students and their families speaking of Middle Creek I want to thank the staff there for inviting me to be a part of their Advisory board for their Academy of professional Educators this is a new Career Academy located at Middle Creek High School as we seek to recruit young people into the teaching profession and hopefully Foster positive relationships that will bring them into our fold and into the Wake County Public School System um as teachers I'm extremely excited about the uh this new opportunity um for myself and for our students and speaking of Middle Creek High School congratulations to Davis Clark a senior at Middle Creek for being selected as
048a kiss kit Advocate quiz kit Advocate I'd have no idea what I'm saying um I'm borrowing from W who I will shout out in just a second but um he was recruited to tackle the science of quantum computing Davis is one of only 37 chosen internationally for the class of 2023 and one of just 10 researchers his age selected for this program Davis we're proud of you congratulations and thank you WL for highlighting his achievement congratulations to the 47 magnet schools recently honored by magnet schools of America um I will shout out those in District 5 Athens Drive AB comes Dillard Elementary and Dillard middle Washington Elementary and Vernon Malone College and Career Academy all of our magnet schools represent some of the great choice that is offered within this school district congratulations to the
049more than 300 employees who achieved or renewed their national board certification this certification process is rigorous requiring hundreds of hours of work we are proud of you we thank you for serving in our district and look forward to celling celebrating you at an at an event next month thank you to all the staff others that put together the value Summit that was held last week um related to facilities and Transportation uh uh Mr Hershey and miss mfy and I were all there uh we were we explored ways in which wcpss can further our sustainability goals a special thank you to one of our Educators Laura Wood for all of her efforts for her contributions at the summit and um a lot of other work that she puts into this work on behalf of our district
050I was excited to attend the opening um of the new location of Tools for Schools several of you mentioned that um this is a store where teachers can go and shop for free for materials for their classroom and we are so grateful to Wed partnership and all of the Community Partners uh both individuals and businesses that contribute to this effort uh the fact that we don't get the support that we need that our Educators need from the state uh makes you know this a necessary Endeavor um but as the Director of wake good partnership said earlier today we would love for the legislature to put Tools for Schools out of business and have that not be a need um and instead have the state fully fund our classrooms and fully fund what students and teachers
051need and remember that when you vote this year this is an election year so support candidates that pledge to fully fund Public Schools finally I want to share a really cool contest that is open to all high school students in Wake County Public Schools it's through the city of Raleigh and it's a trashion show we have shown you and I both brought props today so this you can't really see it on the camera but um I pulled this off of the city of Raleigh's website it's a contest for students to create clothing made from recyclable materials it is open to City of Raleigh residents ages 14 and up and to any high school students in enrolled in Wake County Public Schools even if you're not a City of Raleigh resident so the deadline to enter
052is March 1st and you can learn more at raleighnc.gov trashion show that's t r a i o n or trashing competition anyway where you can learn more thank you all right thank you Miss Edmond that concludes our board comments at this point in the meeting we would need to approve our meeting agenda I know that we have uh two amendments um let's see uh Vice chair Johnson Hustler I'll recognize you first thank you very much chair um per board member Cheryl Coffield she's asked to please remove we need drivers diverse books from the agenda for further uh for future discussion and it's listed under competitive gr under grants competitive number 20422 24 and we're asking that that be removed from the agenda tonight thank you Vice chair Johnson Hustler is there a second second second
053by Dr ining now because we have a member participating remotely we will be taking all of our votes by roll call so we will continue our familiar practice uh starting with our leadoff Mr Hershey I Dr ining I miss edmans nay uh chair votes I Vice chair Johnson Hustler I Mr Swanson no Miss Coffield I all right by the vote count of the vote the eyes have it and the item has been removed from the agenda uh next we have another amendment to the agenda I Believe Miss Edmond yes um chair Hagerty I would like to move items f and g that are under academic advancement to action is there a second second second by Vice chair Johnson Hustler All In favor of the amendment to the agenda described by Miss Edmonds taking those items
054off academic advancement consent agenda and moving to action please signif signify on the roll call vote starting with Mr Hershey I Dr in I miss Edmonds I chair votes I Vice chair Johnson hos I Mr Swanson I miss Coffield I all right the motion passes those items will be moved from consent to action so next on our agenda that we have just adopted we will go to our information item we'll recognize uh Dr Robinson our chief of staff for our Black History Month presentation all right it looks like we will recognize Dr will Chavis leading off our Black History Month presentation welcome Dr Chavis thank you I Too Sing America I am the darker brother than send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes but I laugh and I eat well and I
055grow strong tomorrow I'll be at the table when company comes nobody will dare say to me eat in the kitchen then besides they'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed I Too Sing America good evening to chair Hagerty Vice chair Johnson Hustler board members and superintendent Taylor those spoken words are from the poem I to which was written by literary Legend and artist Langston Hughes it depicts hope despite his lived experiences of Oppression racism and Injustice his writings were considered insightful colorful portrayals of black life in America from the 20s through the 60s which was important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance today and later this month we will present to you as connected with the national theme of Black History Month black art while celebrating black genius black Joy black
056pride and black resilience throughout this month and year we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Brown versus Board of Education ruling and the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and acknowledge there is still much work to do we reaffirm firm our priority and our commitment to combat racial inequalities and inequities in our school system and beyond the courage persistence and resilience from black parents and students community members and activists despite resistance remain a tribute to our commitment in Breaking old traditions and dismantling systems in order to create new future possibilities for Our Generations to come let us as James Wen Johnson one stated march on till Victory is won this month we celebrate our District's black Educators which include 1,883 certified staff 1,455 noncertified staff 239 administrative staff and this makes up roughly one5
057of our total staff for the Wake County Public School System we also acknowledge the 34,400 and 25 black students within the Wake County Public School System which makes up approximately 21% of total students during this month and in collaboration with our academics Department we have identified and will be providing schools with high quality instructional materials that align with our core belief core belief 5 and our Equity policy as we Center students black students and affirm their lived experiences culture and identities in addition to the sport being provided to schools and to students um as chair hagard already mentioned we do acknowledge the historical November 2022 election for the first time our community elected three black board members um Vice chair Johnson Hustler Swanson and Watchers we recognize our current superintendent Dr Robert P Taylor during
058this month in addition to the superintendent former superintendent that you mentioned already and Dr Bill mcneel and many other notable black leaders contributed immensely to our school to our school system and Community including but not limited to Harriet Webster Maurice Boswell Luther Cherry William Crockett Gladis gist Anne hooker Julie misel Leon hearnen and Dian Kent Diane Kent Parker these leaders were Legends they LED with heart and Grace and they were leaders of leaders we are so honored tonight to share and present to you and proud of the impact that our black students and families Educators and leaders have had on our school system our community and Nation it is my honor now to introduce my colleague um Dr Janine Perry Campbell who has been the curator of tonight's events and presentation as well as the
059event that will happen later on this month up to the mic to join me and to introduce what you are about to witness thank you so much for having us and giving us this opportunity today thank you good evening thank you Dr Chavis good evening chairman Hagerty Vice chair Johnson holster board members Dr Taylor our leaders staff and guests I am very honored to be before you this evening to recognize honor and celebrate Black History I am Dr Janine Perry Campbell and I am the director for student and educator engagement and I would also like like to introduce my cohort which is chony Hatcher he serves as our singor administrator for student and educator engagement at your play settings you will see a piece of kin cloth as well as a flyer advertising our event
060on February the 22nd this year's National theme for Black History Month is African-Americans in the Arts and we chose to celebrate it with our students by daring to dream and you'll hear more about that in a few moments but I wanted to give you a very quick history on K cloth K cloth is custom made in Western Africa this fabric has been made since the 11th century so let's just think about that time it was made since the 11th century the symbols and colors are used to communicate the patterns that you'll see on your K stoes tell Direction they tell about wisdom royalty and also it's a diasporic genealogy that weaves a pattern of our knowledge and our pride aligning with our goal of excellence and equity and our Equity focused practice of centering student
061Voice tonight I have the extreme pleasure of presenting several of our students who will share their voices as you as they with you excuse me as they engage in our black history recognition and now I introduce to you Mr quame and good evening my name is quam meansa I am a senior at South gner High School I am also a mentee at help en hands youth ministry this year's National theme for black history is African-American in the Arts African-Americans have shared their lived experiences throughout music poetry dance art and literature this platform is found through throughout not only African-American history but American history itself thank you uh good evening my name is Maurice ton Jr and I am a sophomore at enow Magnet High School in Raleigh North Carolina uh one platform created by africanamerican
062is spirituals which developed into black American gospel music in the late 19th and 20th centuries gospel music intermingles um African and American culture Traditions rhythms Styles and beliefs to express the black experience of resilience through faith this genre of music laid the foundation for not just rag time but blues and jazz let's listen to The Gospel Choir of saies Raley Magnet High Squad as their voices are centered through song The Faculty advisor is Miss kha Freeman and the choir is directed by Miss Monique Gil this is their first performance since 2011 as the choir is Reb building and has D in enthusiastic students and faculty who are members [Music] come let us adore here knel down before me worship and adore come let us adore him he down before Him worship and adore him you
063we we [Music] wor come let us adore here down before Him worship and adore him come let us adore him he down before Him worship and adore him you youel you you [Music] youen [Music] we worship you we we worship you we worship you we worship you we worship [Music] you thank you Southeast Raley Magnet High School good evening I am Daphne Estes and I am in the fifth grade at lyro elementary school thank you for uh thank you for inviting us to Center our voices and and share a glimpse of our Rich Heritage as we celebrate Black History Month tonight we want to recognize tonight we want to recognize the power that African-American music has in our society our music serves as a backdrop for for providing a voice for justice freedom and change
064we hope you have enjoyed this form of expressive art we invite you to celebrate with us on Thursday February 22nd from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School at the at the um at the office of equity Affairs dare to dream African-Americans and the arts program which will showcase the music the Musical dance literary talents and more over 100 Wake County Public School System students from across our great [Applause] District right thank you students thank you Dr Chavis thank you everyone involved in this information item and Dr Taylor believe we will have uh continued items coming at our next meeting as well all right part two coming up thank you all um we were so excited for the information item that I have been reminded while we amended the agenda we never
065actually voted to adopt the agenda so please forgive me let's go back and we will conduct another roll call vote so now we need to vote to adopt the amended meeting agenda with our two amendments that have been Incorporated and and so as by roll call we'll go around the room Mr Hershey I Dr ining I miss Edmonds I chair votes I Miss Johnson Hustler I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I all right now that we have an approved meeting agenda we will turn to the public comment portion and again please forgive my oversight uh speakers commenting on items on the night's agenda will be heard tonight before speakers heard um on other topics all other speakers will be heard in order of sign up again we do give priority to our wck County
066Public School students to give them a chance to speak first only the person speaking at the podium uh will be able to stand during the during those comments again all attendees that are not speaking are to remain seated now if you do have to leave the room please don't remain in the building as this is the only room open to the public the rest of the building is closed after hours if the public comment portion of the agenda exceeds 30 minutes board policy states that the chair reserves the right to conduct the rest of the meeting and then come back to hear the remaining speakers at 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 the laws
067and policies of North Carolina provide that issues or concerns involving individual personnel and individual student matters are confidential and therefore not appropriate for public comment settings those offering comments to the board including students may discuss issues and matters of General concern concerns related to those same personnel and student matters I just mentioned they may be addressed through applicable wcpss Personnel the grievance policy and other applicable policies if you need help finding someone we can refer you to someone after the meeting perhaps here on the central staff to help you in the interest of maintaining civility in deorum speakers are encouraged to address their comments to the Board of Education those of ass up here and must refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff and please not members of
068the general public or your fellow speakers please remain at the podium during your speaking time any materials you wish to share with the board should be handed to our board attorney Mr Rod Malone either before or after your comments during public comments you may speak for up to 3 minutes please note the microphones are adjustable when you begin the green light at the podium will illuminate show that your three minutes have begun yellow light will light up when you've got 1 minute left there'll be an audible tone when there sorry not a minute left a yellow light will light up with an audible tone when you have 30 seconds left and then finally you'll see a red light when your time has expired you'll hear another audible tone when your time is up next speaker
069will be called to the podium speakers are asked to respect the time limit and speak to no more than their three minutes so now um we will start with our first item as I mentioned our students are given priority so the first student up will be uh parthavi Joi followed by Janette Evans welcome good uh good evening um I am a wake young women's Leadership Academy outstanding woman leader my name is parv Joi and I am a junior at w Willa each day for five years this is the start of the Creed we repeat every day in girls leadership class in this class we are taught the essentials we are taught the essentials and the importance of leadership in marginalized communities today a group of me and my fellow students um today a group of
070me and my federal students will come before you and present our concerns and hopefully make a difference in the in the minds of our esteemed board members we will be outlining the impact our school's V Vision has had on us and the expressing our concerns going forward with the school years to come we have been taught to be ready to lead so here we are we ask that you will be receptive to our concerns and help us feel more secure in our plan for the school I challenge myself and others to excel each day at Main campus where grades six through 6 through 10 are housed our Accel accelerated curriculum has benefited and pushed us to the limits of our capabilities our school is fortunate enough to have a wide variety of diverse students and
071accommodations for all levels but even with the help and support afforded to us it is with the intention that everyone should be able to keep up with the regulus curriculum that we are required to know and this workload has required us to have a level of dedication that has cost us years of Blood Sweat and tears although we are grateful for having the opportunity for such a high education the stress that is compiled over the 5 years of accelerated study is not something to be overlooked because of this stress the transition to a college campus is some something that a majority of students look forward to however the uncertainty and ex of of the existence of our partnership with St Augustine's University and what any four-year University in general has not only at has only
072added to the stress faced at by main campus students and to us Juniors who have to deal with the uncertainty and lack of stability thank you next up uh Janette Evans who will be followed by Isabella Titus um good evening my name is Janette Evans and I am also a junior at wake women's Leadership Academy um I'm the oldest of five siblings three of which who are currently in the Wake either wakeo men's or lakeo Men's Leadership Academy and one who is Prospect thing to attend in 2 years um okay and this decision would impact my family because it would um provide um difficulty for us with our finances and also with um our educational goals as a whole um I accept responsibility for my decisions and my actions as a as a school that
073trains leaders and encourages them to communicate with groups we are encouraged to have strong Communications with other others and other people that we work with and with our school starting in the sixth grade there is a lot of potential for us to do something regrettable as children however we are discouraged from we are not discouraged from making mistakes but encouraged to take responsibility for them vulnerability is a very important part of leadership because it establishes a strong foundation between the leader and the people they lead we what we are asking for is acknowledgement from the school board that previous action could have been taken to prevent The Surge of uncertainty that has emerged concerning our partnership with SAU this is not to disrespect the authority of the the board but rather to show the students
074and the and Par show the students and parents that are being heard because quite honestly it does not feel that way I a leader of a future generation who demonstrates Integrity in all I say and do as as was previously mentioned many of us are concerned about the future of our schools many many of our parents feel the same way about all of the work that we have put into our futures we have worked so hard to get a head start on College on the college experience especially since many of our Stu our students would not be be able to afford the tuition without the extra boost we are here today because we believe that it is necessary to advocate for the potential of our schools and their ability to give us the opportunities and
075advantages that we were promised this this is what we were taught to do as Leaders to speak out about the concerns of the masses when it appears we are not being heard we are not here to attack the school board but rather to convey our confusion and uncertainty of what the long-term plan is for the eies all that we are requesting is transparency and accountability from our leaders so that everyone can have a clear understanding of what is wrong and what we need to do to fix the problems at hand thank you our next speaker is Isabella Titus followed by Elizabeth Bika um due to the order of their speeches we're switching um my name is Elizabeth Bika and I'm also a junior at wake young women's Leadership Academy as a student I coll I
076collaborate with my sisters and teach teachers to create a successful School a huge part of the culture at wola is the connections we make both with fellow students and with teachers these connections have shaped me as a person and I know they have done the same for my peers during the online phase of the pandemic it was difficult to form connections with our teachers and Friends it was also difficult for many of us to pay attention due to a lack of Engagement from being on a computer screen all day and in light of uncertainty as to the physical location of IA next year um we would appreciate knowing if we will have to spend our senior year online our ability to succeed and make connections in our last year is incredibly important to us and
077as you consider where to put us please know that we worked for years for the academic and financial privilege of taking inperson college classes at no expense um so please consider that one making your decision thank you for your time thank you so now we will turn to uh Isabelle Titus and then after Miss Titus we'll move to our on off agenda speakers our first speaker will be Nicole Baldridge good evening board members chairman and guest my name is Gabriella Titus I'm standing in for my twin Isabella Titus and my concern with the with the accrediation conflict with St Augustines University is because I am one of three siblings in the 11th grade at the leadership academy programs whose Financial likelihood would be affected by the inability to transfer college credits to my future University
078of choice and now to finish off the Creed that my PE started with and that we strive to embody every day I say with pride and dignity I am wome women's leiser Academy no matter what happens to the program it is still provide us with all the tools that we have gained to become strong women leaders we want to see the success of the school we just ask for a closer consideration from the wcps board on what that means for the upcoming school year and for the years to come we do not wish to tell you what to do we are simply raising our concerns to seek change so a program will be able to continue with the qualities it was formed under we students awaken women's Leisure Academy think give your time and and
079attention to our matter thank you thank you all right thank you we'll now move to our off agenda speakers our first Speaker tonight is Nicole Baldridge will be followed by John bog good evening Miss B good evening hi I am Nicole I'm here with public school strong I am a former teacher and a mother of three children two who are currently in in public school in Wake County I'm here to encourage you all as you move into budgeting season to continue to reach out to the legislature I understand that the budget that we have as wake at Wake County is somewhat unfortunately set by the legislature I encourage you as you go into your work sessions as you discuss PRI the legislative priorities to continue to think of the investment in compensation to attract and
080retain top talent understanding that many of our current teachers and staff are working two and three jobs to pay their bills that if we do not make massive investments in these people we will lose them as we have been losing them since the early 2000s and especially in 20120 I understand that it is a big there's a big goal to raise the pay to the highest in the Southeast by 2026 that is the goal that was set by the um ncpa which is the principles Association um and I know that that's a big goal um it's incredibly important to to do that in order to again attract and retain that top talent I am aware of many of my former Educators who have left North Carolina schools and are working in schools in South Carolina
081and Virginia because they pay better um and they have to be able to take care of their families and that is one of the ways they can do it um I know that Wake County has been meeting that pay Gap ofay pay for Master's pay and I understand that that is going to be a huge lift if the legislature does not fill in that Gap and I encourage you to continue to reach out to the legislature as we Public School strong will be doing because once that becomes 100% weight County's responsibility that's going to be a huge lift on our budget that we maybe don't have um for those of you that are unaware I know that you as a board are definitely aware but North Carolina is 50th in school funding currently in the
082nation 50th 40th eth overall in funding total per students if we want to be top schools we also need to be top in funding that there's just no way around that um and I I understand that again this is a legislative issue as much as it is a board decision but we're in this together um I listening to the work session I agree that increased funding for special groups is incredibly critical and important that pushing beyond the 133% cap that the legislative board has put on us that in order for us to continue to develop and fund and take care of our students with special needs we're going to need more money than that um per student so in closing the big thing that I want to say is we are fighting with you and
083on February 22nd the landier case is going to be heard again at the case at the courts and we will be there in person and we encourage you to be there as well next up is Mr John bog followed by Miss Becky lops good evening Mr bog good evening uh you need to do more music like that I'll I'll show up more often that was very good good evening board members thank you for your time I have a simple request ask your teachers to remove their pride flag stickers from their laptops in 2023 the CDC reported approximately 25% of high schoolers identified as L uh GB QT 12% % bisexual 5.2 were questioning three were gay or lesbian 2% didn't understand the question if you remove the five and the 2% it's about 18% that
084leaves 82% not identifying with that label in most cases students look up to their teachers for guidance and direction I spoke to a few students this weekend ages 10 to 13 5th through seventh grade surprisingly they brought up the subject I asked them how their classes were going they felt intimidated by the pride flag sticker being on their teacher's laptop and they mentioned more and more putting it on these students the 82% do not agree or identify with that label they didn't feel comfortable speaking with those teachers apparently the labels are having a reverse effect of making the teachers accessible pride stickers have nothing to do with the curriculum or maybe it does the number of adults in the US identifying as some form of el B gqt has doubled in 10 years from 3.5%
085to 7% That's per Gallop others put the number at 5.5% is it possible the schools are influencing the increase what should the school system be concerned with the latest numbers for school performance in Wake County on the wcpss website shows not proficient the following this was just today I I was checking math 37% these are not proficient that means grade level NC math 1 67% NC math 3 29% reading 39% science 27% biology 38% English 29% roughly onethird of your classes are below grade level perhaps the sticker should say I love math maybe that'll get him interested why are you spending the time and money on CRT Dei SE lgbqt Plus on your students when it's obvious you have a serious deficiency in your core courses you do a great disservice to your students it
086is great to encourage pride in your students show Pride when they accomplish a job well done show pride in this great country show Pride when the math science reading scores are at an acceptable level I pray for wisdom for this board when making life impacting decisions to these children Proverbs 3:13 how blessed is a man and woman who finds wisdom and the man and woman who obtains discernment thank you very much thank you Mr billock next up uh Becky L hops followed by Nathaniel dible good evening G to be a little off the cuff here since you changed the agenda I'm Becky lobs I'm a longtime Wake County resident mom to three amazing kids and and chapter chair to moms for Liberty in White County um I'm going to start off with a question regarding
087policy 3540 Comprehensive Health education SE education policy in section B it states the principal or designity shall notify parents but the policy doesn't State how they're going to notify parents we've got almost 200 schools with almost 200 principles so the method of communication really needs to be standardized in my experience these notices are typically just a piece of paper paper that hopefully come home in the backpack and anyone with a child knows these papers don't always make it home in one piece um so can you clarify to add a means of communication to that policy preferably multiple means of communication there are many available in addition to a piece of paper talking points email blast text notices I'm sure I'm missing a few but there's many ways that communication can be had back to the
088um given back to the parents also there's a sentence in the opening statement about um the board May in its discretion expand on the subject areas and that's really really open-ended so if you could like narrow that down that that leaves a wide range of for things to be interpreted in different ways so my last thing I got here is I had a concern about one of the grant proposals it was the one that was removed so I'm going to go ahead and talk about that um it's called we need diverse books and according to the proposal there was no parameters no values stated no details regarding what grade level it was going to be for the abstract was very scant had less than 50 words nothing was which was about when you went to
089their website correlated with what they promoted but on their website it Define they defined diversity to include gender diversity and then when you look into their financial backers they had one in particular um Acton family giving that their value um their one of their core values was gender and reproductive Equity so my question with these grants this one and any other ones promoting gender identity to kindergarten through fourth grade violates state law the North Carolina parents Bill of Rights states that gender identity sexual activity or sexuality shall not be included so how did that even get to being on the agenda if it's promoting that because because it didn't have a restriction it's open to all greates that needs needs to be taken into account and how we get that information to kids because there
090have been a big question from many parents about how these books are getting into schools because curating books for libraries needs to have educational value it doesn't mean you have every book but libraries are not big enough for that because I guarantee I have some books that you'll never have because they're that rare you have to make sure that what's in the school libraries is what's going to be educational to our children thank you Miss next up is Nathaniel Dibble who will be followed by Heather Coons is Mr Dibble here going once all right if Mr Dibble returns before we finish public comment we will add him to the end of the agenda next up we'll hear from Heather Coons followed by Kenny Shu good evening hi good evening um I want to Second the
091vote for the uh singing and the that was wonderful I'm grateful I was here for that tonight so but my name is Heather Coons and I'm the proud parent of two graduates from W County Public Schools um and I'm here today or tonight to ask all of you to encourage everyone associated with Wake County Public Schools to increase the volume on the fight for public schools in the state I know you all know how much public schools are under attack across the country and it's especially bad here in North Carolina the last decade has been awful here for school funding but this voucher expansion takes things to a new horrible level in the news today I read that applications for next year's vouchers are at a record high so this is no surprise because every
092family who sent a child to private school last year is probably applying and the general assembly doubled the voucher marketing budget to $1 million this year that's a million dollars that should be going to educate students I appreciate so much that every everyone in White County is working for students every day I had kids like I said in White County public schools for 15 years and so I totally get it but about 70% of the state doesn't have kids in school they don't know about the great things happening and they don't know how much better public schools are than most private schools they don't know that where vouchers have expanded in other states and that there are actually test scores to compare that the learning loss for voucher students was as bad as what we've
093seen for the pandemic the public doesn't know that when students return to Public Schools after trying out a charter school or private school they're often way behind their Public School classmates they don't know that there are way more educational choices in public schools we have so many more programs and better programs than private schools the public doesn't know how much segregation and discrimination is happening in Charter and private private voucher schools white flight acmy are currently being funded by North Carolina State dollars now and that wasn't even allowed in 1960 if there was ever a time to take the gloves off it's now we are the largest District in the state and we should use this huge voice to lead the charge in supporting public education across the state please encourage teachers and principes to
094share good news about public schools loudly and let them talk about the problems with Charter Schools and private School vouchers you are probably already F fighting really hard behind the scenes but public statements matter too in Wake County on um is Wake County on the list of districts that came out against vouchers 19 rural districts wrote an open letter against vouchers Wake County could write a letter too or sign on to theirs there are so many districts throughout the state that need our county Support thanks so much thank you Miss K so next up will be Kenny Shu followed by Joseph Deton good evening good good evening um superintendent Bard I'm Kenny Shu I am the author of this article in the Raleigh news observer that was picked up last Friday uh and I am
095your 13th District Congressional candidate so in this article I talked about issues in Wake schools according to parents and my purpose in being here today is to elaborate upon those issues as a challenge but hopefully as a service to you because I've talked with many voters about these issues and these are some of the concerns that they relay that may Aid you as you attempt to attract back parents who you have lost from the pandemic now that enrollment has been down from your pre-pandemic high of 163,000 students is now at7 57,000 students now I understand the superintendent told me today told us today that the new study from Harvard and Stanford shows that you have reached prepandemic academic levels that is good because last year you weren't there yet that is one concern that parents
096were explaining that was the latest data that I had to make make the article but another issue that many parents have been expressing in this form to me is concerning about school safety the November uh 15th shooting um has left a mark on the school system and PE parents are concerned about whether you will extend uh an SRO plan to elementary middle and high schools currently you have them in some middle schools and high schools but you don't have them in all of them and another concern that parents have is will you defend magnet schools and individual visualized instruction when your DPI superintendent um calls them the quote unquote worse perpetrators of of inequality I get it I understand that but they're wrong Wake County has some of the best magnet schools in the nation
097according to your own words and you need to speak up and defend individualized instruction in the face of these attacks in the name of quote unquote Equity finally what are your plans for when the Esser 2025 funding runs out from the federal government that was pandemic funding it is going to run out we as voters and as concerned people need to hear from you about your comprehensive plan for how you're going to accommodate your budget to upcoming federal government level Cuts in the education system we would like to hear that so that we can make our decisions as parents and voters according accordingly thank you very much thank you and so with that um unless Mr Dibble has returned oh I'm sorry I apologize Mr Deon um I was jumping ahead Mr Deon you looks
098like you will close us out good evening thank you thank you Miss Evans a after the last meeting where I suggest remembering Dr Paul cornelly during Black History Month I was questioned on something uh during his descent or in his descent from the 1972 presidential commission on population Dr cornley warned that if you give contraceptives and instruction to miners that you would destroy the foundation of family life I cited the rise and out of wedlock births as one measure of how Dr Cornell's prediction was right but I was asked how could I attribute that Trend to the Commission in 1972 when the trend had already begun in the early 60s the answer is that commission was an effort to shift things that were already underway into high gear through federal policy with massive Federal funding
099for example as far back as the 20s and 30s there were state run and private birth control clinics in seven southern states that targeted African-Americans and also in Puerto Rico and birth control was widely available uh even before the 1965 Griswald Supreme Court decision you you and your your predecessors in education over the years have perhaps unknowingly carried out uh part part of the strategy of the population control movement by providing the type of sex education that Dr cornelly warned about the Neo malthusians have achieved their goal of getting our birth rate below re replacement and and you might think that is good but we must consider the human cost in terms of out of wedlock births and unstable families with all their attendant problems that causes children uh to be sure societal factors outside
100the schools have a Major Impact but you shouldn't be adding fuel to the fire by sex education that tempts miners to engage in premarital activity you must instead listen to Dr cornley and present the social science data that shows that premarital sex works against against forming lifelong relationships you must make it abundantly clear that all contraceptives have a failure rate and that none ever protected anyone from a broken heart thank thank you thank you Mr Deon and so that concludes our public comment period so let's take a quick minute here now that we've changed the agenda around I want to make sure that I have the most accurate copy chair hagy yes sir Mr Hershey uh for clarification on a vote we took about the grant was that not going to an action item or
101is that just no okay that was simply moved to give staff time to prepare information that was not available for tonight's meeting got it thank you all right um I'm just checking to see if the items we moved were before or after our policy items all right um looks like after okay so then we'll begin with um the long range capping recommendations I believe presenting this um will be Glenn cor Roa and Marcel Rory good evening Miss Rory good evening good evening thank you all for this time uh staff is seeking approval of excuse me one second um Mr chair we need a motion to approve consent before we move to action that's right it's thanks to Miss Allen not Miss Johnson hansy so Mr chair I move that we approve the consent agenda thanks
102you can tell you can tell sometimes you're on your game and then other times Teamwork Makes the Dream work so if Miss Rory if you don't mind if we if you would pause Vice chair Johnson Hustler has moved that we go ahead and adopt the consent agenda as amended with the two items moved to action and the one item removed from the consent agenda and uh did I see a second for Mr Hershey okay so we have a motion oh and I heard uh the voice of Mr Swanson as well um so we will go through this will be a vote to approve the consent agenda as amended Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I the chair votes I Vice chair Johnson Hustler I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I all right now we have
103adopted the consent agenda now we will return to our action items and now apologies for the delay we turn it back over to miss Rory to talk about our long-range capping recommendations good evening Miss Rory good evening uh staff is seeking approval of the capping recommendations the cap removal of Apex Elementary High coft Drive Elementary and Mills Park Elementary we are also seeking approval of the Overflow changes for Parkside Elementary and Panther Creek High School by the Board of Education the recommended approvals would be for the remainder of the 2023 24 school year and the 20242 school year the capping recommendations were presented at the facilities committee January 17th 2024 staff's recommendation is based on several factors that include board feedback principal feedback uh review of Base student percentages projected growth and school capacities staff
104will continue to carefully monitor the impact on overflow schools and is seeking board approval at this time thank you thank you Mr Rory Mr her you have a question uh no I was going to make a motion to approve the capping recommendations by staff that is amazing because I was going to ask for a motion to approve the St the ca recommendations recommended by staff so we have said motion by Mr Hershey do we have a second second we have a second from Miss Edmunds oh and also from Mr Swanson do we have any discussion or any questions for staff at this time I know this was something that was discussed in facilities committee I know there was a thorough discussion there but just in case anyone who wasn't able to attend or if anyone
105has any further questions are there anyone all right so then are we ready for a vote all right uh there's a motion on the table to adopt the staff recommendations to lift the capping recommendations at the so-named schools all in favor we will go around the table Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I the chair says I Vice chair Johnson Hustler I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I all right it looks like we have all of the mo all of the votes were in favor the motion passes we've adopted the recommendations thank you Mr Rory all right so now we will turn to um numerous policies that are coming back to us uh from policy committee let's see here uh this first one policy board policy 3540 is coming to us on first reading uh
106I think we have uh Mr Glenn Denning our senior administrator for healthful living good good evening Mr glint Dy good evening good evening everybody um tonight I'm bringing policy 3540 Comprehensive Health education program first reading policy was written by the NC School boards Association and is part of the policies to lead schools manual and we are bringing it as part of our policy migration project the policy was discussed at the January 23rd board policy committee meeting and uh pertinent items in this policy use languages and reference uh the alignment to North Carolina General statutes including General statute 181 um or 115 c8130 and .25 um once adopted it will replace current policy 5120 healthful living education tonight we request the board's approval of the first reading of policy 3540 Comprehensive Health education program thank you
107Mr Glenn Denning do we have a motion um to adopt uh policy 3540 on first reading so moved motion by Miss Edmonds is there a second second by Vice chair Johnson Hustler um is there any discussion debate or questions for staff Miss Edmonds I just wanted to thank you Mr Glen Denning so I missed the mo the the movie I missed the meeting but I went back and watched it and I saw you knock it out of the park and everybody was so impressed because that y'all weren't left with any questions and I wasn't either so I just wanted to say Well done thank you so much for your work on this thank you appreciate it are there any further questions or comments from the board Mr Glend I would ask we heard a question
108about just uh the methods of notice that the school would use what's the what's the staff's recommendation is there rules and procedures or something that will be adopted to provide some uniformity among the district or how will you address that so there's two procedures that are already in place we have a 60-day minimum um uh parental notice that goes home that says these items are um are in school for uh any parent who wants to come and look at the actual curriculum and then two weeks prior to the actual instruction parents receive another notice reminding them that they have the opportunity to opt out of all or part of the reproductive health and safety program um those are written notices those usually sent home uh on uh as paper notices I made a note during
109that uh during that comment that we can dur in our teacher training we have a mandatory mandatory teacher training that we do on our learning Central platform um that our teachers use I can put it in there as uh to use talking points or to use other modalities in addition to the paper we will continue with the paper but in in addition to that we can certainly use other modalities I appreciate that thank you Mr Glen Danning are there any further comments or questions Miss Coffield thank you I appreciate that because I will say um even high school students have a tendency to not actually deliver the mail that's coming sometimes it doesn't even make the real mail doesn't even make it from the mailbox to the table so I'm just um I appreciate having
110talking points because that is direct contact from the teacher um that's where I get most of my updates and it is extremely helpful so I appreciate the talking points and you adding that onto there thanks and I know that we have a question for Mr Swanson Mr Swanson if you ready yes thank you um I agree with the talking points but I just have a clarifying question with that um and it's been a while since I've been out of the classroom so forgive me but in order to use talking points that means parents would have to make sure that their contact information is up to date whether it's the email or phone number is that correct I can't speak to that directly but communication says yes that is correct corre just that works so I
111just hope that those parents that if they have some changes in their um uh you know phone numbers or whatnot that they are notifying the the the school sta at their school their child's school to ensure that they're getting those Communications okay thank you Mr Swanson any further questions all right then we have a motion on the table to approve uh this policy on first reading again we will take our votes by roll call we'll go around the table all in favor our you know votes in favor Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I chair votes I Miss Johnson hosler I Mr Swanson hi and Miss Coffield hi the motion passes thank you very much thank you all right so next up board policy 7100 Recruitment and selection of personnel on first reading looks like we
112have Dr matilla Who will be presenting to us tonight good evening Dr matilla good evening all I'll give a brief introduction of all four policies that I'm presenting tonight and then go through each of them individually so you can consider them individually so tonight I'm bringing policies 7100 7110 7120 and 7130 all for first reading these policies are part of the migration process where we update existing policies and propose new policies based on recommendations by the North Carolina School boards Association and by our staff we presented these policies at the January 23rd policy committee meeting um tonight I will again Ask for Action separately as a reminder um the text in Black font is existing Wake County policy in the case of 7100 and it will be um the black font will be existing School
113Board Association policy for the remainder of the policies I'm presenting uh we also have red font which is the School Board Association revisions blue um which are staff revisions and then I think there's an instance of green where we just moved language within the same policy um since I have so much today just wanted to review all of that with you real quick so policy 7100 Recruitment and selection of personnel um this is a revised policy which includes revisions recommended by the School Board Association um to highlight a few of them in section a paragraph two you'll remember we mov the reference to 40e older up um in that policy to the prior sentence to reflect more clearly the obligations and protections under the Age Discrimination Act in employment um we also discussed the initial
114clause in the third paragraph of section c um referencing section D for criminal records checks for child care providers so we revise the wording to clarify that the child care provider section D are in addition to these obligations that are in section c um and then lastly we change State records to read record checks in the um jurisdictions identified because sometimes they are not always States but um local jurisdictions so once adopted and these um several policy will policies will be incorporated and rescinded from the old manual so policy 2000 will be able to strike Parts a c d n and R and the rest of these policies we will be able to strike in their entirety so that's policy 3003 and 40003 for criminal records checks um policy 3010 and 4010 for equal employment
115opportunities policy 3020 and 4020 for Recruitment and selection 3022 and 4022 for hiring procedure and 303 4 4034 and 6434 for registered sex offenders and then policy 3034 4034 and 6434 rmp as well as 3310 and 4310 for advertising vacancies I'm sorry that's my longest one I think that I have for you this evening um so tonight we are requesting board's approval for the first reading of policy 7100 Recruitment and selection of personnel thank you Dr matello is there a motion from the board for adoption of policy 7100 on first reading so moved moved by Vice chair Johnson Hustler second by Miss Coffield any discussion or debate again uh thank you Dr matillo I know that the board had some specific comments on this one and I believe all of them have been Incorporated and
116it looks very good so okay there no com hold on I need to just check make sure Mr Swanson doesn't have any okay um all in favor then of adoption of the policy on first reading please say I I any opposed you got yes yes I knew you were I knew I was going first any I missed my parliamentarian um we'll start with Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I chair votes I Vice chair I Mr Swanson hi and Miss Coffield hi all right um the motion passes we'll now move to the second item and I have to keep switching screens now uh this will be policy 7110 information provided by applicant or employee on first reading is there a motion for passage of the policy on first reading so moved motion by Mr Hershey second
117by Miss Coffield any discussion or debate any questions seeing none we'll move to a roll call vote Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I chair votes I Vice chair I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I all right that motion passes we'll now move to board policy 7120 the employee health certificate on first reading do we have a motion uh for adoption of the policy on first reading so moved motion by Mr hershy second second by Mr Swanson any discussion or debate or questions about this policy again a testament to our fine policy committee um we'll move forward then with a roll call vote uh starting with Mr Ry I miss Edmonds I chair votes I Vice chair Johnson hosler I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I thank you and uh the final policy policy
1187130 do we have a motion for adoption of the policy on first reading this is the policy on lure so moved motion from Mr Hershey second second from Vice chair Johnson Hustler any discussion any question questions any comments from the board all right seeing none we'll move to a roll call vote Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I chair votes I I Vice chair votes I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I all right by uh unanimous vote board policy 7130 passes on first reading thank you very much Dr matilla appreciate yall all right okay so now we go to our amended agenda and we have some items on academic advancement that were moved from consent so I believe um is Joe Honeycut here there she is Miss Hy Miss hyut will be presenting these two
119items both on CTE and our accelerator program thank you good evening chair Hagerty superintendent Taylor members of the board um we have two items I'm not that tall is that what you're saying um we have two items for your con consideration tonight both of them are connected to our summer career accelerator programming and they have been funded by eser dollars to date the first is a contract to wake Ed partnership wake Ed partnership has been a partner in our summer work since we started it two summers ago and this in this contract they give us support for recruiting and training business partners for immersions for our students during the week camp or week two week camps whatever we um have we've changed that over time but they do the training of the business partners they
120do some training with our teachers and they provide us logistical support under this contract and agreement I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have related to the item all right Miss Emmons I'm responsible for this so thank you for being here I know you probably didn't plan to be but I appreciate it I mean it's CTE month after all so I felt it was appropriate just to make sure um are you in discussions or having you know developing plans to continue this after the Esser funds dry up and if not why I think that is still to be determined I think the scale that we have been able to do Under the SRA funds that we had will be very difficult for us to sustain and I think the other thing I would
121add to that is that the Esra funds were targeted to help students who who missed opportunities during the pandemic so we felt it was really important because students didn't have opportunities to be in businesses to have immersions to have the work-based learning and some of that development in the pandemic that we offer that in summer programming now that we are back to a more normal school setting and businesses are opening their doors to us students are able to have those experiences during the school year during regular summer programming through internships follow up Mr chair yes go ahead M um so I I feel like you're telling me it's you're not too alarmed by the losing these dollars am I misreading I mean I I know we'd all like to keep them but I just I
122feel like we've been able to do really great things with the funds that we had and the data and surveys from our students have said that the programs have been meaningful at the same time I feel like we have a staff and we have opportunities for students to be able to continue that which is not to say that if we did have private partner business and industry partners that came to us and said they wanted to contribute funding to do a program on this scale or a lesser scale we would certainly love to entertain that okay and and last question would you um if any of that comes to fruition would you continue to partner with wed Partnership if possible has that relationship been good for this specific purpose yes ma'am wake Ed has been
123a good partner in many of our programs the career accelerator was modeled very much after the summer stem program that we've done with teachers for many years was kind of The Perfect Storm they were they were wanting to Pilot a program for students at the time that we had these funds become available so instead of doing a small pilot we we did a very large pilot um and so it's been successful and we would definitely continue that partnership right thank you so much and thank you chair for um letting me pull those thanks thank you Miss edmans we won't even site you for leading the witness are there any other uh comments or questions from the board for Miss Honeycut about the first of the two programs all right then our second program are there
124any do you have additional information you can share what district C is a little bit different they have been a longtime partner as well that program is is um framework is a little bit different where students work with local businesses um the businesses give the students a problem the students work together in teams to research and um find proposed solutions to the problem and then they pitch that to the business Folks at the end of the session we have expanded District C all three years we've been in summer programs we started with a handful of students last summer we served about 140 students um we're planning for nine sites um and even more students this year so again they've been an outstanding partner we're really excited that um our plans for this summer include training
125some additional coaches so that those coaches can go back to their base schools and be able to offer the programming in a regular school year um for the students at those schools any questions or additional comments yes please um so with that one was that existing prior to the pandemic we had started it prior to the pandemic in two at two sites um and we've continued it to offer it during school year at certain sites um but again having the coaches trained is is a wonderful opportunity to take the summer learning and be able to plan it in the regular school year okay that's all the questions I have thank you anyone else with any questions or comments All right we thank you miss hyut this is a great opportunity that we have to kind
126of lift up some of our CT opportunities oftentimes we have amazing programs but not every family knows they're available so any chance we get to promote it through bringing it from consent to action gives us an opportunity to do so so thank you thank you all right then so these are both items that were on the consent agenda since they were not approved by consent we'll go through each one individually and take a vote by roll call all right so we will start with the item specific to wake Ed partnership for the summer program we need to make an official motion or not yeah I'm I'm I'm I'm asking I'm saying we're going to start with one not vote on both at the same time so then at this point at this time is there
127a motion to approve the contract with aad partnership for the described summer accelerator program motion to approve so second motion by miss Edmund second by Mr Swanson we'll take the roll call vote Mr hershy I miss Edmond I chair votes I Vice chair I Mr Swanson I I miss Coffield I all right we've approved the first contract the second one is the one with District C do we have a motion for approval so moved second or motion made by uh miss Edmund second by Mr Swanson again moving forward with a roll call vote Mr Hershey I miss Edmonds I chair votes I the vice chair I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield hi all right that motion passes so now we have have uh adopted the last two items that were on the action agenda
128and at this point I would look for a motion to return to closed session for the statutory reasons cited previously in the work s so moved can oh oh hang on we can approve HR well you got Personnel oh let's go ahead and do that now so that we don't have to wait around um I'll entertain any motion to approve the HR uh appointments and the requests for leave that were uh made in work session still moved second motion from Miss Coffield seconded by chair Johnson Hustler all in favor oh got to do the roll call Mr Hershey hi Miss Edmonds hi chair votes I Vice chair I Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield I all right so we've adopted the H the HR recommendations for appointment and approved leave now I would approve or
129I would entertain any motion that we return to close session for the statutory reasons cited previously in our work session so moved motion by Mr Hershey to go into close session is there a second second by Miss Coffield again with our final well not our final vote roll call vote of the evening because we'll have to adjourn but our final uh vote before going to close session Mr Hershey hi Miss Edmonds hi chair votes I Vice chair Mr Swanson I and Miss Coffield hi all right the motion passes thank you all we are now moving to closed session thank you very much I hope everyone has a good evening