22-10-4 Board Meeting

001foreign good evening everyone it is Tuesday October 4th at 5 30 p.m and we're calling this regular meeting of the Wake County Board of Education to order I would like to welcome those of you that are watching at home and those that are here in person to observe as the Board of Education conducts its official business I would like to take a moment to highlight board policy 2310 which states Wake County Board of Education meetings are conducted for the purpose of carrying on the official business of the school system public is cordially invited to attend board meetings to observe the board as it conducts its official business persons who willfully interrupt disrupt or cause disturbances at an official meeting may be directed to leave by the presiding officer members of the audience should show respect

002for the speakers by refraining from loud comments or other disruptions disruptions by any person or persons of a public meeting will be subject to action in accordance with General statute 143-318.17 we have a quorum of board members will you join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States thank you we will now begin with our superintendent's comments Miss more good evening our custodians are the behind the scene Heroes of every school building and they are taking Center Stage this week as students and staff Express their gratitude as part of custodian Appreciation Week custodians are often the First on campus and last to leave and they perform Myriad tasks in order to ensure that each school is clean and safe they'll be getting goodie bags meals handmade cards and social media shout outs

003this week but they are appreciated every day any school administrator will tell you that school buildings simply wouldn't function without our hard-working custodians so I hope you will all join me this week in expressing gratitude for all of our custodians and the essential role they play in maintaining learning environments where students can thrive October is disability history Awareness Month an annual opportunity for all of us to learn more about the many abilities that people with disabilities possess our special education services team compiled resources that have been shared with schools to guide informative discussions and activities schools are encouraged to create promotional items such as banners videos stories songs and or illustrations that promote disability awareness select from selected reading materials and inspirational quotes to spark discussions with students and share their disability history and awareness

004month activities on social media disability history and awareness month is an excellent opportunity to Foster understanding and unity I look forward to seeing the creative ways our students and staff celebrate the abilities of all students finally this evening October is also National bullying prevention month and our school counseling team has prepared activities to help celebrate and bring awareness to our efforts around bullying prevention students will learn more about what they can do to prevent or stop bullying when it comes to bullying we know that silence hurts so it is critical to encourage students to report incidents of bullying that they witness students will learn more about bullying statistics and ways to report bullying including the safe schools tip line which is 919-856-1911 which anyone can call to report harassment threats of violence aggressive behavior or

005anything else that causes concern on October 19th students and staff will be encouraged to wear orange in honor of unit today which encourages everyone to unite around kindness support and inclusion and the last week of the month will kick off the Ninth Annual stand-up Speak Out video competition submissions are due in January and winners will be announced at the elementary middle and high school levels bullying prevention month activities will be shared on social media under the hashtag speak out wcpss it takes all of us to create School environments free of bullying and harassment bullying prevention months should be a reminder that we do have a duty to stand up and speak out to protect all of our students thank you that concludes my comments thank you superintendent Moore I'll also add that it's LGBT history

006month and international walk to school month um I had the um and I also want to recognize that tonight at Sunset begins Yom Kippur and so I want to wish a good year to our members of our community that are celebrating um or this holiday um this evening by sure hegarty thank you chair Mahaffey um I'll keep my comments brief because it turns out content-wise the superintendent in the chair addressed most of the areas I was going to speak about but um to to connect the two if anyone students or staff or families in the district is concerned about bullying and as it as it refers as it you know can also lead to mental trauma and you know questions about suicidal suicide and suicidal ideation please know that there is help out there there

007are resources for you for your family that are confidential you know please take advantage of these resources the you know we we we tend we stigmatize I'll just say we do stigmatize you know questions of mental health in our community we we tend to perceive these as weaknesses we I know you know and I know just like the male culture tends to you know not want to admit any any need for help particularly you know when it comes to suicidal ideation or questions of mental mental health but but there are resources available um particularly for our lgbtq youth the Trevor Project has many resources to reach out there but anybody that is experiencing mental trauma please reach out because you know your life your your life is worth living there are toll-free confidential helplines available

008through many different sources and um again I just want to encourage everyone out there that there is hope out there um and please don't abandon that hope thank you and thank you Mr Hagerty for highlighting that and here in the Wake County Public School System we do have the tip line which people can report anonymously or even request a call back regarding a concern about any type of situation that number is if you look up the safe schools tip line it's 919-856-1911 and I believe that our security department also has posters that are available for schools if they want to post those in places for students to see restrooms or near front offices or student or school counselor offices and and so forth so definitely thank you for highlighting that very important information I really

009want to keep my comments brief tonight I'm looking forward to our information item and thank you chairman happy for talking about the school walk to school month I was invited by window Elementor tree to walk to school they're also one of our communities where people can drive golf courses not courses that would be very hard drive golf carts so that it's a but I'm really excited to join them on their their walk to school uh next week and that concludes my comments thank you thank you Dr Martin thank you John looking forward to celebrating our principal of the year coming up and assistant principal coming assistant principal and principal of the year coming up this Thursday so really looking forward to that I want to thank Susan Pulliam and Glenn carosa for coming out to

010our BAC last night had a really good discussion about the student assignment uh and a particular thanks uh to them for really working it the discussion of the why not just here we're you know there's the mechanics but but really looking at the why and I think that was very well received I want to highlight an issue raised by uh one of the parents uh at one of my schools and that's kind of the concern about the inequities of ptas across the district and we've talked about that variously at the board meeting ptas are independent organizations as they should be at the same time you know some schools ptas can build a whole playground and in other schools you know doing good if you get the team together to distribute mulch so I raised that

011because it led to some very good discussion at the BAC but I think it's something that we need to continually think about as a district how do we it's not just as a district really it's as a community how do we make sure that all schools are resourced and and have the community support that a PTA really can give so I just want to highlight that issue that was erased um coven numbers it does look like we have uh knock on wood past the fall Peak numbers are starting to come down the week of 9 18 there were 244 students and 86 staff the week of 9 25 there were 105 students and 55 staff so that's still a lot of Staff out of uh their normal expected jobs the student numbers are about half

012what they were last year staff numbers are about twice what they were last year so students are doing better uh staff not as good part of the reason I raised that is it you know based on the past Trends we're coming down into a valley we probably should expect a valley between now and about the end of December based on past trends and then it's likely to Peak for our late December early January when things start getting better it's easy to for everybody to relax and say ah you don't need to worry about things anymore but what we do in this decreasing time will impact what will happen come late December and January so get your flu shots get your coveted vaccinations um you know work at um good practices now good precautions now because

013that will minimize the challenges that we're likely to have come late December and January thank you Miss Johnson Hustler thank you I will certainly echo my board members that most of acknowledgment of the awareness months have been taken care of and so I will just note that while it is important that we acknowledge each community and our roles within our schools the awareness months are really designed to draw our attention and pay close attention and sometimes just do something special or make a special acknowledgment that you hear and see the person so while you've heard it's disability awareness month custodian Appreciation Week excuse me I'll just ask that you take all of those into consideration as you go about your daily duties and sometimes a smile makes all the difference in all of these awareness

014months so please be sure to acknowledge it and I Echo the sentiments this is one of the biggest shifts in District 2 regarding our enrollment uh and assignment process and so I will encourage people in District 2 who did not attend the BAC to hear the staff updates the whys as you noted please be sure to log on online tomorrow at 6 PM is the virtual session that will include District 2. thank you thank you Miss Carter thank you and um I feel like I'm echoing everything with the awareness once but I do appreciate uh drawing light on that and there's just one more I wanted to add it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month just I know I had two former co-workers who went through it and my mom is a breast cancer survivor and

015I know we have many others in our who are in our schools and families and community members who are impacted and I just say keep up the fight there is plenty of Hope and I wanted to mention with the bullying Awareness Month in particular I I know we do a lot and there are still I just feel like so much work left to be done with social media and phones with our students and I I've just seen so so much damage that can be done and I just I hope folks not only students but but adults as well we'll take time before you know making a comment on social media or posting something about how that could possibly impact not necessarily if it's on your page but it might not be your thinking that would

016impact someone else but it could and just be mindful of that and Switching gears a little bit you know I love Athletics so I'll start there I attended a few football games Carrie high and Apex HIgh which is a long time rivalry and it was interesting I go and folks you know I try to blend in and they're like oh who's your kid and I'm like well I kind of tell them who am I I am and I'm like yeah I'm kind of in a tough position I'm on this side for this half and then I'm going to the other side because I don't want to be seen as taking any school over the other but it was a great game The Green Hope game like others got moved to Thursday last week it was

017their homecoming game and I was impressed with how many folks are still out there the wind and the the cool weather I mean they were shaking it up so it was great to see that and the bands which I always enjoy and just seeing their performances continue to add different things to it at each football game and I did have the opportunity to support West Cary Middle School at one of their football games that was a Trek the where the football field is over there so it was an interesting nature walk is what I call it and I have had the first performance at Cary high school they had clue this past week and it was just awesome that they did not work for many weeks on it but they sold out all of their

018shows and with the weather and things getting canceled Friday they moved it ended up having two on Saturday so they got all four shows and and I just wanted to give a huge shout out to Mrs McCormick their director and all of those students it was one of those shows where one minute you might be I literally jumped a few times in my seats and then seat and then a few seconds later I'm falling out laughing these kids in their certain column kits I guess these students are still taking those kids high schoolers have just amazing talent it's just great to see them be able to play all the different roles in the different performance and I want to say thank you to the community for selling out those shows and I I mean showing

019up and supporting those students and I know last board meeting I highlighted some high school performance dates and this time I wanted to highlight East Cary Middle School they're having a performance of murders in the air and it's an audience interactive murder mystery comedy and it's October 17th through 20th at 7 pm and I just encourage folks to come on out I know it'll be a great show I can already just say it's going to be it's five dollars please come out the tickets are for sale let's um show up for those students and I will leave or close with a reminder that October 24th at 6 pm at Apex High School that is District 9's next back meeting and that will be staff will be there to address at that time we'll be on

020draft two and presenting information about that and I encourage folks to come out thank you thank you Miss Waters thank you chairman happy and thank you to everyone who has acknowledged our need to celebrate members of our communities through different awareness months and I want to just really acknowledge the great opportunity that District 4 had to gather together at our recent BAC meeting and thanks to our new chair Tamara oyejide who is an in-law and ligand parent for leading the efforts to get us all together it was a great turnout and so glad to see so many school communities represented and so many parents and thank you as Dr Martin has said to Susan Pulliam and Glenn carosa for such a informative presentation as we talk about student enrollment and student assignment as we move

021forward and looking forward to principal of the Year assistant principal of the year as well this week and I had a chance to spend some time at Bug Elementary with Dr Williams in such a delight to be able to to be at book and to walk the halls with Dr William she commands such respect and adoration from the school community so really enjoyed that time to be there and also saw one of my favorite art teachers from a number of years ago Mr Clinton Neal was one of my son's art teachers a number of years ago so I enjoyed that opportunity to connect there and so many good things going on in our school communities Khan Elementary had a wonderful family engagement night at a local restaurant when I pulled up I said there is

022nowhere to park and so it was just really lovely to see so many families coming out and connecting in that way and I had a chance to visit with a community partner who does some work in District Four but this work was actually focused at Millbrook Elementary the organization is called Neighbor to neighbor and they do a lot of work with our Hispanic and Latino families to increase literacy and so I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect their you know we had a really kind of good moment at the end of our time together we looked at some of the books that they had read and it reminded me of a book that I had read when my son was doing virtual learning and it was called Esperanza rising and so I really enjoyed that

023book and it just was a good reminder to me that when children see themselves reflected in books it helps the members of that Community but it also helps members of other communities to be able to bond and connect in a very special way so I enjoyed having that time to reflect on that book and that conversation and I'm so glad that we are continuing to have dialogue around mental health I took my son for a wellness visit recently and I was glad to see as a part of that process was a mental health screening and so as we continue to see so many stresses and so many um very difficult circumstances in our society it's very important that we continue to check on each other and to ask questions and to make sure that we're

024okay so very glad to see those conversations continuing to happen and so I'm just really grateful for all the work that is going on across Wake County and all of our schools and very excited to see what else we will be doing in the next few weeks thank you thank you Miss Waters can we get a motion to approve the meeting agenda so moved second we have a motion in a second to approve the meeting agenda any discussion hearing none all in favor please say aye any opposed nay okay we now move on to our information item which comes out of academic advancement and that is recognition of indigenous people's day we have Mr Drew cook Miss Shanika Moore Lawrence Mr JD Freeman vice president of the Wake County Indian education parent committee and I

025see Miss Gwen Locklear there as well and we know you're a bit of the glue of this whole program so thank you Miss Gwen for being here thank you miss my happy and Superman board members we are pleased to be with you this evening today a few minutes on the busiest and to honor and recognize indigenous people's day which this year falls on Monday October the 10th as you may know indigenous people's day is a holiday that states and municipalities throughout the United States celebrate to honor Native American peoples and commemorate their histories and cultures it is celebrated each year on the second Monday in October the Wake County Board of Education and the Wake County Public School System with support from the Wake County Indian education parent committee officially recognizes the second Monday of

026October as indigenous people's day in our district many of you may recall that the board passed a formal resolution to that effect two years ago in October of 2020. it is important to share the significance of people and events on indigenous people's day and it's probably even more important to ensure that relevant learning and opportunities for students are integrated into classrooms throughout the school year I'll note that this evening's presentation is really part one of two as we plan to be back in November to share and highlight additional information resources and activities connected to National Native American Heritage Month in November in the meantime this evening I'd like to introduce two people who are helping to lead this work that you may not have met before first is Dr Shanika Moore Lawrence who joined the

027academics Department in our district in July as our new senior director for K-12 instructional supports Dr Moore Lawrence will highlight a few notable facts of interest and also share a little bit about the Indian education grant program which her office helps to coordinate and support also with us this evening is Mr JD Freeman Who currently serves as the vice president of the Wake County Indian education parent committee Mr Freeman will share a little bit about the work and focus of that committee and some of the resources and support that they provide to our students and to our families and I'll also share a little bit of local and Regional historical information that we think the board and our audience will find to be quite interesting and informative and Miss Mahaffey I'd be remiss if I

028didn't also draw attention even though she doesn't like attention being drawn to her Miss Gwen Locklear who is here with us this evening long time district coordinator for Indian education a staunch advocate for this work for those students for those families you know she was also a strong supporter as a parent at the high school that I happen to work at for many years and I can't say enough about the work that she's done she's recently retired from her position but as you can see we're excited that she's willing to come back on a voluntary basis and support the work in a different capacity moving forward but miss lockler thank you for all the work that you've done over the years and for being here this evening so with that introduction I'll turn the presentation

029over to Dr Moore Lawrence and then to Mr Freeman thank you again for your support and also for the opportunity to share thank you Mr chair superintendent Moore and board members great pleasure to stand before you to celebrate indigenous peoples day as we honor indigenous people in our schools and communities it is noteworthy to recognize that the number of indigenous people in the United States is estimated at between 2.5 and 6 million of which around 20 percent live in American Indian areas or Alaska native Villages California has the largest Native population New York is the city with the largest Native population 2021 marked the first time a U.S president officially recognized indigenous people's day and October 10th is a day to honor indigenous people their resilience and their contributions to American society throughout history even

030as they face assimilation discrimination and genocide spanning Generations and Wake County Public School System we are committed to ensuring that our American Indian Alaska native students have programming designed to address their unique cultural language and academic needs funding is used to assist students with sharpening their academic skills providing them with enrichment programming and supporting culturally responsive activities in K-12 instructional supports we have an Indian Education Program Coordinator who temporarily is Mrs Gwen Locklear who works with stakeholders including the Wake County Indian education parent committee to develop programming that's relevant effective and impactful and at this time I'm going to turn it over to Mr James J.D Freeman who is our vice president of the parent committee thank you Mr Freeman thank you Dr Moore Lawrence and thank you board for having me here excuse me

031my name is JD Freeman I am from Apex North Carolina I have two daughters in Wake County Public Schools my oldest daughter Lenore um excuse me get that right uh surfy my mother's daughter surfies at Lufkin Lufkin Road middle and my youngest Lenora is the Olive Chapel Elementary I'm originally from Robinson County area and identifies a Lumbee Indian once again thank you to the Wake County uh board for have um and thank you from the Wake County American Indian parent committee the recognition of indigenous people day is an honor and we are grateful that Wake County is making such Progressive steps on our behalf um North Carolina is represented or North Carolina has over 140 000 Native Americans uh represented by eight tribes seven of which are state recognized and the one federally recognized tribe

032is the Eastern band of Cherokee Indian the state recognized tribes are the Kahari Indians halawa saponi Lumbee maharan okonichi band of saponi nation the saponies as well as the welcome all suan the history and traditions of our tribes are cilia eroding with each passing generation and we are grateful to have Wake County Indian education program to assist with the preservation preservation of our culture and also to spread the knowledge of our Rich North Carolina history I'd like to read a quote from the city of Raleigh's land acknowledgment something they put out recently for their upcoming dicks Park powwow the land that we are on is the ancestral land of many indigenous indigenous tribes rally itself sits on the border of Tuscarora and suan territory over the past 14 000 years this area was used for

033family life nourishment stewardship Justice ceremony and healing for the past 500 years Native American communities from this region and across North Carolina have demonstrated resilience and resistance in the face of sustained displacement and removal and complex traumatic and violent efforts to separate indigenous people from their culture and their land as I said earlier I currently live in Apex and recently learned a rich history of the Incorporated friendship area there where white black and Native Americans all live together in peace and this is before the Civil War and I thought that was a really good story and also recently learned that the Tuscarora organized the powwow there for the local leaders and it was well received of course with good food that's always a good step right there are no tribe homelands directly located in Wake

034County but instead a conglomerate representation of local and National tribes make up the Wake County Indian education student program it was started in 1986 and since 2001 has been at Garner in Garner at the Avery Street Training Center where Miss Gwen has done a lot of wonderful work for us here currently 238 students are enrolled representing 59 tribal Nations the Wake County Indian education program is a federally funded title VI Grant open to any kindergartner kindergarten through High School enrolled in Wake County Public Schools we believe our numbers could be higher than the 238th so one of our goals is to increase or increase knowledge of this program and and get kids to fill out the 506 forms as our grant is also based on the number of enrollments that we have so the more

035kids we have the better their Grant is and that's one of our goals as a member of the parent committee we serve as an advisory role to Wake County through the Indian education Indian education coordinator we assist with the development and operation of program offers offerings we review the budget and assists with the annual application requirements and also conduct regular reoccurring meetings uh service available for enrolled participants include summer camps tutoring ACT SAT preparation quotes for programming and crafts as well as there's a garden that Miss Quinn maintains in helping to promote healthy eating and you know I recently also learned out that another benefit of this program is that American Indians have the highest high school dropout rate in North Carolina as well as the nation so a lot of the work that we're

036doing is helping these high school students find their path still stay connected but encourage them to keep proceeding well with their education some of our cultural programs that we have performed in the past include obviously a ribbon shirt I made this I was really happy to pull this together as ribbon skirts for the ladies we've created Turtle rattles corn necklaces also have dancing and drumming classes gourd classes as as well as many other activities that sponsors are found and we also just have a cookout sometimes which is always good but we're we also pull in some of our mix of native foods such as Chicken Bog and other various things that we eat back home so once again thank you for having us here and I'd like to end my talk today just highlighting some

037upcoming local events that are coming up this weekend at Dick's Park there's an inner tribal powwow on Saturday it's uh it's almost an all-day event try to get there by 12 30 for the grand entrance that's a really good thing to see also on 10 October as discussed earlier as Apex indigenous people's day I was fortunate enough to go to the Apex Town board meeting last week and they also did a proclamation for indigenous people's day and this will be my third time serving as the MC for that event where we have dancing singing and other events that take place and the final events are at the North Carolina history museum on 18 November is education day there's live virtual events being held there you need to students are able to register to attend that

038on line can also on the 19th of November it's more of a music and dancing on the plaza where everyone's welcome to attend so once again thank you and we appreciate the Wake County board thank you thank you Mr Freeman as a district as our hope and incent to implement instructional practices and provide resources that are aligned to our stated core beliefs specifically core belief number five which states the Board of Education superintendent all staff value a diverse School community that is inviting respectful inclusive flexible and supportive this work is part of our District's ongoing efforts to ensure that our work is inclusive and supportive of all parts of our community specifically our hope is to ensure that all students and families see themselves lifted up in a positive light within our district core belief

039number three which states that well-supported highly effective and dedicated principals and teachers and staff are essential to success for all students by intentionally sharing resources and educating School staff and leaders on the culture and Heritage of our students we will in the long term create a greater likelihood that school staff will be able to create meaningful instructional activities where every student accurately sees their culture and Heritage reflected in their learning it is important to share the significant significance of people and events on indigenous people's day and the learning is also integrated throughout the entire school year wherever and whenever there are opportunities for connections with State learning standards and curriculum resources so that end the district has provided resources and instructional materials to support this work in classrooms across the district and grade levels several

040examples of which are on this slide and we also want to draw your attention to several of the local events that Mr Freeman has already highlighted and we hope that you will join us in celebrating indigenous people day and National Native American heritage month which is coming up in November and speaking of November we will be coming back next month as Mr cook already shared with Mr Freeman and other representatives of our Indian education parent committee to engage in part two of our recognition and if you need any assistance or additional support or more information you can contact myself Miss Locklear or the parent group that Mr Freeman is the vice president of thank you thank you all so much we are looking forward to seeing the work that you do in November um I

041think I remember the turtle rattles that your daughters had last time we were here and thank you for your work on the parent committee and certainly extend that to Dr Manuel and Miss key as well as your fellow officers and Ms Gwen we you know we every time you don't want to be acknowledged but we know how important you are in getting this community together and making them feel like there's a part of their home in their Heritage even if they're far away from their ancestral lands so thank you for being that that person and that guide as as people come to Wake County and they find home in different places thank you thank you we now move on to public comment public comment is accepted in video written and in-person formats members of the

042public are welcome to offer comments or criticism directed at substantive ideas actions or procedures of the board and individual board members the laws and policies of North Carolina provide that issues or concerns involving individual Personnel matters are confidential and therefore not appropriate for public comment settings concerns related to Personnel issues may be addressed through the applicable wcpss Personnel the grievance policy or other applicable policies those offering comments to the board including students may discuss issues and matters of General concern but should refrain from discussing confidential student information concerns related to confidential student matters may be addressed through applicable wcpss personnel the grievance policy or other applicable policies we have written comments as part of our public comment portion of this evening's agenda these comments are linked on the same online agenda that we are using

043for tonight's meeting that agenda as well as guidelines for those wishing to submit comments for future meetings can be found at the school district's website wcpss.net under the tab labeled School Board we have seven written comments from members of the public those topics include bell times transparency theater booster guidelines experiential learning athletic boosters etiology of illness and special education and equity for those of you who are here for public comment during your time in public comment you may speak for up to three minutes there will be a green light when you begin a yellow light will illuminate at the podium when there are 30 seconds remaining in your time and then a red light will signal your time is up in the interest of maintaining Civility and decorum speakers are encouraged to address their comments

044to the board of education and to refrain from personal attacks and insults directed at the board individual board members staff or members of the General Public please remain at the podium during your speaking time any materials you wish to share with the board should be handed to the board attorney located right there Mr Bloomberg either before or after your comments our first speaker is Carrie Bly hello again um I waited for a really long time for your student achievement committee that happened last week and it was disappointing to watch what I want to caution you about is that it sounds like we might have a reset button on the curriculums we've been using for four to five years and I don't want you to start from the beginning and just call this a mulligan because

045the theology that if you fix the teacher to follow a certain theology you'll fix student comprehension and engagement level has not worked and it's proven itself a poor plan for far too long it's an uneducated ill-informed diagnosis and as I stated in my last email you no longer need other research you are the research so I look forward to the next couple meetings to see how it's going I will give you credit that you had your first open up teacher here and while she seemed like the most fun energetic woman her words were very telling and she spoke about all the ways that we can exit ticket students so that a teacher can engage whether 30 plus students got the lesson for that day but I wrote down one thought so I would not forget

046it can a student ever decide if they got something can they ever decide for themselves and Advocate that they need explicit instruction before they get too lost in comprehension because you all know these kids don't have a clue what explicit instruction is or what direct instruction is they don't even know that they need to ask for it they don't understand that they're not getting it and it sounds like you're advising teachers to wait to use explicit instruction in class and visual learning resources is a last resort and what I've been advocating for is I think they need it from day one and I as a mother need it from day one I had to leave the room when I heard the teacher state a really great reality she said she highlighted that kids sometimes need

047me to just tell them straight what it is I have to do because sometimes with open up it's very Discovery based which is fantastic that's the way we want kids to go it's we want them to think for themselves but sometimes kids just need a little extra push at the end to solidify their thinking because they've got all these ideas and maybe they just need somebody to be like here's the period here's the point and then they kind of put it all together and I had to leave the room when she said that because y'all I'm going to see me cry again it wasn't until that moment that I'd heard anyone speak that truth out loud in this boardroom in three years now imagine being a student and parents that have been told for the

048past five years that that notion was incorrect that by us asking for organized math reference materials we were working against the new way of doing math to the academic detriment of our students even when we saw they weren't getting it shame on us so I look forward again to seeing how you're doing and I'm watching you I've got an email queued up so that you can watch your last curriculum implementation meeting that was on November 18th in 2018 and I'll send that to you tonight Julie page [Applause] good evening friendly reminders just a mom not a politician not a domestic terrorist I have several topics of concern to address tonight number one school reassignment I have reviewed the parent feedback Forum the overwhelming majority is negative because it does not make sense students need stability

049that you rob them of for over two years I see longer bus routes longer car routes isolation from Friends a community all resulting in depression among these kids new schools move the kids no new schools move the kids what happens when new schools open up for 2024 will you be Shifting the kids again our kids have suffered at your whims long enough number two superintendent Morris contract what could possibly be the reason for wanting to extend this to 2026. what has so greatly improved a war in it since taking office in 2018 academic proficiencies have declined Staffing is at an all-time low transportation is a disaster yet you reward her nowhere else in life is this acceptable we see this for what it is a deliberate ploy to try to protect your Hired Hand from

050being terminated when a new board takes place just like 2020. number three Accelerated Reader why was this program canceled is it is the primary reason that my older son would read at night so that he could meet his reading goal I beg you to bring it back to elementary schools help with learning loss don't add to it don't blame funding there's plenty of coveted money burning holes in your pockets Dei and SEL programs why are we spending so much money on these do you have any evidence that they will increase proficiency outcomes is the School System supposed to teach facts or feelings instead of focusing on education educating children this school board seems hell-bent on being a trendy Boutique for the far left radical extremist social movements number five library books I will say this

051yet again parents are not Banning books curating reading materials for age-appropriateness is not Banning books asking for parental consent or contact restrictions is not Banning books giving ratings to reading materials is not Banning books parents merely want the right to know what is available in school and be given the choice to Shield their children from illicit sex acts and obscene language we restrict content for children on everything else in life why not this there should be no opposition to this by anyone unless you think parents don't have rights which brings me to the last topic number six the parent pledge I sent this all to you I haven't received it back what's the hesitation is it because it came from moms for Liberty if that's the problem I ask you to reevaluate your thinking the

052statement is a very basic one you either stand with parents or you stand against us Choose Wisely Becky Lou Hobbs good evening once again I come before the board a concerned mother questioning the priorities of this board the board continues to make poor financial decisions regarding our budget focuses on social and political issues at the expense of our children's education and develops policies and impede the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children so let's start with the poor financial decisions why a month before elections is the board revising superintendent's Morris contract again are you afraid of losing control why are you extending the contract of someone who has only produced declining student proficiency rates for the website Miss Moore's started in 2011 as Deputy superintendent for academic advancement in other

053words responsible for academics in 2018 became superintendent but proficiency rates has only worsened since she has directed academics in Wake County Schools for example third grade reading stores scores when she started was about 30 percent not proficient now they're about 42 percent not proficient and when she started with third grade math non-proficiency rates were at 16 and now they're at 50 percent it's deplorable do not burden Wake County families do not extend her contract now looking at today you did some discussion regarding the Strategic plan and reviewed the new Equity Equity policy time doesn't allow me to go into the details but this presentation didn't focus on quality education and quality curriculum instead it focused on equity in other words equal outcomes presentation also mentioned graduation which is currently at 91 percent the board has

054bragged about increasing those graduation rates but I ask again how can graduation rates be improving when proficiency scores are plummeting students are getting promoted and passed to the next grade who have not mastered their current grade this board's focus on strategic plans but any plan that does not focus on quality education to all children is not a plan it's a political agenda so what's the purpose of public education it's not State education it is a resource guaranteed by the North Carolina Constitution to assist parents in providing quality education to their children the more this board focuses on political agendas and assuring parents roles the worse our children's education has become no more let's get back to using our resources wisely use them to provide all of our children the quality education they deserve I'm Becky

055Lou Hobbs you can find out more at beckyforwake.com our next speaker is Daniel Grant King I would like to say good evening to everyone including superintendent Moore District staff chairman happy and fellow board members I am Mr Grant King and as many know that I'm running for the Wake County Board of Education District 4. in November first of all I would like to thank District staff including Dr Chavis and many others for speaking with board members today as the new board policy is being discussed regarding equity and fair opportunity for our students and Educators in our schools however there was still a lot more that needs to be discussed but I do agree with most of some of what is being presented thus far and of course I'll continue to look at it for my

056own reading however on this evening we've had more examples of people trying to diminish the progress and values of the school system and let's make something very clear each of you have made a sacrifice and each of you have done the best that you all could do and in accordance with what you are allowed to do within accordance with the law and with the policies that have been set by the school system and by this board but yet again we see the far right attacking the progress regarding our academics yes we had a pandemic but immediately superintendent boy and many others work together and made it crystal clear that it was not going to be easy but however we were back in schools we were back to our normal activities we will also made some

057new strides regarding how we do in our academics and how we demonstrate that in our classroom settings so I am sick and tired of the board not standing up and saying enough is enough regarding these attacks but yet what is said about these attacks regarding the progress that's made none and yet as an educator I must sit back and just sit back and take these attacks I am in the classroom each and every day and yet what is done nothing so on this evening I want to make it very clear to each of you and I urge each of you to please please do not allow these attacks to continue thank you our next speaker is Marianne Wendt board members and staff thank you for having me today several of you mentioned walk to school

058month and I wanted to take a moment to talk about that walking biking to school is so important to our schools we have a transportation crisis we don't have enough drivers we have buses running double double routes they're often linked and the reality is back in 1969 almost half of students walked or biked to school and today it's less than a quarter of that and the board can take action now to work on that one thing the board can do is to keep in mind walking and biking during school assignment it's really critical to protect walk zones around schools another thing that the district can do is to develop District level standardized policies around walking to biking right now the policies that my children are having at our school my four children that walk are

059different than the policies that are being experienced by my friends children at other schools we need standard policies and those policies should first of all favor walking and biking there are safe rules like releasing Walkers and bikers before carpool and bus students and that makes it safer for Walkers and bikers and encourages parents to have their kids walk and bike working with the municipalities to increase Transportation options by making sure sidewalks are safe that there are crossing guards and crosswalks where necessary also helps and finally making sure that those policies favor parent discretion my eight-year-old is not the same as someone else's eight-year-old and my ten-year-old isn't the same as someone else's 10 year old so making sure that parents Judgment of what's safe for their children is first and foremost the priority next week

060is walk to school day it's called walking and rolling this year which is exciting and it's October 12th and I hope every person not just board member Scott will be walking with at least one of their schools so you can see the challenges that those schools face in walking and biking and you can help be part of the solution to address those right now only a third of Wake County elementary schools are registered for Walk and Roll to school day and out of it's about 37. that's not enough we need all of them to encourage walking and biking that was always going to say but as of today I felt like I had to say something else I am so grateful for the respect and courtesy that our board members give every member of our

061school Community including children with special needs today I watched on a forum as a candidate for one of the seats here called a member of her family a slur that's unacceptable and I'm so grateful to all of you for not being like that thank you our next speaker is Amanda Lund hello it's always easier to get up here and speak towards the negatives very rarely do you get the opportunity to hear more of the positives so I'd like to start with some of that um a couple weeks ago my youngest daughter who was diagnosed with cancer when she was just before she was two lost an eye she has an IEP so we had the yearly IEP meeting since the beginning she's in fifth grade now since the very beginning all of her teachers School

062staff have been on board with that they have gone above and beyond to make sure that she gets the care that she needs in school the accommodations that she needs and one person that I would like to highlight is her AIG teacher who I know some people are very much Pro academics and less of the social emotional learning but my daughter excels in that she gets all of the academic stuff she's excels in math the part that she needs help with is dealing with her anxiety learning how to deal with her feelings knowing that she is not alone knowing that it's safe for her to speak in class and take up space but also let others take up space so I appreciate her AIG teacher fostering that kind of community and that kind of conversation

063um we also just recently they brought up indigenous people's day so I very highly commend you all for honoring that and allowing that discussion because it really is a brilliant discussion for them to also recognize various perspectives um my other daughter missed school a couple day weeks ago she was sick they were making clouds she was very upset that she wasn't able to go to school because in her science class they were making clouds and all I could think about is we like to complain but to be honest this school district provides so much more than I ever had growing up I have no idea how to make clouds from various learning opportunities to the tech that is available the electives the clubs I've worked with some of the high school students and middle school

064students in some of the charitable organizations I work with and there are some really really smart people they have such leadership skills and that will serve them so much more in their life all of those critical reasoning skills will be essential to them being the best adults that they can be Dr Martin I know a couple of times ago you were spoken towards about the coven numbers I do appreciate you sharing that because that is a variable in some of the Staffing shortages and as a parent it allows me to know that you all are thinking about all the variables so that you can do the best that you can for our children thank you our next speaker is Mike Nutt [Applause] foreign thank you for your time uh oops I'm thankful for the district

065putting time and effort into the drafting of educational policy 1150. uh it seems that instructional materials have been on the mind of those who are working on it however the new suggestion in this policy for how to treat inclusive supplemental instructional materials still leaves room for don't say gay in Wake County Public Schools section B of policy 3200 on the selection of instructional materials States teachers may use additional supplemental materials provided materials are etc etc under with the understanding that the principle retains authority to alter or amend a teacher's selection or selection process so under existing policy 3200 principles can establish on a school by school basis which queer kids and families get to see themselves reflected in the materials we saw this in District 2 last spring when the principal at Ballentine Elementary decided

066that they didn't like the way someone on a flashcard looked it seemed that the current board members didn't feel any obligation to step in and protect inclusive environments at that school thereby demonstrating that this is an area which needs more attention under district-wide policy back to the latest draft of the educational Equity policy which doesn't address this loophole in section c commitments to equity point three it says that the district will endeavor to identify and provide high quality instructional materials and methods that represent the rich diversity of our nation respect the legitimacy of different cultures and Empower students to Value diverse perspectives these materials and methods are also appropriate for the maturity levels and abilities of the students and address the spectrum of learning styles so not only does this leave a principal's choice to

067implement don't say gay in place it also gives the extreme right even more leverage to claim moral outrage because the appropriate for maturity levels of students phrase well then every mama bear in the room is going to be up here telling you that their 12th grade kids aren't mature enough to see pictures of people who don't look like them what this policy needs to say very clearly is that a teacher's chosen instructional materials cannot be removed from the classroom for the sole reason that they represent people who have a right to exist and it needs to go one step further and say that inclusive materials are protected by the district at all ages down to pre-k Dr Chavis mentioned some statistics earlier that painted a a good picture of teacher's own ratings of themselves and

068being competent to support equity in the classroom but that's not what queer students are reporting and the survey released by the campaign for southern equality recently 24 percent of respondents reported receiving support reported not receiving support or resources related to their LGBT identity at school this results in a 56 rate of respondents experiencing suicidal ideation and 14 attempting suicide at least once to break this heartbreaking cycle we need bold action from our school board we need you to be at the Vanguard of creating inclusive environments for our students down to the smallest ones [Music] Behrend foreign my name is Crystal Behrend and I'm a 24-year veteran teacher I grew up in a time and got my education degree when we were taught that color shouldn't be seen in the classroom the term colorblind might be

069familiar to some of you about my age students were just students no matter where they came from and we were supposed to treat them all equally and celebrate our commonalities my first job was in rural Ohio teaching students who looked similar to me but yet had various socioeconomic backgrounds so my lack of diversity training wasn't really a huge deal in my early years however I interviewed for a position near Cleveland and was asked if I was drawn to be an inner city teacher and I was kind of like a little vague with my response because I thought I'm just drawn to be a teacher it doesn't matter where I go or who I teach thankfully I didn't get that job where I would have brought my unconscious biases into the classroom and I would have

070been truly unprepared to teach diverse students I'm so thankful that my children have had a different experience in Wake County Public Schools I love that Wake County has magnet programs that are aimed at diversifying schools that we celebrate our uniqueness that we offer Equity trainings with uncomfortable conversations that may help us be better for our students that we offer instructional materials that allow us to have access to stories that can grow empathy and that you are willing to do the hard work of putting an equity policy into writing today on the fourth day of lgbtq History Month and disability awareness month I am here filled with hope that this Equity policy discussed earlier today will come to fruition with the updated inclusive language of our lgbtq students our special education students our English language Learners

071this policy has the potential to Define how wcpss views equity we all know that Equity is not the same as equal where everything is the same no matter what you bring to the table I'm sure you've all seen the image of the two kids picking apples with the same size ladder yet one kid still can't reach the apples Equity is making sure they both have the tools they need to success to succeed how Equitable would it be for a student with a visual impairment to be asked to read in the same way as their peers how Equitable is it if male students are given a safe environment free of discrimination based on gender while our female students continue to have lower performance in male-dominated fields and subjects and our transgender students fear exclusion bathroom and

072simple acceptance it will be terribly inequitable to ask our lgbtq plus students to refrain from saying gay while our heterosexual students are allowed to be their true selves our students need to feel safe they need to feel accepted and seen and they need to know that the adults in their lives are willing to stand up and advocate for those needs no matter what happens this November we will still have students who are lgbtq Plus have special education needs have language learning needs and are facing a whole list of other identity intersections that may Lair to contribute to systems of Oppression just give the kid a taller ladder her next speaker is Amanda Cohen foreign good evening my name is Amanda Cohen and I'm the parent of show my bias here the most amazing little girl

073um not quite in the school system yet but it's soon to be very excited about that I'm here today regarding my concern about I'm just going to be as plain as I can the hate-filled rhetoric that I have seen infiltrate this room as well as social media platforms I've watched as candidates who might soon themselves comprise this board promote and espouse lies misinformation and bigotry I've listened and read as they've called in as they've in their own words called those in the lgbtq community groomers and pedophiles or for simply wanting to be represented and exist I've seen them make statements claiming to get wanting to get back to basics ensure an all-inclusive curriculum and be a voice for children how can we as parents trust someone to promote inclusive curriculum when they themselves have spent

074years devoted to doing the opposite how can we trust them to be a voice for all of our children when they actively use theirs to depict a portion of those children as well as their families as less than worthy of representation belonging and inclusion those in a position of power be it as a parent as a board member should understand that words matter no matter where they're spoken we all have the freedom of speech I am very grateful for that but it does not exclude you from accountability especially when you're asking for our votes so you so yes your personal feelings on historically marginalized and vulnerable groups do matter and are relevant I would love to get back to basics focus on academics and give education for to our students I don't think there's anyone

075in this room that wouldn't like that I would love for our worries to be solely focused on teacher pay retention funding class size and getting every single student the tools they need and deserve but how can we expect our students to focus on academics to get back to basics or receive education and grow when they aren't even allowed to be comfortable in their own skin at school we can do better we can support those who will put in the work to improve our schools for all students not just those that they look live and love love like thank you very much for your type our next speaker is Robin Livingston Robin Livingston hi um what she said basically you know my um I have a son who's a ninth grader at wake youngman's Leadership Academy

076and I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that that school exists he really struggled in elementary school and had some learning disability issues and some all kinds of things and that school has with the small class sizes and the small you know Max Capacity of 50 per grade so it's not overwhelming for him he's very bright and he gets a very good education there he's surrounded by peers who are who take education seriously academics are very high standard um he's going to be going to college in two years which is shocking to me it's such a great opportunity for kids and I know that enrollment's coming up for that school pretty soon so I would encourage anyone who has a son or daughter our our leadership academies are awesome um I

077can't say enough about it and I'm just really grateful that we have that just want to let y'all know thank you thank you our next speaker is Jessica Lewis good evening I have a third and fifth grader in Wake County Schools I am a mom who wants my kids education to be focused on Reading Writing and math the pandemic started my son's kindergarten year this was his first year of normal school and also taking the beginning of grade test his results came back as non-proficient but what is more worrisome is that the average of all Wake County student students came back as non-proficient in reading and math I have listened to the bli speak numerous times on how the math curriculum is not working for our kids and parents are unable to help their children

078without textbook textbooks you all continue to ignore and our children suffer because of your ignorance with these low scores how can you all sit in those seats and pat yourself on the back for a job well done when our students are failing why are you not spending your work sessions talking about the learning loss that has occurred for over two years parents would think that their elected School Board representative would be concerned but instead you spent your work session today talking about Equity you are more fixated on worrying about being politically correct or in my opinion Politically Incorrect about our kids gender race and spending dollars on Equity programs you're more worried about not listing the gender of our kids anymore to appease the minority that is offended what if as a mom I would

079like my children's gender listed back in the school system do I not have that right for my children to be correctly identified as a gender they were born as we as parents do not send our kids to school for indoctrination camp we send them to learn Reading Writing and math the basics to help lead them toward a successful future take gender and race out of the equation because I can tell you for a fact that it's not going to improve our kids test scores another question why was spelling taken out of the curriculum in order to read our children need to be able to spell and sound out words they are reading please consider making it mandatory for all students to take weekly spelling tests which in return will improve reading scores also I request

080that you guys cursive back in the curriculum so our kids know how to read it write it and can actually sign their signature on papers the school sends home asking for their signature tonight you'll all be voting on extending Miss catty Moore's contract to 2026. I ask you why would you vote Yes for a superintendent who has failed their children teachers and parents why would you vote Yes when our students are not proficient in math or reading why would you vote Yes for a person making 328 000 but she is not leading our education system in a positive direction if you vote Yes you are acknowledging you are part of the problem and do not care about our children's failing education Katie long is running for School Board District Seven she is running as a

081mom not a politician who will support all children teachers and parents we long for change for a new school board and successful future for our children November 8th our next speaker is D sellers good evening everybody my name is D sellers my pronouns are they them I just want to make a quick comment tonight I took my whole time last time so I'm going to try and keep it a little shorter as I said last meeting my my purpose in attending these meetings is to represent myself and other parents who are like me who are not represented by other parents rights groups that attend these meetings my wife and I are parents of a brilliant 10 year old girl she owns a lot of books like a lot of books I'm still building bookshelves for

082her but not every kid has access to a large library in their home and the books in their school library might be their primary access to books um I just I don't think that kids with less resources should be limited in their access to information because some parents groups wish to curate the collection of books a most recent list that I ran across is Martin Luther King Jr in the March on Washington separate is never equal and Ruby Bridges Goes to School My True Story by Ruby Bridges um I find the curated book list interesting for what history these parents are opposing making visible to our children so in closing my belief is that having access to a variety of books on all subjects supports the growth of our children into well-rounded adults I think

083kids should have access to difficult materials and be given the chance to think critically about their contents I think an honest discussion of History benefits everyone black white okay straight whoever you are and that Sheltering our kids from the realities of our history is a disservice to our children and to the adults that we're helping them to become uh thank you for letting me speak as a parent who wants to ensure that kids continue to have access to Accurate if sometimes uncomfortable history I'm also a parent and I think I should get to to voice that as well and I just you know if we leave race and Jenner out of the the classroom I think it's important to look at who that's actually leaving out because it's not inclusive of everyone thank you our

084next speaker is Christina Spears foreign good evening happy October chair Mahaffey Vice chair Hagerty superintendent Moore District staff and board members I'm Christina Spears a special education teacher by trade and wake ncae's full-time release president October is a great month of the year as we welcome fall and spooky season we find ourselves in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month we've kicked off lgbtq history disability awareness month we appreciate our principles this month and we recognize our custodial service workers this week fall is a time of change and transition as the leaves fall and the temperature changes October is considered spooky season because of the aforementioned changes and some of us celebrate a spooky holiday at the end of the month this October might feel spooky for wcpss as well in today's work session District staff

085and board members dug into the Strategic plan and continued their discussion on Equity policy 1150. it can be daunting to create a plan that impacts hundreds of thousands of students staff and their families it can feel scary to begin the courageous work of naming historical disparities our complicity in those inequalities and then Define the work necessary to to disrupt them it may be spooky to disrupt or interrupt the current state of things for folks who stand to benefit from the current status quo it can be Eerie to connect systemic change to the important work of changing the hearts and minds of individuals It's haunting to consider how Equity work is a long-term project that will continue beyond our lifetimes and find our place in that project now the important work of revising a strategic plan

086in an equity policy may feel even scarier in the middle of a race to midterm elections though this body is nonpartisan we would be remiss to say politics and our current socio-political context doesn't impact what happens in this room and in our school system otherwise why would we be drafting an equity policy to disrupt those systems of power my favorite Master teacher Audrey Lord says I am deliberate and afraid of nothing I Echo Lord and Heather Scott and Monica Johnson hosler tonight that we should not be afraid of clear strong language we should not feel spooked to move forward with an equity policy because of the discomfort of some we should be unafraid to implement Equitable just policies and practices the only thing we have to fear in this moment is allowing the status quo

087to continue to perpetuate harm against historically and traditionally marginalized students and staff based on today's discussion I'm hopeful that this board and District staff will choose to be deliberate and fearless in the space in the face of spooky things like poverty racism sexism ableism and homophobia thank you our next speaker is Tracy Taylor good evening I wish that the board would be deliberate and be courageous and admit that the policies that they've implemented in the last four or five years have not been working I wish that the board members would be courageous and say that the curriculum that they used as Ms Bly has been coming years now saying wouldn't work that you would actually admit that it didn't oh wait you did I think recently but you don't admit your failure to what you

088have done to the students for the last four or five years you talk about how you want to build Community I think I heard that in Dr Martin's statement tonight I want to ask you how reassignment is building Community within schools how is reassignment allowing the students who are marginalized who do build a relationship with teachers and staff over years in schools how do you think that affects their families do you think that that helps them if you want children to succeed you need to build the community around them that doesn't mean you uproot them every two or three years and if you're going to use bussing or opening new schools as the reason and rationale for your decision I'd like to ask why it is that you're moving students from no Transportation zones I

089am so thankful that Miss Wendt was here tonight to talk about arts and starts active routes to schools safe routes to schools you won't allow students to walk or ride or roll to a lot of the schools that are within that distance instead you insist on bussing them and you create this illusion that we're going to use bussing as the reason that we're going to reassign students and in a school whose ex-principal saw a very huge decline in the student numbers I'll just say when you take students from these no Transportation zones and then you move them to a school that's a mile or two further down the road that is not helping bussing that's making the problem worse you're so incredibly short-sighted you are not building a community in the school when you're not

090building a community in the school the children suffer thank you our next speaker is Monica Ruiz [Applause] hi my name is Monica Ruiz and I'm running for Wake County School Board District 2. it is time for a Bill of Rights for parents we have pressing issues like learning loss and School Safety Not only do we need curriculum transparency as part of the parent Bill of Rights but we also must stipulate clear policies and procedures that are the same in all schools and not left up to each principle to decide we need a clear policy regarding the use of bathrooms and locker rooms we must have separate bathrooms based on biological sex and if there is a child experiencing gender dysphoria a one-person bathroom should be made available safety is essential for all of our students

091a female could be sexually assaulted or a male could be wrongfully accused of a sexual assault are we going to be the next Loudon County Virginia do we want to have to face parents and explain why there was a sexual assault in a bathroom because Wake County failed to address this do you realize that having a male in a restroom with a woman is an infringement on the First Amendment as it pertains to religion are you aware that in the religion of Islam a Muslim female cannot share a restroom with a male is Wake County ready for the lawsuits as of now there's nothing on the books that stipulates that a parent must be notified about their child experiencing gender dysphoria or wanting to use different pronouns I've heard from some teachers in Wake County

092that they have been dissuaded from informing the parents of this considering that the rate of suicide ideation and attempted suicide is high for people experiencing gender dysphoria it is Paramount that parents are notified what about protecting girls Sports we need a clearly defined policy that protects girls participation in sports ultimately we need a parent's Bill of Rights that has a clear discipline policy assures personal privacy when toileting or changing clothes informs parents of personal issues related to their child's mental and physical safety and a curriculum that is transparent and accessible to parents we need a board that is brave enough to stand up to the woke mob and be a voice for families I am a teacher's voice for families Monica Ruiz for awake our next speaker is Renee sickle man the timing all right

093I'm gonna have to split this into two pieces first I want to thank you guys for working on an equity policy if nothing else has become clear in the last several years it's how critically important it is to have a policy guiding this school system to protect vulnerable students I hear so often parents School Board candidates talking demanding that the School Board gets back to basics they mean read and write and arithmetic but Equity is foundational you can't get to Reading Writing arithmetic until a child is ready to learn a kid who an autistic kid who has been referred to the school resource officer for behaviors that are perfectly within their forgive me words fail that child's not ready to learn if they're now worried about what's going to happen when they see the school

094resource officer again who doesn't get to see books with families that look like theirs isn't going to be as interested in Reading like imagine how much more fun it is for a kid to be able to see oh hey that family looks like my family or that kid looks like my brother or sister or whatever like sibling that I've got a kid who has dealt with racial slurs or ableist slurs as one of our school board candidates used recently they're not going to be ready to learn they're not going to be in that emotional headspace we heard today from a parent whose child suffers with anxiety and really needs help getting dealing with that problem to be able to learn all of the issues that you're addressing in these Equity policy they are basic they

095are foundational they are what let us get to read and write an arithmetic and last I just want to say this is this is difficult I was abused as a child I had parents who would have fit right in with the crowd screaming for parents rights but what they meant was parents right over me that where my rights interfered with what they wanted for me their rights should be prevailing their right to know everything I was doing the right to control everything I was doing and God forbid I still have flashbacks 30 years later to the day my mom found out I told a teacher that she and my dad were fighting it was that bad so when we talk about parents rights I would say that focus is Thoroughly misplaced the rights we are

096concerned about the rights everybody should be concerned about are the students luckily for most kids parents rights and students rights intersect because most parents want what's best for their kid even if it's not what they maybe had seen for their kid but students rights must be Paramount even when the parent doesn't like it thank you our next speaker is Michelle Morrow Michelle Morrow our next speaker is Lana Witt foreign board members I've been asked in the past year what motivates me and as I drove here tonight I found myself asking again what possibly motivates you is it volunteerism power or manipulation over others or maybe Financial incentive I reflect on the past few years of voluntarily advocating for educators students parents and Guardians in Wake County and I see Hope on the horizon as I

097look around the board table and I see faith and freedom represented in your voluntary choices to unmask and or remain masked how long has it taken since March of 2020 to remind each of us that freedom to take voluntary action is so much more powerful than demands and mandates that Force Behavior coming from nih-funded entities like ABC science collaborative and or ncdhhs testing tracking and tracing contracted out to entities like Mako Medical as I look around the room and note approximately 29 public citizens in attendance and over 60 empty chairs I think about the faithful as well as the missing voices from our community and continue to be grateful for voluntary voices showing up because they care about our community the content and quality of Education outcomes that begin in each classroom of our over

098190 taxpayer-funded school buildings and the growing students and families of Wake County who may not have the time or resources to be here I encourage all of us to continue to use our voices volunteer and vote as we balance the freedom entrusted to us with the responsibility that inco that accompanies it to whom much is given much is required freedom unrestrained is chaos for example separating students in classrooms based on vaccinated or unvaccinated status or redistributing students from one area of the county to another if we've learned nothing from history and our recent experience with covid fear constant Mandatory Action is oppression that often leads to depression let's make sure that our understanding of Human Rights the majority and minority the marginalized and the ones standing alone applies to every human no matter the label

099chosen valuing each voice and voluntary action are what motivates me how about you this concludes public comment thank you all for coming and taking the time to speak today we now continue with our information items with our superintendent updates good evening again we covered three items in our work session today the first item that we covered was continued work on the Strategic plan just as an update for what's on there we are asking the board for approval this evening for the framework of that strategic plan that includes some change some continu the continuing vision and Mission some changes to our core belief most notably adding student being a student well-being and student agency to quarterly four and then adding a core belief seven that speaks specifically to Optimal learning environments that cover some of the

100operational parts of the district uh this framework also includes three strategic priorities one around student Knowledge and Skills which includes the feedback from around the four C's and literacy and knowledge the second one is student dispositions and well-being and then the third one is operational effectiveness and that is through months of conversation public feedback Etc and then those are supported by essential pillars that are necessary for conditions for achievement in those areas high quality instructional core for all students in all content areas Equity focused practices high quality wcpss staff and Hike family and Community engagement this evening we will be requesting approval of that framework with additional work to come and a timeline that will be part of that presentation that includes fleshing out specific goals in those areas the second area in the work

101session today was a continued discussion of the ombuds position and the draft job description there were there was a lot of good feedback and some changes and some questions that came from board members who continue to do work in that area and we do have some sessions scheduled met with some additional feedback for some different stakeholder groups in our schools staff students and some Community stakeholder groups as well so that will come back to the board again and then the third item in our work session today was continued work on the equity policy which is divided into three sections that had considerable revisions from the prior version that the board has seen previously around a definition of equity as one section the use of an equity lends in a second section and then this third

102section being the commit the district's commitments to equity we continue to receive uh feedback on that policy and we'll take it to additional stakeholder groups as well and we'll bring that back to the board also whether it's the second board meeting in October or first board meeting in November sometime depending on on what timing looks like and we I think we have policy committee as well in October if we need it so that was our work session today thank you superintendent Moore this time is there a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda motion for approval of the consent agenda Adams second okay we have a motion in a second any discussion seeing none all in favor say aye any opposed nay motion passes our first four action items come out of the

103cheapest schools and three are all related to the town of Morrisville Miss Betty Parker our first one is the First Amendment to Joint use agreement with the town of Morrisville at Cedar Fork Elementary School thank you chairman happy good afternoon ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for the time to speak with you today you may have noticed that we attached a PowerPoint presentation to all three items so we thought to provide a little bit of the context to better understand these three items we would run through the PowerPoint very quickly and then we'll go through the items fairly quickly we're very happy to bring forward these three intergovernmental contracts with our friends from town of Morrisville and Wake Tech they all support our acquisition of the new High School in Morrisville known as h-14

104um as soon as we finish that again we'll we'll go through the agenda items quickly I did want to note from the start that this site acquisition Journey has been one of the most complex and collaborative that we've ever had since I've been here at least in addition to the purchase agreement that we're seeking funding for from from the Board of Commissioners we together with Wake Tech Morrisville Kerry and Wake County have all either agreed upon or are finalizing terms and conditions on intergovernmental agreements that are mutually beneficial to all it supports the school and varied Community needs with a persistent focus on collaborative stewardship this is one of those rare situations where all stakeholders and the community and the taxpayers at large substantially benefit we shared with the Board of Commissioners yesterday the fact

105that this board Wake Tech and Wake County all have significant interest in the general obligation Bond approvals that are being sought in the upcoming general election this joint undertaking offers a great example to the community of the benefits and collaborative stewardship that enables us to take advantage of shared opportunities and make the most of the funding that we receive for Mutual benefit it has been an adventure with some of the best collaborative opportunities we've we've had and it's gone really well um moving to slide two a small high school has been targeted for the Morrisville area through our long-range planning work with entry for a number of years its placement is expected to help growth in high school crowding in Western Wake County the new High School site is planted the Northwestern portion of the

106current Wake Tech RTP campus in Morrisville Wake Tech has a continued commitment to Morrisville but having experienced virtual learning impacts and varied programmatic demands it has updated its master plan for the campus the Morrisville campus is anticipated to include a total of six buildings now with related parking facilities at the southern end Wake Tech staff has identified the 52-acre northern portion for which alternative uses have been considered and that's the gray shaded area that you see here this change in use has created opportunities for collaborative Partnerships that include establishment of a new public high school and creation of a new park land and open space as you can see with the pink dash line the airport overlay boundary bisects the campus K-12 school activities are an allowed use on the western side but not on

107the Eastern side we have negotiated with Wake Tech to acquire a little over 35 acres for a future high school that's shown here in yellow at a price that's well under market and by that I mean the current value of this site would probably be three to four times the price that that we are paying so we really appreciate Wake County and wake Tech's roles in helping establish that price our feasibility studies also confirmed that we need to acquire for assemblage the two and a half acre track at the Northwestern Corner that's outlined in green it's owned by the town it's a future fire station site the portion of the property that's we seek to acquire that's east of the overlay will still be valuable to us we have the opportunity to use it for

108grading storm water control facilities and buffers to maximize the developable aspects on the western side so it gives us significant design flexibility you'll notice at the bottom there's an existing parking lot that was constructed by Wake Tech that's in daily use for its operations under the terms of our agreement Wake Tech still has the right to use that surface slot until we are able to relocate or reconstruct it however during due diligence we've realized that wake Tech's demands for parking with the reduced Master planners not as high as originally thought so we'll be able to Simply remove the portion of the lot that's on our side whenever our project begins Wake Tech and the town will continue to explore sharing opportunities for the remainder of the parking lot that will benefit their needs we've worked

109with the town of Morrisville to acquire that future fire station site to assemble with ours to meet program needs we've reached an agreement to change to exchange a comparable amount of land on the northeastern portion of the site as you see outlined on the map in blue that will accommodate the relocation of their future fire station and the Wake County EMS station if it's desired that new location will be within the airport overlay has more Road Frontage and less challenging topography a win for the town the board benefits by having more of the acreage outside that we can actually use so it's a win for us in addition the town and Wake Tech have reached agreement on a long-term lease for the remainder of that Northern portion for a town park that's shown they're shaded

110in green this area is currently passive Green Space the design and use specifics have yet to be decided by the town and it'll need to be incorporated into their CIP they don't have a timeline yet but I'm sure they'll be excited to look into that the rest of the Wake Tech campus at the South is outlined in Orange and they still have all the room they need to accommodate their master plan we prepared a preliminary feasibility study to illustrate potential development and to confirm that a small high school program will in fact fit and we've reviewed it through several iterations with the town Wake Tech and Senior school system staff the total acreage for the school will be about 36 Acres when you add together the two pieces we're acquiring this area will accommodate most

111of the standard program elements noted for a small High School of about 1200 students the town will benefit of a lease of about 17 to 18 Acres of Parkland as well as the lease for the future fire station site and just as an example our study indicated location of an ADA accessible multi-use Trail through the wooded park with trailheads of the north and south parking room for restrooms and nine-hole disc golf course connections to the school site and Wake Tech again it's a preliminary study the town still has much to think about we've collaborated also with the town in Wake County to lay the groundwork for the County's support of the school Park projects with matching funding availability of up to a quarter of a million dollars there are four standard high school program elements

112that don't fit on this site for the feasibility study we've identified off-site nearby locations to accommodate those needs first would be at Parkside Middle School we're building a new track there to support the middle school when the high school project comes along we have the opportunity to upgrade the track to accommodate High School use as well for Tennyson softball field locations we focused on Cedar Fork Elementary and we found that there's room there where we can collaboratively develop tennis courts a softball field and all the related improvements at a location where we already have a very robust joint use agreement with the town of Morrisville you may recall that this is a site where a town community center and shared gymnasium is Incorporated in our school design and there were substantial contributions to its development

113at the beginning of the design of the school so this changes out the use of two more informal ball fields for more formal tennis courts and the like so we're very excited about that um at Mills Park we're in coordination with the town of Cary to develop a baseball field on the Mills Park Side of the Mills Park Elementary Middle School in town park property the town had already become rough grading for a ball field on a concept plan but priorities and Rising costs put a pause on that so we've got an opportunity to come to an area that's already ready to start with construction and there's some great opportunities to again expand the joint use there with the town of Kerry uh our high school project timing according to our CIP third quarter update

114shows design funding for the school is planned for fy24 construction funding is planned in FY 2607 and if all goes well the projected School opening is in the fall of 27 for the 27-28 Year this has been very exciting to everybody in that part of the county when you consider the crowding levels we already have and the number of trailers that we already have at Panther Creek Green Hope and there's still an awful lot of residential growth now having set the stage our first agenda item today is regarding an amendment to The Joint use agreement with the town of Morrisville at Cedar Fork Elementary School as you may recall back in April we entered an mou together with the town to explore this very thing the amendment provides the framework for updating and extending our

115successful joint use agreements that the board entered in 2003 and then again in 2012. the result of a collaborative effort committed to about all parties under the mou the Salient terms address identification of suitable areas for development of the high school programs we've mentioned the board will be responsible for construction of the high school elements to board standards the board will incorporate additional above program amenities into the design at the town's cost and this is our typical joint use approach towns are often willing to upgrade the facilities to ensure more use at their expense parking and access to the community center will need to be maintained during all construction the town will be responsible for maintenance of the athletic spaces once we build them and we've adjusted our parking lot responsibilities the town is going

116to take the lead in maintaining our parking lots with a cost split of 50 50 when we get to Major repairs if for any reason Town maintenance requires closure of the high school facilities the town has agreed to work to help us relocate practices and games at other spaces within Morrisville if at all possible it does address tolling the use of the existing ball fields obviously during construction they'll no longer be available and we're also extending the joint use term for an additional 25-year period with that we would request board approval on this item and I'm happy to answer any questions you have on this joints Amendment it's Parker is there a motion I would move adoption of the joint use agreement we have a motion in a second any questions or discussion I mean

117I just want to provide some praise for Ms Parker and all of the efforts that went into crafting these extremely complex agreements uh to bring so many different parties together and make everything fit almost like a jigsaw puzzle to help make this High School possible is really tremendous you know this is a part of the county where we have incredible growth and not a lot of available land so anytime you can find any way to put another school in this area is extremely challenging and especially when you've got 36 Acres which we talk about in facilities all the time would be far below the footprint we would need to be able to find creative imaginative alternatives to try to place the different athletic fields so that the school those small could still have a full

118array of sports options is just really really incredible work yeah I had some questions about the agreement you've answered them by email I'm fully satisfied and I can take those answers to people on the Town Council and others who've asked me questions about it I just want to say Well done on a very very ambitious and very creative project thank you and I I can't take credit for all of it it's been quite a collaborative effort uh planning director Michelle Stegall is with us tonight from Morrisville and at the end I was going to recognize her I think she'd like to add some comments but Town staff has been absolutely critical in helping us Wade through some of the challenges that we have in that particular area and our own staff our fdnc senior site

119facility planner and our athletic director have provided valuable information all along to figure out what pieces can go where and and how we might do it but it has been a it's been a joy to work with such smart collaborative people to to solve a puzzle cute further discussion seeing none all in favor please say aye any opposed nay on to interlocal agreements with the town of Morrisville and the trustees of Wake Technical Community College Northwestern Wake County Morrisville area for future High School site age 14. thank you chairman happy this agreement provides the framework to support the location of the high school elements on the new School site it also deals with all the inner workings of the relationships between all three parties on that site it's sort of the overarching agreement from which

120all others flow it includes Salient points about the purchase of the land by the board from Wake Tech the town fire station land swap with the board that I described earlier the lease of the Parkland between the town and Wake Tech the board and town development of joint use athletic facilities at Cedar Fork that we've just talked about it also addresses allowing the town to construct a shared Drive utilities and possible Trailhead on school property North adjacent to the fire station that's over in the overlay area so there's an opportunity there for placement we are still sort of working through the dotting the eyes and crossing the t's with Council as to exactly how we'll handle that but whether it's part of the lease or part of a joint use agreement we're satisfied that it's

121in an area that won't adversely impact our school building opportunity it allows the Wake Tech parking lot to remain on school property until school construction begins at the time of school design board in town will evaluate potential for shared infrastructure improvements again it's nothing more than being sure that Wake Tech and the town continue to be at the design table with us to start with to be sure that we are able to to bring all these Concepts to fruition that are so mutually beneficial their infrastructure improvements as with all of our joint use development agreements for those that benefit multiple parties that are added to assist one or another we set out a process for how those to be there to be bid in breakout bids so our partners have the opportunity to review and

122approve those before paying for them there'll be some shared cost of studies during design for those aspects that benefit all and that's where Wake County comes in from some of these School Park opportunities there's some additional funding that's brought to the table to help the towns do that up front it has the parties granting each other the necessary easements without cost for any improvements that that align on one property the other and the town has agreed to waive development fees for construction of the school on this site with that overview we would request board approval and I'm happy to address any questions you may have chair Mahaffey I would move approval of the second interlocal agreement is there a second multiple seconds um any discussion just one question on this one I know I guess

123the I've reviewed the agreement but and this is more of a governance question I don't know if it may be more for the superintendent or for you Miss Parker but where we also have the Early College there on site on this Wake Tech campus is is there any you know impact on that relationship with the Early College because essentially we'll have two high schools within very close proximity in terms of like overflow parking resources or meeting resources or you know other any other contemplation possibly contemplated uh shared service they're not shared services but there are some synergies that can be very beneficial obviously Wake Tech is very excited about alignment with a high school in addition to the Wake Early College of information biotechnologies keep in mind it won't be long before um Parkside Middle

124school will be open in our 9th and 10th graders will be relocated there so then it will be upper grades I presume that our new high school will have access and this may be a Dr Lane question but I presume that they'll have access to being able to take college courses at that campus as well as as all of our high school students do so there's that opportunity the one piece where there's been some sort of programmatic synergy in talking with Darren Cove we we early on had some concerns about how do you conference a 1200 student high school and the answer is when Wake Early College has about 400 students when you combine those you have a student population that's the size that Panther Creek and Green Hope were originally built to accommodate so

125very quickly by by realigning those Athletics resources we have a 4A school that can be conferenced very simply so right now those early college kids are going to a different school but once it opens I think that's something Darren's thinking about very strongly beyond that in terms of overflow parking I'm not sure there are any approximate locations that benefit overflow parking when our 11th and 12th graders are there for the Early College they're college students so they'll be taking advantage of the Wake Tech provided parking there really wouldn't be an initial an additional need we may have some shared parking opportunities in the other direction so should we have Stadium events that overwhelm the parking on the High School site the adjacent Wake Tech parking is something that we can collaborate with to provide additional

126programmatic support if I could just add one additional comment I have had some conversations with Dr Rawls about those academic synergies so yeah I'll leave there other than to say that we have some opportunities based on existing programming at Wake Tech Partnerships that Wake Tech wants to pursue in the future some of the companies that are in close proximity or will soon be in close proximity to the school that are that are all parts of the discussion for the synergies thank you any further discussion or questions seeing none all in favor please say aye aye any opposed nay and finally our lease with the town of Morrisville for a future fire station thank you chairman happy and of course this lease agreement provides the framework for the land swap we talked about the town currently

127owns a two and a half acre site we are planning to lease them a comparable area for their use for a future fire station as well as an EMS station we proposed a 99-year lease term which is the same term as the Middle Creek Library ground lease so we have some history with this sort of thing the compensation to the board for the lease of course is the conveyance of land and a token one dollar per year the town will benefit again because the location will provide them a more constructible site and we benefit by having more acreage on our side of the of the airport overlay line the town is financially responsible for all aspects of the development and operations of fire station and they'll own the improvements for the term of the lease

128our approval of the lease will not adversely impact the current user plan you saw the School site now no timeline has been established yet for the new Fire Station project and of course it will be incorporated into the town CIP when they're ready to move ahead we would request board approval and I'm happy to answer any questions on this item all right do we have a motion for approval I would also move approval of this third local agreement all right thank you is there a second thank you um any discussion I just yep Miss Scott go ahead um is the building going to be more soundproof not just having a fire station here but seriously I'm sure there was discussion of having something that could create disruption so I just wondered what I would I

129would expect so I know with other schools we've built in the area or with approximately the airport and with the Wake Tech buildings themselves there's some additional roof insulation that helps primarily but there's some additional sound attenuation measures that are likely to be incorporated that's the case with any of our our schools in close proximity I appreciate that thank you yes ma'am further discussion or questions I'll just say this really is a benefit to the whole Community out there they just opened the Harris Road fire station out there in Morrisville because right now there's a lot of fire protection is shared with the town of Kerry and opening these new systems in these areas really improve response times and we'll have a really great impact on community safety out there so the sport at 100

130percent a huge thank you to Wake Tech and especially the town of Morrisville for their partnership on all of this I know it's not easy work to do all of these joint use agreements but um certainly this is proof that when three entities have a shared goal we can make things happen so thank you all absolutely and if I may I'd like to invite Michelle Stegall town planning director up I know she wanted to offer comments Michelle led the team with Town manager Martha page assistant manager Brandon zudema an assistant Town manager Giselle Rodriguez Villanueva we have we have met more times than I have seen you in in the last year or two it's been very frequent for Wake Tech Dr Gail green the Chief Operating Officer and vice president facilities Jeff Carter along

131with President Rawls have just been tireless and I would be remiss if I didn't think this board for being open to Creative Solutions where difficulties preclude standard operations not all boards would consider something like this and it was it was heartwarming to see the immediate recognition the difficulties and the creative problem solving that you are willing to to to encourage I was going to say tolerate that's probably not the right word but Michelle would you like to join us thank you for being here miss Stiegel thank you for giving me just a couple minutes to address the board I really do appreciate it first and foremost I just want to say thank you this is a very proud moment for us a town of Morrisville residents have desired a high school in Morrisville for a

132long long time and we just had the Wake Early College open up and now to say that we're going to have our first public high school in Morrisville and to have a public high school in Morrisville it's a milestone for the community I think there were some references to the intergovernmental cooperation that occurred to make this happen and I just want to Echo those comments five different governmental entities had to come together to pull this off and it was referenced as a jigsaw puzzle and I think that's a great analogy because it really was it was a partnership that I've been very proud to be a part of it's shown that when you have committed parties that are looking to serve the public that think outside the box do creative and Innovative things that could

133really do great things together this is probably the best example of intergovernmental cooperation that I've seen in my career and I'm just really looking forward to the groundbreaking seeing the new school open up and want to thank Betty as well I've probably driven Betty crazy over the years calling her talking about different sites as potentials for Schools she's always made herself available she's always taken that next step to look into and explore things but it's been difficult land is is hard to find but it's a relationship that I very much value she has done a lot of heavy lifting on this and I just look forward to continuing that relationship I want to thank you for your work as well but thank you very much appreciate your partnership thank you as well and please send

134our thanks back to your team in Morrisville we know that this is a big lift and an exciting moment for everyone here and in Morrisville as well any further comments discussion seeing none all in favor please say aye any opposed nay thank you Miss Parker thank you very much up next we have approval of our strategic plan framework which was discussed oh no I was jumping ahead I'm so sorry Dr Lane that does not mean anything yes so thank you um Sandy Dr Kimberly Lane is here to talk about our Magnet School assistant program Grant and our magnet school name change yes thank you good evening chairman happy Vice chair Hagerty board members superintendent Moore I did ask Cindy defore to join me from the office of Grants and I'll share a little bit more

135wine just a moment I've stood before you several times in the last 12 months to Garner your support for the 2022 Magnet School assistance program Grant from surveys of Staff families and parents to working with our partners in the grants office data research and accountability the office of student assignment long-range planning and the Real Estate Services who you just saw heard from and she really set the stage for um what we're sharing tonight we worked together to determine which schools to include in our Grant application and ensure that we honor the Wake County Public Schools magnet principles of reducing high concentrations of poverty promoting diversity in school integration maximizing use of school facilities and providing Innovative and or expanded educational opportunities um tonight I come to you to make an official request to change the

136names of the four schools included in the msap 2022 project Synergy Grant isn't it interesting that we heard about Synergy earlier so it must be the word of the hour however before asking you to do so I asked Cindy defore to join me in sharing a bit of great news come on through lots of collaboration and Collective work with school leaders and staffs families and students as well as many individuals and groups across multiple departments including facilities and operations Transportation special ed services the office of equity Affairs academics student Support Services tech services finance and budget Human Resources our Chiefs our area superintendents in the entire school choice planning and assignment team and you board members for your support it is with great honor that superintendent Moore Cindy defore or Grant's office and the magnet

137and curriculum enhancement programs office are pleased to announce to you tonight that Wake County Public School System is a recipient of the 2022-2027 U.S Department of Education msap Grant award for project Synergy in the amount of 13 million five hundred and fifty three thousand and thirty three dollars [Applause] a heartfelt thanks to everybody if I missed anybody in saying thanks it was truly a collaborative effort we were trying to think today literally how many people have touched this Grant and it takes a team a massive team and it couldn't be done without everyone so a heartfelt thanks to our grants office staff the entire magnet team but I did want to call special attention to one and she couldn't be here tonight because she's at a recruiting event but Tasha Haynes in the magnet office

138is our key Grant coordinator writer and we tried to get her to name today how many grants msap grants she's helped write and she couldn't we know that she has brought in millions of help to bring in millions of dollars for the district the district will receive approximately 3.4 million dollars this year with additional funding to come over the course of the next four years Wake County was one of a few districts we don't know the exact number yet to receive the award and it is the first time in Wake County Public School history that the district is home to three msap grants concurrently for over totaling over 40 million dollars msap Cornerstone began in 2017 and will end next year 2023. project Nexus began in 2021 and will end in 2026 and now Synergy

139began October 1st 2022 when we run through 2027. project Synergy is an important name because it does capture the essence of Wake County Public Schools proposal for these four schools and embodies the district's conviction that transformative learning occurs when children from socioeconomically racially and geographically diverse backgrounds are exposed to Innovative programs and learn with peers in integrated environments so tonight we come to you to discuss Centennial Campus Middle School led by the esteemed Catherine Hutchinson and her magnet coordinator Lindsey Strickland and their design team and they will significantly revise the existing University connections and Leadership magnet theme to become the first and only Center for innovation in Wake County Public School System where students will use design thinking to spark innovative ideas and creative problem solving Wake Forest Magnet Elementary School with shell Smith as

140principal and her design team will establish a new eye stem program and yes that eye is a little italicized eye we think about it as Innovation through stem or investigations through stem programs where students will engage in Discovery to solve emerging problems Wildwood Forest Magnet Elementary a shout out to Holly Shaw and her design team will establish a new Academy of Arts and Design program and East Millbrook Magnet Middle Aaron Morrison and his magnet coordinator Joanna caves and their design team will significantly revise the existing Academy of Visual and Performing Arts to also become the Academy of Arts and Design where students will move through iterations of prototyping and testing making their thinking visible through imaginative problem solving so now back to the business at hand staff comes to you recommending the following name changes

141for the msap Synergy schools Centennial Campus Center for Innovation Magnet Middle School East Millbrook Magnet Middle School Academy of Arts and Design Wake Forest eye STEM Magnet Elementary School and Wildwood Forest Magnet Elementary School Academy of Arts and Design thank you Dr Lane very exciting news do we have a motion thank you Dr Martin is there thank you Miss Scott for the second any discussion Miss Scott first of all congratulations and thank you so much for your work and securing the the grants um and also highlighting um the amazing work of Staff members Dr Lane that's very that's very kind of you and I think it speaks to um your leadership style so thank you so much um I could not be more excited that we're continuing to move forward with these magnet schools we

142heard this evening from someone during public comment about her own child having a positive experience in one of our schools of choice within the Wake County Public School System and this never is to take away from our our neighborhood or base schools but this is just such a critical piece of providing the the mission and the the purpose that Dr Lane just described so I'm just very excited to to see these uh to see these programs grow and to see what these students and their teachers accomplish and so excited for the communities that are around these schools I know they're excited about that as well thank you thank you Miss Scott Mr Hagerty thank you I I'm going to channel miss our board member one of our board members is not here miss Roxy cash

143because I know she was extremely excited about all of these programs and would want to convey her congratulations to you directly if she could um I also just wanted to ask you the use of the academy in the names does that have any special meaning or is it does it distinguish the school from other schools or other types of magnet schools or was that just something in terms of trying to convey like the Art and Design theme or what's the background on that um actually that was part of staff's recommendation so we did go into the schools with students parents families and staff so they came away asking for that they felt like with the two schools together we have a K-8 experience and because we were revisioning East Millbrook we did want to give

144it a different name so it would feel a little bit more cohesive but there was no great significance except they liked the ring to it so I do think because it's arts and design that Academy idea we're working with NC State University their college of designed to do a lot of the design thinking so that Academy mindset they had an opportunity to do some field trips and I think that came across as a kind of an entrepreneur experience for them thank you sir further questions does this have any feeder pattern changes for any of these schools that you anticipate we created a little greater access we did not have an Arts pathway so we have developed an Arts plus pathway so that will support coming from Brooks and Millbrook Elementary feeding into Centennial so it

145will create greater access but not changes okay thank you of course Wake Forest and wildwood being new Wildwood will feed to East Millbrook and Wake Forest right now will feed to West Millbrook so part of Wake Forest theme will have some World languages included in that to help feed into an IB Program forward to seeing the work that they do very soon thank you very much all in favor please say aye any opposed nay thank you now moving to the chief of staff and our strategic plan framework that was discussed earlier in the work session Dr Robinson thank you chairman happy Vice chair Hagerty board members superintendent Moore I'm here to present for your consideration the framework for a new strategic plan for the district which we discussed earlier today in work session over the

146last several months staff have gathered data from stakeholders throughout the district including parents students members of the business Community representatives from higher education Community advocacy groups and others feedback from the board during multiple work sessions over the past few months has helped to shape the feedback into the framework you see here today this framework includes a restating of our district vision mission and core beliefs it also highlights three strategic priorities student Knowledge and Skills student well-being and operational effectiveness those three priorities are supported and driven by four essential pillars representing the daily work of the district tonight we are asking for your approval of this framework which would allow staff to begin the work of aligning two and implementing the new plan I'm happy to answer any questions you may have first can we get

147a motion to approve the Strategic plan framework okay we have a motion from Vice chair Hagerty a second from Miss Johnson hosler any discussion yes sir Dr Robinson thank you for the presentation and again for the work earlier today during the work session I know there's a lot of questions a lot of discussion around it so just to be clear for folks that are just watching the meeting and at the work session tonight's presentation is just on the framework which we've worked on for some time and that we'll be coming together later to develop the specific goals and metrics for measuring and evaluating our progress toward these important goals in the framework is that correct that is correct sir okay and just for the sake of it like our next steps after depending you know

148if we have successful adoption tonight where do you envision the next steps with Paul um so the next steps are to work with departments and other stakeholders within the organizations to really flesh out and begin to talk about what the long-term goals are going to be and really decide on what the metrics and things of that nature are going to be as well that information will be brought back to the board as an information item and to give in consideration to provide feedback of those goals and objectives as well yeah I just had one additional piece that was also mentioned you know a couple of the pieces of the framework in particular the four C's and the well-being those are things that are really new and kind of innovative and we need to be really

149thoughtful about what we have already in place that helps support goals and metrics there or what where there might be a gap so that's additional work before us also all right seeing no further hands all those in favor please say aye any opposed nay thank you Dr Robinson thank you all right moving on to our next item it is revisions to the superintendent's contract this is our fifth amendment to the superintendent's contract which revises section I which is the term to extend ending the ending date of the superintendent's contract from June 30th 2025 to June 30th 2026. Board of approval is requested for this amendment and this is something that is done annually um upon review of superintendent's evaluation is there a motion to approve the revisions motion to prove is there a second okay

150we have a motion in a second any discussion yes sir I will just comment based on some of the things that we we hear uh in the news or from some of the public comment you know we very intentionally change the teacher contracts when when the state uh removed career status to have a rolling four-year contract purpose of a rolling for your contract is to to have stability which you absolutely need in an educational system and I just want to reinforce that I think it's absolutely appropriate we do the same thing for superintendent Moore who I think has done a good job in leadership um and you know this these accusations of political gamesmanship are not appropriate for the sound operation of of a school system and I just want to be clear that this

151is Sound business practice and superintendent has been done has been doing a very good job in leading the organization thank you thank you Dr Martin Miss Waters and I would like to Echo Dr Martin's comments about your excellence in your leadership we are very fortunate to have you in this role and I'm very grateful to your service all right seeing no more hands all those in favor please say aye aye any opposed nay right we now move on to closed session chairman happy yes sir at this time I would move that the board go into closed session for the express purposes of considering confidential Personnel information protected under General statute 143 318 11 A1 A3 and A6 to consult with the Board of Education attorney and preserve return the attorney-client privilege has provided for under

152General statute 143 31811 and to consider confidential student information protected under General statute 115 c-402 and the family education rights and Privacy Act 20 U.S code 1232g is there a second thank you all in favor please say aye all right any opposed nay we are now in closed session thank you all very much