Board of Education · Regular Meeting · June 26, 2025

Good evening everyone. Good evening. The Durham Public Schools Board of Education monthly meeting is now in session. At this time, we wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who is joining us this evening.

The purpose of this meeting is to inform our parents, staff, and constituents about the work aligned with our mission to embrace, educate, and empower every student to innovate, serve, and lead. Interpreters for tonight are Martha Roma Ugilez and Vanessa Pine Ramirez. Thank you for taking the time to join us. The next item on our agenda is a moment of silence. Thank you. We will now have celebrations.

Good evening everyone. Uh there are no in-person celebrations this evening. They have been incorporated into Dr. Lewis's superintendent's update.

Thank you. Awesome. Thank you, Miss Cooper. So, the next item on our agenda is the superintendent update.

Dr. Lewis. right? Let me get this loaded um here on my screen.

Good evening, board members. Thank you so much, board Rogers, board members, members of the public. Uh thank you so much for those that are in attendance um and those that may be um watching. Um we do have a student board member that's going to uh join us here in just a moment.

So uh we can go ahead and get started on these these slides. Thank you. The first thing I would like

to do is just honor the life and legacy of one of our uh bus monitors who's passed away, Miss Francine Snyder. She's shown on the picture there in the black jacket. Uh passed away at the end of May. and so certainly want to as a school system uh recognize and honor uh her life and service to the scholars and staff of of Durham public schools.

This photo was actually taken in the fall u when I had amazing opportunity to ride her bus and just kind of listen to some of her stories and um some of the concerns and celebrations that and joys that that she often would share about the young children that that rode her bus. And so I want us to continue to keep her family uh in our thoughts and and prayers. Next slide. And so as we celebrate the conclusion of a school year, we are already preparing for the year ahead. You know, oftent times, and I know um educators can attest to this, but oftent times those that are not in education uh

" No, that's the busiest time of the year um for us. And for our educators, that's their time to uh they're already thinking and planning and attending professional development uh sessions to prepare for next year. And so we are eagerly also doing that to ensure that we are ready to receive our students um with uh and year round in July and then in traditional year in in August. So things like providing um and and here's the thing too I want to before I get too far into this uh providing technical assistance for us tonight.

Again, this is another opportunity for the summer. We have our very own scholar interns uh in the IT department this summer. They helped us out at our leadership retreat, which I'll speak to in just a moment, but they are I think they may be behind the glass, I think. Um so, we can probably wave at them or if you all get a chance to come out and and and see the board. But, um you know, learning often happens in the classroom, but it also happens um through invaluable experiences like this. And we are so fortunate and we do

recognize there are other community business and businesses and organizations that create internships for our scholars. We too want to make sure that we're doing our part to create uh meaningful experiences for our young SC. There we go. Give them a round of Come on in.

Come on in. Come on in so they can see you. Yeah. Thank you all so much for for being here uh with us uh not only tonight but for what you've done today also with our leadership retreat.

and we know that these experiences will definitely be valuable to you. So, thank you all so much. You can go back behind the glass now. So, they'll still be with us, right?

So, let's uh get into some of the things we're we're we're doing here and some celebrations for this month. Next slide. June is Pride Month and so we proudly stand with our LGBTQIA+ students, staff, families, and community members. You know, Pride is not just about a celebration. It's it's certainly a commitment to dignity, a commitment to

inclusion, and the right to be seen, and the right to be heard. And at DPS, we believe every scholar deserves to feel safe. They feel they deserve to feel affirmed and empowered to be their true authentic self. And so this month and every month in Durham public schools, we affirm affirm our commitment to equity, inclusion, and respect for all.

Next slide. June 19th was Junth, a day which we celebrate freedom, culture, and community. Junth marks the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African-American learned that they were free. Uh certainly a powerful moment in our nation's history.

Uh as a district, we are committed to equity and excellence. And so we honor the legacy and of resilience and um resistance that Junth represents. And so let us inspire us. Um, I'm sorry. Let Junth inspire us to continue creating in inclusive, affirming spaces where every student's history and identity are valued.

Next slide. Many of you know we just completed our graduation uh season and our amazing seniors have concluded their educational journey with DPS and culminated their accomplishments with graduation. 2 2 million in scholarships. 9 million more than last year.

And so this is certainly a true testament of the talent that uh a testament of the determination and hard work of our students, families, educators, and school communities. This achievement reflects our shared commitment to opening doors of opportunity for every graduate. So, congratulations to our seniors. You certainly make us proud. Next slide. Sunmills have Oh, well, oh, we want to highlight um one school in particular, Southern School of Energy and Sustainability led the way in these

scholarships with an incredible $23 million earned, and this is the highest total among all DPS high schools. I encourage everyone to visit our social media to see um our scholar securing dollar series. Also invite you to visit our website for graduation photo galleries and senior spotlights. Every single um school is highlighted on our web page.

Uh whether college, career, armed services or another path awaits our graduation, we certainly wish them well and wish them the very best. Next slide. Now we can talk about summer meals. Sun meals have begun.

This is uh an opportunity for free summer meals for our scholars June 16th through August 1st. That's Monday through Friday. Uh free meals for all kids 18 and under. And there's no ID or registration required. And you can find those locations on our website. Or if you have any questions, you can call our school nutrition services at 919-5602370.

Uh we have a total of about 38 sites and those sites between those sites they are serving breakfast and lunch and so let's uh continue to pass the word go into those sites so you can identify those sites pass the word and let's keep our kids fed all summer long. Next slide. Major congratulations to Forest View Elementary's Odyssey uh for the mind team which plays seventh out of 61 teams at the Odyssey of Mind World Finals at Michigan State University in May. Get this.

There were over 700 teams from around the globe at world finals in Forest View. Uh definitely represented Durham Public Schools with pride. They competed with teams from Poland, South Korea, China, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, and others from around the United States. And they hel they held their own. uh after placing jet after placing first at both the regional and state competitions this past spring uh we knew that they would have a strong showing at the world finals and they did just that. So congratulations to this

team and the amazing teachers that work with them as well as their families. Next slide. Congratulations to Hillside High School's Josiah Jennings who was awarded best actor at the 2025 DPAC Rising Star Award last month. And just earlier this week, um Josiah took the stage in New York City for the Jimmy Awards.

The Jimmy Awards elevate the importance of theater arts education in schools and reward excellence in student performance. Uh Josiah was recognized for outstanding performance in an ensemble for his collaboration during the Jimmy U awards program. We certainly are proud of you, Josiah, and wish you the very best. You have a definitely have a bright future.

I was able to watch that live um via YouTube and he definitely made us proud. So, congratulations, Josiah. Next slide. Uh yes, you are seeing double. Uh you're seeing double because we have a twotime track and field state champion from

Riverside. Congratulations to Philip Blum who earns top state awards, top state honors at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A 3200 meter and 1600 meter races this spring. Job well done, Philip. Congrat Proud of you.

Next slide. There's another champion in DPS, Simone Arrington, who attends JD Clement Early College, uh, and is a member of the Southern Spartans track team. Uh Simone is a North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A 100 meter hurdles state champion. Uh so proud certainly is an understatement.

Congratulations to Simone. Next slide. We are excited to welcome the class of 2038 right at our countdown to kindergarten event that will be held on Tuesday, July 8th at the Museum of Life and Science. Uh this is a fun informationfilled event to get students and families ready for their first day of school. Uh we want to

see all of our rising kindergarteners um their uh families as well. And you can check out those flyers on our social media and our calendar of events uh to register. In addition, stay tuned to our website and social media for our special countdown to kindergarten series uh providing resources to ensure that our new kindergarteners are certainly ready for school. And a huge shout out and thank you to the museum Museum of Life and Science for their partnership in this work.

Next slide. Uh since 2013, DPS has offered an applicationbased summer newcomer academy for students who are experiencing their first year in US schools. And so this year on June 16th, nearly 150 3rd through 9th grade students are being treated to culturally and academically enlightening events and activities about Durham and America. Uh this academy is designed around research and practices around language learning in social and academic settings. uh building a bridge between cultures represented by our

English language learners who create and um the diverse fabric of DPS that we so much value here in this community. Um the focus is on experimental and project-based learning, grade level language and content in English language arts and social studies, science and math. Uh the academy is uh facilitated by our very own teachers and it runs through July 1st. uh DPS students uh speak um a total of more than 100 languages and we are very proud to serve students and families from all over the world.

Next slide. So I mentioned earlier nope I didn't mention that earlier. I'm just skipping slides tonight. Um, congratulations to Raina Sharp, who's our STEM teacher science specialist at Eno Valley Elementary School, who was just selected from one of 15 outstanding educators from 14 counties across North Carolina as a member of the fifth cohort, crew 5 of the North Carolina Space Education Ambassadors Program. Uh this network now includes 75 educators

from 44 counties um who are dedicated to integrating space science and STEM education into our local communities. Throughout the 2526 academic year, crew 5 ambassadors will explore NASA's six mission um uh sections through interactive virtual sessions featuring NASA subject matter experts. Ambassadors will also design and implement creative strategies to share these resources with fellow educators in their schools, districts, and beyond. And a major highlight uh of the experience will be the summer 2026 visit to NASA Langley where crew crew 5 will tour research facilities and engage directly with NASA scientists, engineers, and educators.

So, congratulations to Rina Sharp from Eno Valley representing us. Well, back to some more summer learning again for our educators. Learning still happens. Next slide. Uh during the summer and this time, our teachers are the students. Uh SPLASH, which is an acronym for summer professional learning academy, supporting high expectations

for our certified educators across the district launched last week. Splash empowers teachers to bring equity, innovation, and research-based practices to their classrooms. uh this investment uh in their learning is an investment in our scholars. So, thank you to our uh educators that were engaged in in our splash uh PD last week.

Speaking of summer learning, summer learning continues as we held our annual leadership retreat this week uh uniting our assistant principles uh principles, district leaders for three powerful days of learning and collaboration. Uh guided by the theme reset, refocus, and reignite. Uh the retreat offered a space for leaders to reflect on past successes, align priorities for the year ahead, and renew their shared commitment to student centered excellence. Participants engage in uh dynamic keynote sessions, interactive workshops, and focused planning design uh purposely to strengthen our instructional leadership uh and also to build cohesion uh uh in terms of our school-based

strategies. The retreat concluded today with a renewed sense of purpose uh a refocus on our northstar leading us toward excellence in student achievement and a collective charge to lead with clarity, passion and impact. I certainly want to thank our entire DPS team uh for the role that they played in ensuring that this was a successful retreat. We had amazing three days together and I'm super excited about what's uh to come with this school system.

You can view some of those photos on our social media pages. Next slide. And then last but certainly not least, uh if you have if you are not aware of Senate Bill 227. Uh this is a bill that was passed by the Senate 28 to 18 back in March March 11th and it passed the House just yesterday 67 to 48.

Um and and this is a a bill that's attacking I would say continuing the attack on on DEI. And some language from the bill says the following. Where whereas so-called DEI programs promote a

worldview that demands people, especially young people, to judge others based on the race, sex, and other factors and attack true diversity of thought, stifle opportunity, and stoke division. That is not what we're about here in in Durham public schools. We will continue to be a welcoming community. If you have not heard, I've said equity probably about three times already.

And we will continue um with with with that focus. And please know uh our goal is to make sure that we're creating environments to ensure that our students are able to think critically for themselves. And a lot of this came from critical race theory um you know which we don't teach in our schools either. And so we're not concerned about that.

But what we are concerned about is teaching instead of critical race theory uh we're concerned about teaching our students to think critically um for themselves. Um so I think think some more will be said about this bill on on this evening. We've gotten some information um for our board members to ensure that we're able to um respond to this bill in a major way that does not compromise our values uh as a school system, but most importantly the values that this community so holds dear uh to them. During the listening and learning

sessions, when I asked the question um what are you most proud of or or what's um you know, what's what what's what's one of the things that's really going well or what do you value about Durham public schools? Overwhelmingly, they value the diversity of our school system. And so we will con continue to to honor that and ensure that um nothing will will harm our our students. Every single student in this district uh deserves to learn environment where they feel safe.

Uh but most importantly they deserve to learn full and accurate history. And last slide as I conclude uh this month's update and mark the end of my first year superintendent of Dor Public Schools. As a matter of fact, I was just telling Betatina yesterday, um, you know, things pop up on your timelines and and your phones and things like that. Yesterday was the day I, um, a year ago.

Yesterday was the day I got the call from Bettina uh, offering me this this position. And so, I want to take a moment to just reflect on that journey that we've taken together. And I shared some of this with the um, team this morning. This year has uh, brought

both meaningful progress and certainly some real challenges. Uh we've celebrated major wins including historic scholarships totals which I just mentioned of our graduates uh innovative programs and initiatives and we've also deepened our community partnerships that certainly reflects the strength and resilience and pride of Durham. And at the same time we faced some difficult uh conversations particularly around trust uh around equity and sustainability um challenges that have pushed us to uh listen more deeply more boldly and to lead with with integrity. Uh we face those challenges headon and I hope you have seen our efforts to respond to what we've heard during those listening and learning sessions particularly around transparency and and and the need for more communication. If you recall shortly after uh speaking specifically around our some of our budget challenges, if you recall shortly after our new CFO arrived uh back in November, just several weeks on the job and once he was in a place to share with the

community where we were financially, we held a press conference again just wanting to make sure that we are being um transparent but also upfront uh with our uh communication. I will say this through it all. I certainly remain filled with hope even though I often say and I tell the team hope is not a strategy. Uh but I I I see hope in our educators and hope in our students and our staff uh who show up every single day with purpose.

I hope in our families who stand beside us and partner with us and most importantly hope in our scholars. They are they're brilliant. I'm telling you when I go into these classrooms and have conversations with them. One of them is sitting right in front of us this evening.

They're brilliant. They're capable and they're full of limitless potential. And I do believe together we will continue to reset, refocus, uh, and reignite our commitment to ensuring that every child in dorm thrives. And I will tell you, the future the the future of DPS is bright and I'm certainly honored to lead alongside you. Uh, and I can't wait to um continue to work with you and I can't

wait to see where we go uh as a school system and as a community together. So, thank you all so much. That's concludes my remarks. [Music] Thanks.

Thank you, Dr. Lewis. Um, yes, colleagues. Um before we move to the next item on our agenda, I want to express appreciation for Miss Mary and Miss Samba for joining us tonight from the Superintendent Advisory Council to give student voice to the conversations that we have tonight.

We look forward to your participation. Thank you for being here. The next item on our agenda is agenda review and approval. Um, I'd like us to I'd like the board to consider uh modifying the agenda to move item B off

the consent agenda to the academic section of our agenda. Uh, right after is item B for academic services for DPS after DPS code of character conduct and support? And I would like us to table until the board is ready with the superintendent the guidelines for communication item F. Um maybe consideration of our board retreat.

Maybe the August 14th work session depending on how we work through that. Are there any other changes board members would like to Oh, Miss Umstead submitted the resolution. Um you want to speak to that? Yes. Uh if the board would um is of interest, I'd like to submit a resolution uh against House Senate Bill 277 that urges the governor to veto the bill. Would it be okay for that item to go as 3B under board of

education? That works for me. Any other changes? Okay.

So, I will accept a motion. Move approval of the agenda as amended. Second. It's been moved by Miss Byer, seconded by Mr.

Tab to approve the agenda as amended. All those in favor say I. I. Um, all oppose, use the same sign.

It passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is the uh board regular monthly me meeting minutes from May 22nd to 2025. Emily Chávez just sent u Miss Smith a correction for those minutes. Um if there are no other corrections, do you want me to call out what that correction is?

Emily Chávez, can you speak to that? Sorry. It's just one little thing. Um there's a R missing from work session.

And um but I did have one other thing um actually um on the the vote the for the personnel report um and pull it back up. Uh it was approved 61. I think we need to say who voted against it or who voted for it and against it if it's not unanimous. Is that correct in the notes?

Okay. Okay. Thank you. That was it.

Okay. I'd move approval of the minutes from May 22nd, 2025 with the um edits. Second. It's been moved by Miss Byer to approve the minutes from May 22nd, 2025 as with the edits and seconded by Miss Carter. Uh is there any further discussion?

All those in favor say I. I. Um all oppose use the same sign. It passes unanimously.

Thank you all. The next item on our agenda is general public comment. Uh each the sheets, but I will find them. Um, a quick review of the rules.

First, please state your name. If speaking for an organization, please state your name and the name of the organization. Second, speakers are asked to present their comments in a specified time. Tonight, you have 3 minutes.

Uh, when the yellow light comes on, you'll have one minute left to start winding up your remarks. When the red light comes on, it will beep, which indicates your time is up. Complaints about named staff, students, and parents should not be voiced in open session. However, we are very interested in hearing your concerns with regard to public education, safety of students, or the operation of the school system. Finally, board members will listen carefully and consider the comments, but we do not engage in a discussion with

speakers. Our first speaker is Daniels, followed by Naja Rajie. I apologize if I'm mispronouncing anybody's name. Thank you.

I yield my time to Nadia Rajub. Are we allowed to give? Thanks. Okay.

Yeah. Um, hi, my name is Nadia Rajie. Um, I'm a member of the community and also a co-founder of the DPS allergy committee. Um, we are a grassroots effort here representing um, families and students who have life-threatening allergies and attend Durham public schools. Um so basically we have started this initiative back in January initially through working with the

former assistant um uh director of nutrition who's no longer um uh with DPS but we ended up corelling about 60 members of the community who were really interested in talking about their experience related to allergies within DPS. Um when you look across the country and across the district, I think you know whether we talk about allergies today or tomorrow, it's going to continue to be a very important issue as more and more children become um diagnosed with allergies. Um but really there isn't one district or one state who's really figured out the secret sauce to this. So it's always an opportunity for striving for improvements.

So the goal here today is to kind of take a first step to a a public statement. We've had the opportunity to work very closely with nurses, educators, um administrators, nutrition, families. Um but we want to

see opportunity for closer partnership as we actually start to look for really wonderful opportunities for lowbudget meaningful changes that align with the policy today. um when we look at the policy um actually we'll get into that just a second but just to talk a little bit about the statistics around allergies. So, as a mom of a daughter who's four years old who has multiple food allergies, I've become all too familiar with these statistics. But if you don't have someone like this in your family, why would you know?

Um, data is showing that in the past decade, food allergies are increasing at a rate of about 50%. And why this is important in schools is that the data are showing that children, 25% of children will actually have their first allergic reaction in a school, meaning they've never had any reaction. And so that immediate response and opportunity is needed in the school setting. In terms of prevalence, they estimate that one in 13 children have severe food allergies. That doesn't even

include your latex bees, other types of allergies that exist. And that's about two children per classroom. When you just do the back of the napkin math and think about the enrollment rate into DPS in the last school year, you're looking at about 31 31,000 children. that does not include your prek enrollment and that's about 2400 students within your school system who have known severe food allergies.

Many people will think okay food allergies or allergies are happening these reactions could be in the cafeteria. Well, only 13% of reactions happening in schools are actually happening in the cafeteria. 83% of the reactions are happening in the classroom. So there in lies the opportunity for sort of a two-pronged approach looking at prevention of these reactions and ensuring consistent protocols across the district. What we're so proud of is that the fact that North Carolina and DPS does have policies that lead to accommodations and

protocols around food allergies. Yet these policies at the state and the district level lack specificity and protocol protocols and required resources that will allow for consistency across the schools. Within the policy, it states that each principal is responsible for coming up with four key areas to address food allergies in their school. And that's over 50 different protocols across the district.

This leads to a lot of challenges for families but also to the staff within DPS. We hear from a lot of families that it's school specific and that's a large number but then you get into class and teacher specific that's a large multiplier. We've been fortunate to be able to do multiple interviews across the Durham community and we've identified five key areas of opportunity where we believe that you can have lowcost to no cost solutions that align with the current policy that can be implemented using the resources that you

have here within the Durham community, but also free resources from food allergy research and education which invests an significant amount of money into providing resources to schools. schools and families. And so we have been working very closely um again with many people throughout and as part of your packets, you see these five areas. Um we're already making way in terms of updating the website to ensure that all of the medical forms are listed in one location as opposed to families having to search um or reach out to multiple people to find.

These are simple changes that can make meaningful impact. Um, so again, our goal is to just make everyone aware that we're here. " I think it's about resources and attention to this. Um, so we do have a Facebook group. We have an email address for those in the community here today if

you'd like to be part of our email address, um, or sign up for Facebook. but we are the DPS allergy committee. You can find us on Facebook. Um and we're looking forward to more partnership and progress as we work together to make um DPS a continued a safe and wonderful place for all children.

So, thank you for your time. Thank you, Karina. And am Fields Karina's first. Karina.

Karina block. I'm sorry. It's okay. Good evening. My name is Karina Block and I'm a parent of three DPS students and I'm also a member of the People's Alliance Education Action Team. So I was

encouraged today to see restorative practices included in the code of conduct proposal on today's agenda. Um so in my advocacy work I've strongly supported the full and equitable implementation of restorative practices across DPS. Um, in slide two of the presentation, it emphasized that restorative practices is grounded in mutual accountability. And I believe that that principle must be be reflected in the form of transparent and accessible data.

Unfortunately, today's presentation lacked the concrete information needed to assess progress. Um so I urge the central office and student support services to provide and share clear metrics along with the proposed timeline. For example, who has been who has received restorative practices training? How many teachers at each school have been trained? What is the timeline and definition for 25 to 50%

implementation? Um, if restorative practices are to succeed in transforming school culture, they must be backed by data that reflects both investment and outcomes. Transparency, as Dr. Lewis said, is key to building uh trust across our soul communities.

And so, I just ask that the board uh please consider that and uh ask for that along with these presentations. Thank you. Good evening board members. My name is Anne Fields.

I am a Durham resident, a DPS parent, and one of the founders of Durham Football Club, a new nonprofit soccer club based in and for Durham. In addition to my full-time job as a social worker, I work directly with families and youth across the city. I'm here today to voice concern and offer partnership regarding the grow growing

disconnect between Durham public schools and the local community. And in today's instance in regards to afterchool care planning and implementation, you will hear a presentation later this evening which proposes a way to expand after school programs to to 200 more students. Many more will still be left out. This is per my understanding is through increased ratios in the programs not more programming.

There is a clear and pressing need for greater transparency, communication and collaboration and how DPS approaches extended learning time and wraparound services. Many families, especially workingclass and historically underserved, are struggling to access consistent highquality after-school programs that align with their schedules, transportation needs, and cultural values. Yet, rather than leveraging the wealth of talent and resources from trusted community-based organizations, we've often seen walls go up. Organizations like mine and many

others in Durham have reached out, submitted proposals, um, and expressed a willingness to partner, including a financial benefit to a district with a budget crisis only to be met with limited response or bureaucratic roadblocks. This is not a capacity issue. It is a community trust and access issue. When decisions are made without authentic community engagement, the solutions often don't reflect the reality on the ground.

Parents aren't being heard. Community organizations aren't being invited in. And most importantly, kids are missing out. So, I'm here with a call, not just a critique.

Let's build something better together. Reopen channels for real community partnership and afterchool care that doesn't take years to get off the ground. Create a transparent process for CBOS to apply, collaborate, and serve. And include parent voices, not just in surveys, but in the decision-making rooms. Durham has the

people. It has the passion. Let's stop closing doors that should be open. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to our students and our future.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Jennifer Gearish. Hi, my name is Jennifer Girish. I'm with the Durm Advocates for Exceptional Children.

I have three amazing children in DPS. I seed my time to Rebecca Ferguson. Rebecca Ferguson, followed by Marty Triggs. Uh, good evening board and Dr.

Lewis. Um, my name is Rebecca Ferguson. I'm a parent of a rising first grader with disabilities at Morehead. Um, and I had to pivot and change my notes here because I want to thank you for um, removing item B from the consent agenda. Um, I had prepared remarks on behalf of the DAEC um, to request that that be removed from the consent agenda so that

we could have more community input um, to the policy changes. So, um, bear with me as I adapt my remarks on the fly here. Um over the past few days, we have hurried to review and respond to the re the revised policy uh 4326 on the use of seclusion and restraint in DPS. Um the revised policy has only been available, as we can tell, for a few weeks.

And to our knowledge, there's not been any previous opportunity for public input. So we thank you for um for taking and um for pivoting on that. Since you've shown the willingness to consider this policy further, um I want to share some recommendations from our organization um and with the goal of making the policy safer for students and staff and from our perspective safer for students with disabilities who are disproportionately impacted by the potential harm of policies like these. Uh the current revised policy is definitely an improvement. Yet, after reviewing federal guidelines, state law, and the research of leading organizations around this issue, we know that there are specific improvements that will make

this policy safer for our entire community at DPS. Um, we emailed you a document with specific suggestions and the associated research and citations. Um, but I wanted to highlight a few of those here today. Uh DPS should for example prohibit prone restraint and choke holds or any restraint that restricts a child's ability to breathe freely, something that is allowed by the current policy.

Require all instances of physical restraint, mechanical restraint, seclusion, and isolation as those terms are defined in the policy to be reported to principles and to parents. The board should also consider that for children with disabilities who may not be able to communicate well, who may not fully understand social dynamics and who may not be able to self- advocate, that there is not a meaningful difference between your intention to differentiate seclusion and isolation. So, we welcome you to revisit those uh definitions as you have them currently. Under the current revised policy, my son, who's non-verbal and has

communication difficulties, could be isolated for an entire day without it even being required to be reported to me. I think that's probably got to be scary for any parent in the room. Um, it's especially problematic and scary for me when my child can't communicate it on his own behalf. In closing, I would like to remind the board that many organizations, including the US Department of Education, say that policies like these should, and I'm quoting, ensure that any use of restraint or seclusion in schools does not occur except when there is the threat of imminent danger or serious physical harm to the student or others.

This is not what the DPS policy currently says, but it could. Um, so you've already made steps in the right direction with the current revised policy and now more so by welcoming more community input. And so again, we thank you for that. Um, we look forward to um hearing more community input there, allowing you guys the time to take um the the documents that we have shared

with you and to make a final revised policy that makes our schools, students, and staff safer. Thank you. Hello everyone. I'm Marty Traggs from Hope Valley Elementary.

Um, I'm going to seed my time to Ramsay Richie. Ramsey Richie. Hi everyone. I'm Ramsey Richie uh from the Hope Valley Elementary PTA.

And I'm gonna seed my time to Katie Barnhill. Okay, Katie. Um, Katie Barn. Good evening.

I'll be quick. Uh, my name is Katie Barnhill. I'm a single parent to a rising third grader at Hope Valley Elementary, a member of the Hope Valley PTA, a former science teacher at Hillside High School, and live within the so-called family responsibility zone for our school. At Hope Valley, we are worried about losing bus service to Colonial Townhouse Apartments and Valley Terrace for the

2526 school year because of the family responsibility zone policy. While this policy was designed to limit bus service where for students with a safe route to school, the walk to Hope Valley from these communities is not a safe route to school. Where students need to walk or bike to Hope Valley from those communities, they would have to navigate a dangerous sidewalk and intersection network that lack basic safety features, which are detailed in the Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee report. details that we're providing in tonight's packet.

We know that these improvements are the responsibility of the city, which is why we are advocating to retain bus service first and foremost with no changes to bus services considered again until the city makes those critical improvements. Additionally, rapidly evolving federal policies targeting members of our community put some students at risk of harassment. to put it mildly, the

potential bus-free zone could not come at a more difficult and vulnerable time for these at risk communities. So again, we advocate to retain bus services for those communities. As a reminder, Hope Valley is a year-round school with classes beginning on July 21st or in a little over three weeks time. that is unlikely to be sufficient for the physical safety improvements on this proposed walking or biking route to school.

So in sum in summary, we emphatically ask that the district preserve bus service for Colonial Townhouse Apartments and Valley Terrace for the 2526 school year and beyond. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much Joselyn Dawson and Terren White. Hello, I'm Jocelyn Dawson. I'm the president of the PTA at Hope Valley Elementary. I'm going to share a comment tonight from parent Mgalli Morga, which

was originally in Spanish. Her comments reflect many concerns from our parent community, which we've provided to you along with the um traffic report. Maggali says, "I wanted to be at the meeting, but due to work, I cannot attend. Still, I'm leaving my message.

I beg you, please don't take the bus away from the children. My babysitter can only pick up my son at the bus stop, and I don't have anyone else who can take or pick him up. I work two jobs, and it's very difficult for me. I know that many moms have the same problem.

My son is too young to be walking alone. Even if there were lots of older kids, he still wouldn't go walking. I don't let him walk because even on the bus, they fight and call each other names, let alone walking. Thank you very much.

Start. You can start anytime. Good

evening board members. My name is Trayance White, an honors graduate of Durham Public Schools and a current DPS employee of 5 years. I serve as the AS400 administrator and site security officer, a position I've held for the past three years. I'm here tonight to speak on not only the riff, but shed light on the fact that there are other harmful practices by leadership that negatively impact DPS staff, students, and the broader community.

These issues will need public conversation if we truly want to see the change and create a better, healthier, and more equitable working environment for all. My role is being eliminated effective June 30th, 2025 due to the riff. I'm here not just for myself, but for everyone and every employee affected by this process, many of whom don't feel safe speaking up. Let's be clear. The budget crisis which

has led to job losses, family instability, and mental and physical strain for employees like me is not just a result of numbers. It's the result of mismanagement by the very leadership entrusted with the district's future. And that mismanagement was allowed to continue because of the boards failed to properly oversee the action of that leadership. The promises made about transparency, support, and alternative employment have not been kept.

I have reached out to the superintendent and others in leadership with either no response or very vague correspondence. You were told here at this podium that there was a crystal clear plan for me, but that plan has led to silence, stress, and job loss. If Durham Public Schools stands by its growing together initiative, then it's time for real action. Equity, transparency, and accountability cannot only be applied to some staff.

They must apply to leadership and to this board as well. This is not the end of my story. I will be back to continue to speak out, advocate, and hold you all accountable until these systems improve for everyone. Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes uh public comment. The next item on our agenda is are the consent agenda items. Move approval of the consent agenda. And since we had some changes, I'll read them out. Um, Rethink Ed contract, the contracts for district-wide lawn care and grounds maintenance for the 2526 school year, school nutrition services bids for school year 2526, policy 2231, the policy committee, financial policies review, credit recovery changes, plan for piloting

non-state licensed afterchool programs in eight elementary schools, the 2425 budget amendment number two and the 2526 interim budget resolution. Second. It's been moved by Miss Buyer, seconded by Miss Harold Goff to approve consent agenda items. Rethink ED contract contracts for districtwide lawn care and grounds maintenance for the 2526 school year.

School nutrition services bid for school year 2526. Policy 2231 policy committee financial policies review credit recovery changes plan for piloting non-state licensed after school programs in eight elementary schools 2425 budget amendment number two and the 2526 interim budget resolution. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All oppose

use the same sign. It passes unanimously. Thanks everybody. Next item on our agenda is a safety update uh with Sheriff Burkehead.

Thank you for joining us this evening. We're glad you're here. Um you're welcome. You come in wherever you want to come.

Bring your deputies with you wherever you want them to be. Introduce them however you want this to go. Uh we have about 30 minutes allotted for this conversation. Colleagues, that's for us.

Sheriff Bhead, that's also for you too. We want to go home tonight. Even though we could discuss school safety for a really long time and we really appreciate this conversation that we're getting ready to have. Well, thank you. M madame chair and good

evening to you to board members to superintendent Dr. Lewis uh to staff to visitors and those certainly who are watching us over our YouTube channel. Uh thank you. It's an honor and a privilege for me to be able to come before you tonight.

I would like to note that this is the first opportunity I've had as your sheriff for Durham County uh to come and speak directly to the school board and I really appreciate it. As you've noted, I do have several of my SRO with me tonight. I will give them 15 seconds to introduce themselves, say their name, and uh acknowledge which school uh they are assigned to. Starting with commander uh of the SRO program, uh Captain Hinton.

Good evening. I'm Captain Hinton, the commander of the Durham County Sheriff's Office, School Resource Officer Division. Evening. I'm Sergeant Budro with the

Durham County Sheriff's Office, part of the school resource division supervision team. I'm uh over the high schools. Thank you. Good evening.

I'm Sergeant Larry Watkins and I'm one of the supervisors over the middle schools. Well, I'm Deputy Moore, uh deputy here at Durham County Sheriff Office. I'm a SRO at Shepard Middle School. I'm the SRO at Neil Middle School.

All right. Thank you all very much and thank you for allowing them to introduce themselves. Uh a little different tonight because every time Deputy Moore from Shephard introduces himself, I usually get a round of applause. So, I want I want to go ahead and note that.

Yeah. But no, thank you. He's uh he and all of them are stars in our our unit. So I won't be before you

long but I have prepared a presentation. I think you have it there before you. I just give you a little bit of history about the SRO program. Uh this started back in uh 2003 and it's worth noting that at that time it was a collaboration with Durham Police Department as well.

Uh in 2019, uh Durham Police Department decided roughly 2019, early 2020 to pull out. And since then, Durham County Sheriff's Office under my leadership has been partnering with DPS uh to uh strengthen and continue the SRO program. And our emphasis beginning in 2019 was focused on collaboration, collaboration with board members at that time. and we still enjoy that partnership and collaboration today uh to make sure that our schools are a safe and learning environment. We're not there to criminalize behavior and we do uh refer and lean on uh our partners, our principles, our APs, uh our counselors and our students uh to follow the codes.

We don't do school discipline. That's not our role. But we support our uh teachers and administrators in their efforts to keep our schools uh safe as safe as possible. And so um next slide please.

We are currently in uh Next slide please. Yeah. We are assigned to our five high schools here in Durham. uh nine of our middle schools and two specialty schools.

Uh we are uh staffed by a number of individuals who are certified as our SRO's. Captain Hinton uh one one captain, one lieutenant, two sergeants, two two corporals, and 13 deputies. I think our total allocation for FTEES is 26. 26. and we currently are experiencing uh 11 or 12 12 vacancies. Uh so we're

working hard. We just graduated an academy uh a couple of weeks ago and a couple of those individuals who graduated are interested in SRO's and we are also accepting lateral transfers uh lateral transfers who are already certified as law enforcement officers working for other agencies. As a matter of fact, I signed one today. young lady is very interested in coming to work for the Durham County Sheriff's Office in the capacity of an SRO.

So, we are in the process of reviewing her file as we speak. Uh, so we are growing, we're growing our staff and we're certainly trying to retain and keep our current staff as much as possible. Uh, next slide, please. SRO training, as you know, is really mandated by the state of North Carolina. There's a basic 40hour SRO TR uh training that our our uh SRO's go through. Those topics include deescalation uh dealing with exceptional children, juvenile mental health uh and

school age issues. And we we go over FURPA and other things as well. But here in Durham County and since I've be been sheriff, sheriff, can we get the next slide, please? Next slide, please.

That's where you are. Go ahead. All right. Who who's who's running the you got you got to tell them.

So I got to say it's our students tonight and we appreciate their support. All right. Thank you. All right.

So let me let me talk about the training. As you can see there uh this training is uh mandated by the state of North Carolina. But as I was about to say as you read that slide here in Durham County we go above and beyond and have done so since 2019. Uh we have our summer training as well where we meet with our superintendent.

Uh we meet with our principles and our APS and some teachers to talk about topics and and train on specific topics that they suggest to us. Uh and our SRO's go through a refresher course. They also attend the um the SRO training

academy or the summer conference so they can get new topics um going on not only here in North Carolina but across the the country. And so we pride ourselves on being trained and staying a breast of any changes in the SRO curriculum. Next slide please. Yep.

I just mentioned the joint training that I just talked about. It's part of our it's actually part of ourou and we um we review theou every year of course and we do this training on an annual basis. Uh let's see. We also work with our local nonprofits to make sure that we are aware of all the resources that are available for our students and we refer students to them. I'll talk more about that in just a moment. Uh but ourou encourages training and like I mentioned a moment ago topics that

teachers, principles and you all want us to see such as uh restorative justice I heard that mentioned a moment ago privacy act uh cultural competence competencies and dealing with students with disabilities as well. And so again we try to go above and beyond with our training here at Durham County Sheriff's Office SRO program. Next slide, please. We all are aware that raise the age took effect in uh 2019 uh and it really overhauled North Carolina's juvenile delinquency program or processes gave law enforcement different options for addressing uh behavior or or criminal behavior. And those three options are no charge, refer uh to resources, or do a juvenile petition. And we work closely with the resources that we have here in Durham County to make sure that we do not criminalize uh

behavior. We crim do not criminalize mental health. Uh and as a matter of fact, uh in a moment you're here, I'm going to give you some numbers as I get through some of the history and some of our goals and objectives. our no charge.

We refer everything back to school discipline as much as possible. Work with our school administrators. Uh we also have conversations with parents, make sure parents are aware of whatever infraction has has occurred. Uh we've got resources that we refer to uh DAK, drug education and counseling.

Uh and we also work closely with the C guidance counselors in the schools. Uh and as I mentioned a moment ago, the community-based resources such as teen court diversion programs, our youth home rise program, and then uh certainly juvenile justice. Next slide, please. Those are the programs I just mentioned.

You ready for the next one? I think I am. Next slide, please. All right.

Here we go. 202425 school year. Uh we responded to 621 calls. 613 were referred uh to school administration for discipline.

Uh 663 referrals to community resources and 50 juvenile petitions were taken out. I'd like to note here that Durham County Sheriff's Office SRO program has the highest referral rate in the state of North Carolina. Uh that's the data that's captured by the state and we are number one in referring our young people away from the criminal justice system to get the help and the assistance that they need. We had 23 drug possession calls.

All of those were referred to the DAT, the drug education and awareness program. And we also unfortunately had uh some serious crimes. Three arson, one robbery,

uh two sexual assaults, uh 29 threats of mass destruction, eight guns, and 22 knives, and seven car accidents. We had a busy year, but a productive year. I'm I'm I'm happy to say that we were able to avoid u any of our mass destruction, any any school shootings and things of that nature. But but the stat that I want you to focus on is the referrals.

Again, we're here to put the resource back in the school resource officer program. And so our officers pride themselves on staying ab breast of what resources are available, developing those connections with our students and and our parents so that we can refer those young men and women to the services that they need. I'm going to step back and ask Captain Hinton, have I left out anything as far as the presentation goes?

He just reminded me that we only had four actual arrest out of all of those encounters and four four secure custodies as well. Again, a testament to us working with our juvenile justice uh staff and their team. Again, not to criminalize these young people, but to get them the help that they need. I think a couple of them had a story they wanted to share from their school.

Did is that right? A brief a brief story. Absolutely. A brief story.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Again, my name is Deputy Moore. Uh I I love absolutely love being a school resource officer.

Uh one thing I love about being a school resource officer is the bridging the gap uh with the youth and law enforcement. Because I'm no longer looked at as a officer with a gun on his waist. I'm no longer Deputy Moore. I'm

Demo. Okay? And they can come up to me, shake my hand, we can laugh, we can tell jokes. Okay?

They come to me almost every day during school with their own complaints. There are young citizens in the community because they trust me. Okay? And that speaks boundaries about our program, the SRO program, that we were able to bridge that gap with the youth.

And they don't see us no more as the bad guys, but the good guys, because we are. We're there to help them. All right? We're there to teach them.

We're there to be their mentors. All right? And that's what we're out here to do. All right?

Thank you so much. Next slide, please. All right, we have countless stories and they're being a little shy tonight, but the point is

Good evening. It is a pleasure to be here. Pleasure to be a part of the Durham County Sheriff's Office School Resource Division. uh the men and women work tirelessly every day with these uh students and staff to create a safe environment for learning.

Uh I do want to emphasize on the data. The data the last three years has been trending downward. Uh 2022 2023 we had 2008 calls for service and you see here in this uh presentation we're down in the 621. So last year was 841.

This year is even lower. So, we're trending downward on the calls for service. That means uh the school is handling more school discipline and and and other matters that are not making its way to our law enforcement officers. Uh in addition, our referral rates are are rising. So, we're we're trending downward on the calls for service, which you want, and you're increasing on the uh resources that are being referred. So like the sheriff said um he has created

this memorandum of understanding along with the superintendent that creates a collaboration where uh we want to be put the resource back in the school resource division. Thank you. So I'll close out by saying this. The Durham County Sheriff's Office school resourc program is a model not just for North Carolina but for across the United States.

Our SRO's take the time and I emphasize time to talk to these students. We're not out here to charge. We're out here to be a resource for them. We're not out here to bash them.

We're out here to show them the right way in which they need to do things. And throughout the years that I've been in this program, it's been a phenomenal program. Thank you. Thank you all for sharing. And we do pride ourselves in being a model. Uh as

you may know, uh we're all I am all over the state of North Carolina talking about the great things that we're doing here in Durham, certainly in DPS, and how our SRO program is front and center in the progress of our students here at DPS. Uh and as Captain uh Hinton mentioned, we get calls from across the country about what we're doing. uh as you know all this is public public data and so when they see our referral rates and our call for service and they're like what are what are you guys doing in the bull city and we're more than happy the these men and women standing behind me uh and part of our SRO program are not shy about sharing our successes with their colleagues across the state and across the country. So at this point I will pause and take any questions should there be any. Thank you. colleagues question.

You want to go first, Mr. Tab? I'll let you go first. You going to go first this time.

Go ahead, Mr. Tab. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much to uh Sheriff Burhead.

Thank you so very much for being here. Um I'm glad you finally made it and uh uh long time coming, but you're here and we want to make the best of this. I I will encourage my colleagues as well that now that he's here, we get a chance to really really ask the questions that we really need to ask of our our sheriff and our SRO program. So, I do have a few questions.

Um, you know me very well. So, I go right to the to the question. being in the school system as long as I have been in school and I worked with the SRO's and I had a great relationship and schools had a great relationship with the SRO's but there were times when teachers did not know where to cross the line when they needed a SRO and when they needed an administrator. Do you find that that's still happening in the school and what can we do to make that

transition better? I'm going to refer or defer to one of them because they're in the schools every day. I have an administrative answer in what we work on, but I'll let them answer. Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Tab. When you call an SRO, it needs to be more specific for a law enforcement function. Like the says, we cannot enforce school rules.

If you have a kid that is refusing to take his hat off or refusing to give you his cell phone, you can't utilize the SRO to enforce that school rule. Okay. If a principal is going there because of an altercation or disagreement, the esro will accompany them for safety purposes, make sure nothing happens. But the best way I can explain it is if it violates North Carolina general statutes, then yes, we'll come. If it violates DPS policy, we may assist and come and stand by for safety protocol, but not to enforce

school rules. Okay. Is there anything that the school system can do to making sure that our employees or our teachers and our staff understand through training or something something of that nature? Yeah, that's a great that's a great question.

That's actually part of our summer training. So, when we're meeting with uh Dr. Lewis, a superintendent, when we're meeting with the uh principles and APS, we talk about uh the best use of our SRO's and how we're there to support them in the mission of keeping order in the classroom, order in the hallway, in the school in general, but we're not the disciplinarians. And so, uh we give them tips uh as well on how to handle the situation.

And once it crosses that threshold that it it's either threatening or it's a criminal violation, then they call us and step in. we're we're always going to be around to support them. And that training happens uh every year and also happens or organically throughout the school year when situations pop up. Yeah.

Okay. Stay right there. Here's my

next question for you, Sheriff Burkhead. Um there's a lot of talk about heart program and possibly heart programs coming into schools. Um where do you see the relationship of a partnership with uh SRO's and the heart program? Yeah.

Again, another great question and actually uh that's one of those organic relationships that has evolved over the past uh three years. I think Hart's been in in existence for three years. The SRO's U Captain Hinton tells me often that we'll call the heart team if the situation is appropriate. If if a student is dealing with some trauma or a mental health crisis or is in for some reason stressed uh and it's not appropriate for us to it's not a law enforcement action. So we have called heart on a number of occasions to come to our schools and assist us uh and I'm happy to say that most of the time they have responded. So, I think uh if there were to be an

expansion of heart in our schools, then it would be just another partnership that the Durm County Sheriff's Office and our SRO program uh would utilize to again serve our student population. I'm going just do one more question because I know my colleagues have questions as well. Um, and this can be kind of a hot topic, uh, with the SRO's and the enforcement of possible metal detectors in our school. Um, would you want to talk about that relationship and how we can possibly continue to make our school safer with the use of the SRO's?

I hear two questions. Answer both. Uh let's talk about school safety and how we could harden our facilities. I'll use that that um critical incident term is hardening our facilities. One aspect of that certainly would be metal detectors. Uh it's no secret that I have

supported metal detectors before and that's not my decision. That's a decision of you all as schoolboard members in conjunction with the superintendent. Let me also say that the metal detector technology has evolved exponentially over the past five years to where you don't feel like you're walking through a chamber. Uh these are very um nonobtrusive looking devices that can detect metal or a weapon or whatever the case may be and alert the operator who's sitting behind a a screen uh that there's something there that needs further investigation.

Uh again, it's not to make the school feel like a prison or feel like you're walking into the sallyport of my detention center where we have a scanner as well. Um but again to keep weapons out of our schools and you saw from the numbers unfortunately we do have weapons in our schools and you all are very familiar with a few incidents that happened earlier this past school year. Uh so I

would advocate for that but again it's not not my decision. And then the other things we do is we just continue to partnership. We continue to train uh as a SRO program, as law enforcement, but also again with our administrators on if something happens, this is what we need you to do. Whether it's shelter in place, secure your classroom, immediately get on the phone and call uh 911, and then let law enforcement clear the facility, clear the room, whatever the case may be, uh and address the issue that you're feeling is a threat to school safety.

Yeah. I just want to thank you so very much for answering all of my questions. And there were some some some of the questions that I asked. I know those were on the minds of people out in the community.

So, I wanted to make sure that you had an opportunity to to speak on that. Um, and so, thank you so very much for for being here and I'll continue to work with you and Dr. Lewis and the rest of this board for um safety, security, and SRO's. And thank you all so much for what you do.

Really appreciate it. Thank you. and we we

certainly appreciate your support uh even before becoming a school board member. Uh and I have to say I'm relieved that you gave me good questions and didn't ask me to sing your background in the arts. So, thank you Miss Sh. Good evening and thank you so much for your presentation.

I'm glad that we um are finally having this presentation and I hope for our continued collaboration in you know all these way in all the ways. Um thank you for the data. Um I'm really glad to know we are doing so many referrals um and that we are leading the state in that. That's really encouraging. Um and also I just want to say I appreciate your stance on decriminalizing as well. um and looking for those resources and other um other ways to uh redirect um a lot of the

behavior that you know that you all deal with. So um uh also I think um a few years ago I got into reading about SRO programs and how they're developed and everything and I think our program is maybe not you know unique compared to other programs but also um different from some in that the SRO's who become a part of this program are um I think generally passionate about working with youth and it's my understanding that in some places people are more assigned to the you know to the role and so that's there's a difference there but I know we have a lot of long-standing SRO's in our community and that's great um I have two questions one um a general concern I have is the number of students who get suspended for substance use issues and so wanted to ask are there other resources that you all utilize besides um the DAC program

when Do you see when that is the the issue, substance use or or possession, do you find that or is that an area where you feel like we need more resources in the community for youth specifically um when we come across those issues? If I understand your question, do we need more resources for students or young people who are battling an addiction uh in the community as well as in school? Yeah, battling. It may be an addiction or yes, some kind of um substance use problem.

It may not have been identified as that yet, but who may come into contact with you all because of they have they're they are intoxicated while at school or they're in possession of um of an illegal substance. Yeah, absolutely. Um any resource that we could have uh available to us, we would we would certainly appreciate. But again, uh, all of our, um, calls that involved drugs or alcohol

were referred to DACK. And as far as school suspension, that's completely out out of out of my wheelhouse. Uh, and we don't even discuss school discipline. So, uh, I think D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Dak and and our guidance counselors uh and our community resources are doing an excellent job um with these young people when they identify that they have a substance abuse issue or uh something to that effect and and I don't know of any other resources that we we could utilize right now but whatever whatever's out there I also work closely with Dr.

Boon and her program, the TRI program. Uh, and so she and I are collaborating on a regular basis with reaching our youth in the community. And so perhaps that's a resource that we could expand uh in our schools as as we look at substance abuse, ACEs, uh, all of that that our kids are dealing with day in and day out. Absolutely. That's great. And I think that's an area

where probably and you know, yeah, we could have community expansion. Um, but I'm I'm glad that you all it seems like you're continuing to develop those partnerships, too. So, that's um I think that will only result in more support for our young people. My other question is around um uh the representation of Latin SRO's.

Um just knowing that representation matters and also um bilingual I guess bilingual SRO's, where are we where are we at with that? Yeah, we're we're hiring. Okay, we're we're hiring we're hiring every day. Uh and uh particularly those who are bilingual.

I mean that's that's actually an incentive program that we h we have. Uh if you come to us and you have uh an advanced degree or you speak another language, uh you are it's incentivized through uh through the salary or a pay increase. Uh but we are out there every single day uh being ambassadors to invite young men and

women uh of all ethnicities to come and join our team and certainly focusing on our immigrant population, those who have uh I think we hired an entire family last year. Yeah. And so, uh, Hispanic family, I'm sorry, our Latinx family, uh, and doing a fantastic job. And one of them is, uh, an SRO and, uh, animal services and patrol.

So, we are recruiting. So, if you know of someone, put the plug in, go to the Durham County Sheriff's Office website and apply, click join the team, uh, and become part of the great things that we're doing at the Durham County Sheriff's Office. Great. Thank you so much, Miss Masamba.

Do you have any uh questions, comments, concerns that you've heard? Anything you want to share in regards to this presentation from our sheriff here. Oh, thank you. Well, we we appreciate

you, so thank you. Keeping us on our toes. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Miss Unstead.

Thank you, Sheriff Burkehead, and the deputies for being here. Really appreciate hearing about all the referrals, like it's already been said. And I think, um, being at graduations or other school ceremonies, and watching you all interact with our students is like the testament of the relationships that you all have. So, thank you for that.

Um, this is not really a question, but more of a a wondering and a hope that we can also be thinking about what's happening outside of school and how what can we be doing inside of school to make sure when students are outside of school, they're not interacting with you in a negative way. And so, I would welcome some of that conversation from you all if there are things that the school system could also be doing to make sure kids are staying engaged with the right thing. um because I know that's a concern in our community also about what happens after hours on the weekends during the summertime right now with some of our students. So, welcome that dialogue with you all. Absolutely. I I'll just note briefly as

as uh Deputy Moore mentioned uh students in in the neighborhood or outside of school call him and others as well. Uh some of our SRO's coach uh sporting teams whether it's softball u football or basketball but we do know that after hours our kids still have contact with our SRO's. Uh they may be dealing with a situation at home or just or in the neighborhood and they will not hesitate to call one of our SRO. Dr.

Lewis, you look like you have something to say. Yeah. Thank first of all, thank you all so much for for being here tonight. but also what what you do. to um board member armstead's point and this is one of the things that's a a huge benefit of uh SRO and the relationships that they build with students and I encourage students to name drop if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation with an officer that may not know them uh but they can either call one of our SRO or say hey I know Demo you know or sorry

yeah I know I know Demo you know so that could sometimes um uh deescalate a situation you know with someone that has no clue of who this this student is. And so that that's one point. The second point is and the sheriff and I had this conversation. He's familiar with the um organization and really want to um you know possibly bring that that to Durham and that's the um gosh just thought lost the name of it. Um the um the program where if something happens outside the school in one of our our homes, handle with care, the handle with care program. And so if an officer whether it's city or county officer deputy has to be called to one of our homes where our students are uh for for whatever reason then that through that partnership they will contact the SRO and the SRO would notify the school principal that this student may have been engaged in whatever and we don't share that right we don't you know that's not our concern but just handle Anthony Lewis with care because he may have not gotten sleep last night because he was dealing with said issue and so I

think that's hugely important in terms of just making sure that as a community that we are doing all we can to uh just wrap our arms around our students. Absolutely. Miss Har and Miss Byer. I don't have much to to say. I'm just listening and and um reflecting on everything. But um wanted to lift up how um when I'm listening to you all, you sound like mentors in the buildings and I'm wondering with the responsibility of the SRO outside of that and um our emphasis as a district on restorative practices and restorative justice and things like this, how can can you also name like specific specifically is it is it a strategic intention for the SRO program to be reflecting um bridging I heard I hear

bridging the gaps between the school you know between youth and and law enforcement and things like this. Is it a strategic intention to to to be those kind of mentors in the building? like what are other ways that the SRO program innovatively is looking to like really integrate into the school community? Like do you have any very intentional ways?

For example, um I think I don't remember who I was talking about. We were talk somebody was talking about wouldn't it be so cool if all the cars didn't look the same? like if the SRO that was in the building actually reflected the school at the games or if there was something just slightly different about the uniform or are there any other strategic strategic things that you're doing to bridge the to to um to what's the word bridging just being intentional things that relieve the intimidation of the presence of law enforcement. I think that's that's what

I'm referring to. The producer is in my ear. What? Uh, one thing we do have student staff basketball games.

Another thing just listen what you were saying. Um, I think we had mentioned one time before about making the SRO specific to that school, designing a magnet because every school has a mascot. Getting a magnet that will stick on the side of the SRO's car. So when they're at the school or at games like fine, this is my SRO.

this is um Hillside or this is Riverside or wherever the school is. So that would identify that car with that SRO in that school. So when visitors come and say, "Oh wow, that's cool. " So those are things that we're thinking about doing.

I I would take that a step further. Um you know, there are some grants out there. I had experience with this in a previous district where they actually took one of their, you know, not so brand new cars, but wrapped the entire car with the the school's logo. And it really um to your point it it really u

helped bridge that gap also because it looks like the school right like it was a true part of the school. You know we are certainly open to um blending in as much as possible uh with our schools or the schools that these uh young men and also the young women are assigned to. So whether it's a a a logo magnet or a wrap uh that u Dr. Lewis just offered to help us find money for uh we certainly will we we certainly would entertain that.

Uh but but it everything we do is intentional. Again, these these young men behind me, I'll just say young men um really work at developing those relationships in and outside the school. Uh and we we've sort of tone down our uniform presence. Uh, we've even talked about going with t-shirts and that represent school colors. And I'm not quite there yet, but it's certainly something that we think

about on on a regular so we can be creative and again just make our SRO's as approachable as possible. But all all of it really comes down to their personality and their passion their passion for our kids. Yeah. Miss Byer, Sheriff Burkard, I want to thank you for being here with us.

I want to thank you for um bringing um your heart and your officers in um to our schools and into our meeting. And I know it's a scary place sometimes because Durham expects everything to be uh just and restorative and uh even dreams of a world where we don't need SRO's in schools. And so, um, I know you get criticism and you get praise from at different places in the community where you go and I know this is very complicated, challenging work for you all dayto day as you see

children that are often not at their best. Um, but I would just like to open some space for each of you to dream like kind of like similar to Miss Harold Gooff, y'all's uniforms are intimidating. Your belts are intimidating. All the stuff on there that I hope you never have to use in the community or in a school is intimidating.

And I'm speak from a place of enormous privilege. So, can y'all get to the point where where you would dream and consider along with us, you know, more plain clothes kind of situations? um just ways that y'all approach that are that are less threatening and scary to children because we're talking children. Um have y'all had conversations about that ideas that are out best practices nationally that you're thinking about that we could besides the cars because you know that's great um or not. I don't

like the ghost car myself when I see it. Um but you know that's y'all's toy. Um, what are there things that you're dreaming that you could do differently that that that make you look more like a coach, a teacher, or something rather than scary to children. That's maybe that's where my heart is in this conversation to open space for that.

Yeah. No, thank you for your comment. I think we've gone a long way to uh demilitarize our our SRO's, but at the end of the day, they are law enforcement and so those tools that are on their belt are necessary uh coming and going from the school as well as in the school. Uh but we're always open to to new ideas. Uh but we again at the end of the day, we're still law enforcement. Um, and so I too dream of an opportunity where we don't need uh as many guns in this country, but as we witness day in and

day out, we're not there. We are far ahead of the the national curve in Durham, but as a nation, we're not there. And so when we achieve that utopian society, I'll be the first to champion it. Uh but until then, we're going to continue to to strip away as much as we possibly can to reach our kids, to service our kids, to service our communities, uh while at the same time representing uh law enforcement and order in the community and servants in our schools.

Uh that's where I want to see us go. And it's not necessarily about the color we wear or what's on our belt, but it's what's in our heart. So plain clothes is a choice that officers have, SRO's have now. No, no, no, no.

You You're looking at the way they're outfitted. U I am by my mandate. Some of it's former to me than others. I'm just saying. And maybe I'm maybe I'm

alone in that. Oh, polo shirt. Yep. Okay.

Nice black all black tennis shoes on or some all black air forces or some black hair. The kids love it. They know I got style. all got great.

We do too. I appreciate it. Y'all are some of y'all are making great comments off mic, but I appreciated the the wearing this the sneakers and kicks that the kids like making those conversations that way. And you have great personalities, great hearts.

I that I wanted to make sure that that that got heard since some of y'all were not on mic. Thank you. Um,

I I look forward I'd like I appreciate you saying that you are calling in heart when needed and and I appreciate you calling in and being explicit with Mr. Tab and and us that you are not disciplining students and you are only dealing with North Carolina general statute um information. I would hope that in the future we could codify some of the language in ourou that came from the community safety wellness task force. I think y'all are doing some of those things already and we can always strengthen that language and I think that goes a long way.

Um, and I appreciate um your willingness to consider that for for futureus and the partnership that we have. So, thank you. Thank you for your comments, Miss Carter. I I'll be brief.

Um, thank you for coming tonight. It's been a long time coming. I' You've answered so many questions tonight that I've had um for the last couple of years. So, thank you so much for being here and for all of you for being here this evening. Um, I'm uh so glad also to hear that you all are

focused on relationship building and mentorship that there's this training. I had no idea that there's all this training that you have to do related to juvenile mental health, supporting students with exceptional needs um and deescalation. that all feels really positive to me and I love that you're building a um positive presence in the schools and one of mentorship um and and also that DPS goes above and above sorry you all in DPS go above and beyond what the state requires too. So thank you for all of that and for all of the work that you do. Um, and I think my one question is if students have a um, it sounds like most interactions are you try to make them positive with students, but if they happen to have a negative interaction with with um, an SRO um, or repeated negative interaction where they feel like they're being targeted, for example, I don't think this happens often, but if this were to happen, um, what is what should that student do or where who are they supposed to talk to? like what is how how are complaints submitted and and handled in the system?

Yeah, we certainly have a we have a process for it internally and uh we also have a process where we've we've u uh carved out within the school system working with the principles, working with the AP and working with the guidance counselor uh if a student experiences a negative reaction and all of those are investigated uh not only by the school but our uh internal affairs will look into the complaint as well and we investigate every complaint. I am happy to say that those negative interactions have been few. Uh and so we haven't had to sort of pull out the pen to put uh those complaints in order or discipline on a on an officer. Yeah.

So we have those we have those conversations as well. Again, the relationship we have with our principles and our and our assistant principles and our teachers is what allows us to be so great. uh and and to avoid those negative interactions because uh again they see us as part of DPS even though

we're law enforcement, we wear polo shirts, uh they see us as part of the dayto-day uh at their schools because they know that we are there for them. Yeah. Thanks so much, Miss Have one more. I do have a question this time.

Um, and it is tricky, but I appreciate you, Sheriff Burkehead, for some of the advocacy you've done around ICE and engagement with ICE from the sheriff's office. Um, we know that our families and and many of us in our community, it's a fearful time right now. And so, I'm wondering if there's anything you can highlight around what families can expect from SRO's uh, when it comes to worries about ICE, if that makes Well, again, that's a conversation we've already had with Dr. Lewis and um Director Howard, Eva Howard uh or school safety and what to do if an ICE agent shows up and there are very specific rules uh some dos and don'ts and again we've flushed that out with uh Dr. Lewis already. Uh you all know where

I stand with ICE. I've been I think I've been the poster child for opposition with ICE which I I proudly uh because that's not something our officers should be engaging in. uh and we'll continue to stand firm on that and I applaud Governor Stein for exercising his veto uh a week ago and hopefully we can we can sustain that. But uh I think the policies and the conversations that Dr.

Lewis and I and others have had around what to do if an ICE agent shows up. Uh their protocols and I I won't go into those tonight, but just rest assured that if that call comes, we all know how to respond to protect our schools and our students uh first and foremost. And again, there there are protocols that the federal uh ICE agents have to follow as well. So, we we've had those conversations as well. I just want to reiterate what you said that there are protocols and procedures in place so that you all be protecting our students and our families. I just I'm reiterating because I know that the community and

there's fear out there. You know, we got a couple schools starting in a couple weeks, right? And so, how do we just I want families to hear inside of our school, we're protecting our students and families as much as we can do. Uh so, any more comments?

Thank you all for that. Absolutely. And we also have this conversation in the community. This is not just a conversation we have inside our school build uh school buildings.

Uh we're we're in the community. I'm in the community. Uh Grace Marsh who's here with me tonight, Tamaka Gilmer and and former pastor Cousins. We're all out in the community uh talking about these situations that we're dealing with uh with ICE.

Uh as I mentioned a moment ago, this national climate is is impacting all of us. Uh and so we're here in North Carolina and certainly in Durham County are are going to remain on the front line to make sure that the community knows who to call uh how to get in touch with us. Uh I have several programs with El Centro on a regular basis talking about know your rights. Uh

the U visa program understanding what to do if ICE comes into the community as well. So, I think the message is out there, but certainly appreciate you reiterating it here tonight and how we uh translate those protections to our students uh in our schools. And so, we're we're front and center on that. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Tab, you have one quick question. Thank you. Thank you very much again.

Thank you so much. Um, I do know that the first time a lot of our DP deep Durham public school students interact with the SRO's when they get to middle school. What are we is there anything with doc Dr. Lewis and and Sheriff Burkehead in planning for some interaction with programming for the elementary schools so that when they get to middle school they don't see they're not interacting with a SRO for the very first time because we should have their programs and all those programs that I remember and they were very very

effective. So, um, just want to see where we are with that building so that the kids don't just see be scared of the SRO's when they get to to middle school. Yeah, that's c certainly u something I would like to see and I I'll defer to Dr. Lewis.

We have had conversations about various programs and models that are out there. Uh but it's always going to come down to what's best for Durham and what fits in DPS and how we can uh incorporate whatever program at whatever level be it elementary up uh and so we've had those conversations and we'll continue to explore those opportunities because you're right I want to get to our kids as young as possible. I want to get and what I don't want to happen is, you know, the mother or the father in the grocery store and I'm in uniform. " And I'm like, "No, no, no. " That's not what we're are about. And so we've built a culture around being approachable to our young

our young kids. Uh I speak at rights of passage on a regular basis again dealing with young men and women who are in that program. And so uh I think we will continue to have those conversations. Uh and Dr.

Lewis knows that I will avail myself. Yeah. Yeah, and the sheriff and I have actually had some conversations about pairing uh the SRO that are serving middle and high schools up with the elementary schools that are in that zone just as you know if I'm on my way to uh you know said middle school or just sometime during the day I I can stop by the elementary school just to so the students know begin to know their faces you know stop by play kickball go to recess with them so they they know when I get to middle school I know this person in this this uniform I know Demo I know whoever the the SRO is sorry Demo Well, um, but but what I what I also think that creates is if there is an opportunity where there's a a safety issue around one of our elementary schools, our elementary principles know who to, you know, to contact. Obviously, they'll call 911 if it's emergency, but if there's an issue where they just need some assistance, that's that partnership with SRO.

Thank you so much, Metam Chair, for giving me the opportunity. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you all so much for being here.

your continued support of Durham public schools. Um, I've thoroughly appreciated the conversation that you have had with us, the conversations that we've had to get here. Um, I appreciate that. I feel bad for sort of putting you on the spot with my question.

Oh, no. Um, but I'm going to do so as a single parent to a male student, a black man. I want to know is there any intentionality around the work that SRO's are doing um in schools to ensure our students are learning how to interact with law enforcement. I go to uh my family buys season tickets to uh the NCCU football games and I think constantly about what happens at the end of the game when they say get home and arrive home safely, right? And I want every student to know that when they have an interaction with law enforcement

that they're going to be able to get home safely. Um, so is there any intentionality around programming with our students around what happens if you do interact both in the school setting and outside of the school setting with law enforcement and um how to engage in a way that will allow them to emerge from that opportunity even with a ticket or charges but alive. Yeah, absolutely. Uh let me just frame our answer because a couple of folks behind me want to answer that.

Uh our goal is for everyone to go home safe. That's our number one goal. And so we are very intentional uh about safety and deescalation and trying to understand what got the individual to this point. And I'm going to speak the obvious. As a black man who's been in law enforcement for a very long time,

I've seen those interactions go left or go right. And so I have always been intentional about treating everyone fair and consistently, but certainly my black brothers who, you know, the decks stacked against them. Uh and so I know my SRO's these as well as others are very intentional. Uh Deputy Moore can certainly speak to his interactions as well as others in the community when we have to have a law enforcement interaction outside of schools.

One of my biggest things that I really support is teaching in the classroom. Um, whenever we get a chance, we love to go in the classroom and educate the kids. Uh, I love to tell the teachers at Shepherd Middle School, uh, when you have to go to the bathroom, call me. I'll take over the classroom. And what I mean by that, that's an opportunity for

me to educate the kids about how to become a better citizen just not only in the school, but on the outside, what to do, give them my experience, what's happened to me as a black African-American. And I'll let them I give them the stories of how I was placed on the wall injustly, the wrong guy. I give them my stories and what to do and how I reacted. So whenever I get a chance at the school, I educate and I have a great relationship with the teachers and they allow me to take over the classroom.

Hey, you go to the break room, you work on your grades, let me go in your classroom and let me educate the kids and they love it. Show them some videos, interact with them. It's hard for me to leave those classrooms because they ask me a million questions and I have to let them know I have to go, guys. But if you have any questions when you see me in the cafeteria, I answer them. Thank you.

Back off of Deputy Moore. All our SROs are required to do at least two presentations a month. That's what he's describing to a classroom presentation where they go in the classroom, interact with the kids. It could be open discussion or he or she will have a topic.

But I guarantee you that our officers are interacting with our young black and brown boys and girls in a positive way. They do talk to them, tell them about what they do or what to do when you have an interaction with law enforcement. Why? Because they come and ask the SRO because they feel that comfortable with them.

Hey, I got stopped last weekend over my neighborhood. What should I have done? And they will tell them the right way to handle it and the wrong way which they shouldn't handle it. and they trust these SRO's to the point they will come and talk to them if they're having a problem in their neighborhood with if they feel they're being unjustly stopped or targeted. So, they do come and talk to the SRO's. Again, we partner with some of our um resources out in the community and some of our organizations who are having these conversations uh about not just

know your rights, but what to do if you are stopped by law enforcement. Uh, and I participated in skits where, you know, we simulate or we act out that person's driving a car and they're being stopped by law enforcement what to do and follow commands and and keep your hands where we can say and things like that and and the audience participation is great because sometimes they just don't know uh and they can see themselves being in that situation before. Uh, and so we try to bring it home like here's what we want you to do. And we always end it with we all want to go home safe.

At the end of the day, that's that's what we're there for. If we have to write a citation, we write the citation. Sometimes we write warnings. Uh, but at the end of the day, we want everyone to be safe and go home safe. Thank you so much, colleagues. Theou is uh before us for action tonight.

I move approval of theou. Second. Moved by Miss Harrell Goff, seconded by Miss Byer to move approval of theou between the board of education, Durham County Sheriff's Office. Is there any further discussion?

All in favor say I. I all oppose use the same sign. Thank you. It passes 6.

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Miss Smith, do you have a copy of the MOU for the sheriff to sign while he's here? Thank you.

Don't go anywhere. Not Not great. Colleagues, the next item on our agenda was brought to us by Missstead. " Sure. Um, as many of you all might know, there is a bill that is um, I think it's in the I

think the House has passed it actually. Senate Bill 277 about eliminating DEI in public education. Um, there are several bills about eliminating DEI and state agencies and higher education. uh higher education has already had some steps moved in this direction and it does mean things like um principal prep programs are struggling with how they talk about diversity, equity, inclusion and those are people who are teaching our students.

So I'm very concerned about this bill coming for public education. Equity is a core foundational work that of the work that we do in Durham public schools. Um we know that our students need to be met where they are. We know that they are all diverse and we want to celebrate who they are and what they do uh what they bring to our classrooms and we want to make sure they feel included in all the things that are going on in their school.

And that's not only for our students, but it's also for the adults and for the teachers and the educators that work within our buildings as well. So, I put together this resolution pretty quickly this afternoon. I'm open to any um edits and revisions um but hope that you all would

consider passing this this evening. Um, and we sending it along to the powers that be. Thank you. Did you want to read it and then discuss or do you want How do y'all want to handle this tonight?

I would love to read it. Miss Harold Gooff has a quick edit for Miss. Okay. It's um it just the title says 277, but it's bill 227.

Oh, excuse me. Thank you. Bill 227. Yeah.

Okay. We'll get that modified. " Yeah. I think Can we read it aloud and then discuss?

Yeah, of course. Yeah. The same way we would rotating each person, each paragraph. 227. All right. resolution against Senate Bill 227 eliminating DI public

education. Whereas Durham public schools mission is to embrace, educate, and empower every student to innovate, serve, and lead. And whereas DPS student demographics includes students of color, students who qualify for exceptional children's services, students who are multilingual learners, students who are LGBTQIA plus. And whereas one of DPS's core beliefs is a commitment to equity to ensure our students and schools have the necessary access to the resources, supports, and opportunities needed to succeed. And whereas Senate Bill 227 titled eliminating DEI in public education seeks to prohibit the ability of school districts to teach of divisive concepts from being taught in the classroom or through professional learning which could tamper our efforts in work in working towards equity. And

whereas the bill calls these concepts divisive, the board of education recognizes the importance of celebrating our diversity, honoring the needs of every person, creating spaces where every person will be included, and teaching accurate history to adequately address the unique needs of our students, families, and educators. And whereas this bill threatens to challenge our belief that the duty of public education is to educate every single child by ensuring each child has the resources, opportunities, and environment to succeed. And therefore, be it resolved that the Durham Public Schools Board of Education urges the governor of North Carolina to veto Senate Bill 227. hand. I apologize. It be it further resolved that the Durham Public Schools Board of Education urges members of the North Carolina General Assembly to focus on developing a robust public education budget with an equity toolkit that fully supports students in North Carolina

and signed uh this day which would be 26, 2025, June 26, 2025. Colleagues, I'd invite any conversation as well as a motion. I move approval of the resolution against eliminating DI in public schools, Senate Bill 227. Second.

It's been moved by Miss Harold Goff, seconded by Emily Chávez to approve the resolution against Senate Bill 227 eliminating DEI and public education with the edits of 227 all the way through. Uh, is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

I. I. Miss Ka and do you have some discussion? Um not very not much but um because this

is great. Thank you so much for drafting this. Um, board member umstead, I just was wondering if in the um cuz I didn't I was wondering if in the second um clause if instead of saying student demographics includes students of color, if we could just say DPS welcomes and includes students of color, students who qualify for and then I was also kind of wondering are those are we being completely inclusive in that list there or is there anything else anybody wants to add? Is that comprehensive?

Um, like I'm thinking students who might be immigrants. Um, yeah, just throwing some things out there. Not that we need to discuss this for a long time and the Yeah, that's it. But otherwise, I think this looks great and given that it's I think it is important to put this out this evening, I support it. I appreciate those edits. And I hear Miss said typing over here.

So I think she's capturing that. Am I is that right? Yeah, I hear typing. Okay, colleagues consensus around the edits.

Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you, Miss Carter Adden, for those edits.

Thank you, Miss Unstead, for getting this together so quickly. Um you thank you so much for being here. Um okay. All those in favor say I.

I. All oppose use the same sign. It passes unanimously. Thank you again, Miss Humstead.

Okay. The next item on our agenda tonight um is from academic services the DPS code of character conduct and support. Dr. King. Good evening board members

as our colleagues come forward just to uh introduce this item quickly. This item is presented uh for the board's information um and reflects the culmination of several months of collaborative work by a diverse group of st stakeholders across the district uh under the leadership of Dr. Leverne Maddox Perry, senior executive director for student support services and Dr. Melissa Watson, our director of student alternatives and support.

This effort has brought together uh voices from schoolbased staff, district administrators, student services uh to thoughtfully explore how restorative practice can meaningly be embedded into Durham public schools disciplinary policies. Uh tonight's presentation provide an overview of the proposed direction which we seek to move um which seeks to reduce exclusionary discipline, promote accountability, strengthen school communities, and ensure equitable outcomes for all students. At the conclusion of this presentation, the administration will welcome the board's feedback to help inform and guide the

next phase of planning. Um, I know there was some question from board members earlier today about whether this work would replace uh our student code of conduct. Uh, but really what this work is all about is how we, as we've talked about uh throughout this year, how we embed uh restorative practices in our student code of conduct and in our work around discipline uh such that it reflects this uh this board's commitment to um restorative practices in our schools. And so, um, I'd like to thank, uh, Dr.

Maddox Prairie and her team for the work that they've done so far. Board members, we're glad to share with you, uh, the progress that's that we've made, and I look forward to hearing from you in terms of, uh, what you would like to see us do as we continue to move this work forward. Thank you, Dr. King.

Good evening, uh, Dr. Lewis, what's that about? um DPS school board members, Millicent Rogers, and of course the Durm community. I am

Leverne Maddox Perry, senior executive director for student support services, and I am here with Dr. Melissa Watson, director of student alternatives and supports. together. We're going to share um the presentation as an update regarding the development of a student code of conduct, character, and support, as well as proposed revisions to policy 4301.

Dr. Watson has been integral as the lead for goal team 2B, as well as being the primary co-lead on this project with me. You will hear a bit about the processes, timeline, as well as the people involved in these proposed revisions, but you won't actually get to hear the proposal for action tonight. We recognize that if we shared opportunities to collaborate around this work, we've gained more insights and believe we are in a place to further engage our community and board in the final stages of development towards future implementation. Next slide, please.

This slide underscores why we are before you this evening. In May 2024, during the strategic plan priority 2 update, we recommended that we should look at revision to policy 4301 and creation of a student code of conduct, character, and support as another step in our full implementation of restorative practices within our district and primarily as a leverage point for reducing out of school exclusions for our students, particularly the student groups named in PR. our uh strategic plan goal 2B regarding reductions in suspensions. Our strategic plan goal teams felt it was important to provide more restorative approaches for school leaders as they are responding to undesirable behaviors or violations of the code of conduct. Here the basic hypothesis of restorative practices is that people are happier, more cooperative and productive and more

likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in authority do things with them rather than to them or for them. That belief prevalent in our restorative practices trainings over the past few years is why we have undertaken this effort to be true to this belief in all our practices including our responses to undesirable behaviors. Next slide please. Here we acknowledge all the key players who've been members of the project team and have provided input, leadership, and feedback through multiple medium to get us to the point where we feel comfortable presenting this update for your review. As you can see, it is a diverse group of DPS educators, and we're proud that no one person can take credit for creating this proposal alone. It truly has been a product of collaboration.

Okay, next slide please. As we begin the presentation, I wanted to highlight some terminology that is often used interchangeably. Um, but I'd want to provide distinct definitions for our use as Durham public schools. Restorative justice is a philosophy and a set of practices that shift the focus from punishment to healing and repairing harm.

It is about a restorative response when there has been harm. This method is often practiced in the realm of criminal justice to prevent recidivism and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions while helping them to gain an understanding of the impact of those actions on others. It is a reactive approach. Restorative practice is akin to restorative justice in that there is an emphasis on accountability when harm occurs. However, you can broaden

restorative practices as more of a proactive approach that focuses on building healthy relationships in the beginning and embedding an intentional, inclusive, and respectful way of thinking about, talking about, and responding to behavioral issues. In our implementation of restorative practices, we hope that we are operating restoratively with 80% proactive activities along the continuum. And of course, there is room for the 20% reactive or responsive activities after there is evidence of harm against a member of the community or the entire community itself. This update on our proposed revisions is our attempt to enhance policy 4301 by adding more of the restorative methods and language prior to an occurrence and after there is a need to repair harm or restore a relationship due to a violation of the code of character, conduct, and support. Next

slide, please. Now, I'm going to ask Dr. Watson to take the lead in giving a brief description of the steps that we've taken thus far during the 20242 school term to get us to the point that we have recommendations for you. Dr.

Watson, it gives me great pleasure to be with you this evening to celebrate the collaborative work of my colleagues. The purpose of the revi the revisions that we are speaking to comes both with timeliness and intentionality. As a district, we have listen to the calls from our school communities to establish a more supportive human centered response to scholar behavior. The supplement of our code of conduct shifts us away from punitive practices towards restorative responses that encourage student accountability.

reflection and growth. It aligns with the values outlined in our strategic plan by prioritizing equity and honors collective responsibility that we share to create safe and supportive school environments where every scholar feels seen, heard, and valued. Next slide, please. Next slide.

Our development process follow a deliberate fivephase model. Research and policy analysis, drafting by topic area, stakeholder engagement, iterative refinement and final compilation. This approach ensured transparency and inclusion at every stage. Rather than implementing a top-down process, we engaged the community's

voice throughout the process. This allowed us to address real concerns from our schools, our students, and our families, and to make data informed decisions about the structure and the content of the supplement. Next slide, please. Each section of the supplement was led by a content area expert across departments ensuring both depth of knowledge and alignment with our restorative framework. These leads facilitated collaborative discussions, review stakeholder feedback, and carefully refined language to reflect both clarity and coherence. Our shared leadership model helped us maintain consistency, equity, and coherence across a large complex

document. Next slide, please. We did not merely present this code of character, conduct, and support for review. We invited active participation in its creation through surveys, world cafe, community dialogue and multi multilingual feedback.

The result is a more responsive inclusive code that reflects the lived experiences of our school communities. Next slide, please. The draft we shared with you includes robust supplemental materials to support implementation. These include restorative tools, mental health supports, and character development resources.

These tools empower school leaders and staff to implement the code of character, conduct, and support with flexibility and fidelity. Adapting strategies to meet the needs of individual scholars and classrooms while remaining rooted in shared district values. I will like I would invite Dr. Medics period to talk about critical elements of that and to talk about our implementation plan.

Next slide please. Next slide. Okay. Um so this slide illustrates the ways in which restorative practices is embedded in the school improvement planning process. We are trying to as

Dr. Watson said make sure that there is coherence in all of our efforts to increase our students per uh performance and achievement and that includes looking at various areas by which we can integrate um restorative practices across our district. that includes academic success discipline in the area that we're talking about with 4301 equity um addressing those disparities that are outlined in um strategic plan goal to be and of course aligning with uh MTSS framework our total framework for school improvement. So we really wanted to make sure that we highlighted that restorative practices is not a separate initiative. if you were to see some of the documents that we share uh and we're happy to share those again u in our MTSS framework trainings as well as other um workshops and work with our um school leaders and teachers. You will see that everything has restorative practices highlighted and represented as

the foundation for everything else that we do and building upon that. Okay, next slide please. And here you just see restorative practices and MTSS as a crosswalk. Um as you know tier one um MTSS is a multi-tered system of supports and it's all about making sure that we have a response.

We we set up a response when students um demonstrate that there is a need for more intensive or even supplemental supports, but also that we have a strong core um that addresses the needs and supports our students. Um universal supports are tier one and you can see we've named a couple that are restorative in nature including our SEAL learning um and is integrated into instruction, is integrated into um our school schedules. We also have tier 2 which is more targeted supports um around restorative conversations. There

might be check-ins with students um emerging with behavioral needs uh a bit more need for attention. And then of course there is collaborative problem solving and PLC work around solution finding working with families as well. Tier three of course is our intensive supports and that is when you get into uh a little bit further down the restorative continuum. You have formal restorative conferences um following serious incidents.

Um there may be a need for community assistance in that as well as wraparound supports that could be um developed for students and staff actually um through coordination with some of our partners in the mental health uh field and uh other areas of support. Next slide, please. So, um, school leaders and support for teachers. This is how we um hope that this code provides us with the

opportunity to be able to um work with our school leaders, our staff, and provide them with flexibility when it comes to embodying um restorative practices when there is a need to address behaviors. And you can see here that we hope that we are asking our school leaders and our our teachers to model what we hope to see, which is to be more restorative in their language. That's one aspect we took into consideration when building the draft. Um recognizing and celebrating restorative responses that promote student accountability.

Student accountability is one of the areas in which we try to really embed that into some of the matrices. And then of course continuing um to lead datainformed discussions about you know culture, climate, utilizing discipline trends, all those things um through a restorative lens. Next slide, please. Okay, next steps.

So, our next steps, of course, um beginning now, we will be working directly, um during the remaining of the summer and throughout the 2025 2026 school year um to move forward with an even more in-depth training plan for implementation, more of a communication plan. We are continuing to work with some school leaders around some intricacies in the actual proposal that you will receive. Um, and we our hope is to ensure that those invested in the success of Durham public school students are clear about what is in the revised policy. I have been using the terminology that we would like to have a a long runway for this to make sure that once we have your approval and we've gotten the code of conduct and revisions to the policy um where they are representative of our beliefs and what we believe is going to help us in our strategic plan u goal attainment. um that we are able to ensure everyone is clear about what it stands for as well

as um how the supports uh and and the uh support from our our schools um leaders and our departments can assist with that. Um you also see that we are going to uh continue with district-wide training and a big point that we will be doing next next year is really some protocol refinement. we have um as a as a district started looking at all our standard operating procedures and that will include a lot of the work that goes into um how we support schools as they deal with issues that arise when it comes to discipline. So we hope uh and plan to utilize the revised code and the supplements as a leading talking point in refining those protocols um and looking at data as we begin to share more and more. are we able to see any trends um anything that helps us to refine what we want to present to you um for final approval and then of course we

would like in June um and through August of 2026 to be back uh to uh work with our teams for full implementation for the start of the 2627 school year. Okay, next slide please. Excuse me. This is not um an exhaustive list of how we view the supports that are going to be needed for implementation, but it's just a summary and I hope it u exemplifies the breadth and depth of the cooperation that's going to be needed as we move forward um so that we can have successful implementation.

Next slide, please. Okay. The restorative journey. uh this is a a journey like many other that we others that we undertake in education.

It is not a destination. Um and this quote really uh is something that has grown out of the work um globally of restorative practitioners. And it says restorative practices are not a program to complete but a way of being to grow

into one conversation, one relationship, one repair at a time. And next slide, please. Okay, that concludes our update and I will turn it back over to Dr. King.

Board members, we'll be glad to answer any questions you might have at this point. Colleagues, any questions, comments? Miss Harold Goff. Thank you.

Thank you. I um I personally am very proud of the work that Durham Public Schools is doing with restorative justice and restorative practices in our schools. Um, I think that our community is looking at how restorative practices are built into the culture of Durham public schools. And, um, this feels like, um, a very positive

thing to be making sure that it's reflected in our code of conduct. So, very excited for that. I would like for um, you to speak a little bit. I also love how um the community engagement, how that is such a an integral part of this process um for not just for building the trust of the community and and how we are implementing um restorative practices into the culture of our schools, but also um in how that will educate our community about how this is all being rolled out in an equitable way, in a way that doesn't, you know, restorative practice is all about repairing harm in a way that doesn't cause any harm.

That's just thought about that. Um I'd like for you to speak a little bit about some of the challenges of help us to understand why you're not just going to say we're going to implement this right now. Like why why why are you taking the time? um how do

we tell us more about the conversation about how this is going to look so that it works across the whole district and not just in individual buildings that conversation. Yes, absolutely. Um so we have begun some initial you know um we we did two a two-prong approach to community engagement that includes educators and families as well as students. Um we did some input before we even began.

when we did surveys and tried to obtain information that you know what really needs to be included, what do we need to address in um our revisions? What do you want to see that is um uh indicative of restorative practices in our district? So, we did that piece. We also offered opportunities for feedback like oftent times uh is the case you know there was not um what I would say the level of engagement with the uh initial uh request for feedback because we did not have a completed draft just yet. So, we

wanted to make sure that once we had gotten all the input in a workable draft that we could share that broadly and have multiple opportunities for members of our community to provide feedback. And that is important because if you're going to have a shift in your approach, that means uh um discipline and response to undesired behaviors is going to look very different in some schools. So teachers are going to need to understand how indeed restorative practices is still supportive of uh of you as an educator when there has a you know been some harm perhaps in your class or between you and their interaction with the student as well as other parents really understanding what it means what kind of conversations are going to be had with students and students themselves. Um we are um really dedicated this year to making sure it gets to the student level. We actually have um some student ambassadors um that are at uh Hillside High School um as well as some other schools who are going

to really uh dedicate working with us to make sure this draft and all the language around it becomes a natural part of the student leadership conversations as well. So we really want a long runway because we could just put it into into uh policy and begin next year, but I don't think we've had an opportunity to do that. refinement um process and we think that's important because we believe this is a part of the transformational change that we want to see in Durham public schools. So we want to make sure it is closely aligned to a lot of the other innovative steps that we're taking.

We want to take the time to do it right and we want families and community uh of educators to feel confident that we're headed in the right direction. I could just add to that. I think um the the nature of of this work and its um basis being you know connected particularly to discipline creates a a real challenge when it comes to um the

way we might roll out other programs uh where whereas we might uh think about a a quote unquote pilot, right? It's very difficult to do a pilot that involves um disciplinary responses or responses to inappropriate behavior. um because that would put us in a situation where some schools would be responding to that inappropriate behavior in one way and others might be responding in another way uh systemically and that's that's not something that we want to see happen. So what we think is a much more appropriate response is to do the work that is required to bring all of our schools to a level of preparation that would allow them to implement this work um and then begin that process um as a full district as opposed to uh in a more in a peace meal fashion.

Go that concludes your questions. That that answers my question thoroughly. And another part of that is while we're in that long runway process, um what does

our restorative practices currently look like as we're going in that direction? What's currently taking place? So I I think if in I don't want to overstep but you know what what's important to remember is that we in in this district we have a number of um portion this work is going forward in this district. Uh what has been missing um is the nexus of the actual work that we're doing and the language and our actual discipline processes right um and so that's what this work is about is bringing those two things together.

So, we have lots of schools that are doing really good work as it relates to restorative practices. Uh, some of those schools might be what what what folks might refer to as early adopters. Um, and but and other schools that certainly need to continue some work. So our hope is that over time as we continue to move forward, our schools that are doing the work very well will

continue to do that work and be strengthened while we bring all the remaining schools uh up to par so that we are in a place in a very short period of time um to move the work forward. But what we think is most critical is that through this process we are establishing um a definitive statement about what our expectation is going for forward as it relates to how restorative practices work is embedded um and will be embedded in our disciplinary responses. Thank you so much. Really appreciate all of this work.

Okay. Okay, I'm going to go to Miss Byer and then Miss Carter Udton. So I want to express gratitude to you all for bringing this and bringing this as a a next generation of where this work is going and acknowledge all the work that you've done, the team you brought together that's massive, the vision you have, and then just express a little bit of

frustration because as a board we thought we did this in 2016. And so y'all that weren't here, I I just want to say we thought we got this roll in in 2016, 2017. We invested in restorative practice centers. We invested in training and in people and it feels like and we and we worked on the student code of conduct.

We brought that was over 18 months worth of work. We we thought we'd done the work. And so it's frustrating to have the you need a runway that is this long. It is frustrating not to be able to be further along. And so I'm I'm I'm watching, but I know our community is watching because the other thing we were doing during a lot of that work was putting out our student discipline data transparently and and that's what folks are asking and watching and and being honest when stuff wasn't working and and I think that's important for us to acknowledge like a

lot of our dreams and things didn't come true. we not all of our practices were restorative and then we were but we were able to share that that discipline data and and share and I think people are asking for how many people have we trained I think it'll be important for us to actually say this school is ahead of this one it's okay like if we're not already but I I hope that we will continue pushing this as some of the most urgent work on behalf of our students they're going to make mistakes We all make mistakes and we want those mistakes to be learning opportunities for them. We want our adults to be gentle. And so I just for those of y'all that are are here and weren't here then, I thought we'd done this work already.

And Dr. King set me right because you know I know this is different work but it still is like come on Durham. if if

Durham's not gotten it together, does anybody have it together? And I know it's training, retraining, and rewriting and all of that. But I sit with it with a place that of of some of the community that is frustrated that that we aren't further ahead. So, so I I would say this, I I I certainly recognize that frustration and appreciate it.

Um, but but I would try to reframe that a little bit and and I would suggest we are ahead, right? Because I I don't mind telling you most communities aren't even having this conversation as it relates to their disciplinary practices. Um what's important I think for for us to remember and I and and I appreciate the sense about what was done in 2016 um obviously even though I I I was not here and was not a part of it. part part of kind of what finds us in the place that we are now is that the way that work was structured is that it was

essentially left in a space where it could be voluntary. Right? So that's why we have a scenario where we have schools that are quote unquote early adopters, right? because those were the schools where the administrators and staff members bought into the process um and began that work.

You know, until now there has been no definitive um policy directive that this is what will happen in Durham public schools. Um and that is a step uh and the bridge that I think we are crossing now. and and what's important and and let me just share this. Th those board members who've been in this conversation uh with me before will tell you I'm in the same place you you're in.

I'm ready to go. Um but I do think we have to be fair in that because we set most of this work up at the beginning as voluntary. uh we do have to create a scenario where we give

those schools that did not volunteer the time to catch up with those schools that did right. Um and I think when we talk about a long runway um that's what we're talking about is making sure that we provide those schools with the time that they need to get up to par um in a way that is fair and equitable uh for them um before we you know begin to hold them accountable for doing that work in this way. Um, but I certainly share your um your concern um about the fact that we continue to to need a long runway for this work. Um, and again, board members who've been in this conversation with me before know that I I'm sure they're thinking Dr.

King had to soften because I did. Um, but but I think that's the only fair way to do this and frankly the only way that I think we can do it um that will that will lead to a successful implementation. um because I I don't think we're going to get what we need out of this process um you know if we

set it up in a way that that feels punitive to our schools. Yeah, I appreciate that and I appreciate that you also share um some of the frustration and and are going to look to to own and lead this work and this team is um and I know it can't be turned on a dime, but um I think it's what our students deserve and y'all and I I think we're in alignment on that. One thing that I think I would encourage the team to continue to do that I don't think we've done in Durham for a while is look at our alternative programs and what the strengths of them are and where they really need to be supported more and um if if there are needs that we have that that aren't being met with and I don't even know if we have new directions center what second chance what are we even new directions is new directions I don't even think we do a good letting families know that those are out there all the time and letting the the

community know, but maybe there's areas and gaps that that y'all can dream up as part of that as well. I'd love for y'all to look up look and dream bigger and better for Lake View, which is one of the most beloved schools in this in this district and what we could do. um you know so keep I hope that you keep keep my frustration as a gentle nudge of encouragement as as uh how important this work is and I know y'all know it is but thank you um thanks so much appreciate all of your work on this is great I'm very excited about um where this is going um I have three questions and the first I'm sorry if I missed in the beginning I had to step out to use the restroom but I'm um are we going to be getting recommendations to modify policy 4301 also in addition to the um that sits alongside this guidance document, right? Yes. Okay. And then when should we when

will we um when should we expect to see modifications to that policy and be ready to review them? In the fall. Okay. Thank you. And then um um let's see my next question is um it I know you named some additional resources so I am curious to know um since that's how the board can support you and making this a reality right um because it seems like we will like more fiscal resources will need to be dedicated to this to make it work and it's my understanding I was not here um back in 2016 but I it seems like maybe there wasn't adequate investment and that's part of why we are where we are today. And so I'm wondering what you can share with us about maybe and maybe you don't have a good sense right now but like what we should expect to see as far as kind of there's training that needs to be done and not just one time but you know repeat training family communication tools I saw in one of your slides earlier.

Anything else you could share with us about that? Yes. One thing that I would just highlight uh besides the normal uh business of of course training, onboarding new staff, making sure that we have robust um professional learning for them. One thing that I did highlight that u Miss Byer did mention was looking at our alternative programs and we are actually working on that.

That is actually one of the reasons why we're just taking a really intentional look at what New Directions and Lake View both look like. And a part of 4301, I just want to be clear, what we really want to do is embed language because the work that was done in 2016 is a wonderful start, but it was different work and it began in a different way for some. I was not here in 2016 either though. But um it it's wonderful work and it was actually, you know, kind of ahead of the pack and doing that work in that at that time. But since then, of course, you know, as you learn more, you try to do things to be um really as effective as

you can. Um one thing that that happened was, you know, of course we have restorative practice coordinators. And when we have that a person um with whom people may or may not, you know, attach a a something as important as this journey with restorative practices. it really takes a lot of time to make sure that that collective responsibility and accountability is built in a community.

And so that has been a big part of our work. Um but in terms of the fiscal resources, we are probably we think that we're going to need um some different supports for Lake View as well as New Directions that has to do with programming. We're looking to be uh able to offer even more robust programming for students who do receive some of the most um um serious um responses to undesirable behaviors to make sure that the re-entry is positive and that we set students up for success. And it does seem like there'll be

additional resources needed, right, for making sure that everybody in all the schools are trained to be so that we can um implement well. And then my last question is the one that's most important to me, which is how will you and we know that this is being implemented the way that it's intended and how will we know that it's achieving the desired outcomes? Are there going to be some established interim goals, implementation goals, and outcome goals with metrics that we'll get reports on periodically so we can y'all most importantly so y'all can see are we on track and what do we where do we want to get to and are we getting there and then so we can just see how that's going every once in a while. Yes. Um so we will work very closely with um other members of academic services um around u the new instructional walkthrough. there is a place um for culture and climate feedback and we really want to utilize that as a kind of a a way to embed um some of our regular routine monitoring

of implementation when we're in schools so that it's holistic. So we will be participating in um you know encouraging that that also you know has that aspect of monitoring for restorative practices implementation. We also um have new restorative practices um uh documents that we will use assessments as well as self assessments that we are going to monitor and utilize throughout the course of the year that have been developed of course from research and analysis but also in collaboration with our restorative practices district team um that is a multi- uh disciplinary team to make sure we've had a few schools to utilize both those um this year this past school year And next year um we will have all our schools utilizing um that to that's a part of that refinement protocol. Sounds great. And you all are setting some um target outcomes that you're hoping to achieve through this or that's going to be maybe part of the well align

totally align with our we we have benchmarks and and uh outcomes totally align with our strategic plan right now and those are the ones that are the are the main uh ones that we're utilizing to to make sure we reach those targets like as someone who was here in 20 was 2018 when we started implementing restorative practices. Um, and I would say, you know, even in implementing in 2018, it's time to reup and revamp and revise because that was that was a little while ago now at this point. I'm so glad we are ahead of the curve and we're doing it because it's the right thing to do for students, not because we're trying to be ahead of the curve. Um, so I really appreciate this continued revamp and the push that we are doing.

It's not optional. It's not voluntary. It's not if you know if you feel so compelled um we're doing this work. So I have I think two questions. I'm wondering

strategic plan asks all schools to um adopt a cultural framework which we know some schools have capturing kids hearts. We know some schools maybe have responsive classroom. I'm not sure if that's still going. and we have restorative practices, which I do believe the other two frameworks are probably building the culture for restorative practices, but can you all talk maybe about how people are making sure they're weaving both of those into the work they're doing for school culture?

Sarah, um I'm looking back because uh not to put you on the spot, Amy, but Amy Miller is here, our director of integrated academic behavior support, and her team actually really is um leading some of the work with restorative practices. So, I I didn't know if she was itching to to to say something, but what I um Okay. Absolutely. Getting late.

It's going fast. Okay. Um so, we have seven schools still

implementing capturing kids hearts as of next year. We have two implementing responsive classroom, but we do have the expectation that all schools are implementing restorative practices. So some may be implementing what we call kind of uh big R restorative practices and then little R restorative practices. So what we've done is with that expectation of the restorative practices self- assessment we're putting out next year all schools will be doing that and we've tried to do some crosswalks between capturing kids hearts responsive classroom and restorative practices so people see that alignment.

So we say it as capturing kids hearts and responsive classrooms are just two more tools in order to implement a true restorative practice framework but we can provide all the training to do just restorative practices as well in house. So yeah, that works for me. I think that's helpful because that I see capturing kids heart a lot about building that positive culture which you need to be able to do as you all distinguish the restorative

practice and the restorative justice, right? Two different approaches to this work. So once you have that good culture, it's easier to think about what you need to do on the justice side of that. um appreciate your answer about measuring um success because that is a metric in the strategic plan.

So I'm looking forward to thinking about that and you know one day you all might retire away from Durham public schools and I think one of the challenges that we have is that folks leave and programs leave with them or implementation and great ideas have left with them really great principles move on and things shift and change. So, what does it look like to create some sustainability and make this be like how Durham Public Schools does business and not just how Dr. Lever Maddx Perry does her work? You know, I think part of that is, you know, you've already taken those steps by codifying it in policy really. Um, but also if you look at some of the restructuring that has happened um around the district, including the um the integrated academic and behavior

systems department. That work is a combination of MTSS which is the school improvement framework and those MTSS um team members including two specialists and the director work consistently on implementing the cultural framework. So it has been embedded in our total school improvement framework for the district. So even um when we do decide that we are retiring which is coming you know pretty soon I guess in the next five years or so I don't know um but whenever that does happen there is a structure already in place um to make sure that the work continues and if we are able to get a really strong uh policy update then it will be codified.

I I appreciate that and again I just thank y'all for continuing to work on this because we know that um it is in the best interest of our students and I think the conflict resolution that they're learning from this goes outside of those school doors, right? This ability to be able to talk and navigate um conflict and and issues is skills that they can use forever. So, thank you

all so much. I look forward to considering the policy later um and also hearing updates of how this pilot is going so that we can keep an eye on that as well. Thank you. Chavez.

All right. Thank you um for all of this. Um I do think it is some of our most important work. Um and uh I visited New Directions recently and that was very cool to see and thank you Dr.

Maddox Perry for being there and um just, you know, allowing um me to kind of see what our our uh redirecting or um restorative work looks like in that in that arena. So, um it seems like kind of a hidden gem. Um now, um what else did I want to say? Um I think this work is important because a lot of it shape is really about shaping

the relationship or the association that a kid has with school with learning at school. Um, and I think that more than I just think that relationship is really fundamental. And if it's disrupted early on, a lot of times they can go for years having that negative association with school then they get to high school and they you know it's very it's very difficult. So restoring that relationship itself at um at a young age at any age is really fundamental to keeping our kids you know at school and not only like enrolled but attending because we have you know a lot of kids who do miss a lot of days of school and we want them to be there and we want them to uh feel you know good and supported when they're there as well. So, um, I I wanted to say I really like that you have in here the model restorative language and mindset in staff

interactions and school leadership. I think the more that we can build restorative practices and restorative and restorative justice in in our interactions with adults at all levels, including the board, the more effective we will be in supporting these practices with our students. So I I like that you highlighted that and all of us know that adulting includes relearning things um that you know that we need to be more effective community members. Um so I have one very specific question and then um a suggestion with the digital violations that are highlighted in the matrix. Do we attend to um those that happen outside of the school physical space andor outside the school day because a

lot of time we know that a lot of the space that our students occupy is virtual and that affects their relationships in the classroom. And so, um, can you just comment on how much we attend to that with our or or want to with the with our our discipline pol practices and restorative practices in particular, right? Um so a big part of our community partnerships are around conflict mediation and even you know if there's not a necessarily a required you know response that would uh result in perhaps an accountability measure for a student. We still um want to make sure that students who are experiencing conflicts or are not um uh feeling that they have a sense of belonging at their building, they have an opportunity to work whether it is with their school counselors, their school social workers or any other trusted adult in the

building to work through those those processes. So even if something occurs not on a school you know computer if it is brought to our attention um we absolutely will support providing some response that helps to heal if any harm has occurred. We also uh are recipients of the say something alerts. So we oftent times are able to provide response right alongside um school administration if they request that um for for some issues that may not occur during the school day. for those issues that do occur uh during the school day, we also will provide you know any support and most of the times those things will will make their way into the school community and um when it becomes you know of course an issue of safety or creating a disruption to the school day then it would require you know some more um responsive approaches um from school

leaders um around that even if it did not occur at school. Thank you. Um that's helpful to understand. And then um I wonder if um I'm glad the policy will come in the fall.

Um I know this has been a work in progress for a while. Um I'm just wondering how the board can get involved with that. I can it come to the policy committee which now we have one because we just passed that policy um after it is worked on with you all or what how what can the flow be and um last year um chair Rogers and u vice chair Carter and I kind of worked on an indepth look at 4301 if that's right number yeah 4301 and had some recommendations for that in particular. The things that I'm um uh let's see that I am concerned with are one some infractions I think are

still subjective that um lead to OSS and um and I think Dr. Louis, you've commented on this. They can be sources of racial disparities because they are more subjective and so bias can um you know play into how staff you know read those or kind of code those um like disrespect. So how can we have more um clear definitions around some of those?

That's one thing I'm interested in as well as um data monitoring and having establishing via policy regular reporting to the board of various discipline metrics with the aim of um just supporting and increasing accountability in this area. Um this is it's really um I think important that it's something that we're all looking at and analyzing. Um it's not easy really

to um to do what is outlined in the strategic plan um which is to address these uh you know disparities that we have around um race and gender and uh students with disabilities but we and we have to that's why I think we need to put a lot of attention to it. So um so I appreciate all the work that's happened. Are there any recommendations for how the board can contribute in this way in a or the policy committee or something um can work on this as well? Because I think this is something we want to make sure is really a strong product. Yeah, this is certainly something that could make its way to the policy committee as we think about from a long long-term standpoint in beginning to institutionalize some of this work. Uh most definitely because you know the some of those what I refer to as the the dreaded D's you know disruptive behavior can be subjective in in in some instances and so making sure we are

really intentional about the language that we're including in these policies that um are not allowing um or accounting for more suspensions so to speak you know so really looking at the system holistically and I will just say this too it's I think it's hugely important to understand that this this work is multiaceted from the standpoint of um you know there's more that we have to look at you know overall you know I definitely hear the conversations about alternative settings yes there they have their place but most importantly in my opinion putting more emphasis on that tier one uh instruction you know building that community building relationships between teachers and students students and students uh and and and and training them as well you know so that they can resolve conflict because um this work has to be that serious and we have to move with that a sense of urgency because if we're not teaching kids those skills inside of our buildings when they get out of the neighborhoods and there's conflict where they do unfortunately sometimes they pick up a weapon and so it's um this

work is personal you know and so um and they know it too and I want to send a huge shout out to Dr. from Max Perry. I went over to Hillside to hear uh some presentations that were made by students and one group talked about our restorative practices work and had some suggestion for us and I said I need to get you in front of someone else and so we schedule a meeting with those students and heard from them and I always operate from the standpoint of you know nothing for us without us and so we were able to listen to those students and get feedback and I think you're utilizing those students uh in a in a major way and so absolutely to short answer your question yeah we definitely can uh bring this to the policy committee if that's the will of the board. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Tab. Do you have anything? Thank you.

Really good pres presentation. Thank you so very much. Thank you for this presentation.

Um, I'm sitting right in the middle of the frustration that Miss Byer um suggested and looking forward to what's to come. uh when I think about the presentation, I would like to know and I'm not sure if my colleagues would like to know uh a little bit more about phase three of the work um and the stakeholder feedback. There were completed surveys with various stakeholder groups. I'd like to know some more about the demographics of those groups, who those people are, what the response rates were. um how you sought that information. Um and I see that you say you prioritize

multilingual access and equity of voice. Um I wonder if that was I'd like to hear some testimonials maybe from students from families who have been involved um in giving feedback around this work. I know you're working on district alignment. Dr.

King, you talked about um how this work was voluntary. Um I'd like to know how you are measuring if a school is ready for this, right? Because when we look at schools and we're comparing um suspension rates from Lakewood Monastery versus um Lucas Middle School, uh are we looking are we comparing apples to apples or oranges or not or apples to oranges? Because if Lucas is not as ready as Lakewood Monastery Middle School, then they're not going to yield the same results regardless of the demographic of the student. if there's not a guidance counselor there full-time, if there's not um an AP or if

they don't if they have a long-term temp in the sixth grade building, if the transition plans haven't been put in place for IEPs effectively, all those things are going to have an impact on the culture of that school. And if a school isn't ready to adopt the restorative practices and the restorative justice, I'm not saying uh that it's an option, right? Like they're not being ready is is not an excuse, but what tools do they need to get ready if they are continually measuring not ready and how can the district support that and make sure that that's maintained over the course of time? I hope that you guys are looking at that. Um, I'd also like to see uh some surveys as students are starting this work. I know we it's starting in elementary school, but I'd love to see some real uh conversations around what

uh students are learning and if they are able to implement and speak to some of the restorative practice work that they can do at certain levels of their education because we want to see that growing and improving. I don't know how you would measure that or what that would look like. um in some spaces um in the public school system in Milwaukee, they are having a course for students that teach them how to uh do the restorative practice circle together that teach them um how to intentionally use their language, intentionally work with each other and direct conflict. also how to engage and advocate for themselves when they're in conflict with adults. Um, and so it could be interesting to see what DPS could do around educating students in actually participating

in restorative practice work by choice earlier rather than later. because hopefully those tools will um emerge in better results and outcomes for them over time. And like Emily Chávez said, I'd like to see some of those uh same conversations about the policy um and how we're uh you all are monitoring that data. uh how we're moniing from that data and how you're pivoting for educators and for students with that data.

So, but I appreciate you being here. I appreciate the work you're doing. I will follow up with some feedback via email also. Okay.

Oh, Emily Chávez, go ahead. I just want to say I didn't want to take too much time, but I had the same questions about the survey. um data or the like all of

that the how many people came and um demographics and things like that. So would just love to know more about the engagement of people thus far. Oh everybody's good. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is also Dr.

Kings. Uh we appreciate you bringing back uh the policies um for second read. See, uh policies 3520, 4326, and 7800. Uh Emily Chávez, you sent some edits that you wanted the board to consider late afternoon.

Do you want to lead off this conversation? Happy to. Um so, yeah, thank you for um um again working on this. We I know we want to get um things rolling for the start of the school year. So um yeah, I

sent this to board members and Dr. Lewis and Dr. King a few hours ago. Well, I'm getting late, but um anyway, uh what the things I would like to see added are um the uh regular reporting of incidents of physical restraint, mechanical restraint, and seclusion to the board.

Um the policy does note in alignment with state law that um the board reports incidents in each of these categories to the state board of ed. But there is and there's reporting to parents, there's reporting to the state board of ed, but it doesn't there's nothing that mentions how the board gets the information. So I just want to add something about reporting to the board on a regular basis for all of those. And um and the second thing that I noted was um the I'd like to to see us change the

the section on sec on seclusion um to say that parents will be notified of any seclusion, not just 10 minutes or more or those that don't meet the criteria of a permissible seclusion. uh disability rights NC notes that um while you know the the previous one is um required it is best practice for the school um quote best practice practice for the school to provide you with a report you the parent every time seclusion is used on your student. So, those are some of my suggested edits um for this evening, but I know uh I only sent it at like 4 and so I don't know um Mr. Malone, you um probably only got a little bit of time to look at it and we want your input.

Um so, and the other Well, let me pause there. Go ahead. Yeah,

excuse me. Um, we don't have any major concerns with your edits. Um, the obviously it's the board decision about whether or not you do the reporting and that doesn't cause us any concern. I do think that we have a little issue with the amount of information that you're asking to be reported to the board.

We think that that may create a little bit of a furpa issue in the way that fura is set up. But certainly the concept of reporting to the board in whatever basis is is not really a board I'm sorry it's not so much a legal issue as maybe the administration. Um it's it just could be a lot more work and um probably that's the same as it relates to the change in the definition of reporting for seclusion. Um, you know, this would apply not only to the EC students, but to the regular students also. And that could mean that every time there's a fight, if the principal separates two kids and puts them in a room for a minute, you know,

under your revised definition, every time that occurs, that would need to be a report. And that may just be setting up a a system where you're going to unintentionally create policy violations because people aren't going to think to report those one minute separations of kids. Um but the concept of reporting um again it's we the law firm doesn't have any concerns with kind of what you proposed other than what I've noted. Okay.

Um and so um around the reporting to the board of within these three categories, what um type of information did you feel might be a FURPA violation? just the detail that you're providing for each incident. Even if it didn't include the kid's name, it does provide um information that that could be deemed

um you know identifiable information. And the way that the board's access to this information is is allowed is you know need to know and and getting it kind of generically across the board. you know, it may not be that you necessarily need to know it for that incident. So, we would think if you could just maybe not ask for as much of it upfront, but then a board member if you wanted to see it in a particular situation, then it would be more of a need to know kind of situation at that point because you' be asking for it for a specific reason.

And again, we think that'd be fine. Again, the idea of getting the information um is not problematic. Um, I guess I would just like, you know, some more specificity on what might violate FUR. But I know the the the things that were included and these are the

this was just taken. I just copied and pasted it from what would be reported to parents. Um but it says the report this important must include the following the date time the date time. Are you clear where you're referencing?

Sorry. Yes. This is in the revised policy. This is in I I'm reading from what I sent you all at 4 o'clock.

So it's not p it's not posted. Okay. The language however is taken from the revised policy. And what portion of the revised policy?

Let me tell you exactly five. Um yeah. So an example there are three sections physical restraint, mechanical restraint and seclusion. So for

instance, for mechanical restraint, it's under what is currently number five, written reports to parents. Um, and so perhaps the board does not need this volume of information. Um, but I included what is A, B, and C on that list. Yeah, correct.

And giving this information to the parent about their kid is certainly okay. And and again it if um I think that it's if if it were just I think it first of all let me say this. We're not saying that this is a proper violation. It's just if if the information were um you know because it's somewhat because you were asking for it kind of on a student by student basis. If you ask for it more generically, like how many kids had injuries or the kinds of more

generically across the board instead of so specific for each kid, I think we would feel a little bit more comfortable about it. And then if the board member wanted to ask about a specific one and get the additional information at that point, it would be more targeted and feel a little bit more comfortable. But we're not saying, just to be clear, that if you went with the language as is, that it is a fural violation. We're definitely not saying that.

Um, yeah, go ahead, Miss Sorry. I just want to jump in on this. What is reported to the state board of education? What information is included in that report, Dr.

King? Do you know that? Sorry. I don't know specifically what it is. I think there's a form that we have to complete, but I don't know the the I can find that out quickly. And I asked that to to wonder if the board should get whatever is reported out to the state board that that our reports would mirror each other and then if there's a request for more

information then we could go from there. But we should find out what that looks like for the state board of education because since it that's going out anyway. It feels like an easy thing to send to us on an annual basis. Isn't that what's on page three item like seven under I don't even this thing is so long. Annual wait that number six is state board not seven is office of civil rights board will maintain a record of physical restraints by school personnel that result in the observable physical injury to a student and will provide the information annually to the state board you mean what detail or beyond the list or can you ask that last part of your question again you mean what detail goes beyond the list it just the record yeah I guess whatever that list looks like whatever the report looks like that goes to the um state board of education. I would I was envisioning the board getting that same report, but I think and it goes for each one of the

categories. Generally, when the state requires us to report those things, they tend to be in those syntax kind of database and and it's generally um around numbers. um very rarely do they ask us for um very detailed individualized student information about that. So it'll be how many students um and I'm and I I put the question out there so I'm going to get additional information but generally it'll be you know it will lay out the state statute and say how many students um were injured as laid out in state statute relative to restraint and seclusion in your district.

That's the way those kinds of um that data is generally requested um from the state. So, it's not very it's not it doesn't tend to be demographic information is is I guess what I'm saying. Okay. Um, so I would

I have a followup that I fear that you don't have the answer to. When is this reported to the state? I know it says annually. So, we're wrapping up the 2425 school year.

When is this data reported to the state for 2425? I would imagine it would be somewhere in the range of July 30 to July 15. That's usually when we do most of those kinds of reporting. And what I would share is apparently there is not a report that is submitted.

Um it is data that is automatically pulled through the um it's it's pulled through P school in the past. So I would imagine it will be pulled from infinite campus. Okay. Is there a place or opportunity um for the board to review the data that is being reported

along I guess also in our new policy committee alongside um the data so we can see what's already being reported and what more information, what cadence, the board would be interested in seeing that information and how and the specity of what Durham would want. Can can you say the first part of that again? So, I want to make sure I understood what you were asking. So, if we're going to modify this policy to include a request for data monitoring and reporting to the board, it would be helpful to see real time data of what's being reported to the state. if we want to modify the policy so that we're getting the information like Emily Chávez is requesting and we can look and see what you're already working with to see what's reasonable

for adjustment. I'm sorry. Can you tell me what you mean by real time data? Like the data for this year, like look at what's being reported right now or for the end of this school year.

That's what this is what they are automatically pulling. This is what they already have access to. And alongside the policy changes that we're looking to make to say, okay, how much extra work would they have to go to to get the specity of what Emily Chávez was asking for today? And if that's something we can build consensus over as part of our policy work and not something that we kind of workshop right now, right?

But we look at what they are already using, what data they're already reporting to the state to see if that's enough because we have no idea what it is right now. So, we don't know if it's enough enough for us. Enough for us.

Enough to satisfy what Emily Chávez was asking for in this policy modification. Um, and yeah, I think there's also a consense figuring out consensus around the ask what Emily Chávez has asked about the amount of information, right? Then getting to the Yeah. and I won't know for myself without seeing what they're already pulling, right?

So, what they're already pulling and reporting. Does that make sense? Yeah, I know what I think though. So, I I was I will say I was thinking annually when we get the data reports around um suspensions or even when we do grades because I think that's a little earlier in the year that this report would come with that along with demographic information.

But that's just I already knew. Miss Cartman's got her hand. Um, Miss Carter Aden,

um, I feel that we have an unreiness to move this policy forward is what I'm hearing from colleagues and what I'm feeling also because in addition to these pieces of data, I really appreciate the um, thoughts that the Durham Advocates for Exceptional Children sent us today by email and spoke about today um, in public comment. There's some really great ideas in there that I want some time to think about more and I would like administration some time to um think about whether to incorporate or not. Well, and also I'll back up a minute and say this feels like something we don't want to mess up like there's potential to hurt to harm children and so I don't want to move too quickly on this. I'm trying to remember during our last meeting I think that you Dr. King expressed some um sense of urgency to move this forward. I understand that what you've proposed to us is steps beyond and better than possibly what we

have currently in policy which is one reason to go ahead and pass something tonight. But I'm concerned that then we're going to end up not revisiting it and there's so much it could be so much better than it is is the sense that I'm feeling right now. And I don't know if other board members are also feeling like they want to spend more time on this and I would also like to hear from you Dr. King on what happens if we don't pass it tonight?

What are the real implications of that? When can we revisit it? Can it be tossed over to the policy committee for more time to be spent on such an important policy? Looking at the boss, he it um so I I think there's, you know, an immediate concern. You know, part of where this work came from was the realization that this important professional development that we are um that is a part of this entire package, right, was is um kind of this move to make that professional development

um required, right? in that that would strengthen our ability to make sure all of our staff members um who we think need to be provided with professional development will be because it includes because it is now required by the board. Those would in that would be the uh policy 7800 and 3520. So you know those pieces um are you know in my mind quite critical um you know the rest the restraint and seclusion pieces you know in in in my mind what we're talking about um would be additions to the policy right if if we wanted to do some different things um to my thinking um we can always come back and add additional pieces to the policy um if at some point in the future we decide we want the policy to be more stringent, right? Um but but I would add this and I think it's important for us

to to to kind of keep in mind. I don't think that's going to be a simple process because I think we're going to have to do some pretty um complex thinking about board members. you're going to have to ask yourselves and grapple with whether or not you want to put your staff members in a place where you require them to go beyond what the law requires. Um, and I think, you know, those are going to be some some sticky issues that we're going to need to hear probably back and forth um from um our our partners at Therington um and and and have some kind of ongoing discussion about those things. And you know, from my mind, we've, you know, we've been working on this policy for um in these revisions for almost a year. Um I would certainly hate to um not move the work that we've done now because we think that we might need to do some additional work to it because I don't think those two things are um um

contrary to each other. I think we can implement what we've asked for here and if we want to come back and add those additional pieces um I think we can come back and do those uh once we've done the you know the thinking through and working through of those issues um and revise the policy as necessary. Um but you know uh I certainly would hate to see us um slow the momentum that we've built around this work um over a pretty significant amount of time. get that.

Thank you, Dr. King. I guess I wonder like the board hasn't seen it until we just saw that at our last meeting, so we haven't been working on it as a board for the past year. And I am still not clear on like whether students that would be affected by this or families that would be affected by this or staff that are on the ground in schools have been able to weigh in on this. Um yeah, can you So I guess those are the concerns that I have especially because now we're getting these um

we're getting feedback on things that feel to me like not that controversial like why do we have to allow for choke holds for example or why can't we use require the use of non-physical or non-seclusion methods first before we do other things like those those to me have come out from when we have our families looking at it and they're responding to it. So, why didn't they come out earlier? Um, if there was a process whereby you guys were talking to folks that would be impacted by this. So, I want to be clear, we we we haven't been talking to folks who would be impacted by this.

This is a a policy that is driven by law by the law, not by conversations with folks. We we are trying to get our practice, you know, aligned with the law here. Um, and so I think those kinds of questions are the questions that I'm talking about that we can certainly go back and look at and if the board wants to go a step beyond what

the law requires based on those considerations, we can certainly do that going forward. Um but again uh this work uh has been driven um completely by what the law requires not by conversations about what folks would like to see as a part of a restraint and seclusion uh policy but what the law requires of us. I'll just say one more thing which is I personally am hoping that we can do in each thing that we're doing here on this board and in this district we're trying to do better than what the state of North Carolina is just you know the bare minimum of what's being required I think that we're trying to be the best right so in this situation also so colleagues when I'm listening to you all it sounds like the biggest most contro controversial piece is policy 4326. So could we do 3520 and 7800

and bring back 4326 through policy committee? Oh, Missstead then Miss Harold. I'm not looking at all all three of them at the same time, but isn't one about training on the others? Like aren't they kind of interwoven in some ways?

But but I think we can operate around 7800 and 3520 without 4326. Probably couldn't do 4326 without 7,800 and 3520 though. Miss, go ahead. I was just going to say um uh I feel like um I'm I'm I'm starting to understand like so I've been in the academics meeting and so we talked about these policies and I heard everything and maybe um I could have done a better job to have some of those

conversations prior to this meeting a little bit more. But my thought is that um all the things that came the reason why there's so much attention that came to these policies now is because there was things that needed to be addressed in the policy and so it made it more visible. So I'm happy I'm glad to have heard from community via email and public comment and um all the things that have come from the board around other things that we need to revisit in this policy. I still think that we need to do that and at the same time I want to honor the work that has been done over the course of the year um to make this policy stronger. So what I have heard from community is that even though there are other things that they're suggesting that we need to consider now that this policy has been elevated that it's been more visible um I think that we should we we can go

ahead and um affirm the work that has been done where it is with an understanding that now that it's visible we have to we want to bring it back to policy committee and consider these other changes. is um I think for me that feels like um how we keep the momentum of the work going. So I would like to to not take it aside. I would like to acknowledge everything that has been ele that has been highlighted that has been brought to our attention and you know now that we have policy committee we can prioritize those things in that work and still move this policy forward you know with the changes that have already been revised. Otherwise I mean in the future we could have policies and somebody suggests a revision for a specific purpose and then it gets bogged down with many other purposes um and so then you don't move that work forward. So little by little, piece by piece, I think um I would like to

offer a motion. Make a motion. Okay. Um that we approve these policies as amended here.

As amended. What are you amending? I mean these well the the suggested edits administration as is administration. Yes.

Okay. Okay, help me say it better for second read. This is a second read. This is a second read.

So, we we're approving. Okay, y'all help me with this now. All three. I'm making a motion that we All right.

I'm making a motion that we approve the draft policy changes, the change reviews to policies 3520, 4326, and 7800. Second read that we approve that. Second. It's been moved by Miss Harold Goff, seconded by Miss Byer to approve draft changes

to policy 7800, 3520, and 4326 for second read. Um, is there further discussion, Emily Chávez? Okay. Um, I just wanted to go back to our conversation about data collection.

Um, uh, just to name that I would like us to go beyond what is required. Um, and what is sent to the board, what is required by the state board of education. Um, and that also the policy states that the board reports to the state board. So, I don't know if we need to look at that, but that if administration is actually reporting, maybe we should change that. Um, and then I think in having some conversation with my colleagues, I think further illuminating the difference between seclusion and isolation is important. Um

and um I wanted to name just that my desire in seeing some amount of detail about the incidents is to look at trends um like at schools. Um, in the past, um, before I was on the board, um, but when I was on the budget process advisory committee, there was detail about like suspensions and, um, or ISS and OSS like by school and you could see trends and so I think seeing some of these details without violating FURPA would be important so we can figure out exactly what those would be. Um, and I I I always think the demographic data is important to see who were who's, you know, being affected by this. And then, um, I think I would like us to align this not only with state law. I mean, that's important, but also with best practices.

And, um, disability rights had some, you know, interesting information that we could look deeper at, but, there are lots of, I think, organizations. And thank you to um um Durham Advocates for Exceptional Children for also sending that us that information too. One question um Dr. King I wanted to ask what are your concerns about going beyond what the law requires.

If you could kind of state more you said it or suggested it might be difficult to ask staff to go beyond what the law requires. Not difficult. I I just think you have to grapple with what that means. For instance, I'll give you a a perfect example.

There's some conversation about the use of the prone restraint, right? Well, prone restraints are legal. They're certainly frowned upon. We had our SRO's in the building today and they talked about the fact that there are times when, you know, we found young people with weapons in our schools. It

could possibly happen that in a scenario where a young person had a weapon in our school, the the quickest way to regain the safety of the school would be for a staff member to engage in a throne restraint. We would not want that to be the case. We would never advocate for that to be the case. But given the choice between a child having access to a weapon, right, and a child being placed in a prone restraint for two minutes in order to restore the safety of the school, I think we would choose that prone restraint for two minutes, right? And so if we go beyond what the law requires, we are then placing that staff me member in a scenario where he has to choose between those two choices, right? Um, what I think we've done in this policy is made it clear that, you know, something like a prone restraint should be the absolute absolute last resort and you should never do it

if there is any reasonable reason or any reasonable opportunity not to do it. Right? But that's a that's a specific example of why, you know, we we don't necessarily want to go beyond what the law requires. Obviously, I know that's a scenario and I I pray to God it never is one that we face.

Uh but that's that's kind of what I'm talking about when I say you have to grapple with all those issues because we have to grapple with everything that may happen, right? And kind of the difficult kind of scenarios that we put staff members in um sometimes when when when we go to to those kinds of places with policy. I I would thank you for sharing your thoughts on that. Um, I I just want to make clear I'm not advocating for um the it all be black and white where we don't use restraint or seclusion at all necessarily. Um, I think having those critical conversations would be

really good and because those are the we need to deal with situations like that. There's no doubt that like there's violence in I mean in society anywhere. um h you know having taught high school. I've seen a number of different situations.

So I think that there's no um I don't want to we can't like idealize the possibilities um at all. And um so anyway, I just want to say I'd really like to have those conversations and I'd like the community feedback and all of that um but not and and take into consideration, you know, what um it actually would look like implemented for staff. Anyway, I'll stop talking about this. I will support this going forward or vote for this, but um and I also want to see it directed to the policy committee in August or you know, yeah, I guess in August.

Thanks, Miss Carter Aten. Then Mr. Dab.

Um, I was wondering if I could propose an amendment to the motion that we um pass the policies um but direct this policy to the policy committee. I'm amendable to that. Yes. I'm sorry.

Yes. Just direct 4326 to the policy committee so that it receives attentive attention. I was going to ask that. Okay.

All right. Miss Some said, let me ask something different. Um, is there also amendable to add annual reporting to the board of education? Just want to make sure that happens.

Dr. Lewis is raising his hand. I don't know what that means. What does that So, can the board get a copy of

or get a report about everything in this policy where the it says the board will maintain a record of physical restraints and that is annually reported to the state board of education. Can that be reported to the board? I think in some form. I mean, would the board be amanable to the administration agreeing to work with um our attorneys um in reviewing the state reports and making some determinations about what is reasonable to provide to the board so that we would um uh skirt that uh those furer concerns.

That sounds nice. That sounds great. But I'd like us to be clear that anything that goes as a public record to

the state board of education is what we get. Right. So you don't get a choice to modify it if it's a public record once it goes there. Not to them.

Right. Sure. Right. I I don't if it is.

I don't know that it is. I'm just saying if it is that was I was going to ask as a clarifying question if the report that we send to the board is the report assuming our attorneys vet that that it's that the board gets the report that we send to the state and to address your concern board member Chavez direct the superintendent I'm already going to do this anyway but direct the superintendent to look for trends because there's a certain group of students that are restrained more than others right so we're going to be I'm going to we're going to be looking at that. Would that satisfy the reporting and the trends? That I like that idea very much. I still want to when we go take this to policy committee. Um

I I still want the board to be able to have that data as well and that be incorporated. But but what you said, I'm fine with that for now. Um, and again, I just want to note that the policy does say the board will report to the state board of education. So, in my mind, if it says the board will report, the chair should sign off on it.

And so, not only should we see it, I think it's like who signs off on it? Probably the chair and superintendent. Um, that's I mean, if that's the state law that the board reports it, then the board should own that process. I will say just sitting here thinking this through, I'm not I don't think there would be a problem providing the board with everything that goes to DPI. I think the way that you have it written here, it's a lot of information about an individual incident and and giving it in that manner to the board is where I have

a little concern. But but but the there were five restraints at the school and what kids I mean that kind of information is absolutely fine for the board to receive. I don't see any problem with the board receiving what we send to DPI. Um, it's just the way that it was drafted in this proposed amendment that gave me just a touch of concern.

I and I understand that and I my proposed changes I will bring back in August. So I get I get that what the state say board of education requirements are different. They're much more limited. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. I want to make sure I got the amendment correct. So, we're approving the policies, directing 4326 to policy committee for changes that include demographic data, seclusion, isolation, board reports, data on incidents to uh the trends, directing the superintendent to monitor the trends in the interim. Um,

I think I got that. I think that's everything. You said monitor the trends in the in the interim the superintendent. Can you repeat the last part of what you said again?

Sorry. As the data on the incidents the monitoring the trends around the incidents that have to be reported, right? Making sure that we're directing the superintendent to do that. Are we Yeah.

Okay. And then it is his job. It is. But yeah, but Okay.

So, all those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose use the same sign.

Passes unanimously. Thank you. The next item on our agenda

uh is from administration pay amendments for social workers, school nurses. Dr. Lewis, are you leading that? Oh, sorry.

Dr. Giovani could pull up the slide, please, the slide deck. While they're pulling that up, um good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, Dr. Lewis and DPS community.

At this time, it is the request of the superintendent and administration that the board approve paying school social workers a master's pay supplement to be paid retroactively to August 2024 through May 2025 for months worked. It is the superintendent's recommendation that the board authorize these payments to social workers. Next slide, please. Next slide. Thank you. That

that the board authorized the payments to social workers that are currently employed by DPS as well as social workers that were employed during this time period but have since left the district in good standing. Next slide, please. Next slide. It is further the recommendation of administration that the board approve paying DPS employed school nurses and $80 per month local supplement paid as 10-month employees for 2024 2025 only to be paid retroactively from August 2024 through May 2025 for months worked. It is the recommendation that the board authorize the payments to school nurses that are currently employed by DPS as well as school nurses that were employed during this time period but have left the district in good standing. The approximate fiscal impact for paying school social workers under this criteria will not exceed 80 will not

exceed $80,000 and the fiscal impact for these payments for school nurses will not exceed $9,000. These pay recommendations affect approximately 20 DPS staff members. And next slide, please. And we are happy to take answer any questions.

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Giovani. Colleagues, no questions, no comments, a motion.

Okay. Um, Miss Byer, Miss Umstead, Miss Travis, then Miss Carter. I appreciate the recommendation and I want to give us a chance to be clear as we go forward and there's been such lack of clarity um that through all of the masters pay discussions

um so I want us to be crystal clear um and so maybe that's where my questions will try to center Um, your recommendation aligns with your budget with the budget request that the board adopted and put before the commissioners for in the inclusion of school social workers, but it does not include other categories employees that may have master's degrees. and we have heard advocacy from them and um I believe in from being in Durham a bit we'll always hear advocacy from all of our groups of employees and and so I think there's a need to be crystal clear. um your your recommendation is aligned with the budget request that we put forward and includes social workers, the addition of social workers and this is retrop pay for this year but it does not include those other job

categories. Can someone or anyone make clear some of that for staff that may be paying attention that that's so that we don't further muddy the waters that have been so muddy. Um, and I don't even remember all the job categories, y'all. There's there's folks in all different places of our school system.

There's instructional support folks. I just don't want more confusion as we try to continue to work our way through this. I'll take a stab at it, but I would ask my fellow cabinet members to clarify that or flesh out what I'm saying. I do think you stated it, Miss Byer, with clarity that the current recommendation is that M's pay be paid locally by Durham public schools to those having a master's an appropriate relevant master's license that teach in the classroom at least 50% as well as school social workers where that master's pay where the master's license is not already a requirement on

for their job description. Those are the two categories that would be that administration is recommending receive M's pay locally funded. Thank you. That's that's helpful as we consider this.

I kind of wish we had done the budget um worksheet that we're about to do and those discussions before we did this discussion. Um but that that is helpful. the this money you said is $80,000 or not to exceed $80,000 and you're even recommending it to pay people that have terminated and left or resigned and left the district. And so where is the $80,000 coming from? So I would defer to the finance officer. So, at this point, um, as as the finance staff, um, has worked to close out the current fiscal year, um, we're happy to report in a public way, um, that we're we're on track to have a positive budget

variance this cycle um, that will more than be able to accommodate um, the $80,000. Great. And, um, then my confusion on the nurse supplements is is we've already approved these, so we don't actually need to approve them tonight. Y'all are just stating publicly that you're making retroactive payment, right?

Because I made the motion way back when. I went back and watched myself make the motion, right? Correct. Gotcha.

Okay. Um, thank you. That that helps me with with clarity. Um, and then I guess on behalf of staff that are anticipating these, if the board approves this, they would not be able to come the July sometime, is that when payroll would run it or were you thinking of it? We have been we've been preparing in the background um to because we'd like to

get it done this year in this year. So um so we're prepared to make sure that's taken care of by the close of business on Monday. you all already. Thank you very much.

I know this will go a long way with with folks that um as we re rebuild trust and I look forward to the House passing a budget that includes M's pay for everyone. Thank you, Missstead. Um I appreciate y'all bringing this recommendation. I um I some of my comments echo what Miss Byer said around the other we know I think when this first came um our school social workers talked about being on the teacher scale and so this um when we approved mast's pay for teachers that they would be included and so I'm wondering about other job categories that might be on that scale um some that

are also in schools like I know we've received emails from interventionist um an email from an AIG person. And so um curious what the kind of dialogue or discussion might have been about any other job categories that are on that scale as well. Again, um I just want to invite my colleagues to um add on to what I'm going to say. It has been I think Mr.

Teter has said this and Joy Harrell Goff said this a couple of times but never kind of succinctly. I think that the initial thinking was that we wanted to encourage teachers to remain to staff to remain in the classroom. And if if my memory serves me correctly back in maybe September. Um there was a lot of conversation around

the social worker piece and there was a presentation regarding like how many people that was and there was a lot of conversation around how many folks these would apply to and I believe that um at that time I did indicate to the board that the data that we the board had was not reliable and I did not anticipate that it would take this long. Um but through the hard work and dedication of Joy Harrell Goff and Mr. Teeter, we've been able to triangulate the data from finance and HR and state with confidence to this board and this community that these are that we have a finite number of folks that we can recommend as administration receive this master receive pay for their master's degrees or 24 25. No people would know that this is no guarant this is retro and we we're

not sure yet where we're going to go for 2526. That is correct. This is it is 2425 only. I believe that the board has it for um yeah that is correct.

20 it does say 2425 only. This is not moving forward. This is just retrop pay I think. Um, first I want to be clear.

I, you know, always love paying people. So want to make sure people get extra money in their paychecks and so excited about that, but I think it's important for us to think holistically about the whole district when we're making moves like this. And um, it reminds me of a time where we moved bus driver pay but didn't look at other employees who were on that same like uh, in that same job, not job, excuse me, but in that same pay range. And then there was also lots of comments of like what about us right? And so I think how do we be intentional about looking outward for the folks who have emailed us, right? They may not have

organized in the same way but have emailed us and said, "What about me? I'm an interventionist. I spend time with some of our students who have the most needs. " And so I just think I want to see us zoom out, do big picture analysis of that and bring recommendations that um look at all those different pieces.

That feels really important to me, Emily Chávez. and then Miss Carter and But if to that end of what Miss Umpstead just said, um I I do wish we were doing retropay for all certified staff who would have received it pre203. And also um I would like make to make a motion that um we approve the um retro pay for school social workers um for August 2024 through May 2025

and pool nurses. I'm confused. Do we need that mo? That's what you said we don't need.

We don't need. Okay. Period. So just for clarity with the nurses, that's why we added it is that when we went back and were looking at it, the board had approved the way that it's phrased and there was a recess in there and I think Mr.

Malone was here and he remembers this and there was conversation around Dr. Dr. Lewis I think asked five times his staff do do nurses normally receive supplements and the statement was yes and then the board based on that said we want to vote to approve a lo the local an increase of $80 to nurses an increase of $80. So technically that was not true that nurses did not normally receive a supplement. So that's why we brought this just for clarity because again it is important when we're um making these

payments that staff has provided the board with accurate information and so that's why we brought that. So I think you did approve it but not to the level of clarity that the current CFO was comfortable with nor the current assistant superintendent for HR was comfortable with. So that of I'm not the chair, but I miss then can I add to my motion? Okay.

Did you want to respond to what Dr. Giovani was saying, Miss Byer? Well, it's on the notion of nurses, I guess, because we have some that are also employed by the health department. And do we need to specify that this does not include those employed by the health department?

It doesn't. It's included in the PowerPoint and in the precies, but the motion would need to clarify that this is Jordan public schools employed nurses only. Yeah, that's what occurred to I mean we keep unintentionally I know

making Yeah. Okay, then I'll I'll restate. Thank you. And and the clarification that I requested is is it through June or is it just through May?

I think these are right 10-month employees. So, so the August through May pay periods would be what we're taking care of. Okay. Thank you, M.

Chavez. Okay. So, to restate um and finish the motion appropriately, um I move that we authorize retro pay for school social workers from August 2024 through May 2025. and also um authorize retro pay for DPS employed school nurses um at $80 per month of local supplement for the same dates.

Second. Second. It's been moved by Emily Chávez, seconded by Miss Carter Atten to approve retroactive pay for school social workers and school nurses for the 2425 school year. Uh, is there any further discussion, Mr.

Tab? Thank you. I just want to make sure that what the motion that's been made that is very very clear to everyone that's in here so that we don't go down the wrong rabbit hole again and be in the same situation. So I just wanted to say that. So, can we make sure that I'm looking at everybody in here because I don't want to come back and we have this discussion again about the same thing. I want to be

very clear with that as a board member. So, um I'm looking around. I'm not the chair, but I'm just saying don't put me in this situation. I don't want to be in this situation again.

So, we'll all be together June 30th making sure those checks go out. Uh, Miss Mstead said, Miss Harrell Goff, I just I wanted to um ask Dr. Giovani if that slight thing that we missed on the first motion about the nurses the first time. Did we clarify that in this motion?

I believe so. I have consulted with Mr. Malone as well and um I said make sure you're paying close attention to this so that we don't have that mistake again and it is obviously a lot of semantics and nuances but when you're spending public funds it is very important that um you do have that clarity. So based on

my interpretation of Emily Chávez's motion and Mr. loans that that slight nuance based on with her motion does allow the finance office to cut the payments to those school the DPS employed school nurses. Thank you. Miss said um two questions is the school or school is this is the school nurse supplement included in 2526's budget?

it was not a consideration. Um, and so we will as we work to to bring things in line uh for the new year, um, Mr. Barfield and I on my staff will have to do some work to to make sure we get that situated. Great.

Thank you. Uh, secondly, only school social workers here. So, not social workers that might be employed in other places within the district, just to be clear. Is that correct?

Yes, that is correct. And is there any rationale behind the choice for just school versus not other social workers who might be in the district? I'm not talking contract social workers, but I think we have McKenna Vento social work. We have I asked this question in gender review and y'all gave me an answer and I'm nervous that y'all aren't giving me the same answer right now. So, um, the we were told the McKenna Vento social worker is the only like district-wide social worker, something of that nature, and that they would be getting that supplement.

So, the answer that Miss Umstead was just given was no, they're not getting it. Right. Was a a head. I thought it was a no.

Yes, Joy Harrell Goff and Mr. Teter both shook their head. No, we can go back and look at the list um Millicent Rogers and make sure we've got everyone captured, but we've gone through the list. I don't have the list pulled up right in front of me, but I'll be happy to pull it up and make sure we've got everyone covered.

That should be So, we can table this motion. Is that okay? Can we table a motion now? No, no, no.

I know. I meant until we get through the next section so she can pull it up because we have a salary administration policy to look at and uh the budget prioritization. Oh. Yeah. Okay. We're going to take a five minute

recess. Thanks y'all. Oh. Emily Chávez, go ahead if you need to.

I just wanted to amend my emotion. Amen. We can do that after the re Let's do that after the Okay. Okay.

Okay. We're going to go to recess, Madam Chair. We do We do have an answer.

over there. There's a baby. Congratulations. I need to Yeah, we we are now back in open session.

Um, Joy Harrell Goff, you have an update for us on the social worker? Yes, thank you. Um, so to respond to the question, I think I remember it. um is that yes that social worker would receive the master's pay the McKenna Vento and there's only one district would or there two okay and the discrepancy they didn't pull into the report I was just sharing with um attorney Malone it they didn't pull into the report because they had two

different site locations but we've gone through and cross um checked the um reports that we received and so that was where the McKenna Vento um folks didn't pull in. Okay. Okay. Emily Chávez, you wanted to amend your motion?

Yes. But also just to clarify, there are two McKenna mento. Is that what she said? Okay.

Both of them would come along in this be included. Yes, that is correct. Okay. Okay.

So, I will just amend my motion to say that all DPS social workers would receive retropay August 2020. Um, all school social workers and McKenna Vento social workers. Okay. Because there are other social workers too. No. Okay.

If you say school social workers, we're fine. School social workers, which to clarify includes the McKenna Dentto social workers August 2024 to 2025 and the rest of the motion still stands. Okay. Second.

Yeah. You Okay. It's been moved by Emily Chávez, seconded by Miss Harrell Goff to approve the retroactive pay to school social workers for the 2425 school year and school nurses, DPS nurses. Well, a supplement, not masters pay or anything.

Okay. And Okay. So the motion is to pay retroactively the master's pay for school social workers

for the 2425 school year and the school retroactive school nurse supplement for the 2425 school year for months worked and where they are not already receiving state funded M's Okay. For the months worked where they are not already receiving state masters pay. Is there any further discussion? Missstead I'm sorry just for clarity purposes the McKenna Vento social workers that we identified are already in this number or would they be in addition to what we um projected financially here?

the financial projection not to exceed 80,000 would be enough to accommodate them if they qualify. Okay, thank you. Um and then so the the recommendation is to include

those folks. My original question was is it just school social workers? Are there other people in the district and the rationale? But it sounds like we are including the other social workers within the district.

So on the form the title other than McKenna Ventila it the school social worker is next to that name for the McKenna Vento liaison they are school social workers and so are there I'm sorry that's are there other social workers then that work within the district? No. No. Okay.

They don't fall into those categories. There are no social workers in the district that are not school social workers or and the McKenna Vento leaison are still school social workers. Their titles are just McKenna Vento liaison. Okay.

That are employed by D public schools. They are I believe you referenced it miss there are contract there could be but they are not included. It's only DPS employees. Um thank you. This just one last comment like we have to be better about this.

Like it's not okay that for people's pay we're like having to figure this out like this and so we just we just have to be better. There's no real other things to say like we have to be better. So thank you all Miss Byer. Yeah and I'm just making sure do we does the masters need to be designated on their lensure?

Yes, it does for both social workers um and the classroom teachers. U messaging went out today. The board stated that it had to be on their license back in May, I believe, but we did send out um communication sent out today notification that it does have to be on your license. So, even if you've been getting M's pay as a classroom teacher, for example, if it's not on your license in August, it would not be you would not be paid for the master's pay until it's placed on your license.

So, do does our motion need to include that language as well for clarity? That's what I'm just That's going forward though. Correct. And the board did already state that in May that it had to be on your license for 2526, but that Okay.

So, so it you're not you don't care about it for this retrop pay or you do. That is correct. No, it does not have to be on the license for the retro. Thank you.

All those in favor say I. I. I. I.

All oppose use the same sign. It passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is the salary administration employee compensation um policy 7502. Good evening, Millicent Rogers, board

members, Dr. Lewis, and the DPS family. Um please pull up the salary administration policy presentation. I just have a few slides.

Thank you. Tonight I bring you the salary administration policy for final reading and adoption. At this time I just have a brief um presentation. I really just want to celebrate the journey of the policy working group which has spanned a little more than a year.

And this collaborative working group consisted of employees across the district as we work many hours both virtually and some in person on this policy being fra brought forth um tonight for adoption. Next slide please. We revisit the purpose of this policy. From the onset the group was to establish context following the many conversations around compensation here in the district. in addition to

establish a working group to provide feedback on policy documents that we reviewed um ex exemplar documents from other districts around the across the across the state um and to determine next steps which brings us here today. Next slide please. And next slide. Next slide.

The objective of this policy is to ensure fair, consistent, and lawful employee compensation and salary administration. Next slide. Updates to this policy are included in the policy document that you have in the board docs, but also includes um definitions that we added such as hold harmless and legacy differential. the feedback that we've received from our agenda reviews and just from feedback we've updated in the policy documents

with track changes and in addition we've added next slide please a guidelines document which is in draft form to accompany the policy document. Um and this document is still in draft form but is not presented tonight for action but for information. Next slide. And with that I will take any questions regarding the policy colleagues.

Any questions comments? emotion question, Miss Umstead. Um, thank y'all for adding the hold harmless and the other legacy pay definitions. I know we talked about that last time and I think there's some more explicit verbiage in there around the board. Um, needing to approve salary

increases, which I think is really helpful. Um, I feel sometimes like a little bit of a broken record because I still think we have this tension around steps annually in our current salary schedules in a step move means that you also are getting a pay increase. Um, which also makes me wonder if that's budgeted in our budget for next year. We're not, which is a different conversation maybe for the budget priority activity. Um, and I'm not sure. I guess my question more of like what is the plan to help us rectify that tension that's still kind of currently existing in that I think one of the things um board member um said that we really need to do is add verbiage to the current salary schedules to help explain it right on the website page I think that will help to bring some clarity until there's another salary schedule that's added to that web page that is much more userfriendly that really looks at steps and you know not always with the um pay

increases right attached to them so that it's more clear Miss Carter then Emily Chávez sorry thank you for bringing this and I um my question was a little bit the same well not the same one but it was related to the guidelines lens document and the track changes that are in um like under athletic pay and the arts. And I was wondering I think that what that's trying to do is it's trying to um clarify that like separate the step from the payment. And I was I know that um the board does not need to approve your the guidelines or at least I don't think that we need to. But my recommendation would be that maybe you guys work on clarifying that a little bit more because I understand that one step does not equal a pay increase. But I think we just need to be clear, try to figure out a way to say that um so that

it's very clear to everybody that's implementing, everybody who's reading this and all across the, you know, in all the places. Um, so cuz it took me a while. I kept reading this and rereading it trying to figure out why it was copied and pasted in a couple different places and then I realized that's probably what was going on there. So, thank you.

M service wanted to make a motion to approve policy 7502 salary administration and employee compensation. Second moved by Emily Chávez, seconded by Miss Byer to approve the salary administration policy 7502. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say I.

I. I. I. All oppose, please use the same sign.

passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. The

next item on our agenda is the budget prioritization tool and this is for discussion information. Mr. Teter. Yes.

So this should go quickly, Madame Chair. Um we're just going to share my screen um in queue of that. Right. So just as a just as a reminder for the board.

So, just a summary page here to sort of capture some history of what was adopted uh by the county commissioners. So, uh an increase of $12,927,580 to our local current expense fund uh was authorized by the county commissioners uh at their meeting on June the 9th. Um I'm sorry, Mr. Teta, can you make that bigger?

Absolutely. Thank you. we there? That's good.

Okay, fantastic. So, we'll remember 200% next time. U and

so we will um the capital and then the capital outlay component um is a little more complicated, right? There's a lot of history with how uh the county has funded uh DPS's capital outlay appropriation. And so in the in the 2425 year, we received $8 million for capital outlay purposes uh with a combination of two resources. 2 million of that came from local uh tax dollars or local resources and then 6 million of that was the result of the county's ARPA dollars.

Um moving forward um into the current year, we requested uh that the county continue um that $8 million level of funding. Um ultimately that did not materialize. Um and we're getting a $5 million appropriation uh from the county. All 5 million of those coming from their local resources um with the sun setting of ARPA dollars uh forthcoming. Um, I think the the original proposal uh was for us to get

9 million increase that we saw on the current expense side of the coin. So, just wanted to unpack that history. Um, so nonetheless, I've already been in communication with Mr. Barnes about capital outlay funding and what's available.

Uh so we're anticipating the 5 million this year. Um and the capital outlay fund balance in particular has a little over 9 million that's available um that his team may need to tap into next year depending on what our needs are. So just wanted to keep that in the forefront um for the board. Give me a moment while we move to 200 here. Um or at least get a little bit closer in that direction. Um with the knowledge uh with the knowledge that we had a little over 12 million to work with uh versus potentially what was

going to be a smaller number, it seemingly made decisions easier uh for the board as well as for staff uh about items that we would fund. Um I should have only made one tab because they are the same. Um between both bodies uh and so um the consensus um sort of arrived at essentially funding everything um with the caveat of the teacher supplement being a $500 increase rather than the $700 increase um that was originally requested. The bus driver uh supplement to the max.

uh the current M's pay model, keeping that in place with the addition of social workers, um all of the three components connected to mental health, um including panorama, the additional EC funding, um as well as the musical instrument refresh. So, so both bodies sort of landed at the same point. Um so, again, as the chair said,

this is for information or discussion. Um, and what you will see sort of operationalized from staff in in upcoming meetings is that we will seek action from the board on various components. We'll seek authorization to formally increase that teacher supplement. We'll seek authorization to formally authorize that bus driver supplement.

Um and we will um ultimately um seek authorization for the the construct of that master's pay effort um for 2526 and certainly allow conversation around that. We know where it landed with the tool, but the board may have additional conversation about what you want to do there. Um we would also ultimately for some of these items um their purchase is above uh staff's $90,000 threshold. So, we'll need you to approve those purchases individually um as those in some cases as those contracts come together. Um, I will also share um that Panorama was paying

attention um to some of our conversations in previous meetings uh and saw um when we were thinking that we were getting less money uh that we had a little bit to work with that wasn't quite that 311595 and they offered some pricing concessions to try to help get us there. So, um we may we may come in less than that 3115 in order to make that work. So that was um a really unexpected outcome. So um so just just to prepare the board for that.

And so that those are my only remarks that I have and and we look forward to uh getting the new year started and bringing you items to to review uh in the next couple of months. Um thank you Mr. Ter. Uh could we get a static copy of what the consensus was?

Yes. Um, so I'll make sure that Dr. Lewis has that to push out in this week's update. Thank you. Anybody else

have any questions, comments, Emily Chávez? Thank you. Uh, thank you for this. Um, really helpful.

Nice to see where we're landing here. Um, so I um um met with some of our um DAE leaders this week who and it was good to hear their thinking on things and priorities. Um, one of the things that they have requested is a $200 supplement for bus monitors in addition to bus drivers. And so I know um Miss Carter asked for um those numbers like what that would cost us.

I think their estimate was about 130 130,000. Um but I guess is there consensus? I know you might not have been able to pull that together today, but is there where does that

request um stand or do we need board consensus to ask for that? So I think from a financial component um operating under the assumption was 65 um safety assistance or bus monitors um their their math is correct just evaluating salary only um but then when we apply um apply benefits we're looking at closer to 140,000 um if we were to do that um and then I'll I'll defer to colleagues just on my other colleagues on the philosophy of the concept in general and I'll start with the in terms of the philosophy if uh it definitely was the board's will to address our safety aids which we all appreciate and know we need on all you know the um the buses that they are assigned to I would also want to increase our bus driver supplement even higher because the goal of that was to recruit and retain bus drivers and what I don't want to do is to begin to recruit people that says well I wanted to drive but now I'll just be a safety assistant and ride because I get the same supplement and so wanting to again address our need you know and definitely

going into this coming year because um we cannot go back to uh what we did last year. And so again, going back to the original goal of where the need was from an equity standpoint, it was our bus drivers. Not to say that our safety assistance and bus monitors are are not um you know, as important or you know, their role is important as well, but at that time that was a need. And so again, if you know, it's the board's will to invest in our um safety assistance, I would definitely want to, you know, be able to address our bus drivers so we can again be able to attract bus drivers, which was what the need was at that time and still is.

And I'll ask any other colleagues if they had additional uh thoughts as well. I mean, because we we have been talking about this at length as well. Dr. Louis, uh, one other piece of that was that we wanted to try to encourage our safety assistants to get their CDL so they will become bus drivers. And so if we keep the pay too close, there's no incentive for them to become bus drivers instead of safety assistance.

Miss Harold Golf and then Miss Carter. Um, are the bus drivers um are the salaries the same? Are they that close to monitor to bus driver? They are fairly close. There's been with the increase last year there was a little less compression but that has been something that has been an ongoing concern that has been shared with administration and we have discussed that in HR and finance as we look towards long-term um compensation um reevaluating compensation that is a concern and so I do believe we did share and I think just want to reiterate and second what um Dr. Lewis indicated that that is um accurate that the purpose that if we were to do that which is I'm going to repeat what he said exactly what he said perhaps um

or for the sake of um just knowing both of the salaries are still fairly you know low. Um maybe if the supplements aren't the same but that they we still look into seeing if we can have a maybe not a not the same maybe not the 200 but 150 or a lower supplement or something you know with still you know us trying to think about how we're going to grow salaries to be you know livable and competitive wage but um I would like to do something for our bus monitors um if we if we can find it in the budget to do so. Dr. Giovani, thank you. Um it was Dr. We've obviously been in transition with the COO, you know, um still in transition with the COO, but

with Mr. Borne's predecessor, um Dr. Lewis and before Mr. White had come on board, um we did discuss some kind of additional incentives.

And so I think what I would ask Dr. Lewis and the board is to allow administration let Mr. White who's now the I think he's started three days ago I think I don't know something like that um who is the executive director of auxiliary services kind of let him uh get situated with his team learn the transportation but Dr. Lewis had shared some innovative ideas and we had talked with um the finance officer and just kind of needing to cost those out so that you're ensuring that you're getting a return on the investment because it is recognized you know and I think just if I can share Dr. Lewis just what he had indicated is that kind of when you have this one of the things he had several things um but one of the things that Dr. had indicated is that if people can only get this attendance bonus if they don't miss a single hour like you can't be a minute late you can't miss a day once people do that and things happen they just wash their hands

right and so they're like well I missed a day already so then they just continue to miss a day so just continuing to have those just being human right and understanding the human part of this at first and really being thoughtful around it instead of just kind of throwing like just a generic supplement at it but really looking at like how can we make sure that we're rewarding our folks that come and are on time, etc. So, that would really be kind of my request is to let let Mr. White get on board and just continue on with that and then we can work with Dr. Lewis and Mr.

Teter and bring back to this board depending on what the budget looks like and kind of what our staffing is looking like as we continue to recruit, we continue to get new folks on. And we would like to maybe have the opportunity to flesh out Dr. Lewis's ideas and some additional ideas that Mr. White and Mr.

Barnes have and bring those back to the board. That would be my request at this point. Um, do we anticipate that we will always need monitors as as much as we need bus

drivers? Like cuz I hear, you know, we want our monitors to become bus drivers. We we want them to become bus drivers. But do we also want to be able to do do our buses need, you know, I'm asking a really tough question.

It is a really tough question and so and Mr. Borne's raising his hand. Thank you. So, we are required to have safety monitors on our EC buses.

So, there will always be a need for safety monitors and some of our most challenging buses, we also uh put those up there so to make sure that our bus drivers are able to operate the bus safely. So, yes, that there will always be a need. I I also feel that uh you know some of our monitors that that do that they they feel calling that that is their place that you know they may not be wanting to drive buses but they feel very strongly about being a monitor and so um

and at the same time you know so and and when I'm looking at it that way and when we're thinking about recruitment internally if someone wants to move forward. I don't I can see how it could be an incentive if it's more pay, but I also think that um we want to maintain the integrity of those monitor positions as well, the ones who are serving that way. Yeah. Dr.

Giovani, you have a response to Miss Herokov. Not don't know if it's a response, but just kind of what I would say is I do agree, Mr. Barnes. Um today as Dr.

Lewis shared, we had our leadership retreat and again Mr. Whitewood and the principles, we really are doing a lot more collaboration and just understanding that we are all educators and we're all working together. And so he had come up, he had worked with the principal team on just some ways to increase and address some of the challenges that we have had on our buses with behaviors. And so I do

think that, you know, obviously like Mr. board and say we're always going to have to have monitors, but I think the goal is ultimately to really look at this holistically um and appreciate the fact that the bus is part of the educational process and how we address that again holistically. And so again, I think I'm all I'm saying is at this point, and I think we shared this previously, is that it's not the recommendation for the monitor to get a supplement at this point, but not saying never, but really looking at how can we get the most bang for the buck that may be going towards transportation so that it improves the experience of our students, the experience of our monitors, the experience of our bus drivers. So, and I I don't have a timeline for that, Dr.

Lewis. Sorry, but but we do have that sense of urgency as you heard today from Mr. White and Mr. Barnes. Miss Gard, um I appreciate all this discussion and the um approach to I'm glad you all are

thinking about this and looking at it and I look forward to hearing some recommendations come from you all after you've been doing that and talking to the team. Um because I I do it does sound like in order for EC buses to get you know for those kids to get to school they need the monitors on the bus so the bus drivers can't drive and the kids can't get to school without them. Um and uh I don't want to create friction between the as we do as has been noted by other board members we create friction when we give some people one thing and other people not don't get the thing. So that's always going to happen.

Yes. But um if these people work together on the same bus, that's challenging. Um I was just trying to look at the difference in the pay and it looks like our bus monitors are at 1804 for starting pay. 43 43 an hour

and then later on that same website says that starting pay for bus drivers is 1886 an hour. So could we look at that and see um why it has that discrepancy? Do you know already Mr. Barnes?

My it is 1943. Okay. So that's the right one. So then if we just fix it so that it doesn't also have the wrong one on the page. But I'm glad to hear it's the higher one. Um and then my only other thing I wanted to say about the budget was at this late hour that um I do want to I would like a plan our from my perspective our original intent with the master's pay was to restore what was done being done by the state which means that we have still left people out as which has been noted this evening kind of yes um and so I would like a plan for us to be moving in that direction so in the next year for us to be thinking about ways to expand masters pay to those that would have been included had the state not

taken it away with and if we need to focus that further with a focus on those that work most like with our students in the classroom would be my preference and I don't know that that's um so just wanted to state that as well Miss Byer I appreciate the conversation I appreciate you all listening listening to us as we uh wrestle through what is I think a shared value of wanting to pay everyone that that it works for us in all the capacities more struggling while we wait for the state budget to be completed and is unknown and I would appreciate your guidance so that we don't continue to get ourselves with our aspirations in situations where we can't afford what we what we want to do. So, I hope that we can wait and give y'all time and and not just knee-jerk because we that's exactly how we got here with so much of the last two years.

Um, and and the transportation crisis is it was our most urgent issue this year and and we have to start the school ready and and and that impact on attendance is so so so critical. So, um, thank you so much for, um, focusing on the and digging into what we need to to make informed decisions that we can sustain, um, going forward. Thank you, Travis. Did you have something said?

um appreciate this budget prioritization activity and how it's kind of forcing us to make some decisions and think critically about what we're going to fund. I do think this is related to the conversation about bus monitors. We've had a cadence in Durham of doing um certified classified certified classified when it comes to um requests

for pay increases which would mean that classified workers are next since we did certify which also I think has been noted that we might need some version of a a mini salary study in order to do that which would also include I'm assuming bus monitors and bus drivers. So is there any way to speak to what that might look like moving forward? Um so very much been actively thinking about how we would roll that work out. Um and I think you know step number one is evaluating um if your employees are on the appropriate grade um in our schedule right so whether it's you know NC1 or up through NC10 or wherever right on the scale so evaluating appropriate placement um you know based on the job description the complexity of the work um comparable you know entities um the city the county our peer and aspirant districts um in North Carolina um and Then from there, right, there's the separate the separate issue to evaluate um of the compression in the schedule

and and how to alleviate that. And uh so so a two-parter um and I think the more the the second part, right, of of assessing how you can alleviate the compression is sort of the easier or quicker work, right? So it's just a matter of us building those tables and and coming up with costs for how to um support in that way. Um but the the assessment of the appropriate placement um where the grade is concerned requires more work because we you know need to survey for that data um and and really do some thorough assessment um of the positions in the district.

But um that certainly to your point um th those positions in question drivers and and safety assistants would would be evaluated. Are we are we working on something so we could have a recommendation for 206 27? So, uh I think that's certainly a goal. So, um so as soon as we close the fiscal year, um you know, we're we're ready to start, you know, evaluating that and and just right sort of preview for the year

ahead. um you know, we'll be asking we'll be asking you in September or October to adopt a budget calendar um for this next cycle with that goal of getting a request to the county by March this time. Um but along that way, uh we'll be doing the work to to develop some pay models and and costs for those so that when Dr. Lewis comes forward uh with an early superintendent's recommended budget, there will be something in there that speaks to the classified pay effort um that the board can evaluate and react to.

Thank you. That's helpful. The other question I have is as we were doing this budget prioritization activity and it made me wonder again about this is there any step increase included in that what we budgeted for the upcoming year at this juncture. Um, you know, we we've budgeted on a particular percentage increase. Um, we moved forward with um an estimate uh that it might be a 3%. I

think it's important to note that whatever decision the state makes um with classified employee compensation um is accompanied by some dollars, right? So, some of our state funding is reactive to a state raise. And so, um, if we find that the state raised for classified employees is not palatable, which is possible, um, just based on the many budget proposals that we saw this week in that last ditch effort on the state to at least adjust pay. Um, we will need to evaluate just sort of where we are and what can we do with our local resources to bridge that.

Um, I know that in some previous board meetings we've had conversation about trying to move in a direction of doing nothing less than a 2% raise for our employees. And so, um, so we're we're certainly keeping that in mind so that we're prepared to react to whatever Raleigh does or perhaps doesn't do um, and go from there. But, but at this point, not necessarily contemplating the step being the driver, but just sort of a flat

increase for everybody. I appreciate that. I think we we like keep having this conversation and I want us to like find a resolution to it and it might be as we do this classified study and we look at the schedules again because if I'm looking at my schedule and I move a step, there's a pay increase attached to that. And so how do we um we find some resolution on that?

This feels important. Yeah. And so in logistically what we do um you know so more districts than not sort of do it the way that I'm about to describe right of you know this year if I'm on a step five and next year I'm going to advance to a step six with a 3% raise the district ensures that step six is worth 3% more than what step five was in the year before to sort of comply um with that increase. And so that generally is what a lot of districts do in order to contain cost. Um so sometimes you know the steps can get carried away. However, um you know if it's sort of the

vision of the board and and the vision of the superintendent that we move forward in the 2627 cycle with evaluating how can we um have some system of steps that guarantees that. Um, we can certainly do that and and contemplate what that looks like in the next budget proposal. Thank you. Anybody else?

Miss Chav. Okay. So, let me ask first about the um the re-evaluation of classified salaries. So, are you saying Mr.

that we can do this in house when we don't need a consultant. Okay. Yeah. So, I' I've done salary studies on the road and and and happy to offer those services to move us forward and just save that headache and save that money.

Okay. Awesome. Um and when

do you have an estimated time of when we would get to see those salary um schedules? So our goal would be to to to be able to sort of you know so just thinking from a back you know a backwards mapping right our goal right is to get the budget request to the commissioners by March um our goal would then to be get to get the superintendent's recommended budget in front of you in January to give you a couple of months to to consume that and react to it and and so then so certainly at the very latest right you would see um some proposal along with that but I would imagine ahead of the recommend recommended budget from the superintendent. Um, you know, we will have some some sort of preview of what some options might look like, but at the very latest in January with his recommended budget. Okay.

Thank you. Um, that's really helpful. Um, and thank you for using those skills here in in Durham. Um, so, um, my other thing is just going back to the bus monitors. I've I think

um I'm okay with a differential supplement um like you were saying Dr. Lewis, the possibility of that um between bus drivers and bus monitors. I do think um the input from our staff I felt I found useful and um and it seems that we had some conversation about like bus monitors being part of helping to retain bus drivers too because of the role that they serve. And I can only imagine um that it takes a lot to monitor a whole bus or to you know kind of manage a whole bus of kids um uh you know um as a bus driver um without support. So um in uh so what else do I want to say about that? I think um I guess I want to ask is there any possibility that we would could do a

bus monitor supplement and using the money from the instrument refresh and then take those non-recurring funds from another source? Is that a possibility? Um, is it possible that we would we could use the bus use the instrument refresh funds or a bus monitor supplement instead since those are nonrecurring and then take the in and pay for the instrument refresh from another source. That would be for just one year though, right?

Because what would you do the following year? That would be for one year and then like other things. It would be like all the other supplements, it would be figuring it out for next year. Dr.

Giovani. Yeah. I just want to make sure I'm understanding this. M Chavez,

it like you're just asking like kind of speculatively because that's not the recommendation. is that I'm just making sure that I'm there because I do think that again, you know, Dr. Lewis has made some statements and I think Mr. Teter and I had talked about this as well that you know the $200 for monitors and $200 for bus drivers, we would have to pay we would want to pay then bus drivers an additional amount.

So there's just and that's why we were kind of suggesting that we'd be given the space to kind of look at all of this and figure out like what we can do in transportation, right? and in operations to make sure that we're getting the bang for the buck and just um making sure that that that's what we're doing. So I just so when you're I'm just I just want to make sure I'm understanding your question of you're just saying like hypothetically is that a possibility financially for Mr. Teter and not saying to operations or Mr. Barnes or myself or that is that

are you wanting to pull money from somewhere else to put it on bus monitors? Am I did I just completely misunderstand what you were saying? No, I mean I'm that's what I'm asking. It is a hypothetical question.

I I think the um the thing with like Yeah. going I I I've said for months I agree with the idea of like looking at the the bonus that we give the attendance bonus. I support that. I think, you know, Dr.

Lewis has brought up, you know, it might not be the most effective way of giving a bonus and everything. So, I'm all for you all bringing a different recommendation about that. Um, where I am potentially disagreeing is holding off on a bus monitor supplement. I think there could be a purpose for it now, even if it's not the same supplement as the bus drivers. and if that were a possibility to do now and we're talking about a relatively small amount of money but it has to come from somewhere. So that's where the source of my question

is there a way to pull it from another line. So just again seeking clarity. Well, I think again just maybe seek asking again. I think I don't want to just like kind of on the fly be trying to figure out like what would be the best thing for bus monitors with regard to any type of bonus or supplement.

Like I just I think I just I don't think that's the way to do it. I think what I'm hearing from the board is that y'all want us and you want us to make it a priority in transportation to go ahead Dr. Go ahead. Okay.

And make it a priority to go and look and see if that is something that is going to benefit the district, right? And potentially make sure and improve the service to our students as well. And I we are willing to do that. But I don't want to say I don't I just I'm very uncomfortable, you know, sitting here not having

thought it through. I don't want to put Mr. " So, I just would ask Grace, honestly, Miss Chavez, to allow us, and I understand the urgency, right? I understand the urgency of this board in compensating um our bus monitors and bus drivers, etc.

Lewis's and so we can certainly Mr. Barnes can certainly have his team, you know, make this a priority and come and work with Mr. uh Teter and Dr. Lewis and come up with some options and some plans that where we ensure we're getting the return on that investment and that have been well thought out and vetted.

That's that's really I just I hate to do that, but I just don't want to kind of on the back of the envelope figure that out. Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean it needs board um the whole board needs to agree too, but I was asking a hypothetical question about how money could be shifted around,

but yeah, the I'd say technically yes. Okay. Right. The technical answer is yes.

But will there be interest from the board to allow us an opportunity to wait until the state budget settles um engage our bus monitors and drivers? because what I don't want to do is appear that we're solving a problem by throwing money at it. Um, but being intentional about getting direct feedback from the bus monitors in a way that we also, you know, fulfill our intent behind providing bus drivers with supplement, which was to recruit because um I will not go back to the experience we had last year, right? you know because it impacted um our students and families in a major way. So I think once we you know allow the state bud budget to settle um the good thing is you know a lot of buses are not rolling right now and so to give us an opportunity for that to settle engage our bus monitors and bus drivers um they may have other ideas you know and and I I will use this

this moment here because one of the things we heard from bus monitors and drivers was behavior and just today Mr. White shared uh the work that he had been working with principles in the team around rectifying some of the issues and one of the issues was the way that they were reporting discipline issues. Seemed like I mean it was like they had to scan a paper in email and it just kind of got lost in the file. And so as a result of that, all of our bus discipline issues will now go through educator handbook, which is what our classroom discipline uh m uh issues go through go through.

And the auditorium erupted in applause once he shared that with um with principles because we know that's a way that we can address the concerns of our bus drivers in a meaningful way in a timely manner as well and also address some of the challenges that we're hearing from our bus monitor as well. So all that to say um there's a lot of work that been going on to address some of our transportation challenges. I do hear you in terms of investing in our bus monitors. Uh what I'm asking if if if the board will allow us to uh you know let the state budget settle and then we

can bring we can bring back some options that meets both needs. So we may bring option that will increase our bus driver supplement which will help us and to support and invest in our bus monitors. That if that makes sense. Yeah.

Sounds good to me. M did you have something else you wanted to say? I do I um I like appreciate this conversation a lot and I think I'm wondering like back to my like how do we zoom out and look at bigger picture parts of all of this too and if um I know we're talking about relatively smart amount of smaller amount of money but like will this will reooking at the schedules also address some of these issues? Will this like will it also create more um around the um thinking about the salary schedules, right? And be able to actually align those a little or not align actually but create some of the Oh my goodness, it's late. Um create

some of the um differentials. Thank you, uh Moff that we're looking for. And so I just I like I appreciate the attent attentiveness too, but I just also want us to be able to zoom out and look and think about this holistically. And I so I don't I guess my my thought process is like is it collectively do we all want and you all are going to continue to address the transportation challenges but is there a desire to work on supplement particularly or is that something that we would like to see actually wrapped into this larger conversation around classified salary personally I would like to see it in the larger conversation but Miss Byer yeah no I appreciate the all the ideas that have been shared.

I also sit here, as we all do, knowing that our budget request to the county was not fully funded. So, it feels like we're trying to add things that we didn't ask for because we want a lot of things. We do. We do. We do. And we need a lot of

things. We need a lot of extra. Um, but I just want us to sit with the notion that we're four million short of what we asked for is. Is that right, Mr.

Ter? Four is I don't know. And so we did just like on this worksheet cut the teacher supplement and all of our teachers were expecting a $700 a year and we're proposing potentially a 500. We haven't even communicated that.

There's a lot of work still to do as we await this and um I look forward to y'all stepping back giving us that big picture. There's such a there's such a temptation to to to address whoever's the most squeaky or the loudest at the podium all the time. And I just look look forward to y'all taking that that bird's eye view and bringing recommendations after the state budget is better informs us. Thank you. Thank you.

The next item on our agenda is the Glenn project temporary increase authority. Dr. Giovani, good evening, Millicent Rogers, board members, Dr. Lewis, members of the Durham community.

This item is before you requesting temporary authority um and waving board policy regarding the um authority of the superintendent to enter into contracts are to approve expenses exceeding 90,000. um you have some details in the precies and um I welcome any questions regarding this. But what we are asking is for the Glenn Elementary School project which is currently in a two shift a day mode potentially may go to three shifts if they are um if necessary. We are asking that given the fact that there are no

board meetings between in July and then given the need that we need 24hour turnaround on this that the board authorized Dr. Lewis and Dr. Louis only to approve change orders or contingencies between up to $300,000 to expire on the first day of school. and with him agreeing to report to the full board within 24 hours of any such um approval between 90 and 300,000 to the full board in detail of what that approval was and what it was oh what it was for.

So um with that I'm happy to answer any questions and I do want to point out that this is um precautionary the Glenn project is Mr. Mr. Barnes, correct me if I'm wrong, ahead of schedule. So, this is precautionary is my understanding, but as construction projects can go, they can be on time one week and something

happens and then they're behind. And there also is um a mandate that we bring an update that administration bring an update to the board at its work session in August as well to ensure that the project will open on time. And that is really the bottom line and why we are asking for this extraordinary um request is to ensure that there are no barriers in make the Glenn school project opening on time. Happy to take any questions and if you read the precedes that is was written by Mr.

Ry Malone. So he is sitting to my right and happy to answer any questions regarding this statement. Thank you Emily Chávez. Then Miss Byer, I'd like to move that the board increase the superintendent's authority to approve any individual change order pursuant to board policy 9030 on the Glenn Elementary School project from 90,000 to 300,000 through August 2020 20

August 25th, 2025, so long as funding for the change order is available within the established project budget and that the superintendent report to the board via email and within 24 hours any approved change orders at Glen and elementary. Second been moved by Emily Chávez, seconded by Miss Byer to um authorize the superintendent authority to approve any individual change order pursuant to board policy 9030 on the Glenn Elementary School project from $90,000 to $300,000 through August 25th, 2025. So long as the funding for the change order is available within the established project budget and the superintendent report to the board via email and within 24 hours any approved change orders at Glenn Elementary School. Is there any further discussion?

Miss Emstead? Uh just a request. We have meetings in August. So if the the superintendent can email the board when the change order happens, but also bring a list of those to the work session.

That's in the document. It's not in the motion. So, sorry. I apologize if I missed that.

Okay. Would you like us? Okay. I apologize.

It was not in the motion says Mhm. Would you like us to add the motion? That's okay. That's fine.

Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I.

All oppose use the same sign. Passes unanimously. Right. The next item on our agenda is for information only.

It's the monthly change order report and uh then close session. As per this spring, we will no longer be streaming or um providing. Thank you. interpretation services after

close session. Uh so we wish you all a happy summer and for year round schools a happy first day of school. Um is there a motion to go into close session? Move that we go into close session for the reasons stated on the agenda.

Second. It's been moved by Miss Byer, seconded by Miss Harold Goff. Uh that we go into close session for the reasons stated on the agenda. Is there any further discussion?

All those in favor say I. I. All oppose use the same sign. Passes unanimously. We're now in close session.